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Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for more details |
A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Friday,
July 18,
2014, Vol. 14, No. 141
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A Universidad de Costa Rica study predicts a gloomy forecast for the country's immediate economic climate. Headed by investigator Rudolf Lücke of the university's economic investigation department, the report shows that the nation could return to an inflation rate between 5.5 and 6.5 percent by the year's end. This figure means that lower targets set by the Banco Central will seem hard to reach, as inflation is expected to rise in the third trimester of this year. This would mark the first time since 2009 that the inflation goal will not be met. In 2013, inflation began at 6.2 percent but settled all the way down to 3.3 by the start of 2014, according to the study. Reason for the expected rise stems from national price hikes in foodstuff, transportation, and basic housing services. Lücke points to the government as falling back into bad habits and being unable to initiate effective measures that can reduce its fiscal deficit. “No changes in the finances of the central government have been observed that can reduce this fiscal inequality,” the report states. “The central government continues resorting to the national market to finance it's deficit.” The Instituto de Investigaciónes en Ciencias Económias released the study of short-term economic development based on two additional variable: the gross domestic product and the rate of interest. In terms of internal production, the report recognizes that Costa Rica will take a hit with the recent departure of a bulk of Intel's production operations. This loss will heavily effect export numbers to Asia in particular. However, the gross domestic product is expected to increase overall as it still recovers from a rough 2013 in which it dipped all the way to an increase of 3.2 percent. Wet weekend likely with some flooding By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The national emergency commission has declared a preventative alert for the Caribbean and the northern zone where rains have saturated the ground and caused some rivers to overflow. More of the same weather is expected for today in these areas and probably for the rest of the weekend. The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional said that the Central Valley would see some rain in the mountains and that the Pacific coast could see isolated showers by the afternoon. The Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias declared the alert, which brings local emergency committees into action. Emergency crews in Sarapiquí opened up a shelter in a local community hall where some 22 persons were expected to spend the night. In Guácimo there were 20 persons in a shelter, said the national emergency commission. There were reports of 16 communities being cut off by flooding rivers. In Guácimo the communities were La Lucha, Escocia, Silencio, La Platina, Seis Amigos and Camaroncito. In Pococí, the communities were reported to be Cocotales, La Rita Ticabán, Milloncito, El Millón and San Jorge. The Sarapiquí communities that were cut off are Tigre, Caño Negro and Flaminia, said the commission. The weather institute said at 7 p.m. Thursday that from 10 to 30 millimeters (about a half inch to a bit more than one inch) of rain fell in the northern zone and along the Caribbean coast in the afternoon and early evening. The Río Colorado in the north and the Rio Sixaola in the south were reported swelling. Flooding generally is caused by rain in the mountains and not locally. Rains of up to 70 millimeters (about 2.74 inches) were predicted for some of these areas overnight. The big concern for many expats are the condition of the roads. Rain nearly all day in the Central Valley has certainly affected the usual trouble spots. The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad had not reported any major slides or collapses of pavement by 1 a.m. today. 17 firms find the slogan to be essential By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Some 17 tourism firms have been given the right to use the country's new slogan, Esencial Costa Rica. They are the first in the industry. The approval for using the slogan comes from the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo. Companies that apply must already have obtained other designations from the tourism institute including one for sustainability. The firms are: Destination Costa Rica; Horizontes Nature Tours; Expediciones Tropicales; CAST; Grayline Costa Rica; Costa Rica Reps DMC 7; MTA Travel Solutions Miki Travel; AsuaireTravel; Desafío Adventure Co.; Toyota Rent a Car; Grupo ANC (Alamo y National); Swiss Travel; Cactus Tour; Mapache Rent a Car; Go Tours, and Villas de Papagayo Futuropa. The firms can now use the slogan, which is spelled correctly in Spanish, on their publicity, Web pages and similar.  Ministerio de
Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública
photo
Fuerza Pública officers in the La Mansión
district of Nicoya
have a new police station replacing one that was rented. Money for the structure came from the central government and from the local Asociación de Desarrollo. Inauguration was Thursday. Those mangoes were a real tipoff to police By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
When a crook broke into a home in Alajuela Centro he could not find anything of value. So he settled for some mangoes that were there. The fruit caused him to stand out so that police spotted him on the street. When they detained him they found that a warrant had been issued because of a burglary some weeks earlier in San José, said the Fuerza Pública. So he was remanded to jail without the mangoes. New technology said to speed up Internet By the Aalborg University news staff
Mathematical equations can make Internet communication via computer, mobile phone or satellite many times faster and more secure than today. Results with software developed by researchers from Aalborg University in collaboration with the U.S. universities the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology are attracting attention in the international technology media. A new study uses a four-minute-long mobile video as an example. The method used by the Danish and U.S. researchers in the study resulted in the video being downloaded five times faster than state of the art technology. The video also streamed without interruptions. In comparison, the original video got stuck 13 times along the way. "This has the potential to change the entire market. In experiments with our network coding of Internet traffic, equipment manufacturers experienced speeds that are five to ten times faster than usual. And this technology can be used in satellite communication, mobile communication and regular Internet communication from computers," says Frank Fitzek, professor and one of the pioneers in the development of network coding. Internet communication formats data into packets. Error control ensures that the signal arrives in its original form, but it often means that it is necessary to send some of the packets several times and this slows down the network. The Danish and U.S. researchers instead are solving the problem with a special kind of network coding that utilizes clever mathematics to store and send the signal in a different way. The advantage is that errors along the way do not require that a packet be sent again. Instead, the upstream and downstream data are used to reconstruct what is missing using a mathematical equation. "With the old systems you would send packet 1, packet 2, packet 3 and so on. We replace that with a mathematical equation. We don’t send packets. We send a mathematical equation. You can compare it with cars on the road. Now we can do without red lights. We can send cars into the intersection from all directions without their having to stop for each other. This means that traffic flows much faster," explains Frank Fitzek. Network coding has a large application field for Internet of Things, 5G communication systems, software defined networks, content centric networks and besides transport also implication on distributed storage solutions. In order for this to work, however, the data is coded and decoded with the patented technology. The professor and two of his former students from Aalborg University, developers Janus Heide and Morten Videbæk Pedersen, along with the U.S. colleagues, founded the software company Steinwurf. The company makes the Random Linear Network Coding available to hardware manufacturers and they are in secret negotiations that will bring the improvements to consumers. As part of the effort Steinwurf has established an office in Silicon Valley but the company is still headquartered in Aalborg in Denmark. "I think the technology will be integrated in most products because it has some crucial and necessary functions. The only thing that can stop the development is patents. Previously, individual companies had a solid grip on patents for coding. But our approach is to make it as accessible as possible. Among other things, we are planning training courses in these technologies," said Fitzek.
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| 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 |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, July 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 141 | |
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| Industrial chamber seeking more flexibility in employee work
schedules |
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By
Michael Krumholtz
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Costa Rica needs to get more flexible with work schedules in order to attract more business and create improved employment opportunities, says the nation's industrial chamber. The organization, the Cámara de Industrias, has proposed a legislative change to the work code to adjust requirements for employee schedules. Proposals include four-day work weeks with three days off. Juan Ramón Rivera, the chamber's president, said this is a logical step towards creating quality employment that could also boost production for employers. “The challenge of generating better employment opportunities must be met by real and concrete measures that augment labor demand in formal sectors and attract national investment,” he said. Before they moved their manufacturing operations to Asia, Intel Corp. executives repeatedly lobbied Costa Rican officials to be more flexible with workers by allowing four-day work weeks. Rivera said the proposal also accounts for factors away from the workplace like workers' family demands, health needs, and education opportunities. Worker advantages would come in many forms, and this could allow employees to more free time available for themselves, their children, and their spouses, he said. |
Coinciding with
the proposed four-day schedule, workers would be able
to work up to 12 hours per day. This plan coincides with current law,
which states that no worker can be subjected to more than 48 hours per
week. This would mostly be applied to seasonal jobs or positions where
production sees varied cycles. However, current law requires overtime
after eight hours. Another alternative that the chamber has proposed would center on annual schedules, allowing employers to register their workers under annual schedules that would still honor the 48-hour limit because of fluctuating workdays. This would allow for some workdays to reach 10 hours, while others where not as much work is required would not exceed six hours. In this scenario, if the worker was fired before the calendar year ran up, the worker would receive overtime pay based on the scale of a normal schedule. A chamber report said this should encourage workplace stability. The proposal promotes itself as offering a list of advantages to business owners and managers, as well. Businesses will receive more efficient production that can easily adjust to their unique demands. This could also lead to fewer employee absences every day and would provide an incentive for employees to obtain permanent contracts that could increase competition, said the chamber. |
| San Pedro author addresses models of freedom in his new book |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Issues of political freedom are ones that will always be under the public microscope through philosophical debates or current news events. One expat offers his perspective on the model of freedom in the United States with his latest book “On American Freedom: A Critique of the Country's Core Value with a Reform Agenda.” Author Kenneth Morris, who lives in San Pedro, said the book critiques contemporary notions of freedom to hypothesize a more politically and economically efficient model. “The basic idea is that the U.S. is the land of the free, but no one really knows what that means anymore,” he said. Morris said his 228-page book dissects the liberal and republican forms of freedom that remain as American paradigms. He contends that shift towards the basic republican ideals and strengthening local state autonomies could present a type of freedom that doesn't become so compromised by greedy economics. “I don't think the liberal form of freedom is ultimately sustainable,” he said. “You really need a more republican form of freedom anchored towards the good.” Morris is a former professor of sociology who taught at the University of Georgia, among other institutions. He says he has been a Costa Rican resident for the past eight years. Copies of the book published by Palgrave Macmillan are offered on a variety of Web sites, including Amazon. |
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| Guancaste veterans organization planning a meeting to elect
officers this Saturday |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Guanacaste Veterans Group meets Satruday in Playas del Coco to hold elections and to discuss goals. The meeting will be at the Hostel/Hotel Casa Palmas on Lizard |
Lounge Road. More
information and compelte directions are available by
calling 8859-4984 The group welcomes all veterans and those with a desire to support veterans. |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| 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 | ||||||
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, July 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 141 | |||||
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| University study concludes that world food gap can be
eliminated |
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By
the University of Minnesota news staff
Feeding a growing human population without increasing stresses on Earth's strained land and water resources may seem like an impossible challenge. But according to a new report by researchers at the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, focusing efforts to improve food systems on a few specific regions, crops and actions could make it possible to both meet the basic needs of three billion more people and decrease agriculture's environmental footprint. The report, published in Science, focuses on 17 key crops that produce 86 percent of the world's crop calories and account for most irrigation and fertilizer consumption on a global scale. It proposes a set of key actions in three broad areas that have the greatest potential for reducing the adverse environmental impacts of agriculture and boosting the ability to meet global food needs. For each, it identifies specific leverage points where non-governmental organizations, foundations, governments, businesses and citizens can target food-security efforts for the greatest impact. The biggest opportunities cluster in six countries — China, India, U.S., Brazil, Indonesia and Pakistan — along with Europe, said the study. "This paper represents an important next step beyond previous studies that have broadly outlined strategies for sustainably feeding people," said lead author Paul West, co-director of the Institute on the Environment's Global Landscapes Initiative. "By pointing out specifically what we can do and where, it gives funders and policy makers the information they need to target their activities for the greatest good." The major areas of opportunity and key leverage points for improving the efficiency and sustainability of global food production are: 1. Produce more food on existing land. Previous research has detected the presence of a dramatic agricultural yield gap — difference between potential and actual crop yield — in many parts of the world. This study found that closing even 50 percent of the gap in regions with the widest gaps could provide enough calories to feed 850 million people. Nearly half of the potential gains are in Africa, with most of the rest represented by Asia and Eastern Europe. 2. Grow crops more efficiently. The study identified where major opportunities exist to reduce climate impacts and improve the efficiency with which farmers use nutrients and water to grow crops. Agriculture is responsible for 20 to 35 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, largely in the form of carbon dioxide from tropical deforestation, methane from livestock and rice growing, and nitrous oxide from crop fertilization. The study found that the biggest opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas production are in Brazil |
and Indonesia for
deforestation; China and India for rice production; and China, India
and the United States for crop fertilization. With respect to nutrient use, the study found that worldwide, 60 percent of nitrogen and nearly 50 percent of phosphorus applications exceed what crops need to grow. China, India and the U.S. — and three crops, rice, wheat and corn — are the biggest sources of excess nutrient use worldwide, so offer the greatest opportunity for improvement. With respect to water, rice and wheat are the crops that create the most demand for irrigation worldwide, and India, Pakistan, China and the U.S. account for the bulk of irrigation water use in water-limited areas. Boosting crop water use efficiency, the researchers found, could reduce water demand 8 to 15 percent without compromising food production. 3. Use crops more efficiently. The third major category of opportunities characterized for boosting food production and environmental protection relate to making more crop calories available for human consumption by shifting crops from livestock to humans and reducing food waste. The crop calories currently fed to animals are sufficient to meet the calorie needs of 4 billion people. The study noted that the U.S., China and Western Europe account for the bulk of this diet gap, with corn the main crop being diverted to animal feed. Although cultural preferences and politics limit the ability to change this picture, the authors note that shifting crops from animal feed to human food could serve as a safety net when weather or pests create shortages. In addition, some 30 to 50 percent of food is wasted worldwide. Particularly significant is the impact of animal products: The loss of 1 kilogram of boneless beef has the same effect as wasting 24 kilograms of wheat due to inefficiencies in converting grain to meat. The authors illustrate how food waste in the U.S., China and India affect available calories, noting that reducing waste in these three countries alone could yield food for more than 400 million people. "Sustainably feeding people today and in the future is one of humanity's grand challenges. Agriculture is the main source of water use, greenhouse gas emissions, and habitat loss, yet we need to grow more food," West said. "Fortunately, the opportunities to have a global impact and move in the right direction are clustered. By focusing on areas, crops and practices with the most to be gained, companies, governments, NGOs and others can ensure that their efforts are being targeted in a way that best accomplishes the common and critically important goal of feeding the world while protecting the environment. Of course, while calories are a key measure of improving food security, nutrition, access and cultural preferences must also be addressed. But the need to boost food security is high. So let's do it." |
Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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| 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 |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, July 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 141 | |||||||
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| No deal yet on illegal kids as House Republicans balk By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Congressional leaders say there is no decision yet on a bill to deal with the influx of migrant children from Central America crossing over the U.S. border with Mexico. President Barack Obama has asked Congress for $3.7 billion in emergency funding to help shelter the children, provide more immigration judges and boost border security, but Republicans have said they will not give the president a blank check. With hundreds of children from Central America coming into the United States each day, Obama is asking Congress to take urgent action. But any such bill would likely originate in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives. House Speaker John Boehner told reporters Thursday that House Republicans have not yet decided what kind of bill to put forward. “We don’t have a bill yet.," he said "We are having a lot of discussions, and we are going to continue those discussions.” Boehner says he is listening to a task force headed by fellow Republicans, Rep. Kay Granger, and House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers. Rogers, Boehner and other Republicans have indicated that the House would be unlikely to approve even a much more modest funding bill than the president asked for, unless changes are made to a 2008 anti-human-trafficking law that gives migrant children the right to stay in the United States until they can have a court appearance. “I don’t know how Congress can send more money to the border to begin to mitigate the problem if you don’t do something about the 2008 law that is being abused, and it is being abused,” Boehner said. Most Democratic lawmakers in Congress are calling for quick approval of the funding, but many strongly oppose any changes to the 2008 law. “I am rarely surprised around here, but it is stunning to me how the Republicans have tried to politicize this issue - not all of them,” said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. Ms. Pelosi called on Congress to focus on the best interests of the children, and said many face threats to their lives in their home countries. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, and Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, are co-sponsoring a bill that would treat migrant children from Central America the same as children from Mexico, who can now be deported immediately. But it is not clear the new bill will win support. At a Senate hearing Thursday, Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, said the problem is bigger than just Congress can handle. “This is not just an American problem, it is a regional problem," she said. "And I don’t believe we can solve it on our own, nor should we. I am talking about a regional summit at the highest of levels.” Bruce Swartz of the U.S. Department of Justice agreed that a regional summit would make sense. “The Mexican attorney general has suggested that we have a meeting of the attorney generals of the region to address this issue, and Attorney General Holder very much welcomes that opportunity as well,” she said of her boss, Eric Holder. The countries involved include the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Both Republicans and Democrats have said they would like to address the border crisis issue before they leave for a month-long break in August, but there are only a few legislative days left to act. Two Chinese amateurs hope to succeed in pro boxing Two Chinese boxers are getting ready to debut as professional heavyweight fighters in the United States. Olympic medalist Zhang Zhilei is training on the East Coast, while another Asian amateur, Taishan Dong, is preparing for his first big fight on the West Coast. Jianjun Dong’s ring name is Taishan, after a famous Chinese mountain. At 127 kilograms and 211 centimeters tall, Taishan Dong is a mountain of a man. A top amateur fighter in Asia and former kick boxer, he’ll debut as a heavyweight boxer in San Francisco July 18. The 26-year-old Dong says the United States is strong in sports, and because he hopes to move to a higher level, America offers many opportunities to reach his goal. He may be one of the tallest boxers ever, a bit more than six feet, nine inches, and he is powerful, but still untested as a pro fighter. As Dong hits punching pads held by his trainer, former heavyweight boxer John Bray, Bray said the Chinese fighter has potential. “I think that he’s a young, eager heavyweight that’s very teachable. The heavyweight landscape is wide open, as you know, and he’s going to fare very well,” said Bray. Dong is not the only up-and-coming Chinese heavyweight. Zhang Zhilei, who won a silver medal in boxing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will debut as a heavyweight pro in Nevada Aug. 8. He is now training in New Jersey. For both, there are cultural and language barriers. Taishan Dong speaks little English, but said he works around it. He says he trained in sports since a young age in China. Verbal communication is a big barrier in the United States, but he can work with his trainer using body language. His trainer says both men speak boxing. Dong has more than fighting on his mind. He’s the father of a 4-month-old daughter named Harper, who was born in Los Angeles. The fighter’s wife, Gege, is ringside as he trains in this suburban gym, and she says her husband is in good shape for his first pro fight. She also said he's relaxed and not worried. Murdock on prowl in U.S. for more media acquisitions By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Worldwide media magnate Rupert Murdoch is on the hunt to add to his corporate empire in the United States, as American media companies seek assets to gain an advantage over competitors. Murdoch already controls movie studio 21st Century Fox, the widely watched Fox television channels and a prominent business newspaper, The Wall Street Journal. But media rival, Time Warner, balked this week at Murdoch's $80 billion offer to take over its movie studio, the popular HBO and Turner cable entertainment ventures and CNN, a worldwide news channel. Time Warner said it was not in the best interests of the company to accept the deal or talk about it further with Murdoch. But business and legal analyst Erik Gordon at the University of Michigan said that Murdoch was facing a rapidly changing media landscape that could push him to increase his offer in hopes Time Warner might change its mind. He said the planned mergers of cable distributors, Comcast with Time Warner Cable and AT&T with the DirecTV satellite company, would give them an advantage in multi-billion-dollar negotiations with media content producers like Murdoch and Time Warner. With that in mind, Gordon said Murdoch was forced to become bigger if he wanted more clout. "So you get into one of these sort of arms races, where one side gets more power, and then the other side has to consolidate to rebalance that power . . . . He wants to be able to go to the negotiating table against the distributors and say, well, look, if you don't deal with me on terms that are acceptable to me, not only do you lose my present properties like Fox, but you also lose HBO and Cartoon Network and everything else I get by taking over Time Warner," he said. The dean of the business school at Hofstra University in New York, Patrick Socci, said that for Murdoch, the acquisition of Time Warner's movie production division, along with HBO and its widely watched television dramas, could be reason enough to increase his bid beyond the $85 a share of stock he offered. "I think right now at $85, Murdoch will be able to swing the deal, and he's scaring everybody away by saying he may even go higher if Time Warner will open its books. And I could see that investors would probably push to make that happen, just to see how much more they could get," said Socci. Murdoch, who generally supports conservative political causes in the U.S., said he would sell CNN if he acquired Time Warner, to avoid a conflict with his Fox News channel, where conservative commentators pointedly voice their opposition to U.S. President Barack Obama and his policies. Gordon said that beyond the fight between corporate titans like Murdoch and Time Warner, there were other major U.S. companies seeking to win over more customers for the media content they were producing. "You have a lot of the newer, more start-up channels, Netflix, Amazon, Google, getting into the business. So you sort of have two tiers. You have the huge elephants fighting each other in one room, and then you have the littler, newer guys outside the room who'll probably be their competition in coming years," he said. Microsoft plans big layoff affected 18,000 employees By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
One of the world's biggest technology companies, U.S.-based Microsoft, says it plans to lay off up to 18,000 workers over the next year. The company said Thursday it is making the job cuts — amounting to 14 percent of its workforce of 127,000 — to restructure after its recent acquisition of the phone business of Finland's Nokia company. Microsoft is the world's largest software maker, but with the takeover of part of Nokia's business, it is seeking to become a major contender in the competitive cellphone market that has been dominated by South Korea's Samsung, Nokia and U.S.-based Apple. Microsoft said the layoffs would include about 12,500 professional and factory workers, with the job cuts mostly occurring by the end of this year and fully completed by next June. Many of the positions are being cut to eliminate overlap with Nokia. Before the Nokia takeover, Microsoft had 99,000 workers, with 58,000 in the U.S. and 41,000 in foreign countries. The largest personnel reduction in the company's nearly 40-year history comes "five months into the tenure of Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, who outlined plans for a leaner business in a public memo to employees last week. The announcement said the restructuring will cost the company between $1.1 billion and $1.6 billion over the next year, with much of that in severance pay to the workers it is cutting. Investigation begins to find who shot down Malaysian jet By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A Malaysia Airlines jetliner flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed Thursday in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, and Ukrainian government officials said pro-Russian insurgents had shot down the plane. A senior U.S. official said a surface-to-air missile downed the Boeing 777-200 but analysts don't yet know where the missile was launched from nor who fired it. Malaysia Airlines said in a statement that Flight MH17 lost contact with Ukrainian air-traffic control at around 2:15 p.m. UTC (8:15 a.m. Costa Rica time). Many of the passengers were Dutch citizens. The jet went down in a rural part of the Donetsk region, not far from the Russian border, where the Russian-backed fighters have battled Ukraine government troops in what increasingly resembles all-out war. Ukraine's foreign ministry, citing military officials, said the airliner was flying at around 33,000 feet when it was hit by a surface-to-air missile known as a Buk. The Buk is a sophisticated, medium-range, Soviet-era surface-to-air system that can fire missiles up to 72,000 feet in altitude. "The plane was shot down because the Russian air defense systems was affording protection to Russian mercenaries and terrorists in this area," ministry spokeswoman Natalya Melnychuk said in a statement on Facebook. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he didn't rule out that the airliner was shot down. "We do not rule out that this plane has been shot down but emphasize that the armed forces of Ukraine were not engaged in any activity involving hitting targets in the air," he said in a statement posted on the presidential Web site. In a statement posted later on Twitter, Poroshenko wrote: "This is not an incident, not an accident, but an act of terror." U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says a Malaysian passenger jet was blown out of the sky over eastern Ukraine Thursday, and did not crash by accident. U.S. officials confirm the plane was hit by a missile but that it is not clear who fired the missile or whether it came from Russian or Ukrainian territory. In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that U.S. officials have been in touch with Ukrainian officials, but declined to elaborate. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, called the crash a terrible tragedy. “Right now we’re working to determine whether there were any American citizens on board. That is our first priority, and I’ve directed my national security team to stay in close contact with the Ukrainian government. The United States will offer any assistance we can to help determine what happened and why," President Obama said during a speech in Delaware. And as a country our thoughts and prayers are with all the families and passengers wherever they call home.” Before leaving on his trip, Obama spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A day earlier, the United States announced new economic sanctions targeting major Russian oil and financial companies, the latest in a series of moves aimed at punishing Russia for its role in Ukraine. According to the White House, the call had been requested by Moscow. As the two spoke, the first reports of the crash emerged, and Putin brought them up with Obama at the end of the conversation, Earnest said. Obama also telephoned Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte to offer condolences. White House officials say the two leaders talked about the need to ensure that international investigators have unimpeded an immediate access to the crash site. In televised comments in Moscow late Thursday, Putin said the Ukrainian government bore responsibility. "This tragedy would not have happened, if there had been peace on that land, or in any case if military operations in southeastern Ukraine had not been renewed," he said. "And without doubt the government of the territory on which it happened bears responsibility for this frightening tragedy." The United Nations Security Council was scheduled to hold an emergency session Friday morning to discuss the crash. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for a "full and transparent international investigation." News reports said the plane crashed near the eastern town of Snizhne, near the border with Russia, which has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks. An air strike there earlier this week killed 11 people. There was no claim of responsibility for that attack, though the rebels blamed Ukraine's air force. Thursday, around the time of the reported crash, separatists claimed they had downed an Antonov An-26 military transport plane near the town of Torez, which is less then six miles from Snizhne. Social media postings on Twitter and the Russian site VKontakte that were attributed to Igor Strelkov, a Russian citizen who is a top insurgent leader, claimed that insurgents had shot down the An-26 at around the same time that the Malaysian airliner went down. The VKontakte posting, which also included video showing smoke rising purportedly from the fields outside the village of Torez, was posted at 5:50 p.m. Moscow time, and read: "In the vicinity of Torez, an An-26 was just shot down, falling somewhere in the vicinity of the Progress coal mine. We warned them about this: Don't fly over our skies. And here is video confirmation of the latest bird strike. The bird fell near the slagheap, the residential district was not struck. No civilians suffered. There's also information about a second downed plane, apparently a Sukhoi." There was no immediate way to authenticate the video or the postings, although the claims appeared to match up with initial reports about when and where the Malaysian airliner went down. The posting was later removed from the VKontakte page. A later posting on the same VKontatke page and the Twitter feed linked to Strelkov quoted a top official with the unrecognized Donetsk People’s Republic as confirming that a passenger jet had crashed near Torez. The post, attributed to Alexander Borodai, denied rebel involvement, instead suggesting that Ukrainian forces were responsible. Insurgent forces have shorter range anti-aircraft weapons, like those known as Igla and have used them to down other Ukainian military flights and possibly even, a helicopter. Borodai, however, said via Twitter that the rebels do not have weapons capable of hitting an airliner flying at 33,000 feet. Russian media reports published June 29, however, quoted insurgent officials as having seized a Ukrainian anti-aircraft base where Buk missile systems were based. An Associated Press staffer reported seeing a Buk missile system in Snizhne earlier Thursday. Ukraine's leading security agency, the SBU, released audio recordings in which a man it identified as a rebel commander is heard telling a Russian military officer that insurgents had downed the plane. The recordings, posted on YouTube and elsewhere, could not be independently verified. In Washington, the U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that analysts were sifting through data to try and determine the missile's origin. The official also said it was unlikely the plane was hit by accident, though it was possible the attackers could have mistaken the jet for a military plane. A reporter at the scene of the crash in Ukraine said dozens of bodies were scattered around the smoldering wreckage. A rescue worker said at least 100 bodies had so far been found, and that debris was spread across an area up to about nine miles in diameter. Broken pieces of the wings were marked with blue and red paint - the same colors as the emblem of the Malaysian airline. "I was working in the field on my tractor when I heard the sound of a plane and then a bang and shots. Then I saw the plane hit the ground and break in two. There was thick black smoke," one witness, who gave his name only as Vladimir, was quoted as saying. A separatist rebel from the nearby village of Krasnyi Luch who gave his name only as Sergei said: "From my balcony I saw a plane begin to descend from a great height and then heard two explosions. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the plane made no distress call before disappearing from radar. Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, meanwhile, said earlier there was no confirmation the flight had been shot down. The incident comes four months after another Malaysia Airlines plane went missing while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, carrying 239 passengers and crew. That plane has not been found. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, July 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 141 | |||||||||
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 National Institute of Standards and
Technology/Jennifer Keller
Large tumors associated with fibropapillomastosis can be seen in this turtle. Pollutants not
tumor cause, study says
By The National Institute of Standards
and Technology news staff
For nearly four decades, scientists have suspected that persistent organic pollutants contributed to a green turtle's susceptibility to the virus that causes fibropapilomatosis, a disease that forms large benign tumors that can inhibit the animal's sight, mobility and feeding ability. In a new study, researchers from the Hollings Marine Laboratory, a government-university partner facility in Charleston, S.C., and from university and federal collaborators in Hawaii demonstrated that persistent organic pollutants are not, in fact, a co-factor linked to the increasing number of green sea turtles afflicted with the disease. Persistent organic pollutants are a large group of man-made chemicals that, as their name indicates, persist in the environment. They also spread great distances through air and water, accumulate in human and animal tissues, increase in concentration up food chains, and may have carcinogenic and neurodevelopmental effects. They include banned substances such as DDT and toxaphenes, once used as pesticides; polychlorinated biphenyls, once used as insulating fluids; and polybrominated diphenyl ethers, still used as flame retardants. Two previous studies were unable to rule out the impact of the pollutants on the disease. "We wanted to do a thorough study looking at a large, statistically valid population of turtles and using methods that could detect even tiny levels of POPs in their tissues," said research biologist Jennifer Keller, lead author on the paper appearing in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. She is with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Ms. Keller and her colleagues collected turtle blood samples at four locations across Hawaii, each one having a different prevalence of fibropapilomatosis — none, low, moderate and high — in the marine turtle population residing there. "We analyzed the plasma for 164 different organic compounds to see if POP concentrations increased with increasing prevalence of FP," Ms. Keller said. "We also looked at the levels of halogenated phenols, chemicals which can come from either man-made sources or naturally from the green turtle's main food source, marine algae." The researchers discovered that increasing persistent organic pollutant concentrations did not correspond with a rise in the numbers of tumors observed. "Our findings show that POPs are not the trigger for FP, so we can eliminate these pollutants from future studies trying to explain why the disease is more common in certain areas or why its prevalence is changing with time," Keller says. As for halogenated phenols, the team found that the sampled turtles did have detectable concentrations of the compounds. "While it's a novel discovery for sea turtles, we believe that these phenols are likely from the turtle's diet of algae rather than man-made POPs," Ms, Keller explains. |
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| From, Page 7 : Unemployment less, but housing starts down By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. job market is getting a little better, while the housing sector is faltering. A Labor Department report published Thursday says the number of Americans signing up for unemployment assistance dropped by 3,000 to a nationwide total of 302,000 last week. Experts say the data show layoffs are down, which is one reason the unemployment rate has fallen to 6.1 percent. The economy has had a net gain of more than 200,000 jobs per month for the past five months, which is the strongest performance in years. But a separate Commerce Department report says U.S. home construction slowed in June. Builders broke ground on 9.3 percent fewer homes and took out 4.2 percent fewer permits to build homes in the near future. |
