Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (C) addresses the
audience during a meeting of the annual Mercosur trade bloc presidential
summit in Mendoza June 29, 2012. (Credit: Reuters/Enrique Marcarian)

Chinese leader woos Latin America with deals

Chinese leader woos Latin America with deals
Chinese President Xi Jinping (4-L, first row) poses with leaders of the CELAC group of Latin American and Caribbean states, in Brasilia, on July 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Nelson Almeida)
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)



Map of Latin America showing countries where major protests have occurred in recent months (AFP Photo)
.
A student holds a sign reading "Don't shoot, listen!!!" during a protest
on June 17, 2013 in Brasilia (AFP, Evaristo)

Paraguay police search S. American football HQ

Paraguay police search S. American football HQ
The Conmebol headquarters in Luque, Paraguay, is seen on January 7, 2016, during a raid within the framework of the FIFA corruption scandal (AFP Photo/Norberto Duarte)

'Panama Papers' law firm under the media's lenses

'Panama Papers' law firm under the media's lenses
The Panama Papers: key facts on the huge journalists' investigation into tax evasion (AFP Photo/Thomas Saint-Cricq, Philippe Mouche)

Mossack Fonseca

Mossack Fonseca

.

.
"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Mexico drug cartel suspect Acosta 'admits killings'

BBC News, 31 July 2011

Related Stories 

Police in Mexico say a suspected cartel leader they arrested on Friday has confessed to ordering the murder of 1,500 people in northern Chihuahua state.

Mexican federal police paraded Jose Antonio
Acosta Hernandez in front of the media
Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, 33, is also suspected of masterminding the attack on a US consulate worker and her husband in Ciudad Juarez last year.

Officials say Mr Acosta Hernandez is a key figure in the Juarez cartel.

Juarez is Mexico's most violent city, with more than 3,000 murders in 2010.

The suspect, who is better known as El Diego, is accused of being the leader of the La Linea gang, whose members work as hired killers for the Juarez cartel.

The cartel controls some of the main drug smuggling routes from Ciudad Juarez into the United States.

Police believe El Diego was also behind a car bomb attack which killed four people in the border city, the first such attack in Mexico's spiralling drug-related violence.

Head of Mexico's federal police anti-drug unit Ramon Pequeno said Mr Acosta Hernandez had also admitted to ordering the killing of 15 people, most of them teenagers, at a party in Ciudad Juarez last year.

The Mexican government had offered 15m Mexican pesos ($1,275,000; £778,000) for information leading to his arrest.

US prosecutors said they wanted to try him in the case of the 2010 killing of US consulate employee Lesley Enriquez, her American husband Arthur Redelfs, and the husband of another consular worker, Jorge Alberto Salcedo.

They were shot dead in their car after leaving a social event in the city.

Ms Enriquez, 35, was four months pregnant when she died. The couple's seven-month-old daughter survived the attack and was found crying in the back seat.

Mr Salcedo was killed in a near-simultaneous drive-by shooting as he drove away from the same event.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

UFO Near Guernsey (UK) - Pilot Interview





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Memo FBI: Aliens landed in Roswell



Crop circle - Cherhill White Horse, Nr Calne, Wiltshire.
Reported 27th July 2011.






This presentation provides LIVE coverage of that historic press conference. In attendance for this shocking, Earth shattering event includes former Governor of Arizona - Fife Symington; Belgian Airforce Major General, Ret. - Wilfried De Brouwer; Engineer, Astronomer and Astrophysicist - Dr. Claude Poher; Captain, Air France, Ret. - Jean-Charles Duboc; French Astrophysicist - Dr. Jean-Claude Ribes; General, Iranian Airforce, Ret. - Parviz Jafari; Captain, Army of Chile - Rodrigo Bravo Garrido; Commander, Peruvian Airforce, Ret. Oscar Santa Maria Huertas; Founding Member of the Peruvian Airforce Office of Investigation of Anomalous Ariel Phenomena (OIFAA) - Dr. Anthony Choy; Captain, Aurigny Airlines, UK - Ray Bowyer; Officer, British Ministry of Defense, Ret. - Nick Pope; Sgt. United States Airforce, Ret. - James Penniston; Col. United States Airforce, Ret. - Charles Halt; and Division Chief of the Accident Evaluations and Investigations Division of the FAA, Washington D.C., Ret. - John Callahan.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Cuba jails airline, pharma execs for corruption

The Jakarta Post, Associated Press, Havana, Sat, 07/30/2011

Cuban courts have convicted airline and pharmaceutical executives of corruption and sentenced them to three to 13 years in prison.

The stiffest sentence is 13 years for Cubana de Aviacion director Jose Heriberto Prieto.

An announcement on state television Friday night also mentions sentences for various officials from pharmaceutical company Herbiotec SA.

It says the penalties correspond to the seriousness of the offenses and "numerous losses to the economy."

Cuba has recently seen a series of convictions in an anti-corruption campaign that has swept up two Chilean businessmen and a Frenchman who was accused of laundering drug money.

President Raul Castro has warned that his government is serious about fighting graft.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

NJ gov sued over communication with Fox News head

Associated Press, By BETH DeFALCO, 25 July 2011

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was sued Monday over his administration's refusal to release correspondence between the president of Fox News and the governor or his staff after a report that the head of the network tried to persuade the first-term GOP governor to run for president in 2012 last summer.

Fox News President Roger Ailes has denied urging Christie to run for president. But speculation continues over whether Christie would jump into the race, even though he has repeatedly said he will not.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey filed suit Monday on behalf of John Cook, a reporter for Gawker Entertainment LLC, who sought the information under state's Open Public Records Law.

The governor's office initially refused to confirm any records existed and said that, if they did, they would be exempt from state's open records law based on "executive privilege" as a reason to withhold records from the public. Executive privilege is intended to protect the governor and other elected officials from disclosing records that contain advice to them about their official public duties.

After the lawsuit was filed Monday, the governor's office denied that there were any other records besides a calendar entry.

"Please be advised that this office is in possession of no other records responsive to your request," Raymond Brandes, an attorney for the governor, said in a letter sent to the ACLU and Cook on Monday

In the letter, Christie's office confirmed that he and his wife, Mary Pat, attended a private dinner on Sept. 11, 2010, in New York but declined to comment beyond the letter.

A New York Magazine story in May reported that Ailes, like many others, tried to persuade Christie to run against President Barack Obama in 2012. Following that article, Gawker's Cook filed the public records request.

Ailes, who created Fox, the network of choice for many Republican viewers, in 1996, is a former media consultant for Presidents Nixon, Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

"The public has a right to know whether the head of America's most-watched cable news channel is advising a sitting governor on state matters," Gawker's Cook said in a statement. "If the emails on the state system between the governor and Ailes don't relate to Christie's functions as governor, then they can't be hidden from the public."

In its filings, the ACLU-NJ argues that for executive privilege to be invoked the governor must include an index of potential records and explanation of why executive privilege applies to a judge to privately examine.

"New Jersey needs a system in place to separate executive privilege from carte blanche," ACLU president Frank Corrado, who is representing Cook, said in a statement. "Executive privilege exists to help a governor carry out constitutional obligations, not to diminish the constitutional right to a free press."

Emails sent to Fox News seeking comment not returned on Monday.

Christie was due in Iowa on Monday to speak at an education conference and headline a political fundraiser for a congressman. The trip did little to quell the presidential talk.


News Corp's New York headquarters. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
 forbids US-based companies from profiting from bribery in other
countries. Photograph: Mary Altaffer/AP


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Phone hacking: US authorities preparing to subpoena News Corp


Sen. Frank Lautenberg is calling for an investigation
into whether News Corp. violated U.S. laws.




Meetings: Rupert Murdoch (left) was met twice by
Chancellor George Osborne (right), who also had a further
14 meetings with News Corp executives
 

Monday, July 25, 2011

MPs in Catholic Malta pass historic law on divorce

BBC News, 25 July 2011

Related Stories 

Parliament in mainly Roman Catholic Malta has passed a historic law legalising divorce which now only requires the president's signature.


Malta is seeing the changing of the
 guard on a centuries-old institution
The law is due to take effect in October if, as expected, it is approved by President George Abela.

Currently, Maltese people have to travel abroad to obtain divorces.

MPs passed the law by 52 votes to 11 with five abstentions and one absence, months after 53% of voters backed the reform in a referendum.

An Associated Press correspondent reports that the outcome in parliament is a crushing victory considering that most laws in Malta are passed by just one vote.

Nineteen MPs from the ruling Nationalist Party approved the legislation, going against their party's official stand.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was one of the few who rejected the bill, believing divorce legislation would weaken the family structure.

Before Monday's vote, Malta was the only EU state without divorce legislation.

Until now, couples could apply only for a legal separation through the courts or seek a Church annulment - a complex process that can take up to nine years.

A third option was to get divorced abroad - and that would then be valid in Malta.

The island nation of 410,000 is believed to be 95% Catholic.

Vatican recalls Irish papal envoy after Cloyne report

BBC News, 25 July 2011

Related Stories 

The Vatican has recalled its special envoy in Ireland after a damning report on the Catholic Church's handling of child abuse by priests.

Enda Kenny accused the Church of putting its
reputation ahead of child rape victims
Vatican radio has reported that Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Leanza is being called back to Rome to discuss the impact of the recent Cloyne Report.

It showed how allegations of sex abuse by priests in Cork had been covered up.

The report led to angry condemnation of the Vatican by Prime Minister Enda Kenny in the Irish Parliament.

In a blistering attack, Mr Kenny accused the Church of putting its reputation ahead of child rape victims.

He told the Irish parliament that the report into how allegations of sex abuse by priests in Cork had been covered up showed change was urgently needed.

"The rape and torture of children were downplayed or 'managed' to uphold instead the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and 'reputation'," the taoiseach said last Wednesday.

At the weekend, the prime minster said he had received thousands of messages of support from around the world - many were from the clergy, he said.

He said this reflected the way people felt about the Catholic Church's role on clerical child abuse.

He told an audience at an annual cultural event in County Donegal at the weekend that the messages showed how people felt.

Mr Kenny said he was "astounded" at the number of clergy who contacted him after his speech on the Cloyne Report.

"The fact that I have had thousands of messages from around the world speaks for itself about the impact and the way people feel," he said.

"The numbers of members of the clergy who have been in touch in the last few days to say it is about time somebody spoke out about these matters in a situation like you are, has astounded me."

Mr Kenny received a standing ovation after he finished delivering the annual lecture at the opening session of the summer school.

A statement is expected on the Vatican website at midday.


Enda Kenny on "dysfunction, disconnection and
elitism" of Catholic Church

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Friday, July 22, 2011

From Cuba, Venezuela's Chavez Governs Via Twitter

Jakarta Globe, Ian James, July 22, 2011

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez delivers a speech during a gathering
of foreign diplomats in Caracas, March 5, 2004. (AFP Photo/Presidencia)

Caracas, Venezuela. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is using Twitter as a tool to govern remotely while he undergoes cancer treatment in Cuba.

In more than 40 messages this week on his "chavezcandanga" account, he has approved money for a Caracas trash collection project, praised plans for a new park and cheered on the national soccer team.

Chavez hasn't mentioned anything about his chemotherapy but has alluded to his personal battle time and again, as he did in one tweet to a supporter on Tuesday: "We're moving along here, brother! With God and the Virgin!"

Most of his messages have had the tone of a patriotic father figure connecting with his public. Chavez boasts more than 1.8 million followers, and his messages also regularly pop up on the screen on state television in Venezuela.

A leader who knows well how to choose his sound bites, Chavez has used Twitter to remain in the news at home even as he is out-of-pocket and not making his usual appearances on television.

He did just that Thursday morning in a flurry of messages when he complained about a referee's call during Venezuela's soccer match against Paraguay at the Copa America tournament in Argentina. Chavez said he had been watching alongside Fidel Castro, and they both agreed it was a bad call.

"In my modest opinion... THEY ROBBED US OF THE VICTORY GOAL! And I hope that with this I'm not offending anybody!" one of the messages said.

Chavez then turned to plans to create a park named after Simon Bolivar in a portion of a military airfield: "Bolivar Park is a true gift of the Bolivarian Revolution for our beautiful Caracas!!"

Seven hours later, Chavez was back saying he had met with Fidel and Raul Castro, along with Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa. "What a beautiful meeting we've had this afternoon," the message said, adding they finished by singing the Venezuelan song "Alma Llanera."

In messages earlier in the week, Chavez greeted Cabinet ministers and touted a public housing construction program. He said he had approved the equivalent of more than $25 million for a new trash-collection company in Caracas, $51 million for a state government and $37 million for the organization Frente Francisco de Miranda, which promotes efforts to transform Venezuela into a socialist state.

Turning to international affairs, Chavez directed a message to Mexican leader Felipe Calderon, saying: "Hey President Calderon, my friend, I thank you for your good wishes."

The 56-year-old Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba on June 20 to remove a cancerous tumor. He hasn't said what type of cancer has been diagnosed or specified where exactly it was located, saying only that it was in his pelvic region. He says chemotherapy is necessary to ensure cancer cells don't reappear.

On Twitter, his only references to his treatment have been vague and filled with optimistic slogans.

As he signed off one night, the message read: "From here, closing another day of this Battle for Life." 

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Europe announces a fresh, 'credible' Greek rescue deal

Deutsche Welle, 22 July 2011 

Greece's second aid package is
larger than the first
European leaders say the eurozone, the International Monetary Fund and the private sector will all contribute towards a second package of emergency loans for Greece, as a debt-dominated summit concludes in Brussels.

European Union President Herman van Rompuy said after Thursday's summit in Brussels that the bloc had reached three important decisions which had unanimous support within eurozone.

"We improved the Greek debt sustainability, we took measures to stop the risk of contagion, and finally, we committed to improve the eurozone's crisis management," Rompuy said in the opening moments of his official address.

The EU president said that the instability of the Greek economy, coupled with the resultant jitters on international markets, ultimately could have threatened the single European currency and the economic recovery in Europe and the wider world.

"Convening this meeting focused the minds and accelerated finding a solution. I could not allow a difficult situation to become a dangerous one," Rompuy said.

The nuts and bolts

European leaders in conjunction with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to lend Greece an additional 109 billion euros (157 billion dollars) in order to cover its financing shortfalls and prevent Athens from defaulting on its sovereign debt.

The program will include lower interest rates and extended maturities as well as a voluntary contribution from private sector financial institutions amounting to 37 billion euros, according to a statement released by the leaders after the summit.

Merkel and Sarkozy struck an
agreement before the summit
European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet reacted coolly to concerns that even voluntary participation by the private sector could provoke rating agencies to downgrade Greece's credit worthiness.

"I don't think experts consider that what has been done would trigger a credit event," Trichet said after the summit.

'European package'

Greece's second aid package, including private contributions, will total at least 146 billion euros. The package comes in addition to the 110 billion euros Athens was promised as part of its first bailout in 2010.

"The only thing we're asking for is the right to make deep changes in our country to make our country a viable one, one of growth and jobs creations," Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said. "This is a European success, a European package."

The breakthrough deal was made possible after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy came to an agreement in Berlin on Wednesday.

Sarkozy said that Europe was prepared to stand with Athens and guarantee its credit worthiness in the event that credit agencies declare Greece in limited default.

"We have agreed to create the beginnings of a European Monetary Fund," he said.

Author: Spencer Kimball, Mark Hallam (AFP, Reuters, dpa)
Editor: Joanna Impey


Paul Hellyer - Abolishing Fed and new energy disclosure key to US survival


Chinese FM calls for further ASEAN Plus Three cooperation for regional prosperity

Foreign ministers and delegates of ASEAN and China, Japan and the
 Republic of Korea, pose for group photos during the ASEAN and China,
Japan and the Republic of Korea foreign ministers' meeting held in Bali,
Indonesia, July 21, 2011. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)

Guatemalan woman finds huge sinkhole under bed

Sinkhole, 12m deep and 80cm in diameter, forms at Guatemala City home of 65-year-old Inocenta Hernandez

guardian.co.uk, James Meikle, Thursday 21 July 2011


A man inspects the sinkhole in Guatemala City.
Photograph: Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images

You may sometimes wish the ground would swallow you up, but for some the danger of disappearing down a deep hole is all too real.

The people of Guatemala City are increasingly unable to trust what's beneath their feet because of treacherous sinkholes.

The latest person to get a shock was 65-year-old Inocenta Hernandez. "When we heard the loud boom we thought a gas canister from a neighbouring home had exploded, or there had been a crash on the street.

"We rushed out to look and saw nothing. A gentleman told me that the noise came from my house, and we searched until we found it under my bed."

A reporter for AFP news agency who visited her home, estimated the hole, which appeared late on Monday, was 12.2m (40ft) deep and 80cm (32inches) in diameter.

"Thank God there are only material damages, because my grandchildren were running around the house, into that room and out to the patio," said Hernandez.

Others have not been so lucky. A giant sinkhole that formed nearby in 2007 was 150m deep and swallowed several homes and a truck, killing three people. Local residents were forced to evacuate for days.

A 2010 sinkhole also in the same area measuring 20m wide and about 30m deep swallowed a three-story building and a nearby house.

Police, members of the country's natural disaster office and water utility company officials have all visited the scene of the latest hole.

Sinkholes, formed by natural erosion, can be gradual but are often sudden. Guatemala City is built on volcanic deposits and especially prone to sinkholes. They are often blamed on leaky sewers or on heavy rain.



A sinkhole that swallowed a three-storey building in Guatemala
City has been blamed on a combination of Tropical Storm
Agatha and poor drainage systems (Photograph:
Luis Echeverria/AP / 30 May 2010)


Related Article:

Monday, July 18, 2011

Human hybrids: Do they exist?

The Canadian, By Dr. John Singh, 17 July 2011

Milagros Garcia
Milagros Garcia is an alleged Alien and Human inter-species hybrid. The blood DNA from this Puerto Rican woman has yielded analyses so unusual and interesting that the physician involved is now interested in meeting the subject for further study. The DNA is possible in humans but is very rare.

Ms. Garcia claims that she is the offspring of an alien encounter. The Doctor is not interested in the UFO/ alien phenomena he wants answers as to why her DNA has such rare qualities.

A Case similar to this is being investigated in New Paris Ohio. A woman there has exceptional skills and get by on two hours of sleep a night. Pictured on the left is Milagros Garcia's Mother and Milagros Garcia is on the right.





Thursday, July 14, 2011

UN sees Latin America growth but price bubbles 'a risk'

BBC News, 14 July 2011

Related Stories 

Economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean is set to be 4.7% this year, the UN's regional economic body, ECLAC, says.

Panama' s building boom is a visible
sign of its economic growth
The growth is being fuelled by strong domestic demand with more people in work and able to access credit.

But ECLAC warns that the region faces the risk of worsening inflation, and capital inflows could produce bubbles in financial and property markets.

The fastest-growing economy will Panama on 8.5%.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) forecasts that overall growth will be 4.7% for 2011.

That represents a rise of 3.6% in per capita GDP.

Countries set to see strong growth include Argentina on 8.3%, and Peru on 7.1%.

ECLAC forecasts that the two biggest economies, Brazil and Mexico, will grow by 4%.

The report points to good news about jobs and in reducing poverty.

Growth is being sustained largely by people being in a position to buy and consume more, while investment is on the rise.

The overall unemployment rate is expected to come down again in 2011, to between 6.7% and 7%.

ECLAC says the formal economy is becoming a bigger part of the employment market in several countries, indicating that the new jobs being created are of better quality.

Continued economic growth and jobs rising in both numbers and quality should help bring fresh gains in poverty reduction, the report says.

Money in, money out

But ECLAC highlights some risks.

The region could become more vulnerable to speculative capital movements that may create bubbles in financial and real estate markets.

In addition, "that capital can leave from one moment to the next, severely disrupting growth," the report says.

The region is facing inflationary pressure amid rising food and fuel prices, but interest rate rises to tackle this have led to currency appreciation.

Strong currencies could pose a problem by undermining the competitiveness of exports.

"The region's economic authorities should implement measures to contain currency appreciation," ECLAC says.

These measures should combine intervention in foreign exchange markets, checks on the inflow of money and financial regulation.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Hugo Chavez: I may need chemotherapy

Reuters, by Marianna Parraga and Andrew Cawthorne, CARACAS, Wed Jul 13, 2011

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez stretches during his daily exercise
routine in Caracas, July 11, 2011. (
Credit: Reuters/Miraflores Palace)

(Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday he may need radiotherapy or chemotherapy for cancer treatment that has rocked the OPEC-member nation that he has led since 1999.

Mystery and rumor have surrounded the 56-year-old socialist leader's precise condition since surgery in Cuba last month to remove a cancerous tumor.

Allies of Chavez insist he is in a recovery phase, but one source close to his medical team has said he faces lengthy chemotherapy for colon cancer.

"I'm in the second stage of the disease, (going through) an organ-by-organ assessment and other factors, I mustn't give more details," Chavez told state TV, according to quotes provided by his office and also in other local media.

In the most detailed comments yet on his surgery in Havana last month and followup treatment, Chavez said he had a six-hour operation to reduce a nearly "baseball-size" tumor.

He also said more robust medical methods were necessary. "We're about to start a second stage and maybe a third, to block those malignant cells," he said.

"It could be radiotherapy or chemotherapy."

Though he has reasserted political control with his return to Venezuela last week and wants to appear strong, Chavez's battle to regain his health has raised questions over his ability to govern and to run for re-election in 2012 as planned.

Moody's investors service said in a new report on Venezuela that "ongoing questions over his health could impact his chances of victory against a unified opposition candidate" in next year's election.

The charismatic but authoritarian president who has ruled Venezuela since 1999 is famous for hours-long speeches and a punishing work schedule. However, he now has to scale back his one-man, micromanaging style.

"I need to learn to delegate, let people show their potential," he said, blaming stress and poor personal habits as a factor for his health problems.

"I weighed more than (220 pounds). I was killing myself, 40 cups of coffee, three telephones. ... Permanent anxiety."

Chavez has looked more pale and self-reflective than usual, sometimes walking awkwardly. Still, he appears to be staying busy despite reducing his public appearances to short, stage managed segments.

On Tuesday evening, for example, he attended a Catholic Mass for his health at a military academy.

Despite treatment scheduled for later on Wednesday, Chavez said he still planned to watch a broadcast of Venezuela's soccer game against Paraguay in the regional Copa America tournament.

Images of Chavez watching and cheering Venezuela's 1-0 victory over Ecuador last weekend have been shown repeatedly on state media in an effort to illustrate him returning to some sort of normal life.

Given the absence of precise information about his condition, the country has been awash with speculation -- ranging from Chavez's imminent death to one conspiracy theory the whole affair was made up to earn him sympathy prior to the 2012 vote.

Chavez has laughed off the most extreme versions.

"Neither my colon nor my stomach are chopped into bits, not at all," he said on Wednesday. "Long live life! We will fight against all types of cancer, those produced by capitalism."



" .... Soon the one dictator will be gone, and the unification can begin.."