A type of Fusarium wilt appeared this year in Australia's main banana-growing state after spreading to Asia and Africa. While the fungus has been around since the 1990s and has yet to affect top exporter Ecuador, Fresh Del Monte Produce called it a potential "big nightmare." The United Nations says the disease threatens supply, and Latin American growers are taking steps to limit the risk.
Lourdes de Cirrí — more a collection of houses perched on the high road than town — is home to three winners of the Cup of Excellence, more than any other single growing area since it started in Costa Rica in 2007.
Francisco Palomo was driving in his car when gunmen unloaded a hail of bullets, striking him at least 12 times, and killing him in broad daylight in a busy commercial area of Guatemala City, said firefighters spokesman Raúl Hernández.
Prosecutors in the U.S. state of North Carolina charged William Ulmer with five counts related to passport fraud after he allegedly used his brother’s passport to fly to Costa Rica in March 2009 and back to the United States on Dec. 23, 2010. Ulmer returned to the United States 18 days after his then girlfriend, Barbara Struncova, disappeared from the expat beach town of Tamarindo.
Read about the man who set the investigation in motion, with a book in 2006, "FOUL! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-Rigging and Ticket Scandals," followed by an exposé aired on the BBC's "Panorama" program that same year, and then another book in 2014, called "Omerta: Sepp Blatter's FIFA Organised Crime Family."
The gala’s title, “De Verde a Gris,” reflects the idea that Costa Ricans who move to New York must leave the green of their homeland for the gray of their new surroundings. For one evening at least, the music, food and art of Costa Rica lit up a small corner of a big city.
Three of the suspects were acquitted of all charges on Jan. 26. The remaining four defendants were found guilty of raping and robbing a Costa Rican couple and their young nephews nearly two weeks before Mora’s murder.
Along with being the first legal recognition of a same-sex relationship in Central America, the decision could set an example for judges elsewhere in the country to recognize gay relationships and even adoption. But both supporters and opponents of the ruling expect a forthcoming legal battle.
