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18 Jul 2006 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, July 18, 2006
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| ABOVE The Net: Natalia Alfaro, 19, dives to levy the ball over the net during a practice with Yanina Aguilar, her teammate on the Costa Rican national women's volleyball team. The team left yesterday for Cartagena, Colombia, where they will compete in the Central American and Caribbean games alongside Costa Rican athletes in 12 other sports. Mónica Quesada/Tico Times |
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Sportsbook Owner Arrested
in
United States on Charges
of Racketeering, Conspiracy
and Fraud
David Carruthers, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Costa Rica-based sports betting Internet site (sportsbook) BetonSports.com, was arrested by U.S. police while changing planes at the Dallas airport Sunday night, according to the BBC Web site.
(Click for more)
Honduras Likely to Lift
Ban on Costa Rican Chicken
Honduran Agricultural Minister Héctor Hernández announced yesterday that his country might resume importing Costa Rican chicken July 31, ending a ban implemented June 18 after hundreds of chickens in the Caribbean Limón province were found to be carrying the respiratory disease laryngotracheitis.
(Click for more)
MOPT Advises Drivers to
Be Cautious
As Students
Return to School
Approximately one million students returned to school yesterday after a two-week break at the beginning of this month, and the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT), took advantage of the occasion to remind drivers and parents of precautions they can take to avoid traffic accidents.
(Click for more)
July 18
Clarinet and Piano Concert
Free concert with pianist couple Oskar Espina and Noriko Nagasawa, 7 p.m., University of Costa Rica (UCR) School of Music, room 107, San Pedro, east of San José.
Jazz Concert
The University of New York Jazz Trio performs, 7 p.m., José Figueres Cultural Center, San Ramón, Alajuela, northwest of San José. Info: 447- 2178. Free.
Edited By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Sportsbook Owner Arrested in United States
on Charges of Racketeering, Conspiracy and Fraud
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
David Carruthers, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Costa Rica-based sports betting Internet site (sportsbook) BetonSports.com, was arrested by U.S. police while changing planes at the Dallas airport Sunday night, according to the BBC Web site.
Carruthers, from the United Kingdom, is one of 11 people working for four online gambling companies charged with racketeering, conspiracy and fraud, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
BetonSports PLC is a publicly-traded company that owns a number of Internet sportsbooks and casinos founded by Gary Kaplan, who has been charged with 20 felony violations of federal laws, the statement said.
Kaplan allegedly started his gambling enterprise in the early 1990s and later moved it offshore to Costa Rica, where Carruthers was at its helm. Carruthers and Kaplan's 10 other associates arrested allegedly “failed to pay federal wagering excise taxes on more than $3.3 billion in wagers taken from the United States,” the statement said.
Carruthers, 49, who splits his time between Costa Rica and Worcestershire, England, is under police custody in Ft. Worth, Texas and is being prosecuted by the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division.
BetonSports marketing and operations director Clyve Archer told The Tico Times the company has no information about Carruther's arrest besides U.S. Department of Justice statement.
Honduras Likely to Lift
Ban on Costa Rican Chicken
Honduran Agricultural Minister Héctor Hernández announced yesterday that his country might resume importing Costa Rican chicken July 31, ending a ban implemented June 18 after hundreds of chickens in the Caribbean Limón province were found to be carrying the respiratory disease laryngotracheitis.
Honduran exports have been in Costa Rica since last week investigating the laryngotracheitis outbreak and the actions Costa Rican authorities are taking to combat it, Hernández said.
If Honduran authorities determine that Costa Rica is free of the disease within the next two weeks, Honduras will reopen its market for Costa Rican chicken imports July 31, Hernández said, adding that the ban was put in place to “avoid the entrance of chicken with any type of avian disease.”
In June, 280 Costa Rican chickens were found to be infected with the disease; 34 of them died, and the remaining 246 were sacrificed. Honduras then banned Costa Rican chicken at the request of its National Association of Poultry Farmers.
Costa Rican trade and agriculture authorities reacted to Honduras' ban by asserting that its Central American neighbor was overreacting in light of cases of the deadly avian flu in Asia, Africa and Europe Costa Rica is completely free of avian flu, experts say (TT, July 14).
-ACAN-EFE and Tico Times
MOPT Advises Drivers to Be Cautious
As Students Return to School
Approximately one million students returned to school yesterday after a two-week break at the beginning of this month, and the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT), took advantage of the occasion to remind drivers and parents of precautions they can take to avoid traffic accidents.
Additional transit police were vigilant yesterday around 107 schools that are considered “high risk” because of their location, according to a statement from the ministry. Transit police were watching out for drivers exceeding the 25-km-per-hour speed limit established in school zones.
Drivers are encouraged to be extra cautious during prime hours for pedestrian traffic, from 6:30-7:15 a.m., around 1 p.m. and from 4 p.m.-6 p.m.
Parents should also teach their children to cross at crosswalks and advise them of the safest routes to and from school, the statement said. Dressing children in bright colors and/or reflective jackets is also recommended, particularly during the rainy season and evening hours.
-Tico Times
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