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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 220
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 Judicial Investigating Organization
photo
The items that were
confiscated later were on display to the public.5,000 items
with faked logos confiscated
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Judicial police have confiscated some 5,000 items on which popular logos were counterfeited, they said. The agents took over a store near the Mercado Borbón Wednesday. The items confiscated ranged from shirts to billfolds and athletic bags. The Judicial Investigating Organization said it has received several complaints about such items being sold at various commercial centers in the Central Valley. Falsifying a logo or trademark is a violation of the intellectual property laws. Agents said that they also confiscated three devices that were used to imprint the logo on clothing and other items. They also said they had tracked the items with the falsified logos from Alajuela as merchants moved them about. Three children die in fire at their home By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Fire fighters said that three children died when flames ravaged their home in Tambor de Alajuala shortly before 8 a.m. Wednesday. Neighbors could not save the three, who were 2, 3 and 5 years, because the home was locked securely. A grandmother had left the home briefly to put another child on a school bus a short distance away. Although the Cuerpo de Bomberos said the home was only damaged partially, the children perished due to the smoke. Geological work planned at traffic circles By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Motorists who travel the Circunvalación will be happy to learn that geological studies will be done Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the two remaining traffic circles and the Guadalupe intersection. Demolition is proceeding at the Paso Ancho circle, also known as the Rotunda de Guacamaya. The geological work is in advance of design work to eliminate the circles, the Bandera and the Garantías Sociales. The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Trasnportes said that the work will require closing the roadway to heavy vehicles and detouring passenger cars. The work will continue through early Monday, the agency said. Archaeological pieces recovered from Italy By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Museo Nacional is expected to give details today on 11 archaeological pieces that have been returned from Italy. The items have been in the hands of Costa Rican diplomats there after they were confiscated by local police in 2009. Miguel Ángel Obregón López, the former ambassador of Costa Rica to the Vatican, brought the pieces back with him when he returned from Italy, said the museum. Internet governance to be discussed By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The law school at the Universidad de Costa Rica will be the site today at 4 p.m. for a seminar on governance of the Internet. The session will be in the auditorium.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 220 | |
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 Consejo
de Seguridad Vial photo
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| A
pedestrian bridge like this will go up over Ruta 32 in Pococí
and also in front of Plaza Herradure over the Costanera Sur, in the |
Canton de Garabito. There may be some traffic delays as crews do the work at night. The bridge above is the one in Alajuelita. |
| Judicial police try to stem growing number of bank messenger
robberies |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
For two days in a row bandits stuck up messengers and relieved them of the money they were carrying from a bank. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that it was in contact with other police agencies Wednesday to develop a plan to stop this type of crimes. The stickups of the messengers are the most visible of a continuing wave of stickups that can be seen with the recent arrests in more than a half dozen cases by Fuerza Pública officers. The most recent messenger stickup was just before 9 a.m. Wednesday in Pavas. A messenger had just left a bank with 12 million colons, about $22,000. Some 600 meters from the bank, the 35-year-old messenger was confronted by crooks on a motorcycle who took the money. The Tuesday robbery was in the center of San José when a messenger was carrying some 10 million colons, about $18,300, from a bank to a hotel. |
The messenger was
on a motorcycle, and bandits, also on a motorcycle,
pulled up alongside and, according to judicial agents, used great
violence to grab the bag. The Fuerza Pública detained three suspects in the robberies of two individuals just 100 meters from the U.S. Embassy in Pavas. That was Tuesday night. The crooks were in a vehicle, and the victims were pedestrians. In Campo Bello de Ulloa in Heredia the Fuerza Pública detained three persons who are accused of entering a store and taking 40,000 ($83.50) at gunpoint and then robbing a nearby lottery vendor, they said. The suspects were in a vehicle when police caught up with them. A .38 caliber pistol was confiscated. Banks have a lot of rules to prevent the robbery of their customers. Most bans prohibit the use of cell telephones inside the building because someone on a phone could be giving information to crooks outside. Inmost cases, there has been inside information given to the crooks, such as the day of the week when payroll will be handled. There also have been a few cases when the messenger was part of the scheme. |
| Dock workers in Limón are supposed to return to their
jobs today |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Striking Limón dock workers were supposed to return to their jobs today after an agreement was struck during negotiations mediated by Monserrat Solano Carboni, the defensora de los habitantes. The union rapidly was losing support, and even the Frente Amplio political party had called for workers to return to the job. |
Government
officials met with representatives of striking dock workers Wednesday. 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 $1 billion container facility that is the main reason for the strike. Union leaders were dealing with an increasingly anxious rank-and-file that had missed a payday. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 220 | |||||
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| World Health considers the challenge of many more senior
citizens |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The World Health Organization says governments must prepare now to deal with an increasingly aging world. Otherwise, it warns the growing burden of chronic disease will seriously affect the quality of life of older people and create economic and other hardships for national health systems. These findings appear in a new series on health and aging published in the British journal, The Lancet. Everywhere in the world people are living longer. But as people age, they are saddled with chronic illnesses and diminished well being that affects their quality of life and creates a burden on society. The latest statistics show by 2050, an estimated two billion people will be aged 60 and older, more than double the 841 million today. The World Health Organization notes 80 percent of these older people will be living in low- and middle-income countries, not in wealthy countries. It says the increase in longevity in affluent countries is largely due to the decline in deaths from cardiovascular disease resulting from simple, cost-effective strategies to reduce tobacco use and high blood pressure. Islene Araujo is a senior policy and strategy adviser in the Department of Aging and Life Course for the agency. She says life expectancy in Africa now is 60 years. She says cardiovascular diseases are responsible for killing most older people. She says stroke survivors often become disabled, burdening society. “Cardiovascular disease can be prevented with one simple |
action, for
example control of hypertension. Most of the people in this
region in
Africa - 10 percent may have a diagnosis of hypertension, like for
example South Africa, and 80 percent do not get treatment for
hypertension. So, one single intervention like treatment for
hypertension can save many lives. It can also avoid disability,"
said
Ms. Araujo. Besides heart disease and stroke, other major illnesses of aging include cancers, chronic lung disease, sensory disorders, vision problems, mental and neurological disorders. Authors of the World Health reports say dementia and Alzheimer's are the biggest cause of dependency in richer countries. Although people are living longer, evidence shows they are not necessarily healthier than before. Report author Somnath Chatterji said there are low-cost strategies that can help older people live healthier lives. For example, he says reducing salt intake can have a big impact on health. “Secondly, the early detection of illnesses. You know, we need to train primary care workers to be able to identify things like hypertension, for example again relatively early, diabetes relatively early and treat those conditions before they become much more expensive to treat. Thirdly, there are strategies to extend these health care services using current technologies. So, one could use mobile technologies to actually improve the delivery of these services," said Chatterji. The report's authors suggest changing policies to encourage older adults to remain part of the workforce beyond retirement age. They also say people of all ages should not smoke, do more physical activity, moderate alcohol consumption and practice good nutrition, which will pay good health dividends later in life. |
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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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 220 | |||||||
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| Obama promises to find common ground with GOP By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A day after his Democratic Party was trounced in midterm elections, President Barack Obama vowed to work with the new Republican majority in Congress to ensure a prosperous future for Americans. Conceding that Republicans had a good night, winning a 52-seat majority in the Senate, Obama struck a measured tone, saying Americans had sent a clear message with their vote. “They expect the people they elect to work as hard as they do," he said. "They expect us to focus on their ambitions and not ours. They want us to get the job done. All of us in both parties have a responsibility to address that sentiment." At a White House news conference, the president cited areas of possible common ground with Republicans, such as building infrastructure and boosting exports. He said he would meet with Republican congressional leaders Friday to get a sense of their agenda. Obama said that in the next few weeks, he hoped to work with lawmakers on boosting funding for those on the front lines of the ebola fight in West Africa and getting congressional authorization for the use of military force in the battle against Islamic State militants. “The world needs to know we are united behind this effort, and the men and women of our military deserve our clear and unified support,” he said. One area where Obama stood firm was immigration. He said he had hoped Congress would pass comprehensive reform that would strengthen the borders, improve the U.S. economy and give opportunity to those who are undocumented. But in the absence of such congressional action, Obama said he was prepared to act on his own and use his executive authority on immigration before the end of the year. “What I am not going to do is just wait," he said. "I think it is fair to say that I have shown a lot of patience and have tried to work on a bipartisan basis as much as possible, and I am planning to keep on doing so. But in the meantime, let us figure out what we can do lawfully through executive action to improve the functioning of the existing system.” Throughout the press briefing, which lasted more than an hour, Obama deflected questions about whether he is a lame-duck president and how it feels to be rejected by members of his own party who distanced themselves from him during the midterm campaign. Instead, Obama said he was optimistic about America’s future and planned to spend his last two years continuing to work hard for the American people. Meanwhile, the presumptive Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said he would work with Obama to win approval on international trade pacts and tax reform, and said they agreed in a telephone call to look for issues where they could reach accord. McConnell said one message of the election was that a politically divided government need not result in continued gridlock in Washington. "There are a lot of people who believe that just because you have divided government does not mean you do not accomplish anything," he said. Democrats held 55 of the Senate's 100 seats before Tuesday's congressional elections, but Republicans gained at least seven seats with wins in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia. Three races were still undecided Wednesday. Republicans also added at least 14 seats in the 435-member House, where they already held 233 seats. The majority will be the Republicans' biggest since the 1940s. The results were a stinging rebuff to Obama, who was not on the ballot but said that his policies were. House Speaker John Boehner said the new Congress would work on energy and jobs legislation that he said Senate Democrats had been stalling while in control. He said it was time for government to start getting results. With control of Congress, McConnell said Republicans would continue to address disputes with Obama over his signature legislative achievement, health care reform. Many Republicans view the law as excessive government involvement and have repeatedly called for its repeal. Voters seem to be drawn to a pretty faced candidate By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Political pundits say the Republican sweep in Tuesdays elections was about voters looking for change. New research suggests the winning candidates' success may have a bit to do with voters looking at their faces. There’s lots of scientific and anecdotal evidence that voters are more drawn to attractive candidates. If you are old enough to remember the 1960 U.S. presidential election, it was believed John F. Kennedy’s youthful appearance and vigor swept him into office over Richard Nixon, who appeared sallow and pale in a television debate. A new study from the Netherlands further breaks down the attractiveness component into facial features that suggest extremes of health and intelligence. Then, researchers used a computer program to digitally alter the faces of a group of men. Each participant was shown a pair of photos featuring the same man, but the images had been slightly manipulated to have a more or less healthy complexion, or to look more or less intelligent. The 148 male and female participants were told they had to pick the new head of a company just by looking at the photos. Brian Spisak is a business and economics professor at VU University in Amsterdam. “Ultimately we found that in certain situations, people prefer intelligent-looking faces. But across all situations that we tested, people preferred healthy-looking individuals," said Spisak. In 69 percent of the trials, the participants chose the the candidate who looked healthier. Spisak says they were perceived as more trustworthy, ambitious, likable and more like a leader. But when people were told that the executive they were selecting was going to have to oversee a competitive or challenging corporate environment, they tended to choose the man they considered more intelligent. Spisak says in general terms, the more intelligent face is perceived as more masculine. But Spisak also says context is everything, and if a candidate wants to run on change like President Barack Obama did in 2008, he better look the part. Researchers at that time experimented with a generic face they created. “What we find is younger faces are preferred for times of change. And we found that not using Obama’s face, just using a controlled face that we made up, and then morphing a bit of Obama’s face on to a base face and a bit of McCain’s face on to a base face, what we continually found there that in times of change, they prefer the younger candidate," said Spisak. Spisak says his research shows it pays for aspiring leaders to look healthy. The findings are reported in the open-access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. More money being sought for fighting ebola virus By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
President Barack Obama has asked Congress for $6.18 billion in emergency funds to combat ebola in West Africa and to secure the United States against any spread of the virus. The request coincided with a report released Wednesday by the World Health Organization, indicating fewer new ebola cases this week in Liberia, about the same number as last week in Guinea and an increase in Sierra Leone. The World Bank, in coordination with the United Nations, said it was mobilizing about $1 billion for the three countries, which have been hit hardest by the ebola outbreak. That financial aid is meant to help speed up the deployment of foreign health workers in those countries. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the ebola outbreak "is a humanitarian crisis first and foremost, but it's also an economic disaster for Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. That's why, in addition to our emergency aid, we will do all we can to help support the private sector in these countries to build back their businesses." In response to the Obama administration's request to Congress for ebola funds, a spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner said congressional staffers would review the appropriation request. According to an official at the White House's Office of Management and Budget, the administration wants lawmakers to provide $4.5 billion for an immediate response to the deadly disease and another $1.5 billion in contingency money. Famed rock band drummer faces murder plot charge By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The drummer for the legendary rock band AC/DC has been charged by New Zealand authorities with hiring a hitman as part of an alleged murder plot. Phil Rudd appeared before a court in Tauranga, about 200 kilometers southeast of Auckland, Thursday and entered no plea before being released on bail. The 60-year-old was charged with attempting to procure murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. He was also charged with threatening to kill and possessing methamphetamine and marijuana. Local media report Rudd was trying to hire a hitman to kill two men whose identities have not been disclosed. Police have not commented on the alleged murder plot. The Australia-born Rudd, who now lives in New Zealand, left AC/DC in 1983, but rejoined the band in 1994. AC/DC is one of the highest-grossing bands of all time, with hit songs that include "Back in Black," "Thunderstruck," and "You Shook Me All Night Long." The band is due to release a new album, titled "Rock or Bust" next month. Earlier this year, the band announced that rhythm guitarist and founding member Malcom Young was leaving the group. His family said Young, 61, was suffering from dementia. At least 44 arrests made in Pakistani lynching case By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Police in Pakistan have arrested at least 44 people in connection with Tuesday's killing of a Christian couple accused of desecrating a Quran. The killings took place in Kot Radha Kishan, about 60 kilometers southwest of Lahore. Police said a man and his wife were beaten to death by an angry mob, and their bodies were burned at the brick kiln where they worked. Police said a local cleric announced through the loudspeakers of his mosque that the couple had committed blasphemy, sparking the mob. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called the killings an unacceptable crime that a responsible state could not tolerate. The couple reportedly were bonded laborers and had been working to pay off their debt to the kiln owner. Hundreds of Pakistani Christians and human rights activists demonstrated in Lahore against the killings, accusing authorities of failing to protect minorities. Amnesty International has condemned what it calls a climate of impunity around violence against religious minorities in Muslim-majority Pakistan. Forbes names Russia's Putin most powerful world figure By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
For the second year in a row, the U.S. business magazine Forbes has named Russian President Vladimir Putin the most powerful person in the world. The magazine said its editors picked the Russian leader over President Barack Obama, with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pope Francis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel rounding out the top five. Forbes said it picked Putin because "he strong-armed his way into possession of Crimea and waged an ugly proxy war in neighboring Ukraine, during which an almost certainly Russian-supplied surface-to-air missile downed a civilian jetliner." The magazine said that "as the undisputed, unpredictable and unaccountable head of an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped state, no one would ever call him weak." |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 220 | |||||||||
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
One of the many adverse effects of global climate change is the rise of sea levels, which scientists say can increase the salinity level of fresh water reserves. As saline water cannot be used for irrigation, farm fields close to the seashore are lost to agriculture. But a farm in Netherlands has managed to grow healthy and tasty vegetables in soil irrigated with salt water. Salinization is reducing the world’s irrigated lands by 1 to 2 percent annually, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization. But that doesn't faze Dutch farmer Marc Van Rijsselberghe, who has used saline water to kill some plants in order to identify which ones are able to thrive. “We put a lot of plants in the field and then we put them in fresh water and in sea water and all varieties between it, and then we see which variety is surviving and which variety is dying,” he said. Working with scientists from the Free University of Amsterdam, Van Rijsselberghe and his team divided a farm into eight plots covered with a network of irrigation pipes. Separate pipes bring fresh water and sea water to a distribution center where a computer-controlled system mixes irrigation water with eight different degrees of salinity. “And then computer says 'go' and then it goes to the fields and dripping irrigation starts to work and we are going to kill plants. That's it,” said Van Rijsselberghe. Numerous sensors continuously control soil salinity and moisture. Van Rijsselberghe said they were able to harvest vegetables from most of the test plots. Although they were smaller than normal, he said they contain more sugar and salt, so they taste better. “It's a miracle. It shouldn't be a carrot, it should be dying if we look at the data that are available in the world at the moment,” he said. The farm managed to grow carrots, cabbage, onions and beetroot, but potatoes proved to be the most tolerant to saline water. Van Rijsselberghe said four varieties of salt-tolerant potatoes recently were shipped to Pakistan where thousands of hectares of land damaged by salinization are being prepared for testing the Dutch potatoes. |
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| From Page 7: Accountants say Christmas bonus is complex By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The public accountants organization says that figuring the Christmas bonus for an employee can be complex. Guillermo Smith, president of the Colegio de Contadores Públicos, issued the reminder Wednesday and said that a stiff monthly fine awaits employers who fail to pay the aguinaldo. The amount is normally one twelfth of what the employee earns in the 12 months preceding Dec. 1, but certain situations such as sick leave, can create confusion. In addition, live-in maids who also receive food should be paid based on 50 percent of the value they received, said the organization in a release. Commissions and extra pay also should be figured in computing the aguinaldo, it said. Sick leave is not included unless the leave is for maternity, it noted. The monthly fine is based on 399,800 colons or about $740. Employers can face as many as 21 times that amount, the organization noted. |
