That’s what the reader who shot this photo called it.  It was alongside a highway, thrown away in the weeds.

Says the flyer:

Radiográfica Costarricense S.A., the Internet monopoly, said Tuesday that its systems were clear of a pesky virus but that each user should take steps to secure his or her computer.

The release from RACSA came after La Nación, the Spanish-language daily, published a story saying that its computer had been infected by a computer virus worm that enters a system under the guise of an e-mail attachment.

The existence of the virus had been reported here a week ago after it had been making the rounds in Costa Rica disguised as an e-mail message from an "administrator" who wanted to discuss a user’s e-mail account.

The reader has to open the attachment which contains the virus.

La Nación spent a couple of hours purging its PC computer systems of the virus, it said.

The virus continues to be active. A.M. Costa Rica received at least seven such messages Tuesday.

RACSA said in its release that at least 300 persons and some companies had been attacked by the virus. It directed computer users to commercially available anti-virus protection software.
 

Noboa gets asylum
and prepares to go

QUITO, Ecuador — The Dominican Republic has granted political asylum to former Ecuador President Gustavo Noboa.

Dominican Ambassador Norman Ferreira said Monday that Noboa will be able to travel as soon as Ecuadorean authorities grant him permission to leave the country.

Noboa has been holed up in the Dominican Embassy here while Ecuadorean officials investigate his finances for evidence of corruption. Ecuadorean prosecutors have said they will pursue the investigation and have requested Noboa be placed under house arrest. It is unclear how the move will affect the asylum offer.

Noboa requested political asylum from the Dominican Republic two weeks ago when accusations by a political rival sparked a probe into his role in the re-negotiation of Ecuador's foreign debt.

Former president Leon Febres Cordero says Noboa's mismanagement of the negotiations cost Ecuador $9 billion. Noboa denies any wrongdoing while president from January 2000 until January 2003.

Uribe tells military
to pick up the pace

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has told the nation's army generals to produce results in the fight against leftist rebels or lose their jobs. 

President Uribe issued the warning Monday here during a four-hour security meeting with the country's top generals. He also was quoted as saying that battalion and brigade commanders who are not doing well should start presenting their resignations. 

The remarks follow recent car bombings which have killed at least eight people and injured 25 others. Leftist rebels are blamed for the attacks. 

Colombia is mired in a long-running civil war that pits the rebels, rightist paramilitaries and the government against each other. The conflict leaves thousands of people dead each year.

Aleman in prison
after ranch stay

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman has been jailed to await trial on money laundering and fraud charges stemming from his 1997-2002 term.  Police took Aleman to El Chipote prison Monday, after escorting him from his ranch south of here where he had been under house arrest since December. 

Managua Judge Juana Mendez ordered Aleman to go to jail. She was quoted as saying that keeping the former president under house arrest was too expensive because security guards and police were needed to patrol his residence. The former president's supporters criticized the decision, saying Aleman is in poor health. 

Aleman's arrest is part of a promised anti-corruption campaign by current President Enrique Bolaños against former officials. President Bolaños was once Aleman's vice president. Both men are from Nicaragua's ruling Liberal Party. 

Aleman was widely viewed as heading a corrupt government and enriching himself while in office. He also is accused of misusing more than $1 million in a deal involving the state-run television station. The former president denies the allegations against him.

Public trial starts
for boat hijackers

HAVANA, Cuba — A public trial has begun here for six Cubans who hijacked a boat last month in a bid to flee to the United States. They face sentences of eight to 10 years in jail. 

The hijackers were apprehended by U.S. authorities and sent back to Cuba after Havana gave assurances that they would serve no more than 10-year sentences for their crime. 

The repatriation sparked widespread criticism from Cuban-Americans as well as Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the brother of President George Bush. 

In April, Cuban authorities executed three men convicted of hijacking a ferry boat. The executions drew worldwide condemnation. 

Meanwhile, the United States has expressed "deep concern" about the health of imprisoned political dissidents in Cuba.  The State Department said Monday that Cuba should allow international observers to monitor the treatment of 75 political prisoners serving lengthy jail sentences in the country. 

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker noted that the health of two of the prisoners, journalists Raul Rivero and Oscar Espinoza, has worsened since they were jailed. He also says the Cuban government should provide them with the best possible medical treatment. 

Rivero is the 57-year-old founder of the independent press agency Cuba Press, and Espinoza is a 62-year-old independent journalist. Both are serving 20-year sentences. 

 The 75 dissidents were arrested in March in a Cuban government crackdown on the political opposition. They were convicted the following month. 

Caribbean troops
heading for Iraq

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Troops from here have left for a mission to Iraq, where they are to join international peacekeeping efforts. 

Officials said 150 troops left the Caribbean country Monday for Spain, where they will train for a week. The troops will then head to Kuwait for further training before arriving in Iraq next month. 

The troops will be part of a brigade of 1,300 that includes troops from Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. 

BOULDER, Colo. — Researchers at the University of Colorado here will combine historical records with measurements from satellites to complete an online database of the world's glaciers, which are viewed as key indicators of climate change.

Researchers at the university's National Snow and Ice Data Center will receive $1.8 million from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to provide a global picture of the response of glaciers to climate change, which up to now has been difficult to obtain. For example, fluctuation measurements have been made on only a few hundred of the world's approximately 160,000 glaciers.

"Accelerated melting over the last two decades has contributed to rising sea levels and impacted water resources and hydropower potential in many mountain regions of the world," said Richard Armstrong, principal investigator on the project.

The scientists will combine high-resolution data with other satellite imagery and new digital inventories of glaciers in the former Soviet Union and China and historical data collected from both of those countries and from other regions around the world. 

Central Asia, the largest glacier-covered area outside of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, accounted for 40 percent of the total sea-level rise resulting from glacier melt from 1961 to 1990.

Glaciologists located at research facilities around the world will assist in analyzing the satellite imagery to create a new baseline of current glacier conditions that will be compared to historical measurements from such things as field surveys, aerial photography and glacier inventories. 

Menem aide held
on corruption count

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A top aide to former Argentine President Carlos Menem has been arrested on corruption charges. 

Officials here say María Julia Alsogaray was taken into custody Tuesday at the request of Federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral. 

Ms. Alsogaray served as natural resources secretary under President Menem. Authorities allege she mishandled public funds during her tenure, especially regarding cost overruns on the renovation of a building housing her office.  Investigators say Ms. Alsogaray failed to put the project up for bids from contractors. There has been no comment from her. 

Recently inaugurated President Nestor Kirchner has struck a chord with Argentines by vowing to stamp out corruption which has been rampant in the Latin American country for decades. 
 
 

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SANTA TERESA, New Mexico — The summer has been perilous along the U.S.-Mexico International Border. The scorching heat in the southwestern states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas has claimed the lives of more than 200 suspected illegal immigrants this year. 

That makes the job of a border patrolman as much about rescue as it is about law enforcement. In this town which borders El Paso, Texas, and Mexico, a reporter accompanied a border patrolman on his duties to see what a typical day was like.

——————————

Within five minutes of getting in his SUV  supervisory Border Patrol agent Edmund Hirales' radio is abuzz with urgent messages from fellow patrolmen. They are on a high-speed chase after two drug runners who have crashed their truck through a fence at the Mexican border and escaped back into Mexico on foot. Hirales speeds down the highway to meet them. 

Arriving at the site of the abandoned truck are about a dozen border patrol officers who have gathered to inspect the situation. "Ok, there was two of them in there," asks agent Hirales. "And they ran up the mountain so they were able to get close enough to the river, abandon the vehicle and then they ran south across the river. So they left the vehicle. Was it '46?' 

"Yeh, it was '46' it had narcotics, it had marijuana. It was loaded with marijuana." 

The collapsed barbed wire fence is a few meters away from the Rio Grande River which, at this point, separates the United States and Mexico. Across the river are small, adobe structures from which several people begin to emerge. One of those people is the juvenile who led the high-speed chase, who unabashedly stares at the officers who stare back at him with binoculars. 

"To him, he got away," says Hirales. "He might have lost what he was carrying but he got away. I was looking at him to see if he was a familiar customer, but no, he isn't. And he doesn't appear to have any tattoos, no cuts or abrasions, so he's not hurt or anything."

"So you're looking at him now, standing there plain as day. And he's not afraid to be on the other side of the river with you looking at him through binoculars?" the reporter asks.

"No, he knows that once he crosses a river there's nothing we can do. So there's no threat now," says Hirales.

Supervisory border patrolman Ed Barerra, one of the officers who has come to the scene, assesses the suspects.

"They're more likely to be 'mules' hired young kids," he says. "A few thousand dollars to them, it's just an easy job. If they get caught, they're juveniles, they know they'll probably be released."

What 'mules' have to fear perhaps as much as law enforcement, are the drug lords who hire them, 

Apprehending drug smugglers is routine for the U.S. Border Patrol, but does not constitute the majority of arrests. Most often it is apprehending undocumented immigrants. More than three million were detained at the U.S.-Mexican border in the last three years. This is in spite of the well-known danger of trying to walk 40 kms. (about 25 miles) through the desert, or the risk of death by suffocation to ride in an air-tight truck provided by a coyote, an individual secretly hired to transport people. 

Agent Hirales says those smugglers, who are paid thousands of dollars to do the job, may be ruthless once they get their money. 

"Sometimes they are unprepared for this journey," he says. "A lot of times the smugglers will bring them to the border and say, 'Wait here for a day or two and I'll pick you up' and then they never come back. A lot of times they're abandoned, and they try to make it on their own, and they're wandering around trying to find the nearest town or nearest civilization to get to, and many times they're dehydrated or on the brink of being exhausted or other ailments. And many times you are the life saver because they put themselves in a situation where they do need help."

Back at the patrol station, a heavily-armored truck is being unloaded of its cargo. Patrolman Edmund Hirales unzips one of 30 Adidas sports duffel bags that have been crammed into the truck.

"It's a typical duffel bag with cellophane wrapping - the smell of it is marijuana," explains Hirales.

There are about 450 kilos of it, with a market value of more than $1 million. That’s 990 pounds. 

Hirales has been a border patrolman for 15 years. He loves his job because it is never routine. But he says he never lets his guard down. Border patrolmen are hired from throughout the United States and are trained in the southwest. According to Hirales, new officers are often surprised to see what the border actually is.

"A lot of people think when you talk about the U.S.-Mexican border that there's this big barrier that separates the U.S. from Mexico and then they get down here and say, 'Well, where's Mexico?' Well, it's there. 'Well, where's the border?' That's it," he says. "Sometimes the only thing that's separating the U.S. from Mexico is just a marker or just two strings or a barbed wire fence. And a lot of times they're shocked. 'That's the border?' That's the border."

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 resulted in more funding and support for the U.S. Border Patrol. On March 1, of this year, it became part of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection under the Department of Homeland Security. And in July it was announced that 375 experienced border patrol agents from the southwest will be transferred to the understaffed north, making it the largest-ever redeployment to guard against terrorism on the U.S.-Canada border.