French film
“Le Serpent,” drama, at 3, 5, 7 p.m., Variedades Theater, Ca. 5, Av. Central/1, info: 2222-6108.

Short films
Organized by the Image Center of the INA, showing its latest production “Cualquiera,” the story of three women of the Zona Roja of San José, 6:30 p.m., Hotel Ramada Plaza Herradura, info: 2218-0992.

Quinto Día in concert
Rock, www.myspace.com/quintodia, at Jazz Café, San Pedro, 10 p.m.

The cyst on Costa Rican President Oscar Arias' vocal chords will need more time to heal than doctors originally thought, according to Casa Presidencial spokeswoman Mishelle Mitchell.

After examining Arias May 21, doctors at the U.S. clinic Ear, Nose & Throat Associates in Philadelphia told the president to rest his voice for four weeks – a period that ends today. But Mitchell said Arias will need another two weeks to fully recover.

Arias is slowly taking on more responsibilities, Mitchell said. He attends the weekly cabinet meeting, and last week he formally received the new U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica, Peter Cianchette.

“When he does talk, his phrases are quite short,” Mitchell said. “You can hear him a lot better now, thank God.”

For the past five weeks, Arias has delegated most of his duties to Vice President Laura Chinchilla and to his brother, Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias.

Last month, Chinchilla represented Arias at a summit in Peru for heads of state from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and at a meeting in Brazil with regional presidents to discuss renewable energy.

Most Costa Rican employers do not intend to expand their workforce within the next quarter, according to a nationwide survey released last week by Manpower.

Manufacturing jobs are expected to increase at the highest rate, while the agriculture, fishing, and mining sectors will see the smallest growth, the survey said.

The human resources consulting group surveyed 625 employers throughout Costa Rica about their hiring plans for July through September. Among those responding, 32 percent plan to expand in coming months, while 61 percent did not predict any change in their workforce size.

Another 5 percent of those surveyed planned to cut jobs, leaving a potential net employment growth of 27 percent for the third quarter.

Job-seekers may find luck in Heredia province, north of San José, where the employee pool is expected to expand by 35 percent. On the contrary, employers in the Pacific province of Puntarenas and the Caribbean province of Limón only foresee 2 percent job growth – the worst rate for those regions since Manpower started its surveys in late 2006.

The manufacturing sector promised the largest growth, with a 38 percent increase, Manpower reported. That number is weaker than last quarter, when the sector predicted 45 percent expansion. Last year's projected growth for the third quarter was 17 percent.

Meanwhile, the agriculture, fishing, and mining sectors could see minimal growth, according to Manpower. Employers projected a 7 percent increase in employment in coming months. Compare that to the same period last year, when employment growth was set at 30 percent.

Last year at this time, Manpower's survey found similar results among Costa Rican employers. About a third of businesses then planned to hire more workers, while 6 percent planned cuts.

Construction, transportation and communication were the most promising sectors in the third quarter of 2007, while manufacturing showed weaker expectations.

Two tourists, a husband and wife, were robbed at gunpoint last Friday in broad daylight outside of the Basilica de Santo Domingo in Heredia, north of San José.

“This was 4:30 in the afternoon,” said Jim Twomey, owner of Bibi's Bed and Breakfast, where the tourists were staying. “There were kids coming home from school. (They were) a block away from the high school.”

The wife was snapping pictures with a camera when two men wearing hooded sweatshirts approached them and demanded the money belt that the man was wearing, Twomey said.

Upon seeing the weapon, the man backed into the middle of the street while loudly screaming, “No,” Twomey said.

People started to take notice of what was happening, and the robbers grabbed the woman's camera and fled, Twomey said.

“I am not sure, but the fact that there were so many people around may have kept the bad guys from shooting them,” Twomey said. “The guests were lucky they weren't killed, although it was clever of the guy to slowly move away and attract attention to himself by shouting.”

The couple had been planning to spend five weeks studying Costa Rican culture, but opted to go home after the incident.

“They learned enough about the culture of Costa Rica on Friday to last them a lifetime and they left today,” Twomey said. “They won't be back.”