Mercosur

• Wednesday, December 14th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil to clear entire IMF debt

  Brazil, tapping into a surge in its foreign reserves, will pay back before year-end the remaining $15.5 billion it owes the International Monetary Fund.

• Wednesday, December 14th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Morales closer to changing Bolivia's history

  Indian leader Evo Morales could become Bolivia's first indigenous president next Sunday according to the latest public opinion poll and to some strategic appeasement public relations in which he has been involved.

• Wednesday, December 14th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  “Poor countries can't wait for agricultural trade reform”

  “Poor countries cannot wait for another twenty years to see true reform in agricultural trade”, argued Brazil Wednesday at the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Hong Kong

• Wednesday, December 14th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  New record for Latinamerican trade surplus with US

  Latinamerica and the Caribbean trade surplus with the United States climbed 5% to a new record last October, reported the US Commerce Department.

• Wednesday, December 14th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Increased Repsol/YPF investments in Argentina

  Spain's Repsol YPF SA, Europe's fifth-largest oil company, will increase its planned investment in Argentina by 12% in the 2005-2009 period announced Chairman Antonio Brufau in Buenos Aires, a 32% expansion over the previous five years.

• Wednesday, December 14th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Bachelet targets ruling coalition dissident votes

  The winner of the Chilean presidential election first round Michelle Bachelet presented Tuesday her new “Political-Strategic Command” with a leading presence of Christian Democrat personalities in what seems an attempt to attract the votes of the ruling coalition junior partner for the January 15 runoff.

• Tuesday, December 13th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Evo Morales denies Brazilian “meddling” in Bolivia

  Bolivian Indian leader Evo Morales said recent expressions of support for his presidential candidacy from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were understandable given the leader's Socialist background, “but should not be taken as meddling”.

• Tuesday, December 13th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Chilean conservatives lead for the first time since 1989

  Even when the Chilean ruling coalition presidential candidate Socialist Michelle Bachelet won nearly 46% of the vote last Sunday, the warning factor is that for the first time since 1989, when Chile returned to democracy, the conservatives garnered more votes almost 49%, which is crucial for the run off next January 15.

• Tuesday, December 13th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Blair warns on fair deal for poor

  Ministers from 149 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) gathered in Hong Kong Tuesday afternoon to open the Sixth Ministerial Conference in a new bid to push forward the stalled Doha Round trade talks.

• Monday, December 12th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  A tight run off Bachelet-Piñera next January

  The ruling coalition candidate Socialist Michelle Bachelet led Chile's presidential elections on Sunday but will have to face a tight run-off with a conservative rival in January when she could become the country's first woman president.