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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, December 22nd 2024 - 09:11 UTC

Stories for March 17th 2017

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 22:02 UTC

    Trade and protectionism in the G20 Brazil/US ministerial agenda

    “Brazil actually has experience of closing down its economy,” Meirelles said. Productivity came down and the bottom line was less growth, more inflation.

    Brazil's finance minister has said that he is ready to listen to the U.S. policies on trade at this weekend's G-20 meeting but speaks from experience when he says he believes a free economy is better for everyone. “Brazil actually has experience of closing down its economy,” Henrique Meirelles said on Thursday.

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 21:55 UTC

    Unemployment in Argentina falls to 7.6%: less people looking for jobs

    Macri revamped the stats agency which was widely viewed as manipulating economic data under the populist rule of ex president Cristina Fernandez.

    Argentina's unemployment rate fell to 7.6% in the fourth quarter of 2016, the government's Indec statistics agency said in a report on Thursday, down from 8.5% in the third quarter as thousands of people stopped looking for work.

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 07:52 UTC

    Falklands' lawmakers reject Argentine “sovereignty document” scam

    MLA Short said that the ”the gentleman himself has never, to my knowledge, approached the Falkland Islands Government directly about the document.”

    An Argentine antique dealer who offered to sell a copy of an old document that he claimed would destroy the Argentine historical case for sovereignty over the Falklands, has been turned down. According to this week's Penguin News edition, the Secretary of the group Asociación Civil de Amigos Malvinas/Falklands (ACAMF) Gabriel Di Bernardo made contact with the Islands in October last year.

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 07:38 UTC

    Macri administration faces unions' first general strike scheduled for April 6

    CGT has staged protests in recent weeks, but April 6 would be the first general strike in Argentina since Macri took office in December 2015

    Argentina's largest union announced a one-day general strike on April 6, increasing pressure on President Mauricio Macri's conservative government six months before mid-term congressional elections. The CGT says Macri's policies, including austerity measures like reducing subsidies on fuel and electricity, are resulting in lower real salaries and lost jobs.

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 07:26 UTC

    Brazil awards European groups 30 year concession of four airports

    “We have won back international credibility,” Temer said on Twitter, celebrating “success in the airport auction.”

    Brazil awarded three European groups on Thursday the rights to operate four airports, drawing nearly double the minimum bids at an auction that underscored investors' appetite for a new wave of privatizations under President Michel Temer. German airport operator Fraport AG, French group Vinci SA and Zurich Airport bid a combined 1.46 billion reais (US$470 million) for the rights to run airports in Porto Alegre, Salvador, Fortaleza and Florianopolis.

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 07:15 UTC

    Bank of England cautiously leaves interest rates at the record low of 0.25%

    Carney has emphasized his rate-setting board's willingness to ignore a certain level of above-target inflation prompted by the sharp plunge in sterling of around 18%

    The Bank of England (BOE) held interest rates at the record low level of 0.25% and maintained asset purchases at £435 billion on Thursday. The decision, which was made by an 8-1 majority, had been almost unanimously anticipated by central bank watchers with many expecting the BOE to choose caution until more clarity emerges on the Brexit process and the U.K. economy's capacity to manage outside of the European Union.

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 06:59 UTC

    Falklands' deminer recovering from injuries during a clearance operation accident

    Mr. Unsung said Mr. Mandava who is an experienced deminer, had carried out all of his drills correctly on the day of the accident.

    Deminer Rodgers Mandava working to clear minefields in the Falkland Islands, was injured during an accident in a Moody Valley clearance operation on February 27, has recovered well from his injuries and work has resumed in the area, according to a report published by the Penguin News.

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 06:51 UTC

    Brazil reports 424 cases of yellow fever, 127 dead and 900 under investigation

    Much of Brazil is considered at risk for yellow fever, and people in those areas are supposed to be vaccinated.

    Brazil’s Health Ministry says 424 people have been infected with yellow fever in the largest outbreak the country has seen in years. Of those, 137 have died. An update published Thursday said that more than 900 other cases are under investigation.

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 06:39 UTC

    Torrential rains and mudslides ravage Peru: thousands left homeless

    Evangelina Chamorro emerged near a bridge, lifting herself from a current of wooden planks and walking toward the shore covered head to toe in mud.

    Muddy water spilled onto streets and into homes on Thursday in a new round of unusually heavy rains that has killed at least a eighteen people in Peru and now threatens flooding in the capital Lima. The intense rains and mudslides over the past three days have wrought havoc around the Andean nation and caught residents in Lima, a desert city of 10 million where it almost never rains, by surprise.

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 06:27 UTC

    UK government rejects Scottish independence referendum: “now is not the time”

    The prime minister added: “I think we should be working to get the right deal for Scotland and the UK with our future partnership with the European Union”.

    The UK government is to reject calls for a Scottish independence referendum before Brexit after Theresa May said “now is not the time”. The prime minister said the focus should be on getting the best Brexit deal for the whole of the UK.