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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 1, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 64
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 Ministerio de Cutura y
Juventud
This was the procession in
Liberia this week on Palm Sunday.Bands have
big roles this week
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Banda de San José will present a concert of religious music tonight at 6:30 in the Catedral Metropolitana. The Banda de Guanacaste also will perform tonight at 7 o'clock in the Nicoya Catholic church. The municipal bands have major roles during Semana Santa, the Ministerio de Cutura y Juventud noted. The local bands participate in many of the religious processions. Residents of Alajuela, Heredia, Liberia and Puntarenas will see their local concert bands participating in the traditional procession for the burial of Jesus Christ Friday afternoon. There also are processions in some communities Friday morning, and every parish will participate in a procession of resurrection Sunday morning. The Banda de Guanacaste will march in Liberia that day, the ministry said. Costa Rica has its own funeral march that was composed in 1882. It is “El duelo de la Patria,” written by Rafael Chaves. Most bands play this during the religious processions Friday. Money allocated for Chorotega farmers By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The national emergency commission is allocating 653 million colons to purchase agricultural supplies in the Chorotega region of Guanacaste. The money is suppose to benefit 3,300 persons, mostly farmers and fishermen who have been affected by a prolonged drought. The amount is about $1.24 million. The commission said it expects to use the money for seeds, herbicides and fertilizer for producers of sugar, rice, onions, coffee, sugar cane and ornamental plants. The Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganaderí sought the funds. The El Niño phenomenon is expected to strengthen during the second half of the year bringing more drought to the region. A second plan is in the works for producers in the central Pacific, the agency said. Cruz Roja planning benefit run/walk By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Cruz Roja will benefit from an April 12 walk and run at La Sabana. The rescue agency receives the 10,000-colon registration fee. Participants have a choice of a five-kilometer or 10-kilometer run or just a walk. The rescue agency is celebrating 130 years of existence, and the walk and run is part of the scheduled events. Signups can be done online HERE! There's no AAA in the Gulf of Nicoya By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Having a vehicle breakdown on the Interamericana is bad enough, but how about a boat? That happened to one private operator Monday in the Gulf of Nicoya near an island called Pan de Azúcar. The pleasure craft, "El Gibor," had suffered mechanical trouble, said the Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas. There were nine persons from children to seniors aboard, said crewmen. The craft had to be towed to nearby Caldera for repairs, said the Servicio Nacional. 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. •
The Municipalidad de Palmares said that it would enforce the
dry law next Thursday and Friday, April 2 and April 3.
•
The Municipalidad de
Montes de Oca will be open Monday, March 30, and Tuesday, March
31. Then the municipal offices close until April 6.The canton also will enforce the Easter dry law April 2 and April 3, Holy Thursday and Friday. •
The Municipalidad de Nicoya
will not enforce the dry law.•
A.M. Costa Rica will
not be published Friday, April 3.•
The Caja
Costarricense de Seguro Social will only offer hospital and
emergency services April 2 and 3. Employees in many areas that re not
directlyinvolved with the public will be closed all of Semna Santa, but
financial and adminstraive officers will be open Monday, March 30,
through Wednesday, April 1.•
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church lists servicesBy 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. •
Escazú Christian Fellowship By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Escazú Christian Fellowship plans a Maundy Thursday service that includes voluntary foot washing following the details in the Gospel of John. The congregation also plans a Good Friday liturgy starting at noon and what is being described as a Stations of the Forest Saturday at 9 a.m. at a rural location. There also is an Easter Sunday 7 a.m. service at Parque La Sabana and one at 5 p.m. at the church.
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and may
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 1, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 64 | |
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| Teens held in separate cases of armed robbery and a murder
in Aserrí |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Two more juveniles have been detained in the investigation of separate major crimes. In multiple raids Tuesday morning in Agua Caliente y Cartago Centro a 17 year old came into police custody. He is suspected of being a member of a band of robbers who may have stuck up some 29 locations in the area, mainly Cartago. A 27 year old also was detained. In Aserrí judicial investigators detained a 15 year old who is involved in a murder case stemming from a Sunday robbery. |
The robbery
victim did not stop when bandits ordered him to do
so, and he was shot fatally in the back. A 23 year old also was
detained
in the 4 a.m. raids, said the Judicial Investigating Organization. The youth and the man detained in Cartago are suspected of being members of a larger gang that preyed on all sorts of businesses. The gang worked from 3 p.m. to midnight and would burst into shops and stores wearing masks. Agents said that the raids involved six stickups, but that many more were under investigation. |
| Swarm of quakes keeps the ground shaking near Vara Blanca |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Quake experts say that the Vara Blanca region in Heredia experienced an even dozen seismic events Tuesday morning between 2:51 and 6:08 a.m. The most significant was one at 3:09 a.m. that was felt in much of the central part of the country. The Red Sismológica Nacional said that the quakes ranged from that 5.0 magnitude quake at 3:09 a.m. to one at 2.3 magnitude at 6:09 a.m. The Red called 10 of the quakes aftershocks. The cause was believed to be a local fault system. A.M. Costa Rica reported the 3:09 a.m. quake to be 4.7 magnitude in Tuesday's newspaper based on an estimate from the Laboratorio de Ingeniería Sísmic at the Universidad de Costa Rica. Several agencies having slightly different estimates is not unusual. The Laboratorio also reported another quake at 11:05 a.m. This was estimated at 4.5 magnitude. The epicenter was reported to be 10.4 kilometers northeast of Zapotal de San Ramón. There also were several moderate quakes in the 4.5-magnitude range off the northwestern coast of Costa Rica Tuesday. |
 Red Sismológica Nacional map
Orange dots are the locations of
the Tuesday quakes, and the blue dots are estimated epicenters of
quakes over the last two weeks.The Red reported 353 quakes in March, but most were not strong enough to be felt by humans. One was March 18 just seven kilometers east of Vara Blanca. That was estimated at 3.7 magnitude. |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 1, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 64 | |||||
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| New Facebook app lets users start to track their genetic
past |
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By the University of Michigan news staff
Have you ever wondered if your dad's fight with prostate cancer means you could face the same reality? Perhaps your family has several members who have struggled with obesity and you wonder if it's something you inherited or if it's caused by the environment. Maybe you have always wanted to learn where your ancestors came from beyond the basic paper trail. Good news: researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health have an app for that. A new project that officially launched Tuesday called Genes for Good gives participants the chance to learn more about their health, behavior and ancestors. In return, those who fully participate provide genetics researchers with valuable data that can be used to better understand the origins of disease, which could lead one day to better treatments, prevention and cures. "It's really a research study that offers us a chance to engage with lots of people and get better information on behavior, environment and so on," said Goncalo Abecasis, chairman of the School of Public Health's Department of Biostatistics. Genes for Good uses a Facebook app. Users fill out various health and behavior surveys. Once a certain amount of data is submitted each participant is sent a spit kit to use to provide a saliva sample for genetic analysis. "Facebook is a place where people already spend considerable time," Abecasis said. "We put a very short question in Facebook streams to remind people to submit information. We hope people will find it engaging and stick with it." Scott Vrieze, a co-investigator at the university before becoming an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, said this approach to providing genetic information to people is different from the commercial products. "We're a research group, not a company, so our goals involve scientific understanding, not profit," he said. "More concretely, participants can have their DNA analyzed, with |
the results
of that analysis, their genotype, returned to them
free of cost. Participants can also track components of their health
and activity over time and compare themselves to others in the study." The data collected through various questionnaires and results from the saliva samples will give genetic researchers more information to build on existing data. Abecasis and his lab have been involved in numerous genetic studies, and their work has contributed to a better understanding of diabetes, heart disease, addiction, obesity, macular degeneration, psoriasis and more. Vrieze said that even though they are using a very public program, the user's personal data is secure. "While Genes for Good is available through Facebook, it's important to note that Facebook or any other social media platform does not have access to the information participants provide," he said. "Everything is done through encryption directly with a secure University of Michigan server. "Science has always been a social endeavor, but traditionally only for researchers. Facebook and other social media platforms are simple ways to engage large numbers of people and, if those people like it, they can immediately share with friends and families." Like all apps in Facebook, however, privacy settings within the program determine if friends or the public are aware that the participant is using the app. Vrieze said "understanding the genetics of complex behaviors and diseases will benefit immensely from massive samples of dedicated participants." An eventual goal is to make the platform and resulting data widely available to the scientific community at no cost, so that others may develop new measures or new analyses. Personal identifiers, such as names and phone numbers, will not be shared. Participants can choose to do the profile only, but those who provide a saliva sample will get information on ancestry and their genetic profile. |
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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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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contents of
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2015 and may
not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 1, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 64 | |||||||
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| New Indiana law reflects cultural changes in U.S. By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
America has experienced a sea of change in attitudes in the last decade, to the point where more than two-thirds of U.S. states now allow homosexuals to get married. And so the focus of the fight has shifted, from whether gays and lesbians have the right to marry to whether businesses, such as wedding photographers and caterers, that are owned by dissenters should be required to serve same-sex couples. “It stems in part from opponents of same-sex marriage realizing the trajectory that marriage equality is on right now,” said Sarah Posner of the online magazine Religion Dispatches, “and they’re looking for ways to, in their words, maintain their own religious beliefs, practices, in the face of a changing culture.” Indiana’s state government triggered a nationwide controversy by approving a law that critics say is aimed at allowing discrimination against gays and lesbians. Indiana Senate Bill 101 was signed into law March 26 by Gov. Mike Pence, in the presence of leaders from different faiths. The bill was promoted mainly by conservative Christian groups and was based on a 1993 federal statute, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was initially meant to protect religious minorities. It grew out of the desire to safeguard a Native American ritual involving an outlawed psychedelic substance, the peyote plant. The act initially was meant to shield religious practices from government intrusion, but critics say Indiana lawmakers expanded it in a way that will allow businesses to turn away same-sex couples. Pence called a news conference Tuesday to deny the allegation. “Clearly, there’s been misunderstanding and confusion and mischaracterization of this law,” he said. But he added that if the law does “create the impression that businesses have the right to turn away customers for sexual orientation or any other reason, we're going to fix that." The religious-freedom argument also has been employed by conservatives to roll back a part of President Barack Obama’s health care reform. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that private companies don’t have to provide coverage for contraceptives as required under Obamacare, in a case brought by the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores, which is owned by an evangelical Christian family, as well as a Mennonite woodworking factory. That case was argued by the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a law firm that also has represented clients under religious freedom laws, which have been adopted in 20 states. The firm’s executive director, Kristina Arriaga, said that so far, all of the cases that have been brought by wedding photographers and bakers not wanting to serve same-sex couples have lost in court. “So this idea that for some reason the Indiana law is a magic wand where religious people would automatically be in the right, and would win the case, is just not true,” she said. But the Indiana controversy underscores that in America, religious liberty can mean different things to different people. Conservatives like Ms. Arriaga say it’s about practicing your faith anytime and anywhere. “You should be able to live according to your deeply held convictions whether you’re at work or at home, not only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, but also on Wednesdays,” she said. The other view is that sometimes people have to be protected from religion. “Liberals are in favor of protecting religious freedom robustly, when people’s religious freedom is infringed upon by government action,” said Ms. Posner, the journalist. “They are not in favor of expanding that type of protection when it has a negative impact on third parties.” On April 28, the Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments on whether state governments can ban same-sex marriage. Thirteen states have passed such bans. If the court strikes them down, the line between one American’s religious freedom and another’s civil rights may get even harder to define. Coming U.S. diversity seen as positive change By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
America’s demographics are changing like never before. In less than 30 years, whites will no longer be the racial majority in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by 2045, the United States will have a population of some 389 million people. And for the first time in the nation’s history, the majority of people living in the U.S. will be non-white. “This new diversity boom that we’re seeing right now will be every bit as important for our country in the decades ahead as the baby boom was in the last half of the 20th century,” said demographer William Frey of the Brookings Institution. “We know that the baby boom has changed the country in lots of ways, popular culture, changing values about all kinds of social issues, families, women’s roles and politics. And I think this diversity boom is going to have just as big of an impact. We’ll be a very different country and we’re only just beginning to see the start of it,” said Frey. Hispanics, who now total some 52 million people, are expected to remain the largest minority group in the United States for decades to come. Despite an influx of undocumented immigrants from Latin America to the United States during the past 20 years, the rise in the number of Hispanics is driven mainly by birth. Latinos account for much of the population growth in major cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. But they also are moving into rural areas, where currently there are relatively few Hispanics. There are more than 16 million Asians in the United States. America’s fast growing minority group, Asians live largely in major metropolitan areas. By 2045, this growth is expected to be due to U.S. births rather than immigration. And as with all of the nation’s ethnic minorities, many middle-class Asians are moving to the suburbs of major cities. The more than 40 million African Americans in the U.S. make up the nation’s oldest ethnic minority group. “We’ve seen now in the last 20 years a black migration back to the South,” said demographer Frey. “Blacks left the South 100 years ago during the days of high discrimination and the decline of the cotton industry, and the growth of jobs in the Northeast and Midwest.” “But that’s all turned around as the South has become more prosperous. So states like Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and Florida are big gainers of African Americans. In the future, I think, the South will still be predominated by African Americans as the major group, even though the South is getting more Hispanics and Asians. On the West Coast, it will be more of a Hispanic and Asian confluence. And in the Midwest and Northeast, it will be some mix of all of those groups,” said Frey. By 2045, Hispanics, Asians and African Americans are expected to grow from more than a third of the population to a little more than half of the people living in the United States. “The degree of cultural diversity that this introduces to this country is rather like the cultural diversity we had in the 19th century, and for that matter in the 18th century at the time of founding,” observed American Enterprise Institute political scientist Charles Murray. In many ways, according to Murray, diversity has been a positive force throughout America history. “We used to have radically different ways of life among different groups in this country. And the 20th century was something of an anomaly in this regard as we saw an increasingly homogeneous culture with the rise of mass media,” Murray said. “In many ways, I think the America of the 21st century with its increased cultural diversity is going to look familiar to historians of America. And in that respect, it’s as American as apple pie.” A few decades ago, many analysts warned that these demographic trends would lead to a balkanization of America. However, most experts now agree that U.S. culture and assimilation will reinforce America’s national character, particularly as the rate of interracial marriage grows. In 1960, multiracial marriages accounted for only 0.4 percent of all marriages in the United States. By 2010, that figure rose to 8.4 percent, with interracial couples accounting for 15 percent of all new marriages, a trend that experts say will only continue. “To some degree, immigrants change America. But America also changes immigrants,” said Pitzer College political scientist Adrian Pantoja. “The strengths of the English language, American culture and symbols and history and values – those are adopted very quickly among immigrant populations,” said Pantoja, who is an expert on immigrant and Hispanic politics in the United States. “There’s overwhelming data that shows that by the second generation, the Spanish language is practically gone. The children of immigrants are English-dominant. By the third generation, the Spanish language is essentially nonexistent. So those assimilationist forces have been alive and well since the founding of this country.” “We have a nation that’s built not on blood ties, but that’s built on ideas and ideals,” added Tamar Jacoby, president and CEO of ImmigrationWorks USA, a national federation of small business owners working to promote better immigration laws. “Those ideals are freedom, the individual, democracy, equality and opportunity. And those are pretty powerful things. And we’ve come to live in ways that exemplify those ideals, and people find that way of living very attractive. And that’s why people want to come here. People come, and they succeed, and they like it.” Black America is called a tale of two nations By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The National Urban League has described this year's "State of Black America" report as a tale of two nations. The group's annual report, released in March, found that under an equality index African Americans had only 72 percent parity compared to whites in areas such as education, economics, health, social justice and civic engagement. It’s a gap that educators and students at Brooklyn’s Medgar Evers College are looking to close. Medgar Evers College, whose student body is nearly 90 percent black, is filled with hard-working students fulfilling their degree requirements. But unlike their white peers, African Americans overall are statistically much more likely to be unemployed, according to findings from the 2015 "State of Black America" report by the National Urban League. Despite annual increases in high school graduation and college attendance rates, unemployment figures for blacks are as high as 20 percent in seven of the country's largest cities. The current national unemployment rate is 5.5 percent. "The recession is, over, except that the recession is still raging in many urban communities," said Urban League President Marc Morial. The study links education and joblessness, says Morial. He points to the 36 percent national proficiency gap between blacks and whites in math and reading as a major indicator of future inequality. “The United States must close the gaps, must close the achievement gap, must close the jobs gap. It is essential to America’s economic competitiveness in the 21st Century," he said. Medgar Evers College, which hosted the report’s release, is taking proactive steps to make sure graduates are ready for the workplace. “More and more we’re having everything from career days to a real focus on the network, if you will, that it takes not just to enter your chosen career but to really get the job that you want," said Medgar Evers College President Rudy Crew. College senior Shemroy Primo interned with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office to make himself a more attractive candidate for law schools. He says he was disappointed but not surprised by the study’s findings. “But as a black man, it’s really hard out there in the job market. I went to high school in Brooklyn, East New York, so I have a lot of friends who are really looking up to me and really proud of me because I’ve taken a different route, I’ve gone to college. I’m a senior, I’m a rising senior, and I plan to go to law school," said Primo. However, the Urban League study indicates there is still employment bias. “One thing that was troubling was that even when a black person had the same academic background, the unemployment rates seems to be still higher for black Americans. People ask me why and I think it is the presence still of exclusion and discrimination in the work force to some extent," said Morial. Because of this, Primo says he must work twice as hard to earn a spot in the workplace. Blogger in Bangladesh murdered for his atheism By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The stabbing death of an atheist Bangladeshi blogger in Dhaka a month after the killing of a prominent Bangladeshi-American author highlights the growing threat facing critics of religious fundamentalism in the South Asian nation. Three men attacked Washiqur Rahman Babu, 27, with meat cleavers in front of his house Monday in Dhaka. Two people caught two of the assailants as they fled and handed them over to the police. Passersby rushed Babu to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he was declared dead. Police, who said the two captured suspects are students at religious schools, are searching for the third attacker. The two suspects told police that they had not read exactly what Babu had written against Islam, but that they had attacked him because their religious teacher had told them that he was anti-Islam in his writing. The online news portal Bangladesh Pratidin quoted police officials as saying the suspects said it was their responsibility as Muslim believers to kill him. Police believe Babu, who worked with a travel agency in Dhaka as an information technology trainer, was killed because of his Facebook posts. Babu was a member of at least eight Facebook groups, including "Atheist Bangladesh," "Banglar Charlie" ("Charlie Hebdo of Bangladesh" in Bangla) and the online discussion site "Logical Forum." Imran H. Sarker, who leads the Blogger and Online Activist Network in Bangladesh, said Babu was a secular and progressive free thinker who criticized extremist and irrational beliefs in his writing. Now, he says, people like Babu are the targets of many religious militants. "By increasing killer attacks on the bloggers and other free thinkers, they have launched a war against secular forces and are promoting political Islam with an aim to turn Bangladesh into a theocratic state," Sarker said. "It is indeed worrying the way militant Islamist groups are growing in our country day by day. "They know the government will not bother to address the issue of the attacks on the secular bloggers and writers," he added. "So, the militants have been out to kill the defenseless community with impunity. They want to create fear among the bloggers. They are aiming to frighten them into silence." The attack on Babu comes as Bangladesh has been reeling through a political stalemate. The leading opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party continues its nationwide transportation blockade, demanding immediate national elections. The government rejects the demand. The standoff that began in January has fueled political violence leading to more than 100 deaths, with a sense of insecurity growing across the country. After the murders of some bloggers and authors in Bangladesh, some Islamists said in social media they had been punished because they had humiliated and ridiculed Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. On Feb. 26, the day Bangladeshi-American atheist blogger and author Avijit Roy was hacked to death in Dhaka, Babu paid tribute to him by taking the hashtag “#IamAvijit” as his Facebook profile picture with a slogan “words cannot be killed” on it. In a part of his Facebook posting after Roy’s killing, Babu wrote that Islam should be destroyed. "Killing of one Avijit Roy will lead to the birth of 100,000 Avijit Roys," Babu wrote. "We will not stop writing until your blind faith is dead." Using the name Bismay Balak (Amazing Boy), one writer responded with a warning, "You will be killed." Mohammad Zim Nawaz, a follower of Bangladeshi blogs, said he believes Babu’s display of solidarity with Roy and call for destruction of Islam last month might have led to Monday’s fatal attack. It "might have led some crazy Islamists to engineer his murder. But, you can never kill someone just because his view hurts you," said India-based Nawaz, who professes to be religious. "Sadly, in Bangladesh some fanatics are misinterpreting the tenets of Islam and resorting to activities which are simply un-Islamic." Abbas Faiz, a Bangladesh researcher at Amnesty International, said the attacks on bloggers will not stop unless authorities convince perpetrators that they will be caught and punished. No one as yet has been arrested for Roy's murder. "The lack of prosecutions on these types of cases, even after investigations are carried out, sends a message that these barbaric actions are tolerated," Faiz said. "The despicable murder of Avijit Roy last month should have led authorities to step up protection measures for bloggers and others at risk," he said. "The killing of Washiqur Rahman … is another clear example of the Bangladeshi government’s utter failure to ensure the safety of those at risk. "How many more bloggers will have to be attacked before action is taken?" Asian demand for wheat likely to continue for years By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Asia’s growing middle class is stimulating demand for grains, especially wheat-based foods. The increase in demand is a consequence of changes in the tastes and diets of this segment of the Asian economy and marks a boon for wheat exporters such as Australia and the United States. Recent analysis indicates the demand for wheat-based food will continue in the years ahead, posing challenges for the global food industry. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says by 2030 two thirds of the global middle class, or 3.3 billion people, will be living in Asia, with China accounting for the largest share from just 1.8 billion now. Major changes are already afoot in the food industry. The higher incomes offer the growing middle class greater choices from traditional food staples such as rice. And a marked increase in demand for wheat-based foods comes as demand for rice, appears to be flattening on a per capita basis. Australian Greg Harvey, managing director of Singapore-based flour miller, Interflour Group, says the outlook is positive for wheat and grain-based food products across Asia. “You have a growing middle class population with high disposable income driving the demand for grain-based food products, more red meat protein and dairy products growth," he explained. ". . . the middle class in Asia estimated to grow six times over the next 20 years and Africa, Middle East is to grow one and half to two times over the next 20 years.” The change in consumption patterns is apparent in malls and supermarkets. Nick Reitmeier, a vice president at Thailand’s Central Food Retail group, says changes in tastes are evident amid greater demand for what he calls Westernized food. “Bread is one of the key factors. We are selling a lot of sour dough bread today," he said. "And most Asian people have really liked the taste of it. In the bakery even specialty bread where they use different flour from Austria, purple wheat flour, Japanese flour, a huge demand for flour as well as bread mixes.” The International Grains Council's latest forecast is for global wheat production to rise to 719 million metric tons over 2014-15. Australia is a leader in wheat exports to Asia, with competition from the United States, Canada and countries of the Black Sea, including Turkey and the Ukraine. In its annual forecasts released in March, The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences forecast Australia’s grain and oilseed production to rise over the next five years to over 42 million tons. The current national wheat crop is likely to be more than 24 million tons, with 18 million tons worth $4.5 billion bound for export. Ron Storey, a consultant with Australian Crop Forecasters, says changing food tastes are driving the demand. “That shift from the bowl of rice across to chicken and pork and more dairy products is what’s happening and that appears to be what’s driving the demand," he said. "One of the real questions from a supply side is the capacity of the different origins of grain production to be able to meet that demand over the next 10 to 20 year period.” Wheat traders say Australia’s exports will be unable to meet the rising demand, leaving the way open for increased sales from the Black Sea region into Asia. Currently in Asia, pasta occupies a major portion of the milled flour market, especially in regions such as Indonesia, but bread is the fastest growing segment. In China, more coarse grain imports are targeting rising demand for malting barley for beer production. Feed grain sales also to China are increasing for the meat industry. Australia’s wheat export industry was deregulated in 2008, leaving individual wheat exporters greater capacity to target changing market demands in Asia, says Rosemary Richards, the executive officer for the Australian Grain Exporters Association. "Take Indonesia, which is Australia’s biggest wheat market. There used to be six to 10 major mills in that market. Today there’s I think 160 mills. So the market has become more fragmented," she said. "There’s a lot more customers. There’s new customers. So just as our industry has changed in terms of being deregulated and having more exporters operating in the market, so have our customers.” In Asia changing patterns of consumption are being mirrored in the food processing industries, as millers and food producers move to tailor support to meet the middle classes’ increasing and changing food demands. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 1, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 64 | |||||||||
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 A.M. Costa Rica/Gladys Montealegre
A motorist who might not have wanted
to get dog hair inside the car
put his pet in a happy face bag and strapped it to the vehicle's spare tire. Call center will field tax questions By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The nation's tax agency said Tuesday that its call center service soon would cover all of Costa Rica. The call center has been in operation since February 2014, and services Cartago, the southern zone, San José and Limón. The Dirección General de Tributación said the center handles calls, text messages and emails. Selected questions are posted on the agency's Web site, an announcement said. Telephone numbers for the agency and regional offices are HERE! The email for tax questions is infoyasistencia@hacienda.go.cr The system is modeled after a similar one in Spain, and the Agencia Española de Administración Tributaria has provided help here, Tributación said. Operators at the call center are reported to have been trained in working with the various computer programs that the agency is now requiring taxpayers to use. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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2015 and may
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| From
Page 7: Ad Astra receives contract from NASA By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Ad Astra Rocket Co. and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space administration have announced a $10 million agreement. Ad Astra is developing a plasma rocket for space flight. The Costa Rican-U.S. astronaut Franklin Chang Díaz heads the 10-year-old company, which has offices in Texas and a lab in Liberia. The agreement was one of 12 that were awarded after a competitive process, said the space agency. Ad Astra will continue development of its rocket to the point where it can run for at least 100 hours, the firm said. The rocket has been tested thousands of times but for a minute or less, the firm said. Plasma rockets feature exhaust velocities far above those achievable by their chemical cousins, so their fuel consumption is extremely low, the firm said. Plasma, an electrically charged gas, can be heated to extreme temperatures by radio waves and controlled and guided by strong magnetic fields, said the firm. The magnetic field also insulates nearby structures so exhaust temperatures well beyond the melting point of materials can be achieved, it added. Ad Astra has been operating on some $30 million of private capital, the firm said. |
