Thanks to the six journalists invited on a FAM trip by the Riviera Nayarit CVB there are now articles being published in the most important media in Cali, Medellín and Bogotá.

The perseverance of the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau’s public relations office is already bearing fruit in Colombia, an emerging market that is of prime importance to Mexico’s Pacific Treasure.

On this occasion, representatives from six of Colombia’s major media outlets had a chance to immerse themselves in the destination (the majority are from Bogotá, with a few from Cali and Medellín): El Tiempo, El Espectador, La República, Hola Colombia, Colprensa, El País and El Colombiano.

The tour enjoyed by these journalists who are already publishing pieces on the Rivera Nayarit was quite extensive and in-depth. They were here from March 21 – 25 and visited the coastal towns and hotel developments of the region, seeing firsthand the synergy present between nature and luxury.

The first article to emerge from the FAM trip was published in March by La República, with 170 thousand readers. If we add together the impressions displayed by each media they reach around a million readers, all of them potential visitors.

“Each country has its uncharted landscapes lush with greenery, sunsets brilliant with colors and, every once in a while, sun, sand and sea. This is Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit, an undiscovered treasure that has yet to appear on the radar of millions of tourists who choose Cancún, Playa del Carmen or the Riviera Maya,” states La República.

The Colombian publications speak of the whales, the turtles, the golf, the celebrities, the hotel accommodations, the surf, the art and the culture of the Riviera Nayarit.

Thus the Riviera Nayarit has a constant presence in this Andean country, thanks to the promotional efforts together with the public relations representation the destination has in that market.

Another plus: the excellent commercial relations the destination has with retail and wholesale agencies around the country, which are key to the development and growth of the Colombian market and to obtaining ROI within a shorter time period.

Of course, the very real possibility of Avianca and Copa Airlines initiating flights to the Vallarta-Nayarit Airport is just as important; if they become a reality, the increase in visitors from Colombia

Christians celebrated Easter around the world Sunday, but with reminders of violence and politics.

In his second Easter message since becoming pontiff, Pope Francis prayed for an end to conflicts in Iraq, Israel, the Central African Republic, Nigeria, South Sudan, Venezuela and Ukraine.

He delivered his speech from the central balcony of Saint Peter's Basilica.

"We pray in a particular way for Syria, that all those suffering the effects of the conflict can receive needed humanitarian aid and that neither side will again use deadly force, especially against the defenseless civil population, but instead boldly negotiate the peace long awaited and long overdue," the pope said.

Jerusalem: Tight security
Security was tight in Jerusalem on Sunday, a day afater tensions escalated when Israeli security forces halted Palestinian Christians who took part in a pre-Easter procession in the Old City.

Robert Serry, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, was among the group trying to walk together on what was Holy Saturday.

"I call on all parties to respect the right of religious freedom, granting access to holy sites for worshippers of all faiths and refraining from provocations, not least during the religious holidays," Serry said.

But Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor called the incident a "non-event." He told the Jerusalem Post that police were trying to limit the number of those packed into the church and the narrow streets around it.
Boston: A blessing before the marathon

In the United States, Cardinal Sean O'Malley will offer a blessing for runners in the Boston Marathon at the end of Easter Sunday Mass at the Cathedral, CNN affiliate WJAR-TV said.

Though an annual part of the race buildup, the Cardinal's blessing will have extra meaning this year. The city is marking the one-year anniversary of the bombings that killed three people and wounded at least 264 others.

This year's marathon is Monday. Other Boston churches will offer special blessings.

British royals, Obama celebrate Easter
Queen Elizabeth II will attend Easter Mass at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge continue their tour of Australia.

President Obama wished the American people a happy Easter on Saturday in his weekly address.

"For me, Easter is a story of hope -- a belief in a better day to come, just around the bend," he said. "So to all Christians who are celebrating, from my family to yours, Happy Easter. And to every American, have a joyful weekend."

He celebrated Passover earlier this week with the fifth Seder at the White House. Obama is the first president to host a Seder dinner while in office.

[readon1 url="http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/20/world/easter-roundup/"]Source:www.cnn.com[/readon1]

The annual event will feature the world of male models with a host of ripped Adonises, beguiling beaus, wild boys and sensual charmers, strutting their stuff in the first Male Fashion Show of the Life Ball, presented by L’Uomo Vogue.

Under the aegis of Franca Sozzani – Editor of Vogue Italia, L’Uomo Vogue, Condé Nast Italy Editorial Director and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Fashion4Development – a manifold of tuxedo-looks by seven of the most renowned designers: Givenchy, Viktor & Rolf, Lanvin, Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, Etro and Dsquared2, are on parade, leading the way to fashion paradise with masculine elegance and sexy chic. Appearances by legendary female fashion-, music-, and stage divas, in haute couture by the seven designers, literally combine “Adam” with “Eve”.

“It’s such an honor to be once again partner of this praiseworthy initiative, representing Italy, where, next June, we will hold the 21st edition of Convivio, thus supporting HIV/AIDS research. It is so important that we all share our efforts for a disease that unfortunately still affects millions of people around the world”, Franca Sozzani said.

Life Ball 2014 is also particularly pleased to welcome Ricky Martin for his first live appearance on Austrian soil. For many years he has been active under the auspices of the red ribbon, and says: “I’m honored that Life Ball invited me to come to Vienna for such an important cause that truly matters”.

One of Life Ball’s partners, President Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States and founder of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, will deliver keynote remarks, supporting the way towards an AIDS-free generation.

Lust, as a driving force for human action, will be perceptible and omnipresent at the Life Ball and should find its expression in the fight against HIV/AIDS and in all related deeds.

Those who want to stroll through the “Garden of earthly Delights” and experience the Life Ball with all its virtues, may still, for a limited time, secure themselves VIP-Tickets for EUR 750, with seats on the VIP grandstand for the opening show, access to the VIP area of the City Hall Ballroom, culinary delights and all beverages (from champagne to spirits, wine and beer), all inclusive. Owners of VIP-Tickets may also function as hosts, with their own Lounge Table for EUR 3.000, to which they may invite up to twelve VIP-Ticket holders, for friends, business partners or clients.

Only a limited quota for both VIP categories is still available. For information and reservations, please visit www.lifeball.org.

Life Ball in Vienna, Austria, was the first AIDS charity event worldwide to take place in a political building: The Vienna City Hall. Ever since its premiere in 1993, Life Ball raises funds for people living with HIV/AIDS, supports organizations and projects in the most affected regions around the world and contributes to remove the taboos of AIDS in our society. The charitable organization behind Life Ball, AIDS LIFE, which was established in 1992 by Gery Keszler and Torgom Petrosian, decides about the allocation of the proceeds. Beside national initiatives like the Austrian AIDS Helps the majority of the funds raised goes towards international partner organizations such as amfAR – The Foundation for AIDS Research, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the MTV Staying Alive Foundation and UNAIDS – the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

[readon1 url="https://www.looktothestars.org/news/11852-ricky-martin-to-perform-at-life-ball-in-vienna"]Source:www.looktothestars.org [/readon1]

An amazing new video shows two oarfish swimming just offshore in Mexico to the delight of ecotourists on a kayaking tour. The video, taken last March, shows the pair of fish possibly about to beach themselves. Oarfish are rarely sighted and legend associates their apparition near the surface with earthquake prediction.

Ecotourists kayaking in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, have captured an incredibly rare scene on video which was uploaded to YouTube yesterday. The tourists caught a pair of 15 foot-long oarfish swimming at the shore off Isla San Francisco in Baja California Sur in Mexico.

The video, which was uploaded by the Shedd Aquarium, in Chicago, was posted to the internet yesterday and already rumors abound of the oarfish's reason for swimming so close to shore. According to Japanese folklore, oarfish are sighted at the surface or beach themselves in advance of an earthquake. Some speculate that the deep-sea fish, which can inhabit depths of up to 3,000 feet, are highly sensitive to tectonic movements within the earth's crust.

In the video, delighted kayakers observe the oarfish approach the beach, only to turn away at the last moment. It is unclear if the oarfish were trying to beach themselves, or if they were disoriented. Oarfish normally inhabit deep waters where they feed on zooplankton and small crustaceans. The usually swim vertically, as opposed to horizontally, and they are notoriously bad swimmers. They can grow over 50 feet in length.

Their long serpentine bodies may be the reason behind legends of sea serpents.

Japanese folklore attests that oarfish beach themselves in the months before large earthquakes occur. In October 2013, two oarfish were found beached in southern California. Now, two living specimens have been filmed in Baja.

Perhaps coincidentally, two earthquakes recently struck the Los Angeles area in California, relatively near where the beachings occurred in October. Those quakes were the first noteworthy events since 2005, ending a nine-year long "earthquake drought" in Los Angeles.

Do the oarfish in Baja portend something similar?

Scientists say that's very unlikely and point to other oarfish beachings. Although oarfish are rarely sighted, they do occasionally show up at the surface, usually battered by currents or crippled with injury or illness. Since they are weak swimmers, the outlook is grim for oarfish that end up in these predicaments.

[readon1 url="https://www.catholic.org/news/green/story.php?id=54857"]Source:www.catholic.org [/readon1]

(CNN) -- Military dive teams worked the dark, cold waters of the Yellow Sea on Wednesday night in a desperate effort to find nearly 300 people who remained missing after the ferry they were taking to a South Korean island resort sank with breathtaking speed.

Officials said four people were known dead and at least 164 had been rescued after the ferry Sewol swiftly listed and then capsized off the southwest coast of South Korea.

Nearly 300 others are missing, authorities said, but the exact number of passengers aboard the ferry was unclear amid the confusion of the rescue effort.

The bulk of those aboard were students and teachers from Seoul's Ansan Danwon High School heading to a four-day trip to Jeju, a resort island considered the Hawaii of Korea. More than 300 students and more than a dozen teachers from the school were on board, according to officials.

I was not immediately clear if the dead -- three males and a female -- were students, teachers, part of the crew or other passengers from the ferry.

The ship sank within two hours of its first distress call, which came just before 9 a.m., the semiofficial Yonhap News Agency reported. It's not known what caused the incident.

Helicopters, military vessels and fishing boats swarmed to the scene to help rescue passengers.

Survivors told CNN affiliate YTN that announcements on board the ferry, which also carries cars and shipping containers, ordered passengers to remain where they were after the ship began to violently list.

Others told passengers to jump into the 40-degree waters. Rescued student Lim Hyung Min was among those told to jump.

He told CNN affiliate YTN that he heard a loud bump just before the ship began to list and several off his classmates were flung off their feet. The crew ordered them to don life jackets and jump into the ocean, he said.

"I had to swim a bit to get to the boat to be rescued," he said. "The water was so cold and I wanted to live."

Passenger Kim Seung Mok said that despite his efforts and those of others, he couldn't get to several passengers on one of the decks.

"I stayed till the last to rescue people at the hall," Kim told YTN. "But the water was coming in so fast (that) some didn't make it out."

Water temperatures, swift currents and low visibility appeared to be complicating the massive rescue operation, which involved dozens of South Korean military divers, sailors, marines and police officers.

The U.S. Navy ship USS Bonhomme Richard, on routine patrol in the area, dispatched its helicopters to aid in the rescue and was headed to the scene, the U.S. Navy said.

Divers from the South Korean navy searched three of the ship's compartments but found no survivors or bodies, Yonhap reported. Another dive team was expected to continue the search shortly, the news agency said.

At Ansan Danwon High School, parents clutched their cell phones in an agonizing wait for a call from their children. Officials posted a list of names. Once a confirmation of a rescue came, they circled that name.

At one point, the school announced that all students had been rescued but soon backtracked, to the parents' wrath.

What could have caused the ship to sink so rapidly remained a mystery. The weather was clear at the time of the accident.

Peter Boynton, a retired U.S. Coast Guard captain, said the speed with which the ship sank suggested it had sustained "major damage." He also said that if the ferry's car deck had been breached, it could have quickly swamped the ship.

Battling against darkness, cold, swift currents and trying to find their way through a damaged, upturned ship, rescuers are "up against every sort of obstacle," said David Gallo, director of special projects at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

"It's just an absolutely, positively horrific situation," he said. "It's nightmarish."

[readon1 url="http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/16/world/asia/south-korea-sinking-ship-students/index.html?hpt=hp_t1"]Source:www.cnn.com [/readon1]

Vice President Joe Biden swore in Maria Contreras-Sweet, the founder of a Los Angeles community bank, as head of the Small Business Administration on Monday.

Contreras-Sweet is the third Latina ever to hold a Cabinet position.

Before the vice president swore in Contreras-Sweet, President Barack Obama praised her as someone who “knows first-hand the challenges that small businesses go through.”

He said: “Maria understands that small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy.”

Contreras-Sweet, born in Guadalajara, Mexico is now the second Hispanic in the Cabinet in President Obama’s second term. The other is Labor Secretary Tom Perez.

Biden said Contreras-Sweet was a living example of the American Dream, “the promise that anything is possible in the United States of America.”

He spoke about how she had always remained mindful of her immigrant roots and of helping others in the Latino community achieve their dreams of getting ahead.

“You’ve known the business potential in the Hispanic community and you’ve nurtured it at every turn,” Biden said to her from the podium.

He says the Hispanic business community is "absolutely central" to economic growth in the U.S.

Contreras-Sweet reflected on her mother, who “worked so hard her entire life to give her six children opportunities she would never have.”

“We didn’t have much,” she said, “but what we did have was an abundance of hope.”

The Senate easily approved Contreras-Sweet last month on a voice vote. The Mexican-born Contreras-Sweet immigrated to the U.S. when she was five years old.

[readon1 url="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2014/04/07/maria-contreras-sweet-sworn-in-as-us-small-business-administration-secretary/"]Source:latino.foxnews.com[/readon1]

Articles inspired by the most recent FAM trip are just starting to appear in six of Brazil’s most important media dedicated to tourism, luxury, nature and travel. Together they’ve already generated over one and half million impressions.

Brazil is a very important potential market for the Riviera Nayarit because of its high purchasing power in the tourism segment. With this in mind, the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) took the opportunity to invite top members of its press to enjoy the Mexico Cup Regatta as part of a FAM trip.

On the list were six of the most important media dedicated to tourism, luxury nature and travel in Brazil: Revista L’Officiel, Revista Isto é Platinum, Blog Falando de Viagem, Revista Joyce Pascowitch, IG and Revista Nova.

The trip, which took place mid-March, is already displaying results and placing the Riviera Nayarit as Mexico’s newest luxury destination. The media has been already been broadcasting details on accommodations, the Marietas Islands, Sayulita, San Pacho, Bucerías, Punta de Mita, Nuevo Vallarta and La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. They've also alluded to the many celebrities that have visited the region, among other details.

Including the press runs, unique visitors to webpages plus blog and social media followers, the sum total of the impressions received is over a million and a half impressions—indeed very favorable exposure for the Riviera Nayarit. And this is with a single publication from each of the different media.

One of the first to publish about the Riviera Nayarit was IG, with more than 90 thousand visitors per month; Falando de Viagen alone offers more than half a million impressions among its many distribution channels.

The journalists reviewed every aspect of the tourism services offered by Mexico’s Pacific Treasure, from swimming with the dolphins to enjoying the unique culinary delights of this region and relaxing at the Spa.

The various promotional, marketing and public relations strategies implemented by the Riviera Nayarit CVB all have the same objective, one that is fast becoming a reality: to place the Riviera Nayarit as Mexico’s newest luxury destination.

Click here to enjoy the articles in their original language:
http://luxo.ig.com.br/lazereprazer/2014-03-28/riviera-nayarit-e-o-novo-destino-de-luxo-do-mexico.html.
http://www.mercadoeeventos.com.br/site/noticias/view/103356/riviera-nayarit-define-comercializacao-de-pacotes-com-6-operadoras.

Same-sex marriage was just legalized in the UK, and that means that gay couples in England and Wales will be getting married in spades. And more weddings mean more honeymoons.

We asked travel experts to weigh in on what they think will be the hottest honeymoon destinations for newly married gay couples.

And while honeymooners may want to avoid places like Russia, there are plenty of awesome destinations that are just waiting to welcome gay newlywed couples with open arms.

Puerto Vallarta and Punta Mita, Mexico

Puerto Vallarta is a resort city on the Pacific coast of Mexico with great waves for surfing, an old Spanish feel, and a thriving LGBT scene. The city has several gay hotels, like the Hotel Mercurio.

However, Punta Mita, a quiet resort city about an hour drive from Puerto Vallarta, may be a better alternative for honeymooners, according to Ed Salvato, the editor-in-chief of gay travel magazine ManAboutWorld.

"Puerto Vallarta is extremely gay popular, but it may not be conducive to a honeymoon because you don't want your new husband to get picked up at a bar the first night," Salvato said. "Instead, couples might want to stay at a more secluded resort like the Four Seasons Punta Mita, which is right nearby."

Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Located at at the very tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown is a charming resort town that has been drawing in gay travelers for years.

"This is a gay Mecca, which makes it an obvious choice for gay honeymooners," Pauline Frommer, the publisher of Frommers.com, said. "It's famous for drag shows, restaurants, and a vibrant gay community that's been there for decades."

The town is chock-full of quaint guest houses, elegant restaurants, and has access to the incredible beaches of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

"Massachusetts was one of the first states to allow same-sex marriage in the U.S., and right away wedding bells were ringing in Provincetown," Ed Salvato, the editor-in-chief of gay travel magazine ManAboutWorld, said. "It has all the tourism infrastructure and the tolerance—no, the celebration of diversity."

There are dozens of charming gay-friendly guesthouses and inns, but the Crown Point Historic Inn & Spa and Surfside Hotel & Suites offer exclusive romance and honeymoon packages.

Tel Aviv, Israel

Tel Aviv is hands-down the most gay-friendly destination in the Middle East.  With its raging nightlife, gorgeous beaches, and cool, laid-back vibe, it's no surprise that the Israeli city is attracting gay visitors.

"Israel has a very open and large gay community," Pauline Frommer said. "If you've ever wanted to travel to the Middle East, it's a cosmopolitan, fascinating city. It has fascinating museums, extraordinary restaurants, gay clubs and gay bars. It's very warm and welcoming to gay couples."

Frommer added that gay couples may want to take a side trip to Jerusalem, but may have to keep their relationships under wraps there since the ancient city is so religious.

Governments unprepared to protect the poor and vulnerable, says IPCC

Climate change has already cut into global food supply and is fuelling wars and natural disasters, but governments are unprepared to protect those most at risk, according to a report from the UN’s climate science panel.

The report is the first update in seven years from the UN’s international panel of experts, which is charged with producing the definitive account of climate change.

In that time climate change has ceased to be a distant threat and made an impact much closer to home, the report’s authors say. “It’s about people now,”said Virginia Burkett, the chief scientist for global change at the US geological survey and one of the report’s authors.

“It’s more relevant to the man on the street. It’s more relevant to communities because the impacts are directly affecting people - not just butterflies and sea ice.”

The scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found evidence of climate change far beyond thawing Arctic permafrost and crumbling coral reefs - “on all continents and across the oceans”.

But it was the finding that climate change could threaten global food security that caught the attention of government officials from 115 countries who reviewed the report. “All aspects of food security are potentially affected by climate change,”the report said.

The scientists said there was enough evidence to say for certain that climate change is affecting food production on land and sea.

The rate of increase in crop yields is slowing - especially in wheat - raising doubts whether food production will keep up with the demand of a growing population. Changes in temperature and rainfall patterns could lead to food price rises of between 3% and 84% by 2050.

“Climate change is acting as a brake. We need yields to grow to meet growing demand but already climate change is slowing those yields,”said Michael Oppenheimer, a Princeton professor and an author of the report.

Other food sources are also under threat. Fish catches in some areas of the tropics are projected to fall by between 40% and 60%, according to the report.

The report also connected climate change to rising food prices and political instability, for instance the riots in Asia and Africa after food price shocks in 2008.

“The impacts are already evident in many places in the world. It is not something that is [only] going to happen in the future,”said David Lobell, a professor at Stanford University’s centre for food security, who devised the models.

“Almost everywhere you see the warming effects have a negative affect on wheat and there is a similar story for corn as well. These are not yet enormous effects but they show clearly that the trends are big enough to be important,”Lobell said.

Wheat is the first big staple crop to be affected by climate change, because it is sensitive to heat and is grown around the world, from Pakistan to Russia to Canada. Projections suggest wheat yields could drop 2% a decade.

The report explored a range of scenarios involving a temperature rise of two degrees or more that saw dramatic declines in production in the coming decades. Declines in crop yields will register first in drier and warmer parts of the world but as temperatures rise two, three or four degrees, they will affect everyone.

In the more extreme scenarios, heat and water stress could reduce yields by 25% between 2030 and 2049.

The report acknowledged that there were a few isolated areas where a longer growing season had been good for farming. But it played down the idea that there may be advantages to climate change, so far as food production was concerned.

Overall, the report said, “negative impacts of climate change on crop yields have been more common than positive impacts.”Scientists and campaigners pointed to the finding as a defining feature of the report.

The scientists also detected climate having an effect on heatwaves, droughts and flooding across the globe and warned those events would take a disproportionate toll on poor, weak and elderly people. The scientists said governments did not have systems in place to protect those populations. Warming of more than two degrees would increase the risks of “severe, pervasive and irreversible”consequences, the report said.

The report also warned for the first time that climate change, combined with poverty and economic shocks, could lead to war and drive people to leave their homes. “Climate change can indirectly increase risks of violent conflicts,”the report said. It also warned that hundreds of millions of people in south Asia and south-east Asia will be affected by coastal flooding and land loss by 2100.

“The main way that most people will experience climate change is through the impact on food: the food they eat, the price they pay for it, and the availability and choice that they have,”said Tim Gore, head of food policy and climate change for Oxfam.

Friends of the Earth’s executive director, Andy Atkins, said: “We can’t continue to ignore the stark warnings of the catastrophic consequences of climate change on the lives and livelihoods of people across the planet.

“Giant strides are urgently needed to tackle the challenges we face, but all we get is tiny steps.”

[readon1 url="http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1461651/un-warns-over-worlds-food-supplies-amid-climate-change"]Source:www.scmp.com[/readon1]

A powerful magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck in the Pacific off Chile's northern region on Tuesday, killing at least five people, causing landslides and setting off a small tsunami, leading authorities to order an evacuation.  

Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo attributed the five deaths to heart attacks or being crushed. In the city of Arica, the mayor reported some minor injuries and said some homes made of adobe were destroyed.  

About 300 inmates escaped from a women's prison in the city of Iquique, and officials said Chile's military was sending a planeload of special forces to guard against looting.  

The quake shook modern buildings in nearby Peru and in Bolivia's high altitude capital of La Paz.

"We have asked citizens to evacuate the entire coast ... there is no serious damage to houses ... there have been no people hurt," said home office minister Mahmud Aleuy, Reuters reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported the quake at 8.0, but later upgraded the magnitude. It said the quake struck 61 miles northwest of the Chilean city of Iquique at 8:46 p.m., hitting a region that has been rocked by numerous quakes over the past two weeks.  

The quake was so strong that the shaking experienced in Bolivia's capital about 290 miles away was the equivalent of a 4.5-magnitude tremor, authorities there said.

At least eight strong aftershocks followed in the first few hours, including a 6.2 tremor. More aftershocks and even a larger quake could not be ruled out, said seismologist Mario Pardo at the University of Chile.

Some roads in northern Chile were blocked by landslides, causing traffic jams among people leaving the coast.

Chile's national emergency office said there were initial reports of landslides partially blocking some roads and highways, and it called for the "preventive evacuation" of the country's northern coastline, Reuters reported.

The tsunami warning center cancelled tsunami watches for areas other than northern Chile and southern Peru. The only U.S. impact might be higher waves Wednesday for Hawaii's swimmers and surfers, it said. A tsunami advisory was issued for Hawaii, where authorities were monitoring the situation, Reuters reported.

An official at Peru's civil defense office said evacuations were underway on that country's coast. The official, who did not give her name, said there were no immediate reports of damage. Police officer Alejandro Rosado in a Tacna, a Peruvian town near the coast, said no damage or injuries had been reported there.

Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. A magnitude-8.8 quake and ensuing tsunami in central Chile in 2010 killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes, and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts.

The strongest earthquake ever recorded also happened in Chile — a magnitude-9.5 tremor in 1960 that killed more than 5,000 people.

Hundreds of earthquakes have shaken Chile's far-northern coast in the past two weeks, keeping people on edge as scientists said there was no way to tell if the unusual string of tremors was a harbinger of an impending disaster.

The unnerving activity began with a strong magnitude-6.7 quake on March 16 that caused more than 100,000 people to briefly evacuate low-lying areas, although no tsunami materialized and there was little physical damage from the shaking.

(CNN) -- An 8.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern Chile on Tuesday, generating a tsunami, authorities said.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake was centered some 60 miles northwest of Iquique at a depth of 12.5 miles.

It had previously put the magnitude at 8.0 and the depth at 6.2 miles.

Chile's National Emergency Office tweeted Tuesday night that it was asking everyone to evacuate the South American nation's coast.

CNN Chile broadcast video of people in Antofagasta, a port city, walking through the streets as traffic piled up in some places. They appeared to be calm.

A tsunami warning was in effect for Chile, Peru and Ecuador.

A tsunami watch was issued for Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

The tsunami threat to Hawaii still was being evaluated.

The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center was working to determine the level of danger for Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California, as well as Canada's British Columbia.

"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. It may have been destructive along coasts near the epicenter and could also be a threat to more distant coasts," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in its evaluation.

Tsunami waves of more than 6 feet generated by the earthquake have already washed ashore on the coast of Pisagua, Chile, said Victor Sardino with the center.

An 8.2-magnitude earthquake is capable of causing tremendous damage. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Chile is on the so-called "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines circling the Pacific Basic that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

There have been numerous quakes in the same area over the past few weeks, but scientists said it was not clear whether they were a sign that a major quake was coming.

A magnitude-6.7 quake rattled the area on March 16, and more than 100,000 people were briefly evacuated from low-lying areas. No tsunami resulted from that quake, which caused little damage.

In 2010, a magnitude-8.8 quake and ensuing tsunami in central Chile killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes and caused widespread damage to docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts.

The strongest earthquake ever recorded also happened in Chile, in 1960. That magnitude-9.5 tremor killed more than 5,000 people.

[readon1 url="http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/01/world/americas/chile-earthquake/index.html"]Source:cnn.com[/readon1]

Actress Zosia Mamet stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta for a few days of R&R in Mexico’s Pacific Treasure.

The Riviera Nayarit’s international positioning in the celebrity-studded movie, television and music industries continues to grow. The latest visitor was Zosia Mamet, who enjoyed Mexico’s Pacific Treasure during her stay at the Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta during the last week of March.

Zosia stars in the popular HBO series Girls, which began in 2012. The comedy-drama follows a close group of 20-somethings who live in New York and has a touch of the successful formula used by other series such as Gossip Girls and Sex and the City.

She is the daughter of writer/director David Mamet and actress Lindsey Crouse and grew up surrounded by cameras and scenery. Today at 26 Zosia has already made quite a name for herself in on the small screen.
The actress has over 20 thousand followers on her Twitter account (@ZosiaRMamet) where she published how much she enjoyed the beach in Nuevo Vallarta.

"I fell in love on the beach today" @hrhvallarta #hardrockhotels http://instagram.com/p/mGadPRiU7V/.

Her stay at the Hard Rock mirrors the eternally young, rock ’n’ roll vibe of the resort, which took on a special significance considering the profile of the actress. She is very popular among the younger set that likes to emulate the actions of their idols in order to stay on trend.

Zosia Mamet appears frequently in the US media, which represents indirect publicity for the Riviera Nayarit when they publish stories about her visit to Mexico.