South America

China nixes US warship port visit, recalls admiral from US

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — China has pulled the plug on a US warship’s scheduled visit to Hong Kong, and scrapped plans for a top admiral to meet with his US counterpart in Washington, officials said Tuesday. The moves come as trade tensions soar between Beijing and Washington, which this week enacted new tariffs against China covering another $200 billion of its imports. The USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship, was due to visit Hong […]

Argentina on strike as central bank chief resigns amid IMF talks

by Nina NEGRON Agence France Presse BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Argentina was paralyzed by a general strike on Tuesday while the central bank chief resigned amid talks with the International Monetary Fund on a revised crisis loan package. As president Mauricio Macri negotiated accelerated funding from a $50 billion loan agreed with the IMF in June, the country’s beleaguered currency was hit by the news that Luis Caputo had been replaced by Guido Sandleris […]

Brazil election frontrunner leaves intensive care after surgery due to stab wound: hospital

  SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s far-right presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro was released from intensive care Sunday after undergoing surgery for complications from a stab wound he suffered while campaigning. The candidate, who had surgery to remove an intestinal blockage on Wednesday, has been moved to a “semi-intensive care unit,” doctors at Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein hospital said. A leftwing assailant stabbed Bolsonaro, 63, on September 6 during a campaign walkabout in the town […]

Foreign journalists freed from Venezuela detention

  CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) —Two British journalists and an Argentine were freed on Friday eight hours after being detained by the Venezuelan military, the national press union (SNTP) said. Argentine Laura Saravia along with British nationals Barney Green and Dan Rivers were released after being held incommunicado, the SNTP said on Twitter. They were detained “as they left the country” after having been in “Venezuela for three days reporting on tourism,” the union said earlier. Three people […]

Three shot dead in popular Mexico City tourist plaza

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Gunmen dressed as mariachi musicians killed three people and wounded seven others in a square in downtown Mexico City popular with foreign tourists, police said. The three assailants carried out the shootings shortly before 10pm on Friday (0300 GMT Saturday) in the busy Plaza Garibaldi, police said. Neither the motive for the attack nor the identities of the gunmen were known, but the area is located near the Tepito neighborhood, […]

Venezuela’s Maduro seeks deals with ‘big sister’ China

BEIJING, China  (AFP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro hailed China as a “big sister” as he prepared to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping Friday, hoping to broker economic deals for his crisis-hit country. Maduro declared after landing in Beijing overnight that he came with “great expectations” to further deepen strategic ties with Venezuela’s key creditor. The leftist leader said his visit would give a “big push” to energy investments, trade and the “successful financial […]

Hurricane Florence closes in on US east coast

by Sébastien DUVAL / with Leila Macor in Columbia, South Carolina Agence France-Presse WILMINGTON, United States (AFP) — Dangerous Hurricane Florence edged closer Thursday to delivering a powerful blow to the east coast of the United States, with forecasters warning of life-threatening rainfall and flooding even as it weakened to a Category 2 storm. As day broke for millions of jittery Americans in the monster storm’s path, rain from the Florence’s outer bands approached the […]

Hurricane Florence weakens to Category 2: US forecaster

WILMINGTON, United States (AFP) — Hurricane Florence weakened to a Category 2 storm on Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center, but remained on course to deliver a powerful blow to the US east coast. “Florence is now a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind scale,” with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (175 kph), the NHC said in its latest update at 0300 GMT. © Agence France-Presse

Brazil’s Lula quits presidential race, Haddad to run instead

  by Rosa Sulleiro Agence France Presse CURITIBA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s jailed ex-leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tapped his runningmate Fernando Haddad on Tuesday to replace him on the ballot in next month’s presidential election, bowing out of the race after he was barred from seeking a new term. The switch was approved at a meeting of the Workers Party in the southern city of Curitiba — where Lula has been held since […]

US recalls envoys from Latin American countries for cutting Taiwan ties

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Friday recalled its envoys to three Latin American countries that recently switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China, saying it would hold consultations with the diplomats. The move comes after Washington accused Beijing last month of destabilizing cross-Strait relations and engaging in a campaign of “political interference” by poaching Taiwan’s allies in the western hemisphere. “The Department of State has called back the US Ambassador […]

Attacker stabs Brazil’s right-wing presidential frontrunner

https://youtu.be/CcpAS1L3WmY   RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s right-wing presidential front runner Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed and seriously injured while campaigning Thursday, with police saying the suspect claimed to be acting on orders from God. It was the latest bizarre twist in a presidential race in which the most popular candidate, former president and leftist hero Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is trying to run from prison. The Supreme Court disqualified Lula on Thursday. First […]

Ecuador hit by 6.2 magnitude quake: USGS

QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — A deep 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck Ecuador on Thursday night, USGS said. The quake hit at 9:12 pm local time (0212 GMT on Friday) at a depth of 93.5 kilometers, near the center of the South American country. It was felt across several provinces, according to Twitter users, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Local authorities recorded its magnitude as 6.5. Ecuador suffered a 7.8 magnitude earthquake […]