Economy

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Cuba: 2008 worst year since collapse of the Soviet Union

  Cuba says it has suffered one of the most difficult financial years since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Economy minister Jose Luis Rodriguez said the Cuban economy had grown by 4.3% in the past year, falling short of the 8% forecast by the government.
  
  President Raul Castro called for austerity measures including cutbacks in official travel and bonuses.

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  IDB increased outlays to Latam 25% to 12.2 billion USD

  

  The Inter-American Development Bank Group increased loan, credit guarantee and grant approvals by about a quarter to a record 12.2 billion US dollars in 2008, in an effort to help Latin America and the Caribbean weather the global financial crisis.

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Higher EU rates confirm sterling parity with Euro

  

  The British pound's relentless slide towards parity with the Euro picked up pace after it plunged to another record low against the single European currency. The latest slide saw sterling worth just 1.022 Euros amid expectations for European interest rates to remain higher than in the UK for some time yet.

• Sunday, December 28th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Royal crackdown on honors for bankers and City figures

  Queen Elizabeth II has endorsed a crackdown on honors for bankers and leading City figures because of their role in causing the economic crisis, according to the Sunday edition of the Daily Mail.

• Saturday, December 27th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Suspected killer of rainforest activist arrested in Brazil

  

  Brazilian police detained a rancher suspected of the murder of rainforest activist Dorothy Stang for allegedly acquiring titles illegally to land that the United States missionary died trying to defend.

• Saturday, December 27th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Less fertilizer use anticipates smaller 08/09 crop in Brazil

  

  Brazil's 2008/09 harvest is forecasted to experience a loss of 5 to 10% compared to the previous record crop of 143 million tons, according to Katia Abreu, president of the Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Confederation CNA.

• Friday, December 26th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Recession will 'set British economy back five years'

  

  Households must not rule out the prospect that the UK's economy shrinks by between 5 per cent and 10 per cent next year if the financial crisis sets off an even more vicious cycle of cutbacks, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

• Friday, December 26th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Jobs opportunities down, lay offs up in Chilean economy

  Despite government pleas to the contrary, some of Chile's largest industries have already begun laying off workers en masse, evidence that the global financial crisis is beginning to take serious hold here.

• Friday, December 26th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Russia devalues rouble, and prepared “to address crisis”

  Russia has devalued its currency, the rouble, for the third time this week and the seventh time this month. It takes it to its lowest value against the US dollar since January 2006.
  
  The Russian currency has been hit by the price of oil, which is Russia's main export. Oil prices are more than 100 US dollars a barrel below their July peak.

• Friday, December 26th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Christmas celebration with Emma Darwin's Recipe Book

  A cookbook based on notes by Charles Darwin's wife Emma, has been published in Britain, a fascinating testimony of Victorian times. Emma Darwin's Recipe Book features more than 40 dishes from her personal cookery notebook, which is housed in Cambridge University Library.