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News
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Show me the money!!!
Late yesterday, A
Colombian national was arrested at the border between Costa Rica and Panama on charges of transporting counterfeit money.
Border guards at the Paso Canoas border station, became weary of the man while processing his request to cross into the country.
"His behavior was a big reason to become suspicious of him", one of the guards commented. It was not only the man's demeanor that finally gave him away, the strange way that his clothes were bulging in certain areas was more than enough reason to have a closer look.
Upon inspecting the Colombian's wardrobe, more than $16,000 dollars was found on his person. They were hidden in his pockets, his shoes and even his underwear was lined with $100 dollar bills.
The man claimed that he had withdrawn all the cash from a bank in his country, but when he was told that all the $100 bills were forged, he was unable to explain that and plainly stated that he was not aware of this. He said that he was on his way to Guatemala.
Deportation of War Criminal Nearing
Bohdan Koziy, believed to have been a member of the SS during World War II, may finally be deported after arriving here in 1982.
The 79 year old Koziy, served in the SS in Ukraine during Adolf Hitler's regime and is thought to be responsible for the murders of many Jews during his tenure there. A Ukrainian by birth, Bohdan Koziy was active in his function with the "Nazi Police" during 1942 and 1943.
The United States cancelled his citizenship in 1982, he came to Costa Rica and managed to live fairly undisturbed for about 4 years. He claimed that he had never been involved with the war crimes that he is being accused of, and it took until 1986 before any action was taken against him here.
The administration at the time decided to deport him, based on evidence they received from the Unites States and the Simon Wiesenthal Foundation. However, the action was delayed because his destination, the former USSR, could possibly sentence him to death if found guilty of his crimes.
Last year, Costa Rican authorities again confirmed their decision to deport Mr. Koziy, and this week, President Abel Pacheco responded to a request from the Institute of the National Heritage of Poland. President Pacheco said that the 79 year old would be expelled as soon as an acceptable destination is found.
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INTERNATIONAL
NEWS
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US cautious to respond to Iraq's empty warheads
The United States on Thursday was cautious to respond to the discovery of 11 empty chemical weapons warheads in southern Iraq by UN weapons inspectors.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters that Washington will be deliberate in reacting to the discovery because it is still assessing related information coming out from Iraq.
Scott McClellan, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said in Scranton, Pennsylvania, that the Bush administration was aware of the reports about the discovery and is looking forward to receiving information from the UN inspectors who found the empty warheads. McClellan, who was accompanying President George W. Bush on a trip to Scranton, refused to make further comments on the findings.
A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said earlier Thursday that the empty chemical weapons warheads just discovered in southern Iraq could not amount to "a smoking gun" the United Stated is looking for to prove Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction. "A smoking gun would be if you found a big stockpile with chemicals," the official said.
He said that the site where the UN inspectors found empty warheads was not included in the information which the United States shared with the inspectors.
Iraqi empty warheads not "a smoking gun": US official
The empty chemical weapons warheads which the United Nations weapons inspectors discovered in Iraq on Thursday do not amount to "a smoking gun" the United Stated is looking for to prove Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction, a US official said.
"A smoking gun would be if you found a big stockpile with chemicals," agencies reports quoted the official as saying. "This raises lots of questions," he added.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the site where the UN inspectors found empty warheads was not included in the information which the United States shared with the inspectors.
The official spoke after UN weapons inspectors reportedly found11 empty chemical warheads in "excellent" condition at an ammunition storage area in southern Iraq.
A UN spokesman claimed that the weapons had not been declared by Iraq previously. But Iraq argued that the weapons discovered were already listed as old artillery shells in its declaration submitted to the United Nations in December.
Venezuela's country-risk level hits 12 month high
Venezuela's country-risk index rose to 1,322 basic points on Thursday night, the highest level of the last 12 months, as the 40-day-old opposition strike crippled the oil-reliant economy in the world's fifth largest petroleum exporter, according to reports published on Friday. The figure reflects a jump of nearly 200 basic points since the beginning of 2002.
Market analysts said the drop in the value of Venezuelan treasury bonds in the international market affected the country's risk index. The deterioration in the bonds' value has become more marked due to the country's economic paralysis. On Thursday, the global 27 year bonds dropped to 59.75 percent of their value, a 4.87 percentage point decrease since last week.
Uncertainty among international financial market analysts over the Venezuelan situation grows day by day as the general strike, launched by opposition leaders on last Dec. 2 to press leftist President Hugo Chavez to quit and call early elections, drags on.
Chavez was elected in 1998 and survived a brief coup last April, and has rejected calls for elections, accused foes of trying to topple him, and vowed to beat the strike.
Oil production has dropped from 3 million barrels per day to 600,000 barrels per day as a consequence of oil sector workers joining the strike, now in its sixth week. Venezuela has lost millions of oil dollars, world markets have been jolted and oil prices pushed up. The crisis in the national treasury has forced the Venezuelan government to request a rescheduling of the maturity of its internal debt bonds for January, which represent nearly one billion dollars.
At the same time, specialists of the Economic and Financial Advisory Office of the National Assembly said on Friday that each day of the strike brings a 0.2 percent drop in the gross domestic product (GDP).
GDP, the value of goods and services produced during a certain period of time, shrank 6.4 percent from January to September, 2002in Venezuela. It is estimated that the results of the last quarter of 2002 will show a worsening GDP fall.
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