Mercosur

• Tuesday, August 30th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  France insists with air ticket tax to fight poverty

  France is planning to launch a tax on airline tickets next year to help finance the global fight against poverty, President Jacques Chirac said on Monday.

• Tuesday, August 30th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  France Compiles Blacklist for Airlines

  Reacting to the “black month” of August France published a list of airlines that aren't allowed to fly its airspace, thus beating European regulators to the punch.

• Tuesday, August 30th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Antarctica tremors help prove Earth's two speed rotation

  Tremors occurred in the South Sandwich Islands near Antarctica and detected by seismometers near Fairbanks, Alaska helped elucidate a decades' long geophysics controversy regarding the Earth's rotation and magnetic field.

• Tuesday, August 30th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  New chapter for Mercosur-EU negotiations

  The European Union and Mercosur will attempt to resume negotiations for a political association and free trade agreement, which have been stalled since October 2004, in next Friday's ministerial meeting to be held in Brussels.

• Monday, August 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Ozone layer hole over Antarctica growing

  The winter hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica appears to have grown from last year but is still smaller than in 2003, when it was at its largest, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Tuesday.

• Monday, August 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Pemex, leading oil company in the Americas

  Mexico government owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is the world's third-largest oil company in terms of production, and Mexico ranks sixth among oil producing countries, according to the company's 2005 statistical report.

• Monday, August 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina-Chile standing joint force for peace operations

  The Chilean and Argentine Armed Forces are considering the creation of a standing combined force for peace operations with a joint command, announced Chilean Defence minister Jaime Ravinet who is hosting his Argentine counterpart Jose Pampuro.

• Monday, August 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  A quarter of US adult population obese

  In ten states of the Union, 25% of the adult population is described as obese, according to a report from the non government organization, Trust for America's Health, which claims the President George Bush is doing very little to revert the epidemics situation.

• Monday, August 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazilian farms feeling impact of political crisis

  Obtaining funds to alleviate Brazil's farming sector of its growing indebtness has turned into an uphill race because of the political crisis, admitted this week Brazilian Agriculture minister Roberto Rodrigues.

• Monday, August 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Twenty million Chileans by 2050

  The Chilean population is set to keep growing at least until 2030 and possibly 2050, when it is expected to reach in excess of 20 million according to a Vital Statistics (deaths and births) report released by the country's Institute of Statistics.