Spanish reading journal
Beginner II
La Paz, BCS., The El Saltito Second Stage project, promoted by the Ve Por Más bank, which aims to clear more than 109 hectares of forest land in the La Fortuna subdelegation of the municipality of La Paz, for the construction of a private residential tourist development, has generated rejection from citizens and environmental activists.
New York. Donald Trump's government banned the importation of humanoid and quadruped robots into the United States for national security reasons.
Even before being shown in movie theaters, the film version inspired by Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey had already reaped its first fruits. Just the preview of the trailers and some interviews with the actresses and actors were enough to unleash a kind of massive criticism from historians dedicated to the study of Hellas. I highlight here two of its central targets. In the film, the Homeric character of Helen, daughter of Zeus and ruler of Sparta, whose kidnapping leads to the Trojan War, is portrayed by Afro-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong'o. Historians such as David Hanson criticize Nolan's work for having questioned Helena's whiteness. In the 2004 version of The Iliad (under the title Troy), Diane Kruger plays the role of the Spartan queen; and in 1956, it was Rossana Podestà's turn to do it, exuberant blondes with whom Hollywood built the modern archetype of Helena. When Hanson defends the election of Lupita Nyong'o, what he defends is not a historical error, but the very structure of the identity that sustains his own discourse. Well, in which text of Homer is the equation “beauty = whiteness” inscribed? The answer is: in no text in the sense of an original writing, but in an ideological construction that has been naturalized as “evidence.” The Homeric text, on the other hand, does not contain such a predicate; It only contains an undecidability about chromaticism, because Hellas was not a racial essence, but a dissemination of islands, of diasporas, of mixtures. The Hellenic/barbarian opposition, which lately became decisive in the 3rd century BC, is already an economy of difference that cannot be retroprojected to the Homeric world without committing hermeneutical violence. That is, the distinction between Hellenes and barbarians (those who did not speak Greek) did become decisive and definitive. There is no doubt that historians wear the clothing of ideology like their own skin, without even realizing the prejudices that inhabit them.
Although the number of Mexicans experiencing food insecurity has been reduced – 8.6 million, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) – 21.6 million still suffer from it, said President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
Paris. The DJ Kavinsky, famous for his song Nightcall, was found dead at his home in Paris, authorities said yesterday, paying tribute to “one of the most unique voices” of the French electro scene.
The Complaints and Denunciations Commission of the INE ordered the leader of the PRI, Alejandro Moreno (Alito), to download different messages spread on his social networks and those of the party, which include expressions such as narco-government to refer to Morena.
The federal Ministry of Public Education (SEP) instructed its counterpart in the state of Puebla to initiate the corresponding administrative procedure and suspend the activities of the Ignacio Zaragoza Militarized Academy (AMIZ), located in the capital of the entity, because the “militarized education” model lacks legal support in the country. The head of the Legal Affairs and Regulation Unit of the SEP, Euripides Flores Pacheco, maintained that the Constitution and the General Education Law do not contemplate the provision of educational services under military, military or similar modalities, and emphasized that it is “absolutely prohibited” to operate schools with any of those names.
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) yesterday installed the technical commission to review the exam procedure and the results of the 2026 bachelor's entrance selection contest in the face of irregularities during this edition.
Sergio Enrique Ruiz Tlapanco, El Tlapa or Z-44, identified as the founder of Los Zetas, was sentenced to 29 years and nine months in prison for the crimes of organized crime and carrying a firearm for the exclusive use of the armed forces. The Attorney General's Office of the Republic provided sufficient evidence to convict the alleged person in charge of the operations of the Gulf-Zetas cartel in Tabasco and Campeche, as well as in northern Chiapas and southern Veracruz, and of a cell of this organization in Guatemala. The agent of the Federal Public Ministry, assigned to the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, carried out the ministerial work and after a series of procedures, managed to get the judicial authority to also impose a fine of 692,857 pesos on the convicted person. Ruiz Tlapanco, who is in the Federal Center for Social Rehabilitation Number 4 Noroeste, located in Tepic, Nayarit, was detained by elements of the Army in September 2009, in the La Hacienda neighborhood, first section, in the city of Puebla. In this action, firearms, chargers, cartridges, documentation, communication and computing equipment, various objects and vehicles were seized.
Breaking barriers and stereotypes is the purpose of the Lebanese Film Festival in Mexico (Fecil), whose third edition will take place from August 21 to 23 at the Lebanese Center.
In Isabel La Católica, at its intersection with the Republic of Uruguay, in the Historic Center, a strong fire consumed a warehouse located on the third floor of a building, which stored backpacks, plastics and suitcases. Emergency services put out the incident without any injuries being reported.
After the pause in hostilities in the Middle East, oil prices fell again, losing nearly seven dollars yesterday, in the face of efforts to reach an agreement that would allow reopening the Strait of Hormuz, oil futures.
After the historic result of Mexican cyclist Isaac del Toro in the Tour de France, president Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo once again highlighted his performance and expressed her willingness to receive him at the National Palace. At the same time, he congratulated the Mexican athletes who lead the medal table at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games.
Inhabitants of at least four communities in San Juan Guichivovi, municipality of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, yesterday blocked federal highway 190 for at least eight hours, near the Malatengo bridge, to demand that the Federal Electricity Commission pay fair compensation for the damage to the land where the state company's towers were installed.
After expressing her confidence that the National Autonomous University of Mexico will move forward in the conflict generated by the irregularities detected in the administration of the bachelor's admission exam, President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her conference that "it is important that it be resolved soon to be able to give certainty to all young people who want to enter the UNAM."
At the end of August, Kenia Lechuga will face the most important commitment of its season: the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.
Altamira, Tamps., A control judge issued justified preventive detention against Jorge Luis N, director of the Doenitz militarized academy, and the person in charge of the adolescent area, Estrellita N, accused of the crime of femicide against Dafne Zapata, 13 years old, reported the Attorney General's Office of Tamaulipas.
Hermosillo, Son., The derailment of several cars of a Ferromex freight train caused the spill of 59 thousand liters of sodium hydrosulfide – a corrosive chemical compound used in industrial processes – in the border municipality of Naco, which is analyzing taking legal action against Grupo México.
About 20 victims of dispossession met this Monday with Morena deputies in the local Congress to present their cases and request the creation of an instance to follow up on the criminal phenomenon.
Starting in the first week of June, infections due to the Sars-Cov-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, began to rebound, and a positivity of 3.6 percent of laboratory tests has risen steadily. For the week of July 5 to 11, the percentage reached 22.3 and the forecasts of the General Directorate of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health is that it will continue to increase.
Yesterday, Morena expressed his rejection of attempts to put political pressure on Mexican institutions from abroad and from the “old elites.” This, after the so-called Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA Group), made up of former right-wing presidents of Mexico and various countries, affirmed that the arrest of the former governor of Baja California, Ernesto Ruffo Appel, constitutes an act of “political revenge.”
Héctor Josué Arcos Balderas was appointed interim director of the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration (CFCRL), a position he will assume on August 1.
London. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced yesterday the exchange with Ukraine of the intellectual property of an electronic jamming system intended to thwart Russian air defenses, during Volodymir Zelensky's visit to the country. He expressed his willingness to send troops to the Slavic country once its war with Russia concludes.
Dozens of bachelor's candidates for the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) who did not obtain a place submitted a request document to the academic authorities of the highest university, whose main demand is that the exam be reestablished in person for this edition and for future admissions.
FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, have once again placed themselves at the center of a media debate. While the soccer leadership celebrates the recently concluded World Cup as an unprecedented commercial and audience milestone, various international organizations focus on the geopolitical tensions, visa problems and the shadows of a close relationship with the US government of Donald Trump that accompanied the tournament since its start on June 11.
With the program Between Times: Anthology of Choreographic Poetics, the Contemporary Dance Production Center (Ceprodac) will take fragments of five works performed by Mexican choreographers and dancers to the Palace of Fine Arts today as part of the 80 Movements Dance Season.
Katrina vanden Heuvel: I have always believed that the UN is a flawed, but indispensable organization. However, would you advise someone to apply for or accept the role you have held in recent years, in terms of your overall experience?
Photography does not exist. But in the memories that the Catholic priest Joaquín Antonio Peñalosa shared with José Vicente Anaya about the life and work of the poet Concha Urquiza (1910-1945) while she lived in San Luis Potosí, she continues to shine like this: "In the mornings I went for a walk a little, sometimes I rode a bicycle. On one occasion, at around seven in the morning, I found Concha and Chayo on bicycles, exercising in the San Miguelito Garden. It caused admiration to see two women on bicycles through the streets of this levitical and conservative city at that time; the bicycle was considered a masculine artifact, and this criticism extended to certain upper and bourgeois classes who were always criticized for that, and later to Concha.
After the PAN maintained that the former governor of Baja California, Ernesto Ruffo, is a “political prisoner,” President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that the FGR “gave a lot of evidence in this case” and stressed that it is “false, absolutely false” that there is an alleged political use of the justice institutions, as stated by the national leader of the blue and white, Jorge Romero. Asked about this case during her morning press conference yesterday, the head of the federal Executive recalled that the accusations for the alleged crimes of huachicol and organized crime are not only against the former governor, but also several other detainees, for "a model of fuel smuggling, which is a fraud to the Mexican State, to Mexicans." After the arrest of Ruffo Appel last week, a judge attached to the Federal Criminal Justice Center in Almoloya de Juárez, state of Mexico, issued an order linking him to proceedings against him and against seven other people, after considering that Femdo provided sufficient evidence to support the accusations.
In a key week due to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision tomorrow, and given the easing of geopolitical tension, Wall Street had started with significant gains this Monday, but spirits deflated in the final stretch of the day. Investors began to sell dollars, amid a greater appetite for risk due to the fall in oil, but their downward march also slowed, and the US currency ended with a slight advance.
Charlotte. Antonio Turco Mohamed will never lead the Mexican team. He acknowledged it a few weeks ago with a mixture of nostalgia and resignation for a wait without reward. The 2026 World Cup represented the last opportunity to achieve that goal, but the Argentine coach will experience a small rehearsal of what could be: he will lead the Liga Mx representative team that will face the MLS team tomorrow in the All-Star Game in Charlotte.
Much, perhaps too much, has been written about artificial intelligence (AI) and very little, almost nothing, about Natural Intelligence (NI). This essay is dedicated to defining IN and analyzing its profiles and significance.
One dead and two wounded was the result of a direct attack, yesterday afternoon, in the Plaza de Santo Domingo, in the Historic Center.
Washington. On a global scale, some 7,500 languages are currently used, with English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic and French being the most common, counting both native and non-native speakers; However, we are very far from the maximum number recorded throughout history.
Amid a boom in technology and artificial intelligence demand, Mexico broke export records in the first half of 2026, with particularly strong performance in non-automotive manufacturing.
Acapulco, Gro., The federal government plans to advance part of its energy transition plans by at least 10 years. According to the Undersecretary of Planning and Energy Transition of the Ministry of Energy (Sener), Jorge Islas Samperio, it is intended that in 2040, and not in 2050 as originally formulated in official documents, 50 percent of the energy produced in the country will be from a clean source, particularly renewable.
Rio de Janeiro., The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, held a telephone conversation on Sunday night in which they expressed their intention to accelerate negotiations for a Mercosur-China trade agreement.
International funding for the fight against HIV will fall by nearly 20 percent in 2025, the UN warned yesterday during the International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro, and warned about the risk of a rebound in the number of cases. The United States drastically reduced its international aid budget after Donald Trump's return to the White House, but so did several European countries, such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Global financial aid to low- and middle-income countries fell 18 percent last year, according to a UNAIDS report. Since 2011, Europe's contribution has decreased 58 percent, according to the report. In the image, the protest at the opening of the conference.
In the early hours of the day, Natasha Landsmanas begins her wakeboard training. He equips himself with a life jacket in a boat and enters the water. Then perform several aerial maneuvers on the board until it is towed.
The Ministry of Public Education (SEP) asked state governments to supervise basic education schools “to verify that there are no” militarized schools, said the head of the agency, Mario Delgado Carrillo.
Alexis Robledo González, originally from Coahuila, 12 years old and a sixth grade student, won a bronze medal, representing Mexico in the International Mathematics Competition, which was held in Mongolia. The rest of the national team also obtained five honorable mentions.
"The railways are the skeleton of the nation, they are part of the construction of its past and its future. Today, with the return of trains to the country, we have the possibility of reflecting on the importance that this transportation had in the formation, not only of Mexican society, but of national democracy itself," said Teresa Márquez Martínez, director of the National Museum of Mexican Railways.
Given the harmful effects on the development of children and adolescents that the excessive use of cell phones and social networks has, a public discussion is necessary on the pertinent actions for a problem that, due to the size of the affected student population, can be considered a public health issue, said president Claudia Sheinbaum. The addiction to the use of these technologies has an impact on new generations and, therefore, affects the future development of the country.
In a context marked by the cult of individualism, the Meeting of Young Creators Morelos 2026 vindicates the collective as an engine of creativity, experimentation and the development of new languages, considers José Luis Paredes Pacho, general director of the System of Support for Creation and Cultural Projects of the federal Ministry of Culture.
The Government of Mexico City announced the procedure for delivering emerging financial support of up to 12,775 pesos to children and adolescents of people who have a missing person reported to the local Persons Search Commission.
President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo confirmed that “we always agree with democracy in all its terms,” although she added that “each country has its self-determination and decides how it is organized.” This, referring to the recent statements of the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, who stated a week ago that “there will not be elections again” in that nation.