San José, Costa Rica - Wednesday 04 August 2004

1.116 Unique Visitors Daily Average in July!  What's This? 

Updated every day by 8:00AM Central Standard Time

Sections of the Interamericana highway between Puntarenas and Liberia still are plagued by potholes large enough to swallow an entire cow. Ok, we're exaggerating a bit, but try to dive 90kmh - the legal speed limit - to be confronted with a huge hole in the road and no way to avoid it. Experts claim the lack of a proper technical study in the construction of the road. While experts and Transport officials debate the problem, drivers play the dangerous game of "dodge the pothole!" Click for larger image!

ICE Manager Calls it Quits!
In what is being called a surprise that was being expected, Alvaro Retana, the manager at the centre of the storm surrounding the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) contract with the Ericsson company, has resigned his post.

MOPT Computer System Down
Thinking of getting your Costa Rican driver's license today? or having to renew one? Well, it won't happen, not today and maybe not for the rest of this week.

Costa Rica Will Pay Chileans
President Abel Pacheco said yesterday that Costa Rica will indemnify the families of the slain Chilean diplomats if the - Tribunales de Justicia - courts rule such.

General Growth Properties Shops in Costa Rica
General Growth Properties Inc. has invested in two joint ventures in Costa Rica and Brazil, becoming the latest retail Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to branch out beyond U.S. borders.

Forest Bees Can Boost Coffee Crops
Conserving tropical forests could increase profits for coffee farmers in developing countries, according to research to be published next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study shows that the closer coffee bushes are planted to patches of forest, the more and better quality beans they produce because of greater pollination by wild bees.

US Airways to Add Flight Costa Rica
US Airways said it plans to add non-stop Saturday flights to Liberia, Costa Rica, beginning 12 Feb 2005, pending government approval.

"Day After" Pill Approved
The Health Ministry has authorized the sale of the "the day after" pill, according to Health Minister, María del Rocío Sáenz Madrigal.

Air Traffic Controllers Strike Continues!
Controllers who are not back at work within 24 hours. The 115 air traffic controllers have been on strike for 38 days.

Paraguay's supermarket owner jailed The owner of a Paraguayan supermarket destroyed by fire was held in preventive detention with his son on Tuesday as the Attorney General's office ordered, reports from Paraguay's capital Asuncion said. Cuba sends doctors to help Paraguayan people Cuban leader Fidel Castro sent a letter of condolence Tuesday to his Paraguayan counterpart Nicanor Duarte, expressing his sympathy to Paraguayans killed in Sunday's supermarket catastrophe in Asuncion, capital of the South American country. Pinochet's wife interrogated on offshore accounts The wife of former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was questioned by the judge Tuesday as part of an investigation into the offshore accounts owned by the couple, local media reported. 7 Colombian policemen killed in car bombing A car bombing left at least seven policemen dead, six missing and one injured in southwestern Colombia Tuesday, said police sources.    International News from the New York Times

TRADE-CENTRAL AMERICA: Integration Bogged Down Up to Its Axles Integration is one of the most pressing challenges facing the seven nations of Central America, but the governments in the region merely declare their good intentions while showing a clear lack of political will to pull the process out of the current stagnation, say experts. The Council of Ministers for Central American Economic Integration (COMIECO), made up of the economy ministers from the seven countries, does not plan to complete negotiations on the customs union -- which involves 93 percent of products traded in the region, but excludes the most sensitive sectors, like sugar and steel -- until December. COSTA RICA TRAVEL No Mans Land, Paso Canoas, Costa Rica The border crossing between Costa Rica and Panama has to be the least hospitable in Central America, if not in the entire continent. Today I crossed it on bus for the second time in a place called Paso Canoas (the passing of canoes) and I really wish I was passing gently down a serene river on a canoe instead of going through the red tape mayhem they have set out for tourists here.

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