Welcome to WSD 2015. The slogan for 2015 expresses a desire that comes true for only 1/3 of the world population. Sound sleep is a treasured function and one of the pillars of health, along with a balanced diet and adequate exercise. When sleep fails, health declines. Poor sleep and bad health decrease the quality of life and take happiness away.

World Sleep Day is an annual event sponsored by the World Association of Sleep Medicine, to raise awareness of sleep disorders and highlight the burden that they place on society. World Sleep Day 2015 will be held on Friday, March 13th, 2015. Most sleep disorders are preventable or treatable, yet less than one-third of sufferers seek professional help. Sleep problems constitute a global epidemic that threatens health and quality of life for up to 45% of the world’s population. Better understanding of sleep conditions and more research into this area of medicine will help reduce the burden of sleep disorders on society.

The three elements of good quality sleep are:

a. Duration- The length of sleep should be sufficient for the sleeper to be rested and alert the following day.
b. Continuity- Sleep cycles should be seamless without interruption.
c. Depth- Sleep should be deep enough or sufficiently sound to be restorative and refreshing.

World Sleep Day 2015 offers a world stage to interested parties to join forces and reach their audiences. Sleep centers around the world are invited to teach their constituents that sleep hygiene is the science conducive to the preservation of high quality, sound and sufficient sleep. The World Association of Sleep Medicine has issued rules of hygiene that are contained in the 10 Commandments of Sleep. These rules aim to maintain or restore natural, refreshing and healthy sound sleep. Environmental conditions, such as temperature, noise, light, bed comfort, and electronic devices may modify sleep and thus play a significant role in the ability to get proper sleep—and, subsequently, in overall sleep-related wellness.

Sleep centers are also invited to tell the public that breathing regularly during sleep is critical to well-being and health. Frequent interruption of the breathing function during sleep is a pervasive and common disorder called sleep apnea, that affects 17 % of men and 9 % of women in middle and old age. Sleep centers offer diagnostic procedures and provide recommendations to control sleep apnea.

Sound sleep facilitates the preservation of mental health. Sleep disturbances are a risk factor for mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. In turn, control of these disorders improves the quality of sleep.

Failure to obtain quality sleep may lead to poor alertness, lack of attention, reduced concentration, and decreased academic productivity, while increasing the risk of motor vehicle accidents.

Thus, we return to the original slogan
‘When sleep is SOUND, health and happiness ABOUND’.

I encourage you to join World Sleep Day 2015 and contribute to improve and facilitate health and happiness around the world.

Antonio Culebras, Co-chair WSD2015Liborio Parrino, Co-chair WSD2015

Many people say that an involving melody is the best fellow to walk into Morpheus arms.

The right Music at the right moment can raise a wall between the corrupted noise of the world and the pure silence of mind, favouring the passage through the dream gates.
At the same time, the first moments of waking need the help of another musical frame, which can turn the first sound heard into the most beautiful melody across the whole new day.
If you want to see how it works, Stay Tonight.

Francesco Parrino(composer of “Stay Tonight”)

To download Stay Tonight part one Click HERE and part two HERE.

More music from Francesco ParrinoWebsite: http://youtubesheetmusic.com/artists/francesco-parrino/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/francescoparrinoF
acebook: https://www.facebook.com/Francesco.Parrino.Officia
lTwitter: https://twitter.com/FraPar_piano

Puerto Vallarta, Jal.- Emmy-winning host and fashion expert Rodner Figueroa is apologizing to Michelle Obama for the racist comments he made about her during a show on the Spanish-language network Univision on Wednesday.

Figueroa, who was fired that same day, broke his silence in a letter released Thursday, offering his most sincere apologies and saying his comments were misinterpreted. During the live broadcast, the 42-year-old said the First Lady “looks like she was from the ‘Planet of the Apes,’

“I would like to clarify that I am not a racist and my comments were in no way directed toward you, but toward the characterization made by the makeup artist,” he wrote in Spanish.

“I am embarrassed, I ask for forgiveness, because there is no excuse for a professional like me to make comments like this that can be misinterpreted as offensive and racist during such a volatile time in our country.”

He continued: “I take responsibility for this error in judgment on my part, but I cannot accept being called a racist and fired like this, humiliated by Univision, after 17 years there.”

“I come from a bi-racial Latino family, with family members like my father, who are Afro-Latino. I am the first openly gay host on Spanish-language television and I have been an activist for causes to help minorities, who like me have been discriminated against,” Figueroa explained.

Figueroa made his comment during a segment of “El Gordo y la Flaca,” when the hosts were talking about make-up artist Paolo Ballesteros, who has been making headlines recently for transforming himself into celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lawrence, Cher and the First Lady.

It was while showing Ballesteros' transformation of himself turning into Obama that Figueroa made his comment.

On Thursday, Univision issued a statement confirming Figueroa's departure from the network.

“Yesterday during the entertainment program ‘El Gordo y La Flaca,’ Rodner Figueroa made some comments about First Lady Michelle Obama that were completely reprehensible and in no way a reflection of the values and opinions of Univision. As a result, Mr. Figueroa was fired immediately,” statement read.

Figueroa no longer appears on Univision's talent page.

In his letter, the Venezuelan-American host wrote that Univision gave him a verbal notification of his departure. He claimed network executives leaked the news and “condemned me on social media, trying to destroy my career in an unjust manner, without even officially notifying me in writing nor without a proper investigation of the situation.”

Soon after the news of Figueroa’s departure was made public, Lili Estefan and Raul de Molina, hosts of “El Gordo y la Flaca” defended their ex-co-host saying that calling him a racist is “ridiculous.”

“I think Rodner was definitely wrong (in what he said), but calling him a racist is ridiculous,” Estefan told People En Español. “Rodner is someone who makes fun of himself. For those who don’t know it, his father is Black.”

De Molina said: “I’ve known Rodner since we worked together in Telemundo… Although we have our conflicts in front of the camera, I love him dearly. I don’t think his comment had a racist undertone, of that I am sure. Rodner is indispensable to ‘El Gordo y la Flaca.’”

Puerto Vallarta, Jal.- A dog trained by U.S. scientists has learned to detect thyroid cancer in undiagnosed individuals, according to a study presented at the 97th annual meeting of the U.S. Endocrine Society held over the weekend in San Diego.

The canine, a German shepherd called Frankie, nailed the diagnosis in 88.2 percent of the cases just by smelling the urine of the 34 participants in the experiment.

Dogs have a sense of smell 10 times keener than man, the reason the team believes that "scent-trained canines could be used by physicians to detect the presence of thyroid cancer at an early stage and to avoid surgery when unwarranted," endocrine oncology expert Donald Bodenner at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, or UAMS, the lead author of the study, said.

While Bodenner does not suggest taking decisions for treating patients based on the canine technique, he said the dog's diagnostic precision was only slightly inferior to that achieved by extracting cells with a needle for a biopsy, the usual method.

To do the study, the team first trained Frankie to recognize the scent of cancerous thyroid tissue from samples extracted from multiple patients.

The researchers than had him sniff urine samples from 34 untested patients before taking a biopsy of their thyroid nodules, in which 15 people were diagnosed with cancer and 19 tested negative.

Frankie, who was trained to lie down when he identified thyroid cancer in a sample and to move on if the urine was clean, made the correct diagnosis in 30 of the 34 cases.

The scientists said they plan to expand their study in collaboration with Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine, given that the canine detection of odors has the advantage of being non-invasive and low in cost.

Puerto Vallarta, Jal. – On Saturday, Southwest Airlines Flight 2207 did not just mark Southwest’s first flight between Aruba and Houston; it also marked the carrier’s first international arrival into Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport. Now Houston is one of a handful of cities in the U.S. to have two international airports.

Back in 1971, Southwest Airlines started flying between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio with three Boeing 737s, and over the years, the airline rapidly expanded its reach from coast to coast. Up until it acquired AirTran Airways in September 2010, Southwest only flew within the continental U.S., but since AirTran flew to a dozen cities outside the U.S., this meant that Southwest would too.

Now that Southwest would have international access thanks to its AirTran acquisition, Southwest started looking into starting international flights in and out of Houston, but the airline would have to win over the city’s approval to build an international terminal at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport where has build up a large presence.

To try to get the city of Houston on-board, Southwest launched the “Free Hobby” campaign in 2012, which almost sparked a war in Houston. Many in northern Houston were concerned that this would cause significant changes to United’s presence at Intercontinental Airport, but for those in south Huston, they would be able to fly out of an airport closer to their home.

Over the next few months, the city council, along with city leaders, held many debates about building an international terminal at Hobby Airport before it would go the city would make a final decision. Plus, United was very vocal about preventing Hobby from becoming an international airport.

Ultimately, Southwest won approval from the city of Houston to build the international terminal. The new $156 million, five-gate international concourse is still under construction. The new facility will increase capacity for all airport functions and add a Federal Inspections Services (FIS) facility to streamline U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) screening and baggage processing for arriving international passengers.

An airport spokesperson says that opening day is expected sometime mid-October. He also explained that Southwest will get preferred treatment at four of the five gates, and the airport is actively looking to add another international airline at Hobby once the new terminal opens

Southwest has big plans for international expansion in Houston, and back in December, the carrier announced it filed applications with the U.S. Department of Transportation to start flights to six international destinations this fall once the new international concourse opens.

Pending government approval, Southwest plans to launch new international flights from Houston to Cancun, Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, and San Jose del Cabo in Mexico. Plus, Southwest also plans to launch flights to Belize City, Belize and San Jose, Costa Rica from Houston.

“This is an exciting first step in achieving our goal of establishing regional international air service at Hobby Airport,” said Houston Aviation Director Mario C. Diaz. “We are making dramatic progress on the new international concourse building and have a definitive route map now available from the team at Southwest Airlines. The importance of strong connectivity with Latin America and the Caribbean cannot be overstated in Houston and these flights will undoubtedly strengthen those business and cultural ties.”

Mexican agricultural officials spent several days last week meeting with a group of their countrymen living in California over a matter that had nothing to do with the typical reasons immigrants turn to their former homeland’s authorities — to reclaim or protect land back in Mexico.

Under a program that began last year, Mexico is trying to help its citizens who live in the United States resolve issues relating to farm parcels of communal land known as "ejidos," that people could lose if they do not pay dues, appear to neglect the land, or if relatives who remain in Mexico and owned the property die, leaving the land at risk of being possessed by others, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The ejidos system is an old one, started after the Mexican Revolution.

The system entailed granting peasants communal rights to farm parcels. It was part of a larger agrarian reform, the Times said.

But the rules for retaining those rights are strict, and more people have been at risk of being stripped of their ownership privileges as immigration, particularly without proper documents, from Mexico to the United States has grown since the ejidos system was put into place.

Mexican officials who have been assisting immigrants living in the United States say many do not know what their rights to land back in their homeland are, particularly when that parcel was in the name of a deceased relative, the Times said.

Catalina Rodriguez, who helps resolve disputes and ambiguity involving ejidos, has helped many Mexicans in California sort out their cases.

That has sometimes entailed research into who has ownership rights to a parcel, and other times the help is in the form of putting together the paperwork to document ownership and ensuring that the right people inherit the rights to the ejido.

Mexico also has arranged for officials there to represent immigrants in cases where the land ownership is in question, Rodriguez told the Times.

She said she is struck by how important it is to Mexicans in the United States to own land in their native homeland.

"It's their patrimony," she said.

It certainly was extremely important to Maria Gonzales, who left Mexico 25 years ago. Her parents stayed home, on their four-acre farm.

Although she had built a life here, she envisaged someday going back to Mexico and to the farm. But her parents died, and Gonzales learned that someone else had taken possession of the farm, the Times said.

Gonzales, whom the Times described as undocumented, could not return to Mexico to investigate the matter because she would risk not being able to return to Los Angeles.

Her husband, Ezequiel Becerril, said to the Times: "They're taking advantage because we can't be there.”

But she found hope when she went to see one of the Mexican government’s agricultural officials who was visiting California last week. The official found that the farm was, indeed, still under her deceased mother’s name.

"Legally, it's your mother's," the official said, according to the Times.

She got a copy of the deed from the official, which could pave the way to getting local authorities in her former hometown of Jalisco to evict the person who is there now from the farm.

"Amazing," said an emotional Gonzales, the Times reported. "Amazing."

Mexican agricultural officials spent several days last week meeting with a group of their countrymen living in California over a matter that had nothing to do with the typical reasons immigrants turn to their former homeland’s authorities — to reclaim or protect land back in Mexico.

Under a program that began last year, Mexico is trying to help its citizens who live in the United States resolve issues relating to farm parcels of communal land known as "ejidos," that people could lose if they do not pay dues, appear to neglect the land, or if relatives who remain in Mexico and owned the property die, leaving the land at risk of being possessed by others, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The ejidos system is an old one, started after the Mexican Revolution.

The system entailed granting peasants communal rights to farm parcels. It was part of a larger agrarian reform, the Times said.

But the rules for retaining those rights are strict, and more people have been at risk of being stripped of their ownership privileges as immigration, particularly without proper documents, from Mexico to the United States has grown since the ejidos system was put into place.

Mexican officials who have been assisting immigrants living in the United States say many do not know what their rights to land back in their homeland are, particularly when that parcel was in the name of a deceased relative, the Times said.

Catalina Rodriguez, who helps resolve disputes and ambiguity involving ejidos, has helped many Mexicans in California sort out their cases.

That has sometimes entailed research into who has ownership rights to a parcel, and other times the help is in the form of putting together the paperwork to document ownership and ensuring that the right people inherit the rights to the ejido.

Mexico also has arranged for officials there to represent immigrants in cases where the land ownership is in question, Rodriguez told the Times.

She said she is struck by how important it is to Mexicans in the United States to own land in their native homeland.

"It's their patrimony," she said.

It certainly was extremely important to Maria Gonzales, who left Mexico 25 years ago. Her parents stayed home, on their four-acre farm.

Although she had built a life here, she envisaged someday going back to Mexico and to the farm. But her parents died, and Gonzales learned that someone else had taken possession of the farm, the Times said.

Gonzales, whom the Times described as undocumented, could not return to Mexico to investigate the matter because she would risk not being able to return to Los Angeles.

Her husband, Ezequiel Becerril, said to the Times: "They're taking advantage because we can't be there.”

But she found hope when she went to see one of the Mexican government’s agricultural officials who was visiting California last week. The official found that the farm was, indeed, still under her deceased mother’s name.

"Legally, it's your mother's," the official said, according to the Times.

She got a copy of the deed from the official, which could pave the way to getting local authorities in her former hometown of Jalisco to evict the person who is there now from the farm.

"Amazing," said an emotional Gonzales, the Times reported. "Amazing."

A sure sign that spring's on the horizon: One hour less shut-eye Saturday night no matter when you turn out the lights.

Most people in the U.S. are supposed to push the clock forward by 60 minutes before heading to bed Saturday night. Daylight saving time officially begins at 2 a.m. Sunday local time.

You may have lost a bit of sleep, but in the months ahead you'll gain an extra hour of sunlight in the evenings.

It's also a good time to replace batteries in warning devices such as smoke detectors.

The time change isn't observed by Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.

Daylight saving time ends Nov. 1.

Trees are still thick within a pocket of jungle in the Mosquitia
that is home to the ruins of an ancient civilization.

A team of archaeologists were searching for the fabled “White City,” also known as the “City of the Monkey God,” in the Honduras jungle. But during the course of their hunt, they say they may have stumbled upon something far more remarkable: not merely a long-lost city, but an entire, unidentified civilization.

The story of this discovery begins in 2012 when an aerial survey of a remote valley in La Mosquitia, Honduras, revealed evidence of the ruins of a pre-Columbian city. Some experts thought the ruins might be part of the legendary “White City.”

As National Geographic reported:

"For a hundred years, explorers and prospectors told tales of the white ramparts of a lost city glimpsed above the jungle foliage. Indigenous stories speak of a 'white house' or a 'place of cacao' where Indians took refuge from Spanish conquistadores—a mystical, Eden-like paradise from which no one ever returned."

The site of the “White City” has never been confirmed.

With the support of the Honduran government, the team recently embarked on an expedition to the surveyed area to discover firsthand whether or not the “White City” had actually been located. What they found astounded them.

National Geographic, which sent a reporter and photographer along for the expedition, reports that the team did indeed find an ancient and untouched city. The archaeologists surveyed “extensive plazas, earthworks, mounds and an earthen pyramid” as well as “a remarkable cache” of more than 50 stone sculptures.

Christopher Fisher, an archaeologist on the team, told the magazine that the unspoiled condition of the site was “incredibly rare.”

The site is estimated to date back to 1,000 to 1,400 A.D.

A cache of more than 50 artifacts, found partly exposed,
lie in a secret location in the Mosquitia jungle in Honduras.

While this discovery has been celebrated as the long-anticipated unearthing of the storied "White City," archaeologists say that they no longer believe there's just one “lost city” in Mosquitia. Instead, the team says the area may be home to many "lost cities" -- places that were once inhabited by an entire, now-lost civilization.

This culture likely thrived a millennia ago, and then disappeared, the archaeologists say.

It's a culture that's almost unknown. It does not even have a name.

Fisher told The Huffington Post in an email this week that the discovery of the lost city has enormous implications for the understanding of the region and its history.

"The documentation of the site and associated features is very significant for Honduras and broader pre-Columbian societies in Latin America," he said.

Fisher added that much more research needs to be conducted to find out more about this lost civilization. He said the team hopes to soon "begin a long-term program of archaeological and ecological research" in the Mosquitia area.

As for what might have caused this civilization to disappear, Fisher offered one possible explanation: European-introduced disease.

“Old World disease decimated native populations in the Americas starting with the fall of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan,” Fisher told HuffPost. “These same diseases then raced person to person throughout the Americas with an incredible mortality rate. Like every other ancient culture in the Americas the impact of these events would have had devastating consequences for the ancient peoples of the Mosquitia.”

Fisher stressed, however, that there could be many other explanations for the culture’s demise. Societal collapse, environmental triggers or conflict, for instance, may have played a role.

Hundreds of Roughrider fans show their rider pride in the desert

Puerto Vallarta, Jal.- From Vatican City to Costa Rica, there's a good chance you’ve spotted a Rider fan while travelling outside of Canada.

And those attending the hockey game tonight in Glendale, Ari., between the Anaheim Ducks and the Arizona Coyotes -- they're going to get a big helping of green and white.

That's because it's Rider Day in Arizona and close to 500 Saskatchewan Roughrider fans are expected at a special pre-game party with Rider receiver Chris Getzlaf.

Rider fans will also have their own section during the hockey game, which will likely be one of the more rowdy corners of the arena. After the game 350 fans will get the chance to have their picture taken at centre ice.

When asked where’s the strangest place you’ve seen a Rider fan, texters into 306-306 had a long list of places including the tailgate party in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where more than 400 Rider fans gather each year.

“We were on a Mediterranean cruise and I saw two people with their Riders jacket on.”

“I was in Ecuador in 2007 and in Quito me and my buddy found a bar owned by a guy from Saskatchewan and they had a rider flag up on the wall.”

“We were in Lunenburg, N.S. last June and we went into a gift shop the owner noticed my Rider hat and came over to say hi. It was Terry Baker the punter for the Riders in 1989! I Told him I was at the Grey Cup in 89, got my picture with him and his Grey Cup ring!”

“I was waiting to board Catamaran in Kauai wearing my Rider hat of course. Guy yells "Go Riders.” Turns out he was from Lloydminster.”

When I was in Las Vegas last weekend I was wearing a Rider shirt and hat walking down the strip and I hear let's go riders I saw another Rider shirt gave a nod.”

Paris Hilton is the most recent celebrity to take advantage of the thawing relations between the United States and Cuba and head down to Havana for some nostalgia and cigars.

The heiress of Hilton Hotels visited the Cuban capital over the weekend and has been documenting the trip all over Instagram.

“Posing in front of the original ‘Habana Hilton Hotel’ that my great-grandfather Conrad opened here in 1958,” Hilton, 34, captioned the picture.

If any picture can truly capture the changing times between the two countries long divided by political differences, it's a selfie taken in the Communist nation by a scandalous socialite whose U.S. pop-culture background includes "The Simple Life," chihuahas with diamond-studded collars and sex tapes.

The Hilton Hotel was inaugurated at the height of the Fulgencio Batista regime. Shortly after Fidel Castro seized power, he nationalized the property renaming it “Habana Libre,” the Spanish word for "free."

While in the Cuban capital, Hilton took the time to take in the sites and document some of Havana’s iconic views.

She also participated in the 17th annual Cigar Festival with British supermodel Naomi Campbell and took some photos with Castro’s son, Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart (who is Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart's cousin).

Hilton’s trip comes just months after President Barack Obama announced the two countries would be working to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1961.

Currently Americans can travel to the Communist country for academic, religious or cultural programs, and the Obama administration is working on easing those restrictions.

Last week, officials from the two countries held their second round of talks in Washington, following a first round held in Havana in January.

Late night TV host Conan O’Brien filmed a special episode of his show in Havana last month that airs on Wednesday.

He told reporters that some of the highlights of the episode include learning to play authentic Cuban music, how to rumba and visiting a cigar factory where 400 virtuosos make cigars.

O’Brien found the architecture beautiful but, typically, in disrepair, while "the people couldn't be warmer and nice."

"They're very interested in how Americans feel about them," he reported. "I told them Americans disagreed on everything, but in polls about whether we should normalize relations with Cuba, we are overwhelmingly in favor of it. They were happy to hear that."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Puerto Vallarta, Jal.- Chile's president went to a hospital Saturday to meet with a 14-year-old girl who shocked the country by going on YouTube to plead for the leader to let doctors euthanize her because she is tired of her struggle with cystic fibrosis.

The government quickly said no after the video began spreading on social media Thursday.

A government statement said President Michelle Bachelet talked with Valentina Maureira and her father for more than an hour at the Catholic University hospital in the capital.

Officials did not release any information on what was said. But the government provided photographs of the visit, including one of Valentina taking a selfie with the president, who is also a pediatrician.

Valentina grabbed attention after posting on YouTube a video that appeared to have been shot from a hospital bed.

"I urgently request to speak to the president because I'm tired of living with this illness," said the teenager, whose older brother died at age 6 from the same disease. "I want her approval so I can get a shot that will make me sleep forever."

Cystic fibrosis damages multiple organs, especially the lungs, by causing recurrent infections that damage tissue. Valentina said she was frustrated by the lack of options and by how the disease had hurt her quality of life.

On Thursday, presidential spokesman Alvaro Elizalde expressed sympathy for Valentina's plight, but stressed that Chilean law does not allow euthanasia.

"It's impossible not to be overcome by emotion with the girl's request; it's impossible to grant her wish," Elizalde said.

In an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, the girl's father, Fredy Maureira, said he supported his daughter's request, though he added that he "cried through the night" after he first heard about her wish to die.

"This is so tough, but I have to respect her decision because she's the one who's suffering this illness," Maureira said.

Puerto Vallarta, Jal.- A House bill introduced this week would ease airline costs for international flights into John Wayne Airport and could attract more such flights to the county.

The measure calls for the airport to be declared a “port of entry.” Currently, airlines there must reimburse U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the cost of checking travelers from abroad, but there is no such charge to carriers at official ports of entry.

“I have raised this issue several times with the administration, but we have seen no progress,” said Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana.

“My bill mandates the secretary of homeland security to designate John Wayne Airport an official port of entry and remove it from the existing ‘user-fees’ system, which currently puts the burden of CBP operations unfairly on the back of travelers.”

Republican Reps. Mimi Walters of Laguna Niguel and Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa are co-sponsors of the measure.

Courtney Wiercioch, a deputy airport director, said Interjet’s decision to leave John Wayne last year was due in part to the customs fees.

“Other international carriers have said that it’s a hindrance to them flying here as well,” she said.

Passengers arriving in the U.S. from abroad already pay a $17.50 fee to customs, regardless of the airport. Additionally, customs charged John Wayne carriers $1.4 million in 2014 to service the 277,000 passengers arriving on international flights.

While that surcharge only comes to about $5 per passenger, it amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars to the international airlines flying to John Wayne — costs the carriers do not incur when flying to nearby port of entry airports including Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs, Wiercioch said.

Carriers at John Wayne currently serve Cabo San Lucas, Mexico City and Vancouver, with flights to Puerto Vallarta scheduled to start in June.

The international flights contribute to the county’s economy, according to the bill, which cites a recent economic study that pegged air service from Mexico to Orange County as generating nearly $39 million in wages, salaries and benefits.

Airports must have at least 15,000 annual international passengers to qualify to port of entry status.

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Puerto Vallarta, Jal- Some 43 percent of businesses in Brazil are owned by women who operate small- and mid-sized companies, a report by credit rating agency Serasa Experian said.

The report, based on official data, found that there are 5.69 million businesswomen in Brazil, representing just 8 percent of the country's female population.

Forty-three percent of business owners in Brazil are women and 73 percent of them are involved in small- and mid-sized companies, the study said.

But only 0.20 percent of Brazilian businesswomen are partners in big companies.

The average age of businesswomen is 44, the report said.

Some 52.06 percent of Brazilian businesswomen, according to the Serasa Experian study, live in the country's most developed region, which encompasses the southeastern states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo