Costa Rica

(Newser) - In Costa Rica, numbered houses and named streets are the exception rather than rule, forcing mail carriers to seek out addresses like "125 meters west of the Pizza Hut." The government is rolling out a plan to standardize addresses, but, for now, one out of five pieces of...

(Newser) - Costa Rican voters narrowly approved a free-trade pact with the US last night, despite polls predicting they would quash it, the AP reports. With nearly 89%  of precincts counted, 52% favored the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias declared victory. Costa Rica is the last...

(Newser) - Costa Rica votes today on a free-trade deal, and the outcome will either give the nation stronger ties to the US or put it in Latin America's growing anti-US camp, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Polls show a race too close to call, though anti-pact voters had a slight edge....

(Newser) - Colgate alerted the public today that counterfeit toothpaste bearing its brand name and possibly containing a deadly chemical has turned up in discount stores in four Northeast states. The phony products' packaging is riddled with misspellings and gives the manufacturing location as South Africa, where the company doesn't make toothpaste....