date	To buy colons	to buy dollars
May 4	503.29	513.17
May 5	505.94	515.99
May 6	511.15	521.38
May 7	521.07	532.06
May 10	532.78	544.43

The dollar continues to strengthen against the Costa Rican Colon. The Banco Central composite rate today says that one U.S. dollar will purchase 532.78 colons and that 544.43 colons will be necessary to buy one dollar.

The rates are slightly less than those offered by a major public bank because the Banco Central figures include data from exchange houses that give lower rates, such as at Juan Santamaría airport.

The dollar has jumped nearly 6 percent in just a few days, although the reasons are as unclear as the reasons why the dollar dropped to 503 early last week. Some analysts speculate that the end of the high tourism season has resulted in a shortage of dollars in the local economy. Others say that exports and others with large amounts of dollars held off changing them to colons because of the unfavorable rates.

Currency valued at $22 million changed hands in trading Friday at the Mercado de Monedas Extranjeras. The highest individual trade was $1 million.


Teens given five years
for murder of student


Two 17 year olds who turned on an acquaintance and killed him got five years each in juvenile court.

The pair were sentenced to spend the time in a specialized center for juvenile criminals. The pair, who were not identified, accepted the allegation and submitted to an abbreviated judicial process.

The victim, Jason Solís Montero, 23, was hosting the pair and other individuals at his apartment in Los Filtros de Alajuelita Dec. 9, 2009. He was a university student studying odontology, said the Poder Judicial. For some reason the two guests turned on their host, shot him and stabbed him in the neck, according to a summary of the case.

They were captured by a neighbor as they tried to flee over the roof of the apartment building, the Poder Judicial said.


Vital roadway will be open
for nine daytime hours


Truckers and motorists can brave Ruta 32 for nine hours a day until further notice.

The Consejo de Vialidad has opened the route between San José and Guápiles from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Public employees are stationed at kilometer 22 and 23 to keep an eye on the steep hillsides that have generated slides and blocked the road all last week.

The idea is that if the mountain begins to move, the highway workers will act to halt traffic.

The vital road link has cost shippers and others significant amounts. Some truckers waited while a single front end loader cleared the highway of hundreds of cubic meters of dirt, rocks and vegetation. Others chose to take their loads over the alternate route through Turrialba.

Those who waited did not realize that it would take a week to clear the road. The highway is the best and shortest route to Limón. A lot of the traffic from Limón consisted of products that had been shipped in and unloaded at the docks in Moín.

Highway workers hope to use the hours when there is not traffic to continue to attempt to make the roadway safer. An attempt to blast down more debris failed last week when the dynamite did not have the effect workers had sought.

HIghway workers said that the hours that the road would be open are fixed and specific and without any leeway.


Conservatives talk with liberals
seeking British coalition


Leaders of Britain's two main opposition parties resumed talks Sunday on forming a new power-sharing government, after elections last week that failed to produce a clear winner.

Negotiators for the first-place Conservatives and the third-place Liberal Democrats opened a second round of talks that were expected to last through much of the day. 

Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg met face-to-face Saturday for the first round of talks.

Cameron's Conservatives won 360 seats in the House of Commons, but fell 20 seats short of a majority.  They are hoping to join forces with the Liberal Democrats, who won 57 seats. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose Labor Party lost 91 parliamentary seats to finish second, says he would be willing to form a government with the Liberal Democrats, if that party fails to strike a deal with Conservatives.

Mr. Brown, whose Labor Party has ruled since 1997, will continue to serve as a caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed.