South America

7 Nov 2018; AFP: Brazil's president-elect Jair Bolsonaro suggested Tuesday he was prepared to make a swift U-turn over controversial plans to move the country's Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Last week, Bolsonaro reiterated a campaign pledge to follow the lead of US President Donald Trump by switching the embassy from Israel's economic and technological hub to its capital.

But on Tuesday, he reeled in his plans claiming "it hasn't yet been decided."

Brasilia : Far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro has won the Brazilian presidential elections with over 55 percent of the vote beating leftist Fernando Haddad who scored 44.3 percent in the country's most polarized elections in decades.

According to the latest polls, support for Bolsonaro grew by six million votes, however, his opponent won an additional 13 million since the first-round elections earlier this month.

Some 21.17 percent of Brazilian abstained from the elections while another 7.43 percent of the ballots were marked null.

CARACAS, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's Prosecutor General Tarek William Saab on Monday confirmed the suicide of an opposition councilman Fernando Alban, who jumped from the building of the National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) where he was detained.

The councilman would appear later in the day before the courts for alleged involvement in the failed assassination attempt against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in August.

MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. Based on their actions towards Venezuela, the United States and the European Union are seeking to undermine the Latin American country and depose its President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan Ambassador to Russia Carlos Rafael Faria Tortosa stated in an interview with TASS on Thursday.

The diplomat said Venezuela is currently facing a financial blockade. "Action has been taken and continues to be taken to ruin our economy and overthrow our government," the diplomat specified.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least six people were killed during a confrontation with police at an airport in northeastern Brazil, the Federal Police said on Wednesday.

The deaths occurred at the Salgueiro Airport in the northeastern state of Pernambuco when the armed group attempted to rob a plane's cargo of money intended for city banks.

The gang overcame security guards and accessed the runway as the plane was landing, before firing at the pilot to stop the plane.

SAN SALVADOR, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- El Salvador on Tuesday defended its "sovereign and independent" right to establish diplomatic ties with China.

The Central American country could not continue to turn "its back on the world" by failing to recognize China's role as a global player, Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren's press secretary Roberto Lorenzana told reporters.

"We cannot ignore that China is the world's second power and the leading export economy on the planet," said Lorenzana.

CARACAS, Aug 18 (NNN-TELESUR) -- Venezuela "categorically rejects" the U.S. State Department's official response to the failed assassination of President Nicolas Maduro, describing Washington's "cynical accusations" as interfering in the nation's domestic politics.

In a statement published by Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza on Twitter on Friday, the Venezuelan government accused U.S. President Donald Trump's administration of bias, and said Trump himself had publicly advocated the use of torture.

Caracas, Aug 15 (AFP) Venezuela has arrested a general and a colonel as part of a probe into an alleged attempt to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro, the Supreme Court said today.

The arrests increased suspicions about possible divisions within the military, considered a bedrock of support for the widely unpopular president as Venezuela's economy unravels and people grow more and more desperate and angry.

11 Aug 2018; AFP: Politicians and public servants have been linked to the murder of high-profile Brazilian lawmaker and black rights activist Marielle Franco, Brazil's security minister Raul Jungmann said late Friday.

Jungmann, who said the murder may be politically motivated, would not reveal any names at this time because doing so could "hinder progress in the investigation."

Nevertheless "I do not have the slightest doubt that there is nothing that prevents us denouncing them, all of them," Jungmann told reporters.

7 Aug 2018; DW: Ivan Duque has been sworn in as Colombia's president. He is the youngest man to ever hold the office. As a protege of former presdident Uriibe, analysts wonder how much of his own man he will be.

Ivan Duque has been sworn in as Colombia's president. He is the youngest man to ever hold the office. As a protege of former presdident Uriibe, analysts wonder how much of his own man he will be.