Stories for May 13th 2026

Wednesday, May 13th 2026 - 23:41 UTC
Falklands representative meets Starmer at State Opening of UK Parliament

The Falkland Islands Government Representative to the United Kingdom and Europe, Richard Hyslop, attended the formal opening of the British parliamentary year on Wednesday, 13 May, and held talks with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the Minister for the UK Overseas Territories, Stephen Doughty, at the reception held after the ceremony. The meeting reaffirms the political alignment between London and Stanley at a moment of international diplomatic tension over the sovereignty of the archipelago.
Wednesday, May 13th 2026 - 20:00 UTC
Warsh to succeed Powell at the Fed with inflation at three-year high

The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed economist Kevin Warsh as the 17th chair of the Federal Reserve in a 54-45 vote, in a transition that hands control of the world's most influential central bank to President Donald Trump's pick at a moment of strong inflationary pressure. Warsh, a former Fed governor during the 2008 financial crisis and a former Morgan Stanley banker, will formally take office on Friday 15 May, following the departure of Jerome Powell, whose eight-year term has been marked by successive economic crises and a prolonged clash with the White House over the central bank's political independence.
Wednesday, May 13th 2026 - 17:23 UTC
Patagonian Tragedy to Be Remembered at London’s Royal Albert Hall

A little-known but deeply poignant chapter of Patagonian history will be brought to life this June at one of the world’s most prestigious venues, London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Wednesday, May 13th 2026 - 16:38 UTC
Paraguay aims for 10 million tourists by 2037 with megaparks and foreign capital

The new minister of Paraguay's National Tourism Secretariat (Senatur), Jacinto Santa María, has announced a plan to turn the country into a regional tourism destination and draw up to 10 million annual visitors by 2037, a target that would almost triple the flow recorded in 2025 and which the official aims to reach by attracting major foreign investment to develop theme parks and megaprojects. Santa María, who took office two weeks ago, laid out the proposal in an interview with the EFE news agency and at his first press conference at the head of the agency.
Wednesday, May 13th 2026 - 12:25 UTC
Trump lands in Beijing for first summit with Xi in China since 2017

US President Donald Trump landed in Beijing on Wednesday at 19:52 local time (11:52 GMT) to begin a three-day state visit to the Asian giant, his second trip to the country since the one made in 2017 during his first term and the first by a US president to the Chinese capital in nearly nine years. The summit with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will run Thursday and Friday and will tackle the fragile trade truce sealed in Busan last October, the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran, the technological rivalry between the world's two largest economies, and the dispute over Taiwan.
Wednesday, May 13th 2026 - 12:05 UTC
Bolivian prosecutors confirm they will seek 20 years in prison for Evo Morales on trafficking charges

Bolivia's Public Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday confirmed it will maintain its request for a 20-year prison sentence against former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) for aggravated human trafficking, in proceedings that are moving forward despite the former leader's absence and a fresh arrest warrant issued against him after his failure to appear at Monday's hearing. Prosecutors argue that Morales had a relationship during his second term with a 15-year-old girl, with whom he allegedly fathered a daughter, and that the minor's parents are said to have consented to the relationship in exchange for political favors and economic improvements.
Wednesday, May 13th 2026 - 11:57 UTC
White House “51st state” trolling tests Caracas's oil opening

The official White House account on Tuesday published a series of messages on social media platform X suggesting the annexation of Venezuela to the United States under the formula of the “51st state,” a discursive shift that strains the bilateral rapprochement built since the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro on 3 January. The first post shows a map of Venezuela covered with the US flag and the caption “51st State”; eight minutes later, a video revives Secretary of State Marco Rubio's announcement of Maduro's capture, with footage of the former leader being flown to New York. The publication comes at a moment of apparent stagnation in the economic opening that acting President Delcy Rodríguez has pushed from Caracas to attract US investment.
Wednesday, May 13th 2026 - 03:20 UTC
The Trump-Xi summit in Beijing turns on five fronts: Iran, Taiwan, tariffs, rare earths, and AI

The summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that begins on Wednesday in Beijing will unfold around an agenda concentrated on five main fronts: the US war against Iran, the Taiwan question, bilateral tariffs, Chinese exports of rare earths, and, according to The Wall Street Journal, an initial approach to managing the risks of artificial intelligence. It will be the first visit by a US president to the Chinese capital in nearly nine years and comes three days after China's Foreign Ministry released a propaganda video that revived the Soviet-era concept of “peaceful coexistence” to describe the bilateral relationship.
Wednesday, May 13th 2026 - 01:17 UTC
Why Retirement Healthcare Costs Are Becoming a Key Economic Issue

Healthcare expenses in retirement are no longer just a personal concern for individuals; they are quickly becoming a major economic issue with wide-ranging consequences.
Wednesday, May 13th 2026 - 01:08 UTC
Crypto Wallets Are Replacing Bank Accounts Across the Americas — And Reshaping Cross-Border Payments

A growing share of households across the Americas no longer treat a bank account as the default starting point for moving money. From Buenos Aires to Brooklyn, a quiet substitution is underway: self-custody crypto wallets and stablecoin balances are absorbing functions that, until recently, belonged to commercial banks alone. Cross-border payments — the most expensive and friction-heavy corner of consumer finance — are at the centre of the shift.