South America

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."

BRASILIA, May 24 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Brazilian authorities have decreed a nationwide animal health emergency, it was published Tuesday in an extra issue of the Diário Oficial da União (Official Gazette), Agencia Brasil reported.

Agriculture and Livestock Minister Carlos Favaro signed the ordinance dated May 22 which will be effective for the next 180 days.

The measure seeks to prevent the disease from reaching the production of subsistence and commercial birds, in addition to preserving the fauna and human health.

MONTEVIDEO, May 22 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of asylum requests in Uruguay has increased to 16,000 from 13,113 in mid-2022, it was reported in Montevideo.

The Refugee Agency spoke of an increase in asylum applications and reinforced its work in the country to obtain solutions for refugees and migrants in support of the State and civil organizations, according to local media.

BRASILIA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's economic activity registered a growth of 2.41 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared to the last three months of 2022, according to preliminary estimates released by the Central Bank of Brazil on Friday.

According to the economic activity index, a leading indicator of gross domestic product (GDP), it was Brazil's highest quarterly advance since the fourth quarter of 2020.

Compared to the same period in 2022, Brazil's economic activity in this year's first quarter advanced by 3.87 percent.

CARACAS, May 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. sanctions against Venezuela are undermining women's rights, a Venezuelan official said Thursday at a UN meeting.

The unilateral coercive measures of the United States "have a direct impact on the lives and rights of the women who suffer them," said Diva Guzman, Venezuelan Minister of People's Power for Women and Gender Equality, when addressing the 85th session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, being held in Geneva, Switzerland.

QUITO, May 17 (Reuters) - Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly in a decree on Wednesday, bringing forward legislative and presidential elections, a day after he presented his defense in an impeachment process against him.

Lasso denies the accusation, saying his administration made changes to the contract signed years before he took office, in order to benefit the state, on advice from Ecuador's comptroller.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández made it official Tuesday that she will not be running for president again, putting the brakes on an effort by members of her party to push her to become a candidate in October elections.

Fernández, who was president 2007-2015, made her decision public through a statement on her website in which she slammed the judiciary, accusing the courts of trying to forbid her from running for office again as part of an alliance with the opposition.

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - Rural electric cooperatives, utilities, and other energy providers will soon be able to apply for nearly $11 billion in grants and loans for clean energy projects, funded by the $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act signed into law last August, the Biden administration said on Tuesday.

Expanding clean energy to rural communities is critical to meeting the administration's goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, officials told reporters on a Monday press call.

BUENOS AIRES, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Argentine central bank on Monday again raised the benchmark interest rate, this time by 600 basis points, pushing the rate from 91 percent to 97 percent annually.

The decision aims to promote "positive real returns on investments in local currency" and "prevent financial volatility from acting as a driver of inflation expectations," the bank said in a press release.

In April, monthly inflation rose 8.4 percent compared to March, according to the bank.

SANTA JUANA, Chile, May 14 (Reuters) - In the southern Chilean city of Santa Juana, hit hard by wildfires earlier this year, locals have a special taskforce helping fight blazes: a herd of goats.

The goats have already saved the native forest of the Bosques de Chacay once, preventing the park from being consumed by February forest fires - fueled by heatwaves and a punishing drought - that left dozens dead, thousands injured and almost 440,000 hectares destroyed in south-central Chile.