South America News Archives

ROME, NOV. 29, 2009 .- Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet are expressing their gratitude to Pope John Paul II for his role in helping the two neighboring countries avert war in the 1970s.

Mujica won 53 percent of Sunday's vote to 43 percent for former President Luis A. Lacalle.

Cayenne, French Guiana - Police conducting a corruption inquiry have detained French Guiana mayor Leon Bertrand, who served as tourism minister under former President Jacques Chirac, Radio France Outre-Mer said on Saturday.

Buenos Aires, Nov 27 : Severe flooding claimed at least eight lives in Argentina and Uruguay, authorities said Thursday.

Colombian maritime authorities searched Sunday for an Italian chef believed to have gone overboard from a U.S. cruise ship off Colombia's Caribbean coast, officials and the man's family said.

A regional Latin American meeting focused on defusing tensions between Colombia and Venezuela, despite Bogota's absence which was characterized by Caracas as a "huge mistake." Defense and foreign ministers from Unasur's member nations were welcomed as the meeting opened Friday by Ecuador's Foreign Minister Fander Falconi.

Mijail Martinez On the morning of 26/11/2009, Mijail Martinez - 24 years old - was assassinated in the city of Barquisimeto, Lara state.

FRANCE, Martinique - A French judge has filed preliminary corruption charges against former Tourism Minister Leon Bertrand and placed him in custody on the French Caribbean island of Martinique, the prosecutor's office in Fort-de-France said.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas dismissed an Israeli plan to halt new construction of West Bank settlements as insufficient on Friday, saying it won't be enough to restart peace talks.

Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 6:59 a.m. MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay - A South Korean fishing vessel has burned and sunk in the port of Uruguay's capital.

Latin American leaders have a chance to defuse some of their continent's political tensions at a summit opening Sunday.

The 3rd China-Latin America Business Summit was inaugurated Wednesday in Bogota, with over 700 entrepreneurs from China and Latin America participating in the two-day meeting.

COLOMBIAN officials say they may reclassify some crimes committed by the cartel led by late drug kingpin Pablo Escobar as "crimes against humanity," allowing them to continue to prosecute the offences.

South American qualifiers Chile face possible FIFA expulsion and the forfeit of their World Cup place after local club Rangers opened a court case to dispute their relegation.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is stepping squarely into Middle East politics, hosting the leaders of Iran and the Palestinians while trading barbs with Israel's president.

A man in a bike passes by a billboard of Jose "Pepe" Mujica, right, presidential candidate of Uruguay's ruling party Frente Amplio, and his running mate Danilo Astori in Montevideo.

A total of 213 children and five teachers of a school in the southeast Ecuadorian province of Morona Santiago were sickened after dining in the school canteen, the health authorities said on Wednesday.

Honduras chooses a new president on Sunday in an election that may defuse a crisis caused by a coup against President Manuel Zelaya, but the vote is splitting Washington and Latin America.

Brazil's president said Thursday that "gringos" should pay Amazon nations to prevent deforestation, insisting rich Western nations have caused much more past environmental destruction than the loggers and farmers who cut and burn trees in the world's largest tropical rain forest.

SAO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil - Brazilians may be seeing a whole lot more of the student whose short pink dress got her booted from college: She's agreed to march in the nation's famously flesh-baring Carnival parades.

China and Brazil should and will strengthen parliamentary cooperation to further the development of bilateral ties, top Chinese political adviser Jia Qinglin said Wednesday at a meeting with the president of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, Michel Temer.

Quito, Nov 25 Ecuador is to receive $51.2 million in loans from China under bilateral economic accords signed here at a ceremony attended by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.

New Blackout Hits Rio's Popular Tourist Spot : " Rio de Janeiro's posh beach neighborhoods lost power for hours in sweltering summer weather Tuesday, prompting restaurants to toss out spoiled food and business owners to send their employees home.

Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sought to expand Tehran's influence in Latin America and deepen his alliance with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez on Wednesday in a visit that offered him a platform to defend his country's nuclear program.

A Colombian court has convicted a retired army general of murder and sentenced him to 40 years in prison for his role in a notorious 1997 massacre by far-right militias.

A CHINOOK pilot who spent nearly 20 years at RAF Odiham has called it a "massive privilege" to return as the new station commander.

Featured Article Main Category: Cosmetic Medicine / Plastic Surgery Also Included In: Transplants / Organ Donations Article Date: 20 Nov 2009 - 2:00 PST Police in Peru have arrested four people, three men and a woman, whom they allege are members of a gang suspected of killing up to 60 people in order to extract their body fat to sell for thousands ...

Drawing his .40-caliber pistol, Severiano Pontes dashes across the steaming, muddy jungle floor, a hunch telling him what he would find around a bend.

China's top political advisor, Jia Qinglin, on Monday arrived in Quito, kicking off his official good-will visit to Ecuador.

Rio de Janeiro's posh beach neighborhoods lost power for hours in sweltering summer weather Tuesday, prompting restaurants to toss out spoiled food and business owners to send employees home.

LA PAZ, Bolivia a " Bolivian police say they have busted five cocaine labs and arrested two people in a remote Indian village after a confrontation in which an officer was shot.Maj. Alex Alfaro says Indians in Qaqachaca village held police at bay with dynamite blasts, allowing some to escape, and one officer was wounded in the leg by gunfire.Alfaro ...

MIAMI a ' Facing a group of presidents loudly critical of Washington, the U.S. government's Voice of America broadcast is expanding its audience in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, VOA officials say.

Original letters from Charles Darwin are displayed at the Herbaruim library on March 25, 2009, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London.

The men have confessed to a total of five killings, but are suspected of dozens more.

A key to the success and popularity of Caracol TV in Colombia and abroad is its state-of-the-art facility, which features the most advanced digital television equipment and technologies.

The Iranian leader is set to meet privately Monday with Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who called it an honor to receive Ahmadinejad and defended Iran's right to develop nuclear energy.

President Hugo Chavez is hailing the forthcoming arrival of 300 Russian-made tanks and armored vehicles, and urging civilians to join government-organized militias to be ready to defend Venezuela from a foreign invasion.

Peruvian police said on Thursday they had broken up a gang that allegedly killed dozens of people and sold their fat to buyers who used it to make cosmetics.

The high court has yet to decide if the order mandates Lula to extradite Battisti or merely authorizes him to do so.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., announced Thursday that a congressional panel dedicated to human rights will hold a hearing on the international child abduction case involving David Goldman of Tinton Falls, N.J. "David Goldman's human rights as a father, his rights under U.S. law and international treaty have been trampled," Smith said.

About 500 people gathered Sunday for the protest at Rio de Janeiro 's Ipanema Beach.

US AND Paraguayan representatives held talks in Washington Saturday to shore up trade ties and extend an intellectual rights accord, US officials said.

From the Caribbean to Brazil, political opposition to US plans for 'full-spectrum operations' is escalating rapidly US air force officers and Congressmen tour the Palanquero base in Puerto Salgar, Colombia, in August.

French tyre maker Michelin will build a new factory in Brazil at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, the company's chief executive Michel Rollier told a newspaper Saturday.

Venezuelan authorities have captured a former Colombian official wanted for collaborating with outlawed right-wing paramilitary fighters.

A thousand people were evacuated and traffic was stopped after the Galeras volcano erupted in southern Colombia without causing casualties, officials said Saturday.

Reports: 101-yr-old Brazil architect back at work Eds: APNewsNow. Will stand. Moving on general news and lifestyles services.

Peruvian authorities say they have arrested four members of a gang that specialized in selling to European labs fat obtained from dead humans.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is calling a meeting of eight Amazon countries next week to forge a common stand ahead of next month's key climate talks, officials said Friday.

A serious fire on Friday destroyed 106 homes in a poor neighbourhood in Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador.

Luis Perry has traveled both his native Peru and the U.S., first making bracelets, then working as a laborer, a pipefitter and now a painter.

The occasional seasonal warming of central and eastern Pacific waters upsets normal weather patterns across the globe and occurs on average every two to five years.

To read this article in full you must have registered and have a Premium Content Subscription with the OS-Midhurst Observer site.

Tensions raised between two countries as troops dynamite rural walkways Venezuela claims are used by smugglers and militia Colombians walk next to a bridge that crosses into Colombia which was blown up by Venezuelan soldiers Photograph: Stringer/colombia/Reuters Venezuela has blown up two pedestrian bridges on its border with Colombia in the latest ...

Hollywood actor DANNY GLOVER is set to wed his longtime Brazilian girlfriend next month , according to Brazilian media reports.

A gang in the remote Peruvian jungle has been killing people for their fat, police charged Thursday, draining it from their corpses and offering it on the black market for use in cosmetics.

It has taken more than 30 years, but the government of Guyana has erected a memorial plaque at the site of the Jonestown cult massacre, a dark episode the South American country had long sought to downplay.

MALAYSIA is close to finalising its first Free Trade Area deal with Chile and the Latin American leader plans to sign it during a visit to Kuala Lumpur.

For the past year, President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana has traveled the world offering to place his nation's forests under international supervision if other countries paid his citizens not to deforest the tropical landscapes.

Brazil's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the nation's president should decide whether to extradite Italian fugitive Cesare Battisti, a former leftist rebel wanted by his native country for political killings in the 1970s.

When Charles Darwin visited the Falkland Islands during the voyage of the Beagle in 1835, he saw a wolf-like species, wrote about it in his diaries and correctly commented that it was being hunted in such large numbers that it would soon become extinct.

Colombia's police director says the son of notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar was directly involved in cartel business, even killings, rejecting the denials of a man whose reappearance is creating a sensation in Colombia 16 years after his father's death.

Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy said on Monday that the massive blackout which affected18 states of the country and neighboring Paraguay last week was caused by a short circuit.

Tensions mounted between rival South American nations Venezuela and Colombia on Tuesday as Caracas accused Bogota of detaining four of its soldiers in international waters.

Required fields are marked with an asterisk The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications.

SAO PAULO - Brushing back freshly dyed blond hair as she posed for pictures, the Brazilian woman whose short pink dress got her kicked out of college said Tuesday she's enjoying her newfound fame, but wants to go back to school - with a security guard.

Small groups of Mapuche Indians have so rattled Chile by seizing forests, burning buses and attacking police to demand land and autonomy that the leftist government has turned to dictatorship-era measures to quell the violence.

Madonna has secured a $7 million donation from Brazil's richest man to help set up a children's charity in the South American country.

Sao Paulo, Nov 15 : US pop star Madonna broke into tears when Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista announced that he would donate $7 million for her welfare projects, a media report said.

Blackouts that darkened much of Brazil last week were caused by short circuits in a power substation that prompted the shutdown of three key transmission lines from the planet's second-largest hydroelectric dam, officials said Monday.

Bogota - The Listara river in northeastern Colombia has suddenly disappeared into a geological fault, the authorities said in the town of San Andres.

The Kapitan Khlebnikov is in a bay near Snow Hill island, located off the northeastern end of the Antarctic Peninsula, and cannot leave as the bay is sealed off with ice, the Russian transportation ministry said.

Washington signaled it will resist protectionism as it copes with the economic downturn, announcing Saturday that the U.S. will join a free-trade area with other Pacific Rim nations.

The chief of Colombia's secret police says a mob assaulted three of its agents as they tried to arrest a suspect with alleged guerrilla ties.

Share + Nov 15, 2009 9:47 pm US/Eastern CARACAS, Venezuela 1 of 1 Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez answers questions from journalists before receving former Colombian president Ernesto Samper for a meeting at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on August 6, 2009.

A massive blackout that plunged half of Brazil into the dark days ago remains a mystery, casting a shadow over the country's energy policy and its plans to host the 2016 Olympics, experts say.

Paraguayan authorities say 1,200 people have escaped a fire that destroyed a supermarket on the outskirts of the capital, killing two people.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet arrived in Shanghai Thursday morning, kicking off her visit to China.

Stimulus spending and other strong actions have set the stage for global economic recovery, but nations must push ahead with free trade and investment to ensure growth, President Barack Obama and fellow Asia-Pacific leaders said Sunday.

The mother of former major league pitcher Victor Zambrano was rescued after a three-day kidnapping ordeal, Venezuelan authorities said on Wednesday.

Caracas, Nov 13 Thousand Venezuelans will join a march against the US military bases in Colombia in respond to the call of Venezuela United Socialist Party .

Colombia captured four members of the Venezuelan National Guard on Colombian soil and said on Saturday it would send them home in a bid to lower diplomatic tensions between the neighboring countries.

US President Barack Obama joined world leaders who donned colourful designer shirts for a glittering dinner overnight, taking a break from annual talks to enjoy the Singapore waterfront and skyline.

Peru and Chile were embroiled Saturday in a worsening serious diplomatic row, after two Chilean military officials were allegedly found to be spying in Peru.

Chinese President Hu Jintao met with his Chilean counterpart Michelle Bachelet Jeria Friday in Singapore to discuss ways of further developing the friendly cooperative ties between the two countries and other issues of common concern.

Uzbekistan News.Net Friday 13th November, 2009 Quito and Bogota have named charges d'affaires to restore diplomatic ties severed last year following an attack on a Colombian rebel base in Ecuador.

From Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen to Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy a ' here are some of the stars who walked down the aisle this year.

Brazil's president suggested Friday that bad weather may not have caused a massive blackout that left nearly a third of the population with electricity, saying he'll wait for an investigation to conclude how the outage happened.

Doctors in northern Peru have removed almost a kilogram of nails, coins and scrap metal from a man's stomach, a surgeon that operated on him said Wednesday.

Colombia brought what it called threats of war from neighboring Venezuela to the UN Security Council on Wednesday after Hugo Chavez, leader of the neighboring country, told his army to get ready to fight.

Rio de Janeiro - Brazil's federal police arrested in Rio de Janeiro an Englishman who intended to leave the country with 1 000 live spiders packed in two suitcases, the authorities said on Thursday.

Creepy ... one of the 1000 spiders found in the British man's suitcase. Photo: Brazilian Federal Police A British man has been arrested at Rio de Janeiro airport with 1000 live spiders in his luggage.

A power blackout in Brazil left two of its largest cities in darkness this week.

People eat by candlelight at a restaurant at the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro during a blackout Tuesday.

The last phone call Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar made before he was gunned down on a Medellin rooftop was to his son, and many thought Juan Pablo Escobar would follow in his father's footsteps.

A prominent opponent of President Hugo Chavez accused the socialist leader's government on Wednesday of turning a blind eye to leftist Colombian rebels taking refuge in border areas of Venezuela.

Israel's president called Tuesday on Brazil, where Iran's president will be welcomed in less than two weeks, to raise its voice against the "terror" he accused Tehran of supporting.

LIMA, Peru -- "They call me the hardware store," says Requelme Abanto from his hospital bed in northern Peru.

Nov 11 - A huge power cut brings chaos to Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro and cities in at least four other Brazilian states.

This country may be an energy colossus, with the largest conventional oil reserves outside the Middle East and one of the world's mightiest hydroelectric systems, but that has not prevented it from enduring serious electricity and water shortages that seem only to be getting worse.

Madonna has been accompanied to Brazil by her rabbi. The '4 Minutes' singer flew into South America on a private jet on Monday and despite speculation her visit to Rio de Janeiro is to meet boyfriend Jesus Luz's family, she insists she is there to carry out charity work.

A massive power failure threw Brazil's two largest cities into darkness Tuesday night along with other parts of Latin America's largest nation, affecting millions of people.

Brazil's case of the pink mini-dress that went viral on the Internet has left many scratching their heads: How could it be that an outfit, no matter how short, would cause such an uproar in a tropical nation where skimpy clothing and tiny bikinis barely raise an eyebrow? The answer, a Bandeirante University official said, is not in the pink dress, ...

Nine Colombian soldiers were killed when their post was attacked by Marxist FARC guerrillas in a southwestern part of the country used as a cocaine smuggling corridor by the rebels, officials said on Tuesday.

Dueling visits to Brazil by the presidents of Israel and Iran are showing the South American powerhouse's growing role in Mideast diplomacy.

OSLO: Norway agreed yesterday to pay Guyana up to $250m by 2015 to preserve forests in the South American nation as part of a scheme to slow climate change.

President Hugo Chavez on Sunday ordered Venezuela's military to prepare for a possible armed conflict with Colombia, saying his country's soldiers should be ready if the United States attempts to provoke a war between the South American neighbors.

MANY FINGERS IN MANY PIES: Madonna is turning her star power onto projects to improve the notorious slums of Rio de Janeiro.

Gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying Honduras' top prosecutor, but neither he nor his bodyguards were harmed, police said Sunday.

The United States said it is helping Guyana track down a suspected mastermind in a series of domestic terror attacks, despite local concerns Washington is doing little to help, a US official said.

A woman jumped off a towering waterfall in Guyana on Saturday in an apparent suicide, tourism workers said.

RELATIVES of eight victims of an Air France flight that crashed en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris have filed lawsuits in the US and UK seeking damages.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is once again under fire over the contents of a security pact that permits wide-ranging U.S. access to Colombian military bases as part of counter-narcotic and counter-terrorism operations in South America.

Colombian officials say three adults have been killed and two children wounded in two related anti-personnel mine blasts in the country's northwest.

London India's financial hub Mumbai and political capital Delhi are likely to witness a significant jump in economic growth along with other emerging markets and make it to the league of the world's wealthiest cities by 2025, a report says.

The Plaza Mayor in Villa de Leyva, a mountain-valley town founded by the Spanish in 1572, is notable for its unadorned vastness in Colombia in October 2009.

Bogota, Nov 6 The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia called on the people to close ranks against the agreement that allows the United States to use seven military bases in the national territory.

A passenger in silhouette watches an Air France aircraft at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport September 25, 2002 in Roissy, France.

Recent arson attacks and shootings in this violence-racked South American nation are the work of a mastermind living in the United States, the Guyanese president said.

Massive power outages in Brazil in 2005 and 2007 that impacted millions were caused by cyber hackers attacking control systems, the US television network CBS says.

A series of power outages affecting millions of people in Brazil in 2005 and 2007 were the result of cyber attacks, 60 MINUTES has learned.

Around dinnertime tonight, the Toronto region will find out whether it has finally overcome the stigma of past failed Olympic bids to host its first major international sporting event since the 1930s: the 2015 Pan American Game.

Populist leaders around Latin America are increasingly making legal and political moves to silence their media critics, the president of the Inter American Press Association said Friday.

They are the face of Chilean guidebooks: giant statues made of volcanic rock scattered across Easter Island.

President Shimon Peres is scheduled to leave for South America on Monday for state visits to Brazil and Argentina.

BOGOTA: Colombia's navy Wednesday seized 2,219 kg cocaine off the Andean nation's Pacific coast, authorities said, adding that a US Coast Guard vessel aided in the seizure.

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said on Thursday that a deal to end a four-month political crisis was at risk of collapse but behind the scenes negotiators worked to form a temporary cabinet to run the country.

Galery: Parreira's back! The second coming of Carlos Alberto Parreira began officially early Thursday morning as he strode into OR Tambo international airport to again take up the helm of Bafana Bafana.

MasterCard Worldwide, Credicard, Citibank's credit card administrator for the Brazilian market, and Redecard have announced the launch of MasterCard PayPass contactless payment technology in Rio de Janeiro for public transportation and other quick service merchants.

Become a slum lord in Shakespeare's England. Monte Cristo has announced that new content will be available for free to Cities XL Planet Offer subscribers.

With nominations in five categories including album of the year, the Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Calle 13 is a favorite to win a Latin Grammy in Las Vegas - which might have producers of the international awards ceremony on edge.

Cuba's Fidel Castro slammed US President Barack Obama yesterday for treating Latin America with "scorn" on the anniversary of the US leader's election as president.

President George W. Bush meets with Paraguay President Fernando Lugo in the Oval Office of the White House on October 27, 2008.

RIO DE JANEIRO a " A Brazilian bricklayer reportedly killed in a car crash shocked his mourning family by showing up alive at his funeral.Relatives of Ademir Jorge Goncalves, 59, had identified him as the victim of a Sunday night car crash in Parana state in southern Brazil, police said.As is customary in Brazil, the funeral was held the following ...

A tropical depression has formed in the southwestern Caribbean, prompting storm warnings for the coast of Nicaragua and two Colombian islands.

Two security guards have been killed and two are missing after an armed attack on a Chinese-owned mine in northern Peru, authorities say.

The Barbados Tourism Authority has surged on with positioning Barbados as a visible player within the South American tourism landscape as it sent forward a delegation to the recently concluded Fair of the Americas or ABAV Trade Show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which ran from October 21 to 23, 2009.

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall walk along the beach on North Seymour Island on a tour of the Galapagos in Ecuador.

A Honduran lawmaker says congressional leaders will seek the opinions of several government entities before convoking the full legislature to vote on reinstating ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

What does Great Yarmouth have in common with Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans? Norfolk's premier resort is rightly proud of its beaches but none has quite the magic ring of the Copacabana.

The mystery of the origins of the Falklands Wolf described by Charles Darwin may finally have been solved.

Horrified by the excesses of dictatorship, Latin Americans discarded the strongman model at the end of the 20th century and limited politicians' time in power.

MANILA a ' A tropical storm roared toward Vietnam on Sunday after battering this capital and surrounding provinces, leaving 20 people dead in a region still soggy from three recent storms.

Casa Ceibo is living up to its newfound reputation as the finest destination resort on Ecuador's coast.

More than 1.5 million evangelical Christians joined Brazil's annual "March for Jesus" on Monday, an event sponsored by a church whose leaders recently returned after being imprisoned in the U.S. for money smuggling.

Nine survivors of a plane crash in Brazil's Amazon rainforest have been discharged from hospital and returned to their homes, the air force said on Saturday.

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley is leading a delegation of government leaders on an economic development trip to Colombia.

Officials in southern Colombia have issued a code orange alert for the newly-active Galeras volcano, pictured in 2005, which they said could erupt in a matter of days or weeks, according to the state-run Geological and Mining Institute.

The U.S. secretary of labor and a former Chilean president were named Sunday to a commission tasked with monitoring the creation of a power-sharing government in Honduras, under a U.S.-brokered agreement to end the nation's 4-month-old political crisis.

In Ecuador, the Shuar are blocking highways to defend their hunting grounds. In Chile, the Mapuche are occupying ranches to pressure for land, schools and clinics.

Venezuela said on Friday it had arrested eight Colombians and two local residents suspected of paramilitary activities on the border between the two feuding South American neighbours.

Police in Guyana said on Saturday two officers had been arrested over accusations of setting fire to a 14-year-old boy's genitals in a case creating an uproar in the South American nation.

A Brazilian C-98 Caravan military transport plane takes off in Amazon area,Brazil, October 29, 2009.