South America

30 Jan 2019; AFP: The death toll from the collapse of a Brazilian dam rose to 84 on Tuesday as mining giant Vale announced that moves to dismantle similar structures would hit production.

Brazilian authorities are stepping up their probe of Vale, with five engineers involved in the operating licenses and the last inspection of the dam arrested on prosecutors' orders in the state of Minas Gerais, where the disaster occurred Friday at one of the firm's mines.

30 Jan 2019; AFP: Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice barred self-declared president Juan Guaido from leaving the country and froze his bank accounts Tuesday, as leader Nicolas Maduro seeks to neutralize the American-backed opposition chief.

The 35-year-old head of the National Assembly legislature "is prohibited from leaving the country until the end of the (preliminary) investigation" for having "caused harm to peace in the republic," high court president Maikel Moreno said.

27 Jan 2019; AFP: CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela defused a potential showdown with the United States, suspending a demand that U.S. diplomats leave the country as Washington called on the world to “pick a side” in the South American nation’s fast-moving crisis.

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/ At least 50 people died after a mining dam burst in the south-east of Brazil, Brazilian media reported on Saturday.

Earlier reports said seven people died in the disaster, and around 200 remain missing.

A dam collapsed at an iron-ore mine in Brumandinho in the Minas Gerais state.

Brumadinho (Brazil), Jan 26 (AFP) A collapse of a disused dam at an iron-ore mine complex in southeast Brazil killed at least seven people and left 150 missing, officials said, as they sought to evaluate the full scope of the disaster.

The tailings dam, owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale, broke apart "very violently, very suddenly", sending a massive torrent of mud over the complex where 300 mine employees were working, Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman told a news conference in Rio de Janeiro.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Backed by Venezuela’s military, President Nicolas Maduro went on the offensive against an opposition leader who declared himself interim president and his U.S. supporters, setting up a potentially explosive struggle for power in the crisis-plagued South American nation.

MOSCOW, January 24./TASS/. Venezuelan Ambassador to Russia Carlos Rafael Fario Tortosa said on Thursday that the staff of the US diplomatic mission in Venezuela would be stripped of diplomatic immunity after 72 hours President Nicolas Maduro had given them to leave the country.

MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. The number of people detained during protests in Venezuela, which started on January 21, has reached 364 people, said Alfredo Romero, Executive Director of the NGO Penal Forum, on Twitter on Friday.

"A total of 364 people were detained during protests from January 21 to 23," Romero tweeted.

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/./TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he is not going to step down, Agencia Venezolana de Noticias (AVN) quoted the president as he addressed the Supreme Court on Thursday.

"I will never give up on commitments to the homeland, I will never do this," said the president who was inaugurated for the second term on January 10. The US and the Lima Group countries with the exception of Mexico refused to recognize Maduro’s re-election.

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Pope Francis said Wednesday that fear of migration is “making us crazy” as he began a trip to Central America amid a standoff over President Donald Trump’s promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and a new caravan of migrants heading north.

Francis was asked by reporters about the proposed border wall Wednesday on the way to Panama, where he is looking to leave the sex abuse scandals buffeting his papacy behind. Francis responded: “It is the fear that makes us crazy.”