Vying for seven honors, Dominican singer/songwriter Juan Luis Guerra tops the list of finalists for the 19th Billboard Latin Music Awards. Guerra and his group 440, whose album “La Llave de Mi Croazón” (EMI Televisa) and its eponymous single garnered critical acclaim, is up for honors in several tropical categories, including Tropical Album of the year, duo or group and Tropical Airplay song of the year. Guerra is also up for Songwriter of the year and Producer of the year awards.

Following Guerra in sheer number of finalist slots is Colombian newcomer Fanny Lu, whose pop/tropical album “Lágrimas Cálidas” (Universal Music Latino) and its eponymous single are up for six awards, including Tropical Album of the year, female and Tropical album of the year, new artist.

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003707780

Republican presidential candidates made a major miscalculation this week by skipping the nation’s largest gathering of Hispanic elected officials, local party representatives and event organizers said. The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed officials opened its 24th annual convention Thursday at Walt Disney World, with top billing for a Democratic presidential candidate forum Saturday. Friday’s Republican forum? Canceled. Only Rep. Duncan Hunter of California agreed to show. The other candidates cited scheduling conflicts, including a Saturday debate in Iowa, which Hunter also planned to attend. - wjla.com

By Allison Klein

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier is breaking up highly acclaimed special units that reach out to the Latino and gay and lesbian communities, a move that is generating criticism from many activists.

Lanier said she is trying to expand services across the city rather than keep the units clustered in their current quarters in Northwest. Officers in the two units instead will work out of stations across the city. But activists are angry, especially in the gay and lesbian community, saying that the new chief is minimizing the impact of the squads. -[washingtonpost.com]

Luis Miguel, Alejandro Sanz y Miguel Bosé podrían ser los grandes ausentes durante la entrega de los premios Grammy que se llevará a cabo este domingo en el Staples Center de esta ciudad.
A escasas horas de la 50 entrega de los premios que otorga la Academia de Grabación de Estados Unidos, sólo el colombiano Juanes, los panameños de Rabanes y el mexicano Christian Castro están confirmados.

Mientras que Panda, Zoé, Akwid y Fulanito, podrían asistir al festejo de música latina, así como los numerosos grupos de banda, tejana y norteña, siguen siendo muy pocos los confirmados en las categorías de Mejor Album Latino Pop o Mejor Album de Rock o Alternativo.

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/480984.html

Paulina Rubio a.k.a. “la chica dorada,” or “the golden girl,” is a gorgeous, latina multi-platinum international pop star.

She and M.A.C. Cosmetics have joined forces to create a brand new lipstick together called, Rubia. The lip color is golden. [fabsugar]

Daughter of Mexican actress Susana Dosamantes, Rubio was born in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. Her music is popular in Latin America, Spain, and the United States. English-speakers may recognize her from her 2002 hit single Don’t Say Goodbye. Paulina Rubio has sold over 16 million albums worldwide.

Miami, 18 dic (EFE). - The Puerto Rican singer Chayanne will begin his Captive American tour “2007″ in the city of Miami in the 20 of April.

The American Airlines Arena will be the scene where the popular artist will initiate the tour that will take it cities to 20 of the United States, including Chicago, New York, Texas and Los Angeles. The interpreter, who the past month of November began his series of concerts in Mexico, stays assets traveling by Latin America with this last production. Www.ebay.com will be able to be bid up in the auction from the 16,00 GMT of Wednesday in the vestibule of Internet and until the 04,00 GMT of Saturday (the midnight of Friday in Puerto Rico).

In the show accompanies the artist equipment integrated by more than 46 people, who include their band and body of dance as well as engineers and technicians of production.

foto de Giselle Blondet ‘Nuestra Belleza Latina’ debuts on Univision Univision will debut “Nuestra Belleza Latina” (Our Latin Beauty) on March 27 at 10pm as its newest reality show and beauty contest. Cynopsis reports that Univision personality Giselle Blondet a sexy [latina] hosts and is joined by a panel of judges including Venezuela’s Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe, and Latin America’s Osmel Sosa, a beauty coach. The contestants are competing for the title, a contract as one of Univision’s on-air personalities, and a chance to win more than $200,000 in cash and prizes.

PBS and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Latino civil-rights and advocacy organization in the

United States, have finally reached a truce regarding the station’s upcoming documentary, “The War,” a series chronicling

America during World War II. The network has agreed to include the Latino-American contributions to the war effort by adding footage to the existing work, which started protests amongst Latino veterans in the first place. Ken Burns, the film’s producer, has agreed to hire a Latino producer to assist in the process. Read more.

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