For police chief Clayton Leão Chaves it was supposed to be another day at the office. At around 9.40am this morning, he was making his daily journey to the police HQ in Camacari, a small city in Bahia state, and giving an interview to local radio on...

A leading collection of dead snakes, spiders and scorpions housed at a research centre in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been destroyed by fire. The curator of the Butantan Institute said the destruction of the entire collection was a “loss to...

Brazil’s ruling Workers’ party has nominated President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff, to replace him, raising the prospect of the country’s first woman president.

Brazilian health officials have kicked off an AIDS awareness campaign and will hand out 55 million condoms during the annual Carnival festival that begins next week.

In an interview with the G1 website, this Wednesday, Silvana Bianchi, grandmother of Sean Goldman, the 9-year-old American boy who was abducted to Brazil by his mother when he was 4, said she will have the worst Christmas of her life. “They are...

A blunt-talking former guerrilla fell just short of a first-round victory in Uruguay’s presidential election, according to results Monday, and his conservative opponents have united in hopes of leaping past him in a Nov. 29 runoff. Jose...

At least five inmates have burned to death in a fire at a prison in north-eastern Brazil, officials say. They said about 40 other prisoners were injured at the jail in the coastal town of Joao Pessoa.

Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Felipe Calderon from Mexico called for a strategic alliance between the two countries based on free trade and cooperation between state energy companies Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and...

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez told his ambassador to return to Colombia amid a diplomatic dispute over U.S. bases in Colombia and alleged Venezuelan support for guerrillas in the country. “There’s work to do,” Chavez said on state television...

But in Latin America, there’s some light in the art world: affordable art is selling well. The Buenos Aires International Art Fair — known as ArteBA — took place this week and attracted more than 130,000 visitors during its five-day...