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Vol. 3 • Edition 176 • Weekly • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 2009 • Costa Rica, Central America •
www.edica.co.crCERTIFICADA ISO 9001:2000
www.journalcr.com
Liberian athlete Leonardo Chacon won the third edi-tion of the Condovac La Costa Triathlon held in Playa Hermosa last Feb. 22.
The event, which has made it into the international triathlon calendar, attracted some 300 participants, in-cluding the elite of Costa Rica’s triathlon world and foreign competitors.
Chacon won the male elite category with a final time of 1:57:03, followed by Rom Akerson (2:02:01) and Ernesto Espinoza (2:07:13).
In the female elite category, the winner was Alia Cardinale, who stopped the clock at 2:17:03, followed by Karina Fernandez (2:23:03) and Viviana Chavarria (2:33:57).
With a final time of little less than two hours, Leonardo Chacon won the Elite Male category of the 2009 Condovac La Costa Triathlon. Photo by Gustavo Lopez, Global Sports Group.
Leonardo Chacon wins Condovac La Costa Triathlon
Playas del Coco, Guanacaste506.2670.2212 www.pacifico-costarica.com
americas
global affairs
entertainment
sports
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P. 20
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pushed “green jobs” as a way to help the middle class weather hard economic times, saying better pay and social benefits will flow from producing environmentally friendly goods and services.
The International Monetary Fund said it will seek a temporary cash injection from members to boost its lending power to coun-tries struggling with the global economic crisis.
The National Basketball Asso-ciation will borrow 175 million dollars to serve as aid to teams that might struggle in the weak global economy, Sports Business Journal reported.
Hollywood rebel Sean Penn, winner of the best actor Oscar for his role in “Milk”, said he hoped the film would soon get a showing be-fore President Barack Obama.
NBA reportedly set to borrow 175 million dollars
Biden pushes ‘green jobs’ for the middle class
IMF seeks temporary cash boost for crisis lending
Oscar-winner Penn hopes to take ‘Milk’ to White House
New Beachfront Model Villa Open Daily
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AFP
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Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 20092
P. 6 business & economyJanuary exports see downward trendThe Costa Rican exports during the first month of 2009 reached a total
of $600.6 million, for a slight decline of 0.8 percent compared to December 2008 but a sharp reduction of 19 percent compared with January 2008. (P.6)
P. 10 society Work on 27 de Abril and Playas del Coco roadways continuesLast Feb. 24 saw the beginning of road signaling work on the new high-
way connecting the communities of Comunidad-Sardinal-Playas del Coco in Guanacaste. (P.10)
P. 14 cultureLiberia education office awarded for teaching qualityIn recognition of its institutional performance and contributions to edu-
cation and culture, the Liberia Regional Education Office has received the Sixth Iberian-American Educational Quality Honor. (P.14)
P. 18 HealtHCutting calories, in any way, key to weight lossEating heart-healthy, low-calorie foods and exercising is the key to losing
weight regardless of levels of protein, fat or carbohydrates, a new study has found. The research, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, seems to argue against blanket use of diets that do not necessarily limit calories but call for eating certain foods such as vegetables or proteins, at the expense of others. (P. 18)
P. 19 europeEurozone unemployment highest for over two years The battered eurozone economies suffered more bad news on Friday with
a quarter of a million jobs lost in January bringing the unemployment rate to 8.2 percent, the highest level in over two years. (P. 19)
P. 20 global affairsJapan economy ‘needs three years to recover’: PM Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso warned that the world’s second largest
economy would take three years to recover and vowed to create new jobs amid the downturn. (P.20)
P. 21 americas‘Couldn’t care less’ about meeting Obama: ChavezPresident Hugo Chavez said Friday he was totally indifferent about meet-
ing U.S. President Barack Obama at the April 17-19 Summit of the Ameri-cas in Trinidad and Tobago. (P.21)
P. 22 sportsAgassi makes brief return in World TeamTennis Eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi will return to action in
July, playing two matches for the Philadelphia Freedoms of World TeamTen-nis, the 10-team league announced last week. (P.22)
P. 23 entertainment‘Slumdog’ stars welcomed home to India after Oscar gloryIndia feted the return last week of the children who acted in “Slumdog
Millionaire” and celebrated composer A.R. Rahman after the feel-good movie’s stunning Oscar-winning streak in Hollywood. (P. 23)
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COSTA RICA BASICSArea: 51,000 km2Population: 4,075,261 (July 2006)Capital: San JoseLanguage: SpanishTime Zone: UTC/GMT-6 hours
USEfUL NUMBERS
EmergenciesEMERGENCY SERVICES 911Fire 2688-8918Medical Alert (Ambulance) 2670-0258OIJ (Police Special Branch) 2690-0128Red Cross 2666-0994Hospital Liberia 2666-0011Hospital Nicoya 2685-8400Hospital San José 2257-7922Clinic (Coco) 2670-0987Clinic (Liberia) 2666-1881Emergency Medical Service 8380 41 25 24 hrs.Santa Monica Radialogy Center 2665-0704
TransportCentral Line San José 2257-7214 2221-9115Central Line Liberia 2666-0085Interbus 2283-5573 Fax: 2283-7655Pulmitan Liberia 2666-0458 2666-3818Tica Bus 2666-0371
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Vol3•Edition176 Mar 3 - Mar 9, 2009 Costa Rica, Central America OURTEAM Marta Araya, Marketing & Sales Manager E-mail:[email protected]/ [email protected] [email protected] Tel:905-JOURNAL(5687625) CarlosEduardoVargas(*), EditorsBoardMember E-mail:[email protected] Design&Production: TheJournalDesignTeam E-mail:[email protected] SALES:[email protected]/ [email protected] NEWS:[email protected] INFO:[email protected]
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ALSO INSIDE
P.04 Lead StoryP.06 Business & EconomyP.10 SocietyP.14 CultureP.16 Week In Brief
P.18 HealthP.19 EuropeP.20 Global AffairsP.21 AmericasP.22 SportsP.23 Entertainment
Contents
COStA rICA tIDES ChArt Information for Pacific Coast
Page two
Day High Low High Low High
Tue 03 04:50 / 2.04 ft 11:05 / 6.59 ft 16:52 / 2.46 ft 23:22 / 7.58 ft
Fri 04 05:48 / 0.18 ft 12:04 / 6.64 ft 17:50 / 2.50 ft
Sat 05 00:16 / 7.67 ft 06:42 / -1.69 ft 12:59 / 6.87 ft 18:45 / 2.36 ft
Sun 06 01:05 / 7.87 ft 07:29 / -1:36 ft 13:47 / 7.21 ft 19:35 / -2.09 ft
Mon 07 01:52 / 8.13 ft 08:12 / -1.00 ft 14:30 / 7.60 ft 20:20 / 1.75 ft
Tue 08 02:35 / 8.41 ft 08:52 / -0.66 ft 15:11 / 7.99 ft 21:03 / 1.38 ft
Wed 09 03:16 / 8.64 ft 09:30 / 0.37 ft 15:49 / 8.36 ft 21:44 / 1.05
Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 20094 Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 2009 5
(InfoWebPress – www.journalcr.com) – Starting Feb. 24, the Ministry of Transportation and Public Infrastructure’s (MOPT) Division and Navigation and Safety began inspecting all boats dedicated to fishing in the province of Guanacaste. This work will be done in coor-dination with the Port Captaincy of Playas del Coco.
The boat verification procedures — the equivalent of land vehicle technical checks — were started in El Jobo in the morning of Feb. 24, moving to Soley Port in the afternoon, both in La Cruz canton.
The last inspection day will be March 31 in Playas del Coco. Before that, inspectors will visit ports in the Nicoya, Samara and Santa Cruz re-gions.
These inspections are required for fishermen to renew their navigation permits, which all wa-tercraft must have to be able to take off from port and engage in fishing legally.
As part of the inspection process, permit-holders must show the inspector, during the day of the boat check, their current navigation per-mit or the last one they held, in addition to the original and a copy of their boat title and paid government stamps that benefit of the National Coastguard Service (original and photocopy).
Jorge Hernandez Chavarria, director of the National Coastguard Service, said that all fish-ing boats must also have on board all safety and navigation equipment required, properly installed and working correctly, during the in-
spection. Regarding safety equipment, it must meet the level of autonomy assigned to the boat (equipment for 3 nautical miles, for 40 nautical miles, or for more than 40 nautical miles).
To pass the inspection, the watercraft must
also be in navigable condition and properly painted and have painted on both sides its name, license number and the Costa Rican flag.
Those interested in having their boats in-spected to renew their navigation certificate can request an appointment on the same day when inspectors will be in their respective ports, at the Port Captaincy of Playas del Coco or at the General Captaincy of San Jose.
Many Guanacaste fishermen who go through this annual inspection are members of the Na-tional Federation of Artisan Fishermen, which brings together small fishermen from Chira Island, Coyote, Venado Island, Ostional, Playa Zancudo and Playa Pavones, among other coastal communities.
According to estimates, the artisan fishermen sector included some 7,000 workers who don’t have an umbrella organization to bring together all the smaller associations formally established on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts.
Goals of the National Federation of Artisan Fishermen include promoting environmentally friendly fishing practices that would protect marine resources — especially in areas with fragile ecosystems, such as the Gulf of Nicoya — and advancing the “farming” of endangered marine species to guarantee their survival.
Annual inspection of fishing boats begins in Guanacaste
The revision process seeks to ensure the safety of those traveling in the country’s fishing boats. Photo courtesy of SPG
lead STory
(InfoWebPress – www.journalcr.com) – Costa Rica’s rainforest ecosystems, with their exuberant flora and fauna and misty afternoons, have inspired a new photography contest.
The Alegria Center for the Arts, located in Flamingo, has organized the contest as a way to show humid side of Costa Rica’s natural won-ders, which hasn’t been exploited too much in the tourism arena.
The contest, entitled “Costa Rica’s Humid Landscapes,” invited citizens and foreign resi-dents who had participated in at least two col-lective shows to enter their images.
Each of the participating artists had the op-tion of presenting three black and white or col-or images, which had to have been taken during 2008 or early 2009. The works had to show hu-mid forest regions or weather phenomena such as thick fog, cloudy mornings or afternoons, drizzle, and other similar motifs.
The photographers took their creations to the National Gallery (at the Children’s Museum in San Jose) last Feb. 27. Along with the imag-
es, they provided their CVs and personal com-ments about technical and discursive aspects of their works.
The jury for this contest includes Georgio Timms, Karla Solano, Efrain Hernandez, Pau-lina Ortiz and Rodolfo Stanley. The winner will
receive a $3,000 prize. Photos will be shown in the National Gallery from April 22 to May 26, coinciding with the celebration of the 15th an-niversary of the Children’s Museum.
The contest also had a charity component, as the photographers agreed to donated half of the proceeds from sales of their images to the Potrero de Santa Cruz elementary school.
The Alegria Center for the Arts gallery houses a permanent collection of Costa Rican art com-missioned by center sponsors.
In June 2007, Marijose Teran Guardia be-came the first artist to be sponsored by this arts center. Her piece, entitled “Guanacaste,” was the first painting hung at the gallery. Donations from private collections and itinerant exhibits are also shown at the gallery, creating a con-stant source of inspiration and education for residents of and visitors to Flamingo.
In addition to contributing to the gallery’s permanent collection, Alegria-sponsored art-ists can also sell their work through the gallery, donating part of the proceeds for financing of the arts center.
Rainforest landscapes inspire photography contest
Landscapes such as those at Guanacaste’s Palo Verde wetlands inspired photographers who participated in this contest.
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Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 20096 BuSineSS
(InfoWebPress – www.journalcr.com) – The Costa Rican exports during the first month of 2009 reached a total of $600.6 million, for a slight decline of 0.8 percent compared to December 2008 but a sharp reduction of 19 percent compared with January 2008.
Reasons for the reduction in the value of exported goods in January 2009 include the international recession, the lack of access to credit by Costa Rican export firms, and ad-verse weather conditions.
“One of the main causes for this low level of sales by exporting companies lies in the sec-tor’s difficulties obtaining credit that would allow them to operate in a more fluid man-ner,” Foreign Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz said.
Another key reason behind this slowdown is the harsh financial conditions being expe-rienced by world economic powers, includ-ing the United States, Japan and the European Union, which are impacting their demand for Costa Rican products.
In the case of the United States, Costa Rica’s largest trade partner, exports went from $268 million in January 2008 to $220.7 million in January 2009, for a $47.3 million decrease. The reduction obeyed mostly to lower demand
for goods that consumers consider non-essen-tial in times of crisis — textiles fell by about 20 percent, medical implants fell by 60 per-cent, and electrical materials saw a reduction of 34 percent.
In the case of the European market, the
main reductions were seeing in countries such as Spain (30 percent), the United Kingdom (28.6 percent), Belgium (17.5 percent), and Germany (15.6 percent). Goods that Europe-ans bought less of last January include banan-as, melons, fruit juices and ornamental plants,
as well as some industrial products such as computer parts.
Integrate circuitry and computer parts are some of the most affected goods during this global recession, as they saw a reduction of 30 percent (equivalent to $56 million) in their sales. This is mostly due to the fact that consum-ers and businesses are not replacing their older computers as fast as they were before.
The weather also played in a role in the weaker export numbers, since Costa Rica still heavily relies on agricultural goods. For exam-ple, recent flooding in the Caribbean reduced the volume of exported bananas by 18.7 per-cent, which was compensated only in part by a boost in the price of this global commodity. In general terms, the agricultural sector sold 10.7 percent less in January 2009 compared to the same month last year — going from $170 mil-lion to $152 million.
Emmanuel Hess, general manager of the For-eign Trade Promoter (PROCOMER), said that despite these numbers, his organization will continue “to monitor closely the behavior of the export market, while we will provide train-ing and support to exports so they can access markets that would benefit their operations in order to weather these difficult times in the best way possible.”
Januaryexportsseedownwardtrend
Current crisis affecting governmenttaxrevenue
(InfoWebPress – www.journalcr.com) – The slowdown of the Costa Rican economy and the reduction in exports and imports is impact the country’s treasury, which is now collecting less tax-related revenue.
Central government numbers indicate that rev-enue fell by 2.1 percent in January, compared to the same month last year. As it turns out, the ef-fects of the global recession on the “real” side of the economy are hurting tax collection.
“The results we are now showing reflect what we have been explaining in the past few months. Internal revenue shows an important slowdown compared to last year, and the customs offices continue to show the same downward trend of re-cent months, as a result of less economic activity inside the country and consequently less demand for imported products,” said Treasury Minister Guillermo Zuñiga. “In addition, this month we took care of important compromises that de-manded more expenditures by the government. I’m referring specifically to school salaries, sal-ary increases corresponding to the first semester of the year, bonus payments to educators, and the transfer of 25 billion colones to CONAVI (the Na-tional Roadways Council), among others.”
According to data from the Treasury Ministry, total expenses increased by 25.5 percent, driven mainly by the 28.2 percent salary increase of this year. Additionally, resources earmarked for the pension payment plan grew by 16.2 percent between January 2008 and January 2009; mon-ies budgeted for financing the Higher Education
Fund increased by 54.5 percent in the same pe-riod; and other government expenses also grew, by 86.6 percent.
During January, the central government gave CONAVI the equivalent of 25 percent of its total annual budget. The Higher Education Fund re-ceived 15 percent of its annual budget during the first month of the year, too. On the up side, ex-penses for central government debt interest pay-ments decreased 18.9 percent in January 2009 compared to January 2008.
Regarding the behavior of the government’s main revenue sources, the Treasury Minister highlighted the impact of “other tax income,” which grew by 36.9 percent; income taxes grew by 12.2 percent; sales on domestic sales also increased by 3.4 percent. Affecting the balance sheet were customs taxes, which tanked 23.7 percent this January compared to the same month last year.
Following his report on the state of the coun-try’s treasury, Minister Zuñiga urged legislators to quickly pass bills in which the government is requesting loans — and which are considered necessary to stimulate investment, reactivate the national economy, reduce pressures on the gov-ernment’s balance sheet, generate new employ-ment and save already existing jobs.
“Jobs are our main concern, as they provide tranquility to Costa Rican homes and are the key way of avoiding an increase in poverty rates,” Zu-ñiga concluded.
A reduction in the manufacture of computer chips has impact Costa Rican exports, as the demand for new computers worldwide has dried up.
Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 20098
FundsapprovedforICEenergy development projects
BuSineSS
(InfoWebPress – www.journalcr.com) – Cos-ta Rica’s summer, which coincides with the high tourism season, demands for parking space for airplanes arriving at the country’s international airport, including Daniel Oduber in Liberia. For this reason, the airport’s parking area has been expanded by 34,000 square meters.
Before, only four aircraft could park at the airport at the same time; now there’s room for 11. Other improvements to the Liberia terminal included a new asphalt layer, lighting for verti-cal signs, and electric supply to the operations platform.
The Civil Aviation Technical Council (CETAC) indicated that investment in these works reached 4.109 billion colones (close to $8) and that the new infrastructure will have a useful lifespan of 20 years.
Additionally, the airport’s main runway was repaired — patching up potholes, filling cracks and eliminating the rubber layer this surface used to have. Moreover, shoulders were im-proved in order to provide airplanes more se-curity and horizontal lines on the runway were repainted (at a acceptable friction point) to aid in the aircraft’s departures and arrivals.
Despite the fact that the global economic crisis has affected the tourism industry in gen-eral, the impact has been slight in Guanacaste. For example, Continental Airlines has actually increased the number of flights to Costa Rica, including a third weekly trip from Houston to
Liberia. Currently, some airlines fly in and out of Daniel Oduber, and two more are expected to begin operations here by the end of the year — with three nonstop flights from Canada and one from Germany.
In fact, arrival of tourists at the Liberia air-port increased by 14,000 people between 2007 and 2008, according to numbers provided by the airlines themselves.
AirplaneparkingspaceatLiberiaairportexpanded
(InfoWebPress – www.journalcr.com) – The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) will be able to develop new energy-generation projects and expands the services it provides following the ap-proval last Feb. 23 by the Legislative Assembly of a $500 million loan from the Inter-American Devel-opment Bank (IDB).
Bill 17.113, which specifies a cooperation agreement between Costa Rica and BID, will allow ICE to finance various projects between now and 2014.
Loan resources will go into projects such con-struction of power substations throughout the country, high-tension wires, and repairs needed at any of the generation plants ICE currently operates. The state power company considers this loan vital to keep electric plants operating at optimum con-ditions, thus guaranteeing the continuity and qual-ity of electricity service to users.
“A few days ago I visited ICE’s main building and pointed out that this institute and its personnel are an example, because the people who work there know about effort and passion for the work they do
and the country,” said Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias. “And today I want to express my gratitude to legislators for having passed this injection of key funds so that ICE and its team, in the midst of this complex international financial crisis, can continue providing a quality service to all Costa Ricans.”
Not all legislators were rejoicing about the loan — one of several financial commitments the gov-ernment has recently asked Congress to pass to finance various initiatives. Jose Merino del Rio, a legislator with the minority Broad Front Party, said this will be the last such loan he supports, since he believes it’s necessary to get details about how these funds will be used, not just keep signing blank checks.
“We shouldn’t allow, on the one hand, wasteful government spending, which makes a mockery of human suffering, or on other hand, become indebted by about $3 billion when some of these loans are not backed by concrete proposals,” Me-rino del Rio, an outspoken government critic, said. “Now the government wants to blame Congress that if the Shield Plan (a recovery plan recently unveiled by President Oscar Arias) is not advancing, it’s be-cause we are not approving loans fast enough.”
Mario Nuñez, a legislator with the Libertarian Movement Party (also an opposition group), said he is in agreement with having these resources used by ICE to promote development in the country.
“If funds are needed, then we need to provide them, but we also need to be talking about other bills that are needed, such as ones regarding con-cessions for energy generation projects, more support for Costa Rican citizens, and support for the production sector so they can generate more energy from biomass resources,” Nuñez indicated.
Approval of the ICE loan took place at a time when, according to official data, demand for elec-tricity in Costa Rica is growing and will continue to grow at 5-6 percent annually — which means new infrastructure works will be needed to keep up with demand.
Such data indicate that in 2008, 420,000 tourists came to Costa Rica via the Liberia ter-
minal, that is, 3.5 more than in 2007, when 405,000 travelers chose the Guanacaste air-port.
Traffic at Daniel Oduber has been increas-ing for the past six years. Between 2003 and 2008, the average arrival of passengers here increased by 44.25 percent thanks to positive yearly figures that ranged from 3.5 percent to 61 percent. The month when the most tour-ists came to Guanacaste via air during 2008 was March, which saw the arrival of 60,000 people.
Such numbers have made it clear that the airport’s infrastructure need to be expanded to keep up with demand. That’s why a bidding process has been started to increase space in the airport’s boarding areas and complemen-tary services such as food and baggage trans-portation; additionally, duty free stores were opened last year.
In the same way, the process for bidding out the airport’s new terminal and its management continues, but so far no interested parties have submitted bids.
Improvements to the pavement on the runway will make landing and taking off procedures safer at the Liberia airport. TJ/InfoWebPress
The loan will allow ICE to invest in new electricity generation projects to avoid blackouts such as the ones that affected the country two years ago.
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(InfoWebPress – www.journalcr.com) – Last Feb. 24 saw the beginning of road signaling work on the new highway connecting the communi-ties of Comunidad-Sardinal-Playas del Coco in Guanacaste.
The National Roadways Council (CONAVI) is painting horizontal lines on the sector that road that connects the Comunidad-Sardinal-Playas del Coco sector with Liberia and Filadelfia, reason for which the road will be partially closed.
This type of work will continue until March
5 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The project includes painting center and outside lines, in addition to installing light reflectors. Light reflectors on this highway will represent an investment of 35 mil-lion colones (about $67,000), with the installa-tion being done by Consorcio JL de Señalizacion, which CONAVI contracted for this project.
Despite the fact that the highway is not all the way closed to traffic, officials recommend the use of alternate routes, such as No. 159-254 Playa Hermosa intersection toward Playa Panama;
Work on 27 de Abril and Playas del Coco roadways continues
(InfoWebPress – www.journalcr.com) – The Ministry of Transportation and Public Infrastructure (MOPT) announced that it will invest close to $1.1 billion colones (around $2 million) to fix four bridges in various parts of the country, as part of an ongoing program to improve road infrastructure by the ministry’s Public Works Division.
Two of the bridges that will benefit from this investment are located in Nicoya and are key both to local transportation for commerce and for tourism in the peninsula. The other two bridges (work on one of them has concluded) are located in San Ramon and San Carlos (Ala-juela province).
According to MOPT Vice Minister Dr. Pedro Castro, in Guanacaste crews are working on bridges over the Perico and Grande rivers at the entrance to the boulevard in Nicoya, near the city’s Anexion Hospital. In the first case, the 12-meter-long structure will be expanded to four lanes, for a total width of 21.65 meters.
This bridge will have a divider in the middle, separating traffic moving in both directions. It will also have a bicycle lane and a sidewalk for pedestrians, due to the urban characteristics
of the bridge’s location and to protect both bi-cyclists and people crossing the river on foot. Total investment in this particular bridge will be 228.3 million colones.
The Perico River bridge is close to being finished. The main structure has already been erected, while additional works such as access to the bridge and rainwater drainage will be done shortly. The bridge is expected to be com-pleted in the next few weeks.
Regarding the bridge of Grande River, Castro said the project will cost some 393 million co-lones. The bridge will 25 meters long and 25.83 meters wide, that is, it will also have four lanes for vehicular traffic as well as a 2.4-meter-wide bicycle lane and sidewalks. It will include safety features such as guardrails to separate automo-biles from pedestrians.
Work on this river is about 40 percent com-pleted. Because vehicular traffic on the old bridge cannot be completely halted, crews are working two lanes at a time. Right now, the pil-lars and foundation have been built, and work-ers are assembling the metal encasing where the concrete floor will be poured.
Concrete will be poured in early March, and crews will have to wait 22 days for it to cure before it can be used. The next two lanes will be constructed after that.
As part of these works, in the past few weeks MOPT workers with help from the Costa Rican Water and Sewer Institute (AyA) moved all wa-ter lines supplying the entire Nicoya canton. In the next few days, workers will need to relo-cate rainwater drainage and sewer pipes for the area.
Work on the Grande River bridge is expected to be completed by May. All of these works are done during the dry season to make more effi-cient use of personnel and resources and com-plete projects faster.
Two Nicoya bridges are seeing improvements
Improvements to this road are expected to be ready this March, including a bicycle lane. Photo courtesy of Fitsroy Villalobos
The pillars under the Grande River bridge in Nicoya have already been installed with the goal of reinforcing this structure. Photo courtesy of Ftsroy Villalobos
Playa Panama-Las Trancas-Doit Center Papagayo; and No. 912 Sardinal-San Blas-Chalaco.
CONAVI is alerting drivers to take any necessary precautions to get to their destinations on time.
Meanwhile, officials have indicated that the 27 de Abril highway will be ready in mid-March, since the foundation has been finished and crews right now are laying down pavement.
It is expected that during the second week of March, people living near the 27 de Abril high-way in Santa Cruz will be able to enjoy the ex-pansion and improvements made to this road. By then, the 13.9 kilometers of road connecting the communities of 27 de Abril and Paraiso should have been properly paved.
Formerly a gravel road, this highway will now be paved and will also have a bicycle lane and sidewalks to improve the safety of pedestrians. Total investment in this project (paved road, drainage and related works) is about 3.9 billion colones (around $7 million).
Some of the costs of this project include 690 million colones for signaling on the bicycle lane, next to the main road, in addition to center and exterior painted lanes.
This road will also be expanded to two lanes, providing immediate benefits such as quicker and safer vehicular movement thanks to the pavement, which will result in lower costs for the users, less maintenance budget and the benefit of the complementary elements added to the road.
These road projects seek to improve the safety of both pedestrians and drivers, particularly at night and when heavy rain is present, since this route is used by many heavy trucks.
Another goal of this road project is to improve the health of people living in the region, since the old gravel road created a lot of dust that cause allergies and other respiratory illnesses.
Another direct benefit to the region will be influx of more tourists thanks to having a better road.
Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 200912 Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 2009 13cenTer Spread cenTer Spread
Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 200914 SocieTy / culTure
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$ 33,500 Optional leasing available.(InfoWebPress – www.journalcr.com)
– Next March 8, Costa Ricans will cel-ebrate for the second year in a row the Na-tional Gallo Pinto Festival, in honor of the country’s rice-and-beans national dish.
Some 50,000 people will be summoned to San Jose’s Paseo Colon thoroughfare at
9 a.m. to savor a gallo pinto dish of gi-gantic proportions for free. Families will have a change to interact with many other people and have a close encounter with the enormous pot that will hold the monu-mental dish in front of the Centro Colon shopping center.
The National Gallo Pinto Festival will also include cultural and educational ac-tivities, including marimba music, mas-querades, cimarrona bands, folkloric dance, comparsa dancing groups, pasa-calles parades, storytellers, face painting, clowns and bands, among others. Popular music groups such as Revelacion, Kalua and the Erick Sanchez Orchestra will be playing in front of the Banco de Costa Rica office.
“For us it’s very important to partici-pate in activities such as these, which promote values among children, teen-agers and the family in general,” said Ricardo Castro, general manager of the Tio Pelon rice company. “It’s also a nice opportunity to get international exposure through the many tourists who will have a chance to taste one of our most beloved traditions.”
Thomas Siles, manager of Maggi’s (a seasoning company) Trade Marketing division, said the group will have offer many activities along Paseo Colon’s sev-en-block span that will “entertain little people and big people alike, including food tasting and many other surprises.”
The giant gallo pinto dish will be cooked under the director of renowned chef Edgar Alvarez of Hotel Ramada Plaza Herradura, for whom preparing this traditional fare will be a great chal-
lenge. In addition to the Costa Rican staple foods rice and beans, gallo pinto includes sweet bell peppers, onions, ci-lantro, garlic and various seasonings.
This year’s gallo pinto will include 1,000 kilos of rice, 1,300 kilos of beans, and several kilos of seasonings and spe-cies — enough to come up with 50,000 plates of food.
Nutritionists have highlighted the goodness of gallo pinto as a good source of carbohydrates and fiber. Typically, gallo pinto’s flavor is enhanced by add-ing spices and Costa Rica’s traditional “Salsa Lizano.” The dish is usually ac-companied by foods such as cheese, fried plantain, eggs, sour cream, tortillas or meat products such as bacon or deli cuts.
A study entitled “Bean consumption and health in urban populations of Costa Rica,” conducted by Ligia Rodriguez and Shirley Rodriguez and published in the Costa Rican Public Health Journal, recommends promoting the consumption of gallo pinto as breakfast to increase the intake of beans — which are excellent sources of iron, fiber and other nutrients.
Even though the origin of this tradi-tional dish is still being debated, what’s for sure is that it has become a part of daily life for most Costa Ricans, served at any meal and for any occasion.
CR celebrates national ‘gallo pinto’ day with giant dish
Liberia education office awarded for teaching quality(InfoWebPress – www.journalcr.com) – In
recognition of its institutional performance and contributions to education and culture, the Li-beria Regional Education Office has received the Sixth Iberian-American Educational Quality Honor.
The award is given annually by the Iberian-American Council as a way of recognizing ef-forts carried out by institutions toward educa-tional excellence.
The Iberian-American Council is an inter-national nongovernmental organization whose goal is to investigate and promote the devel-opment of nations through reforms to current educational systems in the Iberian Peninsula and the Americas, making local systems for au-thentic, humanistic and holistic.
The Council handed the award to Maria Aux-iliadora Obando Obando, the Liberia regional director.
“I’m very happy because this is an award we didn’t expect,” Obando said. “We always work for the benefit of education without expecting
anything in exchange. We want to take quality education to all classrooms in all corners of the country.”
Evaluation of educational institutions was done in a separate process by the Council. These institutions now have the opportunity to engage in exchanges, alliances or joint projects with various countries in Latin America, Spain and Portugal.
The award’s goal is to encourage the growth of regional educational institutions and commit them to continue their improvement.
Winners of this award will receive the follow-ing distinctions and honorary titles: the 2009 Trophy in Honor of Educational Excellence, honorary doctorate and honorary master’s de-gree in educational technology.
The awards ceremony will take place as part of gala dinner in Lima, Peru, Aug. 27-29. At-tending this event will be the most distinguished educational professionals and institutions in the Iberian-American world.
Additionally, award-winners will be able to participate in the Fifth Iberian-American Summit “Educating for Success,” the year’s most impor-tant academic event in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America. It will be held Aug. 25-27. Attend-ing will be exhibitors and presenters as well as representatives from the educational sector.
The recognition for the Liberia regional of-fice came as the 2009 school year was just be-ginning and is seen here as an encouragement to improve the country’s education. The fact that this award was obtained competing against other countries adds to its value, lifting the Libe-ria educational system to the same level of edu-cational systems in countries more developed than Costa Rica and, at the same, showcasing the quality of Guanacaste teachers.
The Liberia Regional Education Office is lo-cated in Barrio Capulin, next to the University of Costa Rica (UCR) campus. It is in charge of managing the Liberia region’s educational sys-tem by providing technical and administrative support to all area schools.
The National Gallo Pinto Festival is expected to be enjoyed by some 50,000 people. Photo courtesy of Paola Sanchez
Educator Auxiliadora Obando received the award on behalf of Liberia’s teachers. Photo courtesy of Katherine Diaz
Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 200916 Week in BrieF
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POLITICSStill ‘no’ to Parlacen:
President Arias(La Prensa Libre) — Costa Rican President
Oscar Arias reiterated the country’s position regarding entrance into the Central American Parliament, a regional integration initiative. Arias has criticized Parlacen’s political struc-ture and its financing methods, insisting that Costa Rica not join this entity. The Parlacen issue has come up again as Central America negotiates an association agreement with the European Union, which has asked that the region negotiate the trade deal as a bloc through Parlacen.
Minister Arias In Hot Water Over Alleged Misuse of BCIE Funds(Inside Costa Rica) — Rodrigo Arias,
Costa Rica’s Presidency Minister and brother of President Oscar Arias, is being investigat-ed by the Comptroller General’s Office for the poor management of consulting contracts paid for with funds from the Central Ameri-can Economic Integration Bank (BCIE). The Comptroller indicated in two reports that in 2007 a number of consulting contracts paid for with BCIE funds went with little or no control. The controversy is over $2 mil-lion donated by BCIE and spread around in various small contracts to friends. Arias, in a press conference late week, said he is aware of the investigation against him (which could cost him his post), and has filed a writ of pro-tection with the Constitutional Court and that the investigation should stop until the court rules on his writ.
BUSINESS & ECONOMyCCSS must provide medications not on official list: Constitutional Court
(La Prensa Libre) — The Constitutional Court has ruled that the Costa Rican Social Security System (CCSS) must provide medi-cations that are not on its official list to pa-tients as long as the physician supervises the treatment and assumes responsibility for its prescription. The ruling came as the result of a complaint filed by a patient whose doctor prescribed him drugs that the CCSS denied for not being on its official list.
Bill seeks to change labor rules(La Republica) — The Legislative As-
sembly is considering a bill promoted by business groups that seeks to modify labor rules regarding salary, vacations and work
schedules. The bill is asking the Ministry of Labor to approve four new measures in the wake of the current economic crisis, which would apply to both public and private sec-tor workers. The bill would allow employ-ers to reduce the salaries and other benefits of workers who earn more than double the income tax-exempted amount, that is, those who make more than 1.170 million colones (about $2,127) per month. Also being asked is more flexibility in defining the workweek and the possibility of reducing the number of hours employers work per week.
Costa Rica seeks IMF credit line to shield economy
(Bloomberg) — Costa Rica is seeking a credit line of as much as $750 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to shore up confidence in the country’s econo-my, Francisco de Paula Gutierrez, president of the Central Bank, said. “We are talking with the IMF to see the possibility of getting some sort of precautionary stand-by agree-ment,” Gutierrez said in an interview in his office in San Jose. As part of a recovery plan announced last month, Costa Rica is mov-ing to borrow more from multilateral lend-ers such as the Inter-American Development Bank, while raising pensions 15 percent and building schools and roads to create jobs. The government is negotiating with the IMF for a stand-by credit of $500 million to $750 mil-lion, he said. “We are trying to bulletproof the economy,” Gutierrez said. Costa Rica’s economic growth may come to a standstill this year as foreign direct investment plum-mets and demand for its exports wanes, Pres-ident Oscar Arias said in a Feb. 24 interview. He forecasts growth will be zero to 1 percent. Costa Rica is the second Central American country to turn to the IMF this year as the effects of the global financial crisis intensi-fied in the region. In January, El Salvador obtained an $800 million line of credit.
Banks offering 240 mil millones in personal credit
(Al Dia) — State-owned banks announced they will be offering nearly 240 billion colo-nes ($436 million) in personal loans this year. Banco Popular is making available the most, 200 billion colones, while Banco Nacional is offering 26 billion colones and Banco de Costa Rica is offering 16 billion colones. Bancredito will be lending some 6 billion colones. Bank representatives said Costa Ri-cans should be prudent in their approach to borrowing considering the tough economic times, recommending debts no greater than 40 percent of each person’s income.
Plunge in crude prices delays Costa Rica’s bid to Petrocaribe
(Inside Costa Rica) — Costa Rica’s bid to join Venezuela’s Petrocaribe alliance, which provides subsidized oil to Central American and Caribbean countries, has been delayed by the plunge in crude prices, Costa Rican Pres-ident Oscar Arias said. ‘’I haven’t heard of Petrocaribe for the last few months and don’t really know where it stands these days,’’ Arias said. “We need to ask (Venezuelan President) Chavez if is he’s willing to continue with it.’’ A 72 percent decline in oil prices since July has cast doubt upon Chavez’s ability to sus-tain crude oil subsidies for international aid programs. Venezuela, the biggest oil exporter in the Americas, depends on oil for 93 per-cent of its exports.
Costa Rica applied for full membership after ministers attended a Petrocaribe sum-mit last July. Venezuelan Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said last week Venezuela will maintain the program, continuing to provide aid to “brother countries,”
SOCIETyGroup calls Shield Plan a ‘Whip
Plan’ for Workers(Inside Costa Rica) — Regional Cam-
paign against Labor Flexibility, which has been fighting for worker rights in Costa Rica since 2004, says the Shield Plan eco-nomic recovery program announced by the government last month aimed at fighting off the effects of the financial crisis, is taking advantage of the situation. The association, in a press statement, said that the govern-ment’s plan is far from protecting workers rights, but rather is being used to trample those rights. The association says the gov-ernment is responsible for the crisis and that President Oscar Arias is telling a lie when he says “we did not provoke this crisis.” The group rejects the President’s claims that the financial crisis in the country was started by more powerful countries around the world, claiming that the neoliberal poli-cies of the last 20 years have left small and medium businesses unprotected. The group reminded that it was Arias who was at the helm 20 years ago when the country’s ag-ricultural sector was dismantled — going from producing basic foods to concentrat-ing on exports, which according to the group exposed Costa Rica to the volatilities of the U.S. market. “The workers should not have to pay for the damage,” the group stat-ed. “The evil called ‘Shield Plan’, which is really a ‘Whip Plan,’ raises two conflicting measures; on the one hand increasing the work day to 12 hours and on the other hand reducing the time worked by each employ-ee, hence reducing the salary.”
Mistake results in overpayment for rainwater drainage cleanup
(Al Dia) — A calculation error by the Na-tional Roadways Council (CONAVI) result-ed in the government overpaying by 5 billion colones (some $9 million) companies hired to clean rainwater drainage at public highways, according to information by the Comptroller General’s Office. The overpayment occurred between Sept. 1, 2006 and Sept. 30, 2008. CONAVI calculated the scope of the work using cubic meters instead of the linear me-ters, hence the discrepancy. The Comptroller has ordered that all payments be immediate-ly suspended, as contracts for cleanup of 22 routes in seven regions (San Jose, Heredia, Puntarenas, Cartago, Guanacaste and the Southern Zone) are still effective.
March is expected to be very hot(Inside Costa Rica) — Although the
weather this February has been a far cry from typical dry season hot weather — including rain, lots of wind, and many days with tem-peratures below normal — March is expect-ed to be hot and dry. Juan Diego Naranjo, of the National Meteorological Institute (IMN), said temperatures will rise this month and Costa Ricans will feel the full effects of the dry season. Naranjo added that the hot months of March and April are a contribut-ing factor to the start of the rainy season, which traditionally begins in May and runs until November.
Manuel Antonio beaches lose Ecological Blue Flag distinction (La Nacion) — Four beaches located
within the Manual Antonio National Park in Quepos, Central Pacific, have lost their Eco-logical Blue Flag clean-water distinction: Espadilla, Espadilla Sur, Gemelas and Puerto Escondido. According to Darner Mora,
director of the Costa Rican Water and Sewer Institute’s (AyA) Water Laboratory, the beaches in question have a high con-centration of fecal coliforms in their water, which resulted from a septic tank spill that has jeopardized the microbiological health of these popular beaches.
Less drunk drivers on the roads, but traffic deaths still high
(Inside Costa Rica) — Although there was a reduction in traffic accident deaths caused by drunk drivers, the carnage on the nation’s highways hasn’t dropped. According to figures by the Roadway Safety Council (Cosevi), there have been 52 deaths recorded in the first two months of this year, compared to 53 for the same period last year. German Marin, director of the Transit Police, said the numbers show that drunk driving has slipped to third place in causing traffic accident deaths, but speeding and imprudence by pedestrians are now caus-ing more fatalities. This year, with new, tougher drunk-driving laws going into effect, there have been only seven traffic-accident deaths related to alcohol abuse, compared to 14 involving speeding and 12 involving pedestrians trying to cross the road at unmarked areas.
Costa Rica, UN launch HIV-AIDS prevention program
(Inside Costa Rica) — The Costa Rican government last week signed an agreement with the United Nations International Chil-dren’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to imple-ment a joint program to prevent HIV-AIDS. The program will focus on youngsters living in Puntarenas and Limon, two main coastal cities of Costa Rica. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias attended the signing ceremony. A study on youngsters in the two cities regarding HIV-AIDS was released during the event. The study, which was based on a sample of 800 teenagers between 13 and 18 years old from both cities, showed that there is a formidable lack of knowledge about methods to prevent HIV-AIDS among the young in the region. In Limon (Caribbean), 52.5 percent of the youngsters correctly identified ways the dis-ease can be transmitted, while in Puntarenas (Pacific) only 43.3 percent could do so. Only 26.5 percent of the teenagers in Limon and 34.5 percent in Puntarenas knew of methods to prevent HIV-AIDS, while the UN goal for 2010 is no less than 90 percent. The study also showed lack of a favorable attitude in the use of condoms as a preventive method, as only 27.7 percent of teenagers in Limon and 18.9 percent in Puntarenas said they use condoms in their sexual relations.
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Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 200918 Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 2009 19healTh europe
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WASHINGTON (AFP) – Eating heart-healthy, low-calorie foods and exercising is the key to losing weight regardless of levels of protein, fat or carbohydrates, a new study has found.
The research, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the Na-tional Institutes of Health, seems to argue against blanket use of diets that do not necessarily limit calories but call for eating certain foods such as vegetables or proteins, at the expense of others.
The NIH study of 811 volunteers, 38 percent of them men and 62 percent women, aged 30-70 and either overweight or obese, looked at diets that have been popular in the United States in re-cent years, even as the number of obese Ameri-cans has soared.
The “Preventing Overweight Using Novel Di-etary Strategies (POUNDS LOST) study found similar weight loss after six months and two years among participants assigned to four diets that dif-fered in their proportions of these three major nutrients,” said researchers.
“The diets were low or high in total fat (20 or 40 percent of calories) with average or high pro-tein (15 or 25 percent of calories). Carbohydrate content ranged from 35 to 65 percent of calories.
“The diets all used the same calorie reduction goals and were heart-healthy low in saturated fat and cholesterol while high in dietary fiber,” said researchers, whose study is published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Participants lost an average 13 pounds (5.9 ki-los) at six months and maintained a nine-pound (four-kilo) loss at two years.
“These results show that, as long as people fol-low a heart-healthy, reduced-calorie diet, there is more than one nutritional approach to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight,” said Dr. Eliza-beth Nabel, director at NHLBI.
“This provides people who need to lose weight with the flexibility to choose an approach that they’re most likely to sustain: one that is most suited to their personal preferences and health needs,” she stressed.
Sixty-six percent of U.S. adults are overweight and of those, 32 percent are obese, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show.
PARIS (AFP) – A third of common cancers could be prevented if people shifted to a sounder diet, exercised more and controlled their weight, researchers said last week.
The report, by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Re-search, analysed incidence of 12 types of cancer in the United States, Britain, Brazil and China.
Around a third of these cancers could be pre-
vented by better nutrition, physical activity and obesity controls, it estimated.
The figure does not include the benefits of tackling cancer by stopping smoking. Tobacco use alone accounts for about a third of cancers.
“On a global level every year, there are mil-lions of cancer cases and this is why we need to act now before the situation gets even worse,” said the report’s leader, Martin Wiseman.
“We are expecting a substantial increase in cancer rates, with the ageing population, obesity rates soaring, and with people becoming less ac-tive and increasingly consuming highly-processed and energy-dense food and drinks.
“The good news is that this is not inevitable and we still have the chance to avert a crisis be-fore it is too late.”
The report, Policy and Action for Cancer Pre-vention, makes four dozen recommendations, authored by 23 leading cancer experts.
It includes the advice that schools and work-places bar unhealthy foods from vending ma-chines and governments encourage cycling paths and walking routes to promote physical exercise.
According to a report issued on February 2 by health foundation and consultancy Axios In-ternational, 12 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed worldwide in 2008, resulting in 7.6 million deaths.
There could be 20 million new cases of can-cer each year, and 13 million deaths, by 2030, it estimated.
PARIS (AFP) – An experimental drug called fampridine improves walking ability in some patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease of the nervous system that crimps mobility, a study published in The Lancet says.
Doctors recruited 301 adults with MS in the United States and Canada, and gave the drug to 229 of the recruits and a dummy lookalike pill, also called a placebo, to 72 others.
Of those who received the drug, just over a third experienced an increase in the speed at which they could walk 25 feet (7.69 meters). The boost in speed was around 25 percent.
Of those who took the placebo, around eight percent had an increase in speed.
The drug was apparently well tolerated. Only 11 people, or less than five percent, of those in fampridine group dropped out of the 14-week trial because of side effects.
“This study indicates that fampridine could represent an important new way to treat multi-ple sclerosis and perhaps become the first drug to improve certain symptoms of the disease,” lead researcher Andrew Goodman, a neurolo-gist at the University of Rochester Medical Cen-ter in New york, said in a press release.
“The data suggest that, for a sub-set of MS patients, nervous system function is partially re-stored while taking the drug.”
Around a million people around the world are affected by MS, a degenerative disease in which the immune system attacks myeline, the fatty sheath that protects nerve fibres.
As a result, signals between nerve cells are delayed, disrupted or even blocked, rather like a poor connection in an electrical wire, and this causes worsening problems in coordina-tion and balance, as well as blurred vision and slurred speech.
Current drugs for MS suppress the immune system. They can be useful for slowing progres-sion of the disease, but cannot improve im-paired function.
Fampridine does not address the problem of myeline loss. Instead, it is believed to work by blocking channels for potassium ions on the surface of nerve cells.
These channels act rather like gates, and help to regulate electrical impulses.
The study was the final stage in a three-phase process of clinical trials to assess new drugs for safety and effectively.
Fampridine’s developer, Acorda Therapeu-tics, Inc., this month submitted a licence ap-plication to the the U.S. watchdog, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the press release said.
Test drug boosts mobility in multiple sclerosis
Diet,exercise,weightcurbscould cut cancer rates by third
Wealthy Nordic nations hit by cold front of recession
Eurozoneunemploymenthighestforovertwoyears
Cutting calories, in any way, key to weight loss
The “Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies (POUNDS LOST) study found similar weight loss after six months and two years among participants assigned to four diets that differed in their proportions of these three major nutrients,” said researchers. www.sxc.hu
Around a third of these cancers could be prevented by better nutrition, physical activity and obesity controls www.sxc.hu
Around a million people around the world are affected by MS, a degenerative disease in which the immune system attacks myeline, the fatty sheath that protects nerve fibres.
BRUSSELS (AFP) – The battered eurozone economies suffered more bad news on Friday with a quarter of a million jobs lost in January bringing the unemployment rate to 8.2 percent, the highest level in over two years.
The European Union’s Eurostat data agency also confirmed that the inflation rate in the 16-nation zone recorded its sharpest fall on record in January, from 1.6 percent to just 1.1 percent, well below the European Central Bank’s comfort zone of close to but less than 2.0 percent.
The official figures bore out a widely-watched EU study which showed European consumer and business confidence at record lows as the reces-sion gets longer and deeper.
“Persistent, and faster, rising unemployment will weigh down on eurozone consumer spend-ing, especially as it will be liable to lead to slow-ing wage growth,” warned Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight.
“This will more than counter the boost to pur-chasing power coming over the coming months
from sharply retreating inflation,” he added.
The eurozone jobless rate was up from 8.1 percent in December and well above the 7.3 percent recorded in January, 2008, the new fig-ures showed.
Eurostat estimated that 13.036 million people were jobless in the euro area, with the 8.2 per-cent rate the highest since September 2006.
That meant a loss of 256,000 jobs across the zone.
The January figures marked the 10th con-secutive monthly increase in unemployment, the curve shadowing the deepening recession.
For the 27-nation European Union as a whole the figures were not much better with the unem-ployment rate rising 0.1 percent to 7.6 percent in January when 386,000 jobs were lost.
The unemployment rates varied widely be-tween nations, with Spain posting a whopping 14.8 percent while in the Netherlands the jobless rate stood at a mere 2.8 percent.
The fall in the eurozone inflation rate brought it to the lowest point since July 1999 and a re-cord fall from the 1.6 percent that Eurostat re-corded in December.
After hitting a record high of 4.0 percent last June and July, eurozone inflation has fallen sharply as oil and other commodity prices collapsed in the face of a deep economic downturn. For the EU as a whole inflation fell to 1.7 percent.
“The downturn in the labour market, and indeed the wider economy, points to a further fall in core inflation in the coming months,” said Jennifer McKeown, European economist at London-based Capital Economics.
“And with energy inflation set to fall further too, we see the headline rate dipping into nega-tive territory around the middle of this year,” she added.
The falling inflation rate has paved the way for a series of interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank, which has slashed its main rate to a record low of 2.0 percent.
The ECB is likely to lower its key interest rate by another half a percentage point at its meeting next month, a member of the bank’s board suggested on Wednesday.
Archer suggested that won’t be the end of the line for the rate cuts.
“We expect eurozone interest rates to come down to 1.00 percent in the second quarter and then stay there for the rest of the year,” he said.
The economic crisis has prompted EU lead-ers to hold an extraordinary summit in Brus-sels on Sunday amid growing fears in cen-tral and eastern European nations that their western EU partners are taking protectionist measures, with the auto industry a particular flashpoint.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the World Bank pledged Friday to invest 24.5 billion euros to fight the financial crisis in central and eastern Europe.
STOCKHOLM (AFP) – Denmark and Finland officially joined the ranks of recession-hit coun-tries with the release of figures showing their economies contracting, while Sweden saw its economy sink further.
The Nordic countries’ traditionally robust, export-driven economies were long believed to have escaped the worst effects of the global eco-nomic crisis.
But they are now struggling to overcome dramatic drops in demand from abroad, and in
consumer confidence and industrial production at home.
Denmark, which became the first European country to enter recession last year after its economy contracted for two quarters running, briefly returned to growth in the second quarter of 2008 before falling back in the hole.
The Scandinavian country officially dived back into recession after its gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter, according to numbers released by the national statistics agency last Friday.
Its economy shrank by 0.8 percent in the third quarter of 2008.
“Investments and private consumption fell clearly in the fourth quarter, while there was little increase in public spending. The fourth quarter was also impacted by large declines in both im-ports and exports,” Statistics Denmark said in a statement.
“Denmark is perhaps experiencing its worst crisis since World War II,” Anders Matzen, chief analyst at Nordea bank, told AFP.
“But it is only natural that a small economy that is heavily dependent on exports finds itself in this position,” he added.
Finland meanwhile saw its fourth quarter GDP
shrink 1.3 percent after slipping 0.3 percent in the previous three-month period, according to revised figures presented last Friday.
“Finland’s economy can be considered as being in recession,” said the national statistics office, which had previously said Finland’s econ-omy had grown 0.1 percent in the third quarter.
“Demand in the national economy diminished in the last quarter: private consumption decreased by 1.2 percent and investments by 2.1 percent from 12 months back,” Statistics Finland said.
“Exports and imports contracted exception-ally strongly, by over 14 percent,” it added.
Home to the world’s largest mobile phone maker, Nokia, Finland for years enjoyed sky-high economic growth, with its GDP expanding 4.5 percent in 2007.
Last year however, the Nordic country’s econ-omy grew just 0.9 percent, according to the lat-est statistics.
Neighbouring Sweden’s predicament is even more dire, with its economy plunging 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the previous three-month period, according to data released by the national statistics bureau last Friday.
And compared to the fourth quarter of 2007 the figures are even worse, showing that Swe-
den’s GDP plummeted 4.9 percent in the last quarter last year.
Statistics Sweden spokeswoman Sofia Runestav also told AFP that revised figures showed the country had in fact entered recession in the second quarter of 2008 and not in the third as previously stated.
Sweden, which has been especially hard-hit by the troubles plaguing car makers worldwide, saw its exports fall 7.2 percent, imports decrease 5.4 percent, and industrial production shrink 6.1 percent in the fourth quarter.
“We are in the midst of a long, cold and dark winter,” Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg told reporters in Stockholm after the numbers were released.
“Sweden is obviously experiencing a very dra-matic economic slowdown,” he said.
Norway meanwhile said last week that its economy as a whole grew 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter, largely due to its position as one of the world’s leading oil and gas exporters.
Excluding its oil, gas and shipping industries however, the country’s mainland GDP tumbled 0.2 percent during the period.
Recession has been predicted across the re-gion for 2009.
Denmark officially dived back into recession after its gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter, according to numbers released by the national statistics agency
Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 200920 Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 2009 21
WASHINGTON (AFP) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pushed “green jobs” as a way to help the middle class weather hard economic times, saying better pay and social benefits will flow from producing environmentally friendly goods and services.
Biden traveled by train to Philadelphia the first meeting of a White House Task Force on Middle Class Families, that has as its center-piece President Barack Obama’s plans to in-vest 20 billion dollars in a “cleaner, greener economy.”
“So what exactly are ‘green jobs’?” Biden wrote in an article published in the Philadel-phia Inquirer. “They provide products and services that use renewable energy resources, reduce pollution, and conserve energy and natural resources,” he stated.
Citing findings from the Council of Econom-ic Advisers, Biden said green jobs pay 10 to 20 percent more than other jobs and are more likely to be unionized.
“Building a new power grid, manufacturing solar panels, weatherizing homes and office buildings, and renovating schools are just a few of the ways to create high-quality green jobs that strengthen the foundation of this country,” he wrote.
He said Philadelphia was working with its unions, universities and community colleges to tap into the 500 million dollars the admin-istration recovery plan has earmarked for “green job training.”
“Investing in green jobs also means keep-ing up with the modern economy. At a time when good jobs at good wages are harder and
harder to come by, we must find new, innova-tive opportunities,” the vice president said.
Biden was joined by several cabinet mem-bers, including the secretaries of agriculture, labor, housing and urban development, and energy.
He toured a facility at the University of Pennsylvania that monitors and conserves the university’s use of electric power at its west Philadelphia campus.
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BEIJING (AFP) – China’s economy is showing signs of recovering even though the impacts of the global crisis are still being felt, a senior plan-ning official said Friday, as he promised to steer clear of protectionism.
“Despite the downward pressure on the Chi-nese economy since the fourth quarter of last year, we have nonetheless seen signs of recovery,” Liu
Tienan, vice chairman of the country’s top eco-nomic planning body, told reporters.
The export-dependent Chinese economy ex-panded by nine percent in 2008, down steeply from 13 percent growth the year before. In the fourth quarter of last year, it expanded by just 6.8 percent.
China has only released very limited data about
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The International Mon-etary Fund said it will seek a temporary cash in-
jection from members to boost its lending power to countries struggling with the global economic crisis.
The IMF executive board at a meeting this month reached a consensus “to temporarily supplement the fund’s resources to address the current crisis,” the Washington-based institution said in a statement.
“There is also general consensus that official borrowing is the most promising approach,” it added.
The IMF said the immediate priorities were to bring a borrowing agreement with Japan for 100 billion dollars to the board for approval, and to agree on the operational guidelines for the use of borrowed resources.
The board reached consensus after weighing an internal study on the IMF’s financial position
amid the worst global financial crisis since the 1930s Great Depression and a rapidly shrinking world economy.
Reza Moghadam, director of the IMF’s strat-egy department and co-author of “Review of the Adequacy of and Options for Supplementing Fund Resources,” said at a news conference that most directors had endorsed managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s goal of doubling the fund’s lending capacity to 500 billion dollars.
Moghadam said the IMF’s current lending ca-pacity stands at 150 billion dollars, after lending roughly 50 billion dollars to countries in distress in recent months.
“Our resources we feel are adequate for now,” Moghadam said.
“Our attitude is to hope for the best but pre-pare for the worst,” he added.
Moghadam said that judging from discussions with the Group of 20 developed and developing countries, he expected they “will be supportive of this aim” to boost IMF funds.
He said the IMF hopes to “make progress” on the matter ahead of the April 2 summit in London of the G20, which includes emerging powerhous-es China, Brazil, India and Russia.
The emerging countries have long pushed for greater clout in the IMF and the World Bank to reflect their growing importance in the global economy.
In response to a question about whether China had discussed offering funds on condition of raising its quota in the 185-nation institution, Andrew Tweedie, the head of the finance depart-ment and co-author of the report, said: “We’re talking to all our members.... There’s no link be-tween that and the quota.”
TOKyO (AFP) – Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso warned that the world’s second largest economy would take three years to recover and vowed to create new jobs amid the downturn.
“It will take three years to fully heal in the midst of the global recession,” Aso told parlia-ment, reiterating an earlier prediction. “In the short term, we intend to carry out drastic fiscal measures.
“As an immediate step, we must take employ-ment measures at any cost,” he said. “I think this is the bottom line.”
The government said almost 160,000 tem-porary workers will have lost their jobs in the
half year to March as companies trim payrolls in recession-hit Japan.
Aso of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party is trailing badly in opinion surveys behind the opposition Democratic Party of Japan with elections to be held by September.
The premier also said debate on the creation of a new body to monitor global financial mar-kets would be high on the agenda for a Group of 20 summit in London scheduled for April 2.
“We have to set up an international organisa-tion,” he said. “We have to avoid being knocked around by such things. It is an important point to be discussed in London.”
Japaneconomy‘needsthreeyearstorecover’:PM
IMF seeks temporary cash boost for crisis lending Canadafightsorganizedcrime
Biden pushes ‘green jobs’ for the middle class
China’s economy showing signs of recoveryhow its economy has performed since the begin-ning of 2009, but some of the figures have been slightly more positive than expected.
For example, state banks extended a record 1.2 trillion yuan (175 billion dollars) in loans in January as they heeded calls by the government to help boost the economy.
The government’s purchasing managers’ index, which gauges the level of activity in the manufacturing sector, rose to 45.3 percent in January, up from 41.2 percent in December.
And compared with December, consumer prices in January rose 0.9 percent, the statistics bureau said earlier, although this partly reflected a pick-up in consumption as a result of the Lunar New year, which fell in January this year.
This came after several independent estimates forecast a bleak year for China in 2009. The World Bank has forecast 7.5 percent growth this year, which would be the lowest level since 1990.
China, on the other hand, has set an official economic growth target in 2009 of eight percent, considered by the government to be the mini-mum needed to prevent unemployment reaching a level where social unrest breaks out.
“We have the conditions, the ability and the
confidence to achieve eight percent growth,” Liu said.
Liu said his National Reform and Development Commission would await full first-quarter data before judging growth trends in early 2009.
“However, I believe that after a series of mea-sures have been implemented, we can maintain good and fast development momentum,” he said.
Among steps taken to counter the crisis was an unprecedented four-trillion-yuan (580-billion-dollar) spending package unveiled in November last year.
Liu indicated in Friday’s briefing that despite the added spending, China’s budget deficit would not spin out of control.
“Investments are a very important, very effi-cient, and very direct measure,” he said.
“In this situation, deficits are necessary, but I assure you the deficits are within the limits of what’s acceptable, and under control,” he said.
Liu also said protectionism offered no way out for China as it would not offer long-term relief.
“Protectionist measures may have some short-term effects, but it definitely amounts to short-sighted behaviour,” he said. “I can tell you all that we oppose protectionism.”
The board reached consensus after weighing an internal study on the IMF’s financial position amid the worst global financial crisis since the 1930s Great Depression and a rapidly shrinking world economy.
Employees of Solar Forward install solar electric panels on a residential rooftop in Santa Monica, California. President Obama signed into law an economic-recovery package containing more than $20 billion investing in a greener economy, including $500 million for green job training. AFP/ David McNew
OTTAWA (AFP) – Canada’s government un-veiled stiffer penalties for gangland crimes, to stem an outbreak of bloody gang violence in Canadian cities, including Vancouver, host city of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
“No part of our society is immune to the menace of organized crime activities,” Justice Minister Rob Nicholson told a press conference after presenting a criminal code amendment to Parliament.
“We will not tolerate such violent criminal ac-tivity that attempts to flourish at the expense of law-abiding Canadians,” he said. “Our streets are not war zones and no place for shootings.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, meanwhile, pledged to quell the surge in violence in time for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, saying visitors to host city Vancouver will put on “the safest,
most secure Games ever.”
There are an estimated 900 organized crimi-nal groups operating in Canada, accounting for 20 percent of homicides in the country, accord-ing to the Justice Department, which said the number of slayings is on the rise.
The latest bloodshed, over turf and the illicit drug trade, started in 2005 with hundreds of shootings in Toronto provoking high level talks between Canadian and US officials to try to stem the flow of guns into Canada.
In December of that year, the death of a 15-year-old girl caught in a shootout on a packed downtown Toronto street provoked public out-rage and fear.
Dozens of alleged gang members have been arrested over the past year in police sweeps in Toronto and Montreal, including members of the
Mara Salvatrucha (also known as the MS-13), the Hells Angels and other groups, in a stepped-up effort to quell the violence.
But the savagery has persisted. Last week, hit-men fatally shot a young mother driving a car in Vancouver, while her four-year-old son screamed in the back seat.
So far this month, there have been two shoo-touts outside busy supermarkets and numerous street shootings in the western Canadian me-tropolis.
One man also died in suspicious circumstanc-es in Vancouver earlier this month, after falling from the apartment balcony of another man whom police have linked to gangs.
Police also freed an 18-year-old Chinese stu-dent from kidnappers who had demanded a ransom payment from his family in China. Five
people were arrested in the kidnapping case, ac-cording to authorities.
Most of the killings have been “targeted” po-lice said, but some victims simply were in the wrong place at the wrong time -- like one man who was gunned down in 2007 after being mis-taken for a local gang member who had been driving the same model of truck.
City officials and outraged citizens have called for more prosecutors, tougher gun laws, and a crackdown on gun smuggling.
Many people also are pressing for life sen-tences for murder when linked to organized crime, a minimum four-year sentence for drive-by shootings, and 10 years or longer in jail for assaulting a policeman or intimidating a judge or prosecutor.
‘Couldn’tcareless’aboutmeetingObama:ChavezCARACAS (AFP) – President Hugo Chavez
said Friday he was totally indifferent about meeting U.S. President Barack Obama at the April 17-19 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.
“The reason I’m attending the summit is not that Obama’s there. I couldn’t care less if he is
there or not, if we see each other or not,” Chavez told reporters at a public event in Caracas.
Chavez said his would go to the upcoming summit to “defend the integration of the Carib-bean and Latin America and demand that the empire Obama leads lift its blockade of Cuba, abide by UN resolutions and condemn Israel.”
Since taking office January 20, Obama as U.S. president has never met Chavez and it was unclear if he plans to attend the Latin American summit.
Chavez also repudiated Friday’s U.S. State De-partment report critical of Venezuela’s human rights record, and said Obama and his Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton “should acknowledge” human rights violations in their own country and put a stop to them.
“I don’t care what Obama or his secretary of state have to say. Away with them and their cynicism.”
Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 200922 Edition 176 • Mar 3 - Mar 9, 2009 23
PARIS (AFP) – Honda’s Formula One future could be secured by a management buy-out which will allow the team to take part in the 2009 world championship which starts in four weeks’ time, it was reported.
After weeks of speculation linking various in-dividuals and groups as potential saviours of the team, it was claimed that the Japanese manufac-turer has given the all-clear for the proposed buy-out.
The Daily Telegraph reported that leading driver Jenson Button would be forced to take a pay cut of 7.5 million dollars while around 300 jobs would be lost at the team’s base in Brack-ley, central England.
The newspaper said that chief executive Nick Fry, team principal Ross Brawn and three other directors have convinced Honda’s board in Tokyo to hand over a sum, believed to be in excess of 100 million dollars, to en-able the new team to continue racing in 2009 at least.
Honda announced last December that they were pulling the plug on their F1 operation as a result of the global economic turndown.
Meanwhile, the British Press Association said that a new car would be tried out at Silverstone next week before taking part in the final test of the winter in Barcelona from March 9 to 12.
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NEW yORK (AFP) – Eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi will return to action in July, playing two matches for the Philadelphia Freedoms of World TeamTennis, the 10-team league announced last week.
Agassi, who won 60 career singles titles, played in the league in 2002 and 2004 and will return July 10 against Boston at Philadelphia and play July 17 at Newport Beach.
“Playing World TeamTennis is a great experi-ence,” Agassi said. “Team play is a terrific way to showcase tennis. WTT is competitive, it’s fun and there’s a really great energy from the fans.”
Each team plays one set of men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles in matches during a season that runs from July 2-26.
Australian Open champion Serena Williams will play four times for Washington. Venus Wil-liams plays three times for Philadelphia, but never alongside Agassi or against her sister.
Other famous names taking part include Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe, Michael Chang and Anna Kournikova.
CHARLOTTE (AFP) – The National Basket-ball Association will borrow 175 million dol-lars to serve as aid to teams that might struggle in the weak global economy, Sports Business Journal reported.
The report said the presumption is teams would use the funds to cover operating losses and that while the league was not looking to borrow, Bank of America and JPMorgan came to the NBA several weeks ago with the oppor-tunity.
Half of the league’s 30 teams agreed there was a need to go through with the borrowing, according to the report, which said the money will supplement a 1.7 billion-dollar credit fa-cility that uses the NBA’s broadcast contracts as loan collateral.
The deal comes with interest rates up to 8.27 percent and each of the 15 teams that wanted to borrow could take a maximum of 11.66 million dollars from the debt proceeds, according to the Journal.
“In this economic environment, it’s tremen-dous that the league can place such a facility,” Orlando Magic chief operating officer Alex Martins told the Journal.
“It certainly helps us bridge the time period between now and when we move into our new events center in 2010. We’ve been operating at a 15 (million) to 20 million (dollar annual) loss over the past half-dozen years so it helps us.”
The Sacramento Kings are another likely candidate to dip into the loan funds after re-ports earlier this month said the California club could lose as much as 25 million dollars this season.
MUMBAI (AFP) – India feted the return last week of the children who acted in “Slumdog Millionaire” and celebrated composer A.R. Rahman after the feel-good movie’s stunning Oscar-winning streak in Hollywood.
Six children who starred in the rags-to-riches tale returned to a delirious greeting from family members, friends and fans who
thronged Mumbai’s international airport.
The crowd cheered and chanted “Jai Ho!”, the theme song of the film that won Rahman two golden statuettes among the eight Oscars awarded to the movie including “Best Picture”.
“This is the proudest moment of our lives. I cannot believe my daughter has become world famous,” said Rafiq Asghar Ali Quereshi, a
slumdweller and father of nine-year-old Rubina Ali who acts in the movie.
Rubina played the younger version of the love interest of Jamal, the hero of the film about a Mumbai tea boy who rises from poverty and enters a TV quiz show to win millions and be united with the girl he adores.
The children, three of whom are slumdwell-ers, were garlanded in traditional Indian style by family members and then were whisked home in six Mercedes. Afterwards they were due to attend a party, Indian television reported.
Meanwhile, in composer Rahman’s southern home city of Chennai, a huge crowd welcomed him with drums, dancing and cries of his song “Jai Ho!”.
Fans held a banner that read “Congrats Jai Ho Rahman” and surged forward to greet the man dubbed the “Mozart of Madras”, a refer-ence to Chennai’s former name.
“I dedicate the Oscars to the people of the country and young and budding music artists,” Rahman said, thanking fans for the “overwhelm-ing reception”.
He told a news conference later his Oscar success “shows anything is possible”.
The crowd waited through the night until Rahman arrived at the airport, clutching his prized statuettes and accompanied by his wife and mother.
The 43-year-old composer won two Academy
Awards for best original music score and best original song for “Jai Ho”.
Rahman is responsible for the music in some of Indian cinema’s biggest hits in recent years and is believed to have sold more than 100 mil-lion albums.
“Slumdog Millionaire”, directed by British film-maker Danny Boyle, has brought him even wider acclaim, with its versatile soundtrack fus-ing hip-hop and pulsing electronica, haunting ballads, instrumentals and upbeat Bollywood-style numbers.
Rahman is only the third Indian to be hon-oured by the Academy.
Many fans followed his car to his home on a Chennai road which was decorated with flowers and there was more dancing and singing.
Rahman was non-committal about media speculation that the Oscar win would woo him to Hollywood.
“It is too early to talk about it. The people there (Hollywood) have been receiving me with open arms but it is great to be back home,” he said.
Meanwhile, the 18-year-old actor who played the film’s hero, Jamal, is in talks to appear on the TV gameshow on which the movie is based, according to the show.
Dev Patel could appear on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” in Britain with Boyle, said Me-lissa Goss, a spokeswoman for Two Way Traffic, which owns the show’s format rights.
PARIS (AFP) – Hollywood rebel Sean Penn, winner of the best actor Oscar for his role in “Milk”, said he hoped the film would soon get a showing before President Barack Obama.
“Eventually we are hoping for a White House screening,” the 48-year-old told reporters ahead of the French launch of the acclaimed biopic about gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk.
As California’s Supreme Court prepares to rule on whether to annul a referendum that banned same-sex marriages last years, Penn said he expected the movie would weigh on the debate.
“I think this film will be one of the steps for-ward,” Penn told reporters. “It will be part of the dialogue.”
“But I think things are going to go forward with or without it,” said Penn, who made an impassioned plea as he received his his second best-actor Oscar for opponents of gay marriage to rethink their positions.
“I was once asked to tell the difference be-tween luxury and necessity for a human being. The right to equality for all, including homo-sexuals, is of course a necessity.
“That’s why this right will become a reality and I think in its own way this film will be part of that.”
“This train has left,” Penn added, saying “the need for tolerance, equality and so on is on the move, and will go on.”
In a result that has provoked nationwide
protests by gay rights activists, Californians ap-proved a proposal in November that amended the state constitution to recognise only mar-riages between men and women.
The passage of the measure – known as Proposition 8 – triggered lawsuits from activ-ists, right groups and city officials.
The Californian court will on March 5 hear arguments in lawsuits seeking to annul the referendum, and is due to hand down a ruling within 90 days.
‘Slumdog’ stars welcomed home to India after Oscar glory
Oscar-winner Penn hopes to take ‘Milk’ to White House
Agassi makes brief return in World TeamTennis
Honda F1 team poised for management buy-out
NBA reportedly set to borrow 175 million dollars
Family members surround “Slumdog Millionaire” child actor Rubina Ali Qureshi (C) to be photographed inside their shanty in the Behrampada slums after arriving back from the Oscars in Mumbai. Six children who starred in the rags-to-riches tale returned to a delirious greeting from family members, friends and fans who thronged Mumbai’s international airport. AFP/PAL PILLAI
Actor Sean Penn (R) and Robin Wright Penn attends the 2009 Governor’s Ball in Hollywood, California after the Academy Awards show.
Agassi, who won 60 career singles titles, played in the league in 2002 and 2004 and will return July 10 against Boston at Philadelphia and play July 17 at Newport Beach.
Half of the league’s 30 teams agreed there was a need to go through with the borrowing, according to the report, which said the money will supplement a 1.7 billion-dollar credit facility that uses the NBA’s broadcast contracts as loan collateral. AFP
Honda announced last December that they were pulling the plug on their F1 operation as a result of the global economic turndown.
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