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José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 153
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 U.S.
Coast Guard photo
A U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary member inspects a life jacket during
a vessel safety check. Life jackets found to be big life savers By the Society for Risk Analysis news
staff
Requiring recreational boat operators to wear life jackets would increase the odds of surviving a boating accident by 80 percent, according to a new study that uses recent data from a key U.S. Coast Guard database to conclude that life jacket use is one of the most important factors in determining whether boaters die as a result of accidents. The study contributes to the research that would be necessary to implement what would be a far-reaching and controversial policy of mandating life jacket use. Although watercraft are required by law to carry life jackets, boaters often fail to use the flotation devices because they find them uncomfortable or believe that wearing one suggests inexperience as a boater or limited swimming ability. Many boaters will use life jackets only when conditions on the water are poor. Survey participants have suggested that manufacturers design better-fitting, more appealing devices, but the new study raises the question of whether mandatory life jacket use may be needed to change boaters’ habits. The study, “An empirical analysis of life jacket effectiveness in recreational boating,” was conducted by Christellle Viauroux of the University of Maryland and Baltimore County’s Department of Economics and Ali Gungor of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Standards Evaluation and Analysis Division. The study appeared in the online version of Risk Analysis, a publication of the Society for Risk Analysis. Using data for the years 2008 to 2011 from the U.S. Coast Guard’s Boating Accident Report Database, the researchers explain the number of fatalities and their variation across types of vessels. They compare life jacket use relative to other significant environmental and individual factors affecting fatalities in recreational boating. Ms. Viauroux and Gungor predict, based on their analysis, that if boaters wore life jackets, the number of deaths from boating accidents could be cut by about 80 percent. In addition, they conclude that the odds of dying are 86 percent higher than average if the accident involves a canoe or kayak, but 80 percent lower than average when more than one vessel is involved in the accident and 34 percent lower than average when the operator involved in the accident has more than 100 hours of boating experience. A primary objective of their study was to assess the impact of a life jacket policy on the recreational boating fatality rate. “However, such a major and controversial policy cannot be implemented without a thorough investigation of life jacket effectiveness. A lot of the work focusing on reducing recreational boating fatalities lacked the availability of life jacket use data,” the authors write, indicating that their study rectifies that deficiency. Through their research, the authors found that between 2008 and 2011, a life jacket regulation requiring all operators to wear their devices, representing a 20 percent increase in wear rate,“would have saved 1,721 (out of 3,047) boaters or 1,234 out of 2,185 drowning victims. The same policy restricted to boats 16 to 30 feet in length would have saved approximately 778 victims.” Finally, such a policy “would reduce the percentage of drowning victims compared to other causes of death,” the authors conclude. Jacó murder suspect jailed for three months By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The man suspected of killing a individual from the Dominican Republic in Jacó has been remanded to three months preventative detention. The Poder Judicial identified him by the last name of Bonilla and said he was Colombian. The dead man was identified by the last name of Santiago. The men met on the sidewalk in front of a bar early Monday, and Santiago was shot there. He went to the Clínica de Jacó and later to Hospital Monseñor Sanabria, where he died. Bonilla was detained by municipal police a short time after the shooting. No motive has been advanced. Our reader's opinion
No Tico spy agency for himDear A.M. Costa Rica: Regarding your article yesterday, "Presidencia lists intelligence agency as a priority." It appears that our government will have the ability to spy on anyone in Costa Rica that may want to expose government activity. That a handful of powerful people at the top of the existing power structure will control this spying. That this agency will be trained by the CIA. And that everything this agency does will be a secret from the people for 20 years. No thanks. Albert Lusk
San Isidro Illegal fishing
pact needs more backers
By
the United Nations news staff
Thirteen additional countries need to ratify an agreement brokered by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization to combat illegal fishing by blocking ports to ships known or believed to be carrying illicit catches that account for more than 15 per cent of global output, the agency said. “A growing number of countries are ratifying an international agreement to combat illegal fishing, fueling interest in how best to implement the instrument,” the Food and Agriculture Organization said in a press release. Illicit fishing, according to the agency, includes operating without authorization, harvesting protected species, using outlawed fishing gear and violating quota limits, and “may account for up to 26 million tones of seafood a year, more than 15 percent of the total global output.” “Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is estimated to strip between $10 billion and $23 billion from the global economy, and its impacts undermines the way fish stocks are managed to make it a double concern around the world,” it said. To help tackle the problem, the Food and Agriculture Organization brokered the adoption in 2009 by its member states of the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. The agreement comes into force when 25 countries have deposited their instrument of ratification, known as acceptance of accession. So far, 12 countries have done so, the latest being Iceland in June. Two more states will soon join them, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. In addition to Iceland, signatories that have completed the ratification process are Chile, the European Union, Gabon, Iceland, Mozambique, Myanmar, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, the Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Uruguay. “The agreement promotes collaboration between fishermen, port authorities, coast guards and navies to strengthen inspections and control procedures at ports and on vessels,” it said. It also allows states to prevent the landings of catches derived from illegal fishing fishing by vessels regardless of the flag they fly.” Blaise Kuemlangan, chief of organization’s Development Law Service, said “the agreement aims to harmonize port controls in order to prevent illegally caught fish from ever entering international markets through ports.” The ability to turn away vessels taking part in illegal fishing will greatly reduce opportunities for selling their catch, decreasing illicit fishing worldwide, according to Kuemlangan. The agreement will also enable better compliance with the 1995 Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, which seeks to promote the long-term sustainability of the sector. To assist countries in building their capacity to implement the agreement, the Food and Agriculture Organization has convened workshops in all world regions, with the Atlantic coast of Africa being a key priority, the agency said. So far Gabon is the only African country to have ratified the agreement, but several others are close to completing the process. Jimmy Carter said to be recovering By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is recovering after undergoing surgery to remove a small mass in his liver earlier this week. A statement issued by The Carter Center, the former president's non-profit human rights organization, says Carter underwent the procedure at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. The statement says "the prognosis is excellent for a full recovery." Illness forced him to cut short a trip back in May to Guyana, where he had traveled to observe that country's election. Carter is a former governor of Georgia who was elected the nation's 39th president in 1976, and served one term before he lost his 1980 re-election bid to Republican Ronald Reagan. His travels around the world promoting peace, human rights and global health earned him the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. Suspects caught in Belén after Escazú heist By the A.M Costa Rica staff
Bandits stuck up a cell telephone outline in Escazú Tuesday afternoon, but police detained a car full of suspects in Belén a short time later.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 153 | |
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| Folks in Pavas certainly can be glad that this guy is off
the streets |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The question remains why a 23-year-old Pavas man would be running along the rooftops there firing weapons into the air. The Fuerza Pública did manage to detain him, but the reason for his actions still remain unclear. He was reported to be perturbed. Officers said that the man has run-ins with the law in the past, but they did not elaborate. The man was prepared for a war with an automatic rifle and a .22-caliber pistol. He also had 56 cartridges for the rifle and two magazines. |
 Ministerio de Seguridad Pública photo
The man was shooting these
weapons |
| Opinions seem to favor those evicted from Finca
Chánguena |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Land invaders who took over property in 2002 in Palmar Sur are getting support while the man who is the legitimate owner of the land is emerging as the bad guy in some quarters. This is the case of Finca Chánguena where the Fuerza Pública evicted some 100 families over the weekend based on a court order. Those evicted and supporters continue to maintain a partial blockade on the Interamericana Sur at the Río Térreba bridge. Meanwhile, the central government is trying to provide aid to those evicted through the Instituto Mixto de Ayuda Social and the Instituto de Desarrollo Rural. The case has a long and complex history that began when the United Fruit Co. abandoned the land in 1985. The workers claim they were not paid what they were owed. Eventually the government set up an agricultural cooperative for the displaced workers that eventually failed. The cooperative |
rented the
land to Bananera Térraba, which was owned by businessman
Oscar Echeverría Heigol. There was a bank loan involved. After a strike in 2001, Echeverría fired the workers, and that is when some of them invaded the land. There have been a string of court cases that ended with the resolution by the Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo. The Defensoría de los Habitantes said Tuesday that being evicted exposes individuals to violation of their rights. If people are poor, the state should step in an help them, the statement said. Sergio Alfaro, the minister of the Presidencia, has been in the area negotiating with those who have been evicted. A Frente Amplio lawmaker, Gerardo Vargas Varela, has questioned the legitimacy of the claim by Echeverría. The left wing online publication Noticias Informa-tico called the property booty for the businessman. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 153 | |||||
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| Tiny potato beetle seems to ignore climate change predictions |
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By the University of Exeter news staff
A paper from the University of Exeter has highlighted the dangers of relying on climate-based projections of future crop pest distributions and suggests that rapid evolution can confound model results. Crop pests and pathogens are destructive organisms which pose a huge threat to food security and land management across the world. Much research has been carried out into why the pests are spreading, where they are likely to establish next, what damage they will do and what can be done to reduce their impact. In a new synthesis, published in the Annual Review of Phytopathology, Dan Bebber at the University of Exeter, examines the gaps in knowledge which mean that models based only on climate, designed to predict where crop pests and pathogens are likely to end up, can be misleading. Bebber uses the example of the Colorado potato beetle, an important pest of potato crops whose spread across much of the Northern Hemisphere has been linked to global warming. Although the beetle had invaded most European and Central Asian countries by 1950, one leading climate change computer model predicted it would be unable to establish in Kazakhstan and western China. In fact, the pest spread rapidly through the region, entering Xinjiang Province in China from Kazakhstan around 1992. This difficulty in projecting future distributions was partly down to the Colorado potato beetle proving to be highly adaptable, evolving its behavior to burrow down and escape the cold. Bebber said: “Our review has highlighted how difficult it is to predict where damaging crop pests may turn up. Their |
 University of Exeter photo
Colorado potato beetle ability to evolve tolerance to different climates has been investigated in only a few species but has not been considered in distribution models. We now urgently need to improve monitoring and identification of these pests, particularly in the developing world, both for research and to secure food production.” Victor Izzo from the University of Vermont, who recently published on the adaptation of the Colorado potato beetle, said: "The evolutionary dynamics of insect populations following expansion is an important and often overlooked factor in determining the success of pest invasions." |
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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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 153 | |||||||
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| Trump leads the list of 10 for Thursday's GOP debate By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has scored the top spot for Thursday night's first debate of the 2016 U.S. presidential race. He will be joined by former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and seven other Republican contenders who made the campaign's first cut. Host Fox News announced the 10 GOP White House hopefuls who will take part in the prime-time debate in Cleveland, in the crucial swing state of Ohio. They were picked based on public opinion polls. Beyond Trump, Bush and Walker, those selected were Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Those who didn't make the field for the first debate were former technology executive Carly Fiorina, the GOP's only female presidential candidate; former Texas governor Rick Perry; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham; former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum; former New York governor George Pataki; and former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore. Thursday's event will be the first of six party-sanctioned debates before primary voting begins in February. Trump has taken the Republican race by storm, drawing big crowds with his blunt rhetoric and willingness to lash out at his rivals. The latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal public opinion poll had Trump leading at 19 percent, followed by Walker at 15 percent and Bush with 14 percent. Most of the Republican field, minus Trump, took part in a candidates forum in New Hampshire Monday, where the focus was illegal immigration and the Obama administration’s foreign policy record. From the beginning it was assumed former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 67, had a lock on the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Then along came Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 73, who drew big crowds with a promise to focus on income inequality. In recent weeks, some Democrats have expressed concern that Mrs. Clinton’s favorability ratings have begun to dip as voters express doubts about her trustworthiness. Now comes word that Vice President Joe Biden might be interested in running for president after all. Biden has been out of the limelight of late, following the death of his son Beau Biden in May. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd reported Beau Biden had urged his father to run in 2016 shortly before his death. There has been no official comment from the vice president, and Politico reports sources close to Biden say he is not ready to make a decision. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters the vice president has said a presidential campaign is possible and that he would make a decision by the end of summer. A decision by Biden to join the race could be reassuring to some Democrats who are worried about Mrs. Clinton’s weakening favorability ratings, even as she retains a sizable lead in the Democratic race against Sanders and three others. Mrs. Clinton’s favorability rating was at 37 percent favorable, 48 percent unfavorable in the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll. Some Democrats see Biden as a fallback candidate should Mrs. Clinton falter in the early primary contests next year. Biden, 72, made two previous bids for the presidency, in 1988 and in 2008, when Barack Obama became the eventual nominee and later chose Biden as his vice president. State Department defends trafficking report surprises By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. State Department is standing by the accuracy of its annual global report on human trafficking, following a news report that accused senior diplomats of manipulating the rankings of more than a dozen strategically important countries. State Department spokesman Mark Toner on Tuesday said the report was objective and credible. "The goal here is to help nations improve their efforts to stop human trafficking and to fight modern slavery," Toner said. "And that's the goal, pure and simple, and we stand by the process by which we arrive at those conclusions. "These are important rankings. We understand that, you know, the world looks to them quite closely, and as such, you know, we need to ensure that the process stands on its own merits." The report, released last week, ranked 188 countries on how they combat human trafficking, and listed 23 as Tier 3 for failing to meet minimum standards to fight human trafficking, including Iran, Syria, Russia and North Korea. But an analysis by the Reuters news agency said the State Department office set up to independently grade global efforts to fight human trafficking was often overruled by top diplomats and was pressured to inflate assessments of 14 countries in the report. Sources told Reuters that Malaysia, Cuba, China, India, Uzbekistan and Mexico were among the countries that received higher rankings. Last month, the United States renewed diplomatic relations with Cuba after five decades of hostilities. U.S. officials have included Malaysia in a prospective Pacific Rim trade deal. In this year's report, both countries were moved from the blacklist to the watch list to see whether they improve their human rights record. Some U.S. politicians sharply criticized the Obama administration in response to the Reuters report. In a Twitter post, Sen. Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, called the account "alarming and unacceptable if true," and said "we must get to the bottom of this" at a Senate hearing later this week to review the report. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican presidential candidate, said the report set a dangerous precedent. "It's shameful that President Obama allowed a bunch of political hacks to alter the administration's human trafficking report to the benefit of perennial violators like Cuba and Malaysia," Rubio said. Another Republican presidential hopeful, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, tweeted that Obama and the State Department "should be ashamed of their purely political manipulation of Cuba's human trafficking issues." Menendez and Rubio sit on the Foreign Relations Committee, which on Thursday will question Under Secretary of State Sarah Sewall, who oversees the State Department office that grades efforts by countries to fight human trafficking. “It’s a little curious that after 12 years on Tier 3, Cuba is upgraded shortly after the opening of diplomatic relations," Siddharth Kara of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government said via Skype last week. "And Malaysia, which was on Tier 3 last year, upgraded one notch higher, around the same time the president’s pursuing a fairly ambitious trans-Pacific trade program.” Science seen as solution to saving endangered rhinos By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The African rhino is a seriously endangered species and one subspecies, the northern white rhinoceros, is on the brink of extinction. After the recent death of a female, only four northern white rhinos are still alive. Only one of them is a male. Scientists are using two distinct strategies to save them. The biggest threat to rhinos are poachers who kill them for their horns. In spite of a lack of scientific proof, many in Vietnam and China believe that pills made of ground rhino horns can cure various diseases and disorders. Since 2008, poachers in South Africa have killed almost 3,000 rhinos. The International Union for Conservation of Nature warns that they may become extinct before 2026. The northern white rhinoceros, which actually is grey, is extinct in the wild. Only four animals of this subspecies remain and all of them are held in captivity, three females and the only male, called Sudan. “If we lose him it will be a very big loss for the endangered species,” said Zachariah Mutahi, Sudan's caretaker. Natural pregnancy and birth among the four are unlikely, so at Kenya’s Ol Pajeta Conservancy, scientists are trying to inseminate northern white rhino eggs in the lab and implant them in southern white rhino females. Ol Pajeta Conservancy CEO Richard Vigne said, “The initial approach will be to look at in-vitro fertilization — removal of eggs from three remaining females and mixing those eggs with sperm stored from northern white rhinos across the world — to create an embryo which will then be implanted into a surrogate white rhino female to create a northern white rhino calf.” Meanwhile, two U.S.-based scientists say they are using the latest biotechnology techniques to create artificial rhino horn, something that not only looks and feels like the real thing, but contains the same proteins. “We are not bio-identical yet though that is the goal,” said Matthew Markus, Pembient CEO. They hope that poachers will find it cheaper and safer to resell the lab-grown horns to their Asian customers as authentic, rather than to risk their lives or long prison sentences hunting for real rhinos. No matter how they test the substance, customers will not be able to tell the difference. Researchers say flooding the market with artificial horns may keep the animals with the real horns safe from poachers. N.Y. legionnaires outbreak kills at least seven persons By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
New York's largest recorded outbreak of legionnaires' disease has killed seven persons and infected 86 others as the city moved Tuesday to draw up new legislation to halt future outbreaks. It is the largest appearance of the disease in New York City that health officials are aware of, said Health Commissioner Mary Bassett, speaking alongside Mayor Bill de Blasio and other top officials. Sixty-four people have been hospitalized with the illness, a form of pneumonia that broke out July 10 in the Bronx, one of the poorest areas in the city. Of those, 28 were treated and discharged. The seven people who died were all older adults with underlying medical problems. Those with chronic lung diseases, as well as AIDS and HIV patients, are among those most at risk. The disease is caused when water contaminated with the legionella bacteria is inhaled into the lungs. There have been 2,400 cases nationwide this year. The bacteria were discovered last week at a Bronx hotel and in equipment at a hospital. Officials have traced the likely cause of the outbreak to cooling towers that can release mist. They said 17 towers in the area had been tested, with five testing positive for legionella bacteria. All five of the towers have been decontaminated. De Blasio said new legislation requiring inspections, sanctions and other regulations for property owners whose buildings test positive for the disease would be presented this week to try to curb future outbreaks. New York's drinking water supply, fountains, shower heads and pools are safe and unaffected, authorities said. "It is not a contagious disease. It cannot be passed from person to person," de Blasio said. The mayor said the disease was a persistent health problem across the United States for years and has been slowly and steadily growing all over the country. The disease takes its name from its first outbreak, in 1976, at a Philadelphia hotel where a meeting of the American Legion, a veterans organization, was taking place. Allocating catching rights used to fight overfishing By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
More than a quarter of the world’s fisheries are overfished, according to the United Nations. Many communities worldwide that depend on the ocean for their livelihoods are struggling to manage the resource. A growing number are adopting programs called catch shares, which aim to make fishing more sustainable. Under previous rules, for instance, officials used to decide how many striped bass could be caught each year in the Chesapeake Bay, an estuary lying inland from the Atlantic Ocean that stretches from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Virginia Beach, Virginia. "It was a fishing derby, and it was, ‘Green light, go,’ " said Rachel Dean, part of a family fishing operation in the bay. "Catch all you can and hope that you get your share of the pie.” This can lead to overfishing, unsafe and destructive fishing, and other problems. But last year, authorities launched a catch shares system for striped bass in the Chesapeake. Under these new rules, each fisherman gets a set amount of fish to catch. "That individual has the freedom to fish that amount whenever they choose," said Kelly Denit, who oversees fisheries at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "So you are no longer racing to get out and catch fish before the total amount has been caught.” But there are winners and losers in the new program. “There’s some boys that had fished only two years," said Chesapeake fisherman Larry Powley. "They got more quota than I did. I’ve been doing this job for 40 years.” Powley was able to buy enough shares from other fishermen to stay in the striped bass business, "but some of the young guys, the boys couldn’t afford to buy up quota, then they’re gonna get left behind.” Ms. Dean said her family was concerned at first, too. "We didn't really get what we had hoped for," she said. "Obviously, everybody wants more when something's divided like that. That was our first fear. But we also knew there were going to be benefits with it." Ultimately, Ms. Dean came to like the program, because she can wait out bad weather and mechanical problems and sell when prices are high. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration likes the new program because catch shares prevent overfishing and raise incomes. “If you look across the 16 programs that we now have, I think you can see pretty clearly that there have been successes," Denit said. Catch shares don't work everywhere, but regulators for the Chesapeake Bay area say they're the best way to help fish, and the fishing industry. Airlines deciding to skip handing big game trophies By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Three U.S. airlines banned the shipment of hunting trophies this week after the killing of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe last month. Delta Air Lines was the first to announce the ban Monday. It was soon followed by American Airlines and United Airlines. The decisions come after similar measures were taken by Emirates and South African Airways. It is not clear how many, if any, hunting trophies the U.S. airlines have transported in recent years. The ban prevents carrying lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo trophies on the flights of the U.S. airlines. The measure came after an American dentist, Walter James Palmer, killed the well-known lion Cecil outside Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe in an allegedly illegal hunt. Zimbabwe is seeking the extradition of Palmer, who killed Cecil the lion in early July, from Minnesota, a major hub for Delta. It is reported that Zimbabwe is also seeking the extradition of a doctor from Pennsylvania, Jan Casimir Seski, suspected of killing a lion in April. There is an extradition treaty between Zimbabwe and the United States. The killing of Cecil drew worldwide condemnation and drew further global attention when the U. N. General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution last week aimed at combating illegal wildlife trafficking and poaching. It was the culmination of a two-year campaign led by Gabon and Germany. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Kermit the frog and Miss Piggy have been an item ever since their first hit TV show, "The Muppet Show," first aired in 1976. And they have appeared together in numerous movies since then, including "The Great Muppet Caper" and "The Muppets Take Manhattan." The celebrity puppet couple broke the news at an ABC panel for TV critics Tuesday: They are going their separate ways after 40 years. “People change. So do frogs and pigs. … We were together for a long, long time and it’s personal,” Kermit said. Together, but not necessarily married. Although the Muppets have been married many times on screen, those weddings are all believed to have been fictional. “After careful thought, thoughtful consideration and considerable squabbling, we have made the difficult decision to terminate our romantic relationship,” the ex-lovers said in an official statement published on their separate social media accounts. “Our personal lives are now separate and we will be seeing other people, pigs, frogs, et al.” However, the pair will still be working together in a Muppets television series to premiere on the ABC network in September. The show, called "The Muppets," is a mockumentary, in which Kermit and the other Muppets will produce a talk show for Miss Piggy called “Up Late With Miss Piggy.” “I have no problem working with my ex, OK? It’s fine! Dating Moi is like flying close to the sun. It was inevitable that Kermit would drop to the ground while I stayed in the heavens,” said Miss Piggy, who arrived late to the press conference, in keeping with her famously diva-ish character. Sadly for fans, Kermit has already moved on. He says he’s dating someone who works in the ABC promotion department: "Her name is Denise. She's a pig. I have a thing for pigs." The split caps a summer of breakups between famous humans in the U.S. Within the last two months, country music celebrities Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, movie stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, and musicians Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani all announced they were ending their marriages. The Kermit/Miss Piggy official release concludes with a statement that closes the door on the matter: “This is our only comment on this private matter …” But then it opens the door a crack: “… unless we get the right offer.” Effort urged to halt spread of superbugs By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
An immediate, focused effort to halt the spread of antibiotic-resistant germs could save tens of thousands of lives and prevent hundreds of thousands of new infections over the next five years, according to a U.S. government report released Tuesday. The report said as many as 37,000 lives could be saved, and 619,000 new infections prevented, if public health departments and health care facilities would find a way to quickly identify and address emerging outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Germs that no longer respond to antibiotics cause more than 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths each year in the United States, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These bacteria typically arise when antibiotics are overprescribed. Superbugs often spread in the hospital, especially among patients with weakened immune systems. Based on available research data, the CDC estimated that tighter coordination could slash infections with one superbug by as much as 80 percent in a given area over five years. |
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| From Page 7: U.S. agency will study free trade treaty impacts Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The U.S. International Trade Commission has initiated an investigation of the economic impact on the United States of all trade agreements with respect to which Congress has enacted an implementing bill under trade authorities procedures since Jan. 1, 1984. The investigation, Economic Impact of Trade Agreements Implemented Under Trade Authorities Procedures, 2016 Report, is required by law. The International Trade Commission, an independent, nonpartisan, fact-finding federal agency, will submit its report to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means and the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance by next June 29. The report is the first of two required by the statute. The Commission will submit a second report in five years. The Commission’s report will cover the Uruguay Round Agreements, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and U.S. free trade agreements with Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and the five Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Morocco, Oman, Panama, Perú, and Singapore. The commission seeks input for this report from all interested parties. The agency will hold a public hearing in connection with the investigation on Nov. 17. Requests to appear at the hearing should be filed no later than 5:15 p.m. on Nov. 2, with the Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20436. For further information, those interested can call 202-205-2000. The International Trade Commission said it also welcomes written submissions for the record. Written submissions should be addressed to the secretary of the commission at the above address and should be submitted at the earliest practical date, but no later than 5:15 p.m. next Feb. 5. All written submissions, except for confidential business information, will be available for public inspection, the commission said. |
