Archive for July 7th, 2009
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
In the nine days since he was booted from the Honduran presidency by force, Manuel Zelaya as been to six cities in five countries. He flew over a sixth.
Zelaya’s country-hopping campaign to reclaim his post started at the airport in Costa Rica last Sunday over gallo pinto and crackers and is expected to continue Tuesday with high-level meetings in Washington to hatch a plan of action.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was expected to meet Zelaya late Monday or early Tuesday, a Latin American president told The Miami Herald. And he may not like what he hears: The Obama administration is irked by the fact that Zelaya sought much of his advice from Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez. (more…)
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Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
The Costa Rican government on Monday announced it will launch a satellite tracking system to aid the anti-drug fight on the seas.
The system, which will record vessels’ route, position and movements at real time, will allow the authorities to provide aid in case of emergencies, and reinforce the police actions to seize drugs, executive president of the Costa Rican Institute of Fishing and Aquaculture Luis Dobles told Xinhua.
The system will mainly guard tuna fishing ships and foreign-flag vessels with a length of more than 18 meters in its first phase, and will also cover smaller ships in the future, the official said.
The system will be used at the area of the 12 miles of the territorial sea and 188 miles of jurisdictional waters which include the exclusive economic zone of the country.
The first stage of the project will cost 300,000 – 400,000 U.S. dollars provided by the government.
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Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
Costa Rica has been named as the ‘happiest place to live on Earth’ in a new survey.
It has also been named the most environmentally friendly country on the planet.
The New Economics Foundation looked at 143 countries, and devised an equation that evaluates life expectancy and people’s happiness against their environmental impact.
The foundation ranks Costa Rica as the happiest, greenest country in the world, followed by Dominican Republic at the second place, reports the News.com.au
The Latin American countries have booked nine of the top 10 spots in the survey.
However, some of the major Western nations did poorly, with Britain being mentioned at 74th place, Australia at 102nd and the US at 114th.
The survey report suggests that Costa Ricans have a life expectancy of 78.5 years, and 85 per cent of the country’s residents admit that they are happy and satisfied with their lives.
Sociologist Andrea Fonseca said that Costa Rica gives its citizens the “tools” to be happy.
She added that the country’s rise to the top of the Happy Planet Index “has a lot to do with social imagination”.
Some of the critics have condemned the study for ignoring issues like political freedom, human rights, and labor rights.
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