After years of putting up with the leaky and failing roof of Los Arcades, a downtown landmark, merchants nearby have reason to be happy.

The municipality of San José is refurbishing the structure, which has been lately known as a gathering place for the homeless or nearly so.

Merchants have complained that interior sections of the roof have been falling, perhaps endangering customers. Now there is no roof because city workers have removed it.

Merchants hope that the upgrading will carry over to the people who use it. Even though the structure connects a major hotel to Avenida 2, guests who are mostly tourists decline to use the walkway due to people who gather there and an odor typical of a New York City subway station.

RACSA warns users
of Internet attack

Radiográfica Costarricense S.A., the Internet provider, says attacks of hackers may endanger the Internet today.

The announcement by the government agency known as RACSA appears to be related to some off-hand comments made by computer security expert Eugene Kaspersky at a press conference this week. 

The RACSA alert suggests that a hidden virus program in Microsoft Explorer can cause a computer to send a cascade of e-mail messages without the knowledge of the computer owner.

Kaspersky made reference to rumors of an electronic jihad directed against Israel, and said such a flood of e-mail messages for political purposes is possible.

RACSA seems to be taking the concept seriously. More information is available HERE!

A.M. Costa Rica
Consultantes Río Colorado S.A.

James J. Brodell.........................editor
Saray Ramírez Vindas.... associate editor

Avenida 11 bis, Barrio Otoya, San José

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  San José, Costa Rica              P.O. Box 025292
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As soon as police cleared a roadblock Wednesday, strikers made plans to set up another.

Taxi drivers blocked the Circumvalación bypass south of San José about midmorning to show their solidarity with the truck drivers. Taxi cabs moved very slowly in the same manner that truckers the day before cut their speed down to a crawl to bottle up traffic.

Wednesday morning students who had not participated in the demonstrations set up a roadblock at the University of Costa Rica in San Pedro. Their emphasis was more in opposition to the proposed free trade treaty with the United States.

In the downtown public employees marched. Among them were workers for the Caja Costarricense de Seguros Social, which operates the public hospitals. Only Hospital San Juan de Dios was 

So despite police action against truckers early Wednesday, the strike continues to grow and gain supporters. As more participants join the ranks, the emphasis shifts from being directed entirely at Riteve S y C, the vehicle inspection monopoly.

Public employees are after a raise bigger than the 4.5 percent decreed by President Abel Pacheco. They include teachers, public bank workers, employees of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad and others.

The perceived weakness of the Pacheco administration gives the strikers hope that they may bring down the government. Several Wednesday lamented the fact that Costa Rica’s Constitution does not allow a presidential recall as the Venezuelan constitution does. The addition of more groups today is clear indication that the strike is not over.

BALTIMORE, Md. — Using an ancient Chinese folk remedy as a model, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University here have designed several new compounds that in early testing promise to be safer and more effective in fighting malaria and some forms of cancer than current treatments, the university announced Tuesday.

Malaria afflicts between 300 million and 500 million people a year, killing between 1.5 million and 3 million, mostly children. Spread by female mosquitoes feeding on human blood, the most commonly fatal strain of the malaria parasite began showing formidable resistance to current treatments decades ago, making the development of new and more effective drugs a worldwide priority.

"Preliminary data show that our laboratory-

With support from the National Institutes of Health since 1994, the research team designed a series of compounds called trioxanes. The compounds mimic the mechanism of action of artemisinin, the active agent in the Artemisia annua plant, which has been used in China for thousands of years as an herbal remedy for malaria and other fevers.

Posner's research and that of other laboratories revealed that the peroxide unit within artemisinin and within other antimalarial trioxane drugs causes the malaria parasites to self-destruct.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The blue and white shroud that once covered the remains of former Argentine First Lady Eva Peron was unveiled for public display Tuesday in Argentina.

The shroud was sold at auction in Rome earlier this year for $158,000 to the chairman of airline carrier 

Juan Peron commissioned the shroud in 1971 to cover Evita's remains, which were moved frequently after her death in 1952 from cancer. 

SANTIAGO, Chile — The Chilean Supreme Court is considering whether former dictator Augusto Pinochet should continue to have immunity from prosecution. A second day of Supreme Court hearings on the issue is expected today.

The retired general faces legal challenges over the killings of political activists during his rule from 1973 to 1990.

A lower court has ruled that Pinochet should lose the immunity granted him as a former president. His lawyers argue he is mentally and physically unfit to stand trial. An estimated 3,000 people died or disappeared after Pinochet, a general, seized power in 1973.