Argentina's Lower House Friday broadly approved by 144 votes to 109 President Javier Milei's so-called Omnibus Law bill to curb State spending and achieve zero deficit, it was reported in Buenos Aires. Next week, each provision of the draft will be analyzed separately, it was also explained.
Health authorities in Rio de Janeiro are speaking of record hospitalizations of patients with dengue, Agencia Brasil reported Friday. In just one day in January, Rio de Janeiro's municipal health network had 362 people admitted with the condition, thus surpassing the previous record dating back to 2008. Municipal Health Secretary Daniel Soranz confirmed that the city was facing an epidemic of the disease.
The United States Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington is expected to be sailing Argentine Sea waters in May as part of her continental tour, which will include other countries. The last time such a US structure was in the area was in 2010.
Media reports all across the Southern Cone Friday underlined the heat wave affecting Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay with temperatures reaching 48 degrees Celsius and forecast to remain around or above 40 degrees for several days.
The Liberian-flagged freighter En May was removed on Friday from one of the pillars of the Zárate-Brazo Largo bridge that connects the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires and Entre Ríos, where she got stuck after losing her steering capabilities last Sunday. Full navigation was thus restored on the Paraná River waterway.
At least ten people were reported Friday to have died in Chile as forest firest gripped the Valparaíso area, where President Gabriel Boric Font decreed a state of emergency.
In a daring attempt to swim across the Rio de la Plata from Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, to Argentina, experienced Uruguayan swimmer and surgeon Gonzalo Leal tragically lost his life. Leal, from the Uruguayan department of Salto, suffered a cardiac arrest shortly after reaching the shore of Buenos Aires, according to El País.