South America

LA PAZ, Nov 26 (NNN-TELESUR) — France on Friday dispatched a team of specialists in wildfire combat to the Santa Cruz department, one of the areas most affected by the fires in the Bolivian Amazon.

Forty firefighters and rescue professionals will join local efforts, the French Foreign Affairs Ministry said, adding that the French team will operate in two protected areas.

French President Emmanuel Macron responded to the request for assistance from Bolivian authorities. On Thursday, Bolivia received a donation of 53 firefighter helmets through the French cooperation.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Less than 48 hours into his term, Ecuador President Daniel Noboa on Friday repealed controversial guidelines established by the country’s left a decade ago that eliminated penalties for people found carrying illegal drugs under certain amounts.

Noboa’s decision fulfilled a campaign promise to fight drug trafficking. Consequences of the illegal trade, particularly cocaine, have kept Ecuadorians on edge as killings, kidnappings, robberies, extortion and other crimes reached unprecedented levels.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As war and winter collide, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged during a recent visit to Washington that the days ahead “will be tough” as his country battles Russia while U.S. support from Congress hangs in the balance.

President Joe Biden’s nearly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other needs sits idle in Congress, neither approved nor rejected, but subjected to new political demands from Republicans who are insisting on U.S.-Mexico border policy changes to halt the flow of migrants.

LIMA, Nov 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Peruvian Andes’ mountaintop ice, which represents most of the world’s tropical glaciers, has lost more than half of its area due to climate change, the Ministry of Environment said Thursday.

To wit, the glaciers have receded by 1,348 square kilometers since 1962, according to the latest measurements, the National Institute of Glacier and Ecosystem Research reported.

LA PAZ, Nov 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Bolivia is struggling to cope with forest fires, which have burned about 3 million hectares of forest land and killed more than 10 people since the beginning of the year.

Forest fires breaking out in Bolivia have caused many schools to temporarily close, while many flights were canceled due to smoke rising from the fires. From crops, vegetation, coffee plantations or banana plantations… all were severely damaged by the fires. 

BRASILIA, Nov 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will unveil a plan at the UN’s upcoming COP28 climate summit to increase Brazil’s available agricultural lands by 60 percent without contributing to deforestation, his government announced Thursday.

The South American country will move to convert degraded grazing areas into farmland, the government announced a week ahead of the climate summit, set to kick off in Dubai on Nov 30.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has told Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei that he plans to travel to the South American country so the two can meet, Milei’s office said Thursday.

The office did not give a date for when Trump intends to be in Buenos Aires. The inauguration of Milei, a right-wing populist who has expressed admiration for Trump, is scheduled for Dec. 10.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — What many deemed impossible just months ago is reality: Right-wing populist Javier Milei resoundingly won Argentina’s presidency.

And with his victory Sunday night, the fiery freshman lawmaker has thrust the country into the unknown regarding just how extreme his policies will be, following a campaign that saw him revving a chainsaw to symbolically cut the state down to size.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — His legions of fans call him “the crazy” and “the wig” due to his ferocity and unruly mop of hair, while he refers to himself as “the lion.” He thinks sex education is a Marxist plot to destroy the family, views his cloned mastiffs as his “children with four paws” and has raised the possibility people should be allowed to sell their own vital organs.

He is Javier Milei, Argentina’s next president.

BUENOS AIRES, November 20. /TASS/. Minister of Economy of Argentina Sergio Massa congratulated his adversary Javier Milei with victory in the presidential elections.

"I contacted Javier Milei to congratulate him and to wish him luck, because he is the president that the majority of Argentinians elected for the next 4 years," Massa, the candidate from the Union for the Homeland party, said. He made his statement before the official announcement of the election outcome.