Rousseff: The World’s Most Powerful Latina

For the forth straight year, Dilma Rousseff has managed to retain her title as the most powerful Latina in the world.

Dilma Rousseff

The 66-year-old Brazilian president—the first woman ever to hold that office—ranks No. 4 on Forbes’ recently released The World’s Most Powerful Women 2014 list.

It’s the magazine’s definitive annual guide to the extraordinary female icons and leaders, groundbreakers and ceiling crashers who command the world stage.

Dilma-Rousseff

Rousseff, who dropped two spots from her No. 2 rank in 2013, is heralded as “one of the world’s most powerful heads of state.” She’s more than halfway through her term as president of Brazil, the world’s seventh-largest national economy with a GDP of nearly $2.4 trillion. The country is hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016.

Rousseff criticized the U.S. for spying during her opening speech at the UN General Assembly this fall and cancelled a state visit over reports that the National Security Agency was intercepting her emails.

Mary Barra

Mary Barra, the first woman to head General Motors, moves up 28 spots from last year’s list to come in No. 7 in 2014.

As the highest-ranking woman at GM, the 52-year-old Latina executive has played a vital role in the company’s restoration, successfully overseeing an array of recent vehicle introductions. She has received high-level recognitions for her contributions to her field, including being named the No. 1 most powerful woman in the automotive industry by Fortune and among the “50 Latinas Who Rock Fortune 500 Companies” by Latina magazine.

Barra took the reins of GM in January and in April was summoned to appear in front of the U.S. Congress to answer for faulty ignition switches linked to 13 deaths, saying “I am deeply sorry.” But the 33-year veteran, who began at the company at 18 while working toward an electrical engineering degree, remained poised and confident under fire. Her leadership, she said, will bring about a “new GM” able to regain customer trust.

Maria das Graças Silva Foster

Maria das Graças Silva Foster, the CEO of Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petrobras-Petróleo Brasil, moves up two spots to come in at No. 16 this year.

The 60-year-old Brazilianbusiness executive escaped a childhood in a favela on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro to become a chemical engineer and later the first female CEO of Petrobras. After 30 years with the company, she has the experience and connections (including Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff) to make running a company with assets exceeding $100 billion work. The company posted $141 billion in sales and it continues to anchor Brazil’s economy as it invests in vast underwater oil field exploration off the nation’s coast.

cristina-fernandez-de-kirchner_729

The next Latina on the list: Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who rises from No. 26 in 2013 to No. 19 this year.

The 61-year-old Argentinean president, who reigns over a country with the world’s highest inflation rates, is still trying to make amends with global creditors after the $95 billion default on its foreign debt in 2002. And it’s working: this year marks the first time Argentina has received loans from international creditors since then. The offers, including talk of $1 billion from Goldman Sachs, follows a $500 million settlement with five foreign companies. Kirchner legalized same-sex marriage in 2010, and in April announced she’ll be godmother to a lesbian couple’s child; they made the ask on Facebook.

Here’s a look at the other Latinas on the list…

No. 25 Michelle Bachelet, President, Chile
No. 32 Sofia Vergara, Actress
No. 58 Shakira Mebarak, Singer
No. 89 Gisele Bundchen, Supermodel

Click here to see the complete list of honorees.

Dawson’s Thriller “Trance” to be Released in April

Rosario Dawson will be leave moviegoers in a Trance starting in April…

Rosario Dawson in Trance

Fox Searchlight has set an April 5 platform release for Trance, the Danny Boyle-directed psychological thriller starring the 33-year-old Puerto Rican/Cuban American actress, James McAvoy and Vincent Cassel.

Trance, which arrives in theaters in the United Kingdom on March 27 via Pathe and 20th Century Fox, follows a fine-art auctioneer mixed up with a criminal gang who joins forces with a hypnotherapist (Dawson) to recover a lost Goya painting.

This is Boyle’s first film since 2010′s 127 Hours. The filmmaker shot Trance just before taking time out to direct the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 London Games last summer. Boyle returned after the Olympic Games to complete the film’s postproduction.

Lochte Earns His Second Gold Medal at the London Games

London Olympics 2012

It’s a return to golden form for Ryan Lochte at the 2012 Olympic Games

After two disappointing days, the 27-year-old half-Cuban American swimmer swam the first leg of the men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay final in 1:45.15 on Tuesday, nearly a second faster than his closest competitor to help the U.S. men coast to gold, winning the race by more than a body’s length.

Ryan Lochte

Lochte had started his run at the 2012 Olympic Games by winning the U.S.’s first gold medal at the London Games in the men’s 400-meter individual medley on Saturday.

But the following night, he was out-raced on the final leg of the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay, dropping the Americans to second place. On Monday, he didn’t even make the podium in the 200-meter freestyle final.

In a mere two days, Lochte had gone from the greatest swimmer in the world to someone down on himself.

“The past two days I wasn’t myself,” Lochte admitted Tuesday night. “After that relay my confidence went down. Everyone just kept telling me, ‘You know what? You’re better than that. Just forget about that and move on.’ ”

So Lochte got up Tuesday morning and, for the first time since the games started, didn’t have to rush to the London Aquatics Centre for a morning preliminary heat. He didn’t hit the water at all, which he believes helped him in the men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

Ryan Lochte

“I woke up this morning and I was back to myself,” Lochte said. “I was that happy, go-lucky guy. I think that’s what really helped me throughout the whole day and that swim tonight. Now, I can take that energy and put it into tomorrow’s races.”

Can Lochte’s strong performance in the relay help get his Olympics back on track? He still has to swim the 200-meter backstroke – his specialty – the 200-meter individual medley and likely the medley relay.

Lochte’s teammate Ricky Berens, who contributed to the 4×200 free gold, believes in the momentum that can come from one strong relay swim.

“Being at the Olympics, it’s an individual sport but we’re all so a team,” Berens said. “Having this relay, winning that gold medal, we really had a great, great race. … I saw Michael (Phelps) have a different face on him right now. The way (Phelps and Lochte’s) demeanor is right now, I’m sure this night definitely helped.”

Nocioni’s Ready to Play Ball, NBA Lockout or Not!

Philadelphia 76ers forward Andrés Nocioni isn’t letting the NBA lockout keep him from playing ball.

The 32-year-old Argentinean basketball star is returning to his homeland to play for the Club Atlético Peñarol (Mar del Plata), the two-time reigning champion of the country’s Liga Nacional de Básquet (LNB).

Andrés Nocioni joins Argentina's Club Atlético Peñarol

 

Chapu,” as he’s commonly known, will play for the team in the Super 8, a tournament played at the end of the year that features the eight teams
with the best records in the first half of the season.

“I always wanted to play here,” said Nocioni during a team press conference. “And when the opportunity arose, I made it a reality.”

Nocioni calls the NBA lockout an “atypical situation and really confusing;” and when he’s done with the Super 8 tournament, he’ll think about whether to continue with Peñarol or sign a contract with a European basketball team.

“Staying put would have been crazy because the Olympic Games in London are so close,” says Nocioni, who will once again be coached by Sergio
Oveja Hernández.

Hernandez is thrilled that Nocioni has signed on to play with Peñarol, while Nocioni’s friend and new team member Leonardo Gutiérrez calls his arrival “a pride and pleasure.”

Nocioni is part of the so-called “Golden Generation” of basketball of Argentina, who won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in
Athens and a bronze at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Before his trade to the Philadelphia 76ers, Nocioni played for the Chicago Bulls and Sacramento Kings.