Weekend Headlines: December 24-25, 2011

* Cuba: The U.S. State Department is “deeply disappointed” that jailed contractor Alan Gross will not be among the 2900 prisoners to be reportedly released by the Cuban government.

* Central America: Nicaragua filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice against plans by neighboring Costa Rica to build a road along the banks of the San Juan River.

* U.S.: A federal judge ruled in favor of expanding a class action lawsuit against Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio to include every Latino questioned or detained by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office since January 2007.

* Brazil: Brazilian officials placed an additional $5.4 million fine on Chevron as a result of environmental damage from an offshore oil spill last month.

* Mexico: Authorities at the port of Lazaro Cardenas seized over 229 metric tons of chemicals that are used to make methamphetamine.

* South America: Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said that he would deploy 10,000 troops along the border with Colombia due to security concerns.

Video Source –YouTube via euronews

Online Sources- Reuters, Voice of America, Huffington Post, Xinhua, MSNBC, AFP