Mercosur

• Saturday, April 22nd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  EU full support for Uruguay in pulp mill dispute

  European Commissioner for Trade Peter Mandelson gave full support to the Finnish company Botnia in the dispute with Argentina over the construction of a pulp mill in Fray Bentos in neighbouring Uruguay on the river that marks the border between the two countries.

• Saturday, April 22nd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Crude ends week with another high

  Oil prices vaulted to a new peak over US$75 a barrel yesterday as investment funds snapped up crude futures and tension mounted over Iran's nuclear intentions.

• Saturday, April 22nd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Cheers and tributes as Queen Elizabeth turns 80

  Prince Charles has led glowing tributes for Queen Elizabeth II, his “darling Mama”, as she celebrated her 80th birthday with a royal walkabout and a private family dinner.

• Friday, April 21st 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Pulp mills conflict: Finish minister cancels Argentine visit

  The Argentine/Uruguayan conflict over the building of pulp mills in Uruguay has had a further impact, this time in Finland which announced the cancelling of one of its ministers' visit to Buenos Aires.

• Friday, April 21st 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  US consumer inflation in March rose 0.4%

  Rising energy and clothing costs pushed March's United States consumer prices index 0.4%.

• Friday, April 21st 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil must resist “fiscal easing” pressures

  Brazil will have to resist pressures for fiscal easing to sustain high primary surpluses and to raise medium term growth through reform efforts including improving the quality of fiscal policy and the business climate, according to IMF's World Economic Outlook released this week.

• Friday, April 21st 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  New FAM outbreak in south Brazil

  Brazilian authorities confirmed Thursday a new outbreak of the highly contagious foot and mouth disease in the state of Matto Grosso do Sul, close to the Paraguayan border.

• Friday, April 21st 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF suggests reforms in Argentina's utility sector

  Argentina needs to introduce reforms in the utility sector including the liberalisation of prices and raise investment in infrastructure to avoid the emergence of supply bottlenecks suggested the IMF in its annual World Economic Outlook.

• Friday, April 21st 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean tourism in first quarter up 12.5%

  The number of foreign tourists visiting Chile during the first quarter of this year jumped 12.5% over the same period a year ago revealed the country's Nacional Tourism Office, Sernatur.

• Friday, April 21st 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Supplement of Iodized salt could lower number of victims

  Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the United Nations Children's Fund said that iodized salt could have significantly lowered the numbers of exposed children who developed thyroid cancer and called for the supplement to be widely used throughout the affected region.