Mercosur

• Monday, September 27th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Mercosur-EU talks deadline in doubt

  The European Union and Mercosur have yet to exchange their complete proposals for the trade agreement currently under negotiation between the two blocks, according to European Commission sources in Brussels.

• Monday, September 27th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine fisheries exports forecasted to drop 30%.

  Argentine fisheries exports this year are forecasted to drop 30% compared to 2003 because of the poor squid and shrimp catches, according to the latest reports released by the Argentine Fisheries Department. Last year total fisheries exports totalled 885 million US dollars.

• Monday, September 27th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  APEC tourism summit in Punta Arenas confirmed.

  Eighteen out of 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation member economies have confirmed they will be participating in the Tourism Ministers summit scheduled in Punta Arenas next October 13/14.

• Monday, September 27th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Montevideo, one of the cheapest in South America.

  A report from Mercer Human Resources Consulting, MHRC, indicates that Montevideo has become the second cheapest capital in South America and is even below some of the main cities in Central America.

• Monday, September 27th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil closer to achieving oil self production.

  In spite of some delays in the construction by US contractors of oil rigs, Brazil government owned oil company Petrobras expects to reach a record production of 1,74 million barrels per day in the coming quarter, according to industry sources.

• Saturday, September 25th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Patagonia:
  Acting sheepish.

  Sheep are the movers and shakers in Patagonia. Indigenous tribes and gauchos have been massacred to make space for them; beautiful wild mammals such as guanacos and pumas have been enclosed to free up the grasses; and you can even link Britain's claim on the Falklands to sheep quarantining in the 19th century.

• Friday, September 24th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Tasty Chilean sea bass may be an illegal catch.

  Chilean sea bass is moist, flaky and buttery -- and if you buy it at the store or in a restaurant, there's a good chance it was illegally caught, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Environmental Trust.

• Friday, September 24th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Repsol YPF-Shell reach deal for natural gas project in Iran.

  Royal Dutch/Shell said Thursday it reached an agreement with Spanish oil giant Repsol YPF to exploit natural gas reserves in Iran, although the start of the joint project is at least two years away.

• Friday, September 24th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Aridity eating away at Argentina.

  Though Argentina is known for its fertile “pampa humeda” - a vast, moist, topsoil-rich plain - a new official survey says three-quarters of the breadbasket and beefy nation is arid and that large chunks are “desertified” each year.

• Friday, September 24th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  New OAS chief champions democracy.

  At his installation ceremony here Thursday, the new OAS chief, former Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez, championed a hemisphere “united in support of shared growth” to free the Americas from the bonds of poverty.