Stories for August 3rd 2015

Monday, August 3rd 2015 - 14:04 UTC
Two new 180.000GT vessels for Costa Cruises powered by liquefied natural gas

Carnival Corporation & plc announced that its Italian brand, Costa Cruises, has placed orders for two new cruise ships powered by liquefied natural gas as part of an agreement with Meyer Werft to build four next-generation cruise ships with the largest guest capacity in the world.
Monday, August 3rd 2015 - 13:44 UTC
China's factory activity shrinks the most in two years

Factory activity in the world's second largest economy, China, shrank the most in two years in July as new orders fell more than expected. The private Caixin/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped to 47.8 in July from 49.4 in the previous month.
Monday, August 3rd 2015 - 09:40 UTC
Brazilian currency at its weakest against the US dollar since March 2003

The Brazilian currency Real lost 1% at the end of trading on Friday and begins this week at 3.42 Reais to the US dollar, the lowest in twelve years, because of the political and economic uncertainties surrounding Latin America's largest economy.
Monday, August 3rd 2015 - 09:29 UTC
Argentine farmers at Palermo show opening: “please don't vote for 'populist adventures'”

Argentine farmers have taken sides decisively ahead of events leading to the presidential election in October and the primaries next weekend. At the opening of the country's major Palermo agriculture show in Buenos Aires, the head of the Argentine Rural Society Luis Etchevehere called on his fellow citizens to avoid supporting “democratically elected leaders but intoxicated with authoritarianism” and “populist adventures”.
Monday, August 3rd 2015 - 09:05 UTC
“You can't understand Pope Francis without Juan Peron and Evita Peron” says the Washington Post

Pope Francis will be visiting the United States next September, where he will address the United States congress, the United Nations General Assembly and attend the Family Congress to be held in Philadelphia.
Monday, August 3rd 2015 - 08:28 UTC
Argentina and Chile armies agree on Antarctica rescue and support operations

The armies of Argentina and Chile have completed the details for this Antarctic season PARACAH (Antarctic Combined Rescue Patrol Argentina-Chile) 2015 exercise that became effective as of August and extends until next year, and which besides combined rescue operations also refers to collaboration in scientific and research issues in Antarctica.
Monday, August 3rd 2015 - 08:16 UTC
Canada will hold elections next October; conservatives could lose office

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called a parliamentary election for Oct. 19, kicking off a marathon 11-week campaign likely to focus on a stubbornly sluggish economy and his decade in power. Polls indicate Harper's right-of-center Conservative Party, which has been in office since 2006, could well lose its majority in the House of Commons.
Monday, August 3rd 2015 - 08:08 UTC
Unemployment in Magallanes drops slightly to 3.8% in April/June quarter

Unemployment in Magallanes region, extreme south of Chile, was 3.8% in the second quarter of the year, which represents a 1.5 percentage point increase over the last twelve months despite a slight fall of 0.2 percentage point compared to the previous quarter (March/May) of 2015, according to the latest release from the INE stats office.
Monday, August 3rd 2015 - 05:07 UTC
Switzerland central bank announces 51bn dollars loss in six months

Switzerland's central bank announced Friday it had suffered a loss of 50.1 billion francs ($51 billion, 47 billion Euros) in the first half of the year, down on the 16.1 billion francs in profit logged for the same period a year earlier.