The EU-Mercosur trade agreement will not change the requirement that any product arriving to Europe from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay must comply with the EU’s stringent food safety standards.

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has said climate change protections built into the Mercosur trade agreement were a “deal breaker” which could be used to thwart the EU-South America pact.

Mercosur (Southern Common Market) is the South American trade bloc. That’s Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela — although Venezuela is currently suspended.

EU negotiators last night clinched a major trade deal with the South American economic bloc Mercosur.

The European Commission has been accused of hypocrisy and double standards in pursuit of a trade deal with the South American group of Mercosur countries — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

EU trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom has confirmed that a free trade agreement with South America’s Mercosur group of countries is her top priority.

Chia Bia, a health food company based in Tramore, Co Waterford, has become an industry leader in the supply of seed products to the Irish, European, and international markets.

Three Ministers are focusing this St Patrick's Day on opening up new markets for Irish companies across three continents.

Brexit could trigger flight restrictions and reduced tourism numbers here but may surprisingly boost the financial services sector, a report predicts.

Many EU citizens might have to pay for a trade deal with South American countries with medical bills.

A former South American football official has been acquitted of corruption charges at a US trial stemming from the Fifa bribery scandal after two others were convicted last week.

Ger McCarthy shares what we learned from Ireland's clash with Denmark…

From inner city Dublin to the red carpet of Cannes, it’s been quite a climb for Barry Keoghan. Esther McCarthy talks to the actor who first broke through in Love/Hate

Arsene Wenger has dismissed suggestions that Alexis Sanchez has returned to Arsenal this season fat and out of shape.

We may be hardwired to eat fatty, calorie-rich foods, but that does not mean we are slaves to our primal instincts, says Clodagh Finn

Over the past decade, a little-known herb 200 times sweeter than sugar has become a €3.5bn global industry, showing up in everything from Coca-Cola drinks to Heinz ketchup.

The US has hit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with financial sanctions after an election to rewrite the constitution.

IFA Livestock Chairman Angus Woods led an IFA delegation which recently brought serious allegations against beef processors to senior officials in the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).

The ruling clique is prolonging the agony by rejecting a democratic transition. The desperate, and repressed Venezuelan people deserve their country back, writes Enrique ter Horst.            

Brazilian police have captured a drug lord who used plastic surgery to evade authorities for nearly three decades.

Protesters have invaded Paraguay's parliament building after senators approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the election of a president to a second term.

President Michael D Higgins attended the launch yesterday of the 300th anniversary celebrations of one of Cork’s oldest churches.

President Michael D Higgins is to make an historic visit to Cuba next month.

The lives of eight illustrious Cork women were celebrated by projecting their images onto Cork County Council buildings for Women's Little Christmas last week.

Beef farmers will be the biggest losers in future EU trade deals, the European Commission has said.

Brazil’s Adilson da Silva will hit the first shot in Olympic competition for 112 years tomorrow when golf’s controversial return to the Games finally gets underway.

The downward trend in prices at the beef factories has continued, with a further reduction of 5 cents/kg in this week’s quotes.

Lord Lucan’s disappearance after his family’s nanny was found bludgeoned to death more than four decades ago continues to baffle detectives and historians.

Fifa vice president Juan Angel Napout has agreed to be extradited to the US to face charges in the football bribery investigation.

Wanted: one caring owner for a cherry-red 1954 Ferrari racer; current proprietorship heavily contested.

I want to cut back on my sugar consumption, but I know I should avoid artificial sweeteners. Which natural sugar alternatives are the best to use?

Pope Francis has left Rome for his first trip to Spanish-speaking South America, a ‘homecoming’ to a continent where he will champion the rights of the poor and of the planet.

We take a look at some of the more light hearted stories from around the world.

Southampton defender Nathaniel Clyne yesterday underwent a medical on Merseyside ahead of his £12.5m (€17.4m) move to Liverpool.

Pope Francis is, or rather was, well known as a football man and, in particular, as a committed supporter of the San Lorenzo club in his native Argentina, so it rather came as a shock when he recently confessed that he had never seen his fellow countryman Lionel Messi in action.

A businessman who was indicted by US authorities in connection to the Fifa corruption case has turned himself in to Italian police.

The fate of a pregnant 10-year-old has not only become a national debate in Paraguay but has underscored what activists say is a problem with child rape in this poor South American nation.

Paraguay’s decision to deny a pregnant 10-year-old girl an abortion after she was allegedly raped by her stepfather has sparked a national debate over the country’s strict abortion laws.