Mercosur

• Monday, March 13th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Antarctica loosing 36 cubic miles of ice annually

  University of Colorado at Boulder researchers have used data from a pair of NASA satellites orbiting Earth in tandem to determine that the Antarctic ice sheet, which harbours 90% of Earth's ice, has lost significant mass in recent years.

• Monday, March 13th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  “Good Ilex season” reports Argentine press

  Jiggers operating in Argentina's EEZ are currently reporting significant Illex squid catches, with Puerto Deseado in Santa Cruz province, the main unloading port reports Diario de Madryn.

• Monday, March 13th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazilian Army outfoxed by favelas' drug dealers

  The Brazilian Army withdrew Monday from several Rio de Janeiro favelas, shantytowns, after having failed in recovering sophisticated weapons stolen from the Armed Forces by drug dealers.

• 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.