|
|
A.M.
Costa Rica
Your daily English-language news source Monday through Friday |
 |
| (506) 2223-1327 |
Published Friday, Aug. 26, 2016, in Vol. 17, No. 169
|
Email us |
 |
| |
 |
| |
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|
Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for more details |
|
|||
|
San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Aug. 26, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 169
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|
Keep drug users from
difficult jobs
Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I read with interest your editorial regarding the legalization of recreational drugs as this happens to be a viewpoint that I have held for years. However, the thinking goes a little further than just the legalization and tax collection. One of the more basic problems with drug use is it alters the perception of the world in real time. This makes common tasks difficult and sometimes impossible. Driving a motor vehicle is a case in point, but includes other areas also such as heavy equipment usage and other activities that are safe, with training, and while in control of all of ones faculties. Some of the users do not have anything resembling self control, and will attempt to perform work that is ordinarily safe but difficult to impossible when under the influence. The tax administration is an obvious benefit to governments, and has been discussed ad infinitum, and needs no further discussion here. But, if these substances were controlled by the state, whichever one, and administered properly, these people could be identified and kept out of jobs that affect the general public, such as bus driver, airline pilot, the list is almost endless. This benefit alone is enough to warrant serious consideration to a proposal of this kind. Also, the price could be kept low enough to take the smugglers and traffickers right out of the business. Nearly every day we read of extremely violent acts in Mexico, as this is the portal to the biggest retail drug market in the world. Of course there would still be a population who take their drug usage seriously, leaving them unable to perform any useful societal function, and effectively leaving them unemployed and unemployable. From that would come the remaining hard core small-time criminals, the strong arm, back alley types. Still, with modern computer techniques, these people could be identified. I see a lot of benefits to legalizing these substances, and little downside. For myself, I tried these drugs many years ago, and I found nothing that could replace a few beers to relax after a trying, or even a leisurely day. Joe Sullivan
Puntarenas Decriminalization frees cash for treatment Dear A.M. Costa Rica: After years of reading daily articles about cops chasing around after small and larger amounts of cocaine and marijuana at the bequest of the U.S., I never thought I would see the day when A.M. Costa Rica finally took a position on this nonsense. The damage caused by criminalization of drugs is tiny compared to the actual harm of consumption, both to individuals and to society. So much money is spent on trying to enforce unworkable laws that little is left for education, prevention and treatment. The harder the police try, the more violent, damaging and ingenious is the criminal response. And experience in other countries proves that legalization does not lead to increased consumption. The formula is straight forward: decriminalize > profits removed > criminals and crime gone > police war gone > funds available for education and treatment > safer, healthier society. It will still be an imperfect world that requires compromises, but one that is way less damaging. This strategy is known as harm reduction. Will we live to see the day? Gordon Martin
Quepos/Toronto There is economic benefit to legalization Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Besides showing itself to be unwinnable, the war on drugs degrades society. For a country that prides itself on human rights, Costa Rica has sided with the world's biggest bully. It is time to stop the hypocrisy of punishing drug pushers, most of whom are as poor as their customers. Costa Rica should follow the enlightened lead of Portugal and legalize all drugs, not just marijuana. Legalization would reduce prison populations, provide a robust taxable industry and enable those people who need drug treatment to seek it within the national health system. Moreover, promoting the cultivation of quality hemp of both kinds would help the economy by providing employment in rural areas that are now stagnating. James Saxon
Heredia
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this
Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Ro
Colorado S.A 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
||||||
 |
A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
|
San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Aug. 26, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 169
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| Two
separate dance presentations scheduled for this weekend |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
One of the high points of the weekend will be the Festival Folclórico Internacional that is being held Saturday at the Centro Nacional de la Cultura from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dancers from México, Colombia, Venezuela, Perú, Ecuador and El Salvador as well as Costa Rica will give presentations ranging from the informal to a full ballet, said the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud. Admission is free. The Centro de la Cultura is the Antigua Fábrica de Licores on Avenida 7 east of Parque España. But there is even more dance. The Compañía Nacional de Danza presents “Taciturno” by Adrián Figueroa tonight as part of the XV Festival Nacional de Danza Contemporánea 2016. This is in the Teatro de la Danza of the culture center at 8 p.m. An announcement said that the presentation is a bit gray without being depressing and with great scenery. There is an admission. San Ramón has kicked off 12 days of celebrating the community’s patron, San Ramón Nonato. An estimated 550,000 persons visited the fiesta last year. Tonight there is selection of the Familia Reinante and a coronation ball. Some |
42
families are candidates for the designation, said an
announcement. Saturday there is a band parade, concerts,
traditional foods and religious services. Sunday sports
competitions begin at 7 a.m. The Museo Histórico Cultural Juan Santamaría in Alajuela is commemorating the 185th anniversary of the birth of national hero Juan Santamaría with a two-day conference on genealogy starting today at 2 p.m. Today the first presentation concerns the use of primary sources and will be given by researcher Rodrigo Fernández Castillo. At 3 p.m. Dora Emilia Murillo Villegas will discuss genealogical information in sources held by the Mormon Church. Saturday the topic will be sources available in the museum holdings. Expats who understand the language can enjoy a Spanish version of Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge,” tonight and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m. in the Teatro La Aduana in the Antigua Aduana in Barrio Escalante. There is an admission. Sunday the Banda de Conciertos de Guanacaste plans a concert at 7 p.m. in the Parque de Liberia. There is a second concert at the same time Monday in the community hall of Santa Rosa de Santa Cruz. |
| New
Paso Ancho underpass also can reduce a pollution health
hazard |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Government officials held a ceremony Thursday at the new Paso Ancho underpass for the Circunvalación bypass highway. Motorists have suffered for years there when the intersection was a traffic circle called informally La Guacamaya. Sometimes that line of waiting cars stretched for several miles at peak hours. An estimated 70,000 vehicles pass this spot every weekday. What the motorists may not know is that the waiting in line also can be bad for the health. The University of Surrey reported on a study Thursday that said |
pollution
inside cars was found to be 40 percent higher during
prolonged roadway stops. Researchers cited World Health Organization statistics that said persons dying of air pollution caused this way were 10 times as many as those killed in road accidents. University researchers added that “in traffic jams, or at red traffic lights with other vehicles stationary in front, research has shown that if we close the car windows and switch off the fan, this gave us the lowest exposure to pollutants. It is also safe to put fans onto the setting where they re-circulate air within the car without drawing polluted air in from outside.” Meanwhile, the Circunvalación has two other traffic circles, and plans are to eliminate these too. |
 |
 |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this
Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced
anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
||||||
A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
|
San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Aug. 26, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 169
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| WhatsApp will give Facebook access to some of its user data | |
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Global messaging service WhatsApp says it will start sharing the phone numbers of its users with Facebook, its parent company. That means WhatsApp users could soon start seeing more targeted ads on Facebook, although not on the messaging service itself. The move is a subtle but significant shift for WhatsApp, which has long promised to safeguard the privacy of more than 1 billion users around the world. WhatsApp is giving users a limited time to opt out of sharing their information with Facebook, although they must take the extra step of unchecking a box to do so. It also says Facebook won't post phone numbers online or give them out to anyone. But the giant social network has been looking for ways to make money from WhatsApp since it bought the service two years ago, in an eye-popping deal ultimately worth $21.8 billion. At the same time, Facebook has pledged not to interfere with a longstanding promise by WhatsApp's co-founders to respect users' privacy and keep ads off its messaging platform. WhatsApp on Thursday offered a glimpse of its plans for turning on the money spigot, releasing new documents that describe the company's privacy policy and the terms of service that users must agree to follow. The documents are the first revision of those policies since 2012, before Facebook acquired WhatsApp. One change follows through on previous hints by WhatsApp executives, who have said they're exploring ways for businesses to communicate with customers on WhatsApp. That could include using WhatsApp to provide receipts, confirm a reservation or update the status of a delivery. Companies could also send marketing offers or messages about sales to individual customers, according to the new documents, which note that users will be able to control or block such messages. WhatsApp says it will continue to bar traditional display ads from its service. “We do not want you to have a spammy experience,” the company tells users in a summary of the new policies. |
Another
change is potentially more controversial: WhatsApp says it
will begin coordinating accounts with Facebook by sharing
WhatsApp users' mobile phone numbers and device
information, such as the type of operating system and
other smartphone characteristics. The company says
Facebook will employ the phone number internally to better
identify WhatsApp users on Facebook, so it can recommend
friends or show targeted advertising. The ads would come through a Facebook program called Custom Audiences, which lets a business upload lists of customers and phone numbers or other contact information the business has collected from warranty cards or other sources. Facebook matches the list to users with the same information and shows them ads. Facebook says it doesn't give out users' information to advertisers. WhatsApp phone numbers are valuable to Facebook. While the social network already has many phone numbers, it doesn't require users to provide them, and doesn't always have the most current number for everyone on Facebook. But anyone on WhatsApp must provide a current phone number because that's how WhatsApp knows where to deliver messages. The coordination of accounts may draw fire from privacy advocates. WhatsApp has long promised not to employ user data for advertising. Its acquisition by Facebook two years ago sparked complaints from activists who worried the new owner would start mining WhatsApp accounts. Though both companies pledged WhatsApp would operate separately from its parent, the Federal Trade Commission warned them publicly, in a 2014 letter, against changing how they employ WhatsApp user data without users' consent. WhatsApp says current users have up to 30 days to accept the new policy terms or stop using the service. Once they accept, they have 30 more days to opt out of sharing with Facebook. Privacy groups have praised WhatsApp for building powerful encryption into its services, making it impossible for the company or anyone else to read users' messages. WhatsApp promises that encryption will remain, so neither WhatsApp nor Facebook would be able to use message content for advertising purposes. |
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
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
||||||
|
A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
 |
|
|
San
José, Costa
Rica, Friday,
Aug. 26, 2016,
Vol. 17, No. 169
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|
|
|
allegations of racist views By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
For more than a week, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been calling Democrat Hillary Clinton a racist and a bigot, accusing her of looking at African-American communities only for votes while ignoring joblessness and crime. Trump has been telling black voters that decades of Democratic governments have failed them, asking them, "What have you got to lose?" by voting Republican in November. After days of little comment, Mrs. Clinton hit back hard at Trump on Thursday. Speaking in Nevada, Mrs. Clinton said Trump has been talking about black neighborhoods in insulting and ignorant terms, only seeing failure, murder, drugs and bad schools. She said it is sad that Trump does not see the successes, such as thriving businesses, successful graduates from black colleges, and strong churches deeply involved in their communities. Mrs. Clinton noted that the U.S. Justice Department has sued Trump for alleged racist policies in renting apartments to blacks and Hispanics, and that it was Trump who continued to insist Barack Obama was born in Kenya rather than accept a black man as president. "I read and hear some people say that his bluster and bigotry is overheated campaign rhetoric — an outrageous person saying outrageous things for attention," Mrs. Clinton said. "But look at his policies. The ones that Trump has proposed would put prejudice into practice . . . . Here is the hard truth: There is no other Donald Trump." Mrs. Clinton said the alternative right has hijacked the Republican Party. She described it as a fringe element that rejects mainstream conservatism as a threat to white supremacy. She said such paranoia and extremism have never had a national megaphone until now. She criticized Trump for not turning his back on far-right extremists like radio talk-show hosts, obscure politicians, conspiracy theorists and gossip-mongering tabloids, including one that said she is mortally ill and predicted she would be dead by this time. Trump has said Mrs. Clinton does not have the strength and stamina to be president. "His latest paranoid fever dream is about my health," she said, telling Trump to dream on. At a New Hampshire rally Thursday, Trump said charging opponents with racism is the oldest play in the Democratic playbook when policies do not work. He called it a tired, disgusting argument. Mrs. Clinton is all talk and no action on improving the lives of African-Americans, he said. "I don't want to dignify her statements by dwelling on them too much, but a response is required for the sake of all decent voters that she is trying to smear," Trump told fellow Republicans. "Hillary Clinton is going to try and accuse this campaign and all of you and the millions of decent Americans . . . of being racists, which we're not." Trump said it is not racist to want to secure the country's borders from illegal immigrants, and that those afraid of radical Islam are not Islamaphobes. Trump boasted on Twitter that his national poll numbers are "rising ... way up." But a new Quinnipiac University survey gives Clinton a 51 percent-to-41 percent head-to-head lead, and a 7 percentage-point lead when the Libertarian and Green party candidates are included. Trump toning down stand on those illegal immigrants By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Republican Donald Trump is continuing to offer voters a more nuanced stance on U.S. immigration policies if he is elected president, rejecting his one-time call for mass deportation for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country but not granting them citizenship either. Trump told Fox News late Wednesday, "No citizenship. Let me go a step further — they'll pay back taxes, they have to pay taxes. There's no amnesty as such, but we work with them." In a series of interviews this week, Trump has abandoned his call during the months-long campaign for the Republican presidential nomination for a deportation force to return the undocumented migrants to their home countries. Instead, he proposes quickly sending convicted criminals out of the U.S., while considering other individual immigration disputes in court hearings, much like the current U.S. policy. "Now, everybody agrees we get the bad ones out," Trump said. "But when I go through and I meet thousands and thousands of people on this subject, and I've had very strong people come up to me, really great, great people come up to me, and they've said, 'Mr. Trump, I love you, but to take a person who's been here for 15 or 20 years and throw them and their family out, it's so tough, Mr. Trump,' I have it all the time. It's a very, very hard thing." Trump has continued his signature vow to build a massive wall along the southern U.S. border to thwart the stream of migrants entering the country from Mexico and Central America, a campaign pledge that critics have derided as impractical but one that drew wide support from Republican voters. "We are building the wall and Mexico will pay for it," Trump told cheering supporters Thursday at a rally in the northeastern state of New Hampshire. He accused his Democratic opponent in the Nov. 8 presidential election, former U.S. secretary of State Hillary Clinton, of trying to smear his supporters as racist for favoring enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. "If you want to have a strong border, it doesn't make you a racist. It makes you smart," Trump said. "It makes you an American." Russian lawmaker’s son convicted in hacking fraud By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The son of a Russian lawmaker was found guilty Thursday in the United States on charges of organizing a global hacking ring in what a prosecutor called one of the most prolific credit card trafficking schemes in history. Roman Seleznev, son of Russian lawmaker and Vladimir Putin ally Valery Seleznev, was found guilty in a court in Seattle, Washington, after a jury deliberated for less than two days. The defendant was found guilty of 38 charges, including nine counts of hacking and 10 counts of wire fraud. At his sentencing Dec. 2, he could receive up to 40 years in prison. His exploits resulted in nearly $170 million in credit card losses, according to prosecutors. Seleznev's attorney said he was facing similar charges in the U.S. states of Nevada and Georgia. The attorney, John Henry Browne, has vowed to appeal. Seleznev was charged with running a hacking scheme in which he broke into restaurants' computer systems and stole credit card numbers. Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman Barbosa said during closing arguments Wednesday that Seleznev had run the scheme from his base in Vladivostok, Russia, using several online nicknames. When he was arrested in the Maldives in 2014, investigators found 1.7 million stolen credit card numbers on his laptop, along with passwords to computer servers. Millennials duck credit cards as some face big college debt By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Being burdened with debt from college tuition loans before they even begin their work life, is keeping many millennials wary of credit cards. The concern about paying back student loans, among other factors, is keeping millennials, usually classified as people between the ages 18 and 35, away from credit cards. Fewer than one-third of millennials even own a credit card, a record low number, according to recent statistics. Stefanie O’Connell, who graduated from New York University with a degree in drama and a big debt, understands the problem. With few job opportunities, she became cautious about her finances and that led her onto a completely different career path, as a financial expert. Through her wealth management blog, she has discovered many millennials are just like her. Many younger people are resisting the temptation that credit cards offer to spend beyond one’s means, Ms. O'Connell said. “They're wary of tools like credit cards,” she explained. "They're wary of taking any kind of risk, even if it is a smart risk, like investing." What Ms. O’Connell sees among her blog readers is supported by Federal Reserve data that indicates the percentage of Americans under 35 who hold credit card debt has fallen to its lowest level since 1989, when the Fed began collecting data in a standardized way, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Credit cards are an integral part of the U.S. financial system. Credit expert Adam Levin said credit cards are frequently necessary for young people to purchase many services and goods that make their life easier and help the economy grow. Building a credit history allows someone to borrow money at a preferential credit rate to buy a car or a house. "It's critically important for a young person to build credit, to build strong credit,” Levin said. “It doesn't mean that you over credit yourself, but it means that you are wise about your credit, you are a responsible payer, and you don't get yourself in over your head." Technology has developed tools that help the millennials manage personal finances and plan budgets. Level Money, a smart app that’s also known as the financial GPS, is an example. After the user adds bank and other credit card account information to the app, it then calculates income and bills. It presents the user with the available cash to spend every day and how much to save each month. Such apps serve as an online adviser to those who use them, Ms. O'Connell said. The apps help users make better spending decisions and avoid spending habits that may make them fall deeper into debt. CIA releases briefing texts given to Nixon and Ford By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has released 2,500 previously classified daily foreign intelligence briefings given to presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford during the 1970s that shed new light on a crucial era of Cold War and Third World events. Included in the 28,000 pages of documents are nuggets of fascinating information about world affairs, including the controversial Vietnam war that claimed the lives of more than 58,000 U.S. service members. The briefings were given to Nixon and Ford when they occupied the White House during an eight-year period beginning on Jan. 20,1969. They offer insight into events such as Nixon's historic visits to China and the Soviet Union, the first such visits by a U.S. president, and Nixon's fall from grace that led to his resignation. The briefings during Ford's years as president detail historic developments like the end of the Vietnam war and the death of the founding father of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong. When Nixon arrived in Beijing on Feb. 21, 1972, the briefing meticulously noted which Chinese officials attended the various events, an attempt to better understand the operations of the politburo, which is still closely observed today. The briefings, which were about 10 pages long, revealed how little the CIA knew about China, the world's most heavily populated country, which was just beginning to re-establish a global presence after more than two decades of isolation. The CIA summary later informed Nixon that his visit to China rattled the Soviet Union and Japan and motivated European countries to engage with China. China, the briefing noted, was generally pleased with Nixon's visit. On Aug. 10, 1974, one day after the resignation of Nixon, the briefing to the newly sworn in Ford provided details about the world's response to Nixon's exit from office. "None of the potential troublemakers has produced even a rumble," the briefers said. During a briefing a year-and-a-half later, president Ford was informed of the death of Mao Zedong, who was described as the dominating force in Chinese politics. The high-level CIA briefings, released Wednesday, do not provide much insight into how much they impacted Nixon's decision-making, given that he was aloof and tended to isolate himself. Nixon chose not to get in-person briefings from CIA officials, opting to receive them, instead, from his national security advisor, Henry Kissinger. A declassified CIA history, also released Wednesday, noted that CIA officials were discouraged at their lack of access to Nixon, who carried a grudge against the intelligence agency for his loss to President John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election. Nixon believed the CIA had failed to discredit Kennedy's erroneous assertion that the U.S. had relinquished its lead in intercontinental ballistic missile technology to the Soviet Union. In the South American nation of Chile, the 1970 election of Salvador Allende as president worried Nixon, who thought Chile could become another Cuba, and adopt communism. Nixon and Kissinger spent the next three years using the CIA to secretly support Allende's opponents with the intent of forcing him out of office or inciting a coup. Allende was killed in a coup in September 1973 led by army commander Augusto Pinochet, igniting decades of debate about the role the CIA had in the putsch. The briefs did not confirm direct CIA support for the overthrow of the Chilean government. The briefings devoted a great amount of attention to developments in Indochina, where the U.S. was attempting to withdraw from the Vietnam War and support faltering governments in nearby Cambodia and Laos. Not all of the CIA's information was accurate. As the Vietnam war was winding down, an analysis given to president Ford on March 28, 1975 predicted the U.S.-trained South Vietnamese troops would maintain stability until early 1976. The communist troops from North Vietnam captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, a month later. Ford approached the daily CIA briefings much differently from Nixon, becoming the first president to receive them orally by a CIA official. Brazilian police file case against swimmer Lochte By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Brazilian police on Thursday charged American swimmer Ryan Lochte with filing a false robbery report. The report was filed during the Summer Olympics, which ended Sunday in Rio de Janeiro. Aug. 15, Lochte said that he and three fellow swim teammates, Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Jimmy Feigen, were robbed by gunmen after their taxi was pulled over by armed men posing as police. Rio police rejected this version of events and accused Lochte and the others of lying. Video surveillance emerged showing the swimmers getting into a confrontation with armed security guards over alleged vandalism at a gas station where their taxi had stopped. The gas station manager accused the swimmers of vandalizing an area near the bathroom. A conviction for filing a false crime report carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison in Brazil. Police want to question Lochte, 32, but the 12-time medalist left Brazil the day after the incident. "If he is summoned and does not turn up to the hearing, the trial will go ahead in the accused's absence until the final sentence is given," the Rio police statement said. Lochte's spokeswoman said Thursday that the swimmer had no comment. Lochte's lawyer, Jeffrey Ostrow, told USA Today that the swimmer had not yet heard from officials in Rio. Lochte, who lost all four of his major sponsors Monday, picked up a new one Thursday: Pine Bros. Softish Throat Drops, which makes cough drops. The company's ad says its product is "forgiving on your throat." After the incident at the Rio gas station, Lochte returned to the U.S. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
|
San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Aug. 26, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 169
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|||
|
Central Pacific gets plenty of rain By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The central Pacific took the brunt of bad weather Thursday with up to 2.25 inches falling in six hours, said the national weather service. Major rivers were reported rising. Affected areas included San Cristóbal, Savegre, Santo Domingo, Sábalo, El Silencio and La Gallega. In Dominical, the Río Barú was running out of its banks, said the Instituto Meteorological Nacional. About 15 homes were reported to have been flooded in Hatillo de Quepos. Some slides were reported on roadways in the central Pacific region. Rain was predicted to last into the night. There was less rain in the Central Valley where winds were reported. The weather institute said that the winds in the Central Valley were due to a high pressure area over the Caribbean. Winds of up to 60 kph were reported, some 37 mph. Winds also were reported in Guanacaste. Flurry of felt earthquakes reported By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The earth was active Thursday beginning with a 4.7-magnitude quake with an estimated epicenter 16 kilometer south of Bahia Ballena in Osa at 7:34 a.m., said the Red Sismológica Nacional de Costa Rica, which also reported these events: At 9:33 a.m. a 3.0-magnitude quake took place about six kilometers southwest of Ciudad Neily in Corredores. Then at 12:53 p.m. a 4.5-magnitude quake was reported 49 kilometers south of Cobano on the Nicoya peninsula. At 10:35 p.m. a 3.8-magnitude quake took place in the Central Valley two kilometers south of Santo Domingo de Heredia. |
| Costa
Rican
News |
AMCostaRicaArchives.com |
Retire NOW
in Costa Rica |
CostaRicaReport.com |
| Fine
Dining
in
Costa Rica |
The
CAFTA Report |
Fish
fabulous Costa Rica |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
||||||
From Page 7:
Voice
of America photo
This is Volvo's Iron KnightVolvo truck break’s firm’s own speed record By the A.M. Costa Rica
wire services
Volvo's Iron Knight set the new unofficial world record for trucks, covering the distance of 1 kilometer (or 0.621 mile) in 21.290 seconds and reaching a top speed of 276 kph, or 171 mph. The international motor sport association is expected to make it official. The previous record of 21.596 seconds was set in 2012 by Volvo's Mean Green truck. Similar to production-based automobiles used in stock car races, the super-truck's powertrain and transmission are based on the standard engine, gearbox and clutch used in Volvo's FH line of long-haul trailer trucks. They just had to be modified to handle the enormous forces. Iron Knight's chassis is handmade, but its 13-liter 2,400-horsepower diesel engine and the I-Shift Dual Clutch transmission develop about 17 times more force than the 350-horsepower Ford Focus engine. The clutch plates had to be made of special material. |
