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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 203
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Tax collector
pays ¢145 million in raffle
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The tax collecting agency has handed out 145 million colons, equivalent to $266,000, in the first of two raffles. The raffle is designed to catch tax cheats. The Ministerio de Hacienda's Dirección General de Tributación has done this before. Those who use credit cards, except for government purchases like lights and water, are automatically enrolled and are selected by chance. Each 3,000 in payments represents an individual chance to win. However, the tax agency gives double value to payments to professionals. The ministry gave out one 50-million colon prizes, two 35-million colons prizes, four 10-million colons prizes and one prize worth 5 million colons. The top winner was identified as John F. O' Donnell of Guanacaste. Professionals are a major target for the tax collectors, They claim that many grossly understate their taxes. By encouraging persons to use credit and debit cards, the money paid to professionals can be tracked. There is another raffle Dec. 12. Small increase for some bus companies By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The nation's price regulating agency has authorized small increases in bus fares. Both the San José-Alajuela and the San José-Heredia buses will go up 20 colons to 535 colons. Some local buses are going up just 5 colons. Buses that go longer distances also will go up but the amount is more. The bus increases were a blanket 3.4 percent, said the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos. Some bus companies failed to receive an increase because they are behind on payments to the government, including to the Caja Costarricnse de Seguro Social and the tax collector. These firms, some 55 percent of all bus companies, have 30 days to pay their obligations, said the Autoridad. The bus fares are studied and usually increased twice a year. Banco Nacional marks its 100 years By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Banco Nacional is marking 100 years of existence. As part of the commemoration, employees at the central office downtown and in San Pedro will hold a ceremony today to consider the achievements of the bank and the prospects for the future, the bank said. They also will sing "Happy Birthday." Other bank offices will host similar ceremonies, said the bank. The bank said it now has 2 million customers He had unanticipated liberty for six years By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A man sentenced for aggravated robbery managed to avoid going to prison for six years. His furlough ended on Avenida 2 Monday when police recognized him at a vehicle checkpoint, they said. The man was identified as a 25-year-old with the last name of Vásquez. He had been living in Cartago, officers said. Officers said they ran his identification through their system and found that an order of detention had been issued by the local criminal courts. He was remanded to prison. Vásquez appears to be one of those people who are convicted of a crime but are allowed liberty until the sentence is reviewed by a higher court. It was Aug.4, 2008, when the appeals court validated his prison sentence, police said.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 203 | |
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| Researcher finds that crocodiles can be team players in
hunting for food |
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By
the University of Tennessee news staff
Recent studies have found that crocodiles and their relatives are highly intelligent animals capable of sophisticated behavior such as advanced parental care, complex communication, and use of tools for hunting. New research published in the journal Ethology Ecology and Evolution shows just how sophisticated their hunting techniques can be. Vladimir Dinets, a research assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, has found that crocodiles work as a team to hunt their prey. His research tapped into the power of social media to document such behavior. Studying predatory behavior by crocodiles and their relatives such as alligators and caimans in the wild is notoriously difficult because they are ambush hunters, have slow metabolisms and eat much less frequently than warm-blooded animals. In addition, they are mostly nocturnal and often hunt in murky, overgrown waters of remote tropical rivers and swamps. Accidental observations of their hunting behavior are often made by non-specialists and remain unpublished or appear in obscure journals. To overcome these difficulties, Dinets used Facebook and other social media sites to solicit eyewitness accounts from amateur naturalists, crocodile researchers, and nonscientists working with crocodiles. He also looked through diaries of scientists and conducted more than 3,000 hours of observations himself. All that work produced just a handful of observations, some dating back to the 19th century. Still, the observations had something in common — coordination and collaboration among the crocodiles in hunting their prey. “Despite having been made independently by different people on different continents, these records showed striking similarities. This suggests that the observed phenomena are real, rather than just tall tales or misinterpretation,” said Dinets. Crocodiles and alligators were observed conducting highly organized game drives. For example, crocodiles would swim in a circle around a shoal of fish, gradually making the circle tighter until the fish were forced into a tight “bait ball.” Then the crocodiles |
 A.M. Costa Rica archive photo by Steve Heinl
A Tárcoles crocodile
might be a team hunter.would take turns cutting across the center of the circle, snatching the fish. Sometimes animals of different size would take up different roles. Larger alligators would drive a fish from the deeper part of a lake into the shallows, where smaller, more agile alligators would block its escape. In one case, a huge saltwater crocodile scared a pig into running off a trail and into a lagoon where two smaller crocodiles were waiting in ambush — the circumstances suggested that the three crocodiles had anticipated each other’s positions and actions without being able to see each other. “All these observations indicate that crocodilians might belong to a very select club of hunters — just twenty or so species of animals, including humans — capable of coordinating their actions in sophisticated ways and assuming different roles according to each individual’s abilities. In fact, they might be second only to humans in their hunting prowess,” said Dinets. Dinets said more observations are needed to better understand what exactly the animals are capable of. “And these observations don’t come easily,” he said. Previous research by Dinets discovered that crocodiles are able to climb trees and use lures such as sticks to hunt prey. More of his crocodile research can be found in his book “Dragon Songs.” |
| Two hospitals designated to receive any ebola patients found
here |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Health officials have designated the Hospital de Alajuela and the Hospital Nacional de Niños as locations to confine any ebola sufferers discovered in the country. Heads of a number of health agencies, including the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social, met Monday to discuss responses to the ebola threat. María Elena López, the minister of Salud, said that her agency is activating an emergency plan for infectious disease that was designed for the H1Ni epidemic. That was the swine flu scare. The minster said that the protocols are in place to care for ebola patients. A number of agencies were represented at the session, and they are expected to work together in case ebola reaches Costa Rica, officials said. They include the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto, the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería, Ministerio de Seguridad, Cruz Roja Costarricense, Comisión Nacional de Emergencias and the Cámara de Hoteleros, in addition to the Caja. |
María del
Rocío Sáenz, executive president of the Caja and a former
health minister, said that her organization was obtaining equipment
rated for biosecurity level 2. The agency also will begin training. The
top biosecurity level is 4. The health ministry also set up a Web page with suggestions and protocols for an ebola outbreak. That page is HERE! More than 4,000 people have died in the worst Ebola outbreak on record that began in West Africa in March, according to wire service reports. In recent months, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published detailed guidelines on how to handle various aspects of ebola, from lab specimens and infectious waste to the proper use of protective equipment. In Texas some 48 hospital workers are being monitored after a nurse, 26 year-old Nina Pham, contracted the virus in a way that still is not known. That is the same hospital where Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan died last week. Ms. Pham was involved with his care. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 203 | |||||
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| Tropics predicted to lose fish as they migrate to cooler
waters |
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By
the University of British Columbia news staff
Large numbers of fish will disappear from the tropics by 2050, according to a new University of British Columbia study that examined the impact of climate change on fish stocks. The study identified ocean hotspots for local fish extinction but also found that changing temperatures will drive more fish into the Arctic and Antarctic waters. Using the same climate change scenarios as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, researchers projected a large-scale shift of marine fish and invertebrates. In the worst-case scenario, where the Earth’s oceans warm by three degrees Celsius by 2100, fish could move away from their current habitats at a rate of 26 kilometers per decade. Under the best-case scenario, where the Earth ocean warms by one degree Celsius, fish would move 15 kilometers every decade. This is consistent with changes in the last few decades. “The tropics will be the overall losers,” says William Cheung, |
associate
professor at the university's Fisheries Centre and co-author
of this study, published today in ICES Journal of Marine Science.
“This area has a high dependence on fish for food, diet and nutrition. We’ll see a loss of fish populations that are important to the fisheries and communities in these regions,” he said. Cheung and his colleague used modeling to predict how 802 commercially important species of fish and invertebrates react to warming water temperatures, other changing ocean properties, and new habitats opening up at the poles. “As fish move to cooler waters, this generates new opportunities for fisheries in the Arctic,” says Miranda Jones, lead author of this study. “On the other hand it means it could disrupt the species that live there now and increase competition for resources.” This study follows previous research that looked at change in fisheries catch in relation to ocean warming since 1970. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 203 | |||||||
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| Distraught Mexicans destroy in rage government buildings By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Protesters in the Mexican state of Guerrero ransacked government headquarters Monday, escalating demonstrations over the disappearance of dozens of students last month. Hundreds of people broke windows and set fire to the state capital building in Chilpancingo after workers had left for the day. It was the latest protest over 43 teachers' college students who remain missing after clashes with police in the town of Iguala. Authorities have arrested at least 22 police officers and several gang members in a case that links security forces to organized crime. There has been no sign of the teacher trainees since their disappearance Sept. 26. DNA testing is underway to determine whether charred bodies found in mass graves in Iguala last week are the students. Dutch back at crash site giving oversight to workers By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Dutch officials returned to the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine Monday in a new bid to recover the human remains and personal belongings of the nearly 300 people killed aboard the downed plane. Four observers from the Netherlands joined representatives from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to monitor Ukrainian emergency workers Monday as they gathered passports, clothing, children's toys, and other items from the debris. Investigators from the Netherlands had called off their search in the area in early August amid nearby clashes between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian forces. Despite a cease-fire in the area, exchanges of gunfire were heard as investigators combed the crash site Monday. The plane was shot down July 17 as it flew through rebel-held territory in Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Two-thirds of the 298 passengers and crew members aboard MH17 were Dutch nationals. Initial findings indicate the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile, with Moscow and Kyiv blaming each other for the attack. Brutal acts by Columbus cause some to shun him By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Every year, on the second Monday in October, the United States celebrates a federal holiday honoring a man who freely admitted committing atrocities against the native people of the Americas, including cutting off their hands, noses or ears to keep them in line, and sexually enslaving girls as young as nine, gifting them to his men. “There are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls,” Christopher Columbus wrote in his journal in 1500. “Those from nine to ten are now in demand.” When Columbus arrived in the Bahamas (he never actually set foot in the contiguous United States) on Oct. 12, 1492, he noted the peaceful and hospitable nature of the native Arawaks, Lucayans and Taínos. “They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features….They do not bear arms, and do not know them,” he wrote. “They would make fine servants….With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” Which is exactly what he did. Columbus enslaved the natives, setting them to work in his gold mines. Those who didn’t collect enough of the valuable dust had their hands chopped off and tied around their necks to send a message to their fellow workers. More than four centuries later, the idea of a day to honor the explorer was conceived by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic Fraternal organization that wanted a Catholic hero role model for its children. In 1937, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the law that made Columbus Day a federal holiday. Monday most government employees had the day off. Banks, the bond market, and many schools were closed. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia give their workers a paid holiday on Columbus Day, according the Council of State Governments. However, over the years, the explorer’s controversial legacy has led many U.S. cities and states to temper the celebrations surrounding his namesake holiday. In Columbus, Ohio, Columbus Day used to be a big event, but it’s been 16 years since the last parade. New York City’s Columbus Day parade still draws around a million spectators and 35,000 marchers, but the event is now billed as an annual celebration of Italian-American Heritage. Many Italian-Americans see Columbus Day as celebration of their heritage. A couple of weeks ago, the school board in Seattle, in Washington State, decided to have schools observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same day as Columbus Day. Minneapolis, Minnesota and Berkeley, California, have also designated that day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Hawaii celebrates Discoverers’ Day, which pays tribute to the Polynesian discoverers of the nation’s 50th state. Meanwhile, in South Dakota, Columbus Day has been known as Native American Day since 1990. Mary Bordeaux, curator and director of cultural affairs for the Indian Museum of North America in South Dakota, would like to see the trend away from Columbus Day continue. “It’s taking something that has traditionally been in America the celebration of what I see as the annihilation of the native population and trying to bring more awareness to the truth of our history in America,” she said. “By switching it to Indigenous Day or Discoverer’s Day, it starts a conversation about native people. It kind of opens up a dialogue.” Ms. Bordeaux, a Native American who grew up on a reservation would like to see real action result from that discourse. High on her list is the rewriting of U.S. school textbooks that continue to glorify Columbus and discredit Native Americans. “We still are the only minority in the United State that has to enroll, that has to get a number from the United States government to claim to be Native American,” Bordeaux said, “and so to continue celebrating and glorifying Christopher Columbus, we’re just continuing to support that the people who were here before weren’t people, that they weren’t anything.” Nobel winner to continue fight against child labor By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
In more than three decades at the forefront of a movement to free children from slave labor, Kailash Satyarthi has seen many challenges. "I have been fighting against the system that creates and perpetuates child slavery and illiteracy,” the New Delhi-based Indian activist said. "I know I have been fighting against some Western interests and sometimes against mafia, and that will go on. But it is not my personal fight. It is the fight of hundreds of activists in India and thousands of activists globally." The 60-year-old Satyarthi, named Friday as co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, said he hopes the attention will help compel governments, the corporate sector and civil society to take seriously the issue of eradicating child labor. He shares the prestigious award with 17-year-old education activist Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan. The two activists have common missions, Satyarthi said. "Child labor and lack of education are two sides of the same coin, especially in the case of girls. So we have to ensure education for all children, but we have to save them from human trafficking, slavery, bonded labor, child labor, et cetera, and also from all sorts of insurgencies and violence and terror." Satyarthi said he has invited Malala to work in a joint campaign called Peace for Children and Children for Peace, which will work to ensure that children are brought up in a peace-filled environment. Satyarthi is the first Indian-born winner of the peace prize. According to the Nobel Prize Web site, Mahatma Gandhi was nominated five times. The last was in 1948, the year he was assassinated. French economist honored for his study of markets By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
French economist Jean Tirole won the 2014 economics Nobel Prize for his analysis of market power and regulation, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Monday. "Jean Tirole is one of the most influential economists of our time,'' the academy said. "Most of all he has clarified how to understand and regulate industries with a few powerful firms.'' For about 30 years Tirole has researched market failures. The economist will receive an 8 million Swedish crown ($1.1 million) prize.  Voice of America photo
The idea is to spear the tiny,
dangling ring.Jousting is
family affair
for hobbyists in Maryland By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
One of the most familiar images of medieval Europe is a pair of knights thundering toward each other on massive steeds, wicked-looking lances pointed at their opponent. Jousting is considered the oldest equestrian sport in the world. It was a widely popular sport in medieval times, and today, more than 700 years later, it is still practiced by people all over the United States. Some go all in for period costume from the age of chivalry, especially at popular Renaissance Festivals, but many others enjoy it as a family sport in a more recreational way. Rather than trying to unseat an opponent, modern competitors use their lance to spear a small ring that dangles from an archway. It is called ring jousting. The Enfield family in the eastern U.S. State of Maryland has kept the tradition of ring jousting alive for generations. At a recent jousting competition in Crownsville, Maryland, Bob Enfield was defending his state championship title, which he's held three times. Last year he also won the national champion title. But Enfield does not think he can match the wins his father made before retiring from the sport at age 75. “Dad was an excellent rider in his day," Enfield said proudly. "He won four national championships and eight state championships.” The father, Leon, was the one who started the Enfield jousting tradition in 1947 at his family’s dairy farm. He became the first state champion a decade later. “At one point in time, about eight years ago, there were 11 of my family riding, competing. It was four generations,” Leon recalled. His granddaughter, Marley, started jousting when she was only two and a half. “It is easy to learn, but it takes a lot of time to practice to stay good at it," she explained. "I just wanted to carry our family tradition.” Ring jousting became the official sport of Maryland in 1962. Viki Betts, president of the state's Jousting Tournament Association, says horsemanship and precision are the keys to success, adding that the feeling of camaraderie is just as important to the sport. "We get together almost every weekend from May till October. But we really compete against ourselves," she said. "I have to spear more rings than the next person to win.” At the final state contest of the year, 60 jousters of all ages competed in five classes, from novice to championship, where Bob Enfield had to defend his title. He also competed in the professional class with his 19-year-old son Bradley. ”He has pretty much taught me everything I know about the sport. So it is fun to go out there and ride against him and see if I can beat him,” Bradley said. Four contestants, including both Enfields, tied in the first round of the professional class, in which jousters had to spear a ring two-and-a-half centimeters in diameter. In the second run, with the ring size reduced by half, Bradley won first place and his father took second. “I am really tickled that we finished that way," Bob said. "The fact he beat me, that means a lot to me. That means I trained him well.” Bob also lost his state champion title. But he says he is happy, as the sport keeps going in the family, and he looks forward to competing again with his son next year. LEDs pushed to replace older, more toxic fuels By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
This year's Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to inventors of the light emitting diode, commonly known by the acronym LED, now being used around the world. However, according to the International Energy Agency and the World Bank, more than a billion people in the world still do not have access to electricity. After sunset, most of them use light candles or oil lamps which, in addition to unsteady, flickering light, also give off toxic fumes. A company in the Netherlands is trying to change that with its product based on LEDs. When darkness falls, many kids in rural parts of Haiti, Rwanda, or refugee camps in Syria read or do their homework by candlelight or a kerosene-burning lamp. The open flames sometimes cause fires, while toxic fumes lead to respiratory problems. Portable electric light is safer, healthier and now, even cheaper. “This is the first time that artificial light or solar LED light is now less expensive than kerosene,” said Camille van Gestel, head of a Dutch company called WakaWaka. LEDs are a safe and efficient electronic light source that shines with bright white light. Ms. Van Gestel said wakawaka, which means "Shine Bright" in Swahili, is the most efficient solar-powered light and phone charger in the world today. When fully charged, it shines for up to 16 hours. It is affordable, sustainable, and its battery lasts for a long time. It can be set up on any flat surface, hung from a ceiling or perched atop a glass bottle. Ms. Van Gestel said it is intended for the poorest of the poor. “Our primary target is to reach people who live at the base of the pyramid, who live on less than two dollars a day,” said MS. Van Gestel. Ms. Van Gestel said his company operates like any other business, but some of the money made from selling its products is used to make WakaWaka lights affordable to poor people. He said the initiative is supported by international non-government organizations. “The International Rescue Committee was one of the first to actually take the WakaWaka power into Syria, to provide light and power to Syrian refugees, and now the WakaWaka is the most valued non-food item in Syria," said Ms. Van Gestel. In the past 24 months, the company has distributed around 300,000 units in places such as Syria, Haiti, Rwanda, Indonesia and the Philippines. Its goal is to reach 1.2 billion people by 2030. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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 Ministerio de Obras Públicas y
Transportes photo
The Ministerio de
Obras Públicas y Transportes is going to auction off this junker
and 16 other vehicles Oct. 23. The electronic auction will be handled
through the Sistema de Compras Gubernamentales, known as Compr@ Red.Researches find gut clues on Parkinson's By the Lund University news staff
Parkinson's disease may start in the gut Parkinson's disease is strongly linked to the degeneration of the brain’s movement center. In the last decade, the question of where the disease begins has led researchers to a different part of the human anatomy. In 2003, the German neuropathologist Heiko Braak presented a theory suggesting that the disease begins in the gut and spreads to the brain. The idea has since, despite vocal critics, gained a lot of ground. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden now present the first direct evidence that the disease can actually migrate from the gut to the brain. The so-called Braak’s hypothesis proposes that the disease process begins in the digestive tract and in the brain's center of smell. The theory is supported by the fact that symptoms associated with digestion and smell occur very early on in the disease. Researchers at Lund University have previously mapped the spread of Parkinson’s in the brain. The disease progression is believed to be driven by a misfolded protein that clumps together and infects neighboring cells. Professor Jia-Yi Li's research team has now been able to track this process further, from the gut to the brain in rat models. The experiment shows how the toxic protein, alpha-synuclein, is transported from one cell to another before ultimately reaching the brain’s movement center, giving rise to the characteristic disorders in Parkinson’s disease. “We have now been able to prove that the disease process actually can travel from the peripheral nervous system to the central nervous system, in this case from the wall of the gut to the brain. In the longer term, this may give us new therapeutic targets to try to slow or stop the disease at an earlier stage,” said the professor. |
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| From Page 7: Survey predicts holiday will be a winner By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
New data show U.S. retailers may have a stronger holiday shopping season this year. U.S. stores usually see a surge of shoppers in November and December, as families prepare for religious and patriotic holidays that involve gift-giving and family celebrations. The level of holiday sales can spell the difference between profit and loss for many stores. A new study by Accenture says increased optimism about personal finances and job security mean a quarter of consumers plan to spend more on holiday gifts this year. Accenture also predicts more and more of those purchases will be made on-line, particularly on mobile devices. Another continuing trend is the growing use of gift cards, which allow the recipient to use the money on the card to go to a store and pick out what they want, so the size, color and other details meet their needs. A separate study published by the National Retail Federation shows unusually strong cargo traffic at U.S. ports, as retailers stock up to meet anticipated demand from newly confident consumers. The trade group earlier predicted that holiday sales will rise more than 4 percent this year. |
