Author: Clifton Nick Mccarthy

At midnight on November 30th Nayib Bukele stepped back from the presidency of El Salvador to run again in elections in February. The six months between now and June 1st, the date of the inauguration, may be the only period for a long time that he is not at the helm of the Central American country. The constitution bars presidents from serving a second consecutive term. But the 42-year-old has arranged an impressive show to suggest that his bid for re-election is legal. He is the first person to run for re-election since Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, a military dictator, did in…

Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on Friday said that Guatemala’s incoming government had “reassured” him that it intends to maintain formal ties with Taiwan, as China gradually whittles away at Taipei’s remaining allies. Only 13 countries officially recognize Taiwan, most of which are in Central America, the Caribbean and the Pacific. New governments are always a nervous moment as they weigh whether to stick with Taipei or switch diplomatic relations to Beijing. Honduras in March ended its decades-long relationship with Taiwan in favor of China following the election in late 2021 of Xiomara Castro as president. Wu told…

JetBlue Airlines has officially launched its non-stop service connecting New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Belize. Flight JBU2781 marked the inaugural journey on this new route, as it touched down at Belize’s Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport on Wednesday. The aircraft, an Airbus A320, carried over 100 passengers. It was piloted by Belizean American, Jeffery Smith. A warm welcome to passengers and crew To commemorate this milestone, a welcoming ceremony was organized to greet the passengers and crew of JetBlue’s inaugural service.  Anthony Mahler, Belize’s Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, expressed his enthusiasm for JetBlue’s entry into…

Listeria monocytogenes is a gram-positive pathogen responsible for listeriosis, a severe foodborne infection that causes high hospitalization and mortality rates in at-risk populations, including older adults, immunocompromised persons, pregnant women, and newborns (1). L. monocytogenes diversity can be classified into lineages, genoserogroups, clonal complexes (CCs), and sequence types (STs), defined by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) (2). Core-genome MLST (cgMLST) further identifies sublineages (SLs) and cgMLST types (CTs) (2). Major CCs and SLs are distributed globally and can be heterogeneous in terms of virulence; isolates from serogroup IVb (lineage I) often cause the most severe infections (2–4). Pathogen surveillance using whole-genome sequencing (WGS) provides…

Nicaragua will contest League A in the next edition of the Concacaf Nations League, as they sealed promotion with a 4-0 beating of Barbados in Group B of League B on Friday. A Montserrat victory over Dominican Republic allowed Nicaragua to secure their ascent on the penultimate matchday, while the defeat for Barbados confirmed their relegation to League C for the next Nations League edition. Over in Group C, Bermuda jumped into first place with a victory against St Vincent and the Grenadines, while Belize climbed out of the relegation spot with a goal on the last play of the…

MINNEAPOLIS — On a bright day in April, Jordan Addison walked into the Minnesota Vikings’ practice facility and up to coach Kevin O’Connell’s office. A projected first-round draft pick from USC, Addison was about to find out just how smitten O’Connell was with the idea of adding him to the Vikings’ stable of wide receivers. In the kind of promise that otherwise would have seemed typical NFL draft talk, O’Connell earnestly described how effective he thought Addison would be in the team’s offensive scheme. He made clear that he considered Addison a starter on Day 1 and then sent him on his way.…

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A Texas county near New Mexico — where abortion is legal — has banned helping people traveling to get an abortion in one of the newest ways conservatives are trying to restrict abortion access since the fall of Roe v. Wade. Lubbock County is the largest of four Texas counties that have now adopted a version of the measure, which would be enforced through lawsuits filed by private citizens against people who help women obtain abortions. It is the same legal mechanism Texas used to enact a strict abortion law in 2021 before the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the…

For the next four days, the Oswego Speedway will become the hub of dirt track racing in the United States. Upwards of 300 racing machines in four classes will take to the transformed dirt oval at the historic 5/8th-mile lakeside track in the Super Bowl of dirt track racing. Over $400,000 in prize money will be up for grabs, topped off with the $51,000 winner’s check for the victor of the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 finale Sunday afternoon. Upwards of 30,000 fans are expected this week for Super DIRT Week 51 and all 950 camping sites around the track have…

European shares traded higher on the final trading week of August, as traders weighed the prospect of higher interest rates from the U.S. Federal Reserve and looked ahead to upcoming economic data later in the week. EUROPEAN MARKETS TICKER COMPANY PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE .FTSEFTSE 1007435.3696.781.32.GDAXIDAX15837.6945.080.29.FCHICAC 40 Index7335.2610.550.14.FTMIBFTSE MIB28676.26131.70.46.IBEXIBEX 35 Idx9530.1400.42 Germany’s DAX 30 finished up 1%, France’s CAC 40 closed up 1.4%, and the Italian FTSE MIB was 1.3% higher by the end of the trading session. Markets were closed in the U.K. for a public holiday. It came as investors continued to reflect on a roundup of commentary from the Kansas City Federal Reserve’s…

Washington | Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has warned the central bank stands ready to raise interest rates further if needed because of a threat of inflation resurging and becoming entrenched in consumer expectations. Mr Powell told the annual Jackson Hole symposium of central bankers that inflation remained too high despite falling from its 9.1 per cent peak last year. The Federal Reserve could still lift its official interest rate beyond 5.5 per cent to wrestle inflation back down to the bank’s 2 per cent target. The governor’s closely watched comments at the annual gathering in Wyoming come amid warnings from former US…