Mercosur

• Friday, February 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Lame CAFTA becomes effective March 1

  The free trade agreement between United States, Central America and the Dominican Republic, CAFTA, becomes effective next March 1, with two months delay and involving only one of Latinamerican countries, El Salvador.

• Friday, February 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguay ended 2005 with a 264 million trade deficit

  Uruguay experienced a trade deficit of 264 million US dollars in 2005 in spite of a significant surge in exports, according to the latest release from the Central Bank

• Friday, February 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Rio do Janeiro open the most famous Carnival

  The Rei Momo, or Carnival King, officially kicked off five days and nights of nonstop partying Friday with a special appeal for revelers to practice safe sex.

• Friday, February 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine president accused of withholding information

  Argentina's main association of journalistic organizations on Friday accused President Nestor Kirchner of imposing blatant restrictions on the flow of information regarding his administration.

• Thursday, February 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Arias Wins Costa Rican Presidential Vote

  Former president and Nobel laureate Oscar Arias won Costa Rica's Feb. 5 presidential election, a press group said Wednesday, citing figures from a manual recount of the ballots

• Thursday, February 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil's Lula would win re-election

  Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's popularity has bounced back from a corruption scandal that threatened to derail his government, making him the favourite to win October's election, a poll showed on Tuesday.

• Thursday, February 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Caruana to make statement today

  Trilateral talks continued late last night in Chevening, Kent as Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, and Jose Pons and Dominick Chilcott the respective Spanish and British diplomats leading on negotiations, worked to try and close a series of items that would allow talks at ministerial level to go ahead ?in the near future'.

• Thursday, February 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile, Japan start FTA talks in Tokyo

  Japan and Chile began two days of official negotiations in Tokyo on Feb. 23 on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), aimed at striking a deal by the end of the year, Japanese government officials said.

• Thursday, February 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  UN treaty guarantees merchant sailors' rights

  Seeking to ensure fair globalization, the United Nations International Labour Organization overwhelmingly adopted on Thursday comprehensive new standards for the world's 1.2 million merchant sailors, setting out a host of rights to decent working conditions covering health, safety, minimum age and hours of work.

• Thursday, February 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Rice to visit Chile for Bachelet's taking office ceremony

  Chilean president Ricardo Lagos confirmed Thursday that United States Secretary of State Condolezza Rice would be participating next March 11 in the taking office ceremony of elected president Michelle Bachelet, the first woman to lead Chile.