A flamboyant performer, 'Sweet Mickey' is now Haiti's favorite son
Michel Martelly is not used to being confined to his home.
After all, he made a name for himself on stage, performing Haitian carnival music in flamboyant style, sometimes drinking rum straight from a bottle and ripping his clothes off.
But "Sweet Mickey," as he is known in his role as king of kompa music, says it wasn't Sweet Mickey who went home to his wife and four children at night. That was Michel Martelly, husband and father, who has emerged as Haiti's favorite son.
He shed his bad-boy image off stage to take care of his family, educate his children. Now, he says, he wants to do the same for his homeland.
"My life on stage was very different than it was at home," says Martelly, sitting on a large veranda at his plush home in the hills of Port-au-Prince.
The Provisional Electoral Council placed Martelly in third place with 21.84% of the votes in preliminary results of Haiti's presidential election announced last Tuesday. That means, if the vote holds, Martelly will not be in a January 16 runoff.
The council said Mirlande Manigat, a former first lady and law professor, came out on top with 31.37 percent of the votes and Jude Celestin, the government-backed candidate, won 22.48 percent.
But charges of fraud in the Haitian election have hailed from all corners. The most vocal, perhaps, has been Martelly, who is confident he won based on what pre-election polling had shown.
His supporters took to the streets in the days after the results were announced, chanting "Tet Kale!," another one of his monikers, which means bald head in Creole.
On this Sunday afternoon, Martelly appears in jeans and a button-down shirt. A silver arm cuff hugs his right wrist. He takes a long sip of his favorite ice-cream soda and takes a seat at a table surrounded by a floor-to-ceiling fake Christmas tree, a piano and eight wall-mounted speakers. It's not hard to tell this is a musician's home.
Close by, armed with shotguns, are menacing body guards from a private security firm.
"I never had security before this election," he says.
The opposite, in fact.
When Sweet Mickey stepped out of his car, adoring crowds thronged to get a closer look at the popular star.
But with violent protests erupting on the streets and convinced that there are many who would might like to see him dead, Martelly says he has been forced to hide behind security.
This reporter was led by a bodyguard through a maze of doors and rooms to a sprawling veranda where the interview took place. The smell of sauteing onions and garlic wafted out of the kitchen.
Martelly says he doesn't leave his home anymore. Rarely does he talk on the phone for fear his words will be used against him.
Haiti, he says, is on the brink of revolution.
"This is a very dangerous corner in Haiti's history," he says. "But it's a revolution that can be done peacefully through the election."
Under the father-and-son Duvalier dictatorship, Haitians lacked freedom but the people had clean roads, electricity, jobs, security, Martelly says. When democracy came overnight to this Caribbean nation, people didn't know how to handle it.
Martelly talks about 24 years of troubled times, of an impoverished country that he says hurtled backwards into even more poverty.
"We are ruled by corruption," he says. "The people have no confidence in their government."
Then came a killer earthquake, a hurricane, a cholera epidemic and, now, political turmoil.
"You know how (U.S. President Barack) Obama said it's not about the man, but it's about the plan?" he says. "Here it's more about the man than about the plan."
Haiti will go nowhere, he says, unless the people have a president they can trust, a president who is honest.
"I've been on the ground with them for 22 years," he says of his musical career. "The people know me. I represent the light at the end of the tunnel."
Not that Martelly doesn't have plans.
He says, for instance, that the $12 billion that was pledged by the international community for earthquake assistance should come in the form of infrastructure, not money, because the Haitians don't know how to manage money.
But his immediate plans revolve around how to resolve the electoral dispute. The electoral council is recounting the votes but Martelly says he will not deal with the council.
"From day one, we predicted fraud. But no one seemed to care," he says. "Now the same (council), the same entities want us to go in for a recount. What assurance do we have that this will be a free and fair process?
"We do not trust that process," he says. "We do not believe in going back to the same judge who has already condemned us. I believe everything has been done to ensure that we lose again when we never lost from day one."
Manigad has also said she will not accept a recount.
A European Union backed monitoring group had said Martelly was leading in the vote count. The United States and the United Nations both expressed grave concern over electoral fraud.
Martelly says he has a team of legal experts looking into his options, which he plans to make public soon.
One option that is unlikely, he says, is a new election. Haiti has neither the resources nor the strength to start all over again.
Another is a three-way runoff between Martelly and the two top vote-getters, Manigat and Celestin.
"If I accept that, I'd be starting my political career in a fraudulent system," Martelly says.
He says he is bowing in front of the international community to help bring about a fair outcome.
"This is an SOS," he says.
Then he takes a long sip of his sweet drink. Outside his well-guarded home, the streets are tense.
People have burned down the campaign headquarters of Celestin, a protege of the President Rene Preval, who grew increasingly popular as little progress surfaced in the months after the January 12 earthquake.
They have taken to the streets to demand their political will be respected.
So what makes a man who made a name with dance music think he can change things in Haiti?
Martelly flashes his signature smile; the light glints off his tet kale.
"Well," he says. "Look at what the politicians have done."
(CNN)
Poor Government revenue could lead to cuts
Yesterday Premier and Finance Minister Paula Cox told the House of Assembly Government received $446 million in revenue during the first half of the 2010/2011 fiscal year.
BDA Finance spokesman Michael Fahy said he believed this meant Government was 15.7 percent behind initial predictions and could be facing a $166 million shortfall if the trend continued.
But last night Ms Cox said such a statement was “erroneous” and did not take into account that taxes are not paid evenly year round.
Earlier yesterday Ms Cox answered a Parliamentary Question posed by BDA MP Shawn Crockwell. The question asked how much revenue Government had received between April 1 and September 30, the first half of the fiscal year.
She said Government had received $446 million and added: “[This] is $15 million or 3.5 percent higher than the corresponding period in 2009/2010.”
Speaking outside the House, Mr Fahy said he believed Government should have received $529 million in revenue at the mid-point of the fiscal year based on their budget prediction of earning $1.058 billion in revenue from taxes such as payroll, customs duty and hotel occupancy tax.
“This [$446 million] represents a severe shortfall in revenue for the Government. Some $83 million short,” he said. “It could mean that the actual revenue for 12 months could be $892 million, which is a $166 million shortfall. At the moment the Government is 15.7 percent short on its prediction.
“This is a serious, serious problem. It is clear, per our predictions, that the payroll tax increase has not had the desired effect on increasing Government revenue.
“The situation is so bad that [Deputy Premier] Derrick Burgess reportedly said that the Government has no money to fix accident black spots and prevent road fatalities.
“What else does the Government not have money for? What costs are being cut?
“What is being done to rein in the spending to match the actual revenue collected?”
Last night Ms Cox said the comments were “extremely erroneous” as Government’s revenue are not collected evenly through the year. “For instance, a major revenue earner for Government is international business fees and other company taxes,” she said. “These amounts are collected in January of each year and therefore would not be included in the first six months of a fiscal year. It is anticipated that over $64 million will be collected in various company fees in January 2011.”
Moreover, Ms Cox said the Parliamentary question asked how much Government received during the first half of the 2010/2011 fiscal year, which was the answer that was provided.
This means some of the payroll revenue collected in the first half of the fiscal year are actually revenue from the 2009/2010 fiscal year and were collected on the old rate.
Ms Cox said: “Mr Fahy is assuming that all payroll tax reported in the first six months of this fiscal year has been collected at the increased payroll tax rates. This is not correct.
“It must be noted that the payroll tax collected in the first quarter of the current fiscal year were at the old rates, that is before the payroll tax increases. These taxes related to the prior fiscal year but were collected and recorded in the current fiscal year.
“The new rates came into force on April 1, 2010, and the first payroll tax payments using this rate were made in July 2010. The information provided reported the taxes collected by Government during the first six months of the year on a cash basis.
“Mr Fahy’s assumptions are off base.”
She added that she was confident the Government would be able to “restrain growth in spending” through disciplined financial management.
“The Government continues to institute policies that will instill strong financial discipline, at all levels of government, in the management of taxpayer dollars,” she said.
This is the third year in a row there has been concern about Government’s revenue. In 2008/9 Government collected $32 million less in revenue than expected. The shortfall was blamed on a drop in Customs duty, passenger taxes and stamp duty.
Last year Government projected it would raise $969 million through taxes and duty. Five months into the year revenue were down by $14.9 million, by the end of the year Government was $35 million short of its revenue projects.(ROYAL GAZETTE)
Calm returns to Haiti
An eerie calm has returned to Haiti today, following two full days of riots in the wake of the announced presidential and legislative elections’ results.
Police and political observers here said there has been no widespread violence in the last two days after unrest paralyzed the capital, Port-au-Prince, and two other major cities early last week.
Government construction crews in the last two days have been clearing the streets of charred debris, and markets have opened for a few hours.
Observers said there has been a mad rush inside markets, as people grabbed supplies, and long lines have been forming at gas stations.
Protesters had taken to the streets on Tuesday night after Haitian officials released preliminary election results that showed popular musician, Michel Martelly, wouldn't reach a runoff election scheduled for January but that government-backed candidate, Jude Celestin, was qualified.
Martelly’s supporters and anti-government protesters charged the vote was rigged and responded by torching tires, cars and government buildings. They also squared off with United Nations troops in the streets.
Police say so far the violence has claimed at least two lives, but there were many injuries.
The medical relief team Doctors Without Borders said it has treated 26 patients – 15 suffering from bullet wounds – since Tuesday night.
But as some semblance of normalcy grips Haiti over the weekend two of the top candidates in the disputed elections have rejected a proposed recount of the ballot.
The leading candidate, Mirlande Manigat, and Martelly insist that they will not participate in the recount. (CMC)
False imprisonment costs State $55,000
A Penal resident who was kept for 15 hours in police custody in 2004 after being arrested on an invalid warrant has been awarded $55,094 in damages for false imprisonment. Nankishoer Rajpath was awarded the sum on Friday when he succeeded in his complaint against the State.
San Fernando High Court Judge Joan Charles held that Rajpath’s Constitutional rights were infringed when he was falsely imprisoned on July 22, 2004, on a warrant issued in 2002. Charles said, “A lapse of almost two years between issue and execution is surely a matter for investigation and to subject a man who thought himself to be otherwise free of this burden, is an affront to his right to liberty as guaranteed” by the Constitution.
Rajpath, 50, through attorney Cindy Bhagwandeen, had filed a personal action against the State seeking damages for unlawful arrest and detention or false imprisonment and breach of his Constitutional rights.
On October 25, 2002, Rajpath was convicted on the charge of felling trees without proper permission. He was ordered to pay $1,000 in fines and $920 in compensation before November 22, 2002. The Penal resident paid the fines on December 23, 2002 after the stipulated deadline. On December 18, 2002 a warrant was issued in the Princes Town Magistrates’ Court for Rajpath’s arrest. The warrant was executed some two years later.
Charles, in her eight-page judgment, ruled that “to execute a warrant almost two years after the date of issue without properly verifying it was an act of gross incompetency.” During the trial, police testified that the task of checking whether a warrant was in effect or cancelled would entail an officer manually going through “possibly hundreds of paper warrants in order to find the relevant one.”
Charles admitted such a task would be “daunting.”She did, however, take issue with the State’s position that it was incumbent upon Rajpath to confirm and ensure the court’s records were updated with his payment.
The judge also ruled that it was incumbent on the warrant officer at the time to have been more diligent in investigating a warrant, issued two years prior, to determine its validity. Prior to being taken into custody, Rajpath and his wife attempted to produce the receipt indicating the payment was made but, they were denied the opportunity to do so.“The Court considers this a blatant disregard by the officers of (Rajpath’s) liberty,” Charles said. (TT.Guardian)
Snowstorm wreaks havoc, barrels east; Metrodome roof collapses
A powerful snowstorm barreled east through the Midwest on Sunday, bringing with it more precipitation and gusty winds and leaving behind a trail of significant damage, large snow drifts and subarctic temperatures, according to the National Weather Service.
Winter storm warnings and advisories Sunday extended as far west as Illinois, as far east as Pennsylvania, and as far south as northern Alabama and Georgia.
Meanwhile, residents of the upper Midwest who braved at-times blizzard conditions on Saturday faced the prospect Sunday night of wind chills dipping, in spots, as low as 30 degrees below zero. This comes after up to 23 inches of snow fell in parts of Minnesota and as many as 18.5 inches in Wisconsin since Friday.
"We could see wind chills (that are) obviously extremely dangerous for people, to have that kind of exposure for any length of time," said Tod Pritchard, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Emergency Management agency.
After prompting the closure of highways in Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota and elsewhere a day earlier, the storm wreaked havoc with air travel Sunday.
About 1,375 flights in and out of Chicago's O'Hare airport had been canceled as of 4:45 p.m. (5:45 p.m. ET), the city's aviation department reported, with delays for travelers heading to and from the Windy City averaging around just over 6 hours. Another 300 flights had been canceled at nearby Midway airport.
"The main problem ... right now is the winds," said Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Karen Pride. "The winds are very high and gusting very strongly, and we do have lake-effect snow as well."
The headaches, though, went far beyond Chicago. On Sunday evening, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson and Newark, New Jersey's Liberty airports reported delays of roughly two-and-a-half hours, slightly longer than that experienced at Boston's Logan airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Those were just a few of the many airports, and many more flights, affected as high winds, low visibility and heavy snow crippled traffic for a second straight day.
Delta Air Lines spokeswoman Leslie Parker said as of 5 p.m., the airline had canceled 748 flights nationwide. American Airlines had called off 272 departures from O'Hare, out of more than 400 nationwide, said spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagas.
United had canceled about 350 departures, mostly from Chicago, an airline spokeswoman said, while partner Continental nixed 125 such flights from Chicago, Cleveland, Ohio, and Newark, New Jersey. JetBlue canceled 125 flights due to the storm, said spokesman Mateo Lleras.
The pounding snow caused the roof of the 64,000-seat Metrodome in Minneapolis to "deflate" Sunday morning, Minnesota State Patrol spokesman Lt. Eric Roeske said. Workers wielding shovels could be seen clearing the roof of the heavy white stuff, while photos from inside the darkened stadium showed much of the field covered with snow that fell from a gaping hole in the dome.
"Obviously the weight of the snow would affect how much air pressure is necessary to keep that roof up," Roeske said. "Something caused that air pressure not to be strong enough or high enough to keep that roof at its normal position."
Roy Terwilliger, chairman of the Minneapolis Metro Sports Commission -- the group that oversees the Metrodome -- said the heavy snow and cold, high winds "was too much pressure on the dome and several panels on the Teflon roof were caused to rip."
Sunday's game between the hometown Minneapolis Vikings and New York Giants has been pushed to Monday at 7:20 p.m. ET and moved 540 miles southeast to Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, the NFL said in a statement Sunday. All those with tickets to the originally scheduled game would get preferred seating near the 50-yard line and free tickets would be distributed, the league said.
Even with the snow and winds subsiding, road travel remained perilous in much of Minnesota. St. Paul, for one, declared a second snow emergency through early Monday to expedite plowing of city streets.
"The big problem is ice under the snow, making it really slick and really hazardous," said St. Clair resident Alan Scott.
In Wisconsin, Gov. Jim Doyle declared a state of emergency for 72 counties to facilitate the movement of emergency resources and personnel who were activated Saturday, he said in a statement. We Energies reported 10,000 power outages across the state Sunday, said Barry McNulty, a spokesman for the company.
In Iowa, snow had subsided in some areas but emergency workers were coping with more than 1,000 power outages, a state emergency spokesman said.
Greyhound bus service along the Omaha-Des Moines route was expected to resume later Sunday. Some bus travelers at the Des Moines bus station had been stuck there since Saturday night. Greyhound spokeswoman Maureen Richmond said pizza was brought in for those passengers due to the inconvenience.
Patti Thompson, a spokeswoman for the emergency services in Illinois, said Sunday that northern counties were getting the worst of the weather Sunday afternoon and that Department of Transportation teams were working to clear roads. No power outages have been reported, she said.
While many states saw snow Sunday, the expected accumulation of a few inches in most locales paled compared to what hit Wisconsin and Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to National Weather Service forecasters.
The reach of the storm system continues to expand. Hard freeze warnings, for instance, extended as far south as Florida, with the weather service forecasting 13-degree wind chills on Monday night in Tallahassee.
Still, not everyone in the United States was shivering. Parts of southern California were experiencing record-warm temperatures with high temperatures Sunday above 80 degrees. (CNN)
South Korea to conduct naval drills
A new round of naval firing drills in South Korea is scheduled to steer clear of border islands, defense officials told the Yonhap News Agency on Sunday.
The exercises, which will start Monday and end Friday, will take place off coasts on all sides of the country, the South Korean agency reported. None are scheduled near the Yellow Sea islands south of the maritime border with North Korea, defense officials said, but more locations could be added to the list.
They come after similar live-fire drills conducted by South Korea last week.
Tensions mounted between the Koreas on November 23, when North Korea shelled South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island. The attacked killed two marines and two civilians and injured 18 people.
The North Korea has accused the South of provoking the attack because shells from a South Korean military drill landed in the North's waters. (CNN)
At least 4 dead, 20 rescued, 17 missing after ship sinks off Antarctic
A South Korean fishing vessel sank Monday in frigid ocean waters about 1,000 nautical miles north of McMurdo Station in Antarctica, killing at least 4 people while at least 20 were rescued, according to maritime officials.
A time-sensitive search was underway for another 17 people who were missing, said Maritime New Zealand spokesman Ross Henderson. While the ship sank in the Southern Hemisphere's late spring, water temperatures are just 2 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit), meaning crew members likely could only survive no more than 10 minutes before succumbing to hypothermia, authorities said.
There were differing numbers on the size and fate of the crew.
The New Zealand federal agency, which focuses on ocean-based search, rescue, safety and environmental matters, said that five people had died, 20 were rescued and 17 were missing.
But Ham Un-Shik, a spokesman with the Busan Coast Guard in South Korea, said four people were dead, 21 had been rescued and 18 were still missing.
The 58-meter (190-foot) fishing trawler, the No. 1 Insung, left on November 2 fron South Korea to fish in Antarctic waters, said Ham. It had 11 Indonesians, 11 Vietnamese, eight Koreans, eight Chinese, three Filipinos and one Russian on board, he said.
The ship sank about 6:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. ET Sunday) in a remote swatch of the Antarctic Ocean some 1850 km (1150 miles) north of McMurdo, a U.S. research center on the tip of Ross Island, according to Henderson. Martime New Zealand learned of the incident around 1 p.m., some four-and-a-half hours later.
There was no emergency radio call before the incident, and it is still not clear what happened, Henderson said.
Two New Zealand fishing vessels nearby were at the scene, with three South Korean trawlers closing in to lend assistance, Henderson said from Wellington, New Zealand. Authorities called on all other nearby ships likewise to go to the area to help.
The seas in the area were relatively calm, with one meter (about three feet) high swells and a light westerly wind, added Henderson.(CNN)
Chinese dissident awarded Nobel Peace Prize
An empty chair stood in for imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo as he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in absentia on Friday amid protests and condemnation from China.
China has responded furiously since the Nobel committee announced on October 8 that Liu would be its peace prize winner. Officials have repeatedly called Liu a common criminal and declared the award a Western plot against China.
The rhetoric continued Friday with China calling the awarding of the prize to Liu a "political farce."
"The decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee does not represent the wish of the majority of the people in the world, particularly that of the developing countries," said Jiang Yu, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official.
Liu, a professor of literature, is serving an 11-year sentence in a Chinese prison for what the government called "inciting subversion of state power." He was not allowed to travel to Norway to accept the prize, nor was his wife, Liu Xia.
Nobel committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland, in awarding the prize Friday, likened Liu Xiaobo to Nelson Mandela, the former South African president who fought the apartheid regime.
After announcing the award, Jagland placed Liu's medal in the empty chair, the second time such a symbol has been used in the event.
Before the ceremony, some Twitter users who listed their location as Beijing had changed their profile pictures to an empty chair.
In his speech, Jagland commended China for lifting millions out of poverty, but said democracy and free speech must go hand in hand with its economic development.
"China, too, will grow stronger if its people are granted civil rights," Jagland said.
While Chinese officials have said the prize represents a Western perspective, human rights activists in China "represent the world's common values and standards," Jagland said.
He added that Liu has done nothing wrong and "must be released."
U.S. President Barack Obama also called for Liu's immediate release.
"Mr. Liu reminds us that human dignity also depends upon the advance of democracy, open society, and the rule of law," Obama said in a statement. "The values he espouses are universal, his struggle is peaceful, and he should be released as soon as possible."
As the awards ceremony was getting under way, a large number of officers stood guard outside the west central Beijing apartment complex where Liu's wife has been under house arrest since her husband's award was announced. Journalists were cordoned off in a small area next to the building.
The police presence outside the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing had also increased early Friday as groups of protesters gathered there and at the city's U.N. offices.
Jagland said Thursday that the award is not a protest.
"It is a signal to China that it would be very important for China's future to combine economic development with political reforms and it is support for those people in China who are struggling for basic human rights," Jagland told reporters.
Beijing also put pressure on its allies and other countries not to attend the peace prize ceremony, and it hastily announced its own honor -- the Confucius Peace Prize, which was awarded Thursday to former Taiwanese Vice President Lien Chan. That award was accepted by a 6-year-old girl on Lien's behalf. Lien did not know about the prize, his office said.
Amnesty International said it had received reports from "reliable sources" that Chinese diplomats in Norway have been pressuring Chinese residents into joining anti-Nobel demonstrations.
On Thursday, the U.N.'s human rights chief called for Liu's release from prison and criticized what she said were "recent restrictions placed on an ever-widening circle" of the dissident's associates.
"In recent weeks, my office has received reports of at least 20 activists being arrested or detained and more than 120 other cases of house arrest, travel restrictions, forced relocations and other acts of intimidation," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told reporters.
Jagland said the committee expected a "harsh reaction" from Beijing.
But "we are very glad to see that two-thirds of the nations that have embassies in Oslo will be attending the ceremony, and most of them are very big, very important countries," he added.
Among those attending was U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was part of the official delegation on behalf of Liu and his wife.
Of the 19 countries that declined to come to Friday's ceremony -- including China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran -- Jagland said Thursday that two had reconsidered: Ukraine and the Philippines.
But the state-run China Daily newspaper reported Friday that "most nations" had expressed their support for China's stance, citing a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
The spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said the award would not change the fact that "Liu committed crimes."
Friday's ceremony included songs by a children's choir -- a special request made by Liu through his wife, according to Lundestad. And Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann was on hand to read one of Liu's "most interesting and beautiful texts," Jagland said.
Jagland predicted that keeping Liu, 54, in prison for the entirety of his 11-year sentence may prove impossible after the prize was awarded.
"The pressure from the outside world will be on China to release him. In today's world, it is totally impossible to close a country. We already know that a lot of Chinese know about the prize, and this is creating a huge pressure on China," Jagland said.
Several foreign news websites -- including CNN and BBC -- were blocked in mainland China Thursday and Friday.
Broadcasts of CNN International were blacked out intermittently, when news of the peace prize was reported. CNN reports about China's new Confucius Peace Prize were not blocked.
Internet companies in China are treating Chinese characters for "Liu Xiaobo," "Nobel," and peace prize as "sensitive words," said Jeremy Goldkorn, editor of Danwei.org -- a website about Chinese media and Internet. Acting on government instructions, the companies are deleting text containing those words, preventing such text from being uploaded, or returning no results on searches for the words, he said.
"I think the main aim is to reduce the chances of Chinese citizens seeing that the Liu Xiaobo Nobel Prize is big news internationally, and to make it more difficult for articles sympathetic to Liu Xiaobo and photos of him to be copied and circulated inside China," Goldkorn said.
The last time an empty chair was used to represent an absent winner was when German peace activist Carl von Ossietzky won the 1935 award, according to Geir Lundestad, director of the Nobel Institute. Ossietzky was under "protective custody" in Nazi Germany and could not come to accept the award in person, nor was he represented by anyone.
Three other Nobel peace laureates were also unable to attend their ceremonies for political reasons -- human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi, Polish trade union leader Lech Walesa, and Russian Cold War dissident Andrei Sakharov -- but spouses or other relatives accepted the awards on their behalf. (CNN)
US$30m to protect Barbados’ coastline
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$30 million loan to help Barbados preserve and manage its coastline, a critical asset for the country’s economy, from damage caused by natural disasters and risks associated with climate change.
Barbados’ sandy beaches, reefs and coastal ecosystems, coupled with relatively calm waters and warm weather, create optimal conditions for a tourism industry that accounts for 39 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, 50 per cent of total export earnings and 44 per cent of employment.
The funds will help to preserve and manage the Barbados shorefront through three components – coastal risk assessment, monitoring and management; coastal infrastructure; and institutional sustainability for the integrated coastal risk management.
The first component will finance baseline studies of coastal and oceanographic processes including wave climate, shoreline changes, and water quality, circulation and sedimentation; the second module will control shoreline erosion, improve coastal infrastructure resilience, and boost public access to beaches; while the third will seek to ensure the programme’s long term sustainability.
The loan is for a 25-year term with a 5-year grace period. (CMC)
Police probing Brighton Beach murder
The body of a 90-year-old man was discovered early this morning in a track leading to Brighton Beach St Michael.
Fred Parris of Stanmore Terrace, Black Rock St Michael, is believed to have died from stab wounds inflicted by an unknown assailant.
Police are investing. 