Mercosur

• Saturday, February 26th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF praises Uruguayan economy performance.

  The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, highlighted Uruguay's economic program for successfully steering the economy out of the 2002 financial crisis and praised the incoming authorities for their commitment to continue with the current framework and build on the progress made to far.

• Saturday, February 26th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine optimism with defaulted bonds exchange.

  Argentina's defaulted debt restructuring swap concluded this Friday at 18:15 with prospects of a high level of acceptance which is estimated between 70 and 80%.

• Saturday, February 26th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Prince Edward visits Uruguay and Chile.

  Prince Edward will be visiting Uruguay and Chile beginning next week. In Uruguay he will participate in the taking office ceremony of elected President Tabare Vazquez Tuesday March 1.

• Friday, February 25th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Govt. opens market, C&WB's monopoly ends.

  The government of Barbados officially opened up its telecoms market this week, ending the monopoly of Cable & Wireless Barbados (C&WB) and handing new licenses to three competitors, according to local newspaper Nation News.

• Friday, February 25th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Standard Chartered to expand LatAm franchise with new office.

  UK banking group Standard Chartered plans to open a representative office in Chile to tap growing trade with Asia, the bank's head of Latin America, Rodolfo Alborelli told BNamericas.

• Thursday, February 24th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Torres del Paine blaze: “ecological disaster”

  Torres del Paine Park in Chilean Patagonia was definitively closed to tourists Wednesday following almost a week of raging blazes that have destroyed so far anywhere between 9,000 and 11,000 hectares of pristine grassland, shrubs and woods.

• Thursday, February 24th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  US inflation low, but interest rates are “quite low”

  Consumer prices in United States advanced 0,1% last January following a drastic drop in energy prices for the second consecutive month, according to a release this week from the Labour Department.

• Thursday, February 24th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean delegation to London Food Exhibit.

  A numerous delegation of Chilean businessmen will be present at the coming International Food Fair scheduled in London March 13/16.

• Thursday, February 24th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Bolivia supports Mexican candidate for OAS chair.

  Bolivian Foreign Affairs minister Juan Ignacio Siles said his country could not support a Chilean candidate for the post of Secretary General of the Organization of American States, OAS, because it could be harmful to its country's maritime claims.

• Thursday, February 24th 2005 - 21:00 UTC

  Paraguay: massive purge in security forces.

  Paraguayan president Nicanor Duarte Frutos sacked Interior Minister, Nelson Mora, and at least 55 Police officers, the greatest security forces purge ever, in the framework of the investigation on the abduction and killing of a former president's daughter.