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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, April 1st 2026 - 02:33 UTC

United States

  • Thursday, March 19th 2026 - 22:52 UTC

    Trump jokes about Pearl Harbor in front of Japan’s prime minister during White House meeting

    During the exchange in the Oval Office, Takaichi did not respond publicly to the remark and listened through an interpreter

    U.S. President Donald Trump made a joke about Pearl Harbor on Thursday during an Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, while answering a question about why Washington had not informed some allies in advance about its decision to strike Iran. The bilateral meeting was part of the White House’s official schedule for March 19.

  • Thursday, March 19th 2026 - 22:43 UTC

    Netanyahu hints a ground phase may be needed as Iran war hits Gulf energy infrastructure

    Netanyahu made the remarks at a press conference in Jerusalem, where he also said Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium or produce ballistic missiles, although he offered no evidence

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested on Thursday that an air campaign alone would not be enough to bring down Iran’s regime, as the conflict entered a new phase marked by strikes on Gulf energy facilities and renewed warnings over the Strait of Hormuz.

  • Thursday, March 19th 2026 - 12:57 UTC

    Western Democracies backsliding, with U.S. decline “unprecedented”

    Professor Staffan Ingemar Lindberg, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg (Pic: Markus Marcetic)

    Democratic backsliding is now happening in well-established democracies. Democracy in the USA is deteriorating at unprecedented speed, and media and journalists are increasingly targeted across the world. This, and more, is reported in the latest Democracy Report from the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg.

  • Thursday, March 19th 2026 - 02:12 UTC

    Russian diesel shipment bound for Cuba challenges US blockade

    Although limited in scale, the cargo —estimated at around 200,000 barrels of diesel— could cover roughly 10 days of national consumption

    A Hong Kong-flagged tanker that could be carrying fuel to Cuba has resumed navigation in the Atlantic after remaining halted for several weeks, in a move that could offer limited relief to the island’s deepening energy crisis. According to ship-tracking available on Vessel Finder, the Sea Horse loaded fuel in a ship-to-ship operation earlier this year and then resumed course with Cuba as a possible destination. The Financial Times reported that the vessel was part of two Russian energy shipments headed to the island and could arrive within days.

  • Wednesday, March 18th 2026 - 21:00 UTC

    Venezuelan National Assembly speaker meets US Senate envoys

    The Venezuelan government framed the opening as part of a broader agenda of stabilization and gradual normalization of ties.

    Venezuelan National Assembly speaker Jorge Rodríguez said on Wednesday that he met in Caracas with representatives of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and with U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Laura Dogu, in the latest sign of the bilateral opening that began after January’s political shift. Rodríguez said the agenda forms part of a dialogue “always based on mutual respect and cooperation between nations.”

  • Tuesday, March 17th 2026 - 22:31 UTC

    US counterterrorism chief resigns over Iran war

    Kent’s departure cuts at one of the White House’s core arguments for the strikes

    Joe Kent, director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, resigned on Tuesday with immediate effect, saying he could not support Washington’s war against Iran in what became the first high-level public break inside Donald Trump’s national security apparatus since the offensive began. Kent said Tehran had posed no “imminent threat” to the United States.

  • Tuesday, March 17th 2026 - 22:15 UTC

    Trump sharpens criticism of NATO after allies refuse to join Hormuz mission

    The refusals further exposed Washington’s diplomatic isolation in a war now entering its third week and already pushing oil above US$100 a barrel

    U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his criticism of NATO and other allies on Tuesday after most of them rejected his request to send ships to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway for Gulf energy exports. Speaking alongside Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, Trump called the refusal “a very foolish mistake” while also insisting Washington could proceed alone: “We don’t need help, actually.”

  • Tuesday, March 17th 2026 - 03:19 UTC

    Trump says it would be “a great honor” to “take Cuba” as Washington presses Havana in talks

    The energy crisis has worsened since Cuba went three months without fuel imports, according to Díaz-Canel’s remarks

    U.S. President Donald Trump sharply escalated his rhetoric toward Cuba on Monday, saying it would be “a great honor” for him to “take Cuba in some form” and that he can “do anything” he wants with the island. The comments came as Cuba was enduring a nationwide blackout and while bilateral contacts acknowledged by both governments since last week continued in the background.

  • Tuesday, March 17th 2026 - 03:00 UTC

    Noboa imposes curfew in four provinces of Ecuador deploys 75,000 personnel in new anti-crime offensive

    The new phase of Noboa’s plan also rests on emergency powers

    Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has launched a new security offensive with a nightly curfew in four violence-hit provinces and the deployment of 75,000 soldiers and police officers. The restriction runs from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. in Guayas, El Oro, Los Ríos and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, began on Sunday night and is expected to remain in force for two weeks. In the first hours of the operation, authorities reported 253 arrests for violating the measure.

  • Monday, March 16th 2026 - 16:14 UTC

    Germany rejects sending ships to Hormuz as the EU seeks a diplomatic and logistical way forward

    The German frigate FGS Sachsen (F-219) of the Sachsen class (Type 124) during a missile-firing exercise

    Germany on Monday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s request for allies to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to help reopen the shipping route. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius questioned what “a handful” of European frigates could do that the U.S. Navy could not already do, and summed up Berlin’s position bluntly: “This is not our war.” Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s spokesperson added that the conflict “is not NATO’s war” and that Germany had no plans to be drawn into it.