The Costa Rica Special Olympics athletes secured 207 gold medals, nearly doubling a previous record on their way to a historic run at the 2015 Special Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
José Dirceu, once one of the most powerful figures in the Workers' Party, will be held under preventive detention. He is serving the remainder of a prison term under house arrest for his role in a previous cash-for-votes scandal known as the "Mensalão," or "big monthly payment."
Costa Rica’s healthy democracy and active civic participation are something to be proud of. Many organized groups have ensured that economic interests do not overpower environmental or social aspirations. But this capacity of Costa Rican society to raise its voice and create pressure is merely a tool – a tool that can be used for both noble and selfish purposes.
CLEARLAKE, California – Thousands of firefighters battled raging wildfires Sunday in drought-parched California, where officials evacuated entire neighborhoods and closed miles of highway in the path of the inferno, which has claimed at least one life.
OTTAWA, Canada – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sunday called general elections for Oct. 19, kicking off a campaign for a fourth straight term in power amid a sluggish economy. Harper, in power since 2006, dissolved parliament after meeting with Governor General David Johnston, the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, Canada's nominal head of state in this Commonwealth country.
In a reminder that Costa Rica’s Catholic Church is still woefully stuck in the past, one of its highest leaders on Sunday used the annual pilgrimage to Cartago, which draws an estimated 2 million people each year, to speak out against legalizing gay civil unions and in vitro fertilization.
Shira Banki, 16, was among six people stabbed at the Jerusalem march on Thursday by a suspect identified as an ultra-Orthodox Jew released from prison only weeks earlier for a similar attack.
