South America

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- At least four children were killed, and several wounded in an attack on a nursery school in southern Brazil Wednesday, local authorities said.

A 25-year-old attacker invaded the preschool with an axe-like weapon, police said.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — At the start of the long Easter weekend, the airport in Argentina’s capital is eerily quiet before dawn, hours before it will fill with travelers. About 100 people who sleep inside the facility are getting ready to start their day.

One of them is Ángel Gómez, who has been living in the Jorge Newbery International Airport for two years and has seen how the number of people joining him has soared.

BRASILIA, April 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro appeared at the federal police headquarters on Wednesday to testify in an investigation into jewellery and gifts given in 2021 to the then-president and his wife by the king of Saudi Arabia.

One of the jewellery sets given to then first lady Michelle Bolsonaro and valued at US$3.26 million was seized by customs officials in the backpack of a government aide returning from Saudi Arabia.

Bolsonaro returned two other gift packages after Brazil’s federal audit court ordered him to do so.

BOGOTA, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — About 120 residents living near Colombia’s Nevada del Ruiz volcano were evacuated Monday, officials said, after increased seismic activity.

A 1985 eruption by the volcano that killed 25,000 people is considered the worst natural disaster in Colombian history and one of the deadliest eruptions of the 20th century.

The governor of the Caldas department, Luis Carlos Velasquez, told Blu Radio that around 40 families living near the volcano were relocated as a “preventative” measure.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — One startup lists as its address a small home in a working-class district in Venezuela’s capital whose owner has never heard of the firm. Another is a Hong Kong-based shell company created in 2020. Yet another belongs to a Spanish commodities trader indicted in the U.S. for allegedly helping Russian oligarchs launder ill-gotten profits.

SANTIAGO, March 29 (Reuters) - Chile detected the first case of bird flu in a human, the country's health ministry reported on Wednesday.

The case was detected in a 53-year-old man who presented severe influenza symptoms, according to a statement issued by the ministry, but they noted the patient was in stable condition.

The government is also investigating the source of contagion as well as others who were in contact with the patient.

Chile has reported cases of the H5N1 bird flu since late last year in wild animals.

BRASILIA, March 26 (NNN-AGENCIA BRASIL) — Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has been elected Friday to head the New Development Bank (NDB), also known as the BRICS Bank to replace Marcos Troyjo, who had held the post since July 2020.

Rousseff will remain at the helm of the Shanghai-based financial institution until the end of Brazil’s mandate in July 2025. Each BRICS country (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) chairs the bank for rotating five-year terms. She will take office later next week.

BRASILIA, March 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who left the country for the United States two days before his term ended, will return home on March 30, his party and press service announced.

His entourage said Bolsonaro had handed over to authorities, through his lawyers, some expensive jewels given to him by the government of Saudi Arabia.

The 68-year-old far-right leader has been embroiled in a scandal over the issue and is accused of having brought the jewels into Brazil illegally.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Undeclared diamond jewelry brought into Brazil from Saudi Arabia has deepened the legal jeopardy of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. An investigation into two sets of jewels reportedly worth millions is only the latest scandal threatening the far-right politician. But an extensive paper trail and even videos could make the case particularly daunting for Bolsonaro.

WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE DIAMONDS?

QUITO, March 24 (NNN-XINHUA) — Ecuador is taking measures to ensure smooth operation of port facilities amid immense flooding caused by heavy rains since Thursday morning in the coastal city of Guayaquil.

Guayaquil, an industrial center and port city in southwestern Ecuador, was hardest hit by the storms and subsequent flooding, landslides and disruptions of transportation and supplies.