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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 12, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 246
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The state petroleum monopoly said that it is seeking significant cuts in the price of fuel. The company, the Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo S.A. said it envisions a cut of 83 colons for super gasoline, a cut of 75 colons for plus or regular and 64 colons for diesel. The prices are controlled by the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos,which fixes the amounts every month based on the world price of petroleum and the exchange rate, among other factors. Petroleum prices have dipped from about $100 a barrel to $70. The refinery, known as RECOPE, has been under attack, too, by the Spanish press. There have been revelations that salaries and special payments made under the contract with the employee unions have been excessive. In addition, La Nación disclosed that the way in which the Autoridad sets the price for asphalt is in a way a subsidy paid for by motorists. The newspaper also said there was no sign that the large construction companies passed on these savings to the government in the form of contract reductions for repaving projects. Success with turtles reported in Nicaragua By the Wildlife Conservation Society news
staff
A Wildlife Conservation Society team in Nicaragua reported a dramatic increase in nesting of critically endangered hawksbill sea turtles including the highest nest counts since a conservation project began there in 2000. The total nest count for hawksbill turtles in the project area in Nicaragua’s Pearl Cays region has increased some 200 percent from 154 in 2000 to 468 in 2014. Of the areas monitored, poaching rates have decreased by more than 80 percent. Poaching in 2014 was one of the lowest in project history at approximately 5 percent. Nest success has averaged approximately 75 percent this season, with over 35,000 hatchlings going to sea as of the end of November. Before the project began, a preliminary study of the Pearl Cays on the Caribbean coast showed that almost 100 percent of nests laid were poached and most eggs were removed for human consumption. The Wildlife Conservation Society established the Hawksbill Conservation Project in 2000 to reduce poaching and create awareness. In 2010, it helped contribute to the establishment of the Pearl Cays Wildlife Refuge, which safeguards nesting, foraging, breeding and migratory areas for sea turtles, while protecting other marine species and important habitat types. “These recent nest counts show that by working with local communities, we can save sea turtles from extinction,” said Caleb McClennen, the society's executive director of marine conservation. “Communities partnering with WCS are directly involved with safeguarding their own natural resources. Without their help and commitment, this project would fail, and Nicaragua’s hawksbill turtles would be doomed.” In addition to monitoring nesting success Wildlife Conservation Society scientists satellite-tagged three nesting females this year. The turtles are currently being tracked as they move northward near the Honduran border. Since 1999, the Wildlife Conservation Society has captured and released nearly 3,000 sea turtles in the Pearl Cays. Staff record the date, size, and location for each sea turtle encounter as part of the tag and release program. This information can help improve the understanding of the species for informed management and development of conservation efforts in the region. The society has been working on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua since 1999 focusing primarily on marine turtle conservation and public education and awareness. Episcopal parish announces services By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Episcopal parish of The Good Shepherd in downtown San José will have Advent services Sunday, and Dec. 21 at 8:30 a.m. in English and 11 a.m. in Spanish. There is a bilingual Christmas Eve service at 6 p.m. Dec, 24 and a Christmas Day service, also bilingual, at 10 a.m. There also is a News Year's Eve service Dec. 31 at 6 p.m, which is bilingual. On Jan. 3, there is a 9 a.m. bilingual Epiphany service. The church is on Avenida 4 pedestrian mall between Calles 3 and 5.
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 12, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 246 | |
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| Page One is HERE! Page 2 is HERE! Page 4 is HERE! | NEXT PAGE |
| Am-Cham and ministry want consumers to report illegal sales |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Ministerio de Hacienda stops short of declaring war on the underground economy Thursday. Officials announced a Web site where consumers can do it. The site was created by the Cámara Costarricense Norteamericana de Comercio with the support of the ministry. Officials announced the existence of the site Thursday. The idea is that citizens will report the sale of untaxed goods. The government claimed that such evasion costs the country $100 million a year. As of early today there were four reports on the web. Two were for untaxed cigarettes, and two were for untaxed alcohol, according to the graphics there. A November survey by the Cartago-based Technológico de Costa Rica showed that less than 2 percent of respondents said they had reported merchants who evaded sales tax. That's because both the consumer and the merchant benefit from such evasion. The same is true with untaxed products. The prices are cheaper. To counter this reasoning the ministry noted that the products that have been taxed and entered the marketplace the legal way have a guarantee of quality. Vendors who evade sanitary controls put the consumer's health at grave risk. That is true with cigarettes, alcohol and medicines. Police frequently stop truckers who are transporting such illegal merchandise. Costa Rican officials are planning to replace the 13 percent sales tax with a 15 percent value-added tax. That will generate more underground economic activity. The chamber known as Am-Cham is sponsoring the project because illegal sales can undercut legal merchants. |
 This is the logo for the campaign The ministry also said that those
who deal with merchants who cheat are probably dealing with organized
crime.
The device is designed to be friendly with smartphones and tablets. There is a geopositioning system built into the Web application. The report of illegal activity shows up on a Web site map as a round circle at the place it was reported. The government has created a Comisión mixta permanente contra el Comercio Ilícito, and the Web application is the first step, the ministry said. Am-Cham announced the results of its own survey that showed 63 percent of the respondents said they purchased illegal goods. |
| Cruz Roja setting up aid stations all along the Saturday
parade route |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Cruz Roja said that it would have 170 workers, 18 ambulances and 12 temporary aid centers available for the Festival de la Luz Saturday. The operation begins at 10 a.m., long before the 3 p.m. pre-festival for children and the 6 p.m. main parade. Based on experiences with other such events, the Cruz Roja warned against consuming products of dubious origin. There will be many vendors servicing the parade crowd. There may be showers for the parade. The Instituto Meteorológico |
Nacional
said that a low pressure area was causing rain and unstable
conditions Thursday in the mountains around the metro area as well as
in Limón and the northern zone. The weather institute said that the low pressure area would continue to have an effect on local weather through Saturday night. The metro area has only had a sprinkling of rain, but there has been ample wind. Elsewhere the situation is different. Residents of Barra de Colorado in northeast Costa Rica said that the town was awash and that transportation was by boat. The rains have been heavy, they said, and the town is adjacent to the Río Colorado. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 12, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 246 | |||||
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| Robots, computers and scanners are the new tools for
dentists |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Medical robots help surgeons perform delicate operations more safely and with greater dexterity than with instruments manipulated by hand. Such sophisticated tools also help doctors work more quickly. One machine reduces the time it takes to manufacture dental crowns to just a couple of hours. Computer-aided medical instruments are increasingly making life easier for doctors and their patients. It used to be that the common but complicated procedure to get a tooth crown required several visits to the dentist’s office. While a dental technician was preparing the permanent replacement for a damaged tooth, the patient had to wear a temporary crown. Since the mid-1980s, this procedure has gradually been taken over by robotic machines that reduce the job to just over two hours. Sitting in the dentist’s chair takes even less time. “It’s about 12 minutes worth of chair time for the patient and the rest of the time it’s work that’s taking place outside the patient’s mouth,” said dentist Michael Silveus. At his office in Borthern Virginia, close to Washington, Silveus and his assistant prepares a patient’s tooth for a new crown. The actual drilling takes about five minutes. Instead of making the impression of the damaged tooth in a plastic material, Silveus uses a wand with a video camera to scan the tooth and the surrounding area. At this point the computer takes over, designing the new crown and creating instructions for a robotic milling machine. |
 Voice of America photo
With the new technology a
dentist can scan a toothA porcelain cube, no larger than the tooth, is inserted between two precise drills, similar to the dentist’s drill, that grind away excess material, turning the cube into a perfectly matching tooth crown. To harden, the crown must be baked at high temperature for about ten minutes. During that process, it also gets tinted to match the color of the neighboring teeth, so it is ready to be cemented in the patient’s mouth. Patients are pleased with the result. “It feels amazing. The tooth feels like my tooth,” said one patient. Silveus said even this technology may someday become obsolete. “The other thing we look forward to is genetic engineering and eventually cloning, so you can make the crown out of actual enamel, just like the patient’s natural teeth are,” said Silveus. But for now, he said, his patients are happy to be able to get a new crown in just one visit. |
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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2014 and may
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 12, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 246 | |||||||
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| U.S. Congress passes bill to prevent new shutdown By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. Congress has approved a last-minute, two-day extension of government funding, narrowly averting a partial federal government shutdown. With just an hour to go before the midnight deadline, the Senate late Thursday approved the measure, minutes after it was passed by the House of Representatives. Though the immediate threat of a government shutdown was lifted, the Senate now has just two days to approve a wider $1.1 trillion spending bill for 2015. A major hurdle was cleared Thursday when the House voted 219 to 206 to approve the spending measure. Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner warned lawmakers that if they did not pass a bill Thursday -- even a temporary measure to fund the government -- they would have to stay in Washington until Christmas. Lawmakers from both sides and President Barack Obama urged passage, even though conservative Republicans were angry over what was not in the bill and liberal Democrats were upset over what was there. Conservatives said the measure does not block President Obama from taking executive action on immigration. Liberals were furious over last-minute provisions that eased regulations on big banks, saying taxpayers would be responsible for bailing out a bank that fails. Kerry says extreme weather is linked to climate change By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday urged participants at a U.N.-backed climate change conference in Perú to demand accountability from their countries’ elected officials. Kerry petitioned the diplomats, scientists, economists and other officials at the Conference of the Parties to make climate change an issue that no public official can ignore. Kerry offered a dire prediction at the conference in Lima: “If we continue down the same path that we are on today, the world as we know it will change profoundly and will change dramatically for the worse.” He cited examples of extreme weather that have occurred within the past two years. “In Brazil, they saw the first, worst drought in half a century," he said. "New Zealand recently experienced a drought so bad that farmers had to slaughter their dairy cattle and sheep because they did not have enough food and water to keep the animals alive. And the historic droughts of the world are matched only by historic floods in other parts.” Negotiators have been trying to craft an agreement that addresses concerns like rising greenhouse gas emissions in time for a Paris summit in 2015. Kerry acknowledged that there are skeptics, even in the United States. “This is pretty logical stuff, and it is astounding to me that even in the United States Senate and elsewhere, we have people who doubt it.” He said the solution to climate change is good energy policy. “What we don’t hear enough of is the most important news of all — that climate change presents one of the greatest economic opportunities of all time on Earth.” Kerry said those who think world economies cannot afford the costs of clean energy alternatives should consider the costs of damage from extreme weather events. The secretary also said that every nation on Earth has a responsibility to fight climate change, not just big polluters like the United States and China. Developing nations at the conference insisted that wealthy ones must bear the burden of fighting climate change, but Kerry said that more than half of the carbon emissions that are causing the Earth to warm come from poorer countries. He said it was imperative that they act, too, and embrace what he called the energy sources of the future, rather than the ones of the past.  Voice of America photo
Dalai Lama gestures during television
interview.
Tibetans
get TV glimpse
of Dalai Lama interview By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
For Tibetans, Dec. 10 is usually charged with happiness and tension, as security police swarm markets and temples on the lookout for extraordinary displays of religious fervor or celebration. Their vigilance marks the Dalai Lama's 1989 Nobel Prize anniversary, a day when many Tibetans have the spiritual leader in their thoughts and grapple with the fact of his absence due to tightly enforced restrictions on worshiping him in homes and monasteries across ethnically Tibetan areas of China. That’s why Voice of America’s Dec. 10 satellite TV broadcast of a historic interview with the Dalai Lama was a major news event for Tibetans, with hundreds of clips from the interview shared on Chinese social media. For older Tibetans, it was the first time since 1959 that they had seen the Dalai Lama speaking at such length on issues confronting the Tibetan people. In the sweeping 80-minute interview recorded in India, the Dalai Lama covered a wide range of topics, including the origins of Tibet’s civilization; the achievements of Tibet’s ancient kings; Tibet’s turning away from war and empire-building to Buddhism and spirituality; and the necessity of preserving and cultivating Tibetan culture because of its value in today’s world. The Dalai Lama also spoke about the importance of secular ethics, the practice of compassion, and mutual respect between followers of different religions in resolving some of today’s most intransigent conflicts. “The teachings in religion on kindness and having concern for others is being ignored these days, while at the same time, the sense of one’s own religion is becoming more and more self-centered, combining to create chauvinistic ideas on the superiority of one’s own religion, thus one’s own superiority," he said. "It is this mindset that is creating problems today.” And in turning to China, he expressed the view that religions in general have the potential to bring a degree of peace to people, and that Tibetan Buddhism, which has enjoyed wide respect and influence throughout the last 1,000 years of Chinese history, can help resolve many of China’s societal, environmental, and political problems. “For a future People’s Republic of China to experience prolonged stability, for the people to feel contentment, and for the nation to enjoy wide influence in this world, compassion, tolerance, and a wider perspective, are essential. And not being driven by narrow insecurities,” he said. The Dalai Lama concluded his remarks by turning directly to the camera to urge Tibetans to improve their own economic well-being and education, and to value and protect culture by stating that, “It is up to Tibetans to protect our culture, not for our sake only, but because Tibetan culture has the potential to contribute enormously to the future well-being of all people on earth.” CIA director backs agency in use of extreme tactics By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, responding to a scathing government report, defended his agency’s use of extreme tactics to obtain information from detainees held abroad after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. There were no easy answers, and whatever personal views are on enhanced interrogation techniques, his nation and in particular his agency did things right to keep our nation secure, Brennan said in opening remarks Thursday at a rare news conference at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Addressing criticisms detailed in a Senate Intelligence Committee report released Tuesday, Brennan said an overwhelming number of CIA officers complied with rules on interrogation. "They did what they were asked to do in the service of their nation," he said, telling reporters it was unknowable if the techniques produced useful intelligence. "I have already stated that our reviews indicate that the detention and interrogation program produced useful intelligence that helped the United States thwart attack plans, capture terrorists and save lives," Brennan said. Brennan also said the CIA did not intentionally deceive the president and the public, one of the charges made in the report. Based on a five-year investigation, it said the harsh interrogations amounted to torture, went beyond legal limits and failed to reveal actionable intelligence. Brennan has acknowledged the agency did not always live up to the high standards it set for itself. "In a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorized, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all," Brennan said. "And we fell short when it came to holding some officers accountable for their mistakes.'' The director's comments followed former U.S. vice president Dick Cheney's defense of the CIA. In an interview with Fox News Wednesday, Cheney said the CIA did exactly what the White House wanted in setting up an interrogation program for terror suspects following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Cheney said the program was designed to catch those responsible and make sure such an attack did not happen again. "I would do it again in a minute," Cheney said of approving it. He said the CIA deserved a lot of credit and not condemnation. Cheney said Wednesday the program may have had some problems, but officials very carefully avoided torture. He also insisted the interrogations yielded vital information in preventing further attacks. Meanwhile, the United States closed its last detention facility in Afghanistan, at the Bagram air base, after releasing three prisoners, two of them to Afghan authorities for possible prosecution. According to the Senate report, the CIA used its enhanced interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists held at Bagram. Since the Senate report's release, countries often criticized by the United States for their human rights abuses, including China, have sharply attacked the CIA actions. "A country's people have the best right to speak about their human rights situation," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said. "The United States has no right to pose itself as an arbiter and at every turn point their finger at other countries' human rights, as racism and mistreatment of prisoners and other serious human rights violation problems in the United States are facts now known to all.'' The Russian foreign ministry’s human rights envoy, Konstanin Dolgov, said Thursday that the abuses cited in the report do not square with U.S. claims to be a model of democracy. Islamabad's foreign ministry spokeswoman, Tasneem Aslam, called the interrogation techniques a violation of international law and said human rights laws must be respected. Human rights activists are calling for the prosecution of officials involved in the CIA's use of extreme interrogation methods. Wednesday, the Justice Department said the U.S. is committed to complying with its domestic and international obligations, but would object to foreign prosecution of U.S. officials. President Barack Obama said the abuses were terrible mistakes that should not be repeated. He banned the use of the interrogation techniques when he took office in 2009.  U.S. Navy photo via Voice of America
The laser weapon run out
for use.U.S. Navy
makes public
its infrared laser weapon By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. Navy says it has, for the first time, successfully tested an experimental laser weapon aboard a ship deployed in the Persian Gulf. The Office of Naval Research has released a video showing the weapon in action during the tests. The weapon, which utilizes a solid-state infrared beam of energy to cripple or destroy targets, was tested over the past few months aboard the USS Ponce in the Persian Gulf. The Navy says the system performed flawlessly. During a series of test shots, the laser hit and destroyed targets mounted atop a small boat, blasted a two-meter drone from the sky, and destroyed other moving targets. The system is operated using a video-game-controller type device. The U.S. Navy says laser weapons could be a pivotal tool for defending its fleets in the future from small boat, missile, and drone attacks. It hopes to deploy combat-ready laser prototypes by the early 2020s. |
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2014 and may
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 12, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 246 | |||||||||
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By the University of the Basque
Country news staff
Cocaine consumption quadruples the risk of sudden death in people between 19 and 49. The research by the University of the Basque Country, the Basque Institute of Forensic Medicine and a mental health center is the first to link the two factors. The joint piece of research links for the first time, the increase in sudden cardiovascular death with the recent consumption of cocaine. In people in the 19-49 age bracket, this risk is quadrupled. In fact, cocaine consumption doubles the risk of death of cardiovascular origin that can be attributed to smoking, and becomes the main risk factor among subjects under 50. What is more, this study is the first one conducted using forensic samples taken from deceased individuals. So they examined all the sudden deaths that underwent forensic analysis and which took place in Bizkaia over a seven-year period, between January 2003 and December 2009. The post-mortem examinations were conducted by the only service existing in the province: the Forensic Pathology Service of Bizkaia of the Basque Institute of Forensic Medicine. The research has been published by the specialized journal Addiction. Benito Morentin, Javier Ballesteros, Luis F. Callado and J. Javier Meana analyzed the cases of 437 people who died owing to sudden cardiovascular death and whose deaths were not due to disease or acute intoxication. To conduct the research, they also studied the cases of another 126 people who died of different causes. For the first time, the researchers included a population (sudden death patients) that had been excluded from other clinical studies. All the individuals had suffered sudden death of a non-violent nature with instant death or within six hours following the onset of symptoms. A relatively young population was chosen (between the ages of 19 and 49) to rule out the influence of cardiovascular problems that are more common in older people. What is more, the fact that cocaine consumption outside this age bracket is very low was taken into account, although cocaine is the most consumed illegal psychoactive substance after cannabis. In the Basque Country the consumption of this drug is above the average for Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. In all the cases, a full post-mortem examination plus toxicological and histopathological studies were conducted, and the clinical data and circumstances of the deaths were reviewed. Gas chromatography and liquid spectrometry were conducted to detect therapeutic drugs, drug abuse and ethanol. What is more, a time link was established between recent cocaine consumption and death, and they took into consideration obesity, hypertension, diabetes and smoking in relation to other risk values for suffering a heart attack. The analysis of the data shows that cocaine consumption multiplies the risk of dying by four compared with non-consumption. Specifically, the percentage of cases among the deceased owing to sudden death in which drug consumption was detected was nearly 10 percent, while among the people who had died of other causes it was 2 percent. And in comparison with the estimated data in the general population, the proportion of people who used cocaine recently was between 13 and 58 times higher in the cases of sudden death than in the general population. Another risk factor detected was sex. The risk in men was higher than in women. The mental health organization that was involved in the research is the Centro de Investigación en Red de Salud Mental. |
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