The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has announced plans to expand its program to combat corruption in foreign countries. Roughly 30 agents will be assigned to offices in New York, Washington and Los Angeles, and given the sole task of detecting situations in which foreign governments are bribed by U.S. companies.

The high-profile Governor of Chiapas Manuel Velasco has offered a “sincere apology” for slapping his assistant in the face at the rehearsal of his annual report last December.

The video was released online, forcing the Governor to offer an apology for what he described as an “unfortunate accidental incident.” 

Velasco invited his secretary on stage at a publicity event and the governor offered his own cheek to be smacked. His aide returned the slap, once lightly and a second time with more force.

With his youthful looks and actress fiancé, Velasco has been held up as a possible successor to President Enrique Peña Nieto. Posters with his face and name have been put up in Mexico City, despite the fact that Velasco is based in Chiapas and is not involved in policy making in the capital.

A Mexican court has reversed the 2013 ruling that freed drug lord Caro Quintero from a Guadalajara maximum security prison and has again declared him responsible for the kidnap and murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, Enrique Camarena. 

The first openly gay mayor in Mexico, Benjamin Medrano, has announced his plans to become a governor. 

–Mexican Stock Market (BMV) opened at 40,984.22 a decrease of 829.71 points from Thursday, January 8, 2014.

 The former mayor of Iguala, Guerrero has been formally charged by the Federal Attorney General’s office with kidnapping 43 student protestors in September.