Mexico to issue birth certificates to citizens at its US consulates

California Highway Patrol officers Armando Garcia, right, and Ray Patton explain to immigrants the process of getting a drivers license during an information session at the Mexican Consulate, in San Diego. (AP)

The Mexican government will issue birth certificates to its citizens at consulates in the United States to make it easier for them to apply for a U.S. work permit, driver’s license and protection from deportation.

Previously, Mexico required citizens to get birth certificates at government offices in Mexico. Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. can ask friends and relatives back home to retrieve them, but it delays their applications for immigration or other programs.

Mexico is trying to help millions of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. apply for programs that would allow them to remain temporarily in the country and continue sending money to relatives across the border, despite Republicans in Congress trying to quash President Obama’s immigration reform plan.

“It is a huge help. It helps individuals really begin to formulate their formal identity in this country,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

About half of the 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally are from Mexico, and immigration experts estimate that roughly 3 million Mexicans could be eligible to apply for work permits and protection from deportation under the administration’s plan.

About two weeks ago, California — which is home to more Mexicans than any other state — began issuing driver’s licenses to immigrants in the country illegally

Starting Thursday, the country’s 50 consulates in the United States will be able to access data in Mexico and print birth certificates at the consulates.

Consulates should be able to issue birth certificates for nearly all birthplaces in Mexico, aside from rural communities, Arturo Sanchez, consult for press and commerical affairs in Santa Ana, California, said.

Over the past year, the Santa Ana consulate has seen a surge in the demand for documents. Daily appointments have jumped by a third to nearly 400, with many people trying to get birth certificates, Sanchez said.

Mexican immigrants usually seek birth certificates to obtain a passport or consular identification card so they can then apply for a driver’s license or immigration relief, he said.

In California, Mexican consular officials have supported the rollout of the new driver’s license program, holding information sessions and offering test preparation classes to help immigrants pass the written test required to get a license.

Mexican migrant workers, many who live in the United States, sent home $21.6 billion to their families in 2013, according to the country’s central bank.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Mexico to issue birth certificates to citizens at its US consulates

Photo captures shark birth

The image of the pelagic thresher shark was shot by photographer Attila E. Kaszo during a 2013 research dive led by Dr. Simon Oliver from the University of Chester in the U.K. (Attila E. Kaszo)

One photograph is shedding light on the life of one of the ocean’s more elusive animals. The journal Coral Reefs has published what is believed to be the first photograph taken of a live thresher shark birth in the ocean. The image of the pelagic thresher shark was shot by photographer Attila E. Kaszo during a 2013 research dive led by Dr. Simon Oliver from the University of Chester in the U.K.

The photograph was taken during just a routine dive, and Oliver told the BBC that he “freaked out” when he saw Kaszo’s processed image.

According to Oliver’s paper for Coral Reefs, the thresher shark has a low rate of reproduction and is “classified as vulnerable to overexploitation by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.”

Oliver writes that pregnant sharks are rarely seen in the wild, and that not much is known about oceanic births for most species in the wild. The shark was monitored swimming back and forth for a period of four minutes and its picture was taken for identification. Oliver writes that it wasn’t until the image was processed that he and his team realized it featured the emerging head of a shark pup.

The shark was discovered at a seamount, or underwater mountain that also serves as a “cleaning station,” which is where sharks go to have smaller fish – known as cleaner wrasse — eat unhealthy parasites away from their bodies.

“It looks like this area is not just a cleaning station, which is already massively essential, it’s also serving as pupping ground,” Oliver said.

Oliver said that he wants this particular seamount to become a “marine protected area.”

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Photo captures shark birth

Administration lawyers argue Hobby Lobby ruling on birth control doesn’t apply to religious groups

FILE: May 22, 2013: Customers are seen at a Hobby Lobby store in Denver. (AP)

The Obama administration says faith-based nonprofits should comply with ObamaCare’s birth-control mandate because they have more leeway than the corporations that won a Supreme Court ruling on the issue last year.

Government attorneys made the argument on Thursday to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, after pro-life ministry Priests for Life asked the court to reconsider a ruling it made last fall that requires religious nonprofits to object in writing to regulations that require employer health care plans to insure contraceptives, as reported by The Washington Times.

The group says the court’s decision contradicted the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Hobby Lobby case, which stated closely held corporations did not have to insure contraceptives that conflicted with their owners’ beliefs, particularly morning-after pills that some equate with abortion.

The justices cited the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which requires the government to achieve its aims in the least restrictive way.

But the administration says nonprofits should not expect the Hobby Lobby case to bail them out, considering “the linchpin” of the high court’s ruling was the “opt-out alternative afforded to organizations such as the plaintiffs in this case.”

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Administration lawyers argue Hobby Lobby ruling on birth control doesn’t apply to religious groups

Frustrating birth certificate error

Claudienne Edwards

Sunday, December 14, 2014    

Dear Claudienne,

My passport expired in June 2011. For work and personal reasons I will need to travel overseas very soon. As a requirement for a new passport each applicant must produce a new birth certificate, but unfortunately I do not have one. Both of my parents are deceased, and after searching through their documents I have not found my birth certificate.

I visited the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) for them to do a search for my birth certificate.

I paid for two searches, one at the RGD’s Montego Bay office and the other at their head office in Spanish Town. On both occasions I was told that no record of my birth could be found as my parents did not register me.

Interestingly, when my mother’s name was entered in the system they found the names of three of my older siblings born in 1960, 1961 and 1962. I found it strange that even though I was the last child and was born on December 27, 1969, they chose not to register me .

The RGD then informed me that to ascertain my birth record I needed to pay for a form search. They explained that this would involve a search of all the birth records of all the children born in the parish of St James in 1968, 1969 and 1970.

I dragged my feet for some time, then in June 2014 I decided to pay $12,000 to the RGD to have them do the form search.

I provided the RGD with all the information needed, such as my mom’s name, siblings’ names, place of birth, parish of birth, the name of the nurse who delivered me at home and my father’s name.

In the latter part of October 2014 my record was found and I paid a sum of $3,000 for two copies of my birth certificate. I received the certificates in the early part of November 2014 and the information appeared to be correct. The records showed that I was registered on January 20, 1970.

On November 19, 2014 I visited the passport office in Montego Bay to apply for my passport. When I presented my ID along with my application to the agent, to my surprise I was informed that the surname on the ID was different from the surname on my birth certificate.

I was advised that for my application to be accepted, the RGD would have to do the necessary correction.

I visited the RGD office in Montego Bay on Monday, November 24, 2014 and spoke with a customer service agent. I showed her my documents and told her that in my two expired passports the spelling of my surname was the same as on the ID.

She said that the birth certificates would be returned to the head office as it appeared that a mistake was made or that someone had misread an ‘R’ as an ‘N’. She said that she would try to expedite the process.

On November 25, 2014, the customer service agent left a message on my phone advising me that checks with the Spanish Town RGD head office had determined that the last name on the birth certificate was correct. I was told to visit the office and collect the birth certificates as I would have to do a late registration or a deed poll.

When I went for the birth certificates on November 26, 2014, I pointed out to the agent that my mother and father had lived together for almost 40 years. I was upset and argued that the RGD was suggesting that my mother was unfaithful to my father and had given birth to another man’s child during their union.

I told her that it was quite interesting that approaching my 45th birthday my surname had suddenly changed. I told her that I would be taking this matter to the highest level.

To get a clearer picture of this situation, please note these facts:

(a) I attended Montego Bay Infant School 1975-1976 with the surname on my ID.

(b) I also attended Barracks Road Primary School 1976-1981 with that surname.

(c) I sat the Common Entrance Examination and passed to attend Cornwall College 1981-1986 with the surname on the ID. I sat the CXC in 1986 with the surname on the ID. My parents had submitted birth certificates to all of the school administrations with the surname on my ID.

(d) I was issued and travelled on Jamaican passports in 1987 and 2001 respectively with that surname.

(e) My particulars are on my son’s birth certificate issued by the RGD in 1993.

(f) My particulars are on my daughter’s birth certificate issued by the RGD in 2004.

(g) I used my Jamaican birth certificate and passport to naturalise my twins as Jamaican citizens in 2008 at PICA, an agency of the Ministry of National Security.

(h) I applied and received a marriage certificate from the RGD in January 2014, with the surname on the ID.

So instead of admitting that an error was made in the spelling of my surname, the RGD is telling a hard-working taxpayer of Jamaica that after 44 years I don’t know my true identity.

Please assist me to have this matter resolved.

MB

Dear MB,

We asked the RGD to investigate your complaint and note that they have contacted you. Tell Claudienne has received the following statement from the RGD.

“With reference to the complaint e-mailed to us on December 2, 2014, the matter was brought to the attention of the chief executive officer, and it was decided to have the name treated as a clerical error.

MB was contacted and asked to present copies of his IDs to facilitate this process. The IDs will be sent to the head office through our Montego Bay office.”

Please let us know when you receive the birth certificates with the correct spelling of your surname.

Good luck.

Have a problem with a store, utility, a company? Telephone 936-9436 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.

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Frustrating birth certificate error

Continuous birth control safe?

Menstruation is a healthy and normal part of being a woman. The arrival of one’s first period marks the change from girlhood to womanhood and is what makes it possible for women to become pregnant.

However, today, more and more women are choosing to avoid this rite of passage.
We recently got this question from a viewer:

Dear Dr. Manny,
I recently started taking my birth control pills continuously to suppress my monthly periods, but is it really safe to keep skipping my period indefinitely or until I’m ready to get pregnant?
Thank you,
Lori

Women have used birth control pills to occasionally skip a period or two, for years. Only recently has it become known as ‘continuous contraception’– a method to suppress your period altogether.

Most birth control pill packages contain 21 hormone pills followed by 7 non-hormone pills, called the placebo pills. To eliminate monthly periods, women skip taking the last week of placebo pills and immediately start a new pill pack of the hormone pills.

While never having another period again might sound appealing, some experts are concerned that the treatment is not entirely safe.

“The problem that I worry about is really your breast health. Even when you’re on birth control pills, there’s supposed to be the hormone-free week and that’s a week that your breasts aren’t getting stimulation from hormones,” Dr. Jennifer Landa, gynecologist, hormone specialist and chief medical officer of BodyLogicMD told FoxNews.com.

“It comes down to worrying about your breast health, and if this is really just for convenience, because there really isn’t any evidence that shows us that it is safe,” she said.

No long-term studies have looked at the health risks of taking continuous birth control hormone pills for more than a year and taking pills to skip all your periods has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“It’s all a risk-benefit thing: If you’re on continuous birth control  because you bleed so heavily with your periods that you can’t function, you can’t go out, you get anemic and that’s why you want to do continuous contraception, then that might be an option. But really, I think that women have a natural cycle for a reason,” Landa said.

If you’re considering modifying your birth control or are trying to avoid your period, consult with your doctor first.

Do you have a health question for Dr. Manny? Please send it to DrManny@FoxNews.com.

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Continuous birth control safe?

Chelsea Clinton gives birth to girl

27 September 2014 Last updated at 07:31 Chelsea Clinton’s baby daughter is the first grandchild of Bill and Hillary Clinton Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has given birth to a baby girl.

“Marc and I are full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky,” Ms Clinton tweeted.

Ms Clinton, 34, married Marc Mezvinsky in 2010, and announced her pregnancy in April 2014.

The baby arrives as Hillary Clinton considers a presidential bid in 2016.

She is seen as the leading Democratic contender for nomination to succeed President Barack Obama, and has said that she will make a decision on whether to run from around the beginning of 2015.

Bill Clinton served as the 42nd US president, from January 1993 to January 2001.

The former first daughter has often been tipped to follow her parents into politics.

Chelsea Clinton, educated at Stanford, Columbia and Oxford Universities, runs the Clinton Foundation with her parents. Her husband Marc Mezvinsky is an investment banker.

Ms Clinton stepped down from a $600,000 (£370,000) a year position as NBC special correspondent in August to concentrate on her pregnancy, motherhood and philanthropic work.

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Chelsea Clinton gives birth to girl

Ky-Enie releases "Land of My Birth" video

Contributed – Ky-Enie

In a bid to clarify his origins, reggae singer Ky-Enie has released the video and single, ‘Land of My Birth’.

The artiste’s nationality has been questioned over the years, so he hopes the song will put those questions to rest.

“Persons have always been confused about my origin, whether I am American or European, so I wanted to compose a song that will identify Ky-Enie as 100 per cent Jamaican and have it stamped in their memory,” he said.

The video was shot in Stewart Town, Boscobel, St Mary. It was directed by Dario Magix of Ice Bura Studio Productions. The singer grew up between Boscobel and Ocho Rios, St Ann.

“I’m getting some really good responses so far. Most persons said they love the natural vibe it brings in such a simple form, Ky-Enie said of the song.

He is also working on his forthcoming album while getting ready to release the single, Round of Applause. He also has two videos to complete and a single to be released on the Fifth Element label, called I Pray.

His recent performances include the Liberation Celebration in Priory, St Ann, the Irie FM Marcus Garvey Tribute, an Unplugged performance at Oceans Eleven in Ocho Rios, and Blue Essence at Carlos Caf? in Kingston.

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Ky-Enie releases "Land of My Birth" video

Copies for lost GSAT birth certificates

Dear Claudienne

I am the principal of a primary school in Portland. Three years ago I took the birth certificates for six children from my school to the Region 2 office of the Ministry of Education, for verification for GSAT.The birth certificates were received by an education officer at the Region 2 office. At that time the ministry procedure was for the birth certificates to be taken to the regional office. Officers from the Ministry of Education would then visit the regional office and check them off (verify the information on them), then return the birth certificates to the school. However, shortly after leaving the birth certificates at the Region 2 office I went on four months’ leave. During the time I was on leave I kept checking with the acting principal to find out if the birth certificates had been returned to the school. However, they were never returned.When I returned from leave and asked the education officer for the birth certificates she said, “They were right here on my desk” but she could not find them.I had to pay the RGD the express fee to replace two of the missing birth certificates as the parents needed the documents urgently.I need the Region 2 office to urgently replace the other four lost birth certificates and I have provided them with all the information needed for them to do so. I have given them the names of the children, their dates of birth, their mothers’ names and the hospital where they were born. The Region 2 office should experience no difficulty in replacing them, as there is an RGD office in Port Antonio, but nothing has been done.The education officer has offered to pay $2,000 for copies of the birth certificates to be obtained, but that money is not sufficient as each would cost a minimum of $850 and the waiting period after applying is at least three months. In any event I do not want the Region 2 office to give me money. What I need are the birth certificates. The parents have asked me for the birth certificates and the situation is embarrassing.I urgently need the Region 2 office to resolve this matter.BGDear BGTell Claudienne brought this matter to the attention of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and we note that the problem has been resolved. Now that the matter is resolved, you say that you will use the money to apply to the RGD for copies of birth certificates for the four children.Good luck.Dear ClaudienneI purchased a Digicel BlackBerry 9320 from their dealer 3 A’ s Cellular and Computer Supplies in Old Harbour on January 3, 2013. I paid $26,276 for this phone. After the purchase I noted that the media card was missing. I was informed that “no media card came with the handset although it uses one,” and so I purchased one for $950.Subsequently, I noticed that the phone began “freezing” when I attempted to use it. It was returned to the dealer on February 14, 2013. The telephone was repaired and returned to me. I continued using the instrument. Sometime in April I noticed that the problem had recurred. The telephone was again returned to the dealer. I was given a replacement phone on April 29, 2013. I immediately noticed that this “new” phone contained an e-mail dated February 28, 2006, and text messages from 2010. I reported this to the dealer as evidence that the “new” phone was in fact an old one. I was told that I would be contacted by Digicel, but no-one contacted me. I continued to use the phone.On May 24, 2013 this “new replacement” phone began to malfunction — the track ball is freezing. I have returned the instrument to the dealer and am now using a loaner phone.I am frustrated. I need to have a telephone that is functioning properly. I have called and left messages for the managers at After Sales, Digicel to contact me, but no-one has done so.I would like to be reimbursed for this purchase.Thank you in advance for your help.JCDear JCDigicel has advised us that both devices used by you [your original purchase and subsequent replacement] were tested and no fault found. Digicel did not find the phones to be freezing or malfunctioning. However, Digicel said that based on the dealer’s “escalation” and request, the unit was replaced twice. Tell Claudienne notes that the second replacement phone was upgraded to the BB9360 and couriered to you on Friday, June 21.Digicel explained why the first new replacement phone contained an e-mail dated February 28, 2006. Digicel said:“The first brand new replacement showed the BlackBerry welcome e-mail dated as at the date of manufacture. JC did not complete the set-up immediately after inputting her SIM card. The text message mentioned was the BlackBerry welcome text from Digicel as at the same date as well. This was explained to the dealer when she relayed the content of both messages.Calls were made to the customer at the first return as requested by the dealer. All other subsequent correspondence/escalations were made directly by the dealer representative who was also aware of plans to have the device upgraded.“In terms of this last replacement, DC would have received the same manufacturer welcome message from BlackBerry again.”Good luck.Have a problem with a store, utility, a company: telephone 936-9436 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.

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Copies for lost GSAT birth certificates