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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.