International Business News - americas http://www.ibtimes.com All articles are copyrighted by IBTimes.com 400 100 http://www.ibtimes.com/ http://www.ibtimes.com/images/top_logo_ibt2_3.gif Venezuela on Saturday accused 60 Colombian soldiers of illegally entering its territory, as tensions over Venezuela's alleged effort to aid Colombian guerrillas swirl. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/venezuela-protests-colombian-incursion.htm Sat, 17 May 2008 22:06:44 EDT Cuba's gay community celebrated unprecedented openness _ and high-ranking political alliances _ with a government-backed campaign against homophobia on Saturday. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/48492-cuba-sexual-diversity.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/cuban-government-backs-calls-to-combat-homophobia.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/cuban-government-backs-calls-to-combat-homophobia.htm Sat, 17 May 2008 17:09:51 EDT Dominican President Leonel Fernandez's third term in office may be his toughest, as an economic downturn in the U.S. threatens a wave of budding prosperity in his Caribbean nation. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/48541-aptopix-dominican-republic-elections.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/dominican-president-faces-toughest-term.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/dominican-president-faces-toughest-term.htm Sat, 17 May 2008 20:55:58 EDT President Rafael Correa says Ecuador wants to buy out private oil companies unwilling to negotiate new deals with his government. Correa has asked companies now suing over an October decree that slashed their share of windfall oil profits to 1 percent to drop their lawsuits. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/ecuador-offers-to-buy-out-oil-companies.htm Sat, 17 May 2008 19:32:16 EDT Cathay Pacific Airways might cut routes to help cope with surging fuel prices, its chief executive said. Tony Tyler said in an internal company newsletter, seen Saturday by The Associated Press, that the airline must focus on its most profitable markets, maximize use of fuel-efficient aircraft and cut unspecified routes if necessary. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/cathay-pacific-airways-considers-cutting-routes.htm Sat, 17 May 2008 08:06:55 EDT Federal agents swooped in to close sawmills and confiscate wood in a government crackdown on illegal logging less than three months ago. But now tractors are moving logs again in this Amazon town and locals are back to turning wood scraps into charcoal, an example of the difficulty of stamping out illegal cutting. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/48365-brazil-logging-crackdown.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/brazils-illegal-logging-hard-to-combat.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/brazils-illegal-logging-hard-to-combat.htm Sat, 17 May 2008 11:46:34 EDT European and Latin American leaders have pledged to fight poverty, global warming and high food prices, presenting a show of unity amid a festering conflict between two South American nations. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/47991-peru-latam-eu-summit.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/latin-america-europe-summit-begins-under-feud.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/latin-america-europe-summit-begins-under-feud.htm Sat, 17 May 2008 03:45:05 EDT A Canadian tourist was shot and killed late Thursday inside his hotel room in the Mexican resort city of Cabo San Lucas, police said. State police commander Enrique Wuilar says a lone gunman shot Canadian Bouabal Bounthavorn in his hotel room. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/canadian-tourist-shot-dead-in-mexico.htm Sat, 17 May 2008 02:20:33 EDT President Leonel Fernandez declared victory early Saturday in the Dominican Republic's national election and pledged to continue pushing forward economic projects that have helped pull the Caribbean nation's economy out of crisis. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/dominican-republic-president-declares-victory.htm Sat, 17 May 2008 03:41:21 EDT American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. boosted its wage offer and increased the payments it will give workers to take a wage cut as part of a tentative agreement that could settle an 11-week strike by the United Auto Workers union, a person briefed on the deal said Saturday. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080517/uaw-american-axle-reach-deal-that-could-end-strike.htm Sat, 17 May 2008 16:56:26 EDT Authorities said an 8-year-old Pontiac boy took a stolen car on a joy ride and caused a three-vehicle crash. Pontiac police said the boy sneaked out of his house Wednesday night and found an empty and running car in his neighborhood. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080516/cops-say-boy-8-took-car-for-ride-caused-crash.htm Fri, 16 May 2008 20:20:10 EDT A jury in Martinique has found a man guilty of murder after he set his ex-girlfriend on fire in front of town hall three years ago. The public violent act occurred early in the evening and shocked residents and police in the normally quiet capital of Fort-de-France. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080516/martinique-man-found-guilty-of-burning-woman.htm Fri, 16 May 2008 19:42:17 EDT Two Somerset County men are charged with trying to steal live power lines that were still attached to a transformer and utility poles. Police said Kevin Lee Lytle, 27, and Daniel Jay Basinger, 24, both of Confluence, were shocked during the theft attempt on May 3 in Lower Turkeyfoot Township. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080516/police-say-men-trying-to-steal-power-lines-shocked.htm Fri, 16 May 2008 20:12:51 EDT A Venezuelan opposition leader is demanding that President Hugo Chavez explain accusations of close ties between his government and Colombian rebels. Opposition leader Manuel Rosales says the Venezuelan leader has not adequately responded after the international police agency Interpol endorsed the authenticity of computer files that Colombia says it seized from a rebel camp. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080516/rival-demands-chavez-clarify-rebel-links.htm Fri, 16 May 2008 19:15:24 EDT Exit polls show that Dominican President Leonel Fernandez could secure a first-round electoral victory. A Washington-based pollster says Fernandez has obtained 56 percent of votes based on interviews with almost 19,000 voters across the country. The polling firm of Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates says the main challenger has obtained 39 percent of votes. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/47724-dominican-republic-election.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080516/polls-show-dominican-president-leads-election.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080516/polls-show-dominican-president-leads-election.htm Fri, 16 May 2008 19:07:31 EDT A group of men posing as federal police agents helped six alleged drug-trafficking hit men escape from a Mexican prison Friday. Veracruz state prison director Zeferino Tejeda said prison officials told authorities that a group of men dressed as federal police and carrying official documents walked into the prison and said they had orders to move the six men to Mexico City. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080516/6-prisoners-escape-from-mexican-jail.htm Fri, 16 May 2008 18:30:04 EDT A nurse survived eight days in the wreckage of a Turkish hospital destroyed by an earthquake in 1992. A newborn was rescued after more than a week in the rubble of Mexico City's 1985 quake. Now, in China, rescuers are pulling out victims days after they were buried by a powerful earthquake. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080516/survival-of-quake-victims-depends-on-many-factors.htm Fri, 16 May 2008 18:22:36 EDT A top Cuban official said Friday that Raul Castro's government would consider loosening Internet restrictions on ordinary citizens newly allowed to purchase computers _ but Washington's decades-old economic embargo makes it impossible. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080516/cuba-blames-us-for-internet-restrictions.htm Fri, 16 May 2008 16:42:19 EDT Electric utility Allegheny Energy Inc. said Friday that the Virginia State Corporation Commission granted its Potomac Edison Co. subsidiary an interim rate increase to recover purchased power costs. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080516/allegheny-subsidiary-gets-interim-rate-increase.htm Fri, 16 May 2008 18:25:31 EDT Frontier Airlines asked a court Friday to approve a severance plan for senior managers it says is key to its efforts to reorganize under bankruptcy protection. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080516/frontier-submits-severance-plan-for-managers.htm Fri, 16 May 2008 18:22:01 EDT