Latest news with #Quiroga
Int'l Business Times
3 hours ago
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
Bolivia Presidential Hopefuls Make Last Push For Votes
Bolivia's presidential candidates made a final push for votes on Wednesday ahead of elections on the weekend set to end 20 years of socialist rule. Two right-wing candidates are leading the race for the first time since 2005 as voters desert the ruling Movement Towards Socialism party, blamed for the country's deep economic crisis, ahead of Sunday's vote. Polls show center-right business tycoon Samuel Doria Medina and right-wing ex-president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga running neck-and-neck on around 20 percent each, with six other candidates trailing far behind. The two frontrunners wound up their campaigns with fanfares, street parades and packed rallies. Doria Medina, who owns Bolivia's Burger King franchise among other businesses, pledged shock therapy to pull the country back from the brink of default. Speaking in the predominantly Indigenous city of El Alto -- a longtime stronghold of leftist ex-president Evo Morales -- he vowed to restore dwindling supplies of dollars and fuel "within 100 days" through austerity measures. Jonathan Vega, a 25-year-old chef, told AFP he was counting on Doria Media to "restore stability." Bolivians are struggling through the country's worst crisis in a generation, marked by acute shortages of dollars, fuel and subsidized bread. A dramatic drop in gas exports has eaten into the country's foreign currency reserves, making it unable to import sufficient fuel for its needs. Doria Medina and Quiroga have both vowed to cut costly fuel subsidies, partly roll back Morales-era nationalizations and close loss-making public companies. Speaking in the city of La Paz, Quiroga said his first priority would be to tamp down inflation, which rose to 24.8 percent year-on-year in July, its highest level since at least 2008. The 65-year-old also threatened to close the central bank, accusing the outgoing government of using it as a "credit card," and promised to flood Bolivia's lithium-rich Andean high plains with tax-free zones to attract investment. Quiroga's vision of a "small state" has seen him compared with Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei. Alejandro Rios, a 23-year-old lawyer attending Quiroga's rally, said he believed Milei-style reforms were "the right thing for Bolivia, to get out of this crisis." The two main left-wing candidates, Senate president Andronico Rodriguez and his Movement Towards Socialism rival, former interior minister Eduardo del Castillo, are polling in the single digits. Morales, 65, has called on his supporters to avenge his disqualification by spoiling their ballots. Bolivia's center-right presidential candidate Samuel Doria Medina at his final campaign event in the city of El Alto AFP Supporters of Quiroga wave signs at the campaign rally AFP
Int'l Business Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
Bolivia Right-wing Presidential Hopeful Vows 'Radical Change'
One of the front-runners in Bolivia's upcoming presidential election, right-winger Jorge Quiroga, told AFP on Friday the country was poised for "radical change" after two decades of socialist rule marked in recent years by a severe economic crisis. Quiroga, who briefly served as president from 2001 to 2002, is running a close second behind center-right business magnate Samuel Doria Medina in polls for the first round of the election on August 17. The ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS), founded by three-term ex-president Evo Morales, is shown at rock bottom, with voters poised to punish the party over its handling of the worst crisis in two decades. Basics like fuel and food items are in short supply in the Andean nation, which is running out of the dollars it needs to import essentials. After a rally with supporters in the administrative capital La Paz, Quiroga, 65, said Bolivians faced a period of "radical change (to) regain 20 lost years" -- a reference to the Morales era (2006-2019) and that of his successor, Luis Arce (in power since 2020). Referring to MAS, which was credited with lifting many Bolivians out of poverty during a commodities boom in the 2000s, he declared: "Its cycle is over, its time is up." Quiroga, Doria Medina and even the main left-wing candidate, Andronico Rodriguez, who is polling in third, have all prescribed varying degrees of austerity to turn around Bolivia's finances. Quiroga, a supporter of libertarian Argentine President Javier Milei, has advocated the deepest spending cuts. Year-on-year inflation rose to 25.8 percent in July, the highest level since 2008, driven by a shortage of dollars, which has nearly doubled in value against the local boliviano in a year. Quiroga, a US-educated former finance minister who served as vice president under dictator Hugo Banzer in the 1990s, said if elected he would "change all the laws" to attract investment, including in the energy sector, which Morales nationalized in the 2000s. He also vowed a change in international alliances, breaking from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua -- close allies of the Morales and Arce administrations. Quiroga was the youngest vice president in Bolivia's history when he was elected to the post in 1997 at the age of 37. He later served as president for one year after Banzer resigned in August 2001 due to cancer.
France 24
6 days ago
- Business
- France 24
Bolivia right-wing presidential hopeful vows 'radical change'
Quiroga, who briefly served as president from 2001 to 2002, is running a close second behind center-right business magnate Samuel Doria Medina in polls for the first round of the election on August 17. The ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS), founded by three-term ex-president Evo Morales, is shown at rock bottom, with voters poised to punish the party over its handling of the worst crisis in two decades. Basics like fuel and food items are in short supply in the Andean nation, which is running out of the dollars it needs to import essentials. After a rally with supporters in the administrative capital La Paz, Quiroga, 65, said Bolivians faced a period of "radical change (to) regain 20 lost years" -- a reference to the Morales era (2006-2019) and that of his successor, Luis Arce (in power since 2020). Referring to MAS, which was credited with lifting many Bolivians out of poverty during a commodities boom in the 2000s, he declared: "Its cycle is over, its time is up." Quiroga, Doria Medina and even the main left-wing candidate, Andronico Rodriguez, who is polling in third, have all prescribed varying degrees of austerity to turn around Bolivia's finances. Quiroga, a supporter of libertarian Argentine President Javier Milei, has advocated the deepest spending cuts. Year-on-year inflation rose to 25.8 percent in July, the highest level since 2008, driven by a shortage of dollars, which has nearly doubled in value against the local boliviano in a year. Quiroga, a US-educated former finance minister who served as vice president under dictator Hugo Banzer in the 1990s, said if elected he would "change all the laws" to attract investment, including in the energy sector which Morales nationalized in the 2000s. He also vowed a change in international alliances, breaking from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua -- close allies of the Morales and Arce administrations.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pride lights, and most other colors, no longer allowed on Florida bridges
No matter what the cause or its associated color, lighting a state bridge to recognize it is now against Florida policy — with, of course, a big patriotic exception. In a policy quietly adopted in February and playing out around the state this Memorial Day weekend, the Florida Department of Transportation says lighting on state-managed bridges 'shall be a default scheme of red, white and blue' and 'limited to the recognition, commemoration and or promotion of government holidays.' It effectively makes a standard practice out of the 'Freedom Summer' lighting rule declared by FDOT last year. And it squelches, without express state permission, options such as rainbow colors for LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June, or even orange for National Gun Violence Awareness Month, also in June, or red in September for Sickle Cell Awareness Month. Recent history suggests that special permission for some causes would be tough to get. Last year's freedom summer declaration came about after the state overruled a practice in Tampa of deploying rainbow lighting during Pride Month. For three years the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay had sported such lighting, but in 2024 a Manatee County Commissioner objected. In prior years, creative bridge lighting had been fairly common in some locales. In 2016 the Central Florida Expressway Authority lit up the Lake Underhill Bridge on State Road 408 in Orlando with rainbow colors after the June 16 mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub. CFX — created by the state in 2014 — said by email that it follows the city of Orlando's specialty lighting schedule. However, the city has no bridges or roads that it lights up in color for special occasions. Orlando does illuminate the Lake Eola fountain, City Hall and public art displays. The city's specialty lighting schedule includes red, white and blue illumination for Memorial Day. Orlando also used specials colors for other occasions such as red on Nurse's Day (May 6) and pink, purple and yellow on Mothers Day (May 12). Tatiana Quiroga, executive director of Come out with Pride Orlando which is behind the city's LGTBQ + parade and the region's biggest celebration, said her organization has never made any special lighting requests of the state. Quiroga said the city uses rainbow lights at the Lake Eola fountain for the Pride celebration. She said Orange County and the city have a long history of supporting Pride. 'We have a great relationship with the city but it speaks volumes that we don't have one with the state,' Quiroga said. 'It illustrates a lack of support from the state for LGBTQ. 'They don't support pride but also what happens to the breast cancer community who want pink lights or showing support for the immigrant community or the Black community?' she asked. The holidays stipulated by the state are New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. The state has approved at least one exception to its policy so far: In the city of Sarasota, the community requested aqua blue as the default color on the Ringling Bridge when it isn't lit up in red, white and blue for the holidays observed by the state. With permission, those colors lit up the bridge earlier this month. FDOT said the policy is part of the Salute to America 250 Task Force, a group created by President Donald Trump that's planning a full year of festivities starting Memorial Day and running through July 4, 2026 — when the U.S. celebrates 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed. In a post on X, FDOT Secretary Jared Perdue said state bridges and highways will be lit with red, white and blue beginning Friday through 2026 'in commemoration of #America250.' 'Doing so reinforces how lucky we are to live in the Free State of Florida, USA,' Perdue said in the post. The Tampa Bay Times contributed to this report
Forbes
08-04-2025
- Health
- Forbes
U.K. Woman Gives Birth To Healthy Baby After Receiving Womb Transplant
A baby has been born in the UK to the recipient of a transplanted womb. A woman in the U.K. has become the first in the country to give birth after receiving a womb transplant from her sister. Grace Davidson, 36 gave birth on February 27th to a healthy baby girl via caesarean section at hospital in the U.K. At 19, Davidson was diagnosed with a rare condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, meaning her womb was either missing or not developed properly. The condition affects around 1 in every 4,500 females and often people don't find out they are affected until their teenage years. External features and genitals are often normal in affected individuals and often people are only diagnosed when they fail to menstruate after puberty. In early 2023, Davidson received her sister's womb via a transplant that was documented as successful in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In Davidson's case, her ovaries were producing eggs despite the lack of functional womb, so prior to the transplant, Davidson and her husband had in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment to create embryos which were frozen, so they could be implanted after the transplant. 'Transplants are usually carried out in order to save a life. With this transplant we have been able to enhance a life, and now to create a life,' said Isabel Quiroga, who co-leads the UK living donor programme for wombs and is a consultant transplant and endocrine surgeon. 'This is a procedure that will give hope to many women without a functioning womb who thought they might not be able to get pregnant,' said Quiroga in a press release, who helped pioneer the transplant procedure and was in the operating theatre when Davidson delivered the baby. Davidson's sister Amy already had two children before donating her womb and the new baby is named Amy Isabel after both her and Quiroga. 'What a privilege it is to be able to gift something that in many ways I took for granted,' said Amy. "Watching Grace and Angus become parents has been an absolute joy and worth every moment. I feel eternally grateful to be part of their journey." The first baby to ever be born from a transplanted womb was in Sweden in 2014, with the boy now being 10 years old. The first U.S. trial for womb transplants in people without viable wombs, either due to a condition like Davidson's or due to removal e.g. because of cancer, was started in 2017 at UPenn Medicine, with the first baby born to a woman with a transplanted uterus in 2019. There have been an estimated 120 babies born worldwide to mothers with transplanted wombs.
