South America

MOSCOW, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he is ready to hold talks with the country's opposition with the help of international mediators, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday.

"I am ready to sit down at the negotiating table with the opposition so that we can speak for the good of Venezuela, for the sake of peace and the country's future," the Russian news agency quoted Maduro as saying in an interview.

MOSCOW (AP) — More than a week into a standoff with the opposition, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday that he is willing to negotiate.

Violent street demonstrations erupted last week after opposition leader Juan Guaido during a major opposition rally in Caracas declared that he had assumed presidential powers under the constitution and planned to hold fresh elections to end Maduro’s “dictatorship.”

28 Jan 2019; AFP: Brazilian mining giant Vale lost more than $18 billion of its value Monday in a dramatic share plunge on the Sao Paulo stock exchange as investors reacted to the collapse of one of its dams that killed scores and left hundreds missing.

The 24.5 percent drop followed an eight percent dive on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, the day the disaster occurred. The Brazilian bourse was closed that day for a public holiday.

30 Jan 2019; AFP: The death toll from the collapse of a Brazilian dam rose to 84 on Tuesday as mining giant Vale announced that moves to dismantle similar structures would hit production.

Brazilian authorities are stepping up their probe of Vale, with five engineers involved in the operating licenses and the last inspection of the dam arrested on prosecutors' orders in the state of Minas Gerais, where the disaster occurred Friday at one of the firm's mines.

30 Jan 2019; AFP: Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice barred self-declared president Juan Guaido from leaving the country and froze his bank accounts Tuesday, as leader Nicolas Maduro seeks to neutralize the American-backed opposition chief.

The 35-year-old head of the National Assembly legislature "is prohibited from leaving the country until the end of the (preliminary) investigation" for having "caused harm to peace in the republic," high court president Maikel Moreno said.

27 Jan 2019; AFP: CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela defused a potential showdown with the United States, suspending a demand that U.S. diplomats leave the country as Washington called on the world to “pick a side” in the South American nation’s fast-moving crisis.

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/ At least 50 people died after a mining dam burst in the south-east of Brazil, Brazilian media reported on Saturday.

Earlier reports said seven people died in the disaster, and around 200 remain missing.

A dam collapsed at an iron-ore mine in Brumandinho in the Minas Gerais state.

Brumadinho (Brazil), Jan 26 (AFP) A collapse of a disused dam at an iron-ore mine complex in southeast Brazil killed at least seven people and left 150 missing, officials said, as they sought to evaluate the full scope of the disaster.

The tailings dam, owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale, broke apart "very violently, very suddenly", sending a massive torrent of mud over the complex where 300 mine employees were working, Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman told a news conference in Rio de Janeiro.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Backed by Venezuela’s military, President Nicolas Maduro went on the offensive against an opposition leader who declared himself interim president and his U.S. supporters, setting up a potentially explosive struggle for power in the crisis-plagued South American nation.

MOSCOW, January 24./TASS/. Venezuelan Ambassador to Russia Carlos Rafael Fario Tortosa said on Thursday that the staff of the US diplomatic mission in Venezuela would be stripped of diplomatic immunity after 72 hours President Nicolas Maduro had given them to leave the country.