By ESO/L. Calçada - https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1624b/, CC BY-SA 4.0 Astronomers have discovered a planet even more exotic than Tatooine, from the "Star Wars" saga, with its two suns. This new extra-solar world is known as HD 131399Ab and is the first one to be found in a wide orbit around three stars, according to a study published Thursday in Science magazine. This fascinating...

Source: IS Aqam The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group shot down on Saturday a Russian military helicopter in the central Syrian province of Homs, killing all of its crew, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Sunday. The aircraft fell in the wilderness of the ancient city of Palmyra, SOHR added. The London-based NGO gave no further details on the downing of the heli...

Former Brazilian President Lula with football star Ronaldinho. Wikimedia Commons Brazilian soccer great Ronaldinho said FC Barcelona super-striker Lionel Messi was not in crisis and that, although there has been much speculation about his future, the fact remains that he is the "best in the world." "It's hard for the best in the world to be in crisis," the 36-year-old former Camp Nou talism...

Wikimedia Commons A terrifying and chaotic running of the bulls on Friday left a toll of 16 thrill-seekers injured and two of the eight participants gored were in critical condition, officials said. Of the wounded, five were American citizens, three of whom suffered goring injuries, the regional government said. One American, identified only by his initials P.G., received a 10 centimeter...

Ex Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said on Saturday that the rhetoric used by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in its summit in Poland is a sign of war. "All the rhetoric used in Warsaw is almost a declaration of war against Russia," he said to Russian news agency Interfax, adding that "the Cold War is preparing to get hot." The decisions made by NATO, such as the deployment...

Source: UEFA Another unforgettable Antoine Griezmann match: two goals, a powerful presence on the pitch, precise dribbling and top speed. He was the star behind every goal opportunity and the player who propelled France to the Eurocup Final with a 2-0 score against a Germany that succumbed to the sensational forward. The final awaits him Sunday at the Saint Denis stadium against Cristian...

By Antonio Hermosin for EFE Armed with reggae, manga and the internet, Japan's political parties are going all out to woo its young voters for Sunday's elections when for the first time voting will be opened to 18-year-olds. Japanese presidential candiate Yohei Miyake. Wikimedia Commons Sunday's Upper House elections are the first national elections where the voting age has been reduced ...

Wikimedia Commons President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced that the scheduled reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be decelerated and, when he leaves office next January, 8,400 U.S. soldiers will still remain in that country, significantly more than the 5,500 he initially had promised. In a White House speech, Obama noted that "The security situation in Afghanistan remains prec...

Source: UEFA Cristiano Ronaldo scored one goal and set up the second here Wednesday as Portugal beat Wales 2-0 to advance to the 2016 Euro final. The loss ended a fairy-tale run for Wales, who had never before gone so far in an international competition, while the 31-year-old Ronaldo can look forward to what might be his last chance to win a trophy with the national side. With this loss,...

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 What’s the difference between “gross negligence” and “extremely careless?” United States voters will decide the answer to that question during the national election on Nov. 8. FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday an...

Wikimedia Commons Peruvian scientist Marino Morikawa, who "revived" polluted wetlands in 15 days using nanotechnology, now plans to try to clean up Lake Titicaca and the Huacachina lagoon, an oasis in the middle of the desert. El Cascajo, an ecosystem of roughly 50 hectares (123 acres) in Chancay district, located north of Lima, began its recovery in 2010 with two inventions that Morikawa c...

Cartoon by Clay Jones Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan said Tuesday that anti-Semite images have "no place in (a) presidential campaign," and that the Trump's communications staff has got to clean up its act, in response to a controversial tweet posted by the magnate. Ryan was reacting Tuesday to a radio interview about the controversy that erupted last Saturday when Don...

Messi Poster in Buenos Aires A Spanish court has sentenced FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi, along with his father, on Wednesday to a prison term for tax fraud committed between 2007 and 2009. The Barcelona Provincial Court ruled that Messi and his father, Jorge Messi, had committed three counts of tax fraud that were punishable with 21 months (one year and 9 months) in prison. In Spanish ...

Wikimedia Commons Four police officers were killed and five others wounded Monday in a suicide bombing near the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, the Saudi interior ministry said.   The attacker detonated explosives taped to his body when police intercepted him as he was walking toward the mosque that holds the remains of the prophet Muhammad.   The blast occurred shortly ahead...

Flickr Commons Police around the globe arrested 79 suspected members of an international child pornography network on Monday. The arrests were made in 18 different countries, including the United States, Spain, and several Latin American countries, following 200 raids in 47 cities as part of Operation No Borders. At least 19 of the arrests were made in Spain, primarily in Madrid. Span...

By Hanonimas - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons By Antonio Hermosin Can an android awaken human empathy and remedy loneliness? The maker of popularrobot 'Pepper', Kaname Hayashi - who is now working on a robot to play that role and aspires to make it a household name - certainly thinks so. Hayashi's Pepper was the first robot capable of interpreting human emotions and language, ...

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. Early last week, United States voters across the spectrum got a wake-up call. As the story broke about former President Bill Clinton having met ‘privately’ with Attorney General Loretta Lynch aboard her private jet a...

By Steve Mathieson - http://www.flickr.com/photos/38495915@N07/3933698385/, CC BY-SA 2.0, Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has praised Britain's decision to leave the European Union, saying that he hopes the United Kingdom can move forward alone. Starr, who lives in Los Angeles, said that he was in favor of the European Union when it first started. "I was a huge fan when (the EU) start...

Serena Williams. Source: Wikimedia Commons U.S. star tennis player Serena Williams has defeated Germany's Annika Beck on Sunday 6-3, 6-0 in 51 minutes in the third round of Wimbledon, which is also the 300th Grand Slam victory for Williams throughout her career. Following Sunday's victory, Williams still has six Grand Slam wins to make in order to equalize the record of Martina Navratilova....

Scores of animal rights activists gathered in front of a FedEx depot in western Hong Kong on Sunday to protest against the international shipping company for transporting shark fins, an epa journalist reports. The demonstrators, from WildAid and Hong Kong Shark Foundation (HKSF), dressed in blood-stained shark costumes and wielded signs reading "When the buying stops, the killing can too", alon...

Jairo Zelaya - Pixabay Commons The Cervantes Institute will celebrate, today Saturday, the Spanish Language Day, or "E-Day", in all its 22 centers across 17 countries worldwide. The event acknowledges the powerful presence of the world's second most spoken language_ with 472 million speakers_ after Chinese Mandarin. Now in its 8th edition, it will include activities for all ages in its cent...

Source: UEFA Wales has advanced to the semifinals of a major tournament for the first time with a come-from-behind 3-1 victory Friday night over Belgium, which paid dearly for its careless play on defense. With this victory, Wales is the last National Team from the United Kingdom remaining in the Euro 2016 tournament. Various football analysts had predicted an early "Brexit," for Englan...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdqbiSHV-m0...

Bali Rodríguez (full name,Bárbara Laura Rodríguez Bonilla) was born on August 8, 1985 in San Jose Costa Rica. She is the daughter of ex-Miss Costa Rica Barbara Bonilla and Carlos Rodríguez, the owner of La Guacima racetrack. Bali Rodriguez began modeling professionally when she was 17 years old. She lived in Sydney, Australia for 2 years working on building her career. She has lived or worked in ...

Costa Rica is famous for tropical beaches, but this tiny country is also home to some of the tallest mountains in Central America. Cerro Chirripó, Costa Rica’s highest peak, rises 12,533 feet above sea level and offers sweeping views of the surrounding Talamanca Mountains. Along the way, hikers pass through cloud forests and páramos—a unique ecosystem found only at high elevations in the New World...

El Educador YouTube Channnel Mexican teachers opposed to an education overhaul partially lifted their blockade of roads in the southern state of Chiapas to allow deliveries of gasoline, state oil company Pemex said Thursday. The number of service stations in Chiapas without fuel has fallen from 90 to 27, Pemex executive Jorge Martinez told Radio Formula. Members of Section 7 of the milit...

The tents of Cuban migrant refugees are seen at a border post with Panama in Paso Canoas, Costa Rica, earlier in December Photo: Reuters OMX The United States on Thursday included Haiti, Venezuela and Belize on its list of countries that are not doing enough to combat people trafficking, a measure that could lead to sanctions, while Colombia and Chile were given the best marks in the hemispher...

The presidents of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, the four member states of the Pacific Alliance, met today in the Chilean town of Frutillar to strengthen their economic integration in order to deal with the ravages of global finance. The presidents of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto and Peru, Ollanta Humala participated in the Business Summi...

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. Terror struck again Tuesday as three suicide bombers fired assault rifles in public areas of the Istanbul, Turkey Ataturk Airport and then blew themselves up leaving -at last count- 44 dead and 239 wounded. No offici...

Source: IKEA Swedish furniture giant Ikea said Wednesday it was recalling 29 million dressers and chests in the MALM line from the U.S. market after a sixth child was crushed to death when one of the pieces fell on him. The recall also covers 6.6 million drawers sold in Canada, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, said. "The recalled chests and dressers are unstable if they a...

Wikimedia Commons Body parts from a murder victim were found Wednesday near the spot on Copacabana beach where the beach volleyball competition will take place when Brazil's second city hosts the 2016 Olympics in August, Jornal do Brasil reported. Authorities have not yet determined the age or sex of the victim, the daily said on its Web site, citing Rio de Janeiro state police. A forens...

Source: Facebook Fabiane Niclotti, who was crowned Miss Brazil 2004, was found dead inside her apartment in Gramado, a city in Rio Grande do Sul state, but there were no signs of violence, police said Wednesday. The 31-year-old model's brother called police because she was not answering her telephone. Police found Niclotti's body on Tuesday night and there were no signs of forced entry o...

Japanese multinational Hitachi has developed an artificial intelligence system to measure levels of happiness in individuals engaged in certain tasks and to offer recommendations to boost efficiency. The company hopes to market the technology this year, Hitachi had said in a statement. Around 600 employees of Hitachi will be part of the trial, which will be conducted by the company, to test ...

Cartoon by Clay Jones The European Union leaders have agreed that Brexit is irreversible in a summit where accusations were exchanged on both sides about who bore responsibility for the decision, and pressure was exerted on London to activate the divorce process as soon as possible. British Prime Minister David Cameron said after attending his last European Council summit that he would have...

Source: TeenSmart The Carlos Slim Foundation on Tuesday presented its Health Awards to Costa Rica's TeenSmart institution, which informs young people about health risks, and to Mexico's Dr. Rafael Lozano Ascencio for his research linking disease with socio-demographic factors. Foundation executive director Ricardo Mujica presented the honors to the winners in the Exceptional Institution and...

Activists staged a protest Tuesday morning in front of the Canadian Embassy just south of Manila calling for the removal of garbage shipped from Canada to the Philippines, an epa journalist on the scene reports. About 25 members of the EcoWaste Coalition gathered on a concrete median in the middle of the road in front of the embassy, with many wearing gas masks and straw hats. In addition to...

Source: UEFA Iceland made history here Monday with an astonishing 2-1 win over heavily favored England to claim a berth in the quarterfinals of the 2016 European Championship. Not content with merely qualifying for the knockout stage, the squad representing the island nation of some 300,000 people thoroughly dominated an English side stocked with highly paid stars. With England and North...

Wikimedia Commons To be able to celebrate the Panama Canal expansion is, for many Panamanians, experiencing a milestone of their ancestors, who witnessed the first transit through the waterway 102 years ago, so they went out today to dance, which is how they express themselves best. The afternoon of Jun. 26, when the Chinese container ship Cosco Shipping Panama made the inaugural transit th...

Wikimedia Commons The Metropolitan Police, or Met, is on heightened alert following reports of xenophobic incidents after the Brexit victory in the referendum on the European Union, reported the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. The mayor has asked the Met to be "extra vigilant" after the Polish embassy in the United Kingdom expressed its shock at xenophobia against the Polish community in this ...

Messi Poster in Buenos Aires Soccer star Lionel Messi said he was retiring from the Argentine national team after suffering yet another defeat in a final, this time a 4-2 loss to Chile in a penalty shootout at the Copa America. "I thought a lot about it in the locker room, and I think that I'm done with the (national) team. It's over," the Argentine national team captain said after Sunday n...