Daily Headlines: February 4, 2010

* Latin America: Are proposals such as calling in the National Guard to Puerto Rico and regulating social networks in Mexico effective tools to combat crime or cheap political ploys?

* U.S.: Latino groups in Costa Mesa, California and city officials are butting heads over an ordinance banning day workers from soliciting work on the street.

* Brazil: Author Paulo Coelho has a message for ex-British P.M. Tony Blair – stay away from the 2016 Rio Olympics.

* Paraguay: The third and final paternity lawsuit against priest-turned-president Fernando Lugo was dropped due to “personal reasons.”

Image – Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Online Sources- Mashable, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, BusinessWeek, BBC News

World Watch: Hunger to live

* World: There are over one billion people with not enough food to eat as prices are too high in developing countries according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

* Afghanistan: U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry has reportedly opposed plans for a troop increase of up to 40,000 soldiers.

* Iraq: Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be called to testify at a public inquiry into Britain’s role in the Iraq War.

* Europe: The region’s third-largest air carrier is expected to form after British Airways agreed to buy Spain’s Iberia.

Image – Guardian UK (“A boy looks at corn, rice and millet at the food market in Maradi, Niger.”).
Online Sources- MSNBC, BBC News, Reuters, Bloomberg

Tony Blair: going to war in Falklands was “the right thing to do”

British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted last week that Britain's involvement in Argentina’s 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands took “a lot of political courage” but was "the right thing to do.” Blair’s comments come in contrast to British public opinion against current military operations in Iraq.

Blair remarked that:

"I have got no doubt it was the right thing to do ... for reasons not simply to do with British sovereignty but also because I think there was a principle at stake, which is that ... a land shouldn't be annexed in that way and people shouldn't be put under a different rule in that way."

Over the past year Argentina’s government has become more vocal in its claims to the Falklands which are located 300 miles off the argentine coast. In addition, support for Argentina’s claim has grown amongst Latin American countries and regional economic blocs.

Links- Guardian UK, Wikipedia, The Latin Americanist, Monsters & Critics

Image- emilianoromagnolinelmondo.it (The Argentine invasion of the Falkland in 1982)