Sharemoney.com Sharemoney, Omnex Group's online money transfer service, is expanding services to include money transfers to Costa Rica. Sharemoney has been facilitating money transfers from the United States to countries all over the world for more than 25 years, and this expansion continues the goal of making it easier to send money worldwide.  Sharemoney's mission is to aid people who live i...

Wikimedia Commons 12 July 2016 – Continuing a series of ‘firsts’ regarding the selection of the next United Nations Secretary-General, candidates for the world’s top diplomatic post will this evening participate in a globally televised and webcast event in the UN General Assembly Hall, where they will take questions from diplomats and the public at large. Christiana Figueres, the candidate ...

Wikimedia Commons The latest Central America Country Risk Report by Business Monitor International is now available, and it paints as less than optimistic picture for Costa Rica. Central American outperformers Costa Rica and Panama are facing a more challenging road ahead in the coming years. As real GDP growth slows in Panama on the back of the end of canal construction, establishing fisca...

Gamecocks logo COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina men's basketball team will embark on a six-day foreign tour in Costa Rica, August 6-12, fifth-year head coach Frank Martin announced on Monday. The Gamecocks will play two games versus the Costa Rica National Team and will have one day of combined practice with the Team while on the tour, in addition to holding two clinics, inclu...

Volmundo.com Oslo, Norway – volmundo.com is a new booking platform to help individuals search and apply for international volunteering and community roles. We are an ethical and transparent recruiting resource for social impact organizations to connect with passionate people who want to contribute to making a positive change. As a social startup we charge individuals just 1 USD per day as a bo...

Source: LigaPokemonCR Facebook Although the Pokemon GO mobile app has not been formally released in Costa Rica, gamers are finding way to install the new game on their iPhones and Android-powered devices. Pokemon GO is an augmented reality game that requires mobile devices equipped with Internet connectivity, camera, GPS, and Bluetooth. The game is the latest iteration of an entertainment e...

Kreston International, the global network of independent accounting firms, has announced that is has admitted Díaz & Zeledón, Costa Rica, to membership. Founded in 2001 and based in San José, Díaz & Zeledón offers the full range of audit and accounting services. Kreston CEO Jon Lisby, comments: "We are delighted to strengthen our resource in Latin America with the admittance of Díaz ...

William Albert Ulmer, aka “Bill Ulmer,” 49, of West Dickinson, North Dakota, was sentenced today to three years in prison for traveling with a stolen passport and aggravated identity theft charges, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. also sentenced Ulmer to three years of supervised release after he i...

Residents of an immigrant community mostly populated by Nicaraguan families in Costa Rica reclaimed a dwelling formerly used as a dangerous "bunker," a crack house or drug den, after a police operation. According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Public Security, officers from the Operational Support Group (Spanish initials: GAO) and from other tactical teams were assembled to raid t...

Wikimedia Commons Grupo LALA S.A.B. de C.V., a Mexican company focused on the healthy food industry, ("LALA") (BMV: LALA B) announces that it has signed a strategic agreement with the Costa Rican company Florida Bebidas, S.A. ("Florida"), for the production, distribution and sale of LALA® products in Costa Rica. This strategic agreement will provide LALA access to a platform to strengthen i...

Waning economic growth in many countries and higher home prices further enhanced by a strengthening United States dollar resulted in a slight decline in international sales dollar volume of U.S. property over the past year and a significant retreat in buying from non-resident foreigners. This is according to an annual survey of residential purchases from international buyers released today by t...

Source: Andrea Dipre Twitter Andrea Dipre, an Italian attorney and caustic comedian who is mostly known for his explicit interviews with adult film actresses, erotic models and prostitutes, recently visited Costa Rica. Signor Dipre hails from the Northern Italian region of Trentino. As a young attorney, he got involved in regional politics, an endeavor he abandoned after a disastrous politi...

Cartoon by Clay Jones By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff “Shots Fired,” “Active Shooters,” “Coordinated Attack,” “Ambush in Dallas,” “5 Police Officers Shot Dead, 7 Wounded” screamed the headlines across national television Thursday night in the United States of America and...

Venice Commission in session During a meeting in Strasbourg, and following a request by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica on 6 July 2016, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe invited the country to become the 61st member state of the Venice Commission. The Venice Commission is the common name for the European Commission for Democracy through Law. This is an advis...

BioNovelus BioNovelus, Inc.  is pleased to announce the results of its biodegradable fungicide, CR-10, after six months of Coffee Rust testing in Costa Rica. CoopeAgri R.L, one of the largest cooperative in Costa Rica, has released the CR-10 performance data. The results show that eco-friendly CR-10 has not only brought the coffee rust to a level of 0% in all the tested coffee plantations, ...

4grinz Casino Bitcoin Casino 4Grinz.com today announced details on its new reward program, Coin Back, that offers players a minimum 10% return in the form of real bitcoins. "Our seasoned team of gaming professionals wanted to do something different when they created Coin Back," said Lee Bruce, General Manager, 4Grinz.com. "It's a long-awaited solution to the outdated bonus systems currently...

Source: Melissa Mora Facebook Whenever an attractive woman who happens to be in the media spotlight offers a glimpse at her nipples in Costa Rica, a social media ruckus is bound to follow. The nipple of contention this time around happens to belong to Melissa Mora, a very sexy and popular glamour model who has also ventured into singing and appearing on reality television shows. For vari...

Wikimedia Commons One of the most popular Costa Rica volcanoes in terms of tourism is going through a renewed period of activity to the delight of visitors. A recent time-lapse video captured by a camera near the crater of the Poas was posted to the Facebook Timeline of the Observatory of Seismology and Volcanology of the National University of Costa Rica (Spanish acronym: OVSICORI). In the...

Wikimedia Commons Viveve Medical, Inc. ("Viveve"), a medical technology company focused on women's health, today announced six new distribution partnerships that expand commercial availability of the Viveve System to fourteen additional countries in Latin America. The new relationships provide for distribution of the Viveve System in: Argentina, Peru, Paraguay (Sirex S.A.) and Chile (Torregal)...

Source: Wooster Surfboards Costa Rica Surfers from the United States visiting Costa Rica rescued a dolphin calf that had become stranded on the beach and separated from its mother. The rescue was witnessed by a shaper from Wooster Surfboards Costa Rica, and it was also captured on video and posted to the Facebook Timeline of the National Surfing Federation. The surfers self-identified with ...

        Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the most dynamic technological areas in Costa Rica. It includes more than 900 companies, 95 percent of which are SMEs, becoming an interesting sector with important challenges related to international collaboration and partnership. Joining this strategic sector with national priorities and inter...

Source: Fuerza Publica John Wesley Saatio, a slippery sex offender from the United States who escaped after being extradited from Costa Rica, was recaptured in Florida right before fireworks were set off to celebrate the Fourth of July. According to a news report filed by Hana Frenette of the Pensacola News Journal, Mr. Saatio was intercepted by deputies from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s...

Source: U.S. National Museum of Health and Medicine A common sexually transmitted infection that was substantially reduced in Costa Rica decades ago is showing signs of spreading, and societal trends related to the Millennial Generation seem to be at play. According to a news report filed by health journalist Angie Guerrero of online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, statistics compiled by the Min...

Source: Pixabay Commons Just like during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil is ready to receive thousands of athletes, journalists, athletic support staff, sports fans, and sexual tourists. The occasion this time happens to be the already controversial 2016 Olympics, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, a city that has become synonymous with sexual tourism in the Americas. According to a rece...

(Wikimedia Commons) United States voters who wish to learn more about how presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made his fortune, which he claims to be valued at billions, should start with historian Gwenda Blair's book “The Trumps: Three Generations That Built An Empire.” According to Ms. Blair's book, the recent generations of the Trump family made money the old fashi...

Source: Amazon Books Cocaine, prostitutes and a domineering First Lady are the highlights of a sordid memoir by a former United Secret Service agent stationed in the White House during the administration of former President William Jefferson Clinton. The book is titled Crisis of Character, and it hit bookshelves in the U.S. just a few days ago. The Costa Rica Star has not reviewed this book...

Source: Fuerza Publica A sex offender from the United States is on the lam again after being extradited from Costa Rica. John Wesley Saatio, a fugitive facing several criminal charges in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, escaped from a van transporting prisoners in Florida on Saturday night. According to a news broadcast by WEAR, an ABC affiliate television station in Pensacola, Mr. Saatio h...

Nighttime drone footage of the strike. Al-Manar TV Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah has destroyed two positions of the Islamic State (IS) militants in northeastern Lebanon, according to Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV network. According to Al-Manar, the positions were located in the regions of Baalbek and Ras al-Zaytun, and the attack has also killed or wounded jihadists inside the locations. The...

Flickr Commons Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that four individuals have been variously charged in a 57-count indictment with running a massive Internet-based sports gambling ring that operated all over the United States and controlled an offshore office. The billion-dollar operation allegedly catered to thousands of bettors, accepted $927 million in wagers on NFL game...

Source; UNHCR On 6 and 7 July 2016, the Organization of American States and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, will convene in San José, Costa Rica, a high-level roundtable meeting on refugees and displaced people from the Northern Triangle of Central America and the urgent need to find solutions to this growing protection situation. The two-day event in San José, the first international meeting...

Source; OAS The new Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the Organization of American States (OAS), Rogelio Sotela Muñoz, today presented his credentials to Secretary General Luis Almagro, in a ceremony in which he stressed the commitment of his country to the four pillars of the hemispheric institution: democracy, human rights, sustainable development, and multidimensional security. "...

Source: Echo CR Lecturer, inspirational author and communicator Ismael Cala has confirmed his participation at ECHO (Costa Rica), an event that brings together business leaders, entrepreneurs, revolutionaries and social activists who wish to get out of their comfort zone and seek new horizons as a community. For 72 hours participants will explore their curiosity through workshops, talks and...

Source: USTDA San José, Costa Rica – Today, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency awarded a grant to Costa Rican electric utility, Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, S.A. (CNFL), for a feasibility study to support the deployment of networked light emitting diode (LED) street lights throughout CNFL’s service territory. By installing nearly 100,000 “smart” street lights, including LED luminar...

A new report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) indicates that dental patients from Quebec are increasingly going abroad for treatments, and Costa Rica is one of their facorite destinations. According to CBC health reporter Kate McKenna, the high cost of dental care in the province of Quebec is prompting many Canadians to consider their options overseas. Specifically, the CBC rep...

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. (“Bladex” or “the Bank”; NYSE: BLX) announced the recent closing of a US$85 million, three year, syndicated loan facility in favor of Banco BAC San José, S.A. (“BAC San José”), the largest privately-owned bank in Costa Rica. BAC San José is a subsidiary of BAC Credomatic Inc., a leading Central American banking group with operations in Costa Rica...

Safran Identity & Security, the global leader in identity and security, has announced it is expanding its business activities in Central America. The company has acquired the former office location of the Colombian-based Carvajal Group in Costa Rica. For Safran Identity & Security, this new location marks another important strategic development for its business activities in Central Ame...

www.dentalinstitutecr.com The Flikier Institute of Dental Rehabilitation, a specialty practice dedicated to medical tourism in Costa Rica, recently launched a new website to inform patients about dental health. The new website, www.dentalinstitutecr.com , features responsive technology that allows optimal display across various desktop and mobile devices. The site offers detailed informatio...

In Costa Rica, funds destined to finance projects of the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works (MOPT) are usually managed by national banks where deposits are unconditionally guaranteed by the government. For this reason, the MOPT Minister is now being questioned as to why he chose a private, international bank to handle more than $450 million. Minister Carlos Villalta has explained that ...

TRT English Twitter Suicide-bombings Tuesday at Istanbul's Atatürk airport left 36 people dead and 120 wounded, Turkish public television network TRT said Among the dead are five police officers, TRT's English service reported. Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin said earlier that the assault was carried out by three suicide terrorists. The explosions occurred around 9:30 p.m., TRT said. An ...

Wikimedia Commons The President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has appointed independent experts in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua), whose task is to determine the state of the coast between the point suggested by Costa Rica and the point suggested by...