SJO on April 27 The second day of the Mother of All Strikes (MOAS) in Costa Rica caused headaches for passengers at the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO), which serves the Greater San Jose Metropolitan Area (Spanish initials: GAM). Access to SJO via the main highway that connects the airport with San Jose was blocked by MOAS protestors who marched in the vicinity of the San Rafael...

San Jose, Apr 26 (EFE).- A major strike launched Tuesday with a huge march by union groups in defense of labor rights and public institutions paralyzed classes at Costa Rica's public schools and assorted health services. "It's been a success. President (Luis Guillermo) Solis should understand that the people are not happy with his administration," the president of the ANDE teachers union, Gilbe...

Source:: Gisele Bundchen Costa Rica One of the most glamorous part-time residents of Costa Rica decided to honor Earth Day by planting a tree in the backyard of her beach mansion. In a recent photo uploaded to her massively followed Instagram account, former Victoria's Secret model Gisele Bundchen can be seen planting with the help of her two children. Ms. Bundchen, who retired from the run...

Wikimedia Commons Jonathan Zaun, editor of Newswire.net, recently published an article about how the international poker circuit has been transformed in recent years, and he mentioned Jaco Beach as one of the best tropical destinations for "poker refugees." As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, poker refugees are those players from the United States who were affected by the Black F...

Photo by Jack Donnelly By Jack Donnelly Yuca is not yucca and it’s not at all yucky. Yuca is cassava in English. It is one of a number of starchy roots important to the tropical diet. It is often sold protected with a layer of paraffin, like rutabagas in the United States. Yucca is common in drier areas of the Americas and the Caribbean and is often used as an ornamental plant. The only ...

Flickr Commons The 2016 World Press Freedom Index reflects the intensity of the attacks on journalistic freedom and independence by governments, ideologies and private-sector interests during the past year. Thankfully, Costa Rica enjoys a great degree of press freedom; for this reason, Reporters Without Borders ranks our country as number six on the Index. Seen as a benchmark throughout the...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) that observed the municipal elections in Costa Rica on February 7, 2016 today congratulated the citizens of the country on the successful participation in the process, which the Mission qualified as “a show of the solidity of its democratic system.” In his report (Spanish) to the Permanent Council of the Orga...

Source: Pixabay Commons Members of a credit card cloning crew arrested in Costa Rica earlier this week reportedly placed skimmers at nude cabarets, among other commercial establishments, where they made off with account information that was ultimately used to make fraudulent purchases and payments. As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, a citizen of the United States was one of four...

By Gavin Drake of Anglican News A lay canon of England’s Liverpool Cathedral has been elected unopposed to serve as vice-chair of the Anglican Consultative Council. She joins the Archbishop of Hong Kong, the Most Revd Dr Paul Kwong, who was elected last week as chair of the body; and five new members of the Standing Committee. The Anglican Consultative Council is the legally constituted body...

Flickr Commons Netflix recently posted its Internet Service Provider (ISP) index for March 2016, a monthly update on the international status of the ISPs providing the best -and worst – prime-time video streaming experience. As has been previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, the main ISP firms in our country such as ICE's Kolbi Hogar have long scraped the bottom of the Netflix list, an...

Flickr Commons Getting deported from Costa Rica can be a terrifying experience, but it can be managed with skilled legal representation. Deportation is one of the most potentially worrisome situations for foreigners residing in Costa Rica. The forcible removal of a person from one nation to another is a very upsetting condition that leaves individuals completely powerless over their own liv...

YouTube Commons North American and European expats who relocate to Costa Rica often consider the possibility of moving their personal items and furniture, and why not? After all, a lifetime's worth of stuff is not acquired in vain. The decision of bringing furniture and household goods to Costa Rica is very personal. Some stuff will go, but how much will be sold, gifted, donated, recycled, ...

Wikimedia Commons In just one week, more than 700 hectares (1,729 acres) of dry tropical forest have been affected by wildfires in the Conservation Area of Guanacaste. Flames have run through three major national parks of Costa Rica: Guanacaste, Santa Rosa and Rincón de la Vieja, and officials are investigating leads that suggest this may have been an act of arson.   According to a ...

Android Auto Android Auto, a standard for automobile/smartphone integration developed by tech giant Google, is now available to drivers in Costa Rica. This technology standard allows drivers with devices powered by the Android mobile operating system to connect them to the dashboard head units to their cars for the purpose of controlling functions such as GPS navigation with Google Maps, tr...

Human Rights Watch, a prominent international non-profit known for its advocacy work with the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union, and several nations, is calling on President Luis Guillermo Solís to take immediate action on the issue of marriage equality. The following letter, dated April 4, was posted on the Human Rights Watch website. This letter is also available in Spanis...

PuntaBocana.com At Punta Bocana, we are constantly researching new and innovative technologies that fit our commitment to realize the magical combination of luxury and sustainability. In researching renewable energy options, Punta Bocana found that its Pacific Coast location could counterbalance nearly all of its energy costs through the most advanced and innovative solar system in the world t...

The late Mr. Herrera, on the left. Facebook Former police officer and self-confessed neo-nazi Ronald Javier Herrera Borges took his own life on Saturday. Mr. Herrera was found in his home located in the neighborhood of La Capri, part of the populous Desamparados canton of the San Jose province. The suicide note posted on Facebook by Mr. Herrera asks for forgiveness while labeling himself a ...

East Stroudsburg University News Release - About 175 people attended a talk by Anthony Drago, Ed.D., in Costa Rica, where he discussed suicide prevention, disorders of trauma and crises intervention, mood disorders, and anxiety in children and adolescents. Dr. Drago, psychologist and professor and chair of the psychology department in the College of Arts and Sciences at ESU in Pennsylvania, hosted...

Atlanta, GA. - UPS® (NYSE: UPS) will donate junior sets of golf clubs for every birdie or better that UPS golf ambassadors Lee Westwood or Louis Oosthuizen make during a competitive round in the four 2016 major championships to deserving kids in select markets around the world. #Bags4Birdies is a program designed to support golf’s future talent, giving them the tools they need to succeed on the...

Banco Popular branch in Cuidad Quesada, built by Edificadora Beta Fitch Ratings-New York-31 March 2016: Fitch Ratings has affirmed Banco Popular y de Desarrollo Comunal's (BPDC) long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and local currency long-term IDR at 'BB+'. The Rating Outlook is Negative. Fitch has also affirmed the bank's short-term foreign currency IDR and short-term local ...

Olive Ridley Sea Turtle Bacardi, the world’s largest privately held spirits company, announced on March 22, World Water Day, that it launched an in-house initiative to remove plastic straws and stirrers at company events, with the hope that this practice will extend to bars and restaurants around the world. Commented Mike Gibaldi of the environmental group Surfrider, “As a large corporate c...

Wikimedia Commons OCEAN CITY, NEW JERSEY (PRWEB) MARCH 29, 2016 - The internet has already reshaped the way the Real Estate industry conducts business. In order to remain competitive in today’s Real Estate market, it is imperative that Real Estate professionals take the steps to make their business model mobile friendly. Keeping the current technological trends in mind, RealTimeRental, a cloud ...

Source: Teletica A sex video that emerged on WhatsApp last week is being furiously shared by social media netizens in Costa Rica. The video appears to show Victor Carvajal, a television host who currently works on a gossip news show broadcast by national network Teletica; however, Mr. Carvajal has already disproved the allegations. In the video, a young man with a very strong resemblance to...

Source: Zoo Ave Discovery Channel unveiled two additional documentaries that will air as specials under the Discovery Impact banner, a slate of groundbreaking documentaries focusing on humankind’s impact on the environment and what individuals and society as a whole can do to solve some of the largest problems facing the planet.  Airing May 19, SONIC SEA highlights the continued emergence of noi...

Wikimedia Commons By Carol Blair Vaughn Older adults who exercise regularly could buy an extra decade of good brain functioning, suggests a March 23, 2016 study by Dr. Clinton Wright, a neurologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Cool.  Jog your memory AND your body. The study found that seniors who got moderate to intense exercise retained more of their mental s...

Source: Fundacion Mauricio Amuy Facebook Model and actor Mauricio Amuy will receive a Humanitarian Award for his work with Central American Poor Children. The award will be presented during Cannes Red Carpet & Global Short Film Awards Festival at Gala in Cannes, France in front of the press and an audience of VIPs, fashion and film lovers. The event will take place in the Grand ballroom of...

Wikimedia Commons San Rafael, Alajuela, Costa Rica, March 21, 2016 --(PR.com)-- On Thursday,  the Public Services Regulatory Authority (Spanish acronym: ARESEP) held its final public meeting on the pricing structure for the new distributed solar program. It is scheduled to open with compliance of the power companies in Costa Rica April 7th, 2016. I.C.E., the main power company, and Acesolar, t...

Mabel Flores, Flickr Commons More than 70 Fire Departments across Costa Rica will be very vigilant from now until the early hours of Easter Sunday as communities engage in the traditional burning of the Judas Iscariot effigy. The burning of Judas begins with the hanging of the effigy, which happens on Good Friday and is followed by burning on the night of Holy Satruday. This religious tradi...

Nutrivida By Anne Salter. SEUK UK Social Enterprise News Release - As a part of the British Embassy programme ‘Exporting Social Enterprises’, in February 2016 Social Enterprise UK traveled to San Jose to represent the UK social enterprise sector in Costa Rica. The week included conferences, meetings with government, press, charities and social enterprises to discuss the opportunities for the mo...

Source: Gisele Bunchen Instagram Star NFL quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots is currently enjoying a sunny vacation in Costa Rica along with his supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen. On Palm Sunday, Mr. Brady and Ms. Bundchen spent time with their children in the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, where they own a beach mansion in Playa Herradura, not far from Jaco Beach. This i...

Pixabay Commons WASHINGTON, March 15th, 2016 – The World Bank (WB) Board of Executive Directors approved a US$420 million loan today to support the Costa Rican Social Security Administration’s (CCSS or La Caja, in Spanish) Strategic Agenda to Strengthen Health Insurance (SASHI), with the goal of improving the timeliness and quality of health care and strengthening institutional efficiency. ...

Wikimedia Commons By Carol Blair Vaughn March 20th is International Day of Happiness; as adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2011 this day promotes, preserves, and observes happiness as a universal right and goal, and has been celebrated every year since. “Happiness is your birthright,” said singer Pharrell Williams on Happiness Day 2015. “Happiness is a fundamental huma...

Wikimedia Commons The current drought conditions experienced in various regions of Costa Rica may extend well into May and early June; however, substantial rainfall may cause floods and landslides once the green season takes hold. According to a recent press conference conducted by the National Meteorology Institute of Costa Rica (Spanish initials: IMN), the 2016 green season will feature h...

Source: IBIC Ames, Ia. – Iowa beef producers Scott Heater, Wapello, and Dean Black, Somers, participated in an Iowa Meat Trade Mission to Dominican Republic and Costa Rica in late February. Heater, chairman of the Iowa Beef Industry Council, explained that the mission was exploratory in nature to determine if there is additional market opportunities for U.S. quality beef in these Central Ameri...

Wikimedia Commons The decomposed body of an expatriate from the United States was removed from a luxury condominium tower located in an upscale subdivision of Escazu, a municipality located in the western suburbs of the capital city of Costa Rica. According to a report filed by Pablo Rojas of online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, Red Cross volunteers assigned to Escazu confirmed that they found...

Source: The World Bank Over the next three years, the World Bank is proposing the establishment of a $65 million Catastrophe Deferred Draw Down Option (CAT DDO) for Costa Rica. This CAT DDO is part of the World Bank's Disaster Risk Management scope. According to the World Bank, the overall development objective of the CAT DDO funding is to enhance the capacity of the government of Costa Rica to...

By Panamafly - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons The urban rail service currently enjoyed by commuters in the capital city of Panama could be adopted by Costa Rica at a cost of at least one billion dollars. Such was the report recently filed by Gustavo Retana of daily tabloid Diario Extra. Mr. Retana quoted Rodolfo Cardenas, a civil engineer who led a group of professionals who trav...

Source: Bidrop Images BriefingWire.com - Tamarindo Beach and Playa Nosara, Costa Rica - Bidrop Images, a photography studio based in the province of Guanacaste,  recently  revamped its website to showcase stunning photography and videography. The new website of Bidrop Images is www.bidrop.com A professional photographer’s work is constantly evolving and so should the respective Web presenc...

The stunning Huawei Mate 8 Three of the most desired smartphones in the world will be available for purchase in Costa Rica by the end of this month. According to technology journalist Johnny Castro of business daily La Republica, the three devices are the Huawei Mate 8, the Samsung S7 and the long-awaited, ultra-coveted Apple iPhone 5SE. Samsung S7 With a 5.1 or 5.5-inch screen (the largest ...

NAPERVILLE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coriant, a global supplier of SDN-enabled end-to-end transport networking solutions, today announced that Red Centroamericana de Telecomunicaciones (REDCA), a provider of carrier neutral telecommunications services in Central America, has deployed the Coriant® hiT 7300 Multi-Haul Transport Platform to cost-efficiently scale its regional transport network and supp...