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| RACSA moves to block
customer access to site By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Radiográphica Costarricense S.A. says it has blocked access by its customers to an internet domain because the site is under investigation. The decision raises a multitude of free speech and international law issues. The government Internet provider said it took the action as a result of an order by Judge Zoila Rosa Soto Morice of the Juzgado Penal del Primer Circuito Judicial of San José. The domain is www.bancodesanjose.com, which does not seem to be under the jurisdiction of the Costa Rican Academia Nacional de las Ciencias which issues the co.cr domains familiar to persons living here. The judge took the action at the request of Luis Rodríguez Cruz, fiscal auxiliar of the Unidad de Delitos Varios of the Ministerio Público. The prosecutor told the judge that an investigation exists involving extortion and an informational crime. The domain in question was set up only last June 24 through Tucows, Inc., a computer and Internet service company found on the Web. A lookup of the domain shows no individuals associated with it. The domain seems to be located elsewhere than Costa Rica. The Banco de San José is a well known local bank. The RACSA statement was attributed to Alberto Bermúdez, an engineer and assistant manager there. Michael Moore film
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Democrats Abroad will host a 5 p.m. showing of "Bowling for Columbine" Saturday at the Costa Rican Tennis Club, Sabana Sur. The film is Michael Moore’s latest described in an announcement as a modern satire to make you laugh, and think. The film gets its name from the use in the film of clips from the Columbine High School security cameras. That was the high school in Jefferson County, Colorado, where Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 15 and wounded at least 20 fellow students April 20, 1999. However, the film’s official Web site says "This is not a film about gun control. It is a film about the fearful heart and soul of the United States, and the 280 million Americans lucky enough to have the right to a constitutionally protected Uzi." Actually, even in Colorado Uzis, automatic weapons, are only permitted with special licenses, and Harris and Klebold first tried to blow up the high school with propane bombs before resorting to firearms when the bombs failed to go off. Moore won an Oscar for best documentary with the film. Tickets are 3,000 colons for adults and 2,000 for students. This includes
bocas and a cash bar, said a club announcement. Seating is limited and
information is available at 249-1856.
Escazú man found
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff An Escazú man, identified by police as David George Nedverg, 57, was found dead in his home in Trejos Monte Alegre Wednesday. The Judicial Investigating Organization is treating the case as death from an unknown cause. Nedverg, a U.S. citizen, was a stockbroker here and in the United States, said a Judicial Investigating Organization spokesman. There were no indications of violence and the body was found in the bedroom, said agents. Tovar backs court
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Costa Rica is in favor of the International Criminal Court and one of its own is a vice president of the court, Roberto Tovar Faja, foreign minister, said Wednesday. He was responding to the decision by the United States to cut off military aid to countries that support the court. The United States does not want its servicemen being tried by an international body for violation of human rights. Tovar also said that the United States can be sure that Costa Rica will not be arbitrary or conduct a political persecution against U.S. citizens. Elizabeth Odio Benito, a Costa Rican, is a judge of the International criminal Tribunal. The fund cutoff for Costa Rica is less than $1 million and does not affect anti-drug grants. Bandits riddle car
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff A shootout in Barrial de Heredia Wednesday morning netted robbers nearly $87,000 in colons when they caught a messenger and an accountant on the way to a bank. The men were coming from a company that produces medical instruments to make a deposit at a bank in the vicinity of the CENADA supermarket. Two men on a motorcycle started shooting at the vehicle in which the two were riding and even managed to overturn it. About 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Palí supermarket in La Florida de Tibás, five men took about 130,000 colons or about $325. |
Inflation was 4.34%,
says census agency By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Inflation in Costa Rica for the first six months of the year was 4.34 percent, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas y Censo. This is about half a percentage point above the estimate for the same period last year. That 2002 figure was 3.84 percent. Transportation and medical costs were higher and contributed to an increase in the general index, said the institute. The institute keeps track of individual food products and economic sectors, and many of the increases can be traced to government action. For example, transportation is up because taxi drivers got a raise in rates. Alcohol is up because taxes were increased. Inflation is a little higher when based on the rate of exchange with the U.S. dollar. The price of the dollar has increase about 20 colons since Jan. 1. That represents a 5.3 percent inflation rate. Two held to face
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Investigators have arrested two men they claim stuck up motorcyclists to take their vehicle. The men may have been part of a band that stuck up motorcyclists in Curridabat, Tres Ríos and Desamparados. More than 10 such robberies have been attributed to the band, said agents. The Judicial Investigating Organization made raids in San Rafael Abajo
de Desamparados and San Sebastián to arrest the men early Wednesday.
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The World Health Organization has declared Toronto to be clear of the SARS virus. It said it expects Taiwan, the only area in the world still on a list of areas with recent local transmission of the disease, to be cleared on Saturday if there are no new cases between now and then. The World Health Organization has removed Canada's largest city from the list of areas with recent local transmission of severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome after no new cases had been reported in Toronto for 20 days. The organization's head of communicable diseases, David Heymann, called the development a major achievement in public health and said it is hoped that this marks the final phase of the global emergency. "Toronto has passed the 20-day milestone, that means that it has been 20 days since they last identified and isolated a probable case of SARS," said Hyemann. "This signifies that transmission of the virus within Toronto has been interrupted." Although there have been no recent new cases of respiratory sickness reported in Toronto, a number |
of victims remain critically ill,
and the death toll there could yet rise.
Toronto has had the largest SARS outbreak outside of Asia, with 39 deaths and almost 250 cases. Last week, the World Health Organization lifted its travel ban recommendation on the Canadian city. Heymann says that if there are no new SARS outbreaks in Taiwan, the last remaining place on the list of areas with recent local transmission of the disease, it too could receive the all-clear designation from the World Health Organization. But at least 810 people have been killed since SARS was first diagnosed in southern China late last year, and Heymann warned that countries must remain vigilant to ensure there is no more spread of the disease. "The threat of SARS is still with us and we must continue surveillance, intensive surveillance, looking for cases for at least another year," he said. Heymann says much research is required to find out where the virus came from in nature and how to prevent it from coming into human populations in the future. |
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PRAGUE, Czech Republic — The 2010 Winter Olympics have been awarded to Vancouver, Canada. While the announcement was made here thousands celebrated the news in Vancouver. Gathered in front of giant video screens, the 10,000 people gathered in Vancouver's main hockey arena went wild when they heard the news. The awarding of the 2010 Winter Olympics to this west coast Canadian town of two million finished a more than five-year campaign to secure the games. Many of the events will be held in nearby Whistler, a ski resort about two hours north of Vancouver. After the announcement, the crowd poured onto the streets of downtown, joining other revelers that watched the live telecast from Prague in hotels and restaurants. |
Delegates at the meeting of the International
Olympic Committee voted in favor of Vancouver on the second ballot, beating
Pyeongchang, South Korea by only three votes. In a surprise upset, believed
front-runner Salzburg, Austria, was eliminated on the first ballot.
The Vancouver Bid Corporation that arranged the presentation to the Olympic committee will now dissolve and a local organizing committee will form. It has cost over $25 million so far. The total costs are estimated to be about $1 billion. The bid committee estimates that will be offset by an estimated $1 billion in revenues, mostly from selling broadcasters the right to televise the games. Major construction and infrastructure improvements, such as improved highway access, will begin within two years. The last time the Olympics were in Canada was the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary. The only other time was Montreal for the 1976 Summer Olympics. |
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