The U.S.-based Geothermal Resources Council (GRC), a global leader in the field, honored the late Costa Rican scientist Alfredo Mainieri Protti during its awards ceremony that honors the best and brightest of the global geothermal energy community, said the non-profit group this week. Earlier this year, Costa Rica's Electricity Institute (ICE) bestowed another honor on the country's geothermal pi...

On the morning of September 8, Taro Kono, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, held a meeting with Manuel Antonio Gonzalez Sanz, Minister of Foreign Relations of the Republic of Costa Rica, who was visiting Japan on a tour of East Asia earlier this month, said Japanese and Costa Rican government statements.   Minister Kono welcomed Minister Gonzalez to Japan, noted that Japan and Cost...

Couples who are lined up to receive in vitro fertilization treatments are unhappy about delays in provision of the service by Costa Rica's public health system. They have requested a meeting with Executive President of the Costa Rican Social Security Agency (CCSS) Fernando Llorca to express their concerns over the delays, given that the country has a commitment under international human rights ...

Over 2,000 homes and businesses in Guanacaste, Costa Rica will benefit from a new clean energy source: that created by the region's abundant sun, said a report in Central America's Summa business magazine. The energy distribution company Coopeguanacaste, R.L. has developed the Juanilama Solar Park, the largest in the country with an installed capacity of 5 Megawatts (MW) and generating 9 Gigawa...

After filing complaints to no avail with the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works (MOPT) about the dangers of crocodile viewing on a heavily transited bridge along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, environmental activist and lawyer Walter Brenes appealed to the country's Supreme Court on the issue earlier this year. This week, the country's high court issued a ruling saying the ministry h...

Need a quick, super boost of energy? Rooster is "the first natural, coffee-based, low-calorie energizer," to be created and sold, say the energy drink's Costa Rican creators. With no sugar, no gluten and no lactose, the 15-calorie drink is said to help with physical endurance and performance, with burning fat, and with aiding in mental alertness, concentration and memory, on the Rooster Coff...

Debt-for-nature swaps are financial transactions in which a portion of a developing nation's foreign debt is forgiven in exchange for local investments in environmental conservation measures. Monday, the debt-for-nature swap between the United States and Costa Rica invited non-profit organizations to submit proposals for forest conservation projects in the 7th round of funding under the program...

The second beach volleyball open tournament will take place in Tamarindo, Guanacaste on Saturday, September 16. The Costa Rican national team will face off against competitors from the United States, Colombia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The format is two-on-two, and promises to be a thrilling event with very strong athletes competing, according to Ivannia Ramirez, event organizer. Also on S...

While air service through Florida has already started resuming after Hurricane Irma unleashed its destruction over the southeastern U.S. state this past weekend, American Airlines announced they were extending a suspension of flights between San José and Florida until this Friday, September 15. The airline's remaining eight flights scheduled for the remainder of the week have been canceled. ...

Eight local governments have decided to ban the sale of liquor from Thursday evening until Friday evening, September 15, to try to curb the potential negative effects of drinking on the Independence Day holiday activities. Moravia (a northern San José district), Heredia Center, Palmares, Alajuela Center, Sarapiquí, Goicoechea (a northern San José district) ,and Alajuelita (a southern San José d...

Burger King Costa Rica this week announced plans to open a new restaurant in San Rafael de Escazú, as the company, which scaled way back a couple of years ago, begins to make a comeback in Costa Rica. The new fast food location will be in San Rafael de Escazú, 50 meters east of the Yanuario Quesada School and across from the Barrio Lujan bakery, said the company. Last year, Burger King repor...

Remember back in mid-May when a man was shot dead as his car pulled into the gate of a private school in Guachipelín, Escazú, Costa Rica? Well, the victim of the shooting, Elias Akl, and his brother, Ziad Akl, both of Lebanese descent and with U.S. connections as well, appear to have run a money-lending organization in a sort of thug-like manner. Two men who are alleged to have formed part o...

The Costa Rican National Emergency Commission (CNE, in Spanish) and the Municipality of San José are organizing an earthquake drill today, Tuesday, September 12, as part of preventive measures in this country with high seismic activity. More than 60,000 people are expected to participate, which will include employees and customers/clients at 43 public and private entities located in 132 buildin...

  Starting this week and lasting until November 30, hearings are taking place at the San José Criminal Court on the case of five men who are accused of illicit trafficking of human organs in Costa Rica. The defendants are Mauro, Fonseca, Monge, Katsigiannis and Mora and are allegedly part of a transnational organization dedicated to human organ trafficking. The men were arrested in 2...

The 64-kilometer stretch linking San José with the Atlantic-region town of Guápiles is considered the most dangerous in Costa Rica, according to experts who participated in the 2017 Geotechnics Seminar held in San José. This year's event focused on mountain routes, and was sponsored by the Costa Rican Geotechnical Association (ACG) a non-governmental organization belonging to the Costa Rica Civ...

With the country's estimated population as of June 30, 2017 at 4,947,490 according to the Costa Rican Census and Statistics Institute, a second morgue will be a helpful addition to the court's services, said the judicial branch last week. The northern region of San Carlos, home to Arenal Volcano, is slated to see the construction of a morgue in the near future. The President of the Supreme C...

Grupo Britt Costa Rica is holding a job fair in Guanacaste this week from September 11 - 14 where the company aims to hire at least 50 people for its stores, and new food and beverage outlets. For its Britt cafés, the company is hiring food and beverage supervisors, baristas, kitchen assistants, wait staff, tellers, and cleaning assistants. All positions except cleaning positions require a h...

The start of this year's southern Pacific Whale and Dolphin Festival coincides with Costa Rica's Independence Day. The 9th edition of the festival will be held from September 15 to October 1 at Punta Uvita's Marino Ballena National Park. Community members and especially tour operators got some additional good news for their festival week when the Costa Rican Tourism Institute announced the appr...

Costa Rica's Ombudsman's Office (Defensoria de los Habitantes) conducted a technical study on the country's mobile phone and internet market and in a public address today expressed serious concerns over a plan to open the market, saying the market has not evolved into a competitive market. The Telecommunications Superintendency (Sutel) in an August 31, 2016 report determined that the Costa Rica...

Two reforms to Costa Rica's weapons and explosives law that have recently been proposed are being met with opposition from the country's libertarian party. One project aims to reduce the number of weapons that can be registered by an individual, and would limit that number from a current total of three to only one. Likewise the number of weapons corporations would be allowed to register under t...

Costa Rica's retail clothing and accessories store, Ekono, with 37 outlets throughout the country, announced this week an alliance with AirPak - Western Union, said the company in a press release. The partnership will allow customers to access the Colorado, U.S.-based transnational Western Union's domestic and international money wire services. With this alliance, customers of Ekono will be ...

Former Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Óscar Arias Sánchez must appear for a preliminary hearing for apparent malfeasance, or breach of public trust, regarding the open-pit mining case of Crucitas in northern Costa Rica near the Nicaraguan border. The area was to be mined by Canadian transnational Infinito Gold who intended to exploit gold valued more than 800 million doll...

Costa Rica's public childcare services are rapidly expanding to meet the growing needs of women, especially female heads of households who are undertaking night school and other educational programs, said the country's nutrition and infant centers, called Dirección Nacional de Centros de Educación y Nutrición y de Centros Infantiles de Atención Integral, or CEN-CINAI, in Spanish. Since May 2016...

When Alejo Leiva Lachner, a university student from San José, went to Guanacaste, Costa Rica for Spring break at the beach with friends, nobody ever imagined he'd never return. Last March at Guanacaste's Playas del Coco, what appeared to be a small disagreement between the students and a pirate taxi driver turned into a mob killing that stunned the entire country. Five men are facing trial o...

The Turrialba Volcano near Cartago, Costa Rica started churning back to life yesterday after a few weeks of calm. Yesterday, Sept. 5, 2017, the volcano started spewing a column of ash 1,000 meters above its crater, reported the National University's Volcanology and Seismology Observatory (Ovsicori-UNA). Ash has been flowing out of the crater since yesterday, and ashfall has been reported in ...

U.S. citizen, Randall Lindner, who was also a resident of Costa Rica, was the second person to die in an airplane accident this morning, Tuesday, September 5, in the western San José, Costa Rica district of Pavas. His death was registered at the San José Calderón Guardia Hospital this afternoon, said the Costa Rican Social Security Agency (CCSS) which runs the country's national hospital and cl...

More details are starting to become available on the deadly small aircraft crash early this morning near the Pavas, San José airport which affected six individuals. However, Nature Air, who operated the flight, said they were not making public statements on the event due to the fact that the crash is under investigation by the Civil Aviation Department. A woman identified as Costa Rican Marí...

A plane operated by NatureAir with five passengers plus a pilot on board crashed into a river in Pavas, a western sector of San José, Costa Rica early this morning which were confirmed by the airline. It is confirmed that five passengers were on board, and one of them, a woman estimated to be 40 years old, died as a result of the crash. Information on the identities and nationalities of the pas...

Scientists in Tennessee identified something curious in Costa Rica’s crocodiles that has sent them on a global journey to understand the potential role of a synthetic hormone in changing the reptiles’ sex. A recent report in Science Magazine discussed the muddy crocodile sex-tracking forays of Chris Murray, physiological ecologist at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, and his res...

Listeria may not be part of your daily lexicon, but if you've ever been pregnant it probably was once on your radar. The bacteria can be spread by contaminated food, and can cause a rare infection that can be deadly in 20-30 percent of infections. Pregnant women are 10 times more likely than other people to get a Listeria infection, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control. ...

Costa Rican high school students can apply for a full 4-year scholarship for study at a U.S. university through the Walton Program (WISP), an initiative of the founders of Walmart to benefit youth in Mexico and Central America, said the company this week. "Walmart of Mexico and Central America invites Costa Ricans who have excellent qualifications to compete for this benefit that will allow them ...

Many in the San José metropolitan area snoozed through the 5:28 quake that rocked Pavones in southern Costa Rica, but most were rocked by the lesser magnitude one that occurred half an hour later. At 5:50 a.m., a 3.2 tremor was registered 7 kms southeast of Ciudad Colón, a small city west of the capital city. Initial reports from the National  University's Volcanology and Seismology Obnsevatory...

Costa Rica's Ministry of Transportation and Public Works announced that repairs have been made to the damaged ferry dock in Paquera on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, thus allowing service to resume between Puntarenas and Paquera on Tuesday, September 5. The service, which is used by locals and tourists alike to connect to Puntarenas and points beyond, was suspended August 15 when par...

Costa Rica's Sibu Chocolate company recently took the silver medal at the International Chocolate Awards ceremony for its apple and lemon caramel-covered milk chocolate bonbon, made with 55 percent cocoa, said a report in Central America's Summa business magazine. Sibu stood out among 650 chocolates submitted from around the world, and was the only award winner in Central America. The carame...

On a tour in East Asia since last week, Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Gonzalez Sanz has visited Indonesia and also Brunei to strengthen diplomatic and trade relations with both nations, said the foreign ministry this week. After meeting in Jakarta with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Gonzalez presided over the formal inauguration of Costa Rica's embassy which opened ...

Costa Rica's policy towards migrants seeking transit through the country has been to grant them a 25-day permit and basic assistance at border shelters, after a screening procedure to register their country of origin and to vet any criminals. Recent years has seen a new phenomenon of migrants from diverse countries in Africa, Asia, as well as Haiti arriving at Costa Rica's southern border with ...

Assassinations, whether for settling a score between drug-related groups or for other motives, are increasingly part of the daily news in Costa Rica. This weekend saw what appears to be another such killing, this time on the popular central Pacific beach of Herradura, named for its horseshoe-shaped bay, which neighbors the tourist hotspot of Jacó. A man sitting near the beach was shot at by ...

Wednesday, September 30 the Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela, Costa Rica was the scene of the 18th capture of a "drug mule" so far this year, said the Ministry of Public Security. Officials with Costa Rica's drug control police (PCD) stopped a 54-year-old Romanian man surnamed Oprisoni who was heading for Spain, and later discovered he was carrying packets of cocaine in his sto...

A ruling Monday on the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador charged 20 ship crew members with steep fines and prison time for fishing in protected waters, said a report on 88.5 WFDD, Public Radio for the Piedmont in North Carolina, U.S. The ruling comes at a moment when Costa Rican conservationists are seeking global support to prohibit the exportation of a stockpile of tons of hammerhead shark fin...

U.S. Embassy officials traveled to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica this week with a delivery of equipment and resources to bolster opportunities for students in Limón to learn about robotics and computer skills, said the U.S. Embassy press office. The American Corner at Limón's Thomas Lynch Public Library was the recipient this week of US$12,000 in new equipment for students to develop their ...