Mercosur

• Saturday, October 9th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Roaring oil prices close above 53 US dollars

  Oil prices reached a new record high this Friday in New York with a closing price of 53,31 US dollars the barrel for light Texas crude, the highest ever since 1983. In London, Brent crude closed at 49,71 US dollars, also a record.

• Saturday, October 9th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  UK Party conferences finish

  For the 17th year the Falklands Islands Government had stands at both the Labour and Conservative Party Conferences that were held over the past two weeks in the United Kingdom.

• Friday, October 8th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Pinochet's son charged.

  Former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet's older son was formally charged yesterday with fraud in an investigation linked to the illegal sale of vehicles, and prosecutors said they will seek a three-year prison sentence.

• Friday, October 8th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Poll: Kerry leads Bush.

  US Sen. John Kerry has taken a slim lead over President George W. Bush, according to an Associated Press poll that shows the president's support tumbling on personal qualities, the war in Iraq and the commander in chief's bedrock campaign issue ? US security.

• Friday, October 8th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina wins latest round in effort to restructure debt.

  Argentina won an important battle on Thursday in its attempts to restructure about $100bn (?81bn, £56bn) in defaulted debt after the country's private pension funds agreed to accept the government's forthcoming offer.

• Friday, October 8th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Kenyan Environmentalist Wins Peace Prize.

  Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her work as leader of the Green Belt Movement, which has sought to empower women, improve the environment and fight corruption in Africa for almost 30 years.

• Thursday, October 7th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  “Historic” agreement for reforming Chilean constitution.

  Fourteen years after recovering democracy Chile managed a political agreement that will open the way to reforming some of the harshest and most controversial aspects of the 1980 Constitution inherited from the military regime of General Pinochet.

• Thursday, October 7th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Military pockets and secrets to be exposed.

  A group of Chilean Deputies from different political parties have requested President Ricardo Lagos to sponsor a bill repealing the highly secretive Reserved Copper Bill which deals with military financing and procurement.

• Wednesday, October 6th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Soybeans flatten, and cattle is back in Argentina.

  The considerable profit margin of planting soybeans over growing livestock in Argentina has begun to dramatically revert, according to a report from the Meats Trade and Industry Chamber of Argentina, Ciccra.

• Wednesday, October 6th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine: Fisheries News.

  Headlines:
  Argentine ban on Patagonian toothfish catch; Sub-Patagonian squid stock data to be released in 30 days; USD 565 million of fish and shellfish in exports registered up to August.