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Holiday rush at Mexico City’s hangover prison

By Joshua Partlow, Published: December 26

MEXICO CITY — On the way home from a pre-Christmas fiesta, Mauricio Rodriguez, after “two tequilas,” felt clear-headed and focused, “not dizzy or anything.”
So when the IT help desk employee failed one of Mexico City’s feared alcoholímetros — those pervasive breath tests at holiday checkpoints — he knew he would be saying goodbye for a while. No ticket. No warning. “Come get my wife,” he told his father by phone before being whisked off in a squad car. “They’re taking me away.”

Bird Flu Cited by Officials in Death in Canada

By IAN AUSTENJAN. 8, 2014

OTTAWA — Canada’s health minister said Wednesday that a person in Alberta died this week of the bird flu virus, the first known fatality from the illness in North America.

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December 11, 2013

Texas Plan to Execute Mexican May Harm U.S. Ties Abroad, Kerry Says

By MANNY FERNANDEZ

HOUSTON — The scheduled execution next month of a Mexican national by the State of Texas threatens to damage relations between the United States and Mexico and complicate the ability of the United States to help Americans detained overseas, Secretary of State John F. Kerry has warned Texas officials.

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Canada split over hijab-style Muslim police uniform

By Ségolène ALLEMANDOU the 09/12/2013 - 18:07

City authorities in Edmonton, Alberta, have unveiled a new hijab-style headscarf as part of its police uniform for Muslim women officers. Not all Canadian provinces, notably French-speaking Quebec, want to follow suit.

Police in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, this weekend unveiled official hijab-style headscarves approved for use by female Muslim officers, in a move that has revealed a growing split in attitudes towards the wearing of religious symbols across the country.

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US indicts ex-Mexico governor on drug charges

By Joseph BAMAT the 03/12/2013 - 17:43

US authorities on Monday indicted Tomas Yarrington, a former Mexican governor from the country’s ruling PRI party, with smuggling tonnes of drugs into Texas, as well as other serious crimes for which he could face up to 60 years in jail sentences.

US federal prosecutors on Monday brought multiple charges against a former governor of the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, including racketeering, money laundering, drug conspiracy and bank fraud – crimes for which the one-time Mexican presidential hopeful could face up to 60 years of jail time.

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December 7, 2013

In Cuba’s Press, Streets and Living Rooms, Glimmers of Openness to Criticism

By VICTORIA BURNETT

MEXICO CITY — It is a rare day in Cuba when the Communist Party’s triumphalist newspaper suggests that the government — just maybe — messed up. Or when the party’s chief ideologist renounces government secrecy. Or a salsa star, performing at an official concert, calls for the freedom to vote and to smoke marijuana.

But such gestures of openness are becoming more common.

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November 19, 2013

Venezuela: Assembly Hands More Powers to President

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

The National Assembly on Tuesday voted to give President Nicolás Maduro decree powers for one year, which will allow him to create laws on his own, without going through the legislative process. The so-called special powers permit Mr. Maduro, a socialist, to make laws aimed at fighting corruption and regulating the economy, but critics say that in practice those areas are broad enough that there may be few limits over the reach of his decrees. Many Venezuelan presidents have been given similar decree powers, including Mr. Maduro’s predecesor and mentor, Hugo Chávez, who died in March. Mr. Maduro, who is grappling with runaway inflation and severe shortages of many basic goods, has said that he will quickly move to create a law widening price controls and capping business profits.

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Young Chile leaders take fight from streets to Congress

By Ségolène ALLEMANDOU the 19/11/2013 - 17:55

Four former student leaders at the forefront of the movement for free education in Chile have won seats in Congress. With left-wing candidate Michelle Bachelet poised to return to power, they are bent on changing the system from within.

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Joaquín Hernández Galicia, former head of Mexican oil workers union, dies at 91

By Richard Fausset, Published: November 14

Joaquín Hernández Galicia, the former Mexican oil union boss who rose to control a political empire built on patronage and intimidation but was eventually dethroned by a Mexican president wary of his vast power, died Monday in Tampico, Mexico. He was 91.

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November 9, 2013

Venezuela Releases U.S. Journalist After 2 Days

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

CARACAS, Venezuela — The Venezuelan authorities on Saturday released an American journalist who had been detained and questioned by military intelligence officials.

The journalist, Jim Wyss, is the Andes region bureau chief for The Miami Herald. He was detained Thursday near Venezuela’s western border with Colombia while on a reporting trip.

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October 31, 2013

Tunnel for Smuggling Found Under U.S.-Mexico Border; Tons of Drugs Seized

By LIAM DILLON and IAN LOVETT

SAN DIEGO — A deep tunnel snaking nearly 600 yards from Mexico under the border and into a San Diego warehouse is one of the most sophisticated underground drug smuggling passageways ever discovered, complete with electricity, ventilation and an electronic rail system, federal authorities said Thursday.

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Mexico's soda companies fear junk-food tax

By Joshua Partlow, Published: October 26

OAXACA, Mexico — Sweet tangerine sodas and strawberry kiddy drinks have been good for the Guzmán family.
Over 60 years and three generations, their Gugar soda company has offered them hard-won prosperity in one of the poorest states in Mexico. It’s allowed the youngest to study at the University of California at Berkeley and vacation in Las Vegas, and enshrined the eldest in a bronze bust with a nameplate that reads: “Creator of entrepreneurs.”
But for Mexico, the vast appetite for sodas, chips, snacks, sweets — all manner of what they call here “comida chatarra,” or junk food — has helped inflate an overweight nation to obesity levels ­rivaled only by those lumpen gringos to the north.

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November 4, 2013

Brazil Says It Spied on U.S. and Others Inside Its Borders

By SIMON ROMERO

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s government acknowledged on Monday that its top intelligence agency had spied on diplomatic targets from countries including the United States, Iran and Russia, putting the Brazilian authorities in the uncomfortable position of defending their own surveillance practices after repeatedly criticizing American spying operations.

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LAX shooting suspect charged with murder

By News Wires the 03/11/2013 - 08:38

The suspected gunman in the LA airport shooting which left one person dead and several others injured was charged with murder Saturday. The man, who said in a note he wanted to kill transport security staff, could face the death penalty if convicted.

U.S. prosecutors filed a murder charge Saturday against the suspected gunman in the deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport, and he could face the death penalty.