President Corrects Himself
One year into his four-year term, President Abel Pacheco blamed the slow start of his administration on the fact that when he took office the country lacked enough economic stability. 

This way he corrected himself regarding his inaugural address, on May 8, 2002, when he stated that he was receiving a country in proper order. 

Now President Pacheco asserts that the stability that he pointed out a year ago was only apparent. He pointed out that he realized the true situation when high deficits in several major institutions - which were supposed to have surpluses - became evident. 

However, he excused his predecessor, former President Miguel Angel Rodríguez, by saying that he had not been aware of many developments and the true condition of several institutions during his administration. 

On the other hand, President Pacheco pointed out that his war against poverty has had a slow start also because he found out that it was first a must to fight corruption, in order to make sure that all of the funds actually go to the poor. 

About his priorities for his second year in office, President Pacheco pointed out a fiscal plan, reforming the rules of the Legislative Assembly (Congress), and the free trade agreement with the United States.

Bus Fares Boost Inflation
The heaviest impact on inflation in April was delivered by the transportation sector, which includes bus (8 percent up) and taxi fares, fuels, and maintenance costs.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics and Censuses, the consumer price index went 0.96 up in April, as compared to March. 

This outcome took the overall inflation to 3.1 percent for the first four months this year, above the 2.5 percent recorded in the same period in 2002.

In Search of the True Figures
The National Bureau of Statistics and Censuses has launched a project to update the data on inflation and poverty by the year 2005. 

The current figures for those issues are based on a 1988 income and expenses survey, therefore allowing for suspicious overall outcomes, because in 15 years Costa Rica has undergone an economic transformation and families have modified their customs. 

The new survey will enable learning how households spend their money and to which goods and services they dedicate the most money. The data will be used to shape a new goods and services basket that will guide the establishment of the index of consumer prices used to measure inflation.

Italian scientists said on Wednesday they had developed an electronic nose that can sniff out a distinctive odor of lung cancer patients.

The equipment proved to be accurate in a test on 60 patients at Rome's Forlanini Hospital, said Corrado Di Natale, an electronics expert on the biosensors research team at Rome's Tor Vergata University.

Their findings are to be published in the review, Biosensor and Bioelectronics, and the British journal, New Scientist.

The electronic nose is a 12 cm cube connected to a computer and eight sensors mirroring the human olfactory system. The patient is asked to exhale into a sterilized bag connected to a tube. The breath is then pumped inside the cube and to the sensors.

The sensors sniff the breath and identify the various substances. The information is passed to the computer, which comes up with a "personal ID" of a specific odor, said Di Natale.

"What we've done so far is to test the nose on patients with advanced lung tumors as well as on perfectly healthy people. We've concluded that the instrument is particularly sensitive to the presence of a tumor," he said.

Further tests would be conducted within six months on hundreds of patients at the hospital's day center, and the next step would be to determine the instrument's reliability in identifying the onset of lung tumor, he said.

"If it works, it could be used in preventive diagnoses. That's why it's so important to get data on hundreds of patients in the coming months," he said.

Spain calls for drafting world list of terror groups

Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes on Wednesday urged the drafting of a single list of terrorist organizations worldwide, which could serve as a reference for countries facing the threat of terrorism.

Acebes told reporters in the Senate that it was important for each country to know what organizations represented a real threat to its democracy and way of life.

"The democracies are perceiving terrorism as the most severe aggression they could face in the future and the present," he said.

Acebes said the definition of terrorism inside the European Union (EU) was "a good point of reference," so he considered the move as logical.

He said he supported the proposal Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar brought to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, which called for drawing up a world list of terrorist groups similar to the one used in cracking down the al-Qaeda network.

"Terrorism is not a matter concerning this or that country. It concerns us all. It is transnational," Aznar said.

US release more prisoners from Guantanamo

The United States on Thursday transferred 15 prisoners from among more than 600 captured held at a US military prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to Afghanistan, defense officials said.

Local media reports quoted unidentified officials at the Pentagon as saying that the prisoners left the naval base Thursday morning to be released to Afghan authorities.

The reported release came after Secretary of State Colin Powell pressed the Pentagon to move faster in determining the fate of the660 suspects at Guantanamo, including several boys between the ages of 13 and 16.

Powell told Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in a recent letter that eight allies had complained about the holding of their citizens and the situation was undermining US efforts to win international support.

Most of the prisoners were captured during the American war in Afghanistan. They were labeled "unlawful combatants" instead of prisoners of war, and thus have been denied access to lawyers. The international community has criticized the United States for its handling of the prisoners.

Since the prison was opened in January of 2002, only 23 people have been released, including 18 in March this year.

Pentagon officials on Friday announced rules for trying foreign terrorism suspects in military tribunals, without giving the date the trials might start or how many prisoners would be brought to trial.

President George W. Bush authorized the establishment of the military tribunals two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in Washington and New York. The proposed military tribunals have also drawn wide and sharp international criticism for violating prisoners' rights.

Police helicopter crashes in South Africa

A police helicopter Wednesday crashed in Loskop area, KwaZulu-Natal province, about 350 km southeast of Johannesburg, and three police officers were slightly injured, the South African Press Association reported.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman captain Joshua Gwala was quoted as saying that the pilot and co-pilot escaped without injury. The five officers were conducting an anti-stock theft operation when the pilot apparently lost control of the helicopter and it crashed to the ground.

The exact cause of the crash was unknown.

He said two of the men sustained bruises and one member sustained a back injury and may have to be air lifted to a hospital.

Gwala said an investigation into the crash would be conducted by the South African Civil Aviation Authority and the South African Police Service.