by John Phillip

Natural News

(NaturalNews) Curcumin is one of a small number of super nutrients which has the demonstrated ability to dramatically lower the risk from cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer`s disease and has been shown to influence the storage of body fat by altering fat metabolism.

Curcumin is a natural polyphenol which is extracted from curry powder and has powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. You can experience a multitude of health benefits by eating the spice in its natural form or by supplementing with a concentrated extract of active curcuminoids.

Curcumin in the Fight against Cancer

Curcumin has been shown to be a powerful tool in the fight against cancer as it helps to restore immune system function which begins to weaken in many people as a result of decades of poor diet and environmental factors. Curcumin works to bolster immune function by restoring the function of key immune cells known as CD4 and CD8 T cells. According to a study published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, curcumin increases the production of proteins which are needed for immune cell proliferation while reducing the development of proteins which destroy immune cells.

Curcumin Prevents Clogged Arteries While Lowering Heart Attack Risk

Curcumin influences the formation of dangerous coronary artery plaque by lowering levels of systemic inflammation which are known to cause the foamy substance to become unstable and rupture leading to a heart attack. This super nutrient regulates the action of our genes to inhibit the release of chemical messengers through the body in response to stress, poor diet and our environment. The result of a study released in The Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine indicates that curcumin prevents platelet coagulation which can result in a life threatening blood clot.

Curcumin shown to Prevent Alzheimer`s Disease

Researchers have noted that the incidence of Alzheimer`s disease among the elderly Indian population where curry is regularly eaten with most meals is significantly lower than their western counterparts.

Curcumin exhibits strong antioxidant properties and is known to cross the crucial blood-brain barrier, where it acts to limit the accumulation of damaging plaque; it also reduces the neuronal response to existing plaque tangles. By inhibiting amyloid plaque formation at the synapse where electrical impulses connect different parts of the brain, memory is preserved and symptoms of this devastating disease are minimized or eliminated.

­Curcumin Assists Weight Management Goals

Curcumin helps to prevent obesity and assists natural weight loss due to its ability to inhibit the formation of new blood vessels which are required to form new baby fat cells. This polyphenol also influences how the body regulates triglycerides (blood fats) which are then stored as body fat or burned as a source of energy. A study published in The Journal of Nutrition details how curcumin prevents excessive accumulation of triglycerides in the blood and shifts our metabolism away from fat storage. The study authors conclude that curcumin `may have a potential benefit in preventing obesity.` Very few natural nutrients exhibit such a wide array of health benefi ts as curcumin.

Extensive research confi rms the powerful antioxidant and anti-infl ammatory effects which provide protection against many of today`s most devastating illnesses.

Whether you choose to add curry to your diet or supplement with a concentrated form of this amazing spice, you can be assured of lowered disease risk and improved quality of life.

by the El Reportero’s news services

Raúl Castro

It had been 14 years coming. But between April 16 and 19, 1,000 delegates finally gathered for the first congress of the Partido Comunista Cubano (PCC) to be held since 1997. President Raúl Castro tacitly acknowledged during his inaugural speech that the Cuban Revolution has been sunk for years, weighed down by cumbersome party structures and excessive bureaucracy.

He argued that if it is to be raised triumphantly to the surface it will require the overhaul of the party apparatus and an infusion of youth: his most eye-catching proposal was for two five-year term limits on officials, not just apparatchiks but also members of the politburo and council of state and even his own position at the head of the Revolution, although by then old age is likely to have carried off all of the históricos.

Humala takes the lead in Peru

On April 24 the first national opinion poll for the decisive second round of ­the presidential elections on 5 June gave leftist nationalist, Ollanta Humala a clear lead (of six percentage points) which is the equivalent of 1m votes. Humala’s lead (42 percent to 36 percent, according to the Ipsos Apoyo poll) is not unbridgeable but if Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned former president, Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) is to overtake him she will have broaden her appeal. Currently Fujimori is ahead in Lima, (43 percent to Humala’s 35 percent) where a third of the electorate lives and in the north. Humala is well ahead in the south and interior.

Uruguay: Falling into a Kantian trap

Often cited (along with Chile) as a regional example of a successful and peaceful transition to democracy after overcoming its military dictatorship, Uruguay is revisiting old demons as it looks set to repeal part of its amnesty laws. The initiative has become the most important political issue in the country, dividing the ruling left-wing coalition, Frente Amplio (FA), and simultaneously sparking high-minded debate about constitutionality, the role of government and even the meaning of democracy itself.

U.S. Govt. Refused Habe as Corpus for Cuban Fighter

The US Government urged to reject an habeas corpus request on behalf of anti-terrorist Cuban fighter Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, who has been held in US prisons for nearly 13 years now.

This government call implies not granting him a hearing to examine his arguments and the alleged evidence presented against him, which proves again the double standard applied by the White House in its alleged war on terror., Fernando Gonzalez Llort and Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert, also known as The Cuban Five, sentenced in 2001 in a trial full of irregularities held in Miami.

Latin News and Prensa Latina contributed to the report.

by Catherine A. Traywick

Media Consortium

Too often, the immigration debate in this country ignores the role U.S. foreign policy plays in fueling unauthorized immigration. But as the Obama administration continues to stall on immigration reform in the United States—all the while moving forward with two contentious trade agreements with Colombia and Panama—the connections between the two are worth examining.

CAFTA impoverished Salvadoran famers

Durind President Obama’s tour of Latin America last month, ongoing mass protests underscored the U.S. government’s own hand in stimulating unauthorized immigration to its borders. Reporting on the president’s visit to El Salvador, for example, Juan Gonzales of Democracy Now! notes that hundreds of Salvadorans gathered to demand the renegotiation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which devastated the country’s agricultural sector, impoverishing and displacing farmers. Considered alongside the country’s tragic history of U.S.-backed military repression (which Democracy Now! explores in greater detail), it should be no surprise that El Salvador is the second largest source of undocumented immigrants to the United States.

NAFTA displaces one million Mexican farmers

The first, of course, is Mexico—which has its own sordid history of U.S. involvement. As Michelle Chen at Colorlines.com explains, “the deregulation of agriculture under [the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s] coincided with the devastation of Mexico’s farm sector, displacing some one million farmers and driving many northward across the border in search of work.”

While NAFTA created considerable economic opportunities for U.S. businesses eager to conduct business in low-wage Mexico, it also allowed American farmers to flood the Mexican market with government-subsidized corn—destroying the country’s own corn industry and bankrupting thousands of agricultural workers.

Obama’s 180 on Latin American policy

It’s worth noting that Obama, during his presidential campaign, promised to overhaul NAFTA on the grounds that “our trade agreements should not just be good for Wall Street, it [sic] should also be good for Main Street.” Yet, as Steve Ellner argues in the latest issue of In These Times, Obama gradually abandoned his initially critical stance on Latin American policy—choosing instead to “placate rightist critics.” Ellner adds that Obama’s shifting position on the pending (CAFTAmodeled) trade agreement with Colombia—moving “from opposition…to lukewarm endorsement…to vigorous support—is just one example of his turnabout on Latin American policy.”

While Obama has taken some steps to address potential labor abuses in the agreement (NAFTA and CAFTA’s absence of such measures is a key criticism of the deals), trade unionists in Colombia and the United States alike have voiced skepticism: Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen argued against the agreement by pointing out that 15 million Colombians representing 82 percent of the working population are not recognized as workers and thus under the law “have no rights.”

Big Business funds para millitary killings in Colombia

The skepticism is well founded, as the United States has a long history of favoring business interests over the rights of workers— both at home and abroad.

Earlier this month, for instance, evidence surfaced that the Cincinnati-based Chiquita Brands International may have hired Colombian paramilitary groups “responsible for countless killings” as security for its Colombian facilities. This is in spite of the fact that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded an investigation of Chiquita in 2007, ruling that any money paid out to the paramilitary groups—one of which was a designated terrorist watch group—was extorted, and that “Chiquita never received any actual services in exchange for them.”

Jim Lobe and Aprille Muscara of Inter Press Service report that the documents were released by the National Security Archive (NSA), an independent research group, on the same day that President Obama met with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to discuss labor rights in the pending trade agreement.

According to Michael Evans, NSA’s chief researcher on Colombia, the evidence against Chiquita is clear. “What we still don’t know is why U.S. prosecutors overlooked what appears to be clear evidence that Chiquita benefited from these transactions,” he told IPS.

U.S. banks launder billions for Mexican drug cartels Even more recently, news broke that the federal government failed to prosecute a number of U.S. banks guilty of laundering billions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels. New America Media/Al Diá reports that Wachovia (now owned by Wells Fargo) alone moved $378.4 billion for cartels through money exchangers and $4.7 billion handled in bulk cash between 2004 and 2007. Yet this past March, the federal government formally dropped all charges against the bank, per a set tle agreement reached the previous year, and despite Wachovia’s indirect role in financing a five-year drug war that has taken countless ­lives and continues to drive unauthorized immigration to the United States.

­por Marvin Ramírez

The new District Attorney de S.F. George Gascón (standing), Sup. Scott Wiener, an assistant District Attorney and Supervisor David Campos at the Community Court event.  (PHOTO BY MARVIN RAMIREZ)

At a community gathering at Centro Latino of San Francisco, the District Attorney’s Office launched the Community Court Initiative, a pilot project that will try minor-criminal cases outside the traditional court system. Originally, according to news reports, the project is a U.S Justice Department pilot project initiated in November of 1998.

Mayor Gavin Newsom brought a fresher idea about the program during a trip to the Big Apple and copied it for San Francisco starting it in the Tenderloin District. This was back in 2005, but actually started running in 2007, according to records.

The new City District Attorney George Gascón has re-launched it and expanded it to operate in the Mission and the Bayview/ Hunter’s Points Districts San Francisco, as in the past it was first used to prosecute crimes committed in the Tenderloin and South of Market neiborhoods. A neighborhood-based mini-court set up, the project is staffed by volunteers and designed to handle misdemeanor offenses. In the last fi ve years, the San Francisco model has become an outstanding example of how a Restorative Justice program can reduce crime in inner-urban areas, according to the D.A.’s offi ce. The program was established as a collaborative of city departments, neighborhood residents and merchant associations. Starting with two courts, there are now eleven courts in 10 of the 11 San Francisco districts.

As the D.A.’s office describes it, the plan is to discourage criminal violation that impact our City’s neighborhood by helping heal victims, the community and the offenders.

Community courts order offenders to pay restitution to victims when there have been monetary loses o property damage, so creating an atmosphere of inclusion and responsibility in the part of the accused. It also orders those with addictions and anger problems to rehabilitation.

Each community court establishes a fund of their own through fi nes from various misdemeanor offenses. Once the fi nes accumulate in each separate account, the Mayor’s Offi ce of Criminal Justice issues an RFT (Request for Proposal) Request, usually three times a year. ­Any non-profit organization in any of the communities can apply to do neighborhood improvements and other activities that fi t the criteria of the RFP.

San Francisco’s Community Courts are organized and staffed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and CaCDS. The program has drawn increasing collaborative support from The Superior Court, San Francisco’s Mayor’s Offi ce, Board of Supervisors, The Public Defenders Offi ce, the San Francisco Police Department and San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Inc.