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Red? Green? Go? Stop?
There are more than 40 traffic lights are reported not working properly in
the San José Metropolitan Area. Most have one or more bulbs burned out for
some time.
Transit authorities say they are on top of the situation, however, their
hands are tied since their cranes and other equipment need repair before
they can get the job done.
In the meantime, drivers take huge risks in guessing if the dark traffic
light they are facing is signaling red or green. Along Second Avenue
alone - the major thoroughfare through downtown San José - has four traffic
lights malfunctioning.
Transit authorities have asked other government institutions for help in the
loan of equipment and hope that they will have all the traffic lights
working by the end of this week.
Record Gasoline Prices Today
Today gasoline prices set a new record - the highest ever recorded for the
price of one litre of gasoline.
Last week, price hikes were announced that came into effect this morning
after being published in the official newspaper La Gaceta.
In this increase there also includes an increase in the profit margin for
the national oil company RECOPE. The price of one liter of gasoline rises to
¢293 colones for super, up from ¢275); a liter of regular gasoline will now
cost ¢280, up from ¢263; and, a diesel goes from ¢194 to ¢207 colones per
litre.
Cops Pursue Homicide
Leads to Costa Rica
By JEANE MacINTOSH - New York Post
The plastic-surgery quack suspected of killing a pretty financial analyst
during a botched operation has been openly living a wild gay lifestyle here
- working as a go-go dancer and lounging around male spas.
Two NYPD detectives were set to travel to Costa Rica today to hunt for the
fugitive phony physician, Dean Faiello, who is wanted in the death of
35-year-old Barclays banker Maria Cruz.
Faiello, 44, has been living in San Jose for months since fleeing the
United States after Cruz's death.
He worked as a pretty-boy dancer at Puchos Night Club, a raunchy gay bar
in a seedy section of San Jose, as recently as two weeks ago, one of the
club's managers said. He also frequents an Internet cafe, where he
spends an hour a day exchanging e-mails with cyberpals, staffers there
said.
The fake doc became a suspect in Cruz's death after her body was
discovered last Wednesday stuffed in a suitcase buried under concrete at
Faiello's former home in Newark.
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Danny Faiello wanted in the
U.S.
is believe to be in Costa Rica! |
She had been missing since April 13 - the day she had an appointment for
tongue surgery with Faiello at a Manhattan apartment on West 16th Street
that he used to perform his illicit procedures.
Faiello had been out on $5,000 bail while awaiting sentencing for practicing
medicine without a license. He skipped the country after selling his home in
May - just a day after getting a shipment of concrete delivered there.
Investigators believe he fled to Costa Rica with at least $200,000 in cash.
On Feb. 11, a week before the body was found, Faiello worked as a go-go boy
at Puchos, which is famous for its male dancers.
The woman who hires dancers at the club recognized his picture immediately.
"He worked just the one night and he never came back," she said, sounding
annoyed.
Faiello, who reportedly had done stints as a dancer at Big Apple go-go bars
in the 1980s, entered Costa Rica on Sept. 19 on a three-month tourist visa.
He listed his occupation as dermatologist and did not provide an address.
There are large numbers of skin clinics and spas offering facials and laser
surgery in the region - work Faiello was doing without a license before he
fled the United States.
San Jose also has a large and thriving gay community. Its gay district is a
few blocks south of the city center.
At the popular Cyber Cafe in another area of town, where you can buy a
half-hour of Internet access for 75 cents, staffers said Faiello stopped by
two or three times a week and spent an hour on the Internet, mostly sending
and receiving e-mails.
Leaders Want Leadership on Trade Talks
World farm leaders have demanded strong leadership on trade talks by the
Cairns group of agricultural free-trading nations.
In an official communique released by the Cairns Group Farm Leaders, the
farmers said world trade ministers had to agree on major cuts to
agricultural protection.
The Cairns group, chaired by Australia, is meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica,
this week in a bid to find new ways to kickstart the stalled Doha round of
World Trade Organization talks.
National Farmers' Federation trade committee chairman Allan Burgess today
handed the farm leaders' communique to the Cairns group ministers.
He said farmers would not be satisfied with a round of trade negotiations
that failed to tackle agricultural tariffs, export subsidies and domestic
assistance.
"Our message is that trade distortions in the agricultural trading
environment are hurting our farmers, their families, rural communities and
therefore our nations as a whole," he said in a statement.
"The message is that this is unacceptable to us and the situation must be
fixed.
"The millions of farmers we represent in our countries expect it to be
fixed."
Mr. Burgess said a new trade environment had emerged since the breakdown in
the current negotiations at Cancun in Mexico last September.
He said the Cairns group was in a position to bridge the gap between those
opposed to agricultural reform and those nations demanding change.
"The Cairns Group has a long history of proactive leadership and we would
hope that after this meeting in Costa Rica there will be a clear commitment
to the Cairns Group and a collective desire to deal with the many challenges
that need resolution," he said.
"We are expecting the Cairns Group to stand up and deliver."
New Seascape Initiative Stretches from Costa Rica to
Ecuador
In one of the most ambitious marine conservation initiatives in the western
hemisphere, four Latin American nations, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre,
the United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation), Conservation International
(CI) and others are consolidating a marine protected area that stretches
from Costa Rica to Ecuador and helps safeguard some of the world's richest
marine habitats and dozens of endangered species.
The project, known as the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, covers 211
million hectares (521 million acres) and extends from Costa Rica's Cocos
Island National Park to Ecuador's Galapagos Island National Park and Marine
Reserve.
Along the way, the Seascape helps link marine protected areas in Panama and
Colombia, safeguards an important migratory route for the Endangered blue
whale (Balaenoptera musculus) and protects one of the last remaining nesting
grounds in the Eastern Pacific of the Critically Endangered leatherback
turtle (Dermochelys coriacea).
Under the agreement, the UN Foundation will invest $1.567 million in the
Seascape. CI and their Global Conservation Fund (GCF) will match that amount
with the support of a $1.2 million donation from the Gordon and Betty Moore
Foundation.
The four nations that share the Seascape and dozens of partner organizations
are expected to put additional millions into the project, which is being led
by UNESCO's World Heritage Centre.
"Healthy seas are being threatened by rampant commercial fishing, coastal
development and a flood of waste and pollutants," said Conservation
International's Chairman of the Board and CEO Peter Seligmann. "It will take
international cooperation to keep our oceans healthy and productive. We owe
these four nations, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador and Panama our thanks and
support for working together to conserve one of the planet's most precious
resources."
The Seascape initiative is part of a broader, $15-million agreement between
CI, the UN Foundation and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to conserve
current and proposed Natural World Heritage Sites, like Costa Rica's Cocos
Island National Park and Marine Reserve, Ecuador's Galapagos Islands
National Park and Marine Reserve, and Colombia's proposed site, Malpelo
National Park.
One of the marine species that has been hardest hit is the leatherback
turtle, which has seen its populations decline in the Eastern Pacific by
more than 97 percent in the last two decades. The Seascape addresses the
threat by incorporating Costa Rica's Baulas National Park and its
surrounding waters – one of the leatherback's last nesting grounds on the
American Pacific.
"The leatherback turtle is a species that has been around longer than the
dinosaur, but unless we take immediate and determined steps to change our
current fishing practices and our consumption habits, we will see it
disappear within our lifetime," said International Sea Turtle Society
President, and CI Vice President Roderic Mast. "The Seascape will help give
these magnificent creatures the protection and recognition they so urgently
need."
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Fire Destroys Casa Alianza Home In Guatemala
A fire caused severe damages in the Casa Alianza home for boys in
Nuyuyu, Guatemala, on the night of the 31st of December. Fortunately, no one
was hurt, but losses are estimated to reach around US$70,000.
Even though authorities have not yet determined the causes of the
catastrophe, it is being classified as an accident. The fire destroyed one
of the four residential cabins, which housed 40 of the former street boys.
When the Casa Alianza educators realized the danger, they reacted
immediately in order to safeguard all the children and were able to rescue a
great part of the educational material.
The police and firemen arrived on the scene almost immediately, but they
were able to do very little because the flames had already consumed a great
part of the installations.
The children that were found in the home were temporarily relocated, but
without a doubt, the possibilities of attention will be affected until the
home can be reconstructed.
¨We are trying to come up with the money we need to reconstruct the home,
because without a doubt, the loss of space limits our possibilities to aid
so many homeless children. They have a right to sleep in a bed, to eat, and
to study and have a dignified life,” explained Bruce Harris, Regional
Director for Casa Alianza in Latin America.
Insurance will cover an estimated 50% of the reconstruction costs. If you
would like to collaborate in the reconstruction of the home, please contact
Bruce Harris.
Lebanese Man
Caught In U.S. For Child Porn In Mexico
Lebanese businessman, Jean Succar Kuri, 60, was arrested last
Thursday, February 5th, in Arizona after Mexican authorities issued an
international order for his arrest accused of being the leader of a child
pornography ring in the city of Cancun, in the state of Quintana Roo, on the
Caribbean of Mexico. Sixteen victims have already presented criminal
allegations against him.
Mexican judicial authorities will begin immediate steps to extradite Kuri to
Mexico, where he will face legal charges of multiple offenses for the sexual
exploitation of minors.
The victims are between eight and fourteen years of age. Even though
authorities confirm that almost 20 Mexican girls were sexually exploited,
investigations reveal that the total of victims could in fact be several
thousand children of different nationalities, since the ring operated in
many countries.
One of the witnesses pointed out in her declaration, that she was a victim
of sexual exploitation since she was eleven years old. She is now 21.
It seems that the abuses were videoed by the suspect and in some of the
tapes appear images of people that would go to “parties” to sexually abuse
minors.
The Court of Justice in Quintana Roo is investigating if some of the girl
victims were sent to Los Angeles, where the wife of the suspect lives, as
part of the ring’s operations.
Kuri is also being investigated for money laundering. It is estimated that
for many years, he amassed a fortune that allowed him to establish multiple
businesses in Cancun, among them a bathhouse.
According to authorities, in Tijuana, in northern Mexico, another child
pornography ring that is exploiting approximately thousands of boys and
girls around the world.
Argentine judge
freezes ex-President Menem's assets
An Argentine judge on Tuesday froze the assets of ex-President
Carlos Menem, on charges of the former leader's hiding 600,000 US dollars
from tax authorities in a Swiss account.
Argentine tax agency wants a hold put on 1.5 million pesos (500,000 dollars)
worth of Menem's assets, which he said are not worth that much. It accused
Menem of failing to declare his Swiss account for tax purposes.
Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide banned the sale of all Menem's assets in
Argentina, including his Buenos Aires residence and three airplanes.
Argentine judges met with Swiss authorities last week to share information
on suspected money laundering, some of which named Menem.
In Geneva earlier in the month, Argentine investigators looked into the
possibility that Menem profited from illegal arms sales while in power.
Argentine authorities said President Nestor Kirchner wanted to recover all
the money illegally withdrawn from the country and kept in Swiss accounts.
The 74-year-old Menem ruled Argentina over 1989-1999 amid accusations of
corruption. He acknowledged in a CNN interview last year that he had a Swiss
bank account and was charged with tax fraud in December for failing to
declare the account.
Spanish judge advises Peru to take Fujimori extradition case to world court
Baltasar Garzon, a judge of the Spanish Supreme Court, advised
Peruvian authorities Tuesday to ask the International Court of Justice in
The Hague, the Netherlands, to file a charge against ousted President
Alberto Fujimori.
The judge, who was visiting Peru, stressed in an interview with Radio
programas that every way should be tried so that "impunity elements are not
reproduced."
"To protect a person by preventing him from answering to justice is not a
heroic act but a misinterpretation of what a nation's sovereignty is,"
Garzon pointed out.
He said Japan is, maybe because of its history, a very complicated nation
when it comes to extraditions, but "it has no reason to deny the extradition
of the former president."
"We have the game of the old extradition institution that answers not to the
efficient administration of justice but to the 19th century sovereignty
criteria," he added.
However, experts on Japanese law believe that it would be unlikely for Tokyo
to agree to let the world court resolve the dispute over Fujimori's
extradition.
Fujimori, 65, accused of involving in a string of scandals, left Peru in
November 2000 when he was attending an international conference. He has
since been staying in Japan because he also holds Japanese citizenship.
Fujimori was deprived of presidency and is wanted by the Peruvian Supreme
Court on charges of authorizing the military's massacre of 25 people in
1991-1992, embezzlement of public funds and dereliction of duty.
Peru is seeking his extradition from Japan, but Japan has refused, saying
Japan's law prohibits citizens from being tried in another country.
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