Powered By Blogger

Search This Blog

Sunday, February 28, 2010

CROSBY, CANADA'S HEROE IN HOCKEY GOLD MEDAL AT OLYMPICS IN VANCOUVER


Canada Win Hockey Gold at Home in Vancouver Olympics
VANCOUVER - With an overtime goal by Sidney Crosby, the Canadian men’s hockey team brought home the gold medal -- and a case of Molson’s Canadian lager for Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, paid for by Barack Obama.
The U.S. president and Harper made a “friendly wager” on the gold medal game today that pitted the North American neighbors in the final event of the Vancouver Olympic Games. If the U.S. had defeated the hometown favorites, Harper would have suffered the added ignominy of having to buy Obama a case of Yuengling beer, with headquarters in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, said White House spokesman Nick Shapiro.
Canada beat the U.S. 3-2, earning its eighth hockey gold medal. The game was extended after U.S. player Zach Parise scored in the last 24 seconds of regulation play. The last U.S. Olympic title came in 1980, when a group of college players upset the Soviet Union in a semifinal game that became known as the “Miracle on Ice.” The U.S. beat Finland for the gold.

Chile earthquake: military on the street, death toll over 708 until now


Death toll in Chile earthquake passes 708
The death toll from Saturday's 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile has risen to 708, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said. Calling it an "unthinkable disaster," Bachelet said a "state of catastrophe" in the hardest-hit regions would continue, allowing for the quick restoration of order and speedy distribution of aid.
Despite looting concerns in some areas, Bachelet said her government reached an agreement with the country's major supermarkets that would allow them to give away basic foodstuffs they have in stock to those affected by the quake. Thirty-six hours after the massive earthquake, distribution of electricity remained a key challenge, the president said.
Chile has received many offers of international aid, and will accept the help that it needs, Bachelet said. "This will take a great effort from all sectors, public and private," she said. The armed forces would be available to help with security and the distribution of food, she added. The president said she hoped that the airport in Santiago, the capital, would reopen to private, public and commercial air traffic in the coming hours.
The airline LAN Chile said that three flights left from Peru to Chile on Sunday, one of them landing in Santiago. These flights were not commercial, but were transporting Chileans stranded in Peru back to their country, LAN Chile Spokesman Roberto Davila told CNN en Español.
The quake comes at a time of transition for Chile. President-elect Sebastian Piñera is slated to take office in March."The loss of life is the most painful," Piñera said via a Twitter message. "We will have a great challenge for reconstruction."
The quake struck before dawn Saturday, toppling thousands of houses, affecting 2 million people and dealing a serious blow to one of Latin America's most stable economies. The Chilean Red Cross reported that some 500,000 homes suffered considerable damage as a result of the quake.
More than 90 aftershocks had been recorded, ranging from 4.9 to 6.9 in magnitude. Of the 708 reported dead as of Sunday afternoon, 541 had died in Chile's Maule region, and 64 in the Bio Bio region, both in south-central Chile. Some 103 people died in other areas. "I am certain that these are numbers that will continue to grow," Bachelet said.
In Concepcion, the capital of the Bio Bio region, video showed collapsed walls of buildings, now exposing twisted pieces of rebar. Whole sides of buildings were sheared off, and at least two structures caught fire. Emergency teams rescued 30 people from one collapsed building. The country's major north-south highway was severed at multiple points; and the capital city's airport was closed after its terminal sustained major damage. In the city of Constitucion, more than 60 bodies were found and placed in a makeshift morgue inside the gym of a local school, a federal police officer said.
Buildings lay in rubble, bridges and highway overpasses were toppled and roads buckled like crumpled paper. Mangled cars were strewn on highways, many of them resting on their roofs. "The television fell, all the decorations fell. Everything you can imagine was on the floor," Santiago resident Juan Vivanco told CNN en Español and other TV networks covering the quake..
Vivanco said he waited until the shaking stopped before climbing down 17 flights of stairs to exit his apartment building. At his home, as with many others in the capital, the building exterior showed few, if any, signs of damage, while inside, things were a mess. Saturday's quake was 700 to 800 times stronger than the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck Haiti in January, leaving 212,000 people dead and more than a million homeless.
It also occurred at a greater depth -- 21.7 miles -- compared to the shallow 8.1-mile depth of the Haiti quake, which contributed to much of the damage there. Coastal Chile has a history of deadly earthquakes, with 13 temblors of magnitude 7.0 or higher since 1973, the U.S. Geological Survey said. As a result, experts said, newer buildings are constructed to help withstand the shocks.
One major concern on Sunday was security, said the mayor of Concepcion, Jacqueline Van Rysselberghe. Desperate residents scrounged for water and supplies inside empty and damaged supermarkets. On Sunday morning, authorities resorted to tear gas and water cannons in some instances to disperse looters.
Looting was being done not just by desperate residents, but by others who saw an opportunity to steal, Van Rysselberghe said. In addition to food and emergency supplies, looters were taking from appliance and electronics stores, she said. "They are robbing everything," she said, asking for a strong military response in her city to restore calm.
Some small business owners had resorted to protecting their shops with rifles and shotguns, and the current police force was inadequate, she said. For its part, the city government was distributing water from the central plaza, Van Rysselberghe said.
Saturday's epicenter was just a few miles north of the largest earthquake recorded in the world: a magnitude 9.5 quake in May 1960 that killed 1,655 and unleashed a tsunami that crossed the Pacific.

CHILE EARTHQUAKE: starting to count the damage and dead



Chile has begun to count the cost of its deadly 8.8 magnitude earthquake as nations around the Pacific eased their fears of a devastating tsunami.
The quake, on Saturday morning, killed at least 300 people - 90% of them in their homes. It is feared the damage may cost tens of billions of dollars. One major rescue effort is in the city of Concepcion, where dozens are feared trapped in a collapsed apartment block. The Pacific-wide alert for a tsunami in the wake of the quake has been lifted.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said that two million people had been affected by the earthquake. The 8.8 quake is one of the biggest ever recorded and the largest to hit Chile in 50 years. Many Chileans in affected areas have spent the first night since the earthquake outdoors, afraid to stay inside. In Concepcion, close to the epicentre, mayor Jacqueline van Rysselberghe said dozens of people were trapped in the collapsed apartment block.
"Time is of the essence to save the people inside this building," she said. Rescue coordinator Commander Marcelo Plaza said: "We spent the whole night working, smashing through walls to find survivors. The biggest problem is fuel, we need fuel for our machinery and water for our people."
National television showed pictures of people removing goods from supermarkets in Concepcion, Chile's second city, before police arrived to clear the crowd with tear gas and water cannon. The situation there has been described as critical.
Ms van Rysselberghe said Concepcion had as yet received no food or other aid from Santiago and that it was urgently needed.
Strong aftershocks have continued to rock Santiago and other areas. The epicentre of the quake was 115km (70 miles) north-east of Concepcion and 325km south-west of Santiago. Chilean officials and ministers are still trying to come to terms with the scale of the disaster.
Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma said it was difficult to give precise figures of a "catastrophe of immense proportions".
One US risk assessor, Eqecat, put the value of the damage at between $15bn and $30bn (£9.8bn-£19.6bn) or 10-15% of gross domestic product. About 1.5 million homes have been damaged and police patrols have been stepped up to deter looters.

Most of the collapsed buildings were of older design - including many historic structures. About 90% of the historic centre of the town of Curico was destroyed. Many roads and bridges across the affected area were damaged or destroyed.
Santiago airport was damaged and remains closed.
Jose Abumohor, of Chile's national emergency centre, said efforts were already under way to restore public services. "The aim is as soon as possible that we manage to reach a state of normality," he said.
Mr Abumohor said the metro system would soon be working in Santiago and other transport services were slowly returning to normal. Roads were passable, although with diversions.
Efforts were under way to get aid to those who needed it, with relief supplies essential for the Juan Fernandez islands, where at least five people were killed as tsunamis hit.
The coastal town of Talcahuano, badly damaged by tsunami waves, is said to be the worst affected.
Organisation of the reconstruction effort will soon pass to Chile's new president, Sebastian Pinera, who takes office in two weeks.
"It's going to be a very big task and we're going to need resources," he said.
Chile has so far not requested aid despite offers of assistance from the US, China, the EU, the UN and others. Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez said Chile did not want aid offers to be "a distraction", adding: "Any aid that arrives without having been determined to be needed really helps very little."
Economic analysts say the quake will have a deep impact on Chile's economy, with the peso weakening in the short term and a large cost for rebuilding. However, Chile could benefit in the long term from an economic boost in the reconstruction effort. Alberto Ramos of Goldman Sachs told Reuters: "The Chileans fortunately have the best managed economy in the hemisphere and will be able to deal with this terrible adversity."
Evacuation orders
Meanwhile fears of a devastating tsunami across the Pacific receded on Sunday.
Japan has maintained an alert, issuing evacuation orders for 320,000 people around the coast.
However, it downgraded its alert from major to normal - meaning waves of two metres were expected rather than three.
About 50 Pacific countries and territories had issued tsunami alerts.
French Polynesia and Tahiti were among those hit by high waves, but no casualties have been reported.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on Sunday lifted its Pacific-wide alert.
Warning systems across the Pacific have improved since the 2004 Indonesia quake sparked a tsunami that killed nearly 250,000 people.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

UNO Journalism Media Entertainment Management Course in Toronto and Online Distance Education



JOURNALISM, MASS MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT MANAGEMENT COURSE

CURSO DE PERIODISMO, GERENCIA DE MEDIOS DE COMUNICACION E INDUSTRIAS DEL ESPECTACULO
(PRODUCCION TV Y ARTISTAS) OUTLINE

Lectured in Spanish. Readings: bilingual Spanish & English

Dictado en español. Lecturas, bilingües (Español / Inglés)

Starts on Saturday March 6, 2010 - 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.)
6-week course: 5-week classes, 1-weekend project presentation

Curso comienza el sábado 6 de marzo del 2010 – 9:00 a.m. a 1:00 p.m.

Location: UNO SPANISH SERVICES / EDUCATION CENTRE
Street: 79 King Street East, Unit 1
City/Town: Toronto, ON

1. Analysis and Communication / Análisis y Comunicación

2. Advertising and Marketing Communication / Comunicación de Mercadeo y Publicidad

3. Brand Management / Lovemarks / Gerencia de Marcas

4. Consumer Behavior / Comportamiento del Consumidor

5. Sports, Music & Entertainment Marketing and Management / Gerencia y Mercadeo de Espectáculos, Música y Deportes

6. Global Knowledge Economy, Digital & Online Media / Economía del Conocimiento Global, Medios Digitales y en Línea

7. Leadership, Motivation and Power / Liderazgo, Motivación y Poder

8. International Media Management / Gerencia Internacional de Medios de Comunicación

9. Media 2010 – The Next Generation / Medios de Comunicación 2010, La Nueva Generación

10. Negotiation Analysis and Behavior / Análisis y Comportamiento de Negociaciones

11. New Product & Brand Development / Desarrollo de Nuevas Marcas y Productos

12. Strategic Management in Entertainment and Media Industries / Gerencia Estratégica en las Industrias del Entretenimiento y Medios de Comunicación

13. Business Plan Development / Desarrollo de Plan de Negocios

14. Student Project Presentation / Presentaciones de Proyectos de los Estudiantes

Out of class: Go visit a mega-chain bookstore, TV station, music studio, newspaper or magazine and watch movie “TBD”

Course based on media, communications, and entertainment management curriculum from Catholic University of Chile, MIT of Massachusetts, Columbia University, New York, and University of California (UCLA). Materials from Institute of the Press, SIP – IAPA, Miami, Style Handbook, The American Press Institute, and El Financiero of Mexico Newspaper.

We will issue a Certificate of Completions after successful marking and project presentations.
JUAN CARLOS CORDERO
Chairman & CEO
Caminchi Bridge Corporation
A Canadian federally incorporated corporation
Tel. 416-866-8811 - Cell. 647-262-2804Email: caminchicanada@yahoo.com, caminchicanada@yahoo.com, juancarloscordero@caminchigroup.com
TORONTO - BUDAPEST - MOSCOW - DUBAI - SANTIAGO - BUENOS AIRES - BOGOTA - NEW YORK - MIAMI
Skype: jccordero28 - IM: laestrellanews Web: www.unoss.ca

Earthquake 8.8 grade Richter in Chile!!


Huge quake hits Chile and tsunami threatens Pacific

A devastating earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, toppling homes, collapsing bridges and plunging trucks into the fractured earth. A tsunami set off by the magnitude-8.8 quake threatened every nation around the Pacific Ocean — roughly a quarter of the globe.

Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma said the most powerful quake to hit the country in a half-century killed at least 82 people, but the death toll was rising quickly.

In the town of Talca, just 65 miles (105 kilometers) from the epicenter, Associated Press journalist Roberto Candia said it felt as if a giant had grabbed him and shaken him.

The town's historic center, filled with buildings of adobe mud and straw, largely collapsed, though most of those were businesses that were not inhabited during the 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. EST, 0634 GMT) quake. Neighbors pulled at least five people from the rubble while emergency workers, themselves disoriented, asked for information from reporters.

Many roads were destroyed, and electricity, water and phone lines were cut to many areas — meaning there was no word of death or damage from many outlying areas.

In the Chilean capital of Santiago, 200 miles (325 kilometers) northeast of the epicenter, a car dangled from a collapsed overpass, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms rang incessantly.

Experts warned that a tsunami could strike anywhere in the Pacific, and Hawaii could face its largest waves since 1964 starting at 11:19 a.m. (4:19 p.m. EST, 2119 GMT), according to Charles McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Tsunami waves were likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours of the earthquake. The U.S. West Coast and Alaska, too, were threatened.

A huge wave swept into a populated area in the Robinson Crusoe Islands, 410 miles (660 kilometers) off the Chilean coast, President Michelle Bachelet said, but there were no immediate reports of major damage.

Bachelet had no information on the number of people injured. She declared a "state of catastrophe" in central Chile.

"We have had a huge earthquake, with some aftershocks," she said from an emergency response center. She said Chile has not asked for assistance from other countries, and urged Chileans not to panic.

"The system is functioning. People should remain calm. We're doing everything we can with all the forces we have. Any information we will share immediately," she said.

Powerful aftershocks rattled Chile's coast — 24 of them magnitude 5 or greater and one reaching magnitude 6.9 — the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

In Santiago, modern buildings are built to withstand earthquakes, but many older ones were heavily damaged, including the Nuestra Senora de la Providencia church, whose bell tower collapsed. A bridge just outside the capital also collapsed, and at least one car flipped upside down.

Several hospitals were evacuated due to earthquake damage, Bachelet said.

Santiago's airport will remain closed for at least 24 hours, airport director Eduardo del Canto said. The passenger terminal suffered major damage, he told Chilean television in a telephone interview. TV images show smashed windows, partially collapsed ceilings and pedestrian walkways destroyed.

Santiago's subway was shut as well and hundreds of buses were trapped at a terminal by a damaged bridge, Transportation and Telecommunications Minister told Chilean television. He urged Chileans to make phone calls or travel only when absolutely necessary.

Candia was visiting his wife's 92-year-old grandmother in Talca when the quake struck.

"Everything was falling — chests of drawers, everything," he said. "I was sleeping with my 8-year-old son Diego and I managed to cover his head with a pillow. It was like major turbulence on an airplane."

In Concepcion, 70 miles (115 kilometers) from the epicenter, nurses and residents pushed the injured through the streets on stretchers. Others walked around in a daze wrapped in blankets, some carrying infants in their arms.

Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city, is 60 miles (95 kilometers) from the ski town of Chillan, a gateway to Andean ski resorts that was destroyed in a 1939 earthquake.

The quake also shook buildings in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, 900 miles (1,400 kilometers) away on the Atlantic side of South America.

Marco Vidal, a program director for Grand Circle Travel who was traveling with a group of 34 Americans, was on the 19th floor of the Crown Plaza Santiago hotel when the quake struck.

"All the things start to fall. The lamps, everything, was going on the floor," he said. "I felt terrified."

Cynthia Iocono, from Linwood, Pennsylvania, said she first thought the quake was a train.

"But then I thought, `Oh, there's no train here.' And then the lamps flew off the dresser and my TV flew off onto the floor and crashed."

The quake struck after concert-goers had left South America's leading music festival in the coastal city of Vina del Mar, but it caught partiers leaving a disco.

"It was very bad. People were screaming. Some people were running, others appeared paralyzed. I was one of them," Julio Alvarez told Radio Cooperativa.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center called for "urgent action to protect lives and property" in Hawaii, which is among 53 nations and territories subject to tsunami warnings.

"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicenter and could also be a threat to more distant coasts," the warning center said. It did not expect a tsunami along the west of the U.S. or Canada.

The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of Chile on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left 2 million homeless. The tsunami that it caused killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage to the west coast of the United States.

___