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updated by 7:00 a.m. CST each day
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Teacher's Strike Continues: Day
21
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Union leaders meet with Education Minister
Yesterday, several union leaders met with
Education Minister Manuel Antonio Bolaños in an
attempt to find a solution to the long teacher's
strike.
Teachers, on Friday, made it clear that they did not
like the latest Government proposal and that the
strike would continue into this week.
The Government is asking for continued talks and
that teachers return to their classrooms in the
meanwhile. Saturday, a Government spokesperson made
it clear that sanctions would be applied if the
strike continues to Monday.
Alarm for increase
in suicide attempts
The amount of suicide attempts in San Ramon de
Alajuela and neighboring communities, alarm doctors
of the Carlos Luis Valverde hospital and judicial
authorities.
A sub-delegation of the
San Ramon OIJ, that includes Palmares, Naranjo and
Alfaro Ruiz, registered 74 attempted suicides last
year, compared to 32 in 2001.
Of the reported cases for 2002, the largest number,
28, was attributed to those under 20 years of age,
which included a 13 year old boy. More than two
thirds were women.
Trade mission set
to go to Costa Rica
A statewide trade mission to San José, Costa Rica
is being organized by Louisiana Economic
Development, the Louisiana Office of Tourism, the
World Trade Center of New Orleans, and MetroVision
for the purpose of promoting Louisiana’s trade,
transportation, tourism, cultural and other
reciprocal interests with Costa Rica.
The primary sectors represented will be trade and
transportation; sports management; tourism; and
neo-natal, pediatric and maternal health care.
One of the highlights of the mission will be
U.S. Ambassador John Danilovich’s Fourth of July
reception for Costa Rican officials and business
leaders, with the Louisiana mission as special
guests. The reception will feature Louisiana
specialties prepared by Chef Roy Lyons of the Frog
City Café in Rayne.
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IMF approves release of loan to Argentina for debt payment
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday approved the release of an additional 320 million US dollars to Argentina, as part of a stand-by arrangement for its debt payment.
The decision was made after the IMF completed the second reviewof Argentina's performance under a seven-month, 3.1 billion-US dollar Stand-By Arrangement, which was agreed upon in January, themultinational financial organization said in a press release issued in Washington.
MF chief Horst Koehler said "signs of recovery are encouraging" in Argentina in recent months.
"The Fund looks forward to working closely with the authoritiesin developing a strong and confidence-building medium-term successor program that would sustain growth and reduce poverty," said Koehler, who is to visit Argentina and meet with Argentine President Nestor Kirchner next week.
Since President Kirchner took office on May 25, the Argentine government has been seeking a long-term debt payment deal with theIMF to ease its debt burden.
Peaceful use of nuclear energy to be discussed in Cuba
The use of nuclear energy for peaceful ends and the possible means for international cooperationon this resource will be discussed here next week by Latin American specialists, official sources said on Saturday.
Specialists from Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico,Peru and Venezuela will participate in the 4th meeting of the Agreement on Cooperation for the Promotion of Nuclear Science and Technology in Latin America and the Caribbean
(Arcal).
According to the sources, the central issue of the meeting will be the study of application of nuclear energy in agriculture, industry and health, as well as the discussion of a cooperation program for the 2005-2010 period.
At the end of the meeting, Cuba will take over the presidency of the Arcal, which was created two decades ago with nearly 20 countries of the region as members.
Saddam survives US attacks:
report
A top Iraqi official arrested earlier this week has told US interrogators that ousted President Saddam Hussein and his two sons survived the US-led war, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
Abid Hamad Mahmoud al-Tikriti, Saddam's secretary and the No. 4 on the US most-wanted list of Iraqi officials, said Saddam had fled to Syria with his sons after the conflict, the newspaper quoted US Defense Department officials as saying on Friday.
The officials said they had not yet assessed the accuracy of the claims by Mahmoud, which reportedly controlled assess to Saddam as the Iraqi leader's most-trusted man.
But they said that the United States regarded the information as having enormous potential significance, and that it had ignitedan intense burst of clandestine American military activities aimed at capturing the sons, Uday and Qusay, and perhaps even Saddam himself.
If the account Mahmoud has provided to his interrogators is true, it would be the most authoritative confirmation that neither Saddam or his sons were killed in the US-led military actions against Iraq in March and April.
In a previous report published on Thursday, The New York Times said American intelligence analysts now believe that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is much more likely to be alive than dead.
The view has been strengthened in recent weeks by intercepted communications among fugitive members of the Saddam Fedayeen and the Iraqi intelligence service, the newspaper quoted US government officials as saying.
US officials said the conviction among Saddam's loyalists that he is still alive has emerged as a powerful motivating factor in the military resistance to US forces in Iraq.
Colombian soldiers capture warlord sought in killing of 450
Colombian troops on Saturday captured a far-right paramilitary warlord who is accused of murdering at least 450 people in northern Colombia's
Barrancabermeja.
Military authorities identified the paramilitary leader as Said Sepulveda, who led the outlawed United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
(AUC).
The capture was the result of six months of intense investigations, the military said.
The AUC, which has about 10,000 fighters, has its origins in vigilante groups set up by cattle ranchers and drug lords to fightleftist guerrillas.
Over the past few years, it has killed hundreds of people it suspects of being leftists as it pushed into Barrancabermeja, a former stronghold of leftist rebels.
Colombia has suffered nearly 40 years of armed conflict, which kills about 3,500 people every year.
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