EE.UU. urge a Cuba a liberar a Alan Gross en el 4to aniversario de su arresto

Terra España

Foto reciente de Alan Gross en la prisión, distribuida por su familia 
cafefuerte.com

Estados Unidos urgió hoy de nuevo a Cuba a liberar "inmediata e incondicionalmente" al contratista estadounidense Alan Gross en la víspera del cuarto aniversario de su arresto, y consideró "gravemente decepcionante" que su encarcelamiento se haya prolongado tanto.

"Mañana, el trabajador humanitario Alan Gross comenzará un quinto año de injusto encarcelamiento en Cuba", indicó el Departamento de Estado en un comunicado.

Gross, de 64 años, fue arrestado y encarcelado el 3 de diciembre de 2009, y en 2011 se le condenó a 15 años de cárcel por lo que el Gobierno cubano describió como "acciones contra la integridad territorial del Estado".

El Gobierno estadounidense niega ese cargo y mantiene que Gross trataba simplemente de proporcionar acceso "sin censura" a Internet para "una pequeña comunidad religiosa" judía en la isla.

"Es gravemente decepcionante, especialmente teniendo en cuenta su declarado objetivo de proporcionar acceso a Internet a los cubanos, que el Gobierno de Cuba no haya permitido que Gross pueda volver para estar junto a su familia, donde pertenece", señaló el comunicado.

"Reiteramos nuestro llamado al Gobierno cubano, haciéndonos eco de muchos líderes extranjeros e incluso de aliados de Cuba, para liberar inmediata e incondicionalmente a Alan Gross", agregó.

La condena a Gross, que Washington considera injusta, y los desacuerdos en cuanto al destino de "Los Cinco" cubanos, de los que cuatro cumplen condena por espionaje en Florida, han enfriado en los últimos años el diálogo entre Washington y La Habana.

Estados Unidos ha pedido reiteradamente la liberación de Gross y lo hizo incluso durante el tenue acercamiento bilateral que escenificaron los dos países a mediados de este año, cuando mantuvieron un diálogo sobre migración y otro sobre la posibilidad de reanudar el correo postal directo.

Cuba, por su parte, mantiene que el proceso a Gross fue justo y asegura estar dispuesta a negociar con EE.UU. para resolver el asunto, que se ha convertido en el principal obstáculo para el avance de la política de apertura iniciada por el presidente estadounidense Barack Obama a su llegada al poder.

Gross es "un esposo, padre y profesional dedicado con un largo historial de proporcionar ayuda a comunidades desprovistas de los servicios necesarios en más de 50 países", insistió hoy el Departamento de Estado.

Fidel y el "photoshop"

www.soberania.org

Grupo Milenio

Rogelio Villarreal

Fidel Castro nunca tuvo intenciones de instaurar la democracia en Cuba después del derrocamiento de la dictadura de Fulgencio Batista en 1959, a pesar de sus declaraciones que expresaban lo contrario. El germen del totalitarismo no tardó en aflorar y del anunciado proyecto nacionalista, con elecciones incluidas, se pasó en 1961 al comunismo prosoviético y antiimperialista: a la represión, a los fusilamientos y al exilio de cientos de miles de familias. En “Fidel Castro, el poder y su máscara” Antonio Elorza cuenta que el mismo líder de la revolución así lo reconoció en el Primer Congreso del Partido Comunista, en diciembre de 1975 cuando habla de un grupo de jóvenes que “nacieron a la conciencia política a principios de los años cincuenta” y que se empaparon de marxismo-leninismo como “doctrina atrayente e incontrastable” (Letras Libres, noviembre de 2002). Más claro, ni el agua: “Se hicieron y se proclamaron en cada etapa los objetivos que estaban a la orden del día y para los cuales el movimiento revolucionario y el pueblo habían adquirido la suficiente madurez”, sigue Castro en el Informe. “La proclamación del socialismo en el periodo de lucha insurreccional no hubiese sido todavía comprendida por el pueblo, y el imperialismo habría intervenido directamente con sus fuerzas militares en nuestra patria”.

El 17 de abril de 2010 murió a los 89 años Carlos Franqui, en Puerto Rico. Escritor y activista político, Franqui fue compañero de armas de Castro y director del diario Revolución desde la clandestinidad en 1955, en plena dictadura batistiana, hasta su salida de Cuba en 1963 por diferencias con una burocracia que no admitía disensos culturales ni, mucho menos, políticos, aunque no rompió abiertamente con el régimen castrista sino hasta 1968, cuando las tropas soviéticas aplastaron en la antigua Checoeslovaquia los esfuerzos reformadores de Dubcek. “Lo que yo quería era hacer una revolución cultural, no burocrática, e invitar a todo el mundo a conocer Cuba y su Revolución”, dijo en una entrevista a Letras Libres en 2006. Antes de partir había acercado a Cuba a intelectuales y artistas como Picasso, Breton, Le Corbusier, Sartre, Miró, Neruda y Goytisolo, pues creía en la consigna martiana de “ser cultos para ser libres”.

Al triunfo de la revolución el editor italiano Feltrinelli le pidió a Castro que escribiera su biografía, lo que éste a su vez le encargó a Franqui, quien, por su pertenencia al círculo íntimo del líder, tuvo acceso a una información copiosa y a documentos de primera mano, lo que le permitió publicar Cuba: el libro de los doce (1966) y, ya exiliado en Italia, Diario de la revolución cubana (1976). En Retrato de familia con Fidel (1981) Franqui ofrece en 536 páginas un cuadro descarnado y autocrítico de los primeros años de la revolución, los más crueles y sangrientos: la gesta desnuda y su líder inmoral, ávido del poder absoluto que para conseguirlo no duda en emplear todos los métodos, como habían hecho antes Lenin y Stalin en Rusia. Como Stalin, que borró de cuadros y fotografías oficiales la figura de Trotsky y otros disidentes, también Castro quiso cambiar la historia y eliminó a Franqui de numerosas fotografías, como la que ilustra la elocuente portada del Retrato con familia... Al ver esta foto, ya sin su rostro, Carlos Franqui escribió: “Descubro mi muerte fotográfica. ¿Existo? Soy un poco de blanco, un poco de negro, un poco de mierda en la chaqueta de Fidel”.

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Royal Canadian Mint’s chair allegedly helped a former prime minister’s heirs hide millions of dollars offshore

Follow The Money

http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/aappr/8762563/canada-mint-chair-accused-in-offshore-tax-scheme-cbc

James Love with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty

James Love, who also advised Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on international taxation, acted on behalf of the family of Arthur Meighen, who served as prime minister of Canada from July 10, 1920 to December 29, 1921.

In a lawsuit, two Meighen granddaughters accused him of breach of trust over the offshore transactions they claimed were unlawful and negligent.

Court documents in the suit filed in 2008 and discreetly settled three years later say Love helped arrange the transfer of more than Can$8 million starting in 1996 to Bermuda, Barbados and Antigua.

Obtained by public broadcaster CBC, the documents show Tara and Alyssa Meighen had concerns about taxes, interest and penalties if the scheme was ever exposed.

The CBC said Love countered in sworn statements that the offshore transfers “resulted in significant savings of Canadian taxes” for Meighen’s heirs, estimated at Can$1 million.

He also denied any breach of trust.

Moving assets to offshore trusts is not inherently illegal, but Canada and other Western nations have moved to tighten the rules to prevent abuses.

Love reportedly acknowledged in an affidavit rules in the Canadian tax code “to prevent transfers of assets from Canada to avoid Canadian taxation.”

But he nevertheless advised trustees of the Meighen family fortune that “it might be possible to structure a transaction that would have the intended results.”

“Such a result might be obtained through a more complex transaction,” he said in the affidavit.

Former prime minister Arthur Meighen's great-granddaugthers Tarah Wright, right, and Alyssa Wright, centre, alleged that lawyer James Love, left, helped their grandfather effectively cut them off from their inheritance, in part using offshore investments. (CP/Farzin Photography/Dalhousie University)

The trustee, Canada Trust, which has since been absorbed by TD Bank, agreed to what it described as a “tax avoidance scheme” in an internal memo filed with the court.

The money was routed through a dozen transfers involving numbered companies and bank accounts in Ontario, New York, Barbados, Bermuda and Antigua, as well as share transfers and loans.

Eventually the funds appeared to end up back in Canada. The Antigua holding companies that absorbed the funds reportedly hired Love’s Toronto-based financial firm, Legacy Private Trust, as an investment manager.

Love was appointed to the board of the Royal Canadian Mint in 2006 and was named chair in 2009.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jim-love-canadian-mint-chairman-helped-run-offshore-tax-avoidance-scheme-for-clients-1.2441347

Love, a close friend of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty who was appointed to the Mint’s board in 2006, was also a trustee for most of the last decade of the Arthur Meighen Trust, an entity set up by the former Conservative PM in 1949 to distribute his wealth to his family. Before taking on that formal role, documents show Love had been an adviser and “close” friend to several Meighen family members.

It was in that advisory role that Love, in the mid-1990s, informed the managers of the Meighen Trust that they could get “Canadian tax relief on the income from about 40 per cent of the [trust] assets” if they moved the money offshore, Meighen’s great-granddaughters say in their statement of claim.

The use of secret accounts in offshore jurisdictions like Switzerland or the Cayman Islands has been thrust into the media limelight in recent years, following a spate of data leaks — including from several Swiss banks — that exposed account-holders’ identities and information.  The most recent large leak was made public in April, when CBC News teamed up with the U.S.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to report on secret accounts linked to 130,000 people worldwide.

Spies worry over “doomsday” cache stashed by ex-NSA contractor Snowden

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/25/us-usa-security-doomsday-idUSBRE9AO0Y120131125?feedType=RSS&feedName=everything&virtualBrandChannel=11563

British and U.S. intelligence officials say they are worried about a “doomsday” cache of highly classified, heavily encrypted material they believe former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has stored on a data cloud.

The cache contains documents generated by the NSA and other agencies and includes names of U.S. and allied intelligence personnel, seven current and former U.S. officials and other sources briefed on the matter said.

The data is protected with sophisticated encryption, and multiple passwords are needed to open it, said two of the sources, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

The passwords are in the possession of at least three different people and are valid for only a brief time window each day, they said. The identities of persons who might have the passwords are unknown.

Spokespeople for both NSA and the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

One source described the cache of still unpublished material as Snowden’s “insurance policy” against arrest or physical harm.

U.S. officials and other sources said only a small proportion of the classified material Snowden downloaded during stints as a contract systems administrator for NSA has been made public. Some Obama Administration officials have said privately that Snowden downloaded enough material to fuel two more years of news stories.

“The worst is yet to come,” said one former U.S. official who follows the investigation closely.

Snowden, who is believed to have downloaded between 50,000 and 200,000 classified NSA and British government documents, is living in Russia under temporary asylum, where he fled after traveling to Hong Kong. He has been charged in the United States under the Espionage Act.

Cryptome, a website which started publishing leaked secret documents years before the group WikiLeaks or Snowden surfaced, estimated that the total number of Snowden documents made public so far is over 500.

Given Snowden’s presence in Moscow, and the low likelihood that he will return to the United States anytime soon, U.S. and British authorities say they are focused more on dealing with the consequences of the material he has released than trying to apprehend him.

Presidente chileno visitara Cuba y exigira respuesta por el paradero de los asesinos de Jaime Guzmán

La vocera de gobierno, Cecilia Pérez, confirmó la asistencia del Presidente Sebastián Piñera a la cumbre de la Celac, en Cuba, y aseguró que el Gobierno “busca avanzar en todas las instancias que impliquen que los culpables del asesinato, en democracia, del senador Jaime Guzmán, cumplan con su condena”

Continuar leyendo en El Dínamo >>

Cuba: Denuncian 761 detenciones arbitrarias en noviembre

europapress

MADRID, 2 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -    

   La Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional (CCDHRN), una organización opositora al régimen de Raúl Castro, ha denunciado que durante el mes de noviembre ha verificado al menos 761 detenciones "arbitrarias" de corta duración por alegadas razones políticas.

   La CCDHRN ha dicho que durante el pasado mes de noviembre "el nivel de represión política contra pacíficos opositores siguió siendo muy alto", y ha señalado que se han registrado al menos 192 víctimas de agresiones físicas, 119 de actos vandálicos, 94 de diversas formas de hostigamiento y 72 de los llamados "mítines de repudio".

   En un comunicado, la organización ha expuesto que aunque "resulta palpable el creciente aumento de la represión política" (y también de la represión social) en toda Cuba, en este pasado mes se han registrado las cifras más altas de opositores pacíficos reprimidos en las orientales provincias de Santiago de Cuba y Holguín, en las de Matanzas y Villa Clara (región central) y en La Habana.

   Según la CCDHRN, el caso "más grave e inquietante de criminalidad policial" tuvo lugar en Colón, provincia de Matanzas, el pasado 8 de noviembre, cuando varios agentes del Ministerio del Interior, vestidos de civil, hicieron numerosos disparos contra el ciudadano Jose Luis Zumaguera Miranda, de 45 años, quien recibió siete impactos de bala al salir huyendo de su hogar adonde fueron a detenerle bajo la sospecha, según informes, de que había hurtado una bicicleta.

   La Comisión entiende que los policías actuantes incurrieron en un "grave delito" previsto en las leyes vigentes, y espera que las autoridades competentes esclarezcan públicamente este hecho, tenga lugar un proceso judicial "y se evite cualquier forma de impunidad", señala el comunicado.

Cuba: Se elevan a 135 los derrumbes en La Habana por temporal de lluvias

Diario El Mundo

noticieros.televisa.com

Las intensas y persistentes lluvias que afectaron a La Habana en los últimos días provocaron 135 derrumbes en edificios, 18 de ellos totales, y 1.546 personas continúan evacuadas, informaron hoy medios locales.

El temporal obligó a evacuar a 417 familias, de las cuales más de 200 se refugiaron en casas de familiares y vecinos para protegerse de inundaciones y de posibles derrumbes, según el vicepresidente del Consejo de la Administración estatal de la provincia La Habana, Jua Montalvo, citado por el semanario “Trabajadores”.

Los restantes se encuentran alojados en 25 centros habilitados por el Gobierno en cada municipio de la capital, añadió el funcionario que además indicó que las personas evacuadas no deben regresar a sus hogares hasta que terminen las evaluaciones en sus lugares de residencia y se adopten las decisiones pertinentes.

Un maratón de lluvias casi ininterrumpidas y fuertes a intervalos durante los últimos tres días volvieron a poner de manifiesto la vulnerabilidad estructural de edificaciones habaneras muy deterioradas por el paso del tiempo y la falta de mantenimiento constructivo en barriadas como las de Centro Habana.

Congressional Intelligence Chairs: We're 'Not Safer' From Terror Threats

Business Insider 

Brett LoGiurato

The chairs of the congressional intelligence committees surprised CNN anchor Candy Crowley on Sunday by saying that the U.S. is "not safer" today from terror threats than it was in recent years.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, made that claim in a joint interview on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

Crowley began the interview by asking a familiar question to Feinstein. 

"Are we safer now than we were a year ago, two years ago?" she said. 

"I don't think so," Feinstein said. "I think terror is up worldwide — the statistics indicate that. The fatalities are way up. The numbers are way up. There are new bombs — very big bombs. There are trucks being reinforced for those bombs. There are bombs that go through magnetometers. The bomb-maker is still alive. There are more groups than ever. And there is huge malevolence out there."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rogers-feinstein-not-safer-terror-threats-intelligence-snowden-2013-12#ixzz2mKqlhNib

Karzai security pact gambit aimed at keeping US money filling his pockets

By Jim Miklaszewski, Chief Pentagon Correspondent, NBC News

Afghan Presidency via Reuters

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, left, meets with U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice in Kabul on Nov. 25.

Behind a seemingly never-ending game of brinkmanship with the United States over a bilateral security agreement, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has a simple goal, according to U.S. military officials: Ensure that billions of dollars in aid from Washington continues to flow to feed the cycle of corruption that keeps him in power.

ANALYSIS

“It’s all about the money,” said one senior U.S. official, who like the others spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity. 

The poker game over an estimated $4 billion to $6 billion a year in U.S. and NATO aid that would be expected to continue to flow into the country if a new agreement is signed is playing out on the stage of international diplomacy, but U.S. officials say financial considerations are driving Karzai’s negotiating tactics. Those considerations reportedly include bags of cash he collects from the CIA.

It took well over a year for the United States and Afghanistan to hammer out the bilateral security agreement approved last weekend by the Loya Jirga, an assembly of Afghan elders.

But Karzai promptly raised the stakes again this week, telling National Security Adviser Susan Rice that he would not sign the bilateral security agreement with the U.S. unless the Obama administration agrees to a new set of last-minute demands:  That it take a role in peace talks with the Taliban and release 17 Afghans held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.  

The White House pushed back, with Rice essentially telling Karzai to sign the agreement by the end of December, or the U.S. would pick up its troops -- along with the billions in future financial aid  -- and go home by the end of 2014. 

The second part of that threat undoubtedly got Karzai’s attention, U.S. officials say, because the U.S. aid is crucial to his future as Afghanistan heads toward a presidential election on April 5, 2014 – a campaign for which Karzai is not eligible due to term limits.

The Afghan government and large segments of society have become heavily dependent on U.S. aid over the past 12 years. But corruption is rampant in Kabul and U.S. officials believe it can never be eliminated.

“It’s a cost of doing business in Afghanistan at every level,” said one official.

Keep reading at investigations >>

Owens' 1936 Olympic Medal Up for Auction

AssociatedPress

China's moon mission: Country launches first ever landing craft into orbit

ITN

Honduras: En Islas del Cisne se refugian otros 30 balseros cubanos

Diario La Prensa Honduras

El grupo de 27 hombres y tres mujeres salió de Cuba el pasado 10 de noviembre.
Ayer fueron trasladados a La Ceiba.

El grupo de cubanos permanecen en las instalaciones donde antes funcionó el Crila.

La Ceiba. Con quemaduras en la piel y algunos con heridas leves llegaron ayer a esta ciudad 30 balseros cubanos.

El grupo partió de Manzanillo el pasado 10 de noviembre es integrada por 27 hombres y tres mujeres. Ellos huyeron de su país buscando mejorar la situación económica de su familia. Robert Delgado manifestó que en su país los salarios son muy bajos, por eso decidió aventurarse arriesgando su vida para salir de esa situación.

Michelle Darbonce, originario de Bayamo, Granma, contó sobre la difícil travesía que tuvieron que pasar para llegar a este país. “Salimos de Cuba rumbo a Caimán luego trazamos para llegar a Guanaja, pero nos cogió un mal tiempo de tres días que nos tiró hacia el Golfo de México y de ahí llegamos a la Isla del Cisne, la embarcación estaba dañada y ya le estaba entrando agua”, contó.

Después de permanecer 13 días en Islas del Cisne fueron ayudados por la tripulación de la embarcación Capitán Mincho, la que les proporcionó ropa, alimento y fueron traídos a La Ceiba, ahí permanecen donde funcionaba El Crila.

 

Construyen panteón familiar en casa natal de Fidel y Raúl Castro

cafefuerte

Por Wilfredo Cancio Isla

Un nuevo panteón familiar está en ejecución en la casa natal de Fidel y Raúl Castro en la zona de Birán, en el oriente de Cuba, como parte de las labores de  restauración emprendidas en el histórico inmueble desde el pasado noviembre.

La construcción de la cripta formará parte de un pequeño mausoleo donde yacen actualmente los restos de Angel Castro Argiz y Lina Ruz González, padres de los hermanos Castro, en las afueras de la vivienda, que forma parte del llamado Conjunto Histórico de Birán (CHB). En el sitio también están enterrados Dominga González y Francisco Ruz, padres de Lina Ruz.

La faena constructiva está a cargo de la Empresa Constructora Puerto Carenas, adscrita a la Oficina del Historiador de La Habana, Eusebio Leal, y responsabilizada con el plan maestro de recuperación de la capital cubana.

La información fue difundida en un reportaje de la Televisión Cubana, el pasado 12 de noviembre, el cual reveló que el programa de restauración del complejo museístico se prolongará hasta finales del 2014.

Motivo impreciso

No se precisó el motivo del nuevo panteón familiar, pero todo indica que la construcción está destinada a ampliar la capacidad del recinto.

El periodista Juan Gabriel Gordín, autor del reportaje, se limitó a destacar el hecho de que fuera la empresa Puerto Carenas la designada para estas obras, considerando “la importancia que reviste este sitio para todos los cubanos”.

De los siete hermanos Castro Ruz, solo ha fallecido Angelita, en febrero del 2012. Ramón, cercano a los 90 años, se encuentra delicado de salud. El gobernante Raúl Castro, de 82 años, ha expresado su voluntad de ser enterrado en el Mausoleo del Segundo Frente Frank País, en las montañas de Santiago de Cuba, donde fue sepultada su esposa, Vilma Espín, en 2007.

El proyecto constructivo de Birán incluye además la recuperación de techos, canales y carpintería de la vivienda, buscando “una similitud casi exacta a los originales”.

“Con el paso del tiempo y el proceso de restauración, estamos devolviendo la vida a un museo que es historia viva, no solo por ser la cuna de los dos grandes líderes de la revolución, sino porque también es parte de la historia de formación ideocultural de Birán”, afirmó Lázaro Manuel Castro, director del CHB, entrevistado para el reportaje.

Esplendor de antaño

El material indicó que “gracias a estas acciones” el sitio recuperará el esplendor de antaño, y exaltó el museo “un sitio de obligada visita para todos los cubanos”.

El proceso no se quedará solo en los inmuebles del lugar, sino que abarcará también la restauración de objetos museables de diferentes tipos, desde documentos, figuras de porcelana y de yeso, hasta las piezas de madera y cuero. En la casa se conservan aún la cama donde Lina Ruz parió a cada uno de sus siete hijos, así como la cuna donde los Castro durmieron en sus primeros meses de vida.

Un total de 1,175 objetos del museo son considerados por el Consejo Nacional de Patrimonio del Ministerio de Cultura como de “categoría extraordinaria”.

Establecida en 1915 en tierras de la finca Manacas, municipio de Cueto, la comunidad de Birán creció en unos 300 metros cuadrados alrededor de la casa de Angel Castro Argiz, quien inicialmente se dedicó al cultivo de la caña de azúcar.  Once de las 27 instalaciones originales se preservan aún en el lugar, declarado Monumento Nacional en 2009.

Veinte años después

La casa original de madera fue destruida por un incendio en 1954, pero una réplica cercana se construyó 20 años después.

La vivienda quedó abierta como museo en noviembre de 2002, bajo el empeño personal de Raúl Castro. La última visita de Fidel Castro al lugar ocurrió el 23 de septiembre de 2003, en ocasión del centenario de Lina Ruz, quien falleció en 1963.

Fidel Castro, de 87 años, no aparece en público desde el pasado abril, cuando inauguró una escuela comunitaria en La Habana y rindió homenaje póstumo a Hugo Chávez. Las últimas fotos suyas que se conocen fueron publicadas en la prensa oficial, a finales de julio, tras la visita a su casa del presidente venezolano Nicolás Maduro.

El pasado 31 de octubre, tras su visita a La Habana, el  vicepresidente de la India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari, dijo haber tenido un encuentro con el anciano líder cubano “fue para presentarle sus respetos a un icono”. Pero la prensa oficial cubana no hizo referencia a la reunión.

 

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N.Korea resumes missile site construction: US institute

spacewar
by Staff Writers Seoul (AFP) Nov 30, 2013

Tonghae satellite launching ground North Korea

North Korea has resumed construction work on a missile launch site on its northeast coast after a months-long hiatus, part of a renewed push for its nuclear and missile programmes, according to a US think-tank.
Recent satellite imagery shows work has resumed on new facilities at the North's Tonghae launch site, the US-Korea Institute of Johns Hopkins University posted on its 38 North website.
The facilities appear designed to test future generations of larger, more capable rockets, it said.
The restart of work at Tonghgae indicates that North Korea is still committed to maintaining two launch sites along with the Sohae site on the west coast.
But the institute said there were no signs of an imminent long-range rocket test at either site.
The US-Korea Institute said in October that North Korea has undertaken major construction work at Sohae, possibly to cater to larger and more mobile weapons.
The Sohae site was used for the launch in December of the North's Unha-3 carrier, which successfully placed a satellite in orbit.
Construction at Tonhae had appeared to be on hold since early 2013.
But images taken between September 16 and November 18 show work resumed on the new launch control center and the assembly building, the US-Korea Institute said.
There is no sign of further construction yet at the new launch pad or on an access road, it said.
The North's rocket launch in December was condemned by most in the international community as a disguised ballistic missile test that violated UN sanctions on Pyongyang.
North Korea insisted it was a purely scientific mission and vowed to push ahead with similar launches in the future.
North Korea is pushing for a resumption of six-party talks on its nuclear programme, but the United States says it must first demonstrate a commitment to denuclearisation.
Another long-range rocket launch would be taken as a step in the opposite direction and almost certainly result in fresh sanctions.
The US-Korea Institute said in early November that the North was making progress on an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a first-generation nuclear warhead to the continental United States.
Missile delivery has often been cited as the main weakness of the North's nuclear weapons programme which, after three tests, is believed to be close to mastering the key technology of warhead miniaturisation.

Michael Jordan and his Cuban-American model wife are expecting their first child

GlobalPost

hollywoodlife.com

(Reuters) - Retired American basketball star Michael Jordan is going to be a father again. He and his Cuban-American model wife, Yvette Prieto, are expecting their first child, celebrity magazine Us Weekly reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed Jordan representative.

No due date was reported.

Jordan, 50, and Prieto, 34, were married in April in Florida after a five-year courtship. They live near Miami.

Jordan has three adult children from his previous 17-year marriage to Juanita Venoy, which ended in divorce in 2006.

The Hall of Fame player won six National Basketball Association championships with the Chicago Bulls. He won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award five times and was named an all-star 14 times.

His on-court success and commercial endorsements have made him one of the most recognizable and prosperous athletes in the United States

RCMP arrest Ontario man for attempting to sell secrets to China

The RCMP have arrested a 53-year-old man for attempting to sell classified secrets to China.
The Mounties allege Qing Quentin Huang was attempting to pass information of a "classified nature" to China regarding Canada's shipbuilding procurement strategy.
The kind of information the suspect attempted to pass to the Chinese government involved the building of "vessels that protect our borders," said the RCMP.
More at The Globe and Mail >>

Cuba:Tourism continues slide

Cuba Standard

Graphic by Cuba's statistics institute: First drop in five years

CUBA STANDARD — The number of foreign visitors to Cuba continued its year-long slide in October, dropping 0.9 percent from the same month in 2012.

The total in October was 167,977 visitors, down from 169,566 a year ago.

Year-to-date through the end of October, the total number of visitors was 2,312,609, down 1.2 percent from the same period last year.

The weakness comes as the “other” category, the second-largest outbound category that includes visitors from the United States, dropped 3.8 percent, indicating that people-to-people travel and family visits may begin to wane. Also, traditionally important European markets such as Italy, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Russia continued to drop, as did Argentina.

The strongest-performing outbound market and engine that drives Cuban tourism continues to be Canada, with 1.8 percent more visitors year-to-date. Other strong performers are Germany (+5.5%), Mexico (+10.3%), Venezuela (+18.9%), Chile (+31.5%), Colombia (+4.9%), and China (+15.1%).

Cuban hotels have been able to compensate for part of the drop in international tourism with a fast-rising number of Cuban guests. Domestic tourism in Cuba grew 12.6 percent in the first seven months of the year — the most recent data available — compared to the same period in 2012. A total of 339,470 Cubans stayed in hard-currency hotels from January through the end of July, making them the third-largest contingent, following Canadian and U.S. visitors. Tourism officials expect the number to reach 625,000 by the end of this year, nearly 100,000 more than in 2012.

Also, Cuban state tourism companies are making strides to diversify their portfolio. Boating and golf projects are among the top investment priorities in Cuba; a large marina is expected to open in the beach resort of Varadero in December.

Diagnostica Cuba cada año más de mil 500 casos de VIH-Sida

periodicodigital

La Habana, Cuba.- Cuba diagnostica cada año más de mil 500 casos de VIH-Sida, de los que un 80 por ciento tienen entre 15 y 49 años de edad, informó la jefa del Departamento de Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual del Ministerio de Salud Pública, María Lantero.

El 80 por ciento de los infectados son hombres, y de estos el 90 por ciento son hombres que tienen sexo con otros hombres, detalló la especialista en declaraciones a la prensa en el marco del Día Mundial de la Lucha contra el Sida, que se celebra el 1 de diciembre.

Lantero aseguró que Cuba garantiza la atención integral a toda persona con el virus de inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH), incluyendo tratamiento antirretroviral y apoyo psicológico y social.

La especialista dijo que las infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS) y el VIH-Sida forman parte del cuadro de salud de esta nación caribeña con 11.1 millones de habitantes.

Señaló que se aboga por el uso del condón como herramienta eficaz para la prevención de las ITS y se fomentan los conocimientos en materia de prevención, asimismo, se promueve su empleo correcto y sistemático.

Reveló que más del 99 por ciento de todos los casos que se diagnostican han adquirido la infección a través de relaciones sexuales sin protección.

The Disappearance of China's Re-Education Camps | Foreign Affairs

By John Delury

Inmates listen to a speech, Shanxi province, September 1, 2010. (Courtesy Reuters)

Advocates for the rule of law in China won a victory two weeks ago when the most Kafkaesque aspect of the country’s penal system was officially slated for abolition. The system of laodong jiaoyang, or laojiao for short, translates, innocuously enough, to “re-education through labor.” In practice, laojiao is a system of punishment for misfits -- from drug addicts to political critics -- whose rehabilitation is deemed to require years of forced labor without the benefit of a trial or even a chance to hear formal charges. It is a remnant of Maoist Communism that is entirely at odds with the country’s contemporary capitalist sheen.

When the Chinese Communist Party plenum, an annual conclave of top leaders, announced its intention to do away with the system, it was rightly considered a major test of new president Xi Jinping’s determination to reform the country’s political system. But it is far too soon to conclude whether he has passed the test. Xi’s decisions at the recent plenum -- which included creating high-level commissions to coordinate foreign policy, domestic security, and economic reform, strengthening the market and shrinking the state’s role in the economy, and easing the one-child policy -- have mostly served to clarify the battle lines in the Chinese political establishment over issues of reform. In the case of laojiao, those battle lines are especially entrenched, given that they were drawn in the beginnings of China’s Communist era.

Keep reading on Foreign Affairs >>

The Nuclear Deal With Iran Was About Trust, Not Verification | Foreign Affairs

By Kenneth Pollack

An Iranian boy holds the national flag with a plastic gun with in central Tehran, March 31, 2008. (Morteza Nikoubazl / Courtesy Reuters)

It is difficult to judge the nuclear agreement forged last weekend in Geneva as anything other than a good deal. The Iranians will be no closer to having a nuclear breakout capability when the deal concludes than they are today. The amount of money that the Iranians will get is paltry -- about $7 billion total over six months -- especially compared to the roughly $30 billion that Tehran will lose during that period as a result of the sanctions on oil sales and financial transactions, all of which remain firmly in place. The objections that have been raised to the deal so far are either specious or tautological, or require the kind of tenuous conspiracy thinking that we typically disparage when it comes from the Iranians. 

But the deal is only a small step in the right direction. Iran will end up somewhat farther away from developing a nuclear breakout capability, but it is hard to go much beyond that. There are so many ways for Iran to acquire the fissile material for a nuclear weapon that it is impossible to assess whether it will set Iran back by a week, a month, or a year. (Any such claims tend to reflect what the claimant wants you to believe much more than objective reality.) Moreover, the interim agreement will last for only six months and says nothing about what will happen at the end of that period. The hope is that the two sides will use the time to craft a comprehensive follow-on agreement; but the interim deal contains only the broadest signposts for such an agreement. Three years from now, if there is no comprehensive agreement, this interim deal is going to look irrelevant -- not bad, just immaterial. 

In that sense, the interim deal is only important to the extent it helps to produce that ultimate, comprehensive agreement. Fortunately, the deal has real value as a confidence-building measure.

Keep reading at Foreign Affairs >>

Rouhani's Gorbachev Moment | Foreign Affairs

By Stephen Kotkin

www.internationalpolicydigest.org

Could Iranian President Hassan Rouhani be another Mikhail Gorbachev -- a real reformer who opens his country’s political system and creates the space for détente with the United States and Europe?

Historical analogies are always fraught, of course, and leaders who are championed as reformers almost always leave disillusionment in their wakes. In addition, the jury is still out on whether a nuclear deal between the United States and Iran, which would open the door for a relaxation of painful sanctions, is even a good idea -- the specifics of the agreement matter greatly.

But whichever side one comes down on, it is worth considering where the Islamic Republic might be headed. In that regard, there are a few areas to watch.

NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE

Gorbachev was unique, a true believer in Soviet renewal who sat at the very top of a profoundly centralized political system.

Rouhani is nothing like him. In fact, Rouhani came to power precisely because of Tehran’s deep fragmentation, particularly within its right-wing establishment. The fracturing created an opening that Rouhani burst through in a surprise electoral victory in June 2013. But it also means that he cannot impose far-reaching reform. No one in Iran could, not even Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. (If anything, the ceaseless invocations of Khamenei’s “supreme” authority testify to its absence, as well as his desire to have it.)

That said, the Iran state structure is similar to that of the former Soviet Union in some respects. Namely, both were born of revolution, which created a theocracy -- in one case with a clerical establishment, in the other with a Communist party -- that overrode the formal institutions of the state, such as parliaments, judiciaries, and civil service. In Iran, as in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, the revolution is aging, with far-reaching consequences. An official ideology, whether Marxism-Leninism or political Islam, can give a regime great power. But it can also destabilize the theocratic system if the populace and the rulers lose faith. And there, Iran is vulnerable.

A second similarity can be found in Iran’s imperial overstretch. It is problematic enough that Iran’s geopolitical ambitions significantly exceed its capabilities. But it is really taxing that the places and causes in which the country has chosen to become enmeshed are so volatile. Soviet leaders would sympathize: as KGB analysts ruefully lamented, mostly after the collapse of the union, the regime’s allies almost always seemed to be impoverished basket cases whose only industry was perpetual civil war. Working with them might have poked the United States in the eye. But it did little for Soviet prestige, economic well-being, and security. From Afghanistan and Angola to Cuba and Yemen, to say nothing of North Korea, hawkish Soviet foreign policy often resembled a very determined stomp on a rake. (Thwack.)

Something similar, on a smaller scale, could be said of Iran's foreign policy. By now, most Americans understand that the intervention in Iraq (the second Iraq War), waged at great cost in American blood and treasure, redounded to Iran’s geopolitical benefit. Many analysts argue that the United States’ failure to intervene militarily in Syria did the same. But it is difficult to pinpoint, precisely, what Iran gained in Iraq or Syria. It is unclear that Iranian regional “successes” improved its security or its citizens’ well-being. One could even argue that Iran’s support for mischief (and worse) has only heightened the regime’s vulnerability -- just like the domestic failures of political Islamism.

Like the Soviet Union, Iran lives in a tough geopolitical neighborhood, one that has only been getting tougher. Statelets concocted by French and British colonial officials, the bankruptcy of pan-Arab nationalism, the recent struggles to the death between hopelessly corrupt authoritarians and the opposition (which is also often authoritarian), some violent de facto partitions -- these have created a regional tangle that inflicts immense suffering and that no outside power can readily unknot.

Simply put, U.S. policy in the Middle East is in shambles because the Middle East is in shambles. Iran’s Middle East policy is in shambles too. Persistently playing the role of spoiler in one’s own neighborhood brings few long-term rewards -- and that is even before the recent round of international sanctions (a stunning achievement made possible by the fact that China and Russia, as much as they chafe at U.S. power, dislike any kind of revisionism other than their own). Thanks to Iran’s behavior, its neighborhood has become still more treacherous, and the pain is multiplied by the country’s international isolation, high inflation, and collapsing currency.

At this point, Iran has little to lose but its own chains if it reforms and cooperates with the West. Of course, that is no guarantee that it will. Just because something is necessary does not mean that it is politically feasible. In fact, Iran’s political establishment is far from ready for a drastic turnabout in relations with the Great Satan. The structures that facilitated the U.S.-Iranian alliance during the Cold War are long gone -- the genuine Soviet menace, the strongman regime installed by a U.S.-sponsored coup, even the intense dependency on foreign oil. At the same time, the U.S. alliance with Israel, Iran’s sworn enemy, has only deepened. Any mini-détente with the United States, which is vital for Iran’s domestic development, is going to require far-reaching domestic changes.

And herein lies Rouhani’s Gorbachev moment.

Keep reading at Foreign Affairs >>

Sindrome del Neocastrismo: Cuentapropistas castristas [2]

rafa dominguez

Emboldened by Iran Deal, North Korea May Have Restarted Nuclear Reactor

breitbart

By Frances Martel 

warnewsupdates.blogspot.com

It didn't take long for concerns that the Iranian nuclear deal could embolden other rogue nations to materialize. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced Thursday satellite footage strongly indicates that North Korea has restarted a formerly shut down plutonium plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which governs regulations for nuclear activity internationally and works with and under the United Nations, said Thursday that it has seen images showing steam, water, and other signs of life over the Yongbyon nuclear complex that had closed years ago, its cooling tower destroyed in 2008 as part of a multilateral deal to slow North Korea's nuclear development. "I remain seriously concerned," said IAEA head Yukiya Amano of the situation, noting that they have only overhead images as North Korea removed any UN inspectors from the country in 2009. 

North Korea had indicated it had intentions of restarting Yongbyon last April, but this is the first evidence that it is actively seeking to carry out that threat.

The restart of the Yongbyon complex is not the only post-Iran deal red flag from Pyongyang this week. The Johns Hopkins research institute specializing in U.S.-Korea relations published a report this week that overhead activity also indicated movements at an old missile launch control center in the Korean city of Tonghae. This news comes after yet another report this week shows evidence of Iran sending missile technicians to North Korea, which is especially alarming given that American intelligence indicates North Korea and Iran are both two years away from building a missile that could reach the United States.

North Korea's rhetoric has aligned with these increasingly belligerent actions. The communist state has also reacted belligerently to comments by U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Glyn Davies' comment that the rogue nation was "out of step" with the rest of the world on nuclear policy.

More than any other country on the globe, North Korea understands the benefits that come from haggling a sweet nuclear deal out of the West. From the 1990s through to the Obama administration, North Korea routinely signed onto and subsequently broke a number of agreements to stop its nuclear program in exchange for diminished sanctions and humanitarian aid. It milked the system to the best of its ability until, in 2009, it kicked UN inspectors out of the country and openly asserted its intention to develop nuclear weapons. 

Many have noticed the deal brokered with Iran bore some similarity to the deals with North Korea in the 1990s and have wondered whether Iran is following in North Korea's footsteps. It's possible, but what is irrefutable from the data on the table is that DPRK has taken the Iranian deal as a sign that it, too, can rekindle diplomatic fires long since diffused, restart nuclear plants, and ally with Iran to advance their agenda of mutually strengthening their military might against the West. 

The Iran deal did not just fail the West because of the impending threats to Israel's existence Benjamin Netanyahu so artfully articulated; it failed the civilized world because it expanded the scope of what is or isn't acceptable from unstable, aggressive states. It gave the green light to countries like North Korea to challenge the United States' authority on nuclear power and expect sanctions to be lowered and threats diminished if they agree to a meaningless diplomatic dance and ambiguous de-weaponization. 

That road is long, troubled, and riddled with danger for both negotiating Western nations and the neighboring states North Korea already has the technology to attack.

White House Misses HealthCare.Gov Fix Deadline

breitbart

By John Nolte 

The Washington Post reports that the White House will announce Sunday that it has met its self-imposed deadline to fix the federal ObamaCare exchange known as HealthCare.gov. The Post also reports that, like everything else surrounding ObamaCare, this announcement is not even close to true.

The faulty $600 million site has been improved over the course of the last two months. Still, though, it can only handle 50,000 users at a time. Moreover, the site still loads slowly and the capacity for 50,000 users hasn't yet been fully tested.

Earlier this month, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration's goal was to make the site usable for 80% of users -- another moving of the goal posts since the White House announced November 30 as a target date.  

Other deadline misses include the HealthCare.gov program that allows small businesses to enroll online. This feature, known as SHOP, has been delayed until after the 2014 midterm elections. What hasn't been postponed, though, are the insurance policy cancellations already plaguing small business owners.

In order to re-insure their employees, business owners will now have to work through a broker or insurance agent. That is if the the increased costs and hassles surrounding ObamaCare don't result in small business owners deciding that insuring their employees just isn’t worth it. CBS News reported last week that this is already happening.

The Wall Street Journal reports that technical problems will still inhibit HealthCare.gov from verifying users' identities and the transmission of accurate enrollment data to insurance providers. The fallout of the latter problem won't be readily apparent until someone who has been told they are insured tries to visit a doctor or emergency room only to discover their insurer has no idea who they are.

Some crucial parts of HealthCare.gov are not even built yet, including the mechanism that pays your insurance carrier the part of your premium covered by the federal government -- the infamous subsidy.

Some reports claim that in order for ObamaCare to meet its March 30 enrollment goal of 7-plus million enrollees (this number is necessary to make the system financially viable), somewhere around 54,000 people must sign up daily. Currently, only around 7,000 enrollments are occurring daily.

Granted, this is a big improvement over last month's enrollment numbers, but two times zero is still zero. 

Mexican Drug Cartels Now Make Money Exporting Ore

By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY
Mexican drug cartels looking to diversify their businesses long ago moved into oil theft, pirated goods, extortion and kidnapping, consuming an ever larger swath of the country's economy. This month, federal officials confirmed the cartels have even entered the country's lucrative mining industry, exporting iron ore to Chinese mills.

Such large-scale illegal mining operations were long thought to be wild rumor, but federal officials confirmed they had known about the cartels' involvement in mining since 2010, and that the Nov. 4 military takeover of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico's second-largest port, was aimed at cutting off the cartels' export trade.

That news served as a wake-up call to Mexicans that drug traffickers have penetrated the country's economy at unheard-of levels, becoming true Mafia-style organizations, ready to defend their mines at gun point.

Three Michoacan state detectives were wounded in an ambush earlier this week when they were traveling to investigate a mine taken over by criminals. When reinforcements arrived, those officers were also ambushed, part of a string of attacks on police in Michoacan on Wednesday and Thursday that left two officers dead and about a dozen wounded.

The Knights Templar cartel and its predecessor, the La Familia drug gang, have been stealing or extorting shipments of iron ore, or illegally extracting the mineral themselves and selling it through Pacific coast ports, said Michoacan residents, mining companies and current and former federal officials. The cartel had already imposed demands for "protection payments" on many in the state, including shopkeepers, ranchers and farmers.

But so deeply entrenched was the cartel connection to mines, mills, ports, export firms and land holders that it took authorities three years to confront the phenomenon head-on. Federal officials said they are looking to crack down on other ports where drug gangs are operating.

"This is the terrible thing about this process of (the cartel's) taking control of and reconfiguring the state," said Guillermo Valdes Castellanos, the former head of the country's top domestic intelligence agency. "They managed to impose a Mafia-style control of organized crime, and the different social groups like port authorities, transnational companies and local landowners, had to get in line."

Valdez Castellanos said that even back in 2010, the La Familia cartel would take ore from areas that were under concession to private mining companies, sometimes with the aid or complicity of local farmers and land owners, then sell the ore to processors, distributors and even, apparently, foreign firms.

Mexico's Economy Department said the problem was so severe that it prompted the government to quietly toughen rules on exporters in 2011 and 2012 and make them prove they received their ore from established, recognized sources.

Many exporters couldn't. In 2012, the department denied export applications from 13 companies, because they didn't meet the new rules. And the problem wasn't just limited to Michoacan, or the Knights Templar cartel.

"Since 2010, evidence surfaced of irregular mining of iron in the states of Jalisco, Michoacan and Colima," the department said in a statement to The Associated Press.

"That illegal activity was encouraged by the great demand for iron by countries such as China, to develop their industries," according to the department. "Many trading companies began to build up big stockpiles of legally and illegally obtained iron (ore), that was later shipped out for export."

More at breitbart >>

Cuba prevé un "ligero aumento" de infecciones por VIH en 2013

La Habana, 30 nov (EFE).- Cuba prevé cerrar el año con un "ligero aumento" de infecciones por VIH, si bien se mantienen niveles de estabilidad en los diagnósticos y el país se incluye entre los 18 con más baja transmisión, informó hoy un experto.

"El grupo que más nos está llamando la atención es el grupo entre 24 y 39 años, aunque hay un ligero aumento como en otros países del mundo también de la infección en aquellas personas mayores de 50 años", dijo a un telediario local el director del "Instituto de Medicina Tropical Pedro Kouri" (IPK), Jorge Pérez.

Con décadas de liderazgo en el tratamiento del VIH/sida en la isla, Pérez afirmó que la infección "parece que va a tener un ligero aumento" en 2013, pero no actualizó las cifras de casos.

Según datos oficiales de 2012, en Cuba se habían diagnosticado hasta esa fecha unas 17.000 personas con VIH, de las cuales más de 14.000 vivían al cierre del año pasado y un 85 por ciento tenía entre 15 y 49 años de edad.

"Estamos entre los países de menor transmisión en el área del Caribe, que es la región de mayor intensidad de la transmisión, y entre los 18 países de más baja transmisión", resaltó Pérez.

El médico subrayó, además, que la isla prácticamente ha logrado eliminar la transmisión materno-infantil, con solo 42 casos de niños infectados con el virus desde que apareció la enfermedad hasta la actualidad.

Por otra parte, destacó que el sistema de Salud Pública cubano ha podido cubrir el tratamiento antirretroviral "en el 100 por ciento de los necesitados".

Como reto, Pérez manifestó que Cuba tiene que dar "un salto" para cumplir los planes de "cero" nuevas infecciones, muertes por sida y discriminación y estigma, que plantean el Programa de las Naciones Unidas sobre el VIH/sida (Onusida) y la Organización Mundial de la Salud.

El experto opinó que en Cuba hay que trabajar desde la sociedad para evitar el estigma porque "desafortunadamente no es oficial pero es oficioso", y en concreto se refirió a casos de discriminación en el ámbito laboral.

Venezuela aplica mecanismos de bloqueo a internet similares a China

DANIEL GONZÁLEZ CAPPA |  EL UNIVERSAL

"En el fondo, Venezuela imita los mecanismos de bloqueo de Internet que se aplican en China". Así de tajante es Carlos Correa, director ejecutivo de la organización Espacio Público, aunque organizaciones internacionales aclaran que en el país no hay censura como tal.

El comunicador se refiere a los bloqueos a páginas web y enlaces Bit.ly ordenados por el Gobierno y llevados a cabo por la Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Conatel) con el fin de desarticular los portales de Internet que informaban sobre la cotización del dólar paralelo.

Para ello, Conatel pidió a ocho proveedores de Internet de Venezuela que bloquearan más de cien páginas que informaban sobre el valor del dólar y el euro en el mercado negro. No suficiente con ello, le abrió un proceso sancionatorio a los proveedores y pidió a Twitter eliminar las cuentas vinculadas en esa red social.

"Cuando analizas, las medidas (aplicadas por el Gobierno) son muy similares a lo que ocurre en China porque se responsabiliza a los proveedores e intermediarios del servicio de Internet sobre el contenido de terceros", explica Correa.

De acuerdo con Conatel, la difusión de esta información del dólar paralelo viola el artículo 27 de la Ley de Responsabilidad Social en Radio, Televisión y Medios Electrónicos (Resorteme), el cual establece que en los medios no está permitida la difusión de los mensajes que fomenten "zozobra en la ciudadanía o alteren el orden público".

Pero Espacio Público reitera que la medida es "arbitraria y unilateral", ya que no se hace un proceso judicial que justifique la acción, además de que el concepto de "zozobra queda a libre interpretación".

China posee un férreo control de Internet que impide a los internautas del país asiático visitar páginas con contenido prohibido por el Gobierno.

Para ello, el Estado chino se vale de un sistema de filtros y bloqueos conocido como "The Great Firewall". Páginas como Amnistía Internacional, Facebook, Twitter y algunos medios de información estadounidenses son redirigidos o simplemente bloqueados, explica la organización Freedom House.

La operación es llevada a cabo por los proveedores que están a cargo de los DNS (Domain Name Server), un sistema que traduce la dirección numérica de las páginas de Internet (IP). Cuando sale un contenido no deseado, los proveedores bloquean esa IP.

Correa aclara que muchas medidas aplicadas en China no están presentes en Venezuela, como el filtrado de resultados en los buscadores y un equipo de personas enfocadas en el monitoreo y bloqueo de páginas.

No es la primera vez que Venezuela enciende las alarmas por una posible censura en los medios electrónicos. Ya en el 2011 entró en la lista de países bajo vigilancia, elaborada por Reporteros Sin Frontera.

Ello se debía a una reforma a la Ley Resorte, aprobada por la Asamblea Nacional en 2010, con el fin de incluir a los medios electrónicos.

Aunque Freedom House explica que en Venezuela no hay censura, le llama la atención los consecuentes ataques a páginas web y cuentas de Twitter, bloqueos e interrupciones del servicio. El más sobresaliente fue el ocurrido el pasado 14 de abril, durante las elecciones presidenciales, cuando el Gobierno admitió haber "tumbado" el Internet por tres minutos para evitar ataques informáticos, dejando a gran parte del país sin el servicio. La acción se debió a una serie de ataques a cuentas de Twitter y páginas web.

NKorea images suggest reactor testing: IAEA

spacewar
by Staff Writers Vienna (AFP) Nov 28, 2013

Activities observed at North Korea's Yongbyon site indicate testing ahead of a possible restart to a reactor that could provide it with weapons-grade plutonium, the UN atomic agency said Thursday.
"Activities have been observed at the site that are consistent with an effort to restart the... reactor," International Atomic Energy Agency head Yukiya Amano told a closed-door regular meeting of the agency's board of governors.
He told the board the IAEA "continues to monitor developments at the Yongbyon site, mainly through satellite imagery".
At a later news conference Amano said the reactor activities included the release of steam from two vents and the apparent discharge of cooling water.
"As we do not have inspectors on the ground we cannot draw a conclusion," Amano said.
North Korea kicked out IAEA inspectors in 2009.
Since 2006 it has carried out three nuclear tests, the last, and most powerful, in February this year.
Two months later, it boasted that it would restart all facilities at Yongbyon to bolster its atomic arsenal.
South Korea's spy agency the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on October 8 in a report to parliament that the reactor had resumed operations.
This followed the release of satellite imagery by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the Institute for Science and International Security showing activity at the site.

Yongbyon was shut down in July 2007 and Pyongyang began disabling key plants there, publicly demolishing the plutonium reactor's cooling tower in 2008.

El relevo del cardenal Ortega quizás 'no sea tan pronto', opina una agencia católica

Diario de Cuba

Está "fuera de juego", "agotado", "sin iniciativas", y considerado un "lastre", según algunos católicos consultados por DIARIO DE CUBA, pero parece que aún se queda "un poco más".

Al cardenal Jaime Ortega y Alamino podría restarle medio año al frente de la Arquidiócesis de La Habana, considera la agencia católica Zenit, afincada en Roma.

"Ahora que el Año Jubilar ha concluido y que el nombre del cardenal desapareció del liderazgo de la COCC [Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Cuba], los analistas consideran que el reemplazo del arzobispo será pronto. Pero no tan pronto, quizás", advierte Zenit en un largo análisis sobre la situación del relevo.

La agencia apoya su tesis en que Ortega cumplirá 50 años de sacerdocio en agosto de 2014. También recuerda que en 2015 se cumplen los 500 años de la fundación de La Habana.

"Si su salud se mantiene, el papa Francisco podría respetar esas fechas permitiéndole celebrarlas aún al frente de la Arquidiócesis", indica el comentario.

Afirma que, en la selección del futuro arzobispo de la capital, el Papa "consideraría distintos elementos: la edad y la salud en todos sus aspectos, el perfil pastoral del candidato, su servicio a la Iglesia y la complejidad del país y de las diócesis implicadas".

"La edad de los candidatos determinará el numero de años de posible permanencia en el cargo y por ello mismo, quizás, el nombre del obispo de Ciego de Ávila, Mons. Mario Mestril, de 73 años, quedaría fuera de las predicciones", agrega.

Considera que al arzobispo de Camagüey, Juan García Rodríguez, de 61 años, "rara vez se le menciona como candidato por los analistas. Y sin embargo es un hombre 'con olor a oveja' y con el perfil que va marcando el papa Francisco".

Recientemente, la COCC reeligió al arzobispo de Santiago de Cuba, Dionisio García Ibañez, como su presidente. El nuevo vicepresidente es el obispo de Santa Clara, Arturo González Amador, puesto que antes ocupaba el cardenal Ortega.