"Frederick Forsyth - 01" by Das blaue Sofa - http://www.flickr.com/photos/das-blaue-sofa/6317965950/. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons London, Aug 30 (EFE).- Writer Frederick Forsyth, known for his spy novels, said in an article published in the Sunday Times that he worked for the British Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, for more than 20 years. Forsyth, author of bes...

By Mauricio Costanzo, 2009 Flickr Creative Commons 2.0 By Carolina Cusirramos Lima, Aug 27 (EFE).- Aware of the threat that climate change poses to their livelihoods, rural communities in Peru are dealing with global warming by using both traditional and scientific techniques discussed in a new book, "Lecciones para la Tierra" (Lessons for the Earth). The book recounts 20 experiences fro...

Flickr Commons Stockholm, Aug 25 (EFE).- Fans of late Swedish author Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy are eagerly awaiting the release this week of "The Girl in the Spider's Web," the fourth installment in the best-selling series. The latest book in the series, which has sold more than 80 million copies around the world, was written by David Lagercrantz, a Swedish journalist and author se...

Cajamarquilla - Wikimedia Commons By Carolina Cusirramos Lima, Aug 13 (EFE).- Peru, a country with a rich historical heritage, has added drones to archaeology's classical tools for surveying, registering and protecting archaeological sites from climate- and human-caused damage. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, has so far helped in registering 375 archaeological sites, or 6...

Costa Rica (PRWEB) August 11, 2015 -- Believe it or not, Spanish is the fourth most widely spoken language in the world. While learning a new language is exciting, it can also be downright challenging to master without the proper tools in place. That’s where SpanishBackpack.com comes into play. “Our goal at SpanishBackpack.com is to provide Spanish teachers and Spanish students with a fun tool ...

Garcia Marquez. Source: Flickr Commons Cartagena, Colombia, Aug 11 (EFE).- The ashes of the late Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez will repose from Dec. 12 in this Caribbean city, the governor of Bolivar province announced Tuesday. "With deep emotion we officially announce that the ashes of Nobel laureate Garcia Marquez will repose in Cartagena," Gov. Juan Carlos Gossain said. "The...

Source: UNED During a press conference that followed the delivery of a report to the United Nations, the Ombudsman of Costa Rica openly stated that our country is racist. Ombudsman Montserrat Solano explained that Costa Rica has improved in terms of racial equality, but she also added that there is a great deal of denial among many spheres of society, and that those who are the most affecte...

Young Facebook users in Costa Rica enjoy certain protections with regard to keeping their social media activity hidden from parents. That much is granted by Article 25 of the Childhood and Adolescence Code. Such is not the case in Colombia, where the Supreme Court recently issued an opinion that gives parents the right to monitor the Facebook accounts of their children. In Costa Rica, a legisla...

A replica of La Negrita. Source: Flickr Comons At the Romeria, a very important Roman Catholic pilgrimage in Costa Rica that takes place every year, Red Cross medical personnel have treated 397 faithful pilgrims over the last couple of days. According to a news report filed by Jason Torres for online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, 267 cases are related to heat exhaustion, dehydration, respirato...

An entertainment android. Source: Wikimedia Commons By Mar Centenera Buenos Aires, Jul 27 (EFE).- Are androids creative? The question becomes inevitable when faced with robots that create portraits of whoever poses in front of them, an avatar dancer that improvises choreographies, and a computer that creates its own language at the exhibition of artificial intelligence that opened over the ...

Wikimedia Commons At electronic music clubs and bars that cater to LGBT crowds in Costa Rica, revelers and couples are increasingly using a drug that enhances their sensorial experience while facilitating anal intercourse. Amyl nitrite, a vasodilator that in the early 20th century was often prescribed in the treatment of angina pectoris, is currently undergoing a resurgence in Costa Rica, a...

Wikimedia Commons By Maria Eugenia Fernandez Montevideo, Jul 20 (EFE).- Uruguayan Emilio Arenas, the holder of five Guinness records as the king of pencils and one as the top fan of ashtrays, is poised to earn yet another for his collection of 18,300 pencils, a treasure trove that he told EFE comes second only to his family. The septuagenarian, who runs the Granja Arenas tourist attracti...

San Francisco, Jul 9 (EFE).- Latinos outnumber non-Hispanic whites in California, according to the most recent figures released by the Census Bureau showing that in July 2014 there were 15 million Hispanics in the state compared with 14.9 million non-Hispanic whites. Demographers expected Hispanics to become the largest ethnic group in the state in 2013, but a slower demographic growth rate tha...

Source: Discovery Miami, Jul 9 (EFE).- The Discovery en Español television channel starting July 13 will air the "Cuban Chrome" docu-series about classic automobiles, filmed exclusively in Cuba and narrated by Cuban-American actor William Levy, the company announced Thursday. The production explores the culture of vintage automobiles on the Caribbean island through "the men and women who pu...

Pixabay Comons Institute of African Studies, Columbia University -- The second conference on "The Meaning of Blackness" will be held at the Universidad de Costa Rica on February 12-14, 2016. The conference follows on the first, successful, conference which was held in February 2014, whose proceedings are being published in Spanish and as an e-book by Universidad de Costa Rica Press and in Engl...

Faith No More dressed up during a recent charity concert in ChileOn the same day Costa Rica will celebrate 193 years of independence, iconic rock band Faith No More will visit for the first time in their history, which dates back to 1981. Faith No More will play a live concert on the grounds of Viva Park, a former racetrack that was acquired by media leviathan Grupo Nacion a few years ago.Althoug...

National Museum of Costa Rica By Maria Jose Brenes San Jose, Jun 22 (EFE).- The San Jose Museum Walking Tour, which goes on for less than a kilometer (about half a mile) through the Costa Rican capital, reveals the sounds, origins, use and morphology of the musical instruments that sounded in pre-Columbian communities. Under the title "Ancestral Echoes," the Central Bank Museum of Costa ...

Works by Juan Ortiz Apuy TORONTO, June 22, 2015 /CNW/ - Toronto's first and only gallery dedicated to Latin American Art opens on June 27 as part of the Pan Am Path Art Relay, with a thought-provoking and timely exhibition "Sportsmanship Under Surveillance." As the city prepares for the spectacle of the 2015 Pan Am / Parapan Am Games, concerns are already beginning to arise about the impact...

Source: Imgur A mysterious work of art painted with hyperrealistic overtones has attracted the attention of the massively popular online portal Reddit. The painting features a scene familiar to those who transit the Avenida Central (Central Avenue) boulevard, a heavy pedestrian traffic artery that bisects the capital city of Costa Rica from east to west.   The first online mention o...

No Joy. Source: Wikimedia Commons (Killbeat Music Press Release) With album cuts “Everything New” and “Moon In My Mouth” already released into the ether, Montreal’s No Joy has now premiered “Hollywood Teeth” courtesy of Billboard Magazine which says the song “pits lovely, understated harmonies against atmospheric, expansive guitars.” The band’s third studio album, More Faithful, is set for rel...

Salvador Allende. Wikimedia Commons Cannes, France, May 24 (EFE).- The 68th edition of the Cannes Film Festival had few Latin American films in the running this year, but most of them came away with important awards, including Mexico's Michel Franco with Best Screenplay for "Chronic." Franco was the only Hispanic in the running for the Palme d'Or with a complex film shot entirely in English...

"Les femmes d’Alger, Picasso, version O" by Source (WP:NFCC#4). Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia New York, May 21 (EFE).- A Qatari sheikh was the buyer who paid $179.36 million for Pablo Picasso's "Les femmes d'Alger," making it the priciest painting ever auctioned, the daily New York Post reported Thursday. The mysterious buyer of the Spanish painter's work was identified by the New Y...

Wikimedia Commons By David Blanco Bonilla Lima, May 18 (EFE).- A team of Peruvian archaeologists led by Walter Alva, who discovered the famous Lord of Sipan, is working to unveil the mysteries surrounding the origins of the Mochica culture, considered one of ancient Peru's most complex and developed cultures. Archaeologists found a temple decorated with about 30 drawings and graffiti wit...

LOS ANGELES, May 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Its aisles packed with readers and boasting a host of successful book presentations and cultural performances, LeaLA wrapped up its fourth edition on a positive note, consolidating its position as the only Spanish-language book fair in the United States and as the event dedicated to reading in Spanish and Latin American culture. On the third day of acti...

Mennonite children. Wikimedia Commons By Santi Carneri El Breal-Colonia Sur, Bolivia, May 18 (EFE).- Mennonite communities in Bolivia's Chaco blend peasant and creole traditions as they adhere to their beliefs - no electric power and shunning modern technology - leading lives devoted to religion, agriculture and communal ranching. The dusty roads winding between hills have allowed the Ch...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, May 17 (EFE, plus additional context by The Costa Rica Star).- At least nine people died and 18 others were injured in a shootout between rival biker gangs in Waco, Texas, on Sunday afternoon, police said. The shootout, which began as a fist- and knife-fight but quickly escalated to gunplay, took place in a parking lot between the Twin Peaks and Don Carlos rest...

By Beatriz Pascual Macias Washington, May 12 (EFE).- Hispanics living in the United States are becoming more fluent in English and speak less Spanish at home, according to a Pew Research Center report published Tuesday in Washington. As Hispanics' command of English grows - 68 percent now speak it easily - the percentage of Latinos who choose Spanish for their conversations at home diminishe...

Source: A Small Section of the World San Diego, CA, May 11, 2015 --(PR.com)-- The San Diego Coffee Network in conjunction with sponsors Earth’s Choice, Daymar Coffee and PureFlo, will be screening the film “A Small Section of the World” at Balboa Park’s Museum of Photographic Arts, Wednesday, May 20. Doors open for a pre-event mixer at 6 p.m. with the film beginning at 7:30 p.m. Five-dollar...

Garcia Marquez. Source: Flickr Commons Bogota, May 9 (EFE).- Colombian police recovered a first-edition copy of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" with a dedication by the late Nobel laureate in Literature, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which had been stolen from a showcase where it was being exhibited at the International Book Fair in Bogota, or Filbo, officials said. The chief of police, Gen. Rodo...

In the Costa Rican National Anthem, a few verses exalt the virtue of hard work as the basis for individual pride and patriotism; to wit: En la lucha tenaz, de fecunda labor que enrojece del hombre la faz, which can be translated to: In the tenacious struggle of fruitful plodding, which crimsons the countenance of men, The above can be construed as referring to vigorous agricultural work ...

Source: Verbal.ink In early 2015, Google released a significant upgrade of its Translate application. No longer content to offer translations of written text, the upgraded app now includes a visual translator and an audio translation function. Machine translation, particularly in the English – Spanish and Spanish – English language pairs, is often utilized by business owners in Costa Rica, ...

"Kanamara Matsuri 2007 (phallus festival)-crop" by Saya M. - Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons Over a period of two days, a trendy Japanese restaurant in the capital city of Costa Rica celebrated the traditional Shinto Kanamara Matsuri (the Festival of the Steel Phallus) with an unusual gastronomical display that tested the decorum of diners. According to lifestyle jour...

Garcia Marquez. Source: Flickr Commons By Gustavo Borges Mexico City, Apr 27 (EFE).- If Colombia's Gabriel Garcia Marquez had never written "One Hundred Years of Solitude" or any other novel, it might have been necessary to award him the Nobel Prize in Literature for his short stories, the part of his work that is much less known. That is what leading Mexican writers think about the perf...

If you are heading to the ritzy Lincoln Plaza shopping mall in the eastern suburbs of San Jose, please note that you may encounter storm troopers from the 501st Legion, an Imperial galactic unit that once served as the personal guard of Darth Vader in the Star Wars universe. You may also run into Jedi Knights, Rebel fighters and Mandalorians while at the mall, but there's no reason to worry: They ...

Jazz musician Houston Person. Wikimedia Commons Casselberry, Florida (McKenzieNewsService.com) - The 12th Annual JazzFest at Sea will be taking place onboard the MSC Divina departing Miami to the Southern Caribbean on November 11, 2015 for 10 nights. The cruise presents Classic Jazz, Chicago Jazz, Traditional Jazz and other jazz styles which emerged during the first half of the 20th century. ...

Source: Blue Bottle Blue Bottle, a specialty coffee roaster located in California, recently announced a new special blend from Costa Rica. This new gourmet offering is called Costa Rica Tarrazú Divino Niño, and it comes from a finca in the hills of San Pablo de Leon Cortes, in the ultra-fertile coffee growing region of Tarrazú.   This is how Blue Bottle describes this new blend: ...

ENOB - Basquiat, 1985. Flickr Commons By Mateo Sancho Cardiel New York, Apr 3 (EFE).- He was among the most influential yet one of the shortest-lived artists of the second half of the 20th century, but the complicated mind of Jean-Michel Basquiat, which raised him to fame and plunged him into self-destruction, has a roadmap in the eight hand-written notebooks being exhibited starting Friday...

Three out of ten municipal councils in Costa Rica have resolved that they will not allow the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages in the most solemn days leading up to Easter. As of Palm Sunday, only a handful of municipalities had not yet issued a decision on whether they should apply “dry laws” in their communities, and the total number of cantons and districts that will go dry this Thursd...

Wikimedia Commons Charlotte, North Carolina, Mar 26 (EFE).- The Aztec empire was not as powerful as previously thought and did not enjoy total domination of its central Mexican heartland, according to a study published by the Journal of Archaeological Science. "The Geopolitics of Obsidian Supply in Postclassic Tlaxcallan" is the product of a collaboration among researchers from North Caroli...

Jairo Zelaya - Pixabay Commons By Beatriz Pascual Macias   Washington, Mar 24 (EFE).- Six out of every 10 Hispanics in the United States speak English or are bilingual, though adults born to an immigrant family are most likely to communicate easily in both English and Spanish, according to a new study published Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.   The center found that 3...