Archive for March 12th, 2009
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
On Costa Rica’s northern Pacific coast is Papagayo Peninsula. This coastal paradise has enchanting beaches and virgin rain forests, along with all the amenities and luxuries of a high-end beach resort hotel environment. Papagayo Peninsula is a beautiful location unlike any other you will find anywhere in Central America.
The spectacular scenery is inviting, tranquil, fragrant, and welcoming and guests are treated to the vibrant colors of brilliant tropical flowers and emerald green plants that fill the landscape. This lush, rich backdrop is only the beginning of the dazzling sights and wonders that are waiting to be shared.
At Papagayo Peninsula, you will discover a slice of paradise that you may never have dreamed possible. 15 miles of unspoiled coastline and over 30 separate beaches that invite guests to leisurely explore and enjoy. Perfect water temperatures, crystal clear surf , and an immense blue sky create a pretty tantalizing temptation to immerse yourself and play in the sea.
This is a place where you can unabashedly indulge your desires to relax in luxury both inside your beach resort hotel, and outside. There are tropical rain forests to be explored, canopy tours to discover and literally hundreds of little secrets awaiting you. The Papagayo Peninsula is still a quiet place of unimaginable beauty and the vibrant foliage and warmth of the deep forests will ignite your imagination and curiosity and possibly lift your spirit.
Right now is the perfect time to visit one of the most breathtaking settings in the world. The Papagayo region of Costa Rica has an abundance of natural beauty for guests of all ages. On any one of the Peninsula’s marinas one can find plenty of boats available for charters, sightseeing or personal moonlight escapes. When you choose the Papagayo Peninsula as a vacation destination, you will experience what it’s like to enter a timeless world of relaxed, gracious elegance.
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Thursday, March 12th, 2009
Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago will join the USA and Honduras as the Concacaf representatives at the 2009 Under-20 World Cup. The Ticos won Group B with a 2-1 victory over Canada on Wednesday. Host T&T will face the USA in Friday’s semifinals after tying Mexico, 2-2, to finish second and qualify for the U-20 finals for the first time since 1991.
Marcos Urena scored in the 72nd minute to give Costa Rica the victory over Canada and its second straight trip to the U-20 World Cup.
With the loss, Canada’s string of four straight appearances in the U-20 finals came to an end.
The Costa Rica-Canada result clinched Trinidad’s berth in the semifinals against the USA. It rallied with second-half goals by Juma Clarence and Uriah Bentick to tie Mexico.
In an embarrassing setback for the Mexican national team program, the Tri finished with only one point in three games.
Mexico was playing less than month after Juan Carlos Chavez replaced Jesus “Chucho” Ramirez as coach. In 2005, Ramirez led Mexico to the U-17 World Cup title, the first world championship at the youth level for a Concacaf team. Ramirez, the interim national team coach in 2008, left the Mexico program in February to coach Club America.
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Thursday, March 12th, 2009
Costa Rica business Set to Benefit from New Tax Law.
In order to mitigate the effects of the economic crisis on Costa Rica, the Costa Rica Tax Administration authorized a special accelerated depreciation for all new assets (as in tangible property) increasing the acceleration of the useful life to 60% from the previous 50%. This measure applies to all new assets purchased from January 2009 until the end of the year. The move comes as part of President Arias’s new “Shield Plan” that hopes to protect the country from recession by implementing a series of temporary fixes to promote commerce and protect Costa Rica jobs.
Accelerated depreciation refers to any one of several methods by which a company, for ‘financial accounting’ and/or tax purposes, depreciates a fixed asset in such a way that the amount of depreciation taken each year is higher during the earlier years of an asset’s life. For tax purposes, accelerated depreciation provides a way of deferring corporate income taxes by reducing taxable income in current years, in exchange for increased taxable income in future years.
According to the Costa Rica Tax Administration, the accelerated depreciation is a smart move to confront the weakening economy by promoting investment because this measure allows companies a larger deduction when determining how much income tax is due. This should help soften the decision to acquire new assets when the world’s economists are telling people to save big purchases for later.
Once this resolution is published in “La Gaceta” it won’t be necessary for companies to specifically request authorization to use the special accelerated depreciation from the Tax Administration. The only requirement is that the owner prove that the assets were acquired during 2009. This can be proven with the accountant register or with legal documents.
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Thursday, March 12th, 2009
Canada has been eliminated for the CONCACAF under-20 men’s soccer championships, and denied a place in the world championship, after a 2-1 loss to Costa Rica in its final round-robin game Wednesday.
A win would have advanced Canada (1-2-0) to the quarter-finals of the North American championship and assured it of a berth at the under-20 World Cup for the fifth straight time.
Marcos Urena’s goal in the 72nd minute sent Costa Rica (2-0-1) through instead.
Randy Edwini-Bonsu, who had both goals in a 2-0 victory over Mexico on Monday, gave the Canadians the lead in the 11th minute, but David Guzman tied the game for Costa Rica in the 25th minute.
Canada opened the tournament with a 1-0 loss to host Trinidad and Tobago.
Trinidad and Tobago (1-0-2) drew 2-2 with Mexico (0-2-1) in the Group B finale.
The failure to qualify comes after Canada hosted the tournament in 2007, when Canada was the only country not to score a goal in the tournament. The Canadians were also the first host country not to score in the 16-year history of the competition.
Canada has participated in eight of the previous 16 FIFA U-20 World Cups, including each of the last four (Argentina 2001, UAE 2003, Netherlands 2005 and Canada 2007).
Costa Rica finished first in Group B with seven points and will face Group A runner-up Honduras in Friday’s semifinals. Trinidad will face Group A winner United States.
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Thursday, March 12th, 2009
A strongly felt shook Panama and parts of Costa Rica on Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage.
The quake hit at 11:24 p.m. local time , sending panicked people running out of buildings in the Costa Rica port city of Golfito and knocking items from shelves in several southern towns.
The magnitude 5.7 quake was centered 58 miles west of David, Panama, more than 200 miles from San Jose, the Costa Rican capital, said the U.S. Geological Survey.
It was pretty strong and caused a scare but so far we’ve only had calls to report minor damage from items falling, said Luis Madrigal of the Red Cross in the Costa Rican city of San Vito de Coto Brus, near the epicenter.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake in January left 23 dead in Costa Rica.
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