A woman who just bought toilet paper at a grocery store reads her receipt as she leaves the private store in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. First milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities _ toilet paper. Economists say Venezuela's shortages stem from price controls meant to make basic goods available to the poorest parts of society and the government's controls on foreign currency.

Venezuelans scrambling to find scarce toilet paper

Venezuelans scrambled to stock up on toilet paper Thursday as fears of a bathroom emergency spread despite the socialist government's promise to import 50 million rolls. Photo Gallery Available

Lava flows from the Popocatepetl volcano after an eruption, seen from Tlamacas, Mexico, early Wednesday, May 15, 2013. The monitoring system of Popocatepetl volcano registered two explosions, yesterday and this early morning. Both events were accompanied by a column of gas and ash, reaching 3 km high and by the emission of incandescent fragments. Popocatepetl has put out small eruptions of ash almost daily since a round of activity began in 1994.

Mexico volcano registers more seismic activity

Seismic activity is continuing at the Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City and authorities say they have readied shelters and identified evacuation routes in case they should be needed. Photo Gallery Available

Colombia court convicts ex-lawmaker in massacre

Colombia's Supreme Court has convicted a former longtime congressman of being the mastermind behind the massacre of 43 people by right-wing paramilitary fighters in the north of the country more than two decades ago. It has sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

Nicaragua extradites US man in $137M fraud case

Nicaraguan authorities deported a U.S. man on Wednesday to face fraud and money laundering charges in his home country.

Dominican Republic sets crackdown on prostitution

People who force others into prostitution and clients of prostitutes will face arrest in the Dominican Republic as part of a crackdown on sex trafficking in the Caribbean country, the attorney general said Wednesday.

Agency: Jamaica cops deal poorly with mentally ill

An independent agency that investigates abuse allegations against Jamaica's security forces says the island's police need training in how to deal with mentally ill citizens.

Mexico fires official in flap over influence abuse

The Mexican government announced Wednesday it has fired an official whose daughter sent inspectors to shut down a restaurant that didn't give her the table she wanted.

El Salvador court hears arguments in abortion case

El Salvador's Supreme Court heard opening arguments Wednesday in a landmark abortion case in which a woman suffering from kidney failure and lupus has not been allowed to terminate a pregnancy in which the fetus is given no chance of surviving.

In this May 14, 2013 photo, a homeless woman sits next to her plastic tarp, along with a child, at the building where Pope Francis used to live when he was archbishop, near the Metropolitan Cathedral, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. With an Argentine on the throne of St. Peter, the South American country's capital city has launched a series of guided tours. Three-hour weekend bus trips and walking tours are so far non-commercial in the first step at papal tourism. The bus tours wind through Buenos Aires twice each Saturday and Sunday and can carry about 40 passengers, cruising past 24 sites linked to the new pope. There's no charge for the trip, or for more limited walking tours of downtown and neighborhood sites Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Buenos Aires launches tours for Argentine pope

You can see the streets where he grew up and played soccer, the church where Jorge Bergoglio prayed as a teenager and the cathedral where the man who would become Pope Francis said Mass. You can even visit the stand where he bought his newspapers every weekend and where he went for a haircut. Photo Gallery Available

In this picture taken May 9, 2013, Argentina's Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino, right, and Deputy Economy Minister Axel Kicillof explain to lawmakers a proposed law that aims to get Argentines to pull their undeclared U.S. dollars from under their mattresses and out of illegal tax havens, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The plan to get Argentines to deposit their previously unreported American greenbacks into the local banking system is eliciting strong warnings that it will turn the country into a magnet for money launderers and organized crime. The government of President Cristina Fernandez dismisses those concerns, saying the proposal to accept these dollars without charging taxes or asking whether they were obtained legally is needed to finance the key construction and energy industries, which have stalled due to inflationary pressures and currency controls.

Amnesty for undeclared dollars divides Argentina

A plan to get Argentines to pull their undeclared U.S. dollars from under their mattresses and out of illegal tax havens, and deposit them in the banking system is eliciting warnings that it will turn the country into a magnet for money launderers and organized crime.

Puerto Rico delegate seeks vote for statehood

Puerto Rico's representative in Congress is seeking an unprecedented yes-or-no vote on whether the island should become the 51st state, submitting a bill Wednesday that riled many in the U.S. territory.

In this March 27, 2013 photo, students occupy the administrative offices of the Rio de Janeiro Rural Federal University, UFRRJ, to protest the school's conditions in Seropedica, Brazil. Laboratories routinely flood when it rains, lecture halls reach oven-like temperatures because the burned-out AC units were never replaced, the Internet works only intermittently and students hardly dare venture out after dark for fear of being mugged.

Education woes seen as Achilles' heel of Brazil

There's a storage room just off a university lab that gives students more experience than many can handle: Skinned pigs and cats, disembodied cow livers, intestines, brains and the other unidentifiable detritus of years' worth of dissections fill a dozen wading pool-sized vats to the brim. Photo Gallery Available

Colombian government, rebels resume peace talks

Representatives of Colombia's government and largest rebel army have resumed peace talks in the Cuban capital.

6 men executed at car lot in northern Mexican

A gang of assailants armed with assault rifles drove up to a northern Mexico car lot and shot to death six men.

FILE - In this May 8, 2008 file photo, Vitalmiro Moura, a rancher acquitted of ordering the killing of American nun and rainforest defender Dorothy Stang, gestures during an interview in Belem, Brazil. Brazil's Supreme Court has annulled the trial and says in a statement that Moura was not given enough time to prepare his defense in 2010 when he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Retrial ordered in case of US nun slain in Brazil

Brazil's Supreme Court has annulled the trial and conviction of a rancher jailed for ordering the 2005 murder of U.S. nun and Amazon defender Dorothy Stang. Photo Gallery Available

Tropical Storm Alvin strengthening in the Pacific

Tropical Storm Alvin, the first named storm of the east Pacific hurricane season is gradually strengthening off the coast of Mexico.

FILE - This April 11, 2013 file photo shows the new rooftop of the Maracana Stadium, which is undergoing renovations in preparation for the 2013 Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A judge has suspended a preliminary order that blocked the signing of a deal giving a multinational consortium the right to run Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium for the next 35 years. Key matches of the upcoming Confederations Cup and next year's World Cup will be held at Maracana.

Brazil judge lifts Maracana concession injunction

A judge has suspended a preliminary order that blocked the signing of a deal giving a multinational consortium the right to run Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium for 35 years.

Medical alert in Guantanamo amid hunger strike

A U.S. military spokesman says medics at the Guantanamo Bay prison were called to a cell amid a long-running hunger strike at the U.S. base in Cuba.

Ex-Guatemala dictator Rios Montt still in hospital

Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt is spending a second day at a military hospital after fainting while on his way to a court hearing.

Prosecutor: Shabazz was beaten with bat or stick

The men who beat Malcolm Shabazz to death not only punched and kick him but also used a bat or stick during the attack, Mexico City's top prosecutor said Tuesday.

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