Stories for January 20th 2009

Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Controversy over latest UK banks rescue plan; shares plunge

The UK government's latest plan to counter the economic downturn by encouraging lending has been criticised, and sent banks' shares tumbling. Opposition MPs argued that the government's measures were inadequate and too many details remained unknown.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Number of tourists to Argentina drops 8% in November

The number of foreign tourists arriving in Argentina during November fell 8% over the same month last year, according to government report from the statistics office INDEC.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Economy shadows immigration in US Hispanics' agenda

The economy, education and health care are the main issues that Hispanics feel must be attended to by the new US president, but they place immigration in sixth place, according to a study from The Pew Hispanic Centre.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Venezuela: “surplus” development funds or magic accounting?

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has announced the transfer of over 12 billion US dollars from “surplus” Central Bank international reserves to help finance government projects and keep the economy growing.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Lan system passenger traffic for December was up 10.7%

Chile's Lan airlines and associates announced that its system passenger traffic for December 2008 grew 10.7%, and capacity rose 12.6%. This means that load factor declined 1.3 points over last year to 74.7%. The company noted that international passenger traffic accounted for about 68% of total passenger traffic.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Scientists to prove Patagonia Antarctic points' landmass link

A multidisciplinary team of Chilean scientists left for Antarctic as part of an ambitious project to prove at some point in the history of the World, probably 200 million years ago, South America's Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula were landmass linked.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Paraguay requesting 300 million USD to finance 2009 budget

Mercosur weakest member, landlocked Paraguay will be appealing for funds from multilateral organizations to balance this year's budget, announced Finance minister Dionisio Borda.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
USA: Stage set for Obama to make history

Barack Obama will make history when he is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States - the first black American to hold the post.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Best performer Peru changes financial helmsman

In an unexpected move and only after six months in the job, Peru's Finance Minister Luis Valdivieso resigned Monday and later in the day was replaced by his predecessor Luis Carranza who is closely linked to the Andean country's praised economic performance.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Informal poll shows St Helenians not interested in airport

When last December the British government put on hold plans to build an airport on the mid Atlantic island of St Helena, local councillors spoke of their “bitter disappointment”. But now a number of St. Helena residents say they want to stay cut off from the rest of the world, reports the BBC.