Just a thought...the ongoing Kingston on the Edge is the third arts and culture festival being held in Jamaica within the space of a few weeks.
Does this suggest a renaissance happening in Jamaica? (Or at the very least, a better platform for creative persons.)
Flashpoint (films) was just a fortnight ago, while May saw the eldest of the trio, Calabash (literature), being held for the eighth time in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth.
Harry Belafonte (left) accepts a gift of art from deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, Ken Baugh. (Photo: Karl McLarty)
Renowned singer-actor and seasoned civil rights activist Harry Belafonte says civil society needs to get more involved in the policy-making process and lessen the influence of private sector lobbyists for the benefit of the young.
Belafonte, who is of Jamaican descent and who has been a vocal critic of the George W Bush Republican administration, said that this greater civic involvement should include...
We know that Internet access has vastly increased the range of voices being heard in the media.
And while the independent or 'citizen' media phenomenon has not taken off in Jamaica like the United States with growing Internet penetration it's perhaps only a...
.jpg)
Jamaica will be pushing for average tariffs of 28 per cent for nonagricultural goods during the ongoing DOHA development round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, according to Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Karl Samuda.
Tariffs are currently set at an average of 50 per cent in Jamaica.
Samuda said that developing countries had been warned that cutting tariffs would harm developmentsensitive industries, and efforts to eradicate poverty. Included in the DOHA Development round are fisheries, which the WTO has defined as non-agricultural goods.
“Given the state of the manufacturing sector in Jamaica, maintaining...
Ahead of Caricom leaders discussing the food price crisis at their annual meet in July, BBC Caribbean have broadcast a special edition on the issue, asking the question: how can domestic production be revitalised?
Listen HERE
With Kingston preparing to host the biennial Jamaica Diaspora conference next week, Jamaica’s next generation of leaders abroad have begun arriving in the country.
Observations met two Kingston-born members of a 60-strong Diaspora delegation aged 18-30 from Canada. They will be meeting over the weekend with other youths from the United States, United Kingdom and Jamaica in addition to outreach activities in Rose Town, west Kingston.
Philip Mascoll Chairman of the Canada Diaspora Foundation said that the youths would bring energy to the nascent Diaspora movement, which began with the first conference held here in 2004.
“Until we start to see the affect of the Diaspora in Jamaica other than the fact that we send home...
Jamalco wants to begin selling one megawatt (MW) of green power to the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), generated from a conveyor belt system at its bauxite-alumina refinery in May Pen, Clarendon.
Under a proposed net metering agreement Jamalco says it will sell surplus electricity to the national grid. Jamaica Broilers (co-generation) and Munroe College (wind turbine) have previously entered into similar net metering agreements with the monopoly light utility, under which light is bought and sold at the same rate.
Government is planning to make available net metering in Jamaica to JPS customers as part of a wider initiative to encourage widespread adoption of renewable energy and reduce oil imports by 50 per cent within 10 years....
Deighton Levee and Gary Matalon (Photo: Karl McLarty)
Deighton Levee and Gary Matalon had left their jobs to form project development and management company Neustone when the first project they were contracted to, stalled.
Yet two years later they have expanded from being a two-man, one-bedroom office company to employing 11 people and possibly more this year, one of several successful companies to pass through the Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) business incubator at the University of Technology (UTech) in St Andrew.
Neustone also specialises in software implementation but the majority of their business...
The Bank of Jamaica is reporting that remittance flows to Jamaica increased by 12.6 per cent in the first quarter, up from the same period in 2007; despite an overall decline in the Latin America and Caribbean region.
The BOJ said in a statement today that remittances during that period had increased by US$75.7 million. The data also shows that remittances increased 20 per cent from Canada and the United Kingdom but are increasing at a declining rate from the United States.
Weblink
A reminder about the precious issue of food security washes up on Caribbean shores following a salmonella outbreak in the United States, which has forced Burger King to remove tomatoes from their menus in some Caribbean islands.
Weblink
AP: Tomatoes pulled off shelves amid salmonella scare
mervin Jarman (he spells his first name with a lower case 'm')
It took five years of sacrifice. Relocating himself, together with a shipping container, back from London to his native Palmer’s Cross, Clarendon.
Digital artist mervin Jarman’s big vision was to use computers to reach troubled youths, to give them a means of expressing themselves and pick up some valuable skills and Heart/NTA qualifications that could help earn them employment.
Today, the ‘Container Project’ has won international support from UNESCO, and last month Jarman travelled...
As Jamaicans join others around the world in praising the United States' first black Presidential nominee Sen Barack Obama for his historic win on Tuesday, at least one professor is urging the Caribbean region not to expect any windfalls.
Read full story in today's Observer HERE
Steam from the geothermal well (Photo: Nevis GIS)
Tiny Nevis now has the potential for a surplus supply of electricity after springing a geothermal well on Monday, with the energy to be captured by a planned power plant. The country has an annual demand of 10 megawatts but based on initial assessments, each of the two wells (the second is yet to be sprung) should provide an estimated 10-15MW after the plant is built.
Weblink
Nevis Government Information Service
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura (right) with Nigerian Education Minister Igwe Aja-Nwachuku.
By Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO.
We have inherited a single planet. But what have we made of it? The Earth is today an endangered heritage, and the species itself is at risk.
UNESCO has just published Making Peace with the Earth (Berghahn Books/UNESCO Publishing) the third anthology in the « 21st Century Talks » series edited by Jérôme Bindé. With the collaboration of some fifteen leading scientists...
Green Energy President Prince Graham-Haynes stands in between the solar panel and air conditioning units of the Millennia system, which his company is marketing in Jamaica. (Photo: Ross Sheil)
Green Energy, a Kingston-based company is marketing solar-powered air-conditioning in Jamaica, which uses new technology to deliver a payback period of between 2-3 years.
The company, in conjunction with United States-based manufacturer SolCool, are demonstrating the Millennia unit this Monday to Friday at the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) off Waterloo Road, St Andrew.
The companies claim it is 50 per cent more efficient than previous A/C units...
The Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) will be holding a public forum this Thursday, in association with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
'Why Wi Suh Bruk? Jamaica's Debt' will be held Thursday June 12 at Carter Hall, 77 Half-Way Tree Road, St Andrew at 6pm.
For more information visit: www.takingresponsibility.org
Government plans to introduce full net metering in Jamaica, allowing Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) customers to sell electricity generated from renewable energy back to the national grid at the same price they are charged by the utility.
Read more in today's Business Observer.
Weblink
Business Observer: Gov't moves to allow JPS customers to sell to grid
Net metering, long demanded by advocates of renewable energy in Jamaica, looks to be on its way in Barbados, reports the Nation newspaper.
Barbados-based Solar Dynamics are soon to begin manufacturing photovoltaic panels, which will allow householders to generate electricity while Barbados Light & Power is in negotiations to begin allowing customers to sell back to the national grid.
Weblink
The Nation: Solar power for sale soon
Gas and food prices may have increased significantly recently (8 per cent in the past month and 9 per cent in the past four months respectively) and the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) is reporting that growth stalled in the first quarter but the country is still been received well by gobal finance.
Jamaica has managed to maintained its rating with international credit rating Standard and Poor's. Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund is reporting that Jamaica is coping well amid the current global economic climate.
Weblink
Business Observer: 21.05.08
Mobiles are touted as the technology that can provide economic opportunity to lower income Jamaicans: Mobile Money co-founder Damion Daley at home in Rockfort, Kingston. (Photo: Ross Sheil)
With mobile phones the technology of choice among lower-income Jamaicans, new research cautions that illiteracy means that many are unable to send even a SMS text message, which threatens usage of the device as an increasingly popular tool for economic activity.
Dr Hopeton Dunn, Director of the Telecommunications Policy & Management Programme at the Mona School of Business at the University of the West...
Overwhelmed by interest the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) has extended by six weeks the period for companies with proposals to expand Jamaica’s renewable energy capacity, against a background of rising oil prices that makes the technologies increasingly.
Now working with a new deadline of July 24 outgoing OUR Deputy Director General Raymond Silvera, told Observations that responses had been greater than anticipated with significant overseas interest in a range of renewable technologies, mostly in wind power.
Of note are a long-standing proposal by the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) to generate 35 Megawatts from bagasse, while the Biomass Investment Group (BIG) has maintained an interest in building...
BBC HARDtalk has broadcast a 30-minute interview with Prime Minister Bruce Golding, which touches on controversial issues.
Follow the link, watch and have your right to reply...
Weblink
The European Commission (EC) announced today that it will appeal the latest World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling against its banana import regime - favouring former colonies including many in the Caribbean such as Jamaica - which concluded that it broke international trade rules.
Weblink
Reuters: EU to appeal against WTO ruling on bananas
Two United States-based companies are entering into a joint agreement to develop 600 megawatts of electricity in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Weblink
CNNMoney.com: NACEL Energy and Ridge Partners LLC to Bring 600 MW of New Wind Energy Online in Caribbean and Latin America
Concluding a series on the Amazon River in South America the BBC visits Suriname where US$400 million is being invested to triple the country's 100 megawatt hydro-power potential.
However this has not been without human cost. Construction of the Brokopondo Stuwmeer hydro-resevoir in the middle of the Suriname jungle, built to power an Alcoa alumina plant, has forced the relocation of 28 Maroon villages and thousands of their occupants.
Weblink
United States Senators and Democratic Presidential nominees Barack Obama (left) and Hillary Clinton. (Photos: AFP)
The United States Presidential race is moving to Puerto Rico, where on June 1 delegates will vote for either Senators Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee.
With Obama close to declaring victory and with Puerto Rico one of the few remaining Democratic primaries, Clinton has promised to increase funding for local police in the Caribbean island and US territory, which is suffering a murder rate of two per day among a population of 3.9 million people.
A dominant issue in Puerto Rican politics remains whether to continue its commonwealth status, become a US state or choose Independence.
Weblink
CaribbeanWorldNews.com: Hillary Clinton Courts Puerto Rico Delegates
Cocoa Tea: 'Barack Obama' mp3
Dr Tony Sewell, photographed on Coldharbour Lane in the centre of the Caribbean community of Brixton in London. (Photo: Ross Sheil)
London-based educationalist Dr Tony Sewell will this summer launch Jam Tech — a ‘gap year’ programme for British schoolers in Jamaica — which he hopes will enable children to reconnect with their familial roots.
Already Sewell has interested two schools in London — one suburban and the other inner-city-based — in the programme.
Jam Tech, which is open to British boys and girls aged 16 to 18 years old, consists of three modules. They include...
More mobile news: World's second richest man and owner of MiPhone has denied interest in a Spanish satellite TV company. Instead, reports Associated Press, he intends to concentrate on expanding his America Movil mobile operation in Jamaica, Panama and Chile.
Weblink
IHT: Carlos Slim says he's not planning to buy Spain's Digital Plus
A reminder of the bond between Africa and reggae music, this time coming from a week-long festival in memory of Bob Marley held in Windhoek, Namibia.
Weblink
allAfrica.com: Windhoek Pulsates to Marley Music
Dr Hopeton Dunn, Director of the Telecommunications Policy & Management programme, Mona School of Business at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona with his cellular phone, the possible future of Internet access, and a 1940's fixed line handset. (Photo: Ross Sheil)
Mobile phones with their high rate of penetration in Jamaica could become the dominant means to access the Internet locally, says Dr Hopeton Dunn, Director of the Digicel-sponsored Telecommunications Policy & Management (TPM) programme at the Mona School of Business, University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona.
Speaking ahead of his seminar...
Fight fans (Photo: www.first-magazine.net)
'Thursday Night at the Fights' the weekly community boxing event in Denham Town, West Kingston is featured on BBC News today.
Beginning this year the event allows residents to let off steam, or perhaps, settle a grudge that might have gone further outside of the ring.
Unregulated, there are no medical facilities. However rounds are short and frequently last just a few seconds before being cut short by the referee.
Weblinks
BBC: The 'safe' fights hitting Jamaica
First Magazine (JA): Thursday Night at the Fights Main Event: Leo Versus Kong
Bio-fuels, produced in Jamaica in the form of ethanol, should not be scapegoated over the current world foot shortage, believes Dr Kusha Haraksingh who is Cariforum lead negotiator for Legal Issues in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), reports the Trinidad Express.
Weblink
Trinidad Express: 'Don't make bio-fuel a food shortage scapegoat'
In his Observer column today, Trench Town-based social entrepreneur Henley Morgan compares the child soldiers of Sierra Leone with young men in Jamaica, heavily involved in crime and violence.
By my guesstimate, there are as many as 20,000 to 30,000 of our boys who have been directly involved in criminal activities, including murder, over protracted periods and who need rehabilitation. It is a growing problem that the government will have to address in any plan to return Jamaica to normality.
READ MORE...
Weblinks
Observer: Jamaica's child soliders
Observations: Micro-financial faith in Trench Town
Energy Conservation Engineer Stanley Smellie of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Energy Conservation Project (ECP) at the campus tertiary water treatment centre.
Faced with a light bill that has more than doubled in two-and-a-half years, the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona is attempting to lead Jamaica’s move into renewable energy and conservation.
Back in 2005 faced with a monthly bill that had breached $14 million UWI embarked on its Energy Conservation Project (ECP). Two and a half years later the project is no less urgent considering that despite the ECP’s best efforts,...
Making use of free Google Maps software someone who goes by the Internet moniker ‘Tuff+Gong’, has begun mapping Jamaican crime reports via his blog, The Kingstonian: Daily Crime Reports from the Rock.
Tuff+Gong, who frequently posts comments on this blog but whose identity is unknown, has attached weblinks from the map leading to newspaper crime reports and TV news footage via YouTube.com.
The blog also features an online petition calling for Government to take action against crime with 540 murders reported this year, as of last Wednesday.
The Orlando Sentinel newspaper has been using the Google Maps to comprehensively map crimes in that city via its Homicide Report Blog, from 2007 onwards.
Sentinel Readers can use the map to search for crimes by type, date and location.
Weblinks
The Kingstonian: Daily Crime Reports from the Rock
Orlando Sentinel: Homicide Report Blog
Caribbean neighbour the Dominican Republic, which faces an election this week, is subsidising staple foods by 30 per cent, reports the Associated Press.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The Dominican Republic has expanded subsidies on basic food staples to maintain calm after deadly food riots recently struck neighboring Haiti.
READ MORE...
Weblink
MILAN (Reuters) - World rice output is expected to hit a record high this year, but growing demand and export curbs should keep prices high, at least in the short term, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Monday.
READ MORE...
Weblink
Reuters: Rice crop to hit record, but prices still rising
Jacqueline Charles, Caribbean Correspondent at the Miami Herald, reports on Haitian attempts to become self-sufficient in milk production...
Long before rising fuel and food prices sent hungry Haitians rioting into the streets last month, this quiet country dairy was already waging its own battle against one of the most expensive foreign imports: milk.
READ MORE...
Weblink
Miami Herald: Haiti's dairies strive to produce
While this might be put down to unfortunate juxtaposition (even the advertisement above the article asks 'HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?) ... this also shows how bad our crime problem appears to the rest of the world: BAD.
Taken from the Scotsman newspaper:
Iraq: Police commandos claim they have captured Abu Ayyub al-Masri – the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq – while he slept in a raid in the northern city of Mosul ... Jamaica: Prime Minister Bruce Golding ...
READ MORE...
Weblink
Scotsman: Iraq's al-Qaida chief 'arrested during raid'
.jpg)
Latin America and the Caribbean are the regions with the highest projected share of forestry carbon credits under the Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism, reports ClimateChangeCorp.com.
The climate change news site cited a report by the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center in Costa Rica which concluded that the region possessed over half, 56 per cent, of all estimated credits.
Credits are earned based on environmentally sensitive actions that reduce carbon emissions, which contribute to global climate change.
Weblink
ClimateChangeCorp.com: Forests: A carbon traders' gold mine?
(Photo: Reuters/Prensa Latina)
While United States President George Bush has continued to criticise Cuba for 'empty reform' he may welcome the latest gesture from the government of Raul Castro.
Investors from Canada and Europe are hopeful that the seemingly more pro-tourism Raul will approve proposals to develop Florida-style gated golfing communitues on the island, reports Reuters.
Now that Fidel has handed over power to his brother, Raul, Communist Cuba is setting aside any ideological objections and is embracing golf, the most capitalist of sports.
READ MORE...
While people are still talking about agriculture minister Chris Tufton's call for Jamaicans to grow and eat cassava, Denniston Wilks is already doing it, or something similar, reports the New York Times.
Growing up in rural Jamaica, the Wilkses helped their families raise crops like sugar cane, coffee and yams, and take them to market. Now, in Brooklyn, they are farmers once again, catering to their neighbors’ tastes: for scallions, for bitter melons like those from the West Indies and East Asia and for cilantro for Latin-American dinner tables.
Weblink
New York Times: Urban Farmers’ Crops Go From Vacant Lot to Market
Burchell Whiteman in his office at the Jamaica High Commission in London. (Photo: Ross Sheil)
It's a privilege to represent Jamaica in London, says High Commissioner Burchell Whiteman, but more money is needed to promote the positive side of the country to counter negative coverage in the British media.
Increasingly British perception of Jamaica is polarised around news reports of homophobia and crime, far from the ‘One Love’ idyll promoted by the tourism industry. Many in Britain are unable to divorce these perceptions from the reality that Jamaica remains a relatively safe destination for tourists.Read More "Whiteman on representing Jamaica in the UK"
Stacy Adams, Marketing Manager of First Caribbean chats with Chad Cunningham, Director of Caribclix following a seminar the company held for advertisers at the Hilton Hotel in New Kingston.
Caribclix, billing itself as the region's first online advertising network launched today.
A press release from Caribclix said that the company is eyeing a share of what PriceWaterhouse report is a US$22 billion market...try telling that to net-phobic local advertisers. But says Caribclix, customers from a range of industries have already signed on.
“What Jamaican and Caribbean companies now have is a single entity that makes it easy for them to target customers online in an effective, affordable and measureable way," said Chad Cunningham, Director of Caribclix.
Weblink
The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) and Wigton Wind Farm have separate plans to add a total of 120 megawatts to the national grid via natural gas, wind and hydro, reports the Business Observer.
Weblinks
JPS to expand its Bogue
US$4-M hydro plant in St Ann a lucrative possibility
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- Prime Minister Bruce Golding wants to permit licensing of casinos in Jamaica as a way to boost revenues, a move that is certain to ignite fierce opposition by religious groups who argue gambling encourages vice.
And, as reported in the Observer, Churchmen already have.
Read more...
Weblinks
CNN.com: Jamaica's PM pushes for casinos
Jamaica Observer: Churchmen rap planned introduction of casinos
Jamaica Observer: Casino revenues to fund health, education and security
Damian Lyn, President of the Jamaican Solar Energy Association (JSEA) holds up a solar panel outside the New Kingston premises of his company, Alternative Power Services (APS). (Photo: Ross Sheil)
The National Housing Trust’s (NHT) decision to launch low-interest loans for homeowners to buy solar panels is a boost for the local renewable energy industry says Damian Lyn, President of the Jamaica Solar Energy Association (JSEA).
The state-owned NHT have already serviced 493 borrowers under their two-year-old solar water heater loan and launched the solar water heater facility this month.
The solar panel loan is available...
The public sector will take steps to reduce its energy consumption by 15 per cent this year in an effort to encourage greater energy conservation in Jamaica, just as annual the national oil import bill threatens to reach US$2.5 billion, announced Prime Minister Bruce Golding in his budget speech yesterday.
The Prime Minister also unveiled a raft of proposals including tax exemptions, tax credits and accelerated depreciation allowances for businesses and households which install energy-saving equipment.
He promised a complete review of taxation for energy consuming products (including tax breaks and incentives). Beginning with the appointment of an ‘Energy Czar’ within his office, energy co-ordinators are to be identified in each government...
Agricultural subsidies in the United States and cheaper rice have discouraged production in Haiti, contributing to its current food crisis reports the Miami Herald.
VERRETTES, Haiti -- The roots of this country's food crisis lies next to Mesidor Sagesse's humble field, where large-scale farming was long ago abandoned in favor of imported ''Miami'' rice.
Following a week of deadly demonstrations over rising food prices that cost the prime minister his job, Haitian President René Préval recently announced government subsidies to cut the price of imported rice by more than 15 percent and to revive local agriculture primarily by reducing the price of fertilizer.
Weblink
Miami Herald VIDEO, SLIDESHOW & AUDIO: Crop fields hold hope in Haiti
The Deraves family in California are featured in a video accompanying the New York Times Magazine's Green Issue.
"We went beyond changing our light bulbs," said Mr Deraves of the family lifestyle, which is practically self-sufficient.
Their 'Urban Homestead' is equipped with solar panels and the family grows its own vegetables. They earn US$25,000 a year from selling produce and convert used cooking oil from customers into bio-diesel.
Weblinks
New York Times VIDEO: Living (Mostly) off the grid
California Energy Commission
VIDEO: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on climate change
Mobile Money co-founder Damion Daley at home in Rockfort, Kingston (Photo: Ross Sheil)
A young Kingston-based software developer is helping to launch a cellular phone service in Jamaica that allows persons to make financial transactions via SMS text messaging.
Observations has tested 'Mobile Money', developed by 27-year-old Damion Daley, which will be given a full launch next month. Users will earn percentages charged on receivers of transactions via an affiliate marketing programme. Users will be able to purchase goods and services via SMS, in the same manner that pre-paid mobile platforms allow credit to...
Martinique-born poet and politician Aimé Césaire will receive a state funeral on Sunday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be among many French politicians expected to attend the ceremony of Césaire who died on Thursday at the age of 94.
Césaire had previously snubbed Sarkosy and was celebrated throughout the African Diaspora for being an early exposer of black pride and remained firmly anti-colonialist.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade mourned his death as a "catastrophe": "It is through Césaire that we became aware of what colonialism was. We used to repeat it by heart."
Weblinks
France 24 VIDEO: Honouring Césaire, the poet and politician
Caribbean World News: Famous Martinique-Born Poet Dead
As food prices for staples like beans, corn and rice grow out of reach around the world, hunger in Haiti has become fierce.
Weblinks
New York Times VIDEO: Haiti's Hunger Pains
Associated Press: UN to step up food aid for Haiti following riots over prices
United Press International: U.N. calls for new Haitian government
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has defended biofuels against claims that their production contributes to food scarcity and rising global prices.
Da Silva instead criticised agricultural subsidies in the developed world for undermining the competitiveness of developing nations and reducing world production.
"Biofuels aren't the villain that threatens food security," he said. "On the contrary...they can pull countries out of energy dependency without affecting foods."
Brazil is the world's leading exporter of ethanol.
Weblink
BBC: Brazil president defends biofuels
While this might be relatively unknown, Kingston is actually the headquarters of the International Seabed Authority.
And what is the Authority?
Established by the United Nations in 1994 the autonomous international organisation has the increasingly important role of overseeing commercial exploitation of the ocean floor with mining expected to begin in 2010, reports the Mining Journal.
Despite the vast mineral potential of the ocean deeps they have gone unexplored for years. However improvements in technology and rising metal prices have accelerating the process.
Meanwhile the Authority has been developing the necessary international regulation.
Weblinks:
Mining Journal: Guarding the riches of the ocean
International Seabed Authority
If you ever wondered whether information being given to tourists about Jamaica and the Caribbean was accurate...
A writer for the Lonely Planet travel guides has claimed he made-up sections of books. The writer, Thomas Kohnstamm, said that he had worked on over a dozen books including on the Caribbean.
Lonely Planet, which is 75 per cent owned by the BBC, has denied the claims made by Kohnstamm, who is publicising his book, Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?
Should the Caribbean tourism industry be worried? And should the industry or media be sufficiently concerned/commercially interested to compete with the likes of Lonely Planet?
Weblinks
BBC: Lonely Planet rebuts 'fake' claim
Observations: Promoting Jamaica's tourism product, yourself
While Jamaicans Lindy Delapena and John Barnes broke down racial boundaries on the pitch, Heather Rabbatts, who was also born in this country, is blazing a trail in the football boardroom as Executive Chairman of English Division One club Millwall FC.
A self-described football fan and having grown up in South London, home to Millwall's New Den stadium, Rabbatts would have been well aware of what faced her: namely some of football's toughest fans and now, an attempted corporate takeover.
Weblink
The Independent: Heather Rabbatts walked into the Lions' Den at Millwall FC, and found the fighting was in the boardroom
Jamaica has the most confrontational labour relations of 69 countries surveyed in research published by a British economist.
The data from Dr Horst Feldmann of the University of Bath concluded that encouraging better labour relations increases the rate of employment.
Singapore, a model 'Asian Tiger' economy, was cited as the most co-operative.
Weblinks
Teletext News: Industry relations examined
Bath Chronicle: Expert's Research Discovers Impact of Red Tape on Start-Ups
Inventor Merrick Seymour with his Hubb Knuckles building joint invention, at home in Denham Town, Kingston. (Photo: Ross Sheil)
At 69 years old, Denham Town, Kingston resident Merrick Seymour looks an unlikely millionaire, but thanks to his 'Hub Knuckles' invention, success might be around the corner.
Hubb Knuckles are steel building joints designed to build frames used in pre-fabricated housing. Having earned a United States patent last year Seymour is ready to begin production of the...
Etan Haughton, Managing Director of Econergy Limited (centre) with two of his technicians, Trevor Smith (left) and Paul Jackson (right), inspecting ice-making cells in the basement of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) headquarters in New Kingston. (Photo: Ross Sheil)
Large premises can make significant savings by investing in thermal cooling, a technology that feeds air-conditioning systems by producing ice during off-peak hours when Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) tariffs are lower, says veteran renewable energy engineer...
Wearing noticably warmer clothing are Leston Paul (Trinidad), Andrew Murray (Guyana), Akeem Brown (Jamaica) and Joseph Guelmsley (Haiti); four of the eight Digicel-sponsored Caribbean U-20 players training this week with English Premier League club Sunderland. A previous training session had to take place indoors due to snow.
More grim economic news comes from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which is predicting two years of slowing growth for the Caribbean caused by recession in the United States and disruption of international financial markets.
Released this week the IMF World Economic Report predicts that growth will slow from 5.7 per cent last year to 4.4 per cent this year and 3.8 per cent next year.
Weblinks
CMC: IMF predicts Caribbean economic slowdown
IMF: DOWNLOAD report
With food prices likely to be a major factor as Finance Minister Audley Shaw presents his budget today, the issue is continuing to burden the Caribbean's poor not least in Haiti were riots have killed five and wounded 40 this week.
BBCCaribbean.com reports from the region and worldwide including a concern by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that rising food prices are undermining international development.
Weblink
The British government, much like in Jamaica, is coming under increasing pressure to offer greater incentives to people who want to install renewable energy technology on their homes and sell electricity back to the national grid, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Britain has been slower to embrace renewable energy than Germany, which has a more generous incentive system. Last year only 270 British homes installed solar panels compared to 130,000 in Germany.
"I just watch the little meter ticking over, telling me how much energy they are producing. It's satisfying to know that the electricity I use and produce hasn't been created by burning fossil fuels," a London householder told the newspaper.
Weblink
The Telegraph: Eco Homes
Jamaican coffee producers might be missing out on a trick.
The Island's famous Blue Mountain coffee is being blended with Kopi Luwak beans, which have been excreted by cats, and sold for £50 a cup in London.
BBC
Minister of Finance Audley Shaw
In his first budget speech as the Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw has the significant challenge of explaining how he will finance the Government's planned expenditure of $489.5 billion for 2008/9. This is a sharp 20.8 per cent increase or $84.27 billion above the revised budget of $405.25 billion for 2007/8.
This $489.5 billion includes both expenditure, and the amortisation (repayment) of debt. If we subtract the $140.3 billion that represents debt repayment, the remaining $349.24 billion is the "true"...
Gas prices have gone up again. As if Jamaica needed further reminders about the need to conserve on gasoline, or use alternative energy.
With the price of oil now US$109 a barrel the following prices announced by the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) will take effect tomorrow:
UNLEADED GASOLINE 87: $62.4869 UP $0.97/LITRE
UNLEADED GASOLINE 90: $63.9297 UP $0.97/LITRE
AUTOMOTIVE DIESEL OIL: $67.4497 UP $0.74/LITRE
KEROSENE: $68.3008 UP $1.18/LITRE
PROPANE (LPG): $35.4350 DOWN $0.15/LITRE
BUTANE (LPG): $38.8850 DOWN $0.15/LITRE
The players walking down the tunnel onto the pitch at Sunderland FC's Stadium of Light
The eight Caribbean under-20 footballers selected by John Barnes during the Digicel Kick Start clinics have begun training at English Premier League Club Sunderland FC.
Today they began their third day of training under the watchful eye of club manager Roy Keane.
Greeted by snow upon landed at London Gatwick on Saturday weather forced them to train indoors when training began on Monday. Yesterday they got their first experience of training in the English winter; after the snow melted.
Andrew Murray (Guyana), Joseph Guemsley & Renaud Brisley (Haiti), Gerard Williams & Devaugn Elliot (St Kitts), Emilio Limon (Suriname), Leston Paul (Trinidad) and Akeem Brown (Jamaica) will fly home on Monday after having watched Sunderland's Premier League match against Manchester City on Saturday.
Weblinks
Digicel Football
Sunderland FC
London's Observer newspaper (no relation of this newspaper) is running a candid feature on Asafa Powell.
"I cannot abide this foolishness, Powell! I cannot tolerate it! Give me 25 runs up the hill. Go!" (coach Stephen Francis)
The journalists sat in on a MVP training session at UTech and spent time at the Linstead, St. Catherine of home of Powell's parents and were thrilled when the the 100 metres world-record holder showed them Jamaica's most remarkable, er, rock formation.
There's an accompanying slideshow also.
Not forgetting the previous post on Observations about Powell's athletic home, UTech's Department of Sports.
Weblinks
Meet the fastest man ever
Asafa Powell in Jamaica
Observations: First world athletics, third world funding at UTech
Concerned by violent and anti-social lyrics, Red Stripe, a brand synonymous with Jamaican culture, will no longer be associated with live music events like Reggae Sumfest and Sting.
The national beer's title sponsorship of Sumfest and Sting will not be renewed.
Red Stripe is a member of the Coalition of Corporate Sponsors which took similar action before by disassociating from individual artistes.
"Over the years, however, a very negative trend of glorifying violence has crept into some of the music, causing much consternation among well thinking...
Glenford ‘Glen’ Christian the 'rags to riches' entrepreneur behind the Cari-Med pharmaceutical empire scooped the 2007 Observer Business Leader Award last night.
Reclining in his executive armchair, legs crossed, Glenford ‘Glen’ Christian seems at ease with the world around him.
But suddenly, he slips his right shoe off his foot and gently runs one hand over the sole, probing, he assures me, for scars and bruises — evidence of his shoe-less and penniless childhood.
Weblink
Business Leader Awards 2007: Glen Christian...building a pharmaceutical empire
Downtown Ladies, a book by Haitian-born academic Gina Ulysee follows 15 years studying the lives of Jamaican higglers.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Assistant Professor of African American Studies at Wesleyan University in the United States got her inspiration from a talk given by Jamaican businesswoman Mabel Tenn, while a study abroad student at the University of West Indies (UWI) Mona.
“The trade has been an occupation for many people because it makes you to be independent. It makes you to be self-reliant. It motivates you to be a person of substance,” a woman in Ulysse’s book says. “A person that … you lose you gain, you fall you raise, you fall you raise … It make you to be tough. So many time I have fallen by the wayside, I get brush up meself and start again.”
Chicago University Press are the publishers.
Weblinks
Wesleyan University: Assistant Professor Explores Cultural Implications of Informal Commercial Importers in Jamaica
Chicago University Press
Irwine Clare, head of the United States-based Caribbean Immigrant Service lobby group, is questioning Prime Minister Bruce Golding's commitment to the Jamaican Diaspora in that country.
`We've heard this all before," Clare told CaribWorldNews.com following Golding's speech in Miami last weekend when he promised to tap the skills of the Diaspora.
Also the founder of Team Jamaica Bickle, which supports hundreds of Caribbean athletes and officials at the annual Penn relays in Philadelphia, Clare is vexed at the absence of support coming from Jamaica this year.
Weblinks
Caribbean World News: Is The Jamaican Diaspora Getting Mere Lip Service?
Team Jamaica Bickle
Michael Lee-Chin
Founder of Canadian mutual fund company AIC and chairman of NCB, Jamaican-born Michael Lee Chin, makes this year's Forbes Billionaires list as the world's 677th richest person.
Interviewed in today's Observer Caribbean Business Report Lee-Chin makes some relevant observations for Jamaica and the region, especially with nine of the top ten richest on this year's list coming from developing countries.
"The best way to create...
Fernanda Doz Costa, Amnesty International Researcher:
Amnesty International leaves Jamaica after having heard many stories of violence and suffering – mostly from those who live in inner-city communities, caught up between criminal gangs and abusive police.
But we have also heard many stories from those Jamaicans that while living in extremely challenging environments have decided to stand up to the problems facing them and to do something to change their destiny by, for example, developing projects, educating children and claiming justice for their loved ones.
But as Sonia White, a prominent community peacemaker, told us: “we need the political will and sustainability...
The chairman, then in 1961, an air-conditioner salesman.
Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, Chairman of Sandals Resorts and the Jamaica Observer, is profiled today by Inc.com, the magazine for entrepreneurs.
"I started working before I turned 17, but then I went to England to round off my education and came back to Jamaica full of vim and vinegar. I got a job at a trading company and was in charge of the appliance department. After five years, I was able to save over $3,000. That was 1968. Then I realized Fedders air conditioners were not represented in Jamaica. I bought an airplane ticket and I headed to Edison, New Jersey. I met with the president's nephew. We really hit it off. He said to the finance people, "Look, he's paying cash for the first shipment, so there's nothing to lose; give him a chance."
Weblink
How I Did It: Butch Stewart, Sandals Resorts
First magazine has returned almost three years since the fourth and final issue was printed. Relaunching as an online publication yesterday - April Fool's Day - the volume of traffic soon crashed the website's server. Problem solved, the site is now back up.
Weblink
First magazine
3-D representations of the planned Les Grande'ur Country Club development to be located at Patrick Heights in Red Hills, St Andrew.
A local developer plans to build what he hopes will be Jamaica's first housing scheme powered almost entirely by renewable energy.