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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, August 10th 2026 - 11:27 UTC

Stories for July 20th 2026

  • Monday, July 20th 2026 - 20:52 UTC

    Burnham's first moves as UK PM: new chancellor, Miliband to foreign office and a social turn

    Burnham, 56, acknowledged the fragility of his position and said politicians “need to be better” to restore stability

    The United Kingdom's new prime minister, Labour's Andy Burnham, began shaping his government with a cabinet reshuffle and a series of socially oriented announcements, hours after taking office in place of Keir Starmer. The former mayor of Greater Manchester, who reached Downing Street without a general election after winning the Labour leadership, is Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade.

  • Monday, July 20th 2026 - 20:12 UTC

    Petro calls for 'general and indefinite strike' if successor repeals his reforms

    Petro warned that a repeal of the labor reform, approved in June last year, would in his view represent a setback for workers' rights

    Colombia's outgoing president, Gustavo Petro, called on Monday for a “general and indefinite strike” should the government of his successor, Abelardo de la Espriella, repeal his administration's labor reform or reverse the land reform. De la Espriella, elected in the June 21 runoff, will take office on August 7.

  • Monday, July 20th 2026 - 20:03 UTC

    Ortega says Nicaragua will hold no more elections

    The president announced during the commemoration of the Sandinista revolution that he will pursue legal reforms to prevent the opposition from contesting power through the ballot box

    Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said on Sunday that the country will no longer hold elections as a mechanism for the opposition to reach power. “There will be no more elections here for them to try to seize the government, to seize power,” he declared during the event marking the 47th anniversary of the Sandinista uprising that overthrew Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, held in Managua.

  • Monday, July 20th 2026 - 19:51 UTC

    Rubio says talks on Venezuela's democratic transition will begin in early August

    “I believe the first official conversations will begin the first week of August,” Rubio said at a news conference at Andrews Air Force Base

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that talks to begin a democratic transition in Venezuela will start in early August. Rubio, who leads Washington's relationship with Caracas, said a group representing the National Assembly elected in 2015 —the last one the United States recognizes as legitimate— met with the interim government and agreed to establish a forum for reconciliation talks and to begin the transition process.

  • Monday, July 20th 2026 - 19:17 UTC

    Argentina players spark brawl and snub trophy ceremony after World Cup final defeat

    The tension, built up over a physical and stop-start match, boiled over after the whistle

    The 2026 World Cup final between Spain and Argentina ended on Sunday with Spain champions by 1-0 after extra time, but the sporting outcome was overshadowed by a brawl between players from both sides moments after the final whistle at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, and by the decision of Argentina's players to turn their backs on the trophy ceremony.

  • Monday, July 20th 2026 - 19:01 UTC

    Scientists begin first study of whisky matured in Antarctica

    Isla Marambio spent three years on the ice at an Argentine research station and is now one of eight single malts being analyzed to see how extreme climates shape whisky

    A team of scientists has begun the first analysis of a whisky matured in Antarctica, aiming to determine what three years at temperatures as low as -35°C did to the spirit's maturation, chemistry and taste.

  • Monday, July 20th 2026 - 00:47 UTC

    Spain crowned world champions with 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina in the final

    Photo: EPA/EFE/RONALD WITTEK

    Spain were crowned world champions for the second time in their history by beating Argentina 1-0 in extra time in the final played on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The winning goal came in the 106th minute, after a cross from Pedro Porro that Nico Williams headed on and that, according to the match report, Ferran Torres finished to settle a game clearly dominated by the Spanish side.

  • Monday, July 20th 2026 - 00:06 UTC

    Brazil's online betting tax take offers a fiscal lesson for the region

    Brazil's federal government collected close to R$10 billion in tax from licensed betting operators during 2025, the first full year of its regulated market, turning a once informal corner of the internet into a recognised line on the national accounts. For finance ministries across Mercosur watching their fiscal margins narrow, the figure is difficult to ignore.