Stories for November 17th 2009

Tuesday, November 17th 2009 - 12:42 UTC
Brazil begins “spy” aircraft surveillance against organized crime in favelas

The Brazilian Federal Police announced that beginning December an unmanned “spy” aircraft will over-fly the shanty towns of Rio do Janeiro at a height of 7.000 metres, well out of range from the drug gangs and trades that last week shot down a police helicopter killing three men on board.
Tuesday, November 17th 2009 - 12:39 UTC
Federal Reserve working to “help ensure that the US dollar is strong”

United States Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke said Monday that US policymakers are mindful of the sliding US dollar. Bernanke said he is “attentive” to the decline in the currency and is working to “help ensure that the dollar is strong”.
Tuesday, November 17th 2009 - 12:38 UTC
Brown proposes Afghanistan campaign “transfer timetable” talks

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to host talks in the New Year to discuss timing for handing over the campaign in Afghanistan to the Afghan government. PM Brown said he wanted the NATO meeting to “set a timetable” for transfer starting in 2010.
Tuesday, November 17th 2009 - 09:14 UTC
Shimon Peres in Argentina proposes “a new relation for a new world”

Israeli President Shimon Peres met on Monday with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Shimon arrived on Sunday in Argentina, home to Latin America's biggest Jewish community for a two-day visit.
Tuesday, November 17th 2009 - 09:10 UTC
Latinamerica at the heart of a climate change deal, says Miliband

United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Monday a politically binding deal on climate change will only be struck with the agreement of leading South American countries.
Tuesday, November 17th 2009 - 09:08 UTC
Argentina’s first gay couple marriage scheduled for December, AIDS Day

An Argentine gay couple that was enabled by a Buenos Aires City court ruling to get married after declaring the articles of the Civic Code that prohibit it as unconstitutional, requested on Monday a wedding date, according to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transvestite Federation (LGBT).
Tuesday, November 17th 2009 - 09:05 UTC
Plan to recover two crates of Shackleton’s whisky buried in Antarctica

Explorers are planning to recover a rare batch of whisky lost during explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated voyage to the South Pole a century ago. Two crates of the now extinct “Rare Old” brand of McKinlay and Co whisky have been buried in the Antarctic ice since Shackleton was forced to abandon his polar mission in 1909.
Tuesday, November 17th 2009 - 09:00 UTC
Royal Navy’s new hunter nuclear submarine “Astute” takes to the sea

The biggest and most powerful attack submarine ever built for the Royal Navy, “Astute” took to the seas this weekend. “Astute” set sail from Barrow-in-Furness to start her first set of sea trials and is now heading to her homeport of Faslane on the Clyde in Scotland.