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Venezuela turns to cloud seeding to battle drought

Ricardo — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:51:59 +0000

Hugo Chavez says he is starting to “bombard” clouds now that Cuba has provided Venezuela with cloud-seeding help in an effort to produce rain and alleviate the effects of a severe drought.

The Venezuelan president said Saturday night that specialized equipment, sent by Fidel Castro and Cuban President Raul Castro, is starting to be used to seed clouds from planes.

“We’re bombarding clouds,” Chavez said during a televised speech. “We have some planes there, and some equipment that Fidel and Raul sent us.”

Chavez is trying to squeeze more rain from the clouds as his country heads into its dry season amid a drought that has put reservoirs at their lowest levels in decades. The lack of water behind hydroelectric dams that supply most of Venezuela’s electricity is threatening to worsen blackouts that have already become an emerging political liability.

Looking ahead, Brazils farmers take up reforestation

Ricardo — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:20:18 +0000

Now, he and hundreds of other successful farmers are replanting trees as part of an ambitious initiative to reduce deforestation. Their goal — to set aside one-third of their farms for native vegetation — is revolutionary in a region long resistant to environmental controls.

“It had to happen, as soon as possible,” said Bortolini, 50, who now has a 6,200-acre farm. “This is in the farmers’ interests because the farmer is the one most dependent on the environment.”

The initiative, driven by the market and by new pressure from regulators, comes as the government considers proposals to dramatically reduce the rainforest destruction that has made Brazil a leading producer of greenhouse gases. Earlier this month, Brazil said it would cut emissions by up to 38.9 perce

Fugitive TV host surrenders

Ricardo — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:16:33 +0000

A former Brazilian state legislator and TV host who authorities allege also was a drug dealer who ordered rivals killed has surrendered to police after being missing for four days, the government said...

Train set ablaze after delays

Ricardo — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:11:43 +0000

Train passengers in Brazil rampaged through a station and set a train on fire in protest against delays. Passengers at a Rio de Janeiro station became agitated at the news that they would not be reimbursed for a service interruption due to...

For Brazil Olympics Will Be a Brief Distraction. The Crooks Will Never Leave

Ricardo — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:17:18 +0000

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the great Gods of International Sport have deemed Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, worthy of its finest competition: the 2016 Summer Olympics. I want to be excited about this; even the most cynical of persons will sprout a few goosebumps while watching jubilant crowds roar for their city’s “victory”. But when the crowds part, the beach is emptied, the police go back to their posts, the robbers and slum-dwellers return and the politicians down the last few gulps of congratulatory champagne...what then?

Eduardo J. Gomez of Foreign Policy magazine reported this today: “International sports tend to mirror politics. Today’s decision will reveal, yet again, that Brazil is an emerging power, and that it has the talent, infrastructural capacity, and political commitment needed to play competitively in global political (and athletic) games.”

In Brazils Wild West, police press politician with investigation

Ricardo — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 09:49:38 +0000

The Amazon has always been Brazil’s version of the Wild West. Here’s one example why.

Brazilian police are investigating a state congressman and former television presenter for his involvement in what they say was a violent scheme to boost ratings and bolster his political appeal.

Wallace Souza, police allege, led a gang that arranged hits to boost ratings on the TV show he presented with his two brothers. His son Rafael is already in jail on murder charges.

Venezuela repeats at Miss Universe contest

Ricardo — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:54:24 +0000

Miss Venezuela was the fairest of them all once again, winning the 2009 Miss Universe crown for the second year straight and the sixth time since the pageant’s creation.

Dressed in a flowing red gown, 18-year-old Stefania Fernandez hugged the runner-up from the Dominican Republic and danced in joy as her victory was announced Sunday.

The crown briefly fell to the floor as it passed from one Venezuelan beauty to the next.

But Fernandez said there was time for outgoing Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza to whisper in her ear that she must have worked hard for Venezuela to win consecutive crowns.

“What do we Venezuelans have?” Fernandez, an international relations student, told reporters after the pageant. “That we are ourselves.”

Organized Crime in Colombia: Adolescents rein urban gangs

Ricardo — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:00:25 +0000

Some 24,000 young men and children in Colombia’s three largest cities are member of criminal gangs, a study quoted by Caracol Radio revealed Friday. The researchers warn for an increasing amount of children younger than 14 who are recruited.

The study warns that these groups can longer be described as simple gangs but as organized armed bands, linked to paramilitaries or drug traffickers. The teenagers are involved in a larger number of homicides, robberies armed clashes over control of territories and drug abuse.

Bogota by far has the most young men involved in crime. In the capital alone operate some 1320 criminal gangs that have 19,000 members in total. Its members are estimated to be aged between 15 and 22 years. Most gangs are located in the poor south of the city.

Viagra effect drains pension system

Ricardo — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:00:44 +0000

THE widespread tendency in Brazil for men to remarry women several decades younger than them, called the “Viagra effect”, is undermining the country’s pension system.

The report, by Brazil’s National Social Security Institute, showed that a trend of men in their sixties marrying women half their age was leaving a big pool of young widows collecting benefits for much longer than anticipated.

“The social security system was planned so that the wife receives her husband’s pension for only 15 years or so,” the author of the study, Paulo Tafner, said.

“With growing life expectancy and remarriages with much younger women, benefits today stretch out over 35 years.

Argentina junta bans Pink Floyd

Ricardo — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:32:18 +0000

Predictably, themes with an undertone of political protest like Pink Floyd’s rail against thought control, “Another Brick in the Wall”, fell foul of the censor.

The dictators who fought a dirty war against their own population in which thousands died or disappeared between 1976 and 1983, banned more than 200 songs because of their contentious lyrics.

The military regime controlled the media to such an extent that the Argentine nation was convinced they were winning the Falklands War up until the moment of surrender to British forces in June 1982.

So it’s not surprising that its iron hand extended to the music broadcast over the nation’s airwaves.