Daily Headlines: January 29, 2016

* Colombia: President Juan Manuel Santos called on the U.S. to remove the FARC from its list of terrorist groups in order to help advance peace talks that could end with a full agreement by March.

* Puerto Rico: While the Zika virus continues to spread across the Americas, Puerto Rican health officials warned that the flu reached epidemic levels on the commonwealth.

* Latin America: Caracas, Venezuela supplanted San Pedro Sula in Honduras as the world’s most violent city according to the Mexico-based Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice. 

* Mexico: Should Canada’s new government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau focus on more on strengthening ties with Mexico than the U.S.?

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources – NBC News, Reuters, ABC News, The Telegtaph, The Globe and Mail

Daily Headlines: January 28, 2016

* Brazil: A new spill has been reported at the same mine where a landslide of toxic sludge last November was deemed as the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history.

* Latin America: Should women avoid pregnancy in order to halt the spread of the Zika virus or is such a warning unnecessary?

* U.S.: A new study noted an increase in Latino college enrollment though most head to Hispanic-Serving Institutions found in a limited number of states.

* Mexico: Legislators in Mexico’s Congress began a series of discussions this week that could open the door to legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.

YouTube Source – euronews (At least seventeen people died after the Samarco dam mine in southwest Brazil overflowed last year).

Online Sources – Latin American Herald Tribune, ABC News, Reuters, NBC News, Quartz

Daily Headlines: January 27, 2016

* Brazil: Brazil suffered the biggest drop in the latest Transparency International corruption perceptions index while most Latin American countries did not rank highly on the list.

* Argentina: Argentina may have one of the world’s largest cattle populations but high inflation may force the country to import its beef.

* Venezuela: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ordered oil minister Eulogio del Pino to visit oil-producing countries with the possibly futile aim of “stopping the madness” that is plummeting crude prices.

* Mexico: The Mexican state of Jalisco has become the latest territory in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage.

YouTube Source – AFP (Last August, “hundreds of thousands of protesters demand Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's resignation, blaming her and the leftist Workers' Party for runaway corruption and looming recession in Latin America's biggest country”.)
 
Online Sources – Reuters, ABC News, Financial Times, PRI

Daily Headlines: January 26, 2016

* Cuba: The U.S. government announced today new measures to relax regulations against Cuba that include facilitating exports and expanding opportunities to travel to the island.

* Puerto Rico: More Puerto Ricans are reportedly opting to migrate to the Dominican Republic than vice versa in order to flee from the commonwealth’s dire economic state.

* Colombia: In a rare unanimous vote, the U.N. Security Council approved creating a mission of observers to monitor a peace deal between the Colombian government and FARC that may be reached by March 23rd.

* El Salvador: Should El Salvador relax its complete ban on abortion in light of the spreading Zika virus affecting pregnant women and newborn babies?

YouTube Source – Boom Bust

Online Sources – Salon, Bloomberg, CBS News, GlobalPost, CNN

Daily Headlines: January 25, 2016

* Haiti: “We are ready for war…we will divide the country,” declared former coup plotter and suspected drug smuggler Guy Philippe over the chaos resulting from the latest delay in the Haitian presidential elections.

* Ecuador: Chevron welcomed a judicial ruling at The Hague against Ecuador in relation to a years-long environmental damages lawsuit.

* El Salvador: Former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores is hospitalized under a coma and reportedly in critical condition after he was found unconscious in his home last night.

* U.S.: Latino rights groups such as LULAC are trying to push Iowa’s growing Hispanic population to participate in the February 1st presidential caucuses.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources – Al Jazeera America, The Latin Americanist, Fox News Latino, NPR, teleSUR English