October may seem a long way off, but '80s music lovers should mark the date: Depeche Mode, live in Costa Rica, Oct. 8.

The news came with a long list of dates on the U.K. band's Web site (http://www.depechemode.com/tour.html), announcing their Tour of the Universe 2009.

Although they are icons of a two-decade-old sound, the synth-driven new wave genre, the authors of the hits “Just Can't Get Enough,” “Personal Jesus” and “Enjoy the Silence” have an uncanny knack for avoiding the cut-out bin in music stores, proven once more by the launch last month of their new disc, Sounds of the Universe. The album is ruling the European charts at No. 1 and 2 across much of the Continent, according to Billboard magazine.

However, a Costa Rica promoter has yet to lay claim to the concert or announce a venue, troubling signs considering recent foul-ups like this past weekend's surprise cancelation a concert by Ivory Coast's reggae star Alpha Blondy and early April's last-minute postponement of the performance by Mexican legend Vicente Fernández.

Assuming reliable promoters take charge of the Depeche Mode date, tickets will go on sale June 15, according to the Web site.

Amid the wreckage of a downed helicopter in Cerro de la Muerte, rescue crews found an estimated 347 kilograms of cocaine.

Officials with the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) are still determining the precise amount, but the shipment could be much greater, according to the Public Security Ministry.

The aircraft was carrying a pilot and a companion when it descended into the forested area between San José and San Isidro de El General in the Southern Zone on Friday, killing them both.

The pilot, Edgar Arguedas, worked for the Public Security Ministry for 15 years, the ministry said. The passenger, whose name still hasn't been confirmed, is from Mexico.

The plane left from Pérez Zeledón in the south and was heading toward Turrialba, which is just east of San José, but veered from the typical flight path to follow “a more dangerous” route, ministry officials said.

Janina Del Vecchio, public security minister, indicated this is the first time that her office has seen drugs transported via helicopter.

“Clearly the presence of Mexican cartels in Costa Rica is worrisome,” she said in a statement.

“Such a large amount of suspected cocaine, transported to a warehouse in Costa Rica, confirms what I have been saying, that Costa Rica is not only a transit country for cocaine, but also for storage,” she said.

After her office received criticism for losing 320 kg in confiscated cocaine from a guarded storage unit in March, Del Vecchio assured Costa Ricans that this supply would be guarded appropriately.

“From the first moment, the matter has been handled with absolute discretion and confidentiality, implementing prevention (and security) measures to avoid any surprise.”

News sources are linking the helicopter to one used by White House hotel in San Antonio de Escazú, though repeated phone calls to the resort were unreturned at The Tico Times' deadline.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the accident.

The Marine Turtle Restoration Program (PRETOMA) has launched a campaign to prevent the development of a proposed tuna farm 1.5 kilometers north of Punto Banco in southern Costa Rica's Golfo Dulce.

PRETOMA, an environmental nongovernmental organization, aims to convince national politicians that the farm would harm the environment and fall short of the economic benefits its backers are hoping for.

“This project offers no benefit to these local communities,” said Andy Bystrom, the turtle program's communications director. “With this campaign we are trying to slow things down and eventually end the project completely."

The organization is working with a team of attorneys to create a referendum that would receive public votes for or against the farm in August 2010. Until then, PRETOMA will lobby the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry (MINAET) to halt the continuation of the project.

PRETOMA has fought against the construction of the farm since plans for the project began in 2005, mainly because of fears that fecal matter from the overproduction of tuna could choke the gulf's delicate ecosystem. Bystrom hopes the new official campaign will bring national and political attention to the damage the farm could cause.

Since the communities surrounding the gulf subsist mostly on fishing, it has been easy for PRETOMA to gain local support, according to Bystrom.

“They understand that this would negatively affect their yield,” Bystrom said. “It's been an easy sale for us in the community right now.”

As part of the campaign, launched last week, the NGO opened a bank account to accept donations (see the Web site http://www.pretoma.org for details). Bystrom said he wasn't sure of the total, but has received “floods of e-mails from concerned locals about donations.”

Thailand's government is pressing ahead to seek Nicaragua's cooperation in extraditing fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, despite the added complication that Managua has granted the ex-leader a Nicaraguan passport.

Veerasak Phutrakul, Thailand's foreign minister, said although Bangkok lacks an extradition treaty with Managua, the Thai government is seeking the Central American nation's voluntary cooperation to hand over Shinawatra.

The Thai government has accused the former PM, who was ousted in a political coup in 2006, of stoking the violent protests that paralyzed Bangkok last month.

The Nicaraguan government announced Wednesday it had named Thaksin a "Nicaraguan ambassador on a special mission" to bring investment to the Central American country and issued him a passport in January, the Associated Press reported.