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

River Plate Wins Copa Libertadores Soccer Tournament

In a summer of sporting firsts, Chile men’s national team captured their maiden Copa America crown while Victor Espinoza became the first Latin American jockey to ride a Triple Crown-winning horse. Mexican soccer teams have never captured the Copa Libertadores but UANL Tigres hoped to change that on Thursday night. Alas, it was not to be as storied Argentine side River Plate won South America’s top soccer club tournament with an emphatic 3-0 home victory.

After a scoreless first leg in Monterrey, the first half of the return leg in Buenos Aires was largely dull with scant scoring chances and plenty of fouls for both sides. Yet on the verge of halftime Los Millonarios finally broke through when recently acquired Lucas Alario headed home the first goal of the match. The fouls piled up in the second half and it seemed inevitable that a player for either team would be sent off or cause a foul in the penalty box. The latter would occur in favor of River Plate and Carlos Sanchez coolly converted the penalty kick to double his side’s lead. Most of the 60,000 plus ay the packed Estadio Monumental could sense that River was on the cusp of ending their nineteen-year Copa Libertadores title drought, and this was assured by a Ramiro Funes Mori goal eleven minutes from full time.

Neither the pouring rain nor the impending departure of Funes Mori dampened the spirits of River fans including thousands who celebrated near the Monumental and iconic Obelisco de Buenos Aires into the wee hours of the morning.

Daily Headlines: May 29, 2015

* Mexico: Human Rights Watch has called on Mexican authorities to fully and impartially investigate a May 22nd shootout between security forces and alleged gang members that left 42 people dead.

* South America: Teams from four different Latin American countries including Tigres UANL from Mexico and Argentine side River Plate qualified for the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores.

* Argentina: The discovery of a new offshore oil field near the Falklands could lead to increased drama in the diplomatic battle between the U.K. and Argentina over the disputed archipelago.

* Peru: Bolivian authorities captured Martin Belaunde, the fugitive former adviser to Peru’s president who has been accused of corruption.

YouTube Source – ODN

Online Sources – Al Jazeera America, ESPN FC, SBS, The Telegraph, Reuters

Daily Headlines: May 15, 2015

* Argentina: On a dark day for Argentine soccer yesterday the Copa Libertaodres match between River Plate and Boca Juniors was suspended after players were attacked with pepper spray, while league play this weekend was postponed over the tragic death of Emanuel Ortega.

* Brazil: A new report blamed a “slow justice system and flawed police investigations as well as the widespread availability of firearms” for a record 42,000 people killed by gun violence in Brazil in 2012.

* Chile: Valentina Maureira, the 14-year-old Chilean girl who earlier this year requested for euthanize, died on Thursday from complications related to cystic fibrosis.

* Colombia: A Colombian counternarcotics panel confirmed the ban on using the possible carcinogenic glyphosate in the aerial spraying against drug crops.

YouTube Source – FootballManiaChannel

Online Sources – Bloomberg, The Guardian, BBC News, TIME, sunherald.com

Daily Headlines: June 28, 2011

* Argentina: The shock of storied Argentine soccer club River Plate being relegated for the first time in its 110-year history was too much to bear for some fans that rioted in Buenos Aires.

* U.S.: A federal judge blocked the implementation of certain parts of a strong anti-immigrant bill in Georgia after hearing a lawsuit filed by several plaintiffs including eleven Latin American states.

* Latin America: Attorneys representing approximately 160 former plantation workers filed a lawsuit against oil giant Shell and food firms Dole and Chiquita over allegations of being sick from pesticides.

* Colombia: Despite the recent leeway made by the White House to push for a free trade deal with Colombia, one leading congressional Democrat said that he would oppose the pact.

Video Source – La Republica via YouTube (River Plate may’ve won 33 league titles, two Copa Libertadores, and one Intercontinental title but it was all for naught when they were embarrassingly relegated on Sunday).
Online Sources- UPI, Bloomberg, The Independent, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: May 16, 2011

* Panama: Is the infrastructure in the U.S. unprepared for the “major trade boost” that could come with the expansion of the Panama Canal?

* Mexico: As part of an overhaul of Mexico’s immigration agency seven top officials were fired while forty agents are reportedly under investigation for possible human rights abuses.

* Cuba: A cruise ship heading towards Florida rescued nine Cuban migrants on a raft on Saturday.

* Argentina: In the latest edition of one of the world’s most exciting soccer derbies, Boca Juniors beat River Plate by a score of 2-0.

Image – LAHT (The expansion of the Panama Canal is expected to be completed by 2014).
Online Sources- Reuters, MSNBC, canada.com, Sacramento Bee, AFP

Daily Headlines: April 22, 2009

* Brazil: Soccer may be king in Brazil though that hasn’t stopped the Tampa Bay Rays from trying to make inroads there.

* Mexico: One of the country’s leading banks- Banorte- will start offering life insurance to immigrants living in the U.S.

* Paraguay: Health officials claim that a cholera outbreak occurred last month at an isolated indigenous reservation.

* Argentina: The latest edition of the superclasico between Boca Juniors and River Plate ended in a 1-1 tie.

Image- daylife.com (“Brazil's baseball team celebrates a run against Nicaragua during a Pan American Games baseball competition in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, July 15, 2007.”)
Online Sources- Reuters, MLB.com, LAHT, Goal.com