Uruguayan farmers with their tractors, harvesters, trucks, vans and on horseback took to the roads to protest the cost of fuel, power, increased taxes and an over bloated national budget and bureaucracy which they blame for making several farm activities unprofitable, and have had an overall negative impact for the different camp activities.
Imagine having breakfast with an explorer and documentalist who turns out to be Jacques Cousteau's granddaughter. Or listen to a conference aboard the Nobel Prize in Physics Shuji Nakamura. Imagine waking up one day on an exotic island and the other in one of the great capitals of the world. Imagine owning a floating apartment worth between 1.2 and 7.5 million dollars.
Uruguayan animal health authorities are on the alert following the outbreak of a blue tongue focus among sheep in south Brazil. The outbreak has been located in Santa Maria, in central Rio Grande do Sul, and Uruguay's Agriculture and Livestock ministry has strengthened controls along the border which divides the rich farmland region.
A member of Argentina's elite of powerful union sharks has been arrested in Uruguay at his Great Chaparral ranch and is awaiting extradition to Buenos Aires to face charges of corruption, money laundering, extortion, stealing funds and links with the drugs business, among others.
Japan is planning to lift a ban on beef imports from Uruguay next year, ending a more than 17-year embargo following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the South American nation in 2000, according to government sources in Tokyo.
Although Uruguay is well positioned internationally when it comes to corruption perception, it is considered among the least corrupt together with Chile in Latin America by Transparency International and LatinoBarometer, a public opinion poll published the last week of 2017 in Montevideo seems to show quite a different perception, particularly among young people.
An acute case of intoxication with cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in recreational exposure during an algal bloom in Montevideo beaches, Malvin and Carrasco, was reported in the US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
After several seasons of negative growth, 2017/18 looks to be the turning point, with 165 calls, up 15, and 300.000 visitors in Uruguay, (Montevideo and Punta del Este) anticipated Tourism minister Liliam Kechichian during the symbolic launching of the season in Montevideo.
Winners of the Hackathon Agro competition co-organized by the UK embassy in Uruguay, the local Cámara Uruguaya de Tecnologías de la Información (CUTI) and Fundación da Vinci, have visited England. Carlos Capano, Juan Francisco Kniazev and Agustín Ackermann, shared their experiences from their trip to England with Ambassador Ian Duddy, upon their return.
Support for democracy in Uruguay reached 70% this year, two points higher than in 2016, and leads in Latin America in its overall sustained commitment to democracy, according to the latest release from the Latinbarometer report.