Solis Family Considers Suit in Toronto death
In a report carried by the National Post, Canada's national newspapers, the family of Augusto Cesar Mejia Solis's death, the Costa Rican killed in the collapse of the Toronto's Uptown Theatre, is considering suing those responsible, the man's uncle said yesterday.

Fabio Solis told the National Post yesterday that once the the man's body is flown back to Costa Rica on Saturday for burial, the family will consider the advice of lawyers that they should seek financial compensation for the incident, which also injured 14 others.

"There are several lawyers who have given their advice because it has been a situation that has to be clarified, with responsibilities," Mr. Solis said. "The life of a young person has been cut."

Mr. Mejia Solis died on Monday when a heavy wall from the Uptown Theatre collapsed during demolition and landed on the roof of the neighbouring Yorkville English Academy, in Canada's largest city.

Mr. Mejia Solis was in the school's second-floor common area when he was killed.

Mr. Solis said that Mr. Mejia Solis's father would likely not go to Toronto to retrieve his son's body because he was concentrating on burial arrangements in Costa Rica.

"At the moment our intention ... is just to bury the body," said Mr. Solis. "The idea is to give him a burial that he deserves. But afterwards, we would like to see who was responsible for this."

Several Canadian companies have offered to prepare and transport the man's body back to the Central American country at no charge.

Air Canada offered to waive its fee for the flight -- which would have cost the family between $1,000-2,000.

Mr. Solis had not heard about the donations yesterday, but said he appreciated Canadian help.
 

Paper Confetti a Problem for Politicians
In December, as a tradition, white confetti is sold on the downtown street of San José. The while paper rounds are an attempt to reproduce the effect of snow, given that most Costa Ricans have never seen snow.

This year, the Health Ministry is trying to put a stop to the practice. Eduardo López, the Ministry of Health vice-minister, sent a reminder to the Municipality of San José, who is responsible for the maintenance and ordinance in the downtown streets, that the sale of confetti on the streets has been illegal since 1989.

Johnny Araya, Mayor of San José, has said he has not sent the order to the his municipal police force and won't do so until he receives a reply to his letter to Rocio Saenz, the Minister of Health.

At the heart of the issue is a claim by officials at the Health Ministry, that the confetti can be dangerous in the public streets, causing personal damage as the small paper circles have been known to cause cuts and the problem of litter of the streets.

The Health Ministry reminds that is not unlawful to purchase confetti in stores, carry or throw it - it is just unlawful to have it sold on the streets.
 

Festival of Lights Preparations Begin
This Saturday, starting at 6pm, is the annual Festival of Lights. This year it is expected that there will be 11 floats - 2 more than last year - and 10 bands who will take part in the festivities.

Starting tonight, the Municipality of San José will start erecting stands and platforms along Paseo Colon for the event.

The Festival has an estimated cost of about 30 Million Colones and is the most attended parade, bringing a close to the year.

This year among the bands taking part in the parade are California's, San Diego, Mar Vista High School, and the, Concord, Salvation Army band.

The festival will begin in front of the National Gym at the East end of the Sabana Park and will follow along Paseo Colon, Avenida Central and end at La Plaza de La Democracia, a total of 3.3 kms.

Johnny Araya, Mayor of San José, said that there will be fireworks at the Sabana Park and at the Banco Nacional and Banco de Costa Rica.

Festival officials also said that there will 1.286 uniformed police officers to maintain security and the public safe. PANI, the child welfare agency, will have a post ready to attend to lost children.
 

United Nations to Discuss Human Cloning in 2004
In what has become one of the thorniest issues at the United Nations, the General Assembly on Tuesday opted to move a debate on whether to ban all forms of human cloning back to next year.

The hot-button issue, which has caused deep splits between traditional allies such as the United States and Britain, had previously been put off for two years until 2005 by the assembly's legal committee.

The latest change comes amid an often fierce behind-the-scenes political battle over a future global convention on the cloning of human beings, and whether it should be allowed for medical research.

Opposition to reproductive cloning - essentially making copies of people with an intent to raise them as human beings - appears to be universal.

But so-called therapeutic cloning has the support of many nations like Britain, which say it should be allowed to further research into debilitating illnesses like Alzheimer's.

The US, which was backing a resolution sponsored by Costa Rica, wants a total ban on all cloning.

It argues that enough stem cells from human embryos are already in existence for research, and that more are not needed.

In an attempted end-run around usual UN policies, Costa Rica continued to press for a full General Assembly vote on the total ban, which had already been rejected by the UN's legal, or sixth, committee in November.

The entire assembly normally automatically approves the recommendations of its various committees, and the effort to keep pushing for a ban drew the ire of Britain on Tuesday.

"It is clear there is no consensus in respect to therapeutic cloning research," Britain's deputy UN ambassador Adam Thomson said.

"But by ignoring this fact and pressing for action to ban all cloning, supporters of the Costa Rican resolution have effectively destroyed the possibility of action on the important area on which we are all agreed - a ban on reproductive cloning."

The question will now be taken up again at the UN General Assembly's 59th session, which begins in September.