Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Dozens missing in south-eastern São Paulo state as rescue crews search for bodies in the rubble of homes
Search and rescue teams raced to find dozens of people that remained missing after heavy rains devastated coastal areas of Brazil’s south-eastern São Paulo state, as the official death toll rose to 48.
“We are currently working with a tally of at least 38 missing people,” the São Paulo governor, Tarcísio de Freitas, told reporters on Wednesday, as weather forecasters cautioned more rain was on its way.
Wintry conditions will arrive this week, with temperatures plummeting and possibility of snow showers
This week winter will arrive in earnest in the UK, driven by a large area of high pressure over Iceland that will drag Arctic air southwards.
As this cold air descends over the UK on Tuesday, northern Scotland will experience the first signs of this wintry weather, with daytime temperatures forecast to be barely above freezing, alongside some possible sleet and snow showers throughout the day. The cold front will make its way further south over the course of Wednesday, pulling temperatures to well below the seasonal norm.
New September temperature record reaches 107F or 41.7C in Salt Lake City, Utah
Through this week, the heatwave in the US has been continuing, allowing more September records to fall. Salt Lake City in Utah saw its September temperature record broken, with each day hotter than the last, until the current highest ever September temperature was recorded on Wednesday. The new September record is now 107F or 41.7C, which astonishingly is also tied as the all-time temperature record for Salt Lake City. It is extraordinary to record a tied record high temperature in meteorological autumn.
Farther south earlier this week, the tropical storm off the west coast of Mexico, previously Twelve-E, developed into a category 2 hurricane, bringing sustained winds of 100mph, and was named Hurricane Kay. The hurricane brought intense flooding all the way up the west coast of Mexico, from Oaxaca to Nayarit by Thursday 8 September. In the last 48 hours, Kay has weakened into a tropical storm, but continues to bring extreme rain in its path, across the Baja California Peninsula and up towards the US state of California.
Analysis: The presence of cooler water can have wider-ranging impacts on global weather patterns
It’s not the first time recently that chilly conditions have gripped parts of southern South America in the lead-up to the southern hemisphere winter. Over the past couple of days, an area of low pressure has positioned itself just south-east of the continent and allowed cold air to filter northwards into southern Chile and Argentina. This process will continue over the coming days with temperatures 5-10 degrees below normal in Argentina from Thursday.
In fact, the western side of South America, including farther north into Peru, has experienced almost perpetually cool conditions of late linked to an ongoing La Niña event in the Pacific Ocean. During these events, which usually occur every few years, sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the south-eastern Pacific cool significantly as colder waters from the deep upwell to the surface. Current observations suggest SSTs just off the coast of Peru are between 1.5 and 3.5C colder than normal and they have been cooler than normal since last autumn. The presence of cooler water has an often moderating impact on temperatures in South America but can have wider-ranging impacts on global weather patterns too.
As election run-off looms, José Antonio Kast’s opponents sound the alarm
María Irene Campos was a woman on a mission.
“I want to send the message that Chile will never again be communist,” the 74-year-old retiree proclaimed as she hit the streets last Friday to catch a glimpse of the man she believes can save her South American homeland from such a fate.
Country’s topography means local variations in temperature and rainfall can be very pronounced
The most northerly country in South America, Venezuela is also the sixth largest – roughly one-and-a-half times the size of France or Texas. It is very varied topographically, from the northernmost part of the Andes mountains in the west, via the Orinoco River, which runs across the country towards its coastal delta, to the Guiana Highlands in the east.
Being so close to the equator, there is very little variation in temperature from month to month: the capital, Caracas, has typical daily maxima in the mid-20s, and night-time temperatures in the mid-teens, throughout the year. It is noticeably cooler than coastal cities because of its higher altitude: roughly 1,050 metres (3,420ft) above sea level.
Seasonal storms that blow up on the Peruvian coast at this time of year are named after St Rosa
In August 1615, a Dutch pirate fleet under Joris Van Spilbergen threatened the city of Lima. According to legend, a nun called Sister Rosa, whose original name was Isabel Flores de Oliva, prayed for deliverance. A tremendous storm blew up just as the pirates were sailing in to sack the city and scattered their fleet.
The storm was hailed as a miracle, and Sister Rosa became the first person born in the Americas to be canonised. She is patron saint of embroidery, gardening, the Americas, and the city of Lima. The seasonal storms that blow up on the Peruvian coast at this time of year are known as the Tormentas de Santa Rosa or Saint Rosa’s storms. These traditionally occur 15 days either side of the saint’s day on 30 August.
Satellite images confirm snow decrease spurred by climate crisis as glaciers recede and communities reliant on mountain water face shortages
The Andes mountain range is facing historically low snowfall this year during a decade-long drought that scientists link to global heating.
Scant rain and snowfall are leaving many of the majestic mountains between Ecuador and Argentina with patchy snow cover or no snow at all as dry, brown earth lies exposed.
Fires are raging across the world’s largest tropical rainforest as farmers, land-grabbers and loggers torch trees and clear land for crops or grazing. According to Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research, the number of fires detected by satellite in the Amazon region this month is the highest since 2010. Bowing to international pressure and a global outcry over the destruction of a vital resource in the fight against climate change, president Jair Bolsonaro authorised the deployment of Brazil’s armed forces to help combat blazes, with warplane dumping water on burning tracts of Amazon. Critics say the large number of fires this year has been stoked by Bolsonaro’s encouragement of farmers, loggers and ranchers to speed up efforts to strip away forest
Venezuela's Attorney General Tarek W... . Staff members of jailed councilman Fernando Alberto Alban Salazar embrace outside the Bolivarian National Security Service headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Oct. 8, 2018.
Whoever wins Brazil's presidential race this month will inherit a fiscal straight jacket and a drifting economy in urgent need of repair - but will have no governing coalition in Congress to pass reforms. BRASILIA: Whoever wins Brazil's presidential race this month will inherit a fiscal straight jacket and a drifting economy in urgent need of repair: but will have no governing coalition in Congress to pass reforms.
If only someone could have warned Brazil of the Castro dictatorship's decades-long history of being a deadbeat regime. Dyogo Oliveira, president of Brazil's state-owned National Bank of Economic and Social Development said on Tuesday his organization, which is also known as a development bank, should not have extended credit to the governments of Cuba and Venezuela.
Videos going viral of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro feasting on a steak prepared by a celebrity chef at a time many in his crisis-wracked nation are going hungry is drawing fury from opponents of the embattled socialist leader. Maduro visited the famed Nusr-Et steakhouse in Istanbul when he stopped over briefly in Turkey on the way home from a trip to China to raise badly needed investment.
August 28/18: Sailing for Brazil Jane's reports , that the Brazilian Navy's newest ship is dropping anchor in Rio de Janeiro. The PHM Atlantico was bought from the UK Royal Navy earlier this year as part of Brazil's 'Obtaining Full Operational Capability' program.
Colombians are voting Sunday in a first-of-a-kind referendum that aims to curb corruption in a country where white-collar criminals are fast replacing drug gangs and paramilitary groups in penetrating the upper echelons of power. The referendum seeks to slash the salaries of Colombia's Congress members and to bring laws that make public spending more efficient and transparent.
A supporter of Federal deputy Jair Bolsonaro wears a mask of U.S. President Donald Trump before the national convention of the Party for Socialism and Liberation where he is to be formalized as a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil July 22, 2018. Photo - Reuters/Ricardo Moraes/File A supporter of Federal deputy Jair Bolsonaro wears a mask of U.S. President Donald Trump before the national convention of the Party for Socialism and Liberation where he is to be formalized as a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil July 22, 2018.
There are few things more thrilling than seeing an old car on the road and wondering, "Wow! Whatever happened to that one?" In fact, it's the thrill of finding such a car, which we thought had been dead and buried, out on the street again that is the main factor for our excitement. We know all cars, and their brands, have a lifespan.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai described as "cruel" a policy launched by US President Donald Trump to separate children of illegal immigrants from their families, during her first visit to South America to promote girls' education. More than 2,300 children were separated from their parents after the Trump administration began a "zero tolerance" policy on illegal immigrants in early May, seeking to prosecute all adults who cross the border illegally from Mexico into the United States.
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Pope Francis speaks in Santiago, Chile on January 17, 2018. His visit to Chile came at a time when a sex abuse scandal was rocking the country's Catholic Church.