Daily Headlines: July 21, 2014

* Uruguay: Officials in Uruguay claimed that the country’s harsh anti-tobacco laws, which includes banning smoking in all public enclosed spaces and prohibiting all tobacco advertising, has led to a 22% drop in the number of heart attacks nationwide.
 
* Mexico: A Mexican judge freed Rosa del Carmen Verduzco, the founder of a shelter where residents were reportedly abused and kept in squalid conditions, after a preliminary probe cleared her of any wrongdoing.

* Latin America: Chinese President Xi Jinping signed several economic agreements with Venezuela and Argentina as he enters the tail end of his official visit to Latin America.

* Colombia: Spanish police captured Hernán Alonso Villa, the main “enforcer” of Colombia’s Office of Envigado drug gang, who will likely be extradited to face trial on some 400 counts of murder.

Video Source – YouTube user insidermedicine

Online Sources – InSerbia News; Reuters The Latin Americanist; The Guardian; DW.de

Daily Headlines: May 6, 2013

* U.S.: Twenty-eight-year-old Dominican jockey Joel Rosario won his first Kentucky Derby on Saturday after guiding the odds-on favorite Orb to victory.

* Cuba: Cuba has become the latest country to launch a legal case with the World Trade Organization against Australia’s harsh anti-tobacco laws.

* Colombia: The Colombian government and FARC rebels claimed that they continue to make progress in peace talks though both sides disagreed on how soon a deal should be reached.

* Puerto Rico: The publicist for the Grammy-winning reggaeton duo Wisin y Yandel rejected rumors that they would be splitting apart.

Video Source – YouTube via Kentucky Derby

Online Sources- Reuters; Businessweek; Al Jazeera English; Fox News Latino

Daily Headlines: March 28, 2013

Note: This will be the only post we will be publishing on Thursday.

We will return tomorrow and possibly the weekend as well.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

* Chile: Earlier this month Chile banned smoking in enclosed public spaces aimed at lowering smoking rates that are among the highest in Latin America.

* U.S.: President Barack Obama said an interview that he plans to visit Mexico and Costa Rica in early May but will Congress pass a comprehensive immigration reform plan before he departs?

* Ecuador: Indigenous groups in the Ecuadorian rainforest are upset at government plans to auction off tracts of land to Chinese oil companies.

* Venezuela: According to newly released data state-run oil firm PDVSA reportedly decreased the amount of funds given to “welfare programs commonly known as missions” in 2012.

Video Source – YouTube via teleSUR

Online Sources- The Guardian, The Latin Americanist, Bloomberg, The Economist, Los Angeles Times, El Universal (Venezuela)

World Watch: Syrian Strike

* Syria: Three senior military members and close allies to President Bashar al-Assad were killed in a rebel bombing attack.

* Bulgaria: Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, blamed Iran for an explosion of a bus in Bulgaria with Israeli tourists.

* Netherlands: The International Court of Justice in The Hague could soon prosecute the exiled former rulers of Chad and Tunisia.

* World: A new scientific study concluded that a sedentary lifestyle that includes a lack of exercise kills as many people worldwide as smoking does.

Video Source– YouTube via Associated Press

Online Sources – Reuters, CBS News, MSNBC, BBC News

Daily Headlines: November 25, 2011

* Peru: Activity in the Cajamarca region is slowly returning to normal after thousands of demonstrators marched in protest against the proposed Conga gold mine.

* Mexico: A group of Mexican human rights lawyers have filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court against several senior officials including President Felipe Calderon.

* Uruguay: World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan blasted tobacco firms that "harass" countries that have strong anti-smoking laws like Uruguay.

* Venezuela: China and Venezuela signed a series of pacts this week in areas such as energy, telecommunications and agriculture.

Image Source – Flickr user Participatory Learning (The Yanacocha gold mine seen here is owned by the same firm that is behind the proposed Conga mine in Peru’s Cajamarca region). (CC BY 2.0).

Online Sources- Fox News, BBC News, MSNBC, BusinessWeek

World Watch: Helping Ai Wewei

* China: Dissident artist Ai Weiwei has received thousands of donations that have covered at least one-third of a $2.4 million tax bill placed against him by the Chinese government.

* Iran: An upcoming International Atomic Energy Agency report will allegedly say that the Iranian government is very close to developing a nuclear arms program.

* Greece: A new interim government is expected to be announced on Tuesday as the country continues to struggle with a major debt crisis.

* U.S.: A federal judge temporarily blocked a rule that would've forced graphic images to be displayed on cigarette packs.

Image – Via Flickr user Daniel Lobo (CC BY 2.0)

Online Sources- The Independent, CNN, Reuters

Daily Headlines: July 11, 2011

* Argentina: Singer and songwriter Facundo Cabral may not have been the target of an ambush that killed him in Guatemala on Saturday but that hasn’t stopped the immense mourning throughout the Americas.

* Latin America: Mexico won its second U-17 men’s soccer title in six years with a 2-0 victory over Uruguay while the U.S. eliminated Brazil from the Women’s World Cup in a thrilling quarterfinal match.

* Venezuela: Ailing Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is doing “very well, very well” according to his Bolivian counterpart, Evo Morales.

* Costa Rica: The Central American country could emulate states like Uruguay and enact tough anti-smoking laws.

Video Source – euronews via YouTube (Argentine folk singer Facundo Cabral was tragically gunned down over the weekend while visiting Guatemala).
Online Sources- LAHT, CBC, USA TODAY, MSNBC, insidecostarica.com

Daily Headlines: June 3, 2011

* Cuba: Famed musician Pablo Milanes, who is best known for helping found the nueva trova genre, will play in Miami as part of a U.S. concert tour beginning in August.

* Chile: A judge ordered an investigation into the death of Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda days after the body of former President Salvador Allende was exhumed.

* U.S.: According to a Pew Research Center report 19% of Latinos use Twitter, which is slightly less than blacks but more than double the percentage of whites.

* Argentina: Congress passed a new anti-tobacco law that bans smoking in public places and bars tobacco ads and sponsorship.

Image – RPP (Cuban musician Pablo Milanes in concert in Lima, Peru in 2009.)
Online Sources- CBS News, CNN, The Latin Americanist, The Hill, BBC News

Daily Headlines: March 3, 2011

* Latin America: The International Narcotics Control Board concluded that Brazil is increasingly being used as a point of transit for cocaine from South America to western Africa and that Mexican drug trafficking has worsened.

* Guatemala: A final report on the scandalous illegal testing of thousands of Guatemalans for syphilis by U.S. scientists decades ago will be ready by the middle of the year.

* Venezuela: The government backtracked on a decree that would’ve barred smoking in public places.

* Ecuador: President Rafael Correa expressed has “sincere interest” in attracting foreign investors in order to help funding energy projects and improving infrastructure.

Image – Reuters via MinnPost.com (“Police show drugs, weapons and hand grenades which were confiscated, a day after invading the Alemao slum in Rio de Janeiro” last year.)
Online Sources- MSNBC, Bloomberg, LAHT, AFP

Daily Headlines: January 18, 2011

* U.S.: The family of a Mexican boy killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent last June has filed a multimillion-dollar wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government.

* Peru: An executive order issued by President Alan Garcia bans all smoking in public buildings and the workplace.

* Latin America: Execs at CONCACAF, the ruling soccer body for North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, will advocate that the region receive another automatic berth for the 2014 World Cup.

* Guatemala: According to a 2008 diplomat cable released by Wikileaks, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom was highly critical against Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu.

Image – AP via MSNBC (“Friends and relatives of Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, 15, carry his coffin before his burial in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on June 10, 2010.”)
Online Sources- AP, Reuters, LAHT, Houston Chronicle

Ex-Uruguay president blasts Philip Morris

Under then-President Tabare Vazquez, Uruguay became one of the world's strongest anti-tobacco countries. Since 2006 smoking is barred in public places and the former cancer specialist prohibited all tobacco advertising. Though Vazquez has been out of the presidency since last March he has not shied away from emphasizing the ill effects of smoking as well as criticizing tobacco multinationals.

During a speech given at a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting in Montevideo, Vazquez accused Philip Morris of unfairly trying to “intimidate” countries like Uruguay. Philip Morris “like all tobacco companies does not care for the health of their consumers” said Vazquez who also accused the firm of attempting to “punish” Uruguay due to the anti-smoking laws. “Tobacco, like war, produces deaths among citizens around the world while enriching a few," said Vasquez at the conference.

Earlier this year Philip Morris filed for arbitration at the World Bank against the Uruguay government. The company claimed that the tobacco restrictions violated signed trade pacts and that they also unjustly hurt business with the South American country. In July current president Jose Mujica partially caved into pressure from the tobacco giant by modifying the anti-smoking laws. Yet he reversed himself in September by strengthening the ban on smoking indoors.

At the WHO meeting this week, Mujica refused to bow down completely to the tobacco industry:

President Jose Mujica described Uruguay Monday as a "laboratory of confrontation" with Big Tobacco…

Mujica said the trade violation claim seeks to "complicate the life and sovereignty of a small nation that has the boldness to defend itself and try to defend the health of its people."

He said Uruguay will maintain its anti-smoking laws despite the pressure.

A statement from Philip Morris (via Reuters) said that the firm “disputed several regulations” that “go far beyond public health objectives” of Uruguay.

Uruguay’s push against tobacco has earned praise not only from health care advocates worldwide but also from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. On Monday he reportedly pledged $375 million of his own money to pay for Uruguay’s legal defense.

Image- trussel.com
Online Sources- La Republica, The Guardian, BusinessWeek, MSNBC, AFP, New York Times,

World Watch: Up in smoke

* World: According to a study released today people who are heavy smokers in middle age greatly increase their risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia later in life.

* U.S.: The largest U.S. arms sale ever took place last week when Saudi Arabia purchased up to $60 billion in military aircraft.

* Indonesia: “No immediate reports of damage or injuries” have been mentioned after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake that shook off the western Indonesian island of Sumatra today.

* Afghanistan: President Hamid Karzai admitted that he received cash from Iran yet tried justifying it by claiming that “friendly” countries like the U.S. do the same thing.

Image – CBC (“The brain is not immune to the long-term consequences of smoking two packs of cigarettes per day, the researchers found. (Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press).“)
Online Sources- MSNBC, Al Jazeera English, Reuters, CNN

Daily Headlines: April 15, 2010

* Mexico: One of the positives from this week’s Nuclear Security Summit was that the U.S., Canada and Mexico agreed to unite and work on Mexican nuclear material.

* Bolivia: For a true pause that refreshes why not try “Coca Colla” (not a typo), a new Bolivian soda that has real coca as an ingredient.

* El Salvador: There have been at least 3633 cases of dengue in El Salvador this year according to local health authorities.

* Paraguay: Via decree from President Fernando Lugo all smoking is barred in closed public spaces such as bars and malls.

Image – USA TODAY
Online Sources- AP, Xinhua, Guardian UK, UPI

Daily Headlines: December 10, 2009

* Latin America: Could strict anti-smoking measures in Latin American countries like Colombia, Guatemala, and Panama help combat the global “tobacco epidemic”?

* Cuba: Supporters of the Castro regime reportedly tried to shout down a protest in Havana by the "Women in White" opposition group.

* Mexico: Mexican troops have engaged in “frequent and in some cases routine” human rights abuses while trying to combat crime according to Amnesty International.

* Venezuela: The Venezuelan government has accused exiled opposition leader Manuel Rosales of violating the terms of his political asylum in Peru.

Image – CBC
Online Sources- Guardian UK, BBC News, AP, LAHT

World Watch: Up in smoke

* Africa: According to a report by the Global Smokefree Partnership 90% of Africans have no protection against secondhand smoke and tobacco use may double in some parts of Africa.

* China: U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao hours he criticized Chinese online “censorship” at a Shanghai Q-&-A session.

* Australia: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was "deeply sorry" to about 500,000 "forgotten Australians" who faced child abuse after being placed in orphanages and foster care between 1930 and 1970.

* Afghanistan: Facing mounting international pressure over allegations of corruption, afghan President Hamid Karzai announced the creation of a new anti-corruption unit.

Image – BBC News (“The female chief of a village on Lake Bunyoni in Uganda enjoys a pipe in this picture taken by Shelley Fulton.”)
Online Sources- BBC News, The Telegraph, Voice of America, Los Angeles Times

Study: Tobacco endangers “Third World” women

Women in underdeveloped countries are under increasing danger from tobacco use according to a National Institute of Health (NIH) study. The comprehensive report interviewed roughly 8000 women in developing countries worldwide and does not present a very rosy picture for Latin American women:

"Latin America is where the epidemic of cigarette smoking is most advanced, particularly in Uruguay, where 78 percent of all pregnant women said they had ever tried a cigarette," [researcher Dr. Michele] Bloch said in a telephone interview.

In Argentina, she said 75 percent of pregnant women interviewed said they had tried smoking.

All of the Latin American sites studied found large numbers of women who had experimented with smoking. Bloch said she thinks that as more cultural and economic barriers to women's smoking fall, more of these women will become regular smokers.

The study’s findings come on the heels of a harsh smoking ban passed this week in Mexico as well as other recent bans in countries like Uruguay. Yet the report seems to show that bans are not enough and stronger public heath efforts are needed.

Sources- ScienceDaily, Reuters Africa, Houston Chronicle, the Latin Americanist

Image- BBC News