Latin America News

RIO DE JANEIRO - Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking a new source of legitimacy while making his first visit to Brazil, a nation that maintains close ties to the U.S., Israel and other countries trying to halt Iran's nuclear push. Full Story »

MEXICO CITY - Mirna Torres salsas with a gray-bearded man for $1.50 a dance in the Barba Azul, a dark yet garish cabaret decorated like an erotic carnival fun house. Full Story »

HAMILTON, Bermuda - Bermuda's highest court has struck down the conviction of a Florida woman who accidentally brought the ammunition magazine from her gun to the British island territory. Full Story »

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - The coup last summer in this tiny, Central American country blew up into an international incident, with thousands of Hondurans taking to the streets while everyone from Barack Obama to Fidel Castro lined up behind ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Full Story »

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela has no interest in talking directly to Colombia to end a monthslong crisis but would support an effort by other South American nations to broker a solution, a top government official said Sunday. Full Story »

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez is hailing the forthcoming arrival of 300 Russian-made tanks and armored vehicles, and urging civilians to join government-organized militias to be ready to defend Venezuela from a foreign invasion. Full Story »

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is inviting his mentor Fidel Castro to visit Venezuela during the coming months. Full Story »

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez is praising Carlos the Jackal, the imprisoned Venezuelan once notorious for a series of Cold War-era bombings, assassinations and hostage dramas, saying he was a "revolutionary fighter" and not a terrorist. Full Story »

MEXICO CITY - A top drug cartel suspect who turned state's evidence has been found dead in an apparent suicide, while a body found in Guerrero state was identified as a rebel leader who accused the state governor of drug ties, Mexican law enforcement said Saturday. Full Story »

BRASILIA, Brazil - Famed 101-year-old Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer is reportedly back at work just weeks after surgery for gallstones and an intestinal tumor. Full Story »

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - Thousands of Mexicans rallied to show support for "shadow president" Manuel Lopez Obrador -- who believes his country's top job was stolen from him in 2006 -- at the mid-point of his would-be presidential term. Full Story »

TEHRAN (AFP) - Faced with mounting pressure over his country's atomic ambitions, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left on a five nation tour Sunday, including Brazil in a bid to boost ties with Latin America's biggest economy and a rare backer of Tehran's nuclear programme. Full Story »

A low-pressure system that has lingered in the Gulf of Mexico the past few days, bringing rain to the Gulf Coast, was expected to finally move inland into the Southeast on Sunday. This was likely to translate to widespread rain and even a few thunderstorms in the area even as the system weakens while moving toward the Southeast coast. Full Story »

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left Tehran on Sunday for a five nation tour, including Brazil and Venezuela, both supporters of the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear programme. Full Story »

MEXICO CITY - Authorities in the western Mexican state of Michoacan are investigating the disappearance of a journalist who wrote about organized crime. Full Story »

SALVADOR, Brazil (AFP) - Israeli settlement expansion on Palestinian territory must stop immediately, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Friday as he seeks to position Brazil as a player in the Middle East. Full Story »

KAMPALA, Uganda - Ugandan officials were offended Sunday after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wondered out loud whether Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was truly as brutal as he was reputed to be. Full Story »

SAN DIEGO - A 17-year-old pleaded guilty Friday to murdering a Border Patrol agent who was shot eight times in head, neck and torso in the mountains east of San Diego. Full Story »