Mexico's state-run oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, better known as Pemex, said it has found a massive new gas reserve in the Gulf of Mexico.

If government considers you too fat, can they take away your children

Prosecutors in Brazil are hoping a federal court will permanently bar Chevron and rig contractor Transocean from any further drilling in Brazil and are also asking that the companies be fined R$20 billion ($10.7 billion) in the wake of an oil spill that say 3,000 barrels of oil leak into waters off the coast of Brazil.

According to the Rio Times, “State prosecutor Eduardo de Oliveira Santos said that the two companies had demonstrated a lack of environmental planning and management, had not prepared an adequate contingency plan and omitted information to the National Petroleum Agency (ANP).”

In response to the news that prosecutors would file a lawsuit seeking the fines and the injunction, Chevron said it had not received “any formal notice” of the action.

The company also said it acted properly in handling the spill.

A U.S. based mining company has suspended operations at a Peruvian mining operation as a result of ongoing protests in the region.

Opponents of Newmont Mining’s $4.8 billion Minas Conga gold and copper mining project have demonstrated over several weeks in a bid to stop the mine’s operations over fears that it will pollute and deplete the local watershed.

Partly at issue are four lakes that the project envisions displacing, to be replaced with reservoirs. According to a company “water fact sheet,” the reservoirs are to be “designed to assure a year-round supply of water to downstream users” but they “will replace the four lakes to be removed by the Conga Project.”

The classic post-apocalyptic film Mad Maxdepicts the violent breakdown of law and order in a society ravaged by criminal road gangs. The over-the-top motor vehicle mayhem of the movie elicited acidic reviews from critics, likely because the movie, starring the then-unknown Mel Gibson in the lead role, seemed entirely divorced from any reality that could be conceived in 1979.

How times change. In 2011 in Mexico, Mad Max has come to life with the violence this time stemming from drug and human trafficking instead of a fuel shortage as depicted in the movie.

The most recent graphic example of Mexico’s Mad Max reality came this week in the city of Boca del Rio where gang members stood guard blocking a highway while 35 bodies were dumped in the center of the road.

It’s always winter somewhere.

Americans may find that hard to believe as much of the nation east of the Rockies swelters through this year’s most intense heat wave. But in Chile, parts of the country face, quite literally, the polar opposite: heavy snow and intense cold.

According to the Patagonia Times, a “polar wave has left up to nine feet of snow and possibly 6,500 people isolated.” The heavy snow caused Chilean President Sebastián Piñera to declare the affected region a disaster area.

“The government has resolved to help those affected, especially those living in Lonquimay,” Piñera said on July 20. “We declare the zone a disaster area in order to give us greater tools to help our fellow Chileans.”

The affected area lies several hundred miles south of the capital, Santiago. Located in northern Patagonia, the region regularly experiences snowy, cold winter weather. This week’s heavy snowfall, however, has been the most extreme in several decades.

“Intermittent since Sunday, the snowfall has piled as high as nine feet in some areas,” the Patagonia Times reported. “Although this part of the country is no stranger to the cold weather, Piñera described the current polar front as the worst the region has seen in 30 years.”

It’s cheaper, perhaps more powerful and definitely more dangerous than even crack cocaine. The new illicit drug is “oxi,” known, The Rio Times of Brazil notes, “as the drug of death” because those hooked on it often die within a year. But what it amounts to before death is an attempt by users to turn themselves into insensible zombies.

Twenty-seven migrant workers were massacred in a grisly attack on a farm in Guatemala over the weekend, prompting president Alvaro Colom to declare a “state of siege.”

According to the Telegraph of London, “at least 27 people were decapitated” at the ranch near the border with Mexico where the attack occurred.

The attack reportedly resulted in a shoot-out with authorities, CNN reported. One of the criminals was captured and two were killed by police. Authorities believe that the attackers were members of the Zeta drug cartel which operates primarily in Mexico.

CNN, describing reports in the Guatemalan press, said that one survivor was a pregnant woman who “covered her daughters and begged for mercy.” According to CNN, “The woman said the group that attacked the farm consisted of more than 50 armed men in fatigues, who had Mexican accents.”

It’s thought of as a disease of the African tropics, but it has become a danger world wide, and Brazil, the number of Dengue Fever cases is on the rise.

According to the National Institutes of Health, “Dengue fever is caused by one of four different but related viruses. It is spread by the bite of mosquitoes, most commonly the mosquito Aedes aegypti, which is found in tropic and subtropic regions.” 

And, because of the increase in travel world wide, NIH warns that “Dengue fever is being seen in more world travelers.”

In Brazil, the disease has officials worried.

According to the Rio Times, to raise awareness of the disease the government of Rio organized “the Day of Crusade Against Dengue during the first weekend of April. Some 5,000 volunteers, members of the Fire Brigade and government officials went door-to-door in 126 neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro” to raise awareness.

Mass graves containing the bodies of 59 people have been found in northern Mexico, not far from the U.S. Border.

Mexican security forces found the graves while searching for passengers who had been abducted from a bus. It was not known if any of the bodies belonged to the kidnapped bus passengers.

According to London Daily Mail, the mass graves were found “near the ranch where drug cartel gunmen less than a year ago massacred 72 migrants who were trying to reach the United States.” 

In response to the find, Amnesty International demanded that Mexico conduct a full investigation into the deaths.

“The mass graves found yesterday once again show the Mexican government’s failure to deal with the country’s public security crisis and reduce criminal violence which has left many populations vulnerable to attacks, abductions and killings,” said Rupert Knox, Amnesty International researcher on Mexico, in a press release from the organization. 

A federal judge in the Para state in Brazil has halted the construction of a huge and controversial hydroelectric project on a tributary of the Amazon River.

Judge Ronaldo Desterro stopped the construction after ruling that environmental requirements had not been met.

The Belo Monte dam project, if continued, would result in the construction of the third largest dam in the world. The construction, however, would take place within the fragile ecosystem of the Amazon rainforest, and, critics say, would put the traditional lifestyle of the region’s indigenous people at risk, while displacing tens of thousands. Supporters, however, say that the proposed dam would create jobs while providing badly needed energy. The huge structure, when completed, would have a capacity of 11,000 MW, enough to power 23 million homes, according to the BBC.

Thousands would benefit from the dam, according to the head of Brazil’s environmental agency. “Our studies show that today the population does not have adequate sanitation or healthcare,” Roberto Messias said according to London’s Guardian newspaper. “The conditions outlined in the license [for the project] are designed so that the local population have a superior quality of life … at the end of the construction.”

Work has been halted by a stop-work order at the Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. oil sands plant north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, after an explosion at the facility sent workers running for cover.

According to a statement issued by the company, the facility “experienced a fire at its Primary Upgrading facility at the Horizon Oil Sands Plant at approximately 3:30 pm on January 67, 2011. Emergency crews immediately responded and an orderly shutdown took place.” The company said that the fire was extinguished by 7:15 pm that evening, and that no evacuation of the facility was required.

Some members of the crew at the facility were injured, however. Three workers were burned in the fire, and one was still hospitalized as of January 7.

Venezuela is set to approve an Enabling Law that will grant President Hugo Chavez sweeping new dictatorial powers. Officially, the purpose of the law is to give Chavez the capability to assist Venezuelans whose homes were destroyed by storms and flooding. As written, however, the law appears to give Chavez the power to control the most fundamental aspects of the lives of the Venezuelan people.

One section of the law, for instance, gives Chavez the power to address “the vital and urgent human needs resulting from the social conditions of poverty.....”

Another section of the law gives Chavez the power “to design a new geographic regionalization that reduces the elevated levels of demographic concentration in certain regions, to regulate the creation of new communities and ... to establish a more adequate distribution and social use of urban and rural lands that have the conditions to install basic services and habitat that humanizes community relations.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation today announced that its Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is proposing a $423,600 civil penalty against Chevron Pipe Line Company after an investigation into the June 2010 pipeline failure near the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The pipeline failure resulted in the release of 800 barrels - or 33,600 gallons - of crude oil into the ground and nearby Red Butte Creek.    

“The Department’s top priority is safety, and we remain committed to ensuring America's pipelines are capable of safely delivering vital energy products to U.S. households and businesses,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Crews in Chile have begun the process of pulling 33 miners to the surface of the earth since their entrapment 2,257 feet underground in northern Chile more than two months ago. The rescue is expected to take two days.  

A long cylindrical steel tube christened “The Phoenix” — after the mythological bird that burns in a fire but arises from the ashes to be reborn — was designed by NASA and the Chilean navy. Once the 924 pound capsule is lowered into the mine, each miner will step into the 6 foot, 4 inch interior. It will take approximately 20 minutes for each miner’s ascent to the surface. The Phoenix is equipped with a communication device, oxygen supply, and an escape hatch in case anything goes wrong. When each miner gets to the surface, they will be immediately brought to a hospital for an examination before reuniting with family members.