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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, May 13th 2026 - 07:00 UTC

Brazil

  • Tuesday, January 14th 2025 - 10:23 UTC

    Lula signs into law the banning of cell phones in elementary schools

    We need to go back to allowing humanism not to be replaced by algorithms,” Lula stressed

    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

    Burlón wound up in the middle of a favela after following GPS directions

    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.

  • Monday, January 13th 2025 - 21:06 UTC

    Venezuela reopens borders with Colombia and Brazil

    The two borders had been closed due to an alleged conspiracy against Maduro

    Venezuela's Bolivarian regime Monday reopened the borders with Colombia and Brazil it had closed ahead of Friday's inauguration of Nicolás Maduro as President for a third consecutive six-year term. The measure had been adopted due to an alleged “international conspiracy” following the controversial July 28, 2024, elections the Opposition Unitarian Democratic Platform (PUD) of retired diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia also claimed to have won.

  • Sunday, January 12th 2025 - 03:45 UTC

    Macron and Lula urge Maduro to resume talks with the opposition

    Neither Macron nor Lula have recognized Maduro's electoral win

    Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil were reported Friday to have spoken on the telephone with Veenezuela's Nicolás Maduro to persuade him to resume talks with the opposition after being inaugurated for a third consecutive six-year term following the controversial July 28, 2024, elections.

  • Friday, January 10th 2025 - 10:29 UTC

    Presence of serotype 3 of dengue virus worries Brazilian authorities

    In the last four weeks of 2024, 84% of dengue cases were mainly in São Paulo, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Goiás, and Santa Catarina

    Brazilian health authorities have expressed concern following the reappearance of the dengue virus serotype 3, particularly in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Amapá, and Paraná since the last four weeks of December, Agência Brasil reported Thursday. The virus has not circulated predominantly in the country since 2008. According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the disease generated a “historic epidemic in the Americas” in 2024, with more than 12.6 million cases.

  • Thursday, January 9th 2025 - 10:00 UTC

    Brazil: Works of art broken during Jan. 8 uprising restored for 2nd anniversary ceremony

    Lula claimed he was a lover of democracy because lovers were much more ardent than husbands

    Brazilian authorities took delivery Wednesday of some 21 works of art that had been vandalized during the Jan.8, 2023, uprisings in Brasilia ending in hundreds of arrests of alleged followers of former President Jair Bolsonaro and convictions for attacking democracy.

  • Wednesday, January 8th 2025 - 09:47 UTC

    Last year was the hottest in Brazil since 1961

    “This trend may be associated with climate change,” Brazil's Inmet said

    Last year was the hottest for Brazil since 1961, Agencia Brasil reported citing data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock's National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet). The weather agency also found a rising trend in average annual temperatures.

  • Tuesday, January 7th 2025 - 07:13 UTC

    Indonesia joins BRICS as full member, Brasilia confirms

    Brazil took over the bloc's rotating presidency on Jan. 1.

    Brazil's government confirmed Monday that Indonesia had joined the BRICS bloc as a full member, making it the first country to do so this year, Agencia Brasil reported. The alliance now has the fourth largest population on the planet, with the new partner's 284 million inhabitants making it the 10th largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, according to the World Bank.

  • Monday, January 6th 2025 - 09:28 UTC

    Brazilian nun becomes oldest person alive after death of Japanese woman

    Tomiko Itooka died on Dec. 29 but her passing was not reported until this past

    A Japanese woman considered to be the world's longest-lived person died on Dec. 29 at 116 years old at a nursing home in the city of Ashiya in the Hyogo Prefecture, it was reported Saturday. A Brazilian nun is now the oldest person alive.

  • Monday, January 6th 2025 - 09:16 UTC

    Israeli soldier vacationing in Brazil flees to Argentina to avoid arrest for Gaza war crimes

    The evacuation was said to have been performed on a commercial flight to Argentina

    An Israeli national who was vacationing in Brazil had to flee in a rush to Argentina to avoid being prosecuted there for alleged war crimes committed while deployed in Gaza as a member of the Kfir Brigade.