The United States today celebrates Memorial Day, and in Costa Rica the American expat community often gathers to observe the men and women who gave their lives while serving in that country's Armed Forces. The American Legion Post 16 in Escazu is named after Sergeant First Class Raymond Edison Jones, Jr., United States Army, who was killed in action in Iraq. SFC Jones was a high-ranking non-com...

They are dark, unsightly and lifeless, but they fetch a handsome price in the black market. The underground world of moon rock trafficking is filled with colorful characters and it reaches out to many countries in the world. Ever since moon rocks first arrived on Earth with the Apollo space missions, they have been gifted, stolen, fenced, passed around and recovered numerous times. The latest d...

The Senator, a 3,500 year old pond cypress is gone; burned from the inside out by the carelessness of a couple of women who went to Big Tree Park in Longwood, Florida to do meth. At the start of the subsequent arson investigation, authorities initially believed the fire to be the result of natural causes. However, Police became suspicious when they found that 26 year old Sara Barnes had taken ...

When someone invites you to their home and you know they are non-smokers, you don’t smoke in their house. What about traveling to another person’s country where they have deeply held beliefs about behavior and attire? When in Rome, right? That is exactly the point that 23 year old Asma Al Muhairi would like to make to tourists in her country. It’s not just about religion but what she and others...

Enrique Castillo, Chancellor of Costa Rica and Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with environmentalist and founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Paul Watson in Stuttgart yesterday. After the meeting, Chancellor Castillo gave a telephone interview to ADN Radio 90.7 in Costa Rica. The Chancellor told the radio station that Mr. Watson seems to be willing to come to Costa Rica and fac...

Just this week, the Food and Drug Administration confirms it has received more than 900 complaints from owners of dogs who were either sickened or died after eating chicken jerky dog treats made in China. This latest report comes a mere six months after the FDA issued its latest warning about the tainted food and treats. ABC news reported this initially late last year and since then the number...

Eight years of fundraising, 64,000 hours of construction, and 19 months at sea enduring storms, cloudy days and threats of pirate attacks, enabled the MS Turanor to make history on May 6, when it pulled safely into Port Hercules, Monaco completing the first ever round-the-world journey by a solar-powered vessel. The Turanor is the brainchild of founder and expedition leader, Raphael Domjan, wh...

This is a response to the recently published editorial titled: "Paul Watson: Shining Activist Hero or Psychopathic Terrorist?." Don Freeman of the International Whale Protection Organization writes the following, and we thank him for his contribution to the ongoing discussions and articles here on The Costa Rica Star. Some truly unique individuals have shaped the course of the environmental...

President Laura Chinchilla arrived in Berlin earlier today and was greeted with full military honors as well as protests from members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) and Paul Watson. The President of Costa Rica met with German President Joachim Gauck at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin. According to news agency Prensa Latina, hundreds of Mr. Watson's mostly young sympathizers gathe...

Satellite photos from less than a month ago indicate that a major upgrade of secretive North Korea’s Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground, referred to as Musudan-ri, is making rapid progress. The new construction is intended to support future launches of rockets larger than the recently tested Unha, like intercontinental ballistic missiles and liquid fueled rockets. The U.S. and other nations are wo...

Marine archeology is quickly emerging as the next, big investment opportunity. With professional exploration companies developing more sensitive and detailed underwater search equipment, the odds are increasing of a huge payday for some and reclamation of precious artifacts for many countries and their museums. Sonar detectors and sophisticated radar have replaced the swashbuckling eye patches ...

150 wild horses roam the Namib Desert’s 80,000 square kilometers, wandering peacefully unaware of the more than 400 million carats of diamonds under hoof. There is much speculation about the origins of the horses. Some think that they are military leftovers abandoned to their own devices by German and South African forces after the First World War. Scant water sources have caused the horses to ada...

The WWF, World Wildlife Fund, recently published its biannual report on the health status of our planet. As expected, earth did not receive a positive check-up. The Living Planet Report 2012 calculates the impact of our collective societies as a composite measure of issues such as fossil fuel burning, use of cropland for growing food, consumption of trees, and fishing in the wild. The Report in...

Tico mountaineer Warner Rojas wants nothing more than to climb to the summit of Mount Everest and plant the flag of Costa Rica at the top of the world. That moment will have to wait for now, as the Himalayan Times reported a deadly ascent over the weekend that left two climbers dead and three missing. The two climbers who died on Saturday from altitude sickness and exhaustion have been iden...

Earlier today in Germany, the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) and star of Animal Planet's reality TV show Whale Wars posted bond and walked out of the detention center he was held in since his arrest at the Frankfurt International Airport on Sunday, May 13th, 2012. After depositing 250,000 euros (about $312,000), Mr. Watson will now have more time and freedom to conc...

An official press release by the United States Embassy in Costa Rica indicates that shrimp caught in our country may once again be imported by the North American nation, following a certification that was reissued under Public Law 101-162, Section 609, 16 U.S.C. 1537, entitled Shrimp Import Prohibition Legislation for Marine Turtle Conservation. The import ban does not apply to nations that...

SAN JOSE – Members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SPCS) are following President Laura Chinchilla's agenda in Europe to plan their efforts to release Paul Watson from custody and avoid his extradition to Costa Rica. On Saturday, May 19th, the SPCS issued an official press release announcing "S.O.S. Day – Save Our Skipper – Wednesday May 23rd." On the official release, the SPCS cla...

SAN JOSE – The Vice Chancellor of the Republic of Costa Rica Carlos Roverssi met with a handful of protesters assembled outside of his office in San Jose yesterday. About 60 supporters of Paul Watson, the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society who is currently in the custody of German authorities, gathered in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Vice Chanc...

Ever since news of the controversial arrest of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson by German authorities on an extradition request by Costa Rica, the social media sphere and news outlets have been quite busy commenting on the events. Mr. Watson's arrest has been nothing short of a cause celebre for the Sea Shepherd Society, and the headline on a recent press release by th...

Should Canadian-born environmentalist and marine species activist Paul Watson be extradited to Costa Rica, he is likely to be represented in court by criminal attorney Federico Morales Herrera from the Quiros Abogados Central Law firm. According to national newspaper La Nacion, Mr. Watson, who is in custody in Germany and getting ready to fight extradition, asked his attorney Oliver Wallasch t...

SAN JOSE – The office of legislator Claudio Monge Pereira, a representative of Partido Accion Ciudadana (Civil Action), an opposition political party in Costa Rica, has issued a strong statement of support for Paul Watson -the controversial founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society who is currently in custody in Germany awaiting extradition proceedings for an attempted murder charge. ...

On Monday, May 14th of 2012, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Costa Rica issued an official communique on the matter of Paul Watson, who was arrested in Germany on Sunday, May 13th. On that same day, The Costa Rica Star published a news article that offered some background on the actions of Mr. Watson, who remains in custody in Germany. The official communication from the Ministry can be foun...

Paul Watson, the controversial founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, was arrested by German law enforcement authorities in Frankfurt earlier today. The Canadian-born Mr. Watson, who also holds citizenship in the United States, has an outstanding warrant in Costa Rica for attempted murder. According to a news report in TeleNoticias Channel 7, the president of the Sea Shepherd Con...

The Titanic will sail again, and this time she will not sink, according to a man who could pay for La Caja's public health care system in Costa Rica for the next 6 years or so. Clive Palmer is an Australian magnate whose net worth is estimated at $5.05 billion, according to some financial media circles. Considering that the official exchange rate Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Costa Rica was $...

Many of the efforts currently undertaken by Costa Rica to achieve her goal of becoming a carbon-neutral country by 2021 have been practiced in Japan since long ago. Like other heavily industrialized nations, Japan keeps an eye on the massive carbon emissions that heavy industrial output and unbridled development brings. Until recently, the network of nuclear power plants in Japan brought electrici...

According to an investigative report by Jose Melendez in the Mexican news daily El Universal, authorities in Costa Rica are investigating whether the recent case of a self-declared neo-nazi Fuerza Publica officer was isolated, or if it points to a wider problem. The events that led to the dismissal of 26-year old Ronald Herrera Borges, AKA Murdock, unfolded on the popular online social netw...

Fuerza Publica officers assigned to the Northern Zone in Upala, working in conjunction with the Office of Judicial Investigations (OIJ), recently announced the recovery of four cows found in farm that served as a hideaway for rustlers. Officers cited the support from the border security police and members of the community as they conducted door-to-door (or barn-to-barn) interviews to find the ...

Earlier today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the following official communique: The Government of Costa Rica extends a warm greeting to the people and the Government of the French Republic in light of their Presidential Elections on May 6th, which resulted in the election of Mr. Francois Hollande as the next President of France. Costa Rica warmly congratulates President Elect Francois...

The National Amusement Park in San Jose, where Tio Conejo and Tio Coyote eagerly wait to entertain families with young children, will soon be the new home of Boomerang, a legendary, massive roller coaster ride built by the Dutch firm Vekoma Rides Manufacturing. Boomerang is a roller coaster that sends daring riders to the highest point of its structure before launching them at a speed nearing 90 ...

When the former Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi voluntarily resigned from his post in the face of mounting political pressure last year, many Italian women saw it as sign of hope not only for the future of their nation, but also for their place in society. An in-depth article in the LA Times called it the beginning of the post-bimbo era in Italy. Prior to his turn as Prime Ministe...

John Stagikas is a stout man with a pale complexion and shaved head.  He is in his early 30s and is from New England, specifically from the Boston metropolitan area. He is fairly bilingual and owns a villa here in Costa Rica, which he smartly purchased years ago when the price was right. Whenever he is not enjoying his vacation/investment property in Costa Rica, Mr. Stagikas makes a living ...

Today is World Press Freedom Day. In 1993, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution declaring May 3rd as World Press Freedom Day (WPFD). The day “celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession...

Over the next seven years, 120 students -many of them from Sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world in need of careful and strategic development- will be the recipients of a scholarship program designed by the MasterCard Foundation and EARTH University. The students will learn subjects crucial to their communities, such as sustainable agriculture, natural resource management and communi...

A soldier serving in the United States Army 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) was killed during a "green-on-blue" incident at the Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. Andrew Trevor Britton-Mihalo was born in San Jose, Costa Rica and raised in Simi Valley, Ventura County, California. He was 26 years old and is survived by Jesse Britton, who is also an enlisted non-commissioned officer...

The history of science fiction is rich with instances of predictions, which is not something that sci-fi writers specifically set out to do. That falls under the purview of futurologists, and their predictions seldom come true. There is something profound about the casual way that sci-fi writers create fictional items which later come true, such as Hugo Gernsback's fictional descriptions of televi...

In November of 2011, the FBI arrested and charged six Estonians for running an international fraud-ring that effected millions of computers around the world. Using sophisticated Malware, these individuals redirected individuals to their servers. They were not after changing content, but changing the ads. Their scheme defrauded $14 million dollars from USA citizens alone. The arrest of these indivi...

“No More Excuses, It’s Time to Build Roads.” That is the top headline in today’s print edition of business news daily La Republica. The statement comes from Minister of Transportation and Public Works Francisco Jimenez, who has promised to kick off a new ambitious highway infrastructure initiative on May 1st, 2012. The projects that Minister Jimenez is referring to have been gathering dust for ...

The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently announced deep budget cuts to Canada's Department of National Defence (DND). These cuts are already being felt by the Canadian Armed Forces, with the Vancouver Sun newspaper reporting on the closure of ten recruiting centers, most of them located in the outer provinces. The budget cuts have also claimed a naval intelligence ...

When the People's Republic of China (PRC) graciously handed Costa Rica the keys to the new National Stadium last year, the powerful Asian nation was proud to have completed the most technologically-advanced and modern sporting venue in Central America and the Caribbean. China, however, was not done leaving its mark in the region. According to a recent article published by The New York Times, Ch...

As we celebrate Earth Day in Costa Rica, take a moment to think about our capital city. The next time you find yourself in downtown San Jose in the midst of rush hour, say about 5:50 pm on a Tuesday, take a stroll towards the bus stops that take commuters to the southern suburbs of Hatillo and Desamparados. Better yet, head over to the bus terminals of the old Coca Cola market and survey th...