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| A.M. Costa Rica Second newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 12, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 115 | |||||||||
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for his stand on spousal visas By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Sala IV constitutional court has criticized the director general of Migración y Extranjería for his hard-nosed approach to awarding visas to foreigners who say they are married to Costa Ricans. The director is Mario Zamora. He has repeatedly lost cases in the Sala IV when foreigners appealed his decision not to grant a visa. The use of fake marriages to obtain visas for foreigners is a well-known scam, but not all foreigners are faking their marriage. The Sala IV said that Zamora was violating the rights of immigrants. The judicial slap was contained in a statement distributed by the Poder Judicial press office Monday afternoon, There have been many cases that the court has had to restore fundamental rights after Zamora has denied a visa, the court said. The latest case and many of the previous cases involved spouses seeking to come to Costa Rica from Cuba. Free trade opponents to carry case to Sala IV By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Opponents of the free trade treaty with the United States say they will gather Thursday in front of the Sala IV constitutional court building at 10 a.m. and then carry their protest to the Asamblea Legislativa. The sponsors say that the treaty not only contradicts certain articles in the Costa Rican constitution but also is contrary to the spirit and values of the nation. The Sala IV has until mid-July to consider two claims that the treaty violates the Costa Rican Constitution. The demonstrators said they would accompany the magistrates in their protection of the constitution. New school in Guanacaste delays opening to February By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The proposed Pinilla Academy in Guanacaste will not open in September, a release from the board of directors said Monday. Instead the opening will be in February, it said. The school's physical plant is under construction, and Bill Nevins, board president, said that a teacher has been hired to oversee construction temporarily. The school will accommodate kindergarten to grade three when it opens, according to current plans. Tuition will be $3,000 a year for kindergarten and $4,500 a year for higher grades. Another reason that opening is being delayed is because the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Education has not yet given full approval, the release said. Our reader's opinion
Escazú reader fed up with greed, selfishness Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I am outraged and greatly saddened by the way the Costa Rican government treated Taiwan after all that they have given to this society of greedy ingrates. This country would be little more than a pothole on the road of drug traffickers without the friendship and support of The U.S.A., E.U. and countries like Taiwan. “Little Switzerland?” More likely “Little Nicaragua” without foreign aid! For Arias to call Taiwan "cheap" after all they have given Costa Rica is absurd and irresponsible. Is it only me, or did you notice they waited until after they recently got their $2 million in new cars and trucks, the only decent vehicles in their rotting and decrepit fleet? The Costa Rican government has no conscience, no gratitude, and no respect. If it is possible, I am even more disheartened with the Costa Rican culture because I used to rationalize the extreme dishonesty, greed, selfishness and lack of commitment to anything more than the next Bigger Better Deal as a class problem, but now I see it blatantly flaunted at the highest levels of society of which “normal people” like you and I will never be allowed to glimpse or participate in. I have to run now. They just did the only thing that they do efficiently in this country, cut off my water. Of course it doesn’t matter that they never delivered a bill. Pura vida. After 7 years of frustration here it’s Hasta La Vista Baby for me. Mark Taylor
Escazú
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 12, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 115 | |||||||||
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| Officials
promise that San Carlos highway will be built |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Despite the rupture in diplomatic relations between Costa Rican and Taiwan, work on the San Carlos highway continues. A spokesman for RSEA Engineering Corp. which is doing the job pointed out to a reporter that the Taiwanese firm has a contract to do the job. The cost of the job is $70 million. Of that $15 million was to be a donation from Taiwan and $35 million was to be a loan sponsored by the government of Taiwan. Some $20 million is coming from Costa Rica government funds. The project calls for two new highway lanes from Sifón de San Ramón to La Abundancia de San Carlos, a 30-km. stretch, some 19 miles. The project requires 10 bridges constructed over as many rivers. |
Construction began Oct. 24, 2005,
and much of the dirt road bed has
been graded, although Costa Rican officials are talking about some
changes to avoid environmentally sensitive areas. Costa Rican officials were insistent Monday that the job would be done, but they agree that other funds must be found. Rodrigo Arias Sánchez, the president's brother and minister of the Presidencia, will meet today on the topic. A release from the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes said Monday that the country may seek money from the Central American Bank of Economic Integration, which already has pledged $170 million for general improvements. Costa Rican officials hope that the money they lost when Taiwan was sent packing might be covered by the new diplomatic ally, Red China. |
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| Health
officials zero in on tires to reduce incidents of dengue in country |
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By José Pablo Ramírez Vindas
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Old tires, places much loved by dengue-carrying mosquitoes, will be closely tracked by the Ministerio de Salud, the agency said. A May 15 decree puts the burden on collecting old tires on the importer, producer or the firm at the final point of sale. The idea is to have tire stores collect the old tires when new tires are sold. The tire company and whoever hauls away and disposes of the tires must now have health ministry approval and permits, according to the decree. The new procedure will generate paperwork. Tire stores have to make note of the plate number of the car getting new tires and the way in which the old tires will be disposed. |
The procedure was approved by
Bridgestone Firestone Costa Rica and the Asociación de
Comercializadores de Llantas. Costa Rica generates some 800,000 used tires a year, according to a recent study. The new decree also requires municipalities to collect old tires as part of regular trash pickups. The ministry said it hopes that old tires will be used to generate electricity, be turned into asphalt pavement, be used to create artificial reefs or in anyway be transformed so that mosquitoes cannot lay eggs in water held within. Tire vendors have until Nov. 15 to present a plan for handling the old tires, the ministry said. Dengue is in the news because cases of the mosquito-born disease are double this year than last. The disease is prevalent on both coasts with nearly 5,000 cases this year. |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 12, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 115 | |||||||||
| Interest rate rise in U.S. causes concern in housing market |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Longer-term interest rates have risen sharply in the United States this past week and that has raised concerns about the health of the already depressed housing sector. The situation is relevant in Costa Rica because much of the investment being made here has its roots in the U.S. realty market. Central bank officials said Monday that the weak housing market could shave about 1 percent off U.S. economic growth this year. That is a substantial hit to an economy that in the first quarter registered an annualized growth rate of an anemic 0.6 percent. The Federal Reserve had steadily raised short-term interest rates from 2004 to 2006, making 17 quarter point adjustments that brought the overnight lending rate from 1 percent to the current 5.25 percent. But while short-term rates rose, longer-term rates held steady. That may now be changing as the interest rate on a 10-year government bond has risen in recent days by nearly one half percent to over 5 percent. Bond market expert Bill Gross of Pimco Investments says higher bond prices mean higher mortgage interest rates for home buyers. "The 30-year mortgage rate is drifting towards seven percent," said Gross. "Seven percent is a big number for people who are either refinancing or buying a home. And it |
is certainly nothing like what we have experienced two or three years
ago, which led to the housing boom. So now we're having a housing bust." Gross spoke on Bloomberg Television. Housing sales are down and new home construction has slowed dramatically. The home prices that on average rose by over 50 percent in the past five years have begun to decline. Raymond Remy, a bond trader at Daiwa Securities in New York, says if investors become fearful that the housing downturn could trigger an overall economic decline, the Federal Reserve will have to cut interest rates. "The housing market is like the flavor of the day," said Remy. "Two weeks ago, three weeks ago, everybody wanted to talk about housing. And now it is on the back burner. But certainly housing is such a big part of the economy that if it really melts down we're going to have a problem and the Fed will have to ease." It is not only the prospect of higher mortgage interest rates that worries the investment community. If bond yields continue to rise, fixed income investments (bonds) may become an attractive option to stocks that are beginning to look overvalued. In many markets stock prices have risen by 10 percent in just the first five months of this year. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 12, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 115 | ||||||
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