Regional stories they forgot to mention

Argentina: Alberto Fernandez is now 1/4 favourite for the chop in our resignation sweepstakes game (looks like I can pick'em). Guillermo Moreno also rumoured to be out, but less certain.

Bolivia: Tom Shannon heads up a US delegation arriving in Bolivia tomorrow. He says he wants to "understand the country." 7 1/2 years into an 8 year Bush administration.....let's be generous and say "better late than never", eh?

Chile: The Chaiten volcano is doing its smoke-blowing routine again, and flights to the South of the country have been suspended for fear of clogging engines with ash. Here's a previous post on Chaiten with some spectacular photos.

Peru: From the dept of "we care a lot"; 45 children have died from the cold in the Puno region, 28 from one single district (San Roman). Three reminders: 1) Peru is considered investment grade by the world's capital markets. 2) 40% of Peruvians live under the poverty line. 3) That poverty line is an income of U$2 per day. What's your idea of poor?

Ecuador: The US ambassador to Ecuador, Linda Jewel, states for the record that the US does not believe Studmuffin has ever helped the FARC. She also says, "(Correa) has made much more effort than previous governments to protect the frontier with Colombia." She was also overheard whispering that he has great buns.......but we're still not sure about that one.....so we won't mention it.

Colombia: Shakira is smaller than Uribe and thinner than Alan Garcia, but they all want the FARC to free hostages.

The phrase "rose betwixt two thorns' has never had better use.

Uribe wisely stood next to her to look tall for once, and also wisely gave her the mike for the anthem-singing bit, too.

Venezuela: To "strengthen ties", Hugo is thinking about starting a bi-national bank with Russia. Y'know, while the normal media lapdogs feed you tales about the H man buying russky subs on his impending trip to Moscow, the people behind the scenes will be far more concerned about this move.