A 5.0-magnitude earthquake hit northern Panamá early Wednesday, and the shock was felt in nearly all of Costa Rica.

The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica placed the epicenter at 2 kms. west of Puerto Armuelles, Panamá, close to the place where a stronger Christmas morning quake was centered.

No damage was reported. The early morning quake Christmas killed two persons and damaged at least 70 homes across the border in Costa Rica.

Sources in Panamá said the quake was slightly stronger.

The area has been hard hit by earthquakes, and the Christmas quake that hit at 1:14 a.m. generated more than 100 aftershocks.

One Desamparados resident said she was awakened by the quake, which she described as of long duration.

If a motorist failed to pay the annual circulation fee, the marchamo, chances are that the Policía de Tránsito flagged down the car in one of the many New Year’s roadblocks. 

To get the motorist’s attention, transit officers usually confiscate the license plates.

The judiciary announced Tuesday that motorists who got caught will not have to wait until next week to pay up and recover their license plates.

The Juzgado de Tránsito de San José is in session this week in the vicinity of Santa Teresita Church in Barrio Escalante, according to a spokesperson for the Poder Judcial.

The Consejo Superior del Poder Judicial anticipated the problem caused by the lengthy vacation of court personnel and authorized the traffic court to work this week in a decision made Oct. 24, said the spokesperson.

Motorists in other parts of the country should find similar service in principal cities. Of course they have to pay their marchamo fees first and be prepared to pay a fine to recover the license plates.

Meanwhile, the transit police are going around with red faces. Officials there have admitted that some 102 vehicles of the 155-vehicle fleet have not paid marchamo fees. So these vehicles are grounded until officials pay up.
 

Brazil’s entry rules
target U.S. citizens

U.S. citizens trying to enter and leave Brazil via the Rio de Janeiro international airport have been subjected to delays of up to nine hours.

That’s because Brazil instituted a traveler fingerprint program when the United States did the same thing. While U.S. officials are using electronic imaging to capture the swirls on left and right index fingers, Brazilian immigration officials are taking copies of all 10 fingers in ink.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher stopped short of calling the Brazilian program "sour grapes" in his daily press briefing Tuesday, but he was critical:

"I would leave it to them to describe why they're doing it, whether it's punishment or reciprocity or what. What we have seen is a program that was quickly instituted, not well prepared and which results in significant delays, which are not in the interest of the United States, of American travelers, or, frankly, in the interests of Brazil, in terms of attracting business and tourism."

Meanwhile, the State Department released a news bulletin titled: "New U.S. Entry Procedures Enhance Security, Preserve Welcoming Spirit."

Although the U.S. fingerprint program is supposed to target terrorists, the first handful of persons nabbed by it were wanted on non-terrorism charges, officials said Monday.

In the U.S. program, foreign travelers from most countries are photographed digitally as well as fingerprinted. The identification information is especially useful in screening travelers with the same names and similar biographical data as known and suspected terrorists and criminals, U.S. officials say. 

The U.S. program applies to all visitors with nonimmigrant visas between the ages of 14 and 79, with exceptions for specific classes of diplomats and some other officials. U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents do not need to provide prints. Citizens of the 27 visa waiver countries who visit for 90 days or less also are exempted.

The United States will soon institute an exit system on a trial basis at several airports to obtain information on foreigners as they leave the country. Eventually this program will be expanded nationwide.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Boucher said that the United States spent more than a year setting up the system and that a foreign traveler only needs to spend an extra 15 seconds to provide fingerprints.
 

Pacheco off to summit
then to Guatemala

President Abel Pacheco will be among the heads of state attending the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, México, Jan. 12 and 13.

Pacheco will leave Sunday with Roberto Tovar Faja, the foreign minister, for the trip. Afterwards, the pair will visit Guatemala for the inauguration of Oscar Berger, the new president there.

Miguel Angel Rodríguez, the former president, also will be part of the delegation. He will be continuing his campaign to be secretary general of the Organization of American States.

Gunmen spring convicts
at Mexican prison

MEXICO CITY, México — Gunmen dressed in military fatigues have stormed a prison in western Mexico, freeing about 25 inmates. Mexican officials say at least one inmate was killed as he tried to escape. 

A government spokeswoman Lorena Cortes says about 40 or 50 gunmen dressed in paramilitary uniforms burst into the Apatzingan prison Monday.  She says the raid may have been aimed at freeing a man jailed in November on suspicion of kidnapping and murder. 

Several of the freed inmates are members of one of Mexico's most violent drug cartels, the Gulf cartel. 
 

O-negative blood sought

A journalist, Doris González, is asking for persons with O-negative blood to donate a pint to help her father.

The man is in the hospital de Puntarenas, and his name is Valdemar González Cruz. Persons who donate should ask that the donation be in his name. The Banco de Sangre de San José, the local block bank, is accepting donations at its Zapote location.  The telephone number there is 283-7321 from 1 to 3 p.m. weekdays.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President George Bush is preparing to announce a new immigration program that could have an impact on millions of immigrants now in the United States illegally. 

The president will announce a new temporary worker program. The goal is to match up people from other countries looking for work with U.S. employers who can not find Americans to fill available jobs.

The millions of illegal immigrants who are already in the United States will be eligible for the program. But senior administration officials stress the president is not proposing an amnesty for those who came to America illegally.

These officials say participants in the temporary worker program will not automatically receive permanent residency status. They will simply be able to work in the United States for a certain period of time before returning to their homes. 

Many details of the proposal must still be worked out with the U.S. Congress, where there is significant opposition to any effort that seems to reward illegal immigrants.

Anticipating a possible tough sell in the legislature, the White House is framing the president's initiative as an economic measure, one that will 

No one is sure exactly how many illegal immigrants are in the United States at the moment, though most estimates are in the eight to 10 million range. Officials involved in drafting the president's proposal say there is room for all of them in the temporary worker program if enough jobs become available.

They say workers who participate in the program are not precluded from applying for permanent residency or a green card. But these officials make clear participants will have no advantage over would-be immigrants applying from abroad. 

Mexico has been pushing hard for the United States to adopt some sort of temporary worker program, and the announcement from the White House comes just days before President Bush meets with Mexican President Vicente Fox. They will confer on the sidelines of a regional summit in the Mexican city of Monterrey next week.

The announcement should help repair relations with Mexico that were strained by the war in Iraq and other matters. The temporary worker program is also likely to be welcomed by Hispanic voters who could play an important role in this year's presidential election in the United States. 

GENEVA, Switzerland — Research announced by the International Organization for Migration said that demands of the marketplace are a factor in causing human trafficking. Conducted by two British researchers in selected nations of Europe and Asia, the study suggests that the unregulated labor conditions of sex workers and domestic workers, and the abundant supply of such workers are factors behind the exploitation of migrants.

In the sex industry, for example, poor regulation and stigmatization could lead to an increase of abusive labor practices, said organization spokesperson Niurka Pineiro in a press briefing here Tuesday. "In this sense, growing consumer demand is undoubtedly one of the factors" that drives forced labor in the sex industry, he said. 

Clients of sex workers in Denmark, Thailand, India and Italy were interviewed for the research, as were employers of domestic workers in Sweden, Thailand, India and Italy. 

The organization is intergovernmental and has 103 members "committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society," according to its mission statement. The United States is among the founding members. 

U.S. government scientists, representatives from the fishing industry and environmental organizations are issuing a joint endorsement of newly developed fishing methods that are expected to better protect endangered sea turtles ensnared by commercial fishers. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the new development Monday.

Administration fishery experts conducted three years of tests on the new methods and equipment with cooperation from the fishing industry. The methods can result in a 90 percent reduction in the numbers of turtles snared by hooks, according to the release. 

The leatherback and the loggerhead turtles are especially large varieties of the turtle family and both are considered endangered species under U.S. law. The United States prohibited U.S.-registered boats from fishing in certain Atlantic waters several years ago to prevent the incidental snare of the creatures, but foreign-registered boats continue to fish those waters off Newfoundland. 

In issuing the results of the equipment test, 

The World Wildlife Fund endorsed the efforts and the Bluewater Fisherman's Association, which worked with the administration in testing.

"We are joining NOAA and Blue Water to advance these methods internationally so that we can not only stop unnecessary killing of these endangered animals but provide economic incentives for fishermen in the process," said Wildlife Fund fisheries expert Scott Burns. 

Longline fishing is a method using a heavy line that can be kilometers long and is strung with a series of baited hooks. The new methods call for a change to a different type of hook to which the large turtles are less vulnerable and less likely to swallow. NOAA and Bluewater have also developed new de-hooking and release techniques to increase survival rates of turtles that are ensnared. 

Further details about the tests of the experimental fishing methods are available at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/mediacenter/turtles/

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture says genetic tests confirm that a Washington State dairy cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease originated in Canada.

"We now have DNA evidence that allows us to verify with a high degree of certainty," the birthplace of the BSE-infected cow, Chief Veterinarian Ron DeHaven of the department said during a Tuesday telephone press conference.

Independent tests in Canada concurred with the U.S. results, Brian Evans of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said during the teleconference.

The Canadian tests "fully complement and reflect those returned from the U.S. laboratory," Evans said.

The Agriculture Department began tracing the origin of the cow in late December after tests confirmed that the animal carried the first known case of mad cow disease in the United States. U.S. officials at the time said they believed the dairy cow had been born in Canada in 1997 and exported to the United States in 2001, but lacked definitive proof.

The DNA tests on the cow, on one of its calves and on semen from the cow's sire, as well as import 

Mad Cow disease is a brain-wasting disease that is believed to spread through cattle feed that contains brain or spinal cord tissue from other infected animals. Both Canada and the United States banned the use of ruminant material in cattle feed in 1997. The disease-positive cow was born months before the ban entered into force, making contaminated feed a possible source of infection.

U.S. officials banned imports of cattle from Canada in May 2003 when that country's first and only known case of mad cow disease surfaced in Alberta.

No links have been found between the two cases, but Evans said investigators would focus on possible common sources of feed. "We have not at this point got sufficient evidence to make any definitive feed link between the two farms" from which the infected cows emerged, Evans said.

Evans and DeHaven said the investigation of the U.S. cow would continue with both the United States and Canada tracking all animals related to the infected animal and examining common feed sources. Evans said cooperation "continues to be exemplary" and is based on the understanding that food safety is a hemispheric issue.