Mercosur

• Wednesday, March 30th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF and USA praise Brazilian economic policies

  IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato said in Washington he fully approves Brazil decision not to sign a new stand by agreement and anticipated that the relation between President Lula da Silva's administration and the IMF will remain very close.

• Tuesday, March 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil: “No longer to subordinate to IMF”

  Brazil announced Monday that it will not renew the stand-by credit agreement it signed with the IMF in September 2002 because the good shape of the national economy makes it superfluous

• Tuesday, March 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  NZ bugs to help contain invasive species

  Punta Arenas Agriculture and Livestock Laboratory, following on a New Zealand experience, are considering the biological control of a weed that is proving particularly harmful for Magallanes Region grassland.

• Tuesday, March 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean leader calls for more flexible OAS

  Chile's socialist president has called for a radical overhaul of the Organisation of American States, saying the most important regional organisation in the Americas must be “faster, more responsive and more flexible”.

• Tuesday, March 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Government defines procedures to ensure onshore squid processing

  The Argentine Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture has established a series of control procedures for companies holding squid (Illex argentinus) licences to fish in the Argentine fishing ground, chiefly aimed at ensuring a minimum onshore processing of the resource.

• Tuesday, March 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Quake panics Asia; 2,000 feared dead

  A powerful earthquake struck off Indonesia's west coast late Monday, killing scores of people whose homes collapsed on them and spreading panic across the Indian Ocean that another killer tsunami was on the way. Indonesia's vice president predicted up to 2,000 deaths

• Tuesday, March 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner to run in Bs. Aires

  Government sources yesterday leaked the news that first lady Cristina Fernández has finally decided to run for national senator for the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina's largest electoral district, in the October 23 midterm elections.

• Tuesday, March 29th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Duhalde calls for an emancipated, united South America

  Eduardo Duhalde president of the Mercosur Permanent Representatives Commission called on the South American block country members to keep advancing in the consolidation of common institutions, “the creation of new ones”, and invited to make effective the dream of “an emancipated South America”, growing in unity.

• Monday, March 28th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Lifetime dream of a floating city: “Freedom Ship”

  Imagine a floating community that will travel round the world once every three years. The idea belongs to Norman Nixon a billionaire from Florida, USA, for whom it's the dream of a lifetime.

• Monday, March 28th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  “Pardelhas” to be auctioned April 15.

  Two fishing vessels belonging to the Portuguese company Pardelhas Fishing Company which have been abandoned for years in Punta Arenas will be auctioned next April 19, following the ruling of a local court.