Stories for December 2015

Thursday, December 31st 2015 - 08:35 UTC
Spain's Socialists rules out any partner that supports Catalonia independence referendum

Spain's Socialist party ruled out forming a new government with any party that supported a referendum on independence in Catalonia, a stand that prolongs political uncertainty after this month's inconclusive national election.
Thursday, December 31st 2015 - 08:22 UTC
Switzerland hands bank documents from FIFA corruption to US prosecutors

Swiss authorities have handed over the first round of bank documents seized in their FIFA corruption investigation to U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday. The Federal Office of Justice in Switzerland says the documents relate to “bank accounts allegedly used for bribes connected with the grant of marketing rights to soccer tournaments in Latin America and the USA.”
Thursday, December 31st 2015 - 08:09 UTC
Chile's ENAP moves into power generation in association with Japan's Mitsui

Chilean state oil company ENAP announced the signing of an agreement with Japan's Mitsui & Co. for the development of two power generation projects with combined installed capacity of nearly 1,300 MW.
Thursday, December 31st 2015 - 07:50 UTC
Holdouts subpoena HSBC on Argentina's efforts to raise money abroad

Creditors suing Argentina over billions of dollars in defaulted bonds have subpoenaed HSBC Holdings Plc for information about the country's effort to raise money abroad, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters.
Thursday, December 31st 2015 - 07:43 UTC
Global economic growth in 2016, “disappointing and patchy” forecasts Lagarde

Global economic growth will be “disappointing and patchy” in 2016, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, wrote in an article published in the German business daily Handelsblatt on Wednesday.
Thursday, December 31st 2015 - 07:31 UTC
Chile's Bachelet waiting for the year to end: 2015 has been the worst in her political history

It has been a bad year, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet told a Santiago newspaper this week, admitting that corruption scandals have sapped confidence in the country's institutions while sparking a reform drive that should bear fruit going forward.
Wednesday, December 30th 2015 - 14:10 UTC
Two ex ministers with prison sentences for Buenos Aires train accident that killed 51 and injured 789

An Argentine court handed down prison sentences of up to nine years for those charged in the February 2012 train accident in Buenos Aires that killed 51 people and injured more than 700.
Wednesday, December 30th 2015 - 03:22 UTC
Major Spanish company in frozen fish industry, Iberconsa, sold to Portobello Capital

The Spanish manager of equity Portobello Capital has bought a majority stake in Iberconsa (Iberica de Congelados), the third company in the sector in Spain and the first one to capture and produce frozen hake on board.
Wednesday, December 30th 2015 - 02:47 UTC
US bans imports of lion trophies; the majestic cats protected by USFWS Endangered Species Act

In a move that is likely to put a major dent in South Africa’s canned hunting industry for lions — a practice involving the shooting of these majestic predators in fenced enclosures in a pay-to-slay arrangement— the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced that it will institute important new measures to protect lions under the Endangered Species Act.
Wednesday, December 30th 2015 - 02:24 UTC
Russian polar vessel and helicopters will supply Argentine Antarctica bases

For the eighth season, Argentina's Antarctic bases and stations are to be supplied by the Russian polar vessel Vasily Golovnin from Arkadia Ltd. This has been going on since 2007 when the Argentine flagship ice-breaker Almirante Irizar caught fire in the high seas and is still in repairs waiting for the necessary funds.