Highlights from the Print Newspaper edition - Issue No. 405
Updated as of |
Monday, 19 May 2003
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Up Front
News
Editorial
Letter to the Editor
Current Commentary
Ask Cosmo Girl
Your Health
Overseas People
Overseas Feature
Overseas News
Cayman Net News Daily Comics
News From Our Region
Sports
Two large land developments will now have access to the North Sound, as the Minister of Environment Hon. McKeeva Bush announced
Dart Gets Canal Licenses
The Cayman Islands Government granted two Coastal Works Licenses to the Dart Management Group to create two new channels into the North Sound and to deepen an existing canal.
At the press conference where it was announced the Coastal Works Licences were granted to the Dart Group are (l-r) Mr. John Papesh, Hon. McKeeva Bush and Mr. Charles Clifford.
The Licenses allow Dart's Cayman Shores Development to create two channels that will connect the already approved internal canal system to the North Sound. In the case of the Salt Creek project, the developer will be permitted to deepen the already existing inlet.
In a press conference last Friday afternoon,
the Leader of Government Business and Minister of Tourism, Environment,
Development and Commerce, Hon. McKeeva Bush announced the granting
of the licenses and form of compensation that will be made by
the developers.
As expected, dredging and clearing for these projects will sacrifice
approximately eleven acres of mangrove and sea grass. Further
to the recommendation of the Department of Environment (DoE),
as compensation the Government will receive 211 acres of Central
Mangrove Wetland located contiguously to Crown property from the
developers.
Dart will also transfer approximately six acres of land located at the Head of Barkers area, which will become part of the National Park in the future. All together, the Government will receive land in mitigation at a trade ratio of nearly 20:1.
In addition, Dart on Friday paid the Government CI$280,000 in royalties and fees as recommended by the DoE.
"I think this is a very good deal," said Mr. Bush, "The Department of Environment drives a good bargain in the interests of the country."
Mr. John Papesh, Vice President of Public Affairs at Dart Management said his company was pleased by Government's decision to allow the creation of the canals. "They greatly enhance the design and viability of the Salt Creek and Cayman Shores projects," he said, "We believe our donations of Central Mangrove Wetland and Barkers properties will help ensure the long-term health of the North Sound and the development of Cayman's first National Park."
To minimize potential harmful impact on the environment adjacent to the projects, Dart has agreed to use environmentally friendly technology and to exercise best management practices during all excavation operations.
Mr. Bush said the DoE would also regularly monitor the works to ensure that the leakage of dredged materials into the surrounding area is prevented.
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New Ownership
for the Marriott
The Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort announced in a press release last Friday that they are now operating under new ownership and management, ending concerns that the hotel might shut down.
Cayman Islands Hotel, LLC, which is owned by the former mortgage holder of the hotel, the Chicago-based LaSalle Bank, has given the management contract to PCI Management Ltd., and both entities have been granted the appropriate Local Companies Control Licenses (LCCL) to do business in the Cayman Islands.
General Manager of the Marriott, Mr. Willy Giger, said in the press release that the resort "is committed to enhancing and expanding services to the hotel guest under the Marriott franchise." He also said the hotel would honour existing commitments.
The Marriott, formally owned by the current owners of the Westin Casuarina Resort and the Holiday Inn Resort, has experienced low occupancy rates recently, partially due to severe erosion of their beach.
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Miss Cayman
Dazzles in Stunning National Costume
Amongst the butterflies at the Cayman Butterfly Farm our own beautiful Miss Cayman, Miss Nichelle Welcome, poses in the National Costume she will wear at the Miss Universe Pageant in Panama next month. The Butterfly Farm sponsored the costume, designed by Mr. Robert Solomon. "We're surrounded by beauty here every day," said Mr. Tony Cox of the farm, "today even more so."
Cayman Delegation Attends Caribbean
United Nations Decolonisation Seminar
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Hon. McKeeva Bush |
Hon. Roy Bodden |
Dr. Chris Rose |
Mr. Charles Clifford |
Ms. Patricia Ebanks |
Mrs. Sophia Harris |
Mr. Wil Pineau |
Leader of Government Business, the Hon. McKeeva Bush is leading a seven-member delegation representing the Cayman Islands at the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Advancing the Decolonisation Process in the Caribbean and Bermuda. The two-day seminar is to be held in Anguilla, beginning Tuesday (20th May).
The meeting is being staged under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly Special Committee on the situation regarding the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to the Colonial Countries and Peoples.
Joining the Leader of Government Business are the Minister of Education, Hon. Roy Bodden; Permanent Secretary of Tourism, Mr. Charles Clifford; Executive Director of the Portfolio of Finance, Dr. Christopher Rose; Director of GIS, Ms. Patricia Ebanks. Mr. Wil Pineau and Mrs. Sophia Harris, both of the Chamber of Commerce, will travel with the team as representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGO).
Minister Bush has been invited to speak in a session in which all the Caribbean Overseas Territories, including Bermuda, will be participating. That session will focus on the present status of these territories and "the completion of the decolonisation process."
As delegation leader, Mr. Bush said that though he felt it was very important for Cayman to be represented, he wanted to make it clear that "this is not about independence" for Cayman: "My Government has no mandate for independence but we must be clear that self-determination doesn't have to mean independence."
He said that there was a need for greater constitutional ability to protect the Cayman Islands' position locally and, most importantly, externally, particularly in regards to protecting the financial interests of these Islands."
Mrs. Sophia Harris, a local attorney, will speak on "Constitutional Modernization in the Caribbean, a Non-Governmental Perspective."
Other items on the agenda will include an overview of the implications of self-government in the Caribbean and the role of the United Nations system in providing assistance to the non-self-governing territories.
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News
Montserrat delegation to United Nations Decolonization Seminar
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Permanent Representative
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Montserrat's
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Anguilla's |
Chief Minister Hon. John Osborne is heading a three member official delegation including the Hon. Leader of the Opposition to the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Advancing the Decolonization Process in the Caribbean and Bermuda to be held in Anguilla from Tuesday 20 to Thursday 22 May.
The meeting is being staged under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly Special Committee on the situation regarding the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
Joining the Chief Minister and the Opposition leader Rueben T. Meade is the Hon. Minister of Communications and Works, John E. Wilson for the Anguilla meeting.
Former House Speaker Professor Sir Howard Fergus and Opposition MP Hon. Roselyn Cassell-Sealy both received private invitations to attend the conference.
Chairman of the Special Committee, Permanent Representative of St Lucia to the United Nations, H. E. Earl Stephen Huntley, will open the seminar and the week of solidarity with peoples from the non-self governing territories.
Anguilla's Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming will address participants and a message from the UN Secretary General will be read by his special representative.
The UN General Assembly, at its fifty-fifth session, adopted resolution 55/146 of December 8, 2000, in which it declared the period 2001-2010 the second international Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism.
The Assembly called on member states to redouble their efforts to implement the plan of action.
In its resolution 57/140 of December 11, 2002, the UN General Assembly approved the programme of work of the special committee envisaged for 2003, including the holding of a seminar in the Caribbean region to be organised by the committee and attended by the representatives of all non-self-governing territories.
According to UN documents, the purpose of the seminar is to "assess the situation in the non-self governing territories, in particular their constitutional evolution towards self determination, in order to facilitate the development by the special committee of a constructive programme of work on a case-by-case basis."
The seminar will also identify areas in which the international community could increase and enhance its participation in programmes of assistance and adopt a comprehensive and integrated approach to ensuring the political and sustainable socio-economic development of the territories concerned.
The contributions of the participants will serve as a basis for the conclusions and recommendations of the seminar. These will be carefully studied by the special committee and proposals submitted to the UN General Assembly.
Agenda items include: the role of the special committee in facilitating the decolonization of the non-self governing territories; Perspective of the administering powers on the completion of the decolonization process in the Caribbean and Bermuda within the context of the United Nations decolonization mandate ( Roy Osborne of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and the views of the representatives of the Caribbean and Bermuda on their present status and the completion of the decolonization process in their territories.
Dr. Carlyle Corbin, representative
of the Governor of the US Virgin Islands, is also listed to make
a presentation.
In addition to the representatives of member states, administering
powers, non-self governing territories and the Secretary General,
representatives of concerned specialized agencies and other organisations
within the UN
system and representatives of the organisations based in the region
and the non-self governing territories have been invited to the
seminar. Experts on non-self governing territories will also be
involved.
Al Whittaker (right) receiving his bonus cheque from Mike Ryan
Michael Ryan, developer of The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, presented Mr. Al Whittaker, head of Heritage & Hinton, Ltd., with a bonus cheque last week totaling US$100,000 for his efforts in the recent sale of one of The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton units. This was on top of the commission earned on the sale.
Ryan thanked Mr. Whittaker for his assistance in making the sale, saying "Al has been very key to this transaction, and we are grateful for his assistance. As I have said in the past, we want to thank all the realtors on the island who have made this project such a success. We could not have reached the level we are at today without their support."
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SARS advisory
for workplaces, schools; travel advisory scaled back
Dr. Kiran
Kumar,
Medical Officer of Health
The Public Health Department is advising
employees and students to delay going back to work or school if
they have recently returned from China, Singapore or the Philippines
the countries heavily affected by SARS.
Meanwhile, the department has modified its travel advisory, and
no longer advises persons to postpone travel to Toronto. This
is in light of the World Health Organisation's 14 May removal
of Toronto from the list of areas with recent local transmission,
and from the list of areas for which it has issued recommendations
pertaining to international travel.
Local residents are still advised to postpone travel to China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), as well as Singapore and the Philippines. Persons are also asked to postpone visits from relatives and friends who live in these areas, which are still included on the WHO's list of areas with local transmission.
The department's advisory to delay returning to work or school is intended to minimise chances of transmission if a case of SARS is diagnosed in Cayman, says Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kiran Kumar. As of 15 May, no local cases had been recorded.
"I am aware that some companies have canceled all business-related travel to China, and are asking persons who have recently visited these areas not to return to work within ten days after leaving these countries," he notes. "I support these policies, as they are in line with our efforts to prevent the introduction of SARS in Cayman, as well as to minimise transmission should these fail.
"However," Dr. Kumar cautions, "the advisory is not a blanket endorsement of sick leave. That matter has to be dealt with by each company."
He adds that the Public Health department is not quarantining the returnees from these countries: "I expect the advisory will be followed by individual responsibility and peer pressure," he says.
Dr. Kumar explains why the latest local advisory pinpoints the three countries: "As of 15 May, of the total 7,699 SARS cases, 7,348 were in various provinces of China, including the special administrative region of Hong Kong, and Taiwan; Singapore; and the Philippines," he outlines. "That accounts for about 95 percent of the cases.
"Day by day, more local SARS transmissions are being diagnosed in more Chinese provinces; in the Philippines, the local transmissions have rapidly increased from three cases on 6 May to 12 cases on 15 May. We therefore have issued this latest advisory as another safeguard for the public," he says.
Dr. Kumar advises persons who return from any affected country to monitor their health, particularly for fevers and cough, for ten days which is the incubation period for SARS. If no symptoms develop, there is no need to seek medical attention or to restrict activities. Alternatively, if a person has visited one of the countries and within ten days of return develops a fever, plus a cough or difficulty breathing, he or she is advised to contact a health care provider or the Public Health department by phone for necessary arrangements.
The Minister responsible for Health Services, the Hon. Gilbert McLean, urges everyone to take precautions against SARS. "There have been enquiries about what the government is doing to prevent this illness from entering Cayman," he acknowledges.
"While the Public Health Department has instituted measures in association with various government and non-governmental agencies, each individual and companies must take responsibility," he says. "Together, we can prevent the entry and spread of SARS on our shores."
Brewster gets a hug from Anita Parsons and Kristina Bramwell.
The weather cooperated fully with the Triple C Fair Day and it was very successful. Brewster the Rooster and the Easter Bunny were on hand, much to the delight of many and the fright of a few little ones. The turn out of parents and students was encouraging. The cake walk and fish pond were very popular as of course were the popcorn and cotton candy. Mr. Brian Kistner, 5th grade teacher got the dubious honor of kissing the pig, a traditional contest for the past 25 years. Ashley Wood and Landon Bodden reigned over the day as Queen and King of the Fair. (Click Here For More Photos)
Links presents donation to Humane Society
Mike Kelly, Golf Pro at the Links, makes a cheque presentation to Michelle Reddy, manager of the Humane Society.
The Links at SafeHaven's annual Anniversary Tournament was a resounding success, generating revenues of $1,576 that have been presented to Michelle Reddy, manager of the Humane Society.
"We are so grateful to the Links for
organizing this event to benefit the Humane Society," says
Michelle. We have several programs underway right now that are
requiring resources and every cent of this will be put to good
use".
The April 4th tournament was organised as a two-person Stableford
best ball competition. The results are as follows:
Champions
Brian Uzzell
Clark Buchanan
51 points
2nd Place
Phillip Voltz
Roger Braham
49 points
3rd Place
Alan Milgate
Darren Stainrod
48 points
Ladies Longest Drive
Paty Carrillo
Men's Longest Drive
Shawn Gale
Closest to the Pin # 5
Erik Ljubicic
Closest to the Pin # 9
Paula Chilman
Closest to the Pin # 11
Sydney Coleman
Closest to the Pin # 13
Robert Chilman
Mike Kelly, Golf Pro at the Links was extremely
pleased with the turn-out. "This is an excellent way for
people to get out on the course with some friends to benefit a
needy cause. We are already looking forward to next year".
The participants of the tournament were treated to a beautiful
afternoon and a BBQ during the awards ceremony. All proceeds from
the tournament were presented to the Humane Society on May 15th.
The Humane Society has pinpointed several projects that are currently underway that will benefit from the Links donation, including a renovation project including painting the shelter, purchasing new animal cages and dog runs and general reorganization of the dog yard. With the typical spring influx of new residents to the Shelter, these funds are very timely. Michelle adds: "our Shelter Hot-Line program is another project that we are working on that would benefit from donations to the Humane Society. This premise of this program is to pay the veterinarians for spaying/neutering pets of families who do not have the financial means to do so on their own. Interested parties may call the hotline at 948-7003".
The Links at SafeHaven has already made plans to make the Humane Society the recipient of the 2004 Anniversary Tournament, scheduled for next April.
Children's Panadol brings Mother's Day cheer
In honour of mothers on their special day, GlaxoSmithKline presented a basket of goodies to Sonia Pierson and her new bundle of joy, Gabriella. Presentation was made by Gina Alibey, representative of Cayman Distributors Ltd., the local distributor for the company. Beautiful 6lb, 10oz Gabriella was born at 5:17 a.m. at George Town Hospital on Mother's Day, and she was the only baby born in Grand Cayman on that day.
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Editorial
Actualising Cayman's Natural Beauty
The Cayman Islands depends heavily on the tourism market to maintain its high standard of living, and at a time when the rest of the world is in turmoil, this dependence is heightened. Fewer can afford to take tropical vacations, and those who do must be reassured that their holiday will be well worth the expense.
Residents of these islands also appreciate the lush, tropical beauty that presents itself in its natural state. The same cannot be said, however, where roads have dissected once virgin landscapes.
For while no one can deny that our islands possess beauty, there is definitely room for improvement. In a country which aspires to have visitors return as repeat guests, such improvement could be crucial in leaving a lasting impression.
Most people who travel here for a Caribbean getaway, when asked, say that they would like to encounter more greenery from the moment they disembark from the airplane. To this end, the next logical expectation of such a visitor might be to enjoy a scenic drive from the airport to their hotel. This, however, is not the reality.
Although the placement of the airport is unlikely to change, the fact remains that most people will have to pass through the industrial park and the unattractive shoulders of the Esterley Tibbetts highway before they reach their destination. While this serves as a faster route for residents who already know of the islands' many beautiful locations, the first time visitor does not.
An example how this beautification effort
could enhance the beauty of our Island is demonstrated by the
landscaping put in place and maintained by the Dart Management
group along the Harquail bypass.
The ever-present workers of the Public Works Department, and at
times volunteers, do a tremendous job picking up litter along
the roadways. However, putting a strategic islands-wide plan in
place for making these much-travelled thoroughfares beautiful
should be the goal. There is a vast potential to be realised,
and integrating natural beauty into areas which may have been
overlooked may do this.
Meanwhile, it is encouraging to note that within the next year, meetings will be held to involve the public in determining what changes should take place in the downtown area. This is a perfect opportunity for people to strategically devise a downtown area, which could rival that of other tourism destinations.
The reaction of cruise ship passengers will be pleasing if they were met with a harbour front of lush greenery, park benches, and walking roads that enabled them to move comfortably throughout the town. The entire area would become an attraction in itself, which would most likely increase the flow of residents and visitors alike well past the daylight hours.
Another possibility would be to create an annual competition for 'Best District'. Committees in each of the Islands' districts could manage government subsidies. The district would be examined prior to the competition, and the improvement would be measured during the District days of Pirates Week. This would bring the community together as they would take pride in their area, and enhance the beauty of their surroundings. Local businesses could sponsor the event, which in the end would benefit all.
Blessed with elements of natural beauty in which to create an attractive tropical atmosphere, our Island is waiting for its inhabitants to realise and enhance its potential.
Misunderstood Batabano promotes unity
Dear Sir,
I write in response to the misunderstandings, misperceptions and controversies surrounding Cayman Carnival Batabano.
Carnival is a religious festival celebrated worldwide. It is a time when everyone, yes everyone, can get together, set aside all differences regardless of religious beliefs, race, colour, social or economic achievements, and be together as one, for a period of time. The Rotary Club of Grand Cayman should be applauded for earmarking such an important event for our islands.
Cayman Carnival Batabano, now celebrating 20 years, has changed its mission, particularly over the last three years. The Cayman Islands is indeed looking for a new Tourism product. Our Department of Tourism, The Ministry of Tourism and our National flag carrier Cayman Airways, have now combined efforts to market Cayman Carnival Batabano.
The Cayman Islands boasts all the right ingredients for a successful Carnival, including the most beautiful and majestic parade route in the entire Caribbean. We have one of the safest islands in close proximity to most major gateways, and a blend of cultures that readily identifies the composition of the Cayman Islands. The resistance to the Carnival from the few who fail to be receptive to the bigger picture must understand the historical, social, spiritual, psychological and economic aspects of such an event.
Imported Culture who are we? Where were most of us, as Caymanians born? Once upon a time we required resources, did we not import teachers, doctors, lawyers & judges. And do we still not do so? We are now in an era where we are striving for more Caribbean unity, as we evolve as a people and as a nation we tend to merge other islands' cultural experiences into our daily lives.
With regards to the scanty clothing on the road this is indeed a festival in the hot Caribbean sunshine. Do you suggest we wear towels and wraps on the public beaches and into the water? Is it fine for our children to see adults on the public beach in a two-piece but not on the road during a festival parade, in decorated costumes? Is art not about the depiction and expression of artistry and our imagination as opposed to selfish babblings? Is it not in the Bible to "Render your hearts and not your garments?"
The 7-mile beach route, which is our street theatre, came alive with artistic costumes portraying social, historical, political and environmental issues that we face in our everyday lives. Can the critic look beyond his/her eyelashes and embrace what the Carnival holds for the good of all our people?
With regards to "Grinding" universally known as "wining" these free spirited movements to the beat of soca are not intended to be offensive in any way to the bystander. As a matter of fact, for the past three years the Carnival Committee has held meetings prior to each street parade with band-coordinators to impart guidelines and ask that masqueraders maintain certain decorum during the entire parade route. Soca music, the energy of Carnival, allows freedom of expression that promotes harmony, unity, love and togetherness in a national event. This is unlike some other celebrated festivals that we are still trying to come to terms with, in regards to the significance of their social impact, if any.
The image and the calibre of the Carnival have certainly been raised and with the removal of the mud from the Batabano day street parade, most of the negative stigmas previously associated with the carnival have been removed. Mud has no place on the road amongst the pretty costumes. It is strictly a Jouvert Morning mas. When the Government endorsed the carnival this was their one stipulation, "remove mud from the parade." Most Caribbean islands and North American cities have indeed banned mud from their costume street parades and rightly so. Again, it should be noted that mud has no place on the road alongside "pretty mas." However, it does traditionally open the carnivals in most regions, and has far reaching religious connotations. One can definitely expect to see mud bands on the road when an official Jouvert morning is declared as in the case of Jamaica, New York, Notting Hill (London carnival), Trinidad, Barbados and many others. Should the committee receive approval for a Jouvert road route, this will certainly be the opening for Cayman Carnival Batabano.
Three years ago, we introduced a Junior
Carnival, as well as a Teen dance to separate the Adult Parade
and Street dance. In addition, we have taken the Carnival to the
tourists by changing the route to the Seven Mile Beach, West Bay
road. This year the costume street parade had more participants
than any other year with some noteworthy corporations as masqueraders.
Also, over 300 juniors representing 8 schools island wide participated.
The development and growth of Cayman Carnival lies with our children.
It allows a great platform for artistic development and embracement
of ideas from other cultures. Certainly it will give our youth
a psychological balance, as opposed to being lost in a world of
double standards. Maybe we would have less incidents of crime
and rebellion and more racial harmony, should we allow this festival
the chance to bloom Take a moment to look at the big picture,
we see all our Caribbean neighbours gearing up for this industry,
as well as Asia, Europe, Australia and Japan. Statistics prove
that Carnivals worldwide are responsible for the highest economic
yield per day to any given city. For example, Miami Carnival statistics
prove that their Carnival is the largest revenue source for any
one-day event. The Cayman Islands can also benefit from this tourism
event. Caribscope was here this past weekend to cover Cayman Carnival
Batabano, could we be on the right track?
As important as Cayman Carnival will become as a revenue source for our islands, it is surprising that during our Quincentennial year, this important festival was not included in any of the marketing efforts by the Quincentennial office. It should also be noted that other annually celebrated events such as the Miss Cayman Islands Beauty Pageant were also not included. As carnival suggests, we must set aside our differences and unite. We need to market all our resources in a combined effort to reach the one end result everyone can agree on the return of the Cayman Islands to our prosperous past!
Donna M. Myrie
Chairperson,
Cayman Carnival Batabano
Unhappy with forced water sources
Dear Sir,
As the chairman of a small condominium complex on North Side, I have been researching Desal systems, which would allow our complex the ability to generate its own potable and drinking water.
Much to my disbelief, I was notified by our property manager that the Cayman Islands Government will be imposing a requirement that bans the use of Desal systems, forcing homeowners and businesses to purchase water from their source.
On North Side, our current source of water is rainwater or purchasing truckloads from the local water companies, until water lines are installed.
The last time I checked, I believe the Cayman Islands operates as a democracy. Forcing its population to source its water from the government reads communism in my book. Where do the laws state that the CI government owns the water in the sea?
What if we decide to install a windmill
to generate electricity? Will they force us to buy power from
CUC?
Where does it end? I'll tell you where it ends. When the hardworking
US and European citizens who invest in the Cayman Islands say
enough is enough, and pull out. There are many other Caribbean
island countries that are more attractive and most importantly
more appreciative of foreign investors.
Keep it up and reap the consequences.
Don Martin
Dangerous plant watering at night
Dear Sir,
A matter that gives me great concern is the sprinkling of the plants at night on the Esterly Tibbetts Highway.
Most of the water falls on the road, which is not lighted, causing large pools of water and making the narrow road slippery.
Sometime ago, this road condition almost caused a fatal motorcycle accident, and who is to know if the water on the road was not the cause of the recent fatal car accident that claimed the life of a precious teenager. The watering of the plants should be conducted during daylight, when motorists can clearly see the condition of the road, and therefore know to be extra careful when they are driving.
I hope that whoever is responsible for the
sprinkling will read this letter and do whatever is necessary
to correct this dangerous situation.
Thank you for the space Mr. Editor.
Alejandro B. Ebanks
There must be cause for commission removal
Dear Sir,
There is a draft amendment to the Constitution to establish an Electoral Boundary Commission of 3 persons. The Governor will appoint the Chairman, the Leader of the Opposition will recommend one member and the Leader of Government Business will recommend one member also.
The Chairman can only be removed "for inability to discharge" his functions. However both the Leader of Government Business and the Leader of the Opposition can have the members they appointed removed for no cause whatsoever. This cannot be right.
We recommend that to be seen to have an Electoral Boundary Commission "not subject to the direction or control by any person or authority" (as the Draft Constitution Order provides) all members should be removed only for inability to discharge his or her functions and not be subject to removal for no cause.
Truman Bodden,
Tom Jefferson,
John McLean
Cuban migration saga continues
By Les Kjos
MIAMI (UPI) The Cuban migration that started with President Fidel Castro's rise to power in 1959 has become a saga without end.
The adventure is full of twists and turns starting with the Pedro Pan flights of Cuban children to Miami in the early 1960s, the Mariel boatlift of 1980 and most definitely the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 and its wet-foot, dry-foot adjustment in 1996.
The saga also illustrates the vagaries of US immigration policy, especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which has made even visiting, much less immigration, more difficult and chancy for people from Muslim nations. Haitians also see it as a double standard.
The latest two chapters of the Cuba saga
both occurred in the Florida Keys Thursday. First, six Cubans
tried to make it to the United States aboard a rickety 14-foot
boat. Four of them surrendered to the Coast Guard two miles off
shore but the other two remained in the water for more than two
hours, hoping to make it to land.
They were swimming against the tide, and had to give themselves
up. They are likely to be returned to Cuba because their feet
remained wet.
Three others last week pulled the same trick, and made it, riding ashore with the tide and the currents as the Coast Guard watched helplessly.
Presumably, they would be able to remain in the United States because their feet became dry when they reached shore. But there was a catch. Two of them were charged in Key West, Fla., federal court with assault on Coast Guard personnel for allegedly swinging at them with a knife and a machete.
If they are convicted, they could serve up to 20 years. A conviction will also mean deportation after they serve their sentence.
A third man on that attempt was captured at sea and remains aboard a Coast Guard cutter, his future uncertain. He could be used as a witness against the two defendants, and that might earn him permission to stay in the United States.
The other man who made it ashore was not charged; he will be processed in Miami and most likely released, under US policy.
That policy was first developed under President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 and is known as the Cuban Adjustment Act.
It was adopted by Congress Nov. 2 of that year and its main provision was to give Cuban immigrants special status to treat them as political refugees and to grant them automatic political asylum. It was deep in the cold war, and Cuba's communist government was enough to push the act across.
Under that act, refugees are taken to the Krome Avenue Processing Center west of Miami for a few days then released into the community. A year later, they are granted permanent residence.
In 1980, the Mariel Boatlift in which Castro opened the doors to migrants that wanted to leave and 125,000 arrived in Miami changed the nature of the city forever.
Another flood of migrants threatened to inundate Florida in 1996, but President Bill Clinton reached an agreement with the Cuban government that resulted in the wet-foot, dry-foot rule, along with the acceptance of 2,000 Cubans into the United States a year.
No longer would rafters and boat people who were spotted at sea be picked up and taken to Florida or allowed to continue. Those who were interdicted at sea were immediately taken back to Cuba.
But those who made it to Florida's vast coastline without being detected are allowed to stay.
Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits are not happy with the results.
"They (refugees) realize that if they're sent back, they face very grave consequences, even death," said Rep. Mario Diaz Balart, R-Fla.
He said the policy is unacceptable, and the only answer to the problem is that "Castro must go." He blamed the policy on the Clinton administration and said he hoped the Bush administration would change it.
Cuban Parliamentary President Ricardo Alarcon says "immigration has been one of the oldest weapons used by the United States in its dirty war against Cuba."
He said the United States is trying to foment a "migratory crisis." He said it is refusing and restricting visas for legal emigration to the United States, while receiving those who travel illegally and reach US soil with open arms in accordance with the Cuban Adjustment Act.
The situation is especially dicey right now because of the Cuban crackdown on dissidents. Seventy-five people were sentenced to as long as 27 years in prison and three men who tried to hijack a Havana Harbor ferry died in front of a firing squad.
The United States didn't improve relations
this week when it expelled 14 diplomats for alleged spying.
But perhaps the people who hate the Cuban Adjustment Act the most
are the Haitians who have made it to this country and are being
deported. They have nothing like the Cuban Adjustment Act.
They face the same visa restrictions as any other national group you can't get in the United States without one. One exception is political asylum and proof that if they were repatriated, they would be persecuted by the government.
The US government insists the Haitians come here for economic and not political reasons, and the Cubans' reasons are the opposite. One reason is that Cuba is a communist nation and Haiti is not.
Another reason is that the Cuban-American community in Miami and some parts of New Jersey represent a powerful voting bloc that is currently the property of the Republican Party, although they are frequently courted by Democrats.
The Haitians have not accumulated the numbers to become a force in national politics.
Haitian immigrants to Florida have waged
an angry debate over the issue for decades with no success.
Officials from Muslim nations have also voiced opposition to the
tough immigration policies implemented after Sept. 11, which no
longer allow anyone to just show up at a port of entry and seek
political asylum. Now visitors from certain Middle East and Muslim
nations are required to register within a few days after their
arrival.
Remembering Russia's great victory
By Martin Sieff, UPI Senior News Analyst
WASHINGTON (UPI) The Russian people proudly celebrated the 58th anniversary of their amazing World War II victory over Nazi Germany on Friday, 9 May. As usual, the event got little notice in the US press. That was a mistake.
For the Russian people's victory, as the major nationality in
what was then the Soviet Union, under the brutal, murderous wasteful
leadership of Josef Stalin in what Russians still call The Great
Patriotic War holds important lessons for the world even in the
21st century.
First, that event still matters to Russians. It was solemnly commemorated
and celebrated across what remains the largest country on earth.
The Russian people fought a literal struggle for survival. They
won it. But the cost was inconceivable -- almost 27 million dead,
more than the United States might have suffered even in a first
nuclear strike in the Cold War. Almost everyone in Russia lost
a grandparent or friend in that struggle. No wonder they remember
it.
Second, World War II would probably have been won by Nazi Germany
but for the amazing struggle of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples
and their allies even under the wasteful incompetence of Stalin's
totalitarian communist regime. Even on the brink of D-Day, three
times as many Nazi Wehrmacht divisions were committed to fighting
the advancing Red Army in the East as were awaiting the Anglo-American
invasion in France or holding back the Allied armies in Italy.
Third, as respected commentator Paul Goble wrote for United Press
International two years ago, "Victory Day serves as a bittersweet
occasion to recall Russia's lost power in the world. No country
that has suffered the kind of decline Russians have experienced
over the past two decades can view such a process with dispassion.
Victory Day thus becomes the occasion for remembering a more glorious
past."
Indeed it does. And that leads to the fourth and most important reason for non-Russians to note Victory Day too. As Goble observed in 2001, Russians had not fought for Stalin or communism, "They had fought for Russia and themselves. And because they could do so then, celebrations now suggest, they may be able to do so again."
When the late Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, Britain's greatest general of the 20th century, was asked to compile a list of military blunders and elementary disasters to avoid, he put at the very top of the list, "Invading Russia. It is always a bad idea."
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Fuhrer Adolf Hitler carried out that bad idea. He launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, and in doing so unleashed the greatest, most epic and easily the bloodiest war in the history of the world.
The Russian/Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War did more than annihilate the German army in the East. It also established the Soviet Union as the dominant Eurasian military power for almost half a century until its disintegration at the end of 1991.
Because of the Great Patriotic War, it was inevitable that all of Central Europe from Stettin in the Baltic to the borders of Greece would fall under Soviet control before the Anglo-American armies driving in on the Third Reich from the West could get there first.
Following the collapse of communism, all of that is history. But the celebration of Victory Day Friday teaches anew a crucial lesson on the strength, endurance and resilience of the Russian people that policymakers of the Bush administration would do well to ponder today.
In the nearly four years following June 22, 1941, 27 million Russians, Ukrainians and other Soviet nationalities died at the hands of the Nazi invaders. Not since the Mongol heirs of Genghis Khan conquered China in the 13th century, had so much loss of life been visited upon a single nation. Even a limited nuclear strike on Russia or the United States today would not produce such comparable casualties and human suffering.
Yet at Stalingrad in 1942, at Kursk in 1943 and in the June 1944 Battle of Belorussia, the Russians and the other Soviet subject peoples struck back. And, unlike the Germans, they won.
The devastation and suffering the Russian people suffered during those four hideous years from June 1941 to May 1945 dwarfed in scale even the impoverishment and national humiliation they have experienced over the past decade since the collapse of the Soviet system. Yet they surged back from the most nightmarish adversity to win the decisive battle of World War II and become one of the two dominant global superpowers thereafter. If they could come back and triumph in the face of all that, it would be a grave mistake to assume they will remain a marginal, let alone insignificant, power in the years ahead.
That is especially the case when their current president, Vladimir Putin, has been pushing ahead with remarkable success to reestablish a powerful, quasi-authoritarian, centralized governing structure and he has so far succeeded in stabilizing Russian living standards after their cataclysmic decline during the previous decade and a half.
Do not count Russia out. Do not assume she is a power that can be ignored or defied in imposing unilateral U.S. policies around the world in the years ahead. Those are two lessons that President George W. Bush and his advisers would do well to remember in the months and years ahead.
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Ask Cosmo
Girl
Ask Cosmo Girl
Atoosa Rubenstein
I have a strange way of flirting with guys.
Usually I hit them, pinch them or kick them to either get their
attention or just play with them. Is it all right as long as I'm
not hurting them?
Megan, 14, Houston
This sort of reminds me of a little boy
who pulls a girl's pigtails to show that he likes her. In a weird
way it's cute but it's also sort of immature. Do I recommend
this as a flirting tactic? I'd have to say ... uh, no. First of
all, it's a little weird to ever hit "anyone". I don't
mean to make it sound like you're a freakasaurus or anything,
but in the grand scheme of things, it's not the best habit to
have. Some people really "don't" like to be hit (like
people who have power issues I know people like that), and
you don't want to make them feel uncomfortable even if you're
just kidding. But also, the more mature way to show someone you're
interested is to be nice. Think about it why send mixed signals?
Just smile, be friendly and say "hi." You'll have a
way better shot than if you kick him promise.
I am usually the person who's ahead of the class, and now I am
behind and I don't know why. I don't want to be behind. I want
to have a good education, and I don't want to have to work somewhere
sucky. I mean, I have always had big dreams of being famous and
not having to borrow money all the time! Help!
Megan, 14, Phoenix
If you want to have good grades, there's
a clear path to getting there: You have to put in the time and
the work. It's not "easy" because it takes discipline.
But it "is" simple. My advice? Focus more on today and
a bit less on your grand-scheme future. It's "always"
good to have dreams and aspirations. But you'll never get there
if you're not paying attention to the work that's in front of
you right now. As my mother used to say, "Work hard now and
you'll have everything later." She was right. The best years
of your life are not right now they're ahead of you. Right
now is the time when you need to work hard to prepare for it so
it's everything you want it to be.
My 19-year-old brother is emotionally abusive. I have slapped
him two times, and I don't like it, but I just get so mad with
what he says. Is there any way I can get him to leave me alone,
or to be nicer?
Bobbi, 13,
Redding, Calif.
OK, so you've got to quit slapping him. I know, I know "he's" the jerk, and I'm yelling at "you". Boo! But I'm just looking out for you, sister. If he's got a bad temper like you describe, you do "not" want to escalate his emotional abuse into physical abuse. Now, have you tried talking to one of your parents about how he treats you? If you've tried and it wasn't helpful, try this approach: Instead of emotionally complaining to your mom or dad about the situation, "calmly" say that he's been treating you in a way that's been very upsetting to you. Tell them that you don't think he realizes how deeply this is affecting you and that you'd like their help with the situation. And then? Lay low. Sometimes the best way to deal with bullies is to avoid them. Hopefully with your calm and mature delivery, your parents will really hear you and step in to help.
The many benefits of weight loss
Chad Collins, BSc., R.D.
Recent research has been devoted entirely to the health consequences of overweight and obesity. This was done because these conditions are increasing at an alarming rate and contribute substantially to a variety of chronic health conditions. A survey of almost 17,000 adults, chosen as a nationally representative cross-section of the U.S. population, was described in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Two-thirds of men and more than half of women were overweight when defined as having a body-mass index of 25 or more. BMI or Body Mass Index is an indicator of weight based on height, with greater than 25 being associated with being overweight or obese as well as being associated with an increased risk for health problems. For example, Type 2 diabetes was 13-18 times more common among the heaviest individuals: gallbladder disease was 5-21 times more common. High blood pressure was three times more prevalent: osteo-arthritis was up to 30 times more common.
Among obese subjects, more than one adverse health condition was much more likely. For most health conditions surveyed, the greater the BMI or weight above ideal, the greater the health risk. This means that some reduction in weight will be beneficial; you don't have to lose all the weight for a positive health effect.
If you believe your weight may be higher than it should, there is no time like the present to educate yourself on ways to help reduce your weight and risk for disease. In many cases, people eat in ways that actually makes losing weight more difficult, even though they are eating less. Understanding concepts such as the basics of a healthy diet for good nutrition, combining food types so you feel full longer, eating to keep your blood sugars stable so your body will burn more calories, and other strategies, will help promote an environment that makes weight loss less of a challenge. Many people actually do things that make weight loss more difficult, and often restrict themselves much more than they have to. This often leads to poor nutrition and consequently feeling unwell and being more susceptible to colds, flu and other infections.
Understanding how to balance eating and living for both good health as well as enjoyment, while incorporating ways to maximize your body's ability to lose or maintain weight, is one of the best investments you can make in your future health.
Chad Collins,
BSC, RD, CNSD
Registered Dietitian
946-8749
Nutrix Ltd.
Return
Overseas
People
Indian star says Bond girl rumours have her thinking
Indian actress and jury member Aishwarya Rai poses for photographers as she arrives at the palais des festivals to attend the screening of 'Les Egares' by French director Andre Techine during the 56th Cannes film festival. The film is in competition for the Golden Palm. AFP PHOTO / Pascal GUYOT
CANNES, France (AFP) - Aishwarya Rai, a
former Miss World turned Bollywood movie star in India, said Friday
she was looking into rumours that she is being considered for
a part in the next James Bond movie.
"Will it be? I have no clue," Rai told AFP in Cannes,
where she is sitting on this year's jury at the international
film festival under way.
"What I did learn from the media is that it (the next Bond film) is still at the scripting stage, and it was an idea that they were looking for an Asian face," she said.
The press in her native India has been speculating that she may be the next Bond girl, even though official word from Eon Productions, the maker of the 007 films, is that the next superspy outing is still being planned and that it is too early to cast the female lead.
But the commotion has already sparked interest from the ambitious Indian actress, who starred in last year's "Devdas" and said she might happily accept the part if it came up.
"Seeing the kind of reactions this furore has created, it's a possibility.... But the script individually, or the role individually, or all together, and the director - these aspects would have to inspire or excite for me to be part of it."
Indian films appeal to Africans as well
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) The Indian diaspora
in Africa - many of them on the continent for generations - keep
in touch with their roots through the films of "Bollywood",
the Hindu film industry based in Bombay.
What is odder is that many Africans also watch the films, even
though they do not understand a word of the dialogue.
"There's never any obscenity, or gratuitous violence - you can watch them with the children," explained Issa, a 50-year-old teacher in Ouagadougou.
That crucial difference from Hollywood films makes the Indian movies popular among Africa's large Muslim community.
Women say they love the films for their tender love stories.
"Two lovers singing... pink fields, a blue sky... that makes you dream," explained Dieneba, a 22-year-old Ouagadougou student. "Here, you're lucky if a man offers you a wilted flower."
Johnny Spencer Diop, a distributor in Dakar, says the Senegalese "adore" Bollywood films because they identify with the actors.
He likens them to South American telenovela "soaps" which have won the hearts of Senegalese television-watchers.
The Bollywood films compete head-to-head with kung-fu action movies, and admission prices are often far cheaper than for Hollywood epics.
Entry to a Bollywood film in Senegal is
around 50 cents, against close to five dollars for a Hollywood
movie.
"All my spare cash goes on watching Indian films. I don't
understand any Hindi, but I learn the songs by heart," said
Fatou, a 20-year-old yoghurt-seller in Ouagadougou, the Burkina
Faso capital.
In some countries the audiences are growing, but in others they are slipping: In Ivory Coast, the cinemas that showed Bollywood films 10 years ago have become evangelistic churches, and in Sierra Leone and Ghana, Nigerian films have supplanted those from Bollywood.
In Libreville, the cinema that showed Indian
films closed down three years ago, but they are fondly remembered.
"The music, the dancing, and then these tales of reincarnation,
they were great," said Tina Padonou, a 27-year-old secretary
in Libreville.
"Lots of people, especially Muslim immigrants from Cameroon and Nigeria, came to watch the films with their children because the love scenes are discreet."
Said Blaise Makassa, a Congolese computer technician in Libreville: "I didn't like these stories about snakes and magic canes, but I loved the way the Indian women danced."
The Bollywood "Oscars" - the International India Film Academy (IIFA) awards - will be presented Saturday in South Africa, where Bollywood films are enjoying a groundswell of support among all sectors of the population.
Virtually the entire galaxy of the Hindi film industry, led by legendary star Amitabh Bachchan, the Khan trio of Shahrukh, Salman, Saif Ali, and numerous other popular actresses, producers and directors will attend the ceremony at Northgate, just north of Johannesburg.
Syria helped United States catch 'Mrs. Anthrax'
Member of Iraq's ruling Baath party and member of its Regional Command, Hoda Saleh Mehdi Ammash.
By RICHARD SALE, UPI Intelligence Correspondent
Syrian intelligence, in a good-faith effort to boost cooperation with the United States in the war on terror, provided intelligence that resulted in U.S. forces taking custody of one of Iraq's top biological weapons scientists, administration officials said.
U.S.-educated Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, popularly called "Mrs. Anthrax" and the only woman included in a U.S. list of 55 most-wanted Iraqi officials, was taken into custody Monday by U.S. forces in Baghdad, after Syrian authorities revealed her location to U.S. officials, serving U.S. intelligence officials said.
The capture comes in the wake of a visit last Saturday to Damascus by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell as part of a new and more aggressive phase of diplomacy in the Middle East, these sources said.
Powell's visit followed severe criticism of Syria by the United States during the war on Iraq.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused Damascus of supplying military equipment to Saddam Hussein's regime, of granting fleeing members of the Iraqi government refuge, and of possessing proscribed weapons of mass destruction. Although Syria denied the charges, there was some speculation in Washington that Syria might be next U.S. target in the Middle East after Iraq.
Cooperation with Washington on Ammash may temper some of that criticism.
A U.S. intelligence official told United Press International that Ammash was living "in a secret location in Syria, the location of which I can't disclose."
He went on: "As a gift to Powell, as a gesture of good will, Syria's top leadership instructed Syrian intelligence to exfiltrate Mrs. Anthrax from Syria into Baghdad, after which her whereabouts were disclosed to U.S. officials. Her arrest was the result of this operation."
The official also played down news reports
that Ammash surrendered to the United States following negotiations.
He said he knew nothing of a "negotiated surrender,"
and said if there was "any dealing" it was done "probably
to obtain documents relevant to Iraqi WMD programs."
One reason for the sudden help may be an effort by Syria to compensate for its apparent lack of cooperation with the United States in closing the Damascus offices of Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are on Washington's list of foreign terrorist organizations.
A State Department official said Powell, in meetings with Syrian President Bashar Assad, asked that Damascus close local offices of Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Following the meetings, Powell said Syria had complied.
But U.S. intelligence sources disputed this account. One former senior CIA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Syria has always said these offices were for information purposes only, adding, "The operational stuff is always done in Lebanon."
An administration official confirmed this
and added that to avoid "looking submissive to U.S. pressure,"
the Assad government told the three groups, before Powell's arrival,
"to lie low and not give any press conferences."
"That isn't the same as being closed," the official
said.
State Department officials said Ammash was born in Baghdad in 1953, her father was a former defense minister, vice president, and early member of Saddam's Baath Party leadership.
These same sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Saddam ordered his execution in 1983.
Ammash is believed to have been a key player in bolstering Baghdad's biological weapons programs since 1991, U.S. government officials said.
She was trained by Nassir al-Hindawi, who U.N. inspectors describe as the father of Iraq's biological weapons program.
She served as president of Iraqi's Microbiology Society and was dean at the University of Baghdad, they said.
Syria is expected to provide more intelligence that will lead to additional arrest of wanted Iraqis, U.S. government officials said.
Over 120 feared dead in freak air accident
KINSHASA, Congo (UPI) - More than 120 people were feared dead in the Democratic Republic of Congo after being sucked out of a cargo plane, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.
It said that according to Congolese military officials, the rear ramp of a Russian-built Ilyushin-76 became detached about 45 minutes after take-off from the capital, Kinshasa.
The plane had been chartered by the Congolese military and was flying from Kinshasa to Congo's second city, Lubumbashi.
Kinshasa airport sources told the BBC that only the Russian crew members survived. The crew was able to turn the plane around and return to Kinshasa airport following the incident.
The BBC's Mark Dummett in Kinshasa said there are often plane accidents in the vast country.
Because of the poor road conditions and the terrible state of the economy, according to Dummett, any journey over a distance requires a hair-raising ride in a poorly maintained aircraft.
Many of the planes are old Soviet military aircraft, the BBC reported, with passengers and cargo crammed in the back.
Gas lines and gunshots in Baghdad
By Beth Potter
US army military police arrest a man for looting in a major street of Baghdad. AFP PHOTO/Romeo GACAD
BAGHDAD (UPI) A month after the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in downtown Baghdad, many Iraqis remain unsettled by the fact that the dictator's fate and that of his two sons remain unknown.
In the Iraq war the United States targeted two successive locations where Saddam was supposed to have been at the time. But U.S. authorities have apparently not been able to ascertain that the Iraqi dictator was at either place, and his whereabouts remain unknown.
One Baghdad resident told United Press International Friday that residents believe Saddam's elder son Uday is alive and is "terrorizing people with his own band of thugs." The resident refused to give his name. "We don't where these guys (Saddam and his sons) are, so we have to be careful."
Uday, 39, was well-known among Iraqis as a playboy with an extravagant lifestyle and a violent reputation. U.S. sources in Baghdad said the tale of his nightly wanderings was very unlikely. Nevertheless, it reflects the tension and uncertainty that still prevails in the Iraqi capital.
Lack of adequate security and shortages
of everything seem to be getting worse rather than better.
Gas is still in extremely short supply. For a country with the
second-largest oil reserves in the world, this is hard to understand.
But as a result, the black market thrives. Freelance gas dealers
with 5-gallon containers operate across the street from a centrally
located gas station, where the line of cars is four deep and a
half-mile long.
Ali al-Souri, a taxi driver with a white Buick, says he buys his
gas from black-market dealers rather than wait in line for three
or four hours. But the word has spread that black market gas often
has water and other liquids added, and al-Souri says, "Their
gas makes my car hiccup."
Many of the city's residents still do not have access to clean water. Gunshots ring out in the middle of the afternoon and parents say they're afraid to send their children to school.
The Iraqi dinar has plummeted in value. For any business transaction of $100 or more, many people bring precounted rolls of cash kept together with string or a rubber band in black plastic bags.
Small businessmen with a little bit of extra money to invest appear to be the only people doing well in this uncertain environment.
Ezzedien Kordiyeh, a 39-year-old Jordanian, has been taking advantage of the lack of regulations at the Jordanian-Iraqi border to bring in cars and selling them. Many of them look as if they've been in accidents. Others have four or five satellite dishes strapped to their roofs, also for sale.
"I used to pay duty of about $500 per car," Kordiyeh says, "and I'd make $200 in profit. Now it's $800."
An American armored personnel carrier drives slowly down a Baghdad street. A woman with three small children rushes into the street to plead with the soldiers, "I'm hungry, I'm hungry," she says, crying, "My children have nothing. Please give us food."
British war veterans commemorate World War II's longest naval battle
LIVERPOOL, England (AFP) Veterans
of the Battle of the Atlantic, World War II's longest naval conflict,
gathered near the English city of Liverpool Saturday to honour
one of its heroes and remember fallen comrades.
Around 50 British veterans gathered at the war memorial in the
town of Bootle, near the northwest English city of Liverpool,
to honour hero Captain Johnnie Walker.
They were joined by naval chiefs, sailors
and cadets as well as local clergy, dignitaries and members of
the public.
Walker played a pivotal role in helping the allies win the Battle
of the Atlantic, which saw Britain's navy forced into protecting
merchant ships from German submarines and warships.
Captain Johnnie Walker's grandson, Patrick Walker himself a Royal Navy submariner said the memorial service had made him feel "proud but humble."
"I'm full of respect and admiration for all the veterans here because they went through something that our generation has never had to," he said. The event was part of a six-day programme of Battle of the Atlantic commemorations that began Wednesday and were being held in and around Liverpool. A commemoration service was to take place at the city's Anglican Cathedral on Sunday.
Navy chiefs had said that these would be last official commemorations of the battle. The battle took place between September 1939 and May 1945 but was effectively won in May 1943, when the German navy withdrew its U-boats from North Atlantic convoy routes following heavy losses.
About 30,000 merchant seamen, 8,000 Allied servicemen and 6,000 coastal command personnel were killed in the battle as well as some 29,000 German submariners.
Saturday's commemorations were held in Bootle because Captain Walker's 36th Escort Group was based at the town's Galdstone Dock, five miles (eight kilometres) from the Battle of the Atlantic command in Liverpool.
Nigerian beggars brush up their act to survive in a competitive climate
LAGOS (AFP) In the teeming streets of Lagos, Africa's most populous city, even the beggars have to make an effort to promote their business and stand out from the crowd.
Take the example of Yinka Aberuagba, a plausible 29-year-old with a smart suit, an elegant briefcase and a neat line in patter. Every day he plies his trade at a series of Lagos bus stops.
"I am a graduate in economics. I have just been invited for a job interview by an oil company but I do not have transport money to get me to the venue of the interview, can you help?" he asks.
When challenged on his story, Aberuagba admits that he's simply trying to raise money to feed his family. His parents are elderly and he is the eldest of nine children.
Compared to the more down-at-heel beggars who swarm busy road junctions in the city, Aberuagba cuts a stylish figure, but his enterprising brand of pan-handling is not unique.
"This category of itinerant beggars are called 'academic' or 'new millennium' beggars," said Lagos sociologist Bayo Soyinka, who thinks he has indentified a trend.
"Self-preservation is the first law of nature. This class of people are using their survival instincts to get along," he said.
Not all beggars are as dishonest as the young "economics graduate", some have set themselves useful tasks in the hope of attracting attention to their plight.
Ibrahim Musa, 45, is a Ghanaian who has been crippled by polio. For ten years he has based himself on a pedestrian bridge over the busy Ijesatedo bus stop in the Surulere district of the city.
Despite his plight, his bright white smile flashes out from his handsome, ebony features at passers-by. He waves cheerily and sweeps the bridge clean, day after sweltering tropical day.
In exchange, passers-by drop him a few naira notes, and Musa makes more than an average Nigerian university graduate earns at his or her first job.
"I make at least two thousand naira (16 dollars) daily and this takes care of my feeding and my other needs, including payment to the car that brings me here and back every day," he said.
Other, more desperate, beggars resort to death-defying performances to attract attention. On the busy Marina highway crippled polio victims dodge traffic on skateboards.
Accidents are common, but so are the generous souls who drop a few naira as they pass by.
"We are not ashamed since we survive
on this. Begging is much better than stealing or robbery,"
said Ropo Adebayo, who dropped out of school eight years ago when
polio stopped him walking.
But if some beggars are only a danger to themselves, others take
their quest for attention to more dubious extremes.
Two women were arrested in Lagos last year for "borrowing"
children from a creche, dressing them up as twins and taking them
into the streets to support their begging act.
In parts of Nigeria's southwest, Yoruba tradition dictates that mothers of twins must dance with them and beg for alms in public places to ensure their survival.
Despite the lengths they go to improve their
routines, however, Lagos' beggars are not universally approved
of.
Authorities have in the past tried to clear the streets before
major sporting events, and now, with the introduction of a national
ID card, Nigeria hopes to clamp down on immigrants.
Many of those attracted to Lagos where the vast riches of the oil industry offer a faint hope of advancement to the region's impoverished masses are from Niger, Chad and Sudan.
Child beggars blamed for lawlessness
The amajiris, child-beggars, roam around the Gusau town in the Nigerian Islamic state of Zamfara with their bowls in search of food. These poverty-stricken children are often blamed for lawlessness in northern Nigeria. The Zamfarans upheld their fatwa, Islamic religious decree, ordering the execution of the fashion writer Isioma Daniel of the This Day newspaper of Nigeria. The controversial article sparked religious riots in parts of Nigeria that led to 220 deaths and cancellation of the Miss World contest and its relocation to London. AFP PHOTO/Lus UTOMI EKPEI
Merger for airline Swiss necessary in future: chief executive
ZURICH (AFP) The ailing airline Swiss will need to merge with another company to secure its future, chief executive Andre Dose said in a magazine interview on Friday.
Dose did not give a timeframe for the possible move in the interview with the travel trade magazine Schweizer Touristik.
"It's clear that Swiss would not be viable if we are not part of a merger," Dose told the magazine. "If airlines want to be profitable, the solution inevitably lies in mergers, to take advantage of the synergies," he said, adding that pressure on prices and costs would continue.
Swiss made a 980-million-Swiss-franc (726-million-dollar, 668-million-euro) net loss in 2002 and has been suffering severely from the slump in global air travel due to the economic slowdown and the outbreak of the virus SARS.
The company is planning to set up a low-cost subsidiary, Swiss Express, for its European flights in the autumn and announced a cost cutting drive. However, Dose also insisted on Friday that Swiss was not in immediate financial danger.
He declined to comment on press reports in recent weeks about secret talks between executives from Swiss and the German airline Lufthansa.
Dose said he was still aiming to join the OneWorld alliance led by British Airways and American airlines.
Section 911 repeal may harm Bermuda and other offshore jurisdictions
By Mike Godfrey,
Tax-News.com, Washington
Proposals to repeal the 911 tax exemption given to US citizens employed outside of the United States could have a serious impact on offshore jurisdictions such as Bermuda, a local tax expert has warned, forcing many firms to leave the island.
Section 911 exempts the first $80,000 of an employee's salary from income tax, provided the taxpayer has resided outside of the US for one complete tax year of 330 days within a twelve month period. However, the US Senate is seeking to repeal this fifty-seven year old law in order to help pay for other tax cuts in President Bush's economic stimulus plan.
Speaking to the Bermudan Royal Gazette recently, James Paul Sobo, president of tax consultants ETS Ltd said US firms are now faced with the prospect of having to increase salaries as an incentive for workers to stay in the jurisdiction, though ultimately it may be more efficient for the company to move away from the jurisdiction altogether said Sobo.
"Because of the bill they may have to re-think about the advantages of being in Bermuda," Mr. Sabo told the RG, continuing: "It may be of corporate advantage if they can't attract the right people at the right price. It could be that the savings made by the corporate tax would be offset by the personal tax saving, and this may affect some of the smaller companies who may decide to leave."
According to Sobo, those most affected by the repeal of Section 911 would be those earning between $100,000 and $120,000. An employee who earns $120,000 for example would forfeit $24,000 in take home pay as a result of the extra tax. As a result, the employee "will lose the tax benefit of staying in Bermuda and if the employee is going to have to pay this, they will look to the employer to make up the difference," commented Sobo.
In spite of this, American employees based in Bermuda still stand to make small savings on other contributions, said the tax consultant. For instance, around $5,000 can be saved in social security payments and between $1,500 and $3,000 on medicare contibutions.
Haitian President
Jean Bertrand Aristide
In a move to help stabilize its struggling economy, President Jean Bertrand Aristide's government has cut a deal with the International Monetary Fund.
The Haitian President has agreed to cut spending and work to stabilize the island's dollar in an effort to encourage the release of suspended international funding.
Several international financial organizations suspended more than $500 million in aid to Haiti, following allegations of flawed legislative elections in May 2000. The suspension has pushed the already poor country, deeper into the pits of poverty, leaving it to bear the title of the 'poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.'
The deal with the IMF was reached on Monday following intense negotiations by both sides. Haiti must now present a plan that cuts deficit spending from 5.2 percent to 2.7 percent while also reducing inflation from to 10 percent, down from 13. The Haitian government must also monitor spending in public sector enterprises.
If Haiti meets the conditions outlined by the IMF over the next year, it will be granted access to between $100 and $150 million in IMF funding to aid poverty reduction and growth.
Commenting on the agreement reached in principle, Haiti's Finance and Economy Minister Faubert Gustave said, it sends "a strong signal to the international community" that Haiti is putting its economic house in order.
Overseas recruitment of nurses damaging to region says St. Kitts Minister
The recruitment of trained Caribbean nurses to Europe and North America is a real threat to the survival of adequate healthcare in St. Kitts and Nevis and small nations in the region. So says St. Kitts and Nevis Minister of Health, Dr. Earl Asim Martin.
Dr. Martin made the remarks on Sunday night in a radio and television broadcast to declare open "Nurses Week," in the tiny Caribbean island. He cited the overseas recruitment effort as one of the challenges facing the country's health sector.
"The recruitment is a real threat to the survival of our healthcare delivery system [and the region] cannot underestimate the severe consequences to our healthcare delivery system, should mass migration of nurses continue unabated," said Dr. Martin.
Still he expressed optimism that his ministry's
partnership with the Caribbean Nurses Organisation (CNO) and Johnson
& Johnson, one of the world's multi-national corporations
will help the island overcome the issue.
Health Minister Martin said his ministry will work to increase
the involvement of nurses in policy and decision-making and establish
the appropriate monitoring system designed to correct "real
or
perceived workload imbalances."
Return
Sports
Rugby Academy 2003: Player Profiles
International Rugby Sevens moved up
The International Rugby Sevens are coming sooner than expected this year when teams take the field at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex on 20-21 June.
The 2003 Cayman Islands International Rugby Sevens event has moved from August to June in order to enable more of the local population to take part in this annual world-class event.
Only teams that have proven their prowess by winning a tournament have been invited to participate, making the Cayman showdown a true champion of champions event. There will be US$50,000 of prize money up for grabs when the teams take the field 20 21 June.
In moving the event forward, tournament directors decided that the earlier date simply allows more of the children who play rugby in the schools here to be able to see some of the world's best players perform at the Truman Bodden Stadium.
All children who played rugby at school
this year will receive free passes to the event, courtesy of several
local sponsoring companies. Over 1,100 free passes for the two-day
tournament have been set aside for the children.
Each participating team has been paired with a rugby-playing school
here in Cayman. Students will have the opportunity to meet the
players one-on-one, watch them train, and even participate in
some team training drills.
So far, sponsors have been secured for four of the pairings: Queensgate
Bank and Trust sponsored Rugby Ecosse with St. Ignatius High School,
Omnific Partnership sponsored Marauders with St. Ignatius Prep
School, Deloitte & Touche sponsored Samurai with Red Bay Primary
School, and Bank of Austria sponsored OMBAC, current USA champions,
with Triple C.
Six paired teams and schools remain unsponsored,
including Red Rock Quaia, the current Fijian champions, who are
paired with John Gray High School, British Army, the current Twickenham
7's champions, who are paired with
Cayman Prep High School, Atlantis USA paired with Triple C Prep
School, and Skyrunners U.K., who are paired with Cayman Prep School.
The school pairings for the Barbados National Team and the Aardvarks U.K. have yet to be determined. Any school wishing to join in this project should contact Richard Adams at techdir@candw.ky
The international Sevens Event, now in its
third year, has grown in world stature since its inception. The
world's most prominent and highly circulated Rugby publications
will send reporters to Cayman this year, along with representatives
of some of the largest sports tourism travel agents from the U.K.,
Canada and the United States.
The travel agents will be looking at the local Sports Tourism
industry as a whole, as well as the beauty of the Island and its
people. It will be a perfect opportunity for representatives of
other sports on the Island to take advantage of these contacts
and meet with these representatives.
The Department of Tourism in London has been particularly involved with the marketing of the event and DOT in USA and Canada are now set to promote the event for 2004.
For more information, please contact the organising committee at info@cisevens.com or visit the official web site at www.cisevens.com.
Return
Sports days,
fun days at Triple C school
Triple C students David and Victoria enjoy the sack race a Triple C's Sports Days event.\
Triple C's Lorena Morejon "burns up the track" with ease and style.
Sports Days at Triple C means three days of fun and competition as the three age groups Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary compete with each other. Organized by Mr. Shaun Brooker, P.E. Teacher, and the Early Childhood staff, the days turned out to be excellent with everyone tired but very satisfied.
Although disappointed from being bumped from the Truman Bodden Sports Centre, secondary students made the best of it and the day turned out to be more of a tournament with netball, basketball, and soccer dominating. Unfortunately there were no races or field events as Triple C presently does not have a facility for this type of competition.
Elementary students did enjoy the benefits of the track at the Sports Centre and the competition was stiff between several top runners. Several parents turned out to watch the children.
Play Group, Pre-K, and Kindergarten children's only concern seemed to be fun rather than winning. They had an enjoyable day with many parents around to man the various stations.
Pink Ladies Golf Tournament raises $14,000
Enjoying the festivities after the Pink Ladies 3rd Annual Charity Golf Tournament are (l-r) Anne Stein, Fiona Wilkins, Nancy Whitefield and Val Strang.
The recent 3rd Annual Pink Ladies Charity Golf Tournament was a great success, providing fun for the participants while at the same time raising over $14,000 for local charities.
Held at the Britannia Golf Course, 88 golfers took part in the afternoon event. For those golfers who weren't successful on the golf course, there were 40 spot prizes given away during the post tournament award ceremonies and buffet held in the Club House.
After the tournament, Mr.
Brit Newhouse, Executive V.P. of Guy Carpenter & Co. Inc.
presented a donation of US$5,000 to the Pink Ladies. The donation
was warmly welcomed by tournament organizer Mrs. Kathleen Murphy.
All the proceeds from the fundraising event benefit the various
areas of the community which the Pink Ladies volunteer corps support,
namely the Pines Retirement Home, the George Town Hospital, the
Lighthouse School, NCVO Projects and any other worthy causes brought
to the attention of the organization.
Results for Monday 12th May
1st Margot & Jim Brough
2nd John and Susan Kissinger
3rd Barbara Benz & Derek Haines
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