Life sentences proposed: President Felipe Calderón urged Congress on Thursday to pass a bill that would sentence kidnappers to life in prison without parole. Calderón's appeal came days after the body of the 14-year-old son of a sporting-goods mogul was found in the trunk of a car in Mexico City despite his family paying a ransom for his release. Several policemen have been arrested in the kidnapping. Columnist Sergio Sarmiento said the 50-year sentences Mexican justice can mete out are nearly the equivalent of a life sentence and that Mexico should focus its energies on curtailing impunity instead.
Woman fights off lion: Celsa Alemán, 35, said she and her 7-year-old niece were riding a donkey Monday along a road near Acapulco when a lion went after the animal's legs. Alemán said she hit the animal with a machete until it ran away; she and her niece were unharmed. The Guerrero state government said the lion had escaped from a private zoo owned by a former local congressman. It said the lion killed two dogs and ate a pig before it was sedated and taken back to the zoo.
Cabinet change: Calderón has named Gerardo Ruiz, an industrial engineer who was the president's former chief of staff, as economy minister. Ruiz replaces Eduardo Sojo, who was named president of the national statistics institute.
P&G jobs to Mexico: Procter & Gamble Co. said it plans to transfer some operations to Mexico and Poland. P&G plans to close its plant at the former Fort Devens in Massachusetts and cut 215 jobs at its South Boston plant. P&G said job cuts in South Boston are the result of shifting manufacturing of its older shaving systems, such as Mach3 and Venus, to P&G sites in Poland and a new facility in Mexico. P&G said it would invest $100 million to make the South Boston plant a flagship site for manufacturing new technologies along with a plant in Berlin.
Inflation rises to 5.39 percent: Mexico's central bank said rising food and gasoline prices pushed annual inflation to 5.39 percent in July, the highest since November 2004.
Trucking program: A contentious program allowing Mexican trucks unrestricted access to U.S. highways near the U.S.-Mexico border has been extended for two years, despite numerous attempts by the U.S. Congress to quash it.
Compiled from news reports by Foreign Editor David Gaddis Smith: (619) 293-2211; david.smith@uniontrib.com
