Although residents of Costa Rica are mostly used to feeling an earthquake or two each week and experiencing periods of increased volcanic activity, concern over catastrophic natural disasters is currently at higher than usual levels. Not long after celebrations of Columbus Day commemorated the discovery of the New World and its wonderful natives, people in Costa Rica were jolted by phreatic erupti...

Indian-American author, physician and public speaker Deepak Chopra will conduct a conference in Costa Rica at the Centro de Eventos Pedregal in San Antonio of Belen, province of Heredia, on November 24th. Such was the information published by business weekly El Financiero from a wire report released by the Spanish news agency EFE. To this end, event organizer and online ticketing agency eTicket.cr...

Los Angeles – Breakout Gaming (BRO), a company with headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica, is a new budding leader in cryptocurrency technology and game development. The company recently announced the launch of the first destination for online gaming and digital currency with the support of an all-star roster of sponsored players. As of October 15, 2014, Breakout Gaming was six days away from launc...

The province of Guanacaste may be home to the Gold Coast beaches, the Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport, the most expensive communities in Costa Rica, and a thriving expatriate scene, but it comes up way short in one aspect: a reasonable and efficient supply of drinking water. One of the most vexing challenges of the current administration under President Luis Guillermo Solis is to ensure...

From the British Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica: Chevening Scholarships are a global scholarship program of the United Kingdom, funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and partner organizations.   The Scholarships offer the opportunity to study for a one-year Master’s degree at any of the UK’s leading universities, and are awarded to outstanding established or emerging l...

Lethal Injection is still used in the United States Costa Rica is a nation that supports, defends and promotes the defense of human rights around the world. In the matter of the death penalty, the Constitution is clear insofar as human life being inviolable, never to be broken or infringed upon. Such was the message issued by Minister of Foreign Affairs Alejandro Solano last week in commemorat...

Source: FEDEFUTBOL Over the last few days, the National Men’s Football Team of Costa Rica, more commonly known as La Sele, has asserted Costa Rica’s rightful rank as one of the top nations playing the world’s most popular sport. The hasty and complicated departure of coach Jorge Luis Pinto, labeled as FIFA as the leader who made Costa Rica fly at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, left doubts in th...

Whereas most foreign real estate buyers and would-be property investors in Costa Rica are mostly concerned with getting a good deal with regard to purchase price, what they should really be thinking about is how to properly enter and document their properties in the National Registry. Hasty or careless attempts at registering properties will only help to create a mess that will not be easy to reco...

Wikimedia Commons One of the most vexatious telemarketers in Costa Rica, at least  in the financial services arena, is undergoing a major restructuring process that will see its retail banking operations significantly reduced before they are completely gone. Citigroup, one of United States banks that required millions upon millions of dollars in bailout funds from the Federal Reserve and Treas...

Source: RSN On Monday, October 13th after 9:30 pm, the Observatory of Seismology and Volcanology in Costa Rica (Spanish acronym: OVSICORI) of the National University and the National Seismology Network (Spanish initials: RSN) 0f the University of Costa Rica reported three seismic disturbances. The first one occurred at 9:31 pm, the second at 9:42 pm and the third at 9:51 pm. The latter quake w...

The Poas Volcano in the province of Alajuela is currently one of the most active in Costa Rica, and on Monday morning it treated tourists to an awesome display of Nature’s sheer and beautiful power. A video recorded by geologists at the Observatory of Seismicity and Volcanology of the National University shows a massive phreatic (ground water) eruption that sent Earth matter flying up in at a heig...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Amidst a growing smuggling trade in cigarettes, the Law 9028 on Tobacco Control and Its Harmful Effects on Health has also impacted the once-thriving tobacco industry in Costa Rica. According to a recent press release by market research firm Euromonitor International, tobacco industry executives in Costa Rica has responded with pricing and marketing strategies within ...

One of the most interesting and unexpected mashups in the history of comic books will unfold in the lush forests of Costa Rica. Archie Andrews, known to comic book lovers worldwide as the one of the best friends any teenager can hope for, will face off against one of the most abominable and fearsome alien beings in the fictional universe. According to a recent press release by Dark Horse Comics, a...

Silk Road screenshot before seizure. Silk Road. Bitcoin. Liberty Reserve. Ross Ulbricht. Arthur Budovsky. These are the respective names of an alleged online drug marketplace, two virtual currencies and two individuals accused by the United States Justice Department of leading major cybercrime operations. The arrests of these two men were heralded by U.S. prosecutors as significant crackdowns ...

Costa Rica is one of the latest Latin American countries added to the GoodSpeed international data service. GoodSpeed is a device that creates a personal mobile Wi-Fi hotspot offering affordable Internet access on the go. With the addition of Costa Rica and various other countries in the Americas, GoodSpeed now offers wireless broadband coverage in 50 percent of the world. According to Uros, th...

During the first decade of the 21st century, Costa Rica went through a very active period of real estate appreciation and land development. This period coincided with a housing market bonanza in the United States, which came to a crashing halt in 2008 and is widely considered to have been one of the precipitating factors of the global financial crisis.   To a certain extent, the develop...

La Carpio, one of the poorest slums of the Costa Rica is home to 50,000 people; the largest bi-national community in Central America. It has as many Costa Ricans as Nicaraguans who have immigrated in search of a better future for themselves and their families. This is where Maris Stella Fernandez plans to organize a symphony orchestra while building a cultural and social integration center. &nb...

Minister Fabius, left, and Chancellor Gonzalez. The first formal diplomatic visit to France by representatives of the administration of President Luis Guillermo Solis took place on Monday, October 6th. Chancellor Manuel Gonzalez met with his counterpart Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development. At the meeting, both officials made plans to strengthen the ...

The National Men's Football Team of Costa Rica, affectionately known as “La Sele,” is looking to justify the all-time high FIFA ranking, currently at the 15th position, by scoring victories against the national teams of Oman and South Korea in October.   Following La Sele's surprising performance at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and after securing the Central American Cup, expectati...

On Tuesday, October 7th, hundreds of university students will take to the streets to protest against planned budget cuts to the public education system of Costa Rica. The students will have the support of President Luis Guillermo Solis, who is facing a very difficult task in curbing the mounting national deficit at a time when the country is facing an economic crisis of high unemployment, limited ...

  Inaugurated in 2008, El Silencio Lodge & Spa is a sixteen-suite natural immersion eco-destination. Embedded in a 500 acre private cloud forest reserve, it is flanked by two national parks in Costa Rica’s central volcanic valley. El Silencio (The Silence) provides an upscale signature experience that was exalted in Andrew Harper's esteemed Hideaway Report in August 2013. El Silencio is...

  Source: Wikimedia Commons A gentleman from Ghana was taken to the Calderón Guardia Hospital in the capital city of San Jose on Saturday afternoon for the purpose of ruling out infection by the Ebola virus. According to a report filed by Karla Barquero of online news daily CRHoy.com, the man was approached by officers from the Fuerza Publica (the national police force of Costa Rica) d...

Although ecotourism and surfing are the top tourism activities in Costa Rica, SCUBA divers in the know have been gradually discovering our numerous underwater havens. In the Pacific Coast we find Isla Murcielago (Bat Islands), part of the Guanacaste Conservation Area. The Bat Islands are located in the midst of the Costa Rica Thermal Convection Dome, the richest concentration of phytoplankton in t...

In the 21st century, Costa Rica has become a popular backdrop for fictional thrillers. To this effect, The Costa Rica Star has previously published articles on spy fiction by sci-fi master William Gibson (Spook Country), literary crime novels by the dearly departed Elmore Leonard (Road Dogs), video games by Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker) and by Sony (Syphon Filter), gambling crime f...

K-9 officers of the Narcotics Control Police in Costa Rica (Spanish initials: PCD) recently detected the presence of 83 kilograms of cocaine concealed under the floorboards of a bus headed to El Salvador. PCD agents noticed a certain pattern in the colorful packaging of the various confiscated bricks; some were branded with logos while others had interesting designs and packaging. What is the logi...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Los Angeles alternative rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars will visit Costa Rica for the first time this coming Sunday, Ocotber 5th. This immensely popular musical group has been accumulating awards, significant radio airplay and sold-out tours for more than a decade, and fans in Costa Rica will soon be able to enjoy their live concert in support of their best-selling “...

  Source: INS Sergio Alfaro, president of the National Insurance Institute of Costa Rica (Spanish initials: INS), indicated during a recent press conference that the marchamo (mandatory vehicle registration) process will begin the first week of November. This annual process, which requires the purchase of a liability insurance policy, has resulted in very handsome profits for INS over ...

Due to the mild and welcoming weather that can be enjoyed throughout most of the country, Costa Rica is an ideal location for eco-friendly construction techniques. This is a country that has pioneered many sustainable practices over the years, particularly with regard to residential construction materials and techniques. To this end, “eco bloques” (eco-bricks) have been attracting plenty of at...

Alleged Greenwashing by Infinito Gold The controversial Canadian company at the center of the Crucitas open pit mining scandal stands to lose the land it acquired in San Carlos after a series of courtroom defeats. By order of the First Civil Circuit Court of Costa Rica, Infinito Gold must forfeit the land it purchased years ago near the San Juan River. The six plots of land are being held by t...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Starting next year, a television and mixed martial arts (MMA) event production company based in Spain will commence donating a portion of its profits towards the acquisition of books and computers as well as for the construction of small schools in Costa Rica and other nations. The company is Batalla MMA Fight Entertainment, and the proceeds donated will be managed by...

  The fictional universe created by the late author Michael Crichton around Jurassic Park has developed into a very popular, highly successful and extremely lucrative industry. Films, novels, video games, comic books, and merchandising have been generating millions of dollars for the Jurassic Park universe, which Mr. Crichton specifically placed in Isla Nublar, which is based in a mixture ...

For 15 years, Joseph Floyde DeArmond lived the quiet life of a United States expat in Costa Rica. That serenity, alas, came to an abrupt end last year when field agents acting on orders from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) apprehended him, took him in custody and put him on a plane back to his native North American country.   Source: Wikimedia Commons According to a p...

Spinner dolphin in Costa Rica PRWEB.COM NewswireCosta Rica (PRWEB) October 02, 2014 - Bodhi Surf, the leading Costa Rican yoga and surf retreat, is proud to announce the start of their second annual My Ocean Guardian Journey Competition. The goal of the contest is to raise awareness of ocean conservation needs while encouraging a proactive approach to the problems by generating innovative idea...

Vacations in Costa Rica can be as varied as our country's incredible biodiversity. Although mostly know for ecotourism, Costa Rica is now offering adventure, culinary, cultural, educational, scientific, business, and even hedonistic tourism. This means that you can combine more than one activity at once with the right tourism operator. If you would like your vacation to be both relaxing and exciti...

The fictional character in The Specialist: The Costa Rica Job, written by Charles Peterson Sheppard, is based on the experiences of Phillip Sheppard, a former federal agent and reality television actor who is known for his work on the hit series Survivor. The Specialist happens to be fond of cooking Asian fusion recipes as well.   http://youtu.be/oiOHqCSJm6M...

  Diplomats andresearchers in Hamburg. The Ambassador of Costa Rica to the Federal Republic of Germany, Jose Joaquin Chaverri, recently visited the prestigious Technical University of Hamburg, an institution of research and higher learning that is considered a global leader in the fields of technology, environmental science, and nanotechnology. This university teaches more than 6,500 s...

One of the most popular video game franchises in the world recently released its new version and gives a slight nod to the incredible progress that Costa Rica has made on the international football scene. As reported by Zacks Equity Research and Yahoo Finance, Electronic Arts' (EA) FIFA 15 is now leading the video game sales charts in the United Kingdom, with retail purchases making up to 80 perce...

Renault 4CV. Source: Wikimedia Commons Wherever you go in Costa Rica, from Guanacaste to San Jose and from Jaco Beach to Puerto Viejo in the Southern Caribbean region of Limon, you are bound to see the iconic red taxicabs. They are likely to be four-door Hyundai Accents or Toyota Corollas, with occasional 4x4 SUVs in rural areas and vans in tourist hotspots. The exceptions to the red rule are th...

Nasty drug cartel members, dirty cops and even terrorists who specialize in manufacturing deadly explosives stand in the way of The Specialist, a retired United States Special Forces operator and former federal agent who is on a daring life-or-death rescue mission to extract a corrupt banker from the hands of kidnappers in Costa Rica. UPDATE: This article has been amended to reflect correct aut...

Source: The United Nations The Human Rights Council, the highest body of the United on the important issue of human rights, today completed its twenty-seventh session with the adoption of 32 resolutions, 15 decisions and four presidential statements, notably including the proposal of Costa Rica on the World Program for Human Rights Education.   The following text comes from communiq...