Bedroom painted with Glidden colors By Carolina Ruiz During childhood, it is necessary to create fun and safe environments; in adolescence, bedrooms should be places that allow them to feel part of society while still being unique. Colors play an important role in this matter. For most of us in Costa Rica, our bedroom is a sacred place: not only for being a private room, but also because...

Source: Wikimedia Commons San Jose, Sep 7 (EFE).- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Monday published a ruling in which it ordered the Venezuelan government to reinstate the broadcasting license of Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, which has been confined to cable and satellite since being forced off the air in 2007. The Costa Rica-based court, a body of the Organization of Americ...

"Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes Yahoo 2006" by Kevin Ballard - http://flickr.com/photos/eridius/116003811/in/set-72057594087529032/. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons Bogota, Sep 12 (EFE).- At least two people died and one was injured when a plane carrying members of a movie crew working on Tom Cruise's upcoming thriller film "Mena" crashed in northwestern Colombia, local media reported. Th...

Havana, Sep 11 (EFE).- The Cuban government will pardon 3,522 prisoners on the occasion of Pope Francis's visit to the island, according to a State Council agreement reported Friday in official media. The official announcement said the pardons will take effect within the next 72 hours for prisoners over 60 and under 20 years of age without criminal records, the chronically ill, women, inmates s...

Located on the south west wip of the Nicoya Peninsula, the town of Mal Pais and its beaches is about as far off the grid as it get in Costa Rica. It is known for being a great surf destination, and the big swells attest to that. img credit- anywherecostarica.com...

Source: Usher Instagram Havana, Sep 10 (EFE).- U.S. music producer, singer and songwriter Usher puffed cigars and enjoyed Cuban coffee in Havana along with rapper Ludacris, according to photographs published Thursday on the pair's official social network accounts. The member of the popular U.S. television program "The Voice" announced his presence in the Cuban capital with a photo showing h...

An Uber driver in Bogota. Wikimedia Commons Sao Paulo, Sep 9 (EFE).- Taxi drivers here in Brazil's largest city blocked traffic on Wednesday to protest against Uber, the app-based private driver service that has triggered controversy and legal disputes around the world. The cabbies gathered in front of Sao Paulo city hall, where the councilors are scheduled to vote on Wednesday for a second...

Bogota, Sep 9 (EFE).- A mayoral candidate in the northern Colombian province of Sucre emerged uninjured from an assassination attempt thanks to the bulletproof vest he was wearing, his political party, the leftist Union Patriotica, said Wednesday. Hugo Sanchez, who is running for mayor of Palmitos, was shot twice in the chest but the bullets did not harm him due to the vest. This is one of t...

"Built on tall stilts, this back-to-your-childhood house is submerged by the forest, with a sloped wooden suspension bridge leading steeply to its front door. The Tree House has been entirely built of sustainable woods. All the hard woods used on the tree House were obtained out of fallen trees. We did not cut any alive tree to build the Tree House. Our woods are pulled out of the jungle by oxen,...

Havana, Sep 8 (EFE).- About 140 Cuban dissidents were arrested Tuesday as they were going to attend a Mass at the Lady of Caridad del Cobre Church to celebrate the feast day of the island's patron saint, sources within the dissident movement told EFE. "Most of the arrests occurred in the early morning hours (on Tuesday) some kilometers from the El Cobre Church, at a spot known as La Tanqueta" i...

Wikimedia Commons By Jairo Mejia New Orleans, Sep 8 (EFE).- Hispanics who came to New Orleans in 2005 and helped rebuild the city after Hurricane Katrina are called "cazahuracanes" (hurricane hunters), but many were hired under false promises, exploited to the hilt and deported when they were no longer needed. A decade after the storm and floods, some neighborhoods in the Crescent City h...

Deputy District Attorney for Perez Zeledon, Edgar Ramirez told reporters on Monday that prosecutors intend to appeal the Monday acquittal of Ann Patton, the US woman who stood accused of killing her wealthy husband John Felix Bender on January 8th, 2010. In what marked the end of her third murder trial, a three-judge panel unanimously ruled on Monday morning to acquit Patton. If the appeal ...

Cerveceria Costa Rica, maker of iconic beer brands such as Imperial and Pilsen, recently released a new alcoholic beverage aimed at young adults. Bliss, an eight percent proof drink with flavors based on tropical fruits, hit the market in on May 18th, but lukewarm marketing efforts have not succeeded in making the brand known in Costa Rica.According to a report filed by Cristina Fallas Villalobos ...

"Galápagos land iguana" by Charlesjsharp - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons Quito, Sep 7 (EFE).- A Mexican suspected of belonging to an international wildlife trafficking ring was arrested over the weekend when he tried to smuggle 11 iguanas out of the Galapagos Islands, the Ecuadorian Environment Ministry said. The man allegedly captured iguanas and smuggled them out of th...

In her third murder trial, a three-judge panel in Perez Zeledon unanimously ruled on Monday morning to acquit Ann Maxine Patton, the US woman who stood accused of killing her wealthy husband John Felix Bender on January 8th, 2010. The same court dropped charges against Patton in January 2013 following her first murder trial, deciding it had insufficient evidence to convict her. Prosecutors a...

Source: Andrey Camacho Jimenez, PZNoticias After five years and three trials, the fate of United States citizen Ann Patton Bender has been decided in Costa Rica. She was found innocent of all charges, and is free to go on with her life and attempt to pursue the lawyer whom she claims absconded with her fortune. In her last statement before the judges at her final hearing on Friday, Septe...

Source: Flickr Commons San Jose, Sep 7 (EFE).- The body of an 85-year-old Cuban-American man was found inside a barrel over the weekend at his house in southern Costa Rica, the Judicial Investigations Agency said. The victim, identified only by the last name of Machado, lived in Coloradito de Corredores, a town in Puntarenas province, near the border with Panama. Machado lived alone and ...

Wikimedia Commons Brussels, Sep 6 (EFE).- The European Commission this week will ask Spain to accept about 15,000 refugees who entered Europe via Hungary, Italy and Greece, some 12.44 percent of the 120,000 people whom it is proposing to distribute for settlement among the member states, community sources told EFE. This new group is more than three times larger than what Brussels had asked ...

Serena Williams. Source: Wikimedia Commons New York, Sep 6 (EFE).- Serena Williams on Sunday here defeated her countrywoman, 19th-seeded Madison Keys, 6-3, 6-3 and moving into the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, where she will face off against her older sister Venus. The world No. 1 female tennis icon needed just 68 minutes to crush the 20-year-old Keys, while Venus, 35, triumphed 6-2, 6-1 ...

Garcia Marquez. Source: Flickr Commons Miami, Sep 6 (EFE).- The FBI spied on Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez for 24 years, including during the years in which he became an internationally known writer, according to documents declassified by the agency and published on the weekend by The Washington Post. The paper reported that at its request the federal agency declassified 137 pages...

Source: Flickr Commons Guadalajara, Mexico, Sep 5 (EFE).- Mexican authorities seized a ranch in the western state of Jalisco believed to have been used by a criminal gang to dissolve bodies in acid, confirming that human remains found there correspond to three unidentified people. In a brief statement, the state AG's office said medical examiners have determined that two of the three people...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Sep 5 (EFE).- Aretha Franklin stopped the screening Friday night of the documentary "Amazing Grace" at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado after a federal judge ruled in favor of the artist's suit against showing the film without her permission. Based on a question of the singer's rights, U.S. District Judge John L. Kane ruled in a court order, to which EFE...

Source: Andrey Camacho Jimenez, PZNoticias September 4, 2015, Perez Zeledon – Final arguments were heard today in the case of United States expat Ann Patton Bender, who is accused of killing her multi-millionaire husband in 2010 at their mansion Boracayan del Sur, in the Perez Zeledon municipality of Costa Rica. John Felix Bender was shot in the back of his head and died immediately. The prose...

Wikimedia Commons Toronto, Sep 4 (EFE).- The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that a group of Ecuadorian villagers locked in a long legal battle with Chevron Corp. may sue the U.S. oil supermajor in an Ontario trial court as part of their effort to collect on a multi-billion-dollar pollution verdict. "In a world in which businesses, assets and people cross borders with ease, courts are ...

"RaquelWelchApr2010" by Justin Hoch. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons By Fernando Mexia Los Angeles, Sep 4 (EFE).- Jo Raquel Tejada was born in Chicago on Sept. 5, 1940, and her Bolivian immigrant father did all he could to keep her unaware of her roots so she would fit in better with the dominant U.S. culture, though she wholeheartedly recovered her Latin heritage after becom...

Wikimedia Commons Miami, Sep 3 (EFE).- The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC, said Thursday it approved the controlled hunting of up to 320 black bears in October, marking the first time in more than two decades that the animals will be hunted. Environmentalists and animal rights groups oppose the planned hunt, which the FWC justified on the grounds that black bears ...

President Perez Molina of Guatemala. Wikimedia Commons Guatemala City, Sep 3 (EFE).- A Guatemalan judge on Thursday ordered temporary pretrial detention "to guarantee the physical safety" of former Guatemalan president Otto Perez Molina, who is accused of heading the so-called "La Linea" customs department corruption network. "This is only pretrial detention and not preventive detention," c...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Sep 2 (EFE).- The Obama administration is convinced that the nuclear pact reached with Iran by the United States and five other powers will ensure Tehran does not develop an atomic bomb, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday. Kerry delivered a speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia shortly after Sen. Barbara Mikulski announced her sup...

Source: Flickr Commons By Fernando Gimeno Lima, Sep 2 (EFE).- Bandits and drug traffickers are among the dangers lurking on a newly discovered stretch of the Amazon that may make it the world's longest river, an adventure recounted in the documentary "Peeled Faces on the Amazon." U.S. kayaker West Hansen, leader of the Amazon Express, told EFE he was robbed, shot at and ended up on the w...

President Perez Molina of Guatemala. Wikimedia Commons Guatemala City, Sep 1 (EFE).- Guatamala's congress unanimously decided on Tuesday to withdraw the immunity from prosecution heretofore enjoyed by President Otto Perez Molina, who stands accused of heading a customs corruption network known as "La Linea." From this point forward, Perez Molina may be investigated and even arrested for his...

Google's new logo in 2015 San Francisco, Sep 1 (EFE).- Google on Tuesday revealed its new logo, which keeps the red, blue, yellow and green colors of the tech giant's original logo but changes the lettering to a simpler, rounded "Product Sans" font. Until now, the firm has used a serif typeface for its logo for more than 16 years. The tech firm said on its blog that it has changed a lot ...

Source: Carnegie Mellon University London, Aug 31 (EFE).- French and German researchers have detected a new active peptide, a compound formed by the union of various amino acids, which could be an active element in the development of Alzheimer's, according to a study published Monday in Nature magazine. This is the eta-amyloid peptide, which went unnoticed for some 30 years among scientists...

Source: Savioke By Teresa Bouza San Francisco, Aug 31 (EFE).- It's called Relay and it's the latest server at a number of Silicon Valley hotels, which use the diminutive robot to take toothpaste, towels and other supplies to the guests in their rooms. "We have our robots deployed at the Aloft Cupertino hotel, the Aloft Silicon Valley, the Crowne Plaza Milpitas and the Holiday Inn Express...

Ann Patton Bender uses a cane to arrive in court. Source: Carol Vaughn September 4, 2015, San Isidro de El General - Final arguments will be heard in the murder trial of Ann Patton Bender on Friday, September 4th, 2015, beginning at 7:30 AM, in the Poder Judicial Courthouse in San Isidro de El General, Perez Zeledon. The trial is public and open to all interested parties. Ann Bender stands ...

San Jose, Aug 30 (EFE).- President Luis Guillermo Solis has issued an executive order banning the development of hydroelectric power plants along Costa Rica's Pacuare and Savegre rivers for the next 25 years. The environmental protection measure covers power projects with a generating capacity equal to or greater than 500 kilovolts to keep the rivers clean and free of barriers. The goal is t...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Lima, Aug 30 (EFE).- Robbers staged a daring assault on a truck carrying 120 kilograms of gold, along with $1 million and 9 million soles ($2.7 million) in cash, on the runway at the airport in the Peruvian city of Juliaca, local media reported Sunday. Officials with the Public Ministry and the National Police, as quoted by the La Republica and El Comercio dailies,...

Cairo, Aug 30 (EFE).- The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on the weekend issued a communique in which it rejected criticism by foreign entities of the three-year prison sentences imposed on three Al Jazeera journalists by the Cairo Criminal Court. The government called the criticism "unacceptable interference" and accused the critics of trying to "deliberately confuse" the freedom of the press set fo...

"Frederick Forsyth - 01" by Das blaue Sofa - http://www.flickr.com/photos/das-blaue-sofa/6317965950/. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons London, Aug 30 (EFE).- Writer Frederick Forsyth, known for his spy novels, said in an article published in the Sunday Times that he worked for the British Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, for more than 20 years. Forsyth, author of bes...

Wikimedia Commons by Kulpash Konyrova Astana, Aug 29 (EFE).- The United Nations declared Aug. 29 the International Day Against Nuclear Tests at the initiative of those who have by far suffered most from the poisonous effects of decades of nuclear weapons testing, the people of Kazakhstan. On a bright summer day 60 years ago, a large white cloud rode the wind toward an "aul," the Kazakh w...

Marcus Lodewijk Schenkenberg van Mierop better known as Marcus Schenkenberg, is a Swedish model. He was born in Solna and has dual citizenship of both Sweden and the Netherlands. ...