Free Republic

MEXICO CITY — In Peru, there is talk of building a monument in his honor. In Honduras and Ecuador, leaders have copied his draconian security policies, his tough-on-crime rhetoric — and even his fashion choices. In Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia and Guatemala, citizens have taken to the streets calling on their own governments to embrace his extreme strategies for combating violence. The brash young autocrat has won legions of fans throughout the region for a sweeping crackdown on gangs that has dramatically lowered violent crime. That his “mano dura” policies draw scorn from human rights and democracy advocates seems to...

Omicron has taken a much bigger bite 0ut of the labor market than expected, data from payroll processing firm ADP indicated Wednesday. The number of workers on private payrolls fell by 301,000 in January, falling far short of expectations for growth of 225,000 jobs. This was the first decline in payrolls reported by ADP since 2020. The leisure and hospitality sector shed 154,000 jobs. Trade, transportation, and utilities dropped 62,000 workers. Other services saw payrolls decline by 23,000. Health and education jobs fell by 15,000. Information technology jobs fell by 8,000 and financial services sank by 9,000. Manufacturers cut 21,000...

Forty-three of Japan's 47 prefectural capitals, or 91.5 percent, will finish their initial two-dose COVID-19 vaccine rollout by the end this month, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday, as local governments prepare to move onto the next phase of the inoculation program. Japan's health ministry is expected to finalize details on third booster shots at a meeting Monday, with the shots set to be administered as early as next month. According to a government tally released Friday, 94.58 million people, or 74.7 percent, of Japan's population of around 125 million have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with almost 100 million...

Law And Order: Gang violence has plagued other cities for years. But it wasn't until immigrant gangs started attacking people with machetes around Washington that politicians applied federal muscle to the problem.