Chavez's ruling coalition sweeps all parliament seats in Venezuela
Venezuela's ruling party MVR announced Monday that it and its allies have won all 167 seats of the country's single-chamber congress in the weekend's legislative election.

Brazil says rain forest destruction drops sharply
Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva told reporters on Monday that better police enforcement and tough regulation have slowed the pace of rain forest shrink by 31 percent in 2005.

Mercosur leaders to discuss setting up common parliament
Presidents of Mercosur countries will talk about the creation of a common parliament Parlasur at their summit slated for Dec. 8-9 in Montevideo, diplomatic sources said  on Monday.

Five police officers killed in ambush in Peru
Five policemen were killed in an ambush in the Ayacucho department in southeastern Peru, an incident which also injured another official and a civilian, regional official Omar Quesada told the press on Monday.