Chinese Vice President Wins Hearts in US Heartland
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping won the hearts of ordinary Americans during a visit to a farming community in the Midwestern state of Iowa Wednesday, 27 years after he first visited the area as a mid-level official.
The man presumed to be China's next president spent an hour sipping tea with residents in the town of Muscatine, and many said he remembered faces and recited events from his previous visit in 1985.
Among those who met with Xi was local resident Tom Hoopes, whose farm Xi visited during that earlier trip to study U.S. agricultural practices.
"I've never been around anyone who worked an audience like he did," Hoopes said, "and in view of the fact that it was a two-language situation, he worked it as sincere as my first impression of ever having heard him talk."
Xi, who concludes his U.S. tour with a visit to Los Angeles Thursday, stressed his interest in person-to-person contacts during a formal dinner later Wednesday in the Iowa state capital, Des Moines.
At the dinner, hosted by state Governor Terry Branstad, Xi said he is in the United States to advance cooperative relations.
Kosovo Serb Voters Reject Pristina Rule
Serbs in northern Kosovo cast a near unanimous rejection of a referendum on whether to recognize the country's ethnic Albanian dominated government after two days of voting.
The Kosovo Serb electoral commission said 99.7 percent of voters in the four Serbian communities in northern Kosovo opposed the referendum.
Ethnic Serbs have ignored Pristina's efforts to extend its authority into the northern areas since Kosovo gained independence in 2008.
Prior to the polls closing Wednesday, some voters expressed their defiance at polling stations, including this Serbian man from the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica.
“My vote at the moment defends my interests, the interests of my family and my state Serbia on Kosovo and Metohija.''
For an unidentified female voter, it was a clear no to Kosovo rule.
“We don't want to be part of Kosovo, we stay in Serbia, we don't need Kosovo.''
Pristina, Belgrade and the international community have dismissed the vote, which many see as a threat to Serbia's bid for European Union membership. Serbian President Boris Tadic has said the referendum is harming the interests of the country.
The EU has said Serbia must find a way to end ethnic unrest along its boundary with northern Kosovo if it wants its bid for EU membership to move forward.
Some 35,000 voters in flashpoint Serb towns and enclaves participated in the vote that carried no legal weight.
Analysts warn the vote could further stoke ethnic tensions in an already volatile region.
Kosovo is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, while Kosovo Serbs dominate in areas bordering Serbia. The country is preparing to celebrate the 4th anniversary of its independence from Serbia on Friday.
Honduras prison fire: Huge task to identify victims
Honduras is beginning the grim task of identifying the victims of a prison fire that killed more than 350 people.
As forensic experts worked to recover the charred corpses from the jail in Comayagua, hundreds of relatives remained desperate for news.
The government has promised a full investigation and accepted that the entire prison system needs reform.
More than half the inmates in Comayagua were on remand or held as suspected gang members, AP news agency says.
AP obtained an internal Honduran government report sent to the United Nations that detailed conditions in the Comayagua prison.
The report said that there were some 800 prisoners in a jail built for 500, and only 51 guards by day and just 12 by night.
Tuesday's fire, which broke out at night, destroyed large parts of the Comayagua complex.
With the number of dead past 350, it is the world's worst prison fire in a century.
Survivors said inmates had tried to save themselves by jumping into showers or sinks.
Bodies are being sent to the mortuary in Tegucigalpa for formal identification. Many are so badly charred that dental records and DNA will be needed.
REDjet boosting visitor arrivals
REDjet has had a significant impact on Barbados’ visitor arrivals from the Caribbean and Tourism Minister Richard Sealy has affirmed government’s commitment to supporting the local carrier as a result.
Sealy said the decision to throw support behind the airline was the “ direct the result” of a significant increase in visitor arrivals from the CARICOM region last year following the introduction of “the new player” into the regional airline pool.
Barbados saw a 9.5 per cent increase in arrivals from CARICOM in 2011 with over 35 percent of those visitors coming from Trinidad and Sealy insisted REDjet’s entry into the marketplace had been responsible .
“It is for that reason that the Barbados government is supporting REDjet through the Barbados Tourism Authority. We have already taken that decision and we are just working out how we are going to do it” Sealy said as he addressed local and regional journalists attending the annual CTO “State of the Industry” news conference at CTO’s Collymore Rock headquarters earlier this week. (GC)
ALBA nations want Cuba at summit with U.S
A bloc of leftist-led countries Wednesday insisted that Cuba be invited to a Summit of the Americas but put off a decision on whether it will otherwise boycott the gathering, which would spark a diplomatic row with the United States and embarrass host Colombia.
“To not invite (Cuba) is to run the risk that this will be not the last Summit of the Americas but the Last Supper, because we don’t think it’s acceptable,” Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño told reporters after a meeting in Havana of the eight-nation group known as ALBA.
But the ALBA countries will not decide what they will do if Cuba is not invited to the gathering of 34 heads of state, expected to include President Barack Obama, until host Colombia replies to their request for an invitation, Patiño added.
Patiño said that the ALBA envoys also agreed to demand that the summit take up the issue of the 50-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, as well as Argentina’s claims to the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, which sparked a war with Great Britain in 1982.
Attending the ALBA gathering were the foreign ministers or other top officials of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador — all ruled by leftists — and the Caribbean islands of Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda.
The diplomatic drama was sparked by Ecuador President Rafael Correa on Feb. 5, when he declared at an ALBA gathering in Venezuela that the group’s members should boycott the April 14-15 summit in the Colombian city of Cartagena unless Cuba was invited.
“It is unheard of that in the 21st Century, something is called the Summit of the Americas and for certain hegemonic countries some of us are Americans and some of us are not,” declared the left-of-center Correa.
The Obama administration has insisted that Cuba cannot attend the gathering because the 34 nations attending a previous summit in Quebec had agreed that only democratic governments could participate.
The summits, an attempt at regional economic integration and coordination launched in Miami in 1994 with the strong backing of President Bill Clinton, have the same membership as the Organization of American States, the Washington-based group that brings together all 34 nations of the Western Hemisphere.
Cuba’s OAS membership was suspended 1962 and technically reinstated in 2009 – on condition that it open a dialogue on the “practices, goals and principles” of the OAS, a reference to the organization’s many clauses on democracy and human rights.
Cuba has repeatedly said it is not interested in returning to the OAS fold, complaining that it is too dominated by the U.S. But the Cuban government has now said that it does want to be at the Cartagena gathering.
“It cannot be a summit of the Americas so long as it excludes, without reason or justice, a Cuba that has declared … that it would attend … with respect,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said at the start of the closed-door meeting on Wednesday in Havana.
Jeremy Lin May Appear In All-Star Shooting Stars Competition
Jeremy Lin emerged just a little too late this season to be considered for inclusion at this month’s All-Star Game, but fear not — there’s still a chance for the New York Knicks phenom to play a role in the Orlando festivities.
According to a Sporting News report, the NBA is looking to include Lin in the Haier Shooting Stars competition on Saturday night. The event features one current NBA player, one WNBA player and one retired star from each competing city, and the league is looking to get New York a team this year, starring Lin.
The Shooting Stars game appears to be the only way to make room for Lin. He wasn’t selected as an Eastern Conference All-Star reserve, he wasn’t named one of the 3-point shooters tonight, and commissioner David Stern has already denied him a spot in the Rising Stars game. And… the dunk contest? Let’s get real.
Lin has emerged as a dominant force overnight as the Knicks’ point guard, leading them to victories in all six games he’s started to date. He’s averaging 24.3 points, 9.5 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game in those starts.
Windies women prep for India
The West Indies Women's team has a tough assignment ahead of them in the coming weeks but they believe the hard work they have put in over the last 12 days will pay dividends in the upcoming series against India Women.
The Windies women are presently in a training camp in Antigua 'working overtime' as they prepare to face their higher-ranked opponents in three one-day internationals and five T20 Internationals.
The series opens on Saturday with the first T20 International at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground. First ball in the night match is at 6.30 p.m. (5.30 p.m. Jamaica time).
Merissa Aguilleira, the experienced wicket-keeper and inspirational captain, said the players have paid special attention to 'playing under lights', as this has become a feature of the modern game at the international level.
"Our preparations have been going extremely well ... exactly as we planned it. One of our challenges was playing under lights and we have held several training sessions under the lights at the Sir Vivian Richards Ground and we have adapted very well. Before this camp, we played a few international matches under the lights but we still needed more," said Aguilleira.
The young West Indies team is built around their world-rated all-rounders Stafanie Taylor, Shanel Daley and Deandra Dottin; along with Anisa Mohammed, the match-winning off-spinner. Taylor, the right-handed opener and off-spinner, was named ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year 2011 and is the leading player in the game at the moment. At age 20 the Jamaican is already the most successful female cricketer in West Indies history.
West Indies squad: Merissa Aguilleira (captain/wicketkeeper), Stafanie Taylor (vice- captain), Shemaine Campbelle (wicketkeeper), Britney Cooper, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Pearl Etienne, Stacy Ann King, Kycia Knight (wicketkeeper), Anisa Mohammed, Subrina Munroe, Juliana Nero, Shaquana Quintyne, Shakera Selman.
MATCH SCHEDULE
T20 Internationals
Saturday, February 18: 1st T20 International at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua - 6.30 p.m.
Sunday, February 19: 2nd T20 International at Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua - 6.30 p.m.
Wednesday, February 22: 3rd T20 International at Windsor Park, Dominica - 2 p.m.
Thursday, February, 23: 4th T20 International at Windsor Park, Dominica - 2 p.m.
Monday, February 27: 5th T20 International at Warner Park, St Kitts - 2 p.m.
One-Day Internationals
Wednesday, February 29: 1st one-day international at Warner Park, St Kitts - 10 a.m.
Friday, March 2: 2nd one-day international at Warner Park, St Kitts - 10 a.m.
Sunday, March 4: 3rd one-day international at Warner Park, St Kitts - 10 a.m.
Did Chris Brown attend Rihanna's Birthday Party? Also rumored to be on "Birthday Cake" remix
Rihanna's birthday is not until next Monday, February, but on Monday night she an early birthday celebration for herself at the Hearst Mansion in Beverly Hills.
It is reported that her ex boyfriend, Chris Brown was in attendance, and the two were spotted by party goers sitting next to each other, talking and holding hands. So are the rumours true that Chris Brown and Rihanna getting back together
However, before strolling into the event, Chris tried to make all the guests sign a non-disclosure agreement that they wouldn’t tell anyone he was there.
Among the celeb party goers were , Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, and Kelly Rowland were also in attendance to the Caribbean themed event
Other news are surfacing that Chris is also to be featured on her Talk That Talk banger "Birthday Cake." Speculation started circulating when both were spotted leaving the same studio separately
According to "Birthday Cake" producer Da InternzRihanna's remix will "shock the world."
“We got the Rihanna ‘Birthday Cake’ coming out in a week. And the feature on there is gonna shock the world."
Kartel back in court March 14
THE marijuana trial of popular dancehall deejay Vybz Kartel was on Monday postponed in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s (RM) Court until March 14 and the artiste was offered $40,000 bail.
The postponement was granted by Magistrate Maxine Ellis after the defence told the court that it was not ready to proceed with the marijuana (ganja) possession trial.
The 36-year-old artiste was offered bail on conditions that he surrenders his travel documents, with a stop order at the ports of entry, following an application by attorney Chris Tavares-Finson.
But Kartel, whose real name is Adidjah Palmer, was remanded into custody as he is yet to obtain bail in relation to the August 16 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.
Kartel and his co-accused Andre St John, and Kahira Jones, Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell, Calvin Hay, and Shane Williams are scheduled to return to the Home Circuit Court on February 17 for another mention date in the Williams case.
The artiste was arrested last September during a police raid at a hotel in New Kingston where a small quantity of marijuana was reportedly found in a room occupied by him and others. They had gone in search of the artiste in relation to the murder of Gregory Park, St Catherine, resident Barrington ‘Bossie’ Bryan.
Kartel was offered $3-million bail in the Barrington murder and will, along with Nigel Thompson and Lenburgh McDonald, return to the Gun Court division of the Corporate Area RM Court on February 28 on that matter.
The artiste — along with Portmore Empire artiste Vanessa ‘Gaza Slim’ Saddler and Andre ‘Pim Pim’ Henry — will also be tried on charges of conspiracy and attempting to pervert the course of justice in the RM court on May 8.
The charges stem from allegations that the three took steps to mislead detectives in the investigation into Williams’ murder.
BY TANESHA MUNDLE
Jamaica Observer
Soca ‘Battle Royal’ tonight — Machel vs Iwer
A battle royale will take place tonight in the Digicel International Soca Monarch and Play Whe Groovy Soca Monarch at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
The show starts at 9 pm and will see Machel Montano defending his title with the song “Pump Yuh Flag”. His closest contender is Iwer George with “Jab (No Pain)”.
Tonight’s competition will be a rematch for George, as he and several others thought he should have walked away with the $2 million prize last year. The prize this year, remains at $2 million.
George will perform in position number seven while Montano will be the ninth performer on stage.
Speaking after the draw for positions on Tuesday, George noted the similarity between this year’s positions and last year’s.
“My theme is judgement. The old people have a saying, ‘All unfair games must play over’, so I know deep down in your hearts, you felt as if you were treated unfair last year, and this is an opportunity to play over that unfair game. I know you (his fans) all shout and scream and went home hoarse after Soca Monarch last year. All I have to say is you would have to shout some more this year,” said George.
While Montano could not be reached for comment yesterday Calypso icon Calypso Rose yesterday morning said she would be at the competition to appear on stage with Montano.
This year’s power soca monarch prize is $2 million while the groovy prize is $500,000.
In the Groovy competition the “Palance” boys JW and Blaze (Jason Williams and Ancil Isaac Jnr) will lead off what will be the stiffest Carnival competition when they perform “We Time”.
Self proclaimed “red south boy” Kees Dieffenthaller, doesn’t intend to “Stress Away”. Instead he plans to “come hard” and defend his title. He may just pull in Snoop Dogg, with whom he did a re- mix of the song, “Stress Away” to accompany him on stage for maximum effect.
“Mr Fete,” Montano, is expected to use his 30 years of experience to loom large in the competition.
But singer, songwriter and producer, Kerwin Du Bois, who emerged at the top of the list at the end of the semi-final round of competition, has been working his “Bacchanalist” to great
success in the fetes and soca shows.
Additionally, this talented young artiste has also collaborated with two other finalists, Patrice Roberts (“I Am Soca”) and Destra Garcia (“Baddist”), and may also appear on stage with them.
Roberts said she is still thinking very seriously about it while Destra said with a mischievous laugh, “It’s left to be seen.”
And then there is the “People’s Champion,” Benjai (Rodney Le Blanc). No doubt thousands will be calling Benjai’s name in the Stadium as they sway to the infectious groovy music on the track.
The winners of each category will be determined by a combination of the judge’s decision and text votes by members of the public.
Speaking with Newsday about the competition’s preparations, Gregory Fernandes, adviser to President of the Caribbean Prestige Foundation (CPF) William Munroe, said they were working hard on getting the venue prepped.
He admitted there was a delay due to an event that was hosted recently at the stadium and it took a lot of time to remove the infrastructure but assured everything will be ready in time.
“Based on the preparations, we expect one of the greatest competitions ever. Based on all the artistes, particularly in the groovy, there is definitely sharp competition and all the artistes are going all out so they can have a good chance of winning the competition. Patrons can expect top of the line performances this year,” Fernandes said.
Asked about ticket sales, Fernandez said they were robust and he expected a great turnout tonight.
General tickets are $250 while VVIP tickets are $750. Tickets are available nationwide at several outlets including Digicel, Francis Fashions and Cache.