PALMAS, Brazil (AP) — The first World Indigenous Games closed Saturday night with a pumping ceremony that brought together nearly 2,000 participants from more than two dozen countries for a monumental extravaganza. Nothing quite like it had ever rolled into Palmas, a sunbaked outpost in the geographical heart of Brazil, and the 5,000-seat arena was … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Searchers using high-tech sonars have discovered the deep-water wreckage of a vessel believed to be the cargo ship El Faro, which went missing Oct. 1 with 33 crewmembers during Hurricane Joaquin, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said late Saturday. The federal agency said the wreckage is some 15,000 feet below the … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba announced Wednesday that it is launching a long-term plan to preserve its sharks in cooperation with a U.S. environmental group, part of a rapidly accelerating partnership between the two countries aimed at preserving their shared waters in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Straits. Nearly a year after Presidents Barack Obama … Continue reading
PALMAS, Brazil (AP) — The first World Indigenous Games got off to a rocky start Friday as the opening ceremony’s colorful parade of native peoples was marred by technical hitches and a noisy protest against the Brazilian government. Billed as indigenous peoples’ answer to the Olympics, the nine-day event has drawn around 2,000 native people … Continue reading
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — There’s a beauty contest for almost everyone in pageant-obsessed Venezuela. In the popular Miss Gay Venezuela competition, men don elaborate wigs and layers of makeup to show off their skills in what they call “the art of transformation.” At the ninth annual event on Sunday, the frenzy of backstage activity was … Continue reading
AJALPAN, Mexico (AP) — It was evening in Ajalpan when two young pollsters from Mexico’s capital ducked into a store to conduct a survey about tortilla consumption. Someone didn’t like it, and they called the cops. “There are suspicious people on Guerrero Street. They’re asking a lot of questions,” the anonymous tipster reported, Police Chief … Continue reading
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The top two presidential candidates in Argentina reset their campaigns on Monday after a razor-close election vote forced a runoff and cast doubt on the legacy of President Cristina Fernandez, a polarizing leader who spent heavily on programs for the poor but made enemies with her brash style and failure … Continue reading
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Now that former comedian Jimmy Morales has ridden a tide of voter frustration to win Guatemala’s presidency, it remained unclear Monday what the political neophyte will do once in office. So far he’s given few clues, beyond hinting at reviving a dormant border dispute with neighboring Belize, or attaching GPS locating … Continue reading
CHAMELA, Mexico (AP) — Just a day after menacing Mexico as one of history’s strongest storms, Hurricane Patricia left surprisingly little damage in its wake Saturday and quickly dissipated into a low-pressure system that posed little threat beyond heavy rain. The hurricane’s most powerful punch landed on a sparsely populated stretch of Mexico’s Pacific Coast … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — By midnight, the basement of one of Havana’s hottest clubs is packed wall-to-wall for a private concert by one of Cuba’s biggest pop stars. Squeezed among the usual crowd of sleek young Cubans and paunchy, prowling European tourists, the owner of one of New York’s hippest restaurants discusses his new Havana boutique … Continue reading
MAZAMARI, Peru (AP) — It happens about four times a day, right under the nose of Peru’s military: A small single-engine plane drops onto a dirt airstrip in the world’s No. 1 coca-growing valley, delivers a bundle of cash, picks up more than 300 kilos of cocaine and flies to Bolivia. Roughly half of Peru’s … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries reached a contentious trade pact that cuts trade barriers, sets labor and environmental standards and protects the intellectual property of multinational corporations. Now each country must sell the deal to skeptical lawmakers. The pact, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, aims to encourage trade … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — A former president of the United Nations General Assembly turned the world body into a “platform for profit” by accepting over $1 million in bribes from a billionaire Chinese real estate mogul and other businesspeople to pave the way for lucrative investments, a prosecutor charged Tuesday. John Ashe, a former U.N. … Continue reading
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Thais Faria sank into a leather love seat, relaxing under the ministrations first of a masseuse, then a manicurist and finally a hairdresser-cum-makeup artist. Not 24 hours after her daughter was born via cesarean, Faria was being pampered at an upscale Rio de Janeiro maternity clinic. Cesarean births aren’t typically … Continue reading
SANTA CATARINA PINULA, Guatemala (AP) — The warning signs were everywhere in the canyon neighborhood of Cambray on the outskirts of Guatemala City, where a mudslide buried hundreds of people last week. Residents lived with regular falling rocks and flooding from the adjacent Pinula River. Evelyn de Cifuentes said her mother-in-law was killed in a … Continue reading
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — On board the 790-foot El Faro when it set out on its doomed voyage into the path of Hurricane Joaquin were five Polish workers whose job was to prepare the engine room for a retrofitting. Could that work have caused the loss of power that led to the U.S. container ship’s … Continue reading
CARABAYLLO, Peru (AP) — In the 1990s, Jim Yong Kim would climb the dusty streets and hillsides of this sprawling slum outside Peru’s capital distributing expensive pharmaceutical drugs he’d brought hidden in his luggage to tuberculosis patients. Residents recall the Harvard-trained physician as a smiling do-gooder with basic Spanish and shoes permanently caked with dust. … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Shakira, a longtime promoter of early childhood development and education, says being a mother has given her an even stronger connection to the issue. The Grammy-winning performer and her soccer pro-partner Gerard Pique are the parents of 2-year-old Milan and 8-month-old Sasha. “I’ve been an advocate for education long before I … Continue reading
VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — Authorities in Mexico’s Gulf coast state of Veracruz say there have been few advances in the investigation into the killings of the father and brother of Mexican movie director Alejandro Monteverde a week after their bodies were found. Omar Zuniga, spokesman for the Veracruz state prosecutor’s office, said Thursday that the … Continue reading
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A stunning diplomatic breakthrough leaves a minefield of problems standing between Colombia and the tantalizing prospect of peace after generations of armed conflict. President Juan Manuel Santos and leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are celebrating Wednesday’s announcement that they had crossed what many see as the point of … Continue reading
JERUSALEM (AP) — In a landmark test case for Israel, the appointment of its next ambassador to Brazil is suddenly in trouble due to his ties to the West Bank settlement movement. Brazil has reportedly expressed objections to the appointment of Dani Dayan, raising questions about when or even if he will take up the … Continue reading
DAVIDSON, N.C. (AP) — Chez Reavie won the Web.com Tour Finals’ Small Business Connection Championship by a stroke Sunday to regain his PGA Tour card. Reavie, the 2008 Canadian Open winner, made a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th for a 6-under 66 and 15-under 273 total at River Run. The 33-year-old former Arizona … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — The latest developments in Pope Francis’ visit to Cuba and the United States. All times local: 9:30 p.m. Pope Francis has retired to the residence of the papal ambassador after a busy day in Havana. He is due to fly to the eastern city of Holguin at 8 a.m. Monday to begin … Continue reading
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A powerful magnitude-8.3 earthquake hit off Chile’s northern coast Wednesday night, causing buildings to sway in Santiago and other cities and sending people running into the streets. Authorities reported one death in a town north of the capital. Four aftershocks above magnitude-6 and other strong shakes rattled the region as tsunami … Continue reading
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said Tuesday that embassy personnel in Egypt have identified six more bodies as those of Mexican citizens killed in air attack by Egyptian police and military forces. The deaths of two Mexicans had earlier been confirmed, bringing the total number of Mexicans killed to eight. Six other … Continue reading
