Ten Americans flying from a vacation hotspot on Costa Rica&#39;s tropical Pacific coast died Sunday when the small plane they had just boarded crashed and burst into flames shortly after take-off, officials in the country said.

A list of the passengers given by local media showed five shared the same last name, suggesting they were related.

&quot;The government of Costa Rica profoundly regrets the deaths of 10 US passengers and two Costa Rican pilots in the air accident,&quot; which occurred in the country&#39;s northwestern Guanacaste region, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis said in a statement posted to social media.

A US State Department official said: &quot;We confirm the deaths of multiple US citizens in an airplane crash in Costa Rica.&quot;

The official said &quot;we express condolences to all those affected by this tragedy,&quot; as well as assistance to &quot;affected US citizens, but that &quot;out of respect for the families, we are not sharing additional information at this time.&quot;

Costa Rican officials said the plane that came down belonged to Nature Air, a domestic airline that services routes across the country and which also provides aircraft for charter.

Guanacaste is a popular vacation destination, especially this time of year, when its pristine beaches and jungle provide a respite for tourists fleeing the northern hemisphere&#39;s winter.

Americans are by far the biggest group of tourists visiting Costa Rica.

The plane that crashed was a single-engine turboprop Cessna 208 Caravan.

Its debris was scattered across a wooded mountain close to the beach town of Punta Islita.

Images posted by the country&#39;s public security ministry showed blackened wreckage, some in flames, with only part of the tail recognizable.

The cause of the crash was not known.

Solis said in his statement that his government &quot;gives its commitment to do everything necessary to work with the relatives of the victims to give them what they need in this difficult moment.&quot;

He said emergency services launched into action when the alarm over the crash was given at 12:13 pm (1813 GMT).&nbsp;

The process of recovering the bodies continued into the night in Costa Rica.

Early Monday &quot;the investigations into the causes of the accident will begin,&quot; Solis said.

The Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion gave the names of the 10 passengers as: Thibault Astruc, Amanda Geissler, Charles Palmer, Bruce Steinberg, Irene Steinberg, Matthew Steinberg, William Steinberg, Zachary Steinberg, Leslie Weiss and Sherry Wuu. 
No ages were given.

The newspaper reported the plane had taken off from the capital San Jose at 11:37 am (1737 GMT) for the small sealed airstrip in Punta Islita, where the tourists boarded.

The passengers had paid $2,300 for their flight, it said.

The two pilots were identified as Juan Manuel Retana Chinchilla and Emma Ramos.

Former Costa Rican president Laura Chincilla -- Solis&#39; predecessor -- said on Twitter that Retana, 52, was her cousin.&nbsp;

&quot;You will remain in our hearts, dear Juan Manuel Retana,&quot; she wrote.

This time of year is particularly busy in Costa Rica&#39;s coastal resort areas as tourists and locals alike spend end-of-year holidays in the sun.

Ten Americans flying from a vacation hotspot on Costa Rica's tropical Pacific coast died Sunday when the small plane they had just boarded crashed and burst into flames shortly after take-off

Ten Americans flying from a vacation hotspot on Costa Rica's tropical Pacific coast died Sunday when the small plane they had just boarded crashed and burst into flames shortly after take-off, officials in the country said. A list of the passengers given by local media showed five shared the same last name, suggesting they were related. "The government of Costa Rica profoundly regrets the deaths of 10 US passengers and two Costa Rican pilots in the air accident," which occurred in the country's northwestern Guanacaste region, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis said in a statement posted to social media. A US State Department official said: "We confirm the deaths of multiple US citizens in an airplane crash in Costa Rica." The official said "we express condolences to all those affected by this tragedy," as well as assistance to "affected US citizens, but that "out of respect for the families, we are not sharing additional information at this time." Costa Rican officials said the plane that came down belonged to Nature Air, a domestic airline that services routes across the country and which also provides aircraft for charter. Guanacaste is a popular vacation destination, especially this time of year, when its pristine beaches and jungle provide a respite for tourists fleeing the northern hemisphere's winter. Americans are by far the biggest group of tourists visiting Costa Rica. The plane that crashed was a single-engine turboprop Cessna 208 Caravan. Its debris was scattered across a wooded mountain close to the beach town of Punta Islita. Images posted by the country's public security ministry showed blackened wreckage, some in flames, with only part of the tail recognizable. The cause of the crash was not known. Solis said in his statement that his government "gives its commitment to do everything necessary to work with the relatives of the victims to give them what they need in this difficult moment." He said emergency services launched into action when the alarm over the crash was given at 12:13 pm (1813 GMT). The process of recovering the bodies continued into the night in Costa Rica. Early Monday "the investigations into the causes of the accident will begin," Solis said. The Costa Rican newspaper La Nacion gave the names of the 10 passengers as: Thibault Astruc, Amanda Geissler, Charles Palmer, Bruce Steinberg, Irene Steinberg, Matthew Steinberg, William Steinberg, Zachary Steinberg, Leslie Weiss and Sherry Wuu. No ages were given. The newspaper reported the plane had taken off from the capital San Jose at 11:37 am (1737 GMT) for the small sealed airstrip in Punta Islita, where the tourists boarded. The passengers had paid $2,300 for their flight, it said. The two pilots were identified as Juan Manuel Retana Chinchilla and Emma Ramos. Former Costa Rican president Laura Chincilla -- Solis' predecessor -- said on Twitter that Retana, 52, was her cousin. "You will remain in our hearts, dear Juan Manuel Retana," she wrote. This time of year is particularly busy in Costa Rica's coastal resort areas as tourists and locals alike spend end-of-year holidays in the sun.

Ten Americans killed in plane crash in Costa Rica

Former President Barack Obama has yet again topped the survey for the most admired man,&nbsp;by the Americans, for the 10th consecutive year, according to results by the Gallup poll.&nbsp;

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton was named the most admired women in a popular vote by almost 9 per cent of the Gallup poll respondents, edging out Michelle Obama.&nbsp;

17 percent of the Americans polled said Obama was the man they admired most, down from 22 per cent last year.&nbsp;

The current president, Donald&nbsp;Trump, has taken a hit, trailing behind Obama.

Trump was second with 14 per cent.

Obama and Trump were followed by Pope Francis who was third in the list with 3 per cent, with 2 per cent tallies for Arizona Senator John McCain, billionaire inventor Elon Musk and the Rev Billy Graham.&nbsp;

In 2016, Obama led Trump by 22 per cent to 15 per cent.

Gallup said the poll of 1,049 adults was conducted between December 4-11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Obama came out top of the Gallup Survey for the 10th year in a row, Hillary for the 16th

Former President Barack Obama has yet again topped the survey for the most admired man, by the Americans, for the 10th consecutive year, according to results by the Gallup poll. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton was named the most admired women in a popular vote by almost 9 per cent of the Gallup poll respondents, edging out Michelle Obama. 17 percent of the Americans polled said Obama was the man they admired most, down from 22 per cent last year. The current president, Donald Trump, has taken a hit, trailing behind Obama. Trump was second with 14 per cent. Obama and Trump were followed by Pope Francis who was third in the list with 3 per cent, with 2 per cent tallies for Arizona Senator John McCain, billionaire inventor Elon Musk and the Rev Billy Graham. In 2016, Obama led Trump by 22 per cent to 15 per cent. Gallup said the poll of 1,049 adults was conducted between December 4-11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Obama, Hillary most admired man, woman in US: Poll

The top US&nbsp;intelligence official has ordered tighter restrictions on how the names of Americans kept secret in intelligence reports can be revealed during presidential transitions, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The move follows unsubstantiated charges by President Donald Trump and his allies that his predecessor&#39;s administration spied on Trump and improperly &quot;unmasked&quot; the identities of his associates during the 2016 presidential campaign and transition.

Current and former senior US Intelligence officials who have reviewed the documentation dispute those claims by the president.&nbsp;

In September, the US&nbsp;Justice Department said in a court filing that it had no evidence to support the president&#39;s claim that President Barack Obama ordered surveillance of his Trump Tower campaign headquarters.&nbsp;

In a November 30 letter sent to Representative Devin Nunes, Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and other top lawmakers, the Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said the new unmasking policy is due by January 15.

Nunes was among the first to charge that US&nbsp;intelligence agencies collected information on Americans involved in Trump&#39;s transition team. A Nunes spokesman declined comment.

Coats wrote that the new policy will reinforce existing procedures that &quot;make clear that IC (intelligence community) elements may not engage in political activity, including dissemination of US&nbsp;person identities to the White House, for the purpose of affecting the political process of the United States.&quot;

&quot;In addition, this policy will require heightened levels of approval for requests made during a Presidential transition when those requests relate to known members of a President-elect&#39;s transition team,&quot; Coats wrote in the letter, which was sent to the top Republicans and Democrats on the Intelligence and Judiciary committees in both the House and Senate.

A spokesman for Coats had no comment.&nbsp;

Reuters has also reviewed a draft presidential order that, if enacted, would make similar changes to unmasking procedures that relate to presidential transitions.

A White House spokesman declined to comment on the four-page draft presidential order, which is undated. It is unclear if Trump will sign the document in addition to the new policies Coats has ordered.&nbsp;

US&nbsp;intelligence agencies are barred from eavesdropping on Americans&#39;&nbsp;communications without warrants. However, information involving US&nbsp;citizens sometimes is incidentally collected in the monitoring of foreign intelligence targets. In such cases, the Americans&#39;&nbsp;identities are anonymized with labels such as &quot;U.S. Person No. 1.&quot;

&quot;Unmasking&quot; occurs when an authorized US&nbsp;policymaker requests the name of an American to help understand the value of the foreign intelligence. A policymaker also can request an unmasking when the information concerns a crime.

Unmasking requests already are subjected to extensive reviews by multiple officials before they are approved.

For unmasking requests made between a US&nbsp;presidential election and Inauguration Day, the draft presidential order states, the request now would have to say whether the official making it believed or knew it involved a member of the president-elect&#39;s transition team.

Moreover, if the request is approved, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees would have to be informed.

A request also would have to be approved by the top lawyer of the US&nbsp;intelligence agency that disseminated the original intelligence report.

While Coats, in his letter, said the new policies are intended to keep politics out of intelligence issues, some current and former officials said the draft presidential order could do the opposite.

&quot;If this executive order is implemented as written, or worse if it&#39;s written into law, it is not only an infringement on the political independence of the intelligence community, but it will endanger our ability to work with our allies, who may fear we&#39;ve been drafted into a political party,&quot; said one US&nbsp;official familiar with the issue, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It appears that the Trump administration is trying to streamline, systematize, and memorialize the unmasking process, said Christopher Swift, a Georgetown University law professor and partner at Foley &amp; Lardner LLP.

&quot;But these same procedures might also be used to identify pending national security investigations and insert the White House into these decisions,&quot; Swift said via email.

The top US intelligence official has ordered tighter restrictions on how the names of Americans kept secret in intelligence reports can be revealed during presidential transitions, according to documents seen by Reuters

The top US intelligence official has ordered tighter restrictions on how the names of Americans kept secret in intelligence reports can be revealed during presidential transitions, according to documents seen by Reuters. The move follows unsubstantiated charges by President Donald Trump and his allies that his predecessor's administration spied on Trump and improperly "unmasked" the identities of his associates during the 2016 presidential campaign and transition. Current and former senior US Intelligence officials who have reviewed the documentation dispute those claims by the president. In September, the US Justice Department said in a court filing that it had no evidence to support the president's claim that President Barack Obama ordered surveillance of his Trump Tower campaign headquarters. In a November 30 letter sent to Representative Devin Nunes, Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and other top lawmakers, the Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said the new unmasking policy is due by January 15. Nunes was among the first to charge that US intelligence agencies collected information on Americans involved in Trump's transition team. A Nunes spokesman declined comment. Coats wrote that the new policy will reinforce existing procedures that "make clear that IC (intelligence community) elements may not engage in political activity, including dissemination of US person identities to the White House, for the purpose of affecting the political process of the United States." "In addition, this policy will require heightened levels of approval for requests made during a Presidential transition when those requests relate to known members of a President-elect's transition team," Coats wrote in the letter, which was sent to the top Republicans and Democrats on the Intelligence and Judiciary committees in both the House and Senate. A spokesman for Coats had no comment. Reuters has also reviewed a draft presidential order that, if enacted, would make similar changes to unmasking procedures that relate to presidential transitions. A White House spokesman declined to comment on the four-page draft presidential order, which is undated. It is unclear if Trump will sign the document in addition to the new policies Coats has ordered. US intelligence agencies are barred from eavesdropping on Americans' communications without warrants. However, information involving US citizens sometimes is incidentally collected in the monitoring of foreign intelligence targets. In such cases, the Americans' identities are anonymized with labels such as "U.S. Person No. 1." "Unmasking" occurs when an authorized US policymaker requests the name of an American to help understand the value of the foreign intelligence. A policymaker also can request an unmasking when the information concerns a crime. Unmasking requests already are subjected to extensive reviews by multiple officials before they are approved. For unmasking requests made between a US presidential election and Inauguration Day, the draft presidential order states, the request now would have to say whether the official making it believed or knew it involved a member of the president-elect's transition team. Moreover, if the request is approved, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees would have to be informed. A request also would have to be approved by the top lawyer of the US intelligence agency that disseminated the original intelligence report. While Coats, in his letter, said the new policies are intended to keep politics out of intelligence issues, some current and former officials said the draft presidential order could do the opposite. "If this executive order is implemented as written, or worse if it's written into law, it is not only an infringement on the political independence of the intelligence community, but it will endanger our ability to work with our allies, who may fear we've been drafted into a political party," said one US official familiar with the issue, speaking on condition of anonymity. It appears that the Trump administration is trying to streamline, systematize, and memorialize the unmasking process, said Christopher Swift, a Georgetown University law professor and partner at Foley & Lardner LLP. "But these same procedures might also be used to identify pending national security investigations and insert the White House into these decisions," Swift said via email.

US spy chief orders changes in 'unmasking' policy

Donald Trump offered a message of ethnic harmony yesterday at a Christian evangelical conference. He was trying to calm concern about his criticism of a Mexican-American judge. 
 
In a departure from his usual freewheeling style, Trump read a carefully scripted speech from a teleprompter as part of a new push by his campaign to tone down the outspoken New Yorker&#39;s harsh rhetoric. 
 
Trump&#39;s remarks included a wide-ranging attack on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. The 69-year-old said that money aimed at resettling Syrian refugees in the United States should instead be spent on tackling poverty in US cities. 
 
Speaking to the annual conference of the conservative Faith &amp; Freedom Coalition, Trump did not mention the controversy over his charge that US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel cannot treat him fairly because of his Mexican heritage. However, he did make a point of saying that he would represent all Americans if elected president on November 8. 
 
&quot;Freedom of any kind means no one should be judged by their race or their colour and the tone of his hue,&quot; Trump said. &quot;Right now, we have a very divided nation. We&#39;re going to bring our nation together.&quot; 
 
Paul Ryan, the top elected US Republican, had criticised Trump for what he called a &quot;textbook definition of a racist comment&quot; for his remarks about the judge. Other Republican leaders warned Trump to change his tone or risk losing their support. 
 
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee who led a movement to derail Trump&#39;s nomination, told CNN he would not consider running for the White House. 
 
Romney blasted Trump for comments that he said denigrated Mexicans, women and religion. 
 
&quot;Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation and trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry and trickle-down misogyny - all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America,&quot; he said. 
 
Romney said he expects Trump to get the Republican nomination but added that he will not vote for either Trump or Clinton. He left open the possibility of casting a ballot for the Libertarian Party candidate, former New Mexico Governor, Gary Johnson. 
 
As Trump sought to rally more Republicans behind him, Clinton met with US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to try and shore up support from the left wing of the Democratic Party. 
 
Clinton later addressed the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the non-partisan arm of the women&#39;s health group, and had Trump trained in her sights. 
 
&ldquo;This is a man who has called women pigs, dogs and disgusting animals, it&rsquo;s kind of hard to imagine counting on him to respect our fundamental rights,&rdquo; said Clinton, the first woman to become the presumptive presidential nominee of a major party. 
 
Clinton leads Trump by 11 percentage points, nearly the same as a week ago, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday. 
 
The real estate mogul&#39;s struggle to unify Republicans behind his insurgent candidacy was apparent at the evangelical Faith &amp; Freedom conference where several speakers studiously avoided speaking his name. 
 
Former campaign rival Carly Fiorina steered clear of Trump, speaking instead of the need to prevent liberal policies taking hold. 
 
US Representative Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican, said a Republican president is needed, without mentioning Trump. 
 
&quot;We don&#39;t want this contest this fall to just be a contest of personalities,&quot; she said. 
 
But conference organiser Ralph Reed was adamant in his support for Trump, saying the New Yorker has energised the evangelical vote in a way that past Republican presidential nominees failed to do. 
 
&quot;We understand that perfection is not the measure that should be applied,&quot; Reed told the crowd. 
 
 
SYRIAN REFUGEES 
 
Trump yesterday criticised Clinton&#39;s willingness to accept thousands of Syrian refugees into the United States and challenged her to &quot;replace her support for increased refugee admission&quot; in favour of a new jobs program for inner cities. 
 
He stopped short of repeating his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, a proposal that has drawn heavy fire from Republicans and Democrats. 
 
&quot;We have to temporarily stop this whole thing with what&rsquo;s going on with refugees where we don&rsquo;t know where they&rsquo;re coming from,&quot; Trump said. &quot;We have to use the money to take care of our poorest Americans so they can come out of this horrible situation that they&#39;re in.&quot; 
 
Yesterday at the funeral of boxing champion Muhammad Ali, a convert to Islam, one speaker, a rabbi, inveighed against politicians promoting intolerance of Muslims. 
 
&quot;We will not tolerate politicians or anyone else putting down Muslims and blaming Muslims for a few people,&quot; said Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of Tikkun magazine, who said he attended the ceremony in Louisville, Kentucky, as a representative of American Jews. 
 
Trump said Clinton&#39;s refusal to use the phrase &quot;radical Islamic terrorism&quot;, favoured by Republicans to describe violent Islamist militants, makes her unfit to be president.

The US Republican presidential candidate says freedom means nobody should be judged based on their race or skin colour

Donald Trump offered a message of ethnic harmony yesterday at a Christian evangelical conference. He was trying to calm concern about his criticism of a Mexican-American judge. In a departure from his usual freewheeling style, Trump read a carefully scripted speech from a teleprompter as part of a new push by his campaign to tone down the outspoken New Yorker's harsh rhetoric. Trump's remarks included a wide-ranging attack on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. The 69-year-old said that money aimed at resettling Syrian refugees in the United States should instead be spent on tackling poverty in US cities. Speaking to the annual conference of the conservative Faith & Freedom Coalition, Trump did not mention the controversy over his charge that US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel cannot treat him fairly because of his Mexican heritage. However, he did make a point of saying that he would represent all Americans if elected president on November 8. "Freedom of any kind means no one should be judged by their race or their colour and the tone of his hue," Trump said. "Right now, we have a very divided nation. We're going to bring our nation together." Paul Ryan, the top elected US Republican, had criticised Trump for what he called a "textbook definition of a racist comment" for his remarks about the judge. Other Republican leaders warned Trump to change his tone or risk losing their support. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee who led a movement to derail Trump's nomination, told CNN he would not consider running for the White House. Romney blasted Trump for comments that he said denigrated Mexicans, women and religion. "Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation and trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry and trickle-down misogyny - all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America," he said. Romney said he expects Trump to get the Republican nomination but added that he will not vote for either Trump or Clinton. He left open the possibility of casting a ballot for the Libertarian Party candidate, former New Mexico Governor, Gary Johnson. As Trump sought to rally more Republicans behind him, Clinton met with US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to try and shore up support from the left wing of the Democratic Party. Clinton later addressed the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the non-partisan arm of the women's health group, and had Trump trained in her sights. “This is a man who has called women pigs, dogs and disgusting animals, it’s kind of hard to imagine counting on him to respect our fundamental rights,” said Clinton, the first woman to become the presumptive presidential nominee of a major party. Clinton leads Trump by 11 percentage points, nearly the same as a week ago, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday. The real estate mogul's struggle to unify Republicans behind his insurgent candidacy was apparent at the evangelical Faith & Freedom conference where several speakers studiously avoided speaking his name. Former campaign rival Carly Fiorina steered clear of Trump, speaking instead of the need to prevent liberal policies taking hold. US Representative Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican, said a Republican president is needed, without mentioning Trump. "We don't want this contest this fall to just be a contest of personalities," she said. But conference organiser Ralph Reed was adamant in his support for Trump, saying the New Yorker has energised the evangelical vote in a way that past Republican presidential nominees failed to do. "We understand that perfection is not the measure that should be applied," Reed told the crowd. SYRIAN REFUGEES Trump yesterday criticised Clinton's willingness to accept thousands of Syrian refugees into the United States and challenged her to "replace her support for increased refugee admission" in favour of a new jobs program for inner cities. He stopped short of repeating his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, a proposal that has drawn heavy fire from Republicans and Democrats. "We have to temporarily stop this whole thing with what’s going on with refugees where we don’t know where they’re coming from," Trump said. "We have to use the money to take care of our poorest Americans so they can come out of this horrible situation that they're in." Yesterday at the funeral of boxing champion Muhammad Ali, a convert to Islam, one speaker, a rabbi, inveighed against politicians promoting intolerance of Muslims. "We will not tolerate politicians or anyone else putting down Muslims and blaming Muslims for a few people," said Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of Tikkun magazine, who said he attended the ceremony in Louisville, Kentucky, as a representative of American Jews. Trump said Clinton's refusal to use the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism", favoured by Republicans to describe violent Islamist militants, makes her unfit to be president.

Stung by criticism, Donald Trump vows to work for ethnic harmony

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