Mercosur

• Monday, October 4th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Deadline for OAS Secretary General.

  Costa Rican president Abel Pacheco said he will ask for the resignation of Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Miguel Angel Rodriguez if he does not explain strong allegations of corruption by this Monday.

• Sunday, October 3rd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Lula, Cardoso parties vie for Brazilian municipal posts.

  The parties of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his predecessor Fernando Henrique Cardoso are set to duke it out on today Sunday in elections to fill more than 55,000 seats in the country's 5,562 municipal governments.

• Sunday, October 3rd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF, EU add weight to G7 debt demands.

  Rodrigo de Rato, managing director of the 184-nation IMF, and EU members added their voices to Friday's demand by the Group of Seven most industrialized nations urging the government of President Néstor Kirchner to strike a deal as soon as possible.

• Sunday, October 3rd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF calls for more aid for poor countries.

  The annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank assembly ended this Sunday in Washington calling for an increase in help for developing countries and to take advantage of the current global economy growth to apply much needed reforms.

• Sunday, October 3rd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Strong approval for President Lula but runoff in Sao Paulo.

  Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Workers Party seems to have achieved significant advances in this Sunday's municipal elections, but will be forced to a runoff next October 31 to keep control of the country's most important city Sao Paulo.

• Sunday, October 3rd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Falklands' connection in Argentine-Chilean incident.

  Incoming Chilean Foreign Secretary Ignacio Walker who caused another serious diplomatic confrontation in the bilateral relation with Argentina when it was revealed that last May he wrote a column describing the Peronist party as “authoritarian and fascist like” and Mr. Kirchner as a “populist” was not actually the first choice for the job.

• Sunday, October 3rd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Possible resumption of direct Argentina-Falklands flights talks.

  A possible resumption of Argentine-British talks next December in London at Under Secretary level could eventually help reach an understanding regarding charter flights to the Falkland Islands, according to Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa.

• Saturday, October 2nd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Pinochet closer to tax-evasion charges

  The government yesterday moved to charge former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet with evading taxes on millions of dollars he had stashed away in a US bank.

• Saturday, October 2nd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Kerry boosted by TV debate.

  Three polls suggested yesterday that US voters who watched the policy-driven confrontation between President George W. Bush and his challenger Sen. John Kerry on Thursday night were impressed by Kerry. Most of those surveyed said he did better than Bush. It was the first of three debates before the Nov. 2 election.

• Friday, October 1st 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF proposals for Latinamerica's cyclical crises.

  Latinamerica's problem is not achieving economic growth which it has, but rather the challenge of making it sustainable, said Raghuram Rajan, Director of IMF's Research Department during the official release of the “World Economic Outlook”.