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☆ Republicans speak out against U.S. debt-ceiling deal, in sign of rocky road ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a candidate for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination, said the deal does not do enough to change the fiscal trajectory. "After this deal, our country will still be careening toward bankruptcy," he said on Fox News. There's no question about that," said Republican Representative Dusty Johnson, who said he had talked to dozens of fellow lawmakers. McCarthy has predicted it will draw the support of most of his fellow Republicans, who control the House 222-213. Most of the savings would come by capping spending on domestic programs like housing, border control, scientific research and other forms of "discretionary" spending.

☆ Mexican peso to stay strong despite end of central bank tightening cycle, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Noe Torres | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, May 19 (Reuters) - The Mexican peso could remain the top performer among major global currencies in the coming weeks, despite Mexico's central bank choosing to halt a nearly two-year rate-hike cycle, analysts said. The Mexican peso has gained nearly 10% so far this year, driven mainly by the dollar's decline and money entering the country since the central bank started hiking interest rates in June 2021. Reuters GraphicsIn the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, seen as a market bellwether, speculators on different types of assets have been increasingly betting that the Mexican currency will keep appreciating. These positions, anticipating further strengthening of the peso since mid-March, reached 70,007 contracts in favor of the currency last week, a level not seen since March 2020. Considering these factors, Mexican economists expect the peso to weaken to 19.13 by year-end, a survey by the central bank showed, while a poll of Citibanamex experts estimated the figure at 19.20.

☆ Mexican president backs referendum on electing Supreme Court justices
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, May 17 (Reuters) - Mexico's president on Wednesday backed a proposal to hold a national vote on whether Supreme Court justices should be chosen by citizens, the latest move in the leader's push to reshape an institution he considers "rotten." Mexico's Supreme Court justices are currently approved by the senate with a two-thirds majority from a shortlist selected by the president, and they serve terms of 15 years. "I hope the vote happens, that the question goes to the people," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in his daily news conference when asked about the possibility, which his party has said they want Congress to vote on. Approval in a referendum would lend support for changing the constitution to create a system of citizen-elected Supreme Court justices, something the president said last week he would seek before leaving office in 2024. Reporting by Raul Cortes Fernandez; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene praised former First Lady Melania Trump as an example of a good immigrant
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene cited Melania Trump as an example of a good immigrant. Greene was speaking to the House ahead of the expiration of Title 42, a Trump-era migration law. Greene contrasted the former first lady's immigration with those trying to cross the Mexico-US border. We're very proud of our former first lady, Melania Trump, who immigrated legally to the United States," Greene said on Wednesday. Speaking in the House, Greene contrasted the former first lady's immigration from Slovenia with those trying to cross the Mexico-US border.

☆ Victoria's Secret is bringing back its infamous fashion show as a movie, 4 years after canning it after criticism of its lack of diversity and inclusion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Mary Hanbury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Victoria's Secret is releasing a movie in the fall. The movie is a reimagining of the brand's famous fashion show, which was axed in 2019. The show was canceled after it came under increasing criticism for its lack of diversity and inclusion. Victoria's Secret has been discussing the return of its fashion show for some time. "This film is the ultimate expression of the Victoria's Secret brand transformation," Raúl Martinez, creative director at Victoria's Secret, said in a statement to the press.

☆ Mexico president slams 'rotten' judiciary after electoral reform setback
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, May 9 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday criticized the country's judiciary as "rotten," one day after the Supreme Court invalidated part of a set of electoral reforms he had championed. The Supreme Court on Monday voted 9-2 to strike down a measure curbing elections authority INE's ability to police political communications. Critics of the elections overhaul have warned it will weaken democracy in a country set to hold presidential elections next year. Lopez Obrador has frequently attacked the agency, saying it allowed voter fraud to rob him of the 2006 and 2012 presidential elections. He has also squared off with Supreme Court justices, arguing they do not represent the people in the way lawmakers do.

☆ Mexico's top court invalidates part of president's electoral reform
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, May 8 (Reuters) - Mexico's Supreme Court on Monday struck down part of an electoral overhaul championed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that curbs the power of the country's elections authority, which the leftist leader has repeatedly attacked. A separate part of the legislative reform, which slashes the budget and staffing at the National Electoral Institute (INE), is still being evaluated by the tribunal. In March, the court temporarily suspended other parts of the overhaul, citing violations of citizens' political rights. Lopez Obrador says he was twice robbed of the presidency before he won by a landslide in the 2018 election, and argues the INE is too expensive and biased in favor of his opponents. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in February after lawmakers approved the reform, in one of the largest protests so far against Lopez Obrador's 4-1/2 year-old administration.

☆ New York Mayor Eric Adams to bus asylum seekers upstate, much like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bussed asylum seekers to New York City
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Eric Adams is sending asylum seekers in New York City to upstate New York, drawing criticism from local officials. Greg Abbott for sending migrants from Texas to New York City. In doing so, Adams appears to be passing asylum seekers off – just as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did when he had migrants bussed from his state to New York, the Associated Press reported. In the last year, some 60,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City, the mayor's office said in Friday's press release.

☆ Cubans, waylaid by weather and fuel shortage, march for May Day five days late
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] People gather at the seafront Malecon to watch the International Worker's Day celebration in Havana, Cuba May 5, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandre MeneghiniHAVANA, May 5 (Reuters) - Cubans rallied on Havana's Malecon waterfront boulevard to celebrate International Worker's Day on Friday, five days after the planned May 1 event was called off due to foul weather and a fuel crisis that has crippled public transport on the island. "This year it was not possible, due to the fuel situation," said university professor Javier Sanchez, 24, as he cheered during the morning celebration. Though May 1 dawned clear in Havana, a wind and rain storm the previous day hindered preparations, leading Cuban officials to postpone the event until Friday. Cuban state-run media estimated that 100,000 Cubans had gathered on the Malecon by early Friday morning.

☆ Mexico president defends son after report alleging corruption
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

This week Mexican news outlet Latinus published a report alleging that Andres Lopez Beltran, a son of the president, had helped friends snare public contracts worth over 100 million pesos ($5.6 million). Lopez Obrador ditched the airport upon taking office in 2018 on the grounds that it was too costly and tainted by corruption. Lopez Beltran could not immediately be reached for comment. Lopez Obrador acknowledged family friends had won government contracts, but said they posed no conflicts of interest. Lopez Obrador denied any conflict of interest at the time.

☆ Mexico president asks Biden to stop USAID funding opposition groups
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Sarah Morland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, May 3 (Reuters) - Mexico's president asked his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden to stop the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from funding groups hostile to his government, according to a letter presented to journalists on Wednesday, echoing previous Mexican criticism of U.S. interventionism. The letter calls for Biden's intervention, saying the U.S. State Department in recent days announced that USAID would increase its funding toward such organizations. Mexico had in 2021 sent a similar letter asking USAID to withdraw funding allocated to non-governmental organizations critical of the government. The State Department, USAID, MCCI and Article 19 did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The State Department has said there are credible reports on restrictions on free expression and media in Mexico - the deadliest country for journalists last year.

☆ ‘Oliver!’ Returns, With Darker Twists Intact
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was 10 a.m. on a recent morning in a rehearsal room at New York City Center, and nine boys scurried around the space, clutching parasols of red and white lace, tin cups and jaunty pocket squares. “OK, everyone!” said Lorin Latarro, the choreographer of the show, a new staging of “Oliver!,” the Lionel Bart musical opening at City Center on Wednesday for a two-week run as part of the Encores! “Would you risk the ‘drop’?” he sang, his eyes bugging as he grabbed his scarf and mimed a noose tightening around his neck. (Translation: Are you willing to go out and commit robbery and possibly face the gallows if you’re caught?) All nine pickpockets in training nodded enthusiastically.

☆ Mexico bus plunges off cliff, at least 18 die
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/4] Emergency personnel work on the site where a bus carrying tourists traveling to Guayabitos overturned, in Compostela, Nayarit state, Mexico in this handout image obtained from social media April 30, 2023. Secretaria de Seguridad y Proteccion Ciudadana de Nayarit/Handout via REUTERSMEXICO CITY, April 30 (Reuters) - At least 18 people were killed and 33 injured when a bus fell off a cliff in western Mexico, local authorities said Sunday. "From the first moment, we have worked in a coordinated manner with the various federal and state authorities to provide immediate attention to victims," the prosecutor's office said in a statement shared on Twitter. Authorities reported that 11 women and seven men were killed. Writing by Anna-Catherine Brigida; Reporting by Raul Cortes; Editing by Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Head of Mexican migration authority charged over deadly Juarez fire
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, April 30 (Reuters) - A judge in northern Mexico has ordered the head of the national migration authority charged over a fire late last month that killed 40 migrants at a holding center in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, authorities said on Sunday. After a lengthy hearing, the court in Ciudad Juarez said there was sufficient evidence to charge Francisco Garduno, head of the National Migration Institute (INM), for unlawful exercise of public office, the Federal Judicial Council said. Garduno, an ally of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is not under arrest, but must report to authorities every two weeks. The fire, which authorities say began after one or more of the migrants set alight mattresses as a protest, killed 40 male migrants, most of them from Central America. Editing by Gerry DoyleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Mexican Senate expeditiously approves set of laws, mining reform
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Raul Cortes | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, April 29 (Reuters) - The Mexican Senate approved in an express session on Saturday a package of laws including two constitutional reforms and a new mining law rebuked by the mining chamber and Canada. The mining law shortens concessions in the mining sector to 30 years from 50, tightens water extraction permits, and requires some mining profits to be returned to local communities, among other modifications. Lopez Obrador has not granted any new mining concessions since he took office in the world's top silver producing country in late 2018. The national mining chamber Camimex has warned such reforms could cost the country some $9 billion in investments and up to 420,000 jobs. Mining giant Grupo México (GMEXICOB.MX) said on Thursday that the government's reforms to the sector did not represent a risk to its portfolio.

☆ Comstock Act: The 150-year-old chastity law that may be the next big fight over abortion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Tierney Sneed | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

“Comstock is really the backdoor way to remove access to abortion across the whole country,” said Greer Donley, a University of Pittsburgh Law School professor who specializes in abortion law. Severino argued that, at least when it comes to the Comstock Act’s prohibitions on mailing abortion pills, Congress is well within its powers to regulate those shipments. Several towns, some in New Mexico and elsewhere, have passed local ordinances that cite the Comstock Act and prohibit business within those jurisdictions from shipping or receiving items used for abortions in the mail, as covered by the Comstock Act. The lawsuits in New Mexico state court that those ordinances have prompted may provide for another opportunity for courts to elaborate on what the Comstock Act means. The Supreme Court, in the emergency order it issued last week, did not say anything about the Comstock Act.

☆ Mexico president self-isolating after catching COVID-19: minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, April 24 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is receiving medical treatment and self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19, the country's Interior Minister Adan Augusto said Monday in a morning press conference. Augusto said that Lopez Obrador was at the presidential headquarters and that the president had shown cold-like symptoms since Saturday. He denied a media report that the president had suffered a heart attack. This is the third known COVID-19 diagnosis for Lopez Obrador, 69, who had a serious heart attack in 2013. He reported mild symptoms from both of his previous bouts of COVID-19 at the height of the pandemic.

☆ Opinion: What happens when you knock on a door
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. In Kansas City, Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old White homeowner shot Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who rang his doorbell. And, “with Trump as the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, Fox has resumed coverage of him which often veers into the free-advertisement category. Neither Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who announced his candidacy last week, nor Marianne Williamson represents a serious threat, Axelrod noted. “The calendar reads 2023,” wrote the Republican former lieutenant governor of Georgia, Geoff Duncan, “but it feels like 2016 all over again.

☆ What it’s like to be a theme park designer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Kate Springer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“Back then, it definitely wasn’t cool to be into theme parks, but I was obsessed,” Jeffs, 39, tells CNN. Jeffs points to the immersive “Pacific Rim: Shatterdome Strike” ride at Trans Studio Cibubur, part of Indonesia’s largest theme park chain, as an example. “When I was growing up, theme park design was often dismissed as a rinky-dink, second-class artistic discipline simply because it was rarely well done. “That first summer, we drove 10,000 miles and hit up virtually any theme park that had managed to re-open,” he says. Courtesy Taylor JeffsAnd though he’s ridden over 600 roller coasters and explored theme parks worldwide, Disneyland in California remains his all-time favorite park.

☆ N.Y.P.D. Shoots Man in Mental Distress After Responding to 911 Call
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Lola Fadulu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The encounter was captured by officers’ body-worn cameras, and Chief Chell said police officials had watched the footage but did not make it publicly available for review. The man, whom the police did not identify beyond saying he was 39, was taken to a hospital for treatment. Chief Chell said police officials believed the man was from the facility, and that he had “four prior arrests and a documented mental history in our department.”The shooting came less than a month after officers shot another man who was in mental distress and holding a knife in the Bronx. In that instance, officers shot the man, Raul de la Cruz, within 28 seconds of responding to a 311 call from Mr. de la Cruz’s father, who had requested medical care for his son after arguing with him. The younger Mr. de la Cruz remained unconscious for days after the shooting.

☆ Search suspended for US sailors last seen in northwest Mexico, Coast Guard says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] A view of the marina where three American sailors left earlier this month to San Diego, U.S. before went missing, as authorities suspended their search, in Mazatlan, Mexico April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Eduardo ResendizMEXICO CITY, April 20 (Reuters) - The search for three American sailors last seen in northwest Mexico has been suspended by the Mexican Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, a Coast Guard spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday. The three sailors, identified as Kerry O'Brien, Frank O'Brien and William Gross, were last seen on April 4 in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, the Coast Guard said last week. Los Angeles-based Coast Guard spokesman Richard Uranga told Reuters that after the Mexican Navy had suspended their search, the U.S. Coast Guard had followed suit. Uranga said he did not have further information on why the search was called off.

☆ Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel wins a second term
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Patrick Oppmann | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Havana, Cuba CNN —Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel was given a second five year term by the country’s National Assembly on Wednesday, despite the severe economic conditions currently faced by the communist-run island. He replaced Raul Castro as president in 2013 and as First Secretary of the Cuban communist party in 2018. Following the Obama administration’s policy of rapprochement with Cuba, former President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course, implementing some of the toughest economic sanctions in decades. Diaz-Canel said the protestors were pawns of the US, part of a plot to bring down the Cuban government. The Biden administration responded with additional economic sanctions and has called on Diaz-Canel to release the prisoners.

☆ Cuban lawmakers vote for president amid crisis, no change expected
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HAVANA, April 19 (Reuters) - Cuban lawmakers convened on Wednesday to appoint a new president for the next five years, at a time of social and economic crisis near unprecendented since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. Lawmakers and the newly elected leaders will face daunting challenges during their coming five-year term. Candidates for president and legislative leaders were proposed in secret by lawmakers prior to Wednesday's session, then vetted by a National Candidacy Commission. The 470 lawmakers slated to vote were elected on March 26 in a popular ballot with no opposition candidates. The newly elected president is scheduled to address the nation later in the day.

WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) - A former Venezuelan treasurer, who also served as an aide to late President Hugo Chavez and was convicted in the U.S. of money laundering, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday. A Florida jury in December convicted Diaz, as well as her husband Adrian Velasquez, on two counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in association with a corruption scheme in Venezuela. U.S. District Court Judge William Dimitroulea in Florida sentenced Diaz and her husband, who also received 15 years, on Wednesday, the Justice Department said. Diaz, Velasquez and Gorrin purchased and paid expenses related to private jets, yachts, mansions, champion horses and a designer fashion line in South Florida, prosecutors said. (This story has been refiled to remove an extraneous word in paragraph 4)Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Mexico Supreme Court strikes down law to put National Guard under Army control
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

MEXICO CITY, April 18 (Reuters) - Mexico's Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled unconstitutional the transfer of control over the country's civilian-led National Guard to the Army, a move which had sparked fears from critics and activists of increasing militarization of public security. In a move backed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Congress last year passed a reform to put the Army in control of the National Guard. The reform gave the Army operational, financial and administrative control of the National Guard, which had previously been under Mexico's security ministry. The ruling passed with eight votes in favor and three against. Reporting by Raul Cortes; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Anthony EspositoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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