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José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 154
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Solís
seeks counsel from ex-presidents
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Luis Guillermo Solís will be paying calls on his predecessors in the next few days. Casa Presidencial said that the president would visit Óscar Arias Sánchez today at 10 a.m. in the former president's home in Rohrmoser. Monday, Solís will visit Abel Pacheco at 1 p.m. in Pacheco's house. Neither of the former presidents are of the president's political party. Casa Presidencial did not say what the topic of the meetings would be, but the financial shape of the country is sure to come up. Arias was the president that padded the public employee rolls as a solution to the economic downturn that took place when he was in office. In addition to the general financial picture, Solís also is concerned with unemployment and proposals he is about to put before the legislature for a value-added sales tax and higher income tax rates. Solís certainly would like to see both former presidents come out in support of the tax package. No date yet
for new trial in Jairo Mora case
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rican court officials have not yet determined a date for a retrial in the murder case of conservationist Jairo Mora Sandoval. Prosecutors said Wednesday that they would seek a new trial after an appeals court threw out a trial court verdict that absolved seven suspects. Many in Costa Rica were unhappy with the trial court decision, although prosecutors handling the case appeared to have made errors. Unlike other countries, trial verdicts are not final, and either the prosecution or the defendants can appeal. Prosecutors were unhappy, too, because the three-judge panel rejected a video testimony from one of the women who was with Mora when he was abducted May 31, 2013 near Playa Moín. He was there with four female volunteers to protect turtle nests from egg poachers. The case created an international scandal. Milanes investors may testify by video By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Prosecutors are making plans so that investors in the failed Savings Unlimited high-interest scheme can testify from the United States. Prosecutors had asked all those who had filed a complaint against the operator of the firm, Luis Milanes, and two associates to show up and testify. Many no longer are in Costa Rica, and some have complained about having lost all their money and being unable to travel here. Court officials are expected to seek a video connection with the Costa Rican Consulate in Miami for testimony. That many not be a big help for some investors who live in other distant parts of the United States and Canada. Some investors, however, do live in Florida. Milanes is being tried on a fraud count because his company collapsed in November 2002.  Municipalidad de Desamparados
photo
Two
workers for the Municipalidad de Desamparados are cleaninga storm sewer in an effort to avoid future flooding. Blocked sewers are the principal cause of problems during heavy rain. The municipality says workers clean 159,000 meters of storm sewers and gutters each week. Bill in Panamá seen restricting press Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The Inter American Press Association has sent a message to Panama’s president, Juan Carlos Varela, in which it expressed its concern at a draft legislative bill that it says contains serious restrictions of freedom of expression and of the press. The note sent to Varela refers to the draft bill “which would regulate the professional career of a journalist and a news photographer in Panamá” submitted to the lower house of the National Assembly July 29. Among other measures the bill would make it obligatory for journalists to belong to a press association and be professional and would punish with imprisonment those who practice journalism without professional accreditation, rulings that were overthrown in 2005. On this matter, in the letter signed by association President Gustavo Mohme, editor of the Lima, Perú, newspaper La República, and Claudio Paolillo, chairman of the association's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information and editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda, there is cited the 1985 Consultative Opinion of the Inter-American Human Rights Court on obligatory membership of a journalists association which resulted in the repeal for being unconstitutional of those laws in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic and created a trend favorable for freedom of expression in the Americas. After expressing satisfaction at statements made by Panama’s Presidency Minister Álvaro Alemán concerning the fact that the government “has no interest in reviving legal instruments that were used to censor and restrict the freedoms of Panamanians” the press association executives asked President Varela to discourage this initiative and any other that would restrict freedom of expression and of the press.  Ministerio de Seguidad Pública
photo
These
are the 600 deodorant containers that were confiscated nearthe northern border along with hundreds of antibiotic and asthma pills, vitamins and toothpaste. The man who brought them into the county faces criminal action. Argentina's Menem on trial in bombing By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Former Argentine president Carlos Menem and 12 other persons are going on trial today for allegedly conspiring to derail the investigation into the deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center. Prosecutors allege that Menem and his co-defendants, including his former intelligence chief and a former federal judge, tried to steer prosecutors from linking the bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association building to a Syrian-born man, Alberto Kanoore Edul, who was suspected of taking part in the attack. The 85-year-old Menem, who became Argentine president in 1989 and served a decade, is of Syrian descent. Currently serving as a senator in the Argentine legislature, Menem has denied the charges. No one has ever been arrested or tried for the July 18, 1994, attack in the capital, Buenos Aires, which left 85 people dead when a truck filled with explosives detonated and caused the building to collapse. The case also involves President Cristina Fernandez, who was accused by prosecutor Alberto Nisman of trying to sabotage his investigation of the bombing in order to cover up allegations linking Iran to the crime. Nisman alleged that Ms. Fernandez's government helped orchestrate a bargain with Tehran: cash-strapped Argentina would get Iranian oil, Iran would get Argentine grain and meat and the bombing would remain unsolved. She is not a defendant. Nisman was found dead in his apartment in January with a gunshot wound to his head, one day before he was scheduled to testify before Argentine lawmakers about his accusations against Ms. Fernandez. Court voids voter ID law in Texas By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A U.S. appeals court Wednesday struck down a Texas voter identification law, saying it violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act through its discriminatory effects. The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit pertains to one of a series of laws enacted in Republican-governed states that require voters to show certain forms of identification before being allowed to vote. Other Republican-controlled states, including Wisconsin and North Carolina, have passed similar voter ID measures in recent years, but the Texas law signed in 2011 by then-governor Rick Perry is widely viewed as one of the nation's toughest. It requires one of seven forms of approved identification. Supporters of the law say strong ID is needed in order to prevent voter fraud. The law's detractors argue that the requirements suppress legitimate voter turnout, particularly among minorities, who tend to vote for Democrats.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 154 | |
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| Chamber and a ministry report suspicious activities with
emails and logo |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Someone is using Hotmail to impersonate the tax collectors, and the tourism chamber reports that some firms are using its logo to defraud customers. The separate reports suggest that consumers better be on their toes. The finance ministry, the Ministerio de Hacienda, said that someone is using the email address ministeriodehaciendacostarica@hotmail.com The emails threaten Costa Ricans with tax audits unless they present a document showing their financial state within 48 |
hours.
The
Direción General de Tributación, the tax collecting
agency, is within
the Ministry. The ministry said that it only issued emails from its official address, which is hacienda.go.cr. It asked anyone receiving fake notices to contact contraloria@hacienda.go.cr. The situation with the Cámera Nacional de Turismo is more direct. The chamber said that firms offering cheap tourism deals are using its logo illegally. The chamber suggested that the deals might be frauds. The chamber said it has been contacted by those who had been duped by the logo and the low prices. |
| This just in: No one engages in romantic kissing in Central
America |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Do Costa Ricans like to kiss? Not one of those little pecks on the cheek or a smack on a child's forehead, but one of those body shaking, deep, romantic lip locks of the style demonstrated by Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy in the film "Wanted." A new study said that such deep, erotic romantic kissing is foreign in all of Central America. In fact, the Researchers find romantic kissing is not the norm in most cultures, according to a summary from the University of Indiana. Not only is romantic kissing not the norm in most cultures, some find it uncomfortable and even flat-out repulsive, the summary said. The university reports that Justin Garcia, research scientist at Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, is the co-author of a new study published in the journal American Anthropologist -- "Is the Romantic-Sexual Kiss a Near Human Universal?" -- that looked at 168 cultures throughout the world to better understand where kissing does and doesn’t occur. Using standard cross-cultural methods, the study found that fewer than half of all cultures surveyed -- 46 percent -- engage in romantic/sexual kissing, said the university. Romantic kissing was defined as lip-to-lip contact that may or may not be prolonged, it added. It is not clear where romantic/sexual kissing evolved from, Garcia said in the university report. Some animals engage in similar behaviors; chimpanzees, for example, are known to engage in open-mouth kissing, it added. When it comes to humans kissing, Garcia said in the summary that it does serve as a way to learn more about a |
 A.M. Costa Rica graphic
This is what we're talking
about!partner, “whether one feels there is any ‘chemistry,’ or possibly to assess health via taste and smell, and in some ways to assess compatibility with each other.” The researchers studied data basses, academic articles by other anthropologists and emailed and talked to others in the field to reach their conclusions that such kissing is not a universal human practice. There was no evidence of romantic kissing in Central America, the summary said. Romantic kissing was most prevalent in the Middle East, where all 10 of the cultures studied engaged in it, said the summary, adding: In North America, 55 percent of cultures engaged in romantic kissing, along with 70 percent in Europe and 73 percent in Asia. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 154 | |||||
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| Expressive horse faces might be their own way of
communicating |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Horse owners know that the creatures are very social by nature. Their emotions may also be written on their faces, just as they are with humans. British researchers studied video images of horses and report in the journal PLoS ONE that equines make at least 17 action units, or facial expressions. The muscles in the human face allow individuals to make some 27 facial expressions, reflecting such feelings as anger, jealousy and amusement. Chimps, in comparison, make 13 different facial gestures, and dogs have been found to have 16 discrete looks, which any dog owner will report can convey happiness, sadness or what looks like guilt at stealing table scraps. An entire index of horsey faces called the Equine Facial Action Coding System, or EquiFACS, has been developed by researchers at the University of Sussex, along with fellow researchers at the University of Portsmouth and Duquesne University. Animal behaviorist Jennifer Wathan, who led the study, said horses can move their faces in a surprising number of human-like ways. "They can move the skin above their eyes, to raise that skin a little bit like humans can," she said. "And they’ve got a really extensive set of muscles in the lower face about the mouth that they can use. … I mean, they do use their mouth to explore their environment, because mostly their hoofs aren’t very good for that. But they also use their mouths to make facial expressions, and we think that that’s for communication, perhaps for emotional communication, but that’s another study in itself.” |
 University of
Sussex /Jennifer Wathan
What is this horse's face saying?Investigators watched videos of horses in a variety of situations, including interacting with other horses and with veterinarians, to catalog all of their facial expressions. Ms. Wathan said researchers want to try to relate the facial expressions of horses to emotions they might be feeling and discover whether horses can communicate those feelings to one another through their faces. The goal is to see "if we can sort of get the horse’s opinion on what information they might get from these expressions, what’s important to them and how that helps them in their environment,” she said. Another interesting question to be explored is whether horses can use those expressions to communicate with other species, |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 154 | |||||||
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| Nashville police kill man who invaded movie theater By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The man whom police shot and killed after he attacked moviegoers in Nashville, Tennessee, Wednesday has been identified as 29-year-old Vincente David Montano. Nashville police say Montano doused the audience with pepper spray while they were watching "Mad Max: Fury Road" at a movie complex located in the southern suburb of Antioch. Police working a traffic accident near the theater immediately responded to shooting and confronted Montano in the theater. "We were the only two ones in the theater, I went back inside and we kind of took cover and then, we heard screams and then a shot and then a little while after that, Metro police came in and they escorted us out to the emergency exit,” said Jessica Alarid, a witness. Montano exchanged fire with an officer before running out of the back of the theater, where he was gunned down by a rapid response police unit. Police spokesman Don Aaron says Montano had been arrested in 2004 on an assault charge and had been committed in a psychiatric hospital twice in 2004 and twice in 2007. Montano was believed to be carrying a handgun, but Aaron later said police determined he was carrying a pellet gun. He was also carrying a hatchet and two backpacks. A bomb squad detonated one of backpacks, which was carrying a fake bomb. Three people in the theater were treated for exposure to pepper spray, including a 58-year-old man, who was also treated for a superficial wound that may have been caused by the hatchet. None of the victims was hospitalized. Wednesday's incident comes just two weeks after another middle-aged gunman killed two people and wounded nine in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. It also comes as a jury decides whether James Holmes should be put to death for the 2012 Colorado movie theater massacre that killed 12. Obama says pact alternative is war in the Middle East By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
He stood at the same university where more than 50 years ago, then-president John F. Kennedy used a commencement address to first call for nuclear disarmament and a nuclear test ban treaty with the Soviet Union. Kennedy’s historic call for diplomacy was not lost on President Barack Obama Wednesday. “He rejected the prevailing attitude among some foreign policy circles that equated security with a perpetual war footing. Instead, he promised strong, principled American leadership on behalf of what he called a practical and attainable peace,” Obama said at American University in Washington. Calling the Iran nuclear agreement the most consequential debate the United States has had since the 2002 decision to invade Iraq, Obama warned U.S. lawmakers against blocking what he called a very good deal. “We have to be honest. Congressional rejection of this deal leaves any U.S. administration that is absolutely committed to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon with one option: another war in the Middle East,” Obama said. In a nearly hour-long speech, Obama laid out a forceful rebuttal to critics of the nuclear agreement reached in July between Iran and the P5+1 nations, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. He said U.S. lawmakers had a stark choice “ultimately between diplomacy or some sort of war.” The latter, he said, would be far less effective in preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. “It would likely guarantee that inspectors are kicked out of Iran. It is probable that it would drive Iran’s program deeper underground. It would certainly destroy the international unity that we spent so many years building,” the president told an audience that included ambassadors from P5+1 nations. He noted that the same people who are against the Iran deal supported the Iraq war, a conflict in which thousands of lives were lost and nearly $1 trillion spent. U.S. lawmakers have until Sept. 17 to approve or vote down the deal. The president can veto any disapproval, but he needs the support of his fellow Democrats to ensure his veto is not overridden and the deal goes forward. Hours before the speech, Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called for a serious debate on the agreement in September, noting “widespread, well-founded and bipartisan” concerns. “It’s clear that this deal is making members of both parties uneasy, and with good reason. America’s role in the world, its commitment to global allies, and the kind of future we will leave our children are all tied up in this issue,” the Kentucky Republican said. Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell cited concerns expressed by Democratic lawmakers that the agreement lacks sufficient safeguards, could lead to nuclear weapons race in the region and leaves limited options to prevent Iran’s nuclear breakout. Obama addressed many of those concerns, including the assertion that the agreement is not strong enough. “The prohibition on Iran having a nuclear weapon is permanent. The ban on weapons-related research is permanent. Inspections are permanent,” he said. “It is true that some of the limitations regarding Iran’s peaceful program last only 15 years. But that’s how arms control agreements work.” He also pushed back at those who say sanctions relief will embolden Iran. He spoke at length about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to the deal, contending that the Israeli leader was wrong. “To friends of Israel, and to the Israeli people, I say this: A nuclear-armed Iran is far more dangerous to Israel, to America and to the world than an Iran that benefits from sanctions relief,” he said. The president said those who believe the U.S. can walk away from the deal and still maintain pressure on Iran through continued sanctions were selling a fantasy. Obama ended his speech by noting that lawmakers’ rejection of a diplomatic solution would perhaps do most damage to the image of the United States in the eyes of the world. “If Congress kills this deal, we will lose more than just constraints on Iran's nuclear deal or the sanctions we have painstakingly built," he said. "We will have lost something more precious: America's credibility as a leader of diplomacy.” Iranian craft levels guns at U.S. chopper, U.N. ship By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
An Iranian frigate approached a coalition auxiliary ship in the Gulf of Aden late last month and pointed its weapons at the vessel and a U.S. Navy helicopter, a U.S. military official said Wednesday. The frigate approached the coalition ship July 25, coming about 180 meters from the vessel, said Navy spokesman Lt. Tim Hawkins in an interview. The helicopter had launched from the nearby USS Farragut destroyer and was conducting a training operation with the ship when the incident occurred, he said. The U.S. Navy is routinely approached by Iranian warships in the Gulf in a safe manner, but this incident "stands out because it was unsafe and unprofessional," Hawkins said. Those targeted by the Iranian frigate were trained in how to prevent miscalculation or further escalation, he said, adding that they did not respond to the frigate, which left the scene. Cleveland prepared to party as significant political site By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A small group of protesters gathered in front of the Town Hall Restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio, Wednesday. Inside, the restaurant staff was making preparations for a rally for Republican presidential hopeful and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. But the protesters were not against Rubio. They were taking advantage of the hoopla surrounding Thursday’s Republican debate to demonstrate against the owner of the restaurant, who has been vocal in the movement to legalize marijuana in Ohio. Ohio’s second-largest city is in the midst of a typical American political free-for-all in the run-up to the first political event of the 2016 presidential election season, a happening that is being marked with booked hotel rooms, crowded streets, protests and parties. City officials are busy fielding requests for protest permits, according to local media reports. A group of immigrants plans to march outside the Quicken Loans Arena, where the debate is taking place, to object to what they say is the hate rhetoric of Republican front-runner Donald Trump. Another group, Americans United for Change, plans a march to show how out of touch all the Republican candidates are. ProgressOhio Education will be protesting Gov. John Kasich’s cuts to education. Kasich also is a presidential candidate and will be participating in the debate. And the parties: Young Conservatives for Energy Reform will be gathering to cheer the debate at the Hard Rock Café, and the American Conservative Union will be at the House of Blues. The Ohio Democratic Party will have a party at the Market Garden Brewery. At this party, more booing than cheering can be expected. The unexpected popularity of outspoken billionaire candidate Trump has put the debate in the national spotlight, and it promises to be a great windfall for Cleveland. “Cleveland has been misunderstood,” says bookseller John Zubal, “and I think, so to speak, an underrated city for a large part of my lifetime. And the Republicans coming here are exposing a side of Cleveland that’s been hidden for a long time.” On the banks of Lake Erie, the Midwestern city has had a reputation as a rust belt city, whose economic base was manufacturing until both the industry and the city fell on hard times. But recently, Cleveland has diversified its economic base and bounced back. “World-class experiences without the world-class ego” touts Destination Cleveland, the city’s convention and tourism bureau, which also says Cleveland is where “grit meets sophistication.” Senior director Emily Lauer says Cleveland has been on a roll since the city’s basketball team, the Cavaliers, hosted the NBA Championship earlier this year. Although the Cavs lost, the event energized the city. “That level of excitement we saw with the Cavaliers, I think we are seeing that again,” said Ms. Lauer. The basketball championship was also held at the Quicken Loans Arena, known as the Q. With the debate in mind, it may be worth noting that in addition to the Cavs, the Q also is home to the hockey Monsters and Arena football Gladiators. Cleveland was picked for the first debate and it also will host the last and biggest event of the campaign season: the Republican National Convention a year from now. At the convention, the current field of 17 Republican candidates will have been winnowed down to one, and that person will be officially designated as the Republican nominee. Ms. Lauer calls the convention the Super Bowl of meetings and predicts it will bring $200 million into the city. It is not by accident that Cleveland has been picked to both open and close the Republican presidential nomination process. The state of Ohio is a swing state that vacillates back and forth between Republican and Democratic candidates. But Ohio also has an eerie track record of picking presidential winners. Since 1964, the state has always voted for the person who won the presidential election. The Republicans are making their presence known early. Malaysian official confirms part is from missing plane By the A.M. Costa Rica
wire
services
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has confirmed that a piece of an airplane wing found on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean last week belonged to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared without a trace 17 months ago. "Five hundred 15 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370," Najib grimly said in a televised address. Malaysia Airlines put out a statement of condolence to the families and friends of all 239 passengers and crew on the flight. "It is indeed a major breakthrough for us in resolving this disappearance of MH370. We expect and hope that there would be more objects to be found which would be able to help resolve this mystery." But experts in Paris, where the part was taken for analysis, are not yet ready to say for sure that what was found on the French territory is part of the vanished plane. A French prosecutor said there is strong supposition it is from MH370, but that their findings still have to be confirmed. Relatives of the passengers, who have been holding to even the tiniest sliver of hope for a happy outcome, say one piece of a wing will not bring them closure. In Beijing, a group of Chinese relatives of MH370 victims gathered outside Malaysia Airlines office to protest. "One piece of debris does not mean anything, this is a political conspiracy, we only need the truth, they need to say the truth, please tell us the truth," said Zhang Meiling, whose daughter and son-in-law were on the airliner. China's foreign ministry on Thursday called on Malaysia to continue investigating what happened to the missing plane, that was carrying mostly Chinese passengers on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The debris, a wing part known as a flaperon, was found on Reunion Island, thousands of kilometers away from where the Boeing 777 vanished from radar in March 2014. Investigators believe the plane crashed somewhere off the southwest coast of Australia, but a search has so far turned up nothing. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday insisted the search would continue. "We owe it to the hundreds of millions of people who use our skies. We owe it to the 24 million Australians who use our skies, we owe it to them to try to ensure their travel is as safe as it possibly can be to try to get to the bottom of this terrible mystery and that's why the search must go on," Abbott said. The prime minister said the location of the debris "does seem to indicate that the plane did come down, more or less where we thought." He said it suggests "for the first time that we might be a little bit closer to solving this baffling mystery." Theories about what happened to flight MH370 include bad weather, a hijacking, or that the pilot deliberately crashed the jet. But even with the discovery of the debris, the mystery is not close to being solved, according to some analysts. "The bottom line is that other than finally having a piece of the airplane, the world today doesn't know anything more than it did 10 days ago," says the aviation Web site Leeham News and Comment. The outlet said it could be some time before analysis can be done on the stress and tear damage of the flaperon, which could indicate how the plane hit the water. Scientists will also try to determine the type of barnacles that have clung to the debris, it said. "It will be a while before authorities analyze the barnacles and flaperon. It will be a much longer time before we find the plane — if it ever is found — and longer still to recover any of the wreckage and all-important black boxes," the outlet warned. |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Since an Islamic extremist gunned down holiday makers in June in Tunisia, Western governments have been issuing warnings urging their nationals to exercise heightened caution when traveling to North Africa and the Middle East or better still, to stay away altogether. From Tunisia in the west to Turkey in the east, tourism is having an awful year with European and American visitors heeding the terror warnings. Last month the State Department upheld a global travel warning for Americans because of “the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world.” The British and Danish governments also urged their nationals to flee Tunisia because of inadequate protection, prompting the country’s politicians to argue the Europeans are playing into the hands of the terrorists. This is what the Islamic extremists want, they say. “By damaging tourism, by having foreigners leaving the country, they damage the whole sector and put so many people out of work and on the streets,” Nabil Ammar, Tunisia’s ambassador in London, told the BBC recently. “Hotels have to close, and this is an important industry. One of the sources of terrorism is lack of hope. It is not the only motor of it, but it is one of the very important origins.” Meanwhile, in an apparent exercise in mockery, propagandists from the Islamic State group this week issued an online travel brochure touting their self-styled caliphate straddling Syria and Iraq as a great vacation spot able to offer crystal clear spring waters, Olympic size swimming pools, pastoral landscapes, beekeeping and fishing. In Egypt, a Sinai-based jihadi group aligned with the Islamic State has grown increasingly proficient in carrying out attacks and sophisticated in selecting targets based on their strategic value. In June, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the ancient Egyptian Karnak Temple in the southern city of Luxor. Egyptian authorities have eagerly been talking up the robustness of their tourism industry. Tourism Minister Khaled Ramy has announced a 3.1 percent revenue increase the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. But compared to before the so-called Arab Spring, Egypt has seen a 95 percent slump in revenue from its cultural heritage sites in Cairo and Luxor. Most tourists are heading to the better-protected Red Sea resorts. Egyptian authorities estimate in 2015 the country may host around 12 million tourists, well below the 2010 peak year of 14.7 million. An increasing number of tourists this year will be from Russian and Asian countries. Egypt is aggressively marketing to China. Since 2000, external Chinese tourism has jumped from 13 million a year to 165 million and the number of Chinese visitors to Egypt is expected to double from the pre-revolution level of 100,000. In Jordan, the picture also shows historic lows in the number of tourists and revenue, despite the fact the last terror attack in the country was in 2005 when suicide bombers killed 60 people in three of the capital's hotels. Revenue from tourism was down 15 percent during the first four months of 2015 compared to the same period last year, falling to $1.5 billion. For the Hashemite kingdom, which has no shortage of acclaimed wonders, the revenue drop is a serious setback. Tourism traditionally accounts for 15 percent of Jordan's gross domestic product. What was once a flow of tourists to Petra and other sites has turned into a trickle with souvenir shop owners complaining they might not see a customer for days at a time. Ten hotels in Petra have had to close. Since 2010 the number of visitors to the site has halved.. |
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Page 7: British Airways announces direct flight to here By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
British Airways has announced that it will begin direct service to Costa Rica from London starting next May 4. The airline will fly Wednesdays and Saturdays during the British summer and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday during the winter months, said an announcement. The British airport will be London Gatwick. Costa Rican tourism officials said this was positive news. They said the airline could deliver 30,000 visitors a year. Plus the London hub has connections to 130 other destinations for those flying from Juan Santamaría airport to London, they said. |
