South America

BRASILIA/SAO PAULO, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro will not contest his electoral defeat and plans to address the nation later on Tuesday, his Communications Minister Fabio Faria told Reuters, as a growing number of political allies advised him to concede.

Some of Bolsonaro's hardline supporters have called for military intervention to keep Bolsonaro in power and stop leftist President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office. Pro-Bolsonaro truck drivers blocked federal highways.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the federal highway police to immediately clear hundreds of roads across the country blocked by truck drivers protesting President Jair Bolsonaro’s loss in the Oct. 30 election.

01 Nov 2022; MEMO: Member of Hamas Political Bureau, Basim Naim, congratulated freedom fighter, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, on his victory in Brazil's election after defeating his rival, incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, in a fiercely contested run-off election.

The Hamas official considered da Silva's election a victory for all oppressed people around the globe, particularly the Palestinian people, as da Silva is known for his strong and continued support for the Palestinians at all international forums.

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA, Oct 31 (Reuters) - President Jair Bolsonaro had yet to concede defeat in Brazil's presidential election by Monday afternoon, raising fears the far-right nationalist might contest the victory of his leftist rival, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Tens of thousands of jubilant Lula supporters took to the streets of Sao Paulo on Sunday night to celebrate a stunning comeback for the 77-year-old former metalworker, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010. His electoral win follows a spell in prison for corruption convictions that were later annulled.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilians delivered a very tight victory to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a bitter presidential election, giving the leftist former president another shot at power in a rejection of incumbent Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right politics.

BOGOTA, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Colombia has received a total of 93,502,966 COVID-19 vaccine doses, of which 89,310,214 have been applied, the Ministry of Health said on Saturday.

In the past week, 100,510 doses were applied, of which 17,217 were second doses and 3,611 were single-dose vaccines, said the ministry.

As part of the National Vaccination Plan, 36,191,103 people have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 30,132,460 received a second dose, while 6,651,795 have received a single-dose vaccine.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilians began voting Sunday morning in a polarizing presidential runoff election that pits an incumbent vowing to safeguard conservative Christian values against a former president promising to return the country to a more prosperous past.

The runoff shaped up as a close contest between President Jair Bolsonaro and his political nemesis, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Both are well-known, divisive political figures who stir passion as much as loathing.

(AP) --- Pivotal elections in Brazil and the United States will present an early test to Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk and his promise to ease up on the platform’s policies on misinformation.

Voters in both nations have already faced a torrent of misleading claims about candidates, issues and voting. That torrent could become a deluge if Musk makes good on his vows to roll back Twitter’s rules just as millions of voters prepare to cast a ballot.

BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers and other top officials from Latin America and the Caribbean on Wednesday agreed on the urgent need to jointly spur change in the region's "development pattern," said the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

CARACAS, Oct 23 (NNN-ABN) – Legislative delegations from Venezuela’s National Assembly and Colombia’s Congress met on Friday, to set up working commissions for normalising bilateral ties, said Venezuelan lawmaker, Jorge Rodriguez.

Speaking from the Simon Bolivar International Bridge that links the two countries across their shared border, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, described it as “a historic meeting after so many years of difficulties.”