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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, May 24, 2011, Vol. 11, No. 101 | |||||||||
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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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Cross-cultural communication
is topic for women's network Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The Professional Women’s Network will host a development workshop for women, “Cross-Cultural Communications: Better Understanding for Effective Business" Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Guest speakers include Nuria Marín Raventós, president of the Asociación para el Liderazgo Ascenso Social, and Alegría R. Lores of the Pan-American School, Robin Kazmier of Common Ground, a company involved in cross cultural business, and Marissa Fayer of Hologic Inc., a Costa Rican medical device manufacturer, also will speak. Attendees will examine culture, and how it affects persons in the workplace. They will discuss the challenges typically faced when working with people from mixed backgrounds in Costa Rica and how to navigate business successfully while being aware of one’s own cultural lens, said the organization. Attendees will take a look at topics such as personal conduct, working with private companies vs. government institutions and women vs. men in the workplace, the network said. In addition, there will be a break-out session to help attendees further explore different topics and find solutions to their individual professional needs, it added. An optional lunch is available following the speaker for 7,000 colons as a way for attendees to continue networking with other businesswomen. Reservations for lunch must be made by Friday at 9 a.m. Full registration details available HERE! The Professional Women’s Network is a new interest group of the Women’s Club of Costa Rica. The network has been developed specifically for women of all nationalities to encourage personal and professional development through networking with other professional women, and to develop programs to contribute to all women in Costa Rica, the organization said. The network is an English-speaking group and beginner level English is welcome. For more information, individuals may email pwn.wccr@gmail.com. Allende's body exhumed for long-awaited autopsy By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Chilean authorities have exhumed the remains of President Salvador Allende to perform an autopsy to determine the circumstances surrounding his death in 1973. Allende's family has requested an investigation to determine whether the elected president was killed or committed suicide during the September 1973 coup that brought military dictator Augusto Pinochet to power. President Allende was found dead in the presidential palace as soldiers supporting the coup closed in and warplanes bombed the building. Official reports said he had killed himself. His family was not allowed to see the body and there was no official investigation at the time of his death.
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, May 24, 2011, Vol. 11, No. 101 | |||||||||||
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| Feds used decoy payment center to snag online gaming firms |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Federal officials unsealed two indictments Monday and said they had seized 11 bank accounts and 10 Internet domain names, including the well-known doylesroom.com poker site that was run from Costa Rica. In addition two men from British Columbia were named in one indictment and a woman in Costa Rica, Ann Marie Puig, 35, was named in the second indictment. Ms. Puig is believed to be the owner of K23 Group Financial Services, doing business as BMX Entertainment. In addition to doylesroom.com, the firm operates bookmaker.com, 2betdsi.com, funtimebingo.com, goldenarchescasino.com, betmaker.com, betgrandesports.com and betehorse.com, according to an accompanying affidavit, which added that the firm also operated truepoker.com under the name of TPCR Limited. All these domain names were seized. Federal officials revealed that they had set up a payment processing center in Baltimore, Maryland, called Linwood Payment Solutions and ran it for two years to collect inside information on the gambling operations. The processing center was real and handled about $33 million during the time it was in operation, federal officials said. The two Canadian men were identified as Darren Wright; and David Parchomchuk. They ran ThrillX Systems, Ltd., which did online gambling business as BetEd.com. BetEd.com is a sportsbook and casino and the flagship of ThrillX Systems, the accompanying affidavit said, adding that corporate offices are in San José. ThrillX is a software solutions provider using the most recent technology, and the betting operation is associated with Sabana Investments & Trade S.A. ThrillX has a bank account in Panamá as does Sabana, the federal affidavit said. The BetEd.com site also was seized. The 11 bank accounts that were seized are in Charlotte, North Carolina, Guam, Panama, Malta, Portugal; and The Netherlands, according to the indictments. The indictments and seizures were announced by Rod J. Rosenstein, U. S. attorney for the District of Maryland, and other federal and state law enforcement officials. In a related case, Bradley Franzen, a payment processor who was detained in an earlier wave of indictments, pleaded guilty in New York to conspiracy and money laundering charges. He maintains a home in Costa Rica. He was arrested when federal officials acted against Absolute Poker and other online poker firms last month. The U.S. attorney's office gave this outline: The indictments allege that the defendants own and manage illegal gambling businesses involving online sports betting. |
The affidavit
alleges that online gambling sites are run by companies located outside
of the U.S., while the majority of customers are in the U.S. Internet
gambling operators rely upon the U.S. banking system, and more
specifically, money-processing business generally called payment
processors, to facilitate the movement of funds to and from their
customers, the gamblers. Typically, an internet gambling operator directs the payment processor to collect funds from individual gamblers which are used to wager with the gambling organization. Those gambling proceeds are transferred to an offshore foreign bank. The internet gambling operator then sends a check or wire transfer from an offshore bank to the payment processor, directing the payment processor to distribute the money to gamblers for their winnings. The affidavit filed in support of the seizure warrants alleges that Homeland Security Investigations in Baltimore opened an undercover payment processor business, called Linwood Payment Solutions. Linwood allowed undercover agents to gain person-to-person contact with top managers of gambling organizations to discuss the Internet gambling business, to negotiate contracts and terms of the processing, and to handle the intricate movement and processing of collection and payment data from the gambling organizations to the banks. The affidavit alleges that on Nov. 12, 2009, a Maryland-based online gambler and cooperating informant confirmed that he/she frequented gambling sites, opened accounts and gambled in Maryland. The gambler agreed to set up online gambling accounts and was provided $500 to place bets on gambling Web sites. The gambler created an account on a BetEd Web site and placed several bets. On March 30, 2010, BetEd used Linwood to wire transfer $100 to the gambler’s bank account. This is how Maryland state law enforcement officials became involved in the case. Linwood allegedly processed gambling transactions since 2009 for BetEd, K23 and other gambling organizations using banks located in Guam and Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the affidavit, between December 2009 and January 2011, Linwood processed over 300,000 transactions worth more than $33 million, including transactions for individuals in Maryland. Between February 2010 and March 2011 alone, BetEd directed Linwood to wire transfer over $2.5 million of collected gambling proceeds to bank accounts in Panama; and between February 2011 and April 2011, K23 directed Linwood to wire transfer over $91,000 of gambling proceeds to bank accounts in Portugal and Malta. The affidavit was filed by M. Lisa Ward, special agent for Homeland Security. She noted that some of the money was transferred to meet payroll and other necessary expenses. The U.S. anti-gambling sweeps are taking their toll on jobs for young, bilingual Costa Ricans. |
| Some traffic tickets are still frozen awaiting Sala IV action |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Some traffic tickets still are frozen while the Sala IV constitutional court considered the specifics. That was the announcement Monday from the Poder Judicial. Last week the Sala IV constitutional court rejected a challenge to the system of resolving traffic tickets. That meant that the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad can resume hearings on many tickets that have been in limbo. But not all, said the Poder Judicial Monday as it released a list of seven pending appeals. Since there still are the seven unresolved constitutional cases, those who received tickets for the same offense can await the outcome of the Sala VI decision. The bulk of the |
appeals are about the
disproportionality of the fines. Some lawmakers
tend to agree, but revision of the new traffic law has been put on the
back burner after the current legislature considered changes for a year. Talking on a cell phone while driving is 220,050 colons or about $442. That is noted in one of the appeals. Other motorists are appealing fines for failing to have seat belts in student transportation, fines for failing to have a current revisión tecnica inspection sticker and even the fine for parking incorrectly. Two appeals relate to vehicle noise. The number of tickets that remain frozen due to the uncompleted appeals are believed to be only a small percentage of the 81,000 tickets that had been frozen. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, May 24, 2011, Vol. 11, No. 101 | |||||||||
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| Researchers explore port of ancient Mayan
mariners |
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By the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration Researchers are searching a wild, largely unexplored and forgotten coastline for evidence and artifacts of one of the greatest seafaring traditions of the ancient New World, where Maya traders once paddled massive dugout canoes filled with trade goods from across Mexico and Central America. One exploration goal is to discover the remains of a Maya trading canoe, described in 1502 by Christopher Columbus’ son Ferdinand, as holding 25 paddlers plus cargo and passengers. Through the end of May, the team is exploring the remote jungle, mangrove forests and lagoons at the ancient port site of Vista Alegre (“happy view” in Spanish) where the Caribbean meets the Gulf of Mexico at the northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. Scientists believe the port was part of an important trading network and was used at various times between about 800 B.C. and A.D. 1521, the date scholars use to designate the start of Spanish rule. “The maritime Maya have been described much like ancient seagoing Phoenicians. They traded extensively in a wide variety of goods, such as bulk cotton and salt, and likely incense from tree sap called copal, jade, obsidian, cacao, Quetzal and other tropical bird feathers, and even slaves,” said Dominique Rissolo, expedition co-chief scientist and director of the Waitt Institute in La Jolla, California “Maya trade was far-ranging between the Veracruz coast of modern Mexico and the Gulf of Honduras, with each port a link in a chain connecting people and ideas. Yet there is still much to learn about the extensive history and importance of the maritime Maya and how they adapted to life by the sea.” "Maritime economies were strengthened and far-ranging trade routes were established between A.D. 850 and 1100,” said Jeffrey Glover, expedition co-chief scientist with Georgia State University’s Department of Anthropology in Atlanta. “It was during this time when the Maya at Chichen Itza relied increasingly on maritime commerce to maintain and extend control over much of the Yucatan peninsula. The period most associated with Maya seafaring followed, between A.D. 1100 and 1521.” Recent archaeological work at Vista Alegre included completion of an architectural map of the site, test excavations to obtain cultural materials, and a 13-mile reconnaissance of coastal environments that revealed a number of small ancient and historical sites and cultural features. During expeditions at the port site in 2005 and 2008, explorers mapped 29 structures including platforms, mounds, raised causeways, and a concrete-filled 35-foot tall, steep-sided pyramid that dominates the central plaza and appears to have been heavily damaged by hurricanes. Explorers believe the summit of the pyramid was also |
 Proyecto Costa Escondida photo
Dominique Rissolo walks between Vista Alegre and Templo
Perdido. The causeway runs across tidal flats for over a kilometer
until it terminates at a small temple.used by lookouts to monitor approaching and departing canoes. In addition to the features on the island, a narrow walkway connects the port to a collapsed and looted temple less than a mile away on the mainland. Two scientists from Mexico and a small number of U.S. students will join parts of the expedition, which will also provide post-expedition technical reports to the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History. A goal of the exploration is to enable Mexico to better protect and preserve its coastal and submerged cultural resources. The explorers are contending with many of the same challenges that faced ancient Maya seafarers, including shelter — as some team members will be in tents and slung hammocks — the remoteness of the area that is accessible only by boat, the scarcity of fresh water, the possibility of tropical storms, and the danger and nuisance of a variety of local inhabitants, including mosquitoes, snakes, spiders and crocodiles. “The Maya largely had to live off the land in this remote area where they found and used resources to survive. Like them, we have to search for scarce fresh water, but our challenges are more about making the research work in less than optimal conditions. It will involve some good MacGyvering,” said Glover, referring to the television actor who used ingenuity and materials at hand to invent his way out of a fix. The expedition is part of Proyecto Costa Escondida, a long-term interdisciplinary research effort co-directed by Glover and Rissolo and focused on the dynamic relationship between the Maya and their coastal landscape. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, May 24, 2011, Vol. 11, No. 101 | ||||||||||
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| Above average season seen for hurricanes in Atlantic Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The Atlantic basin is expected to see an above-normal hurricane season this year, according to the seasonal outlook issued by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center — a division of the National Weather Service. Across the entire Atlantic Basin for the six-month season, which begins June 1, the agency is predicting the following ranges: * 12 to 18 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which: * 6 to 10 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including: * 3 to 6 major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5; winds of 111 mph or higher) Each of these ranges has a 70 percent likelihood, and indicate that activity will exceed the seasonal average of 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes. “The United States was fortunate last year. Winds steered most of the season’s tropical storms and all hurricanes away from our coastlines,” said Jane Lubchenco, undersecretary of Commerce for oceans and atmosphere and administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “However we can’t count on luck to get us through this season. We need to be prepared, especially with this above-normal outlook.” Climate factors considered for this outlook are: * The continuing high activity era. Since 1995, the tropical multi-decadal signal has brought ocean and atmospheric conditions conducive for development in sync, leading to more active Atlantic hurricane seasons. * Warm Atlantic Ocean water. Sea surface temperatures where storms often develop and move across the Atlantic are up to two degrees Fahrenheit warmer-than-average. * La Niña, which continues to weaken in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, is expected to dissipate later this month or in June, but its impacts such as reduced wind shear are expected to continue into the hurricane season. “In addition to multiple climate factors, seasonal climate models also indicate an above-normal season is likely, and even suggest we could see activity comparable to some of the active seasons since 1995,” said Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at the Climate Prediction Center. The Agency’s seasonal hurricane outlook does not predict where and when any of these storms may hit. Landfall is dictated by weather patterns in place at the time the storm approaches. For each storm, the National Hurricane Center forecasts how these weather patterns affect the storm track, intensity and landfall potential. Costa Rica almost never is hit directly by a hurricane, but the indirect effects can be devastating. Swollen rivers destroy bridges and roads and flood communities. Landslides can be fatal. Pacific season probably will be less active in 2011 Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The Climate Prediction Center said Monday that climate conditions point to a below normal hurricane season in the Eastern Pacific this year. The outlook calls for a 5 percent probability of an above normal season, a 25 percent probability of a near normal season and a 70 percent probability of a below normal season. Allowing for forecast uncertainties, seasonal hurricane forecasters estimate a 70 percent chance of 9 to 15 named storms, which includes 5 to 8 hurricanes, of which 1 to 3 are expected to become major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale). An average Eastern Pacific hurricane season produces 15 to 16 named storms, with eight to nine becoming hurricanes and four becoming major hurricanes. The Eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 through Nov. 30, with peak activity from July through September. Eastern Pacific tropical storms most often track westward over open waters, sometimes reaching Hawaii and beyond. However, some occasionally head toward the northeast and may bring rainfall to the arid southwestern United States during the summer months. Also, during any given season, two to three tropical storms can affect western Mexico or Central America. Residents, businesses and government agencies of coastal and near-coastal regions should always prepare prior to each and every hurricane season regardless of the seasonal hurricane outlook, the agency said. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, May 24, 2011, Vol. 11, No. 101 | ||||||||||
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Latin American news Please reload page if feed does not appear promptly |
seen dragging investments Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Commodity price hikes in recent months, especially for agricultural, mineral and energy goods, is generating uncertainty and stands in the way of investment and the sustained accumulation of technological and productive capacity in Latin American and Caribbean countries. That is the view of the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America, Alicia Bárcena. She was speaking during a two-day visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, which ended Friday. Ms. Bárcena was the main speaker at the second day of the G-20 workshop on commodities. She said that commodity price volatility is a challenge to economic policy creativity in the region. She highlighted the fact that the exact implications of this phenomenon for each country depend on whether they are net exporters or importers of such products. Food price indices as estimated by several organizations, including the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, climbed by around 30 percent between June and December 2010, before reaching a record high in January. Increases in wheat and maize prices (94 percent and 64 percent between June and December 2010) had a strong impact on Latin American and Caribbean economies, she said. Meanwhile, mineral and energy prices have soared even more quickly. According to Ms. Bárcena "Price rises tend to increase inflationary pressure, reduce food consumption among the poorest groups in society and generate unsustainable imbalances in countries' current accounts". She recommended policies to mitigate the impact of commodity price rises and volatility in at least three economic areas: trade, production and macroeconomics. In the area of trade, she said international coordination should be promoted with a view to avoiding food shortages in importing countries and halting instability in exporters and importers alike. In terms of production, she advised increasing crop production and reducing vulnerability in consumer demand. As for macroeconomics, she suggested measures to preserve industrial competitiveness and promote employment, while also controlling inflation and price volatility. Ad rates are going up Consultantes Río Colorado S.A., the parent company of A.M. Costa Rica, announces that it will be increasing advertising rates as of June 1. The increases, between 0 and 9 percent, will affect display as well as some classified rates. Sales executives will provide existing clients full details. They also will point out that the company will stand behind advertising agreements made between now and June 1 at the current rates for a period of up to one year. The company last raised rates in 2007 and held the line for the benefit of clients during the recent recession. |
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