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Taxi Fares Up
The Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (ARESEP) - the government
body that regulates public prices and services - has approved a hike in taxi
fares of ¢25 colones for the first kilometer and ¢15 colones for each
kilometer thereafter.
Taxis rates will now go to ¢265 from ¢240 for the first kilometer and ¢150
from ¢135 for each additional kilometer in the San José Metropolitan Area.
For service outside of the Metropolitan Area, the taxi rates for each
additional kilometer will be ¢155 up from ¢140. The base rate stays the
same.
In addition, the ARESEP approved an increase in the 'wait' fare from ¢1.020
to ¢1.120 for each hour.
The rates do not come into effect, nor the taxis can adjust their meters or
"marias" as they are locally known, until the increases are published in the
official newspaper
La Gaceta, which is expected in a
few days.
Taxi companies had also asked for "night" rate, where fares would be
increased by 20% during the period of 10pm and 5am. The ARESEP rejected
this, a practice that had been in place for many years until it was
suspended in September of 2000.
Taxi drivers argue that there is a decrease in demand for taxis at night and
that the risk of being robbed increases. ARESEP rejected those arguments in
justification of an increase.
The increase in taxi fares is a reflection of the increase in gasoline
costs, which is now set at ¢280 colones for a liter of regular, while in
November last year, the same liter would have been ¢254. The ARESEP also
sets the prices of gasoline in the country.
Pedestrians Bridges Approved
Finally, following many years of debate and many deaths, the Contraloría
General de la República has authorized the construction of two pedestrian
bridges - one front of the Plaza Cariari on the General Cañas highway and
the other in front of the residential known as "Los Arcos", approximately
500 meters west of the Cariari.
The bridges will be built within the next 240 days and will cost
approximately ¢155 Million colones. The Contraloriá has authorized the
Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Conavi) to give the contract to the firm
Productos de Concreto S. A.
Conavi is the government body authorized by the Ministerio de Obras Públicas
y Transportes (MOPT) to carry out work on the public roads.
Two other pedestrian bridges are being planned: one in front of the CIMA
hospital and the other in front of Multiplaza, both on the Próspero
Fernández highway, on the Santa Ana / San José route. No time frame has been
established for those bridges.
Thre other bridges will also be built on the Florencio del Castillo highway
that goes from Cartago to San José, the first two will be built near the
residential Hacienda Vieja and Villas de Ayarco, while the third's location
is not yet defined.
In the 2003, 122 pedestrians died crossing the highways.
Rainy Season in Two Weeks?
The weather this past year has been, well, unsettling. For the first time
rain was record in the Central Valley during the month of February. And
there have been many cold and windy days where sunshine is the norm.
The weatherman - Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) - now tells us that
the "rainy" season will come this year earlier than expected.
Eladio Zárate, director at INM, tells us that the transition of season in
the Central Valley will begin in about two weeks. Yes, two weeks. Zárate
added that this year less rain is expected than that of 2003.
In the Pacific region, the rainy season is expected to begin between the 5th
and 15th of May
Heredia Will Have A
Pedestrian Boulevard
Avenida Principal, the main road into
the center of Heredia, will become a pedestrian walkway or boulevard, from
the entrace at the Universidad Nacional to the Correos de Costa Rica
building.
According to Heredia mayor, Javier Carvajal, the necessary changes to
traffic have been studied in an attempt to eliminate traffic flow problems.
The mayor says that the cost of the project will top ¢1.200 Million Colones.
The project is expected to get underway next month.
Costa Rica's Alajuelense
Plays Earthquakes
The San José, CA, Earthquakes host
Costa Rica's LD Alajuelense in the home leg of the CONCACAF Champions
Cup on Wednesday at San José, California, Spartan Stadium at 7:30 p.m.
The Quakes dropped the first leg of the aggregate goal series 3-0 at
Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium in Alajuela, Costa Rica on March 17.
The Quakes must defeat Alajuelense by three goals to force overtime in the
series and must win by four goals to win the series.
In the first match, the Costa Rican champions got off to a quick start by
scoring two goals in the first 15 minutes of action. Erick Scott scored off
a corner kick in the 11th minute for the first goal of the game, and that
was followed by Froylan Ledezma's goal just three minutes later to put
Alajuelense up 2-0. The Quakes deficit grew to 3-0 when Luis Arnaez
converted a penalty kick in the 62nd minute.
Online Crack Down:
Lock Down Gambling Sites, Go To Jail!
A new U.S. Justice Department policy threatens to jail security
professionals who help lock down online gambling sites anywhere in the
world.
For example, you're a computer security expert who's hired by an offshore
casino in the Costa Rica to develop a security and authentication
technology. Your client is a licensed Costa Rica Casino that has been
operating for years, and wants to make a foray into online gaming.
You perform a standard penetration test, a security assessment, an
architecture and code review, help establish the SSL and authentication
protocols, and help with firewall implementation and monitoring - you know:
the full suite of security services. You test the beta site and its
configuration, and give your stamp of approval.
With check in hand, you return to America and days, weeks or months later,
the site goes active. A few weeks after that, you are visited by an FBI
agent with a federal grand jury subpoena seeking records relating to your
security work. Weeks after that, a knock on the door announces the arrival
of deputy US Marshals with a warrant for your arrest for violation of 18
U.S.C. 1084 and 18 U.S.C. 2.
Your computer security consulting may have earned yourself a one-way ticket
to the hoosegow.
US law generally makes it a crime if you are "engaged in the business of
betting or wagering" and you "knowingly [use] a wire communication facility
for the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or
information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting
events, or contest..."
This statute, 18 USC 1084, is called the "wire act" and has been applied for
more than 70 years to go after offshore bookies who seek to evade US law by
locating overseas.
However, Internet gambling is legalized in Liechtenstein, Gibraltar,
Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, and a few Caribbean islands. So the
first question is whether Internet gaming by a company in a country that
permits it is a violation of US law. The US Justice Department argues that
it is - and has the arrests and convictions - guilty pleas - to prove it.
The theory is that entities that are in the business of betting or wagering
(even where this is legal), who use international communications facilities
like the Internet, and in some way "enter" or "affect" the United States or
US citizens, are violating the Wire Act.
What could does this mean to you, the security professional? You aren't in
the "business" of betting or wagering. You haven't taken any bets over
international wires.
The punishment for aiding and abetting, however, is the same as for
committing the underlying crime.
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Colombia
seeks US aid extension
Three of Colombia's armed factions are on a US
terrorism list Colombia's president is starting a US visit in which he will
ask for trade concessions and more military aid for the country's 40-year
civil conflict.
Alvaro Uribe says he will aim for a bilateral free-trade agreement and ask
for an extension to the joint offensive against drug production.
Colombia has received more than $3bn in US aid - most of it military - in
the past five years. This makes it the third largest US aid recipient, after
Israel and Egypt.
We have a job that we have been doing very well, but that has not ended
The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Bogota says both of Mr Uribe's requests are
likely to be granted, although there will be conditions attached.
In the current climate, the US cannot refuse help in the war on terrorism,
our correspondent says.
With three of Colombia's warring factions on the US terrorism list and the
Andean nation exporting some 800 metric tons of cocaine every year,
President Bush will listen very seriously to whatever Mr Uribe has to say.
But elements of the US Congress are concerned about Colombia's human rights
record and the collateral damage being caused by the Colombian security
forces on the offensive armed with sweeping legal powers.
The current anti-drug offensive, Plan Colombia, is due to expire in
September of next year, but Mr Uribe wants it continued until 2009.
"We have a job that we have been doing very well, but that has not ended,"
Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco told AFP news agency.
"And the message that the president is taking to Washington is, 'Continue
following us and let's finish this job well'," she said.
Peruvian
government disbands intelligence agency
The Peruvian government dissolved the National
Intelligence Council (CNI), which is believed to link too closely to
ex-president Alberto Fujimori, announced Prime MinisterCarlos Ferrero late
Monday.
Ferrero said the government made the decision after accepting the
resignation from CNI chief Ricardo Arbocco, who assumed the post only two
days before. He was the seventh Peruvian intelligence chief over the past 32
months.
Arbocco resigned in order "not to affect the government of President
Alejandro Toledo," the prime minister said.
Peruvian media reported that Arbocco's opponents have been questioning his
ties to Vladimiro Montesinos, the former intelligence head and a close ally
of Fujimori, who fled to Japan and resigned the presidency in 2000.
The CNI headquarters in south Lima have been closed temporarily and CNI's
functions will be taken by intelligence departments of the police and the
army.
Montesinos, the once-feared top aide to Fujimori, is on trial in Peru on
charges that he helped smuggle weapons to Colombia's leftist rebels.
Mexico to host World Water Forum in 2006
Mexican President Vicente Fox announced Monday
that his country will host the 4th World Water Forum in March 2006, the
first time the week-long triennial meeting on water scarcity was held in a
American state.
"There isn't a simple formula to solve the recent global water crisis," Fox
told a ceremony Monday at Los Pinos Presidential House marking the World
Water Day, noting that water was a "strategic and national security matter."
He said the World Water Forum would provide Mexico a chance to share its
experiences, to contribute to the global dialogue on water problems and to
assume a commitment in the transfer of knowledge.
Mexico, as the headquarters of the forum, "has the responsibility to open a
plural and updated debate on the state and perspectives of the water
resources throughout the world, as well as to facilitate the accords with
local actors to turn them over to concrete measures," Fox added.
During the ceremony, William Cosgrove, the co-chairman of the World Water
Forum's International Organizing Committe and president of the World Water
Council, said the unequal distribution of water affects many regions
throughout the world.
He urged countries around the world to promote the careful planning of water
use, and if necessary coordinate with neighboring nations, so as to avoid
water shortage in the decades to come.
Official figures revealed that the number of people affected by water
shortage will have trebled by 2005 to 4 billion, almost two-thirds of the
current world population, including people in regions such as the Americas
with plenty of water, Cosgrove said.
Latin America and the Caribbean hold vast resources of water. With only 15
percent of the world territory and 8.4 percent of the population, the region
receives 29 percent of global rains and has one third of the renewable water
resources.
However, the region suffers frequent periods of drought related to water
contamination and lack of access to drinking water and sewage disposal.
These problems also affect other poorest nations and countries in more arid
regions of Africa and Asia, he said.
Chile's
president calls for change in Mideast situation
Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Monday said that a
change in Middle East situation was necessary as the murder Sheik Ahmed
Yassin, spiritual leader of the anti-Israeli Hamas, might bring up more
violence in the region.
He said that the four sponsors of the Roadmap peace plan, the United States,
Russia, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations, should adapt
themselves to the new conditions and push for peace in the region.
Lagos pointed out that instability in the Middle East would bring harms to
world peace and if "we are not capable of solving the conflict between
Israelis and Palestinians we will hardly be able to move forward in other
thorny issues like that in Iraq."
Yassin was killed early Monday in Israeli air strike, sparking waves of
revenge threats. Many fear the assassination would push violence in the
region to a new level.
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