Archive for March 11th, 2010
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Altough Axl Rose made the statement last week on facebook that GUNS N’ ROSES would not appear in Costa Rica, Todoticket has begun selling tickets for the April 9 appearance.Edwin León, general manager of Tod0ticket, told La Nación that the band would in fact visit Costa Rica and that ticket sales have been selling well.
The Play store in Zapote has to limit the number of people to 10 at a time entering the store to buy tickets.
28 Producciones has confirmed that the band will be performing at the Ricardo Saprissa stadium, even though the information is not listed on www.gunsnroses.com the band’s official website.
The website lists the last performance by the band on April 1 in Quito.
The ticket prices range from ¢15.750 in the nose bleeds to ¢63.000 for floor in front of the stage.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.todoticket.com or at the Play stores in Escazú, Zapote and Heredia and Importadora Monge stores in Escazú, Multiplaza del Este, Avenida Cental and Desamparados.
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Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Four more men and two businesses have been indicted as part of a $3.6 million illegal sports betting operation.
Gerlarmo “Jerry” Cammisano, 56, of Kansas City was among those indicted by a federal grand jury as part of the scheme. He’s the brother of William “Willie” Cammisano Jr., who pleaded guilty to his involvement in the operation in February.
The others charged in a 23-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury on Tuesday included James J. Moretina, 60, and Michael J. Lombardo, 54, both of Kansas City, and James L. Dicapo, 57, of Parkville, Mo. They join two businesses: Phoenix International Teleport Satellite Services Inc. of Chandler, Ariz., and Elite Sports of San Jose, Costa Rica. The indictment was unsealed on Wednesday, after the four men were arrested.
Gerlarmo “Jerry” Cammisano allegedly was the master agent, under which the three others and other bookmaking agents allegedly operated from March 1, 2006, to April 1, 2009. Bettors, mostly from Kansas City, allegedly wagered about $3.58 million during that period, with bookmakers getting a cut of the winnings at the end of each sports season, the indictment said.
The betting ring operated through a toll-free number, two Web sites and Internet servers based in Costa Rica. Cash was paid out or collected in person, typically on a weekly basis, the indictment said.
Elite Sports processed and tracked bettors’ activities on a server in Costa Rica, charging a price-per-head fee for managing the accounts, the indictment said. Phoenix International provided the toll-free numbers, the indictment said.
The indictment charged each defendant with one count of aiding and abetting one another to operate an illegal gambling business. Cammisano is charged with six counts of using the Internet to transmit information to help place bets about sporting events.
Moretina is charged with six counts of using a telephone to help with such bets; the other two are charged with five counts each.
The indictment includes a forfeiture provision, which means the defendants would have to give the government any proceeds they gained from the alleged illegal acts, including the more than $3.58 million in gross wagers.
Cammisano would have to give the government $196,677, two laptops seized from his home on March 31, three pieces of real estate and two businesses — Sun Auto Sales Inc. and Cam & Vig LLC. Dicapo would have to forfeit his residential property, Moretina would give up his interest in Be Amused Vending & Amusement Co. and Lombardo would give the government his interest in Advanced Mudjacking LLC.
Phoenix International would give up all equipment used to transmit calls or Internet traffic to Costa Rica, including computers, servers, satellite dishes and other equipment.
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Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Employers are expecting a 23 percent increase in jobs for the second third of the year.
That is the prediction from Manpower Costa Rica, which conducted a survey on the topic with employers. Some 28 percent of the employers contacted expect a strong increase in the labor force while 5 percent expect a decline, the company said.
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Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Costa Rica now has its own mint following an investment of us$4 millin dollars of Swiss and Costa Rican business interests, which is to provide coins for the Banco Central de Costa Rica and other Central American and Caribbean countries.
The Mint Costa Rica plant was inaugurated on Tuesday by government authorities, Banco Central and Catholic church officials.
Located in Ipis de Goicoechea, the plant is expected to produce up to 100 million coins a year.
The company, Amera International AG, says it will be investing another us$6 million dollars in the near future.
Amera also provides services of storing and the destruction of coins, in effect completing a life cycle of each coin.
The plant in Costa Rica will allow the Banco Central to have an “immediate” availability of coins and at lower cost.
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Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Researchers from Costa Rica have reported that women over the age of 40 are not likely to benefit from vaccination to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV). The details of this study were published in the March 3, 2010 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Human papillomaviruses consist of more than 100 different viruses. Some types of HPV cause warts on the hands or feet; others cause genital warts; and some have been linked with cancer, most notably cervical cancer. The types of HPV most commonly linked with cervical cancer are HPV16 and HPV18, but several other high-risk types contribute to cancer as well.
The types of HPV that cause cervical cancer or genital warts are transmitted sexually. HPV infection is extremely common and generally occurs soon after an individual becomes sexually active. Although most infections resolve on their own, some persist and can lead to precancerous or cancerous changes to the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, and anus. HPV infection has also been linked to certain cancers of the head and neck.
Recognition of the link between HPV and cervical cancer led to the development of vaccines designed to prevent infection with certain high-risk types of HPV.
Currently, there are two vaccines approved for the prevention of HPV 16 and 18: Gardasil® and Cervarix®. Gardasil also protects against HPV 6 and 11, which are associated with most types of genital warts. The vaccines are recommended for girls as young as age 9 and up to age 26. It is generally agreed that vaccination of older women would be of little benefit. A previous study conducted by the Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health reported that HPV vaccination for prevention of cervical cancer is not cost-effective in women between the ages of 35 and 45 years.
A study of more than 9,000 Costa Rican women ages 19 to 97 evaluated the patterns of HPV infection as women age. These researchers found that the rate of newly detected infections declined with age—from 35% in women ages 18-25 to 13.5% in women over the age of 42. In both younger and older women, new infections typically cleared up without treatment within two years. They found that new infections typically did not progress to worse disease in older women.
Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that HPV vaccination was not likely to be beneficial for older women. The vaccinations are used to prevent new infections, and older women are not getting many new infections.
Reference:
1 Rodriguez AC, Schiffman M, Herrero R, et al. Longitudinal study of human papillomavirus persistence and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2/3: Critical role of duration of infection. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2010; 102: 1-10.
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Thursday, March 11th, 2010
The average baseball is only used for a few pitches in the U.S. Major Leagues, but for the Costa Ricans who make them each ball is the result of hours of painstaking stitching by hand.
For 10 hours a day, workers at the world’s only factory authorized to supply Major League Baseball, in the town of Turrialba in central Costa Rica, sit at desks yanking strands of waxy red fiber to form each baseball’s 108 stitches.
In professional games the balls quickly become too dirty and scuffed by bats to use, or get lost in the crowd on a foul ball or home run. To feed the demand, the factory turns out as many as 2.4 million baseballs a year, all assembled by hand.
The cork and rubber cores, Tennessee Holstein cowhide and gray New Zealand sheep’s wool yarn are shipped tax-free to the plant where more than 300 workers sit in neat rows to sew, their arms rhythmically rising and falling like a rowing team.
The finished balls are boxed up and shipped to Miami.
Famed for its stability in a turbulent region, Costa Rica is an economic success story in Central America, earning money from eco-tourism, coffee and fruit exports, and factories making everything from making microchips to pharmaceuticals.
Manufacturer Rawlings Sporting Goods, which has an exclusive contract to supply Major League Baseball until 2013, moved its factory here from Haiti in the late 1980s, fleeing the violent aftermath of a dictatorship in the Caribbean nation.
The workers are glad for the pay in a depressed farming town with few other jobs, but few show much interest in baseball in a country that is much more passionate about soccer.
“I really don’t understand baseball,” admitted Minor Quesada, who has worked at the factory for 17 years.
The work is tough and some employees have shoulder injuries from trying to churn out too many balls to win bonuses.
They earn a base salary of $1.60 an hour, slightly above Costa Rica’s minimum wage but a world away from the $3 million average salary of a U.S. professional baseball player.
Still, for many in Turrialba it’s a good deal.
“It’s pretty hard to find work,” said Rocio Gamboa, 33, who has been stitching baseballs at the factory for 11 years.
She produces 200 balls a week, and receives a 52 cent bonus for each ball she completes above the 156-ball minimum. The major league balls are sold at retail for $14.99.
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Thursday, March 11th, 2010
The area around the McDonalds in Sabana Sur is a mess, traffic wise, as completion of the expansion and resurfacing of the MAG-Universal road is nearing completion.
The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Conavi) assures that all the work will be completed by the end of March and the complications at the McDonald’s intersection was unavoidable.
Traffic through the area is completely closed off between 6am and 6pm every day. Driver are asked to take alternate routes to avoid congestion.
The work on the 1.3 kilometres road that runs on the south side of the train tracks began last August and at a cost of ¢2 billion colones.
The work includes the widening of the road and a new concrete surface.
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