Mercosur

• Thursday, December 22nd 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Explorers recreate Scott mission

  Four British explorers are recreating Robert Scott's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole using some replicas of equipment used in 1912. Simon Daglish, 40, Ed Farquhar, 39, James Daly, 41, and Roger Weatherby, 43, will pull a heavy wooden sledge across the original route.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Guess which is the world's fourth largest economy?

  China which has the fastest growing among large economies reviewed the estimate of its GDP by 16.8%, overtaking Italy as the world's sixth economy. The review follows a national census and is measured in US dollars at market exchange rates.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Mexican official calls US Migrant Bill “lame and stupid”

  Mexican Foreign Affairs minister Luiz Ernesto Derbez said that the Migrant Bill passed by the United States House of Representatives is “lame” since it ignores the contribution of millions of Mexicans, but also “stupid” for pretending that a wall will solve the migratory challenge.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Shepherd, union leader, congressman, president

  Evo Morales, 46, who January 22 will become Bolivia's first-ever Indian president is a leftist leader of coca-leaf farmers and former llamas shepherd born to a highland couple who saw three of their six children die in infancy.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Morales will have to prove his pragmatism

  In spite of what seems a landslide victory in last Sunday's presidential race (51% of the vote), Bolivian Indian leader Evo Morales won't have a majority in Congress and will need to build alliances both in the Lower House and the Senate.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  US economy steams ahead with low inflation

  The United States economy continued to grow at a fast pace despite the impact of hurricanes and record high oil prices with third quarter GDP expansion reaching 4,1%.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentine fishing industry annual turnover: 658 million US dollars

  The Argentine fishing industry had an annual turnover equivalent to 658.8 million US dollars in 2003, mainly from sales of goods produced by fishing companies, as indicates the last survey performed by the Statistics and Census National Institute, INDEC, based on 2003 data.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile to post record GDP of 112 billion US dollars

  Chile is forecasted to post a record GDP equivalent to 112 billion US dollars given the current rate of expansion and business growth expectations for November and December.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Kirchner promises fiscal and monetary prudence

  Argentine president Nestor Kirchner confirmed that next January 2 Argentina will repay the whole pending debt with the International Monetary Fund, which amounts to 9.810 billion US dollars.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Four hemispheric countries in IMF debt write-off

  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to write off 3.3 billion US dollars in debts owed by the poorest countries in the world including Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras and Guyana.