NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) — The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched a joint campaign with the MTV network to raise awareness about human trafficking and the exploitation of youth in Latin America.

The campaign ‘MTV EXIT’, which stands for End Exploitation and Trafficking, features a documentary and a song by Calle 13, a 19-time Grammy award-winning band. The campaign also includes mass media broadcasts, online initiatives and local events and activities with young people.

“Increasingly adolescents and young people are vulnerable to being trafficked and exploited in the region. We can reduce the risks they are exposed to if we provide them with the necessary education and tools to protect themselves,” said UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Bernt Aasen, at the launch this week.

The documentary ‘Invisible Slaves’ – hosted by two of Calle 13′s members, Residente and Visitante – addresses how this issue is affecting the continent and includes interviews with young people who have been affected by trafficking and exploitation. The band is the latest to join a list of celebrities who have collaborated with MTV EXIT, including actors Angelina Jolie and Jared Leto and the bands Radiohead and Muse.

According to UNICEF, at least 550,000 children, adolescents and youth have become victims of trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean. They are often forced into unsafe sexual practices and drug use.

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MEXICO CITY (BNO NEWS) — Mexican army troops recently seized more than $15 million in cash believed to belong to one of the leaders of the Sinaloa drug cartel, officials confirmed on Wednesday.

Soldiers found the money on Friday when they carried out a surprise search of a car in the Cumbres de Juárez neighborhood of Tijuana, a city near the U.S. border. Defense Ministry spokesman General Ricardo Trevilla said 3 kilograms (6.6 lbs) of cocaine, two rifles, two handguns and jewelry were also found inside the car.

According to authorities, the $15.3 million in cash was going to be delivered to a center of operations of the Sinaloa cartel, a criminal gang headed by Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also known as ‘El Chapo.’ No arrests were made during the operation.

The cash seizure by the Mexican army on Friday was the largest since soldiers seized $26.2 million in Culiacán in the northwestern state of Sinaloa in 2008. The money was found in a house owned by Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, also a leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

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MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (BNO NEWS) — Eleven people were killed on Tuesday when a bomb blast rocked the capital of Somalia, local media reported on Wednesday. Several others were injured.

The attack happened in the Wadajir district of southern Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The Mareeg news website reported that the explosive device was placed on the road which leads to Jazir village.

Officials confirmed that at least eleven people, all believed to be civilians, were killed in the explosion. An unknown number of other people were wounded in the attack, which Wadajir District Commissioner Ahmed Hassan Ado – who forms part of the Somali transitional federal government – blamed on the Somali rebel group al-Shabaab.

Al-Shabaab is the militant wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts which took over most of southern Somalia in the second half of 2006. Despite efforts from the Somali and Ethiopian governments, the group has continued its violent insurgency in southern and central Somalia.

Somalia has been without an effective government since Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown two decades ago.

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ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) — Pakistani Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani on Tuesday announced his resignation after the release of a controversial memo in which help from the U.S. is requested.

“I have requested [Prime Minister Yousaf Raza] Gilani to accept my resignation as Pakistan Ambassador to US,” Haqqani said through his Twitter account, later stating that he has much to contribute to “building a new Pakistan free of bigotry and intolerance.”

Controversy began surrounding Haqqani after the Financial Times published an article about a memo addressed to former U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, in which help is requested from the United States amid fears of a military takeover in Pakistan.

The article was published by Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz on October 10, explaining that the memo was allegedly conveyed to Mullen by Haqqani and sent from Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari about one week after Taliban leader Osama bin Laden was killed during May’s U.S. raid in Pakistan. The memo described a “dangerous devolution of the ground situation in Islamabad where no control appears to be in place.”

It added that the Asian country could become a sanctuary to Osama bin Laden’s legacy and a potential platform for “far more rapid spread of al-Qaeda’s brand of fanaticism and terror.” The memo purportedly offered the U.S. an increased role in Pakistan’s internal affairs by replacing government officials with those who would comply with U.S. demands if the U.S. helped prevent a possible military takeover of the Pakistani government.

According to media reports, Haqqani had been requested to resign in order for investigations to be carried out transparently. Haqqani, who served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the U.S. since April 2008, has denied the allegations of delivering the memo.

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (BNO NEWS) — South Korea’s National Assembly on Tuesday approved the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement, more than four years after the deal was initially reached.

Despite objection from opposition parties who argue for protection for local industries, South Korea’s ruling Grand National Party (GNP) was able to use its majority in the National Assembly to approve the free trade agreement. GNP holds 169 of the 295 seats.

The voting saw 151 lawmakers favor the agreement, seven voting against it and 12 others abstaining. At least 148 votes in favor were required to pass the motion. The agreement could take effect as early as January 1, 2012, as South Korean officials believe the deal will boost the country’s economy and strengthen bilateral relations.

The approval comes about one month after U.S. President Barack Obama signed bills to approve the deal in Washington during the official visit of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

Despite the approval in South Korea, the National Assembly session was filled with protesting opposition leaders on Tuesday, causing chaos. A tear gas bomb was also set off in the opposition’s efforts to disrupt the legislation process.

The free trade deal was initially agreed in 2007 by former U.S. President George W. Bush and former South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun, who died in 2009. With South Korea’s most recent agreement, it will have free trade deals with a total of 45 countries, including economic powers such as Singapore and India.

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HOUSTON (BNO NEWS) — Three International Space Station (ISS) crew members from Japan, Russia and the United States landed safely on Earth on Tuesday after a nearly six-month mission in space, officials said.

Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Sergei Volkov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (FSA) landed their Soyuz spacecraft in frigid conditions on the central steppe in Kazakhstan at 8.26 a.m. local time.

The trio had arrived to the ISS on June 9, spending a total of 167 days in space and 165 days aboard the complex. Volkov, a two-time station crew member, has now accumulated a total of 366 days in space. During their months in space, NASA and its international partners celebrated the 11th anniversary of continuous residence and work aboard the station.

“I am very proud that astronaut Furukawa splendidly accomplished his mission at the ISS by performing various space experiments and operating the ISS systems,” said JAXA President Keiji Tachikawa. “I believe he has exploited his specialist knowledge as a medical doctor and shown full commitment to take on the harsh training.”

Fossum handed over command to NASA’s Dan Burbank, who leads Expedition 30, before leaving the ISS. Burbank and Flight Engineers Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov of Russia will continue research and maintenance aboard the station.

On December 21, the remaining Expedition 30 crew members, NASA astronaut Don Pettit, European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers and cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and dock with the station two days later.

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JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) — Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday agreed to a $600 million cooperation project to boost environmentally friendly and sustainable development in the Asian country.

Yudhoyono and Obama announced the so-called “Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact” project following their meeting at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center. It aims to support environmentally sustainable economic development, public health, and improved public services in Indonesia.

“Our meeting just now focused on the growing relationship between our two nations,” Obama said during a joint news conference with Yudhoyono. “When I was here last year, we agreed to forge a comprehensive partnership across a whole range of areas, and today we reviewed the progress that we’re making.”

The two countries established the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership in November 2010. It is aimed at a long term commitment to elevate bilateral relations by intensifying consultations and developing habits of cooperation on key bilateral, regional, and global issues consisting of three pillars: political and security; economic and development; and socio-cultural, education, science, and technology cooperation.

In addition, the leaders also announced the planned transfer and upgrade of 24 Excess Defense Article F-16s to the Indonesian Air Force. “We agreed to a number of steps that will expand our cooperation, including training and support to help the Indonesian military as it modernizes,” Obama said. “And I’d note that this kind of defense cooperation not only helps build Indonesia’s capacity to ensure its own security, it helps Indonesia play an active role in promoting security in the region.”

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MARYLAND (BNO NEWS) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revoked the approval of Avastin, one of the world’s best-selling cancer drug, for breast cancer treatment, the agency announced on Friday.

The commissioner of the FDA, Margaret Hamburg, said the drug has not been shown to be safe and effective when used to combat breast cancer. However, Avastin will still remain on the market as an approved treatment for certain types of colon, lung, kidney and brain cancer.

“This was a difficult decision. FDA recognizes how hard it is for patients and their families to cope with metastatic breast cancer and how great a need there is for more effective treatments,” Dr. Hamburg said. “But patients must have confidence that the drugs they take are both safe and effective for their intended use.”

Hamburg also said that the use of the drug may produce dangerous side effects, including severe high blood pressure, bleeding and hemorrhaging, heart attack, and perforations in different parts of the body. Tests have also shown that there is no proof that the use of Avastin extends the lives of patients or improves their quality of life, she said.

Avastin was approved for metastatic breast cancer in February 2008 under the FDA’s accelerated approval program. The program provides earlier patient access to promising new drugs while confirmatory clinical trials are conducted.

After the accelerated approval of Avastin for breast cancer, the drug’s sponsor, Genentech, a subsidy of the Swiss pharmaceutical Roche, completed two additional clinical trials and submitted the data from those studies to the FDA. However, the agency ultimately concluded to withdraw approval of the drug. 

Genentech did not agree with the agency’s decision and said it will conduct new tests on the drug. “We are disappointed with the outcome,” said Hal Barron, chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development at Genentech. “We remain committed to the many women with this incurable disease and will continue to provide help through our patient support programs to those who may be facing obstacles to receiving their treatment in the United States.”

Barron added: “Despite today’s action, we will start a new Phase III study of Avastin in combination with paclitaxel in previously untreated metastatic breast cancer and will evaluate a potential biomarker that may help identify which people might derive a more substantial benefit from Avastin.”

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SACRAMENTO (BNO NEWS) — California Governor Edmund Brown officially declared Sunday ‘Steve Jobs Day’ as Apple holds a private memorial service for its co-founder who died earlier this month.

Jobs died at his home in Palo Alto, California on October 5 as a result of respiratory arrest with metastatic pancreas neuroendocrine tumor as the underlying cause, according to his death certificate. He was buried during a small private gathering on October 7.

Apple is set to hold an invitation-only memorial service on Sunday at Stanford University’s campus, where attendees are expected to include Silicon Valley luminaries and others close to Jobs. An event to celebrate Jobs’ life is expected to be held on Wednesday in Cupertino.

To coincide with Apple’s memorial service, Governor Brown issued a proclamation to officially declare the day Steve Jobs Day. “In his life and work, Steve Jobs embodied the California dream,” Brown said in his proclamation. “To call him influential would be an understatement.”

He added: “His innovations transformed an industry, and the products he conceived and shepherded to market have changed the way the entire world communicates. Most importantly, his vision helped put powerful technologies, once the exclusive domain of big business and government, in the hands of ordinary consumers. We have only just begun to see the outpouring of creativity and invention that this democratization of technology has made possible.”

“It is fitting that we mark this day to honor his life and achievements as a uniquely Californian visionary. He epitomized the spirit of a state that an eager world watches to see what will come next,” Brown concluded.

Jobs, who co-founded Apple Inc. – at first known as Apple Computer, Inc. – in April 1976, was first diagnosed in 2004 with islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, a rare type of pancreatic cancer. He subsequently underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy which appeared to successfully remove the tumor.

However, as rumors surrounding his deteriorating health persisted, the Apple executive began exhibiting noticeable weight loss in 2008 which he credited to a hormone imbalance. In April 2009, Jobs underwent a liver transplant at the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, Tennessee.

Earlier this year, in mid-January, Jobs announced he would take a medical leave while few details about his condition were released. “I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can,” he said in an email sent to Apple employees in January.

As concern about Jobs’ health increased, Jobs announced on August 24 he would resign as CEO, saying he was no longer able to serve. “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” Jobs said in a letter to the company’s board of directors and the Apple Community. “Unfortunately, that day has come.”

Steve Jobs was 56.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) — U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday announced the deployment of around 100 U.S. special operations troops to Uganda to fight the rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

In a letter to Congress, Obama informed that in the next months further U.S. troops will be shipped out to other African countries as well, including South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

However, the President noted that although the deployed U.S. forces are combat-equipped, “they will only be providing information, advice and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense.”

In May 2010, President Obama signed into law the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act which reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to support regional partners’ efforts to end the ‘atrocities’ committed by LRA in central Africa.

The United States’ decision to send a group of military advisers to assist the forces that are countering the LRA, the U.S. State Department said, is part of the comprehensive, multi-year strategy that seeks to help mitigate and end the threat posed to civilians and regional stability by the LRA. 

The strategy outlined four strategic objectives for U.S. support, including the increased protection of civilians, the apprehension or removal of Joseph Kony and senior LRA commanders from the battlefield, the promotion of defections and support of disarmament, demobilization, reintegration of remaining LRA fighters and the provision of continued humanitarian relief to affected communities. 

The LRA, formed in the late 1980s, has operated for over 20 years and is known for having murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women and children.

Since 2008 alone, the LRA has killed more than 2,400 people and abducted more than 3,400 others. The United Nations estimates that over 380,000 people are displaced across the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan as a result of LRA activity.

Since 2008, the United States has provided over $40 million in critical logistical support, equipment and training to enhance counter-LRA operations by regional militaries. 

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