The significant increase in urban disasters generated by a rapid population growth and poor planning and the definition of agency actions was discussed in the National Risk Conference for urban environments, organized by National Commission for Risk Prevention and Emergency Response (CNE) and the Costa Rican Red Cross, under the DIPECHO VIII program on November 20, 2012.  

DIPECHO, also known as ...

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 22, 2012 5:22pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New comments from top Republican lawmaker John Boehner slamming health care reforms illustrate how hard it will be for Washington to reach a deficit reduction deal when talks resume next week, analysts said on Thursday. President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress ...

They were made from structural steel found in the walls of La Reforma prison cells -- 600 knives, not innocent kitchen knives, mind you but lethal weapons, all of them were laboriously made by the convicts. This is what a special force of 800 policemen found this week when they conducted an exhaustive search. What is chilling is how the prisoners got the raw material. The director of the cou...

By Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON | Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:20pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday pardoned a pair of turkeys - Cobbler and Gobbler - quipping that the two birds deserved a second chance, an old adage he said he could not agree with more following his re-election. "They say life is all about second chances,"...

UNITED NATIONS | Wed Nov 21, 2012 7:29pm EST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, broke her silence on Wednesday and defended her remarks on a September attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to the North African nation. Republicans have criticized Rice for appearing o...

By James B. Kelleher CHICAGO | Wed Nov 21, 2012 5:14pm EST CHICAGO (Reuters) - Jesse Jackson Jr. is the namesake son of one of the most prominent black men in the United States, a progressive-minded activist whose ascent into public life prompted talk of a new era of African-American political power. In the early years, speculation swirled around...

Analysis: The recent spike in poll figures for Mayor of San Jose, Johnny Araya, in the race for presidential nomination of National Liberation Party leave challengers Fernando Berrocal and Rodrigo Arias with battles they appear to be meeting in vastly different ways. Berrocal has launched, more or less, the specifics of his program, directly challenging his rivals to do the same. Arias, by cont...

The Bailey bridges are all dismantled on the General Cañas Highway and all is right with the world. After five months, the giant crater that opened up in July and had to be bridged by temporary portable structures is finally fixed. The bridges were dismantled last Thursday night and the 12-centimeter-thick covering of asphalt laid on over the weekend, finally ending the traffic snarls made wors...

NEW YORK | Wed Nov 21, 2012 12:14am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's approval rating has leaped 19 percentage points since superstorm Sandy slammed the state, as voters by a wide margin applaud his response to the crisis, a Rutgers-Eagleton poll said on Wednesday. The Republican governor, who will face re-election in 2013 and...

By David Lawder and Kim Dixon WASHINGTON | Tue Nov 20, 2012 9:17pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mark Warner, a Democratic senator who had a seat at the negotiating table for past failed attempts at a deficit reduction deal, says this time will be different. In an interview with Reuters, Warner said he was optimistic Congress would reach a deal to a...

By Jason McLure LITTLETON, New Hampshire | Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:15pm EST LITTLETON, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Former Senator Warren Rudman, a moderate New Hampshire Republican known for a budget deal that helped slash government deficits in the 1990s, died on Monday at age 82, state officials said. Rudman, who had been undergoing chemotherapy for c...

WASHINGTON | Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:11pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Senator Mark Warner said on Tuesday he would not run for governor of Virginia next year, a job he held from 2002 to 2006. Warner's announcement leaves Terry McAuliffe, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, as the party's only announced nominee to replace current ...

By Jane Sutton MIAMI | Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:10pm EST MIAMI (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Representative Allen West, a favorite of the conservative Tea Party movement, conceded defeat on Tuesday after two weeks of challenges and partial recounts that only widened his Florida congressional opponent's victory in the November 6 election. West, a former A...

By Matt Spetalnick and Jeff Mason PHNOM PENH | Tue Nov 20, 2012 8:25am EST PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - It may have sounded good on paper: Win re-election, fly to Asia, soak up the adulation of fellow world leaders, then go home with at least a few tangible rewards to show for a legacy-shaping U.S. strategic shift eastwards. But U.S. President Barack O...

By Andrea Shalal-Esa BALTIMORE | Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:14pm EST BALTIMORE (Reuters) - Latinos, African-Americans and other minorities who helped President Barack Obama win a second term are skeptical about enhanced Republican outreach to their communities, but also say the future of the coalition that shaped the 2012 election may be fragile. Top Rep...

MIAMI | Sun Nov 18, 2012 5:34pm EST MIAMI (Reuters) - Tea Party-backed Republican U.S. Representative Allen West said he was still not ready to concede defeat on Sunday, almost two weeks after the November 6 election, when the clock ran out on a partial recount in South Florida. Results showing West trailing Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy by 1,900 ...

WASHINGTON | Sun Nov 18, 2012 2:37pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican Party needs to stop insulting voters and broaden its appeal after Democratic President Barack Obama won re-election this month over Mitt Romney with overwhelming support from Hispanics, blacks and single women, top Republicans said on Sunday. Comments made by two leading Repub...

By Matt Spetalnick and Jeff Mason BANGKOK | Sun Nov 18, 2012 1:58pm EST BANGKOK (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama denied on Sunday his upcoming trip to Myanmar was an endorsement of the government there, calling it an acknowledgement of the progress made in shaking off decades of military rule and encouragement for it go further. On Monday,...

By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON | Sun Nov 18, 2012 12:39pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leading U.S. lawmakers expressed confidence on Sunday that they could reach a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" even as they laid down markers on taxes and spending that may make any agreement more difficult. Republicans and Democratic leaders have agreed on a framew...

Sun Nov 18, 2012 12:27pm EST (Reuters) - The head of the House Intelligence Committee suggested on Sunday that President Barack Obama might have known about former CIA Director David Petraeus' extra-marital affair before the November election, and said Attorney General Eric Holder should address this question soon before Congress. U.S. Representative Mike Rogers,...

WASHINGTON | Sun Nov 18, 2012 12:06pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee wondered on Sunday whether the transition from four-star general to civilian intelligence chief may have thrown ex-CIA Director David Petraeus off his game and into an adulterous affair. "You see the medals he has, you see the stars. One day he ...

Analysis: A recent Unimer survey commissioned by the national newspaper La Nacion reveals that the average Costa Rican is disgusted with his government and his revulsion and impatience is taking a drastic turn. The danger of this dim view is expressed most strongly in the question asked, "In some circumstances, an authoritarian government can be preferable to a democratic one." In 2006, only...

By Matt Spetalnick and Jeff Mason BANGKOK | Sun Nov 18, 2012 9:06am EST BANGKOK (Reuters) - President Barack Obama kicked off a three-country Asian tour with a visit to Thailand on Sunday, using his first post-election trek overseas to try to show he is serious about shifting the U.S. strategic focus eastwards. Obama's itinerary will include a la...

By Edward Krudy NEW YORK | Sun Nov 18, 2012 8:08am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The "fiscal cliff" sounds like a scary place. Headlines about "taxmaggeddon" are flashing on TV screens, next to clocks ticking down to January 1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has skidded more than 7 percent over the last month, largely due to concerns about the stand...

By Jim Christie and Peter Henderson SAN FRANCISCO | Sun Nov 18, 2012 8:07am EST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Warnings that a new millionaires' tax would send California's wealthy stampeding for the state line began before the results were final. But the super-rich may well stand their ground. "Anyone know a good realtor in Incline Village?" Aaron Mc...

By Jazmine Woodberry TUCSON, Arizona | Sat Nov 17, 2012 7:47pm EST TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Representative Ron Barber, a former aide to Gabrielle Giffords who was wounded alongside her in a deadly 2011 shooting, has won a full term in Congress after defeating Republican Martha McSally in a closely contested race. Barber, 67, wh...

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE | Sat Nov 17, 2012 5:55pm EST ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House did not heavily alter talking points about the attacks on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya, an official said on Saturday. "If there were adjustments made to them within the intelligence community, that's common, and that's something they would have done ...

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE | Sat Nov 17, 2012 11:37am EST ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with congressional leaders in the week after Thanksgiving to discuss ways to avoid the "fiscal cliff" of expiring tax cuts combined with massive spending reductions, the White House said on Saturday. "Everyone expressed the desire to...

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE | Sat Nov 17, 2012 11:03am EST ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama called Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to discuss how the two countries could help bring an end to escalating violence between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a White House official said on Saturday. Ben Rhodes, White House de...

In what the national newspaper La Nacion termed "an historic vote," 38 lawmakers opted to remove Judge Fernando Cruz from his post on the Supreme Court's Constitutional Chamber (Sala IV). Then, Gloria Valerin, an expert in parliamentary procedure, dropped the bomb--the vote should have come before Oct. 19 if they really wanted to get rid of the judge. It appears that Cruz's appointment expir...

By David Brunnstrom SINGAPORE | Sat Nov 17, 2012 3:40am EST SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday that reaching a deal to resolve America's budget crisis is critical to its global leadership and national security and would bolster efforts to project U.S. economic power around the world. Speaking in Singapo...

By Lisa Lambert and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:27pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic congressional leaders emerged from a meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday pledging to find common ground on taxes and spending that would allow them to avert a looming "fiscal cliff" that could send the economy ...

By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:27pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Friday to "name and shame" Russian human rights violators as part of a broader bill to drop Cold War-era trade restrictions, brushing off warnings from Moscow that the move would damage relations. The House vote...

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:52pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of senators on Friday urged President Barack Obama to quickly issue a permit for the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, a project environmental groups have vowed to keep fighting. The senators - nine Democrats and nine Republicans - asked ...

By Richard Cowan and Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:41pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional leaders emerged from a meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday vowing to find common ground on taxes and spending that would allow them to head off a looming "fiscal cliff" that could push the economy back into recession. Democra...

WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 11:55am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Friday voted to "name and shame" Russian human rights violators as part of a broader bill that drops Cold War restrictions on trade, brushing off warnings from Moscow that the move would damage relations. The bill goes next to the Senate, which has not yet sc...

By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 15, 2012 7:04pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As President Barack Obama and congressional leaders prepared for budget and tax talks on Friday aimed at preventing the economy from falling back into recession next year, Democrats and Republicans dug in on their long-held opposing positions. "What we won't do is ra...

STATEN ISLAND, New York | Thu Nov 15, 2012 6:28pm EST STATEN ISLAND, New York (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday pledged ongoing federal support for areas still digging out of the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy two weeks ago, and said that the area needed a long-term recovery plan. "There's a lot of short-term immediate stuff that has to b...

By Susan Cornwell and Tabassum Zakaria WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:29am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence and State Department officials testified behind closed doors on Capitol Hill on Thursday about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that has turned into a contentious issue between Republicans and the ...

By Phil Stewart BANGKOK | Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:59am EST BANGKOK (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has ordered the U.S. military's top brass to look for any gaps in ethics training as he lamented lapses in judgment by officers that could "erode public confidence in our leadership," a Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday. Questions over the ...