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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, November 22nd 2024 - 04:07 UTC

Stories for 2018

  • Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 12:10 UTC

    Constitutionalist murdered in Venezuela, Government denounces “Political murder”

    Jorge Rodríguez, Minister of Communication and Information, described Lucena's death as a “political murder”. Hours before the meeting with the opposition in the Dominican Republic.

    The deputy of the pro-government National Constituent Assembly, Tomás Lucena, was killed on Wednesday afternoon in Trujillo state, in western Venezuela when he was intercepted by two suspects on motorcycles and wounded with several bullets, according to witnesses. The government rates the crime of revenge.

  • Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 10:19 UTC

    Brazil looks into the past to implement legislation punishing political “fake news”

    “In the next few days, the Federal Police will begin activities in Brasília by a specially formed group to combat false news during the 2018 election process”

    Brazil is the latest country to unveil plans to censor the Internet, following in the footsteps of Germany, France, and other European countries. Earlier this week the country’s official Twitter account for the Federal Police, (equivalent to FBI), announced efforts to “punish” anyone who disseminates political content it deems “false.” The federal government of Brazil is extending its ability to enforce regulation and control of its sector of the Internet.

  • Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 10:12 UTC

    Weddel seal ends on the mid Atlantic Brazilian island of Trindade

    The polar mammal had travelled more than 5,000km north of its Antarctic habitat; more than 1,500 kilometers beyond the farthest north previous record in Uruguay.

    The Brazilian Navy spotted something unusual in the azure waters of the South Atlantic. In 2015, at a remote outpost and biological research station on the island of Trindade, 1,100 kilometers off central Brazil, sailors spotted a small gray seal swimming in the waves. Two days later, they found its body on the island’s Catelha beach. Scientists who went to take a closer look made an astonishing discovery—the corpse was a young Weddell seal.

  • Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 10:11 UTC

    US, via Paraguay, largest source of guns entering Brazil

    Guns from US generally enter Brazil through direct shipments of assembled weapons, of gun parts or indirect shipments through a third country, Paraguay

    The United States is the largest source of guns entering Brazil that end up in the hands of armed bandits and drug traffickers, according to a Brazilian Federal Police report. Roughly 1,500 guns originated in the United States out of a study of more than 10,000 arms seized by police since 2014, mostly in Rio de Janeiro, the December 2017 report said, although the guns often traveled through a third country before arriving in Brazil.

  • Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 09:48 UTC

    Canada accuses US of breaking international trade rules; files complaint with WTO

    The action comes amid disputes between the two countries over areas such as dairy, aircraft sales and lumber as well as efforts to renegotiate the NAFTA agreement

    Canada has filed an expansive complaint with the World Trade Organization accusing the US of breaking international trade rules. The complaint challenges the ways that the US investigates products for subsidies and below-cost sales. As expected the US called the claims “unfounded”.

  • Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 09:34 UTC

    UK charm offensive in Germany to lobby for London's post Brexit financial services

    Secretary David Davis and Philip Hammond published in the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung calling for a bespoke solution to maximize cooperation

    The German government on Wednesday sought to pour cold water over Britain's hopes of a bespoke post-Brexit arrangement for financial services. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman told reporters that Berlin's focus would remain on preserving a unified stance among the 27 EU nations as Brexit negotiations prepare to enter a critical phase. Britain's financial services industry is expected to be one the main battlegrounds in the next stage of talks.

  • Thursday, January 11th 2018 - 07:02 UTC

    Timerman barred from flying to US; Argentine government will appeal decision on humanitarian reasons

    Timerman was foreign minister of Cristina Fernández 2010/2015. Previously he was Consul General in New York and later Ambassador in Washington

    The United States barred former Argentine Minister of Foreign Relations Hector Timerman from entering the country because of several pending court cases. The Argentine government said it would appeal the decision, and request a new visa, since Mr. Timerman, who was under house arrest, was allowed by Federal Judge Sergio Torres to travel overseas for medical reasons.

  • Wednesday, January 10th 2018 - 10:38 UTC

    Farage: Barnier doesn't understand why 17 million voted to leave the EU

    Farage, member of the EU Parliament, said he was left with the impression after the Barnier meeting that the UK and EU would easily strike a trade deal for goods.

    Nigel Farage, who as leader of the UK Independence Party was one of the leading campaigners for Britain to leave the European Union, crossed swords with one of his main EU adversaries. After meeting Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, for about 30 minutes in Brussels, Farage said he was convinced that the Frenchman doesn’t understand why more than 17 million people voted for the UK to leave in the 2016 referendum.

  • Wednesday, January 10th 2018 - 10:33 UTC

    Scorched Australia: 2017 third hottest year on record

    Summer heat described as “exceptional” had resulted in several land-based records being set in New South Wales and Queensland.

    Australia experienced its third-warmest year on record in 2017, according to the nation's Bureau of Meteorology. The national mean temperature of 22.75C was almost 1C higher than a 1961-1990 baseline, its annual report revealed. Only 2005 and 2013 were warmer, based on records kept for about a century.

  • Wednesday, January 10th 2018 - 10:28 UTC

    UK Cabinet reshuffle makes government look “more like the country it serves”

    Of Tuesday's PM May reshuffle, six men and eight women were new additions to government, including five from ethnic minorities and 11 who were elected in 2015.

    Theresa May has said her reshuffle makes the government look “more like the country it serves” with a “new generation” of ministers brought in. The PM has appointed several new faces to her ministerial team.