Free Republic

Latin America: Bitterly refusing to concede the presidential election he lost, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vows to destabilize Mexico as payback for his defeat. The government will have to deal with him firmly. And that's a shame, because the final call, set for Sept. 6, on Mexico's July 2 presidential election should be pure celebration. The country should rightly recognize its free and fair vote, its emerging new parties and its solid institutions — all of which have come about in a mere decade of democracy from a one-party state — and winner Felipe Calderon should be able to begin...

PHILADELPHIA - The Anti-Defamation League has asked retailer Urban Outfitters to stop selling a T-shirt that reads: "New Mexico, Cleaner than Regular Mexico." "This is saying that the country of Mexico is a dirty place," said Barry Morrison, regional director of the civil rights group. "Dirty can be interpreted figuratively and literally." The group wants the Philadelphia-based retailer to get rid of all its inventory. Urban Outfitters did not immediately return calls for comment Friday. The retailer, which targets 18- to 30-year-olds, has run into similar controversy before. Two years ago, it stopped selling a game called "Ghettopoly" after protests...

MEXICO CITY — This city's beleaguered mayor voluntarily resigned his position Friday morning, a day after the National Congress stripped his legal immunity and placed the country's leading presidential candidate's campaign in jeopardy. "I will not return to city government," Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters outside his home, adding he would remain there until a warrant is issued for his arrest on contempt-of-court charges in an old land-use dispute. He reiterated he would then peacefully surrender to authorities. But, despite earlier claims that it would move swiftly, the federal Mexican attorney general's office said Friday afternoon it hadn't drawn...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Most people in Mexico City had never seen anything like this: day after day of panoramic views of distant volcanos through crystalline skies. Unusually windy weather and decades of anti-pollution measures brought the cleanest smog-season air in the capital since officials started keeping records in the mid-1980s. At least 61 days met "satisfactory" standards for ozone levels in the metropolitan area in the first five months of the year, which included much of the annual March-July smoggy season. There were only 80 such days all of last year. Airplanes overhead sometimes seemed so close you could...

States say trucks from Mexico pose threat to air They call for court to require studies of traffic's impact WASHINGTON, March 13 (COPLEY NEWS SERVICE) The attorneys general for California and eight other states filed briefs with the Supreme Court yesterday, opposing the Bush administration's effort to open U.S. roads to Mexican trucks without air-quality studies. The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments April 21 on the administration's request to review a lower court order that prevented Mexican trucks from using U.S. highways without the environmental studies. A decision is expected in June.