Italy Rescues 1,000 Migrants in 24 Hours
The Italian navy says it has rescued, in a 24-hour period, more than 1,000 migrants attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean by boat in rough winter seas.
The navy said Friday 832 migrants were rescued in one operation, while another 233 were saved in another effort.
Italy says the rescued men, women and children came mainly from Africa, South Asia and the Middle East.
Last year, Italy began stepping up patrols in the region after a boat filled with migrants sank near Lampedusa, killing at least 359 people.
Italy is a major gateway into Europe for many migrants seeking a better life.
Authorities say worsening humanitarian conditions in the Horn of Africa and Syria have spurred a surge in refugees fleeing to Europe.
Kerry Heads to Ramallah for More Peace Negotiations
Kerry met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. The Secretary of State said a framework deal would be a "significant breakthrough," though it would be less ambitious than his initial goal of reaching a comprehensive peace deal by April.
His visit - the 10th since March - comes as the Israelis and Palestinians accuse each other of sabotaging efforts to reach a two-state solution to their decades-old conflict.
Mr. Netanyahu questioned whether Palestinians are "committed to peace," accusing them of failing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and "embracing terrorists as heroes."
He was referring to the strong welcome that Palestinian prisoners received in the West Bank this week after being released from Israeli prisons as part of the peace process.
Mr. Abbas has complained about ongoing Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, saying Israel is trying to take land that would be part of a future Palestinian state.
Palestinians have threatened to walk out of the peace talks if Israel does not stop the settlement construction, which the U.S. has also criticized as illegitimate and unhelpful.
There is also disagreement over U.S. proposals for security arrangements in the Jordan Valley, where the West Bank borders Jordan.
Israel is looking to keep troops there, saying this is essential for security reasons. Palestinians say this would violate the sovereignty of their future state.
Other key issues to be resolved include the remaining borders between the two states, the future of Jerusalem, and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
Route Canapé Vert renamed Nelson Mandela Avenue
Route du Canapé Vert will now be called Nelson Mandela Avenue an executive order dated December 13, 2013 announced. It should be noted that the road was given the name of Haitian hero, Jean Price-Mars, a leader of Haiti's Negritude movement, when it was first paved under previous administrations. Signs were never placed and citizens continued to call it Canapé Vert.
The Office of Communication of the National Palace announced the new name following the death of the anti-apartheid leader and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela who died on December 5, 2013.
The press note said plates bearing the inscription "Nelson Mandela Avenue" will they be placed at each intersection serving the route.
"This decision was made to honor the memory of the symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle who dedicated his life to the liberation of the black people of South Africa and offer it as an example to future generations. It is also justified by the fact that Haiti has always been associated with the anti-apartheid struggle and that, by all appropriate means, to keep the memory of this extraordinary leader, who thrilled the world until his death," the note stated.
Source-Sentinel
CARICOM leaders clueless on Dominican reality: Roundtable president
The head of the Roundtable of Commonwealth Countries in the Dominican Republic, Fernando Gonzalez Nicolas affirms that CARICOM leaders don't understand Dominican reality to question its Constitutional Court ruling and propose penalties.
He said the wording used by the Prime Ministers of St. Vincent and of Trinidad in their various missives to president Danilo Medina show that those leaders don’t realize that Dominicans are major buyers in CARICOM among all of the Caribbean region’s countries.
“Since 2012 Dominican Republic imports from CARICOM countries the significant sum of 1.6 billion dollars in goods and products in Trinidad and other countries of that conglomerate,” the business leader said.
He said Dominican companies have made significant investments in CARICOM countries such as the recent purchase of three breweries and negotiations to install a steel mill, among other projects.
“Since Dominican Republic is CARICOM’s main trading partner in the region, the manner in which its leaders address their Dominican counterpart is strange for us,” he said and noted that Dominican Republic exported to CARICOM countries only around US$160 million in 2012, a figure which he affirms is just 2.3 per cent of the global Dominican exports.
In a statement, Gonzalez Nicolas urges CARICOM leaders to study Dominican history better, its idiosyncrasies and its trade with its Hispaniola neighbor. “They should also evaluate their interest as a trade partner and an important consumer of their products.”
He said he doesn’t see the point for Dominican Republic’s continuing effort to become an active CARICOM member. “In our opinion it’s pointless, economically or politically.”
He did however suggest stronger CARICOM-Dominican Republic ties, noting that except for Trinidad and Jamaica, none of the countries in the regional bloc have an embassy in Santo Domingo. “CARICOM leaders should reconsider the tone of the dialogue with the Dominican Republic, for the benefit of both countries, brothers and neighbors.”
Source-Dominican Today
Clippers pull away from Bobcats
Blake Griffin scored 13 of his 31 points in the final 7:05 and Jared Dudley got 11 of his 20 points in the third quarter, leading the Los Angeles Clippers to a 112-85 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.
Dudley faced his second former team in two games, making seven of 10 shots against the club that selected him with their first pick in 2007 and traded him to Phoenix after one season. He had nine points against the Suns on Monday in the Clippers' 107-88 loss.
Chris Paul had 17 points and 14 assists for the defending Pacific Division champions, who beat the Bobcats for the sixth straight time and sent them to their 17th straight road loss against Western Conference opponents.
Source-USA Today
Helicopter Rescue Delayed for Stranded Antarctic Ship
The latest attempt to rescue dozens of passengers stranded aboard a Russian research ship stuck in the Antarctic ice has been delayed.
A helicopter had been expected Thursday to evacuate the passengers, 12 at a time, from the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has now been stuck for over a week.
However, Australian authorities said sea ice is preventing a barge from reaching one of the rescue vessels where the passengers were to have been temporarily dropped.
Blizzard conditions hampered previous attempts to evacuate the passengers by helicopter. Icebreaker ships from China, Australia, and France have also failed to reach the Russian vessel.
Seventy-four scientists, tourists and crew members are on board the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has weeks of supplies and is in no danger of sinking.
Most of the 22-member Russian crew are expected to stay behind and wait for the ice to break up naturally.
The Russian ship, which left New Zealand on November 28, was trying to recreate Australian explorer Douglas Mawson's century-old voyage to Antarctica.
Source-Voice Of America
Oil spill spreading north, says Aboud
The Gulf of Paria will become a toxic dead zone if thick crude is not vacuumed from the ocean floor before Petrotrin begins its underwater seismic surveys, president of Fishermen and Friends of the Sea Gary Aboud warned yesterday. Aboud made the claim as he accused Petrotrin of trying to cover up the magnitude of the massive oil spill which has wreaked havoc on plant, human and marine life along the south-western peninsula since December 21.
The 11 oil spills, some of which Petrotrin officials suspect are acts of sabotage, have started spreading to the Oropouche mangroves, Aboud said yesterday. He explained that fishermen as far as Cocorite have recently been picking up oil on their fishing spools.
Saying the oil slick was now moving northwards, Aboud called on Petrotrin to immediately stop all seismic surveys in the Gulf until all the oil is cleaned from the ocean floor. Explaining the movement of the tidal currents, Aboud said the water flows in a circular clockwise and anti-clockwise manner. “This is called a gyre. It appears now that oil is coming into Otaheite and also into the Oropouche mangroves,” he said.
A gyre in oceanography is any large system of rotating ocean currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Aboud explained that on Old Year’s Night, seven fishermen from Cocorite reported that oil and tar caught on their spools while they were banking. “We knew this was going to happen,” he said.
“We are not trying to cause a panic, but when you are trawling, you have a net dragging at the bottom of the ocean. Trawling is also used when there is a line in water floating at a specific distance. Sometimes a fisherman will use a metal spool with a hook. This is called towing and many people who are towing say there is thick oil on the seabed.” He said the chemicals used by Petrotrin in the clean-up operations had caused the oil to sink.
“We have asked Petrotrin what kind of dispersant they are using and we are yet to get an answer. With the battering of the waves, the oil will coagulate and sink,” Aboud said. “It is will stifle marine life. The gulf could become a dead zone if they don’t clear the oil that has sunk.” He claimed that Petrotrin was starved of crude for its refinery and this was why the company was insisting that it wanted to begin its Ocean Bottom Cable (OBC) seismic survey.
He also said his team was keeping a close eye on the seismic ship to ensure that surveys are not executed. “If they attempt to do any seismic testing we will have to take whatever action is necessary to protect plant and marine life. Fishing is our livelihood,” Aboud said. Meanwhile, Petrotrin, in a statement, said there is no conclusive scientific evidence that the survey will have a negative impact on fisheries.
Petrotrin said the survey, which will be conducted in Petrotrin’s Trinmar and North Marine Areas in the Gulf of Paria, once started will continue for five months, with operations taking place continuously 24 hours per day. The oil company assured that the technology will utilise the discharge of compressed air to generate pulses for recording and no explosives will be used.
Source- The Guardian Media
'2013 was not good year for Caribbean' according to IDB
The Inter American Development Bank (IDB) says 2013 has been marked by an external context that did not encourage a strong economic performance in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The IDB said that the high degree of volatility that rattled international financial markets and the fall in prices for basic goods took a toll on the region’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which averaged 2.7 per cent. It said that in 2014, the growth forecast for the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole is three per cent.
“A less favourable external environment, along with weak external demand over the mid-term and latent risks in international financial markets, will require the region to accelerate growth without depending on the external conditions that helped us in the past decade,” IDB president Luis Alberto Moreno said in his year-end report to the bank’s board of executive directors.
“Therefore, our priority is to increase potential output over the medium term through reforms focusing on bottlenecks that are restricting growth in productivity, internal savings and investment,” Moreno added.
'Fresh Prince of Bel Air' actor James Avery dies
The American actor James Avery has died aged 65, his publicist has said.
He was best known for his role as Phil Banks in US television series The Fresh Prince of Bel Air with Will Smith.
His fellow cast member in the show Alfonso Ribeiro, who played his son Carlton, tweeted: "I'm deeply saddened to say that James Avery has passed away.
"He was a second father to me. I will miss him greatly."
The actor appeared in a number of films and TV shows including Gray's Anatomy and Star Trek: Enterprise.
He hosted TV programme Going Places, and provided voice-overs in animated TV series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Iron Man.
James Avery died following complications from open-heart surgery.
But he was best known for his portrayal of the judge and patriarch 'Uncle Phil' in 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
He appeared in 141 episodes of the programme alongside his on-screen nephew, Will Smith, and was reunited with most of the cast at a charity event two years ago.
Avery's publicist, Cynthia Snyder, told The Associated Press that Avery died on Tuesday in Glendale, California, following complications from open-heart surgery.
Avery served in Vietnam in the US Navy from 1968 to 1969, before he began writing TV scripts and poetry for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Barbara, his mother, Florence Avery, and his step-son, Kevin Waters.
Avery had been working until September this year on the Zach Braff film Wish I Was Here, which will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival later this month.
Ms Snyder said plans were being made for a memorial service.
Fiat agrees to buy up rest of Chrysler
The Italian motors giant Fiat has agreed to buy the remaining 41% of Chrysler it does not own in a move that will create the world's seventh-largest car company.
Fiat has owned a majority stake in the US company since 2009.
The agreement ends long negotiations with the current owners, Veba, the healthcare trust affiliated to the United Auto Workers' union (UAW).
Chrysler and Fiat will pay the trust an initial $3.65bn (£2.2bn).
Once the deal is signed off, Chrysler will pay Fiat another $700m.
Fiat's chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, plans to widen the company's global reach.
The Veba trust looks after medical benefits for 117,000 retired Chrysler workers and their dependents.
Robert Naftaly, chair of the committee that governs the trust said: "This agreement is in the best interests of the trust's UAW Chrysler retiree members and their families who rely on the trust to provide vital health care benefits."
The alliance between the two companies came amid the major restructuring of the US car industry following the financial crisis of the late 2000s.