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The private sector has a diverse role to play in early warning, including developing early warning capabilities in their own organizations. The private sector is also essential as they are usually better equipped to implement ICT-based solutions. The private sector has a large untapped potential to help provide skilled services in the form of technical manpower, know-how, or donations of goods or services (in-kind and cash), especially for the communication, dissemination and response elements of early warning.

Considered the most traditional electronic media used for disaster warning, radio and television have a valid use. The effectiveness of these two media is high because even in developing countries and rural environments where the tele-density is relatively low, they can be used to spread a warning quickly to a broad population.

Telephones can play an important role in warning communities about the impending danger of a disaster.

The role Internet, email and instant messages can play in disaster warning entirely depends on their penetration within a community and usage by professionals such as first responders, coordinating bodies, etc.

A 2007 law established the right to access public information. However, Ortega’s administration is highly secretive, and he has given no press conferences since taking office in 2007, according to local reports.

media organizations were subject to threats and harassment by both governmental and private actors.

Human rights organizations and independent media alleged some killings during the year were politically motivated.

rison conditions continued to deteriorate due to antiquated infrastructure and increasing inmate populations. Many prisoners suffered mistreatment from prison officials and other inmates. Inmates also suffered from parasites, inadequate medical attention, frequent food shortages, contaminated water, and inadequate sanitation

“It really would do the workers a good deal of benefit if the major trade unions could see a difference between their trade union activities and any political interest they may have.

According to Grant, it could be uncomfortable for those members of the ABWU who are not necessarily supporters of the UPP, to hear comments coming from the UPP platform that they may not agree with.

“I think the release could be an acknowledgment that I wasn’t doing anything wrong,” Mr. Wyss said. “I think there was a lot of tension along the border, and I got scooped up in it. It became clear to them I was just a reporter trying to do a job.”

Venezuela is struggling with economic problems, including a 54 percent annual inflation rate and shortages of basic goods.

President Nicolás Maduro says right-wing enemies here, in Colombia and in the United States are waging an economic war against his socialist government.

He and other officials have suggested that the local and foreign news media are conspiring against the government.

She accused the international news media of following “this script of a continuous and silent coup in Venezuela.”

On the surface, it seems like the Nicaraguan government is doing quite a bit to fight the drug war and that Bluefields is a place of perdition. But reality is more complicated. Cocaine Trafficking Routes Through Nicaragua Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: "Transnational Organized Crime in Central America and the Caribbean" (September 2012) Credit: Alyson Hurt / NPR 'Cocaine Republics' Cocaine's Influence on Nicaragua's Miskito Coast Nicaragua — the largest country in Central America — has a lengthy coastline on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. With its remote location, Bluefields is well placed to serve as a pit stop along the corridor where drugs travel from the South American producers to U.S. consumers. What's more, the cocaine moving through Nicaragua's territory represents a higher share of GDP than any other Central American country, which in the words of the U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime, should give traffickers greater leverage to both sow more corruption and foment violence.

In 2011, The Global Commission on Drugs, a high-profile panel of world leaders – including former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker — declared that the "global war on drugs has failed." And this September, the commission followed up with a report recommending policies that work, including some legalization and encouraging countries to try regulating instead of prohibiting some aspects of the drug trade.

Part of recognizing ICTs as a critical infrastructure is to ensure their advance incorporation into a country’s disaster management framework or plan, including pre-positioning of ICT resources and identification of personnel that may be required to use or restore those resources.

In a hearing in October before the IACHR, Nicaraguan and regional human rights organizations discussed their concerns about human rights abuses against women and g

However, the NGOs expressed concern about reforms passed in 2013 that weakened the Comprehensive Law against Violence against Women (Law 779),

by offering women mediation with their abusive partners in some cases of domestic violence.

children, running out of their homes to play in the streets.

This kind of tranquility is not something you'd see in the capital cities of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala or Belize, because over the past decade, Central America has been engulfed by bloodshed, becoming one of the most dangerous regions in the world.

Nicaragua, the poorest of the bunch and with just as bloody a history, is one of the safest countries in the hemisphere.

While Nicaragua's neighbors have embraced so-called "mano dura" or iron fist policies, Nicaragua has taken a softer approach.

The Nicaraguan police, for example, pacified the Dimitrov neighborhood by having the community patrol itself and by having police officers mediate talks between gang members often after soccer games.

El Salvador and Honduras legislated "mano dura" policies against youth crimes. Guatemala and Belize followed suit but in a more ad-hoc manner.

right now Nicaragua has just 70 juveniles in jail.

It's a system that was developed in the '70s, when Nicaraguans were preparing for war against the dictatorship

Some were instructed to develop emergency treatment centers at their homes, while others were given small, but important tasks like collecting water.

Cuadra and other human rights groups have expressed concern that the police and even the community volunteers have begun to take on those security roles again.

"We remind the Antiguan government that it is responsible for the safety of all journalists working within its borders, and we would urge the government to officially and publicly reject all acts of intimidation directed against any media house," Mills added.

Correspondents say President Santos has risked his political future on the success of the peace deal.

But after 50 years of war, many Colombians still aren't ready to forgive. As President Santos put it, the hard work of building peace now lies ahead.

President Santos said this historic moment was a message from Colombia to the world: no more war. "No more war," the crowd chanted in return.

However, only hours before the signing, the EU announced it would suspend the Farc from its list.

1964: Set up as armed wing of Communist Party2002: At its height, it had an army of 20,000 fighters controlling up to a third of the country. Senator Ingrid Betancourt kidnapped and held for six years along with 14 other hostages2008: The Farc suffers a series of defeats in its worst year2012: Start of peace talks in Havana2016: Definitive ceasefire

President Santos, a former defence minister, made it clear that his long fight against the Farc - as well as the secret channel he established two decades ago - gave him the gravitas to sit down with his enemy.

A 52-year war means a generation of pain and distrust.

The Farc, rooted in a Marxist-Leninist peasant revolt, must now move away from its vast network of criminal activities, including the lucrative cocaine trade, in exchange for entering the political process and becoming part of Colombian society.

The last time Ortega won, in 2011, the election results were vehemently rejected by the opposition, which declared that Ortega had become a dictator. The Carter Center said the elections lacked “the most basic guarantees for the integrity of the voting process.”

The decision to put her on the ticket formalizes what has already been a high-profile role for the first lady. She is the official government spokesperson, and as such the only government figure authorized to speak to the media. But her influence goes far beyond that.

Murillo plays a pivotal role in strengthening the Ortegas’ standing with women, which suffered enormously after he was accused in 1998 by his stepdaughter, Zoilamerica Narvaez, of sexually abusing her for many years, starting when she was a young girl.

Nicaraguans believe that Ortega, who is 70 years old and reportedly having health problems, is working to secure his family’s hold on power when he is ready to relinquish the rudder.

Officials estimate that between 30,000 and 120,000 people will be displaced in total by the canal.

They say that the planned route will displace the entire communities of Bangkukuk Taik, Monkey Point and Wiringay, while most other local communities will be indirectly affected by canal support projects.

“They keep saying that we don’t need a legal advisor,” Allen Claire-Duncan, the leader of the Monkey Point Kriol community, told Mongabay. “Many people do not know how to read or write, and if the [government negotiators] come to the community they will speak in terms that the people don’t understand.

the Nicaraguan government must obtain consent from the nine community leaders as well as the 18 members of the Rama-Kriol Territorial Government (GTR-K) before construction can begin.

Community leaders are emphatic about their desire not to sign over their lands, but some leaders say they have been pressured into signing documents of an uncertain nature

But in May, government officials transferred 16 members of the GTR-K to Managua where they signed more papers. Shortly after the meeting, Nicaraguan state media reported that the indigenous territories had officially granted consent for the canal

Corporate and governmental secrecy have prompted concern from human rights organizations, environmental groups and the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua.

“The real question is whether the Mexican people, who have been promised investigations, overhauls, special commissions, anti-corruption campaigns and institutional reorganizations by this president — and nearly every other authority since the Mexican Revolution — will believe these latest promises,”

“You can’t announce credible strategies to deal with corruption without facing his own scandal of his wife’s white house, whether the conflict of interest is real or not,” said Fernando Dworak, a political analyst and columnist. “He needs to give the message, it starts with himself.”

Analysts said many of the proposals, if not new ideas, were needed, but questioned whether Mr. Peña Nieto had the credibility to pull them off because of scandals under his watch.

Some analysts saw reining in municipal police as a crucial step but questioned whether state forces were any more up to the task, given their own histories of corruption and drug ties.

On Thursday, the decapitated bodies of 11 young people were found in Guerrero State, the same state where the students went to school and disappeared. The governor also said reports of a mass abduction before the one in Iguala would also be investigated.

"[These] revenues are inherently volatile, and carry risks of a sudden stop," the IMF wrote in October. "[They] should not be used to fund recurrent government expenditure but rather to clear arrears, pay down debt, build buffers, and fund key strategic infrastructure projects."