Mercosur

• Wednesday, January 5th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile ranks as “most liberal economy” in the region

  Hong Kong is considered the most liberal (open) economy of the world and Chile leads in Latinamerica with position eleven in a global rating of 155 countries, according to the latest report from the Conservative and influential US Heritage Foundation.

• Wednesday, January 5th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentine 2005 hubbsi hake quota: 380,000 tons

  The Argentine Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food announced the hubbsi hake quota for 2005 which will total 380,000 tons.

• Wednesday, January 5th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Booming high season in Uruguay

  An estimated 350,000 visitors have flooded Uruguayan resorts along the Atlantic coast since mid December according to official statistics and consumption figures.

• Wednesday, January 5th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  World leaders step up tsunami aid pledges.

  World leaders began preparing for Thursday's tsunami relief summit in Jakarta with a flurry of new aid announcements and a strengthening debate on how to alleviate the problems of afflicted countries.

• Wednesday, January 5th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Annan arrives in Indonesia to launch UN flash appeal for tsunami victims.

  Praising as “marvellous” the world response so far to last week's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia, today to launch the United Nations flash appeal expected to total many hundreds of millions of dollars for the most urgent needs over the next six months.

• Wednesday, January 5th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Kirchner blasts deadly fire “yellow journalism”

  Argentine President Nestor Kirchner reacted strongly Wednesday to criticisms that he took too long in responding to last week's Buenos Aires nightclub inferno that killed nearly 200 young people, and blamed it on “yellow journalism”.

• Tuesday, January 4th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentina recovers international reserves

  During 2004 the Argentine Central Bank managed to increase its international reserves 5,528 billion US dollars totalling 19,646 billion US dollars, equivalent to the mid 2001 level a few weeks before the financial crisis.

• Tuesday, January 4th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Many obstacles ahead for resumption of FTAA talks

  This month negotiations for the creation of a Free Trade Association of the Americas, FTAA, encompassing the 34 countries of the hemisphere (with the exception of Cuba) should have successfully finalized but strong objections from United States and Mercosur cut the dialogue short last April.

• Tuesday, January 4th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  Bielsa president of UN Security Council.

  Argentina's Foreign Secretary Rafael Bielsa will be presiding the United Nations Security Council during January when several critical international situations will be addressed including elections in Palestine (01/9) and Iraq (01/30), plus the taking office of President George Bush for a second mandate (01/20).

• Tuesday, January 4th 2005 - 20:00 UTC

  UN-backed expedition to sail to Antarctica to gauge impact of global warning.

  In a United Nations-backed project, a two-masted ship will set sail this month from the tip of South America for Antarctica to witness first-hand the impacts of global warming and environmental change on the world's most southerly continent.