Stories for January 2025

Wednesday, January 15th 2025 - 09:58 UTC
UK’s Labour government to the rescue of the steel industry

The United Kingdom government has formed the Steel Council to advise and implement a new steel strategy, to help revitalize the steel industry and has pledged financial support of steelmakers Tata Steel and British Steel.
Wednesday, January 15th 2025 - 09:48 UTC
Busy cruise season for Ushuaia, 14 vessels in a week

A busy week for Ushuaia, extreme south of Argentina with some fourteen cruise vessels, mostly heading for Antarctica calling at the capital of Tierra del Fuego province, and involving 4,500 passengers.
Wednesday, January 15th 2025 - 09:01 UTC
Team of scientists on board HMS Protector studying impact of plastic waste in Antarctica

A scientist team aboard the Royal Navy icebreaker is uncovering the damage plastic waste is having on Antarctica. As part of efforts to preserve one of the world’s most unique and fragile environments, critical work has been carried out by researchers from the University of Portsmouth aboard polar research vessel HMS Protector.
Wednesday, January 15th 2025 - 08:47 UTC
Brazil’s 2024/25 harvest production estimated to reach 322.2 million tons, with soy exports of 105 million tons

Brazilian farmers should harvest 322,2 million tons of grains from the 2024/25 crop, representing an 8,2% increase over 2023/24, equivalent to an additional 24.5 million tons, according to the latest estimates from Conab, the county’s National Supply Company.
Tuesday, January 14th 2025 - 21:37 UTC
Uruguayan lawmakers call Venezuela's gov't “a dictatorship”

Uruguay's Parliament passed Tuesday a unilateral declaration from the ruling Multicolor coalition stating that “no one can deny” there is a dictatorship in Venezuela. The opposition Broad Front (Frente Amplio - FA) of President-elect Yamandú Orsi, who is to take office on March 1, submitted a text of its own excluding the word “dictatorship” and hence no consensus. However, the FA reckoned that “the Venezuelan government has deepened its distancing from the institutional framework” and that the absence of audits in the electoral process “erodes the legitimacy of the result and questions any democratic transition.”
Tuesday, January 14th 2025 - 21:08 UTC
The Netherlands, France, and Italy ordered to limit diplomatic missions in Caracas to three staffers

Venezuela's Foreign Ministry Tuesday instructed The Netherlands, France, and Italy to cut down their diplomatic missions in Caracas to three members each following what the Bolivarian regime described as “meddling in internal affairs.”
Tuesday, January 14th 2025 - 10:55 UTC
Brazil’s reacts to Meta’s decision to drop fact checking program, “social media will not become a lawless land”

Brazil’s government and Justice Branch have reacted strongly to Meta’s announcement to abandon its fact checking program. The country’s newly appointed Communication Minister Sidonio Palmeira criticized Meta's decision, calling it “bad for democracy.”
Tuesday, January 14th 2025 - 10:31 UTC
Peruvian court sends case against Keiko Fujimori back to square one

Peru's Third Criminal Court Monday annulled Keiko Fujimori's trial for the irregular financing of her 2011 and 2016 electoral campaigns, citing a previous sentence from the Constitutional Court (TC). As per this split ruling, the case moves back to the indictment phase for Fujimori and the other more than 30 defendants.
Tuesday, January 14th 2025 - 10:23 UTC
Lula signs into law the banning of cell phones in elementary schools

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed Monday into law Bill 104/2015 restricting the use of portable electronic devices such as cell phones in public and private elementary schools nationwide. A presidential decree is due in the next 30 days to regulate the measure so that it becomes valid by the start of the school year in February. The bill was approved by Congress at the end of last year.
Tuesday, January 14th 2025 - 10:18 UTC
Former Bariloche official shot in Rio dies

A 51-year-old Argentine traveler who was mugged and shot in the head in a Rio de Janeiro favela on Dec. 12, 2024, after mistakenly following GPS directions, died Monday after nearly a month in the Souza Aguiar Municipal Hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Gastón Burlón was a former Tourism Secretary in the Patagonian skiing resort of Bariloche until 2023.