Costa Rica Election Hands Presidency to Governing Party Stalwart

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Costa Rica Election Hands Presidency to Governing Party Stalwart Photo Carlos Alvarado Quesada after casting his ballot in a presidential runoff in San José, Costa Rica, on Sunday. A former labor minister, he won nearly 61 percent of the vote. Credit Associated Press MEXICO CITY — A former labor minister and novelist from the governing party was decisively elected president of Costa Rica in a runoff on Sunday, holding off an evangelical Christian singer who had built an upstart campaign in part on his opposition to same-sex marriage.
With ballots from about 91 percent of polling stations counted, the former minister, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, had won nearly 61 percent of the votes, while his opponent, Fabricio Alvarado Muñoz, had received about 39 percent, according to the federal election authorities.
Mr. Alvarado Muñoz, a former television journalist who was elected to the national Legislative Assembly in 2014 but resigned in February to focus on his campaign, conceded defeat in a spe..

China Slaps Tariffs on U.S. Products in Warning Shot to Trump

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China Slaps Tariffs on U.S. Products in Warning Shot to Trump Photo A pig farm in Iowa in 2014. China will impose a 25 percent tariff on American pork, an important moneymaker, especially in farming regions in states that voted for President Trump. Credit Daniel Acker/Reuters The Chinese government hit back Monday at President Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum by acting on a threat to put tariffs as high as 25 percent on imports of 128 American-made products, including pork and seamless steel pipes.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce indicated that the tariffs, which it first publicly suggested almost two weeks ago, were intended to pressure the Trump administration to back down from a simmering trade war. In addition to imposing additional tariffs on steel and aluminum from China and other countries, President Trump has threatened to put protective duties on other Chinese-made products worth $60 billion.
“We hope that the United States will rescind its measures that violate World Tr..

China’s Space Station Has Finally Fallen Back to Earth

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China’s Tiangong-1 Space Station Has Fallen Back to Earth Over the Pacific Photo A radar image of Tiangong-1, the Chinese space station that re-entered Earth’s atmosphere. Credit Fraunhofer Institute, via Associated Press A Chinese space station the size of a school bus re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at about 5:16 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday, scattering its remaining pieces over the southern Pacific Ocean, according to the United States’ Joint Force Space Component Command.
The demise of the station, Tiangong-1, became apparent when radar stations no longer detected it passing overhead. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries; the likelihood that pieces would land on someone was small, but not zero.
The station may have landed northwest of Tahiti, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said on Twitter. That location is north of the Spacecraft Cemetery, an isolated region in the Pacific Ocean where space debris has frequently la..

How to Fill Unpleasant Jobs in Undesirable Places: Recruit Refugees

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How to Fill Unpleasant Jobs in Undesirable Places: Recruit Refugees SILVER SPRING, Md. — With forecasters expecting the unemployment rate to sink further this week, the chorus of complaints about worker shortages — from custodians to computer prodigies — has swelled.
Yet companies that turn to labor recruiters like Ray Wiley tend to have an especially tough time: The jobs they offer are in out-of-way places; the work is low-paid and disagreeable; and native-born Americans, particularly white men, are generally not interested.
“We have employers call us all the time,” said Mr. Wiley, who primarily works with meat-processing plants and lumber mills that have trouble retaining workers even when the jobless rate is well above its historically low level of 4.1 percent.
Now that the economy is on solid footing during its ninth year of recovery, even entry-level workers have more options. So in Atlanta, San Diego and other cities, Mr. Wiley’s company, East Coast Labor Solutions, finds workers..

Elon Musk Makes Light of Tesla’s Troubles in April Fool’s Tweets

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Supported by Business Day Elon Musk Makes Light of Tesla’s Troubles in April Fool’s Tweets Photo Elon Musk joked that Tesla was “Bankwupt!” in an April Fool’s Twitter post that made light of the company’s worrying financial picture. Credit Mark Brake/Getty Images For the past week, as the electric-car maker Tesla has been buffeted by a barrage of negative news, Elon Musk, its chief executive, has offered no public comments on the company’s shaky finances, its slumping stock price or the increasing questions about the safety of its self-driving technology.
He finally responded Sunday — with an April Fool’s joke that the company was going bankrupt.
“Despite intense efforts to raise money, including a last-ditch mass sale of Easter Eggs, we are sad to report that Tesla has gone completely and totally bankrupt,” Mr. Musk wrote on Twitter. “So bankrupt, you can’t believe it.”
Tesla Goes Bankrupt
Palo Alto, California, April 1, 2018 — Despite intense efforts to raise money, including ..