SAN JOSE (BNO NEWS) — A strong earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica on Thursday afternoon, shaking buildings in the capital of San Jose.
The 6.2-magnitude earthquake at 4.16 p.m. local time (2216 GMT) was centered about 42 miles (67 kilometers) south-southwest of San Jose, or 91 miles (147 kilometers) west-southwest of Limon. It struck about 24.1 miles (38.8 kilometers) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, but residents in San Jose reported feeling light shaking.
The magnitude of the earthquake was too low to pose a tsunami threat.
NEW YORK — Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said Thursday that he is a Marxist, yet credits capitalism for bringing new freedoms to the communist country that exiled him -- China.
"Still I am a Marxist," the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader said in New York, where he arrived with an entourage of robed monks and a heavy security detail to give a series of paid public lectures.
Marxism has "moral ethics, whereas capitalism is only how to make profits," the Dalai Lama, 74, said.
However, he credited China's embrace of market economics for breaking communism's grip over the world's most populous country and forcing the ruling Communist Party to "represent all sorts of classes."
Capitalism "brought a lot of positive to China. Millions of people's living standards improved," he said.
The Dalai Lama, giving a series of lectures at the Radio City Music Hall in central Manhattan until Sunday, struck a strikingly optimistic note in general, saying that he believed the world is becoming a kinder, more unified place.
Anti-war movements, huge international aid efforts after Haiti's earthquake this year, and the election of Barack Obama as the first black president in a once deeply racist United States are "clear signs of human beings being more mature," he said.
The Dalai Lama said he felt a "sense of the oneness of human beings," jokingly adding: "If those thoughts are wrong, please let me know!"
Although China, which forced him to escape for his life in 1959, is loosening up, he had harsh words for a communist leadership that he said still seeks to rule by fear.
As Chinese become richer, "they want more freedoms, they want an independent judiciary, they want to have a free sort of press," he said.
The Chinese government, he said, seeks harmony, "but harmony must come out of the heart, not out of fear. So far, methods to bring harmony mostly rely on use of force."
Asked why tickets to his lectures are selling for as much as hundreds dollars, the Dalai Lama said none of the money went to him personally. "You should ask the organizer. I have no connection."
He said he was "always asking the organizer: tickets must be cheap. For myself, I've never accepted a single dollar like that."
Some of the money goes to charities, such as hunger relief, he said. "Unfortunately," he added, bursting into his trademark laughter, sometimes the "organizations are a little richer."
WASHINGTON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Areas around the famed tourist attraction of Liberty Bell in the U.S. city of Philadelphia were evacuated on Thursday as a suspicious item was reported.
Houses and streets around the downtown building that houses the Liberty Bell were evacuated. The suspicious item was reported to resemble a balloon.
Police evacuated the area after responding to National Park Service rangers' emergency call. Service spokeswoman Jane Cowley was quoted as saying that it's unclear whether the item is inside or outside the Liberty Bell Center.
The police said the suspicious item resembles a blue balloon- shape container with a "white powdery substance" on it.
STOCKHOLM, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Sweden has appointed the secretary-general of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, Torbjorn Pettersson, as its ambassador to Afghanistan, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.
"At the same time, Ambassador (to Serbia) Krister Bringeus was appointed Senior Civilian Representative in Mazar-e-Sharif to increase the overall political presence in northern Afghanistan," the statement said.
This is an effort of increasing emphasis on civilian operations in Afghanistan and capacity-building of Afghan structures.
The Senior Civilian Representative will be responsible for overall political leadership and Swedish civilian activities in the area, while the military commander will continue to be responsible for military activities and security, the statement said.
BELGRADE, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Bosnian police forces, in a combined country-wide action directed at organized crime, arrested 48 people and seized a large quantity of drugs and weapons on Thursday, reported the Bosnian Serb news agency Srna.
The operation had been prepared for months and was part of an ongoing campaign to battle international criminal activities. Stanislav Cado, the minister of interior for Republika Srpska, a Serb-dominated entity, said at a press conference in Doboj that a number of police officials were among the arrested.
The search and arrest operation was carried out in 103 locations in seven towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Brcko, Doboj, Bijeljina, Banja Luka, Prnjavor, Odzak and Celic. The interior minister stated that a large quantity of narcotics, weapons and ammunition were seized, but did not give further details.
According to the Prosecutor's Office, this represented one of the largest combined police actions in BiH. Its aim was the apprehension of individuals suspected of involvement with two large criminal organizations operating in the region. The various police agencies were coordinated through the special department for organized crime of the Prosecutor's Office.
TOKYO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched Venus climate orbiter Akatsuki early Friday, said reports from Tanegashima, an island south of Japan's main island Kyushu.
The H-2A rocket lifted off at 6:58 a.m. (2158 GMT Thursday) at Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, carrying the probe originally scheduled to blast off on Tuesday but postponed due to bad weather.
Akatsuki, which means "Dawn" in Japanese, will travel to Venus on a 2-year mission to study its climate and surface.
The probe carries five significant pieces of instrumentation to study Venus' clouds, the terrain of the planet whilst orbiting Venus from distances of 300 km to 80,000 km and the "super- rotation" of the planet's atmosphere, where, according to scientists, winds can drive storms and clouds around that planet at speeds of more than 220 kph, some 60 times faster than the planet itself rotates.
It also carries a payload including several smaller satellite experiments, including a solar sail to be powered by the sun's radiation.
HOUSTON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- British oil company BP said Thursday a mile-long tube inserted into a undersea gusher over the weekend was now siphoning 5,000 barrels of oil a day.
"The oil plume escaping from the riser pipe has visibly declined today," BP spokesman Mark Proegler said after BP announced that the tube was capturing 5,000 barrels, previously estimated as the total gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.
BP has put the leak at 5,000 barrels a day, but scientists fear the amount of escaping oil could be significantly more.
A video provided by BP showed a black plume of crude oil still billowing out into the deep waters in spite of BP's increased containment.
Proegler admitted the tube was not siphoning all the oil leak. "We're not claiming that we stopped it -- although that is our final objective. We're saying that this is what we're capturing now," he said.
The "Deepwater Horizon" drilling rig, leased by BP, exploded and sank some 52 km off Venice, Louisiana, late last month, killing 11 workers and unleashing a massive oil spill.
O argentino Gustavo Cerati segue internado na Venezuela. 'É muito cedo para avaliar as sequelas que podem ficar', diz médico.
Do G1, com informaçõe da Reuters
O músico Gustavo Cerati, da banda argentina Soda Stereo. (Foto: Divulgação)
O cantor argentino Gustavo Cerati estava nesta quarta-feira (19) entre a vida e a morte numa clínica venezuelana, onde segue em estado crítico após ter sofrido um acidente vascular cerebral no sábado (15), informou a equipe médica.
O líder da banda de rock Soda Stereo, de 50 anos, piorou na terça-feira (18) e recebeu intervenção para liberar pressão de seu crânio por uma obstrução arterial causada AVC sofrido depois de duas horas de show em Caracas na noite de sábado.
"O paciente se mantém em estado crítico e está recebendo o tratamento indicado", disse Adolfredo Sáenz, diretor do centro médico onde Cerati está internado. Sáenz acrescentou que é "muito cedo para avaliar as sequelas que podem ficar".
No momento, o artista tem problemas motores, de fala e de sensação inerentes a um quadro de AVC, disse o neurologista Vladimir Fuenmayor em conversa com jornalistas.
Cerati terminou na Venezuela um tour mundial iniciado em 2009 que passou por México, Chile, Uruguai, Argentina, Peru, Estados Unidos, Colômbia e Espanha.
Os fãs do artista, que alcançou uma alta popularidade na América Latina após 15 anos à frente do Soda Stereo, inundaram as redes sociais com mensagens de apoio e carinho.
Ele é acusado de ter recebido salário do governo de GO indevidamente. Advogado afirma que ele estava cedido a um conselho do governo federal.
Do G1, em São Paulo
O ex-tesoureiro do PT Delúbio Soares (Foto: Ed Ferreira/Agência Estado)
O Tribunal de Justiça de Goiás condenou o ex-tesoureiro do PT Delúbio Soares a pagar R$ 164 mil por ter recebido salários como professor do estado quando morava em São Paulo, segundo a assessoria de imprensa do órgão. A sentença também determinou a perda dos direitos políticos do ex-tesoureiro por oito anos.
Segundo o tribunal, os desembargadores consideraram, no entanto, que Delúbio só perderá os direitos políticos quando não couber mais recurso à decisão. Uma ex-dirigente do sindicato que representa os professores também foi condenada a pagar multa. O julgamento ocorreu na semana passada, informou o TJ.
O advogado de defesa de Delúbio, Sebastião Ferreira Leite, disse que a decisão ainda não foi lida no tribunal e que, por isso, “não existe ainda”. Ele argumenta que o ex-tesoureiro do PT era membro do Conselho Deliberativo do Fundo de Amparo ao Trabalhador (Codefat) e estava à disposição do órgão no período em que a Justiça o acusa de ter recebido salários indevidamente. No conselho, ele representava a Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT).
“Como a CUT não era legalizada, o governo do estado não podia colocá-lo à disposição da CUT porque ela não tinha estatuto jurídico. Então, o deixaram à disposição do sindicato. Não há imoralidade nisso, não tem nada antiético”, afirmou. O advogado acrescenta ainda que Delúbio tinha “duplo domicílio” e que não recebia salário do Codefat. Ele pretende recorrer da decisão ao Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ).
Questionado sobre o projeto "ficha limpa" aprovado pelo Senado que impede a candidatura de políticos condenados por órgão colegiado - caso de Delúbio - o advogado afirmou que confia no Judiciário e fez a ressalva de que a proposta ainda depende da sanção do presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva para entrar em vigor.
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BBC MUNDO RADIO
O músico Gustavo Cerati, da banda argentina Soda
O ex-tesoureiro do PT Delúbio Soares
