Stories for 2019

Monday, November 25th 2019 - 07:39 UTC
Bloomberg confirms he wants to reach the White House, pushing aside extremists and cons

Industrious billionaire, a three-term mayor of New York and a climate change activist, Michael Bloomberg is now eyeing one last prize: the US presidency. The 77-year-old giant of the financial world officially announced that he was joining the race for the 2020 Democratic nomination on Sunday, but he has some catching up to do.
Monday, November 25th 2019 - 06:29 UTC
US, a source of instability and “baselessly smearing China” blasts top Beijing official

The United States is the world's biggest source of instability and its politicians are going around the world baselessly smearing China, the Chinese government's top diplomat said on Saturday in a stinging attack at a G20 meeting in Japan.
Monday, November 25th 2019 - 06:22 UTC
Agreement in Bolivia to end violence, withdraw the military and hold election without Morales

Interim Bolivian President Jeanine Añez agreed to withdraw the military from protest areas and repeal a law giving them broad discretion in the use of force as part of a preliminary “pacification” deal struck early on Sunday with protest leaders.
Monday, November 25th 2019 - 06:11 UTC
Colombian president opens national dialogue following unprecedented anti government protests

President Ivan Duque, the target of unprecedented anti-government protests in Colombia, on Sunday opened a national dialogue aimed at assuaging popular anger. Duque, a conservative who is deeply unpopular 18 months after his election, “initiated the social dialogue” with mayors and other officials at 3:00 pm, the presidency said in a statement.
Saturday, November 23rd 2019 - 09:59 UTC
Uruguay Sunday's presidential runoff, a multicolor power switching with strong winds of change

This Sunday 2.7 million Uruguayans will cast their ballots in the presidential runoff, which according to all opinion poll forecasts, will have Luis Lacalle Pou, the leader of an opposition multicolor alliance as head of the Executive next March, but equally significant, power switching, it will mark the end of fifteen years of almost undisputed predominance of a catch-all coalition, Broad Front, which ruled South America's smallest country for three consecutive five-year mandates.
Saturday, November 23rd 2019 - 09:51 UTC
The Economist and Chile: the painful birth of a different country

In 2014, Michelle Bachelet a Socialist swept into Chile’s presidency for a second time on a program of radical reform of tax, education and pensions. She also aspired to enact a new constitution that would guarantee “more balance between the state, the private sector and society”, as she told your columnist over tea at the Moneda presidential palace. She argued that her “struggle against inequality” was the last chance to deal with discontents that, if neglected, could push Chile towards populism.
Saturday, November 23rd 2019 - 09:33 UTC
Swiss investigation helps expose corruption network involving Vitol, Trafigura and Petrobras

Swiss investigators have executed search warrants at addresses linked to Vitol and Trafigura, their counterparts in Brazil said on Thursday, as a sprawling probe into the global commodity trading industry intensifies.
Saturday, November 23rd 2019 - 09:23 UTC
Another major haul of cocaine in the port of Montevideo: three tons headed for the Canary Islands

Uruguayan authorities this week confiscated over three tons of cocaine from an Africa-bound rice container in the port of Montevideo. The container was originally from Paraguay and was set to stop in Tenerife, the largest of Spain's Canary Islands off West Africa, before finally arriving in Cotonou, in southern Benin, the National Customs Directorate said in a statement.
Saturday, November 23rd 2019 - 09:11 UTC
Police officers killed in a bomb blast at Colombian police station

Three police officers were killed in a bomb blast late Friday at a police station in Colombia after thousands gathered for renewed protests and sporadic looting erupted in the capital of Bogota.
Saturday, November 23rd 2019 - 09:04 UTC
Mexico's giant Pemex, remains world's most indebted oil company

A Mexican government energy policy that gives more weight to state oil company Pemex could cause private sector investment to fall, an analyst with credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said on Friday.