International

• Tuesday, February 27th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Climate change champion and Oscar winning Al Gore to visit Chile

  

  Nobel Peace Prize nominee and former Clinton administration vice-president Al Gore will make a trip to Chile this coming May as the guest of 2005 conservative presidential candidate Sebastian Piñera. And a very expensive guest at that: Gore's visit will cost almost 400.000 US dollars.

• Tuesday, February 27th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  China's black Tuesday spills to the global economy

  

  Stock markets round the world slumped Tuesday to record lows of 2001 and 2004, with the US Dow Jones index plummeting by more than 400 points and Latinamerican markets posting sharp losses averaging 4%.
  The sell-off was sparked by a near 9% down slide on the Shanghai Composite Index, (the worst in a decade) as investors worried that China may pass rules to limit demand for stocks. Banks, automobiles and steel companies were hardest hit.

• Monday, February 26th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Euro zone concerned with falling Yen and US dollar

  European finance ministers meeting in Brussels opened their monthly meeting Monday with European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, downplaying fears of inflation and calling for exchange rates to stabilize

• Monday, February 26th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Greenspan forecasts “possible” US recession end of 2007

  Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Monday in a video conference with Hong Kong businessmen that a recession in the United States economy was “possible” at the end of the year because the economy has grown since 2001.

• Sunday, February 25th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  US severe poverty reached 32-year high: 16 million people

  The gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” in United States keeps widening and the percentage of US citizens who are living in deep or severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, 16 million, according to a report from McClatchy Newspapers.

• Saturday, February 24th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Crippled Japanese whaler in Antarctica again on the move

  A Japanese whaling ship which was crippled by a fire and laden with fuel begun moving away from Antarctica under its own power, confirmed on Sunday an official from Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research following on reports from the New Zealand press.

• Friday, February 23rd 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Toothfish season hampered by ice

  Fifteen longliners fishing on the 3,000-tonne CCAMLR toothfish quota have all now left the fishery areas around Antarctica. Many vessels have experienced a season of difficult fishing conditions due to excessive ice.

• Thursday, February 22nd 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  The world's largest colossus squid fished in Antarctica

  

  An adult specimen of the world's largest known squid was hauled to the surface by a New Zealand longliner fishing for toothfish in Antarctic waters. The creature, known as a colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) and with eyes the size of a car tire weighed an estimated 450 kilograms.

• Thursday, February 22nd 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  The Iron Lady has her bronze statue in Parliament

  

  Despite protests that previous prime ministers had to be dead to have a statue in Britain's Houses of Parliament Margaret Thatcher (1979/1990) unveiled her bronze statue at a ceremony Wednesday.

• Thursday, February 22nd 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Disney Cruse Line has plans for two 122.000 tons vessels

  

  Media conglomerate Walt Disney Co. said Thursday that it plans to expand its cruise business with the addition of two new ocean liners to meet demand for its family cruise vacations.