Mercosur

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

  Tierra del Fuego Governor takes office

  An “odd couple” even by Argentine standards, made up of an opposition Radical governor and a vice governor from the ruling Peronist party took office last Saturday in the city of Ushuaia, capital of the extreme south province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands.

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

  Still stronger Euro ahead.

  The Euro is expected to continue its strong appreciation against the US dollar and could easily breakthrough the 1,30 psychological benchmark according to market analysts following the latest US labour market data released last week and the European Central Bank's decision to keep basic interest rates unchanged at 2%.

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

  Basic food prices quadruplicates inflation.

  In spite of the good inflationary showing in Argentina for the last quarter of 2003, just 1%, for those Argentines living in poverty or below the poverty line the consumer price index was almost four times higher.

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

  President Bush and “The Price of Loyalty”.

  United States president George Bush conducted cabinet meetings like “a blind man in a room full of deaf people” said former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill during an interview with CBS to be aired this week and in anticipation of a book about the Bush administration, “The Price of Loyalty”.

• 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.