Mercosur

• Sunday, September 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Project for Mercosur regional Defence Office.

  Mercosur member countries, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, plus associate members Chile and Bolivia are considering the establishment of a regional Defence Secretariat which could then advance in regional defence matters.

• Sunday, September 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Foot and mouth in Brazilian Amazon.

  Brazilian authorities confirmed Saturday the discovery of foot-and-mouth in the Amazon region, where a previous outbreak was reported almost three months ago.

• Sunday, September 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  US bank donates 680,000 acres in Tierra del Fuego.

  United States Investment Bank Goldman Sachs formalized this week in Punta Arenas the unprecedented gift of a sprawling wilderness in Chile to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

• Sunday, September 12th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Mercosur-EU “joint assessment” in Brasilia.

  Mercosur member country ministers will be meeting this Sunday in Brasilia with European Union Trade Commissar Pascal Lamy for a “joint assessment” of the difficult bilateral negotiations, said Brazilian Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim.

• Saturday, September 11th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  9/11 New York

  Last year, children's voices echoed across ground zero. This year, it is the bereaved parents and grandparents of World Trade Center victims who will read aloud the names of those lost on September 11, 2001.

• Friday, September 10th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  HMS Cardiff visits Valparaiso.

  South Atlantic Patrol Task HMS Cardiff is scheduled to arrive Friday afternoon in Valaparaíso, Chile's main port, where she's expected to remain until September 15.

• Friday, September 10th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Latinamerica employment recovering.

  Urban unemployment in Latinamerica dropped to an average 10,9% during the first half of 2004 with the most significant reductions in Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela, according to the latest release from the International Labour Office.

• Thursday, September 9th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Fed optimistic about US recovery

  United States economy is emerging from a recent summer lull and seems to be recovering full force, said Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan during a hearing this Wednesday before the House of Representatives Budget Committee.

• Thursday, September 9th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Record oil income year for Venezuela.

  Venezuela's oil industry sales could be in excess of 30 billion US dollars, according to the National Economic Council (CEN) and the Central Bank. CEN chairman Efrain Velasquez said the figures were based on results from Venezuela's balance of payments at the end of the first half of this year, when “petroleum exports generated $15 billion”.

• Thursday, September 9th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguay expects promising season.

  The number of tourists visiting Uruguay during the first eight months of 2004 was 36% above the same period in 2003 and if the tendency continues could total over two million, according to the Uruguayan Ministry of Tourism.