 |
|
||||
 |
 |
 |
||
|
|
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|
Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for more details |
| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |
|
San
José, Costa Rica, Thursday, July 10, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 135
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Elizabeth Fonseca, the culture minister, is urging the chief prosecutor's office to expedite a potential investigation into business deals made under the ministry during the previous administration from 2011 to 2014. After local news reports surfaced that a majority of the ministry's contracts were given to one purveyor, Ms. Fonseca said last week's complaint presented before the Ministerio Público, the nation's prosecutorial office, needs to be immediately addressed. She first called for an investigation more than a week ago. “For the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud it's important to make any necessary corrections, bring peace to our ministry and give transparency to the citizen,” she said. Ms. Fonseca said that this move is not a political persecution of the past administration but, instead, a formal investigation meant to uphold a promise of anti-corruption. The complaint stems from a directive via President Luis Guillermo Solís following checks of all public entities made after he took office. His investigators in the culture ministry reported questionable expenses that were charged for five major cultural events. Those in question are the Festival de las Artes, Enamorate de tu Ciudad, Colegio de Costa Rica, Festival Internacional, and the Feria Internacional del Libro. Ms. Fonseca claims her ministry's investigation found that since 2011 spending on these programs had rocketed when compared to past years. The minister of Cultura y Juventud under the Laura Chinchilla administration was Manuel Obregón. Ms. Fonseca added that people have complained about the ministry's function and an apparent lack of novel ideas, to which she rebutted that nothing was further from the truth. She said that plans can take time to carry out, but that her team has dedicated itself to a different approach in which action is taken for the citizen's interest. “We have to show there's a different path that we are going to take when it comes to leading the culture ministry,” she said. “This is only demonstrated through actions, and actions cannot be executed all in the same day.” Penalties again decide a World Cup game By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Argentina positioned itself to win its first World Cup in nearly 30 years, beating the Netherlands in a penalty shootout, 4-2, after a scoreless draw. The Argentines converted all four of their penalty shots against Dutch goalie Jasper Cillessen. Maxi Rodriguez put away the winning kick. Argentine goalie Sergio Romero saved penalty shots by Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder. The result Wednesday at rainy Itaquerao Stadium in Sao Paulo means Argentina plays Germany in Sunday's championship game at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Argentina is seeking its third World Cup title, having won in 1978 and 1986. Germany has won three titles: 1954, 1974 and 1990. "I'm very happy because we reached the final, and now we will see what we can do," Argentine coach Alejandro Sabella said. "We will give everything as usual, with humility, work and 100 percent effort. It means so many things. A lot of people didn't think that Argentina would be in the final, but we know what a good team we have." The Netherlands and Argentina engaged in a grind-it-out affair with limited scoring opportunities. Cillessen saved a free kick by Argentine superstar Lionel Messi in the 20th minute, and a shot by Argentina's Gonzalo Higuain in the 75th narrowly missed the inside of the net. One of the Netherlands' top scorers, Arjen Robben, fired a shot from the box in the 90th, but it was defended well. For the Dutch, one of the highest-scoring teams in this year's World Cup, this was their second straight game decided by penalty kicks. They beat Costa Rica in a quarterfinal penalty shootout, but Romero was there to stop them this time. He did not start for his Monaco club most of last season, but has yielded only three goals in the World Cup. "Penalties are a question of luck, that is the reality," Romero said. "I had confidence in myself and, fortunately, everything turned out well. Hope has been intact since day one." Wednesday's game marked the fifth time in World Cup history a semifinal went to penalty kicks. Messi, a four-time World Player of the Year, converted the first shot for Argentina, followed by teammates Ezequiel Garay, Sergio Aguero and Rodriguez. For Messi, it is widely believed a World Cup championship will elevate him to the same mythical plane occupied by another Argentine football legend, Diego Maradona. Maradona almost singlehandedly lifted his country to the World Cup title in 1986, in part with his famous hand of God goal in the quarterfinals against England. He is considered by many to be the second greatest football player of all time behind Brazilian extraordinaire Pele. Argentina has won all six of its World Cup matches this year. The Dutch, who were denied a fourth trip to the World Cup finals, finished 5-1. Argentina and Germany, two of the perennial world football powers, have met twice before in the World Cup championship game. Argentina won in 1986, and the Germans won in 1990. This time, the Argentine team, which depends heavily on the play of Messi, will be facing a well-rounded German squad with an array of offensive weapons such as attack man Thomas Mueller. Germany is the highest-scoring team in the tournament with 17 goals. In Tuesday's semifinal game, Germany gave one of the most breathtaking displays of offensive firepower in World Cup history in a 7-1 rout of host Brazil. Germany scored five goals in the first 30 minutes, with four coming in a six-minute span. Brazil and the Netherlands will play for third place on Saturday in Brasilia. Two officials released in Cup ticket scandal By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Police in Brazil have released a top World Cup official who was arrested Monday in connection with an investigation into the illegal resale of tickets at the tournament. Ray Whelan, the head of Match Services, was released Tuesday after being questioned in relation to an alleged ticket selling scheme involving the 2014 World Cup. Whelan's lawyer denied the allegations, and the company issued a statement saying he did not violate any law. A Match Services subsidiary provides hospitality services, including complimentary tickets to matches, to corporate clients at World Cup events. A dozen arrests have been made in the case. More than 100 match tickets and large sums of money have also been seized. Police Officer Fabio Baruque said the long-running case involves the sale of tickets, some of them complimentary, which had been provided to Fédération Internationale de Football Association officials, individual players and local World Cup committees. "The crime being investigated is facilitating the distribution of tickets to touts, which is against the law," said Baruque. "The penalty for the crime is four years in prison." The World Cup organizing body, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, has not commented on the charges, but a spokesperson told reporters it is following the matter. "FIFA continues to fully collaborate with the local authorities and will provide any details requested to assist with this ongoing investigation," Delia Fischer said. "FIFA wants to reiterate our firm stance against any form of violation of criminal law and the ticketing regulation, and is fully supporting the security authorities in our joint efforts to clamp down on any unauthorized ticket sales." Whelan was arrested Monday at the Copacabana Palace, a luxury hotel in Rio that is hosting senior Fédération Internationale de Football Association delegates. Police say Whelan's telephone received some 900 calls and text messages from Lamine Fofana, the alleged ringleader of the group who was staying at the same hotel. Authorities say the group might have been active during the past four tournaments, raking in anywhere from $90 million to $200 million per World Cup. Brazil's World Cup will end Sunday. Many fans have complained of a lack of availability of tickets and high prices charged by scalpers outside match venues. Dozens of those resellers have been arrested during the month-long tournament.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
 |
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, July 10, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 135 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| Virus as well as fungus can cause amphibian extinctions,
study says |
|
|
By
the National Institute for Mathematical
and Biological Synthesis news staff Amphibian declines and extinctions around the world have been linked to an emerging fungal disease called chytridiomycosis, but new research from the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis shows that another pathogen, ranavirus, may also contribute. In a series of mathematical models, researchers showed that ranavirus, which causes severe hemorrhage of internal organs in frogs, could cause extinction of isolated populations of wood frogs if they are exposed to the virus every few years, a scenario that has been documented in wild populations. The most widely distributed amphibian species in North America, wood frogs have been shown to be highly susceptible to ranavirus infection, particularly as tadpoles. But little research has been done into how ranavirus affects frogs at all stages of their life cycle — from egg to hatchling to tadpole to metamorph, the stage when they emerge as frogs. Little is also known about how the infection could hasten extinction in entire populations. The study, published in the journal EcoHealth, investigates the effect of ranavirus on the entire life cycle of wood frogs in demographically isolated populations, where there is no movement of frogs into the population from surrounding areas. The study used mathematical simulations based on long-term data sets from wild populations of wood frogs in eastern United States and laboratory data on the effects of ranavirus. It determined that the life stage during which a frog was exposed to ranavirus was one of the most important factors in determining extinction and declines. Extinction was most likely to occur when the tadpole or metamorph was exposed to ranavirus at frequent intervals in small populations. Under the worst-case scenario, extinction could occur in as quickly as five years with exposure every year and 25 to 44 years with exposure every two years. The egg stage had a 57 percent survival rate when exposed to ranavirus, which was high enough to prevent extinction. Scientists speculate that eggs have a greater survival rate than other stages because they are protected by a thick gelatinous membrane that may serve as a structural barrier or contain anti-viral properties. |
 National Institute for Mathematical and
Biological Synthesis/Thomas Brown
This North American wood frog is
highly vulnerable to a Ranavirus infection."Just as the chytrid fungus has decimated frog populations, the results of our study suggest that ranavirus infection too could contribute to extinction of amphibian populations that are demographically isolated," said lead author Julia Earl. Amphibians are already considered the most imperiled of vertebrates, and a third of amphibians are threatened or endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the main international body that assesses the conservation status of species. Disease may be playing a role in amphibians' extinction. Since the 1990s, chytridiomycosis, which has been called the worst disease affecting vertebrate animals in recorded history, has caused massive die-offs and species extinctions across the world, particularly in Australia, the Caribbean, and North, Central, and South America. Ranavirus infections in amphibians have been known since the 1960s, but it wasn't until the 1980s when they were associated with large-scale mortality and disease. Once exposed to ranavirus, in susceptible species like wood frogs, mortality can be as quick as three days. Transmission can occur through water, direct contact and when tadpoles scavenge other dead and infected frogs. There is no cure or treatment for the disease. |
| The many styles of architecture in Guanacaste to be outlined
Tuesday |
|
|
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
One could argue that of all the provinces in Costa Rica, Guanacaste has the greatest variations in architecture. That will be the topic Tuesday in another of the talks by architect and historian Andrés Fernández. The talk will be in the Alianza Francesa building in San José. Fernández is well known for his walking tours of city churches and the various historic barrios. He also has featured Alajuela and Heredia on his tours. In an introduction to his talk, Alianza Francesa lists a number of pre-Columbian, Colonial and more modern types of building construction. The pre-Columbian natives, of course, used what they had and sometimes erected pole structures and straw buildings. There also is a strong influence of colonial Nicaragua in Guanacaste, said the summary. With the arrival a saw timber, the architecture changed considerably, it said. Admission to the 6:30 p.m. discussion is 3,000 colons for the public and 1,000 for Alianza members. Reservations are requested at 2257-1944, |
 Alianza Francesa photo
This is Guanacaste architecture
circa 1911 of a type used long ago. |
 |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
 |
|
||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, July 10, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 135 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| Minister tells U.N. gathering that deadline for Millennium
Goals nears |
|
|
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rican officials are looking to offer their help for global development. This week the minister of planning, Olga Marta Sánchez, represented the country in a United Nations political forum concerning the Millennium Development Goals, which were established in 2000 to improve lives around the world. There are eight millennium goals in all, ranging from eradicating extreme global poverty rates to providing universal primary education. The initial goal was to reach each target by 2015, and a number of goals have been reached. The meetings that lasted from Monday to Wednesday were carried out under the U.N.'s Economic and Social Council. Ms. Sánchez explained that these obstacles the world has overcome – like supplying drinking water to 2..3 billion people and reduction in global hunger – are encouraging steps. However, she warned that only a few months remained until the project's end date and that countries have not met their goals in some areas. “Despite the strengths and notable success in some areas, we shouldn't be satisfied,” she said. “The new agenda of development post-2015 needs to be transformative enough to allow for our strategic priorities to be carried out in the best possible way.” |
Monday Ms.
Sánchez pointed out that Costa Rica came before the United
Nations as a regional representative for the Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States, known as Celac. Some of those countries,
especially the poorer Caribbean island nations, remain as straggling
outliers in Latin American numbers overall. The minister said practical adjustments need to be made for member countries, as focuses must shift on economic improvements that fit each nation's capabilities. “We must turn all the objectives and targets of sustainable development into national-level politics, which should keep in mind each country's unique circumstances, abilities, development levels, and priorities,” she said. Specifically within Costa Rican borders, Ms. Sánchez said this administration has emphasized plans to reduce inequality and poverty, stimulate economic growth by creating more jobs, and fight against political corruption to make for a more stable government. The eight Millennium Development Goals are: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat hiv/aids, malaria, and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; develop a global partnership development. |
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
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
 |
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, July 10, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 135 | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
 |
|
| Obama meets Perry in Texas and says Congress should act By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
President Barack Obama says the U.S. Congress has the ability to fix the problem of the wave of unaccompanied minors coming across the border from Mexico into the United States. Obama spoke to reporters Wednesday after meeting with Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other officials about the immigration crisis. The president urged Congress to approve his request for $3.7 billion in emergency funds. Obama said he asked Perry to pressure congressional members from Texas to approve the funds. Obama said Perry raised four areas of concern: the number of border patrol agents, the positioning of those agents, the different policies for immigrants from Mexico versus Central America and the functioning of the U.S. immigration judicial system. The president said he told the governor that all those concerns could be addressed if Congress gave in to his request for additional funding. Obama said the problem is fixable if Congress is more interested in solving it, rather than concentrating on politics. Earlier in the day, House Speaker John Boehner met with members of his Republican caucus to discuss the president's request. Sources inside the closed meeting say Boehner told members the House needs to act on the request before leaving for a long recess in August. Obama is seeking to deport more than 50,000 children back to their home countries, where many of them fled impoverished and crime-ridden communities but also were drawn to the U.S. by rumors that they could stay in the U.S. if they got into the country. The U.S. says they are unlikely to qualify for humanitarian relief to remain in the country. The U.S. Justice Department says it plans to hire more judges to consider the children's cases, attempt to curb Central American violence and prosecute smugglers transporting the children to the U.S. Obama's trip to Texas comes a day after he asked Congress for $3.7 billion in emergency funding to deal with the immigration surge. The U.S. Senate a year ago approved comprehensive immigration reforms that would have allowed the 11 million immigrants already in the country illegally to eventually obtain U.S. citizenship. But the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is opposed and says it will not vote on the issue this year. Obama says that within weeks he will take what executive actions he can without congressional assent to change the country's immigration rules. Amnesty expresses concern about closing European door By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Rights group Amnesty International claims Europe is cracking down on illegal immigration, which is costly, and closing the doors to refugees fleeing conflict. Issued Wednesday, a new report by Amnesty International claims measures adopted by European governments to staunch illegal immigration are not only costing taxpayers billions of dollars, but are creating new dangers for Syrians and others seeking refuge from conflict. Jezerca Tigani, deputy director of Amnesty's Europe and Central Asia program, said, "The European Union is doing its utmost to protect its borders and is building a fortress Europe. But the cost of all of this is actually the human rights violations of migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe, and taking very dangerous journeys to reach the continent." According to Amnesty, the European Union spent about $2.8 billion protecting its external borders between 2007 and 2013. Amnesty says the 28-member bloc spent less than a third of that amount to improve conditions for refugees and asylum seekers within its borders. The report, Ms. Tigani said, aims to raise public awareness. The organization is "trying to make Europeans think about what is happening at their doorstep, what is happening at their borders and what their governments are doing — not to allow people who are in need of international protection," said Ms. Tigani. New statistics show nearly half a million people applied for asylum in the European Union last year, the highest number recorded since the bloc began collecting data six years ago. Many refugees from the Middle East and North Africa make a perilous journey across the Mediterranean to reach Europe's doors. Earlier this week, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom urged member nations to take in more Syrians and other asylum seekers. "There is a strong emphasis on assisting Syrians at the moment, but there are also other countries that would need support and people do embark on vessels on vary dangerous travels because there are very few, if any, legal ways to get to Europe, and one way to achieve to Europe in a safe way would be through increased resettlement," she said. At the same time, Ms. Malmostrom said new European laws will lead to fairer and better asylum decisions in Europe, and better protection and reception for asylum seekers. Amnesty says more needs to be done, however, to turn legislation into action. France moves to freeze flow of young Muslims By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
France's leftist government has introduced legislation to stop would-be jihadists from leaving the country and posing security threats when they return home. The measures reflect mounting international concern about Westerners joining the fighting in countries like Syria and Iraq. France's draft legislation includes an arsenal of measures aimed to toughen surveillance and detention of suspects with links to radical Islamist groups, including preventing them from leaving French territory. The French government believes it has good reason to toughen its anti-terrorism laws. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve estimates roughly 800 young people have joined jihadist fighting overseas, mostly in Syria. Roughly 100 are now heading home. Interviewed on France Info radio just before introducing the bill, Interior Minister Cazeneuve says these young jihadists witness barbaric acts overseas. They return destroyed and prepared to commit extremely violent acts back home, presenting a security threat for France and Europe. France is no stranger to terrorist attacks. Algerian Islamists bombed a Paris metro station in the 1990s. Today, terrorists are home-grown, including Islamist Mohamed Merah who shot dead seven people in Toulouse in 2012. French-Algerian Mehdi Nemmouche has been charged with gunning down four people at a Brussels' Jewish museum in May. If passed, the measures will make it easier for authorities to hold and question suspects in France and track those traveling across Europe's border-free Schengen area. It also takes aim at the surge of jihadist recruitment on the Web. Minister Cazeneuve wants to block Internet sites that incite anti-Semitism, terrorism and hatred at the European and international levels. The draft legislation comes amid heightened concern about Westerners joining jihadist movements. The United States estimates there are about 7,000 foreign fighters in Syria alone. Tuesday, European Union ministers reportedly adopted an action plan to respond to security threats posed by returning jihadists that are confronting countries like Britain and Belgium, as well as France. In Norway, Attorney General Eric Holder called for Europe to adopt tougher anti-terrorism laws. In France, the draft legislation has drawn a mixed reaction. French Association for Victims of Terrorism spokesman Stephane Lacombe says the measures are only a partial response to home-grown radicalism. "We have to deal with education, we have to deal with prevention in schools, on the ground," he said. "It is true that some of these young living in France have the kind of profile linked with delinquency, problems at schools. But it is not the only reason." Critics argue the draft legislation violates basic rights, and suggest efforts to pass European-wide anti-terrorism measures are unlikely to succeed. New Snowden disclosures say taps targeted Muslims By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The emails of at least five prominent Muslim-Americans were targeted by the FBI and the National Security Agency, according to information in new documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The report, co-authored by journalist Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain, appeared on the online news site The Intercept and said the surveillance was authorized by a secret intelligence court under procedures intended to locate spies and terrorist suspects. The report, which cited documents in an NSA spreadsheet leaked by former contractor Snowden, showed the emails of the individuals, but not their names, according to The Intercept report. The Intercept said it identified at least five people, all American citizens, based on those email addresses. They include: * Faisal Gill, a longtime Republican Party operative and one-time candidate for public office who held a top-secret security clearance and served in the Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush; * Asim Ghafoor, a prominent attorney who has represented clients in terrorism-related cases; * Hooshang Amirahmadi, an Iranian-American professor of international relations at Rutgers University; * Agha Saeed, a former political science professor at California State University who champions Muslim civil liberties and Palestinian rights; * Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the country. According to the report by Greenwald and Hussain, the spreadsheet shows 7,485 email addresses listed as monitored between 2002 and 2008. Many of the emails appeared to belong to foreigners suspected of being linked to al-Qaida, including Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American cleric killed in a 2011 drone strike. But the journalists' investigation also found a number of U.S. citizens monitored in this manner, which requires an order from the secret intelligence court based on evidence linking them to espionage or terrorist activities. However, during the three-month investigation by Greenwald and Hussain, which included interviews with more than a dozen current and former federal law enforcement officials involved in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process, they reported that they found the system for authorizing NSA surveillance affords the government wide latitude in spying on U.S. citizens. A recent Washington Post report based on similar leaked files warned that such accidental sweeps pick up far more U.S. web traffic than officials have acknowledged and that the material can be held indefinitely by the government. The five Americans whose email accounts were monitored by the NSA and FBI have all led highly public, outwardly exemplary lives. All five denied any involvement in terrorism or espionage, The Intercept reported. Some have even climbed the ranks of the U.S. national security and foreign policy establishments. All five raised questions in the account about why their emails would have been targeted by surveillance. The report said that several of the men had been subjected to previous government inquiries. Civil rights groups criticized the revelations. Responding to The Intercept report, a coalition of 44 civil liberties groups including the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter Wednesday to President Barack Obama urging a full public accounting about the alleged domestic surveillance. The group also asked for a meeting with Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director James Comey. The head of the Center for Constitutional Rights told The Hill that the targeting fits the same pattern as the FBI’s tracking of top civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X in previous decades. “The government is targeting an organization for its lawful political activity and conflating peaceful support for Palestinians and equal treatment for Muslims in the U.S. with suspicious activity,” Vincent Warrant told The Hill. “This report confirms the worst fears of American Muslims: the federal government has targeted Americans, even those who have served their country in the military and government, simply because of their faith or religious heritage,” the group Muslim Advocates said in a statement shortly after the story published, according to a report by the online site Wired In a statement on Wednesday morning, the Obama administration denied that its activities were based on politics or religion. U.S. officials, responding to the report, said communications are only monitored with a "legitimate foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose.” "It is entirely false that U.S. intelligence agencies conduct electronic surveillance of political, religious or activist figures solely because they disagree with public policies or criticize the government, or for exercising constitutional rights," said a joint statement from the Justice Department and the office of the Director of National Intelligence. The statement added that a court order for any surveillance of this kind requires probable cause, based on specific facts, which indicate that the person is an agent of a foreign power, a terrorist, a spy, or someone who takes orders from a foreign power. "No U.S. person can be the subject of surveillance based solely on First Amendment activities, such as staging public rallies, organizing campaigns, writing critical essays, or expressing personal beliefs," the statement added. North Korea calls movie terrorist and an act of war By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
North Korea has written a letter of complaint to the United Nations over an upcoming U.S. movie that depicts an attempted assassination of its leader, Kim Jong Un. The North’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Ja Song Nam, sent a letter voicing Pyongyang's objections to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon late last month. Ambassador Ja wrote the production and distribution of the movie "The Interview" should be regarded as “the most undisguised sponsoring of terrorism, as well as an act of war.” He also urged the United States to take immediate appropriate actions to ban the production and distribution of the action comedy or be fully responsible for encouraging and sponsoring terrorism. North Korea requested the ambassador's letter be circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under U.N. provisions on eliminating international terrorism. Pyongyang first made public complaints about the movie late last month after its official trailer was published online. "The Interview" is set to be released this October. The plot centers around two celebrity journalists in the U.S. who land an interview with Kim Jong Un and are then ordered by the CIA to assassinate him.  Voice of America/Craig Smith
When whales die, their bodies
sink to the ocean floor and become habitats for many sea creatures.Importance of great whales emphasized in a new study By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Valued for their meat and oil, whales were once considered of little consequence to the ocean. But a new study suggests great whales, Baleen, Sperm, Humpback, Blue and Gray, have a powerful and positive impact on how the ocean works. “They can increase nutrients in areas where they are feeding," said University of Vermont conservation biologist Joe Roman, lead author of a study. "So whales dive deep to feed. They come to the surface and, as it turns out, they defecate or they release whale poop at the surface. That has lots of nitrogen and other nutrients so it can increase productivity in areas where whales are feeding." Whales continue to service the ocean even when they die and sink to the deep sea. “That also brings nutrients down there and lots of habitats for species that depend entirely on those whale falls,” Roman said. After centuries of decline, great whales are steadily repopulating their historic breeding and feeding grounds. And they have a healthy appetite. Some commercial fisheries argue the whales are eating too many other fish and taking a big bite from their profits. But experts argue the opposite is true. “I think the classic view was ‘too many whales, not enough fish,’" Roman said. "But our study and several others are starting to show that it is far more complicated, more interesting than that, that is when whales are in a healthy ecosystem, we can have more fish and more whales at the same time.” Roman argues whales are being blamed for poor fishery management. “If we can restore our waterways, if we can better manage our fisheries, we are going to find that we will have more whales for us to enjoy as well as more fish for commercial fisheries, for recreational fisheries,” he said. But even as whales rebound, they are not immune to human threats in the ocean. They are run over by container ships, caught in fishing nets, and disturbed by noise from ocean traffic and sonar signals. “Shipping is increasing in the Arctic, plans for offshore oil and gas are increasing," said Margaret Williams, who directs the World Wildlife Fund's Arctic program. "And so World Wildlife Fund is working with government and communities and industry and other conservation groups to identify those areas that are very, very important for whale species, for migration areas, for feeding areas, and we’re recommending those areas receive special management attention.” Williams says whales deserve this protection. They are, as the study underscores, more valuable than whalers ever imagined. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
|
||||||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, July 10, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 135 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
||
|
Kerry bemoans
Senate confirmation jam
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Barack Obama has designated a new ambassador for Costa Rica. There may be some time before the man, Stafford Fitzgerald Haney, a New York investment firm executive, arrives. Haney needs to be approved by the U.S. Senate. Secretary of State John Kerry said this week in a published column that 53 State Department nominees are pending in the Senate. "Thirty-seven of them have been approved by the Foreign Relations Committee and could be confirmed immediately with a simple vote," said Kerry. "The majority of the nominees, 35 in all, are apolitical career diplomats, and none of them are controversial." "There is a solution staring us in the face — and that answer is the powerful example of how military nominees are traditionally treated by the Senate," he said. "The administration’s military nominees are confirmed quickly and en bloc, which is the proper way to handle them. For America to play a strong role in the world, we need equal treatment for diplomats. The Senate should carve out State’s career nominees and expedite their confirmation just as it does for military promotions." Kerry accused the Senate, a body to which he recently belonged, with hobbling American diplomacy.. Speaking of terrorism in Africa, he said that "Boko Haram’s horrifying abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria ignited universal calls for help to 'bring back our girls.' President Barack Obama responded with urgency, but lost in the story is that one tool the United States would like to have at our disposal is hampered by the absence of U.S. ambassadors in neighboring Cameroon and Niger." Like Costa Rica, the embassies in those two African countries have been without an ambassador for at least eight months, he said. Unlike most of the ambassador designates, Haney is not a career diplomat but a political supporter of Obama and a contributor to Democratic causes. So senators are unlike to give him approval in a group. Kerry wrote his opinion article for the Washington publication Politico and the text was released by the State Department Wednesday. Times reports new Chinese hacker effort By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A report in The New York Times today says the newspaper has learned from U.S. government officials that Chinese computer hackers attempted to gain access to the personnel files of tens of thousands of federal employees who have applied for top secret security clearances. The report says the hackers gained access back in March to some of the databases of the Office of Personnel Management, the agency that oversees the federal workforce. The unnamed officials say authorities detected the threat and blocked it from the office's computer network. The Times says it is not yet clear how far the hackers had penetrated the agency's systems, where applicants for security clearances list personal information such as foreign contacts and past drug use. An official with the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the attack had occurred, but said neither Office of Personnel Management nor Homeland Security had identified any loss of personally identifiable information. U.S. prosecutors last month indicted a group of Chinese hackers working for a unit of the People's Liberation Army and charged them with stealing corporate secrets. The same unit has been accused in the past of intrusions into U.S. government computer systems, including the office of the Defense secretary. Computer intrusions have been a major source of contention between the United States and China. Evidence revealed by Edward Snowden, the former contractor for the National Security Agency, shows the NSA ran programs to intercept the conversations of Chinese leaders and the military. |
| Costa Rican News |
AMCostaRicaArchives.com |
Retire NOW
in Costa Rica |
CostaRicaReport.com |
| Fine Dining
in Costa Rica |
The CAFTA Report |
Fish
fabulous Costa Rica |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| From Page 7: U.S. Fed to stop its bond buying in October By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
With the U.S. economy improving, policy makers at the country's central bank say they plan to end their direct economic support of the world's largest economy in October. Since late 2012, the Federal Reserve has been purchasing up to $85 billion a month of Treasury bonds and securities. It is a program aimed at keeping long-term interest rates at a very low level in an effort to boost hiring and lending to help the economy recover from the depths of the 2008 recession. The Federal Reserve has been steadily cutting the size of the monthly asset purchases and has said that if the country's economic fortunes continue to improve, it would end them altogether late this year, without setting a specific date. But Wednesday, the policy makers released minutes of their mid-June meeting showing that the Federal Reserve intends to end securities purchases in October, "if the economy progresses" on its current path, as it expects. More than nine million workers remain unemployed in the U.S. But its labor market has been adding jobs at the fastest pace since 1999, and the jobless rate fell in June to 6.1 percent, its lowest level in nearly six years. |
