Americas

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.

Controversial plans to offer state help to Rio de Janeiro's gays have stunned Brazil.

Brazilian leftist president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, told an audience of US investors those who bet against the Brazilian Government will end up losers.

Death squads are operating in at least 15 Brazilian states, according to a document passed to the United Nations by the Brazilian Government this week.

The news focus on Chile concerning the detainment of General Pinochet in London has until now paid no attention to the fate of the British defence journalist Jonathan Moyle, who was found hanged in his Santiago hotel room on April 1 1990.

"The UN official only left the plane at Santiago airport moments before the door closed. We never felt safe. Even when our plane landed in Rio we were very scared as people had been abducted there in the past and disappeared."

A summit of Chile's security forces chiefs have met in Santiago to discuss their former commander's continuing detainment in London.

Britain's record on responding to other countries' requests to hand over human rights abusers is blemished by the case of Alfredo Astiz of the Argentinean army.