martes, 3 de febrero de 2009
Local news
Local News
Bogotá has experienced a positive transformation during the last 10 years. The city today is proud of the international recognition of its multiple initiatives that have led to the improvement of the urban infrastructure, contributed to making the city safer, and improved the quality of life for its inhabitants.
Bogota has earned many awards and received wide recognition for these achievements; among these are the following:
World Book Capital (Capital Mundial del Libro) 2007: UNESCO named Bogotá a World Book capital in recognition of the multiple programs encouraging the book reading culture. Among these we find: Bibliored, Libro al viento, Paraderos Paralibros, etc.
Gold Lion for Best City 2006: During the tenth edition of the Venice Biennal, Bogotá received this award for its innovative solutions for mobility, social inclusion, and the use of the public space that has been developed in the city.
City with Heart 2005: This UN award was given in recognition of the volunteer work that contributes to urban development at a community level in Bogotá.
Active Cities-Healthy Cities 2005: Recognition to the program that creates bicycle routes and recreation pathways, promoted by the Institute for Sports and Recreation of Bogotá, contributing to the development of an alternative and inclusive physical activity for all its citizens.
Digital City 2004: By improving and increasing the use of electronic means for municipal government administration Bogotá, competing among 26 cities in Latin America, was awarded this distinction that is given by the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) and the Hispanic Association for Research Centres and Telecommunication Companies (AHCIET).
Cities for Peace 2002: Prize awarded by UNESCO for initiatives that build social cohesion and foment the spirit of good neighbourliness in Bogotá.
Access to Learning - 2002: Recognition from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the efforts Bogotá has made to provide citizens with needed information in an effective and easily accessed manner.
Stockholm Challenge 2000: The “Day without Cars” initiative is recognized as an innovative proposal for urban mobility.
In addition some of the most important international media has taken note of the amazing renovation of Bogotá and published informative articles for their readers:
Bogota, the fourth largest city in South America, with seven million inhabitants, has many varied restaurants, world-class museums and a magical colonial quarter, It is the capital of Colombia and its intellectual centre, an city filled with bright lights that is friendly to pedestrians who have 75 miles of streets for their exclusive use, be they cycling or walking, every Sunday. Plus the climate is mild, maximum temperatures of 60°F year-round. Seth Kugel, The New York Times
Bogotá, that once was a chaotic capital is now a model city. The visionary leadership of the last three Mayor’s is reflected in the city’s positive transformation. Public finances have improved while insecurity and traffic jams have diminished, and numerous works in infrastructure and more orderly traffic have made Bogotá liveable again! Experts in urban planning from all over the world are looking closely at its example.Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times
Bogotá, the capital of the country is a mirror image of all Colombia: a city with futurist architecture, culturally dynamic and intellectually alive and diverse, splendid colonial churches and brilliant museums.
International news
Afghan Prison Poses Problem in Overhaul of Detainee Policy
WASHINGTON — For months, a national debate has raged over the fate of the 245 detainees at the United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But what may be an equally difficult problem now confronts the Obama administration in the 600 prisoners packed into a cavernous, makeshift prison on the American air base at Bagram in Afghanistan. Military personnel who know Bagram and Guantánamo describe the Afghan site as tougher and more spartan. The prisoners have fewer privileges and virtually no access to lawyers. The Bush administration never allowed journalists or human rights advocates inside. Problems have also developed with efforts to rehabilitate former jihadists, some of whom had been imprisoned at Guantánamo. Nine graduates of a Saudi program have been arrested for rejoining terrorist groups, Saudi officials said Monday. President Obama must now decide whether and how to continue holding the men at Bagram, most of them suspected of being Taliban fighters. Under the laws of war, they are being held indefinitely and without charge. He must also determine whether to go forward with the construction of a $60 million prison complex at Bagram that, while offering better conditions for the detainees, would also signal a longer-term commitment to the American detention mission. Mr. Obama tried last week to buy some time in addressing the challenges Bagram poses even as he ordered Guantánamo closed. By a separate executive order, Mr. Obama directed a task force led by the attorney general and the defense secretary to study the government’s overall policy on detainees and to report to him in six months. But human rights advocates and former government officials say that several factors — including expanding combat operations against the Taliban, the scheduled opening of the new prison at Bagram in the fall and a recent federal court order — will probably force the administration to deal with the vexing choices much sooner. “How the Obama administration plans to deal with detention in Afghanistan is an open question,” said Tina M. Foster, executive director of the International Justice Network, a human rights organization in New York. “How will this administration differ from the Bush administration in its conduct of detention in Afghanistan?” The population at Bagram has increased nearly sixfold over the past four years, driven not just by the deepening conflict in Afghanistan but also by the fact that the Bush administration in September 2004 largely halted the movement of prisoners to Guantánamo, leaving Bagram as the preferred alternative to detain terrorism suspects. Bush administration lawyers argued this month that the Bagram detainees were different from those at Guantánamo. Virtually all of the Bagram prisoners were captured on the battlefield and were being held in a war zone, the lawyers contended, and they could pose a security threat if released. On Thursday, Judge John D. Bates of the United States District Court for
the District of Columbia gave the Obama administration until Feb. 20 to “refine” the government’s legal position with respect to four men who are seeking to challenge their detention at Bagram under habeas corpus, a right that the Supreme Court has granted for detainees at Guantánamo. The four plaintiffs were taken to Bagram from outside Afghanistan and have been imprisoned there without access to any legal process, many of them for over six years, said Ms. Foster, who is representing the detainees. Judge Bates issued his order after Mr. Obama signed his directives on Thursday, and the judge cited the presidential orders as “indicating significant changes to the government’s approach to the detention, and review of detention, of individuals currently held at Guantánamo Bay.” He noted that “a different approach could impact the court’s analysis of certain issues central to the resolution” of the Bagram cases as well. At a White House briefing about the executive orders last Thursday, a senior administration official was asked whether terrorism suspects captured by American authorities would continue to be sent to Bagram. The official said not to expect any changes to existing policies in Afghanistan for at least six months, pending the completion of the task force’s review. A Justice Department spokesman, Dean Boyd, declined to comment on Judge Bates’s order, saying that government lawyers were studying it. The challenges confronting the Obama administration at Bagram do not extend to the much larger American detention operations in Iraq, where the United States now holds about 15,000 prisoners. Under a security agreement with the Iraqi government, the United States will begin next month to release up to 1,500 detainees a month. Fighters captured and imprisoned in Iraq are afforded legal protections under the Geneva Conventions. Human rights advocates are already pressing the administration to revamp the review process for releasing or transferring the Bagram detainees, all but about 30 of whom are Afghans. This process, which the military calls “unlawful enemy combatant review boards,” involves reviews of the status of each prisoner every six months. Human rights lawyers criticize the process as a sham and have called for a return to the longstanding battlefield reviews called for by the Geneva Conventions. More broadly, Mr. Obama’s move away from the Bush administration’s aggressive detention policies will have to be reconciled with his plans to increase combat operations in Afghanistan, a step that will almost inevitably generate new waves of detainees
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/guantanamobaynavalbasecuba/index.html
WASHINGTON — For months, a national debate has raged over the fate of the 245 detainees at the United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But what may be an equally difficult problem now confronts the Obama administration in the 600 prisoners packed into a cavernous, makeshift prison on the American air base at Bagram in Afghanistan. Military personnel who know Bagram and Guantánamo describe the Afghan site as tougher and more spartan. The prisoners have fewer privileges and virtually no access to lawyers. The Bush administration never allowed journalists or human rights advocates inside. Problems have also developed with efforts to rehabilitate former jihadists, some of whom had been imprisoned at Guantánamo. Nine graduates of a Saudi program have been arrested for rejoining terrorist groups, Saudi officials said Monday. President Obama must now decide whether and how to continue holding the men at Bagram, most of them suspected of being Taliban fighters. Under the laws of war, they are being held indefinitely and without charge. He must also determine whether to go forward with the construction of a $60 million prison complex at Bagram that, while offering better conditions for the detainees, would also signal a longer-term commitment to the American detention mission. Mr. Obama tried last week to buy some time in addressing the challenges Bagram poses even as he ordered Guantánamo closed. By a separate executive order, Mr. Obama directed a task force led by the attorney general and the defense secretary to study the government’s overall policy on detainees and to report to him in six months. But human rights advocates and former government officials say that several factors — including expanding combat operations against the Taliban, the scheduled opening of the new prison at Bagram in the fall and a recent federal court order — will probably force the administration to deal with the vexing choices much sooner. “How the Obama administration plans to deal with detention in Afghanistan is an open question,” said Tina M. Foster, executive director of the International Justice Network, a human rights organization in New York. “How will this administration differ from the Bush administration in its conduct of detention in Afghanistan?” The population at Bagram has increased nearly sixfold over the past four years, driven not just by the deepening conflict in Afghanistan but also by the fact that the Bush administration in September 2004 largely halted the movement of prisoners to Guantánamo, leaving Bagram as the preferred alternative to detain terrorism suspects. Bush administration lawyers argued this month that the Bagram detainees were different from those at Guantánamo. Virtually all of the Bagram prisoners were captured on the battlefield and were being held in a war zone, the lawyers contended, and they could pose a security threat if released. On Thursday, Judge John D. Bates of the United States District Court for
the District of Columbia gave the Obama administration until Feb. 20 to “refine” the government’s legal position with respect to four men who are seeking to challenge their detention at Bagram under habeas corpus, a right that the Supreme Court has granted for detainees at Guantánamo. The four plaintiffs were taken to Bagram from outside Afghanistan and have been imprisoned there without access to any legal process, many of them for over six years, said Ms. Foster, who is representing the detainees. Judge Bates issued his order after Mr. Obama signed his directives on Thursday, and the judge cited the presidential orders as “indicating significant changes to the government’s approach to the detention, and review of detention, of individuals currently held at Guantánamo Bay.” He noted that “a different approach could impact the court’s analysis of certain issues central to the resolution” of the Bagram cases as well. At a White House briefing about the executive orders last Thursday, a senior administration official was asked whether terrorism suspects captured by American authorities would continue to be sent to Bagram. The official said not to expect any changes to existing policies in Afghanistan for at least six months, pending the completion of the task force’s review. A Justice Department spokesman, Dean Boyd, declined to comment on Judge Bates’s order, saying that government lawyers were studying it. The challenges confronting the Obama administration at Bagram do not extend to the much larger American detention operations in Iraq, where the United States now holds about 15,000 prisoners. Under a security agreement with the Iraqi government, the United States will begin next month to release up to 1,500 detainees a month. Fighters captured and imprisoned in Iraq are afforded legal protections under the Geneva Conventions. Human rights advocates are already pressing the administration to revamp the review process for releasing or transferring the Bagram detainees, all but about 30 of whom are Afghans. This process, which the military calls “unlawful enemy combatant review boards,” involves reviews of the status of each prisoner every six months. Human rights lawyers criticize the process as a sham and have called for a return to the longstanding battlefield reviews called for by the Geneva Conventions. More broadly, Mr. Obama’s move away from the Bush administration’s aggressive detention policies will have to be reconciled with his plans to increase combat operations in Afghanistan, a step that will almost inevitably generate new waves of detaineeshttp://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/guantanamobaynavalbasecuba/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guant%C3%A1namo_Bay
http://www.venceremos.co.cu/pags/gtmo_bay/index.htm
Entertainment
ENTERTAINMENT
Zellweger marries country singer
Renee Zellweger inspired one of Kenny Chesney's biggest hitsActress Renee Zellweger married country music star Kenny Chesney in the Caribbean on Monday. The Bridget Jones and Chicago actress, 36, tied the knot with US chart-topper Chesney, 37, in front of close friends and family on the US Virgin Islands. Zellweger's publicist said it was a small ceremony on the island of St John, where Chesney lives. The pair are reported to have met at a tsunami concert in January, soon after she split from rock star Jack White. Zellweger, who won an Oscar for Cold Mountain last year, had also recently been linked with Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice.
Chesney starts a three-and-a-half month US tour on ThursdayAt the ceremony, she wore a dress designed by Carolina Herrera and it was the first marriage for both, publicist Nanci Ryder said. The reception was held at Chesney's house on the north side of the island, which has a population of 5,000 and is more than two-thirds national park. But the couple will have to wait for their honeymoon. Chesney starts a 46-date, three-and-a-half month US tour on Thursday.He currently has two CDs in the Billboard Top 10 country albums chart and was named Country Music Association entertainer of the year in November. His 1999 hit You Had Me From Hello was inspired by a line his new wife said to Tom Cruise in 1996 film Jerry Maguire. Zellweger also had Oscar nominations for Bridget Jones - in which her character grumbled about smug married couples - and Chicago.
She once dated Jim Carrey, her co-star in Me, Myself and Irene.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4531863.stm
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/09/zellweger.married/
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)