North Korea's 'Successful' Hydrogen Bomb Test Met with Skepticism
North Korea said it conducted a "successful" hydrogen bomb test Wednesday, but Pyongyang's claim was met with widespread skepticism even as world powers denounced its latest nuclear test.
"We've now become a nuclear state that also holds a hydrogen bomb,” an announcer declared on state television. The statement called the test a matter of self-defense to protect the country's sovereignty and made several critical references to the United States.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 5.1 magnitude earthquake near Punggye-ri, where North Korea conducted three previous nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s claim last month that his country possesses a hydrogen bomb was widely discounted as unsubstantiated and Wednesday's test drew the same reaction, given the size of the blast. Rand Corporation nuclear analyst Bruce Bennett told VOA he is doubtful it was a hydrogen bomb test.
The United Nations Security Council, which has imposed a series of sanctions against North Korea for its previous tests, immediately set an emergency meeting for Wednesday to consider how to react to Pyongyang's latest claim.
"This act is profoundly destabilizing for regional security and seriously undermines international non-proliferation efforts," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said of the North Korean test. "I condemn it unequivocally."
Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called the test a "clear violation" of U.N. Security Council resolutions and said it is "deeply regrettable."
Source-VOA
CHANNEL MANAGEMENT, ONLINE MARKETING, ROMANCE TRAVEL AMONG HIGHLIGHTS OF EDUCATION SESSIONS AT CARIBBEAN TRAVEL MARKETPLACE, JAN. 21 - 23, 2016
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) will welcome the New Year with fresh ideas through a schedule of savvy educational sessions at Caribbean Travel Marketplace. The professional development element of the event is a new and added benefit for attendees who want to adopt tools to develop revenue-generating opportunities, maximize strategies working with the latest market trends and improve reputation management.
Taking place Jan. 21 - 23, 2016 at the Atlantis, Paradise Island in The Bahamas, Caribbean Travel Marketplace is the region's largest and most significant marketing event, affording tourism suppliers the opportunity to meet face-to-face with wholesalers from around the world selling Caribbean vacation travel over the course of two days of business meetings.
Strategically planned not to infringe on the integrity of the networking nature of the event, the expanded educational component of Caribbean Travel Marketplace will be offered on Thursday, Jan. 21 during the day followed by the Opening Ceremonies in the evening.
There will be a sponsored breakfast on both Friday and Saturday morning, where attendees will hear about the necessity for "Online Reputation Management." Following breakfast on both days, business appointments will run throughout each day.
"The new year offers a 'clean slate' to create plans based on what already works well and what we can do as Caribbean hoteliers to both improve and generate new initiatives based on industry trends," said Karolin Troubetzkoy, Acting President of CHTA. "Educational sessions offered at Caribbean Travel Marketplace will help attendees catapult action items based on information being provided by industry experts and leading companies," she added.
Oil price falls below $35 a barrel to fresh 11-year low
Oil has continued its rollercoaster ride into the new year, with Brent crude falling below $35 a barrel for the first time in 11 years.
Brent crude sank by 4.2% to $34.88 a barrel, surpassing its late December fall, and taking the price to its lowest level since 1 July 2004.
The price of US crude dropped 3.3% to $34.77 a barrel.
The sharp falls followed a short-lived rally on Monday after Saudi Arabia broke diplomatic ties with Iran.
Analysts said fears over the worsening relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which had initially raised concerns about possible supply disruptions and boosted the oil price, had now been overtaken by pessimism over oil cartel Opec ever agreeing on a production ceiling.
Historically, Opec has cut production to support prices. But led by Saudi Arabia, by far the group's most powerful member, the group has resolutely refused to trim supply this time.
Rising tensions over Saudi Arabia's execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr mean that any agreement is now deemed less likely than ever.
"With relations between Opec kingpins Saudi Arabia and Iran at a historic low point, it solidifies an already unlikely scenario that Opec might cut output," said Barclays analyst Alia Moubayed.
Since mid-2014, oil prices have slumped 70% mainly because of oversupply. This in turn is largely due to US shale oil flooding the market.
At the same time, demand has fallen because of a slowdown in economic growth in China and Europe.
Iranian oil exports are also expected to rise later this year once Western sanctions against Tehran for its nuclear programme are lifted, increasing the oversupply of oil.
Opec is hoping that refusing to cut production will help to drive US shale producers out of business, believing that they will fall victim to lower prices long before its own members, and has forecast that prices will recover to $70 a barrel by 2020.
Goldman Sachs has warned that oil prices could go as low a $20 a barrel, but most analysts are expecting the price to stabilise in the second half of the year as supply from non-Opec nations slows and demand remains relatively robust.
Source-BBC
Eurozone growth hits four-month high in December
Growth in the eurozone economy rose to a four-month high in December, the closely watched purchasing managers' index survey suggests.
The final reading of the Purchasing Managers' composite index (PMI) for December, which combines manufacturing and services sector surveys, was revised up to 54.3 from an earlier estimate of 54, according to Markit.
Any figure above 50 indicates growth.
"The eurozone economy starts 2016 on a solid footing," said Markit.
The dominant services industry drove the improvement with the PMI index reading for the sector 54.2, unchanged from November, but higher than an earlier estimate of 53.9.
The survey also showed that in the final month of the year, private sector firms added new jobs at the fastest rate since May 2011.
Despite the positive data, Markit chief economist Chris Williamson said the survey indicated only "a modest 0.4% increase" in economic growth for the fourth quarter, suggesting 1.5% growth for the year as a whole.
"Given that we have seen almost a year's worth of quantitative easing, there is a concern that policy is proving somewhat ineffectual," he added.
Official data on Tuesday showed inflation in the eurozone remained at 0.2% in December, unchanged from November and lower than economists had predicted.
The data will put pressure on the European Central Bank to act further to boost the struggling European economy.
The central bank disappointed market hopes last month with its attempts to revive the economy, which were less dramatic than analysts had expected.
Source-BBC
Netflix extends its service to almost all the world
Netflix has gone live in nearly every country in the world.
The firm announced it had switched on its service in 130 additional countries.
It said it was still trying to expand to China. The other exceptions are North Korea, Syria and Crimea, where it is banned from operating by US law.
The announcement was made by the firm's chief executive Reed Hastings at his keynote speech at the CES tech show in Las Vegas.
He also confirmed that Netflix would begin offering HDR (high dynamic range) content later this year.
The company's shares jumped to about 7% over their opening price following the announcements.
"We were expecting Netflix to go everywhere, but this has happened more quickly than we thought," commented Fernando Elizalde from the tech consultancy Gartner.
"Until now, the firm had been doing it in phased stages because of the costs of marketing and dubbing or subtitling the content.
"But it's worth remembering that in some of the emerging economies it will only be people in urban areas that will be able to use it because of limited internet availability."
Mr Hastings said Netflix was in talks with the Chinese government, but acknowledged it would take time to reach an agreement.
"It's a very large country, you know a billion Chinese that we want to give access to the Netflix content," he said.
"In China you need specific permission from the government to operate, so we are continuing to work on that and we are very patient."
As part of its expansion, Netflix has added support for Korean, Chinese and Arabic to its list of supported languages.
That brings the total number - in which the firm provides subtitles, captions and alternative audio - to 21 languages.
Mr Hastings added that Netflix would initially focus on expanding the reach of its existing content rather than commissioning extra locally-made shows.
Source-BBC
Man Crashes a Dodge Challenger Through a Building Attempting to Time Travel
The thought of a time-traveling car might be the stuff of legend, or at least 1985’s Back to the Future. But for two Florida business owners, it’s no tall tale.
On December 20th, a driver in Pensacola careened a Dodge Challenger muscle car into two local businesses—Advanced Tax Services and Pensacola Caskets—breaking through walls and eventually coming to a stop beyond the double doors of the building’s rear entrance.
The reason? According to police, the driver said he was attempting to “time travel.” Thankfully the driver was said to have been uninjured in the accident, and the businesses were unoccupied at the time. However, due to the severity of the impact, both offices have now been closed.
In an interview with ABC 3 WEAR, general manager Emanuel Mores said the offices “looked like a bomb went off,” with debris, computers, and chairs strewn everywhere from the crash. Mores explained he was initially angry about the incident, but then happy that no one was hurt in the process. The offices were boarded up the following morning.
In talking with the Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola Caskets co-owner Ellison Bennett reiterated Mores’ relief, saying, “if this had happened on a week day and someone had actually been in one of those cubicles, it could have been very tragic.”
Both offices plan to relocate nearby.
Consultation Meetings on Amendment of Building Height and Density
The House of Assembly at its last meeting held on 16th December 2015, approved amendments to the Physical Planning Ordinance which allows for regulations to be made by His Excellency the Governor where no development plan has been approved in relation to planning standards including building height, density and setbacks.
The Office of the Premier in collaboration with the Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Planning, cordially invites all stakeholders to a series of consultation meetings to discuss the proposed amendment of the existing building height restriction and density requirement.
These series of consultation meetings will be held during the week of January 11th-15th 2016 from 9:00am – 12:30pm and 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Environmental Arts Center, the Bight, Providenciales.
Key stakeholders will be grouped and notified of the date and time to which they can make representations. An additional meeting for the general public to make representation on the amendment of the building height and density will be held on the last day (Thursday 14th January 2016) of the scheduled meetings, at the Gustavus Lightbourne Sports Complex, Providenciales.
STAKEHOLDERS
|
Stakeholder(s) |
Proposed Date |
|
|
|
|
Government Departments - Fire Department - DEMA - DDME - Planning - Crown Land Unit - Public Works Department - Immigration |
January 7, 2015 |
|
Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association/Chamber of Commerce
|
January 11, 2015 |
|
Architects/Surveyors/Engineers/Real Estate Developers |
January 12, 2015 |
|
Quasi Government – Tourist Board; Airports Authority; National Trust; Civil Aviation |
January 13, 2015 |
|
Public Town Hall Meeting |
January 14, 2015 |
THIS IS THE MARINE FORECAST FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT TUESDAY 05TH JANUARY 2016
SPECIAL WARNINGS: MARINERS AND BEACHGOERS ESPECIALLY ON THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN SHORES OF THE BAHAMAS SHOULD CONTINUE TO EXERCISE CAUTION DUE TO HIGH SURF CONDITIONS AND THE STRONG POSSIBILITY OF HAZARDOUS RIP CURRENTS.
GENERAL SITUATION: A COLD FRONT WITH AN EXTENDING SURFACE LOW PRESSURE REMAINS ACROSS THE CENTRAL BAHAMAS AND WILL EVENTUALLY MOVE SOUTHEASTWARDS AND BECOME STATIONARY OVER THE SE BAHAMAS LATER TODAY.
FOR THE NORTHWEST AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS
WEATHER: MOSTLY CLOUDY TO OVERCAST, COOL AND WINDY CONDITIONS WITH WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT.
ADVISORY: A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IS NOW IN EFFECT.
WINDS: NORTH TO NORTHEAST AT 15 TO 25 KNOTS.
SEAS: 5 TO 8 FEET
FOR THE SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS
WEATHER: PARTLY CLOUDY TO CLOUDY, WARM AND CONDITIONS WITH A FEW SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM TODAY AND TONIGHT.
ADVISORY: SMALL CRAFT SHOULD BE ALERT FOR GUSTY WINDS AND HIGHER SEAS IN OR NEAR HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.
WINDS: LIGHT AND VARIABLE AT 10 KNOTS OR LESS.
SEAS: 3 FEET OR LESS.
SUNRISE: 06:56AM MOONSET: 02:13PM
SUNSET: 05:34PM MOONRISE: 03:38AM WED
LOW TIDE: 10:24AM HIGH TIDE: 04:10PM LOW TIDE: 10:21PM
EXTENDED FORECAST: THAT COLD FRONT WILL BECOME STATIONARY OVER THE SE BAHAMAS UNTIL TUESDAY NIGHT OR EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING BEFORE DISSIPATING, WHILE A STRONG RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE BAHAMAS BEHIND THAT FRONT PRODUCING BRISK WINDS ACROSS THE ISLANDS ON WEDNESDAY BUT TAPPERING OFF ON THURSDAY.
FORECAST FOR WEDNESDAY
WEATHER: MOSTLY CLOUDY TO OVERCAST, COOL AND WINDY CONDITIONS WITH WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE DAY AND INTO THE NIGHT.
WINDS: NE TO E AT 15 TO 25 KNOTS OVER THE NW AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS AND E TO SE AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS OVER THE SE BAHAMAS.
SEAS: 5 TO 8 FEET OVER THE NW AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS AND 2 TO 4 FEET OVER THE SE BAHAMAS.
FORECAST FOR THURSDAY
WEATHER: A MIX OF SUN AND CLOUDS AND COOL CONDITIONS WITH A FEW SCATTERED SHOWERS AND POSSIBLE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE DAY, TURNING FAIR AND COOL AT NIGHT.
WINDS: LIGHT AND VARIABLE AT 10 KNOTS OR LESS.
SEAS: 3 FEET OR LESS.
THE PUBLIC FORECAST FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT TUESDAY 05TH JANUARY 2016
SPECIAL WARNINGS: MARINERS AND BEACHGOERS ESPECIALLY ON THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN SHORES OF THE BAHAMAS SHOULD CONTINUE TO EXERCISE CAUTION DUE TO HIGH SURF CONDITIONS AND THE STRONG POSSIBILITY OF HAZARDOUS RIP CURRENTS.
GENERAL SITUATION: A COLD FRONT WITH AN EXTENDING SURFACE LOW PRESSURE REMAINS ACROSS THE CENTRAL BAHAMAS AND WILL EVENTUALLY MOVE SOUTHEASTWARDS AND BECOME STATIONARY OVER THE SE BAHAMAS LATER TODAY.
FOR THE NORTHWEST AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS
WEATHER: MOSTLY CLOUDY TO OVERCAST, COOL AND WINDY CONDITIONS WITH WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT.
ADVISORY: A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IS NOW IN EFFECT.
WINDS: NORTH TO NORTHEAST AT 15 TO 25 KNOTS.
SEAS: 5 TO 8 FEET
FOR THE SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS
WEATHER: PARTLY CLOUDY TO CLOUDY, WARM AND CONDITIONS WITH A FEW SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM TODAY AND TONIGHT.
ADVISORY: SMALL CRAFT SHOULD BE ALERT FOR GUSTY WINDS AND HIGHER SEAS IN OR NEAR HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS.
WINDS: LIGHT AND VARIABLE AT 10 KNOTS OR LESS.
SEAS: 3 FEET OR LESS.
DAYTIME HIGH TEMPERATURE: 79°F 26°C
OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURE: 63°F 17°C
SUNRISE: 06:56AM MOONSET: 02:13PM
SUNSET: 05:34PM MOONRISE: 03:38AM WED
LOW TIDE: 10:24AM HIGH TIDE: 04:10PM LOW TIDE: 10:21PM
EXTENDED FORECAST: THAT COLD FRONT WILL BECOME STATIONARY OVER THE SE BAHAMAS UNTIL TUESDAY NIGHT OR EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING BEFORE DISSIPATING, WHILE A STRONG RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE BAHAMAS BEHIND THAT FRONT PRODUCING BRISK WINDS ACROSS THE ISLANDS ON WEDNESDAY BUT TAPPERING OFF ON THURSDAY.
FORECAST FOR WEDNESDAY
WEATHER: MOSTLY CLOUDY TO OVERCAST, COOL AND WINDY CONDITIONS WITH WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE DAY AND INTO THE NIGHT.
WINDS: NE TO E AT 15 TO 25 KNOTS OVER THE NW AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS AND E TO SE AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS OVER THE SE BAHAMAS.
SEAS: 5 TO 8 FEET OVER THE NW AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS AND 2 TO 4 FEET OVER THE SE BAHAMAS.
FORECAST FOR THURSDAY
WEATHER: A MIX OF SUN AND CLOUDS AND COOL CONDITIONS WITH A FEW SCATTERED SHOWERS AND POSSIBLE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE DAY, TURNING FAIR AND COOL AT NIGHT.
WINDS: LIGHT AND VARIABLE AT 10 KNOTS OR LESS.
SEAS: 3 FEET OR LESS.
THE END=
Dominican troops reinforce border as Haitians try to return
The Dominican Republic has sent hundreds of soldiers to its border with Haiti to make it harder for migrants without legal residency to enter the country after returning home to spend the holidays.
A contingent of 900 troops was dispatched as part of what officials are calling "Operation Shield." They were joining about 1,200 soldiers already assigned to patrol the area that divides the island of Hispaniola.
The deployment announced Tuesday is part of a broader crackdown on illegal immigration. Last year, the government issued residency permits to 184,000 people who could prove they had been living in the country since before October 2011.
An estimated 300,000 are thought to be in the country without legal status. Officials have warned that anyone without legal residency may face deportation.
Source-AP