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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, November 24th 2024 - 01:10 UTC

Stories for December 2016

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 09:41 UTC

    Old-fashioned cigarette doomed, says world's largest tobacco company

    Andre Calantzopoulos, CEO of Philip Morris, manufacturer of the world's top cigarette brand Marlboro, sees the business shifting to electronic smoking devices

    A historic lawsuit loss to Uruguay over tobacco-related cancer damages and other technological developments have Philip Morris focusing on new alternatives. “I think the time will come when we will have enough acceptance of these alternative products to begin to propose, along with the governments, a gradual elimination of conventional cigars,” the company CEO Andre Calantzopoulos announced.

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 09:33 UTC

    Evo says he didn't know LAMIA was Bolivian, but flew doomed aircraft a fortnight before

    President Evo Morales flew aboard the LAMIA airplane a fortnight before the crash but says he did not know the airline was Bolivian.

    Bolivian President Evo Morales Friday admitted that LAMIA's general manager Gustavo Vargas Gamboa used to be one of his pilots but added that he did not know what he was working as after his retirement from the Air Force. He even denied knowing LAMIA was operating under Bolivian registration. A LAMIA British Aerospace 146 - RJ 85 crashed Monday night in Medellín, Colombia, killing 71 people onboard including five Bolivian nationals, although most victims were from the Brazilian Chapecoense football club.

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 09:27 UTC

    'Cuban' Maradona warns Macri might not make it past Christmas Day

    Looking at it from Communist Cuba, Diego Maradona sees a dark future for Argentine President Mauricio Macri.

    Argentine retired football player Diego Maradona, in Cuba to attend the funerals of his friend and former revolutionary leader Fidel Catro, hinted that should the people of his country choose to take to the streets, President Mauricio Macri might not be in office by Christmas.

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 09:19 UTC

    Venezuela suspended from Mercosur - Maduro's Foreign Minister says it did not happen

    Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez will not admit Venezuela has been suspended from full Mercosur membership

    The founding Mercosur countries Friday suspended Venezuela from full membership of the free-trade bloc in view of its failure to adjust its domestic regulations to economic agreements and human rights and immigration guidelines and principles that are mandatory to all the other members.

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 08:20 UTC

    Seventy female scientists to Antarctica to battle climate change and make a name for women in science

    The women departed from Ushuaia to spend 20 days at sea. The 76 women were hand chosen from more than 1000 applicants and trained for the perilous journey

    More than 70 female scientists from all around the world have embarked upon a voyage to the South Pole with the common objectives of battling climate change and making a name for women in science. As part of the Homeward Bound initiative, an Australian program aimed at increasing the female representation in science, the group set upon what will be the largest ever all-women expedition to Antarctica.

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 08:03 UTC

    Beppe Grillo, Italy's Donald Trump: “I say NO”

    “Today saying No is the most beautiful and glorious form of politics....Whoever doesn't understand that can go screw themselves”, Beppe Grillo said

    By Gwynne Dyer - “Today saying No is the most beautiful and glorious form of politics....Whoever doesn't understand that can go screw themselves.” It could have been Donald Trump before the US election two weeks ago, or Boris Johnson during the Brext campaign in Britain last June, but it was actually Beppe Grillo, founder and leader of Italy's populist Five Star Movement.

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 07:44 UTC

    Brexit controversy ousts Tories from safe seat: Lib Dem newcomer Sarah Olney wins by election

    Lib Dem challenger Sarah Olney overturned MP Zac Goldsmith's 23,015 majority to finish 1,872 votes ahead.

    Lib Dem leader Tim Farron claims his party is “back in the big time” after it fought on the issue of Brexit to oust ex-Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith in the Richmond Park by-election. Lib Dem challenger Sarah Olney overturned Goldsmith's 23,015 majority to finish 1,872 votes ahead.

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 07:32 UTC

    US unemployment falls to nine-year low in November, 4.6%, but earnings slowdown

    The Federal Reserve will hold its next two-day policy meeting on 13-14 December when it is expected to raise rates

    United States unemployment rate fell to a nine-year low in November, adding to expectations that US interest rates will rise later this month. Figures from the Labor Department showed the US economy created 178,000 jobs in November, while the jobless rate fell to 4.6% from 4.9% in October.

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 07:25 UTC

    Austria's Sunday presidential election with an eye on Brexit and Trump's victory

    Hofer has taken a strong anti-immigration position and said he might call a referendum on whether Austria should leave the European Union.

    Austrian voters could elect the European Union’s first far-right leader in the a presidential election on Sunday. Norbert Hofer of the far-right Freedom Party is running against Alexander Van der Bellen. Van der Bellen is an independent candidate who led The Greens party earlier. Recent public opinion studies have shown the two candidates with about equal support.

  • Friday, December 2nd 2016 - 10:52 UTC

    Putin wants Trump to be his ally in fighting terrorism

    Russian President wants to be allies with Donald Trump to fight “a real enemy” such as terrorism

    Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday said he needed friends in his fight against terrorism and invited US President-elect Donald Trump to normalize relations between the two countries, which have deteriorated considerably under Barack Obama.