Shannon Martin, 23, came to Costa Rica in 2000 as part of a study abroad program and returned one week before she was to graduate to gather more specimens of a tree-dwelling fern she was researching.

She was stabbed to death around midnight on May 13, 2001, while walking from a bar to her host family's home in the town of Golfito in southern Costa Rica.

Last month, prosecutors charged Kattia Cruz, 28, 48-year-old Rafael Zumbado Quesada and Luis Carrillo Castro, 38, with Martin's killing.

On Tuesday, Judge Daniel Moran presided over a preliminary hearing with the defendants, their lawyers and Edrick Martinez, the prosecutor in charge of presenting the state's case against the defendants.

After those proceedings, the judge has two days to decide whether the suspects will go to trial before a three-judge panel. Though that deadline expired yesterday (Thursday), Moran won't announce his ruling until the next day because of the May 1st holiday.

Contrasting appreciation
While the business admits to a recovery in recent months, consumers believe that their situation won't be an encouraging one in the short term. 

The diverging points of view surfaced in two surveys, one by the Union of Costa Rican Chambers and Associations of Private Business and the other by the School of Statistics and the Observatory of Development of the University of Costa Rica. 

The survey of 300 companies showed that a majority of them expect better results in the coming months, based on the improvements recorded the first quarter this year. 

Meanwhile, a growing majority of consumers believe their situation will worsen in the coming months and that the ranks of the poor will increase.

Citizenship exams
Only half of the foreigners who have applied for Costa Rican citizenship passed the corresponding exams last year. The exams are a requirement for foreigners who are not married to Costa Ricans, since these are exempted. 

The exam is divided into two parts, one on history and geography of the country and another in Spanish, including writing an essay and an interview. 

Of the foreigners applying, Cubans had the best grades, since 82.53 percent of them passed the tests. Colombians were second, with 72.88 percent. 

On the lower end, only 29.73 of the Salvadorans and 30 percent of the Chinese got passing grades.

$1.12 million cash in truck
A tractor trailer truck traveled from Nicaragua to Panama through Costa Rica, but the local police did not detect the $1,125,000 cash that it carried. 

It was once the vehicle entered Panama that the police from the neighboring nation found the money, all in $20 and $50 bills. 

According to official sources, a US law-enforcement agency alerted the Panamanian police about the shipment of the money, destined to drug trafficking organizations.

Regional Rains Alert
Strong rains in the central valley and the Pacific, caused that the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias issued an alert to the regional committees.

Before possible emergencies, a call goes out to the local first aid groups so that they have medical and rescue personnel available and all the provisions necessary.

In addition, the commission recommends  in general to keep free and clear all obstacles from culvers and drain pipes around one's property, to permit the easy flow of water into the sewer systems.

It appears that the heavy rains will linger for a while longer, weeks ahead of the official start of the 'green' or rainy season.

US President declares end to major combat operations in Iraq
US President George W. Bush declared on Thursday that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" and US and allies "have prevailed" in Iraq.

Bush made the announcement in his speech from on board the homebound USS Abraham Lincoln nuclear aircraft carrier. It comes some six weeks after Bush announced the beginning of the war in Iraq in an Oval Office speech on March 19.

"In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty, and for the peace of the world," Bush said.

"The Battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September 11th, 2001, and still goes on," he said.
 

World's largest automaker recalls numerous vehicles
General Motors Corp., the world's largest automaker, said Thursday that it is recalling some 1.77 million vehicles due to safety concerns.

Those vehicles include pickups, sport utility vehicles and vans from the 1994-97 model years over a problem affecting their front windshield wipers, said the US automaker.

GM said it plans to replace front windshield wiper circuit boards and motor covers though no fatal injuries have been caused by the faulty wipers, the automaker said.

The latest recall is an extension of a windshield wiper replacement program GM conducted in 1998 and earlier this year.

Dealers will replace windshield wiper circuit boards and motor covers at no cost to the customer.
 

Britain to open diplomatic office in Iraq
Britain Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Thursday that his country would establish its first diplomatic presence in Iraq for 12 years by opening an office in the Iraqi capital.

In a statement, Straw said: "I am pleased to announce that a team of British diplomats will be traveling to Baghdad this weekend to open an office in the capital."

Christopher Segar, deputy head of the mission for the former British embassy in Baghdad, would head a four-member diplomatic mission to Baghdad to prepare for reestablishing an embassy once anew Iraqi government is in place, said the statement.

"With his previous experience and knowledge of Iraq, Christopher will play a key role in reviving and restoring Britain's links with the people of Iraq, who have for so long been deprived of contact with the wider world," it said.

Segar would work with the US-designated Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) and other organizations on the ground in supporting reconstruction work and to maintain contact with emerging political figures within Iraq, the statement added.

Formal diplomatic relations between Britain and Iraq was terminated before the 1991 Gulf War.

The British embassy in Baghdad closed on Jan. 12 1991 and since then the Iraqi Interests Section handled bilateral affairs via the Jordan Embassy in London.

Britain, the staunchest US ally in the Iraq war, asked two Iraqi diplomats of the Iraqi Interests Section to leave London on March 24, four days after the United States launched the war against Iraq.

Traffic accident claims up to 80 lives in South Africa
At least 80 people could be dead Thursday after a traffic accident in a dam outside Bethlehem in central South Africa, about 250 km south of Johannesburg.

According to the South African Press Association, the 90 passengers are all members of Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU) in Northern Cape province, who were on the way to a May Day rally in Qwa Qwa.

Free State police spokesman senior Superintendent Sam Sesing, on his way to the scene, said that according to information five bodies had been retrieved from the dam by rescue workers and 10 others had been hospitalized.

He said that in the early hours of the morning, the bus driver apparently lost his way in Bethlehem and ended up driving along a gravel road.

"According to information, unknown to the driver the road led to a big dam outside Bethlehem. The bus is under water and rescue operations are under way at the moment."

South Africa has the best road infrastructure on the continent, but the country has a poor record compared with other countries in the death rate and cost in the traffic accidents due to the high speed of the car.