Source Photo: Gleaner
Following their excellent showing at the Guinness-sponsored Reggae Sumfest last weekend, the likes of Aidonia, I-Octane, Elephant Man, Bounty Killer, Agent Sasco, Wayne Marshall and Konshens rocked thousands who turned out at The Jungle.
On Saturday, Aidonia picked up where he left off by reaching for greatness at Reggae Sumfest as he continued to display maturity and growth in his performance. Konshens had the female fans screaming right throughout his set, while the lyrically-conscious I-Octane ‘blessed’ the venue, his performance including a cameo by Iyaslice. Elephant Man closed the show with his usual high energy.
After the performances, Firelinks closed the show with a rapid-fire mix of dancehall’s best and he was well received.
Guinness Brand Manager Gary Dixon said the brand wanted to ensure strict dancehall patrons were included in the weekend activities.
“Guinness wanted to provide that alternative entertainment from the party weekend for the dedicated dancehall fans. By all indications, the patrons were appreciative, as the event went well and the vibes was great,” said Dixon. “The performers also displayed what it means to reach for greatness as the young artistes keep getting better at their craft and the veterans like Elephant Man showed why he is one of Jamaica’s greatest entertainers.”
Promoter Dean Wallace said the execution of the event went according to plan.
“The show was great and the performances were excellent. I-Octane and Aidonia were really awesome and everybody had a great time,” said Wallace.
Source: Gleaner
Dollar index dips to fresh 3-month low .DXY
* Euro breaks key technical level, up nearly 1 percent
* Solid Chinese data, strong European earnings help risk
* Sluggish U.S. growth weighing on greenback
(Adds comments, details. Changes byline)
By Vivianne Rodrigues
NEW YORK, Aug 2 (Reuters) – The dollar fell to a three-month low on Monday against a basket of currencies on fears the U.S. recovery is faltering.
Strong European earnings meanwhile pushed sterling to a six-month high against the greenback.
The euro neared $1.32 for the first time since early May, with its rally picking up steam after the currency broke above $1.3125, a key technical level. The Australian dollar hit a three-month peak after data showed Chinese manufacturing expanded for a 17th straight month. [ID:nTOE66Q06K]
Signs of weaker U.S. growth have weighed on the dollar in recent weeks. Data on Friday showed growth slowed to a 2.4 percent annual rate in the second quarter and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday said the economy is still far from achieving full recovery. [ID:nWAL2JE6F7]
Currency traders paid little attention to U.S. data on Monday showing stronger than expected manufacturing growth.
However, the Chinese data and recent solid reports from Europe have investors hopeful the world economy can grow even if U.S. recovery sputters. That has boosted appetite for higher risk currencies and pushed them through technical levels.
Analysts said the euro’s rally accelerated after it broke $1.3125 EUR=. That marked a three-month high and the 38.2 percent retracement of a decline that began in November and took the euro to $1.1876 in June, its lowest since 2006. It was last up 1 percent at $1.3181.
A close around these levels, analysts said, would be a bullish sign, with $1.3510, the 50 percent retracement of the November-to-June move, a potential target. But traders said barriers around $1.3200, $1.3250 and beyond could make it a slow and difficult climb.
“It’s a broad dollar-weakness story right now,” said Sebastien Galy, senior strategist at BNP Paribas in New York.
“If we close above key technical levels on the euro, we may be in for a sharp acceleration.”
An index of the dollar .DXY against six major currencies fell 0.8 percent and was nearing its 200-day moving average, another important technical level that, if breached, could suggest further losses ahead, analysts said.
Sterling hit a six-month high versus the dollar GBP=D4 of $1.5897 and hit a four-week high against the euro EURGBP=D4.
Robust results from HSBC (HSBA.L)(0005.HK) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) helped risk sentiment and boosted European shares .FTEU3.
Some analysts said more than the increase in profitability, some of the European bank earnings report showed that quarterly provisions to sustain losses had been cut in half.
“This helped ease concerns regarding the broader European banking community and has propelled the euro higher,” said Dan Cook, a senior market analyst at IG Markets Inc. in Chicago.
Cook added that despite today’s rally, the next major area of resistance may not come into play until $1.3270 and $1.3290.
US STOCKS ALSO RALLY
U.S. stocks gained as equities investors ignored the GDP numbers to focus on strong earnings and data that showed the U.S. manufacturing sector slowed only moderately in July. See [ID:nN02269350]
“What’s happening is the rest of the world doesn’t look so bad and the U.S., while sluggish, doesn’t look dire yet,” said Joseph Trevisani, chief analyst at FX Solutions in Saddle River, New Jersey. As long as China doesn’t fall off a cliff, the easy currency play is to keep buying risk, particularly the Australian and Canadian dollars.”
The dollar also fell against the Australian and Canadian dollars, with the Aussie hitting a three-month peak earlier at $0.9147 AUD=D4.
Published: 3 Aug 2010
Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has announced Cabinet’s approval of the Tourism Industry Refurbishment Programme (TIRP), as part of efforts to boost the sector and grow revenues.
Under the new incentive programme, tourism entities licensed by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), which are tax compliant, will be allowed a concessionary import duty rate of ten per cent on a specified list of items for the refurbishing of their properties. Bartlett said entities which opt to purchase locally will be given a 15 per cent tax credit on the total value of local purchases.
Speaking during a press briefing at his office, Bartlett said the TIRP is expected to improve the operations and competitiveness of tourism entities. “The Caribbean and Jamaica, in particular, have over time had products that are mature products and, in our business, the growth in tourism and the constant improvement has been so rapid that unless you are continuously improving and refreshing your products, you’re likely to be left behind,†he argued.
He said that his ministry fully recognised that hotel property has to be “perpetually fresh and crisp†to be competitive in today’s market. With tourism being one of the island’s leading growth sectors, the introduction of the TIRP is expected to encourage establishments to refurbish their properties more often, creating more employment and revenues for the government. It will also enhance the linkages between the industry and the local manufacturing and furnishing sector.
Bartlett said this is an important improvement because it brings small properties, in particular, into the mix of beneficiaries. “This is also an incentive to grow, to expand, to produce more and we have already on the cards, some US$151 million of expansion programmes to be implemented,†he said. (Caribbean360.com)
By: Michelle Cave
With the BP oil spill much too close for comfort, many people in this region have the consumption, exploration utility of gas and oil not too far from the front of their minds. And until we can get our hands on solar powered vehicles, oil, gas and their products will have to fuel us. With this in the background over the past few months, I began some investigations of how this gauge of gas that we are slave to really works, and sent some friends out through the region on a mini survey to actually find out.
So how much is a litre of gas here?
This was extremely difficult to find. It was not posted at gas stations, like everywhere else in the world. But a hunt to most energy divisions would find that the price of gasoline revolves around US$2.41 per litre, diesel: $1.98 per litre and kerosene: $1.17 per litre. And just so we have an idea of some average prices in the rest of the world. These prices are reflected in gallons.
There are approximately four litres in a gallon: $3.50 a gallon in southern California; Britain $5.64; Hong Kong $5.62; Germany $5.29; Denmark $5.08; Norway $5.07; Italy $4.86; Turkey $4.85; Portugal $4.80; Korea $4.71; Switzerland $4.56; Korea $4.53; Austria $4.50; Croatia $4.32; Japan $3.84; Australia $2.63; Cambodia $2.57; Taiwan $2.47; Georgia $2.31; Laos $1.66; Thailand $1.60; China $1.54; Russia $1.45; Kazakhstan $1.36; Tajikistan $1.32; Azerbaijan $1.15 and Venezuela $0.14.
And who fixes the prices?
Most cabinets in the region do.
And why are they not posted at each gas station for consumers to choose where they want to buy gas?
Though I searched far and wide, I could not find an appropriate answer to this question. The most frequent answers were variations of: “Why would you want to knowâ€, or “What business is it of the consumers, they have to buy it anyway.â€
And what is actually in the gas we put into our cars?
The gas attendants when asked what grade gasoline was being bought looked as though the question was coming from outer space. High octane, unleaded ultra high octane . . . who knew? This question led to some intriguing conversations. The upshot being a hodge podge of refined products that actually are the real costs in gas, as their importation and the amounts added to gasoline are quite hefty.
What if any is the etiquette in gas/petrol stations in the region?
In most countries, when you pull into a petrol station, an attendant will wave you towards a particular pump. You will wind down your window and tell him or her what value of fuel you want. She/he will then refuel the car for you and usually someone else will clean the windscreen for you. When it’s finished and you give the attendant the money in cash, some people offer a tip of a few dollars. You don’t normally get out of the car at all unless you need to visit the increasingly in-house shop.
And is there any hope for more economical, environmental products we can use to fuel our vehicles . . . in the near future?
Apparently there is quite a voracious appetite globally for alternatives to petroleum that will use naturally occurring bacteria to produce hydrocarbons, pretty much mimicking the natural production of petroleum. One such is a company founded by geneticist George Church http://www.hms.harvard.edu/dms/bbs/fac/church.html, of Harvard Medical School, and plant biologist Chris Somerville http://www-ciwdpb.stanford.edu/research/research_csomerville.php, of Stanford University.
They are working on a product called “renewable petroleum – a genetically engineered bacteria, which custom produces hydrocarbon chainsâ€.
This synthetic biology is modifying the genetic pathways that bacteria, plants, and animals use to make fatty acids.
This is how organisms store energy. Fatty acids are chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms strung together in a particular arrangement, with a carboxylic acid group made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen attached at one end. Take away the acid, and what you’re left with is a hydrocarbon that can be made into fuel, says Church, noting that any country can use synthetic biology and systems biology to engineer hydrocarbon-producing bacteria. It is an innovation that will work if countries are interested in working together for the consumers benefit. It is at the economical and ecological “cutting edgeâ€.
• Michelle Cave has done her thesis on the regional integration movement.
Source: Nation News
AP Source Photo
Two men were convicted Monday of plotting to blow up jet fuel tanks at John F. Kennedy International Airport, a terror plot that authorities said was meant to outdo the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and avenge perceived U.S. oppression of Muslims around the world.
A jury in Brooklyn federal court deliberated about five days before finding Russell Defreitas and Abdul Kadir guilty of multiple conspiracy charges. Kadir was acquitted of one charge, surveillance of mass transportation.
Defreitas, a former JFK cargo handler, and Kadir, once a member of Guyana’s parliament, were arrested in 2007 after an informant infiltrated the plot.
Prosecutors alleged that Defreitas, a 66-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Guyana, and Kadir, 58, wanted to kill thousands of people and cripple the American economy by using explosives to blow up the fuel tanks and the underground pipelines that run through an adjacent Queens neighborhood. Authorities say the men sought the help of militant Muslims, including an al-Qaida operative, in Guyana.
The defendants wanted to set off an explosion “so massive … that it could be seen from far, far away,†Assistant U.S. Attorney Zainab Ahmad said in closing arguments.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/ny_jury_convicts_in_jfk_airport_koA8vXfNwpTvkWwIOU1gKJ#ixzz0vTi1iW59
Source: Associated Press
large low pressure system in the Atlantic has a 90 percent chance of developing into a tropical depression during the next couple of days, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The system is centered at about 900 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands and is moving westward to west-northwestward at 5 to 10 mph.
The system continues too show signs of organization but does not appear to have a well-defined surface center, however, conditions appear favorable for additional development. A tropical depression could form at any time during the next couple of days.
NHC is also monitoring a tropical wave located east of the coast of Nicaragua that’s causing disorganized showers and thunderstorms over the Southwestern Caribbean Sea. Development of this system is unlikely.
3:07 p.m. update
One of two systems the National Hurricane Center is monitoring appears to be on its way to becoming a tropical depression today.
The large low pressure system centered about 875 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands is moving westward to west-northwestward at 5 to 10 mph.
Shower and thunderstorm activity is gradually becoming better organized and a tropical depression may be forming.
If this current development trend continues, then advisories on this disturbance could be initiated as early as this afternoon or evening.
There is an 80 percent chance of tropical storm formation during the next 48 hours.
Also, a westward-moving tropical wave is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms in the southwestern Caribbean Sea and adjacent land areas of Central America.
Upper-level winds remain unfavorable for any significant development to occur before the disturbance moves across Nicaragua and Honduras in the next day or so.
There is a 10 percent chance of this system becoming a tropical storm during the next 48 hours.
8:23 a.m. update
The National Hurricane Center is monitoring a pair of systems in the Atlantic region today.
A nearly stationary low pressure system located about 850 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands is producing numerous showers and thunderstorms.
This activity has become better organized this morning and conditions appear conducive for development of a tropical depression during the next day or so as the disturbance moves generally westward at 5 to 10 mph.
There is a 60 percent chance of tropical storm formation during the next 48 hours.
Also, a westward-moving tropical wave is producing scattered showers and thunderstorms in the Southwestern Caribbean Sea.
However, this activity remains somewhat disorganized and upper-level winds are currently not conducive for any significant development before the disturbance moves into Central American during the next day or two.
There is a 10 percent chance of this system becoming a tropical storm during the next 48 hours.
Pasquale Minicucci has left Bank of Nova Scotia’s Caribbean business, Bloomberg reports. He was a senior vice president of international banking at the Canadian bank’s unit.
Claude Norfolk, senior vice-president at the Toronto-based bank, is replacing Minicucci. Scotiabank has over 200 branches in the Caribbean, including operations in Aruba, Puerto Rico and Trinidad & Tobago.
Beres Hammond
CaribPR Wire, ST. CROIX, USVI, Sun, Aug. 1, 2010: Shawn Baptiste, CEO of CIGA Promotions, announced today that lovers rock legend, Beres Hammond will headline the “How Can We Ease the Pain Peace Concert” slated for October 23, 2010 at the Randall “Doc” James Racetrack on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Hammond, a staple on the international music scene for more than 30 years, will perform classics like “Putting Up Resistance,” “Tempted to Touch” and “How Can We Ease the Pain” as well as more recent hits like “Rockaway” and “I Feel Good.”
Known as the “King of Lovers Rock,” this soulful crooner established himself as one of the most prolific international artists out of Jamaica. He has played an instrumental role in introducing smooth reggae music to mainstream audiences around the world.
“This is a very important event that is more than just a concert. Over the last few years, our community has been plagued with senseless acts of violence. I wanted to take this opportunity to bring people together in a safe environment to celebrate life, love and peace. Very few artists exemplify peace and love through their body of music like the one and only Beres Hammond,”
stated Baptiste.
Baptiste continued, “CIGA Promotions has brought Beres Hammond to St. Croix on two previous occasions and I am looking forward to another wonderful experience for our community.” Additional details about this exciting event will be announced soon.
For additional information or sponsorship opportunities contact CIGA Promotions at 340-513-2218 or cigapromotionsvi@gmail.com.
CONTACT:
CIGA Promotions
Shawn Baptise
340-513-2218
cigapromotionsvi@gmail.com
The tropical wave in the central Atlantic continued to strengthen overnight.
It was given a 60 percent – or high – chance of developing into a tropical depression or storm during the next two days, the National Hurricane Center said in its 8 a.m. tropical outlook.
“Conditions appear conducive for development of a tropical depression over the next day or so as the disturbance moves generally westward at 5 to 10 mph,” hurricane specialists Stacy Stewart and Todd Kimberlain wrote in the advisory.
Models currently aim the system toward the northern Lesser Antilles. If that holds, it would approach those islands about Thursday.
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