Stories for December 2008

Friday, December 12th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Ecuador defaults on bonds; promised restructure

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has ordered halting payment on foreign bonds he calls “illegal” and “illegitimate”. If this is the case it would be Ecuador's second default in a decade.
Friday, December 12th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Bush, Obama support emergency aid for US car industry

The outgoing George Bush administration said it may be willing to give emergency aid to the ailing US car industry, keeping open the prospects for a bailout the day after Congress failed to approve a deal.
Friday, December 12th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
WTO admits not enough consensus for world trade talks

World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy has abandoned attempts to restart the world trade talks. Lamy told ambassadors in Geneva that he has decided there was not sufficient consensus among major economies to call new ministerial talks on a trade deal.
Friday, December 12th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Ex Nasdaq chairman fraud could trigger hedge funds-run

The former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market has been arrested and charged with securities fraud, in what may be one of the biggest fraud cases yet. Bernard Madoff ran a hedge fund which ran up 50 billion US dollars of fraudulent losses and which he called “one big lie”, prosecutors allege.
Friday, December 12th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
London police accepts full responsibility for Menezes death

London's Metropolitan Police accepts “full responsibility” for the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, its acting head said on Friday. Sir Paul Stephenson, the acting commissioner of the force, said officers made a “most terrible mistake” when they shot the innocent 27-year-old dead in Stockwell on July 22 2005.
Friday, December 12th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
A “boxing weekend” for Uruguay's ruling coalition congress

Uruguay's ruling coalition national congress of delegates meets this weekend to decide on the presidential candidate --or hopefuls-- for next October's election, but contrary to the long tradition of the catch-all movement, no consensus has been reached or seems achievable.
Thursday, December 11th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Obama transition team supports call for Latam free trade

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Latinamerica to continue fighting poverty and avoid the temptation of closing off trade. Rice said on Wednesday countries should not “repeat the mistakes of the Great Depression when nations deepened that crisis by turning inward”.
Thursday, December 11th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Republicans oppose US auto industry rescue agreement

The White House and leading Congressional Democrats reached on Wednesday a broad agreement on a 14 billion US dollars rescue package for the “Big Three” US auto manufacturers but Republicans are still holding out.
Thursday, December 11th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
Chavez defers for 2012 his “Socialist” constitution proposal

Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez announced Wednesday that he would promote a constitutional reform in 2012 for the establishment of a Socialist state. He made the announcement during the Air Force Day celebration.
Thursday, December 11th 2008 - 20:00 UTC
UN admits human rights protection is far from achieved

The international community has not lived up to the vision held in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a ceremony on Wednesday marking the 60th anniversary of the landmark document.