| NEWS |
|
updated by 7:00 a.m. CST each day
|
146.000 Jobs
Could Be Lost if No Trade Deal
According to
a study of the promoters of the Free Trade Agreement
with the US, if Costa Rica is not part of the
agreement, it could lose about 146.000 jobs.
Monday, the next round of talks between the US and
the Central American countries opens in Houston,
Texas.
According to the study released, there 73.000 direct
jobs will be lost, but that amount can be as high as
146.000 is Costa Rica does not become part of the
Free Trade Agreement.
PROCOMER, who did the study, insists it is only to
server as a guideline for the decision makers. In
their study PROCOMER says that the hardest hit will
be textile industry, where 76% of their production
goes to the US.
Robert Zoellick, US
foreign trade representative , said recently
that if Costa Rica did not open it's
telecommunications sector, the US did not have any
interest in signing a treaty with Costa Rica.
Robert Zoellick was
very direct in an interview with President Abel
Pacheco about the fact that Costa Rica must open its
telecommunications sector to private investment if
this country is to partake in the Central America-US
Free Trade Agreement.
He pointed out that Costa Rica must find ways to
make telecommunications more efficient. Zoellick's
warning prompted a vast array of reactions, ranging
from those who agree with Washington's position to
those who fully oppose it and are planning
demonstrations against it.
In the last group, the leading heads are labor
unions belonging to the state-owned power and
telecommunications institution (ICE), who oppose any
sort of privatization of the sector and claim that
the it must remain under state control.
Protest
Ready for Tomorrow
Protestors against Costa Rica opening it's
telecommunications to stay in the Free Trade
Agreement with the US are ready for a work stoppage
on Monday.
The government has issued a strong warning that it
will not pay salaries to those who participate in the
illegal strike.
Things You Didn't
Know About 'the Baseball'
OK, the Curse
of the Goat is still alive. The hapless Cubs remain
hapless. And the Curse of the Bambino still afflicts
the Boston Red Sox. Bosox might as well be botox.
The New York Yankees
play host to the Florida Marlins tonight in Game 2
of the best-of-seven World Series, after losing 3-2
in the first game.
Did you know that the
baseballs used in the major leagues are hand sewn in
Turrialba, Costa Rica, at the Rawlings Sporting
Goods factory, the official maker of Major League
Baseball baseballs?
Without the ball, there is no baseball.
Here's how Rawlings makes its baseballs: First, coat
a cork sphere with two layers of rubber (one black,
one red). Wind four-ply gray wool around it. Wind
three-ply white wool around that. Then wind
three-ply gray wool around that. Finish it with a
fine white cotton yarn. Cover this in rubber cement
to make it tacky. Wrap a two-piece alum-tanned
leather cover over it and hand stitch.
The alum leather is
processed in the Rawlings Sporting Goods plant in
Tullahoma, Tenn. The wool is from Vermont and the
cork is from Mississippi.
There are 108 red
cotton stitches in a baseball.
Rawlings provides more than 800,000 baseballs to the
Major League Baseball Association each year
Annual Tech Museum Awards Grant $250,000 to
Costa Rica's INBio
An organization using Digital Satellite Radio technology to provide information and education to hard to reach populations, and a Costa Rica-based institute helping to document and preserve biodiversity, were among those honored for applying technology to improve quality of life around the world.
At a gala black-tie event, held on October 15, attended by global technology leaders and philanthropists, The Tech Museum Awards: Technology Benefiting
Humanity presented by Applied Materials, Inc., announced the five 2003 Tech Awards winners in the categories of education, equality, environment, health and economic development.
Each winner received a $50,000 cash honorarium to encourage continued innovations and to honor their contributions in applying technology to solve global challenges and improve the lives of people around the world.
INBio (National Biodiversity Institute),
received the Intel Environment Award for developing and maintaining a massive electronic database that records and provides information on biodiversity in Costa Rica, home of one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world.
The 2003 Tech Museum Award winners are:
Equal Access received The NASDAQ Stock Market
Education Award for establishing a digital satellite
broadcast infrastructure that delivers educational
programming to areas of the world with poor
telecommunications capabilities, little or no
electricity and high rates of illiteracy.
This year, more than 500 nominations were received, representing 70 countries. The 25 finalists came from Bangladesh, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nicaragua, Nepal and the United States. The judging panels were assembled and coordinated by Santa Clara University's Center for Science, Technology, and Society.
|
|
Click
here a FREE quote on the lowest Air Tickets Prices
to and from Costa Rica!
|
|
Bolivian President Mesa starts to form new cabinet
Bolivian President Carlos Mesa on Saturday started to form a new cabinet after he consulted with political and social leaders.
The new members were going to swear at night, according to press reports dispatched from the Andean country.
Mesa, who on Friday evening resigned as vice-president, took office as the new president of the country after the resignation of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. From Saturday morning he started a series of talks at the administrative capital of La Paz, according to governmental sources.
The sources, quoted in reports from La Paz, said Mesa was going to take oath on Saturday night, after participating at the neighboring city of El Alto in a tribute to a dozen victims of suppression that was ordered by former president Sanchez de Lozada against the anti-governmental protests.
Mesa, who contributed to the resignation of Sanchez de Lozada by removing his support a few days ago in criticizing the suppression, hold meetings on Saturday with the mayors of La Paz and El Alto, the cities that staged the lion's share of the demonstrations and clashes between protesters and the police and soldiers.
In the meetings with Juan del Granado, the Mayor of La Paz, and Jose Paredes, the Mayor of El Alto, Mesa continued the study of a plan to repair the damage resulting from turmoil that began five weeks ago.
Calm has returned to the country with the opposition celebrating the resignation of Sanchez de Lozada, who abandoned Bolivia and on Saturday morning arrived at the city of Miami, in the southeastern US state of Florida, on his way to Washington.
Mesa, a 50-year-old journalist, who also headed the Bolivian Congress, examines the composition of the Cabinet with 13 ministers as close collaborators, including his Secretary for the General Affairs of the Vice Presidency, Galindo Nedder, who was expected to become the new vice-president, according to the sources.
Japan issues travel advisory for Japanese abroad on possible attack
Japan's Foreign Ministry issued a travel advisory on Sunday calling for Japanese traveling or residing abroad to be cautious of possible terrorist attacks.
According to Kyodo News, the advisory came after a voice on an audiotape purported to be that of Osama bin Laden threatened to attack the United States and six of its allies including Japan.
The travel advisory calls for Japanese tourists or residents overseas to make efforts to gather the most up-to-date informationand stay alert especially in crowded places.
The Qatar-based satellite network Al-Jazeera broadcast the audiotape on Saturday, on which a voice said countries involving in the US-led occupation of Iraq could become targets of attack, naming in particular Britain, Spain, Australia, Poland, Japan and Italy, Kyodo said.
If the tape is authentic, it would be the first time bin Laden has mentioned the possibility of attacking Japan.
Bin Laden calls for holy war against US: Al-Jazeera TV
An audio tape purportedly recorded by al Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden was aired by Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV channel Saturday, calling for jihad, or holy war against the United States that currently led an multinational force in Iraq.
In a voice message addressed to US President George W. Bush, bin Laden also called on the United States to withdraw from Iraq, saying "You send your sons to Iraq in order to kill them." The voice on the tape said "America is bogged down in the swamps of Tigris and the Euphrates...Bush (US President) thought Iraq and its oil reserve is a free treasure," but now his troops are in a real "plight."
"The United States now call for mercenary soldiers from the West and the East," said the voice, referring to the US-sought contribution of troops and funds from a number of countries. The al Qaida chief threatened to carry out more suicide attacks inside and outside the United States and retaliation against countries joining the US-led coalition forces.
"We will go on fighting you and we will carry on martyrdom(suicide) operations in and outside the United States until you stop being unjust," said the voice.
"We reserve the right to retaliate at the proper time and place against all countries that take part in this unjust war (against Iraq), namely Britain, Spain, Australia, Poland, Japan and Italy. "In the message to the Iraqis, the speaker said "This is a new crusade on the Islamic world," urging the youth in Iraq's neighboring countries not to follow the voices in Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and elsewhere, which call for democratic and peaceful solutions.
The terror master last appeared in early September when al-Jazeera aired a video tape showing him and his top aide Aimen Zawahili walking in mountains, both carrying AK-47 rifles. The pan-Arab space channel has broadcasted several recorded messages claimed to be from terrorist groups and Iraq's ousted leader Saddam Hussein, which encouraged Iraqis to resist the occupying troops.
Criticised of inciting violence,
the television, along with Dubai-based Arabiya TV
channel, has been banned from reporting official
events in the US-controled country.
|
|
|
