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José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, July 21, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 142
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Fraud trial hinges
on health of Milanes
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Luis Milanes arrived in court Monday late and in the company of an oxygen tank. Expats who expected the start of a fraud trial expressed dissatisfaction that the three-judge panel delayed the case until Wednesday so Milanes, the casino owner, can receive a medical examination. Expats who were victims of his failed Savings Unlimited high interest operation expressed suspicion, but the larger than life Milanes, who is in his 60s, might well be ailing. Expats probably will be disappointed Wednesday even if Milanes is found fit to stand trial. The case has been complicated by conciliation agreements entered into by Milanes and his former investors in 2011. His legal team, headed by Hugo Navas, is likely to argue that even though one of the agreements failed that Milanes is exposed unjustly by the agreements. He already admitted guilt by agreeing to the conciliations. Milanes has a long history of using the law cleverly for his personal advantage. He also is believed to have launched civil suits against a committee set up as a result of a conciliation agreement. The second conciliation failed when a few of the affected investors declined to accept steep discounts in what they said they were owed. Although Milanes has admitted fraud, he also has said that an associate fled to Europe with the money. Milanes, a Cuban American, closed his Paseo Colón office in November 2002 and fled. Milanes returned to Costa Rica in June 2008 and has been involved with the legal process and his former investors since. The complicated case has been delayed frequently, sometimes by factors like a pregnancy leave for a judge and repeated changes in the prosecutors. One conciliation agreement included the surrender of the Hotel Europa downtown. Former investors still have not been able to obtain full control of the business from Milanes. Savings Unlimited was one of those too-good-to-be-true investment deals that proliferated in Costa Rica in the 1990s. More than 500 took advantage of the high monthly interest rates and gave money to Savings Unlimited with the expectation that the cash would be used for casino development. In fact, the casinos were maintained in corporations separate from Savings Unlimited and are not involved in the current action. Milanes is believed to have sold most of them. If Milanes is found unfit for trial, the case will be in limbo again. Former vice minister to run for mayor By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Luis Álvarez has officially registered as a candidate for San José mayor. The elections are in February. He is a candidate of the Partido Liberación Nacional. Álvarez was a vice minister of Economía, Industria y Comercio from 2010 to 2014. He was involved in small business development. Our reader's opinion
Gold called impractical for hedgingDear A.M. Costa Rica: You recently printed a letter from a reader who advocates hedging one’s financial bets by hoarding gold. Others advocate a mixture of precious metals including silver, platinum and maybe more. It’s an interesting position to take at a time when gold is trading at a multi-year low and on a downward price trend. Beyond that, I’m always struck by the matter of practical application. Gold, like other forms of wealth, only has value (beyond its limited application in some high-tech devices and jewelry) because someone else agrees that it does.(It has that in common with money.) You can’t eat gold. You can’t burn it for heat. You can’t wear it. So just what good is it? Well, the hoarder’s assumption is that it can be traded for something of more practical value, but just how might that work in real life? And just how many of us will, when faced with the collapse of the world economy, run out to buy a new laptop and another gold chain? Imagine taking your ingot down to the local gram scale-equipped pulperia to exchange it for a bag of rice and some dried beans. First, you must (somehow) convince the owner that your ingot is really gold. Then, you and the owner must (somehow) agree on how much gold his rice and beans are worth, and you scrape off enough to satisfy his demands. This all presumes that you and he have (somehow) determined that his gram scale is accurate. Now imagine the same process at your local Wal-mart or PriceSmart. How, just how, will this work? I’m a firm believer in diversifying one’s assets, but basing one’s financial future on precious metals seems unlikely to afford much real protection. David C. Murray
Grecia American Zach
Johnson takes British Open
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Thirteen golfers have won the Masters and the British Open Championship. American Zach Johnson has now joined that elite group. The 39-year-old Iowa native outlasted a crowded leaderboard, turbulent conditions and a three-man playoff to win the 144th edition of the Open Championship on Monday at St. Andrews, Scotland. Johnson defeated the previous winner of the Open Championship when it was played at the Old Course in 2010, South African Louis Oosthuizen, by one stroke in a four-hole playoff, and by three over Australian Marc Leishman. Johnson birdied the first two holes of the cumulative score playoff, which gave him a one-shot lead over Oosthuizen and the ultimate edge. Oosthuizen had a chance to tie Johnson for the lead with a eight-foot (2.5-meter) birdie putt on the final playoff hole, but his ball rolled just below the cup. The missed putt secured Johnson his 12th career PGA Tour victory and his second major, the first coming at The Masters in Augusta, Georgia, in 2007. “I’m fairly speechless right now,” Johnson told officials, media and fans during the trophy presentation. “Dreams have been realized and goals accomplished. I’m humbled and honored to be your Open Champion golfer of the year.” Highlighting Johnson’s remarkable round was a 25-foot (7.6-meter) birdie putt on the final hole of regulation to secure him a playoff position at 15-under-par 273 for the four rounds of the tournament. “I had a great read,” he stated after his victory. “I thought, ‘You know what, let’s just hit a good putt.’ I was able to make it in. The rest is history.” Zach Johnson's six-under 66 is the lowest final round of his major career and arguably his biggest. His superb wedge play and putting were key to his victory. “This really puts things into perspective for me,” he said. “It’s a beautiful game and provides great opportunity. I’m just so thankful.” Louis Oosthuizen became the third player in the modern era to finish runner-up in both the U.S. Open and British Open Championship in the same year, joining South African Ernie Els and retired American legend Jack Nicklaus. He sunk a six-footer (2-meters) at the last hole of regulation for a birdie, putting him in the playoff. However, his two missed putts on the final two playoff holes assured that Oosthuizen would have to wait for next month's PGA Championship at Whistling Straights in Wisconsin to try to win his second major championship. “I really did well getting into the playoff,” Oosthuizen stated. “It’s never nice to lose a playoff. But I’ll take a lot out of this week. I love this place and I can’t wait to come back to it again.” Leishman, whose bogey on the first playoff hole was costly, had made the halfway cut by only one stroke, nine shots off the lead after two rounds. Leishman made it to the top with six holes to play in his final round Monday, only to lose his outright lead by missing a four-foot (1.2-meter) putt at the 16th hole. But he did accomplish a combined 36-hole Open record low eight-under-par 64 and six-under-par 66 in the third and fourth rounds that put him in contention for the championship. Because of severe wind disruption to an already weather-affected event on Friday and Saturday, the tournament’s final round was extended until Monday. It was only the second Monday finish in history for an Open Championship. The only previous need for that scenario was in 1988 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, when Seve Ballesteros of Spain claimed the Claret Jug.
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, July 21, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 142 | |
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| Sunday drawing honors fire fighters and is good practice for
Gordo |
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By the A.M. Costs Rica staff
Expats who never have played the national lottery might find the one decided Sunday to be good practice for the Christmas Gordo. The lottery this week marks the 150th anniversary of the Cuerpo de Bomberos. Two winners will each get 140 millions colons, about $265,000 tax free. Winning is a real longshot with 200,000 tickets in play. Yet there is plenty of entertainment in sitting at home watching the lottery drawing Sunday night. The drawing is a long affair with three canastas or baskets in play at once. The operator of one selects the series. One selects the number, and the operator of a smaller basket selects the price. A real downer would be to have the correct series and number only to be awarded 400,000 colons instead of $265,000. Each ticket has 10 parts that sell for 800 colons each, about $1.50 A full ticket is 8,000 colons. The Christmas Gordo is an institution with significantly higher prizes. Like the Sunday drawing there are many lesser prizes. |
 Lottery tickets promise 140 million colons
Fire fighters also are celebrating their anniversary Sunday morning in the Teatro Nacional. Editor's note: An earlier version of the story gave an incorrect amount for the top prize because reporters were hitting the sauce a bit early. |
| Sea Shepherd volunteers rescued after boat has mechanical
problems |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Sea Shepherd volunteers on anti-poaching patrol became stranded late Friday on a small island near the mouth of the Rio Matina, said the Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas. The coast guard said that a launch rescued the eight volunteers and the four-man crew of their launch that had suffered mechanical trouble. |
Sea Shepherd
has maintained patrols to prevent the poaching of turtle eggs on the
Caribbean coast. The coast guard said that the rescue was accomplished despite driving rain and heavy currents at the river mouth. The four crew members of the stricken launch were Costa Rican but the volunteers were Dutch and British, said the coast guard. |
| Alajuela chamber agrees to help offer tourism training to
workers there |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Tourism operators and workers in the province of Alajuela will be able to obtain training under an agreement that has been signed with the Cámera de Comercio. The agreement is with the Asociación Costarricense de Profesionales en Turismo. |
The goal is
to develop the tourism in the province. The two organizations will be
setting up a schedule of workshops at which the training will be
delivered, said an announcement. Those who attend the workshops will be able to obtain certification from the Asociación Costarricense de Profesionales en Turismo. |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| Jury still out on long-term effects of soccer head injuries
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Soccer is one of the most popular sports played by children in the United States. At the same time, research is under way to study head injuries such as concussions suffered by youths playing the game and the long-term effects of those injuries. Soccer players take blows to the head through headers, as well as collisions with other players, the ground and goal posts. Catherine McGill, a neuropsychologist for the Children’s National Health System in Washington, examines many children who have suffered concussions playing soccer. She said concussions sustained while playing soccer and other youth sports are on the rise for a number of reasons. “One, we are getting better — and I say 'we' meaning parents, coaches and medical providers alike — are getting better at recognizing and responding to that injury," Ms. McGill said. "That’s a huge testament to media paying more attention to this and leagues paying more attention to the safety of their players. "Also, kids are getting bigger, faster, stronger across the sports, and so more injuries may be occurring simply because of that, and more kids are playing sports, and they’re playing more frequently. "I used to have kids who played soccer for one season, and they played a different sport the next season," she added. "But now you've got multiple sports in multiple seasons, so it's just increased playing time, which is going to result in increased injuries, concussions included." Ms. McGill participated this week in a panel discussion in Washington on efforts to make American-style football safer at the youth level. Speaking later about soccer, she said researchers are looking into questions about soccer-related head injuries, including |
the impact
from repeated headers and the degree of cognitive dysfunction a soccer
player can suffer. "We're often asked by parents, what’s the age, what age do they start heading, or should there be heading at all?" Ms. McGill said. "The answer is this is a very individual decision. The age for one child may be very different for the age of another child. "You need to look at how strong is that child, how tall is their neck, how agile are they, and what is their level of skill development. You don't want to put someone on the field who hasn't developed in an automatic way the technique necessary to head the ball." According to Ms. McGill, researchers also are studying the possible long-term effects from soccer-related head injuries, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease. Two soccer players who suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy were Hilderado Luiz Bellini, who played on Brazil's World Cup-winning teams in 1958 and 1962, and Patrick Grange, an American semiprofessional player. Bellini died last year at age 83, and Grange died in 2012 at age 29. Researchers also are trying to learn whether blows to the head from American-style football, boxing and other violent sports can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy. “We don’t know if there are long-term effects from repeated head injuries," Ms. McGill said. "What we do know is that the vast majority of people do get better, and that there’s probably a minority who seem to take longer to get better and may have long-lasting consequences, and we need more research to fully understand that. "There’s a lot of talk in the media about CTE and the relationship between that and repeated head injuries," she added. "Especially with kids in soccer, we just haven’t fully established that relationship, and we need more research so that we can make educated decisions.” |
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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| U.N. Security Council OKs lifting sanctions against Iran By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved the Iran nuclear deal Monday, clearing a path to lift crippling economic sanctions against Tehran while restraining it its nuclear development program. Monday's vote was largely a formality, because all of the Council's five permanent members — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — along with Germany, negotiated the deal with Iran. The council ordered its nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to undertake the necessary verification and monitoring of Iran's nuclear commitments, and it called on Iran to cooperate fully with the agency officials. Assuming Iran adheres to the nuclear agreement, the approved U.N. resolution calls for an eventual end to seven sets of sanctions passed since 2006 to force Iran to halt what the United Nations and the West contended was an effort to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran has always said its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes. The sanctions will be dropped when the U.N. inspectors confirm that Iran's nuclear program is being conducted peacefully. U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Powers, praised the council for testing diplomacy, while adding that the deal does not diminish continuing American concerns about Iran. She said those concerns include human rights violations, Iran's support for terrorism and its ballistic missiles program. Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Ron Prosor, called the resolution a tragedy. “Iran will now have $150 billion to fund terrorist groups," he said. How much money will go to Hezbollah and Hamas? How much money will go to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, he asked. "How much money will go to fund worldwide terror activities?” Germany Monday became the first of the countries that negotiated the pact with Iran to take steps to renew trade with Tehran. Berlin's economic minister, Sigmar Gabriel, visited the Iranian capital, but warned Tehran that Israel's security is of significant importance to Germany. Iran does not recognize the Jewish state and has vowed its destruction. "With the recent nuclear agreement and the future events, new issues will be raised for Iran and we have developed the bases, both inside and outside the country, to produce security in the Middle East, and I believe it is for the benefit of Iran as well," Gabriel said. "Developing security in the region and securing Israel is of significant importance to us." With the U.N. resolution approved, the Iranian accord could take effect within 90 days. The next key milestone would come after the atomic energy agency issues a report, expected in December, on the resolution of past and present issues with Iran's nuclear program. That is when Iran would see relief from the sanctions that have hurt its economy. The U.N. vote comes as U.S. lawmakers begin their own review of the agreement, which President Barack Obama's administration sent to Congress Sunday, setting off a 60-day review period. Lawmakers can choose to approve the deal or reject it and refuse to lift congressionally imposed sanctions against Iran. Obama has said he would veto any rejection, which would then force both the Senate and House to produce a two-thirds majority to override the veto. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Monday that there will be separate classified briefings on Wednesday for House and Senate members, and an open hearing Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has predicted President Obama will have a real challenge getting the pact through a skeptical, Republican-led Congress. McConnell has criticized it as “the best deal acceptable to Iran, rather than one that might actually end Iran’s nuclear program." U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is on a tour of the Middle East as part of efforts to ease fears about the nuclear deal. Carter began the trip in Israel Sunday and will travel to Saudi Arabia, Iran's main regional rival, as well as Jordan. Tuesday Carter will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has called the deal a historic mistake that would only make it easier for Iran to back its proxies in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has officially said it supports the deal, although it is also thought to have similar concerns to Israel's that the agreement will enhance the Shi'ite power’s influence across the Middle East. “One of the reasons this deal is a good one is that it does nothing to prevent the military option . . . which we are preserving and continually improving,” Carter told reporters en route to Tel Aviv. “But the point of the nuclear deal is to get the result of no Iranian nuclear weapon without carrying out a military strike.” He said he does not expect to change Israeli officials’ minds about the deal, but said the two countries could “agree to disagree.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry addressed reporters Monday, following a series of high-profile television appearances over the weekend, in which he said the deal likely won't restart U.S. diplomatic relations with Tehran and that he is not planning to visit Tehran. "I look forward to continuing over the next 60 days to having discussions and testimony and private meetings and whatever form is necessary to help convince the Congress that this deal does exactly what it says it does," he said Monday. The deal prevents the possibility of a nuclear weapon from falling into the hands of another country while simultaneously opening up the opportunity for the United States to, at this moment in time, put to test the verification measures and all of those things that Iran has agreed to, rather than choosing today to force the potential of a conflict almost immediately, which is exactly what would happen if the Congress does not accept this agreement, he said. Kerry made the statement during a news conference with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla at the State Department. Saturday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei commented the deal does not signal cooperation with the United States and its allies on other issues, triggering a stern response from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. "If anyone thought that the sweeping concessions for Iran would bring about a change in its policy, they have received a decisive answer over the weekend . . . ," Netanyahu said Sunday during a weekly Cabinet meeting. "The Iranians don't even make an effort to hide the fact that they will use the hundreds of billions of dollars they will receive in this deal to arm their terror machine." In an interview that aired Sunday, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he isn't idealistic about what the deal means for diplomatic relations with Iran. "We shouldn't be naive or starry-eyed in any way about the regime that we are dealing with. I am certainly not," he told NBC's Meet the Press. "I spoke to President Rouhani yesterday and said we want to see a change in approach that Iran takes to issues like Syria and Yemen and to terrorism in the region, and we want the change in behavior that should follow from that change. So we are not starry-eyed at all, and I would reassure our Gulf allies about that, but actually taking the nuclear weapon issue off the table, that is a success." Paul Wachtel, an economics professor at New York University, said that long-standing U.S. sanctions and the more recent U.N. restrictions severely hampered Tehran's economy, pushing it into a deep recession. He said Iran's economy could recover within two or three years of the lifting of the sanctions. But Wachtel said questions remain about what Tehran might do with its windfall of cash, as frozen bank accounts are unlocked at the same time the country boosts its oil exports. "It is enough money to make a lot of trouble" in the Mideast through support of insurgencies Iran favors, Wachtel said. "As the sanctions are moved, to what extent is it interested in trading with the rest of the world? Which they do, I have no idea." Iran deal and Cuban embassy get mixed reviews in D.C. By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A momentous day in U.S. diplomacy is being lauded and condemned by American lawmakers, as Washington and Havana reopened embassies and the United Nations gave its blessing to a landmark nuclear accord with Iran. Sen. Richard Durbin, a Democrat, tweeted: “Opening our embassy in Havana will begin to open #Cuba to the value of our democracy … The power of ideas and the force of an open economy and an open society will succeed #Cuba.” Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, said he saw nothing to celebrate. “History will remember July 20, 2015, as Obama’s Capitulation Monday, the day two sworn enemies of the United States were able to out-maneuver President Obama to secure historic concessions,” Rubio said in a statement. “Monday’s events at the U.N., Washington and Havana leave no doubt that we have entered the most dangerous phase of the Obama presidency in which the president is flat-out abandoning America’s vital national security interests to cozy up to the world’s most reprehensible regimes.” “July 20th will be a powerfully symbolic day for the Obama-Clinton foreign policy legacy, which will be remembered as a dark time in American history when the mullahs in Iran and the thugs in Havana celebrated at America’s expense,” Rubio added. Fellow-Republican senator and 2016 presidential contender Lindsey Graham focused his comments on the accord with Iran. “The Iranian deal may be good enough for the United Nations but it's a terrible deal for the United States,” said Graham in a statement. “Taking it to the U.N. before Congress reviews it is an affront to the American people and further evidence of a weak president trying to sell a bad deal. Congress is not bound by today’s U.N. decision. I look forward to a full and complete debate in the coming weeks.” Separately, a bipartisan group of 60 former cabinet secretaries, national security advisors, military leaders, ambassadors and other senior national security leaders welcomed the Iran deal as “a landmark agreement unprecedented in its importance for preventing the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran. The group, which includes former secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former secretary of Defense William Perry urged “members of Congress to be closely involved in the oversight, monitoring and enforcement of this agreement.” Congressional backers of President Barack Obama’s diplomatic efforts were mostly silent initially on the U.N. vote, but not so on the official restoration of diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba. “This evolution in our relationship with 11 million people 90 miles off of our shore was long overdue,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat. “It is now time to not only open our own fully equipped and staffed embassy in Havana, but to lift the trade embargo once and for all.” Another Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy, echoed the sentiment. “We will now have our best diplomats in Havana representing the American people,” Leahy said. “If we only had embassies in countries whose governments we agree with we would have to close half of our current embassies. That is not why you have embassies. It is to protect the interests of the United States and of American citizens and to defend our ideals around the world,” said Leahy. Reaction did not fall strictly along partisan lines. Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican, welcomed closer U.S. ties with Havana. “Cuban flag is raised over Cuban Embassy. Good day for Cubans and Americans,” Flake tweeted. Scientists try to replicate Earth's magnetic field By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Most persons hardly ever think about the Earth's magnetic field. Some might be aware that it helps guide birds as they migrate and ensures that compasses point north, but not realize that it is one of the crucial components that make life on Earth possible. Yet, the processes in the Earth’s core that create the magnetic field are poorly understood. At a lab of University of Maryland, scientists are trying to replicate the conditions that reign 3,000 kilometers below ground. Deep inside our planet, a 3,400 kilometer-wide sphere of molten iron and nickel, with a smaller solid iron ball at its center, creates the electric currents responsible for Earth’s magnetic field. The most immediate benefit is its role in navigation. But there’s more, says a University of Maryland physics professor, Daniel Lathrop. “It’s an important part of what makes the Earth a habitable planet because it shields us from a lot of the worst radiation from the sun,” he said. Evidence shows that the Earth’s magnetic field is not stationary. It wanders around and sometimes even ventures far away. “We do know the Earth’s magnetic field has reversed north-south hundreds of times in Earth’s history," said Lathrop. "Of course, the spin of the Earth stays the same, but where the magnetic pole is . . . moves and has actually reversed.” In their laboratory, funded by the National Science Foundation, Lathrop and his team are trying to find out how and why that happens. Spinning a ball of molten iron being somewhat impractical, researchers built a suitable substitute: a 3-meter wide spinning steel ball filled with 12.5 tons of sodium, a soft metal that melts at just under 100 degrees Celsius. A 1-meter-wide inner non-magnetic steel sphere substitutes for the solid core. Both can be rotated independently. Spinning them slowly has not created the so-called dynamo effect, thought to be responsible for creating magnetic fields. “We only see them when we impose small magnetic fields from the outside. But imposing small magnetic fields from outside we get a factor of 10 larger magnetic fields induced by the flow. We get large gain without the so-called dynamo. Now we’re aiming to go full speed,” said Lathrop. Will these experiments prepare humans for the possible reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field? Lathrop says it is difficult to predict changes that happen over thousands of years. “One second of operation of the experiment models 5,000 years of evolution of the magnetic field. So the goal is to take data from the experiment to do mock predictions and then you can improve the predictions,” he said. Lathrop notes that the intensity of the planet’s magnetic field has dropped about 10 percent in the last 170 years, so the reversal process may have already started. Fortunately, the change is too slow to affect normal lives. McCain admonishes Trump and urged him to apologize By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services U.S. Sen. John McCain, a decorated military veteran and former prisoner of war, has called on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to apologize for belittling the wartime suffering of captive U.S. troops. McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner during the Vietnam War, spoke on U.S. television Monday during a campaign appearance, two days after Trump publicly mocked his military record. Trump said of the former captive: "he's not a war hero. He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." McCain told MSNBC television Monday that he is not seeking a personal apology. But he suggested that billionaire Trump publicly tell American veterans and their families that he is sorry. "I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving their country," McCain said. ". . . To denigrate that service, I think, is offensive to most veterans." For his part, Trump has shown little public remorse. He said Monday his comments were taken out of context by his political rivals, as he sought to reframe his controversial remarks. Speaking by phone Monday to NBC, he acknowledged McCain's bravery. "But we don't talk about people who weren't captured, and that's what I was trying to refer to." Trump's comments in the state of Iowa Saturday triggered a firestorm of criticism among some high-profile veterans and the nine other Republican candidates seeking their party's presidential nomination. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, a Democrat who also served in Vietnam, described McCain Sunday as "a hero, a man of grit and guts and character . . . who endured unspeakable acts of torture" during his confinement. Leading Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush also condemned Trump's remarks, saying "enough is enough with the slanderous attacks." Other Republicans called for Trump's withdrawal from the campaign, saying he is unfit to be president. Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton also criticized Trump. But she also accused Republican hopefuls of being slow to repudiate Trump for other controversial remarks about Mexican migrants. Trump recently called some such migrants rapists and said some of them are bringing drugs and other criminal activity to U.S. soil. |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Anti-austerity protests turned violent this week as Greece battles a debt crisis that has crippled the economy. Athens may be in the headlines, but campaigners say the potential is building for full-blown debt crises in many parts of the developing world. “There’s a huge boom in lending happening, especially in some of the most impoverished countries in the world," said Tim Jones of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, a movement advocating debt cancellation and alleviation of poverty. "So we’re worried that unless action is taken, they could end up in new debt crises again.” Among the 20 countries described as most vulnerable to a debt crisis is Mozambique. “Its economy has been booming massively," Jones said. "It’s had huge amounts of lending to the country, but actually poverty is increasing at the same time, and inequality is increasing. So the loans are not necessarily helping in tackling the problems of the country.” The Jubilee Debt Campaign said the total amount owed by debtor countries is due to hit $14.7 trillion this year, a 30 percent rise in four years. The group said 20 nations are already mired in debt crises, with many more vulnerable to economic turbulence. It’s all tied to the recent financial crisis, said Judith Tyson of the Overseas Development Institute, speaking from Greece. “We’ve really seen a surge of debt being issued because of the search for yield, which is where investors in primarily Europe and the United States are looking for new investments because of the very low interest rates in our economies," she said. "And one of the places they’ve invested large amounts of money is in sovereign debt in developing countries.” Other countries, particularly in Latin America, have been burdened with high debts for decades, Jones said. “If we take Jamaica, their debt crisis first began in the 1970s," he said. "And actually since the 1990s they’ve had huge government surpluses, but the debt has remained because the interest is just so high, and the economy has been depressed in the attempt to pay these debts. And it just shows you can’t get out of a debt crisis by making cuts.” That is the argument put forward by the Greek government. But Europe, led by Germany, insists spending cuts and reforms are the only way to revive the economy. For indebted developing countries there are additional risks. “The debts are all owed in foreign currencies, like the dollar or the euro," Jones said. "And so when a country has a currency devaluation, then the debt payments shoot up.” As the debts grow, so do the risks. “It’s certainly very high-risk investments of the sort where we could see significant losses in the future,” Tyson said. Campaigners are calling for much tighter regulation of lending and debt write-offs for those countries already in crisis. |
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| From Page 7: Biomedical research seen as a potential boom By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Medical tourism is likely to become more than dental implants and nose jobs because the president has signed a decree endorsing regulations for biomedical research here. Currently, said Casa Presidencial, there are 120 experiments and 230 studies being done in the country. Officials expect that the decree will result in many more. A 2014 law covers biomedical research, but the regulations had not been produced. The law creates a Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones en Salud to oversee such research and an ethics committee. Officials note that Costa Rica has a health population that would be appropriate for medical research, and the various agencies that promote the country said they will take steps to capitalize on this facts. |
