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27 Mar 2006 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, March 27, 2006
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British Crime Experts Visit to
Discuss Online Child Pornography
Combating child pornography on the Internet can't be the work of a single country – it must be an international effort, said Rob Wall, an advisor to the U.K. National Crime Squad, at a press conference on Friday that marked the culmination of his week-long visit to Costa Rica to meet with officials and share strategies for targeting child pornography.
(Click for more)
Access to Poás Volcano
Restricted After Eruptions
Authorities at the Poás Volcano National Park, north of San José, restricted entrance to the park yesterday after various eruptions registered beginning Friday evening.
(Click for more)
Arias and Solís Begin Dialogue
Beginning a process that Costa Rican leaders agree is fundamental, President-elect Oscar Arias and his main opponent Ottón Solís held their first, much-anticipated meeting Friday. Both called the discussion “very respectful” and said it was the first of many conversations to come over the next four years between the leaders and their respective parties, the National Liberation Party (PLN) and the Citizen Action Party (PAC).
(Click for more)
Cell Phone Earnings Increase 142%
Profits from cellular phones in Costa Rica reached $146 million in 2005, marking a 142% increase over 2004, reported El Financiero.
(Click for more)
March 27
First Aid Workshop
March 27-April 6, Club Campestre Colegio de Enfermeras. Info: 458-1212.
World Theater Day
Day dedicated to theater and its actors. Costa Rican actors will be celebrated with a reading of a message written by Mexican Víctor Hugo Rascón, 7:30 p.m., Teatro La Aduana, San José.
Edited By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
British Crime Experts Visit to
Discuss Online Child Pornography
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Combating child pornography on the Internet can't be the work of a single country – it must be an international effort, said Rob Wall, an advisor to the U.K. National Crime Squad, at a press conference on Friday that marked the culmination of his week-long visit to Costa Rica to meet with officials and share strategies for targeting child pornography.
Wall, along with U.K. National Crime Squad Inspector Paul Griffiths, sat down with representatives from Radiográfica Costarricense S.A. (RACSA), the state-owned Internet provider, and talked about tools, such as filters and internationally published lists of child pornography sites, RACSA can use to restrict Costa Ricans' access to child pornography on the Internet.
There are an estimated 100,000 child pornography sites on the Internet, Griffiths explained, and studies have shown that people who view child pornography on the Internet often abuse children sexually, sometimes through sex tourism.
“For sex offenders, the Internet is a global medium and a way to do business,” Griffiths said.
While RACSA has mechanisms in place to block child pornography sites once they're discovered, it could do more to prevent these sites from ever appearing on Costa Ricans' computers, Wall said.
There is no evidence that any child pornography sites are run out of Costa Rica or that the viewing of child pornography is a bigger problem here than in other countries, Wall said. However, as more Costa Ricans gain access to the Internet, there will likely be more viewing of child pornography, he explained, since countries with more Internet users statistically have more people accessing online child pornography.
The two experts also met with representatives from the nonprofits Paniamor and Alianza and the Public Security Ministry, where Wall said they learned strategies Costa Rica uses to combat child sexual exploitation that they will take back to the United Kingdom.
The visit was what Wall said he hopes will be a lasting partnership between the two countries to continue addressing this global problem.
“Costa Rica is already doing some great work to target sex offenders, and they were very keen on learning new strategies,” Wall said.
Access to Poás Volcano
Restricted After Eruptions
Authorities at the Poás Volcano National Park, north of San José, restricted entrance to the park yesterday after various eruptions registered beginning Friday evening.
Three eruptions from Poás registered Friday night; the strongest, registered at 7:53 p.m., blew sediment and rocks 150 meters into the air, reported La Nación. Friday was the first time the volcano had erupted in 12 years.
Five more eruptions registered Saturday between 6:50 a.m. and 1:11 p.m. The eruptions were the result of an accumulation of sediments and the release of hot gases below the turquoise lake in the volcano's center.
Access to the volcano will remain restricted until authorities can better determine the degree of danger the eruptions present within the national park, though they don't believe surrounding communities will be affected. A popular tourist attraction, 284,000 people visited Poás last year, according to La Nación.
Yesterday scientists from the Costa Rican Volcanic and Seismologic Observatory (OVSICORI) together with those from Universidad Nacional (UNA) visited the volcano to collect information about the recent eruptions, but they remained on the eastern part of the volcano for safety reasons, according to a statement from OVSICORI-UNA.
-Tico Times and ACAN-EFE
Arias and Solís Begin Dialogue
By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
Beginning a process that Costa Rican leaders agree is fundamental, President-elect Oscar Arias and his main opponent Ottón Solís held their first, much-anticipated meeting Friday. Both called the discussion “very respectful” and said it was the first of many conversations to come over the next four years between the leaders and their respective parties, the National Liberation Party (PLN) and the Citizen Action Party (PAC).
Not surprisingly, little progress was made in finding a common path to address the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), the most decisive issue that separated the two candidates in the Feb. 5 election. Following the two-hour meeting, Solís told the press that he was disappointed that Arias was not serious about renegotiating CAFTA, as a letter sent by Arias to Solís earlier this month suggested. In the letter, Arias invites Solís to go to Washington D.C. with future Vice-Presidents Kevin Casas and Laura Chinchilla to “explore” the possibility of renegotiating CAFTA.
As he stood on Arias's front porch, with the President-elect a few feet away, Solís called this offer “a joke.”
Arias responded to the press that the invitation was not a joke, and that he would like Solís to hear what he has been told by officials in Washington about the possibility of renegotiation.
“Republicans, Democrats, common friends, people from the White House, those in favor of CAFTA, those against, have all said the options Costa Rica has are to approve CAFTA or reject it. But they have no interest in renegotiating,” Arias said.
Beyond CAFTA, the leaders discussed the legislative bill to reform the country's tax system, which was last week found unconstitutional by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) (TT, March 24) and a Liberation proposal to increase education spending to 8% of the GDP, from the current 6%.
Cell Phone Earnings Increase 142%
Profits from cellular phones in Costa Rica reached $146 million in 2005, marking a 142% increase over 2004, reported El Financiero.
Data from the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), the state-owned telecommunications monopoly, indicated that in 2005, earnings from cell phones reached $268.8 million, while operating costs were $122.8 million. Of the 4.2 million people living in Costa Rica, around 1.2 million have cell phones.
The cell phone sector is one of those most open to competition in the telecommunications industry if Costa Rica ratifies the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).
Under CAFTA, lucrative ICE-controlled markets would be open to competition, including the cell phone and Internet markets. Costa Rica is the only signatory country that has not ratified CAFTA.
-ACAN-EFE