Stories for January 2013

Saturday, January 19th 2013 - 03:16 UTC
Canada’s new plastic banknotes with the wrong maple leaf

The Bank of Canada has barked up the wrong maple tree with its new plastic banknotes, using a foreign Norway maple leaf as the emblem on the notes instead of the sugar maple that the country has on its national flag, an eagle-eyed Canadian botanist says.
Saturday, January 19th 2013 - 03:00 UTC
Argentine car washers blame poor weather forecasting for bad business

A summer brawl has surfaced in Buenos Aires between the car washers’ industry and the Argentine Meteorological service that are blamed for their poor forecasts which scares customers from the outlets.
Saturday, January 19th 2013 - 00:29 UTC
Anywhere from 30 to 50% of world food production lost to waste, says engineers’ group

The report “Global Food: Waste Not Want Not” by the UK’s Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) has found that 30-50%, or 1.2-2 billion tons, of produced food is wasted by poor storage, bad distribution and exacting quality standards in the developed world.
Friday, January 18th 2013 - 23:58 UTC
Environmentalists praise conservation aspects of new Chilean Fisheries law

Chile has established a set of new fisheries laws protecting underwater sea mountains, limiting by-catch and setting science based quotas, protecting 150.000 square kilometers of marine habitat.
Friday, January 18th 2013 - 23:47 UTC
Controversy in Chile over salmon industry costs, regulations and standards

The recent statements by the CEO of Marine Harvest in Chile generated a rapid reaction of the Minister of Economy, who justified the measures taken to prevent the catastrophic recurrence of a crisis such as the spread of infectious salmon anaemia (ISA).
Friday, January 18th 2013 - 23:39 UTC
First journalist killed in the western hemisphere in 2013 is from Brazil

Renato Machado Gonçalves, the manager and joint owner of Radio Barra FM in Rio de Janeiro state, has become the first journalist to be killed in the western hemisphere in 2013. He was gunned down as he left his home in the north of the state last week.
Friday, January 18th 2013 - 14:33 UTC
Falklands’ referendum, a “democratic and incontestable” answer to Argentina’s ambitions

The Falkland Islands elected government has confirmed the dates and final wording of the referendum on the political status of the Islands, based on their right to self determination and to counter Argentina’s repeated calls for negotiations over sovereignty.
Friday, January 18th 2013 - 14:29 UTC
Falklands does not discard a referendum on ‘full independence in the future’

If at the coming referendum, the Falkland Islands wish to remain a UK Overseas Territory, retaining the current status and preserving the right to self-determination, which would allow the Falkland Islands to review its status at any time, “this could include full independence in the future”, points out the booklet “On the future of the Falkland Islands”.
Friday, January 18th 2013 - 06:12 UTC
Argentina thanks Indonesia for support on Falklands issue and blasts multilateral organizations

President Cristina Fernandez thanked Indonesia for the “permanent support” extended to Argentina in the “Malvinas cause” and reiterated that Argentina is only asking for the UK to respect and abide the United Nations resolution, but at the same time attacked multilateral organizations such as the UN and WTO for “favouring the great powers”.
Friday, January 18th 2013 - 06:08 UTC
OAS will send observers to the February 17 general elections in Ecuador

The Organization of American States will be sending observers to the coming presidential and legislative elections in Ecuador next month and to that effect OAS and Ecuador signed the agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of Observers which provides the conditions for the work of the Electoral Observation Mission.