PM says REDjet interested in flying into St Kitts
As the REDjet issue simmers in the Caribbean, St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas said the new low-fare airline will be welcome to operate into and out of the twin-island Federation.
Douglas, the current chairman of the regional integration movement CARICOM, disclosed Sunday night in an interview that the government is looking at an application from REDjet to operate on the route, Barbados-St Kitts-St Maarten and to another Caribbean island.
He told the media at an end of conference press briefing on Monday that, although it is important to have a more affordable and reliable air transportation within the CARICOM Community, “we obviously must be concerned about the sensitivities in preserving those regional airlines that are plying the same route within the Community.”
“It is not a case of trying at all to prevent competition, but ensuring that the sensitivities surrounding this issue are also completely understood,” Douglas told reporters.
A CMC report said Barbados has indicated it will not be a mortician and fight over “a corpse called regional integration” as the war of words continues over the licensing requirement for the region’s first ever low budget airline, REDjet.
Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart told reporters that his administration wanted to know how the game is being played with regards to Caribbean countries providing licences to airlines to operate within the region.
“I say this...I do not intend that Barbados should be in the position of any mortician fighting a corpse called regional integration movement. I know what happened with the West Indian Federation. I know how the mortician works and Barbados has always stoutly defended the regional integration, has been a leader in the regional integration movement and that will not change under my leadership.
“We in Barbados certified REDjet in Barbados as safe. We are being second-guessed on that. Other people certify their aircraft and we don’t second-guess them.
“I made that point at the meeting (CARICOM Summit) but if this is the way these issues are going to be handled, I only want to know the rules. I just want to know how people are playing the game; I can play the game as well as they can play it,” a visibly upset Stuart told reporters.
But his Trinidad and Tobago counterpart, Kamla Persad Bissessar told reporters later that her country has raised safety concerns about the airline that has been seeking to enter the Trinidad and Tobago market.
“We are of the view that the safety of our nationals is paramount and, therefore, given the flags that we raised, complications of the aircraft, we are of the view that those should first be dealt with before we can go forward with the matter," she said, noting that a suggestion was made for the civil aviation authorities from Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago to look into her government's safety concerns.
Stuart accused Port of Spain of conducting a smear campaign against REDjet, noting that at a meeting held in Trinidad last month with the relevant ministers of civil aviation, Barbados Minister of International Transport George Hutson was shown apparently questionable photographs about the airline.
He said that the Trinidad and Tobago government has up to now not responded to a request for certification of the said photographs.
"He (Hutson) was told that they (pictures) had to do with REDjet. He asked to have them certified, so they refused according to what he (Hutson) told me. And the next thing we knew that they (photographs) were on the Internet and the smear campaign against REDjet continued,” Stuart said.
REDjet has not yet been able to obtain the necessary green light to operate between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica even though it operates a scheduled flight to Guyana.
U.S. Coast Guard sends home 122 Haitian, Cuban boaters
The U.S. Coast Guard has returned more than 120 Cuban and Haitian migrants to their Caribbean homelands.
The Coast Guard says 82 Haitians were aboard a 40-foot sailing vessel intercepted Friday northwest of Great Inagua, Bahamas. They were all returned Monday to Cap-Haitien, Haiti.
Fifteen Cuban migrants were returned Monday to Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba. The Coast Guard says they were picked up at sea in three separate interdictions since Thursday.
Another 25 Cuban migrants were repatriated Sunday. A Coast Guard vessel picked them up Wednesday after a Coast Guard aircraft spotted their vessel south of Key West.
Meanwhile seven rafters rescued Friday by a Royal Caribbean cruise ship returning to Port Everglades remain in Coast Guard custody. They are expected to be repatriated later this week.
Jill Scott Tells How She Trimmed Down 63 Pounds
Have you seen Jill Scott lately?
She is looking better than ever. The bold singer dropped 63 pounds, but she warns there won’t be much change in her frame.
With her latest album, “Light of the Sun” which debuted at no.1 on Billboard 200 this week, Jill is saying she made the transformation by simple diet and exercise.
It only took eating three low-fat meals a day and working out with her trainer Scott Parker who had her doing 60 minutes of cardio and strength training sessions every meeting.
She said her health was on the line and she knew it was time for a change when she’d “walk up nine steps and be out of breath!” While she is sporting a sleeker physique these days, she said she’ll “never be a stick figure.”
Overall, the singer was dedicated to the change since her son Jett, who was born in 2009, is growing and she wants to be around to help him enjoy every moment of life.
Duran Duran postpone European tour dates
Duran Duran have postponed their European tour - including three UK festival dates - because of Simon Le Bon's ongoing voice problems.
In May the band announced they were postponing UK tour dates after doctors ordered Le Bon to rest his voice.
The 52-year-old, who has been told to undergo physiotherapy treatment, said it had been an "extremely difficult decision to make".
The band said they hope to reschedule the dates.
Doctors believe Le Bon damaged his voice during a performance in Cannes, in May, which caused him to temporarily lose the top part of his vocal range.
Le Bon said his injury was "an internal one and so no one can tell me exactly how long it's going to take to mend completely".
"I need to take some more time away from shows to get back to full strength," he added.
"If we knew exactly when that might be, we wouldn't have to let this entire run of dates go, but what we feel we can't keep doing is moving shows piecemeal as it's just not fair on the fans."
He said his voice problems "couldn't have come at a worse time".
"I am doing everything I can to work through this and get back on track as soon as possible."
The tour had been due to kick off in Dublin on 14 July, ending in Paris on 12 September.
Duran Duran had been due to play at the iTunes Festival in London on 16 July as well as at V Festival dates in Stafford, on 20 August, and in Chelmsford, on 21 August.
Adele given all-clear to sing after vocal cord problem
Adele says she's been given the all-clear after recent problems with her vocal cords.
She told Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles she'd been recovering in the UK for the past month after suffering laryngitis.
"It's basically a hole in your vocal cord but I sang through it so that's why it popped. I'm better now it's fine, I got the all-clear," she said.
The 21 singer has a full set list planned for her iTunes Festival performance on Thursday (7 July).
She returned to the stage for a London gig at gay Pride at the weekend.
Adele said she was planning on staying in the UK for another two weeks before finishing the other half of her American tour in August, which she had to cancel due to her illness.
She's returning to the UK to tour in September.
'Something big'
The London singer also hinted that fans would potentially hear more from her next year, but wouldn't say more than that, adding: "There's a possibility I'm doing something quite big next year but I've got a meeting about it on Friday."
Adele has enjoyed huge success in America this year selling more than two million copies of her second album 21.
It means she can now afford to pay for her friends to see her when she's performing abroad.
She explained: "I flew my friends out to New York and I made them come to all the shows. I think they were a bit bored by the end.
"I get to share it with my friends, which is really nice and I never got to do that before.
"I don't like talking about it when I come home, because all I ever do is talk about what I do. So I like to just be normal with my mates."
As for her career highlights so far, the singer said that all of her shows were highlights but that the Brit Awards were particularly memorable.
She said: "I was so frightened. I've never actually been so scared in my life but it ended up being the most life changing night of my life.
"Everyone stood up. I've never been given a standing ovation by my peers and by the industry. It was amazing.
"I was really embarrassed when I was singing that song because I hate getting emotional about my ex-boyfriend.
"I'm fine about it now but I realised in that four minutes that actually I'm not fine about it.
"That's why I broke down. I saw my manager and he looked proud and I love making him proud."
Nicki Minaj’s Relatives Believe Mistaken Identity Led to Cousin’s Murder
Relatives of rap superstar Nicki Minaj have told RadarOnline.com that they believe the brutal shooting of her cousin Nicholas Telemaque was a case of mistaken identity.
The slaying of Telemaque, 27, during the early hours of Monday morning has left Minaj, 26, and her relatives reeling. According to RadarOnline, he was shot close to his home in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, around 2.40 a.m. after leaving the C-PAC nightclub with a group of friends.
His cousin Carol Clarke told the website: “He was shot in the chest as he walked towards his car close to his home. Nicki is absolutely devastated as are all our family – she was very close to her cousin but now he has gone.
“She has reached-out to Nicholas’ mom Victoria to offer her words of comfort but she is too distraught. Nicholas was a quiet person but he could be the life and soul of the party too – he did not run with gangs or anything like that.
“His friends have told us there wasn’t any trouble that night and we believe it could have been a case of mistaken identity but the police are still investigating the case.
“We are still trying to make arrangements for his funeral but I will really miss him because he was a good person.”
As previously reported, Minaj (real name Onika Tanya Maraj) has taken to her Twitter to pay tribute to her cousin and post photographs of him.
She wrote: “My cousin Nicholas. Also goes by Juse, or @brolicalcohilic. Murdered. Last nite. Near his home. Brooklyn, NY.”
Nicholas Telemaque was rushed to Kings County Hospital but he died as a result of gunshots to his torso.
He had prior arrests for possession of marijuana and driving on a suspended license – police are still investigating the case and looking for more witnesses to come forward.
Stop Supporting Lil’ Wayne and Artists like Him
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a professor at Syracuse University that is a contributing writer for Newsone. Last week, he deliveredan interesting perspective on a segment of the Hip Hop world that he contends is destroying the black community…one life at a time. While a lot of us believe that there are a lot of great artists to be found under the guise of Hip-Hop, there are some poison berries in the group choking the life of the genre and our children.
The piece he wrote entitled, “BET Has Become The New KKK” is definitely worth reading. He makes an eloquent argument against listening to artists like Lil’ Wayne because the lyrics he uses reflect a dangerous resemblance of life imitating art. But, surely Wayne would argue that the landscape he raps about was already there when he got to Hip-Hop. He isn’t saying anything that he hasn’t seen for himself. A lot of the more negative rappers use old school mama’s logic, ”Don’t repeat everything you hear!” They figure they can say whatever they want because they’re rappers not role models.
Watkins makes a compelling argument for us to stop bobbing our head to the beat and listen to the lyrics that our children are using as their soundtrack to violence. The senseless murders we continue to write about as well as experience can be found on the latest platinum Lil’ Wayne cd and other discs like it. But the ironic thing is that Watkins brings BET into the picture as our pusher. The now white owned Viacom company that owns BET makes certain that we are immersed in nominations for the rappers that would do us harm. BET, in Watkins opinion, has taken over the plan for the black community from the KKK and is making us slaves to the rhythm.
Chinese Banks Fall After Temasek Sells Stake
Shares in Bank of China and China Construction Bank fell after Singapore's state-owned investor Temasek Holdings sold its stakes in the institutions.
Temasek raised 28.2bn Hong Kong dollars ($3.6bn; £2.25bn) from the sale late on Tuesday.
The move is aimed at reducing its exposure to the financial sector.
Some analysts have become cautious about the outlook for Chinese banks.
On Tuesday, ratings agency Moody's warned that a ratings downgrade was possible for Chinese banks because of their higher-than-expected exposure to local government debt.
Bank of China shares were down 4.2% and China Construction Bank shares fell 2.6% in early trade on Wednesday.
The move comes ahead of Temasek's annual review.
The sovereign wealth fund has been reeling from billions in losses suffered from its investments in Barclays and Bank of America during the global financial crisis.
Japan's cabinet approves $24.7bn for disaster relief
Japan's government has approved a second budget of 2tn yen ($24.7bn; £15.4bn) for reconstruction after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.
The money will be spent on rebuilding, and on compensating victims of the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Japan is facing huge public debts and will not borrow money from the market for this budget.
This second emergency budget, announced on Tuesday, will be sent to parliament for approval later this month.
Crisis continues
In May parliament passed a 4tn yen emergency budget following the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.
That money is to help fund new housing for tens of thousands of people who have lost their houses. It will also support businesses hit by the disaster.
The quake and tsunami that hit Japan's north-eastern coast has left more than 20,000 people dead or missing.
It is thought to be the country's worst disaster since World War II.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been leaking radiation since the quake and tsunami crippled reactor cooling systems.
About 85,000 people have been forced to evacuate the area around the plant.
Mounting pressure
The government said it plans to use money left over from the annual budget for the last fiscal year to March for this new budget.
"With this budget we aim to ensure steps towards restoration and pave the way for reconstruction," Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda told reporters.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who has been facing increasing pressure to resign for his handling of the nuclear crisis, had said the passage of this extra budget was one of his conditions after which he would keep his promise to resign.
Opposition parties have so far signalled they will support the emergency spending.
Portugal's debt is downgraded to junk status by Moody's
The credit ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Portugal's debt to junk status.
The agency said there was a growing risk the country would need a second bail-out before it was ready to borrow money from financial markets again.
Moody's was concerned that if there was a second bail-out, private lenders might have to contribute.
Portugal's government said Moody's had not taken into account the strong backing for austerity measures.
It said that the programme of economic measures announced last week was "the only way to reverse the course and restore confidence" in Portugal.
Discussions are under way about the possibility of banks that have lent money to Greece waiting longer to be repaid.
Moody's said that prospect would scare private investors and make it even harder for Portugal to borrow money commercially again.
It said the talk of a private bail-out was "significant not only because it increases the economic risks facing current investors but also because it may discourage new private sector lending going forward".
Portugal, Greece and the Irish Republic were all given bail-out loans to give them time to repair their economies so they could borrow money normally again.
But Greece has already had to start negotiating a second bail-out.
'Formidable challenges'
The agency also said it was concerned that Portugal would not be able to achieve the deficit reduction targets set out as conditions for its first bail-out from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
It blamed this on "the formidable challenges the country is facing in reducing spending, increasing tax compliance, achieving economic growth and supporting the banking system".
Portugal was supposed to cut its deficit to 3% of its gross domestic product by 2013, from last year's 9.1%.
'Contagion'
"The Portugal downgrade clearly is negative because as the downgrades spread from the weakest to the weaker, the market is now asking, 'if Portugal is downgraded, will Spain be next?'" said Cary Leahey, an economist at Decision Economics in New York.
"It's symptomatic of the contagion effects in the eurozone."
Moody's cut Portugal's rating by four notches from from Baa1 to Ba2.
The other two major ratings agencies still list Portugal as BBB, which is above junk status.
Moody's last cut Portugal's rating in April, predicting the original bail-out loans of 78bn euros ($112bn; £70bn) from the EU and the IMF.
The country was bailed out in May, when it could no longer manage its debts.
It was the third country to be bailed out, after Greece and the Irish Republic.
Portugal got into trouble because low growth in the economy made it difficult for the government to fund its spending.
It gradually lost competitiveness as wages increased and tariffs on cheap exports from Asia were cut.
When the financial crisis came, Portugal had a great deal of debt, which was suddenly much more expensive to finance.