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October_November 2008

Hot Calaloo endorsement of Obama

Hot Calaloo has already gone on record for endorsing Obama for president of the United States. But let me make it clear, Hot Calaloo did not endorse him because he is black. Hot Calaloo endorsed Obama because:

He will end the immoral illegal Iraq war ….and McCain won’t!

He will end torture ….and McCain won’t!

He will bring respect back to America ….and McCain won’t!

He will work for people, not corporations ….and McCain won’t!

He will work to make universal healthcare a reality ….and McCain won’t!

He will lead the fight against global warming ….and McCain won’t!

He will stop the assault on our civil liberties ….and McCain won’t!

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Republicans smear and demonize Obama

Instead of discussing the real issues plaguing Americans, McCain and Palin have turned to fear-mongering and race-baiting, stoking the prejudices of their supporters. The situation has become so critical that we've teamed up with Color of Change to put an end to these dangerous mob scenes.

Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5mdIPNB8t8

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Ja Govt to pay American Airlines J$300 mil not to reduce flights

Earlier this year, American Airlines announced plans to cut back on the number of flights to the Caribbean due to the rising cost of fuel and the downturn in the US economy. The Jamaica government has responded with a tempting deal for the airlines. Under the proposed deal, more than $J300 million is to be paid to the US carrier over the next 12 months to entice it to continue flying to Jamaica.

The money-losing Air Jamaica, the national airline is not happy and is not alone. Air Jamaica officials and the unions which represent workers there are very upset about the deal. The Unions have accused the government of providing incentives to Air Jamaica's main competitor.

The deal has raised eyebrows in the local airline industry and triggered protest from the Opposition People's National Party (PNP).
Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett, who was at the forefront of brokering the agreement, told RJR News that the deal was critical to the survival of the country's tourism product.
Under the deal, American Airlines is guaranteed a specific number of booked seats from specific destinations. The money is only due to be paid to American Airlines if the country does not meet the targeted seat count.

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Caricom members sign EPA

Member States of the Caribbean Forum of African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States (CARIFORUM) and the European Community (EC) assembled in Barbados at the Sherbourne Conference Centre on October 15, 2008 to commemorate the beginning of a new chapter in the history of their economic relationship by signing of the CARIFORUM-EC Economic Partnership Agreement. This new WTO compatible trade agreement, which was initialed on December 16 2007, is expected to stimulate the sustainable development of CARIFORUM economies by helping CARIFORUM to export more and thereby increase business opportunities, employment and economic growth.

All CARIFORUM Members States, with the exception of Haiti and Guyana signed the agreement. The Government of Guyana is expected to sign soon. However, the Government of Haiti, which has been heavily occupied with addressing national stabilization and recovery in the aftermath of recent tropical hurricanes, has requested more time to review the Agreement. Guyana has since signed the controversial agreement, but with much misgivings.

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French company fix Bog Walk gorge road for free

A week after tropical storm Gustav devastated Jamaican roads, FRENCH construction company Bouygues, developer of Highway 2000, offered to repair the damage to the Bog Walk gorge caused by the passage of the storm, free of charge and within a month. The company said it felt compelled to volunteer its services to the clean-up effort.

"Bouygues is in the unique position in Jamaica - having for six years the Highway 2000 project - to react quickly," said Louis Brais, branch and project director.

The gorge, which links the island's financial capital Kingston with the tourist-rich north coast, has cost taxpayers millions of dollars over the years. In the last three to four years alone, an estimated $20 million has been spent on repairing the route - excluding a major resurfacing project done some five years earlier - according to information out of the Ministry of Transport and Works.

Following the heavy rains dumped on the island by Tropical Storm Gustav, the gorge once again required extensive repair work, which will extend to resurfacing of the Flat Bridge and sections of the roadway, as well as the usual clearing away of debris, including trees and huge boulders that protect the motoring public and local residents from landslides.

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St. Vincent teachers strike

Teachers in St Vincent and the Grenadines voted to go on strike and so did. The teachers took the decision following an emergency meeting at the Anglican School in the capital city Kingstown
The St Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers' Union (SVGTU) says it is dissatisfied with an offer from the government regarding a job Reclassification exercise. The teachers and government are at loggerheads over a report by Powell Consultants, in which it was recommended that 13% be paid on the midpoint of the salary scales, with a 20% spread from the top grades, 15% spread from the middle and 20% from the bottom. However, the government is proposing six percent on the midpoint, a 17% spread from the top, 15% from the middle and 20% from the low grades.

The government's final offer of seven percent at the mid-point range has angered the teachers, who are demanding 10%. There are approximately1,500 teachers in the teaching profession in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

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Big plans keep MVP from leaving Jamaica

MVP? What is MVP you may well ask. It is the Maximizing Velocity and Power (MVP) Track Club, the home of Olympic champions Shelly-Ann Fraser and Melaine Walker, along with Asafa Powell. It could leave Jamaica soon. Paul Francis, the group's assistant coach and director, confirmed what his brother and head coach, Stephen Francis, said on local radio. MVP was considering leaving Jamaica.

MVP boast some impressive credentials. At the just-concluded Olympic Games in Beijing, China, the club's athletes won five individual medals. Fraser struck gold in the women's 100m in a personal best 10.78, the second-fastest time by any Jamaican woman, and Walker won the 400m hurdles in a Games' record 52.64 and her lifetime best.

Sherone Simpson, in the women's 100m, and quarter-miler Shericka Williams, won silver in their respective events. Great Britain's Germaine Mason, also a member of the club, won silver in the men's high jump, leaping a personal best 2.34m.

Added to that, MVP boasted three members of the island's victorious 4x100m team - Michael Frater, Nesta Carter and Powell, who helped Jamaica to a world record 37.10 seconds.

Apart from Mason, who switched allegiance to Great Britain more than three years ago, Stephen Francis has coached a few other overseas athletes, such as Darrell Brown of Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbadians Andrew Hinds and Wilan Louis. As expected, overseas athletes are beating a path to their door. But they fear facilities at their training site at the University of Technology (UTech) might no longer be adequate.

But there is good news. The latest is that MVP will not leave Jamaica but will be a crucial player in the UTech development of sports tourism plans in Jamaica.

UTech to lead Jamaica sport tourism expansion

Jamaica's Olympic success in Beijing has sparked international interest and a new demand for sports and athletic training here, according to University of Technology (UTech) principal Professor Errol Morrison, who says the country should immediately exploit opportunities in sports tourism.

In fact, Morrison's institution, whose brand was boosted this summer by top performance of Jamaican Olympians who train at the campus, is on the verge of acquiring property in Montego Bay, St James, to expand its hospitality and tourism program and grow the university.

"I would really urge you to take a serious look at sports tourism" said Morrison Wednesday night at the opening of the UTech/University of Delaware 2008 international conference on business hospitality and tourism management, a four-day event at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort and Spa in Ocho Rios, St Ann.

"I think it is even more important that we consider this niche market."

Morrison later told the Financial Gleaner that UTech, whose students accounted for two-thirds of the six Olympic gold medals earned for Jamaica, had this year increased its intake of students in its hospitality program by 76 per cent to more than 600.

"Already, the knocks are on the door; they want to study here," he said, adding that students from as far as South Africa and Qatar were calling.

"When they come, the family comes, friends come; it's an opening to show Jamaica and its welcoming sites."

Morrison was tight-lipped about the Montego Bay expansion, but said the deal for the acquisition of the property was close to being finalised. The new campus should be ready, he said, by August 2010.

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Cuba helps Barbados launch Operation Miracle

Operation Miracle, a program that provides free vision correcting surgery, was launched in Barbados with the treatment of 450 patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The program is sponsored by Cuba and headed in Barbados by Dr Maritza Miquele, former head of the Ophthalmology Department at the Pando Ferrer Hospital in Havana.

Afaret pointed out that the offering of treating patients with eye problems for free have had a great repercussion in this Lesser Antilles nation,with over 271,000 inhabitants and where many people have shown interest into receiving the service.
 

Operation Miracle began as a cooperation initiative between Cuba and Venezuela in July 2004, and would later spread across Latin America and the Caribbean. More than 1,100,000 people from 33 countries, not including Cuba, have benefited from the program, traveling either to Cuba or to one of 55 ophthalmologic centers located in other countries. Cuba has also donated 85 surgical facilities in 13 countries as part of the initiative.

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Jamaica's Rocksteady king Ellis dies at 70

Jamaican reggae star Alton Ellis, known as the "Godfather of Rocksteady", has died of cancer in London. He was 70 years old. The singer-songwriter was diagnosed with multiple myeloma last year. He underwent chemotherapy and returned to the stage before he collapsed during his final performance in central London in August.

Ellis, who moved to Britain in the 1970s, had a string of hits in a career spanning more than 50 years, including "I'm Still In Love", "Dance Crasher" and "I'm Just A Guy".
He was awarded the Order of Distinction medal by Jamaica in 1994. Ellis, who lived in the northwest London suburb of Northolt, is survived by his wife and more than 20 children.

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Oil in Cuba

A few years ago geologists estimated that between 5 billion bbl. and 10 billion bbl. of oil lie beneath the waters off Cuba's northwest coast. Suddenly it seemed as though the hemisphere's sole communist nation might finally end its desperate dependence on oil-rich allies like the former Soviet Union and Venezuela - and perhaps even escape its impoverished economic time warp altogether.

The oil discovery has renewed debate over whether a crude-thirsty U.S. should loosen its 46-year-old trade embargo against Cuba and let yanqui firms join the drilling, which is taking place fewer than 100 miles off U.S. shores. Despite the Bush Administration's hard line on Cuba, Republicans in Congress have proposed legislation to exempt Big Oil from the embargo. If true, those potential reserves could make Cuba a major petro player in the hemisphere. (The U.S. has reserves of 29 billion bbl.) And it could render the embargo an even more ineffective. Cuba now produces about 60,000 barrels of oil per day (BPD) and consumes more than 150,000 BPD. (It also produces natural gas.) Venezuela makes up the difference by shipping almost 100,000 BPD to Cuba.

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Corporal punishment to be reintroduced in Guyana's schools

Licks for kids....Guyana’s Education Minister Shaik Baksh has announced that draft legislation is currently in place to reintroduce corporal punishment in schools. He made the announcement in response to concerns of parents in Georgetown about the rising violence in South Georgetown schools.

Several reports have been made of instances where students physically abused their teachers and even their parents.

Baksh also stressed that his Ministry recognized the value of religious education in schools and that plans were already in place to make the subject compulsory in the curriculum.

The Chronicle report also stated that the Minister disclosed that a national consultation would be held to garner opinion on this issue

In the US, corporal punishment is legal in 22 states and is used frequently in 13. Many educators contend that this method is ineffective means of discipline because it discourages learning, fails to deter future misbehavior and often teaches violence instead.

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Italy pays reparations for colonialism

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has signed an agreement to pay Libya $5bn as part of a deal to resolve colonial-era disputes. Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi said the settlement signed in the city of Benghazi opened the door to partnership between the two states. Mr Berlusconi said the deal, which sees the money being released over 25 years, ended "40 years of misunderstanding".

Libya was occupied by Italy in 1911 before becoming a colony in the 1930s. The former Ottoman territory became an independent country in 1951.

This is the first African country to be compensated by a former colonial master, according to the BBC’s reports. The question is, she adds: will this latest move set precedents for other former African countries to follow suit? Will Africa-Americans get reparations for slavery?
Mr Berlusconi explained that $200m would be paid annually over the next 25 years through investments in infrastructure projects, the main one being a coastal motorway between the Egyptian and Tunisian borders. There will also be a colonial-era mine clearing project.
As a goodwill gesture, Italy also returned an ancient statue of Venus, the headless "Venus of Cyrene", which had been taken to Rome in colonial times.
The settlement was a "complete and moral acknowledgement of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era", the Italian prime minister said. "In this historic document, Italy apologises for its killing, destruction and repression against Libyans during the colonial rule," Col Gaddafi said for his part.
Rome and Tripoli have spent years arguing over compensation for the colonial period.
The agreement was signed in the Benghazi palace which once housed the Italian colonial administration, Reuters news agency reports.

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Super 'Shiv' cricketer of the year

SHIVNARINE CHANDERPAUL became the first West Indies player to claim a major prize at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Awards when he copped the Cricketer of the Year honours yesterday.

The prolific left-handed batsman was named winner of the award - the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy - at the prestigious LG ICC Awards, a glittering ceremony at The Weston Hotel.

Chanderpaul, who also made the shortlist last year, fought off competition from other nominees Mahela Jayawardene from Sri Lanka, as well as South Africa's Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn, to take the top award.

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England cites racism by Croatian fans

England asked FIFA to investigate racist chants toward black striker Emile Heskey by Croatian fans during a World Cup qualifier. The derogatory chants in Zagreb came after the striker was cited for a challenge on Croatia captain Niko Kovac during the second half of England’s 4-1 victory.

"It is unacceptable for anyone to be subjected to racial abuse and we will be asking FIFA to investigate this," the Football Association said Thursday. "The FA and England team are determined to do all they can to eradicate any form of racism from football and society."

Croatia was fined $27,600 for its fans’ racist behavior during a European Championship game against Turkey in June. Three fans, including an unidentified 33-year-old Briton, were injured in brawls before the game, Zagreb police said. The fan was hospitalized after being hit on the head with a bottle by a Croatian fan. Seventy-eight Croatian fans and four from England were accused of public disturbances and briefly detained before, during and after the game.

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Jamaica wins after firing Simoes as Reggae Boyz coach

Jamaica has fired Rene Simoes as coach of the Reggae Boyz only hours after they lost 2-0 to Honduras in their third World Cup qualifier. They were off to a dismal start in this important competition, with a single point from a tie with Canada. In the other game, they were routed by Mexico 3-0. They were in last place with only a very slim chance of advancing left and were playing embarrassingly bad.

Former Jamaican-born English star player John Barnes has been named to replace Simoes, beginning November 1, 2008. In the meantime, assistant coach and 1998 world cup hero Theodore "Tapa" Whitmore was named interim coach. So he had the formidable task of securing wins against the leaders Mexico and Honduras in October before Barnes takes over in November against Canada.

He has risen to the occasion, steering Jamaica to a 1-0 win over powerhouse Mexico in Kingston. On Wednesday October 15, Honduras comes to town. This win was the third for Whitmore, as he was the man in charge when the Boyz defeated El Salvador (3-0) and Guatemala (2-0) at the National Stadium in friendlies in November last year. I hope John Barnes can match that record.

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T&T and Jamaica hang on with upset wins

Both T&T and Jamaic upset their group leading teams to remain in contention to advance to the next round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers.T&T’s upset of Group 1 leaders USA by 2-1, coupled by Cuba’s upset of then second place Guatemala also by 2-1, left T&T in second place in Group 1. Jamaica, all but dead after a measly point from a tie with Canada and two embarrassing losses, moved back into contention with wins over group-leading Mexico and second-place Honduras in Group 2 to keep their faint hopes of advancing alive.

T&T will qualify for the Fourth Round (and Guatemala will be eliminated) if: they do not lose to Cuba, or the US defeats Guatemala.
Jamaica will qualify if they beat Canada and Mexico beats Honduras.

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