Mercosur

• Friday, July 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Caribbean calls on US to restrict Helms-Burton Act

  The Association of Caribbean States ended its summit Friday in Panama calling on the United States to end the extraterritorial enforcement of domestic legislation, notably the Helms-Burton Act aimed at keeping corporations from investing in Cuba.

• Friday, July 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Hard liner Noriega leaves post in September

  United States top diplomat for Latin America and Caribbean affairs, Roger Noriega, announced Friday his resignation saying he planned to return to the private sector next September. Under Secretary of State for Hemispheric Affairs Noriega has held the job for the past two years.

• Friday, July 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  BSE in humans: Spain reports first death

  Spain's Health Ministry confirmed Friday that it is “highly likely” the death earlier this month of a woman in Madrid was caused by Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease variant, the human equivalent of what is popularly known as mad-cow disease.

• Thursday, July 28th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Cuba's regime tougher on dissidents

  Members of the Cuban opposition expressed concern Wednesday about the possible use of special repressive legislation known as the “Gag Law” - which establishes prison terms of up to 20 years - against at least three recently-arrested dissidents.

• Thursday, July 28th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  “Pisco” is Peruvian and calls for a celebration

  Peruvians celebrated Wednesday with a 2,000 litres binge the World's Trade Organization Intellectual Property decision stating that pisco is a Peruvian drink.

• Thursday, July 28th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Ten Latinamerican countries in “failed states” list

  Ten Latinamerican countries out of a list of sixty ran the risk of becoming what is described as “failed states” according to a paper from the United States publication Foreign Policy and the US NGO “Fund for Peace”.

• Thursday, July 28th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  “Keep Bush out of the country”

  Opponents of US President George W. Bush yesterday staged a protest to urge court authorities to keep him from attending a November summit in Argentina, arguing his presence would raise security concerns.

• Thursday, July 28th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  US faces fresh challenge on farm subsidies

  Amid near deadlock in global talks over agricultural trade, the US on Wednesday faced a fresh challenge to its support for farmers as Uruguay promised to file a legal complaint against American rice subsidies at the World Trade Organisation.

• Wednesday, July 27th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Tour de force by jailed former Nicaraguan president

  A lower court judge in Nicaragua ruled that former President Arnoldo Aleman, currently under house arrest at his ranch, may serve the rest of his twenty year sentence under probation terms given his “invalidity” conditions.

• Wednesday, July 27th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile regrets Swiss decision regarding former terrorist

  Chilean Minister of Interior Francisco Vidal regretted the Swiss government's decision to grant political refuge status to a former Chilean terrorist who in 1996 fled from a high security jail. However he said Chile will respect the decision.