Grecia Hospital Receives Several Cases of Bee Stings
In last the three weeks three cases have been reported, this Tuesday was the most recent. The first two patients presented severe reactions, the latest a small reaction.

Apparently, the stings are attributed to a type of bee that at this time of year migrates to warm zones and is quite aggressive.

It is believed that those bees are also doing thiers in San Ramon, Sarchí, Palmares and Poás de Alajuela.

Alleged U.S. mob boss extradited from Costa Rica
A man once identified as the personal bookie of mob boss John Gotti was extradited from Costa Rica to face fraud charges in the United States, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

This it will be the last year of the popular Zapote Fair!
The municipality of San Jose is trying to sell the lands where the fair has been held for many years with the idea to purchase another lot and move the festivities to the new location.

Zapote is celebration, food, liquor, music and diversion for many. For others it is disorder, excesses, noise and sweepings. This past year, the lack of bulls affected the financial expectations of the "chinameros".

All these disadvantages will cause that the Zapote Fair to be the last this December. For the 2004 season it will be necessary to look for another site that does not have so many neighbors, or otherwise history will be repeated.

It is a fact that "redondel" will be destroyed within a month. The idea is to construct elsewhere a place for specific for bulls, motocross and concerts and t have the Fair there as wel

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Australian government to decide on war against Iraq
Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced Wednesday his government would make the decision on participation in the war against Iraq as soon as the end of next week.

The prime minister told the local radio 2UE, "We're certainly coming to the end of the process and there has to be a resolution on the UN resolution pretty soon and maybe the end of next week is a possible date, but I can't be certain of that."

He said the decision was the cabinet's affairs and did not need a vote in the parliament. "We will put a proposition to the parliament but the decision as to whether we commit or don't commit is a decision taken by the cabinet," he said.

The announcement echoed US President George W. Bush, who had claimed the weekend was the deadline for the United Nations to give a go-ahead for military action.

Australia sent 2,000 troops to the Persian Gulf last month and the forces were carrying out exercise along with the US and British forces. But Howard denied Australian special forces had entered Iraqi soil. "The understanding is those forces are there ready to take part in military action if they receive the authorization of the Australian government," Howard said.

More than one million people reportedly demonstrated all over the country in the past month to protest against Australia's involvement in the war. However Howard said that the number of protesters was not a rule to measure public opinion and he was seeking the long-term interests of the nation.

New Zealand Air Force to rescue 50 stranded Americans in Antarctica
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is to rescue about 50 Americans in Antarctica who would otherwise have been stranded on the ice over this winter, The Press reported Wednesday.

A Hercules will fly to Ross Island on Friday to bring back a group who stayed behind after the last scheduled flight to fix problems caused by unusually thick sea ice.

An American fuel tanker bringing vital supplies for the New Zealand and American bases has been stranded 5 km from shore by ice that usually clears each summer but has been accumulating because of massive icebergs grounded nearby.

The American workers have been operating a hose across the sea ice to the bases' fuel tanks. If the refueling had failed, the New Zealand and American bases would have been down to six months supply by the time another fuel tanker arrived next summer, when the sea ice conditions are predicted to be even worse.

Antarctica New Zealand Chief Executive Lou Sanson said Tuesday the air force usually runs 14 flights to the ice each year as part of its agreement with the United States and Italian Antarctic programs but was happy to help out with an extra unscheduled flight.

"This is multi-year ice and some of it is 3 meter thick. Because of the severe ice conditions, it's taken longer than anticipated," he said. "All the United States planes went back last week, with the last one leaving on Saturday."

Antarctica New Zealand Operations Manager Julian Tangaere said the Hercules flight was scheduled for Friday depending on ice and weather conditions.

Squadron Leader Ian MacPherson, the flight commander, said it was likely to be minus 30 degree Celsius on the ice and the plane would be on the ground for the shortest time possible.

"We don't have concerns operating in minus 30. We will spend at most an hour on the ice, the aim is to get in, refuel and load passengers as quickly as possible before making the eight hour return flight," he said.

US could launch Iraqi war as early as next week
The United States could launch an attack on Iraq as early as next week, should Turkey allow the deployment of US troops on its soil, a senior Israeli intelligence officer estimated on Tuesday.

"If the United States is allowed to deploy its forces in Turkey, the attack in Iraq could open on any given day, beginning next week. ... Without Turkish approval, the United States could postpone the war until April or May," Major General Aharon Ze'evi told Israel TV.

Early on Tuesday, Ze'evi told the Knesset (parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that there was little chance that Iraq would attack Israel ahead of the US-led war, and that Iraq's ability to attack Israel would also be low during the war.

According to Ze'evi, Iraq has not deployed missiles in western Iraq, where most analysts believe Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's army would direct missile launchers toward Israel.

Ze'evi also estimated that the radical Lebanese Islamic group Hezbollah, or Party of God, and radical Palestinian groups would refrain from intensifying attacks against Israel in the Iraqi war out of fear of a US response.

Last Saturday, the Turkish parliament voted on the government's controversial decision to allow the deployment of 62,000 US troops on the Turkish soil to launch a possible military strike against neighboring Iraq. Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc announced after the voting that the motion was rejected as absolute majority was not reached.

Italy probes into theft of Mussolini letters to lover
Rome prosecutors Tuesday opened an investigation into the theft of correspondence between Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and his lover Claretta Petacci. The letters, all written in 1937, were stolen from the state archive.

The theft was disclosed Monday after the state archivist was allowed to break silence under state secrecy laws.

The entire portfolio of documents on the relationship between the two, notoriously shot, strung up and mutilated by partisans in a Milan square at the end of World War II, runs to 600 letters from Il Duce and 15 volumes of Petacci's diary, starting in 1933, 70 years ago. It is not yet known how many of the 1937 letters have gone missing.

Petacci, the daughter of a well-off Roman family, became obsessed with the Fascist leader as a girl of 14 and first wrote to him in 1926 when he was the target of an assassination attempt by an English socialist, Violet Gibson, who injured him in the nose. Claretta continued to send him letters, along with her address, despite his non-replies, until their first meeting was arranged as soon as she became independent of her family.

They became lovers in 1932 when she was 20 and Mussolini was 49,and from then on virtually inseparable despite his numerous infidelities.

Petacci was not with Mussolini when the partisans began to close in but insisted on fleeing with him.

Iraq, Africa on top of UN Security Council March agenda
The Iraq issue and conflicts in Africa have been put on top of the provisional program of work for the United Nations Security Council in March, Council President Mamady Traore said Tuesday.

The council will hold an open meeting Friday to hear a briefing by the chief UN arms inspectors for Iraq, Traore, Guinean ambassador to the United Nations, told a press briefing after the council met on this month's agenda.

He said some council members, including France, Germany, Syria and Spain, have indicated their readiness to send foreign ministers for the vital event.

"Until yesterday when I held bilateral consultations with the majority of the council, the idea of informal consultations was agreed, but this morning some delegations said their foreign ministers would arrive and wish to attend Friday's meeting," he said.

"We have decided that the meeting on March 7 with Blix and ElBaradei will be an open meeting at which ministers and ambassadors will be able to take the floor," he added.

At the public meeting, Hans Blix, chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), and Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will brief the council on inspection work in the past three months.

After the open meeting, the council will move into closed-door informal consultations on Friday afternoon, said Traore, who took over the rotating monthly presidency from his German counterpart, Gunter Pleuger.

France's proposal for a March 14 ministerial meeting on Iraq was apparently rejected by the council which remains deeply divisive over whether it is time to rush to war with Iraq.

Besides Iraq, the council is scheduled to hold consultations on the conflicts in Liberia, Somalia, Cote d'Ivoire, Western Sahara and other countries.

Traore also announced that the council will hold a workshop on March 18 on the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and the use of mercenaries in West Africa where many countries have plagued by armed conflicts.

Guinean Foreign Minister Francois Lonseny Fall has sent invitations to their counterparts of West African countries for the meeting, which will be presided over by him, Traore said.