Paul Watson, the controversial founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, was arrested by German law enforcement authorities in Frankfurt earlier today. The Canadian-born Mr. Watson, who also holds citizenship in the United States, has an outstanding warrant in Costa Rica for attempted murder. According to a news report in TeleNoticias Channel 7, the president of the Sea Shepherd Con...

When the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court of Costa Rica passed a resolution approving the creation of a web site that published the mug shots and personal information of dozens of fugitives from justice, the host server crashed. The few Ticos who were able to browse the new site immediately went to the online version of national newspaper La Nacion and weighed in with their opinions: "It doe...

The Titanic will sail again, and this time she will not sink, according to a man who could pay for La Caja's public health care system in Costa Rica for the next 6 years or so. Clive Palmer is an Australian magnate whose net worth is estimated at $5.05 billion, according to some financial media circles. Considering that the official exchange rate Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Costa Rica was $...

On Sunday, May 13th, eleven of Costa Rica's most brilliant young minds will travel to Pittsburgh, where they will represent our country at the 2012 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) with six high-tech projects. From May 14th to the 18th, the young Ticos will compete against 1,500 students from 68 countries at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. At a ceremony at Intel'...

A common saying among Tico football fans is that a First Division Final in Costa Rica is not exciting unless either Liga Deportiva Alajuelense or Deportivo Saprissa get to play. Such belief was shattered last night at the Eladio Rosabal Cordero Stadium in Heredia, where the local team came from behind and defeated Asociacion Deportiva Santos with a final score of four goals against two. Fan...

The men and women of the Tourism Police special unit of Fuerza Publica are sometimes called "Baywatch Cops" by their partners in blue. This is a playful tease that comes from the fact that Tourism Police officers are often seen patrolling on bicycles and jovially interacting with backpackers looking for the next bus to La Fortuna, or surfers whose belongings left on the beach disappear. What ma...

People in Costa Rica are increasingly turning to the Internet when looking for jobs, new and used automobiles, real estate, deals on electronics, home appliances, pets, and more. A number of competing online classified portals have cropped up in the last few years, all looking to get a sizable piece of this lucrative pie. The latest entry comes from Grupo Nacion, one of the largest media conglo...

SAN JOSE – The National Assembly of Costa Rica has stalled the advancement of gay rights, according to statements made by the president of Sala Cuarta (Constitutional Hall), the country's highest court. In an interview with Amy Ross and Ferlin Fuentes of national newspaper La Nacion, Senior Magistrate Ana Virginia Calzada explained that, with regard to the rights of same-gender couples, the Na...

Two key members of President Laura Chinchilla's cabinet in Costa Rica are notable not only for their high-profile posts but also for their choice of hair grooming and styling. The hairstyles of Minister Manuel Obregon (Culture and Youth) and of Minister Leonardo Garnier (Public Education) have been subject of scrutiny the moment they were appointed to their current posts. What is remarkable...

In the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, hammerhead sharks spend their nights feeding on squid and their days healing their wounds near underwater aid stations where other fish symbiotically cleanse their injuries. Their vision is poor, but their curiously shaped heads sense the magnetic waves emanated by an underwater mountain ridge that is advancing towards Costa Rica, and which has been identified a...

There is a poignant scene in the 1996 film Shine, about the life of concert pianist David Helfgott, in which he asks an astrologer to marry him. Mr. Helfgot suffers from a severe emotional disorder, something that the astrologer -who would eventually accept the proposal- knew about. The astrologer's decision came only after she reassured herself that her life was going to change. A lot. Change ...

It's not the end of the world as we know it, at least not this year. Would-be doomsday heralds who stuck to the idea that ancient Maya astronomers had predicted the end of the world were sent back to the drawing board yesterday by an important announcement and finding by a team of archeologists in Guatemala. The Bribri indigenous people of Costa Rica are believed to be descendents of the Maya, ...

Many Internet users turned to Microsoft's Bing search engine yesterday, entered Costa Rica in the search bar, and checked the results presented by what the tech giant called "the most significant update to Bing since we launched three years ago." Microsoft chose Costa Rica as an example of Bing's new powerful Sidebar feature. Sidebar is a direct response to Google's "Search, Plus Your World" fe...

As a legislator in the National Assembly of Costa Rica, Jose Maria Villalta from Frente Amplio (Broad Front) political party is entitled to a standard salary raise every six months. His most recent raise was approved at 150,000 colones (about $300), but he does not want it -and he is willing to fight tooth and nail against it. Mr. Villalta is not the only legislator in Costa Rica opposed to...

SAN JOSE – Costa Rica has once again proved herself as an important destination for foreign investment, particularly in technology. The human capital and the government's initiatives to train professionals to work in the tech industry are attracting businesses to this sector. On Thursday, May 10, President Laura Chinchilla maintained that during her next two years in office she will keep su...

Despite early rains and an optimistic forecast for the next two coffee harvests in Costa Rica, Tico growers are concerned that demand will outpace supply and may not be able to meet orders from retail coffee shop Goliath Starbucks. In an article by Sergio Arce of national newspaper La Nacion, the president of the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (iCafe) explained that Starbucks is not the only bu...

The beautiful Nazareth Cascante Madrigal recently earned the crown of Miss Costa Rica, and she is already gathering fans around the world. The lovely Miss Cascante, who is from Alajuela, is leading a poll on the website of Radio Programas del Peru (RPP), a major South American television, radio and online broadcaster that has a strong alliance with Movistar in the Andean nation. The online plat...

A veteran journalist and a Microelectronics researcher have launched Project Costa Rica 2050, a new initiative that seeks to plant the seed of scientific inquiry and a passion for technology among average Ticos. Ana Madrigal has been involved in journalism for the last 25 years, and Paola Vega obtained her Ph.D. in Microelectronics from a German university in Hamburg. Together they took to ...

The Highway Security Council in Costa Rica (Spanish acronym: COSEVI) announced yesterday afternoon that a new vehicular technical and safety revision and inspection (RITEVE) will go into effect on June 1st. This mandatory, yet highly unpopular, revision is the bane of many drivers and a windfall for auto mechanics. The changes are mostly focused on the degree of severity assigned to observa...

Many of the efforts currently undertaken by Costa Rica to achieve her goal of becoming a carbon-neutral country by 2021 have been practiced in Japan since long ago. Like other heavily industrialized nations, Japan keeps an eye on the massive carbon emissions that heavy industrial output and unbridled development brings. Until recently, the network of nuclear power plants in Japan brought electrici...

Verdeate (Green Yourself) is a Latin American non-profit organization that uses a number of online and offline platforms to promote a series of nature conservation challenges. Many of the challenges are on a personal level, and they consist of specific actions that can reduce our carbon footprint. The idea is to promote green culture. The Charlas Verdes (Green Culture Lecture Tour), organized by ...

Costa Rica outperforms her Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of child nutrition, but it needs to do more to protect Tica mothers. Save the Children, an international non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic opportunities, recently issued its annual State of the World's Mothers report. Costa Rica was placed on...

In the Olympic qualifiers for the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA), Costa Rica is now 0-2. The Men's Volleyball National Team was no match for their opponents from the United States last night at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California. Judging by the game, the American team will have no problems securing a ticket to the 2012 Summer Games in Londo...

Author’s Note: This is the tenth item in a series of articles that touch on the subject of sustainable practices in Costa Rica. There is a high degree of science, innovation and street smarts involved in sustainability; if you happen to know of a good sustainability tip, please feel free to share it with The Costa Rica Star. Recycling materials is more important now than ever, particularly sinc...

Reggae legends The Wailers, Bob Marley's original band, will headline the No Hunting World Music Fest in Costa Rica on Saturday, May 19th at Empire (the old Azotea in La Uruca). This is a special reggae festival supported by the Association for the Preservation of Flora and Fauna (APREFLOFLAS in Spanish), and it seeks to create awareness of a legislative proposal that has been floating in the Nati...

Costa Rica is already famous for her ecolodges and yoga retreats, but the Sanctuary at Two Rivers is the ultimate destination for travelers seeking to combine fitness, relaxation and luxury. The Sanctuary was recently mentioned as the "ultimate jungle gym" by Kathryn Branch in The New York Times Style Magazine. The founders are Jeff Gossett and Perrey Reeves, an actress who is perhaps best remembe...

According to an investigative report by Jose Melendez in the Mexican news daily El Universal, authorities in Costa Rica are investigating whether the recent case of a self-declared neo-nazi Fuerza Publica officer was isolated, or if it points to a wider problem. The events that led to the dismissal of 26-year old Ronald Herrera Borges, AKA Murdock, unfolded on the popular online social netw...

Conservationists in Costa Rica are in a quandary over one endangered species' newfound appetite for another threatened species. According to a recent study, researchers have observed a perplex situation unfolding in Tortuguero National Park in the province of Limon: jaguars voraciously feeding on marine turtles arriving during nesting season. The study focuses on five species in Costa Rica:...

After a few false starts, the Treasury in Costa Rica finally issued an amended list of foodstuffs and educational products exempt from the 13 percent sales tax (or IVA). An Executive decree issued days earlier had placed several foodstuffs on a list of items to be taxed, something that critics see as a crude and vindictive reaction to the vanishing of the Fiscal Reform plan. Representati...

A group of researchers from the Costa Rica Institute of Technology (TEC in Spanish) is working on redesigning solar panels as we know them. Within two years, the researchers expect prototypes that yield the following results: Realistic production of electrical power in tropical climates. Certification of the new panels in order to make Costa Rica a hub for clean power technologies. The TE...

According to a recent report in La Prensa, a newspaper in Managua that usually takes a stance against the Daniel Ortega administration, the controversial highway construction project parallel to the San Juan River in Costa Rica hides an ulterior purpose: A dry canal that will not only connect our Caribbean coast with the Pacific, but will also include the building of an industrial dock in Playa Os...

Fuerza Publica officers assigned to the Northern Zone in Upala, working in conjunction with the Office of Judicial Investigations (OIJ), recently announced the recovery of four cows found in farm that served as a hideaway for rustlers. Officers cited the support from the border security police and members of the community as they conducted door-to-door (or barn-to-barn) interviews to find the ...

Earlier today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the following official communique: The Government of Costa Rica extends a warm greeting to the people and the Government of the French Republic in light of their Presidential Elections on May 6th, which resulted in the election of Mr. Francois Hollande as the next President of France. Costa Rica warmly congratulates President Elect Francois...

In Puerto Jimenez near Golfito this weekend, an alleged poacher traveling in a quadracyle all-terrain vehicle (ATV) was stopped by Fuerza Publica officers on route 245. The driver of the ATV was clumsily attempting to conceal two tepezcuintles (pacas) in plastic shopping bags. The two wild Cuniculus paca specimens were killed by a firearm, which the officers found stored in a rear compartment of t...

The National Amusement Park in San Jose, where Tio Conejo and Tio Coyote eagerly wait to entertain families with young children, will soon be the new home of Boomerang, a legendary, massive roller coaster ride built by the Dutch firm Vekoma Rides Manufacturing. Boomerang is a roller coaster that sends daring riders to the highest point of its structure before launching them at a speed nearing 90 ...

The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report was officially released for Latin America earlier today. According to the report, the number of vulnerabilities decreased by 20 percent while the number of malicious attacks increased by 81 percent. Coordinated attacks are expanding to different types of business and individual users, and there is a strong focus by malicious hackers and cybercrimina...

Sala Cuarta (Constitutional Hall), Costa Rica's highest court, recently issued a unanimous vote on a decision that essentially orders the government to give protection and render assistance to single mothers. The decision, number 2012-5594, emanated from a case reviewed before the Court in which a single mother was denied economic benefits and assistance by La Caja, our country's public health ...

Author's Note: A previous article in The Costa Rica Star touched on the "Top 10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Costa Rica." The most important advice on that article bears repeating at this time: "A sensible word of advice for anyone who is planning to move here, or to any other nation for that matter: the worst time to undertake a country relocation is whilst experiencing severe emotion...

Municipal Perez Zeledon was the most consistent team during the regular season of the 2012 Summer Tournament. The Southern Warriors experienced some slight setbacks at the end of the season, but fans mostly chalked it up to the fact that the team had already clinched its ticket to the semifinals, and thus was allowed to relax a bit. Many football fans in Costa Rica thought that Perez Zeledo...

Author’s Note: This is the ninth item in a series of articles that touch on the subject of sustainable practices in Costa Rica. There is a high degree of science, innovation and street smarts involved in sustainability; if you happen to know of a good sustainability tip, please feel free to share it with The Costa Rica Star. A home located on the skirts of Mount Chirripo in the Southern Zon...