Daily Headlines: November 2, 2015

* Brazil: According to Brazilian daily O Estado de Sao Paulo, Volkswagen is negotiating settling a lawsuit claiming that the automaker turned a blind eye to the detention and torture of factory workers during the military dictatorship from the 1960s to 1980s.

* U.S.: Salvador Perez became the second Venezuelan to win the World Series Most Valuable Player award after the Kansas City Royals clinched the crown in five games.

* Argentina: U.S. federal judge Thomas Griesa ordered the Argentine government to pay an additional $6.1 billion to credit holders before paying off holdouts owed for the country’s historic 2001 debt default.

* Mexico: The Mexican Navy on Sunday rescued four fishermen who went missing after leaving the Ecuadoran port of Esmeraldas on September 24th and drifted 1200 miles away.

YouTube Source – NewsBeat Social (“A lawsuit filed September 22nd accuses German Automaker Volkswagen of condoning the torture of employees by the then-military government of Brazil in 1972.”)
 
Online Sources – Deutsche Welle, ESPN, Latin American Herald Tribune, GlobalPost

Daily Headlines: October 29, 2015

* Ecuador: In the latest twist to the legal telenovela that is the Ecaudoran environmental damages ordeal against Chevron, the oil giant’s main witness at a 2014 appeal recanted his entire testimony.

* Mexico: Mexican federal police committed extrajudicial killings in two incidents earlier this year that left some fifty people dead according to Human Rights Watch.

* Brazil: Community groups in Rio de Janeiro claimed that the government’s relocation program ahead of the 2016 Olympics is in reality segregating thousands of impoverished families.

* U.S.: The Kansas City Royals won the first two games of the World Series with help from Dominican starter Johnny Cueto who pitched a complete game gem on Wednesday night.

YouTube Source – teleSUR English (“The Canadian Supreme Court (last month) voted to a allow the lawsuit that seeks to recover US$9.5 billion from a 2011 compensation settlement arising from the pollution of land belonging to Amazonian indigenous villages by Chevron.”)
 
Online Sources – ESPN, The Guardian, Vice News, Al Jazeera America

Daily Headlines: October 28, 2015

* Cuba: Despite a diplomatic rapprochement towards Cuba, the U.S. once again opposed a U.N. General Assembly resolution overwhelmingly condemning the trade embargo against the island.

* Mexico: The Mexican Supreme Court may emit a ruling this week that could open the door to legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.

* U.S.: Kansas City Royals pitcher and World Series Game 1 starter Edinson Volquez left for the Dominican Republic hours after his father suddenly passed away at the age of 63.

* Colombia: President Juan Manuel Santos proposed a bilateral ceasefire with the FARC rebels to begin on New Year’s Day of 2016.

YouTube Source – euronews (191 U.N. member states condmned the U.S. embargo against cuba in a resolution that for the second straight year was only opposed to by the U.S. and Israel).
 
Online Sources – USA TODAY, GlobalPost, BBC News, CNN

Daily Headlines: October 31, 2013

* U.S.: David “Big Papi” Ortiz was named as the Most Valuable Player in the World Series after he helped power the Boston Red Sox to their third title in the last nine years.

* Puerto Rico: Hector Pesquera announced that he would resign as head of a police force beleaguered by corruption and a high murder rate on the island.

* Chile: Recent polls indicated that ex-President Michelle Bachelet would easily avoid a runoff in next month’s elections.

* Brazil: Eike Batista, who was once Brazil’s wealthiest man with $34.5 billion in assets, filed a bankruptcy protection request for the oil firm he controls.

Video Source – MLB.com (World Series MVP David Ortiz batted .688 in six games while his the Red Sox teammates hit .234).
 
Online Sources- Boston Herald; Reuters; The Guardian; Xinhua

Pablo Sandoval Named World Series MVP

Pablo Sandoval of Venezuela was named the World Series MVP after the San Francisco Giants swept the Detroit Tigers to win this year’s edition of the Fall Classic.

The infielder nicknamed the “Kung Fu Panda” made World Series history when he became the fourth player to hit three home runs in one game.  His offensive prowess did not end with Game 1, however, as he averaged .500 and hit four RBIs in his sixteen Series at-bats.

“It's just an incredible moment you're never going to forget,” said Sandoval to ESPN after Sunday night’s 4-3 Series clinching victory.  “Have fun, like a little kid, fight for everything, never lose faith. It's important when you have teammates thinking that way, you are that guy,” he added.

Sandoval’s MVP is certainly well deserved though it could have easily gone to any one of his teammates who played spectacularly during the World Series. NLCS MVP Marco Scutaro drove in the championship clinching run in extra innings while Sergio Romo struck out the side in the tenth inning to record his third save in the Series.

While the Giants captured their second crown in three years, the Tigers were left reeling and without a title since 1984. 

"It's very sad, what we're feeling right now, " said Miguel Cabrera to the Detroit Free Press.  "I feel embarrassed. I struck out. I made the last out in the World Series," added the slugger whose bat was largely silent throughout the Series despite becoming the first Triple Crown hitting champion since 1967.

A record twenty-two Latino players participated in this year’s World Series including nine each from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.  In remarks to Fox News Latino, baseball historian Rob Ruck praised the Latino presence in the World Series as well as the emergence of star players from Venezuela:

Panda Power! Sandoval Pushes Giants to World Series Game 1 Win

Venezuelan slugger Pablo Sandoval became the fourth player to hit three home runs in a World Series game, a feat he accomplished in last night’s 8-3 victory by the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the World Series.

The man nicknamed the “Kung Fu Panda” hit his round-trippers in the first, third and fifth innings as part of a dominant performance by the Giants over the Detroit Tigers.  Two of the homers came over Tigers ace Justin Verlander who was outpitched by the duo of Barry Zito and Tim Lincecum.

"Man, I still can't believe it," Sandoval said to the press after a game that electrified the hometown San Francisco crowd. "When you're a little kid, you dream of being in the World Series. But I [wasn't] thinking of being in this situation, three homers in one game," Sandoval added.

Sandoval thus joins Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols as the only men to hit three homers in a World Series game.  He also made it to the Venezuelan baseball record books by hitting as many World Series home runs as all the other major league players from his homeland had ever hit in all their previous World Series appearances.

Sandoval is one of a record nine Venezuelans participating in this year’s World Series, which includes teammate Marco Scutaro and Triple Crown champion Miguel Cabrera.  As a result, Sandoval and company have become an immense source of pride among their countrymen: