Daily Headlines: January 4, 2012

* South America: Venezuela's PDVSA said that it will only need to pay $255 million of the $907 million recently awarded to ExxonMobil by an international arbitration panel, while an Ecuadorian appeals court upheld an $18 billion dollar ruling against Chevron.

* Argentina: In a statement emitted on the 179th anniversary of the British occupation of the Falklands, the Argentine government renewed its claims of a “legitimate right” over the disputed islands.

* Cuba: According to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation a prisoner died on Sunday after suffering a heart attack during a hunger strike.

* Mexico: French President Nicolas Sarkozy selected actress Salma Hayek as one of the upcoming recipients of the Legion of Honor.

Image Source – Flickr via Steve Snodgrass (CC BY 2.0)

Online Sources- BusinessWeek, Mercopress, CNN, New York Daily News, BBC News

Hackers infiltrate Salma Hayek’s e-mail

Mexican actress Salma Hayek may have her hands full after her hubby was briefly “boss-napped” in France and over her reported re-marrying ceremony to be held in Venice. Now it seems that hackers broke into her personal e-mail records.

As reported by Gawker today, messages of Hayek’s Mac-related e-mail address was “released by habitués of the online bulletin board 4chan (and) appear to be authentic.” Hayek apparently received messages about items including scans of articles from tabloids, iPhone apps, and an invitation to attend America Ferrera's 25th birthday party.

Why are we mentioning this? Not so much for the celebrity angle or to take a voyeuristic look into her life. Rather, a simple tip: don’t make your e-mail password so easy to guess.

Breaking into the account was a simple matter of knowing Hayek's birthday — September 2 — and guessing at her security word (they claim it was the name of her best known movie role) to reset the account's password.

Click here for some great tips on how to create a solid password. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to change the password to our e-mail address!

Image- Javno.hr
Online Sources- Reuters, Gawker, UPI, New York University, Gawker

Gabriel Garcia Marquez calls it quits?

Rumors had been swirling in recent months that Gabriel Garcia Marquez would be writing a new novel. Yet those notions have apparently been put to rest by his agent who claimed that the famed Colombian writer will put down his pen for good:

His agent, Carmen Balcells, told the Chilean newspaper La Tercera : "I don't think that García Márquez will write anything else."

Despite longstanding rumours he would never write again, hopes were raised last year when the Colombian writer Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, a friend, said Marquez was in fact working on a new novel.

But Balcell's comments seem to put paid to that, and were supported by García Márquez's biographer, Gerald Martin, who told La Tercera he too doubts anything new will be published in his lifetime.

"I also believe that Gabo won't write any more books, but I don't think this is too regrettable, because as a writer it was his destiny to have the immense satisfaction of having a totally coherent literary career many years before the end of his natural life," said Martin.

“Gabo” hasn’t written anything since the 2004 publication of his most recent novel- “Memoirs of My Melancholy Whores”. Reviews of that book were mixed though the harshest critique came from the Iranian government which banned the text.

Not all is dour news in the world of “Gabo”; Salma Hayek is rumored to play the lead role in the upcoming film adaptation of "News of a Kidnapping".

Image- The Telegraph
Online Sources- Guardian UK, metacritic.com, Xinhua, The Latin Americanist

Peter Gabriel campaigns for Juarez justice

Lately most of the news emerging from Ciudad Juarez involves the constant shootouts and murders related to the drug trade. Overlooked, however, are the mysterious deaths of nearly 400 women in that border city.

Most of the women murdered in Juarez over the past 25 years are between 17 and 22 years of age and have suffered from sexual abuse akin to the “releasing (of) wild instincts.” Yet recent goings-on in Juarez have to do with the inexplicable disappearances of eighteen preteens since the beginning of 2008.

Several celebrities including Jane Fonda and Salma Hayek have campaigned to bring justice to the unsolved femicides in Juarez. The latest celeb to campaign for women in Juarez is Peter Gabriel:

Musician and activist Peter Gabriel is to present Mexico's President Felipe Calderon with a petition signed by more than 1,000 people asking him to act on the hundreds of unsolved murders of women in the Mexican border city Ciudad Juarez.

Gabriel is due to perform in Mexico City on March 27, and is expected to make his appeal to Calderon then, El Pais reports.

Peter Gabriel is a prominent human-rights activist, and in 1992 founded the nonprofit group Witness, which uses video and online technologies to bring human-rights violations to light.

The actions of famous people like Gabriel and Hayek being much needed attention to crimes against women. More importantly, they help highlight the efforts of brave ladies in Mexico who have dedicated their lives to ensure that justice can be served.

Image- SignOnSanDiego.com
Online Sources- La Plaza, vday.org, The Latin Americanist, Javno, NPR

Salma Hayek weds on Valentine’s Day

Très bon:

Salma Hayek picked a most romantic time and place to get married: Valentine's Day in Paris. The Mexican-born actress wed French magnate Francois-Henri Pinault in a civil ceremony Saturday at the City Hall in Paris' chic 6th arrondissement, according to an official there…

Hayek's spokeswoman, Cari Ross, confirmed in an e-mail Monday that the marriage had taken place in Paris Saturday. No further details were provided.

Henri Pinault is an heir to one of France’s largest fortunes and is the head of retail conglomerate PPR.

Aside from acting in such films as "Desperado", "Dogma", and "Frida", Hayek is also executive producer of U.S. television comedy "Ugly Betty". (For now, at least).

The couple broke off their engagement last year and allegedly remained that way before news emerged of Saturday’s marriage. They are each parents of a daughter named Valentina, who was born in 2007.

Image- AFP
Online Sources- AFP, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, imdb.com, AP

Today’s Video: Salma on the small screen

Note: I sincerely apologize for the lack of posts on Tuesday. I've been battling a pretty bad stomach bug and, as you might imagine, blogging was pretty low on the list of priorities.

Regular posting will resume bright and early on Wednesday. (Hopefully!)

In the meantime, the following is a snippet from the AP highlighting Mexican actress/producer/activist/Latina extraordinaire Salma Hayek's guest stint on "30 Rock." Her role opposite Alec Baldwin showcases her many talents (double entendre not intended!) and serves as another feather in her cap.

Sources - YouTube

Daily Headlines: September 24, 2007

* Follow-up: Ex-president Alberto Fujimori arrived at a Peruvian military base on Saturday about 36 hours after Chile’s Supreme Court permitted his extradition for trial.

* Congrats to Mexican actress/producer Salma Hayek who gave birth to her first child- a baby girl named Valentina Paloma Pinault- last week.

* A group of 35 Palestinian refugees from Iraq arrived in Brazil on Friday as part of a special joint program by the Brazilian government and the U.N.

* Argentina’s Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo continue to seek justice for thousands of those “disappeared” during the Dirty War, yet they have also spearheaded projects for the country’s poor.

* Immigration advocacy groups in Rhode Island will join others in California to boycott Western Union over high money transfer fees.

* The government of Ecuador plans to set up an immigration program that would facilitate the return of migrants abroad while giving them more political rights.

Sources (English)- The Latin Americanist, Sydney Morning Herald, MSNBC, Providence Journal, Associated Press, AFP

Source (Spanish)- El Diario/La Prensa

Image- Christian Science Monitor

Daily headlines: April 10, 2007

* Congrats to Mexican actress and producer Salma Hayek (image) for her deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to form a film company focusing on Latino movies. (Hat tip: Hispanic Tips).

* This would have helped as evidence in last week’s “Weekly Debate” – China’s increasingly relying on Brazil to fill its demand for soybeans.

* Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa is confident that voters will pass a constitutional assembly on Sunday.

* Colombia’s largest rebel group was accused of masterminding a car bombing outside the police headquarters in Cali yesterday.

Links- Hispanic Tips, Reuters, Boston.com, Washington Post, Reuters AlertNet

Image- AskMen.com