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updated by 7:00 a.m. CST each day
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Tepid
growth expected for Latin America
Latin America's economy is expected to grow by a
mere 1.5 percent in 2003, a modest recovery from a
0.6 percent fall the year before, a United Nations
agency reports.
In its mid-year
report on the regional economic performance, the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean, or ECCLA, said growth will be lower than
expected.
Argentina will lead
individual economic growth rates in the region with
about a 5.5 percent increase compared to a 10.9
percent fall in 2002.
But Venezuela's
economy will shrink 13 percent, mainly as a result
of the crippling strikes against President Hugo
Chavez, including a stoppage that idled the
country's oil industry for weeks.
Costa Rica, Chile and
Peru are expected to post economic growth above 3
percent this year, while Colombia, Honduras and
Panama should grow by at least 2 percent, the U.N.
agency said in the report, which was released last
week.
ECCLA's executive
secretary Jose Antonio Ocampo said growth in Brazil
will be only about 1.5 percent, in part because of
the continued high interest rates prevailing in the
region's largest economy.
On the positive side,
Latin America has shown a marked recovery of its
exports, which should grow by 4 percent and leave a
$37 billion surplus in the region. Inflation has
been dropping steadily and is expected to average
8.6 percent this year, down from 12.1 percent in
2002, according to ECCLA. But foreign investments
are declining, the report added.
MOPT Wants the Use
of Seatbelts
Though not
obligatory, the Ministry of Public Works and
Transport (MOPT), has drawn up plans to demonstrate
to Ticos that the use of seat belts is for their own
good.
To that end, they will bring to Costa Rica, Juan
Pablo Montoya, one of the most recognized Formula 1
driver in the world.
For the next two months, the MOPT will begin an
aggressive campaign to demonstrate the how the use
of seal belts can save lives, using the Formula 1
driver as a spokersperson, television and newspaper
advertising to drive the point home.
The law that makes the use of seat belts obligatory
is on the books. However, several years back, a
challenge was made on the law and the case came
before the Sala IV, the Constitutional Court, which
struck down the law saying it was unconstitutional,
as it denies personal freedom and liberty.
Drivers and passengers need only to wear their seat
belts if they so choose.
Police
Continue Digging House of Kattia's Killer
Rings,
ear rings and bracelets were among items
recovered during the past month's excavation
of the house of Jorge Sánchez, who is accused
of murdering Kattia Vanesa González.
The discovery has led police to believe that
more little girls may have been in the house
and victims of abuse and possible murder by
the man who is in custody awaiting trial for
the murder of the little girl, who was found
buried below the floorboards of the house,
only 25 meters from where she lived.
Kattia Vanesa González disappeared on hr 4th
of July of this year and was found a week
later.
Immigration
Crackdown Continues
Police
were busy this weekend, as they concentrated in
the areas of Pococí, Rio Frio, Guácimo
and Guápiles, detained foreigners whose
immigration status was not clear.
Of the 135 detained, 107 are Nicaraguan, 10
Colombians, 5 Americans, 2 Chinese and the rest
from other Central American countries.
According
to authorities of immigration, each detainee
will have his status in Costa Rica investigated,
as many carried false cedulas or residency
papers. Some were automatically deported on
Saturday.
The operation was a joint effort of special
police agents from immigration, Fuerza Publica,
PANI (the children's welfare agency), the OIJ
and MINAE.
Authorities are committed to continue these type
of operation in other parts of the country, over
the next coming months.
Editor's
Note:
If you are visiting Costa Rica and are traveling
outside of San José, we recommend that you
carry your passport or a copy of your passport,
with the entry stamp page clearly marked. Don't
resist to show it to any immigration officer who
requests it. This is your only proof that you
came in to the country legally. North Americans
and Europeans have a 90 day legal stay, while
most other foreign nationals have only 30 days.
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Europeans swelter through hottest summer
Temperatures in large parts of Europe have hit over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the past few days, with all-time records reported in Britain and Germany.
Britain on Sunday sweltered through its hottest day in 130 years, with the thermometer rising to 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.6 Fahrenheit) in Gravesend in southern England.
Germans suffered record heat on Saturday. In the Bavarian city of Roth, the temperature reached as high as 40.4 degrees Celsius (104.72 Fahrenheit). The previous record of 40.2 degrees Celsius (104.36 Fahrenheit) was set in 1983, also in Bavaria.
With temperatures hovering in the upper 30 degrees Celsius (90s Fahrenheit) and showing no signs of falling until later in the week, France was in its worst heat wave in more than 50 years.
In Paris, at least 50 people have died in the past four days from the heat wave, a top Paris hospital official said on Sunday.
Although officials from the national health service denied the report, saying there was no accurate statistics on recent deaths due to the heat, they admitted "high temperatures are clearly associated with a rise in deaths."
In the Netherlands, authorities on Sunday issued their first so-called code red for possible power shortage in almost a decade, asthe country struggled to cope with the massive heat wave.
Describing the situation as "precarious," the authorities warned that the country could suffer from power shortage if the heat continues as reserve capacity has hit an absolute minimum.
Throughout the European continent, more than 40 deaths have been blamed on oppressive temperatures and wildfires which were fed by the abnormal hot and dry weather.
The heatwave death toll included 19 in Spain and a three-year-old girl in France, who died of dehydration in a parked car on Sunday.
Forest fires in Croatia, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain haveravaged more than 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of pinewood andbrush in the past two weeks, with Portugal suffering most severelyfrom the fires.
New wildfires that broke out late Sunday in Portugal and Spain forced nearly 1,000 residents to flee their homes. Authorities in Lisbon estimated that the blazes had caused damage totaling at least 925 million euros (1.05 billion US dollars).
The hot, dry weather has caused losses to European farms. Farmers in the German state of Brandenburg said the heat could destroy up to 80 percent of their crops, while in France, about 1 million chickens died in the heat last week.
Still, there was little relief in sight. Hot weather in many European countries are expected to continue until at least the endof this week, meteorologists have predicted.
Many New Yorkers still suffer from aftermath of Sept. 11 terror attacks
Thousands of New Yorkers say they still suffer from the terror attacks on World Trade Center, and they are reaching out to help hot lines in numbers greater than last year, The New York Post reported Sunday.
Callers are seeking assistance for health complaints ¨C ranging from respiratory ailments and pneumonia to acid reflux -- that many link to the toxic plume created when the Twin Towers fell, as well as for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.
Medical-research workers at Ground Zero report complaints of persistent asthma, sinusitis and acute nose and throat irritation.
"People calling are preoccupied with their safety. There is sleeplessness, they're having a range of unwanted memories and flashbacks, there's a fear of going into public places and substance-abuse problems," said John Draper, director of Lifenet, a New York counseling service.
Lifenet received more than 6,300 calls last month -- up more than 20 percent from July 2002, he said.
Lifenet counselors say about one in seven recent callers exhibits signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. Prior to Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Lifenet got about 3,000 calls a month, with one in 200 showing such symptoms.
The city's Fire Department reported that counseling cases rose from 2,106 last July to 3,003 this year. And the Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance has also registered a 30 percent increase since last year.
They all expect a further jump with next month's second anniversary of the terror attacks.
In a recent poll of 800 lower Manhattan residents conducted by the group Downtown Rebounds, 30 percent said they still suffer respiratory problems from Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"We don't frankly know what the longer-term health consequences will be," said Dr. Robin Herbert, co-director of Mount Sinai Medical Center's screening program, which last week released a study blaming Sept. 11 for low birth weights among babies exposed to dust and debris.
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