South America

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela on Friday announced that the years-long closure of their countries’ shared border to cargo transport will end Sept. 26. Air service between their capitals will also resume.

The announcement comes a month after Gustavo Petro was sworn in as Colombia’s first leftist president, beginning a thaw in relations between his country and the government of Nicolás Maduro. The presidents tweeted the announcement.

“We confirm the government’s commitment to restore brotherly relations,” Petro said.

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro transformed the nation’s bicentennial Wednesday into a multi-city campaign event, but didn’t use his appearances to undermine the upcoming election as his opponents had feared.

Bolsonaro, who trails former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in polls before the Oct. 2 vote, drew tens of thousands of supporters to rallies in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro. The armed forces put on military displays in the cities, with the president attending.

SAO PAULO, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian presidential candidate and ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led the latest pre-election poll with 45 percent of the vote, trailed by incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro with 32 percent, a Datafolha poll shows.

Lula da Silva, a candidate of the Workers' Party, slipped 2 percentage points from 47 percent in the last survey on Aug. 18, while Bolsonaro remained steady at 32 percent.

SANTIAGO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Chile will go back to the drawing board to redraft its Augusto Pinochet-era constitution after a new text got overwhelmingly rejected in a historic referendum vote on Sunday, a blow to the country's progressives, including young President Gabriel Boric.

Boric on Monday held meetings with political and social leaders over how to salvage plans for a new constitution, bruised by the vote that saw some 7.9 million Chileans reject the proposal against 4.9 million in favor, a larger-than-expected landslide loss.

REGINA, Saskatchewan (AP) — Canadian police searched on Monday for two men suspected of stabbing 10 people to death in an Indigenous community and a nearby town, as the massive manhunt following one of the nation’s deadliest mass killings entered its second day.

BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Argentine business and economic leaders on Friday condemned the attempted assassination of the country's Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Late Thursday, a man pointed a gun at Fernandez's face as she was outside her home, surrounded by a crowd of supporters. The weapon reportedly got jammed, foiling the shooting.

The suspect, who is in custody, has been identified as 35-year-old Brazilian national Fernando Andres Sabag Montiel.

SAO PAULO, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian presidential candidate and ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led the latest pre-election poll with 45 percent of the vote, trailed by incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro with 32 percent, a Datafolha poll shows.

Lula da Silva, a candidate of the Workers' Party, slipped 2 percentage points from 47 percent in the last survey on Aug. 18, while Bolsonaro remained steady at 32 percent.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chileans are voting in a plebiscite Sunday on whether to adopt a far-reaching new constitution that would fundamentally change the South American country.

The proposed charter is intended to replace a constitution imposed by a military dictatorship 41 years ago.

For months, opinion polls have shown a clear advantage for the rejection camp, but the difference has been narrowing, giving hope to the charter’s supporters that they can pull out a victory.

BOGOTA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Seven police officers were killed in an explosives attack in western Colombia on Friday, the government said, the deadliest attack on security forces since President Gustavo Petro took office promising to end the country's nearly 60-year conflict.

Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla, has pledged to seek "total peace" by restarting talks with leftist ELN rebels, applying a 2016 peace accord to former FARC guerrilla fighters who reject it, and negotiating the surrender of crime gangs in exchange for reduced sentences. 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A man tried to kill Argentina’s politically powerful Vice President Cristina Fernández outside her home, but the handgun misfired, the country’s president said.

The man was quickly overpowered by her security officers in the incident Thursday night, officials said.

President Alberto Fernández, who is not related to the vice president, a former president herself, said the pistol did not discharge when the man tried to fire it.