1. Spain's Parliament yesterday passed a bill recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia as the South American country's legitimate president-elect.
The designation would only be official if Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez signs the bill, however.
González is living in exile in Spain after being granted political asylum this weekend, after threats of arrest by the regime of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro.
2. A highway project in the Brazilian Amazon will be completed despite major concerns about its environmental impact, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said this week.
Lula said the highway, called BR-139, could offer important pathways to deliver aid and goods to Amazonian communities as drought has made distribution by riverways increasingly untenable.
He promised his government will find ways to add more miles to the highway in a "responsible" manner compatible with ecological preservation. Construction on the highway began in the 1970s before being halted due to concerns over deforestation.
3. The Mexican peso depreciated further yesterday after the Senate passed a justice reform bill that experts say will heavily curtail checks and balances.
The reform bill has drawn mass protests because it would make judgeships elected positions with murky rules on running for them, raising concerns about fairness in the judicial system.
