Archive for July 29th, 2010
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Travel on the Interamericana Norte (Ruta 1), the main route to Guanacaste and Nicaragua, will be closed for at least the next three days, as raging waters of the Seco river washed out the road pavement at and near the bridge, located near Miramar, Puntarenas.
Shortly after 8pm Wednesday night the Seco river overflowed its banks while a tractor trailer was crossing the bridge. Fortunately the driver of the truck was able to escape from the cab as his truck was washed away by the raging waters.
The Policía de Tránsito immediately closed off the road. (more…)
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Thursday, July 29th, 2010
A former Bixby resident who spent more than three years in Costa Rica after learning that the Internal Revenue Service was investigating him was sentenced Wednesday to one year and three months in prison for under-reporting his income on a federal tax return.
David Michael Nigh also was ordered by U.S. District Judge James Payne to pay $54,915.33 in restitution to the IRS.
Nigh, 41, was arrested in February in Cancun, Mexico, where he had gone on vacation, court records state. He had fled to Costa Rica in December 2006 in an attempt to avoid criminal prosecution.
He was charged in Tulsa on April 8, 2008, with five counts of filing false federal returns for the 2001 through 2005 tax years. That indictment was handed up under seal, and Nigh claimed Wednesday that he didn’t know of the charges until he was arrested.
Nigh pleaded guilty to one of those counts on March 17, admitting that on his 2005 income tax return he reported income of $113,745 when the actual amount was more than twice that.
He apologized to the court and to his family Wednesday for his “childish behavior” and expressed regret for the “immature attitude” he had about paying taxes.
Payne said during the hearing that Nigh had derived part of his income in the past from an illegal bookmaking business.
He ordered that Nigh undergo gambling addiction counseling, refrain from gambling and stay out of gambling establishments during his year of court supervision after he is released from prison.
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/content/2010/crimesite/article.aspx?subjectid=450&articleid=20100729_14_A16_Aforme184660
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Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Something must be going terribly wrong in Venezuela.
President Hugo Chávez is lashing at the United States, at Colombia, even at tiny usually neutral Costa Rica. Among the many things he said and did last week:
Announced he had enough shares of independent television station Globovisión to name a member to a board of directors.
Broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia one more time. This time it was because Colombia accused Venezuela of harboring Colombian guerrilla groups and leaders in its territory.
Called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a puppet of the United States and said that President Barack Obama was behind a master plan to use the border dispute with Colombia as an excuse to invade or assassinate him.
Threatened to cut off the oil he sends to refineries in the United States.
Exhumed the body of Simón Bolívar, the liberator of most South American countries, because he believes Bolivar was poisoned and did not die of tuberculosis as history books say. Oh, and he wanted to see if he and Bolívar shared the same DNA, because he is the heir to Bolívar’s legacy.
Said that relations with Colombia might improve if he got a clear message from President-elect Juan Manuel Santos — one of those that Chávez lashed out against when Santos was defense minister and a presidential candidate — that Colombia wanted to improve relations with Venezuela.
Are these the incoherent thoughts of a man who has lost his mind? Or is this the way a savvy politician who is in trouble tries to distract Venezuelans from the economic, political and social problems they face in their daily lives?
Most analysts think it is the latter.
Venezuelans will go to the polls this fall. Political analysts in the country say that the popularity of the president has decreased dramatically, as the petroleum-rich country faces electrical blackouts, food shortages and a dramatic increase in criminal activity in the cities and countryside.
There has even been talk of Chávez canceling, or postponing, the elections if he sees that there is a real possibility that he would be defeated so badly that it would be difficult even for him to rig the ballot boxes.
Already he is selecting which international observers to allow as independent witnesses for the elections. Now that Chile has a conservative president, Sebastián Piñera, Chilean observers will not be allowed to come to Venezuela to monitor the elections.
One hopes that what Chávez is saying is but a smoke screen to hide his problems at home. But Venezuela’s president is so unpredictable, one cannot simply dismiss his threats. He is dangerous and capable of doing anything.
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Thursday, July 29th, 2010
A small group of environmentalists on July 12 began their 170-kilometer march from the presidential palace in San Jose to Costa Rica´s only open-pit gold mine to pressure the government to close the project.
While pressure on President Laura Chinchilla´s new government has mounted in recent months to close the Crucitas gold mine near the northern border with Nicaragua, as environmentalists and human rights activists warn that it will cause irreversable damage to the soil, rivers and massive deforestation, only 15 set out to march to the mine. But they are already seeing results.
A day later, presidential spokesman Marco Vargas told a press conference that Chinchilla´s government is open to reviewing the decree issued by her predecessor and mentor, the ex-President Oscar Arias (1986-90 and 2006-2010), that lifted a moratorium on open-pit mining.
Shortly after taking office in early May Chinchilla, who served as Arias´ vice president and justice minister, issued a ban on all new open-pit mining, but had repeatedly said the Crucitas gold mine, a property of Canada´s Infinito Gold, could not be touched since a previous government had already granted it permits to start work.
Her new decree had generated renewed hope in stopping the project, which has been stalled for around two years, but a reform of the mining law, an overturning of Arias´ decree, or a court decision are the only ways to stop the project, as environmentalists, university groups, local governments and citizens groups filed a series of complaints in Costa Rican courts. A final ruling on the project is pending.
Under the slogan “Marching for Life: Crucitas free of Cyanide,” protesters will distribute information to citizens along their path on the dangers of the mine, in hopes that they will join their campaign against the project.
“The citizenry has a essential protagonism for struggles of justice to achieve resounding results in civil society and in governments,” said Luis Diego Marín, coordinator of local environmental group Preserve Planet, one of the organizers of the anti-Crucitas campaign. “Never in the history of humanity have social victories been achieved without the presence of the citizenry. This march to the site where they´re trying to build a destructive project is a living example of this great social power.”
Chinchilla has said that gold mining is not a priority industry for Costa Rica, which has very little metallic mineral resources. Environmentalists argue that the dangers the industry poses for the nation far outweigh potential benefits.
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Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Costa Rica is a small coastal country of Central America. This affluent country lies between Nicaragua and Panama and is the most admired holiday spot in Central America. People come from far and wide for vacationing in Costa Rica.
Eco- Diversity
Costa-Rica is diverse in terms of climate, topography, Flora and Fauna. You will find vast difference in climate, in very small distances. While vacationing in Costa Rica, you can visit its sultry beaches, rain forests and cloud forests. Hundreds of species of birds and animals are the treasure of the country.
Tourist Adventures
There is something for everybody vacationing in Costa Rica. The wild life tours take you to see the wild animals and reptiles in their natural habitats. Tourists can take a tour of a forest from a cable car, which gives them a complete view of plant and animal life in that forest. A series of ropes fastened to the trees in a jungle, allow the more daring tourists to swing from tree to tree.
Various inert volcanoes also make for hot tourist attraction. They can see eruptions from active volcanoes like Arenal, safely from a distance. Scuba diving in Costa Rica is a different experience altogether due to the abundance of aquatic life in the Caribbean Sea. The west coast of Pacific Ocean is the spot where scuba diving takes place.
Beauty in Nature
Natural wonders are also in abundance in Costa Rica. Be it the crystal blue lakes formed in craters around the inert volcanoes or the hot water springs surrounding the active volcanoes, they can take you in awe.
Getting There
The tourists have to fly in to the San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, as all major flights are connected to this city. Flying in to Liberia is another option. To move around within the country, the people vacationing in Costa Rica usually hire a vehicle, as there is a lot to see.
Stay in comfort
Besides hotels, tourists also rent houses while staying in Costa Rica. The houses can be as simple or luxurious as you would like to spend. It is a safe country with good food and a very low number of tropical diseases.
Costa Rica is the best choice for people looking for Eco-tourism. Visit it once, and you would surely like to return there very soon.
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Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Professional drivers (those drivers who earn a living driving others) and new drivers will less than two years experience will cannot take not one drink before getting behind the wheel, is one of the ideas being discussed by legislators in the reforms to the Ley de Tránsito.
The zero tolerance provision is being proposed by Francisco Chacón, del Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN). Chacón and the PLN are also firm that the alcohol limit is 0.5 and not the current 0.75.
The discussions are following up on reforms left over by the previous legislature which could not make the changes to the traffic act before their May 1 mandate was up.
The main focus of that proposal was to reduce the amount of the traffic fines and the point system.
However, the currently legislative body is looking at making additional changes that could see the zero tolerance provision, as well as high fines for certain offences, mainly involving alcohol and reckless driving.
“Those who drive for a living should not take not even one drink during working hours. Also those drivers with less than 2 years driving experience and those under the age of 25 should have stricter measures than the rest of the drivers”, said Chacón.
The new Ley de Tránsito was passed into law in December 2008. However, other than the drinking and driving provisions, the bulk of the law went into effect on March 1, 2010 with the legislature immediately announcing reforms.
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Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Most people have a favorite color. They might paint their entire house bright blue because they love the color so much. Others have an entire wardrobe of their favorite color. Some even dye their hair their all time favorite color. Car thieves also have their favorite colors of cars to steal. Their favorite colors of vehicles to steal include white, black and silver.
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Why these colors? Most car thieves are professionals, and they steal cars to make money. Car thieves know that cars with the highest resale value include the most popular exterior color. In 2010, 20% of consumers drove off the car lots with a new white vehicle. 17% of sold vehicles came in the colors black and silver. Blue followed with 13%. A consumer pays the same for a yellow or white car, but the resale value for a vehicle with a popular color (like white and black) can sell for up to $1,000 more.
The least popular colors in North America are yellow/gold at 2% and beige/brown at 5%. These and other bright colors deter car thieves. Not only do these vehicles have a lower resale value, but they are also like a flashing neon sign. A thief driving a stolen white automobile will blend more with other vehicles while a bright yellow truck would be easily spotted by the police.
A study in the Netherlands illustrates car thieves’ preferences. From 2004-2008, the most commonly colored vehicle stolen was black. This may be because black vehicles look more luxurious. Following close behind black were gray/silver automobiles. Of the 109 pink cars in the study, not one was stolen. A bright and uncommon color, like pink, may be as effective deterrent as an expensive security system. Ben Vollaard, who conducted the research, wrote, “If the aversion to driving a car in an offbeat color is not too high – or if someone actually enjoys it – then buying deterrence through an uncommon car color may be at least as good a deal as buying deterrence through an expensive car security device.”
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