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Roundtable on C.R. immigration law
Led by Carlos Sandoval and Agustín Gutiérrez, with moderator Alexander Jiménez, Nicaraguan food tasting, July 14, 7 p.m., Spanish Cultural Center.

Tang Soo Do for young beginners
Korean martial art, ages 9-12, July 14-16, 1:30-3 p.m., vacation workshop at National Museum.

Puppets
Ages 9-12, July 14-16, 2-4 p.m.; “Verbal Eyes: Giving Voice Through Art,” ages 7-10, July 14-16, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Contemporary Art and Design Museum. Info: 2223-6012, educacion@madc.cr.

Costa Rica has begun to pave the roadway to the 16th Conference of the Parties for the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, which is set to commence in Cancún, Mexico on Nov. 29.

On Tuesday, the country's foreign minister, René Castro, met with his Mexican counterpart to express Costa Rica's commitment to the negotiations, known as COP-16.

“COP-16 is an opportunity in which our country can prepare itself to participate with enthusiasm so that its contribution, along with that of other nations, will contribute to the success of this conference,” Castro said, adding that the summit in Mexico “has to be a success.”

During the last conference in Copenhagen in December, member states failed to reach a legally binding agreement to fight climate change.

Last week, Costa Rican Christina Figueres settled into her new post as the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. She is faced with pushing member nations toward a legally binding treaty to combat global warming.

Mexico's secretary of foreign affairs, Patricia Espinosa, welcomed Castro's comments.

“We will work very closely with Costa Rica with COP-16 in sight, given the moral authority of the country on environmental issues,” she said.

Castro served as Costa Rica's environment and energy minister from 1994-98.

On Thursday, CO2 Neutral 2021, a Costa Rican based non-governmental group dedicated to fighting climate change, will present a plan to address the issue on a national and global scale at the Foreign Ministry in San José.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Four people in Honduras died as a result of Monday's heavy rains that slammed the central region of the country, Honduras' civilian protection agency said.

The Permanent Emergency Commission confirmed, in a statement, the deaths of two people who had disappeared Monday while attempting to cross the Choluteca River in the area of Cofradía, in the central department of Francisco Morazán.

The commission identified the victims as José Martínez Zelaya, 22, and Felipe Escoto, whose age was not known.

The other two deaths were of high school student Christopher Gálvez, 15, who was buried by a mud slide during a downpour that ravaged Tegucigalpa, and José Efraín Zerón, 48, who drowned while attempting to cross a mountain stream in the higher altitudes of Francisco Morazán.

The committee has a precautionary, green alert on in all of the country's 18 departments due to an intensification of the rains. The past few days of rain are the result of a number of tropical storms that are typical to this season.

–EFE

Forty-one-year-old Matthew Nolan, who was accused of a murder that took place in 2005 in Costa Rica, will return to the Central American country not to face homicide charges, but to contest the charge that he used a fake identity, the daily Chicago Tribune reports.

Nolan, who has spent the last 16 months in a Chicago prison, is the brother of Christopher Nolan, the British-American director of the famed Hollywood movie “Batman.”

Matthew Nolan was arrested in February 2009 after he was leaving a bankruptcy hearing in the United States. He is believed to have kidnapped Florida accountant Richard Cohen and held him for ransom.

When the kidnapper's demands were not met, Cohen was killed and left under a bridge on the Chirripó River in Costa Rica's Caribbean province of Limón.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Nolan will not be extradited to face murder charges. A U.S. judge ruled there is insufficient evidence to find him guilty. He will only face charges of using false documents.