- Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Fernando86

Amazonians sue Chevron over toxic waste

Fernando — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:32:00 +0000

TENS of thousands of Amazonians are suing Chevron, the American oil company, for poisoning their waterways in what is billed as one of the biggest environmental cases in history.

The Ecuadorean claimants said the company illegally dumped toxic waste from its oil production, which filtered into the lakes used by thousands of people for washing and drinking.

The result, they claimed, was one of the worst environmental disasters in history, which led to a public health crisis with rising levels of cancer, birth defects and miscarriages.

Some 30,000 Amazonians are behind a case to be heard by an Ecuadorean judge. Experts said the company might have to pay damages of up to $US27 billion ($29 billion).

In Bolivia, women bearing brunt of climate change

Fernando — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:41:20 +0000

On the steep, dusty slopes of the Chacaltaya mountains, thousands of meters above sea level in the Bolivian Andes, the hardy farmers tending root crops or herding llamas have no need of scientists or climatologists to measure the impact of global warming.

For as long as anyone can remember, communities such as the village of Botijlaca have relied on melting ice flowing down from the Chacaltaya glacier as a source of drinking water, to irrigate their crops and water their animals.

Now the 18,000-year-old glacier — once home to the world’s highest ski resort — has almost disappeared, reduced to a slither of snow and ice in the space of a few decades. Researchers say Chacaltaya has lost around 80 percent of its volume in just 20 years.

“There is less water now,” says Leocadia Quispe, a 60-year-old mother, grandmother and potato farmer. Seven of her eight children have left the region, she says, because there is no way for them to make a living. Most of the men of the village have also gone, heading to the conjoined urban sprawl of nearby La Paz and El Alto in search of work, returning just once or twice a month to see their wives and

Chávez’s support is slipping away - Does it matter?

Fernando — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:59:35 +0000

President Chávez came to power promising to harness Venezuela’s vast oil resources to create a 21st-century nation in which no one was deprived. Now, with water and electricity shortages and soaring crime and inflation, even his ardent supporters are beginning to turn away.

In Caracas, which has the world’s highest murder rates and runaway food prices, residents now face two days a week without water until May next year as the Government imposes rationing to cope with a 25 per cent shortfall in supply.

Mr Chávez blames “El Niño” droughts and capitalist excess.

“What will the rich fill their swimming pools with?” he jibed recently. “With the water that is denied inhabitants in the poor neighbourhoods.”

Venezuela to outlaw violent video games, toys Games

Fernando — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:28:30 +0000

Shouts of “Kill him! Kill him!” ring out as the preteens train their virtual assault rifles on the last remaining terrorist and spray him with bullets. Blood splatters. The enemy collapses. And they cheerfully wrap up another game of “Counter-Strike.”

The most popular video games among kids often imitate life outside this Internet cafe in San Augustin — one of the many crime-ridden slums in Venezuela’s capital, where residents say too many of the young players easily trade joysticks for guns.

In a bid to curb that trend, Venezuela’s National Assembly is on track to prohibit violent video games and toys. The proposed legislation, which received initial approval in September, is expected to get a final vote in the coming weeks.

Chavez in $2bn Russian arms deal

Fernando — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:33:30 +0000

Russia has agreed to lend Venezuela over $2bn (£1.2bn) to buy weapons, President Hugo Chavez has said. The credit will be used to purchase nearly 100 tanks and a series of anti-aircraft rocket systems from...