Daily Headlines: February 28, 2013

* South America: At least twenty-seven people have died in Paraguay and thirty-three people have died in Brazil this year as a result of a dengue outbreak.

* Peru: The One Laptop Per Child program in Peru, which started in 2007, has reportedly had “mixed results” including logistics issues and improvements in education.

* Cuba: The Cuban Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of not granting consular access to a paroled member of the “Cuban Five” group of convicted spies.

* Mexico: Will Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto pursue other union bosses aside from recently arrested teachers' union chief Elba Esther Gordillo?

Video Source – YouTube via user elsiglodetorreon

Online Sources- USA TODAY, Prensa Latina, BBC News, ABC News, Christian Science Monitor

Daily Headlines: October 19, 2010

* Latin America: South America’s Mercosur alliance has joined Argentina in officially protesting planned British military exercises on the Falkland Islands.

* Costa Rica: The One Laptop per Child program will soon provide computers to some of Costa Rica’s poorest schools.

* Haiti: At least ten people including two children are died as the result of heavy rains that have hit Haiti this week.

* Cuba: The fate of a U.S. contractor detained in Cuba was reportedly the topic of a recent "high-level diplomatic exchange” between the two countries.

Image – The Telegraph (Control of the Falklands/Malvinas has been a sore spot on diplomatic relations between Britain and Argentina.)
Online Sources- Sydney Morning Herald, insidecostarica.com, The Latin Americanist, CNN, BBC News

Daily Headlines: October 21, 2009

* Uruguay: As part of the One Laptop Per Child program all Uruguayan children in public elementary schools has his/her own Internet-ready computer.

* Peru: The country’s legislature is examining a vital reproductive rights bill that would depenalize certain forms of abortion.

* Bolivia: Could the 2500-year-old Akapana pyramid lose its World Heritage Site status due to planned restoration work?

* Cuba: Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos met with Cuban President Raul Castro and claimed that he wants to improve relations with the U.S.

Image- CNN (“A boy in Peru starts exploring all he can do on his new XO laptop.”)
Online Sources- Americas Quarterly, BBC News, AFP, Reuters

Major restructuring at One Laptop Per Child

The faltering global economy and increased competition are partly to blame for the restructuring of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program. Half of the staff have been cut and salaries for remaining employees will be lowered according to a statement from OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte.

The OLPC program was launched with the purpose of providing simple and inexpensive laptops to underdeveloped children. Governments in several Latin American countries- mainly Uruguay and Peru- have purchased hundreds of thousands of units for use in schools. Yet the restructuring plans at OLPC will hit the Americas especially hard:

Negroponte said the foundation also will spin off its operation in Latin America and would no longer work directly on further development of the operating software used on its own computer. He described the moves as a restructuring that would refocus the group's mission on distributing its laptops in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Northwestern Pakistan and on creating a second-generation computer.

Image- boston.com
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, boston.com, wired.com, bostonherald.com, Reuters, endgadget

Daily Headlines: September 19, 2008

* China: Apparently viewers think that the titular character in the Chinese version of “Ugly Betty” is too unattractive.

* Peru: Officials received the first shipment of One Laptop Per Child computers with Windows XO installed.

* U.S.: Boxer Oscar Diaz woke up and is slowly recovering from a two-month coma he fell into after collapsing during a bout.

* Brazil: Is the return of the Fourth Fleet a sign that Brazilian offshore oil fields are in danger of being taken over by the U.S.? Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva thinks so.

Image- clarin.com (Ana Maria Orozco as the main character from the original Colombian version of “Ugly Betty".)

Sources- Guardian UK, engadget, ESPN, AFP, Reuters, The Latin Americanist

Daily Headlines: February 17, 2008

* Follow-up: Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez seemed to have backed down on his earlier threat to halt all oil exports to the U.S.

* Next stop for the One Laptop Per Child project – Haiti.

* Could “organized crime” be behind a bombing last Friday in Mexico City?

* Over 200 British and Canadian couples may have been duped in a Dominican marriage scam.

* Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Antarctica as part of a possible expansion of operations there.

Sources- Xinhua, The Latin Americanist, Washington Post, MSNBC, International Herald Tribune

Image- earthtimes.org

Uruguay awaits “$100 laptops”

After pilot runs in countries like Brazil and Peru, Uruguay became the first country to place an official order for computers in the “One Laptop per Child” (OLPC) program. The ubiquitous lime green and white XO Laptops began mass production this week in China and have been dubbed as the “$100 laptops” due to its cheap price.

The aim of OLPC is to provide the inexpensive computers to schoolchildren in underdeveloped countries worldwide. Thus far Uruguay has been the only confirmed order with a request for 100,000 laptops including an option to buy 300,000 more.

The OLPC computers have not been without problems; production was set back by several weeks and major firms like Acer plan to produce their own cheap laptops. Nonetheless, OLPC is offering a special “Give 1 Get 1” promotion starting on Monday.

Image- BBC News

Sources- BBC News, The Latin Americanist, Associated Press, endgadget, AHN, ZDnet.com