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China
Welcomes Ties with Costa Rica
China
said Thursday it welcomed the establishment of
ties with Costa Rica and urged other allies of
Taiwan in Latin America to end their
relationships with the island.
Costa Rica's
Foreign Minister
Bruno Stagno
(centre) answers
questions during
a news
conference in
San José
yesterday over
Costa Rica's
decision to
break ties with
Taiwan, a friend
of 63 years. |
President Arias Said Taiwan Is stingy
Costa
Rica's president, Oscar Arias, yesterday
criticized Taiwan for being stingy with aid to
its handful of allies, while other Latin
American nations struggled with whether to
remain loyal to the democratic island or
strengthen ties with Taiwan's diplomatic rival,
China.
Former
ALCATEL Exec Admits Pay Off To Costa Rican
Officials
Christian Sapsizian, a former Alcatel CIT
executive pleaded guilty to participating in the
payment of more than us$2.5 million in bribes to
senior Costa Rican government officials in order
to obtain a mobile telephone contract from Costa
Rica’s state-owned telecommunications, the
Instituto Costarricense de Electridcidad (ICE),
in violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices
Act (FCPA), the United States Department of Justice announced
Thursday.
Former
ICE Director Admits To Pay Off
Former
Instituto Costarricense de Electridcidad (ICE)
director, Hernán Bravo, will avoid jail time in
a deal he negotiated with the Fiscalía
(prosecutor's office) in exchange for an
abbreviated trial and testimony in the trial
against former Costa Rican president, Miguel
Ángel Rodríguez, former ICE directors José
Antonio Lobo and Joaquín Alberto Fernández,
among others.
Pedestrian Boulevard Projects Come To A Hault
One of the first consequences of the break up
between Costa Rica and Taiwan is that the
planned boulevards - pedestrian walkways -
planned for downtown San José will be no more,
unless someone else steps in to pitch the us$2.6
million dollars needed for the construction of
three new boulevards.
Prez
Breaks Up With Girlfriend
Rumours
abound that Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias,
is single again, after ending or suspending, his
romantic relationship with Geovanna de Mendiola.
Nicaragua Recalls Toxic Toothpaste
Nicaraguan Health Ministry authorities (MINSA)
are searching for toothpaste that could be
contaminated with diethylene glycol, which is
toxic to humans and animals and recently a
hundred people in Panama died by ingesting in
medications.
UN:
Honduras Far from Millennium Goals
A UN
study asserted Thursday that Honduras could fail
to fulfill its goals to reduce poverty by 2015,
as per the UN Declaration of the Millennium.
Cuba in
Guatemala Industrial Fair
Cuba has
a significant presence in the International
Industry Fair INDUEXPO 2007, taking place in
this capital Thursday, with the attendance of
over 250 national and foreign firms.
El
Salvador on Eve of Crisis
El
Salvador is steeped in serious social and
economic deterioration caused mainly by the
government of Antonio Saca, which could lead to
a social crisis, warned the Central American
University (CAU).
Texaco
30 Times Worst than Exxon Valdez
National
and international diffusion about the ecological
genocide caused by US Texaco in the Ecuadorian
Amazonia, estimated at 30 times worse than the
Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster, has the company
on the rack and trying to shift the blame.
GUATEMALA:
Whitewash for 'Adoption
Paradise'
Guatemala may begin
to shed its reputation as a paradise for
international adoption now that its parliament
has ratified a global adoption treaty and is
preparing to pass a law that would regulate the
phenomenon in a country where the trafficking
and sale of babies have become widespread.
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