Mercosur

• Sunday, March 13th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Sol won't mimic Shell, Esso hikes in Argentina.

  State-run Uruguayan oil company Sol Petroleo on Saturday rolled back the price hikes it had imposed on fuel sold in Argentina, following Shell and Esso's example, a few hours earlier.

• Saturday, March 12th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Venezuela and Iran seal cooperation agreement

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and visiting Iranian president Mohammed Khatami stated Friday they “will stand together and strongly against any United States aggression”.

• Saturday, March 12th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  K: ?worst investment' unwelcome

  During the ceremony the president read from a report by US business watchdog Multinacional Monitor, which releases an annual ranking of the “worst corporations in the world” that takes into consideration “fraud, price abuses, pollution and poisoning cases.”

• Saturday, March 12th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Spain recalls Atocha

  Spain commemorated the first anniversary of the Madrid train bombings yesterday with tears, church bells and silent tributes to the 191 people who died in al Qaeda's worst attack in Europe.

• Friday, March 11th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil legalizes GM seeds.

  In a triumph for United States based biotechnology firm Monsanto Co., Brazil's lower house of Congress endorsed the creation of a framework to legalize biotech seed sales in Latin America's largest country.

• Friday, March 11th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Boycott Shell's raising fuel prices, says Kirchner.

  Amid growing inflation fears Argentine President Nestor Kirchner called for “a national boycott” against Royal Dutch/Shell Group for raising fuel prices.
  Thursday's statement was President Kirchner's second verbal attack on the British-Dutch oil company in two days.

• Friday, March 11th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Flag incident: three foreigners indicted

  An Argentine Federal Judge indicted this week three foreign tourists who were arrested last January in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego for trampling and trashing an Argentine flag.

• Friday, March 11th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Natural gas supplies in Kirchner-Lagos agenda

  The natural gas crisis, following the latest supply cuts to Chile by Argentina, has irrupted into Monday's bilateral agenda when Argentine president Nestor Kirchner meets with his Chilean counterpart Ricardo Lagos in Santiago.

• Friday, March 11th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Bolivia: Mesa and Morales at their necks

  Hopes for an understanding between Bolivian president Carlos Mesa with union and opposition leaders faded late Thursday evening when talks to reach a consensus on the hydrocarbons bill currently under consideration in Congress, broke down.

• Friday, March 11th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean sect leader arrested in Argentina

  Fugitive religious sect leader and German citizen Paul Schaefer, who has been convicted in absentia of sexually abusing 26 children in Chile, has been arrested 40 kilometres of Buenos Aires City, a Chilean government official said yesterday.