Mercosur

• Wednesday, September 14th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile's presidential campaign takes off

  Chile's December presidential campaign officially kicked Tuesday with five candidates running to succeed President Ricardo Lagos, four men and a woman. Opinion polls show the ruling coalition candidate very close to achieving the absolute majority in the first round thus avoiding a run off.

• Wednesday, September 14th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Surging oil prices force air industry to raise fares

  Anticipating huge losses because of soaring fuel prices Latinamerican and United States airlines have began raising fares in their regional flights.

• Tuesday, September 13th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Australia arrests Cambodian flagged toothfish poacher

  Australia arrested a Cambodian long-liner suspected of fishing illegally in sub-Antarctic waters which was later discovered to have 130 tons of Patagonian toothfish in the haul. The armed Australian patrol Oceanic Viking escorted Saturday the 76 metre, 2,145 tons Cambodian-flagged FV Taruman to port in Hobart in Tasmania, said Australian Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald.

• Tuesday, September 13th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  G-10 bankers committed to keep inflation “low”

  The Central Banks of the ten leading industrial countries of the world warned that the strong surge in oil prices will slow global economic growth.

• Tuesday, September 13th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil, Venezuela interested in Scorpone submarines

  The head of a French defence contractor Thales said the group expects Brazil, Venezuela and Singapore to become the next buyers of the Scorpene class conventional submarine jointly manufactured by France and Spain.

• Monday, September 12th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine Illex landings doubled but not enough “to compensate”

  The Argentine Illex squid season was over before the calendar date but “it was far better than in 2004, almost double catches and with a real tempting commercial price increase close to 100%”, said Hugo Stecconi, vice-president of the Argentine Jiggers Chamber and head of Pesquera Madryn.

• Monday, September 12th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazilian vice-president promises loyalty to Lula

  Brazilian vice-president Jose Alencar said he was ready to take office if president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was impeached on corruption charges and censored. In that case the first thing I would do “is change the current monetary policy”, said Mr. Alencar in an interview published Sunday in the influential Folha de Sao Paulo.

• Monday, September 12th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Chavez in Columbia University forum

  Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez will be one of the star participants of a forum of world leaders organized by Columbia University next September 19.

• Monday, September 12th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean Army says 1973 coup is “a closed matter”

  Chilean Army Commander in chief General Juan Emilio Cheyre said that as far as the Army was concerned “the matter of September 11 is closed” referring to the September 11, 1973 bloody coup which installed the military regime of General Augusto Pinochet.

• Monday, September 12th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Cruise season: Punta Arenas expects 20% more visitors

  Punta Arenas expects at least 123 cruise calls this coming 2005/06 season, including 75 foreign vessels according to the latest estimate released by the regional ports authority Empresa Portuaria Austral, EPA, which manages Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales.