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José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 23, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 57
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Druker
talk on
transgenics will be Tuesday
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Steven Druker, author of “Altered Genes, Twisted Truth,” will address the public at a free presentation 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Universidad de Costa Rica. The location is the auditorium Sala de Profesores of the Facultad de Medicina in San Pedro. Druker is being sponsored here by the Pax Natura Foundation, and his visit is being welcomed by those seeking to establish a national moratorium on genetically modified organisms. An announcement pulls no punches. The book reveals the fraudulent base of the efforts that promote the oligopoly of the corporations for transgenic foods and warns of the unacceptable risks of this for the environment and human health, it said. The announcement also accused the U.S. government and its regulatory agency, the Food and Drug Administration, of twisting in a systematic manner the data about the genetically altered foods. Opponents of genetically modified crops went into action after the government Comisión Técnica Nacional de Bioseguridad approved the planting of modified corn by D&PL Semillas, Ltda., a Monsanto Corp. subsidiary. Our readers'
opinions
Without modified crops, millions starveDear A.M. Costa Rica: So Steven Drucker and Jane Goodall are launching their anti-genetically modified crop book in Costa Rica. No doubt they will become very rich and perhaps that is their motivation for trying to starve the world. Many relatively wealthy Gringos oppose GM and will be filling these pages with supporting messages. Often these same people tell the anti-climate warming brigade to look at the science. The vast majority of scientists are convinced that there is man-made climate warming. Well before there is a knee jerk reaction against GM, you should also look at the science. Overwhelmingly, scientists have little fear from GM and they are not all in the pay of Monsanto. Opponents might also reflect on the lack of reality in their ideas of somehow feeding the world's 7 billion people with organic crops. If GM and pesticides were banned and everyone tried to live organically, hundreds of millions would starve, but not of course the wealthy Gringos. May be it is self obsession to try and prevent progress in order to live the way we want too. All the crops we consume today and the animals that supply meat are the result of selective breeding. GM is simply a scientific way of achieving the same ends. Read the critics of Druker and Goodall and you will see that geneticists have discovered that gene transfers across species exist in nature and not just in the lab. Lastly, reflect on this, if the lobby against GM crops succeeds in Costa Rica and not elsewhere, it will cause further lack of competitiveness in the Costa Rican economy. Of course the rich Gringos will only care that the place is too expensive now and complain about that. Aaron Aalborg
Grecia He supports banning transgenic foods Dear A.M. Costa Rica:
Prohibiting the cultivation of transgenic crops in Costa Rica is good news. Unfortunately this will have no effect on the obesity, cancer and general health epidemic facing Costa Rica because some of the primary foodstuffs consumed here, like wheat and corn are not produced in Costa Rica. Costa Rica imports corn, soy and wheat. In the U.S. it is estimated that 90 percent of the corn and soy is genetically modified. GM soy and corn are grown in other large producing countries in the western hemisphere as well. GM soy and corn are either bred to contain glyphosate or bred to be immune to its application, allowing farmers to indiscriminately spray their weeds with as much glyphosate as they want, because it won't kill the corn plant. In the U.S. they haven't licensed GM wheat yet. They have done test plantings in 15 states which have already contaminated non-GM wheat in those states. But don't worry, they are already using glyphosate to help preserve the wheat when in storage. They spray it directly on the unmilled wheat. Almost everyone in the U.S. is testing positive for glyphosate now. Glyphosate is an anti-biotic, so it kills bacteria. We have to ask ourselves, "could eating all these anti-biotics might have something to do with the gastritis, colitis, stomach cancer and other digestive tract diseases that are epidemic among the Costa Rican population?" It's not just the wheat, soy and corn though. There is a long list of common ingredients from citric acid to molasses that are genetically modified now too. I walked to the supermarkets here once, read the labels in the grocery sections, not the produce/meat/cheese sections, and estimate that at least 50 percent of the packaged items had at least one item that was GM or could be. Transgenic or GM foods are everywhere in Costa Rica. All of the livestock feed is GM. All the pet food is GM. We need to use this time, this increased awareness to go the whole way. We need to ban any products that contain GM materials that are not clearly labeled now. We need to have our universities study these things independent of any governmental or corporate influence and, if warranted, recommend prohibiting the importation of GM foods into Costa Rica. Costa Rica is not a big country but it can speak with a very very big voice. Lets say Pura Vida to transgenics. Albert Lusk
San Isidro Train to San Ramón proposed Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Our Costa Rican Government should be looking at alternative transportation options rather than keep funding highway operations only. The future is in finding alternative methods of transportation versus putting more demand on petroleum, which we know too well is expensive in Costa Rica. I propose an inquiry and study of building a railroad system that would service routes between the cities of Alajuela and San Ramón. A commuter bus would operate to bring passengers to and from the San José International Airport (Juan Santamaría) to the Alajuela Station. Here would be some advantages: Elimination of a 3,500-colon toll proposal for commuters, little or no traffic interruptions, decrease in oil consumption, less traffic leading to increase in highway safety, private funding versus government funding or maybe a small percent of government subsidies to begin. I am thinking the train could come from Alajuela and follow the old road into Grecia. It is all valley road and would appear to be a better path for construction than following the Route 1 or the Pista. Than once in Grecia,..maybe route over to Sarchí to Naranjo and then the old San Ramón road into San Ramón. To survey this idea the government here could advertise an open bid for the operations of this commuter railroad to be funded privately and managed privately but yet under regulations of safety, pricing, etc. of the government here. If funding is not 100 percent, than the operations could be subsidized but at far less expense than incurring the highway project to San Ramón. Joseph Cahill
Sarchi Semana
Santa information
Banco Nacional gives Semana Santa hours By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Banco Nacional said that it would close Holy Thursday, April 2, and reopen Monday, April 6. The reason is the Semana Santa holidays. In addition, the bank said that it would not provide evening services on Wednesday, April 1. The bank will close at 3:45 p.m. that day. There may be some variations at individual bank offices outside the metro area. For example, the office at the Depósito Libre de Golfito will be open Saturday, April 4, and Easter Sunday, April 5. The closing in the evening of April 2 might be a hardship to workers who are paid by check. But the automatic tellers will be in service all days. Good Shepherd Episcopal Church lists services By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Good Shepherd Episcopal (Anglican) Church has announced Holy Week services. All services are bilingual, an announcement said. The special services begin Palm Sunday, March 29, at 9 a.m. The Holy Wednesday services April 1 also is at 9 a.m. The service Holy Thursday, April 2, is at 6 p.m. The Good Friday service April 3 is from noon to 3 p.m., and the Great Vigil of Easter is Saturday, April 4, at 6 p.m. The Easter Sunday service April 5 is at 9 a.m. The church is on Avenida 4 at Calle 5 next to McDonald's.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 23, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 57 | |
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| Motorcycles continue to be the vehicle of choice for
assassins |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A gunman riding double on a motorcycle is the principal figure in a string of killings. The similarity suggests either copycats or some type of organized effort. The most recent attack started in Hatillo and resulted in a shootout with police in the San José barrio of Sagrada Familia. There a 32-year-old suspect identified by the last name of Monge died from police bullets. Others were wounded in a misplaced effort at revenge. Agents said that two men on a motorcycle shot and wounded a victim identified by the name of Castillo in Hatillo 6. They fled, but friends of the victim took off in search of the gunmen but ended up intercepting an innocent motorcyclist. |
He and a
10-year-old nearby were injured by bullets. Meanwhile police chased the suspects into the southern San José barrio where the shootout took place. Two minors and a second suspect, 18, suffered wounds there. Two persons on a motorcycle were identified as the suspect in a shooting Thursday in Miramar. A 49-year-old man identified by the last name of Ceciliano died. Two persons on a motorcycle also were identified as suspects in the shooting of an expat businessman in Escazú Wednesday morning. However, there still does not seem to be much support for a proposal by Francisco Segura, director of the Judicial Investigating Organization. He wants to forbid persons from riding double on the motorcycles. Motorcyclists object to this proposal and conducted a demonstration in San José Thursday to show their opinion. |
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Four
Grecia suspects
fail to get very far By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Four men held up the Coopeservidores credit union in Grecia Friday afternoon, and police detained four suspects almost immediately. Some local expats expressed shock that this had happened in their town. Fuerza Pública officials credited the current system of patrols for detaining the four almost as the 911 emergency call was being logged. The amount of money taken from the financial institution had not been computed, but patrons told police that the robbers had taken some of their possessions too. Meanwhile, judicial agents in Playa La Penca de Santa Cruz also Friday detained three men who are accused of breaking into the vehicles of tourists in the area. Agents had been following the men because they were suspects in earlier similar crimes at other beaches, they said. |
 Ministerio de Seguirdad Pública photo
Four suspects are face down
in the Grecia street. |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 23, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 57 | |||||
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| Judicial agents make another raid on suspected prostitution
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Judicial police raided a San José night club Friday night in another effort against pimping. Two persons, a man, 65, and a woman, 51, were detained, said the judicial police. The raid was by the Sección Delitos Contra la Integridad Física, Trata y Tráfico, which has conducted two similar raids of prostitution locations in the last two weeks. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that 15 women were present when the raid took place. Two of them were with customers, agents said. The places that have been raided are mostly patronized by blue collar Costa Ricans. Law enforcement agencies make a show of cracking down on vice before major religious holidays. Easter is April 5. The Judicial Investigating Organization made a point of saying in a release that agents received confidential information that in the night club women maintained sexual relations with clients in exchange for money. The same could be said about every night club in the metro area, as well as a number of pensions, small hotels and massage parlors. |
 Judicial Investigating Organization photo
Woman suspect is led from the
night club. |
Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 23, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 57 | |||||||
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 North Carolina State University graphic
Carnufex carolinensis
was
an agile, top predatorCroc that
walked dominated
Carolinas, scientists report By the North Carolina State
University
news staff A newly discovered crocodilian ancestor may have filled one of North America’s top predator roles before dinosaurs arrived on the continent. Carnufex carolinensis, or the “Carolina Butcher,” was a 9-foot long, land-dwelling crocodylomorph that walked on its hind legs and likely preyed upon smaller inhabitants of North Carolina ecosystems such as armored reptiles and early mammal relatives. Paleontologists from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences recovered parts of Carnufex’s skull, spine and upper forelimb from the Pekin Formation in Chatham County, North Carolina. Because the skull of Carnufex was preserved in pieces, it was difficult to visualize what the complete skull would have looked like in life. To get a fuller picture of Carnufex’s skull the researchers scanned the individual bones with the latest imaging technology – a high-resolution surface scanner. Then they created a three-dimensional model of the reconstructed skull, using the more complete skulls of close relatives to fill in the missing pieces. The Pekin Formation contains sediments deposited 231 million years ago in the beginning of the Late Triassic (the Carnian), when what is now North Carolina was a wet, warm equatorial region beginning to break apart from the supercontinent Pangea. “Fossils from this time period are extremely important to scientists because they record the earliest appearance of crocodylomorphs and theropod dinosaurs, two groups that first evolved in the Triassic period, yet managed to survive to the present day in the form of crocodiles and birds,” says Lindsay Zanno, assistant research professor at North Carolina State, director of the paleontology and geology lab at the museum, and lead author of a paper describing the find. Typical predators roaming Pangea included large-bodied rauisuchids and poposauroids, fearsome cousins of ancient crocodiles that went extinct in the Triassic Period. In the Southern Hemisphere, “these animals hunted alongside the earliest theropod dinosaurs, creating a predator pile-up,” says Zanno. However, the discovery of Carnufex indicates that in the north, large-bodied crocodylomorphs, not dinosaurs, were adding to the diversity of top predator niches. “We knew that there were too many top performers on the proverbial stage in the late Triassic,” Zanno adds. “Yet, until we deciphered the story behind Carnufex, it wasn’t clear that early crocodile ancestors were among those vying for top predator roles prior to the reign of dinosaurs in North America.” As the Triassic drew to a close, extinction decimated this panoply of predators and only small-bodied crocodylomorphs and theropods survived. “Theropods were ready understudies for vacant top predator niches when large-bodied crocs and their relatives bowed out,” says Zanno. “Predatory dinosaurs went on to fill these roles exclusively for the next 135 million years.” Still, ancient crocodiles found success in other places. “As theropod dinosaurs started to make it big, the ancestors of modern crocs initially took on a role similar to foxes or jackals, with small, sleek bodies and long limbs,” says Susan Drymala, graduate student and co-author of the paper. “If you want to picture these animals, just think of a modern day fox, but with alligator skin instead of fur.” Museum of Natural Sciences curator Vincent Schneider recovered the specimen, and it was analyzed by Zanno and Ms. Drymala. The researchers’ findings appear in the open access journal Scientific Reports. World Health brands glyphosate as carcinogenic By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The World Health Organization's cancer arm said Friday that an ingredient in the world's most widely used weed killer probably causes cancer. Glyphosate is the main ingredient in Roundup weed killer, manufactured by the U.S. chemical giant Monsanto. Many homeowners use it to kill weeds. But Roundup is generally used in fields of genetically modified crops that can withstand the chemical. The International Agency on Cancer Research said Friday that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic to humans." It based its findings on studies carried out in the United States, Canada and Europe. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classified glyphosate as a possible carcinogen in 1985, but reversed its conclusion six years later. Monsanto disputed the World Health report, saying it did not understand how the agency could make such a dramatic departure from the conclusions of a number of regulatory agencies. Marines told to be cautious after terrorists list names By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. Marine Corps is urging vigilance after the Islamic State group posted on the Internet what it says are the names, addresses and photographs of 100 U.S. military personnel and encouraged its supporters in the United States to kill them. "It is recommended that Marines and family members check their online/social footprint, ensuring privacy settings are adjusted to limit the amount of available personal information," Marine Corps Spokesman John Caldwell said. The Pentagon said it is investigating and said it always encourages servicemen and women to take appropriate protection procedures. A group calling itself the Islamic State Hacking Division said the details of the service members, who it claims were involved in U.S. air strikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, came from government servers and databases. Defense officials said, however, that it does not appear that the militants hacked the information from U.S. government Web sites and that most of it is publicly available. Meanwhile, Sunday, CIA Director John Brennan said the momentum of Islamic State militants inside Iraq and Syria has been blunted, adding that they are not on the march as they were several months ago. In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Brennan said U.S. and Iraqi troops trying to push back against Islamic State fighters are making progress. Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew reported to have died at 91 By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew has died early today. He was 91 years old. Lee was Singapore’s leader from 1959 until 1990, but remained a highly influential figure and a strategist on the city state’s economy. Lee was hospitalized in Singapore General Hospital in early February with severe pneumonia, and was later placed on life support. U.S. President Obama offered deepest condolences to Lee’s family. In a White House statement, Obama described Lee as a visionary who built "one of the most prosperous countries in the world today." Obama said Lee was "a true giant of history who will be remembered for generations to come as the father of modern Singapore and as one the great strategists of Asian affairs." The president said he joined Singaporeans in mourning Lee's death. “Harry” Lee Kuan Yew, a fourth generation Singaporean, whose ancestors migrated from China’s Guangdong Province in the 1860s, played a primary role in guiding the island state’s post-colonial era toward economic success. A survivor of the Japanese Imperial Army’s occupation of Singapore, Lee studied economics in London after the war and attended Cambridge University, gaining a law degree. His political life began in 1954 with the formation of the People’s Action Party, a coalition of middle class and pro-Communist trade unionists. In 1955 Lee was the opposition leader in the legislature. But splits within the party led to arrests of pro-Communists in 1957. The People’s Action Party won an electoral landslide in 1959, and Lee Kuan Yew became Singapore’s first prime minister, a position he held until 1990 before taking a post of senior minister. Carl Thayer, a political scientist at the University of New South Wales in Australia, says Lee was pivotal to Singapore’s long-term future. “The story of modern day Singapore can’t be told without reference to Lee Kwan Yew," said Thayer. "He took the country from colonial rule to independence. He fended off challenges from the socialist left and then he dominated politics.” Lee faced political challenges as prime minister. An early goal was the formation of a Federation of Malaysia bringing together Singapore, Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak. But differences soon emerged between Peninsular Malaysia’s prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and Lee, especially after race riots between Chinese and Muslims in 1964 and again in 1965. And on Aug. 9, 1965, Abdul Rahman called for separation. “There have been differences between the central government and the leader of the Singapore state government," said Abdul Rahman. " And these differences take so many forms and are so many kinds that it has not been possible to resolve them, and so we decided we must part company.” Historians say Lee opposed Abdul Rahman’s favoring local Malays over ethnic Chinese. Lee was distraught with news of separation. “You see the whole of my adult life I believed in the Malaysia merger and the unity of these two territories. You know some connection by geography and ties of kinship……would you mind if we stopped for a while,” he said. At the age of 42 Lee became Singapore’s sole leader, driving hard on economic growth to build the republic and to foster unity. “I am not here to play someone else’s game. I have a few million people’s lives to account for, and Singapore will survive.” Analysts say Lees’ strengths lay in setting standards and objectives, a strategic thinker promoting Singapore’s most valuable resource, its people. Foreign investment followed. With economic growth running often at near 10 percent over the decades, Lee helped define a model of capitalist development that was also adopted by the so-called Asian Tigers: Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. As the country industrialized, Singapore rose as a modern city state, says Michael Barr, a political scientist at Flinders University in South Australia. “One of Lee Kuan Yew’s great achievements, I think, his positive legacies, is how he recognized and built on Singapore’s natural advantages and capitalized on them in a way that really is exceptional,” said Barr. Singapore became the world’s busiest seaport, only recently eclipsed by Shanghai. Investment flowed into oil refining, development as a regional transport hub, a national airline to reach global prominence and a banking sector as a vital part in global financial markets. Barr says Lee also brought together key administrators able to chart Singapore’s future development. “He brought serious political leadership and political mass to what was a group of strong-minded and imaginative men and competent administrators. And without his political leadership would not have been able to establish the political hegemony that they have been able to,” said Barr. Lee’s tough approach to politics and opponents also led to a reputation of authoritarianism. The government’s application of the Internal Security Act against opponents and critics was used to detain politicians, activists, trade unionists. In 1963, 100 people were arrested, including former newspaper editor Said Zahari, who was held for 17 years without trial. In 1987, 22 Roman Catholic Church officials, social activists and professionals were detained, accused of a left-wing conspiracy. In the face of local and foreign media criticism Lee sued the outlets in the courts. But Lee was no apologist for his tough stance. “Whoever governs Singapore must have that iron in him or give it up. This is not a game of cards. This is your life and mine," he said. "I’ve spent a whole life in building this and as long as I am in charge nobody’s going to knock it down.” Singapore remains a country where the state exercises tight controls over speech. In 2014, Reporters without Borders’ Press Freedom Survey, ranked Singapore among the lowest countries in southeast Asia for press freedoms, behind Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia. Third assailant sought in massacre at museum By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said Sunday that a third gunman in the massacre of tourists at the country's national museum is on the loose. "Two were executed, but one is on the run still. But he won't go very far," Essebsi told French television interviewers from inside the National Bardo Museum in Tunis. The Tunisian president's statement was the first time officials have said there were three gunmen in Wednesday's attack that left 21 people dead, all but one of them foreign tourists. Tunisia's Interior Ministry released security camera video showing two men armed with assault rifles walking through the museum. At one point, they encounter a third man with a backpack, briefly acknowledge each other, and then head in opposite directions. Essebsi told Paris Match magazine Saturday there were security failures at the museum, one of North Africa's prime cultural institutions. "The police and intelligence were not systematic enough to ensure the safety of the museum," the Tunisian president said. Officials say that guards who were supposed to be protecting the museum and the nearby parliament were having coffee at the time of the attack. Police responding to the assault killed two of the gunmen, who later were identified as Tunisians in their 20s who had trained in Libya. Islamic State militants, who are seeking to establish a caliphate across Iraq, Syria and other parts of the Muslim world, claimed responsibility for the attack. But purported details of the attack have also appeared on social media sites linked to an al-Qaida-affiliated group in Tunisia. Texas senator is expected to announce for presidency By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is expected to announce today that he is running for president. The 44-year-old first term senator will be the first high-profile candidate to formally launch a bid for the Republican Party presidential nomination. Several Republican contenders are expected to enter the race in the coming weeks. Cruz, who joined the Senate in 2013, is a favorite of the conservative Tea Party movement, has hinted openly about his intention to seek the White House. He promises to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, abolish the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service and scrap the Education Department. Among Republican politicians expected to announce a candidacy are former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Texas governor Rick Perry, and Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Florida's Marco Rubio. The son of an American mother and Cuban-born father, Cruz would be the nation's first Hispanic president. Cruz was born in Canada, but two lawyers who have represented presidents from both parties at the Supreme Court recently wrote in the Harvard Law Review that Cruz meets the constitutional standard to be able to run for president. World Health says politics did not affect ebola action By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The World Health Organization is vigorously denying accusations that it delayed declaring the ebola epidemic in West Africa an international public health emergency for political reasons. An article by The Associated Press said secretly obtained e-mails of internal documents indicated that World Health was afraid that declaring a global emergency could set off alarm bells, which could hurt countries’ economies or interfere with the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. World Health's spokeswoman on Ebola, Margaret Harris, said that the assertion was categorically untrue. “There was no secrecy. The minute we were informed of the cases and the minute we had confirmation that it was ebola-Zaire, we notified the world. It is not correct to say that the timing of the declaration of the public health emergency of international concern was in any way influenced by political considerations,” she said. Authors of the article said the delay in making the announcement may have cost lives. By the time World Health declared ebola a global health emergency in early August, more than four months after the announcement of the discovery of the virus in Guinea on March 23, nearly 1,000 people had died from the disease. The ebola epidemic in West Africa is the largest ever recorded. Over the past year, World Health has said, there have been more than 24,700 cases, including more than 10,200 deaths in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. World Health said it had treated the three countries as one country because they shared porous borders, facilitating the spread of ebola among them. It said it refrained from sounding a global alert as long as the epidemic was confined to the three countries. Harris said this policy changed when a Liberian man who was sick with ebola flew to Nigeria at the end of July and subsequently infected many others. She said it was this event that finally triggered the declaration of a global health emergency. In retrospect, she said, it appears that more action — not just from World Health, but from the entire world — would have been better. "Had action occurred earlier, perhaps we would have seen a greater control of the outbreak earlier, as we are now seeing much more effective response," Ms. Harris said. "We are getting closer to ending the outbreak in these countries.” Ms. Harris said it was pointless to play the blame game. She noted that World Health has set up an independent review to evaluate the agency’s response to the ebola outbreak. When that is completed, she said, World Health will have a better sense of what worked well, what didn't and what needs to be changed. Pope tells Naples crowd to reject local mafia By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Tens of thousands of people greeted Pope Francis Saturday in Italy’s impoverished south, where he addressed issues of organized crime and corruption. Francis told residents in Scampia, a run-down neighborhood of Naples dominated by Camorra, the regional mafia, that "the lack of work is stealing our dignity." "The most difficult problem is not having the possibility to bring home the bread, to earn it," the pontiff said. "And when you can't earn your bread, you lose your dignity." Youth unemployment is high in places like Scampia, where many end up working as drug couriers or extortionists for the Naples-based crime syndicate. Francis also called on members of organized crime to abandon violence and exploitation and stop the "tears of the mothers of Naples." Later, in a Mass at Piazza del Plebiscito, the main square of Naples, Francis urged Neapolitans to react firmly to organizations that exploit young people and the poor. "Resist with determination the organizations that exploit and corrupt the young, who exploit and corrupt the poor and the weak with the cynical business of drug-dealing and other crimes," he said. "Don't let them steal your hope." Francis had lunch with about 120 inmates at the overcrowded Poggioreale prison in Naples, where 2,500 inmates are squeezed into a space intended for about half that number. EU asylum applicants soar by 44 percent By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The number of asylum applicants to European Union member states increased by 44 percent in 2014, reaching 626,000. The data on asylum seekers, published in a report issued by Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union, show that 191,000 more people applied for asylum in European countries in 2014 than in the previous year. Syrian refugees topped the chart, rising to 122,800 from 50,000 in 2013. More than 70,000 Syrians applied for refuge in Germany and Sweden alone. Afghani emigrants were the second-largest group with 41,300 asylum applicants seeking protection in the EU. Kosovo came in third, at 37,900, more than half of whom applied in Hungary. Meanwhile, the EU is planning measures to intercept refugees in the Mediterranean. As summer approaches, a large number of refugees are expected to arrive in Europe by sea, especially from the conflict-ridden countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Egypt and Tunisia have offered help to the EU by intercepting the refugees on the Mediterranean Sea and taking them to their own ports. Several human rights organizations, including the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have criticized EU countries for not taking in enough refugees. |
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2015 and may
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, March 23, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 57 | |||||||||
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It’s a bucolic scene: Crops in a flat field ripening in the sun. Cows lying in the shade of the trees. It could be Kansas or Iowa except for that darn
What do we put in the garden? Well, just about anything that doesn’t need a frosty night or two to produce fruit. That leaves out some things we love, things like peaches, pears, blueberries, and apples. It also leaves out that wonderful Iowa sweet corn because, as it turns out, sweet corn needs 14 to 16 hours of sun a day to ripen, and we only have 12 here. Far away, at the University of Hawaii in Hilo, they have developed a short day sweet corn intended for places like Costa Rica. (If you get to Hawaii, buy a pound or two for me?) Of course, that still leaves us with quite a few things to plant. In fact, we can plant just about everything else and have expectations of a crop. It just depends on where and when we plant. Trial and error is a good teacher only a little slow. Take black raspberries (aka blackcaps), for example. In the States, I grew them in full sun. Here I grow them in partial shade because the ones I put in the sun grew and produced very poorly. Now that they have been moved to a spot with afternoon shade, they are making berries like mad. It’s like that in Costa Rica. The garden rules you learned elsewhere just don’t seem to apply. Can you grow lettuce here? Yes, but mostly the leafy kind if you are at lower altitudes. Tomatoes? Yes, but protect them from too much rain. Sugar snap peas? Sure, but only when the time is right and they are protected from the afternoon sun. Peppers? Just about any time and anywhere…. Come to think about it, you are going to need more than one spot for a veggie garden.  Plant of the Day
Epidendrum radicans, the
crucifix or rainbow orchid, is a glorious roadside weed here in Costa
Rica and other parts of Central America. It is a terrestrial
orchid with a long stem and lightly held white roots that can be 25 cm
(10 inches) long. The roots don’t bury themselves in the soil but
rest lightly on top of it and are easily bruised. The
inflorescences I have seen have produced up to five flowers each
2.5-3.5 cm long (1-1 ½ inches). They are varied in color
with yellows and oranges predominating. A lovely addition to any
garden.If you would like to suggest a topic for this column, simply send a letter to the editor. And, for more garden tips, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arenal-Gardeners/413220712106845 |
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| From Page 7: Annual arts festival going to cantons By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Festival Internacional de las Artes 2015 will be from April 23 to May 3 this year. The sites will be the cantons of Acosta, Alajuelita, Aserrí and Desamparados. Schools, churches, theaters and other locations in the cantons have been selected as venues for the festival events. A full program is expected to be released Tuesday. Much of the activity will be centered on the Parque de la Libertad in Desamparados. Some 110 Costa Rican artists and 10 international artists have been scheduled. |
