In the run-up to this city's huge Carnival, the cash register at the souvenir shop where Vania Alves works is normally buzzing as hoards of revelers scoop up rubber thong sandals, teeny bikinis and sarongs printed with the Brazilian flag.

Opposition presidential contender Pablo Perez finished off his campaign Thursday urging public employees to join his supporters and vote in a primary election choosing a single challenger to face President Hugo Chavez.

Not content with legislative approval of a big pay raise, Rio state police officers went on strike Friday, raising fears for the security of the glittering Carnival extravaganza that sets this seaside city throbbing.

Venezuela turned over a prominent Colombian paramilitary warlord to Colombian authorities on Thursday.

Legislators in Panama have agreed to reconsider a law on dams and mining that set off disruptive protests by Indians and their supporters.

Medical authorities in Panama say former dictator Manuel Noriega has left a hospital four days after fainting in the prison where he is serving time for murder, embezzlement and corruption.

The chief prosecutor's office obtained an arrest warrant Thursday for ex-President Alvaro Uribe's longtime peace commissioner for allegedly choreographing the bogus surrender of a column of leftist guerrillas.

After two hours' grueling drive southeast from the center of Mexico City, through paralyzing traffic jams and clouds of throat-burning smog, the bleached-white haze of air pollution gives way to pale-blue sky.

Lawyers for a U.S. reality television producer facing trial for allegedly murdering his wife at a Mexican resort said Thursday they hope to persuade a judge to drop the charges and free their client.

The ruins aren't particularly impressive, just some stone and clay footings for houses that probably supported walls of wood or clay wattle. And it's that very ordinariness that has experts excited.

The historic seizure of 15 tons of pure methamphetamine in western Mexico, equal to half of all meth seizures worldwide in 2009, feeds growing speculation that the country could become a world platform for meth production, not just a supplier to the United States.