NEW YORK /PRNewswire/ On January 20th, Michael R. Bloomberg  launched Bloomberg Philanthropies' 2016 Mayors Challenge, a competition to inspire Latin American and Caribbean cities to develop bold new ideas that solve major problems and improve city life – and that ultimately can be shared with other cities. The competition includes a $5 million USD grand prize and four $1 million awards to four ot...

Alan Gross with his wife Judy, attorney Scott Gilbert, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. watch television on board a U.S. government plane headed back to the U.S. as the news breaks of his release, Dec. 17, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson) By Lucia Leal Washington, Jan 23 (EFE).- U.S. citizen Alan Gross believes the C...

Wikimedia Commons Port-au-Prince, Jan 22 (EFE).- Haitian election officials on Friday indefinitely postponed this weekend's presidential runoff election, but the move did not bring a halt to violent incidents in this capital and cities in the country's northeast involving thousands of demonstrators opposed to the vote. "There are people wounded, but we don't have the number yet," a Haitian ...

File photo EIU Press Release According to The Economist Intelligence Unit's latest Democracy Index one of the biggest threats to democracy is the anxious mood of our times The fearful era in which we live is not conducive to defending democratic standards or extending democracy's reach across the globe. The latest edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index reflects the sit...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Caracas, Jan 15 (EFE).- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's administration, using constitutionally granted decree powers, on Friday declared a 60-day, nationwide state of economic emergency. The measure, extendable by an additional 60 days, is intended to "protect the people from existing threats," the country's vice president for the economy, Luis Salas, said af...

Alleged Greenwashing by Infinito Gold VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 15, 2016) - Infinito Gold Ltd. ("Infinito") (NEX:IG.H) is pleased to announce that it entered into a litigation funding agreement effective December 21, 2015 ("LFA). Under the terms of the LFA, the funder has agreed to provide non-recourse financing to Infinito in connection with the legal costs of Infini...

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Source: Wikimedia Commons The sons of Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, the drug cartel boss recently captured by Mexican marines after a fierce firefight, may have met with a businessman in northern Costa Rica to discuss an operational expansion plan. Such was the matter discussed at the Legislative Assembly earlier today during a special session called after an intelligence rep...

Wikimedia Commons San Juan, Jan 12 (EFE).- As the sun rose Tuesday on the statues of U.S. presidents outside Puerto Rico's capitol building, four of them were seen to be painted with aerosol, an act of vandalism coinciding with a congressional hearing in Washington that could be key to the island's ability to declare bankruptcy. The suspects, of whom three have been arrested, sprayed red pa...

By Carlos Heras La Paz, Jan 12 (EFE; additional context by The Costa Rica Star).- Agriculture, which accounts for about 15 percent of Bolivia's gross domestic product, is at the center of a controversy over genetically modified crops, with the government limiting the use of transgenic seeds to soybeans and farmers demanding expanded use to increase productivity. Bolivia restricts the use of ...

By Riley Brands Press Release from the Office of U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) and Congresswoman Kay Granger (R-TX-12), as well as U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica S. Fitzgerald Haney and Costa Rican Ambassador to the United States Román Macaya, traveled last week to the Costa Rican border with Nicaragua to see firsthand how Central America is dealing wit...

Wikimedia Commons Guatemala City, Jan 4 (EFE).- Massive detentions of migrants by U.S. authorities will not stop migration, Guatemala's foreign minister said Monday as he confirmed the detention of 26 of his fellow citizens last weekend. Carlos Raul Morales said in an interview on Emisoras Unidas radio that before Christmas, U.S. authorities expressed concern that the number of unaccompanie...

Source: Flickr Commons Mexico City, Jan 2 (EFE).- The newly installed mayor of the central Mexican city of Temixco was killed Saturday, a day after she took office, officials said. "They've informed me of the attack on the mayor of Temixco, Gisela Mota, a young and dear colleague. This a challenge by organized crime. We won't give in," Graco Ramirez - the governor of the central state of Mo...

Wikimedia Commons Los Angeles, Jan 1 (EFE).- The traditional Rose Parade in Pasadena was followed Friday by a march organized by supporters of Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders as a protest against immigration raids and deportations. "We wish to denounce the continuing injustice toward immigrants, with the always possible deportations of Central American refugees by the authori...

A Republican Member of the United States Congress visited Costa Rica and toured the shelters provided to stranded Cuban migrants during the holidays. Representative Kay Granger attended a meeting with President Luis Guillermo Solis, Chancellor Manuel Gonzalez, and U.S. Ambassador Fitzgerald Haney before touring the shelters located in the Guanacaste province. At the meeting, which was part of a...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Dec 28 (EFE).- President Barack Obama, Pope Francis and controversial magnate Donald Trump are, in that order, the most admired men this year in the United States, according to an annual survey published Monday by Gallup. According to the survey, carried out on Dec. 2-6 among 824 adults nationwide, 17 percent of those interviewed say their "most admired man" is...

San Jose, Dec 26 (EFE).- Costa Rica's Immigration Department said Saturday that a total of 56 Cubans who entered the country illegally will be deported in the coming days. The Immigration Department's press office told the media that those immigrants failed to obtain a Costa Rican visa legally and are being held in San Jose's Hatillo district. Since Nov. 14, Costa Rica has issued almost 8,00...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Dec 22 (EFE).- The comments of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump have earned him the "2015 Lie of the Year" award presented by PolitiFact, a Web site that fact-checks the truth of politicians' statements. The Web site, a division of the daily Tampa Bay Times, studied 77 statements made by the controversial real estate magnate since he declared his pr...

Source: Presidential Office of Costa Rica A joint effort between government officials and a non-profit organization resulted in the rush construction of homes for 38 families who had been judicially evicted from a farm in southern Costa Rica. The families benefited by this action were evicted after a lengthy, Kafkaesque round of agrarian court hearings, whereby the plaintiffs were two banan...

Pixabay Commons An internal page within the website of the Ministry of the Environment in Costa Rica (Spanish acronym: MINAE) was hacked by an Egyptian group claiming allegiance to the Cyber Caliphate, an extremist branch of ISIS. The Web page in question is a document that normally holds a compilation of events related to the history of Isla del Coco, a World Heritage Site that is part of ...

Wikimedia Commons The evidence given by an expert in rivers from The University of Nottingham has been pivotal in a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a centuries-old border dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Professor Colin R. Thorne from the University’s School of Geography was a key witness in a trial which settled a border dispute between the two Central Americ...

NY Times screenshot New York, Dec 21 (EFE).- The United States should put an end to immigration policies that make it easier for Cubans to leave their island and come to live in this country, The New York Times said in an editorial. For the newspaper, these regulations amount to "a Cold War relic that is hindering the normalization of relations between Washington and Havana." "Congress s...

Source: Miss America PR San Juan, Dec 20 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- Destiny Velez, Miss Puerto Rico 2015, was suspended indefinitely by the island's Miss America organization after suggesting that all Muslims are terrorists and criticizing U.S. moviemaker Michael Moore for publishing a photo defending the U.S. Muslim community. Last Wednesday evening, Moore publish...

San Jose, Dec 19 (EFE).- Costa Rica's government said it would stop issuing transit visas to Cubans after failing to reach an agreement with its neighbors to allow these migrants to continue on through Central America toward the United States. "We can't keep receiving migrants indefinitely ... Please don't come to Costa Rica. We don't want to deport you. Don't come because you can't go through,...

Wikimedia Commons San Jose, Dec 16 (EFE; additional context by The Costa Rica Star).- The Nicaraguan government said Wednesday that it acknowledges and will abide by the decision of the International Court of Justice at The Hague putting an end to two border disputes with Costa Rica, decisions that recognize Costa Rican sovereignty over Isla Portillos. The goverment hailed the ruling by the...

Wikimedia Commons A petition on the UK government's website, calling for US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump to be barred from entering the country, has now passed a half-million signatories becoming the most-popular petition ever posted on the site. The signatories include a majority of UK MPs. The petition was originally submitted late November by campaigner Suzanne Kelly from Aberdeen, ...

Media Release by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba - The President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera, arrived in Havana yesterday, December 13, leading a delegation of government officials and business leaders with the goal of strengthening relations with Cuba. Solís indicated that during the official visit, he hoped to conclude the process of normalization of bilate...

Paris, Dec 12 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- Representatives at a U.N. climate summit outside Paris on Saturday approved the first-ever universal agreement to combat global warming, a deal that commits nearly 200 developed and developing nations to jointly transition to a low-carbon economy. At 7:26 p.m. local time, the president of the COP21 climate conference, French For...

Source: MBF Healthcare Partners Miami, Dec 10 (EFE).- Cuban-American billionaire Mike Fernandez, the biggest campaign donor to Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, has launched a campaign against magnate Donald Trump, whom he says is a "narcissist" who must be stopped. "The problem with Donald Trump is that so much about him is unstable - his positions, his rhetoric - and I am afraid t...

Wikimedia Commons By Carol Blair Vaughn Last week, President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos announced via Twitter that Colombia had found the Spanish galleon San Jose, which he called “the most valuable treasure that has been found in the history of humanity.” Legend holds that the San Jose was sunk on June 8, 1708, in the Caribbean Sea near Cartagena, Colombia, with a treasure on board ...

Wikimedia Commons New York, Dec 7 (EFE).- Republican president hopeful Donald Trump on Monday called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" until U.S. authorities can "figure out what is going on," justifying the proposed Muslim entry ban by claiming that large segments of the world's Muslim population bear "great hatred" towards Americans. Trump's campaig...

Supporters of President Maduro rally in Caracas EFE/AGENCIA VENEZOLANA DE NOTICIAS/ Caracas, Dec 4 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- A few incidents have been reported during the National Assembly elections Sunday in Venezuela, where some voters ate ballots and military personnel tried to enter election precincts, Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lopez said. "They'r...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Dec 4 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- Magnate Donald Trump leads a new voter-preference poll of Republican presidential hopefuls by 20 percent over his closest rival, Sen. Ted Cruz. The new wave of support for Trump comes in the wake of the terror attack in San Bernardino, California, where 14 people died and dozens were injured. The CNN...

THE HAGUE, 4 December 2015. On Wednesday 16 December 2015, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, will deliver its Judgment in the joined cases concerning Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua) and the Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua v. Costa Rica). A...

Pixabay Commons Residents of Nicoya, many of them North American expats, have scored a victory in their battle against the Ministry of Justice, which intended to build a new prison in that Guanacaste canton. Earlier this month, Minister of Justice Cecilia Sanchez appeared before the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica and explained that she was suspending construction of a new prison in the ...

Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Release - A new round of migration talks was held between the delegations of Cuba and the United States, which were headed by Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Director General of the United States Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Edward Alex Lee, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. During the meeting, both Parties r...

Wikimedia Commons Leticia, Colombia, Nov 30 (EFE).- While world leaders seek to negotiate an agreement in Paris to deal with the threat posed by global warming, an Indian tribe living under the Amazon rainforest's vast green canopy remains skeptical about the COP21 summit in the French capital, saying that the damage caused to the planet cannot be reversed. The chief of the Huitoto people, ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Caracas, Nov 28 (EFE).- Venezuela's Food Minister Carlos Osorio denied that the government's sale of food at rock-bottom prices beginning Saturday, a week before the legislative elections, could be considered an "election gimmick." Opposition candidates are passing the word "on social networks that this operation will last no longer than election day" on Dec. 6, wh...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Nov 27 (EFE).- Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump sparked yet another controversy by ridiculing a journalist who suffers from a joint condition that affects his ability to move his arms. True to form, the real estate magnate not only refused to say he's sorry but is now demanding a public apology from the newspaper for saying that he offended the repo...

Supporters of President Maduro rally in Caracas EFE/AGENCIA VENEZOLANA DE NOTICIAS/ Caracas, Nov 26 (EFE).- An opposition leader was shot dead at a campaign event in central Venezuela attended by the wife of Leopoldo Lopez, a high-profile government opponent who is serving a lengthy prison sentence, heightening tensions heading into next month's legislative elections. Luis Manuel Diaz, secr...

Source: Red Cross of Costa Rica United Nations Country Team Costa Rica News Release - The National Commission for Risk Prevention and Emergency Care Costa Rica (CNE in its Spanish acronym) reported 400 Cuban migrants in Peñas Blancas border facility and 1,320 migrants in 7 shelters. Highlights follow: As of 19 November at 12pm, the government reported that the situation was under control a...