South America

QUITO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador reported 43 new confirmed cases of monkeypox on Wednesday, bringing the country's total confirmed cases to 185.

Of the 185 patients, 67 have been discharged from hospital, while the epidemiological fence for 308 contacts is maintained, the Ministry of Public Health said in a statement.

Sixteen Ecuadorian provinces have been affected by monkeypox, with Pichincha, Guayas and Azuay ranking top with 63, 61 and 19 cases respectively.

CARACAS, Oct 11 (NNN-ABN) – The weekend landslide in Venezuela’s north central state of Aragua, has killed 36 by yesterday afternoon, with 56 persons still missing, Minister for Internal Relations, Justice, and Peace, Remigio Ceballos, said.

The Venezuelan government has distributed 300 tonnes of food and water in the affected area, he said, adding that, more than 3,000 members of the police and fire departments, the Civil Protection agency and the Bolivarian National Armed Forces have been deployed, to help with the recovery efforts.

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 11 (NNN-TELAM) – Argentine President, Alberto Fernandez, reshuffled his cabinet yesterday, appointing three new women ministers, the office of the presidency said.

Fernandez “has called on three women of different ages, geographic origins and extensive experience in their fields, to be part of his cabinet, in order to deepen the breadth of views and management efficiency,” his office said, in a statement.

BOGOTA, Oct 9 (NNN-TELESUR) — The Colombian government declared maximum alert in the Caribbean island of San Andres before the passage of storm Julia, which will strengthen in the coming hours to become a hurricane.

“It is highly probable that storm Julia will become a hurricane and reach San Andres between 19H00 and 21H00 hours”, said President Gustavo Petro, in a message on his Twitter account.

GEORGETOWN, Oct 6 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — The former British colony of Guyana, to the north of Brazil and on the Caribbean has emerged as one of the continent’s top oil producers and is poised to become a leading global energy exporter.

Since 2015 an Exxon Mobil-led consortium has made a swathe of high-quality oil discoveries in offshore Guyana in the 6.6-million-acre Stabroek Block, with the latest announced in July 2022. It is estimated those finds have uncovered nearly 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil resources in the Stabroek Block with further oil discoveries to come.

BRASILIA, Oct 6 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — As India, the world leader in exports restricts rice shipments, Brazil signaled at the World Trade Organization (WTO) that together with Mercosur partners, it is ready to expand exports and help with global food security.

The Brazilian Rice Industry Association (Abiarroz) said that the country, which has exported up to 1.5 million tons of the cereal a year, has the capacity to add another 2.5 million tons, including stocks that come from neighboring Mercosur countries.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Jair Bolsonaro outperformed the polls in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, forcing a runoff while proving that the far-right wave he rode to the presidency remains a force and giving the world yet another example of surveys missing the mark.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Unemployment in Brazil fell to 8.9 percent in the quarter ending in August, the lowest level in seven years, the state-run Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) said Friday.

From June through August, the unemployment rate in the South American country dropped 0.9 percentage points compared to the March-to-May period, and decreased by 4.2 percentage points year on year.

According to the IBGE, the drop of the unemployment rate means that the number of unemployed people in August were 937,000 fewer than that in May.

CARACAS, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan Culture Minister Ernesto Villegas on Thursday called on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to adopt measures to protect the cultural rights of peoples from the harmful impact of sanctions imposed by other countries.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilians were voting on Sunday in a highly polarized election that could determine if the country returns a leftist to the helm of the world’s fourth-largest democracy or keeps the far-right incumbent in office for another four years.

The race pits incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro against his political nemesis, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. There are nine other candidates, but their support pales to that for Bolsonaro and da Silva.