Stories for 2026

Monday, May 25th 2026 - 04:24 UTC
Three main Colombian presidential candidates close campaigns one week before first round

The three main contenders to succeed President Gustavo Petro on Sunday closed their campaigns with massive political rallies in different cities across the country, one week before the first round of the presidential elections of 31 May. Leftist senator Iván Cepeda, of the ruling Pacto Histórico; far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, of the Defensores de la Patria movement; and right-wing senator Paloma Valencia, of the Centro Democrático, lead the polls, while around 10% of the electorate remains undecided one week before the vote. The eventual runoff is scheduled for 21 June.
Monday, May 25th 2026 - 01:49 UTC
Peru sends four tons of food to Bolivia and joins humanitarian airlift over blockades

The government of Peru on Sunday delivered to Bolivia a donation of four tons of food intended for families affected by the road blockades that highland peasant sectors have maintained for 19 days, in an initiative that adds Lima to the growing regional humanitarian airlift organized around the government of President Rodrigo Paz. The aid arrived aboard a Peruvian military aircraft and was received by Bolivian Deputy Minister of Consular Management Héctor Huanca and the Peruvian Ambassador in La Paz, Carlos Chávez-Taffur, at El Alto international airport.
Monday, May 25th 2026 - 01:06 UTC
Spanish police investigate Plus Ultra bailout scheme, linking Zapatero with Maduro's circle

The Spanish National Police's Economic and Tax Crime Unit (UDEF) considers that former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero may have exercised “non-visible leadership” in an alleged influence network that facilitated the EUR 53 million bailout of airline Plus Ultra during the covid-19 pandemic. The report, comprising more than 300 pages and submitted to National Court judge José Luis Calama, was disclosed on Saturday by the outlet Infobae España and forms part of the judicial file investigating the maneuvers to obtain the public aid from the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI) in 2021.
Monday, May 25th 2026 - 00:51 UTC
Trump administration anticipates imminent agreement with Iran to reopen Strait of Hormuz

The administration of US President Donald Trump took it for granted on Sunday that within the coming days it will be able to announce an agreement with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime route through which approximately 20% of the world's oil flows and which has remained practically closed since the start of the US and Israeli offensive against the Islamic Republic on 28 February. Three months after the attack that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei —replaced by his son Mojtaba— Washington and Tehran are negotiating a two-phase scheme that would ease pressure on the global economy without immediately resolving the underlying nuclear questions.
Monday, May 25th 2026 - 00:44 UTC
Paraguayan Prosecutor's Office maps Marset drug route from Bolivia to European ports

The Paraguayan Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment against Gianina García Troche, the former partner of Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset, that reconstructs in detail the criminal structure operating from Paraguay that for years moved cocaine from Bolivia to major European ports. The document, cited by the Uruguayan newspaper El País, lays out a three-pronged organization, nearly a thousand clandestine flights inside the Paraguayan Chaco, and a verified export volume amounting to 17,340 kilos of cocaine seized in Belgium and the Netherlands, valued at up to USD 434 million on the European market.
Monday, May 25th 2026 - 00:38 UTC
Evo Morales demands elections in Bolivia in 90 days “to avoid deaths” and warns against militarization

El expresidente boliviano Evo Morales (2006-2019) elevó este domingo la presión sobre el Gobierno de Rodrigo Paz al exigir la convocatoria de elecciones generales en un plazo de 90 días “para que no haya muertos, para que no haya heridos”, en una nueva escalada del pulso político que mantiene paralizadas a las ciudades de La Paz y El Alto desde hace tres semanas. El líder cocalero, prófugo de la justicia boliviana por un caso de presunta trata agravada de menores, advirtió que cualquier decisión del Ejecutivo de “militarizar” el país para desbloquear las rutas constituiría una alternativa “suicida”.
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.
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.
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.
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.