CUARTOSCURO/OSCAR LEON /FILE
PHOTO COURTESY OF MUSEO NACIONAL DE HISTORIA/INAH
Court affirms sex change rights
The Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed the right of people who undergo sex change operations to keep their previous identities private.
The ruling stemmed from a 2005 appeal by a transsexual who objected to having their previous identity printed on a birth certificate in their new name.
The Mexico City Supreme Court initially denied the appeal, but the Supreme Court ruled that publishing a previous identity on an official document violated the plaintiff's constitutional right to protection against discrimination.
-WIRE REPORTS
'Migracorridos' are latest tool of U.S. Border Patrol
The U.S. Border Patrol has added a new tool to its efforts to stop people from crossing illegally into the United States: folk music.
Border Patrol Spokesman Oscar Saldaña told Efe that songs titled "La tumbO ("The Tomb") and "El funeral" ("The Funeral") are among the titles that the agency is promoting on both sides of the border in an effort to warn migrants of the dangers of an illegal crossing.
The Border Patrol began by hiring a promoter to get the songs played on the radio in border cities like Reynosa and Matamoros, Saldaña said. Since then, he said, they have been picked up by stations in other areas of Mexico and Latin America.
The songs are sung in the traditional "corrido" folk ballad style, prompting programmers to coin the term "migracorridos."
-EFE
German tycoon commits suicide over crisis losses
BLAUBEUREN, Germany - German billionaire Adolf Merckle has committed suicide in despair over the huge losses suffered by his business empire during the financial crisis, his family said on Tuesday.
The 74-year-old mediíshy billionaire, whose family controls some of Germany's best-known companies, was hit by a train on Monday evening, local officials said.
"The desperate situation of his companies caused by the financial crisis, the uncertainties of the last few weeks and his powerlessness to act, have broken the passionate family entrepreneur and he took his own life," a family statement said.
Prosecutors said Merckle left behind a suicide note to his family. There was no sign of anyone else being involved, they said.
-REUTERS
AP PHOTO/FERNANDO LLANO
Venezuela expels Israeli ambassador over Gaza
CARACAS - Venezuela ordered the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and some embassy staff on Tuesday to protest Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The decision by President Hugo Chávez, a longtime critic of U.S. and Israeli policy, to kick out the diplomats appeared to be the strongest reaction yet to the Gaza offensive by any country with ties to Israel.
Venezuela's Foreign Ministry announced the move in a statement, saying it "has decided to expel the Israeli ambassador and part of the personnel of the Israeli embassy."
Officials could not immediately be reached at the Israeli Embassy in Caracas. Jewish community leader Abraham Levy, president of the Venezuelan Confederation of Israelite Associations, called the government's decision "taking the side of a terrorist group" by backing Gaza's Hamas leaders while ignoring Israel's perspective.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
NOTIMEX PHOTO/EL CHEPE
Car owners feeling cranky
Tensions boiled over in Chihuahua Tuesday as Customs officials continued to apply new rules governing the import of used vehicles from the United States. Some drivers complain that the new rules have been poorly publicized.
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