http://www.voanews.com/archive/americas/latest/594/616.html americas http://www.voanews.com/img/voa/rssLogo_VOA.gif http://www.voanews.com/archive/americas/latest/594/616.html en-US 2012 - VOA 60 Thu, 23 May 2013 17:25:37 -0400 Pangea CMS – VOA Moore, Oklahoma, the tiny suburb of Oklahoma City, is starting the difficult task of recovery following the powerful tornado that swept through on May 20, 2013. http://www.voanews.com/media/photogallery/1666354.html http://www.voanews.com/media/photogallery/1666354.html Thu, 23 May 2013 09:42:00 -0400 USA In Venezuela, the laws of supply and demand are undermining the socialist revolution started by the late President Hugo Chavez.  Since Chavez’s hand-picked successor Nicolas Maduro won the Venezuelan presidential election in April - by a margin of less than 2 percent - high inflation and a shortage of staple goods are now leading many on both sides of this politically-divided country to question whether its current economic course is sustainable. Recently, toilet paper has been in short ... http://www.voanews.com/content/free-market-reforms-needed-to-fix-venezuela-socialist-economic-problems/1666484.html http://www.voanews.com/content/free-market-reforms-needed-to-fix-venezuela-socialist-economic-problems/1666484.html Wed, 22 May 2013 17:35:28 -0400 Americas Brian Padden http://www.voanews.com/media/photogallery/1665066.html http://www.voanews.com/media/photogallery/1665066.html Tue, 21 May 2013 06:56:00 -0400 Americas A new app launched on Monday aims to bring William Shakespeare's sonnets to the masses with the help of short films starring stage actors performing them in front of New York landmarks.The Sonnet Project is a free app for the iPhone and iPad that showcases the bard's poetry through films of up to two minutes and performances by Tony-Award winning actors Joanna Gleason and Cady Huffman, among others.   “Shakespeare gets a bad rap. A lot of people say 'I don't like ... http://www.voanews.com/content/shakespeares-sonnets-come-to-life-in-new-app/1664596.html http://www.voanews.com/content/shakespeares-sonnets-come-to-life-in-new-app/1664596.html Mon, 20 May 2013 12:43:24 -0400 Arts & Entertainment Reuters Scientists say a new geologic epoch has begun whereby humans are causing major damage to global water systems. They warn of a planetary transformation comparable to the retreat of the glaciers more than 11,000 years ago. Scientists are meeting in Bonn, Germany this week (5/21-24) to discuss what can be done about it. While some still debate the extent to which humans have affected the environment, scientists meeting in Bonn have little doubt. In fact, there’s a name for the informal geologic ... http://www.voanews.com/content/global-water-20may13/1664546.html http://www.voanews.com/content/global-water-20may13/1664546.html Mon, 20 May 2013 11:47:52 -0400 Africa Joe DeCapua A new study says little is being done to meet the growing demand for modern contraception methods in poor countries. The Guttmacher Institute says there’s an increasing desire for smaller families.  Guttmacher says between 2003 and 2012 the number of women wanting to avoid pregnancy – and in need of modern contraception – rose from 716 million to 867 million. The sharpest increase was seen, it says, in the 69 poorest countries “where modern method use was already very low.” Senior ... http://www.voanews.com/content/contraception-poo-countries-20may13/1664256.html http://www.voanews.com/content/contraception-poo-countries-20may13/1664256.html Mon, 20 May 2013 06:10:02 -0400 Africa Joe DeCapua A federal court in Houston, Texas, has sentenced an Indian citizen and a Brazilian national to three years in prison for smuggling illegal migrants into the United States.   Kaushik Thakkar and Fabano Amorim were also given two years of supervised release when their prison terms end.   Prosecutors say the two charged Indian citizens up to $60,000 each and conspired to smuggle them into the United States through South and Central America and the Caribbean. Many crossed into ... http://www.voanews.com/content/indian-brazilian-national-sentenced-in-us-for-human-smuggling/1663565.html http://www.voanews.com/content/indian-brazilian-national-sentenced-in-us-for-human-smuggling/1663565.html Sat, 18 May 2013 07:41:08 -0400 USA VOA News Jorge Rafael Videla, an austere former army commander who led Argentina during the bloodiest period of a "dirty war" dictatorship and was unrepentant about kidnappings and murders ordered by the state, died on Friday at age 87.   Videla was the first president to head the military junta that "disappeared" thousands of suspected leftists from 1976 to 1983, and he spent his final years behind bars for human rights crimes including the systematic theft of babies born to ... http://www.voanews.com/content/former-argentine-dictator-jorge-rafael-videla-dirty-wars-junta-dies-at-87/1663255.html http://www.voanews.com/content/former-argentine-dictator-jorge-rafael-videla-dirty-wars-junta-dies-at-87/1663255.html Fri, 17 May 2013 14:26:26 -0400 Americas Reuters Federal police ordered some 200 Terena Indians to leave a former congressman's ranch in south-central Brazil on Thursday in the latest flashpoint of a widening conflict over land ownership in South America's farm belt. The ranch's owner, Ricardo Bacha, skipped a meeting in Brasilia with the country's vice president over the land conflicts to return to the disputed area, claiming his wife and son were being held hostage by the Indians. Brazil's indigenous policy, which ... http://www.voanews.com/content/brazil-indians-occupy-cattle-ranch-in-widening-lad-dispute/1662638.html http://www.voanews.com/content/brazil-indians-occupy-cattle-ranch-in-widening-lad-dispute/1662638.html Thu, 16 May 2013 16:24:33 -0400 Americas Reuters Peru's foreign minister has resigned, the government said on Wednesday, days after he was criticized for contributing to a diplomatic spat with Venezuela.   Rafael Roncagliolo, 68, resigned “strictly because of health reasons,” the office of President Ollanta Humala said in a statement.   Justice Minister Eda Rivas will be Peru's new foreign minister, the government said. Daniel Figallo, a deputy minister of human rights, will replace Rivas as justice minister.   “He ... http://www.voanews.com/content/venezuela-peru-health/1661844.html http://www.voanews.com/content/venezuela-peru-health/1661844.html Wed, 15 May 2013 16:35:49 -0400 Americas Reuters Canadian and British executives of three foreign businesses shut in 2011 by Cuban authorities, ostensibly for corrupt practices, have been charged after more than a year in custody and are expected to go on trial soon, sources close to the cases told Reuters.   The arrests, part of a broad government campaign to stamp out corruption, sent shockwaves through Cuba's small foreign business community where the companies were among the most visible players.   Until then, expulsions ... http://www.voanews.com/content/cuba-readies-corruption-trials-of-western-businessmen/1661102.html http://www.voanews.com/content/cuba-readies-corruption-trials-of-western-businessmen/1661102.html Tue, 14 May 2013 17:17:56 -0400 Americas Reuters Sometimes we get a clearer perspective by taking a step back. A new project by Google, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and TIME offers the distance we need to see our planet, and our species, like we’ve never seen them before. The project, called Earth Engine, is made up of more than 28 years of satellite images taken of Earth and turned into an interactive timelapse map that shows expanding cities, shrinking rainforests, drying lakes and melting glaciers. Dubai, 1984 - 2012. ... http://www.voanews.com/content/google-earth-engine-timelapse-shows-changing-planet/1661012.html http://www.voanews.com/content/google-earth-engine-timelapse-shows-changing-planet/1661012.html Tue, 14 May 2013 15:28:38 -0400 Science & Technology Kate Woodsome Venezuela in 2012 became a net importer of gasoline as a result of escalating problems at its refineries and increasing demand for fuel in its internal market, joining a growing list of countries that struggle with fuel supplies despite ample oil reserves.   The OPEC nation exported 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline and naphtha last year, according to state oil company PDVSA's annual report. But it imported an average of 66,300 bpd of the same fuels from the United States ... http://www.voanews.com/content/venezuela-becomes-net-gasoline-importer/1661014.html http://www.voanews.com/content/venezuela-becomes-net-gasoline-importer/1661014.html Tue, 14 May 2013 15:24:22 -0400 Americas Reuters The International Energy Agency (IEA) says the rapid growth of oil production in North America is significantly reshaping the global market.   The Paris-based IEA said Tuesday in its annual Medium-Term Oil Market Report that increased production in the northern U.S. state of North Dakota and in the oil sands of Canada "will be as transformative" to the world oil market over the next five years as increased oil demand in China has been over the last 15 years.   IEA ... http://www.voanews.com/content/north-america-rapidly-reshaping-world-oil-market/1660870.html http://www.voanews.com/content/north-america-rapidly-reshaping-world-oil-market/1660870.html Tue, 14 May 2013 13:38:00 -0400 Americas VOA News Researchers are developing new techniques to find hidden graves. They say it would help locate the remains of a lone murder victim or the mass graves of victims of war. The research has been presented at the Meeting of the Americas in Cancun, Mexico, co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union. Jamie Pringle Said, “There are thousands of missing people around the world that could have been tortured and killed and buried in clandestine graves.” Pringle is a lecturer in geoscience at ... http://www.voanews.com/content/finding-graves-14may13/1660815.html http://www.voanews.com/content/finding-graves-14may13/1660815.html Tue, 14 May 2013 12:16:20 -0400 Africa Joe DeCapua Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of U.S. civil rights activist Malcolm X has died in a Mexico City hospital after an apparent beating. He was 28. Mexican authorities said Shabazz died after suffering multiple injuries following a fight Thursday in a bar near Plaza Garibaldi, home to Mariachi bands, strip clubs and bars. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City declined to give information on the death at the request of his family. In June 1997, Malcolm Shabazz, then 12, set a fire at his grandmother ... http://www.voanews.com/content/grandson-of-malcolm-x-killed-in-mexico/1659015.html http://www.voanews.com/content/grandson-of-malcolm-x-killed-in-mexico/1659015.html Fri, 10 May 2013 19:57:30 -0400 USA VOA News A Guatemalan court has found former dictator Efrain Rios Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. A judge in Guatemala City sentenced the 86-year-old to 80 years in prison - 50 years for genocide and 30 years for crimes against humanity. Rios Montt was convicted of ordering the deaths of 1,771 people of the Ixil Maya ethnic group during his time in office in 1982 and 1983. The retired general had denied the charges, saying he neither knew of nor ordered the massacres while in ... http://www.voanews.com/content/guatemalan-dictator-guilty-of-genocide/1659008.html http://www.voanews.com/content/guatemalan-dictator-guilty-of-genocide/1659008.html Fri, 10 May 2013 19:37:56 -0400 Americas VOA News Images of the One World Trade Center, where crane operators hoisted the final pieces of the spire atop on May 10, helping to fill the void in the New York City skyline left by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. http://www.voanews.com/media/photogallery/1658589.html http://www.voanews.com/media/photogallery/1658589.html Fri, 10 May 2013 12:25:00 -0400 Americas Colombia will not enter peace talks with the country's second-biggest guerrilla group, the ELN, until it releases captives including a Canadian citizen held hostage since January, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Thursday.   The National Liberation Army, a rebel group with about 3,000 fighters known as ELN, has expressed interest in seeking a peace accord similar to the one being discussed in Cuba with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.   The ELN seized ... http://www.voanews.com/content/colombia-demands-hostage-release-before-eln-peace-talks/1658129.html http://www.voanews.com/content/colombia-demands-hostage-release-before-eln-peace-talks/1658129.html Thu, 09 May 2013 17:53:58 -0400 Americas Reuters Lawyers working on behalf of cholera victims in Haiti have given the United Nations 60 days to compensate those sickened by the disease or face a lawsuit in a U.S. court. The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti announced the deadline Wednesday, their latest step in seeking $100,000 for the families of each of those who died from a cholera outbreak that began in October 2010. They also want $50,000 for those who became sick but survived. More than 8,000 people have died since the ... http://www.voanews.com/content/lawyers-for-haiti-cholera-victims-threaten-un-lawsuit/1657532.html http://www.voanews.com/content/lawyers-for-haiti-cholera-victims-threaten-un-lawsuit/1657532.html Thu, 09 May 2013 06:59:46 -0400 Americas VOA News