|
||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
Click here to find us on our Facebook page! |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for more details |
|
A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
|
|
San
José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 19, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 251
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
For several hours yesterday, Banco Central de Costa Rica suffered computer glitches according to some customers. A manager calling Banco Nacional de Costa Rica to ask why transfers made via SINPE would not go through said she was told the system was “colapsado.” That is the Spanish word for “collapsed.” SINPE, or Sistema Interbancario de Negociación y Pagos Electrónicos is the main payment system for the central bank. It translates into English as the "interbank electronic payment system." The system handles electronic money transfers, check clearing, direct debts and direct credits as well as provides account information for all bank-related institutions. The system connects 99 percent of Costa Rica’s financial institutions handling hundreds of millions of U.S. dollar transactions daily The Central Bank of Costa Rica moved the banking application to Microsoft’s .NET Technologies in September of 2002 with the help of ArtinSoft Corp. The Microsoft system consists of Web services that connect information, people, systems and devices through software. Web services are revolutionizing how computer software applications talk to other applications — or how computers talk to other computers using a data format that is equivalent to a worldwide computer language. This was a tough pill for some people trying to pay bills online. Most people have grown accustomed to the ease of use of the SINPE system and rarely write checks. Calls to providers of services telling them of the problem fell on mostly deaf ears. One recommendation made by an attorney expecting payment was, “go to the bank and pay in cash to my account.” This does not always work. Many banks are so interconnected with the Central Bank that when it goes down, their local system also fails. Some payments to public services were also affected because they too rely on the system. As of 5:30 PM, the Banco Central System was seemingly back to normal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
The contents of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Ro Colorado S.A.
2014 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 |
|
San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 251 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
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 Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado S.A.
2014 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. 19, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 251 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
The
contents of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado S.A.
2014 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, Friday, Dec. 19, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 251 | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
US plans response to North Korea's alleged hacking AM Costa Rica wire services
U.S. officials are treating a cyberattack on Sony Pictures as a "serious national security matter," with the National Security Council considering a proportionate response, the White House said Thursday. Evidence shows the attack against Sony was carried out by a "sophisticated actor," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. But he declined to blame North Korea, saying the investigation is still progressing. The nature of a proportionate response was not clear. The two nations have no diplomatic or trade relations and Pyongyang faces strong sanctions. Experts told various news sources Thursday that they did not foresee a military response. That country is suspected of orchestrating the hack in retaliation for the Sony film "The Interview," about a fictional plot to assassinate Pyongyang’s leader, Kim Jong Un. The company on Wednesday cancelled the film’s scheduled December 25 release after the four largest U.S. theater chains said they would not show it. A spokesman said Sony "has no further release plans" for the $44 million comedy, The New York Times reported. According to media reports, U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said investigators have connected North Korea to the cyberattack. It is not clear how investigators made the determination. The massive breach resulted in the leak of tens of thousands of documents and has escalated to threats of terrorist attacks over the film. A hacker group calling itself Guardians of Peace promised a "bitter fate" to those who attend "The Interview" showings. The group – invoking the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States – warned people to stay away from theaters where the film is playing. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says "there is no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters." President Barack Obama also downplayed the threat, saying his "recommendation would be that people go to the movies." Obama could meet Castro A.M Costa Rica wire services
The seventh Summit of the Americas, set for April 10-11 in
Panama, could give U.S. President Barack Obama his first opportunity to
meet with Cuban President Raul Castro since the two announced
resumption of diplomat relations this week. Cuba has been shut out of the previous six summits, sponsored by the Organization of American States, as it was expelled from the OAS in 1962 at the initiative of the United States. The 34-nation bloc invited Cuba to rejoin in 2009, but Cuba has declined. "Cuba has confirmed that the highest level of government will attend the summit," said Luis Martin, a spokesman for Panama's Foreign Ministry, though he could not say whether Castro would headline the delegation. At the previous summit in Colombia in 2012, Latin American countries threatened to boycott the next summit if Cuba was excluded, and in recent months Cuba's participation has become widely expected. Panama's Foreign Ministry on Friday also listed Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and El Salvador among the attendees. The United States is expected to attend but has not yet announced whether Obama will lead the U.S. Delegation. Ruble's fall cutting into Thai tourism
Russia’s plunging currency is creating serious concerns for
Thailand’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry, already suffering for
the past year because of political upheaval that culminated in the May
22 bloodless military coup.A.M
Costa Rica wire services
With the ruble crashing to record lows against the U.S. dollar and other currencies, Russians are cutting back on spending, including overseas travel. That cutback is being felt in places like the beach resort city of Pattaya, on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand. According to the Thai Hotel Association, the loss of the Russians, who are known as big spenders, has resulted in a 70 percent drop in hotel reservations from Russia during the upcoming high season, which runs from December 28 through January 15. Suladda Sarutilavan, director of the Pattaya office of the Tourism Association of Thailand, told VOA News the Russians are second to none for the beach resort known for its licentious nightlife. “Actually it’s a major or main market for Pattaya. Russian tourists are number one. Last year, we got around 1.7 million Russian tourists,” said Suladda. The number of Russian visitors to all of Thailand totaled 1.4 million through November of this year. But December is shaping up to be a disaster, and the national hotel operators' association expects a drop of 50 percent for the total number of Russian tourists for 2014, compared to last year. Suladda said popular destinations such as Pattaya, Phuket and Samui - all heavily reliant on visitors converting Russian rubles into Thai baht - are expecting things to stay bad for the next six months, at least. “We don’t know when it’s going to end. For the tour operators and hoteliers who are dealing with the Russian market they are quite worried about it. But they are now trying to shift to other markets to compensate with the decreasing number of Russian incoming tourists to Pattaya,” said Suladda. The Thai resort cities and islands dependent on the Russians are putting into place urgent marketing initiatives to make up for the shortfall by luring short-haul visitors from China and ASEAN nations. In recent years, the Russian market has been the third-largest source of tourists for Thailand. As for those still yearning for an affordable warm escape from the long, cold Russian winter, they are said to be shifting vacation plans to Vietnam and Myanmar. Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters Thursday that the "unfavorable situation" depreciating the ruble could improve as soon as the middle of 2015 but might last as long as two years. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
The
contents of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado S.A.
2014 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, Friday, Dec. 19, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 251 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
|
What is Christmas without snow
by Gabriela Vega
Growing up in this small tropical country, where the sun shines most of the year and even in the coldest winter, you know that at some point in the morning, this bright yellow star in our solar system will salute you. During the holidays, TV blooms with classics "It's a Wonderful Life”, “Home Alone” , and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In perhaps the most interesting part of Home Alone I heard the sweet voice of my little girl asking: - mommy, “How would be Christmas with snow?” For a Tica who has never seen snow in her life, is not a question easy to answer. Wherever you look, Ticos have made efforts to decorate their homes with plastic snowmen, reindeer made of straw, and Santa in his cardboard sleigh. I took my little girl to the Festival of Lights in San Jose. We got drenched in a downpour, surrounded by sneezing people, surrounded by people of all ages and nationalities. Then we met the Turton family from California. They have been living in Costa Rica for about a year. Mom and dad were very friendly with their three kids anxious to see the floats. Mrs. Turton told me that floats reminded her of her childhood, when she traveled to Disneyland and saw a parade with many lights and floats. They were simply amazed by living this Christmas far away from snow. Also we met a group of exchange students, ages from 17-20. There was Marco Diceglie and Michelle Canas (from Italy), Pierre Labarbe (France), Jonas Helgi (Iceland), Jonas Gohlkschenrima (Germany), Emilie Dumoulin (Canada). They were just another group of happy people, enjoying Christmas in the middle of a tropical paradise, they said. They were delighted not needing to wear kilos of clothes to keep them warm from the snow. I think the answer to my daughter's question came naturally: “My dear, definitely Christmas in Costa Rica is more fun without snow!! |
Costa Rican News |
AMCostaRicaArchives.com |
Retire NOW
in Costa Rica |
CostaRicaReport.com |
Fine Dining
in Costa Rica |
The CAFTA Report |
Fish
fabulous Costa Rica |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Food |
|
What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
The
contents of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado S.A.
2014 and may
not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |