Stories for December 2009

Wednesday, December 30th 2009 - 15:10 UTC
Search for missing children in Argentina involves prominent media mogul

The adopted son and daughter of a prominent Argentine businesswoman gave DNA samples Tuesday to help determine whether their biological parents were political prisoners killed during the country's “dirty war,” the family's lawyer said.
Wednesday, December 30th 2009 - 15:08 UTC
Ushuaia hosts the first same-sex marriage in Latinamerica

Less than one month after a Buenos Aires court derailed the marriage of Alex Freyre and Jose Maria di Bello, the couple wed this week at the southern tip of Argentina, making it the first same-sex marriage in Latin America.
“As a couple, we dreamed of marrying for a long time,” Freyre told the state-run Telam news agency.
Wednesday, December 30th 2009 - 09:59 UTC
Special New Year with a blue moon in the Americas and partial eclipse in Asia

The blue moon has long been a subject of poetry and one of those phrases that are used without quite understanding the meaning, but its presence is a scientific marker for a rotating earth that runs by its own clock, ignoring man’s calendar.
Wednesday, December 30th 2009 - 09:52 UTC
Obama: “a systemic failure” by US intelligence which is “totally unacceptable”

A “systemic failure” by US intelligence allowed the alleged terrorist behind the Christmas Day airliner bomb plot to board the aircraft despite warnings about his extremist views, US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday.
Wednesday, December 30th 2009 - 09:48 UTC
Companies listed in the London Stock Exchange raised record £ 82.5 billion

Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) have raised a record £82.5bn from investors in 2009. The LSE said investors had been keen to take up offers of new shares despite continued concerns over the economy.
Tuesday, December 29th 2009 - 12:13 UTC
China poised to become world’s second largest economy in 2010

China is expected to become in 2010 the world’s second largest economy displacing Japan according to economic forecasts from Beijing’s Statistics Office and reported in the China Daily.
Tuesday, December 29th 2009 - 12:12 UTC
First signs Beijing is reassessing bank loans and interest rates

China admitted fears about increasing inflation, resulting from the strong stimuli program, and also cautioned that Beijing will not yield to foreign pressures to let the Yuan appreciate.
Tuesday, December 29th 2009 - 12:09 UTC
More testimonies incriminate Argentine officers in Malvinas war abuses

Over 150 testimonies, covering 79 cases and relating to torture and human rights abuses allegedly committed by Argentine military officers against conscripts, during the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas war, are under investigation by Argentine federal judge Liliana Herraz, reports the official news agency Telam.
Tuesday, December 29th 2009 - 08:38 UTC
Argentina begun enforcing “reciprocity tax” in Ezeiza airport

All foreign visitors arriving in Argentina’s international airport of Ezeiza and who live in countries that charge the Argentines before they enter, will have to pay a reciprocity tax.
Tuesday, December 29th 2009 - 08:36 UTC
Massive stranding of whales in several New Zealand’s beaches

More than 120 beached whales have died in two separate incidents in New Zealand, officials have said. Twenty one pilot whales that were beached on the North Island of New Zealand have been buried.