|
|
A.M.
Costa Rica
Your daily English-language news source Monday through Friday |
 |
| (506) 2223-1327 |
Published
Friday, April 15,
2016, in Vol. 17, No. 74
|
Email us |
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|
Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for more details |
|
|
|
San José,
Costa Rica, Friday, April 15,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 74
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
The rainy season is not supposed to start in the Central Valley and much of the Pacific coast for a few more weeks. But there have been previews. The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional issued a typical rainy season forecast Thursday night. It said that there would be hot, clear weather in the morning today that would generate cloudy skies in the afternoon from the mountains of Limón to the Nicoya Peninsula. And these clouds might mean isolated downpours and some heavy showers in the afternoon. This forecast most likely will be the same over the weekend with hot mornings and threatening clouds in the afternoon. The south Pacific coast and the mountains of the central Pacific saw downpours Thursday, the weather institute reported. Thunderstorms mean lightning, and this is the time of year when expats consider how they will protect their electronics. There is no better solution than unplugging everything when a storm approaches. And that includes those cordless telephones that need electrical connections.
Just commerce food fair to open today By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
More food products are going on display today at the Antiqua Aduana. The exposition is supported by the Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura, and five production organizations plan to display chocolate, honey, coffee and other Costa Rican products. The exhibition runs through Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The inauguration today is at noon. The Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación said that only 31 percent of such firms have a local marketing strategy, even though that is necessary. The exhibition also focuses on what is called comercio justo or just commerce, which is similar to the fair trade concept with coffee. The idea is to see that all in the chain of production, including small producers, receive equal benefit, said the institute. The organizations involved are Alianza, Coopevictoria R.L., Coopeassa R.L, Choco Prisma and Apoya. The Antigua Aduana is on Calle 23 in east San José adjacent to the Iglesia Santa Teresita. The event is called the V Feria del Gustito. Air France plans two high season flights By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
Air France said Thursday that it would put on two direct flights a week from Paris to San José starting in November for the high season. The flights will use a Boeing 777-300 that accommodates 468 passengers. The flights will be on Wednesdays and Saturdays, according to the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo. A flight will leave Charles de Gaulle at 1:45 p.m. local time and arrive in Costa Rica at 6:10 p.m. local time. The craft will leave Juan Santamaría airport at 8:40 p.m. and arrive in Paris at 1:50 p.m. the following day.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this
Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Ro
Colorado S.A 2065 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 |
||
|
San José,
Costa Rica, Friday, April
15, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 74
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| Celebrations to mark the 400th anniversaries of literary giants' deaths | |
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Even English speakers who have not read William Shakespeare are influenced by his work each day. The same is true for Spanish speakers and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Both giants of literature died in 1616. Cervantes died April 22, and Shakespeare died the next day. The 400th anniversaries of their deaths are being celebrated around the world. The works of both authors have become standards in other languages and nations. The Sistema Nacional de Bibliotecas will celebrate Cervantes April 23, which has been designated as the World Book and Copyright Day. There will be activities at the nation’s public libraries. The Centro Cultural de España in Costa Rica and the Centro Cultural Británico plan a celebration the same day at the Spanish cultural center in Barrio Escalante. The event is called 16/16 to note that both authors died in 1616. The works of both will be presented. Cervantes, author of “El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha,” is considered the world’s most famous novelist. He wrote others after “Quijote” gained fame, but none has transcended it. Shakespeare is the playwright who cranked out script after script, usually on deadline. His storylines usually came from earlier works, including some from the Greek classics. Cervantes’s hero, Quijote, frequently can be identified with those who seek to do good and change the world for the better. His sidekick, Sancho Panza, is more practical. The depiction of tilting at windmills mistaken for giants is a classic. There even is a Broadway musical. Shakespeare takes a little work because the language also is 400 years old. In most cases, the many plays are best seen rather than read. The subject matter of his plays sometimes has caused more modern authors to redo them and make substantial changes. There even was a “Romeo and Juliet” with a happy ending. And even today, the casting of a love |
 Sistema Nacional de
Bibliotecas graphic
An early copy of 'Don Quijote."interest as a 13 year old rubs some the wrong way. Thanks to YouTube, most of the works are at the touch of a click. There even is a reading of “Don Quijote” in Spanish with visible text in Spanish. There also is at least one movie. There is a lot from Shakespeare on YouTube, too. There even is a production by the The Reduced Shakespeare Co. that seeks to summarize all of the Bard’s works in one humorous performance. The gentle reader might want to skip “Titus Andronicus.” |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this
Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced
anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | ||
|
San José,
Costa Rica, Friday, April 15,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 74
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|
Second stage begins
This is the dam for the Bijagua hydroproject operated by Electrificación Rural de Guanacaste R.L. That was inaugurated Thursday. The $67 million project is expected to provide power to 21,000 homes. The dam and reservoir is in Upala, a canton of Alajuela province. This is the second stage of the project that was begun in 2008. The water for the generators comes from the Río Zapote and the Río Bijagua via tunnels. |
 Electrificación Rural de
Guanacaste RL. photo
|
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
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 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 |
 |
|
San José,
Costa Rica, Friday, April 15,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 74
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|
 |
 Voice of
America/Darren Taylor
Australian bar owner Fernando Coimbra pours another pint of beer. Glutten-free barley
means
glutten-free beer on tap By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Australian scientists say they’ve developed the world’s first World Health Organization-approved gluten-free barley, a common ingredient in beer. Developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, kebari barley has already attracted the attention of brewers. One German brewery, Radeberger, has already bought 70 tons. "Gluten-free barley will be highly sought after, with European brewers particularly interested," said John O'Brien, a brewer of gluten-free beer in Melbourne. Kebari is not genetically modified, but a result of a program of breeding out the gluten by cross-breeding low gluten barley varieties, said the research organization. It has been patented. Gluten free is one of the world's fastest growing consumer trends with the market expected to grow more than 10 percent a year until 2020 to be worth $7.59 billion. "A true gluten-free barley variety is a true game changer; there is going to be a massive market for the product," said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank. While kebari is not 100 percent gluten-free, the research organization said it had 10,000 times less gluten than traditional strains, or about 5 parts of gluten per million, well below the World Health Organization's 20 parts per million for classification as a gluten-free grain. The U.S. is expected to soon tighten regulations for brewers calling their beer gluten-free. Glutten in the diet causes health problems for people with coeliac disease and other maladies. World Bank president says offshore firms bad for poor By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said Thursday he is extremely concerned about the widespread creation of offshore companies by wealthy people around the world to evade taxes, saying it takes large sums away from governments who need the money to fight poverty. Kim told a news conference in Washington he was distressed by the scope of the offshore accounts as disclosed in the Panamá Papers, a recent report by journalists based on a massive leak of documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that for decades has helped create the companies across the globe. "If you're taking assets out of a country, it's very damaging to fighting poverty," Kim said. "We want to track down these illicit assets." Kim added, "Everyone of us has to tackle this issue." He called for more transparent tax systems around the world, because, he said, "There are systems where the rich don't pay and the poor do." He also decried the push in Europe to curb migration to the continent and the proposals by U.S. Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Rafael “Ted” Cruz to erect barriers along the U.S. southern border with Mexico to halt the flow of illegal migration, although he did not specifically name the candidates. Meanwhile, the anti-poverty group Oxfam Thursday accused the 50 biggest U.S. companies of holding about $1.4 trillion in assets in offshore accounts to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. taxes. In a wide-ranging report, Oxfam said some of the best known American corporations, including drug maker Pfizer, investment banker Goldman Sachs, retailer Walmart, technology giant Apple, the General Electric consumer products company, software manufacturer Microsoft and others, keep cash reserves overseas. The practice is legal, although the subject of occasional debate in the United States. Politically divided Washington, however, has been unable to rein in the use of the offshore accounts. Oxfam said that from 2008 to 2014, the 50 largest U.S. companies collectively received $27 in federal loans, loan guarantees and bailouts for every dollar they paid in U.S. taxes. The London-based group said 45 of the 50 companies used a network of 1,600 offshore accounts to effectively cut their U.S. tax rate to 26.5 percent, with only five paying the full 35 percent U.S. corporate rate. U.S. government both aids and warns of encryption use By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The recent announcement by mobile messaging service WhatsApp that it would begin offering end-to-end encryption made worldwide headlines. That's no surprise, given the app has approximately 1 billion users across the globe. What was surprising, and mostly unnoticed, was the role the U.S. government ultimately played in making that happen, as well as the often messy ways different parts of the same government can be seen as working at cross-purposes. WhatsApp encryption uses a protocol known as Signal, originally developed for a stand-alone encryption app by Open Whisper Systems. The head of Open Whisper Systems, the pseudonymous Moxie Marlinspike, worked to build a strong, shielded communication application. But sometime around 2012, funds began to dry up. Enter the Open Technology Fund. It's a publicly funded incubator of digital security systems run by Radio Free Asia. The fund quickly saw the uses of Signal for journalists, human rights activists and others living under authoritarian rule. In 2013, the fund gave $455,000 to Marlinspike and Open Whisper Systems. Later, in both 2014 and 2015, it funded Open Whisper with $900,000 each year, leading to a total of $2,255,000. "Clearly, Open Whisper Systems was a success," said Rohit Majahan, Radio Free Asia's head of public affairs. "It's very important for journalists and their sources, protecting the people they're talking to, as well as Internet rights advocates, human rights defenders and dissidents in countries around the world." The fund's participation in helping build and distribute encryption tools like Signal came at the same time other parts of the U.S. government, notably the FBI, began actively warning that the spread of unbreakable encryption threatens to take U.S. national security into a very dark place. The Open Technology Fund was founded in 2012 with funds provided by Congress to advance human rights and free expression on the Internet in unfree places around the world. This includes China, Iran, Sudan and many other nations ruled by authoritarian regimes. Since its founding, the fund has supported dozens of projects. Some, such as the Qubes operating system, are relatively unknown outside the cyber community, while others, like Tor, are used by untold thousands every day. There is growing debate in Washington over the appropriate uses and limits of encryption. It began in earnest two years ago when FBI Director James Comey first warned that spreading encryption on smartphones was harmful to law enforcement. "If the challenges of real-time interception threaten to leave us in the dark, encryption threatens to lead all of us to a very dark place," Comey warned. The debate moved center stage recently when the FBI went to court to press Apple to help unlock a smartphone allegedly used by San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook. While that case was dismissed after a hacker successfully found a way around the phone's security features, the Department of Justice continues to press tech firms like Apple to help gain access to encrypted devices. Front-runners have big leads, polls say of New York voting By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The two front-runners in the race for the White House, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, expect to win big in next Tuesday’s New York primary. Both contenders have deep roots in New York, and victories would give their campaigns a boost after recent setbacks. Public opinion polls give Trump a huge lead in New York, topping 50 percent of the vote in some surveys. That would give him the lion’s share of the 95 delegates at stake in New York on the Republican side on Tuesday. At this point, Trump needs to collect all the delegates he can, given the success that rival Rafael “Ted” Cruz has had in picking up the support of so-called unbound Republican delegates around the country and in local and state conventions where delegates are chosen. Trump was upset after Cruz lined up the support of delegates in Colorado and fired off a new round of salvos at the Republican establishment over rules governing delegate selection that Trump believes are unfair. “I’m millions of votes ahead, which they don’t even talk about,” Trump told a rally in the New York state capital of Albany. “They never even mention it. They talk about delegates. And I’m hundreds of delegates ahead. But, the system, folks, is rigged. It’s a rigged, disgusting, dirty system. It’s a dirty system.” Cruz fired back at Trump at a rally in Irvine, California, saying the New York billionaire is whining and is trying to bully the party and intimidate delegates. Cruz is running well behind Trump in New York as is Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has cast himself as an optimistic alternative to his two rivals. Anti-Trump forces within the Republican Party are bracing for a big Trump victory in New York on Tuesday and the possibility of more Trump triumphs April 26 when primaries are held in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. One key Republican who apparently will not be part of blocking Trump is House Speaker Paul Ryan. Ryan sought to quell speculation this week that he might be available as a compromise candidate if the Republican convention in July becomes deadlocked. “If no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, I believe that you should only choose from a person who has actually participated in the primary. Count me out,” Ryan told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference. The Democratic race in New York is a battle between two contenders with deep roots there. Front-runner Hillary Clinton represented the Empire State in the Senate, while rival Bernie Sanders was born and brought up in Brooklyn. Public opinion polls show Mrs. Clinton holding a steady lead in New York and in several surveys, it is a double-digit edge. She hopes to reverse Sanders’ recent momentum and build her lead in the delegate count. The New York campaign has intensified the competition between the two Democrats and both contenders have been more aggressive in calling out the other. “I have noticed that under the bright spotlight and scrutiny here in New York that Senator Sanders has had trouble answering questions, questions about his core issue, namely dealing with the banks,” Mrs. Clinton told reporters during a campaign swing through the New York City borough of Queens. Sanders was vague on how he would rein in the big banks in an interview with the New York Daily News. He also had to take back comments that Mrs. Clinton was not qualified to be president because of some of the corporate campaign contributions she has received. Sanders drew a crowd of more than 20,000 Wednesday night in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park, the latest indication that while he continues to trail in the delegate count, he still draws large crowds and lots of money to his campaign. Pakistani agent is blamed for 2009 attack on U.S. Base By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A newly declassified U.S. document claims that a Pakistani intelligence officer paid $200,000 to a militant network to carry out a suicide attack on a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan in 2009. The attack on Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province was one of the most serious attacks in the CIA's history, killing seven people and wounding six others. A Jordanian doctor who was working as a double agent for al-Qaida and the Taliban was blamed, but Thursday's disclosure suggests Pakistan's spy agency and the Haqqani militant network also played key roles in the plot. The document obtained by the nongovernmental National Security Archive at George Washington University through a Freedom of Information Act request was published online with many redactions. The portions that remain allege that an unidentified Pakistan intelligence officer provided funds to the Haqqani network and another man to enable the attack on Chapman. The plan was for an Afghan border commander to be given $100,000 for his assistance in the suicide mission. But that commander, named Arghawan in the document, ended up dying in the attack. The United States has long accused Pakistan of maintaining ties with the Haqqani network, which has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks against Afghan and foreign troops. In 2011, the top U.S. military officer called the network a veritable arm of the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence service. In 2012, the United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization. Kobe Bryant ends his career with a 60-point evening By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Kobe Bryant played the final game of his legendary 20-year career with the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night. The 37-year-old Bryant scored a season-high 60 points to rally the Lakers from a 15-point deficit to a 101-96 victory over the visiting Utah Jazz at Staples Center in front of thousands of fans who paid thousands of dollars a ticket for a chance to witness Bryant's last game wearing the Lakers's purple-and-gold uniform. Bryant, who told the crowd after the game that he grew up a die-hard Laker fan, spent his entire 20 years with the storied franchise, the longest stretch any player has spent with one team in NBA history. The Hall-of-Fame career of the man known as The Black Mamba includes five NBA championships, including three consecutive titles between 2000-2002, and two consecutive Finals most valuable player awards. He also played in 18 straight All-Star games, and was named the league's most valuable player for the 2007-08 season. Bryant is third on the NBA's all-time scoring list, one notch above the legendary Michael Jordan. His 33,643 points included 25 games in which he scored at least 50 points, and six where he scored at least 60 points, including Wednesday's farewell performance. Bryant's most memorable game was an 81-point scoring night against the Toronto Raptors. He also has two Olympic gold medals, playing on the United States team in 2008 and 2012. But Bryant's career was nearly derailed in 2003 when a young woman in Colorado accused him of rape. Prosecutors charged him sexual assault and false imprisonment, but the charges were dropped after his accuser decided not to testify. Lawmakers gather at Capitol in support of Chibok hostages By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida is easy to spot in a crowd. Dressed all in red from her cowboy hat to her boots, she stood on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to mark the somber two-year anniversary of the abduction of more than 200 girls from the northern Nigerian village of Chibok by the militant group Boko Haram. Rep. Wilson leads a weekly gathering of members of Congress to call for the release of the girls. The attending lawmakers dress in red, too, just as demonstrators in Nigeria do. The Chibok girls represent hundreds or thousands of girls and women who have been kidnapped and raped by Boko Haram, and hundreds of men and boys who have been hurt or killed, Ms. Wilson said Thursday. More than 2.6 million people have been displaced by the group's violence. Mrs. Wilson said she has visited Nigeria and heard shocking firsthand accounts of the group's unspeakable atrocities, including beheadings. She and other members of Congress strongly condemned the fact that Boko Haram is forcing girls as young as 8 years old to act as suicide bombers in terrorist attacks. Wilson was joined on the Capitol steps by Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi, a number of other lawmakers and some Nigerian girls who escaped from Boko Haram and now have safe haven in the United States. Chris Smith, a Republican, made clear that Congress' efforts to keep the issue alive is a bipartisan one. Smith pointed out that Boko Haram wages war on girls and women, often singling out Christians, but that most of its victims are fellow Muslims. Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat, agreed that the terrible ordeal of the Chibok girls is a symbol of a much broader war on women by Boko Haram, saying that what their fighters are doing amounts to modern-day slavery. Some terrorism experts believe that the Chibok girls, and other Nigerian girls kidnapped later, are alive and that they are being held as a potentially valuable ransom tool. A video that has emerged recently shows some 15 girls, alleged to be Chibok girls, dressed in black. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
|
San José,
Costa Rica, Friday, April 15,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 74
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|||
|
Migrants returned to Panamanian soil By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Policía de Fronteras and Fuerza Pública officers ushered back into Panamá Thursday morning hundreds of Cubans who invaded Costa Rica Wednesday. There were no incidents. The security ministry also said that a bus containing 30 Cubans and Africans was intercepted elsewhere in the country. These individuals too, including three children, were returned to Panamá. Some of the migrants in Panamá are living in hotels near the border. Others are living in makeshift shacks and lean-tos. The security ministry said that some 300 police officers were stationed at the border to prevent any more invasions by the migrants. The border crossing is operating normally for travelers, said the ministry U.S. and Costa Rica conclude trade talks By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rican and U.S. Trade officials have concluded a two-day series of talks designed to unruffle feathers over this nation’s trade practices. The U.S. delegation’s leader was John Melle, U.S. trade representative for the Western Hemisphere. Also at the session was Fitzgerald Haney, the U.S. ambassador who irked some Costa Rica politicians when he discussed the trade between the two countries. The Ministro de Comercio Exterior put out a release on the meeting couched in diplomatic tones. The U.S. Embassy said nothing. U.S. officials are unhappy at Costa Rica’s embargo of avocados, although the impact is greater on México. |
| Costa
Rican
News |
AMCostaRicaArchives.com |
Retire NOW
in Costa Rica |
CostaRicaReport.com |
| Fine
Dining
in
Costa Rica |
The
CAFTA Report |
Fish
fabulous Costa Rica |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
||||||
| From Page 7: Government shelves Chinese petroleum venture By the A.M. Costa Rica
staff
The central government said Thursday that it was pulling out of a joint venture with a Chinese firm to build a modern petroleum refinery on the Caribbean coast. Casa Presidencial said that Sara Salazar of the Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo, the state monopoly, conveyed this information to a legislative committee Thursday. The decision had been taken by the refinery’s board of directors, said an announcement. The joint venture began in 2009 with the Sociedad Reconstructora Chino Costarricense S. A.. Government sources said that $12 million already was invested in setting up the venture. Casa Presidencial said that a new feasibility study required changes in the initial agreement, and the Chinese firm did not agree to this. In addition, there was an effort to transfer half of the partnership to a third party, the announcement said. Casa Presidencial was quick to say that the idea originated with an earlier government. The administration of Luis Guillermo Solís is not friendly to petroleum and its products. The paperwork for the joint venture was criticized highly by the Contraloría General de la República, the budget watchdog. |
