Soul singer Sasha
Sasha Campbell does classic soul and R&B, and some original numbers at Jazz Café, San Pedro, 10 p.m. 

Videoteca del Sur
Free film showing, “El Minero del Diablo,” Feb. 27, 7 p.m., Sala de la Calle 15, Av. 2, Ca. 13/15. Info: 234-092.

Women's Club Barrio Teas
Barrios 3 and 6, near Cuidad Colón, Feb. 27, 2 p.m. Info: 268-6130, 282-6801, 244-3669.

Israel canceled a meeting scheduled for today between Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Majalli Whbee and President Oscar Arias, weeks after Costa Rica recognized the Palestinian territories as a “state.”

“We would like to express our disappointment over this regretful decision of the government of Costa Rica to establish full diplomatic relations with ‘the state of Palestine,'” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel told the Associated Press. “This act of Costa Rica totally contradicts the traditional friendship that characterized its relations with Israel.”

Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said he was trying to reschedule the meeting.

The American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group based in New York, also criticized Costa Rica's decision to recognize the “Palestinian state.”   

“The timing of this decision is both odd and painful,” the group's executive director, David A. Harris, said in a statement this week. “Odd because there is not yet a Palestinian state. Painful because” Costa Rica had appeared to be a loyal ally of Israel.

Christian Guillermet, policy director at the Foreign Ministry, said the recognition would help level the playing field in negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian governments.

“We came to this decision after much reflection,” Stagno said. “It could displease certain sectors, and that is understandable and logical.”

-Tico Times

By Nick Wilkinson
Tico Times Staff | nwilkinson@ticotimes.net

Agents from Interpol and the Immigration Police arrested Lonnie Ted Crabtree, 41, a U.S. citizen wanted for attempted sexual abuse of a 15-year-old minor in Kentucky in 2002.

The arrest was made on Feb. 15 when Crabtree was traveling by bus from Puntarenas to San José, a press release states.

The specific charges against Crabtree, originally from Michigan, include importuning, attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and attempted compelling prostitution.

Crabtree was living in Cobano, in Puntarenas province, with his wife and five children, and he offered English and martial arts classes to minors, authorities said.

The Web site America's Most Wanted, an organization that started as a TV program and focuses on helping law enforcement authorities catch criminals, claimed an anonymous tip to their offices led to Crabtree's arrest.

The Web site said the 15-year old named “Brooke” that Crabtree thought he was soliciting for $130 per hour was actually a detective.

“Crabtree then sent ‘Brooke' a picture of himself, and asked if they could meet that day to engage in sexual intercourse,” the Web site states. “He even offered to pay her $130 an hour since she was a virgin. ‘Brooke' agreed to meet him at a local fast food restaurant. Much to his horror, when he arrived at the restaurant he found not a 15-year-old girl, but a group of detectives.”

Authorities plan to extradite Crabtree to the United States.

Panama's government has signed a free-trade agreement with Guatemala, Central America's biggest economy with 11 million residents.

Panamanian President Martín Torrijos called it a “historic step,” observing his trade minister, Alejandro Ferrer, and Guatemalan Finance Minister Juan José García sign the treaty yesterday during President Alvaro Colom's visit to Panama.

“We've achieved an equal bilateral negotiation,” said Torrijos of the Guatemalan alliance. He continued, “We can attest to the fact that a real deepening of Panama's commercial relations with Central America is already a total reality.”

He called the pact “key” for integration, one that will “allow a stronger Central America and will allow us to move forward.”

President Colom, for his part, characterized the accord as “realizing a sincere friendship between Panama and Guatemala.”

Trade between the two countries in 2007 grossed $120 million.

As far as free trade with its region, Panama is on a roll. Yesterday's signing came on the heels of another pact with Costa Rica that took effect last week. Panama green-lighted free trade with Central America in 2002, signing a protocol that allows it to enter bilateral partnerships with countries throughout the region. Looking beyond the isthmus, Panama is also on track for free trade with Chile in March.

-ACAN-EFE