Two assailants yesterday morning shot and killed a security guard at Santa Bárbara hardware store in shopping center of Escazú, a suburb southwest of San José, the Judicial Investigative Police said.

Summer Workshops
For kids 3-11, Transporters, today; Waterworld, tomorrow, and Jan. 24; Insects, Friday, and Jan. 25; Planting Seeds, Jan. 15 and 29; Don Teo's Farm, Jan. 16 and 30; Bug Safari, Jan. 17 and 31; Frog and Toad World, Jan. 18 and Feb. 1; Trail Explorers, Jan. 23, National Biodiversity Institute (INBio), Santo Domingo, Heredia, 507-8100.

Open Classes at University of Costa Rica
Including homeopathy, arts, sports, jewelry, computer, languages, dance, among others, registration today and tomorrow, School of General Studies, University of Costa Rica, San Pedro Campus, 207-4165.

December closed with the highest monthly inflation of the year, at 1.64%, bumping 2007's final accumulated inflation to 10.81%.

The month also had the highest inflation of any December for the last 10 years, according to figures released by the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC).

Price increases leading the inflationary charge in December were those on non-alcoholic food and drink (20.96%), alcoholic drinks and cigarettes (11.08%), food and drink outside the home (13.74%), education (11.70%) and transportation (10.48%), among others.

-Tico Times

Costa Rican consulates in Nicaragua are being inundated with visa applications, filed by would-be Nicaraguan émigrés in search of a better life and work opportunities in their neighboring country to the south.

The number of applications piling up at offices in Managua, Rivas and Chinandega averages 5,000 a day, while consulates are only outfitted to handle 3,500, Antonio Tacsan, the Costa Rican Ambassador to Nicaragua, told the daily La Nación.

“The number (of people) is overwhelming. No matter how hard we try, we don't have the capacity to attend them all,” the ambassador said.

For their part, Nicas – the nickname for Nicaraguans – were dismayed to find an unexpected consulate processing fee after the Christmas holiday. Immigrants must pay Banco de la Producción a fee of $20, $0.25 of which goes to the bank.

-Tico Times

Two assailants yesterday morning shot and killed a security guard at Santa Bárbara hardware store in shopping center of Escazú, a suburb southwest of San José, the Judicial Investigative Police said.

The victim was 45 years old and of Nicaraguan origin, a police statement said, offering only his last name, Risso.

According to a preliminary police report, burglars armed with pistols entered the Bello Horizonte mall at 11 a.m. As they tried to reach the second floor, they were intercepted by the security guard. Risso tried to stop them from passing, and he was shot in the head, dying before Red Cross workers arrived on the scene.

Once outside the mall, the assailants escaped in a vehicle, the report said, noting the guard thwarted the theft as nothing was taken from the mall.