Daily Headlines: December 28, 2015 (Updated)

* South America: The El Niño weather phenomenon has been blamed for massive flooding in Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina as well as an elevated alert of forest fires in Colombia.

* Central America: Pope Francis called on Central American leaders to bring about a “timely solution to (the) humanitarian drama” of an estimated 5000 Cuban migrants stranded in Costa Rica.

Update: The SICA bloc of Central American states agreed to start a pilot program next month to help the stranded migrants travel legally northward to Mexico. (Link in Spanish).

* Haiti: The United Nations Security Council pushed Haitian officials to quickly reschedule a presidential runoff that was supposed to take place yesterday but has been indefinitely postponed.

* Chile: The Chilean government proposed eliminating a law enacted under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet that provides the military with 10% of the country’s yearly copper exports.

YouTube Source – euronews

Online Sources including Update – UPI, NDTV, The Tico Times, teleSUR English, Jamaica Observe, Agencia EFE

Daily Headlines: May 21, 2015

* Paraguay: A judge refused to conditionally release the mother of her pregnant and sexually abused 10-year-old daughter who is the subject of an intense abortion debate in Paraguay.

* Puerto Rico: Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla pushed for tax increases and cuts to programs as part of his proposed $9.8 billion budget for the cash-strapped commonwealth.

* Colombia: An eleven-month-old child was found yesterday buried under the rubble caused by a massive landslide on Monday that killed at least eighty-three people.

* Cuba: U.S. and Cuban government representatives are meeting today in the latest round of discussions that could soon lead to the reestablishing of full diplomatic relations.

YouTube Source – ODN 

Online Sources – ABC News, The Latin Americanist, Bloomberg, BBC News, The New York Times

Daily Headlines: April 8, 2014

* Latin America: Researchers warned that the chikungunya virus that has already been detected in several Caribbean countries could soon cause a “catastrophic” epidemic in the Americas.
 
* Brazil: More than 2000 construction workers at Rio de Janeiro's Olympic Park have been on strike since last Thursday as part of the latest delay to affect preparations for the 2016 Summer Games.

* Mexico: The mayor of Tampico, Mexico believes that rival drug gangs attempting to “settle scores” may be behind the deaths of at least eighteen people over the weekend in the northern border state of Tamaulipas.
 
* Cuba: According to a Havana Consulting Group report, the number of U.S. tourists visiting Cuba continues to grow in the first three months of this year despite a decades-long trade embargo against the island.

Video Source– YouTube user CARPHACampus (The chikungunya virus is spread by the same Aeges infected mosquitos that can carry dengue.  Victims endure severe joint pains that could lead to permanent disability and, in some cases, death).

Online Sources –news.com.au; GlobalPost; NET Website; Dominican Today; The Guardian

Daily Headlines: April 10, 2013 (Updated)

* Brazil: Latin America's biggest defense trade fair takes place this week in Rio de Janeiro where deals could be made between international firms and governments with growing military budgets.

* Chile: Work resumed at state-owned Codelco after a 24-hour strike though tensions continue between management of the copper giant and labor unions seeking better worker conditions. 

Update: A Chilean court suspended work at the Barrick-owned Pascua Lima gold mine due to alleged environmental threats to indigenous communities.

* Argentina: Catholic officials in Argentina are hoping Pope Francis will grant sainthood to three priests and two seminarians murdered in a 1976 “Dirty War” massacre.

* Cuba: Authorities in Cuba handed over a U.S. couple accused of kidnapping their two sons and fleeing by boat to the Caribbean island.

Video Source – YouTube via user portalfab (Video created by the Brazilian Air Force for the ninth edition of the LAAD Defense and Security expo that began on Tuesday.)
 
Online Sources including Update- NBC News, GlobalPost, Dialogo Americas, Washington Post, Al Jazeera English, ABC News

Daily Headlines: February 7, 2013 (UPDATED)

* Chile: The Chilean Navy was ordered to investigate a group of sailors caught on video chanting, “I will kill Argentines, I will shoot Bolivians, I will behead Peruvians.”

Update: A report from the Chilean Navy said that the chant by a group of sailors in Viña del Mar was an "improvised" form of a "typical" song used by the military in training.

The report, which was ordered by the federal government in response to the controversial video, labeled the chant as "offensive" but called for the leader of the chant to be punished rather than the entire group of 27 sailors.

* South America: Police in Peru nabbed the suspected head of Los Urabeños, a Colombian neo-paramilitary criminal gang involve in drug trafficking.

* Cuba: Lack of demand is reportedly to blame for a decline in the number of charter flights between the U.S. and Cuba.

* U.S.: Can Governors Brian Sandoval and Susana Martinez help attract Latino voters to the Republican Party?

Video Source – YouTube via user Guillermo Rossini

Online Sources including Update- La Nacion, ABC News, UPI, Miami Herald, New York Times

Daily Headlines: November 14, 2008

* Argentina: Diego Maradona denied rumors that he would quit before his first game as coach of the men’s national soccer team.

* Latin America: Floundering auto giant General Motors may have set profit records in Latin America but that could soon change.

* Brazil: Congress has approved a measure that would toughen penalties for child pornography.

* Cuba: Stephen Soderbergh’s epic film on Ché Guevara is expected to be shown at Havana's New Latin American Film Festival next month.

Image- BBC Sport
Sources- The Independent, Latin Business Chronicle, AFP, IHT, Reuters