Stories for March 2010

Friday, March 5th 2010 - 06:33 UTC
Greek PM in Berlin will test Germany’s commitment

Two political allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Greece should sell off some of its islands to pay off its debts. Greece's Prime Minister, George Papandreou, is due to meet Ms Merkel in Berlin Friday for talks about his country's economic crisis.
Friday, March 5th 2010 - 06:29 UTC
Bank of England leaves QE program and interest rates unchanged

The Bank of England opted Thursday against providing fresh aid for the economy after a year of record low interest rates and emergency stimulus measures. Its rate-setting committee marked the first anniversary of quantitative easing by leaving the program unchanged at £200bn and holding borrowing costs at 0.5%.
Friday, March 5th 2010 - 06:25 UTC
Euro zone interest rate left at record low of 1% for tenth month

The European Central Bank (ECB) has kept the Euro zone benchmark interest rate at its record low of 1% for the 10th month in a row, as expected. ECB also signalled it would scale back the special lending measures introduced during the financial crisis even though the economy in the 16 countries that use the Euro is only barely growing.
Friday, March 5th 2010 - 06:21 UTC
China surprises with a slower growth of its 2010 defence budget policy

China announced a slowdown in the growth of its much-watched defence budget. The planned increase of just 7.5% on last year's military spending is the smallest hike after more than two decades of annual double-digit increases.
Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 21:24 UTC
US and Brazil agree Venezuela “should be looking more to the south”

The United States and Brazil agreed that Venezuela should be “looking more to the south”, to “successful models of country”, according to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and that is why “we have invited Venezuela to join Mercosur”, pointed out Brazilian Foreign Secretary Celso Amorim.
Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 21:18 UTC
Half of Venezuelan population has “little or no confidence” in President Chavez

Venezuelan voters' confidence in President Hugo Chávez is beginning to wane as a result of the electricity crisis, water rationing, economic measures, decisions limiting private property and attempts at leading the country into a Socialist system.
Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 21:12 UTC
What can Argentina gain from another Falklands dispute?

The Washington Post published this week an editorial on the current Falkland Islands situation arguing that “you know that an Argentine leader must be in political trouble” if the subject of the South Atlantic Islands comes up again.
Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 21:10 UTC
Cruise along Brazilian coast suffers alleged massive food poisoning

Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas was liberated and allowed to continue with the cruise after Brazilian sanitary officials imposed a 24 hours quarantine following a massive outbreak of what is believed to be food poisoning.
Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 21:03 UTC
Cost of rebuilding Chile estimated in 30 billion US dollars

Chile’s plans to repair the damaged caused by last Saturday’s earthquake are likely to cost the nation an estimated 30 billion US dollars and three to four years work, according to EQECAT, a firm that evaluates catastrophe risk for insurers.
Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 20:32 UTC
Chile’s tourism industry fears long term effects of quake and aftershocks

The tourism industry in Chile has been hit hard as travellers cancel trips to the disaster-struck country. Since the 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit Saturday, Andes Hostel in Santiago has received five to six cancellations per day, an employee told the Santiago Times.