OECS exports to US in June show slight increase
The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) exported goods and services totaling US$8.4 million to the United states during the month of June, according to figures released by the US Census Bureau.
The figures showed that St. Kitts-Nevis led the way among the nine-member sub-regional grouping with exports totaling US$4.7 million, compared to US$4.2 million for the corresponding period last year.
St. Lucia was the only other OECS country to surpass the one million dollar mark in exports, with revenue of US$1.3 million as against US$1.2 million in 2013.
St. Kitts-Nevis is also leading the way in exports to the United States during the first six months of the year, with revenue pegged at US$29.9 million compared to US$27.4 million last year.
Most of the OECS countries registered slight increases in export revenue with the US Census Bureau indicating that St .Lucia receiving US$11 million compared with US$7.9 million last year. Grenada was the enxt OECS countries with improved exports to the United states, registering a figure of US$6.8 million as against US$5.9 million for the corresponding period last year.
St. Kitts and Nevis exports mainly electrical and industrial equipment to the United States.
Source-Caribbean Media Corporation
Margaritaville surpasses sales target in TCI
Margaritaville Turks & Caicos (TCI) surpassed its US$6-million revenue target for its financial year.
Growth in sales helped boost the tourist attractions earnings to over US$720,000, which was 21 per cent higher than the year before.
The restaurant caters mainly to cruise ship tourists who seek a bar experience in the Caribbean island while visiting.
Ian Dear, who controls the Caribbean franchise for Margaritaville, previously told the Jamaica Observer that revenues were expected to rise from US$4.5 million last year to US$6 million in 2014. That projection was based on Carnival Corporation plans to increase the number of cruise passengers it carried to the island from 750,000 to one million annually.
Grand Turk is a relatively new cruise destination, which experienced five per cent annual average growth over the last three years.
Margaritaville raised US$2 million ($216 million) from its initial public offering (IPO) in Jamaica in April. It became the second US dollar equity listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange following Proven Investments.
Part proceeds of the IPO is supposed to finance construction of a new bar and grill at the existing location. The premises comprise approximately 16,000 square feet, including a thatched roof restaurant that can seat 500 customers.
The TCI location employs a mix of local and Jamaican staff since it began operations in 2006.
It joins a chain of regional restaurants within the Margaritaville Caribbean Group of companies.
In 2001, the group joined forces with US entertainer Jimmy Buffett and became the Caribbean franchise holder for the Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville restaurant concept.
The Caribbean franchise has eight operations spread across Jamaica, Turks and Cayman. The company is eyeing four more territories in the Caribbean, starting with the island of St Thomas.
Source-JO
Clippers have new owner
Steve Ballmer officially became the new owner of the Los Angeles Clippers today for a record $2 billion.
The team said the sale closed after a California court confirmed the authority of Shelly Sterling, on behalf of the Sterling Family Trust, to sell the franchise to the former Microsoft CEO. Her estranged husband, Donald Sterling, had unsuccessfully fought the sale of the team he owned since 1981 in court.
The NBA Board of Governors had previously approved the sale.
“Really excited – in a pretty hardcore way – to continue the path to making the Clippers a better and better basketball team, and a better and better citizen of the Los Angeles community,” Ballmer told The Associated Pressin a phone interview.
Adam Streisand, Ballmer’s attorney, said today that Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas signed the order authorising the sale even if Donald Sterling’s attorneys filed an appeal.
Source-AP
“We were ready,” Streisand said. “Within minutes, the deal was signed, sealed and delivered.”
He said even if Donald Sterling seeks an emergency order directing the judge to vacate his order, the attorney is confident an appellate court would agree that Levanas made the correct decision.
Donald Sterling’s attorneys weren’t immediately available to comment.
The sale ends some troubling concerns that had surrounded the team in recent months.
Doc Rivers would possibly have quit as coach if Sterling remained the owner, interim CEO Richard Parsons had testified. All-Star point guard Chris Paul, who also is president of the Players Association, might have sat out and convinced other players to join him. Sponsors who already started to flee after a recording of Donald Sterling making racist comments was released might have stayed away for good.
None of that appears to be a problem with Ballmer taking over what could be a powerhouse team next season. By agreeing to the record purchase price, he’s already proven he’s willing to spend in contrast to the famously frugal Sterling.
“The topic of conversation with Doc earlier was to focus in on what does it take and how can I help support him in achieving our mutual mission and in a pretty intense way continue to improve, be tenacious,” Ballmer said. “If we do all that, good things will come our way.”
Ballmer was nearly an NBA owner last year before owners chose to keep the Kings in Sacramento, rather than allow them to be sold to a group that included Ballmer and moved to Seattle.
Now he’s got his own team to share with his wife and three sons.
“We're a family that likes basketball,” he told the AP.
Ballmer said he fell in love with the sport as a seventh-grader in his hometown of Detroit. He was manager of his high school team, which included keeping statistics.
Two of his sons have played the game, while the youngest has been a statistician for his high school team in the Seattle area, where the family lives.
Ballmer said he hopes to attend a lot of Clippers games next season. He said Parsons has agreed to stay on as CEO for the interim.
“That gives me a chance to figure this all out," he said.
The transaction ends Donald Sterling’s run as the longest-tenured owner in the NBA after 33 years. After buying the Clippers in 1981, he moved the franchise from San Diego to Los Angeles three years later.
The 80-year-old real estate mogul has been in probate court fighting his wife’s proposed deal to sell. At issue was whether Donald Sterling killed the deal by revoking the trust after his wife removed him as a trustee. Shelly Sterling acted after doctors found Donald had symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
The drama began in April when the recording surfaced of Donald Sterling dressing down his girlfriend for bringing black men to Clippers games. The audio spurred the NBA to ban Sterling for life and fine him $2.5 million.
His wife of 58 years then took control of a family trust and negotiated the $2 billion sale of the team to Ballmer. Shelly Sterling said she was initially given her husband’s blessing to sell the team and he praised the deal she reached.
Celine Dion cancels tour
Celine Dion has cleared her calendar of all performances, saying she needs to focus on her health, her husband’s health and raising their three young children.
The superstar vocalist is cancelling shows that were slated through March 22, 2015, including a tour of Asia planned for the fall and regular shows atThe Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Dion’s husband, Rene Angelil, had a cancerous tumour removed in December, and she said in a statement today that the struggle with the disease has taken a toll on her family.
Show organisers say the singer also has not recovered from an illness that has inflamed her throat muscles and prevented performances in Las Vegas since July 29.
Fans who bought tickets for future shows are eligible for refunds.
Source- AP
US says Mount Sinjar evacuation unlikely
The US says it is unlikely to launch a mission to evacuate Iraqis trapped by Islamist fighters on Mount Sinjar.
A Special Forces team flew to the mountain and found fewer people than expected, and those remaining were also in a better condition than feared, the Pentagon said.
The US has sent hundreds of military advisers to Iraq to help people fleeing militant group Islamic State (IS).
IS fighters have seized large swathes of northern Iraq in recent months.
The UN had estimated that tens of thousands of people, most from religious minorities, were besieged on the mountain after being forced to flee their homes.
Members of the Yazidi sect are among those stranded on Mount Sinjar.
However, in a statement, the Pentagon said there were now "far fewer Yazidis on Mount Sinjar than previously feared", partly because thousands had evacuated from the mountain each night over the past days.
"The Yazidis who remain are in better condition than previously believed and continue to have access to the food and water that we have dropped," the statement said.
"Based on this assessment... an evacuation mission is far less likely."
The statement added that the US would continue to provide humanitarian assistance.
Source-BBC
LIME Carib CEO Calls For Technology Innovation
The region’s leading telecoms provider that first connected the Caribbean to the rest of the world, LIME, called on regional government ministers and fellow telecoms providers to push for greater broadband penetration, allowing Caribbean nationals and businesses to participate in the consumption, creation and commercialisation of mobile applications and digital content, capitalising on the benefits of the thriving global technology industry.
LIME Caribbean CEO, Martin Roos was lauded for his statesman-like address at the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunication Organisations (CANTO), thirtieth anniversary Ministerial Breakfast where he observed that, “The Caribbean is behind in relation to smart phone penetration and usage.” He noted that, “You must be able to consume in order to create and Caribbean consumers need more indigenous regional content. There is also a huge opportunity to export content as the world is interested in the Caribbean. Together we must enable entrepreneurs to tap into this global ecosystem.
The LIME executive called on regional government ministers to remove tax concessions on smart phone devices as a part of their market liberalisation programme to better facilitate content creation and entrepreneurship, especially among young people. Noting that LIME has been the Caribbean’s ‘green house’ for engineers, he said that the technology highway is the new playground that will unlock and unleash the potential to export Caribbean music, sports and produce, as well as allow those in the region’s ubiquitous hospitality industry to better position our region’s natural beauty in the global competition for tourism. Aided by research, he predicted that mobile data will increase by a factor of ten over the next five years, and appealed for urgency in regional action so that the Caribbean is not to be left behind.
LIME is making a major network investment to the tune of US$1.05b across the Caribbean to ensure that their network will continue to transcend not just the surrounding geographic borders but connect to the gateways of the world’s sophisticated telecoms ecosystem.
The CANTO Ministerial Breakfast is a flagship event on the calendar of the annual conference which is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary under the theme, “Strategic Alliances for Sustainable Broadband Development.” It was held on Monday August 11, 2014 at the Atlantis hotel in The Bahama.
GlaxoSmithKline faces bribery claims in Syria
The international pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is facing new claims it bribed Syrian distributors to increase sales in the country.
The claims come from the Reuters news agency, which has seen an anonymous email sent to top management setting out the charges.
It follows accusations of corruption in its non-prescription business in Syria, as well as bribery claims in China.
GSK said it would thoroughly investigate the claims.
The email, addressed to chief executive Andrew Witty and Judy Lewent, the chair of GSK's audit committee, says: "GSK has been engaging in multiple corrupt and illegal practices in conducting its pharmaceutical business in Syria."
The company has suspended relations with its distributors in the war-torn country while it investigates.
It is one of the few major pharmaceutical companies still supplying drugs there.
The new claims follows a rash of similar bribery claims against GSK in China, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Poland.
"All the claims in this email will be thoroughly investigated using internal and external resources as part of our ongoing investigation into operations in Syria," said a spokesman for the company, which is the UK's biggest drugmaker.
"We are committed to taking any disciplinary actions resulting from the findings. We have suspended our relationship with our distributors in the country pending the outcome of our investigation."
The alleged sums involved are small, according to Reuters, running into thousands of dollars rather than the hundreds of millions GSK is alleged to have funnelled to doctors and officials in China.
The email gives names and dates of alleged illicit payments, including those of one Syrian doctor who personally received between $200 and $300 a month in free samples in exchange for ordering GSK drugs for his hospital and rejecting rival ones.
It also accuses the company of bribing officials at Syria's Ministry of Health to obtain vaccines for illegal resale.
The US Department of Justice is already investigating GSK for possible breaches of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the UK's Serious Fraud Office has launched a formal criminal investigation into its overseas activities.
Source-BBC
US actor Robin Williams found dead at home
US actor Robin Williams has been found dead, aged 63, in an apparent suicide, California police say.
Marin County Police said he was pronounced dead at his home shortly after officials responded to an emergency call around noon local time.
Williams was famous for films such as Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets Society and won an Oscar for his role in Good Will Hunting.
His publicist said he had been "battling severe depression".
In the past he had talked, and even joked, about his struggles with alcohol and drugs.
Williams had recently returned to a rehabilitation centre to "fine-tune" his sobriety, the Los Angeles Times reported in July.
"At this time, the Sheriff's Office Coroner Division suspects the death to be a suicide due to asphyxia, but a comprehensive investigation must be completed before a final determination is made," police said in a statement.
In a statement, Williams' wife, Susan Schneider, said she was "utterly heartbroken".
"On behalf of Robin's family, we are asking for privacy during our time of profound grief. As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin's death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions."
Williams had three children from previous marriages.
Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1951, Williams joined the drama club in high school and was accepted into Juilliard School in New York, the prestigious American academy for the arts.
There, he was encouraged by a teacher to pursue comedy.
The actor was first known for his zany portrayal of an alien in the 1970s TV show Mork and Mindy.
He was a regular stand-up comedian while continuing to act in such films as Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Mrs Doubtfire and as the voice of the genie in Aladdin.
While many of his roles were in comedies, Williams won the Oscar in 1998 for best supporting actor as a therapist in Good Will Hunting.
President Barack Obama was one of many offering condolences to his family when he said: "Williams arrived in our lives as an alien - but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit.
"He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most - from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalised on our own streets."
Fellow comedian Steve Martin tweeted he "could not be more stunned by the loss of Robin Williams, mensch, great talent, acting partner, genuine soul."
Martin and Williams appeared on stage together during an 1988 Broadway revival of Waiting for Godot.
Comedian and talk show host Ellen de Generes tweeted: "I can't believe the news about Robin Williams. He gave so much to so many people. I'm heartbroken.
Kings of Leon drummer injured in tour bus accident
Kings of Leon have postponed a concert after drummer Nathan Followill was injured in an accident on the band's tour bus.
The group were en route to their hotel after a show in Boston when a pedestrian jumped in front of the vehicle, the group said in a statement.
The bus had to "stop short" and Followill suffered broken ribs.
Refunds were offered for fans who had tickets to Sunday's show in Saratoga Springs, New York.
The band's statement said Followill was being treated for his injuries but "was doing well".
They are next due to perform on Tuesday on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on the NBC network, followed by another concert in Wentaugh, New York, at the Jones Beach Theatre on Wednesday.
The band's North American leg of their Mechanical Bull Tour is due to head south in October with dates in Mexico and Brazil.
The US rock band that formed in 1999 in Nashville, Tennessee, is made up of brothers, Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill and their cousin, Cameron Followill.
Their hits include Use Somebody and Sex On Fire.
In June, Kings Of Leon closed the Isle of Wight festival with a headline set spanning their six studio albums.
The band opened with Supersoaker and went on to play tracks including Taper Jean Girl, Fans and Closer.
Source-BBC
Female Driver who crashed into 'The Rocks' Mom Is Charged With DUI
A driver who crashed into a 2012 Cadillac Escalade carrying Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's mother and cousin on August 2 reportedly has been charged with DUI following the accident.
The Rock's mother Ata Naivia-Johnson and his cousin WWE NXT Diva Lina Fanene were on the way home from a fundraising event when the crash took place in Clermont, Florida. Fanene was hospitalized for three days.
A new report by TMZ suggests that the alleged drunk woman had tried to avoid police and run through a red light just before the head-on collision. According to the Lake County Sheriff's Department, an officer chased the car after it ran through the red light. The crash took place only minutes after.