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| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 6
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The luxury home
tax due again,
finance ministry reminds owners By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Some expats may have forgotten about the luxury home tax, but the finance ministry has not. The tax collecting agency issued a reminder Wednesday that the tax is due by Jan. 15. Homeowners are supposed to declare the value of their property every three years, and they were supposed to do so last year, the fourth year that the tax was collected. The ministry said that only owners of new construction and property that has been acquired since the last declaration need to complete this paperwork. The assessments range from a low of a quarter of a percent to .55 of percent. The Ministerio de Hacienda maintains several electronic systems for paying the tax on its Web site. When the tax went into effect in 2009 homes and land with a value greater than $172,000 were subject to the tax. Now the cutoff point is 121 million colons or about $242,000. The threshold value increases each year as the prices of materials and land does the same. The tax base of the property does, too, because it is tied to material costs. In 2013 only 4,500 property owners paid the tax, the ministry said. The ministry said that there is a 189,700-colon penalty for non payment. However, the penalty is half a base salary, and that amount has been raised in December, so the penalty is 199,700 colones or about $405. The ministry said it hopes to collect about 4.3 billion colons from the tax, which is supposed to be dedicated to housing for the poor. That is about $8.6 million, which the ministry said is about 10 percent greater than the previous year. The ministry did not mention the corporate tax in its reminder, but that is due by the end of the month. That tax, too, is keyed to half a base salary just as the luxury home penalty is. The base salary is that of a judicial worker. The Poder Judicial said before Christmas that the base salary will be 399,400 colons. The law that created the tax specified that active corporations will pay one half a base salary. That amount is 199,700 colons for active corporations and half that, 99,850 colons, for inactive ones.  Judicial Investigating Organization
photo
This
is a photo of one of the missing cases.
Burglars bug out
with trays
of beetles and butterflies By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Burglars who appear to have known what they were doing made off with part of an insect collection estimated by its owner at $100,000. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that the burglary was at a private home in Coto Brus where the owners maintained an insect museum. The crooks appear to have broken in Dec. 27 and carried off 27 cases or trays of insect specimens. They included beetles and butterflies. The stolen items appear to have little value except in the insect trade. Ferry docks will be getting upgrades along gulf of Nicoya By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The ferry stations on the Gulf of Nicoya will be getting facelifts, the government said Wednesday. These are the locations in Naranjo and Paquera on the east shore of the Nicoya peninsula and the Puntarenas station in Barrio el Carmen. The job is dependent on a $450 million loan that is being considered by the Asamblea Legislativa. The money is coming from the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. The renovations of the ferry facilities came up while President Laura Chinchilla was on the peninsula observing work on the Naranjo-Paquera roadway. The 21.5-kilometer stretch is being prepared for asphalt. The gravel road has been in bad shape and sometimes out of service in the rainy season. The work also is being financed by the development bank loan. The highway is the major route that units the northern and southern part of the peninsula. The condition of the north-south roads isolates the lower peninsula, which is why the ferry service is vital.  Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Pública photo
Servicio
Nacional de Guardacostas crew members show off
their new crafts. Coast guard gets
two superboats
to fight drugs and illegal fishing By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas received two patrol boats Wednesday, and each is worth about $262,000. These are top-of-the-line craft to fight drug trafficking and illegal fishing on the Pacific coast, said the security ministry. Each has three Yamaha motors and can move at 50 knots. One craft is being assigned to Golfito and the other to the coast guard station at Puerto Mora, Cuajiniquil, La Cruz, Guanacaste. Two other craft, valued at $23,400 each, are being assigned to Golfito and Limón, said the ministry. The new boats were featured at a presentation Wednesday in Puntarenas where $2.2 million in vehicles and other equipment was displayed. Among these are 39 vehicles that will be used by the Fuerza Pública.
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 6 | |
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| Costa Rican fish photo is evidence in big
NYC disability scam |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Life is good in Costa Rica. A little beer on the beach and maybe an exciting sports fishing adventure. But if you are a New York police officer applying for disability you better not put the photo of you and the fish on Facebook. That photo took center stage Tuesday when Manhattan prosecutors announced the indictment of 106 defendants including 90 New York policemen and fire fighters. The allegation is that they fraudulently applied and pretended to be disabled to qualify for Social Security disability insurance benefits The photo on display at the press conference announcing the indictments identified the fisherman as Richard Cosentino of Rockingham, New Hampshire. The indictment said he was 49. Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, and his staff say that four men orchestrated the scheme and instructed the healthy individuals how to act to appear disabled. Some blamed the purported condition on responding to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the resulting collapse at the World Trade Center. In addition to the successful Costa Rican fishing trip, other defendants worked as a helicopter pilot, a martial arts instructor and a worker at a cannoli food stand during a church festival, said the prosecutors. Despite claiming to be too ill to use a computer, many posted their exploits on Facebook. One of the alleged leaders of the illegal operation is himself a former prosecutor. |
"These individuals allegedly relied
on lies, deceit, and under-the-table payments while they bilked the
Social Security Trust Funds of tens of millions of dollars and, in many
instances, exploited the tragic events of September 11, 2001 for their
own gain," said Edward J. Ryan, a special agent with the U.S. Social
Security Administration. "This exploitation, combined with the fact
that many of those indicted formerly held positions of public trust,
make these crimes all the more egregious . . . ." Under the U. S. law, individuals are qualified as disabled and entitled to payments if they suffer from a disability that prevents them from assuming any job available to them in the national economy. The payment amount varies per recipient, but the average annual payment is approximately $30,000 to $50,000 for each recipient, said prosecutors in a summary of the case. According to the indictment and documents filed in court, from approximately January 1988 to December 2013, the four principal defendants in this case operated together to direct and assist many hundreds of applicants to falsely claim disabilities in order to collect disability payments, in addition to their public pensions, the summary said, adding: "The applicants claimed that they suffered a psychiatric condition that prevented them from working, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, or depression. Many of the defendants used their association with the events of Sept. 11, 2001, as the cause of their psychiatric condition. Seventy-two of the defendants are also collecting pensions as retirees of the New York Police Department, eight from the New York City Fire Department, five from the New York Department of Correction, and one from the Nassau County Police Department." |
| Community created by earthquake is
getting police station |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
On the fifth anniversary of the Cinchona earthquake, government and emergency officials are praising the creation of a Nueva Cinchona. The latest addition is a police station that will cost about $620,000. That project is about 40 percent done. The 6.2 magnitude quake killed 42 and seriously injured 91. There still are many persons missing and presumed dead. The quake ravaged the community and adjacent areas, and for months survivors were living in plywood temporary housing until they were relocated. The national emergency commission said that the new police station that sleeps 16 will provide additional security to the area and nearby towns. The Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias is financing from emergency funds |
 Emergency
commission graphic
Artist rendering of the new
police stationthe new police station, which will be occupied by the Fuerza Pública. Creating a new community in a distant field was a challenge for officials, and many branches of the government participated. The emergency commission noted that a Cruz Roja facility went into service in April. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 6 | |||||
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Food |
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| New generation of modified crops will help farmers attack
troublesome weeds |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A new generation of genetically modified organisms has taken a step toward the market, promising farmers better control of especially troublesome weeds. But critics say those weeds are a byproduct of the first round of GMOs, and this new round will dramatically increase the use of a more problematic herbicide that environmentalists say may raise health concerns. A branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recommended approval of two varieties of soybean and one type of corn developed by Dow AgroScience that can withstand treatment with two popular weed killers: glyphosate, sold under the name Roundup, and 2,4-D, an herbicide that’s been around since the 1940s. The aim is to give farmers a tool to fight the growing number of weeds that Roundup no longer kills. Glyphosate-resistant crops first hit the market in the mid-1990s, with seed and chemical giant Monsanto’s Roundup Ready crops. “That was monumental in agriculture. Just monumental,” said University of Georgia weed scientist Stanley Culpepper. Farmers could apply “one of the most effective, economical and environmentally-friendly herbicides on the planet right over the top of the crop,” he said. “And you could do this without damaging the crop. And at that time, that was simply unheard of.” Plus, farmers no longer needed to till their fields to control weeds. Leaving the soil undisturbed makes the soil richer in organic matter, which improves water retention and reduces pollution from runoff. And it means fewer trips on the tractor, saving on fuel costs. They were a farmer’s dream. Herbicide resistant crops quickly came to dominate American agriculture. Last year, they made up 85 percent of the corn, 82 percent of the cotton and 93 percent of the soybeans planted in the U.S. There was a downside. “To some degree, it allowed us to be a little too lazy,” Culpepper said. Farmers used Roundup and nothing else to control their weeds. And they used it over and over again, season after season. It wasn’t long before weeds were shrugging off the herbicide. “It’s really Darwinian evolution on steroids,” said senior scientist Doug Gurian-Sherman with the environmental group Union of Concerned Scientists. By 2012, nearly half of U.S. farmers told a private survey they had Roundup-resistant weeds. More than 24 million hectares were infested, nearly double the area from 2010. Any weed will suck water, nutrients and light from a neighboring crop plant. But for cotton growers in Georgia, palmer amaranth is their nightmare weed. On a good day it can grow five centimeters. It can reach three meters tall. One plant can produce half a million seeds. “He’s bad. He’s as bad a weed as there ever was,” said Jack Royal, an independent consultant who has been advising farmers on weed control for 36 years. Controlling this bad weed has required big changes. Farmers with infested fields are going back to older, less benign herbicides. They till their fields more often, which leads to more erosion, decreases soil quality and raises |
farmers’ fuel
costs. Many have even had to resort to hiring help to pull out weeds by
hand. But it’s working. Partly. “We’re doing extremely well in controlling palmer amaranth,” Culpepper said. “That’s the good news.” The bad news: weed control that used to cost cotton farmers less than $10 a hectare now costs $30 to $40. “Bottom line is, we’re not economically sustainable,” Culpepper said. That’s where Dow AgroScience’s new Enlist seeds come in. Farmers planting these seeds would be able to spray their fields with both glyphosate and 2,4-D, which still kills palmer amaranth and many other glyphosate-resistant weeds, without damaging their crops. “Enlist will be a tool to help address the significant weed control problems that farmers are facing today,” Dow said in a statement. Use of 2,4-D is likely to double or more if Enlist seeds are approved, according to some estimates. But Gurian-Sherman recalls that one of the arguments in favor of Roundup-Ready GMOs when they were introduced was that they would allow farmers to use newer, safer herbicides. “That whole argument is going down the tubes,” he said. Environmentalists point to studies linking 2,4-D to cancer, hormone disruption and genetic mutations. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said the evidence is not conclusive and declined one group’s petition to remove it from the market. The herbicide has another well-known weakness, Royal said. “We’ve used a lot of 2,4-D products. Drift has always been a major problem.” And when the herbicide drifts, it can damage or kill plants downwind. That’s potentially a big problem for states like Georgia, with large acreages of commodity crops like cotton and corn alongside farms of fruits, vegetables and nuts. Dow has produced new formulations aimed at reducing drift. And Culpepper says the industry has made tremendous advances in nozzle designs that reduce fine particles. Eventually, though, weeds will likely develop resistance to 2,4-D, too, Gurian-Sherman said. “There are other ways to control weeds,” he added. For example, cover crops that out-compete weeds are showing promise but need more research. “We know these approaches can be highly productive and lucrative,” but, he added, “the research agenda for decades neglected these sustainable practices in favor of industrial agricultural practices.” Royal agrees cover crops are one weapon in the weed control arsenal. He also sees a role for the new seeds. But, he said, one thing the Roundup Ready experience shows: “Some good new technology may come along, but there are no silver bullets.” A final decision on approval of the new GMO seeds is expected later this year. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 6 | |||||
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| Paying attention to bags said to speed aircraft boarding By
the Clarkson University news service
Clarkson University researchers have developed a strategy to ease one of the headaches of airline travel: boarding the flight. School of Business Professor R. John Milne and undergraduate student Alexander Kelly have devised a method, published this month in the Journal of Air Transport Management, which assigns airline passengers to a specific seat based on the number of bags they carry, causing luggage to be evenly distributed through the plane. Each row of seats would tend to have a passenger with two bags, a passenger with one bag and a passenger with no bags. "The new method would save at least several seconds in boarding time and prevent any one area of the plane from becoming overloaded with bags," Milne said. "Airlines could provide a smoother boarding experience for passengers by utilizing the research." "You add that up over thousands of flights a day over the course of a year; it can really make a difference," Milne explained. "For instance, a large airline like Delta may be able to save about ten million dollars a year." Kelly, a computer science and mechanical engineering dual major, tested the method by running thousands of simulated airplane boardings through a computer model. Experiment casts strong doubt on those readability formulas By
the North Carolina State University news service
Teachers, parents and textbook companies use technical readability formulas to determine how difficult reading materials are and to set reading levels by age group. But new research from North Carolina State University shows that the readability formulas are usually inaccurate and offer little insight into which age groups will be able to read and understand a text. “Teachers often use readability levels when giving reading assignments to students,” said John Begeny, an associate professor of psychology and lead author of a paper describing the work. “We wanted to know if the readability formulas are valid, or if teachers who think they’re assigning a simpler book to struggling readers, for example, may actually be assigning a more difficult one.” For the study, researchers had 360 students ranging from second to fifth grade read six written passages out loud. The researchers assessed the students’ performance, giving each student an oral reading fluency score, which is considered a good way to measure reading ability. The researchers then used eight different readability formulas to see which level each formula gave to the six written passages. Results varied widely with one passage being rated from first grade to fifth grade level. The levels assigned by the readability formulas were then compared with researchers’ assessments of each student’s actual ability to read the material. Seven of the eight readability formulas were less than 49 percent accurate, with the worst formula scoring only 17 percent accuracy. The highest-rated formula was accurate 79 percent of the time. “Overall, this work shows that teachers and parents should be very cautious about using readability levels when giving reading assignments to students,” Begeny said. Maduro, Capriles shake hands at session about crime woes By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
After months of insults, Venezuela's president and opposition leader on Wednesday shook hands for the first time since their bitter election standoff last year. The handshake was at a meeting about chronic violent crime prompted by the roadside murder of a popular beauty queen. President Nicolas Maduro routinely calls Henrique Capriles a fascist and murderer, while the opposition leader has been lambasting his rival as incompetent and illegitimate since Maduro won April's disputed election by 1.5 percentage points. Yet they put personal acrimony aside to greet each other briefly during an emergency meeting called by Maduro with state governors at the Miraflores presidential palace. Capriles is the governor of Miranda state, one of the most crime-ridden. Their meeting is unlikely to change the political landscape, with both sides in the polarized South American nation still far apart and mutually suspicious. Monday's murder of former Miss Venezuela and soap opera actress Monica Spear has rattled the country of 29 million even though Venezuelans have long suffered one of the world's worst crime rates. “I'm in Miraflores. I'll go anywhere for the sake of Venezuelans' security. There's a national outcry to stop the violence,” Capriles said on Twitter. Capriles, 41, has still not publicly recognized Maduro's presidency, though his allegations of fraud have run out of steam in the courts. Maduro, 51, had previously said anyone who did not acknowledge his leadership would not be allowed into Miraflores. But he has been showing a more reconciliatory attitude to the opposition since opinion polls in December shored up his standing. Some opposition activists have jumped on the shooting of Spear and her former husband in front of their 5-year-old daughter who survived as evidence of the socialist government's failure to beat crime. Maduro, who has started several major anti-crime initiatives since taking office, urged a fresh approach. “This cannot be just another meeting,” said Maduro, whose predecessor Hugo Chávez also began a dozen or so anti-crime initiatives that failed to stop murders and kidnappings during his 14-year rule. “Time and again, people have used this subject for political manipulation,” Maduro said. “It's a very small minority that doesn't realize this is a national problem, a serious problem that became endemic 40-50 years ago.” Hundreds of fellow showbiz artists and other mourners took to a Caracas square on Wednesday to grieve for 29-year-old Ms. Spear. They said prayers, released balloons and held up photos. Ms. Spear lived in the United States but was vacationing in Venezuela when armed robbers ambushed her car. Twitter and Instagram posts had shown her joy at being back in her homeland with her daughter, even though she originally moved to the United States citing insecurity. Venezuela's official 2013 homicide rate was 39 per 100,000 inhabitants, but non-government organizations put the figure at twice that for a total of nearly 25,000 deaths. “The government is directly responsible for Monica Spear's death,” fumed another opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado. She said Maduro and Chávez before him had abandoned serious crime policies in favor of oppressing political opponents. “For 15 years, they have been destroying the judicial system and the police bodies,” she said. Taxi drivers in Cuba soon to work for themselves By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Thousands of Cuban state taxi drivers will soon be leasing their vehicles and working on their own as part of a reorganization of the country's taxi service aimed at improving efficiency, according to rules published Wednesday. The measure follows the similar transfer of barbers, beauticians, small cafeterias and other retail services by the state to what is called the non-state sector as part of market-oriented reforms under way in the Communist-run country. Cuba nationalized all retail business in 1968, down to the shoe-shine shops, and fixed all prices. But in an attempt to stimulate the stagnant economy and reduce bureaucracy, it is giving some of it back in a form of legal private enterprise operating on a market basis. The sector now numbers 445,000 people, or 5 percent of the labor force, and is made up of private, leased and cooperative small businesses, their employees, private taxi drivers, the building trades and others. The administration of Cubataxi, which operates in the local U.S. dollar equivalent called the convertible peso, will be downsized. Drivers will become self-employed, leasing a vehicle from the company at a daily rate, according to the resolutions published in the official Gazette. “The idea is to eliminate irregularities in the service, the stealing of fares and reduce inflated administrative payrolls,” said Debora Canela Pina, a transportation ministry specialist at Cubadebate, an official on-line news site. Cubataxi drivers are notorious for not using their meters. Ms. Canela Pina said the reorganization would improve service and 60 percent of taxis, many old Russian Ladas, would be replaced by newer models consisting of second-hand rental cars. Outside the Havana Libre Hotel, two Cubataxi drivers said they hoped their new status would prove beneficial. Besides, they noted, they had no choice but to accept their fate or be laid off. “This law should benefit us if there is no fine print and should be more efficient because the driver will have total control of his taxi and its maintenance,” said one driver, Alejandro Pérez. The new system is based on a pilot project in Havana begun in 2010 at a single garage. Thirty of the more than 2,000 state taxi drivers in the capital began leasing their vehicles rather than working for a wage, a small percentage of the tips and whatever they could pocket on the sly. Instead of three support staff for every driver, as in other garages, there were just three for the thirty. The government reported that after the first year, the state's yearly take from each taxi was estimated to multiply 30-fold compared with before the experiment began. The drivers will be responsible for maintaining their taxi and gasoline, but can buy parts and services from the state company at reduced prices. Airline in Brazil promises to freeze fares for World Cup By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Brazilian domestic airline Azul Linhas Aereas pledged Wednesday to cap the cost of traveling during the World Cup this year, adding to pressure on competitors who have been upbraided by the government for raising ticket prices. None of the routes that Azul flies during the tournament will cost more than 999 reais ($420), said Azul founder David Neeleman, who started Brazil's third-biggest airline after stepping down as CEO of JetBlue in 2008. The policy will cost Azul some 20 million reais in foregone revenue, Neeleman told journalists in Sao Paulo. He said the World Cup would also have a net negative impact on the carrier's bottom line due to a dropoff in business travel. Civil aviation regulator ANAC welcomed Azul's move to cap fares and said it hoped other airlines would follow suit. Azul's decision comes after officials threatened price controls on the country's hotels and airlines, including larger rivals Gol Linhas Aereas and TAM, the local unit of Chile's Latam Airlines Group. Those rivals have been cutting routes, giving back aircraft and firing flight staff over the past two years in an attempt to restore profit despite high fuel prices and a tough exchange rate. The World Cup has loomed as a chance to restore their suffering profit margins. But Brazil's aviation industry is under harsh scrutiny as one of the biggest potential embarrassments at the World Cup. A dozen host cities are scattered around the vast country, which will force some 600,000 foreigners and three million Brazilian fans through a series of overloaded airports during June and July. U.S. fans alone will have to book at least 3,500 miles (5,600 km) in domestic flights between their team's first three matches in Brazil plus the long international legs to get to the South American nation. Azul flies only domestic routes with smaller aircraft such as the 118-seat E-195 made by Brazil's Embraer. French court rejects challenge to ban on veils over face By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A court in France has rejected a challenge to the country's controversial veil ban law and sentenced a woman for flouting it and insulting police. But the story isn't over: Europe's highest court will hear another challenge to the legislation. The court in Versailles Wednesday fined Muslim convert Cassandra Belin 150 euros or just over $200 and gave her a one-month suspended sentence for wearing the face-covering niqab in public and for insulting police who ticketed her. The scuffle between Ms. Belin, her husband and police made headlines in France last year, and sparked riots in the Paris suburb of Trappes. The court also dismissed a petition by Ms. Belin's lawyer, Philippe Bataille, challenging the constitutionality of France's 2011 law that bars the wearing of most face covers in public. The legislation is broad, but some believe it takes aim at France's 5 million-strong Muslim community even though only a small minority of women wear the niqab. In a telephone interview, lawyer Bataille said it was possible he would appeal both judgments, but that depended on his client. Under French law, he has 10 days to file an appeal. Bataille said it was a shame that Ms. Belin never appeared at her trial to explain why she wore the face veil. But he said that she and other niqab wearers were afraid to go out in public because of the ban. The verdict marks a new victory for the government, as it seeks to enforce the face-cover ban in the name of French secularism. Last year, a Paris appeals court ruled that a private nursery school was right in firing a staff member who refused to remove her Muslim headscarf at work. But the ban faces another and more serious challenge this year at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Bataille said the fate of his client partly depends on that court's ruling, which he said will likely be handed down next month. Elderly German man faces trial in WWII massacre By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
German prosecutors have charged an 88-year-old former member of Hitler's elite Waffen SS with taking part in a World War II massacre of hundreds of French villagers, nearly 70 years after one of the most infamous Nazi atrocities. In the methodical June 1944 slaughter, SS soldiers took the small village of Oradour-sur-Glane in central France by surprise and killed nearly all its inhabitants within a few hours. They killed 642 men, women and children. The men were herded into barns and shot dead while the women and children were burned alive in the village church. “The prosecution charges an 88-year-old pensioner from Cologne with the destruction of Oradour-sur-Glane in France,” said Achim Hengstenberg, court spokesman in the western German city. “He and another shooter are said to have killed 25 men in a barn with his machine gun," he said. "He is also said to have aided the burning down of the village church.” The accused denies the charges, saying he did not fire a single shot in Oradour, according to his lawyer Rainer Pohlen. He even said he tried to save the lives of some. “He could have fired. He says, however, 'I had the great luck of being deployed for something else,'” Pohlen said. “He said 'I heard shots, I saw people shouting, I saw the village burning. It was terrible. It was absolutely awful. But I was not myself involved in any of the action',” the lawyer added, quoting his client. Hengstenberg said the charge lay with the young offenders chamber of the Cologne court because the suspect was only 19 years old at the time of the crime. He was not named in the statement. The young offenders chamber will decide whether or not to open proceedings against the aged accused. The SS unit decided to wipe Oradour-sur-Glane off the map as an example to French Resistance guerrillas after a vehicle carrying an SS doctor was ambushed on a road leading to the village and its occupants abducted. Among those killed were 207 children, the youngest 8 weeks old. Only five men and a woman survived the massacre. “It's important that we find someone even if it's 70 years afterwards,” Robert Hebras, one of the six survivors, told French broadcaster BFM TV. Oradour is an ambiguous symbol because it represents not just the atrocities committed by the Nazis but also a post-war failure to punish the perpetrators. Heinz Lammerding, the Waffen SS general in command of the unit that committed the massacre, was captured by Allied forces but never extradited to France and was sentenced to death in absentia by a Bordeaux military court in 1951. He died in his bed in Bavaria in 1971. Hengstenberg said the new charge resulted from a fresh look at a previous investigation into the events. In 1953, 12 Alsatian soldiers who took part in the massacre while serving in the German army were sentenced to life in prison and one to death, but France's parliament immediately pardoned them in the name of national reconciliation. Their province of Alsace had been annexed by Germany in 1940 and Alsatians were deemed to have been forced to join the Nazi army, even though some clearly enlisted voluntarily. Earlier Wednesday, a German court dismissed a case against a 92-year-old man accused of killing a Dutch resistance fighter in World War II when he was in the SS, citing a loss of evidence. Russia steps up the security in advance of winter Olympics By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Russian forces went on combat alert in Sochi and tightened restrictions on access to the Black Sea resort Tuesday, exactly one month before the start of the Winter Olympic Games. Aware that the success or failure of the Sochi Games will help shape his legacy, President Vladimir Putin has increased security across Russia following two suicide bomb attacks in the southern city of Volgograd which killed 34 people. Moscow's most wanted man, the Chechen insurgent leader Doku Umarov, has urged militants who want to carve an Islamic state in Russia's North Caucasus region to use maximum force to prevent the games going ahead. Police began to impose long-planned restrictions that will heavily curtail entry into Sochi and limit the movements of its residents, who had mixed feelings about the clampdown. “The resort is turning into a sort of concentration camp. Naturally this will deliver a serious blow to tourism and the huge number of people at the Olympics,” said Alexander Valov, a Sochi resident and blogger. “When the town is in such a state of siege I don't think it will be comfortable here.” But other residents and foreign visitors on the streets of Sochi said they welcomed the beefed-up security. “After what happened in Volgograd it's necessary,” said Dina Kovalenko, at a kiosk selling tickets for town excursions. “There is definitely a sense we have here in Sochi that we feel good, we feel safe,” said Nathan Wright, a British tourist posing with friends for photographs near the town center. Authorities have deployed an additional 30,000 police and Interior Ministry troops in the resort, bringing the total number of personnel providing security at the games to about 37,000, according to Russian officials. Ordered by Putin in a decree last August, the heightened security measures will stay in force until March 21. In this period the only road vehicles allowed into Sochi are those officially registered in the city or accredited for the games or essential services. Visitors must also register with local authorities within three days or face expulsion. Movement is being even more tightly controlled in several high security zones where only those accredited for the games will be allowed. The zones include a swathe of territory extending to Russia's southern border with Abkhazia in neighboring Georgia, some 25 miles away. “The restrictions are to make the roads free and easy for spectators, athletes and members of the Olympic family to move around,” a transport directorate said. Local businesses have been ordered to stock up on supplies to enable them to do without outside deliveries for a few weeks. Moscow has deployed regular troops and also anti-aircraft batteries to protect the Games from air attack. Last month Russian bloggers posted photographs of several surface-to-air missile installations within yards of the Olympic venue. The region's air force commander said squadrons of Mig and Sukhoi fighter jets are ready to repel attack from any altitude. Valov, the critical blogger, said many residents planned to leave for the duration of the games, adding that a mass expulsion of migrant workers was also causing headaches. “We're desperately short of janitors. As a result the town is looking dirtier. There's simply no one to do this,” he said. More than 200 people protested on Sunday against how Moscow has run the games so far, under the banner: “Natives of Sochi own the games, not the visitors.” But Putin, who on Saturday attended a rehearsal of the Games' opening ceremony in Sochi, has eased curbs on demonstrations, allowing groups to hold some marches and rallies at sites approved by the security services. Campaign groups, calling for everything from gay rights to political reform, had complained that a blanket ban on rallies, imposed in August as part of earlier security measures, violated the Russian constitution. White House defending Biden and Obama against Gates book By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The White House Wednesday strongly defended President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in response to criticisms by former Defense secretary Robert Gates, in a memoir being published next week. The White House continued aggressive but seemingly confident damage control in response to published excerpts of the Gates memoir and reaction to it. Video and still photographers were permitted brief access as Obama and Biden had lunch at the White House. No reporters were allowed in, so no questions were asked. Biden, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, gets harsh criticism from Gates, who describes him as being "wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades." Press secretary Jay Carney said the rare photo opportunity of Obama and Biden at lunch was not deliberate in reaction to the Gates memoir, but a response to media demands for more access. Carney said the president has full confidence in Biden's foreign policy record, including his role in administration debates on Iraq and Afghanistan policy. "The president has said many times that he greatly appreciates the advice and counsel the vice president gives him on matters domestic and foreign, and that is absolutely the case," said Carney. The Gates memoir, "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War," contains scathing observations about President Obama, particularly on Afghanistan strategy. Gates writes that Obama did not believe in his own strategy and that there was "suspicion and distrust of senior military officers by senior White House officials" and by the president and vice president. Carney said it is well known Obama is committed to achieving the mission in Afghanistan, including initially ramping up the U.S. troop presence and then winding it down. "The president believes thoroughly in the mission. He knows it is difficult, but he knows that our men and women in uniform as well as those civilians in Afghanistan and others who are working on this issue have admirably and heroically fulfilled that mission and they do so today," he said. Asked about the message the Gates memoir sends to U.S. troops, Carney said it was well known the president set out to change an Afghanistan policy in disarray and provide a clear mission. |
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Las Vegas tech
show features the glitzy and the new gadgets By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas traditionally starts off the year exhibiting the hottest technology trends, and this year is no different. The biggest buzz in the show this year is wearable tech and curved screens on televisions and mobile phones. Visitors flock to Las Vegas at the beginning of the year for the Consumer Electronics Show, one of the biggest events for technology enthusiasts and companies alike. "It's both exciting and pretty terrifying because we're gonna see so many cool new things," said Will Findlater, who edits a British gadget magazine. "But at the same time, the show floor is absolutely massive. There's a lot of ground to cover and a lot of things to see." Curved displays are one trend getting a lot of talk this year. They're on everything from televisions to mobile phones. "Right now you can buy a curved TV, but if you can't decide if you want it flat or not, you can choose a flexible one," said Bridget Carey, who is with CNET, a consumer electronics Web site. "Curved is supposed to be a more immersive experience when it surrounds you. But maybe not everyone wants curved all the time." Sony, Samsung, and LG all unveiled curved ultra-high definition televisions, with some models as big as 110 inches (279 centimeters). Another hot emerging trend: wearable technology. Sony, Intel, and others unveiled smart watches that interact wirelessly with your phone, and in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Gear, a watch that connects with the BMW i3 electric car. Carey says a smart watch is practical. "It has apps now that can give you a quick glance at the sports score with an ESPN app. You can see who texted you, what calls you missed," she said. Still, some warn that wearable technology may take a while before they become widely accepted. “That's a big trend right now, and actually, even though smart watches will be kind of a buzz word, the reality is smart watches are years from taking off," said Tim Bajarin of Creative Technologies, Inc. The 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show runs until Friday. |
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| From Page 7: 70 Costa Ricans to study cloud computing in India By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Some 70 Costa Ricans are off to India to study cloud computing through March. The 70 are beneficiaries of scholarships from the Indian firm Infosys, a major player in the Indian technology business. The firm has interests here. The participants in the program all have at least bachelor degrees, and some are university professors. They will study in Mysore. They also are English speakers. This is the first group to receive such scholarships in a program coordinated by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones, the Ministerio de Comercio Exterior and the Coalición Costarricense de Iniciativas de Desarrollo. The commerce ministry said that 10 Indian companies now operate in Costa Rica. The ministry noted that The Times of India recently reported on Costa Rica being a major site for the expansion of Indian technology companies. |
