CUBA: World Class Pharma that Puts People First
HAVANA, Dec 1 (IPS) – Cuban biotechnology and pharmaceutical products are already among the country’s major exports, and the industry is on course to continue developing while maintaining a firm focus on making a real difference to the health of all Cubans and of people in the numerous countries where Cuba provides medical assistance.
Senior Chinese political advisor meets Jamaica guest (People’s Daily)
Li Jinhua, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, met here Thursday with a delegation from Jamaica’s People’s National Party. The delegation was headed by the party’s president Portia Simpson-Miller, who was a former prime minister of Jamaica. &$ &$Source: Xinhua&$ &$ …
CHILE: Media Empires Undermine Pluralistic Democracy
SANTIAGO, Dec 3 (IPS) – Chile is a classic example of the concentration of media ownership in too few hands, says Chilean journalist María Olivia Mönckeberg in her latest book “Los magnates de la prensa” (The Press Magnates). If the state does not exercise stricter regulation, democracy itself may be undermined, she warns.
DEVELOPMENT: Brazil’s Powerhouse Bank
SAO PAULO, Dec 2 (IPS) – With his slicked-back hair, neatly trimmed, close-cropped beard, and impeccably pressed suits, Luciano Coutinho looks like any other obscure Brazilian banker. But he is anything but an average banking man.
HONDURAS: U.S. Criticised for Recognising Post-Coup Poll
WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (IPS) – On a sunny Sunday afternoon in Washington, DC’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, about 50 protestors lined up outside a polling station where voting was taking place to help select the next leader of a country almost 3,000 kilometres away.
Q&A: Risk Insurance and Climate Change
MONTEVIDEO, Dec 3 (Tierramérica) – The catastrophic risk insurance shared by the countries of the Caribbean could serve as a model for collective strategies for dealing with natural disasters resulting from climate change, John Nash, the World Bank’s lead economist for Latin America and the Caribbean, told Tierramérica.
ELECTIONS-URUGUAY: Landslide Victory for Former Guerrilla
MONTEVIDEO, Nov 30 (IPS) – Left-wing candidate José Mujica was elected president of Uruguay with nearly 52 percent of the vote Sunday, seven to eight percentage points ahead of his rival, the right-wing Luis Alberto Lacalle, according to projections by pollsters.
Investigators looking for cause of Jamaica house fire (The Champaign News-Gazette)
JAMAICA – The I&I Fire Investigation Team was investigating the cause of a Wednesday afternoon fire that caused significant damage to a home in Jamaica. Sidell Fire Chief Terry Bates said the I&I investigators would be joined by investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s office today.
PERU: Women Workers Forced into Informal Economy
LIMA, Dec 2 (IPS) – In Peru, 51 percent of all jobs are generated by the informal economy, a sector that has a female face, as more than 60 percent of the women workers in the country are forced into informality, with only 15 percent having health coverage and a mere four percent enjoying retirement benefits.
ENVIRONMENT: New Pirate of the Caribbean Invades from Pacific
CARACAS, Dec 2 (IPS) – The red lionfish (Pterois volitans), a venomous coral reef fish from the Indian and western Pacific Oceans, has invaded the waters of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to wreak havoc on ecosystems, native fish populations and popular underwater diving areas.
CUBA: Sponge Farms – New Source of Bounty from the Sea
CARAHATAS, Cuba, Nov 30 (Tierramérica) – The ocean punishes Carahatas every time a hurricane tears through the region. The sea combines with the flow of a nearby river, and floods the houses with water a metre and a half deep, or more. Nevertheless, the residents of this Cuban town are deeply attached to the sea.
HONDURAS: President-Elect Promises Unity Government
TEGUCIGALPA, Nov 30 (IPS) – Porfirio Lobo, the presidential candidate of the right-wing National Party, won the elections Sunday in Honduras that were backed by the de facto government in power since the Jun. 28 coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.
Students lend helping hand to Haitian kids (The Staunton News Leader)
STAUNTON — It was a painstaking process. Thinking about each word and phrase that was written. The group of five at Stuart Hall on Wednesday were the last to hand their letter in to be sent the students of St. Marc’s School in Cerca-La-Source, Haiti.
