Source: Dallas PD Washington, Jun 13 (EFE).- A police sniper shot a van driver who had earlier staged a shooting attack against Dallas police headquarters that caused no fatalities. The suspect could be dead, Dallas Police Chief David Brown told a press conference. Dallas police, who gave all the details of the shooting on Twitter, said that after more than four hours without verbal cont...

Wikimedia Commons Madrid, Jun 10 (EFE).- Beijing and Almaty will force voters "to choose between two very different but equally valid offers," with both still needing improvement in some areas, International Olympic Committee, or IOC, Executive Board member Juan Antonio Samaranch said. "They are very different, but both have taken advantage of the 2020 Agenda. We no longer want cities to co...

Jurassic footprints. Source: Wikimedia Commons London, Jun 10 (EFE).- British scientists have found possible blood cells and collagen in the fossilized remains of a dinosaur dating back 75 million years, the journal Nature Communications reported. Researchers found structures that might be red blood cells and other fibers similar to collagen in bones from the Cretaceous period, which lasted...

The fall of the Third Reich and the Nazi movement. Wikimedia Commons Guadalajara, Mexico, Jun 12 (EFE).- Mexican teenagers have sparked controversy with a video showing them flaunting Nazi symbols during a dance contest in this western metropolis. The three-minute clip was shot by a dance enthusiast during the Cheerdance ACMX competition held May 31 in Guadalajara, but was only posted this ...

San Juan, Jun 11 (EFE).- The number of leatherback sea turtle nests spotted this year on San Juan's beaches is the highest on record, thanks to monitoring and conservation efforts by hundreds of residents and volunteers along the shores of Puerto Rico's capital. So far, 22 leatherback nests have been located, compared to the record 18 found last year, Deborah Feliciano, a leader of the 7 Quilla...

FARC child fighter. Flickr Commons Bogota, Jun 10 (EFE).- The attack by the FARC guerrilla group on a pipeline in southwestern Colombia earlier this week caused a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) oil spill that is expected to reach the Pacific coast on Wednesday, Ecopetrol CEO Juan Carlos Echeverry said. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, attacked the Transandino pipeline on Monda...

Flickr Commons By Teresa Bouza San Francisco, Jun 9 (EFE).- Google engineer Eve Andersson does not hesitate to discuss her dream, telling Efe that she wants people with disabilities to "be able to work at whatever they want, study what they like, travel wherever they wish, feel free and empowered." Andersson, who holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California ...

Panama City, Jun 8 (EFE).- Emergency management services in Panama found two French tourists alive on Sunday in the western jungle of Bocas del Toro after they were given up for lost the day before, an official said. A spokesperson for the Sinaproc emergency management agency told reporters that the Frenchmen Elliot Nakache and Herve Dupied, who were on a hiking expedition, were found Monday mo...

By Maria M. Mur Panama City, Jun 9 (EFE).- Latin Americans see junk food as an "aspirational" product that helps them be more like people in rich countries, but the result is obesity and a higher incidence of chronic diseases, Latin American Health Coalition director Beatriz Champagne said. "We aspire to eat the food consumed in the more developed countries," Champagne told Efe. Champagne...

Wikimedia Commons San Juan, Jun 6 (EFE).- A U.S. radio telescope has captured images of an enormous lava lake on the surface of Io, one of the moons orbiting the planet Jupiter, the Puerto Rico Astronomy Society, or PRAS, reported. "The new images clearly show an enormous lake of lava, fed from the subsoil and which exists permanently," PRAS vice president, professor and scientist Armando C...

Wikimedia Commons Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, Jun 6 (EFE).- Mexican teachers on Saturday ended their occupation of two offices of the National Electoral Institute, or INE, and ceased their blockade of the fuel storage and distribution installations of state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos in the southeastern city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, capital of Chiapas state. However, less than 24 hours...

Messi with teammate Neymar. Wikimedia Commons Berlin, Jun 6 (EFE).- FC Barcelona captured its fifth Champions League title with a 3-1 victory here Saturday over Italian club Juventus, which overcame a poor start to put a scare into the Spanish-league powerhouse. With their win at Olympiastadion Berlin, the Catalans also became the first European club to pull off two trebles (domestic league...

US Customs helicopter, Wikipedia Commons Washington, Jun 6 (EFE).- A U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing Saturday in Texas after being fired at from the Mexican side of the border, police said. The spokesman for the police force in Laredo, Texas, Joe Baeza, conveyed the findings of the preliminary investigation to reporters, although he did ...

Pixabay Commons Washington, Jun 4 (EFE).- The personal data of up to four million U.S. federal employees may have been compromised by a massive cyberattack, which could have been the work of Chinese hackers, U.S. authorities said Thursday. The hack-attacks occurred last December but were not detected until April, the U.S. government's Office of Personnel Management said Thursday in a commun...

Sylvania Costa Rica By Carolina Ruiz Global unit shipments of LED lamps and modules are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19% between 2015 and 2024, revealed the latest Navigant Research report on this matter. This report analyzes the global market for LED lamps and modules across all major space lighting uses, as well as market issues, including drivers and tre...

Wikimedia Commons By Francisco Pescatori Buenos Aires, Jun 3 (EFE).- Argentina went back to the "origin of taste" to show that its ice cream is the best in Latin America, and will now journey to the frozen treat's mecca, Italy, to compete for the title of the world's best ice cream. The Argentine ice cream masters team of Ariel Segesser, Daniel Celentano and Erica Rodriguez won the 2nd L...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Jun 3 (EFE).- The Pentagon on Wednesday estimated that active samples of anthrax could have been sent to 51 laboratories in 17 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, in addition to other labs in three countries. Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, said that the Pentagon is assessing the scope of the errors in the distribution of anthrax, which would have b...

New York, Jun 3 (EFE).- A former director of FIFA who was brought to trial by a New York court confessed in 2013 that he had accepted bribes in exchange for selecting the sites of the World Cup in 1998 and 2010, judicial sources said Wednesday. The testimony of former sports director Charles Gordon Blazer, which was given in a closed court session on Nov. 25, 2013, was released Wednesday by the...

Source: Flickr Commons By Julio Cesar Rivas. Toronto, Jun 2 (EFE).- Canada is the North Korea of dairy products with a tight border through which foreign dairy products only pass in dribs and drabs but where, despite everything, Spanish cheeses are the rage. In 2012, Canadian authorities broke up a profitable smuggling network by arresting three people who were illegally bringing product...

Subcell of TBC1D16. More images available at proteinatlas.com Madrid, Jun 1 (EFE).- An international team of researchers has found the mechanism whereby cancerous cells manage to spread from their original location to other parts of the body through the process known as metastasis. The results of the study, headed by Manel Esteller, the director of the Cancer Epigenetics and Biology Program...

Pixabay Public Domain By Patricia Pernas Guatemala City, Jun 1 (EFE).- In Guatemala, one of the world's most violent countries, not even the dead can rest in peace. Open coffins and tombs are common sights in Guatemala City's General Cemetery. "Move to another neighborhood," "the final goodbye," "grow grass" and "go to a better life" are all phrases used to express in words what is in...

Source: Wikimedia Commons By Patricia Alvares Montevideo, Jun 1 (EFE).- Special soil, humidity gauges, pruning shears and books on growing cannabis are among the items in demand in Uruguay a year after the regulations for producing and marketing marijuana under government control took effect. "We noticed that there has been increased demand, and it continues because the market was create...

Johannesburg, May 31 (EFE).- The former president of the local organizing committee for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Danny Jordaan, admitted that the organization he headed paid $10 million in 2008 to FIFA, although he denied that it was a bribe. Jordaan's remarks, published Sunday in the Sunday Independent, come days after an FBI investigation accused top FIFA officials of receiving $10...

J-Lo. Wikimedia Commons Rabat, May 31 (EFE).- The sensuality-charged show offered on the weekend by pop diva Jennifer Lopez at the Mawazine music festival in this capital disgusted Islamist members of the ruling Justice and Development Party, the communications minister of which called its broadcasting on public television "unacceptable." There had been great anticipation over whether JLo w...

Meteorite El Chaco. Wikimedia Commons Buenos Aires, May 31 (EFE).- Police foiled an attempt to steal 215 meteorites weighing 1,500 kilos (1.65 tons) when they stopped a truck at a checkpoint in northern Argentina and arrested four suspects, the Gendarmerie said. Three Argentines and a Paraguayan were arrested on Saturday for stealing the meteorites, the law enforcement agency said in a stat...

Lagrimita. Source: Facebook Guadalajara, Mexico, May 31 (EFE).- Lagrimita the clown can run for mayor of Guadalajara, the capital of the western Mexican state of Jalisco, the TEPJF electoral court said. "We are revoking the resolution of the Jalisco Electoral Institute's General Council under which the independent mayoral candidacy for Guadalajara of the ticket headed by Guillermo Cienfuego...

Messi with teammate Neymar. Wikimedia Commons Barcelona, May 30 (EFE).- Two goals by Leo Messi set the seal on a second title for Barcelona this season, with its conquest of the Copa del Rey in this match coming on the heels of the La Liga championship it won earlier this month. Barca downed Athletic Bilbao 1-3 in an unequal match in which the Argentine striker ruled, an unequal encounter i...

Source: Flickr Commons La Paz, May 29 (EFE).- A protest at a village in the southwestern Bolivian region of Potosi over the rape and murder of a 4-year-old girl turned into disturbances during which an angry mob looted and destroyed offices of the Police Department and the Child Protection Agency, local media reported Friday. Hundreds of Llallagua residents marched Thursday to protest the r...

FIFA President Sepp Blatter. Wikimedia Commons Zurich, Switzerland, May 30 (EFE).- Newly reelected FIFA President Sepp Blatter told members of the media Saturday that he is not concerned about a U.S. Justice Department investigation into alleged corruption within soccer's international governing body, a probe that has already led to seven arrests. "The Americans are making investigations...

By Teresa Bouza San Francisco, May 28 (EFE).- Google made public on Thursday its intention to expand its Android mobile operating system far beyond cellphones, unveiling plans to penetrate a growing number of aspects of daily life with its software. The tech giant on Thursday announced its big product lines for the coming months at its annual conference of developers in San Francisco, where ...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, May 27 (EFE).- NASA has taken the first step on a mission that will try to determine whether Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, has the conditions for life. Nine instruments and sensors have been selected for the spacecraft that will try to determine if a briny ocean is hidden under Europa's frozen crust and whether temperatures on the mysterious moon would allow some...

FARC guerrilla unit marching in 1998. Wikimedia Commons Havana, May 27 (EFE).- The delegation representing the FARC rebels in peace talks here with the Colombian government said Wednesday that one of the group's negotiators was killed in a May 21 airstrike by government forces in southwest Colombia. "Amid the mourning that overwhelms us, we announce to the country and the world that comrade...

"Stephen Curry 2" by Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA - Stephen Curry. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons Oakland, California, May 28 (EFE).- League MVP Stephen Curry showed no ill effects from a nasty fall earlier this week, leading the Golden State Warriors to a series-clinching 104-90 victory over the Houston Rockets and an NBA Finals berth for the first time since 1975. ...

Source: Flickr Commons In Mexico, violence and disregard for human life are spreading throughout society, and three recent incidents involving children underscore how much of a widespread and worrisome problem this has become. The following reports are provided courtesy of Agencia EFE, the wire news service partner of The Costa Rica Star.   Minors who killed boy in Mexico facing confi...

Wikimedia Commons Rio de Janeiro, May 25 (EFE).- Hulk, a forward for Russia's Zenit soccer squad, said that "I would never invent an injury" to avoid playing with the Brazilian national team, as some critics have suggested, and he said he was sure he would soon figure once again in the planning of coach Carlos Caetano Bledorn Veri, known as "Dunga." "Whoever knows me knows that I would neve...

An Uber driver in Bogota. Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, May 25 (EFE).- Hundreds of taxi drivers in Mexico City protested Monday against Uber and the authorities failure to do anything about what they consider an "illegal" service - which the U.S. company answered by offering free rides to customers throughout the day.   Groups of taxi drivers from different parts of the city gather...

Pink iguana postal stamp from Ecuador. Wikimedia Commons Quito, May 25 (EFE).- The Wolf volcano is erupting on Isabela Island in the Galapagos Islands, home to the world's only population of pink land iguanas, the management of Galapagos National Park said Monday. A park official told Efe that, for now, neither the pink nor yellow iguanas nor the giant tortoises will be harmed by the erupti...

Source: Wikimedia Commons San Jose, May 25 (EFE).- Hospital authorities in this capital confirmed Monday the death of another of the sextuplets born in Costa Rica on May 17, only three of whom remain alive, all of them in "delicate" condition.   Neonatologist Patricia Fallas told Efe that the baby named Andres died at San Jose's Mexico Hospital when his brain, heart and kidneys sudd...

Preferred weapon of guerrillas and drug cartels. Mexico City, May 24 (EFE).- Investigators continue gathering evidence at the ranch in the western Mexican state of Michoacan at which 42 suspected drug traffickers and a Federal Police officer died in a shootout. The bodies of the cartel gunmen were removed from the ranch by National Human Rights Commission, or CNDH, and coroner's office pers...

Salvador Allende. Wikimedia Commons Cannes, France, May 24 (EFE).- The 68th edition of the Cannes Film Festival had few Latin American films in the running this year, but most of them came away with important awards, including Mexico's Michel Franco with Best Screenplay for "Chronic." Franco was the only Hispanic in the running for the Palme d'Or with a complex film shot entirely in English...