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José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 10, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 113
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 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía
Police pose with
confiscated flat screen televisions.y Seguridad Pública photo Border police busy confiscating drugs By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Border police tallied more than 25 separate confiscations this weekend in La Cruz de Guanacaste at the Nicaraguan border. Authorities found around 7,000 units of unlicensed pharmaceutical drugs being smuggled into the country. The drugs came in a variety of forms like injectable medicines, syrups, ointments, and pills. According to a report from the Fuerza Pública, the border police also confiscated food products and alcohol, none of which had written permission from customs. In all, the weekend's captured supply is estimated to be around 10 million colons, or $18,000. The statement added that border police have now confiscated 23,000 illegal prescription drugs in the last two months. Since Semana Santa, the area has yielded two tons worth of smuggled products, from clothing and tech accessories to drugs and alcohol. All busts took place at Peñas Blancas, San Dimas, and Valle Verde. Meanwhile, in Golfito police at the famous checkpoint at Kilometer 35 spotted a vehicle carrying five flat screen televisions. Police confiscated them when the driver could not show a sales ticket. Police said they suspect he brought them over from Panamá. There are still some Communists around By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The country's Communists will be celebrating 83 years as a political party Monday. The party goes by the name of Partido Vanguardia Popular and proclaims Marxism–Leninism as its basic philosophy. The party has fallen on hard times and has not fielded a presidential candidate since 2006. But that was not always the case. The party was a partner with Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia and his efforts to address the social needs of the citizenry. The party members also joined with Calderón supporters in the 1948 civil war. The winner, José Figueres Ferrer, promptly outlawed the party, a situation that existed until 1975. "We live confronting difficulties, we are active and we are advancing," said the party in a release marking its birthday. And the common cause is the defeat of capitalism and imperialism and the construction of a socialist society. Systemic treatment suggested against roya By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Some 10,000 hectares in Costa Rica are infected with roya de café but growers hope that new systemic treatments will turn the tide. Coffee rust, known as roya de cafe (Hemileia vastatrix), is worse in other countrys but Costa Rica has been waging war on the fungus that cuts production. Growers were told that a systemic fungicide treatment can rob the roya of its sustenance because it is within the coffee plant. Currently most growers are using sprays and other forms of contact fungicides. The suggestion came at a session organized by the Asociación de Profesionales en Enfermedades de Plantas in conjunction with the Colegio de Ingenieros Agrónomos. The Centro de Investigaciones en Café reported that there has been an increased incidence of the fungus and it appears to be more aggressive due to temperatures and rainfall. There is an extensive effort to find ways to eliminate the fungus. The loss in production throughout Central America has been staggering. Coffee producers were told that even if the systemic fungicides are more expensive, the use is cost-effective in the long run. The products are sold by firms such as Basf, Syngenta and BioQuim, the session heard. Coffee rust is the most important disease of coffee worldwide. It was first discovered in the vicinity of Lake Victoria in East Africa in 1861 and was later identified and studied in Sri Lanka in 1867, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The disease soon spread to much of southeast Asia and eventually throughout the southern, central and western coffee-growing regions of Africa. Coffee rust was not known in the Western Hemisphere until 1970, when it was found in Bahia, Brazil. Since 1970, the disease has spread to every coffee-growing country in the world, according to the Coffee Research Institute. The rust mainly infects coffee leaves, but also young fruit and buds. Coffee rust spores are spread by the wind and the rain from lesions on the underside of leaves. Some experts believe that the conversion of growers to sun coffee by removing the protective taller trees in the plantations may have contributed to the success of the fungus. Late-life depression linked to Alzheimer’s By the Society of Nuclear Medicine news
staff
Many people develop depression in the latest stages of life, but until now doctors had no idea that it could point to a build up of a naturally occurring protein in the brain called beta-amyloid, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, late-life depression could become a major risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s faster than others, according to research unveiled at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s 2014 Annual Meeting. Alzheimer’s disease is a currently incurable neurodegenerative disease with marked protein aggregates including beta-amyloids. The disease begins developing years before noticeable cognitive decline and memory loss. Depression has been proven to have its own neurodegenerative effects on the brain, but here researchers have found an undeniable connection between beta-amyloid in depressed elderly patients with cognitive deficits and advancement to Alzheimer’s disease. They were able to prove this using molecular imaging data from a global dementia imaging database. “Our results clearly indicate that mild cognitively impaired subjects with depressive symptoms suffer from elevated amyloid-levels when compared with non-depressed individuals,” said the study’s principal scientist Axel Rominger from the department of nuclear medicine at the University of Munich in Germany. “The combination of elevated amyloid-levels and coexisting depressive symptoms constitute a patient population with a high risk for faster progression to Alzheimer’s disease.” The study involved 371 patients with mild cognitive impairment who underwent PET imaging and magnetic resonance imaging. Results showed that mild cognitive impaired patients with depressive symptoms had higher amyloid deposition than non-depressed controls . Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent form of dementia. It is estimated that 44.4 million people are living with dementia worldwide. This number is expected to increase to approximately 75.6 million in 2030 and 135.5 million in 2050, according to 2013 data from the Alzheimer’s Disease International. Eight-year prison terms asked in arms case By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Prosecutors in Panamá have asked for eight-year prison terms for the captain and two North Korean sailors of a ship that was found illegally transporting weaponry last year. The prosecutor in the case, Robert Moreno, said in an interview that he asked for the lighter sentence because the defense had requested a speedy trial. He said prosecutors must reduce the sentence they are seeking by one third if the defense asks for a speedy trial. Authorities in Panamá seized the "Chong Chon Gang" last July after reports circulated that the North Korean-flagged ship was transporting illegal drugs. Instead, the vessel was found to be carrying weapons in violation of international sanctions against North Korea.
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 10, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 113 | |
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| Mounting deaths of motorcycle riders
have traffic officials concerned |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Transport officials are expressing concern at the soaring rate of deaths of those riding on motorcycles. The Policía de Tránsito said Monday that there have been 52 deaths in the first five months of this year so far. That is 19 more than last year. Those killed while riding motorcycles represent 38 percent of all traffic deaths during that period, police said. Mario Calderón Cornejo, the new director of the Policía de Tránsito has ordered his officers to crack down with an emphasis on those riding on a motorcycle without a proper helmet. Since the beginning of the year, police have only issued 61 tickets for drivers or passengers who did not have a helmet. |
The situation is
obvious to anyone who is on the highway that motorcycle drivers do not
heed traffic signals and manage to squirm through lines of stopped
vehicles. But a check of the deaths reported by the Judicial Investigating Organization show that most motorcycle deaths are from unexplained accidents at night or in the early morning. Sometimes both driver and passenger die. Most likely many are due to alcohol or drugs. The motorcycles drive headlong into trucks headed in the opposite direction or into a roadside tree or bridge structure. Most of the accidents on the city streets are not fatal. Still police will be paying close attention to the law that requires motorcycle drivers to keep headlights on and to use a reflective vest, said the director. |
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Coronado
agricultural producers
plan a three-day expo this month By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Coronado will be holding what amounts to a county fair again this year June 27 to 28. The event is organized by the Centro Agrícola Cantonal de Coronado that says some 200 agricultural producers of all types will be displaying their efforts. These include dairy farmers, truck crop producers, those involved in organic agriculture and also producers of goats and sheep. Coronado is well known as an agricultural center. The event will be in the community fairgrounds and is free, although parking is not. This is the 28th edition. Many of the activities will be technical and directed at producers or various types. Experts from the Universidad Nacional will be discussing the health of cows as well as other technical aspects of daily farming. For the public there is a 3.5 kilometer parade of pets. Organizers made clear that the event is also designed for the small producer or the person who wants to be a small producer or hobby farmer. |
 Servicios Periodisticos photo
Watch that tail! Eduardo
Zúñiga of Ganadera Apaykan demonstrates milking at a
previous fair. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 10, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 113 | |||||
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| Computer finally passes the test to pretend that it is a
human being |
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By
the University of Reading news service
An historic milestone in artificial intelligence set by Alan Turing, the father of modern computer science, has been achieved at an event organized by the University of Reading. The 65 year-old iconic Turing Test was passed for the very first time by supercomputer Eugene Goostman during Turing Test 2014 held at the renowned Royal Society in London Saturday. Eugene, a computer program that simulates a 13-year-old boy, was developed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The development team includes Eugene's creator Vladimir Veselov, who was born in Russia and now lives in the United States, and Ukrainian-born Eugene Demchenko, who now lives in Russia. The Turing Test is based on 20th century mathematician and code-breaker Turing's 1950 famous question and answer game, ‘Can Machines Think?'. The experiment investigates whether people can detect if they are talking to machines or humans. The event is particularly poignant as it took place on the 60th anniversary of Turing's death. If a computer is mistaken for a human more than 30 percent of the time during a series of five minute keyboard conversations it passes the test. No computer has ever achieved this, until now. Eugene managed to convince 33 percent of the 30 human judges that it was human. |
This historic
event was organized by the University's School of Systems
Engineering in partnership with RoboLaw, an EU-funded organization
examining the regulation of emerging robotic technologies. Kevin Warwick, a visiting professor at the University of Reading and deputy vice-chancellor for research at Coventry University, said: "In the field of Artificial Intelligence there is no more iconic and controversial milestone than the Turing Test, when a computer convinces a sufficient number of interrogators into believing that it is not a machine but rather is a human. It is fitting that such an important landmark has been reached at the Royal Society in London, the home of British Science and the scene of many great advances in human understanding over the centuries. This milestone will go down in history as one of the most exciting. Eugene was one of five supercomputers battling it for the Turing Test 2014 Prize. On winning the competition and achieving this historic milestone Vladimir Veselov said: "I want to congratulate everyone who worked on Eugene Goostman. Our whole team is very excited with this result. It's a remarkable achievement for us and we hope it boosts interest in artificial intelligence and chatbots." Among the judges tasked with separating the human and computer participants was the actor Robert Llewellyn, who played robot Kryten in the sci-fi comedy TV series "Red Dwarf." |
Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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| Sao Paulo subway workers suspend strike temporarily By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Subway workers in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo voted late Monday to suspend their labor strike, which threatened transportation in the country's biggest city just days before it hosts the opening World Cup soccer match. A statement said a final decision on ending the job action will come Wednesday, with the outcome contingent on the re-hiring of 42 workers fired for joining the five-day labor protest. A short while before the suspension announcement, a construction worker was killed in an accident at a Sao Paulo monorail construction site, as city officials and workers scrambled to complete the project before the opening of the 32-nation tournament. The line was to connect the airport to the city's metro but is behind schedule. Earlier Monday, about 150 strikers and their supporters set fire to piles of garbage on one central avenue, and police fired stun grenades and tear gas to disperse them. Subway workers are seeking a pay increase of just above 12 percent, while the government's subway company was offering an 8.7 percent increase. A Sao Paulo labor court ruled Sunday the strike is illegal and fined the workers' union $175,000 for the first four days of the strike. It said the fine would increase by $220,000 for each day the work stoppage continues. The subway workers' dispute is the latest in a string of anti-government protests against government spending to host soccer's biggest event and the 2016 Summer Olympics. The demonstrators say Brazil should be spending more on such public services as hospitals and schools to directly benefit its population. With days to go until the start of the tournament, excitement is building despite the transit strike and social discontent in parts of the country. Work is finishing up on the fan park where thousands will gather during the matches. An estimated 800,000 foreign visitors will join millions of Brazilians to watch 64 matches in 12 cities around the country. The excitement is building, says seamstress Teresa Christina, although it was slow to start because there is a lot of popular discontent. “There is, but it’s relative. There’s a lot of disbelief because there’s a lot of violent crime," she said. "They say there’s no money for certain social needs yet there’s money for the Cup. Of course there should be a World Cup but there should be money for other things. But people need some fun, too.” The run-up to one of the world’s greatest sporting events has been marred by social protests over corruption and a lack of social services. The transit strike in Sao Paulo, which is hosting Thursday’s opening match, has disrupted traffic for days. The government has budgeted $11 billion for stadium and infrastructure construction. But people complain about poor public services, low pay and the high cost of living. Rio resident Alexandre Oliveira says these problems run very deep. “I think in these 30 days, the Cup is not really going to help," he said. "It’s more people’s mentality that will determine what happens afterwards. Maybe with the elections at the end of the year, things will change. But these 30 days are just a seed being planted.” Foreign visitors seem aware of the situation. Newlyweds Anne-Kathrin Hattels and her husband, Lasse, have come from Denmark for their honeymoon. They say they understand the anger over the high cost of the Cup. “I kind of agree with that but it also brings a lot of tourists to the country, so they will get money from it. I know they spend a lot, but they also get a lot,” Mrs. Hattels said. The protesters say they want to use the World Cup to press for change. Others say they prefer to showcase the good side of the country, its culture and its people. Many say they just want to have fun. D.C. Newseum honors newspeople killed on the job By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The Journalists’ Memorial at the Newseum in Washington bears the names of reporters, photographers, editors and others who died or were killed while covering the news. In a rededication ceremony, the Newseum added the names of journalists who died in 2013 while pursuing the news. Monday, the Newseum added the names of 10 journalists to a memorial wall that lists more than 2,200 people who died or were killed covering the news between 1837 and 2013. Gene Policinsky of the Newseum Institute says they represent the danger and the sacrifices made by journalists around the world. “We have a radio host in the Philippines, a Russian journalist who died five years after he was beaten nearly to death," he said. "There are people whose names we may never know who were killed in the pursuit of news and information and they should be included so we have a representative group here that stands for all that died.” “They took pictures that somebody did not like," said Kathleen Carroll, senior vice president at The Associated Press. "They shot videos that somebody did not like. They asked questions that somebody decided were out of line. They wrote some things that somebody thought should not be written.” Ms. Carroll says whether journalists are covering a distant land or their native soil, the root of their calling is to record world events and expose what some prefer to keep hidden. Mick Deane was one of them. The British cameraman for Sky News was fatally shot in Egypt while covering clashes between security forces and supporters of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. His widow and sons took part in the Newseum ceremony. “Things like this really help pinpoint and highlight the reasons why we were proud of him," said son, Patrick Deane. "All the families and friends of all the people who are on this wall should be proud just like we are of our dad.” Others killed in 2013 include Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, who were found dead hours after interviewing a Mali rebel leader. There was Rodrigo Neto, who was killed while covering police corruption in Brazil, and Fernando Solijon who was fatally shot in the Philippines after receiving death threats. Policinski says it is important to remember them all. “Every day around the planet, each year, journalists are risking their lives to bring us news and information," he said. "Each year we hope this memorial is a reminder, where if no other place the world will pause for a moment and remember what that role is and how dangerous it can be.” The Newseum says the names added represent all journalists who have died or were killed, whether the world knows about them or not. International organizations that work to protect journalists say as many as 77 of them were killed while reporting the news in 2013. Military restricts information about recovering Bergdahl By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. military is trying to minimize information leaking out on the recovery of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, even as details of his captivity at the hands of the Taliban are going public. It is part of an ongoing effort to shield Bergdahl from media spotlight. It has now been more than a week since Bergdahl was handed over to U.S. Special Forces and taken out of Afghanistan. But a Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, says Bergdahl, who is recovering at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, has yet to have the long-awaited phone call with his parents. “This decision to speak with the family is a decision the returnee has to make when he or she is emotionally in the right place to make this phone call,” he said. Media reports say the 28-year-old Bergdahl has started to open up to the team directing his care, telling of being caged after trying to escape and of other harsh treatment. And while he has been treated for skin and gum ailments, Pentagon officials say Bergdahl is in stable condition, improving every day, though Warren says the military is in no rush to send him back to the United States. “The phase two reintegration process simply takes as long as it takes," he said. "Every phase two integration is different. There is no set timeline.” Interest in Bergdahl’s case has intensified since the deal securing his release was announced 10 days ago, with several soldiers from his platoon accusing him of deserting. Lawmakers have also been critical, saying U.S. President Barack Obama paid too high a price, releasing five high-risk Taliban leaders in exchange for Bergdahl. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is set to testify before lawmakers about the deal Wednesday.  Voice of America photo
This is a drone shot of
Polish police about to confront rioters.Private use
of drone eyes
may trump official spying By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The growing capability of civilian drones worries some U.S. civil liberties advocates, who say these eyes in the sky could give the government too much information about ordinary people. But one key expert says these unmanned aerial vehicles are getting so cheap they can turn the tables on government by giving protesters a way to watch the police. YouTube videos show several instances of camera-equipped drones flying over demonstrations in Poland, Thailand, Turkey and elsewhere. Some of the videos show throngs of people, burning barricades, tear gas and large numbers of police. American Civil Liberties Union policy analyst Jay Stanley said protest groups figured surveillance of police activities made it less likely officers would use excessive force. "We think that drone surveillance technology should not be used by the government to watch over the people when it doesn’t have reason to suspect you, but we do think it should be able to be used by the people to watch the government," he said. Stanley said many new technologies threatened privacy, but a government eye in the sky worried Americans even more than other activities that were probably just as intrusive. “There has been an outpouring of concern over drones, unlike anything I’ve seen as a privacy advocate for 15 years,” he said. U.S. aviation regulators and many U. S. state legislatures have passed or are considering new laws governing drone use. Stanley said to protect privacy and liberty police should be required to have a reason to believe that someone is breaking the law before they start tracking someone’s activities with a drone. But a veteran private investigator, Philip Becnel, says current U.S. laws that govern surveillance from conventional planes or helicopters are adequate and are likely to cover drone operations. He said that meant it would be legal for police to use a drone to spot an illegal marijuana farm from the air, but would not be legal to peer into someone’s bedroom window. Becnel said cheap civilian drones were noisy and can’t stay airborne very long, while effective drones cost too much for most private eyes. “To get a drone that you could really do surveillance with you are looking at spending three or four grand at least, so that’s cost-prohibitive for most private investigators right now,“ said Becnel. That’s changing as drones get smaller, gain endurance, and are equipped with better sensors. That’s why drones are getting many news jobs, like delivering packages, and also why they could become more persistent and more intrusive. A researcher at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London says there are good reasons to worry about privacy. But in a Skype interview, Keith Hayward said drones also offered unique contributions. “I think they are manageable, and the balance, I think the benefits and advantages that might accrue to the agricultural sector, to resource management, to environmental management, is something that we are just going to have to balance as a society," he said. For example, drones have been used for years to sow seeds or spray chemicals in fields, and monitor and inspect other agricultural and industrial activities far more cheaply and safely than manned aircraft. Game developers hoping to share in soaring profits By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
This week’s annual Electronic Entertainment Exhibition offers an opportunity for gamers and developers to showcase and test their products. E3, running through Thursday in Los Angeles, also offers an occasion on which to gauge the strength of the rapidly growing mobile-gaming market. Here’s a good measure: Revenue for the mobile-gaming niche is expected to reach $11.4 billion in 2014, up from $5.6 billion in 2009, according to Statista, Inc., a statistics company based in New York. Firms that develop games for mobile devices can make huge profits, said Marcos Sanchez, a vice president and spokesman for App Annie, a business intelligence firm with offices in San Francisco and Beijing. "One company alone … is actually pulling in over a billion in revenues," said Sanchez, who did not identify that firm. "So gaming, from the mobile-app perspective, is a pretty serious thing and there's some pretty serious revenues associated with it." Mobile technology is just the latest part of the computer gaming industry’s relatively rapid evolution. Early computers were too slow to process the enormous quantity of data needed for realistic pictures, sound and special effects. As the processors became faster and cheaper, manufacturers saw the potential for a large market and developed dedicated game consoles. Now, fast smartphones and other mobile devices are chipping away at the market share of other gaming platforms, and upstart companies are challenging more prominent, established firms. "The video games are not just about the console anymore," said Yoshio Osaki, senior vice president of the International Development Group, a research firm in San Francisco. "And you see a lot of cross-pollination and hybridization." Major corporations such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have newer challengers, he said, citing Wargaming.net and its League of Legends play and mobile companies such as King Digital Entertainment with its "Candy Crush Saga" and Supercell with its "Clash of Clans" strategy game. Many of the gaming companies rely on their devoted gamers for fresh ideas. Michael Sayman’s commitment to gaming led to his recently becoming Facebook’s youngest employee. The 17-year-old Peruvian will be working on a system called Parse, which is part of Facebook and works with many applications, he said. Parse software is designed to help others develop even more apps for mobile devices.  University of Utah graphic
Top to bottom: chimpanzee, hominid ancestors Australopithecus afarensis, Paranthropus
boisei, Homo erectus and modern human. Facial
changes over time
suggest violent evolution By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The human face evolved so that it could take a punch, researchers suggest in a new study. It's a much more violent explanation than the leading alternative, that skulls changed to accommodate a diet of hard-to-chew foods. And the authors said it suggests a pugilistic past where violence was key to human evolution. When people fight, they go for the face, said study co-author Mike Morgan. Morgan knows a little something about fights. He is a black belt in two martial arts and is training as an emergency medicine physician at the University of Utah. "It gives me first-hand experience with a lot of the end results of human violence and aggression," he said. In the new study in the journal Biological Reviews, Morgan and his University of Utah co-author, David Carrier, noted that over the past 4 million years, human hominid ancestors evolved thicker and less protruding jaws, stronger jaw muscles and teeth, and a reinforced bone under the eye socket, all areas that take a beating in a fight. Last year, the authors published a paper detailing how the fist evolved over that time to be a better fighting weapon. Only humans fight with fists. Dogs bite. Cats scratch. Antelopes gore. The closest primate relatives, the chimpanzees, can't form fists. They slap. Morgan said a punch hurts more than a slap because it delivers force to a smaller area. "If you have a better weapon, you can theoretically win more mates," which means more chances to pass on your genes, which is what evolution is all about, he said. And as the weapon got better, Morgan's research proposed, so did the defense. "As we developed this ability to form a fist, we see an equal development in the robusticity and strength of the most commonly struck portions of the face," Morgan said. All this suggests an extremely violent human evolutionary history. "At one point in time, it made sense for us to be aggressive and violent," Morgan said. "It guaranteed the survival of our species." Brains may have won out over brawn in the evolution of the modern human species. The researchers note that modern skulls are weaker in some of the same key areas compared to earlier ancestral species, changes that coincide with a decline in upper-body strength and a less powerful punch. However, the fist-evolution study did not convince critics, who noted that fists are good for gripping tools and other uses besides fighting. Morgan expects a vigorous debate over his latest study, too. "This is certainly a creative new idea," said George Washington University anthropologist Brian Richmond, "but there is abundant evidence to support the hypothesis that changes in diet and food processing best explain the decrease in the size of the face during human evolution." Morgan promised the fight over the competing theories will end peacefully. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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Illegal
kids flood U.S. at Mexican border By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Hundreds of unaccompanied children from Central America have entered the U.S. illegally in recent days, overwhelming American border authorities. White House officials said Monday most of the children have crossed the Mexican border into the southwestern U.S. state of Texas, fleeing high crime and poverty in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. U.S. border officials in Texas have been ill-equipped to handle the influx and transported many of the children to facilities two states away, in Arizona. The officials said that even though the government has started deportation proceedings against the children to return them to their home countries, it also is looking for more space to house them while the specific details of their cases are considered. By law, the U.S. has 72 hours to try to determine the personal circumstances of each of the children, such as whether they have parents already living in the U.S. and could be reunited. But the officials said the number of child immigrants has very dramatically increased in recent days, leading to delays in the processing. Hundreds of the children have been kept in a makeshift dormitory, a U.S. immigration warehouse in Nogales, Arizona, just north of the Mexican border. The White House officials said the children have been given food and water, and shower facilities. President Barack Obama has called the plight of the children an urgent humanitarian situation. The influx of Central American children is occurring as the U.S. is in the midst of a contentious debate over immigration policies. Obama has called for comprehensive immigration policy changes that could eventually permit 11 million immigrants already in the country illegally to gain U.S. citizenship over a period of years. But many of Obama's Republican opponents in Congress say that amounts to amnesty for lawbreakers. They have so far thwarted passage of immigration reforms. U.S. economic forecasts predict growth By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Economic forecasters say they expect the American economy to advance at a faster pace in the coming months. The U.S. economy shrank 1 percent in the first three months of the year. But the National Association for Business Economics said Monday its group of 47 forecasters expects growth to advance at an annual pace of more than 3 percent in each of the last three quarters of 2014. The professional group's president, Jack Kleinhenz, National Retail Federation chief economist, says the consensus is the U.S. economy will rebound at an annual advance of 3.5 percent in the current quarter, with smaller jumps in the second half of the year. The group is predicting 2.5 percent growth for the year as a whole, down from an earlier 2.8 percent projection. The economists say they expect the country's labor market to add an average of 209,000 jobs a month this year. That is near the number added in May, with the national unemployment rate dipping slightly from the current 6.3 percent level. They predicted the country's central bank, the Federal Reserve, will continue to trim its purchase of securities to support the U.S. economy and end them altogether in late 2014. |
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| From Page 7: President gets good news on first day in U.S. By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Luis Guillermo Solís heard some good news on the first day of his trip to the United States. The tech company VMwar said it would be increasing its presence in Costa Rica. The Palo Alto, California, software firm has about 250 employes here now and plans call for increasing that number to 400 by next year, said Casa Presidencial. The firm has a shared services center here. Solís is in the United States to seek more investment in the country. He and the rest of his team visited the main offices of the company Monday. He also was scheduled to present his pitch for the country Monday night at the San Jose Repertory Theatre in California where executives from a number of top companies were gathering to hear him. Even before he was inaugurated Solís suffered a setback when Intel Corp said it was closing its manufacturing operation here and moving it to Vietnam. Bank of America also said it was laying off employees. Observers generally feel Solís is facing a hard sell because the fiscal policies of his administration have not yet been established, and there is uncertainty on how he will handle a growing budget deficit. There is the possibility of big increases in taxes. |
