South America

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 31 (Xinhua) -- A series of restriction laws to make closed spaces smoke-free have resulted in a reduction of 15,000 in the number of child deaths in Brazil from 2000 to 2016, according to a study published on Friday.

Several Brazilian states implemented laws against smoking in public closed spaces from 2000 to 2012. In 2011, a federal law established full prohibition of closed space smoking across the country. The law took effect in 2014.

BUENOS AIRES, May 29. /TASS/: Argentina and Russia have set up a working group tasked with specifying the project on the construction of a nuclear power plant (NPP) in the Latin American country, head of the Russian agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor and chairman of the Russian-Argentine inter-governmental commission Sergey Dankvert said on Tuesday.

"The working group is tasked with specifying all matters pertaining to this project," Dankvert told reporters after the commission's session in Buenos Aires.

28 May 2019; DW: At least 42 prisoners have been found dead at four prisons in the northern Amazon jungle city of Manaus on Monday, authorities said.

The deaths came one day after 15 inmates were killed in clashes between rival prison gangs in the same city.

The Amazonas state government said in a statement that the victims appeared to have been killed by "asphyxiation." It added that federal authorities had dispatched reinforcements to the state to boost security.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The feared street gangster El Negrito sleeps with a pistol under his pillow and says he’s lost track of his murder count. But despite his hardened demeanor, he’s quick to gripe about how Venezuela’s failing economy is cutting into his profits.

Firing a gun has become a luxury. Bullets are expensive at $1 each. And with less cash circulating on the street, he says robberies just don’t pay like they used to.

For the 24-year-old, that has all given way to a simple fact: Even for Venezuelan criminals it’s become harder to get by.

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — On stage, amid the hubbub of a Bolivian street market, women recount their stories of abuse at the hands of men.

But the violence depicted in the play isn’t just make-believe for the 22 indigenous actresses: It’s based on their own real-life experiences.

“Kusisita,” a work that seeks to raise awareness about violence against women and mobilize people to fight it, has been drawing large audiences in Bolivia, which has one of South America’s highest rates of femicides.

CARACAS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Venezuelan government has launched an investigation into Friday's prison riot that has left 29 inmates killed, authorities said Saturday.

Gen. Edylberto Molina, deputy minister of the Integrated Police System (Visipol), headed a "technical team" that is in charge of the probe.

He has met with Rafael Calles, governor of northwest Portuguesa state where the prison riot happened, and other local authorities.

LIMA, Peru (AP) — A powerful magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck the Amazon jungle in north-central Peru early Sunday, the U.S. Geological survey reported, collapsing buildings and knocking out power to some areas.

The quake struck at 2:41 a.m. and was centered 47 miles (75 kilometers) south-southeast of the village of Lagunas and 57 miles (92 kilometers) east of the larger town of Yurimaguas. The epicenter was 68 miles (110 kilometers) below the surface.

In a tweet, President Martín Vizcarra called for calm and said that authorities were checking the affected areas.

Caracas, May 25 (AFP) At least 29 prisoners were killed and 19 police wounded in clashes at a jail in western Venezuela Friday, authorities said.

The incident at the police station jail in the town of Acarigua, in Portuguesa state, occurred when police special forces (FAES) tried to stop a "massive prison break" which resulted in the deaths of 29 inmates, according to Portuguesa public security secretary Oscar Valero.

Caracas, May 23; GANASHAKTI: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday ordered armed forces to be "vigilant" to deter a possible United States invasion.

"I have ordered all military branches to be vigilant and be ready to protect the peace, to make any attempt by the North American empire to try anything against our homeland impossible. Peace will be our victory!" Maduro tweeted in Spanish.

BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela (AP) — Andreina Cordero started the year skipping meals so her three kids could eat. Her husband, a construction worker, was out of a job. And the family’s savings had been devastated by the nation’s hyperinflation, limiting Cordero’s children to a diet of rice, beans, pasta and fried corn patties.

But the family got a break from their daily struggle to feed themselves this spring when a social worker enrolled them in a program run by a Silicon Valley startup that is donating cryptocurrency to hundreds of Venezuelan families.