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

Daily Headlines: June 15, 2015

* Dominican Republic: The Vatican officially indicted Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the former papal nuncio for the Dominican Republic, on sexual child abuse charges and will stand trail starting in July.

* Brazil: In a bad sign for the Brazilian economy, car sales in the world's fourth-largest auto market is expected to fall by 18% this year.

* Venezuela: A study found that 27% of Venezuelans between 15 and 29-years-old are considering emigrating mainly due to the weakened economy and a perceived lack of opportunity.

* Mexico: “As the purpose of matrimony is not procreation, there is no justified reason that the matrimonial union be heterosexual, nor that it be stated as between only a man and only a woman,” according to a landmark Mexican Supreme Court decree issued earlier this month.

YouTube Source – euronews (Video uploaded in September 2014).

Online Sources – CNN, NBC News, Fox News Latino, UPI

Daily Headlines: January 13, 2015 (Updated)

* Colombia: Colombian striker James Rodriguez won the FIFA Puskas Award for best goal of 2014 for his strike in last year’s World Cup round of 16 victory over Uruguay.

* Mexico: Maria de los Angeles Pineda Villa, the wife of former mayor of the Mexican town where forty-three students may have been massacred, will be tried over her alleged ties to local criminal gangs.

Update: On a related note, several family members of the disappeared students accused Mexican authorities of "assaulting" them with rocks and tear gas during a protest on January 12th. (Source link is in Spanish).

* Brazil: Several thousand striking autoworkers upset at the announcement of layoffs last week blocked traffic on a major highway connecting Sao Paulo to Brazil’s largest port.

* Argentina: Argentina’s central bank will reportedly receive $400 million from China as part of an $11 billion currency swap with the Asian country.

Video Source – YouTube user FIFATV

Online Sources including Update – ITV Sport; Reuters; The Latin Americanist; GlobalPost; Bloomberg; La Republica

Daily Headlines: February 24, 2014 (Updated)

* Venezuela: Will a planned meeting today between President Nicolás Maduro and opposition figure Henrique Capriles help quell some of the unrest in major Venezuelan cities?

Update: "I will not attend the Federal Council meeting and wash Maduro's face while he's repressing (the people)", declared Capriles regarding his decision on Monday afternoon to skip the meeting with Maduro.  

* Bolivia: At least fifty-nine people have died and tens of thousands of families are homeless due to heavy rains and flooding that have affected Bolivia over the last few weeks.

* Mexico: Mexico is expected to surpass Japan and Canada in order to become the largest exporter of cars to the U.S. by the end of this year.

* Haiti: A Haitian appeals court reversed a 2012 ruling and found that ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier can be tried on charges of crimes against humanity.

Video Source – AFP via YouTube

Online Sources including Update - El Universal; Bloomberg; The Latin Americanist; Reuters; LAHT; USA TODAY

Mexican Car Breaks Land Speed Record

A Mexican auto manufacturer may be having the last laugh over a year after presenters of the British TV program “Top Gear” came under fire for  making disparaging remarks about Mexicans.

On Sunday the Mexican-made Mastretta MXT became the world’s fastest production car with a top speed of exactly 268 miles per hour. The Mastretta thus beat by nearly 0.2 miles per hour the previous record set by the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport in 2010.

Daily Headlines: March 24, 2011

* South America: At least 100 cases of the H1N1 virus (a.k.a. the swine flu) have been reported in Venezuela’s Merida state while an Argentine girl died after contracting dengue fever.

* Mexico: Mexican and Ecuadorian law enforcement officials conducted a number of raids and arrests aimed at weakening the Sinaloa drug gang.

* Cuba: The government released the last pair of political prisoners from a group of 75 dissidents detained in the infamous 2003 "Black Spring" crackdown.

* Brazil: Automakers like Volkswagen and Fiat are allegedly trying to boost production in order to satisfy Brazil’s rapidly growing car market.

Image – AFP/Getty via The Telegraph (Archived photo of people trying to protect themselves from the swine flu by wearing facial masks).
Online Sources- Univision.com, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Guardian, CNN

Daily Headlines: September 3, 2010

* Latin America: The chairman for Indian-owned Tata Motors said that the firm has plans to sell the “world’s cheapest car”, the $2500 Nano, in Latin America.

* U.S.: Officials in Ohio are putting restrictions on Puerto Ricans who want to obtain state IDs and licenses due to concerns over birth certificates.

* Peru: According to researchers the Amazon River is at its lowest level in nearly 40 years in northeastern Peru; thus endangering the local area’s economy.

* Colombia: Police seized over $28 million that may have been linked between Colombian and Mexican drug gangs.

Image – cnet.com (The Tata Nano was first unveiled in late 2008 and the basic model includes cost-cutting innovations such as having a singe windshield wiper and no radio or air conditioning.)
Online Sources- Bloomberg, Xinhua, AP, BBC News

Daily Headlines: February 2, 2010

* Colombia: Campaigns for Colombia’s May presidential election officially started yesterday yet current leader Alvaro Uribe continues to be inexplicably silent over possibly running for a third straight term.

* Latin America: Toyota will recall at least 60,000 vehicles in Latin America as part of its global recall of millions of autos containing a serious accelerator defect.

* Ecuador: In the latest chapter regarding Ecuador’s environmental lawsuit against Chevron attorneys for the oil giant filed an injunction last week to try to stop arbitration proceedings.

* Brazil: The government is going ahead with the construction of a hydroelectric dam opposed by environmentalists and some Amazonian locals.

Image – CNN
Online Sources- LAHT, Sydney Morning Herald, Wall Street Journal, BBC News

Hondurans peeved over no-drive law

Opposition has mounted in Honduras against a no-drive law which went into effect on Monday. The regulation- which is similar to one used in Bogota, Colombia- barred private car usage for one day each week. The move has led to protests around the country and the mayor of the Tegucigalpa even offered free legal services to pay for pico y placa fines.

The controversy grew to such a point that the country’s top court intervened and sided with car enthusiasts:

Honduras' Supreme Court has temporarily suspended a law that keeps cars off the road one day per week, while the justices study the constitutionality of the measure….

The 9-6 vote by the justices on Wednesday puts the law on hold.

President Manuel Zelaya replied that the injunction was “against the country’s judicial security” and failed to take into account the estimated $80 million in saved energy costs.

The tribunal’s actions where similar to those taken last month by a court in Chacao, Venezuela against their proposed no-drive law.

Image- Caracol Radio (Bogota’s Car Fee day held in February)

Sources (English)- International Herald Tribune, Vivir de Otro Modo, PR-inside.com

Sources (Spanish)- Union Radio, Cadena Global