300 sent home from NHC, says Kellman
Three hundred workers have been sent home from the state-owned National Housing Corporation (NHC), says Minister of Housing and Lands Denis Kellman.
Stating he was not involved in the retrenchment process, the minister said last night that the lay-offs were regrettable but in an organisation comprising 664 people within the current economic crisis, it had to be done.
“It’s regrettable that we had to lay off people . . . but every year when you report having such a large deficit and when your capital projects even sometimes cannot bring in the money that you spent or even to help cover the expenditure for overheads, one must ask ourselves, ‘Can we allow a lame foot to take us to our grave’?” he asked while addressing a St James Central branch meeting of the Democratic Labour Party at Welches Primary School.
“I am told that 300 staff members were from the NHC and the criteria would have been last in, first out, and discretion would have been used where possible,” he added.
Kellman said Government must now find ways to bring outstanding construction projects such as Sugar Point Pier, the Pierhead Marina, Andrew’s Sugar Factory, the waste-to-energy plant and Four Seasons Resort on stream quickly so that those displaced workers would be the first-call employees.
He also said to retrenched public sector workers last night: “If you were not a good worker before, you have to understand that you cannot expect the recommendation to suit.”
He said, however, that politicians must continue to help people get jobs but workers should, in turn, do their part to help the Government at this critical time.
“Now that we find ourselves in a little bind, give us a little elbow room so that we can develop something a little better for you, and instead of being temporary, that we can create some permanent work for you.”
Stating that the NHC had taken on a lot of debt and it had to try to reduce it, he promised this was not the end of the relationship with the 300 workers.
“We now have to try to see how we can find alternatives ways of re-employing them or encouraging other persons to re-employ them. Just because they have been given a paper saying to go home, that is not the end of the story,” he said.
By:RJ
Source-National News
Porsche board members face 1.8bn euros lawsuit
Porsche's chairman Wolfgang Porsche and board member Ferdinand Piech are being sued by seven hedge funds over its failed takeover bid for Volkswagen.
They are seeking 1.8bn euros ($2.4bn; £1.5bn) in compensation.
Porsche has been accused of misleading markets in the run-up to its takeover bid for VW in 2008.
Porsche initially dismissed speculation it was seeking to takeover VW, but later revealed it that owned or had positions on almost 74% of VW shares.
Some investors had bet against Volkswagen shares, expecting them to fall in the absence on any firm takeover bid from Porsche.
However, Porsche's disclosure of an increased holding triggered an unprecedented stock market squeeze on VW shares as investors rushed to buy them to cover their short positions.
Porsche, which has earlier faced similar cases, has denied any wrongdoing.
"Porsche SE and its supervisory board members will defend themselves with all available legal means," the carmaker said.
Porsche's attempt to take over Volkswagen eventually failed as it fell short of acquiring the required 75% stake.
The global financial crisis and the slump in the automotive sector made it difficult for the carmaker to raise enough money to buy the remaining stake.
Nevertheless, it accumulated large amounts of debt in the process and was sued by investors who accused it of misleading them.
In a dramatic turnaround of events, the firms agreed a deal in 2009 under which Volkswagen agreed to take over Porsche.
Volkswagen acquired a 49.9% stake in Porsche in 2009.
In 2012, the firms agreed another deal, under which Volkswagen bought the remaining 50.1% stake in Porsche for 4.46bn euros plus one VW common share.
Source-BBC
Seattle Seahawks thrash Denver Broncos
The Seattle Seahawks utterly dominated Super Bowl XLVIII, thrashing a badly misfiring Denver Broncos 43-8.
Marshawn Lynch's one-yard touchdown run and Malcolm Smith's 69-yard interception return helped Seattle into a deserved 22-0 lead at the break.
Percy Harvin returned the second-half kick-off 87 yards for another touchdown to all but end a horribly one-sided affair in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
It was the first Super Bowl staged outdoors in a cold-weather state.
Pre-match fears of an 82,500-strong crowd having to endure sub-zero conditions proved groundless, with the temperature at the roofless MetLife Stadium just outside New York hovering around 7C (44F).
The week leading up to biggest annual event in the US sporting calendar was also dominated by talk of whether Denver's top-rated offence - led by veteran quarterback Peyton Manning - could be contained by Seattle's number one-ranked defence.
In Superman's New-York inspired Metropolis, when an apparently unstoppable force meets an immovable object, they surrender.
And that is exactly what Denver's attacking line-up did when they ran into a hard-hitting, rampant Seattle defence.
Despite winning the National Football League's Most Valuable Player award for an unprecedented fifth time following a record-laden regular season, and already owning one Super Bowl winner's ring from his time with the Indianapolis Colts, 37-year-old Manning has long been accused of choking when it really counts, in the play-offs.
He has now lost 12 of 23 post-season games - more than any other player in NFL history.
And Manning's third appearance on the sport's biggest stage seemed to begin with the kind of nervy performance most would have expected from his opposite number, second-year quarterback Russell Wilson.
The opening play from scrimmage ended in high farce as the snap sailed over Manning's head and into Denver's endzone. Rather than risking giving up a touchdown, running back Knowshon Moreno fell on the loose ball to concede the two points awarded for American football's equivalent of an own goal.
Seattle extended their lead to 8-0 courtesy of a pair of Steven Hauschka field goals before Manning threw the first of two costly interceptions.
Under pressure from the blitzing Seattle defence, his wild pass sailed straight into the grateful hands of Kam Chancellor, part of the Seahawks' feared secondary which has been dubbed the "Legion Of Boom".
Chancellor's team-mate Marshawn Lynch, known as "Beast Mode", then bulldozed his way into the endzone for the game's first touchdown.
Just when it looked like the Broncos were getting their act together offensively, Manning was again picked off.
Under huge pressure on 3rd & 13 on Seattle's 35-yard line, the veteran's throwing arm was hit as he released his pass. Linebacker Malcolm Smith gobbled up the wobbling ball and returned it 69 yards for a touchdown.
Even the choice of songs in the spectacular, pyrotechnic-filled half-time show was cruelly ironic for the Broncos. After Grammy Award-winner Bruno Mars performed one of his biggest hits, Runaway Baby, the Red Hot Chili Peppers followed with Give It Away.
At least Denver's head coach John Fox had an extended break in which to rally his troops and work out how his offensive line could better protect Manning and give him more time in which to find his targets through the air.
But his teamtalk was blown to smithereens immediately when Percy Harvin evaded at least three tackles to return the second-half kick-off 87 yards for a touchdown.
Jermaine Kearse further humiliated the Broncos when he received Russell Wilson's pass, spun 360 degrees to evade a pair of converging defenders, and trotted into the endzone for a 23-yard score.
The Broncos eventually got on the board with the final play of the third quarter, Manning's well-judged 14-yard pass caught in the endzone by Demaryius Thomas.
Manning found Wes Welker on the two-point conversion attempt, but it was little consolation for Denver, who have now been beaten in five of their seven Super Bowl appearances.
And Seattle rubbed salt into their wounds when Doug Baldwin caught Wilson's short pass and ducked under more woeful tackling for yet another touchdown, sealing a 43-8 victory.
Smith, who recovered a fumble in addition to his interception return for a touchdown, was named Most Valuable Player but, in truth, this was the ultimate team performance by the Seahawks.
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (completed 34 of 49 passes for 280 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, as well as losing a fumble) said: "We knew they were fast. It was still a matter of us doing our jobs better and we didn't do that.
"I think we played a great football team. We needed to play really well in order to win and we didn't come anywhere close to that."
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (18 of 25 for 206 yards and two passing touchdowns) said: "We been relentless all season. Having that mentality of having a Championship day every day.
"We believed that we could get here. At the beginning of the season I told our guys, 'Hey, why not us?'
"We had the talent. We had the coaching. We have the best fans in the National Football League. We wanted to win it all."
US says it addressed significant threats in the Caribbean during 2013
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency says it addressed significant threats, while “optimising resources and building partnerships” in the Caribbean last year.
In its review of fiscal year 2013, CBP said its efforts were possible through “collaborative operations and partnerships with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, which have become an integral part of CBP’s procedures within the Caribbean, in order to generate reductions in illicit activity throughout the area,” it said in a statement.
“Throughout the year, the men and women of CBP played a decisive role in ensuring our nation’s security and prosperity,” said Acting Commissioner Thomas S Winkowski.
“From border security to travel facilitation and trade enforcement, these numbers illustrate CBP’s combined efforts in 2013 to accomplish its critical mission,” he added.
CBP officers and agents in the Caribbean seized over 31,962 pounds of narcotics, with an estimated street value of about US$320 million, and seized about US$3.5 million in unreported currency in fiscal 2013, which runs from October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013.
Winkowski said the CBP Office of Air and Marine (Caribbean Air and Marine Branch) played a “major role in the determent of illegal activity throughout our coasts, through the coordinated use of integrated air and marine forces to detect, interdict and prevent the unlawful movement of people, illegal drugs and other contraband in the area.”
CBP Agriculture Specialists also seized more than 16,677 prohibited plant materials, meat, animal byproducts and soil and intercepted nearly 3,140 pests.
Source-CMC
Barbados begins public sector cuts in ailing economy
The Barbados government Friday began laying off the first batch of workers in the public service as it seeks to reverse an ailing economy.
The Freundel Stuart administration had been forced to push back the January 15 date for sending home 3,000 public sector workers over the coming months, after indicating that it had not drawn up the list of employees to be sent home.
Workers employed at the National Housing Corporation (NHC) were among the first to receive dismissal letters after the government had earlier this month rejected proposals from the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) as not going far enough to meet the objective of a significant cut in public sector expenditure.
NUPW general secretary Denis Clarke told reporters that some of the workers dismissed had been with the NHC for as much as 15 years and complained that the government had not kept its promise to provide the union with the official retrenchment list.
He hinted at possible court action to ensure dismissed workers receive their due compensation.
Source-Caribbean Media Corporation
Jamaican lawyer named IACHR rapporteur on women right
A Jamaican has been appointed a Rapporteur on the Rights of Women as well as on the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Transsexual, Bisexual, and Intersex Persons (LGTBI).
In addition, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said that Tracy Robinson will now be the Thematic and Country Rapporteur for Bahamas, Honduras, Nicaragua and Suriname; Rapporteur on the Rights of Women; and Rapporteur on the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Transsexual Bisexual and Intersex Persons (LGTBI).
The IACHR said that the appointment was made during a two-day working meeting that ended on Friday with the distribution of Thematic and Country Rapporteurships.
Robinson, a lawyer, is a lecturer in Gender and the Law, Constitutional Law and Commonwealth Caribbean Human Rights at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica.
IACHR said she has also been a consultant for international agencies such as the United Nations Fund for Women and UNICEF, and she has advised Caribbean governments on topics related to legislation on gender and children rights, among others.
Robinson, who is also the IACHR first vice-president, was elected at the 41st Organisation of American States (OAS) General Assembly in June 2011 for the standard four-year term, which began on January 1, 2012.
The IACHR said that it had also appointed rapporteurs for several Caribbean islands including Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St Kitts-Nevis, Belize, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. It has a mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.
Source-Jamaica Observer
NYCD to observe World Wetlands Day
As a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), Dominica is exposed to several unique vulnerabilities such as the impact of Climate Change; economic impact of natural disasters and lack of economies of scale.
As such, Dominica has adopted the principles of sustainable development in charting its course to an improved quality of life for present and future generations.
One of the core activities forming part of the NYCD’s 2013-2015 work-plan is the facilitation of national observances on international days for protection of the environment such as Earth Day, World Water Day and World Wetlands Day.
World Wetlands Day (WWD) has been observed on the 2nd of February each year since 1971, to promote sustainable management of wetlands and raise awareness of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. This year WWD is being observed under the international theme ‘Wetlands and Agriculture: Partners for Growth’.
The NYCD plans to observe WWD from Sunday February 2nd-7th, 2014, through advocacy and educational activities and civil society dialogue on the issue of ‘Sustainable Wetland Management’.
In order to take action to preserve Dominica’s wetlands, we must firstly make ourselves more knowledgeable as to the nature, importance and value of our wetlands.
Dominica exhibits three main types of wetlands: Freshwater swamps, located at the Indian River; montane swamps, located near the Fresh Water Lake and coastal marshes, located at the Cabrits Wetland.
Wetlands can also be found within the communities of Woodford Hill, La Plaine and near the mouth of the Layou River.
The main uses of Dominica’s wetlands include, community tourism (tour guiding), education, research and artistic inspiration. This demonstrates the great socioeconomic value of our wetlands.
Wetlands also play a critical role in maintaining ecological balance within the natural environment. Certain species of plants and animals including the Kobo Crab, Fiddler Crabs, “Red-leg” crabs, swamp ferns and certain sedges, are only found within wetlands.
Many species of fish (marine and freshwater) utilize the Indian River wetland and the pools within the Cabrits National Park wetland as a nursery. Wetlands also serve as a wintering ground for some migratory birds
Wetlands play an important role in the hydrological cycle and also function as a natural form of flood-water control.
The sustainable management of Dominica’s wetlands is a joint responsibility in which every citizen must play their part, so that Dominica will remain the Nature Island of the Caribbean for Generations to come.
Antigua Attorney General ‘stable’ in hospital after collapse
Antigua and Barbuda's Attorney General, Justin Simon QC, remained in hospital late Saturday in stable condition after collapsing at a restaurant, an official source has said.
Simon, said to be in his fifties, reportedly collapsed around 4.30 pm, while out with friends at Big Banana, a popular eatery in downtown St Johns.
He was rushed to the Mount St John's Medical Centre, the main state hospital about a kilometre away.
A senior government official who said he was receiving regular updates on the attorney general's health but asked not to be identified, told the Caribbean Media Corporation that Simon was conscious, alert and in stable condition.
Key figures in government could not be reached for details of Simon's illness and condition.
The Dominica-born Simon was appointed as Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General in the original cabinet of Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer when his United Progressive Party (UPP) swept to power in March 2004, ending the 28-year rule of the Antigua Labour Party (ALP).
Simon, who had originally told Spencer he intended to serve one-term as the government's principal legal adviser, has stayed on past the UPP's election to a second term in office in 2009.
Source-CMC
Israeli Leaders Criticize Kerry's Boycott Warning
Top Israeli officials are warning U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that they will not be bullied into a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Israeli leaders reacted angrily Sunday after Kerry warned that if peace talks with the Palestinians fail, Israel could face growing international boycotts.
At the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Israeli officials took those remarks as a direct threat: make concessions to the Palestinians, or pay a heavy price.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said international pressure on Israel harms peace efforts because it causes the Palestinians to harden their positions. He called attempts to impose a boycott on Israel "immoral and unjust."
The State Department issued a clarification, saying Kerry's remarks were taken out of context. It said the Secretary of State staunchly opposes any boycotts against Israel and was only referring to actions taken by others.
The European Union, for instance, has been threatening to boycott products from Jewish settlements, and several European companies have stopped doing business with Israeli companies operating in the West Bank.
Source-Voice Of America
36 Killed as Syrian Forces Target Aleppo
Syrian government aircraft continued dropping crude barrel bombs Sunday on rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo, with a monitoring group reporting at least 36 fatalities. Nearly 90 civilians were reported killed in the same districts on Saturday.
Activists identified 13 of Sunday's dead as children. They said helicopters and warplanes targeted at least 15 opposition-held neighborhoods in the divided city.
The latest bombings come as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad slowly advance into rebel-held areas in southeastern Aleppo. Analysts are calling the advances the most significant government gains since opposition fighters seized parts of the city in mid-2012.
The army gains include territory around Aleppo's airport, which was closed for almost a year by nearby fighting before reopening last month.
The first round of United Nations-brokered peace talks between Syria's warring sides ended Friday with little progress reported. More talks are set for next month.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week called on both sides -- particularly the Syrian government -- to allow unrestricted aid worker access to civilians trapped in blockaded areas of Homs, and rebel-held areas of southern Damascus.
Source-VOA