(Washington Post) The federal government has been using its system of border checkpoints to greatly expand a database on travelers entering the country by collecting information on all U.S. citizens crossing by land, compiling data that will be stored for 15 years and may be used in criminal and intelligence investigations.

MEDELLIN, Colombia (Washington Post) -- In a small courtroom here, Ever Veloza has over the past year confessed to nearly 1,000 slayings in Colombia's conflict and recounted how the death squads he helped run were supported by army officers and prominent politicians.

(Merco Press) An indigenous woman in Paraguay who says she was sold into forced labour as a girl has been made minister for indigenous affairs.

(Wall Street Journal) Mexico is engaged in a life-or-death struggle against organized crime. Last week six more law enforcement officials were killed in the line of duty battling the country's drug cartels. This brings the death toll in President Felipe Calderón's blitz against organized crime to 4,909 since Dec. 1, 2006.

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (IHT) Fernando Lugo, "the bishop of the poor" as he is known here, was sworn in as president of Paraguay on Friday, ending six decades of one-party rule and promising to give land to the landless and to end the nation's entrenched corruption.

(Merco Press) Venezuela raised regulated prices of 15 basic foods ranging from bread to beef by up to 50% and removed price controls from other goods in an attempt to ease sporadic shortages in supermarkets.

MEXICO CITY (IHT) Fernando Martí was supposedly safe. The 14-year-old son of one of the most successful business owners in Mexico, he had a private driver to whisk him through the chaotic streets and a bodyguard.

PANAMA (Prensa Latina) The Panamanian indigenous people have no reason to celebrate their international day, because they have the worst poverty rates in the country, according to La Prensa daily.

(Washington Post) A new national poll shows broad public support for government action in the face of $4-a-gallon gas and other energy concerns, giving Republicans a rare opening to go on the offensive against congressional Democrats and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) About 3,000 opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez marched through the capital on Saturday to protest a package of laws that expand his power and accelerate his push toward socialism.

(euronews) Bolivian President Evo Morales has appealed for unity amid fears of a worsening political crisis in a divided country, on the eve of a crucial referendum.

(Christian Science Monitor) In a high-stakes vote, Bolivians will decide Sunday whether populist President Evo Morales gets to keep his job.

(New York Times) Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest mortgage finance company, offered additional evidence on Friday that the housing slump was deepening by reporting a $2.3 billion loss in the second quarter.

(WCADP) Jose Medellin, a Mexican sentenced to death in Texas, was executed on August 5 although serious flaws in his trial were highlighted by the International Court of Justice and the US Supreme Court.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) Alberto Achacaz Walakial, one of the last surviving members of the nomadic Kaweskar tribe that once plied the waters off South America's Patagonian coast, has died of blood poisoning, local media reported on Tuesday.

TARIJA, Bolivia (Reuters) - The leaders of Venezuela and Argentina cancelled a trip to Bolivia on Tuesday after protests roiled the country and two miners were killed before a recall vote facing President Evo Morales.

(Prensa Latina) The 17th International Conference on AIDS summons more than 25,000 delegates on Sunday in Mexico City.

(BBC News) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced a plan to nationalise Bank of Venezuela, one of the largest banks in the country.

FORTALEZA, Brazil (International Herald Tribune) Desperate to escape her hand-to-mouth existence in one of Brazil's poorest regions, Maria Benedita Sousa used a small loan five years ago to buy two sewing machines and start her own business making women's underwear.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) The U.S. military must stop using its only outpost in South America for anti-drug flights when Washington's 10-year lease on the base in Ecuador expires in 2009, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

PASTO, Colombia (New York Times) Along with Colombia’s successes in fighting leftist rebels this year, cities like Medellín have staged remarkable recoveries. And in the upscale districts of Bogotá, the capital, it is almost possible to forget that the country remains mired in a devilishly complex four-decade-old war.

EL NARANJO, Guatemala (International Herald Tribune) Tighter border security and a broken-down rail line on Mexico's southern frontier are prompting thousands of U.S.-bound illegal immigrants to head north through thick jungles controlled by violent drug gangs.

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba (International Herald Tribune) In a hushed courtroom here on Monday, a military judge opened the first American war crimes trial since World War II, culminating a nearly seven-year effort by the Bush administration to try some of hundreds of terror suspects held in the detention camp.

MOSCOW (International Herald Tribune) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on Tuesday for a strategic alliance with Russia to protect the South American country from the United States.

RICHMOND (Washington Post) In 1989, Virginia became the first state to elect a black governor. Last year, the General Assembly passed a resolution apologizing for the state's role in the slave trade.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) Well over a million Colombians, clad in white and shouting “No more kidnapping!” celebrated their independence day on Sunday with marches and concerts demanding freedom for hostages still held by leftist rebels.

(Guardian) The sun bakes the potholed asphalt streets and concrete buildings along Avenida Bolivar in the republic of El Gallito.

WASHINGTON (Wall Street Journal) Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson took the lead in crafting a rescue plan for ailing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a move that appears to have staved off an imminent crisis but one that draws the federal government into an ever bigger role managing the American economy.

WASHINGTON (AP) Putting pressure on congressional Democrats to back more exploration for oil, President George W. Bush on Monday lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling that has stood since his father was president two decades ago.

(Wall Street Journal) Fannie Mae Ugly 07/12/08 – Investors continued to flee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac almost as frantically as the political class tried to reassure everybody there was nothing to worry about.

(NACLA) During a recent heated meeting at the US Embassy in El Salvador, Ambassador Charles Glazer admitted to U.S. intervention in the 2004 Salvadoran presidential elections.

SANTIAGO (International Herald Tribune) The Simon Wiesenthal Center has strong evidence that a former SS member known as "Dr. Death" is in southern Chile or Argentina, a top Nazi hunter for the human rights organization said Tuesday.

SANTA BARBARA (Los Angeles Times) With extreme heat in the offing, more than 4,000 firefighters held the line Saturday against a massive wildfire threatening thousands of homes in Santa Barbara County, but made little progress in controlling a larger, out-of-control blaze ringing the Northern California coastal town of Big Sur.