Protesters rally in Haiti capital demanding vote

• 
  Photo By Dieu Nalio Chery/AP 
  Demonstrators march during an anti-government protest in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014. A few thousand protesters allied with Haiti’s opposition marched through neighborhoods of the capital demanding the chance to vote in legislative and local elections that are three years late, among other grievances.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A few thousand protesters allied with Haiti's opposition marched through the capital on Sunday demanding the chance to vote in legislative and local elections that are three years late, among other grievances.

Giant canal threatens way of life on the banks of Lake Nicaragua

A dozen or so cattle farmers are gathered at a ranch in the isolated community of Quebrada Seca, on the south-east corner of Lake Nicaragua. It is nightfall after a piercingly hot, exhausting day but the farmers are on their feet and fired up about the proposed Inter-Oceanic Canal, which threatens to wash away their entire community.

Brazil stock market, currency down after election

By JENNY BARCHFIELD

 

Oct. 27, 2014 3:39 PM EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil's stock exchange slipped and its currency fell against the dollar Monday as the market reacted negatively to the volatile presidential race that saw President Dilma Rousseff narrowly win re-election over her pro-business rival, Aecio Neves.

Trading was volatile, with the U.S. dollar rising 2.68 percent against the Brazilian real and the Sao Paulo-based Bovespa stock exchange down nearly 3 percent to 50,503, led lower by a more than 12 percent drop in state-run oil company Petrobras.

Quarantined nurse who treated Ebola patients headed home to Maine

Kaci Hickox, who called her quarantine ‘inhumane,’ left New Jersey Monday night, health officials say

October 27, 2014 8:10AM ET Updated 11:00PM ET

Kaci Hickox, a nurse who was quarantined in New Jersey after working with Ebola patients in West Africa, was released on Monday after being symptom-free for 24 hours, the state’s Health Department said. Hickox, who has made high-profile complaints about what she called her "inhumane" isolation, was returning to her home in Maine by private transportation, the department said Monday night.

Maine officials announced that Hickox would be quarantined at home for 21 days after the last possible exposure to the disease under state health protocols.

Hickox agreed to be quarantined at her home in Fort Kent, but her lawyer Steven Hyman and state officials disagreed over how long she'll have to stay out of public places.

INTERNATIONAL

LORGINA MINGUITO / REUTERS

US Marine to be tried for killing transgender Filipina

Prosecutors mull whether to charge Pfc. Joseph Pemberton with murder or homicide in death of Jennifer Laude

October 27, 2014 7:34AM ET

The Philippines will put a U.S. Marine on trial for killing Jennifer Laude, a transgender Filipina, outside a former U.S. Navy base.

Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to charge the Marine, Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton, with murder or the lesser crime of homicide. He failed to answer a murder complaint filed by police on Monday, the deadline set by prosecutors, leaving it to the prosecution to determine what charge he faces.

Pemberton skipped the prosecutor's preliminary investigation in Olongapo City, north of Manila, but his lawyer, Rowena Garcia-Flores, said that any planned murder charge should be reduced to homicide, or killing without intent.

"Do not teach us what to do," Olongapo chief prosecutor Emelie Fe delos Santos told Garcia-Flores in a conversation broadcast live on TV. "We will base our resolution on the evidence that we've gathered. We should respect the process."

Delos Santos said prosecutors would inspect the crime scene on Nov. 5 before deciding whether a murder or homicide charge will be brought.

Laude was found dead on Oct. 11 in a hotel bathroom in Olongapo City. Pemberton, who met her outside a bar near the naval base, was named a suspect.

He is being detained at a U.S. facility at the main Philippine army base in Manila, along with three other individuals identified as potential witnesses.

The crime has added to pressure on the government of President Benigno Aquino to renegotiate the U.S.-Philippine Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), testing the two allies' security relations as they face growing tensions in the South China Sea.

"The VFA allows the U.S. military to act in wanton disregard for Philippine sovereignty … and violates the human rights and dignity of the Filipino people," said Filipino Rep. Walden Bello of the Akbayan Party, an ally of the president.

Bello on Monday filed a joint resolution in the Philippine House of Representatives, seeking to terminate the treaty because it "has not served the interests of the Philippines."

The U.S. military has said it is fully cooperating with local investigators.

"I know the matter has the potential to charge the atmosphere with regards to the relationship between us and the Philippine government, and I hope it doesn't damage it because we have a very close relationship," Marine Corps Commandant James Amos told Reuters from Washington.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/10/27/philippines-us-soldiermurder.html

Governor quits over missing Mexico students

Governor of Guerrero state, where 43 students went missing last month, to step aside while investigations continue. Al Jazeera Last updated: 24 Oct 2014 11:11

UPDATE 6-Uruguay's presidential election heads to a runoff

9:37pm EDT

(Recasts with Vazquez saying vote goes to runoff)

By Malena Castaldi and Esteban Farat

MONTEVIDEO, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Leftist ruling coalition candidate Tabare Vazquez led Uruguay's presidential election on Sunday but he fell short of a first-round victory and will go to a runoff vote next month with the country's pioneering marijuana bill hanging in the balance.

Vazquez of the Broad Front coalition said as results trickled in that the race would go to a second round and he is likely to face a nerve-jangling contest against young center-right opposition candidate, Luis Lacalle Pou.

Exit polls showed Vazquez winning 44-46 percent of the vote compared with 31-33 percent for Lacalle Pou of the National Party.

US judge wavers on UN immunity in Haiti cholera case

Latest update : 2014-10-24

A US judge on Thursday deferred a decision on whether the United Nations can be sued by thousands of Haitian families over a deadly cholera outbreak that is widely believed to have been caused by negligence at the hands of the world body.

France 24

‘Draconian’ US Ebola quarantines called into question

© Bryan Thomas/Getty Images/AFP | A young man, dressed in a biohazard costume, stands on the corner of 546 West 147th Street on October 25, 2014 in New York City, where a doctor was recently diagnosed with Ebola after returning from Guinea

France 24

Latest update : 2014-10-26

Tough quarantine rules imposed by US states for those returning from Ebola-hit West Africa were criticized by one of the country’s top health officials Sunday, who warned they could deter aid workers from going there to help fight the epidemic.

Ottawa gunman ‘a misfit’ who planned to travel to Syria

Latest update : 2014-10-24 France 24

First investigations into the man who launched a deadly attack on Canada’s parliament on Wednesday draw the contours of a misfit with a history of drug addiction and petty crime who travelled a troubled path towards radical Islam.

Dilma Rousseff re-elected president of Brazil France 21 Latest update : 2014-10-27 Brazil’s leftist President Dilma Rousseff narrowly won re-election on Sunday after convincing voters that her party’s strong record of reducing poverty over the last 12 years was more important than a recent economic slump. After one of the closest, most divisive campaigns in Brazil in decades, Rousseff won 51.6 percent of votes in a runoff against centrist opposition leader Aecio Neves, who won 48.4 percent with more than 99 percent of the votes tallied. There are not enough outstanding votes left to be counted to allow her rival to catch up with her. At a hotel in Brasilia where Rousseff was due to speak, party supporters waved red flags and jumped up and down, screaming in celebration. Rousseff's victory means another four years in power for the Workers’ Party, which since taking the reins of Latin America’s largest economy in 2003 has virtually transformed Brazil.

Venezuela, Malaysia, Spain elected to UN Security Council

© Spencer Platt, AFP | Venezuela representatives, including Foreign Minister Rafael Ramrez (R), celebrate after being elected.

Text by Sophie PILGRIM 

Latest update : 2014-10-16

Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, and Venezuela were elected to two-year terms on the UN Security Council Thursday, after fierce lobbying failed to garner Turkey a spot. The US also failed in its bid to scupper Venezuela’s chances.