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| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 255
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Election officials
decide
to skip electronic voting By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Even though Costa Rican election authorities have an operating electronic voting system, the estimated 13,000 Ticos in foreign lands will cast their ballots on paper Feb. 2. That was the decision earlier this week by the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. The Tribunal said that there was not enough time to test the system with enough simulated votes. so Costa Ricans in foreign countries will be indicating their preferences at consulates with the same paper ballots that will be used in Costa Rica. The Tribunal express high hopes that the electronic system will be in use for the 2016 general elections. The overseas voting locations will be open 10 hours Feb. 2, and the results of voting in each will be sent to Costa Rica that night to be included in the national totals, the Tribunal said. Caja inspector had clear duty to keep hubby legal, court says By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
If an inspector for the Caja Costarricense de Seguros Social also has her own business and fails to make mandatory monthly payments for her employees, should she be fired? Incredibly the Juzgado de Trabajo del Segundo Circuito Judicial did not think so. That labor court ordered the woman reinstated to her inspector's job. It took appeals court decisions to keep the woman off the public payroll. That latest decision was by the Sala Segunda, which is the final work on labor issues. The case of the unnamed Caja worker began in 2005 when she was fired. The Caja found out that the woman with more than 15 years on the job also operated a small restaurant along with the man who was then her husband. Because she did not list her employees and pay the required monthly social service charges, the Caja fired her without responsibilities after an investigation. Without responsibilities means that the Caja had a just case and did not have to pay severance. The woman carried the action to the labor court and argued that it was her husband and not she who operated the restaurant. The court accepted some of this argument and ordered that she be reinstated. But the Caja appealed, and a second panel agreed that she should have been terminated. As part of the evidence was the local business license that was in the woman's name, as well as the Ministerio de Salud health permit. Part of an inspector's duties is to locate individuals who do not pay what they are suppose to and do not list their employees for the state medical care and pensions. The woman appealed to the Sala Segunda the adverse decision by the second panel. But the Sala Segunda upheld the dismissal and said that the woman at least had the obligation to tell her husband to list the restaurant employees with the Caja. The Poder Judicial released a summary of the decision Tuesday. Another boat chased ashore after being spotted in Caribbean By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A U.S. observation plane spotted a suspicious boat Sunday night and caused it to head to Costa Rica. At the same time, the Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas sent out two craft and the Servicio de Vigilancia Aérea put an aircraft in the sky. The suspicious craft landed at Punta Mona de Gandoca in Manzanillo on the southern Caribbean coast, and the two occupants fled into the jungle. Security officials said that the craft was being inspected for traces of drugs as were two packages that the crew threw into the ocean. There also were signs that the craft was carrying containers of fuel. Our reader's opinion
Sales tax on rental propertieshas an unseen multiplier effect Dear A.M. Costa Rica: In the article Monday, you reminded property owners who rent that they are liable for tax and should pay it because enforcement is likely to be more stringent. The thrust of the article focused on the substantial cost of paying tax on rentals and the even higher costs if caught evading it. There is another point to be made. Taxation theory 101 is that part of the tax burden will be passed on to the renter through increased rents. As many of your readers rent their dwellings, this will make life in Costa Rica more expensive in the future. This will happen, because some owners will either withdraw their property from the rental market, due to their increased cost of doing business, or seek to raise the rent to compensate themselves for the higher cost. The normal forces of supply and demand will then determine how much of the cost of tax is borne by the renter. There are also wider implications of more effective taxation on property rentals. If Costa Rica becomes even more expensive than lower cost alternatives for retirees, fewer will come. In addition, if rental costs rise, the real inflation rate will increase. Some retirees on fixed incomes will leave. Tourists who rent seasonally will not bring their dollars and the tourist industry will suffer. There will be a reduction in the building and repair of rental property, so the construction sector will take a hit. Taxation is necessary to pay for essential services, If the revenue raised is wasted or misspent, the unforeseen knock on effects may not be worthwhile. Chris
Clarke
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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 Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 255 | |
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| Researchers say they predicted the 2012
Nicoya earthquake |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica news services
Georgia Institute of Technology researchers say they predicted the magnitude 7.6 Nicoya earthquake that shook Costa Rica in 2012. The Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica is one of the few places where land sits atop the portion of a subduction zone where the Earth’s greatest earthquakes take place. That makes it a good spot for learning how large earthquakes rupture. Subduction zones are locations where one tectonic plate is forced under another one and can often be the sites of devastating temblors. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Japan in 2011 was due to just such a subduction zone earthquake. Because earthquakes greater than about magnitude 7.5 have occurred in the Nicoya region roughly every 50 years, with the previous event striking in 1950, scientists have been preparing for this earthquake through a number of geophysical studies. The most recent study used geolocation devices to map out the area along the fault storing energy for release in a large earthquake. “This is the first place where we’ve been able to map out the likely extent of an earthquake rupture along the subduction megathrust beforehand,” said Andrew Newman, an associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Through a series of studies starting in the early 1990s using land-based tools, the researchers mapped regions where tectonic plates were completely locked along the subduction interface. Detailed geophysical observations of the region allowed the researchers to create an image of where the faults had locked. The researchers published a study a few months before the Nicoya earthquake, describing the particular locked area with the clearest potential for the next large earthquake in the region. The team projected the total amount of energy that could have developed across that region and forecasted that if the locking remained similar since the last major earthquake in 1950, then there was likely enough energy for an earthquake on the order of magnitude 7.8 there. “It occurred right in the area we determined to be locked, and it had almost the size we expected,” Newman said. The quake was about 8:42 a.m. Sept. 5. The epicenter was near Sámara on the Pacific coast. The researchers said they hope to apply what they’ve learned in Costa Rica to other environments. Virtually every damaging subduction zone earthquake occurs far offshore. “Nicoya is the only place on Earth where we’ve actually been |
 Georgia Institute of Technology/Lujia
Feng
Andrew Newman adjusted a
global positioning device inthis 2010 file photo from the Nicoya peninsula. able to get a very accurate image of the locked patch because it occurs directly under land,” Newman said. “If we really want to understand the seismic potential for most of the world, we have to go offshore.” Because of limits in technology and scientific understanding about processes controlling fault locking and release, scientists cannot say much about precisely when earthquakes will occur. However, earthquakes in Nicoya have occurred about every 50 years, so seismologists had been anticipating another one around 2000, give or take 20 years, Newman said. Scientists have been able to reasonably map portions of these locked areas offshore using data on land, but the resolution is poor, particularly in the regions that are most responsible for generating tsunamis, Newman said. He hopes that his group’s work in Nicoya will be a driver for geodetic studies on the seafloor to observe such Earth deformation. These seafloor geodetic studies are rare and expensive today. “If we want to understand the potential for large earthquakes, then we really need to start doing more seafloor observations,” Newman said. “It’s a growing push in our community and this study highlights the type of results that one might be able to obtain for most other dangerous environments, including offshore the Pacific Northwest.” The study was published online Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience. |
| Thousands of horses today will parade
under sunny skies |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Those watching or participating in the Tope Nacional in San José today better wear a hat. The forecast is for more dry air and sunny skies. The temperature is expected to reach 28 degrees C. (about 82 F.) in the Central Valley and 30 degrees (about 84 F) on the coasts. Consequently, all those riders with flushed faces today may not be that way from the ingesting of beer. The sun may play a role. |
The tope or horse parade is supposed
to begin at 11:30 p.m., but traffic will be detoured earlier than that.
The event will last nearly to dusk. Spectators who stay that late
should bring a jacket because the temperature is expected to nosedive. Meanwhile, tourism may see a boost as Canada, the northern and Rockies in the United States and even northern México are experiencing a cold wave. Some of the United States and Canada are having below-freezing temperatures. Colder weather is likely to reach Costa Rica in two days. |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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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 | ||||||
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 255 | |||||
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| Pointing cursor and clicking mouse generate new learning,
study says |
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By
the Cell Press news service
People who use computers regularly are constantly mapping the movements of their hand and computer mouse to the cursor on the screen. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology have shown that all that pointing and clicking changes the way the brain generalizes movements. The average computer user performs an impressive 7,400 mouse clicks per week. "Computers produce this problem that screens are of different sizes and mice have different gains," says Konrad Kording of Northwestern University and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. "We want to quickly learn about these so that we do not need to relearn all possible movements once we switch to a new computer. If you have broad generalization, then you need to move the mouse just once, and there you are calibrated." And indeed, their studies found that Chinese migrant workers accustomed to using computers made broader generalizations when it comes to movement learning than a group of age- and education-matched migrant workers who had never used a computer before. While both computer users and non-users learned equally quickly how to move a cursor while their hand was hidden from view, computer-experienced individuals more readily generalized what they learned about movement of the cursor in one direction to movements made in other directions. To get to the bottom of that difference, the researchers studied another group of 10 people unfamiliar with computers both before and after they spent two weeks playing computer games that required intensive mouse use for two hours each day. That two weeks of experience was enough to convert the generalization patterns of those computer-naïve individuals to that of regular computer users, the researchers report. The findings show that computer use not only changes lifestyles but also fundamentally affects the neural representation of human movements, the researchers say. This new understanding of movement learning might have important real-world implications for people undergoing physical rehabilitation in the clinic. "Our data revealed that generalization has to be learned, and we should not |
 expect it to happen automatically," says study first author Kunlin Wei from China's Peking University. "The big question in the clinic setting is whether supervised rehabilitation can lead to functional improvement at home. Thus, the next natural step for us is to experiment on how to make this generalization from clinics to home happen more effectively." "If we could make patients generalize perfectly from robotic training in the hospital to drinking tea at home, then training in the hospital would maximally improve everyday life," Kording added. |
Here's reasonable medical care
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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, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 255 | |||||
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| Spitzers splitting in New York five years after his big scandal By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Former New York gov. Eliot Spitzer and his wife, Silda Wall Spitzer, said they are ending their marriage, more than five years after she stood by his side as the embattled Democrat resigned from office over a prostitution scandal. “We regret that our marital relationship has come to an end, and we have agreed not to make any other public statement on this subject,” they said in a joint statement issued Tuesday evening, Christmas Eve. Known as the “sheriff of Wall Street” during his tenure as New York's attorney general, Spitzer was elected governor in a landslide victory in 2006. But he saw his political career derailed after just a year in office after he was exposed as a client in a prostitution ring. The image of Silda Wall Spitzer standing, stone-faced, at her husband's side as the governor informed the public of his resignation would later inspire the hit TV show “The Good Wife.” Spitzer attempted a political comeback this year, when he ran for city comptroller as a largely self-funded candidate, but he was defeated in the Democratic primary in September. More recently, the city's tabloids reported the Spitzers, who were married in 1987 and have three children, were living apart. This week, the former governor has been back on the tabloid's front pages with reports he is in a relationship with his former campaign spokeswoman, Lis Smith, who now works for New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, who takes office Jan. 1. Snowden tells newspaper that his job is accomplished By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden says his mission is already accomplished, after revealing details of the NSA's surveillance programs. Snowden, who is living under temporary asylum in Moscow, told The Washington Post he is satisfied with what he has accomplished in leaking the information because members of the public now have access to it and can use it as they choose. Snowden's disclosures, which first appeared in the Post and Guardian newspapers after he fled to Hong Kong, have revealed government secrets, such as the NSA's collection of telephone records from millions of Americans. A U.S. judge ruled Dec. 16 that the program is likely unconstitutional. In his ruling, Judge Richard Leon said he "cannot imagine a more indiscriminate and arbitrary invasion" of peoples' privacy than the government's collection of such information without prior judicial approval. Leon did not immediately enforce his ruling, giving the government a chance to appeal the decision to a higher court. U.S. officials have sought Snowden's extradition to stand trial on espionage charges, but Russia has refused. Obama, off on vacation, lauds sacrifices of the U.S. military By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
President Barack Obama lauded the service and sacrifice of U.S. troops and military families in a holiday radio and Internet address Wednesday, and he highlighted the service men and women who have returned home over the past year. “For many of our troops and newest veterans, this might be the first time in years that they've been with their families on Christmas,” Obama said. “With the Iraq war over and the transition in Afghanistan, fewer of our men and women in uniform are deployed in harm's way than at any time in the last decade.” Obama used the Christmas Day broadcast as a chance to call Americans to service in their communities. “For families like ours, that service is a chance to celebrate the birth of Christ and live out what He taught us - to love our neighbors as we would ourselves; to feed the hungry and look after the sick; to be our brother's keeper and our sister's keeper,” he said. The president and first lady Michelle Obama recorded the greeting at the White House before departing Friday for a two-week vacation in Hawaii. Obama did not reveal the family's plans for the holiday but said watching basketball and eating Christmas cookies might be part of the celebration. Japanese prime minister sees possibility for Okinawa pact By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Wednesday moved closer to winning approval from the island of Okinawa on a replacement for a U.S. air base, a move that would resolve a nearly 20-year-old deadlock that has at times strained ties with Washington. A deal with officials in Okinawa would be an achievement for Abe, who has promised a more assertive Japanese military at a time when the U.S.-Japan security alliance has been tested by tension with China over disputed islands in the Pacific. The potential breakthrough came at a meeting between Abe and Okinawa's governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, who has held an effective veto over long-delayed plans to build a new U.S. Marine air base to replace the Futenma base. Nakaima praised Abe for offering a range of concessions to address various worries, including promises of larger budget outlays on Okinawa over the next seven years and the prospect of tighter environmental controls regarding U.S. bases. “What has been offered is surprising and splendid,” Nakaima told Abe, adding later that he would make a final decision on approving construction of a new base Friday. The United States and Japan agreed in 1996 to close the Futenma base, but plans for a replacement have stalled in the face of fierce opposition in Okinawa, which hosts more than half of the U.S. forces in Japan. Okinawa was occupied by the United States until 1972. Japan's ties with the United States were strained when then-prime minister Yukio Hatoyama sought to keep a campaign promise to move the U.S. base off Okinawa. U.S. officials have said the new Marine facility needed to be on the island. The Futenma base has been a lightning rod for criticism because of its location in a densely populated area. The proposed replacement base would be built on the Henoko coast, near the town of Nago, removed from the more crowded southern tip of Okinawa. Activists living in tents have been staging a protest near the site of the proposed Henoko base for almost 10 years and have promised demonstrations if Nakaima approves construction. In April, the United States and Japan announced a plan to close Futenma as early as 2022. Abe said the government would study whether that plan could be accelerated and would begin negotiating an agreement with the United States that could allow for more local oversight of environmental issues at U.S. bases. That would mark the first change to the agreement that has applied to U.S. military activities in Japan since the 1960s. “We have never even had a discussion of this kind,” Abe told reporters. “We want this to produce a solid result.” Although Abe remains generally popular, Okinawa handed his Liberal Democratic Party one of its few defeats in July elections. In addition to anger over the issue of U.S. bases, sugar farmers in Okinawa also oppose Abe's plans to join the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Mall shoppers over Christmas show decline from last year By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Despite deep discounts and longer shopping hours, some U.S. malls are reporting fewer consumers and shorter shopping lines in the final days leading up to the Christmas holiday, an observation corroborated by market research reports. Analytics firm RetailNext says the number of visits to brick and mortar stores fell between 5 and 7 percent, compared to the same weekend last year. While the numbers might indicate a tough year ahead for retailers, some analysts say the shopping season is not over yet. “There’s a few things happening here," said Chris Christopher, director of consumer economics at IHS Global Insight. "One thing is the shift to online. However, there is one weekend shorter this holiday shopping season than last year.” All told, Christopher says, this holiday season could turn out to be the weakest since 2009. But the National Retail Federation says it’s too early to tell, and that it plans to stick to its forecast of a 3.9 percent increase over last year, says spokesperson Kathy Grannis. “Our forecast really is based on an economic expectation, and overall we do feel that retailers are on pace for a healthy holiday season," said Ms. Grannis. The federation estimates holiday sales between November and December will top $600 billions, including the 13- to 15-percent increase in the number of people who shopped online this year. Jason Schlefer, a manager at Best Buy, predicts a surge of last minute shoppers. “We’ve really seen it ramp up in the last few days," he said. "So obviously you’re getting people with a heightened sense of urgency.” For most retailers, the holiday season is crucial, accounting for as much as 40 percent of a store’s annual profits. Ms. Grannis says how retailers fare in that window is important because it provides a snapshot of the country’s economic health. “Consumer spending alone contributes nearly 70 percent of the GDP, and we know that the 3.1 trillion dollars that we see from retail is one of the biggest parts of our growing economy.” There are more than 3.6 million stores in the United States employing more than 42 million Americans. Space station pump fixed. NASA says of spacewalk By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Two American astronauts have successfully repaired a crippled cooling system during a rare Christmas Eve spacewalk. It was the second spacewalk in less than a week for astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, and only the second Christmas Eve spacewalk ever performed. NASA ordered the spacewalks to revive a critical cooling loop at the International Space Station and install a new pump. All non-essential equipment had to be turned off when the line died Dec. 11, and many experiments were halted. NASA said the seven-hour spacewalk was a success, and the cooling system should be restored and all equipment back up and running soon. Two Russian cosmonauts are scheduled for a spacewalk Friday to install new cameras. Peanut warning is lifted in diet of pregnant women By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Women had been advised to avoid peanuts while they were pregnant or nursing, to lessen the chance their child could develop a peanut allergy. But a new study indicates that restriction may not make a difference, and that eating nuts may be what lowers the risk. The American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed a peanut-free diet in 2000, to minimize early allergen exposure and sensitivity. The number of peanut allergy cases in the United States continued to rise, however, tripling over the past 15 years to 1.4 percent of children, despite that recommendation. The academy dropped the endorsement in 2008. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital looked at more than 8,000 children whose mothers had reported their diet during or shortly before or after their pregnancy as part of an ongoing health study. They found that children whose mothers were not allergic to nuts and ate them five times a week or more had the lowest risk of developing a nut allergy themselves. Their study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, supports the hypothesis that "early allergen exposure increases the likelihood of tolerance and thereby lowers the risk of childhood food allergy." Senior author Michael Young stresses that while the data does not show that eating peanuts during pregnancy will prevent allergy, "we can say that peanut consumption during pregnancy does not cause peanut allergy in children." Testosterone may be cause of lower immunity in men By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Researchers have known for some time that men tend to experience more severe influenza and get sicker from microbial infections than women. A new study suggests it may be that immune responses in men are affected by the male hormone testosterone. In a small study involving 53 women and 34 men, researchers at Stanford University in California measured their antibody response to the 2008-2009 seasonal flu vaccine. Vaccines stimulate the production of antibodies, which are the immune system’s first line of defense against microbial invaders. As predicted by previous research, the vaccine stimulated a stronger antibody response in women than men. Lynda Chiodetti runs the National Institutes of Health section that helped pay for the study. She said the investigators identified a cluster of genes in the male participants that is associated with lipid or fat metabolism. Many of those genes are regulated by testosterone. “They found that was somehow suppressing the immune response. They don’t really understand the mechanism of this but it’s an interesting finding,” said Ms. Chiodetti. Ms. Chiodetti says male participants with the highest levels of testosterone had a weaker antibody response than those with lower levels of the hormone. Stanford researchers now plan to investigate other immune system cells to see whether they are also affected by testosterone. The findings on gender differences in response to the flu vaccine are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Bethlehem draws crowds during outbreak of peace By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The Christian faithful flocked to Palestinian-ruled Bethlehem in the West Bank Wednesday to celebrate Christmas in the town where tradition says it all began. Thousands of pilgrims from around the world converged on the ancient Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to visit the grotto where tradition says Jesus, the Christian messiah, was born. An hour in line earned just a few minutes in the crowded grotto, but the faithful said it is a spiritual experience that was worth the wait. Eliatzur Esaku came from Lagos, Nigeria. “I feel so happy and it is a big grace for me and my people to be here for Christmas because this is where Jesus was born," Esaku said. So it’s a big opportunity for me to be here. It’s a big thing to be part of Christianity and also to be in this church to pray, and I believe our prayers will be answered.” A long period of relative calm in the West Bank made for a big turnout. And that was good news for Palestinian shopkeepers in Manger Square, like Joseph Jacoman. “. . . very nice Christmas. All the people are making nice decorations. It’s a good season. This year is better than last and last,” he said. This is the first Christmas in five years that Israel and the Palestinian Authority have been conducting peace talks. But Palestinians here are skeptical. Jacoman said there is little to show since the Oslo peace Accords of 1993. “I think they are peace talking many years. Nothing is improved since 20 years," he noted. "Every time talking, talking but nothing better. We hope one time they do something. We are waiting.” In his Christmas sermon, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, called on Israel and the Palestinians to make peace. Twal, a Palestinian, said the message of Christmas is love and reconciliation. Winds and rain extinguish electricity in parts of Britain By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Tens of thousands of Britons will remained without electricity on Christmas Day after torrential rainfall flooded homes and hurricane-force winds battered the country. Two severe flood alerts were in force along with nearly 300 secondary warnings, largely across southern and central England, Britain's environment agency said Wednesday. Around 50,000 homes were likely to remain without power throughout Christmas Day according to the Energy Networks Association which represents wire and pipe companies. Tens of thousands of people have also had their power cut off in France where high winds and heavy rain still were sweeping across the south of the country. Winds of up to 90 mph (145 kph) hit both Britain and France Monday and Christmas Eve, with downpours forcing cancellations of rail, flight and ferry services at a peak travel time. Five people, including a man who tried to rescue his dog from a river, have died in Britain over the last three days in accidents linked to the high winds and heavy rainfall. Police in Dorset, southwest England, evacuated over 100 people in the early hours of Wednesday in two separate locations due to fears of flooding from a nearby river. There were more power cuts at London's second airport Gatwick on Christmas Day as stranded travelers tried to catch flights. Power failures led to angry scenes between passengers and staff Tuesday. “Due to adverse weather in the last 48 hours there are still power outages in parts of our North Terminal, these are causing delays to departing flights,” said a message on the airport's website. Singapore trying to shake image as another tax haven By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
In a place that restricts everything from chewing gum to pungent durian fruit. Singaporean authorities pride themselves in having a high bar for strict laws and a low crime rate to match. So they’ve been none too pleased by reports that tax dodgers, corrupt officials, and money launderers might be closing their Swiss bank accounts and moving funds to Singapore. In response, the government is ramping up measures to battle this reputation as a tax haven. It is now negotiating a deal with the United States that requires banks in Singapore to share details of Americans’ offshore assets with the Internal Revenue Service. The United States just signed agreements under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act with six other governments this month. “There is no basis for the allegation that wealthy individuals can hide money and avoid taxes in Singapore,” a ministry of finance spokesperson said. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act agreement would be part of broader efforts to improve transparency in banking. Singapore already has similar information-sharing pacts with Germany and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development club of mostly-rich countries. As of this year, it also will be easier to prosecute money launderers in Singapore and obtain bank and trust information from financial institutions without having to seek a court order, the finance ministry said. But critics don’t believe that’s enough. John Christensen, director of the British research firm Tax Justice Network, said Singapore’s bilateral agreements require foreign governments to make individual requests for banking information. He said the information-sharing should be automatic, meaning that as soon as a UK citizen opens an account in Singapore, for example, authorities here will disclose it to the UK government. “All the infrastructure is in place to encourage and facilitate tax evasion,” said Christensen, also a former economic adviser to the British Channel Island of Jersey, another hub of offshore banking. Singapore boasts one of the world’s most stable governments and economies, friendly business regulations, competitive tax rates, and banking privacy. All of this attracts the super-rich from abroad. “It’d be stupid for them not to take advantage of this, but you have to do it legally,” said Joseph Cherian, director of National University of Singapore Business School’s Center for Asset Management Research and Investments. People certainly are taking advantage. Compared with $50 billion in 2000, Singapore managed $550 billion worth of assets in 2011, according to WealthInsight, a London-based research firm. Of that figure, $450 billion were in offshore accounts. In other words, more than 80 percent of private accounts in Singapore belonged to foreigners. WealthInsight expects the number will continue to balloon by 2020, when it said Singapore will take Switzerland’s top spot in wealth management. The question is whether that wealth is legally gained and legally taxed. Christensen doesn’t think it is. His group releases a financial secrecy index every two years. Singapore ranked number five on the list published in November, compared with sixth place in 2011. Christensen said banking is so opaque that officials can’t prove financial assets are clean. |
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A.M. Colombia |
A.M. Guatemala |
A.M. Honduras |
A.M. Cuba |
A.M. Nicaragua |
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A.M. Central America |
A.M. Dominican Republic |
A.M. Ecuador | A.M. San Salvador |
A.M. Bolivia |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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| A.M. Costa
Rica's sixth news page |
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Ostrich syndrome
found to have legitimate origins By
The University of Sheffield news service
It’s the festive season, time for eating, drinking and being merry, and any thoughts of reaching goals like losing weight or keeping on top of finances go out of the window. And now a team of psychologists at the University of Sheffield have carried out new research which suggests that burying heads in the sand instead of trying to meet targets this month is completely understandable. In fact humans are motivated to do so. Thomas Webb from the University of Sheffield's Department of Psychology is the lead researcher on a project looking at the effect that monitoring progress can have when striving to achieve a goal. His research suggests that despite evidence that monitoring can help people to reach their targets, like regularly stepping on the scales when trying to drop a few pounds, there are times when individuals intentionally avoid such information. “There will be plenty of us over the Christmas period who will not check our bank balance or look at the calories on the back of the box of mince pies despite us wanting to be in control of our money or lose weight,” said Webb. “The project proposes that there is an ostrich problem such that people bury their heads in the sand.” Although there may be practical reasons why people do not monitor their progress (for example, sometimes they find the information too difficult to interpret, such as complicated nutrition labels or cryptic energy bills), Webb says that research into the ostrich problem suggests that there are also motivated reasons for avoiding information as well. “The ostrich problem is the idea that there are times when people would rather not know how they’re doing,” he said. “Avoiding monitoring may allow people to escape from negative feelings associated with an accurate appraisal of progress. For example, people might not want to know how much money they have spent or what their partner thinks of their social skills. We call this motivated inattention.” Webb said that promoting lasting changes in people’s behavior was one of the most significant challenges facing science and society. His four-year project, which ends in 2015 and has been funded by the European Research Council, seeks to understand why people avoid monitoring their goal progress and, by so doing, find ways to promote monitoring and help people to achieve their goals. |
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| From Page 7: Consumer group can be party to litigation By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Sala Primera of the Corte Suprema de Justicia has determined that an association of consumers can be a legitimate party to litigation. The case involved a state bank and the Asociación Nacional de Consumidores Libres. The case was in a lower court, but the question arose of whether an association could be a participant in a legal or administrative action. The question went to the Sala Primera. The high court stopped short of creating a type of class action, but it did say that such consumer interests transcend individuals. It cited the Costa Rican Constitution's Article 46 and the requirement that consumers and users have the right to protection of their health, environment, security and economic interests and that the state should help those organizations that are constructed for the defense of these rights. As a result of the decision, the case was remanded back to the lower court, the Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo, for a decision based on the facts of the case. The case involves the change in the interest rate on certain loans. The decision was released as a summary by the Poder Judicial. |
