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updated by 7:00 a.m. CST each day
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Teacher's Strike Continues: Day
26
• It may
all be over today or tomorrow
Members of
Legislature voted in favor of creating a special
commission, to analyze the dispute between the
teachers and the government, for the next 30 days
towards finding a resolution to the issue on
pensions.
Education Minister, Manuel Antonio Bolaños, has
agreed not to apply sanctions against the teachers
is they complete the 200 day school year. He said,
that the sanction would be to those days that
reduced the school year.
Union leaders,
for the most part, were happy with the proposal and
will be meeting with their membership over the
weekend for a vote of confirmation. Not all teachers
groups are in agreement with this latest
development, however, it is expected to be adopted
and the strike to be over.
Young man demands $300.000 from banks
Three local
banks allege that a young man, Mariano Castillo Bolaños,
22 years old, is demanding $300.000 Dollars from
them in exchange for internet domain names he
registered that are similar to the ones used by the
banks.
The banks, Banco San José, Banco Interfin and Banco
Banex, all have an online internet presence,
including online banking for customers who want to
use that service.
The young man, who lives in Alajuela, registered the
domains bancosanjose.com, bancobanex.com and
bancointerfin.com with the idea to sell the domains
back to the banks, but not to confuse customers.
The bank's website address are: www.bancosanjose.fi.cr;
www.interfin.fi.cr and www.banex.com.
However, he went as far as creating a carbon copy of
each banks website in an effort to put pressure on
the banks to pay up.
This type of practice goes on all the time on the
internet. Companies whose main business is on the
internet go to many lengths to prevent someone else
registering a similar name and taking away their
business. A common practice is to register a series
of domain names in all variations of spelling and
hyphenations.
Economy better
than expected
The economy
of Costa Rica performed better than expected the
first months this year, but it is facing
trouble.
This fact surfaced in an analysis made by Central
Bank president Francisco de Paula Gutierrez.
The first four months in 2003, the overall
production of goods and services increased 5.8
percent - 4.1 percent if Intel's production is not
included -, the official explained. The figure
surpasses the 2.2 percent increase including Intel
-2 percent without it- that the Central Bank had
estimated for the year.
And, according to analysts, production is likely to
continue increasing. However, Gutierrez also warned
about what he called "short-term
challenges", such as the fact that the Central
Bank received more dollars than it had
expected.
Upon receiving more dollars, the Bank issues more
money than it had planned, and this might influence
negatively the behavior of inflation and of imports
- because the people increase consumption
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Brazil cautiously welcomes EU's farm reform decision
Brazil expressed on Thursday cautious welcome regarding the new farm reform package of the European Union but said it is not enough.
In a statement, Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues praised the farm reform decision as "a sign of flexibility" which would contribute to the remove of market distortions and the progress of talks between the EU and the South American Common Market, a trade bloc groups Brazil Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
He said the decision would also give impetus to the international free trade talks, and the progress could be seen at the ministerial meetings of the World Trade Organization in Canada's Montreal on June 26 to 27 and in Mexico's Cancun in September.
However, he considered the package "far from being ideal."
The European Union agreed to adjust its farm subsidy policy which regulates that EU farmers would no longer receive subsidies based on the amount they produce, and instead they would receive an annual payment based on the size of farms.
As the world top exporter of sugar, coffee and orange juice with the largest commercial cattle herd, Brazil is also among the largest exporters of agricultural products to the European Union.
House prices skyrocket in Baghdad
Prices of real estates in the Iraqi capital skyrocketed after the regime of Saddam Hussein was toppled by a US-led war in April.
A 15-year-old house of 200 square meters in the Al-Wazziriyah area, which was offered for sale at 15 million dinars (about 15,000US dollars) before the war, was sold at 160 million dinars (about 160,000 dollars) three weeks ago.
This phenomenon has raised eyebrows among many Iraqis. Some local residents are whispering that foreign hands might be behind the astronomical rises in house prices.
Some Iraqis believe that many Arab investors, especially those from the Gulf countries, and Western businessmen who become convinced of Iraq's bright economic prospects after the war, are vying with one another to buy real estates in Baghdad.
Many of the new investors are going to build five-star hotels for future tourists or buildings for rent to businessmen who are expected to flood into Iraq soon.
Some local newspapers pointed their fingers at Israelis, accusing them of "utilizing commissioners" to buy Iraqi houses entirely.
More than half a century ago, Iraq was the home of 150,000 Jews,who were the offspring of the Babylonian Captivity. But almost all of them migrated to Israel later and their properties in Iraq were confiscated by the Iraqi authorities.
There are also some people believing the looters, who grabbed billions of dollars from the Iraqi Central Bank and other banks during the postwar security vacuum, are behind the sudden rise in the prices of real estates in Baghdad.
Purchasing real estates in the capital has been a way of money laundering for the looters, some people said.
Moreover, the Iraqi expatriates who fled oppression by Saddam and his henchmen and lived abroad during the past three decades, now begin to return with their pockets full of hard currency to search for houses or apartments to live in.
Whatever the reasons, the astronomical rise in the prices of real estates in Baghdad has become a topic on everybody's lips and is discussed by more than 100 new publications which appeared in post-Saddam Iraq.
Italian Sicily region president under investigation for mafia ties
The president of the region of Sicily Salvatore Cuffaro has been officially notified that he is under investigation for suspected links with the Mafia, Italian media reported Thursday.
Cuffaro, 45, member of the centrist government party UDC (Unionof Christian Democrats), was also informed that he and his lawyer will be called in for questioning by investigating magistrates in the near future.
The region president was placed under investigation in connection with the arrests Thursday of four suspects, including a former city councilor, believed to be in cahoots with the Mafia.
The four arrested were former Palermo health councilor DomenicoMiceli, 38, also a member the UDC; Francesco Buscemi, 68; VincenzoGreco, 50; and Salvatore Aragona, 41.
All the four are accused of having links with Giuseppe Guttadauro, a suspected Mafia boss arrested last year.
Wire-tap evidence showed that they and Mafia elements met at Guttadauro's house to discuss political affairs and the support they were going to offer to political parties.
Cuffaro's name was reported to have come up frequently as the person to turn to financial aid, favors in the health service and to place candidates approved by the Mafia on electoral slates.
Investigators are convinced that Miceli was Guttadauro's key link with the political world in Palermo.
Police believe that he offered his services to Cosa Nostra ( Mafia )to help it gain power and influence in government circles and political parties.
Cuffaro was elected region president in June 2001 with 59 percent of the vote. A radiologist by profession, his political career began with the now defunct Christian Democrat (DC) party under the wing of former minister Calogero Mannino, who in the past was suspected of having ties with the Mafia. Following the demise of the DC, he became a member of ex-DC splinter parties before joining the party UDC.
Al-Qaida still poses significant threat: UN report
Despite significant progress in the fight against the al-Qaida, the terrorist group blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States still poses a significant threat to international peace and security, according to a UN draft report released Thursday.
Calling on all states to tighten their controls to cut-off all access to financing and weapons materials, the first report of the Monitoring Group on the al-Qaida warned of potential nuclear, radioactive, chemical and biological assaults by the group as well as the poisoning of water networks.
It noted such recent successes as the arrest of members of Usama bin Laden's original command team and other senior lieutenants, leading to the break-up of cells in a number of countries, but added that recent events such as bombings in Saudi Arabia, Chechnya, Morocco and Afghanistan show the al-Qaida's continuing threat.
"We have a long way to go," Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, chairman of the Security Council Committee on the al-Qaida sanctions and Michael Chandler, chairman of the Monitoring Group, told a news briefing at UN Headquarters in New York.
"In order to reduce the chances of the al-Qaida obtaining a nuclear device, special efforts must be undertaken to insure that all countries which possess nuclear weapons maintain the strictest controls and security regimes at all times," the report stressed.
According to the report, there is a much higher probability that the network will continue its efforts to develop an Improvised Radiological Dispersion Device (IRDD) - a so-called "dirty bomb" that produces a huge psychological effect out of all proportion to its physical effects by sowing panic.
"Sabotage of nuclear facilities and radioactive sources is alsoa possibility," it added.
The Monitoring Group strongly urged Member States to join the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM),including states which, though they have no domestic nuclear program, are used as transit routes for nuclear materials.
The group is "very concerned" by the potential for attacks on chemical production facilities as well as biological assaults. "Nobody knows exactly what kind of toxins or virus may be in the hands of the terrorists or that they may attempt to acquire. Consequently, all scenarios are possible, even the most shocking ones," the report said.
The report strongly recommended that States which have not already done so sign and ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Biological and Toxin Weapons convention (BTWC) and the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material as well as taking all steps necessary to criminalize terrorist financing.
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