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REVEALED: The 60,000 US troops already based in Europe that Biden might call into action to defend against Russian aggression: American warships, stealth fighter jets, tanks and bombers could now train their sights on Putin.The USS Harry S. Truman and its strike group will participate in a NATO exercise in the Mediterranean until February 4; Biden said he and European leaders had 'total unanimity' about the situation in the Ukraine; The White House said NATO has emphasised a desire for a diplomatic solution; Putin discussed a 'strategic partnership' with Cuba in a phone call with President Miguel Díaz-Canel, days after...

Note: The following text is a quote: Heads of Canadian alien smuggling organization sentenced BURLINGTON, Vt. - On May 3, Jose Manuel Galdamez-Serrano, 56, Norvin Gonzalez-Morales, 29, Ruben Damas-Hernandez, 31, and Emmanuel Antonio Galdamez, 27, of Montreal, Quebec, were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Burlington following their guilty pleas to alien smuggling offenses. The defendants were extradited to the United States from Canada to face the charges contained in the indictment. Chief U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III sentenced Jose Manual Galdamez-Serrano to 60 months imprisonment and three years of probation following his guilty plea to one count...

Note: The following text SNIPPET is a quote: SEVEN CHARGED FOR ILLEGAL EXPORT OF ELECTRONICS TO U.S. DESIGNATED TERRORIST ENTITY IN PARAGUAY February 19, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Jeffrey H. Sloman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Investigations, John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, Harold Woodward, Director of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Michael Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Commerce (DOC), Adam J. Szubin, Director, Department of the...

Official: Laptop reveals ties to Ecuador By ALEJANDRA LABANCA New documents a Colombian government official says were retrieved from the computer of slain guerrilla leader Raúl Reyes show FARC's ties in Latin America may be more widespread than previously reported. Some of the documents, obtained by The Miami Herald, indicate that a leading member of Ecuador's constitutional assembly, charged with reshaping that country's political landscape, may have been a longtime supporter of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. María Augusta Calle -- also the head of Venezuela's Telesur TV network in Ecuador and a supporter of President Hugo Chávez --...

Iran's Global Ambition   Michael Rubin   Middle Eastern Outlook/AEI Online   March 17, 2008   While the United States has focused its attention on Iranian activities in the greater Middle East, Iran has worked assiduously to expand its influence in Latin America and Africa. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's outreach in both areas has been deliberate and generously funded. He has made significant strides in Latin America, helping to embolden the anti-American bloc of Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua. In Africa, he is forging strong ties as well. The United States ignores these developments at its peril, and efforts need to...

Brasilia - A large new oil reserve has been found in Brazil. The exact size of the reserves is unknown, but Brasilia is optimistic. Minister for Energy Dilma Roussef believes they could make Brazil just as big an oil producer as Venezuela and some Arabic countries. One of the oil fields off the coast of Sao Paulo is thought to contain 8 billion barrels of oil.

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Vilified by world leaders wary of his nuclear ambitions, Iran's president is turning to South American leftists who are embracing him as an energy and trade partner and counterweight to U.S. influence. On the heels of a U.N. General Assembly appearance in which he said Iran will ignore demands by "arrogant powers" to curb its nuclear program, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was headed to Bolivia on Thursday to establish first-time diplomatic relations with the Andean nation.

Police on Thursday recovered a small part of the fortune in cash that disappeared from a small plane after it crashed in northeastern Brazil, according to news reports. The twin-engine plane was carrying $2.6 million worth of Brazilian reals when it crashed Wednesday afternoon near the city of Salvador, some 750 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro in Bahia state, killing all four people aboard, officials said. Police say they suspect locals made off with the bags of cash before rescuers arrived on the scene. But on Thursday, according to the Web sites of O Globo and Estado de S....

Troops have been deployed to boost police presence in Bogota US President George W Bush has arrived in Colombia as part of his five-nation Latin American tour.He will meet President Alvaro Uribe in a display of support for efforts to combat that country's insurgency. Colombia is one of the largest recipients of US aid to help fight a long-running war against left-wing guerrillas and drug traffickers. The visit is being overshadowed by a political scandal, which has raised questions about US support in Congress. The scandal has linked a number of President Uribe's government politicians to right-wing paramilitaries. Some...

Thousands of protesters greeted Mr Bush's arrival US President George Bush has met his Uruguayan counterpart, Tabare Vazquez, as part of his five-nation Latin American tour to promote trade.Mr Bush arrived in Montevideo from Brazil - where he signed a deal to develop alternative fuel sources. Uruguay is keen to sign free trade deals with the US, even if it means leaving the Mercosur trade bloc. The tour attracted protests in Brazil and about 5,000 protesters gathered in Uruguay for Mr Bush's visit. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is conducting his own tour of the region and addressed 40,000 anti-Bush...

!-- S IIMA --> Chavez attacked Bush in front of the Buenos Aires crowd It was the kind of situation that the Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez, loves - 40,000 flag-waving supporters joining him in hurling insults at the US President, George W Bush.He was at a football stadium in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, leading what he called an anti-imperialist rally to coincide with Mr Bush's arrival in neighbouring Uruguay. Most of the crowd were members of trade unions, left-wing and human rights organisations, those who already supported Mr Chavez and what he calls his brand of socialism for...

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Washington, D.C. Thank you all. (Applause.) Please be seated -- si ntese. Buenas tardes. Gracias por la bienevenida. For those of you not from Texas, that means, good afternoon. (Laughter.) And thank you for the welcome. I'm honored to be back again with the men and women of the Hispanic Chamber. I appreciate your hospitality. I'm pleased to report the economy of the United States is strong, and one of the reasons why is because the entrepreneurial spirit of America is strong. And the entrepreneurial spirit of America is represented in this room....

CARACAS, Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez threatened Wednesday to nationalize any privately owned supermarkets and food storage facilities caught hoarding inventories or violating price controls imposed on basic goods. Accusing private companies of hoarding foods such as beef, Chavez warned supermarket owners and distributors that he would nationalize their facilities as soon as they gave him "an excuse" to seize such assets. "If they remain committed to violating the interests of the people, the constitution, the laws, I'm going to take the food storage units, corner stores, supermarkets and nationalize them," Chavez said during a televised broadcast. "So prepare yourselves!" Chavez...

President Hugo Chavez has pledged to nationalise key Venezuelan companies, as part of plans to transform the country into a full socialist state. Mr Chavez said he wanted to see major Venezuelan power and telecoms companies come under state control. The country's telecoms giant CANTV is an expected target He also called for an end to foreign ownership of lucrative crude oil refineries in the Orinoco region. Mr Chavez's comments came in an address to the nation following the swearing in of his new cabinet. "All of that which was privatized, let it be nationalised," he said during the...

Colombians granted their Right-wing president a second four years in office yesterday, backing his assaults on the booming drugs trade. Alvaro Uribe, Washington's staunchest ally in Latin America, changed the constitution last year to allow himself to seek re-election and becomes the first Colombian president to win a second term for more than a century. His victory, with 62 per cent of the vote, halts a trend in the continent that has seen Left-wing leaders elected in Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Uruguay. The Oxford-educated president campaigned on his uncompromising security policy, under which murder rates have fallen by a...

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is approaching his wary South American neighbors about developing a nuclear energy program, raising questions in Washington about his atomic ambitions. ADVERTISEMENT Chavez, a self-described socialist revolutionary fiercely opposed to the U.S. administration, says he wants to cooperate with Argentina, Brazil and possibly Iran to develop nuclear energy as part of his drive for regional integration. But energy experts estimate it will take his government at least five years of studies, training and investment to develop a sustainable nuclear energy project in Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter. "Nuclear energy is...

<p>"Elections now!" thousands of pot-banging demonstrators chanted Tuesday night as they flooded the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital. Amid an escalating economic crisis and the Argentine legislature's recent assault on democracy, their outrage is unmistakable and thoroughly justified. On Tuesday, lawmakers scrapped the March 3 presidential elections and put in place a leader of its own choosing, Sen. Eduardo Duhalde, to hold power through 2003. Yesterday, the Peronist Party leader was given a farcical inauguration ceremony, making him Argentina's fifth president in two weeks.</p>

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil's state oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) (PBR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday its operations in Bolivia had not been hurt so far by civil unrest in the neighboring Andean country. Its two refineries and the production and export of natural gas in Bolivia -- its biggest investment in the country -- are operating under normal conditions, the company's press office said. Nevertheless, it later said protesters had occupied a terminal owned by a another company, Transrede, where it stores liquified gas from the San Alberto and San Antonio gas fields...

Early on the morning of March 16th, 1984, William Buckley left for work at the American embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. Officially, Mr. Buckley, a decorated veteran of the Special Forces, served as the political officer at the embassy. In reality, however, Mr. Buckley was the embassy’s CIA station chief. On his way to the compound, Buckley’s car was stopped by a group of masked men, who forced him from his car at gunpoint. His assailants would later be identified as terrorists from the group Islamic Jihad, which served as an alias for the real perpetrators, Hezbollah. The circumstances surrounding the...

Where 'Disrespect' Can Land You in JailVenezuela's minister of communication and information, Andres Izarra, recently accused The Post and several other American media of being part of a campaign to defame Venezuela directed by the Bush administration and funded by the State Department. Apparently I drew Izarra's attention by writing several columns and editorials lamenting President Hugo Chavez's assault on press freedom and the independent judiciary and his support for anti-democratic movements elsewhere in Latin America. One of the journalists libeled by Izarra pointed out that he had no evidence to back up his accusations. According to the newspaper El...