Stories for August 2015

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.
Sunday, August 2nd 2015 - 22:18 UTC
Former Exxon president on mission to clean up oil sands

Canada has given oil sands a dirty reputation, but a breakthrough, commercially viable technology has caught the eye of a former Exxon Mobil president who is putting it to use to clean up Utah's billions of barrels of oil sands.
Saturday, August 1st 2015 - 12:57 UTC
UN agreement to combat illegal fishing (IUU) close to ratification

Thirteen additional countries need to ratify an agreement brokered by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to combat illegal fishing by blocking ports to ships known or believed to be carrying illicit catches that account for more than 15% of global output, the agency said today.
Saturday, August 1st 2015 - 10:23 UTC
China delivers 'green' state of the art 18.000 TEU 'Vasco de Gama'

Shipping group CMA CGM has taken delivery of the new build box ship CMA CGM Vasco de Gama on July 27. Built by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), the 18,000 TEUs vessel, with its 399 meters length and 54 meters width, is the largest ship in the CMA CGM fleet and the largest containership ever built in a Chinese shipyard.
Saturday, August 1st 2015 - 10:00 UTC
FIFA corruption: Argentine indicted businessman pleads not guilty in US court

The former chairman of an Argentina-based sports marketing business, one of 14 people indicted in a corruption case that has rattled the soccer world's governing body FIFA, pleaded not guilty in US federal court on Friday.
Saturday, August 1st 2015 - 09:55 UTC
Brazil reports its worst half year primary deficit since 1997

The Brazilian government registered a primary deficit of $470 million (1.6 billion Real) in the first half of 2015, according to figures from the National Treasury release on Thursday, O Globo newspaper reported. The deficit is the worst result since 1997. In the same period last year, the government recorded a surplus of $5 billion (17 billion real).
Saturday, August 1st 2015 - 09:42 UTC
Food riots in Venezuela leave one person killed and tens of arrests

One person was killed and dozens were detained on Friday following looting of supermarkets in Venezuela's southeastern city of Ciudad Guayana, the state governor has said, amid the ongoing food shortages in the Mercosur-Unasur nation.