Mercosur

• 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.

• Thursday, September 23rd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Bielsa: Argentina may chair Security Council

  Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa yesterday said that as from next year Argentina may chair the United Nations' 15-member Security Council, the agency in charge of preventing armed conflicts worldwide.

• Thursday, September 23rd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  ”This is the only offer we'll make'

  President Néstor Kirchner, speaking before the Council of the Americas in New York, yesterday bluntly reaffirmed that his government is only ready to repay 25 percent of the roughly 90 billion dollars Argentina defaulted on nearly three years ago amid its deepest economic crisis in history.

• Thursday, September 23rd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Dialogue on flights could be reopened.

  Argentina could restart negotiations with the United Kingdom to establish scheduled commercial flights between the continent and the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, an objective that appears and disappears with regularity from the bilateral agenda.

• Wednesday, September 22nd 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  UN: Kirchner criticized the IMF and sent a clear message to Great Britain.

  The President said during his speech that “a redesign of the international credit organization is needed”, affirmed his position against terrorism and urged the United Kingdom to restart negotiations for the Falklands-Malvinas.