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Aliens and UFOs on tap
for conference Aug. 19-20 By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A controversial U.S. citizen who claims to have confronted a space alien in a forest in the Cascade Mountains will be among the speakers for the first international congress of UFOs and extraterrestrial life in Alajuela Aug. 19 and 20. The controversial man is Dr. Jonathan Reed. He joins at least five other investigators of flying saucers and aliens from México, Perú, Argentina and Costa Rica. The weekend is being organized by the Enigma-tico.com and the Asociación Cultural Alfa y Omega. One highlight is a presentation on UFOs in Costa Rica by local investigator Richard Sandí. Some of the speakers say they have had contact with aliens and one says he has been transported to another planet. Reed said that he and his dog stumbled upon an alien in the Pacific Northwest in October 1996. When the alien attacked his dog, Reed says he struck the alien with a tree limb and appeared to kill it. He said he took it home as evidence, but at some point the alien came back to life and fled. Reed maintains a Web site where he sells a book. But another Web site said that he is not really the Seattle psychologist he claims to be but a man named Jonathan Bradley Rutter. The man claims to have been followed by strange individuals and even shot one time. Daniel Muñoz, another speaker, is a Mexican newsperson who has also written about crop circles in England. Gasoline, fuel prices will have another hike By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The regulatory authority has approved the eighth increase in gasoline prices this year. The increase is about 4 percent for super gasoline. The price goes from 575 colons to 597 colons per liter. regular goes up 23 colons or 3.2 percent from 550 colons to 573. There are 515 colons to the U.S. dollar at the current rate. Diesel is going up just 3 colons a liter, from 380 to 383, said the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos. Jet fuel, aviation gasoline, kerosene and liquid petroleum gas are going up, too. The increases are based on a formula that takes into account the costs for production and distribution for the Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo, the national monopoly. Sewer and water chief pushes for OK of loan By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The head of the sewer and water company was back at it Thursday trying to convince a legislative committee that they should let his organization accept a $127 million low-interest loan from Japan. The man, Ricardo Sancho, executive president of the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillado, has been trying to get legislative approval for months. Japan already extended once the deadline for Costa Rica to agree to accept the money. Sancho was a bit more graphic in his presentation before the Comisión Especial de Ambiente as he referred to the populated area of the central Valley as a big septic tank. He said that half the sewage of San José and the neighboring cantons is discharged into the streets, gutters and right into the cities. There is no treatment for sewage here, and the pipes eventually end in a stream that carries the aguas negras, as it is called in Spanish into the Río Tarcoles and then the Gulf of Nicoya. He said new sewers and a treatment facility would be a boon to the environment and human health. The government has to put up $100 million of the amount needed, and legislative deputies have been foot-dragging. The loan approval has been placed on the special agenda that the executive branch provides lawmakers during this period when the president controls what may be discussed. The Japanese are expected to lose their patience by Aug. 31. Sancho said the project has been 20 years in the planning and that by 2013 some 65 percent of the population would be on the new sewers. By 2025 some 85 percent would be covered. The loan terms are for an interest rate of 1.2 percent with seven years grace on starting repayment. The loan term is 25 years. Terrorism laws two-edged Corte Suprema chief says By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The president of the Corte Suprema de Justicia told lawmakers Thursday that terrorism requires a reform of the country's laws but that the changes should be made with the guaranteed rights of defendants in mind. The court president, Luis Paulino Mora, said that he has a certain reticence to special legislation addressing terrorism, narcotrafficking, money laundering, human trafficking and domestic violence. He said Costa Rica should learn from the experiences of other countries. In a clear reference to the United States and its terrorism prisoners in Guantanamo, Cuba, Mora said that he did not want the high court to have to point out to a sitting president of the country that a certain group of prisoners did not have the advantage of all their rights in a judicial process. Mora said that in the 1980s the penal code was changed to give law enforcement better ways to attack the problem. But such laws are a double-edged sword, he said. The new methods can overshadow the rights of the accused. He was appearing before the Comisión de Narcotráfico. |
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on our real estate page HERE! |
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Third news page |
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| San José,
Costa Rica, Friday, Aug. 4, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 154 |
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Go to Page 4 HERE! |
| Perhaps happiness is linked to number of holidays |
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| As weeks go, this has
been a
pretty good one. An impromptu gathering at my apartment ended
with a book signing of “Butterfly in the City,” (my book) and one of
the guests, Dr. Lenny, brought me 10 beautiful, newly laid, very fresh
eggs. Sometimes it pays to complain. I had one the next
morning, and cracking it into the frying pan, all I could say was
“Wow!” The big round yolk sat on a nice mound of white. And it was delicious. Wow. For those who were not at my gathering, if you are interested in buying my book, just click the ad in A.M. Costa Rica or write to me at the e-mail address in this column. It is still too new to be in bookstores throughout the world — and may never be. I realize, watching the terrible news about the killing and destruction in the Middle East that I neglected to include war as a universal last week, and that, sadly, almost no country in the world either outlaws it or considers it a sin or a vice. I say almost because Switzerland and Costa Rica are two countries that I immediately think of that have decided that war is not acceptable for settling differences. Neither of those countries has been involved in a war in over 50 years. Costa Rica is the first country in the world to constitutionally abolish its military. Perhaps that is one of the reasons Costa Rica recently ranked as the happiest country in Latin America and 13th in a field of 178 countries of the world according to a study done by British researchers. Denmark ranked No. 1. The researchers concluded that those countries with access to education, good and life-long health care, and financial well being had the happiest people. There must have been more in the criteria because the United States ranked only 23rd and Great Britain 41st. In the Western Hemisphere, Canada and Iceland ranked among the first 10. Another study tabulating “subjective” sense of happiness ranked Puerto Rico as the happiest country in the world with Mexico and El Salvador among the top five. Since Puerto Rico is not a country, and Costa Rica is not mentioned at all among the 192 countries included, I question this study and their criteria. El Salvador? - |
I wonder if the number of holidays a country observes figures into the
happiness quotient. If it does, Costa Rica has to rank among the
most
joyful . We have just come off a three-day weekend because of a
new
holiday on Monday, and Wednesday was another one, meaning that all
government offices are closed. I noticed Tuesday that there were fewer
cars than usual parked on my street. They are the overflow of
cars of
people who work at the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad.
Obviously, many figured that it was hardly worth going to work for one
day. I went downtown Tuesday to mail some books and buy an umbrella
to
replace the one I left in a taxi, and I saw her again. I don’t
know
her name, but I have seen her from time to time walking in San
Jose.
She is about two feet tall because her legs are twisted little
appendages angled up her back. She walks on her hands, which are shoed
in thongs that my daughter, at age 2, called “flickies.” She is
always
nicely dressed and made up. My heart fills with both admiration and
pity when I see her. But this day I had to smile. She made her way to
the bus stop, took off her shoes and put them in her purse, then
rummaged around in that purse with her remarkable multipurpose hands
for what looked like a roll of mints. And she was whistling
throughout
all of this! |
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| Murders and instability increase along Panama's border with
Colombia |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The United Nations refugee agency has said that increasing numbers of families are fleeing unrest near Colombia’s border with Panamá. Citing the example of one victim of stepped up violence in northern Colombia, the agency profiled “Maria,” a 22-year-old who fled her home village with her three children after her husband was killed by members of an irregular armed group. They had been living in Arquía Limón, a tiny community right on the jungle-covered border with Panamá. Like other border regions in Colombia, Chocó is unstable. Irregular armed groups vie for control of territory and the jungle's rich natural resources, the U.N. agency said. Communities living on rivers cutting through the jungle are subject to frequent blockades, threats, forced recruitment and killings, sometimes targeted and sometimes indiscriminate. No one knows why Maria’s husband and the three other men died in Arquía Limón last month, but the U.N. refugee agency said the impact of the killings was immediate: within hours, the community's 23 families had fled. In all, the agency estimates that more than 500 people have arrived in Unguía since late July from Arquía Limón and surrounding communities. Further south on the Atrato River, the small town of |
Ríosucio
has also seen a growing number of families arrive in recent weeks after
fleeing stepped up violence further up the
river. Local authorities tell U.N. staff members that many families are
so terrified they will not even come to register as displaced because
they do not want their names to appear on a list. Those who do speak say that up to 14 plantation workers were killed by members of an irregular armed group in Taparali in late July, according to the agency, which reported that their surviving colleagues are too scared to go back to work. As well as displacement, the violence is causing serious economic problems for people who are among the poorest in the country. Many of those displaced in Ríosucio are of Afro-Colombian origin and the U.N. agency said there is growing concern about the fate of indigenous communities along the river. Throughout Colombia, ethnic minorities are suffering disproportionately from the conflict and are forced to leave their homes. There are an estimated 2.5 million internally displaced people in Colombia — the largest population of concern to the relief agency in any country in the world. The refugee agency has been working on behalf of displaced people in Colombia since the late 1990s to find durable solutions for those already displaced, guarantee the protection of the rights of displaced people and avoid new forced displacement. |
| Arias meeting with representatives of Colombia's right-wing militia |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Óscar Arias Sánchez has an appointment today with members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, the right-wing militia that has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States and other countries. Casa Presidencial said Arias was supposed to meet with the group Thursday but that the appointment was rescheduled. The organization, called in Spanish las Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, are believed to generate much of their income from smuggling drugs. |
The militia was designed to protect landowners and others from the two
groups of leftist revolutionary guerrillas operating in the country. No agenda was announced for the meeting, but Arias is going to Colombia for the inauguration of Alvaro Uribe as president of the country for the second time. The militia has been engaged in an effort to lay down arms and rejoin Colombia society. It is likely that the visitors will ask Arias to negotiate some aspect of the organizations relationship with the Colombian government. |
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Fourth news page |
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| San José,
Costa Rica, Friday, Aug. 4, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 154 |
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| MTV, turning 25, reflects on decades of trendsetting |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Twenty-five years ago this week, MTV — short for music television — premiered on cable television in the United States. It began by broadcasting music videos from popular artists such as Madonna and Michael Jackson, but has since branched into talk shows, documentaries, and reality-based programming. In those 25 years, MTV has influenced the music business, television, and the culture at large. MTV aired its first program 25 years ago this week. Since then it has added more than 50 channels in 28 languages and 168 countries, becoming a global communications phenomenon. "I can attest to that,” says Ray McDonald, a reporter who covers the music industry. “My wife is from India and I have been back there seven times. And MTV not only broadcasts on an Indian channel, it has also spawned imitators." McDonald says MTV’s cultural influence over the past 25 years has been extraordinary. "MTV has become the look of modern American pop culture. It has affected our buying patterns. It has affected the clothes we buy. It has affected youth culture, top to bottom. And that is MTV's greatest strength, its brand integrity." MTV started off just playing music videos, but today it devotes more airtime to other types of programming, including news and drama. Many credit MTV with starting the reality television craze, a form |
of programming much in
demand among younger viewers. That move reflects
MTV's understanding that many in its audience today were not even born
when it first went on the air in 1981. "MTV is number one among 12 to 24-year-old viewers. These are people for whom Madonna and Michael Jackson are ancient history," said McDonald. Those nostalgic for MTV as it once was will undoubtedly remember famous live performances such as one from 1984, by a then new-to-the-scene Madonna. Its Video Music Awards have provided the backdrop for some of modern music's most iconic moments. But MTV's stronghold on the music video audience is now facing serious challenges. "MTV faces 21st century competition such as youtube, which is an Internet site that carries videos of all kinds. And as a matter of fact, Viacom — MTV's parent company — their stock has dropped about 20 percent this year on perceived fears that these competitors are cutting into MTV's advertising," said McDonald. Comedian Kathy Griffith has been a regular on MTV over the years. She thinks its influence on music and television will remain strong. "MTV is still the cool place. It's what the kids are watching. Many, many artists want to be on MTV for almost no cost because you want to get that demographic." MTV has been low-key about its birthday this week — preferring to focus on a youth audience, the demographic that has always defined its most fanatic followers. |
| México's losing candidate rallies supporters to block
stock market access |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Hundreds of people have surrounded Mexico's stock market building as part of a series of protests over alleged fraud in recent presidential elections. Supporters of leftist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador marched to the building in México City Thursday, blocking some employees from entering. Officials said exchange operations were unaffected. The march started hours after López Obrador said no new protests were planned for two or three days. Thousands of his supporters have been camped out |
on México City's
La Reforma since Sunday, causing major traffic blockages. Lépez Obrador has said the street protest will continue until all ballots from the July 2 vote are recounted. Lépez Obrador narrowly lost to conservative candidate Felipe Calderon. The nation's top electoral court is hearing complaints about the vote. It has until Sept. 6 to rule on López Obrador's challenge and officially announce the winner of the election. |
| Castro's sister in Miami says her brother is seriously ill
in Cuba |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
As Cuban exiles in Miami continue to debate about the condition of Cuban President Fidel Castro, his sister, Juanita Castro, who fled her brother's regime more than four decades ago, said Castro is very sick. Juanita Castro told reporters Thursday Fidel is quite ill, but besides that, she knows very little else about the condition of her older brother. "He's very sick. That's it, I don't have other information, unfortunately no. It's not in my communication right now with the regime," she said. Ms. Castro spoke outside a small pharmacy she runs in Miami. She fled the island amid political differences with her brother. Despite that, she said, they are still family: |
"We are separated for
political reason, ideological reason, but that's
it. The blood is strong. The relation between brother and sister and
father and mother is very strong. "Nobody can condemn me because I take this determination to publicly speak out what I feel," she said. President Castro transfered power to his younger brother, Defense Minister Raúl Castro, Monday after he underwent surgery for intestinal bleeding. But both Fidel and Raúl have not been seen in public since the announcement. If Raul was to permanently take power, she says, she wishes for God to illuminate him, and for him to have a clear mind to be the way to achieve a real democracy in Cuba. |
| News from the BBC up to the minute |
BBC sports news up to the minute |
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