[NYTr] Mexico Launches Plan to Combat Global Warming Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 04:57:22 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Milt Shapiro (mexnews) Reuters - May 28, 2007 Mexico Launches Plan to Combat Global Warming Reuters MEXICO CITY - Mexico promised to plant 250 million trees this year and ban old trucks and buses from the roads as part of a plan launched on Friday to fight global warming. President Felipe Calderon, handing out trees at a ceremony to promote his national climate change strategy, said there would be cleaner gasoline, more wind energy and more use of solar power in houses, especially in Mexico's sun-baked north. "The fact that other big countries are not disposed to take on the responsibility and continue to damage the environment must not be an excuse to feign ignorance of our own responsibilities," Calderon said. Mexico is one of the major developing nations that will take part in a global warming summit in Germany early in June. The United States has rejected Germany's bid to get the Group of Eight to agree at the meeting to tough cuts in carbon emissions which cause global warming. Mexico has many environmental problems, including massive illegal logging, old buses and trucks that belch black smoke into the air and pollute cities. It also uses huge amounts of fossil fuels as a major oil producer. The Mexican plan wants to take off the roads all buses and trucks that are 10 years old or over from next year and to plant 250 million trees in 2007. Calderon, a former energy minister, also said he wanted to bump up Mexico's wind power generation by tenfold. Mexico has a naturally windy zone in the south of the country where wind farms already exist. The plan also hopes to increase independent power generation and co-generation alongside the state oil and gas monopoly Pemex. Calderon said cleaning up public power companies and making them more efficient was an integral part of the plan. He said Pemex and electricity companies CFE and Luz y Fuerza should clean up their acts. "Unfortunately I am fully conscious that perhaps our biggest challenge is in our own government-owned companies," Calderon said. Global warming is blamed mainly on fossil fuels and deforestation. Rising world temperatures have brought more deadly hurricanes, droughts and floods, experts say. * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ [NYTr] TeVes Replaces RCTV - Veneauela Takes Globovision, CNN to Task Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 15:59:00 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit [The New York Times newsbrief actually refers to RCTV as a "dissident network." The whole issue of this coup-supporting TV station has been dominating mainstream news about Venezuela, with dozens of articles publshed over the holiday weekend. Will the dreadful Globovision be next? -NY Transfer] excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - May 29, 2007 Summary: [Yesterday, the new public television station Teves (Televisora Venezolana Social) began broadcasting on Channel 2, taking the place of RCTV. The government-funded station has editorial autonomy, much like public broadcasters in the U.S. and elsewhere. The Associated Press reports that Teves began its programming by playing the Venezuelan national anthem, using this fact to raise questions about the relationship between Teves and the current administration. However, all TV and radio outlets in Venezuela begin and end the day by airing the national anthem. The Financial Times reports that Teves will initially be broadcast in only 2 Venezuelan cities, as it will not assume all of the 53 transmitters that RCTV operated. RCTV, the opposition-aligned station that faced a non-renewal of its licensing, ended its own tenure on the airwaves on Sunday at midnight, and protests of the channel's end made news over the weekend. Injuries were sustained by protesters as well as police in confrontations on Sunday and Monday, according to the Miami Herald. RCTV's employees and fans -- among them the devotees of the channel's famous soap operas -- allege that the non-renewal is an example of censorship and a "clampdown" on press freedoms, while the government explains its actions as a response to RCTV's legal infringements, which include inciting political violence during the 2002 coup attempt against President Chavez. Some members of the public also readily point out the connection between RCTV and the coup; a letter to the editor of the Christian Science Monitor reads: "imagine if The New York Times supported a coup against the US president. Don't you think there would be some response by the president? This comparison should have been made. Some news agencies didn't even mention the possible connection between RCTV and the overthrow plot." Information Minister Willian Lara announced yesterday that an investigation will be held regarding another of Venezuela's opposition-aligned stations, Globovision, the Associated Press reports. The station is suspected of calling for the assassination of President Chavez. CNN's coverage of Venezuelan issues is also under scrutiny, Lara commented, for its attempts to associate Venezuela with terrorism by juxtaposing images of Chavez and Al Qaeda leaders.-VIO] *** The New York Times - May 29, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/world/americas/29briefs-globovision.html Venezuela: Government Sets Sights on GlobovisiC3n and CNN By Simon Romero The government lashed out at GlobovisiC3n, the country's only remaining television channel that is critical of its policies, accusing it of manipulating images to incite an assassination attempt against President Hugo ChC!vez. Willian Lara, the communications minister, called for an investigation of GlobovisiC3n, a 24-hour news channel, saying semioticians hired by the government had determined that video run by the channel of an assassination attempt in 1981 against Pope John Paul II could be interpreted as hostile to Mr. ChC!vez. Mr. Lara, who also denounced CNN's coverage of Venezuela, made his claims as the police dispersed protests [sic] for a second day against a decision forcing the dissident network RCTV off the air on Sunday. *** AP via International Herald Tribune - May 29, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/29/america/venez.php Venezuela sees assassination plot by critical TV station The Associated Press CARACAS: The Venezuelan government on Monday asked prosecutors to investigate a leading television station critical of President Hugo ChC!vez over its alleged use of "subliminal messages" to call for the president's assassination. Information Minister Willian Lara said the station, GlobovisiC3n, encouraged an attempt on ChC!vez's life by broadcasting the chorus of a salsa tune - "Have faith, this doesn't end here" - along with footage of the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II. "They incite the assassination of Venezuela's president," Lara said at a news conference. The GlobovisiC3n director Alberto Federico Ravell denied any wrongdoing, calling the allegations "ridiculous." The accusations came a day after GlobovisiC3n closely covered demonstrators protesting ChC!vez's decision to force another station, the opposition-aligned Radio Caracas Television, off the air by not renewing its broadcasting license. GlobovisiC3n is now the major opposition-aligned channel, though it does not reach all parts of the country. Two other channels that used to be staunchly anti-ChC!vez - VenevisiC3n and Televen - have toned down their criticism of the government. Lara also urged prosecutors to investigate CNN for an alleged smear campaign against Venezuela, saying the Atlanta-based cable news network had juxtaposed images of ChC!vez and an alleged leader of Al Qaeda as part of an attempt to associate the Venezuelan leader with terrorism. "This network, CNN, which claims to be a world leader in news, blatantly lies because it has a political position against Venezuela, because it forms part of a powerful transnational group with an echo in Venezuela," he said. Representatives of CNN could not be immediately reached for comment. Since taking office in 1999, ChC!vez has repeatedly clashed with the media, accusing TV channels and newspapers of unfairly portraying him as anti-democratic and ignoring his administration's achievements. He denies threatening press freedoms, arguing that freedom of expression has flourished - as shown by many private newspapers and radio stations that are harshly critical. Critics argue that ChC!vez is gradually increasing state control over the airwaves. Groups like Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have called ChC!vez's decision not to renew RCTV's license a flagrant effort to silence criticism. * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================