Mercosur

• Friday, November 18th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile and China sign historical agreement

  China and Chile on Friday signed a free trade agreement, the first between China and a Latin American country.

• Thursday, November 17th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Palocci fully ratifies Brazil's fiscal orthodoxy

  Brazilian Finance minister Antonio Palocci defended Wednesday before Congress, the government's orthodox economic policy, brushed aside claims of illegal acts or wrongdoings during his time as elected mayor and ignored rumours about his possible resignation.

• Thursday, November 17th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Air France begins direct flights Santiago-Paris

  Air France inaugurated Thursday direct flights between Paris and Santiago which represents a 70% route capacity expansion, reported the French carrier in Chile.

• Thursday, November 17th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Petrobras discovers excellent quality oil off Bahia

  Brazil's government owned oil company Petrobras announced Thursday it has discovered oil of ??excellent'' quality in the north-eastern state of Bahia.

• Thursday, November 17th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  In spite of FAM, Brazil targets new beef export record

  Abattoir activity in the Brazilian state of Matto Grosso do Sul, the country's second main beef exporter, dropped a dramatic 76% in October since the outbreak of foot and mouth disease was reported, said Jose Antonio Felicio from the Agriculture Ministry.

• Wednesday, November 16th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Copper “armored” Chilean peso sets new record

  Chile's peso climbed to its strongest against the US dollar in more than five years after the government reported that exports of copper, the country's biggest export, surged in October and prices for the metal kept breaking records.

• Wednesday, November 16th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Easing of freight rates helps salmon and fruit exports

  In spite of the Panama Canal rates increase last May, overall 2005 hasn't been such a bad year for the Chilean maritime freight companies.

• Wednesday, November 16th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Chilean presidential election set for run off

  If Chilean elections were held next Sunday the ruling coalition candidate Michelle Bachelet would be forced to a run off since she has a 39% support followed by the two conservatives Sebastian Piñera, 22% and Joaquín Lavín,20%, according to the latest opinion poll released in Santiago.

• Wednesday, November 16th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Canadian Labelle new head of Transparency International

  Canadian Huguette Labelle, former president of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and current Chancellor of the University of Ottawa, is the new head of Transparency International (TI), the Berlin-based research and advocacy body devoted to fighting global corruption.

• Wednesday, November 16th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Copper year but also fears of the Dutch disease

  The current prices of copper have eluded all forecasts and 2005 will be remembered in Chile as the “copper year”.