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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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in nepotism investigation By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A vice minister of Educación Pública has been suspended from his job while investigations take place over appointments given to his family members. The vice minister is José Lino Rodríguez. He was called to Casa Presidencial Thursday for a session with Rodrigo Arias, minister of the Presidencia and brother to President Óscar Arias Sánchez, who is out of the country. A statement after the meeting from the Presidencia said that the vice minister was suspended without pay and that the government's ethics commission would be looking into the case. Rodrigo Arias said that the suspension would be for as long as is necessary. He speculated that perhaps a month would pass without a report, but he noted that the ethics commission, the Comisión de Ética, is an independent body that sets its own deadlines. Rodrigo Arias also said that an internal investigation would be conducted by the education ministry. The vice minister's wife, Monserrat Vindas González, a clerical employee of the ministry, was the subject of a series of appointments one day in August that had the effect of propelling her from the office job into a teaching position in Heredia with a significant increase in salary. Other officials suggested that other family members might also be involved in the investigation. Intel hikes dividend for its shareholders Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Intel Corp., the world's largest chip maker with facilities in the Central Valley, announced Thursday that its board of directors has approved a 12.5 percent increase in the quarterly cash dividend to 11.25 cents per share. This increase is to take effect beginning with the dividend that will be declared in the first quarter of 2007. Paul Otellini, president and CEO declared, "With one of the highest dividend yields in the technology industry, today's announcement is yet another sign of our confidence in the future of our business." Intel began paying a cash dividend in 1992 and has paid out approximately $8.0 billion to its stockholders over the past 56 quarters. 2006 has also been an important year for Intel because Apple Computers have now begun using the firm's microprocessors. Cash dividends for the year are expected to reach approximately $2.3 billion. Rural tourism fair next week By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The V Feria de Turismo Rural Comunitario will be Nov. 25 and 26 in the Museo de Arte Costarricense at the east end of Parque La Sabana. This is where some 80 firms and organizations will promote the concept of rural tourism as a vacation alternative. Vacationers get to see and live an authentic Costa Rican lifestyle while the communities benefit from the tourism income.
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on our real estate page HERE! |
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Costa Rica Third news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Nov. 17, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 229 | ||||||
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Election
opinion surveys could be subjected to scrutiny
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By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The state in the persona of the election tribunal may be picked as the public opinion watchdog, according to a measure given approval in a legislative committee Thursday. Members of the Comisión de Electorales voted to approve a new section of the election law that would require companies doing public opinion polling for public consumption, such as via television or newspapers, to file two copies of their data with the Secretaría del Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Lawmakers said this would prevent companies or the media from distorting the results of a public opinion poll. |
The data must be delivered to the tribunal
within 48 hours of its
airing or publication, according to the change, which has not yet been
approved by the full Asamblea Legislativa. Polling firms are registered with the tribunal, and those who fail to comply will be fined, according to the proposal. Unclear is exactly what the tribunal will do with the data. The election watchdog will have to run the data to see if a newspaper or television station distorts the meaning or results, although the proposal considered Thursday did not say what will happen. Also unclear is if the measure will apply to private firms that do polling for political parties who then use the results in their advertising. During the past election there did not seem to be cases of deliberate distortion. |
| Being anti-war should not be considered a criticism |
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| Sitting home nursing my
broken wrist, I have had time to watch the election campaign in the
U.S. One accusation bandied about was that “liberals are
anti-war.” From time to time, the objects of this accusation have
protested that they are not. It got me to thinking, “What is
wrong with being anti-war?” Being anti-war means being against killing. It means the physical and mental maiming of soldiers on both sides. Sometimes, these veterans return home so damaged that their only option is to live on the streets. Already there are more than 600 homeless veterans from the Iraq war. Being anti-war means being against the killing of innocent women and children, not wanting children orphaned, or young wives turned into widows. In every modern-day war more civilians than soldiers are killed. Being anti-war means not wanting cities reduced to rubble or the world contaminated with the residue of weapons and mines. When one is pro-war, aggression is the first response to any provocation, real or imagined. Being pro-war encompasses the attitude that you need not listen or speak to those who do not agree with you, that confrontation is the best, the only, solution. It means accepting as a ‘sad fact of war’ that civilians will be killed. Being anti-war means knowing that war is never a “final solution.” The legacy of war is millions of refugees and more war. Being anti-war means that war is truly only the last resort, after all other rational means to peace have been exhausted. Being anti-war means opting for diplomacy, striving to make friends of other nations, listening to |
their points of view, not challenging them to either line up behind you or be declared an enemy. Right now in Iraq, the brain drain is making the situation
there
untenable. Those who were able to, have fled the country because
they
daily feared for their lives. The only people who will be left
are
those so physically and mentally traumatized by war that they won’t be
able to pick up their lives after the war is over. What will
remain is
a ravaged country with radicalized people, alienated even from one
another. |
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Regional
leaders promise to support transparency and to fight corruption
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By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
Leaders of Central American nations say they will work to make their region transparent and free of corruption. Six presidents, plus representatives of Belize and the Dominican Republic, signed the pledge Wednesday during the 12th International Anti-Corruption Conference in Guatemala. They declared that their primary goal is to build a fair, |
equal and transparent society in Central
America. Guatemalan President Oscar Berger said the declaration is an important document in the fight against corruption. He said corruption is the main obstacle to regional development. The presidents of Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica also signed. The anti-corruption conference in Antigua, Guatemala, has attracted about 1,200 officials and scholars from around the world. The meeting ends Saturday. |
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Fourth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Nov. 17, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 229 | ||||||
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Gambling pros doubt that new
U.S. law will change trend
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Gaming industry leaders say Internet gambling, like that headquartered in Costa Rica, will thrive despite a recent law effectively barring online betting in the United States. In October, President George Bush signed legislation making it illegal for U.S. banks and credit card companies to process payments to gambling Web sites. But some traditional U.S. casino operators view the rules as temporary and say a shift away from online gaming is unlikely. Industry leaders, like Frank Fahrenkopf from the American Gaming Association, doubt the new law will be enough to stop U.S. gamblers. "I think what's going to happen is, No. 1, they will continue to bet. They'll find other means to get their money to these offshore sites." In Las Vegas, the home of American gambling, there's a different view of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act from the one in Washington. While lawmakers aim to curb online gaming, Vegas is skeptical. Casino operators believe demand will force Congress to permit online gambling — under strict government supervision. Rob Stillwell, from Boyd Gaming, predicts American companies will eventually be allowed to enter the market. "I think what it comes down to is a matter of licensing and a matter of regulation. So to the extent that we can create the mechanism by which to fairly regulate this business then I could see the more traditional, commercial gaming companies getting involved." |
As U.S. officials work
toward a June 2007 deadline to find ways to
enforce the new rules, other countries are easing restrictions. The
United Kindom is looking to regulate rather than restrict online
gaming, bolstering the hopes of Internet gambling businesses. Britain
has warned that the U.S. legislation could drive the industry
underground. Fahrenkopf added, "Money always has a way of finding its way to where it wants to go, so that's why I'm hopeful that the legislators, even those legislators who are opposed to all forms of gambling, will realize, No. 1, they're not going to stop it. Prohibition has never worked in this country. It's better to regulate it. It's better to control it, it's better to tax it". The casino industry, fearing competition, has not always supported online gambling but now it sees the Internet as a way to attract new gamblers Stillwell said he hopes lawmakers reverse course and permit U.S. companies to get a slice of the action. "I think what the government may come to realize is that people are gambling on the Internet anyway. And just because there's this legislation that maybe prevents U.S.-born companies from profiting from that type of activity, it's already happening". For now the U.S. government is pressing ahead — first it must find out how to distinguish Internet gambling payments from other transactions in order to block them. But the American Gaming Association estimates $5 billion is still being bet online by U.S. residents — a number it believes is unlikely to go down, whatever action Congress decides to take next. |
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U.S. and México pledge
to increase cooperation in face of possible flu epidemic
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Six Mexican states and four U.S. states that share the international boundary will increase cooperation on pandemic flu preparedness under an agreement signed this week. Meeting in Hermosillo, Mexico, Craig Vanderwagen of U.S. Health and Human Services and Pablo Kuri, director-general of epidemiology of the Mexican Federal Secretariat of Health, signed a joint declaration to strengthen the nations’ commitment to coordinate preparedness efforts, domestic and international disease surveillance activities and response planning in the event of an outbreak of pandemic influenza. “An influenza pandemic knows no political or geographic |
boundaries,”
Vanderwagen said, “and responding to a potential outbreak will demand
the cooperation of all nations,
especially those that share common borders like Mexico and the United
States." The agreement was made final during the 14th meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission, established in 2000 to provide international leadership to enhance health and the quality of life among residents along the United States-Mexico border. The commission's purpose is to raise awareness about public health issues in the region and the health and medical challenges that border populations face, to create venues and partnerships to mobilize the actions needed to improve the health of border-area residents and to serve as a reliable information portal about border-health issues. |
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