Hurricane Matthew damage in the southeastern U.S., posted on Facebook. Miami, Oct. 10 — At least 10 people have died in North Carolina due to flooding associated with Hurricane Matthew, which has been blamed for a score of fatalities since it began battering the southeastern U.S. coast last week. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Monday that 10 people had died in that state, five others ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson Cartoon by Clay Jones Despite everything that’s happened this week, from disgusting juvenile comments demeaning a woman to Sunday night’s debate, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump remains a contender in his campaign against ...

By Wendy Anders Amy Schumer, U.S. comedian, in a recent Facebook post asks, "How did I know he should be the next president? He bought me a futon and grabbed my pussy." Female comedian superstar Amy Schumer knocked electronic dance music DJ, Armin van Buuren, off the list to become the most dangerous celebrity to search for online, according to Intel Security. Comedian and actress Amy Sc...

MOSCOW, Oct. 9 -- Tensions continue to rise between the United States and Russia as the Russian foreign minister said Sunday recent actions and statements threaten his country's national security. Russian marines take part in the landing operation during the strategic military exercises at the Khmelevka training range in the Kaliningrad region on the Baltic Sea in 2009. More recently, in Octob...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson By most accounts vice-presidential candidate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence came across to voters better than Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine in their first and only nationally televised debate Tuesday. Coming up on Sunday evening in St. Louis will be the ...

By Wendy Anders At least a dozen flights both entering and leaving Costa Rica around noon today were cancelled due to  Hurricane Matthew, reported Aeris, the managers of the Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) in Alajuela, Costa Rica. Several outbound flights on Jet Blue, American Airlines, and Spirit Air heading towards Miami, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Florida were cancelled arou...

By Wendy Anders Andrea Rojas, Johnny Rockets Manager - Costa Rica. Johnny Rockets celebrates its third anniversary in Costa Rica and continues with its expansion plans, the company announced last week. The classic American food franchise has four restaurants in Costa Rica, all located in the province of San José. The restaurants are open every day from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. "We are...

LATIN AMERICA US/CUBA Thousands of Cuban in shelters across Costa Rica in 2015 and early 2016. (CIDH/Twitter) Panama City, Oct. 5 — Panamanian Vice President and Foreign Minister Isabel de Saint Malo said Wednesday that the United States still has not responded to the request made more than a month ago by nine Latin American governments to review its immigration policy vis-a-vis Cuba and th...

WIKILEAKS Wikimedia Commons Berlin, Oct. 4 — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Tuesday that his website will publish over the next few weeks significant documents about the U.S. election. The announcement comes on the 10th anniversary of the founding of WikiLeaks. In a video broadcast from Berlin, Assange denied speculations that the documents are meant to hurt Democratic candidat...

MADISON, Mont., Oct. 3 -- A Montana man said he survived a double attack by a grizzly bear while he scouted hunting locations by playing dead and fooling the giant animal. Wikimedia Commons Todd Orr posted pictures of his bloody, punctured body and a full account of the attacks on Facebook Sunday after driving himself to the hospital, to the surprise of doctors who were impressed with his r...

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) has completed the transition to a new governance model, ending the U.S. government's control over the Internet authority, reported Telecompaper today. The United States Department of Commerce and its National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) confirmed their management contract expired 30 September, leaving I...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson Facebook meme. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is under attack from all sides since the Sept. 26th first debate with his Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton – the most watched political event in TV history. The mud-sling...

US ELECTIONS Wikimedia Commons Washington, Oct. 1 — The United States has invited the Organization of American States to observe its presidential election for the first time, finally taking that step after financing electoral observation missions in Latin America for more than half a century. The OAS regards this historic step as a very positive sign and believes the best way to consolid...

Philando Castile, Alfred Olango have two things in common, they were both black and they were both killed by the police in what appears to be cases of police brutality; their shootings became quickly known worldwide thanks to videos that were shared on social media. Their cases join others such as Eric Garner’s case in New York over a year ago. As a response to this now many high-profile athlet...

US ACCIDENT Facebook post of Hoboken train crash, 7 Eyewitness News WKBW. New York, Sept. 29 — At least three people were killed and about 200 others injured in a train accident this morning in Hoboken, New Jersey, media reports said. Exact death and injury tolls are not yet available. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, or PATH, which operates the commuter train network in t...

Los Angeles (USA), Sept. 27 — More and more US companies are offering their workers health plans with the option of traveling to a Latin American country for medical treatment, as unveiled today during the "Latin American Health Tourism Summit" held in Los Angeles. “Five percent of US employers are offering their employees medical tourism plans. The growth in two years of these programs has bee...

By Wendy Anders An American identified as John Joseph Lonegan was killed Wednesday in Jacó after a quarrel with a man after he refused to buy drugs from the latter, reported El Diario Extra, a Costa Rican tabloid paper, this afternoon. El Extra spoke with the Judicial Investigative Agency (OIJ) who said the facts were reported at 5 a.m. at a disco on Jacó’s Avenida Pastor. “The foreigner ...

NICARAGUA - U.S. A Russian T-72 battle tank, similar to those heading to Nicaragua. (CC) Managua, Sept. 27 — Nicaragua's vice president spoke out on Tuesday about a proposal in the U.S. Congress that would threaten Managua's access to funding from international lenders. "It's something that in this day and age provokes embarrassment. We're in the 21st century. I believe that some gentlem...

US CONGRESS FILE - Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are seen in the House of Representatives Chamber of the US Capitol after Pope Francis' address Sept. 24, 2015. (Reuters OMX) Washington, DC, Sept. 27 — Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a bill to temporarily fund the federal government after Republicans refused to include funds in it to deal with the drinking water crisis in ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson As the dust settles from the first presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton during Campaign 2016 it appears Trump won last night’s face off. Four informal polls released Tuesday show Trump won the d...

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 15 -- Celebrity choreographer Wade Robson filed court papers claiming Michael Jackson's companies were a front for a "child sexual abuse operation." Dancers from So You Think You Can Dance (Season 2) performing the Zombie dance or the "Ramalama (Bang Bang)" which won Wade his first Emmy in 2007. Robson, 33, who previously filed a claim against Jackson's estate in 2013, ha...

Interview with political analyst Juan-Manuel Garcia-Passalacqua by Democracy Now's Amy Goodman on the 10th anniversary of the FBI assassination of Puerto Rican nationalist leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios on Sept. 26, 2005 in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico. Mural of Ojeda in Puerto Rico, photo from Facebook. For the past four decades Filiberto Ojeda Rios had been a leading figure in the fight for Puer...

Sad news for the sport of Baseball and in general for the sports industry after Miami Marlins Pitcher Jose Fernandez died today in a tragic boating accident. Fernandez, 24, was one of three victims that lost their lives when the 32-foot boat they were traveling in crashed against rocks that formed part of a jetty near Miami Beach, apparently speed was a factor and Fernandez died as a result of the...

Reuters- On Friday, Yahoo faced pointed questions about exactly when it knew about a cyber attack that exposed the email credentials of 500 million users, a critical issue for the company as it seeks to prevent the breach from affecting a pending takeover by Verizon Inc. The internet company has so far not provided a clear, detailed timeline about when it was made aware of the breach announced ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson What started out as a peaceful protest of another police-involved shooting death of an allegedly armed African-American suspect has turned Charlotte, NC into a racial-war zone complete with serious injuries and one death, looting, burning, t...

JOLIE PITT  Madrid, Spain, Sept. 22 — The high-profile celebrity divorce between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie that sent shockwaves around the A-list world left Madrid Wax Museum curators with little choice but to re-arrange their displays on Thursday. Madrid's symbolic separation of the former Hollywood couple followed similar decisions taken at Madame Tussauds in London and Berlin. Museum ...

US YAHOO  Washington, DC, Sept. 22 — Yahoo Inc. announced Thursday that the people behind a 2014 hack targeting the Internet firm accessed the account data of as many as 500 million users. "We have confirmed, based on a recent investigation, that a copy of certain user account information was stolen from our network in late 2014 by what we believe is a state-sponsored actor," Yahoo said in a s...

USA VIOLENCE Facebook photo of Charlotte, NC protests. Charlotte, USA, Sept. 22 – A man who had been shot during Wednesday's protests against the death of black man at the hands of police in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, has died on Thursday in hospital, according to local police. The local TV station WBTV, citing sources close to the family, identified the man as Justin Carr, a ...

By Wendy Anders Wikimedia Commons The U.S. Embassy encourages U.S. citizens in Costa Rica to take the necessary steps to vote in the 2016 U.S. elections by participating in Absentee Voting Week next week. Many recent U.S. elections have been decided by a margin of victory of less than 0.1 percent.  All states are required to count every absentee ballot as long as it is valid and reaches ...

TAMPA, FL,  Sept. 16 — A phosphate company says more than 200 million gallons of contaminated waste water from a fertilizer plant in central Florida, U.S. leaked into one of the state's main underground sources of drinking water after a massive sinkhole opened up beneath a storage pond. Mosaic, the world's largest supplier of phosphate, said the hole opened up beneath a pile of waste materi...

Los Angeles, Sept. 20 - Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, citing irreconcilable difference, the TMZ Web site said today. Jolie is seeking physical custody of the couple's six children. Sources close to the pair told TMZ that Jolie acted out of unhappiness over Pitt's substance abuse, anger and conduct toward the children. Pitt and Jolie, whose relationship began in 2004, wed ...

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY United Nations, Sept. 20 - U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told world leaders attending the General Assembly Tuesday that the Syrian government was to blame for the majority of the deaths in Syria and that that country's future should not depend on President Bashar al-Assad. "There is no military solution. Many groups have killed many innocents but none more than the gov...

By Jessica Farber, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs  To download a PDF version of this article, click here. In an opinion piece that appeared in the New York Times on August 11, titled “How the Most Dangerous Place on Earth got Safer,” Sonia Nazario paints a misguided picture of Honduras as a country that was once ravaged with violence, but has since been bravely resc...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Gas prices have jumped in six states across the Southeast after a pipeline leak in Alabama forced a shutdown that created major fuel shortages. Colonial Pipeline Company System Map. Image courtesy of Colonial Pipeline States of emergency have been declared in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia with prices jumping as m...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson A wave of terrorist bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend plus a mass stabbing in Minnesota have once again placed the political spotlight on U.S. national security with the first presidential debate only a week away. ...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14— Leonardo DiCaprio joins protest of Dakota Access pipeline. Industry leaders said moving forward with the Dakota Access pipeline is central to keeping the U.S. shale oil sector a strong component of the national economy. Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders participated in demonstrations in Washington, D.C., against the Dakota Access pipeline. "We cannot allow ...

Los Angeles, USA, Sept 18 - The 68th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, the 'Oscars of TV,' began at the Microsoft theater in Los Angeles Sunday night, with Jimmy Kimmel as the host. The epic fantasy series 'Game of Thrones' rocks the Emmy's again with the most chances to win big on the night with 23 nominations. After Game of Thrones picked up a record-breaking 12 awards at the 2015 Emmy's, the ser...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson With 11 days until the first presidential debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, and 54 days until the national general election in the USA, recent nationwide polls show Trump not only gaining on Clinton but in ...

By Wendy Anders The University of Washington will partner with the Costa Rican Federation of Fisheries (Fecop) to study sport fishing in Costa Rica, reported Central America's Summa business magazine. The study aims to understand the environmental, social, and economic issues and dynamics involved with sport fishing, an industry that the University of Costa Rica estimates provides employment...

Washington, Sept. 14 - Ride-sharing service Uber started offering customers rides in self-driving cars Wednesday in Pittsburgh, in the first pilot test of this technology in the U.S.  For now, just four self-driving Ford Fusions will be used to provide service in the western Pennsylvania city, marking the company's first real test of the groundbreaking technology. Rides will be free during t...