Panama Canal Panama Canal, Nov 17 (EFE).- Experts attending a three-day International Trademark Association meeting that kicked off here Tuesday will discuss ways to combat the transit of counterfeit goods through the Panama Canal. The Leadership Meeting is "an opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges of combating counterfeiting and to advocate for measures to halt the transshipm...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Nov 17 (EFE).- The United States last week received the first Central American children whose asylum requests were approved as part of a program launched almost a year ago, a State Department spokesman told EFE on Tuesday. "Six minors from El Salvador arrived last Thursday. They are the only ones to have arrived so far," Rubani Trimiew, spokesman for the Bureau...

Marti Noticias Twitter United States Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a veteran Florida Republican who is Chairwoman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, is not happy about the treatment received by hundreds of Cuban immigrants at the hands of Nicaraguan Army soldiers yesterday at the northern border of Costa Rica. Ros-Lehtinen went on Marti Noticias, an independent news outlet tha...

French Mirage fighter jet. Wikimedia Commons Paris, Nov 15 (EFE).- France on Sunday launched massive airstrikes on an Islamic State terrorist camp near the Syrian town of Raqqa, a zone controlled by the jihadist group, officials with the French Defense Ministry told EFE. According to the officials, the French air strikes, which came two days after terrorists killed at least 132 people in Pa...

Source: Flickr Commons Berlin, Nov 14 (EFE).- The 45-year-old German woman arrested as the possible mother of eight babies whose mortal remains were found in the home where she had lived in Bavaria, admitted Saturday to police that she had killed "several" of them immediately after they were born. The suspect, who was sentenced to imprisonment without bail on suspicion of multiple murders, ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Representative Eliot L. Engel, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today released the following statement praising Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Luis Almagro for his recent letter to the head of Venezuela's National Electoral Council Tibisay Lucena urging her to level the playing field to make t...

Flickr Commons In the wake of the recent atrocities committed against the good people of France, the Presidential Office of Costa Rica released the following statement: The Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Costa Rica hereby sends heartfelt expressions of solidarity and support for the people and Government of France in this time of grief. Costa Rica expresses its deep condemnati...

Wikimedia Commons Beijing, Nov 13 (EFE).- Tibetan monks and nuns are receiving counterespionage instruction from the Chinese government, a program aimed at combating the Tibetan independence movement and counteracting the influence of the exiled Dalai Lama, the official daily Global Times reported Friday. Twenty-two monks and nuns from three area temples attended a three-hour-long class in ...

Buenos Aires, Nov 12 (EFE).- The pregnancy of a 13-year-old girl who has already given birth once before is rocking Argentine society, given that - in addition - authorities are investigating whether her situation was brought about by being raped by her mother's partner, local media reported. The girl, whose name has not been made public, had been living with her 32-year-old mother, her stepfat...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Washington, Nov 11 (EFE).- U.S. law enforcement officials arrested the godson and a nephew of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, charging them with conspiring to transport 800 kilos of cocaine to U.S. territory, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday citing sources close to the case. Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, the godson of the Venezuelan leader, and Franci...

Japanese zen garden. Wikimedia Commons By Maria Roldan Tokyo, Nov 10 (EFE).- In Japanese society, where consumerism has become almost a national obsession, an increasing number of people are opting away from materialism and embracing a minimalist lifestyle, which they claim provides them with enormous freedom. Fumio Sasaki has just 20 items of clothing in his closet, with an electric too...

Flickr Commons1 Mexico City, Nov 9 (EFE).- The coach of a girls' basketball team in the southern state of Oaxaca was shot to death by a father who was angry with the decision not to let his daughter play in a game, Mexican authorities reported Monday. The incident occurred at a sports facility in Oaxaca on Sunday after a game in which Guillermo Audelo, 33, had coached his team - the Dragons...

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Source: Wikimedia Commons Buenos Aires, Nov 9 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman is not in Argentina, the Argentine government said Monday, citing the results of an investigation. Officials ruled out the possibility that the Sinaloa drug cartel's leader was in the Argentina-Chile border region. ...

U.S. military DASH-8 aircraft. Wikimedia Commons Caracas, Nov 8 (EFE).- The Venezuelan Defense Ministry on Sunday claimed that a U.S. DASH-8 military aircraft violated its maritime airspace and the armed forces of Caracas said they detected "unusual" air activity by other U.S. "intelligence equipment" based in Curacao. The U.S. Coast Guard DASH-8, "equipped with an electro-optic system that...

Flickr Commons Rio de Janeiro, Nov 8 (EFE).- Rescue teams on Sunday found the bodies of two people who died in the avalanche of mud and mining residue that virtually wiped out seven Brazilian towns last week after two dikes ruptured. The governor of the state of Minas Gerais, Fernando Pimentel, said Sunday that hopes are dwindling for finding alive any of the 28 people who went missing when...

Tacna region Santiago, Nov 7 (EFE).- The Chilean government rejected Saturday the enactment in Peru of a new law creating a district on the border between the two countries which, it says, "includes territory that is unquestionably Chilean," and announced that it is sending a note of protest to Lima. Peruvian President Ollanta Humala enacted Saturday the creation of the La Yarada-Los Palos ...

Pixabay Commons Singapore, Nov 7 (EFE).- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese counterpart Ma Ying-jeou wrote a page in the history of the two territories on Saturday, holding the first ever meeting between leaders of these longstanding rivals. The meeting - held at a neutral site, a luxury hotel in Singapore - ended with promises to further develop relations in the future as long as T...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Nov 6 (EFE).- U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Friday that new airport security measures are being introduced as a result of the ongoing investigation into the Russian airliner tragedy last week on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. President Barack Obama cited Thursday the possibility that an explosive device on board the aircraft caused the crash ...

A simple man: Pope Francis. Source: Wikimedia Commons Buenos Aires, Nov 5 (EFE).- A group of thieves broke into the home of relatives of Pope Francis in Argentina's Mendoza province and made off with electronic equipment and the family pet, a toy poodle, local media reported on Thursday. Romina Ayelen Bergoglio, the pope's grand-niece, told local media that she saw three thieves leaving her...

Managua, Nov 5 (EFE).- The state-run Nicaraguan Grand Interoceanic Canal Commission on Thursday approved Chinese concession holder HKND Group's environmental and social impact studies for that waterway project, clearing the way for construction to begin. "We're authorizing HKND now to begin the design, structural and construction processes," the commission's president, Manuel Coronel Kautz, sai...

ISIS fighters in Iraq. Source: Wikimedia Commons Washington, Nov 4 (EFE).- The chartered Russian passenger jet that crashed last weekend in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula could have been downed by the Islamic State or a related jihadist group, according to the investigation into the tragedy being conducted by the U.S. government. According to U.S. intelligence sources quoted by media outlets, inve...

Managua, Nov 3 (EFE).- More than 50 divers removed 1.6 tons of solid waste, including tractor tires, from the bottom of San Juan del Sur Bay, one of the main attractions for tourists on Nicaragua's Pacific coast, clean-up organizers said. A total of 785 items were removed from the bay during the two-day clean-up operation, Dive Nicaragua, which organized the event for the second time, said. ...

Wikimedia Commons Rio de Janeiro, Nov 2 (EFE).- A 17-month-old boy bit and killed a poisonous snake he found in the yard of his family's house in Mostardas, a coastal city in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state, Radio Gaucha reported on Monday. The boy, whose name is Lorenzo, was playing on Sunday afternoon in the house's concrete-covered yard in an urban area where snakes are rarely seen, rel...

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc., (Pink Sheets: PNOW), parent company of the Central American-Caribbean online travel Agency, Oveedia (www.Oveedia.com), announced today, that those Nicaraguan hotel properties not listed on major OTAs', will now see an influx of business opportunities, with this month's opening of the Costa Esmeralda Airport. This positively ...

ISIS fighters in Iraq. Source: Wikimedia Commons Cairo, Oct 31 (EFE).- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro expressed "his most heartfelt condolences" to the Russian government and to the families of the victims of the plane crash Saturday in the northern Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. The crash of the commercial jet of the Russian company Kogalymavia, widely known as Metrojet, killed the 224 peo...

Source: NASA Washington, Oct 31 (EFE).- On Halloween night a large asteroid, dubbed "The Great Pumpkin" and measuring the size of four soccer fields, came near Earth, and scientists around the world prepared to witness this unusual phenomenon that occurs only once every 10 years. It looks like a point of light, according to Paul Chodas, director of the NASA's Near Earth Object office at the...

Source: Pixabay Commons Washington, Oct 30 (EFE).- United States authorities arrested 29 individuals accused of forcing Mexican and Central American women into prostitution in the southeastern part of the country after helping them cross the border illegally into the U.S., officials said. U.S. agents were able to identify 15 possible victims, including a young woman who was still an underag...

The killer in Merciless stalks his next victim. Source: Globo International Globo’s production of series, known worldwide for its unique character and high quality, is set to delight the Costa Rican audience. Teletica, the largest TV network in Costa Rica, has licensed six titles from the Brazilian broadcaster’s 2015 catalog: the series ‘Merciless’ and ‘The Hunter’, the miniseries ‘Doomed’ and...

Chichigalpa, Nicaragua, Oct 28 (EFE).- A new attraction for fans of extreme tourism has been inaugurated at the foot of San Cristobal Volcano, Nicaragua's tallest, in the northwestern region of the Central American country. The site, with its inn, dining hall, visitors center, tourist service facility and trails for climbing the 1,745-meter (5,721-foot) high volcano, was constructed with a budg...

Source: Miss Mexico Facebook Mexico City, Oct 29 (EFE).- Wendolly Esparza, winner of the beauty contest title Nuestra Belleza Mexico in 2014, says she has "prepared arduously" to win the 2015 Miss Universe Pageant, a contest in which she is eager to compete now that Mexico is back in it following real estate magnate Donald Trump's departure from the show. "I have prepared arduously for this...

Source: Wikimedia Commons San Juan, Oct 28 (EFE).- Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller sent her condolences Wednesday to the families of the 19 babies who died in outbreaks of bacterial infections at two hospitals in Jamaica. "I extend sincere sympathies to parents and other members of the families of those children who died. The Ministry of Health and the Minister will look at the present...

Wikimedia Commons Georgetown, Oct 27 (EFE).- Guyanese President David Granger has ruled out giving neighboring Venezuela access to the Atlantic as part of any settlement of the border dispute over Essequibo region. "We cannot sell out. We cannot give away. We cannot offer the adversary any corridor or any passage," Granger said on Tuesday after the successful completion of Exercise Greenhea...

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Source: Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, Oct 26 (EFE).- The United States is assisting with the manhunt for Sinaloa drug cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman, but U.S. law enforcement agents are not taking part in operations in Mexico, Government Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said Monday. "Not one single person" from a U.S. security agency is particip...

Havana, Oct 25 (EFE).- Tourist arrivals in Cuba totaled more than 2.6 million as of Sept. 30, with the island hitting the figure two months earlier than in 2014, the National Statistics and Information Office, or ONEI, said. Tourist arrivals during the first nine months of this year totaled 2.62 million, up by some 400,000, or 18 percent, from the same period in 2014. Canada was the top sour...

Wikimedia Commons Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct 24 (EFE). - Patricia, which weakened quickly after making landfall in Mexico as a fearsome Category 5 hurricane, caused no casualties and only minor damage, authorities said Saturday in a preliminary report. "There were some regrettable accidents ... a road accident, a fallen tree, but no major incidents," Communications and Transportation Secretar...

Source: NOAA Guadalajara, Mexico, Oct 23 (EFE). - Thousands of residents and tourists on the Pacific coasts of the Mexican states of Jalisco, Colima and Nayarit were evacuated as landfall approached for Hurricane Patricia, described as the most powerful tropical system in history. National emergency management office chief Luis Felipe Puente told media that since Thursday the evacuation of ...

Wikimedia Commons Port-au-Prince, Oct 23 (EFE).- Crowds of Haitian voters accompanied ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as he set off with the presidential candidate of his Lavalas Family party, Marysse Narcisse, in a caravan to close her campaign. The caravan left from the ex-president's residence amid a crowd numbering over 1,000 partisans. Supporters of Aristide and Narcisse waited ...

With the skyrocketing costs of healthcare in America, many patients are beginning to look outside of the US for their health and dental care. Because of Latin America’s reputation for healthcare quality and as an enjoyable place to rest and recover post-surgery, many nations in Latin America are becoming popular destinations for medical and dental tourism. Mexico is a common and popular dental car...

US Special Forces. Pentagon file photo Washington, Oct 22 (EFE).- A special forces operation in Iraq to free Kurdish troops led to the rescue of 70 hostages and the death of the first American service member in direct combat with the Islamic State, the U.S. Defense Department said Thursday. The mission was carried out Thursday at the request of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq to f...

Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, Oct 21 (EFE).- Mexican authorities have shut down nine tourist projects in Tulum, a protected natural area in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, citing their impact on wild flora and fauna. Staff with the Profepa federal environmental protection agency verified through five environmental impact assessments and four forestry inspections of those tourist de...