MIAMI, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Many Venezuelans have long
had a love affair with Miami, but rarely has it been so intense
- as least judging by the property market.

The cash-rich South Americans are leading a charge into
Miami real estate, helping to spur a recovery in a market that
once stood as a poster child of America’s housing bust.

MIAMI, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Many Venezuelans have long
had a love affair with Miami, but rarely has it been so intense
- as least judging by the property market.

The cash-rich South Americans are leading a charge into
Miami real estate, helping to spur a recovery in a market that
once stood as a poster child of America’s housing bust.

MIAMI, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Many Latin Americans have
long had a love affair with Miami, but rarely has it been so
intense — as least judging by the property market.

Cash-rich Latin Americans, spearheaded by Venezuelans and
Brazilians, have led a charge into Miami real estate, helping to
spur a recovery in a market that once stood as a poster child of
America’s housing bust.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (Reuters) – A Swiss private banker, held on a criminal complaint for 13 months without a formal indictment, was on Monday given 60 more days by a Florida court to go on trying to resolve the issue with U.S. authorities.

Christos Bagios, a Greek citizen and Swiss resident, was due

either to be indicted or have his case dismissed, but instead was granted the extension by Judge Lurana Snow in a federal courtroom in Ft. Lauderdale.

MIAMI (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidates courting Florida’s influential Latino vote have hit the campaign trail lambasting Cuba’s Fidel Castro and heaping criticism on U.S. policy toward the communist island.

But the candidates’ focus on the fiercely anti-Castro Cuban-American community in South Florida may be overlooking a changing Latino vote in which the underlying political views are no longer seen through the prism of U.S.-Cuban relations.

MIAMI (Reuters) – Two prominent Florida Republicans urged their party to tone down its rhetoric on illegal immigration or risk driving away Latino voters who may be a important bloc in this year’s presidential election.

The appeals by Senator Marco Rubio and former Governor Jeb Bush came as Republican candidates courted the state’s sizable Hispanic vote four days before Tuesday’s Florida primary.

DELRAY BEACH, Florida (Reuters) – A Japanese banker who is a key figure in the Olympus accounting fraud came into public view for the first time since the scandal broke, appearing on Friday at his divorce hearing in a Florida court.

Hajime “Jim” Sagawa ran a U.S. investment firm that earned a massive $687 million fee for advising Olympus in a 2008 acquisition deal that ranks as the largest advisory payment in history.

DELRAY BEACH, Florida (Reuters) – A Japanese banker who is a key figure in the Olympus accounting fraud came into public view for the first time since the scandal broke, appearing on Friday at his divorce hearing in a Florida court.

Hajime “Jim” Sagawa ran a U.S. investment firm that earned a massive $687 million fee for advising Olympus in a 2008 acquisition deal that ranks as the largest advisory payment in history.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Haiti will commemorate the two-year anniversary on Thursday of a devastating earthquake that ravaged the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country as it struggles to rebuild and hundreds of thousands of quake victims remain homeless.

Haitians are expected to hold solemn ceremonies at massive grave sites to remember the dead from Haiti’s worst-ever natural disaster.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – If there is hope in Haiti, it can be found in Mertilus Aland.

The 18-year-old eight-grader is flourishing in a new school built after Haiti’s devastating earthquake, dreaming of one day becoming a doctor in the violent Haitian slum he calls home.