Fire Guts Venezuelan Skyscraper
A blaze engulfed the upper half of the 56-story East Tower of the Parque Central complex housing ministries and state agencies in Caracas before dawn on Sunday.

More than 100 firefighters supported by 200 soldiers battled the fire. Two military helicopters also joined the fight by ferrying water to the building. The flame was put out after 20 hours.

"We have total material losses from the 34th floor to the roof of the building," Jesse Chacon, Interior and Justice Minister told reporters.

The offices of the Ministry of Infrastructure in the complex were seriously damaged, he said.

Fearing that the building would collapse, all nearby residents were ordered evacuated and more than 600 soldiers and national guards were maneuvered to protect the area, Chacon said.

However there were no casualties, he added. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
 

IAEA to have partial visual examination of Brazilian nuclear program
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are expected to go to Brazil this week and have a partial visual access to the country's nuclear program, Brazilian media reported Sunday.

The inspectors are scheduled to visit the uranium enrichment centrifuges at the Resende plant, about 60 km northwest of Rio de Janeiro, on Tuesday, according to Veja, Brazil's leading weekly magazine. The Brazilian government has approved the inspection, the magazine quoted two unidentified government officials as saying.

The screens hiding the centrifuges at the Resende facility will be shortened to give the IAEA inspectors a better, but not full, view of the equipment, the magazine said.

The inspection comes after Brazil agreed on Oct. 6 to allow the IAEA to inspect some of its nuclear facilities. The tentative compromise is aimed at allowing inspectors to verify that Brazil has neither enriched uranium to weapons-grade levels nor diverted the nuclear material to other places.

Brazil has refused to allow IAEA inspectors to conduct a full visual inspection of the Resende plant, saying the plant's advanced technology could be stolen by other countries should outsiders be allowed into it.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim has said his country is not hiding any nuclear activities to the UN nuclear agency and its enriched uranium will be used for peaceful purposes only.
 

Uruguay establishes Internet brigade to fight pornography
Uruguay has established its first-ever Internet brigade in the capital to help young people keep far away from pornography websites.

As an important part of the government's plan to fight erotic websites for children, the brigade was set up after the country adopted laws on Sept. 14 against child pornography on the Internet, Gabriela Lopez, the head of the brigade, said Sunday.

He said that with the rapid development of the Internet, some people illegally produce pictures and videos of young people including children and sell them to international criminal groups in Spain, Germany and Mexico. These photos are then turned into pornographic images and posted on the Web.

Lopez said the main task of the brigade is to fight such crimes
 

14 injured in Mexican subway station blast
At least 14 people were injured in an accidental explosion Saturday in a commuter train station's control room in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey.

The blast was apparently caused by an accumulation of gas at San Bernabe station, in a densely populated neighborhood in the north of the city, Metro director Raymundo Flores said.

The injured were rushed to nearby hospital for treatment. Police were investigate the incident, authorities said.