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San
José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 258
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Go to Page 5 HERE! Go to Page 6 HERE! Sports is HERE! Opinion is HERE! Classifieds are HERE! Plus useful links |
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 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Pública photo
These were the rockets that were
confiscated in Coto Brus.More fireworks
confiscations
unlikely to dent New Year's show By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
For the Fuerza Pública fighting the fireworks trade must seem like trying to hold back the sea. Police have confiscated thousands of units of fireworks over the last month. Yet tonight at midnight the skies over the Central Valley will resemble shock and awe. A recent case was a week ago in Barrio 63 de Río Claro in Guaycará, Cantón de Golfito. Fuerza Pública officers stopped a man whose vehicle contained nearly 9,000 separate pieces of fireworks. Some of the fireworks were in the very destructive category, said the security ministry. The vehicle driver was going around selling the fireworks out of his vehicle. So was another man who was stopped in Aguabuena, Cantón de Coto Brus. The man was driving around selling out of his inventory that contained nearly 2,500 units of fireworks when police stopped him, they said. The anti-fireworks legislation provides for three to seven years in prison for someone who sells fireworks. But the penalty is hardly ever enforced. Police just confiscate the items. Each holiday season the security ministry and the Hospital National de Niños embark on a campaign to reduce the use of fireworks. Eight children have been admitted to this hospital this year with burns or damage from fireworks. The last four were admitted this month. The basic rules is that if it explodes it is illegal. There are many places selling sparklers and legal fireworks. Many of these sell the illegal variety under the counter. Now there are dogs on alert for illicit packages of cash By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Some people are said to have a nose for money. But how about dogs? The Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública now has two animals in its Unidad Canina that have been trained to detect hidden currency in the same way that other animals can detect drugs or explosives. They are part of 21 handler-dog teams that just finished three months of training Friday. These are the first dogs in the Costa Rican law enforcement organizations that can detect hidden money. They are likely to end up working at airports or at border crossings in conjunction with drug-detecting dogs. In addition to the Fuerza Pública, some of the teams are being assigned to the Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas. The dogs are of various breeds that have been donated to the ministry by citizens. Constitutional court continues to work over the holidays By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Although much of the Poder Judicial is on vacation, the Sala IV constitutional court met Monday and decided urgent cases. The court also made a point of reporting that it is open for business 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. There always is at least one magistrate on duty, the Poder Judicial said. The court reported that there were 102 new cases submitted since Dec. 20, including 32 requests for habeas corpus and 69 cases seeking court action to solve a problem. Our reader's opinion
Where can people turn nowwhen they are out of resources? Dear A.M. Costa Rica: With millions trying to survive after having the food stamp program curtailed, and millions more falling off of a very personal fiscal cliff after the first of the year when the federal unemployment payments are discontinued; what is going to happen? I’m sure that there were some abuses in these programs just as I’m sure there have been some abuses in the House and the Senate. But the vast majority have struggled to make an honest effort to succeed. After all who doesn’t want to succeed. From here it appears that we in the United States are turning into a well policed government that, is run for the government by the government. Our government officials and legislators have placed themselves above the people they govern. It is imperative that all members of the legislature be on the same health care and retirement programs as the people they are hired to govern. Our forefathers visualized a government by the people for the people, where a legislator would leave his or her farm or store to serve a term then return to their life at home. They didn't visualize professional politicians who would follow the money as a career. Apparently people get the kind of government that they deserve. If this is true, then what happens when the people realize that they have not paid attention and need to go back to basics? They realize that they can’t depend on their banker, insurance company or, politician to help them because they themselves must be responsible. Then what happens next? Gordon
L. Balter
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 258 | |
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ICE’s vivero program is all inclusive from the seed collection, germination and transplanting to potting bags. |
 A.M.
Costa Rica/Barry Hovland at 10 Degrees Above
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| State telecom company also happens to be
in the tree business |
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By
Kimberly A. Beck
Special to A.M. Costa Rica The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the government-owned telecommunications and electricity provider, offers residents an opportunity to get native tree species for reforestation and plantation purposes. An application is necessary to obtain the trees along with a valid cédula, the reason for the request and proof of land ownership. The application process is from January to December so new requests will be accepted in a few days. If the application is approved, a second visit to pick up trees at the proper planting time will be necessary. Each new year brings an opportunity to receive new trees, according to the firm known as ICE. There is no limit on the amount of trees that can be requested as long as the land can support the same amount of trees at their full growth potential. There is no guarantee that all applications will be approved. The earliest requests will be handled first, the company says. ICE has viveros or nurseries in four different provinces in which applications can be made in person. The viveros are in Cachi in Cartago, Freehold in Siquirres, Limon, La Garita in Alajuela and Tronadora in Guanacaste. No appointment is necessary. ICE’s vivero program is all inclusive from the seed collection, germination and transplanting to potting bags. Most tree species are available including native tropical hardwoods such as manu negro and gavilan and plantation favorites, pine and cypress. The availability of the saplings is species dependent. |
 A.M.
Costa Rica/Barry Hovland at 10 Degrees Above
Workers
move an order of trees to a truck.
The final document is a promise to plant, not sell, all the saplings that are being taken. ICE said that in 2011 the company delivered more than two million trees of different native species. The program began 40 years ago, and now is part of the country's campaign for carbon neutrality by 2021. From 2007 to 2011, the company itself reforested 262 hectares (647 acres) with an annual goal of 50 hectares (123 acres). |
| An
A.M. Costa Rica guest editorial Costa Rica’s most dangerous disease: The act of not voting |
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By
Thomas Bricker Ghormley-Hessell*
Special to A.M. Costa Rica There is a serious infirmity in Costa Rica that has already affected over 30 percent of the population and threatens to alter our lives to the very core. It is an insidious problem that grows each year affecting more and more of our citizens. It isn’t dengue or malaria or even cancer. This plague is abstentionism — the act of not voting — and if its growth goes unchecked we could lose the democracy we are so proud of. As more and more of our fellow citizens choose to not even participate in elections, the choice of who will run our government and thus our lives will be left to fewer and fewer people. Many feel disenfranchised by the current system where it seems the world is run by entitled public employees, major political parties, the ruling elite or the media. While I do not consider that this is a real conspiracy of evil against good, it does seem that the powers that be are, if not actively fomenting this citizen apathy are surely taking advantage of it. What we need to be reminded of is that this democracy and freedom we so enjoy is in no way guaranteed and we can just as easily lose control of our own destiny just by not taking care to participate in it. Remember, you pay taxes. To not participate in the debate on how or take part in electing the who, you are giving that money to others to do as they please, not as you wish. “Those who do not participate in democracy are in danger of losing it” goes the wise saying. This is true. Many today claim |
that their vote will not make a
difference, they don’t know what the candidates stand for — they’re all
the same — and they are sick of the system. These same people
complain about how the government is run, how the infrastructure is
weak, that our foreign and domestic policies are erroneous and
deficient. Yet, they refuse to learn about the issues and do not engage in the debate, they do not even know who represents them in government let alone tell those representatives how they feel. The apathy is growing so strong that the non-voters may become the majority in the next elections. May this never be! Democracy comes with responsible citizenry. We must take the time and effort to speak out on the issues and decide and defend the issues important to us. The saying “To remain silent is to permit” has never been more true. Your vote does mean something. For one thing, it gives you the right to criticize which equates to the responsibility to inform yourself and participate. Participatory democracy is the only kind of democracy that works and as Winston Churchill once said “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” Come on out and participate. Vote and take responsibility for the democratic government of your future and your children’s future. Failing to do so, you will surely lose it! *Mr. Ghormley operates a real estate firm in Jacó. |
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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 |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 258 | |||||
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| High-level medical panel urges annual lung screening for
heavy smokers |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Heavy smokers and former heavy smokers should get annual lung cancer screening tests, according to final guidelines issued Monday by an influential U.S. panel. The final recommendations, issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, apply to people aged 55 to 80 whose smoking has put them at high risk of cancer. That includes former heavy smokers who have quit within the past 15 years. Heavy smokers are considered to be those who smoked a pack a day for 30 years, or two packs a day for 15 years. According to a comprehensive review of medical evidence since 2004, the panel found the benefits of screening high-risk individuals with low-dose computed tomography, or CT scans, outweigh the potential harms of over diagnosis and increased exposure to radiation, which also contribute to cancer risk. The panel, which is comprised of independent experts and advises U.S. |
policy makers,
gave the screening a “B” recommendation, meaning it is
at least moderately certain that the benefits of the scans outweigh the
harms. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers are required to cover preventive services with a grade of “B” or higher. The guidelines are intended to help prevent some of the 160,000 annual lung cancer deaths in the United States, which exceed the total number of deaths from breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. Smoking is the biggest risk factor for developing lung cancer, resulting in about 85 percent of lung cancers in the United States. The guidelines largely fall in line with recommendations from most major groups of cancer experts, including the American Cancer Society and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. When the initial recommendations were published in July, some doctors expressed concern that the guidelines could lead to over diagnosis and over treatment of cancers, in much the same way that widespread screening programs for breast and prostate cancers have done. |
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, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 258 | |||||
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 Library of Congress photo
'Migrant Mother' by Dorothea
Lange, Nipomo, San Luis Obispo County, California, 1936.Depression era
photographer
is central character of new book By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Perhaps the most enduring image from the Great Depression years in the United States is a black-and-white photograph of an impoverished agricultural worker surrounded by her children. “Migrant Mother” was taken in 1936 by photojournalist Dorothea Lange, whose iconic shots came to define an era in American history. It happened on a cold day in northern California when Ms. Lange was driving home from a photo shoot. Exhausted, with her camera bags packed on the front seat beside her, she passed a hand-lettered sign that read, “Pea pickers camp.” “She just couldn’t let it go. She went back,” said Elizabeth Partridge, Ms. Lange’s goddaughter. ". . . got out of the car with her camera and approached a hungry, desperate mother who was surrounded by her little children who were grubby and clearly underfed. She never even asked the woman’s name. She just took a few photographs. They chatted for a minute, got back to her car and drove home. But she realized that these pea pickers, they had been stranded because there had been a freeze and the peas couldn’t be picked.” Ms. Lange developed the photographs right away. “She rushed one over to the newspaper in San Francisco," said Ms. Partridge. "They publicized it immediately and federal food aid was brought to these migrant workers. Then the photograph went on to become emblematic of the whole Great Depression.” “Migrant Mother” now hangs in the Library of Congress. It is one of dozens of photographs Ms. Partridge included in her new book, "Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning." The title comes from the way Ms. Lange described her transition from portrait photographer of the wealthy to chronicler of the American condition. “One day she was looking down from her studio, which was on the second floor of a building, and she saw these homeless men come up, walk up to the corner and pause, not knowing which way to go, because they were homeless," said Ms. Partridge. "They had no money, they had no food, they had no prospects. She said to herself, ‘I am just going to take my camera, and I'm going down into the streets, and I’m going to make a photograph, and I’m just going to bring the film back, and I'm going to develop it, print it and hang it on the wall, all in 24 hours, and see if I can just grab a hunk of lightning.’” Ms. Partridge, whose family was very close to Ms. Lange’s, says the photographer’s ability to capture the inner feelings of struggling Americans was the result of patience, careful consideration of her subjects and her own personal experience with suffering. “She had polio when she was 7. She walked the rest of her life with a limp, dragging her right foot forward," said Partridge. "That polio gave her a huge amount of compassion for people who had been struck down by circumstances beyond their control. When she went out photographing people, she had to walk up to them very slowly, and they would immediately see that she had a limp. She said that that helped her immediately develop a rapport with her subjects." Ms. Lange also took photographic journeys outside the United States. “Dorothea started in Japan, went to Korea, Indonesia, India, Cambodia. She also photographed in Vietnam. She particularly photographed beautifully in Korea," said Ms. Partridge. "Then she took another very important trip where she went to the Middle East. She photographed most beautifully in Egypt. What she was able to do is just really show what was there. So we see beautiful market places, we see fields where people are working...Now that these photographs are 50 years, 60 years old, we see a life that some of it is still there, some of it is gone.” Ms. Partridge was only 14 when Ms. Lange died in 1965. She says there was a reason she waited all these years before writing about her godmother. “I couldn’t have done that until I was older because I didn’t understand the full depth of her work," she said. "I didn’t get to know her as an adult except by doing this work and looking back at her life and watch her grow as a photographer, from being a documentary photographer into, late in her life, being really an artist.” Ms. Partridge’s book is not the only work to honor the photographer. Diana Taylor, Ms. Lange’s granddaughter, is now working on a film about her life, which will be released in 2014 with the same title, "Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning." U.S. to assist Russian officials in Olympic Games security By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. government is concerned Islamist militants may be preparing attacks aimed at disrupting the Winter Olympic games in Sochi in February and has offered closer cooperation with Russia on security. One militant group had issued explicit direct threats to disrupt the Olympics, a State Department official said. Two bombings in the Russian city of Volgograd over the last two days, one at the city's central railway station and another on a bus, killed dozens of people and raised anxieties about the safety of the Olympics. U.S. officials said U.S. and Russian authorities have engaged in extensive contacts regarding security preparations for the games. The United States is expected to share with Russia information it might collect about possible threats to the games. “We're taking lots of security precautions” related to the Winter Games, a U.S. State Department official said Monday. U.S. security officials said the government was not surprised by the Volgograd bombings and had anticipated that such attacks might well occur in the run-up to the games. Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, condemned the attacks in Volgograd blamed on suicide bombers. She added that the U.S. government had “offered our full support to the Russian government in security preparations for the Sochi Olympic Games, and we would welcome the opportunity for closer cooperation for the safety of the athletes, spectators, and other participants.” The State Department is expected to caution U.S. travelers about possible bombings and hostage takings in Russia, particularly in the North Caucasus region which is less than 100 miles (160 km.) from Sochi. The U.S. offer for closer cooperation with Russia follows two issues earlier this year that raised tensions between U.S. and Russian security agencies: the involvement of two Chechen brothers in the Boston Marathon bombing and Russia's granting temporary asylum to former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. Despite these points of contention, a U.S. official said security cooperation between the U.S. and Russia regarding the games had improved in the run up to the Olympics. In November, Matthew Olsen, director of the government's U.S. National Counter-terrorism Center, said his agency was coordinating and integrating the intelligence community's support to the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Olsen told a Senate committee he had visited Sochi a few days earlier and met Russian intelligence and security officials to discuss the games. Blizzard thwarts icebreaker in reaching stranded ship By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
An Antarctic blizzard has halted an Australian icebreaker's attempt to retrieve 74 people on board a Russian research ship. The ship has been trapped for nearly a week in ice, while high winds prevent a helicopter rescue. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the rescue, said Monday that the icebreaker "Aurora Australis" had to return to open waters because of poor visibility. A Chinese icebreaker, "Snow Dragon," was sent to free the vessel and came within 11 kilometers of the stranded Russian ship Saturday but had to stop when thick ice blocked its progress. If the Australian vessel fails to break through the 3-meter-thick ice, a helicopter on the Chinese ship could be used to evacuate the passengers on the trapped vessel. But the storm has grounded the helicopter for the time being. The Russian ship is carrying 74 people, including an Australian research expedition, tourists and crew members. The ship became frozen in an ice flow near the South Pole last Tuesday. Officials say the vessel is not in danger of sinking. In a video posted on Twitter Saturday, members of the Australian research team said they could see the "Snow Dragon" on the horizon. The Russian ship, which left New Zealand on November 28, was trying to recreate Australian explorer Douglas Mawson's century-old voyage to Antarctica. Afghanistan war finds little support among Americans By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A new poll shows that the war in Afghanistan is even more unpopular among Americans than the war in Vietnam was more than 40 years ago. The survey by CNN television and ORC International says just 17 percent of the American public support the Afghan war, while 82 percent oppose it. This is drastically lower than the 52 percent who said they backed the war four years ago. It also says only about 30 percent believe the United States is winning in Afghanistan. The CNN poll also says most Americans want U.S. troops out of Afghanistan before the end of 2014, the deadline set by President Barack Obama. A similar poll by The Washington Post and ABC News last week shows most people think the war has not been worth fighting. According to the CNN survey, the Afghan war has less support among Americans than the war against Communist North Vietnam had in the 1960s and 1970s. That war greatly divided the United States and led to massive peace rallies, violent protests on college campuses, and sent thousands of young men fleeing the country to avoid a military draft. Obama and Mrs. Clinton again head the most admired list By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Americans named President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the world's most admired living man and woman in 2013, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. Obama topped the annual list for the sixth consecutive year, a typical ranking for a sitting U.S. president, the polling organization said. But the percentage of those surveyed who choose him as the most admired man fell to 16 percent this year, down from 30 percent in 2012. The president's job approval rating has dropped during a year marked by a botched healthcare rollout and stalled legislative initiatives at the start of his second term. Ms. Clinton earned the top spot among most admired women for the 12th consecutive year and 18th time overall, more than any other woman in the poll's history. Some 15 percent of Americans surveyed gave the former first lady and U.S. senator the highest ranking, down from 21 percent who named her as the most admired woman last year, the poll showed. Gallup said its data came from a poll of 1,031 adults between Dec. 5 and 8, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Other men named to the list included former U.S. presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter; Pope Francis and the Rev. Billy Graham; actor and director Clint Eastwood; Microsoft Corp co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates; U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. The women who finished behind Hillary Clinton included talk show host Oprah Winfrey, first lady Michelle Obama, former Alaska gov. Sarah Palin, former secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and actress Angelina Jolie. Also on the list were Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban for demanding education for girls; German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. Changes in climate expected to cause problems for plants By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A new study suggests that modern flowering plants, trees and agricultural crops may not have the characteristics, or the time, to respond to rapid human-induced climate change. The report in Nature looks at how plants evolved to cope with cold in the past, but finds these same mechanisms may not provide the same defense against climate change. Flowering plants lived in warm tropical climates 243 million years ago. Since then, they have spread across the planet into much harsher places. George Washington University ecologist Amy Zanne and her colleagues wanted to understand how the plants survived in a colder environment. They identified three traits that help them do that: dropping their leaves before the winter chill, narrowing the cells that transport water from the roots to the leaves, and dying back to the ground and re-sprouting from their roots or seeds in the spring. “The next bit was, we wanted to not just look at where species are today and whether they are seeing freezing or not, but to try to understand the evolution of these characteristics and the order of the evolution of those characteristics or those traits,” Ms. Zanne said. To do that, the researchers constructed the largest-ever time-scaled evolutionary tree of 32,000 plant species. They then compared the emergence of those adaptive traits with big changes in the Earth's climate to reconstruct how plants evolved with the cold as they spread across the globe. “We saw for all three of the traits, there was a really strong support for finding a shift into freezing and also a shift in the trait. And so to tough it out and deal with the cold, what they did was they made these narrower pipes so that they wouldn’t get these air bubbles that blocked the water through the stems," Zanne said. "So they could maintain that stem by keeping those small pipes. Or what they did was they dropped their leaves. So they didn’t have to keep their leaves from year to year. Or the third thing that they did was they avoided or hid from the cold altogether by becoming herbaceous.” Herbaceous plants have leaves and stems that die back to the ground in winter. Ms. Zanne says one of the most significant findings was that the changes occurred even before the plants' range extended into colder environments. “So what we found was that plants before they even confronted the cold, they typically already had skinnier pipes and they already had become herbaceous," she said. "So they responded already to some other pressure. And so maybe it was a dry environment or something like that and that these characteristics, these traits were then really useful for dealing with the cold. So they went into the cold well armed to handle those cold temperatures.” Ms. Zanne and her team also plan to study plants in warm or dry environments. The study suggests that modern flowering plants, trees and agricultural crops may not have the traits or the time needed to cope with climate change.  The New England Journal of Medicine/A.M.
Costa Rica
This image shows estimated
antibiotic use in the United States. Data are shown as approximate
numbers of kilograms of antibiotics used per year. Tax on
agricultural antibiotics
offered as way to curb usage By
the University of Calgary news staff
Citing an overabundance in the use of antibiotics by the agriculture and aquaculture industries that poses a threat to public health, economics professor Aidan Hollis has proposed a solution in the form of user fees on the non-human use of antibiotics. In a newly released paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Hollis and co-author Ziana Ahmed said that in the United States 80 per cent of the antibiotics in the country are consumed in agriculture and aquaculture for the purpose of increasing food production. This flood of antibiotics released into the environment – sprayed on fruit trees and fed to the likes of livestock, poultry and salmon, among other uses – has led bacteria to evolve, Hollis writes. Mounting evidence cited in the journal shows resistant pathogens are emerging in the wake of this veritable flood of antibiotics, resulting in an increase in bacteria that is immune to available treatments. If the problem is left unchecked, this will create a health crisis on a global scale, Hollis says. Hollis suggest that the predicament could be greatly alleviated by imposing a user fee on the non-human uses of antibiotics, similar to the way in which logging companies pay stumpage fees and oil companies pay royalties. "Modern medicine relies on antibiotics to kill off bacterial infections," explains Hollis. "This is incredibly important. Without effective antibiotics, any surgery – even minor ones – will become extremely risky. Cancer therapies, similarly, are dependent on the availability of effective antimicrobials. Ordinary infections will kill otherwise healthy people." Bacteria that can effectively resist antibiotics will thrive, Hollis adds, reproducing rapidly and spreading in various ways. "It's not just the food we eat," he says. "Bacteria is spread in the environment. It might wind up on a doorknob. You walk away with the bacteria on you and you share it with the next person you come into contact with. If you become infected with resistant bacteria, antibiotics won't provide any relief." While the vast majority of antibiotic use has gone towards increasing productivity in agriculture, Hollis asserts that most of these applications are of low value. "It's about increasing the efficiency of food so you can reduce the amount of grain you feed the cattle," says Hollis. "It's about giving antibiotics to baby chicks because it reduces the likelihood that they're going to get sick when you cram them together in unsanitary conditions. "These methods are obviously profitable to the farmers, but that doesn't mean it's generating a huge benefit. In fact, the profitability is usually quite marginal. "The real value of antibiotics is saving people from dying. Everything else is trivial." While banning the use of antibiotics in food production is challenging, establishing a user fee makes good sense, according to Hollis. Such a practice would deter the low-value use of antibiotics, with higher costs encouraging farmers to improve their animal management methods and to adopt better substitutes for the drugs, such as vaccinations. Hollis also suggests that an international treaty could ideally be imposed. "Resistant bacteria do not respect national borders," he says. He adds that such a treaty might have a fair chance of attaining international compliance, as governments tend to be motivated by revenue collection. Hollis notes that in the U.S., a move has been made to control the non-human use of antibiotics, with the FDA recently seeking voluntary limits on the use of antibiotics for animal growth promotion on farms. He asks: "Is the Canadian government going to take any action to control the use of antibiotics for food production purposes? Health Canada is trying to monitor the use of antibiotics, but has virtually no control over use." |
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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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Volcano in El
Salvador still emits more gas and ashes By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A volcano in eastern El Salvador belched more ash and gasses on Monday after a big eruption on Sunday that drove more than 1,600 people into emergency shelters. No major injuries or damage were reported. The Chaparrastique volcano, which is about 140 kilometers [87 miles] east of San Salvador, the capital, spewed ash Sunday over a wide area known for its coffee plantations. “The Chaparrastique volcano is still producing gases combined with small emissions of ash, which is normal after an eruption,” El Salvador's environment ministry said on its Twitter page. In all, 1,635 people are in seven temporary shelters, emergency services said. Some people on the volcano's slopes have refused to leave, emergency services said. It was not clear to what extent El Salvador's coffee crop, already blighted by an outbreak of leaf rust, might be affected by the eruption. Coffee officials said they were meeting Monday to evaluate the damage. El Salvador's international airport was operating normally Monday, although more than 36 international flights into and out of the country had been suspended Sunday because of the eruption, the airport and airlines said. El Salvador has 23 active volcanoes. Chaparrastique is considered one of the most active, with 26 eruptions in the last 500 years, according to the environment ministry. In a 1976 eruption, lava gushed from the volcano. Chaparrastique shook violently in another event in 2010. U.S. designates six locations for commercial drone tests By
the A.M. Costs Rica wire services
The U.S. government has taken a step toward opening the skies for commercial drone use. Officials on Monday announced six sites where unmanned aircraft can be tested for a variety of purposes, including for use by businesses, researchers and farmers. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration already has approved a limited use of drones in the country, including for law enforcement, military operations and atmospheric research. Monday's decision allows companies and other groups a place to test broader uses of drones. The FAA says it is working on developing operational guidelines for widespread commercial drone use in the future. Market groups say the introduction of drones could lead to 100,000 new jobs during the first decade, and billions of dollars of growth for the U.S. economy. However, the proposed use of commercial drones also has sparked privacy concerns from civil liberties groups. The six new test sites for drones are in the states of Alaska, New York, North Dakota, Texas, North Carolina and Virginia. |
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| From Page 7: How to be in better shape this time next year By
Elizabeth Morales Coto*
Special to A.M. Costa Rica With just hours to go to 2014 this is the perfect time to get a healthy start in your personal and professional life!!! Apply the following principles to your personal finances and business, and a very positive result will be observed throughout the year. Try and follow these simple rules for 2014 to reach peace of your financial mind: The Best Practice Financial Rules: 1. Save all of your invoices and put them away daily when you come home in a special place inside a
7. Treat yourself when you deserve it. A little thing like an ice cream or a nap will invigorate your personality and will help you in your daily errands. 8. Set alarms for all your payments so you don’t miss them and lose pennies that add to hundreds. 9. Add a little seminar to your year. This way your investment will also be saving you taxes. 10. Divide your net earnings by 12 and NEVER spend more than that, and if you want to go A+, then never spend more than 50 percent of that. 11. Invest any extra money that you get into the loans you have. Remember that usually for every $1 you pay in advance, you are saving yourself $7 in the future. 12. Apply all of these to your job or your company, and make indicators a regular information source for your decision making. Remember that one can only manage those things that can be measured. Any information to be used in decision making needs to be accurate, functional, representative and realistic. Never hesitate to ask a professional for help or guidance, and better yet, before big fires need to be put out. Remember that problems exist to be solved, and always be a part of the solution. Stay dynamic and flexible to change and adapt positively. * Ms. Morales is an engineer with a master's of business administration specializing in business strategy and development. She is a principle in CEDAD Asesores and can be reached at info@cedadasesores.com. |
