Play: ‘Prohibido Suicidarse en Primavera'
Based on the book by Alejandro Casasona, 7 p.m. and Saturday at 5 and 7 p.m., Casa de la Ciudad, Cartago.

Opening of the Trailer AVATAR (3D)
Directed by James Cameron, at 7, 7:30, 8, and 8:30 p.m., Cinemark Multiplaza, Escazú. People can find free tickets at different radio stations, Web sites and TV shows.

Breakdance Festival in Curridabat
Aug. 21, 5 p.m., opening ceremony; 5:15 p.m., opening show; 5:45 p.m., selection of best B-boy and B-girl, Escuela Juan Santamaría, north side of church. Aug. 22, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., graffiti exhibit, trial biker exhibit, SK8 exhibit, Parque Freses; 3 p.m., concerts by Beat Box Patrick, DJ MF, Mistico, park; 4 p.m., Parcour Exhibit, park; 4:20 p.m., hip-hop dance, park; Brazilian judges exhibition, with B-boy Neguin, B-boy Mixa, B-girl Miwa, 5 p.m., Escuela Juan Santamaría; 5:15 p.m., Final Battle Costa Rica Crew vs Crew, Escuela Juan Santamaría. Aug. 23, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., graffiti artists, Parque Freses; 10 a.m., open graffiti workshop, trial biker exhibit, SK8 exhibit, park; 11 a.m., stomp/tap show, park; 11:30 a.m., hip-hop dance by Proyecto La Zona, park; noon, concerts by MC Rooneyoyo, MC Poeta, Mr. Doog, DJ Rap, DJ Infame, park. Info: 2234-5775, danz_gel@yahoo.es.

Fashion show “Vive la Crise”
7 p.m., Parking Lot, east Multiplaza de Escazú.

La Romería
Drama, through Aug. 30, Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun. 5 p.m., University Theater UCR, 1 block east of the University Library on “Calle de la Amargura,” San Pedro. Info: 2511-6722.

Malpaís in concert
Trova, Aug. 21-22, 8 p.m.; Aug. 23, 6 p.m., National Theater.

Puppet Show ‘Marionetas de Sueño'
Sundays, 3 p.m., Eugene O'Neill Theater.

Activities for Children
Storytelling shows, theater, puppets, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Parque de la Libertad, San Antonio, Desamparados (free).

Reforestation and Tree Adoption Day
Volunteer tree planting, Barva Volcano. Info: 2560-4009, www.xtremas.org.

Fourth Karate Cup SEK – 2009
Kids and adults, through black belt, katas and kumite (forms and fights), 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Colegio Internacional SEK – Costa Rica, 1.5 km. north of La Galera, Cipreses, Curridabat. Info: 2272-5464, sekcostarica@sekmail.com.

See the print or digital edition or subscribe to the Daily News e-mail for a full calendar of events.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – A group of representatives from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, based in Costa Rica, visited Honduras this week to investigate allegations of police brutality and a press crackdown as the country's political crisis nears two months.

The crisis was triggered when soldiers rousted President Manuel Zelaya at dawn June 28 at gunpoint and sent him on a plane to Costa Rica. The Supreme Court had ordered Zelaya's arrest for defying the court's orders to stop what the court said was his illegal push for constitutional changes.

Amnesty International released a statement, along with photos, on its Web site Wednesday, alleging Honduran police and soldiers have been roughing up protesters who are demanding Zelaya's return to power.

“Mass arbitrary arrests and ill treatment of protesters are a serious and growing concern in Honduras today,” said Esther Major, a Central American researcher at Amnesty International. She said that detentions and beatings at the hands of police are being used “as a deterrent for those contemplating taking to the streets to peacefully show their discontent with the political turmoil the country is experiencing.”

The statement said that Amnesty International interviewed 75 protesters who had been detained at a local police station after a peaceful July 30 protest. It said that many of the detainees still showed bruises allegedly caused by police batons.

But not all protests have been peaceful. A demonstration turned violent last week when a group of protesters burned a bus and looted and set fire to a Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits franchise in the capital city of Tegucigalpa.

See the Aug. 21 print or PDF edition of The Tico Times for more on this story.

The International Labor Organization recently praised an initiative in Costa Rica that pays children to stay in school.

Avancemos, which began under the Oscar Arias administration with the goal of curtailing a mounting dropout rate, has reached over 141,000 kids, offering scholarships between ¢ 15,000 and ¢ 50,000 ($25-$85 per month) for solely showing up for class.

Calling it an effective strategy to reduce poverty and ensure the high quality of the future workforce, a recent report of the ILO said, “This program, designed and implemented prior to the crisis, not only addresses an economic need in an appropriate way, but it's a long term strategy to improve the quality of the workforce.”

The report by ILO, a United Nation's agency, was published as part of a series of studies termed “Observing the Crisis,” meant to disseminate innovative ideas in improving employment and income in the economic downturn.

According to the ILO, the number of young people in the workforce dropped from 11 percent in 2006 to 8.7 percent in 2008. Additionally, the report credited Avancemos, or “Let's Get Ahead,” with contributing to the decline in poverty by 1.7 percentage points (and a 2 percent decline in extreme poverty).

“(The program) is a vision that is part of the social policies of the National Development Plan. President Oscar Arias insisted (on the creation of Avancemos) and has succeeded in increasing enrolment in secondary education between 2006 and 2009,” said José Antonio Li Piñar, chairman of Avancemos' parent program Mixed Institute for Social Aid ( IMAS), in a statement.

See this in-depth article for more on Avancemos.

Shrimpers no longer will be allowed to take certain types of shrimp out of the Golfo de Nicoya, on the north-central Pacific coast.

The Costa Rican Fisheries Institute (INCOPESCA) has published in La Gaceta, the official government newspaper, a new regulation that prohibits the removal of carabali, colorado, teblina and titi shrimp.

Marvin Mora, a biologist with the institute, said the decision came as a move to prevent the over-extraction of the four species. He said that over-fishing these shrimp could affect the food supply of fish living in the golf.

“The principal objective is to avoid the capture of biological resources inside the Golfo de Nicoya that would negatively affect the equilibrium of the area's nutrition,” Mora said in a statement.

INCOPESCA said the new regulation should not affect shrimpers' yields because they are still allowed to fish white, pink and brown shrimp. According to a study by the institute, these three species can yield 1,200 metric tons per year.