| NEWS |
|
updated by 7:00 a.m. CST each day
|
The Nightmare of Flight 660
The passengers of Flight 660 of the
airline carrier TACA lived a nightmare as they looked out of their windows and saw US fighters that chased their Airbus, leading it to the ocean.
This happened on October 11, when they were about to land at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
The flight that had departed from Costa Rica was normal, until an air traffic controller told Costa Rican pilot Juan Barquero to switch to an emergency frequency. The pilot complied, but the frequency to which he was directed is used only in emergencies, such as hijackings or terrorist threats.
What followed next, according to versions of the passengers, was pure horror. The flight came under the control of US anti-terrorist authorities, who ordered the pilot to take a course to the high seas.
"There was a time when we thought they were going to shoot us down. We realized that the fuel was running low, but they insisted that we keep on flying away from our destination," a crewman who requested that his identity be withheld commented.
Flight 660 was finally authorized to land, but under emergency and security conditions. Apparently, a mistake from the air controller prompted the whole issue..
Growth Potential
El Salvador has taken away from Costa Rica its first place in Central America regarding the largest growth potential in the middle term.
This surfaced in the potential growth index (PGI) issued by the World Economic Forum.
Here Costa Rica placed 51 among the 102 nations analyzed, while El Salvador was 48. It is the first time in the six years that the index has been issued that Costa Rica loses the leading position.
However, in the business competitiveness index BCI), Costa Rica remains at the top in Central America and places 45th in the world, while El Salvador occupies the 63rd position.
Analysts explained that while the PGI rates the outlook in the middle term, the BCI is related to the current standing. They pointed out that the productive structure, human resources, and social peace of Costa Rica remain its largest assets for its current overall condition.
Indians Lag Behind
The lack of utilities, as well as access difficulties because of their geographical location are among the major reasons for a majority of the Costa Rican Indian population to lag behind other Ticos regarding development and health care, according to reports from the Ministry of Health and the Ombudsman Office.
Minister of Health Rocio Saenz and the Ombudsman Jose Manuel Echandi agreed that the findings will enable their institutions to improve the care provided to the Indian population, that number some 64,000 according to a year 2000 census.
Housing
Developments Halted
The land defined as "special protection areas" of the Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica cannot be used for housing developments, the Constitutional Court ruled.
The decision vetoes a presidential decree issued in 2001, which authorized building houses for poor people in those areas, which protect watersheds and that, because of their condition, are prone to floods and landslides when the vegetation cover is removed.
Protection of the
Ozone Layer
Costa Rica has lowered the use of CFCs by 41 percent as compared to the average in 1989, according to the National Meteorological Institute (IMN).
This effort aimed at reducing the hole of the ozone layer is also helped by joint Government-farmers actions to lower the use of other chemicals that also affect the ozone layer.
The efforts by the country members of the Montreal Protocol have resulted in a reduction of the ozone layer hole in the Southern Hemisphere to 17 million square kilometers (some 6.5 million square miles), according to the IMN.
|
|
Click
here a FREE quote on the lowest Air Tickets Prices
to and from Costa Rica!
|
|
US House office building evacuated after intruding by suspect gunman
A US House office building on the Capitol Hill was evacuated on Thursday after a person with a gun intruded into the building, police said.
"Someone with a gun made an unauthorized entrance into the Cannon Office Building," Jessica Gissubel, spokeswoman for the US Capitol Police, said.
A person went through the metal detector with something like a revolver in the bag he put on the conveyor belt at the security checkpoint at about 1:20 pm EST, said Representative Bob Ney, chairman of the House Administration Committee.
The suspect ran away with the bag before police cold stop him, he said.
The police ran after the suspect but lost him, he said.
The police were searching the building, which was evacuated, and entrances to connecting office buildings, the Capitol and the Library of Congress were shut down, he said.
The suspect was described as male at first, but another representative later said it wasn't clear whether the suspect was a male or a female.
In another development, the roads and a bus stop near the Pentagon were closed Thursday while authorities were investigating a suspicious truck that parked nearby, a spokesman said.
Four killed as parking garage collapses in US
Four people were killed and some 20 others were injured on Thursday when the top five stories of a parking garage under construction collapsed in Atlantic
City, New Jersey.
Two persons died inside the building and two others died at a hospital, while one remained missing, officials said.
Rescue teams were sent into the rubble of the 10-story garage, trying to locate missing workers by search cameras and dogs, and lumber-loaded trucks were brought in to shore up the building.
Over 300 construction workers were at the site when the garage floors collapsed.
The cause of the collapse was under investigation.
NATO still backbone of European defense: Schroeder
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is still the backbone of European defense, but the Europeans must have an independent defense capability, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Wednesday.
At a joint news conference after meeting his Slovak
counterpart Mikulas Dzurinda in the Slovak capital of Bratislava, Schroeder said Europe's interventions should be made within the framework ofNATO and be those the Western alliance is not ready to make.
Nevertheless, NATO is indubitably the backbone of regional defense, said the chancellor, who was on a one-day visit to Slovakia.
On the draft European Union constitution, Schroeder admitted
he had differences with Dzurinda over the issue. The European Commission should improve the "efficiency of voting" and the number of commissioners who have voting rights must be restricted to 15 even after the EU's enlargement, he said.
Meanwhile, he expressed understanding for the new members' desire to have their own seats on the commission.
Schroeder and Dzurinda said they hoped their differences could be ironed out at the EU intergovernmental conference in December.
After Slovakia, Schroeder will also visit Serbia and
Montenegro and Croatia.
|
|
|
