Source: Wikimedia Commons San Francisco, Mar 18 (EFE).- Facebook said U.S. users would be able to link their e-mail accounts and the Messenger texting application to their debit cards, allowing them to make instant payments. "Today we're adding a new feature in Messenger that gives people a more convenient and secure way to send or receive money between friends," the social network said on ...

EFE file New York, Mar 17 (EFE).- Venezuela on Tuesday took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to ask the U.S. government to immediately cease its "hostile actions" against Caracas and to retract the executive order declaring the South American nation to be a threat to its national security. Entitled "Venezuela is not a threat," the ad takes the form of a letter directed at the Americ...

Pele (left) once played for the NY Cosmos. Wikimedia Commons New York, Mar 16 (EFE).- The New York Cosmos, led by Spanish legend Raul Gonzalez, will become the first U.S. professional sports team to play in Cuba since Washington and Havana agreed three months ago to restore relations after a gap of 54 years. "I for one have always believed in the power of sport to bring people together and ...

Tikrit. Wikimedia Commons Baghdad, Mar 16 (EFE).- The tomb of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein reportedly has been destroyed during the ongoing assault to liberate the strategic city of Tikrit from the Islamic State. According to what security officials told Efe on Monday, the mausoleum located in Al Ouya, south of Tikrit, was destroyed during fighting that erupted in the area between Iraqi go...

Source: MexicoLeaks By Paula Escalada Medrano. Mexico City, Mar 16 (EFE).- Mexicoleaks, an online platform that encourages citizens to leak documents related to wrongdoing by government officials to the media, says it wants to end Mexicans' fear of reporting corruption and abuses of power. "This breaks the sources' natural wariness, the fear of being identified, the fear of violating sec...

Jackie Cobell - Source: Facebook By Irene Valiente. Buenos Aires, Mar 16 (EFE).- Jackie Cobell, a 60-year-old British woman who does not pay much heed to age, nationality or ideologies, plans to challenge the cold waters around the Falkland Islands, scene of a 1982 war between Argentina and Britain, this week as a symbol of friendship and unity. Cobell told Efe in an interview that she h...

The LHC - Source: Flickr Commons Geneva, Mar 14 (EFE).- An understanding of dark matter and its composition and the recreation of conditions billionths of a second after the big bang are two of the objectives that physicians at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as the CERN, are aiming to achieve now that the world's largest and most powerful particle collider is up and runn...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The Associated Press (AP) reported on Tuesday the U.S. Secret Service is conducting drone exercises over Washington, D.C. to defend against unmanned aerial vehicles being flown over the area. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved the Secret Service to conduct these flying exercises. The exercises are to be over parts of D.C. airspace which is normally ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Leo Varadkar, Ireland's Health Minister, introduced emergency legislation in the lower house of the Irish parliament yesterday evening, to negate the legal loophole created by a decision from Dublin's Court of Appeal that morning. Various hard drugs — including ketamine, ecstasy, and magic mushrooms — were rendered legal, following the law governing their prohibition ...

Source: Sony Pictures Guadalajara, Mexico, Mar 11 (EFE).- Mexican actress Stephanie Sigman says having a part in "Spectre," the latest James Bond film, is "a dream job." "You want to be in those movies. These are dream jobs you want to keep getting," Sigman said in an interview with Efe during a break in promoting "Alicia en el país de María," an entry in the Guadalajara Film Festival. S...

Former President Mujica, right, shakes hands with former President Lula of Brazil By Rodrigo Garcia Melero. Montevideo, Mar 6 (EFE).- Former President Jose Mujica, who is now a senator, has opened an agricultural school for 60 youngsters next to his small farm on the outskirts of Montevideo as part of a personal project with Uruguay's Trades University, or UTU.   "We decided to d...

This photograph from September 2003 shows a Black Hawk helicopter about to take off from an airfield in Iraq. EFE Miami, Mar 11 (EFE).- The seven Marines and four Army soldiers aboard a helicopter that crashed off the coast of northwestern Florida are presumed dead, U.S. military officials said Wednesday.   The Black Hawk helicopter went missing Tuesday night during a routine traini...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, Mar 10 (EFE).- Brazil's professional soccer clubs will be penalized in the standings for failing to pay players on time, the Brazilian Soccer Confederation, or CBF, announced Tuesday. Under the CBF's "labor fair play" initiative, offending clubs will lose three points for every match played with salaries in arrears. Only players, their attorneys and the pla...

File photo of retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who congratulated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this week for his "brilliant and courageous" speech against the "brutal plans" of the United States against his country. EFE/File Havana, Mar 10 (EFE).- Cuba gave its "unconditional support" to Venezuela on Tuesday following Washington's declaration of a "national emergency" due to the "extra...

Mexico City, Mar 10 (EFE).- Mexican authorities located a building in the northern state of Nuevo Leon via the Internet that was used as a storage site for wild animals, some of them protected species, being sold by traffickers, the Profepa environmental protection agency said in a statement. The discovery in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon, was the result of a joint investigation by Profe...

Mr. DeNiro with his wife, Ms. Grace Hightower. Source: Wikimedia Commons San Juan, Mar 9 (EFE).- A $250 million plan by actor Robert De Niro and investor James Packer to turn Barbud a's K-Club hotel into a luxury resort has created controversy on the island. De Niro and Packer want to renovate the K-Club, which was once visited by the late Princess Diana, Antigua and Barbuda's consulate in ...

Obama imposes sanctions, declares emergency over Venezuelan threat to U.S. EFE Washington, May 9 (EFE).- U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday ordered the sanctions recently approved against top Venezuelan officials to be implemented and declared a "national emergency" over the "extraordinary risk" that, he said, the Venezuelan situation poses for U.S. security. In an executive order, Obama...

Royal Spanish Academy in Madrid. Wikimedia Commons San Juan, Mar 9 (EFE).- The director of the Spanish Royal Academy predicted a grand future for Spanish in the United States, thanks to the growing regard for the Hispanic population living there. "Spanish in the U.S. is gaining tremendous momentum thanks to the growing regard for Hispanics," Dario Villanueva said in an interview with Efe in...

By Desiree Garcia Kigali, Mar 7 (EFE).- A traditional Rwandan proverb says that "hens don't cackle when there's a rooster around," but the women of this country have made that saying obsolete because they have taken a decisive role in many spheres of society and politics. The new Rwanda has been built by its women, who came to represent 70 percent of the population after the 1994 genocide wi...

EFE Madrid, Mar 6 (EFE).- Agencia Efe on Friday denied having sent out any reports on a supposed "self-coup" staged by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and has notified authorities in Venezuela of its surprise at some statements made by the president in this regard.   In an address delivered on Thursday, the Venezuelan president said: "And the stupid people at Agencia Efe, that's...

Source: TEAM Network FALLS CHURCH, Va., March 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- In their continuing effort to help teachers develop the next generation of scientists, Northrop Grumman Foundation and Conservation International (CI) announced that applications for the 2015 ECO Classroom experience are now being accepted through March 31. Four teams of four teachers will be selected for an all-expenses-pai...

Costa Rica Unlimited Facebook San Jose, Costa Rica, March 06, 2015 --(PR.com)-- Costa Rica Unlimited, the premiere off-road dirt bike motorcycle tour company, is proud to announce the addition of two (2) new unique tour experiences; the Dual-Sport County Crossing and the X-Treme Adventure Package, both set to launch April 3, 2015.   Ride Costa Rica with "Unlimited" Options Dirt Bike ...

Wikimedia Commons ST. LOUIS, March 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Enterprise Holdings announced today that it is expanding into Latin America with the appointment of Grupo ANC as an Enterprise Rent-A-Car franchise partner in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua.   Enterprise Holdings, through its regional subsidiaries, operates the largest fleet of vehicles in the world through a global net...

Airport workers perform de-icing at U.S. airports / EFE Washington, Mar 5 (EFE).- A bad snowstorm accompanied by very low temperatures extending from northeastern Texas to New England is affecting some 94 million people across the country on Thursday. Weather authorities have issued snow advisories from Alabama up through the Mid-Atlantic states and into New England, and Washington D.C. has...

U.S. oil company Occidental Petroleum, or Oxy, has agreed to compensate five Peruvian Amazon Indian communities for damage resulting from oil production activity. EFE/File Lima, Mar 5 (EFE).- U.S. oil company Occidental Petroleum, or Oxy, has agreed to compensate five Peruvian Amazon Indian communities for damage resulting from oil production activity. Leaders of the Achuar people from the ...

Harrison Ford and Wife Calista Flockhart. Wikimedia Commons Los Angeles, Mar 5 (EFE).- U.S. actor Harrison Ford is in stable condition after the small plane he was flying crashed on a golf course near the Santa Monica, California, airport, a spokesperson with the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to People magazine on Thursday. The injuries sustained by the 72-year-old star of the "St...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a speech at the 30th anniversary gala for the Democratic organization Emily's List. EFE Washington, Mar 4 (EFE).- Hillary Clinton received the backing of some of the most powerful women in her party at the 30th anniversary gala of the Democratic organization Emily's List, and she didn't hesitate to ask the audience "Don't you someday want to s...

Photo provided by South Korea's Yonhap news agency showing U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert. EFE/File Seoul, Mar 4 (EFE).- The U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was wounded on Thursday, local time, when he was attacked by a knife-wielding man who said he was against the joint military maneuvers being staged by Washington and Seoul this week. The suspect, identified as...

Around 40 percent of the mahogany and cedar that Peru exports to the United States is logged illegally, a 2010 study by the Environmental Research Agency, or EIA, said. EFE/File Lima, Feb 24 (EFE).- Peru's permanent Commission for the Fight against Illegal Logging is considering installing GPS devices on river boats in the Amazon basin in order to halt the transport of lumber from illegal logg...

French President François Hollande. EFE/File Paris, Mar 3 (EFE).- French President François Hollande will travel to Cuba on May 11, the first visit by a French head of state to the Latin American country, the Elysee Palace, the French presidential residence, announced Tuesday.   "The visit of the president of the republic to Cuba on May 11 will constitute the first time a French hea...

Rio de Janeiro's world-famous Copacabana and Ipanema are among the areas contaminated to the point that dermatologists recommend avoiding skin contact with the sands. EFE/File Rio de Janeiro, Mar 2 (EFE).- The sands on the beaches of this Brazilian tourist mecca are heavily polluted, mainly thanks to trash left behind by beachgoers, experts told Efe.   Rio de Janeiro's world-famous ...

A Cuban Farmer. Source: Flickr Havana, Mar 2 (EFE).- Almost 100 U.S. agri-businessmen visiting Cuba on Monday supported an end to the embargo on the island and said they were ready to push the productive sector there, one of the economy's most acute needs given that Cuba spends $2 billion per year to import food. The businessmen are representatives of the U.S. Agricultural Coalition for Cub...

View of the vulcano Villarrica erupting on 03 March 2015 at Villarrica, 750km south Santiago de Chile in Chile. Over 4,000 people have been evacuated due to the risk of floods as snow melts due to the volcano's eruption. EFE/Ariel Marinkovic Santiago, Mar 3 (EFE; additional context by The Costa Rica Star).- The Villarrica volcano in southern Chile erupted early Tuesday, sending plumes of smoke...

In a world of technology where users seek ever greater control over the content they share on social media or via mobile applications, they now have a new tool - Strings - that allows them to completely eliminate texts, videos and photos they shared and later wish they hadn't. EFE/file By Marc Arcas Seattle, Feb 21 (EFE).- In a world of technology where users seek ever greater control over ...

Some of the pre-Columbian arhaeological pieces repatriated from France to Peru are put on display Tuesday in Lima, where officials held a ceremony to mark the return of cultural heritage items from Canada, Chile, Spain, the United States, France, Japan and Switzerland. EFE Lima, Feb 25 (EFE).- A total of 3,898 archaeological pieces will be repatriated this year to Peru from Argentina following...

Moterrico. Source: Wikimedia Commons Guatemala City, Mar 1 (EFE).- The body of a Swiss woman was found Sunday on a beach on Guatemala's Pacific coast bearing knife wounds, emergency authorities said. Fire Department spokesperson Cecilia Chacaj told Efe that Erika Verena Jenni, 57, was found on the Monterrico beach in Santa Rosa province. Chacaj added that emergency authorities were alert...

British actor Daniel Craig performs during the shooting of the 24th James Bond movie 'Spectre' in Rome, Italy. EFE By Laura Serrano-Conde   Rome, Mar 1 (EFE).- James Bond, the world's most famous spy, has taken over Rome, participating in car chases along the banks of the Tiber River and parachuting over the Sisto bridge during the filming of his new adventure, "Spectre."   ...

Any differences with Pope now "completely settled"Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Jose Antonio Meade. EFE/File Mexico City, Feb 25 (EFE).- Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Jose Antonio Meade said Wednesday that any differences with the Vatican were now "completely settled," after Pope Francis had warned in a private letter of the risk of the "Mexicanization" of Argentina, and he added that ...

Supporters of President Maduro rally in Caracas EFE/AGENCIA VENEZOLANA DE NOTICIAS/ Caracas, Feb 28 (EFE).- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday ordered the United States, whose government he accuses of conspiring against him, to immediately reduce the staff of its Caracas embassy from approximately 100 to a level similar to the 20 that his government has in Washington.   ...

Source: EFE Atlanta, Feb 25 (EFE).- Beverage giant Coca-Cola will celebrate the centennial of its iconic "hobble-skirt" glass bottle with art exhibitions, a global media campaign and a commemorative song composed for the occasion, company representatives said. Atlanta, where the company has its headquarters and Coca-Cola, considered one of the most profitable creations of modern industry, was b...