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Beware, It's The Ides of March Today!
'Beware of the ides of March', was the historic prophecy given to
Julius Caesar by his soothsayer, Spurrina, when he foretold his
assassination on March 15.
Caesar ignored the warning and was assassinated by his ministers who
betrayed him. And the story concluded with his last words immortalized as, "
Et tu , Brutus!"
Essentially Ides of March refers to the date March 15. In March, May, July
and October, the ides fall on the 15th day. In every other month, the ides
are on the 13th. The word "ides" was derived from the Latin "to divide".
They were originally meant to mark the full moon, but since the solar and
lunar calendar months were of different lengths, the ides soon lost their
original intent and purpose.
One theory also states that Caesar did heed Spurrina's warning but forgot
that the ides of March were on the 15 and instead stayed home on March 13.
On the actual ides, his guard was down and he met his foretold fate.
The warning, 'Beware of the Ides of March', has since had ominous
connotations and often held as an admonition in literary proportions.
Lawyer Says he Knows Who Killed Parmenio
The Lawyer for Omar Chávez, who along with Father Minor Calvo, are charged
with being the principal authors of the assassination of journalist Parmenio
Medina in July 2001, say that they have located the gun that was used in the
murder and that two politicians and a magistrate are responsible for
killing.
Omar Chávez is still in preventative custory, while Calvo was released on
conditional liberty last Friday night.
Medina was the principal force behind a radio program "La Patada" and was
killed in his car outside of his home in July 2001 for supposedly being
vocal of the goings on at Radio Maria, a radio station that involved Calvo.
In a conference Sunday, the defence lawyer assures he has the proof to
implicate those responsible which is not his client. However, he refused to
name the names nor to disclose the motive behind the murder.
According to the lawer, Luis Alberto Aguirre, who is currently in prison is
being pressured by judicial officials to point the finger at his client and
Calvo. Aguirre's statement last year, that he was hired by Calvo and Chávez
to hire the gunman who did the shooting result in the arrest of Calvo and
Chávez.
Chávez comes befor a judge on Tuesday morning for hearing on his
incarceration. The hearing is to determine if Chávez is to continue
preventative custody or be given conditional release until trial.
Oil Against Goals
Achieving the goals established by the Central Bank in its monetary program
for the year 2004 - particularly regarding inflation - is becoming ever more
difficult, according to official sources, as a result of the repeated
increase of the price of oil in the international market, and the ensuing
rise of the prices of fuels in the domestic scene.
While the estimates for the year had been based on an average cost of $28
per barrel, in recent weeks the price has been steadily increasing to $32
and $35, therefore pushing the goals of Costa Rican economy authorities
farther.
More Tourists
Central America is expecting the arrival of 5.6 million tourists this year,
9 percent more than the number of visitors to the region in 2003.
According to the Salvadoran Minister of Tourism Manuel Aviles, the arrival
of tourists to the region has increased as a result of improved security.
U.S. Threatens Action Against Online Gambling
BetOnSports.com of Costa Rica banned from New
York buses
Federal prosecutors have begun a wide-ranging effort to curb the
growing popularity of online gambling in the United States by quietly
threatening legal action against American companies that do business with
Internet casinos and sports betting operations based outside the country,
lawyers and industry executives say.
The investigation into the activities of media, public relations and
technology companies relies on a controversial legal concept that holds that
the American businesses, by providing advertising and other services that
support Internet gambling, are "aiding and abetting" online casinos. That
gives prosecutors an indirect way to attack the overseas enterprises, whose
operations are illegal here but fall outside their jurisdiction.
Lawyers said they were not aware of any charges that had been filed. Still,
the campaign, which has gone on for months, has already chalked up some
significant non-legal victories. Several big media operations — including
Infinity Broadcasting, Clear Channel Communications and the Discovery
Networks — stopped running advertisements for offshore Internet casinos last
fall in light of the threat of further scrutiny that might lead to
prosecution.
The investigation of the Internet gambling industry, lawyers said, is being
run by Raymond W. Gruender, the United States attorney in the Eastern
District of Missouri. His office convened a grand jury last year in St.
Louis that has issued summonses to a number of companies and individuals,
including Sebastian Sinclair, a market researcher who provides economic
analyses of the online gambling industry.
Mr. Sinclair said he received a subpoena at the end of February. He said it
required him to testify before the federal grand jury next month.
The investigation comes as millions of Americans have turned to their home
computers to place sports bets and play casino games. Using credit cards or
other electronic payment methods, players can place wagers with the Internet
casinos, most of them in Costa Rica, the Caribbean or the Isle of Man,
between Ireland and Britain.
In trying to crack down on Internet gambling through American companies that
provide support services, particularly advertising and marketing, the
government may find itself on shaky legal ground, the industry, its lawyers
and some independent legal analysts say.
The reason, analysts say, is that broadcasters and marketers could well be
within their First Amendment rights in advertising on behalf of Internet
casinos.
But others say prosecutors may be able to develop a sound case on the ground
that American companies are profiting from the success of Internet casinos,
a plainly illegal enterprise in the United States.
Even though the legal issues have not been resolved, the inquiry is already
achieving some of its goals merely by raising questions.
"The government has floated these legal theories without having to prove
anything," said Lawrence G. Walters, a Florida lawyer who specializes in
Internet gambling law. "But they've achieved their end result: scaring the
players and the industry."
Mr. Gruender, the United States attorney in St. Louis, declined to comment.
His office referred inquiries to Justice Department officials in Washington.
They also would not comment, saying the department does not discuss any
potential or active investigation.
Broadcasters are already under scrutiny from regulators and legislators who
are seeking to establish new standards regarding obscenity. Recently, Clear
Channel, which operates the nation's largest chain of radio stations,
stopped carrying the Howard Stern show in six cities.
The investigation also underscores the complex legal and political issues
raised by the borderless Internet. The overseas casino operations are legal
and licensed in the jurisdictions where they are based, permitting them to
reach through the Web to customers in the United States, where federal and
state laws forbid the operation of unlicensed casinos.
David Carruthers, chief executive of BetonSports.com, an online sports
betting business based in Costa Rica, said he was licensed in that country,
as well as in Antigua, the Dominican Republic and Britain. His company
alone, he said, has 1.2 million registered American users and accepted 33
million bets from North America last year, the vast majority from the United
States.
He said his advertisements had been banned recently from, among other
places, the Howard Stern show, which is produced by Infinity Broadcasting, a
unit of Viacom.
Media companies are "being held hostage," Mr. Carruthers complained. "Unless
they stand up, they're going to lose millions in dollars from the
advertising."
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U.N.
Rights Report Chastises Colombia; Uribe Fires Back
An annual report on Colombia released yesterday by the U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights harshly criticized the government's crackdown
on leftist rebels, even as the military announced it had killed 20
insurgents in several clashes, Associated Press reports.
"The human rights situation remains critical," the report said, citing
abuses, arbitrary roundups and anti-terror laws granting sweeping powers to
the military.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe responded immediately, accusing the U.N.
report of lacking objectivity and failing to understand "the gravity of the
threat" illegal militias pose to Colombia.
"What we have here is a democratic government ... faced with enormous
threats by armed groups rolling in cash due to narco-trafficking who want to
destroy democracy," he said in a radio interview blasting the U.N. report.
"The United Nations does not understand that that requires work," he added.
Colombia's civil war has raged for 40 years, pitting two leftist rebel
groups against right-wing paramilitary factions and government forces and
killing an estimated 3,500 people each year.
In the most recent clashes on Tuesday between the military and leftist
rebels, the army claims to have killed nine fighters and captured 40 others.
In a skirmish with outlawed paramilitary forces, army troops killed eight
and captured 17. Three rebel soldiers died in other fighting.
UNHCHR's top Colombian envoy, Michael Fruhling, granted that security had
improved under Uribe's government but denounced legislation crafted by Uribe
allowing armed forces to arrest suspects, tap phones and search homes
without a warrant, saying it violates international law.
Fruhling also condemned the guerrilla tactics of Colombia's two leftist
rebel groups and their outlawed right-wing paramilitary foes and chastised
them for not respecting international humanitarian laws "even in the most
minimum way".
Cuba Protests US
Curb on Science Articles, Trips
The Cuban Academy of Sciences accused the Bush administration on
Tuesday of hindering scientific research by making it difficult for Cuban
scientists to publish their papers in U.S. journals.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Cuban academy said: "Only the free
flow of ideas and knowledge between scientists and academics of the whole
world can advance science for the benefit of all humanity."
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said last
September that U.S. editing of or collaboration on manuscripts from
countries subject to major U.S. sanctions were prohibited. The actual
publication of a "camera-ready" paper without changes would be permitted, it
said.
On Tuesday, a Treasury official said while the government wanted to promote
free speech, laws prohibiting trade with countries deemed hostile were in
place to protect the security of the American people and help promote
democracy abroad.
The Cuban academy also protested renewed restrictions on travel by Cuban and
American researchers.
The Bush administration, which has toughened enforcement of a
four-decade-old trade embargo on Cuba's Communist government, has denied
visas to Cuban scientists and eliminated licenses for cultural exchange
visits to Cuba by Americans.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces the ban on travel to
Cuba, recently denied licenses to a group of 70 American doctors and
researchers who planned to attend an international conference in Cuba on
coma and death this week.
The U.S. agency "determined that the applicants had not provided sufficient
information to qualify for the licenses," State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher said.
The Cuban Academy of Sciences said the restrictions were aimed at winning
the votes of Cuban exiles in Florida, a crucial state in President Bush's
November re-election bid.
"Once again, the Bush government has stepped up its anti-Cuban policy in an
effort to please right-wing Cuban-Americans in South Florida in an election
year," the academy said.
Since 1962, Washington has maintained a trade embargo on Cuba aimed at
ousting Cuban leader Fidel Castro. But food sales are allowed following an
easing of sanctions in 2000.
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