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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, April 19th 2024 - 23:15 UTC

Stories for August 2015

  • Friday, August 7th 2015 - 05:55 UTC

    Lan and Tam consolidate under an only brand of Latam Airlines

    The changes will “gradually become visible” in 2016, though the company has not announced a timeline for all specific elements.

    LATAM Airlines Group will consolidate all its carriers, including Lan Airlines and Tam Linhas Aéreas S.A., into a single brand over the next three years, the company announced Thursday. Since Lan and Tam merged in 2012, they've operated as separate brands, but the parent company's goal has been to provide a carrier that can provide seamless coverage to the entire South American continent.

  • Friday, August 7th 2015 - 05:18 UTC

    Scottish lab identifies “super-algae” to make bio-fuels for vehicles and aircraft

    Dr. Stephen Slocombe said that in order to produce bio-fuels from micro-algae “we need to know which strains will produce the most oil.”

    Researchers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) have unlocked a treasure chest of ‘super-algae’ that could provide a previously untapped source of oil. Using a newly devised technique, scientists examined micro-algae strains in the Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa (CCAP), an internationally important algal store based at SAMS in Oban, to find out which ocean-based strains had the highest oil content.

  • Thursday, August 6th 2015 - 12:19 UTC

    Southern hake August ban awareness campaign launched in Chile

    The campaign 'Let’s stop catching hake' is an administrative measure that extends throughout August to protect the resource during reproduction period. (Pic Aqua)

    The southern hake (Merluccius australis) ban awareness campaign has been officially launched in the southern Chilean city of Puerto Montt, with the aim of halting the resource catches, sale and consumption in the south of the country, extending from regions Los Lagos to Magallanes.

  • Thursday, August 6th 2015 - 08:59 UTC

    Sunday's vote, Argentina's first step to October's presidential election

    Macri is the undisputed leader of PRO and he proved it with eight years running as head of the Argentine capital

    Argentines will be going to the polls this Sunday to vote in the open, simultaneous, mandatory primaries (PASO) when the different parties will be choosing their one-candidate for the big prize on 25 October when the successor of Cristina Fernandez will be elected together with half of the Lower House (129 seats), a third of the Senate (24 seats) and 43 members for the Mercosur parliament.

  • Thursday, August 6th 2015 - 08:46 UTC

    Despite Obama's efforts for gun control, US firearms production jumped 140% in five years

    “In 2010, more than 5.4 million firearms were manufactured. That number climbed to more than 10.8 million in 2013,” stated the ATF.

    Despite President Barack Obama’s push for greater gun control measures, it would seem that firearm production has boomed during his administration. The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recently released its “2015 Firearms Commerce in the United States Annual Statistical Update,” in which the agency pointed out a nearly 140% increase in gun production from 2008 to 2013, the last year with available statistics.

  • Thursday, August 6th 2015 - 08:35 UTC

    Uruguay inflation at an annualized 9%; 60 days price-freeze of 1.400 items

    The 1.400 items price agreement is conditioned to ensuring that the US dollar, currently almost at 29 Pesos, in the next two months does not reach 30 Pesos

    Uruguay's inflation climbed 1.21% during July and reached 6.91% in the first seven months of the year and 9.02% in the last twelve months, according to the release from the country's stats office, INE. In July 2014 inflation was 0.75%.

  • Thursday, August 6th 2015 - 08:27 UTC

    Brazil's top prosecutor backed by peers for another term, but he needs Senate confirmation

    The association of federal prosecutors voted on Wednesday to propose Rodrigo Janot's name to president Rousseff for another term as prosecutor-general.

    Brazil's top prosecutor, who has put dozens of politicians under investigation for allegedly taking bribes in the Petrobras corruption scandal, has won the backing of his peers to stay on the job for two more years.

  • Thursday, August 6th 2015 - 08:11 UTC

    NIESR 2015 global economic growth forecast lowered from 3.2% to 3%

    Growth forecasts for US and many emerging market economies was lowered but for the Euro zone was only cut slightly.

    Global economic growth will slow this year to the lowest rate since the financial crisis, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). The think tank cut its 2015 forecast to 3.0% from the 3.2% it predicted in May.

  • Thursday, August 6th 2015 - 05:31 UTC

    Researchers identify characteristics of fish most vulnerable to trawlers

    Dr. Killen said that “Selective harvest of animals by humans probably represents one of the strongest drivers of evolutionary change for wild animals.”

    Using laboratory-based experiments, researchers have identified the common characteristics of fish most vulnerable to being caught by trawlers. They found fish that were less able to produce fast burst-type swimming to evade capture were more likely to end up in trawlers' nets.

  • Thursday, August 6th 2015 - 05:22 UTC

    Ukraine conflict: France reimburses Russia for two helicopter carriers

    France stopped the planned sale of the two Mistral class helicopter carriers after the outbreak of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

    A deal has been agreed in which Russia will receive compensation for France's decision last year to cancel the sale of two warships. France will fully refund Russia for the two helicopter carriers. The deal was worth €1.2bn ($1.3bn) and Russia made an advance payment of about €840m.