Business

President Alvaro Uribe signed, on December 30, 2005, a law that ratifies a FTA with Mercosur and gives Colombian products preferential access to a market of 230 million people. Colombian entrepreneurs will also be able to import materials and capital goods from Mercosur at lower costs due to reduced tariffs resulting from the agreement. The agreement’s asymmetry clauses favor Colombia because it allows the gradual and progressive reduction of tariffs and likewise gives Colombia the opportunity to gradually reform its production system to adapt

Monthly donors to the Greenpeace in the UK have received a shock recently, as their specified amounts were multiplied by 100. Thus, a "direct debt donation" of £2 monthly would have come out at £200, and donations of £50 became £5000. The environmental charity says that they will reimburse donors by January 3, and also pay any extra bank charges incurred. John Sauven, a director at the NGO said "We are still trying to find out how this glitch happened but for some reason two noughts seem to have been added, or the computer has converted pence

It looks like baseball stars Manny Ramirez and Miguel Tejada might be traded after all. Several New York Daily News sources claim that Ramirez could go to the New York Mets as part of a four-team deal. However, budget constraints may complicate the trade. According to the Daily News, if this blockbuster deal is successful, the following trades could take place: Mets would get: Manny Ramirez Danys Biaz Red Sox would get: Miguel Tejada Joey Gathright Orioles would get: Matt Clement Julio Lugo Kris Benson Devil Rays would get: Andy Marte Ja

Russia has ended exports of natural gas to neighbouring Ukraine following a failure to reach a compromise over prices. Gazprom, Russia's natural gas behemoth, began cutting off supplies at 7:00 a.m. UTC Sunday, January 1. Gazprom claims to have taken this action because Ukraine refuses to pay the market rate for natural gas which is approximately four times higher than the price previously agreed upon by the two. Ukraine has stated that they are not averse to higher prices but believe they ought to be introduced sequentially. Additionally, Ru

Fazio has stepped down after an investigation into his role in a controversial bank takeover. Mario Draghi is to fill his shoes. Draghi's former job was managing director of the investment bank Goldman Sachs. Draghi will serve a six year term under a new law that set term limits for the Central banks governor passed last week. Draghi, who is 58, has had senior government positions in the past including director general of the Italian treasury. He was born in Rome and earned a doctorate in economics from MIT in 1976. After earning his degr

Consumer confidence rose in December to levels closer to those before huricane Katrina according to the Conference Board Consumer Research Center's consumer confidence index. The index was at 105.5 before the huricane hit the port of New Orleans disrupting oil production and trade for a large part of the country. The index was at 102.7 in December last year. The index rose to 103.6 from a revised 98.3 for November. The index was expected to only rise to 102.5. "Consumer confidence continues to bounce back and is now at its highest level

A German businessman who had his camera stolen at a restaurant found and made a purchase for the same camera model on eBay. To his surprise, it was his own stolen camera. The reason he wanted the same model was because he had matching accessories. The seller was from his hometown, making it even more suspicious. Police on Thursday were questioning a 34-year old vendor. His statement "claims he got the camera at a flea market, but was also offering other cameras on the Internet." Source

President Kirchner says that Argentina will be able to pay off its IMF debt of US$9.8 billion dollars next week following the New Year weekend. The announcement has come with great applause at home, but according to CNN it has led to a temporary decrease of the value of the Argentine peso in international markets. Payment was originally scheduled for 2008, and paying off the debt early will save Argentina around $1 billion dollars. The payment is made out of the Central Bank foreign currency reports, which according to CNN total $28 billion.

The Australian Wheat Board (AWB), the primary economic authority for Australian wheat export is set to lose its long-standing trade contract with Iraq worth $270m/annum to United States exporters after a deal was struck with Iraqi Wheat Board for a majority share of the $500m wheat market. Aggressive lobbying by United States trade diplomats used the imminent uncovering of AWB involvement in the Oil for Wheat incident as fodder in their recent negotiations. The AWB's previous arrangement saw the use of Alia, a Jordanian based transport corpora

Evo Morales, newly elected President of Bolivia, requested that the European Union fund a study to track coca. The study will focus on what happens to the coca and how much of it makes its way into the drug trade. According to Angel Gutiérrez, the EU has agreed and will donate US $499,800 for the study, but will not participate in its implementation. Morales has requested similar studies in the past, prior to being elected. Morales himself owns a coca farm and his Socialist Movement Party got its birth in the union of coca farmers. Althoug

Electrical power generator Calpine Corporation declared bankruptcy on Tuesday. The San Jose, California based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Federal Court, to facilitate debt restructuring and to allow for normal operations to continue. Calpine has obtained secured debtor-in-possession financing from Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse First Boston totaling $2 billion. The company announced that some of its Canadian subsidiaries would also file for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. Calpi

In the United States of America and other parts of the word, as Christmas and the holidays draw near, shippers have released information on shipping deadlines. Remember to always clearly label and address your holiday packages. __NOTOC__ December 21 FedEx FedEx International Economy This is the last day to ship to Mexico from the US. U.S. Post Office Deadline to ship using Priority Mail® service DHL (U.S.) Second Day Delivery December 22 FedEx FedEx Priority Overnight FedEx Standard Overnight FedEx International Priority Th