Theft at university leaves
one suspect dead, one hurt


A theft turned deadly at the Universidad de Costa Rica Saturday, according to the Fuerza Pública.  Men who were burglarizing the offices of Programa de Investigación en Desarrollo Urbano Sostenible were cut short when university security guards arrived, said Olman Gómez Martínez, chief of Fuerza Pública operations in Montes de Oca.

As the thieves entered the university offices, a silent alarm warned campus security officers, said Gómez. “The university has tons of officers, more than four arrived at the scene, and even more arrived later,” said Gómez. As the thieves fled in a car, there was an interchange of shots, said Gómez. It is unclear if all the thieves were armed, said Gómez.

A driver, who was shot, crashed his car about 300 meters from the offices, said Gómez. One of the suspects died later in the hospital, and the other is in stable condition, added Gómez. A third suspect escaped, he said.

Fuerza Pública agents arrived as the action was playing out, said Gómez. “It happened very fast — everything in about 5 minutes,” he added. The case has been turned over to the Judicial Investigation Organization for investigation, said Gómez. 
 
Heredia man is detained
on child porn complaint


Police arrested a man they suspect took pornographic photos of children and posted them on a Web page, according to a security spokesman.

After more than a month of investigation in the child pornography case, officers from the Dirección de Investigaciones Especializadas detained a suspect in Heredia Friday. The man has the last name of Acuña, and numerous complaints have been filed against him, said the security spokesman.

Officers found a variety of cameras and computer disks in Acuña's home and a nearby house, both in Milpa, Heredia, said a spokesman from the security ministry. Officers also sized a computer hard drive, said the spokesman.

In an unrelated case, a 50-year old French man and his Costa Rican girlfriend, 22, are suspects of rape and sexual exploitation, said a judicial spokeswoman Friday.

Agents from the Judicial Investigation Organization in Ciudad Neilly began an investigation when a victim accused the couple of rape. The suspects ran a cosmetics store which also served as an Internet café and video rental store in San Vito, Coto Brus, said the judicial spokeswoman. Agents seized pornographic videos and photo albums along with two video cameras and computers, said the judicial spokeswoman.  

Dead man wrongly held,
defense office contends


A prisoner committed suicide just minutes before lawyers presented his habeas corpus plea before the Corte Suprema de Justicia, said a judicial spokesperson Friday. Now, the public defender's office says he shouldn't have been there in the first place.

The man, Julio César Vargas Hernández, was in a holding cell at the Judicial Investigation Organization in Alajuela when he killed himself, according to a judicial spokesperson. Vargas' detainment was “illegitimate,” said a spokesman from the government public defenders office.

Cool weather does not dash
warming theory, U.N. says


The long-term trend of global warming is continuing, despite the current La Niña weather phenomenon that is bringing relatively cooler temperatures to parts of the Equatorial Pacific region, the United Nations World Meteorological Organization said Friday.

Worldwide temperatures this year are expected to be above the long-term average, even though La Niña is also likely to persist through to the middle of 2008, the organization said in a press statement issued in Geneva.

Parts of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean have experienced significantly cooler sea-surface temperatures in recent months, the organization reported, and cooling has also been recorded over China, Central Asia, Turkey and the Middle East.  But Australia, Scandinavia, Russia, the western United States, Mexico, north-eastern Brazil and the southern part of South America have generally experienced higher-than-average temperatures since last December, the organization said.