South America

Ted Cruz re-elected to Senate in Texas in win for Republicans

HOUSTON, United States (AFP) — Texas Republican Ted Cruz won re-election to a second term in the Senate, beating off Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke in one of America’s most expensive and closely watched midterm races, US news networks projected Tuesday. Cruz — a 47-year-old who battled President Donald Trump for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination — overcame major deficits in fundraising to ultimately defeat his charismatic rival, whose campaign electrified Democrats across the country and […]

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Trump says soldiers can shoot migrants who throw stones at US military

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday warned that soldiers deployed to the Mexican border could shoot Central American migrants who throw stones at them while attempting to cross illegally. Trump told journalists at the White House that a group of several thousand migrants walking through Mexico towards the US border had thrown rocks “viciously and violently” at Mexican police. “We’re not going to put up with that. They want to […]

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Peru court orders former president Fujimori daughter’s detention in graft probe

  by Francisco JARA Agence France Presse LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru’s powerful opposition leader Keiko Fujimori was taken into custody on Wednesday after a court ordered her held in preventive detention for three years pending the outcome of a corruption probe. The 43-year-old daughter of disgraced and jailed former president Alberto Fujimori is accused of accepting $1.2 million in illicit party funding from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, for her 2011 presidential campaign. In ordering […]

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Millions in Mexico City set to go without water for days

  MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Millions of people in Mexico City are set to be without water for at least four days as authorities undertake maintenance work on one of the major supply systems. Half of the capital’s eight million population are expected to be affected, with a further three million people from the neighboring State of Mexico also impacted. Authorities are preparing for the huge challenge by employing tanker trucks to supply strategic […]

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Brazil’s Bolsonaro to give campaign surplus to hospital

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said Tuesday he would give more than $400,000 in leftover campaign funds to the hospital that treated him after he was stabbed in the abdomen at a rally. The former army captain, who won Sunday’s election with 55 percent of the vote, said his campaign had cost about 1.5 million reals, or $400,000. But that was “less than half the funds that were raised through […]

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Trump congratulates Brazil’s president-elect

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump called Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday to congratulate the far-right candidate on winning Brazil’s presidency, the White House said. “President Trump called President-elect Bolsonaro of Brazil this evening to congratulate him and the Brazilian people on today’s elections,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement. “Both expressed a strong commitment to work side-by-side to improve the lives of the people of the United States and […]

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Bolsonaro’s vision for Brazil

by Jorge SVARTZMAN Agence France Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro promised in his victory speech Sunday to “change Brazil’s destiny,” after campaigning on a hardline law-and-order platform. The former army captain, 63, campaigned under the slogan “Brazil above all, God above everyone.” Here is a glance at his key policy proposals: Economy – Reduce public debt by 20 percent through a raft of privatizations and the sale of state […]

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Far-right candidate Bolsonaro wins Brazil vote: official results

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Far-right former army captain Jair Bolsonaro won Brazil’s presidential election Sunday, according to official results that gave him 55.7 percent of the vote with more than 88 percent of the ballots counted. His victory over leftist candidate Fernando Haddad marks a lunge to the right for Latin America’s largest country, after a divisive campaign marked by widespread outrage at the political class — but also fears over Bolsonaro’s denigrating […]

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Hurricane Willa makes landfall in Mexico

MAZATLAN, Mexico (AFP) —  Hurricane Willa made landfall in Mexico Tuesday, lashing the Pacific coast with powerful wind, heavy rain and what forecasters warned was “extremely dangerous” storm surge. “The eye of Hurricane Willa is now over the coastline near the town of Escuinapa, Sinaloa,” Mexico’s National Meteorological Service said on Twitter. The powerful storm, which was a maximum Category 5 hurricane on Monday, had weakened to Category 3 as it moved toward land. But forecasters […]

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Trump to cut Central America aid as migrant caravan rolls on

by Jennifer GONZALEZ COVARRUBIAS / with Jerome CARTILLIER in Washington Agence France Presse HUEHUETAN, Mexico (AFP) — President Donald Trump said Monday the United States will start cutting aid to three Central American countries as a caravan of thousands of mostly Honduran migrants rolled on toward the US border. The United Nations said more than 7,000 people were now heading toward the United States, as more migrants joined the original group, including some Central Americans […]

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Peru president vetoes law that could have freed ex-leader Fujimori

by Luis Jaime CISNEROS Agence France Presse LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru President Martin Vizcarra vetoed on Monday a law that would have spared disgraced former leader Alberto Fujimori from prison, confining criminals over 65 suffering from serious or chronic illnesses to house arrest. The law, passed by a Congress dominated by Fujimori’s former party, Popular Force, would have allowed the 80-year-old to avoid being sent back to prison once he leaves hospital, where he […]

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Four earthquakes strike off Canada’s west coast

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Four earthquakes — measuring from 4.9 to 6.8 magnitude — struck in quick succession off Canada’s west coast late Sunday, the US Geological Survey said. The epicenter of the first 6.6 tremor, at 10:39 pm (0549 GMT Monday), was located 135 miles (218 kilometers) southwest of Port Hardy — a small municipality on the northeastern tip of British Columbia’s Vancouver Island — and 355 miles northwest of Seattle. The second […]

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