Mercosur

• Friday, September 5th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  A complicated election.

  Santa Fe province, Argentina's fourth strongest electoral circumscription is going to the polls this Sunday becoming another testing ground for President Nestor Kirchner and the ruling Justicialista party.

• Friday, September 5th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile, “a country of consensuses”.

  Chile is a country of consensus which has left behind the polarization of thirty years ago that led to the bloody military coup of September 11, 1973, although there are still some totalitarian enclaves, legacy of the Pinochet regime, said Chilean president Ricardo Lagos.

• Friday, September 5th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Breaking News.

  Headlines:
  Argentine August inflation flat
  Miserable erratic salaries.

• Friday, September 5th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  World Bank puts pressure on Argentina.

  The World Bank estimates the Argentine economy this year will expand 5% and to sustain that rate of growth will need new investments and consequently increase public utility rates and further advance in pending structural reforms.

• Thursday, September 4th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Bush signs free trade accords with Chile and Singapore

  U.S. President George W. Bush signed free trade agreements with Chile and Singapore Wednesday, saying that they would contribute to the economic growth of the three countries.

• Thursday, September 4th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Lula courting Brazil's biggest political party

  Brazil's president, a former Marxist firebrand-turned-pragmatist, is allying himself with his country's biggest party, one to the right of center, promising it a share of government power and a united front in next year's local elections.

• Wednesday, September 3rd 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil fears failure in the WTO Cancun round.

  Brazil fears that the coming World Trade Organization meeting scheduled for next week in Mexico could end as happened with the 1999 Seattle summit, as one of the worst trade round failures ever, according to Ambassador Colodoaldo Hugueney.

• Wednesday, September 3rd 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Mercosur and EU will continue negotiations.

  The European Union and Mercosur will continue negotiations leading to an association agreement including free trade, “immediately after” the World Trade Organization meeting scheduled for next week in Cancún, Mexico according to a spokesperson from the European Commission.

• Tuesday, September 2nd 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF-Argentina frustrated and confronted.

  Differences regarding budget surplus, utility rates and compensations for banks losses as a result of the 2002 devaluation of the currency are frustrating negotiations for a long term agreement between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund, IMF.

• Monday, September 1st 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  “The Confession”.

  Argentine retired Gen. Ramon Diaz Bessone acknowledged on a French television show that will be broadcast on Monday, that thousands of people were tortured and executed clandestinely during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship.