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Published Tuesday, May 10, 2016, in Vol. 17, No. 91
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, May 10, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 91
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Go to Page 5 HERE! Go to Page 6 HERE! Sports is HERE! Opinion is HERE! Classifieds are HERE! Plus useful links |
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More than 16,000 cell phones missing By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad said Monday that in the first four months of 2016 some 16,702 cell telephones or other mobile devices were reported stolen or lost by its customers. A communications company official said that the number was smaller than in 2015. The cell telephone is a favorite of street robbers, and there have been videos on television channels showing men with guns pulling up to bus shelters and relieving those there of their cell telephones. The state communications company does not have a monopoly, so the total number of lost and stolen telephones is bound to be higher when customers of the private firms are considered. There are some cell telephone purchasers who are open 24 hours a day in order to buy cell telephones from those who happen to have extras. The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad urged those who lose a cell telephone to make a report and consider ways to make the device inoperable. Big band to perform at Teatro Nacional By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
The Banda de Conciertos de San José will bring its big band sound to the Teatro Nacional today at 12:10 p.m. for a Teatro al Mediodía performance. The Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud promises music popularized by Frank Sinatra, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The weekly midday performance is directed at downtown office workers on their lunch hours and tourists. There is an admission. DEA cannabis data base available By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has released a data base of some 3,000 individuals who are involved in handling cannabis. The release was made under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. In 1997 the agency released a list of some 800 people, companies, organizations, universities working with cannabis, but today that list is over 3,000 long, said the individual hosting the list. The federal agency requires a license for those who would handle cannabis legally. The data base is HERE!
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, May 10, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 91
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| Police
continue to pay close attention to Playas del Coco |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Fuerza Pública officers say they detained 13 persons in the country illegally during a sweep Sunday in Playas del Coco. Officers also gave a long list of other cases, including the arrest of 20 persons for having drugs, fighting, robbery, theft and assaults, they said. This is a continuation of the emphasis on the Pacific coast community after an Escazú man, Alejo Leiva Lachner, 21, was set upon by a mob and stabbed fatally in February. Since April 1, a week after the murder, police said they questioned 12,643 persons and checked 3,678 motor vehicles and 1,114 motorcycles. Sunday they confiscated 21 motor vehicles and 35 motorcycles for various reasons. They also said they found knives and a pistol. |
 Ministerio
de Securidad Pública photo
A woman is frisked by a female police officer. |
| Volcano
experts say they see a reduction in Turrialba activity |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Volcano experts are announcing bravely that the Turrialba volcano has shown a reduction in activity since Sunday. That does not mean the mountain will go back to sleep peacefully. The nearby brother volcano, Irazú, spent more than two years with eruptions off and on. The national emergency commission said that since 9 a.m. Sunday, no more eruptions have been logged. However, the mountain continues to emit water vapor and gases, and the plume can be seen from a distance. The plume is believed to extend about 500 meters, about 1,640 feet, above the level of the crater. The wind is carrying the plume south southwest, said the commission, correctly called the Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias. Instruments on and nearby the mountain continue to detect seismic activity within. Five schools near the volcano remain closed, and technicians are checking the quality of the drinking water. They also are checking the water in the Ríos Aquiares and Guayabito. There are perhaps more cows than people within the |
 Comisión
Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención
de Emergencias.
Photo from a distance shows
the vapor emitted by volcano.
five-kilometer radius being maintained by police and park rangers. There also are many truck gardens with vegetables that have suffered from the ash. The emergency commission continues to truck in hay bales for the animals so they do not have to eat the ash covered vegetation. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, May 10, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 91
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| Yikes!
There is another mosquito-borne epidemic to worry about |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Two U.S. medical professionals are calling for worldwide action to stem a growing epidemic of yellow fever. An epidemic of yellow fever, first reported in January, has been spreading rapidly in Angola, according to the two physicians, adding that as of last month, the country had 2,023 suspected yellow fever cases and 258 deaths. The Pan American Health Organization has declared an epidemiological alert on April 22 for yellow fever in Latin America. For expats and Costa Ricans there is no real emergency yet, but the same mosquito that carries malaria, dengue and now the zika virus also carries the yellow fever virus. The two physicians are associated with the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. They are Daniel Lucey and Lawrence O. Gostin. They published a viewpoint article that appeared Monday in the JAMA journal. Costa Rica immigration officials require proof of vaccination against yellow fever from travelers arriving from some African and South American countries. That rule does not apply to travelers from the United States. Costa Rica also is facing an influx of illegal migrants from |
Africa.
Many have been detained and placed in lockups. There
are many others at the southern border. Yellow fever also is known to use non-human hosts, such as monkeys. There is no treatment for yellow fever, just prevention. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that there is no risk of yellow fever in Costa Rica, although wise expats usually have received vaccinations, which are long-lasting. The same protection techniques that prevents zika and dengue infections also are successful with yellow fever. That includes using mosquito repellent. Costa Rican health officials have an extensive program of spraying and destruction of mosquito breeding places in vulnerable areas. One problem cited by the World Health Organization is a shortage of vaccines to fight the epidemic in Africa. However, the vaccine is available in Costa Rica, and even some pharmacies associated with the Mas x Menos supermarket chain advertise the availability. The two Georgetown University physicians want World Health to convene an emergency committee to mobilize funds, coordinate an international response, and spearhead a surge in vaccine production, the university said in summary of the article. |
Here's reasonable
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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 news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, May 10, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 91
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overflight shows premier By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The premier of Canada's Alberta province, Rachel Notley, says 90 percent of the city of Fort McMurray was spared from the massive wildfires burning out of control. Notley and other officials had believed nearly the entire town had been burned to the ground. But an aerial tour of the city Monday showed that while some neighborhoods were wiped out, most of the city was untouched. "The city was surrounded by an ocean of fire only a few days ago, but Fort McMurray and the surrounding communities have been saved and they will be rebuilt," Ms. Notley said. She gratefully credited firefighters and their quick action for saving the city, which has no electricity or running water. She said it will be at least another two weeks before authorities can start putting together a schedule for people to return home. Officials said the wildfires were still burning out of control Monday, but cooler weather and rain have helped firefighters get a better grip on the flames. The fires have destroyed 160,000 hectares in Alberta, home to the world's third-largest oil reserves, behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. While the flames so far have not reached any major oil processing facilities, they were still shut down Monday, causing global oil prices to climb. Impeachment case in Brazil continues to be a muddle By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Impeachment proceedings against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff were thrown into confusion Monday when the interim speaker of the lower house of Congress said last month's vote to send the matter to the Senate is invalid. But the leader of the Senate later said the vote will go ahead Wednesday as scheduled. Acting House Speaker Waldir Maranhao said the April 17 vote was full of irregularities and gave Ms. Rousseff no chance to defend herself. He said the entire question of impeachment should start over and that the House should vote again. But Senate leader Renan Calheiros immediately said he would ignore Maranhao's declaration. He accused the interim speaker of playing with democracy and said it is up to the entire Senate, and not a single lawmaker, to decide what to do. What happens next is unclear. The Brazilian Supreme Court could step in and decide the congressional dispute. If the Senate puts Ms. Rousseff on trial, her presidency would be suspended and Vice President Michel Temer, a former ally turned political enemy, would take over. Ms. Rousseff is accused of manipulating state funds to hide the state of the country's finances during her 2014 reelection campaign. She accuses her opponents, including Temer, of attempting a coup. The political turmoil is occurring less than three months before Brazil opens the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and at the same time the country is battling the effects of the zika virus. Twitter-linked data sweeper blocked from spy agencies By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Twitter has blocked American intelligence agencies from accessing a service that has proven itself helpful in fighting terrorism. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday a senior U.S. intelligence official said access was blocked because Twitter seemed concerned about the appearance of being too friendly to the intelligence agencies. The report comes after executives of a real-time information discovery company named Dataminr recently told intelligence agencies privately that Twitter wanted Dataminr to stop providing the services to the agencies. The service provided by Dataminr discovers patterns in hundreds of millions of pieces of information transmitted daily via Twitter. The company's Web site says Dataminr transforms real-time data from Twitter and other public sources into actionable signals. Dataminr, 5 percent of which is owned by Twitter, alerted U.S. authorities to the November terrorist attacks in Paris shortly after the assaults began. Dataminr also provided real-time information about Islamic State group attacks, Brazil's political crisis and other impromptu events. Twitter is the latest U.S. technology company to face-off against federal intelligence agencies over how to share information to fight terrorism. Earlier this year, after Apple refused to help, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation paid more than $1 million to a third party to break into an Apple iPhone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino, California, terrorists who killed 14 people in December. Trump is on campaign trail and making the media rounds By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Donald Trump has launched a high-octane general election campaign after capturing enough electoral votes to be the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Trump is in attack mode this week as he makes his rounds with the media and leverages social media platforms. Instead of attempting to heal a deeply divided Republican Party, Trump is unloading on his fellow Republican politicians, conservative activists and, not surprisingly, Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. “I will win the election against Crooked Hillary despite the people in the Republican Party that are currently and selfishly opposed to me!,” Trump Tweeted Monday morning. With the general election six months away, the Republican Party remains divided among Trump supporters and GOP traditionalists. “It does seem like there is approximate equal division,” University of Maryland political analyst James Gimpel said. Gimpel predicts at least a third of the Republican Party will remain opposed to Trump in the months ahead. He believes Trump opponents would either try to run their own candidate or simply not cast votes for a presidential candidate in the general election. A stumbling block to Republican Party unity is a decision by House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republican officeholders not to support Trump. “That is emblematic of where a lot of party officeholders are. They don’t know exactly what Donald Trump stands for,” Gimpel said. And Trump’s tendency to flip-flop on issues such as taxes has not helped unify the party, either, said Gimpel. “It leaves a lot of officeholders in a quandary as to what a Trump administration might mean.” Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is not the only candidate who must contend with Trump’s frontrunner status. A larger-than-usual number of other Republican officeholders, like Sen. John McCain of Arizona, will have to mount vigorous campaigns to overcome Trump's controversial remarks about immigration and other issues. Gimpel said it is “very likely Republicans could be defending an usually large number of hotly-contested seats, and added it would be best for GOP candidates to prepare “for the worst.” A Trump presidential victory could reshape the GOP, with social conservatives likely losing much of their political clout, said Gimpel. “Any Trump-led party is certainly going to be more concerned about economic issues and less concerned about social issues,” he said. Despite Trump’s unconventional campaign methods and a lack of detailed policy proposals, the real estate mogul-turned politician continues to appeal to millions of Americans. “The Republican rank-and-file are clearly unhappy with their office holders in Washington,” said Gimpel. “They feel like the Washington elites have grown increasingly out of step with them.” The prevailing narrative that resonates as Gimpel speaks with voters and conducts research is that Trump is an imperfect candidate, but he's better than all the others. Trump taps Christie to head his transition organization By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, is beginning to tap key advisers for a move to the White House should he win the November national election. The billionaire real estate mogul Monday named New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, one of the Republican presidential challengers Trump defeated in his months-long campaign for the nomination, to serve as chairman of his transition team if he wins the election as the successor to President Barack Obama. Christie, like Trump an outspoken public figure, dropped out of the presidential race in February, after finishing sixth in the party primary in the northeastern state of New Hampshire that Trump won. Christie subsequently endorsed Trump's bid for the Republican nomination and has appeared numerous times at his campaign rallies. Some U.S. political analysts have mentioned the 53-year-old Christie, a one-time federal prosecutor, as a prominent possibility to join Trump on the Republican ticket as his vice presidential running mate, although Trump has not publicly mentioned whom he is considering. Trump, a one-time television reality show host who has never held elective office, has also named his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, publisher of The New York Observer weekly newspaper and head of a real estate development company, to map out White House transition plans. With Trump a political novice, little is known about whom he might name to key positions if he wins. Some prominent Republicans, including the party's last two White House occupants, President George H.W. Bush and his son, President George W. Bush, have declined to endorse him. The party's top current elected official, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, says he is just not ready to support Trump yet. Trump has won wide support from Republican voters in the state-by-state nominating contests for his call to deport 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, a vow to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep out more migrants, and a proposal to temporarily stop Muslims from entering the U.S. But Ryan and other Republican leaders have been slow to acclaim Trump as the party's presidential nominee because of his anti-immigration stands, his characterization of Mexican migrants as rapists and drug abusers, and his denigrating comments about some women. Ryan says he will not support Trump until he changes his sometimes harsh campaign rhetoric and adheres to traditional conservative Republican policies. He is slated to be the chairman of the party's July national nominating convention, but said Monday he would vacate the position if Trump, as the party's nominee, wants him to. The two men are set to meet Thursday in Washington to air their differences, but Trump says it is possible the two may just go our separate ways. Numerous U.S. polls show Trump trailing the likely Democratic nominee, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is seeking to become the first female U.S. president. Clinton has yet to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, but holds a significant lead over her sole challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Met adopts interactive site as fourth museum platform By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The role of museums in the 21st century is changing. A modern museum is now a technology-infused experience with an opportunity to explore, learn and have fun. And, it has become available to the world because of the internet. The Metropolitan Museum of New York, considered one of the world's three great museums alongside the Louvre in Paris and the British Museum in London, has spent millions of dollars in developing an interactive Web site that can take online visitors to all corners of the museum. “Technology is hugely important. We think of it as our fourth platform," says Dan Weiss, president of the Met. "We have three buildings, three different museums and our Web site and online presence, it’s a huge source of an audience for us.” The Met’s Web site alone had over 33 million visitors last year. The overriding issue the Met grapples with is relevance. Does the modern day museum bring added value to a person’s life? Is the experience enriching? Has the Met adapted to the 21st century? Weiss puts it this way, “Part of it is simply the quality of the offerings that we have and, in addition to the quality, just the overall strength of our collections we have been building new and more innovative programming in the last several years that interest people.” He added, “They come to see our special exhibitions, they come to see our live performances, they come to experience what constitutes one of the great cultural centers of the world.” The Met drew 2.5 million visitors for just three major exhibitions in the past year, and 74 percent of them came from places other than New York City. Almost half were international visitors. The biggest exhibit in the history of the Met was last year’s “China: Through the Looking Glass.” The interactive Costume Institute presentation looked at the impact of China’s aesthetics on Western fashion by integrating couture with cinema depicting periods of Chinese history. The exhibit took the visitor into the world of China. “Of course it’s a famous museum," visitor Massimo Carboni of Montreal, Canada, said. "You hear about it all the time in the news about all the new exhibits they’re getting and it’s a staple of New York. You can’t see the city without seeing it.” The Costume Institute’s spring exhibition opened in early May. "Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology," explores how fashion designers are reconciling the handmade and the machine made creation of haute couture and avant-garde ready-to-wear. It is already drawing huge crowds, as is a new addition to the roof garden: a haunted house sculpture seemingly off of moviemaker Alfred Hitchcock’s drawing board called “PsychoBarn.” The Met's 6.3 million visitors last year immersed themselves in 5,000 years of world history through its vast collections from Egyptian temples and the ancient Temple of Dendur to old masters paintings to Greek gods and goddesses, arms and armor, arts of Africa and the Americas, and other incredible artifacts. The Met’s current operating budget is approximately $300 million this year. It has an endowment of approximately $3 billion, and gets additional income from admissions, memberships, philanthropic gifts and grants, retail operation in the museum, and some government support. With all that, there is a belt-tightening underway that may cost some jobs. The same is true for other museums in New York City. The Met itself estimates people who came to the museum spent more than $5 billion into the New York economy. The Met’s permanent collection contains over 2 million works. The museum first opened its door in 1872. Record number of Americans surrender their U.S. passport By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services When faced with the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency, some Americans have threatened to leave the country, but most of that grumbling is probably just talk. However, there is a small but growing number of Americans who are following through on a pledge to renounce their citizenship, but it’s likely for other reasons. While millions worldwide clamor for the opportunity to come to the United States to pursue the American dream, more U.S. citizens than ever are giving up their passports. In the first three months of 2016, 1,158 Americans dumped their passports. In 2015, there were about 4,300 expatriations, a 20 percent increase over the previous year, the third record-breaking year in a row. Why would anyone want to give up a passport that is arguably one of the most coveted in the world? Some take the drastic measure because they have deeper ties to other countries, some of which don’t allow double citizenship. However, a complicated tax system appears to be motivating many of these defectors. The U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act is global tax law enacted in 2010 after being in the works for a number of years. The law requires that banks in foreign countries disclose all Americans with accounts containing more than $50,000. American citizens are required to pay taxes on their worldwide income, whether they live in the United States or not. For Americans living abroad, that could mean paying taxes twice, both in the country where they work and live, as well as in the United States, the country of their citizenship. In a letter to first lady Michelle Obama published on his blog, one former citizen who gave up his passport protested the double taxation of Americans who live and work abroad. “They are chattel. They are economic slaves,” he wrote. “Yes, no? I love being treated as a slave. I live, work, and pay taxes in Canada, yet my master needs his payment. The concept is against everything I consider American.” And getting out isn’t cheap. While giving up citizenship is free in some countries, the fee to extricate oneself from the United States keeps going up. At last tally, it cost $2,350 to hand in the passport and walk away. U.S. and North Carolina file bathroom bill legal actions By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The Obama administration is suing the state of North Carolina over its so-called bathroom bill, saying it breaks federal anti-discrimination laws. The law requires transgender people to use bathrooms that correspond to their sex at birth instead of the gender with which they identify. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch Monday called the North Carolina law state-sponsored discrimination that reminds her of a time when blacks were barred from public facilities and states could dictate who was allowed to marry. The federal government has named the state, its Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, the Department of Public Safety, and the University of North Carolina, which receives millions in federal funds, in the lawsuit. "This is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens," Ms. Lynch said, stressing that the law has caused "emotional harm, mental anguish, distress, humiliation and indignity" to transgender people. Earlier Monday, North Carolina sued the federal government to keep the law in place. McCrory said Washington is "being a bully . . . trying to define gender identity, and there is no clear identification or definition of gender identity." McCrory and other supporters of the measure defend it as necessary to protect privacy in public bathrooms and guard against men using women's restrooms to spy and prey on women. Ms. Lynch said the state invented a problem that does not exist as an excuse to discriminate and harass people. In addition to possibly losing federal funds, North Carolina could also lose hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from businesses that are canceling plans to open offices in the state. While the North Carolina law was enacted by Republicans over the opposition of state Democratic lawmakers, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, says he does not think the law is necessary. "There have been very few complaints the way it is," Trump told one interviewer last month. "People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. There has been so little trouble, and the problem with what happened in North Carolina is the strife and the economic punishment that they're taking." Trump invited the country's most public transgender person, Caitlyn Jenner, who as a man won an Olympic gold medal, to use whatever restroom she wanted at one of his New York skyscrapers. Jenner used a women's bathroom and made a point of announcing afterward that she had not been molested while doing so. Trick with laser opens up brain to more treatments By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The blood-brain barrier is a natural defense system that prevents harmful substances in the blood from entering the brain. Doctors may have found a way to get past the barrier to treat cancer patients. Neurosurgeons have been using lasers to treat brain cancer since 2009, but now they say the technique may also allow them to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly into the brain. The key is getting past the protective blood-brain barrier, which does its job so well it also keeps out potentially lifesaving chemotherapy drugs. Kathy Smith has ovarian cancer that spread to her brain, a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma. “There were I believe three tumors at that time, and I was not at all happy about those critters,” she said. Ms. Smith was treated with laser therapy. Doctors insert a tiny probe into the brain, directly to the cancer where it burns up the tumor from the inside out. According to Washington University Neurosurgery Professor Eric Leuthardt, during the procedure it was discovered the therapy had an unintended effect on the blood-brain barrier. “We were able to show that this blood-brain barrier is broken down for about four weeks after you do this laser therapy," he said. "So not only are you killing the tumor, you are actually opening up a window of opportunity to deliver various drugs and chemicals and therapies that could otherwise not get in there.” In Ms. Smith's case, a powerful, experimental chemotherapy drug called doxorubicin, which has been notoriously hard to get past the barrier was delivered directly into her brain. “What is interesting is the blood-brain barrier is a two-way street," said Eric Leuthardt. "By breaking it down you can get things into the brain, but also by breaking it down, now things can go from your brain out into your circulation, to your peripheral system, which includes your immune system.” And the immune system helps fight cancer. The procedure is dangerous, a compromised blood-brain barrier puts the brain at risk, but so far it has worked well for Ms. Smith. Patients diagnosed with glioblastoma tumors usually survive just 15 months after diagnosis. But Smith has been fighting her cancer since 2009. “Kind of makes you smile when they say you are a good candidate for something new," she said. "So I got worked into that study and it did work out beautifully.” The team of neurosurgeons, from Washington University in St. Louis are hoping to publish a more formal report on their work later this year. |
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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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Colorado S.A. 2016 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 sixth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, May 10, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 91
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Fast, cheaper zika test announced By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A team of researchers based at Harvard University say they have developed a testing method that could quickly diagnose zika virus and do so basically anywhere in the world. The zika outbreak first hit the Western Hemisphere a year ago with reports of infections in Brazil. Some 57 countries and territories are now reporting cases of people being infected, most by mosquitoes that can carry the zika virus. Several countries also have reported cases that appear to have spread through sexual contact. The World Health Organization says there is scientific consensus that zika is a cause of both the birth defect microcephaly in infants and the nervous system disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome. Most of the affected countries are in Latin America and the Caribbean, and World Health says if the pattern spreads elsewhere the world faces a severe public health crisis. Building on work they did to develop a screening method for ebola, the researchers led by synthetic biologist James Collins came up with a way to screen blood, urine or saliva for zika virus. In a paper published in the journal Cell, they said previous techniques such as looking for antibodies in body fluids are limited because people could have antibodies from similar viruses present in the region such as dengue. Other methods are expensive and require equipment that is not readily available in many areas. Their method uses paper cards about the size of a human hand that contain freeze-dried biomolecular components. Because the concentration of zika virus in the blood is very low, the researchers first amplify the sample through a process that triggers the virus to multiply. The amplified sample is then applied to the paper card, and if zika is present, the card changes color. Samples from any positive test can then be applied to another card that is set up to determine which of the many strains of zika virus is present. The testing can produce a result in as little as 30 minutes with the change in color easily visible to the naked eye. An even faster result can be achieved by placing the card in a special reader, the researchers say. "The freeze-dried molecular components remain stable at room temperature, allowing for easy storage and distribution in global settings," the paper says. In addition to its potential application in a variety of settings, the researchers say their method is also a lot cheaper than others used to detect zika. There is no vaccine for zika. World Health says developers in the U.S., France, Brazil, India and Austria are currently working on 23 different projects in order to develop one. The agency expects some of them to be at the stage of clinical trials by the end of the year, but that a fully tested vaccine may not be available for several years. Somali trio accused of Islamic State link By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Jury selection began in Minnesota Monday in the federal trial of three Somali-Americans accused of conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group. Mohamed Farah, 22, Guled Omar, 21 and Abdirahman Daud 22, were among several Minnesota men who met numerous times from March 2014 to April 2015 to look for the best way to travel to Syria to join the terror group. The men were all stopped by law enforcement before they could board planes. Federal prosecutors said the three have been charged with conspiring to commit murder outside the U.S., which if found, carries the possibility of life in prison. The men all pleaded not guilty to the charges. |
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| From Page 7: Facebook wins a rare trademark case in China By the A.M. Costa Rica
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Facebook has won a rare trademark lawsuit in China over the use of a version of its name by a Chinese beverage maker. The Beijing Higher People's Court ruled that Pearl River Drinks should not be allowed to register the trademark face book and that using it on labels of foods and beverages was an obvious act of copying that hurt market competition. Neither Facebook nor Pear River Drinks were available for comment. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives have made efforts to woo Chinese officials. Zuckerberg had a rare meeting with China's propaganda czar Liu Yunshan, suggesting a warming of relations between the social media giant and China. Despite the court victory, Facebook and other foreign Web sites continue to be blocked in China by what has become known as the Great Firewall. Zuckerberg has become a celebrity in China by making speeches in Mandarin and running through noxious smog in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The Facebook decision comes weeks after a court ruled against technology giant Apple in a similar suit over its iPhone brand. Apple has said it will take its case to China's Supreme People's Court. |
