Mercosur

• Saturday, December 13th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  EU leaders can't agree on the Constitution

  European leaders are returning home from the Brussels summit without having reached an agreement on the final draft of an EU Constitution and with little prospects for follow discussions in the near future.

• Saturday, December 13th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Major bribe scandal shakes Argentina

  Former Argentine president Fernando de la Rua denied this Saturday allegations from a former congressional official who claims his administration bribed senators with millions of dollars to gain approval in 2000 of a contentious labour reform bill.

• Friday, December 12th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Uruguayan General to command Cyprus UN peace mission

  Uruguayan General Hebert Figoli will be taking over December 29 as the next commander of the United Nations peace keeping force in Cyprus. UN troops have been in Cyprus, a former British colony, since the follow up of the 1963 armed conflict between local Greek and Turkish communities.

• Friday, December 12th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  EU promises flexibility in trade talks

  European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy currently in Buenos Aires said the EU is willing to be flexible with the purpose of reactivating the deadlocked negotiations in the framework of the World Trade Organization, WTO.

• Friday, December 12th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Lavagna anticipates hard line in agriculture commerce.

  Argentine Economy minister Roberto Lavagna said Argentina must advance aggressively with its agriculture claims in the coming months, once the WTO peace clause expires.

• Friday, December 12th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Chilean peso below the 600 benchmark.

  The Chilean peso finished this Thursday below the 600 benchmark against the US dollar in Santiago money markets.

• Friday, December 12th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  G.20 prepare for the WTO Geneva talks

  Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 or G-20, a main player in the agricultural subsidies battle are gathered in Brasilia preparing for the next World Trade Organization confrontation in Geneva the coming week, following the collapse of the Cancun talks.

• Thursday, December 11th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  OPEC may trade oil in Euros.

  OPEC Secretary General Alvaro Silva said the organisation is considering trading oil in euros to compensate for the US dollar's decline in value.

• Thursday, December 11th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile Signs Tax Agreement, Talks Trade with N. Zealand

  New Zealand signed a tax agreement with Chile that will complement a proposed free-trade agreement between the two nations and Singapore, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said in a statement.

• Thursday, December 11th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Immunity given to witness arms-smuggling scandal

  An Argentine court on Wednesday offered immunity to a former army colonel in exchange for his testimony about illegal arms sales to Ecuador and Croatia in the 1990s.