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Second news page |
 Click HERE for photo tour of 511 properties for SALE or RENT in Escazú, Ciudad Colón, Santa Ana, Rohrmoser, Curridabat, Heredia and the Pacific Coast. |
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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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operations to here By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Hospira Inc., a global hospital products manufacturer, said that it is closing a plant in Donegal, Ireland, and moving operations from that plant to others in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica within the next 18 months. The Donegal plant has 550 workers who will be affected, they said. The company said that it will provide them with retraining, career development and other assistance, it said. “To be successful over the long term, Hospira must continue to focus on improving profitability through cost savings and increased operational efficiency while also producing the highest quality products that meet our customers' needs,” said James V. Mahoney, corporate vice president, global operations. Officials with the company estimate it will cost up to $40 million to close the plant and move its operations. As a result, the company estimates that it will save $15 million annually beginning in 2008. Fútbol fans to find border is friendly By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Immigration authorities will keep the Paso Canoas boarder crossing open 24 hours a day from Thursday through Sept. 5 so they can accommodate the soccer fans who will be traveling to Panamá for a crucial World Cup preliminary. The Costa Rican national team will play the Panamanian team Saturday. Johnny Marín, director of Migración, said that six more persons are being added to the immigration staff and that special attention will be paid to fans traveling as groups. A number of companies are offering group bus rates. Marín said that fans will be able to cross in and out of Costa Rica without leaving their bus because officials will conduct immigration interviews inside the vehicles once they have reviewed the appropriate documents. Officials also said that meetings have been held with customs, the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo and the various police agencies to coordinate the work at the border. Black legislators meet here and also in Limón By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Some 75 delegates from 20 Western Hemisphere countries are attending the third meeting of lawmakers who are descendants of Africans. The meeting, called in Spanish the III Encuentro de Parlamentarios y Parlamentarias Afrodescendientes de las Américas, starts today and runs through Wednesday. The event is followed Thursday and Friday by an interAmerican forum in Limón at which the topic will be the black legislator in the Americas. Among the organizers are Edwin Patterson and Epsy Campbell Barr, who both are members of the Costa Rican Asamblea Legislativa. Delegates were hosted at a reception by the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto Sunday. Youth in Quepos march in anti-exploitation event By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The youth of Quepos marched through the streets there Friday as part of the Fuerza Publica's campaign to raise awareness about the agency's effort to fight the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, said officials with the Ministerio de Segurdiad Pública. The campaign is running under the slogan: “Because our children have the right to be children.” The campaign started Friday and will cover eight more in the province of Puntarenas, said the projects creator, Juan José Andrade, regional director of the Fuerza Pública in Puntarenas. Andrade hopes that there will be parades in each of the other eight towns as well. The parades are the third stage of a project that included a pamphlet drive by over 400 students to educate tourists and the general public about sexual exploitation. The next step was to teach the youth of the area how to avoid becoming a victim of sexual exploitation, said Andrade. Shooting in San Pedro kills student passer-by By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Stray bullets on Calle Amargura early Friday morning left one man dead and another with a bullet wound in his jaw, said officials with the Judicial Investigating Organization. A confrontation between two groups on the street resulted in gunshots that officials said were fired at random. One struck a 19-year-old man in the right side of his head, killing him. The victim was identified by the last name Brenes. A 23-year-old man was shot in the left jaw. He is identified by the last name Zúñiga. Calle Amargura in San Pedro is a popular center for night spots near the University of Costa Rica. Limón man suspected of killing coworker By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A Limón man is facing an allegation that he killed a co-worker during a robbery attempt, said officials with the Poder Judicial. The suspect, identified by the last name Ortega, has been arrested in the murder of Taly Rivera Torres. Agents claim the suspect was attempting to steal firearms from the private security firm the two worked for, officials said. The robbery and Rivera's subsequent death happened early Tuesday morning at a toll booth in Búfalo. Rivera, a guard supervisor, arrived on the scene on a motorcycle and was shot down almost immediately. Rivera has been placed in pretrial detention, said officials. |
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with the observations of Dr. Lenny Karpman Click HERE! |
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| A saying for those who follow a different drummer |
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| Irse con la
música a otro lado “Go with the music to a different place.” Though there are several ways to use this dicho, it’s basic meaning is roughly the same as the English expression: “Follow the beat of your own drummer.” You must listen to your own special music even if no one else recognizes the tune. Irse con la música a otro lado might also mean that a person must find that special place where there are others who can dance to the same music he or she does. This dicho also takes several forms. For example, you can say Me voy con mi música a otro lado, meaning “I’ll take myself with my music to a different place.” Or Mejor me voy con mi música a otro lado, meaning “It’s better for me to go with my music to the other side.” And finally, Mejor se va con su música a otro lado, meaning “It’s better for you to follow your music to another place.” They all are related, but the meaning or the form depends on who is saying what to whom. If it is I who is referring to myself it’s me voy. If I am referring to you then it’s se va. Irse con la música a otro lado can also refer to how people perceive you, either you are welcome or you’re not. In English, in such cases, we might say that a certain person — who seems to be out of sync with the rest of society — “marches to the beat of a different drummer.” This is a rather gentle way of saying that someone is strange, weird, or far out. Another dicho that sort of goes with this one is: Ha cosas necias oidos sordos, meaning “I close my ears to such nonsense.” It’s a none-too-subtle way of letting someone know that you don’t care for their kind of “music,” and you’d like them to go someplace where they’re more likely to be appreciated. In my work with international students at Indiana University I am constantly bringing people from all parts of the globe together. It could be said that I am |
always working with a group of people who are
all dancing to the beat of different drummers. And it’s interesting
how, at the beginning, many of them have such very stereotypical views
of one another. For example, when Asian or European students think of
Latinos they nearly always envision a brown or olive complexioned
person with black hair who speaks Spanish. But they are often surprised
to encounter blond, blue-eyed Latinos who speak Portuguese or black
Latinas who speak Spanish or French. After all, even a symphony
orchestra, which is made up of a diverse assortment of different
instruments from violins to oboes to trombones, is capable of the most
beautiful music. |
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| Turrialba votes against use of the Pacuare for power |
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By Jesse Froehling
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Turrialba responded with a resounding no when citizens were asked whether they approved the construction of hydroelectric dams on the Río Pacuare, said Eugenio Guido Esperez. Guido is the coordinator of the Grupo Amigos del Rio Pacuare. Some 8,000 people showed up at the voting polls Sunday and 97 percent of them voted no to the question: “Do you agree with the Municipalidad of Turrialba granting construction permits to build hydroelectric plants on the Pacuare river?” said Guido. Leading presidential candidate Oscar Arias has touted the potential economic benefits exporting hydroelectric power could provide to the country, but those in Turrialba decided to forgo such benefits in favor of leaving the river alone, said Guido. The river is a major whitewater river rafting destination. |
The object of the
referendum was to close all the legal doors in which
a new president or the municipality could hypothetically award
contracts, said the group. The Grupo Amigos del Río Pacuare said through E-mail that the Secretaria Tecnica National Ambiental conducted a study on the environmental impact such a facility would have on the river and, as a result of that study, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad abandoned any plans it had for a hydroelectric facility on the river. However, this did not limit the possibility of one in the future. Guido said that there no longer exists any method in which a group could build a hydroelectric facility on the river. The organization campaigned actively against the ballot question. Official reports from the municipalidad were not avaiilable. There was also an available ballot for the Indians living in the town with the question in the Cabecar language. |
| Packaging can tell pet owners which anti-flea product is the
original |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The false Advantage products being sold in Costa Rica can be identified by their packaging, said Manuel Bermudez, a representative from the Bayer Co. According to Bermudez, Bayer animal products in Costa Rica are primarily imported from a plant in Kiel, Germany. Those products say “Advantage,” on the packaging, the false products are primarily smuggled in from illegal makers in the United States and say “K9 Advantage,” said Bermudez. Bermudez was responding to a report that the fake products might have shown up in Costa Rica. Gerald Thorman, the owner of two infected poodles who was quoted in the initial story, threw away the packaging of the product he bought and was unable to recall whether it said “Advantage,” or “K9 Advantage.” And the product he originally bought was one of the two. A.M. Costa Rica reported that he originally bought a package labeled “Frontline.” This was incorrect. However, Frontline, made by the Merial Co., also has an Environmental Protection Agency warning about it because Frontline products have also been counterfeited, said the EPA Web site. Carl Wells, a veterinarian registered in both the United States and Costa Rica, wrote to say that it is important for consumers to understand that while fleas generally die rather quickly, ticks may take longer to kill. |
“Even after the tick is
dead, it often remains attached to the pet thus
giving the illusion that there was no response to the medication.
Drug
resistance, especially by the tick, is constantly changing and could
account for product failure. "I have noticed that the same Frontline that worked well last year in Guanacaste is almost useless this year,” Wells wrote. The Frontline Wells used was purchased directly from the manufacturer so it is nearly impossible that that product was counterfeited. When Thorman returned to his veterinarian in Santa Barbara, he said he noticed that the Advantage products had been removed. They had been replaced by a product called Advantix he said. That product is also made by Bayer. The EPA has not issued a warning against it about fake lookalikes. “I am convinced that the Advantage we bought from the vet here in Santa Barbara was fake and didn't kill one tick much less any of the crabs. I also am of the opinion that the vet became aware of the problem either through his own failed applications of the drug or complaints from pet owners. "At any rate the Advantix we bought from them did work, a little slower than the Frontline, but both girls [Muffita and Mimi] after two days of application are now free from the despicable parasites,” he wrote. |
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A
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| Gulf of U.S. braces for trial by hurricane today |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. Gulf Coast states of Mississippi and Louisiana have declared states of emergency, in preparation for Hurricane Katrina, which is forecast to make landfall somewhere along the coast early today. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Louisiana's Kathleen Blanco issued the declarations as the dangerous hurricane strengthened over the warm Gulf waters Saturday and evacuations of low-lying areas began. At last report at 10 p.m. Costa Rican time, the 11th named storm of this year's Atlantic hurricane season was 90 miles south southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River and 160 miles south southeast of the City of New Orleans. The slow-moving system had 185 kph winds as it moved in a westerly direction. Katrina remains a very large hurricane, said the U.S. national Hurricane Center in Miami. Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 105 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 230 miles, a report at 9 |
p.m. Costa Rican time
said. A wind gust to 90 mph was recently reported from southwest
Louisiana, said the center. Hurricane Katrina slammed into southeast Florida Thursday, leaving at least seven people dead. The storm caused widespread flooding, toppled trees and left about a million people without electricity. Insured losses from Katrina's first strike are now estimated at $1 billion. The storm is affecting air carriers that service Costa Rica. Continental Airlines said flights to and from New Orleans, Gulfport and Baton Rouge, La., have been canceled for today and tomorrow. Flights to and from Lafayette, La., Mobile, Ala., Pensacola, Fla., and Fort Walton, Fla., have been cancelled for today. Delays or cancelations also are possible in Alexandria, Beaumont/Port Arthur, Jackson, Lake Charles, Monroe and Shreveport, the airline said. Both Continental and American Airlines said they would not charge a penalty for passengers who change flights as a result of the storm. |
| Rural activists in Ecuador give deadline to foreign oil
companies |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
QUITO, Ecuador — Activists in northeastern Ecuador have given foreign oil companies 48 hours to finalize an investment agreement, or they say they will resume protests that crippled production. The activists Sunday demanded there be no changes to a deal reached in principle last week and called on companies to invest in communities where they drill. |
A spokeswoman for the
activists said the companies must respect the rights of the local
populations. A strike by locals earlier this month shut down exports from Ecuador's two largest oil producing regions. Protesters damaged pipes and drilling equipment, forcing the government to declare a state of emergency. |
| Rival demonstrators in Caracas clash in the streets over
election rules |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
CARACAS, Venezuela — Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have clashed with his opponents who rallied here to demand electoral reform ahead of congressional elections in December. Officials say six people were injured Saturday as the two sides skirmished in a volley of smoke bombs, rocks, bottles and fireworks. The injured included one |
woman who was struck in
the back of the head. The anti-Chavez demonstrators say Venezuela's electoral board is biased and must be overhauled before the December vote. Chavez critics accuse him of becoming increasingly authoritarian and say he is trying to model the oil-rich country after Communist-led Cuba. The Venezuelan president has said he is working to improve the lives of the country's impoverished majority. |
| U.S. indicts 19 members of infamous Salvadorian street gang |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
BALTIMORE, Md. — Nineteen suspected members of the violent street gang, Mara Salvatrucha (or MS-13) have been indicted on federal racketeering charges here. The indictments, released Thursday, accuse the men of murders, kidnappings and other gang-related crimes from April 2003 to June of this year. The 19 suspected gang members are accused of six murders and several attempted murders. |
The crimes took place
in suburban Maryland, outside of Washington, D.C. The gang is traditionally made up of immigrants from El Salvador. Its U.S. activities originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s. An estimated 10,000 members are in the United States. Federal agents and local police officers arrested many of the indicted gang members Thursday. The indictments are the latest attempt by the federal government to target the organization. |
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