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Trade Ministers
Wrap Up FTAA Summit
MIAMI, FL - Trade ministers from the hemisphere
working on the Free Trade Area of the Americas
agreement wrapped up work one day ahead of schedule,
with a deal that scales back the original plan for a
free trade bloc of 34 nations.
The move skirts what some people thought was a
likely collapse of the talks, but downscales the
ambitious goals set when the plan was envisioned
back in 1994.
Protesters opposed to the FTAA clashed with riot
police earlier in the day, as tens of thousands of
union workers and sympathizers marched against a
pact.
A phalanx of police officers, standing arm to arm in
rows sometimes four deep, kept the protesters far
from the swank hotel where trade ministers were
meeting. Hundreds more police waited on side streets
as reinforcements.
An estimated 25,000 protesters, mostly belonging to
mainstream US labor unions, marched and raised their
fists against the FTAA, which they say will result
in environmental abuses and a loss of jobs.
At least 76 protesters were arrested, most after
sundown, police said.
"We're moving the FTAA into a new phase, from
general concepts to positive realities and
opportunities, to a practical stage," said US Trade
Representative Bob Zoellick, as he closed the event
at a press conference along with representives of
all the other countries.
"These are important steps forward, but very
important work lies ahead," he said. "We're moving
into an intensive phase."
Talks to complete the FTAA, which would create the
world's largest free trade area, with a market of
some 800 million people, "could be successfully
concluded by the end of next year," said Brazilian
(news - web sites) Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.
Upcoming talks should focus on lower tariff
barriers, the summit declaration said, while the
thorny issue of agricultural subsidies and dumping
will now be resolved by the World Trade Organization
, as the United States wanted.
Negotiators also sidestepped addressing
controversial issues such as investment,
intellectual property and government purchases.
The result is an "FTAA a la carte," in which
Washington reaches out to individual countries ready
for free trade to underscore some progress, and
shows flexibility with those unwilling or unable to
join the group by the 2005 deadline.
Representatives from Mexico, Chile, and Canada --
three countries that favored a broader agreement
entering the meeting -- said late Thursday that they
were satisfied with the outcome.
Work towards reaching the final agreement "is
evolving," said Chilean Foreign Minister Soledad
Alvear, while Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre
Pettigrew praised "solid progress" at the meeting.
Washington will meanwhile continue to seek separate
trade agreements with individual countries and
regional groups.
The United States already has a free trade deal with
Canada, Mexico and Chile.
US officials are already in the final stages of
negotiating a free trade deal with the five Central
American countries -- Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
And US officials will begin free-trade talks next
year with members of the Andean Community --
Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia -- as well as
with Panama.
No To Sex
Tourism
The brunt of the law
will be brought to bear on those tourists who come
to Costa Rica looking for sexual experiences with
minors, as well as against those promoting or
permitting such activities, President Abel Pacheco
asserted.
He pointed out that the person who pays for having
sex with children has to be as severely punished as
the law allows, and much more morally speaking.
The chief executive added that "the beauty of our
people" and the fact that Costa Rica is an
under-developed nation make this country more
vulnerable to those aiming at making of it a sex
tourism destination.
"We feel ashamed for these issues, but more ashamed
should feel those who come here looking for such
experiences," President Pacheco added.
Services Lure
Investors
The service
sector took over tourism as the leader in attracting
direct foreign investment, according to data from
the Central Bank.
Over the last five years, a growing number of
companies that provide services to companies or
people abroad have made of Costa Rica home for their
facilities.
According to the source, while the service sector
has attracted investment for an average $56 million
a year in the last three years, tourism has seen its
share drop from $111.5 million to $54.5 million, the
estimate for this year.
Fingerprinting
Required for U.S. Visa
Costa Ricans interested in obtaining a visa to the
U.S. have now an extra step in the process. The U.S.
Embassy announced that all applicants for a visa to
the U.S. must be fingerprinted, which prints will be
incorporated into the visa itself.
For those who already have their visas, not to
worry, this new process will not affect visas
already given.
The U.S. Embassy also advises that anyone who is
interested in applying for a visa should call to
make an appointment as soon as possible if they want
to travel for the holidays.
The number to call is 9000-1-visa-usa
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1,000 children born with HIV each year in
Argentina
At least 1,000 newly-born children are infected with
HIV in Argentina each year, local health authorities
said.
The Chief of the Neonatology Department of
Paroissien Hospital in Buenos Aires, Edgard Szyld,
as quoted on Thursday by the press, attributed the
mother-to-child infection to insufficient or null
prenatal medical control.
Szyld said that in Paroissien, only 3 percent of
HIV-positive pregnant women who received treatment
passed over the virus to their babies, whereas in
the case of unattended women, the rate of infection
was 37 percent.
In 1997-2000 the percentage of HIV-infected pregnant
women increased from 1.2 percent to 2 percent in
Argentina, he added.
He pointed out that the biggest problem of the
perinatal HIV contagion is the lack of timely
diagnosis, which increases transmission risks.
Rebels attack oil pipeline in Colombia
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
blew up an oil pipeline in southwest Colombia
Thursday as part of an offensive to destroy the
country's infrastructure.
The attacks on 30 sections of the trans-Andean oil
pipeline led to the shutdown of pumping to the
Pacific Ocean port of Tumaco, which transports 5,000
barrels per day by the Orito Refining Plant.
Several crude supply tanks, 20 wells of the
state-run oil company ECOPETROL and a bridge were
also affected, the Colombian military said.
The 17,000-strong FARC, the largest rebel group in
the country, has blocked the road linking the
capital of Putumayo state, Mocoa,to the town of San
Miguel, near the border with Ecuador.
Government troops launched an operation following
the attacks, during which 4,235 kilogram of
explosives, two assault-rifles, 300cartridges and
two military gears were seized.
Colombia's four-decade-old civil war, which pits the
leftist guerrillas, government troops and the far
right paramilitary against each other, kills 3,500
people, mostly civilians, every year.
Jackson denies child molestation allegations as
"big lies"
US pop superstar Michael Jackson's attorney Mark
Geragos on Thursday denied all child molestation
allegations against Jackson as "a big lie" after the
singer surrendered himself to police.
Speaking to reporters outside the Santa Barbara
County Sheriff's Department, where Jackson was taken
into custody, Geragos said Jackson was outraged by
the allegations because they are "categorically
untrue."
He has come back specifically to confront these
charges head on. He is greatly outraged by the
bringing of these charges," said the lawyer who
has represented such clients as Winona Ryder and
Scott Peterson. "He considers this to be a big
lie."
"He looks forward to getting into a courtroom,
as opposed to any other forum, and confronting
these accusations head-on. We plan on doing
that," Geragos said.
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Jackson turned himself in Thursday to police in
Santa Barbara of central California, on multiple
charges of child molestation.
Jackson, 45, was escorted by police into the Santa
Barbara Sheriffs Department after taking a chartered
flight from Las Vegas, Nevada, where he had been
shooting a music video.
The pop singer was seen in handcuffs when walking
into the police department. He was to be
fingerprinted and taken a mug shot to go through the
legal process.
Geragos said Jackson had posted 3 million dollars in
bail and the signer was expected to be released
sooner. It remained unknown where he would head
after the release.
Speaking at a Wednesday news conference, Santa
Barbara Sheriffs Department head Jim Anderson
confirmed that an arrest warrant had been issued for
Jackson on "multiple counts of child molestation."
He also urged Jackson to surrender himself to the
police custody.
The bail for Jackson's arrest warrant was set at 3
million US dollars, and he is also requested to
surrender his passport when taken into custody.
About 70 officers and district attorney's officials
conducted a day-long search Tuesday at Jackson's
Neverland Ranch in north of Santa Barbara as "part
of an ongoing criminal investigation alleging
criminal misconduct on the part of Michael Jackson."
Santa Barbara District Attorney Thomas Sneddon said
the arrest warrant for Jackson was issued for
violation of Section 288 of the California Penal
Code -- which prohibits lewd or lascivious acts with
a child under age 14.
The California Penal Code says anyone convicted of
the crime can be punished by three to eight years in
prison.
In a Tuesday statement, Jackson denounced the media
coverage of the police search of his ranch, saying
that there are always dreadful allegations surfacing
any time when he is to release a new album or
project. He was referring to the Tuesday release of
his greatest hits album "Number Ones."
But Sneddon denied any relation between the timing
of police search to the release of Jackson's new
release.
Local press report said the current allegations
against Jackson were brought by a 12-or 13-year-old
boy in Los Angeles. A therapist reported disclosures
by the boy who spent time at Neverland Ranch and
began therapy several months ago.
Jackson's career began to collapse in 1993 amid
allegations that he molested a 14-year-old boy. He
maintained his innocence, and charges were never
filed as he reportedly paid a multimillion-dollar
settlement.
Earlier this year, the US TV network ABC broadcast a
television documentary, in which Jackson revealed
that he had slept in a bed with many children.
Although Jackson denied that was related to any
sexual acts, his revelations about relations with
children prompted calls for an investigation of his
ranch by California child welfare authorities.
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