Stories for October 2015

Friday, October 30th 2015 - 07:48 UTC
Chinese couples allowed to have a second child; policy was imposed in 1979 to slow population growth

China has decided to end its decades-long one-child policy, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports. Couples will now be allowed to have two children, it said, citing a statement from the Communist Party. The controversial policy was introduced nationally in 1979, to slow the population growth rate.
Friday, October 30th 2015 - 07:39 UTC
US growth slows sharply in the third quarter; consumer spending strong at 3.2%

United States growth slowed sharply in the third quarter of the year. GDP grew at an annualized pace of 1.5% between July and September, according to the Department of Commerce, down from 3.9% in the second quarter. The slowdown was partly due to companies running down stockpiles of goods in their warehouses.
Friday, October 30th 2015 - 07:35 UTC
Venezuela central bank gold holdings drop 19% in four months

Venezuela central bank gold holdings declined in value by 19% between January and May, according to its financial statements, likely reflecting gold swap operations and lower bullion prices. The country has been struggling with stagflation due to low oil prices and a collapsing state-led economic model, holds a considerable portion of its monetary reserves in gold.
Friday, October 30th 2015 - 07:15 UTC
Cristina Fernandez calls at emotional rally to defend her progressive policies

Argentina's outgoing leader Cristina Fernandez gave an emotional campaign speech on Thursday in her first public address since a surprisingly weak performance by her handpicked candidate in the first-round presidential election on Sunday. Without mentioning allied candidate Daniel Scioli by name, the outgoing president implicitly backed him by calling for support for her progressive social policies to go on after she hands the presidency over to her successor in six weeks.
Friday, October 30th 2015 - 06:37 UTC
Falklands' Humpback well finds non-commercial quantities of oil and gas

Humpback is the first well to encounter oil in the potentially larger systems in deeper waters off the southeast of the Falkland Islands; however the oil and gas across a number of reservoir targets in the well drilled to a depth of 5.136 meters, were in non-commercial quantities.
Friday, October 30th 2015 - 06:21 UTC
Malvinas Cause pamphlet to be released this week in Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego governor Fabiana Ríos and members of the Malvinas Observatory met at Ushuaia government house to thank Ushuaia Bureau for the design and elaboration of the Malvinas Cause pamphlet which outlines the Argentine position in the Falklands Islands sovereignty claim and will be released later in the week.
Friday, October 30th 2015 - 05:52 UTC
Uruguayan president helps revive young passenger in a flight to Paris

Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez put his old profession as physician to use helping revive a young French allergic woman on a flight to Paris, according to a report on the Montevideo weekly Busqueda. The incident occurred last Monday.
Thursday, October 29th 2015 - 14:50 UTC
Tuberculosis mortality nearly halved since 1990

The fight against tuberculosis is paying off, with this year’s death rate nearly half of what it was in 1990. Nevertheless, 1.5 million people died from TB in 2014. Most of these deaths could have been prevented, according to the World Health Organization’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2015, which was released on Wednesday in Washington, DC.
Thursday, October 29th 2015 - 07:32 UTC
Fed rates unchanged; fears of monetary easing in EU, Japan and China, and inflation still below 2%

The US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, but downplayed global economic headwinds and left the door open to tightening monetary policy at its next meeting in December.
Thursday, October 29th 2015 - 07:18 UTC
Macri ahead of Scioli, with 8.8% still undecided shows first poll following Sunday's vote

The first public opinion poll released since Argentina's Sunday presidential election and ahead of the 22 November runoff indicates that the opposition candidate Mauricio Macri is a few points ahead of incumbent Daniel Scioli in a tight race but still with a large percentage who remain undecided.