World News A La Mexicana

A Day Without Immigrants

2006-05-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

What a day to return to posting!First of all, a huge apology to all our readers for the time we have been without posting. No excuses, only the commitment to retake from now on this BLOG at least once a week or everytime important news come up.Today, over the US the "Day Without Immigrants" actually materialized despited the threat of immigration officials to round up illegal immigrants and from

4th World Water Forum

2006-03-25T13:33:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday, the 4th World Water Forum ended in Mexico. Oddly enough, the forum was surrounded by protests against globalization and, perhaps much more relevant, against the privatization of water. At News a la Mexicana, we will recap the results of this week, where worl leaders and legislators met to talk about the most important natrual resource in the world: water.The Mexico City

Chavez Butts In

2006-03-22T22:10:00.000-06:00

After a weekend full of his characteristic paranoia, Hugo Chavez continued his attacks on "Mr. Danger" as he often calls George W. Bush. This time, though, he decided to look South of Mr. Danger's border and "butt in" to the Mexican presidential campaigns.In a speech Chavez made in Carabobo, he accuses the Mexican right of using his image to attempt to stop the leftist frontrunner, Andres Manuel

New UN Human Rights Council Is Born

2006-03-15T21:07:00.000-06:00

Today, in what was catalouged a "historic" vote, the General Assembly of the United Nations gave birth to the new UN Human Rights Council. This new Council was an attempt to increase not only the UN's credibility, but also that of the Human Rights Council which would in turn (hopefully) lead to more efficient and co-operative protection of human rights around the world.Among the changes in the

UK and US: Partner in Crime

2006-02-24T22:32:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, Amnesty International had excellent timing.Just on the day that the European Parliament was to open formal investigations of human rights violations by the USA's CIA in the secret Europe detainment camp, they also delivered a full report on one of the EU's members and their violations of human rights: the UK. You can read the full report in English here: United Kingdom, Human Rights: A

US Rejects UN Recommendation to Close Guantanamo

2006-02-16T20:32:00.000-06:00

Once again the executive branch of the United States leaves a lot up to interpretation when it comes to torture.They have rejected a UN Human Right's recommendation to close Guantanamo Bay. This recommendation was based on a report made by five human rights watchers who reviewed the Guantanamo detention centre on issues of torture, fair judicial system, freedom of religion and right to physical

Day 1: World Economic Forum

2006-01-25T14:31:00.000-06:00

Today was the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland with the participants emphasizing the use of creativity to continue economic development, search for peace and stability and assure the prosperity of all the world's citizens. The hot topics at the inaguration were fear that the world economy and specially the US economy lived in an unchecked bubble, the rise of China and

Canada: A Different Coloured Minority

2006-01-24T10:57:00.000-06:00

Canadians went to the polls yesterday to elect for the second time in two years members of parliament that would rebuild a government after the last Liberal minority government fell last November. At the end of the night, Canada had gone from Liberal red to Conservative blue.The election threw out a fragile minority for the Conservative Party and their leader, Stephen Harper, will now be forming

Los chilenos eligen a Michelle Bachelet como su próxima presidenta.

2006-01-15T22:50:00.000-06:00

Michelle Bachelet pasará a la historia de Chile al ser elegida presidenta de ese país en las elecciones de segunda vuelta que se celebraron hoy. Con un 53,49 por ciento por ciento de los votos, la candidata de la centro izquierda derrotó a su contrincante, Sebastián Piñera, de la centro derecha, que obtuvo el 46.50 por ciento de los sufragios. Así, en esta segunda

Bolivia Versus Fox?

2006-01-10T19:48:00.000-06:00

The new political map of Latin America continues its development in this 2006, focusing on yet another controversial leftist leader in South America: Evo Morales.Since his election, he has gone off on a tour to Europe and various Latin American countries among which figured his visit to his "comrade" Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Right now, Morales is in China where he has continued to associate

Sharon's life in risk: a new route for peace?

2006-01-05T22:31:00.000-06:00

The Middle East is living a key moment in the peace process between Israel and Palestine. After the severe stroke that has Sharon’s life in danger, the future for Israel and Palestine is uncertain.Ariel Sharon has been a very important actor in the Middle East peace process. He has taken a radical position first as a member of the Israel armed forces and then as a member of the Likud party. Since

Evo Morales Joins Chavez's Fight

2006-01-03T18:02:00.000-06:00

Happy 2006!This year starts with a reminder of how it ended, with elections in Latin America that promised or threatened (depending on how you look at it) to take Latin America to the left. It started with Bolivia, where one of Hugo Chavez's stronger allies, Evo Morales became President. Bolivia cheered but the world worried and ended the year wondering if Evo would in fact nationalize the

Evo Morales Wins Bolivian Elections

2005-12-19T19:01:00.000-06:00

Evo Morales, the candidate for the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party, became the first Bolivian of indigenous origin to win the presidency of said country with approximately 50.5% of the vote. Evo Morales and his leftist MAS party will have a predominant rule in Parliament as well which should bode well for their policies and ideas to become laws. After all, the people that voted for them -

Sydney Race Riots

2005-12-14T22:17:00.000-06:00

Fall in France has seemingly repeated itself now at the doorstep of winter thousands of kilometers away in the pictoresque city of Sydney. More specifically at Cornulla beach on December 11, Sydney had its very own and shameful "Sydney race riot" . This time the instigators were presumed white supremacists who protested in this disorderly and illegal way their discomfort with Australia's multi

Saddam's Trial Postponed Again

2005-12-07T20:41:00.000-06:00

Saddam Hussein's trial in Iraq didn't last too long after it started once again this week. Today, the trial was suspended again until December 21 (article in Spanish) and once again puts another obstacle and casts a shadow on this "trial of the century" in Iraq.The day started off on the wrong foot as Saddam followed through on his threat to not attend trial as a sign of protest against the

World AIDS Day

2005-12-01T22:18:00.000-06:00

Today was World AIDS day and all over the world countries reaffirmed their vows to continue to fight AIDS with diverse prevention strategies. Today was also a day to remind all the individuals (and educate some others) about the disease and the ways they can prevent it while still having a healthy sexual life.The World Health Organization (WHO) also gave out their press release titled "HIV

Canada's Government Falls

2005-11-28T18:37:00.000-06:00

Today, Canada's 38th Parliament finally ended its agony. With a final vote of 171 to 133, the Paul Martin Liberal government fell under a vote of no confidence from the other parties. This will result in new Parlimentary elections in the whole of Canada and Quebec that might reshape the nation.But then again, it might not.Canadians still gave Liberals a government to run in this past Parliament

Liberté, egalité, inconformité

2005-11-22T22:40:00.000-06:00

An endless story of how the center is threatened by the borders...LibertéIn 1789 July, revolutionary French decided to put stop to the indescribable oppression of the monarchy. The social structures were letting work, and nothing seemed to adjust to the new spirit of equality between the human beings. Then, guillotine was witness of end of those had been unfair beneficiary of privileges based on

Pinochet dedica su actuar a Dios.

2005-11-16T23:32:00.000-06:00

CHILE - El ex dictador chileno Augusto Pinochet, ha decidido responsabilizar a Dios por todos las muertes que cometió y que ordenó cometer durante el gobierno militar entre 1973 y 1990.En un interrogatorio judicial para determinar su responsabilidad sobre la Operación Colombo, mediante la cual se ocultó la muerte de 119 militantes de izquierda, declaro: “Lamento y

Mexico & Venezuela Break Diplomatic Relations

2005-11-14T19:24:00.000-06:00

Only about an hour ago the showdown between our President Vicente Fox and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez ended in the breaking off of diplomatic ties between Mexico and Venezuela. This culminates a large deterioration of the relationship between these two countries since Chavez called Fox a US "puppy" at the American Summit.Both countries had since then been attempting to resolve the

U.S. Used Chemical Weapons In Iraq War

2005-11-08T20:27:00.000-06:00

The Italian television station RAI came out today with the worst accusations against the abuses of the US in Irak since the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo scandals.In a report titled "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre" , the US is blamed for using chemical weapons in its attack on Fallujah in November 2004. The chemical weapons in question are MK77 (a type of Napalm) and another weapon called "white

IV Summit of the Americas (Day 2)

2005-11-05T21:44:00.000-06:00

Today, the IV Summit of the Americas ended and as we mentioned yesterday, the differences not only made it hard to move the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) forward but also kept the actual declaration from Mar del Plata from being written. Talks to finish this up had to be prolonged until they were finished. George W. Bush did not stay though and left much before hand which left

IV Summit of the Americas (Day 1)

2005-11-04T22:48:00.000-06:00

Today, the IV Summit of the Americas started in Argentina. And in the start of the Summit the focus went to fight two of the largest woes in Latin America: poverty and unemployment.As is expected, all 34 nations will sign a document to fight these two ailments of Latin America and once again show "commitment" to reducing both in their countries. Nevertheless, as we all know, what really would

The Iraki Constitution Is Approved

2005-10-25T19:10:00.000-05:00

With global numbers that don't lead to much doubt, Iraq has approved its draft constitution today according to their governing electoral body. The global count gave the "YES" a 78% of the total vote and the "NO" a 21%. With this and with the fact that three provinces did not reject it with a 2/3 mayority, the constitution will become official. You can read the full news article (in Spanish) here:

Happy 60th Birthday United Nations!

2005-10-24T19:37:00.000-05:00

Today is the 60th anniversary of the birth of the United Nations (UN).Kofi Annan took today to commemorate all of the people who have worked for the UN and their variety of important humanitarian and peace missions around the world, or who simply, have been one of those behind the scenes. He also took the time to look ahead and remind us that we still have a long way to go - an inference that the

US Pressures Mexico Not to Join The International Criminal Court

2005-10-23T12:12:00.000-05:00

The US government is threatening to pull back 11.5 million US dollars in aid to Mexico (under the concept of fighting the drug trade) if Mexico continues with its intentions to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). This is unless Mexico signs on to Article 98 in which Mexico would agree to not turn over any US military personnel, civilian or non-US citizen working for the US government

Canada Arrests Rwandan Genocide Suspect

2005-10-21T11:02:00.000-05:00

Two days ago Canada set an example for the rest of the world. And that example was that no war criminal (though of course, he will have a fair trial) can enter Canada and expect to lead a life where his responsibility in things like genocide goes ignored.The Toronto Star's October 19th edition reports that a Rwandan man by the name of Desire Munyaneza was arrested by the RCMP for his involvement

Slow Progress in the Schapelle Corby Case

2005-10-17T15:47:00.000-05:00

Here at World News A La Mexicana we covered the case of Schapelle Corby, a young Australian woman who was arrested in Indonesia for supposed possession of marijuana. She was later convicted and sentenced to spend 20 years in an Indonesian jail. The case had received a lot of attention not only because of her perceived innocence but also because before the sentence was given, Schapelle could have

The Iraqi Constitutional Referendum

2005-10-16T11:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was another historic day for Iraq and their search for a wider democracy. The referendum went about with relative calm (there were bombings and kidnappings) and out of the total voting population, there seems to be a 61-66% of participation. This is, in my opinion, an optimistic sign that shows that all the efforts to include the sunni population paid off in the end. The sunnis,

Welcome to News a La Mexicana

2005-10-12T22:20:00.000-05:00

HiMy name's Rodolfo and I am IT Professional from Mexico. I am currently living in Canada (until Oct. 30) but I am still 100% Mexican despite that my world travels have taken me to other countries such as the United States and Australia. These experiences and my love of learning have cultivated in me the desire to understand other people and other nations. That is why, I reckon, I am always

We Remember Bali: October 12, 2002.

2005-10-12T13:55:00.000-05:00

Today is the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks in Bali where 202 people died, among them 88 Australians. To commemorate the death of these events, Australia took time out of its schedule to unveil memorials and just to remember the loved ones who parted on that date. From Sydney, to Perth passing by Melbourne, the Aussies relived some of the sadness that covered their country on that day

The UN in Cartoons

2005-10-11T16:44:00.000-05:00

This week I have discovered the UN twice in the world of animated cartoons.The first time I came upon this discovery was one late night while I was watching japanese anime on TV. All of a sudden during a commerical break, some of the characters from Robotech which features a short discourse on how humans can live better in this world and ends with the UN logo and slogan. You can view it at

Toronto: Home of Mysterious Illnesses

2005-10-07T18:48:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't remember the SARS epedimic of a couple of years back that was found in Chinatown of Toronto. The city was put into quarantine by the World Health Organization (WHO) and became at that time the only city in the Americas to receive this label. The city lost large quantities of money at the drop of tourism and its Chinatown lost visits and money of those other Toronto residents who'd go

We Shall Never Forget October 2nd

2005-10-02T13:58:00.000-05:00

Today, we remember another anniversary of the massacare at Tlatelolco that sad October 2, 1968.More than thirty years later and even with efforts from the Fox government to bring justice, this dark part of our history continues to "shine" for its lack of justice. The people who were truly responsible for the events of this date have not been punished and we are still lead to accept the official

New Terrorist Attacks in Bali

2005-10-01T21:47:00.000-05:00

I woke up today to those horrible news. The TV and the news media in the Internet started to inform about bombings that had ocurred in a tourist area of Bali, Indonesia. The attacks were explosions possibly carried out by bombs and related to terrorist organizations in the island nation. A lot of people also tend to relate these attacks to the upcoming anniversary of the October 12 terrorist

September 19 ,1985

2005-09-19T22:21:00.000-05:00

It has been 20 years since that day when an 8.1 earthquake shook Mexico City.We take this day to remember and take a moment of silence for all of those people who died on that day. I thought this was a better idea than telling you all a little history or the story of what I was doing back then. Lets remember all those people who left us that day and hope that nothing like this once again

UN Summit (Conclusion)

2005-09-18T13:16:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. Please forgive me for leaving this post until today eventhough the summit is already over. Honestly, I couldn't find a lot of information on the happenings of the last days so I decided to wait until today. In a nutshell, the most important things that happened was that the proposed document was accepted with the notable opposition from Venezuela. The consensus on the accepted

UN Summit (Day 2)

2005-09-15T21:45:00.000-05:00

We begin day two of our coverage of the UN Summit with two topics to cover.The first topic is perhaps today's main topic: combatting poverty. This topic today was carried sucessfully by Mexican Presidente Vicente Fox. You can read the full article (in Spanish) here: http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=24240&tabla=primeraFox gave voice (as did the President of Jamaica)

UN Summit (Day 1)

2005-09-14T22:50:00.000-05:00

We begin our coverage of the UN Summit of 2005 (also covered in Spanish by El Universal at: http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/graficos/coberturas_est/esp835.html).The summit will begin formally tomorrow (September 15) but today was an important day because there had to be an agreement on the document that would serve as a base for the talks of the following days and also as the roadmap for UN

September 11 - Four Years Later

2005-09-11T16:25:00.000-05:00

Today is the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. in the US. The US will take this Sunday to commemorate those events (http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/graficos/coberturas_est/esp834.html) in the middle of rescue operations in New Orleans and in the middle of a war against the insurgents in Irak.In spite of reflections triggered by the destruction of

Mexican Army in the USA

2005-09-10T12:32:00.000-05:00

In this week of crisis in New Orleans, the Mexican government had not only offered the US government their condolences after the passing of hurricane Katrina but also aid. This aid arrived yesterday and crossed into the "most powerful country in the world".In Toronto, The Toronto Star, came out with a small article titled Mexican Troops back in the U.S. (Read it at Reuters: http://

Yeah He's Crazy. But You're Exaggerating.

2005-08-24T01:40:00.000-05:00

Today I woke up to some peculiar news. A known Evangelical figure in the US, one of those who has his own TV show and extensive contacts in the current US government and the Republican Party, proposed that the White House assassinate the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. According to Pat Robertson, the deeds perpetrated by Chavez that make him "worthy" of such an end are:Destroying the

They Are Almost Out: Israel Close to Leaving the Gaza Strip

2005-08-17T22:37:00.000-05:00

According to me, today was the first day after the 48 hour deadline that Israel gave its citizens in Gaza to evacaute their homes and take their belongings. And as many people expected, the world watched as many families and young people still remained within their settlements. With that, the Israeli army was called to go in and remove them, if necessary, by force. All of this created even more

Random News While Away

2005-08-08T15:57:00.000-05:00

Well, I find myself without Internet for a little while but I didn't want to leave you readers without a post. So here are some news (in Spanish):Air France Plane Goes on Fire After Landing in Toronto:http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia_busqueda.html?id_nota=36507&tabla=INTERNACIONAL_hFirst Dog Clonedhttp://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia_busqueda.html?id_nota=37871&

Terror in London

2005-07-07T18:48:00.000-05:00

As the people in London said... it was inevitable. This was going to happen eventually. Al Qaeda had already taken its vengeance to Australia and to Spain. The only ally left was England (or Great Britain). And today, July 7 it happened. Though we are still waiting for confirmation that Al Qaeda is responsible, there have already been deaths after the terrorist attacks.They happened this morning

Goodbye to an Australian Monument

2005-07-05T23:03:00.000-05:00

From what I am told (since when I went I only remember being told the story about the "London Bridge") there are only 8 apostles left out of the original 12. These "apostles" are really lovely rock formations that are part of the landscape of the southern Australia coastline (near Melbroune on the famed Great Ocean Road).This past 3rd of July another apostle dissapeared. It was victim of nature

Live 8: Canada Helps Africa

2005-07-03T12:22:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, around the first world there was a series of concerts named Live 8 to help solve the root of the problems that have Africa in such poverty. Canada, being one of those first world countries, was home to one of those concerts in the city of Barrie (40 minutes to the north of the Canadian city by excellence - Toronto).The tickets were free so that wasn't the source for donations as one

Is Europe Dying?

2005-06-01T17:47:00.000-05:00

I was going to write about this topic earlier weekend when the vote in France as the 'Non' won by 54%. But since today was the vote in the Netherlands, I decided to wait for that result and reflect on the results overall.As predicted (and unfortunately in my eyes), "No" also won in the Netherlands by a large 65% margin. Read the full article in: http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/286324.

Injustice in Indonesia: Free Schapelle Corby!

2005-05-27T12:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, more or less at midnight (central standard time) I learnt of the verdict in the case of the Aussie girl, Schapelle Corby. For those of you who did not know about the case, Schapelle is a 27 year old woman who went as a tourist to Bali, Indonesia. She was arrested by customes in Indonesia as they discovered marihuana in her luggage (I can't recall if upon her arrival or attempting her

Finally some honesty, Thanks AI

2005-05-25T22:17:00.000-05:00

Today was the publishing day for the Amnisty International report on the state of human rights in the world. And, can you believe it:United States, Principal Violator of Human Rights: AIhttp://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/285095.html (in Spanish)I had always held this against Amnesty; the fact that they never called the US on their trangressions but now, they've finally done it. Now that the

Cloning

2005-05-10T19:16:00.000-05:00

Hi everyoneMy birthday was a couple of days ago and as I finish celebrating it, I decided to reflect a bit on life. While doing that, I checked up on the news and I found something strangely relevant.First Human Embryo is Cloned in the United Kingdomhttp://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia_supl.html?id_articulo=21747&tabla=articulos (in Spanish)Yes, the science of cloning continues to