Stories for December 2019

Saturday, December 28th 2019 - 09:49 UTC
Uruguayan navy seizes record haul of 4.4 tons of cocaine in the port of Montevideo

Uruguayan authorities seized a record haul of 4.4 tons of cocaine at the port of Montevideo in what the navy described on Friday as “the biggest blow to drug trafficking in the country's history.”
Saturday, December 28th 2019 - 09:48 UTC
Argentina's unemployment in the third quarter rose to 9.7%

Argentina’s unemployment rate rose to 9.7% in the third quarter versus 9.0% in the same period last year, marking one of the highest rates recorded in recent years, the official INDEC statistics agency said.
Saturday, December 28th 2019 - 09:40 UTC
Mendoza province up in arms to defend its water resources from the mining industry

The government of the wine-producing province of Mendoza, suspended the rule of the mining law 7.722 that had given the green light for chemicals such as cyanide and sulfuric acid to be used by the industry, but which threaten the water resources of that territory.
Saturday, December 28th 2019 - 09:39 UTC
China's top pig producing province pledges to grow 60 million hogs in 2020

China's top pig producer Sichuan province pledged to produce 60 million hogs in 2020, around levels in previous years, state media reported on Friday, after a deadly pig disease decimated the country's massive pig herd.
Saturday, December 28th 2019 - 09:36 UTC
Fires in Australia threaten the water infrastructure that supplies Sydney

Australian authorities said on Friday that they are focused on protecting water plants, pumping stations, pipes and other infrastructure from intense bushfires surrounding Sydney, the country's largest city. Firefighters battling the blazes for weeks received a reprieve of slightly cooler, damper conditions over Christmas, but the respite is not expected to last long.
Saturday, December 28th 2019 - 09:32 UTC
Defrocked US cardinal paid for silence from Vatican officials, Washington Post reports

A US cardinal gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to powerful Catholic clerics including two popes while facing accusations of sexual harassment, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
Saturday, December 28th 2019 - 09:27 UTC
Outbreak of chicken pox among migrants returned to Mexico from US

An outbreak of chicken pox has forced the temporary closure of a shelter housing Central American migrants sent to Mexico from the United States, Mexican authorities said on Friday, as officials sought to contain the highly contagious virus.
Saturday, December 28th 2019 - 09:22 UTC
French transport strike enters fourth week with unions pledging to press on

The head of a hard-line French trade union on Friday vowed to press on with a crippling strike that has cast a shadow over Christmas celebrations, with the stoppages entering a fourth week and becoming the longest-lasting such action since the 1980s.
Saturday, December 28th 2019 - 09:20 UTC
Peru fines McDonald's local franchise US$ 250.000 for safety violations that electrocuted two employees

Peruvian authorities on Thursday fined the local owner of a McDonald's franchise US$250,000 for serious safety violations after two employees were electrocuted to death. Two workers, an 18-year-old man and a woman, died on Dec 15 while cleaning the kitchen of a McDonald's in Pueblo Libre, in the Lima province.
Friday, December 27th 2019 - 09:55 UTC
IMF mission expected in Argentina any moment; Fernandez expects to reach an accord by March 31st

Argentine president Alberto Fernandez revealed to media accredited at Government House, Casa Rosada, that in the coming days an IMF mission is scheduled to arrive in Buenos Aires to address economic issues.