South America

LIMA, Feb 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The death toll from the explosion of a gas tanker in Lima last month has risen to 30, Peru’s ministry of health said.

Two women and a man were the most recent to succumb to burns from a fireball that occurred when the tanker truck carrying 10,000 liters of liquefied gas exploded on Jan 23.

Initially only two people were killed and 50 injured, but the death toll has continued to rise due to the severity of their burns.

USHUAIA, February 14. /TASS/: The Russian authorities hope that Argentine President Alberto Fernandez or Vice President Cristina Kirchner will visit Russia this year, Russia's Ambassador to Buenos Aires Dmitry Feoktistov told reporters on Thursday.

"We have invited Alverto Fernandez and Cristina Kirchner to visit Russia. I hope it will happen already this year," Feoktistov said. A possible visit is currently being discussed, he added.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday nominated General Walter Souza Braga Netto as his new chief of staff.

Braga Netto, who was in charge of security in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics and then the officer in charge of the security intervention in Rio de Janeiro state, is now chief of staff of the Brazilian Army.

Braga Netto will replace Onyx Lorenzoni, who will be the new Minister of Cities. He has held the chief of staff position since the beginning of the current administration.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan authorities detained opposition leader Juan Guaido’s uncle after the two men arrived at the main airport in Caracas, ruling Socialist Party Vice President Diosdado Cabello said on Wednesday.

Juan Jose Marquez, who was with Guaido on his return to Venezuela on Tuesday after a three-week international tour, passed “migration normally, and as he was about to leave ... he was held for an alleged Seniat review,” Guaido’s press team wrote on Twitter. Seniat is Venezuela’s national tax agency.

CARACAS, Feb 10 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Venezuelan Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, denounced a “terrorist attack” on a warehouse in the northern state of Carabobo belonging to two state-owned communications companies.

“A terrorist attack caused a fire in the CANTV and Movilnet Flor Amarillo Warehouse, resulting in the total loss of strategic telecommunications material,” Rodriguez said, through her Twitter account.

CARACAS, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez on Sunday denounced a "terrorist attack" on a warehouse in the northern state of Carabobo belonging to two state-owned communications companies.

"A terrorist attack caused a fire in the CANTV and Movilnet Flor Amarillo Warehouse, resulting in the total loss of strategic telecommunications material," Rodriguez said through her Twitter account.

CARACAS, February 7. /TASS/: Russia deems any attempts to topple Venezuela’s legitimate government absolutely unacceptable and will do its best to have them condemned by the world community, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"Regrettably, the current crisis around Venezuela stems from attempts to stage a large-scale campaign geared to topple the legitimate government using all possible options, including the use of force, as this campaign’s organizers declare," he said at a meeting with representatives of Venezuela’s national reconciliation roundtable.

CARACAS, February 7. /TASS/: Russia will develop military technical cooperation with Venezuela to help it ensure its defense capacities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday after a meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

"Naturally, we will develop military technical cooperation, to safely ensure the defense capacity of our friends, especially in the face of external threats," he said.

BRASILIA, Feb 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil more than doubled in January compared with the previous year, according to official data published Friday.

More than 280 sq km were cleared, an increase of 108 per cent. It was the largest area cleared in the month of January since 2015, when such data started being collected, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

The data was collected by the INPE’s satellite-based DETER system, which monitors deforestation in real time.

8 February 2020; AFP: Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil more than doubled in January compared with the previous year, according to official data published Friday.