The United Nations has advice for under nourished Africans: Eat more bugs.

The international agency said Monday that edible insects are an important source of protein. "Edible insects such as caterpillars and grubs should be considered an alternative source of nutrition in efforts to overcome food insecurity in central African countries." said the U.N.

More than 90 percent of participants in a survey in Botswana said they already eat caterpillars. As did some 85 percent in the Central African Republic and 70 percent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said the U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organization.

For every 100 grams of dried caterpillars, there are about 53 grams of proteins, about 15 per cent of fat and about 17 per cent of carbohydrates, according to the study. The insects are also believed to have a higher proportion of protein and fat than beef and fish with a high energy value, the U.N. said.

The report said that some groups make a flour from ground caterpillars.

The U.N. said that the collection of edible insects by hand could prove to be a potential source of income for rural populations, especially women, because it requires little capital income. 

Lawyers will head up
Fuerza Pública regions

The Fuerza Pública has picked 10 lawyers to be regional chiefs of the police agency.

The Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública reported that the appointments are provided by law. Only one non-lawyer will fill a top regional post.

The changes began Nov. 1 when new chiefs were appointed in Cartago, Heredia and San Carlos. All those appointed, in addition to being lawyers, have long experience in police work, the ministry said.

On Nov. 15, new regional chiefs will take over in Guanacaste, la Cruz, Pérez Zeledón, Limón, and the country’s southern zone, the ministry said.

Changes will be made shortly in Alajuela and San José, too, the ministry said. Only Randall Picado Jiménez, who will be the chief of the San José region, is not a lawyer, said the ministry.

A new law established the requirements for top officials in the Fuerza Pública.

Orchestra plays this weekend

The Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional will hold its 11th concert of the 2004 season Friday  and Sunday at the Teatro Nacional.

Guest director is Michael Lankester, and the principal performer will be Tjeerd Top, a violinist.

The Friday performance is at 8 p.m., and the Sunday one is at 10:30 a.m.
 

Calderón awaits ruling

Former president Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier will have to wait until at least today to find out if a judge wants him to stay in the la Reforma Prison. 

Calderón was in court all day Monday as his lawyers argued his case for house arrest. Calderón was ordered to the prison for nine months while prosecutors investigated his involvement with a series of illegal payments.

Two teens murder victims

Two teenagers, one 17 and the other 13, died from stab wounds.

The 17-year-old, Diego Aguilar Soto, suffered a knife wound about 7 p.m. Sunday in San Blas de Moravia.  He died later at hospital Calderón Guardia. A 19-year-old is being held.

About 5 a.m. Monday the body of the 13-year-old, Brayar Oporto Martínez, was found near the Museo del Niño in north San José. He suffered three knife wounds in the chest.
 

We now accept other currencies A.M. Costa Rica is now able to deal in four more important world currencies, thanks to its association with Pay Pal. Until now, the newspaper accepted payment internationally in U.S. dollars. Colons were accepted in Costa Rica. However, now the newspaper will accept Canadian dollars, euros, pounds sterling and yen via the Pay Pal Internet system.

The angry outpouring of citizen sentiment against ex-presidents accused of corruption reflects a society in which bribes and payoffs are the unhappy norm.

Citizens may pound on the side of police vehicles carrying Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría and Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier. But many of these same protestors are involved in one way or another with the secret market that helps Costa Ricans run their lives.

Corruption appears to be endemic here.

To get a driver’s license in the first place, a small gift (perhaps 5,000 colons) is in order to the driver’s examiner.

Students pay teachers to obtain advanced copies of examinations. They pay afterwards to enhance their grade.

Street vendors reward municipal policeman to avoid troubles.

License requirements are so complex, a small bonus makes the paperwork snafus go away.

Diversion of government supplies for private work takes place daily.

This is the day-to-day reality. More ominously, as in North America, drug trafficking could not exist here without some official sancions. And a fat government contract is simply an invitation to share.

The corruption reaches into the very heart of national institutions.

Need a telephone quick? There is a person who can help.

Have a weak court case? Pay a judge.

Want to keep your house of ill repute in business? Pay off and be discrete.

Many first-world countries do not have systematic, small-scale corruption. One usually cannot bribe a typical North American traffic patrolman. But someone eases the entry of thousands of pounds of heroin and cocaine every month or there would be no drugs in North America.

Even the United Nations is not exempt. consider the scandal over the Iraqi food for oil program.

And on the other end of current Costa Rican scandals, there are operations in First World countries: 

Taiwan and its financial generosity to local politicians and political parties. France-based Alcatel. And Finland, which provided a $39 million loan and mountains of medical equipment and supplies some say were unneeded.

But it is in Costa Rica where the trail clearly leads to the highest elected officials in the land. And over the last 16 years.

Here it is the poor who have daily contact with low-level corruption. In the First World, such activities are covered with a sophisticated layer of distraction.

Some Costa Rica police are crooked. But so are some First World policemen who are making much greater salaries.

The difference here then is the poverty that encourages low-level, obvious corruption and bribe-taking. Then there is the relatively unsophisticated plundering that makes newspaper and television headlines.

To make cross-cultural comparisons on the degree of corruption is nearly impossible.

But in Costa Rica, the general acceptance of corrupt practices and the school-age exposure to them cannot help to at least make these activities widespread.

The U.S. government says a report by an environmental unit of the North American Free Trade Agreement regarding genetically modified corn is "fundamentally flawed and unscientific."

In a joint statement Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the two agencies, said key recommendations in the report are "not based on sound science, and are contradicted by the report's own scientific findings."

The two agencies added that "while the report's authors recommend that biotech maize be treated differently from other modern maize hybrids, science tells us the opposite. In fact, the findings of

The report is a product of the Secretariat of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation. The report, entitled "Maize and Biodiversity: The Effects of Transgenic Maize in Mexico," is available on the CEC web site.

The Commission on Environmental Cooperation was established under a side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement to address regional environmental concerns, help prevent potential trade and environmental conflicts, and to promote the effective enforcement of environmental law.

HAVANA, Cuba — This nation has officially ended circulation of the U.S. dollar, a move Cuban leader Fidel Castro says is in response to tightening U.S. sanctions.

The ban on the dollar went into effect Monday, preventing hotels, stores and restaurants from using the currency. 

Those business will now only accept a "convertible 

Castro announced the dollar ban two weeks ago.

The Cuban government has also encouraged Cubans living abroad to send money to their relatives in other currency, such as British pounds or Euros.

Cuba legalized the dollar in 1993 in the face of an economic crisis sparked by the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In the build-up to a meeting between U.S. and Mexican officials, Mexican President Vincente Fox is stressing the importance of reaching a migration agreement between the two countries. The two-day meeting begins Tuesday in Mexico City.

The U.S. delegation is being led by Secretary of State Colin Powell. One of the principal themes the U.S. side wants to make progress on is increased security along the more than 3,000-km. border that divides the U.S. and Mexico.

The major goal of the Mexican side is to give legal status to millions of Mexicans who live and work in the United States. Many are still undocumented.

A migration deal between the two countries was high on the agenda of the Bush administration but was sidetracked by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. And, when Mexico refused to support the United States in the war against Iraq, it lost yet more priority status.

Nevertheless, a migration agreement remains the main strand of President Fox's foreign policy. In an interview Monday, the president called an agreement vitally important to Mexico's people, but 

"People must have the liberty to move to any other country looking for their own prosperity and opportunities for progress. But we understand that we have to move according to the relationships we have among countries, specifically in relation to security and terrorism. We understand that. We are very careful with our borders, and work joint programs with Europe, Spain, Switzerland, with the United States and Canada in trying to collaborate against terrorism.

Now that President George Bush has been re-elected for another four year term, the Fox administration, which only has two more years until its course is run, is pressing for the U.S. Congress to approve a migration agreement.

Each year, more than 300 Mexicans and other undocumented migrants mostly from Central and South America, die attempting to illegally cross the border into the United States.

The Mexican economy depends on the billions of dollars migrants living in the United States send home. The sum is now more than earnings from Mexican tourism, and is only second in cash terms to what Mexico gets from its oil fields.

BOGOTA, Colombia — Rebels have rejected a government offer to begin talks on a proposal to swap jailed comrades for hostages held by the guerrilla group.

In a statement Monday, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia said negotiations with the government hinge on the rebels' previous demand of a government withdrawal from two towns.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's hostages include Colombian politicians and police as well as three American contractors seized by the group last year.