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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Wednesday,
Sept. 17, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 184
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Our readers opinions
Multinationals proved their
irresponsibilityDear A.M. Costa Rica: Your editorial, seemingly opposing the bill before the legislature which proposes a moratorium on genetically modified crops in Costa Rica, brings up one valid point — that there has not been proven science as to the harm of certain modified crops, but makes a flawed assumption in the closing line when it states: ¨And the lawmakers should differentiate between an attack on international corporations and their intellectual property rights and public health¨ in assuming that there´s public health benefits to be gained by allowing companies like Monsanto free and open access to Costa Rica. The country already is reeling from the after effects of all the toxic agrochemicals being used. That Monsanto perversely manipulates its genetically modified crops in order to tolerate elevated levels of Roundup, a proven toxin, has no health benefits whatsoever. Which is for the most part why there is a virulent populist movement against GMO´s, and the multinationals who want open access. Having proven their irresponsibility and untrustworthiness in developing, marketing and monopolizing GMO, and other products, largely due to lax government oversight — a direct result of these multi-nationals having co-opted governmental processes which should have prevented their free-wheeling practices. Large corporations have wrested the keys to government, as witnessed in part by the supreme court rulings granting corporations free speech rights thereby allowing big business to buy elections. When corporations are allowed to write legislation, which has become common practice in Washington, then they essentially control governments. When Monsanto is given copyright protection on the hybridization of all the seeds it develops — in essence staunching the hitherto undamed free flow of ¨natural¨ genetic evolution of seeds, further strangling small independent farmers, you get backlashes such as what we are seeing in bills like this. Does this mean that GMOs are inherently bad, the way that some people would have you believe? Personally, I don´t believe so, but I think the bill, even if it is imperfect, at least stands for what´s right, in opposing Monsanto, et al. Harii Singh Khalsa
Cóbano Is this the kind of food you want to eat? Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Glad to see you are keeping the GMO issue in the news with your editorial. I agree with you. What difference does a ban on cultivation of GMOs in Costa Rica do when most of the food the people and animals in Costa Rica eat are GM? But, let me ask you this: Why would anyone think that it would be good for them to consume corn that 1) has BT, an insecticide bred into the corn on a cellular level? and 2) is also engineer genetically so that glyphosate, a herbicide linked to numerous health problems including cancer can be applied to corn in greater quantities without killing the corn plant? Is this the type of food you people want to eat and have your children eat? I wouldn't feed it to a stray dog. Do you know that most Americans test positive for BT now? Do you think that eating chemicals that kill plants and insects will not affect you over your lifetime? Come on. There's a reason that Monsanto tests on rats don't go past 90 days. Finally, corporate money funds almost all research in the U.S., so citing the latest "science" only tells us what the corporation want us to know/believe. Recent public admissions by William Thompson, Centers for Disease Control scientist, on fraudulent autism/vaccinations connection studies not reported by mainstream media are case in point. Albert Lusk
San Isidro Monsanto is behind Tuesday editorial Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I have noticed your highly biased article on GMO foods today. I shows no author in particular nor who is behind the bias. I think you only need to follow the money trail. I would suspect that Monsanto and The Grocery Manufacturers Association, GMA, is ultimately behind it as they have hundreds of millions of dollars to spend to defend their products. The brave people of a majority of cantons in Costa Rica are against it for good reasons besides the possible health dangers which have been shown in many studies worldwide. Patented seeds take away the freedom of farmers to save seeds from year to year. Increased herbicide use increases poisoning danger and development of super resistant weeds. Allowing some GMO seeds will contaminate the environment so that farmers who don’t want the GMO will get them by air and can be accused of patent infringement as is done in other countries. In some countries the farmers are learning that higher yields and lower costs do not materialize. In India there has been reported that two farmers per minute are committing suicide due to crop failure linked to GMO. There is a growing backlash against GMO and demand is increasing for non-GMO organic products. Costa Rica should avoid GMO and prepare to fill the higher-priced, non-GMO market. Several leading wellness and natural physicians in the U.S.A. are warning about the dangers of GMO. Wait and see and study is the appropriate course now, although I would like to see GMO crops and imported raw material prohibited in Costa Rica. At a very minimum, products with GMO components should be labeled as such which many countries have done. I have recently saw photos of rats fed GMO with huge tumors. Dr. Joseph Mercola of the U.S.A. has gathered up a lot of information contrary to that provided in your article. There are other doctors of similar opinion. You only have to make a Google search to get the other side of the story. An article from you presenting both sides would be more appropriate. Personally, I have eliminated corn, sugar, canola, cotton seed, soy and processed foods from the U.S.A. and Canada due to the GMO menace. I am glad that we do not have flouridated water here like many countries, and I am looking for tooth paste without fluoride, a hazardous industrial poison, for which I have substituted Dove soap until I can find better. Incidentally, there are other bad products such as mercury in tooth fillings which is poisonous and triclosan in cleaning products which contributes to resistant bacteria. Joseph Lassiter,
Playa Hermosa, Guancaste Two reasons to ban modified crops Dear A.M. Costa Rica: This morning's AM Costa Rica published an editorial on page one, arguing that no scientific literature has shown that genetically engineered crops harm human or animal health, and that, therefore, given current and potential advantages, such as herbicide resistance and increased yield, their consumption and planting should be permitted here. I agree with the first part of your position, in that I'm unaware of published, refereed, scientific papers demonstrating a high incidence or probability of harm to human and/or animal health. However, there are two reasons that I, as an ecologist, support the continued ban prohibiting planting of transgenic crops here. The first is for ecological and the second for social reasons. A risk of ecological harm through planting of transgenic crops here, although not necessarily the only one, is the possibility, some argue the probability, that such crops growing here could contaminate the genetic pool of traditional crops, and of more ecological importance for me, the possibility that the genetic pools of the evolutionary precursors of common food crops here be contaminated with the genes of transgenic crops, principally through the pollination of the crop progenitors by pollen from transgenic crops. Through modern agricultural history, going back to the late 19th century, occasional massive crop failures have occurred because pathogens have become established in major crops, such as wheat, that were widely planted using the same crop variety over very wide areas. Through traditional crop breeding, crop geneticists, or breeders, have incorporated new genes from evolutionary progenitor species that are resistant to the pathogens, conferring that pest resistance to new crop varieties and restoring crop production. Other potential beneficial genetic attributes of crop progenitor species, in addition to pest resistance, such as drought tolerance, wet soil or high water table tolerance, salt tolerance, and possibly many others, are often promised by advocates of transgenic crops, and would also be lost if the gene pools of crop progenitor species are "polluted" with transgenic crop pollen. Among the highest area of concern are the areas in central and southern Mexico where corn or maiz evolved and where maiz progenitor species still exist in the wild. Mexico and Guatemala are the origin of most commercial squash species, so progenitor species of squash would also be threatened by planting there of transgenic squash. A conceptually simple solution to pollen pollution of progenitor crop species, which I believe the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, and the system of International Agricultural Research Centers should adopt, as well as nations such as Costa Rica and the United States, would be to require that all transgenic crops produce only sterile pollen, or no pollen. Of course, since a crop, such as corn, that requires pollination to produce its seed (in the case of corn, largely wind-pollinated), would produce none of the desired product. The social reason against permitting planting of transgenic crops here is because the companies that developed the transgenic varieties and that produce the seed commercially for growing them require the farmer buying seed for planting to sign a legally binding contract that prohibits the farmer from using part of the crop as seed for planting in subsequent years or crop cycles. So the farmer has to purchase new seed every year for his annual crop. That's good for Monsanto and the other transgenic seed vendors, but not for the farmers. In Costa Rica, as well as many parts of the world, even in parts of the U.S., farmers traditionally save part of their crop as seed in the following year, or following crop cycle. Widespread use of transgenic crops here might greatly produce the productivity of areas planted with the herbicide-resistant, drought tolerance, or other beneficial crop attribute conferred by the crop plant's genetic manipulation. However, the high cost of such seed, while possibly paying for itself through higher yields, would probably limit the farmers using them to wealthy landowners and industrial producers. Mini-fundio traditional farmers would likely be put out of the marketplace by being evermore less-competitive with the big farms. And its very possible, if not likely, that their traditional seed gene pool would be contaminated by transgenic pollen from surrounding large farms, so they might be prohibited from even producing a subsistence crop. Many small-scale farmers without access to lawyers might buy transgenic seed, but not understand their risk in using part of their crop for seed the following year or crop cycle, and face legal liability and possibly loss of their patrimony as a result. It's possible that the Asamblea Legislativa could pass a law prohibiting such seed contracts, but Monsanto, Cargill, and other vendors would likely pressure the U.S. to litigate its implementation under the terms of the Central America and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organization policies. I don't support a Costa Rican ban on human or animal consumption of genetically modified crops here, due principally because there's no scientifically sound proof that they harm human or animal health, but also because I like those corn-based snacks too much. You're correct that a negative can't be proven. But Costa Rica could be a leader in raising the issue of the risk to gene pools of crop progenitor species and the social issues of legal restrictions on transgenic crop seed use. Thank you for broadening the discussion on genetically modified crops by printing my views. Loren B. Ford
Grecia Chemist to take Roundup use to court Dear A.M. Costa Rica: "Shall we just shoot ourselves in the foot again?" What uninformed idiot wrote this article? I have a doctorate in chemistry from Duke, taught chem for over a decade there, etc. I am not uninformed, yet I am absolutely opposed to GMO crops in Costa Rica for sound and defendable reasons. Your article cited the benefits of Roundup-ready genetic modifications. Roundup has been conclusively shown to cause fish kills, increased erosion, organ damage in humans and domesticated animals, has been found in almost every well/spring tested, in mother's milk, and in fetal blood. Anyone advocating use of this poison should be on trial for accessory to murder, not writing unsubstantiated but influential articles. I used to teach the class on reading and evaluating published scientific papers. The studies supporting GMO safety are designed for a specific result and are in large part, perfect examples of bad science. Money drives research and there is a ton of money behind this cause. However, there have been some good studies in well-respected journals that demonstrate the truth. For example, what about the identified mechanism by which glychophosphate demonstrates endocrine disrupting effects even in parts per trillion quantities? that means one gallon of roundup contaminates 1 cubic kilometer of water sufficiently to cause pre-cancerous changes likely leading to breast cancer. The cancer link is actually the least proven damage. Organ damage, birth defects etc. have much more substantial evidence backing them up. furthermore, the half-life of roundup in soil is as much as 100 days. This means that one application makes that soil toxic for a minimum of three years. We are starting to document cases of Roundup application. In time, we will begin sampling neighboring land and water. as we get test cases, we will be seeking relief in court. My hope is to seize farms and properties that choose to use this toxic substance or at least get judgments in the millions of dollars per case. If the chemical leaves your property, which it always does, then you are liable for the health problems of your neighbors, the death of your stream ecosystems, and the economic damage of reducing the value of your neighbors property. Tort law will be our big stick! If an organic farm loses a crop because of a neighbor's chemical use, they need to be compensated for at least three years of potential harvests and a percentage value of the damaged land. When people start losing their farms and homes, perhaps this global contamination will begin to abate! Another strong reason to oppose genetic modified crops is genetic pollution which could destroy the genetic diversity of the planet. GMO crops have been shown to pass on their genetics to other plants. This is not debatable. Even Monsanto admits this. Costa Rica's greatest treasure is its genetic diversity. GMO crops threaten to destroy that! Anyone who supports or uses GMO crops and/or roundup is either misinformed or essentially an accessory to murder and catastrophic environmental damage! If you see someone with a sprayer in their hands, it is the same as a rifle pointed at your grandchildren, just slower. It is already too late for our children. They are all contaminated. But if we stop now, maybe we can save the grandchildren! James D. Johansen
San Ramón
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 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 |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 184 | |
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| 24 cultural locations await visitors from Art City Tour
tonight |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Various cultural entities are competing to attract visitors to their expositions this evening during the Art City Tour. Visitors can drop in at any number of 24 cultural centers and museums, and the visit is free. Transportation is being provided, too, as usual. The Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo said that it is inaugurating three expositions tonight. They will run until Nov. 13. Artist-sculptor Benvenuto Chavajay from Guatemala opens his show called “Chunches,” which translates to things or knickknacks. The exposition “GAUR [sic]” contains contemporary Basque video art and is curated by Nekane Aramburu. The third expo is “CaSO 4,” which is the chemical formula for gypsum. The emphasis is on the use and application of materials, said the museum. The design museum is in the Centro Nacional de la Cultura, the former liquor factory, just east of Parque España, that also serves as the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud. Art City Tour begins at 5 p.m. and runs until 9. Many visitors will travel on bicycles. The Museo Nacional will be opening a half hour earlier for visitors. Plus it is a location where participants can grab a bus ride. The Museo Nacional said it has five expositions available for the public, including “Diquís,” which features jewelry inspired by the |
 A flyer from the Museo de Arte y
Diseño Contemporáneo
Diquís culture that is believed to have created the stone balls found on southwest Pacific coast. During regular visiting times many of these museums have an admission fee even for Costa Ricans. Among the tour stops tonight are the new Museo del Jade y la Cultura Precolombina, Museo Calderón Guardia, Museos del Banco Central, Centro Cultural de España, Galería Sophia Wanamaker in Barrio Dent and the Centro de Estudios Brasileños. A full list is available in the Art City Tour Facebook page. |
| Researchers begin to uncover the vital role of bacteria on
tropical leaves |
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By
the Smithsonian Tropical Research Center news staff
Human skin and gut microbes influence processes from digestion to disease resistance. Despite the fact that tropical forests are the most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystems on the planet, more is known about belly-button bacteria than bacteria on trees in the tropics. Smithsonian scientists and colleagues working on Panama’s Barro Colorado Island discovered that small leaf samples from a single tree were home to more than 400 different kinds of bacteria. The combined sample from 57 tree species contained more than 7,000 different kinds. Bacteria in tropical forests may also play a vital role, protecting leaves against pathogens and even affecting the ability of forests to respond to climate change. “Just as people are realizing that microbes carried by humans can have an influence on a person’s health — positive or negative — we hope to discover what bacteria on tree leaves can tell us about the health of a forest,” said S. Joseph Wright, a Smithsonian scientist and co-author of the new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In contrast to a previous study of bacteria on leaves in a temperate forest where different leaves had different bacteria, there was a core group of species of common bacteria present on leaves of nearly all |
of the species
sampled in Panamá. Just as on human skin, many of the
bacteria on tropical tree leaves were actinobacteria and
proteobacteria. Various species can be helpful or disease causing to
humans. The researchers, from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, University of Quebec, University of Arizona, University of Oregon, University of California — Los Angeles and Santa Fe Institute, also looked for relationships between the composition of bacterial communities on leaves and other plant characteristics. Many bacteria were associated with certain functional traits such as leaf thickness, wood density or leaf nitrogen content, characteristics that directly impact tree growth, survival and reproduction. The relationships between many of the bacteria and tree species they sampled were ancient, going back to the ancestors of both the bacteria and the trees as they evolved in tandem. “Our ability to use molecular techniques like 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing to characterize nearly all of the bacteria on a leaf is going to make it possible to see how very different members of forest communities interact,” said Wright. The Smithsonian forest ecologist and his colleagues hope to collaborate with researchers at the 60 Forest Global Earth Observatory sites coordinated by the Smithsonian’s Center for Tropical Forest Science to compare interactions at different sites and under different environmental conditions. |
| University degree program will train engineers to make and
troubleshoot medical devices |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Tecnológico de Costa Rica, the Cartago-based public university, said it is starting a master's degree program in the development of medical devices. The program has the support of the Coalición Costarricense de Iniciativas de Desarrollo. The program will be in the university's materials engineering school. |
Costa Rica has
become a leader in the production of many types of
medical devices. The new program will use appropriate software to
create processes for the construction of these medical devices. The program also will focus on the analysis of shortcomings and the resolution of problems as well as research into materials, said the university. The University of Minnesota also is a sponsor. |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 184 | |||||
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| Export agriculture called major reason for illegal
deforestations |
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By
the Burness Communications news staff
A comprehensive new analysis says that nearly half (49 percent) of all recent tropical deforestation is the result of illegal clearing for commercial agriculture. The study also finds that the majority of this illegal destruction was driven by overseas demand for agricultural commodities including palm oil, beef, soy, and wood products. In addition to devastating impacts on forest-dependent people and biodiversity, the illegal conversion of tropical forests for commercial agriculture is estimated to produce 1.47 gigatonnes of carbon each year — equivalent to 25 percent of the EU's annual fossil fuel-based emissions. "We've known that the production of agricultural commodities is a principal driving force behind deforestation, but this is the first report to show the outsize role that illegal activities play in the production of hundreds of food and household products consumed worldwide," said Michael Jenkins, president and CEO of Forest Trends, a Washington-based non-profit organization that published the report. "Increased agricultural production will be necessary for food security and to meet the demand of the emerging global middle class. |
However,
the world must also wake up to the scale of how much of this
agricultural production is taking place on land that has been illegally
cleared. Urgent action is needed to help countries where these
agricultural products are being grown, both for governments to enforce
their own laws and regulations, and for businesses aiming to produce
commodities legally and sustainably." According to the study, "Consumer Goods and Deforestation: An Analysis of the Extent and Nature of Illegality in Forest Conversion for Agriculture," 90 percent of the deforestation in Brazil from 2000 to 2012 was illegal, primarily due to the failure to conserve a percentage of natural forests in large-scale cattle and soy plantations, as required by Brazilian law. Much of this occurred prior to 2004, when the Brazilian government took steps to successfully reduce deforestation. And in the forests of Indonesia, 80 percent of deforestation was illegal — mostly for large-scale plantations producing palm oil and timber, 75 percent of which is exported. While other countries also experience high levels of illegal deforestation, Brazil and Indonesia produce the highest level of agricultural commodities destined for global markets, many of which wind up in cosmetics or household goods, animal feed and packaging. Illegal deforestation is also rampant in most other countries across Asia, Latin America, and Africa losing large areas of tropical forest. |
Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 184 | |||||||
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| Scotland's future is entering the final stages before vote By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
This week the people of Scotland will take part in one of the most important events in the history of the United Kingdom, a referendum on independence. As campaigners race to persuade those who have not yet made up their minds, one significant factor in the possible outcome is income. One of the best known images of Scotland is its capital city, Edinburgh, with its iconic castle and ubiquitous bagpipe players. But Edinburgh represents Scotland in other ways, too. It is home to some of the country’s most affluent residents living alongside impoverished communities. The growing divide between rich and poor has been identified as crucial before the vote for Scottish independence on Thursday. As the debate over Scotland’s future enters its final stages, polls remain too close to call. And political leaders in London have made a last-minute offer of greater autonomy if Scottish voters reject independence. Polls suggest the vote will be close, and the nearly half-million voters still undecided could determine whether Scotland leaves its 307-year-old union. While only Scotland will get to vote on the nation’s future, the rest of the United Kingdom, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is doing its best to sway voters. A pro-union rally was staged Monday in London. Polls show a big majority outside Scotland wants it to stay within the United Kingdom. In Edinburgh, British Prime Minister David Cameron made an impassioned speech to voters. “For the people of Scotland to walk away now, would be like painstakingly building a home and then walking out the door and throwing away the keys,” Cameron said. Analysts say the passionate tone reflects shock at the narrowing of opinion polls and realization of the profound impact that Scottish independence would have on the whole of Britain. To the north of Edinburgh, at a bustling "Yes" shop in Leith, Scottish National Party member Jacqueline Chalmers said, in general, wealthier people will likely stick with the status quo. "It is not so black and white, but there is a tendency that if you live in a bigger house, then probably the union has been good for you, so you will stick with what you know,” Ms. Chalmers said. A poll released earlier this year by The Financial Times showed 40 percent of people with household incomes below $23,000 would vote yes. Independence would mean a guarantee that tax and social security rates would be set in line with the wishes of the people of Scotland. This includes scrapping the newly introduced bedroom tax, part of welfare reform that cuts the amount of benefits that people can get if they are considered to have a spare room in their home. Taxes on the poor, past and present, play an important role in the debate. Iain Simpson, a member of the Radical Independence Campaign, said, "We have spent two years signing people onto the electoral register on housing estates. People who have never voted before, people who never registered to escape from the poll tax and things. “They have not joined the electoral register to say ‘We Love Westminster,’ ” he said while at the “Yes” shop in Leith. The poll tax was a local government tax criticized for being needlessly burdensome on the poor. It was introduced by the then-Conservative Party leader, prime minister Margaret Thatcher, in 1989 in Scotland, and later to the rest of the Britain, and was scrapped after widespread protests. The so-called Thatcher years tainted support for the Conservative Party in Scotland. But voting for independence as a protest vote is misguided, said the Scottish Parliament Member for the Labor Party, Malcolm Chisholm. "I suppose the problem is for a lot of people they are just seeing it as a lot of "Yes" voters do not like the government in London so we will just vote against that,” Chisholm said. “But of course we are saying it is for life and you have to look at what the economic and financial consequences are, and a lot of people are dreaming about what they can do." Joining Chisholm on the streets of Leith, canvassing for the pro-union campaign Better Together, is solicitor Callum McLean, a traditional Liberal Party supporter. McLean said he believes Scots would not benefit from going it alone. "Scotland has a very good settlement in terms of the amount of spending per capita in comparison to the rest of the U.K. That is a deal that it gets because of its traditional place in the UK,” McLean said. Chisholm said it is rather a generalization to say income level is deciding who votes what. He said he has been canvassing in high-rise flats in deprived areas of Edinburgh and has met many “No” voters. The "Yes" camp, too, said they are finding support in traditionally wealthier parts of the city. Meanwhile, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who is leading the “Yes” campaign, said Prime Minister Cameron is shaken by recent polls that show a narrowing between the two campaigns. “In fact, it was said in my presence that he did not want to lose Scotland as George III lost America. And if we leave that to one side, Scotland is a nation. It is not a property that can be lost and found,” Salmond added. A late public opinion poll showed the percentage of those in favor of separation increasing, which made the “No” side push harder in persuading Scots they will achieve more autonomy if they do not secede. One of the most vocal anti-independence campaigners, former British prime minister Gordon Brown pointed out the financial consequences of the “Yes” vote. “Look at the other consequences, we lose the benefit we have from the UK currency and the ability to make decisions at the UK level and let us be honest about this, the 1 million jobs that are linked to membership of the UK,” Brown said. French prime minister gets the votes he needs to remain By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
By the end of the vote, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls got the results he had hoped for: 269 in favor of his government compared to 244 votes against. But the embattled Socialist government of French President Francois Hollande has lost its absolute majority in parliament, with some of its dissident lawmakers abstaining from casting their ballots. But by squeaking through Tuesday's parliamentary confidence vote, the party has overcome a political and economic crisis — for now. Addressing the lawmakers minutes after the results were announced, Valls vowed to continue a path of proposed economic reforms through the rest of the government's five-year term. But the problems facing Valls, and Hollande, are far from over. The country is battling a stagnant economy and record unemployment, and Hollande is the most unpopular leader in modern times with a 13 percent approval rating. Even French nationals who voted Hollande into office, such as 61-year-old Zulika Ben Brahim, who says the government must address high unemployment among youth and help older people like herself, are rooting for change. The National Assembly head of the main opposition UMP party, Christian Jacob, says the days are numbered for Prime Minister Valls, as he vowed to battle the government at every turn. Only on one issue are French politicians united, he said: the battle against militant Islam. The vote comes a day after President Hollande hosted an international conference on Iraq, in which nations pledged to step up the fight against the Islamic State group. Hollande has scored points on his foreign policy, which has included military campaigns to staunch the bloodshed in Mali and Central African Republic, but that is about all. The president is expected to outline his strategy for the country during a press conference Thursday. And he faces other key tests this week, starting Friday when the Moody's rating agency may downgrade its sovereign debt rating for France. Sunday, former president Nicolas Sarkozy, one of Holland's political rivals, is expected to announce his return to politics. U.N. equates climate action to more economic growth By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A landmark report released Tuesday at the United Nations finds that taking action on climate change is compatible with economic growth. The report comes one week before the U.N. Climate Summit that is expected to bring together 125 heads of state with business and civic leaders to begin discussion about a new global climate treaty. The report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate makes the economic case for taking bold action now on climate change. At the report launch, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that with polluting climate changing gases at record levels, the world can no longer afford to burn its way to prosperity. “We need a structural transformation in the global economy," he said. "This report argues for a new model where economic growth and climate action are mutually reinforcing and it shows how we can build it.” Former Mexico president Felipe Calderón chaired the commission, which is composed of two dozen scientists, politicians and business professionals from every part of the world. They noted that by 2030, an additional one billion people will have moved into cities. Exactly how governments manage the projected $90 trillion that will be invested in energy systems, urban development and land use over the next 15 years, Calderon said, will shape future growth, productivity and living standards. "If we don’t take action in the coming years, it will be every day more expensive and more difficult to shift towards a low carbon economy at the global level," he said. According to the report, more compact urban centers built around mass transit could grow the economy while producing less pollution and ultimately prove healthier places to live. The report also says restoring degraded farm land could feed millions of people. According to Jeremy Oppenheim, the commission's program director, dramatic price drops are already making investments in renewable energy more attractive. “The cost of solar has come down by 90 percent in the last half-dozen years," he said. "We find in parts of the world ranging from Brazil to Texas that renewable energy in both of those cases, wind, can compete in auctions and win the right to produce energy versus new build up in coal.” Among the steps the Commission recommends to avoid a warmer world are phasing out subsidies for fossil fuels, putting a price on carbon and scaling up innovation in low-carbon technology. Commissioners say success at next week's Climate Summit will depend on whether leaders adopt the idea central to their report: taking action to reduce climate change as an investment, not an expense, and that economic growth and responsible climate policies go hand in hand. The outcome could be at the core of a new climate treaty, says economist and report advisor Nicolas Stern with the London School of Economics. “So it is very important that the presidents and prime ministers recognize the challenge is to combine the two and that actually the only sensible route to combine the two is feasible and it’s attractive.” The new climate agreement will be finalized at a United Nations conference in Paris at the end of next year. Stern says the Climate Summit is an opportunity for leaders to announce ambitious actions that can help avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change. U.S. will seeks to improve its overseas propaganda By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Richard Stengel says that in the face of strong foreign propaganda machines such as Russia and the Islamic State, the U.S. needs to harden its soft power with its own participation in the global conversation. He is the U.S. under secretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs. Speaking in Washington Tuesday at an event hosted by the non-partisan American Security Project, Stengel called engagement a sign of strength, and said the United States should be the nation that listens. He said recent changes in technology, including the rise of social media, are suitable to making public diplomacy more important in the 21st century than ever before, as the world is seeing "a reemergence of history, a reemergence of blood and borders" from Ukraine to the Middle East to Southeast Asia. The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy also met Tuesday in Washington to discuss the impact of international broadcasting and recommendations for engaging foreign audiences. On Russia and the global conversation about the Ukraine conflict, Stengel said when he took up his post at the State Department in February, he was surprised and displeased by how powerful the Russian propaganda machine was, not just in Russia, but in the surrounding region of Russian speakers. He said competing with Russian news, which he described as "nothing like what we think of as objective," is something the U.S. is now focusing on, including through the Voice of America. Stengel, who came to State after seven years as the managing editor of TIME magazine, said the U.S. is focused now on getting its point of view out in the Russian language, but not through broadcasting, which he called an old model. Instead, he said the U.S. is turning to social media. The Russian leadership has been criticized recently for a wave of Internet restrictions that appear designed to stifle dissent online. The closing off of the Internet information space has grave implications for public diplomacy, said Stengel, and it is a trend against which he said he is trying to campaign. The Kremlin denies allegations of censorship or pressure on the media, but online activists and journalists have been increasingly concerned that President Vladimir Putin is seeking to tighten control over Russian society, amid the bitter dispute between Russia and the West over Ukraine's future. Stengel also addressed the rise of the Islamic State militant group, which has overtaken large amounts of territory in both Iraq and Syria, saying that apart from its savage beheadings of American journalists and other violence, the group has proven very adept at information warfare. Staffan Truve, an analyst with the social media monitoring group Recorded Future, said recently that more than 60,000 Twitter accounts this summer were talking about Islamic State extremists in a positive way. Patrick Skinner with the Soufan Group, a security intelligence services company, says the Islamic State's international recruitment drive is equally skillful. He says the group's message is carefully tailored to specific demographic groups in Europe, the United States and South Asia, as well as locally in Iraq and Syria. Stengel, fresh from a trip to the Middle East with Secretary of State John Kerry, said the U.S. is in a battle with the Islamic State that is not just being fought on a kinetic battlefield, but on an information battlefield as well. But he said the group's ability to recruit foreign fighters has more to do with conditions the U.S. does not control, such as region specific economic and social problems. Some media advocacy groups have expressed concerns about the U.S. government waging information warfare through its international broadcasting institutions such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia. Reporters Without Borders Secretary-General Christophe Deloire issued a statement in May saying that would be extremely regrettable. Deloire's statement came in response to a bill the House of Representatives passed in July that would overhaul U.S. international broadcasting to support U.S. foreign policy. The bill would reduce the scope of Voice of America's coverage from world news to coverage of the United States and international developments that affect the U.S. — a change some current and former journalists say would be "devastating" to the agency's credibility and integrity. But supporters of the bill say it would help the U.S. fight back more effectively in the war of information against countries like Russia and China. Democrat Eliot Engel, co-sponsor of the House bill, says the legislation will require U.S. broadcasting agencies to remain "objective sources of news and information," not just "a mouthpiece for U.S. foreign policy." A similar U.S. broadcasting bill must pass in the Senate, and the legislation must be signed by President Barack Obama in order to become law. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 184 | |||||||||
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Guatemala cites
newspaper smears
Special
to A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Guatemalan government said on its official Web site that it is investigating the newspaper elPeriódico because the paper continues an anti-government smear campaign. The Inter American Press Association immediately protested the posting and called the action “a new abuse by the government to the detriment of press freedom.” The government had since Monday been carrying on its portal an article headlined “Newspaper elPeriódico continues anti-government smear campaign,” publishing in advance the content of a report that the newspaper ran. The intent is to discredit the journalistic work, said the Inter American Press Association. The elPeriódico report that the government alluded to was headlined “An afternoon at the vice president’s estate.” The newspaper report was critical of the existence of a luxury property owned by Vice President Roxana Baldetti acquired while she was a member of the federal congress. The story by the elPeriódico investigative team criticized the pomposity of the assets compared to the salaries of public servants. The chairman of the press association's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Claudio Paolillo, declared, “We are astonished that the government has made access to editorial content and has used it initially to defend itself and distort journalistic work.” Paolillo, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda, added, “To have obtained and used those materials is a criminal act that is in line with a new abuse by the government in detriment to press freedom.” He added, “This is not a good message that the government sends to the Guatemalan media and journalists.” Paolillo described the incident as new, after recalling that the press association has been denouncing systematic outrages by the government of President Otto Pérez and Vice President Baldetti against elPeriódico, which were the motive of an international mission to the Central American country in February. On that occasion the Inter American Press Association criticized the government for having taken legal, administrative and taxation actions and discriminating in the provision of official advertising to elPeriódico, and for putting pressure on private sector advertisers to stop placing ads in that newspaper. All these actions were taken in reprisal for the investigations and editorial opinions concerning the work of the president and vice president, the press association said. The IAPA has been calling upon the government to set aside its campaigns of harassment of elPeriódico and to set up technical mechanisms to ensure equitable distribution of official advertising and prevent its being used to reward or punish media. The Inter American Press Association is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere, including the parent corporation of A.M. Costa Rica, and is based in Miami, Florida. Colombia rebel raid kills seven By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Seven police officers are dead after a police convoy in northwest Colombia was ambushed Tuesday. Local media reported that members of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia rebel group attacked the police with bombs and gunfire along a highway. In a social media post, Colombia's defense ministry vowed to maintain and intensify operations against armed groups and drug traffickers following the attack. The government and the leftist rebels are involved in peace talks after a 50-year internal armed conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced millions more. |
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| From Page 7: Action sought to formalize tourism entity By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Two commercial chambers related to the tourism industry are calling on the central government to fully establish the Comisión Reguladora de Turismo. The Cámara Costarricense de Hoteles and the Cámara Nacional de Turismo have both called on Welmer Ramos, the economic minister, to take action so that the commission can operate. The chambers noted that appointments have been made to the commission but the decree has not been published. The chambers made their request via letter. The Comisión Reguladora de Turismo plays a major role in negotiating exonerations and special deals for those who would invest in Costa Rica for tourism projects. Without action by the entity, such investments are frozen, said the chambers. |
