Daily Headlines: July 21, 2016

* South America: The Copa Libertadores title is up for grabs and will be decided in Medellin next Wednesday as Independiente del Valle of Ecuador and Colombia’s Atletico Nacional tied 1-1 in the first leg of the finals.

* United States: A federal appeals court ruled that that the voter ID restrictions in Texas violated the federal Voting Rights Act by discriminating against the poor and minorities like Latinos.

* Mexico: Pedro Rosas Tamayo, a Mexican journalist who received death threats and was purportedly under police protection, was shot and killed at his home in Veracruz.

* Puerto Rico: Several hedge funds who are bondholders of Puerto Rico’s multi-billion dollar debt filed a lawsuit against the Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla and the government of the commonwealth.

YouTube Source – Fox Deportes

Online Sources – SBS, Fox News Latino, teleSUR English, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: May 5, 2016 (Updated)

* Brazil: A Brazilian top court judge ordered Eduardo Cunha, the chief of the Chamber of Deputies chief and strong advocate for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, to step down from his post over corruption charges.

Update: The Supreme Court subsequently issued a unanimous ruling suspending Cunha as lower House leader.
 
* Argentina: President Mauricio Macri, who was one of the figures named in the recent “Panama Papers” leak, claimed that he is willing to collaborate with investigators regarding his alleged links to two offshore firms.

* Guatemala: The genocide retrial of ex-strongman Efrain Rios Montt was suspended indefinitely after attorneys for indigenous victims succeeded in separating his case from that of former intelligence head Jose Rodriguez.

* South America: For the fifteenth straight year the Copa Libertadores will not have a repeat champion after reigning titleholders River Plate of Argentina were ousted in the round of 16 by modest Ecuadoran side Independiente del Valle.

YouTube Source – AFP (“Street artist Luiz Bueno paints a mural on Paulista Avenue, in the financial heart of Sao Paulo, depicting Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, Vice President Michel Temer, the lower house Speaker Eduardo Cunha and the head of the opposition PSDB party Aécio Neves "conspiring" with each other, to bring awareness to the current political crisis.”)
 
Online Sources including Update – Time, The Latin Americanist, Buenos Aires Herald, Business Standard, ESPN FC, ABC News