Mercosur

• Sunday, October 20th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Preliminary results in Ecuador show Alvaro Noboa in the lead

  Ecuador's Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced Sunday evening that 26 percent of the votes in the day's presidential election have been counted and that businessman Alvaro Noboa was in the lead with 17.47 percent.

• Friday, October 18th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Indians seek to increase power in Ecuadorian elections

  Ecuador's Indians, who - depending on who's counting - make up between a quarter and nearly half the Andean nation's population of 12 million, hope their recent efforts to better organize will pay off with increased influence resulting from Sunday's elections.

• Thursday, October 17th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil: We'll only accept FTAA if it suits our interests

  President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and the two candidates vying to succeed him agree that Brazil will only accept the creation of the Free-Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) if the pact takes their country's interests into account.

• Wednesday, October 16th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil props the Real

  Chilean beef exports; Rhino tracheal bovine infection in Magallanes; English artist exhibit in Antarctica; More complaints about Lan Chile

• Tuesday, October 15th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Breaking News from South America

  Lula leads two to one;
  IMF pushes Argentina; Ms. Krueger recommends re-scheduling;
  “Sanitary alert” in Mercosur

• Thursday, October 10th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  EU approves expansion

  The European Commission approved this Wednesday a historic report recommending that ten new countries be admitted into the European Union by 2004. Future members who have fulfilled EU political and economic criteria are Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta.

• Wednesday, October 9th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Ciro Gomes supports Lula

  Former centre left candidate Ciro Gomes announced his full, “unrestricted and enthusiastic” support for Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in the October 27th run off for the Brazilian presidency.

• Tuesday, October 8th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  President Duhalde optimism

  Argentine president Eduardo Duhalde said that the country would reach an understanding with the International Monetary Fund before November 9th when Argentina must honour a 250 million US dollars debt with the World Bank.

• Tuesday, October 8th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  South America News

  Dairy farmers of the world unite; Mega cruise conglomerate; Looking for investors; Chile and Mercosur; “The Argentine Consensus”; Argentine inflation recedes; Omega 3 fish oil from squid; Chilean red please;Salmon and trout exports drop in value...

• Monday, October 7th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil: Yet another battle?

  In spite of the overwhelming showing in Brazil's Sunday presidential election, almost doubling his closest opponent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will have a run-off next October 27th.