Mercosur

• Monday, January 12th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Scepticism and distrust of Bush likely at Americas Summit.

  U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to meet with scepticism and rejection of his policies by regional leaders at the Special Summit of the Americas meeting set to start today in Monterrey, Mexico.

• Monday, January 12th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Fidel Castro cracks on internet users.

  Cubans as of this week have growing difficulties to access to the internet following the Fidel Castro regime ban on world wide net connection from the regular phone lines system.

• Sunday, January 11th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazilian record farm export.

  Brazilian agriculture exports established a record in 2003 having reached 30,6 billion US dollars thus contributing to the country's overall trade surplus, reported Brazil Ministry of Agriculture Production and Commercialization Office.

• Sunday, January 11th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentina rebuilds IMF relation.

  The International Monetary Fund finally approved the first review of the accord signed with Argentina last September, and without modifying a “iota” according to the Argentine government. However the approval comes three weeks later than expected because of the “difficult” relation between both sides.

• Friday, January 9th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  U.S. tourists cancel trips to Brazil.

  Some U.S. tourists have begun cancelling their trips to Brazil as a result of additional security measures adopted at Brazilian airports, O Globo daily reported Thursday.

• Friday, January 9th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil wants OAS nations to be exempted from new US screening

  Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim has urged US Secretary of State Colin Powell to exempt citizens of Brazil and other Organization of American States (OAS) countries from the air travel security checks that his government considers abusive.

• Friday, January 9th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile: No way will we give Bolivia sovereign access to sea

  In the face of a renewed Bolivian bid for a piece of Pacific coastline, Chile said Thursday it is willing to talk about access and cooperation, but that Bolivia can forget about obtaining sovereignty over any piece of what is now Chile.

• Thursday, January 8th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Rio demands end of fingerprinting for US tourists

  Rio do Janeiro fearing an impact on its tourist industry is strongly lobbying for the elimination of a federal court decision instructing Brazilian police to photograph and fingerprint all visiting U.S. citizens.

• Thursday, January 8th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Buenos Aires inflation 3,7% in 2003.

  The Consumer Prices Index for the city of Buenos Aires and metropolitan areas increased 0,2% last December totalling 3,7% for the twelve months of 2003.

• Thursday, January 8th 2004 - 20:00 UTC

  Latinamerica has 19 million urban unemployed.

  Latinamerica has 19 million urban unemployed and suffers from an overall retraction in the quality of jobs according to the annual report from the International Labour Organization which was presented this week in Santiago.