Ingrid Betancourt

Picture I took in front of the Hotel de Ville in Paris.

For more info about Ingrid click here

SOS Brazil

Hi,

If PT, according to Lula, is the party with more ethic values in Brazil.... then we are lost.

Check the video (in portuguese)

Romania: President Traian Basescu’s impeachment

Parliament votes President Traian Basescu’s impeachment

322 votes in favour, 108 against, 10 abstentions; If the President resigns, early elections will be held in three months. Otherwise, a referendum will be organised; Senate Speaker Nicolae Vacaroiu to act as interim Presidentl; Basescu: “until Monday, I’m still President”.

BUCHAREST - President Traian Basescu was impeached by Parliament yesterday by an overwhelming score. As many as 322 Senators and Deputies voted for his impeachment, with only 108 against. President Basescu arrived in the University Square four hours after Parliament decided to suspend him.

More:

Nine O´Clock

Bolivia: Conflicts for Autonomy

Thu, April 12th 2007

Situation:

-President Evo Morales threatens hunger strike if oil contracts are not approved

-The political fight between President Evo Morales vs. Autonomous Departments continues

-MAS (the President´s party) has a plan to keep Evo in power for many years


More:

El Deber (in spanish)

UOL (in portuguese)

La Razon (in spanish)

BBC News

Ecuador: Referendum to Change Constitution

President Rafael Correa

Situation:

-President Correa threatens to resign if ´no´ wins (hard to happen)

-57 Deputies expelled by the Supreme Court

More details:

EIN News Monitoring Service

El Universo (in spanish)

Bomb attacks in Algeria

Algiers' bomb attacks: President Bouteflika convenes emergency meeting and takes several decisions


Algiers - President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika, after Wednesday’s terrorist attacks in Algiers, held a meeting with several senior officials, during which several decisions have been taken, Head of Government Abdelaziz Belkhadem told the national television channel. This emergency meeting "has been sanctioned by a series of measures to first end such criminal acts, and secondly to neutralize their (criminals) nuisance capacity," he pointed out. "Such criminal acts are meant to plunge Algeria back into the crisis years," the Head of Government reflected, reassuring, in this respect, that the Algerian people "remain attached to peace, security and serenity." These individuals, he added, "don’t want Algerians to live in peace."

Algeria´s News Agency

Picture: BBC

Crisis in Ukraine

Thu, April 12th 2007

Hi,

To follow very close the events (constitutional crisis) in Ukraine I reccomend one wonderful blog called
Kiev Ukraine News Blog.

Mercosul Meeting in Rio de Janeiro

Main Issues:

-Growing influence of Hugo Chavez (Venezuela is the newest member) and his polemical ideas (Create the Bank of the Bloc among others)

-Trouble between Argentina and Uruguay

-Discussions to include Bolivia (Alliance Venezuela-Bolivia, with the first rulling)

-Change of mentality in the Bloc: Help smaller countries (Paraguay and Uruguay so far)

And I would add:

-Chile´s (not a member, just partner) claim to become South America´s ´Continental Plataform´

-Future merge with the CAF?

The Chilean ´Roberto Jefferson´

Jorge Schaulsohn (Former president and representative/deputy of the PPD party)


In Brazil we had what we called `Mensalao´ (Monthly bribe from the Government to the allied parties in the Congress) and now in Chile looks like they have the `Mensalion en la Concertacion`.

Read more (in spanish)

Horn of Africa: New Jihad

Reuters

By Tsegaye Tadesse
ADDIS ABABA, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Somalia's Islamists are in full retreat after Ethiopian airstrikes and a ground offensive that have killed up to 1,000 of the religious movement's fighters, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Tuesday.
"A joint Somali government and Ethiopian force has broken the back of the international terrorist forces... These forces are in full retreat," Meles told reporters in Addis Ababa, adding that up to 1,000 Islamist fighters had been killed.
"A few are Somali but the majority are foreigners," he said of the dead.

Click here

World Leaders...

Quick look at the world leaders we have:

In Thailand the former PM sold his company and didn´t pay taxes...

In the US, almost in the Midterm Elections, Foley is involved in terrible abuses related to pages working in Congress...

And in Brazil Lula buys the Congress, buys Dossier, buys Communication Companies...

That´s the world we live and the democracies we are proud of (Thailand not anymore).

Elections in Brazil

Hi,

The country is going to the 2nd round!

That´s very, very good!

Everybody researching about Lula´s scandals and spreading it!

About Brazil

Hi,

Very interesting to follow the Brazilian presidential elections. Here are some of the facts and figures for you all to take a look and reflect.

In Brazil, president Lula (at this moment in New York for the UN General Meeting) faces corruption charges almost every day since he took the presidency in 2003, but the population pretends that nothing happened and many will vote following that lie.

Recently in Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea and Hungary people went to the streets (I don´t agree with the abuse in the last case) to protest not really against the government but the person that represents the government. In every case the top authority in charge was pretty much involved in some sort of mistake or corruption but, I´m sure, not even close to Lula´s involvement in pure corruption and crime.

The political scenario in Brazil (two weeks before presidential elections) is that:

- Extremely corrupt government and even more corrupt Workers´ Party (which is government)

- One weak and also corrupt (with no doubt much less than the government, but that doesn´t make them better) oposition

- Scandals coming everyday (not a joke)

- Society: in total apathy or under World Cup ache

The last point is the most important. People should at least take a look at the other candidates (all of them) and find one that doesn´t have the criminal profile that Lula has.

So Brazil is a country I would follow very close.

Urgent Post: Thailand

Hi,

I´m just following the happenings in Thailand via CNN, where a coup attempt is under way. The curious thing is that at the same time and channel you can watch an ad of the new Thailand airport, which is called the ´most modern in Asia´ and is about to be inaugurated.

In one hand a nation that is (or was) called example of democracy (Asian standards), with its economy going well and investors welcomed and on the other hand, suddenly, a military coup.

Let´s follow the unfold coup and wait.

A call to the readers

Hello,

I just moved in and don´t have a connection yet, but soon I will.

Sorry about that.

Best,
Guilherme