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A.M.
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Published
Wednesday,
Oct. 5, 2016, in Vol. 17, No.
197
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 197
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Puntarenas woman rakes in the dough By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The national lottery agency said that a 29-year-old woman from Puntarenas won Sunday’s top prize and had 210 million colons deposited in her bank. That is about $385,000. The woman was not identified, but the Junta de Protección Social said that the woman claimed her winnings Tuesday. The winning numbers were series 131 with the number 02. In addition to the grand prize there are second and third winners drawn, and even those who have tickets that match parts of the winning number receive cash. The Puntarenas woman actually got more than had been promised because the lottery agency is distributing about 10 million colons extra each week through Nov. 27 of money that has not been claimed from earlier weekly drawings. The Junta gives lottery proceeds to a host of social agencies and charities.
Picturesque Costanera Sur being resurfaced By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Highway officials say workers are putting tons of asphalt on top of the Costanera Sur highway between Palmar Norte and Dominical, partly in anticipation of tourist season. The picturesque road along the Pacific coast officially is Ruta 34, and the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad said that five centimeters, about two inches, of asphalt are being applied. Also being installed are those reflective lane markers called captaluces. This is a strategic route, and the road receives a lot of punishment because truckers going north or south frequently travel that way instead of using the longer Interamericana that goes through San José and Cartago.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 197
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| Officials
take predictable response to high-profile Limón
shootings |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The official hand-wringing over the killings in Limón have produced expected results. The security ministry sent 200 more police officers to the Caribbean province Tuesday, nearly doubling the number there. That is also what happened after a high profile killing in Playa del Coco in February and after a more recent spate of robberies in San Carlos. In fact, 20 more Fuerza Pública officers were reported on the job in San Carlos Tuesday. Police began to nab law breakers in Limón. This phenomenon of criminality has been increasing for years and had to be taken care of by previous administrations, said President Luis Gullermo Solís. The situation responds to a regional dynamic that has to be seen in the international environment, drug trafficking and the criminal bands, he added. Faced with this phenomenon the state cannot be only repressive, it ought to have an important component of prevention, he said. Central government officials renewed their call for passage of a corporation tax, which has been suspended for nearly two years due to procedural issues. Fuerza Pública officers are primarily preventative. The idea is that their presence inhibits crime. In fact, a police patrol car passed the location at Playa Cieneguita where a woman with a semi-automatic rifle gunned down individuals Sunday. The police dash camera actually showed two victims standing beside their car minutes before they were cut down. Three persons died Sunday and a fourth person, a boy, died of wounds in Hospital Tony Facio early Tuesday. A handful of others suffered wounds during the pair of wild shooting sprees. Two persons were shot in downtown Limón Monday in another incident, and four men tried to invade the hospital to finish off one of the Sunday survivors. A pirate taxi driver died overnight in what appeared to be a robbery. The 19-year-old taxi driver turned up in Pacuarito with knife |
 Ministerio
de Seguridad Pública photo
Police officers are briefed
Tuesday on arrival in San Carlos.
wounds to his neck. Police captured two young men nearby who were carrying a radio and other gear that appeared to have come from the victim’s car. Most of the shootings have been blamed on warring drug gangs. Police reported some small-time drug arrests in neighborhoods in Limón Centro and in La Rita de Pococí. The drug that was confiscated was marijuana. The minister of security, Gustavo Mata, is scheduled to travel today to the Caribbean coast along with the fiscal general, Jorge Chavarría, Walter Espinoza, director of the Judicial Investigating Organization and magistrates of the Sala Tercera high criminal court. Law enforcement officers know who members of the drug gangs are, and some already have been detained on serious crimes. But not all have been jailed pending trial. Chavarría complained to lawmakers about the complex Costa Rican laws and judicial procedures that make his job as chief prosecutor very difficult. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
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San
José, Costa Rica,
Wednesday,
Oct. 5, 2016, Vol. 17,
No. 197
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| Cannabis researcher says that regular users are less aware of mistakes | |
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By the Leiden University news
staff
Regular users of cannabis are less aware of their own mistakes, and they are not good at creative thinking. This is the conclusion drawn by psychologist Mikael Kowal from his research. Kowal conducted experiments on 40 regular users of cannabis. The control group of 20 non-users were given a placebo. Kowal studied the direct and chronic effects of cannabis on dopamine-related functions, such as creative thinking and the ability to recognize one's own mistakes. The brain chemical dopamine is important for the proper working of the brain and also plays a role in learning performance. Kowal's research showed that cannabis users were less able to brainstorm, a mental process that is crucial for creative performance. “There is a widespread belief among users that these drugs enhance creativity. This experiment disproves that belief,” he said. Kowal also demonstrated that for chronic users the brain processes involved in monitoring mistakes also work less |
effectively.
A high dose of cannabis seems to influence both the
unconscious processing of mistakes and also the later and
more conscious stages of error processing. Kowal: “It is
important that we gather more knowledge about the effects
of cannabis on a person's ability to detect mistakes. This
can help with putting together a treatment program for
drug addiction.” The research also indicated clear long-term effects: cannabis disrupts the activity of dopamine in the brain. With chronic users a significant reduction was seen in the frequency of spontaneous eye blinking, an indication of a reduction in dopamine production. The conclusion from other scientific research is that regular cannabis use does not necessarily have disastrous effects for the take-up of dopamine. It may well be that the age at which cannabis is first used is a crucial factor, Kowal suggests. The type of cannabis and the way neurobiological processes interact with one another can also result in individual differences. Kowal: “More research is needed on the effects of cannabis and on the individual consequences it can have on mental functions.” |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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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 |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Oct. 5,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 197
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after Matthew passes over By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Southern Haiti is an isolated disaster zone after Hurricane Matthew tore across the island Tuesday, destroying power and telephone lines and washing away the only bridge connecting the peninsula to the rest of the country. Communications between the capital and three provinces are nonexistent, making it impossible for authorities and emergency workers to know the number of casualties and damage details. A reporter said many houses in the southern city of Les Cayes are flooded and have no roofs. Matthew, a powerful Category 4 storm, slammed into Haiti Tuesday with winds of 230 kilometers per hour and fierce rain. Mourad Wahba, U.N. deputy special representative for the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, said in a statement Tuesday that Hurricane Matthew has caused the biggest humanitarian crisis in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake, which killed more than 225,000 people. He said at least 10,000 people are in shelters. At least two deaths are reported, and residents in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country can hardly afford any more misery. As much as 102 centimeters (40 inches) of rain was expected in some areas before the storm pulls away, increasing the risk of deadly floods and mudslides. Fresh drinking water, safe shelter and sanitization will also be major challenges when cleanup begins. Matthew struck Haiti after roaring across the Dominican Republic, where at least four deaths are reported. The National Hurricane Center in Miami calls Matthew extremely dangerous and predicts it will remain a powerful storm at least through Thursday. By late Tuesday, the center said the eye of the hurricane had made landfall near the eastern tip of Cuba. Hurricane warnings are posted for eastern Cuba and much of the Bahamas. Hurricane watches are already out for parts of Florida, with Matthew expected to strike the U.S. East Coast by the end of the week. Florida Gov. Rick Scott has already declared a state of emergency, warning residents to prepare for the worst. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has declared states of emergency in 13 coastal counties, and South Carolina's Gov. Nikki Haley warned more than 1 million residents to prepare to evacuate. She said if the track of the hurricane does not change by Wednesday, she will issue an evacuation order for people to move away from the coast. Matthew is the strongest hurricane to tear through the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea since Hurricane Felix in 2007. Tim Kaine and Mike Pence differ on nearly every issue By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence faced off Tuesday night in the only vice presidential debate of the 2016 campaign season, several times talking over each other in defending their running mates' records and clashing over immigration, the economy and the safety of America. The stakes were high for both men, who, as many say, would be just a heartbeat away from the presidency, and they displayed strongly differing opinions on almost all national issues. Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia, and Pence, the governor of Indiana, agreed on the success of community policing, efforts to build understanding and reduce violence between neighborhood residents and police, but on almost no other issues. Pence said the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, has demeaned police by accusing them of racial bias. Kaine discounted his opponent's comments but said community policing is an issue that must be discussed. Kaine demanded that Republican nominee Trump release his tax returns, which many Democrats believe will show he has paid little if any federal income taxes for years. Pence defended his billionaire running-mate as a smart businessman who has created thousands of jobs. CBS News presenter Elaine Quijano, who moderated the debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, rebuked both men at times for talking over each other, so much so that audience members could not hear their remarks. Kaine said Trump's proposed tax cuts would benefit wealthy Americans at the cost of driving the U.S. economy back into recession. Pence countered by charging that Mrs. Clinton's economic plans would do even more damage, by sharply increasing taxes and removing limits on government spending. Kaine and Pence also spoke over each other during another segment on cybercrime, in which Pence brought up Mrs. Clinton's use of a private email server while serving as secretary of State. The moderator tried to cut off Pence after a 30-second time limit, but the exchange devolved into Kaine and Pence trading accusations about the email server and Ms. Quijano trying to move on to a question about Syria. Pence said stronger American leadership would prevent incidents such as the civil war in Syria. He also called for military strikes on Syria if Russia does not back down. During a segment in which Kaine criticized Trump for leveling insults against women, minorities and others. Pence responded by saying Mrs. Clinton had insulted more Americans, when she referred to some Trump supporters as a "basket of deplorables." Regarding the threat posed by the militant group Islamic State, Kaine said Mrs. Clinton's tenure as secretary of State makes her a more viable candidate in eliminating the group. He also criticized Trump, who once said he "knows more about ISIS than the generals" and has called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization obsolete and has called into question other international alliances. Pence responded that Trump had never called the alliance obsolete, then said the former secretary of State is responsible for creating a vacuum that allowed the Islamic State to strengthen. On the topic of recent missile launches by North Korea, Kaine brought up that Trump has previously said more countries should be allowed to have nuclear weapons. Pence, while not mentioning Trump, answered that more nuclear weapons would make us safer. The candidates argued through much of the debate, talking over each other and veering off topic to criticize the presidential candidates. As the two-hour debate opened, Kaine was the first to speak. Asked to explain why he would be able to step right into the job of running the country, if necessary. He listed his political experience at all levels of government, as a city councilman, a mayor, a lieutenant governor and a U.S. senator. He praised Mrs. Clinton, saying she has a passion to serve others, while Trump looks after his own interests first of all. Pence said he also has a lifetime of useful political experience, from growing up as a small-town boy in Indiana, to representing the state in Congress and then winning election as governor. He came to Trump's defense by accusing Mrs.Clinton and Kaine of waging an insult-driven campaign. Beyond the issues the two candidates quarreled over Tuesday, the greater significance of the debate lay in how much the aspiring vice presidents could boost support for Trump or Mrs. Clinton. Kaine was attempting to extend and broaden a rise in national public-opinion polls the Democratic ticket has enjoyed since Clinton's strong performance last week. Pence, meanwhile, was attempting to maintain the Republicans' strength in key battleground states after Trump's erratic performance versus Mrs. Clinton. The vice presidential debate is sandwiched between the first Clinton-Trump faceoff on Sept. 27 and the second presidential debate, scheduled for Sunday in St. Louis. Mrs. Clinton appears ahead in U.S. public opinion polls By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A raft of new U.S. presidential campaign surveys shows that Democrat Hillary Clinton has regained an edge over Republican Donald Trump since their first debate, which many voters say they think she won. The national polls mostly show Mrs. Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of State, leading Trump, a real estate developer seeking his first elected office, and two other candidates, Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party contender Jill Stein, by 4 or 5 percentage points in a four-way race. In head-to-head matches with Trump, Clinton's advantage is slightly bigger. Other surveys in closely contested battleground election states, all conducted in the days after their face-to-face encounter a week ago, showed Mrs. Clinton gaining ground on Trump. U.S. presidential elections are not decided by the national popular vote but rather by results in the country's 50 states, with the most populous states having the biggest influence on the overall outcome in the decisive Electoral College vote. Politico, a political news Web site, said Mrs. Clinton, looking to become the first female U.S. president, is now ahead in seven of the 11 states where the outcome is in doubt, giving her a far clearer path to winning the 270-vote Electoral College majority over Trump. Mrs. Clinton is also ahead in many of the biggest states, where voters for years have opted for Democratic presidential candidates and are likely to vote for her in the Nov. 8 election. Political surveys showed voters, by about a 2-to-1 margin, thought Mrs. Clinton won the first of three debates with Trump. She kept him on the defensive, attacking him for defying four decades of presidential campaign tradition by not releasing his U.S. income tax returns, his long history of slurs aimed at women, and his years long campaign to try to prove the debunked claim that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is not a U.S. citizen. Mrs. Clinton also attacked Trump's disparaging remarks about the weight a Miss Universe gained in the year after she won the beauty pageant that Trump once owned, and he continued to mock Alicia Machado in Twitter comments he posted in the days after the debate. Then, recently, The New York Times published three pages from Trump's 1995 state tax returns showing that he declared $916 million in business losses that year from failing casinos and other ventures. It was a deduction so large that it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying U.S. income taxes for up to 18 years. Mrs. Clinton derided his business acumen Monday, asking at a rally in the Midwestern state of Ohio, "What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a single year?" She contended that his legal tax avoidance "was taking from America with both hands and leaving the rest of us with the bill." Trump rebuffed the attack, calling his use of the country's tax laws, the right of any taxpayer to write off business losses against income, brilliant on his part. “As a businessman and real estate developer, I have legally used the tax laws to my benefit and to the benefit of my company, my investors and my employees. I mean, honestly, I have brilliantly — I have brilliantly used those laws,” Trump told supporters in the western state of Colorado. “I have often said on the campaign trail that I have a fiduciary responsibility to pay no more tax than is legally required, like anybody else, or put another way: to pay as little tax as legally possible. And I must tell you, I hate the way they spend our tax dollars.” Trump, who lost millions of dollars in building casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey, along the Atlantic Ocean coastline, said, “When the chips are down is when I’m at my very best. They said I was finished. Everybody said I was done. I am still here." European Union is ready to ratify Paris climate treaty By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The landmark Paris climate change treaty moved ahead Tuesday after backing from the European Parliament, which paved the way for the 28-member European Union to ratify it this week. The European Parliament's vote in Strasbourg, France, amounts to the tipping point for the Paris climate treaty. The pact has already been approved by some of the world's biggest greenhouse emitters, including the United States, China and India. Now, European Union nations will follow, pushing it over the threshold of 55 countries emitting 55 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions for it to take effect. The vote got a last-minute push from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "As members of the European Union, your countries have demonstrated time and again that you not only recognize the seriousness of this threat, but you are also ready to seize the opportunities it brings to build more stable, competitive economies and stable and healthier societies," he said. For the EU, shaken by divisions over migration and Britain's vote to exit the bloc, it was a rare moment of unity and triumph. Under the climate deal reached in Paris last December, countries aim to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees C from pre-industrial times. Some scientists warn that the deal will not be enough to keep temperatures from reaching dangerous levels. Investigators find recorder from crashed Jersey train By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
U.S. investigators have recovered a data recorder, video recorder and the engineer's cellphone from the front car of the New Jersey train that crashed last week in Hoboken, New Jersey, killing one person and injuring more than 100. The commuter train crashed last Thursday after it entered the Hoboken terminal during morning rush hour. Officials haven't determined the cause. National Transportation Safety Board investigator James Southworth said it is not known if the recorders contain any useful information but they have been sent to lab for analysis. Investigators estimate the commuter train was traveling two to three times the 16 kph (nearly 10 mph) speed limit when it crashed, a U.S. official said. Engineer Thomas Gallagher, who was at the train's controls, has been interviewed but said he has no memory of the crash, said T. Bella Dinh-Zarr, the vice chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Gallagher, 48, said he only remembered waking up on the floor of the engineer's cab, Ms. Dinh-Zarr said. |
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| 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 |
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 197
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Feds seek more
encrypted data By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The outlines of a major battle over online privacy is starting to take shape. Open Whisper Systems, which produces an end-to-end encryption software for a messaging services app called Signal, was subpoenaed by the U.S. government earlier this year to provide information on two phone numbers associated with a grand jury investigation in Virginia. According to The New York Times, a part of the subpoena was to order Open Whisper not to reveal the information request for a year. Many tech companies contend gag orders like this are being overused by the government and are in violation of the Bill of Rights. The government counters by saying a revelation of a request could impede an investigation. Part of the gag order was lifted when the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the government and made some of the information in the subpoena public. The documents revealed the government wanted email addresses, history logs, browser cookie data, and other information associated with the two phone numbers. Open Whisper countered that it could not hand over that information because it doesn’t have it. The non-profit Open Whisper Systems is the brainchild of a man who goes by the pseudonym Moxie Marlinspike, who describes himself as a software engineer, hacker, sailor, captain, and shipwright. The technology behind Signal is widely used among the world’s most popular messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook’s Secret Conversations and Google’s Allo. Cumulatively, the technology is used by billions. One of the reasons for Signal’s popularity is that it says it keeps no metadata, which is, simply put, information about data sets. With a messaging app, it could include information about messaging patterns and times, but not the actual content of the message. Google debuts another smartphone By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Google is taking another leap into the $400 billion smartphone market. While the company’s software, Android, runs millions of phones worldwide, Google unveiled a line of smartphones called Pixel at an event Tuesday. The phone is expected to sell for $649, about the same as Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy. Pixel will come in two sizes, 12.7 centimeters and 14 centimeters, and three colors, black, silver and blue. In addition to a premium camera and long battery life, the company is expected to use Pixel to highlight a digital assistant software called Google Assistant. The software uses artificial intelligence that would create a personal Google for each and every user, according to Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO. Pixel is built by HTC, but Google has reportedly been in on the design, leading to the phone by Google branding. The phones are powered by a Snapdragon 821 processor. Google also said it would offer free unlimited cloud storage for all, full-resolution images and videos shot with Pixel. Pixel will not be Google’s first move into the smartphone market. In the past, the company sold phones and tablets under the Nexus brand. The company did not heavily market the phones, which limited their popularity. Pixel will be powered by Google’s Android operating system, which powers most of the world’s smartphones. At Tuesday’s event, the company said the phones will run on a cleaner version of Android than on other phones like the Samsung Galaxy S7. Google said the Pixel version would be faster. |
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| From Page 7: Bank hosts art exhibit for Breast Cancer Month By the A.M. Costa Rica
staff
Banco Nacional has on display at its main office in San José a display of 50 artworks that are designed to generate support for breast cancer research. The works come from the group Optimum Artis. The exposition was inaugurated Tuesday and will run until Nov. 3. Also in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Fundacion Dra. Anna Gabriela Ross plans its 13th annual walk. The event will be Sunday in San José. |
