Mercosur

• Monday, December 27th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil approves bankruptcy reform bill

  A major reform of Brazil's bankruptcy laws has been approved by Congress; a move which is hoped will cut costs for business.

• Monday, December 27th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Menem back in Bs. Aires today.

  Former president Carlos Menem is scheduled to appear in court today and promise a judge investigating him on charges of tax evasion that he will never again shun court summons.

• Saturday, December 25th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Pope Offers Christmas Message of Peace.

  In a Christmas Eve message of peace, Pope John Paul II lit a candle outside his darkened window and celebrated a Mass that offered prayers for calm and prosperity in the Holy Land

• Friday, December 24th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  “Time to harvest”, announces Lula da Silva

  Two years after taking office Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva can celebrate 2004 as a year of achievements both political and economic, however poverty and equality remain the soft spots of his administration.

• Friday, December 24th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Three OAS candidates confident of their support.

  Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Ignacio Walker reported that the Chilean candidate for Secretary General of the Organization of American States has the support of ten countries.

• Thursday, December 23rd 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Resumption of Darwin Memorial talks with British Ambassador.

  Representatives from the Committee of next of kin of servicemen fallen in Malvinas held last Monday a low key meeting with recently arrived British Ambassador John Hughes to consider the inauguration ceremony of the Memorial built in the Falkland Islands Argentine cemetery.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Bush promises a “tough” budget

  United States president George Bush promised a tough federal budget next February in an attempt to halve the country's deficit in five years.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  British yachtsman rescued in joint Chilean-Argentine operation

  An injured British yachtsman who was competing in the Global Challenge regatta and was rescued last week by the Chilean Navy in the Magellan channel area was successfully operated in Buenos Aires.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Mercosur ambitious 2005 agenda

  Mercosur plans next year to advance current trade negotiations with India, China, and South Africa as well as begin talks with Egypt, Morocco and Canada, Brazilian Ambassador Regis Arslanian is quoted in an interview with the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentina opens 90 day period for high seas squid

  The Argentine Federal Fisheries Council (CFP) authorized vessels with valid Illex Argentinus squid permits to operate in the high seas, outside the Argentine exclusive economic zone (EEZ), during a 90-day period.