Latin America News

Brazil spending $160M on nuclear propelled sub

AP - 1 minute ago

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazil will spend US$160 million by the end of next year on the development of a nuclear-propelled submarine to protect the oil reserves found recently off its coast, the defense minister said Friday.

  • Punk rocker Gorki Aguila, center, is escorted by police officers upon arrival for his trial in Havana, Friday, Aug. 29, 2008. Cuba has ordered jailed Aguila, an outspoken critic of Fidel Castro and the communist government, to stand trial on Friday for 'social dangerousness,' a charge that could carry up to four years in prison. Authorities arrested the 39-year-old lead singer of Porno para Ricardo at his Havana home on Monday, shortly after the band had completed work on a new album. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)
    Dissident Cuban rocker defiant as trial opens AP - 16 minutes ago

    HAVANA - A punk rocker known for his raunchy lyrics criticizing Fidel Castro and Cuba's communist government cried "freedom!" as he was led into a courthouse Friday to stand trial on charges of "pre-crime social dangerousness."

  • A truck drives across a flooded road caused by Tropical Storm Gustav in Kingston, Jamaica, Friday, Aug. 29, 2008. Gustav, which has killed 71 people in the Caribbean, drenched Jamaica and menaced the Cayman Islands on Friday. (AP Photo/Collin Reid)
    A hurricane again, Gustav plows toward Caymans AP - 17 minutes ago

    GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands - Gustav became a hurricane again on Friday as it plowed toward Cayman Islands resorts, the start of a buildup that could take it to the U.S. Gulf Coast as a fearsome Category-3 storm three years after Hurricane Katrina.

  • Retired Gen. Luciano Benjamin Menendez arrives to a court prior to being sentenced to life in prison by a courthouse in San Miguel de Tucuman, northern Argentina, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008. Menendez and Retired Gen. Antonio Domingo Bussi have been found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Sen. Guillermo Vargas Aignasse. The senator disappeared on the day of a March 24, 1976 military coup and was never seen again, although the military later said he was released from prison. (AP Photo/Julio Pantoja)
    Ex-generals convicted of killing Argentine senator AP - Thu Aug 28, 9:59 PM ET

    BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - An Argentine court convicted two former generals on Thursday for the murder of a senator during the country's seven-year military dictatorship and sentenced them to life in prison.

  • A doll representing a fetus, right, and crosses displayed by anti-abortion activists sit at Mexico City's central Zocalo square during a protest against the legalization of abortion, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008. Mexico's Supreme Court indicated Wednesday it will uphold a Mexico City law allowing abortion that has divided the country. Signs next to the doll read in Spanish ' I want to live' and 'Vote for me, vote for life.' (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)
    Mexican Supreme Court upholds legal abortion AP - Thu Aug 28, 8:27 PM ET

    MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Supreme Court upheld the capital's abortion law Thursday, setting a precedent for the rest of the country that could inspire other Latin American cities.

  • Cincinnati Zoo aviculture superintendent Steve Malowski holds Kyoto, a three-week old baby king penguin, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008, at the zoo's nursery in Cincinnati. Kyoto, taken from its parents and placed in the zoo's nursery as standard procedure, will be living in a temperature controlled enclosure set at 55 degrees Fahrenheit until all is down feathers come in and he is ready to be re-introduced to his family. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)
    Oil slick kills more than 200 penguins in Brazil AP - Thu Aug 28, 2:39 PM ET

    RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - More than 200 oil-slicked penguins have washed up dead on the beaches of a popular Brazilian resort, and officials say they are searching for a cause.

  • Judge orders English ballot printed in Puerto Rico AP - Wed Aug 27, 11:20 PM ET

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A federal judge on Wednesday ordered election officials to add an English translation to Spanish-only ballots for November elections.

  • Cabinet chief vows Argentina will service debt AP - Wed Aug 27, 5:23 PM ET

    BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentina will meet all its debt obligations in 2008 and 2009, its Cabinet chief said Wednesday, addressing investor concerns that political tensions could reduce its budget surplus and slow its debt payments.

  • Brazilian Indians watch the trial of indigenous reservation inside the Supreme Court in Brasilia August 27, 2008. The Court is expected to decide on Wednesday whether to annul an Indian reservation in northern state of Roraima created by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva three years ago. REUTERS/Jamil Bittar (BRAZIL)
    Brazil Indian reservation targeted for breakup AP - Wed Aug 27, 3:21 PM ET

    BRASILIA, Brazil — The future of Brazil's traditional Indian cultures was under challenge on Wednesday as Brazil's Supreme Court began hearing arguments on whether to break up a vast Amazon reserve.

  • Paraguay's President Fernando Lugo (R) talks to his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez as they attend Children's Day celebrations at the Mburuvicha Roga presidential residence in Asuncion August 16, 2008. Oil-producing Venezuela promised to provide fuel-deficient Paraguay with all the oil it needs, Chavez said on Saturday. Chavez, who has used his country's oil wealth to spread his influence in Latin America, was visiting San Pedro in the poorest area of Paraguay to sign agreements with president Lugo, who took office on Friday. REUTERS/Enrique Marcarian (PARAGUAY)
    Venezuela posed to nationalize fuel distribution AP - Wed Aug 27, 3:06 AM ET

    CARACAS, Venezuela - Lawmakers loyal to President Hugo Chavez want to allow the nationalization of fuel distribution, the government's latest move to bring Venezuela's economy under increased state control.

  • Modec wins Petrobras contract AP - Tue Aug 26, 8:24 PM ET

    RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - The Japanese firm Modec said Tuesday that it won a contract with Petrobras to build a floating production and storage facility that will drill for oil off the coast of Brazil in the nation's giant Tupi field.

  • 3 decapitated bodies found near Tijuana AP - Tue Aug 26, 8:23 PM ET

    TIJUANA, Mexico - Three decapitated bodies were found Tuesday in an empty lot on the eastern outskirts of Tijuana, the Mexican attorney general's office said.

  • Cuban dissidents Marta Beatriz Roque, left, Vladimiro Roca, center, and Guillermo Farina talk after meeting with journalists in Havana, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008. Roque said Tuesday she has filed a criminal complaint against Cuba's communist government for airing on state television evidence it collected by bugging her phone, going through her garbage and secretly filming her. According to Cuba's Constitution, state security agents are allowed to spy on citizens, but it prohibits them from making evidence they collect public.(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)
    Dissident files criminal complaint against Cuba AP - Tue Aug 26, 8:22 PM ET

    HAVANA - A Cuban opposition leader said Tuesday she has filed a criminal complaint against the communist government for airing on state television evidence it collected by bugging her phone, going through her garbage and secretly filming her.

  • 2 Guantanamo inmates transferred to Algeria AP - Tue Aug 26, 8:21 PM ET

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The U.S. military has transferred two prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to the custody of Algeria.

  • Strong earthquake hits central Peru AP - Tue Aug 26, 8:19 PM ET

    LIMA, Peru - A strong earthquake has shaken central Peru, causing people to flee buildings in the jungle city of Pucallpa but inflicting no major damage.

  • Mexico flooding kills man, dozens of horses AP - Tue Aug 26, 3:37 PM ET

    MEXICO CITY - Heavy rains have killed at least 50 horses at a Mexico City equestrian club and the 71-year-old watchman who tried to save them, officials said Tuesday.

  • Bolivian truck plunge kills 21, injures 53 AP - Tue Aug 26, 11:41 AM ET

    LA PAZ, Bolivia - Bolivian police say a truck plunge high in the Andes killed 21 people and left 53 injured.

  • Weather around the world AP - Tue Aug 26, 11:00 AM ET

    Weather around the world

  • Tropical Storm Gustav is seen in a NOAA satellite image taken August 29, 2008. (NOAA/Handout/Reuters)
    Julio weakens to tropical depression in Mexico AP - Mon Aug 25, 11:46 PM ET

    CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico - Forecasters say tropical storm Julio has weakened to a tropical depression after drenching the central section of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.

  • Drug raids in Puerto Rico target rural areas AP - Mon Aug 25, 9:32 PM ET

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Federal agents arrested 59 alleged members of a drug trafficking ring Monday in coordinated raids in small-town Puerto Rico, where some housing projects are under siege by gangsters.

  • Python kills intern at Venezuelan zoo AP - Mon Aug 25, 3:03 PM ET

    CARACAS, Venezuela - A college student working the night shift at a Venezuelan zoo is dead after letting a 10-foot python out of its enclosure.

  • Ray Sanderson of Laurel, Mississippi fills two 55-gallon drums with gasoline at Sam's Club in Meridian, Mississippi. Tropical Storm Gustav regained hurricane strength as it churned toward Cuba Friday, leaving 78 people dead in its wake, as New Orleans began voluntary evacuations ahead of the storm's projected arrival next week.(AFP/Getty Images/Marianne Todd)
    Tropical Storm Julio expected to weaken in Mexico AP - Mon Aug 25, 1:54 PM ET

    CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico - Tropical Storm Julio drenched the central section of Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Monday, but was expected to weaken to a tropical depression as it moved over the Gulf of California.

  • Villagers stand at the site where a plane crashed in Cabanas village, Guatemala, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. A small plane crashed in a field in eastern Guatemala on Sunday, killing 10 people, including five Americans, according to an aviation official and a survivor. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
    Pilot called in engine trouble before crash AP - Mon Aug 25, 12:58 PM ET

    GUATEMALA CITY - The pilot of a small plane carrying humanitarian workers called in engine trouble about 45 minutes before the crash that killed 10 people, including five Americans.