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A.M.
Costa Rica
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Published Monday, May 23, 2016, in Vol. 17, No. 100
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San José, Costa Rica, Monday, May 23, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 100
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By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Rains caused more slides on troubled Ruta 32 north of San José Sunday. Officials closed the key roadway in both directions at 3 p.m. and promised that machinery would be brought into the area early today. The slide happened some 32 kilometers from San José, and there were other slides reported farther to the north. This the key link between the capital, the northern zone and the Caribbean coast. Ruta 32 in many places is basically a shelf road with towering cliffs on the west side and a steep dropoff to the east. Highway officials have promised a redesign and mitigation of the problem. The highway frequently is closed when there are heavy rains. A lengthy and less direct route usually is open through Turrialba. Invasive crocs raise alarm in Florida By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Those sea-going crocodiles usually have something else on their mind when they pass by surfers and swimmers on the Pacific beaches. Genetic analyses show that there is substantial breeding between colonies of crocs that inhabit the river mouths. And once in awhile, a large river croc is seen in the sea headed to another river mouth. Things could be worse. And they are getting that way in Florida. The University of Florida reports that DNA tests there show the invasion of Nile crocodiles in the wild. There have been some captures of the creatures. These are the African crocs (Crocodylus niloticus) that easily reach 18 feet and are known to eat zebras, small hippos and humans, said the university, adding that the creatures can weigh as much as a car. “Now three juveniles of the monster crocodile, have been found in South Florida, swimming in the Everglades and relaxing on a house porch in Miami,” the university reported Friday. Scientists have expressed their concern and suggested that the African crocs travel from their homes as part of the worldwide pet trade. Florida’s Everglades also is plagued by Burmese pythons, which also is an invasive species and responsible for feasting on a number of other species in the wilds. Alajuela mercado blaze blamed on short By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Fire investigators are blaming the electrical system in a shoe store for a blaze that destroyed eight businesses and damaged eight more about 3 a.m. Friday. The blaze was in the Alajuela Mercado Central. Fire fighters said the blaze was contained to 460 square meters, nearly 5,000 square feet. Fire investigators reported that the market redid its electrical system in 2014, but each of the small stores in the facility has its own system in addition to the one maintained by the market. Man shot fatally on Paseo Colón By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Someone cut down a 26-year-old man about 5 a.m. Sunday on Paseo Colón, one of the capital’s main street. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that the motive for the shooting and what happened still is unclear. The multi-lane street leads from Parque la Sabana to an intersection near Hospital San Juan de Dios. Recently there have been several popular bars and dance locations opened in in the area.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Monday, May 23, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 100
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| Police
report the mass arrest of 10 accused of being in a
robbery gang |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Fuerza Pública detained 10 persons in actions Friday and Saturday and said that the individuals made up a robbery gang. The Ministerio de Seguridad Pública said its intelligence department provided the information for the identifications and the arrests. Eight arrests were made in Palo Seco de Quepos and the rest in the vicinity of the Caribeño bus terminal in San José. Officers also said they located a vehicle in the capital that contained evidence of a robbery that had taken place a few hours earlier. |
Robberies
usually are staged by two or three individuals. This is the first indication that the crime had been elevated to an organized effort. Seven of the individuals arrested were Nicaraguans, and one was a Colombian who is the subject of a murder warrant in his home country, said police. The Fuerza Pública usually is not involved in the investigation and arrests outside of crime scenes. Normally those duties are reserved for the Judicial Investigating Organization. |
| That
Sunday night boom did not come from the Turrialba
volcano |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Those sounds Sunday night were not sonic booms or the Turrialba volcano blowing its top. Some government and police agencies reported calls of concern from the citizenry, and the Red Sismológica Nacional said that the sounds were atmospheric and unrelated to the volcano. Such sounds sometimes are fodder for those alternative science sites that see mystery in everything. The sounds Sunday were |
certainly
a form of thunder, although no rain was generated. There were at least two distinct sounds that resembled distant thunder shortly after 8 p.m. Residents of Alajuela told the Red Sismológica that the sounds were particularly strong there. Such naturally occurring sounds sometimes have been linked to flying saucers, terrorism or heavenly beings by those who exploit the fears of the public. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Monday, May 23, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 100
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| Pools,
hot tubs can harbor compounds that cause mutations, study
says |
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By the American Chemical Society
news staff
Whether water is hot in a tub or cold in a pool, it can bring immediate relief from stress or summer heat. But hot tubs and swimming pools are not always as clean as bathers might think, even when disinfected. In a new study in Environmental Science & Technology, researchers found that the more these facilities are used, the more potentially harmful compounds they contain. Disinfectants such as chlorine kill pathogens in hot tubs and swimming pools, whether they are personal or public facilities. But disinfectants also react with sweat, urine and other substances that users add to the water. Studies of swimming pools have identified many of the resulting compounds, called disinfection byproducts. And testing has shown that they can cause genetic damage to cells in lab settings. Other reports have found that some people who swim or work in and around pools have higher rates of certain health problems, including respiratory symptoms and bladder cancer. Susan D. Richardson and colleagues took a closer look at hot tubs, in addition to pools, to help flesh out potential problems with disinfection byproducts. The researchers sampled water from public and private hot tubs and pools from tap to basin, and after both normal and intense use. They identified more than 100 disinfection byproducts in the water and tested extracts of the samples for |
 American Chemical
Society photo
Compounds that cause mutations could be waiting.their potential to cause genetic damage to cells in the lab. On average, pool and hot tub samples were 2.4 to 4.1 times more likely to cause genetic damage than the original tap water used to fill them. Heavy use increased the presence of undesirable compounds further. But, the researchers say, pool and hot tub operators could reduce disinfection byproducts by cleaning facilities and changing water more frequently. In addition, they could encourage swimmers to shower before sliding in and to use toilets when needed. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Monday, May 23, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 100
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slim lead in Austrian voting By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Vote counting in Austria's presidential election shows far-right candidate Norbert Hofer and independent Alexander Van der Bellen in a dead heat, leaving a winner to be determined today after nearly 90,000 absentee ballots are counted. With virtually all of the ballots cast Sunday tallied, euro-skeptic Hofer, the nominee of the anti-immigration Freedom Party, held 51.9 percent of the vote to Van der Bellen's 48.1 percent. A Hofer win would make him the first far-right head of state in the European Union since the continent-wide trade and political bloc was formed in 1993. It would also mark the best far-right showing in Austria since the end of World War II. Sunday's faceoff came just weeks after Hofer and former Green Party chief Van der Bellen swept aside challenges from ruling Social Democrat coalition candidates Rudolph Hundstorfer and Andreas Khol. Both Hundstorfer and Khol were routed April 24 in first round voting, with each winning about 11 percent of the vote. A huge influx of migrants from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia into western Europe has spawned a backlash against official EU policy that initially welcomed migrants to the relative safety and prosperity of western Europe. Sentiment began shifting as Austria took in 90,000 asylum seekers last year, while neighboring Germany opened its borders to more than one million migrants, many of them fleeing Syria's long and deadly civil war. EU officials have since negotiated a deal with Turkey under which migrants fleeing its shores by boat for Greece will be returned in exchange for nearly $7 billion in European aid. New corruption site aims to target Russian malfeasance By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Making documentary evidence of government corruption accessible to anyone with an Internet connection seems to be catching on. Earlier this month, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists launched a searchable public database for the Panamá Papers, the more than 11.5 million documents leaked from a Panamanian law firm revealing how wealthy individuals, including government officials, used offshore accounts to hide wealth, some of it acquired illicitly. Now comes a searchable internet portal containing thousands of documents pertaining to official malfeasance in Russia and other former Soviet states. Launched by the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank, the Kleptocracy Archive provides access to a database that it says will enable users to identify key actors in the complicated patronage and business networks that characterize kleptocracies, a term used for governments whose officials engage in large-scale misappropriation of public funds for personal enrichment. The Kleptocracy Archive states that while the individuals of interest included in its database are associated with kleptocratic regimes for many reasons, their inclusion does not in itself imply wrongdoing of any kind, but nonetheless is critical to understanding how modern kleptocracies function and the grave threats they pose to democracy. The database currently lists 94 individuals (although several reputed Russian organized crime gangs are listed as individuals), including two sitting presidents, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko. While the individuals listed are from four countries, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Uzbekistan, the vast majority of them are Russian. Under the portal’s recently added heading is the name of Vladimir Barsukov (also known as Vladimir Kumarin), who is described as the former vice president of Petersburg Fuel Co. and the alleged boss of the St. Petersburg-based Tambov criminal organization, which itself is also listed, separately, as a new entry). Last June, Spanish prosecutors filed a criminal complaint of more than 400 pages that linked close associates of President Putin, including officials in his government, with the Tambov group. Putin held several top posts in the St. Petersburg city administration before moving to Moscow in 1996. At the Kleptocracy Archive’s launch in Washington, Karen Dawisha, author of the book “Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?” and a member of the Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative Advisory Council, said the biggest takeaway from the archive’s documents is that they provide absolute proof of the symbiosis between Russian organized crime and the Kremlin. "What you have in the archives are documents from the FBI," Dawisha said. "You have documents from the Germans. You have documents from the Swiss. You have documents from the Austrians. And you have documents from the Spanish. All concluding this basic connection." The Kleptocracy Archive also includes an English-language translation of a document apparently leaked from the Kremlin that was published by the Russian newspaper Kommersant immediately after Putin became president in 2000 but later removed from the newspaper’s own electronic archive. The document detailed plans to reform the Russian presidential administration by dividing it into open and closed sections, with the apparent aim of creating the impression the government was pro-democratic and reformist, while the president and his subordinates would make all the real decisions behind closed doors. The plan included details of possible moves against political opponents of the Kremlin and independent media similar to those Putin subsequently took. David Satter, a Hudson Institute senior fellow and member of the Kleptocracy Initiative Advisory Council, who is also author of the book “Darkness At Dawn: The Rise Of Russia's Criminal State,” said the archive will help Western politicians and experts develop appropriate diplomatic and other relations with representatives of Russia at all levels. "There are always some practical issues that we have to discuss with the Russian government," Satter said. "But it is literally riddled with organized crime, so the problem before us is complex. "We cannot do without contacts with the Russian authorities, because they preside over the destinies of millions of people. The most important thing is to know who you are dealing with and to understand who you are sitting down with at the negotiating table," he said. "One of the main weaknesses of American diplomacy is that we always see in our Russian interlocutors people who are very similar to us. But this is absolutely not the case." World War II woman pilots regain rights to Arlington By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A rare bipartisan effort by Congress righted a wrong last week with the president signing a bill allowing the ashes of female World War II pilots to be placed with
It was her last wish to be in Arlington," Tiffany Miller told CNN. "We haven't been able to hold a funeral for her because we wanted to honor that wish." Ms. Harmon died in April at age 95. She served as a female pilot. Miller told The Washington Post that her family would now apply at Arlington for a new funeral date, which she estimated would take about a year. Friday, President Barack Obama signed the bill, which was passed unanimously by both the House and the Senate. Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. Congress, said she introduced the bill to honor the service and sacrifice the women pilots did in defending our freedom." “If they were good enough to fly for our country, risk their lives and earn the Congressional Gold Medal, they should be good enough for Arlington," Sen. Mikulski told the Post. Joni Ernst, a Republican of Iowa, was a co-sponsor in the Senate. The House bill was sponsored by Martha McSally, an Arizona Republican. Rep. McSally, a former A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot, cited the female fliers as inspiration, according to a report in the military paper Stars & Stripes. The women who served as Women Airforce Service Pilots have struggled to be viewed as veterans since its inception. The program lasted two years, from 1942 to 44, and just over 1,000 women served in it. Of those, 38 died in service, 11 in training and 27 during missions. The women pilots flew Army planes across the country, taking part in noncombat missions to free up male pilots for combat. They transported cargo, helped train pilots on how to operate the aircraft and instruments and towed targets for live-ammunition air-to-air gunnery practice and ground-to-air anti-aircraft practice. But the female pilots also faced cultural and gender bias against women serving in nontraditional roles. They were considered civilians throughout their wartime service. "If a girl got killed, her parents didn't get anything, not even a flag -- nothing," Barbara Erickson London said during an interview in 2014. "Not even any acknowledgement that their daughter had been in the military." Ms. London was an Army pilot. It wasn't until 1977 that they were given veteran status. In 2002, Arlington Cemetery's superintendent said the women would finally be allowed to have their ashes placed at Arlington with military honors. In 2009, all Women Airforce Service Pilots were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest honors Congress can bestow. The policy allowing for burials at Arlington was revoked in 2015 by former Army secretary John McHugh. His memo cited Army lawyers as saying Arlington National Cemetery's superintendent did not have the authority to allow such inurnments. The Army also cited increasingly limited space in the nation's military cemetery. Arlington National Cemetery, founded in 1866, is a military cemetery located across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D.C. It is the resting place for more than 300,000 veterans of every American conflict, from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and Afghanistan. There are strict requirements for ground burials at the cemetery, where space is increasingly limited. Any active duty member of the Armed Forces, except those serving on active duty for training only, and any veteran who is retired from active military service are allowed to be buried in Arlington. The bill signed into law Friday allows all those "whose service has been determined to be active-duty service" to be buried at the cemetery, including the women pilots. Sanders feuds with leader of national Democratic Party By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has intensified his fight with Democratic Party leaders by supporting a challenger to the head of Democratic National Committee and accusing the party establishment of trying to anoint rival Hillary Clinton as its nominee for president. In a series of television interviews Sunday, Sanders acknowledged he has an uphill fight to overtake Mrs. Clinton, the front-runner. He also said that if he wins the White House, he will not reappoint Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as Democratic National Committee chairwoman. Instead, he endorsed a law professor, Tim Canova, who is challenging the Florida congresswoman in that state's Democratic primary in August. "Do I think she is the kind of chair that the Democratic Party needs? No, I don't," Sanders told CBS' "Face the Nation." "Frankly, what the Democratic Party is about is running around to rich people's homes and raising obscene sums of money from wealthy people. What we need to do is to say to working class people, 'We are on your side,'" he said. Wasserman issued a statement saying she will remain neutral in the Democratic presidential race, despite the statements from Sanders. Mrs. Clinton has said she already considers herself the de facto nominee, and she is increasingly turning her attention to Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. She calls him "dangerous." According to the latest public opinion polls, she and Trump are locked in a dead heat, with a majority of voters viewing both of them unfavorably. One poll released Sunday, The Washington Post-ABC News survey, showed Trump with a narrow edge, while an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll had Mrs. Clinton with a slight lead. Both polls showed, as other surveys have in recent days, Trump gaining ground on Mrs. Clinton after becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in early May. Both polls noted that voters appear energized as much by whom they dislike as by whom they like. Analysts say Trump's surge in political polls stems from Republican voters coalescing behind his candidacy, after many of them supported one of his rivals in state-by-state nominating contests before Trump defeated them. Mrs. Clinton remains the heavy favorite to claim the Democratic nomination on June 7, when six more states hold Democratic nominating contests. Gun lobby endorses Trump, who promises to defend rights By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The leading U.S. gun lobby group, the National Rifle Association, has endorsed Republican Donald Trump for president and he responded by saying he would not let members down. Trump told the group's convention in Louisville, Kentucky, Friday that the endorsement is a fantastic honor. The NRA opposes measures aimed at restricting gun ownership and is considered one of the most influential such lobbying groups in the United States. Trump centered much of his remarks on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, claiming that she wants to abolish the Constitution's Second Amendment, which gives citizens the right to bear arms. Trump said Mrs. Clinton's proposals for greater restrictions on guns would leave law-abiding citizens at risk from criminals. Mrs. Clinton has said she supports the Second Amendment, but says more safety measures are needed to keep guns out of the wrong hands, including expanded background checks and a ban on assault weapons. Trump often mentions in his speeches that he has a concealed weapon carry permit, and has called for policies that make it easier for law-abiding citizens to carry guns. Mrs. Clinton will appear Saturday in Florida with parents who have lost children to gun violence, including the mother of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager whose death in 2012 led to one of the highest-profile U.S. criminal cases in years. The campaign appearances by both Trump and Mrs. Clinton on gun-related issues this week highlight the prominent role the topic could play in the elections. Friday, Trump also touted the list of potential Supreme Court nominees he released this week, saying they show his support for the Second Amendment and he called on Mrs. Clinton to release her own list. Airport security in U.S. being tightened after crash By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Washington is refocused on aviation security after last week’s EgyptAir disaster over the Mediterranean that killed all 66 on board the flight from Paris to Cairo. Although the cause of the deadly crash has yet to be determined, U.S. lawmakers are renewing demands that airport screening be both thorough and speedy. The EgyptAir disaster raises questions and concerns at a time when U.S. air travelers already experience record lines and delays passing through security. Some lawmakers are pointing a finger at Islamic State for last week’s crash. “We know they successfully took down an airliner flying from Egypt to Russia,” said Rep. Ed Royce on ABC-TV’s “This Week” program. “We know that they are working on a bomb that’s undetectable.” If lawmakers are assuming a heightened terrorist threat until evidence proves otherwise, pressure will mount on federal airport screeners, widely reported to be understaffed and overburdened even on the best of days. “One of the difficulties we’ve had is with a great deal of turnover at TSA, and there are certainly management problems at TSA,” Royce added. Last year, reports surfaced that federal screeners had failed to detect fake weapons and explosives in an alarming percentage of tests. The Transportation Security Administration insists that gaps and vulnerabilities have been fixed. “We have retrained our entire workforce, corrected procedures, improved our technology and analyzed systemic issues,” said Administrator Peter Neffenger testifying on Capitol Hill earlier this year. “I am also confident that TSA is able to deter, detect and disrupt threats to our aviation system.” Security may be improved, but tempers have been flaring at U.S. airports with some travelers waiting hours to board their flights, or missing flights because of long security check lines. “On the one hand, we are looking for 100 percent security,” said Sen. Ron Johnson at a hearing where TSA whistleblowers came forward. “On the other hand, we are looking for complete efficiency so that lines don’t back up. It’s an enormously complex and difficult task.” As America enters the busy summer travel season, the White House has a simple message, safety comes first. “Obviously, our first priority is making sure that people are safe,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Friday. “TSA must continue its rigorous security screenings and we're not going to lower our standards for the sake of convenience.” Once pinpointed, the cause of the EgyptAir disaster may or may not heighten concerns about the ability of terrorists to down airliners. But lawmakers aren’t waiting and will be pressing for answers at hearings this week. Obama’s Hiroshima visit prompts debate over bomb By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
During what may be his last tour of Asia, President Barack Obama will make history as the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, the site where the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb in wartime. Even before the president sets foot on what many consider hallowed ground, the announcement has sparked new debate on the decision to drop the bomb, and whether the United States should apologize or if a U.S. president should even visit. Obama is expected to make a statement from Hiroshima, and will likely have to navigate a symbolic minefield. It was a moment that literally changed the world nearly 71 years ago when a mushroom shaped cloud lit up the sky over Hiroshima, and three days later over Nagasaki. Some 140,000 people in the two cities died within the year, and survivors and their children have faced untold suffering due to radiation poisoning. The U.S. rationale for the decision was to bring years of Japanese aggression to a quick end, potentially saving many more lives than would have been lost in a U.S. invasion. But many Japanese see it differently, saying innocent men, women and children were unnecessarily incinerated and poisoned. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Hiroshima last month. He said he was deeply moved and that every human being should visit the site. Some experts think that should include the U.S. president, among them Chris Appy of the University of Massachusetts. He told: “I was very pleased that he decided to go. I think just showing up is important symbolic act that many Japanese have wanted for a long time.” But Appy says he thinks the United States should also apologize for the atomic bomb attacks, “I am disappointed that the president appears not willing to apologize. After all I think in our personal lives, we consider it the height of maturity when an adult is willing to take responsibility and accountability for actions. Particularly actions that lead to the suffering of the innocent victims.” Others strongly disagree, including Brian Harding of the Center for American Progress, who said “The president will not be issuing an apology and the Japanese government is not asking for one either.” White House officials have made clear that the president will not apologize. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, “What I think the president does appreciate is that President Truman made this decision for the right reason.” But Earnest said the United States does have a special responsibility as the only country to have ever used an atomic bomb to work tirelessly for nuclear non-proliferation. Others, including many older Americans and war veterans oppose Obama’s visit. Sen. John McCain, a Republican, is a decorated Vietnam War veteran who ran against Obama in 2008 for the presidency. He said he simply does not see the point of the trip, “I'm not in the business of telling the President of the United States where to go. But where, what is the purpose of it? In some ways, you dredge up very unpleasant memories, but if the President wants to go somewhere he can.” It is not yet clear whether the president will meet with any of the few remaining survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The president will be accompanied in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. They will lay a wreath, and Obama will make a statement. The White House says the leaders will highlight the horrors of war and the need to work towards a world without nuclear weapons. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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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 |
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Monday, May 23, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 100
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Butterflies are great to look at, but
. . . . You have planted a wonderful garden, full of flowers and flowering shrubs, many of them planted to attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Success! Your yard if full of butterflies! And if butterflies could emit a wicked
This morning, Metric Man and I watched the ritual laying of the eggs on my passion flower vines. Yes, we caught them in the act, and I have pictures on the Facebook page of Arenal Gardeners to prove it. It seems to me that the first female to lay her eggs must also be exuding a pheromone that says, “Here is a nice place to lay eggs. Just enough shade, just enough sun, wide leaves and plenty of food” because the first female I saw was joined by a second, then a third, a forth, a fifth…disgusting. I just hung around until they were finished and then removed the leaves with eggs and put them in a jar. Later today, I will take them somewhere else – anywhere else – to hatch. Okay, if they were blue morphos, they could stay, but these are juno silverspots and they are ubiquitous. Not only that, but their favorite food is passion flower vine. Dang! These ladies go about their life’s work with a singlemindedness that is amazing. You can get within an inch without disturbing the egg laying and, oh boy, can they lay eggs. Hundreds (I counted) of eggs can be laid by each butterfly, and all are laid on the underside of a leaf for protection. Laying them in a group and on the same day means that thousands will hatch at the same time providing a group survival mechanism (which means more butterflies to lay more eggs, which means maybe I should plant different vines). This is the second mass laying of eggs we have had judging from the damage to my vines, and I expect we will see more. The saddest part of the process is watching the female flutter to a lower stem or leaf, exhausted by her labors. At this point, her wings are smaller in size and won’t carry her very far. She sits and waits. She will die on that leaf or be carried off by a predator. She has ensured the survival of her species. Her life is over.
Plant of the week
The Juno Silverspot’s favorite foods are the genus Passiflora,
of passion flower vine, and the genus Erblichia,
also called the butterfly tree. Plant either of these, and
you will be welcoming these butterflies to your yard.
Since I don’t have an Erblichia to show you, here
is one of the ladies laying eggs on my passion flower and
a grouping of eggs on the underside of a leaf.If you would like to suggest a topic for this column, simply send a letter to the editor. And, for more garden tips, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arenal-Gardeners/413220712106845 |
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| From Page 7: Tax deadline approaching for U.S. expats By the A.M. Costa Rica
staff
The U.S. tax filing deadline for citizens living abroad is June 15th, a leading accountancy firm has warned. U.S. citizens abroad can ignore the traditional April 15 deadline, but they only have two months grace. The firm, U.S. Tax and Accounting Services in Escazú, also said that citizens and those foreigners who have to file returns with the Internal Revenue Service can apply and received an extension until Oct. 15. The firm also noted that U.S. citizens who have bank accounts overseas might have to file another form by June 30. The form is the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts. Those who must do so are U.S. citizen or permanent residents who had a financial interest or signature authority in bank or financial accounts outside the United States, and the aggregate value of those accounts is greater than $10,000 at any point during the year, said the firm. U.S. citizens and permanent residents abroad must report all their income, even that earned in Costa Rica, although, as a Sabana Este accountant, James Brohl, notes, there is a significant exclusion of overseas income allowed. For the 2015 tax year the amount is $100,800. |
