Mercosur

• Saturday, June 25th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  US confirms second case of mad cow

  Tests have confirmed a second case of mad cow disease in United States, reported Friday the US Department of Agriculture.

• Saturday, June 25th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile purchases three Royal Navy frigates

  Chile's Defence Minister Jaime Ravinet confirmed Friday that the government had authorized the purchase of three second hand frigates from the Royal Navy.

• Saturday, June 25th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean general confirms British aid during 1982 war

  Retired Chilean Air Force general Fernando Matthei and former member of the military Junta under General Augusto Pinochet confirmed that Chile collaborated with the United Kingdom during the Falklands conflict fearing they might be Argentina's second objective.

• Friday, June 24th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazilian political crisis refuses to abate

  Dilma Rousseff Brazilian president Lula da Silva's cabinet chief claimed that several political groups and activists are interested in eroding the president's image and advancing the presidential elections scheduled for October 2006.

• Friday, June 24th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Oil hits 60 US dollars pb and still going strong

  Texas intermediate light crude reached Thursday an all time record of 60 US dollars per barrel, closing at 59.42 US dollars, which represents a 42% increase since the beginning of 2005.

• Friday, June 24th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Eleven charred in longliner “Seimez” tragedy

  Uruguayan officials confirmed Thursday they had found the charred remains of eleven crewmembers from a Ukrainian longliner that caught fire in the port of Montevideo.

• Thursday, June 23rd 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Another blow for Brazilian president Lula da Silva

  A Brazilian court suspended the civil rights of Sao Paulo's former mayor Marta Suplicy, for a three-year period because of improper management of public funds while she was in office, reported the Brazilian press Wednesday.

• Thursday, June 23rd 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Truck industry complains Andes crossing “bottleneck”

  As an estimated 8,000 trucks which had been bogged by snow for over a week on both sides of the Argentine/Chilean border Andes crossing, Paso Internacional de los Libertadores, began moving, the Chilean transport industry is bitterly complaining about the country's economy “bottle neck”.

• Thursday, June 23rd 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean Congress to investigate Lagos relatives and friends

  Chilean president Ricardo Lagos praised the creation of a Congressional committee to investigate alleged irregularities in government contracts awards involving a consulting company belonging to his brother in law and one of his closest friends.

• Thursday, June 23rd 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Controversial Cavallo is back and with political ambitions

  Former Argentine Economy minister Domingo Cavallo will be deciding in the next few days if he will run for a seat in the Lower House in the coming October elections, but what is definitive is his return to Argentina.