“Arabes y Americanos” Film Festival
“Soy palestino” (U.K., Cuba, Palestine), Feb. 15, 7 p.m., Spanish Cultural Center, Barrio Escalante.

Sports, Arts and Human Development Workshops
Dance, hydroponics, acting, chess, fencing, karate, judo, swimming, table tennis, yoga, massage, ages 17 and up, workshops start Feb. 15, National University, Heredia. Info: 2277-3201, 2277-3202, 2277-3239.

Puntarenas Carnival
Feb. 15, Puntarenas National Band in concert, 3 p.m., Plaza del Pacífico (PP); Alex Hidalgo in concert, 6 p.m., PP; Brian Huertas in concert, 6:30 p.m., PP; dance show by Grupo Oleaje, 7 p.m.; concert by Ensamble Telúrico, 8 p.m., UNED; Verolís folkloric group, 8:30 p.m., www.puntarenas.com/carnavales.

Mardi Gras Masquerade
To benefit children of Haiti, donations made to UNICEF Haiti Relief Fund, with silent auction, Feb. 20, 7 p.m., Corteza Amarilla Art Lodge and Spa, 5 km west of Forum, Santa Ana. Info: 2203-7503, 2203-7490.

Costa Rican Judicial Investigation Police officers (OIJ) arrested the mayor of Talamanca, Rugeli Morales, last Thursday morning on corruption charges, security ministry officials confirmed last week.

Talamanca is a municipality in the southern Caribbean region.

Morales, 45, was charged with directing ₡ 350 million ($641,000) in municipal funds to his personal bank accounts.

Authorities also arrested a city inspector, a municipal accountant and a mayoral advisor whose last names are Bastos, Cortés and Barrantes, respectively. The three have been charged with embezzlement of public funds, aggravated corruption of public officials, and activities incompatible with their public service. Prosecutors suspect that these three officials aided Morales.

OIJ officers and officials from the Adjunct Prosecutor's office of Limón raided the Talamanca municipality building and Morales' house on Thursday afternoon. Authorities removed bank documents that will be used as evidence against Morales and the three municipal employees.

The four city officials have been detained at the Bribri prosecutor's office. On Friday they were interrogated for the alleged crimes.

A New York-based press freedom association is calling on the Costa Rican legislature to eliminate criminal defamation on the heels of a recent Sala III ruling.

Carlos Lauría, Committee to Protect Journalists senior program coordinator for the Americas, said he considered the court's decision an important step forward, but added that that Costa Rica's legislature should now “eliminate defamation provisions from its Penal Code.”

A bill to protect journalists from defamation has been circulating in the legislative assembly for years, but has never made it to a final vote. Lauría's organization said it hopes the court's decision will be used as a catalyst to bring forth changes in congress.

The cry for new legislation follows a recent Sala III ruling in which judges decided to annul a 50-day prison sentence levied on reporter José Luis Jiménez of the daily Diario Extra who was originally accused of “libel and slander” by the press.

He was accused under a 1902 press law that penalizes journalists for libel with up to 120 days in jail. However, judges challenged the law in their ruling, which was issued on Tuesday, saying there had been an “implied repeal” in 1971 with the criminal code.

In 2004, Jiménez was sued by a female public employee who was accused of misusing government funds.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, there's been a push in recent years to protect journalists from jail sentences in defamation cases. The Argentine congress repealed criminal defamation provisions in the penal code in November of 2009. Shortly before that, in April 2009, Brazil's Supreme Federal Tribunal annulled the 1967 Press Law, a measure which had imposed severe criminal penalties for libel and slander.

The number of workers enrolled in the Social Security System's (Caja) health insurance program showed an increase of 1.4 percent in December 2009, the daily La Nación reported.

According to Caja reports, the increase in the number of ensured workers began to deteriorate at the beginning of 2008, and by mid-2009 the overall number of insured workers was dropping each month.

The slight increase in the overall numbers of workers reported at year's end was attributed by the Caja to gains in commerce and the agricultural sectors. The construction and industrial sectors, the areas of the Costa Rican economy most affected by the worldwide economic crisis, did not show employment increases, although the rate of job losses in these sectors slowed. Job losses in the economy's most depressed area – the textile sector – did not decrease.

According to La Nación, workers enrolled in the Caja's health insurance program – employers are obligated to enlist full time workers – amount to 70% of the overall work force. The data reported by the Caja is an important indicator of the nation's overall economic well being because it represents formal employment, which is also likely to be longer-term.