Guatemala special forces soldiers on patrol. Wikimedia Commons Guatemala City, Apr 23 (EFE).- Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales will meet Saturday in the United States with OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro and the secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, or IACHR, Emilio Alvarez Icaza, to ask that they investigate the death of a 13-year-old boy on the Guatemala-Belize bor...

Photo by Jack Donnelly By Jack Donnelly Yuca is not yucca and it’s not at all yucky. Yuca is cassava in English. It is one of a number of starchy roots important to the tropical diet. It is often sold protected with a layer of paraffin, like rutabagas in the United States. Yucca is common in drier areas of the Americas and the Caribbean and is often used as an ornamental plant. The only ...

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. Politics can be so fickle. Picking a presidential candidate is like voting for homecoming king and queen back in high school. We like this one, but not that one. This one is too tall and that one is too fat. It’s all a popularity contest. We ...

John Cocgh - Flickr Commons Managua, Apr 22 (EFE).- Nicaragua is undergoing the most severe environmental crisis in its recent history, a group of 15 non-governmental organizations said during the presentation of a report coinciding with Earth Day. The drastic reduction or disappearance of 34 rivers, the near-complete evaporation of at least four lakes, the loss of nearly 6,000 hectares (14...

Source: BellComm Madrid, Apr 22 (EFE). Spanish aerospace company BellComm is globally marketing its C-44 Medevac autogyro, a safe, practical and effective flying machine that can be adapted to multiple civilian or military uses, including the emergency airlifting of victims of highway accidents or the evacuation of wounded soldiers from combat zones. Its operating cost per flight hour of ar...

Wikimedia Comons Caracas, Apr 22 (EFE; beer context by The Costa Rica Star).- Residents of Venezuela are hunkering down for a long summer without beer and with diminished electricity. Venezuela's Electric Energy Minister Luis Motta Dominguez has announced the start of electricity rationing next Monday due to the drought affecting the entire country, and which will remain in effect for 40 da...

(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...

Fidel Castro pictured in July 2014. (Russian state media) (VOA) In a rare public speech Tuesday, former Cuban communist leader Fidel Castro told a crowd of party loyalists that while he is close to the end of his life, “the ideas of Cuban Communists will remain” long after he is gone. Castro was speaking during the closing of the Cuban Communist Party congress in Havana, which had just re-a...

U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuba's President Raul Castro walk past honor guards during their first meeting on the second day of Obama's visit to Cuba, in Havana March 21, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria By Lou Lorscheider (VOA) Cuba's Communist Party says 84-year-old President Raul Castro will hold the party's highest post for another five years, alongside his chief lieutenant, 85-year-old ...

(Screen Shot / USGS) By Ana Isabel Martinez and Julia Symmes Cobb PEDERNALES, Ecuador (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.2 earthquake shook Ecuador's coast early on Wednesday, terrifying locals and impeding rescuers after a bigger weekend quake battered the same area and killed nearly 500 people. The latest earthquake hit 25 km (15 miles) off Muisne on the northwest Pacific coast at a depth of 15...

Guatemalan president, Jimmy Morales. (State media) Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales took the opportunity of a Facebook Live interview with the Spanish-language edition of The New York Times to mock Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump's proposal for a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. "To the gentleman who wishes to build that wall, I offer cheap labor," the former television c...

Miss Costa Rica 2015 Brenda Castro smiles as she arrives at a charitable event. Facebook By Manuel Fuentes. Antofagasta, Chile, Apr 11 (EFE).- Looking at a beautiful picture or listening to pleasant music trigger the human brain, which also intensifies its activity in the presence of "moral beauty," British neurobiologist Semir Zeki said. "Which neuronal systems get activated when we con...

Popocateptl in 2004. Wikimedia Commons Puebla, Mexico, Apr 18 (EFE).- Several eruptions of the Popocatepetl volcano left the city of Puebla covered with a white cloud at sunrise Monday, which led authorities to decree a yellow alert, which obliges residents to take preventive measures to protect food and drinking water. According to a report by the Cenapred disaster management agency, start...

By Yuri Garcia GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (Reuters) - Ecuador launched rescue operations on Sunday after its biggest earthquake in decades killed at least 77 people, caused devastation in coastal populations, and left an unknown number trapped in ruins. The 7.8 magnitude quake struck off Ecuador's Pacific coast on Saturday night and was felt around the Andean nation of 16 million people, causing...

Wikimedia Commons São Paulo, April 15th, 2016 – Netflix, the world’s leading Internet television network, announced that filming of its new original series based on recent corruption investigation Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato in Portuguese), will begin this year in Brazil. The yet-to-be-titled series will be created and directed by José Padilha (Narcos, Elite Squad and Robocop), and written b...

An Electronic Dance Music (EDM) event in Costa Rica Buenos Aires, Apr 16 (EFE).- Five people between the ages of 20 and 30 died early Saturday and five others remain unconscious at three Buenos Aires hospitals after attending an electronic music festival in the Argentine capital's Costa Salguero events center, medical officials said. The five hospitalized individuals were on respirators aft...

(Wikimedia Commons) Chicago, Apr 15 (EFE).- The anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has invaded schools and universities across the United States, where the magnate's followers shout his name to intimidate Latinos and other people of color. "Trump has become a synonym for hate and his name is used to threaten minorities," the Midwest regional...

Wikimedia Commons Caracas, Apr 15 (EFE).- The scarcity of medicines in Venezuela continues to be a tragedy visible in pharmacies and hospitals around the country, weeks after congress declared a "humanitarian health crisis" that includes the lack of 872 essential medications. Cancer patients, HIV carriers, diabetics and those suffering hypertension must either trek from one drugstore to the...

Adventure. That is the simplest and best description for what awaits visitors who hop on a plane to explore Costa Rica. With it’s friendly warm blooded residents, luxurious hotels and beautifully natural surroundings, Costa Rica offers the chance for spiritual and physical rejuvenation. Source: theitalianeyemagazine.com...

Jessica Perez appeared in the 2012 and 2013 SI Swimsuit issues, was born in San Jose, Costa Rica but spend much of her childhood in Honduras and Ecuador. She also holds a psychology degree from Hunter College and works with Dog Habitat Rescue, an organization that rescues and rehabilitates abandoned and neglected dogs. Her modeling includes advertising campaigns for Levi's, Victoria's Secre...

Wikimedia Commons 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. It appears almost certain that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will win the April 19 New York Primary in her quest to secure the Democratic nomination for President, but Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has won a lo...

Firefighters walk among collapsed houses caused by an earthquake in Mashiki town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo, April 15, 2016. (Reuters Open) A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck southern Japan early on Saturday morning (local time), less than 24 hours after a smaller quake killed at least nine people. The quake's epicenter was near the city of Kumamoto an...

Wikimedia Commons London, Apr 12 (EFE).- Observations from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope have revealed the existence outside the solar system of planets whose atmosphere has been completely stripped off by radiation from the star they orbit, an article in the journal Nature Communications said. Scientists from Britain's University of Birmingham used a technique known as asteroseismology to ...

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...

Members of the media stand outside the Mossack Fonseca law firm office in Panama City April 12, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso PANAMA CITY - Following a raid of its offices late Tuesday by Panamanian authorities, the Mossack Fonseca law firm said Wednesday that it is "ready, willing and eager" to collaborate with the Panamanian Attorney General's Office, which is investigating the murky dealings d...

Pixabay Commons Lima, Apr 12 (EFE). - Two American tourists died in Peru when the cruise ship on which they were touring the Amazon River caught fire, the head of the Iquitos port authority, Oscar Garrido, told EFE. The fatalities were Larry Morris Hammer, 74, and Cristy Jeins Hammer, 72, who died while being taken to the hospital in Iquitos, capital of the Amazon region of Loreto in northe...

A police officer stands guard outside the Mossack Fonseca law firm office in Panama City April 12, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama's attorney general late on Tuesday raided the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm to search for any evidence of illegal activities, authorities said in a statement. The Panama-based law firm is at the centre of the "Panama Papers" l...

Wikimedia Commons Baghdad/Mosul, Apr 9 (EFE).- At least 58 jihadists of the Islamic State, or IS, including an armed commander, were killed Saturday in attacks and skirmishes in central and northern Iraq, security officials told EFE. The Center of Operations for the liberation of Nineveh province reported in a communique the death of the Islamic State's head of security in the northern town...

Bogota, Apr 11 (EFE).- Mexicans taking a look at their Twitter accounts this Monday will find a visual novelty on their timeline - a brief advertising video. Welcome to First View, a new Twitter platform for advertisers that guarantees a brand's promotional video the top spot on the user's timeline for 24 hours. According to Guilherme Ribenboim, vice president of Twitter for Latin America, t...

Source: NatGeo Los Angeles, Apr 11 (EFE).- The Mexican Cesar Millan, known as the "dog whisperer," will not have to face animal cruelty charges following an investigation by Los Angeles County authorities into what happened in one episode of the TV show "Cesar 911." "After a comprehensive investigation by our officers, we presented a very thorough and complete report to the District Attorne...

Wikimedia Commons By Carlota Ciudad Rio de Janeiro, Apr 11 (EFE).- Stable sexual relationships in which more than two people are involved, or "polylove" as its participants call it, is gradually gaining ground in Brazil by making use of a loophole in the laws of the country, where more and more unions of this kind are in evidence. Though the number of such cases has grown in recent years...

Wikimedia Commons 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. Watching the developing war of words in the presidential race for the upcoming New York primary from Costa Rica is quite entertaining no matter which candidate you support. Each day we get to watch an eye-popping sunset ...

(CRS Archive) NASSAU (EFE) The Inter-American Development Bank on Sunday warned that Latin America will grow at an average annual rate of 1.7 percent through 2020, less than half the 4 percent the region registered during 2003-2013, and thus it is urgent to invest in infrastructure and adopt comprehensive fiscal reforms. For 2016, the IDB forecasts a 0.3 percent economic contraction due to ...

(Reuters OMX) CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's socialist leader Nicolas Maduro threatened Thursday to seek a constitutional amendment to slash the opposition-led legislature's term from five years to just 60 days and vowed to lead a "revolution" should his foes wrest him from the presidency. The socialist leader's strong words deepened the already bitter political standoff in the OPEC member...

Image;: Wikimedia Commons Lima, Apr 10 (EFE). - The death toll from the ambush of a military patrol earlier this weekend in the jungles of central Peru has risen to four, with five others wounded, while an attack in a nearby region wounded two people, the Armed Forces Joint Command said Sunday. The patrol from the 311th Counterinsurgency Battalion was attacked early Saturday by remnants of ...

(Wikimedia Commons) Washington, Apr 9 (EFE). - Several U.S. art galleries have refused to exhibit artist Illma Gore's painting of controversial magnate and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, whom she portrays naked with tiny genitals. But the painting, in which Trump is seen with his arms resting on one knee, will get a showing within two weeks at Britain's Maddox Gallery in Lond...

Wikimedia Commons Havana, Apr 9 (EFE).- Beer production in Cuba is far from meeting the country's growing demand in stores, inns and hotels, due to the large increase in tourism, a demand that can only be met by building a new brewery, the island's producers said. The current demand for beer is beyond the capacity of Cuba's existing breweries, which have signed contracts for more than 33 mi...

"Stephen Curry 2" by Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA - Stephen Curry. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons Oakland, California, Apr 8 (EFE; odds by IDSca.com).- The Golden State Warriors became just the second team in NBA history to win 70 regular-season games, reaching that milestone with a 112-101 victory over one of their main Western Conference rivals, the San Antonio Spu...

Costa Rica’s President Luis Guillermo Solís and U.S. Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd, commander of U.S. Southern Command, greet each other prior to the opening ceremony for the Central American Security Conference April 7 in San Jose. Photo by Jose Ruiz, SOUTHCOM By Jose Ruiz and Michael Wimbish, United States Southern Command SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- Top government, defense, and police leaders from Cen...

Wikimedia Commons Caracas, Apr 6 (EFE).- The scarcity of clean water and personal hygiene products has increased the cases of scabies, malaria, diarrhea and amoebiasis in Venezuela, the director of epidemiology with the central state of Miranda's health department warned on Wednesday. "The lack of access to a constant supply of good-quality water brings with it, as a consequence, an increas...