Americas

Rachel de Queiroz, grand dame of the Brazilian literary community, passed away quietly this week. A published author at 20, Queiroz was a remarkable novelist, playwright, raconteur and columnist.

Gunfights between police and gangs in a bustling Brazilian 'favela' see students at Rio's neighbouring 'American School' running for cover.

As new statistics show 133 million Americans are breathing in harmful exhaust fumes, President Bush amends a law that critics say will only inflame the growing health crisis.

The world's first black independent state is gearing up for its 200th birthday. But as Haiti's pioneering history is overshadowed by its contemporary crisis, is there anything left to party about?

International organisations to which Brazil belongs are not being paid. Rent for overseas offices is not being met and bill payments for running costs are late.

It's all work and no play for five-and-a-half million kids in Brazil, but improvements are continuing to be made, officials say…

The number of unemployed in the US continues to swell while jobs to the Indian sub-continent are increasing. Market evolution or cruel corporate cost cutting? Chase Morrison investigates…

Brazilian banks are betting on a growing economy for 2004. But President Lula da Silva's economic advisers are warning a continuous devaluation of the dollar represents a danger to the economy.

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's recent assertion that he would not interfere in Cuba's internal affairs has infuriated relatives and friends of Cuban dissidents and human rights campaigners.

On the 20th anniversary of the overthrow and execution of Grenada's leader and the US invasion that followed, Dominic Bascombe looks at how events are remembered.