Cartoon by Clay Jones By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. England’s rejection of the European Union has sent shock waves around the world, affecting financial markets from Hong Kong to New York while sending United States presidential candidates and world leaders scurrying ...

EFE file The Venezuelan opposition confirmed Sunday that it is ready to start the process to bring about the referendum to revoke the mandate of President Nicolas Maduro, even if they are deprived of their liberty. The mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, imprisoned since February 2015, released a message in which he congratulated the Venezuelan people for "the heroic journey made this week,"...

Source: UEFA The UEFA subjected 10 players from the Spanish national team on Saturday to doping tests at a hotel on the island of Re, France, where the Euro 2016 is being held. Urine and blood samples were taken without any problems, according to the official website of the Spanish national team. The players subjected to the tests were not identified. Spain midfielder Sergio Busquets ...

Wikimedia Commons The Iraqi forces retook control over Al-Mualimin neighborhood of Fallujah from the Islamic State, or IS, group and advanced to al-Golan, the last IS stronghold in Fallujah, Iraqi joint command said in a statement on Saturday. According to the statement, the troops managed on Saturday to completely liberate Al-Mualimin neighborhood in the city of Fallujah, 50 kilometers (31...

Andrey Amador Bikkazakova is a Costa Rican professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam Movistar Team. He started cycling professionally at the age of 20 in 2006, but started cycling at a very early age. Amador was selected to carry the flag for Costa Rica at the 2011 Pan American Games opening ceremony. He is the first Costa Rican to ever ride the Tour de France. In 2012, Amador won a mounta...

The Corcovado forests exemplify the popular conception of the tropical rain forest, with a multitude of species, very tall trees, spectacular buttresses, large woody lianas and abundant herbaceous vines. Corcovado National Park is the backpacking experience of a lifetime. Source: costa-rica-guide.com...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htPEH1nXOOY...

Wikimedia Commons A quintal (46 kilograms) of high-quality Costa Rican coffee was purchased Wednesday by a Japanese company at $5,900 in the Cup of Excellence's online auction, the event organizer reported. The price sets a new record high in this type of auction, according to the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (Icafe). The Japanese company Wataru bought 11 bags of coffee grown in the Su...

Pixabay Commons The Japanese pornography industry issued an apology on Thursday and vowed to make changes following the arrest of the managers of a modeling agency who forced a young woman into doing X-rated movies. Japan Intellectual Property Association, representing the adult film industry, among others, issued a statement saying that it "deeply regrets that we had failed to take the ini...

Cartoon by Clay Jones Amid high security, presumptive Republican candidate for United States presidency, Donald Trump, visited Scotland where he was due to inaugurate his luxury hotel and golf complex Friday. Arriving by helicopter, Trump said the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union was a "great thing" and that the British people had "taken back their country." Accordin...

Wikimedia Commons While political analysts are nervously waiting on the results of a crucial referendum for the United Kingdom to either leave or remain in the European Union, sports analysts note that there was no “Brexit” from the UEFA Euro 2016 Championship. After the first round of the Euro 2016, three national teams of the United Kingdom –England, Northern Ireland, and Wales- advanced ...

Gage Skidmore, Flickr By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.   In a dramatic last-ditch effort to pass common sense gun-control measures Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives held a sit-in Wednesday morning on the floor of the House. The majority Republican...

Michael Temer with Dilma Rousseff Brasilia, Jun 21 (EFE).- The speaker of Brazil's lower house of Congress, currently sidelined pending trial on corruption charges, said Tuesday that he will feel "proud" if the case against suspended President Dilma Rousseff ends with her impeachment. "I'm neither a hero nor a villain in the case" against Rousseff, Eduardo Cunha told a press conference. ...

Panama City, Jun 21 (EFE).- Security at the inauguration of the Panama Canal expansion next Sunday will be assured by more than 11,000 agents along with special measures like closing the airspace over the waterway beginning the day before, the authorities announced Tuesday. Eleven heads of state and government, the king emeritus of Spain and delegations of some 50 countries have confirmed their...

By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Things are really getting strange in the political world of the wannabe presidents. It seems as if the two-party election process in the Unites States has gone to the dogs. Huge flocks of black buzzards will be circling overhead during the...

Truth-out.org Mexico City, Jun 21 (EFE).- Clashes with security forces have not intimidated Mexican teachers opposed to what they see as unfair education reform and promise to continue their protests, even as the government investigates the clash between teachers and police in the southern part of the country that left at least eight dead. Leaders of the militant CNTE teachers union said th...

Wikimedia Commons Algeciras, Spain, Jun 20 (EFE).- The Spanish Civil Guard in the southern port of Algeciras seized 280 kilos (615 lbs.) of cocaine hidden in a container shipped from Brazil, the security corps reported in a statement. An investigation by Spain's Civil Guard aided by Brazilian police intelligence found the drug hidden in a container transporting a legal cargo of sugar. On...

Wikimedia Commons OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, JUN 20 (EFE; betting context by IDSca.com). — LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to their first National Basketball Association title with a 93-89 win over the Golden State Warriors. James had 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in Sunday night's deciding Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The win gave James his third title in the six straight NBA Fi...

Wikimedia Commons San Juan, Jun 18 (EFE).- At least 500 activists of Puerto Rico's independence movement demonstrated in Old San Juan this Saturday in anticipation of a visit by the U.N.'s Special Committee on Decolonization, to arrive next Monday in this U.S. commonwealth. Liliana Laboy, a member of the organizing committee of the demonstration, told EFE that the protest this Saturday had ...

Radiohead performing in Portugal. Wikimedia Commons Istanbul, Jun 18 (EFE).- Istanbul police used tear gas Saturday to break up a demonstration protesting the attack last Thursday against fans who went to a party thrown by the Radiohead band, which was celebrating the publication of its new disc, "A Moon Shaped Pool." About 100 fans gathered Saturday around 6:00 p.m. at a square in Istanbul...

Orlando Police Twitter Miami, Jun 17 (EFE).- Omar Seddique Mateen, perpetrator of a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left 50 people dead - including the attacker - and 53 wounded, exchanged text messages with this wife, Noor Zahi Salman, throughout the assault, local media reported Friday Apparently, according to the NBC News channel, Salman's mother called her dau...

ISS. Source: Wikimedia Commons Moscow, Jun 18 (EFE).- The descent module of Russian spaceship Soyuz TMA-19M, with three crew members of the International Space Station, or ISS, aboard, successfully landed Saturday on the steppes of Kazakhstan, Russia's Space Flight Control Center reported. Returning to Earth in the module were Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, U.S. astronaut Tim Kopra and...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFCBMuI2TRk...

The Central Market is one of the oldest spots in San José, it opened in 1880. It remains an important place whenever you’re looking for freshness, quality and a good price to go with it. You just need to take a walk through its many corridors and discover what every turn has to offer. A visit to the market means you’ll see the everyday life of Costa Rica at the core of San José; it is a very re...

Deborah Nowalski Kader, better known by her stage name Debi Nova, is a Costa Rican singer-songwriter who resides in Los Angeles, California. She has been involved in six projects nominated for a Grammy award, a dance song, "One Rhythm", which reached #1 on the Billboard Dance charts, and has collaborated with artists including Boney James, Mark Ronson, Q-Tip, Sérgio Mendes, the Black Eyed P...

Nadine Heredia. Facebook photo Lima, Jun 17 (EFE).- Judge Richard Concepcion ordered Peru's first lady and the president of the ruling Nationalist Party, Nadine Heredia, not to leave the country in order to answer charges of suspected money laundering in the electoral campaigns of 2006 and 2011. The judge also ordered Heredia, her brother Ilan Heredia and her friend Rocio Calderon, also und...

New quick-action gesture iPhone 6s Beijing, Jun 17 (EFE).- Chinese authorities have ordered technology giant Apple to suspend sales of its latest iPhone models in Beijing due to a lawsuit over a patent violation. The Chinese capital's Intellectual Property Bureau put sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus on hold pending a lawsuit over infringement of a patent held by a Chinese company. ...

By Elisa Vasquez Panama, Jun 15 (EFE).- In Panama, "the first to disrespect nature are the officials appointed to defend it," according to Ligia Arreaga, an environmentalist engaged in activism for a decade on behalf of the rainforest of Darien that spreads across Panama's border with Colombia. The Central American country has "extraordinarily good" laws, what is lacking are decent officials...

Orlando Police Twitter Orlando, Florida, Jun 14 (EFE).- Two days after the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at a gay nightclub in Orlando this Sunday, families of the dead and wounded struggle to carry on with their lives, while authorities investigate the background of the gunman, Omar Seddique Mateen. At Orlando Regional Medical Center where most of those wounded at the Pulse night...

"Pedro-Pablo-Kuczynski" by Robertovillani - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons Lima, Jun 10 (EFE).- Keiko Fujimori conceded defeat Friday in Peru's presidential runoff to conservative economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a former United States citizen who garnered 50.12 percent of the vote compared to her tally of 49.87 percent with 100 percent of the ballots counted. As previous...

Wikimedia Commons Austin, Texas, Jun 13 (EFE).- Hilda Ramirez is a Guatemalan Indian who has spent four months in a church that has provided her with sanctuary in this Texas city in order to prevent U.S. authorities from detaining her and complying with the deportation order issued against her and her 10-year-old son. She has no wish to return to Guatemala, from where she fled north in 2014...

Sleeping in a tree house is the best, maybe because it is something different, or maybe because the human subconscious understands that a few million years ago it was something normal. Even after our arboreal ancestors stopped living in trees, they still climbed up to sleep because it felt safe. Lately a lot of places around the world are seeing renewed interest in tree houses, and Costa Rica – w...

EFE file Caracas, Jun 12 (EFE).- Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles said Sunday that socialist President Nicolas Maduro would be removed from office this year and insisted that government opponents had gathered the quantity of signatures - 1 percent of the voting population - needed for the first phase of the recall referendum process. Maduro "will be recalled this year, period,...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d8wWcJLnFI...

BALTIMORE, MD (PRWEB) JUNE 13, 2016 - For decades, Costa Rica has been among the world’s premier retirement destinations. It’s a country that is nearly carbon neutral, sustainably producing most of its power without increasing greenhouse gasses. It’s a country with no standing army. It’s a country whose people consistently rank among the Costa Rica is Once Again the Happiest Nation According to N...

Orlando Police Twitter By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff Another mass shooting has occurred -- this time in Florida – and it’s the worst mass murder by a single shooter in the history of the United States. This shooting is getting real political real fast due to its nexus ...

The 2011 World Naked Bike Ride in Brighton, UK.- Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, Jun 11 (EFE).- Hundreds of bicyclists rolled into the streets Saturday, both in Mexico City and in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, to take part in the World Naked Bike Ride. Among the objectives of this 6th edition of the show-all ride was, first, to raise awareness about the environmental advantages of bicycles ove...

Wikimedia Commons Panama City, Jun 11 (EFE).- The container ship Cosco Shipping Panama, which on June 26 will be the first to pass through the expanded Panama Canal, set sail Saturday from the port of Piraeus, Greece, on its way to this Central American country, official sources said. Canal administrator Jorge Luis Quijano, currently in Greece with a delegation of the Panama Canal Authority...

Twitter photo by Deric Ó h'Artagáin, Ireland TV3 Presenter Marseille, France, Jun 11 (EFE).- A 50-year-old English man is battling for his life at a hospital in this southeastern French city after being beaten by a group of Russian fans Saturday ahead of a Euro 2016 Group B game between England and Russia, Marseille's police prefect, Laurent Nunez, said. The man, who had suffered a heart at...

Costa Rican president, Luis Guillermo Solis tours the Reventazon hydroelectric plant while still under construction in 2014. (Casa Presidencial) By Douglas Marin Siquirres, Costa Rica, Jun 11 (EFE).- Considered the second largest work of infrastructure in the region after the Panama Canal, the Reventazon Hydroelectric Plant on Costa Rica's Caribbean side, is getting its finishing touches be...