Category Archives: South America

4 Americans Kidnapped in Mexico

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Photo captured from CNN

Last Friday, 4 U.S. citizens driving in a car with a North Carolina license plate went missing in the border city of Mexico, Matamoros, the FBI said. The FBI has stated that this is likely kidnapping involving guns. The four had entered Matamoros across from Brownsville, Texas on Friday and were traveling in a white minivan, the photo showed.

An innocent Mexican citizen was killed in the incident, US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said in a statement on Monday. “We have no higher priority than the safety of our citizens,” Salazar said. “This is the most fundamental role of the US government. Officials from various US law enforcement agencies are working with Mexican authorities at all levels of government to achieve the safe return of our compatriots.”

The situation and identities of the 4 missing U.S. citizens are unknown at this time. CBS News reports, “One woman, walking on her own, was forced into a white pickup truck. Men armed with long guns and wearing bulletproof vests are then seen dragging one person after another into the vehicle.”

The FBI San Antonio Division office has asked for public help from anyone who has witnessed this incident or knows the whereabouts of the 4 U.S. citizens. The agency announced a reward of $50,000 for their return and the arrest of those involved.

They had traveled to the border city of Matamoros for medical procedures, CNN reports, citing receipts found in the vehicle. The US State Department has issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for US citizens thinking of going to Tamaulipas, citing crime and kidnapping.

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FMR Brazil President Bolsonaro Applies For US Tourist Visa

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After the riot on January 10, 2023 in Brazil, Mr. Bolsonaro didn’t accept responsibility for the incident; instead, he applied for a U.S. Tourist Visa for himself. Since December 30, He has stayed in Florida and has expressed a desire to travel nationwide. The radical rightists stormed the government buildings on January 10, similar to how the radical right stormed the U.S. Capitol in the January 6 incident.

The former president Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyer, Felipe Alexandre told BBC, “he devoted 34 years of his life to public service” and would “like to take some time off”.

Mr. Bolsonaro came to the US with an A-1 visa for diplomats and heads of state which is 30 days visa that expired today. He doesn’t want to go back to the country where the January 10th events are under investigation right now. Mr. Alexandre said Mr. Bolsonaro hopes to “clear his head and enjoy being a tourist in the United States for a few months before deciding what his next step will be”.

Mr. Bolsonaro, the rightist leader of the country, has faced criticism for the incident following the 2022 general election defeat against leftist leader Lula da Silva. His visa status is pending, and Washington DC is considering the ramifications of approving the former Brazilian President’s visa status.

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Bolsonaro Supporters Rise in Riot Against the Brazilian Government

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Captured from Today.com

Chaos erupted at the capital building on Sunday in Brazil as far-right supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro rushed into various government buildings demanding justice. Former President Jair Bolsonaro lost his bid for reelection against the Leftist party’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was sworn in on Jan. 1,  2023.

President Lula da Silva went to Twitter to condemn the act, saying that a riot is a criminal act and that they are collecting photos of who participated in the Sunday riot.

Authorities used tear gas and arrested more than 400 people in the demonstration. Many demonstrators wore the national colors of Brazil: yellow, and green.

President Biden denounced on his Twitter, “I condemn the assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil. Brazil’s democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined. I look forward to continuing to work with @LulaOficial.”

Alberto Fernandez, the Government representative of Argentina, stated that
“Quienes intentan desoír la voluntad de las mayorías, atentan contra la democracia y merecen no solo la sanción legal que corresponda, sino también el rechazo absoluto de la comunidad internacional,” on his Twitter account.

As the former President of Brazil, Bolsonaro is in Florida for 30 days on Visa, and Biden was urged to extradite Bolsonaro to Brazil after the riot, NBC news stated on Twitter.

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Argentina vs France Will Play for the World Cup on Sunday

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(Photo from sportingnews.com)

Argentina’s Messi will meet France’s Mbappé this coming Sunday to find out who the real winner of the World Cup is. Lionel Messi (35) and the rising star of the globe, Kylian Mbappe (23) will be the hot topic under the Holiday season food table worldwide this year.

Argentina won over Croatia 3:0 and France won over Morroco 2:0, finally rapping up this month-long competition between continent to continent, country to country, and drama-filled event.

The funny thing is as always when the final comes, people bet on who the winner of the World Cup. This year, however, experts say that Argentina and France are going to go neck the neck, and a clear winner has not been predicted.

This coming Sunday, we are going to set a table in the living room to watch the momentum of the glory. This sensational 2022 World Cup will lead the world as a whole at the end of the Year 2022. Officially, the FIFA rankings No.3 and No.4 will be fighting to become the 2022 World Cup winners, a glory allowed only once every 4 years.

With these World Cup games, the US fans enjoyed when the US Men’s team went up to the Round of 16.

Throughout World Cup history, Argentina and France met 12 times, and Argentina beat France six times, drew three times, and lost three times to France since July 15, 1930, according to sportingnews.com.

This World Cup will be played at 3 pm GMT (6 pm Local time) on Sunday, December 18. The US viewers will be able to watch it at 10 am EST and 7 am Pacific time.

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British Journalist and Brazilian Indigenous Affairs Expert Missing in the Amazon

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Last Sunday, a British journalist, Dom Philps, who works for The Guardian as an Amazon specialist contributor, and a Brazilian indigenous affairs expert, Bruno Araújo Pereira went missing in the Vale do Javari, the Amazon jungle. The families of the pair are asking the authorities to intensify the effort in their search. The journalist from Britain was approaching news of illegal mines and drug trafficking in the Amazonian jungle with the Brazilian indigenous affairs expert.
According to CNN,

“The British journalist, Dom Phillips, and Bruno Araújo Pereira were first reported missing in the remote Javari Valley, in the far western part of Amazonas state on Sunday. They had reportedly received death threats just days prior.”

Phillips’s wife, Alessandra Sampaio, posted a video on Tuesday pleading for the federal government to step up in their search operations, saying, “We still have a little bit of hope that we’ll find them.”

“Even if they don’t find the love of my life alive, they have to be found, please,” she said.

The area of the Javari Valley is home to 16 isolated groups and thousands of indigenous people in the Javari Valley, and it isn’t easy to reach out to the communities. The area has come under different rules for life, and the area is continuing to become home to increasing numbers of illegal miners, loggers, hunters, and international drug traffickers exploiting the peoples who live in the jungles.

They were supposed to arrive at the borders of the valley and Peru to take a two-hour trip to Atalaia do Norte on Sunday, but they didn’t show up.

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Joseph to Leave and Dr. Henry to be new PM of Haiti

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Since July 7, Haiti’s President, Jovenel Moïse’s assassination, there was a political power struggle between Claude Joseph, the Interim prime minister (PM), and Dr. Ariel Henry (named PM by late President two days before his assassination).

Joseph has since accepted and decided to honor the late president’s wishes. 71-year-old neurosurgeon Dr. Ariel Henry will be the new Prime Minister of Haiti until the new election. According to NPR, “officially taking office as prime minister will be Ariel Henry (71),” as “it was part of the plan and wishes of late President Jovenel Moïse that he should lead a new coalition to be prime minister and form a new government,” said Mathias Pierre, Minister of Elections in Haiti.

Pierre stated that the transfer of power will take place in a public ceremony this Tuesday. Dr. Henry posted a brief address to the nation online Sunday night, saying “unity” and that he would soon announce a consensus government that leads the country until elections can be held to elect a new president.

Henry applauded the Haitian people for maturity in the face of “what could be called a coup d’état,” and that the president’s assassination was “unspeakable,” and “odious and revolting.” Henry has support from foreign powers including the U.S. diplomat, representatives from the United Nations, and the Organization of American States.

“I received calls from certain American diplomats in Haiti,” said Senate Lambart. “Also I received calls from diplomats in the U.S. State Department, who asked me to postpone so we had time to build a larger consensus.” He said that while the majority of Haitians don’t appreciate the postponing of certain Haitian events by foreign powers, Haiti remains influenced by them nonetheless due to its precarious state both as a developing country and as a country dealing with a lot of recovery efforts.

Mr. Joseph said he would now become the foreign minister in Mr. Henry’s cabinet.

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Cuba : The First Country to Run Phase 3 Clinical Trials In South America

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Cuba will take the phase 3 clinical trials as the first country amongst in South American continent. Cuba kept very low Covid-19 cases compared with other South American countries before reopening to the travelers last November. At least 44,000 people will take this phase 3 trial, according to NPR.

Cuba has been independently developing the Covid-19 vaccine. Dagmar Garcia Rivera, the research director at the Finlay Vaccine Institute in Havana stated that one of five vaccine candidates, Soberana 2 is to be very effective and entering the final stage of clinical trials.

A second vaccine candidate, Abdala has entered a phase 3 trial. Cuba is a self-sustaining country that never asked for any help from WHO or multinational corporations. Normally vaccine development takes a decade or more. Eduardo Ojito, the head of the Cuban Center for Molecular Immunology proudly announced that by the end of summer, all Cuban will be immunized enough doses with the Soverana 2.

Ojito stated that “We are preparing to produce between one and two million doses each month, and the country is on track to have 1 million doses available in April.” The Cuban government has started to distribute the vaccine to Iran, Mexico, and Venezuela.

Helen Yaffe, a specialist at the University of Glasgow, wrote about the country’s pharmaceutical sector and its previous success in developing another vaccine, such as cancer vaccine. Yaffe states there’s talk about offering vaccines to the tourists who enter the country at the airport upon arrival in Havana.

The Cuban government would provide the vaccine to international tourists and be open to international tourism again if this phase 3 vaccine trials succeed.

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UN PEACEKOR Hosts The 1st Global Virtual Forum Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic

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On September 16, UN PEACEKOR (Chairman Dug-Ryong Kim) held the global meeting through Zoom and Youtube live for the first time ever in history due to coronavirus pandemic.

This forum was held by foreign compatriots from around the world with different time zones on the actual conditions and prospects of North Korea’s three sufferings (sanctions, corona, flood damage), and where to find clues for the recovery of South-North relations in this difficult situation. We had time to express each other’s opinions using the internet space as a place.

The forum was hosted by Jun-Hyuk Huh, Secretary General of UNPEACEKOR, and led to discussions by Yong-Han Choi, head of the National Security Strategy Research Institute, Jong-Cheol Park, a Research Fellow at the Institute for Unification, Yoo-seok Jeong, a senior research fellow at the Northeast Asia Research Center at Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Dae-jin Jeong, a professor at Ajou University.

The chairman of the organization stated that despite US’ distraction during a presidential election year, and North Korea focusing on its internal structure, there is still tremendous responsibility to bring to awareness, the importance of restarting the peace process on the Korean Peninsula.

The members of the forum focused heavily on the kind of development necessary in North Korea, and talked about the impact of Covid-19 on both the social and economic infrastructure of China and North Korea, but also how this could require heavier interest by South Korea or the US to improve relationship with North Korea, especially in the area of trade.

The forum garnered much interest, as almost 400 people tuned in to watch the forum.

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BTS Hits Billboard 100 with a Dynamite #1

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After landing with Billboard #4 with the last single “On,” in March, K-Pop boy band BTS debuted with an all-English single, “Dynamite” at the top of the Billboard’s Hot 100.

BTS is the first K-Pop group to lead the Hot 100. Released on August 21, 2020, showed a result of 33.9 million US stream, 300,000 sold, and drew 11.6 million radio airplay audience impressions the week ending August 30.

BTS’ “Dynamite” made the best digital sales since One Direction’s “Drag Me Down” 5 years ago, and marks BigHit entertainment’s first #1 on the Billboard chart. Consultations to BTS!

Of course, much of BTS’ success comes from BTS’ use of technology (mainly YouTube and V Live) to gain followers, interact with them, and establish themselves as serious brands. Many analysts tout that the globalization of Broadband access has made not only information flow throughout the world, but also allow easier means for fans to gain access to their favorite bands’ music and show clips.

 

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Covid-19’s Real Problem: Organ damage

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As US sees 150,000 deaths from COVID-19, some of those who are for quick reopening tout the relatively low death percentage rate as an argument against the severity of COVID-19. However, those who are recovering from COVID-19 show something more sinister from coronavirus infection: organ damage.

Two German studies found that many patients recovering from COVID-19 had heart abnormalities that didn’t exist before. The study included 100 patients from the University of Hospital Frankfurt COVID-19 Registry.

1/3 on the registry recovered at the hospital, while the other 2/3 recovered at home; however, in the 78 of the original 100, there were now heart abnormalities, with 60 of them showing inflammation in the heart muscle from COVID-19.

This abnormality would not be found on the echograms more frequently used to detect heart abnormalities.

Such results are quite damaging; those who have this weakness will likely require more extensive treatments and be at risk for abnormal heart beats and other heart problems.

So yes, maybe COVID-19 only kills around 1 percent of those infected; however, the true harm of COVID-19 isn’t necessarily the fast death, but the lasting impact on the majority of those that recover from the disease; mostly, the weakening of the organs in the rest of the body.

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