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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, November 9th 2025 - 00:51 UTC

Politics

  • Wednesday, December 7th 2016 - 11:38 UTC

    PISA global education survey has mostly Asian countries in the top ten

    Singapore was top of the class followed by Japan, Estonia, Taiwan and Finland. Japan and Canada, which came seventh, G7 nations fell lower in the data.

    Singapore has come top of the class in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) latest global education survey, with the Asian city-state's students the highest performing in tests on basic academic skills. Japan came in second in the OECD's survey, followed by Estonia, Taiwan and Finland. Japan and Canada, which came seventh, G7 nations fell lower in the data.

  • Wednesday, December 7th 2016 - 11:05 UTC

    Argentina excluded from OECD PISA academic tests: information deemed “insufficient”

    In the 2015 PISA, 7,500 Argentine students participated from 238 different schools, but the results won’t be counted, the country has been excluded.

    Argentina has not been included in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s ranking of education quality because the information provided by the country was deemed insufficient. The OECD-designed PISA test evaluates the academic performance of 15-year-olds in 71 countries around the world in math, science and reading comprehension. It’s been conducted every three years since 2000.

  • Wednesday, December 7th 2016 - 10:57 UTC

    Constitutional clash in Brazil, Senate disobeys Supreme Court: countdown for Temer presidency?

    “It’s a monocratic decision” by a lone judge, Senator Calheiros said in a brief afternoon news conference in the capital in reference to his suspension.

    Brazil moved a step closer to a constitutional crisis on Tuesday as the head of the Senate refused to abide by a Supreme Court Justice ruling stripping him of his powerful post. A defiant Sen. Renan Calheiros told reporters he won’t recognize a decision handed down late Monday by a single high-court judge. The clash could mean the beginning of the countdown for president Michel Temer weak administration and his fiscal reforms program

  • Wednesday, December 7th 2016 - 10:49 UTC

    Merkel U-turns on immigration as she launches reelection campaign

    Angela Merkel is suprisingly not so open to immigration as she launches her reelection campaign

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a public ban on the full-face veil as her political party gears up to back her for a fourth term in office. “Here we say 'show your face'. So full veiling is not appropriate here. It should be prohibited wherever legally possible,”

  • Wednesday, December 7th 2016 - 10:31 UTC

    Italian model plans to go ahead with referendum promise to “No” voters

    Italian model says she will deliver her promise to “No” voters, unlike Madonna

    Following up on Madonna's example in offering sex acts for political votes, Paola Saulino, an Italian model who works in Los Angeles and had promised to perform oral sex on all those who voted “No” in last weekend's referendum in her home country, has realeased a schedule for her pledge-honoring ‘Pompa Tour.’

  • Wednesday, December 7th 2016 - 10:22 UTC

    Cazeneuve new French PM after Valls resigns to focus on presidential campaign

    Bernard Cazeneuve becomes France's new prime minister as Manuel Valls quits job to focus on presidential bid

    Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve will replace Manuel Valls as prime minister of France, following the latter's resignation aimed at “giving his best” to the Socialist Party's presidential campaign for 2017. Valls announced Monday he would run after the incumbent and unpopular President Francois Hollande declined last week to seek a second term in office.

  • Wednesday, December 7th 2016 - 10:13 UTC

    Cancel order!, blasts Trump on hearing cost of Boeing's revamped Air Force One

    “Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than US$ 4b. Cancel order!” Trump said on Twitter.

    President-elect Donald Trump urged the government on Tuesday to cancel an order with Boeing Co for a revamped Air Force One, one of the most prominent symbols of the U.S. presidency, saying costs were out of control. It was the latest example of Trump using his podium, often via Twitter messages, to rattle companies and foreign countries as he seeks to shake up business as usual in Washington.

  • Tuesday, December 6th 2016 - 09:15 UTC

    Renzi told to remain until budget law is passed; calls for quick elections in Italy

    In a decision widely expected, president Sergio Mattarella told Renzi ”to delay his resignation until that task (of the budget law) is completed.”

    Calls mounted on Monday from populist and other opposition leaders for quick elections in Italy, seeking to capitalize on Premier Matteo Renzi's humiliating defeat in a referendum on government-championed reforms. But President Sergio Mattarella told Renzi to stay in office a bit longer until a critical budget law is passed. Some officials say Parliament could pass that law as soon as the end of the week.

  • Tuesday, December 6th 2016 - 09:09 UTC

    Chilean economy contracts for the first time in seven years; minister blames “temporary factors”

    Finance minister Rodrigo Valdes said that the 0.40% drop in economic activity in Chile in October was due to temporary factors

    Chile's economy contracted for the first time in seven years in annual terms, as manufacturing and mining activity fell, potentially paving the way for the central bank to cut interest rates to spur growth. Economic activity fell 0.4% in October from the year-earlier month, the first annual contraction since October 2009, central bank data showed on Monday.

  • Tuesday, December 6th 2016 - 08:33 UTC

    Human Freedom Index: Chile, Costa Rica lead in Latin America

    On a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 represents more freedom, the non-weighted average rating for 159 countries in 2014 was 6.93.

    The Human Freedom Index 2016, (HFI), was released on Monday, the second annual report that represents the state of overall freedom in the world based on a broad measure of personal, civil and economic freedom. Co-published by the Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute (Canada) and the Liberales Institut (Germany) from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, it looks into 179 distinct indicators in 159 countries on issues ranging from freedom of speech and association to women’s freedoms, the extent of voluntary exchange, safety and security, the rule of law and more.