Wikimedia Commons Cartagena, Colombia, Dec 5 (EFE).- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed Saturday that the legendary galleon San Jose, a Spanish ship that was sunk in 1708 near Cartagena of the Indies with a cargo of gold and silver coins, was found at dawn last Nov. 27. "I feel very pleased, as head of state, to inform Colombians that undoubtedly, without a doubt of any kind, ...

Wikimedia Commons New York, Dec 6 (EFE).- A rare copy of The Beatles' "White Album" sold for a record $790,000 at an auction of items belonging to the band's former drummer, Ringo Starr, Julien's Auctions said. The record, a first edition of the British band's classic, was purchased by an anonymous buyer. Starr is donating part of the proceeds from the auction to a charity he founded. ...

Shalom. Recently, the Hebrew faithful in Costa Rica invited influential clerics from other religions for an ecumenical remembrance of a terrible act of religious intolerance that shall never be repeated. With the recent atrocities perpetrated by ISIS against the good people of France as background, the Judaic and Christian communities of Costa Rica commemorated Kristallnacht (night of the broken g...

Wikimedia Commons A pair of 1963 Washington, D.C. license plates, which were on the limousine carrying John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie on the fateful day of his assassination on November 22, 1963, were sold at a recent week. The asking price was $40,000, but the final sale price was $100,000, sold to an anonymous Kennedy memorabilia collector. $80,000 went to the seller, Jane Walker, and $...

Garcia Marquez. Source: Flickr Commons Austin, Texas, Oct 29 (EFE).- When a young Salman Rushdie was introduced to the English edition of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" in 1975, shortly after having his first novel - "Grimus" - published, it marked the beginning of a love affair with the work of Colombian Nobel literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, an author he never met in person. T...

Source: myBulova.com New York, Oct 24 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- The watch used by the commander of the Apollo 15 space mission was sold at a highly competitive auction for $1,625,000, U.S. media reported. Commander Dave Scott used a Bulova Chronograph during that 1971 lunar landing, the ninth manned mission of the United States' Apollo program and fourth to land o...

Garcia Marquez. Source: Flickr Commons By Albert Traver Austin, Texas, Oct 24 (EFE). - The personal archive of late Nobel literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who for decades was barred from entering the United States due to his friendship with Fidel Castro, makes clear his close bond with the Cuban revolutionary leader, University of Texas academics told EFE. "There are lots of (...

New York, Oct 19 (EFE). - Portuguese historian Manuel Rosa, a specialist in studies about Christopher Columbus, again casts doubt on the traditional account that the great navigator was born in Italy, and says he has found convincing evidence to the contrary. In a new article published by the Legal History Review at Connecticut's Quinnipiac University, Rosa says the testament of Columbus on whi...

First issue of Playboy, 1953. Wikimedia Commons International Desk, Oct 13 (EFE).- Playboy magazine says it will stop publishing pictures of completely nude women next spring. Scott Flanders, the magazine's CEO, told The New York Times of the pending change in policy, justifying it by saying that "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at th...

Stanley, Islas Malvinas. Wikimedia Commons United Nations Press Release - Halfway into the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism, the United Nations must rise to its responsibilities and put an end to colonial occupations once and for all, delegates stressed today as the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its general debate on the issue. ...

Wikimedia Commons U.S. Sports Desk, Oct 14 (EFE; odds by IDS).- Outfielder Kyle Schwarber, first baseman Anthony Rizzo and Puerto Rican shortstop Javier Baez each hit home runs to lead the Chicago Cubs to a series-clinching 6-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and a berth in the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2003. Tuesday evening's win also marked the firs...

Wikimedia Commons Dublin, Sep 29 (EFE).- Liquor giant Brown-Forman Corporation, the maker of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey, held the ground-breaking ceremony on Tuesday for its distillery at Ireland's historic Slane Castle, the company's first new whiskey distillery outside the United States. The Louisville, Kentucky-based company said it planned to invest 44 million euros ($50 million) i...

Source: Univision Miami, Sep 20 (EFE).- With tears in his eyes, iconic television host Don Francisco bade farewell on the weekend to the program "Sabado Gigante" after 53 years on the air, a broadcasting run that turned it into a world TV landmark. In his last appearance before the cameras on the extraordinarily popular program, the 75-year-old Chilean received the prerecorded congratulatio...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The traditions surrounding the celebration of Independence Day in Costa Rica have become powerful symbols of the longstanding peace, democracy and civil freedom that Ticos proudly enjoy. It is important to note, however, that these traditions actually originated in other countries, and that other patriotic values are celebrated more so than independence on September 1...

John Lennon's statue in Costa Rica. Wikimedia Commons New York, Sep 14 (EFE).- Yoko Ono is planning to celebrate what would have been John Lennon's 75th birthday by organizing in Central Park a huge human peace sign, assembling between 6,000 and 10,000 people to take part in the project and thereby setting a Guinness World Record. "You don't have to do much. Power works in mysterious ways V...

President Shri Pranab Mukherjee The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended his greetings and felicitations to the Government and the people of the Republic of Costa Rica on the eve of their Independence Day (September 15, 2015). In his message to His Excellency Mr. Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera, the President of the Republic of Costa Rica, the President has said, "On behalf of t...

A wooden wedding bed carved with 138 figures from the Kama Sutra and a murder weapon shaped like a penis from the Stanley Kubrik film "A Clockwork Orange" are some of the pieces on show at the World Erotic Art Museum, or WEAM, the second-largest of its kind in the world, in Miami Beach. The museum has more than 4,000 erotic objects and artworks by such iconic artists as Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso...

Rosh Hashanah treats. Flickr Commons Shalom. As a prime destination for medical tourism, many dental clinics in Costa Rica are staffed by multilingual professionals. At the Flikier Dental Institute, for example, English is spoken along with Spanish, French, and even Hebrew. On the day that Judaism celebrates its New Year holiday, which is known as Yom Teruah and Rosh Hashanah, it is importa...

The tragic events of September 11th, 2001 shook the entire world. The terrorist attacks perpetrated by al-Qaeda left a deep mark on the psyches of many people, including a few from Costa Rica. Author's Note: Portions of this article were originally published by The Costa Rica Star on September 11, 2013. They are being reprinted in memoriam.   Fourteen years after the calamity, most people in Cos...

Garcia Marquez. Source: Flickr Commons Miami, Sep 6 (EFE).- The FBI spied on Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez for 24 years, including during the years in which he became an internationally known writer, according to documents declassified by the agency and published on the weekend by The Washington Post. The paper reported that at its request the federal agency declassified 137 pages...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Sep 5 (EFE).- Aretha Franklin stopped the screening Friday night of the documentary "Amazing Grace" at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado after a federal judge ruled in favor of the artist's suit against showing the film without her permission. Based on a question of the singer's rights, U.S. District Judge John L. Kane ruled in a court order, to which EFE...

Wikimedia Commons Toronto, Sep 4 (EFE).- The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that a group of Ecuadorian villagers locked in a long legal battle with Chevron Corp. may sue the U.S. oil supermajor in an Ontario trial court as part of their effort to collect on a multi-billion-dollar pollution verdict. "In a world in which businesses, assets and people cross borders with ease, courts are ...

"RaquelWelchApr2010" by Justin Hoch. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons By Fernando Mexia Los Angeles, Sep 4 (EFE).- Jo Raquel Tejada was born in Chicago on Sept. 5, 1940, and her Bolivian immigrant father did all he could to keep her unaware of her roots so she would fit in better with the dominant U.S. culture, though she wholeheartedly recovered her Latin heritage after becom...

Today, August 31st, Costa Rica celebrates Afro Costa Rican Day, and one of the first activities that many Ticos will undertake this morning will consist of enjoying the most iconic dish of this country. It so happens that gallo pinto, a delicious breakfast that masterfully combines day-old rice and beans with fresh vegetables and spices, is a meal that we owe to Afro Caribbean immigrants in the fi...

Wikimedia Commons by Kulpash Konyrova Astana, Aug 29 (EFE).- The United Nations declared Aug. 29 the International Day Against Nuclear Tests at the initiative of those who have by far suffered most from the poisonous effects of decades of nuclear weapons testing, the people of Kazakhstan. On a bright summer day 60 years ago, a large white cloud rode the wind toward an "aul," the Kazakh w...

Source: OIJ Agents from the Misappropriation Crimes section of the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ), along with officials from the National Museum, raided a home in Tamarindo Beach and recovered various objects that belong to the archeological record of Costa Rica. According to a press release issued by the OIJ, the case dates back to November 2014, when field agent...

Wikimedia Commons Miami, Aug 20 (EFE).- Divers from a Florida treasure hunting company have recovered 350 gold coins worth $4.5 million from the wreck of an 18th-century Spanish galleon off Vero Beach. Less than a month after a family found 60 gold coins worth more than $1 million using a metal detector, the 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels LLC, which holds the rights to several areas containing th...

Cajamarquilla - Wikimedia Commons By Carolina Cusirramos Lima, Aug 13 (EFE).- Peru, a country with a rich historical heritage, has added drones to archaeology's classical tools for surveying, registering and protecting archaeological sites from climate- and human-caused damage. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, has so far helped in registering 375 archaeological sites, or 6...

Garcia Marquez. Source: Flickr Commons Cartagena, Colombia, Aug 11 (EFE).- The ashes of the late Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez will repose from Dec. 12 in this Caribbean city, the governor of Bolivar province announced Tuesday. "With deep emotion we officially announce that the ashes of Nobel laureate Garcia Marquez will repose in Cartagena," Gov. Juan Carlos Gossain said. "The...

Source: UNED During a press conference that followed the delivery of a report to the United Nations, the Ombudsman of Costa Rica openly stated that our country is racist. Ombudsman Montserrat Solano explained that Costa Rica has improved in terms of racial equality, but she also added that there is a great deal of denial among many spheres of society, and that those who are the most affecte...

National Museum of Costa Rica By Maria Jose Brenes San Jose, Jun 22 (EFE).- The San Jose Museum Walking Tour, which goes on for less than a kilometer (about half a mile) through the Costa Rican capital, reveals the sounds, origins, use and morphology of the musical instruments that sounded in pre-Columbian communities. Under the title "Ancestral Echoes," the Central Bank Museum of Costa ...

Flickr Commons By Olga Guerrero Miami Beach, Jun 15 (EFE).- Almost seven decades after legendary gangster Al Capone died at his Miami Beach mansion, the fully restored waterfront property is being made available as a set for television, film and even commercial shoots. The mailbox of the house on Biscayne Bay no longer keeps any secrets. Any passerby who gets to No. 93 on posh Palm Is...

The United States today celebrates Memorial Day, and in Costa Rica the American expat community often gathers to observe the men and women who gave their lives while serving in that country’s Armed Forces. Author’s Note: The use of the noun and adjective “American” in this Article conforms to the definition in Princeton’s WordNet: (A native or inhabitant of the United States), and the recommend...

"Les femmes d’Alger, Picasso, version O" by Source (WP:NFCC#4). Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia New York, May 21 (EFE).- A Qatari sheikh was the buyer who paid $179.36 million for Pablo Picasso's "Les femmes d'Alger," making it the priciest painting ever auctioned, the daily New York Post reported Thursday. The mysterious buyer of the Spanish painter's work was identified by the New Y...

Wikimedia Commons By David Blanco Bonilla Lima, May 18 (EFE).- A team of Peruvian archaeologists led by Walter Alva, who discovered the famous Lord of Sipan, is working to unveil the mysteries surrounding the origins of the Mochica culture, considered one of ancient Peru's most complex and developed cultures. Archaeologists found a temple decorated with about 30 drawings and graffiti wit...

Unidentified U.S. federal agent during the seizure of Elián González from his uncle's residence on April 22, 2000. Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Photograph taken by Alan Diaz of the Associated Press. Wikimedia Commons Fair Use.  Miami, May 18 (EFE).- Young Cuban student Elian Gonzalez, who as a child was rescued at sea in 1999 by two U.S. fishermen, said in an interview Monday ...

Wikimedia Commons B.B. King, legendary blues guitarist well known for tracks such as "Rock Me Baby", "My Lucille", and "The Thrill Is Gone", died in his Las Vegas home yesterday at the age of 89. Attorney Brent Bryson said King died in his sleep. A 15-time Grammy winner, with over 50 albums released, King played live for nearly 70 years. He had reportedly collapsed at a Chicago performan...

Wikimedia Commons By Ignacio Ortega Moscow, May 9 (EFE).- Half a million people coming from around the world to the old Soviet Union, including Russian leader Vladimir Putin, joined a massive march Saturday in honor of those who fought against Nazism in World War II. "I'm very happy that my father is with me, since I have his picture in my hands, and that hundreds of soldiers can gather ...

Garcia Marquez. Source: Flickr Commons Bogota, May 9 (EFE).- Colombian police recovered a first-edition copy of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" with a dedication by the late Nobel laureate in Literature, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which had been stolen from a showcase where it was being exhibited at the International Book Fair in Bogota, or Filbo, officials said. The chief of police, Gen. Rodo...

In the Costa Rican National Anthem, a few verses exalt the virtue of hard work as the basis for individual pride and patriotism; to wit: En la lucha tenaz, de fecunda labor que enrojece del hombre la faz, which can be translated to: In the tenacious struggle of fruitful plodding, which crimsons the countenance of men, The above can be construed as referring to vigorous agricultural work ...