Saprissa, which is packed with members of the Costa Rican national team but started several substitutes and youth players, got on the board in the fifth minute of the second half on a goal off a blistering shot by midfielder Andres Nunez that ended up wedged between the net and the posts supporting the back of the goal.

Twenty minutes later, Alonso Solis made it 2-0 with a goal after a defensive breakdown by the Fire. His goal sent the roughly 8,000 fans at National Stadium into a boisterous celebration. Several late Fire attacks fell short of the mark.

"We're working at [scoring goals],'' Fire coach Dave Sarachan said. "I don't have an easy answer. It's always a concern when you don't score goals.''

Both teams played most of the game short-handed after the early expulsions of both captains. In the 29th minute, Saprissa's Victor Cordero was sent off for committing a flagrant foul against Fire defender C.J. Brown.

Three minutes later, Fire star Chris Armas earned his second yellow card and an automatic expulsion for committing a rough foul against Saul Phillip, one of two youth-team fill-ins Saprissa called on for the game. Sarachan also was tossed for arguing the call.

Saprissa's goals were the first allowed by Fire goalie Henry Ring in three games. The Fire drew its first two Major League Soccer matches 0-0.

The Fire must beat Saprissa by at least three goals in the second leg Wednesday at Soldier Field if it is to advance to the finals of the tournament. The CONCACAF Club Championship is the top international prize for teams in the Caribbean, Central and North American regions.

Sarachan thinks the Fire still can reach its first final in the tournament, taking heart that it overcame a three-goal deficit to advance in the last round.

After playing three consecutive road games in two countries, the Fire finally will get to enjoy some home cooking when it hosts the Dallas Burn at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Soldier Field. It will be the Fire's home opener in MLS play.
 

911 to Fine Prank Callers
Calling 911 for a prank will become costly for 400 persons who called the emergency service line to report false emergencies, calling to offer profanities to the operators or called just for a joke.

Luis Fernando Alfaro, legal advisor to the 911 system, says they have already sent to ICE, the telephone company, the first list of callers who should be sanctioned. ICE will be adding a charge to the subscriber's telephone bills.

Alfaro said that the owner of the telephone service has the responsibility to use the line in a correct form or risk being fined or losing the service. La Nacion, the Spanish daily newspaper, reported yesterday that the fine to be set for the prank calls would be ¢28.000 colones ($65 Dollars).

However, Alfaro indicated that the fine depends on many factors. He added that, for example, the fine could be as high as $41.950 ($98) for making from 1-10 false calls in a single year. If in the course of one month, more than 10 fales calls are registered, that fine would double.

All fines levied against the telephone service must be paid in the normal billing cycle, failing which, telephone service will be suspended.

Statistics shows that n the 2003, 911 received 5.6 Million calls of which 4.6 Million or about 80% of the calls were false emergencies or pranks.

Alfaro said that the monies collected on fines levied for false calls will be used to better the 911 emergency service.
 

ICE to Raise US$170 Million Financing
The Instituto de Electricidad Costarricense (ICE) - Costa Rica's state owned power and telecommunications company - announced it plans to finance 100% of its US$170 Million, 82MW Cariblanco hydro project through securities issued on the local market

In December 2003, ICE issued US$20 Million in securities, and on Tuesday issued a further US$10.5 Million in six-year securities priced at US$1,000 each. Interest is paid quarterly at an annual rate of 8.22%.

Tuesday's issue was more than four times oversubscribed, project implementation manager José Miguel Mena said. Details of exactly who bought the papers are not yet available, but in the past local pension funds have bought up similar issues, he said.

The next issue will be around end of June for some US$20 Million, with similar amounts being issued every three months or so "until the project is completely financed."

The securities are managed through a trust fund administered by local bank Banco Nacional. The mechanism allows ICE to avoid incurring direct debt, and Cariblanco is the second power generation project for which ICE has issued securities. The first was the US$70 Million, 37MW Peñas Blancas hydro plant that started operations in March 2003.

Cariblanco construction began in November and operations are scheduled to begin in October 2007.
 

Central American and Mexican Consulates to Aid California Immigrants
Consuls from Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica and Mexico say they're uniting forces to improve the quality of life for Hispanic immigrants in California.

The consuls announced a plan Wednesday to work with U.S. officials and community groups to provide joint education and legal assistance in areas of health, immigration and labor rights.

They said the agreement - the first in the country - is part of a broader effort by Mexico and the Central American nations to open up markets and share resources.

"The question is not, 'what do the countries gain from uniting?', it's 'what do we stand to lose by not doing it?'" Guatemalan Consul Fernando Castillo said before signing the agreement in Los Angeles' Olvera Plaza, where the city was founded by Spanish settlers more than two centuries ago.

The consuls maintain the United States relies on migrant labor, while Central American countries and Mexico rely on the revenue those migrants send home. But they said more needs to be done to protect the rights of their citizens who live in California, especially those who are undocumented.

"There is no question that we have to take a more active role to protect our people," said Honduran Consul Vivian Panting. "We can't sit back with our arms crossed."

The consuls will begin the new effort with an event to raise awareness about civic participation. They also plan to hold a health fair to highlight programs available for immigrants and share legal resources to help those detained by immigration authorities.

But they were clear that as diplomats, they will not get involved in the upcoming U.S. elections, and their focus remains Los Angeles County, which has roughly 4 million Central American and Mexican immigrants, the largest concentration in the country.

Felix Aguilar, a Long Beach doctor who frequently treats Hispanic immigrants, applauded the initiative.

"There are a lot of programs, but many people don't know about them, or they are afraid to come in because they think the might be deported," Aguilar said. "This I hope will help disseminate the information."
 

Cuba rights in UN spotlight
Rival countries are lobbying furiously to get their voices heard ahead of voting on a series of resolutions at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on Thursday and Friday.

Cuba, China and Israel are among a list of countries up for censure in proposed motions before the commission's 53 member states.

The now almost routine motion against Cuba has acquired new significance in light of the 75 dissidents sentenced to lengthy jail terms there last year.

But many developing countries resent this kind of motion, convinced it is a tool used by the rich and powerful - particularly the US - against countries they do not like, says the BBC's correspondent Elizabeth Blunt in Geneva.

The motion on Cuba was proposed by Honduras but is supported by Cuba's long-time foe, the US.

Albeit in what our correspondent terms mild, reasonable language, the motion deplores last year's sentences for journalists and political dissidents.

Reports say Washington has been lobbying hard to get other Latin American countries to support the motion.

"We've made no secret of the fact that we thought it's important for democracies in the region to step up" to vote for the motion, an unnamed State Department official told the Miami Herald newspaper.

"We're lobbying hard."

Several such countries have indicated their intention to support the motion - among them Chile, Peru, and Costa Rica - while Brazil and Argentina have suggested they will abstain.

This has provoked a furious response from Cuba, which says the US uses such motions to justify its 42-year political and economic sanctions on Cuba.

In past years, it has termed countries which sponsor such motions "US lackeys" and "Yankee boot-lickers".

He said Honduran President Ricardo Maduro had "surrendered to US pressure".

The New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch says that the commission is sometimes in danger of losing its way in the fog of ideological point-scoring.

Though the commission's resolutions do serve a purpose in shining a light on abuses, "it is also a political body - its members bring in national and ideological battles", said its Geneva director Loubna Freih.

For example, she says, both the US and EU tend to apply different standards to its allies and enemies.

"The US's role could and should be more constructive. It chooses to protect its allies the war on terror. How far will it condemn Russia's abuses in Chechnya this year?"

Nonetheless, says Ms Freih, Cuba's rights record last year was "atrocious" and it deserves to be censured.

If it escapes criticism, she says, "it's a poke in the eye for the commission".
 

Mexico denies US pressure on voting against Cuba at UN
The Mexican government denied the allegation Wednesday that the United States exerted pressure on Mexico to prompt its support for a resolution to condemn Cuba in the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

Agustin Gutierrez Canet, the government's international press director, told the press Wednesday that there is no pressure.

Mexico has not yet taken a final decision on the vote for the human rights situation in Cuba at the meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission now under way in Geneva, Gutierrez Canet said.

The Mexican government has abstained from voicing a position on this issue based on its foreign policy of non-interference in internal affairs of other nations and respect for sovereignty.

However, Mexican President Vicente Fox last year backed a resolution in which the UN commission criticized the situation in Cuba and urged Cuba to accept a visit by UN inspectors to oversee the conditions on the island.

The United States is boosting a similar initiative presented by Honduras, criticizing Cuba for human rights violations. The commission is expected to vote on the proposal later this week.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said US President George W. Bush called his Mexican counterpart Fox early Tuesday, a talk that was dominated by the Cuban issue. The two presidents agreed on the importance of approving a resolution over the Cuban issue at the meeting.

But Gutierrez Canet made it clear that "the two presidents touched on Cuba in the conversation, but Mexico has by no means taken any decision on how to vote on the proposed resolution."
 

Colombian guerrillas kidnap 7 electricity company contractors
Combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have abducted seven contractors ofan electricity company in the northwestern department of Antioquia, Colombian authorities said Wednesday.

Antioquia's Government Secretary Jorge Mejia Martinez said the seven were kidnapped Tuesday in a mountainous area of Dabeiba. He said the employees on a truck were intercepted by the FARC guerrillas in San Jose de Urama, in the rural zone of Dabeiba.

The FARC is fighting against the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) paramilitaries, the secretary said.

Those kidnapped technical and labor contractors belong to the Antioquian Energy Company responsible for works in the interconnection network of the region.

The 17,000-strong FARC is the oldest and largest leftist guerrilla group in Colombia and financed by drug operation and kidnappings.

Colombia has been involved in a four-decade civil war, the longest in Latin America, in which government forces, leftist guerrillas and far-right paramilitaries have fought each other, killing an average 3,000 people each year.