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☆ Biden to visit U.S.-Mexico border city of El Paso on Sunday as White House rolls out new immigration rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

US President Joe Biden steps off Air Force One upon arrival at New Castle Airport in New Castle, Delaware on October 27, 2022. U.S. President Joe Biden will visit the southern border city of El Paso, Texas, on Sunday to meet with local officials and address enforcement operations on the U.S.-Mexico border, senior administration officials said Thursday. The details of the trip were revealed one day after Biden said he planned to visit the border for the first time, nearly two years after taking office. His absence has drawn constant attacks from Republicans critical of the administration's border policies, blaming the White House for a roiling migrant crisis. He will be accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden previously tasked with handling immigration issues.

WASHINGTON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which enforces antitrust law, proposed a rule that would ban companies from requiring workers to sign noncompete provisions as well as some training repayment agreements, which companies use to keep workers from leaving for better jobs, the agency said on Thursday. The rule would also require companies with existing noncompete agreements with workers to scrap them and to inform current and past employees that they have been canceled. The training repayment would be banned if it "is not reasonably related to the costs the employer incurred for training the worker." FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter said in 2020 that surveys have estimated that 16% to 18% of all U.S. workers are subject to noncompete provisions. Meanwhile, nearly 10% of American workers surveyed in 2020 were covered by a training repayment agreement, said the Cornell Survey Research Institute.

☆ Biden heading to El Paso under Republican pressure to visit the border
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden will make his first visit as president to the US-Mexican border on Sunday. He will visit El Paso, Texas, where thousands of migrants have been crossing into the US. Republicans have been pressuring Biden to visit the border and some have said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas should be impeached for failures there. Biden on Thursday is announcing new enforcement measures to boost border security and reduce the number of unlawful migrant crossings. He will visit El Paso before traveling to Mexico for the North American Leaders' Summit.

☆ Sen. Tom Cotton says Biden's border trip is 'meaningless' 15 months after criticizing the president for being 'too busy' to travel there
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Republicans, including Sen. Tom Cotton, have criticized Biden for not visiting the US-Mexico border. Now that Biden is traveling there, Cotton said the trip will be "meaningless" because of his policies. Now that Biden is traveling to El Paso, Texas on Sunday, Cotton is calling the trip "meaningless." "Visiting the border is meaningless if Biden continues to push policies that invite illegal immigration," the Arkansas Republican tweeted on Thursday. During the news conference, Biden criticized Republicans for rejecting bipartisan efforts in the Senate to put together a comprehensive immigration plan.

☆ Biden, ahead of border trip, says 'Republicans haven't been serious about this at all'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

President Joe Biden will make his first visit as president to the US-Mexico border on Sunday. Biden has been under GOP pressure to make the trip, but he says they haven't been serious about the issue. Biden will visit El Paso before traveling to Mexico for the North American Leaders' Summit. Absent congressional action, Biden on Thursday announced new enforcement measures to boost border security and reduce the number of unlawful migrant crossings. Republicans have been pressuring Biden to visit the border and some have said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas should be impeached for failures there.

☆ Biden to lay out new Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti migrant policy in border speech
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Biden will also use his speech to press Republicans to stop blocking his immigration reform proposals and border measures and for Congress to provide the necessary resources. Under the plan announced on Thursday, Mexico will accept up to 30,000 expelled migrants per month from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela, according to a White House fact sheet. In November, U.S. border officials encountered 82,000 migrants from those nations at the border with Mexico, according to U.S. government data. Reuters reported last week that the Biden administration planned to implement the new restrictions. Reporting by Steve Holland, Ted Hesson, Doina Chiacu and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. embassy in Cuba resumes full immigrant visa processing for first time since 2017
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] People wait in line to enter the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, January 4, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandre MeneghiniHAVANA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Havana resumed full immigrant visa processing and consular services for the first time since 2017 on Wednesday in a bid to stem the record-breaking flow of illegal migrants from Cuba north to the United States. Cubans were instead required to travel to Guyana for visa processing, a costly trip well out of reach for most on the island. The U.S. embassy in Havana began limited visa processing last year and in September announced the 2023 full reopening, to "ensure safe, legal, and orderly migration of Cubans," it said. Cuba and the United States have also resumed once-regular talks on migration in a bid to tamp down the flow.

☆ U.S. Embassy in Cuba reopening visa and consular services
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

HAVANA — The United States Embassy in Cuba is reopening visa and consular services Wednesday, the first time it has done so since a spate of unexplained health incidents among diplomatic staff in 2017 slashed the American presence in Havana. Cubans are now the second-largest nationality after Mexicans appearing on the border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows. Visa and consular services were closed on the island in 2017 after embassy staff were affflicted in a series of health incidents, alleged sonic attacks that remain largely unexplained. While relations have always been tense between Cuba and the U.S., they were heightened following the embassy closure and the Trump administration’s tightening of sanctions on Cuba. Cuban officials have repeatedly expressed optimism about talks with the U.S. and steps to reopen visa services.

[1/5] A government official talks to migrants waiting to regularize their migration status outside Mexico's Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico January 3, 2023. Title 42 was originally put in place to curb the spread of COVID, but U.S. health authorities have since said it is no longer needed for public health reasons. Immigrant advocates say the policy is inhumane and it exposes vulnerable migrants to serious risks, like kidnapping or assault, in Mexican border towns. 'GIVE US A CHANCE'Police in Tapachula and the National Guard erected fences around COMAR offices to block large crowds of migrants, Reuters images show. Nearly 400,000 migrants were detained in Mexico through November, twice as many as in 2019, official data show.

☆ Cruise ships rescue migrants in small boats off Florida coast
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

MIAMI — Crew members aboard two cruise ships rescued around two dozen migrants in small boats, the latest episode of hundreds making or attempting landings in the Florida Keys over the past several days, authorities said. Crew members aboard Celebrity Beyond rescued 19 migrants from a crowded boat Monday, and crew members aboard Carnival Celebration spotted five people in distress on a small vessel about 29 miles (46 kilometers) northwest of Cuba. Once the migrants were rescued from their drifting boat, the Carnival Celebration crew members contacted the U.S. Coast Guard, which took them into custody offshore, said Matt Lupoli, a spokesperson for Carnival Cruise Line. After the migrants were aboard the ship, crew members provided them with blankets, a change of clothes, food and a medical evaluation, she said. Separately, 160 migrants arrived by boats in other parts of the Florida Keys over New Year’s weekend, and on Monday, around 30 people in two new groups of migrants were found in the Middle Keys.

☆ Cuban influx forces U.S. Park Service to close Florida islands
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Daniel Trotta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. National Park Service closed Dry Tortugas National Park off the Florida Keys for several days starting on Monday after 300 immigrants had arrived on the islands in recent days, overwhelming first responders. "Like elsewhere in the Florida Keys, the park has recently seen an increase in people arriving by boat from Cuba and landing on the islands of Dry Tortugas National Park," the Park Service said in a statement announcing the closure to the public. Cuba is experiencing a historic exodus of people fleeing the Communist-governed island nation amid extended economic hardship. The Park Service said the closure would last several days. In the meantime, ferry and seaplane services taking tourists to the islands were canceled, and all other visitor services were suspended, the Park Service said.

☆ Cruise lines to appeal U.S court's big award to owner of Havana dock
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Royal Caribbean logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, May 3, 2022. U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami ruled last week to award a total of $440 million to the plaintiff, Delaware-registered Havana Docks Corp; registered to two U.S. citizens who claim to be descendants of the original owners of the Havana Cruise Port Terminal. It comes after Bloom ruled in March that the use of the port constituted trafficking in confiscated property owned by Havana Docks Corp. Royal Caribbean in a comment to Reuters said it "disagree(d) with the ruling and will appeal. Havana Docks sued the cruise lines under the Helms-Burton Act, which allows U.S. nationals to sue over use of property seized in Cuba after 1959.

☆ National park closes after 300 migrants arrive during holiday weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Julianne Mcshane | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

A remote national park in the Gulf of Mexico closed on Monday after about 300 migrants landed there over the holiday weekend, officials said. Dry Tortugas National Park, about 70 miles west of Key West, temporarily closed Monday morning "while law enforcement & medical personnel evaluate, provide care for & coordinate transport to Key West" for the migrants, the park said in a tweet. By Sunday afternoon, more than 160 migrants had arrived in 10 landings since midnight, Slosar tweeted. "Like elsewhere in the Florida Keys, the park has recently seen an increase in people arriving by boat from Cuba and landing on the islands of Dry Tortugas National Park," the park's statement continued. "Park first responders provide food, water and basic medical attention until the Department of Homeland Security arrives and takes the lead."

☆ Priests from Cuba’s Santeria religion see hard year ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Marc Frank | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HAVANA, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Priests from Cuba’s Afro-Cuban Santeria religion on Monday warned of a difficult year ahead and called on followers to guard against calamities and mounting social ills after a tough year in 2022 in which a record number of Cubans left the Communist-run island. "Do not delay pending religious works and consecrations,” the priests, known as babalawos and grouped together in the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba, advised in their Letter of the Year published Sunday. “Natural disasters are forecast due to hurricanes, sea turmoil and river flooding with economic and human losses,” their Letter said. A record number of Cubans left, with some 250,000 entering the United States according to U.S. government statistics, the majority crossing over the Mexican border. "I am very hopeful that Cuba and the United States will reach an agreement."

☆ Brazil markets tumble on Lula's first full day in office
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Anthony Boadle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Haddad, who is seeking to dispel market fears that he might not maintain fiscal discipline, took office on Monday, pledging to control spending. "The policies remind us of Dilma Rousseff's government rather than Lula's," Gracia said, referring to Lula's handpicked successor, who was impeached while in office. Allies said Lula's newfound social conscience was the result of his 580 days in prison, Reuters reported on Sunday. Lula kicks off his third presidential term after persuading Congress to pass a one-year, 170 billion-reais increased social spending package, in line with his campaign promises. Lula spent his first day in office meeting with more than a dozen heads of state who attended his inauguration.

☆ Brazil markets fall after Lula takes office vowing to end poverty
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Anthony Boadle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, his wife Rosangela "Janja" da Silva and Chief Raoni walk through the ramp of the Planalto Palace after Lula's swearing-in ceremony, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 1, 2023. Lula narrowly defeated far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro in October, swinging South America's largest nation back on a left-wing track. Lula spent his first day in office meeting with more than a dozen heads of state who attended his inauguration. In his swearing-in speech to Congress, Lula said he was not seeking revenge, but any crimes committed under Bolsonaro would be held accountable with due legal process. ($1 = 5.3458 reais)Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Gabriel Araujo in Brasilia Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

☆ Factbox: Key facts about pioneering broadcast journalist Barbara Walters
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The following are key facts about the life and career of pioneering broadcast journalist Barbara Walters, the first woman to anchor an American network evening newscast, who died on Friday:* Walters was born in Boston on Sept. 25, but she did not like to reveal the year, which reportedly was 1929, 1930 or 1931. * Walters started at NBC's "Today" show as a writer in 1961 and in 1976 became the first woman to co-anchor a network evening news broadcast on U.S. television. * Walters singled out her "Today" co-host Frank McGee and Reasoner on ABC News for making her life miserable. * Walters felt she was unfairly mocked for her asking actress Katharine Hepburn what kind of tree she would like to be. * Walters' marriages to businessman Robert Katz, theatrical producer Lee Guber and television executive Merv Adelson all ended in divorce.

☆ Pioneering U.S. television journalist Barbara Walters dead at 93
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Bill Trott | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] Television personality Barbara Walters arrives for the premiere of the film "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" in New York September 20, 2010. "I asked Yeltsin if he drank too much, and I asked Putin if he killed anybody," Walters told the New York Times in 2013. "These two men were really quite brutal to me and it was not pleasant," Walters told the San Francisco Examiner. The New York Times called her "arguably America's best-known television personality" but also observed that "what we remember most about a Barbara Walters interview is Barbara Walters." Walters' three marriages - to businessman Robert Katz, theatrical producer Lee Guber and television executive Merv Adelson - ended in divorce.

☆ U.S. judge orders Norwegian Cruise Line to pay $110 mln for use of Cuba port
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Brian Ellsworth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MIAMI, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH.N) must pay $110 million in damages for use of a port that Cuba's government confiscated in 1960, according to a ruling by a U.S. judge released on Friday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami follows her March ruling that the use of the Havana Cruise Port Terminal constituted trafficking in confiscated property owned by the plaintiff, Delaware-registered Havana Docks Corp."Judgment is entered in favor of Plaintiff Havana Docks Corporation and against Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd," reads the decision. "Plaintiff is awarded $109,848,747.87 in damages," it says, adding that Norwegian should also pay an additional $3 million in legal fees and costs. Norwegian Cruise Line did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Havana Docks had also sued cruise lines Carnival (CCL.N), Royal Caribbean (RCL.N) and MSC under the Helms-Burton Act, which allows U.S. nationals to sue over use of property seized in Cuba during the Cold War era.

Several Latinos whose lives and work left a profound imprint on American institutions — from arts and entertainment to legal and civil rights — passed away in 2022. Cavazos began his education in a two-room schoolhouse on the King Ranch in Texas, where his father was a foreman. President Reagan named Cavazos Secretary of Education in 1988, making him the first Hispanic ever to serve in the U.S. Together, “Luis” and Maria” showed young audiences that Latinos were people who worked, fell in love and were part of their community. Her goals were to give Latinos a presence in the dance world, and to instill pride in Hispanic culture.

☆ With Title 42 Still in Place, Migrants Wait in Mexican Border Cities and Weigh Options
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Juan Montes | Anthony Harrup | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

MEXICO CITY—After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to keep pandemic-era border controls in place for now, thousands of migrants who amassed at the Mexico-U.S. border are weighing whether to wait or attempt to cross the border and enter the U.S. illegally. The migrants, many from Mexico and Central America but also from Venezuela and Cuba, and including many families, traveled to the border in recent days anticipating the end of Title 42 regulations, by which border crossers can be expelled immediately to Mexico or their countries of origin with no chance of requesting asylum. After the court’s ruling, the policy will now remain in place at least until February.

☆ Peru president Boluarte backs investigation into protest deaths
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LIMA, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Peruvian President Dina Boluarte said Thursday she will provide all the necessary resources to the prosecutor's office to investigate over two dozen deaths during protests that have rocked Peru following the ouster of her predecessor Pedro Castillo. Interior Minister Victor Rojas said in a conference alongside Boluarte on Thursday he had information that the protests could reignite on Jan. 4. Boluarte, who was vice president under Castillo, assumed the presidency earlier this month after Castillo was ousted and arrested for attempting illegally dissolve Congress. Another leftist bloc of Latin American countries including Cuba and Venezuela said days later it rejected "the political framework created by right-wing forces against Constitutional President Pedro Castillo." Castillo's family received asylum in Mexico, while Mexican authorities are in talks with Peru to offer Castillo political protection as well, Mexico has said.

☆ Factbox: Former Pope Benedict, his papacy and resignation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

VATICAN CITY, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Following are some facts about former Pope Benedict, who died on Saturday:- Benedict, the first German pope in 1,000 years, was elected on April 19, 2005 to succeed the widely popular Pope John Paul II, who reigned for 27 years. Benedict said he stood down because bad health prevented him from bearing the full weight of the papacy. [1/2] Pope Benedict XVI arrives to celebrate a mass at Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba, March 28, 2012. The Vatican under Pope John Paul II had failed to take action against Maciel despite overwhelming evidence of his crimes. Some loyalists failed to accept that he had resigned the papacy willingly and continued to consider him "my pope".

Frosty diplomatic relations between the United States and the governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have complicated deportations to those countries. The new rules for Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians would be modeled on an existing program for Venezuelans launched in October. Mexico has only accepted the expulsion of some nationalities, mostly Mexicans and Central Americans, under Title 42. Two officials said the policy shift for Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans could come as soon as this week. Close to half of those arrested were rapidly expelled under the Title 42 policy.

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