South America
Rio tourists may pay ‘mugging tax’
THE Brazilian city has come up with a bizarre way of dealing with the huge numbers of tourists who are mugged on the city’s streets.
Australia’s bizarre socialist colony
THEY left to create utopia, a place where no-one drank, no-one cheated and all were equal. It took less than two years to fall apart.
Lawless town where miners work for free
IT’S MORE than five kilometres above sea level. There is no running water, no sewerage, and no laws. And yet people are arriving in droves.
Socialist Santa seizes sackful of gifts
WELCOME to Venezuela, where a basket of groceries costs a month’s wages and the government confiscates millions of toys to play Santa at Christmas.
Colombia’s president accepts Nobel prize
COLOMBIAN President Juan Manuel Santos has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the 52-year conflict with left-wing rebels.
Woman at centre of plane crash twist
A WOMAN accused of approving the doomed flight that killed 71 on board has fled to Brazil as the investigation takes a surprising turn.
Airline too broke to be flying
A JET which crashed in the Andes last week, wiping out a Brazilian football team, had a dark economic past which is only now being fully understood.
Brazil mourns lost football team
THE bodies of players from a Brazilian football team killed in a plane crash have arrived home for a massive funeral.
Did search for video game cause plane crash?
THE plane that crashed in Colombia ran out of fuel because it was delayed searching for a passenger’s video game.
Colombia crash airline shut down
THE Bolivian airline behind the Colombia crash that killed 71 people including a top Brazilian football team has lost its permit.
Tragic video reveals pilot’s pride
HEARTBREAKING video shows the rookie co-pilot’s excitement just hours before the plane crash that killed 71 people.
What it was like taking down Pablo
PABLO Escobar trafficked bulks of cocaine into the US and now the man who took him down reveals his biggest fear when hunting the drug kingpin.
Fans mourn: ‘The city is devastated’
THOUSANDS of fans, and players who were not on a flight that crashed killing their teammates, have gathered at the Chapecoense football stadium to grieve the dead.
Comedian under fire for crash ‘joke’
AN AUSTRALIAN comedian has been forced to apologise after he tweeted an off-colour joke about a plane crash that killed 71 people.
Footballer was going to be a dad
MOVING video has emerged from a week ago of the moment a Brazilian footballer killed in the Colombian plane crash found out he was to become a dad.
Goalie died ‘after call to wife’
A GOALIE who initially survived the plane crash that killed 71 people called his wife from the hospital, only to die moments later.
‘We hope they bring us good luck’
STAFF of the Brazilian football club wiped out in a deadly crash previously praised the airline, saying it brought them good fortune when it flew them last month.
Inside Castro’s monumental lies
CUBANS were sold an incredible story about their famously frugal dictator. But while they starved, Castro hid his secret.
Fidel Castro dead at 90
CUBA’S former leader Fidel Castro is dead at the 90, according to the country’s state-run broadcaster.
An arachnophobe’s worst nightmare
THIS is the skin-crawling moment a spider as big as a turtle terrified a group of tourists as it scurried out of a bush and straight towards them.
El Chapo’s ‘lovemaking time’ slashed
ADVOCATES for drug kingpin Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman say he is living in ‘constant anguish’ in his Mexican jail cell after his conjugal visits were cut.
New virus mutates for urban life
ZIKA. Chikungunya. We’d never heard of these just a few years ago. Now another nasty virus is escaping the jungles — mayaro — and it’s already infected 100,000.
Mass jailbreak’s mastermind caught
HAITI police have caught a dozen inmates who broke out of a prison in a violent confrontation but are still searching for another 160 men who remain at large.
Women strike after teen raped, impaled
ARGENTINE women walked off the job to protest the brutal rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl, the latest incident of gender violence to shock the country.
Great white gets stuck in cage
ANOTHER video has emerged of a Great White Shark in Mexico that bit an air hose before it swam into a cage with divers inside.
Owner slammed for tattooing dog
SHOCKING pictures of a dog with five tattoos have outraged social media users, who have accused the artist owner of animal cruelty.
Great white breaks into diving cage
INCREDIBLE footage has emerged of a great white apparently breaking into a diving cage in Mexico. WARNING: Jaws has nothing on this beast.
Colombian leader wins Nobel Peace Prize
COLOMBIAN president Juan Manuel Santos is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in bringing peace to the war-torn country.
A truly knockout wedding proposal
IT was to be a wedding proposal that Germán Benítez Giles wanted to always remember. In fact it was a knockout - and there’s video to prove it.
Baby born with DNA from three people
SCIENTISTS say the first baby has been born from a controversial new technique that combines DNA from three people: the mother, the father and an egg donor.
400kg anaconda found at work
INCREDIBLE video shows construction workers trying to move a 10-metre-long snake they discovered near a building site.
Brazil’s former president faces trial
BRAZIL’S former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must stand trial for corruption, accused of receiving $1.1 million of bribes, a judge has ruled.
Airport shut after volcano erupts
SPECTACULAR vision has emerged of the moment a volcano exploded, sending ash into the air and disrupting flights.
Most dangerous stretch of land
WELCOME to the jungle. If you don’t fall victim to the drug runners or rebels, then a deadly snake could lead to your demise.
Soap star drowns in off-set accident
ONE of Brazil’s most loved stars, whose character escaped death in a recent episode, has drowned after his cries for help were mistaken for acting.
Date set for Assange interview
WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange will be questioned in Ecuador next month over rape allegations stemming from his visit to Sweden in 2010.
Most of the world’s wilderness lost
RESEARCHERS have warned there may be no unspoilt land left within a century as a report shows an area twice the size of Alaska has been lost since the 1990s.
What a million people looks like
INCREDIBLE footage has emerged of reportedly more than one million people taking to the streets in a “historic march” to bring down their government.
Brazil’s Rousseff kicked out of office
BRAZIL’S Dilma Rousseff has been stripped of the presidency in an impeachment vote and Michel Temer has been sworn in.
Minister ‘beaten to death by miners’
BOLIVIA’S Deputy Interior Minister has reportedly been killed by striking mineworkers after being kidnapped.
Lochte’s nightmare just got worse
THINGS were bad when Ryan Lochte was summoned to give testimony over his alleged robbery in Rio, but now they’ve just got worse.
Best images from Rio 2016
AS THE drama draws to a close, revisit the highs, the lows and the iconic images that will make this Olympic Games go down in history.
Codex hides advanced Mayan astronomy
STEP aside, Nicolaus Copernicus. New clues point to an ancient Mayan astronomer figuring out the planets revolve around the Sun some 700 years before the famous Renaissance mathematician.
El Chapo’s son kidnapped by gang
A GROUP of armed men have kidnapped the son of drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman from an upscale bar in Mexico.
Olympic coach dies in tragic crash
A GERMAN canoe slalom coach has died after he suffered serious head injuries in a taxi accident at the Rio Olympics.
Zookeeper saved by hero tiger
DRAMATIC footage has emerged showing a big cat handler narrowly avoiding being savaged by a leopard after a heroic intervention by a tiger.
Athletes flee as fire threatens Olympics
MOUNTAIN bikers have been forced to evacuate the Olympic track as a large bushland burns close to the stadiums.
‘Pablo Escobar took his own life’
PABLO Escobar’s son said his dad committed suicide, but the drug kingpin’s death was were covered up by Colombian authorities.
Heartless journo quizzes dying man
SHOCKING video has emerged showing a journalist interviewing a dying car crash victim on live TV. WARNING: Graphic.
Rio police officer shot in the head
A RIO cop has been shot in the head after he took a wrong turn and entered a slum run by drug gangs in the Olympic city.
Hidden crisis could eclipse Rio 2016
AGAINST the backdrop of Olympic fever, a crisis is unfolding in Brazil that could plunge the country into chaos just five days after the close of the games.
Did this Jesus statue open its eyes?
SPOOKY footage has emerged of a statue of Jesus appearing to open its eyes, with many believers claiming the spectacle was a miracle.
Olympian to face sexual assault charges
ALLEGATIONS of sexual assault at the Rio Olympic Village continue with a second athlete detained by police.
‘Spider Pig’ born with eight legs
THIS disturbing image shows a real-life mutant ‘Spider Pig’ that shocked breeders after being born with eight legs and two twirly tails.
Hidden tablets detail lost civilisation
THE history of the snakehead kings was lost when the hieroglyphs of their tale were scattered 1300 years ago. Now a discovery is bringing them back.
The moment brazen thieves strike in Rio
THIS is the moment an elaborate sting saw News Corp photographer Brett Costello robbed of thousands of dollars of equipment on the beach in Rio.
Three unsettling things about Rio
YOU know about the floating body parts, the unfinished rooms and the vomiting robbers but Rio has other pockets of darkness.
Killer cops: Inside Rio’s death squads
THIS is the shocking moment a teenager is gunned down in cold blood. The police who killed him watch him bleed to death. They then put a gun in his hand.
Russia says Rio killer ‘not one of us’
IT’S like the developing plot of a cold war film, with Russia now denying one of their diplomats in Olympic host city Rio shot a man dead in the street.
‘Olympic organisers are to blame’
RIO de Janeiro’s Mayor Eduardo Paes has lashed out at the city’s Olympics organising committee, saying they have made “unacceptable mistakes.”
Rio filth: Inside the athletes’ village
MORE grim photos have emerged showing the squalor inside the athletes’ village at the Rio Olympics just days before the Games begin.
Partygoers die in massive house fire
A HOUSE fire at a party has killed 38 people — including 16 children — as the blaze ripped through the thatched roof of a newly renovated home.
Kiwi sportsman ‘kidnapped’ by Rio ‘police’
A KIWI Jiu-Jitsu competitor in Rio says he was kidnapped yesterday by men in police uniform and forced to withdraw cash from teller machines before being released.
Olympics terror plot foiled with arrests
BRAZILIAN police have arrested members of a group who had allegedly declared loyalty to ISIS and planned terrorist attacks during the Rio Olympics.
‘I felt like an animal, a refugee’
TEBIE Gonzalez has given a harrowing account of the “march of shame”, where middle-class Venezuelans liquidated their life savings to stockpile food.
Tourist restores faith in humanity
AFTER weeks of sadness across the globe, one man’s simple gesture of goodwill has spread like wildfire on social media — and it will melt your heart.
123k people forced into march of shame
MORE than 120,000 people lined up to leave their own country on the weekend in a desperate, humiliating hunt for food and medicine.
What Olympic officials don’t want shown
HALF a million foreign visitors are expected to descend on Brazil for the Olympics next month. But few will see the real Rio.
Scary superbug found off Rio beaches
AS IF things couldn’t look worse for Rio before the Olympics, now a drug-resistant superbug has been found in the city’s waters.
Tourist dies taking photo at Machu Picchu
WITNESSES have described how a tourist ‘fell into a deep abyss and died’ while posing for a photo at the summit of Machu Picchu.
Horror discovery near Olympic site
MANGLED body parts have washed up on Rio’s Copacabana beach, just metres from where the Olympic volleyball competition will be held.
Ten killed as Rio cops hunt drug kingpin
POLICE attempts to recapture a drug lord known as ‘Fat Family’ who escaped from a hospital have led to deadly shoot-outs in Rio, one month before the Olympics.
Boyfriend ‘sliced off partner’s face’
A WOMAN in Chile has been left with massive facial injuries after being attacked by her boyfriend with a broken glass bottle.
Tragic end for Olympic jaguar
A JAGUAR featured at an Olympic torch ceremony has been shot dead by a soldier after the animal escaped from its handlers.
Olympic Games under threat
RIO’s Olympics is reeling from a “perfect storm” of an economic meltdown, building delays, and ticket sales slump.
Life without him ‘unfathomable’
THE family and partner of backpacker Rye Hunt, whose body was found in Brazil on Wednesday, have spoken of their grief.
Rye’s family sent photos of dead body
THE family of missing Aussie Rye Hunt have expressed their disgust after media sent them pics of a body that has been found.
Body may belong to missing Aussie
A BODY with clothing similar to that worn by missing Australian Rye Hunt has been spotted by fishermen in the sea off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.
Teen raped by 30 men speaks
A TEENAGER allegedly gang raped by more than 30 men has described her ordeal in a TV interview. WARNING: Graphic.
New clues in case of missing Australian
A SERIES of clues has been unearthed in the search for the Australian backpacker who disappeared without a trace from a Rio de Janeiro airport.
Gang-raped by 30 men: Suspect arrested
ONE suspect wanted over the gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl in Brazil has been arrested, as police vow to find more than 30 others.
16yo gang-raped by 30 men
POLICE are hunting for 30 men who gang-raped a 16-year-old and shared photos and videos of the sickening crime on Twitter.
Aussie’s mysterious disappearance
AUSSIE backpacker Rye Hunt mysteriously disappeared when he went to get a coffee at the Rio de Janeiro airport.
Residents claim alien sighting
TERRIFIED residents are claiming they saw an alien come out of a UFO spaceship and stroll around their neighbourhood.
Naked man mauled after entering zoo’s lion pen
ONLOOKERS at a zoo in Chile were shocked when they saw a man take of his clothes and climb into the lion enclosure.
Ecuador rocked by second massive quake
A POWERFUL 7.2-magnitude earthquake has rattled Ecuador’s coast, a month after a much larger quake killed about 700 people.
60 left of world’s smallest porpoise
THE world’s smallest porpoise is on the edge of extinction, with only 60 left in the wild.
Colombia’s biggest ever drugs raid
COLOMBIAN police have released photos of the country’s largest-ever drug bust - which is saying something. It makes Narcos look like child’s play.
Defiant Rousseff condemns impeachment
PRESIDENT Dilma Rousseff has addressed Brazil for the first time since the Senate voted to suspend her, calling it a “coup” and a “farce”.
Spicy selfie cop has a new career
POLICE officer Nidia Garcia has rocketed to fame after a now-infamous photo of her topless in her patrol car snuggling up to a rifle.
Brazil’s answer to Donald Trump
THOUGHT Donald Trump was bad? Meet the could-be Brazilian president whose repulsive beliefs have shocked the world.
Ecuador’s death toll reaches 646
ECUADOR’S President Rafael Correa says the death toll from the country’s devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake last week has risen to 646 people.
Two dead after Olympic disaster
TWO people have been killed after an elevated bike path that was heralded as a top project of the Rio Olympics collapsed Thursday.
Ecuador’s $3b rebuilding plan
ECUADOR has come up with a way to meet the $3 billion cost of this week’s earthquake which killed more than 570 people but it won’t be popular.
Ecuador quake deaths pass 500
THE death toll from Saturday’s devastating earthquake in Ecuador has risen to 553 and could increase by many more, authorities say.
Spicy cop gets sack after topless pic
A POLICE officer is facing the sack after taking a topless selfie in her patrol car with a semiautomatic on her lap.
Ecuador earthquake claims 480 lives
AT LEAST 480 people are dead and 1700 still missing three days after the Ecuador earthquake, which the country estimates could cost $3 billion.
Dog refuses to leave dead owner
A GRIEVING dog has been pictured refusing to move from its owner’s side after he was run over and killed at the side of the road.
Survivors pulled from the rubble
THE number of dead from Ecuador’s devastating earthquake has jumped to 413 but hope is being restored as survivors emerge from the debris.
Brazil votes to impeach President
THE Olympics are just around the corner but Brazil is in turmoil over the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. Here are the photos of a deeply divided nation.
It’s D-Day for Brazil’s president
MIRED in scandal and with her approval ratings at an all-time low, Dilma Rousseff is facing a vote on her impeachment in Brazil’s lower house today.
Vice president’s massive speech leak
WITH Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff facing impeachment, her deputy ‘accidentally’ released a speech that critics described as evidence of a ‘brazen coup plot’.
Neglected toddler ‘eaten by ants’
A MEXICAN woman has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after neglecting her daughter so badly that authorities found her paralysed and eaten by ants.
