San José, Costa Rica - Monday 23 August 2004

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

Updated every day by 8:00AM Central Standard Time

Work on the Hipermás, in Escazú continues. A retaining was built to shore up the rear of the building following a landslide before the store's opening last year. The re-construction is continuing and no opening date has been yet announced. Click for larger image!

Computer viruses getting you down. Don't be a victim like ICR yesterday, when a Trojan virus damaged several key files and slowed down our computers to a crawl, affecting many functions, including today's news edition.  Click here for your protection!

General Strike to Last 24 Hours
From the early hours of this morning, the General Strike has been picking up speed, with the hope to paralyze the country. Organizers say that that is the strategy of the strike, stop or reduce to a crawl public services.

"Chuky" Arrested by Police. Again!
Police were able to arrest - again - the 14 year old boy known as "Chuky" that has been a thorn in their side for some time and is believe to be responsible for stealing of up to ¢1.9 million colones this year.

Has Costa Rica’s Fiscal Reform Plan Finally Died?
According to a report in the national press, two members of the Legislative Assembly's fiscal reform commission believe Costa Rica’s long-awaited fiscal reform package has no chance of making the statute book.

Malls are Sprouting Out all Over Costa Rica
Some $125 million dollars is being invested in six malls that are under construction in various parts of the country: Mall Sambil in Santa Ana; Plaza Rohrmoser; Paseo de las Flores and Plaza Batsi in Heredia; an entertainment complex in Alajuela, behind the Hotel Hampton Inn & Suites; the Centro Comercial La Ribera, in Belén; and Plaza Occidente, in San Ramón.

Fraud ruled out in Chavez win
The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela on Friday ruled out any possibility of a fraud, as claimed by the opposition, in the victory of President Hugo Chavez in the recall referendum held last Sunday.

25 dead in Venezuelan military plane crash
A Venezuelan air force plane crashed in the mountainous region in northern Venezuela, killing all 25 people on board, an aviation officials said Sunday.

Six homeless killed in four days in Brazilian city
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Assailants bludgeoned to death a woman sleeping on the streets of Sao Paulo, bringing to six the number of homeless people beaten to death in less than a week in South America's biggest city, police said Sunday.

International News from the New York Times
 

SPECIAL REPORTS Venezuela 2004 is not Nicaragua of 1990 Despite its awesome firepower and the unquenchable thirst for oil that guides United States foreign policy, the Bush administration is about to suffer a significant defeat on Sunday, August 15 at the hands of the Venezuelan people. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and most political analysts agree that the real opposition in the upcoming recall vote is the US government. That makes the situation similar to events of fourteen years ago in Nicaragua during elections widely described as being a contest between the Sandinista revolution and the US, in all its post cold war glory.

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