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updated by 7:00 a.m. CST each day
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Strike in Limon
Ends
Following a 5 day strike, the government and union
met yesterday and after several hours of
conversations, came to an agreement, bringing an end
to the strike.
Workers of JAPDEVA and RECOPE can return to work as
early as mid-day today at the ports of Moín y Alemán
and the refinery located in Limon.
José Alberto Amador, president of JAPDEVA confirmed
the end of the strike and announced that, though the
strike was declared illegal, workers will not be
penalized and will be paid their full salaries.
Minister for the Presidency, Ricardo Toledo, was
emphatic that the government did not cave into union
demands that the government invest 3.000 Million
colones in JAPDEVA, and that all will be working
within the points of the agreement reached on May
30th between the government and the union.
For his part, José Alberto Amador, secretary
general of the workers, Federación de Trabajadores
Limonenses (FETRAL), sees the agreement as a win for
the union and Limon and that the sacrifice - the
strike - was worth it.
Over the next couple of days, it is expected that
everything will return to normal.
More Bad News for
President Pacheco
The latest
poll shows that 40 percent of Costa Rican have a bad
opinion of Pacheco. The majority think that
the government does not know how to resolve the
problems facing it and is only interested in
selected groups.
On the other hand, only 28 percent think that
Pacheco is doing a good job.
These are results of a poll taken by the company
Unimer, on behalf of La Nacion, Costa Rica's Spanish
daily, for the period of August 23 to September 3.
Unimer interviewed 1.416 Costa Ricans from all over
the country with range in ages from 15 to 69. Women
in the 15-25 age group looked at Pacheco most
favourably, while those over 50 were the harshest.
The numbers show Pacheco at his lowest point in the
first 16 months of his term. Only one year ago,
Pacheco and his government was in favour with
64% of Cost Ricans, while only 7% of those
questioned were negative.
Departing capital
For the first
time in three years, Costa Rica ended a quarter in
which outbound capital surpassed the inbound
one.
The amounts considered in this scenario include
funds from the investment of foreign firms in Costa
Rica or of Tico firms abroad, purchases of bonds,
and loans.
According to the Central Bank, in the second quarter
this year, the capital that left the country was $65
million more than the one that arrived.
Two new species of
bees
Bees are
among the most studied insects around the
world.
For that reason, scientists celebrate the adding of
new members to that family. This was the case
recently at the Costa Rican National Institution for
Biodiversity (INBio in Spanish), when it was
confirmed that two species never before recorded by
experts dwell in this part of the world.
They are identified as Caupolicana inbio and Caupolicana
rozenorun. Both belong to the so-called
"lone bees", because they do not live in
beehives. The top world authority on bees, Charles
Michener, from the University of Kansas, confirmed
the findings.
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Robot ship braces for death by Jove
A resilient robot ship that has explored Jupiter and its moons for eight years will dive into the crushing atmosphere of the giant planet Sunday, a spectacular finale to one of the most productive deep-space missions ever.
Galileo, its propellant running low and its electrical systems on the blink, will nonetheless keep a handful of its 10 instruments on during the final hours, giving scientists a chance to squeeze some final data from the $1.4 billion mission.
NASA charted the collision course to prevent Galileo, a heap of metal, plutonium and gadgets the size of a sport utility vehicle, from striking Jupiter's largest moons, considered some of the most promising sites to search for life beyond Earth.
"Galileo is one of the most successful outer worlds missions that the Earth has ever launched," said Colleen Hartman, NASA's director of solar system exploration. "This spacecraft has given us some unbelievable discoveries."
Since its launch in 1989, the droid has managed to do quite a bit with a computer brain comparable to that of an Apple II.
It snapped the first picture of an asteroid with a moon. And in 1994, a year before it began orbiting Jupiter, it witnessed the biggest explosion ever recorded on a planetary body, a comet that struck Jupiter with hundreds of times the explosive force of the world's nuclear arsenals.
Isabel evacuees eye uncertain future
Hurricane Isabel struck with a vengeance Thursday, killing 31 people, and the East Coast residents displaced by the power outages, damage and flooding the storm left in its wake are ready to get home.
But they worry what they'll find and how much it may cost them. Experts say to expect storm-related insurance claims of close to $1 billion.
Hugh and Mary Lutton, who live in North Carolina's Outer Banks, have spent the past few nights in a hotel on the mainland with their 6-year-old son, Michael.
"We've had reports from the area, and there seems to be little to no damage there, " Hugh said.
Some people in Collington Harbor, where the Luttons live, still have power and phone service.
They seem to be the lucky ones. Federal emergency officials said the storm's worst damage appeared to have been in the Outer Banks.
An aerial survey estimated the damage in Dare County -- which includes Hatteras and Pea islands, separating the ocean from Pamlico Sound -- at $545 million, with $313 million of that on Hatteras, county officials said.
Damage falls below that of similar-sized Floyd
The death toll spanned seven East Coast states. At least 16 died in Virginia; seven in Maryland; three in North Carolina; two in New Jersey; and one each in Rhode Island, New York and Pennsylvania.
“Economic miracle” is more glitter than gold
Colombians stagger under heavy debt, failed businesses and rising poverty.
Colombia has long been praised for managing a stable economy despite the pall of its long-running civil conflict. But some leading Colombian economists say the country’s economic miracle is more fantasy than substance. With more than two-thirds of the country’s population struggling below the poverty line, rising unemployment, record bankruptcies and a steadily declining currency, they worry that fiscal collapse is on the horizon.
Soledad Betancur, an economist and researcher with the non-governmental Grassroots Training Institute, charges that Colombia’s business and political elite have played fast and loose with the economic truth, creating the perception that all is well.
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