Fidel Castro will return to work “sooner rather than later”, Cuba’s ambassador in Bolivia says.

THE commander of Bolivia's armed forces pledged yesterday to safeguard the country's democracy, urging politicians poised to elect a successor to President Carlos Mesa to act "serenely" to end Bolivia's growing political crisis.

LAWMAKERS planned an emergency session to fill a power vacuum after the president's resignation, hoping to quell violent street protests by a poor Indian majority intent on wresting power from the wealthy white ruling class.

A bus carrying a youth soccer team collided with a coal truck on a rural road in northern Colombia, killing 10 people aboard the bus, including eight of the young athletes, a sports official said today.