Experience has taught us to expect the unexpected. Investors have had their hopes raised too many times, only to be disappointed again and again.

What's in store for Monday the 26th? There are three possibilities, but please keep in mind that since there are two individuals involved, each could be treated separately with separate actions by the government...

In the first scenario, Prosecutor Walter Espinoza presents one or more charges against Osvaldo and/or Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho.

The process for a trial for Osvaldo begins.

Let us remember that Osvaldo's preventive detention order expires on Tuesday the 27th. It might be safe to believe that this would be extended if charges are presented. Luis Enrique cannot be tried in absentia in Costa Rica, and therefore the process would stop for him at this point.

Second possibility, Fiscal Espinoza closes the investigation for lack of evidence and no charges are filed from the government against one or both brothers.

The fraud accusations from investors remain an obstacle until they are voluntarily removed or settled. It is more likely Osvaldo would be released, and at the appropriate time, Luis Enrique would be free to return.

The third option is the most complicated.

In this scenario Fiscal Espinoza can't make up his mind, doesn't want to, or is advised not to, so no decision on the matter is filed by the end of the day on Monday.

Defense lawyers immediately file a petition with a then designated tribunal asking the court to request a decision by the Attorney General himself, Francisco D'allanese.

That court order would give the Attorney General ten days in which to act. If no action is taken by that time, the tribunal closes the government's case. The fraud accusations remain.

Needless to say, the coming days will begin a new chapter in this tragedy for so many.

Costa Ricans Living Longer
A study done by the University of Costa Rica, for the Centro Centroamericano de Población (CCP), says that Costa Rica is experience the same phenomenum of developed countries, an increase in life expectancy.

The study shows that the 'superviejitos' - those 90 years and older - will make up 1/4 of the Costa Rican population by the year 2050.

Experts say that the country needs to adopt policies that will guarantee the older segment of the population a quality of life at that age.

Today the average life expectancy in Costa Rica is 78.6 years - 76.3 for men and 81.1 for women. The mumbers are taken from the 2003 census by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censo (INEC).

A century back the life expectancy in Costa Rica did not pass the 40 year old mark.

What the secret for longevity? Experts say that the way you live your life affects aging. Non acitivity, poor diet, smoking and drinking as some of the causes of ealy aging. The process is not the same with everyone, it is personal and affects individually.

There are some common effects of aging. According to the experts, a 10-15% reduced brain capacity, 30% reduction in hearing and 30% for sight. A lowered organ function of 30-40% for the liver and 40-45% for kidneys is also common.
 

Pacheco's Mood Tied to the Moon's Phases
You are reading this right - for the legislative deputies of the Movimiento Libertario - president Abel Pacheco's decisions are influenced by the position of the moon.

The worst decisions of the government have come in the last quarter of the moon's phase. Aat least that the way the see it, according to Federico Malavassi, who tabled a study done for that end.

Malvassi said, that without consulting astrologers, they compared the calendar phase of the moon to the problems of the government and correlate the results that they all coincide with one phase.

For some, the comparison begins in the first week of February, with Pacheco's dispute with Luis Fishman and the tired embrace between the two men, and continuing with the personal attacks with Rolando Araya in the second round of the presidential campaign.

For Malvassi and many other deputies and public functionaries, they avoid the period of that phase of the moon which is associated with the president's bad mood.

That is not to say that the president will not be in a bad mood at other times, but the association with the last phase of the moon's cycle is well noted.
 

Plenty of Cell Lines Available
Need a cell phone? Well, ICE - Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad  - the state owned telephone company, appears still have plenty of lines available contrary to the popular belief that there are none.

It appears that ICE has 117.000 TDMA lines available for the taking. However, there are no GSM lines available at the moment.

ICE signed a contract with the Ericcson company, which after much debate and appeals to the Comptroller's office, it was approved last week and by March 2005 there will be 600.000 GSM lines on sale.

For the time being, consumers are snapping up the TDMA lines at a regular pace. Though GSM offers more services, TDMA lines have been around longer and offer a wider coverage. That will all change by next year.

To get your cell phone, a deposit of ¢12.500 colones is required and a cedula of residency (permanent or temporary) is required. The monthly basic cost of cellular service - both TDMA nad GSM - is ¢2.900 colones plus taxes and includes 60 minutes of call time.
 

Abortion supporters rally in Washington
Abortion-rights supporters marched in the hundreds of thousands Sunday, galvanized by what they see as an erosion of reproductive freedoms under U.S. President Bush and foreign policies that hurt women worldwide.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters rally on the National Mall on Sunday to show support for abortion rights and opposition to Bush administration policies on women's reproductive health issues, April 25, 2004. (China Daily/Reuters)

Amid the clamor of an election year, the throng of demonstrators flooded the National Mall. Their target: Bush, like-minded officials in federal and state government and religious conservatives.

Speaking beyond the masses to policy-makers, Francis Kissling of Catholics for a Free Choice declared, "You will hear our pro-choice voices ringing in your ears until such time that you permit all women to make our own reproductive choices."

Women joined the protest from across the nation and from nearly 60 countries, asserting that damage from Bush's policies is spreading far beyond U.S. shores through measures such as the ban on federal money for family-planning groups that promote or perform abortions abroad.

The rally on the National Mall stretched from the base of the U.S. Capitol about a mile back to the Washington Monument. Authorities no longer give formal crowd estimates, but various police sources informally estimated the throng at between 500,000 and 800,000 strong.

That would exceed the estimated 500,000 who protested for abortion rights in 1992.

Carole Mehlman, 68, came from Tampa, Fla., to support a cause that has motivated her to march for 30 years, as long as abortion has been legal.

"I just had to be here to fight for the next generation and the generation after that," she said. "We cannot let them take over our bodies, our health care, our lives."

Advocates said abortion rights are being weakened at the margins through federal and state restrictions and will be at risk of reversal at the core if Bush gets a second term.

"Know your power and use it," Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, House Democratic leader, exhorted the masses. "It is your choice, not the politicians'."

And feminist Gloria Steinem accused Bush of squandering international good will and taking positions so socially conservative that he seems — according to Steinem — to be in league with the likes of Muslim extremists or the Vatican.

Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, referring to the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, said the administration is "filled with people who ... consider Roe v. Wade the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history."

Pro-choice protestors shout at anti-abortion protestors during a march for women's rights in Washington, April 25, 2004. Hundreds of thousands of protestors gathered and marched in Washington to show support for abortion rights and opposition to the policies of the Bush administration on women's reproductive health issues. (China Daily/Reuters)
Organizers set up voter registration tables; supporters of John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, handed out stickers. The event was not overtly partisan but denunciations of Bush set the tone from the stage and the ground.

The throngs gathered by the Washington Monument for opening speeches and set off along Pennsylvania Avenue, looping back to the Mall near the Capitol. They moved slowly, bottlenecked by their own numbers.

A much smaller contingent of abortion opponents assembled along a portion of the route to protest what they called a "death march." Among them were women who had had abortions and regretted it; they dressed in black.

Tabitha Warnica, 36, of Phoenix, said she had two abortions when she was young. "We don't have a choice. God is the only one who can decide," she said.

Police used barricades and a heavy presence at that site to keep it from becoming a flashpoint. Both sides yelled at each other as the vanguard of the march reached the counter-demonstration.

"Look at the pictures, look at the pictures," shouted abortion opponents, holding up big posters showing a fetus at eight weeks.

"Lies, lies," marchers shouted back.

Police arrested 16 people from the Christian Defense Coalition for demonstrating without a permit and another anti-abortion protester for throwing ink-filled plastic eggs at rally signs.

Celebrities familiar to the abortion-rights movement led the parade, among them Whoopi Goldberg, Kathleen Turner and Cybill Shepherd.

Although Roe v. Wade still anchors abortion rights, some states have imposed waiting periods before abortions, requirements that girls under 18 notify their parents, and other limits that have closed abortion clinics or discouraged doctors from performing abortions.

Bush has signed a ban on what critics call partial-birth abortion, and the first federal law to endow a fetus with legal rights distinct from the pregnant woman.

Abortion-rights supporters say a fragile Supreme Court majority in favor of Roe v. Wade could be lost if Bush is president long enough to fill vacancies that come up in the court. Kerry supports abortion rights.

Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said the march was about more than the right to a safe abortion.

"The march is about the totality of women's lives and the right to make decisions about our lives," she said.
 

Salvador undecided to withdraw troops from Iraq after June
El Salvador was in a dilemma whether to keep its small troop contingent commanded by Spain in Iraq after June, reports from El Salvador said on Sunday.

El Salvador's troops in Iraq will finish its duty by June 30 and any extended period will be another subject to be analyzed, the report said

El Salvador has a contingent of 380 troops in Iraq which have been under Spanish command but Spain is possibly bring its forces home at the end of May.

The newly elected Salvadoran President, Elias Antonio Saca, a fellow member of the rightist Arena party, will have to assess the situation in Iraq and make a decision on the deployment of troops in Iraq.

The initial Salvadoran plan to withdraw its troops from Iraq was at the beginning of August.

Other two Central American nations, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, have declared that their troops would be withdrawn from the war-torn country as soon as possible due to simmering violence and Spanish withdrawal.

Spain leads the Plus Ultra Brigade in Iraq, which is composed of troops from Honduras, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Nicaragua. This contingent is not intended for combat operation but engaged in the reconstruction of Iraq.
 

Chinese vice premier meets Cartagena city mayor
Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu met on Sunday with Alberto Rafael Barbosa, mayor of Colombia's Cartagena city, as part of his South American tour.

The friendly relationship and trade and economic cooperation between Colombia and China have developed smoothly in recent years, said Mayor Barbosa, who presented Hui with a golden key to the city and granted him the city's honorary citizenship.

He hoped Hui's visit will bring the Colombia-China friendly exchanges and cooperation to a new level.

Cartagena, a famous heroic city in Colombia's history, plays an important role in the country's economic construction, said Hui, who wished the Caribbean port city will make greater contribution to Colombia's future development.

Hui is expected to meet with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in the capital of Bogota, where he will also attend a signing ceremony of agreements on agricultural and educational cooperation.

Colombia is the last leg of Hui's three-country trip to South America which has taken him to Brazil and Chile.