Mercosur

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

  Menem is back and promises strong opposition to Kirchner.

  Former Argentine President Carlos Menem arrived Wednesday in his home province of La Rioja from his self-imposed Chilean exile to pursue renewed political ambitions despite a poor showing in the 2003 presidential race

• Tuesday, December 21st 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  US interest rates forecasted to keep rising

  United States interest rates will rise consistently during the coming months and well into 2005 according to a survey among Wall Street analysts.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Venezuela promises China more energy

  Venezuela plans to increase oil and gas production to satisfy the needs of developing nations like China, Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez said Monday in Caracas.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile freezes arms shopping with surplus copper funds

  The Chilean Finance Ministry this week ordered the Budget Office to freeze the additional resources generated by the excellent international price of copper and which legally are earmarked for Defence purchases.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Menem arrives in La Rioja Wednesday

  Former Argentine president Carlos Menem who resides in Chile, will be returning to his home province of La Rioja this Wednesday following the acceptance by a federal Judge of the proposed bail conditions, reported his nephew Congressman Adrian Menem.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentina-New Zealand fishery agreement

  Argentina's Fisheries and Aquaculture Undersecretary, Gerardo Nieto, and New Zealand's cabinet minister, Hon Peter Hodgson, signed in Buenos Aires last December 17 a fisheries cooperation agreement.

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

  Bush: Federal Reserve propping US dollar.

  United States president George Bush said it was up to the markets to establish the value relation between the US dollar and the Euro, adding that the recent rise in interests by the Federal Reserve was an indication that “the US is concerned with the weak dollar” and “this administration supports a strong dollar”.

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

  Chilean OAS candidate gains ground.

  The Chilean candidate for the post of Secretary General of the Organization of American States, OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza has managed the support from three decisive South American countries, Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela.

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

  Full marks for Latinamerica economic report

  For the first time in several years Latinamerica economic report will be positive with a 5,5% expansion in 2004, the highest in two decades since the 6% of 1980.

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

  Mexicans abroad send 14 billion US dollars back home.

  Remittances from Mexicans living abroad, mainly from United States, support more than 1.4 million households in Mexico.