 |
| A.M.
Costa Rica Your daily English-language news source Monday through Friday |
||
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Jo
Stuart |
|
Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for more details |
| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |
|
San
José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 241
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
 |
 |
|
sanctions if Ortega runs Special
to A.M. Costa Rica
The Human Rights Foundation is calling on the secretary-general of the Organization of American States to apply the democracy clause of the organization's charter to prevent the indefinite re-election of President Daniel Ortega, it said Wednesday. The Human Rights foundation made its request through a letter addressed to Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza that also denounced the recent cases in Bolivia, where a court controlled by President Evo Morales authorized his re-election in a blatant violation of the Bolivian constitution, and in Venezuela, where the constitution was amended in 2009 to allow for President Hugo Chávez to be re-elected indefinitely. The hemispheric charter said that any president who pushes for a constitutional reform with the aim of making his own re-election possible violates the continental commitment to democratic rule, and it is the duty of the Organization of American States to analyze the situation and establish sanctions, according to Thor Halvorssen, foundation president. The recent blessing that Insulza gave to President Morales’s unconstitutional reelection is the latest example of the dreadful role this willfully negligent official is playing, Halvorssen added. The particular clause in the charter is the same one that the hemispheric organization uses when a government is overthrown by a coup. Hijack suspect, 36, detained and some cargo is recovered By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Judicial police have detained one man and recovered a container that
had been hijacked.The Judicial Investigating Organization said that the container originally held 1,500 flat screen televisions. Agents said they recovered 420. The truck driver was confronted by hijackers Nov. 28 on Ruta 323 while transporting the flat screens to San José from Limón, agents said. The driver was held captive until the crooks disconnected the cab from the trailer. Then they abandoned the cab and the driver, agents said. The 36-year-old man was detained in Sagrada Familia where the container also was located. Agents said they were seeking more suspects. Youth orchestra to perform on familiar hospital grounds By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
An orchestra of the Sistema Nacional de Educación Musical will perform tonight as the Christmas tree is illuminated at the Hospital Nacional de Niños. The orchestra is made up of 35 young people between 19 and 17 who are or were once patients at the children's hospital. The music begins at 5 p.m. outside the hospital on Paseo Colón. The program features traditional Christmas music and classical works. The orchestra formed in 2011. The orchestra plans additional performances in the next week at locations around the metro area. The illumination is set for 6 p.m.  Click
HERE
to see original news story
Disney rumor
resurfaces,
but location now is Liberia By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The question remains as to why the mayor of Liberia would tell a radio audience that Disney was coming to Guanacaste. That happened Wednesday, and Disney in Florida quickly denied the rumor. The mayor, Luis Gerardo Castañeda, was authoritative in his radio interview. Many Costa Rican landowners and tourism operators would like a Disney theme park in the area, so the rumor pops up every couple of years. Garland Baker dismissed a similar rumor in the Jan. 23, 2006, edition of A.M. Costa Rica. He said that telephone real estate pitchmen had used the rumor for sales purposes and claimed the theme park location was near Jacó. That story is HERE! The news story was titled "It's just another Mickey Mouse rumor." American football Sunday for a benefit encounter By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Santo Domingo Saints and the Toros Footbal Club tangle Sunday in benefit game for the benefit of the Asociación Niños de Cristal. The American football teams will play at Estadio Colleye Fonseca, Guadalupe at 8:30 a.m., said an announcement. Both teams are members of the American Football Federation of Costa Rica. General admission is 2,000 colons, about $4. Fire fighters plan to honor those who died on the job By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The national fire department will unveil a monument this morning in honor of their colleagues who have died during an emergency. The ceremony will beat the Academia Nacional de Bomberos in Desamparados at 10 a.m.. Families of the dead fire fighters are expected to attend. The morning also will include a graduation of new fire fighters who have completed their initial training. U.S. CEOs more optimistic, Business Roundtable survey says By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The chief executives of many of the largest U.S. companies predict a steady, modest economic recovery in the first half of 2014. Participants in Wednesday's Business Roundtable survey expect improvements in sales, investment and hiring, but say economic growth will still be slower than it should be. These chief executives say their businesses are hurt by higher wages, the costs of complying with regulations along with worries about the costs of health care. A separate report from the Commerce Department showed a 25 percent rise in new home purchases in October. Economists say the increase was driven by rising stock prices and improving employment, which apparently outweighed rising home prices and interest rates. Still another report, this one from a business group, says the U.S. service sector grew at a slower pace in November. This non-manufacturing area covers everything from hotels to haircuts and makes up the largest segment of the economy.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado S.A. 2013 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
A.M.
Costa Rica advertising reaches from 12,000 to 14,000 unique visitors every weekday in up to 90 countries. |
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 241 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
 Ministerio
de Obras Públicas y Transportes/A.M. Costa Rica graphic
This is the stretch that is to be reconstructed under the
proposed contracts.
|
|
| Exporters and Limón business
interests push for Chinese loans |
|
|
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Business organizations from the Limón areas and some lawmakers are pressing for approval of a big loan from China to widen the key Ruta 32. Walter Céspedes Salazar of the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana and Edgar Quirós, president of the Asociación Nacional de Productores Independientes de Banano, held a press conference Wednesday at the legislature in which they urged approval of the deal. Truckers, pineapple producers, banana growers and other exporters also back the bill. Over the weekend Luis Guillermo Rodríguez Bastos, president of the Agencia para Desarrollo de Limón, released a letter asking lawmakers to do likewise. The $465.6 million project would make Ruta 32 four lane from Limón to Rio Frio, some 107.2 kilometers, a little more than 66 miles. In terms of legislative action, the proposal is moving at light speed. The bill was introduced by Casa Presidencial only Oct. 16. The measure is being studied in the legislative finance committee, the Comisión Permanente de Asuntos Hacendarios The Export–Import Bank of China would make two loans, one for $100 million and one for $296 million. Costa Rica is putting up $90 million, including an extra $20 million for expropriating property and relocating public services. The larger loan would be at 4 percent interests, and the smaller one at 2 percent. Costa Rica would have a five-year grace period before any repayment is due, and the term of the loan would be 15 years after that. The project is not without controversy. In his letter released over the weekend, Rodríguez of the Limón development agency, criticized a lawmaker who he said lacked technical arguments and made caustic interpretations in a display of mean-spirited politics. He meant Manrique Oviedo Guzmán of the Partido Acción Ciudadana who pointed out in the legislature that the contractors for the job, China Harbour Engineering Co. Group and China Road and Bridge Corp. have been blacklisted by the World Bank due to corruption allegations in The Phillipines, The 171-page set of contracts between Costa Rica and the People's Republic of China support other aspects raised by |
Oviedo. The paperwork is
incorporated as proposed law No. 18.945. The agreement specifies a direct award to the Chinese firm without competitive bidding. The contract also said that all rights and obligations under the contract will be interpreted in conformity of Chinese law. The measure before lawmakers also says that material to be used in road building can be imported without the payment of customs duties. Costa Rica also would renounce any immunity it may have for being a sovereign state. The proposed contract is a highly experienced public Chinese company specifically designated for the project by its government. Casa Presidencial also made a persuasive case for the project in the summary given lawmakers. Aides and ministers continue to lobby for the bill with lawmakers. Banana growers export $760 million in products a year, and pineapple growers sent out $791 million in 2012, they said. And the current highway was built between 1978 and 1987, they added. Casa Presidencial says in the summary that the project would improve the country's competitivity rating. It also noted that an independent study, paid for by the Interamerican Development Bank, estimated that the job should cost about $395 million but also said that the actual price could be 25 percent of that price either way. The contract with the Chinese firm falls within that range, and the price is fixed. The speed of the project also might be an illusion because the Ministerio de Obras Pública y Transportes has been working on the project for a long time. Reconstructing the road is in the government's long-term highway plan, and the project was mentioned as a possibility in March 2011 along with many others. There is some real concern in Limón that the deal with the Chinese might be sidetracked. Oviedo, the lawmaker, for example, has promised a constitutional appeal. The letter from the Limón development agency points out the problems with other road projects. Other regions, like San Carlos in the northern zone have fought for decades to have a new highway and with this deal the Caribbean and the country will not have to experience this financial, legal and bureaucratic torment, said the letter. The reconstruction is supposed to take 42 months. No final legislative action is expected for several months. |
| Minister pushes for approval to let U.S.
anti-drug boats dock |
|
|
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The security ministry is trying to obtain legislative approval for U.S. anti-drug boats to dock in the country after Dec. 31. The current permission is up on that date. Mario Zamora Cordero, minister of Gobernación, Policia y Seguridad Pública, said Wednesday that he has sent formal notes to lawmakers asking them to pass the appropriate approvals before they adjourn Dec. 23. Lawmakers plan to be on vacation until Feb. 4, following the general elections. |
The Costa Rican Constitution
requires legislative approval for the docking of foreign warships. A
faction in the Asamblea Legislativa usually rejects approval for U.S.
Navy ships and grudgingly gives approval for U.S. Coast Guard vessels. The arrival of a U.S. ship is a boon for merchants in the country's ports, plus the crafts usually have to put on more petroleum fuel. Zamora noted that the U.S. vessels operate in Costa Rica's exclusive economic zone and chase drug smugglers into the hands of officers of the Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas. |
 |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado S.A. 2013 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
 |
|
||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 241 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| Shoreline study weighs risks from hurricanes and a rise in
sea level |
|
|
By
the University of Massachusetts news service
Despite recent studies that focus on climate change impacts on the intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones, a research team found on review of the relevant science that sea level rise and shoreline retreat are the two more certain factors expected to drive an increase in future flood risk from such storms. Jon Woodruff of the University of Massachusetts Amherst led the study. Writing in the current special issue of Nature dedicated to coastal regions, geoscientist Woodruff, with co-authors Jennifer Irish of Virginia Tech University and Suzana Camargo of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia, say, “Society must learn to live with a rapidly evolving shoreline that is increasingly prone to flooding from tropical cyclones.” Sea level rise and its potential to dramatically change the coastal landscape through shoreline erosion and barrier island degradation, for example, is an under-appreciated and understudied factor that could lead to catastrophic changes in flood risk associated with tropical cyclones, known as hurricanes in the North Atlantic, they say. “There is general agreement that while globally, tropical cyclones will decline in frequency, their strength will be more intense," Woodruff said. However, there is less consensus on the magnitude of these changes, and it remains unclear how closely individual regions of tropical cyclone activity will follow global trends.” Despite these uncertainties, the researcher notes, the intensity and frequency of flooding by tropical cyclones will increase significantly due to accelerated sea level rise. Further, the geologic record provides clear examples for the |
importance of
accelerated sea level rise in initiating significant changes in
shoreline behavior. “The era of relatively moderate sea level rise that most coastlines have experienced during the past few millennia is over, and shorelines are now beginning to adjust to a new boundary condition that in most cases serves to accelerate rates of shoreline retreat,” he says. The authors focus on three physical factors they say should be considered together to understand future coastal flooding from hurricanes: Tropical cyclone climatology, relative sea level rise and shoreline change. “Modes of climate variability explain 30 to 45 percent of the variance of tropical cyclone activity within the instrumental historical record. This percentage is far less, however, when considering only storms that make landfall,” they point out. Woodruff and colleagues present prehistoric, instrumental and modeling evidence supporting the dominance of sea level rise on extreme flooding associated with tropical cyclones and the compounding influences of resulting shoreline change on the flood intensity by these events. “Many of these coastal environments have remained remarkably stable over the last few millennia, despite episodic and extreme disruption by tropical cyclones.” In stark contrast, these landforms were either non-existent or quickly washed over by storms during pre-historic times of rapid sea level rise similar to those projected for the end of this century, in 2100. The authors point out, “It is therefore prudent to expect a decrease in the resilience of these low-lying coastlines from tropical cyclone impacts when enhanced by elevated rates of sea level rise.” |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado S.A. 2013 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
 |
||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 241 | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
 |
|
 'Saying
Grace'
Norman
Rockwell painting
sells for astounding $46 million By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A masterpiece by American painter Norman Rockwell sold at auction Wednesday for $46 million, the highest price ever paid for an American artwork. "Saying Grace" shows an old woman and a young boy praying before a meal in a small restaurant while two puzzled men look on. Rockwell painted it for a cover of The Saturday Evening Post magazine in 1951. Sotheby's Auction House in New York did not name the buyer. Two other Rockwell works, "The Gossips" and "Walking to Church," also sold Wednesday for $8.5 and $3.2 million. Rockwell created hundreds of covers for The Saturday Evening Post between 1916 and 1963. The paintings were vivid and detailed portrayals of typical scenes of daily life in the United States, most of them lighthearted, but some serious and touching. Rockwell is still one of America's most popular artists, 35 years after his death. Mexican law officers locate stolen radioactive material By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Mexican officials say a shipment of highly radioactive waste has been found near an abandoned stolen truck that was carrying the material. Authorities have not yet detained any suspects. Mexican authorities say they found the white cargo truck in a parking lot, and found the container that held the radioactive material at another location. They say there was still some cobalt-60 inside, but that they also found a small quantity outside the container. The radioactive medical waste came from a hospital in the northern border city of Tijuana and was being taken to a radioactive waste disposal site in central Mexico when two armed men hijacked the truck north of Mexico City on Tuesday. Cobalt-60 is used for medical therapy under controlled conditions in a hospital, but authorities say that someone exposed to it without proper protection would likely die, perhaps in a matter of minutes. Mexican authorities have yet to locate the suspects, dead or alive. Police investigators speculate that the thieves may have been after the truck rather than the cargo. Fred Burton, a security analyst with Stratfor, a private intelligence firm in Austin, Texas, agrees. "We certainly do not know the motivation for the theft of the truck and it very well may have been just that kind of truckjacking or carjacking kind of scenario, where the criminals who took this simply did not know what was being carried in the actual load," said Burton. While it could not be used to produce a nuclear bomb, Fred Burton said that cobalt-60 could be used in a so-called "dirty bomb," in which conventional explosives scatter radioactive material over a large area. This is the kind of nightmare that the Department of Homeland Security has been concerned about for quite some time, said Burton. Burton said that U.S. ports of entry have for several years used highly sensitive devices to detect radioactive material. Cobalt-60 and other radioactive substances have caused numerous deaths and illnesses around the world in past incidents in which material was either stolen or accidentally left in a place accessible to the public. In the 1970s, some errant radioactive metal was used in contraction poles and even furniture in Mexico, but authorities tracked it down before it caused a widespread health problem. In Brazil in 1987, some material was left by mistake at a hospital that had been vacated and some local residents took it to their homes to watch it glow at night. Four people died in that incident and more than 200 others suffered from radiation poisoning. Pope's criticism of capitalism falls flat for many in U.S. By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Pope Francis' criticism of what he calls unfettered capitalism has struck a nerve in the United States, long seen as a global proponent of the free market. In a 224-page apostolic exhortation, titled Evangelii Gaudium, or "Joy of the Gospel," Francis argues that trickle down economic theories associated with the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan merely create an illusion of helping the poor. The document has prompted a backlash from some U.S. conservatives. “This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope,” said right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who saw it as a thinly veiled attack on the United States. Other critics have come to the defense of the free market, arguing that it has done much more to lift people out of poverty than the Catholic Church has ever done. At a recent discussion on Catholic social thought at Georgetown University, a school founded by Jesuits, Bishop Stephen Blair of Stockton, California, pointed out that Francis had merely quoted the fourth century saint, John Chrysostom, when he wrote: “Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life.” John Carr, a former policy adviser to U.S. bishops, said such comments must be seen in the context of the pope’s previous critiques of socialism. “People who say he’s a Marxist don’t know Marx and they don’t know Francis,” he said. Carr describes Francis as “a man not of ideology, but a man of experience. He lives with - works with - has been in the streets with the poor. And frankly when you look at this system from the bottom up, it looks different than from the top down.” Some left-leaning Catholics believe that what the pope is saying justifies tax increases on the wealthy and subsidized access to health care, which the political right in the United States has opposed vehemently. But conservative blogger Kathryn Jean Lopez says that’s not the message. “What he’s pointing to are the radical mandates of Christianity,” she said. “And if you actually believe the gospel and if you actually believe Catholic social teaching, you actually believe the catechism, you actually live lives that are different than the culture proposes.” The life the pope lives is certainly grabbing headlines. He reportedly went out in disguise among the homeless in Rome and has revealed that he used to work as a bouncer in a nightclub in Argentina. Julie Byrne, a Catholic studies professor at Hofstra University in New York, says Francis has inspired hope among progressives. “Lots of people in the Church who have been looking for a more open message from the Vatican for a long time are celebrating what he’s saying, and are predicting that it is going to have so many effects on the youth and appeal to people who have fallen away, and I think that remains to be seen,” she said. Former Catholics are estimated to comprise around 10 percent of the adult population in the United States. It has been noted that if ex-Catholics were a denomination, it would be one of the largest religious groupings in America. The pope’s emphasis of centuries-old Catholic social teachings may not be bringing many of them back into the pews, but it is being received as a powerful commentary in a nation where belief in the gospel of the free market remains strong. Library of Congress report says most silent films lost By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Nearly three-quarters of America's feature-length silent films have been lost, and the legacy that put Hollywood at the forefront of the movie industry from 1912 to 1929 is endangered, the Library of Congress said Wednesday. The first comprehensive study of American feature-length films of the silent era unveiled by the Library of Congress paints a distressing picture. Some 70 percent of silent feature-length films have been lost. Classic films such as 1926's "The Great Gatsby," the 1917 version of "Cleopatra" and actor Lon Chaney's 1927 "London After Midnight" are among movies considered lost in their complete form. “The Library of Congress can now authoritatively report that the loss of American silent-era feature films constitutes an alarming and irretrievable loss to our nation's cultural record,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. About 11,000 silent feature films of American origin were released from 1912 through 1929. Only 14 percent, or about 1,575 titles, exist in their original 35-mm. format. Five percent of the films that did survive are incomplete and 11 percent of those that are complete are in lower-quality 28-mm. or 16-mm. format or in foreign versions, according to the study. “We have lost most of the creative record from the era that brought American movies to the pinnacle of world cinematic achievement in the 20th century,” Billington said in a statement. Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese, an advocate of film preservation, said the findings are invaluable. His film "Hugo" was inspired by pioneering film-maker Georges Melies who directed hundreds of movies in the late 1890s and early 1900s. “The research presented in this report serves as a road map to finding silent films we once thought were gone forever and encourages creative partnerships between the archives and the film industry to save silent cinema,” Scorsese said in a statement. In 1990 Scorsese established The Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and preserving motion picture history. It has helped to save more than 560 films, according to its Web site. The study, “The Survival of American Silent Feature Films: 1912-1929,” commissioned by the National Film Preservation Board, also showed that of the more than 3,300 films that survived in any format 26 percent were found in other countries, and 24 percent have already been repatriated. The Czech Republic has the most American silent films found outside the United States. The report credits overseas archivists with preserving many U.S. silent films. The author of the study, historian-archivist David Pierce, also compiled an inventory to help bring American silent films back to the country. The report recommended that a nationally-coordinated program be developed to repatriate silent films from foreign archives, as well as a campaign to document unidentified titles. Dozen of whales in danger, and 10 die in Florida beaching By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Ten whales have died and rescuers were trying to save dozens more that beached in Everglades National Park in southwest Florida, park and wildlife officials said Wednesday. Forty-one whales were swimming freely in shallow waters near shore as rescuers tried with little success to coax them out into deeper water. Wildlife officers euthanized four whales because they could not be saved, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, said. NOAA said via Twitter that survival rates typically were low in such instances. The whales were first sighted Tuesday afternoon in a remote part of the park near the Gulf of Mexico, according to park spokeswoman Linda Friar. They were believed to be short-finned pilot whales, typically found in deep water in tropical and temperate areas. Biologists will perform necropsies on the dead whales to try to determine why they were stranded, NOAA said. “Pilot whales are common stranders. They tend to do this,” Friar said. When rescued, she said, “they tend to rebeach themselves.” “This area of the park is probably the most challenging for something like this. When the tide goes out, there's hundreds of yards of very shallow shoals,” said Ms. Friar. Short-finned pilot whales typically travel in pods of 25 to 30 animals. Adults weigh 2,200 to 6,600 pounds (1,000 kg to 3,000 kg), with females averaging 12 feet long (3.7 meters) and males averaging 18 feet long (5.5 meters), according to NOAA. Labor trafficking campaign says 20 million are victims By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
LOS ANGELES — The International Labor Organization says more than 20 million people are subject to forced labor, working on farms, in factories, or as domestic helpers. Those who are fighting human trafficking say it is a problem in both the developing world and industrial countries, including the United States. Stories of modern-day bondage are in the headlines. Sixty women and girls held captive in New Delhi brothels were rescued by Indian police last year. And authorities say millions of Indian children are forced to work. In June, police freed hundreds of workers held captive at a tomato farm in México. The workers say they were not paid the promised wages. Last month in Los Angeles, authorities announced a settlement with Del Monte Fresh Produce, and the ongoing prosecution of a labor supplier and another grower. Other growers remain in settlement talks. Thiem Chayadit was one of 150 workers from Thailand employed on farms in Hawaii who will share in the $1.2 million Del Monte settlement, outlined by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It is good news for Chaiyajit, who borrowed more than $20,000 to pay traffickers to come to America. He says he was not paid for his work in Hawaii. He says he was very frustrated because he did not know where to find the money to pay off the debt in Thailand. Commission regional attorney Anna Park says the legal action is part of a wider effort by the U.S. government to end forced labor, in this case using laws against discrimination because of national origin. “Often times you hear stories about people escaping from their employment. You do not really hear those terms in normal employment discrimination cases," said Park. At All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, trafficking survivor Ima Matul described her ordeal as a domestic servant after she was recruited in Indonesia. “Who does not want to come to the United States? They promised me $150 a month and a day off, and I do not have to pay any fee for my flight, visa, passport," said Ms. Matul. But for three years, she was forced to work seven days a week, abused and not paid. She spoke little English when she arrived in the United States, but finally learned enough to write a note to a neighbor, who helped her escape. “I still remember exactly how it was and how it was when I was escaping," she said. She now works for the non-profit Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, which helped her create a new life and helps others trapped in labor bondage. Church member Aubin Wilson says she invited Ms. Matul to speak to the congregation's women to publicize a hidden problem. “And to create awareness and to raise monies and pass legislation that stops this trafficking in its tracks," said Wilson. Catherine Chen works in Washington, D.C., for Humanity United, a non-profit group that has partnered with the U.S. government to find new ways to do that, and help the victims. “One of the most urgent things that survivors need is access to safe housing, access to basic legal assistance, mental health care, medical care. Some of even the basic things like toothbrushes and soap, are things that survivors often do not have when they get out of their situations," said Ms. Chen. She says human trafficking works through a global supply chain and that law enforcement, government and social agencies need to work together to address the problem. Susan Rice describes U.S. as defending human rights By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice says the United States remains firmly committed to defending human rights, although it sometimes faces painful dilemmas and tough choices in situations across the globe. Addressing a conference sponsored by the advocacy group Human Rights First, Ms. Rice said President Barack Obama has always been clear that advancing the principles of democracy and respect for human rights is central to U.S. foreign policy. She said the United States stands for the rights of women, the Gay and lesbian community, and minorities, defends freedom of worship, assembly and a free press, as well as champions open government and civil society. At the same time, Ms. Rice said the U.S. sometimes faces what she called painful dilemmas when the need to defend national security interests clashes with the fundamental commitment to democracy and human rights. "Let's be honest. At times, as a result, we do business with governments that do not respect the rights we hold most dear," said Ms. Rice. "We make tough choices. When rights are violated we continue to advocate for their protection, but we cannot and I will not pretend that some short-term trade-offs do not exist." Ms. Rice listed successes, including working through the United Nations to halt violence in Cote d'Ivoire, helping to remove the M23 militia from the battlefield in Congo, and working for progress toward inclusive democracy in Burma. She said the United States called to account some of the world's worst human rights abusers, including governments in Iran, Syria, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Sudan. Even as the world tests the potential of a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear issue, she said another key test is whether there will be progress on human rights. "We call on the government of Iran to allow the U.N. special rapporteur to visit the country. Our sanctions on Iran's human rights abuses will continue, and so will our support for the fundamental rights of all Iranians. The Iranian people deserve the same right to express themselves online and through social media as their leaders enjoy," said Ms. Rice. Ms. Rice noted modest economic reforms in Cuba, but condemned arrests of human rights activists. She renewed a call for the release of Alan Gross, the American sentenced to 15 years in prison in Cuba after being convicted of crimes against the state in 2011. She also said the U.S. continues to speak clearly and consistently with China about what she called shortsighted restrictions on freedoms there. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado S.A. 2013 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa
Rica's sixth news page |
|
||||||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 241 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
||
|
Google quietly
gathering tools for robotic secret plan By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
With all the fanfare about Amazon’s plan for robotic delivery drones, tech giant and Amazon rival Google has been quietly amassing a lot of robotic expertise. According to an article in The New York Times, Google has acquired seven technology companies with prowess in various aspects of robotics. Adding to the speculation that Google is dead serious about robotics, the company has put Andy Rubin in charge of the effort. He was in charge of Google’s popular Android operating system. While Google has been coy about the type of robots it’s looking to develop, one possibility would be something that could deliver goods to consumers’ doors, like Amazon’s drones. Instead of through the air, however, Google would make the deliveries via self-driving cars, something the company has already been working on. Google has already begun to experiment with a grocery delivery service in the Bay Area of California called Google Shopping Express. The Times reports that Google’s robotics team will be headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with an office in Japan, one of the leading countries in the field. Rubin told The Times the company had a “10-year vision” to deliver on its robotics vision. "I feel with robotics it's a green field," he said. "We're building hardware, we're building software. We're building systems, so one team will be able to understand the whole stack." The companies Google has acquired are Autofuss, Bot & Dolly, Holomni, Industrial Perception, Meka Robotics, Redwood Robotics and Schaft. Mexican editor won't eat in protest with government Special
to A.M. Costa Rica
Ildefonso Chávez, president and editor of the newspaper El Pueblo in Chihuahua, Mexico, is on a hunger strike in protest against the withdrawal of official advertising by the state government in an apparent reprisal for his editorial criticism. The Inter American Press Association expressed its solidarity Wednesday. By telephone, Chávez reported that on Monday 2 he had begun a hunger strike in protest of the cancellation of the state government’s official advertising in October after his paper had published reports on public debt and criticism of the governor’s actions. The state body also told Chávez that it would not pay its debt to the newspaper for all the advertising placed there this year, he said. Chávez, who is staging his protest in a tent outside the government headquarters, said his hunger strike would go on indefinitely. He reported that his paper’s Web site had been blocked out from government offices internet access and a mud-slinging campaign was being waged against him. The press advocacy organization said it sent a letter to the Chihuahua state governor, César Horacio Duarte Jáquez. |
| Costa Rican News |
AMCostaRicaArchives.com |
Retire NOW in Costa Rica |
CostaRicaReport.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado S.A. 2013 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| From Page 7: Country gives its support for Bali trade deal By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The nation's commerce minister urged countries represented at a trade conference to seal an agreement that also covers agriculture and development. The minster, Anabel González, used her turn to speak to the world trade conference in Indonesia to support the so-called Package of Bali. She said that the nations have a chance to solidify the first multilateral accord since the creation of the World Trade Organization. The commerce ministers are tying to resurrect some aspects of the Doha Round negotiations. She said that the proposals would be valuable for big and small nations, for development and for the world economy. For Costa Rica the agreement would mean simplification and optimization of the procedures for international commerce, said the ministry later. Costa Rica joined a number of other countries in promoting reform of fishing subsidies that distort the market and overexploit marine life, the ministry said. Ms. González also met with several Asian nations and representatives of Chile to discuss mutual topics. |
