Colombia's Relations with Venezuela Deteriorate Over Swedish Rockets

-- From Wikinews

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, announced on Tuesday that "We will freeze relations with Colombia." He attributed the decision to "new aggression by the government of Colombia." Further, he said, "I've ordered to withdraw our ambassador from Bogota, to withdraw our diplomatic personnel."

This diplomatic move follows claims by Colombia that amongst weapons its military has captured from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are AT4 anti-tank rockets manufactured by Saab Bofors Dynamics of Sweden. Colombia further alleges that the weapons were first sold to Venezuela before being given to the FARC.

This is not the first time that this happens," Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos said. "In several operations in which we have recovered weapons from the FARC, we have found powerful munitions and powerful equipment, including anti-tank weapons, from a European country that sold them to Venezuela and that turned up in the hands of the FARC."

"It is correct that they have found these weapons to be Swedish-made," said Jens Eriksson, adviser at the Swedish foreign ministry. "We are working together with Colombian authorities to investigate the matter further and we have contacted Venezuelan authorities to clear up how these arms ended up in Colombia."

Venezuela denies the allegations. "To me it seems that this is a new attack against our government based on lies," Venezuelan interior minister Tarek El Aissami said on Monday. "We absolutely deny that our government or our institutions are providing assistance to criminal and terrorist organizations. It's laughable, it sounds like a cheap film made by the American government."

Holy Empire of Reunion backs Lavalon LoSS Bid

The Republic of Lavalon has concluded a treaty of friendship with the Holy Empire of Reunion. The Treaty, signed on the 29th of July, binds the signatories in perpetual friendship.

In furtherance of the aims of the treaty, the Holy Empire of Reunion will be supporting the Republic of Lavalon's bid to join the League of Secessionist States.

Information on the Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lavalon can be found here, a copy of the treaty can be found here.

All media enquiries should be directed to LavalonMicronation@gmail.com

His Excellency the Right Honourable Roméo-Adrien LeBlanc has Passed Away

His Excellency the Right Honourable Roméo-Adrien LeBlanc, twenty-fifth Governor General of the Royal Dominion of Canada (1995-1999) and a member of Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada, died today.

LeBlanc's time as the Queen's viceregal representative was considered to have been low key and largely uneventful, especially in comparison to that of his successor, Adrienne Clarkson. He was, however, the first Acadian governor general, which earned praise from the Acadian community, and he was also the first from the Canadian maritimes to be appointed as viceroy.

As Governor General, LeBlanc was viewed as having been a role model for Acadians, and was complimented for having drawn the attention of the country to Acadian history and culture. As such, he was seen as a symbol for reconciliation, given the past relations between the Acadians and the Canadian Crown's predecessor. At the same time, LeBlanc was also credited for returning Rideau Hall to a status closer to that which it held a century previous, when it was the centre of life in the capital.

After being released from the Queen's service, LeBlanc returned to New Brunswick. There, after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease, he died on 24 June 2009.

Requiescat in pace.

Tropical Depression Dissipates, Impacts Mexico

From Wikinews, Saturday, June 20, 2009

Tropical Depression One-E, the first tropical system of the 2009 Eastern Pacific hurricane season, was declared dissipated by the National Hurricane Center at 5 pm PDT yesterday, but its remnants continue to impact Mexico. Ahead of the storm, advisories were posted for coastal areas. Shelters were prepared, but because the storm never broke tropical depression status, they were not opened.
A satellite image of the depression

Although it was a weak storm, it managed to drop heavy rainfall—measured in inches—and spawn gusty winds. Thousands of residents in the Mazatlán region were left in the dark, while several trees were downed throughout the city.

Numerous small villages were flooded, forcing the evacuation of some residents. Structures were also damaged. To assist in cleanup efforts, members of the Mexican army were deployed throughout Sinaloa. On some major roadways, landslides resulted in traffic accidents.

NOAA predicts the upcoming Pacific hurricane season will be below average, with 13 to 18 named storms, of which 6 to 10 are expected to become hurricanes. They define a "normal" season as having 15.3 named storms, with 8.8 hurricanes.

TD 1-E marked the earliest date in the year that a tropical cyclone had impacted the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Usually, such storms don't strike the area until August.