Mercosur

• Sunday, October 17th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  LAN's Enrique Cueto selected CEO of the Year.

  Latin Finance magazine citing ten straight years of profits and a whopping 300% jump in stock prices since 2002, has named LAN Chile's Enrique Cueto as its CEO of the Year. The magazine's October 2004 issue ? dedicated to infrastructure investment ? carries a wide-ranging interview with the Chilean airline executive written by Mary Dempsey.

• Sunday, October 17th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Record US trade deficit last August.

  Oil prices and China's monetary competitiveness are blamed for the last August 54 billion US dollars trade deficit, the second highest in recent United States history.

• Sunday, October 17th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Paraguay shocked by lack of law and order.

  Thousands of Paraguayans took to the streets of the capital Asunción to protest increasing crime following a wave of killings and kidnappings.

• Sunday, October 17th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Former OAS President Under House Arrest.

  A San Jose court on Saturday placed former Costa Rica President and OAS Secretary General Miguel Angel Rodriguez under six months' house arrest while awaiting trial on corruption charges.

• Sunday, October 17th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  'The Patagonian toothfish needs protection'

  Environmentalists urged fishing nations to do more to protect the rare Patagonian toothfish, dubbed the “white gold” of the sea which is being driven to extinction by rampant poaching.

• Saturday, October 16th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean Navy delegation in Ushuaia celebration.

  A delegation of Chilean naval authorities travelled last October 12 to Ushuaia, Argentina, specially invited by their Argentine Navy counterparts to participate in the city's 120th anniversary.

• Saturday, October 16th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Executive order puts Lan Peru back in the air.

  Lan Peru resumed domestic and international flights this Friday afternoon following an emergency executive order signed last night by Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo leaving without effect a Court ruling that suspended the company's operations for five days beginning Friday.

• Saturday, October 16th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Judge upholds Argentine government in hake dispute.

  An Argentine Federal Court Judge from Rawson, José Eduardo Pinsker turned down legal appeals which would have allowed 11 vessels belonging to five companies to continue catching common hake (Merluccius hubbsi).

• Saturday, October 16th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Former OAS chief in Costa Rican Court

  Former Organization of American States, OAS, Secretary General Miguel Angel Rodríguez was handcuffed and carried away on arriving this Friday to San Jose airport in Costa Rica where he must respond to alleged claims of bribery which abruptly cut short his recent naming in OAS.

• Saturday, October 16th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina replaces Chile in UN Security Council.

  Argentina, Denmark, Greece, Japan and Tanzania won this week seats as non permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.