Skip to main content

Home/ 5th Hour World Cultures/ Group items tagged reuters

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Matt Mulder

North Korea assembly meets, new post likely for leader's son | Reuters - 1 views

www.reuters.com/...rliament-idUSTRE7351WB20110406

northkorea government reuters

shared by Matt Mulder on 08 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • The Supreme People's Assembly is one of the country's three main governing bodies
  • top lieutenant on the commission died last year after a long illness, leaving the post vacant.
  • Jong-un, the ailing leader's youngest known son believed to be in his late 20s, was officially anointed as the reclusive state's leader-in-waiting last year when he was named a four-star general and given a key post in the ruling Workers' Party.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • North Korea is believed to be pushing ahead with work at its nuclear site for a possible third test, which could come as early as this spring, analysts have said.
  • Matt Mulder on 09 Apr 11
     
    Research Question: How does North Korea's communist government and nuclear technology influence the lives of its people? Source: Reuters.com Summary: North Korean officials were to meet this past thursday, and there are rumors that Kim Jong Il's son will be given a high position in the party. The 2nd in command position in the North Korean government has been empty for quite some time after the last guy died. This is the first meeting of the North Korean brass since the bombings in South Korea last year. Reflection: I think that this article gives a fairly nice insight into how the North Korean government works, albeit a tad slowly. Part of me wonders why it is that the government officials haven't gotten together since the bombing, which doesn't really do anything to help my theory that the North Korean government is full of idiots. Questions: 1. Why is it that the North Korean government seems to run so slowly and inefficiently at times? 2. Will Kim Jong-un become the next dictator? 3. What will happen if he does?
megan lemmen

Drug Trafficking, Violence and Mexico's Economic Future - 0 views

knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm

trafficking drug violence

shared by megan lemmen on 08 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • In August, the bodies of 72 migrants were found in northern Mexico. They had been shot after refusing to work for a drug gang. Days later, a prosecutor and police officer investigating the crime disappeared.
  • Its largest market, the U.S., sources 90% of its cocaine from Mexico.
  • Drug trafficking is a lucrative activity for the Mexican cartels, generating estimated annual revenues of US$35 billion to US$45 billion for Mexico, with a profit margin of approximately 80%.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • Currently, seven powerful drug-trafficking organizations occupy different regions of Mexico -- La Familia Michoacán, the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, the Beltrán-Leyva Organization, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, and the Juárez Cartel.
  • For example, the Mexican government is working to improve the effectiveness of its federal police force, planning to hire 8,000 additional police investigators during 2010, while at the same time trying to purge the force of corruption.
  • In August 2010, nearly 10% of the federal police were fired for failing lie detector, drug, or other tests that form the "trust control exams" designed to identify officers with ties to organized crime.
  • In addition, Plataforma México, a recent reform related to information management, aims to create real-time interconnectivity within Mexico's police force by developing a national crime database to facilitate tracking drug criminals.
  • More importantly, the government is taking the punishment of convicted drug criminals seriously and has increased extraditions to the U.S.
  • An estimated 7,000 people died in Mexico in 2009 as a result of the drug war -- significantly more than the 1,300 people who are believed to have died in 2005 before the war began. There were also an estimated 1,200 kidnappings in 2009.
  • As previously noted, vehicle armoring is a principal offering of the security industry, and it is not surprising that the growth of the market is most visible in this subsector. In Latin America, the armoring market has increased by 850% in the last eight years, and Mexico is now the second largest market after Brazil. Since 2008, the number of armored cars has increased by 25% in Mexico City and by 60% in the rest of the country. This market is expected to grow by 20% in 2011. Businesses have responded to this need: There are now 70 registered providers of armoring, compared to only three 15 years ago.
  • In August 2010, the far-reaching impact of Mexico's drug-related violence prompted Calderón to open debate on legalizing drugs.
  • For the past two years, American Chamber Mexico (AmCham) has conducted a survey of its members -- foreign and national managers -- to gauge their sentiment regarding corporate and personal security: 75% say their businesses have been affected by the country's insecurity.
  • Nearly 60% of the respondents felt less secure on a personal level in 2009 than in 2008; but the same respondents were equally divided as to whether their respective companies were more, less, or equally secure across the same period.
  • Of the third of the respondents who viewed their companies as being less secure than the year before, the most commonly noted contributing factors were the strengthening of organized crime activity, impunity in the judicial process, and activities associated with drug trafficking. Among those who felt their companies were more secure, 25% credited the work of the Mexican authorities, while 75% attributed the improvement to the results of efforts within their own companies.
  • Pemex, the state-owned petroleum company, has been a repeated target of the cartels. In 2010, the company experienced multiple kidnappings and theft by the cartels and corrupt employees. Reuters estimates that Pemex loses "US$750 million of fuel and oil from its pipelines each year" along with "valuable spare parts and equipment."
  • Kroll estimates the direct cost of insecurity to the government, businesses, and citizens to be US$65 billion, or 8% of GDP.
  • focuses
    • megan lemmen
      megan lemmen on 08 Mar 11
       
      Reflection: There is no possible way to completely eliminate corruption, even in the United States; the fact that Mexico realizes, however, that there is a problem is a step in the right direction. While it's great that Mexico is making efforts to decrease corruption in the police force and government, it's a task that will take a long time to complete. It's horrifying to think that a birthday party-a normal, friendly activity-could be so terribly interrupted by the drug cartel. As to legalizing the drugs, I think that it would cause more problems than it would solve. Yes, it would decrease the price of drugs and decrease the demand from drug cartel, but then how would they get their money? They would go to other means of earning a living; men who can be violent like this would have no problem getting money through other horrifying crimes. Questions:1) What are all of the positive and negative effects of legalizing drugs?2) Is there a better way to screen government and police officials in order to decrease corruption?3) What are other safety measures that the typical citizen can go through to be more safe?4) What else can be done to decrease the drug cartels?
  • megan lemmen on 08 Mar 11
     
    Research Question: How does the Mexican drug war affect the government and people of Mexico? Source: Duff, Devon, and Jen Rygler. "Drug Trafficking, Violence and Mexico's Economic Future."Knowledge @ Wharton. N.p., 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. . Summary: Mexico is making efforts to cleanse their police force by performing drug tests, lie detector tests, and other exams to make sure that the officers are being honest. There is also a new program called "Plataforma México" that will try to connect the police force better in order to catch criminals. Many Mexican businesses are suffering due to the violence; drug cartels are using theft or kidnapping to gain power or profit. A birthday party was even interrupted by the drug cartel-the violence is now affecting the citizens. Legalizing drugs has been considered as a means to decrease the price of drugs, and thus get rid of the drug cartels. Some think, though, that this will increase their violence in order to earn more of a profit. Private security has increased due to the lack of trust in Mexico's public security. Tourism has decreased, not only due to the violence but swine flu as well in 2009.  ***rest of info is sticky noted on this page
Leah Hop

Get Shorty; The Mexican drug trade.(Shifting balances of power)(The Last Narco: Hunting... - 0 views

find.galegroup.com/...retrieve.do

WC Mexico Drug Lord Trade

shared by Leah Hop on 13 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Three brutal Mexican massacres in less than a week have killed at least 41 people, with young people formerly involved in the drug trade making up the majority of the victims
  • massacres could signal the lengths to which Mexico's drug lords will go to prevent reformed addicts from giving information to authorities
  • "Police believe drug cartels use the clinics to recruit hit men and smugglers, threatening to kill those who fail to cooperate,"
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • The latest attack Wednesday morning killed up to 16 people working at a car wash operated by a drug rehabilitation center in Tepic
  • "The workers were all men; they were washing cars when the gunmen, probably members of organized crime, drove up in SUVs and started opening fire
  • The coastal state of Nayarit is known as a peaceful corner of Mexico, but Reuters reports "the shootings underscores how killings have spread from the notoriously violent border region across the country."
  • On Sunday, at a drug rehabilitation center in Tijuana, 13 recuperating addicts were lined up against a wall and shot dead. On Friday, at a birthday celebration in Ciudad Juarez, gunmen killed 14. In June, 19 more people were gunned down at another drug rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez
  • the killings highlight how young people, and even children, are being targeted
  • Experts blame a lack of job opportunities - more than 20 percent of Mexican youth don't have access to jobs or an education - for drawing youths into an increasingly violent underworld
  • More than 28,000 lives have been lost to drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon took office and dispatched the military to fight organized crime in December 2006.
  • Leah Hop on 13 Apr 11
     
    Research Question: What is the cause of all the violence associated with the Mexican drug trade?  Source: The Economist (US) Source Citation: "Get Shorty; The Mexican drug trade." The Economist [US] 18 Sept. 2010: 105(US). Student Edition. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. Summary: At the top of the Sinaloa cartel is Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as El Chapo meaning shorty. Despite growing up in a poor family working opium poppies, he has later been known as Mexico's most legendary escapee and was named 41 on the list of the world's most powerful people by Forbes magazine. He controls a lot of Mexico and although he tries to focus on business, it is still brutal. Reflection: Two parts of this article that really stuck out to me where that the Mexican drug cartels are the most powerful organized-crime group in the Western world, and that even if El Chapo were to fall, there will be plenty more where he came from. These two things really emphasize the power and enormity of the drug trade. Questions: 1) If the government is able to stop major drug lords, will this help stop the drug war? Or will more rise to power as a drug lord? 2) How does someone from such a poor background come to great amounts of power? 3) Is the only way to not let the cartels be the most powerful organized-crime group by stopping people like El Chapo?
1 - 3 of 3
Showing 20▼ items per page