Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state placed emergency teams on maximum alert as heavy rains that have displaced 35.000 residents were forecast to continue, reviving fears of mudslides and flooding that killed about 900 people last year.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has inaugurated the world's tallest bridge. The 403m tall Baluarte bridge spans a deep ravine in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in northern Mexico.
A deep-pocketed restaurateur has paid more than 700.000 dollars for a tuna at Japan's Tsukiji fish market, smashing the record for a single blue-fin. Bidding on the 269kg fish, caught off the coast of Japan's northern Aomori prefecture, stood at an eye-popping 711.864 dollars when the hammer came down in the first auction of the year.