: latin america

||| BRAZIL. Global warming will be reduced by cutting the amount of carbon dioxide

New plan to slow deforestation

||| The proposal would increase federal patrols of forested areas, replant 5.5 million hectares of forest, and finance sustainable development projects to give locals alternative work. ||| Deforestation, both the burning and rotting of Amazon wood, release an estimated 400 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.

Alan Clendennin| AP Writer
 

SAO PAULO – Brazil plans to boost spending and programs to significantly slow destruction of the Amazon rain forest by 2017, aiming to reduce global warming by slashing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when trees are burned.
The plan would reduce deforestation to 1,900 square miles a year, an area the size of the U.S. state of Delaware, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday, setting Brazil's first-ever concrete goal to slow rain forest destruction.
That represents a 59 percent decline over the 4,633 square miles jungle that were destroyed between August 2007 and July 2008, the last yearly period for which data was available.
Environment Minister Carlos Minc said the plan would slow destruction by 72 percent when compared to the 7,330 square miles lost on average each year between 1996 and 2005.
The new proposal would boost federal patrols of forested areas, replant 5.5 million hectares of forest, and finance sustainable development projects to give locals alternative work in areas where illegal logging dominates the economy. "We need to offer help them with one hand, but with the other we have to tell them there will be punishment if they don't pay attention to environmental preservation," Silva said, without describing those penalties. He did not say how much the plan would cost.

“We need to offer help them with one hand, but with the other we have to tell them there will be punishment if they don't pay attention to environmental preservation.”

Deforestation, both the burning and rotting of Amazon wood, releases an estimated 400 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, making Brazil at least the sixth biggest emitter of the gas in the world.
The country slowed deforestation by 60 percent between 2005 and 2007, but officials last week said destruction has accelerated slightly in the last year, as rising soy and beef prices prompt farmers to carve more fields and pastures from the rain forest.
Rain forest burning accounts for 55 percent of Brazilian emissions that contribute to global warming, said Carlos Nobre of Brazil's Economic Research Institute.
The rest comes from agriculture, power generation and vehicles. |||

||| CUBA. Officials had prosecuted 1,200 misdeeds

Nabbed for hurricane crimes

The Associated Press

HAVANA – Cubans have allegedly stolen everything from gasoline and cement to rice and powdered milk, one person was even caught with 320 tubes of toothpaste, in the wake of three recent hurricanes that caused more than $10 billion in damages.
Officials have prosecuted more than 1,200 cases of hurricane-related crime in the Havana region through the first half of November, the government-run Havana newspaper Tribuna said in this week's edition.
Courts imposed jail sentences on more than one-third of the people arrested in a crackdown on fraud, theft of government property and other crimes following Hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma that hit, starting in late August.
Those arrested were found with large, presumably stolen stocks of goods such as toothpaste, gasoline, powdered milk, cement, spaghetti packages, rice, detergent and chicken, goods the government had destined for hurricane relief projects or for heavily subsidized state rations.
"In the city of Havana, we are in combat," Tribuna declared, saying the police actions were "in defense of the interests of the majority of the people."
The newspaper said that 34 percent of those prosecuted were sent to jail, about 8 percent were sentenced to correctional work programs, about 16 percent were fined and 4 percent received some kind of parole. The rest of the people were absolved, or their cases merely filed away.
Cuban courts have also imposed stiff sentences on people accused of price-gouging and stealing construction materials and other supplies. |||     

BRIEFS

El Salvador's defense minister says he will travel to Iraq next week to meet with Iraqi officials and decide how long Salvadoran troops will remain there. Gen. Jorge Molina says he will also travel to southeastern Shiite city of Kut, where 200 Salvadoran soldiers are stationed, to meet with local officials. El Salvador is the only Latin American nation that still has troops in Iraq. Five of its soldiers have been killed there, and more than 20 wounded. AP

Guyana's president has pardoned a former opposition legislator who had been accused of treason. Philip Bynoe was accused of inciting hundreds of protesters to raid President Bharrat Jagdeo's office in 2002. Authorities said the protest was aimed at destabilizing his government. But Jagdeo pardoned Bynoe on Monday, saying he had expressed "remorse" and conceded that the attack had targeted a democratic institution. AP

Police say a 43-year-old carnival worker from Michigan died after being hit by a falling section of a Ferris wheel that he helped install in Puerto Rico's capital. A police statement says Gerald Meifbett died instantly when a 200-pound segment of lights from the amusement ride hit him before the Hato Rey fairground opened. AP

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is in Singapore to start talks on a bilateral free trade agreement. The accord will cover investment, services, telecommunications and tourism, among other areas. Arias has long lobbied for greater economic ties with Asia. He hopes the trade accord will encourage Singapore to invest in and develop Costa Rica's Caribbean ports. The president on Tuesday met with Singapore's Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong. AP

Puerto Rico's water and sewer authority says it will not increase prices for at least five years. Director José Ortíz says the authority is repairing broken water meters, laying off 1,900 workers and going after 127,000 nonpaying customers to save money instead. Water prices doubled in 2006 when the territory's government eliminated a $400 million yearly subsidy to the authority. AP|