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Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Archive for December 31st, 2009
Obama: U.S. Knew of Nigerian Terror Threat but Did Not Act
Thursday, December 31st, 2009President Obama has acknowledged that the United States had early signals that a terrorist attack was being plotted in Yemen and failed to take adequate steps to prevent it.
According to a page one story in the New York Times, two federal officials told the paper that U.S. intelligence was aware that a Nigerian Muslim was preparing an attack, yet officials did nothing to give warning of such an attack.
The paper reported Wednesday: “Two officials said the government had intelligence from Yemen before Friday that leaders of a branch of Al Qaeda were talking about ‘a Nigerian’ being prepared for a terrorist attack.”
Although the attacker was not named, officials said his identity would have been evident had it been compared with information about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian charged with trying to blow up an American passenger jet on Christmas Day.
But despite those signals, the administration never raised a terror alert, and would-be bomber Abdulmutallab was allowed to board a plane bound for the United States.
Critics also have charged that, although al-Qaida has engaged in multiple terror attacks at the same time and has promised more attacks soon, the administration has yet to raise Homeland Security’s terror threat level. It remains at “yellow” or “elevated” — as it has for several years.
Obama was told at a briefing on Tuesday that U.S. officials had information that would have warned clearly of a pending attack if agencies had shared the information, The New York Times reported.
U.S. intelligence learned that leaders of a branch of al-Qaida in Yemen were talking about a Nigerian’s being prepared for a terrorist attack.
Abdulmutallab first came to the attention of U.S. officials in November, when his father told the U.S. embassy in Nigeria that his son had expressed radical views and then disappeared.
After being briefed, Obama told reporters: “A systemic failure has occurred, and I consider that totally unacceptable.”
Referring to the early signals, he said: “Had this critical information been shared, it could have been compiled with other intelligence and a fuller, clearer picture of the suspect would have emerged. The warning signs would have triggered red flags, and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America.”
He added, “It’s becoming clear that the system that has been in place for years now is not sufficiently up to date to take full advantage of the information we collect and the knowledge we have.”
After Abdulmutallab’s father spoke to embassy officials, the embassy sent a cable to Washington, and Abdulmutallab’s name was added to a database of 550,000 people with possible ties to terrorism, according to the Times.
But he was not put on the no-fly list of 4,000 people or on a list of 14,000 individuals who are required to undergo addition screening before flying. Also, his visa to the United States was not revoked.
The attempted bombing on Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit has touched off partisan squabbling in Washington. Republicans were sharply critical of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano after she declared on Sunday that “the system worked,” even though the bombing was thwarted only when Abdulmutallab’s device failed to detonate.
“It is insulting that the Obama administration would make such a claim,” said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.
House Minority Leader John Boehner said Tuesday: “All year long, we’ve asked the question: What is the administration’s overarching strategy to confront the terrorist threat and keep America safe?
“We haven’t gotten a satisfactory answer, and the secretary’s ‘the system worked’ response doesn’t inspire confidence.”
Democrats countered that Republicans have stood in the way of needed personnel and funds for anti-terrorism efforts, the Times reported, by blocking Obama’s nominee for head of the Transportation Security Administration and by voting against a bill providing $44 billion for Homeland Security operations.
Obama said he had ordered government agencies to provide him with a preliminary report about the security lapse on Thursday.
But he added that, once Abdulmutallab had attempted to bring down the flight, “our homeland security systems and our aviation security took all appropriate actions” — even though the passengers and crew are the ones who apprehended Abdulmutallab, and there was no air marshal on board.
422.000 Vehicles Owners Still To Pay Marchamo
Thursday, December 31st, 2009Today is the last day to pay the 2010 Marchamo and owners of 38% or some 422.000 of all registered vehicles have to pay up.
The Marchamo is the annual circulation permit that is payable by December 31st before a vehicle owner faces late charges and interest and is exposed to a fine by the Pollicía de Tránsito and/or possible confiscation of the license plates and/or vehicles.
This year because January 1 is on a Friday, for those who have not paid their Marchamo by the close of business day today, they will have to wait until Monday when banks, authorized insurance agents and INS offices reopen.
Costa Rica assails big risks taken by small miners
Thursday, December 31st, 2009Costa Rica is pushing to legalize hundreds of small-scale miners who scrape out tiny amounts of gold from abandoned mine shafts using dangerous and polluting techniques.
Lured by record prices for gold, which topped $1,200 an ounce this year, some 600 informal miners around the town of Abangares in hilly northern Costa Rica use toxic mercury to extract gold from rocks chipped out of narrow tunnels.
The environment ministry estimates the miners produce around 500 ounces of 14 carat gold a month and sell it to local dealers at cut rates below the market, around $476 an ounce.
Informal mining is practiced in many parts of the world but Costa Rica is as the forefront of a trend to regulate the miners by urging them to form cooperatives, apply for official mining concessions with environmental permits and pay taxes.
The government of the lushly forested Central American nation, which touts its strict environmental rules, is worried unchecked informal miners are dumping dangerous chemicals into water supplies.
“This is a social problem caused by unemployment in the tourism sector,” said Jose Castro, head of mining at the Environment Ministry. The economic downturn has hit the tourism industry at beaches and nature reserves in the region.
“What we’re trying to do is organize (the miners) and monitor their activities,” Castro said.
Top mining officials toured the area around Abangares this month and want to push through the tougher regulations before President Oscar Arias’ term ends in May 2010.
The government campaign has made headway, with about half of the miners already organized into officially recognized cooperatives and one in the process of applying for a formal concession.
PROFIT OUTWEIGHS RISK
Better known for its exports of bananas and high-quality coffee, Costa Rica’s does not have the mineral resources of other Latin American countries. Metallic mining comprises less than 1 percent of the gross domestic product.
There are no major operational gold mines and the only big project, Las Crucitas, which is being built by Canada’s Infinito Gold Ltd, has been suspended pending a supreme court ruling on whether it is environmentally safe.
But with gold prices soaring, informal miners are willing to take big risks to scrape a living out of deep caves, some a century old, abandoned by international mining companies.
Miners have died when weakly supported tunnels collapsed during rainy season. And they regularly handle mercury with their bare hands, even though the liquid metal can cause birth defects, miscarriages, nerve damage and renal failure.
“There is no other work. You can earn more here than in any kind of company,” Jose Campos, a 29-year-old miner said.
The evolution of ‘Ecotourism’
Thursday, December 31st, 2009As a world-wide leader in nature-oriented travel, with 5% of the world’s biodiversity within only .035% of the world’s land, Costa Rica continues to be in the spotlight for ecotourism. Since 1993, tourism has been the top generator of foreign revenues for Costa Rica, surpassing both bananas and coffee. The ICT (Costa Rican Institute for Tourism) acknowledges that the tourism in Costa Rica has become mainly ecotourism. It is easy to see why, with Costa Rica’s 26 national parks, 58 wildlife refuges, 32 protected zones, 15 wetland areas or mangroves, 11 forest reserves, 8 biological reserves, as well as 12 other conservation regions. The array of flora and fauna is staggering. Martha Honey of the CESD (Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development) cites the following:
“This West Virginia-sized country boasts more bird species (850) than are found in the United States and Canada combined, more variety of butterflies than in all of Africa, more than 6,000 kinds of flowering plants (including 1,500 varieties of orchids), and over 35,000 species of insects. Costa Rica is, as former minister of natural resources Alvaro Umana put it, a biological superpower.” (Honey 2003)
All of this natural wonder in the most stable country both socially and politically in Central America, perhaps even all of Latin America, is heaven for especially the ecotraveler. To its credit, Costa Rica has the highest percentage of protected land in the world (Fenell and Eagles 1990). Further, Costa Rica has preserved these lands and natural habitats in such a way that they are more accessible to tourists than those of any other country in the region (Budowski 1993). The small size of the country is a huge factor as well; a traveler has the opportunity to visit more destinations per visit if desired. (more…)
