National

The family home of Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor David Hogg — who was not present — was "swatted" on Tuesday morning, with the caller claiming a hostage situation was happening at the residence, according to Local 10 ABC News. 

Why it matters: Swatting is the act of placing a fake emergency call to first responders, often leading to an armed response as police think they'll be encountering a violent situation. It can be used as a prank or form of harassment, and has led to fatal consequences.

Go deeper: Marjory Stoneman Douglas students to embark on summer tour 

David Hogg's Parkland family home "swatted"

avid Hogg, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting, speaks to the media

David Hogg, survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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School shooting

The family home of Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor David Hogg — who was not present — was &quot;swatted&quot; on Tuesday morning, with the caller claiming a hostage situation was happening at the residence, <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="according to Local 10 ABC News." data-vars-click-url="https://www.local10.com/news/family-of-stoneman-douglas-advocate-david-hogg-swatted-at-home" data-vars-content-id="4ee4e51f-0bac-4d8a-892e-24c9536edf25" data-vars-headline="David Hogg&#x27;s Parkland family home &quot;swatted&quot;" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.local10.com/news/family-of-stoneman-douglas-advocate-david-hogg-swatted-at-home" target="_blank">according to Local 10 ABC News.</a> Why it matters: Swatting is the act of placing a fake emergency call to first responders, often leading to an armed response as police think they&#x27;ll be encountering a violent situation. It can be used as a prank or form of harassment, and has led to <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="fatal consequences." data-vars-click-url="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wichita-officer-who-killed-andrew-finch-swatting-mistake-won-t-n865626" data-vars-content-id="4ee4e51f-0bac-4d8a-892e-24c9536edf25" data-vars-headline="David Hogg&#x27;s Parkland family home &quot;swatted&quot;" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wichita-officer-who-killed-andrew-finch-swatting-mistake-won-t-n865626" target="_blank">fatal consequences.</a>Go deeper: <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Marjory Stoneman Douglas students to embark on summer tour " data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/march-for-our-lives-parkland-students-msd-summer-tour-e6223292-7d96-4fc8-ad8d-217c43719abb.html" data-vars-content-id="4ee4e51f-0bac-4d8a-892e-24c9536edf25" data-vars-headline="David Hogg&#x27;s Parkland family home &quot;swatted&quot;" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/march-for-our-lives-parkland-students-msd-summer-tour-e6223292-7d96-4fc8-ad8d-217c43719abb.html" target="_self">Marjory Stoneman Douglas students to embark on summer tour </a>

Montevideo — For almost a year, Uruguay was an oasis in the hardest-hit region on the planet.

Flashback: Not only did the South American country manage to keep cases low after shutting itself off from the world last March, but it also managed to avoid most of the vitriolic political confrontation other countries in the region experienced during the pandemic.

Uruguay never even imposed a lockdown, relying instead on voluntary decisions by the public. There were few better places to be as the pandemic swept the region. 

But everything started to change last December with a new variant arriving from neighboring Brazil. 

Driving the news: Uruguay now has the fourth-highest per capita rate of new cases anywhere in the world, trailing only small island countries.

Yes, but: Uruguay also has one of the world's fastest vaccination rates, vaccinating more than 1% of the population each day. 

Currently, 30% are fully vaccinated and 55% have had at least one dose. 

State of play: The government has declined to lock the country down, gambling that the vaccination program will drive the numbers down and that investments made in intensive care capacity will keep the hospital system afloat.

The weird thing, especially for someone who spends days in a newsroom under the pressure of this terrible news, is that the general public seems OK with the present situation. 

President Luis Lacalle Pou has a 55% approval rating, and the public health secretary's is over 65%. Even many opposition voters favor Lacalle Pou's “responsible freedom” strategy. 

What to watch: It's now a race between the virus and the vaccines. Who will win, and at what cost?

Hard-hit Uruguay is in a race between vaccines and the virus

Once a success story, Uruguay faces one of the world's highest infection rates.

A testing center in Montevideo. Photo: Eitan Abramovich/AFP via Getty

south america

Montevideo — For almost a year, Uruguay was an oasis in the hardest-hit region on the planet.Flashback: Not only did the South American country manage to keep cases low after shutting itself off from the world last March, but it also managed to avoid most of the vitriolic political confrontation other countries in the region experienced during the pandemic.

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

Venezuela, Brazil, and more recently Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile have been in the news because of violent protests and uprisings. 

The big picture: One thing's for sure — it's not because of any one political system. Venezuela has had a quasi-communist regime for almost 20 years, Chile has had a totally different pro-market approach, while Bolivia and Ecuador have had their own peculiar mixes of socialism and capitalism. But each society has gone through similar social crises in recent months.

Flashback: For a whole decade, the region experienced a boom linked with China's apparently endless need for commodities — copper, soybean, oil.

This sudden prosperity allowed for extensive welfare programs with which every government was able to cover up a lot of the endemic problems in a region with terrible records on crime, inequality and corruption.

As this wave of imported prosperity waned, social dissatisfaction grew, particularly in countries where the new wealth was channeled into subsidies and programs meant to buy social peace rather than to finance deep reforms.

But there is another reason for this sudden mess: Latin America's historic deficit in democratic institutions.

No region in the world has a similar record of coups, revolutions and regime change caused by social instability.

Add a love for populism and demagogic leaders, and mix in modern elements like social media and fake news, and you have the perfect recipe for disaster.

That's what you are witnessing in many countries of the region these days.

Riots persist in Ecuador after president ends fuel subsidy

Venezuela refugee crisis overwhelms Colombia: "We don't have the money"

South America's uprisings are about more than politics

Each society has gone through similar social crises in recent months.

Taking cover from a water cannon in Santiago, Chile. Photo: Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images

Latin America and Latinos

Venezuela, Brazil, and more recently Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile have been in the news because of violent protests and uprisings. The big picture: One thing&#x27;s for sure — it&#x27;s not because of any one political system. Venezuela has had a quasi-communist regime for almost 20 years, Chile has had a totally different pro-market approach, while Bolivia and Ecuador have had their own peculiar mixes of socialism and capitalism. But each society has gone through similar social crises in recent months.

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

Montevideo, Uruguay — A small, stable, even boring democracy deep south in South America, Uruguay rarely makes international news. But in a region where Chinese and Russian influence is growing rapidly, and which has long been considered part of the the U.S. sphere of influence, a new political figure is sparking attention.

Why it matters: Juan Sartori, a 38-year-old businessman, only recently burst onto the political scene, but sits second in the polls for the main opposition party ahead of presidential primaries on Sunday. His sudden interest in politics, massive campaign spending and mysterious family backstory have opened eyes in neighboring countries, and beyond.

Sartori has lived for most of his life in Switzerland, purportedly studied at Harvard (there are disputes about this), and founded a company, Union Acquisition Group, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. 

He made big investments in the marijuana business in Uruguay, which was the first country to fully legalize the drug. He's also a primary owner of the English soccer club Sunderland.

But it's the fact that his father-in-law is a Russian tycoon, Dmitry Rybolovlev, that has drawn outsized attention to Sartori's campaign.

Rybolovlev made his millions during the post-USSR privatization frenzy, lives in Monaco where he owns the local soccer team (the sport seems to be a family interest), and has been in the news lately after being charged with corruption in a massive alleged art fraud.

According to the Telegraph, his divorce in 2015 was “the most expensive divorce in history." Among his many possessions is Skorpios Island, where Jackie Kennedy married the Greek mogul Aristotle Onassis in 1968.

Technically, the Island belongs to Rybolovlev´s daughter, Ekaterina, who was also married there — to Sartori.

What to watch: Sartori has spent around 10 times as much as any other candidate. If he wins Sunday's primary, he could well be Uruguay's next president.

Political newcomer linked to Russian tycoon shakes up Uruguay's election

Juan Sartori is spending big, and climbing in the polls

Sartori at a presidential rally. Photo: Mauricio Zina/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Montevideo, Uruguay — A small, stable, even boring democracy deep south in South America, Uruguay rarely makes international news. But in a region where Chinese and Russian influence is growing rapidly, and which has long been considered part of the the U.S. sphere of influence, a new political figure is sparking attention.Why it matters: Juan Sartori, a 38-year-old businessman, only recently burst onto the political scene, but sits second in the polls for the main opposition party ahead of presidential primaries on Sunday. His sudden interest in politics, massive campaign spending and mysterious family backstory have opened eyes in neighboring countries, and beyond.

Former Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner testified in court yesterday in relation to the biggest corruption scandal uncovered in years in her country, which could land her in prison. 

Why it matters: Kirchner is accused of leading a criminal enterprise to steal hundreds of millions from public infrastructure contracts. She's the latest big name in Latin American politics to be implicated in a kickback scandal.

The scandal was exposed when Hilda Horowitz, the former lover of a driver tasked with transporting bags of cash from bribes paid by construction companies, told a judge about the operation after a sour break up.

The driver, Oscar Centeno, filled notebooks for years with details of every trip to pick up the money, which would eventually end up in the hands of people close to former president Néstor Kirchner, Kirchner’s deceased husband and predecessor.

The notebooks arrived secretly to the newsroom of La Nación, one of Argentina’s biggest newspapers, which confirmed the whole operation. Since then, most of the construction moguls involved have agreed to cooperate, hoping for lighter sentences.

Their information has exposed a massive operation where companies would fix public biddings with the government, charge far above market value, and illegally pay back a portion to public officials as bribes and for campaign funding.

Jilted lover rocks Argentina's politics

A dramatic scandal lands a former president in court

Kirchner leaves court today. Photo: Eitan Abramovich/AFP/Getty Images

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Stories

Hard-hit Uruguay is in a race between vaccines and the virus

South America's uprisings are about more than politics

Political newcomer linked to Russian tycoon shakes up Uruguay's election

Jilted lover rocks Argentina's politics

David Hogg's Parkland family home "swatted"