Three Parties Win Seats in Kazakhstan Parliament
Three political parties will enter Kazakhstan's parliament, where every seat is currently held by the ruling party.
Election results released Monday give the pro-business Ak Zhol party and the largely pro-government Communist People's Party at least seven percent of the vote each.
Under Kazakhstan's new election law, the second-place finisher automatically gets seats. But any party that gets at least seven percent of the vote also wins seats.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party won about 80 percent of the vote.
Mr. Nazarbayev calls his party's huge win a sign of stability and support for his government.
European election monitors issued their preliminary report Monday saying the Sunday elections failed to meet basic democratic principles.
Sunday's elections were held a month after a protest by laid-off government oil workers in the town of Zhanaozen turned violent, leaving at least 15 people dead. Authorities in the town originally cancelled voting, but President Nazarbayev ordered it to be held as scheduled.
Such anti-government violence is rare in Kazakhstan, where despite a lack of free speech and human rights, the country's oil wealth has brought a higher standard of living than in most other Central Asian former Soviet states.
Mr. Nazarbayev has been Kazakhstan's only president since it gained independence in 1991.
Brady, Patriots look better than ever in win over Broncos
Before Saturday night, New England hadn't won a playoff game in four years. From the looks of what the Patriots put on display against Denver, they're not going to have to wait four years before winning another.
Playing the most dominant playoff game in franchise history -- which is saying something, considering this was their 18th postseason win -- New England bolted to a 35-point lead after 35 minutes and obliterated the outmanned Broncos 45-10 at Gillette Stadium in an AFC divisional playoff game. The victory sets up the Patriots' sixth AFC Championship Game appearance in Bill Belichick's 12 years as coach. New England, 4-1 in the previous five title games, will host the winner of Sunday's Houston-Baltimore game next Sunday here.
After watching Tom Brady riddle the Broncos for a league-playoff-record-tying six touchdown passes, and after watching the embattled Patriot defense embarrass Tim Tebow and the Broncos, you've got to think New England's got as good a chance to win the Super Bowl this year as in 2007. That's the year the Patriots went 16-0, then advanced to the Super Bowl with 11- and nine-point playoff wins. New England went 13-3 and earned the AFC's top seed this year as in 2007 -- but the Patriots are playing better late in this season than they were in the 16-0 year.
"Tom was on fire, man,'' said tight end Rob Gronkowski, who caught three touchdown passes on a 10-reception, 145-yard night. "That's just how he is. And obviously, you can't start a game any better than we did.''
It took only nine minutes to burst any hopes Denver had. That's how long it took Brady to go 80 yards in five plays, capped by a lasered seven-yard TD pass to Wes Welker, and a seven-play, 59-yard drive ending in a 10-yard TD pass to Gronkowski. The Patriots scored six touchdowns in the first nine possessions, putting America to sleep early in the third quarter.
Brady has never been better in the postseason, setting a franchise record with 363 passing yards and the six touchdowns. He did it by running an uptempo offense that the Broncos never got used to. "We knew they were going to up-tempo it,'' said cornerback Champ Bailey. "If you're not ready to punch him in the mouth, he's going to eat you up all night.''
The storyline all week was Tebow, and Time, GQ, The New Yorker and People had correspondents on hand to document the most unlikely story of the NFL season -- Tebow taking over the 1-4 Broncos in October and driving them to a division title and a playoff upset of Pittsburgh. At the team hotel Saturday morning, Denver coach John Fox said his message to the Broncos, heavy underdogs to New England, was simple this week: "There's a Cinderella in the NFL playoffs every year. Why not us? Why not now?''
But the only thing this night had in common with the eight glorious games that ended in Tebow victories was a purple-shirted Tebow spending time with a 20-year-old brain-injury victim, Zach McLeod of suburban Boston, and McLeod's family. That's a tradition that Tebow has established this season, hosting a person with some malady at all of his games, spending a few minutes before and after the games with them. That was about the only thing that brought a smile to the face of anyone associated with the Broncos on a very bad football night. For the game, Tebow was 9 of 26 with three drops, for 136 yards and no interceptions or touchdowns. He was sacked five times and harassed all night.
"He's our guy,'' said safety Rahim Moore. "I believe in him and would like him to be our quarterback.''
The likelihood is Tebow will enter the offseason with the starting job, and club president John Elway will bring in a quarterback to eventually challenge him.
The advantage for Tebow will be that he'll have a normal offseason -- with minicamps and practices with Denver's first offensive units that he hasn't had in either of his two offseasons as a pro. The question will be whether offensive coordinator Mike McCoy will be able to improve Tebow's accuracy to the point where he can be an effective NFL starter. This game showed the huge gap between Tebow and Brady.
Then again, this game showed a gap between Brady and almost every quarterback in football. If he plays like this, with his tight ends and Welker such big weapons, the Patriots are going to be a very tough out in the conference title game and beyond.
Usain Bolt will make his first appearance of the year in Oslo in June
Usain Bolt will make his first international appearance of the year at the Bislett Games in Oslo on 7 June.
The triple Olympic champion will run in the 100 metres at the event, which takes place six weeks before the 2012 Olympics gets underway.
Before that he plans to run at least three training races in Jamaica starting next month.
"My preparations have been good this fall [autumn], 2012 is going to be a great year!" he said in a statement.
"I am injury free, working hard and everything is going according to plan.
"There is only around six weeks to go to the London Olympics after this race and there is no doubt it will be surrounded by an enormous amount of interest.
Bolt, currently the 100m and 200m world record holder, will take part in races in Kingston at the Camperdown Classic on 11 February, the Gibson Relays on 25 Feb and the UWI Invitational on 17 March.
He is expected to run the 400m at the events to gauge his fitness, with his first sprint race likely to come at the Jamaica International Invitational in Kingston on 5 May.
The 25-year-old broke his first world record in 2004 when he beat the previous World Junior 200m record with a time of 19.93 seconds.
He then broke both the 100m and 200m world records at the 2008 Beijing Olympics running the 100m in just 9.69secs and the 200m in 19.30secs.
He bettered both of those times a year later at the World Championships in Berlin. The 100m record now stands at 9.58secs, while the 200m record is 19.19secs.
The Jamaican has already declared that he wants to try and become a "legend" at London 2012 by winning four gold medals.
Clippers beat Lakers 102-94 behind 33 by Paul
The Los Angeles Clippers showed they could beat the Lakers even with Kobe Bryant going over the 40-point mark for the fourth consecutive game.
Chris Paul scored 33 points, Blake Griffin had 22 points and 14 rebounds, and the Clippers led all the way in winning 102-94 on Saturday night, their second victory in four days over one of the NBA's elite teams.
"It's early. We're not going to get too high with these wins," Paul said. "We definitely made strides in the right direction defensively and with rebounding. We got to make that habit and not a one-time thing."
Chauncey Billups added 19 points, former Laker Caron Butler had 13 points and DeAndre Jordan had 10 rebounds for the Clippers, who beat Miami 95-89 in overtime on Wednesday and have won five of their last six.
Paul limped off after hitting a jumper in the final minutes and said after the game that he hurt his left leg and would see a doctor.
Griffin said he wasn't concerned with the doubters who wonder if the Clippers may finally shed their reputation as perennial losers.
"It's definitely going to take time if we're going to remove that label," he said. "We don't care. We're worried about this year."
Paul, Billups and Butler - all added before the season began - are paying early dividends. Paul, who had 27 points against the Heat, was originally headed to the Lakers from New Orleans until Commissioner David Stern nixed the deal.
"They couldn't guard him," Billups said of Paul. "Coming off the pick-and-rolls, he was unstoppable. His shot was on point and he really caused them a lot of problems."
The Clippers controlled the boards 50-42, including a 17-11 edge on the offensive glass, despite being the league's worst rebounding team playing against the league's best.
"We talked about how they focused on the glass and they just did a terrific job on the boards," Bryant said. "Seventeen offensive rebounds is a lot of offensive rebounds. That's the area that really killed us. We did a pretty good job defensively in holding them to a low shooting percentage, but 17 offensive rebounds and 25 second-chance points, that's tough to deal with."
Bryant notched his fourth straight game of 40 or more points but the Lakers had their five-game winning streak snapped by their Staples Center co-tenants, who beat them twice in the preseason. Bryant was 14 of 28 and made 12 of 14 free throws. He had 42 against Cleveland on Friday, 48 against Phoenix on Tuesday and 40 at Utah on Thursday.
"When a player of that caliber is looking to shoot that many times, he's going to make shots," Griffin said.
The Lakers got no closer than five points early in the fourth quarter as the visiting team. Bryant broke out for 21 points in the third, but he was limited to 10 in the fourth against the Clippers' double teams.
"Kobe got going and we came with some different coverages on him," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. "He hit some tough shots, but I thought overall we controlled the tempo of the game in the fourth quarter, which was one of the big keys for us."
Derek Fisher had no luck in containing Paul and the 37-year-old Lakers guard didn't return until there were 4 minutes left in the game.
"We didn't do a good job as a team on him," Bryant said. "We were short in our pick-and-roll coverage and let Chris kind of split us, mess around with the ball, dribble through the lane and do all the stuff that we're not supposed to let him do."
Billups and Paul hit consecutive 3-pointers to help the Clippers extend their lead to 67-53 midway through the third.
Bryant took over from there, scoring 17 of the Lakers' final 19 points of the quarter to close to 76-72. He began and ended the spurt with 3-pointers and in between hit 7 of 8 free throws while the Clippers were held to nine points over the final 5 minutes.
"I was just getting in spots to be effective and I was hitting my mid-range jumpers," Bryant said. "We were struggling and it just seemed like we were kind of dead in the water. I didn't get us off to a good start at all. I took the responsibility to try and generate some energy and try to get us back in the game. We were able to do that, but they made two big 3s to stretch it back out."
The Clippers' biggest first-half lead was 55-42 at the break. They outshot and outrebounded the Lakers, who were better in the paint.
The Lakers twice closed within three points in the second quarter, but the Clippers outscored them 16-6 to end the period, with Billups, Paul and Griffin combining for 14 points.
The Clippers opened the game on a 13-4 run, then outscored the Lakers 13-9 to lead after the first quarter. Things got chippy in the final 12 seconds when Darius Morris went up for a basket after Paul was whistled for a foul and Griffin pushed off him with both hands as Morris came down.
"We knew it was going to be a grind and get chippy," Jordan said.
Lakers coach Mike Brown got incensed and was called for a technical, while nothing was called on Griffin. Morris had the last word, though, when he sank a jumper from before the half-court line at the buzzer as Paul tried to cut him off. Metta World Peace and Grififin also had technical in the game.
SI
Barbados beat Jamaica by 62 runs
Dwayne Smith blasted a memorable, boundary-studded 86 to set up a comfortable win for Barbados by 62 runs against Jamaica that lifted them to the top of the standings in Group B of the Caribbean Twenty20 cricket tournament at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground on Saturday night.
Living up to his reputation as one of the most dangerous hitters in the game, opener Smith smashed seven fours and six sixes in his breath-taking knock, which led Barbados to 157 for seven off 20 overs after they won the toss.
The dominance of Smith was underlined by that fact that the next best score of 18 not out off nine balls came from veteran all-rounder Ryan Hinds, who slammed two consecutive sixes off pacer Andre Russell in the final over of the innings.
Smith was third out in the 16th over, pulling a short ball from leg-spinner Nkrumah Bonner into the hands of backward square on the boundary in Krishmar Santokie.
Left-arm pacer Santokie took two for 27 and left-arm spinner Nikita Miller, two for 27.
Jamaica lost wickets early and steadily and after ten overs were tottering on 45 for five before being bowled out for 95 in 16.5 overs.
Several of the Jamaica batsmen were caught in the deep as Barbados fielded and caught brilliantly.
Opener Bonner topscored with 27 off 31 balls.
Tino Best again bowled fast and hostile to finish with two for 17. Left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn picked up two for 24 and off-spinner Ashley Nurse, two for 30.
The win was the second for Barbados in as many matches, pushing them to eight points – the same as Jamaica who have played three matches.
Barbados also boast of a healthy Net Run Rate of +4.273 compared with Jamaica’s -0.113. (CMC)
Volleyball Teams To Compete Abroad
The Bermuda Junior National Volleyball Teams are headed off to the northern regions of the U.S. to heat things up on the court.
The Girls team will be travelling to Hartford, Connecticut where they will participate in the 2012 WinterFest Volleyball Tournament, which will include hundreds of teams from all over the US.
Head Coach, Donna Smith and Assistant Coach, Stacey Madeiros-Cooke will lead Captain Khianda Pearman, Michaela Eberly, Kristyn Dale, Jade Weaver, Melissa Fiddick, Amber Lopes, Ariel Kaplen, Ciara Rego, Eden Smith, and Kyla Sinclair.
The Boys team will be competing at the CAN-AM Volleyball Tournament in Rochester, New York, where they will face teams from Canada and the US. There are nearly 80 teams in the competition, with 28 teams in the under 18 division, in which the boys will be playing in.
Head Coach, Bill Bucci and Assistant Coach, Mark Hamilton will lead Captain Daniel Fiddick, Joshua Malpas, Tiago Ferreira, Adrian Faries, Eron Woods, Kyle Hamilton, Keiran Hamilton, Brandon Sousa, Nicholas Coelho, Luke Parker, Chas Smith and Kazim Muhammad
Both teams have been training and hope to see another success following their Bronze and Silver medals at the ECVA Tournaments in St. Martin and Anguilla in the Summer of 2011.
LIME blasts Holness, urges emergency overhaul of telecoms regulation
TELECOMS giant LIME yesterday accused former Prime Minister Andrew Holness of betraying Jamaican consumers when he reversed a requirement that Digicel maintain both networks as a condition of its proposed merger with Claro.
At the same time, LIME urged the Government to implement an emergency overhaul of the regulations governing the telecoms industry in order to protect consumers and other service providers.
"LIME is calling on the new Government to immediately implement the emergency legislation and overhaul the regulatory framework of the telecoms industry," the company said in a strongly worded statement. "We are asking the Government to take this action — with extreme alacrity — in the interest of Jamaican consumers as well as all current and any future telecoms service providers."
LIME's statement is the latest in a salvo of criticisms levelled at Holness for reversing the condition agreed to by his predecessor Bruce Golding and announced in August last year.
Under that arrangement, Golding said that both networks should be kept going separately until a new legal and regulatory framework could be established.
The merger plan was also approved on condition that the rate Digicel charged LIME for completing calls to Digicel customers would fall by $3.50 per minute and that Digicel gives back some of the radio spectrum that it now holds.
It must also honour its original commitment to provide coverage to 90 per cent of the island, he said.
Golding promised to bring a bill to Parliament "to enable the regulator to discharge its obligations more effectively" within six weeks (by October 11), but announced his resignation before he could complete that task.
Holness said that the bill was tabled in early December.
Last week, when it emerged that Golding's decision was reversed, Holness explained that the revised deal was not announced immediately because there were details to iron out: "I only got a chance to approve it. It had to go through the phases," he said.
But his explanation has not found favour with LIME which said it was "extremely disturbed" at the "decision to rescind a critical stipulation in the terms" without concurrently passing the promised legislation to facilitate a meaningful reduction in rates and safeguard the telecoms industry.
"We are equally dismayed at press reports attributed to Digicel, that Claro customers will retain their Claro phone numbers when they are involuntarily transferred by Digicel to their network. This would be a clandestine and privileged introduction of local number portability which appears to have been specially granted only to Digicel. This again gives the dominant player in the market an unfair competitive advantage and denies Claro customers of any real choice in the matter," LIME said.
"At every opportunity, LIME made clear to the previous Government and the regulators that the proposed merger was bad for competition and therefore bad for Jamaica, if the current inadequate legislative and regulatory environment remained unaddressed. Without those regulatory safeguards, which would include a meaningful reduction in the wholesale and retail interconnection rates charged by the dominant player Digicel, after over a decade since the liberalisation of the telecoms industry, Jamaica faces the dim prospect of the creation of a virtual monopoly in the mobile market," LIME added.
The company said that this was also a position which the former Government appeared to fully appreciate and pointed to Golding's labelling as "unimpressive", Digicel's offer to adjust its peak and off-peak cross network rates by $3 and $2 respectively.
"In light of this, Mr Golding committed that his administration would be bringing emergency legislation to Parliament within six weeks which we, and indeed the entire nation, would have expected to be used to establish a level playing field, and constrain Digicel from continuing to charge exorbitant and prohibitive rates," LIME said. "Eighteen weeks later, there is still no legislation, yet the condition that Digicel maintain separate networks has been removed."
The company argued that Holness's "removal of this critical condition, without the passing of the emergency legislation to safeguard the industry, has grave implications for the future of Jamaica's telecommunications industry".
This move, LIME said, grants Digicel a free ride and "is tantamount to a betrayal of the Jamaican consumers who are desperately seeking relief in this harsh economic climate".
JA OBSERVER
Trinidad PM concludes state visit to India with business talks in Mumbai
In her final bid to lure potential Indian investors and entrepreneurs to the shores of Trinidad and Tobago, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Friday reiterated her call for more Trinidad and Tobago-India economic and trade relations during a business seminar in Mumbai on the concluding leg of her state visit to India.
The event was hosted by Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and The Confederation of Indian Industry.
The prime minister took the opportunity to further encourage linkages between India and Trinidad and Tobago, praising the exemplary success of India on the global stage. In her address at the business luncheon Persad-Bissessar stated, “India has grown to become a trillion dollar economy with a largely self-sufficient agricultural sector buttressed by a diversified economy and a stable financial and services sector. My government recognizes that increasing urbanization and modern technology have brought about a remarkable change in lifestyles and consumption patterns of the citizens of India.”
The prime minister also commended the resilience of the Indian nationals as demonstrated in Mumbai’s recovery from recent terrorist attacks: “It is not easy to forget November 2008, when over a period of three days, this city was shattered by vicious terrorist attacks. The Mumbai attacks turned the eyes and hearts of the world to India.”
Persad-Bissessar indicated that both herself and prime minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh will highlight the need to adopt a comprehensive convention on international terrorism to members the international community.
This business seminar concluded the state visit and trade mission led by the prime minister themed “Trinidad and Tobago-India 2012: Partnering for Diversification, Innovation and Investment”.
During the visit, the prime minister signed agreements in the areas of air services, traditional medicines, education, culture, agriculture and technical cooperation with India. The prime minister used the various business engagements and activities in India to effectively market ‘Brand Trinidad and Tobago’ and the country’s role as a gateway to the Americas and over 600 million people.
Caribbean News Now
New Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina takes office
The new president of Guatemala, Otto Perez Molina, has been sworn into office after his election victory in November.
Mr Perez Molina - a former army general - has promised tough action to combat soaring levels of violent crime and drug trafficking.
He has also promised to reduce poverty and child malnutrition.
Mr Perez Molina, 61, is the first military figure to lead Guatemala since the return to democracy in 1986.
He took over from the Social Democrat Alvaro Colom, who was prohibited by the constitution from standing for a second term as president.
In a speech to thousands of cheering supporters in Guatemala City, President Perez Molina promised to bring "profound change" to Guatemala.
"We take over a country in crisis, a country close to moral bankruptcy, where respect for authority and the rule of law has been replaced by a culture of corruption and impunity," he said.
He promised to do his utmost to restore peace and security, and appealed for international help to combat drug trafficking.
Violent legacy
Guatemala has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with much of the violence blamed on criminal street gangs.
Its security forces have been battling against the rising influence of Mexico's powerful drugs cartels, who use it as a corridor for smuggling South American cocaine.
Mr Perez Molina, who leads the right-wing Patriotic Party, campaigned on a promise to restore security with an "iron fist" approach.
The scale of the challenge he faces was underlined on the eve of his inauguration, when a congressman and his brother were shot dead in the centre of Guatemala City.
Critics have questioned the new president's record during Guatemala's 36-year civil war, when the army committed widespread atrocities.
But the former general, who left the army more than a decade ago, denies allegations that he was responsible for human rights abuses.
Mr Perez Molina, who signed the peace accord that ended the conflict in 1996 on behalf of the army, said he would work for full national reconciliation.
"I pray that my generation is the last of war and the next one is the first of peace," he said.
Chavez 'would accept' Venezuela election defeat
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has told opposition leaders that he will relinquish power if he loses elections due in October.
In his annual address to Congress, Mr Chavez said the opposition should also accept the result if he wins.
The left-wing leader - who has governed Venezuela for 13 years - is seeking another six-year term in office.
The opposition coalition will hold a primary election next month to choose a unity candidate to stand against him.
Some of Mr Chavez's strongest critics have suggested he might cling on to power at all costs if he were defeated at the polls.
But he told the National Assembly in Caracas that he would accept the election result whatever it was.
"If any of you win the elections I will be the first to recognise it, and I ask the same of you," he told opposition leaders.
"We are going to show our democratic maturity."
Crucial year
Mr Chavez, 57, said he expected 2012 to be a "year of tests" for Venezuela, but he was confident that peace and respect for national institutions would be maintained.
The Venezuelan leader reiterated that he had recovered his health after having surgery and chemotherapy for cancer last year.
Recent opinion polls suggest he still has the support of just over 50% of the population, making him the favourite to win the election.
Heavy spending on housing and welfare - funded by Venezuela's oil wealth - has helped sustain his traditional support base among the poor.
The opposition Democratic Unity coalition is hoping that dissatisfaction with rising violent crime and inflation will help it to unseat him.
Six candidates are standing for a primary election due on 12 February that will chose a unity candidate to challenge Mr Chavez.
Miami shutdown
In his speech, Mr Chavez also announced that he intended to close Venezuela's consulate in Miami after the US expelled a diplomat.
Venezuela's consul in Miami, Livia Acosta Noguera, was ordered to leave the US last week following allegations that she discussed a possible cyber attack on the US while based in Mexico.
Mr Chavez called the accusations against her "unjust" but indicated he would not be expelling a US diplomat in response.