| NEWS |
|
updated by 7:00 a.m. CST each day
|
United Airlines to Offer Daily Non-Stop Service
United Airlines
announced that it will launch daily, non- stop service to San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) from its hub at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) effective February 12, 2004, pending government approval. Flights are available for booking beginning today.
This move follows United's expansion in the Caribbean, which includes flights to the regional leisure destinations of Grand Cayman, San Juan, Aruba and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. In addition, service from Washington Dulles to Cancun, Mexico will begin on February 14, 2004, pending government approval.
"We are excited to be introducing new, international service to San Jose, Costa Rica from Washington Dulles International Airport," said Kevin Knight, vice president - resource planning. "Following our unprecedented expansion in the Caribbean, we are now providing our customers with more options in Central America."
The service will use Boeing 757 aircraft configured with 24 seats in United First and 158 seats in United Economy. The southbound flight will depart Washington Dulles daily at 5:25 p.m. and arrive in San Jose at 9:22 p.m. The return flight will depart daily from San Jose at 10:15 a.m. and arrive at Washington Dulles at 3:37 p.m.
U.S. Democrats Issue Warning on
Central America Trade Pact
Democratic leaders warned the Bush administration on Thursday that a proposed free trade agreement with five countries in Central America could face trouble in Congress without tougher labor provisions.
The demand, in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, signals the White House could have a harder time winning approval of the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement than recent pacts with Chile and Singapore that were passed by large margins this year.
Both those deals addressed concerns about the potentially negative impact of trade agreements on workers and the environment by requiring the participating countries to enforce their existing laws in those two areas.
The Bush administration has pursued similar provisions in the proposed pact with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, along with "capacity building" aid to help the countries meet the commitments.
California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, and other senior Democrats said that approach was "unacceptable" for Central America, "where the State Department and the International Labor Organization have repeatedly found that labor laws fall below minimal international standards."
The trade agreement should require the Central American countries to "adopt and enforce in their laws ... internationally-recognized labor standards," the Democrats said in their letter to Zoellick.
U.S. and Central American trade officials have been in Houston this week for talks on the trade pact. The countries hope to conclude the agreement during the next round of negotiations in December.
That would set the stage for Congress to vote on the pact early next year, unless the Bush administration decides to wait until after the November 2004 presidential election.
Direct Foreign
Investment
Costa Rica
expects to receive $415 million in direct foreign
investment during the year 2004, according to
representatives of the Free Zone Association (AZOFRAS).
The estimate does not include the $100 million that
Intel plans to invest here.
Traditionally, 45 percent of the direct foreign
investment goes to free zones, according to AZOFRAS,
who quoted at $2.892 the amount invested here from
1997 to 2002.
They added that the data for 2003 are not available
yet.
Farm Production
Picks Up
After three
years of poor performances, agriculture has picked
up along this year.
Excluding the high technology sector, farming is the
only sector that displays sustained recovery,
according to the Monthly Index of Economic Activity
(IMAE) - which estimates the evolution of goods and
services - issued by the Central Bank of Costa
Rica.
Farm production had dropped late in the year 2001,
but starting in April 2002 started to grow and by
last August it was 3.63 percent above the same
figure for August 2002.
Spending on
education
A report from
the Program for the Reform of Education in Latin
America and the Caribbean (PREAL) points out that
Costa Rica spends the most per capita on students in
the region.
For the present year, the amount is $685 for pupils
of elementary schools and $738 for students in high
school.
According to the sources, the other countries in the
region allocate under $500 per student. On the other
hand, the report points out that Costa Rica is
dedicating only 5 percent of the Gross Domestic
Product to education, while that figure should be 6
percent.
|
|
Click
here a FREE quote on the lowest Air Tickets Prices
to and from Costa Rica!
|
|
US Senate votes to end travel ban to Cuba
Defying a veto threat from the Bush administration, the US Senate on Thursday approved a measure that bars use of government money to enforce a travel ban to Cuba.
The measure, passed 59-36, would effectively end 40-years-old restrictions on US citizens' travel to Cuba. US House of Representative approved identical amendment last month by a 227-188 vote.
"This vote today in the Senate, after the House, sends a very strong message that the American people don't want their right to travel to be restricted," Senator Byron Dorgan said after the vote.
"For 40 years we've said sanctions, and for 40 years it hasn't worked," Senator Mike Enzi told reporters.
Earlier this month, US President George W. Bush unveiled several measures aimed at helping Cuban dissidents in their efforts to bring about change in Cuba.
Bush said his administration would tighten enforcement of travel restrictions to Cuba, including those who pass through third countries. Currently, US nationals are allowed to make that trip only if they are visiting family, conducting research.
The United States imposed the travel ban to Cuba in 1963, a year after the Cuban missile crisis. Violators of the restrictions could face criminal penalties of up to 250,000 dollars and 10 years in prison.
Peruvian Congress accuses Fujimori of kidnapping
The standing committee of the Peruvian Congress accused Alberto Fujimori of kidnapping his ex-wife Susana Higuchi in 1992, bringing one more charge against the disgraced former president, the local press reported Thursday.
The investigative commission of the legislature found evidence that under Fujimori's order, Higuchi, currently an independent parliamentarian, was kidnapped in 1992 and held inside a military compound, where she might have been abused.
The presidential couple separated at the end of Fujimori's first tenure (1990-1995).
The former president is facing 72 charges in Peru, including embezzlement, murder and violation of human rights, of which Fujimori pleaded innocent.
Holding a dual Peruvian-Japanese citizenship, Fujimori
embarked on a self-imposed exile in Japan since November 2000, amid a corruption scandal which toppled his decade-long rule in the country.
Peru's request for Fujimori's extradition was rejected by
Japan which claims it does not extradite citizens to countries such as Peru, with which Japan has no extradition treaty.
Earlier this week, Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo renewed the request during informal talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
meeting in Bangkok.
US lawmakers call for immigration deal with Mexico
Visiting US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday it is possible to gradually advance towards an immigration accord with Mexico.
She told the local press that it would be probable to approve, in the US Congress, a proposal to legalize the immigration status of 1.5 million Mexican agricultural workers in the United States.
Pelosi, who led a delegation of five US lawmakers, started a visit to Mexico on Wednesday to meet with legislators and Mexican authorities.
David Hobson, who is a member of the delegation, rejected suggestions of a break in relations between Mexico and the United States because of their discrepancies at the core of the United Nations Security Council.
"There never was a breaking. Friends sometimes have disagreements, but continue working together," said Hobson.
Mexico and the United States will hold the next bilateral meeting in November in Washington and one of the main issues to
be discussed will be immigration.
Early in 2001, Mexico and the United States began high-level immigration talks, in a bid to legalize the status of nearly four million Mexicans illegally living in the United States, and to improve their living conditions.
The talks were abruptly suspended as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.
Bolivian political situation is precarious: President
Bolivian President Carlos Mesa considers the situation of the government to be "very precarious" and says his stay in the post will depend on the political situation in the country.
He said: "It is one of the most complex moments of our democracy. There is a risk in the process in case it is not handled with responsibility; we could lose it." He was being quoted in the local daily, Folha de Sao Paulo, on Thursday.
He said the referendum process on the export of natural gas
and the Constitutional Assembly that would be called, would define
his government.
"Now it is very difficult, because the parties are not part of the government," he said in reference to the cabinet, where there are no individuals linked to the traditional parties.
Mesa admitted that the government would not be able to meet
thed emands of peasants, Indians and trade unions of Bolivia, where
up to 60 percent of the population is poor.
He said he hoped to respond to the economic crisis linked to the fiscal deficit first, so that the national treasury would work.
Mesa also confirmed that his constitutional term would close
on Aug. 6, 2007, when his predecessor, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada,
had been supposed to hand over the presidency.
Following a month-long public protest sparked by the government's economic policy in general and its natural gas export plan to the North America, Sanchez de Lozada resigned on Oct. 17 as president of the country and Mesa, then the vice president, took over to head a transition government.
|
|
|
