Friends and Officials in Tamarindo are beginning to lose hope on finding the 24-year-old Australian student who disappeared Friday night in the beachside community.

According to the Judicial Investigating Organization, the

student, Brendan Dobbins was reported missing by several of his classmates over the weekend after Dobbins failed to meet up with them in San José for their flight home. Dobbins, a senior at the University of Florida, traveled to Costa Rica with several of his classmates over spring break.  The Cruz Roja spent the last few days scanning the beach with the help of Dobbins’ classmates who stayed in

Brendan Dobbins

Costa Rica to help find their friend. After several days of searching, officials say that they are beginning to fear the worst. 

According to an article in The Sydney Morning Herald, Dobbins only had a small amount of local currency when he vanished and had left his passport, credit cards and air ticket at the Hotel Portofino where the group was staying. 

The paper contacted Dobbins’ sister-in-law Bronwyn Cooke who claimed that leaving without tell his friends would have been completely out of character for Dobbins. 

According to the Cruz Roja, Dobbins’ father recently departed from Melbourne, Australia, and will be arriving in Costa Rica to help search for his son. 

According to Officials in Tamarindo, Dobbins was last seen walking down the beach at 7 a.m. with a local acquaintance who is also missing. 

U.S. cloning ban may
help with in-vitro fight 

The United Nation’s recent ban on human cloning breathes new life into Costa Rica’s anti-abortion and anti-stem cell research groups.

The U.N. vote held Tuesday followed a four-year debate among member countries over the legality of cloning. Before the vote, Costa Rica and the United States had backed a full ban against all forms of cloning.

The U.N. declaration against human cloning is non-binding and therefore does not carry any legal ramifications. It does, however, call upon all countries to prohibit the practice of cloning.

The decision is very important for Costa Rica as the country nears a decision from the Inter-American Commission on Human rights as to whether or not the country’s ban on in-vitro fertilization will head to trial. The commission will look at the U.N.’s declaration before it passes down its decision.

Cloning, in-vitro fertilization, and stem cell research have all become important international issues over the last decade. Pro-research advocates argue that the scientific benefits from these types of practices could save thousands of lives every year. Pro-life groups, however, argue that thousands of unborn children in the form of embryos will be destroyed.

Next two soccer matches
will not be before fans

The International Football Federation has ordered Costa Rica to play its next two World Cup qualifying matches behind closed doors because of unruly fan behavior.

The federation’s disciplinary committee made the decision after fans threw objects onto the field in the first match.

During Costa Rica's 2-1 loss to Mexico at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in Tibás, fans threw objects at opposing players, including water bottles, batteries, coins, and fruit.

In addition to the suspensions Costa Rica was slapped with a $17,000 fine. Costa Rica has three days to appeal the sanctions.

Saprissa and Kansas City
battle to a tie game

A Costa Rican soccer team went north to Kansas City to play a U.S. team Wednesday night in a hemispheric tournament. The game ended as a draw after neither side was able to score a goal.

Deportivo Saprissa based out of San José traveled to Arrowhead Stadium to play the Kansas City Wizards in the first round of the Confederation of North Central American and Caribbean Association Football tournament. 

The Wizards earned a bid in the tournament by winning the Major League Soccer tournament in the U.S. in 2004. 

Saprissa finished second in the hemispheric tournament last year when it lost to fellow Costa Rican team Liga Deportiva Alajuelense.

A group of Costa Rican labor unions has asked Guatemala to cease actions attempting to silence the voice of the Guatemalan people on the free trade treaty with the United States.

The request was in an open letter to the Guatemalan ambassador to Costa Rica, José Luis Chea Urruela. The message denounced what it said was the Guatemalan governments attempt to silence its citizens during an anti-free trade treaty demonstration in Guatemala City.

During the demonstration, held Tuesday morning, Guatemalan police used tear gas and water cannons against protestors who were trying to prevent the Guatemalan legislature from ratifying the Central American free trade treaty. The protestors met againWednesday morning in the Guatemalan capital
and received similar treatment.

The Movimiento Cívico Nacional is an umbrella organization for a number of unions and groups that oppose the free trade treaty. The unions include those for taxi drivers, public employees and regional associations.

The Central American free trade treaty has received ample press since the New Year and will likely continue to as deadlines for referendums and legislative decisions in several countries draw near. 

The Costa Rican Asamblea Legislativa has yet to receive the treaty from Casa Presidencial.

WASHINGTON, D.C. ? More than 350 participants are expected at an inter-American meeting on the status of press freedom in the Western Hemisphere, to be held in Panamá Friday through Monday.

The Inter-American Press Association, which is hosting the meeting in Panamá City, said topics to be discussed at the event include advances in case law on press freedom, successful electronic media, trends in tabloid newspapers around the world, legislative bills on access to information, legal and economic measures that restrict journalists, and the imprisonment and murder of journalists in some countries of the region.

Participants at the meeting include Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman and publisher of The New York Times; George Brock, editor of The Times of London, who will discuss developments in the British newspaper industry; and Panamanian President Martín Torrijos, who will inaugurate the event.

The press association, a Miami-based group which promotes freedom of expression in the Americas, said a particularly important highlight of the meeting will be the possible participation of dissident Cuban journalist Raul Rivero, regional vice chairman of the Cuban Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information. 

The association’s statement said Rivero, who was recently released from prison in Cuba, has expressed

The regime of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro released Rivero from prison in November 2004, along with three other dissidents who had been jailed the previous year in a broad crackdown against opponents of the regime. The Castro regime had sentenced 75 dissidents in April 2003 to prison terms ranging from six to 28 years, after convicting them on charges of working with the U.S. government to undermine Castro's government.  U.S. officials and the dissidents denied the charge.

The United States and the international community have called on Castro to free dozens of other dissidents still imprisoned in Cuba.

The statement said that Rivero's release was a "significant victory for the cause of freedom of expression and of the press in Cuba."  But it warned that Rivero's release was not enough, adding that nobody should remain behind bars under the pretext of having committed a crime for the sole reason of expressing his or her ideas or for criticizing the Castro government.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said that the only offense of jailed Cuban journalists was that they were "doing their jobs."  That nonpartisan group reiterated its appeal to Cuban authorities to "immediately and unconditionally release all imprisoned journalists, and to allow them to work freely."

The United States and El Salvador have exchanged diplomatic notes extending an agreement that imposes U.S. import restrictions on Pre-Columbian archaeological objects originating in El Salvador. 

This action extends the pact for an additional five years and sets new benchmarks for achieving improvements in the protection and preservation of El Salvador's cultural heritage. H. Douglas Barclay, U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, and Salvadoran Foreign Minister Francisco Lainez signed the agreement.

First signed in 1995, the agreement is in response to a request from El Salvador seeking assistance from the United States in curbing pillage and illicit trade in objects that represent its Pre-Columbian heritage. El Salvador made the request under the terms of the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act. Archaeological sites from throughout El Salvador have been severely damaged by looting. Such activity results in the irretrievable loss of information about the cultures that thrived there from approximately 1700 B.C. to 1550 A.D. 

A final determination to extend the agreement followed a finding that the pillage of archaeological material continues to place the cultural heritage of El Salvador in jeopardy. El Salvador was the first country to enter into such an agreement with the United States. 

El Salvador is living up to its end of the agreement by re-established a national museum of anthropology that had been ruined by earthquake damage. Since it was 

El Salvador's National Council for Culture and the Arts, which oversees the national museum, continues to reach the public through regional museums and houses of culture thus promoting the value of protecting the national cultural heritage, said the U.S. State Department. In addition, the pact continues to serve as a framework for professional exchanges between the United States and El Salvador. 

Any object subject to the import restriction may enter the United States if accompanied by an export certificate issued by El Salvador or if accompanied by documentation demonstrating it left El Salvador prior to the imposition of these import restrictions in 1995, according to the pact. Objects originating in the Cara Sucia archaeological region of El Salvador have been restricted since 1987.

The long-term goals of this and similar agreements the United States has with other countries are to encourage good preservation practices such as the development of appropriate heritage policies; promote museums; professional training; and public education, said the State Department. 

Cultural tourism development and international access to cultural property through the interchange of materials for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes are also promoted, the department said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. ? The Bush administration is asking the State of Texas to hold new hearings for 51 Mexicans on death row, who say they were denied consular assistance in violation of international law.
The move is in response to a 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice, which said Texas officials failed to notify the Mexicans of their right to talk to consular officials shortly after their arrests.

The decision comes just weeks ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court hearing in the case of Jose Medellin, one of five gang members sentenced to death for the rape and murder of two Texas girls in 1993.