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The economy grew 7.1% in 2008, the lowest growth rate in the past six years, according to a preliminary estimate from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC).

The monthly estimates of economic activity (EMAE), used to measure changes in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had no change in November in respect of October but grew 4.6% in the comparison.


Preliminary data for December, meanwhile, showed a growth of 0.7% compared with November and 7.4% over the same month in 2007.

The measurement showed a moderation in the pace of expansion of the economy that analysts have attributed to a slowdown in domestic consumption and industry.


For its part, the industrial production grew 2.2% in December compared with November and 2.3% over December 2007.

For all of 2008, the Monthly Industrial Estimator (EMI) showed a positive variation of 4.9% from 2007.

The U.S. president, Barack Obama, said Saturday he hoped to turn into law within a month of his economic stimulus plan by 825,000 million dollars, hoping that the country will emerge from the current crisis more prosperous than before.

"I am pleased to say that both parties of Congress are already working on this plan, and hopes to become law in less than a month," Obama said in his weekly radio message first as president.


The president warned that the economic problems are not solved in a short period, but was confident that strong action will help put the country back on track. "If we act as citizens and not as partisan and began to work again to rebuild the country, I hope that out of this difficult situation even stronger and more prosperous than before," said the president.

Obama's comments took place at a time when applications for unemployment benefits in the United States reached the highest levels of the past 26 years and housing construction is the lowest in the last half century.


The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended January 17 rose to 589,000, the highest figure since November 1982. Last year in the United States lost 2.6 million jobs, bringing the unemployment rate to 7.2%, the highest in the past 16 years.

Also, the number of homes under construction fell by 15.5% between November and December 2008, according to the Department of Commerce, to a figure of 550,000 annualized units.


Obama warned that if nothing was done, the unemployment rate could reach double digits, and the U.S. economy would then stop producing one trillion (trillion) dollars less. He noted, however, that its recovery plan, which aims to increase production and create three to four million jobs, would give new life to an economy in free fall. The president said that it was not "a short-term program to boost employment," but "one that will invest in our most important priorities, such as energy and education, health insurance and new infrastructure needed to stay strong and competitive the twenty-first century. "

The project, called "Plan for the Recovery and Reinvestment States' plans to double in the next three years to energy production from alternative sources in the U.S., such as wind, solar and biofuels. Obama also proposed computerizing medical records across the country in five years, renovate and upgrade 10,000 schools and rebuild the country's infrastructure. Another goal of the plan is to give Internet access to millions of Americans who lack it.


The package of incentives is 825,000 million dollars to the Congress and the president met Friday with leaders from both parties to facilitate approval. Republicans said they were concerned about the amount of the package, arguing that seriously aggravate the budget deficit, which the Congressional Budget Office puts at 1.1 billion dollars in fiscal year 2009.

Republicans are promoting their own recovery plan, which aims to reduce individual tax rates, reduce taxes for small businesses and prohibit any increase in taxes, but do not have the necessary votes in either chamber of Congress Obama block the initiative.


In his address he emphasized that Obama is not designed "only to throw money to solve our problems." He promised that any decision on charges would be made public and that his administration would be totally responsible. "We will make an unprecedented effort to eliminate waste, inefficiency and wasteful spending in our government, and every American will know how and dollars are spent taxpayers www.recovery.gov entering the site," he added.

More than 200,000 children in Gaza on Saturday, returned to school after the Israeli military operation, having lost home in many cases, family and sense of security.

UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) opened the 221 schools that educate the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and have served as a refuge for thousands of people during the 22 days of the Israeli offensive.


Al Zukur at school in the town of Beit Lahiya, children playing with their huge backpacks noisily in the courtyard, while the upper floors of the building of classrooms, a week before it was hit by an Israeli missile, still burned .

After the bombing the school had been declared a fire that caused panic among the nearly 1,600 people were sheltering in it.


Two children died, five and seven years, and at least 12 people were injured, including the mother of the little ones, to which he had to amputate a leg, according to the UN.

It is one of three schools with refugees who were attacked by the Israeli army during the war. On January 6 killed 40 people in the bombing of another college of the UN.


The Israeli army said it was responding to an attack that came from these buildings or nearby, but the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, called the bombings "shameful" and called for the request before the legal responsibilities .

Al Zukur, according to Palestinian medical services, the aftermath of the conflict that has left over 1,300 dead-third of them children, are not only on the walls.


"Give a step forward if your father or your mother had died in martyrdom," said director of the Riyadh Maliha megaphone when the children were prepared by rows.

"Give her a step forward your house is destroyed," he added.


More than 20 children to come to join their families to access funds from the UN. Among them, Anas Abas, a shy boy of 12 years.

"They destroyed our house and killed five of my neighbors. The Jews were very close to our house," he said.


Like other children, is expressed in short sentences and often responds with a single word, the silent majority of what you have lived.

The director, Maliha, explains that in the first days of school teachers will try to get the children to express themselves.


"Encourage children to talk about what has happened to them, how to draw and write about it," he said. "Imagine how they will be talks. Tens of traumatized children return to school today," he added.

A Jitam Aziz Al Zukur psychologist, children will ask about the class on fire or on the holes that have left bombs on the walls.


"I wonder why they bombed the school and say they are afraid that (the Israelis) to come back. We say that the Jews will not return to attack the school, who are not afraid, they can play," he explains.

Half of Gaza's population is under 18 years and over 80% of the population now depends on the help of the UN to eat.

Both Israel and Hamas declared a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday and Israeli troops completed the withdrawal on Wednesday of a territory which have left thousands of homes in ruins.

Pope Benedict XVI ended Saturday increased the schism of the twentieth century after the excommunication lifted officially decreed in 1988 against the bishops of the ultraconservative movement founded by the French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

The annulment of the decree of excommunication issued in 1988 by John Paul II against the four bishops was taken after an ultra-long process of rapprochement and will cause a stir in the church forward in addition to affect relations with the Jews.


The beneficiaries are the Swiss Bishops Bernard Fellay, Lefebvre's successor, Frenchman Bernard Tissier of Mallerais, Richard Williamson English and Spanish-Argentine Alfonso de Galaretta.

The papal pardon was enacted despite recent statements from English Williamson in denying the Holocaust of millions of Jews during the Second World War to ensure that "no Jew was killed with gas" in the camps.


The unexpected statement from the bishop to Swedish television irritated the Jewish community and several rabbis and representatives of the United States, Italy and France, warned that his rehabilitation will stress the delicate relations between Catholics and Jews.

The decree annulling the excommunication for dogmatic lefebvrianos is dated 21 January 2009 and explained that the pope approved the request for readmission to the Catholic community in December 2008 by Fellay, superior of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X, founded Econ 1969 (Switzerland) by Monsignor Lefebvre.


"We are firmly determined to remain Catholics and put all our forces at the service of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Roman Catholic Church," Fellay wrote to the Pope, according to excerpts of the letter released Saturday by the Vatican.

Fellay has promised to respect "the primacy of the Pope" and accept the teachings of the Church "in the spirit subsidiary" is described as heretics leaving some Vatican.


The spokesman for the Holy See, Father Federico Lombardi described the papal pardon for "important step" for the unity of the Church.

"The Pope kindly, with pastoral concern and mercy father, withdrew the excommunication that weighed" on lefebvrianos bishops, announced the official notice of the Holy See.


"The commitment of Benedict XVI had a decisive role," told Lombardi, who recalled that the Pope when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, "was disturbed" by the schism of 20 years ago.

The ordination of four bishops in 1988 by the same Lefebvre (who died on March 25, 1991), and disobeying a time putting in question the authority of the Pope are among the reasons that led him to create another church schism is andalusia or separation of the church, the first since 1870.


The Pope's spokesman said, however, to completely abolishing the schism and achieve "full communion" of the followers of Lefebvre with the rest of the Catholic Church, we must "define the status of the ultra-traditionalist, which could be similar to that given to groups and lefebvrianos Brazil.

Since the beginning of his pontificate in 2005, Benedict XVI has met several gestures of openness towards the Catholic movement founded by the French archbishop, including the introduction in July 2007 of the mass in Latin, that lefebvristas required.


In June 2008, the Vatican declined to require the followers of Lefebvre, grouped in the priestly fraternity, recognition of the provisions of the Second Vatican Council, held between 1962 and 1965 and modernized the Church.

Dogmatic traditionalist movement and has about 460 priests and about 150,000 faithful scattered in some 50 countries, many in Latin America, particularly Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

President Barack Obama wanted to silence complaints from Republicans about the huge economic package on Friday, offering Democrats listen to their proposals, but assured them that was responsible and would remind them who won the elections.

Obama promised to meet with congressional Republicans next week after they and Democratic leaders reached agreement on plans to tax and public spending to revive the economy in decline a reunion Friday at the White House. The lower house could vote on the proposed 825,000 million dollars that the Democrats have been designed with Obama shortly after the reunion at the Capitol.


With Democrats in control of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House _y some economists calling for more public spending to stimulate economía_ the Republicans are far from achieving any of their goals, focusing on less expensive and more tax cuts .

Obama said that Congress seems to be aimed at sending a bill to his desk by mid-February and no Republican leader disagreed.


At some point in the reunion on Friday at the White House, Republican Senator Jon Kyl objected to a proposal to increase benefits for low-income workers who do not have to income tax.

Obama responded in a friendly but firm, which took place in November elections and I won. The over it at that, "according to what they said after several of the participants who took notes.


Later, press secretary for the White House, Robert Gibbs, said it was too early to say whether Obama would be disappointed if the legislation was approved with little encouragement or support any Republican. Some crucial elements of the proposal already approved by a committee of Congress without the support of Republicans.

Obama was personally involved with the version of the proposal is in Congress, according to which employees earning $ 75,000 or less will receive an annual payment of $ 500 in taxes. Couples with incomes higher than $ 150,000 a year will receive the balance in favor of $ 1000.


The proposal would also increase profits in the income tax for low-income workers and delivered billions of dollars to help pay for education, build roads and other infrastructure and invest in alternative fuels and long-term projects that may not stimulate immediately economy.

Before he began his meeting with congressional leaders, Obama acknowledged that the proposed 825,000 million is a cost that is hard to digest for some.


"I know it's something heavy to do something as substantial as what we are doing now," he said. "I recognize that there are still some differences on the table between the government and members of Congress about specific details of the plan. But I think that what unites this group is a recognition that we are experiencing, perhaps, an unprecedented economic crisis and we have to deal with it. "

Obama also said that any legislation regulating the use of some 350,000 million dollars in the plan to rescue the financial industry should further measures to ensure responsible control over their use.


Democratic congressional leaders pledged not to accept any of the Republican proposals. The lower house could vote on the measure a day after Obama's visit to the Capitol.

Republican leaders "had some constructive suggestions, which will be reviewed," he told reporters the president of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, after the reunion at the White House. The leader of the majority in the Senate, Harry Reid, said to believe that "the main thing that the Republicans are asking, and we are making is to be involved in the process."

The U.S. stock market (SEC) opened an investigation into the Apple group, following the announcement of a long sick leave from his executive Steve Jobs, days after the dissemination of information reassurances about their health, according to the Wall Street Journal.


The electronic edition of the financial daily quoted "a person familiar with the case to assert that the investigation is focused on the communication strategy on Apple's Jobs' health.


The share price had increased at the beginning of the month when the group issued an email saying that his notorious Jobs thinness was a simple "hormonal imbalance" that required medical treatment "simple." But action had plunged last week after Jobs admitted that his health problems were "more complex" by what he believed and that it should take a medical leave until late June.


Jobs underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004. Rumors about his health since he appeared increasingly thin in June to introduce the latest version of the signature vestrella phone, the iPhone. Since then, resigned earlier this month to participate in the lounge MacWorld San Francisco (California, west), devoted to products compatible with the company of the apple.


The title Apple rose 2.34%, to $ 80.03, a half day on Wednesday, far from the $ 94.58 reached on January 5 after the first information on the health of reassuring Jobs.

Ericsson tried on Wednesday that its balance sheet is "solid," but announced the elimination of 5,000 jobs worldwide to anticipate the effects of the crisis and maintain its leadership in the mobile telecommunications sector. One fifth of the layoffs will affect the plant, which is Ericsson in Stockholm, according to a Swedish technology giant.


Ericcson, which at the end of 2008 had a total of 78,750 employees (20,150 of them in Sweden), already eliminated 4,000 jobs last year. With these new layoffs, which cost the company valued between 555 and 650 million euros, Ericsson expects to save 927 million euros in the second half of 2010.


In the last quarter of 2008, net profit of the company fell 30% to almost 375 million euros, while 6130 million turnover, up 23% over the same period in 2007. The president of Ericsson, Carl-Henric Svanberg, denied they are using the current crisis as an excuse to fire workers and thus increase profits, citing the high level of competition in the sector.


"Today, our business has not been nearly affected (by the crisis), but it would be unreasonable to think that might be the case throughout 2009," Svanberg said at a press conference in Stockholm. "Nothing is easy this industry. Every day we must fight to be effective and ensure that we keep the leading position."

Oil rose $ 44 on Thursday, supported by the winter weather in the northern hemisphere and reports of lower supplies, but traders were cautious before the U.S. inventory data expected to show a large increase in crude stocks .


Stocks of crude in the United States is expected to have risen by 1.4 million barrels and gasoline by 1.9 million barrels in weekly data to be published later on Thursday.


The U.S. light crude for March delivery rose $ 1.25 to a maximum of $ 44.80 before the operation at 44.67 at 1000 GMT. On Wednesday, the contract climbed $ 2.71, its highest closing price since January 6.


London Brent crude advanced $ 1.13 to $ 46.15 a barrel.


Tony Machacek, broker at Bache Commodities London, said the marking was being supported by a variety of factors including a stronger demand for heating fuel and a preview of the European and U.S. stock markets, which boosted the outlook.


"The equity markets look less weak at the beginning of the week," he added.

Sony Corp. on Thursday predicted an annual operating loss than previously expected, which would be its first annual loss in 14 years due to a sharp appreciation of the yen, sharp falls in prices and costs of restructuring.


The maker of Bravia LCD televisions, the Cyber-shot digital cameras and PlayStation game consoles have now expects an operating loss of 260,000 million yen (2,900 million U.S. dollars) for the year ending March 31.


A year ago the company recorded a gain of 475,300 million yen.


While an expected cut in earnings forecast, the scale of the revision exceeded expectations.


The latest Sony forecast compares with an estimate of the company after a gain of 200,000 million yen, and the consensus forecast of a loss of 8,900 billion yen in a poll of 18 analysts conducted by Reuters Estimates.


The revision was the third this year by Sony, while the company extended the impacted the global financial crisis and recession.


($ 1 = 89.09 yen)

The dollar rose Wednesday to a record seven and a half years against the pound sterling because the problems of British banks continued to weigh on the pound, while the euro advanced against many major currencies.


The pound, which has lost 7 percent against the dollar since the beginning of the week, extended low by fears that the banks of Great Britain must restore its financial health as the economy deteriorates, and that the package days ago the Government announced no scope.


Shares of Britain's Barclays Plc lost one third of its value to a minimum in 24 years on Wednesday on the London Stock Exchange, the threat that needed to raise funds or nationalized.


Shares of rival UK bank Lloyds Banking Group also collapsed because faces a greater risk of nationalization.


"The UK financial system is torn to pieces," said Ron Simpson, director of currency analysis, Action Economics in Tampa, Florida. "We did not find a floor for sterling," he said.


In the first business in New York, the pound sterling lost 1.1 percent to $ 1.3742 even after fall to lowest since June 2001.


Data on Wednesday showed a sharp deterioration in British public finances and rising unemployment, but these indicators and the publication of the minutes of the last monetary meeting of the Bank of England was overshadowed by the banking problems.


The euro rose against other currencies, with an increase of more than 1 percent against the pound at 94.20 pence, according to Reuters, a record since the beginning of the month and close to the historic peak of 98.05 pence seen the month Last


Speaking to parliament, the European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet downplayed the threat of deflation and rejected rumors that some members of the euro zone would leave by the financial crisis.


Against the yen, the dollar gained 0.2 percent to 89.97 units of currency in Japan.


"The environment for the dollar is still positive, the shares fell. The dollar and the yen is still strong in this environment aversa risk," said Marcus Hettinger, global currency strategist for Credit Suisse in Zurich.

Nokia Oyj, the biggest maker of mobile phones in the world, on Thursday reported earnings and sales for the fourth quarter less than expected.


The Finnish company said quarterly sales of 12.662 million euros, below the 13.297 million on average that analysts were expecting and the 15.717 million euros in the same period last year.


The profits per share in the quarter came to 0.15 euros, compared with 0.47 euros in the same period of 2007 and of 0.24 euros expected by the market.

Orders for transportation equipment in the euro area in November plunged to almost half the level of the same month of 2007, bringing the overall industrial orders had the biggest annual fall in the records, pointing to a recession is worse quickly.


New industrial orders in the countries using the euro fell 4.5 percent in November and a monthly 26.2 percent a year, said Thursday Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU).


Economists polled by Reuters had expected a monthly fall of 4.8 percent and an annual decline of 18.8 percent.


"The new very low acute industrial orders in November highlights the current poor state of the manufacturing sector in the euro zone," said Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight.


"It reinforces the idea that the region faces a deep contraction in GDP (gross domestic product) in 2009 after the recession deepened sharply in the fourth quarter of 2008," he added.


Economists said they anticipated more bad news.


"Taking together the past two months, we have seen a 10 percent drop in new orders, and this is probably just the beginning. We anticipate further significant falls in the next two or three months," said Holger Schmieding, Bank of America.


According to analysts, the data in order to increase the pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) to continue lowering interest rates.


The agency has already cut rates by 225 basis points in four movements per month since October, to 2.0 percent this month, but has indicated that it could take a break in February to see the effects of previous cuts, before returning to ease monetary policy in March.

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed to Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state, in a day that President Barack Obama has mobilized a team of experienced advisers and contacted world leaders.


The Senate approved the confirmation by 94 votes in favor and two against. Only Republican senators opposed VITTI David and Jim DeMint.


Republican John Cornyn on Tuesday blocked the confirmation of Clinton, which was postponed to Wednesday.


Both Republicans and Democrats said it was necessary to confirm quickly so that Obama can begin to tackle the biggest challenges in foreign policy, which include the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the increase in violence in the Middle East and the threat that Iran could be developing nuclear weapons.


"It is essential that you give the president the tools and resources needed to implement change, and that begins with the placement of their national security team as soon as possible," said Senator John Kerry, who chairs the Commission Foreign Office.


The rival in the presidential contest to Obama, Republican Senator John McCain, was among those who spoke in favor of Hillary Clinton.


"This nation has come together in a way that had not done for some time," said McCain, who came to the upper chamber for the first time since the inauguration ceremony of Obama.


Voters "want us to work together and we get to work," added the senator.


While the Senate debated the confirmations of candidates to fill the cabinet secretaries Obama, he lost no time in his first day at work and phoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, President Abdullah II Jordan and the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.


The government also planned to appoint the former Senate Democratic Leader George J. Mitchell as Clinton's special envoy to the Middle East.


Dennis Ross, a seasoned U.S. negotiator, is likely to be an advisor to Clinton on issues of that region, according to officials who spoke on condition of remaining anonymous because they are not allowed to testify in public about the measure.


67to was sworn in as secretary of state in his office building in the Russell Senate office. In the private ceremony were her husband, former President Bill Clinton and her staff in the upper house. According to his office, swearing in the Bible used that belonged to his father.


To assume the post, sent his resignation as senator in two letters, one addressed to the Vice President Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate, and one for New York Governor David Paterson.


Clinton plans to appear at the State Department on Thursday, where he should talk with employees in the main lobby that morning, a traditional meeting that usually the secretaries of State in its first day of work.


The former first lady received an overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress, despite the doubts of some Republicans that the activities of charitable fundraising by her husband could mean a conflict of interest.


After voting to confirm Clinton, the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate supported the appointment of Susan Rice to become the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a position that Obama raised to cabinet level.


Meanwhile, the Senate discussed other cabinet appointments of the new president.


Timothy Geithner, nominated to head the Treasury Department, apologized before the Finance Committee and said it was delayed desprolijo having to pay $ 34,000 in taxes on Social Security and Medicare medical service at the beginning of the decade, when he worked for the International Monetary Fund. The Committee planned to vote on his nomination on Thursday.

The Judiciary Committee took at least a week the appointment of Eric Holder as the first African American to hold the portfolio of Secretary for Justice, because the Republicans demanded more time to question about the harsh interrogations, trials of Guantanamo and other issues.

Caroline Kennedy withdrew his name for consideration to fill the seat in the Senate that was once his uncle Bobby Kennedy died after a night of confusion and uncertainty about their intentions.


"Today I informed the Governor Paterson (New York) for personal reasons that I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the U.S. Senate," he said in a communique released after a sentence midnight. His spokeswoman, Stefan Friedman, refused to give further comment.


His other uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy, suffered a seizure in day of inauguration of President Barack Obama.


Spokesmen for Caroline Kennedy and Governor David Paterson, who will make the nomination for the seat, did not comment.


Hours of mixed signals on Wednesday night was the latest unexpected twist in the effort to Kennedy, began with the popular support that withered after being criticized in his brief tour of the northern state of press interviews prior.


The reports were a shock to his supporters and Paterson, who appeared to be appointed to the seat.


Edward Kennedy, who was being cared for by an aggressive brain tumor, suffered a seizure on Tuesday during the swearing in ceremony of the post from Obama.


The New York Post was first to report the withdrawal of his niece of contention for a place in the Senate representing New York.


The New York Times quoted a source saying that it did not identify Kennedy withdrew because of concerns about the health of his uncle. But the Post quoted an unidentified source saying that the withdrawal was because she learned that he had decided not to select Paterson.


The AP reported that Kennedy was initially withdrawn from the contest, but corrected the story about an hour later after the person who gave the information that had been a mistake. The news reports changed during the night while people close to Kennedy denied or diluted their comments before the Kennedy ended the uncertainty by issuing his statement.

Whaling conducted by the Japanese whaling fleet in the Antarctic is illegal and the government of Australia is covered by the law to stop it, said a group of Australian lawyers in a report published today.


The report, prepared at the request of the environmental organization International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), maintains that the Antarctic Treaty undertakes to examine the environmental impact of any activity that takes place in the waters of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean.


The boats used by Japan, says the report, complied with the regulations required for the hunting of whales in the Subantarctic, but not in the waters of Antarctica, and also very dangerous operations, including refueling at sea.


Professor of International Law at the National University of Australia and chairman of the group of lawyers who prepared the study, Don Rothwell, believes that the findings provide the legal basis for the Australian Government to act to stop the killing of whales.


Antarctica, Rothwell said, is one of the world with a legislation on environmental stricter, and Japan is not exempt from it.


A government delegation will attend the Canberra meeting of the Consultative Mechanism Treaty Atlantis next April, and the group of lawyers, this is the appropriate time to act legally against Japan.


Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, said last Monday that his government considered undertaking legal action when a diplomatic avenues are exhausted.


Earlier this hunting season, the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, said that unlike the 2007-2008 campaign, this year Australia will not monitor the operation of the Japanese fishing vessel Oceanic Viking.


Between November 2007 and April 2008, the "Oceanic Viking" filmed the operation of the Japanese whaling fleet, to use the images as evidence before an international tribunal.


Last season, the ships caught 551 whales in Japan's quota was allocated to 900, due to the persistent action of the Sea Shepherd, Animal Planet, which seeks to prevent the capture of whales.


Sea Shepherd has docked temporarily its vessel "Steve Irwin" in the port of Hobart, capital of the Australian state of Tasmania, southeast of the country

The anti-pornography campaign launched by the Government of the Communist Party of China (CCP) against the major Chinese portals, including Google and Baidu, has resulted in the closure of 726 web since January 5.


In a communique issued today, the Bureau of Special Operations Tackling lewd and Porno Content on the Internet, reported that one third of the web were not registered and violated Chinese laws on sexual content distribution.


The campaign, one month, was launched by the Public Security Bureau (police), the Executive, the Ministry of Culture and four other government agencies.


China is already the largest Internet market in the world, with nearly 300 million users, ahead of the U.S., but the CCP regime is also one of the censors of the planet, according to reports from NGOs such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) or Human Rights Watch (HRW).


The campaign "anti-porn" coincides with another policy that are being arrested activists and dissidents of the regime to avoid any protest in a year of anniversaries: the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan revolt against Chinese occupation, the Wall 30 years Democracy, and 20 years of the Tiananmen protests.


The latter is one of the hundreds of campaigns that the Chinese government has launched since the network moved into the Asian country in 1996.

The Indonesian Government wants the UN to make legally binding agreements that the scope of the Ocean World Conference at its meeting in May in the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, the newspaper reported today "The Jakarta Post."


"We hope that the UN supports the statement (final) and make it legally binding for all member countries," said Indonesian Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Freddy Numberi.


"Protecting the oceans, we are saving the lives of all people living in small island states. That is why wealthy nations should contribute to the cause," said the minister, whose country thought to make binding agreements to the industrialized countries will be more willing to finance the fight against climate change.


"We have already lost some small islands by rising oceans," said Numberi.


Indonesia, an archipelago made up of over 17,000 islands, notes with concern the rising seas caused by climate change and its experts estimate that up to 2,000 islands will be gone by 2030 if the ocean level rises 8 and 29 centimeters, as expected.


The Ocean World Conference will be held from May 15 to 11 in Manado, north of Sulawesi, expected attendance of 7,000 delegates, including officials, experts and activists from some 120 countries.

China has blocked 244 new pornographic websites last week, the official agency Xinhua said, bringing the total number of sites closed in a campaign against the content "vulgar" to over 700.


Many of the affected sites were not registered and violated the laws on sexual content distribution, said the report.


China promised last week that the campaign, according to a Xinhua plans last month, would not be a "storm in a glass of water." Has been extended to cover content in mobile games, novels and radio programs online.


Google, Baidu and other major firms have also received a public reprimand for not being quick enough to erase the contents of affected sites and some blogs have been closed for posting "politically damaging information."


The offensive of the Internet has been described by analysts as another step in the battle of the Communist Party to silence dissent in a year of sensitive dates such as the 20th anniversary of the bloody government repression against pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

More than 50 U.S. celebrities have joined an initiative known as' The Presidential Pledge '(The Promise Presidential), sponsored by MySpace and actor Ashton Kutcher: a video recording of his testimony to make commitments to change next U.S. president, Barack Obama.


Among the participants are actresses Cameron Diaz, Eva Longoria, Marisa Tomei, Courtney Cox, Lucy Liu and Laura Linney, and the actors Tobey Maguire and Jason Bateman. Also included singers Sean P. 'Diddy' Combs, Will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) and Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chilli Peppers).


The videos are available from Monday at www.myspace.com / presidentialpledge were directed, produced and edited by actress Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher's wife. Internet users are also invited to write their own promises and hang on the site.


"It is a platform that allows everyone, of any nation and around the world, personally engage with our new president, articulating a specific action or attempt to become agents of positive change," says Kutcher.


For example, Sean P. 'Diddy' Combs promises to "turn off the lights," Eva Longoria (of the television series' Desperate Housewives') is committed to plant 500 trees and Courtney Cox (the mythical 'Friends') states that "to help fight hunger in America .

Burger King was forced to close the application on Facebook that he had offered a Whopper for every ten friends removed from the pressure of this social networking site on the Internet.

Before the cancellation Whopper Sacrifice Campaign, 233,906 people were "slaughtered" by users of Facebook (removed from their lists of friends) to access a menu free of Burger King, the global fast food chain specializing in hamburgers .


Burger King this application could be installed for free by Facebook users who were rewarded with a Whopper for every ten friends removed from their list of contacts.


"Following constructive discussions with Burger King and the creators of the application is decided before the campaign to continue dealing with the restrictions," said a spokesman for Facebook.

In one of his last actions as president, George W. Bush on Monday commuted the sentences being imposed on two former border agents who had been convicted of shooting a Mexican drug dealer in 2005.


The two agents, who have purged some two years of the sentences, they could leave prison in the next two months.


Bush's decision to commute the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compeán, who tried to cover up the shooting, was well received by members of the Republican and Democratic parties in Congress.


For a long time, both parties had argued that the agents just did their job to defend the U.S. border criminals. The legislators also argued that the sentences of more than 10 years in prison handed down against each of the former officers of El Paso, Texas, were too severe.


The Mexican government was opposed to the release of the accused and expressed its opposition to the measure, seen as a failure in law enforcement.


"This is a message of impunity for the actions of police officers which is frankly hard to understand," said Carlos Rico, undersecretary for North America at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.


"We express our strong opposition, but political operatives last minute were stronger than our efforts," said Rico.


Resentment by the guilty pleas, convictions and dismissals had deepened since the events in 2005. The case then unleashed an intense debate on undocumented immigration in the United States.


Ramos and Compeán became focus of conservatives and television, where his supporters called the heroes. Almost a bipartisan congressional delegation from Texas and other Republican and Democratic lawmakers had urged Bush to intervene in the case with a measure of leniency.


Bush pardoned the two men for their crimes, but decided to change their prison sentences because they were considered excessive and that they had already lost their jobs, freedom and their reputations, said a prominent official.


The decision of the president, who believes that the Border Patrol agents received fair trials and verdicts, not diminish the gravity of their crimes, added the official.


Both were found guilty of wounding a shot in the buttocks Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who will be admitted drug trafficker, when he fled toward the Rio Grande on the border between Mexico and the United States after leaving a vehicle with marijuana. The officials said that in the shot because they believed he was armed.


Compeán and Ramos were sentenced to 12 years in prison and 11 years respectively. They were also each fined $ 2000 and sentenced to three years of supervised release. With Bush's decision, prison sentences expire on March 20 but remain intact fines and probation.


Bush, who leaves office on Tuesday, has issued 189 pardons and 11 commutations, which are slightly less than half of the measures granted by former presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan to two terms.


The stepfather of Ramos, Joe Loya, said that efforts to free his son had marked the entire family and said his daughter, Monica Ramos, told from New York to hear the news. "I could barely talk," he said.

Investigations into the crash of U.S. Airways landed at the Hudson River last week could take up to a year, but the lessons learned after the spectacular event will endure much more, said Monday one of the principal investigators of the case.

"I think this will be studied for decades," said Robert Benzon, investigator in charge of the case for the National Transportation Safety (NTSB, for its initials in Spanish).


Benzon said the fact that the 155 people aboard had survived the cut because the signs and that often accompany the air accidents, and indicated that the lessons of the successful fall on the Hudson River could improve the safety of aircraft.


"I think that something like this there is potential for the emergence of many good things, positive things in the long term," he said.


The Airbus A320 that acuatizó in the river on Thursday was on Monday in a field of dismantling of New Jersey, where he was guarded by employees of the company, federal investigators and police in New York.


"I was surprised it was that the plane intact," said James Marchioni, Weeks Marine supervisor in Jersey City. "Some of the lower panels appeared damaged, but otherwise was quite good."


Marchioni said the NTSB believes that would require "a week or two" to dismantle the vessel so that the parties could be sent to an undisclosed location, where they would be analyzed.


The search for the left engine of the ship was suspended until Tuesday due to ice on the river, that's too dangerous to send divers and sonar equipment.


The black boxes of the plane caught the sound of blows, the sudden loss of power in the engines and the calm of the pilot called for help, evidence supporting the counting of the crew of having collided with a flock of geese a few minutes off.


The pilot, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, praised for helping save the lives of the passengers said the plane hit birds and lost the functionality of the two turbines shortly after investigators listen to "the sound of blows and a rapid reduction in engine noise, "said Kitty Higgins of the NTSB.


Sullenberger then discussed various possibilities of landing on runways in New Jersey before deciding to attempt a landing in the river, said Higgins.


Nine seconds before ditching, the pilot told passengers to prepare for the impact, said Higgins.


President-elect Barack Obama said Monday he had spoken with the pilot, a native of California, and he said: "I and my crew just did our job."


"That made me think, if everyone did their job _cualquiera that was éste_ as well as it did this pilot, we would be in fairly good condition," said Obama.


Sullenberger, the crew of the plane's pilot and the family are invited to the swearing in ceremony on Tuesday.


The five members of the crew have been harassed to give interviews to the media. But on Monday, the airline and the crew issued several press releases in which they demanded respect for their privacy.


However, the crew said "wanted to give their sincere thanks and appreciation for the amazing show of support, appreciation and good wishes they received from the people and the rest of the world from what happened on Thursday."


They also indicated they are willing to give interviews "when the appropriate time."

Russian natural gas began to flow to Ukraine on Tuesday after a suspension of nearly two weeks that left large parts of Europe, with cold and dark, highlighting the vulnerability and dependency of the continent against the Russian fuel.


Russian gas monopoly Gazprom began pumping gas to Ukraine at about 10:30 Moscow (0730GMT), said spokesman Boris Sapozhnikov by telephone from the station to measure Sudzha. Executives at other stations on the Ukrainian-Russian border, Pisarevka, also confirmed that it was getting gas.


Officials noted that the supplies could take 36 hours to cross Ukraine, which is the size of France, and to reach European customers. Europe gets about a fifth of its natural gas from Russia.


Russia suspended supplies on January 7 while the dispute with Ukraine over prices for 2009 and on accusations that Ukraine was stealing gas intended for Europe.


More than 15 nations in the Balkans and Eastern Europe were left fighting for alternative energy sources, with factories closed and millions of people shivering in unheated homes. Bulgaria and Slovakia, in particular, depend almost entirely on Russian gas.


Many questioned whether Russia and Ukraine could be reliable suppliers of energy and criticized by both nations in Europe have "hostage" during his contractual dispute.


Late on Monday, the two nations settled its lawsuit with the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko, who witnessed the signing of an agreement between the heads of Gazprom and the Ukrainian company Naftogaz.


The agreement further states that Ukraine will receive gas at 20% discount on the average price this year in Europe, which Russia says is $ 450 per 1,000 cubic meters.


However, it is expected that natural gas prices for Europe to fall sharply this year due to reduced oil prices. For half the summer, Ukraine could be paying $ 150 per 1,000 cubic meters, said Ronald Smith, a strategist of Alfa Bank in Moscow.

Tens of thousands of people came on Monday in this capital on the eve of the swearing in of Barack Obama as the 44th president, while the country paid tribute to the assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.


Obama sought to honor Reverend King through voluntary service to others.


"Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will be united as one people, in the same place where the dream of Dr. King still resonates," Obama said in a statement.


Obama showed his interest in bipartisan cooperation, which takes office when needed. One night before becoming president dined with his vice president, Joe Biden, and two prominent Republicans: former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Senator John McCain, the man he defeated last November in the presidential election.


Obama praised McCain during the meeting and asked for help to "make the dinner not only a bipartisan tradition in the presidential sworn, but a new way of dealing with the affairs of the people in this city."


Meanwhile, in his last days in the White House, President George W. Bush made telephone calls to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other world leaders to thank them for their assistance in the course of his eight years as president.


On the streets, big screens showing live broadcasts of television stations, attracting crowds of onlookers.


"Today, we celebrate the life of a preacher who, for over 45 years, shared in the shadow of Lincoln's dream of our nation," Obama said in his statement.


The life of King, the president-elect said, "was a life in the service of others with love."


On Sunday, after a celebration in the shadow of the monument to Abraham Lincoln _quien strongly opposed slavery in the Unidos_, Obama molded his last days as president-elect on the King, another giant figure in the history of the country.


The festivities began a day earlier with a journey by train from Philadelphia to Washington since Obama, following the route that took Lincoln in 1861, shortly before a civil war.


Obama said on Sunday that will take "more than a year to resolve the economic challenges and other challenges facing the country, but also sought to give a message of encouragement before thousands of jubilant people at a concert, emphasizing that" everything is possible in the United States. "


The former senator of 47 years will assume the presidency at noon on Tuesday at a time of economic crisis in the nation and two wars abroad. But the difficulties became the background for many who came in hopes of witnessing a moment that will change the country's history, takes up the post the first black president since its founding.


"I am so happy to live to see this wonderful event," said Betty Bryant, 70, who traveled in a rented bus from Augusta, Georgia, and stood in front of the Capitol to the ice pit. Bryant had planned to get up at 3:00 am on Tuesday to reach a place where they perform the swearing.


Uniformed soldiers patrolling the streets of Washington, in anticipation of the large deployment to monitor the swearing, the inaugural speech, parade and other celebrations. The authorities have reviewed suspicious packages and vehicles, and it seems everything is in order, said Richard Kolko, a spokesman for the FBI. "The city and people seem to have a good disposition and good spirits," he said. "Security is going well, that is what the whole plan."


Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was ordered not to participate in the festivities of the swearing on Tuesday, "to ensure continuity of government," said Dana Perino, spokeswoman for Bush.


Gates will continue in office by a decision of Obama, and is one of the people in line in presidential succession. It is normal that one of the officials of a new government to stay on the sidelines of ceremonies in the event of a calamitous attack.


Meanwhile, in the structures built for the occasion musicians Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman made his essay for presentation at the ceremony.

On Tuesday morning, first lady Laura Bush greet Michelle Obama and his wife on the porch of the White House and lead a brief visit. When Obama returned in the afternoon will have become president, Bush will be on the way to his retirement in Texas, and a group of trucks will take the belongings of a family while the other comes from the other.

On Monday morning, Obama visited the Walter Reed hospital in the armed forces to greet soldiers wounded in combat. The visit was not announced previously.

Then participated in a community redevelopment project in the Sasha Bruce House shelter for homeless adolescents, where he began to paint the walls with a roller and helped volunteers.

"We can not let anyone down," he said. "Everyone has to participate."

The elected vice president, Joe Biden, also participated in voluntary service, and his wife, Jill, and Michelle Obama.

Monday marks the U.S. at the federal level the 80 years of the birth of King, who preached peaceful resistance and equality among races.

Many believe that King paved the way for advancing to the Obama presidency. Others disagree with that assertion, and argue that Obama was never linked to the movement for civil rights in this country.