Some good news from Haiti...
Mexico City - Mexican citizen Carlos Peralta Valle, 38, was located today by Foreign Ministry consular personnel. He sustained a fracture to his right foot and a detached retina in his left eye when the school in which he was giving Spanish classes collapsed. Preliminary information indicates that Mr. Peralta was trapped in the ruins for approximately 13 hours before being rescued. The Foreign Ministry became aware that Mr. Peralta was in Haiti when a family member called the 24-hour hotline set up in Mexico for this purpose. After his rescue by a local team, Mr. Peralta took shelter in the St. Louis church in Port-au-Prince. Embassy personnel moved him from there to the Mexican rescue-workers’ camp located near the airport. Depending on the opinions of the Mexican doctors who are treating him, he will be repatriated immediately if possible. His Haitian wife has not yet been located.
If you are missing relatives in Haiti, please call 01-55 3686 5883 for assistance.
Mexico Foreign Secretary At East Asia-Latin America Cooperation Forum
MEXICO CITY (ISRIA) Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa ended a working visit to Tokyo today, where she participated in the 4th Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC). The Tokyo Declaration, signed at the conclusion of the meeting, reflects the determination of the forum’s member countries to work together to face the challenge of climate change and to guarantee that environmental protection is compatible with economic and social development.
During the meeting, Espinosa analyzed the situation in Haiti after the earthquake, saying that the Mexican government has donated eight million dollars that will be channeled through the United Nations. In addition, she said that Mexico has sent humanitarian aid, medicine, supplies, disaster experts, rescue personnel and technical personnel specialized in medical emergencies and damage assessment.
Espinosa stressed the importance of transforming the commitments included in the Tokyo Declaration into concrete actions. Mexico will host the next United Nations Conference on Climate Change and Espinosa stressed that Mexico would do everything possible to forge consensuses and to assure the success of the negotiations. She said that the Mexican government gives priority to the issue of sustainable development and to measures to overcome the global economic recession to avoid another crisis in the future.
Mexico Should Push to Double Pension Contributions
Mexico City (Bloomberg) -- The Mexican government should require companies and employees to more than double their pension contributions to bolster retirement incomes and the economy, said Oscar Franco, head of the pension association.
The limit should “gradually” be raised to 14 percent of an employee’s salary, said Franco, executive director of the pension group known as Amafore.
“Without a doubt, today’s 6.5 percent contribution is insufficient for a proper pension,” Franco said in today in an interview in Bloomberg’s Mexico City offices. The group plans to lobby Congress this year on the issue because “it cannot be postponed,” he said.
Raising pension fund contributions would increase these holdings to up to 50 percent of gross domestic product, or GDP, by 2030 and help Mexico invest in infrastructure projects, Franco said. Pension funds currently represent 10 percent of GDP, which represents Mexico’s 14 government-regulated funds.
U.S. to reassess 'virtual' fence on border with Mexico
TUCSON, Ariz. — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's latest version of a border "virtual fence" has suffered another setback — prompting Secretary Janet Napolitano to order a department-wide reassessment of the program.
Officials expected to have a 17-tower system up and working along 23 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border flanking Sasabe, Ariz., by the end of 2009. But the handover to the Border Patrol has been delayed at least three more months. The Sasabe grid is the first in a series of virtual fences planned for the Southwest border. Virtual fences along the entire Southwest border were supposed to be completed by October 2009. Now they are expected to be finished by 2016. The surveillance systems are one part of the government's three-pronged border-security strategy, which also includes added border barriers and agents.
The sensor towers have day and night cameras. Radar and sensor signal control units on top and unattended ground sensor receivers halfway down are linked to collect information about who and what is coming across the border. The sensor towers have a 3.7-mile radius.
Cheap Mexican Peso Wins Over Aberdeen
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s peso is winning over the world’s largest foreign-exchange traders as the economic recovery in the neighboring U.S. boosts the value of one of the cheapest currencies in emerging markets.
The peso will be the best performer in Latin America this year, according to 19 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, with Deutsche Bank AG and Royal Bank of Scotland Group forecasting an 8 percent advance against the dollar. Pacific Investment Management Co., the world’s biggest bond fund, said this month the peso offers “compelling” value. Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimates the peso is underpriced by 12 percent.
The Mexican currency is forecast to at least double last year’s 4 percent gain after exports rose to a 13-month high and industrial output fell the least since July 2008. The U.S, which buys 80 percent of Mexican overseas sales, will post 2.7 percent economic growth this year, double the pace of the 16-nation euro area and Japan, forecasts compiled by Bloomberg show.
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SCT Seeks to Make Mexico a Primary Logistics Platform
MEXICO CITY (Mexidata) The Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT)plans to turn Mexico into the main logistical platform of North America, declared SCT Secretary Juan Francisco Molinar Horcasitas. During the presentation of major investment projects that the SCT has set for this year, the secretary said it is of utmost importance that Mexican ports receive Asian containers before they arrive at American ports. To encourage this sector, the secretary urged investment in the modernization and expansion of the national infrastructure in ports, especially at Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan, which "will be the second largest port in the American Pacific." The secretary went on to call the administration of President Felipe Calderon as "the six-year term of infrastructure" by revealing that during the first three years of his term public and private investment in communications and transportation is 2.5 times higher than the six-year terms of Vicente Fox and Ernesto Zedillo.
OSI Wins Mexican Airport Contract
Los Angeles – Hawthorne, California-based OSI Systems Inc. today said that its Rapi-scan Systems security division was awarded a $35 million dollar contract to upgrade baggage screening systems at 12 airports in Mexico.
OSI Systems will install its Rapiscan advanced screening baggage handling and related equipment upgrades at airports operated in Central and Northern Mexico, including Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos.
“We believe that our combination of a successful track record, cost-effective, state-of-the-art technologies and efficient services make us an ideal supplier of aviation security systems for fast-growing emerging markets such as Latin America,” said Chief Executive Deepak Chopra in a press release.
SPECIAL REPORT
It's Monarch butterfly migration season and this year's count is at a record low... here is a very interesting update about one of the world's and Mexico's most closely watched natural phenomenons, from MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT of Canada's Globe and Mail.
The number of monarch butterflies in the Mexican colonies where the colorful orange and black migratory insects spend their winters has declined to the lowest on record. The colony size totals only 1.92 hectares this winter, the equivalent of about 2½ soccer fields, compared with the previous low in 2004 of 2.19 hectares, according to the latest Mexican census.
Although the slippage between the two years is slight and is being attributed mainly to weather-related factors last year, biologists and butterfly watchers have been alarmed by the trend to significantly smaller colonies.
In the 1990s, monarchs occupied an average of about nine hectares of forests each winter, but for the 10 years ended in 2009 the size had fallen to less than five hectares, according to figures issued by researchers at the University of Kansas.
The main factor behind the decline in 2009 was the weather, with a mixture of drought and excessively high and low temperatures undermining the butterflies across the vast North American territory where they breed and migrate. The latest census was conducted by WWF Mexico, a conservation advocacy group, and posted on its website.
The University of Kansas' Monarch Watch program director, Dr. Orley Taylor, said the monarchs have been suffering from a loss of habitat. One problem is the massive expansion in the amount of genetically modified corn and soybeans planted by farmers. These crops have led to an increase in herbicide use, which has eliminated milkweed plants that the butterfly larvae depend on for food.
Rural land is also being converted to urban development, and once-idled farmland that may have hosted milkweed plants is being returning to production to take advantage of the demand for corn and soybean biofuels. Because of the key role of milkweed as food for the species, Dr. Taylor has been urging landowners to plant some of it to help the butterflies.
The mountains of Mi-cho-a-can state are famous for the annual Monarch migration, with the insects traveling from as far north as Canada. The butterflies that migrate south from Central and Eastern Canada in the fall are the so-called Methuselah generation, long-lived insects that travel up to 2,500 kilometers to Mi-cho-a-can state in Mexico, where they winter in dense, tree-covering colonies first discovered by scientists in the 1970s.
These butterflies then begin the northward migration each spring to nearby areas in Texas, where they breed, producing progeny whose offspring eventually return to Canada each summer to repeat the cycle. The monarchs that winter in Mi-cho-a-can can live up to eight months, but those in the northward migration may live only a few weeks.
The number of monarchs in the colonies has been estimated at up to 60 million per hectare, but butterfly experts fear that populations will crash to such low levels that it will eliminate the annual mass migration of tens of millions.
Entertainment News
If you're a fan of musician Alejandro Sanz, he will kick off his "Tour Paraíso" with concerts in Mexico City February 23 to 27, Guadalajara on March 4 and Monterrey on March 6, performing songs from his new CD, "Paraiso Express", which includes the single "Looking for Paradise," a duet with Alicia Keys.
Lifestyle News
Importation of most Mexican chicharrones now banned
Los Angeles - Don't try stuffing your suitcase with chicharrones if you're returning from Los Cabos unless you have a health certificate. U.S. Customs and Border Protection began implementing new regulations Thursday that ban the importation of pork skins from most Mexican states without an official declaration they were cooked in ways that kill the AH1N1 virus. The ban does not affect Mexican states bordering California and Arizona because swine fever has not been detected there -- importation of pork skins with the meat attached has long been banned.
Who would want to travel with chicharrones when they often can find them in US markets you may ask? A lot of people.
"We see chicharrones all the time," said Jackie Dizdul, a customs spokeswoman in San Diego. "It's a taste of home," said Leslie Gomez-Montez, a customs-service agricultural field manager who has never found chicharrones that come close to those her grandmother prepares.
Mexico City Twitter users face tip-offs action
Mexico City - Twitter users revealing the locations of police drinking and driving checkpoints in Mexico city could face prosecution. Mexico City public safety department spokesman Julio Iver said it was illegal for anyone to "divulge privileged information on police agencies", but he did not say what sanctions the Twitter users could face.
Mexico City police change the location of the breath-test checkpoints each day to discourage drinking and driving. Police cannot do roving tests from their patrol cars because the city requires that a doctor be present to administer the examinations. A Twitter account has been tweeting the location of the checkpoints since at least December, apparently allowing motorists to avoid them.
Called "Anti Breath Test", the account now has over 3,400 followers.
The city's criminal code sets out fines of $455 to $2,270, and jail terms of six months to five years, for anyone who "in any way assists a criminal in avoiding investigation by legally constituted authorities or in escaping from them".
As of Monday, the account continued to be active, with tweets from users with nicknames like "drinkspiration" warning about checkpoints.
Uh-Oh...Mexico's 2009 Tequila Production is Down 20%
MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)--Mexican tequila production fell sharply last year after a bumper 2008, while exports were practically unchanged from a year earlier, according to the Agriculture Ministry. The ministry said in a weekend press release that tequila production last year was 249 million liters. That was 20% below the record 312 million liters that the tequila regulatory council reported for 2008. Exports in 2009 were little changed from 2008 with tequila made entirely from the agave plant up 3.9% to 37.3 million liters, the ministry said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: It appears that more folks are buying our premium 100% blue agave sipping tequilas. Sales may have dropped overall but consumers know good tequila when they taste it. Salud!
From YourSite.com
January 19, 2010 News
Posted in:
News
By Sabrina Lear
Jan 24, 2010 - 8:33:28 PM
Jan 24, 2010 - 8:33:28 PM
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