Argentina

• Tuesday, December 23rd 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentine exports suffer 6% slowdown in November

  Argentine exports in November experienced their first decrease in six years falling 6% to 5.1 billion US dollars as a direct consequence of lower commodities prices and smaller volumes of soy shipped to China. This represented a significant 7.3% drop in the month's trade surplus, 952 million USD compared to a year ago.

• Tuesday, December 23rd 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentines most optimistic global citizens on 2009

  Following a year full of political events and tension, basically the several month-long conflict between the Argentine government and farmers, Argentines are among the most optimistic about 2009 according to a world public opinion poll from TNS Gallup.

• Friday, December 19th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentine court orders release of jailed officers

  

  The order to release of 12 torture suspects from Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship unleashed a storm of condemnation from President Cristina Fernandez as well as human rights organizations in Argentina Thursday.

• Thursday, December 18th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Patagonia unveils it was the land of a giant, vicious raptor

  

  Scientists have discovered what they say is a completely unexpected new giant dinosaur that lived 70 million years ago in Argentina. At 5 to 6.5 meters long, depending on its tail size, Austroraptor cabazai is among the largest of the slender, carnivorous, two-legged dinosaurs called raptors, said Fernando Novas, the lead researcher behind the discovery.

• Thursday, December 18th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Creditors group condemns Ecuadorian decision to default

  

  The American Task Force Argentina (ATFA) condemned on Thursday Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa's decision to default on 3.8 billion US dollars in government debt owed to foreign lenders, the country's second such default in the last decade.

• Thursday, December 18th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentine Congress backs expropriation of flag air carrier

  

  The Argentine Congress on Wednesday backed a government plan to expropriate Argentina's flag carrier and biggest airline after months of negotiations with the company's Spanish owners broke down.

• Tuesday, December 16th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentina bolsters size of the stimulus package to 32 b. USD

  

  Argentina will spend the equivalent of 16.6 billion USD on infrastructure projects next year in an attempt to create 380,000 construction-related jobs it was announced Monday in Buenos Aires.

• Tuesday, December 16th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Kirchner government admits Botnia plant “does not pollute”

  

  The administration of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner openly supported the provincial governor who declared that a pulp mill on the Uruguayan side of a jointly managed water course, --and at the heart of a bitter dispute between the neighbouring countries--, “does not contaminate”.

• Monday, December 15th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Light at the end of corridor for Botnia pickets conflict

  

  A political ally of Argentina's president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner admitted over the weekend that the Botnia pulp mill in Uruguay, and at the heart of ongoing dispute between the neighbouring countries, does not contaminate and called for the liberation of the bridges currently blocked by pickets.

• Friday, December 12th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Fire scorches centuries old forests in Tierra del Fuego

  

  A federal state of emergency has been declared in Argentina's extreme south Tierra del Fuego province, where more than 6.000 hectares of centuries-old forest have been scorched or are threatened by several fires, forcing the evacuation of dozens of people, according to an official release.