Mercosur

• Saturday, November 5th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Uruguay steps up FAM controls in Brazilian border

  Uruguay stepped up border sanitary controls in anticipation of “unpleasant” surprises following at least fourteen outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in neighbouring Brazil.

• Saturday, November 5th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  A Swiss sketch on Falklanders' fears

  “Kelpers live physically and geographically in a continent but psychologically and mentally in another, in a mythical Great Britain which probably no longer corresponds with reality”, writes Swiss journalist Jean Bernard Vuilleme in his recently published short book “Notes on Malvinas”.

• Saturday, November 5th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Davidoff's South Georgia claim definitively closed

  An Argentine court closed an old chapter of the South Atlantic conflict when it rejected a claim against the United Kingdom from a businessman who was forcibly evicted from South Georgia in 1982 following the flying of an Argentine flag, an episode that is blamed for the precipitation of the armed confrontation, reports the Buenos Aires press.

• Saturday, November 5th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Mexico calls on Mercosur to stop blocking FTAA

  Rioting in the streets of Mar del Plata and ongoing disputes among leaders over free trade and the Free Trade Area of the Americas, FTAA, marked the first of the two days IV Summit of the Americas.

• Saturday, November 5th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Bush praises Kirchner's record in a “candid” interview

  President George W. Bush said on Friday after meeting with host president Nestor Kirchner that the excellent record of the Argentine economy “is such now that he can take his case to the IMF with a much stronger hand”.

• Friday, November 4th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Benetton ends Patagonia dispute donating land

  Italian textile tycoon Luciano Benetton announced Wednesday the donation of 7.500 hectares of land to Indian communities in Argentine Patagonia.

• Friday, November 4th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  FAM outbreak: Brazilian government admits responsibility

  Brazilian Agriculture minister Roberto Rodrigues publicly admitted that the resurgence of foot and mouth, FAM, outbreaks can be traced to a “softening” of measures to combat the disease.

• Friday, November 4th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Low cost airline ready for Sao Paulo-Montevideo link

  Brazilian low cost airline Gol is beginning flights to Bolivia next Monday November 7 and to Montevideo, Uruguay and Asuncion, Paraguay before the end of 2005, announced company officials in Sao Paulo.

• Friday, November 4th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Euro zone rates unchanged, but ECB is “vigilant”

  The European Central Bank, ECB, decided Thursday to keep Eurozone interest rates unchanged at 2% for another month but “strong vigilance” is required to ensure that medium and long-term inflation expectations remain well-anchored.

• Friday, November 4th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  The Americas can't agree on free trade and FTAA

  The deep controversy over free trade and how to promote job creation was evident late Thursday with the arrival of US President George Bush to Mar del Plata, Argentina for the IV Americas Summit scheduled to begin Friday: the final declaration draft remained “almost finished” with “two or three paragraphs still open”.