Headline

Mourning, Tribute, As ‘World’s Poorest President’ Dies

Published

4 months ago

May 14, 2025

Tributes poured in from across Latin America on Tuesday following the death of Uruguay’s former president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics.

The 89-year-old, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment.

“With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguay’s current leader, Yamandu Orsi, posted on X.

“Pepe, eternal!” a cyclist shouted out minutes later, while passing government buildings.

Mujica earned the moniker “world’s poorest president” during his 2010-2015 presidency for giving away much of his salary to charity and living a simple life on his farm, with his fellow ex-guerrilla wife and three-legged dog.

The government announced three days of national mourning and said his body would be taken to the legislative palace on Wednesday to lie in state.

Activists from Mujica’s Movement of Popular Participation (MPP) gathered outside the party’s headquarters to make giant banners marked “Hasta siempre, viejo querido” (Until forever, old friend).

Leftist leaders from across Latin America and Europe paid tribute to the man described by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as an “example for Latin America and the entire world.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva echoed that message.

“His human greatness transcended the borders of Uruguay and his presidential mandate. The wisdom of his words formed a true song of unity and fraternity for Latin America,” Lula said in a statement.

– ‘Like ordinary people’ –

At the Madison, an unassuming corner cafe in central Montevideo, waiter Walter Larus recalled Mujica popping in for a steak shortly after winning office.

“He felt and lived like ordinary people, not like today’s politicians who seem rich,” the 53-year-old said.

In a 2012 AFP interview, Mujica denied being poor, saying his was, rather, a life of “austerity.”

“I need little to live,” he said.

He transformed Uruguay, a prosperous country of 3.4 million people best known for football and ranching, into one of Latin America’s most progressive societies.

In later life, he was disappointed at the authoritarian drift of some left-wing governments, accusing repressive leaders in Venezuela and Nicaragua of “messing things up.”

He was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in May last year, and it spread to his liver.

His wife Lucia Topolansky said this week he was receiving palliative care.

– ‘Humility and greatness’ –

Over the course of five years in power, Mujica legalised abortion and gay marriage and made Uruguay the first country to legalise the use of recreational cannabis.

He continued to campaign for the left after his cancer diagnosis, working fervently on the successful election campaign of history teacher Orsi, his political heir.

Former Bolivian president Evo Morales hailed his “experience and wisdom,” while Brazil’s government bid farewell to “one of the most important humanists of our time.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Mujica had lived for “a better world,” while Guatemala’s Bernardo Arevalo held him up as “an example of humility and greatness.”

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian hailed Mujica as a “renowned leader” and a “good friend of the Chinese people.”

– From prison to politics –

The blunt-spoken, snowy-haired farmer was a fierce critic of consumerism.

He attended official events in sandals and continued living on his small holding on the outskirts of Montevideo, where his prized possession was a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle.

In the 1960s, he co-founded the Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla movement Tupamaros, which started out robbing from the rich to give to the poor but later escalated its campaign to kidnappings, bombings and assassinations.

During those years, Mujica lived a life of derring-do. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and took part in a mass prison breakout.

But when the Tupamaros collapsed in 1972, he was recaptured and spent all of Uruguay’s 1973-1985 dictatorship in prison, where he was tortured and spent years in solitary confinement.

After his release, he threw himself into politics and in 1989 founded the MPP, the largest member of the leftist Broad Front coalition.

Elected to congress in 1995, he became a senator in 2000 and then agriculture minister in Uruguay’s first-ever left-wing government.

As president, he was praised for his fight against poverty but criticised for failing to rein in public spending.

He is survived by his wife, Topolansky. They had no children.

Mujica asked to be buried on his farm, next to his dog.

AFP

Headline

Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Is Dead

Published

2 hours ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdulaziz, has died at the age of 82.

According to a statement from the Royal Court, the revered cleric passed away on Tuesday morning.

Born in Mecca in November 1943, Sheikh Abdulaziz rose to become one of the most influential religious authorities in the Kingdom.

He served as head of the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta, as well as the Supreme Council of the Muslim World League.

Headline

Antitrust Trial: US Asks Court To Break Up Google’s Ad Business

Published

1 day ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Google faces a fresh federal court test on Monday as US government lawyers ask a judge to order the breakup of the search engine giant’s ad technology business.

The lawsuit is Google’s second such test this year, following a similar government demand to split up its empire that was shot down by a judge earlier this month.

Monday’s case focuses specifically on Google’s ad tech “stack” — the tools that website publishers use to sell ads and that advertisers use to buy them.

In a landmark decision earlier this year, Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema agreed with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that Google maintained an illegal grip on this market.

Monday’s trial is set to determine what penalties and changes Google must implement to undo its monopoly.

According to filings, the US government will argue that Google should spin off its ad publisher and exchange operations. The DOJ will also ask that after the divestitures are complete, Google be banned from operating an ad exchange for 10 years.

Google will argue that the divestiture demands go far beyond the court’s findings, are technically unfeasible, and would be harmful to the market and smaller businesses.

“We’ve said from the start that DOJ’s case misunderstands how digital advertising works and ignores how the landscape has dramatically evolved, with increasing competition and new entrants,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs.

In a similar case in Europe, the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust enforcer, earlier this month fined Google 2.95 billion euros ($3.47 billion) over its control of the ad tech market.

Brussels ordered behavioral changes, drawing criticism that it was going easy on Google as it had previously indicated that a divestiture may be necessary.

This remedy phase of the US trial follows a first trial that found Google operated an illegal monopoly. It is expected to last about a week, with the court set to meet again for closing arguments a few weeks later.

The trial begins in the same month that a separate judge rejected a government demand that Google divest its Chrome browser, in an opinion that was largely seen as a victory for the tech giant.

That was part of a different case, also brought by the US Department of Justice, in which the tech giant was found responsible for operating an illegal monopoly, this time in the online search space.

Instead of a major breakup of its business, Google was required to share data with rivals as part of its remedies.

The US government had pushed for Chrome’s divestment, arguing the browser serves as a crucial gateway to the internet that brings in a third of all Google web searches.

Shares in Google-parent Alphabet have skyrocketed by more than 20 percent since that decision.

Judge Brinkema has said in pre-trial hearings that she will closely examine the outcome of the search trial when assessing her path forward in her own case.

These cases are part of a broader bipartisan government campaign against the world’s largest technology companies. The US currently has five pending antitrust cases against such companies.

AFP

Headline

Google Faces Court Battle Over Breakup Of Ad Tech Business

Published

1 day ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Google faces a fresh federal court test on Monday as US government lawyers ask a judge to order the breakup of the search engine giant’s ad technology business.

The lawsuit is Google’s second such test this year after the California-based tech juggernaut saw a similar government demand to split up its empire shot down by a judge earlier this month.

Monday’s case focuses specifically on Google’s ad tech “stack” — the tools that website publishers use to sell ads and that advertisers use to buy them.

In a landmark decision earlier this year, Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema agreed with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that Google maintained an illegal grip on this market.
Monday’s trial is set to determine what penalties and changes Google must implement to undo its monopoly.

Google will argue that the divestiture demands go far beyond the court’s findings, are technically unfeasible, and would be harmful to the market and smaller businesses.

In a similar case in Europe, the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust enforcer, earlier this month fined Google 2.95 billion euros ($3.47 billion) over its control of the ad tech market.
Brussels ordered behavioral changes, drawing criticism that it was going easy on Google as it had previously indicated that a divestiture may be necessary.

The trial begins in the same month that a separate judge rejected a government demand that Google divest its Chrome browser, in an opinion that was largely seen as a victory for the tech giant.

That was part of a different case, also brought by the US Department of Justice, in which the tech giant was found responsible for operating an illegal monopoly, this time in the online search space.
Instead of a major breakup of its business, Google was required to share data with rivals as part of its remedies.

The US government had pushed for Chrome’s divestment, arguing the browser serves as a crucial gateway to the internet that brings in a third of all Google web searches.
Shares in Google-parent Alphabet have skyrocketed by more than 20 percent since that decision.

Judge Brinkema has said in pre-trial hearings that she will closely examine the outcome of the search trial when assessing her path forward in her own case.

These cases are part of a broader bipartisan government campaign against the world’s largest technology companies. The US currently has five pending antitrust cases against such companies.