Daily Headlines: May 3, 2016 (Updated)

* Mexico: Some 40% of drivers in Mexico City are barred from using their vehicles today after smog levels of the already polluted air of the metropolis spiked yesterday.

* Brazil: A 72-hour ban on the use of WhatsApp in Brazil affecting some 100 million users has reportedly led to a surge in registration for rival messaging app Telegram.

Update: A Brazilian appellate judge on Tuesday lifted the restrictions against using WhatsApp. 

* U.S.: Broadway musical “Hamilton”, created by and starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, received a record sixteen Tony Award nominations.

* Cuba: For the first time in decades a U.S. cruise ship docked in Havana though not without controversy over a former ban on Cubans barred from returning to the island by sea.
YouTube Source – DW (English) (Video uploaded on July 2014).

Online Sources including Update – ABC News, USA TODAY, Quartz, CBS News, Ars Technica

Karen Olivo triumphs at Tonys

Karen Olivo won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Anita in the revival of “West Side Story”.

"I'm completely unprepared for this. ... I just want to dedicate this to everyone who has a dream," Olivo said in an emotional acceptance speech after receiving deserved acclamations from the 800+ Tony voters.

Olivo’s award was the only winner for “West Side Story” which got four nominations including one for Argentina’s Josefina Scaglione as Maria. The revival has been praised for incorporating more Spanish lines and lyrics to songs as well as taking a closer look at bigotry and racism.

Olivo took a gamble by leaving her leading role in the Tony-winning “In the Heights” for a supporting role in “West Side Story”. But as she observed in a March interview, the chance to play Anita was too good to pass up:

"[The decision] was more about the role itself. It’s an amazing and iconic part," adds Olivo, who’s of Dominican, Puerto Rican and Chinese descent.

"And it had more to do with the actual [show], which I have known and loved since I saw the movie when I was 5 or 6. It was the sort of thing I would want to do regardless of where I was in my career."

The evening was dominated by “Billy Elliot” which won ten Tonys though its composer Elton John was upset for best score.

Image- newsday.com (Karen Olivo (right) received praise and honors at last night’s Tonys).
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, New York Daily News, TonyAwards.com, AP, The Ledger

“In the Heights” honored at Tonys

A hip-hop musical inspired by Latino life in New York City neighborhood earned four Tony Awards last night. “In the Heights” had been nominated for 13 awards and in the end was given nods as the year’s top musical along with best original score for the theater, best choreography and best orchestrations.

The musical struggled off-Broadway and took a big gamble to be produced on the Great White Way against “heavily marketed mega-musicals”. Yet the risk paid off as “In the Heights” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda accepted several honors:

Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the music and lyrics for "In the Heights," rapped his way through his acceptance speech for best score, saying: "I know I wrote a little show about home. Mr. Sondheim, look, I made a hat. (a reference to a lyric in Sondheim's 'Sunday in the Park with George') But there never was a hat — it's a Latin hat at that!"

Also recognized at the Tonys was Brazilian opera star and Broadway newcomer Paulo Szot; he received best musical leading actor for his role in the revival of “South Pacific”.

Sources- courant.com, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Guardian UK, BBC News, Bloomberg,

Image-New York Times

Today’s Video: Lucky 13 for “In the Heights”

Earlier today the nominations were announced for this year’s Tony Awards with “In the Heights” receiving thirteen of them. Best Musical and Leading Actor in a Musical are two of the categories with nods for the musical described by one source as “a look at Latino life in upper Manhattan.”

Below is a commercial for “In the Heights” which gives an idea of what the musical is all about:

(Hat tip: Guanabee, Vivirlatino).

Sources- Guanabee, Vivirlatino, NY1, New York Daily News, YouTube