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Patrick Swayze was discharged Friday from the hospital entrance where a week earlier with pneumonia, his representative announced.


Annett Wolf said the actor was resting at home. The incident was first reported in a statement to People magazine Wolf.


A publicist preferred not to comment on the situation of Swayze and a message left Wolf has had no response.


Swayze, who suffers from cancer of the pancreas, was hospitalized on January 9 to put under observation for a box of pneumonia.


The actor of 56 years announced in March it was facing a particularly deadly form of cancer. Some reports gave only a few weeks of life, but his doctor said his situation was not so bad.


Swayze told presenter Barbara Walters of ABC, that his fight against cancer has made "going through hell" while looking for a new TV series.


Swayze has been working on the series "The Beast", released this week on the channel A & E. The producers have said they learned about the state of Swayze four hours after learning that A & E decided to purchase the series.


They added that the filming was completed his first season and hoped that Swayze continue participating in the series for its second season.

Twenty Hispanic TV figures, led by Marc Anthony, are ready to offer this Sunday the best of their production as part of the celebrations for the arrival of Barack Obama for president of the United States.


The so-called "Hispanic Gala" will be only one of several dozen parties and ethnic groups have organized to celebrate the start of the government's first black president of the nation.


Organizers confirmed the presence of Jennifer Lopez and the participation of Alejandro Sanz, Paulina Rubio, Luis Fonsi, Don Omar, Angélica Vale, Cucu Diamantes, Yerba Buena, George Lopez, Rosario Dawson, Tony Plana, Rosie Perez, Tony Gonzalez, Wilmer Valderrama , War, Lila Downs, Elida Reyna, Michael Salgado and Mariachi Los Camperos, among others.


The event's musical director, producer Andres Levin of Yerba Buena, said that the show will follow the line of the video "We can Obama, who performed with the participation of most of the artists listed above to support the president's campaign elected and has been viewed more than 300,000 times on YouTube.com.


His group will perform one or two issues and some members of the same accompany Paulina Rubio and Alejandro Sanz later, Levin told the AP in New York. "Marc Anthony plays with his band after this segment and the show closes," he added, but "I have not been confirmed if Jennifer Lopez will sing or what to do."


Cuban Cucu Diamantes of Yerba Buena, revealed that he is "so excited I can hardly sleep."


"Since we began the campaign of Obama's support it and we're super excited," he said from the studio in New York where he recorded his first solo album. "We live the American dream all (Latinos) who came here and were waiting for a change. For me playing in the 'Latin bowl' is amazing ... Many people did not expect a historic change as well, so there is a change to celebrate in which a thought that made history. "


For his part, Rubio told the AP in Mexico that she felt "honored, very happy" to be part of the event, since it saw Obama "I felt immediately connected with me, with me, my mind and spirit."


"We need a change and be part of that change fills me with pride, honor and especially now that I'm at a future time I will have children, so it was impossible not to do so (in the concert and support Obama) "said the singer, who married in 2007 with the Spanish businessman Nicolas Vallejo Nágera.


"We are very excited that the first concert of the year whether to participate in a historic event and belong to someone who supports him and wants him" to Obama, said the so-called Golden Girl.


The gala will be held at Columbus Club Union Station, the most showy of the subway stations in Washington, near the Capitol. This is not a drama but a hall for at least a thousand people, each of which paid $ 200 for the show.


"It was a pretty intense production," said Levin, who believes the biggest challenge was not musical but logistics due to the proximity of the event. Just a few days ago began the tests.


Organizers said the presence of that number of Hispanic artists stressed the "historical nature" of Obama on the assumption of the presidency and the "unprecedented opportunity to unite the Latino community and country."


Ramona Romero, president of the Hispanic National Bar Association (the equivalent of the Bar in Latin America), agreed with this assessment.


"This is an important event because it brings together not only artists but all prominent Latino organizations in the country," he said. "It's the way the Hispanic community will be celebrating a great historic shift in U.S. policy."


However, Democrat of New York Congressman Jose Serrano, who according to political circles has been among the Hispanic candidates for the cabinet of Obama seemed to be not very convinced of that assessment.


"Only one party is over," he told the AP on Hispanic Gala.


Marc Anthony stated that this was a "historic conclusion".

"This election marked the turning point for Latinos in terms of political power and civic participation," he said, according to a communique from the organizers. "We have made our voices heard and generated a result for a real change and a better future for our community and our families."

In closing the main fashion show of the year in Rio, the fashion was the least of: everyone's attention was focused on the model, a transgender actress.


Patricia Araujo received a standing ovation after his passage through the gateway for the home fashions B Complex on Friday night at the close of a week of fashion in the city that rejoices in the world with his shock of Carnival celebrations.


Designer B Complex, Beto Neves, said Araujo was a parade to surprise the audience.


"In fashion, the most surprising is cool," he told the daily O Dia.


Globo Television on its website called Araujo, 25, the star of the last parade, and the model Isabeli Fontana told O Dia that Araujo is the biggest. "


Tall and slender, Araujo went to the catwalk wrapped in a long sacón the skin, which was quickly stripped to reveal a black and white short dress to the applause of the hundreds of presents.


"I love that I stormed the press," he said then O Dia. "I always dreamed of being famous."


The legal name of the model is Patricia Oliveira. Araujo is the artistic name.

Barack Obama came to Washington at the end of a tour of the cold Atlantic coast on its way to the assumption, following the historic route of President Abraham Lincoln.

The crowd endured freezing temperatures to greet Obama along the route of 220 kilometers (137 miles) from Philadelphia to the U.S. capital.


Within three days, will take over as the successor to President George W. Bush.


At the start of the tour, Obama promised to bring the country a "declaration of independence, free from prejudice, discrimination and narrow visions.


The trip included a stop in Delaware, to pick the vice president-elect Joe Biden and another for a speech in Baltimore, where he said: "Let us together a better life in our time."


Obama referred to a lineage of the giant appeal in favor of "not easy to our instincts, but to our better angels," in an echo of Lincoln's first speech. It also reviewed the challenges that await them and promised to act "with fierce urgency", a phrase often used by the Reverend Martin Luther King child, civil rights activist.


The triumphant day for the president-elect starts events leading up to his inauguration on Tuesday, as the first black U.S. president.


Aboard an old-style wagon, Obama carried the hopes of a nation that has suffered wars, recession fears and hopes for a better future.


Biden spoke for many when he said he was excited about taking on Tuesday and then, overwhelmed by the challenge presented, he added "I think we should be ready for Wednesday."


Obama was all smiles and confidence during the journey, arriving at each of his stops in search of lessons from history. In Philadelphia, said the risks faced by the men who declared independence from British rule in the United States. In Wilmington, acknowledged the first state to ratify the Constitution. And in Baltimore, paid homage to the soldiers of Fort McHenry, who made off with the British Navy and inspired the poem that became the national anthem.


Obama also said he was aware of the challenges facing his presidency. He spoke of the economic crisis, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, "one that must be completed in a responsible manner, one that should be conducted wisely," and referred to the threat of global warming and dependence on foreign oil to the U.S. .


It also told the crowd gathered in Philadelphia that same idealism shown by the founders of the nation needed to meet the challenges of today.


"We recognize that major challenges will not be resolved so quickly. There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments. And we were asked to show patience while we act with a fierce urgency," said Obama.


In his weekly radio and Internet, Obama said Tuesday that the ceremony is a rite of passage that the country held every four years as an expression of its democratic ideals, and that should not be taken for granted.


"We must remember that our nation was founded in an era of kings and queens, and even today, billions of people around the world can not conceive that their leaders handed over power without struggle or bloodshed," he said.


He added that the presidential succession has taken place "during times of war and peace, prosperity and depression (...) Our democracy has undergone many changes and our people have been many steps toward a more perfect union. What has survived This is peaceful and orderly transition of power. "

The maker of mobile phones Motorola Inc. said Wednesday it will cut another 4,000 jobs, mainly in its mobile business because it anticipates a loss in the fourth quarter and lower than expected sales.

Analysts are already expecting this new round of job elimination from Motorola, which was beaten by a decline in demand for cell phones even before the economic slowdown.


The company, which fell to fourth place in the market for mobile phones during the third quarter, said it expected to report a loss under generally accepted accounting principles GAAP of between 7 and 8 U.S. cents and revenue between 7000 million and 7200 million dollars in the fourth quarter.

Analysts, on average, projected earnings of 7500 million dollars, according to Reuters Estimates.


Motorola said that the 4000 cut jobs and other cost reduction measures, will help save an additional $ 700 million in 2009, bringing the total savings of $ 1500 million, including a plan announced in October.

In that month, the company outlined a plan to cut 3000 jobs, mainly in its mobile devices unit.

The United States is coming to give thousands of millions of dollars to the bank Bank of America, reported Wednesday that the newspaper Wall Street Journal, which would make it the second bank that requires a second round of government assistance.

Bank of America is struggling to digest the purchase of January 1 of brokerage Merrill Lynch & Co, said the daily quoting sources close to the subject.


Shares of the bank gave more than 5% in electronic transactions, to its lowest level since 1991.

Merrill Lynch's losses in the fourth quarter of 2008 were greater than anticipated, so that Bank of America began to talk with the U.S. Treasury in mid-December, the newspaper added.


The terms of government aid are being outlined and the details would be revealed with the results of the bank report scheduled for January 20.

A possible agreement would protect the Bank of America Merrill toxic assets, limiting potential losses because of them.


The talks were led by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who fear that Bank of America fails to realize the agreement, which would leave Merrill Lynch with a partner.

The Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri, and the White House declined to comment. The Treasury also addressed the issue.

President Hugo Chávez announced that the grant will be awarded the gold mine's largest country into a joint venture between the Venezuelan state mining company and a Russian in an apparent attempt to secure new sources of revenue at a time that international oil prices fall.

VenRus, a joint venture formed last year between the Russian company Rusoro Mining Ltd and a state mining conglomerate, this year will operate the mine Las Cristinas, Chavez said Tuesday in a speech on the occasion of the release of its annual report .


A spokesman for Rusoro, based in the Canadian city of Vancouver, on Wednesday declined to comment on the deal.

Granting VenRus apparently ignored an exclusive contract that the Venezuelan government in 2002 gave the Canadian company Crystallex International Corp. to operate four sections of the mine.


Crystallex was awaiting a final environmental permit to begin the excavation, which Venezuelan authorities denied him in May alleging that affects the natural resources of the area. On Wednesday, the company said it had not been informed of any change in its exclusive rights.

The action would mean that the Venezuelan state assumes control of the country's gold reserves - a potentially lucrative - said Pavel Gomez, professor at the Institute of Higher Administration Studies (IESA) in Caracas.


Chavez has said it hopes to develop resources such as gold and diamonds allowed to continue its comprehensive spending when oil prices collapse.

Crude generates about half of government revenue and 94% of the entrances to the country exports. The precious metals sector in the country has been largely controlled by a handful of private foreign companies.


Chavez now with VenRus will be granted five of the largest gold concessions in Venezuela, including four in Las Cristinas, which has an estimated 998 metric tons of gold, and another in the mine Brisas del Cuyuní.

The measure would help Venezuela to raise its gold production to 8.2 metric tons in 2009, he added. South Africa, one of the main sources of gold in the world, produced 249 metric tons in 2007.


Rusoro, which was founded by a group of Russian private investors in Canada, has recently increased its presence in Venezuela, based on the purchase of the Venezuelan subsidiary of US-Idaho Hecla Mining Corp. for $ 25 million in mid-2007 .

He also offered to buy all outstanding shares and all units of the U.S. company Gold Reserve in Spokane, Washington, which has granted Brisas.


Gold Reserve refused the offer, there is a dispute to end the hostile acquisition is in progress. The Superior Court of Ontario, Canada, will hear his case on February 4, according to a statement from the company's website. The president of Gold Reserve, Douglas Belanger, did not return calls for comment.

Venezuela also plans to partner with an international initiative to control trade in diamonds known as the Kimberley Process in order to exploit its reserves of diamonds, said Chavez.


Venezuelan diamonds have been excluded from major world markets, and he left the Kimberley Process last year, which has the aim of forcing participants to certify the origin of diamonds to be traded to stem the flow of diamonds conflict zones.

Consumer prices in Panama were made in December for the second consecutive month due to a drop in energy costs, transportation and fuel offset rises in food, the government said Wednesday.

The General Accounting Office said the consumer price index fell 0.4 percent in December. Prices in November fell 0.6 percent.


The prices of housing, water, electricity and gas decreased by 6 percent in December, while transport costs fell by 2.3 percent. However, food rose by 1.4 percent.

Inflation to 12 months to December was 6.8 percent. No comparative figures were available.


Panama, which uses the dollar as local currency, traditionally enjoyed lower inflation as the United States.

But last year, a rise in global food prices and fuel, coupled with strong domestic demand led inflation rates to their highest levels since the beginning of the 1980s.


In recent weeks, government workers and pensioners took to the streets to protest the hike in the cost of living.

In the 12 months ended in December, food prices grew by 14.9 percent and transportation 10.2 percent, mainly due to high food prices and oil for most of the year.


The President Martín Torrijos, who faces presidential elections in May, has sought to alleviate the discontent of the people by giving subsidies to energy and food to the poorest families.

The outgoing government on Wednesday, Bush faced pressure from Democrats not to put in place a free trade agreement with Peru, the Andean country to meet the important obligation to strengthen workers' rights.


"We urge you to resist setting any artificial deadline on this issue closely and to consult Congress before taking any decision on this matter," said the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives of the United States, Charles Rangel.

Rangel, a Democrat from New York, made his appeal in a letter to the United States Trade Representative, Susan Schwab.


The letter was also signed by Representative Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat who chairs the panel's trade subcommittee.

Congress approved the free trade agreement for more than a year and the Bush administration has been working with the Government of Peru to the pact between force.


The Peruvian Trade Minister Mercedes Araoz, has expressed concern that it could take another year to implement the agreement if not done before President George W. Bush leaves office on Tuesday January 20.

The next government of President-elect Barack Obama "is more engaged in their internal problem that its international trade relations (...) There are also protectionist positions of influence within the Democratic Party," said Aráoz.


The Peruvian Congress voted Tuesday in favor of giving special powers to President Alan García time to reform laws in the coming days so that the rules of the country meet the requirements of the agreement, and to strengthen the law to protect the Amazon rainforest to calm the concerns of Washington.

Levin and Rangel acknowledged that Peru has recently taken several steps to resolve the outstanding issues, but said they were "particularly concerned" that Bush let the pact comes into force before that Peru complies with the obligation to strengthen workers' rights .


"Specifically, in 2007, Peru agreed to do and actually made changes, its legal framework to end the outsourcing (or" outsourcing ") as a means to undermine the ability to create a union," said the lawmakers .

"In 2008, however, Peru has adopted new laws and regulations that open gaps in the framework of 2007, including a vague exception applies when the labor department of Peru considers' reasonable 'to do," he added.


Schwab told reporters Tuesday that Bush expected to certify to Peru as the seventeenth member with a free trade agreement with the United States.

When Bush came to power, the U.S. had FTAs with Mexico, Canada and Israel.

Israeli forces fired shells into Lebanese territory on Wednesday in response to a rocket attack, Lebanese security authorities reported.

This is the second such clash between the two countries since Israel began on December 27 in its offensive against Hamas in Gaza and the south could trigger a new battle front in the north.


Nobody was injured after a rocket exploded in unpopulated areas near the Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona. Despite this was ordered residents to take shelter in bomb shelters, police said. On the Lebanese side there were no immediate reports of injuries.

The area has experienced an almost total peace since the summer of 2006 when Israel fought a war against the Islamist group Hezbollah, which lasted 34 days in which more than 1,000 people died in Lebanon and about 160 in Israel.


Lebanese officials reported that several rockets were fired on Wednesday and at least one of which exploded early on Lebanese territory. Israel responded by launched at least eight artillery shells against the source of the rockets near the village of Kfar Hamam, according to officials.

Israeli helicopter gunships carried out reconnaissance flights over the border while highly controlled Lebanese troops and peacekeeping forces sent patrols, Lebanese officials said on condition of anonymity because they had no authority to make statements to the press.


Residents in the region to remove children from schools for fear of the increase in attacks.

The area from where rockets were fired is controlled by the Lebanese army and the peacekeeping forces of the UN.


On Thursday, four rockets were fired into northern Israel, from the opposite side of the border near the Mediterranean coast. Israel also responded with a number on that occasion.

Brazil granted refuge to the Italian Cesare Battisti, a fugitive from justice in his country where he was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of committing four murders that have in the 1970s, reported on Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice.

Minister Tarso Genro Battisti has decided to grant refuge to the Tuesday night, considering that there were "well founded fear of persecution" against the Italian, a writer who campaigned on a guerrilla movement in his country.


"We hope to be freed in 24 hours (Thursday)," said Camilo Toscano, the office of lawyer Luiz Eduardo Greenhalgh, a defender of Battisti.

He indicated that before being released, the granting of refugee status must be published in the Official Gazette and sent to the Federal Supreme Court (STF, supreme court) to file the extradition request and ordered the release of the Italian, who was arrested in a prison in Brasilia.


The Italian government had requested the extradition of Battisti, 54, to meet the life sentence handed down in absentia against him for the murders attributed to him, committed between 1977 and 1979.

However, the decision of the minister Genro that the political context in which the killings were attributed to him and the potential inability of broad defense for the radicalization of the political situation in Italy, generated a profound doubt on whether the defendant was entitled to due process. "


His remark is a reference to the legal measures adopted by Italy of emergency at that time to fight the armed groups, like that of Battisti.

In response, Genro said in its decision that chose to grant refugee status to Battisti.


The press office of the Justice Ministry said that Brazil is a signatory to international treaties on the rights of refuge, the Italian may not be extradited despite the supreme court has not acted on the request of the government of Italy.

The Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in Rome that the decision Brazilian caught him, and asked President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reversed.


In this regard, Genro told reporters in Sao Paulo that Lula had been fully informed of the decision, but declined to comment on whether the president could reverse the right of sanctuary granted to Italian. He admitted however that the decision could be contested.

The Brazilian president said in response that the granting of refuge to answer a Brazilian tradition of asylum to people who face political persecution.


"Brazil has granted asylum cases even more complicated than this, remember that (former Paraguayan dictator Alfredo) Stroessner, spent 30 years in Brazil," said a presidential spokesman who was not identified by policy of the institution.

The spokesman said that if Italy wanted to contest the granting of refuge had to make an order for government to government, not a minister to the president.


Battisti had fled Italy in 1981 for France, where she received refugee status under the government of President Francois Mitterrand and began a career as a writer of mystery novels.

However, at the beginning of the 1990s, the government of conservative President Jacques Chirac canceled his refugee status, so they left France.


Authorities believe Battisti arrived in Brazil in 2004. He was arrested three years later and remained in the country pending his extradition.

Genro denied that the case could cause a diplomatic dispute between Brazil and Italy, which he described as "two governments to respect each other."

Johm Smoltz on Tuesday signed its agreement for a year and $ 5.5 million with the Boston Red Sox, confident that you can still contribute after 20 years with the launch of Atlanta Braves and a recent operation in the shoulder.

"I'm more determined and focused than ever," said the law on Tuesday. "The uniform has changed, but the desire not change."


Smoltz can earn another $ 5 million in bonificiones according to the time that is on the active roster of 25 players: 125,000 for his first day, 35,000 per day between June 1 and October 3 and 4 per 500,000 October, the last day of the regular season.

"I do not consider this as a year," he said. "Age is just a number."


The serpetinero of 41 years is 210 wins, 154 rescues and effectiveness of 3.26 in his career of 20 years with the Braves. Last season was 3-2 with a 2.57 record of effectiveness before being placed on the inactive list in June.

Smoltz and general manager of the Red Sox, Theo Epstein, said the pitcher will be ready when opener.


Boston has a powerful abridora rotation with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield and Brad Penny, so the team can give the time necessary for Smoltz to be ready for the final stretch of the campaign and possibly the playoffs.

Epstein and Smoltz did not provide a date for his return to the mound, although both said that his shoulder is recovering well.


"The viewing opening matches for us at the end of the season and hopefully in October," said Epstein. "We will take it calmly, taking into account the most important thing."

Smoltz said it bears no grudge toward the Braves.


"It was headed in another direction and I have no other option left," he said.

Chris Rock has returned to the arena as a writer.

Grand Central Publishing The publisher announced that Rock's new book, still untitled, will be full of "comic observations. Its launch is tentatively in 2010.


Comedian published "Rock This!" in 1997.

"We are so excited to publish Chris Rock, especially because it has not published a book in many years so this is a much awaited," said Deb Futter, vice president and editor in chief of hardcover books from Grand Central Publishing, a reported on Tuesday.


Rock, 43, has lent his voice to animated characters tape as "Bee Movie" and "Madagascar" and created the television series "Everybody Hates Chris."

Grand Central has published books by other famous comedians like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Deaths from dengue fever in Rio de Janeiro almost quadrupled last year, reaching a figure of 106 victims, reported Sunday the Brazilian authorities.

According to a report from the Ministry of Health of the city, there were 87 more deaths, but are still under investigation to determine whether due to the dengue, reported the News Agency of Brazil, the government.


Brazil agency said that 127,000 people became ill last year in the city, an increase of 25,000 cases compared to the figure of 2007. There were no reports of a possible cause and were unable to locate the secretariat of the authorities on Sunday for comment.

Dengue fever killed 27 people in 2007 in Rio, one of the cities most affected by the disease, transmitted by mosquitoes.


Dengue causes high fever, severe headaches and pains in the joints. Most cases are not fatal, but even more virulent and deadly disease has been reported more frequently.

A local food for dogs announced on Monday that suspended the sale of the product after reports of the death of several animals by aflatoxin poisoning.

The company Yidi Shanghai Pet Co. stopped selling food brand Optima last week and notified its customers that do not give their animals, after receiving reports about the poisoning of the dogs consumed, said a customer service manager of the firm was identified only with his surname Gu.


"It is disturbing to see so many dogs have been sick for food. They must be serious problems," he added.

The announcement was made on the same day that Chinese authorities said they would increase security mechanisms in food before the main national celebration, the Lunar New Year.


The campaign is the latest effort by China to solve the serious problems of food security in the country.

The local industry has been affected by several scandals, including last year's, in which hundreds of thousands of children get sick from contaminated milk powder with melamine. The death of six babies have been linked to the scandal.


Melamine has also been cited as the cause of death of dogs and cats in the United States during 2007, due to consumption of Chinese food ingredients, contaminated with this compound.

These scandals are focused on chemical compounds that are used to hide the fact that doses food components have been reduced to increase profit margins.


Melamine, like protein, has high levels of nitrogen and was used to fool tests for protein levels.

Right after Christmas, when thousands of people received a gift of new phone multifunction iPhone was fired visits Pink Visual website specializing in pornography.

The firm, as well as many other industries eroticism and pornography, was adapted to new consumer habits by allowing millions of Internet users seek pleasure through phones, DVD high-definition Blu-ray TV and internet .



"The way to consume pornography has evolved," says the charge of distributing Pink Channel, Kim Kysar in the hall's annual "adult entertainment", which closed its doors on Sunday in Las Vegas (Nevada, west). "It will be more personal and accessible from anywhere in the path, in the bathroom of the office ...", he added.

According Kysar, the number of sites to Pink tailored for mobile phones has skyrocketed in the last six months. In addition, 40% of visitors become subscribers. "We had a peak (of visits) after Christmas, when everyone received phones that download videos from the internet, told Kysar. "One of the first things people do is to search Google 'iPhone porn', and here we are."


Pink from the outset was designed as a website, which makes your clips are short and fast download. "You can go directly to see what you want," summed Kysar. "If you go to the last clip, you orgasm. If you take the stage at the outset, it is more 'soft'."

Meanwhile, Digital Playground, known for having produced the first erotic film in high definition, five years ago, has a site devoted exclusively to Apple iPhones.


And an industry giant, Vivid Entertainment, is one of the pioneers in the transmission of videos on mobile phones, particularly in Europe, where there are fewer legal restrictions than in the U.S.. "The volume of business continues to grow with the advent (of the mobile network) to 3G," said the manager, Steve Hirsch. "The more people have phones with video features, the better for us."

Sales of DVD, before the main item of income from Vivid, no more than 30% of its turnover in 2008, while Internet subscribers, paid downloads and cable movies on demand are becoming increasingly profitable .


However, the downloads have not offset the drop in sales of DVD. Today Vivid makes his movies in high definition and redoubling the stakes in DVD format Blu-ray.

With all this, the future of the small neighborhood video pornography seems threatened, the industry players believe. "The mobile Internet downloads: that is how people are provided," says Kysar. "We do not want to report that rent movies or worry about the prospect of their children or parents discovered a small collection and naughty."

The war between Israel and Hamas arrecia on the Internet: on YouTube, shows the Israeli army fighting "terrorists" of Hamas, which replicates in the portal for the dissemination of videos PalTube denounced the "massacres" committed by troops of the State Hebrew in Gaza.



In a conflict over which foreign journalists can not report from the Gaza Strip by Israel's refusal to let them enter the territory, control of the images and messages is as important as these military operations.


By Israeli army chain hammers on YouTube (www.youtube.com / user / idfnadesk), through the voices of speakers and aerial imagery, which Hamas is a terrorist organization that uses civilians as " human shields "and uses mosques to hide weapons.

PalTube (www.palutube.com), whose server is in Moscow, Hamas serves to denounce the "Zionist holocaust in Gaza", by defending its armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades Exxedin, and "martyrdom." Its entrance page is clear: photos of an elderly woman crying and bloodied corpses of children. You can also see live chain Al-Quds, Hamas-related and based in Beirut.


"The enemy will be defeated and withdrawn," said one of the slogans of the site, which functions like YouTube, so users can view the material or show their own videos.

One, for example, shows a member of Hamas as he reads his will before going to fight in Gaza, where Israeli offensive has claimed at least 930 dead since it began on December 27. "I am, God willing, the martyr Abdel Karim Said Wahba, the city of Lod, a resident of Nusseirat refugee camp (central Gaza), said the man while displaying an anti-tank rocket launcher and an assault rifle with the green flag of Hamas on his back. "My Father, is not sad for me because I was sent as ambassador to paradise. (...) My heart is full of love for Jihad (holy war) and martyrdom," he adds.


Another video aired by a sailor nicknamed 'Al-Qanas' (' the sniper ') shows the firing of rockets against Israel in images taken from the official channel of Hamas, Al-Aqsa.

The chain of the Israeli army on YouTube is more sober. In addition to the spokespersons to justify attacks against Hamas, is a video showing Palestinian Islamist group documents found by the soldiers on a mission in northern Gaza.


"We use a very popular platform to explain the positions of the army the world (...) and illustrate the practices of the Hamas terrorists who used civilians as human shields," said Captain Ishai David, an army of spokesmen .

The site has achieved some success, with nearly 1.4 million visitors in two weeks.


According to Jerome Bourdon, a sociologist and head of communication department of the University of Tel Aviv, Israel, and Hamas used "a very modern way, after all, a very classic propaganda." "It's a growing phenomenon. (...) Everyone, including the most conservative institutions, think of YouTube," he adds, stating that its use allows for both, in addition to mobilize the troops and raise morale " .

The latest mobile phone from Palm, the Pre, and a digital video card Wireless won awards as the best news electronically submitted at the show (CES) in Las Vegas (Nevada, western United States) ended Sunday after four days of exhibitions.

The site specializes news site CNET honored the winners in 10 categories, but the phone multifunction Palm Pre-made to increase the shares of Palm on Thursday after filing, was elected by 4,000 of the 10,000 Internet users who participated in the selection of honors. The Pre, acclaimed by experts for its ability to perform several tasks simultaneously, including web browsing, won comfortably in the category of mobile phones and won the prize for the device that shows the way to the future of electronics. "


A competition organized by the site's information blogs NetShelter distinguished by their side digital video card Eye-Fi, capable of communicating with other wireless devices to transfer video immediately.

The rest of the CNET distinguished honors the last Pocket PC from Sony, the Vaio P Series. The PC, which will be on the market in late January for $ 900, is about the size of a postal and weighs 630 grams. The Japanese manufacturer also won with his digital camera DSC G3, while Samsung won its digital audio player with touch screen P3.


The TV Panasonic G10 was distinguished by its efficient energy consumption and offer the possibility of disseminating video on demand site Amazon.com.

The joystick for game console Nyko was chosen "because it is a very big improvement on the original Wii remote control that will innovate on the (Nintendo console) Wii in many ways."


Preliminary estimates were an electronics fair attendance this year of 130,000 people, 10,000 fewer than those who attended last year. Meanwhile the number of exhibitors at the huge facility ESC fell to 2,700, while last year there were 3,000.

"Our world, our nation and our industry is really facing enormous challenges," said the chairman of the U.S. Microsoft, Steve Ballmer. "Ultimately, it is the power of ideas and innovation that we will move forward despite the economic environment." Ballmer took the show to reveal the details of the operating system Windows 7, which is available since last Friday in its test version (beta) to replace Vista.


Also Sony, LG Electronics, Toshiba, Samsung and Vizio chose this platform to voice their flat screen televisions with 'widgets' (mini-applications or widgets) from Yahoo! That allow surfing the internet. Yahoo! 20 widgets introduced viewers to connect with Internet destinations such as YouTube, Twitter, eBay, MySpace, Amazon, CBS and The New York Times.

A British firm filed an electronic bracelet with GPS satellite locator that lets parents know where your children are at all times, in the electronics trade show in Las Vegas (Nevada, western United States) ending sunday.

GPS Child Locator ( "Children GPS Locator), or 'num8' is turned to the child's wrist and contains a satellite positioning system (GPS, for short), explained the spokesman for the manufacturer, lok8u .



"Using GPS and GSM technology (the latter, for mobile phones) with an accuracy of three meters," he said. Literally, the device continues to his son, "said Matthew Salmon, and" it is very difficult to draw. " "Although the child reached out the 'num8' send a text message alert to your cellphone," said the spokesman, which include an image of the home page of Google maps with the exact location of the moment. "You can also configure a perimeter, a kind of invisible fence, and if they get out of this invisible fence (the device) sent a warning on the Internet," said Salmon.

Will be available in Britain and the United States this year for $ 200 plus a monthly payment of $ 10.

The Spanish government has created a page 'web' to explain the measures that have anti-launched, in which the chief executive, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, warned that "all" have to "make efforts and sacrifices" .

Zapatero recalled in a video presentation of the new page ( 'www.plane.gob.es') that "the government's main objective is to combat unemployment, which in recent months has seen a dramatic increase, reaching more 3 million unemployed in late December.


The 'web' presents' for the Spanish Stimulus Plan for Economy and Employment ', the government has dubbed "Plan E' and that includes several measures already in place and measures which the Government will take in coming months, "according to Zapatero.

These measures are explained in different sections according to the groups targeted every measure, including aid for families, to promote employment, businesses, the financial sector and modernization of the economy.


In each of these sections are detailed measures as part of the temporary moratorium mortgage fees, which will allow the unemployed to freeze 50% of your mortgage payments for two years, or the deduction of 400 euros per year in tax on income for families.

In the case of companies, the 'web' detailing various tax measures, while for promoting employment, the executive recalled the establishment of a fund of 8,000 million euros to promote investment in local municipalities, or 3,000 million Euro for public works of the state, among other measures.


The aim is to return to the path of recovery job "and that Spain, the eighth largest economy in the world comes out stronger from the crisis," Zapatero said in the video.

After 15 years of strong economic growth, which had been placed as one of the most dynamic economies in Europe, Spain has drastically crisis in early 2008, shaken by the outbreak of the housing bubble and the international financial crisis and recession slashing After one quarter of negative growth.

The Spanish Civil Guard on Tuesday reported the arrest of four people in the Dominican Republic to be accused of trying to extort Spanish singer David Bisbal.

The officials explained in a statement that those arrested were able to access email professional singer with his Spanish commonly used label.


The four defendants asked Bisbal various amounts of money not to disclose the material removed from your account, including models of its new album.

Bisbal, author of popular subjects like "Bulería", decided to denounce what happened at a court in Almeria, his hometown in southern Spain.


Civil Guard opened an investigation that looked at in the Dominican Republic, the source of extortion.

After requesting the cooperation of the Dominican police, were arrested the four suspects. The agents also seized his computer and found all the information stolen from the singer.

Leaders of the Democratic and Republican U.S. Senate today filed a $ 30 million to fight in the next two years the smuggling of weapons into Mexico, fueling a "narcoviolencia" in that country .

The legislation was introduced by Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman (New Mexico) and Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson (Texas), who argued that the continuing violence in Mexico not only has a "devastating" in that country but also threatens the security communities on both side of the frontier.


Senators in a joint communique recalled that in 2008 more than 5,300 people were killed in attacks in Mexico linked to organized crime, double the previous year.

Of the total, over 1,600 were killed in Ciudad Juarez, near the U.S. border town of El Paso (Texas).


According to the Office for the Control of Alcohol, Snuff and Firearms (ATF for short), 90 percent of weapons confiscated in Mexico comes from the United States.

Mexico has strict measures on the possession of weapons, so that drug traffickers use to smuggle weapons to control their U.S. routes for the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.


"We have to acknowledge that weapons are smuggled into Mexico from the United States are fueling this violence, and we must take immediate action to keep them out of the hands of violent drug gangs," said Bingaman.

For his part, Hutchinson said that drug traffickers do not respect borders and that "the growing violence in Mexico is now a matter of U.S. national security."


"The powerful Mexican drug cartels are threatening the safety of U.S. communities and police forces that try to protect ourselves," said the Texas senator.

Both the United States and Mexico have said that the fight against drug trafficking is a "shared responsibility", but the Government of Mexico requires stronger action from Washington against the illegal trafficking of arms into its territory.


The Law for the Reduction of Violence on the Southwest Border "aims to combat arms smuggling networks.

A similar initiative had been introduced last year without any action taken in that regard.


The measure authorizes $ 30 million over the next two years to expand an initiative of the Department of Justice against the arms trade.

It also authorizes an additional 19 million dollars in the same period to improve cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico in the magazine business.

President Oscar Arias declared a national emergency for areas affected by the earthquake on Thursday in order to facilitate the process of aid in addition to an order five days of mourning from Monday.

The measure also states that flags should remain at half mast and the suspension of festive activities by central government, which forced to suspend some events scheduled for this week's visit to the country's former Formula One driver, German Michael Schumacher as part of a road safety campaign.




The authorities managed to establish the whereabouts of dozens of people who were on a list of missing in the earthquake of 6.1 degrees, which was reduced from 109 to 23.

The Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) said that the discovery and identification of a body on Monday rose to 15 over the official number of deaths from the earthquake. The Red Cross reported at the weekend to 18 deaths and said it will again provide a toll when the rescue operations.


Most of those reported missing is now in shelters served by the Red Cross and the Emergency Commission (CNE).

Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias asked Congress to give him a loan processing 65 million dollars from the World Bank and was designed to prevent emergencies through infrastructure.


"We want to give MPs and the country full guarantees that these resources be used properly, budgets and routed through the various entities involved with the reconstruction of damaged areas such as housing, health or aqueducts, "he said.

The initial assessment showed a figure close to 100 million dollars in damages. Arias added that he also managed to lawmakers to deal with another loan from the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) for 850 million dollars.


The head of Red Cross relief, Guillermo Arroyo, would be a miracle that anyone is alive. "It's unfortunate but we are convinced that at this stage there are no survivors, but we are still searching," he said in statements to Channel 6.

The lifeguard Carlos Herrera told Channel 7 that rain threatens the search and rescue work in the affected area, about 40 kilometers north of the capital, thus further softens the soil, full of mud and unstable. "If it rains we will have to stop because we can not endanger the lives of boys. Hill was moving slowly and in a huge amount of land that has fallen," he said.


The quake affected some 128,100 people in the central region of the country, reported Monday the CNE.

An mentioned sections of 26 roads affected by landslides or falling of the road, bridges destroyed, power systems collapsed and 21 shelters with 2,248 people. Some 60 communities were affected.


CNE teams visiting from house to house and found 250 families with total losses in properties.

Israel threatened on Monday to beat Gaza with "iron hand" while the Hamas Islamist group said to be close to "victory" in a conflict that has left over 900 dead in Palestinian territory since the beginning of the Israeli offensive.

Meanwhile, 25 more Palestinians were killed by attacks by Israeli forces fighting against Hamas activists in the suburbs of Gaza City, according to medical sources and witnesses.

There were also clashes in northern Gaza.

Israeli tanks moved about one hundred meters in the neighborhoods of Ajline, and Zeitun Tuffah, facing Palestinian fighters in the three axes, according to witnesses.


"We want to finish the operation when two conditions are met: to end the firing of rockets and end the rearmament of Hamas," said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, on a visit to the south goal of the firing of rockets .

"Anything else will find the iron hand of the Israeli people, who do not want to tolerate the (rocket) Qassam," he added.


For its part, the prime minister's Islamist government in Gaza said Hamas in a televised message "is close to victory against the Israeli army.

"We are close to victory. The pure blood was not spilled in vain, because God will take us through to victory," said Haniyeh, in a speech broadcast on television on Monday of Hamas.


On the other hand had a Hamas spokesman repeated the government in Gaza rejected the deployment of an international force in Palestinian territory in a possible ceasefire agreement, to consider this option as "an occupation force."

Israel says that through the offensive has dealt a severe blow to Hamas by killing more than 550 of its fighters and injuring thousands more.


"The army is doing in 16 days what other countries fighting terrorism have not been able to do in 16 years," said the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, on a visit to a military base.

According to the head of emergency services in Gaza, Muawiya Hasanein, there are already 917 Palestinians have been killed during the Israeli offensive, of which 277 are children, 97 women and 92 elderly.


He added that more than 4,100 Palestinians were wounded.

Sunday night, Israeli media announced that the army began sending reinforcements of reservists to support regular troops in the Gaza Strip, a move interpreted as a prelude to the launch of "third phase" of the offensive, with assaults in central cities and refugee camps.


According to the media, the government hesitated until now to authorize this "third phase", while increasing calls for a ceasefire, including the Council of the UN Security, which demanded a ceasefire in a resolution adopted on Thursday.

At the diplomatic level, Israel postponed a day visit to Cairo by a senior official in the Israeli Defense Ministry, Amos Gilad, to discuss a possible cease-fire in Gaza, reported the ministry.


Egypt, which developed in close coordination with a French initiative for a ceasefire, talks on Sunday with a delegation of Hamas (the Arabic acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement). The organization said it rejected "points" of that plan.

According to Israeli public radio, the postponement of the visit was decided by Amos Gilad, the Israeli authorities to increase the military pressure on Hamas, while the army announced having dealt heavy blows to the armed wing of the Islamist movement.

The outgoing U.S. president George W. Bush blamed Hamas. "I am in favor of a lasting ceasefire, and the definition of sustainable cease-fire that Hamas stop launching rockets into Israel," he said Monday in his last press conference.

Israel claimed that its offensive was aimed at ending the firing of rockets from Gaza, but Palestinians have launched more than 660 of these projectiles at southern Israel since December 27, killing four people.

Meanwhile, the Czech presidency of the European Union (EU) plans to organize a donor conference to meet the humanitarian needs of the population of Gaza, announced on Monday the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, without specifying date or place.

A legal dispute over seven photographs of Marilyn Monroe taken before the death of the latter in 1962 ended in an amicable way, both sides reported on Monday.

The photos are part of the over 2,500 erotic images that Bert Stern took him to Monroe or semidesnuda nude for the magazine Vogue. Shortly after the star died of an overdose of drugs.


Last year two photographers approached Stern to reach an agreement related to the photographs, slides seven during what has been called the "last meeting" of photos of the actress. But the Stern sued because they thought they had stolen.

However, photographers Michael Weiss and Donald Penny argued that another colleague found the slides in the garbage in Manhattan in the 1970s and kept in a shoebox as souvenirs for nearly 35 years.


The lawyer of the two, Jamie Brickell, as well as the legal representative of Stern, Stephen Weingrad, said on Monday that the dispute was resolved amicably.

Brickell said that their clients did nothing wrong. Penny said, Weiss and Bryan never asked for money to Stern, but only talked about the possibility of returning the slides to change a set of prints that could keep.


Brickell, Weingrad, Stern, Penny and Weiss noted that there will be nine games and slides will be sold together, and indicated that the issue of how the gains are distributed is confidential.

"Given that only seven of nine games produced prints each, are very excited," says Weiss and Penny through Brickell.


"These are great pictures of Marilyn Monroe. With the original film and digital tools we have now, we can create wonderful views, unique in its kind," they added.

After ten days of intense battle, the anti-Italian movement was able to attract thousands of visitors' web 'Facebook to attack and neutralize the web pages devoted to glorifying two former chiefs of the so-called Cosa Nostra.

"At the beginning he was surprised by the presence of these groups, I wanted to retire from Facebook, where I have a page. Then I understood that was key to occupy this space to banish these people," he explained to AFP Rita Borsellino, sister of the renowned anti judge Paolo Borsellino, killed by Cosa Nostra in 1992.


Since last December, the presence on the Web site Facebook socialization groups of fans who were advocating the Sicilian Mafia and glorify his two chiefs, Toto Riina (78 years, arrested in 1993) and Bernardo Provenzano (75 years, arrested in 2006), causing severe reactions of associations of families of victims and political leaders.

With the names' Toto Riina Free ',' Fans of Toto Riina, a misunderstood man 'or' All those who respect Toto Riina ', groups of fewer than 100 Internet users, as noted AFP tribute as "innocent" to the feared sponsors, who "kiss hands" as a token of appreciation.


In less than a week, encouraged by the strong reaction of anti-movement, thousands of Facebook users assaulted with messages, sometimes threatening, sites for mafia, in turn creating a strong movement.

The movement "Abolition of the group of fans of Bernardo Provenzano" counted on Friday with over 6,000 registered "No to supporters of Riina on Facebook, with over 4,000, and" All those for whom Riina is not an idol but a criminal, "with 3,200.


Other groups have anti hundreds of new members every day, one way to contribute to the struggle of civil society against the criminal organizations.

Given this reaction, the two largest groups glorifying Toto Riina "suspended" its business.


The site named "Toto Riina, a man misunderstood" opens with a blank page followed by the phrase "was the founder," but "the group will not disappear by huevones we break the hilt."

From the "Those who respect Toto Riina" were dashed messages and lists of members and survives a poster with the phrase "temporarily closed until the infiltrators and moralizing go."


"This form of self-restraint and dialogue is the most effective method," said Rita Borsellino satisfied, who appreciated the response of civil society to praise the sponsors.

"If banning the creation of these groups and publicize them finished by the end ended by accusations of censorship," he said.


The famous writer of crime novels sicilian Andrea Camilleri lamented the fact that the existence of the Mafia is trivialized, a phenomenon that has entered the DNA (hereditary cells) from the Italians. "

"If all the magic away from the land mafia, the mafia phenomenon survive, as the case of Facebook. I'm shocked. You think you touched bottom and the bottom hand is increasingly black and deep," he said.

After ten days of intense battle, the anti-Italian movement was able to attract thousands of visitors' web 'Facebook to attack and neutralize the web pages devoted to glorifying two former chiefs of the so-called Cosa Nostra.

"At the beginning he was surprised by the presence of these groups, I wanted to retire from Facebook, where I have a page. Then I understood that was key to occupy this space to banish these people," he explained to AFP Rita Borsellino, sister of the renowned anti judge Paolo Borsellino, killed by Cosa Nostra in 1992.


Since last December, the presence on the Web site Facebook socialization groups of fans who were advocating the Sicilian Mafia and glorify his two chiefs, Toto Riina (78 years, arrested in 1993) and Bernardo Provenzano (75 years, arrested in 2006), causing severe reactions of associations of families of victims and political leaders.

With the names' Toto Riina Free ',' Fans of Toto Riina, a misunderstood man 'or' All those who respect Toto Riina ', groups of fewer than 100 Internet users, as noted AFP tribute as "innocent" to the feared sponsors, who "kiss hands" as a token of appreciation.


In less than a week, encouraged by the strong reaction of anti-movement, thousands of Facebook users assaulted with messages, sometimes threatening, sites for mafia, in turn creating a strong movement.

The movement "Abolition of the group of fans of Bernardo Provenzano" counted on Friday with over 6,000 registered "No to supporters of Riina on Facebook, with over 4,000, and" All those for whom Riina is not an idol but a criminal, "with 3,200.


Other groups have anti hundreds of new members every day, one way to contribute to the struggle of civil society against the criminal organizations.

Given this reaction, the two largest groups glorifying Toto Riina "suspended" its business.


The site named "Toto Riina, a man misunderstood" opens with a blank page followed by the phrase "was the founder," but "the group will not disappear by huevones we break the hilt."

From the "Those who respect Toto Riina" were dashed messages and lists of members and survives a poster with the phrase "temporarily closed until the infiltrators and moralizing go."


"This form of self-restraint and dialogue is the most effective method," said Rita Borsellino satisfied, who appreciated the response of civil society to praise the sponsors.

"If banning the creation of these groups and publicize them finished by the end ended by accusations of censorship," he said.


The famous writer of crime novels sicilian Andrea Camilleri lamented the fact that the existence of the Mafia is trivialized, a phenomenon that has entered the DNA (hereditary cells) from the Italians. "

"If all the magic away from the land mafia, the mafia phenomenon survive, as the case of Facebook. I'm shocked. You think you touched bottom and the bottom hand is increasingly black and deep," he said.

Europe expected this Sunday the resumption of Russian gas supplies, with the agreement reached last night by the Czech presidency of the European Union (EU) with Russia and Ukraine to deploy observers to monitor the transit of gas.

After three days of intense and difficult diplomatic negotiations, first in Brussels and then in Kiev and Moscow, the president of the EU, the Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek, finally managed to convince the leaders of Russian and Ukrainian sign an agreement. However, on Sunday morning, the Russian giant Gazprom warned that it had not yet received the signed copy.

The teams of European observers, Russians and Ukrainians, were on Sunday morning on his way to the control of gas stations, which will have the task of ensuring that there is no illegal removal. On Wednesday, Russia had justified the court's total supply alleging "theft" by Ukraine.

The document, signed by Russia, Ukraine and the EU foresees the creation of a "group of 25 experts from each side. The group must control both the Russian and Ukrainian territory," said the Ukrainian presidency. "Information on the results of the traffic control will be transmitted in real time to the competent structures of Kiev, Brussels and Moscow," he said.


"If everybody is working 100%, the supply may resume on Sunday," said Czech Minister of Industry and Commerce, Martin rhyme, which negotiated on behalf of the EU. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Russia will restore the gas supply to Europe "immediately" once set in motion the mechanism for control of transit through Ukraine.

But for now, the Russians were not responsible official date set for Sunday. However, EU leaders warned that once the floodgates open for gas, European customers will take about three days to recover the gas.


Several countries in the Balkans and Central Europe, which had no reserves, have had serious difficulties this week to supply energy to its people and industry, while just a terrible cold snap across the continent. Some countries have agreed to sell gas to its neighbors as emergency mechanism.

While Europe has secured a return to normalcy, between Moscow and Kiev, the fundamental problem remains intact: no government wants to give his arm a twist on the issue of tariff for the gas that Ukraine must pay in 2009 or the alleged it has assumed debt default in Russia.


Moscow and Kiev "have not reached any agreement after three days of negotiations," lamented on Saturday the president of the Ukrainian national oil company, Naftogaz, Oleg Dubina, returning from a reunion in Russia with the heads of Russian giant Gazprom.

On Sunday, the Russian press was critical to the agreement, arguing that both countries were disadvantaged in relation to Europe. "Ukraine was left without gas, Russia without both transit and quickly head down to a frozen Europe", underlined the economic newspaper Vedemosti.


The gas dispute has become a war of propaganda "that Europe will work to stop being dependent on energy from Russia, said the newspaper Kommersant. "No doubt the EU will try to find ways to reduce dependency on Russian gas supply to avoid a repetition of such crises in the future," he added.

Nobody knows better embriagadoras unfathomable heights and the depths of the real estate market in New York that the seller of sausages Pasang Sherpa.

City paid a whopping 362,000 and $ 280,000 for two locations on the sidewalk of the famous Fifth Avenue opposite the Metropolitan Museum in the hope of having the most coveted place of sale of the city.





But when he arrived with their carts discovered that one of the sites was blocked until May for repairs and the other invaded by war veterans who do not pay a cent of income. The significant investment Sherpa suddenly seemed less successful.

"I paid a crazy amount," said Nepalese immigrant 50 years. "The economy is falling, there are more sellers and other sites are disabled. I'm going crazy." For all New Yorkers, from the vendors of hot dogs "to the millionaires, these are days of surf in the market for real estate.


The time that no price seemed too crazy, that the buyers were kneeling, and Manhattan was the promised land of property developers, is a thing of the past. Luxury apartments remain unsold, empty shops are beginning to appear in the best areas and the collapse of Wall Street has entered the market.

"We have a crisis of hope, because people do not necessarily go out," says Joseph Harbert, chief of operations at Cushman and Wakefield real estate in the New York region. Manhattan has traditionally been a stronghold of the property, protected from trends elsewhere in the country simply because so many people want to live on this island where space necessarily finite.


Cushman, however, that the reported income of space for companies in Manhattan is at its lowest point since the dark days that followed the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The available space in Manhattan totaling 2.9 million square meters, 43% more than in late 2007, the highest level since May 2006, Cushman said.

That is partly because the entire U.S. economy was in recession, but also because of the crisis on Wall Street who in September released huge amounts of office space overnight. "With the speed of lightning, many people remained in bankruptcy," said Harbert. "Those things shook confidence." The building is also affected.


"Nobody wants to take the risk of raising a new building," said Harbert. Reports suggest that at least four billion dollars in projects have been canceled or postponed, including the proposed 16 towers of the Atlantic Yards neighborhood. The same goes for the residential market.

Long been a dream for marketers, with the Wall Street yuppies maintain prices at levels absurd for small properties. The investment bank Goldman Sachs says that sales fell between 25 and 30% in the fourth quarter of 2008 over the previous year.


Residential construction will fall from 35,000 to 18,000 units per year by 2010, according to experts. Trying to navigate through this storm is Paula Del Nunzio, real estate agent specializing in multi-million dollar sales.

At the top of his list is the mansion Henry T. Sloane, facing Central Park, with 11 fireplaces, elevator, 15 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms and marble staircase. Price: $ 64 million. The property came to market in February last year, well ahead of Wall Street fall, to the great misfortune to many tycoons of finance and foreign affluent, such as the Russians.


"The price is negotiable," said Del Nunzio. However, like Harbert, is confident that prices will go up in Manhattan. Of course Sherpa, seller of hot dogs "also hopes that its huge investment will be profitable. "I had hoped," he said, "I'm afraid."

Israeli forces on Sunday held its ground offensive in the deepest incursion into the most populated area of Gaza, where the tanks were moving into neighborhoods and infantry fighting in the streets and buildings with extremists Hamas, which also continued firing rockets into southern Israel.



An Israeli army spokesman said that Gaza had neighborhoods crammed with rudimentary bombs and explosives with decoys, including dummies positioned at the entrance of similar apartments for militiamen ready to explode and if the soldiers approached.


"Given that most of the Hamas militia are rather hidden in these places, especially urban areas, then we operate in those areas," said the spokeswoman, more Avital Leibovich.

Large columns of smoke emerging from the Gaza City on Sunday night, while in the south of the town were heard intense gunfire. At dawn on Monday, launches artilladas Israel fired at least 25 missiles at Gaza City, which caused fires and shook office buildings such as the drafting of local The Associated Press.


The armed forces said that in general the targets were Hamas facilities, but there were no immediate details.

Before dawn on Monday, at least one militiaman was killed by an Israeli shelling in northern Gaza, where continued fighting, hospital sources said.


The medical authorities in Gaza said at least 870 Palestinians, half of them civilians, died in the conflict which erupted on December 27 air missions over buildings with Hamas as well as assumptions points for launching rockets and tunnels smuggling on the border with Egypt. In the clashes have killed 13 Israelis, including 10 soldiers.

In diplomatic efforts, the envoys of Germany and Britain maintain the effort to negotiate an end to the conflict, but Israel and Hamas have ignored a Security Council resolution the United Nations that calls for an immediate ceasefire and lasting settlement.


In Cairo, the Egyptian official news agency reported progress in talks with Hamas on a truce, but gave no details. According to the News Agency of the Middle East, an Egyptian official said that talks between the national intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman and Hamas representatives were "positive."

The outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Israel was moving into their targets in the Gaza offensive, but it is still not finished.


"Israel is approaching the goals that were imposed" to "change the reality of security in the south," said Olmert.

Israel seeks to stop the firing of rockets that Hamas has fired several years to the population in southern Israel. The goal is complicated since it would require the support of Egypt and several countries to eliminate the routes used for smuggling arms into Gaza from Egypt. Israel has bombed tunnel passing under the border of Egypt and Gaza.


The leader of Hamas, Ismail Radwan, said his group will not consider a ceasefire with Israel until the Jewish state suspended the attacks and to withdraw from Gaza. In an email, also demanded the opening of all border crossings, on the crossing between Rafah and Egypt.

The medical authorities in Gaza reported that on Sunday there were 60 dead, including 17 from injuries suffered in previous days. According to medical officers, most of those killed Sunday were not combatants and the victims were four members of a family and a girl of 10 years.


According to Palestinian witnesses, Israeli troops came to 800 meters (half mile) from the southern neighborhoods of Gaza City, which has 400,000 inhabitants. In the neighborhood of Sheikh Ajlin died Sunday some 20 Palestinians in fighting between Israeli soldiers and militia groups, one of the most bloody battles so far, Palestinian medical sources said. Specifying how many casualties might be civilians. There were no reports of Israeli casualties.

"We are fine, but do not know for how long," Allawi said Khamis, 44, who spent the night with his wife and six children in the kitchen. He stated that walls and windows of his house was torn by bullets.


Israel mobilized a reserve that was at the border, said army spokesman, Brigadier General Avi Benayahu, but declined to specify whether it was a new stage in the offensive which began on December 27 and continued with air strikes on January 3 with a ground incursion.

The British envoy to the Middle East, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and a prominent German diplomat visited Jerusalem on Sunday. Blair, after meeting with Olmert, agreed with the main demands of the parties and said the emergency was vital because more people die every day.

More than 100,000 people marched Sunday through the center of the Spanish capital to demand that Israel take an immediate truce in the Gaza Strip.

The demonstration in Madrid was the largest of those in Europe, some in support of Israel but the majority in favor of the Palestinians and against the Israeli offensive in Gaza.


The demonstrators filled downtown with posters reading "Peace," "SOS Gaza," and "Gaza" on a red-stained hands and bodies of children, represented by dolls, covered in blood.

The mother of actor Javier Bardem, Pilar, who has some experience in the tables, was one of the speakers who addressed the crowd.


"The Spanish government must do something. The Gaza Strip is now virtually a concentration camp," said the activist.

Spain, which has about 800,000 Muslims over 800 years and which was occupied by the forces of Islam, has 46.1 million inhabitants.


The organizers, including the Party and the unions Socisalista left, estimated attendance at 250,000 people. But the police refused to give figures. In addition, there were demonstrations propalestinas in other Spanish cities, including Seville and Ourense.

"It is our duty to ask Israel to take an immediate ceasefire," the president said the government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to the protesters in the city of Orense in Galicia.


In Brussels, bloodied children with dolls were at the head of a march that called for an end to the Israeli military campaign in the coastal strip. The demonstrators burned an Israeli flag.

Trafalgar Square in London, some 4,000 protesters called for end to Hamas rocket attack on southern Israel and supported the efforts of the Jewish state to protect its citizens.


A few thousand people demonstrated in favor of the Palestinians in Rome, Naples and Verona.

More than 3,000 people were in favor of Israel in the German cities of Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin.


In Athens, dozens of children and their parents demonstrated against the Israeli operations in Gaza.

Security forces used teargas and batons on Sunday to keep away demonstrators who were protesting against Israel and tried to attack a U.S. consulate in Pakistan, while tens of thousands of people protested worldwide against Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip.

In Beirut, about 2,500 Lebanese and Palestinians held a peaceful protest Sunday against the devastating Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, while in neighboring Syria, hundreds of demonstrators threw insults against the Jewish state against Arab leaders who have not expressed a strong condemnation of the attacks.


Thousands of people also staged a protest demonstration in the cities of Madrid and Seville, Spain.

As for the protest on Sunday in the Pakistani city of Karachi, the official said Ameer Sheikh that hundreds of people began marching towards the consulate. He added that some were carrying bricks and sticks.


Access roads to the consulate were cut barricades, but the crowd was able to remove some metal barriers several hundred meters away. The security forces launched recognized baton charge and tear gas against demonstrators in hand, which eventually forced to disperse.

Massive protests have been registered across the Arab world since Israel began its campaign with the December 27 bombing raids in densely populated areas of Gaza.


Israel launched its offensive to stop rocket attacks from militiamen of the Islamist organization Hamas, which controls Gaza, and other armed groups.

Public health officials in Gaza have said that more than 820 Palestinians have been killed, about half of them civilians, including many children, elderly and women. They have also killed 13 Israelis.


Many of the demonstrators in Lebanon, carrying Palestinian flags and posters demanding the international community to stop Israeli attacks, while marching near a building where United Nations offices.

In Madrid and Seville, thousands of people marched through the streets demanding that Israel halt the carnage in Gaza. "


"It is my duty to call on Israel to implement an immediate truce, said Sunday the president of the Spanish government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, in a political act in Orense in northwestern Spain.

On Saturday, thousands of people staged demonstrations in the Spanish cities of Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca calling a truce.


Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos of Spain should make a tour of the Middle East from Monday to promote a solution to the conflict.

In Beirut, a group of leftists burned an Israeli flag, while children took part in the protest were carrying in their hands bloodied dolls representing children killed in Gaza.


In Syria, protesters accused several Arab leaders including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, of complicity with Israel in the attacks on Gaza.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón will find many similarities in terms of the drug war when he meets with Barack Obama on Monday, but could have more difficulties when trying to persuade the U.S. president-elect to take a reform of immigration laws as one of its highest priorities.

In a release issued Sunday, the presidency of Mexico said that with Obama Calderon addressed the issue of migration, promoting their "treatment."


Calderon "will seek in particular to promote better conditions for Mexicans in the United States on the basis of respect for their rights and full recognition to the financial, social and cultural performing," he added.

Calderon will probably express his concern about Obama raids against illegal immigrants in the U.S. and speak in favor of expanding the temporary worker program. Obama, who last year supported an attempt to immigration reform that would have granted a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, could be open to discuss these issues.


Still, there is little chance that the new U.S. government will rush to change the immigration laws, while the unemployment and foreclosure continue to rise in the United States, said George Grayson, a Mexico expert at the University of William & Mary in Virginia.

Indeed, the fragile U.S. economy could put pressure on Obama to strengthen border security and keep illegal immigrants out of the country.


"The possibility is being discussed now that immigration reform is like snow in the desert," said Grayson.

"With rising unemployment in the United States and forecasts of the economic slowdown this year, this is not the best time to encourage more workers to the country," he added.


Janet Napolitano, the governor of Arizona to become the new head of the Department of Homeland Security of the country, has supported the earlier tightening measures to curb undocumented immigration.

Napolitano was in favor of sending National Guard troops to the Mexican border and punish businesses that hire undocumented workers.


However, she and Obama are in favor of the idea of giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

While Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, an intense pressure for immigration reform that would give illegal immigrants legal status, the new Mexican president will probably not be so ambitious.


"Calderon continues emphasizing the contribution of Mexican workers to the U.S. economy," said Grayson. "(Calderon) expects that although there is still a chance for 'the whole enchilada,' there's' cues' that would benefit Mexico."

The war against drug trafficking, which has always defined the relations between Mexico and the United States, could complicate the passage of immigration reform.


Killings linked to drug trafficking doubled last year in Mexico, followed by an increase in murders in cities across the U.S. border. Some Mexicans, especially police officers, have emigrated to the United States, seeking a safe place where there are death threats.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice described the Mexican drug cartels as the greatest threat of organized crime for the United States, accusing them of joining the Italian Mafia and other gangs to control the distribution of drugs in American cities.


Calderon will also meet with President George W. Bush on Tuesday to discuss anti-drug agreement, announced on Saturday the press office of the White House. It also plans to meet with financial experts, academics and lawmakers.

President George W. Bush said the Republican party should not become a party "enemy of immigrants", in statements broadcast on television on Sunday.

The outgoing U.S. president said that his party, which seeks to revive a vast electoral defeat and reformulate its message, you must maintain an open mind. Bush cited the issue of immigration and said that Republicans will damage their chances of success if they are considered enemies of the immigrants.


Bush was in favor of comprehensive reforms on immigration policy during his second term, but could not get support from his party and the idea failed in Congress.

Many Republican lawmakers have proposed more stringent measures to prevent the entry of aliens and the country to expel people without documentation.


Agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service have conducted numerous raids on factories to stop illegal immigrants.

Sometimes, it separated parents from their children, who had to go live with their families. Campaigns against illegal immigrants have generated great anger in the Hispanic population and organizations that advocate for immigrants without legal residency.


It is believed that one reason for the huge defeat of the Republicans in November elections, plus the unpopularity of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the economic catastrophe, was that many Hispanics, the largest minority in the U.S. , voted in favor of the Democrats over what they considered an anti-immigration Republicans.

Bush admitted in statements to the Fox television network that his party "was beleaguered in the elections.

Ford has had a tough few years and is facing more of them in an increasingly competitive automotive arena. But the Mustang is one of the bright flashes of the company. The model, with S197 platform, the current generation, has been a sales success since its launch in 2005 and is approaching its first serious update. The basics remain the same, but the redesign is complete. Still offer the coupe and convertible body with V-6 engines and a variety of V-8.

Our sources tell us that Dearborn planning to launch models are still being finalized, but the current scenario is that the 2009 model year will be an abbreviated, whose cars will be identical to 2008. Then, the 2010 will be launched in the spring of 2009, as it did when Ford introduced the Mustang 1964 - in April this year, which continued to 1965.

The biggest news from the standpoint of design is the addition of an edge just behind the doors open. The doors are equal, and the fixed roof and windows in the form of a triangle on the back side. The new design is intended to recall the one used by the Dodge Charger, but it is more like a fluid. The front and rear fascias will also receive a review. We have not seen the new nose, but do not be surprised if we looked like the Ford Shelby GT500 today. For back, the taillights were changed a bit, and the defense received a rear bevel 45 degrees, adding more detail to the surface lines on the back of a square shape. Expect new colors and designs of wheels, too.

Taking inspiration from the Mustang Giugiaro concept car that appeared in our home a year ago (March 2007), Ford will offer factory option, a large panel of glass in the canopy that will extend the framework of the leading edge of the windshield the rear window. It will not be a whole piece of glass as in the Italian term for reasons of cost and structural rigidity, but the effect is almost equal. The panel of glass, dark stain, stamped replace much of the current sheet metal, creating an airy atmosphere inside. The interior is far from the style of the current car, which took inspiration from the classic Mustang 1967-1968. The new instrument panel will focus more on the driver and leave more space on the panel for a navigation screen and audio equipment bigger. The seat fabrics and colors will also change.

The scene of the train drivers Mustang 2008 remains bleak. Do not expect any changes in the engine 4.0L V-6, as its main objective is to motivate and basic Mustang rental fleets. But the V-8 GT - currently one of 4.6L SOHC and three valves - possibly receive a jolt.

A Ford engineer confirmed that the work done to create the 4.6 engine enhanced edition of the Mustang Bullitt "has a future." That engine, described in our first test story (January 2008), is basically a series of inside, but breathes better due to an open system, cold air intake, revised mufflers, a new regulator for the arm crankshaft (which raises the red line at 250 rpm), and revised fuel mapping of Ford Racing. This engine management programming allows the use of regular gasoline, but changed to a more aggressive time curve when it detects premium fuel. The result is 315 hp, compared with 300 of the current GT. The Bullitt's V-8 is freer and faster than before revolutionizes and it sounds great because the new system of admission. There is no reason to believe that the new power plant next GT not take something from this technology, and therefore, the same tricks. Or it could be the basis of a basic V-8, even more robust, nearly 325 hp. This would be the perfect time for Ford to certify the production of 5.0L DOHC engine with 400 hp, but we have no confirmation of this detail. That is as far as the common patterns of Mustang. What about the Shelby versions?

It was planned that the Ford Shelby GT500 had a life of nearly two years - 2007 and 2008 and these, perhaps reaching 2009 depending on how well it was sold, and production schemes Shelby -. Demand has been strong, and we can confirm that there will be a version Shelby GT500, built, developed and produced by Ford, the model 2010.

Receive all the improvements mentioned, plus its own look, sportier tires and wheels. The question driving the train is still unanswered, but since GM and Chrysler have higher numbers of potential horsepower for the Challenger and Camaro, Ford may have aimed for higher Mustang logo. The next delivery GT500 KR 540 hp, and believe that this could become the engine of power plant serial Shelby. Where can go from there? Nobody knows. A new GT350? It is worth dreaming.

And what about the models (GT, GT-H, Super Snake) that Shelby Automobiles is building its manufacturing plant in Las Vegas? Assuming that Shelby and Ford renew their current contracts, and we are confident that they will wait to continue these models, now based on the platform of the current Mustang, with revisions and variants limited edition on the way.

By mid 2009, the new version of the war against Dodge Chevrolet against Ford will be in full swing, with buyers having a slice of cake which had not been so fresh since 1970. Hemi Challenger will have the power, and GM has a basket full of V-8 small block of six to seven liters to install below the chest Camaro. Both competitors have Mustang independent rear suspension, which is an advantage in terms of leadership and management, but the crowd lover quarter mile still enjoys its axes alive. But Ford has the luck on their side as well as a body that neither convertible Chevrolet and Dodge offer, at least not at launch. Stay with us for more information about the clash of American muscle.

The general director of Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), Yann Le Moen, owner of the Dakar Rally, warned Saturday in the Chilean port of Valparaiso that the company will make no further comment on the death of competition French rider Pascal Terry, although he admitted mistakes in the search string.

"As an investigation is underway, the ASO will make no comment," said Le Moen in a press conference in Valparaiso (110 km west of Santiago), which complies with the rest day of the Dakar Rally to Argentina after 2009 seven stages disputed.

"Clearly, there was an error. We are investigating what could happen and now bringing all the elements," added the head of ASO after his arrival at the port after Chilean personally express his condolences to the family of Terry in Buenos Aires.

Argentine Judge Manuel Alvarez, in charge of Court No. 1 of General Acha in the province of La Pampa (center-south), where he died Terry, said to AFP Friday that Terry died of a heart attack caused by a pulmonary edema , which had its origins in a pre-existing heart disease.

Alvarez said that the coroner had found an enlargement of the heart muscle and found that the conditions in which the pilot was up, speed, effort and the very high temperatures contributed to fatal outcome.

The judge believed that the death of the pilot to open two possibilities: either there was negligence in the care of a competitor in emergency and may have committed a crime, fault, or there was a disastrous Rally not scheduled a series of events and could lead to abandonment of the figure of the person. "

Disappeared during the second stage between the Argentine cities of Santa Rosa de Puerto Madryn and the Pampa (south), Terry, aged 49, was found dead in the early hours of last Wednesday at 02H10 local (05H10 GMT).

In a statement issued the same day, the ASO said that Terry had no more signs of life after last Sunday afternoon.

The ASO on Monday ordered the search of the competitor, which made it difficult for the land and vegetation, found his body until 56 hours after his disappearance.

The Rose Lake, mythical goal of the Dakar rally almost without interruption since the early'80s, the prevailing disappointment and resignation because this year the world's toughest rally has changed in South Africa.



The last stage of the Dakar causing a huge buzz in the place, but today on the shores of the lake water violet whipped by the wind, no camps or fortune, or flags, or any other sign of the arrival of the caravan.

Except for some collectors of salt, the surroundings are deserted. And in the nearby town of artisans, vendors swooped on the few tourists passing by.

"Since the Dakar rally has come to Senegal, is a hard blow for us" because "it brought a lot of money," laments the chairman of the artisans of the village, Assane Kane.

The income of the artisans, who presented their works in a camp "where they ate between 200 and 400 people," then they could reach "the Senegalese 250,000 francs (381 euros) in a single day," she says.

The hotel Aliou Oumar Ndiaye recalls with nostalgia the "atmosphere" of the Dakar when installed for its customers Finnish, Swedish and French "Mauritanian stores. "Economically it was interesting. We could win between 10 and 15 times more than normal in a month," he explains.

The last minute cancellation of terrorist threats by the 2008 edition of the Dakar and his move to Argentina and Chile in 2009 makes grinding teeth of tourism professionals. Have "an impact because we have lost the rally represents a loss of revenue for our hotel," Ndiaye said.

The rally attracted between 200 and 300 people, "the president of the hoteliers Lake Rosa, Idrissa Diop. When he owned a camp of the rally came to win five million francs (7,622 euros) in one day.

Cheikh Ba, installed in the village of artisans from a decade ago, sells musical instruments and traditional paintings, including two paintings depicting the silhouette of two nomads with the legend "Lisbon-Dakar 2008. "I have not sold last year," laments.

But beyond the economic losses in the Lake Rose, professionals fear repercussions on tourism in Senegal.

The rally was "a great event for the promotion of Senegal because in the world, people familiar with the Dakar," said the director general of the National Agency for the Promotion of Tourism, El Hadj Malick Mbaye, although this impact unencrypted .

"The Dakar had achieved over the years a large, measured in number of competitors," he says with bitterness the secretary general of the federation of motor sports, André Mathieu, "disappointed" by the change of destination of the rally .

This year, the Lac Rose is getting a little consolation 11 January a new competition, Race Africa, driven by the Paris-Dakar tricampeón Hubert Auriol. But the Senegalese press has scarcely heeded and there has been almost no publicity surrounding the trial.

That race followed the tracks of the Paris-Dakar through France, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal, but "in terms of communication has had less impact than the Dakar rally," admits Mamadou Diallo, head of the TUI group, which announces the presence of some fifty riders on arrival. "

The president-elect of the USA, Barack Obama says his economic stimulus plan could create or save three to four million jobs, at a time when unemployment rises and the first world power falls into recession.

"The recovery will not come overnight and it is likely that things will get worse before they improve," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio address.


But then he added: "I am confident that if we join (...), overcome the challenges of our time and write a major new chapter in our history." On Friday, Americans were shaken by the disclosure of official unemployment figures: 7.2% across the country, the highest rate of the last 16 years, with 524,000 jobs lost in December.

In this context, the elected president defended his plan to revitalize the economy, currently under debate in Congress that could reach 800,000 million dollars. "My team and I have been involved in a constructive dialogue with members of Congress in recent days, these last few weeks (...) We have made great progress in these consultations," said Obama in a press conference on Friday.


The successor to George W. Bush bid to create hundreds of thousands of posts in the education sector, which will give schools new classrooms, including computer laboratories and classrooms.

The modernization and improvement of the health system will also generate hundreds of thousands of new charges, said Obama. In particular he cited the digitization of medical records, which not only "saving money" but also "to save lives by minimizing medical errors."


He also said that a report commissioned a team of economists stressed the need for a strategy to boost economic recovery. Without a plan to organize the efforts of financial incentive, the country is exposed to lose between three and four million jobs in the coming months or years.

"If nothing is done, this recession may last for years," said the future head of the White House. In this regard, said that his plan, which promised to reveal just come into office on January 20, will help retain or create jobs, most in the private sector.


Republican side, lawmakers are concerned about rising budget deficit and the possibility of creating hundreds of thousands of public jobs. But Obama said that investment in alternative energy sources will generate about half a million new jobs over the next three years.

Ten days of assuming the presidency of the United States, Obama appealed to Congress and the public to support its economic recovery plan, which amounts to 775,000 million dollars.


The U.S. economy lost more than half a million jobs for the second consecutive time in December, making the unemployment rate climbing to 7.2%, its highest level since January 1993, according to the Labor Department. In all of 2008, the U.S. has lost 2.6 million jobs, which was not the case since 1945.