Americas

Heads roll after ATF debacle

Thursday, 1 September 2011

The Federal agency that botched the tracking of weapons smuggled to Mexican drug cartels has been reorganised after guns were able to flow freely over the border.

Rescued Chilean miners to retire early

Thursday, 1 September 2011

Nearly half of the 33 miners who survived more than two months trapped underground last year have had their requests for early retirement approved.

Hollywood porn industry shuts as star contracts HIV

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Hollywood's "other" movie industry has ordered its cameras to stop rolling after an adult film star tested positive for HIV.

Chile miners granted early retirement

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Chile's government has granted early retirement requested by nearly half of the 33 miners who survived more than two months trapped deep underground.

IMF applauds Strauss-Kahn but Paris return may be more muted

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

David Usborne: He has successfully made his apologies to his former colleagues at the International Monetary Fund, but it is not clear how soon Dominique Strauss-Kahn will return to Paris.

US forces suffer their deadliest month yet in Afghan campaign

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

David Usborne: 66 military personnel lost this month, including the 30 who were killed when a Chinook was shot down.

I'm only doubling the size of my mansion, says Mitt Romney

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Guy Adams: Republican presidential hopeful interrupts earnest discussions about economy, healthcare and foreign policy to issue denial he is quadrupling size of holiday home.

Slump in US consumer confidence fuels QE calls

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Consumer confidence in the US is at its lowest ebb since the depths of the credit crisis, according to new figures that gave fresh ammunition to economists who want another round of monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve.

Polygamist sect leader taken to hospital after prison protest

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Warren Jeffs, the polygamist sect leader and convicted child rapist, was under sedation but still conscious in hospital yesterday, prison officials said.

Daryl Hannah held in White House protest

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Actress Daryl Hannah has been arrested in front of the White House along with other environmental protesters opposing a planned oil pipeline from Canada to the US Gulf Coast.

Arizona: Man, 86, impaled on pruning shears

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

A man who accidentally impaled himself on pruning shears is lucky to be alive. Leroy Luetscher, 86, was working in his garden in Green Valley, Arizona, when he dropped the shears.

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Michele Bachmann brushes off Hurricane Irene joke

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Republican White House hopeful Michele Bachmann insisted yesterday she was joking when she said a hurricane and quake were God's warning to Washington, in an effort to control the damage from her latest controversial comments.

President Obama's uncle held by US immigration

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

President Barack Obama's uncle was stopped on suspicion of drink driving, told police he planned to arrange bail through the White House and is being held on an immigration alert.

Hurricane Irene death toll continues to rise

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

The full measure of Hurricane Irene's fury came into focus as the death toll passed 44, while towns in the northern US region of New England battled epic floods and millions were still without electricity.

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Floods spread north as US counts cost of Irene

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

As commuters trickled into a mostly unscathed New York City yesterday in the wake of Hurricane Irene, raging rivers continued to cause record flooding all across the north-eastern United States and electricity companies struggled to restore power to 5m darkened homes and businesses.

Report on Guatemala syphilis scandal to urge testing reform

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

A presidential commission investigating how United States researchers deliberately infected prison inmates and mental patients in Guatemala with syphilis in the 1940s is expected this morning to issue new guidelines on ethical testing of new drugs.

US counts the cost of Irene's brutal trail of destruction

Monday, 29 August 2011

The death toll is 13 and the cost will run into tens of billions, but the storm was not as severe as feared.

Troops raid casinos after massacre

Monday, 29 August 2011

Hundreds of soldiers and federal agents have raided casinos in the city of Monterrey, days after an arson attack on a gambling house killed 52 people in a country numbed by massacres and beheadings at the hands of drugs gangs.

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Million without power as Irene rips into US

Sunday, 28 August 2011

Nearly 10,000 flights cancelled and historic first mandatory evacuations of New York city ordered.

I was hoping for something a little worse from Irene

Sunday, 28 August 2011

Stephen Foley: I'm rather jealous of those who had to decamp for a fun sleepover with friends.

San Pedro prison: a very strange tourist attraction

Sunday, 28 August 2011

The notorious Bolivian jail has no bars on the windows, and money can buy you absolutely anything – including a guided tour

Hurricane Irene makes landfall in New Jersey

Sunday, 28 August 2011

Forecasters say Hurricane Irene has hit the New Jersey coast with 75 mph (120-kph) winds.

Video: Deadly tram crash 'kills five'

Sunday, 28 August 2011

At least five people have been killed and more than 30 injured after a tram derailed in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.

Weakened Hurricane Irene batters US east coast

Saturday, 27 August 2011

Hurricane Irene has weakened to a Category 1 storm before hitting the North Carolina coast this morning.

Mayor Bloomberg urges New Yorkers to evacuate

Saturday, 27 August 2011

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for 370,000 New Yorkers who live mostly in low-lying areas.