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Three gay men say they have gained legal recognition as the first 'polyamorous family' in Colombia, where same-sex marriages were legalized last year. Actor Victor Hugo Prada and his two partners, sports instructor John Alejandro Rodriguez and journalist Manuel Jose Bermudez, have signed legal papers with a solicitor in the city of Medellin, establishing them as a family unit with inheritance rights.

Lately, Chavez declared himself a member of a charismatic congregation, thus allegedly belonging to his country's fastest-growing branch of Christianity. But then he angered the country's National Catholic Bishops Conference by communing at a Mass organized by a priest of pro-Communist leanings. Should you have any doubt that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is in serious decline, consider this: His bust is being removed from the altars of his country's popular religion, a renowned anthropologist told United Press International on Monday. Less than four years ago, the syncretistic Maria Lionza cult celebrated Chavez as the reincarnation of Simon Bolivar, (1783-1830),...

Six people have been pulled out alive from the wreckage of a chartered plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team that crashed in Colombia, killing 75 people, while en route to a championship match, officials said.

BOGOTA, Colombia — An airplane with 72 people on board, including players from a Brazilian soccer team heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, has crashed on its way to Medellin's international airport. Medellin's Mayor Federico Gutierrez said that it is possible there are survivors.

My point is not to give an opinion re Brexit or Colombia -FARC deal, but merely to point out the slap in the face of the media. As an American I saw it as a great statement against the biased MSM in our great country.In the US: In The Wake Of Trump's Win, Here Are 5 Ways The Media Can Regain Credibility - Forbes - Nov 17, 2016 - Trump's victory surprised those who should have seen it ... The 2016 election dragged the media's credibility to an all-time low. http://www.forbes.com/sites/brettedkins/2016/11/17/in-the-wake-of-trumps-win-how-does-the-media-regain-credibility/In UKBritish Media Stunned By Surprise Brexit Vote | Hollywood...

Foreign governments began turning off money spigots to the scandal-scarred Clinton Foundation; it received millions from dozens of foreign governments including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Canada, Sweden and Ireland. <><> French federal comptrollers began following a trail of tens of millions in government money that ended up in Clinton Foundation coffers, according to a document reviewed by The NY Post.<><> The Australian government announced that it would end its decade-long affiliation with the Clinton Foundation — amounting to as much as $25 million, according to the foundation’s Web site.<><> Norway is also scaling back; donations reached $25 million in...

Colombia's flagship airline has grounded all flights to Caracas after a mid-air intercept of one of its planes by Venezuela's air force. Avianca said that it's also rerouting several flights to Europe to avoid Venezuelan air space until further notice. ``We're waiting for them to guarantee the security conditions required to operate,'' Avianca spokeswoman Gilma Usuga told The Associated Press. The incident took place on a Bogota-bound flight that departed from Madrid. The Boeing 787 was flying at a high altitude near Venezuela's western border with Colombia when at 7:10 p.m. local time (00:10 GMT) on Friday another aircraft was...

Educated Colombians also know the FARC will see no purpose in laying down its weapons and encouraging peasants to change crops from white gold to something mundane like coffee There have been some curious recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize such as terrorist Yasser Arafat. Yet somehow it’s managed to lower its prestige even further with its award to Colombian President John Manuel Santos for his efforts in negotiating a “peace accord” to end “a half-century war with communist guerrillas.” As educated Colombians seem to know with their rejection of the treaty (albeit narrowly) there are no “communist guerrillas” nor...

Hillary Clinton has long said she is “very proud” of the Clinton Foundation’s work, but many of its beneficiaries in Colombia wonder why. Since Bill Clinton established the foundation in the late 1990s, with help over the years from Hillary and daughter Chelsea, the nonprofit “global philanthropic empire” has raised roughly $2 billion from foreign governments and various wealthy donors to tackle global development and health problems. While intense media scrutiny has focused on the foundation’s donations and its use of that money – partly because of the wealth of available information on its vast financial intake – little sustained...

video of announcement at link

A reader writes: I’m a Colombian living in the States who is an avid reader of your blog! Yesterday Colombia had a plebiscite regarding the peace agreement with the Marxist guerrillas and, incredibly, the No won… It’s is hard to explain all the reasons why this happened (even those who opposed the plebiscite “knew” it was going to be approved)… Political leaders in some areas did not push their constituents into voting (they didn’t have anything to lose). The Caribbean coast, for example, is known for its corruption and how local leaders literally buy votes. However this time, there was...

Colombian voters rejected a peace deal with FARC rebels Sunday, in a surprise outcome that risks prolonging a 52-year-old armed conflict and plunges the country’s future into uncertainty. By a razor-thin margin of 50.25 to 49.75 percent, Colombians voted against the peace accord, in a Brexit-style backlash that defied pollsters’ predictions and left supporters of the deal in tears. After nearly six years of negotiations, many handshakes and ceremonial signatures, a ­half-century war that has killed 220,000 and displaced 7 million Colombians from their homes is not over.

The European Union could remove Colombian guerilla movement FARC from its list of known terrorists, pending the signing of the peace agreement between the group and the country’s government. EurActiv Spain reports.Ahead of a formalization of the deal between FARC and the Colombian government, the EU indicated that it could soon remove the group from its terrorist blacklist. “FARC currently sits on the list of terrorist organizations in Colombia,” confirmed European Commission spokesperson Maja Kocijancic today (26 September), adding that the EU “has strongly supported the Colombia peace deal”. […] The European Court of Justice last week recommended that Hamas...

COLUMBIA, Pa. —A police incident is happening now in Columbia, Lancaster County. Police are looking for a shooter. ... Police on the scene confirm to News 8 an "active shooter" shot at police cars and people between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. Since that time, police have not heard any shots. Police said the shooter was mobile, either on foot or in a vehicle.

Pregnant women, children and even elderly Venezuelans crossed into Colombia on Sunday after the border was temporarily reopened, allowing them to buy basic foods and toiletries -- rare commodities in their home country. Tearful Venezuelans had gone weeks without basic food items like milk, flour and toilet paper. It's a sad but common part of daily life today in crisis-ridden Venezuela, a country that has the world's largest proven reserves of oil. Colombian officials estimate that about 100,000 Venezuelans crossed the border. Venezuela is expected to dive deeper into the abyss this year, according to new projections published Wednesday by...

Almost 100,000 Venezuelans, some of whom drove through the night in caravans, crossed into Colombia over the weekend to hunt for food and medicine that are in short supply at home. It was the second weekend in a row that Venezuela’s socialist government opened the long-closed border with Colombia, and by 6 a.m. Sunday, a line of would-be shoppers snaked through the entire town of San Antonio del Tachira. Some had traveled in chartered buses from cities 10 hours away. Venezuela’s government closed all crossings a year ago to crack down on smuggling along the 1,378-mile (2,219 kilometer) border. It...

Colombia is the finest nation on Earth when it comes to eating fruit. The country boasts mountains, jungles, deserts, and coasts, providing an environment conducive to growing any fruit you can imagine and plenty more you can’t, from sweet to sour to savory, and everything in between. Adventurous travelers quickly find their diets full of diverse flavors and their stool full of fiber in this gastronomic and gastrointestinal paradise. Of course, the tropical standards like mango, papaya, banana, avocado, and pineapple are available in multitudes, for a fraction of the price that they cost imported. That alone would be enough...

Nicholas Maduro, the Venezuelan president declared a 60-day state of emergency on Friday due to what he called plots from within the OPEC country and the United States to topple his leftist government. Mr. Maduro did not provide details of the measure. A previous state of emergency, implemented in states near the Colombian border last year, suspended constitutional rights guarantees in those areas....... Earlier on Friday, U.S. intelligence officials told reporters they were increasingly worried about the potential for an economic and political meltdown in Venezuela and predicted Mr. Maduro was not likely to complete his term.....

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.8 has struck just off the coast of northwest Ecuador, centered near Pedernales and Muisne, seismologists say. A tsunami alert has been issued for coastal areas of Ecuador and Colombia. LIVE UPDATES: Twitter, Facebook The earthquake, at 6:58 p.m. local time on Saturday, was centered just northwest of Pedernales, or 27 kilometers (17 miles) southeast of Muisne. It struck about 19 kilometers (12 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to seismologists. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) put the magnitude of Saturday's earthquake at 7.8, a significant increase from its...

Iranian Army Commander Maj. Gen. Ataollah Salehi on Saturday announced that Iran intends to deploy warships and destroyers in Latin America, in a sign of the attempts of the leading state sponsor of terror to expand its military cooperation with countries opposing the US. We intend to take a longer stride in marine voyages and even go towards friendly states in Latin America," Salehi told reporters at the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency. Speaking at a ceremony welcoming back the Iranian Navy's 38th fleet after 75 days of international deployment, he said...