Stories for April 2009

Saturday, April 18th 2009 - 03:55 UTC
Emergency credit aid for Brazil’s ailing meatpacking industry

Brazil's government will offer a ten billion Reales credit line from BNDES, the National Development Bank to support activities in agribusiness, Finance Minister Guido Mantega announced. He added the funds would go mostly to support Brazil’s ailing meatpacking sector and would be offered at an annual interest rate of 11.25%.
Saturday, April 18th 2009 - 03:48 UTC
Citibank first quarter pleasant surprise for banking sector

Citigroup reported on Friday its first quarterly net profit in nearly two years, the latest US bank to see an improvement in its performance. It made a profit of 1.6 billion US dollars compared with a loss of 5.1 billion a year earlier. Revenues rose 99% to 24.8 billion.
Friday, April 17th 2009 - 11:14 UTC
De facto exit for embargo: Castro and Obama agree to discuss “any issue”

Cuban President Raul Castro said from Venezuela that his government is willing to discuss any issue with Washington, as along as it's a conversation between equals and Washington respects “the Cuban people's right to self-determination”.
Friday, April 17th 2009 - 11:00 UTC
Obama to Latinamerica: “we must choose the future over the past”

“Choosing a Better Future in the Americas” was the title on an opinion editorial from United States President Barack Obama published Thursday in the main dailies of Latinamerica on the eve of his arrival to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad Tobago, with a one day previous visit to Mexico.
Friday, April 17th 2009 - 10:54 UTC
Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

Headlines: Stolen property tracked to Australia, Combined police efforts land former dairy managers in court; Takings soar at the new-look Chandlery; Time change.
Friday, April 17th 2009 - 10:45 UTC
US Fed “Beige Book” tries to send “stabilizing message”

United States economic activity weakened in March, but there were some signs of stabilisation, the Federal Reserve said in its influential Beige Book. The report, used to set US interest rates, said “overall economic activity contracted further or remained weak”.
Friday, April 17th 2009 - 10:40 UTC
Stimulating domestic demand and unemployment, China’s priorities

Annual growth in China's GDP slowed in the first quarter of 2009 to 6.1%, said the National Bureau of Statistics. This is the weakest growth since quarterly records began in 1992, but some analysts see signs of a recovery, reports BBC.
Friday, April 17th 2009 - 08:48 UTC
IMF predicts 2009 as “an awful year” but all are aware it’s a “global crisis”

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said Thursday that 2009 is essentially a lost year for the world economy, with millions of people at risk of being thrown back into poverty.
Friday, April 17th 2009 - 08:22 UTC
Gibraltar-Madrid daily flights will resume next April 30

Flights between Gibraltar and Spanish capital Madrid will be resumed later this month (April 30th) according to Andalus General Director Fernando Guerrero, who made the announcement this week at a presentation by the regional airline in the Campo Mancomunidad, in Algeciras.
Friday, April 17th 2009 - 07:53 UTC
Uruguay completes Electoral Roll for 2009/10 voting calendar

Uruguay’s Electoral Roll for the coming October presidential and legislative elections was closed this week with the incorporation of 273.916 new voters. The total number of Uruguayans over 18 by April 2009, and which must vote (compulsory) in the coming elections, now totals 2.562.000.