Rousseff opens Brasilia World Cup stadium

Latin America News.Net - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff officially opened Brasilia's Mane Garrincha World Cup stadium. Despite controversy surrounding delays and cost overruns, Rousseff said the 71,000-seat venue was now the source of pride among Brazilians, reports Xinhua. "A year ago they said that we wouldn't build our stadiums, that they wouldn't be ready. But now we are seeing that the stadiums have been ...

Indian Chinese Leaders Discuss Border Dispute

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his visiting Chinese counterpart Sunday discussed efforts to resolve a decades-old border dispute between the world's two most populous ...

Nigeria says 14 Militants 3 Soldiers Killed in Latest Fighting

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Nigeria's military says it killed 14 Boko Haram militants and captured 20 others Sunday, as it presses its offensive against the al-Qaida-linked group in the country's restive ...

Guatemalas R--os Montt Genocide Conviction Omen for US Presidents and Their Hired Assassins

OpEdNews - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Presiding Judge, "he knew about everything that was going on and he did not stop it, despite having the power to stop it from being carried out." US President Ronald Reagan also had the power, greater power, to stop the massacres being perpetrated by dictator General and President R?os Montt. Instead visited him in Guatemala City and praised Rios Montt as "a man of great personal ...

Drug charge for Virgin Islands environment officer

San Diego Union-Tribune - Sunday 19th May, 2013

KINGSTON, Jamaica -; Federal agents have arrested the top enforcement officer for the U.S. Virgin Islands environment agency on drug trafficking charges after he was allegedly caught with a cache of cocaine on a government patrol ...

How A Free Press Is Threatened By Latin American Governments

Huffington Post - Sunday 19th May, 2013

One of the greatest threats to press freedom in Latin America comes in the form of shady criminal groups like Mexican drug cartels or Colombian paramilitaries who harass and sometimes murder journalists that report on their activities. Increasingly, however, a new threat is emerging in the hemisphere. It comes in the form of democratically elected officials. These politicians, who wear suave ...

Mexico Creating Missing People Force To Focus On Those Who Have Disappeared

Huffington Post - Sunday 19th May, 2013

There are at least 26,121 people who went missing in the past six years in Mexico, according to President Enrique Pea Nieto's government, and now they are going to do something about it. Mexico's government says it will create a special investigative unit to search for the missing, heeding a request by relatives of the disappeared who have been on a hunger strike for nine ...

How a toilet paper shortage may temper Chavismo in Venezuela

Christian Science Monitor - Sunday 19th May, 2013

People wait in line as they buy toilet paper in a super market in Caracas May 17. Supplies of food and other basic products have been patchy in recent months, with long queues forming at supermarkets and rushes occurring when there is news of a new stock arrival. The situation has spawned jokes among Venezuelans, particularly over the lack of toilet ...

Caribbean Scientist Warns of Climate Change Disaster

Common Dreams - Sunday 19th May, 2013

The Caribbean does not have the luxury of time for decisive action on climate change and global warming. In fact, it is on the brink of calamity, according to a prominent ...

US Official White House Was Unaware of IRS Misdeeds

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

President Barack Obama and White House Senior Advisor Dan Pfeiffer, right, react to a reporter's question as they leave the Treasury Department in Washington, Jan. 16, ...

Ollanta Humalas approval rating in Peru slips to six-month low

Buenos Aires Herald - Sunday 19th May, 2013

President Ollanta Humala's approval rating fell 5 points to a six-month low of 46 percent, reflecting the unpopularity of his proposal to buy an oil refinery owned by Spain's Repsol and his support for Venezuela's new government, an Ipsos poll showed. The nationwide poll was published by the newspaper El Comercio. Humala abandoned his idea of buying the Repsol oil refinery after ...

US robots Israeli drones to help make 2014 World Cup in Brazil one of safest sporting events ever

RT - Sunday 19th May, 2013

World Cup 2014 Brazil has added 30 US military robots to the Israeli drones and 'Robocop-style' glasses with face recognition cameras to its arsenal after the country allocated $900 million to make 2014 World Cup "one of the most protected sports events in history." The 30 PackBot 510 units, which usually cost between $100,000 and $200,000 apiece, will arrive in Brazil as ...

Jordy Smith surfs to ASP win in Brazil

Middle East Times - Sunday 19th May, 2013

surfing tournament Sunday. Smith navigated the 2-to-4 foot swells at Barra Da Tijuca to win the third stop on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour by a score of 17.80-16.34. Smith scored high by catching air on one productive wave and performing a so-called stailfish air-reverse on another. It was the third career ASP victory for the 25-year-old Smith and his first ...

Costa Rica Might Be ChangingPolicy on GMO Foods

Check Biotech - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Although transgenic soybeans, cotton and some corn has been grown in Costa Rica since 1991, groups that oppose genetically modified crops are increasing pressure on the government to slow the permit process for future GM crops, reports Ag ...

Afghanistan India to Discuss Military Aid

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

A spokesman for the Afghan president says Mr. Karzai will ask for assistance for the strengthening of the country's military and security institutions. Afghanistan and India signed a strategic partnership in 2011 which included India's training of Afghan forces as they prepare to takeover security from foreign troops in 2014. Pakistan has also offered a strategic partnership ...

Funeral Held for Slain Pakistani Politician

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Zahra Shahid Hussain was killed late Saturday after being approached by two unknown gunmen outside her home in Karachi. Pakistani politician and former cricket star Imran Khan, leader of Pakistan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, blamed Saturday's slaying of Zahra Shahid Hussain on the rival Muttahida Qaumi Movement party, or MQM. The party has denied any ...

Volcano outside Mexico City still rumbling spitting ash

General Sources - Sunday 19th May, 2013

MEXICO CITY - The Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City is still rumbling. Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Center says seismic activity shook the area early Sunday. And the 5,450-meter mountain also emitted gas, ash and glowing-hot rocks. The snow-capped volcano has been erupting periodically since 1994 and eruptions began strengthening about two weeks ...

Tunisians Fear Growing Threat of Radical Islamists

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

PARIS -- Police in Tunisia fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing Islamists in two cities after the government banned the hardline Ansar al-Shariah group from staging its annual congress Sunday. The events underscore the growing clout of Muslim extremists in the once staunchly secular North African country. The assassination of secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid in February sparked ...

Nigeria Government Encouraged with Military Offensive Progress

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

An advisor to Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan says the government is encouraged by the progress of the ongoing military offensive against the Islamic militant sect, Boko Haram. "The majority of the various camps where the terrorists have converted into their hideouts have been heavily bombarded, both by air and on land. And I’m just receiving a report that about 55 ...

Mexico has faith in Asian-Pacific future

Global Times - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Mexico is in a great moment. Macroeconomic stability and a low debt rate are part of our strengths as one of the top 15 economies in the world. We are an economy with a broad social perspective fully inserted into international trade, with an exchange of goods and services that amounts more than $700 billion each year. We offer a secure and trustworthy environment for foreign investment. Our ...

Report Says Iran Hangs 2 Spies Working for Israel US

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

DUBAI, UAE -- Iranian authorities executed two men on Sunday convicted of working for Israeli and U.S. spy agencies, Iran's Fars news agency reported. Mohammad Heidari, accused of passing security-related information and secrets to Israeli Mossad agents in exchange for money, and Kourosh Ahmadi, accused of gathering information for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, were hanged at ...

Syrian TV Troops Enter Rebel Stronghold of Qusair

VOA - Sunday 19th May, 2013

Syrian state television says government troops have entered the rebel town of Qusair as part of a weeks-long offensive to recapture the strategic area connecting Damascus to the Mediterranean ...