Stories for October 2009

Saturday, October 3rd 2009 - 00:42 UTC
Chile’s 2010 budget reinforces social assistance programs and education

While other nations are struggling to cut costs and sacrificing social programs to combat the worldwide economic crisis, Chile´s 2010 budget will grow by 4.3% next year and includes a 5.8% increase in social assistance programs, Finance Minister Andrés Velasco announced this week.
Saturday, October 3rd 2009 - 00:23 UTC
Desire will drill four exploratory wells in North Falkland basin next February

Oil company Desire Petroleum announced Friday the formal signing of a rig contract with Diamond Offshore Drilling Ltd. from the UK which means the company is ready to begin its exploratory drilling campaign in the North Falkland basin this summer.
Friday, October 2nd 2009 - 23:08 UTC
Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

Headlines: Jets are a real drag; General Election signals a changing of the guard; Governor interviewed by Argentina’s largest newspaper (Page 3)
Friday, October 2nd 2009 - 17:17 UTC
Serious bribe claims against UK defence giant BAE Systems

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office has demanded that defence giant BAE Systems faces prosecution over bribery allegations. The SFO will ask the Attorney General Baroness Scotland to pursue corruption claims that BAE paid out millions of pounds to win contracts overseas.
Friday, October 2nd 2009 - 17:15 UTC
US top commander admits insurgency is winning in Afghanistan

Success in the struggle against the Taliban cannot be taken for granted and time is running out, the commander of the international forces in Afghanistan has warned. US General Stanley McChrystal said the situation in the country was “serious” - and in some respects deteriorating - with increasing violence and a growing insurgency.
Friday, October 2nd 2009 - 17:08 UTC
Farmers to meet next Monday with Argentina’s new Agriculture minister

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner took the oath on Thursday to lawmaker Julian Dominguez at the helm of the newly created cabinet post of Minister of Agriculture, Fishing and Livestock, one of the more conflicting areas of her administration.
Friday, October 2nd 2009 - 13:22 UTC
Image of Argentina’s patron Saint ready for final resting in Falklands

An image of Argentina’s patron saint, Our Lady of Lujan, which during the last five years was taken in peregrination all over the country, will be blessed this coming weekend at her sanctuary in Buenos Aires before been flown to be enshrined at the Darwin Argentine cemetery in the Falkland Islands, according to reports in the Argentine media.
Friday, October 2nd 2009 - 09:30 UTC
Support ebbs away for Argentina's President Kirchner and her husband

The following was published by London’s The Guardian and gives a good idea of how the foreign press consider events in Argentina.
By Rory Carroll and Olive Balch
Friday, October 2nd 2009 - 09:26 UTC
Brazilian Senate suspends vote on Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation

The Brazilian Senate Foreign Relations committee suspended on Thursday for thirty days the consideration of Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation protocol, following on rapporteur Senator Tasso Jereissati veto recommendation because of the “authoritarian” character of President Hugo Chavez regime.
Friday, October 2nd 2009 - 09:23 UTC
Former Argentine president Menem indicted for alleged “terrorist cover up”

An Argentine judge has indicted former President Carlos Menem, several of his aides and an ex judge Juan Jose Galeano for allegedly trying to cover up evidence related to a deadly 1994 terrorist bombing in Buenos Aires against a Jewish organization.