Mercosur

• Saturday, March 4th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil proposes regional energy market

  Latin America should form a regional market for cheap energy that will boost development across the continent, a top energy official said Friday.

• Friday, March 3rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Sweden's first case of mad cow

  Sweden's first case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, mad cow disease, has been confirmed by the European Union's central laboratory and in the Netherlands an 8 year old cow was also diagnosed with BSE.

• Friday, March 3rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean Consumer prices drop 0.1% in February

  The February Consumer price index in Chile dropped 0.1%, accumulating 4.1% in the last twelve months and 0% over December 2005, according to a Friday release from the National Statistics Institute.

• Friday, March 3rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Record cruise season for Ushuaia

  Ushuaia in the extreme south of Argentina is living a record summer season with fifty cruise vessels calling and almost 100.000 visitors, according to a report from the Argentine Coast Guard.

• Friday, March 3rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean president praises Chavez, rejects “leftist wave”

  Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, whose term expires March 11, had kind words for controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez at an economic forum in Santiago.

• Thursday, March 2nd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine Leader Touts Economic Recovery

  President Nestor Kirchner told Congress on Wednesday that Argentina's recovery from a deep crisis in 2002 is one of the strongest rebounds here in a century.

• Thursday, March 2nd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Dispute between Argentina and Uruguay

  Uruguay rejected a plea by Argentine President Nestor Kirchner on Wednesday to temporarily halt construction of two pulp mills that have sparked environmental concerns, protests and a deep diplomatic crisis between the neighbors.

• Thursday, March 2nd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chavez-sponsored Rio Carnival club wins top title

  Rio's samba parade, the highlight of the pre-Lenten carnival, is a hard-fought competition among the city's 14 top samba groups, which present 80-minute parades featuring thousands of costumed dancers, drummers and singers. The parades can cost some $2 million each.

• Thursday, March 2nd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Punta Arenas Standard Wool plant reopens October

  Standard Wool Chile S.A. from Punta Arenas which a year ago was razed to the ground by fire has begun to rebuild the plant and expects to be in full production by next October.

• Thursday, March 2nd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina confirms second FAM outbreak in Corrientes

  Argentina announced this week a second case of foot and mouth disease following the confirmation of the disease in a stray cow found in a neighboring paddock to the farm where an outbreak was first reported three weeks ago in the northeastern province of Corrientes.