American Buddhist Net

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian authorities are investigating three priests accused of sexually abusing altar boys after a video allegedly showing one case of abuse was broadcast on television, police and church officials said Tuesday.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

After storming Africa, resource-hungry China Monday made a big opening into the Latin American mineral market by inking a USD 1-billion deal with Canadian copper major Quadra Mining Ltd for a stake in its copper operations in Chile.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

We have previously seen Buddhist monks build an entire temple using a million trashed beer bottles and here we have something similar, but on a much larger scale, six times larger that size to be precise. Built by Tito Ingenieri, a recycling enthusiast from a city called Quilmes has spent the last 19 years in building a house from over 6 million beer bottles.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

March 1 (Bloomberg) -- The earthquake that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 probably shifted the Earth’s axis and shortened the day, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist said.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

The death toll from Chile's earthquake has more than doubled to 708 and is expected to rise further, President Michelle Bachelet has said.

Previously about 300 people were reported to have been killed in Saturday's 8.8 magnitude quake - one of the most powerful recorded.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

SANTIAGO: Rescue teams hunted for survivors on Sunday after one of the largest earthquakes on record killed at least 300 people in Chile and sent giant waves roaring across the Pacific Ocean.

In an address to the nation on Saturday, President Michelle Bachelet said two million Chileans had been affected but, after touring the worst-hit areas by plane, she found it hard to spell out the magnitude of the disaster.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

LINK TO ORIGINAL

A massive earthquake has hit the coast of Chile, killing dozens of people, flattening buildings and triggering a tsunami.

The 8.8-magnitude quake, the country’s largest in 25 years, shook the capital Santiago for a minute and half at 3:34am (6:34am GMT) today.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A tsunami was generated on Saturday that could cause damage along the coasts of all the Hawaiian islands, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

RIO DE JANEIRO — A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, shaking the capital of Santiago for 90 seconds and sending tsunami warnings from Chile to Ecuador.

At least 47 people were killed, Reuters reported, with the toll expected to rise.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Brazil's Catholic Church is suing Hollywood for using unauthorised images of Rio de Janeiro's famous Christ statue in its disaster movie 2012.

The city's archdiocese is demanding unspecified damages and interest from Columbia Pictures for showing the iconic landmark being destroyed in a worldwide apocalypse in the film that came out last year.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

An international arrest warrant has been issued for the 30-year-old, who is suspected of recruiting beautiful women and using them to move drugs to Europe and North America.

Many of these women are believed to be other lingerie and glamour models who compete in international beauty pageants, whom Valencia describes as "unsuspicious, beautiful angels".

LINK TO ORIGINAL

A British Navy destroyer has intercepted an Argentinian warship in an apparent escalation of the Falklands Island Oil Crisis, according to The Sun.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Funeral home workers in the Colombian city of Cali got the shock when a woman, believed dead of a heart attack, moved one of her arms.

45-year-old woman, Noelia Serna, suddenly started breathing and moving as funeral home workers prepared her for burial.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Playboy Enterprises Inc., publisher of the namesake magazine, is looking toward overseas growth in Latin America, China and India, including new clubs in Brazil, its chief executive said.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

SANTO DOMINGO: The man providing legal advice to American church workers charged with trying to take children out of Haiti may have a string of legal charges against him in the US and has emerged as the key suspect in a child prostitution ring in El Salvador.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Drug-related violence is once again on the rise in Latin America. Former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, 78, told SPIEGEL that the drug war has failed and that it is time to try a new strategy: decriminalization.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

(NaturalNews) In response to an environmental lawsuit filed against the oil giant, Chevron has fortified its defenses with at least twelve different public relations firms whose purpose is to debunk the claims made against the company by indigenous people living in the Amazon forests of Ecuador. According to them, Chevron dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste in the Amazon between 1964 and 1990, causing damages assessed at more than $27 billion.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

BRASILIA, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Brazil granted an environmental license on Monday for the construction of a controversial hydroelectric dam in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

The $17 billion project on the Xingu River in the northern state of Para will help the fast-growing Latin American country cope with soaring demand for electricity but has raised concern about its impact on the environment and native Indians.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

LIMA — Peru's mining, oil and energy association (SNMPE) said Saturday it has expelled US mining company Doe Run from its roster for not cleaning up its pollution problems, which environmentalists say are among the worst in the world.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

LIMA — Peru used helicopters to airlift foreign tourists trapped by rain and mudslides that killed seven people in and around its famed Machu Picchu ruins, but frustrations grew among the more than 2,500 still stranded.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Beijing, Jan 22 : The Chinese government has said a Costa Rican presidential candidate's pledge to name a stadium in San Jose after Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama 'is not in line with the common desires of the two countries'.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

By Wayne Madsen
Jan 21, 2010, 00:19

(WMR) -- WMR’s intelligence sources have reported that the Obama administration has authorized an economic war against Venezuela in order to destabilize the government of President Hugo Chavez.

After a successful coup against Chavez ally, President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, and the very thin 51-49 percent electoral win by Chile’s billionaire right-winger Sebastian Pinera on January 17, a buoyed Obama White House has given a green light for political operatives in Venezuela, many of whom operate under the cover of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to set the stage for massive street demonstrations to protest Chavez’s devaluation of the bolivar, Venezuela’s currency.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

After 40 years, Washington is quietly giving up on a futile battle that has spread corruption and destroyed thousands of lives

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president and known for chewing coca leaves at UN meetings, has launched a drink featuring the leaf called "Coca Colla".

LINK TO ORIGINAL

A film released this week in Britain recounts the 16-year battle by Ecuadorians for damages against Chevron for oil pollution

LINK TO ORIGINAL

A renowned Israeli master of kabbalah, Rabbi Dovid Batzri, has attempted to remove a dybbuk, or disembodied spirit, from a Brazilian man via the internet.

A video posted on Charedi website ladaat.net, shows Rabbi Batzri, surrounded by dozens of supporters, reciting kabbalistic verses and praying for the exorcism of the dybbuk. He connected with the possessed man via Skype.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Experts are studying the first Mayan hieroglyphic script dealing with the life of a high priest, his blood sacrifices and acts of penance, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said.

The text consists of 260 glyphs carved into a series of seashell earrings and manta ray stingers found inside a burial urn.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

Knut Haugland, the last surviving member of the 1947 Kon-Tiki raft expedition, has died in Norway.

LINK TO ORIGINAL

In a new research, scientists have suggested that the ancient Mayans may have had enough engineering know-how to master running water, creating fountains and even toilets by controlling water pressure.

LINK TO ORIGINAL