Mercosur

• Wednesday, October 13th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  APEC tourism summit in Punta Arenas.

  Delegations from eighteen Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC, members plus representatives from four world tourism organizations will be participating this week in the most important ever tourism summit to be held in Punta Arenas.

• Wednesday, October 13th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner's administration: “the most hostile since Galtieri”

  Argentine media reacted this week to the editorial of the latest “Falkland Islands Newsletter” edition which describes the current President Kirchner government ”as the most hostile since (General) Galtieri”.

• Tuesday, October 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Petrobras targets Patagonia and offshore Mar del Plata

  Following the discovery of two new hydrocarbons areas in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, Brazilian government oil company Petrobras announced plans to invest 1,4 billion US dollars from now until 2007.

• Tuesday, October 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Saudi Arabia and Kuwait promise more oil

  “The problem is not OPEC, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and production but international concern resulting from political factors”, said Saudi Arabia's Oil minister Sheik Ali al-Naimi during an energy conference this weekend in Dubai.

• Tuesday, October 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Punta Arenas Antarctic agenda

  A full week of Antarctic related events are scheduled this week in Punta Arenas sponsored by the Chilean Antarctic Institute and the coming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation tourism summit to be held next November.

• Tuesday, October 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine-Chilean incident is “over”

  Argentina and Chile ministers of Defence described the recent joint military exercises in the extreme south border area as “proof of integration” and emphasized that the latest diplomatic incident between both countries “belonged to the past”.

• Tuesday, October 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Crucial municipal elections in Chile

  Chilean president Ricardo Lagos admitted that “indiscipline” from members of the ruling coalition who decided to resign and thus run in the coming municipal elections as “independents” in over 70 towns, will seriously impair the government's electoral results.

• Tuesday, October 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Drinking problems among Chilean labour

  A report from the Chilean Safety Association indicates that 26,3% of Chilean workers have a drinking problem, that is heavy drinking, dependency or in serious risk of falling into any of the two categories.

• Tuesday, October 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazilians overseas assets: 82,7 billion US dollars

  The total of declared assets held by Brazilians residents overseas reached 82,7 billion US dollars last year. They are distributed among 120 countries but concentrated in fiscal paradises such as Cayman Island, Virgin islands and Bahamas, according to the Central Bank Brazilian Assets Overseas Census.

• Tuesday, October 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Venezuela increase oil royalties.

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced during his weekly television program a substantial hike, from 1% to 16,6%, of oil royalties paid by foreign companies.