Daily Headlines: July 7, 2008

We’ve been busy the past few days reporting on the liberation of fifteen hostages in Colombia and some news stories from the Americas have fallen under the cracks. To makeup for it here’s an extended edition of Daily Headlines.

* Latin America: John McCain ended his mini-tour of Latin America last week where he emphasized his disagreement with Barack Obama over free trade and praised the center-right governments of Mexico and Colombia. Yet according to BBC News, the differences between the two presidential hopeful on Latin America is minimal.

* Chile: Could a “fruit-bearing cactus” be the key to easing Chile’s energy problems?

* Peru: Mine workers ended a week-long national strike late last night according to government officials.

* U.S.: Conservative stalwart/ultra bigot (depending on your opinion) Jesse Helms died last week; he co-authored a law strengthening the embargo of Cuba and backed Argentina in the Falklands War.

* El Salvador: Heavy rains and flash floods have claimed the lives of at least 15 people.

* Cuba: A “top rights activist” claimed that the island’s government cracked down on over 30 dissidents in anticipation alleged protests.

* Ecuador: Lastly, congrats to LDU Quito who won the Copa Libertadores soccer tourney after a thrilling match against Brazil’s Fluminense:

Sources- BBC News, Boston.com, Reuters UK, Bloomberg, Star-Telegram.com, AFP, cbc.ca, Time, YouTube, The Offside