Latin America & the Caribbean makes MDG Strides
LATIN America and the Caribbean has made strides towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but there is still much work to be done before the 2015 target date.
The MDGs are a list of eight development objectives to which the international community agreed in 2000. They are:
•Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
•Achieve universal primary education
•Promote gender equality and empower women
•Reduce child mortality
•Improve maternal health
•Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
•Ensure environmental sustainability
•Develop a global partnership for development
According to the MDGs Report 2011 which was published on Thursday, the region has made some progress in the first six goals, but is lagging in others.
The proportion of people in the region whose income is less than $1 a day moved from 29 per cent in 1990 to 26 per cent in 2005. The target is to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion so defined.
“Robust growth in the first half of the decade reduced the number of people in developing countries living on less than $1.25 a day from about 1.8 billion in 1990 to 1.4 billion in 2005. At the same time, the corresponding poverty rate dropped from 46 per cent to 27 per cent,” the report said.
Despite these declines, current trends suggest that the momentum of growth in the developing world remains strong enough to sustain the progress needed to reach the global poverty-reduction target. Based on recently updated projections from the World Bank, the overall poverty rate is still expected to fall below 15 per cent by 2015, indicating that the Millennium Development Goal target can be met.”
The report found that nearly a quarter of children under age five in the developing world remain undernourished, but the proportion of those residing in Latin America and the Caribbean who were underweight in 2009 was four per cent, compared to 10 per cent in 1990.
On the subject of education, Sub-Saharan Africa was found to have the best record for improvement in primary school enrolment. For the 2008/2009 school year, he Caribbean region had a 95 per cent enrolment rate at the primary level, as against 93 per cent ten years prior.
Youth literacy in the region also improved, moving from 92 per cent in 1990 to 97 in 2009.
“Worldwide, the literacy rate of youth (aged 15 to 24) increased from 83 per cent to 89 per cent between 1990 and 2009. Southern Asia and Northern Africa chalked up the most progress, with increases of 20 and 19 percentage points, respectively. Sub-Saharan Africa showed significant improvement as well — a rise of seven percentage points. Still, it remains the region with the lowest youth literacy rate (72 per cent in 2009). In spite of overall progress, 127 million young people lacked basic reading and writing skills in 2009. Nearly 90 per cent of all illiterate youth live in just two regions: Southern Asia (65 million) and sub-Saharan Africa (47 million),” the report said.
On the subject of gender equality, the gender parity index for gross enrolment ratio in primary, secondary and tertiary level institutions for the years 1998/1999 and 2008/2009 was 97 for both sexes; 107 for girls and 108 boys; and 117 for girls and 126 for boys, respectively.
“Wide gaps remain in women’s access to paid work in at least half of all regions,” the document said. “Worldwide, the share of women in non-agricultural paid employment increased from 35 per cent in 1990 to almost 40 per cent in 2009. Progress has slowed in recent years, however, due to the financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009.”
As for the of seats held by women in single or lower houses of national parliaments, the region improved, moving from 15 per cent in 2000 to 23 per cent this year, 2011.
“Representation by women in parliament is at an all-time high, but falls shamefully short of parity.”
Latin American and the Caribbean has also made some progress in addressing the under five mortality rate. The figure per 1,000 live births in 1990 was 52, compared to 23 in 2009.
The maternal mortality rate has also reflected some decline, moving from 320 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990, to 230 in 2000 and 170 in 2008.
However, the report said gains made in the Caribbean to reduce adolescent pregnancies during the 1990s have stalled. The number of births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 moved from 81 in 1990 to 77 in 2000, then to 69 in 2008.
This might be related to contraceptive use in the region, where, according to the report, there is a high unmet need for the commodity and inadequate family planning. The proportion of women who have an unmet need for family planning among women aged 15-49 who are married or in a union, has barely budged over the years, coming in at 19.5 per cent in 1990, 20.4 per cent in 2000 and 20.2 per cent in 2008.
New HIV infections are in general decline, led by sub-Saharan Africa. In Latin America and the Caribbean the number of new HIV infections per year per 100 people aged 15-49, was 0.09 per cent in 2001 compared to 0.08 per cent in 2009.
Treatment for HIV and AIDS has expanded quickly in the region, jumping to 38 per cent 2009, from five per cent in 2004. However, it was not good enough to meet the 2010 target for universal access.
The world is likely to surpass the drinking water target, the 2011 report said, “though more than one in 10 people may still be without access in 2015. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the proportion of the population using piped water on premises was 72 per cent in 1990 and 84 per cent in 2008. The proportion using improved sources in the same years was 13 per cent and nine per cent; while 15 per cent used unimproved sources in 1990 compared to seven per cent in 2008.
“The world is far from meeting the sanitation target. In fact, at the current rate of progress, it will take until 2049 to provide 77 per cent of the global population with flush toilets and other forms of improved sanitation. Almost half the population of developing regions and some 2.6 billion people globally were not using an improved form of sanitation in 2008,” the document said, pointing out that over 2.6 billion people still lack flush toilets and other forms of improved sanitation.
Regarding national debt, the region’s external debt service payments as a proportion of export revenues was drastically reduced from 21.8 per cent in 2000 to 6.8 in 2008 and moved marginally upward in 2009 to 7.2 per cent.
And in spite of the economic downturn global greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb. The region accounted for 1.7 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2008, up from 1 billion metric tonnes in 1990.
The MDGs are measured through 21 targets and 60 official indicators.
Governor and Minister of Finance signs country 2011 budget into law.
His Excellency Governor Eugene Holiday and Minister of Finance Honourable Hiro Shigemoto signed into law the countries 2011 budget on July 7, 2011.
The Naf.420.916.597 million budget is Naf.23.526.328 million less than the one that was approved by Parliament on December 23, 2010. The amount at that time was Naf.444.442.925 million.
Out of the Naf.420 million guilder budget, close to Naf.120 million (Naf.119.435.771) will be capital investments.
Government will be allowed to borrow Naf.117.334.209 million guilders for 2011.
According to the Minister of Finance, the Financial Supervisory Committee CFT was waiting on two developments in order to finalize the handling and approval of any loan requests from the Government of Sint Maarten.
The first condition, the 2011 country budget had to be passed in Parliament and signed into law, and secondly, that the SOAB had to present a report about the collective sector of Sint Maarten as well as the calculation of the interest norm for Government and its collective sector.
The collective sector of Sint Maarten includes Government, the Foundation Upkeep Sports Facilities, Foundation of Government Buildings, the SZV as well as two other foundations.
The interest norm for 2011 has been calculated at approximately Naf.27.9 million of which the collective sector to date has interests costs totally Naf.12.9 million which in essence means that there is room for some Naf.15 million in interests costs within the collective sector.
"The SOAB finalized its report on July 4, 2011, and this should have been directly sent to the CFT. The Government of Sint Maarten is now waiting to hear how much longer it will take for the CFT to finalize the loan requests that Government has submitted for approval.
"There must be clear rules and regulations between all members of the collective sector and Government (Minister of Finance). Any borrowing of monies will require the prior approval of the Minister of Finance and this matter will be addressed by my person with the various foundations and entities which fall under the collective sector of Sint Maarten," Minister of Finance Hon. Hiro Shigemoto said on Sunday.
Jagdeo calls Piarco worst airport in the Caribbean
President Bharrat Jagdeo has described the Piraco International Airport in Trinidad and Tobago as the worst airport in the Caribbean when it comes to organization He said that it is a hassle for Guyanese passengers who have to intransit there.
Speaking at a press conference this past week on procedures at the Piarco Airport, Jagdeo said that when passengers board a Caribbean Airlines flight from Miami or New York with the intention of coming to Guyana, they have to in transit in Trinidad. In some cases, passengers would have to get off the aircraft and join another aircraft coming to Guyana.
But instead of being taken to an in-transit lounge, passengers have to join a line and go through security and then enter the departure lounge.
Jagdeo called this treatment “horrible, horrible” and said that he had spoken to Trinidad’s Transport Minister Jack Warner about the problem, but it is still happening.
“Guyanese don’t want to in-transit by choice; they only go through there because the flights come through there,” Jagdeo stated.
“If they had a proper, modern airport…that is in keeping with what is happening around the world, people would just move and sit in the in-transit lounge and then move and come home,” the President stated.
“It is the worst airport in terms of organisation,” Jagdeo declared.
Jamaican-born US marine killed in Afghanistan buried with full honours
A Jamaican-born, United States (US) marine sergeant, who was killed in Afghanistan last month, has been laid to rest with full military honours at a US veterans cemetery.
After a funeral service on Friday, family members and other mourners bid their final farewell to Sgt. Marlon Earl Myrie, 25, at South Florida National Cemetery, this afternoon.
Fellow marines honoured him with a 21-gun salute and the 24 haunting notes of Taps.
The details of Sergeant Myrie death have not been released. The US Marine Corps says he died from injuries sustained during a fire fight in Afghanistan on June 25, which involved a hand grenade. They say he was taken to a field hospital in Helmand province where he later died.
Why the Transformers can't beat their way into Beijing
It is the perfect summer blockbuster for audiences around the world - action packed and not too taxing on the brain. The new Transformers movie broke the record for July 4th tickets sales in the U.S. and it's been smashing records in many of the 110 countries around the world where it's showing. It's already made almost half a billion dollars worldwide.
But there's one country that it's not playing in - China.
China doesn't want its people to see Transformers 3 - at least not yet.
Can you believe it? Beijing has imposed a moratorium on new foreign films.
For almost a month, no new blockbusters produced outside China have been released in China. Why? Well, instead of Transformers or Harry Potter, Beijing really wants its people to watch something else - something quite different.
The Beginning of the Great Revival released last month, is an extravagantly produced, state-sponsored propaganda movie, which cost $12 million to make, a fortune by Chinese standards. The film claims to have a cast of more than 100 top Chinese actors playing an array of historical figures.
Among them Mao Tse-Tung or Chairman Mao, who's portrayed not just a revolutionary, but also as a romantic. He's played by a young Chinese heartthrob. And while that might lure in female audiences, the real message isn't about love, but politics.
The film is a pean to the Communist Party, released to honor the 90th anniversary of its founding. It describes the party's influence as having led China down a glorious path of ethnic independence, liberation, national wealth and strength. No mention of the Great Leap Forward, the famine, the Cultural Revolution, or, of course, Tiananmen Square.
The Chinese Communist Party has made sure that this movie will be seen by its people. It's released Beginning of the Great Revival in more than 6,000 theaters accompanied with massive publicity.
By some reports the government expects it to make well over $130 million, twice as much as its last propaganda flick, The Founding of the Republic. And it has also gotten major Chinese corporations to rent out theaters and give employees tickets. Watching the film is mandatory for school children and so on.
So what do people think of the movie? Well, the ratings on Chinese websites have mysteriously been disabled, but if IMDB.com is any indicator, the film scored a two out of 10 rating which is pretty darn poor.
China's control over its movie industry actually raises much larger issues. Studio heads in Los Angeles salivate over the thought of China's 1.3 billion citizens turning into a Hollywood film buffs. There is already great interest in going to the movies in China. China is said to be building two new movie theaters everyday. But the Chinese government is not allowing market forces to determine who watches what movies.
You see, even when there's no blackout or moratorium, China allows only a limited number of foreign films in its theaters every year - about 20 - and even those are subject to strict censorship. And when the films are allowed in, foreign film studios are still stiffed. They reportedly get only 20% of Chinese ticket revenues, much less than they get anywhere else in the world. And, of course, there is massive piracy of DVDs, which the Chinese government does little to prevent.
China's attitude towards foreign movies is troubling because it points in two directions.
First, Beijing appears to be adopting a policy that favors local companies over international ones even if it deprives the Chinese consumer of choice, variety and quality. Businessmen from around the world in various industries have been complaining about such practices, many of which are potentially violations of free trade and of China's treaty obligations.
Second, Beijing seems to be turning in a nationalist direction - consciously promoting propaganda, keeping out foreign influences, all to create greater solidarity at home and legitimacy for the Communist Party. These are worrying tendencies which would cause friction between China and the world, and they are reversal of China's outward orientation over the last three decades - an orientation that has powered China's rise to wealth and prosperity.
But there is some good news. I like one strategy China is employing to promote its own movies.
You've probably heard of Kung Fu Panda. Well, the sequel to that film is out around the world, as every parent knows, and is doing especially well in China.
Beijing is hoping to counter Hollywood's success with the release this month of its own animated action flick. Legend of a Rabbit, the film is about a kung fu bunny, who takes on a big mean bad enemy. The enemy is a panda. Now, that's a fair fight, and may the best animal win.
Source:CNN
Fire Forces Early End to Rihanna Concert in Dallas
A fire broke out at a Rihanna concert in Dallas on Friday night, forcing the event to end early.
A video posted on YouTube shows a fire burning at the top of the stage at the American Airlines Center, with some sparks falling toward the floor. Some people begin to stream out.
The R&B and pop star posted several messages on Twitter following the incident.
“DALLAS!!! We set the stage on FYAH tonight!!! LITERALLY!!! I’m so (mad), I was havin so much fun wit yall too!!! I gotta come back man!!” the singer tweeted.
Nicole Richie to team up with Jessica Simpson on NBC's 'Fashion Star'
She's a mom and a fashion designer, so it's only logical -- Nicole Richie will serve as a celebrity mentor on the new NBC series "Fashion Star."
Joining Jessica Simpson, who announced her role on the show last month, menswear designer John Varvatos and host Elle Macpherson, Richie, 29, will work with aspiring fashionistas as they compete for a chance to win a multi-million dollar contract to jumpstart their own brands.
"Jessica, Nicole, John and Elle make the most exciting team we have ever worked with on a reality television show," executive producer Ben Silverman says. "We are thrilled to feature such an extraordinary group of mentors and designers."
In her style career, Richie has launched a House of Harlow jewelry collection, footwear, eyewear and handbag lines, a ready-to-wear women's collection and a Pea in the Pod maternity line.
Joe’s Back in Action: His Mission is to Save R&B
After two years of keeping a low profile, singer Joe is ready to release his ninth studio album called “The Good, The Bad, The Sexy.”
“This is a great album, more mainstream,” Joe tells Singersroom. “Different from ‘Signature’ completely. It’s really more mainstream, and still a mix between mainstream and that classic Joe.”
He doesn’t anticipate a huge new fan base, at least those who are into the pop and the dance sound R&B is generating these days.
“I wouldn’t say it’s more dancing. My first single, I would say, is more on the dance side. [But] I wouldn’t say dance because when you say dance nowadays, you’re going more European. Usher’s done a few dance records now, and quite a few [other artists] have too. Everyone’s pretty much going that dance route,” the singer explains. “But if it doesn’t fit me or my style, I just think my fans would be utterly disappointed in me going that direction. So I tried to give them something of what they’re used to and something they haven’t heard before just to spark them up a little.”
The singer expressed his true feelings about music these days, saying it’s taken a turn in a direction R&B was never to take. He says it sounds more mainstream and blends with Pop. But he did lament that he understands that people are just trying to get their hustle on and “ride the wave.”
It’s a struggle out here to continue to do what you do, [which] becomes monotonous to people’s thinking. I can’t really say who is really holding it down like that because it’s a struggle for all of us in the R&B game to deliver good music, remain honest, do what you’re doing, and be successful at it as well.”
TCI goes down 6-0 against the BAHAMAS
The TCI National soccer team will return to the TCI tomorrow after a crushing defeat in the Bahamas.
In our last report, 'There will be no room for error this time around as the TCI soccer team seeks to do damage control when they take on the Bahamas.' However in the home-and-away series of the CONCACAF qualifying bracket, on their home turf TCI lost 6-0.
It’s was the second match toward the TCI’s qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, having lost the first game 0-4 to the Bahamas last Saturday in Provo.
According to RTC's Robert Hall of Expressions, 'our players made every effort but was not able to get the ball behind the net.'
Technical Director Matthew Green believes the Turks and Caicos team could have build on the initial momentum that they demonstrated at the beginning of the match-up last Saturday but will have to go back to the drawing board.
The CONCACAF qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup will see teams competing for places at the finals in Brazil. The Turks and Caicos is ranked 30th in the region, while the Bahamas is ranked 31st.
Euro debt market jitters worsen
The cost of borrowing for debt-laden Portugal, the Irish Republic and Italy hit new highs on Friday.
Greek debts also sold off, reversing a recent rally on hopes of a new rescue.
Financial markets were reacting to the European Central Bank's decision to raise interest rates, as well as political developments in Italy.
Italian economy minister Giulio Tremonti, a key figure in shoring up the country's finances, has been drawn into a corruption scandal.
Corruption charges
There is growing speculation that the economy minister may have to step down after Neapolitan prosecutors requested an arrest warrant for his close associate, Marco Milanese, on corruption charges.
The minister - who is seen as a stalwart defender of budget discipline - is seen as increasingly isolated within the Italian government.
Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has said he will amend Mr Tremonti's draft budget in parliament, criticising his own minister:
"He is worried about the markets, I understand him. But I always remind him that in politics the result is made up of consensus and votes. He isn't interested in consensus, but we are."
Italy has seen a sharp rise in its 10-year cost of borrowing over the last week, rising from 4.85% to 5.3% - suggesting markets now view the country as almost as risky as recession-hit Spain, which must pay 5.65%.
Short-lived respite
Meanwhile Greece, the Republic of Ireland and particularly Portugal have seen the value of their debts in financial markets plummet further.
Their implied costs of borrowing in markets for three years now stand at 28%, 16.3% and 18.6% respectively.
The latest sell-off comes as it became increasingly clear that the European Central Bank was more concerned with fighting inflation - which required an interest rate rise from 1.25% to 1.5% on Thursday - than in holding down borrowing costs for embattled governments.
It follows what had been a short-lived respite in the market. Borrowing costs had fallen briefly on expectations that the eurozone would arrange a second bail-out package for Greece after the parliament in Athens pushed through further painful austerity measures.