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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, April 16th 2025 - 07:07 UTC

Politics

  • Saturday, February 15th 2025 - 08:59 UTC

    US Health authorities start staff downsizing under RFK, Jr.

    The measure targeted the so-called probationary workers which included new hires or old ones who had just been relocated

    US Federal authorities terminated a series of employments after Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. (RFK) was confirmed by the Senate Thursday as the country's new Health Secretary. Some 1,300 probationary-level workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and 1,500 others from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were laid off.

  • Friday, February 14th 2025 - 14:06 UTC

    Pope Francis hospitalized with persistent bronchitis

    The Pope is likely to spend at least 5 days at the clinic

    Argentine-born Pope Francis was admitted Friday at Rome's Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic to receive medical attention for his persistent bronchitis.

  • Friday, February 14th 2025 - 11:54 UTC

    Uruguay’s outgoing President blocks invitations to Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba for Orsi’s inauguration

    The Frente Amplio argues that Uruguay should invite all countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, regardless of the nature of their governments.

    Uruguay’s outgoing President Luis Lacalle Pou has refused to sign invitations for representatives from Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba to attend the inauguration of President-elect Yamandú Orsi on March 1. This decision, which follows Lacalle Pou’s longstanding stance against what he calls “dictatorial governments,” highlights a political divide between Uruguay’s current administration and the incoming leftist government.

  • Friday, February 14th 2025 - 10:37 UTC

    Argentina: Indec says January's inflation stood at 2.2%

    Milei's Libertarian government seeks to further reduce inflation through exchange rate control, wage policies, and fiscal anchors

    Argentina's inflation in January 2025 stood at 2.2%, down from 2.7% in December, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) said in a report released Thursday, which also showed yoy values of 84.5%. January's was the lowest Consumer Price Index (CPI) since July 2020 - 1.9% amid the Covid-19 pandemic - and also the best under Javier Milei, who took office on Dec. 10, 2023. The President's best previous CPI was in November 2024 at 2.4%.

  • Friday, February 14th 2025 - 10:30 UTC

    CFK appeals her conviction for corruption

    While CFK seeks her acquittal, the prosecution would like her 6-year sentence doubled

    Former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK) Thursday filed an appeal to have her six-year prison sentence and lifelong disenfranchisement overturned. On the other side, the prosecution requested her sentence be upped to 12 years, citing illicit association in the “Vialidad” scandal regarding road works in the province of Santa Cruz.

  • Friday, February 14th 2025 - 10:24 UTC

    Body of fallen Uruguayan soldier arrives in Montevideo

    “The last thing he told us was that he loved us,” the soldier's widow admitted

    The remains of Uruguayan soldier Rodolfo Cipriano Álvarez Suárez, who died in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) earlier this month while deployed on the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping MONUSCO mission, arrived in Montevideo on Thursday. A ceremony was held at Air Base No. 1, attended by President Luis Lacalle Pou and Ministers Armando Castaingdebat (Defense) and Omar Paganini (Foreign Affairs), among other high-ranking officials.

  • Friday, February 14th 2025 - 10:13 UTC

    Uruguay tops Transparency International regional rankings

    Criminal organizations exploit the region's weak institutions, the 2024 report found. Photo: Sebastián Astorga

    With a score of 76 points, Uruguay topped Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for the Americas - 2024 issue - released earlier this week. Amid widespread regional declines, Uruguay outperformed Canada and Barbados thanks to robust democratic institutions, high transparency, strong citizen participation, and effective environmental governance. This achievement came during President Luis Lacalle Pou's last month in office. Starting March 1, he will be succeeded by Yamandú Orsi, of the opposition Broad Front (Frente Amplio - FA).

  • Thursday, February 13th 2025 - 19:49 UTC

    Uruguay: Possible slave-like conditions for Chinese company workers under investigation

    Díaz criticized business sectors nostalgic of the 1990s when there was little to no collective bargaining and almost no labor protection

    Uruguay's National Union of Construction and Related Industries (Sunca) Secretary-General Javier Díaz said the rate of labor accidents nationwide has worsened over the past five years and blamed the departing administration of President Luis Lacalle Pou for this, amid waning collective wage bargaining conditions and high unemployment and informality.

  • Thursday, February 13th 2025 - 10:55 UTC

    End of war in Ukraine nearer after Trump-Putin talks

    Trump and Putin agreed: they both want peace

    US President Donald Trump held a telephone conversation Wednesday with his Russian colleague President Vladimir Putin, with whom he discussed for over 90 minutes the idea of starting negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Both leaders expressed their eagerness to end the conflict at the earliest opportunity possible.

  • Thursday, February 13th 2025 - 10:20 UTC

    Alckmin to push for return of US steel import quotas

    There's no tax war, there's an understanding based on the public interest,” Alckmin underlined

    Brazilian Vice President and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, Geraldo Alckmin, defended on Wednesday the establishment of exemption quotas for steel and aluminum to be shipped to the United States, as it happened during US President Donald Trump's previous government (2017-2021).