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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, November 23rd 2024 - 13:17 UTC

Stories for April 2018

  • Thursday, April 26th 2018 - 09:09 UTC

    UK may have to start new satellite system post-Brexit

    Britain is already being frozen out of the program despite there being many months until it will actually leave the EU.

    The UK might have to set up its own satellite navigation system if it is thrown out of the Galileo project after Brexit, according to British officials. Galileo is a €10 billion program that was launched by the EU to rival the US global positioning system.

  • Thursday, April 26th 2018 - 09:04 UTC

    UK could consider an extension of Brexit talks if Parliament rejects withdrawal deal

    Davis pointed out that all EU member states would have to give their approval before the Article 50 process could be extended.

    Brexit Secretary David Davis has suggested the UK government could consider asking for Brexit negotiations to be extended if Parliament votes down the withdrawal deal later this year. Speaking to the Exiting the EU Committee on Wednesday, Davis conceded that it would not be impossible to prolong Article 50 negotiations, having previously said that the deal would “fall” if MPs vote it down.

  • Thursday, April 26th 2018 - 08:59 UTC

    Argentina receives 32 bids for six road projects totaling US$ 8 billion

    Since taking office in December 2015, President Mauricio Macri has focused on upgrading Argentina's infrastructure after decades of under-investment.

    Argentina announced it received 32 bids for six road projects requiring around US$ 8 billion in investment, in a big test of how public-private partnerships (PPPs) can help cash-starved Latin American governments beef up infrastructure.

  • Thursday, April 26th 2018 - 08:53 UTC

    Macron enchants US Congress while questioning some of Trump's policies

    The speech was widely interpreted as a thinly veiled attack on President Donald Trump's America First agenda.

    French President Emmanuel Macron has used his speech to the joint houses of the US Congress to denounce nationalism and isolationism as threats to global prosperity. The speech was widely interpreted as a thinly veiled attack on President Donald Trump's America First agenda.

  • Thursday, April 26th 2018 - 08:46 UTC

    Trade skirmish: China halts purchases of US soybeans, gives priority to Brazil

    At stake are 3 million tons of soybeans - estimated worth about US$1.3 billion - for which deals have been signed but cargoes have yet to leave U.S. ports, traders say

    China’s purchases of U.S. soybeans have come to a grinding halt, trade and industry sources say, as fears of further action by Beijing to curb imports of U.S. crops following last week’s anti-dumping move on sorghum rattles the agriculture industry.

  • Thursday, April 26th 2018 - 08:41 UTC

    Major companies launch “UK Plastics Pact” to eliminate plastic packaging by 2025

    The pact comes amid widespread concern over the problem of plastic waste polluting the countryside and the world’s oceans

    Dozens of companies have signed up to efforts to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastic packaging by 2025, it has been announced. Under the “UK Plastics Pact”, the businesses have also agreed targets to make 100% of their plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable and to ensure 70% is effectively recycled or composted.

  • Thursday, April 26th 2018 - 08:37 UTC

    Outbreaks of FMD in swine farms in China and Korea

    The Korean outbreak was the first farm affected in Korea since February 2017 and an extensive vaccination campaign has been launched

    The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) posted a new global swine disease monitoring report on earlier this month, with information on Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) activity in China and Korea presenting the highest concern.

  • Thursday, April 26th 2018 - 08:31 UTC

    Brazil soybean planting forecast to break a record for the ninth year running

    The 2% increase in planted area in 2018-19 is due to expectations of higher process, greater demand from Chinese buyers, and an increase in domestic consumption

    Soybean planted area in Brazil is forecast to set a record for the ninth consecutive year at 35.8 million hectares, according to an April 24 Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

  • Thursday, April 26th 2018 - 08:26 UTC

    “World Penguin Day”: funny on land and graceful and rapid in the sea

    Volunteer Point on the Falkland Islands is the world’s largest accessible king penguin colony with 1000 pairs of breeding penguins.Pic by Derek Pettersson

    April 25th is “World Penguin Day”, undoubtedly the world’s most popular bird – think of Happy Feet, March of the Penguins, Pingu just to name a few uses in popular culture. These charismatic flightless birds are funny to watch on land but are graceful and rapid in water. They occur only in the seas of the Southern hemisphere; there are seventeen species of penguin ranging from the Galapagos to Antarctica.

  • Wednesday, April 25th 2018 - 15:17 UTC

    Repression and protests in Nicaragua do not mitigate: Daniel Ortega as Nicolás Maduro?

    “Damn the soldier who points his gun to his own people” is a phrase of Simón Bolívar used by Nicaraguans and Venezuelans demonstrators. RODRIGO ARANGUA / AFP

    “Ortega and Somoza are the same thing” protesters in Nicaragua yelled last week against the government of Daniel Ortega, after the announcement of a Social Security's reform that unleashed a wave of protests marked by repression and excessive use of force by the authorities. Human rights organizations have announced that at least 30 people have died in the demonstrations, including students, police and a journalist. This surprise wave of civil protests suggests comparing the crisis in the Central American country with the lived in the Venezuela of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro for years.