Mercosur

• Tuesday, November 1st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  HMS Cumberland seizes £ 200 million in drug bust

  The British frigate HMS Cumberland has seized a two-tonne haul of cocaine with a UK street value of some £200 Million in a Caribbean drug bust, reports the Royal Navy.

• Tuesday, November 1st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Fed raises rate to 4% and anticipates more

  Determined to keep inflationary pressures in check and in a move expected by market analysts the Federal Reserve decided Tuesday to raise interest rates for the twelfth consecutive time increasing the base rate by 25 points to 4%.

• Monday, October 31st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Cuba denies money contribution to Lula's campaign

  Cuba categorically denied Sunday having contributed three million US dollars to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's electoral campaign in 2002 as was attributed by the latest edition of Veja magazine.

• Monday, October 31st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  One week deadline for Bolivian Congress

  Indian leader and presidential candidate Evo Morales gave Bolivia's Congress one week deadline to ratify the early general elections set for December.

• Monday, October 31st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Megaport cruise terminal project for Buenos Aires

  The cruise industry encouraging prospects has led a group of Argentine private investors to present a Megaport project for Buenos Aires City, which includes a new terminal, convention centre and several apartment towers distributed in a wide open park, reports the Argentine press.

• Monday, October 31st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentina: positive tourism trade balance

  The tourism trade balance in the second quarter of 2005 was positive for Argentina in 27 million US dollars according to the latest release from the Statistics and Census Office.

• Monday, October 31st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  British group to re-edit Scott's first polar expedition

  A British group, the Numis Polar Challenge will be attempting to re-edit this season Robert Falcon Scott's first expedition to the South Pole, revealed Peter McDowell, General Manager of Adventure Network Chile, affiliate of Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions, (ALE).

• Monday, October 31st 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Lagos, darling leader for Latinamerican elites

  Chilean president Ricardo Lagos is the most popular leader among the 34 heads of state that will be arriving in Mar del Plata, Argentina, for the IV America's Summit.

• Saturday, October 29th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile-China sign free trade agreement November

  Chile and China successfully finished this week the round of negotiations for a free trade agreement which is scheduled to be formally signed by President Ricardo Lagos and Chinese President Hu Jintao next November in South Korea.

• Saturday, October 29th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Latinamerican support for democracy weaker

  Support for democracy is weaker than in 1996 in twelve Latinamerican countries, particularly in Peru, Colombia, Paraguay, Bolivia and Central America, according to the latest public opinion poll undertaken by the Chilean organization Latinobarometro for the British business magazine, The Economist.