Daily Headlines: January 22, 2016 (Updated)

* Latin America: A World Bank study warned that the number of youth in Latin America who are not in school or employed (“ninis”) has grown since 1992.

* Haiti: President Michel Martelly confirmed that the controversial runoff election for his successor will take place this Sunday and ruled out opposition calls to back a transitional government.

Update (January 23rd, 12:20 AM): Haitian electoral officials postponed the January 24th runoff due to "a deteriorating security environment and threats to the electoral process." The election has thus been delayed for a third time after originally being scheduled for December 27, 2015.

* Mexico: The Mexican government reported that homicides increased in 2015 for the first time in four years though other serious crimes like kidnapping and extortion decreased.

* South America: Bolivia and Ecuador are among the eight countries added to a Centers for Disease Control travel advisory warning due to the spreading Zika virus.

YouTube Source – CCTV America 

Online Sources – The Guardian, Mashable, France 24, The Latin Americanist, Reuters

Daily Headlines: May 13, 2014

* Venezuela: Dr. Jacinto Convit, a Venezuelan researcher who helped develop vaccines against leprosy and leishmaniasis, passed away at the age of 100 in Caracas.

* Panama: No major damage or casualties have been reported from a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit off the Pacific coast of Panama on Tuesday morning.

* Mexico: Mexican officials claimed on Monday that the co-founder of the Zetas drug gang was killed in a shootout along with five other people.

* Latin America: Job security, the economy and crime are the "top three concerns" for Latin Americans according to a new Nielson survey.

Video Source – Noticiero Venevision via YouTube 

Online Sources – Reuters; NBC News; ABC News; Nielson

Daily Headlines: October 12, 2011 (Updated)

* Mexico: Mexican authorities cooperated with their U.S. counterparts in order to help foil a supposed Iranian-backed plan to kill the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. (Update: According to the Buenos Aires Herald, Argentina's Jewish community is "concerned" with the alleged plot since the plan was said to have involved attacks in Buenos Aires)

* Paraguay: Over 27,000 cattle received vaccinations as part of a campaign to halt an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

* U.S.: A coalition of 25 civil rights and labor advocacy groups petitioned for an end to employment credit checks that allegedly hurt Latino job applicants.

* Puerto Rico: The Island’s emblematic coqui frog could soon be placed on an endangered species list.

Video Source – YouTube user Associated Press

Online Sources- Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Huffington Post, Fox News Latino

Ecuador: Women earn one-third less than men

Since the first International Women's Day was celebrated one hundred years ago women around the world have made great strides in seeking gender equality. Yet there is still much that can be done, as can be seen in the South American country of Ecuador.

Ecuadorian women earn 33% less than their male counterparts according to the country’s national statistic agency. Roughly one-third of Ecuadorian woman who are of legal working age have a job compared to 54% of men. In addition, the highest sector of female employment is self-employment, which employs about two out of every five working Ecuadorian women.

The sobering news on employment also extends itself to other areas where 13.7% of women have university-level education and a paltry one in 200 (0.5%) have post-graduate experience.

Interestingly enough, a median of women surveyed scored an eight out of a scale of ten when asked how satisfied they felt with their lives. But the data on jobs and education have some women’s rights representatives worried:

“It’s a lack of employment justice not only because women earn less for the same job but also since they have less opportunities to work due to motherhood and being responsible for the family”, said Fundación Desafío president Virginia Gómez de la Torre.

Image- TopNews.in
Online Sources- Terra Peru, El Universo, La Hora, Voice of America

ILO: Grim job outlook for L. American youth

A report released this week by the International Labor Organization (ILO) concluded that millions of young Latin Americans face a negative job outlook. Ten million young people in Latin America are unemployed which is three times the adult rate for the region. Add to that the high percentage of youth working in the informal sector and the decrease in prospects for employment, and this leads towards a “vicious circle of poverty” affecting the region’s youth.

ILO Director-General Juan Somavia observed that Latin America is wasting a prime opportunity for social and economic advancement in an increasingly globalized world:

“Young people are essential to integrate the region in the globalization process. All over the world, young women and young men, if they are given the opportunity, make an important contribution as productive workers, employers, consumers, members of civil society and agents of change.

Young people invest their energy, talent and creativity in the economy, and nobody can afford to loose this potential.”

Sources (English)- International Labor Organization, MercoPress

Source (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa

Image- ifad.org (Young man working at a market in Grenada)