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San
José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 219
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Tax agency eyes
next generation
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The tax-collecting agency is trying to reach the next generation with video games. The Ministerio de Hacienda said that there are three video games that have been prepared by the ministry's Dirección de Educación y Cultura Fiscal. The idea is to give children an appreciation of why taxes are important to a community. In one video game, Somos equipo, "We are a team," the youngsters try to build a soccer field to understand the social use of taxes. This game was created this year. The two other games, Declarando mis impuestos and Memotest are updated versions of games that have been available since 2010. Two of the three games come from Argentina where the tax agency there also uses them. The games are in use in other Latin countries, too. The games will be available for download from the ministry Web site soon. Traffic police get calibrated radar By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
So far this year, traffic police have issued 3,866 speeding tickets, according to a summary released by the agency Tuesday. That's about 13 such tickets on average all over the country each day. Traffic police also have issued 10,466 tickets for going through red lights since last Dec. 31. They hope to do better, according to Mario Calderón, head of the Policía de Tránsito, because they have just been calibrated, he said. The laser devices should be calibrated every year, he noted. This has to be a dying occupation By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Here is a blast from the past. Fuerza Pública officers in Cañas actually caught two men forcing a pay telephone in an effort to steal money. Yes, some of the telephones still take money. However, most persons use various forms of telephone cards that are on sale separately if they do not have their own cell device. Police did not say how much the phone crooks might have taken. The men had a screwdriver to force open the money box of the telephone. Police said the men have been detained previously for similar acts. Two more locations OK marijuana use By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Voters in Washington, D.C., and the northwestern state of Oregon have approved measures to legalize marijuana. The successful ballot initiatives were some of the separate questions on ballots Tuesday as Americans voted for members of the House of Representatives, one-third of the Senate and more than half of the nation's state governors. Ballot initiatives give voters an opportunity to decide on matters such as whether local governments should borrow money to build more roads and schools or if a state should amend its laws on abortion or same-sex marriage. Oregon's marijuana measure will allow adults to buy and possess the drug similar to systems set up last year in neighboring Washington state and in Colorado. In Washington, the U.S. capital, the initiative there allows people age 21 and older to possess and grow marijuana, but not buy it, and is subject to a Congressional review period before going into effect. Meanwhile, voters in the southeastern state of Florida rejected a proposal to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. Medical marijuana is legal in 23 other states. The ballot in Washington state Tuesday had two competing gun control initiatives, but voters approved one to expand required background checks for gun sales to include those done online and at gun shows. Workers in several states will soon see more money in their paychecks after voters chose to raise the minimum wage to $8 per hour in Nebraska and $7.50 an hour in Arkansas.
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 219 |
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Law enforcement is already in the Christmas shopping mode |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rican employees, pensioners and members of some boards will be getting their Christmas bonus between Dec. 1 and 15. The law requires employers to give the workers a twelfth of what they earned through the previous year. The money also creates a great opportunity for crooks. The extra payments, called aguinaldos, amount to billions of colons. That is why each year police mount an operation to protect the citizenry. This year the effort starts Nov. 20 and will involve some 3,000 officers and even dogs. Some of those two story police towers still are up, but more will be added so officers can look down on the bustling holiday shoppers. Officials outlined their plans Tuesday. The entire holiday police effort will run until Jan. 4. That the central canton is full of policemen over Christmas has become a running joke. This year some 141 additional officers will be assigned to the capital. The season has not become so prosperous for crooks these days as many shoppers use credit and debit cards or shop online. If they need cash, the automatic teller is nearby. In fact, police have a special program for watching the cash machines. They also have to be ready for the Festival de la Luz Dec. 13, the Festejos Populares that start in Zapote Christmas Day and the Tope Nacional, the giant horse parade that takes place Dec. 26. More will be said about protecting money. The Fuerza Pública is expected to come out with advice and the Comisión de Seguridad Bancaria also will be advising customers. |
A.M. Costa Rica grafic
Santas will be bringing
20,000-colon notes |
Defensora has scheduled dock strike negotiations for today |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The government team responsible for negotiating with striking Limón dockworkers has agreed to meet later today for negotiations arranged by the defensora de los habitantes. The defensora, Monserrat Solano Carboni, has agreed to mediate and set 2 p.m. as the time for renewed negotiations. Víctor Morales Mora, the minister of Trabajo, notified her of the central government's willingness by letter, which he released to the press. The union, the Sindicato de Trabajadores de JAPDEVA, have little to negotiate. The strike already has been declared illegal by a labor court. The government is declining to negotiate a key clause in a contract for a new container facility that is the main reason for the strike. And Morales has declared that there will be no amnesty for strikers who break the law. |
A main reason for
the negotiations today would be to reduce the
criminality in Limón. Tractor trailer cabs have been burned and
flaming
barricades are put up nearly every night. Monday night police caught two men trying to cut the petroleum pipeline that runs from Moín to storage locations maintained by Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo S.A. One of the men is a suspect in a robbery that resulted in a warrant being issued in his name. The vandals who have been caught are not union members, but there have been accusations that the union members or individuals in the union are encouraging this lawlessness. The Limón port agency is the Junta de Administración Portuaria y Desarrollo Económica de la Vertiente Atlántica, known as JAPADEVA. Strikers are asking that the central government renegotiate a contract with APM Terminals so that the Dutch firm did not have exclusivity over handling containers at the $1 billion port it proposes to build as a concession. |
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 219 |
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New test would identify snake bite venom from the attacker's
DNA |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
There may soon be a rapid diagnostic test to determine whether a person was bitten by a venomous snake. There are no reliable numbers on how many people are bitten by snakes each year. One study in 2008 estimated the figure to be at least 420,000 with up to 94,000 deaths. But experts believe those estimates are probably too low. Venomous snakes are common. Researchers say they pose an especially serious unresolved health threat to millions of people in South and Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. But there was encouraging news in New Orleans at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. A DNA test has been developed that takes a swab from the fang marks on people bitten by snakes. Researchers say the test correctly identified the species of the biting snake 100-percent of the time in a first of its kind clinical study. Dr. Ulrich Kuch is with the Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany and part of the research team. He said he wondered if the same type of DNA tests used to catch criminals might be used to identify snakes. Of course, for it to work, you need lots of snake DNA. “We do need reference material, reference DNA sequences, for each and every species of snake that we deal with – at least for one geographical region or one country where we work. And parallel to collecting samples from bitten patients in hospitals we also need to find the snakes. And we need to take samples from those snakes to get the same genetic information on the particular snakes. So, that’s really biodiversity research meeting clinical research,” he said. The current test would not be used for rapid diagnosis and treatment. But it is expected to lead to that. He said, “We use this genetic test as the gold standard in addition to any dead snake brought to the hospital by the patient to determine the species’ identity of the snake involved in the bite. And that is crucial information to inform clinical research in which we validate very rapid diagnostic tests where we compare treatment methods to find out which treatment is better and more cost effective for the patient and the hospital.” Kuch said that it would be a dip stick test similar to a rapid pregnancy test. It could be either a blood or urine test. “This type of test detects venom. And venom can be detected in the blood of the patient or in urine or from the bite site, as well. Now, we are going for a blood test because snake bite patients when they reach medical care – they have one blood sample taken for clotting tests and some other laboratory examinations. So you can use the |
Instituto Clodomiro Picado photo
The Instituto Clodomiro Picado
where this fer de lance (Bothrops asper) lives is a world leader
in the production of anti--venom. The snke is called a terciopelo in Spanish. The
institute is in in Coronado. blood from the same sample to do this diagnostic test.” He said it’s far better than what’s happening today in many developing countries. “Unfortunately, the current method globally is not being treated at all and not seeing any medical help at all. Snake bite and venoming is really one of the most neglected of all tropical diseases, although it causes a huge burden of disease and a very high death toll every year.” The challenge, he said, is to connect snake bite diagnostics to primary health care in the most affected countries. He says adequate snake bite management is only practiced in a few locations around the world. Kuch describes snake bites as a disease of poverty. Many of those who are bitten are the bread winners of their families. If they do not die from the bite, they may lose a hand or a leg. If they do find treatment, it’s likely to be very expensive. Kuch said in Africa, for example, snake bites can place a strain on already overburdened health care systems. “In many of those areas, one out of 10 people admitted to hospital is there because of snake bite and venoming. And those are patients who are critically ill, who occupy hospital beds for a long time. They need a lot of attention and that strains health care resources a lot,” he said. Also, most snake bites occur in rural areas of poor countries, far from urban areas where most health clinics are located. The tests could lead to the stockpiling of anti-venom in strategic locations. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
news page
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 219 | |||||||
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Republicans will control U.S. Senate for two years By the A.M. Costa Rica wire sevices
Republican candidates won enough seats in Tuesday's U.S. congressional elections to capture control of the Senate. Democrats had held 55 of the Senate's 100 seats, but Republicans gained at least seven of them with wins in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia. A third of the Senate was up for reelection Tuesday, including the Kentucky seat held by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell from Kentucky. He earned a sixth term in office. McConnell beat his Democratic rival, Alison Lundergan Grimes. It was an ugly race, with both sides struggling to outspend the other, and polls showing Grimes leading McConnell as late as last week. “She earned a lot of votes, and she earned my respect," McConnell said late Tuesday. "It took a lot of guts to take on a race like this. Because of the business we're in, it also meant she'd take some heat. I admire her willingness to step into the arena and fight as hard as she did.” However, he also told supporters that the election was not about him or his opponent. “It was about a government that people no longer trust to carry out its most basic duties, to keep them safe, to protect the border, to provide dignified and quality care for our veterans, a government that can't be trusted to do the basic things because it's too busy focusing on things it shouldn't be focused on at all," McConnell said. With Republicans in control, McConnell will become Senate majority leader. He will have the authority to decide which bills to bring up for a vote. President Barack Obama said Senate Democrats faced what could be the toughest races since 1958, when Republicans lost 13 Senate seats under then-President Dwight Eisenhower. Republicans also expanded their solid majority in the House of Representatives, giving them full control of Congress during Obama's final two years in office. Given Obama's low approval ratings, numerous Democratic officeholders declined to invite the president to campaign for them, and often cited instances in which they disagreed with him, such as on health care or energy issues. With control of Congress, Republicans could raise new disputes with Obama over his signature legislative achievement, health care reform, which has allowed millions of people to secure insurance coverage they could not previously afford. Many Republicans view it as excessive government involvement in people's health care and call for repeal of the law. Republicans also have attacked Obama's handling of the ebola crisis and called for approval of an oil pipeline from Canada through the central U.S., and a curb on government regulation of businesses. Some opposition lawmakers have also disputed the president's handling of Russia's intervention in Ukraine and U.S. air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. In Arkansas, U.S. television networks project that Republican Tom Cotton unseated two-term Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor. In North Carolina, first term Democrat Kay Hagen was narrowly defeated by Tom Tillis, a state legislative leader. Shelley Moore Capito became the first Republican elected to the Senate from West Virginia in more than 50 years. And in South Dakota, Mike Rounds, a former Republican governor, won a Senate seat that was held by a Democrat. Democrats held onto a seat in New Hampshire as Jeanne Shaheen defeated Republican challenger Scott Brown, a former senator from neighboring Massachusetts. Democrats also held onto seats in Michigan, Delaware and Minnesota. In Louisiana, Democrat Mary Landrieu will face Republican Bill Cassidy in a December runoff, since neither won a majority of the votes. Ms. Landrieu challenged her rival to a series of debates on the issues. “And I suggest that some of these issues be education, number one, jobs and our economy, Social Security and Medicare, health care, energy and the environment, and yes, international affairs and trade. These are the critical issues for our state," Ms. Landrieu said. Republicans avoided a runoff in Georgia, where David Perdue beat Democrat Michelle Nunn by a comfortable margin. Attention will now shift to Washington, as the new Congress is sworn in. That will be in January. Some Republicans have promised that with a majority in both houses, they will work to repeal the president's health care law and challenge him on immigration and other issues. Kurdish kids tortured, human rights group says By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A Human Rights Watch report says Kurdish children between the ages of 14 and 16 were tortured and abused while detained by the Islamic State militant group in Syria. The New York-based rights group says in May the Islamic State group kidnapped about 250 Kurdish children as they traveled home to the Syrian city of Kobani after taking school exams in Aleppo. The militants initially released 100 girls, but kept 153 boys. For the boys it was the start of months of trauma and abuse, according to the rights group’s senior Turkey researcher Emma Sinclair Webb. "The children were subjected to videos of ISIS’s battles and beheadings and made to watch these,” she explained. “They also subjected the children to religious education and a strict regime of prayer and study, and also subjected the children to regular beatings and torture." Some of the children managed to escape while others were exchanged for captured militants held by the Kurdish militia defending Kobani, currently under siege by Islamic State forces. The last 25 children were released last week and most of those are believed to be from families connected to the Syrian Kurd PYD party. Human Rights Watch researcher Webb says the worst treatment was given to children connected to the militia fighting the militants in Kobani. "The children told us those perceived by ISIS captors as being close to the YPG were singled out for the worst treatment. And the worst forms of torture included placing children inside a tire and beating them in that position and also suspending children, their hands tied behind their backs and feet tied up and suspending them from the ceiling,” she said. The children’s eventual release did not mark the end of their traumatic experience, according to Ms. Webb. "The exceptional part of this, is that they could not go back to Kobani, they had to make their way to Turkey, because Kobani was under siege already,” she noted. “So they did make their way to Turkey and they met up with their families in the southeast town of Suruc where we interviewed them." The rights group says the experiences highlight again that children continue to be among the main victims of the ongoing civil war in Syria and conflict in Iraq. Ms. Webb says abuse of children is not confined to the Islamic State group. "The ill treatment of children inflicted by ISIS has to be understood within the broader picture of the tragedy of the conflict that has affected children,” she explained. “The displacement, the killings and basically whole generations that now may not receive an education because they've been made to be displaced and live as refugees in surrounding countries." Ms. Webb says because the abducted children are now living with their families in Turkish refugee camps or staying with extended families in Turkey, it's unlikely they will receive any counseling or therapy for the traumatic experience they have lived through. Greenpeace says big boats are overfishing the oceans By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
An environmental group has accused 20 European vessels of dangerously overfishing the world's oceans. In a report titled "Monster Boats: The Scourge of the Oceans," issued Tuesday in Brussels, Greenpeace said the boats use alarming fishing methods. It concluded that “our oceans and fish stocks are in deep crisis with too many large and destructive vessels chasing too few fish." Among the named boats are five flying a Spanish flag, two of them owned by Spanish fishing giant Albacora S.A. Four other named vessels are owned by the Dutch firm Parlevliet en Van der Plas BV. One flies a Dutch flag, two a German flag and one a Lithuanian flag. The rest of the 20 are vessels flying the flags of Britain, Denmark, France, Poland, Portugal and Sweden. Greenpeace described what it said were techniques used by these industrial fishing barons to circumvent regulations and maximize profit. The environmental group said the techniques included frequent flag changes ... the use of front companies and tax havens and taking advantage of personal connections to decision-makers. The organization blamed European Union ministers who oversee the fishing industry and other decision-makers around the world for allowing overfishing with impunity. Greenpeace suggested that the vessels violate the EU's new fishing rules, which specify that governments should promote responsible, low-impact fishing. Pakistani crowd lynches Christian couple over Quran By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Police and eyewitnesses in eastern Pakistan say an angry crowd attacked and beat a married Christian couple to death after accusing them of desecrating a Quran. The mob later burned the bodies in the brick kiln where the victims worked. The deadly incident took place Tuesday in the town of Kot Radha Kishan about 60 kilometers southwest of Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province. The killing has outraged rights groups who are demanding the attackers be swiftly brought to justice, saying circumstances around the allegations are unclear. Provincial authorities have launched an investigation into the violence and ordered police to increase security at minority Christian neighborhoods across Punjab. The London-based Amnesty International has condemned the incident and demanded authorities must bring to justice those responsible for the vicious mob killing of the minority Christian couple accused of blasphemy. “This type of violence is fueled by Pakistan’s repressive blasphemy laws, which add to the climate of fear for religious minorities. In this case, a mob appears to have played judge, jury and executioner,” the organization said in a statement, again demanding Pakistan urgently reform its controversial blasphemy laws. Amnesty International says that the Punjab government’s immediate response is encouraging, but it remains to be seen what comes of the investigation. The rights group said the climate of impunity around violence against religious minorities in Pakistan is pervasive and it is all too rare that those behind attacks are held to account. A Christian woman, Asia Bibi, has been on death row since November 2010, after a court found her guilty of making derogatory remarks about the Muslim prophet Mohammed during an argument with a Muslim woman. Critics say Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are often used by influential members to settle personal disputes. |
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 219 | |||||||||
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Judicial agents said Tuesday that a pirate taxi collided head-on with a truck in San Rafael de Guatuso and that at least four persons died. The taxi was transporting a family from the area, the Judicial Investigating Organization said. The taxi driver and two adults died in the midday crash as well as a 13-year-old passenger, said agents. In critical condition at a hospital was a male passenger. Agents said it appeared that the taxi driver tried to pass a motorcycle and collided head-on with the truck. Both vehicles overturned, agents said. Fugitive mayor caught in students case By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Mexican police have detained a fugitive ex-mayor and his wife, who are suspected of being the masterminds behind the disappearance of 43 teaching students in September. Federal officers arrested Jose Luis Abarca and his wife Maria de los Angeles Pineda early Tuesday in a house in Mexico City. Abarca was mayor of the southern city of Iguala when police clashed with the group of male students there Sept. 26. Abarca and his wife are accused of ordering the police attack to stop the students from disrupting a political event. Six people were killed. It is unclear what happened to the dozens of students who went missing following the clashes in Guerrero state, but the fear is that they were massacred. More than 50 police officers and gang members have been arrested in the case. The mayor and his wife are said to have been linked to the local drug cartel, Guerreros Unidos. Authorities say Ms. Pineda was a main operative in the cartel and comes from a family of drug gang members. Officials hope the couple's arrest will shed light on the disappearances, which set off nationwide protests. Mexico has been plagued by drug-related violence for years. Saturday, authorities say high-ranking security official Ricardo Niño Villarreal and his wife were murdered in the northern state of Nuevo Laredo. Their bodies were found the next day by passers-by. Niño Villarreal was one of several military officers sent to the region earlier this year to stem a surge of violence in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas. The state has been the scene of a bloody turf war between the Zetas and Gulf drug cartels. The two gangs have been fighting each other for control of the lucrative drug trafficking route into the U.S. border state of Texas. Last week, three U.S. citizens and a Mexican citizen were found dead in Tamaulipas, two weeks after they disappeared. Authorities are investigating whether members of a special tactical police unit killed them. |
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From Page 7: Negotiations expected for Ruta 32 job By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The public works minister has reported that the Chinese are open to negotiations involving a proposed deal to widen some 100 kilometers of Ruta 31 from Limón to Río Frio. That caused some in the legislature to hope that the deal could be put to a final vote as early as February. Carlos Segnini Villalobos, the minister of Obras Públicas y Transportes, traveled to China with a vice minister to reopen negotiations that had been stalled as the Costa Rican government changed hands. The ministry reported that one goal of the trip was to insure that Costa Rica retains sovereignty. The original proposal was to have the contract litigated, if necessary, under Chinese law. The ruling contract also was supposed to be written in Chinese. Costa Rica also urged the use of some of the Chinese loan, which has been put at $435 million, for expropriation of rights-of-way. Originally Costa Rica was supposed to pay this. The government also would like the bulk of the jobs to go to Costa Ricans, too. The job would be done by the China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd. with money coming from a Chinese state-run bank. The project raised suspicions when it was advanced by the Laura Chinchilla administration because no site work has been done. Usually design is done first so that a bid can be made based on work that needs to be done. In addition to widening the highway, which is key for imports and exports, the job also involves a number of overpasses and intersections. |