Mercosur

• Tuesday, July 20th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Aeolic energy for gasoline station.

  Under the name of “El Patagón”, the Brazilian oil company Petrobras inaugurated this weekend the first gasoline station in Patagonia that functions with a combination of conventional and Aeolic (wind) energy.

• Tuesday, July 20th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Pinochet US bank accounts: Bush promises “full investigation”.

  US President George W. Bush said this Monday that the US Senate will deliver a “full investigation” on the Riggs Bank alleged cover up operations with funds and accounts belonging to former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

• Tuesday, July 20th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  President Lagos rejects “gas for sea” proposal.

  Chilean president Ricardo Lagos said Chile is prepared to negotiate with Bolivia future gas projects following the massive support for his Bolivian counterpart Carlos Mesa energy policy in last Sunday's referendum. However the Chilean president insisted that no “sovereign” access to the Pacific Ocean is on the negotiation table.

• Tuesday, July 20th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Relief for Repsol-YPF Bolivian project.

  Sunday's referendum in Bolivia which opened the way for the country's export of natural gas has come as a relief to Repsol-YPF, one of several corporations involved in a massive 6 billion US dollars ambitious plan to commercialize the country's vast hydrocarbon resources.

• Monday, July 19th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  How to live on 596 US dollars monthly.

  Eight out of ten Brazilian families have difficulties paying their bills and stretching earnings to reach the end of the month according to a report from the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE.

• Monday, July 19th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Chaos and complaints against Lan.

  Punta Arenas airport suffered two days of chaos when hundreds of Lan passengers were left stranded and protesting following delays in arrivals and departures because of adverse climate conditions.

• Monday, July 19th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Interest rate hike threat for Latinamerica.

  The World Bank's main economist for Latinamerica and the Caribbean said that insufficient investment in education and accumulated debt are the main threats to the region's economies, particularly now that the US Federal Reserve has began to raising interest rates.

• Monday, July 19th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Slight drop in Chinese growth .

  Chinese authorities seem to have been successful in slowing down the country's overheated economic growth.
  According to the latest data GDP growth during the second quarter reached 9,6%, down from 9,8% in the first quarter, and far below the expected 10,5% on an annual basis.

• Monday, July 19th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Stable prices in US and EU.

  Retail prices in United States increased 0,3% during June signaling inflation is not an immediate risk for the world's leading economy. According to the latest release from the US Department of Labor the June index marked an important drop from May when retail prices jumped 0,6%.

• Monday, July 19th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina remembers terrorist attack.

  Thousands of people gathered this Sunday in downtown Buenos Aires to remember the tenth anniversary of the 1994 bombing of an Argentine Jewish community center, AMIA, that killed 85 and left 360 maimed or injured