Two young men, including a 15 year old, are the chief suspects in the daylight robbery of a woman at a bus stop in Brazil de Mora. One of the robbers carried a homemade pistol that was used to threaten the woman, said police.

The two suspects came into police hands after a sweep of the area when the woman reported what happened. The pair are believed to be residents of Piedades de Santa Ana.

The robbers took the woman's cell telephone and beauty items that she was going to sell, police said. This was the latest in a string of crimes in which some of the suspects are in their mid-teens.


ICE chief, wife, employee
are ordered to stand trial


The head of the state telecom company will go to trial over his use of a helicopter last September.

The Juzgado Penal de Hacienda in the Segundo Circuito Judicial de San José ordered the case to be elevated to a full trial. That happened at the conclusion of a preliminary hearing, according to the Poder Judicial.

The man involved is Pedro Pablo Quirós, executive president of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, known as ICE. The case is being presented by the Fiscalía Adjunta de Delitos Económicos, Corrupción y Tributarios. Prosecutors claim that Quirós converted public money to his own use when he took advantage of a helicopter ride and went to two private functions.

His wife also faces charges as does an employee of the telecom giant who has the last names of Barboza Zúñiga.

The telecom company rented the helicopter so Quirós could see the damage done by the Jan. 8, 2009, earthquake at the Cariblanco hydro generating site. Then he flew with his wife to an annual meeting of an electrical cooperative in San Carlos. Both are legitimate uses of the rented helicopter. That was March 21, 2009.

The allegations of crime stem from the use of the helicopter the same day to attend a wedding in Zarcero and to visit another company executive in Puriscal.


Country signs trade treaty
with Asian giant Singapore


Costa Rica and Singapore have signed a free trade treaty which officials here hope will give the country access to more Asian markets.

The treaty calls for Costa Rica products to enter Singapore free of customs duties and for nearly all of the products from Singapore to enter Costa Rica without duties. The remaining tariffs will be phased out in 10 years.

Costa Rican commercial officials hope that the treaty gives a boost to the country's farmers because the bulk of the anticipated exports will be agricultural.

The agreement needs approval from the Asamblea Legislativa.

The treaty is unlikely to provoke the long-running negative response that the free trade treaty with the United States did.