By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
Incoming sixth-graders getting ready to start school in February got a pleasant surprise yesterday: Public Education Minister Leonardo Garnier announced that starting this year, the students will no longer be required to take national tests in order to enter high school.
Instead, the exams – now worth 60% of the overall […]
On Tuesday, San José started building the first phase of the San José Possible Project, a pedestrian boulevard that will stretch 16 blocks along 4th Avenue. Two complementary walkways that run north and south will intersect with Avenida 4 - one along Calle 2 on the east side of downtown and one along Calle 3 […]
The U.S. hotel chain Hilton has signed an agreement to take over the administration of two beach hotels on the Pacific coast this year, according to a statement from the company.
As of December, Hilton will administer Fiesta Resort, in the central Pacific town of Puntarenas, and Fiesta Premier Resort & Spa, in the northwestern Guanacaste […]
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
Authorities yesterday arrested at least two people allegedly involved in a ring dedicated to trafficking Chinese people to Costa Rica, announced Francisco Segura, Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) assistant director, at a press conference yesterday.
Officials had been monitoring the group since the end of last year, when a representative approached General Immigration […]
By Blake Schmidt - Tico Times Staff
After Costa Rica’s tourism growth nearly ground to a halt in 2006, leaders now say they’re less concerned with posting high numbers and more interested in improving tourism quality in Costa Rica.
Industry leaders are heading to the drawing board to slap together a new marketing strategy for 2007. And […]
By Katherine Stanley, Tico Times Staff
Legislators from the Citizen Action Party (PAC) yesterday presented a 530-page document explaining their opposition to the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).
The bottom line: the party, which, with 17 seats in the legislature, is second only to the National Liberation Party (PLN) in congressional heft, says […]
U.S. pharmaceutical company Hospira Inc. announced yesterday it plans to invest $9 million to expand its operation in Costa Rica and create 200 new jobs, according to a statement from the company.These new employees will join the 2,000 people currently working in manufacturing, quality control and support for the company that produces medical products at […]
The textile company WR Alajuela S.A., owned by VF Corporación, announced last week that it is closing down its plant in the northwestern San José district of La Uruca, citing an insufficient demand for the pants it produces. About 400 employees will lose their jobs.
VF Corporación shut down another textile plant in Coronado, northeast of […]
Environment and Energy Minister Roberto Dobles announced Friday that the Costa Rican government plans to sue the chemical company Químicos Holanda for damage caused by a massive chemical fire at the company’s chemical storage facility in the Caribbean port city of Moín on Dec. 13, 2006, according to the daily Al Día.
The fire, which erupted […]
