More money: High food and commodity prices have boosted Brazil's economy, giving more people the disposable income to buy items such as cars, homes, and electronics....
Postphorism
A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
They have quarreled over the 1880's pillaging of Peru's national library by Chilean troops. They have squabbled over who has the naming rights to pisco, the fiery grape brandy. Now, Peru and Chile are arguing over another hot-button issue: the origins of the potato.
Faced with shortages of foods, building materials and other staples, President Hugo Chávez is intensifying state control of the Venezuelan economy through a new wave of takeovers of private companies and the creation of government-controlled ventures with allies like Cuba and Iran.
The revelry on the streets in front of the Hall of Justice carried on deep into the morning. Bottle rockets flew. Couples danced and kissed. Drums beat wildly. Young people draped with Paraguayan flags clung to the columns of the building.
Joao Pina for The New York Times
Haiti's hunger, that burn in the belly that so many here feel, has become fiercer than ever in recent days as global food prices spiral out of reach, spiking as much as 45 percent since the end of 2006 and turning Haitian staples like beans, corn and rice into closely guarded treasures.
Scorned trash pickers are becoming a global environmental force as they help developing countries recycle large amounts of discarded material and reduce the development of methane.
Chilean Finance Minister Andres Velasco said today's decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut its benchmark interest rate is a ``good signal'' for markets.
Here are the three things that I found most interesting about Tuesday's New Hampshire primary in which Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton and Republican Sen. John McCain won upset victories that threw the 2008 presidential race into uncharted territory...
The rapid escalation of the U.S. anti-immigration hysteria -- fueled by ratings-hungry cable-television hotheads and leading Republican presidential hopefuls -- is a dangerous trend: It may lead to a Hispanic intifada that may rock this nation in the not-so-distant future.
The bodies of two dozen people washed ashore in southern Mexico after emergency officials received reports that a boat carrying Central American migrants had capsized in the Pacific. The bodies have not been identified, and officials said the government was searching for more victims around the coastal town of San Francisco del Mar, 200 miles west of the border with Guatemala. If the victims are confirmed to be migrants, it could be evidence that smugglers are increasingly turning to boats to avoid highway checkpoints set up to deter the flow of Central Americans into southern Mexico.
American officials say the migration, which has grown into a multimillion-dollar-a-year smuggling enterprise, has risen sharply because many Cubans have lost hope that Raúl Castro, who took over as president from his brother Fidel in 2006, will make changes that will improve their lives. Cuban authorities contend that the migration is more economic than political and is fueled by Washington's policy of rewarding Cubans who enter the United States illegally.
Bipartisan Compromise Fails To Satisfy the Right or the Left
The most dramatic overhaul of the nation's immigration laws in a generation was crushed yesterday in the Senate, with the forces of the political right and left overwhelming a bipartisan compromise on one of the most difficult issues facing the country.
Senate Democratic and Republican leaders announced on Thursday that they had agreed on a way to revive a comprehensive immigration bill that was pulled off the Senate floor seven days ago.
COLORADO, Mexico — For 10 years, Eduardo Valenzuela has been crossing the border illegally near Yuma, Ariz., trekking over desert scrub and hopping a freight train to get back to his job with a construction company in Phoenix. The clandestine trip has become an annual ritual for him, as he goes home each winter to see his children.
The UN appears to be doing what it can to ensure that climate change does not fall off the political radar. Yet, it still isn't enough. A concerted international strategy, on a par with the seriousness and scope of an UN Security Council resolution, is what's needed to counter this climate crisis. More... Previous...
After leaders in the Andes tiptoed from the edge of war to bear hugs and oaths of brotherhood, Latin America was trying to sort out the winners and losers in the region's worst diplomatic dispute in years.
Another step will be taken this Fall down the long road to a proposed, final trade agreement and increased cooperation between the European Union and Central America.
WASHINGTON DC---Reports of paramilitary infiltration of the Colombia
government and military, and the assassinations of Colombia trade unionists, including the three Colombia union workers of Drummond Coal Co., are on the mind and agenda of a powerful US Senator in talks with top Colombia officials the first week of May.
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