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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |
San
José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 13, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 247
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Our readers' opinions
provided an economic boost Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Had the Las Crucitas project proceeded as originally planned, 2014 would have seen the commencement of actions necessary to implement a successful winding down of operations. Costa Rica would have by now received millions of dollars in the form of royalties and taxes, local people would be benefiting from employment and the local infrastructure would have received a much-needed cash infusion. Infinito, together with the Costa Rican environment office would be in the planning stages for tree planting that would see the location being replanted with more trees than previously existed. Instead, Las Crucitas is now headed towards international arbitration at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) where Infinito will seek US $ 1 billion in compensation for having its rights violated under the Canada-Costa Rica bilateral trade agreement. Local demonstrations, online petitions, political party disagreements and environmental protests have no effect on ICSID decisions. The ICSID bases its rulings strictly on international trade agreements and have the power to disregard local government decisions and issue binding rulings that are fully supported by the World Bank. For those who forget the history of this project or who choose simply to ignore it, Infinito obtained all the necessary permits to commence operations during the Pacheco administration. During that time, Infinito also received confirmation from the Sala 1V court that Las Crucitas was exempt from the Pacheco moratorium on open pit mining. In 2010 after an extensive review process which included a site visit, the Sala 1V ruled that Infinito Gold could proceed with its open-pit gold mine, stating that all objections to the project were without merit. “After reviewing the official studies, we did not find that this mining project will negatively affect the environment. So the project will go ahead,” Vanlly Cantillo, a court spokeswoman, said. A statement from the Presidencia at that time said that a committee headed by Alfio Piva, second vice president, analyzed the decision by the Sala IV constitutional court. The decision basically found that the developer of the mine, Industrias Infinito S.A., has complied with the law. During the permitting process for Las Crucitas, due to what can only be described as deliberate stalling, Infinito stated that it was prepared to proceed to international arbitration in order to protect its investment. The damages being sought at that time ranged between $200 to $400 million depending on which news source was read. Faced with that possibility, the permitting revue process quickly resumed its normal course and the ICSID application was dropped. It was reasonable for Infinito to assume that, having received government approval, two Sala 1V decisions in favor of Las Crucitas and possessing all the necessary permits, to continue investing capital in the project. The fact that a lower court (an administrative tribunal) could effectively overrule Supreme Court decisions and annul the project gave Infinito no choice but to take its case to the ICSID. The power of Costa Rica's constitutional court seemingly has gone. Allessandro Piva, an advisor to environment minister Rodriguez, stated early on in the project that Infinito would receive an indemnity if the project was cancelled and that the international community would rally with loans and donations to help pay the cost. Not now. Not when all the facts of the case are revealed at the ICSID. Not when the compensation figure is $1 billion. Costa Rica will unfortunately bare the full cost alone. Stewart
Hay
British Columbia, Canada Congressional budget deal does include a new tax Dear A.M. Costa Rica: The headline read: U.S. lawmakers announce bipartisan budget agreement The text said: “This bill reduces the deficit by $23 billion. And it does not raise taxes. And it cuts spending in a smarter way,” said Ryan. This is a blatant lie. An increase of fees for the Transportation Security Administration is included in this budget. The "fees" imposed on the traveling public in support of the TSA are "taxes." If the federal spending is cut for the TSA and the fees are increased for the TSA, the effect is nil. The politicians get to pat themselves on the back for accomplishing nothing. The TSA should be abolished and the funds used to pay down the debt. Ask any TSA agent and they will tell you that flying is voluntary, and if you don't like the system, stop flying. Giving up my rights to fly on an airplane is not something I did voluntarily. Those rights are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Let me get on an airplane without being searched like we did for decades. Those who are too afraid to fly can take other transportation because as it has been said, flying is voluntary. Dan
Jackson
Calhan, Colorado
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 13, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 247 |
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Large stash of cigarettes suggests to
police an international ring |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Police discovered a warehouse in Cristo Rey Thursday, and it contained an estimated 40,000 packs of cigarettes. The Fuerza Pública and the Departamento de Inteligencia Policial say that the cigarettes were imported from India, China, Paraguay and even Panamá. Police attributed the smuggling of cigarettes to an international ring. By not paying taxes, cigarette smugglers can offer smokers a lower price than conventional outlets. Police said they became aware of the suspect because he appeared to have had a sales route through downtown San José. The cigarettes are popular because police said they watched customers standing in line in order to make purchases from the man identified by the last names of Quesada Fernández. He worked the route in a vehicle, police said, and purchasers would be given the cigarettes in a black bag topped off with candies. Police said they watched the man make sales in the street near the Catedral Metropolitana. Then they were able to follow him to locate the warehouse that was raided Thursday morning. Juan José Andrade Morales, the director general of the Fuerza Pública, said that his agency would be increasing its efforts against smuggled goods that are damaging to the health. The cigarettes have not been approved by the Ministerio de Salud, and police said they had no idea what they might contain. |
Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Pública photo
Police officers check out
confiscated cigarettes |
Some
expats facing a new tax to finance Obamacare |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
An expat advocacy group reports that the U.S. Affordable Care Act imposes an additional tax even on expats living abroad. The tax is on net investment income, and it is 3.8 percent. The advocacy group, American Citizens Abroad, Inc., is unhappy because U.S. citizens living overseas cannot apply foreign tax credits against the tax. The organization called this double taxation. |
A press
release attributed this problem to a simple drafting technicality and
called upon Congress to remedy what it said was a harmful oversight.
The Affordable Care Act also is known as Obamacare. The 3.8 percent tax is intended to help finance Medicare under the Affordable Care Act, even though Medicare is not available to U.S. expats overseas, the organization noted. Not every expat will pay the tax because not all have investment income and there also is a threshold amount. |
A reader responds and highlights contrast between
philosophies |
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“…It
is ironic to think that once energy, both kinds, were free and
available to everyone,…” from your column is wrong. "Energy (and/or food) were never free. It took enormous amounts of work by individuals and teams to obtain it (in pre-history) only becoming cheaper and easier to obtain with the advances of rule of law and property rights. Initially it was hoarded and prized as a possession. It was fought over always. Many didn’t have enough or any and died in harsh weather. Whole communities who didn’t manage this properly were eradicated through their own lack of knowledge or skills at obtaining it. "Pollyanna didn’t exist at any time in history, but rule of law and property rights has promised her appearance as soon as the communalists, re-distributionists, religious zealots, and do-gooders get out of the way." —
Chuck (Dumas)
The above excerpt is from Chuck, a reader who took exception to my column last Friday, especially what I had to say about gatherers and hunters. Chuck is right, energy (ie. food and fire) were not “free.” That is a market concept. Both fire and food were available for the work you put into getting them. However, anthropologists now call the gathering and hunting people the first leisure society since they worked about three hours a day to obtain their needs in order to live. They spent their leisure time telling stories, playing games dancing and playing with their children. Or they were trekking to the next location. It is difficult to hoard fire and since reciprocity was a tenet of life, sharing with visitors was the custom as it still is, especially notable in the Middle East, where hospitality continues to be a salient value. By coincidence, two of my dearest friends have been in Costa Rica this week. Both are anthropologists. Peter Reynolds has his doctorate from Yale and his wife, Nicole, received hers from U.C.L.A. Both have done field work; Peter with hunters and gatherers in Malaysia and Nicole in a farming society in Mexico. I am really paraphrasing them in this column. A signature trait of the gathering and hunting societies was that they lived lightly on the land, which is one reason it is difficult to find traces of their being here. Food and energy were shared, and often their survival depended upon reciprocity. It simply is not true that groups fought one another for food. There were far fewer people per square acre or mile until colonization by outsiders pushed the people into smaller and smaller areas. But, of course, they continue to survive in the parts of the world that civilizations have found difficult to develop. I think part of the reason for the difference in Chuck’s and |
my opinions is that I was talking about the time in prehistory when gatherers and hunters were the primary residents on this earth, which has been between 150,000 to 200,000 years. He was referring to a much later period. Civilizations did not appear until after the end of the last Ice Age 14,000 years ago. I am sure dates will change with new discoveries, but it seems that Chuck finds it very difficult to believe that humans ever lived lives that could be described as Pollyanish, that is, being cooperative and not in competition for every mouthful of food, or that the earth had plenty of energy and food to satisfy the needs of what were much smaller populations until humans learned how to control the means of production through farming and husbandry and to claim ownership of land with laws to protect them. Chuck argues that today, thanks to laws and the market, more food is produced to feed the hungry than ever before, but he cannot deny that it does not get to everyone. Nicole says that scarcity was created in order to control people. Today, it is true that the means of production can be privatized. It was pretty difficult in prehistoric times to control what fell from trees or that grew or ran wild or to patent fire. Besides, early societies focused on living in balance with the land, not trying to control it. I think the difference is that those who think in terms of social Darwinism see a world of competition, of winners and losers. Those who see the world in terms of evolution, see a world that has historically been more successful through cooperation. According to Nicole, the worst thing you could say about someone in the early societies was that he or she was greedy. Such a person would be shunned, even ostracized from the community. Greedy meant one who stole the fat. Perhaps that is why today we have the phrase fat cats. It depends upon who you are whether you admire or scorn the person who wears the sobriquet. My thanks go to Nicole Sault and Peter Reynolds for help with the research, as well as to the Kahn Academy and Wikipedia. (Nicole pointed out to me that since gathering provided most of the sustenance for early societies it puts one’s thinking more in balance to call them gatherers and hunters.) |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 13, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 247 |
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Festival of arts will attract more than 1,000 performers
from 32 countries |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Organizers say that 1,125 national and international artists will participate in the Festival Internacional de las Artes 2014 that begins March 25. This is an elaborate event for Costa Rica with venues through the capital. Organizers outlined the festival Thursday. They predict 334 presentations by artists from 32 countries. The bulk of the activity will be from April 4 to 13. |
The festival
received 900 million colons, about $1.8 million from the Ministerio de
Cultura y Juventud and also support from the Fundación Pro
Festival de las Arte, which is lining up sponsors. This is the festival's 14th year. The Antigua Aduana in the east and Parque la Sabana in the west will be the main locations for the presentations and events. The festival will promote the use of the valley train line to connect both sites. |
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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What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 13, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 247 |
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Corn farmers lament change in ethanol fuel requirements By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
In November, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed lowering the mandated amount of ethanol mixture in the nation’s gasoline supply. Current law requires refiners to use 68 billion liters of ethanol by 2014. The proposed changes would cut that requirement to about 56 billion liters. Farmers in the midwestern United States who produce corn used to make ethanol say the proposed changes could hurt them financially. It's a prosperous year in the cornfields of Polo, Illinois, for farmer Brian Duncan. “This year we had record yields, and a huge crop," said Duncan. It is a similar story across the country: farmers coming off one of the worst years on record because of last year’s drought now face some of the best yields in recent memory. That, however, is where Duncan says the good news ends. “As we look at the increased bushels, our inventories are gonna be worth $3 a bushel less than what they were valued at a year ago," he said. As the sun sets each day on Duncan’s golden harvest, the price of corn continues to decline from an all time high of more than $7 a bushel set during the peak of the drought last year. "Four-dollar corn in this environment is tough enough, let alone $2.50 or $2.75 corn, which is what we could be looking at with another big crop, which is why we needed higher blend rates of ethanol," he said. Demand for ethanol, a liquid fuel created from corn, grew in 2007 when the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, was put in place. The standard mandated that fuel makers blend ethanol into their gasoline, with the amount increasing over time. That was good news for corn producers like Duncan, who saw a steady increase in demand for their product and its price. Times, however, are changing, says GrainAnalyst.com contributing editor Craig Turner. “We’ve hit the blend wall. Since 2008, the United States consumes about 9 percent less gasoline than we used to. We can only use 10 percent of ethanol in a gallon of gasoline, and we basically hit that wall. So we can’t produce any more ethanol. We have to stay the same, and if fuel efficiency gets even better, then the ethanol mandate could come down even further," said Turner. High percentages of ethanol in motor fuel can harm some engines. Turner says one ironic factor driving down demand for ethanol is the growing number of fuel-efficient vehicles on the road. “Every year we take older cars off the road and replace them with more fuel-efficient cars, we’re going to be using less gasoline, so now that we’ve reached this peak in corn ethanol it’s actually hurting farmers," he said. That's certainly not the scenario farmer Brian Duncan was banking on. “We’re happy for the market, but we have ever increasing yields, and ever increasing production capabilities, for ethanol, and we were kind of planning on the EPA following through with their increase and inclusion of green fuels," he said. The biggest uncertainty for farmers used to be the weather. But with changing ethanol standards, falling corn prices, and the lack of action in the U.S. Congress on a new farm bill, the weather seems to be the least uncertain obstacle Duncan and other U.S. farmers face in the new year. House passes two-year deal to prevent another shutdown By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to fund the federal government for two years, avoiding the threat of another government shutdown like the one in October. The vote was 332 to 94. It was a busy day on Capitol Hill, as the House worked to finish its business and recess for the year. After two years of bitter wrangling and a government shutdown, the House passed a bill that will fund federal operations at about $1 trillion annually for the next two years. It partially replaces unpopular across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester. A number of leading lawmakers praised the bipartisan agreement as a breakthrough in finding common ground at a time of divided government. “We have successes here today, hard-fought successes on behalf of the American people, not frivolous things," said Rep. Rob Woodall, a Republican. Senate Democrat Dick Durbin called on his colleagues to quickly pass the bill. “House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, vote for this," he said. "Let’s move, let’s govern, let’s not shut down this government again." The Senate is likely to pass the bill easily next week, and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it. There was, however, opposition and some fiery rhetoric. House Democrats pushed to get the House to vote to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless. Democrat James McGovern called on Republican leaders in the House to, as he said, “have a heart.” “After they have opened up all their presents and wished everybody a Merry Christmas, and had a wonderful dinner, on December 28, 1.3 million of our fellow citizens will be cut off totally," he said. Republicans say they want an unemployment insurance measure to be worked out with the president and the Senate. Some fiscally conservative Tea Party groups and lawmakers criticized the deal, calling it a sell-out because it does not reduce the budget deficit as much as they would like. Republican House Speaker John Boehner angrily responded to outside conservative groups for the second day in a row. “Well, frankly, I think they are misleading their followers. I think they are pushing our members in places they don’t want to be, and frankly I just think that they have lost all credibility," said Boehner. Boehner blamed those groups for pushing Republican lawmakers into causing the government shutdown in October to try to stop the president’s health care reform. That has caused a backlash among the public. Progress but no final pact reported from Singapore By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Top trade officials reported progress, but no final deal, after negotiations this week in Singapore on the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership. Advocates say the trade deal would streamline commerce, boost the economy, and create jobs by coordinating regulations and removing non-tariff barriers for 12 Pacific nations from America to Vietnam. But U.S. critics say some of those barriers are hard-won protections for consumers, the environment, and workers. The 12 nations haggling over the Trans Pacific Partnership include some of the world’s most robust economies, accounting for about one-third of global trade. U. S. Rep. Charles Boustany says a lot of jobs already depend on trade among partnership nations, so more trade would mean more jobs. “In 2011, trade exports and imports of goods and services with TPP countries supported an estimated 14.9 million American jobs," said Boustany. The Pacific nations set to resume trade talks in January include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States. Disputes include access to Japan's market for U.S. autos and agricultural products and haggling among other nations about protection for intellectual property. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman hopes further negotiations will bring progress. "We will continue to work with flexibility to finalize these text issues as well as market access issues," he said. Experts say previous trade deals focused on cutting tariffs, which made it cheaper to move goods from one nation to another. Lower costs encouraged more trade. Tariffs are taxes on goods moving across borders. The partnership is an attempt to increase trade further by making regulations consistent from one nation to another and getting rid of bureaucratic obstacles that take time, cost money, and slow trade, according to Washington attorney and former trade U. S. trade negotiator Jay Eizenstat. "Non tariff barriers, behind the border barriers, and importantly, regulatory barriers, which as I have said impose at least as much and in many cases, more of a barrier to trade in goods and services, than the actual tariffs themselves," said Eizenstat. But some of those regulations protect consumers, the financial system, the environment, patients, workers, and others from harm, according to Lori Wallach of the advocacy group Public Citizen. "They label the fundamental environmental, health, safety standards on which our families rely as 'non-tariff trade barrier,"' she said. Ms. Wallach says the trade deal is more about politics than trade. “A bunch of big corporations have used these trade agreements to try to get done through the back door of these secretive negotiations what they could not get through Congress," she said. Opposition from some consumer and labor groups and many of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party allies means a deal faces an uncertain future in Washington. The agreement has to be ratified by many national legislatures, including the U.S. Congress. Trade deal supporters hope to work out a legislative agreement to prevent last minute changes by Congress to any agreement that has been worked out with the member nations. Voice of America photo
Here is part of the
million-light scenery.A million lights
thrilling
visitors near Washington By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
For many families in the United States, taking a drive to see local light decorations during the Christmas holiday is an annual tradition. One of the most spectacular in the Washington area features more than one million lights. Dazzling displays are lighting up the night sky at Watkins Regional Park in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. There’s a surprise around every corner. More than 400 displays, including candy canes, elves and animals illuminate the four-kilometer drive. Kimberly Stewart is seeing the lights for the first time. I’m excited. I can hardly wait! I love Christmas; everything about it,” she said. The displays are both small and large. Martha Henderson, who is 85 years old, did not want to miss any of them. “I just want to have the spirit of Christmas, and this makes me feel real great," she said. "In case I don’t see another Christmas, at least I’ve been here this time.” The Winter Festival of Lights at Watkins Regional Park began 27 years ago. The charge to see the lights is $5 per vehicle and the money is used to cover the cost of the displays. Visitors may also donate canned food for local food banks. Festival organizer Kathy Garrity said the number of scenes have increased over the years, making this the largest drive-through illuminated Christmas display in the Washington area. It’s a gift to the community, but it’s also a way of giving back to the community. Families can be together in their nice, warm car. They don’t have to worry about the weather.” Nicole Bartels and her family are especially looking forward to seeing the big Christmas tree covered with lights. “It’s really starting to be a tradition of ours, and the kids love it. We always put on some Christmas music and drive through," said Ms. Bartels. Jerell Alexander grew up near the park and recalls the joy of seeing the lights when he was a child. Now he lives in Virginia and is bringing his fiancé’s children. “I’ve come out here for years and years. I have many family members who love this place,” he said. Vickie Lopez has been working at the seasonal lights display for 25 years. "I used to bring my kids through them when they were small. Now my kids bring their kids,” she said. As he takes money and donations, Donald Sutherland said it warms his heart to see the same families year after year. “I watched the kids come through as babies, and I watched them grow up. That gives me that spirit watching them enjoy coming to the lights every year,” he said. Besides enjoying the displays, Jodie Johnson donates cans of food for the needy. “It’s very important that we help our community in any way that we can," she said. "So it’s something that’s really well needed.” David Bishop said, for him, donating food represents the real meaning of Christmas. “It’s the right thing to do, to always give back and help other people,” he said. But for the kids, it’s all about having fun. Three-year-old Michael had his favorite. “The dinosaur,” he said. Perhaps this boy summed up the experience best after his visit. “It was awesome,” he said. Texas Christmas is medley of Mexican, cowboy cultures By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
In Texas, Christmas and New Year's celebrations are similar to those in the rest of the United States, but Mexican culture and the state's cowboy heritage both contribute a special flavor. A lone star, the symbol of Texas, sits atop a tall tree in front of the Alamo, a Spanish mission where Texas rebels fought to the death against the Mexican army in 1836. But the people who gather here on cold December evenings, leading up to Christmas, seek peace and harmony. And regardless of their ethnic background, they favor Mexican food for the holiday. "We make our own food like tamales and menudo," said one man. "We traditionally have tamales on Christmas eve with other kind of hors d'ouerves kind of stuff. It is really not the turkey meal that you see in the movies or maybe that is what they do up north," a woman said. Nearby, The Riverwalk is decorated with Christmas lights, but the cold temperatures discourage outdoor dining. On sunny days, city folk can head to Texas Hill Country, to the small town of Bandera. It calls itself The Cowboy Capital of the World. Cowboy singers and musicians meet frequently at Bandera's Frontier Times Museum. Lew Pewterbaugh runs a ranch outside Bandera where he keeps several horses. "Christmas time, I generally try to give them some apples or carrots or something." he said. "I know that they do not realize that it is a special day, but they appreciate the treat." Poetry has long been popular among cowboys, and Lee Haile does a cowboy variation on the classic poem "The Night Before Christmas," which tells the story of Santa Claus and his reindeer sled. "He said, 'gittyup, you old nag, and as his rig disappeared off into the stars, we heard a small voice that come from afar, 'Come on you old mules or I will tan your hide, have a Merry Christmas, y'all and y'all have a good night," sang cowboy-style singer Lee Haile. Haile grew up on a ranch that served as the anchor for his extended family. "Christmas was always a big gathering time with the family," he said. "We always ended up at the ranch out there, and so cousins and people who were no longer around all migrated back to the ranch and then we had Christmas there." Today there are few family ranches in central Texas, but Haile said he and other performers keep the cowboy heritage alive for visitors from near and far. "We get people from Germany, Switzerland, England all the time, and when they get here they are already decked out, and sometimes they know as much or more about the culture as we do," he said. Haile said at this time of year, he feels the influence of both holiday and cowboy traditions. Some Russian lawmakers seek ban on foreign talk at work By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Nationalist lawmakers in Russia want to ban foreign languages at the workplace — a rule that would leave some foreigners speechless, from menial laborers from former Soviet states to Western business executives in suits and ties. Two deputies from flamboyant ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky's party introduced a bill Thursday that would bar Russians and foreigners from speaking foreign languages on the job during working hours, the state-run RIA news agency reported. It cited a summary of the proposal as saying that many foreigners do not know Russian and “speak amongst themselves in their own language at the workplace during work hours, which makes the native population indignant.” That explanation suggested the bill is aimed mainly to control the speech of migrant workers from former Soviet republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus, whose growing presence in Russia has led to ethnic tension. Some Russians accuse migrants of a lack of respect for Russian culture and say they should assimilate or leave. Mindful of those opinions, President Vladimir Putin promised in a state-of-the-nation speech to tighten control over labor migration, but he also said Russia must not undermine ties with the ex-Soviet states. The concern about damaging relations with Moscow's closest geopolitical allies suggests the proposal is unlikely to pass in its present form. It would be seen by some in the West as draconian, casting further chill on Russia's investment climate. Parliament is dominated by the United Russia party, which is loyal to Putin. Zhirinovsky and his misleadingly named Liberal Democratic Party support most Kremlin initiatives. They sometimes produce initiatives that reflect popular opinion in exaggerated form, but which can then be repackaged in more acceptable terms and made into law. Protesters in Haiti seeking higher minimum wages By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, to demand an increase in their wages. Factory workers say the government's recommendation to raise the minimum wage from $4.54 to $5.11 for an eight-hour work day, an increase of 13 percent, is insufficient. Workers, carrying tree branches as a symbol of grassroots solidarity, are demanding twice that amount. The raise is due to take effect on Jan. 1, pending approval from the ministry of social affairs. |
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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 |
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 13, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 247 | |||||||||
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New system for
measuring age advanced by researchers By
the International Institute
for Applied Systems Analysis news staff Age is not just the number of years one has lived, argue Austrian population researchers. A new study from the group provides a set of tools for measuring age in all its dimensions. A groundbreaking study published in the journal Population and Development Review by population researchers Warren Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov reorients the way demographers study population aging, providing a new toolbox of methodologies for demographers to better understand the impacts of an aging population on society. The researchers are with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. Previously, studies of aging used only one characteristic of people, their chronological age. The new study provides a framework for measuring aging based instead on characteristics of people that change with age, including life expectancy, health, cognitive function, and other measures. These measures can be used by demographers to better understanding aging societies. “Your true age is not just the number of years you have lived,” said researcher Scherbov. “It also includes characteristics such as health, cognitive function, and disability rates.” Demographers have not traditionally used such measures in studies of population and society, instead using age as a proxy for those characteristics. But as lifespans get longer, the same age no longer correlates with the same level of health and other such characteristics. “We use to consider people old at age 65,” says Scherbov. “Today, someone who is 65 may be more like someone who was 55 forty to fifty years ago in terms of many important aspects of their lives.” The authors show that policy recommendations with respect to aging differ depending on exactly which characteristics of people are measured. “For different purposes we need different measures. Aging is multidimensional,” says Scherbov. By reconceptualizing population aging to incorporate how people actually function, the study provides the foundation of a much richer and more realistic view of population aging. |
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From Page 7: Large power users lose their rate appeal By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The electrical price regulator rejected an appeal by large users because the agency said the petitioners did not prove their case. The users, represented by the Asociación de Grandes Consumidores de Energía sought a reduction of from 11 to 39 percent. But the Intendencia de Energía of the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos said that this would mean an increase on other consumers. The agency said that the rejection benefits 1.5 million residential users. The agency said that the association based its appeal on comparisons with electrical rates in other countries but it did not supply details of these rates or the source from where the information was obtained. The request was brought into the political arena by those who thought that large companies should pay more. The appeal would have covered rate charges by all electrical utilities. |