Wikimedia Commons Los Angeles, Jan 16 (EFE).- Dozens of residents in Lynwood, California, accepted the city's challenge Saturday to lose weight and at the same time take home $3,500 and learn what they need to know about diet and exercise. The municipal government of this city in Los Angeles County is into its seventh "Cash for Chunkers" program, which aims to motivate the community to stay...

Celine Dion and her late husband. Wikimedia Commons New York, Jan 16 (EFE).- Just two days after Canadian singer Celine Dion lost her husband to cancer, her older brother Daniel died Saturday of the same disease. He was 59. Daniel Dion, one of the artist's 13 siblings, died Saturday in Montreal of the brain, tongue and throat cancer he had been fighting, TMZ online entertainment news report...

3nderapp.com For some open-minded users of mobile technology, three is not a crowd. A new mobile dating app geared towards the polyamorous recently completed a venture funding round and is gaining popularity. Similar to Tinder and Grindr, 3ndr is a mobile app that enables sexual encounters and dating based on factors related to proximity, gender identity, and sexual preference; it also make...

Source: Starbucks The Starbucks Origin Experience takes partners (employees) from behind the counters of stores, corporate offices and roasting plants and brings them to work alongside farmers in coffee growing regions. The program offers a valuable perspective for people who have a passion for coffee, but may not have a connection to the distant places where coffee is grown. Starbucks phot...

Wikimedia Commons New York, Jan 12 (EFE).- The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the world's oldest, will stop using elephants in its shows next May, though it will continue staging acts with other animals, the circus's production company, Feld Entertainment, said. When the cut-off date arrives, at least 42 pachyderms will be taken to the Center for Elephant Conservation in Flo...

Alfredo Guzman Twitter Mexico City, Jan 10 (EFE).- Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman's sons, Ivan Archivaldo and Alfredo Guzman, confirmed in Twitter posts on Sunday the authenticity of the photograph showing their father meeting with actor Sean Penn, who interviewed the Mexican drug lord for Rolling Stone magazine. "Short, but always with the best posture," Alfredo ...

Texas A&M University - Flickr Commons Roy Frank "RJ" Mitte III, an actor and film producer from the United States, is known for his role as Walter White's son on the acclaimed television series Breaking Bad. RJ Mitte will be in Costa Rica to attend the Anime and Manga Matsuri International Convention and Festival, which will take place in San Jose on January 16th and 17th. RJ Mitte live...

Justin Bieber performs in 2011. Wikimedia Commons Cancun, Mexico, Jan 8 (EFE).- Singer Justin Bieber was thrown out of the Tulum archaeological site on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula after his security personnel got into an argument with the guards of the pre-Columbian location. Adriana Velazquez, regional delegate of the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, told EFE that the a...

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Source: Wikimedia Commons By Raul Cortes Mexico City, Jan 6 (EFE).- The spectacular escape of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman from prison last July had all the ingredients for a movie and a feature film chronicling his breakout will hit Mexican theaters on Jan. 15, the distributor told EFE. "Chapo. El escape del siglo" (Chapo: The Escape of the Centur...

Source: Cool Mountain Cool Mountain Beverages is a true craft soda maker and offers consumers a wide range of interesting flavors, They currently market; Green Apple, Strawberry, Black Cherry, Root Beer, Cream Soda, Orange Cream, Blue Razzberry. And now …California Peach, Royal Grape and Chicago Draft Style Ginger Ale. From California, Cool Mountain president Bill Drake explained: “We have...

Selenas Gomez, Wikimedia Commons Hollywood film stars, television actors and a famous pop singer were among the celebrities who chose Costa Rica as their getaway destination during the end-of-year holidays. According to a news report filed by Kimberly Herrera Salazar of daily newspaper La Prensa Libre, the Directorate of Immigration confirmed the arrival of various celebrities right after C...

Confederate flag flies in Columbia, South Carolina. Flickr Commons London, Jan 2 (EFE).- Film director Quentin Tarantino sees the Confederate flag as "some American swastika" and said, in an interview published Saturday in The Daily Telegraph, that it's about time that his country questioned why it is still displayed. The moviemaker, who presented in Britain his new film, "The Hateful Eight...

Instagram Where in the world is Lindsay Lohan? The Hollywood star and tabloid media magnet reportedly celebrated New Year's Eve in Costa Rica, specifically Bahia Salinas in the Gold Coast of Guanacaste, but she has been geographically tagging her Instagram updates in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur. One of Miss Lohan's recent Instagram updates features a beach vista of a calm ocean agai...

Jack Donnelly By Jack Donnelly Article 75 of the Constitution states that Costa Rica is a Catholic country. That sounds more theocratic than the reality. The majority of Ticos will readily affirm they are Catholics, but many are rather laid back in their approach to observance and dogma. This is especially true in the areas of relationships, marriage, divorce, birth control, etc. There is a...

Wikimedia Commons By Carol Blair Vaughn Costa Rica is called by many “The Happiest Place on Earth”, including the Happy Planet Index which rated us #1 in 2015, and the U.N.’s World Happiness Report, which rated us #12. We came in behind Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and The Netherlands – such cold places!! But is this ranking scientific, or just a tourist label from those wanting...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Dec 30 (EFE).- A court set bail of $1 million for U.S. comedian Bill Cosby on Wednesday after charges were filed against him for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in 2004. Cosby appeared briefly in a courtroom in Elkins Park, a suburb of Philadelphia, after the District Attorney's Office charged him with "aggravated" sexual assault. The actor, who had to...

Source: Mark Salling Twitter Mark Salling, a 33-year old actor who was recently in Costa Rica to celebrate an impromptu “Glee” cast reunion, has been arrested in Los Angeles for alleged possession of child pornography. According to a wire report by Agencia EFE, international news partner of The Costa Rica Star, entertainment publications Variety and The Hollywood Reporter broke the story ab...

Pixabay Commons With the end of 2015 quickly approaching, people around the world are starting to think about their resolution for the New Year. Recent sociological research suggests that some of the most common New Year's resolutions include losing weight and giving up smoking, which happen to be two very positive and healthy promises. Alas, these resolutions are also the most commonly abando...

Wikimedia Commons The end-of-the-year holidays in Costa Rica are great for relaxation, travel, entertainment, and spending quality time with the family, but these days are also associated with certain excesses related to meals and beverages, which means that people should pay greater attention to oral hygiene during the holidays. Aside from the traditional tamales, the holiday season in Cos...

Wikimedia Commons Things did not go his way for rock star Lenny Kravitz, a resident of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, who was recently ordered to shut down a free dental practice he established on Eleuthera Island for the benefit of the local population. According to a news report published by Caribbean newspaper The Eleutheran, Mr. Kravitz organized the free dental clinic through his Let...

Flickr Commons By Yeny Garcia Havana, Dec 24 (EFE).- At the close of a year marked by the reestablishment of relations with Washington, Cubans are celebrating the Christmas holidays without big parties but the private restaurants known as "paladares" are causing family traditions to evolve and many people are trying out their culinary offerings. Since 1997, when Christmas was reinstated ...

A recent report by Research and Markets indicates that the global cosmetic dentistry market is set to grow at a rate of nearly 7 percent per year to become a $22.4 billion industry by the end of the decade. As one of the top dental tourism destinations in the Americas, Costa Rica is a significant contributor to this market. Cosmetic dentistry is marketed as a discipline that can produce beautiful...

Flickr Commons Los Angeles, Dec 18 (EFE).- Puerto Rican actress Roselyn Sanchez, who will co-host Sunday's Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas, told EFE in an interview that Hispanics have the power to prevent Donald Trump from being elected president. "I refuse to believe it. I don't think it's possible," Sanchez said Thursday when asked whether the business magnate and Republican candidate...

The release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been met with much praise when it premiered in the US this week and will hit theaters on 18th December. The action takes place 30 years after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and there are no Ewoks! The staff of Matinee, a renowned multilingual voice-over agency in the United Kingdom, decided to look at the different languages which is spoken in Star...

Yogi Aaron NEW YORK (PRWEB) December 16, 2015 - Yogi Aaron’s narrative is one of empowerment, imbued with a sense of adventure. Having built his name as the creator of Hot Nude Yoga, Aaron chronicles the life of a self-described “timid mother’s boy” into an assured, self-made yogi exemplifying metamorphosis. In “Autobiography of a Naked Yogi” (published by Balboa Press), Aaron shares how his p...

Source: Melissa Mora Facebook A digital photo featuring the labia majora of a popular lingerie model from Costa Rica is being furiously shared on social networks, and the model in question has taken exception to the uproar that a glimpse of her genitalia has caused. Melissa Mora is known as a bikini model, pop singer and reality TV show contestant who always seems to find herself in the med...

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - December 14, 2015) - Italian roasting coffee company illy and Los Angeles-based GreenLight Media & Marketing took home the Cristal award for best Non-Fiction Film in the Branded Entertainment & Content category for the feature-length documentary A Small Section of the World at the 2015 Cristal Festival, the annual five-day international media and creativity ...

Coffee Review, a popular online publication known to millions of coffee lovers as the "Wine Spectator of the coffee industry," has just revealed its third annual ranking of the year's top coffees and espressos, and two blends from Costa Rica are among the Top 30 for 2015. Coffees appearing on the list were grown in 11 different countries. The most frequently appearing origins are Panama and Eth...

Source: Fast Casual BOSTON, Dec. 10, 2015 () -- Così, Inc. (NASDAQ:COSI), the fast-casual restaurant company, today announced that its franchisee, Fast Casual Ltda., has opened its sixth Così® restaurant in Costa Rica at Nuevo City Plaza, located next to the main movie theater in Santa Ana, part of the western suburbs of San Jose. “We are pleased to announce the opening of another new Così re...

Wikimedia Commons Los Angeles, Dec 9 (EFE).- Spanish actor Antonio Banderas will pay $65,000 in monthly alimony to his ex-wife, fellow actor Melanie Griffith, as part of their divorce settlement, the TMZ Web site, which specializes in celebrity news, reported Wednesday. Banderas and Griffith split up in June 2014 after 18 years of marriage, claiming "irreconcilable differences." The sett...

Wikimedia Commons By Sara Gomez Armas Havana, Dec 7 (EFE).- "Papa," the U.S. film about the darkest years in the life of Ernest Hemingway that successfully skirted the longstanding embargo so it could be shot in Cuba, had its world premiere on the island that became his "true home," the legendary writer's granddaughter, Mariel Hemingway, who plays a part in the movie, said. "The film sho...

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. ...

"Eva Longoria at Imagine Cup 2011 11" by ImagineCup - Imagine Cup 2011. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons By Antoni Belchi Miami, Dec 4 (EFE).- U.S. actress of Mexican descent Eva Longoria admits she has sometimes felt rejected by the Latino community because she didn't speak Spanish "perfectly," so she had to improve her command of the language so she wouldn't feel "undervalue...

Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, Dec 2 (EFE).- Mexico's Profepa federal environmental protection agency returned or seized 11,250 pine trees from the United States from Nov. 3 to Nov. 25 due to the presence of blight not previously detected in the country, officials said. Profepa inspectors banned sales of the trees under the Christmas Tree Importation Verification and Inspection Program for ...

Gamers can hit the Jackpot on their iOS and Android devices in a fun and exciting new free-to-play poker game called 'Jackpot Poker' by PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand.  Featuring fast action, exciting graphics and lots of all-in opportunities, Jackpot Poker features unique three-handed, 'winner-takes-all' poker tournaments in a new format that is made specifically for mobi...

Source: United CHICAGO, Dec. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- United Airlines is giving more passengers a taste of a new dining and beverage experience, with the expansion of complimentary meals and free wine and beer to more United Economy customers; the launch of a seasonal craft beer; and the introduction of modern, flavorful new entrees and snacks on many Latin America and Caribbean flights. Beg...

By Carol Blair Vaughn Facebook Quizzes – what an entertaining and harmless way to spend an evening at home in Costa Rica, especially now that darkness falls sooner. A new quiz which went viral last week, “What Are Your Most Used Words on Facebook”, enticed 17.5 million people to try it out online, according to The Los Angeles Times. The app was created by a South Korean company named Vonvon,...

(PRWEB) December 01, 2015 - What started out as a few pointers and a list of vocabulary words for a few Spanish students, has evolved into a turbo-charged web site, packed with resources for Spanish teachers and students. Conversa, a Costa Rica-based Spanish immersion school, and developer of SpanishBackpack.com, has just announced that it plans to offer the service free of charge. This is grea...

Fans of tattoos and body art in Costa Rica will be able to get inked for a good cause this holiday season. According to a news report filed by Paula Ruiz of national news daily La Prensa Libre, two tattoo artists wish to help homeless pets by offering discounted body art before Christmas. Cuban tattoo artists Judiel Noel and Frank Enamorado will set up shop at La Rosa Negra (The Black Rose), a ...