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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, June 29th 2026 - 12:17 UTC

International

  • Monday, May 25th 2026 - 22:11 UTC

    United States strikes southern Iran targets “in self-defense” amid Doha peace talks

    Trump defended the peace negotiations on his Truth Social network in response to growing criticism from Republican sectors

    The US Armed Forces struck military targets in southern Iran on Monday “in self-defense,” according to a statement by US Central Command, in an episode that coincides with the arrival of Iranian negotiators in Qatar for peace talks mediated by the Qatari government. The operation also overlaps with the order issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Israeli army to “step on the accelerator” in its offensive against the Shiite militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite parallel negotiations between Tel Aviv and Beirut.

  • Monday, May 25th 2026 - 01:06 UTC

    Spanish police investigate Plus Ultra bailout scheme, linking Zapatero with Maduro's circle

    The exchange concluded with a characterization of the former Spanish prime minister as “pro-Sánchez” and “pro-Maduro,” and with the phrase “the end justifies the means”

    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

    Trump declared the agreement practically closed by saying “the details will be announced soon,” although Iranian authorities denied the version of the immediate reopening

    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.

  • 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

    His wealth accumulation reflects a novel trend within elite sport, where large fortunes have traditionally been built through investments outside the field of play

    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

    Climate change's effects on ocean sea ice and prey locations could be altering or influencing whales' movement patterns Image: Joseph Prezioso/Anadolu/picture alliance

    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

    The roughly three-by-one meter oil and enamel work on canvas, entitled “Number 7A, 1948,” was painted at Pollock's Long Island, New York, studio

    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.

  • Friday, May 22nd 2026 - 22:40 UTC

    Four French frigates for Swedish navy, in a plus US$ 3.5 billion deal

    Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the military had completed an analysis of three rival bids in search of the one best placed to meet its needs.

    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.

  • Friday, May 22nd 2026 - 11:48 UTC

    Air France and Airbus found guilty of manslaughter over 2009 Rio-Paris crash

    Flight AF447, an Airbus A330-200 carrying twelve crew members and 216 passengers, stalled during a storm in the middle of the ocean and plunged from an altitude of 11,580 meters

    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.

  • Friday, May 22nd 2026 - 00:03 UTC

    UN C 24 previous seminar in Nicaragua; main meeting in New York 15/26 June

    Ambassador Menissa Rambally of Saint Lucia, Chair of the Special Committee, will preside over the Seminar.

    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).