HURRICANE IRMA ISSUED BY THE MET OFFICE SECTION, AT 6PM MONDAY 04TH SEPTEMBER
... IRMA STRENGTHENS AS IT HEADS TOWARD THE LEEWARD ISLANDS ...
... PREPARATIONS WITHIN THE WARNING AREA SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION ...
AT 5:00PM EDT, THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IRMA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 16.7° NORTH AND LONGITUDE 54.4° WEST OR ABOUT 490 MILES EAST OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS.
HURRICANE IRMA IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 13 MPH AND THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO TUESDAY, FOLLOWED BY A TURN TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWESTWARD LATE TUESDAY. ON THE FORECAST TRACK, THE CENTER OF IRMA WILL MOVE NEAR OR OVER PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS TUESDAY NIGHT AND EARLY WEDNESDAY.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE INCREASED TO NEAR 130 MILES PER HOUR (MPH) WITH HIGHER GUSTS. IRMA IS A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE WIND SCALE. ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.
THE NEXT NEWS ITEM WILL BE ISSUED AT 9PM.
GOVERNOR URGES TCI TO PREPARE FOR LIKELY IMPACT OF HURRICANE
“His Excellency the Governor has urged all residents of TCI and visitors to the islands to take all possible steps to prepare for the likely impact of Hurricane Irma which is predicted to reach TCI by Thursday evening. Commenting on the hurricane, the Governor said,
‘We are following closely the progress of Hurricane Irma which is due to reach land on the Northern Leeward Islands in the next 48 hours and to continue on a path that will take it to TCI by Thursday evening and into Friday. It is forecast that Irma will be a powerful Category 4 Hurricane by the time it reaches TCI. In the light of that, I cancelled a planned trip to the UK yesterday so that I can be on hand to oversee preparations for Irma’s arrival. While we hope that the islands will escape major damage we must plan for the worst. This morning I chaired a meeting with the Premier, Ministers, Department for Disaster Management and Emergencies (DDME) and others to assess our state of readiness and to address where steps need to be taken. I commend all those who are working to protect TCI and its people from the threat we face. We will continue to meet each day this week to monitor the situation and to try to ensure that all possible preparations are in place.
While the authorities are doing all they can, I urge everyone in the islands to make their own preparations to protect their families and property by ensuring that they have stocked up on emergency supplies and that their places of shelter are as secure as can be. I encourage everyone to follow the advice of the DDME which will broadcast regularly on the radio and on social media. I, too, will be making a broadcast via Radio Turks & Caicos in the days ahead to up-date everyone in TCI on the situation’.”
US dollar losing its lustre as safe haven investment
In times of uncertainty or crisis, investors typically take refuge in “safe” options like the Swiss franc, gold or the US dollar, but under President Donald Trump the greenback has lost its lustre, especially to the euro.
After this week's North Korean missile launch over Japan raised fears it could trigger a major conflict, the single European currency rose above the symbolic threshold of US$1.20 for the first time since January 2015.
“The dollar and US Treasuries are typically safe haven assets. But no one really wants to own the dollar right now,” said Brad Bechtel, head of the foreign exchange trading at Jefferies.
US monetary policy also plays a role in the dollar's relative value, as do comments — or the absence thereof — from central bankers.
“The lack of faith in the US administration and the fact that the Fed has been relatively clearly not anxious to hike rates again any time soon” influence the dollar, Bechtel said.
The US currency had benefited from the promises of economic reforms from candidate Trump at the end of 2016. But the president is finding it increasingly difficult to get his pro-growth agenda through Congress.
While economic growth is strong — achieving Trump's three per cent goal in the second quarter — inflation has been persistently weak, making the Fed reluctant to raise interest rates a third time this year, a move that would benefit the US dollar.
Traders were very disappointed when Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen carefully avoided any discussion of monetary policy in a speech last week at the closely watched Jackson Hole central bankers forum.
Meanwhile, the euro is attracting more and more investors.
Thanks to the very accommodating monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB), interest rates remain very low, even negative, in the euro area.
That has made the single currency a funding vehicle for speculative trades, where investors borrow at a low interest rate to move into assets with higher returns.
“The euro with negative interest rate is a funding currency for carry trade, like Japanese yen and Swiss franc,” said Greg Anderson of BMO Capital Markets.
But that means in a time of crisis, like this week, “In a flight to safety, people ... have to buy euro.”
The economic and political situation in Europe also favours the single currency.
The region's current account surplus “has gotten much bigger than it was in the past. which is a safe haven for a currency,” Anderson told AFP.
Meanwhile, the EU political situation has stabilised, especially after the Dutch and French elections in 2017.
“European countries have proved over the last five years they are able to do things in an emergency. And the US looks like a political mess right now,” Anderson said. “The political safety of the US dollar has been damaged.”
But Sireen Harajli, currency strategist at Mizuho, said that even so the greenback “is still a safe haven currency.”
It would only take the Fed sending a positive signal or for good data on US employment, including wages, or inflation to revive the dollar.
And Anderson said the euro move to break the US$1.20 threshold has made investors nervous.
They are “on pins and needles,” he said, waiting to see what the ECB will do.
“If they don't do anything over the course of the next couple of weeks in terms of verbal intervention ... probably the market will be disposed to push the euro higher against the dollar.”
J.J. Watt raises more than $11M for Hurricane Harvey victims
The Houston Texans star tweeted Wednesday that he hoped to reach $10 million, and by midday Thursday, his YouCaring fundraiser had already spiked past $11 million.
That amount included a $200,000 donation from rapper Drake and a $1 million donation from Ellen DeGeneres and Walmart, both of which were posted Thursday.
"I can't say thank you enough. Celebrities, musicians, athletes, kids with their lemonade stands and people hosting fundraisers, businesses donating -- I cannot thank everybody enough," Watt said in a video. "My focus is very much on getting this money directly back to the people."
Watt, 28, launched his fundraiser on Sunday, and at the time hoped to raise $200,000. He has said that the money will go toward purchasing basic supplies including food, water and clothing, which he and his teammates will distribute in and around the Houston area.
Currently, he said, there are semi-trucks being filled with supplies which are set to be delivered imminently.
"It’s unbelievable," Watt said on Good Morning America Tuesday about the response he received. "The biggest part of it all is being able to see the power of what can happen when people come together. I think that’s the beauty of the people in this country: When they see somebody going through a tough time they all rally around. It’s pretty incredible and we’re going to be able to do a lot of great things to help rebuild this city, and we’re trying to raise as much as we can because we know these recovery efforts are going to be massive."
Fifth Harmony equals Destiny's Child in number of top 10 albums
One of Fifth Harmony's biggest influences is Destiny's Child, and now they have something unique in common with their idols.
As Billboard notes, Fifth Harmony's self-titled new album has debuted at #4 on the Billboard album chart. It's the group's fourth top 10 collection. Destiny's Child also scored four top 10 albums, as did the all-girl country group Dixie Chicks. When it comes to all-female groups, only The Supremes have more: they scored eight top 10 albums.
Fifth Harmony's other top 10 albums? 7/27, Reflection and the Better Together EP.
Trump to end protections for young C'bean immigrant 'Dreamers'
US President Donald Trump has decided to end a popular programme that shields hundreds of thousands of young undocumented Caribbean and other immigrants from deportation, while deferring enforcement for six months, Politico reported Sunday.
The online news outlet said the plan would give Congress, where many in his own party support the so-called "Dreamers" program, time to come up with a replacement before the grace period expires.
Trump was scheduled to announce his decision on Tuesday, but Politico said he had already made up his mind and White House aides had met Sunday to plan the rollout.
The New York Times also reported that Trump was strongly considering ending the programme after a six month delay, but said officials cautioned that he could still change his mind.
Known as DACA for Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, the programme was put into effect in 2012 by president Barack Obama, allowing an estimated 800,000 undocumented immigrants to stay in the country for renewable two-year periods to study or work if they had come to the United States before age 16.
Trump, whose anti-immigrant rhetoric helped propel him to the White House, made ending the program a top campaign promise, although once in office he appeared to soften his stance.
Politico said Attorney General Jeff Sessions persuaded Trump to kick the programme to Congress, arguing that the legislature -- not the executive -- was responsible for writing immigration law.
Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have defended the programme.
"These are kids who know no other country, who were brought here by their parents and don't know another home," Ryan said in a radio interview on Friday. "And so I really do believe there needs to be a legislative solution."
In a letter to the White House and top Republicans and Democrats in Congress, business leaders -- including executives at Cisco, eBay, Facebook, Marriott and Microsoft -- warned of the moral and economic impact of dismantling the program.
Source -AFP
Digicel, FLOW assure compatibility with new '658' area code
JAMAICA'S two major telecommunication service providers — Digicel and FLOW — have committed to having their networks compatible with the new 658 area code by the May 2018 deadline stipulated by the Office of the Utilities Regulation (OUR).
The OUR, in a press release yesterday, announced that Jamaica now has an additional area code, 658, which will be used in addition to, and not as a replacement for, the existing 876 area code once the existing telephone numbers under the 876 area code are exhausted.
Director General of the OUR Ansord Hewitt, noted, however, that the most immediate change will be the introduction of mandatory 10-digit dialling, for all local telephone calls, come May next year. The additional area code is aimed at ensuring that there are sufficient numbers available to satisfy growth in demand over the next 25 years.
According to the OUR, effective May 31, 2018, the country will commence a five-month adjustment period known as the permissive dialling period where customers will reach numbers in the current 876 area code by dialling the area code plus the seven digits phone number.
“If only the seven digit telephone number is dialled the caller will hear a recording reminding him/her to dial the number using the area code plus the seven-digit number, then the call will be completed to the called number. After the permissive dialling period is ended, all local calls will require 10-digit dialling to be completed. For example, to call the OUR persons will have to dial 876-968-6053,” the OUR said its press release.
Digicel in a statement to the Jamaica Observer said it has been planning together with the OUR and other industry stakeholders the launch of a public education campaign to support implementation of an additional area code for Jamaica.
“We have participated in various sensitisation sessions hosted by the OUR, involving public and private sector groups over the past six months, and we're now making plans to engage the wider public. In the meantime, we are ensuring technical readiness by the stipulated dates outlined by the OUR,” the service provider said.
Source-JamaicaObserver
St Lucia says worldwide flooding underscores impact of climate change
A senior St Lucia government Minister Monday called for immediate action on climate change, saying no country can afford to play ostrich and bury its head in the sand.
“Recent flooding in Houston, Texas and the severe flooding in Mumbai have one aspect in common that we are not yet talking enough about as a global community: climate change,” Minister for Education, and Sustainable Development, Dr Gale Rigobert, noted in a statement.
She said while there is a component of natural disaster to these events, there is also an increasingly clear contribution delivered by human agency and that the link between man-made greenhouse gas emissions and the very tangible and visible consequences of these emissions cannot be ignored.
“New York Times Columnist David Leonhardt got it exactly right last week when he wrote “Harvey, the storm that humans helped cause”, Rigobert said, noting that the passage of the hurricane was accompanied by more than four feet of water on Houston, setting a new record for the continental US for rainfall from a tropical system.
Projections are that Harvey may be the most expensive event ever recorded in the US, with a cost of US$ 190 billion, surpassing the costs of Katrina and Sandy combined, Rigobert said, adding that South Asia is experiencing its worst monsoon in many years with more than 1,200 people having lost their lives.
”Cities in India are under water. In Nepal 90,000 homes have been destroyed in the worst flooding in a decade. In Bangladesh, monsoon flooding has submerged more than a third of the country. Over 40 million people have been affected.
“These numbers are mind-boggling. The immediate human cost is unfathomable, not to mention the long-term costs of rebuilding the lost livelihoods, the lost crops and farmland, and the lost schools and hospitals that will set back the prospects of future generations.
“Are these the impacts of natural disasters? Yes, but not fully. Not exclusively. Would we have seen impact of this scale in the absence of the contribution of greenhouse gas concentrations to the mix? The answer is plainly no,” Rigobert said in her statement.
She said that greenhouse gases, once in the atmosphere, remain, where they lead to increased temperatures, warming the air and the ocean.
Rigobert said that increasing ocean temperatures lead to greater evaporation, increased moisture in the atmosphere, and storms with greater energy and precipitation, while increasing sea temperatures lead to the thermal expansion of these water bodies.
“This increasing volume of water delivers greater storm surge, hammering coastal areas in times of extreme weather.
“The Paris Agreement, reached in 2015 after years of challenging negotiations, continues to be our most visible, collective tool for addressing the global problem of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
“Through it, the global community has collectively agreed to limit the increase in global warming to below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. This means capping and then reducing global emissions toward zero by mid-century.
“Even this effort will not be enough to avoid loss and damage from the impacts of climate change. These impacts are already upon us and will only accelerate over time.” Rigobert warned.
She recalled that St Lucia has taken a prominent role at the international level in the UN process established to address climate change, continuing to urge greater emission reduction efforts worldwide as a member of the High Ambition Coalition and the Alliance of Small Island States.
Rigobert noted that under the Paris Agreement, each country is to bring forward a “nationally determined contribution” to help achieve this global goal.
She said St Lucia has pledged to reduce its emissions by 16 per cent by 2025, relative to projected levels in the absence of intervention and that by 2030, the island aims to be 23 per cent below what would have been business as usual levels, through energy efficiency measures and increasing the share of renewable energy in its energy mix – namely, geothermal, wind and solar.
“We in St Lucia are being proactive and we encourage others to do so as well. Indeed, we will need even more ambitious emission reduction commitments from all countries in 2020, when countries have been asked to bring even more ambitious mitigation goals to the table,” she said, adding that recent flooding events should be a teaching moment for the US and governments around the world.
She said they are a harbinger of worse to come, if countries fail to address the underlying causes of climate change with the urgency they warrant.
“And if we were not sufficiently convinced of the necessity to act, and to act now, Hurricane Irma looms over the Atlantic,” Rigobert added.
President Donald Trump had in June announced that the US would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation. He said then that the Paris accord would undermine the US economy and put the country at a permanent disadvantage.
Source-CMC
NEWS ITEM ON HURRICANE IRMA AT NOON MONDAY 4th SEPT 2017
THIS IS A NEWS ITEM ON HURRICANE IRMA ISSUED BY THE BAHAMAS DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY FORECAST OFFICE SECTION, AT NOON MONDAY, 4TH SEPTEMBER, 2017.
AT 11AM EDT, THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IRMA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 16.8° NORTH AND LONGITUDE 53.3° WEST OR ABOUT 560 MILES EAST OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS.
IRMA IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-SOUTHWEST NEAR 14 MILES PER HOUR (MPH). A TURN TOWARD THE WEST IS EXPECTED LATER TODAY, FOLLOWED BY A WEST-NORTHWEST TURN LATE TUESDAY. ON THE FORECAST TRACK, THE CENTER OF IRMA WILL MOVE NEAR OR OVER PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS TUESDAY NIGHT AND EARLY WEDNESDAY.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 120 MILES PER HOUR (MPH) WITH HIGHER GUSTS. IRMA IS A CATEGORY 3 HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE WIND SCALE. ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT.
RESIDENTS OF THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS ARE TO REMAIN ALERT AND CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE SYSTEM.
… HURRICANE WARNINGS ISSUED FOR PORTIONS OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS...
HURRICANE WATCHES ISSUED FOR THE BRITISH AND U.S VIRGIN ISLANDS AND PUERTO RICO...
HURRICANE IRMA UPDATE
THIS IS A NEWS ITEM ON HURRICANE IRMA ISSUED BY THE BAHAMAS DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY FORECAST OFFICE SECTION, AT 6AM MONDAY, 4TH SEPTEMBER, 2017.
... TROPICAL-STORM FORCE WINDS EXPECTED TO BEGIN IN THE LEEWARD ISLANDS LATE TUESDAY...
AT 5AM EDT, THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IRMA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 16.9° NORTH AND LONGITUDE 52.3° WEST OR ABOUT 625 MILES EAST OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS.
IRMA IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-SOUTHWEST NEAR 14 MILES PER HOUR (MPH).
A TURN TOWARD THE WEST IS EXPECTED LATER TODAY, FOLLOWED BY A WEST-NORTHWEST TURN LATE TUESDAY. ON THE FORECAST TRACK, THE CENTER OF IRMA WILL MOVE CLOSER TO THE LEEWARD ISLANDS THROUGH TUESDAY AND THEN BE NEAR NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS TUESDAY NIGHT.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 115 MILES PER HOUR (MPH) WITH HIGHER GUSTS. IRMA IS A CATEGORY 3 HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE WIND SCALE. SOME STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT.
RESIDENTS IN THE BAHAMAS AND THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM