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San
José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 167
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 Centro
de Investigación y Conservación del Patrimonio Cultural
photo
The Casona de Madera dates from
1947.Two Heredia
heritage sites get facelifts
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The national heritage center has restored two historic buildings in San Francisco de Heredia. They are the Casona de Madera, which is now occupied by staffers from Hospital San Vicente de Paul, and the Centro de Acopio del Antiguo Beneficio Miramontes. Both structures were added to the national heritage list in 2005. But time took its toll, said the Centro de Investigación y Conservación del Patrimonio Cultural of the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud. The Casona de Madera dates from 1947. It is a Victorian-style dwelling. The hospital's information technology department is housed there now after the electrical system received a major upgrade, said the Centro. The Centro de Acopio dates from the beginning of the 20th century, and this is where the coffee harvests were brought for storage. The restoration work began last year and costs 185 million colons, some $351,000. Hotel chamber
warns of fake discounts
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The nation's hotel chamber issued warning Monday about lodging firms that might be using tricky prices online. The chamber, the Cámara Costarricense de Hoteles, said that some hotels have jacked up their rates so that they could then offer fake discounts of 50 to 60 percent. This is the same trick that some retail outlets use, except in Costa Rica this is contrary to the law, as the chamber noted. The chamber said it has been in contact with some online travel agencies and were told that the agencies do not approve of this trick either. The manipulation distorts the market and rebounds on the perpetrators when travelers learn the truth, the chamber said. Raid and detention called disproportionate By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Sala IV constitutional court said that a raid and detention involving a 15,000-colon stolen bracelet was disproportionate. The target of the raid was a public defender in Nicoya. The court said that the Judicial Investigating Organization was handling a case that involved the bracelet. The raid failed to turn up the bracelet. However, the suspect was detained anyway, it said. The court said that just because someone files a criminal complaint against another party does not mean the suspect should be detained. And in the case at hand, the court noted that the suspect, the public defender, was someone with a job and a stable lifestyle who was not likely to flee. The individual, who was not named in the court ruling that was made public, went free a few hours later, the decision noted. Nevertheless, the court said, the decision should not affect the investigation which is continuing. Stocks in China have another bad day By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Stocks in China led another slump in Asian markets today, closing down 7.6 percent. Shanghai's main index dropped sharply when the market opened, but then rebounded at one point to being down about 4 percent. As shares fell again in the afternoon, markets in Japan and Hong Kong that had rallied to gains also saw selloffs. Japan's Nikkei index closed down about 4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down about 1 percent. Today's losses followed sharp declines Monday in global stocks and oil prices, led by an 8 percent plunge in China, amid worries about China's faltering economic growth. Monday's slump also hit U.S. markets, which experienced a volatile day of trading before finishing down at least 3.6 percent. Experts said the stock market was due for a major correction after nearly tripling since 2009. Joshua Brockwell of Azzad Asset Management said corrections serve as a self-correcting mechanism that ensures stocks are fairly priced. "If you think of it as a kind of tremor instead of a great earthquake, the ground is kind of letting off a little steam," Brockwell said. "The market's kind of letting off a little steam right now, which is actually a healthy thing for stocks longer term. He said the correction may worry investors, but it's a healthy change for the economy that helps keep stock prices from getting too inflated. “Now that we have seen this retrenchment over the past couple of days, equities or stocks have gotten back to a fairer valuation, and are actually cheaper, so it could be an opportunity for a longer term investor to buy,” he said. Prices for many commodities also declined Monday, with the price of crude oil off by more than 4 percent to hit the lowest price in more than six years. China's growing economy has been a major market for commodities and all kinds of goods for many years. A series of economic shocks, including a falling stock market and a surprise devaluation of the currency, have made investors question the health and growth of the world's second-largest economy. An economy that grows slowly will need less energy and provide less opportunity for investors in many areas. New York trader Ben Willis said the markets are reflecting a lack of transparency in economic data on the part of China. "The Chinese economy, we thought, was growing at 7 percent. It's probably only growing at half that," Willis said. "So a 50 percent reduction means you need to reprice, and that's what you're seeing going on in the stock markets and in the commodity markets." Today's losses mark the eighth straight day of drops on key Asia-Pacific market indices. “I guess the question that people are starting to ask – and certainly I’m asking is how, just how this gets stemmed,” said Sydney-based senior foreign exchange strategist for ANZ Bank, Daniel Bean. Singapore-based Daniel Martin, senior Asia economist for research firm Capital Markets, said China's economy is more stable than many investors realize. “The equity market side, if it is a reflection of China’s economy doing a lot worse than we have previously thought, then that’s obviously a big issue for Asian economies. We don’t actually think that’s the case though. We see it more as a stock market correction that will run its course and should settle down within the next few weeks or so,” he said. Catholic priest gets prison term for fondling Special to A.M. Costa Rica
A Roman Catholic priest received a one-year sentence Monday for fondling a female passenger on a US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. The woman victim had been sleeping but woke up while being touched, according to court testimony. The 46-year-old priest, Marcelo De Jesumaria, will spend six months in prison and the remainder of the term in house arrest, said U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell. De Jesumaria was found guilty in May by a federal jury of abusive sexual contact, a federal felony.
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reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 167 | |
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| Coral reefs at Cahuita immortalized in 2015 national park
stamp issue |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The coral reefs at Cahuita have been named as the representative national park for this year's postal stamp issue. Stamps bearing the photos of the reefs make up 15,000 double stamp presentations. The Parque Nacional Cahuita is a big tourism draw, and the stamps had a formal presentation in that community Monday. Each is 500 colons. There also are 3,000 souvenirs that have a 1,000-colon face value. "The stamps display the beauty of the coral reefs at Cahuita not only showing the natural beauty of the country but to try to become a motivation and an invitation for our government and civil society to continuing strengthening the projects that permit the conservation of these ecosystems," said Mauricio Rojas Cartín, director general of Correos de Costa Rica. Coral reefs are in trouble all over the world due to pollution and water surges that affect the algae that gives coral pigmentation and with which coral has a symbiotic relationship. Many other national parks have been featured in the series that began in 2005. |
 Presentation
set give three views of the coral.
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| Anti-smuggling measure gets first OK with 45 affirmative
votes |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Lawmakers have approved on first reading an update to the nation's anti-smuggling law that lowered the threshold for criminal penalties to goods worth $10,000. The previous amount was $50,000. The bill, No. 19.407, is part of the administration's effort to reduce tax and other types of fraud. Final passage is likely later this week. The bill also calls for prison of from three to 10 years for anyone who brings goods into the country illegally when they might affect the health of citizens. That is a direct effort against the long-running stream of illegal medicines that come in from Nicaragua. The prison penalty also is for anyone who might jeopardize the health of animals, plants, the environment or the national security. |
The measure
received 45 favorable votes Monday. Even though this
was a favorite bill of the administration, the time to approve it was
some 10 months. The bill also contains penalties of from five to 15 years for anyone who uses violence to avoid discovery of smuggled goods or who uses a vehicle that has been modified to avoid customs inspections. The jail terms are in addition to fines that may be two times the estimated value of the smuggled goods. The bill was characterized as lowering the bar to penalize small-scale smuggling, called contrabando hormiga in Spanish. The measure was watered down from the original submission which called for fines five times the value of the smuggled goods. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 167 | |||||
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| Professor in Singapore finds more advantages to being
bilingual |
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By the Singapore Management University news
staff
In an increasingly globalized world, there are many practical benefits to speaking two languages rather than one. Even in the US, which is largely monolingual, more than 20 percent of the population is now thought to speak a second language. Early research on bilingualism, conducted before the 1960s, however, linked bilingualism with lower IQ scores, cognitive deficiencies and even mental retardation. These studies reported that monolingual children were up to three years ahead of bilingual children in both verbal and non-verbal intelligence. From these studies, there grew a perception among the general public that bilingualism led to a language handicap. “Speaking with my own students about their childhood experiences, I found that many of them were discouraged from speaking two languages while growing up. This was based on a misperception that doing so would delay development,” says Assistant Professor Yang Hwajin, a cognitive and developmental psychologist from the Singapore Management University. Since then, these early language studies have been widely discredited, and linguists no longer believe that bilingualism results in cognitive deficiencies. “What we have found in the last three decades is that bilingualism has substantial impact on cognitive function—the way that we think, make decisions, perceive things, solve decisions, and so on,” the professor noted. In fact, multi-lingualism can confer a very beneficial form of cognitive training, says Professor Yang. “For example, I speak Korean and English. When I speak English, I have to inhibit thoughts about Korean grammar, and focus on English grammar, as the two languages do not share any grammatical structure. Speaking these two languages has trained me to inhibit distractions and focus better.” Professor Yang’s research into bilingualism grew naturally from her interest in the factors that influence executive function. The brain’s executive function directs the processes that allow humans to solve crossword puzzles, deconstruct the latest Game of Thrones episode, or recall the dinner menu last week. Being bilingual has been shown to improve the brain’s executive function, and even delay the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. “I was interested in the factors influencing such executive control, as they can in turn shape our performance in work, school, and other parts of our life. After all, most critical cognitive functions affect our lives in various settings, regardless of age,” the professor said. Professor Yang is particularly impressed by the high extent of bilingualism in Singapore, which is a contrast to her homeland of South Korea where most of the population is monolingual. There, speaking two languages is limited mostly to those with high socioeconomic status. “Whenever I speak even to taxi drivers here, they often speak multiple languages, English, Mandarin, and one or more Chinese dialects,” she says. Singapore, as such, has proven a fertile ground for Professor Yang to study the relationship between multi-lingualism and cognition, though she has faced challenges in collecting data. “I study bilingual children, and sometimes even infants raised in a bilingual context. Since parents are busy people, we visit day care centers and ask for parental consent for the children to be involved in research. But parents and day care teachers are reluctant to do so, as there is still a tendency to disbelieve the potential impact of such research,” she noted. |
 Singapore
Management University photo
Professor Yang Hwajin . . .
bilingual researcherProfessor Yang’s work with children has already seen results, however. One study saw her examine the impact of being raised in a bilingual versus monolingual household for children of low economic status. “Children of low socioeconomic status generally have lower cognitive function than those with high socioeconomic status. This might be because both parents are out working to earn money, leaving them home alone and without intellectual stimulation,” she explains. Here, bilingualism appears to be a form of intervention to promote executive function. Professor Yang found that low socioeconomic status children who spoke two languages performed much better in behavioral tests than their monolingual counterparts. Interestingly, she uncovered similar observations in another study that involved infants, instead of children, of low socioeconomic status. “Since infants cannot verbalize or express themselves, we define bilingual infants via the number of languages they are exposed to. For example, an infant exposed to English 60 percent of the time, and Mandarin 40 percent of the time, would be considered bilingual,” she says. “Surprisingly, we found that even bilingual infants from low socioeconomic status demonstrated greater cognitive development than monolingual infants of the same status. This implies that bilingualism could help the development of children in deprived environments.” Other studies have shown that bilingualism can be used in a clinical setting to help children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or patients with impaired cognitive function. Professor Yang also hopes to demonstrate its benefits to individuals who do not demonstrate cognitive impairment. Another area that Professor Yang would like to explore is the biology behind second language acquisition. Specifically, do bilingual speakers exhibit different patterns in their brain anatomy and physiology? “So far we have focused on behavioral data, such as job performance and aptitude. We have not yet touched on neuroscience, the brain, particularly in the Asian context. For example, it would be interesting to examine what changes bilingualism has made to my brain in the last 20 years, and if that can in turn be associated with my behavior,” she said. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 167 | |||||||
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| South and North Korea agree to lessen tensions at border By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
South Korea turned off its propaganda broadcasts into North Korea today as part of an agreement reached earlier in the day to defuse the latest tensions on the Korean peninsula. South Korea’s national security advisor, Kim Kwan-jin, announced the joint agreement at the presidential Blue House, saying Pyongyang met Seoul’s key condition that it apologize for the recent provocations. "North Korea has expressed regret over a land mine blast on the southern side of the DMZ that injured South Korean soldiers,” he said. Seoul agreed to Pyongyang’s key demand to halt cross-border anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts. “Unless unusual incident occurs, South Korea has decided stop all loudspeaker broadcasting along the military demarcation line ... on August 25,” said Kim. The diplomatic breakthrough occurred following three days of emergency talks that were hastily arranged Saturday after a Pyongyang-issued deadline expired for Seoul to halt cross-border audio broadcasts into the North or face military attacks. The two sides have agreed to pull their militaries back from the brink of war after recent border incidents escalated tensions. The current crisis began Aug. 4 when land mines planted by Pyongyang on the South’s side of the demilitarized zone detonated and injured two soldiers. Seoul responded by resuming anti-Pyongyang cross-border broadcasts for the first time in more than 10 years. Last week, the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire in the DMZ near a loudspeaker tower. There were no casualties or damage reported from the attacks. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un subsequently declared a quasi state of war, and both sides quickly increased troop and armament deployment in preparation for a possible confrontation. One impediment to reaching a deal was North Korea's denial of any involvement in the attacks. Earlier, South Korean President Park Geun-hye publicly demanded that North Korea apologize and take measures to prevent a recurrence of these provocations before she would agree to end the loudspeaker broadcasts. In the end, Pyongyang yielded to Seoul’s demand because it was anxious to halt the loudspeaker broadcasts that included criticism of Kim Jong Un. North Korea tightly controls the media in-country and portrays the young leader as a near deity. However, in recent years there has been an increase of outside information entering the country through the porous border with China. The two sides also agreed to hold reunions for families that were separated by the Korean War that divided the peninsula in the 1950s. In her recent statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, President Park had urged the North to join in arranging family reunions as both a humanitarian gesture and as a way to rebuild inter-Korean trust. Prior to the agreement, South Korea has been reporting unusual troop and submarine movement in the North. Pyongyang had moved submarines and warships away from their bases and doubled its frontline artillery strength at the border with the South. South Korea and the U.S. also strengthened their positions and were considering bringing in more U.S. military assets such as B-52 bombers that are stationed in the region. The United States has more than 28,000 soldiers based in South Korea and is conducting annual joint military exercises with the South. Destruction of temple said to be Islamic State war crime By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The destruction by Islamic State militants in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra a war crime, according to a U.N. cultural official. Militants reportedly blew up the 2,000-year-old Baal Shamin temple Sunday, nearly a week after beheading Khaled Asaad, the archeologist and former head of antiquities in Palmyra who spent decades preserving the site. “The art and architecture of Palmyra, standing at the crossroads of several civilizations, is a symbol of the complexity and wealth of the Syrian identity and history," Irina Bokova said Monday. She is the head of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. "Extremists seek to destroy this diversity and richness. . . I call on the international community to stand united against this persistent cultural cleansing," she said adding that the Islamic State "is killing people and destroying sites, but cannot silence history and will ultimately fail to erase this great culture from the memory of the world." However, several opposition sources told Arab media the Islamic State group destroyed the temple weeks ago. Albert Naccache, a retired history professor from the Lebanese University, said the temple was built in honor of the ubiquitous god Ba'al of the Canaanites and Phoenicians. "The temple that has been destroyed is the temple of Ba'al Shamin, the Lord of the Skies, and it shows that the society was not closed on itself, but open to the general area," he explained. "In fact, at that time, the area around Palmyra was called Phoenician-Syria by the Romans. So, it shows the intermingling of the people of the area." Islamic State fighters captured the historic town in May, executing more than 200 people in and around Palmyra, sparking fears for the local community and the temple site. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers information from sources inside the country, said in June that the militant group had mined the world heritage site. Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim said "our worst fears are sadly being realized." Throughout Iraq and Syria, Islamic State has targeted art and artifacts, destroying what it deems pagan or sacrilegious from pre-Islamic cultures. A video released online in February purportedly showed fighters toppling ancient statues and chipping away at artifacts with sledgehammers and drills at the Mosul Museum, Iraq's second largest museum. Archeologists and police abroad are also on the lookout for looted antiquities being sold on the black market amid allegations that Islamic State officials are using plundered items as a revenue stream. Using satellite images from 2014, the American Association for the Advancement of Science determined five of the six Syrian World Heritage sites sustained visible damage since the country's civil war began in 2011. The study pre-dated, however, the expansion of Islamic State control and the latest destruction. A museum at Palmyra was emptied before the militants arrived in late May. The move was prompted by previous Islamic State attacks on artwork and artifacts during its campaign to establish a so-called caliphate across Syria and Iraq. However, ruins from the ancient city, also known as Tadmur, could not be relocated. In December, the U.N. said that during Syria's conflicts — which now includes violence from a civil war and the Islamic State group — more than 300 cultural heritage sites have been destroyed, damaged or looted. Obama acts to increase use of green energy investments By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. President Barack Obama has announced new executive actions and other efforts aimed at making it easier for homeowners and businesses to invest in green energy improvements that in the past may have been impractical or unaffordable. Obama was the keynote speaker at a clean energy conference in Las Vegas, Nevada Monday night. He noted that some fossil fuel and utility interests are fighting the nation's rush to cleaner, cheaper and more efficient energy. But he said, "Sorry, we're moving forward." The president said that after decades of being told renewable energy doesn't make economic sense, "today that's no longer true." Among the steps announced by the president are new rules from the Federal Housing Administration that could significantly expand the use of so-called Property Assessed Clean Energy loans that allow homeowners to install energy improvements and pay back their costs over time. To date, use of that financing has been constrained by regulatory obstacles. He also said the Department of Energy will make $1 billion in additional loan guarantees available to encourage innovation in technologies that give Americans more flexibility in choosing renewable energy options. Obama's speech at an annual energy conference hosted by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid was billed as countering fossil fuel and utility interests that have been working to undercut clean energy policies with arguments that the matter should be left to the free market. The president had returned from a two-week vacation Sunday with a number of important issues facing him over the next few months, including working to push the international agreement on Iran's nuclear program through a skeptical Congress. But with the world trying to clinch a binding agreement to address climate change by the end of the year, he has been working on reforms at home to cut carbon emissions. Monday's National Clean Energy Summit was aimed at looking to ways governments and the private sector can work together on clean energy solutions and modernizing the U.S. power grid, according to organizers. In addition to Obama, speakers included leaders from electric utility companies, solar technology firms and an electric car maker. Earlier this month, Obama unveiled new regulations for power plants with a goal of cutting polluting carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2030. The plan, if implemented, also would call for boosting the amount of power generated by renewable sources so that it makes up 28 percent of overall power production. Biden meets with president as he mulls another run By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Vice President Joe Biden met privately for lunch with President Barack Obama Monday as Washington speculation mounted that Biden could enter the contest for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination. If Biden were to join the race, he would be facing another key official from Obama's White House tenure, former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, currently the leading Democratic contender in the race to succeed Obama when his second term ends in early 2017. Obama is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term. Obama has made no endorsement on a possible successor and has frequently praised both Biden and Mrs. Clinton. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama could endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary contest, but certainly would support whoever is the eventual Democratic nominee. Earnest recalled Monday that Obama has said that when he decided to name Biden as his running mate in the 2008 presidential contest it "was the smartest decision that he ever made in politics." "I think that should give you some sense of the president's view of Vice President Biden's aptitude for the top job," Earnest said. A Biden run for the White House would likely divide political loyalties among White House officials and, more broadly, Democratic Party supporters. Many Democrats in the U.S. are hoping that Mrs. Clinton will be elected as the country's first female president, long after other Western democracies have elected women as their leaders. But they also admire the 72-year-old Biden for his long tenure as a senator and for the last six-and-a-half years as vice president. Biden lost bids for the Democratic presidential nomination in both 1988 and 2008, but appears to be seriously weighing another run, calling potential campaign donors and supporters in recent days and meeting with a key lawmaker as he explores his prospects. Biden's consideration of joining the race comes as political surveys show support slipping for Clinton, in the midst of questions about her use of a private email server during her four-year stint as the country's top diplomat during Obama's first White House term. A crowded field of 17 candidates is vying for the Republican nomination, with billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump ahead at the moment in political surveys. Sobs fill Colorado courtroom at theater gunman's trial By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Sobbing victims testified Monday that the Colorado movie theater gunman derailed their lives, as a hearing began at which James Holmes will be formally sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Rena Medek, the mother of one of the victims, said the July 2012 attack that killed 12 people and wounded 70 others destroyed her career. "I went back to work after two months," she said. "I was a fryer operator for 34 years. I couldn't do my job. I couldn't concentrate. I was responsible for the whole kitchen and my mind just wasn't my own. All I could think about was my daughter being shot. I had to retire early, earlier than I wanted to. In the second year, I just sat at home. I could barely get up and off the couch. Nothing seemed joyful. Just fear and despair. I will never be the same. I finally went to a doctor and now I'm on antidepressants. Hopefully not for the rest of my life." Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. will formally sentence Holmes this week to life in prison on 24 counts of first-degree murder, two for each of those killed in his rampage at a movie theater near Denver. At least 100 people are expected to testify at this week's three-day hearing. Their testimony will help the judge determine Holmes' sentences on 141 other counts that include attempted murder and an explosives charge. A jury last month found Holmes, a 27-year-old former neuroscience graduate student from California, guilty of the massacre in a suburban theater during a showing of the Batman film "The Dark Night Rises." Police testimony during the trial showed Holmes bought a ticket to the midnight screening of the movie and sat in the front row. About 20 minutes into the premier, he left the theater and returned dressed in black, and threw two gas canisters into the audience before opening fire with a 12-gauge shotgun, a semi-automatic assault rifle and a .40 caliber handgun. Police said 76 shots were fired. During his four-month trial, two court-appointed psychiatrists testified for the prosecution that while the defendant was severely mentally ill, he was sane when he plotted and carried out the massacre. The defense said Holmes was delusional and schizophrenic, and cannot be held legally accountable. Jurors, however, rejected the insanity defense and convicted him on July 16 of 165 felony counts. Earlier this month, he was given a sentence of life in prison after a jury failed to unanimously agree on the death penalty for him. |
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Ecuador gets top
marks in expat survey
By the InterNations news staff
Once more Ecuador tops the list of the best places to live abroad in the InterNations Expat Insider 2015 survey. More than 14,000 respondents participated in one of the most extensive studies ever conducted to explore the general living situation of expatriates. This year’s top 10 also hold some surprises: small country Malta made it up to third place, closely following Mexico at second. Apart from typical expat destinations Singapore and Luxembourg, the most popular places for living and working abroad in 2015 are New Zealand, Thailand, Panamá, Canada, and Australia. Costa Rica was in 12th place. The InterNations Expat Insider 2015 survey ranks countries by different factors such as the quality of life, personal finance, working abroad and making friends. In most of those categories Ecuador takes a leading position. For example, a stunning 94 percent of the foreigners in Ecuador are pleased with local leisure options, while 91 percent are satisfied with the local costs of living. Statistically, the typical expat in the South American country is U.S. American and 51.9 years old. The higher than average age of expats in Ecuador is unsurprising considering that 36 percent of them are retirees. Of those who have relocated, 45 percent say that they are considering staying forever. Mexico has won the hearts of many expats with friendly people, beautiful beaches, and tasty cuisine. Over four out of five expats say that getting used to the local culture is generally easy and over 90 percent appreciate the friendliness of the local population as well. Also, almost every single respondent likes the weather in Mexico, which is one of the four most common considerations when it comes to moving abroad. But not all that glitters is gold: Mexico misses the top of the ranking because about a quarter of the foreigners view personal safety negatively, compared to a worldwide average of 11 percent. Expats say that Malta is the best destination for working abroad. Job satisfaction is high and two-thirds of respondents or more are happy with their career prospects, work-life balance and working hours. Malta is also popular for its ease of settling in: 73 percent find it easy to make new friends and three quarters of the foreign residents feel right at home in Malta. Overcoming the language barrier does not appear to be too difficult, either, with nine out of 10 saying it is easy to get along without speaking the local language. This high percentage is due to Malta’s past as a former British colony, where English is still widely spoken. Kuwait occupies the 64th and last place of InterNations’ Expat Insider 2015 ranking, particularly due to its low score when it comes to the ease of settling in and the overall quality of life for expats in the country. In fact, 53 percent of respondents are unhappy with the general friendliness of local residents, and many are not satisfied with the available leisure options. The situation is similarly grim when it comes to personal happiness. Greece is in 63th place with particularly bad results when it comes to job-related factors such as career opportunities, work-life balance and job security. Furthermore, half of the foreign residents in the country rate their financial situation negatively. For its annual Expat Insider survey, InterNations asked more than 14,300 expatriates representing 170 nationalities and living in 195 countries or territories to rate and provide information on various aspects of expat life, as well as their gender, age, and nationality. |
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The CAFTA Report |
Fish
fabulous Costa Rica |
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| Rule proposed
for
digital television logo By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The nation's
telecommunications agency has presented for public
consideration
Costa Rica has chosen to use the ISDB‐Tb, standard, which usually is considered the Brazilian technology that is in use in many Latin American countries. |
