DHTA strongly condemns recent violent attacks on visitors
The Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association has expressed deep concern and has categorically condemned recent violent attacks on visitors to the island.
In a press release the DHTA notes that not only are these attacks an “affront to the common decency of all Dominicans”, it can potentially negatively affect the tourism sector.
“The actions of a few threaten not only the Tourism Sector and our economy, but the very fabric of our society. We call on all Dominicans to join the DHTA in expressing indignation and to play their part in addressing the issue at hand.”
The organization also held a meeting last evening and invited former presidents of the Association to provide “a historical perspective and to chart a way forward to address crime”
According to the press release, the members “expressed a sense of outrage and called for an urgent action plan”.
The members have decided on an action plan and the first step which the Association will take is “to encourage Bi-Partisan support for a resolution to be tabled in Parliament on the 16th February 2012, expressing outrage on the part of Parliament and calling for urgent action by all political parties”.
The release also noted that “the DHTA is unified and committed to working with all stakeholders in tackling crime” and therefore calls on “all Dominicans to be vigilant in the struggle to preserve the peaceful and friendly image of our Nature Island”.
Anguillan plane suffers landing mishap at Canefield Airport
Airport officials are describing as minor, an incident involving an Anguillan cargo plane at the Canefield airport this morning.
General Manager of the Dominica Air and Sea Port Authority (DAPSA) Bennoit Bardouille says the aircraft experienced landing issues however there was no damage.
“We had a small mishap with an aircraft at Canfield somewhere after10 am. On landing, a washer got torn and caused the right gear to collapse. The aircraft nonetheless was able to stay on the runway. We affected the necessary repairs and the aircraft, on its own power, was able to go through the earmark. The necessary reports were filed and the aircraft was cleared for takeoff,” he explained.
According to Bardouille the Pilot who was the only person on the aircraft was not hurt, neither did the “aircraft suffer any damage”.
Jamaica to cut ties with the British Monarchy
The Jamaican Government says it has started initial discussions regarding Jamaica’s transition to republican status. Minister with responsibility for Information, Sandrea Falconer, made the disclosure at yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing.
She said the talks are being led by the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s Department, spearheaded by a Ministerial Committee. The team is expected to make recommendations to Cabinet before talks with the Opposition begin.
Meanwhile, the Ministerial Committee is also spearheading discussions for the Caribbean Court of Justice to become Jamaica’s final court of appeal.
The government has repeatedly stated its intention to cut ties with the British Monarchy.
UK inflation rate drops amid ratings downgrade threat
Britain's inflation rate fell to 3.6 per cent in the year to January from 4.2 per cent the previous month, official figures showed Tuesday.
The news comes a day after ratings agency Moody's cut its outlook on the nation's AAA credit rating from "stable" to "negative" - the government has prided itself on using aggressive austerity to maintain investor confidence and its top credit rating.
Late Monday, Moody's Investor Service downgraded the ratings of Italy, Portugal and Spain, and warned that it may cut its AAA ratings of the United Kingdom as well as France and Austria.
The inflation data released by the Office for National Statistics was in line with expectations and put inflation below four per cent for the first time since December 2010. A fall in fuel prices helped, as did the fact that last year's sales-tax hike dropped out of the annual comparison.
The UK consumer price inflation rate peaked at 5.2 per cent in September.
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said inflation is likely to be near the two per cent target by the end of the year, although "the pace and extent of the fall in inflation remain highly uncertain".
"The unwelcome combination of sluggish growth and high inflation over the past two years is a reflection of the need for the economy to rebalance following the financial crisis and associated deep recession, together with rises in the costs of energy and imports," King said in a letter he is required to write to the government every quarter in which inflation is more than one percentage point above or below target.
"Although inflation is now falling broadly as expected, the process of rebalancing still has a long way to go. Growth remains weak and unemployment is high."
In its report on Britain's credit rating, Moody's Investor Service said the UK economy remains vulnerable to a deterioration in European economic and financial conditions.
Though inflation has been running above the two per cent target since December 2009, rate-setters have kept borrowing costs at the record low base rate of 0.5 per cent and recently approved another monetary stimulus in response to falling output - recent figures showed the UK economy contracted 0.2 per cent in the last three months of 2011.
The central bank has held its policy line despite elevated inflation rates, arguing that price pressures would diminish this year. Markets will be interested to see if Wednesday's quarterly economic projections from the Bank of England show inflation falling below target later this year.
Many economists think that's a distinct possibility and that the bank will back even more stimulus in the months ahead.
Last week's announcement that the bank will be splashing out another £50 billion (US$79 billion) in asset purchases raised the total monetary stimulus since the programme started in March 2009 to £325 billion.
- AP
LIME Jamaica low on cash
Early reports of a telecoms agreement on inter-connection rates were doused last night after Minister Phillip Paulwell clarified that the parties had only agreed a framework on which an eventual deal could emerge.
LIME Jamaica's Garry Sinclair said new rates and the timelines on which they would be implemented have not been agreed, and that it is likely that the rates will have to be imposed by a regulator.
Sinclair is pushing for progress on 'emergency' legislation that was supposed to speed up the setting of interim rates by the minister or his regulator, until a final position is agreed on cross-network charges.
The delay can only hurt LIME Jamaica, which is reporting a second quarter of negative cash flows amid losses that have climbed to J$1.2 billion in the third quarter ending December, and fewer mobile subscribers to prop up the business.
Concurrently, the UK bid by Vodafone to acquire Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) will not affect the Jamaican operations as it is a separate parent entity, LIME's local management said Tuesday. (see story on Page C8)
The separation followed a demerger of C&W plc to create CWW and Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), the latter incorporating the businesses in the Caribbean.
Last night, Paulwell said after three weeks of talks involving Flow, LIME and Digicel, the parties had agreed to the introduction of local number portability for both fixed and mobile networks; establishment and resourcing of the single telecommunications regulator; and a review of the universal service obligation to make broadband services more easily accessible.
Sinclair said the press release basically announces "that we are trying to get to a deal". He said eventually interim rates are "going to have be imposed" by either Paulwell or the Office of Utilities Regulation.
LIME wants the government to move immediately to pass and enact the emergency legislation already tabled, but Paulwell yesterday signalled he was still studying its provisions.
"... It is my intention to conduct an immediate review of the emergency legislation that was tabled in Parliament by the previous administration, so that the regulator can be empowered to impose interim rates, pending their final determination under the existing schemes of rate regulation," the minister said.
Lime Jamaica reported negative cash of J$75 million in the September 2011 quarter and a slightly improved J$62 million cash deficit at December - its first time reporting negative cash flow and equivalents since at least 2009.
For the nine-month period, the telecoms lost J$3.8 billion on the back of a marginal decline in revenue from J$15.7 billion to J$15.5 billion.
The results led its UK parent C&W Communications in its regional assessment issued last week to describe Jamaica as a "difficult market", and signalled that the local operation would take a non-cash hit for its full year ending March.
"Outside of Jamaica, mobile subscribers were in-line with the prior year, whilst mobile subscribers in Jamaica declined as we discontinued certain promotional activities in the prepaid market. Our market position in Jamaica remains difficult, and we continue to experience poor financial performance in this business," stated CWC in a statement accompanying the financials.
"As a result, we expect a significant non-cash write-down of our carrying value of this asset as part of our full year results."
The parent company did not state the mobile numbers.
Sinclair, who has run the company since October 2010, said last week that the company had 380,000 mobile subscribers of which 290,000 were active, and that the company would continue to rack up losses unless an accommodation is reached on reducing inter-connection rates.
LIME also disclosed that the company would record a non-cash write-down of the carrying value of LIME Jamaica's assets at its March yearend but said it would try to arrest its possible negative impact on the company's value.
"Although this is anticipated to accelerate the negative trend in the company's equity position in the short term, the company is working assiduously to halt the trend, including for change in the regulatory environment," said Sinclair, managing director at Lime Jamaica & Cayman, in statements accompanying the financials.
J$17-billion deficit
LIME's accumulated deficit has climbed to more than J$17 billion. Concurrently, its equity base has diminished to J$2 billion on its December 2011 unaudited balance sheet, reflecting book value of two cents per share. The company's stock is worth less than 20 cents on the Jamaica Stock Exchange but has traded as high as 29 cents in the past year.
LIME a decade ago was overtaken almost immediately by Digicel as mobile market leader of the newly liberalised telecoms sector. Currently, the mobile market stands at 2.9 million, two million of which are Digicel subscribers.
"Our business continues to operate under challenging circumstances, in particular an unfavourable regulatory regime which continues to afford our major competitor a distinct advantage while hampering our operations," said Sinclair, who described the quarterly performance as challenging but highlighted positives, including the doubling of its third quarter operating profit or EBITDA to J$501 million year on year before restructuring cost of J$149 million.
Nine-month EBITDA was J$1.1 billion before restructuring costs of J$346 million.
The improvement resulted from a "robust performance from our fixed voice international business" and an 8.0 per cent increase in mobile gross margin, Sinclair said, adding that LIME's focussed subscriber retention activities yielded positive results with churn falling across all lines of business.
JA Gleaner
Lin hits game-winner as Knicks beat Raptors
Even after his amazing week, this one took Linsanity to a whole new level. Against Toronto on Tuesday, it was Lin for the win!
Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with less than a second to play to cap his finishing flurry of six straight points and New York rallied to beat the Raptors 90-87, extending its winning streak to six games.
"I'm just glad it went like this so we can calm the Linsanity down," cracked Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni.
No chance of that. The NBA's first American-Taiwanese player, Lin scored 27 points and added a career-high 11 assists in his first game since being named Eastern Conference player of the week.
"He continues to impress every night," New York's Jared Jeffries said. "Every game he plays better, he does more and more to help us win basketball games. You can't ask any more of a kid coming into this situation."
While he's the one standing in the spotlight, Lin said sharing success with his teammates is as big a reward.
"It's not because of me, it's because we're coming together as a team," Lin said. "We started making these steps earlier but we were still losing close games and so obviously it wasn't fun. But when you win, that solves a lot of problems. We've been winning and we've been playing together."
Making just his fifth career start, Lin had no hesitation in taking the decisive shot.
"I'm thankful that the coach and my teammates trust me with the ball at the end of the game," he said. "I like having it at the end of the game. I'm just very thankful."
The season-high crowd of 20,092 roared as Lin shot over Jose Calderon and drained a pull-up jumper from the top with half a second to play, giving the Knicks their first lead since the opening quarter.
D'Antoni declined to call timeout before Lin's winning shot, saying it would only give the Raptors time to draw up their defense. Even so, D'Antoni was impressed with the calm and confidence Lin showed in letting the clock run down.
"You just watch and you're in awe," D'Antoni said. "He held it until five tenths of a second left. He was pretty confident that was going in, no rebounds, no nothing. That ball was being buried."
Toronto's Rasual Butler airballed his attempt at the buzzer as the Knicks swarmed their newest hero at center court.
"The kid made a great shot," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "(Calderon) had to give him space or he was going to give up a driving path and (Lin) made a tough shot."
But Casey was left steamed at his team's failure to hold a lead, especially after the Raptors made nine turnovers in the final quarter.
"It should not have come to (Lin's) play," Casey said. "We had some many boneheaded plays to get to that play and to make that play relevant. We should have taken care of business before that."
Amare Stoudemire returned from a four-game absence with 21 points and Tyson Chandler had 13 for New York.
Calderon scored 25 points, Linas Kleiza had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and DeMar DeRozan scored 14 for the Raptors.
Up 75-66 to start the fourth, Toronto widened its lead with a three-point play by Barbosa before the Knicks stormed back with a 10-0 run, cutting it to 78-76 and forcing the Raptors to call timeout with 6:22 remaining.
Kleiza stopped the run with a driving layup, Amir Johnson added a hook shot and, after Lin made one of two from the line, Barbosa's layup made it 84-77 with 4:49 to go.
Toronto led 87-82 with less than two minutes to go when Iman Shumpert stole the ball from Calderon and drove in for an uncontested dunk. After a missed shot, Lin completed a three-point play, tying it at 87 with 1:05 left.
Barbosa missed a 3 for Toronto and, at the other end, Shumpert missed a jumper but Chandler grabbed the rebound. Lin took the ball near midcourt and let the clock run down to 5 seconds before driving and pulling up against Calderon to launch the decisive shot, touching off the latest instance of Linsanity.
"(Calderon) was trying to push me left," Lin said. "He was giving me a little bit of space. I just tried to take it down as low as I could. I figured it's probably not going to be possible to get to the basket with the help that they had."
Calderon was surprised to see Lin pull up for the game-winner.
"I thought he was going to drive," Calderon said. "That's why I tried to give him his left hand but he made a great shot."
Calderon was held scoreless in the final quarter, with D'Antoni crediting Shumpert for keeping the Toronto guard in check.
"He did a great job," D'Antoni said. "Shump got on Calderon and changed up everything."
The Raptors had a photo of Lin on their team website in the hours before the game, and his visit generated major interest among Toronto's Asian community, estimated at over 280,000 people, or more than 11 percent of the local population. The Chinese Canadian Youth Athletics Association and the Taiwanese Canadian Association of Toronto both sent groups of almost 300 fans as Toronto sold out for the second time in 13 home games. One group of fans in the upper deck wore white T-shirts spelling out his name.
Not all the fans were so positive: Lin was booed several times throughout the game.
Local media also took note; some 75 reporters and 16 cameras packed a Tuesday morning press conference to hear Lin speak, with dozens more turned away to prevent overcrowding. More than 25 Chinese Canadian journalists were due to cover the game, including one who presented Lin with a book of "Year of the Dragon" stamps from Canada Post and asked him to record a message in Mandarin, which he did.
Even D'Antoni was shocked by the size of the throng upon walking in Tuesday morning for his turn at the microphone.
"Are we in the playoffs now?" D'Antoni joked as he made his way to the front of the room.
It was Calderon, coming off a career-high 30 points in Sunday's loss to the Lakers, who was hot early, scoring 12 points in the first as the Raptors led 28-21 after one. Lin missed his first shot and didn't score until a driving layup with 3:46 left in the first. He had four points and four assists in the opening quarter.
Lin turned the ball over on three straight possessions early in the second and Toronto took advantage with a 6-0 run, widening its lead to 13 points. He also missed a running bank shot as the half ended as the Raptors took a 47-36 lead into the break.
Stoudemire scored seven points and Lin had six points and four assists as the Knicks scored 30 points in the third, but still trailed 75-66 heading into the fourth.
AP
Miami hits new milestones by routing Pacers 105-90
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade found a way to motivate their teammates Tuesday night.
James scored 23 points and nearly produced his first triple double in 11 months as Miami rolled to a 105-90 victory at Indiana to become the first NBA team in 33 years to win three road games in three nights.
"I think as far as team chemistry, we got better every single night," James said. "Tonight we had 17 assists. We rebounded and defended. When we do that, we're very, very tough to beat and it shows the professionalism of the group."
Some thought it was time for Miami's remarkable run to come crashing down.
They were playing their fourth road game in five days and were facing a team that had just gotten a two-day break and had hoped to make amends for a 35-point loss last month in Miami.
Instead, Indiana got Miami at full power.
After a quick start, the Heat dominated every facet until the closing minutes when the Pacers finally started trimming the lead.
Miami matched the three-game feat last achieved by Phoenix from Dec. 21-23, 1979. Miami also became the first team to win each of the three games by double digits since Milwaukee from Nov. 20-22, 1970. Plus, at 23-7, Miami has now tied the franchise's best start.
Walsh proposes solution for regional cricket
Former West Indies pacer Courtney Walsh believes that one solution to getting regional cricket back on track is to allow for the free movement of players.
The Jamaican, who spoke on Good Morning Jojo on Tuesday, said teams should be allowed to incorporate the services of players outside of the region during tournaments while countries should consider utilising players from other regional territories within their squads.
Walsh, who claimed 519 wickets in 132 Tests and 227 wickets in 205 ODIs, said there is no debating that regional cricket needs overhauling and fresh ideas be put on the table. This he said is one option that should be considered.
“I think we have to look at revamping a lot of stuff in cricket. The standard of our cricket used to be very high where when Jamaica played Leeward Islands or Barbados or Guyana it’s like a mini-Test. That is not happening now. If you look at the scores we are getting – 230, 70, 50, and you get a result, it is poor consistency. We need to up that bar and we may even have to look outside of the box for a season or two, bring in a couple of players to play,” Walsh said.
“You have Ramnaresh Sarwan and Travis Dowlin outside of Guyana not playing right now. I still think they are good enough to play regional cricket. So if they can’t make the Guyana team or they are not playing for Guyana, Leewards, for argument’s sake, who seem to be struggling a bit, can bring in these players to sort of help the youngsters you have here to guide them and move them around. It is things like that we have to look at.”
The 49 year old, who made his debut for the West Indies in 1984, also spoke on the current impasse between his fellow Jamaican, Chris Gayle, and the WICB, saying that at the end of the day, cricket should be the winner.
“I think cricket has to be the winner and whatever needs to be done, should be done so that we get a result from it one way or the other, and hopefully he would be able to come back out and play cricket for the West Indies once he wants to play. You wouldn’t want for the Board to be selecting Chris Gayle and he is not up to playing,” he said.
“He has indicated that he wants to play (and) if he seriously wants to play, I think it’s time for that to come to a closure and cricket upfront (would) be the winner, and he is allowed to play once he is prepared to play,” the former cricketer added.
Walsh’s first claim to fame came in 1979 when he took 10 wickets in an innings in school cricket and three years later made his First Class cricket debut.
Walsh made his Test debut against Australia in Perth in 1984, taking two wickets for 43 runs.
Later that season, he also made his One Day International debut against Sri Lanka at Hobart. He first played for Gloucestershire in 1984 and was a mainstay of the side until 1998.
In 1987, Walsh was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
Rampant Gayle slams ton again... But Barisals get burnt
Discarded West Indies opener Chris Gayle continued to weave his magic with his willow, pummelling yet another century in the Bangladesh Premier League.
The former West Indies captain carved out an exciting 116 from 61 balls in the feature match of the day's double-header at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, but it was in a losing cause as his Barisal Burners went down by 21 runs to Kieron Pollard's Dhaka Gladiators.
Gayle, controversially overlooked by West Indies selectors for the last year because of a standoff with the regional board, counted six fours and 11 amazing sixes to set the innings alight.
However, he found no support and when he was out in the 18th over, the Burners limped to 187 for five in response to the Gladiators' 208 for five.
five sixes
Earlier, Pollard lashed five sixes in a frenetic 15-ball 36 to bolster the Gladiators' innings. He put on a breezy 62 off 28 balls with Azhar Mahmood, who top-scored with 77 from 47 balls.
Imran Nazir had given the innings a flying start with 58 from 35 balls, including three fours and five sixes.
In reply, the Burners were languishing at 60 for three in the eighth over before Gayle staged a valiant fightback, posting 103 for the fourth wicket with Mithun Ali, whose measured 38 required 32 balls.
In the preceding game, West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels slammed a top score of 72 as Duronto Rajshahi beat Sylhet Royals by 16 runs.
The right-handed Samuels faced just 48 balls and struck three fours and five sixes to help fire Rajshahi up to 171 for eight off their allotted overs.
He was at the centre of two good partnerships - 56 for the third wicket with captain Mushfiqur Rahim (33) and 53 for the fifth wicket with Abdul Razzaq (30) - before perishing in the 17th over.
Samuels returned to take one for 22 from four overs of stingy off spin, keeping the Royals in check despite Kamran Akmal's 41-ball 56.
Whitney's funeral for this Saturday
Whitney Houston's funeral will be Saturday in the church where she first sang as a child.
The owner of the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark said Tuesday that the funeral would be at the New Hope Baptist Church, but there will be no wake.
The 48-year-old Houston died last Saturday at a hotel in Beverly Hills, California, just hours before she was set to perform at producer Clive Davis' pre-Grammy Awards party. Officials said she was underwater and apparently unconscious when she was pulled from a bathtub.
After an autopsy Sunday, authorities said there were no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma. It could be weeks before the coroner's office completes toxicology tests to establish the cause of death.
Houston's body was returned to New Jersey late Monday.
Houston was born in Newark and began singing as a child at the New Hope church, where her mother, Grammy-winning gospel singer Cissy Houston, led the music program for many years. Cousin Dionne Warwick also sang in its choir.
An impromptu memorial for Houston was held Sunday during the Grammys, with Jennifer Hudson saluting her memory with a performance of "I Will Always Love You." Viewership for the awards show soared over last year by 50 per cent, with about 40 million viewers tuning in.
A sensation from her first album, Houston was one of the world's best-selling artists from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, turning out such hits as "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," "How Will I Know," "The Greatest Love of All" and "I Will Always Love You." But as she struggled with drugs, her majestic voice became raspy, and she couldn't hit the high notes.
Houston left behind one child, daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18, from her marriage to singer Bobby Brown.
On Monday, mourners left flowers, balloons and candles for Houston at the wrought-iron fence around the tall brick New Hope church.