Stories for December 2008

Wednesday, December 17th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Iraq reporter who threw shoes at Bush, becomes instant hero

Thousands of Iraqis have demanded the release of a local TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush at a Baghdad news conference. Crowds gathered in Baghdad's Sadr City district, calling for “hero” Muntadar al-Zaidi to be freed from custody.
Wednesday, December 17th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
IMF calls leders for more interventionist actions

Governments around the globe need to take widespread interventionist action to stimulate stock markets and prevent further economic declines, the International Monetary Fund has said.
Wednesday, December 17th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Cuba formally joins Rio Group of Latin American countries

Cuba on Tuesday was formally accepted as a member of the Rio Group of Latin American nations, handing the communist island a symbolic victory over US efforts to bar it from regional organizations.
Wednesday, December 17th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Engine room flood on Falklands ship Endurance

BRITISH Royal Navy Patrol Ship HMS Endurance has suffered an engine room flood off the coast of Chile.
Wednesday, December 17th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Obama named Time's 'Person of the Year' 2008”

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama was named “Person of the Year” by Time magazine, which said he “suspended our politics, shattered decades of conventional wisdom and overcame centuries of the social pecking order.”
Wednesday, December 17th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Chile helps Paraguay crack neighbours' “energy siege”

Energy rich Paraguay and Chile reached an agreement for the supply of electricity which will transmitted through Argentine territory and at “a considerable higher value than that paid by Brazil”.
Wednesday, December 17th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Oil markets more focused on mounting reserves than OPEC

OPEC announced Wednesday an unprecedented production cut of 2.2 million barrels a day in an effort to shore up the price of crude. It's the biggest production cut in the history of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries which pumps more than a third of the world's daily crude supply.
Wednesday, December 17th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
British pound moving closer to parity with the Euro

The British pound moved ever closer to parity with the Euro on Wednesday amid growing expectations of more deep cuts in UK interest rates. Minutes of the Bank of England's latest meeting revealed rate-setters considered even larger cuts than the 1% move two weeks ago, bringing rates to 2% and equalling the all-time low.
Tuesday, December 16th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Ecuador announces second bond interest payment default

Ecuador announced it is defaulting on a second bond payment, interest on 650 million US dollars in Global 15 bonds due through 2015. The announcement comes three days after President Rafael Correa said the country would not make a similar 30.6 million USD payment on Global 12 bonds.
Tuesday, December 16th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Redeployment of HMS Northumberland “no cause of alarm”

The Commander British Forces South Atlantic, Air Commodore Gordon Moulds, was quick to respond to suggestions in the British press that the Falkland Islands would be left undefended by the decision to divert the frigate HMS Northumberland to a European Union counter- piracy mission off the coast of East Africa.