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 ...

  Hundreds of jaguar's teeth have been seized in Bolivia The trafficking of jaguar teeth from Bolivia's natural parks to China has sparked worries that Asian smugglers are boosting this illegal trade. Between 2014 and 2016, 800 jaguar teeth have been seized by Bolivian authorities, suggesting that around 200 animals have been killed, reported the Bolivian Environment Forum (Foro Bo...

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...

Suspension bridges spread across the forest canopy, revealing the complex ecosystems that emerge both at the tops of trees and in the valleys below. Bridges of all sizes – ranging from 100 to 1000 feet – are safely and smartly constructed to allow visitors all the time they need to appreciate the magnificence of the rainforest. Guided tours add invaluable information to the bridge trips, as escort...

  Daniel Zovatto was born in San José, Costa Rica, on July 12, 1991 is a Costa Rican film and television actor. Since 2012, he has starred in films of the horror genre, Beneath (2013), It Follows (2014), and Don't Breathe (2016), as well as the romantic comedy Laggies (2014). Zovatto made his television debut in 2014, guest starring in an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He has since ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdnOZy8flEM...

New York, Sept. 18 - Countries throughout the world, led by the United States and Norway, committed themselves on Sunday to supporting efforts to remove landmines in Colombia with an eye toward ridding that country of the weapons by 2021. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at the start of a meeting on the issue held in a New York hotel that removing the landmines is an "essential" part of ...

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 ...

BEIJING, Sept. 17 -- The FAW Group, a state-owned car manufacturer, will recall 22,817 Mazda cars due to defective dusk seal rings, according to China's top quality supervisor. The affected vehicles include 3,881 Mazda CX-7 cars manufactured between Jan. 6, 2013 and Aug. 13, 2014, and 18,936 Mazda 8 cars manufactured between April 19, 2010 and July 21, 2014, the General Administration of Qu...

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...

Shanghai, China, Sept. 15 - The proposed inter-oceanic railroad linking South America's Atlantic coast with its Pacific shores via Brazil and Peru will cost around $60 billion, Peruvian Vice-President and Transport Minister Martin Vizcarra revealed Thursday. "The preliminary report says the corridor would exceed $60 billion; given these figures and other projects that could be more urgent, it h...

Miami, Sept. 15 - Chronic loneliness is more dangerous than alcoholism or obesity and can even kill, says Argentine neuroscientist Facundo Manes, author of "Usar el cerebro" (Using the Brain), a book discussing getting to know one’s mind to be able to live better. "Feeling alone is a biological mechanism like being hungry or thirsty, but the difference is that a person can eat or drink and thei...

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 ...

VANCOUVER, Canada — Health Canada will now allow doctors to prescribe heroin to people who are severely addicted to opioids as per a recent amendment of their regulations, reported The Canadian Press last week. Photo for illustrative purposes, Flickr. The amendment was included in light of the country’s opioid overdose crisis, stated the Canadian daily, and prescription heroin treatment all...

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...

Bogotá, Sept. 14 - At close to 9:00 pm last night in the northwest Colombian state of Antioquia, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck, reported the Spanish news agency EFE. No damages or casualties were reported in Antioquia’s populous capital city of Medellín nor in areas near the epicenter, according to Colombia’s Administrative Department of Disaster Risk Management (DAGRD in Spanish). T...

Paris, Sept. 13 - One person was killed and four were seriously injured in an accident near a French port involving a lifeboat on the world's largest cruise liner, Royal Caribbean International, a Marseille Fire Department spokesperson told EFE today. The five victims, who were crew members of the MS Harmony of the Seas, were presumably taking part in a security drill when the lifeboat they wer...

Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz is a Costa Rican-American mechanical engineer, physicist and former NASA astronaut. He became an American citizen in 1977. He is of Chinese (paternal grandfather) and Costa Rican Spanish (maternal side) descent. Chang Díaz is currently president and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company. He is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, making him the record holder as of 2014...

Santa Rosa National Park was the first national park established in Costa Rica, created in 1971. Santa Rosa was originally a farm located in the north-western Guanacaste Province, in Costa Rica. Today an old hacienda building, "La Casona," functions as the monument commemorating the fallen heroes of the different battles that took place here. Santa Rosa National Park was also created to pro...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh508wABihI&feature=youtu.be...

Beijing, Sept. 12 - The U.S.-led war against terror has "led to more terrorism," and must be corrected, warned China's state-run news agency Xinhua yesterday on the 15th anniversary of the downing of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. An opinion piece by the news agency says military intervention in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and other places has led to European allies (of the U.S.) "to b...

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 The 15th sad anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy has come and gone, while Hillary Clinton is making excuses for her ‘deplorable’ comments about Trump supporters and Trump continues his rise in national polls. All this just as th...

Vienna, Sept. 9.- The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) confirmed on Friday that it has detected an "unusual seismic activity" in North Korea, indicating a possible new nuclear test by Kim Jong-un's communist regime. Source: Courrier International (France) "Our monitoring stations picked up an unusual seismic event in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)...

Los Angeles, Sept. 8.- Veteran Hollywood actors Robert De Niro and Al Pacino revealed secrets of filming Heat, the 1995 classic Michael Mann film, on Wednesday night, during a tribute organized by the Hollywood Academy and moderated by British filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who called the film a 'masterpiece' and an 'American classic'. The greatest revelation of the evening came from Pacino, who ...

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 Wednesday night’s ‘Commander-In-Chief’ Forum in New York between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump did little to change minds about which candidate would best serve as the next president of the United States. Neither Clint...

Mao Zedong declares the founding of the modern People's Republic of China, October 1, 1949. Wikipedia. Mao is not an easy family name to carry in China, and a great-nephew of the epochal Chinese leader Mao Zedong, seems to understand that well, and acknowledges the importance his family attaches to maintaining their ancestor's good name. Mao Anping, 72, spoke about his great-uncle's life an...

Thank god for shrinkage. Norwegian photographer Claus Jørstad is one of thousands of IKEA customers who have left comments on the furniture retailer's Facebook page—except Jørstad's hilarious post was shared tens of thousands of times. On August 31, the married father of three wrote a long, detailed message on the IKEA Norge Facebook page, explaining that he'd bought the company's Marius cha...

MIAMI, Sept. 7  -- At least two people have died due to Tropical Storm Newton, which is spreading heavy rains into Arizona and New Mexico on Wednesday after making landfall as a hurricane in Mexico's mainland. A shrimp boat capsized in the Gulf of California amid rough seas. At least two people died and three others were missing. BBC News reported that officials said the five people ignored war...

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Pixabay Commons The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Friday, September 2, 2016, issued a final rule establishing that over-the-counter (OTC) consumer antiseptic wash products containing certain active ingredients can no longer be marketed. Companies will no longer be able to market antibacterial washes with these ingredients because manufacturers did not demonstrate that the ingredients are b...

Quito, Ecuador A quick response can save your life if you are bitten by a poisonous snake. But in some remote areas of Ecuador people are 6 - 7 hours away from medical care, and that wait for snakebite victims is often fatal. In this tropical, Andean country, which imports snake anti-venom from Costa Rica and Colombia, an estimated 9,000 - 10,000 people are bitten by snakes per year, and...

MSU Today, Michigan State University Contact(s): Hui Liu and Andy Henion Having sex frequently – and enjoying it – puts older men at higher risk for heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems. For older women, however, good sex may actually lower the risk of hypertension. That’s according to the first large-scale study of how sex affects heart health in later life. The federally fund...

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Hanna Gabriel Valle is a Costa Rican boxer, junior middleweight category, whose career has been highlighted by several international victories. She debuted in the Gimnasio Nacional, San Jose, Costa Rica, on November 17, 2007, fighting Nicaraguan Aoska Xochilet Herrera and defeating her by KO. On December 19, 2009 Gabriel won the World Boxing Organization welterweight (147 pounds) World Cha...