Daily Headlines: July 2, 2010

* Haiti: President Rene Preval rejected and deemed “unacceptable” a series of U.S. Congressional proposals for Haiti’s upcoming elections.

* Mexico: At least two people died in northern Mexico as a result of heavy winds and rains from Hurricane Alex.

* Guatemala: Costa Rica’s Attorney General was selected to head the U.N. anti-corruption commission for Guatemala.

* Brazil: Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue was reopened after an extensive four-month renovation.

Image – Al Jazeera English (Haiti's president ordered that national elections take place in November).
Online Sources- BBC News, CNN, AP, Reuters,

Today’s Video: Lilliput on Rio

Laborers working on the renovation of Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue look like a scene from “Gulliver’s Travels”:

Online Sources- YouTube

Peruvian, Mexican, Brazilian locales amongst world’s new "wonders"

The winners of an online poll to select a new version of the Seven Wonders of the World was revealed on Saturday and three of them can be found in Latin America. They are:

• The Incan ruins at Machu Picchu, Peru
• The Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro (image)
• The remains of the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico

Over 100 million votes were submitted via text messaging and the internet according to organizers of the poll. Yet spokesmen for UNESCO criticized the list as limited and “sending a negative message” to countries whose sites were not picked such as the Timbuktu, the Eiffel Tower, and the statues on Easter Island.

Sources- Wikipedia, Canada.com, Telegraoh.co.uk, the Australian

Image- New 7 Wonders