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Could Costa Rican Farmer Be the Oldest Person Alive?

José Flores Flores, a Guanacaste farmer whose reported birth date is supported by Costa Rican civil and church records, celebrated his 119th birthday Saturday as his family works to have him recognized as the oldest living person in the world. Flores was born on July 11, 1907, in Las Lajas de Cañas, Guanacaste. He is recognized nationally as Costa Rica’s oldest living citizen, but his age has not been independently validated by Guinness World Records or an international organization specializing in extreme longevity. His family is gathering the historical documents needed to submit his case for international review. Although Costa Rican records list his 1907 birth date and a baptismal record reportedly places his baptism five months later, record organizations require enough documentation to establish that records from different stages of a person’s life belong to the same individual. Guinness World Records currently recognizes British woman Ethel Caterham as the world’s ...
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Costa Rica Faces New Court Push to Ban Thresher Shark Exports

An environmental lawyer has asked a Costa Rican court to immediately suspend exports of three thresher shark species, arguing that stronger international protections became legally binding late last month. Walter Brenes Soto filed the request with the Administrative and Civil Finance Court as part of an ongoing lawsuit over the export of silky sharks and thresher sharks . He wants the court to modify an earlier precautionary ruling because of what he describes as a major change in the species’ international legal status. The request covers the pelagic thresher shark, Alopias pelagicus; the common thresher shark, Alopias vulpinus; and the bigeye thresher shark, Alopias superciliosus. All three species were added to Appendix I of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, known as CMS, during the treaty’s 15th Conference of the Parties in Campo Grande, Brazil, in March. The sharks were already included in Appendix II but were moved into the convent...
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Noskova Defeats Muchova in Historic Wimbledon Final

Linda Noskova survived a remarkable second-set collapse to defeat fellow Czech Karolina Muchova 6 -2, 5-7, 6-3 on Saturday, capturing the Wimbledon women’s singles championship and the first Grand Slam title of her career. The 21-year-old appeared to have the final under complete control after taking the opening set and moving ahead 5-2 in the second. Muchova then saved five championship points and won five consecutive games, forcing the first all-Czech women’s singles final in Grand Slam history into a deciding set. Noskova steadied herself in the third, rediscovering the powerful serving and aggressive forehand that had carried her through the first half of the match. She earned the decisive break and eventually closed the contest with a service winner on her sixth championship point. The ninth seed fell onto her back on the Centre Court grass and covered her face after securing the biggest victory of her career. Noskova entered Wimbledon ranked No. 12 in the world and ...
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Costa Rica Colon Hits Record High as Dollar Falls to All Time Low

The U.S. dollar closed the week at its cheapest level in the history of Costa Rica’s official currency market, capping a four-year slide that has reshaped the finances of every foreign resident, retiree and remote worker who converts dollars into colones — and that the Finance Ministry now concedes is denting its own tax collection. The dollar finished Friday at ¢452.96 on the foreign currency market known as Monex, according to figures published by the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR). That is ¢0.89 below the ¢453.85 recorded the previous Friday, and it closes out a week in which the currency set two of the lowest marks ever registered. On Tuesday, July 7, the dollar was quoted at ¢452.11, the lowest value since the Central Bank began its Monex series on December 6, 2007. On Wednesday it settled at ¢452.43, the second-lowest figure on record. The previous all-time low, set on May 26, was ¢452.74. For anyone living in Costa Rica on dollar income, the shift is not ...
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Costa Rica Airport to Add Biometric Gates for Faster Immigration Checks

San Jose’s Juan Santamaría International Airport plans to introduce biometric gates by the end of July, a change aimed at speeding up immigration controls at Costa Rica’s busiest airport. The first stage will include four automated gates in the arrivals area and two in departures. More gates could be added later depending on demand. The system, known internationally as e-gates, uses facial biometrics to verify a passenger’s identity. Instead of going through the traditional process with an immigration officer, eligible travelers will scan their passport and look into a camera. The gate will then check the traveler’s information and either open automatically or send the person to an officer for additional review. The rollout will begin with Costa Rican citizens who have biometric passports. Those travelers will not need a separate registration because their facial information is already stored in the passport chip. A second phase is expected to include Costa Ricans who do ...
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Costa Rica Warns Beachgoers After Avian Flu Case and Pelican Reports

Reports of sick and unusually calm pelicans along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast have prompted renewed warnings to beachgoers after authorities confirmed a case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a blue-footed booby found near Manuel Antonio. The distinction matters: Costa Rica has not confirmed avian flu in pelicans. The only confirmed positive case in the current episode remains the blue-footed booby from Quepos, Puntarenas. The cause of the unusual pelican behavior is still being investigated, and initial reports indicate that avian flu has been ruled out in some early analyses. The confirmed case was detected on June 25 in the Manuel Antonio sector of Quepos. The virus was identified as highly pathogenic avian influenza type A, subtype H5. The National Animal Health Service, known as SENASA, said the case was limited to wildlife and that no infections had been detected in domestic poultry. Authorities also stressed that chicken, turkey, eggs and other poultry products...
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Costa Rica Airport Audio Leak Points to Bigger Control Tower Crisis

A leaked radio exchange at Juan Santamaría International Airport in San Jose has turned a tense runway dispute into a broader warning about the pressure facing Costa Rica’s air traffic control system. The recording captures a disagreement between a commercial pilot and the control tower after the aircraft left the runway through a different taxiway than the one the controller had instructed. The move affected ground operations and temporarily blocked the movement of other aircraft, turning what might have remained an internal aviation matter into a public debate over airport safety, staffing and workload. Editor’s note : The audio in the embedded report is in Spanish. In the exchange, the pilot and tower dispute runway exit instructions after the aircraft left through a different taxiway than assigned. The incident remains under official review. The airport’s operational safety and quality teams are expected to examine the full set of frequency recordings, not ...
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