Beijing, Jan 5 (EFE).- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sent a clear warning to China on Sunday regarding Beijing's possible creation of an air defense identification zone in the South China Sea, saying such a move would be a "provocative and destabilizing act." The hypothetical declaration of an air defense zone, discussed in China's state-run press last week, "would automatically raise tens...

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Source: Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, May 23 (EFE).- Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman will not appeal any ruling opening the way for his extradition to the United States, a move approved by the Mexican Foreign Relations Secretariat last week, if he reaches an agreement with U.S. authorities, defense attorney Jose Refugio Rodriguez told EFE. "Joaquin is n...

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Source: Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, May 20 (EFE).- Mexico's Foreign Relations Secretariat said Friday it had approved the extradition of notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman to the United States so he can be tried by federal courts in California and Texas for a range of crimes. In a statement, the secretariat said it conveyed its decision to the ...

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Source: Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, May 7 (EFE).- Mexican authorities on Saturday transferred notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman from the Altiplano prison in the central state of Mexico to another maximum-security prison in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, amid rumors about his possible extradition to the United States. Mexico's Gover...

EFE file photo Washington, May 5 (EFE).- A U.S. Army officer has sued President Barack Obama for waging war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria without congressional authorization, U.S. media said Thursday. Capt. Nathan Michael Smith, an intelligence officer stationed in Kuwait, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Smith argues that ...

Wikimedia Commons New York, May 1 (EFE).- Complaints by New Yorkers over the presence of rats in the city have shot up in recent months, according to figures compiled by authorities and published Sunday by the local daily New York Post. Between January and April, a total of 8,335 complaints about rats were phoned in to the free 311 hotline number, 18 percent more than during the same period...

A Russian T-72 battle tank, similar to those heading to Nicaragua. (CC) Russia will deliver 50 new T-72B1 battle tanks to Nicaragua this year, in a deal worth some US $80 million, according to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency and Nicaraguan media. The first batch of 20 tanks is ready for shipment, and the remaining 30 are to be delivered by the end of the year or early 2017, according to th...

(FILE) WASHINGTON (VOA) Nearly 15 years after terrorists hijacked four passenger jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and a farm field in Pennsylvania, 28 pages detailing foreign support for the attackers could soon be made public. Only a select group of U.S. officials have read the highly classified document, which has been l...

Wikimedia Commons Bogota, Apr 24 (EFE).- Colombian and U.S. authorities seized 1,850 kilograms of cocaine in two operations conducted in Guatemalan and Salvadoran waters, arresting four Ecuadorians and two Colombians, Bogota authorities reported Sunday. The first anti-drug operation was carried out in Guatemalan waters by Colombia's Dijin and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, suppor...

(Prince pictured in a publicity photo / MSA) (VOA) American pop icon Prince has died at the age of 57. Media reports said he was found dead early Thursday at his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Details have not been released. Born Prince Rogers Nelson, the multi-talented and influential musician is known for such songs as "1999," "Little Red Corvette," and "Purple Rain," the title track...

File photo Washington, Apr 20 (EFE).- Legal marijuana sales in the United States totaled nearly $5.7 billion in 2015, while more than 100,000 jobs are being created annually in that industry's medicinal and recreational segments, according to a study released Wednesday. Four states (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington) - in addition to the District of Columbia, where the U.S. capital is...

Wikimedia Commons Miami, Apr 13 (EFE).- The Miami Beach City Commission voted against the opening of a Cuban consulate until significant human rights reforms have been made in that country, local media reported Wednesday. With four votes in favor and three against, the commission "has thrown cold water on their mayor's hotly debated idea of a having a Cuban consulate in the city," according...

(Wikimedia Commons) WASHINGTON (EFE) Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump says he will block remittances sent home by Mexican citizens in the United States if that country does not agree to pay for the wall he wants to build along the border between the two nations, according to a document his campaign released on Tuesday. The two-page memo dated March 31 and entitled "Compelling Me...

Robert Allen Lopez had been on the run for nearly 20 years. (WFOR Miami / Screen capture / Fair Use) An American fugitive who has been on the run for nearly 20 years was deported to Miami from Nicaragua on Saturday, escorted by officers of the United States Marshals Service. Robert Allen Lopez, 49 was arrested by Nicaraguan authorities on November 14th, 2015, after entering the Central Amer...

Washington, Mar 29 (EFE).- Two suspicious packages found Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol forced police to evacuate a group of tourists and close off streets through the area, a congressional security spokesperson told EFE. The incident occurred after on Monday a man entered the Congressional Visitor Center, pulled out a pistol and caused chaos by pointing it at one of the officers directing tourist...

The U.S. Capitol building is shown on lockdown following a shooting incident at the buildings Visitors Center, in Washington, March 28, 2016. (N. Ardanza/VOA) (VOA) Police at the U.S. Capitol shot a man Monday after he pulled out a gun and pointed it at officers during a routine security screening at the entrance of the site's visitor's center. Authorities identified him as 66-year-old Larry Da...

Wikimedia Commons Miami, Mar 27 (EFE).- The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a group of 26 Cuban migrants on a raft near the Florida coast, seven of whom had bullet wounds, spokesmen for the force told EFE on Sunday. The group of Cubans was discovered on their raft near Key West, where they were attempting to land, on Saturday. Seven of the migrants had been shot and six of them were taken t...

Source: Pixabay Commons As a commercial pilot and flight school instructor, Bruce Wayne (seriously) Wallis flew air passengers around the world for a major United States airline; however, when darkness set upon the Lone Star State, he became Bruno the Pimp, a prostitution impresario who managed a network of brothels in Houston. According to a news report filed by Brian Rogers of the Houston...

US Special Forces. Pentagon file photo Washington, Mar 25 (EFE).- The United States believes it has killed the Islamic State's second-in-command, Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said at a press conference Friday morning, confirming earlier media reports. "We are systematically eliminating ISIL's Cabinet. Indeed, the U.S. military killed several key terrori...

U.S. President Barack Obama and Argentina's President Mauricio Macri visit the Parque de la Memoria (Remembrance Park) where they will honor victims of Argentina's Dirty War on the 40th anniversary of the 1976 coup. (REUTERS OMX) (VOA) U.S. President Barack Obama said the United States was slow to speak out on the atrocities committed during Argentina's former dictatorship but says his adminis...

Wikimedia Commons Bogota, Mar 22 (EFE).- The top leader of Colombia's FARC on Tuesday described the meeting the day before in Havana between the rebel group's peace negotiators and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as historic, "unprecedented and unthinkable." "(It was) a historic meeting with the U.S. secretary of state, something unprecedented and unthinkable. We received support from hi...

U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuba's President Raul Castro shake hands during their first meeting on the second day of Obama's visit to Cuba, in Havana March 21, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria By Daniel Trotta and Matt Spetalnick HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama was received by Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana on Monday at the start of historic talks where the U.S. leader ...

U.S. President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and their daughters Malia and Sasha, exit Air Force One as they arrive at Havana's international airport for a three-day trip, in Havana March 20, 2016. REUTERS/stringer By Matt Spetalnick, Daniel Trotta and Jeff Mason HAVANA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama arrived to small but cheering crowds on Sunday at the start of a historic visit to C...

Wikimedia Commons Miami, Mar 19 (EFE).- The U.S. Coast Guard said nine undocumented Cuban migrants died while trying to complete a perilous journey by boat to the Florida coast. "Our deepest condolences to the families of the nine people who recently did lose their lives," Capt. Mark Gordon, the head of enforcement for the Coast Guard's 7th District, said Friday. "Unfortunately, tragedy ...

50-cal rifle. Wikimedia Commons Washington, Mar 17 (EFE).- The U.S. government has confirmed that a rifle found earlier this year at drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman's hideout in Mexico entered the country as a result of the failed Fast and Furious gun-walking operation. In a letter made public Wednesday and sent to members of Congress, the Justice Department confirmed a Fox ...

(FILE / White House photo) Editor's note: This story was updated on March 14, 2016 at 3:48 p.m. (GMT -6) with quotes obtained by the EFE news agency. Despite a long editorial by the Cuban government last week in state media stating that the communist island has no intentions of changing its policies and demanding that Washington cease meddling in its internal affairs, U.S. President Barack ...

(FILE / White House photo) //TRW// HAVANA (Reuters, with additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star) Cuba said it would welcome President Barack Obama to Havana later this month, but the Communist government had no intention of changing its policies in exchange for normal relations with the United States. In a long editorial on Wednesday in Communist Party newspaper Granma and other off...

Mexico City, Mar 7 (EFE).- Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Monday lamented and condemned remarks on immigration and Mexico by Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, saying that they "hurt" bilateral relations. "I condemn these kinds of statements. It seems to me they hurt a relationship that Mexico has sought with the United States of bridges, of dialogue, of rapprochement, of se...

Wikimedia Commons Charlotte, North Carolina, Feb 29 (EFE).- The 55 immigration courts in the United States have handed down 10,142 deportation orders for Central American youngsters who came to this country unaccompanied by an adult since 2014. Data from the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review indicate that, between July 2014 and Jan. 26, 2016, 8,912 repatriation or...

Boeing 737 engine The first international route of Air Costa Rica will fly to Guatemala, followed by Panama and hopefully Miami in the next few months. Such are the ongoing plans of Costa Rica's newest international airline, which will fill a decades-old void in the history of commercial aviation in our country. According to a news report filed by business reporter Stefania Colombari of nat...

Source: Alfredo Guzman Twitter Mexico City, Feb 25 (EFE).- Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman is willing to plead guilty if extradited by Mexico to the United States in exchange for "a reasonable sentence" to be served at a medium-security prison, one of the Sinaloa cartel leader's lawyers said Thursday. Attorney Jose Refugio Rodriguez told Radio Formula that he discussed this opt...

Zika map. Source: CDC Washington, Feb 23 (EFE).- Two Texas hospitals announced Tuesday that they have created the first rapid detection test for the Zika virus, for which there is neither vaccine nor cure. The new test can detect Zika in the blood and urine, in the amniotic fluid that protects the embryo and in spinal fluid, a joint communique from the Texas Children's Hospital and the Hous...

Source: Flickr Commons Washington, Feb 21 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- Michigan police on Sunday arrested the prime suspect in a series of shootings in the city of Kalamazoo that killed at least six people and wounded two others. Kalamazoo resident Jason Dalton, 45, was arrested in a search and capture operation on Sunday morning, Lt. Dale Hinz told the daily Kalamaz...

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Source: Wikimedia Commons Miami, Feb 19 (EFE).- The wife of imprisoned Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman has broken her silence and spoken out in defense of her husband in an exclusive interview with Telemundo, saying she fears for his life and that he is being denied his basic human rights. The U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster uploaded some clips...

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) //TRW// (VOA) Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz slammed U.S. President Barack Obama for his reported plans to visit Cuba next month. Speaking at a town hall Thursday in South Carolina, th...

Washington, Feb 18 (EFE; additional context by The Costa Rica Star).- U.S. President Barack Obama announced Thursday that he planned to visit Cuba in March, making him the first sitting U.S. head of state to visit the island in 88 years. EFE On Thursday morning, the White House Press Office confirmed President Obama's intention to make the historic visit. The visit to Cuba will be part of an of...

Washington, Feb 12 (EFE).- The U.S. government announced Friday the upcoming signing of a memorandum of understanding with Cuba in the field of civil aviation that will pave the way for direct commercial flights by fall of this year. Up to 20 direct flights daily will be permitted from the U.S. to Havana, and 10 more to another nine international airports in Cuba, including those at Santiago de...

/TRW / FILE (Reuters OMX) - Members of the Oregon State Troopers and FBI are seen as in Burns, Oregon Jan. 31, 2016. Four armed occupants remain at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns. WASHINGTON (EFE) The last occupiers of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon surrendered peacefully on Thursday after occupying the site for 40 days. Three of the militants who remained at the si...

FBI arrests ISIS suspects in New York. 2015 EFE file photo. Washington, Feb 9 (EFE).- U.S. intelligence services on Tuesday said that the Islamic State "probably" will try to stage direct attacks on U.S. territory in 2016, and it warned that the terrorist group has infiltrated the masses of refugees fleeing the armed conflicts in Iraq and Syria. The IS probably intends to carry out more att...

Thousands of Cuban migrants remain in shelters across Costa Rica. (CIDH/Twitter) MIAMI (EFE) Some 600 Cubans entered the U.S. at Laredo, Texas, in the last five days, and the rate of arrivals will remain constant for the next three months, the founder of the "Cubanos en Libertad" group told EFE. In a telephone conversation from Laredo, Alejandro Ruiz, who lends his compatriots a helping han...