The U.S., Canadian and French embassies in Costa Rica will be closed tomorrow, Nov. 11, for Veterans and Remembrance Day. The embassies will reopen on Friday at their normal times. 

Veterans Day is a national holiday in the United

States. It celebrates the lives of the men and women who have served time in the military. Remembrance Day is celebrated throughout many other countries whose troops served in World War I. The holiday

celebrates those troops who lost their lives in the war.

Veterans and Remembrance Day are both celebrated annually on Nov. 11. On that day, in 1918, German forces agreed to an armistice, which effectively ended the War.

The United Kingdom also celebrates Remembrance Day, but the embassy will remain open. 

Many people in the United States confuse Veterans Day with Memorial Day. According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, "Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle.

"While those who died are also remembered on Veterans Day, Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military — in wartime or peacetime."

Alajuela man subject
of SEC hearing in U.S.

The U.S. investment regulators have asked for an administrative hearing to be set up for a man officials said now lives in Alajuela. They identified him as Donald L, Knight, 62, a former resident of Edmund, Okla.

Officials from the Security and Exchange Commission claim that Knight, while still in the United States, ran up the price of a stock, Broadband Wireless International Corp., by making false statements and false reports with the commission.

On Aug. 21, 2001, the commission obtained a court order that enjoined Knight from violating the security laws, said the SEC.

Now the administrative hearing will seek to determine if the allegations against Knight are true and if he should be banned from having any role in the securities business. An administrative judge has about seven months to schedule a hearing.

Action seeks an end
to sports hunting here

The Defensor de los Habitantes said Tuesday that the Sala IV constitutional court has agreed to study an appeal that seeks to eliminate sports hunting in Costa Rica.

The defensor filed the appeal because of fears that certain species would be eliminated by continued hunting. The defensor in a release said that the country lacks population studies of wild animals and also lacks recourses to control hunting.

If the Sala IV approves the appeal, it is being asked to order the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía to prohibit sport hunting.

Youth gangs are topic

Today and Thursday at 9 a.m. members of the Asamblea Legislativa will be involved in a forum discussing the phenomenon of gangs in Costa Rica. 

Among those invited are Marco Badilla Chavarría, director general of Migración y Extranjería, María Fullmen Salazar Elizondo, viceminister of Seguridad Pública, and Gilberto Corella Quesada, president of the Colegio de Abogados.

The gangs, called maras, are stronger in the United States, México and northern Central America. But there is evidence that the youth gangs are gaining footholds in Costa Rica, thanks to outside influence.
 

Man dies in Jacó mishap

A 56-year-old man died in the center of Jacó about 7 a.m. Tuesday when a tow chain broke and he was trapped between two vehicles. He was identified by the last name of Berrocal.

Investigators said that Berrocal had trouble with his truck, and that another trucker came to help him. But the driver was trapped accidentally between the two vehicles.
 

Elections in Uruguay praised

Costa Rica has congratulated the Republic of Uruguay for its successful and democratic presidential elections over the weekend. The nation also congratulated Tabaré Vázquez for his victory.

The Milwaukee, Wisc., Journal Sentinel this week published a three-part series documenting the struggles of Joel Snider, a troubled youth who was sent to the Dundee Ranch in Orotina, Costa Rica.

The series reports on Snider’s early struggle with drugs and depression and how his parents eventually sent him to the Dundee Ranch. The ranch’s pamphlets and brochures promised a disciplined environment for troubled teens. Snider’s parents, who live in Wisconsin, hoped that the ranch’s focus on discipline could help their 280-pound teenage son.

During his time at the ranch, Snider and other students were routinely treated sternly. The complaints from many of these children eventually were evaluated by Costa Rican authorities who started to monitor the ranch. 

Finally, on May 20, 2003, Fernando Vargas, a Costa Rican prosecutor, led 50 police officers into the facility for a legal search. The warrant had been issued in response to a situation regarding Nicole Flowers, one of the students at the ranch. She was being held against her will and her mother, who did not have custody of her daughter, wanted her to be released.

During the raid, the prosecutor informed the 

Snider’s parents withdrew him from the academy a few days after the raid. Since that time, the program has shut down. This fall, however, a new program called Pillars of Hope is attempting to open on the same property.

Harold Dabel is the new administrator of Pillars of Hope. He was listed as part of the managing team at the Dundee Ranch and his new team is leasing the property from Narvin Lichfield, the original owner of the ranch who  briefly was detained by officials after the raid. Lichfield was associated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools.

A Pillars of Hope official said the group plans to begin admitting students soon. The Costa Rican government, however, has said that the group does not yet have permission to open its doors. 

The Milwaukee Journal series mainly is a profile of Snider and his family under stress. The stories even report on how Snider smuggled cocaine into the ranch. The newspaper said the youth was scarred by his experiences. His parents spent in excess of $25,000 to send him here.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Officials here say they believe a hostage situation at the Mexican Consulate is under control, adding the man believed to be behind the standoff was shot and wounded by police.

Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn says an armed man stormed the diplomatic mission in downtown Los Angeles early Tuesday, and emerged later holding a female hostage. 

A police spokesman says an investigation is underway. He says the suspect's motives are unclear, and that he does not seem to know the hostage. An official from the Mexican Consulate thanked police for what he called their "swift reaction."

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has authorized the extradition of a notorious former drug cartel leader to the United States where he is wanted on drug trafficking charges.

Uribe approved the extradition of Alberto Rodriguez Orejuela late Monday, less than a week after Colombia's Supreme Court authorized the move. 

Rodriguez Orejuela has been in a Colombian jail since 1995. At that time, extradition to the United States was banned.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, the lightning rod in the Bush administration for his unique stand on constitutional rights, is stepping down.

The American Civil Liberties Union was quick to call for a more sensitive replacement. "Mr. Ashcroft's legacy has been an open hostility to protecting civil liberties and an outright disdain for those who dare to question his policies, said Anthony D. Romero, the organization’s executive director.

Ashcroft was one of the architects and the principal promoter of the USA Patriot Act that extended police powers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

Among other things, the Patriot Act allows secret search warrants and certain search warrants issued by a secret federal court panel.

"In his pursuit of a radical agenda, Mr. Ashcroft has insisted that the U.S. government could unilaterally detain American citizens without charge and access to counsel, said Romero. "He has also trampled on the rights of immigrants and, in the face of a scathing report from his own inspector general, Mr. Ashcroft merely uttered triumphal statements that showed no remorse. 

"Before Congress, Ashcroft resisted efforts to scrutinize the manner in which Patriot Act powers were being used or possibly abused. And he showed outright hostility to the democratic process when he told the Senate Judiciary Committee that critics of the Bush Administration would merely ‘aid the terrorists.’" 

However, the U.S. Justice Department, which Ashcroft heads says: "The Patriot Act facilitated information sharing and cooperation among government agencies so that they can better connect the dots. The Act removed the major legal barriers that prevented the law enforcement, intelligence, and national defense communities from

Attorney General John Ashcroft

talking and coordinating their work to protect the American people and our national security. The government’s prevention efforts should not be restricted by boxes on an organizational chart." 

The Patriot Act led to the jailing of thousands of non-citizens in the United States, many of whom had no relationship to terrorism. Key aspects are up for renewal.

Neither the House nor the U.S. Senate held extensive hearings on the proposed measure, but it was overwhelmingly approved in both places with just one U.S. senator and only 66 of 423 members of the House voting against it.

President George Bush says he applauds Ashcroft's efforts to prevent crime, vigorously enforce civil rights laws, crack down on corporate wrongdoing, stop human trafficking, and fight Internet pornography. 

In his resignation letter, Ashcroft said the objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved, and he believes the Justice Department would now be well served by what he calls new leadership and fresh inspiration. 
Ashcroft, 62, is a four time governor of Missouri.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seventeen of the world's poorest countries, including Nicaragua and Honduras, are now eligible to compete for grants from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the new U.S. aid agency designed to support developing countries' efforts to eliminate poverty.

Briefing reporters Tuesday here, Paul Applegarth, the corporation’s executive director,  said the organization is reviewing proposals and concept papers submitted by potential partners and could begin disbursing funds by the end of 2004.

Congress approved close to $1 billion for Challenge

In addition to the two Central American countries, those eligible for the 2004 money are Armenia, Georgia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Vanuatu, Libya, Benin, Mali, Madagascar, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Senegal and Cape Verde.

The MCA grant proposals received thus far cover projects ranging from rural development to education and micro-finance, Applegarth said. The projects show a remarkable amount of thought and imagination, he added. However, proposals do not mean every country will get money, he said.