Royal Caribbean International announced on Monday that the 31 May 2013 sailing of Grandeur of the Seas from Baltimore, Maryland, will be cancelled to allow for repairs to damages sustained as a result of a fire.
Chilean and Argentine authorities declared a red alert and ordered the mandatory evacuation of a 25-km radius around the active Copahue volcano, which straddles the border between the two Andean nations.
Heavy rains in the Brazilian north-eastern city of Salvador tore through the roof of a newly constructed stadium for Confederations Cup soccer games starting next month, a warm-up before Brazil hosts the World Cup next year.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica currently in Beijing on an official visit, underlined the significance of China in trade and investments fro South America, but also admitted there is some ‘fear’ mainly from Argentina and Brazil about a greater integration and dependency from the Asian giant.
Paraguayan Foreign minister Jose Fernandez Estigarribia said on Monday that so far Asuncion has not received any invitation from Mercosur to attend the coming summit at the end of June, and there haven’t been any talks about the issue. Last week the Argentine ambassador in Uruguay Dante Dovena had anticipated that Paraguay would be attending the Mercosur summit.
An outbreak of H1N1 flu has killed 17 people in Venezuela and infected another 250, private media and local authorities said on Monday. H1N1, often referred to as swine flu, was a flu strain that swept around in the world in a 2009/2010 pandemic.
Catholic News Agency reports that the serious food shortage in Venezuela could lead to a lack of wine and hosts for the celebration of Mass. Reporter Macky Arenas Arenas explained that the shortage in the country is due to “the lack of raw materials.”
An Argentine investigative journalist program on alleged corruption involving former president Nestor Kirchner and his business cronies had a greater audience than a football match of Boca Juniors, the country’s most popular team disputing the Argentine premier league.
Brazil posted another hefty current account deficit in April as its traditional trade surplus has turned into a deficit this year and foreign companies are repatriating more of their profits, according to central bank data.
Chilean authorities have fined the world's largest gold mining company, Barrick Gold Corp, more than 16 million dollars for environmental offences. Construction at the Pascua-Lama mine, on the border with Argentina, has been suspended until a system to contain contaminated water is put in place.