World Watch: From the Music Stage to the Political Stage

* Senegal: Will Youssou N'Dour follow the lead of Haiti’s Michel Martelly and become the next musician turned president?

* Europe: The Spanish government recently launched a set of anti-piracy laws opposed to by “bloggers, journalists and tech professionals” while Internet users in Belarus will soon face stiff fines if they access foreign-based websites not using the country’s .by domain name.

* Egypt: Prosecutors in the Hosni Mubarak trial claimed that the ex-president and his closest aides are responsible for the deaths of about 850 protesters by the military last year.

* Iran: The E.U. agreed to implement an embargo on Iranian oil imports even though the bloc is “one of Iran's biggest markets for oil.”

Image Source – Flickr via erinc salor (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Online Sources – news24, UPI, BBC News, Reuters, Voice of America

World Watch: Gone Gbagbo gone

* Ivory Coast: Disgraced former president Laurent Gbagbo may face “judicial proceedings” after he was detained by French and opposition forces.

* Japan: No tsunami warning was issued after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the Japanese coast one month after a major tremor and tsunami killed an estimated 25,000 people.

* Belarus: President Alexander Lukashenko claimed that a deadly bombing in the Minsk metro on Monday might’ve been a “gift from abroad.”

* France: Two Muslim women were arrested for peacefully protesting France’s ban on wearing face veils in public.

Image – Str/AFP/Getty Images via The Guardian (“Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo and his wife Simone after their arrest.”)
Online Sources- Busninessweek, USA TODAY, BBC News, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: July 25, 2008

* Mexico: Hurricane Dolly may’ve weakened to a tropical storm yesterday but that didn’t stop the storm from causing flooding in parts of northern Mexico and possible flooding in the Rio Grande Valley.

* Peru: Patriotism vs. morality – Peruvians are split over a magazine cover with a nude model photographed on top of the national flag.

* Latin America: Columnist Marcela Sanchez looks at the difficulties of being elderly and living in Latin America.

* Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez signed several energy and trade deals with his counterpart from Belarus, “a fellow fierce critic of the United States.”

Image- New York Times (“Gregoria Lopez sought shelter from the hurricane in Brownsville, Texas.”)

Sources- washingtonpost.com, BBC News, Reuters, AFP

Daily Headlines: May 03, 2007

* Yet another problem related to Santiago, Chile’s transit network: increased air pollution while cleaner running buses are gradually being implemented.

* Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko- deemed as Europe’s “last dictator” by the U.S.- will pay an official visit to Venezuela soon.

* China’s government is peeved at the Caribbean island of St. Lucia for breaking off diplomatic relations with them and re-establishing ties with Taiwan.

* $261 million in cuts were proposed in the latest budget from Puerto Rico’s governor.

* Yesterday, Argentines commemorated the silver anniversary of the sinking of the warship General Belgrano during the Falklands War.

Links- The Latin Americanist, MercoPress, BBC News, El Universal, CBS News, Caribbean Net News, Channel 4 News

Image- BBC Mundo (Transantiago bus stop)