End of the world? Not this year.
![End of the world? Not this year.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130109093545im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_90x60/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/12/21/Production/Daily/A-Section/Images/APTOPIX_Mexico_Mayan_Calendar_2012-0bcaa.jpg)
New Zealanders were first to report that, despite widespread doomsday rumors, Earth was okay.
For many Mexicans, social mobility moves downward too easily
![For many Mexicans, social mobility moves downward too easily](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130109093545im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_90x60/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/09/09/Foreign/Images/costco_010_1337925240_1347229200.jpg)
A slim majority of Mexicans has made its way into an emerging middle class, but staying there isn’t easy.
Trial of Peru’s Comrade Artemio starts
![Trial of Peru’s Comrade Artemio starts](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130109093545im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_90x60/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/12/19/Foreign/Images/03514431.jpg)
Florindo Eleuterio Flores is last member of Shining Path, Maoist group that terrorized Peru in ’80s.
In Brazil, a landholder who fights for farms, not forests
![In Brazil, a landholder who fights for farms, not forests](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130109093545im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_90x60/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/12/17/Web-Resampled/2012-12-17/08D60B93-FDD5-1016-96FB-F4D6BD048E9A_IMG_45501355259721--90x60.jpg)
Agribusiness is big, and Katia Abreu does not claim to speak for the trees.
In Brazil, a landholder who fights for farms, not forests
![In Brazil, a landholder who fights for farms, not forests](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130109093545im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_90x60/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/12/17/Web-Resampled/2012-12-17/08D60B93-FDD5-1016-96FB-F4D6BD048E9A_IMG_45501355259721--90x60.jpg)
Agribusiness is big, and Katia Abreu does not claim to speak for the trees.
The ex-bus driver who could be Venezuelan president
![The ex-bus driver who could be Venezuelan president](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130109093545im_/http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_90x60/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/12/10/Foreign/Images/Venezuela_Chavez_056aa.jpg)
Nicolas Maduro, the tall, broad-shouldered VP, has been anointed successor to Hugo Chavez.
Photo Gallery
Maintaining a middle-class life in Mexico
A portrait of families in the town of Chalco.
Latest Headlines
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- 5 Americans among 7 dead in Peru crash of helicopter owned by Oregon company
- Killing of 4 by feral dogs in Mexico opens debate on dog care, sympathy for seized animals
- Venezuela lawmakers postpone Chavez's inauguration, opposition says it violates constitution
- Venezuelan government says Hugo Chavez won't be able to attend scheduled swearing-in
- Puerto Rico majority party pushes for part-time legislature
- Preliminary probe into Colombia's Uribe for allegedly sponsoring far-right militia
- US seizes $1.7M in gold bars from Curacao, site of recent heist
- Brazil says there is no need to ration electric energy
- Guatemala builds a private city project targeting elites hoping to escape crime
Elsewhere in World
Asia / Pacific
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- Hong Kong lawmakers make symbolic bid to impeach city's Beijing-backed leader
- Hundreds of thousands jam Philippine capital in annual religious procession of Black Nazarene
- Influential Chinese newspaper to publish as management, reporters pull back from standoff
- Rapes common in rural India, but justice for victims is not
Africa
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- UN wants to use surveillance drones in conflict-wracked Congo but faces opposition from Rwanda
- UN blames Sudan government, southern rebels for humanitarian crisis; Nearly 1 million need aid
- Raging fire burns through waterfront slum of sawmills and shacks in Nigeria's largest city
- Algerian terrorist convicted in 2003 kidnappings of European tourists, given life sentence
Middle East
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- Syrian information minister criticizes West for rejecting Bashar Assad's peace plan
- UN blames Sudan government and rebels for humanitarian crisis; 900,000 need aid
- Wet, wintry weather brings fresh misery to Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey
- Tunisian suspect in attack on U.S. consulate in Libya freed for lack of evidence
Europe
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- Italy's foreign minister says 3 Italians, 1 Ukrainian kidnapped Dec. 23 off Nigeria freed
- Italy's foreign minister says 3 Italians kidnapped Dec. 23 off Nigeria have been freed
- Czech center-right government survives crisis after junior coalition party decides to stay
- French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac faces tax evasion allegations
The Americas
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- Report: Brazil's Lula to face investigation in cash-for-votes scheme
- Venezuela lawmakers postpone Chavez's inauguration, opposition says it violates constitution
- Killing of 4 by feral dogs in Mexico opens debate on dog care, sympathy for seized animals
- Venezuelan government says Hugo Chavez won't attend scheduled swearing-in
National Security
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- Gov't spent $18 billion on immigration enforcement in 2012, topping all other federal officers
- Obama chooses Hagel as defense chief, calls him 'the leader our troops deserve'
- Pentagon mulls whether to open more battle zone jobs to women, but how many really want them?
- Obama administration rejects Syrian president's plan to stay in power, begin peace process