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La Carpio Operation
Nets 22 Deportations
During the police sweep of the La Carpio, west of San José, that took place
Friday morning some 600 persons were submitted to a police operation where
they asked to produce documentation for their legal status to live and work
in Costa Rica.
The majority were able to return to their homes without a problem.
According to police sourses, 73 Nicaraguans were detained in the operative.
Of those detained, 51 were given five days to provide additional
documentation to demonstrate the legal status to remain in Costa Rica, while
22 were to be deported immediately.
According to Immigration Director, Marco Badilla, officials hope to have
them in Nicaragua no later than Tuesday.
During the raid 19 other individuals were found to have been evading police
for crimes committed in Costa Rica from domestic violence to aggravated
assault and robbery. All are now in police custody.
Civil Marriages
Overtake Catholic Marriages
Civil marriages have overtaken religious marriages in Costa Rica. According
to figures released y the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE), there were
24.057 marriages registered in 2003, 488 more than in 2002.
Of the total, 15.456 were civil marriages, while only 8.211 were catholic
marriages and 390 marriages were performed outside of Costa Rica at consular
offices.
The TSE says that it registers a total of 254.325 marriages, of which
137.958 are civil marriages, while only 113.540 are catholic marriages.
In Costa Rica a catholic marriage is a marriage that takes place in a
Catholic church, while, civil marriage can take place by the couple visiting
a lawyer's office or notary public, signing the required documentation and
having it registered. In either case the marriage is legal.
Marriages legally performed and
valid in Costa Rica are also legally valid in other countries.
To be legally recognized in
the U.S. and Canada,
your marriage certificate must be:
translated into English by an
Official Translator accredited by the Ministry of Foreign Relations ("Ministerio
de Relaciones Exteriores"),
Authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Relations ("Ministerio de
Relaciones Exteriores"), and
notarized by a Public Notary.
In Costa Rica if the future wife has been divorced or widowed, she can
remarry only three hundred
(300) days after the official issuance date of her divorce decree or her
former husband's death certificate. She can waive this requirement if she
proves that she is not pregnant before your marriage ceremony.
If her pregnancy test is
negative, she can marry immediately.
1.200
Visitors Land at Liberia Airport in One Day
The Liberia airport in Guanacaste - offcially named Aeropuerto Daniel
Oduber - inaugurated it's expansion of the facility yesterday afternoon with
the arrival of more than 500 tourists to the area in a few minutes in the
early hours of the afternoon.
A Northwest Airlines flight was the first to land at the renovated airport,
followed shortly by Delta and American Airlines flights moments later.
In total some 1.200 visitors made the day a record for traffic at the
airport where temperatures rose above 35 Celsius, scorching anyone that is
not native to the area. A few hours before some visitors were freezing in
the cold temperatures of northern U.S.
The first day of operation went smooth as passengers were quickly moved
through immigration and customs inspections and were able to pick up their
luggage without problems.
Yesterday was the first direct flights for American and Continental to the
region.
Each week the Liberia airport is expected to handle 12 regular flights and 6
charter flights to the airport. Visitors in the past had to land in San José
and then be ferried either by bus or air to the Guanacaste beaches.
Drugs,
Terrorism and Flesh Trade Agreement at Forum
East Asian and Latin American countries have agreed to fight against
terrorism, drugs and human trafficking at a meeting in Manila.
Ministers of 32 countries from the Forum for East Asia-Latin America (Fealac)
also agreed during the two-day conference to tackle trans-border threats
including drugs, trafficking in women and children, small arms, and
communicable diseases, said Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai.
The meeting also recognized that North Korea's development of nuclear
weapons posed a threat to regional peace and stability, and supported the
six-party dialogue on the issue.
Fealac comprises the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, while
members on the Latin American side include Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia,
Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay,
Peru, Panama, Uruguay and Venezuela. Two new members are Nicaragua and
Guatemala.
The meeting adopted the Manila Plan of Action, which set the forum's
priorities and direction in capacity-building and cooperation in enhancing
micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, said the co-chair of this year's
meeting, Philippine secretary of foreign affairs Delia Domingo Albert.
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US
Continental Airlines cancels flights from Scotland to LA
Saturday's Continental Airlines Flight 17 from
Glasgow, Scotland, to Los Angeles International Airport, was canceled
because of continuing fears of terrorism, authorities said.
The flight from Glasgow, with a stop in Newark, was canceled Saturday night,
according to KCAL9, a local TV station here.
"I talked to the people at our control center, and Continental has canceled
the flight," said Tom Winfrey of Los Angeles World Airports, which runs Los
Angeles International Airport (LAX).
"We continue to work with state and federal authorities to maintain security
at LAX" at levels ordered by the federal government, Winfrey said earlier.
Air France and British Airways (BA) canceled seven flights to and from the
East Coast of the United States, but no changes were ordered by those
airlines on their flights to and from Los Angeles.
Citing security concerns, four BA flights -- scheduled for Sunday and Monday
-- between London's Heathrow Airport and Washington, D.C., were scrubbed,
along with one from London to Miami, scheduled for Sunday.
Air France
cancels flights between Paris, Washington
Air France announced Saturday that it has
canceled two Paris-Washington flights and two return flights on Sunday and
Monday due to security concerns.
"We confirm that for reasons of safety we have canceled flight number 026 to
Washington on February 1 and the same flight on February 2," an Air France
spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, Air France's branch in the United States announced that it has
also scrapped two Washington-Paris flights on Sunday and Monday.
"We have been for several months in an extremely tense international
environment... Air France has thus decided to take necessary measures and
suspend the flights, I think its a wise decision," French Foreign Minister
Dominique de Villepin told France's TF1 TV station.
A US official said on Saturday Washington had intelligence that Osama bin
Laden's al-Qaida network might target five or six US-bound flights from
Europe to carry out possible Sept. 11-style attacks on US interests.
On Saturday, British Airways canceled flight BA223 to Washington on Sunday
and Monday, and the return BA222 flights to London on the same days.
WHO
refutes claims that bird flu virus originated from China
There is no evidence whatever to support the
claims that China is the source of the bird flu virus, and there is no clear
answer yet as to where the virus originated, World Health Organization (WHO)
spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said.
More than 20 WHO labs are currently conducting tests on samples of the bird
flu virus collected from the Asian countries, Chaib told a news conference
here on Friday.
She also advised that staff workers on poultry farms strengthen
sterilization measures, including wearing protective clothing and masks of
N95-type, and that those exposed to poultry wash their hands promptly.
WHO looks forward to working closely with China 's Ministry of Health to
prevent the spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, Chaib added.
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