For parts of central South America, the last several weeks have proved to be quite stormy, particularly for Bolivia. After coming out of one of the worst droughts this country has seen in over 25 years, strong thunderstorms proved deadly this past weekend. Heavy rain caused major flooding in the area around Santa Cruz. Accumulations of over 75 millimetres were… Read more »
Police officers in Brazil participated in a strike because of unfair and low wages.The result of this strike was as expected; mad chaos erupting. Just in eight days: 144 murders occurred, which is more than a six-fold increase in murders as well as much more looting, assaults, and vandalism. Now, 1000 police officers have come back to the job, however that… Read more »
More than 1,000 police officers have returned to work in Brazil after an eight-day strike plunged a coastal state into violence and saw a dramatic increase in homicides. More than 3,100 army soldiers and members of an elite federal police force helped patrol Espirito Santo state, which saw chaotic looting, assaults, vandalism and a six-fold increase in murders in the… Read more »
A playful exchange between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actually said a great deal about the dim prospects of a successful negotiation with the Palestinians under current circumstances. “I think we’re going to make a deal,” President Trump said on Tuesday as he rolled out the red carpet for Mr Netanyahu at the White House. The… Read more »
Donald Trump dismissed a growing controversy about ties between his aides and Russia on Thursday as a “ruse” and “scam” perpetrated by a hostile news media, and denied any of his associates had contacts with Moscow before last year’s election. “The leaks are absolutely real. The news is fake,” Trump told a news conference, referring to media reports that his… Read more »
Chile has gone into a state of emergency because of wildfires! These wildfires are not stopping and have burned 130,000 hectares (more than 321,000 acres), doubling in the past two days. Not only is this upsetting to the environment, but these wildfires are so out of control that they have now killed 11 people; five firefighters, two policemen and three local… Read more »
Eike Batista, once the richest and most outspoken cheerleader for Brazil’s ill-fated commodities bubble, flew back to Rio de Janeiro Monday and was arrested at the airport by federal police over corruption allegations after four days as a fugitive. Batista, a brash entrepreneur whose meteoric rise and fall made him the poster boy of a decade-long boom in Brazil that… Read more »
Raging forest fires in central Chile have killed 10 people, displaced thousands and destroyed entire villages, the government said Thursday. Multiple blazes fueled by strong wind and drought conditions have ravaged 273,000 hectares (680,000 acres) in just over a week. The latest fatality was a fireman killed when a tree fell on his truck in the Biobio region 550 kilometers… Read more »
Mexico will not pay for Donald Trump’s border wall, the country’s president has said in a message to the nation. Enrique Pena Nieto said he “lamented” the plans for the barrier, adding that “Mexico doesn’t believe in walls”. But he made no mention of cancelling or postponing a trip to Washington on 31 January to meet the new US president…. Read more »
Not long ago, any suggestion that Mexico might walk away from the North American Free Trade Agreement would have been met with utter disbelief. That was before Donald J. Trump was elected president of the United States. Free trade is a mantra of Mexico’s political elite, the core of the country’s development strategy. But now that Mr. Trump has said… Read more »