
The presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Paraguay, Santiago Peña, agreed on Sunday in Campo Grande to intensify negotiations over Annex C of the Itaipú treaty, the instrument that governs the financial terms and energy sales of the binational hydroelectric dam, one of the largest in the world.

Paraguay's President Santiago Peña met on Sunday in Campo Grande, the capital of Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state, with business leaders from the state's Federation of Industries (FIEMS) to promote investment opportunities in his country. The meeting, organized at the association's request, brought together representatives from sectors including bioenergy, food, construction and logistics.

Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi and Economy Minister Gabriel Oddone said the government will send a competitiveness and innovation bill to Congress on May 31, focused on foreign trade, competition policy, innovation and administrative simplification. The initiative was launched alongside a call for unions, business chambers and academia to submit proposals by April 24.

NASA said on Thursday that Artemis II had passed its flight readiness review and received the go-ahead to proceed toward a launch attempt on April 1, in what would be the first crewed mission around the Moon since the Apollo era. The agency said the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft are set to roll out to pad 39B on March 19 once remaining closeout work is finished.

Venezuela this week took another step toward opening its extractive sector to foreign capital, while the United States authorized limited transactions involving Venezuelan gold. The National Assembly approved on first reading a mining reform pushed by Delcy Rodríguez’s interim government, as Washington issued a license allowing dealings with Minerven, Venezuela’s state gold company, just days after the two countries restored diplomatic and consular relations.

The global volume of transfers of major arms between states rose 9.2% in 2021-25 compared with 2016-20, the biggest increase since 2011-15, according to data released on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The shift was driven above all by a sharp rise in European imports, which increased by 210% over the period and made Europe the world’s largest arms-importing region.

Local authorities in Uruguay’s Maldonado department are reviewing a proposal by Brazil’s Stehling Racing Team to develop a racetrack built to Formula 1 standards in the Punta del Este–Laguna del Sauce corridor, a plan still at an early stage and without any confirmation that it would translate into hosting a world championship round.

With Chile’s presidential handover set for March 11, outgoing President Gabriel Boric is closing his term amid a diplomatic dispute with the United States over a China Mobile-backed undersea fiber-optic cable project that would link Chile’s coast in the Valparaíso region to Hong Kong—an issue now landing on president-elect José Antonio Kast’s desk.

Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi and former president Luis Lacalle Pou attended an Air Force ceremony at Base Aérea No. 1 (Route 101, Canelones) for the presentation of the first A-29 Super Tucano aircraft entering service with the Uruguayan Air Force (FAU). Defence Minister Sandra Lazo and former defence minister—now senator—Javier García were also present.

China put humanoid robots front and centre at its Spring Festival Gala —the country’s biggest annual television event— featuring a choreographed martial-arts routine with traditional weapons such as swords and nunchucks, acrobatics and tightly synchronised sequences alongside human performers.