World in brief: Rival marches show divisions in nation

Tens of thousands of people celebrated their self-declared “autonomy” and rejection of President Evo Morales’ leftist reforms by marching through the streets here.

At the same time, in the highland capital of La Paz, Morales symbolically received a copy of the disputed new constitution as thousands of his supporters paraded through the streets.

The dueling demonstrations underscored the cleavages in this deeply divided nation almost two years after Morales was elected Bolivia’s first indigenous president.

Joining the province of Santa Cruz in the autonomy movement are the gas-rich province of Tarija and Amazonian regions of Beni and Pando. The four provinces contain much of Bolivia’s natural resource wealth.

Officials from the four provinces argue that Morales is steering the country toward a kind of authoritarian socialism in the model of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Architect toasted on 100th birthday

Celebrated architect Oscar Niemeyer was toasted for yet another accomplishment on Saturday: his 100th birthday.

“I don’t know how I lasted so long,” Niemeyer said as a stream of local intellectuals and politicians came to congratulate him at his home in the forested hills above his native city, Rio de Janeiro.

The architectural revolutionary famous for his sinuous curves designed the main buildings in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, and was part of the team that designed the U.N. headquarters.

At age 100, he still has work piled high on his desk – including plans to transform a former dockside prison in Valparaiso, Chile, into a futuristic cultural center.