Stories for November 11th 2008
Maltese cruise retained in Ushuaia for security reasons
The Maltese flagged cruise vessel “Lyubov Orlova” has been retained in Ushuaia and banned from continuing to Antarctica until it complies with the International Maritime Organization security and safety rules, according to local Argentine authorities.
Santander bank announces 7.2 billion Euro rights issue
Spain's banking giant Santander - which owns UK's Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley's savings business - has announced a 7.2 billion Euro rights issue to raise new capital and shore up its capital ratio.
Argentina still planning to repay Paris Club debt
Argentina is still planning to use its foreign exchange reserves to repay defaulted debt to the Paris Club of creditor nations, according to the club's chairman Xavier Musca.
Bush-Obama begin friendly transition in the Oval Office
President-elect Barack Obama held this Monday his first meeting with incumbent George W Bush since his last week's decisive election victory. Both sides described the White House talks, which lasted just under two hours, as friendly and productive.
Veteran Welsh Guard returns to Falklands to honour best friend
Falkland Islands 1982 British veteran soldier Clive Davies admitted he, “…cried like a baby,” when on Monday he returned to spot where he witnessed the death of his best friend and countless comrades.
Mafia, Italy's largest and most profitable “corporation”
The largest business in Italy today is organized crime, Mafia, with an annual turnover of some 130 billion euros (about 165.71 billion US dollars) and a net profit of close to 70 billion euros, after investments and expenses, according to the Italian national retail services association Confesercenti on Tuesday.
Financial summit is “a promising start” says Lula da Silva
Brazilian President Lula da Silva said on Tuesday in Italy he did not expect major results from the meeting of 20 nations in Washington to discuss the global financial crisis on November 15, but “it's a promising start”.
Oil below 60 US dollars; OPEC ponders further cuts
While the price of crude oil for future delivery declined below 60 US dollars a barrel, OPEC sources on Tuesday said that the cartel will again consider cutting production when it meets next month in Algiers.
Uruguay Argentina preparing for another confrontation round
Uruguay and Argentina seem head on for another confrontation. Uruguay ratified it is considering the unilateral dredging of one of the two main River Plate channels it shares with Argentina to ensure the viability of huge projects which need navigational capacity for their production.
Cooling of China's imports concerns trade partners
China's trade surplus rose to 35.2 billion US dollars in October, hitting a record for a third month in a row, data shows. The surplus rose 20% from September's 29.36 billion high, according to data from the Customs Department in Beijing.
