Latino Daily News: Bringing You the Latest Hispanic Current Events and News Stories 24/7

The Cade anti-trust agency has approved the merger between Brazil’s Citrosuco and Citrovita, a tie-up that creates the world’s largest orange juice producer.

The Brasilia-based regulator approved the transaction unanimously Wednesday but conditioned it on the companies’ signing an accord to protect independent producers, which must be informed about market prices and production volumes, state-run Agencia Brasil said.

The new company, a 50/50 joint venture between Citrosuco and Citrovita, respectively owned by the Brazilian conglomerates Fischer Group and Votorantim Group, also is prohibited from expanding its own orange plantations over the next five years.

The European Commission, which was consulted about the merger because the European Union is the Brazilian companies’ main market, gave the green light to the deal in May.

The new company will have a 45 percent share of the orange juice market in Brazil and take over leadership from Cutrale, which has a 35 percent share.

The merged entity will control 25 percent of the global orange juice market with its seven plants, eight port terminals, five vessels and groves in Brazil and abroad.

Citrosuco and Citrovita announced an agreement to merge their operations in May 2010.

In addition to concentrated orange juice, the new company also will produce by-products such as essential oils and citrus pulp pellets used in the production of chemical products and solvents, aromas and fragrances, paints and cosmetics.

Votorantim is an industrial conglomerate that also is one of Brazil’s leaders in the cement and concrete and mining and metallurgy industries, while Fischer also has diversified operations that include the provision of maritime services to oil platforms.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Dominican bachatero Romeo Santos climbed to the top of Billboard’s Latin Songs chart this week with “Promise,” his collaboration with R&B titan Usher.

Falling one spot were Mexican rockers Mana, whose “El verdadero amor perdona,” featuring Prince Royce, stands at No. 2.

Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee climbed from sixth to third place with “Lovumba” (Prestige), followed at No. 4 by “Te quiero a morir” from Banda El Recodo de Cruz Lizarraga. Pesado’s “El mil amores” slipped down to the fifth spot on the Latin Songs chart, where the rankings are based on radio airplay.

“Formula: Vol. 1,” the first solo disc by Aventura’s Romeo Santos, remained in the No. 1 position on Billboard’s list of best-selling Latin Albums for a third consecutive week.

Debuting in second place was a live album from Shakira, “En vivo desde Paris,” which pushed Jenni Rivera’s “Joyas Prestadas: Banda” into third.

Another new release, “Intentalo” by 3BallMTY, took the fourth spot, while Vicente Fernandez kept his grip on No. 5 with “Otra vez.”

Read more by HS News Staff →

The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) today announced its disappointment in the Senate’s recent failure to confirm Mari Carmen Aponte as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador.

After a recess appointment from President Barack Obama in August 2010, Aponte has previously served as Ambassador to El Salvador but faced re-nomination Monday evening.

The USHCC, America’s premier Hispanic business organization and the primary advocate for the interests of nearly three million Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States that combined generate in excess of $420 billion annually, has been impressed with Aponte’s achievements regarding economic development in El Salvador.

“Ambassador Aponte has served the U.S. well as Ambassador to El Salvador,” says USHCC President & CEO Javier Palomarez.  “Through leading initiatives such as the Salvadoran Government Ethics committee and Partnership for Growth, she achieved an impressive record as a pro-business diplomat, and her work is creating jobs back home in the U.S.”

Palomarez adds, “While firms throughout the United States and across the globe continue to vie for share in the marketplace, the confirmation of Ambassador Aponte was crucial for continuing our relationship with El Salvador and opening up the possibilities of partnership for Hispanic entrepreneurs. Her work in El Salvador lent to the success of the President’s National Export Initiative in boosting exports to emerging markets, and this block may damage the good work that has begun there.”

After receiving only 49 votes, two of which came from Republicans, the Senate blocked Aponte’s confirmation as Ambassador mostly along party lines. She is the first Puerto Rican Woman to serve as an U.S. Ambassador.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Spanish-language network Univision recently aired a report stated that Iranian and Venezuelan were looking to hire Mexican hackers to infiltrate and number of U.S. government websites.

The documentary stated that the alleged cyberattack would involve the White House, FBI, Pentagon, and U.S. sites.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezula called Univision’s report “lies,” though Iranian officials said Chavez was presented with the hacking plot, but turned it down.

Univision stated that recordings of diplomats as they discussed with the hackers were capable of doing, confirm that the plot was indeed a real threat.

Government officials in the U.S. stated that they had no knowledge of the cyberattack plot, but called it “very disturbing.”

Read more at The Washington Times →

Honduras on Thursday turned over to U.S. authorities a reputed drug kingpin from Guatemala who was arrested here in May.

Mario Ponce was taken by helicopter from the National Penitentiary, north of Tegucigalpa, to the joint U.S.-Honduran airbase at Palmerola, where U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents were waiting, Security Ministry official Danilo Orellana told reporters.

The chopper carrying Ponce was escorted by two U.S. Army helicopters.

The suspect was handed over one day after Honduras’ Supreme Court rejected a motion to block the extradition.

An official at the prison turned down successive offers of $1 million and $5 million to free Ponce, while “another party” offered $7 million to have the Guatemalan killed, Orellana said, without providing any details.

Last week, police captured seven heavily armed men they suspected were planning to rescue Ponce from the National Penitentiary.

Police seized AK-47 assault rifles, grenades and gas masks from the suspects, who were traveling in three vehicles, one of them armored.

Ponce and two associates were arrested aboard a helicopter at the airport in the northern Honduran city of San Pedro Sula after they made an unauthorized deviation from their flight plan.

On learning that Ponce was wanted by U.S. authorities on more serious charges, Honduras held him for extradition.

Read more by HS News Staff →

The unexpected downpours in Costa Rica that have hit the nation since early Monday have left one person dead, one missing and over a thousand evacuated.
 
A statement by the National Emergency Commission (CNE) reports the rain has caused flooding mostly in the region of Sarapiquí, in the Heredia province.

Reports indicate that the waters of the Banano, Cariblanco, Sarapiquí, Pacuare and Reventazón rivers rose to dangerous levels overnight.

The national weather service said the downpours were caused by a low pressure system over Panama.

The CNE has issued a preventive-green alert for the north and a yellow alert for the Caribbean; the region of Sarapiqui, has been ordered to evacuate immediately.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Honduras on Thursday turned over to U.S. authorities a reputed drug kingpin from Guatemala who was arrested here in May.

Mario Ponce was taken by helicopter from the National Penitentiary, north of Tegucigalpa, to the joint U.S.-Honduran airbase at Palmerola, where U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents were waiting, Security Ministry official Danilo Orellana told reporters.

The chopper carrying Ponce was escorted by two U.S. Army helicopters.

The suspect was handed over one day after Honduras’ Supreme Court rejected a motion to block the extradition.

An official at the prison turned down successive offers of $1 million and $5 million to free Ponce, while “another party” offered $7 million to have the Guatemalan killed, Orellana said, without providing any details.

Last week, police captured seven heavily armed men they suspected were planning to rescue Ponce from the National Penitentiary.

Police seized AK-47 assault rifles, grenades and gas masks from the suspects, who were traveling in three vehicles, one of them armored.

Ponce and two associates were arrested aboard a helicopter at the airport in the northern Honduran city of San Pedro Sula after they made an unauthorized deviation from their flight plan.

On learning that Ponce was wanted by U.S. authorities on more serious charges, Honduras held him for extradition.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Luna Oraivej is suing a company that provides court-ordered anger management classes after she was stabbed by another classmate for shushing her while watching an episode of the Dr. Phil show.

Oraivej, 37, was stabbed several times by classmate Faribah Maradiaga during an October 2010 anger management class, and she is now suing Court Services Institute (CSI) for their employee’s inaction.

Court documents state that on October 9, 2010, the institute allowed Maradiaga to enter the class late, though that is against the company’s policy. While the class was told to watch an episode of the Dr. Phil show, Maradiaga began loudly criticizing the tape. When Oraivej told Maradiaga to “give it a chance” she went crazy.

Maradiaga allegedly pulled out a bladed weapon and began swinging for Oraivej’s neck. Court reports say she received stab wounds to her shoulders before her assailant was taken out of the class. Oraivej said she was never tended to, but after fearing she wouldn’t not receive credit for the class, she waiting until it was over before going to the hospital.

Police arrested Maradiaga and charged her with second-degree assault. However, she has reportedly not shown up for court.

In the civil lawsuit filed in Washington’s King County Superior Court, Oraivej’s attorney states that the CSI is obligated to protect its students and that his client is seeking compensation partially for medical treatment, emotional distress, and severe anxiety.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Brazilian federal prosecutors are seeking 20 billion reais (some $10.7 billion) in damages from U.S. oil supermajor Chevron and Swiss-based Transocean for an oil spill that began in early November.

The prosecutor’s office in the southeastern city of Campos, Rio de Janeiro state, filed a civil suit Wednesday in which it also requested a court injunction to halt the companies’ operations and a daily fine of 500 million reais ($266.8 million) in case of non-compliance, the official Agencia Brasil news agency said.

In a statement, federal prosecutor Eduardo Santos Oliveira said Chevron and Transocean, the drilling contractor at the offshore well where the accident occurred, were unable to contain the spill and reduce its impact and used an “inefficient” technique in their clean-up efforts.

Separately, a court granted a request by the Fishermen’s Federation of Rio de Janeiro for an independent expert evaluation of the oil spill’s potential damage to fishing production in the region, where some 10,000 people ply that trade.

The spill began on Nov. 8 at an appraisal well in the offshore Campos basin due to an “unexpected pressure spike or ‘kick’” during “drilling toward a targeted reservoir,” Chevron said in its preliminary assessment of the incident.

The San Ramon, California-based company estimates that a total of 2,400 barrels of crude leaked from the well, although Rio de Janeiro state officials say close to 15,000 barrels were spilled.

The company dispersed or recovered the majority of the crude that rose to the surface and the oil sheen, located some 120 kilometers (75 miles) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, has almost completely dissipated.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Suárez, who plays forward for the Liverpool FC is accused of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra during a match in October.

Referee Andre Marriner reportedly called the two players for a lecture after a push and shove altercation; Suárez had attempted to pat his opponent on the head, but Evra allegedly pulled away and said: “Don’t touch me, you South American.” The Uruguayan replied: “Por qué[why], negro?”

Suárez’s defense at the Liverpool says that negro and its female equivalent, negra, are frequently used in Spanish-speaking countries without any negative connotations; the Jet-Set brother of Chilean President Sebastián Piñera for instance, is widely known as “El Negro” Piñera.

Though Suárez said he meant no disrespect, many wonder why after four years living in northern Europe and playing for high profile European teams, Suárez has still not picked up on the cultural differences, and doesn’t have a clear understanding that something that may be an acceptable nickname in Uruguay can be considered insulting in Europe.

Liverpool insists their player does not have racist tendencies, and are expected to show a video the player made in South African during the 2010 World Cup called “From the Streets to the Fields”. In it, Suárez highlights soccer’s “tremendous power of joining people, without any skin, religion and social discrimination”.

If Suarez, is found guilty by the FA, he could be banned, fined, or both.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s psychological thriller “La piel que habito” (The Skin I Live In) has picked up a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign language film, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association said Thursday.

Its rivals will be “The Flowers of War” (China), “In the Land of Blood and Honey” (U.S.), “The Kid With a Bike” (Belgium) and “A Separation” (Iran).

“The Skin I Live In” is the latest Almodovar offering to compete for a major film award in the United States.

He has won two Oscars - best original screenplay for “Talk to Her” and best foreign language film for “All About My Mother” - and two Golden Globe awards for those same films.

He also has received other Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” “High Heels,” “To Return” and “Broken Embraces.”

In “The Skin I Live In,” a medical revenge thriller with touches of surrealist and Almodovarian humor that premiered at Cannes in May, a brilliant plastic surgeon and psychopath Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) who is haunted by his wife’s and daughter’s suicides holds a beautiful woman, Vera (Elena Anaya), captive and under observation at his home.

The film, Almodovar’s 18th, has been hailed by U.S. critics.

Almodovar also has enjoyed significant box-office success in the United States, with “To Return” grossing $12 million and “Talk to Her” and “All About My Mother” taking in $9 million and $8 million, respectively.

Read more by HS News Staff →

In June, a group of more than 250 women in Barbacoas, Colombia went on what they called the “Crossed Legs Strike,” and refused to have sex with their partners until the government agreed to pave Barabacoas only access road. The women succeeded and just a few months later, another group, this time in the Philippines, did the same thing in order to stop the fighting between local villages. Now, a new hit musical on Broadway is taking a cue from that book.

Lysistrata Jones described:

The Athens University basketball team hasn’t won a game in 30 years.  But when spunky transfer student Lysistrata Jones dares the squad’s fed-up girlfriends to stop “giving it up” to their boyfriends until they win a game, their legendary losing streak could be coming to an end.  In this boisterous new pop musical comedy, Lyssie J. and her girl-power posse give Aristophanes’ classic comedy a sexy, modern twist and take student activism to a whole new level.

The musical has been called a mix between High School Musical and Mean Girls and touches on current events with topics like Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and the new iPhone Siri program.

Lysistrata Jones is based on a book by Douglas Carter Beane titled The Little Dog Laughed, which itself is based on the Aristophanes play Lysistrata about Greek women who withheld sex from their warrior-men in an attempt to get them to stop the Peloponnesian War.

The Broadway hit stars Patti Murin as Lyssie J., Lindsay Nicole Chambers, and Josh Segarra, and is being directed and choreographed by Tony-nominated Dan Knechtges.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Nicole Scherzinger and a few X Factor crew members got a giant scare while in Mexico, when a gang of heavily armed men held them at gunpoint for no particular reason.

“X Factor” judge, Scherzinger, 33, was shooting the music video for her new single, “Try With Me,” south of the border, in sunny Mexico.

But the trip turned awry when the bulletproof SUV the former Pussycat Dolls singer and “X Factor” choreographer Brian Friedman were riding in, was pulled over by local gunmen.

“We were held at gunpoint,” Friedman said about the incident in the mountains of the Xilitla rainforest located in San Luis Potosi in the Huastecha region of Mexico.

“There were M-16s and Berettas!” he remembered.

The X Factor team was thankfully released unscathed, and have since returned to their normal routines.

Read more at Star.com →

Meet Carrie, the name of this puppy that surprised Don Francisco with a performance of ‘Cueca’, the national dance of Chile.

Read more by HS News Staff →

A California teen is in serious trouble after lying to her family about being kidnapped by sex traffickers all in an attempt to hide to that she was pregnant. Now, law enforcement is asking that her family pay for the hoax.

Christina Almanza, 17, of Suisun City, Calif., left her parents frightening voicemails and texts messages claiming that she and other girls had been abducted by sex traffickers and were locked in a basement. She even went as far as saying one of the girls had been killed.

Her family contacted the police Thursday night and filed a missing person reports with the Solano County Sheriff. An Amber Alert was issued and law enforcement searched for her for two days.

Almanza, the mother a two-year-old, was found unharmed at the home of a man she had been speaking with on social networking sites, and confessed to police Monday. She was arrested on suspicion of filing a false police report, issued a notice to appear in court, and released to her parents.

A friend of Almanza said she made up the elaborate story to hide the fact that she was pregnant for a second time, and to gain sympathy from her family.

Law enforcement officials are now deciding whether or not to make the family pay around $30,000 to cover the cost of the case.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Dennis Sorto-Enamorado, age 30, an illegal alien from Honduras and most recently living in Louisiana, was sentenced today to 121 months in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, after having been convicted of attempting to entice and coerce a minor to have sex with him and attempting to receive child pornography from that same minor.

According to evidence introduced at trial, Sorto-Enamorado, posted a lewd and sexually explicit classified advertisement on Craigslist.org seeking a casual sexual encounter.  As part of an online undercover operation an FBI agent posing as a 15-year-old girl, responded to the advertisement.

Despite being informed on several occasions that the “girl” was only 15, Sorto-Enamorado detailed, in graphic and explicit terms, the nature of the sexual contact he wished to have with the girl. He also instructed the “girl,” on multiple occasions, to send him sexually explicit pictures of her.

During the on-line correspondence, he informed the “girl” that he wanted to meet her and have sex. He then drove from his home, to where he believed the girl was staying. Upon his arrival at the hotel room where he believed the “girl” was staying alone, he was arrested. 

A subsequent search revealed that Sorto-Enamorado was in possession of two condoms.

Read more by HS News Staff →

More than 4,000 properties on the moon have been purchased by Brazilians, while Argentinians come in second with 2,000 properties sold, and Chile 3rd, with little over 1,000.

How is all this possible you ask. 

Well, a loophole in the UN’s 1967 Outer Space Treaty has made it possible for Dennis Hope to sell the moon one lunar-acre at a time. International space agreements forbid all nations to claim ownership of any star or planet, but since Hope is a person and not a nation, he is free to sell the moon through his Lunar Embassy website.

The price for a single-acre parcel is $19.99 plus $1.51 Lunar tax, and a $10 shipping and handling fee.  Aside from their own property on the moon, buyers receive: A Lunar Constitution Bill of Rights, A Lunar Deed and A Lunar Site Map (Showing the approximate location of your Property).

Lunar properties follow a strict no-argument 30-day money back guarantee policy. If users are not completely satisfied with their space in space, they may return it, and receive a full refund, no questions asked.

Latin Americans turned out to be such a succulent extraterrestrial-property buyers, that properties are now being offered in Mars, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter’s Moon.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Dominican bachatero Romeo Santos climbed to the top of Billboard’s Latin Songs chart this week with “Promise,” his collaboration with R&B titan Usher.

Falling one spot were Mexican rockers Mana, whose “El verdadero amor perdona,” featuring Prince Royce, stands at No. 2.

Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee climbed from sixth to third place with “Lovumba” (Prestige), followed at No. 4 by “Te quiero a morir” from Banda El Recodo de Cruz Lizarraga. Pesado’s “El mil amores” slipped down to the fifth spot on the Latin Songs chart, where the rankings are based on radio airplay.

“Formula: Vol. 1,” the first solo disc by Aventura’s Romeo Santos, remained in the No. 1 position on Billboard’s list of best-selling Latin Albums for a third consecutive week.

Debuting in second place was a live album from Shakira, “En vivo desde Paris,” which pushed Jenni Rivera’s “Joyas Prestadas: Banda” into third.

Another new release, “Intentalo” by 3BallMTY, took the fourth spot, while Vicente Fernandez kept his grip on No. 5 with “Otra vez.”

Read more by HS News Staff →

177 skeletons will arrive to a Machu Picchu Museum later on today, as part of the second shipment of relics that Yale University is returning to Perú.

A shipment of 26 boxes of Incan relics was flown from New York to Cuzco earlier this week and will complete its journey today upon arrival to the Casa Concha Museum in Machu Picchu.

This shipment is the second out of the three scheduled deliveries containing some 40,000 objects that explorer Hiram Bingham dug up in the Peruvian site back in 1911, and eventually donated to Yale University. 

A third delivery containing pottery and stone-ware findings is scheduled for December of next year.

Cayo Garcia Miranda, a member of the International Centre for the Study of Machu Picchu and Inca Culture said the remains are important to archaeological research and to the understanding of Peru’s history.

“It is essential to have these objects, which show much of our history. Also, DNA testing can show the genetic, pathological and anatomical characteristics of ancient Peruvians,” he said.

Read more at infobae.com →

A training center in New Mexico for women living near the U.S.-Mexican border is providing those of them who never received a formal education with the chance to learn a trade.

In the hope of learning to be economically self-sufficient, Ana Maria Carrillo, a single mother of two, came to the Women’s Intercultural Center in Anthony, New Mexico.

Carrillo, a Mexican immigrant, told Efe that with the Center’s help she managed to reorganize her life, find a job and provide a home for her family.

The Center is a non-profit organization whose main objective is to train women who do not have a formal education so that they can look after themselves.

“Each year we receive about 3,400 students who have not had the opportunity for the necessary learning to improve their quality of life,” said Mary Carter, the organization’s executive director.

Classes in sewing, English, painting, computers, yoga, zumba and hair styling are just some of the things that students can learn about to help them find a paid position within the labor market.

“Sometimes, we ask for a voluntary donation of $2.00 to cover the cost of materials, but those who cannot give this money continue with their classes anyway,” said Ilse Arrieta, the coordinator of the Center’s programs.

Arrieta said that several of their students are women who come from the nearby city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to get training and offer their children a better future.

“If a woman is economic self-sufficient, she can better provide for her family, get better educational opportunities for her children and transform herself into a model of change for the community in general,” Arrieta said.

According to Tina Marquez, an instructor in embroidery, several of her students have already found work in sewing businesses and one of them even opened her own shop.

“These women come to learn a skill, and with sacrifice they manage to start their own small businesses, and at the same time they will help their classmates. Our educational work fills us with pride and satisfaction,” the instructor told Efe.

Many of the students are women who have been the victims of domestic violence or have been subjugated by male-dominated society, where their role does not extend farther than caring for their children, and when they are abandoned by their husbands they find themselves in economic limbo.

“We want all those women who have not formally prepared themselves in life to know that it’s never too late to learn a skill that helps them,” said Carter, adding that among the Center’s students are several grandmothers who come to class each day to learn something new

Read more by HS News Staff →

Tuesday, archaeologists from Mexico’s National Anthropology and History Institute (INAH) announced that they had found what they believe to be some of the earliest offerings at the site of Mexico’s tallest pyramid.

The artifacts discovered at the core of Teotihuacan’s Pyramid of the Sun are said to have been the first offerings made at the site, left at a sort of ground-breaking ceremony in A.D. 50.

In the 1930s, researchers dug a tunnel through the pyramid and using those same tunnels current experts dug a bit deeper, and reached the pyramid’s core and dug extensions.

Among other things, the modern archaeologists discovered a green stone mask said to be so “delicately carved and detailed” that they believe it may have been a portrait. Eleven clay pots were also found, along with the remains of several animals believed to have been sacrificed, including an eagle who had been fed rabbits just before it was sacrificed, and even the remains of an infant.

The Pyramid of the Sun stands about 200 feet high and 700 feet wide, and was built atop a tunnel-like cave some believe to be a portal to the underworld, though experts have long believed it served at a royal tomb.

The ruined city of Teotihuacan has some of the largest pyramids built in the pre-Columbian Americas, and include temples, palaces, apartment-style complexes, and is said to have once been home to 200,000 people. When discovered by the Aztecs around the year 1300, it had already been abandoned for year centuries. Researchers have only been able to speculate about the cause of the original inhabitants’ disappearance, but had suggested drought, famine, or warfare as possible causes.

Read more by HS News Staff →

Following a comprehensive investigation, the Justice Department (DOJ) today announced its findings in the ongoing civil rights investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

The Justice Department found reasonable cause, after opening an investigation in June, 2008, to believe that under the leadership of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the office has engaged in a pattern or practice of misconduct that violates the Constitution and federal law. 

Specifically, the DOJ found that:

• Discriminatory policing practices including unlawful stops, detentions and arrests of Latinos;
• Unlawful retaliation against individuals exercising their First Amendment right to criticize Arpaio’s policies or practices, including but not limited to practices relating to its discriminatory treatment of Latinos; and
• Discriminatory jail practices against Latino inmates with limited English by punishing them and denying them critical services. 

The investigation also uncovered additional areas of serious concern, including: 

• Use of excessive force;
• Police practices that do not adequately protect Latino residents; and
• Failure to adequately investigate allegations of sexual assaults. 

DOJ will seek to obtain a court agreement and will attempt to work with Arpaio and Maricopa County officials to develop and implement a comprehensive reform plan with the judicial oversight. 

Read more by HS News Staff →

On Friday, a state district court in Denver, Colorado ruled in favor of plaintiffs in the State’s first adequacy case, Lobato v. Colorado, a lawsuit in which MALDEF represented Colorado parents seeking adequate funding for at-risk and English Language Learner (“ELL”) students in the Colorado school system.

The plaintiffs originally filed the lawsuit in 2005 on behalf of parents and school districts, arguing that the State of Colorado had failed to adequately fund their education. MALDEF’s intervention in February 2010 focused on the inadequate funding for at-risk students and ELL students.

In its ruling, the court stated, “there is not enough money in the system to permit school districts across the State to properly implement standards-based education and to meet the requirements of state law and regulation. This is true for districts of every description – rural, suburban, urban and those with small or large student populations. There is not one school district that is sufficiently funded. This is an obvious hallmark of an irrational system.”

The court went on to state that “The problem has been compounded by the fact that during this same time Colorado and virtually every school district have experienced significant demographic changes, particularly in the number and concentrations of English language learners, ethnic minorities, and children of poverty.”

Read more by HS News Staff →

Watch and listen to Los Vazquez Sounds’ cover of Mariah Carey’s holiday favorite “All I Want For Christmas Is You”.

The siblings recently signed a record deal with Sony Music, so it appears more songs are on their way from this talented family.

Related Videos

Read more by HS News Staff →

The best soccer team in Europe, and the best in South America will clash Sunday in a Club World Cup Final that is a duel between Neymar and Leo Messi.

Barça defeated the Quatari squad this morning in a game that left striker David Villa with a fractured tibia; Chilean Alexis Sánchez—who incidentally replaced Villa, also left the game injured, he tore a hamstring.

Even with two injured star-strikers, Barcelona should be quite the contender for the Brazilians, whose last appearance in the tournament was back in 1963 with Pelé leading the attack.

This time around, Santos’ figure is young Neymar, rapidly raising as a soccer superstar and the author of the best goal of the tournament, so far:

Don’t miss this rivalry unfold! The best two teams in the world collide Sunday (11.30, GMT+1), who will it be, Messi and the Barcelona FC, or new sensation Neymar and the Brazilian Santos?

Read more by HS News Staff →

Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón inaugurated the exhibition on “Treasures of Spain’s Royal Palaces: A Shared History,” the first international exhibition at the National Gallery.

The president declared that this exhibition confirms the links between Spain and Mexico since it includes over 270 original works from famous Spanish institutions such as the Royal Palace of Madrid, the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, the Royal Monastery of St. Lawrence of the Escorial and the El Prado Museum.

He explained that the exhibition will include paintings by major artists such as Titian, Paolo Veronese, El Greco, Rubens, Velázquez, Zurbarán and Goya and items and furniture used by the Spanish monarchs and produced by the greatest craftsmen and goldsmiths of Europe, such as Charles V’s portable altar and desk and his armor. It will also display 100 pieces from the vice-regal period in Mexico, reflecting the splendor achieved during that era, such as portraits of the viceroys, screens with decorations reflecting the cultural connectivity between Asia, America and Europe.

The president announced that a special hall has been opened in the National Palace called “Testimonies of the Nation. Pieces and Mementoes of Mexico’s Independence, the Reform and the Mexican Revolution.” The hall will remain open until September 2012 and contains 26 pieces selected from the “Mexico 200 years. A Nation under Construction,” exhibition staged to celebrate the Year of the Nation.

The president concluded by inviting families, young people, children and all Mexicans to visit the exhibition. Admission will be free and the exhibition will run until May 31, 2012.

Read more by HS News Staff →

President Barack Obama’s administration announced that it will hold a major auction of oil and gas leases in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

In a statement, the government said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will travel to New Orleans on Wednesday to hold a major oil and gas lease sale covering more than 85,000 sq. kilometers (21 million acres) in the Gulf of Mexico - a move that comes 18 months after BP’s massive oil spill, the largest in the country’s history.

The sale of rights to the deepwater tracts also comes on the heels of last week’s lease sale covering more than 567 sq. kilometers (140,000 acres) in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve.

The initiative is one of several steps, including additional lease sales, offshore lease extensions and steps to streamline permitting, that are aimed at meeting a series of directives announced by Obama in May, the White House said.

Those moves, which have included licenses to drill in areas of Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico that were previously off-limits, are aimed at achieving the president’s goal of “expanding safe and responsible domestic oil and gas production.”

The Department of the Interior estimates that Wednesday’s lease sale could result in the production of between 222 million and 423 million barrels of oil and up to 2.65 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the White House said.

The administration also noted that, in the wake of the oil spill resulting from the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, it put in place “unprecedented safety reforms for offshore drilling, working with industry to improve practices and oversight.”

Those steps, the White House said, will ensure these new areas are developed safely.

Since implementing the new safety standards, the administration has “approved 97 shallow water permits in the Gulf of Mexico and 211 permits for activities at 60 deepwater wells,” the statement said.

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A new drug tested in Brazil will increase the chances of cure for more than 90% of infants who are infected by Chagas disease, parasitic disease, endemic in 21 Latin American countries, which each year cause many victims more than malaria.

Until recently, children were treated with improvised methods, adopting drugs used for adults. According to the responsible of the Clinical Program of Chagas, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, this new drug has a great potential impact on infants and children who are less than two years old or weigh up to 20 kilos. An exact dose of LAFEPE Benznidazole, this is the new drug, will minimize the risk of overdose or the wrong dose.

Worldwide, Chagas still infects between eight to 10 million people, mainly in Latin America, and kills around 12 000, most die from heart problems. The insect vector, in fact, pricks men transmitting the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which enters the bloodstream and triggers a progressive deterioration of heart tissue, causing disability and death in severe cases. This insect hides in cracks and crevices of brick, reeds, straw and logs, including the materials of the most humble lodgings in the towns and settlements. However, the transmission of the disease also occurs through blood transfusions, organ transplants and through the placenta. Boys and girls are particularly vulnerable to infection.

Most of the 14 000 born each year affected by the disease are infected by maternal transmission.

This disease has been changing over the years due to migration, it has become a pathology easily detectable in the suburbs of large cities, where the most common form is the mother-child transmission. Many women find that they are infected during pregnancy. The Brazilian laboratory LAFEPE is the only manufacturer of benznidazole in the world and has made the product available at cost to all governments and NGOs.

Work is underway to register the drug in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Paraguay, countries where the prevalence of the disease is very high and treatment is urgently needed. There are about 300 000 cases in the United States and some European countries.

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The U.S. Government is deeply troubled by reports of increased repression by the Government of Cuba against Cuban citizens peacefully expressing themselves.

Of particular concern are reports that government officials and government-organized groups detained, harassed, and assaulted dozens of human rights activists, journalists, and others to prevent them from marking Human Rights Day on December 10. President Obama has declared Human Rights Week from December 10 to December 17.

Members of the Damas de Blanco, winners of the Department of State’s 2011 Human Rights Defenders Award, faced harassment by government officials and pro-government groups over the past week and were arrested after attending Mass on Sunday December 4.

Several activists, including one detained November 30 for demonstrating peacefully in a Havana park, have been held without charges or judicial review. Over the last month, dozens of other activists have faced repression throughout the island. Reports put the number of detentions in December at more than 300.

Victoria Nuland, spokesperson for the State Department noted:

“At a time when citizens around the world are marking Human Rights Week, we call for an immediate end to the harassment and violence against Cuban citizens who are peaceful critics of the government.”

“President Obama has focused our policy toward Cuba on increased engagement with the Cuban people to promote democratic ideals and improve human rights conditions on the island.”

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A former police officer of Puerto Rico has been convicted by a federal jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for his role in providing security for drug transactions.

Javier A. Diaz Castro, 30, was convicted on Dec. 12, 2011, of two counts of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, two counts of attempting to possess with the intent to distribute, and two counts of possession of a firearm.  Diaz was charged in an indictment unsealed on Oct. 6, 2010, along with 88 other law enforcement officers in Puerto Rico and 44 other individuals, as part of the FBI undercover operation known as Guard Shack.

According to the indictment and information presented in court, on at least two occasions in 2010, Diaz provided security for what he believed were a series of illegal drug deals, but which in fact were part of the undercover FBI operation.  Diaz, a 10-year veteran of the police force, was assigned to the frauds unit at the time of the transactions.  According to information presented at trial, Diaz was brought into the scheme by another police officer of Puerto Rico.

In return for the security he provided, based on his departmental training and using his service weapon, Diaz received cash payments of $2,000 per transaction.

At sentencing, Diaz faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison.

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