WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) -- US President Barack Obama said Monday he had been impressed with attempts by President Mauricio Funes to bridge political divides as he welcomed the Salvadoran leader to the White House. Obama said he was committed to building a relationship based on trade and mutual respect. read more...

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(AFP) -- The Mara Salvatrucha and the Mara-18, two violent street gangs with operations that span from Central America into the United States, issued a statement here announcing an end to violence. The statement was delivered by relatives of gang members. read more...

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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (Reuters) -- A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck off the coast of El Salvador on Thursday, shaking buildings in the capital and causing people to flee into the streets, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. The US Geological Survey reported that the quake was centered in the Pacific. read more...

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GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AFP -- Central American nations will demand 105 billion dollars from industrialized countries for damages caused by global warming, the region's representatives said on Friday. Central American environment ministers gathered to discuss the so-called "ecological debt". read more...

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MINNEAPOLIS, USA -- MoneyGram International, a leading global money transfer company, announced on Wednesday that it would temporarily reduce its money transfer service fee from all US and Canada agent locations to El Salvador from Nov 18 to Dec 2.  This in an effort to help after Hurricane Ida. read more...

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(Reuters) -- El Salvador honored on Monday six Jesuit priests killed by the army 20 years ago in one of the most notorious atrocities of the country's long and vicious civil war. Leftist President Mauricio Funes granted the priests El Salvador's highest honor posthumously in a ceremony. read more...

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NEW YORK, USA (Reuters) -- Moody's Investors Service said on Sunday it had downgraded El Salvador's foreign-currency government bond ratings to Ba1 with a negative outlook from Baa3. The Central American nation's country ceiling for foreign-currency bank deposits was also cut to Ba1. read more...

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(Reuters) -- Remittances by Salvadoran migrant workers to relatives back home fell 10 percent in the first 10 months of this year compared to the same period a year ago, the central bank said this week. Migrants sent home $2.8 billion from January to October, the bank said. read more...

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(Reuters) -- El Salvador coffee group Procafe said on Wednesday just 6,517 60-kg bags of coffee were lost when Hurricane Ida triggered heavy rains and floods in the Central American country this past weekend. An earlier estimate in losses was incorrect. read more...

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WASHINGTON, USA -- The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States approved a Resolution in which it expresses “its condolences and utmost solidarity to the People and Government of El Salvador following the loss of human lives and the destruction caused by torrential rains last weekend". read more...

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(AFP) -- Rescue workers in El Salvador on Tuesday tried to reach dozens of towns cut off by torrents of mud and debris unleashed by devastating late-season storms that killed at least 144 people. The total number of dead rose to 144, civil protection authorities said. read more...

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(Reuters) -- El Salvador's agriculture chamber said on Tuesday up to 28,000 short tonnes of sugar and 76,666 60-kg bags of coffee were lost after heavy rains triggered by Hurricane Ida caused major flooding and landslides this weekend. Up to 20 percent of the cane harvest could be at risk. read more...

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BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- Hundreds of flood victims remain stranded and some communities are cut off from aid assistance following days of heavy rains that killed 124 people in El Salvador, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Monday. read more...

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WASHINGTON, USA -- More than two dozen items, ranging from travel and entertainment to jewelry and original artwork, are available for auction with the proceeds benefiting people with the greatest needs in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Pan American Development Foundation announced on Monday. read more...

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NEW YORK, USA (Reuters) -- Moody's Investors Service on Monday placed El Salvador's credit rating on review for possible downgrade on the country's limited access to international financial markets and the impact of the global financial crisis. El Salvador's "Baa3" foreign-currency government bond rating could... read more...

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(AFP) -- Four suspects, including a policeman, have been arrested over Franco-Spanish journalist Christian Poveda's murder in El Salvador, police said, indicating the killing was ordered by a jailed gang member. Poveda's murder last week had been ordered by Nelson Lazo Rivera. read more...

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WASHINGTON, USA -- Five extraordinary people from Cuba, Haiti, Colombia and El Salvador will be honored as the 2009 Heroes of the Hemisphere for their dedication to improving the lives of people in their communities, the Pan American Development Foundation announced on Wednesday. read more...

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(AFP) -- Police have arrested a member of the feared Mara 18 gang in the killing of Franco-Spanish journalist Christian Poveda whose film on gangs was to debut this month, sources close to the probe said Friday. The arrest was made Thursday near the area where Poveda was killed. read more...

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SAN SALVADOR, Central America -- Violent gangs known here as "maras" have thousands of members in El Salvador, a bloody hand in 60 percent of murders, and are active in extorsion, drug dealing and arms trafficking, authorities say. Every day, about 12 people are murdered in El Salvador, a small densely populated country. On Wednesday, Franco-Spanish filmmaker Christian Poveda, 54, was found shot to death. read more...

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 SAN SALVADOR --  A Franco-Spanish journalist has been brutally murdered in El Salvador, weeks before the release of his latest documentary on the violent drug-running gangs that blight the country. Christian Poveda, 54, was found dead near his vehicle on a road north of the capital San Salvador on Wednesday, with what an autopsy later confirmed were four bullet wounds to the face, police and doctors said. read more...

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SANTIAGO, Chile -- The President of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, and the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, signed a cooperation agreement on Monday in San Salvador for institution-building in that country. ECLAC and the government of El Salvador agreed to cooperate in research, training and technical assistance with the aim of strengthening institutions and designing public policies for development. read more...

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