
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña and British Foreign Secretary Davis Cameron met Tuesday in Asunción to discuss bilateral issues and also to explore the South American Market's (Mercosur) potential. Peña currently holds the pro tempore presidency of Mercosur.

Buquebús and Colonia Express, the two shipping companies providing regular passenger services between Argentina and Uruguay, announced this week that they planned to challenge President Luis Lacalle Pou's decree creating a US$ 2.56 surcharge for passengers arriving or leaving at the ports of Colonia and Montevideo.

Paraguay has announced that on Tuesday, 20 February British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron will be making his first official visit to the country, ”a significant milestone in the bilateral relation between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Paraguay.

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña is making a snap trip to Buenos Aires on Wednesday to meet with his Argentine colleague Javier Milei, who has just returned from Italy. It will be their second encounter after Milei's Dec. 10 inauguration.

Paraguayan Navy Captain Marcial Martínez Gayoso who is stationed in Montevideo on a Mercosur mission was shot Tuesday at the Fortaleza del Cerro historical site while visiting it with his family.

Brazil totaled a surplus of R$ 888 million (US$ 179.26 million) from electricity sales to neighboring countries, which helped President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration ease the burden on Brazilian consumers, Agencia Brasil reported.

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou said Sunday from Melo, the capital f of the department (province) of Cerro Largo that the current government of Venezuela was “a dictatorship.”

Former Chilean President Sebastián Piñera tragically passed away on Tuesday at the age of 74 in a helicopter crash in Lago Ranco, Chile. According to Chilean media reports, including ADN Radio, the accident occurred approximately 920 kilometers south of Santiago.

Media reports all across the Southern Cone Friday underlined the heat wave affecting Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay with temperatures reaching 48 degrees Celsius and forecast to remain around or above 40 degrees for several days.

The Liberian-flagged freighter En May was removed on Friday from one of the pillars of the Zárate-Brazo Largo bridge that connects the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires and Entre Ríos, where she got stuck after losing her steering capabilities last Sunday. Full navigation was thus restored on the Paraná River waterway.