Puerto Rico City, a new novel by David R. Martin, proposes the creation of a mega-entertainment city on the east coast of Puerto Rico. The closure of the 13-square-mile U.S. Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in 2004 presents this historic economic development opportunity. The book’s main character, Lino Mendoza, seizes upon the idea to end the political stagnation and economic descent of the U.S. island territory. But forces of globalization, personified by a cast of international business predators and politicians, seek to derail the effort to lift Puerto Rico to international stature.
There will be no second chance to build Puerto Rico City, a city to eclipse Las Vegas, Macau and Dubai, where Puerto Rico’s natural talents in entertainment, music, sports and the arts can find a world class showcase. In a race against time and political upheaval, Lino must bring about the improbable.
The novel straddles the 2008 global financial crisis and projects beyond the 2012 U.S. and island elections. The story also highlights the conflict of Puerto Rico’s ambiguous political relationship with the U.S. and its distinct historical and cultural identity.
The author, David R. Martin, was born in Toledo, Ohio. After attending high school and playing football in Puerto Rico and Connecticut, he graduated from Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he studied literature, history and economics. For more about the novel and the author, please visit: http://www.puertoricocity.com
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – A medical emergency flight crashed near the Dutch Caribbean territory of St. Maarten on Saturday, killing all four aboard, including a honeymooning cruise ship passenger from Cyprus who suffered heart trouble, officials said.
The plane was carrying the tourist to the French island of Martinique early Saturday for specialized cardiac care, according to a nurse at the St. Maarten Medical Center who declined to be identified because she was not authorized to release the information.
A Cyprus Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of ministry regulations, identified the victim as Panagiotis Vryonides of Nicosia and said he was around 30 years old. The official also said that a diplomat from Cyprus’ embassy in Washington D.C. will travel to Martinique, where Vryonides’ wife is located, to offer support.
The government of Martinique said in a statement that a doctor and nurse also were aboard the plane. They were identified as Jean-Michel Dudouit and Gerard Omere of the Pierre Zobda Quitman University Hospital Center in Fort-de-France, director Daniel Riam said.
The Piper Cheyenne III, owned by Transports Aeriens Intercaraibes, crashed four minutes after takeoff from L’Esperance Airport in St. Martin, the French territory that shares an island with St. Maarten, according to Martinique’s government.
Martinique officials said they had originally sent another plane that experienced mechanical problems upon arriving at Princess Juliana airport in St. Maarten and it was replaced by the plane that crashed.
Curacao’s prime minister has suspended the Caribbean island’s entire secret service agency, accusing agents of having planned a coup in 2010.
Curacao PM
Gerrit Schotte announced late on Friday than an unidentified number of members would remain on paid leave pending a parliamentary investigation. He said the Dutch intelligence service will help restructure a new agency.
Schotte did not provide details about the allegations. He and the secret service agency have had several run-ins since the Dutch Caribbean island obtained greater autonomy in 2010 following the breakup of the Netherlands Antilles.
Curacao remains a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands with the Dutch monarch overseeing foreign affairs and defence.
The head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti today welcomed the confirmation by parliament of the appointment of the country’s Prime Minister designate, Laurent Lamothe, a move that paves the way for him to assume office.
Mariano Fernández Amunátegui, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), praised Haitian leaders, including President Michel Martelly, and the heads of the Senate and the Lower House of Parliament for the dialogue between the executive and legislative branches that culminated in Mr. Lamothe’s confirmation yesterday.
Special Representative for Haiti Mariano Fernández Amunátegui
He expressed his hope that the Government will quickly embark on its work programmes, including strengthening the rule of law and implementing reconstruction and economic and social development projects.
Mr. Fernández urged the Government and all sectors of Haitian society to “build on the spirit of the prevailing consensus to strengthen the foundations of national stability, strengthen democratic institutions, and ensure peace and security and development of Haiti.”
“The authorities and people of Haiti can be assured of the renewed commitment of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti to help them in the irreversible consolidation of the rule of law based on the institutions foreseen in the Constitution, laws, transparency and good governance,” he added.
Mr. Lamothe’s predecessor, Garry Conille, resigned in February just four months after his appointment.
MIAMI – The United States Department of State’s Miami Passport Agency is advising all newly naturalized US citizens that prior to travel to Jamaica, it is imperative that all US citizens in your family have valid US passports. The US law requires its citizens traveling by air, to enter or depart the United States using valid passports.
The airlines in Jamaica will not board American citizens attempting to use an expired US passport or a naturalization certificate or any non-American travel document, including Jamaican passports. It is imperative that all US citizens intending to travel to Jamaica submit their applications to the US Passport Office in a timely fashion prior to travel. Failure to do so results in costly delays and inconvenience in Jamaica.
The US Embassy in Kingston and its Consular Agency in Montego Bay, provide all passport services by appointment only. The Embassy has warned that there are no emergency appointments for people who failed to check their passport expiration dates prior to booking travel or who traveled without ever obtaining a passport.
At a recent community forum organized by the Jamaican Diaspora Southern USA, Ryan Dooley, Director of the US Department of State, Miami Passport Agency, indicated that there had been several incidents recently, of Jamaican nationals who had recently become citizens of the USA, travelling to Jamaica with their USA Naturalization documents only. Those persons, although citizens of the USA, were not able to return, as they did not hold a valid USA passport.
“Citizens are not longer allowed to travel on their Naturalization papers. A valid US passport is required for entry into the USA” he warned.
Mr. Dooley advised that persons visit the US Immigration website at WWW.TRAVEL.STAGE.GOV for relevant information pertaining to US passports – forms, instructions and locations, noting that the Miami Passport Agency of the US Department of State serves its citizens by appointment only. To make an appointment, please call 877-487-2778.
The meeting which was a two-part series was held at the Holy Family Episcopal Church in Miami, and was the first of the new Advisory Board Representative and alternates for the Southern US Region namely, Dr. Susan Lycett Davis, educator and cultural activist; Ms. Pamela Gordon, attorney at law and George Pedlar, former Miramar Commissioner and business consultant.
Referring to further discussions on matters pertaining to Jamaican nationals, Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board Representative, Dr. Susan Lycett Davis, announced that Diaspora membership cards would soon be available to Jamaican nationals across the Diaspora. Incentives to be awarded as additional membership benefits associated with the card were currently being explored. These would be added over time, she stated.
Discussions also followed on identifying persons for a local Diaspora Council. According to Dr. Davis, the Council would represent committees to positively engage the community in programs for economic development, locally and in Jamaica, in the areas of health, education, trade and investment, youth and future leaders, faith-based, culture and community development.
Following the summit, a Community Services forum provided information and relevant service in the areas of voters’ registration and citizenship drive, immigration and passport, and health education awareness.
Source: SFCLN
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad- The Governments of Trinidad and Tobago (TT) and Canada have signed two new bilateral public sector agreements to benefit TT, and both have begun discussions on the employment of skilled labourers in Canada’s energy sector.
TT will also house the regional office of a new Canada-Caribbean Economic Development (Canada-CariED) programme.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar made these announcements yesterday at a luncheon she hosted at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s in honour of Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, and his wife Sharon. The Canadian couple are on a three-day visit to TT.
Johnston in a brief address commended TT on its leading role in the region. He said Persad-Bissessar is much admired internationally especially for her work on women and children. Noting that the two countries are working together to improve security in the hemisphere, he said that focus must not only be on problems, but on bettering already good relations.
Today he is due to meet with members of the business community.
In her address at the luncheon, Persad-Bissessar said the first agreement signed yesterday at the Diplomatic Centre, prior to the luncheon, will provide for assistance in the expansion and modernisation of health sector facilities.
The second, a memorandum of understanding, will provide for sharing correctional information and expertise between the prisons services in both countries. Negotiations are currently underway between the Ministry of Public Administration and the Canadians, Persad-Bissesar said, for an agreement that will provide assistance in the modernisation of the public service.
On the discussions on the employment of skilled labourers in the energy sector in Alberta, Persad-Bissessar said, “my Government has received a request from the Canadian Association of Oil Well Drill Contractors to fill positions of drillers, derrick-hands and motor hands.” Some 300 vacancies exist, which could be filled by skilled TT labourers.
This request, she said, is currently with Labour Minister Errol McLeod.
Commenting on the Canada-Caribbean Economic Development programme, Persad-Bissessar said the six-year programme will focus on small and micro enterprises (SMEs). It is an area, she said, which Government is developing in TT.
The programme is being funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
TT stands ready to house the regional office, she said, and Canada last week agreed to this.
Meanwhile, T&T continues to benefit from CIDA funding, she said, in areas of teacher training, establishment of radar facilities for the airports, disaster risk reduction and private sector development. As TT and Canada mark their 50 years of diplomatic relations, which coincides with TT’s 50th independence anniversary, Persad-Bissessar said that TT High Commission to Canada is currently in the process of printing a commemorative book on distinguished accomplished nationals of TT who have made their mark on the Canadian landscape in a number of areas including business, politics, medicine, education, media and literature.
Facebook’s hotly anticipated stock market flotation could value the social networking phenomenon at just shy of the US$100 billion mark, making it one of the most valuable internet companies in the world.
Overnight, investors learned that chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and his team plan to raise up to US$13.6 billion from the initial public offering of stock, which will be priced at between US$28 and $35 a share.
On that basis, Facebook will be worth between US$77 and US$96 billion, though the market cap will be well behind that of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), which at US$199 billion is the daddy of the new internet generation.
However, the company’s valuation ranks it up there alongside the e-commerce site Amazon (US$103 million) and catapults it past traditional ‘techhies’ such as Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ).
The IPO later this month is likely to be the largest for an internet company, dwarfing even the $23 billion debut of Google in 2004.
Zuckerberg’s personal holding in Facebook, which he invented while studying at Harvard, could be worth as much as US$19 billion, making the 27-year-old into one of America’s richest men.
Oil prices tumbled this afternoon after the closely followed non-farm payrolls data from the Department of Labor missed expectations.
The figures revealed that the US economy created only 115,000 jobs last month, while a survey by Dow Jones Newswires forecast an increase of 168,000 and Goldman Sachs expected the payrolls to increase by 125,000.
The impact from the smaller than forecast increase in payrolls was partly offset by a decline in the US unemployment rate to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent in the previous month.
Crude Oil - 1 day chart
In addition to concerns about the strength of the economic recovery in the US, which is currently the world’s largest consumer of oil, oil prices were under pressure from political uncertainty in Europe, where two crucial elections are set to take place this Sunday.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy is widely expected to lose Sunday’s vote to Socialist Francois Hollande, who has previously pledged to renegotiate the EU fiscal compact.
Meanwhile, debt-laden Greece, which has received two international bailouts, will hold a parliamentary election with no party currently expected to claim a decisive majority.
In other news, the Department of Energy said yesterday that the US market remained very well supplied. The report revealed a gain of more than 2.8 million barrels in US crude stockpiles, which reached 376 million barrels last week.
US light, sweet crude for June delivery, currently the most actively traded contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), dropped US$3.02 to US$99.52/barrel in morning trade in new York.
BY ZYNC TV
ON THIS WEEK’S EDITION OF NEW YORK LINKZ: JAMAICAN PRIME MINISTER PORTIA SIMPSON-MILLER VISITS THE NORTH-EAST DIASPORA; A PREVIEW OF THE FUN AND EXCITEMENT AT 2012 PENN RELAYS; A PREVIEW OF GRAMPS MORGAN AND RAGASHANTI TAKING OVER NEW YORK CARIBBEAN RADIO; PLUS SHERMAIN GIVES TIPS ON IMPRESSING YOUR BOYFRIEND’S PARENTS IN IMAGE & STYLE; MR. MENTION WITH SULTRY SONGSTRESS, HEDA ROSE IN UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT; AND DJ HYPENESS & 007 WITH THE ENTERTAINMENT HIGHLIGHTS IN DA ZYNC BUZZ. JOIN CATCHCHA FYAH, DREADLESSRAS AND THE NY LINKZ FAMILY EACH WEEK.
Premieres Friday, May 4 at 7:00 pm
Cablevision Ch. 1105 and www.GotTEMPO.com
Show repeats various times throughout the week until May 11.
Washington, D.C., 3 May 2012 (PAHO/WHO) — Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have the highest rates of antiretroviral treatment (ART) coverage of any developing region in the world, with an estimated 63 percent of people with HIV who need treatment receiving it.
But a new report from the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) says that preserving the region’s leadership in providing ART will require overcoming health system problems that range from drug stock-outs to lack of cost-effectiveness in the use of drug combinations.
The report, Antiretroviral treatment in the spotlight: a public health analysis in Latin America and the Caribbean, analyzes the vulnerabilities of ART programs in LAC and makes recommendations for strengthening countries’ health systems to ensure the sustainability of those programs and continued progress toward universal access to ART.
We are proud to see that the LAC region has staged an unprecedented response to HIV, with leading rates of ART coverage available free of charge through all national programs, PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses Periago writes in the report’s preface. With this new study, PAHO is engaging Member States, civil society, and technical partners to move from the baseline described in this report through a series of programmatic steps that, supported by the provision of quality technical cooperation, will define the implementation of a new generation of HIV treatment programs in the Americas.
The report analyzes data on ART prices, procurement and consumption patterns; HIV-tuberculosis co-infections; and dependence on external financing, among other variables. It concludes that the majority of patients receiving ART in LAC are taking effective and safe antiretrovirals (ARV).
However, the report highlights a number of challenges in ensuring effectiveness and efficiency in the use of ARV. A small percentage of patients—5 percent of those on first-line therapy and 14 percent on second-line therapy—are taking inappropriate combinations, according to the study. A more generalized problem is inefficiency: the median number of first-line ARV regimes in each LAC country is 12, and the median number of second-line regimens is 15, in both cases more than twice the WHO recommendation of six different regimens per treatment line. Compounding this problem is the fact that many countries are paying higher prices for ARV than necessary, due to shortcomings in procurement practices.
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SHABBA, SHAGGY TO PERFORM AT POST ADIDAS GRAND PRIX CONCERT IN NY
Foundation dancehall artiste Rexton Rawlston Gordon, popularly know to fans as Shabba Ranks is set to perform at the “adidas Jamboree” concert, Randall’s Island, New York on Saturday, June 9. The concert – which will serve as a 50th anniversary celebration for both Jamaica and Trinidad – will take place at the conclusion of the [...]
One Caribbean International Presents: CELEBRITY SOCCER CULTURAL FEST – THE BIGGEST FAMILY FUN DAY!
Fort Lauderdale – On Memorial Day, May 28th all roads will lead to the greatest Celebrity Soccer Cultural Festival in South Florida “Celebrating Jamaica’s 50th Year of Independence.” One Caribbean International’s will be hosting its’ 7th annual festival and Yes Jamaica’s 50th Year of Independence at Central Broward Regional Park, located at 3700 NW 11th [...]
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PM PORTIA SIMPSON-MILLER DA ZYNC BUZZ HEDA ROSE (NY LINKZ/ZYNC TV): May 4 – 11
BY ZYNC TV ON THIS WEEK’S EDITION OF NEW YORK LINKZ: JAMAICAN PRIME MINISTER PORTIA SIMPSON-MILLER VISITS THE NORTH-EAST DIASPORA; A PREVIEW OF THE FUN AND EXCITEMENT AT 2012 PENN RELAYS; A PREVIEW OF GRAMPS MORGAN AND RAGASHANTI TAKING OVER NEW YORK CARIBBEAN RADIO; PLUS SHERMAIN GIVES TIPS ON IMPRESSING YOUR BOYFRIEND’S PARENTS IN IMAGE [...]
Lloyd Brevett, founding member of The Skatalites, passes away aged 80
Lloyd Brevett, the Skatalites’ inimitable double bass player, has died following complications from a recent stroke. As The Washington Post report, Brevett fell ill in March following the murder of his son in Kingston. Anyone lucky enough to have seen The Skatalites live will be able to testify to Brevett’s remarkable charisma. His on-stage presence [...]
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