William Levy y Angelique Boyer, los más deseados
http://www.eldiario.ec/noticias-manabi-ecuador/297369-william-levy-y-angelique-boyer-los-mas-deseados/
En México, los actores William Levy y Angelique Boyer son
los más deseados por los televidentes, según arrojó la encuesta del Gabinete de
Comunicación Estratégica (GCE).
El estudio, de acuerdo a lo compartido en el sitio de
noticias Informador, se realizó para analizar las preferencias que tienen los
mexicanos sobre los actores y actrices en la pantalla chica y reveló a los
protagonistas más atractivos y sensuales.
Angelique Boyer es la favorita de los hombres al ser
considerada la más sensual y sexy con un 10,4%, seguida de la actriz Ivonne
Montero con 8,1%.
En el caso de Levy, el actor que ganó el título del más sexy, tuvo un
25,9%, dejando el segundo sitio al actor Sebastián Rulli con un 12,6%.
Cultural exchange between Latin America and Europe is asymmetrical
http://www.latinamericanpost.com/latampost/index.php/identity-culture/7011-cultural-exchange-between-latin-america-and-europe-is-asymmetrical
Colombia
and Latin America are more receptive to what
the French and European culture produce. However, they are not as receptive.
As said by François Rabelais University Professor Alfredo
Gómez-Müller, during the 1st Colombian-France Meeting organized by a group of
academics from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the François Rabelais University.
Gómez-Müller says that in Europe
the receptivity towards Latin-American culture is only present in some
specialists groups but at a greater level there’s asymmetry.
Therefore, although significant the researcher calls them
“limited expressions” such as the translation into French of the literary work
of Gabriel García Márquez or exhibitions of sculptures of Fernando Botero on
the streets of Paris
and other cities.
“Besides the great notables, there is great unawareness of
Colombian culture and Latin-American in general in Europe”,
he said.
Professor María Enríquez, also from the François Rabelais
University agreed with
Gómez-Müller, and added that there is lack of cultural knowledge even amongst
Latin-Americans.
This is evident in situations such as literary work
circulation within the region. “I’ve been researching in Central America, a
literature hardly disseminated in Europe but also not very well known in
Colombia”, said Enríquez.
Critical voices from Europe
Gómez-Müller says that from inside Europe
there have been critical voices towards the hegemonic attitudes of the French
government towards cultural exchange.
“In France
there have been thinkers who highlight the perversity of certain Universalist
speeches, where in reality there are certain elements of ethnocentrism”, he
said.
They recognize the importance of cultural diversity and
criticize the common belief of certain sectors, both in Europe
as in Latin–America of assimilating European culture and civilization.
Professors Gómez-Müller and Enríquez shared these ideas
during the 1st Colombia-France Meeting which was held between August 28 through
30 at the Museo Nacional de Colombia and Alianza Colombo-Francesa of Bogotá.
“Meetings like this one allows us to discuss, analyze and
ponder over these types of ideological elements which may interfere in cultural
exchange, as they prevent it from being fertile for both parties”, he said.
Agencia de Noticias UNAL
Pope says he is not a Marxist, but defends criticism of
capitalism
Pope Francis says trickle-down economics do not help the
poor, in a wide-ranging interview with Italian daily La Stampa
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/15/pope-francis-defends-criticism-of-capitalism-not-marxist
Pope Francis says trickle-down economics do not help the
poor, in a wide-ranging interview with Italian daily La Stampa. The Argentinian
pontiff said that the views were simply those of the church's social doctrine
Pope Francis has rejected accusations from rightwing
Americans that his teaching is Marxist, defending his criticisms of the
capitalist system and urging more attention be given to the poor in a
wide-ranging interview.
In remarks to the Italian daily La Stampa, the Argentinian
pontiff said the views he had espoused in his first apostolic exhortation last
month – which the rightwing US radio host Rush Limbaugh attacked as
"dramatically, embarrassingly, puzzlingly wrong" – were simply those
of the church's social doctrine. Limbaugh described the pope's economics as
"pure Marxism".
"The ideology of Marxism is wrong. But I have met many
Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don't feel offended,"
Francis was quoted as saying. Defending his criticism of the
"trickle-down" theory of economics, he added: "There was the
promise that once the glass had become full it would overflow and the poor
would benefit. But what happens is that when it's full to the brim, the glass
magically grows, and thus nothing ever comes out for the poor ... I repeat: I
did not talk as a specialist but according to the social doctrine of the
church. And this does not mean being a Marxist."
In the 95-minute interview, conducted last Tuesday by the
newspaper's Vatican correspondent, Andrea Tornielli, but published on Sunday,
Francis touched on many of the issues that have dominated his first nine months
as head of the Catholic church, such as the suffering of the poor and his
reform agenda.
He also took the opportunity to knock down speculation that
he was considering taking the radical step of creating a female cardinal,
saying he had no idea where the suggestion had come from. "Women in the
church must be valued, not 'clericalised'," he said. "Those thinking
about women cardinals are suffering a bit from clericalism."
Francis, who was elected as the Catholic church's first
Latin American pope in March, turns 77 on Tuesday, and will soon be celebrating
his first Christmas as pontiff. He said that his thoughts during that time went
above all to Christians living in the Holy Land,
where he is expected to go next year.
He said he would like to mark the 50th anniversary of Paul
VI's pioneering visit in 1964 – the first papal pilgrimage to the Holy Land and
the first time a reigning pontiff had flown on a plane – along with Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the
spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian church.
He added that violence targeted at Christians in some parts
of the world was forming the basis of what he called a new ecumenism of blood.
"In some countries they kill Christians because they wear a cross or have
a Bible, and before killing them they don't ask them if they're Anglican,
Lutheran, Catholic or Orthodox," he said.
"Those who kill Christians don't ask you for an
identity card in order to know what church you were baptised in. We must take
this reality into account."
Christmas, said Francis, was a time of hope and tenderness
that should shake people from indifference when they are confronted with
suffering in the world. Railing against food wastage, he said that at a recent
general audience he had seen a mother with a hungry baby who was crying and had
told her to feed the child in spite of being in front of the pope. "She
was modest," he said. "She did not want to breast-feed him in public
while the pope was passing by … I would like to repeat what I said to that
woman, to humanity: feed those who are hungry! May the hope and tenderness of
Christmas shake us from indifference."
Francis, who has made no secret of his desire to change the
way the Vatican
is run, said the Council of Cardinals – the eight advisers he picked to suggest
ways of implementing change – was at the stage of concrete proposals and would
be raising their suggestions at their next meeting with him in February.
"I am always present at the meetings … but I do not speak, I just listen,
and this does me good," Francis told La Stampa.
Speaking of the scandal-plagued Institute for Religious
Works (IOR), known as the Vatican bank, the
pope said the mission to make it more transparent "was on the right
road" but left a question mark hanging over what its future role would be.
"Regarding the future of the IOR, we will see," he said. "The Vatican central bank, for example, is supposed to be Apsa
[the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, which manages the
papacy's assets]. The IOR was established to help with works of religion,
missions and the poor churches. Then it became what it is now."
Last week Moneyval, the Council of Europe's body monitoring
safeguards against money laundering and terrorist funding, gave the Vatican a mixed report, welcoming efforts to
clean up its financial institutions but expressing surprise that the Holy See's
regulators had not carried out more inspections of the Vatican
bank or of Apsa.
Asked about speculation that he may change the rules that
bar remarried divorcees from receiving communion, Francis said: "The
exclusion from communion of divorcees in a second marriage is not a punishment.
It's good to remember that. But [contrary to speculation] I did not speak of
this in the exhortation." The pope said marriage as a whole would be
discussed in the coming months and many things would be examined in more detail
and clarified.
The interview with La Stampa is not the first time Francis
has chosen to speak to the media. In September, he talked extensively to
Antonio Spadaro of La Civiltà Cattolica, an Italian Jesuit journal, while the
newspaper La Repubblica published what it described as an interview with him in
early October. The article was later taken down from the Vatican's
website, with a spokesman, Federico Lombardi, saying: "The information in
the interview is reliable on a general level, but not on the level of each
individual point analysed."
The journalist, Eugenio Scalfari, later said he had neither
recorded the interview nor taken notes but had tried to relay the pope's
thoughts faithfully after their meetings. Tornielli, in a video on La Stampa's
website, said he had recorded his papal interview.
Cuba-U.S. handshake — 13 years in the making
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/10/3810669/cuba-us-handshake-13-years-in.html#storylink=cpy
By Jim Wyss
jwyss@MiamiHerald.com
When is a handshake not just a handshake? When it only
happens every 13 years.
President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro briefly
greeted each other Tuesday as they met at the memorial service for former South
African President Nelson Mandela.
The two nations haven’t had diplomatic ties since 1960 and
this is only the second time the leaders of the United States and the communist
island are known to have pressed the flesh.
Asked about the
historic handshake, Castro told Colombia’s
La FM radio it was “normal.”
“We’re civilized people,” he said.
As Obama bounded up the steps at FNB Stadium in Soweto, where the
memorial was taking place, he bumped into the elderly Castro standing beside
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. The two men smiled, shook hands and
appeared to exchange a few words.
The entire encounter lasted less than 10 seconds.
“It would be really interesting if a lip reader could
decipher what Raúl was telling Obama,” said Francisco Hernández, the president
of the Cuban American National Foundation. “Other than that, I don’t think it
was really anything of significance.”
The chance encounter comes amid small steps toward U.S.-Cuba
rapprochement, including increased cooperation in drug-interdiction, rescue at
sea and oil-spill planning, said Geoff Thale, who runs the Cuba program at the
Washington Office on Latin America.
“In that context, [the handshake] is a modest but positive
signal,” he said. “I don’t think people should go around reading too much into
it — the embargo is not ending tomorrow.”
The White House said the meeting was not planned and didn’t
go beyond an “exchange of greetings.” Obama went on to shake the hands of
several of other heads of state at the memorial, which drew more than 90
leaders from around the world.
But the image of the two rivals meeting at the funeral of
Mandela — who made his name as a peace-maker — resonated.
Britain’s
The Telegraph newspaper called it “historic,” and former President Jimmy Carter
told CNN it was “something significant” and that he hoped that it would be “an
omen for the future.”
In a column in the Cubano1erPlano.com website, Havana-based
analyst Jorge Gómez Barata said Mandela was mediating from beyond the grave.
To get the leaders of these two historically rival nations
on the same stage, Gómez wrote, “was something only an exceptionally wise
statesman like Nelson Mandela could pull off.”
Since taking office in 2009, Obama has tried to improve ties
with Cuba, relaxing travel
restrictions and acknowledging Havana’s
moves to liberalize the economy.
During a recent visit to Miami,
Obama said the U.S.
needs to be “creative” and “thoughtful” as it updates its Cold War-era
policies, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has echoed the sentiment.
In his speech Tuesday at the ceremony, Castro said he was
ready to negotiate “with those who think differently.”
But major hurdles remain: Washington
maintains a crippling economic embargo on the island and Cuba has been
holding USAID contractor Alan Gross in detention for more than four years.
And whatever goodwill was generated by the handshake was
tempered by finger-wagging from the dais.
During his address, Obama referred to Mandela by his Xhosa
clan name and chastised nations like Cuba — though he did not mention
any by name — that “claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do
not tolerate dissent from their own people.”
As if on cue, Cuba arrested more than a dozen
human rights activists Tuesday during protests to mark International Human
Rights Day.
Not surprisingly, the South African encounter rattled some
back in this hemisphere.
"It's nauseating and disheartening to see President
Obama shake hands with Raúl Castro, who represents one of the world’s most
repressive dictatorships,” U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, said in a
statement. “It’s unfortunate that Cuban opposition leaders, who routinely risk
their health and well-being in pursuit of their basic human rights, may be
discouraged by the president acknowledging their oppressor.”
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, told The Hill newspaper
that “If the President was going to shake his hand, he should have asked him
about those basic freedoms Mandela was associated with that are denied in Cuba.”
And Rosa María Payá, the daughter of Cuban dissident Oswaldo
Payá, who died in a mysterious automobile crash last year, blasted Obama for
“greeting the dictator and the probable murderer of my father.”
But the fact that Obama acknowledged Castro, despite knowing
he would be slammed at home, “is perhaps a telling sign that he may be willing
to continue to implement small, incremental steps to engage with Cuba even if
it comes with spending some political capital,” Peter Schechter, the director
of the Washington, D.C.-based Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America
Center, said in a statement.
But sometimes a handshake is just a handshake.
In 1959, Vice President Richard Nixon shook Fidel’s hand
shortly after the Cuban seized power. In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton also grasped the
dictator’s hand at the United Nations, but that handshake wasn’t caught on
film. And in 2009, Obama shook the hand of late Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez. None of those encounters, however, marked a sea-change in diplomatic
relations.
“I couldn’t run away to keep from greeting him,” Fidel
Castro explained after that 2000 encounter with Clinton, according to AFP news agency. “Just
like with everyone else, I stopped for a few seconds and, with total dignity
and courtesy, I greeted him…It would have been extravagant and rude to do
anything else.”
On Tuesday, the White House indicated that it would have
been impolite not to greet the Cuban leader and cautioned against reading more
into the encounter.
“Obviously, we recognize that it’s been quite some time
since the presidents of the United States and Cuba were even in the same
place,” said Ben Rhodes, deputy National Security Adviser. “I think, though,
that what people need to remember is what today was about: Nelson Mandela, one
of the giants of the 20th century.”
Miami Herald Special Correspondent Geoff Hill contributed to
this report from Johannesburg,
South Africa.