South America

Brazil’s Rousseff slips in poll ahead of October election

BRASILIA Tue Sep 16, 2014 8:10pm EDT (Reuters) – President Dilma Rousseff has lost ground to her main challenger, Marina Silva, less than three weeks before Brazil’s presidential election, which will likely be decided in a close second-round runoff, a poll showed on Tuesday. The survey by the Ibope polling firm said support for Silva, a renowned environmentalist, has remained unchanged at 43 percent, but Rousseff has slipped two percentage points to 40 percent since […]

Odile batters Mexico’s Baja resorts, knocks out power to most area

By Gerardo Esquerre CABO SAN LUCAS Mexico Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:32pm EDT (Reuters) – Tropical Storm Odile ground its way up Mexico’s Baja California peninsula on Monday, gradually losing strength after forcing the evacuation of thousands and smashing shops open to looters in the popular tourist area. The government said it would use military and commercial planes to airlift stranded tourists after the peninsula’s two major airports were closed on Sunday due to one […]

Brazil election poll shows very tight presidential race

By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA Mon Sep 15, 2014 8:50pm EDT (Reuters) – President Dilma Rousseff is running neck-and-neck with her main rival, Marina Silva, less than three weeks before Brazil’s presidential election that will likely go down to the wire in a runoff, a poll published on Monday showed. The new survey was consistent with polls last week that showed Rousseff had recovered from an initial surge by environmentalist Silva and the race will go […]

Shopping mall explosions in Chile

The incident occurred shortly after a subway bombing in the capital city of Santiago, which injured 14. There are no recorded injuries in the shopping center explosion. The bomb used was made from a plastic bottle filled with aluminum and hydrochloric acid and left in a garbage can.

Two dead, eight wounded in Ecuador earthquake

By Alexandra Valencia QUITO Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:59pm EDT (Reuters) – Two people were killed in Ecuador on Tuesday after a 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck near the capital of Quito, with eight others wounded and rescue workers still seeking to free others trapped after the tremor. The National Risk Control Agency said the earthquake triggered a landslide at a quarry in the Quito area that killed two people who worked there, adding that firemen […]

Nicaragua approves route for $40 billion canal linking oceans

MANAGUA Mon Jul 7, 2014 10:39pm EDT (Reuters) – A Nicaraguan committee approved a proposed route on Monday for a $40 billion shipping channel across the Central American country that would compete with the Panama Canal. The committee of government officials, businessmen and academics approved a 172 mile (278 km) route from the mouth of the Brito river on the Pacific side to the Punto Gorda river on the Caribbean that was proposed by executives […]

Eight killed in plane crash in northern Mexico

MEXICO CITY Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:24am EDT (Reuters) – A Hawker 800 jet crashed in northern Mexico late on Saturday, killing all eight people on board, the government of the state of Coahuila said. The plane came down in an industrial estate in the municipality of Ramos Arizpe, just north of state capital Saltillo, the Coahuila attorney general’s office said in a statement. According to preliminary findings, the jet departed from the Mexican Caribbean […]

Powerful earthquake rattles Mexico, shakes buildings

By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY Fri Apr 18, 2014 7:51pm EDT (Reuters) – A powerful earthquake shook Mexico on Friday, damaging more than 100 homes in the southwestern state of Guerrero and opening cracks in some buildings but there were no reports of deaths. Striking close to the popular beach resort of Acapulco, the 7.2 magnitude quake sent people scurrying out of homes and hotels, causing brief panic from the Pacific coast to states in […]

Nobel winner Garcia Marquez, master of magical realism, dies at 87

By Anahi Rama MEXICO CITY Thu Apr 17, 2014 9:17pm EDT (Reuters) – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Colombian author whose beguiling stories of love and longing brought Latin America to life for millions of readers and put magical realism on the literary map, died on Thursday. He was 87. A prolific writer who started out as a newspaper reporter, Garcia Marquez’s masterpiece was “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” a dream-like, dynastic epic that helped him […]