Stories for December 2009

Saturday, December 19th 2009 - 03:49 UTC
Record temperatures and low precipitation forecasted in Chile until March

Wednesday was a record hot day for Santiago de Chile - 94 degrees Fahrenheit – and the weatherman says higher than normal temperatures are not going away anytime soon.
Friday, December 18th 2009 - 12:51 UTC
Ship loaded with Uruguayan livestock lost off Lebanon: 20 crew members rescued

At least 20 crew members were rescued Thursday night after a cattle transport ship with more than 80 people capsized in waters off the coast of Tripoli when storms battered the eastern Mediterranean according to Lebanese security and United Nations sources.
Friday, December 18th 2009 - 12:23 UTC
Argentina plans to sell 15 billion USD in debt instruments

Argentina filed a shelf offering with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the sale of up to 15 billion US dollars in debt instruments in the United States, according to documents posted on the SEC’s website.
Friday, December 18th 2009 - 12:01 UTC
President Obama envoy met with Mujica and today visits Paraguay

Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo A. Valenzuela visited Uruguay on Thursday where he met with president elect Jose Mujica and Vice-president Danilo Astori.
Friday, December 18th 2009 - 11:55 UTC
Duhalde tosses his hat into the 2011 Argentine presidential election

Former Argentine caretaker president Eduardo Duhalde announced on Thursday he is “convinced” to be running for president in order to face Representative Néstor Kirchner in the upcoming Justicialista Party primary elections. He stated: “There are no candidates willing to confront Kirchner.”
Friday, December 18th 2009 - 11:53 UTC
Fed chairman Bernanke’s reconfirmation is almost a fact

Ben Bernanke's nomination to a second term as head of the US Federal Reserve has been approved by a Senate panel. Members of the Senate Banking Committee voted on Thursday 16 to seven to back Mr Bernanke as head of the central bank.
Friday, December 18th 2009 - 11:48 UTC
UV radiation alert in the Bolivian highlands

The Ultra Violet radiation index in the Bolivian highlands reached from five to seven out of eleven, which is considered extremely high. Experts have recommended the population to avoid being exposed to sunlight from 10 am to 3 pm, and encourage the use of long-sleeved shirts, hats and sunglasses.
Friday, December 18th 2009 - 11:40 UTC
Scaring Japanese whalers with an eerie intimidating Maori chant

An international conservation society is using a small, space-age-like vessel to scare off whaling fleets from Antarctic waters, with a ghostly tune as its main weapon. The Ady Gil, a 24 metre carbon-fibre wave-piercing trimaran that runs on low-emission, renewable fuels, is the latest addition to the Sea Shepherd Conversation Society's protest fleet against Japan's yearly whale hunt near Antarctica, which is set to begin.
Friday, December 18th 2009 - 10:53 UTC
Paraguay could vote on Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation after summer recess

Paraguayan Congress will remain blocking Venezuela's entry into Mercosur trade bloc “as long as President Hugo Chávez continues intervening in foreign affairs”, stated the head of the Senate, Miguel Carrizosa, just a day after Brazilian lawmakers approved the incorporation. However his successor in the job affirms the opposite.
Friday, December 18th 2009 - 08:28 UTC
New Year for Gibraltar/Algeciras: ferry route reopened after four decades

The ferry route linking Gibraltar and Algeciras reopened for business this week, forty years after it was forced to shut down by the closure of the border between Spain and the Rock, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.