Mercosur

• Thursday, March 9th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Bank of England leaves rates unchanged at 4.5%

  The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee maintained Thursday its key interest rate at 4.5% for the seventh month in a row, continuing its wait-and-see policy on the British economy.

• Thursday, March 9th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Latinamerica trade surplus with US expands 5.4%

  Latinamerica and the Caribbean trade surplus with United States expanded 5.4% last January reaching 9.2 billion US dollars reported the US Department of Commerce.

• Thursday, March 9th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Venezuela says US leads in human rights abuse

  The Venezuelan government rejected Thursday the Venezuela chapter of the annual United States report on human rights and recommended Washington to get its own house in order before criticizing other countries.

• Thursday, March 9th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  FAM controversy in Brazil delays livestock elimination

  Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture began this week sacrificing livestock in the south of the country where the recurrence of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease was reported.

• Thursday, March 9th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Mercosur/EU to resume trade negotiations in Brussels

  Mercosur and European Union representatives will again sit at the negotiation table at the end of the month, this time in Belgium, to try and advance the stalled association and trade talks between the two blocks.

• Wednesday, March 8th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil President Lula da Silva welcomed by Queen Elizabeth II.

  Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva received a lavish welcome from Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday, but he has more than pomp and ceremony planned for his three-day state visit to Britain.

• Wednesday, March 8th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  “Strategic alliance” with Argentina, Chile's top priority

  Consolidating relations with Latinamerica and “most particularly” with Argentina, plus Peru and Bolivia are foreign relations “top priorities” of the incoming administration of elected Chilean president Michelle Bachelet.

• Wednesday, March 8th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Malvinas veterans suicide rate “14 times higher”

  The suicide rate among Falklands/Malvinas war veterans is fourteen times the Argentine population average claim veterans' associations. At least 350 and possibly 454, veterans have committed suicide since the end of the war in June 1982, a figure higher than the number actually killed in combat or sunk with the cruiser “General Belgrano”.

• Wednesday, March 8th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguay's wool and skin sales top 93 million US dollars

  Uruguayan wool, sheep skin and live sheep exports from the current 05/06 clip totalled 93 million US dollars by the end of February, reported the Uruguayan Wool Secretariat.

• Wednesday, March 8th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  “Mad cow”: 10 years after EU lifts ban on British beef

  A worldwide ban on British beef exports has been lifted by the European Union, ten years after it was introduced to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, or Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis, BSE.