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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, October 22nd 2025 - 04:41 UTC

International

  • Sunday, March 27th 2016 - 05:12 UTC

    “Times are changing” Rolling Stones play in Cuba to hundreds of thousands

    No more. “Years ago it was difficult to hear our music but here we are,” Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger told the crowd in Spanish. “The times are changing.”

    On Friday, the Rolling Stones became the first major international rock band to play in Cuba, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to a free concert at a decrepit sports complex on the road to the airport. For years, following the Cuban revolution, rock music was banned on Cuban state TV and radio. Cubans who wore long hair and beards faced harassment from officials, including Fidel Castro who told them to dress like men.

  • Sunday, March 27th 2016 - 05:07 UTC

    Rousseff “D Day”: on Tuesday main coalition ally decides if it continues support

    “On Tuesday we are going to clearly defend that PMDB must withdraw from support, hand in positions and serenely wait for events to evolve”, said Picciani

    The government of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, her mentor Lula da Silva and their Workers Party fear very much that next Tuesday could become “D Day”, since its main ally the PMDB, and with the largest representation in Congress, will be holding an extraordinary meeting of the national directory to decide whether to continue or step down from the ruling convention.

  • Friday, March 25th 2016 - 05:57 UTC

    New Zealanders have voted in a referendum to keep their existing flag

    The existing design features the British Union Jack, a legacy of New Zealand's days as a British colony and the reason many wanted to change it.

    New Zealanders have voted to keep their existing flag after a national referendum, preliminary results show. The referendum asked whether the flag which includes the Union Jack should be replaced by a design called Silver Fern, which won an earlier ballot. The results show 56.6% voted for no change, while 43.1% opted for the new design. Just over 2.1m votes were cast.

  • Friday, March 25th 2016 - 05:30 UTC

    One of the greatest football players of all time is dead at the age of 68

    Cruyff had revealed in October 2015 that he had lung cancer. He was a heavy smoker until undergoing heart surgery in 1991.

    Johan Cruyff was voted world player of the year three times in four years in the early 1970’s and led the Netherlands to the World Cup final in 1974. He later managed Barcelona for eight years, with the club winning 11 trophies, including its first European Cup title.

  • Friday, March 25th 2016 - 05:20 UTC

    US government supports Argentine appeal to lift injunctions in its debt dispute

    The announcement was made on Thursday, as Barack Obama ends a two-day visit to Argentina during which he expressed his firm support to Macri's administration

    In another display of support for the Argentine administration of president Mauricio Macri, the government of the United States affirmed it has “significant foreign policy interests” in finding a “rapid” resolution to the long-standing dispute between Argentina and bondholders.

  • Thursday, March 24th 2016 - 19:34 UTC

    Obama pays homage to victims of Argentine dictatorship and admits “US was slow to speak out for human rights”

    US “has to examine its own policies as well, and its own past,” said Obama.“We've been slow to speak out for human rights, and that was the case here.”

    President Barack Obama paid homage on Thursday to victims of Argentina's former US-backed dictatorship, admitting the United States was “slow to speak out for human rights” in those dark days. Obama became the first US president to formally acknowledge the victims of the 1976-1983 military regime, which declassified documents have revealed was supported by top US officials.

  • Thursday, March 24th 2016 - 02:03 UTC

    Brazilian Supreme Court emerges with a decisive role in the institutional crisis

    “The goal of the falsity is clear: to prevent the carrying out of an arrest order,” against Lula that is under consideration by a lower court, wrote Gilmar Mendes

    The Brazilian government's efforts to have former president Lula da Silva into the cabinet of president Dilma Rousseff will have to wait until next 30 March when the Supreme Court is scheduled to hold its next full meeting. The political upheaval and simultaneous legal back-and forth has reached such a pitch that it inspired a bleakly funny website, lulaeministro.com, or “Is Lula a minister?” The site shows only the former president’s face and the words, “At this moment, No.” (Or yes, depending).

  • Thursday, March 24th 2016 - 01:16 UTC

    Time bomb in Brazil: list of 200 names of politicians from 18 parties who received illegal funds for elections

    Sao Paulo media published that the Federal Police since last 23 February have a list of 200 politicians, which apparently received funds from Odebrecht,

    Odebrecht, the engineering firm at the heart of Brazil's biggest ever graft probe, on Tuesday agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, in a move likely to send shockwaves across political parties that for years illegally siphoned money from state contracts. Federal police found an office to pay bribes and it surfaced that since February it has a list of 200 politicians who benefited from siphoned funds for election campaigns.

  • Thursday, March 24th 2016 - 01:10 UTC

    Brazil's chief of staff warns about the “dangerous precedent” of ousting an unpopular government

    “They are planting a dangerous seed in Brazil,” said Wagner “without the rule of law, the right of defense and presumption of innocence, there is no democracy”

    Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's chief of staff on Wednesday said ousting her would set a “dangerous” precedent for unpopular governments to be toppled in the future. On Tuesday Rousseff said that ongoing impeachment proceedings against her in Congress constituted a “plot” against Brazil's institutions and the nation's stability.

  • Wednesday, March 23rd 2016 - 19:21 UTC

    Falklands' Mare harbor will undergo a £19m upgrade to cater for larger vessels

    The contract covers for design, construction and associated costs and will provide a roll-on roll-off facility suitable to cater for larger vessels

    UK Preston based VolkerStevin has won a £19m deal to improve defense infrastructure on the Falkland Islands. VolkerStevin is a contractor providing a wide range of engineering and construction services across a number of market sectors and in this case will upgrade Mare Harbor as part of a design-and-build deal for the UK Defense Infrastructure Organization.