The Journal Edition # 158

Vol. 3 • Edition 158 • Weekly • Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2008 Costa Rica, Central America • $1ºº

americas

global affairs

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Playas del Coco, Guanacaste506.2670.2212 www.pacifico-costarica.com

(506) 2653-202 CrystalSandsCR.com

P.23

(Infocom) — One of the many natural attractions that Costa Rica offers its visitors — whether research-ers or ocean-beauty enthusiasts — is scuba diving.

And one of the key areas for this kind of activity is the Catalina Islands, where unique rock formations resulting from volcanic activity provide diving lovers with the chance to admire a myriad of sea-life species present at this site — including manta rays, white-fin and bull sharks, barracudas, sea turtles, starfish, and many more.

Catalina Islands is located 15-20 minutes in boat from Flamingo Beach in Guanacaste. There, tourists

will find transportation companies that make the trip to the isles as well as diving instructors and other ne-cessities for this activity. Additionally, there are many other businesses that offer transportation to this re-markable spot between Playas del Coco and Tama-rindo.

Experts agree that the best time to enjoy the close to 20 diving sites available at Catalina Islands is be-tween December and May. That means scuba diving season here is quickly approaching, and with it an opportunity to immerse yourself in these incredible underwater rock formations.

Commonly seen during December to April, Manta Rays have helped Islas Santa Catalina become one of the more popular dive locations on the Pacific coast.

Catalina Islands offers incredible diving experience P. 16

Global troubleshooter Ahtisaari wins Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former Finnish presi-dent Martti Ahtisaari, who has spent 30 years helping end con-flicts in troublespots ranging from Kosovo to Namibia and Indonesia.

Latin America pours billions into stemming financial crisis

Latin American countries opened the taps on multi-billion dollar in-terventions to prop up their economies staggering from the worldwide financial turmoil.

‘X-Files’ star Duchovny completes sex addiction treatment

P.21

P19

‘X-Files’ star David Duchovny has completed rehabilitation treatment for sex addiction and is preparing for work on a new film, the actor’s lawyer told People magazine.

F1 teams, drivers keen to embrace eco-technology

P.22

– Formula One teams and driv-ers have signalled their readiness to embrace eco-technology and other environmental initiatives be-ing championed by the sport’s gov-erning body.

2 Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2008

P.04 Lead StoryP.06 Business & EconomyP.08 SocietyP.16 Week In Brief P.18 Health

P.19 AmericasP.20 EuropeP.21 Global AffairsP.22 Entertainment P.23 Sports

costa rica basicsArea: 51,000 km2Population: 4,075,261 (July 2006)Capital: San JoseLanguage: SpanishTime Zone: UTC/GMT-6 hours

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Day High Low High Low High

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Mon 20 00:03 / 0.44 ft 06:23 / 9.12 ft 12:38 / 0.17 ft 19:00 / 8.36 ft

Information for Pacific Coastalso insiDe

contents

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Developed by

bUsiness & economyPlant-health emergency issued due to dangerous crop pestsAgriculture Minister Javier Flores Galarza announced that the Costa Ri-

can government has issued a national and local phytosanitary emergency in order to deal with two dangerous pests that are currently affecting crops in various parts of the country and threatening to spread even further. (P.6)

society Topographical, farm surveys can now be registered via Internet

With the goal of better organizing and expediting the registration of ag-ricultural tract and topographical surveys, the government will make avail-able starting this month an online tool for such a purpose, which is expected to reduce the time it takes professionals and users to do this kind of paper-work and offer higher levels of security. (P. 10)

Spanish development agency helps security in Santa CruzThe United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Spain has an-

nounced the donation of $3 million to Costa Rica to increase security in various parts of the country, including Santa Cruz. (P12)

HealtHPregnancy does not cloud mother’s brain

Pregnancy has long been blamed for addling women’s minds but new work by Australian researchers finds this idea may be nothing more than an old wives’ tale. A study by the Australian National University’s centre for mental health research found that there is no evidence to suggest that impending motherhood affects a woman’s cognitive ability. (P. 18)

americasSouth America produces all world’s cocaine, 950 tons per year South America produces all the world’s cocaine, around 950 tonnes per

year, and Europe and the United States are the biggest consumers, the head of the UN drug agency said. (P. 19)

eUropeSpanish government approves 30-billion-euro bank fund

Spain’s socialist government approved the creation of a 30-billion-euro emergency fund to buy mortgage debt from banks in a bid to stabilize the lending industry and unfreeze credit. (P. 20)

global affairsGermany calls for international rules for financial markets

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a framework of interna-tional market rules – in place of national regulations – to prevent financial crises like the one now threatening the world economy. (P. 21)

entertainmentBond star reveals cosmetic surgery after set mishap

James Bond actor Daniel Craig has had cosmetic surgery after being in-jured on the set of the latest Bond movie, he revealed in a new magazine interview. The 40-year-old actor, who was recently spotted wearing an arm sling, revealed that he had to have eight stitches in his face after being ac-cidentially kicked by an unnamed co-star on the “Solace” set. (P. 22)

sportsUCI slammed for Armstrong ‘favors’

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has come in for some harsh criti-cism after bending its own rules to allow American star Lance Armstrong to return to professional cycling at the Tour Down Under. (P.23)

4 Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2008 LeAD STory

(Infocom) — Last Oct. 7, 33 new busi-nesses were officially awarded the 2008 Tourism Sustainability Certificates (CST) — a government- and industry-sponsored program that recognizes companies whose products and services represent a model of sustainable development.

The recognitions were given to those busi-nesses that implement measures that allow for a tourism development that is friendlier to nature — that is, which causes the least possible impact on natural resources, guaran-teeing a high quality of service and a sustain-able growth of the industry.

“The Tourism Sustainability Certifica-tion Program today reaches 99 companies, which moves us closer to our goal of turn-ing the concept of sustainability into some real, practical and necessary in the context of tourism competitiveness in the country, in an effort to improve the way in which natural and social resources are used, encouraging the active participation of communities and making new contributions to the develop-ment of this sector,” said Gonzalo Vargas, president of the National Chamber of Tour-ism (CANATUR).

Vargas pointed out that the CST represents a new source of competitiveness and way of differentiating tourism businesses against competitors, which promotes the develop-ment of a product with attributes of sustain-ability, thus opening new possibilities for international promotion.

The National Accreditation Commission, which is responsible for managing the CST, brings together the Costa Rican Tourism In-stitute (ICT, which presides over this entity), CANATUR, the Ministry of the Environ-ment and Energy (MINAE), the National Biodiversity Institute (INBio), the University of Costa Rica (UCR), the INCAE Business School, and the International Union for Con-servation of Nature (IUCN).

“Costa Rica must promote itself in the world as a destination in transition toward sustainability, and to maintain congruence between what is says and what it does, the tourism sector diligently seeks to make the necessary improvements to the CST and en-courage the incorporation of more companies into this certification system as a differentiat-ing factor,” Vargas said.

This past September, CANATUR held the 15th National Tourism Congress under the theme “Sustainability: Differentiation for Success,” which concluded that “sustainabil-ity is the path that will guarantee the future of Costa Rica’s tourism, as it is not only a world trend, a business opportunity and a differen-tiation strategy for market, but, above all, a social responsibility to Costa Rica and the

world, to present and future generations.”

Referring the CST’s signature “leaf” de-sign, Tourism Minister Carlos Ricardo Be-navides said “when our tourists see the leaf quality seal, they will understand that they can find in (accredited) companies efforts to reduce emissions, impact and pollution; business that carry out action to conserve and adequately use natural resources by manag-ing their waste-streams; and initiatives to consume biodegradable and recyclable prod-ucts.”

Meanwhile, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias highlighted the government’s efforts to protect the environment, including the Peace with Nature initiative and the newly unveiled Costa Rica Forever — which seeks to guar-antee the protection of the country’s national parks.

Costa Rica Forever entails an intense in-ternational campaign whose goal is to collect $50 million, which would go into a fund used to step up protection of natural reserves be-yond current levels and for decades to come.

“Through the interests earned by this fund, we will have enough money, every year, to give sufficient attention to our protected ar-eas, and it will even allow us to tackle one of our pending environmental tasks: the protection of our marine resources, where a great part of our biodiversity resides,” Arias explained.

Companies that want to obtain the Tour-ism Sustainability Certification quality seal must meet 156 parameters related to their physical and biological surroundings, which encompass aspects such as prevention of im-

pacts, protection of natural resources, emis-sions and waste, efficient use of resources, and product consumption.

32 new businesses receive ‘sustainability certificates’

With 4 levels, Four Seasons is one of the 14 hoteles located in Guanacaste, participating in the program.

Punta Islita Hotel is in the program and has the certicifation with 4 levels.

6 Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2008 BUSINeSS

(Infocom) — Agriculture Minister Javier Flores Galarza announced that the Costa Ri-can government has issued a national and lo-cal phytosanitary emergency in order to deal with two dangerous pests that are currently affecting crops in various parts of the country and threatening to spread even further.

A first local emergency decree was issued for the Southern Zone cantons of Perez Zele-don and Buenos Aires, and for the Northern Zone cantons of San Carlos and Los Chiles, due to the presence of orange rot or sugar cane rot, a fungus that attacks sugar cane plantations.

“In this case, the state of emergency has been issued for a year, to be extended until this disease is controlled or the problem has been satisfactorily solved,” Minister Flores Galarza explained.

The second emergency is national in scope and will be in effect for the next two years, as a result of the appearance of an insect pest known as melon thrips (Thrips palmi Karny), which was detected by officials with the State Plant Health Service (SFE) in a green bean sample from the community of Cañas Gordas, district of Agua Buena, in the Southern Zone canton of Coto Brus (near the border with Panama). The situation requires adequate control of this pest so that it doesn’t spread to other parts of the country, which would jeopardize the entire agricultural in-dustry.

“The immediate detection (of the pest) occurred thanks to preventative monitor-ing done by SFE since 1997 throughout the country,” said Ana Gabriela Zuñiga Valerin, director of the SFE. “Once the pest was con-firmed in laboratory tests, SFE’s Department of Surveillance and Pest Control implement-ed monitoring and control actions with the goal of delimiting the pest’s scope in Costa Rica. So far we have been able to confirm its presence within a radius of 8 kilometers from the point of the initial infestation.”

Zuñiga Valerin added that sampling done in the lower section of the Southern Zone

showed no other cases of melon thrips in-festation, which underscores the importance of implementing all necessary actions to minimize the risk of dispersion toward the interior of the country — as this pest would threaten production of flowers and forages, as well as vegetables for domestic consump-tion, which are concentrated in the Central Valley; and large melon farms for export that are located in the Central Pacific region and in Guanacaste.

According to SFE reports, Thrips palmi Karny is classified as a quarantine pest in Costa Rica. In other countries, it has caused losses ranging from 5 percent to 80 percent in watermelons; up to 60 percent in canta-loupes and beans; and from 50 percent to 90 percent in eggplant and cucumbers.

Among other actions to battle this insect, plant-health officials are seeking to imple-ment integrated management measures that would contribute to the confinement and re-duction of the pest; trying to keep the pest from spreading to other agricultural regions; determining melon thrips-free areas and con-tinue conducting sampling as a monitoring tool; continuing to eradicate any new infesta-tions through intensive sampling of infested areas; and avoiding the movement of untreat-ed products from infested areas to others that are free of the pest.

Plant-health emergency issued due to dangerous

crop pests (Infocom) — The Public Services Regu-latory Authority (ARESEP) has approved a reduction in the prices and fuel liquefied gas cylinders, bringing the cost of a liter of die-sel down by 76 colones, the cost of a liter of super gasoline by 14 colones, and a liter of plus gasoline (also known as regular) by 13 colones.

The ARESP also established a method to calculate fares for passenger train rides ac-cording to the starting and ending point of each ride.

Additionally, the state regulator has ad-justed rates for services provided by the Cos-ta Rican Water and Sewer Institute (AyA), allowing an average increase of 26 percent whose funds will toward investment projects. ARESEP also came up with a rates system that will help protect lower-income sectors of the population and small businesses from these increases.

The new rates will become effective once they are published in the official government newspaper, La Gaceta. In the case of the new fuel prices, those will go into effect at mid-night on the day that they are published.

For setting up the new fuel prices, ARE-SEP utilized its automatic adjustment meth-od, following a request by the Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (RECOPE).

ARESEP approved a higher cost decrease in the case of gasoline grades, considering that the high prices Costa Ricans have been paying as of late were caused by the effects of Hurricane Ike in the Gulf of Mexico — an anomaly that was quickly corrected by the market.

Meanwhile, users of liquefied gas will ben-efit from a 17 percent slash in the prices of cylinders sold at retail establishments, thanks to a change in the method used by ARESEP to set prices of this product.

Price cuts will go from 1,680 colones (ap-proximately $3) for a 17-litter cylinder to 8,400 colones (over $15) for an 85-liter con-tainer.

Liquefied gas is imported by RECOPE, several companies package it, and it’s then

sold to distributors or agencies that in turn sell it to retailers.

“ARESEP modified the mechanism for adjusting the profit margin for distributors, agencies and retailers, going from a percent-age-based system to a set amount per liter sold,” Regulator General Fernando Herrero explained.

Regarding water and sewer rates, they will be effective during the rest of 2008 and 2009.

In the case of residential consumers, of those who use 15 or less cubic meters of water, 17 percent correspond to families liv-ing in poverty (according to data from the National Statistics and Census Institute pro-cessed by ARESEP). In the case of business customers, a high percentage of those who consume 15 or less cubic meters of water are lower-profit companies — such as neighbor-hood grocery stores (pulperias) and family micro-businessses.

For residential customers, the rate increas-es are lower or similar to the average rate hike for those who consumer 40 or less cubic meters of water.

Some utilities to go up; fuel prices will be cheaper

The orange rot affects key crops such as sugar cane, and that’s why plant health officials are taking measures to prevent it from spreading any farther.

Costa Ricans will have to pay more for water now that the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) approved a rate hike.

8 Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2008 SoCIeTy

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(Infocom) — Costa Rica and Nicaragua have finished their Sixth Bilateral Meet-ing, which resulted in the signing of several agreements and a work agenda that deepens the often-times troubled relations between the neighboring nations.

The bi-national talks began last June 19 with a preliminary meeting in Liberia, Guanacaste, attended by some 60 delegates from several government institutions of both countries.

The last meeting, which was held at the Chancellor’s Office in San Jose, was pre-sided by the foreign relations vice minister of Costa Rica, Edgar Ugalde Alvarez, and Nicaragua, Valdrack Jaentschke Whitaker.

Five commissions were established as a result of the talks, including political af-fairs; economic, trade and tourism affairs; migration, labor and security affairs; border affairs; and cooperation affairs.

Signed in the bilateral meeting were two letters of intention — one for collaboration in matters of agriculture and rural development between the Costa Rican Ministry of Agri-culture and Livestock Production (MAG) and the Nicaraguan Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; and the other one for coopera-tion and exchange of geospatial information between the Costa Rican Geographic Insti-tute and the Nicaraguan Institute for Territo-rial Studies.

“We have made important advances.

We are satisfied with the agreements we have reached,” Costa Rican Vice Chancel-lor Ugalde Alvarez said about the round of negotiations, underscoring that the bilateral mechanism used should allow to provide concrete answers to the needs of both na-tions and, in particular, those of border com-munities.

Ugalde Alvarez also pointed to the per-manent nature of the dialog mechanism es-tablished, which will also for adding more detail and depth to the various agreements and compromises made.

Meanwhile, the Nicaraguan Vice Chan-cellor said that the bi-national meeting has made evident “the firm will of both govern-ments to reactivate and set in motion their bilateral work agenda, as well as reaffirm the coexistence, friendship and brother-hood” between both nations. He added that “what’s important now is that we have to will to base the relations between our coun-tries on the concept of brotherhood, on deep mutual respect and on making sure that the coexistence between both nations is of much benefit to both sides. We are attached by ge-ography and united by history, building a future together.”

The reactivation of talks between the Cen-tral American neighbors began in October 2006, when Costa Rica promoted an hosted the Fifth Bilateral Meeting during the gov-ernment of Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños — after almost a decade of these

meetings having been discontinuedLater on, when President Daniel Ortega

took over the helm in Nicaragua, there were several meetings held between him and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias: in August 2007 in Managua, when Arias attended the cele-bration of the 20th anniversary of the Esqui-pulas II Peace Accords that brought an end to decades of civil war in Central America; in November 2007 in San Jose, when Ortega paid an official visit to Costa Rica; and two meetings in March 2008, when Ortega again came to Costa Rica for a Central American heads of state summit and Arias visited Ma-nagua on the occasion of the countries’ Sixth Bilateral Meeting.

Vice President Chinchilla steps down, seeks to be

first female president

Costa rica and Nicaragua end bilateral talks that began in Liberia

(Infocom) — Costa Rican Vice President Laura Chinchilla resigned her post last Oct. 8, following months of speculation about her eventual exit from President Oscar Arias’ cabinet.

Even though Chinchilla hasn’t made her intentions to run for president official just yet, her resignation most likely precedes plans to seek the nomination from the ruling National Liberation Party (PLN) as the 2010 presidential election quickly approaches. Because Costa Rica’s Constitution prohibits current public officials from running politi-cal campaigns, Chinchilla’s move seems to point in the direction of her much-anticipated candidacy — which could make her Costa Rica’s first female president.

Both Chinchilla and Arias avoided mak-ing any comments about the candidacy of the now former vice president, as in days past Arias was reprimanded by the National Elec-tions Tribunal (TSE) for saying publicly that he’d very much like to pass the presidential ribbon to a woman when he finishes his four-year term in May 2010.

In any case, now that Chinchilla is no lon-ger a public official, she has complete free-dom to put together a campaign. But she’s not alone, as several other PLN pundits have already expressed interest in running for their party’s nomination, including San Jose Mayor Johnny Araya, former Security Min-ister Fernando Berrocal, and former presi-dential candidate and Arias cabinet member Antonio Alvarez Desanti — who in the past election formed an independent party but later returned to the PLN ranks.

There were also speculations about a pos-sible run by former Housing Ministry Fer-nando Zumbado, but he fell out of the pic-ture following his abrupt resignation amid a corruption scandal.

With Chinchilla gone, Arias now has no vice presidents (in Costa Rica, two vice pres-idents are elected every term). Last Septem-ber, the other vice president, Kevin Casas, had resigned because of several controversial e-mail he wrote referring to tactics to garner

support for the Oct. 7, 2007, referendum in which Costa Ricans passed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States. By law, the vice pres-idential powers now reside with Congress President Francisco Antonio Pacheco.

Chinchilla’s eventual resignation had been much talked about for several months, but it wasn’t until last week’s Cabinet meeting that her decision was made official.

While opposition parties are beginning to make plans ahead of the coming elections, no presidential candidates have yet been an-nounced by the other major blocs: the Citi-zen Action Party (PAC), the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), and the Libertarian Movement (ML).

Before they can elect their presidential contenders, all parties in the country must comply with a series of TSE requirements that seek to ensure that a number of candi-dates are given the chance to participate and that they are given equal opportunities.

In addition to vice president, Chinchilla also held the post of Justice Minister, to which Transportation Vice Minister Viviana Martin has been appointed.

Presidents Daniel Ortega and Oscar Arias of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, respectively have managed to resolve some of their differences in a series of bilateral meetings between the neighboring nations.

The now former Vice President Laura Chichilla appears on the polls as the favorite to win the nomination for the National Liberation Party (PLN) ahead of the 2010 presidential elections. THE GUANACASTE JOURNAL/Infocom


(Infocom) — With the goal of better or-ganizing and expediting the registration of agricultural tract and topographical surveys, the government will make available starting this month an online tool for such a purpose, which is expected to reduce the time it takes professionals and users to do this kind of pa-perwork and offer higher levels of security.

The Internet-based APT information sys-tem links all agencies involved in the reg-istration of farmland and topographical sur-veys, making such procedural tasks cheaper and reducing the amount of time it takes to process them. Additionally, the system al-lows to store all of this information digitally and permits automatic access to it. Another advantage is that the registration process will become centralized, as users can register their surveys in a single place under the same procedure.

In its first phase, the APT system will be available only for the registration procedures that professionals must carry out before the Engineers and Architects Federated Associa-tion (CFIA). This entity hopes that in the next few months the National Registry will join this digital managing system to provide more security to the registration of lots and farms. Once both institutions become electronically interlinked, it is expected that paperwork that currently takes up to two months to complete will be done in as few as eight day.

Such a step toward incorporation of tech-nology would be key to facilitating the profes-sional exercise of topography, thus providing better service to landowners throughout the country and increasing the level of organiza-tion and safety of property records.

The APT technology is similar to the Construction Project Administrator (APC), which has been used in the country for the past three years to allow engineers and ar-chitects to register construction blueprints with CFIA. The new system for topographi-cal surveys is dynamic, flexible, simple and user-friendly for topography professionals who will be using it.

The announcement about this system was made at a time when three Guanacaste can-tons (Santa Cruz, Liberia and Carrillo) are among the top 10 in the country with the most square meters of land registered with CFIA in the January-August period.

Countrywide, a total of 6,700,711 new square meters in construction projects have been registered this year, meaning the con-struction sector has retained the dynamism shown in the past few years — for a growth of 25 percent compared to last year.

This year, the Northern Zone canton of San Carlos leads the pack with the highest number of projects registered in the country, for a total of 1,216 surveys.

(Infocom) — Three Guanacaste bridges — those over the Abangares, Aranjuez and Azufrado rivers on the Pan American High-way North (Interamericana Norte), which leads to the border with Nicaragua — will be repaired, according to the Ministry of Trans-portation and Public Infrastructure (MOPT).

MOPT has already begun looking for companies interested in fixing the 60 bridges that make transit possible between the capital city of San Jose and the country’s northern border.

Currently, a private consultant hired with funds from the Central American Economic Integration Bank (BCIE) is conducting an evaluation of all bridges on the Pan Ameri-can Highway North. When the study is com-pleted, officials will now which bridges will require immediate attention. According to a report by the Japanese International Cooper-ation Agency (JICA), many of these bridges are 50 years or older, and their structural needs and load capacity may not be enough to meet current traffic.

The government is planning to execute the bridge-repair work with a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), provided the Legislative Assembly approves it.

Efforts to repair these bridges will join the government’s bridge maintenance program, which during the third quarter of this year was expected to invest some $65 million — some of which was allocated to meet Guana-

caste’s infrastructure needs.In addition to the Aranjuez, Abangares

and Azufrado bridges mentioned above, this maintenance project will also benefit bridges on the Grecia-Peñas Blancas (Nicaragua border) route; Nuevo and Puerto Nuevo on the Pan American Highway South (San Jose-Paso Canoas route); Sucio and Chirripo on the San Jose-Limon route; Chirripo and Sara-piqui on the Rio Frio-Peñas Blancas route; and the bridge over Torres River (Incurables) in San Jose, among others.

Other transportation infrastructure projects planned for Guanacaste include bicycle trails between Liberia and Cañas (47 kilometers); between 27 de Abril and Rio Seco (along the new road to be built there) in Santa Cruz; and another one between the beaches of Junquil-lal and Avellanas.

The government has made other invest-ments around the Chorotega region, includ-ing the repair of roads as part of the Partici-patory Road Conservation program — which is supported by the GTZ German coopera-tion agency, the local government of the cen-tral canton of Puntarenas, and the local road associations of Malpais, Manzanillo, Jicaral and Lepanto (Nicoya Peninsula).

The goal of this project is to rehabilitate 45 kilometers in 10 different roads on the Nicoya Peninsula, six of which have already been worked on this year (for a total of 25.8 kilometers). Investment on this project is close to $1.2 million.

Guanacaste bridges on Pan American Highway to be repaired

Topographical, farm surveys can now be registered via Internet

Such a step toward incorporation of technology would be key to facilitating the professional exercise of topography, thus providing better service to landowners throughout the country and increasing the level of organization and safety of property records. THE GUANACASTE JOURNBAL/Infocom


Authorized Distributor / Tel: 2260 2632 / Fax: 2260 2471 / e-mail: [email protected]

premium home lifestyle

(Infocom) — A group of residents from Barrio La Esperanza in Pijije, Bagaces canton, visited the Agrarian Development Institute’s (IDA) headquarters to seek a solution to a claim of illegally occupied lands in their community.

A 2,000-hectare farm located in that Guanacaste community, which has been abandoned for the past 50 years, was invaded 13 years ago by approximately 500 families who now live and farm there.

Carlos Bolaños Cespedes, IDA’s executive president, and Annie Saborio Mora, the government entity’s general manager, met with the community representatives and members of several institutions, including the Ministry of Housing, the Housing Mortgage Bank (BANHVI), the Mixed Social Welfare Institute (IMAS), the Water and Sewer Institute (AyA) and the Ministry of Security, to try to find a joint solution to the problem.

Initially, this property was bought by U.S. investors who called it Rancho Union S.A., but they ended up abandoning the land and never came back. Caretaker Justiniano Martinez, who has since passed away, claimed

he was owed 18 years worth of wages. It was Martinez who gave the squatters permission to come into the farm in 1995, but one year of occupation was scratched off and they officially appear as occupants since 1996.

However, the children of the caretaker sued for possession of the property, and since then problems surrounding the farm have ensued.

Some agreements have been reached, though. One includes the initiation of paperwork by the respective authorities to suspend a vacation order against La Esperanza farming group, as the squatters call themselves. Also, officials are trying to update the list of land-registry owners of the farm by trying to locate the American investors with help from the U.S. Embassy, so that they can be notified about the initial expropriation process to take effect in two sectors of the property known as Sinai and La Esperanza. Additionally, IDA will conduct studies of properties neighboring the Rancho Union farm, which have also been engulfed in the Pijije land controversy, to see if they can be included in a second round of

expropriations.

Moreover, current farm occupants have committed to accepting technical criteria issued by the National Agricultural Research and Technology Institute (INTA) and other institutions regarding the classification of lots within the property.

The expropriation process will seek primarily to solve the current land-holding and housing issues experienced by La

Esperanza farmers, but the squatters must respect decisions made by government officials regarding selection and classification of the land, as well as a reorganization process based on legal requisites and guidelines of the entities involved in this case.

Once the land is acquired and the donation of a housing area is executed, BANHVI officials will utilize resources from the FUSOVI fund to provide housing to those

individuals who meet the requirements for assistance.

Meanwhile, AyA, in coordination with the local community, will update the designs for expanding the Pijije aqueduct, so that all occupants can have access to potable water. Once the conflict over land rights in the squatter settlement is resolved, IDA will carry out the necessary works to guarantee availability of drinking water, subject to the approval of the respective budget.

In return, both government representatives and the squatters will commit to not taking judicial or extrajudicial action against the parties involved in this settlement.

The parties will also try to arrange a meeting with ICE personnel to find solutions to the problem of electricity in the area.

Finally, an inter-institutional commission will give follow-up to the agreements that have been made, with support from two representatives of La Esperanza farmers group.

(Infocom) — The United Nations Devel-opment Program (UNDP) in Spain has an-nounced the donation of $3 million to Costa Rica to increase security in various parts of the country, including Santa Cruz.

The funds, which will become avail-able starting next year, will go toward the strengthening of public institutions’ pro-grams on prevention of violence and promo-tion of peace, as well as to the creation of education and recreation opportunities plus safe spaces for youths.

In addition to Santa Cruz, other communi-ties that will benefit from this donation in-clude Aguirre (Central Pacific); Limon (Ca-ribbean); Los Chiles (Northern Zone); and Heredia, Desamparados, Montes de Oca and Moravia (San Jose’s metropolitan area).

The initiative, dubbed “Coexistence net-works, communities without fear,” seeks to reduce insecurity indexes in nine communi-ties throughout the country — fighting drug consumption, proliferation of guns, lack of protection for children, lack of opportunities for youth, inequality and exclusion, and the deterioration of public spaces.

Throughout the province of Guanacaste, many additional efforts have taken place to improve citizen safety. For example, Secu-rity Ministry officials have reinforced po-lice surveillance in the popular costal town of Tamarindo, increasing to 20 the number of Police Force officers patrolling the tour-ist hotspot. Added to that contingent are two Tourist Police officers and a pair more from the Santa Cruz Municipal Police.

Improvements have also been made to police officers’ equipment and transporta-tion means, thanks to which crime levels in Tamarindo have gone down as of late.

A new police station in Tamarindo is also

slated to be constructed in the short term, for an investment of 150 million colones (close to $300,000). According to the design for the station — which should be ready in about eight months — Police Force personnel will have 350 square meters of space in ideal con-ditions to carry out their work.

In other efforts, beginning last May vari-ous police groups have been taken on differ-ent tourist destinations in Santa Cruz canton with the goal of combating drug trafficking, human trafficking and other serious crimes facing Guanacaste — particularly coastal towns.

In stark contrast with these efforts, a bill aimed at improving citizen security through-out the country continues to be stalled in the Legislative Assembly. Issues regarding con-ciliation procedures and protection of wit-nesses have legislators with the Citizen Se-curity Commission in a deadlock, spending several sessions debating these controversial items of the bill.

Spanish development agency helps security in Santa Cruz

Security Ministry officials have reinforced police surveillance in the popular costal town of Tamarindo, increasing to 20 the number of Police Force officers patrolling the tourist hotspot.

Solution sought to squatting in Bagaces community

Representatives of various governmental institutions sought solutions to the squatting problem facing neighbors in Pijije, Bagaces. Photo MAG

14 Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2008 Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2008 15SoCIeTy SoCIeTy

(Infocom) — Very few events have cap-tivated the public and brought Costa Ricans together in the past few years as Maria Jose Castillo’s successful participation in Sony Entertainment Television’s 2008 Latin American Idol reality show

The show, which ended last Thursday, had Ticos stuck to TV screens and scrambling to send text messages to vote for the 18-year-old singer, who reached the show’s final only to lose to Panamanian Margarita Enriquez. In neighboring Panama, excitement over the talent contest was just as overflowing as in Costa Rica, and somehow they managed to send in more messages to help crown their national idol.

Regardless of the final outcome, the TV program — which lasted nearly three months and drew more than 20,000 hopefuls from all over the continent to its auditions — gave birth to a new promising singing sensation in Castillo before not only Costa Ricans but millions of Latin American spectators who followed the competition from beginning to end.

As the new Latin American idol, Hen-riquez will get a music contract with Sony. However, Costa Rica’s Castillo was also giv-en a contract by Sony to produce an album, which was announced even before the results of the final were tallied.

Following the semifinals stage, when Cas-tillo’s highly spirited performance earned her a spot in the show’s final, she faced health

issues with her throat, which made it hard to perform in the grand finale. But even then she won the praises of both judges and public with her songs.

Castillo, who was already considered a winner in Costa Rica before the final show, has been showered with all sorts of distinc-tions. She was named “favorite daughter” of the Heredia canton of Barva, where she lives. She was also chosen as the grand marshal of this year’s Festival of Lights (a Christmas celebration that takes place in San Jose ev-ery year) and was offered a scholarship by a private university. That come on top of the new car she was given by the contest’s or-ganizers.

Despite the pouring of support Castillo re-ceived from Costa Ricans and other fans in Latin America who were captivated by her sweet voice, some here complained about the problems experienced with the Costa Rican Electricity Institute’s (ICE) text mes-sages platform. SMS delivery began having problems when electronic voting began last Wednesday following performances by the two finalists. And even though ICE reassured frantic Ticos that the system was working just fine, the reality is that many cell phone customers were unable to send in their votes, on which the contest’s outcome relied.

Apparently, the stations that received short text messages became saturated, which cre-ated a queue of undelivered messages. While contest organizers have a policy not to reveal

any details about the number of votes cast, the company that was processing SMS mes-sages said that the competition was highly contested and established a record compared to previous editions of Latin American Idol.

This is the first time in four show editions that a Costa Rican reaches the final stages of Latin American Idol, which has been mod-

eled after the popular U.S. show American Idol.

During the competition, Castillo showed constant improvement and a remarkable evo-lution as a performer in terms of her voice, dancing and handling of the stage, quickly gaining the support of an entire nation and many others throughout Latin America.

Latin American Idol crown goes to Panama, but Ticos celebrate their ‘champion’

ARGENTINA, Buenos Aires : Contestants Margarita Henriquez (R) and Maria Jose Castillo of Costa Rica (C) gesture, while host Monchi Balestra announce the winner of the conteston the stage of Latin American Idol TV show in Buenos Aires. Margarita Henriquez won the contest. AFP / SONY ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION

(Infocom) — In addition to confirming that 136 athletes from at least 15 countries will compete at the Costa Rica Golf Clas-sic 2008, Afrasport vice president and tour-nament organizer Ricardo Valdivieso an-nounced that two Costa Rican golfers will be among them.

“For us it’s very important to give the country’s best players the opportunity to gain international experience, and that’s why we decided to invite Alvaro Ortiz and Ale-jandro Duque, who are the best amateur and the best professional golfers in the country, respectively. We are confident the will do a great job representing the national golf,” Val-divieso said.

The Costa Rican team will include four other golfers who, unlike Ortiz and Duque, will have to earn their spots at a qualifying tournament to be held next Nov. 2-3 at the Cariari Country Club in San Jose. This 36-hole tournament will be organized by the National Golf Association (ANAGOLF), on behalf of the Costa Rica Classic’s organizing committee.

“As the organization that oversees golf in Costa Rica, it pleases us that Afrasport has taken us into consideration to be a part of the Costa Rica Golf Classic,” said Val-entin Quiros, ANAGOLF general manager. “Events of this magnitude help promote Costa Rica and the practice of this great dis-cipline within the country.”

The first-ever Costa Rica Golf Classic will

be one of the stops of Tour de las Americas (TLA) and the Canadian Tour.

“Thanks to this first edition of the Costa Rica Golf Classic, in only 10 weeks our country will be the epicenter of professional

golf in the Americas,” said Alfredo Sasso, president of Afrasport, the company that is promoting this event, to be held Dec. 11-14 at Guanacaste’s Reserva Conchal Golf Club.

“In addition to creating a tournament that

will put Costa Rica on golf’s world map, it makes us proud to be the first company that will take an event of this caliber to Guana-caste, where golf is growing at a fast pace thanks to the establishment of topnotch courses such as Reserva Conchal’s,” Sasso added.

The Costa Rica Golf Classic 2008 — which has a purse of $125,000 — will be the first professional tournament ever to be held in Guanacaste.

Meanwhile, Tour de las Americas com-missioner Henrique Lavie, who visited Costa Rica to check out Reserva Conchal, said he’s happy to come back to this country, which has become one of TLA players’ favorite destinations. “This first edition of the Costa Rica Golf Classic marks a new beginning in the relationship between your country and our tour, and we are sure it will be a success,” Lavie said.

For Tour de las Americas, the Costa Rica tournament will be the last of its 2008 sea-son. Meanwhile, for the Canadian Tour — which holds an official tournament here for the first time — the Costa Rica Golf Classic will be the first of three tournaments marking the beginning of its 2009 season.

Reserva Conchal officials said that being the first Guanacaste course to host a profes-sional tournament is a real honor and a valu-able opportunity to broaden the province’s and Costa Rica’s horizons in the international golf landscape.

Two Ticos invited to compete at Costa rica Golf Classic 2008

(Infocom) — A drive aimed at getting rid of electronic garbage in San Jose and Guana-caste managed to collect 3,500 kilograms of computers and other digital-era waste. Busi-nesses and residents from several Guanacaste communities took part in the effort.

The drive helped gather up computer mon-itors and keyboards, printers, photocopiers, scanners and many other out-of-order tech-nological devices that, had they been mixed in with regular trash, could have contaminat-ed the environment. In the case of Guancaste residents who took advantage of this pro-gram, there was no processing cost for dis-posing of their electronic garbage —thanks for the financial support of tourism and real estate developer Peninsula Papagayo, one of the drive’s sponsors, and the work of many volunteers who took turns to help gather up the materials.

Marielos Saravia, Peninsula Papagayo’s environmental comptroller, explained that the electronic devices contain heavy metals that are highly toxic, which, if handled incor-rectly at the end of their useful lives, could lead to harmful diseases to humans, includ-ing cancer.

Saravia said the electronic garbage re-claimed during the drive will be adequately processed in the Netherlands, which pos-sesses the technology to handle these devic-

es, having each of their parts go through the complete process of use, reuse, recycle and destruction.

Costa Rica has a National Strategy for the Sustainable Integrated Handling of Electron-ic Device Residues. This strategy is coordi-nated by the Central American Association for the Economy, Health and the Environ-ment (ACEPESA), with support from a na-tional technical committee (CTN) made up of representatives from the ministries of the environment, health, and science and tech-nology; the Costa Rican Chamber of Indus-tries; the American Chamber of Commerce (represented by the firm Ricoh/Lanier), the Costa Rican Institute of Technology (TEC); the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE); and glass company Vidriera Centroameri-cana. In 2003, these organizations conducted a study on the situation of electronic garbage handling in Costa Rica.

The CTN has led a process of discussion, analysis and consultation with representa-tives from several companies and business chambers, with the goal of integrating their input into the national strategy’s proposal. The countrywide effort has proposed to begin working on the so-called “gray line of prod-ucts” (computers, printers, copiers, scanners, digital cameras and cellular phones), later moving on to the “white line of products” (appliances).

This initiative also seeks to implement information, awareness and education cam-paigns targeted at users of electronic devices to promote a more responsible management of these residues.

The high costs of some of this electronic garbage is due to the fact that some of their parts contain gold, which can be recovered through chemical processes.

effort collects electronic garbage in Guanacaste

Electronic garbage cannot be disposed of like other waste due the amount of highly toxic components in it. Photo Comunicacion Corporativa.

Details about the pro golf tournament that will be held in Guanacaste in December were announced at a press conference attended by Tour de las Americas Commissioner Henrique Lavie (here, with the microphone).

16 Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2008 Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2008 17week IN BrIeF SCIeNCe & TeCHNoLoGy

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A type of dry glue based on the sticky limbs of geckos has been developed, far exceeding the capabili-ties of the gravity-defying lizards, according to a study.

The new adhesive is three times more powerful than previous gecko-inspired glues, and ten times more powerful than the geckos themselves, said researchers.

Scientists have long been intrigued by the incredible abilities of geckos, the small lizards that can scurry up walls and cling to ceilings by their toes, and have sought to un-ravel their secrets.

It was discovered the lizards owe their amazing stickiness to microscopic elastic hairs in their toes, allowing them to support surprisingly heavy loads.

Researchers from four American labora-tories worked on the puzzle, including the Air Force Research Laboratory near Dayton, Ohio, and found they could reproduce na-ture’s Spiderman-like abilities with specially alligned carbon nanotubes that mimic the tiny hairs.

The design maximizes the effect of atom-ic-scale attractive forces, known as van der Waals forces, said Zhong Lin Wang at the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering.

The forces are named after their discover-er, Dutch physicist Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Nobel laureate for physics in 1910.

The glue’s design can be thought of as tubes arranged as a pile of spaghetti, or a jungle of vines, said Wang.

When the contact point for the glue is nar-row, the strong quantum forces act directly at a point, which allows the glue to “truly mimic what the gecko does naturally,” said Wang.

In short: very, very powerful glue.The study is published in the journal Sci-

ence.

MAKUHARI (AFP) – Willpower is set to replace fast fingers in a new video game in which players move characters through a headset that monitors their brain waves.

California-based NeuroSky Inc. showed off the new headset – named Mindset – at the Tokyo Game Show, the industry’s biggest exhibition which opened near the Japanese capital.

The Mindset monitors whether the player is focused or relaxed and accordingly moves the character on a personal computer.

“We brought this to the game show as a new interface, a new platform for game cre-ators,” NeuroSky managing director Kikuo Ito told AFP.

Children’s games using the system will hit the U.S. market next year, Ito said.

“We are exploring the use of brain waves in the game industry because games are fun and so close to people,” he said.

“Once people get used to the idea of using

brain waves for various applications, I hope we will see various products using this tech-nology,” he said.

In distance learning courses, for example, teachers could monitor whether students were attentive, Ito said.

Train drivers and motorists could use it to judge their stress levels and alertness, Ito added.

Japan’s Keio University put similar tech-nology to use this year to let a paralysed man take a virtual stroll on the popular Second Life website, with the machine reading what he wanted to do with his immobile legs.

NeuroSky said the Mindset could help people with other types of disabilities.

“For people with difficulty speaking, this can be a tool for communication,” Ito said.

Ito was hopeful that the technology would eventually go on sale outside the United States. Prices have not been announced.

New glue invented that mimics sticky lizards

It was discovered the lizards owe their amazing stickiness to microscopic elastic hairs in their toes, allowing them to support surprisingly heavy loads.

New video game literally a mind game


off In all our rates

PoliticsLegislator erase Indigenous

consultation requirement from CAFTA bill

(Al Dia) — With the goal of expediting ap-proval of the last bill required for Costa Rica to ratify the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), a majority of legisla-tors in Congress passed a recommendation from the Constitutional Court to eliminate the requirement of consulting with the coun-try’s Indigenous population about the intel-lectual property bill — which this court last month ruled unconstitutional because of that provision. Now the Legislative Assembly has an open road to approve this bill in first debate, which would finally make CAFTA go into effect in Costa Rica. In late September, the United States gave Costa Rica until the end of the year to pass the bill and ratify the trade deal.

Business & economy

Comptroller approves contract for new airport administrator

(Al Dia) — The Comptroller General’s Office has authorized the U.S. consortium Houston Airport System Developing Corpo-ration (HASDC) to be the new administrator of San Jose’s Juan Santamaria International Airport. HASDC will replace Spanish firm Alterra Partners, who lost the contract four months ago due to administration irregu-larities. In addition to running the country’s main airport for the next 25 years, the new administrator has agreed to finish pending infrastructure work at the terminal.

First cruise ship of the season docks at Limon

(Inside Costa Rica) — The cruise liner season opened in the Caribbean port city of Limon last week with the arrival of the Coral Princess and its 1,900 passengers — the first of the expected 125 cruise ships this season. Port authorities expect some 230,000 tour-ists to visit Limon during the 2009 season, up from the 182,000 last year. Cruise ship tourists often visit area parks, forests, beach-es and tour the city of Limon, taking in the Afro-Caribbean culture of the area. The Pa-cific ports of Puntarenas and Caldera, where the cruise ship season began a couple weeks back, receives a total of about 80 cruise ships a season. To ensure safety for the visitors, the Police Force has reinforced patrols and man-power in the area and will be providing tight security near the docks and places of interest in their attempt to “prevent” attacks against

foreigners, according to Security Vice Min-ister, José Torres.

Hilton to increase its Costa rica portfolio

(Inside Costa Rica) — Hilton Hotels Cor-poration has announced expansion plans to quadruple its presence in the Caribbean and Latin America by adding 150 new hotels to its portfolio over the next five years. Hilton recently debuted three hotels and resorts in Costa Rica and has six approved deals in the Central America pipeline. Opened in January 2008, the company welcomed three hotels to Costa Rica: Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort & Spa; Doubletree Resort by Hilton Costa Rica (Puntarenas); and Doubletree Cariari by Hilton San Jose. Recently ap-proved transactions in Costa Rica include: Hilton San Jose, Embassy Suites by Hilton San Jose, and Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Air-port, which opens later this year.

Delays double cost of Caldera’s new pier

(La Nacion) — The cost of building the Pacific port of Caldera’s new pier has now doubled due to the 19 months it took the Constitutional Court to study a complaint filed in regards with this project. The 200-meter-long pier will now cost $52 million instead of the $23 million that had been bud-geted in 2005, due to the skyrocketing costs of construction materials. The construction consortium in charge of the project has com-plained to authorities about the budget dis-crepancies, but the government has asked for more details about price variations. Possible options to solve the budgetary issues include extending the concession period (now set at 20 years) for operating the pier or increasing the fees the concessionaire could charge for services.

Interest rates down after 12 consecutive hikes

(La Nacion) — Following 12 consecu-tive increases to the country’s Basic Passive Rate (TBP), the key interest rate went down by 0.25 percent last week to 10 percent. This rate affects short-term lending in the country and affects most loans offered by banks and other financial institutions.

Fuel sales down in Costa rica(El Financiero) — High fossil fuel prices

in Costa Rica have resulted in a consump-tion decrease among Ticos of 2.2 percent last September, compared to the same month last year. In September 2007, Costa Ricans used 1,388,179 barrels of oil, to 1,308,744 last month. Consumption of regular gasoline went down by 5.32 percent, while sales of super gasoline actually increased by 15 per-cent.

societyImmigrants now contribute more

to social security(La Prensa Libre) — Some 120,000 for-

eign residents are now paying their social security dues, injecting some 79 billion co-lones (some $150 million) into the Costa Ri-can Social Security Fund’s (CCSS) coffers. This has reverted the trend of the past few years, when immigrant workers were cost-ing the government more than they contrib-uted in medical expenses and other benefits — especially maternity care at the country’s CCSS-run hospitals. So far this year, CCSS has spent some 36 billion colones (close to $70 million) providing attention to foreign-ers, and the institution is projecting a positive balance between contributions and expenses by the end of 2008.

Court order suspends construction of new national

stadium(Inside Costa Rica) — The Constitutional

Court has ordered the temporary suspension of work on Costa Rica’s new national sta-dium, which was to be built with money do-nated by China on the same site of the old Es-tadio Nacional in San Jose’s La Sabana park. The old, dilapidated stadium was demolished last July and work on the brand-new coliseum was to have begun next month. The Court or-der follows a protection order filed by former Culture Minister Guido Saenz and a group of citizens, who claimed that the new stadium — with a capacity of 40,000, double that of the demolished building, and a total cost of $72 million — would be detrimental to the environment, would cause traffic congestion and would impact the enjoyment of citizens of San Jose’s largest public park.

Tropical wetlands good for storing carbon: Costa rica study

(Science Daily) — In one of the first com-parisons of its kind, researchers have dem-onstrated that wetlands in tropical areas are able to absorb and hold onto about 80 percent more carbon than can wetlands in temperate zones. The scientists extracted soil cores from wetlands in Costa Rica and in Ohio and ana-lyzed the contents of the sediment from the past 40 years. Based on their analysis, they estimated that the tropical wetland accumu-lated a little over 1 ton of carbon per acre per year, and the temperate wetland accumulated .6 tons of carbon per acre per year. “Finding out how much carbon has accumulated over a specific time period gives us an indication of the average rate of carbon sequestration, telling us how valuable each wetland is as a carbon sink,” said William Mitsch, senior author of the study and an environment and

natural resources professor at Ohio State University. “We already know wetlands are outstanding coastal protection systems, and yet wetlands continue to be destroyed around the planet. Showing that wetlands are gigan-tic carbon sequestration machines might end up being the most convincing reason yet to preserve them.”

Costa rica is a big consumer of eggs

(Inside Costa Rica) — Costa Rica is the country in Central America with the highest consumption of eggs per person, according to a recent study by the University of Costa Rica (UCR). Ticos eat on average170 eggs a year per person. The average annual egg consumption per person in Central America is 120. The highest consumers of eggs per capita in the world are Mexico, England, the United States and Spain — with an average yearly consumption of 300 eggs. Several studies support the growing body of research on the nutritional benefits of egg consump-tion, including its promotion of weight loss and its role in providing choline, an essential nutrient often lacking in the diet that pro-motes brain and memory development and function. However, studies also claim that those who eat more than six eggs a week (especially diabetics) increase their risk for death.

Cr animals struggling to cope with climate change

(AP) — While the most significant harm from climate change so far has been in the polar regions, tropical plants and animals may face an even greater threat, say scien-tists who studied conditions in Costa Rica. “Many lowland tropical species could be in trouble,” the team of researchers, led by Robert K. Colwell of the University of Con-necticut, warned in last week’s edition of the journal Science. While the tropics are already hot, some tropical species, insects are an example, are living near their maxi-mum temperatures already and warmer con-ditions could cause them to decline, Colwell explained. Researchers estimated that a tem-perature increase of 5.8 degrees over a centu-ry would make 53 percent of the 1,902 low-land tropical species they studied subject to attrition. That doesn’t mean today’s jungles will one day be barren, however. “Some spe-cies will thrive,” Colwell said. “But they are likely to be those already adapted to stressful conditions,” such as weeds. What of the oth-ers? There are few nearby cooler locations for tropical plants and animals fleeing ris-ing temperatures. In the tropics in particular, going up rather than out may be an answer. Of course moving won’t work for everyone; species already living on mountaintops will have no place to climb. The study provides an important illustration of the potential risk to tropical species from global warming.

One of the many natural attractions that Costa Rica offers its visitors — whether re-searchers or ocean-beauty enthusiasts — is scuba diving.

And one of the key areas for this kind of activity is the Catalina Islands, where unique rock formations resulting from volcanic ac-tivity provide diving lovers with the chance to admire a myriad of sea-life species present at this site — including manta rays, white-fin

and bull sharks, barracudas, sea turtles, star-fish, and many more.

Catalina Islands is located 15-20 minutes in boat from Flamingo Beach in Guanacaste. There, tourists will find transportation com-panies that make the trip to the isles as well as diving instructors and other necessities for this activity. Additionally, there are many other businesses that offer transportation to this remarkable spot between Playas del

Coco and Tamarindo. Experts agree that the best time to en-

joy the close to 20 diving sites available at Catalina Islands is between December and May. That means scuba diving season here is quickly approaching, and with it an opportu-nity to immerse yourself in these incredible underwater rock formations.

Some divers have claimed that during these months they have seen manta rays 14 to 20 feet long in a single dive.

It’s important to point out that on these diving spots undersea currents are stronger and more dangerous, so that in many cases it’s required that divers and well prepared and experienced to avoid any complications.

Catalina Islands offers incredible diving experience

Commonly seen during December to April, Manta Rays have helped Islas Santa Catalina become one of the more popular dive locations on the Pacific coast.

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OTTAWA, October 10, 2008 (AFP) – Canada is buying 25 billion dollars in insured mortgage pools to help the country’s banks, plagued by the widening global financial cri-sis, raise long-term funds to loan to Canadi-ans, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said.

“This is going to make loans and mortgag-es more available and more affordable for or-dinary Canadians and businesses,” Flaherty told a news conference.

The step is aimed at maintaining the avail-ability of longer-term credit in Canada, he said. Canada’s financial institutions are “sound, well capitalized and less leveraged than their international peers,” he added.

The move itself however is an acknowl-edgment that Canada is not immune to the global credit crunch.

“The continuing disruption of global cred-it markets, which have been severe and pro-tracted, is making it difficult for our financial institutions to raise long-term funding,” said Flaherty.

“This is beginning to affect the availability of mortgage loans and other types of credit in Canada.”

Flaherty, ahead of a trip to Washington to meet other finance ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations, stressed the “relief” would not cost taxpayers.

Rather, it would earn a rate of return for the government that is “well above” its own cost of borrowing, he said.

And since the mortgages are already backed by the Canadian government, there is no additional risk to taxpayers.

“Our mortgage system is sound,” Flaherty said. “Canadian households have smaller mortgages relative both to the value of their homes and to their disposable incomes than in the U.S.”

The purchase follows the Bank of Canada’s injection of 20 billion dollars of liquidity into the financial system and a half percentage point rate cut in coordination with reductions by five other major central banks.

SAO PAULO (AFP) – Latin American countries opened the taps on multi-billion dollar interventions to prop up their econo-mies staggering from the worldwide finan-cial turmoil.

Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia – the biggest economies in the region – have all pumped money into the market to shore up flagging national currencies.

Several are readying other measures, ei-ther individually or within the framework of the G20 group of advanced and developing economies.

Brazil, the major economy in Latin Amer-ica, has been rattled by the extent of the cri-sis on its stock market and currency, both of which dived early last week despite govern-ment assurances the country was largely in-sulated from the woes in the United States.

Brazil’s central bank said it has injected 7.7 billion dollars into the domestic money market to counter the credit squeeze, and was standing by with nearly another three billion dollars.

Last Wednesday, it also intervened three times to sell an unspecified amount of dollars from its reserve pile of 207 billion dollars to reverse the slide of its currency, the real.

By Thursday, those measures helped both the stock market and the real started climb-ing out of near two-year lows.

Mexico, the second-biggest regional econ-omy, and the most dependent on the United States, is selling off 2.5 billion dollars to boost the flagging peso, and was examining a 4.3-billion-dollar emergency stimulus plan put forward by President Felipe Calderon.

The plan, requiring massive public spend-ing mainly on infrastructure, “is not a finan-cial rescue, but will focus on driving internal motors to boost the Mexican economy,” Cal-deron said, adding his country was facing a drop in exports, investment and tourists.

Growth forecasts in the country have been slashed from 2.4 percent to two percent this

year, and from three percent to 1.8 percent for 2009.

Argentina’s central bank has spent 3.5 bil-lion dollars to try and slow the peso’s depre-ciation against the dollar.

The dollar is “at a reasonable and con-trolled” level against the peso, Interior Min-ister Florencio Randazzo said.

The Argentine central bank’s dollar re-serves have dropped to 47 billion. Authori-ties in the country are concerned that the 30 percent drop in Brazil’s real this year will se-verely cut earnings from exports to its giant northern neighbor.

Argentina’s foreign minister, Jorge Taiana, said moves were afoot to call an emergency meeting of the Mercosur trade bloc covering several South American countries “to ana-lyze the global crisis, coordinate and set po-sitions in the face of this grave international sitiation.”

Speaking to the television channel TV5, he added: “We are living an exceptional mo-ment and we have to exchange opinions and coordinate and present common positions.”

In Colombia, President Alvaro Uribe an-nounced an easing of rules on foreign capital inflows, and proposed a tax amnesty for Co-lombians looking to repatriate their money from abroad.

“We have to maintain liquidity, the sources of financing, and contribute to maintaining a stable and competitive rate,” he said.

With inflation a perpetual concern in Latin America, none of the major central banks have as yet followed the coordinated rate cut made by their counterparts in Europe and the United States.

Costa Rica’s central bank, though, trimmed 0.25 percentage points off its key rate, to 10 percent, ending a run of 12 consecutive rises. That country’s small economy relies heavily on U.S. trade and investment.

MEXICO CITY (AFP) – South America produces all the world’s cocaine, around 950 tonnes per year, and Europe and the United States are the biggest consumers, the head of the UN drug agency said.

“South America produces 950 tonnes of cocaine, all that is produced in the world,” said Antonio Acosta, secretary general of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime at a regional security meeting.

Drug users in Europe and the United States consume almost all of it, and Central Ameri-

can and the Caribbean “are trapped in the crossfire of drugs and arms,” Acosta added.

He deplored the activities of drug gangs across the continent, on the second day of a two-day security conference of justice offi-cials from 34 countries of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Production levels are stable and consump-tion is down, he said, but “the problems caused by drug-trafficking will only be dis-placed to other regions”.

Latin America pours billions into stemming financial crisis

Canada buys 25 billion dollars in mortgages

South America produces all world’s cocaine, 950 tons per year

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A new prena-tal test to detect genetic disorders such as Down’s Syndrome could render current risk-ier procedures “obsolete,” according to new research.

The new method, developed by research-ers at Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California requires a simple blood sample from the mother to spot chromosomal disorders.

The test examines fragments of fetal DNA in the mother’s blood.

“Right now, people are risking their preg-nancies to get this information,” said Yair Blumenfeld, a postdoctoral medical fellow in obstetrics and gynecology and co-author of a paper describing the technique.

Current prenatal gene tests carry a small risk of miscarriage, as the sampling requires inserting a needle in the uterus.

“Non-invasive testing will be much saf-er than current approaches,” said Stephen

Quake, professor of bioengineering and the study’s senior author.

Not only is the new test safer, but re-searchers suggest it will be able to spot ge-netic problems earlier in gestation than other methods.

The new technique scans for fetal aneu-ploidy in the maternal blood sample, which is an abnormality in the number of fetal chro-mosomes.

Humans typically inherit 46 chromosomes, half from each parent, and errors in the chro-mosome number result in serious problems in physical and mental development, such as Down’s Syndrome.

The research team said the test would ben-efit from wider applications if it continues to get positive results.

“This technique is on the leading edge of a flood of different ways that rapid DNA se-quencing will be used in medicine,” Quake said.

SYDNEY (AFP) – Pregnancy has long been blamed for addling women’s minds but new work by Australian researchers finds this idea may be nothing more than an old wives’ tale.

A study by the Australian National Univer-sity’s centre for mental health research found that there is no evidence to suggest that im-pending motherhood affects a woman’s cog-nitive ability.

The research is based on analysis of inter-views with 2,500 women aged between 20 and 24 first undertaken in 1999 and again later in 2003 and 2007.

It found that the 76 women who were preg-nant during the second or third interviews scored no differently on logic and memory tests than previously.

“And there were no differences between them and control women,” Professor Helen Christensen, who led the research, told AFP.

“It really leaves the question open as to why (pregnant) women think they have poor memories when the best evidence we have is that they don’t.”

Christensen said while it was possible the tests were unable to pick up subtle changes in the brain, it seemed more likely that women blamed pregnancy for minor lapses because it was foremost in their mind at the time.

“It makes it very easy to attribute what might be just normal lapses in memory to pregnancy,” she said.

The professor said research on rodents had found that mother rats had an improved ca-pacity to do more than one task, navigated

mazes more efficiently and suffered less anxiety and fear.

“There’s enormous changes in the rat brain during pregnancy so you might actu-ally expect that women perform better during pregnancy than when they’re not pregnant,” Christensen said.

GENEVA (AFP) – The global economic crisis is likely to cause an upsurge in suicides and mental illness as people struggle to cope with losing their homes or livelihoods, the World Health Organization warned.

“We should not be surprised or underes-timate the turbulence and the likely conse-quences of the financial crisis,” WHO Direc-tor General Margaret Chan told a meeting of mental health care professionals in Geneva.

“It should not come as a surprise if we continue to see more stresses, more suicides and more mental disorders,” she said.

Just last week, a 45-year-old business school graduate in Los Angeles shot dead five members of his family before killing himself, telling police in a suicide letter that he had been driven to the deed because of his dire economic situation.

The Los Angeles case came less than a week after a 90-year-old woman in the U.S. state of Ohio shot herself as she was about to

be served an eviction notice on the home she has lived in for the past 38 years.

However Chan stressed that the majority of people worldwide suffering from men-tal illness live in low- and middle-income countries, where there is an “abysmal lack of care,” inadequate mental health care budgets and where victims suffer from social stigma and discrimination.

Chan was speaking at the launch of the WHO’s Mental Health Gap Action Program which aims to redress the balance.

The WHO estimates that three quarters of the global burden of neuropsychiatric disorders falls in low -and middle- income countries, and that in these countries, around three quarters of affected people cannot af-ford treatment.

“Care for these highly prevalent, persis-tent, and debilitating disorders is not a char-ity. It is a moral and ethical duty,” Chan said.

wHo chief warns of suicide risk from economic crisis

Pregnancy does not cloud mother’s brain

The WHO estimates that three quarters of the global burden of neuropsychiatric disorders falls in low -and middle- income countries, and that in these countries, around three quarters of affected people cannot afford treatment.

It found that the 76 women who were pregnant during the second or third interviews scored no differently on logic and memory tests than previously. www.sxc.hu

New genetic fetus test reduces miscarriage risk

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BERLIN (AFP) – German Chancellor An-gela Merkel called for a framework of inter-national market rules – in place of national regulations – to prevent financial crises like the one now threatening the world economy.

“The economy is in the service of people,” not the inverse, she said, and the role of poli-ticians was to show this “clearly.”

Merkel who heads the conservate Chris-tian Democratic Union party, said she was

convinced that “the (German) social market economy model is the best rule imaginable in which people can fulfill themselves” in a spirit of “solidarity between the weakest and the strongest.”

Speaking shortly before a meeting in Washington of G7 finance ministers on the crisis, she said: “We feel more than ever in these times that it is no longer enough to have national rules.”

In a speech in Dresden in the east of the country, she said: “We need rules not merely for Europe but also internationally.”

Finance ministers and central bank gover-nors from the Group of Seven leading indus-trial countries were to meet to discuss steps taken by each country and ways of strength-ening cooperation, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had said.

Germany is of the view that the United

States and Britain did not take on board its calls in the last year for revised market rules.

“Today, certain things can no longer be de-cided at national level and that is why such rules must be put in place,” she said. This was necssary to ensure that “a financial mar-ket crisis such as we are experiencing is not repeated.”

OSLO (AFP) – The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who has spent 30 years helping end conflicts in troublespots ranging from Kosovo to Namibia and Indonesia.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee hailed the 71-year-old Ahtisaari “for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts.”

“These efforts have contributed to a more peaceful world and to ‘fraternity between na-tions’ in Alfred Nobel’s spirit,” committee head Ole Danbolt Mjoes said.

Ahtisaari, a quiet, portly man now afflict-ed by rheumatism, told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK that his work as the UN special envoy to Namibia had been the high-light of his career.

“Of course Namibia is the most important since it took so long,” he said, adding that he was “very pleased” to win the prestigious prize.

As the UN secretary general’s special envoy, Ahtisaari guided Namibia towards a peaceful independence in 1990 after more than a decade of negotiations.

He also oversaw the 2005 reconciliation between the Indonesian government and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, end-ing a three-decade conflict that killed some 15,000 people.

In Europe he was deeply involved in Kos-ovo, even though his mediation efforts failed to clinch an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo. Pristina in February this year unilat-erally declared its independence.

And in May 2000 the British government appointed Ahtisaari to co-head, with Cyril

Ramaphosa of South Africa, the inspection of IRA arms’ dumps in Northern Ireland.

“He never gives up ... The world needs more people like him,” Mjoes said.

Although he most recently displayed his talents as a mediator in Europe, Ahtisaari cut his diplomatic teeth in Africa. He was ap-pointed Finland’s ambassador to Tanzania in 1973, at the age of 36.

He became UN Commissioner for Namib-ia in 1977 and in 1978 was named the UN envoy to Namibia.

In 1994, Ahtisaari became the first di-rectly elected Finnish president, but he was ill at ease with the largely ceremonial role of president.

With his true passion in foreign affairs, Ahtisaari likened his six-year tour in domes-tic politics to “an extramarital affair”.

At the end of 2005, he was appointed the UN special envoy for talks on Kosovo, seven years after he played a key role in bringing an end to hostilities in the breakaway Serbian province.

He recommended independence for Ko-sovo, where there is an ethnic Albanian ma-jority, but his inability to get the two sides to agree was a blow for him.

“We are not saying that everything that Ahtisaari has been involved in has led to success and a final solution to the problem,” Nobel committee secretary Geir Lundestad told AFP.

“But he has had some marvelous success-es and he has worked hard on even the most difficult problems,” he said, adding that the committee believed “there is no alternative to an independent Kosovo.”

Some of the biggest names in world diplo-macy were quick to salute Ahtisaari’s conflict resolution efforts.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouch-ner praised him for “his courageous and de-termined action” to bring peace to the world’s troublespots.

And former UN secretary general Kofi An-nan, himself a Nobel peace laureate in 2001, said he had telephoned Ahtisaari to person-ally congratulate him.

“No one better than he could win the No-bel Peace Prize.

“He is the only man I know who has made peace on three continents ... and I always found him ready to answer the call to make this world a better place,” Annan said.

Jakarta too congratulated the man who se-cure its Aceh peace accord three years ago.

“Ahtisaari is the right choice to receive the Nobel prize,” said Dino Patti Djalal, a spokesman for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, describing the Finn as “fair, tough (and) solution-oriented.”

Ahtisaari meanwhile said he planned to spend the 10-million-kronor (1.02 million euros, 1.42 million dollars) prize money to help finance the Crisis Management Initia-tive group he founded after he concluded his six-year term as Finnish president in 2000.

“You need financing. You can never have enough. If you don’t have financing it’s hard to react quickly to various issues that arise,” he said.

Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen both congratulated Finland’s first Peace Prize laureate, with Vanhanen saying “his commitment to peace and human rights is remarkable.”

With its decision to hand the 2008 prize to Ahtisaari, the Nobel committee has returned to a more traditional interpretation of the award, after broadening the prize’s bound-aries in recent years to encompass environ-mental work, for instance.

“With this year’s award the Nobel has gone back to its peace and security roots, and no better choice could possibly have been made,” said Gareth Evans, the president of the International Crisis Group for which Ahtisaari previously served as chairman.

Last year’s Peace Prize went to former US vice president Al Gore and the United Na-tions panel on climate change.

Global troubleshooter Ahtisaari wins Nobel Peace Prize

FINLAND, Helsinki : Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari (R) shakes hands with Finnish President Tarja Halonen in Presidential Palace, in Helsinki during Ahtisaari’s press conference. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who has spent 30 years helping end conflicts in troublespots ranging from Kosovo to Namibia and Indonesia. AFP/ Markku Ulander

Germany calls for international rules for financial markets

BELGRADE (AFP) – Serbia reacted an-grily to its former federal partner Montene-gro’s decision to recognise the independence of Kosovo, and expressed concern about sta-bility in the region.

“Serious harm was done to citizens of both Serbia and Montenegro who have so much in common,” Serbia’s President Boris Tadic said.

“I am convinced that citizens of Montene-gro disapprove of such a decision,” he said, adding that “diplomatic measures taken by Serbia were not against them.”

Minutes after Podgorica announced that it formally recognised Serbia’s breakaway province as independent, Belgrade reacted by asking the Montenegrin ambassador in Serbia to leave the country.

A similar sanction was applied to Macedo-nia, another member of the former Serbian-led Yugoslavia, which also recognized Ko-sovo’s independence last Thursday.

Except for Bosnia-Hercegovina, all other former Yugoslav republics are now among the 50 countries which officially consider Kosovo an independent state.

Croatia and Slovenia recognised Kosovo in March, shortly after the ethnic Albanian-majority government in Pristina unilaterally proclaimed independence on February 17.

Belgrade, backed by Moscow, has rejected the secession and still considers Kosovo its southern province.

On Wednesday it managed to secure the green light of the UN General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an opinion on whether the brakaway was in accordance with international law.

Montenegro and Serbia have been histori-cally linked, sharing the same culture, lan-guage and Orthodox religion. A significant community of Serbs live in Montenegro, while a number of Montenegrins reside in Serbia.

Following the break-up of the former Yu-goslavia in 1995, the two states were allied in a union until 2006, when Podgorica decided to separate from Belgrade.

Branding the decisions of Montenegro and Macedonia as “very wrong,” Tadic said Serbia would nevertheless “continue to de-fend its national intersts in accordance with international law and the need to preserve regional stability.”

Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic also criti-cized the decisions of Podgorica and Skopje, saying that “Serbian citizens feel hurt.”

Jeremic alleged that Serbia’s two neigh-bours had come under “huge pressure” from

countries which were opposed to Wednes-day’s UN vote, implicitly pointing the fin-ger at NATO and the European Union, 22 of whose 27 members have recognised Ko-sovo.

In Pristina, Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci considered the move by Macedonia and Montenegro would contribute to “stabil-ity and cooperation” in the region, as well as speed up “the integration of our states into the EU and NATO.”

Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia all hope to join the EU eventually.

Other Serbian politicans also reacted bit-terly to Montenegro’s decision in particular.

“For the first time in its history, the gov-ernment of Montenegro took a decision against the interests of Serbia”, said Suzana Grubjesic, a parliamentary member of the ruling coalition.

In the nationalist opposition, MP Miroslav Markicevic said, “The decision of Montene-gro is worse than if the entire world had rec-ognised Kosovo.”

MADRID (AFP) – Spain’s socialist gov-ernment approved the creation of a 30-bil-lion-euro emergency fund to buy mortgage debt from banks in a bid to stabilize the lend-ing industry and unfreeze credit.

The green light for the establishment of the fund, which could be extended to 50 bil-lion euros (68 billion dollars) if necessary, was given at a regular weekly cabinet meet-ing, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa de la Vega said.

“This is a way to re-establish the normal functioning of our financial system, a deci-sive way to reactivate the economy and en-courage the creation of jobs,” she told a news conference.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Za-patero had announced the creation of the fund on Tuesday. It will be managed by the Treasury and is expected to start operating in November.

Economic activity around the world is slowing because banks have become increas-ingly reluctant to lend money in the wake of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, which erupted last year, saddling many institutions with toxic assets.

The government hopes the fund will ease pressure on Spanish lending institutions and make banks more willing to make loans to households and firms.

The government will “shortly” unblock a first tranche of 10 billion euros into the fund, which will be dismantled once global finan-cial markets begin working normally again, Economy Minister Pedro Solbes said.

“We are covering a failure of the market,” he said.

The government expects the fund will push up its ratio of public debt to gross domestic product by almost three percentage points to 41.5 percent.

It will only be used to buy assets with the top “AAA” ratings unlike the bailout in the US where the government is buying bad mortgages or in Britain where the state is tak-ing a stake in troubled lending institutions.

The government will be able to resell the assets once the global financial crisis eases and recover its money, De la Vega said.

“The government is not making a loan, nor giving anything away,” she said.

Spain’s banks have benefited from less exposure to toxic debts from U.S. subprime mortgages, larger loan loss provisions and stricter lending rules.

But they are feeling the effects of an abrupt economic slowdown due to the the end of a decade-long property boom.

Solbes called the rate at which bad debt has risen in Spain “worrying” in an inter-view published Sunday in daily newspaper El Mundo.

Loan defaults for banks hit a 10-year high of 2.15 percent in July, up from 1.6 percent in June, according to Bank of Spain figures.

Spain, which has until recently had one of the developed world’s fastest growing econ-omies, is facing the risk of its first recession in over a decade.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday predicted the Spanish economy, the fifth largest in the European Union, will shrink by 0.2 percent next year after posting growth of 1.4 percent in 2008.

It said Spain would be harder hit by the global financial crisis than other European countries because the effects of the property boom had come to an end.

Spain’s socialist government predicts the economy will expand by 1.6 percent this year and 1.0 percent next year.

montenegro’s kosovo recognition infuriates

Serbia

Spanish government approves 30-billion-euro

bank fund

MONTENEGRO, Podgorica : A Serb boy waves Serbian National flag during a protest against Montenegro’s decision to recognize the independence of Kosovo in Podgorica. Montenegro officially recognised Kosovo as an independent state following its unilateral secession from Serbia in February 2008. AFP / SAVO PRELEVIC

22 Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2008 Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2008 23eNTerTAINmeNT SPorTS

Each column, row and box must contain each number from 1 to 9. There is only one solution, wich is shown here.

FUJI SPEEDWAY (AFP) – Formula One teams and drivers have signalled their readi-ness to embrace eco-technology and other environmental initiatives being championed by the sport’s governing body.

There is widespread agreement that the fuel-guzzling sport must respond in a respon-sible way to the environmental challenges of the modern era, with unique green-grooved tyres being run at last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

The tyres are largely symbolic although next season energy-regenerating hybrid de-vices, which store energy otherwise lost dur-ing braking and convert it into power, will be introduced to Formula One.

This KERS (kinetic energy recovery sys-tem) technology is part of the FIA’s push to improve its environmental credentials and, ultimately, help increase awareness of fuel-efficient technology on public roads.

“The pressure on the modern world to ad-dress the causes of climate change is contin-ually increasing and Formula One is not ex-empt from this,” Honda team principal Ross Brawn said in comments to the FIA carried on www.Formula1.com.

“The FIA and the teams recognise that it is our responsibility to be involved in change for the good and to accelerate these changes through the technology and competition of F1.

“Honda has been developing more efficient and lower emission products for decades and the application of fuel-efficient and alterna-tive fuel technologies has been intrinsic to our automotive product development.”

BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen is equally supportive of the move to greener technology.

“BMW is in Formula One not just for marketing reasons but also because the F1 programme can create technology synergies and innovations which can be carried over to road car development,” he said.

“If you look at what is required by future road cars, fuel economy/CO2 reduction is the top objective right now and for the fore-seeable future. So it is clear that if we can do something in this area in F1 we will really benefit from it.”

Williams chief executive Adam Parr added that Formula One had a responsibility to lead change with its image at stake.

“Our greenhouse gas emissions are insig-nificant. But in terms of perception the sport is associated with automobile manufacturers, fuel companies, private jets and so on,” he said.

“We have to appeal to a younger audi-ence that is concerned about environmental issues.

“If we are to continue to flourish as a sport, grow our audience, attract sponsors and par-ticipants, then I think we have to do some-thing about it.”

Top drivers also jumped on board the eco-bandwagon, keen to do their part to raise public awareness of green issues.

“Green technology is the future of Formu-la One and we can help ensure it will be the future on our roads as well,” said Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

“As drivers in the public limelight it is good that we can help spread these important environmental messages.”

Massa’s teammate, defending world cham-pion Kimi Raikkonen, said he would do any-thing he could to help save the planet.

“If the safety and the new green technolo-gy lessons learned in motor sport are applied to motoring then the sport will have played a really important part in saving lives as well as perhaps helping to save the planet,” he said.

PARIS, October 10, 2008 (AFP) - The In-ternational Cycling Union (UCI) has come in for some harsh criticism after bending its own rules to allow American star Lance Armstrong to return to professional cycling at the Tour Down Under.

Armstrong’s plan to break his three-year hiatus at the Australian race from January 20-25 appeared compromised days ago when it emerged his return would not fall within the dates of strict UCI anti-doping procedures.

Cyclists who have been retired or inactive must register with an anti-doping agency at least six months before their first UCI race. Armstrong’s registration with the American anti-doping authorities would have only al-lowed him to return to action on February 1, 2009.

Despite affirming less than a fortnight ago that “no exceptions would be made” to the rule, UCI chief Pat McQuaid gave Armstrong the thumbs-up for the Tour Down Under on Wednesday.

His decision has left some team bosses mystified, and others plain angry.

“It’s scandalous. How can the UCI hope for the riders to respect the anti-doping rules when it doesn’t even do so itself? What will this lead to next?” said one of several team bosses who wished to remain anonymous.

German cycling federation (BDR) chief Rudolf Scharping said the UCI had made a mistake in bending the rules for Armstrong.

“In these times, everyone should strictly obey the rules,” Scharping told the DPA press agency.

Despite never being banned for a positive test, doping allegations followed Armstrong

throughout his seven-year reign on the Tour between 1999-2005.

And some of the 37-year-old’s critics be-lieve it is not the first time he is benefiting from UCI favours.

After a ‘positive’ test for corticoides in 1999, Armstrong produced a medical certifi-cate to show he was allowed to use the sub-stance. Some critics believe the certificate was rubber-stamped by the UCI, and its then-chief Hein Verbruggen, after the test.

“It’s started again, Armstrong has got the UCI under his thumb,” another team boss told AFP.

“Armstrong’s been given a favour, that’s for sure,” said another.

The UCI meanwhile explained its decision by saying anti-doping tests are more sophis-ticated than in 2004 when the six-month rule was implemented.

“... the UCI has taken into account the progress made in its anti-doping programme since 2004. As a result of the improvements implemented, riders are now subject to a much-reinforced system of monitoring com-pared to that of the past.”

Armstrong won a record-setting seventh consecutive yellow jersey in 2005.

Days later a report in L’Equipe sports daily alleged that several of his samples from the 1999 race, analysed retroactively, tested pos-itive for banned blood booster EPO (eryth-ropoietin).

A subsequent inquiry, chaired by a top official who was close to former UCI chief Verbruggen, cleared the American of any wrong-doing.

BEVERLY HILLS (AFP) – One day after Tiger Woods played through pain in his knee to win the U.S. Open, he spent over three hours strolling the site of his new Mexico golf course with his business partners.

It was the first time Woods had viewed the site for the planned 100 million dollar private course overlooking the Pacific Ocean which he hopes will become known as the ‘Pebble Beach’ of the Baja peninsula.

“I got involved in this project just before the U.S. Open. I was supposed to do a site visit on the Monday. But I was busy,” Woods said at a news conference at the Hotel Bel-Air.

Two days after capturing his 14th career major championship title in a Monday play-off on June 16, Woods underwent reconstruc-tive anterior cruciate ligament surgery which ended the 2008 season for the 32-year-old American.

“He walked three and a half hours on site and had to have surgery the next day,” said Woods’ business partner Brady Oman, the co-founder of The Flagship Group.

The Ensenada-area Punta Brava project features a hotel, private clubhouse, luxury ocean view homes, swimming pool, spa and is expected to take two years to build with completion scheduled for 2011.

“It is like anything I get into,” Woods said. “I always go into it leery. I looked at the plan and liked this one. As soon as I saw the site I was in.

“You can see the ocean from every single

hole on the course.”

The planned 18-hole, 6,853-yard course is located 108 kilometers (65 miles) south of San Diego. Woods’ favorite holes are the par-three No. 2 and the 12th.

“There are eight shots you have to hit over water,” Woods said. “When you get to No. 12 it is similar to No. 8 at Pebble Beach.”

Woods, who turned down more than 12 other golf course design proposals, said it took more than 20 tries to settle on a course layout for Punta Brava.

“This is my first ocean front golf course,” Woods said. “I tried to give people the feel-ing of building drama throughout the round.”

F1 teams, drivers keen to embrace eco-technology

Bridgestone used the green-color-grooved tires for the Japanese GP in the environment campaign of the “Make Cars Green.” AFP

Duchovny voluntarily entered a treatment program in August.

UNITED STATES, Los Angeles : Tiger Woods announces his first oceanfront project, Punta Brava golf course, at a press conference in Los Angeles, California, 2008. The Punta Brava course will be located in Ensenada, Mexico. AFP / Robyn BECK

UCI slammed for Armstrong ‘favors’

woods plans to build ‘Pebble Beach’ of Baja peninsula

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – ‘X-Files’ star David Duchovny has completed rehabilita-tion treatment for sex addiction and is pre-paring for work on a new film, the actor’s lawyer told People magazine.

Duchovny, who has relaunched his career in recent years by playing a womanizing writer in the television series “Californica-tion”, voluntarily entered a treatment pro-gram in August.

“David is out of rehab and about to start a new movie. He successfully completed his treatment,” Duchovny’s lawyer Stanton Stein told People.

Duchovny, 48, has been married ot actress Tea Leoni since 1997. The couple have two children.

According to entertainment industry press, Duchovny is due to star in “The Joneses” alongside Demi Moore, a comedy about a fake family put together by a marketing com-pany as a way of introducing luxury goods to their neighborhood.

LONDON (AFP) – James Bond actor Daniel Craig has had cosmetic surgery after being injured on the set of the latest Bond movie, he revealed in a new magazine inter-view.

The 40-year-old actor, who was recently spotted wearing an arm sling, revealed that he had to have eight stitches in his face after being accidentially kicked by an unnamed co-star on the “Solace” set.

“It’s a stupid inconvenience because we had to stop filming. But they gave me an ex-cellent plastic surgeon,” he said.

The British superstar also praised “gor-geous” Judi Dench, who again plays “M” in the “Quantum of Solace,” the latest install-ment of the spy thriller franchise due out later this month.

“All men have thought about her at least once in their lives. The great thing about Judi Dench is that she’s the matriarch of British film,” he told Elle magazine.

“She has an innate power about her ... Bond needs a woman like M to contain his nonsense and say, ‘Look, 007, you’ve been an idiot!’

“But they won’t sleep together. Not unless the cupboard gets very bare in terms of sto-rylines.”

Craig, who is on his second Bond film af-ter succeeding Pierce Brosnan to make “Ca-

sino Royale” in 2006, said he hoped he had brought something new to 007’s character.

“I wanted some fallibility. It’s no good if Bond is a cocktail-swigging sexist pig with no interior struggle. Bond is often pissed off or upset, and I wanted to bring that out.”

And he added: “I won’t play Bond forever. But I’d like to think I’ve added something to the lineage of how the man has changed.”

Bond star reveals cosmetic surgery after set mishap

‘X-Files’ star Duchovny completes sex addiction

treatment

Craig, who is on his second Bond film after succeeding Pierce Brosnan to make “Casino Royale” in 2006, said he hoped he had brought something new to 007’s character.

FeATUre

Super.

Natural.

Living.

Pacifico Beach Club

Views from Pacifico

Residences at Pacifico

Retail Village

COSTA RICA

Residences from the high $100s - $700s (Immediate occupancy available). Homesites from the mid $100s - high $500s. www.pacifico-costarica.com

Welcome to Pacifico in Playas del Coco, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. A short 20 minute drive from the international airport in Liberia with direct flights from

the U.S. This gated, guarded resort community is as exotic as the natural beauty that surrounds it and includes a private Beach Club with restaurant & bar,

Health Club & Spa, Retail Village, Auto Mercado grocery, and many more amenities. Brought to you by The Jack Parker Corporation, a renowned U.S.

developer of luxury hotels & upscale communities for over 60 years. Pacifico. Built to the highest American standards and offering the incomparable

Costa Rican lifestyle.

Costa Rica (011)506-2670-2212 Toll Free (877)444-1222 US (239)444-1222Visit the Pacifico Sales Gallery Mon. - Sun. 10 am - 5 pm

The Journal Edition # 158

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Transcript of The Journal Edition # 158