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San
José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 258
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Fireworks
effort put to the test tonight
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Tonight will show the success or lack of success in the efforts by law enforcement to crack down on fireworks. So far this year, the Fuerza Pública has made four major confiscations of fireworks. Those that explode are illegal, and officials always express concern about the danger to children. Two of the confiscations were this week. Officers stopped a truck in Cataratas de Bratsi, Talamanca, and said that they found 143,663 individual items. Officers also said that they stopped a street sale of fireworks in Zapote, also this week. The Talamanca case involved a shipment from Panamá. Earlier this year officers intercepted a shipment from Panamá but near Paso Canoas on the other side of the country. There also was a case of a woman smuggling fireworks originating in Nicaragua while she was a passenger on a bus. The Hospital Nacional de Niños had only reported a handful of injuries to children from fireworks this year. Officials there said more were injured by hot water and oil in their family's kitchen Bull baiters keep the Cruz Roja busy By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
One organization that is not on vacation is the Cruz Roja. Its workers have treated or transported 80 informal bull fighters from the ring at Zapote and 93 from the ring at the Centro de Eventos Pedregal. The Cruz Roja keeps a running list, and injuries to those who get into the ring with bulls are more numerous than those elsewhere at the fiestas with medical problems. The agency said 84 persons were treated at both locations for medical conditions. Meanwhile, the uniquely Tico bull fights are dominating the television screens at 2:30 p.m. and at 8 p.m. The bulls seem to be more intelligent this year. In years past, participants who were run down would lie without motion on the ground, and bulls generally overlooked them. Not so this year. The bulls seem not to be satisfied until they can propel a prone antagonist into the air. Consequently many of the injuries are to the ribs and stomach where the bull places a horn. Then there is the trauma of landing after being hurled 25 feet by a mature bull. The bull baiting continues through Sunday. Microsoft to alert users to hacker attacks By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Microsoft will begin alerting users of its online services, including Outlook.com, when it suspects their accounts are being hacked by government entities. The world's largest software company announced the new policy in a blog post late Wednesday. "We will now notify you if we believe your account has been targeted or compromised by an individual or group working on behalf of a nation state," the post said. Microsoft is taking the additional security step because state-sponsored attacks are often "more sophisticated or more sustained than attacks from cybercriminals and others," it said. "If you receive one of these notifications it doesn’t necessarily mean that your account has been compromised, but it does mean we have evidence your account has been targeted, and it’s very important you take additional measures to keep your account secure," the post added. The statement did not mention any specific countries believed to have been targeting Microsoft users. But the Reuters news agency said the policy change came nine days after it asked the company why it had declined to inform victims of a 2011 hacking campaign targeting exiled members of China's Tibetan and Uighur communities. The news agency spoke with two former Microsoft employees who said company experts "had concluded several years ago that Chinese authorities had been behind the campaign but the company did not pass on that information." Earlier this year, Facebook and Twitter announced they would also warn users when they believe state-sponsored hackers may be trying to access user accounts. In its statement, Microsoft on Wednesday stressed that a notification does "not mean that Microsoft’s own systems have in any way been compromised." It also said it will not be able to detail why it believes a specific attack was state-sponsored. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 258 | ||
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| Page One is HERE! Page 2 is HERE! Page 4 is HERE! | NEXT PAGE |
To the left is a new satellite image taken two days ago that shows the current El Niño pattern closely mirroring the one at right from 1997-1998, one of the strongest on record. |
 National Aeronautics and Space
Administration-Jet PropulsionLaboaratory-Caltech graphic
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| Photos from space show that El Niño is among
strongest ever |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
U.S. photos from space demonstrate that the current El Niño conditions in the Pacific are very much like the one that took place in 1997 and 1998. And that one was a whopper. The photos validate what weather experts have been saying for months, that the current El Niño is poised to be one of the strongest on record and perhaps the strongest. "The images show nearly identical, unusually high sea surface heights along the equator in the central and eastern Pacific: the signature of a big and powerful El Niño," the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a statement. The latest satellite image of Pacific sea surface heights from the Jason-2 satellite, released Wednesday, differs slightly from one 18 years ago from Topex/Poseidon. In December 1997, sea surface height was more intense and peaked in November. This year the area of high sea levels is less intense but considerably broader, said NASA. El Niño is a natural phenomenon that occurs every few years, when tropical waters off the Pacific coast of South America turn warmer than normal, the space agency explained. Warm air rises off those |
waters and
changes the path of the major wind currents that blow around
the planet. NASA says the current El Niño, which has already created weather problems worldwide, shows no sign of waning, which is no surprise to central Pacific and Guanacaste farmers and ranchers who are struggling through a prolonged drought. The United States could feel El Niño's biggest effects during the first few months of 2016, NASA added. This could include several months of relatively cool and wet conditions across the southern United States, and relatively warm and dry conditions over the northern United States. However, NASA says El Niño could bring some relief in the form of rain for the western United States, much of which has suffered through several years of drought. The World Meteorological Organization said in November that El Niño is expected to continue to strengthen and go down in the history books as one of the strongest ever. The U.N. agency said then that a mature and strong El Niño event is contributing to extreme weather patterns, and it is expected to strengthen further. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 258 |
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| Poll shows Americans would protect Christians over those of
other faiths |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A new opinion poll suggests that Americans place a higher priority on protecting the rights of Christians than that of other religious groups. Some 82 percent of respondents said it was extremely or very important that Christians be allowed to practice their religion freely, according to the survey published by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. When asked the same question about Jews, the figure dropped to 72 percent. Asked about Mormons, it was 67 percent. And about Muslims, the figure plunged to 61 percent. The survey found 54 percent of Americans believe it is sometimes necessary for the government to sacrifice freedoms to fight terrorism. Forty-five percent disagreed with that statement. More specifically, 56 percent of respondents said they favor warrantless government monitoring of Internet activities and communications, even if it means spying on U.S. citizens. Only 28 percent said they oppose such spying. In recent years, the United States has seen a significant domestic backlash against government surveillance efforts, following the revelations of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. But according to the poll, public concern seems to now be |
 Graphics show Americans put a higher priority on preserving religious freedom of Christians than of others and views on government monitoring. shifting toward security, following the rise of the Islamic State group and the recent high-profile Islamist-linked attacks in France and California. Some 20 percent of Americans now say they are a great deal or somewhat concerned they or their family members could become a victim of a terror attack, according to the poll. That is twice as many as when the same question was asked three years ago. But Republicans appear to be more concerned specifically about the threat of Islamic extremists than are Democrats. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans are at least somewhat concerned about Islamic terrorism, compared to just 47 percent of Democrats. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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contents of this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado
S.A. 2015 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
Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 258 | |||||||
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| Mayor in Brussels cancels New Years celebration there By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Brussels' mayor has canceled the Belgian capital's annual New Year's Eve celebration tonight because of a terror threat. "Unfortunately, we have been forced to cancel the fireworks and all that was planned . . . evening and that would have brought a lot of people together in the center of Brussels," Mayor Yvan Mayeur told Belgian broadcasters. The mayor said that according to a crisis center analysis, it would not be possible to screen the tens of thousands of people who were expected to turn out. Belgian police arrested two people earlier this week who were suspected of plotting a New Year's Eve terror attack on what officials called emblematic targets. Prosecutors said the threat was serious. Four of the Islamic extremists who killed 130 people in multiple terrorist attacks in Paris in November were from Belgium. Meanwhile, thousands of police officers, some armed with long guns, radiation detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs, will be guarding the massive New Year's celebration in New York City's Times Square. Police, the FBI, and Homeland Security officials say there are no specific credible threats to New York or any other U.S. parties. But they will be vigilant and proactive with celebrations coming just weeks after terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California. Authorities are also monitoring overseas communications for any threats. More than 1 million people plan to crowd into Times Square to welcome in 2016 tonight. New York police chief James Waters says he is very confident that "New Year's Eve in New York City will be the safest place in the world." Even more varied cocktail of TB drugs said to be better By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 10 million people became sick and 1.5 million died in 2014 as a result of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis. Without an effective and aggressive treatment strategy, the number of cases could rise to 75 million worldwide by 2050. A new study concludes that a combination of at least six drugs may be needed to combat the growing health menace. "If we don't act promptly, if we don't act now, then the problem of drug-resistant TB will just get worse," said Peter Cegielski, team leader for Drug-Resistant TB and Infection Control in the global TB branch at the Centers Cegielski says that when a person is infected with multi-drug-resistant TB, the bacterium that causes the disease does not respond to two gold-standard drugs for treating the illness: isoniazid and rifampicin. So doctors turn to a cocktail of many more-expensive but less-effective drugs. How many drugs should be in that cocktail was the focus of a study led by Cegielski. Currently, the World Health Organization recommends that five drugs be administered simultaneously. But the study, conducted at 26 sites in nine countries, found that using six drugs could provide a necessary boost in efforts to defeat resistant TB. Participating countries included Russia, South Africa, Taiwan and Estonia. Among the 1,100 adult patients in the study with resistant TB, those who received six potentially effective drugs saw a 36 percent greater likelihood of responding to treatment compared with those who received five or fewer drugs. The findings were published in the journal PLoS Medicine. Conducting pre-treatment testing also helped to determine which drugs were most likely to be effective against resistant TB infections, according to Cegielski. "So, it was clear from this work that more testing for drug resistance, and especially testing for the full range of drug resistance, would be important so that physicians can choose the most effective drugs based on those laboratory results," he said. World Health is now encouraging doctors around the world to do drug-sensitivity testing prior to treating their TB patients, Cegielski said. Meanwhile, the Obama administration unveiled an action plan to bring resources to bear in the prompt identification and treatment of patients infected with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis. Americans seem addicted to smartphones, poll shows By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Americans are very attached to their electronic devices, especially their mobile phones. So much so that nearly half , 48 percent, check smartphones up to 25 times per day. Collectively, Americans look at their phones 8 billion times a day, according to Deloitte’s 5th Global Mobile Consumer Survey. Some (17 percent) check phones as soon as they wake up, while 43 percent look at their phone within five minutes. Unsurprisingly, the heaviest mobile usage is among people between the ages of 18 and 24, who look at their phone 74 times a day. For 97 percent of those young people, phone usage starts within three hours of waking up in the morning. But America’s mobile phone obsession isn’t just limited to the youngest generations. Among people of all ages, half report checking their phones one last time about 15 minutes before going to sleep at night. Overall enthusiasm for electronic devices seems to be growing. Smartphone ownership is up 9 percent while the number of people who own tablets increased 10 percent in 2015. Some 70 percent of Americans now own smartphones while more than half (51 percent) own tablets. Some 14 percent of people surveyed said they own wearable electronic devices. Almost 1 in 10 Americans (9 percent) own all three devices. Americans are also using their electronic devices while engaging in a number of other activities. They say they use their phone simultaneously at some point while out shopping (92 percent), talking to family and friends (87 percent), watching TV (87 percent) and while dining out (81 percent). Using mobile devices to make in-store payments almost quadrupled, going from 5 percent in 2014 to 18 percent in 2015. However, more than one-third of Americans (36 percent) don’t see the point of using their mobile phones to make in-store payments. While they aren’t excited about in-store payments, Americans do remain interested in the next big thing, such as self-driving smart cars. They’re drawn by the possibility self-driving cars will eliminate the stress of driving, relieve the worry induced by getting directions and worrying about getting lost, and because smart cars would enable them to multitask while driving. While Americans love their electronic devices, almost one in three worry about privacy issues. Thirty-one percent of people surveyed say they are concerned about their mobile activity being recorded or tracked. Asthma linked to shingles by Mayo Clinic researchers By the Mayo Clinic news staff
Nearly 1 million incidences of herpes zoster, which is also known as shingles, occur every year in the U.S., with an estimated one-third of all adults affected by age 80. Despite its prevalence, particularly between ages 50 and 59, it is still unclear why some individuals will develop shingles, and others will not. In a population-based study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Mayo Clinic researchers build on their previous research from 2013, which linked asthma in childhood with an increased risk of shingles. “Asthma represents one of the five most burdensome chronic diseases in the U.S., affecting up to 17 percent of the population,” says lead author Young Juhn, who is a general academic pediatrician and asthma epidemiologist at the Mayo Clinic Children’s Research Center. “The effect of asthma on the risk of infection or immune dysfunction might very well go beyond the airways.” Medical records for potential patients with shingles were reviewed in Olmsted County, Minnesota, where 371 cases with shingles, age 67 on average, were identified during the study period and compared against 742 control subjects. Of the 371 shingles cases, 23 percent (87 individuals) had asthma, compared with 15 percent (114 of 742) from the control group. The authors found that adults with asthma were at about a 70 percent greater risk of developing shingles, compared to those without asthma. The researchers also noted that, with asthma and other conditions accounted for, both asthma and dermatitis were found to be independently associated with a higher risk of shingles. Shingles occurred at a rate of 12 percent in patients with dermatitis (45 of 371 shingles cases) versus 8 percent (58 of 742) of the control subjects. The underlying mechanisms are not clear. However, impairment in innate immune functions in the skin and airways is well-documented in patients with asthma or dermatitis. Researchers believe that, because asthma helps suppress adaptive immunity, it may increase the risk of varicella zoster virus reactivation. “As asthma is an unrecognized risk factor for zoster in adults, consideration should be given to immunizing adults aged 50 years and older with asthma or atopic dermatitis as a target group for zoster vaccination,” Dr. Juhn concludes. The researchers note that neither inhaled corticosteroids nor vaccinations were associated with a higher risk of shingles. Rather, zoster vaccination was associated with a lower risk of shingles. Water pipes found crawling with millions of bacteria By the Lund University news staff
Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have discovered that drinking water is to a large extent purified by millions of good bacteria found in water pipes and purification plants. So far, the knowledge about them has been practically non-existent. A glass of clean drinking water actually contains ten million bacteria. But that is as it should be. Clean tap water always contains harmless bacteria, the researchers noted. These bacteria and other microbes grow in the drinking water treatment plant and on the inside of water pipes, which can be seen in the form of a thin, sticky coating – a so-called biofilm. All surfaces from the raw water intake to the tap are covered in this biofilm. Findings by researchers in Applied microbiology and water resources engineering show that the diversity of species of bacteria in water pipes is huge, and that bacteria may play a larger role than previously thought. Among other things, the researchers suspect that a large part of water purification takes place in the pipes and not only in water purification plants. “A previously completely unknown ecosystem has revealed itself to us. Formerly, you could hardly see any bacteria at all and now, thanks to techniques such as massive DNA sequencing and flow cytometry, we suddenly see eighty thousand bacteria per millilitre in drinking water,” says researcher Catherine Paul. “From having been in the dark with a flashlight, we are now in a brightly lit room, but it is only one room. How many different rooms are in the house is also an interesting question!” she continued. The work has been published in Microbes and Environments. The results have led to lively discussions within the industry about the role of biofilms in drinking water. At least a couple of thousand different species live in the water pipes. According to the researchers there is a connection between the composition of bacteria and water quality. “We suspect there are good bacteria that help purify the water and keep it safe, similar to what happens in our bodies. Our intestines are full of bacteria, and most the time when we are healthy, they help us digest our food and fight illness, says Researcher Paul. They have for instance discovered that one type of bacteria, Sphingomonas, can be found in high quality water. “This bacteria can consume non-desirable organic material, and even toxic chemicals and types of plastic. It also withstands chlorine,” she says The desirable bacteria do not only like dirt. Some may also release substances that make the water taste and smell good. Conversely, there are bacteria which, although they do not cause disease, might be a signal that something is wrong, perhaps through the metal beginning to rust or the chlorine content not being sufficiently high. Although the research was conducted in southern Sweden, bacteria and biofilms are found all over the world, in plumbing, taps and water pipes. “The hope is that we eventually may be able to control the composition and quality of water in the water supply to steer the growth of good bacteria that can help purify the water even more efficiently than today”, says Ms. Paul. Wall Street Journal reports U.S. spied on Netanyahu By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A U.S. newspaper is reporting that the United States spied on communications of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, although President Barack Obama promised two years ago to curtail eavesdropping on friendly heads of state. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the White House decided to secretly keep certain allies under close watch, with Netanyahu topping the list. The report said the U.S., while pursuing a landmark nuclear arms deal with Iran, captured communications between Netanyahu and his aides. Intercepting the conversations "inflamed mistrust between the two countries and planted a political minefield at home when Mr. Netanyahu later took his campaign against the deal to Capitol Hill," the report said. The Wall Street Journal said the U.S. targeting of Israeli leaders and officials also intercepted their private conversations with U.S. lawmakers and American-Jewish groups. That move raised fears that the White House would be accused of spying on Congress, according to an unnamed senior U.S. official quoted in the report. The report said White House officials believed the intercepted information could be valuable to countering Netanyahu's campaign of opposing the Iranian nuclear deal. The Israeli leader argued before Congress that the agreement would ease Iran's path to building a nuclear weapon. The deal, signed in July between Iran and six world powers, is aimed at curbing Iran's atomic program, in exchange for lifting international sanctions on the country's economy. Bill Cosby is freed on bail in sexual assault felony case By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. comedian Bill Cosby was charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting a woman in 2004 after allegedly giving her wine and pills that left her unable to fight back. The 78-year-old Cosby walked into a courthouse outside Philadelphia with a cane and was flanked by his lawyers. Cosby was charged with aggravated indecent assault, a felony that could result in 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if he is convicted. He did not enter a plea, but Cosby and his lawyers have consistently denied charges of sexual misconduct. Cosby was freed on $1 million bail and said nothing to reporters shouting questions as he entered and left the courthouse. More than 50 women say Cosby sexually assaulted them in incidents dating back to the 1960s, when he first emerged as a comedy star. The case announced Wednesday involves Andrea Constand, a former basketball team manager at Temple University in Philadelphia, Cosby's alma mater. Constand said she approached the comedian in 2004 for career advice. She said Cosby invited her to his suburban Philadelphia home, gave her wine, and urged her to take three blue pills. Constand said she soon found herself unable to move or speak while Cosby fondled her. Constand settled a civil lawsuit against Cosby in 2006. Cosby said during that suit that he and Constand had consensual sex. He admitted obtaining quaalude pills to give to women with whom he wanted to have sex, but insisted the encounters he had with women were consensual. The allegations have destroyed Cosby's image as the good-natured storyteller and family man he developed over five decades as a major television comedy star. The 1980's series "The Cosby Show," in which he played a successful doctor, was television's highest-rated program for a number of years, but is scarcely seen in rebroadcasts. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 258 | |||||||||
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Study describes earliest flowering plants By the Yale University news staff
The discovery of exceptionally well-preserved tiny fossil seeds dating back to the Early Cretaceous corroborates that flowering plants were small opportunistic colonizers at that time, according to a new Yale-led study. Angiosperms or flowering plants diversified during the Early Cretaceous, about 100 to 130 million years ago. Based on evidence from living and fossil plants, the earliest angiosperms are usually thought to have had small stature. New data from the fossil record presented here strongly support this notion but also indicates key differences from modern flowering plants. Writing in the journal Nature, a team of researchers reports the discovery of small seed embryos less than 0.3 millimeters in size and their surrounding nutrient storage tissues in well-preserved seeds found in eastern North America and Portugal. “This is the first time that we have had direct fossil evidence of the embryos of early angiosperms and how they compare with those of living plants,” said Peter Crane, a professor of botany at Yale University. Researchers used a visualization technique known as synchrotron radiation X-ray tomographic microscopy, which allowed them to examine the internal features of delicate fossils in a non-destructive way. The researchers analyzed more than 250 mature seeds encompassing roughly 75 angiosperm populations, some of which had the seed embryo fully preserved. Their findings show that the embryos are tiny (one-fourth to one-third of a millimeter), with excellent preservation of cell structure. The minute size of the fossil embryos is consistent with the interpretation that seed dormancy allowed the earliest flowering plants to survive through harsh environmental conditions and colonize disturbance-prone habitats. “This is the first time that we have had direct fossil evidence of the embryos of early angiosperms and how they compare with those of living plants," said Crane. "These observations have given us critical insights into the early part of the life cycle of early angiosperms, which is important for understanding the ecology of flowering plants during their emergence and dramatic radiation through the Early Cretaceous.” |
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| From Page 7: : Government emphasizes Doing Business rank By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The central government is highlighting its 2015 achievements by noting that the country placed seventh in the world in the ease of obtaining credit. That was one of the factors considered by the World Bank in its Doing Business index. This is the time of year when governmental institutions cherry pick and put their best accomplishments forward. The government release also pointed out that Costa Rica is among the10 economies that improved their index score the most. Costa Rica went from 79 to 51 in the ranking of 189 economies. The highest ranking categories besides credit were the ease of obtaining electrical service and the ease of paying taxes. The government did not mention that the index puts Costa Rica in 181st place among the 189 nations in relation to protection of investors. Lawmakers noticed this, and there is a bill in the legislature to give minority investors more power. |
