Scouts Unite: Saturday was the 25th anniversary of the Scouts, a group of Costa Rican children who meet every week in the southern San José neighborhood of Hatillo to learn skills such as setting up tents, climbing ropes and building fires.

Scientists are predicting that a total lunar eclipse will be visible from Costa Rica tomorrow morning at 4:37 a.m.

Master Cooking Contest
Today through Friday, Inter-American University, Heredia; finals, Oct. 2-3, Ramada Plaza Herradura, Ciudad Cariari, northwest of San José. Info: www.maestroculinario.com

Creativity Festival
Singing, dance, theater, today and tomorrow, 9 a.m., National Auditorium, inside National Children's Museum, San José, end of Calle 4. Info: 258-4929.

Costa Rica and Lebanon reestablished diplomatic relations after 23 years during a ceremony Friday at the United Nations headquarters in New York, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

The decision was made by both countries to “promote the spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding and develop ties of friendship under the principles of the United Nations and in conformance with the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations,” said Costa Rican Ambassador to the United Nations Jorge Urbina.

Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said the establishment of relations with Lebanon will “allow for a better political and diplomatic approximation with the Arabic and Islamic world in general and open commercial relations with these markets.”

During the past year, Costa Rica has also established diplomatic ties with Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain and Yemen as part of the process of “normalizing relations with Arab nations,” he added.

Costa Rica and Lebanon broke diplomatic relations in 1984 after the Islamic League Conference called on Arab states to reconsider their ties with Costa Rica because it chose to maintain its Israeli Embassy in Jerusalem, a city at the center of bitter disputes among members of different religious creeds who for years have claimed it as their own.

On Aug. 16, 2006, President Oscar Arias announced Costa Rica would move its Embassy in Israel from Jerusalem, where it had been for 24 years, to Tel Aviv (TT, Aug. 18, 2006). At the time, Costa Rica and El Salvador were the only two countries in the world with their embassies in Jerusalem.

-Tico Times

An increase in violence by youth gangs in Central America is worrying the region's leaders, some of whom gathered in San José Friday and Saturday for a regional forum on the issue organized by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

About 150,000 young people in the region are involved in gangs, according to Gonzalo Abad, coordinator of UNESCO's Group for Youth Development and the Prevention of Violence in Central America.

The forum, called “Open Dialogue about Policies of Youth Development and Violence Prevention: Working Together for a Culture of Prevention,” gathered government representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Representatives of the Organization of American States, the Central American Integration System and international cooperation agencies also attended.

The goal of this encounter was to promote cooperation and dialogue between governments in the region and find ways to decrease violence, a problem affecting public security, democratic government and the economies of Central American countries, said a statement from UNESCO.

Costa Rican Vice-President Laura Chinchilla said the countries most affected by gangs in the region are Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. She added that Costa Rica should work to prevent gang violence from increasing here while “there is still time.”

UNESCO worked with the Costa Rican government to organize the forum.

-ACAN-EFE

Scientists are predicting that a total lunar eclipse will be visible from Costa Rica tomorrow morning at 4:37 a.m.

This phenomenon, which occurs when the sun, earth and moon are aligned, is likely to turn the sky a reddish color, according to the daily La Nación.

The eclipse is expected to begin at 1:53 a.m., when the moon begins to move into the shadow of the earth, according to information posted on the U.S. National Air and Space Administration's (NASA) Web site.

At first, the moon will appear normal, but as it moves into the earth's shadow it will undergo a “surprising metamorphosis.”

A partial eclipse is expected to begin at 2:51 a.m., followed by a total eclipse at 3:52 a.m. The climax will occur at 4:37 a.m., when the moon will glow a red color and stay this way for about 90 minutes.

The best place to watch the lunar eclipse will be in spots with clear views of the horizon to the west. Because the sun will be getting ready to rise when the total eclipse occurs, the moon will be low on the horizon, almost out of sight.

“If the weather favors us, this could be a very beautiful event,” Costa Rican physicist José Alberto Villalobos told the daily.