Anesthesiologist Karina Rando will take over from Daniel Salinas Monday as Health Minister of Uruguay, thus replacing the official who took center stage during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was reported in Montevideo. Salinas explained his resignation was for personal reasons to avoid further public exposure, particularly to anti-vaccine groups, and to devote himself to his profession as a neurologist.
The Argentine Navy rescued from the oceanographic fishing research vessel (BIPO) Victor Angelescu, 90 miles off South Georgia Islands, a 55-year-old man who suffered a crushing trauma to his right leg, reported Clarin. The operation involved the icebreaker ARA Almirante Irízar.
Paraguay's leftwing Concertación's presidential hopeful Efraín Alegre stressed this weekend that a person who is not willing to submit to a debate before the public opinion cannot aspire to be President. He made those remarks after candidate Santiago Peña of the ANR refused to discuss with him how he planned to rule the country if elected on April 30.
Chinese President Xi Jinping Sunday announced he had picked General Li Shangfu for the position of Defense Minister despite sanctions by the US Government against the newly-appointed official for approving arms purchases from Russia. Xi Jinping has kept Finance Minister Liu He and Central Bank Governor Yi Gang in their posts.
Prime Ministers Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom and Anthony Albanese of Australia are to discuss Monday with US President Joseph Biden the so-called AUKUS defense pact in San Diego, California, which could culminate the delivery of nuclear submarines to the Royal Australian Navy. Britain, the US, and Australia announced the AUKUS plan in 2021 to counter China's growing military presence in the Indo-Pacific.
Argentina's industrial output recorded a 6.3% interannual growth in January of 2023 and 9.6% against the same month of 2019, the Secretariat of Industry and Productive Development reported. It was the second-highest January, only surpassed by 2018. Against January 2022, the sectors that grew the most were Food and Beverages (+9.1%), Automotive (+24.8%), Metal Industries (+8.9%), and Metal Products (+15.2%).
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega chose to sever diplomatic ties with the Vatican after Pope Francis dubbed the Sandinista regime as a Hitlerian dictatorship headed by a leader who would suffer from some sort of imbalance. The Pope also praised imprisoned Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando José Álvarez, a very serious man who wanted to give his testimony and did not accept exile.