Dubois pens Guinness theme
Trinidadian recording artiste Kerwin Du Bois has put music to the new Guinness Made of More campaign, which will be used as a radio ad throughout the Caribbean.
Dubois, who set the tone for a great 2012 Arthur Guinness Day concert in Kingston, Jamaica, brings the campaign and its message to life with a perfectly balanced soca/dancehall fusion. In the song, Dubois rhythmically highlights that the Guinness drinker is someone who makes bold moves and takes control of their life.
Guinness Made of More speaks to the strength, boldness and courage that lie within all of us, which is something that personally resonates with Dubois.
“As a performer and producer I get to use my natural talent to entertain thousands of people but there has always been something more that got me to where I am today; something at the core of my being that pushes me and keeps me focused,” said Dubois.
“This is what Guinness Made of More represents—digging deep within and showing you are made of so much more than what meets the eye.”
Guinness launched its Made of More campaign in 2012 and will incorporate existing global activations such as Arthur Guinness Day, St Patrick’s Day and the Guinness Street Football Challenge. With more than 250 years of brewing legacy behind it, Guinness is a beer made of more—more flavour, more distinctiveness, more quality, more style—and it reflects the consumers’ demands for a more fulfilled life.
“Guinness believes when you have the confidence to live bold, to make a difference, to step up when the opportunity presents itself, that’s when you get more out of life,” said Gareth Geddes, Guinness brand manager for the Caribbean.
Local football players across the Caribbean, over the next few months, will show how much they are made of as they battle in the Guinness Street Football Challenge. Dozens of teams from eight countries will vie for their local title before meeting in St Vincent & the Grenadines between June 19-22 for the Caribbean Championships.
Jazz band leader Terry Lightfoot dies
Jazz band leader Terry Lightfoot has died at the age of 77, after a battle with prostate cancer.
Lightfoot, who was born in Potters Bar but settled in Olney, Buckinghamshire, had been touring for most of the time from the 1950s up until 2012.
He had played alongside greats such as Louis Armstrong and Lonnie Donegan.
His death comes less than two weeks after that of trumpeter Kenny Ball, who started his career playing in the Terry Lightfoot's Jazzmen band.
Lightfoot taught himself to play the clarinet so he could join his school's jazz band in Enfield.
During the 1960s, Lightfoot made frequent television appearances on the Morecambe and Wise Show and his was the resident band on Des O'Connor's first TV series.
He formed Terry Lightfoot's Jazzmen in 1955 after finishing National Service with the RAF. The band released their first album in 1957, with a line-up that included drummer Ginger Baker, who went on to be a member of rock band Cream.
The band's first major concert appearance was at London's Royal Festival Hall in 1956. The same year he met Louis Armstrong for the first time and was presented to him as the youngest professional band leader in the UK.
Kenny Ball was on trumpet with the Lightfoot band until he left to form his own band in 1958.After dropping out of music in the mid-60s, Lightfoot quickly returned to play with the Kenny Ball Band, touring the US, New Zealand and Fiji.
In 1968 he reformed his own band, featuring the late Ian Hunter-Randall on trumpet, an association which lasted almost 25 years.
Taking another sabbatical from touring, Lightfoot became pub landlord of the Three Horseshoes in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, in 1978, where he promoted jazz and presented musicians including Humphrey Lyttelton, Chris Barber, and George Melly.
After five years at the pub, he left to return to music full-time and developed the Rockin' in Rhythm show, which charted the history of jazz and played at theatres throughout Europe.
He celebrated 30 years as a bandleader in 1987 with the release of the album As Time Goes By.
Lightfoot took part in a nationwide tour as a member of the Kenny Baker/Don Lusher All Stars, which also included the bands of Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball.
He later fronted the Acker Bilk Paramount Jazz Band while Acker was recovering from throat cancer.
He continued to perform with his own band, which became something of a family affair when his daughter Melinda joined as singer, later being accompanied by Terry Lightfoot's grandsons, guitarist "Joe Miles" Needham and drummer "Ollie James" Needham.
China new home prices rise in February
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New home prices rose in 66 of China's 70 major cities in February, underlining the challenge its new leaders face in controlling the sector.
Keeping property prices in check has been a key agenda for Beijing, not least due to fears of asset bubbles.
Earlier this month, China unveiled fresh measures, including higher down payment requirements, to try and curb speculation in the sector.
However, there are fears that excessive tightening may hurt economic growth.
"The government is in a really difficult situation. It needs to keep the housing prices in check to keep them affordable for the average Chinese," said Shaun Rein managing director at China Market Research Group.
"But at the same time Beijing can't afford a sharp decline in the real estate and construction sectors which have been key drivers of its growth."
New home prices in Beijing in February rose 5.9%, from a year earlier, while they advanced 8.1% in Guangzhou and 3.4% in Shanghai.
Cooling measures
China has been trying to battle rising property prices for the best part of the past two-and-a-half years. Fears of formation of asset bubbles prompted the government to introduce various measures aimed at curbing speculation in the sector in 2010.
While those measures did help to bring down prices, they were followed by a slowdown in China's economic growth.
In an attempt to sustain its economic growth, China eased some of its monetary policies last year. This included two interest rate cuts and lowering the amount of of money that banks need to keep in reserve in a bid to boost lending.
However, the moves also saw property prices in China starting to rise again. As a result, China announced a fresh set of measures on 1 March this year to try to keep prices in check.
The new measures include higher mortgage rates for second-time buyers in cities where prices are rising too fast.
The government also said it will impose a 20% capital gain tax on profit made from home sales.
Analysts said the measures were likely to result in a slowdown in price growth in the coming months
Asian markets fall amid fears over Cyprus bailout deal
Asian markets have dipped after Cyprus bailout plans triggered fears of an escalation of the eurozone debt crisis.
The EU and IMF want all bank customers to pay a levy in return for a bailout worth 10bn euros ($13bn; £8.6bn).
The plan is yet to be finalised, but the news of the deal caused a rush to the cash machines in Cyprus as people tried to withdraw money.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 2.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 2.2% and Australia's ASX 200 was down 2%.
Analysts said that investors were sceptical about how the developments in Cyprus may affect other bigger eurozone economies which may also need bailout funds in the future.
The big fear being that, if approved, the plan may set a precedence for those countries.
"There will certainly be confusion in Cyprus and investors looking just at headlines may fret about its case becoming a model," said Yuji Saito, director of foreign exchange at Credit Agricole in Tokyo.
'Risk aversion'
The developments in Cyprus also had an impact on the currency markets.
The euro fell nearly 3% against the the Japanese yen. It was trading as low as 121.58 yen to the euro in Asian trade on Monday, down from 124.93 yen on Friday in New York.
The single currency also dipped to a three-month low against the US dollar. It was trading at $1.2895, down from late Friday's level of around $1.30.
Meanwhile, the Japanese currency, considered by many as a safe haven asset in times of uncertainty, also gained against the US dollar.
It rose as high as 93.45 yen against the US dollar on Monday, from 96.11 yen on Friday.
Analysts said the fresh concerns over eurozone debt crisis, triggered by the developments in Cyprus, had resulted in investors looking to ditch relatively riskier assets.
"The week has started with a clear rise in risk aversion, following the surprise weekend decision in Brussels to slug all depositors in Cypriot banks with a levy in order to approve euro 10bn bailout funds," said Sean Callow, a senior currency strategist at Westpac.
At the same time, analysts said, the rise in the yen's value - which makes Japanese exports more expensive and also hurts profits of exporters - was also hurting investor morale in Tokyo.
"The yen is back to 95 to the dollar. This is bad news for the Japanese market," said Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Inc.
No Contagion
This is the first time the 17-nation eurozone has sanctioned dipping into people's savings to finance a bailout.
Under the levy, bank customers with less than 100,000 euros would have to pay 6.75%, those with more than 100,000 euros would pay 9.9%.
However, depositors in Cypriot banks outside the country, including in Greece, are unaffected by the levy.
--BBC
BP appeal over 'absurd' Gulf oil spill payouts
Oil giant BP is taking legal action in the US to limit payouts by a fund set up to compensate those affected by the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP said some of the claims being paid by the scheme's administrator were "fictitious" and "absurd".
BP set aside $7.8bn (£5.2bn) when it agreed to pay compensation in 2012, but it now expects a much higher total.
The Deepwater Horizon disaster released an estimated four million barrels of oil into the Gulf.
An explosion on an offshore rig killed 11 workers and ruptured a deep-sea well head, which took 84 days to seal.
Last year BP agreed to pay compensation to around 100,000 people and companies - including fishermen and restaurant owners - who claimed the oil spill had harmed their livelihoods or their health.
But it says the lawyer administering the compensation fund is misinterpreting the terms of the agreement and making pay-outs that are too generous.
'Underestimate'
BP highlights companies far from the coast that were given payments despite earning higher profits in the year of the spill than in previous years.
The examples given include $21m to a Louisiana rice mill 40 miles inland and $9.7m to an Alabama construction company nearly 200 miles (320km) from the sea.
"BP did not agree to pay what is already hundreds of millions of dollars, and potentially billions, to claimants with 'losses' that do not exist in reality," the company said in papers filed at the court in New Orleans.
In response, lawyers representing the claimants said BP had "undervalued the settlement and underestimated the number of people and businesses that qualify under the objective formulas that BP agreed to".
BP is appealing against a ruling earlier this month that upheld the way compensation is being paid. It says it could be "irreparably harmed" by the payouts.
The same judge is also presiding over a separate trial of BP and other companies on civil charges over the oil spill, which was one of the worst in US history.
If it loses that case it could face a further huge fine, despite having already agreed in 2012 to pay $4.5bn to settle criminal charges.
Caribbean tourism to keep its piece of the pie
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The Caribbean is not expected to carve out a larger piece of the travel and tourism industry over the next 10 years.
The region is expected to maintain a less than two per cent share of the sector even while its contribution to GDP is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 4.2 per cent through to 2022, according to the World Economic Forum Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013
Travel and tourism currently accounts for nine per cent of the world's GDP, earning countries globally US$6 trillion last year and employed 120 million direct jobs and another 125 million indirect jobs in related industries.
North East Asia is expected to move from 20 to 24 per cent of tourism earnings by 2022, while Europe's and North America's share are projected to decline to around 22 per cent each. Latin America is expected to maintain its six per cent share.
Nevertheless, there are some bright sparks for the Americas.
Traveling to the region, 31 per cent of the world's population are not required to obtain a traditional visa prior to departure, making it more accessible than many other destinations.
The figure does vary widely across the subregions of the Americas.
Whereas North America is one of the most restricted subregions, where only 11 per cent of the world's population can enter without a visa, the Caribbean is the third most open subregion in the world: 39 per cent of the world's population have visa exemptions and eight per cent have the ability to obtain a visa on arrival.
"Destinations in the two other subregions--Central and South America-- also abolished visas for comparatively many source markets, making the Americas the leading region in visa exemptions," said the report.
East Africa and Southeast Asia are the most open, with 67 per cent and 65 per cent of the world, respectively, not requiring a visa to visit those locations.
The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), which aims to measure the factors and policies that make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism sector in different countries, showed some positives for the region.
For the Americas, Barbados ranked third, after the US and Canada, and 27th in the world, up one place since the last assessment in 2011.
The country's high affinity for Travel and Tourism, with a positive attitude toward tourists and toward the value of tourism in the country, placed in second in the world, although its ranking for the degree of customer orientation ranked it at 64th wroldwide.
Barbados places significant importance on prioritising hte industry, with emphasis put on the sector's development by the government and high spending on the sector, ensuring effective destination marketing campaigns and collecting relevant sector data on a timely basis.
Panama witnesses one of the most marked improvements in this year's TTCI, moving up from eighth to fourth in the region and from 56th to 37th overall.
"The country's most important competitive advantage is its rich endowment of natural resources, with its diverse fauna, significant protected land areas, and a number of World Heritage sites," said the report.
But the movement was primarily due to improvement in infrastructure.
The country's tourism infrastructure has seen the number of available rooms increase, the quality of ground transport improve across all modes, with port infrastructure now ranked fourth and railroads ranked 32nd in the world. Air transport also improved, and is now ranked 16th.
"The expansion of stadium capacity and creative industries exports is also notable," added the report.
Dominican Republic's air transport and tourism infrastructure was not ranked as high as Jamaica, but its quality of roads ranked it at 62nd compared to Jamaica at 82nd.
Jamaica's ranking for transparency of government policy making fell dramatically, from 64th to 115th, but Governemnt expenditure as a percentage of total budget was ranked fourth worldwide -- higher than Barbados at sixth -- even though overall prioritisation of the industry was ranked lower than Barbados at seventh.
The cost of rooms in Jamaica based on the hotel pirce index (HPI) -- which is calculated by using the average room rate achieved by first-class hotels in each country over a 12-month period from January through December -- was US$176.30, or well below the US$329.40 average in Barbados.
But it was still above regional counterparts like Panama (US$130.10) and Puerto Rico (US$168.10), while Dominican Republic's HPI of US$92 placed it at 17th in the world.
SAC Capital fund pays $614m over insider trading
A major hedge fund has agreed to pay a record $614m (£406m) to US regulators to settle charges of insider trading.
SAC Capital, run by Steve Cohen, did not admit or deny the charges.
A unit of the business was accused of profiting from secret information about a drug trial from a doctor before it was made public.
The Securities and Exchange Committee described the settlement a "sharp warning" to any fund that would break the law.
The settlement "does not preclude any such charges against any person, including Steven Cohen", said George Canellos, the SEC's acting director of enforcement.
"We can't tolerate a market rigged for the benefit of insiders and their cronies," he added.
SAC Capital runs a hedge fund worth $15bn and Mr Cohen is well-known character in the industry.
Criminal trial
The $614m settlement was for two different incidents at SAC Capital.
CR Intrinsic Investors settled for $600m. The former SAC trader, Mathew Martoma, is still facing a criminal trial and has pleaded not guilty.
He is accused of illegally obtaining confidential details about a negative clinical trial for an Alzheimer's drug. He then allegedly shared the information with SAC affiliates and sold $960m worth of shares in the company that made the drug, Elan and Wyeth.
And $14m was for a separate incident at the Sigma Capital affiliate for insider trading in the shares of tech firms Dell and Nvidia.
"This settlement is a substantial step toward resolving all outstanding regulatory matters and allows the firm to move forward with confidence,'' SAC said in a statement.
``We are committed to continuing to maintain a first-rate compliance effort woven into the fabric of the firm."
Delano Williams performs big at Jamaica's Boys Championship 2013
The all boy school Calabar High roared loudly on the final day to successfully defend the Mortimor Geddes trophy symbol of schoolboys' track and field supremacy, when they strolled to an easy victory on Saturday's final day of the 103rd ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys' and Girls' Athletics Championships at the National Stadium.
While many from Red Hills road celebrated their win, Turks & Caicos celebrated with Munro College who came 6th at the end of champs.
Calabar High amassed 299, followed by Jamaica College on 258.5, Kingston College on 247.5, Wolmer's Boys, 121, St Jago, 107 and Munro College with 98 to round out the hot 6.
Twenty-seven new records were established, while 30 were broken, 19 by boys and 11 by girls.
Munro College's Delano Williams joined the ranks of the Champs greats when he completed back-to-back Class One sprint doubles, winning his third straight 200m in a new personal best and world leading 20.27 seconds, only second to Usain Bolt's 20.25 seconds set in 2003 for William Knibb Memorial.
Williams, who won the 100m the previous night in 10.28 seconds, both new Turks and Caicos national senior records, joined former KC sprinter Lennox 'Billy' Miller as three-time winners of the 200m at Class One, and was the first since Miller did it 48 years ago in 1965.
It was also the first time any Class One boy was repeating as Class One sprint double champion since Camperdown's Garfield Campbell in 1986.
RTC Sports spoke with Delano after the race who said, "I was thrilled to have accomplished what only a few have done at my level and was happy with the times set and the achievements made for my school."
Turks & Caicos congratulates Delano Williams and the other local track and field ambassadors in Jamaica who took part in the weeks events.
Rafael Nadal rallies to win Indian Wells title
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Rafael Nadal rallied from a set and 1-3 down in the second to beat Juan Martin del Potro 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the BNP Paribas Open final on Sunday, giving the Spaniard his third title in four tournaments since returning from a seven-month injury layoff.
Nadal improved to a career-best 17-1 on the year, including 14 straight match wins. He's won three titles - two on clay while runner-up in another on his favorite surface - since returning from a left knee injury.
Indian Wells is his first hard-court title since Tokyo in October 2010, having lost in six previous finals on the surface. He won his 600th career match and will move to No. 4 in the rankings released Monday.
Nadal broke a tie with Roger Federer with his record 22nd career ATP Tour Masters 1000 title.
Heat pull away from Raptors, win 22nd straight
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The Miami Heat kept rolling right into March Madness.
Now it's on to Boston to face the rival Celtics - the team who ended the last streak this long.
The Heat equaled the second-longest winning streak in NBA history, pulling away in the fourth quarter Sunday to beat the Toronto Raptors 108-91 for their 22nd consecutive victory.
"It's a special ride right now that we're on,'' LeBron James said. "The best thing about it is we're doing it together.''
James had 22 points and 12 rebounds for his career-best 32nd double-double of the season, Dwyane Wade had 24 points and nine assists, and Ray Allen scored 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for the defending NBA champions.
Chris Bosh finished with 18 points as the Heat matched the 22 consecutive wins recorded by the 2007-08 Houston Rockets. The NBA's longest streak is 33 games, set by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers.
Miami will try to move into sole possession of second on Monday when it visits the Celtics - who ended the Rockets' run five years ago and have won 11 in a row at home.
"If there's any group that would be motivated in a circumstance like this, it's that team in green,'' Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I don't know if the streak will be a big factor but they love playing against us, and vice versa. That's what happens when you meet a team consecutively in the playoffs. There's a history there, and that's what makes these games special.''
The Heat have faced the Celtics twice so far this season. They blew out Boston 120-107 in Miami on opening night, then lost 100-98 in double-overtime on the road on Jan. 27, the day Boston learned that Rajon Rondo needed knee surgery.
"They played better than us for a large part of that game,'' Spoelstra said.
Winners of two straight, the Celtics may be without veteran forward Kevin Garnett on Monday. The 15-time All-Star sat out Saturday's victory over Charlotte with a strained left thigh and is day-to-day.
"We have to treat them with the respect they deserve,'' Spoelstra said. "Regardless of who plays for them, that's a team that will come out with an incredible amount of urgency.''
Wade called the looming matchup with Boston "a great challenge.''
"I think we'll be ready for it,'' he said. "We've got to get our rest and we've got to know we're going to have a dog fight on our hands.''
Heat forward Shane Battier, who played on the 2007-08 Rockets, inspired his teammates with a speech after their Feb. 3 win over Toronto. The 11-year veteran spoke again after Sunday's victory, an address that Spoelstra called "passionate'' and "pure.''
"Coach Riley gets paid close to six figures for his speeches,'' Spoelstra said, referring to former Heat coach and current team president Pat Riley. "I don't know what Shane should charge now, but he should get something.''
Miami blew it open Sunday behind Allen's 3-point shooting after Toronto tied it at 77 early in the fourth quarter.
"Those (3-pointers) are what we feared for so many years (when Allen was with Boston),'' Spoelstra said. "He can turn a game around just like that.''
Toronto is the third team with multiple losses to the Heat during the streak. Miami has beaten Philadelphia three times and Atlanta twice.