Mercosur

• Monday, March 13th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil “exported” a billion US dollars in football players

  Between 1994 and 2005 Brazil exported football players to foreign clubs valued in over a billion US dollars reported the Sunday edition of O Estado de Sao Paulo, one of Brazil's main newspapers.

• Monday, March 13th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Peru's next president could be a nationalist populist

  Peruvian radical populist presidential candidate Ollanta Humala appears neck to neck with conservative candidate Lourdes Flores in the run up to April 9 presidential election, according to the latest public opinion poll.

• Monday, March 13th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Armored presidential airliner for Fidel Castro

  Cuba is buying one of Russia's most up-to-date airliners, carefully crafted for President Fidel Castro's personal comfort. The purchase is part of an initial Cuban order for two brand new Ilyushin planes worth 110 million U S dollars which Russian officials say is a shot in the arm for their struggling airline industry.

• Sunday, March 12th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Morales talks coca with Condoleezza

  Bolivia's new president, Evo Morales, discussed his country's fight against illegal drugs yesterday with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and then gave her a guitar decorated with coca leaves.

• Sunday, March 12th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine wine industry receives more than US$1.5B

  The wineries tucked beneath the distant Andean mountains nearly have it all: warm days and cool nights for growing the lushest of grapes, state of the art technology and vintners bent on lifting Argentina's wine production to rival the best.

• Sunday, March 12th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Venezuela gallops left with new flag

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez held a huge military parade on Sunday to celebrate changes he made to the nation's flag, a reform foes rejected as a personal whim of the leftist leader.

• Sunday, March 12th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina rejects Uruguay's Foreign Affairs minister

  An agreement between Argentina and Uruguay to overcome the controversy with the pulp mills being built in the Uruguayan coast of a shared river apparently includes the non participation of Uruguay's Foreign Affairs minister in future talks, revealed El Pais, Montevideo's main daily in its Sunday edition.

• Saturday, March 11th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile to swear in its first woman president today

  South America's most recent socialist President-elect, Chile's Michelle Bachelet, will be inaugurated today in what has been described as the latest sign of a cultural revolution in Chile.

• Saturday, March 11th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  HMS Endurance in Puerto Belgrano's dry dock

  The Royal Navy's Ice Patrol Ship HMS Endurance is undergoing repairs in the dry dock of Argentine Navy's main base Puerto Belgrano where she arrived Friday afternoon.

• Saturday, March 11th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile says adios to President Lagos

  It's reminiscent of a tale of rags to riches. Ricardo Lagos' presidency started in March 2000 with an aura of foreboding. He had only just beaten Joaquin Lavin in January's electoral run off; the specter of the first ?leftist' President since Allende sent capital flying out of the country; and it was widely believed he wouldn't finish his term.