Stories for 2009

Wednesday, January 21st 2009 - 20:00 UTC
AIG ends sponsorship of Manchester United in 2010

The troubled US insurer AIG will not be renewing its shirt sponsorship deal with Manchester United that expires in May 2010.
Wednesday, January 21st 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Antarctica's Wilkins Ice Shelf “hanging by a thread”

The continent of Antarctica is warming up in step with the rest of the world, according to a new analysis. Scientists say data from satellites and weather stations indicate a warming of about 0.6C over the last 50 years.
Wednesday, January 21st 2009 - 20:00 UTC
UK unemployment nears 2 million, sends pound plunging

Unemployment in Britain has increased by 131,000 to 1.92 million between September and November, the country's office for national statistics (ONS) has said. Public finances also deteriorated sharply in December, putting them on track for their worst year since records began after the Second World War, the ONS said.
Wednesday, January 21st 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Fidel meets Cristina and agree Obama is “a sincere person”

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner held a half hour private meeting with Fidel Castro in the last day of her visit to Cuba and said the ageing revolutionary leader described US president Barack Obama as “a sincere person”.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Controversy over latest UK banks rescue plan; shares plunge

The UK government's latest plan to counter the economic downturn by encouraging lending has been criticised, and sent banks' shares tumbling. Opposition MPs argued that the government's measures were inadequate and too many details remained unknown.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Number of tourists to Argentina drops 8% in November

The number of foreign tourists arriving in Argentina during November fell 8% over the same month last year, according to government report from the statistics office INDEC.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Economy shadows immigration in US Hispanics' agenda

The economy, education and health care are the main issues that Hispanics feel must be attended to by the new US president, but they place immigration in sixth place, according to a study from The Pew Hispanic Centre.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Venezuela: “surplus” development funds or magic accounting?

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has announced the transfer of over 12 billion US dollars from “surplus” Central Bank international reserves to help finance government projects and keep the economy growing.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Lan system passenger traffic for December was up 10.7%

Chile's Lan airlines and associates announced that its system passenger traffic for December 2008 grew 10.7%, and capacity rose 12.6%. This means that load factor declined 1.3 points over last year to 74.7%. The company noted that international passenger traffic accounted for about 68% of total passenger traffic.
Tuesday, January 20th 2009 - 20:00 UTC
Scientists to prove Patagonia Antarctic points' landmass link

A multidisciplinary team of Chilean scientists left for Antarctic as part of an ambitious project to prove at some point in the history of the World, probably 200 million years ago, South America's Patagonia and the Antarctic Peninsula were landmass linked.