Uruguay

• Tuesday, June 3rd 2014 - 05:51 UTC

  Uruguay's primaries give birth to a new young leader in the ruling coalition

  

  Yet more surprises from last Sunday's primaries in Uruguay to choose candidates for the October presidential election. Not only did the main opposition vote overwhelmingly for renewal, but now it has emerged that in the ruling coalition, which suffers from a generation of Jurassic leaders, a young challenger has emerged as the most voted and is now demanding a place in the presidential ticket.

• Monday, June 2nd 2014 - 08:21 UTC

  Moody's upgrades Uruguay's rating to Baa3, based on reduced 'vulnerabilities'

  

  Moody's Investors Service last Friday announced it had upgraded Uruguay's government bond rating to Baa2 from Baa3, and assigned a stable outlook to the Baa2 rating. The upgrade was driven by the strengthening of Uruguay's sovereign credit profile, as reflected by the convergence of fiscal and debt metric, an overall government debt profile that is currently associated with moderate credit risks, and the country's reduced vulnerabilities to regional and commodity shocks.

• Monday, June 2nd 2014 - 07:13 UTC

  Vazquez, Lacalle Pou and Bordaberry: one the three will be Uruguay's next president

  

  Sunday's primaries in Uruguay cleared the way for the candidates of the four parties with legislative representation that will be disputing the presidential election next October 26, with a run-off a month later if none of them manages 50% plus one of ballots.

• Saturday, May 31st 2014 - 06:08 UTC

  Uruguay's FDI equivalent to 5% of GDP and mostly in alternative energies, said Eclac report

  

  Foreign direct investment in Uruguay totaled 2.79bn dollars last year, which is slightly higher than the 2.68bn of 2012, equivalent to 5% of GDP, according to the latest report on FDI for the region from the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

• Friday, May 30th 2014 - 05:19 UTC

  Uruguay parties chose presidential candidates in next Sunday's primaries

  

  Uruguay closed on Thursday the primaries election campaign ahead of Sunday's vote when the different parties will be choosing their candidates for the big presidential contest on the last Sunday of October. Whoever is elected in October or in the November run-off will succeed President Jose Mujica on March 2015.

• Thursday, May 29th 2014 - 06:26 UTC

  Argentina is the most protectionist country of the region” claims Astori

  

  Uruguay's vice-president Danilo Astori said that Argentina is “the most protectionist country in the region” and again questioned the effectiveness of Mercosur arguing that Uruguay can't forget the region but can't be expected to remain idle.

• Thursday, May 29th 2014 - 00:54 UTC

  Uruguayan court declines competence to rule on Chinese fishing vessel 'slavery' claims

  

  A Uruguayan criminal court found no merit to continue investigating into incidents allegedly occurred in a Chinese flagged fishing vessel following on claims of 'slavery', ill treatment and beatings, presented by 28 African crewmembers.

• Wednesday, May 28th 2014 - 08:40 UTC

  Five killed as small plane goes down in the River Plate coast; four survived

  

  A small plane crash landed on Tuesday into the Río de la Plata river with nine passengers on board. Four of them were successfully rescued and transferred to hospitals in Buenos Aires and Uruguay, and at least five people were reported dead.

• Monday, May 26th 2014 - 21:55 UTC

  Uruguay and Denmark top the list of ITUC Global Rights Index

  

  A global leader-board in the race to protect workers’ rights was released at the ITUC World Congress in Berlin. The ITUC Global Rights Index ranks 139 countries against 97 internationally recognized indicators to assess where workers’ rights are best protected, in law and in practice.

• Monday, May 26th 2014 - 07:17 UTC

  UN praises Mujica's initiative to provide home for Syrian orphanded children

  

  The United Nations' refugee commission expressed gratitude that Uruguay is preparing to provide a new home for 100 children orphaned by Syria's civil war. Senior regional UNHCR official Michelle Alfaro said there are more than 2 million Syrian refugees in all, and Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan can't handle them all, so the agency hopes to relocate 30,000 this year.