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| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Friday, June 6, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 111
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Can you believe
it's her 33rd arrest?
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A thief who works the downtown area came into police hands for an incredible 33rd time Thursday. The Fuerza Pública said that the woman who is well-known to officers was spotted by undercover police at Calle 6 and Avenida 8. Officers say she was caught in the act of lifting a wallet from a women pedestrian. Police said they recovered the wallet. The woman was identified by the last names of Miranda Aguilar. The woman was being sent to the flagrancy court. She is but one of a handful of thieves and pickpockets that work the downtown area. The gathering of crowds is a signal for them to work. This includes soccer games and even the presidential inauguration at the Estadio Nacional. Most are loners who are not very competent in their trade, police know them and follow them around. They prey on individuals who are not attentive to their belongings. They will try to open a backpack as the owner walks along the street. Or they will snag the purse of a woman as she shops in a supermarket. They are just one step above the crook who rips a chain off a victim. In contrast there are several gangs of professional pickpockets who pass through the metro area several times a year. They work in a group to delay a victim, perhaps on a sidewalk that has been made narrow by a vending stand. There may be as many as six persons in the group, and they look like ordinary pedestrians who have slowed to navigate a sidewalk obstacle. One quickly and silently lifts the wallet from the victim and passes it to a second person. As the crowd thins out and the victim realizes he has lost his wallet, other members of the group, perhaps a woman, tells him the crook has fled in the wrong direction. This is called cooling the mark, and such people might even linger until police arrive in order to confuse the situation. In San José some store clerks will tip off pickpockets by making signs to show where someone had placed their money. These professionals are hardly ever caught. When they are, the evidence is long gone with an accomplice. 
Officer shot in capture of murder suspects By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Fuerza Pública officers shot it out with two men Wednesday night in San Juan de Poás, Alajuela. The agency said that the officers on patrol happened on the aftermath of a dispute where a man identified by the last name of Chinchilla died. He was 21 and suffered multiple gunshot wounds. The two men involved in the murder began to flee in a car and engaged the officers in a firefight. One officer, identified as Henry Solano Sánchez, suffered a bullet wound to the hand. He was lucky because later police confiscated a .40-caliber pistol. Solano and his partner still managed to chase down suspects and make an arrest. Traffic police plea for pedestrian safety By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Sometimes pedestrians seem to have a death wish. Wearing dark clothes in the middle of a rain storm, they cross a major highway where they should not. The Policía de Tránsito knows because they are the ones who have to determine how an accident happened. Frequently, they said, it is the lack of prudence and the actions of a pedestrian that leads to an encounter with a vehicle. The traffic police came out with a plea to pedestrians Thursday asking them to wear clothing that makes them visible. Police said that with the end of the teacher strike and the advent of the rainy season there will be more individuals walking on the nation's highways and in situations where they are not visible. Being hit by a car is the second biggest cause of traffic death, they said. Last year, 59 pedestrians died that way. Drivers, too, could be at fault, but police studies show that many pedestrians refuse to use the bridge overpasses that were built to help them avoid crossing major highways. Sometimes the pedestrian is drunk or under the influence of some chemical. Rural roads are notorious for not having shoulders for walkers. In rural areas walking and riding a bike are major means of transport. In San José and other cities there is the additional problem with beggars who seek coins at intersections. Sometimes they are not dressed for the job either. Red tide algae knocks out its competition By the Georgia Institute of Technology news
staff
Marine algae fight other species of algae for nutrients and light, and, ultimately, survival. The algae that cause red tides, the algal blooms that color blue ocean waters red, carry an arsenal of molecules that disable some other algae. The incapacitated algae don’t necessarily die, but their growth grinds to a halt. This could explain part of why blooms can be maintained despite the presence of competitors. In the new study, scientists used cutting-edge tools in an attempt to solve an old ecological mystery: Why do some algae boom and some algae bust? The research team used cultured strains of the algae that cause red tide, exposed competitor algae to its exuded chemicals, and then took a molecular inventory of the competitor algae’s growth and metabolism pathways. Red tide exposure significantly slowed the competitor algae’s growth and compromised its ability to maintain healthy cell membranes. “Our study describes the physiological responses of competitors exposed to red tide compounds, and indicates why certain competitor species may be sensitive to these compounds while other species remain relatively resistant,” said Kelsey Poulson-Ellestad, a former graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, now at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the study’s co-first author. “This can help us determine mechanisms that influence species composition in planktonic communities exposed to red tides, and suggests that these chemical cues could alter large-scale ecosystem phenomena, such as the funneling of material and energy through marine food webs.” The algae that form red tide in the Gulf of Mexico are dinoflagellates called Karenia brevis, or just Karenia by scientists. Karenia makes neurotoxins that are toxic to humans and fish. Karenia also makes small molecules that are toxic to other marine algae, which is what the new study analyzed. “In this study we employed a global look at the metabolism of these competitors to take an unbiased approach to ask how are they being affected by these non-lethal, subtle chemicals that are released by Karenia,” said Julia Kubanek, a professor in the School of Biology and the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech. “By studying both the proteins and metabolites, which interact to form metabolic pathways, we put together a picture of what’s happening inside the competitor algal cells when they’re extremely stressed.” The research team used a combination of mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to form a holistic picture of what’s happening inside the competitor algae. The study is the first time that metabolites and proteins were measured simultaneously to study ecological competition. “Karenia is a big mystery. It has these periodic blooms that happen most years now, but what’s shaping that cycle is unclear,” Professor Kubanek said. “The role of competitive chemical cues in these interactions is also not well understood.” Canadian murder suspect detained By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Canadian police have arrested the man suspected of shooting and killing three police officers in the eastern province of New Brunswick. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman said authorities arrested Justin Bourque early Friday in Moncton, the city where the shootings occurred. Authorities had launched a massive manhunt for the gunman, who also wounded two others on Wednesday. The incident prompted police to warn frightened residents to stay in their homes. Investigators say the suspect opened fire after police responded to a call about an armed man wearing camouflage clothes. They say the motive for the shootings is not clear. Mass shootings in Canada are rare. Wednesday's attack was the deadliest on Canadian police officers since 2005 when four officers were gunned down in Mayerthorpe, a town in the western Alberta province.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, June 6, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 111 | |
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| Firms that recycle show their finished products at an
environmental fair |
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By
Michael Krumholtz
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Costa Rican companies are turning trash into profit by recycling discarded materials into new products. Through their renewal of glass, paper, or plastic goods, these businesses have not only capitalized on the economic benefits, but they also conserve natural resources and minimize pollution. A few local recycling businesses at the Feria Ambiental in the Antigua Aduana are able to show visitors the impact of buying and selling reused materials. Flavio Amador of Reciclaje Thames said his business collects any thrown away material they can to turn them into artwork or furniture. Reciclaje Thames makes paintings and notecards out of recycled paper, portraits on recycled bottles, and furniture from reused wood. Another source of recycled furniture in Costa Rica comes from the much larger and more recognizable brand of The Coca-Cola Co. The Latin American presence, Coca-Cola Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A., focuses on recycling bottles into shelving material or cardboard into comfortable benches. As the largest bottler of Coca-Cola in the world, the Fomento works in nine different Latin American countries, including Costa Rica. A representative on site at the fair said the company has recycled 640 million bottles from the region's rivers and oceans, often turning them into supplies and furniture for nearby schools. Costa Rica's large drink and food producer, Florida Ice & Farm Co., is also represented at the environmental fair. The company known for making Imperial beer said that it recycled 4,235 tons of bottles, |
 A.M. Costa Rica/Michael Krumholtz
Flavio Amador from Reciclaje
Thames created these.cans, and polylaminates in 2013. Florida then processes the recovered trash and sells it to recycling companies, mostly U.S.-based, who turn the material into usable products like T-shirts or glassware. The company Grupo Vical also works throughout Central America, specializing in the recycling of glass bottles. Grupo Vical uses only glass because it can be 100 percent recycled with an infinite amount of reuses. The business even accepts broken glass, which it then sorts by color to remake into full bottles again. Armando Salas from Recyplast, S.A. in Limón said his plant recycles all plastic products and turns them into polypropylene material. Recyplast receives all different sorts of plastics, from water bottles to hairdryers, before breaking them down into resin and cord. That mixture is then used to create polypropylene products like packaging or stationery. The environment fair continues today and Saturday, running from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Antigua Adjauna is in northeast San José on Calle 23 not far from the Estación al Atlántico. |
| Fuerza Pública official named to head the country's
prison police |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A new prison director will step in to oversee security in Costa Rica's penitentiary system. Pablo Bertozzi was named to the position of director of the Policía Pentineciaría Thursday by the justice minister, Cristina Ramírez Chavarría. Bertozzi is the former sub-director of the Fuerza Pública who brings 20 years of police experience with him to his new post. There he will be joined by Danilo Mesén, who was announced as the new sub-director of the Policía Penitenciaría. Mesén has worked in prison security for 35 years. “We consider it very important to make these changes with two officials who have had a great track record for safety,” Ms. Ramírez |
said. “We are
convinced that through teamwork, they can elevate and strengthen the
important work that the Policía Penitenciaria does.” The announcement comes after local media outlets reported that the 10 prison guards on trial for inmate Johel Guillermo Araya Ramírez's 2011 murder were found not guilty Wednesday. Araya died after a failed breakout attempt from La Reforma maximum security prison. His beaten body was found lifeless in his cell a few days after the escape attempt. Araya and other inmates petitioned the Defensoría de los Habitantes to complain about deteriorating conditions in jail just before the failed prison break. The Sala IV constitutional court determined last week that La Reforma has suffered from recent torture networks initiated by security guards and that Ms. Ramírez had to make immediate changes to improve prison conditions. |
| Country will air television campaign during World Cup games |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica will be promoting its tourism potential during the World Cup soccer matches. The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo and the Promotora del Comercio Exterior said that the BBC in the United States and Canada will air 168 20-second spots during 54 soccer matches over three weeks as part of the deal. The country also is buying an ad in The New York Times magazine that will be distributed Sunday. |
The country will
be represented in Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom through local
television networks, an announcement said. For Promotora, the World Cup is a chance to promote its new essential Costa Rica trademark. No cost was given for the television and print campaign. The tourism institute paid $500,000 to air spots during the Winter Olympics in an effort to raise its Web site ranking. There was no indication with the current campaign how success will be evaluated. |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, June 6, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 111 | |||||
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| Scientists study ancient sea water to understand what is
happening now |
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By
the Columbia University news service
Some 56 million years ago, a massive pulse of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere sent global temperatures soaring. In the oceans, carbonate sediments dissolved, some organisms went extinct and others evolved. Scientists have long suspected that ocean acidification caused the crisis — similar to today, as manmade CO2 combines with seawater to change its chemistry. Now, for the first time, scientists have quantified the extent of surface acidification from those ancient days, and the news is not good: the oceans are on track to acidify at least as much as they did then, only at a much faster rate. In a study published in the latest issue of Paleoceanography, the scientists estimate that ocean acidity increased by about 100 percent in a few thousand years or more, and stayed that way for the next 70,000 years. In this radically changed environment, some creatures died out while others adapted and evolved. The study is the first to use the chemical composition of fossils to reconstruct surface ocean acidity at the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, a period of intense warming on land and throughout the oceans due to high CO2. “This could be the closest geological analog to modern ocean acidification,” said study coauthor Bärbel Hönisch, a paleoceanographer at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “As massive as it was, it still happened about 10 times more slowly than what we are doing today.” The oceans have absorbed about a third of the carbon humans have pumped into the air since industrialization, helping to keep earth’s thermostat lower than it would be otherwise. But that uptake of carbon has come at a price. Chemical reactions caused by that excess CO2 have made seawater grow more acidic, depleting it of the carbonate ions that corals, mollusks and calcifying plankton need to build their shells and skeletons. In the last 150 years or so, the pH of the oceans has dropped substantially, from 8.2 to 8.1 -- equivalent to a 25 percent increase in acidity. By the end of the century, ocean pH is projected to fall another 0.3 pH units, to 7.8. While the researchers found a comparable pH drop during the Thermal Maximum -- 0.3 units -- the shift happened over a few thousand years. “We are dumping carbon in the atmosphere and ocean at a much higher rate today — within centuries,” said study coauthor Richard Zeebe, a paleoceanographer at the University of Hawaii. “If we continue on the emissions path we are on right now, acidification of the surface ocean will be way more dramatic . . . ." The study confirms that the acidified conditions lasted for 70,000 years or more, consistent with previous model-based estimates. “It didn’t bounce back right away,” said Timothy Bralower, a researcher at Penn State who was not involved in the study. “It took tens of thousands of years to recover.” |
 National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration/Nina Bednaršek
Ocean acidification is already
affecting some marine life, as shown by the partly dissolved shell of
this planktic snail, or pteropod, caught off the Pacific Northwest, the
authors report.From sea floor sediments drilled off Japan, the researchers analyzed the shells of plankton that lived at the surface of the ocean during that time. What caused the burst of carbon is still unclear. One popular explanation is that an overall warming trend may have sent a pulse of methane from the sea floor into the air, setting off events that released more earth-warming gases into the air and oceans. Up to half of the tiny animals that live in mud on the sea floor died out, possibly along with life further up the food chain. Other species thrived in this changed environment and new ones evolved. On land, hoofed animals and primates appeared for the first time. Eventually, the oceans and atmosphere recovered as elements from eroded rocks washed into the sea and neutralized the acid. Today, signs are already emerging that some marine life may be in trouble. In a recent study led by Nina Bednaršek at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more than half of the tiny planktic snails, or pteropods, that she and her team studied off the coast of Washington, Oregon and California showed badly dissolved shells. Ocean acidification has been linked to the widespread death of baby oysters off Washington and Oregon since 2005, and may also pose a threat to coral reefs, which are under additional pressure from pollution and warming ocean temperatures. Scientists call the condition acidification even though the additional carbon dioxide just makes the water less basic. The carbon creates carbonic acid that generates a hydrogen ion, which is what pH measures. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, June 6, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 111 | |||||||
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| Isotope analysis suggests Moon came from collision By the European Association of Geochemistry
news staff
A new series of measurements of oxygen isotopes provides increasing evidence that the Moon formed from the collision of the Earth with another large, planet-sized astronomical body, around 4.5 billion years ago. This work is being published today in Science and will be presented to the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference in California Wednesday. Most planetary scientists believe that the Moon formed from an impact between the Earth and a planet-sized body, which has been given the name Theia. Efforts to confirm that the impact had taken place had centered on measuring the ratios between the isotopes of oxygen, titanium, silicon and others. These ratios are known to vary throughout the solar system, but their close similarity between Earth and Moon conflicted with theoretical models of the collision that indicated that the Moon would form mostly from Theia, and thus would be expected to be compositionally different from the Earth. Now a group of German researchers, led by Daniel Herwartz, have used more refined techniques to compare the ratios of oxygen 16 and 17 in lunar samples, with those from Earth. The team initially used lunar samples which had arrived on Earth via meteorites, but as these samples had exchanged their isotopes with water from Earth, fresher samples were sought. These were provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from the Apollo 11, 12 and 16 missions. They were found to contain significantly higher levels of oxygen 16 and 17 than their Earthly counterparts. Herwartz said "The differences are small and difficult to detect, but they are there. This means two things; firstly we can now be reasonably sure that the giant collision took place. Secondly, it gives us an idea of the geochemistry of Theia. Theia seems to have been similar to what we call E-type chondrites. If this is true, we can now predict the geochemical and isotopic composition of the Moon, because the present Moon is a mixture of Theia and the early Earth. The next goal is to find out how much material of Theia is in the Moon." E-type chondrites represent a rare form of material in space. Most models estimate that the Moon is composed of around 70 to 90 percent material from Theia, with the remaining 10 to 30 percent coming from the early Earth. However, some models argue for as little as 8 percent Theia in the Moon. Herwartz said that the new data indicate that a 50:50 mixture seems possible, but this needs to be confirmed. Obama defends his decision to swap top Taliban leaders By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
President Barack Obama said Thursday he would make no apologies for agreeing to a deal that released Taliban detainee U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, despite controversy in Washington that Congress was not notified ahead of time. “I make absolutely no apologies for making sure that we get back a young man to his parents and that the American people understand that this is somebody's child,'' Obama said at a news conference after a Group of Seven nations summit in Brussels, Belgium. "We saw an opportunity, and we seized it and I make no apologies for it," Obama reiterated. Meanwhile, the Pentagon reported Bergdahl's health is stable and improving as he recuperates at a U.S. military hospital in Germany. In Brussels, the president addressed fierce criticism from Republicans and some Democratic allies that he did not sufficiently inform Congress over the exchange of five Taliban prisoners for Bergdahl, who was kept in captivity for nearly five years. "This is not some abstraction, this is not some political football," Obama said. "As commander in chief of the armed forces, I am responsible for those kids. "We don’t condition whether or not we make the effort to get them back," he added. The Taliban also released a statement Thursday, claiming Bergdahl's release shows the Taliban have legitimacy as a movement capable of negotiating successful deals with the United States, a Taliban commander said. “This gives the Islamic Emirates more legitimacy in front of the world. It shows we are able to deal directly with the Americans and also successfully,” said Maulvi Mubarak, shadow Taliban chief of the Shah Wali Kot district in Kandahar. Mubarak said the deal would also boost morale among the Taliban's ranks, including the hundreds of men under his command in three neighboring districts. “This will give us more courage and determination to carry on this holy task,” he said. The five Taliban leaders who were exchanged for Bergdahl have rejoined their families in Qatar after 13 years in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The freed Taliban leaders will live under restrictions in Qatar, including a one-year ban on their travel. They include: Khairullah Khairkhwa, former Herat provincial governor and founding member of the Taliban; Mullah Mohammad Fazl, former chief of the army staff; Norullah Nuri, former civilian head of the northern zone; and Abdul Haq Wasiq, former deputy head of intelligence. The fifth man, Mohammad Nabi Omari, is being described as a relatively minor figure associated with the Haqqani network that was holding the American soldier. Since Bergdahl's release last weekend, "his health continues to improve daily," said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. Bergdahl has been speaking English with the staff at the Landstuhl medical center in Germany. However, he hasn't spoken with his parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl of Idaho, Warren said. Bergdahl also is more engaged in his treatment plan at the center, but there is no specific timetable for his return to the U.S. for further treatment, Warren said. Bergdahl was captured in Afghanistan in 2009. Some soldiers have said he walked away from his unit, and have alleged at least six soldiers died trying to find him. Some Republican members of the U.S. Congress have said Obama set a dangerous precedent with the swap for Bergdahl and might have broken the law. A law requires prior notification to Congress before any Guantanamo releases. "I am never surprised by controversies that are whipped up in Washington. That is par for the course," Obama said. Public appears to be split over the prisoner trade By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Even as President Obama defends his decision to trade five Taliban prisoners for one U.S. Army sergeant, there are early indications the American public is split over the controversy. A Fox News poll shows, in the first few days, 45 percent approved of the swap while 47 percent disapproved. Saturday's exchange and the administration's failure to notify lawmakers beforehand have sparked intense debate on Capitol Hill. Perhaps never has the liberation of an American soldier from enemy hands provoked such acrimony in Washington and beyond. In Brussels, Obama responded to a chorus of criticism. “We saw an opportunity, we seized it," he said. "And I make no apologies for it. We have a basic principle: we do not leave anybody wearing the American uniform behind.” Such assertions do not sway Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican who blasted the release of high-level Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. “I remain increasingly convinced from everything we have been presented that these five individuals that have been released will soon return to the fight against America," said Rubio. "The president has now set a precedent that will encourage enemies of the United States to target American men and women in uniform.” Some Republican critics of the the administration previously urged strenuous efforts to secure Bergdahl’s release. Still others allege the administration violated U.S. law by failing to notify Congress prior to the prisoner swap, reigniting a long running debate over congressional authority versus presidential power. “The law seems to me to be pretty clear that the committee should have been notified or at least, the leaders of the committee,” Sen. Susan Collins said. But the White House maintains Bergdahl’s declining health made securing his release an urgent matter, and a national obligation to the sergeant and his family. Critics say the administration is grasping at feeble justifications for a poor decision. Sen. Saxby Chambliss said, “I don’t think from a health standpoint there was any issue that dictated the release of these five nasty killers in return for Bergdahl.” He also is a Republican. Adding to the controversy are widespread reports that Bergdahl wandered away from his post prior to being taken by the Taliban. Analysts say the administration was unprepared for the outcry surrounding the sergeant’s release. New opera documents death of troubled Asian U.S. soldier By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
In October of 2011, a Chinese-American soldier serving in Afghanistan was found shot dead in an apparent suicide after weeks of abuse by his fellow servicemen. An investigation showed that 19-year-old Danny Chen had been the subject of racial slurs and abusive treatment, including excessive guard duty and torturous exercises, accompanied by beating and taunting by other soldiers. The tragedy of the young man is the subject of a new opera titled "An American Soldier," which premiers in Washington, D.C. next Friday. New York-based tenor Andrew Stenson portrays the tormented soldier. He says he sees Chen as an ordinary inexperienced young man. "I am trying to reserve any judgments and just — the fact of the matter is — it's a young kid in a terrible, uncomfortable situation," he said. Stenson says he is drawing from the memories of his own youth when he was taunted about his Asian appearance. He says he continues to face racial profiling even in large, ethnically diverse cities like New York. "When I was leaving my apartment to come here, one of the ladies in my apartment thought I was a delivery boy and asked if I had anything for her," Stenson said. The Washington National Opera commissioned Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo to create an hour-long work based on a contemporary American story. He decided to use Chen's tragedy to explore challenges faced by many immigrants and their families in the United States. "From the perspective of Danny — when he grew up in Chinatown in New York — what are the challenges he faces and why he decided to join the Army," said Ruo. Chen's parents speak very little English. After high school, the teenager was offered a scholarship for college, but he decided to join the Army instead. "He wanted to be 100 percent American, and this is something not every American child, or teenage boy, or even girl would experience," said Ruo. The libretto is based on court-martial testimonies of Chen's fellow soldiers. The central setting is a military courtroom at Fort Bragg, Texas. As the soldiers testify, there are flashbacks of the events that led to Chen's death in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Opera director David Paul says the courtroom set is gradually dismantled until it hits a wall of graffiti typically found in war zones. "One of the things we want to show in the piece is how American justice fails this man and essentially falls apart, and we are trying to get at the bottom of why, but as the piece progresses, it, American justice, fails us and so one of the things we are showing is that this courtroom as foundation of the story essentially disintegrates," he said. Creators of "An American Soldier" say they hope the opera will contribute to a closer scrutiny of a dark undercurrent in the U.S. military culture, and society in general. Shooting at university leaves one dead and three wounded By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Police in the western U.S. state of Washington say one person has been killed and three others wounded in a shooting on a college campus in the city of Seattle. Police officials say one of the victims has life-threatening injuries, and the other two are in stable condition. They say one suspect is in custody. Police initially said they were searching for a second suspect, but later announced they were no longer seeking anyone else. The shooting took place Thursday in a building on the campus of Seattle Pacific University, a Christian school. Police say the gunman entered the building and opened fire before he was subdued by a student monitor. The university was in lockdown with classes suspended. The incident comes less than two weeks after a 22-year-old man killed six people near the University of California, Santa Barbara, before shooting and killing himself. The man, Elliot Rodger, was the son of a Hollywood film director, Peter Rodger. Defense agency challenge is to defeat hacker attacks By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
In two years the world may have an automated system that could instantly discover and neutralize hacker attacks against government, corporate or private computers. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency issued a challenge to all computer security experts saying current shields are inadequate, while patches are implemented only after some damage has been done. Hackers steal information, erase memories and disrupt operations, costing billions of dollars in lost data and expenses for plugging the system’s holes. Cyberattacks are also seen as a major concern in the quest towards integration of all devices, cars and homes into a network known as the Internet of things. More than 30 teams from academia, industry and private groups will compete for a prize of $3.75 million. The final competition will be held in 2016, at the time of the DEF CON, one of the world’s largest computer security conferences. The defense agency periodically challenges scientific community to find solutions for difficult problems, such as building autonomous vehicles or robots that can independently operate in emergency situations. Russian says nyet to smoking in public places, even bars By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
With an army of 44 million smokers, Russia is the world’s fourth largest cigarette market after China, India and Indonesia. But that may soon change. In a revolution against King Tobacco, Russia has just banned smoking in all restaurants, bars, hotels, and trains. And it is now increasingly common in Moscow to see groups of men and women smoking on the sidewalks. Oleg Xhoroshim, a 43-year-old Moscow resident, welcomes the big change. He says he and his children are nonsmokers. They were tired of breathing other peoples' smoke. He says, in little cafes and little restaurants, smoke spreads. So he fully supports the new law. As Russian bars approach their first non-smoking weekend, bartenders worry that clients will stay away. “You should have freedom to choose what you want. There are a lot of non-smoking restaurants in Moscow, so I think it makes no sense,” said Sergei Goncharov, who tends bar at John Donne Pub, a popular central Moscow establishment. The ban even extends to Russia’s wildly popular summer verandas. Smokers will have to stand five meters from these outdoor chairs and tables. Opponents, like Goncharov, stress that in much of Russia outdoor temperatures are below freezing for half of the year. “When it is summer, it is not so annoying. But when it is cold, you should put on your coat and go somewhere,” he said. Last year, Russia banned cigarette advertising, placed graphic warnings on cigarette packs, and restricted smoking in many areas. Russia’s health ministry said these steps pushed 15 percent of the nation’s smokers to quit. Now, Russia plans to increase cigarette taxes six times in an effort to cut the nation’s legion of smokers by another 15 percent. Alexei Tatarsky, a lung specialist, approves. "For the first time ever," he said, "the government is taking serious and decisive measures in the fight against smoking." Today, 60 percent of Russian men smoke. In Soviet days, cigarette shortages sparked riots. Tatarsky says the Kremlin faces a challenge: changing the lives of almost half of Russia’s adult population, without provoking a backlash. Oleg Smolin, a smoker for 10 years, says adjusting to the new law will be tough, but doable. “We will get used to it," he said. And he asked, "if in Europe and in other countries, they get used to it, why can’t we?” For now, Russians appear to be complying. It could be fear of fines for violations: the ruble equivalent of $45 for a smoker, $1,000 for a restaurant, and $2,000 for a business. Shortage of midwives seen as a public health crisis By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A new report said there’s a severe shortage of midwives in more than 70 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Those countries suffer 96 percent of the world’s maternal deaths and more than 90 percent of stillbirths and newborn deaths. The report is a joint publication of the U.N. Population Fund, the International Confederation of Midwives, the World Health Organization and others. Population fund Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin said, “Midwives are the unsung heroes of maternal, newborn health. Indeed, they are the unsung heroes for public health in the world.” Also on hand for the release of The State of the World’s Midwifery 2014 report was Frances Day-Stirk, president of the midwives confederation. She said, “Addressing the shortages of midwives and midwifery services across low- and middle-income countries could save the lives of millions of women and newborns each year. And the report calls for urgent investment in high quality midwifery care to prevent about two-thirds of all maternal and newborn deaths. Millions of lives saved.” The report said investing in midwifery education and training would help close what it calls glaring gaps in maternal and newborn health care. And the return on the investment, it said, would be huge. “Midwives can perform about 87 to 90 percent of essential care for women and newborns, but only when they’re educated to global standards,” said Ms. Day-Stirk. This year’s midwifery report is titled "A Universal Pathway, A Woman’s Right to Health." It said that “countries should consider the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of the midwifery workforce in order to provide quality services.” It goes on to say that many countries have begun taking bold steps to improve midwifery. Ms. Day-Stirk said, “Saving those lives does not only mean preventing personal tragedies for families, it also means more productivity for the women and the babies who survive and thrive and the babies who grow into healthy adults.” |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, June 6, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 111 | |||||||||
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 A.M. Costa Rica file
photo
Adult monarch
butterflyMonarch decline
blamed on U.S.
By the
University of Guelph news service
Habitat loss on breeding grounds in the United States – not on wintering grounds in Mexico – is the main cause of recent and projected population declines of migratory monarch butterflies in eastern North America, according to new research from the University of Guelph. The groundbreaking study was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. “Our work provides the first evidence that monarch butterfly numbers in eastern North America are most sensitive to changes in the availability of milkweed on breeding grounds, particularly in the Corn Belt region of the United States,” said Ryan Norris, a professor in Guelph’s Department of Integrative Biology. He conducted the study with lead author and current Guelph post-doc Tyler Flockhart, as well as scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia’s national science agency. These results contradict the long-held belief that monarch butterflies are most vulnerable to disturbances on wintering grounds in Mexico. They also confirm suspicions that recent declines have actually been driven by breeding events. During the winter months, monarch butterflies congregate in a small area at high densities in Mexico. Scientists thought factors on those wintering grounds, such as climate change or deforestation, were the greatest threat to the population. That led to multiple Mexican presidential decrees to protect butterfly overwintering habitats and efforts to curb illegal deforestation. “The protection of overwintering habitat has no doubt gone a long way towards conserving monarchs that breed throughout eastern North America. However, our results provide evidence that there is now another imminent threat,” said Flockhart. Milkweed is the only group of plants that monarch caterpillars feed upon before they develop into butterflies. Industrial farming contributed to a 21-per-cent decline in milkweed plants between 1995 and 2013, and much of this loss occurred in the central breeding region, the study said. More than 70 per cent of milkweed in this region is located in agricultural-intensive landscapes where genetically modified crops are increasing, as opposed to 16 per cent in conservation lands and 10 per cent in public areas such as roadways, the study said. Changes in milkweed abundance can affect everything from larval competition for food to egg-laying in adults. |
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| From Page 7: Surveys suggest U.S. economy is improving By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
New economic surveys show the U.S. economy generally improving, even though unemployment claims rose slightly last week. Thursday's report from the Labor Department says the number of Americans signing up for unemployment insurance rose by 8,000 last week to a nationwide total of 312,000. But that's still close to a seven-year low. Two new surveys suggest the U.S. job market will continue to improve over the next few months. A study by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants found a majority of business executives were optimistic about the economy for the first time since the recession. A key member of accountancy organization, Jim Blake, says a decline in economic turmoil is likely to strengthen the job market and the overall economy. "We are not seeing the blips that we were seeing up and down, over the last year or so, and I think that that is a pretty good indicator that jobs will be on the upswing," he said. A separate survey of top economists by Bankrate.com predicts the jobless rate will fall to 6 percent over the next year. The study's participants also expect that an improving U.S. economy will prompt the Federal Reserve to begin raising interest rates sometime next year. The closely-watched report on the U.S. unemployment rate will be published Friday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict the jobless rate will edge upward one-tenth of a percent to hit 6.4 percent. Experts say the rising unemployment rate is an ironic consequence of an improving economy which prompts unemployed people to resume their job search. Some discouraged workers gave up their search when they thought there were no jobs available for them. The official U.S. jobless rate only counts people as unemployed if they are actively looking for work. |
