BRASILIA – Dilma Rousseff became Brazil’s first female president Saturday after promising to build on an unprecedented run of economic success achieved by her popular predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Thousands of admirers braved driving rains and cheered as Rousseff rode to her inauguration in a 1953 Rolls Royce flanked by an [...]

Brazilian police have busted 25 members of a 34-strong criminal gang in the slums around Rio de Janeiro. Some of the members are allegedly attached to local councils and the police force. Two local councilors of the Duque de Caxias neighbourhood have been arrested on suspicion of running the Para-police outfit. The 13 arrested officers [...]

The Associated Press LA PAZ, Bolivia — Bolivia has formally declared its recognition of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine. President Evo Morales says his government “could not continue waiting with its arms crossed given the problems of human rights, territory and sovereignty.” A Foreign Ministry official later confirmed that Bolivia sent a letter [...]

Associated Press A Venezuelan plane with 51 people aboard crashed Monday during a domestic flight, but many survived after the pilot, anticipating a possible crash, radioed for ambulances to be dispatched, a state governor said. An official at a local hospital told local Globovision television station that at least two people were killed in the [...]

Criminal gangs in Colombia are reportedly luring young schoolgirls into prostitution in the South American nation, a media report said. This phenomenon is fast catching up in the slums of Medellin city, the El Tiempo newspaper reported citing an aid organisation named Con Vivamos. ‘There’s a ring dedicated to this, but it’s a terribly delicate [...]