Daily Headlines: April 22, 2016

* South America: Nine teams from Brazil and Argentina advanced to the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores bracket led by top seeds Atletico Nacional from Colombia and Mexico’s UNAM.

* Latin America: Soybean prices have dipped as a result of floods damaging the crop in Argentina, while Chile’s El Teniente copper mine restarted operations following days of heavy rainfall.

* Guatemala: The shooting death of a thirteen-year-old Guatemalan boy has led to increased tensions between the Central American country and neighboring Belize.
 
* Mexico: President Enrique Peña Nieto presented to Mexico’s Congress a plan to decriminalize the use of marijuana for personal use up to 28 grams and legalize medical marijuana.

YouTube Source – Football Mania (Defending Copa Libertadores titleholders River Plate of Argentina join eight former championship teams to the last sixteen of this year’s edition of the tournament).

Online Sources – Goal.com, Bloomberg, Reuters, Vice News, GlobalPost

Daily Headlines: February 11, 2016 (Updated)

* Latin America: A pair of recent polls found that most Latin Americans are pessimistic over the region’s governments handling of the Zika virus outbreak, and 41% of people in the U.S. are less likely to take a trip to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Update: On a related note, Brazilian health officials claimed that it can take a year to develop a vaccine against Zika. Doing so, however, will be a major challenge.

* Mexico: At least fifty-two inmates died following a riot and a fire at the Topo Chico prison located near Monterrey in northern Mexico.

* Peru: Peru’s copper output is expected to grow by 19% this year, which will allow the country to leapfrog China and become the world’s second-largest copper producer.

* El Salvador: Former El Salvador President Mauricio Funes will become the next ex-Central American leader to face a trial over alleged wrongdoing while in office.

YouTube Source – Bloomberg Business

Online Sources including Update – The Guardian, Reuters, CNN, Bloomberg, Vox

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: November 11, 2014

* U.S.: Cuban-born slugger José Abreu was unanimously selected as the American League Rookie of the Year following a stellar season where he batted .317 with 36 home runs and 107 RBI.

* Peru: Production in Peru’s vital copper industry has been affected by an indefinite strike that started yesterday at the country’s Antamina mine.

* Colombia: An ex-drug smuggling pilot testified in court that former capo Pablo Escobar allegedly framed a British businessman imprisoned since 1986 on murder charges.

* Brazil: FIFA will create a $100 million development fund for Brazil months after the soccer’s global governing body earned more than $4 billion in sales from the World Cup.

Video Source – MLB via YouTube

Online Sources – USA TODAY; Reuters; The Guardian; Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: July 14, 2014

* Colombia: Colombian James Rodriguez became the third South American player since 1978 to win the Golden Boot Award as top scorer at the World Cup.

* Argentina: Visiting Russian president Vladimir Putin backed Argentina’s claim to the Falklands and also signed a nuclear energy cooperation pact with his counterpart, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
 
* Peru: Peruvian officials claimed that their country could double their copper production by 2016 and surpass China as the world’s second-largest producer of the metal.

* Brazil: The BRICS group of developing countries that includes Brazil will reportedly launch its own development bank that could curb the influence of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Video Source – Richard Swarbrick via YouTube
 
Online Sources – USA TODAY; euronews; The West Australian; mining.com

Weekend Headlines: August 18, 2013 (Updated)

* Caribbean: On Saturday, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt became the first three-time male winner of the 200-meter dash at the world track and field championships.

Update: Bolt won his third gold medal of the world track and field championships after anchoring Jamaica's victorious men's 4x100 meter relay team.

* U.S.: Miguel Tejada received a 105 game suspension from Major League Baseball (MLB) over testing positive for an amphetamine weeks after Alex Rodriguez was suspended for 211 games for violating the MLB’s drug policy.
 
* Chile: Employees at the world's largest private copper in Chile seeking better pay and improved working conditions staged a 24-hour strike last week.

* Mexico: Mexican airline Aeromexico and advertising firm Catatonia issued an apology regarding issuing a commercial casting call barring “dark-skinned” people from auditioning.

Video Source – YouTube via Universal Sports

Online Sources including Update- USA TODAY; BBC News; ITV; ESPN New York; The Guardian; CNN

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: May 1, 2012

* Argentina: A rally was held Monday night in Buenos Aires on the thirty-fifth anniversary of the first protest held by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo group.

* Colombia: President Juan Manuel Santos called on the FARC to free French journalist Romeo Langlois who has been missing since Saturday and is believed to have been kidnapped by the rebels.

* Chile: Work on the controversial El Morro copper mine project was suspended after the Supreme Court ruled against renewing its environmental permit.

* Venezuela: Opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles and local human rights activists criticized President Hugo Chavez’ suggestion that Venezuela should withdraw from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Video Source – YouTube via TVPublicaArgentina

Online Sources- New American Media, CNN, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, CBS News

Daily Headlines: July 26, 2011

* Central America: Four ex-Guatemalan soldiers are on trial for their alleged role in the infamous Dos Erres massacre in 1982, while Canadian immigration officials said that they will deport a Honduran accused of heading a violent army battalion in the early 1980s.

* South America: Scientists concluded that the results of tests performed on the corpse of independence figure Simon Bolivar were inconclusive as to how he died.

* Chile: Workers are expected to continue a sixth day of striking at one of Chile’s main copper mines.

* Mexico: Police uncovered over forty tons of marijuana in a “plantation” covering roughly 148 acres.

Image – AFP via BBC News (“The four suspects (front row) deny having been involved in the massacre” of over 200 people in the Guatemalan village of Dos Erres in 1982).
Online Sources- MSNBC, BBC News, MarketWatch, People’s Daily Online, Vancouver Sun

Daily Headlines: April 5, 2011

* Cuba: The U.S. Justice Department reversed its previous stance and said that the alleged plotters of the 9/11 attacks will be tried in military courts at the Guantanamo Bay facility.

* Chile: The prices of copper have risen in part due to decreasing supplies at some of Chile’s main copper mines.

* Colombia: Over 150 soldiers sentenced for the “worst human-rights violations” are in a prison with “privileges and comforts worthy of a hotel,” according to Semana magazine.

* Brazil: French officials said that it could take weeks to recover over 200 bodies from the wreckage of an Air France plane that crashed off the Brazilian coast in 2009.

Image – Colin Perkel/The Canadian Press/AP/File via CSMonitor.com (“The entrance to Camp Delta at Guantánamo Bay is seen on Oct. 24, 2010.”)
Online Sources- Xinhua, Bloomberg, LAHT, BBC News

Daily Headlines: February 16, 2010

* U.S.: Morrissey, Los Tigres Del Norte, and Aventura will have songs included in an album aimed at promoting Latino participation in the 2010 Census. (“Mentiras” by Los Amigos Invisibles will be on the album; hence, the above video).

* El Salvador: Authorities arrested three suspects accused in the September 2009 murder of Spanish filmmaker Christian Poveda.

* Mexico: Roman Catholic bishops have become the latest group to criticize the Mexican government’s anti-violence strategy.

* Chile: In a positive sign for Chile’s economy the country’s copper exports doubled in January.

Online Sources- NME, BBC News, LAHT, AP, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: July 4, 2008

* Argentina: Movie buffs are excited at the discovery in Buenos Aires of previously lost scenes from the 1927 film classic “Metropolis.”

* Peru: Copper prices hit a two-month high as more laborers have united in Peru’s nationwide mining strike.

* Venezuela: Profits for state oil firm PDVSA jumped by a whopping 80% in the first-quarter this year compared to last year.

* Caribbean: Several Caribbean musicians have dedicated songs to U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama; for instance, here’s Trinidadian Calypso singer Mighty Sparrow with “Barack the Magnificent”:

Sources- YouTube, Politico, Reuters India, Reuters UK, Guardian UK

Why Does a Peruvian Copper Mine Belong to China?

What could be the biggest copper mine on the planet will displace local residents in a Peruvian town. Some residents of the impoverished Toromocho region are happy to take the few thousand dollars and relocation that the Chinese mining company is offering. But the real deal isn't for the people or even for the entire country of Peru, whose government ok'ed the project but for Chinalco.

The Peruvian government is happy with the $3bn (£1.53bn) that Chinalco will invest in the Toromocho mines.
The Chinese will be even happier. They have got themselves a bargain.
The copper Chinalco extracts from Toromocho will cost something like US$410 (£210) per ton. Today, the price for copper on the London Metal Exchange was $8,255 (£4,220) - 20 times more.
Chinalco stands to make a 2,000% profit on its investment.

Source : BBC
Be Sure to check out the link for a video to go with the story.

Chile Shuffles its Cabinet

In what is actually not that uncommon, Chilean Presidenta Michelle Bachelet fired and replaced five ministers in her cabinet. The five positions were economy, mining, public works, agriculture and planning ministers. A new interior minister was also named after a surprise resignation last week. All of the new ministers have long histories in the Chilean government. The move was made in part, according to some analysts, to boost Bachelet's sagging approval rating which suffered a huge fall after the failure to implement a new public transport system in the capital, Santiago and the lack of economic benefits to the general population linked to a growth in the copper industry (Chile is the world's #3 copper producer).

"I have decided to introduce changes to the Cabinet to face the second half of my presidential term," Bachelet said in announcing the new ministers.

Sources : El Mercurio, Reuters, Canada.com

Daily Headlines: June 27, 2007

* Newly released CIA documents detail several intricate yet failed plots in the 1960s to assassinate Fidel Castro.

* Brazil may renew construction of what would be the country’s third nuclear reactor.

* U.S. presidential hopeful Fred Thompson defended his record as a lobbyist which included representing ex-Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

* The president of copper firm Codelco said that operations in Chile are running at a normal pace despite a strike by its contract workers.

* Honduran striker David Suazo finalized a transfer deal to Italian soccer giants Inter Milan.

Sources- Guardian UK, ESPN Soccernet, Reuters UK, BBC News, Forbes

Image- RIA Novotsi (Fidel Castro is not looking out for plots to kill him in this early 2006 photo of him)