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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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José, Costa Rica, Thursday, June 18, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 119
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Train gates supposed to be
in service today
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A contractor was to install the crossing gates at the La Sabana train line by 4 a.m. today, and they are supposed to be in service by 6 a.m. This is the crossing just south of the Gimnasio Nacional in the vicinity of McDonald's and the Universal store. These will be the valley rail line's first crossing gates. The train service has been plagued by accidents, some of them fatal. The firm Grupo Portafolio is doing the job, and, in addition to gates, there will be lights that flash when a train approaches and a sound to alert motorists. There is not a lot of distance between the rail line and the end of the Caldera highway, so motorists will have to be careful not to block the six-lane route. Crossing the rail line to the south gives motorists access to an upscale residential neighborhood and the rest of Sabana Sur as well as what is called the carretera vieja de Escazú, a concrete road that runs parallel to the Caldera highway, Ruta 27. Neighbor reported U.S. citizen missing By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A U.S. citizen from Pococí has not been seen since June 1, the Judicial Investigating Organization said Wednesday. The man is Brian Lynn Hogue, 65. The judicial agency issued a missing persons alert Tuesday. Wednesday the agency said that Hogue was reported missing by a neighbor who saw him leave in his own vehicle that day. The agency said that judicial agents made inquires in the area where Hogue lives without finding any leads. The man was planning to make stops in several towns ending in Guápiles. A.M. Costa Rica received no reports of the man even after a news story appeared about him Wednesday. Any information can be telephoned to 800-8000645 emailed to cicooij@poder-judicial.go.cr, agents said. Judicial police chief in Quepos detained By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The head of the judicial police in Quepos was one of two persons detained Wednesday by the anti-corruption prosecutors, said the Poder Judicial. The man, identified by the last name of Solano, is accused of using his police authority to intercede for a private citizen and detain four U.S. citizens. The detention is believed to related to a private dispute. The private citizen, identified by the last name of Corrales, also was detained. The incident took place May 8 in the center of Quepos when Solano is accused of sending two other agents of the Judicial Investigating Organization to collar the U.S. citizens. They were in a vehicle and spent a brief period in confinement. Solano is accused of abuse of authority and of illegally detaining the men. Both suspects went to San José Wednesday for investigation. The U.S. citizens were held for about 45 minutes, said the Poder Judicial. World heritage status marked for spheres By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
There are a series of discussion and workshops to celebrate the first anniversary of the country's stone spheres achieving world heritage status. There will be events in San José and also at the site of the spheres in the canton of Osa, said the Museo Nacional. The spheres still are enigmas, but next Tuesday will mark a year since the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization placed them on the world heritage list. Costa Rican officials are hoping that the new status will make them top tourist draws. A satellite museum has been erected at the site of the spheres. Rocío Fernández, director of the museum, said that a series of scientific studies had been done in conjunction with the Universidad de Costa Rica over the spheres. Francisco Corrales, a former museum director, is now in charge of the site and museum where the spheres are located. He gave the first presentation Wednesday afternoon. He was to discuss the method and the challenges in achieving the U.N. designation. Ana Eduarte, restoration expert, is scheduled to speak today at the museum at 4 p.m on the state of the spheres and the strategies for their conservation. Next Tuesday at the museum primary school children will attend a workshop on the spheres. Corrales will repeat his presentation Tuesday at the Museo Finca 6 in Osa Tuesday at 9 a.m. There will be discussion on this topic in Palmar Norte at 4 p.m. the same day. A more complete schedule is HERE! Cruz Roja seeks more money By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Cruz Roja, the rescue agency, wants a raise. The public service says more money is needed to eliminate a 2-billion-colons deficit. Idalberto Gonzalez Jiménez, the general manager of the Cruz Roja, appeared before the Comisión Permanente de Hacendarios to seek changes in the laws and an increase in the ubiquitous Cruz Roja legal stamp from 200 colons to 500. The stamp is required on lots of public documents along with others. The general manager said that the problem began with changes in the law in 2011 and the the Cruz Roja applied its reserves to the shortfalls. The reserves are now depleted, the general manger said. The organization also would like a piece of traffic fines, exoneration for its vehicles from highway tolls and an increase in the taxes it receives from telephone use. The committee took no action, but members said they would study the request. The Cruz Roja is best known for its ambulance and search and rescue services. Pope Francis seeks environmental priority By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The Vatican today is releasing a landmark letter by Pope Francis calling on Catholics to place a greater priority on protecting the environment, which he says is being ruined. The 191-page encyclical, the draft of which has already been leaked, is expected to say climate change is one of the main issues of the day and is mainly the result of human activity. "This home of ours is being ruined, and that damages everyone, especially the poor," Pope Francis said at his weekly audience Wednesday. "This then is an appeal on my side toward responsibility," he said of the encyclical. In the letter, Pope Francis is expected to highlight the importance of combating pollution and protecting water supplies. He also calls for moving away from the intensive use of fossil fuels and says so-called carbon credits are ineffective, according to drafts. The encyclical, which is the second-highest ranking document able to be issued by a pope, comes ahead of his September visit to the U.S. and a major United Nations conference on climate change in Paris later this year. The document reflects a continuation of relatively progressive stances taken by the Argentina-born pope. He has also called on the church to become more welcoming to homosexuals and to not put undue focus on controversial issues related to abortion and gay marriage.
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, June 18, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 119 | |
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| San José pawn shop searches turn up very few stolen
elecronic items |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Judicial agents and the municipal police searched 15 pawn shops in the downtown area Wednesday and came up with just 10 suspicious cell telephones and two portable computers. The pawn shops are clustered in an area between avenidas 1 and 3 at Calle 10. Although the pawn shops, called compra y ventas here, are an important aspect of Costa Rican budgeting, they also are where thieves dump their loot. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that the searches were made with the permission of the store operators. Suspicious goods were found in just six stores. There was one computer that had been reported as having been stolen in a crime and one computer with an altered serial number, said the judicial report. The cell telephones had altered numbers, the agency said. A recent survey determined that less than 30 percent of crimes committed in the nation are reported by the victims. So unless there was a report, police and judicial agent would not know that a cell telephone, a computer or other electronic devices had been taken by crooks. Police said they concentrated on checking electronic item. The capital's pawn shops have extensive collections of cameras, lenses and other items that appear to have once belonged to tourists. Even though they may have loaned just a fraction of the |
 Judicial Investigating Organization photo
Agents search a cell phone
cabinet in a local store.item's value to customers, store operators usually want close to market value for their items. Some shops are open 24 hours a day for the benefit of those who might have an urge to pawn something in the pre-dawn hours. |
| Solís offers to meet with chamber chiefs who
protested import barriers |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Luis Guillermo Solís defended his executive branch employees and told protesting chambers of commerce that health measures on importing items were not restrictions on commerce. The president did offer to have a meeting with the protesters, which includes the Cámera Nacional de Turismo. Seven chambers, but not Turismo, called for the firing of the director del Servicio Fitosanitario del Estado, Francisco Dall´Anesse Álvarez, and Bernardo Jaén Hernández, the director of the Servicio de Salud Animal. |
Both men are
the center of a controversy best known to the public
as a restriction on the importation of Mexican avocados. The fruit has been kept out of the country over a condition known as sunblotch. But there are other products that have faced some forms of restrictions. They include honey, potatoes, pork, beef, platanos and spices. Critics contend the import restrictions are protectionism designed to help local producers. Solís replied via letter to the presidents of the chambers and representatives of some other entities Wednesday. |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, June 18, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 119 | |||||
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| Small number of wild bee species are major pollinators of
world's crops |
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By the University of Vermont news staff
A major international study finds that surprisingly few bee species are responsible for pollinating the world’s crops. The paper, published in Nature Communications, suggests that only 2 percent of wild bee species pollinate 80 percent of bee-pollinated crops worldwide. The study is one of the largest on bee pollination to date. While agricultural development and pesticides have been shown to produce sharp declines in many wild bee populations, the study shows these busy bees can remain abundant in agricultural landscapes. The study gives a powerful economic rationale for conserving wild bees. It calculates the value of wild bee pollination to the global food system at $3,000 per hectare of insect-pollinated agricultural land, an amount in the billions globally, and roughly equal to the value of honey bees. But the findings also offer a warning to conservation advocates hoping that economic arguments can justify the preservation of all species. Moral reasons are still needed, researchers say. “This study shows us that wild bees provide enormous economic benefits, but reaffirms that the justification for protecting species cannot always be economic,” says Taylor Ricketts of the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute For Ecological Economics, a study co-author. “We still have to agree that protecting biodiversity is the right thing to do.” Fifty-eight researchers worldwide conducted the three-year study, led by David Kleijn of the Netherlands’ Wageningen University. The study advances the understanding of wild bees’ crucial role in the global food system. About two-thirds of the world’s most important crops benefit from bee pollination, including coffee, cacao and many fruits and vegetables. Wild pollination is increasingly important with the growing instability of honey bee colonies. Wild bees’ agricultural value is now similar to that of honey bees, the study finds. Honey bees are no longer considered wild in many regions due to their intense management. |
 U.S. Geological Service/ Sam Droege
This is a carpenter bee which
make its home in wood and is an important pollinator.The most important wild bees for agriculture include some of the world’s most common species, including the common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) in the U.S. and the red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) in Europe, researchers say. One reason to preserve bee biodiversity is securing the future resiliency of global pollination systems, Ricketts says. Previous studies associate biodiversity with more stable pollination services over time. “Species and populations can fluctuate significantly as landscapes and climates change,” says Ricketts. “So protecting a wide variety of our wild bees is crucial.” The paper outlines bee-friendly practices for farmers, including maintaining wildflowers and grass strips, organic farming techniques, and limiting – or delaying – the use of pesticides and other chemicals. The study includes 90 individual studies of nearly 1,400 crop fields across five continents (North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and South America). Regular monitoring found nearly 74,000 individual bees from nearly 785 wild bees species on crops. Of 20,000 known bee species, roughly 2 percent pollinated 80 per cent of crops. “Rare and threatened species may play a less significant role economically than common species, but this does not mean their protection is less important,” says Kleijn. |
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Colorado
S.A. 2015 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| House will try again to OK fast-track negotiating authority By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. House of Representatives may try again today to advance President Barack Obama’s ambitious Asia-Pacific free trade agenda by separating fast-track negotiating authority from a measure aimed at helping American workers that was voted down Friday. The two pieces of legislation had been linked so both had to be approved before the president could sign them into law. Now officials say it is possible they will be separated. The Republican-controlled House would vote again on the enhanced negotiating authority, but this time as stand alone legislation. The measure to aid American workers who lost their jobs because of a trade pact, would then be voted on later. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday that the president can only support a strategy that would put both bills on his desk, but, Earnest added, not necessarily at the same time. “Now there’s also this fundamental question … about whether or not they have to arrive at the same time, on the same day, as part of the legislative vehicle or separately," he said. "That’s exactly what is being discussed on Capitol Hill…” The situation places the president in a rare alliance with Republicans. Many Democrats are concerned the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal would send more American jobs overseas and hurt the environment. The workers' aid piece was initially included to appease Democrats, who overwhelmingly voted it down Friday with some Republican help, as a way of scuttling the other part of the legislation, the fast-track authority. Separating the two pieces of legislation would remove the incentive for Democrats to vote against it. Wednesday, both the speaker of the House, John Boehner, and the leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, reiterated their commitment to the trade legislation and to ensuring it gets sent to the president for his signature. The fast-track authority would allow the White House to negotiate the 12-nation Asian trade pact and others like it while preventing Congress from making any changes in the deals when they come up for approval or rejection. Refusal to grant the negotiating authority would make it much more difficult for the administration to secure the Trans-Pacific deal, which already is years behind schedule. The countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific agreement are the United States, Vietnam, Singapore, Peru, New Zealand, Mexico, Malaysia, Japan, Chile, Canada, Brunei and Australia. The U.S.-led pact aims to cover nearly 40 percent of global economic output when completed. The White House has said the Trans-Pacific pact would help further break down global trade barriers, open untapped markets, and grow the economy, while providing an important counterbalance to the growing economic strength of China. GE chairman would move jobs without financing agency By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The chairman of General Electric, Jeff Immelt, says he may move jobs out of the United States to Canada or Europe if Congress lets the U.S. Export-Import Bank go out of business. The Export-Import Bank helps U.S. companies export their goods and services with financing and a type of insurance that protects firms in case a foreign customer cannot pay. The companies pay premiums or interest for these services. The Export-Import Bank's charter expires at the end of June and the usually uncontroversial agency has been the target of campaign by some conservative Republicans who say the agency is an unwise intrusion into processes better left to the market. Without congressional action, the government agency will go out of business at the end of June. GE is one of the large U.S. companies that get help from Export-Import, and critics say large firms should not need help or get corporate welfare from the government. GE's Immelt says if his company does not get help from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, he may move some production to nations that do provide such help. He says China, Germany and scores of other nations bolster companies that compete with American firms with export promotion agencies. In a Washington speech on Wednesday, Immelt also said most of Export-Import's customers are small- and medium-size companies. U.S. lawmakers given new report on gas attacks By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is again systematically using chemical weapons to kill, terrorize and disperse civilians in rebel-held areas, Syrian doctors and human rights activists told a U.S. congressional committee Wednesday President Assad had denied the use of chemical weapons, saying there is no evidence. In response to earlier pressure, Assad declared that he had gotten rid of his entire stockpile of chemical weapons. But Mohamed Tennari of the Syrian-American Medical Society told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Syrian military began launching helicopter attacks using chlorine gas on March 16 in his hometown of Sarmin. Tennari showed the committee disturbing video of dead and wounded children and others from that night and told what he saw when he went to the hospital to treat the injured. "Dozens of people experienced difficulty breathing, with their eyes and throats burning, and many began secreting from the mouth," he said. "We lay people on the floor as the beds filled up. Our small field hospital became chaotic." Tennari presented the panel a dossier of data, photos and other evidence documenting 31 separate chlorine gas attacks in Syria since March. The witnesses emphasized that only the Syrian leader has the helicopters to deliver the barrel bombs with chlorine gas. Annie Sparrow of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai works in the region to train doctors and said she has never seen anything like this. “I am a doctor, and I am very familiar with death," she said. "But I have never seen a more obscene way to kill children." Lawmakers, including Rep. Elliot Engel, were visibly shaken by the images. "I am not usually speechless. But after watching those pictures of the children dying, I am speechless," he said. Engel said he and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce have asked the Pentagon to seriously consider leading efforts to establish a no-fly zone in Syria. Royce said such a zone would protect civilians from the deadly combination of barrel bombs and chlorine gas dropped by aircraft. "Syrians would no longer be forced to choose between staying above ground where they could be killed by the shrapnel Assad packs inside his barrel bombs or going below ground where they are more vulnerable to suffocating from chlorine gas," he said. Many have become illegal in Dominican Republic By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The Dominican Republic has set last midnight as the deadline for a new immigration law that could result in the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants and those of Haitian descent, whom it accuses of illegally living in the country. Haitian Prime Minister Evans Paul, in a press conference Monday, said it was unclear when the deportations would take place. He added there were reports that some had already begun. "We have heard mixed statements from Dominican officials on the expulsion," Paul said. "On one hand, the Dominican minister of foreign affairs, Andres Navarro, has said that they would not do the expulsion en masse. On the other hand, there other Dominican officials who said there will be massive expulsion." Paul added that his government would assume its responsibility and face the situation. "It is also the responsibility of Haiti as a whole," he said. Ilaria Lanzoni, from the International Organization of Migration, said that his agency is concerned by the vulnerable status of the migrant population in question. She said the agency, in coordination with the Haitian government and the United Nations, has worked to develop a response and assistance plan for those repatriated. She said the contingency plan would provide for an influx of up to 2,000 people per week into Haiti. Dominican President Danilo Medina has said previously that there would be no mass deportations, but government officials say Haitian migrants can be deported within 48 hours of the order coming into effect. In 2013, the Dominican Constitutional Court issued a ruling retroactively denying Dominican citizenship to anyone born after 1929 who did not have at least one Dominican parent. The ruling effectively branded hundreds of thousands of Haitians as being in the country illegally or in transit. A year later, following intense international criticism, the government announced a special naturalization process for undocumented Haitians who immigrated before 2011 and had children born in the country. Hundreds of thousands of people would need to provide documents proving their time in the country, such as a deed to a home or a note from an employer or school, as well as memos of good citizenship proving that they were not criminals. Deputy Interior Minister Washington Gonzalez said Tuesday that those who did not apply for legalized migrant status would be officially regarded as illegal. "They still have the opportunity to have legalized migrant status through the general immigration agency," he said. "If they don't come to the general immigration agency, well, then they will find themselves in an illegal situation, and it will be necessary to act according with the law." As of Wednesday, thousands of migrants continued to wait in long lines to register for legal residency. The Dominican government says thousands have registered under the program. Legal residency, if approved, could provide them with a two-year temporary migrant status. Spanish-speaking Dominicans and Creole-speaking Haitians share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola and have a long history of conflict and tense relations. More than a half-million Haitians are estimated to live in the Dominican Republic. Many moved over during the last century to escape political violence or find employment. Displaced persons called a record by U.N. agency By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The United Nations refugee agency says a record number of people worldwide have been displaced by war, violence and persecution and the number of people forced to flee their homes is rapidly growing. In a new report issued Thursday, the U.N. High Commission for Refugees says that at the end of 2014, there were nearly 60 million forcibly displaced people, about 8 million more than the year before and about 20 million more than a decade ago. The increase since 2013 was the highest ever in a single year. A major exodus of people from their homes started in 2011 with the eruption of civil war in Syria; but, in the past five years, armed conflicts and persecution also have sent people fleeing from their homes in Africa, Asia and Europe. Last year 42,500 people a day left their homes due to some type of violence. "The world became a mess, and if people think that humanitarians can clean up the mess, they are wrong. We don't have the capacity to pick up the pieces," said Antonio Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees. One in every 122 humans is now either a refugee or internally displaced or seeking asylum. The report is a reflection of the state of the world today, said Guterres. Syria is currently the world's biggest producer of displaced people and refugees, followed by Afghanistan and Somalia. Syria's neighbor, Turkey, has become the world's top refugee-hosting nation. Greece and Italy are swamped with refugees who want to settle in Europe. European officials cannot agree on how to share the burden. "Italy and Germany certainly both agree that we need to arrive at a more equitable distribution in Europe. In our view, the best way is mandatory quotas for the European member states," said German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier. Several EU members have balked at the idea, and Hungary has announced plans to seal its border with Serbia. Many refugees use the Balkan route to reach Hungary on the way to Germany and Sweden. U.N. peacekeeping report urges significant changes By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
After an extensive review of United Nations peacekeeping operations, an independent panel is recommending significant changes to help the world body adapt to the rapidly evolving challenges it faces in the globe's trouble spots. This is the first major peacekeeping assessment in 15 years. The United Nations has more than 120,000 military, police and civilian peacekeepers in 16 missions across the globe. With no end in sight to many of the world’s worst crises, this number is not likely to decrease anytime soon. The 16-member panel appointed by the U.N. chief and chaired by former Timor-Leste president Jose Ramos-Horta worked for seven months, looking at what the limits of peacekeeping are and what expectations should be going forward. The panel handed the report to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday morning, but it was not publicly released. Ramos-Horta spoke to reporters about its contents. He stressed that clear political goals must guide all U.N. peacekeeping operations. "Peace is not achieved nor sustained by military or technical engagements alone. But often solutions can be found only through patient, steady political engagement," said Ramos-Horta. He warned that U.N. missions are increasingly deployed in volatile and dangerous environments, with little or no peace to keep, and have frequently been used in the absence of a peace process. He said the panel recommends that missions should always deploy as part of a wider political process in which the U.N. plays the lead or leading role. Ramos-Horta also called for faster deployment of missions. With no standing army of its own, it currently takes the U.N. about nine months to recruit and deploy peacekeepers. “We call for a modest U.N. capacity to respond quickly to a crisis. For the U.N. to be able to react faster, there has to be discussions about a stronger network of first responding bridging forces from regions or individual member states," he said. As the reach of terrorist groups spreads, blue helmets, as the U.N. troops are known, have been caught in the middle – such as in the Golan Heights, where armed groups fighting in the Syrian conflict have abducted and attacked them, or in Mali, where they have been targeted by terrorist groups, including al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, in the course of protecting civilians. The panel warned that there are real limits to what U.N. peacekeepers can successfully take on, and counter-terrorism operations is not one of them. Sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers of the people they are sent to protect has been one of the biggest stains on the United Nations. An internal report released this week said that while allegations are decreasing overall, they continue to persist. From 2008 to 2013, there were 480 such allegations, over a third of which involved a minor. Ramos-Horta said the U.N.’s zero tolerance policy must mean exactly that and that immunity must never mean impunity for such acts. New York University professor and U.N. expert Richard Gowan said the report has a dual focus – improving how peacekeeping missions are managed as well as a political warning. “Don’t push U.N. into places in North Africa and the Middle East where it will face serious terrorist groups like ISIS. Don’t imagine that the U.N. can do large-scale peace enforcement. Understand that peacekeeping is a tool that can be incredibly useful in countries like Liberia or Haiti, but still have its limits in the most dangerous environments," said Gowan. Gowan adds that the peacekeeping review will only have real impact if member states, including the biggest ones such as the United States and China, are willing to implement the panel’s recommendations. Gunman kills nine in attack at black church in U.S. South By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Nine people are dead after a gunman opened fire in an African American church in Charleston, South Carolina, Wednesday night, in an attack police are investigating as a hate crime. Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen told reporters that an unidentified 21-year-old white male walked into Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church during a weekly scheduled prayer meeting and began shooting. Mullen said eight people died at the church, while another died after being taken to a hospital. The chief said several more people were wounded in the shooting, which he called unfathomable. NBC News says it has learned that one of the victims was the church's pastor, State Sen. Clementa Pinckney. Mullen said the gunman was still at large and is believed to be extremely dangerous. He said the shooting will be investigated as a hate crime and that a monetary reward will be offered sometime today. Police were forced to evacuate the neighborhood surrounding the church after receiving a bomb threat. The threat was later lifted. Charleston's mayor, Joseph Rileyr, called the assault "a most unspeakable and heartbreaking tragedy." Emmanuel AME Church was founded back in the mid-19th century, making it one of the oldest African American congregations in the southern United States. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley released a statement early this morning offering her condolences to the victims, saying "we'll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another." Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who officially launched his 2016 presidential campaign earlier this week, has cancelled planned events in Charleston today. |
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contents of this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2015 and may not be reproduced anywhere without
permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, June 18, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 119 | |||||||||
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Hemispheric
health coalition targets
region's noncommunicable diseases Special to A.M. Costa Rica
A group of agencies concerned about the burden of noncommunicable diseases on human and economic development in the Americas has launched a new task force to accelerate prevention and control. "Cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases are the leading killers in the Americas and around the world, and tackling them requires collective efforts and multisectoral approaches, such as the alliance we are launching today," said Carissa F. Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization. Pan American Health will chair the new Inter-American Task Force and work collaboratively with the Organization of American States and other partners including the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, the Inter-American Development Bank, the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the World Bank. The task force will support countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with policy advice, technical assistance, resource mobilization and capacity-building while also facilitating a common and harmonized approach, optimal use of resources, and networking and information exchange among agencies of the Inter-American system and partner institutions to ensure maximum impact. Noncommunicable diseases, also known as chronic diseases, are diseases of long duration and generally slow progression. In the Americas, some 4.5 million die each year from them. This figure represents more than 80 percent of all deaths, of which 36 percent are premature, that is, occurring in people under age 70. If no action is taken, deaths and disabilities from this silent epidemic are expected to increase, along with the burden they place on health systems and national economies. Most deaths from noncommunicable diseases are related to common risk factors, principally tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. Exposure to these risk factors can be modified through policies and actions, said Pan-American Health. The agency said that these include policies for universal health coverage and universal social protection, incentives to increase production and availability of healthy foods, educating children about healthy eating and physical activity, and urban planning that promotes public spaces for recreation and physical activity. They also include legislation and regulations intended to reduce consumption of tobacco, alcohol, salt, sugar and trans fats--measures that are considered best buys due to their cost-effectiveness, the agency added. The global cost of implementing these best buys is estimated at $11.2 billion, representing an annual investment of only $1-$3 per person. By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. $10 bill will feature the portrait of a notable U.S. woman by 2020. The new image will replace that of Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first Treasury secretary, whose portrait has graced the $10 bill since the late 1920s. The redesigned currency will debut in time for the 100th anniversary of the formal ratification of the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced the plans for the new redesign Wednesday. Lew said the Treasury Department will launch a social media campaign dubbed "The New 10" to solicit ideas on whose portrait should be chosen for the new bill, along with a series of public meetings. He will reveal his decision sometime this year. A woman's portrait has not been printed on U.S. paper money since 1896, when Martha Washington, the wife of the first U.S. president, was shown on a one dollar silver certificate. Wednesday's announcement follows an online campaign, "Women on 20s," which had a similar goal for the $20 bill that currently features the portrait of Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president. A majority of voters selected Harriet Tubman, a black woman and escaped slave who led thousands of other slaves to freedom in the years before the Civil War, to replace Jackson on the currency. |
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| From Page 7: Central Pacific municipalities plan fair By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Municipalities in the central Pacific region plan a promotional fair from July 3 to 5 in Jacó. This will be the first. The fair is designed to show the beauty and promote tourism in the region, said an announcement. The event is being called the Feria del Pacifico. and is organized by the Federación de Municipios del Pacifico Central. The location is in the Centro Cívico Epicentro por la Paz in Jacó. More information is HERE! |
