South America

NEW YORK, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- No one is immune from COVID-19, but not everyone's experience of the pandemic is the same in the United States, where the poor face higher risk, NBC reported on Wednesday.

Privileged Americans have free, high-quality testing and can quickly get access to anti-COVID medication, while those without insurance now have to pay for testing, and quick access to medication has proven elusive for some, said the report.

MONTEVIDEO, Aug 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Four South American countries on Tuesday launch an unprecedented joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup with the hope of bringing the global showpiece back to its first home.

Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile’s intention to bid has long been in the making.

More than three years ago they committed to create a local organizing committee to co-ordinate with South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL to plan their bid.

But it has taken until now for the “Juntos 2030” (Together 2030) bid to be made official.

SANTIAGO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Chilean authorities started investigating on Monday a mysterious sinkhole about 25 meters (82 feet) in diameter that appeared over the weekend in a mining area in the north of the country.

Chilean media showed aerial images of the sinkhole on land operated by a Canadian Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) copper mine, about 665 kilometers (413 miles) north of capital Santiago.

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 29 (Reuters) - As President Jair Bolsonaro has aggressively sought to boost gun ownership in Brazil, documents obtained by Reuters reveal one key source of resistance to his agenda: his own federal police.

BOGOTA, July 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A dozen police officers have been killed, and dozens more injured in recent weeks by Colombia’s most powerful drug gang, the Gulf Clan.

The group has been sowing terror in the country since May, when its boss Dario Antonio Usuga, known as “Otoniel,” was extradited to the United States to face trafficking charges.

MONTEVIDEO, July 27 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou Tuesday announced his administration would seek to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and that he will seek endorsement from all political parties.

“Uruguay is going to ask for accession. It is a decision that the member countries have to analyze and we will see how we negotiate it,” said Lacalle Pou during his Exporters’ Day celebration speech.

BUENOS AIRES, July 23 (Reuters) - Argentina's newly appointed economy minister Silvina Batakis will meet on Monday with the head of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, the government said, as Argentina's economy struggles with spiraling inflation.

Argentina is the IMF's largest debtor with a $44 billion program that was approved by the board in late March. Argentina's peso currency also fell to record lows this week, weighed down by a stronger dollar worldwide and a domestic political crisis.

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 24 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro kicked off his candidacy for re-election at a party event in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday with a speech focused on God, guns and family, as the right-wing leader attempts to claw back the commanding lead established by his main rival, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Workers' Party on Thursday officially launched the presidential candidacy of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for the upcoming October election, after he was nominated by party delegates.

The event in Sao Paulo was hosted by the Federation of Hope Brazil, consisting of the Workers' Party, the Communist Party of Brazil and the Green Party. Former Sao Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin was nominated as the vice presidential candidate.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Environmental criminals in the Brazilian Amazon destroyed public forests equal the size of El Salvador over the past six years, yet the Federal Police — the Brazilian version of the FBI — carried out only seven operations aimed at this massive loss, according to a new study.