Your blog category
A video showing a chimpanzee smoking a cigarette at a zoo in southern China has spread rapidly online, raising concerns about animal welfare and visitor behavior. The footage, captured at Nanning Zoo in Guangxi province, depicts the animal picking up a discarded cigarette butt and inhaling from it with practiced ease. Posted earlier this week, …
Read more “Viral Video Shows Chimpanzee Smoking at Chinese Zoo”
The General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners (DGME) rolled out new guidelines for visas and entry this month, aiming to streamline processes while tightening certain exemptions. The changes affect how foreign nationals from various countries plan their trips, with adjustments to visa exemptions and validity periods. Officials say the revisions respond to ongoing global travel …
Read more “Costa Rica Updates Visa Requirements for Foreign Visitors”
Costa Rica and El Salvador have taken a key step in modernizing public health by issuing the first digital yellow fever vaccination certificates in the Americas. This move, backed by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), sets the region ahead in adopting secure digital tools for health records. The certificates …
Read more “Costa Rica and El Salvador Issue First Digital Yellow Fever Certificates”
Nicaraguan authorities have released Yerri Estrada, a 30-year-old doctor with dual Costa Rican and Nicaraguan citizenship, from prison after holding him in forced disappearance for three months. The Ortega-Murillo government moved him to house arrest in León, according to the Legal Defense Unit. Estrada’s case drew attention from Costa Rica and the United States, where …
Read more “Nicaragua Releases Doctor to House Arrest After Disappearance”
Costa Rica’s telecommunications regulator forecasts that satellite internet connections will hit 40,000 by 2030, with Starlink leading the charge. The Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (Sutel) released this projection amid a surge in demand for high-speed access in remote areas. As of June 2025, the country recorded 26,928 satellite internet subscriptions. Starlink, operated by SpaceX, accounts for …
Read more “Costa Rica Forecasts 40,000 Starlink Subscriptions by 2030”
Washington’s designation of an alleged Venezuelan cartel as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) takes effect on Monday, opening the door to new forms of US pressure on President Nicolas Maduro. The FTO list, which includes Islamist groups, separatists, guerrillas, and more recently, gangs and drug organizations from Mexico and Colombia, is overseen by the State …
Read more “What does US ‘terrorist’ designation for Venezuela mean?”
Costa Rica’s tourism industry is under pressure yet again as the US dollar exchange rate on the Monex market dropped to ₡498 last Friday marking its lowest point since 2014. This shift points to a stronger colon, which raises costs for international visitors and threatens growth in an industry central to the nation’s economy. The …
Read more “Dollar Hits 17-Year Low in Costa Rica as Tourism Feels the Pinch”
Six airlines cancelled their routes with Venezuela on Saturday, after the United States warned civil aviation about an “increase in military activity” amid the deployment of US forces in the Caribbean, the airlines’ association said. Spanish carrier Iberia, Portugal’s TAP, Colombia’s Avianca, Trinidad and Tobago’s Caribbean Airlines, Brazil’s GOL and Chile’s Latam cancelled their operations, …
Read more “Six Airlines Cancel Routes with Venezuela After US Warning”
People across the world today mark National Espresso Day (yes, it has its own day), recognizing the quick, strong coffee pull that originated in Italy more than a century ago. Here in Costa Rica, where coffee forms the backbone of our economy and daily routines, the date is a good excuse to look at how …
Read more “National Espresso Day Contrasts with Costa Rica’s Chorreador Tradition”
A 5.6-magnitude earthquake hit off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast on Saturday afternoon, according to Oviscori. The tremor occurred at 12:41 p.m. local time, centered at 8.76 degrees north latitude and 84.19 degrees west longitude, about 81 kilometers southwest of San Isidro in Puntarenas province. It struck at a depth of 10 kilometers. Residents in the …
Read more “Moderate Quake Off Puntarenas Coast Shakes Central Costa Rica”