| NEWS |
|
updated by 7:00 a.m. CST each day
|
Terry Fox Run
Today
The Terry
Fox Fun Run, to raise funs for the National
Children's Hospital and cancer research, will
take place toady at 8:30am in the park La Sabana.
In order to participate, individuals are asked
to a make a donation of 2.000 colones which will
include a commemorative T-shirt of the event, a
snack and a participation certificate.
he annual Terry Fox run is sponsored by the Canadian
Embassy and the Asociación Lucha Contra el
Cáncer Infantil
Terry Fox was a
young Canadian who at the age of 18 in 1977 lost
one of his legs to cancer. He was so touched by
the suffering of cancer patients that he decided
to run across Canada in order to raise funds for
cancer research. During his Marathon of Hope in
1980, Terry ran, with one artificial leg, an
average of 26 miles a day for 143 days until he
was forced to stop two thirds of the way when it
was discovered his cancer had returned. Sadly he
died one month shy of his 23rd birthday, but his
dream lives on.
Today, Terry Fox
Runs are one of the most important fundraising
events worldwide for cancer research. More than
1 million people of all ages participate in runs
in more than 48 countries around the world and
since Terry Fox Runs began they have raised more
than $300 million dollars.
The Terry Fox Fun
Run is a healthy and fun way to contribute to
the local community and to unite in the fight
against cancer. The Terry Fox Run is not
competitive but rather a fun run in which you
can participate with your family, co-workers and
friends. You can walk, run or use your wheel
chair.
Arenal Volcano
Calm Again
After a
day of intense volcanic activity, the Arenal
returned to calm yesterday, having offered a
spectacular sight for many who visited La
Fortuna in San Carlos, northwest of San José,
to see the spewing of lava and small rocks.
Nonetheless, the Ministerio del Ambiente y Energía
(MINAE) - Ministry of the Atmosphere and
Energy - decided to close the National Park
Volcán Arenal that surrounds the volcano until
further a advisory is posted.
The closing is a precautionary action, so that
the locals and visitors to stay a distance from
the volcano, as there still exists the
possibility that the volcano can start activity
at any moment.
The Fuerza Publica has been working extra hours
and moving police officers from one locality to
another to maintain the curious at a safe
distance.
The volcano became active Friday morning, though
residents of La Fortuna, located at the foot of
the volcano, carried on with their normal daily
routine.
Growth
Forecasted in Tourism in 2004
Costa Rica's tourism industry will grow by 6.6
percent in 2004, to be boosted by the economic
recovery of the United States and Japan, and the
increasing number of commercial flights to the
country, said the president of the National
Chamber of Tourism.
"We look forward to reaching a sustained
6.6-percent growth a year as established in the
national plan for tourist development in 2004,
although in case the expectations remain as good
as today,the percentage could be higher,"
William Rodriguez told daily La Prensa Libre in
an interview.
The United States provides the largest number of
tourists to Costa Rica.
According to statistics by the Costa Rican
Tourism Institute, about 374,700 and 430,000
American citizens visited Costa Rica in 2000 and
2001 respectively, but the number dropped to
422,200 in 2002.
In the first quarter of this year, there were
137,200 US tourists arriving in Costa Rica. The
Costa Rican tourism authorities did not expect a
significant change in the numbers for the rest
of the year.
Prices Slow
Down
Even though
prices remain on an upward trend, they have
slowed down during the last three months,
according to the National Statistics and Census
Bureau.
In August, the inflation was 0.41 percent,
taking the cumulate figure for the first eight
months this year to 5.62 percent. However,
Central Bank sources warned that the
deceleration is not sustainable in the coming
months.
The Bank had set the overall inflation goal for
2003 at 10 percent.
|
|
Click
here a FREE quote on the lowest Air Tickets Prices
to and from Costa Rica!
|
|
Colombian troops kill at least 25 rebels, paramilitary fighters
Colombian government troops killed at least 25 guerrillas and paramilitary fighters Saturday in three separate military operations in central Colombia, military officials said.
An army spokesman said 16 rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were killed near Chita village, 240 km northeast of Bogota, as government forces, backed by gunships, stormed a camp of the rebels. The army also seized 16 assault-rifles, ammunition, bomb-cylinders and documents in the camp.
But the spokesman declined to confirm whether there were casualties on his side in the operation.
The army also gunned down three suspected members from the National Liberation Army (ELN) in a rural area outside Cocorna, 145 km north of
Bogota.
The FARC and the ELN are the two largest rebel groups in Colombia, with 17,000 and 4,500 members respectively.
In the operation near Sucre, 140 km north of Bogota, the government troops killed six paramilitary fighters.
Colombia has been ravaged by a four-decade-long civil war, the longest in Latin America, in which government forces, leftist guerrillas and far-right paramilitaries have fought one another. An average of 3,500 people, mostly civilians, are killed each year in the conflicts.
Worry over security of Iraq's vulnerable munitions sites
About 50 munitions sites in Iraq containing explosives similar to those used in recent major bombings have only light security and are poorly guarded, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
The newspaper's report quoted an official from the United States Central Command on Friday as saying the American-led military operation in Iraq did not have enough troops to heavily guard all the 2,700 Iraqi munitions sites that have been identified.
The official said every ammunition dump in Iraq has some level of security. But as the American military has had to reserve the heaviest security for munitions sites containing weapons like rocket-propelled grenades, other munitions sites with larger weapons like bombs and missiles were left with less security, or with Iraqi guards.
Senior civilian American officials in Iraq, who have privately raised concerns about security at some munitions sites, say even
a small number of poorly guarded sites would pose a risk to
American forces and the reconstruction effort.
Another problem for the American-led forces, the report said, is the looting that followed the fall of the government of Saddam Hussein. A senior defense official was quoted as saying that the rapid collapse of the Iraqi Army during the war had left
extensive ammunition dumps unguarded for many days, and in many cases virtually everything had been looted by fleeing conscripts and officers.
The defense official said US forces had worked hard to secure the dumps since then.
Major General Raymond Odierno, the commander of the Army's Fourth Infantry Division said in a briefing for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is visiting Iraq, that their presence and delays in destroying some of the ammunition caches were a source of concern.
Recent bombings of the Jordanian embassy and the United
Nations headquarters in Baghdad, and at a Shiite shrine in Najaf have added to growing criticism of the US government's Iraq policies.
United States President George W. Bush is scheduled to deliver a nationally televised speech about Iraq on Sunday night.
Powell says US-China ties best since 1972
United States Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Friday that the US-China relations are the best in more than 30 years since former US president Richard Nixon paid his first visit to China in 1972.
"Today, I would submit US relations with China are the best they have been since President Nixon's first visit," Powell made the remarks while delivering a speech on US foreign policy and national security strategy in the George Washington University here.
He said despite the differences between the two countries, "the relationship has improved for a reason that transcends all of these particulars."
"Neither we nor the Chinese leadership anymore believe that there is anything inevitable about our relationship, either inevitably bad or inevitably good," Powell said. "We believe that is up to us together to take responsibility for our common future."
He also said the United States welcomes "a global role of China."
|
|
|
