Starting tomorrow, the state telecom, Instituto Nacional de Electricidad (ICE) will be charging its customers more to use their mobile devices (cellular phones and tablets).

ICE today announced new rates for its Kölbi mobile services, raising its text messaging cost to ¢3 colones per each message sent.  Multimedia messages (photos and videos) will cost from ¢6 to ¢50 colones per minute, depending on where the media is being uploaded.

Prepaid mobile services (internet) will not be charged per kilobyte (Kb) of download. The rate is ¢0.0085 per Kb.  For postpaid mobile services, the new rates will take effect only on amounts of usage above the base service plans.

ICE argues that text messaging has been the same price for 20 years, and now it offers new features than when it started offering the service.

There is no change to the mobile (cell phone) calling rates.

The new rates take effect at 12:01am Thursday.

Rate sheet sample by ICE:

Two months after the murder of biologist Jairo Mora Sandoval, police on Monday arrested seven people in eight raids in the Caribbean town of Limón and in Guapiles.

Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) agents were able to identify and arrest seven people they believe linked to the case early Monday monring, as well as confirm the seizure of important evidence in the case.

Several of the arrested are also linke to robberies in Limón and Guapiles, judicial officials said.

Jairo Mora’s body appeared lifeless on May 31 in Moín, a small beach community north of the town of Limón. An autopsy revealed that the biologist had died from asphyxiation after being hit in the neck.

The murder occurred while Mora was doing what he loved best, saving the turtles. Jairo was a 26-year-old biologist working to protect nesting sea turtles from poaching and other threats on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. Authorties say he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by at least five armed criminals the day before his body was found. Four women – three Americans and a Spaniard – were also kidnapped but escaped uninjured.

More than 130,000 individuals from 150 nations have signed a petition at Costa Rican embassies and consulates calling for the arrest and conviction of those involved.

The petition calls on the Costa Rican government to commit police protection to beaches where poaching and narcotics trafficking pose a significant threat to the safety of sea turtles, conservationists and tourists. It also calls on the government to expedite the investigation and ensure Jairo’s killers are swiftly brought to justice.

Bridge over the Virilla river, better known as the “Saprissa bridge”, has served as a springboard for the death of three men who decided jump over the edge this month alone.

The latest victim of a suicide is 26 year old Adrián Corrales León, of El Carmen, Goicoechea, who around 6pm Sunday, after finshing his work day, plunged off the bridge into the river below.

Rescue workers battled the darkness of night, strong winds and rain that fell in Tibás Sunday, searching for two hours before coming up empty handed. The search resumed at dailylight Monday, when after three hours they found the body of the waiter, that had traveled some 50 metres from the jump location.

Authorities are not clear on the motive that led Corrales to take his life, nor of the other two me who jumped from the same spot on the bridge. Theories include financial problems or problems in love.

Source: Diario Extra

A group of young mothers, this morning, protested with a “mamatón” in front of the Colegio Superior de Señoritas (all girls college), in San José after the director of that school forbade one of the students to breastfeed her baby.

Lisbet Herrera, director of the school, aruged in a letter to the mother of the 15 year old student, that the schoolgirl was not authorized to breastfeed her three month infant inside the school and should do so before coming to class.

Maribel Matthiew told La Nacion, “my idea was to be allowed to breastfeed my baby at least once a day. But they told me it was prohibitied inside the institution”.

Valerie Espinoza, organizer of the breastfeeding protest, told the press that the school also forbade the girl from pumping breastmilk every three hours because the school did not have the infrastructure necessary.

According to Espinoza, the school director’s action contradicts national legislation that protects the rights to breastfeed, citing several acts:  the Política Nacional de Lactancia Materna, Ley de lactancia materna, Código de la niñez y Adolescencia and a directive by Ministerio de Educación Pública.

Rocio Solís, director of the Contraloría de Derechos Estudiantiles del Ministerio de Educación Pública ( MEP) – Director of Student Rights Comptroller of the Ministry of Public Education – said the Costa Rican educational system is very respectul of the law assuring breastfeeding.

Costa Rican paraplegic athlete Laurens Molina was training Thursday for two events remaining this year as he has for the past 20 years just north of La Sabana Park when a car hit him in his special bicycle wheeled aluminum cart which he “runs” races for physically handicapped persons.

The crash fractured both wrists and effectively knocked him out of the Chicago event Oct. 13. But Molina says he hopes to compete in the New York Marathon at the end of the year after a Friday surgery by Olympic athletic orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Erick Solano.

He was rushed to nearby San Juan de Dios Hospital immediately after the accident when X-rays were taken of his wrists. Surgery was performed in the private Clinica Catolica hospital Friday. “The break I have is complicated,” Molina explained toLa Nacion, “but with the insertion of some screws recuperation will be more rapid.”

Dr. Solano said Molina could recover by encasing his wrists in casts but recuperation will be faster and less painful with surgery. “His hands are also his feet,” explained the surgeon, underscoring the advantage of speed. His racing cart uses his arms and hands on wheelchair main wheels for power.

Molina was training on the highway when a car hit him on the right side while it was backing out of a parking lot. At the hospital his wrists were encased in temporary casts to keep the bones stable. As an athlete, Molina’s physical condition is superb so his recuperation is expected to be rapid.

Source: iNews.co.cr

The International Court of Justice at The Hague has notified Costa Rica and Nicaragua that it forbids either country to place people in the disputed border zone. The decision arose in the aftermath of Nicaragua´s brief invasion and occupation of a strip of Calero Island on the south bank of the San Juan River.

The March 8, 2011, International Court decision calmed a tense situation after Costa Rica had filed a complaint and Nicaragua counter charges. Individuals have since filed for the Court to change its decree.

The Court has made no further rulings on the border situation. Both sides have accused the other of environmental damage from Nicaragua’s dredging of the river and Costa Rica during the construction of a hasty 160-kilometer road on the southern bank of the San Juan.

But the Court ruled that relaxing the decree would increase “risk of incidents susceptible to aggravating the present dispute.” Nicaragua had argued that the incursion of armed troops on the river island was in response to narcotics traffic along the border.

In July of 2009, the Court reaffirmed Nicaragua’s sovereignty over the river but also recognized Costa Rica’s rights to navigate the waterway. All this has played out against the desire of the Nicaraguan government to built an ambitious inter-ocean canal using part of the river.

Since the Jerez-Cana Treaty between the countries in the late 19th century, the pact’s odd measure that grants Nicaragua full possession of the San Juan River has caused frequent disagreements between the countries.

Source: iNews.co.cr

The “platina” bridge will cost another ¢4 billion colones, the amount of the latest contract award by the ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) – public road works – this fourth attempt to repair the bridge.

MOPT minister Pedro Castro, announced Monday that the Costa Rican company Codocsa S.A. won the bid at ¢4.391 billion colones, the lowest in the bidding war that included bids from the Constructora Hernán Solís at ¢5.088 billion and Consorcio Meco-Puente Prefa at ¢6.327 billion.

Castro said, barring any appeals, the contract will be signed and work will begin within a month.

The problems of the bridge over the Virilla river on the autopista General Cañas began in 2009 when a 10 centimetre (4 inch) gap was noticed between the concrete spans.

The first repair didn’t take. The second repair didn’t last 24 hours before the concrete patch began to crumble. A third attempt, almost 18 months later was made, interrupting traffic on the country’s busiest road for months. In less than two weeks after “the completion” of the job, concrete between the metal grates began to crumble. One worker was killed by a drunk driver and another injured during that work period.

In the meantime a series of patch jobs have kept the bridge’s concrete slab from further crumbling.

The MOPT minister said that the new contract calls for a 13 month work period, twelve of which will be for worder under the structure and one month on the surface.

This past Saturday was the final date of the Rompementes (Brain Buster) Tour, a traveling exhibition conceived by Luis Alfonso Dominguez Carballo, Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Physics of the University of Sonora.

This fun and unique exhibit took place in three cities in Costa Rica: Alajuela, Heredia and San José; it previously visited cities in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

The Rompementes tour was billed as a scientific exhibit, but it mostly consisted of amusing brain-teasers with a learning angle, such as impossible holograms, gravity-defying toys, practical physics experiments, math riddles, and other seemingly amazing feats of mental aerobics that have a didactic explanation. People, especially kids, had a lot of fun at Rompementes’ final date in Costa Rica at the Morazan Park, which also featured music by national reggae fusion band Ojo de Buey. This event was also sponsored by Enamorate de tu Ciudad (Fall in Love with Your City), an initiative by the Ministry of Culture and Youth in Costa Rica to showcase family activities in San Jose.

Although children are usually better at solving these delightful puzzles, some of the attendees at Rompementes asked the exhibitor about the benefits of such brain-teasers for patients who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in Costa Rica. According to the latest statistics published by the World Health Organization, 377 people in Costa Rica died from the degenerative effects caused by Alzheimer’s disease in 2010, which represents 2.3 percents of all deaths that year.

Although Alzheimer’s disease in Costa Rica has not reached epidemic proportions, such as it has in China, reports of this fatal condition are on the rise in our country. There has been a lot of research, as well as speculation, about whether an active mind can effectively prevent the onset -or at least the severity of Alzheimer’s. Researchers in the 21^st century have found that mental fitness associated with crossword or Sudoku puzzles can help prevent memory loss, which is one of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. In some cases of dementia and deep memory loss, the brain is aging faster than the body. Brain-teasers help keep the mind young, which is always a good thing.

The good news for expats who choose to enjoy their golden years in Costa Rica is that learning Spanish, or any other language, can help them stave off Alzheimer’s. As far as solving puzzles such as those on the Rompementes tour, well… they may be difficult for patients who suffer from advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. If you have not been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, or if you are in the lower stages, specialists recommend that you challenge yourself mentally to the max of your cognitive abilities. But, if you are caring for a loved one with advanced Alzheimer’s, get them to solve simple puzzles from about 10 to 50 pieces, that are also colorful and serene. Super-simple online brain games such as the ones developed by Lumosity can also help in this regar

Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease, but it can be prevented to some extent with the right balance of mental and physical exercise, as well as with a healthy nutrition.

Although there is no official word from the Catholic Church, Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Sunday that Pope Francis will soon visit Costa Rica and the Virgen de los Angeles, to pay homage.

Costa Rica’s Amabassador to Brazil, Víctor Manuel Monge Chacón, said that the Pope made the commitment during the greeting of the ambassadors representative of each continent, at a ceremony that took place at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro.

According to Ambassador Monge, the Pope sent a special blessing for Costa Rica, its young and poor and their families and for Presidenta Laura Chinchilla.

“In an officially greeting I had with His Holiness the Pope Francisco, he expressed his desire to visit Costa Rica in the future, when he has a chance. The invitation to visit the country was made by the President of the Republic during the meeting they held in Rome for the consecration of the Pope,” Monge said.

San José archbishop, monseñor Hugo Barrantes, said he has not received any official word from Rome of a Papal visit.

The announcement of the possibility of Pope Francis visiting Costa Rica comes weeks after the Vatican confirmed the miracle of Floribeth Mora Díaz, a resident of Dulce Nombre de La Unión de Cartago (east of San José), being cured of her brain aneurysm due to the intercession of late Pope John Paul II. This second miracle is the final requirement to allow the canonization of the pontiff, who died on April 2, 2005.

Source: La Nacion

Costa Ricans living abroad and registered to vote will be able to get a jump on the 2014 presidential elections. On Saturday, February 1, the first ballot box will open in Sidney, Australia.

According to the Tribunal Supreme de Elecciones (TSE), a total of 19 people will be able to cast their vote at the Costa Rican Embassy at 6am Sunday in Australia (2pm Saturday in Costa Rica).

Later that day polls will also be open in Tokyo, New Delhi, Tel Aviv, Moscow, Berlin, Rome, London and Madrid, among other cities. Closer to home, Bogota, Brasilia, Buenos Aires and Caracas.

On election day, February 9, Costa Rican voters in Los Angeles wil be able to vote up to even one hour after the polls close in Costa Rica.

This is the first time Costa Ricans living abroad will be able to vote in the national elections in their adopted country, in 53 cities. Foreign voters can only cast their vote for the president.

The TSE says a total of 8.800 Ticos abroad has so far regitered to vote, but the number could be closer to 12.000 when the registration closes on October 2.

Costa Ricans abroad can get information and register at www.tse.go.cr

Records indicate that the majority of the foreign voters live in the United States (71%), primarily in the cities of Los Angeles, Washington and Miami. Following, in majority of number of voters is Canada, Mexico and Spain.

The number of Costa Ricas abroad vary differently, depending on who is counting. Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry reports only 49.000 Costa Ricans living abroad, while immigration records put the number at an estimated 250.000.

The canton in Costa Rica that reports more family members abroad are Santos, Perez Zeledon and Escazú.

Source: La Nacion