Daily Headlines: October 16, 2007

* The latest issue of the Brazilian version of Playboy is a hit; the centerfold is a senator being investigated for corruption.

* Costa Rica’s government proposed a new land reform program…for endangered turtles.

* Christopher Columbus’ status is not only controversial in the Americas. The Spanish descendents of the captains of the Nina and Pinta want their own holiday, too.

* Follow-up: Animal welfare groups are helping Puerto Rican tenants file lawsuits after their pets were seized and thrown off a fifty-foot bridge.

Image- Wooster Collective (Street art in Sao Paulo, Brazil)

Sources- Bloomberg, Reuters, International Herald Tribune, CBC, New York Daily News, The Latin Americanist