Chang and Pacheco
trade small talk
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Frank Chang Diaz had a nine-minute conversation with President Abel
Pacheco Friday and spoke from his perch on the international space station
some 211 miles high.
Naturally the talk turned to soccer football. Chang wished the national
team well. He was wearing a red soccer shirt.
Pacheco told him that he was an example to all Ticos and also all Latin
Americans showing that they can be a great success.
Chang went through high school in Costa Rica and later was graduated
with a doctorate in plasma physics by Harvard University.
Chang was on the mission’s first spacewalk Sunday that concluded at
4:41 p.m. Costa Rican time.
Chang and Philippe Perrin conducted the 7-hour, 14-minute excursion.
They installed a power and data grapple fixture onto the International
Space Station’s P6 Truss, temporarily installed micrometeoroid debris shields
and prepared for additional installations. The fixture will enable the
station's robot arm to ride a railway the length of the outpost for future
assembly tasks.
Chang and Perrin also performed a visual and photographic survey of
one of the station’s Control Moment Gyros that has failed.
They received assistance from Pilot Paul Lockhart, who coordinated the
spacewalk’s activities and Commander Ken Cockrell, who operated Space Shuttle
Endeavour’s robot arm.
Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson
were at the controls of the station’s robot arm.
Mission Control is grappling with the implications of the failure of
the gyro.
One of the space station's four gyroscopes failed Saturday, leaving
three to control the orbiter's position. Only two gyros are required for
the task, but the failure means there is only one spare.
Shuttle flight director Paul Hill says that if two more fail, the Russian
module's jet thrusters would have to take over positioning the station,
using precious fuel to do so. Losing a gyro is a big deal, he explains.
"This is a major component. But from a risk perspective right now, we're
in good shape. We're two failures away still from really having a technical
problem that we need to jump through hoops for. But this is a major component
that's failed and we are going to do the best we can to get the next [one]
ready to fly and into an orbiter and get it changed."
But Hill says it may be six to nine months before the gyro gets to the
space station because the next two shuttle flights are already dedicated
to other equipment. That could be advanced, however, if another gyro fails,
requiring rescheduling of shuttle payloads.
Panamá may hike
tolls for canal
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Panamá is considering increasing transit tolls at the Panamá
Canal by 13 percent in a move to make the link between the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans a profit-making business.
The Panamá Canal Administration said the increase, the 10th since
1974, is the first step toward a switch from a fixed price for all users
to a system of individual tariffs, according to the type and weight of
ship passing through the canal.
A public hearing on the proposed increase is set for July 19.
Panamá took full control of the U.S.-built canal at the end of
1999. Under U.S. administration, from 1914 to 1999, the canal was run as
a so-called service to the world, on a break-even basis. Tolls were raised
only to cover costs.
Under the new plan, boats carrying more weight would pay more.
Demonstrators seek
news of journalist
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Brazilian press organizations staged a rally
here Friday to highlight concern over a Brazilian journalist who disappeared
while
investigating drug trafficking activities.
Speaker after speaker called on the police to do more to solve the case
of missing television journalist, Tim Lopes. They spoke at a large demonstration
organized by several press associations to underscore concern over the
disappearance. As part of the demonstration, journalists, lawmakers and
friends of Lopes held up a huge white banner with the question: "Where
Is Tim Lopes?" written in large black letters.
Lopes, a reporter with the Globo television network, has been missing
since Sunday. He disappeared in a Rio de Janeiro slum while working undercover
investigating reports of drug dealing and the sexual exploitation of minors
at parties hosted by local drug traffickers. He was carrying a small hidden
camera.
TV Globo news director Carlos Schroeder, who participated in Friday's
demonstration, says Lopes may have been recognized by drug dealers. "We
don't know what happened but maybe he was recognized because he has done
a lot of reports about drug trafficking, and this may have alerted people
there and made him a victim of the situation, he said."
There has been an upsurge in drug-related violence in Rio in recent
weeks, as rival drug gangs battle over turf. These gangs control Rio's
slums and are so powerful that police seldom venture into these areas.
News director Schroeder says the disappearance of Lopes shows that anyone
can become a victim of the drug violence. "Tim is another victim, and I
call him a victim even though we don't know his fate, of this unhappy reality
which is violence in Rio," he said. "And what this means is that anyone
can become a victim, since being a journalist provides no special protection.
Instead, unfortunately, journalists now run even greater risks than the
ordinary citizen."
Lopes, an award winning journalist, often went undercover to do his
reporting. Last year, he won Brazil's most important journalism award for
a report titled "Drug Fair" which was filmed with a hidden camera and showed
how traffickers openly sold drugs in a Rio slum.
His disappearance has raised concern internationally. Groups, such as
the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York and Reporters Without
Borders in Paris, have issued statements expressing concern and calling
for a thorough investigation into the case.
|
Canadian police
searching for dead
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Police are starting to dig near the Canadian city of Vancouver, for
evidence that links a farmer to the disappearance of over 50 women. It
is the latest development in an investigation that has already resulted
in seven murder charges.
In a suburb 30 kms. (18 miles) east of Vancouver, Archaeology students,
dressed in dark blue overalls and wearing gloves, reflective vests, and
hard hats, are closely examining tons of dirt, covering the site of a four-hectare
(nearly 10-acre) pig farm.
The students specialize in Osteology, the study of human bones, and
are looking for evidence linking pig farmer Robert William Pickton to 54
missing women, most of them prostitutes from Vancouver's impoverished Downtown
Eastside. He is already charged with killing seven of them. Through his
lawyer, he is denying the allegations.
The dig comes after a detailed investigation of the grounds and over
15 buildings. The searchers are using a soil screener, two 50-foot flat
conveyor belts, a rubber tire loader, an excavator, and two dump trucks.
Investigators started searching Pickton's farm Feb. 6 and say they have
found human remains at the site.
At a recent meeting between family members and the investigators, Rick
Frey, whose daughter Marnie is missing, says the coroner warned families
that any discoveries resulting from the dig might be shocking.
"Well, I don't think it can be any harder than what we're going through
now. Especially with the gory details coming out of what is actually being
collected at this time," he said. " Hopefully, a lot of the family members
have kind of put that aside. All we can hope for now is that whatever is
there for us will be identified with our daughter, if indeed she's there."
Police have asked family members to help identify personal effects,
including jewelry, clothing, bags and shoes taken from the pig farm.
The first of the women disappeared in June 1983, the most recent, last
November.
Pickton's farm was three times its current size, at the time of the
early disappearances. Houses and commercial developments have since been
built on much of the property. Authorities will not disclose if they plan
to search in the developed area.
Venezuela officers
want U.S. asylum
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Three former Venezuelan military officers who left their country following
April's failed coup against President Hugo Chavez are seeking asylum in
the United States.
Former Air Force Cols. Silvino Bustillos and Pedro Soto, and former
National Guard Capt. Luis Garcia Morales told reporters in Miami Friday
they fear persecution from the Chavez government. The officers also say
they and their families have been threatened.
The three men sought refuge at the Bolivian Embassy in Caracas after
the April coup failed. The group stayed at the diplomatic mission amid
negotiations for them to leave the country.
The announcements Friday came as a retired Venezuelan naval officer
arrived in El Salvador to start a life of political asylum. Retired Rear
Adm. Carlos Molina Tamayo flew to El Salvador three days after that government
approved his asylum request. Molina had taken refuge in the Caracas home
of a Salvadoran diplomat.
Molina was one of several military officers who publicly denounced Chavez
in February.
During the April coup, renegade military officers arrested President
Chavez and installed businessman Pedro Carmona as interim leader. After
Chavez reclaimed the presidency, Carmona was placed under house arrest.
He now lives in Colombia, which granted him asylum last month.
Agreement reached
for police school here
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco Friday signed an agreement with the
United States to base a branch of the International Law Enforcement Academy
in Costa Rica.
The project is a joint one with the U.S. Department of State and the
Costa Rican Ministerio de Seguridad Pública, but the United States
will bear the cost.
This is the fourth such international academy in the world and will
be open to law enforcement officials throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
Pacheco was quick to point out that the academy is not a military base,
but a training organization.
The United States has a renewed interest in international crime after
events of Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked New York and Washington.
In addition, the United States has been waging a long war against drugs
and more recently money laundering.
Other cross-border issues that the academy will seek to address include
arms shipments and trafficking in human beings.
Intel stock tumbles
on earnings report
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Intel, which operates two computer chip manufacturing plants in San
José took a licking Friday when its stock dropped $5 a share to
$22 on news that sales and earnings would be less than expected.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said that second-quarters sales
would be between $6.2 billion and $6.5 billion, down from previous estimates
of $6.4 billion to 7 billion.
Company officials blamed the decrease on softer than expected chip demands
in Europe. However, commentators quickly pointed out that the company soon
would face stiff competition from another chip manufacturer that would
begin producing in several months. They said this would cause Intel to
reduce
prices, thereby affecting earnings.
New hotel opened
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Barceló hotel group inaugurated another location over the
weekend, this one is the 40-room Hotel Rancho Río Perlas which will
provide jobs for 60 persons.
President Abel Pacheco participated at the location which is in Orosi
de Cartago. Pacheco thanks the chain for its investment in Costa Rica that
is around $30 million. |
