Archive for March 16th, 2009
Monday, March 16th, 2009
Almost 50 years after Costa Rica broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba, ties between the two countries could be on the mend, said Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno in statements to that Central American country’s press.
According to Stagno, the continental atmosphere is propitious for a dialogue between the two governments.
Cuba currently has diplomatic relations with all countries in the Americas except Costa Rica, El Salvador and the United States.
With the victory Sunday of FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes in El Salvador, it is expected that relations between Cuba and that Central American country will be restored.
That would leave the governments of Oscar Arias in Costa Rica and Barack Obama in the US with the challenge to join the rest of the continent in regards to Cuba.
The topic, as well as the half-century US blockade on Cuba, are sure to be brought up at the April 17-19 Americas Summit in Trinidad and Tobago. The meeting will be Obama’s first with the continent’s leaders.
Meanwhile, the US president met over the weekend in Washington with Brazil’s President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva who reportedly made a pitch to the US leader to set a new, less aggressive, tone to US-Latin American relations and seek dialogue with countries like Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia.
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Monday, March 16th, 2009
A 75 year-old Saudi woman has been sentenced to forty lashes for the crime of allowing a bread deliveryman into her home when she had no other male family members there with her. The woman is actually Syrian, but was married to a Saudi national and is now a widow. The young delivery man was well-known to the woman, but her breach of the insanely repressive laws in Saudi Arabia has earned her what might turn out to be a death sentence.
The newspaper Al-Watan said the woman met with the two 24-year-old men last April after she asked them to bring her five loaves of bread at her home in al-Chamil, a city north of the capital, Riyadh. Al-Watan identified one man as Fahd al-Anzi, the nephew of Sawadi’s late husband, and the other as his friend and business partner Hadiyan bin Zein. It said they were arrested by the religious police after delivering the bread. The men also were convicted and sentenced to lashes and prison.
The court said it based its ruling on “citizen information” and testimony from al-Anzi’s father, who accused Sawadi of corruption. “Because she said she doesn’t have a husband and because she is not a Saudi, conviction of the defendants of illegal mingling has been confirmed,” the court verdict read.
Saudi Arabia’s strict interpretation of Islam prohibits men and women who are not immediate relatives from mingling. It also bars women from driving, and the playing of music, dancing and many movies also are a concern for hard-liners who believe they violate religious and moral values.
There has been an international outcry over the case, but so far the Saudi government has not intervened to save the woman. If the sentence is allowed to stand, she will suffer forty lashes (which could be fatal to an elderly woman), then imprisoned for four months, then deported to Syria. The entire case is absolutely appalling.
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Monday, March 16th, 2009
The Korean manufactured e-Zone EV is now available in Costa Rica for delivery.
One company, Electric Cars of Costa Rica has launched the first 100% electric car for use in Costa Rica, which completely eliminates gas emissions and a trip to the gasoline station.
The vehicle known as the e-Zone EV is completely pollution free, running up to 50 kilometres on a single charge. The electric vehicle is great for commuting, taking children to and from school and best of all, just plugs into any houseld electrical socket to charge its batteries.
James Milldebrooks, president of Electric Cars of Costa Rica, says the two door vehicle costs us$17.500, but has a us$15.500 special ExpoMovil (car show) price.
The maker of e-Zone EV, CT&T, the leading electric vehicle manufacturer in Korea, says the vehicle is built with advanced safety technology that makes it comfortable to drive on regular roads. The interior has lots of leg and headroom, comfortable sports seats and comes complete with an MP3 CD player.
The two-seat e-Zone EV features a fiberglass body over a rigid aluminum frame that’s designed to protect driver and passenger in case of a collision. The NEV has been successfully crash tested to 30 mph and meets U.S. FMVSS301 as well as European safety standards. (more…)
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Monday, March 16th, 2009
Scientists and collaborators at a local marina are looking for a way to save the life of one of Costa Rica’s most precious endangered species.
The Center of Caribbean Sea Turtle Rehabilitation is researching methods that would fit a prosthetic fin onto a six-year old hawksbill sea turtle.
The turtle arrived at the center two years ago with three missing fins both rear fins and one front fin after being attacked by a shark.
Gabriel Hobart works with the center’s owner for part of the year and said the facility has been working with a local dentist and a prosthetic center in San José to find the best way to create a new fin.
The difficulty, Hobart said, is that the turtle is still growing and will need a system that will allow scientists to change the fin for a bigger one as the turtle develops.
Although the turtle is missing three fins, Hobart said it is only necessary to replace one front fin to stabilize the animal and allow it to move properly.
The ultimate goal of the rehabilitation center is to release turtles back into the wild, but Hobart said this turtle will remain at the center forever because it doesn’t have the ability to survive in open waters.
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