South America

Lula holds big lead in Brazil as voters worry about inflation, COVID-19

BRASILIA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva retains a clear lead for this year's presidential election in Brazil, where inflation and the resurgence of…

Read More Here

Argentina roasts in record-setting heat wave

Argentina is facing a historic heat wave with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104°F), making the country for a while the hottest place on the planet, straining power grids…

Read More Here

Photo Story: Heart Break In Brazil After Fatal Floods

A woman mourns between the damage caused by heavy rains and floods in Sabara, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. At least 10 people died and a hundred more had to leave…

Read More Here

Heatwave to hit Argentina, further stressing corn, soybean crops

Most of Argentina's agricultural region will be hit in the coming days by a heatwave accompanied by little or no rainfall, adding pressure to adverse conditions that its corn and…

Read More Here

Seven dead, 3 missing after rock face collapse at Brazilian waterfall

At least seven people died and nine were seriously injured when a wall of rock collapsed on top of motor boats below a waterfall in southeastern Brazil, the fire department…

Read More Here

Argentina breaks COVID-19 case record as daily infections near 100,000

Argentina broke its record for COVID-19 infections, approaching 100,000 daily cases as it faces a third wave of the pandemic, driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant. But the record…

Read More Here

Brazil’s Bolsonaro discharged from the hospital after gut blockage

SAO PAULO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he was discharged from hospital on Wednesday morning, two days after being admitted with an intestinal obstruction. "Being discharged…

Read More Here

Rio de Janeiro cancels Carnival parade

Rio de Janeiro has cancelled its street parades and parties during its world-famous Carnival for a second year due to an increase in Covid cases and the threat from the…

Read More Here

COVID-19 infects 214 on five cruise ships in Brazilian waters

Five cruise ships in Brazilian waters have reported 214 cases of COVID-19 among their crew and passengers, including two ships that are in quarantine in the port of Santos, health…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Brazil’s Bolsonaro taken to hospital with abdominal pain

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was hospitalized on Monday with an intestinal blockage and may need to undergo surgery in the latest complication from a…

Read More Here

Brazil health agency warns against boarding cruise ships amid COVID-19 outbreaks

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian health agency Anvisa on Sunday warned passengers against boarding cruise ships operating along the Brazilian coast after outbreaks of COVID-19 affecting crew and customers, according…

Read More Here

Brazil coffee crop down 24.4% in 2021 amid drought, off year for arabica -Conab

SAO PAULO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Brazil's coffee crop reached 47.7 million 60-kg bags this year, down 24.4% from the record output seen in 2020, the government's food supply and…

Read More Here

Need of proof of vaccination to enter the Brazil

Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Luis Roberto Barroso ruled that the country must demand proof of vaccination for visitors seeking to enter the country. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied…

Read More Here

Bolsonaro dismisses vaccination requirement for entry into Brazil

Brazil will require that unvaccinated travelers entering the country go on a five-day quarantine followed by a COVID-19 test, its health minister said, after its president said he opposed the…

Read More Here

Argentina detects first Omicron case

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Argentina has detected its first case of the Omicron coronavirus variant in a person who had travelled from South Africa, the South American country's…

Read More Here

Brazil reports first Latin American cases of Omicron variant

Brazilian health regulator Anvisa said that two Brazilians had tested positive for the Omicron COVID-19 variant, the first reported cases in Latin America. Anvisa said a traveler arriving in Sao…

Read More Here

El Salvador plans first ‘Bitcoin City’, backed by bitcoin bonds

El Salvador plans to build the world's first "Bitcoin City", funded initially by bitcoin-backed bonds, President Nayib Bukele said in the weekend, doubling down on his bet to harness the…

Read More Here

Ecuador and Colombia to open shared border from Dec. 1

Ecuador and Colombia agreed to the bilateral reopening of their shared border from the start of December after it was closed amid the coronavirus pandemic, and pledged to work together…

Read More Here

Amazon sees worst deforestation levels in 15 years

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest has hit its highest level in over 15 years, official data shows. A report by Brazil's space research agency (Inpe) found that deforestation increased by…

Read More Here

Brazil minister says no plans to join OPEC for now

ABU DHABI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Brazil has no plans to join the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for now, although it is working with the producer group,…

Read More Here

Argentines vote in midterm trial by fire for President Fernandez

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Argentines head to the polls on Sunday for midterm elections that will establish the power balance in Congress, with the ruling Peronist party battling…

Read More Here

Ecuador prison violence leaves at least 68 dead

At least 68 prisoners were killed and more than two dozen injured in overnight violence at Ecuador's Penitenciaria del Litoral prison, the government said on Saturday, in what officials characterize…

Read More Here

Brazil plays down ‘mad cow’ risk in suspect Rio cases

Brazil's Agriculture Ministry said that two cases reported on Thursday of a neurodegenerative disorder in patients in Rio de Janeiro state were not related to beef consumption, tamping down fears…

Read More Here

Bolsonaro joins Liberal Party ahead of 2022 election

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will join the centrist Liberal Party (Partido Liberal) ahead of next year's presidential elections, according to a party statement released on Wednesday. Bolsonaro had left his right-wing…

Read More Here

Brazil senators back criminal charges against Bolsonaro over Covid handling

Brazilian senators have voted to recommend charging President Jair Bolsonaro over his handling of the devastating Covid pandemic. A Senate panel backed a report calling for charges against Mr Bolsonaro…

Read More Here

Brazil’s Bolsonaro should face homicide charge for COVID-19 errors, says Senate report

The senator leading a congressional probe into Brazil's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has recommended that President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with homicide for alleged government errors that led to…

Read More Here

Brazil passes 600,000 COVID-19 deaths

Brazil has registered more than 600,000 deaths due to COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Friday, making it the second country in the world to pass that milestone after the…

Read More Here

One month on, El Salvador’s bitcoin use grows but headaches persist

A growing number of El Salvadorans have experimented with bitcoin since the country became the first to adopt it as legal tender last month, with a couple of million dollars…

Read More Here

Protecting indigenous people key to saving Amazon, say environmentalists

Protecting the native inhabitants of the Amazon and their right to ancestral lands is crucial to saving the rainforest because they are its best guardians, environmental activists said on Monday.…

Read More Here

Earthquake of magnitude 5.9 hits Peru-Brazil border region– EMSC

(Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 5.9 struck the Peru-Brazil border region on Saturday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said. The quake was at a depth of 597 km (370…

Read More Here

Fires in the Brazilian Amazon retreat in September

Fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest declined by nearly half in September compared a year ago, government data showed, with rains and law enforcement initiatives helping to temper the destruction. A…

Read More Here

Ecuador seeks to identify remains of 116 inmates killed in prison riot

Ecuador is seeking to identify the remains of the 116 inmates killed during a riot at one of its largest prisons earlier this week, the latest bout of violence authorities…

Read More Here

Brazil registers 8,668 new COVID cases, 243 deaths

Brazil has registered 8,668 new COVID-19 cases and 243 new deaths, the Health Ministry said. Its pandemic death toll has now reached 594,443. Photo: EPA-EFE/MARCELO CHELLO

Read More Here

El Salvador buys 150 more bitcoins, president says

El Salvador has bought 150 more bitcoins, President Nayib Bukele announced, taking the Central American country's holdings of the volatile cryptocurrency to 700 coins. "We just bought dip," Bukele tweeted…

Read More Here

Lula retains solid lead over Bolsonaro for 2022 Brazil race, poll shows

Brazil's leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva remains ahead of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro by a significant margin in voter preferences for the 2022 elections, a survey by…

Read More Here

Argentina’s Fernandez reshuffles Cabinet after crisis week

BUENOS AIRES, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Argentine President Alberto Fernandez reshuffled his Cabinet late on Friday, looking to draw a line under a bruising week that saw infighting within the…

Read More Here

Bolsonaro’s support hits fresh low ahead of Brazil 2022 vote, poll shows

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's popularity has hit the lowest point of his time in office, a Datafolha poll showed, with 53% of respondents disapproving of him ahead of a presidential…

Read More Here

Pele to leave intensive care this week, says daughter

Pele will be moved out of intensive care in the next day or two as the Brazil soccer great continues his recovery from surgery, his daughter Kely Nascimento said. The 80-year-old,…

Read More Here

Earthquake of magnitude 6 strikes Salta, Argentina – EMSC

(Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 struck Salta, Argentina on Monday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said. The quake was at a depth of 200 km (124.27 miles),…

Read More Here

Argentines head to polls in litmus test for Peronists

BUENOS AIRES, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Argentines headed to the polls on Sunday for midterm primaries in a litmus test for the center-left Peronist government of Alberto Fernandez, which has…

Read More Here

A glimpse under the hood of El Salvador’s bitcoin experiment

El Salvador on Tuesday rolled out cryptocurrency bitcoin as legal tender, an unprecedented move that faced some technical hiccups on its first day and left many wondering how it will…

Read More Here

El Salvador’s world-first adoption of bitcoin endures bumpy first day

El Salvador's historic adoption of bitcoin as legal tender on Tuesday was beset by teething problems, as an angry protest by mistrustful citizens, technological glitches and a dip in the…

Read More Here

El Salvador leads world in adopting bitcoin as official currency

El Salvador on Tuesday became the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, a real-world experiment proponents say will lower commission costs for billions of dollars sent from abroad but which…

Read More Here

Brazil braces for pro-Bolsonaro rallies, fears of coup

Brazil prepared for Independence Day demonstrations on Tuesday by supporters of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has called for a show of support for his attacks on the country's Supreme Court…

Read More Here

FIFA chief says Brazil game abandonment was ‘crazy’

FIFA is investigating the abandonment of the Brazil-Argentina World Cup qualifier with its president Gianni Infantino labelling the events "crazy", while Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly ready to take disciplinary action against their Argentine…

Read More Here

Pele recovering in hospital following removal of tumour

Brazil soccer great Pele said on Monday that he was recovering in hospital from surgery to remove a tumour from his colon. Pele, the only player to win three World Cups, did…

Read More Here

Beef giant Brazil halts China exports after confirming two mad cow disease cases

Brazil, the world's largest beef exporter, has suspended beef exports to its No. 1 customer China after confirming two cases of "atypical" mad cow disease in two separate domestic meat…

Read More Here

Snake venom may become tool in fight against coronavirus, Brazilian study suggests

Brazilian researchers have found that a molecule in the venom of a type of snake inhibited coronavirus reproduction in monkey cells, a possible first step toward a drug to combat…

Read More Here

Bolsonaro says he will be arrested, killed or declared winner

BRASILIA, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Brazilian far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on Saturday said he sees three alternatives for his future: winning the 2022 presidential elections, death or prison. "I have…

Read More Here

HSBC initiates legal proceedings against El Salvador claiming breach of treaty with UK

HSBC Holdings said the banking group has initiated legal proceedings against El Salvador for what the company called a breach of the nation's investment treaty with the UK. "HSBC Latin…

Read More Here

EPA’s Eye in the Sky: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Anchored boats in the polluted Guanabara Bay, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANTONIO LACERDA

Read More Here

‘Once in 100 years’ drought seen affecting Argentine grains exports into next year

A once-a-century drought has lowered the water level of Argentina's main grains transport river, reducing farm exports and boosting logistics costs in a trend that meteorologists said will likely continue…

Read More Here

Brazil’s Bolsonaro rolls out tanks to cover his weak position

The clouds of dark exhaust spewing from aging tanks and amphibious vehicles rolling past far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday were a poor smoke screen for a leader whose political support is slipping and…

Read More Here

Brazil’s Bolsonaro fans judiciary flames, calls top judge ‘son of a whore’

BRASILIA: Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro ignored calls to drop his feud with the Supreme Court on Friday (Aug 6) and called one of its justices a "son of a…

Read More Here

Brazil reports 42,159 COVID cases, 1,056 death in 24 hours

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil had 42,159 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 1,056 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Friday. The South American country has now registered 20,108,746 cases since the pandemic began, while…

Read More Here

Brazil COVID cases top 20 million, death toll at 559,607

Brazil has had 40,716 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 1,175 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said. The South American country has…

Read More Here

Quake strikes Peru-Ecuador border region, minor damages reported

An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 jolted the Peru-Ecuador border region, the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said, but only minor reports of damage were registered immediately following the…

Read More Here