Miss Mexico Jimena Navarrete has beaten off a total of 84 contestants at Miss Universe 2010 pageant, followed by Miss Jamaica Yendi Phillipps at the first runner-up.

 Miss Universe 2010 pageant has finally announced its winner and the girl who was chosen to replace Miss Universe 2009 Stefania Fernandez is Miss Mexico Jimena Navarrete.

Jimena won at the first place with Miss Jamaica Yendi Phillipps at the first runner-up. Meanwhile, Miss Australia Jesinta Campbell, who was chosen by fellow contestants as Miss Congeniality, landed on the second runner-up. Miss Ukraine Anna Poslavska and Miss Philippines Venus Raj were at the third and fourth runner-up respectively.

La administración de Obama considera que la ley estatal asume ilegalmente prerrogativas de asuntos migratorios que corresponden a la autoridad federal.

 U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Gobierno estadounidense impugna ley de Arizona ante tribunal federal

AFP Washington DC      

“An extraordinary law … requires extraordinary action.” ABA.

 Carolyn Lamm PRESIDENT, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION 2009 - 2010 Photo Stetson Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Bar Association today filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the federal district court in Arizona to bar enforcement of the state’s recently enacted law authorizing police to stop individuals who they suspect are in the United States illegally and to detain them if they are unable to produce proof of citizenship or legal immigration status.

ABA President Carolyn B. Lamm said it is “extraordinary” for the association to file an amicus brief in a case at the district court level, rather than waiting for it to reach an appellate court, but “an extraordinary law … requires extraordinary action.”  She vowed the association will “oppose, very strongly, any incursion on equal protrection [or] substantive due process, by such things as racial profiling and segmenting groups out.”  The law runs afoul of fundamental ABA positions opposing racial profiling and supporting federal preemption of immigration law, she added.

No wonder more than 100,000 blues fans from throughout the world will head for the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, July 2 to 5, 2010, in Portland, Oregon

 PORTLAND, Ore., June 25, 2010 – Imagine grooving to the best blues in the world while relaxing on the grassy banks of the beautiful Willamette River, viewing the glacial peaks of Mt. Hood to the east and the stunning Portland skyline to the west – all the while smiling at the thought that you are also helping to fight hunger.  Now in its 23rd year, the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, presented by First Tech Credit Union, is the largest blues festival west of the Mississippi and the second-largest blues festival in the nation.  

Blues fans will enjoy more than 120 stellar performances on five stages, plus artist interviews and workshops, five Delta Music Experience Blues Cruises on the Willamette River, activities for kids, dances, After-Hours Blues Jams at the Marriott Ballroom, fireworks and more.

Candidato del PRI para Gobernador de Tamaulipas Rodolfo Torre, asesinado el pasado 28 de Junio durante su gira de campaña. Foto Internet

Jenaro Villamil. Analista Revista Proceso

MÉXICO, D.F., 29 de junio (apro).- La brutal ejecución del doctor Rodolfo Torre Cantú, candidato priista a la gubernatura de Tamaulipas, se produce en un contexto local y nacional virulento y violento.

Apenas una semana antes del primer crimen político reciente contra un candidato a gobernador, las dirigencias nacionales del PAN y del PRI se enfrascaron en una batalla declarativa que inició con todas las características de una guerra sucia: espionaje telefónico; difusión de las llamadas interceptadas a los gobernadores Fidel Herrera, Ulises Ruiz y Mario Marín; acusaciones mutuas de trampas que aplican tanto unos como otros; impunidad absoluta frente a César Nava, que presume tener más grabaciones de este tipo, y total inoperancia de los árbitros electorales estatales para frenar el uso y abuso de los recursos para favorecer a los candidatos priistas en aquellos estados que se consideran feudos de los gobernadores en turno.

After elections, will Mexico's drug war return opposition to power?

 Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, center, reacts as his security cabinet stands around him while giving a statement to the media at the Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Monday. President Calderon is blaming drug cartels for the assassination of front-running gubernatorial candidate for the state of Tamaulipas, Rodolfo Torre.Miguel Tovar/AP

On July 4, Mexico holds elections for governorships in 12 states. Some polls show that the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) – which ruled Mexico for seven decades – could win every state. Could Mexico's drug war unseat President Felipe Calderón and put the PRI back in power?

By the time he woke up Wednesday morning, President Obama had made up his mind.At War

By MARK LANDLER
Published by New York Times: June 23, 2010

During the 36 frenetic hours since he had been handed an article from the coming issue of Rolling Stone ominously headlined “The Runaway General,” the president weighed the consequences of cashiering Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, whose contemptuous comments about senior officials had ignited a firestorm.

Mr. Obama, aides say, consulted with advisers — some, like Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who warned of the dangers of replacing him, others, like his political advisers, who thought he had to go. He reached out for advice to a soldier-statesman, retired Gen. Colin L. Powell. He identified a possible successor to lead the war in Afghanistan. And then, finally he ended General McChrystal’s command in a meeting that lasted only 20 minutes. According to one aide, the general apologized, offered his resignation and did not beg for his job.

El alto oficial había sido llamado a Washington tras criticar en la revista 'Rolling Stone' a algunos funcionarios de alto rango entre ellos al comandante en jefe, el presidente Obama

Photo White House. Presidente Barack Obama, (Comandante en jefe de las fuersaz armadas de USA), y el destituido General Stanley McChrystal

Solo el general Stanley McChrystal sabe por qué bajó la guardia ante un periodista al que no conocía durante casi un mes, por qué le permitió acceso prácticamente ilimitado tanto a él como a su equipo, por qué dejó que en la grabadora quedaran registrados para siempre incendiarios e insultantes comentarios sobre numerosos miembros de la Administración y el mismísimo presidente, Barack Obama, frases que mostraban una falta de respeto por la cadena de mando civil.

El general Stanley McChrystal abandona hoy la Casa Blanca tras entrevistarse con Obama.Desde hoy, McChrystal, el general de 55 años al que Obama puso el año pasado al frente de su operación en Afganistán y en cuya opinión basó su decisión de incrementar en 30.000 soldados la presencia de tropas como base de su estrategia, sabe el precio que ha pagado: ha sido relevado de su cargo por el presidente, que colocará al frente de esa campaña al general David Petraeus.

El legislador federal por este Distrito I de Sonora, Leonardo Guillén Medina, afirma que México no interviene en leyes de otros países, pero están atentos a las consecuencias de esa legislación

La reunión, realizada en el Capitolio en la ciudad de Phoenix, Arizona. Foto Archivo

San Luis Río Colorado, Son | Miércoles 23 de junio de 2010 Notimex | El Universal

Diputados federales de México se reunieron con sus homólogos del estado de Arizona para analizar el contenido de la Ley SB1070 y sus repercusiones en la comunidad latina.El legislador federal por este Distrito I de Sonora, Leonardo Guillén Medina, manifestó que México no interviene en leyes de otros países, pero están atentos a las consecuencias de esa legislación.

Mencionó que durante el encuentro fue claro al destacar que la nueva ley, cuya vigencia está por iniciar en julio próximo, afectará principalmente a los inmigrantes mexicanos.Tras preguntar por casos de racismo en Arizona, exteriorizó su preocupación ya que dicha legislación podrá ser un pretexto para acosar a gente con rasgos latinos.

El pueblo rindió el mejor homenaje a Carlos Monsiváis

Foto, Cristina Rodríguez. “Monsi no es vi ai pí”, "que viva la inteligencia" y “Monsi presente en la lucha de la gente”, fueron frases que gritaron algunos de los asistentes al adiós al cronista en Bellas Artes.

Los discursos oficiales fueron superados por las palabras de Elena Poniatowska y las espontáneas consignas de los asistentes a la despedida en Bellas Artes

Por Mónica Mateos-Vega y Fabiola Palapa. Periódico La Jornada
Domingo de intensos contrastes en la despedida a Carlos Monsiváis en el Palacio de Bellas Artes. La fría y solemne mañana se transformó en una calurosa y aguerrida tarde en la que una multitud, al grito de “¡Monsi es del pueblo!”, logró abrir las vallas que marcaban distingo incomprensible entre los "invitados especiales" y el público "común".

Fue Elena Poniatowska quien al filo del mediodía tomó el micrófono y rompió el tenso silencio que desde las 10 de la mañana permeaba en el ambiente, debido a la molestia que causaron en algunas personas tanto la presencia del secretario de Educación, Alonso Lujambio, como el hecho de que el acceso al recinto fuera restringido.

“¿Qué vamos a hacer sin ti, Monsi? Tú eres el enfrentamiento más lúcido al autoritarismo presidencial, el enfrentamiento más lúcido a las actitudes absurdas cuando no corruptas de las dos cámaras, el enfrentamiento más lúcido a los abusos del poder, la denuncia más ingeniosa y persuasiva de las actitudes y del lenguaje de los políticos,”, dijo Elena, con la voz quebrada.

Monsivais represented for many Mexicans an enormously erudite man of letters who never lost touch with ordinary people.

Photo Notimex. Carlos Monsivais

He was known as Mexico's finest chronicler, its "last public intellectual," its "conscience," and as the only literary figure around who was said to be recognized by regular folks on the street. With the death on Saturday of Carlos Monsivais, Mexico lost a voice that for nearly 50 years was considered unrivaled in his ability to cut to the core of the issues and personalities of his day.

Mourners, from high-profile politicians to everyday workers, swarmed the writer's casket at two public wakes over the weekend. People waved, cheered and chanted for the man millions knew simply as "Monsi."

Monsivais was a journalist, a critic, a cinephile, a collector of historical and pop ephemera (which led eventually to the founding of a museum) and a tireless activist for minority rights and the political left. In hundreds of articles and columns, more than two dozen books, countless appearances on television and radio, at conferences and demonstrations, Monsivais represented for many Mexicans an enormously erudite man of letters who never lost touch with ordinary people, or with the tragicomic nature of life here.

Former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos to succeed colombian President Alvaro Uribe

Photo Internet Colombia’s former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos

BOGOTA - Former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos won an easy victory in Colombia’s run-off election on Sunday to succeed President Alvaro Uribe as the leader of Washington’s top ally in Latin America.

Mr. Santos, backed by conservative Uribe, had won 68.9% of the vote while former Bogota mayor Antanas Mockus trailed at 27.6% with more than 75% of polling stations tallied, according to election authorities.Mr. Santos has promised to stick to Mr. Uribe’s security and pro-business policies, which have drawn in record levels of foreign investment. His victory will likely strengthen Colombia’s peso COP RR , stocks and local TES bonds.

Mr. Uribe must step down in August but is still popular after two terms during which he battered left-wing FARC rebels and disarmed outlawed paramilitaries who once battled, bombed and kidnapped across Colombia, Latin America’s No. 4 oil producer.In a sharp reminder of the lingering conflict facing Mr. Santos, seven police officers died in a landmine blast near the Venezuelan frontier on election day, and troops killed six guerrillas in clashes in a central department.