Stories for May 2026

Saturday, May 23rd 2026 - 02:34 UTC
Uruguay captures 63% of Mercosur's annual rice quota to the European Union

Uruguay this week filled 63% of the annual zero-tariff rice quota granted by the European Union to Mercosur, in the first significant trade milestone since the provisional entry into force, on 1 May, of the association agreement between the two blocs. The total quota of 6,667 tons for the current year was covered within a few weeks of activity, according to Acting Foreign Minister Valeria Csukasi, in what amounts to one of the first operational tests of the treaty signed on 17 January in Asunción.
Add your comment!
Saturday, May 23rd 2026 - 01:44 UTC
Messi joins billionaire athletes club after crossing USD 1 billion net worth threshold

Argentine footballer Lionel Messi, 38, has crossed the USD 1 billion net worth threshold and joined the exclusive group of billionaire athletes, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The captain of the Argentine national team, world champion in Qatar 2022 and winner of eight Ballons d'Or, now shares the category with his historic sporting rival, Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo, who reached the milestone in 2023 after signing with Al-Nassr of the Saudi Pro League.
Add your comment!
Friday, May 22nd 2026 - 23:12 UTC
Humpback whales observation show they moved between Australia and Brazil, the longest travel distance ever

Two humpback whales have been sighted in separate breeding grounds off Australia and Brazil, the first time scientists have seen the species travel such vast distances across the Southern Ocean during their lifetimes.
Add your comment!
Friday, May 22nd 2026 - 23:04 UTC
Record art sales at Christie’s, US$ 1,1bn in three hours; US expressionist Pollard painting sold for US$ 181 million

A painting by US Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock sold for a record US$181.2 million (€156.2 million) with fees, at Christie’s auction house in New York this week, alongside other staggering sales on what was a blockbuster event for the institution.
Add your comment!
Friday, May 22nd 2026 - 22:40 UTC
Four French frigates for Swedish navy, in a plus US$ 3.5 billion deal

The Swedish government this week announced a deal to purchase four new frigates for its navy from France’s Naval Group. Sweden neutral throughout the Cold War, applied for NATO membership in May 2022 alongside Finland, following on Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine.
Add your comment!
Friday, May 22nd 2026 - 11:48 UTC
Air France and Airbus found guilty of manslaughter over 2009 Rio-Paris crash

The Paris Court of Appeals on Thursday found Air France and Airbus guilty of manslaughter in connection with the crash of flight AF447, which plunged into the Atlantic Ocean on 1 June 2009 on the Rio de Janeiro–Paris route with a death toll of 228 people. The ruling overturns the April 2023 decision in which both companies had been acquitted, and finds the airline and the manufacturer “solely and entirely responsible” for the disaster, according to the BBC news agency. Both Air France and Airbus rejected the charges and announced they would appeal.
Add your comment!
Friday, May 22nd 2026 - 03:20 UTC
Caracas authorizes overflight of two US aircraft for embassy evacuation drill

The Venezuelan government on Thursday authorized the holding, on Saturday 23 May, of an evacuation drill requested by the US Embassy in Caracas, which will include the controlled overflight of two aircraft over the Venezuelan capital and landing operations at the premises of the diplomatic compound. The activity, announced in an official statement by the Ministry of People's Power for Foreign Affairs, was framed by the administration of acting President Delcy Rodríguez as part of “the regular protocols of diplomatic security and protection.”
Add your comment!
Friday, May 22nd 2026 - 00:03 UTC
UN C 24 previous seminar in Nicaragua; main meeting in New York 15/26 June

The United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization will hold the Caribbean Regional Seminar in Managua from 25 to 27 May within the framework of the fourth International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2021-2030).
2 comments
Thursday, May 21st 2026 - 23:36 UTC
Reader's letter: a Head of the Bay farmer recalls the 1982 British landing

MercoPress this week received a letter from reader Michael (“Ted”) Jones, a farmer at Head of the Bay —a settlement located in the immediate vicinity of the site where British forces landed on 21 May 1982—, in response to the Landing Day ceremonies led on Thursday by the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly. Both Jones and his wife Shelia were at Green Beach Port San Carlos during the war between the United Kingdom and Argentina over sovereignty of the archipelago. We publish his message below.
Add your comment!
Thursday, May 21st 2026 - 20:45 UTC
Pope Leo XIV's possible Uruguay visit remains officially unconfirmed despite local announcements

The possible visit of Pope Leo XIV to Uruguay during the first half of November, announced on Wednesday by the intendant of the department of Florida, Carlos Enciso, does not yet have official confirmation from either the Uruguayan Catholic Church or the Vatican, according to ecclesiastical sources cited by the Montevideo Portal news outlet. The municipal official stated on his X social media account that, according to “Vatican sources” consulted by his administration, the pontiff is expected to visit the national shrine of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three as part of a possible trip to the South American country.
Add your comment!