LOS CABOS, Mexico (Reuters) – The European Union will likely adopt fresh sanctions against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the coming week, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Monday.

Germany and other Western powers have repeatedly called on Assad to step down to put an end to protests against his government, which have triggered a violent backlash from his security forces.

CHIAPA DE CORZO, Mexico, Jan 20 (Reuters) – For most of the
past five years, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has journeyed far
and wide across Mexico, railing against the corruption, fraud
and injustice he says cost him the presidency.

Seething over his wafer-thin election loss to conservative
Felipe Calderon in 2006, the fiery leftist shook Mexico with
some of the biggest street protests in its history, damning its
institutions and declaring himself the rightful president.

CHIAPA DE CORZO, Mexico, Jan 20 (Reuters) – For most of the
past five years, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has journeyed far
and wide across Mexico, railing against the corruption, fraud
and injustice he says cost him the presidency.

Seething over his wafer-thin election loss to conservative
Felipe Calderon in 2006, the fiery leftist shook Mexico with
some of the biggest street protests in its history, damning its
institutions and declaring himself the rightful president.

MANAGUA (Reuters) – Nicaragua’s left-wing President Daniel Ortega has won over many critics at home with a successful drive to cut poverty and spur business-friendly policies in Central America’s poorest country.

But his choice of friends abroad makes many Nicaraguans worry that the former guerrilla and Cold War icon is dragging down the country’s reputation and unnecessarily antagonizing the United States and other Western countries.

TAPACHULA, Mexico (Reuters) – Leftist presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has pledged to break up Mexico’s “monopolies” and press foreign mining firms for higher taxes and better wages if elected on July 1.

Lopez Obrador, often vilified by opponents as a threat to private enterprise, said wresting control of large sections of industry from just a few hands was vital to revitalizing the economy.

MANAGUA (Reuters) – Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega on Tuesday urged Israel to destroy its nuclear weapons to foster peace in the Middle East as he hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who is touring Latin America.

Speaking in a ceremony where he was sworn in for a second consecutive term in office, Ortega attacked the U.S. “occupation” of Afghanistan and Iraq, condemned the killing of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and offered a brief valediction to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s ruling conservative party had been in power just 50 days when drug lord Joaquin Guzman slipped out of a dark prison and into Mexican folklore.

Eleven years later, President Felipe Calderon’s government is furiously trying to flush out the man nicknamed El Chapo – “Shorty” – to rescue its bloody war on drug cartels.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A leading presidential candidate of Mexico’s ruling conservatives raised the possibility on Thursday of listing oil company Pemex on the stock exchange to help revamp the state-owned giant.

Josefina Vazquez Mota, who is bidding to become the first woman to serve as Mexican president, told Reuters in an interview the next administration needed to examine how Brazil had managed its partly privatized state oil firm Petrobras.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico captured a suspected drug trafficker with links to the country’s most wanted man, Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, whose operations have recently suffered a string of blows.

Mexico’s federal police said on Wednesday they had captured Luis Rodriguez Olivera, known as “El Guero” (Blondie), for whom U.S. authorities have offered a reward of up to $5 million.

MEXICO CITY, Dec 26 (Reuters) – Mexico landed its third blow against the country’s most wanted drug trafficker in as many months after capturing a suspected lieutenant of Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, boss of the powerful Sinaloa cartel.

On Monday, masked Mexican soldiers presented Felipe Cabrera, known as “el Inge,” to the media following his capture in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa, the northwestern Pacific state after which the drug cartel is named.