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Colombia and FARC rebels agree on key peace issue

By Joseph BAMAT the 06/11/2013 - 22:19

The Colombian government and FARC rebels announced on Wednesday that they had reached an agreement over the key issue of the guerrilla’s political future if peace is reached, with now four more points left on the negotiating agenda.

The Colombian government and FARC rebels announced Wednesday they had struck an unprecedented agreement on the future political transition of the guerrilla group as part of ongoingpeace negotiations in Cuba, nearly one year after talks began.
“What we have agreed to deepens and strengthens our democracy,” said the joint statement read by diplomats who are facilitating the process in Havana. "It includes guarantees for the political opposition, measures to promote citizen participation and it contemplates revising the Colombian electoral system after a final peace agreement is signed.”
The new deal is the second of a 6-point agenda for the negotiations, and hinges upon the ability to reach a final “all or nothing” pact to end the armed civil conflict - the only remaining one in Latin America.

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October 31, 2013

Tunnel for Smuggling Found Under U.S.-Mexico Border; Tons of Drugs Seized

By LIAM DILLON and IAN LOVETT

SAN DIEGO — A deep tunnel snaking nearly 600 yards from Mexico under the border and into a San Diego warehouse is one of the most sophisticated underground drug smuggling passageways ever discovered, complete with electricity, ventilation and an electronic rail system, federal authorities said Thursday.

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Mexico's soda companies fear junk-food tax

By Joshua Partlow, Published: October 26

OAXACA, Mexico — Sweet tangerine sodas and strawberry kiddy drinks have been good for the Guzmán family.
Over 60 years and three generations, their Gugar soda company has offered them hard-won prosperity in one of the poorest states in Mexico. It’s allowed the youngest to study at the University of California at Berkeley and vacation in Las Vegas, and enshrined the eldest in a bronze bust with a nameplate that reads: “Creator of entrepreneurs.”
But for Mexico, the vast appetite for sodas, chips, snacks, sweets — all manner of what they call here “comida chatarra,” or junk food — has helped inflate an overweight nation to obesity levels ­rivaled only by those lumpen gringos to the north.

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November 4, 2013

Brazil Says It Spied on U.S. and Others Inside Its Borders

By SIMON ROMERO

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s government acknowledged on Monday that its top intelligence agency had spied on diplomatic targets from countries including the United States, Iran and Russia, putting the Brazilian authorities in the uncomfortable position of defending their own surveillance practices after repeatedly criticizing American spying operations.

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LAX shooting suspect charged with murder

By News Wires the 03/11/2013 - 08:38

The suspected gunman in the LA airport shooting which left one person dead and several others injured was charged with murder Saturday. The man, who said in a note he wanted to kill transport security staff, could face the death penalty if convicted.

U.S. prosecutors filed a murder charge Saturday against the suspected gunman in the deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport, and he could face the death penalty.

Insight: Chinese investors sour on Brazil, and projects melt away

 

 

 

 Fri, Nov 1 2013

 By Brian Winter and Caroline Stauffer
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - For Chinese investors, Brazil is no longer the promised land.
After making a big push into the South American giant in search of raw materials such as iron ore, as well as a promising market for their consumer goods, Chinese executives have grown frustrated with stagnant economic growth, heavy costs and what they see as a political and popular backlash against their presence.
As a result, Chinese investment is falling, and as much as two-thirds of the roughly $70 billion in projects announced since 2007 is either on hold or has been canceled, according to recent studies and interviews with Chinese and Brazilian officials.
The unexpected decline, which investors and analysts say has little hope of reversing itself anytime soon, will deprive Brazil's struggling economy of what once seemed like a sure-fire source of growth for years to come.
"The ardor for investment in Brazil is fading. Operating in Brazil is a huge challenge," said Zhang Dongxiang, chief executive of the Brazilian unit of Bank of China Ltd, one of China's four largest state-owned commercial banks.
In a rare interview in his Sao Paulo office that included some of the sharpest criticism of Brazil by any Chinese business leader to date, Zhang complained of growing hostility from the Brazilian public as well as "protectionist" policies passed by President Dilma Rousseff's left-leaning government.
"Public opinion sometimes seems to be against foreign investment ... as if it makes local industry less competitive," he said. "There are some antiquated ideas."
While some Chinese companies are succeeding in Brazil, he said, "many are having doubts."

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US ferrets out cross-border smuggling 'super tunnel'

By FRANCE 24 the 01/11/2013 - 12:10

A highly sophisticated tunnel linking warehouses in the Mexican city of Tijuana and the US city of San Diego has been discovered by authorities as part of efforts to crack down on underground drug smuggling.

Equipped with lighting, a ventilation system and hydraulically controlled steel doors, a tunnel built to smuggle drugs between the Mexican border town of Tijuana and the neighbouring US city of San Diego was no ordinary find for US drug enforcement and border security agencies this week.
The highly sophisticated drug-trafficking “super tunnel” was shut down Wednesday night by US federal authorities, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency announced on its website.
The passageway, linking a warehouse in southern San Diego to a Tijuana building about 80 metres from the border fence, zigzagged underground for about 500 metres and included an electric rail system, authorities revealed.
“It is the largest, most sophisticated tunnel uncovered along the southern border in two years,” ICE said in a news release with accompanying photos and a video.
The year-long work of “engineers and architects,” according to ICE special agent Derick Benner, the tunnel was built at an average depth of 10 metres, and was 120 centimetres high by 90 centimetres wide.
Eight tons of marijuana seized
In an enforcement operation related to the tunnel’s discovery and shutdown, San Diego Tunnel Task Force agents and local authorities seized more than eight tons of marijuana and 325 pounds of cocaine, marking the first time cocaine has been recovered in connection with a local drug tunnel.
ICE said the seized narcotics had an estimated street value of nearly US$12 million (8.9 million euros). Three people were also arrested along with the drug grab.
“This action is another huge setback for the Mexican cartels, which invest vast amounts of time and money to build them,” John Sandweg, ICE’s acting director said in a statement. The tunnel was dismantled before it was operational.
“[Cartels’] traditional routes are failing at this point. They're very desperate. They'll do anything they can to get into the US,” Bill Sherman, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)'s San Diego office, told the AFP news agency.
It was the eighth large-scale drug-smuggling tunnel discovered in the San Diego area since 2006. In the last five years, federal authorities have detected more than 75 cross-border smuggling tunnels, most of them in California and Arizona.

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Source URL: http://www.france24.com/en/20131101-drug-super-narco-tunnel-usa-mexico-san-diego-tijuana-marijuana