South America

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Four Indigenous children survived an Amazon plane crash that killed three adults and then braved the jungle for 40 days before being found alive by Colombian soldiers, bringing a happy ending to a search-and-rescue saga that captivated a nation but also prompted questions about their extraordinary survival.

LIMA, June 8 (Reuters) - Peruvian police handed over a convicted Dutch murderer to FBI agents on Thursday for transfer to the U.S., where he faces extortion and fraud charges related to the murder of an Alabama teenager two decades ago.

Joran Van der Sloot, a Dutch national from the Caribbean island of Aruba, has departed for the U.S. from a Peruvian Air Force base.

LIMA, June 6 (NNN-ANDINA) — Peruvian Commission for Promotion of Export and Tourism (PromPeru) reported that Peru and United Arab Emirates have signed an air services agreement after 12 years of negotiations.

The deal was reached last Friday and, as result, Peru has become the second-most important trading partner of the UAE in Latin America.

This move has enabled two of the ten largest airlines in the world to extend their routes to Peru, thus facilitating tourism and strengthening economic-commercial relations.

LIMA, June 4 (NNN-ANDINA) — Peruvian Foreign Affairs Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi and United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Peru, Mohamed Abdulla Ali Khater Alshami, signed a bilateral air services agreement (ASA), it was reported on Friday.

The ceremony was also attended by Ministers Alex Contreras (Economy-Finance) and Paola Lazarte (Transportation-Communications).

This event was held at Torre Tagle Palace —the Foreign Affairs Ministry headquarters— located in the Peruvian capital, Lima. 

BRASILIA, June 3 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Brazil’s Senate approved the bill making equal pay for men and women mandatory when they perform work of equal value or the same function, Agencia Brasil reported. The document is now ready for President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva to sign it into law.

LA PAZ, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Bolivian President Luis Arce appointed new health and mining ministers Friday, urging them to "step on the accelerator" to meet planned goals.

Replacing Jeyson Auza Pinto as the new Minister of Health and Sports, Maria Renee Castro served as Deputy Minister of Promotion, Epidemiological Surveillance and Traditional Medicine and director of the National Institute of Health Laboratories.

BRASILIA, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday highlighted a "sense of urgency" among South American leaders to strengthen regional integration.

"What brings us together today in Brasilia is the sense of urgency to collectively look at our region again," he said at the summit in Brazil's capital Brasilia where leaders from the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) gathered to "relaunch" the regional bloc.

BRASILIA, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the South American countries reached the Brasilia Consensus on Tuesday at the regional summit here convened by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, seeking to facilitate regional integration.

Twelve leaders of the former and current member states of the regional bloc the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) attended the summit with the aim of relaunching the languished organization.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government announced Friday that a U.N. Latin America regional group has endorsed a Brazilian city in the Amazon region to host the 2025 U.N. climate change conference, though the world body has not yet publicly confirmed the venue.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva initially said Brazil will hold the conference, known as COP 30, in the city of Belem, state of Para, in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest, reflecting his intention to bring attention to the Amazon.

SAO PAULO, May 26 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Friday he had a phone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and reaffirmed his willingness to establish peace talks with both sides of the war in Ukraine.

Lula tweeted he had also thanked Putin for an invitation to attend an economic forum in Saint Petersburg, but had to decline it as he "can't visit Russia at the moment."