JAMAICA OBSERVATIONS

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Making use of free Google Maps software someone who goes by the Internet moniker ‘Tuff+Gong’, has begun mapping Jamaican crime reports via his blog, The Kingstonian: Daily Crime Reports from the Rock.

Tuff+Gong, who frequently posts comments on this blog but whose identity is unknown, has attached weblinks from the map leading to newspaper crime reports and TV news footage via YouTube.com.

The blog also features an online petition calling for Government to take action against crime with 540 murders reported this year, as of last Wednesday.

The Orlando Sentinel newspaper has been using the Google Maps to comprehensively map crimes in that city via its Homicide Report Blog, from 2007 onwards.

Sentinel Readers can use the map to search for crimes by type, date and location.

Weblinks

The Kingstonian: Daily Crime Reports from the Rock
Orlando Sentinel: Homicide Report Blog

Caribbean neighbour the Dominican Republic, which faces an election this week, is subsidising staple foods by 30 per cent, reports the Associated Press.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The Dominican Republic has expanded subsidies on basic food staples to maintain calm after deadly food riots recently struck neighboring Haiti.

Trucks loaded with milk, chicken, eggs and other food staples have been rumbling across the Caribbean nation, where almost half of 9.5 million residents live in poverty.

The subsidized food is on average 30 percent below supermarket prices. The government recently expanded the effort by selling a $3 package that includes a frozen chicken and 4 pounds each of potatoes and onions. An estimated 20,000 of the packets are being sold daily, according to a Saturday news release.

READ MORE:

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Florida Sun-Sentinel: Dominican Republic makes food cheaper

MILAN (Reuters) - World rice output is expected to hit a record high this year, but growing demand and export curbs should keep prices high, at least in the short term, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Monday.

Rice prices have been surging as governments and importers rush to stock up, spurred by growing fears the food staple will be in short supply.

READ MORE...

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Reuters: Rice crop to hit record, but prices still rising

Jacqueline Charles, Caribbean Correspondent at the Miami Herald, reports on Haitian attempts to become self-sufficient in milk production...

Some arrive on foot, walking for miles in the scorching Haitian heat. Others come by way of bicycles and even donkeys.

Every morning, farmers and the children of farmers make their way to this sleepy rural town on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince carrying gallons of fresh cow milk.

Long before rising fuel and food prices sent hungry Haitians rioting into the streets last month, this quiet country dairy was already waging its own battle against one of the most expensive foreign imports: milk.

READ MORE...

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Miami Herald: Haiti's dairies strive to produce

While this might be put down to unfortunate juxtaposition (even the advertisement above the article asks 'HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?) ... this also shows how bad our crime problem appears to the rest of the world: BAD.

Taken from the Scotsman newspaper:

Iraq: Police commandos claim they have captured Abu Ayyub al-Masri – the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq – while he slept in a raid in the northern city of Mosul.

However, the US military today said there were "no operational reports" to confirm his arrest, adding the capture of another insurgent might have caused confusion.

Jamaica: Prime Minister Bruce Golding has ordered additional police patrols and soldiers to curb violent crime as the number of murders in Jamaica climbed to nearly 550 this year.

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Scotsman: Iraq's al-Qaida chief 'arrested during raid'

Latin America and the Caribbean are the regions with the highest projected share of forestry carbon credits under the Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism, reports ClimateChangeCorp.com.

The climate change news site cited a report by the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center in Costa Rica which concluded that the region possessed over half, 56 per cent, of all estimated credits.

Credits are earned based on environmentally sensitive actions that reduce carbon emissions, which contribute to global climate change.

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ClimateChangeCorp.com: Forests: A carbon traders' gold mine?

(Photo: Reuters/Prensa Latina)

While United States President George Bush has continued to criticise Cuba for 'empty reform' he may welcome the latest gesture from the government of Raul Castro.

Investors from Canada and Europe are hopeful that the seemingly more pro-tourism Raul will approve proposals to develop Florida-style gated golfing communitues on the island, reports Reuters.

"Now that Fidel has handed over power to his brother, Raul, Communist Cuba is setting aside any ideological objections and is embracing golf, the most capitalist of sports."

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Reuters: Cuba embraces golf to boost tourism

While people are still talking about agriculture minister Chris Tufton's call for Jamaicans to grow and eat cassava, Denniston Wilks is already doing it, or something similar, reports the New York Times.

"Growing up in rural Jamaica, the Wilkses helped their families raise crops like sugar cane, coffee and yams, and take them to market. Now, in Brooklyn, they are farmers once again, catering to their neighbors’ tastes: for scallions, for bitter melons like those from the West Indies and East Asia and for cilantro for Latin-American dinner tables."

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New York Times: Urban Farmers’ Crops Go From Vacant Lot to Market

Burchell Whiteman in his office at the Jamaica High Commission in London. (Photo: Ross Sheil)

It's a privilege to represent Jamaica in London, says High Commissioner Burchell Whiteman, but more money is needed to promote the positive side of the country to counter negative coverage in the British media.

Increasingly British perception of Jamaica is polarised around news reports of homophobia and crime, far from the ‘One Love’ idyll promoted by the tourism industry. Many in Britain are unable to divorce these perceptions from the reality that Jamaica remains a relatively safe destination for tourists.

Read More "Whiteman on representing Jamaica in the UK"

Stacy Adams, Marketing Manager of First Caribbean chats with Chad Cunningham, Director of Caribclix following a seminar the company held for advertisers at the Hilton Hotel in New Kingston.

Caribclix, billing itself as the region's first online advertising network launched today.

A press release from Caribclix said that the company is eyeing a share of what PriceWaterhouse report is a US$22 billion market...try telling that to net-phobic local advertisers. But says Caribclix, customers from a range of industries have already signed on.

“What Jamaican and Caribbean companies now have is a single entity that makes it easy for them to target customers online in an effective, affordable and measureable way," said Chad Cunningham, Director of Caribclix.

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Caribclix

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) and Wigton Wind Farm have separate plans to add a total of 120 megawatts to the national grid via natural gas, wind and hydro, reports the Business Observer.

Weblinks

JPS to expand its Bogue
US$4-M hydro plant in St Ann a lucrative possibility

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- Prime Minister Bruce Golding wants to permit licensing of casinos in Jamaica as a way to boost revenues, a move that is certain to ignite fierce opposition by religious groups who argue gambling encourages vice.

And, as reported in the Observer, Churchmen already have.

Read more...

Weblinks

CNN.com: Jamaica's PM pushes for casinos
Jamaica Observer: Churchmen rap planned introduction of casinos
Jamaica Observer: Casino revenues to fund health, education and security

Damian Lyn, President of the Jamaican Solar Energy Association (JSEA) holds up a solar panel outside the New Kingston premises of his company, Alternative Power Services (APS). (Photo: Ross Sheil)

The National Housing Trust’s (NHT) decision to launch low-interest loans for homeowners to buy solar panels is a boost for the local renewable energy industry says Damian Lyn, President of the Jamaica Solar Energy Association (JSEA).

The state-owned NHT have already serviced 493 borrowers under their two-year-old solar water heater loan and launched the solar water heater facility this month.

The solar panel loan is available...

Read More "NHT loan: Ray of sunshine for solar industry"

The public sector will take steps to reduce its energy consumption by 15 per cent this year in an effort to encourage greater energy conservation in Jamaica, just as annual the national oil import bill threatens to reach US$2.5 billion, announced Prime Minister Bruce Golding in his budget speech yesterday.

The Prime Minister also unveiled a raft of proposals including tax exemptions, tax credits and accelerated depreciation allowances for businesses and households which install energy-saving equipment.

He promised a complete review of taxation for energy consuming products (including tax breaks and incentives). Beginning with the appointment of an ‘Energy Czar’ within his office, energy co-ordinators are to be identified in each government...

Read More "Golding pledges 15% public sector energy cut"

Agricultural subsidies in the United States and cheaper rice have discouraged production in Haiti, contributing to its current food crisis reports the Miami Herald.

VERRETTES, Haiti -- The roots of this country's food crisis lies next to Mesidor Sagesse's humble field, where large-scale farming was long ago abandoned in favor of imported ''Miami'' rice.

Following a week of deadly demonstrations over rising food prices that cost the prime minister his job, Haitian President René Préval recently announced government subsidies to cut the price of imported rice by more than 15 percent and to revive local agriculture primarily by reducing the price of fertilizer.

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Miami Herald VIDEO, SLIDESHOW & AUDIO: Crop fields hold hope in Haiti

The Deraves family in California are featured in a video accompanying the New York Times Magazine's Green Issue.

"We went beyond changing our light bulbs," said Mr Deraves of the family lifestyle, which is practically self-sufficient.

Their 'Urban Homestead' is equipped with solar panels and the family grows its own vegetables. They earn US$25,000 a year from selling produce and convert used cooking oil from customers into bio-diesel.

Weblinks

New York Times VIDEO: Living (Mostly) off the grid
California Energy Commission
VIDEO: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on climate change

Mobile Money co-founder Damion Daley at home in Rockfort, Kingston (Photo: Ross Sheil)

A young Kingston-based software developer is helping to launch a cellular phone service in Jamaica that allows persons to make financial transactions via SMS text messaging.

Observations has tested 'Mobile Money', developed by 27-year-old Damion Daley, which will be given a full launch next month. Users will earn percentages charged on receivers of transactions via an affiliate marketing programme. Users will be able to purchase goods and services via SMS, in the same manner that pre-paid mobile platforms allow credit to...

Read More "Cellular banking launching in JA"

Martinique-born poet and politician Aimé Césaire will receive a state funeral on Sunday.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be among many French politicians expected to attend the ceremony of Césaire who died on Thursday at the age of 94.

Césaire had previously snubbed Sarkosy and was celebrated throughout the African Diaspora for being an early exposer of black pride and remained firmly anti-colonialist.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade mourned his death as a "catastrophe": "It is through Césaire that we became aware of what colonialism was. We used to repeat it by heart."

Weblinks

France 24 VIDEO: Honouring Césaire, the poet and politician
Caribbean World News: Famous Martinique-Born Poet Dead

As food prices for staples like beans, corn and rice grow out of reach around the world, hunger in Haiti has become fierce.

Weblinks

New York Times VIDEO: Haiti's Hunger Pains
Associated Press: UN to step up food aid for Haiti following riots over prices
United Press International: U.N. calls for new Haitian government

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has defended biofuels against claims that their production contributes to food scarcity and rising global prices.

Da Silva instead criticised agricultural subsidies in the developed world for undermining the competitiveness of developing nations and reducing world production.

"Biofuels aren't the villain that threatens food security," he said. "On the contrary...they can pull countries out of energy dependency without affecting foods."

Brazil is the world's leading exporter of ethanol.

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BBC: Brazil president defends biofuels

While this might be relatively unknown, Kingston is actually the headquarters of the International Seabed Authority.

And what is the Authority?

Established by the United Nations in 1994 the autonomous international organisation has the increasingly important role of overseeing commercial exploitation of the ocean floor with mining expected to begin in 2010, reports the Mining Journal.

Despite the vast mineral potential of the ocean deeps they have gone unexplored for years. However improvements in technology and rising metal prices have accelerating the process.

Meanwhile the Authority has been developing the necessary international regulation.

Weblinks:

Mining Journal: Guarding the riches of the ocean
International Seabed Authority

If you ever wondered whether information being given to tourists about Jamaica and the Caribbean was accurate...

A writer for the Lonely Planet travel guides has claimed he made-up sections of books. The writer, Thomas Kohnstamm, said that he had worked on over a dozen books including on the Caribbean.

Lonely Planet, which is 75 per cent owned by the BBC, has denied the claims made by Kohnstamm, who is publicising his book, Do Travel Writers Go To Hell?

Should the Caribbean tourism industry be worried? And should the industry or media be sufficiently concerned/commercially interested to compete with the likes of Lonely Planet?

Weblinks

BBC: Lonely Planet rebuts 'fake' claim
Observations: Promoting Jamaica's tourism product, yourself

While Jamaicans Lindy Delapena and John Barnes broke down racial boundaries on the pitch, Heather Rabbatts, who was also born in this country, is blazing a trail in the football boardroom as Executive Chairman of  English Division One club Millwall FC.

A self-described football fan and having grown up in South London, home to Millwall's New Den stadium, Rabbatts would have been well aware of what faced her: namely some of football's toughest fans and now, an attempted corporate takeover.

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The Independent: Heather Rabbatts walked into the Lions' Den at Millwall FC, and found the fighting was in the boardroom

Jamaica has the most confrontational labour relations of 69 countries surveyed in research published by a British economist.

The data from Dr Horst Feldmann of the University of Bath concluded that encouraging better labour relations increases the rate of employment.

Singapore, a model 'Asian Tiger' economy, was cited as the most co-operative.

Weblinks

Teletext News: Industry relations examined
Bath Chronicle: Expert's Research Discovers Impact of Red Tape on Start-Ups

Inventor Merrick Seymour with his Hubb Knuckles building joint invention, at home in Denham Town, Kingston. (Photo: Ross Sheil)

At 69 years old, Denham Town, Kingston resident Merrick Seymour looks an unlikely millionaire, but thanks to his 'Hub Knuckles' invention, success might be around the corner.

Hubb Knuckles are steel building joints designed to build frames used in pre-fabricated housing. Having earned a United States patent last year Seymour is ready to begin production of the...

Read More "Jamaican inventor’s late-life breakthrough"

Etan Haughton, Managing Director of Econergy Limited (centre) with two of his technicians, Trevor Smith (left) and Paul Jackson (right), inspecting ice-making cells in the basement of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) headquarters in New Kingston. (Photo: Ross Sheil)

Large premises can make significant savings by investing in thermal cooling, a technology that feeds air-conditioning systems by producing ice during off-peak hours when Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) tariffs are lower, says veteran renewable energy engineer...

Read More "Keeping premises cool while saving on A/C"

Wearing noticably warmer clothing are Leston Paul (Trinidad), Andrew Murray (Guyana), Akeem Brown (Jamaica) and Joseph Guelmsley (Haiti); four of the eight Digicel-sponsored Caribbean U-20 players training this week with English Premier League club Sunderland. A previous training session had to take place indoors due to snow.

More grim economic news comes from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which is predicting two years of slowing growth for the Caribbean caused by recession in the United States and disruption of international financial markets.

Released this week the IMF World Economic Report predicts that growth will slow from 5.7 per cent last year to 4.4 per cent this year and 3.8 per cent next year.

Weblinks

CMC: IMF predicts Caribbean economic slowdown
IMF: DOWNLOAD report

With food prices likely to be a major factor as Finance Minister Audley Shaw presents his budget today, the issue is continuing to burden the Caribbean's poor not least in Haiti were riots have killed five and wounded 40 this week.

BBCCaribbean.com reports from the region and worldwide including a concern by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that rising food prices are undermining international development.

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BBCCaribbean.com: Feeding the price rise 

The British government, much like in Jamaica, is coming under increasing pressure to offer greater incentives to people who want to install renewable energy technology on their homes and sell electricity back to the national grid, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Britain has been slower to embrace renewable energy than Germany, which has a more generous incentive system. Last year only 270 British homes installed solar panels compared to 130,000 in Germany.

"I just watch the little meter ticking over, telling me how much energy they are producing. It's satisfying to know that the electricity I use and produce hasn't been created by burning fossil fuels," a London householder told the newspaper.

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The Telegraph: Eco Homes

Jamaican coffee producers might be missing out on a trick.

The Island's famous Blue Mountain coffee is being blended with Kopi Luwak beans, which have been excreted by cats, and sold for £50 a cup in London.

BBC

BBC: Animal dung coffee at £50 a cup

Minister of Finance Audley Shaw

In his first budget speech as the Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw has the significant challenge of explaining how he will finance the Government's planned expenditure of $489.5 billion for 2008/9. This is a sharp 20.8 per cent increase or $84.27 billion above the revised budget of $405.25 billion for 2007/8.

This $489.5 billion includes both expenditure, and the amortisation (repayment) of debt. If we subtract the $140.3 billion that represents debt repayment, the remaining $349.24 billion is the "true"...

Read More "What will Shaw tell us in his first budget?"

Gas prices have gone up again. As if Jamaica needed further reminders about the need to conserve on gasoline, or use alternative energy.

With the price of oil now US$109 a barrel the following prices announced by the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) will take effect tomorrow:

UNLEADED GASOLINE 87:    $62.4869        UP $0.97/LITRE
UNLEADED GASOLINE 90:    $63.9297        UP $0.97/LITRE
AUTOMOTIVE DIESEL OIL:    $67.4497        UP $0.74/LITRE
KEROSENE:                                $68.3008        UP $1.18/LITRE
PROPANE (LPG):                       $35.4350        DOWN $0.15/LITRE
BUTANE (LPG):                         $38.8850        DOWN $0.15/LITRE

The players walking down the tunnel onto the pitch at Sunderland FC's Stadium of Light

The eight Caribbean under-20 footballers selected by John Barnes during the Digicel Kick Start clinics have begun training at English Premier League Club Sunderland FC.

Today they began their third day of training under the watchful eye of club manager Roy Keane.

Greeted by snow upon landed at London Gatwick on Saturday weather forced them to train indoors when training began on Monday. Yesterday they got their first experience of training in the English winter; after the snow melted.

Andrew Murray (Guyana), Joseph Guemsley & Renaud Brisley (Haiti), Gerard Williams & Devaugn Elliot (St Kitts), Emilio Limon (Suriname), Leston Paul (Trinidad) and Akeem Brown (Jamaica) will fly home on Monday after having watched Sunderland's Premier League match against Manchester City on Saturday.

Weblinks

Digicel Football
Sunderland FC

London's Observer newspaper (no relation of this newspaper) is running a candid feature on Asafa Powell.

"I cannot abide this foolishness, Powell! I cannot tolerate it! Give me 25 runs up the hill. Go!" (coach Stephen Francis)

The journalists sat in on a MVP training session at UTech and spent time at the Linstead, St. Catherine of home of Powell's parents and were thrilled when the the 100 metres world-record holder showed them Jamaica's most remarkable, er, rock formation.

There's an accompanying slideshow also.

Not forgetting the previous post on Observations about Powell's athletic home, UTech's Department of Sports.

Weblinks
   
Meet the fastest man ever
Asafa Powell in Jamaica
Observations: First world athletics, third world funding at UTech

Concerned by violent and anti-social lyrics, Red Stripe, a brand synonymous with Jamaican culture, will no longer be associated with live music events like Reggae Sumfest and Sting.

The national beer's title sponsorship of Sumfest and Sting will not be renewed.

Red Stripe is a member of the Coalition of Corporate Sponsors which took similar action before by disassociating from individual artistes.

"Over the years, however, a very negative trend of glorifying violence has crept into some of the music, causing much consternation among well thinking...

Read More "Red Stripe ends Reggae/Dancehall sponsorship"

Glenford ‘Glen’ Christian the 'rags to riches' entrepreneur behind the Cari-Med pharmaceutical empire scooped the 2007 Observer Business Leader Award last night.

Reclining in his executive armchair, legs crossed, Glenford ‘Glen’ Christian seems at ease with the world around him.

But suddenly, he slips his right shoe off his foot and gently runs one hand over the sole, probing, he assures me, for scars and bruises — evidence of his shoe-less and penniless childhood.

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Business Leader Awards 2007: Glen Christian...building a pharmaceutical empire

Downtown Ladies, a book by Haitian-born academic Gina Ulysee follows 15 years studying the lives of Jamaican higglers.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Assistant Professor of African American Studies at Wesleyan University in the United States got her inspiration from a talk given by Jamaican businesswoman Mabel Tenn, while a study abroad student at the University of West Indies (UWI) Mona.

“The trade has been an occupation for many people because it makes you to be independent. It makes you to be self-reliant. It motivates you to be a person of substance,” a woman in Ulysse’s book says. “A person that … you lose you gain, you fall you raise, you fall you raise … It make you to be tough. So many time I have fallen by the wayside, I get brush up meself and start again.”

Chicago University Press are the publishers.

Weblinks

Wesleyan University: Assistant Professor Explores Cultural Implications of Informal Commercial Importers in Jamaica
Chicago University Press

Irwine Clare, head of the United States-based Caribbean Immigrant Service lobby group, is questioning Prime Minister Bruce Golding's commitment to the Jamaican Diaspora in that country.
    
`We've heard this all before," Clare told CaribWorldNews.com following Golding's speech in Miami last weekend when he promised to tap the skills of the Diaspora.

Also the founder of Team Jamaica Bickle, which supports hundreds of Caribbean athletes and officials at the annual Penn relays in Philadelphia, Clare is vexed at the absence of support coming from Jamaica this year.

Weblinks

Caribbean World News: Is The Jamaican Diaspora Getting Mere Lip Service?
Team Jamaica Bickle

Michael Lee-Chin

Founder of Canadian mutual fund company AIC and chairman of NCB, Jamaican-born Michael Lee Chin, makes this year's Forbes Billionaires list as the world's 677th richest person.

Interviewed in today's Observer Caribbean Business Report Lee-Chin makes some relevant observations for Jamaica and the region, especially with nine of the top ten richest on this year's list coming from developing countries.

"The best way to create...

Read More "The business philosophies of Michael Lee-Chin"

Fernanda Doz Costa, Amnesty International Researcher:

Amnesty International leaves Jamaica after having heard many stories of violence and suffering – mostly from those who live in inner-city communities, caught up between criminal gangs and abusive police.

But we have also heard many stories from those Jamaicans that while living in extremely challenging environments have decided to stand up to the problems facing them and to do something to change their destiny by, for example, developing projects, educating children and claiming justice for their loved ones.

But as Sonia White, a prominent community peacemaker, told us: “we  need the political will and sustainability...

Read More "'Jamaica at a crossroads' - Amnesty researcher"

The chairman, then in 1961, an air-conditioner salesman.

Gordon 'Butch'  Stewart, Chairman of Sandals Resorts and the Jamaica Observer, is profiled today by Inc.com, the magazine for entrepreneurs.

"I started working before I turned 17, but then I went to England to round off my education and came back to Jamaica full of vim and vinegar. I got a job at a trading company and was in charge of the appliance department. After five years, I was able to save over $3,000. That was 1968. Then I realized Fedders air conditioners were not represented in Jamaica. I bought an airplane ticket and I headed to Edison, New Jersey. I met with the president's nephew. We really hit it off. He said to the finance people, "Look, he's paying cash for the first shipment, so there's nothing to lose; give him a chance."

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How I Did It: Butch Stewart, Sandals Resorts

First magazine has returned almost three years since the fourth and final issue was printed. Relaunching as an online publication yesterday - April Fool's Day - the volume of traffic soon crashed the website's server. Problem solved, the site is now back up.

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First magazine

3-D representations of the planned Les Grande'ur Country Club development to be located at Patrick Heights in Red Hills, St Andrew.

A local developer plans to build what he hopes will be Jamaica's first housing scheme powered almost entirely by renewable energy.

Dewdrop Homes Jamaica Limited recently gained outline planning permission for Les Grande'ur Country Club, a five-townhouse four-apartment development, to be located at Patrick Heights in Red Hills, St Andrew.

The homes will have...

Read More "Coming to JA: Renewable powered homes"

The Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) building inside which the OUR is headquartered.

A request by the Office of Utility Regulations (OUR) for proposals to supply renewable energy to the national grid is gathering interest from local companies.

However the scale of the projects - each generation facility must be at least one megawatt in firm capacity - means that international partners will need to be sought, said renewable energy companies.

Successful respondents must be prepared to build, own and operate (BOO) their generation...

Read More "OUR tendering for renewable energy suppliers"

In response to the Amnesty International report (see earlier post) Observer columnist John Maxwell e-mailed the following excerpt from an article entitled 'Taming the Police', which he wrote for the Public Opinion published on June 5, 1964, two years after Independence.

Maxwell

"This was a force which was brought up under a harsh and brutal and corrupt discipline, which has been used by colonial governments as well as by its own elected governments to terrorise...

Read More "John Maxwell on the JCF, 44 years ago"

A report published by Amnesty International today slams the government for abandoning inner cities to violent crime and police brutality.

"This is not a sudden crisis, but follows a steady increase in violent crime over recent years," said the Amnesty report entitled, 'Let Them Kill Each Other'.

The 55-page document includes testimony from relatives of persons allegedly killed by police.

If that news has government officials shaking their heads, they might be relieved to read a feature in the Times, where the newspaper reassures a tourist about traveling to Jamaica.

Weblinks

The Guardian: Jamaica slums locked in violence, report says
The Times: Is Jamaica safe?
Amnesty International: DOWNLOAD REPORT

Mentioned before on this blog was the BBC Caribbean crime debate, held on March 27.

Don't worry if you missed it. You can listen again ...

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BBC Caribbean: Crime Debate

Frustrated by the lack of Caribbean-related coverage in the United States newspaper editor and publisher Ann-Marie Barnes last year launched the National Association of Caribbean-American Journalists (NACAJ), in an effort to change this.

Adams, who is of Jamaican heritage, is convening the NACAJ's first annual conference this weekend, starting today.

"We will advocate for and monitor coverage of the Caribbean-American Diaspora in the U.S. And in some cases, we will move our agenda forward by collaborating with other media organisations and entities that share
our mission," said Adams.

Weblinks

Florida Sun-Sentinel: Caribbean journalists look to make an impact
National Association of Caribbean-American Journalists: homepage

Prominent Caribbean journalist and Observer columnist Ricky Singh writes in Barbados' Nation newspaper today on the challenges facing the region's schools.

Singh is calling for a common Caricom approach in tackling growing indiscipline, immoral conduct and violence.

"A common policy at the national/regional level is also be required against possession of any kind of weapon by students and, if necessary, the introduction of a policy of authorised frisking – however controversial it may seem – for a specified period as part of a new physical safety and security programme," he wrote.

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New Nation: Crisis and challenges in our schools

Finance Minister Audley Shaw will this afternoon table the 2008/2009 Estimates of Expenditure (budget) in the Parliament. It will be the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) first budget since 1988 after 18 years in opposition until their general election win in September.

The Observer reported sources saying that this year's budget will prioritise spending on education, agriculture, increased job opportunities, health and national security, as well as finance a new social intervention programme aimed at widening the social net to protect the most vulnerable to escalating food prices.

Give us your reaction following Shaw's presentation: "Are these the right spending plans to take Jamaica forward?"

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FULL STORY: It's the first JLP budget in 20 years

A government study in the United Kingdom has found black Caribbean and African boys from disadvantaged backgrounds performing slightly better than their white working-class classmates, reports the Guardian newspaper.

The study found that white students had lower aspirations.

Conducted by the University of Warwick, UK Department for Children, Schools and Families, the study showed that 22 per cent of black boys from working class backgrounds finished compulsory education with basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic.

The comparative figure is 29 per cent for Asians, per cent 52 per cent for Chinese while white classmates lag behind on 15 per cent.

"However there are still questions about why in particular black Caribbean and black African boys from high socio-economically classified homes underachieve relative to their white British peers, despite the high aspirations of the pupils and parents, their positive attitudes to school and high frequency of undertaking homework," said Warwick education lecturer Dr Steve Strand.

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The Guardian: White working-class the worst GCSE students, study finds

Demonstration of the Real Heart simulator (Used courtesy of the University of the West Indies, Mona). More video below...

CORRECTED VERSION:

A heart surgery simulator developed in Jamaica is now being marketed* in the United States by a leading American heart surgeon.

Dr Richard Feins, chairman of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS) has hailed the technique as ‘revolutionary’....

Read More "VIDEO: Jamaican heart surgery 'revolution'"

Miss Jamaica World Yendi Phillipps features in a teaser video for First magazine, which is relaunching April 1. Look out for the plane.

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First Magazine: homepage

Shot put and discus athletes Odayne Richards and Shauna-Kay Woolery go through their drills. (Photos: Ross Sheil)

Early morning on a grass field in St Andrew a pair of 19-year-old athletes are completing a drill. They are hopping off a box, over a hurdle and then back onto another box.

It’s a pretty mundane scene.

“You in the white shirt!” yells a coach during another session nearby. Yet the white shirt lolling on the low wall is Asafa...

Read More "First world athletics, third world funding at UTech"

Next Thursday will see the BBC air a live phone-in allowing listeners from across the Caribbean to debate rising crime in the region, ahead of a Caricom meeting to address the issue.

Persons are already leaving their comments on the BBC Caribbean website, including this from a Jamaican living in Anguilla.

"I do think there is the need for greater gun control hence a closer look at the customs department is important. Secondly the death penalty needs to be urgently revisited. Last but not least there is so much adult learning facilities available," wrote Vesta Smith.

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BBC Caribbean's crime debate

Was forwarded an interesting article on Digicel's Haitian operation from last weekend's Sunday Post of Ireland.

With Haiti being the Irish company's other large Caribbean market there are parallels with the investment situation in Jamaica, where Digicel launched its cellular service in 2001.

‘‘If you read a World Bank report on Haiti, you wouldn’t get on the plane to come here. That’s why people shouldn’t be turned off by opportunities in places off the beaten track,” Digicel Chairman Dennis O'Brien told the newspaper.

Sounds familiar?

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Sunday Post: O’Brien rings up success in Haiti

Meanwhile ... statistics from the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) give mixed signals as to public concern over the energy crisis.

Encouragingly the majority of people surveyed in the 2006 Residential Consumer End Use Survey said that fuel efficiency was important in buying a car - less than 15 per cent disagreed.

But asked if they would consider parking their beloved automobile and carpooling, 47 per cent of respondents said no. Of more encouragement are the 28 per cent among persons in favour of pooling who cited economic reasons for sharing a vehicle.

There was disheartening (but not new) news for solar energy enthusiasts. Among no-solar respondents, reasons for not using the technology were 37.9 per cent "did not know of it", 32 per cent were "not interested and 21.4 per cent said it was "too expensive".

Lastly, environmentalists got burnt: charcoal usage increased an astonishing nine per cent to 49.1 per cent of households in the years 1997 to 2006.

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Planning Institute of Jamaica

With oil prices spiraling dizzily upwards Jamaica is facing tough decisions over its energy consumption, namely the US$2 billion oil import bill.

Speaking yesterday Energy Minister Clive Mullings again voiced frustration at Jamaicans tendency to think of conservation in dollar rather than unit terms. The challenge being that the will to find alternative energy solutions disappears when prices fall.

But then they rise again.

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration will soon outline their ambitious energy plans with Mullings upcoming budget speech - aiming to halve oil imports within ten years.

Placing renewables front and centre (Jamaica already has wind, solar, ethanol and biogas) he is calling for greater public...

Read More "Crunch time for renewable energy in Jamaica"

BBC World Service will cease shortwave transsmissions to the Caribbean this Sunday. Regional listeners can continue to listen by FM, satellite and online.

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BBC: Shortwave changes for the Caribbean

James Husbands, the entrepreneur behind Bajan firm Solar Dynamics, is predicting a growing market for solar water heaters in the Caribbean, reports the Barbados Advocate.

Solar Dynamics products are already marketed in Jamaica where take-up of the technology has been relatively slow. Meanwhile the popularity of solar water heaters in Barbados is the best publicised example of renewable energy in the Caribbean.

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Barbados Advocate: More work in area of Solar Water technology
INFORSE: Barbados Employs the Sun to Heat WaterBarbados Employs the Sun to Heat Water

The four-member NCU team and supervisor Kenrie Hylton (highlighted) with other Imagine Cup 2007 participants and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates (centre).

A team from the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) are taking more steps to launch their software, which placed third at last year's international Microsoft Imagine Cup competition.

The Jamaican team of Imran Allie, Ayson Baxter, Conroy Smith and Damion Mitchell met, albeit briefly, with Microsoft CEO Bill Gates...

Read More "NCU team closer to launching software"

Coinciding with the visit to the Caribbean by Prince Charles the Economist casts an eye over the relationship between the British monarchy and it's former colonies in the region.

The reaction by residents during yesterday's Royal visit to Rose Town was one of bemused curiousity.

Meanwhile the one moment of tension arose when a clipboard-wielding British official, oblivious of who she was talking to, attempted to usher Mayor of Kingston Desmond McKenzie up the road, away from the Royal party.

He was unimpressed.

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The Economist: The staying power of the British monarchy in its Caribbean ex-colonies

Prince Charles plants a tree during his visit to Rose Town in Kingston, yesterday. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Yesterday's visit by Prince Charles to Rose Town provided a long-awaited opportunity for the community to showcase development work in the West Kingston community.

Kingston Restoration Company (KRC) Executive Director Morin Seymour, for one, is optimistic that the visit will encourage potential donors to step forward.

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Observer: FULL STORY: Rose Town optimistic after visit by Prince Charles
Observations: Rose Town archive

Remittances in US$ millions sent home to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2007 (IDB)

Remittances sent home to Jamaica increased over 11.5 per cent last year to reach a new high of US$1.975 billion, according to statistics released by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) yesterday.

Remittances represent 18 per cent of Jamaica's gross national product (GDP).

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IDB: Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean slower, IDB fund says 

'No, I don't have any credit!' Digicel Jamaica CEO David Hall (left) speaks with Earl Jarrett, General Jamaica National Building Society and Shereen Jones, General Manager of JNBS subsidiary Management Control Systems (MCS). (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Maybe it's because they're jokers, persons troubled by the '0' button on their handsets, or plain needy, but last month Digicel pre-paid customers in Jamaica requested US$1.3 trillion in phone credit from others.

"Now, US$143,000 was actually given," added Digicel CEO David Hall who disclosed the statistics on Wednesday at a breakfast held to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Management Control Systems (MCS) at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

So there remain a significant number of unreplied to, and perhaps unwanted, friends and relatives.

Digicel report that millions of customers send 'Credit Me' and 'Credit U' messages on their Digicel handsets each month.

ON the 15th anniversary of the Jamaica Observer newspaper that he founded, Gordon 'Butch' Stewart has fulfilled a promise made last December to provide Jamaica with a second daily afternoon newspaper, Chat!, which hit the streets today.

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Observer: Chat! hits the streets today

Caribcast TV, which bundles 24-hour Caribbean television and radio content, has launched in South Florida.

Most of the content comes from Jamaican media outlets but the station plans to add others from Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana and Haiti in months to come.

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Florida Sun-Sentinel: Pembroke Pines-based Caribcast keeps expatriates up to date

Justine Henzell, daughter of director Perry, writes in London's New Statesman magazine about the dilemnas of marketing his cult film the Harder They Come.

One year after his death, she is in London promoting the musical version of the 1972 film, which is credited for helping introduce Jamaican culture and music to an international audience.

"This was before the reggae revolution, when all the outside world knew of Jamaica was that it had nice beaches ... they don't realise that the reason they are able to sit here wearing the red, gold and green of the Jamaican flag on their trainers and jackets is in part the impact of the film they are once more bringing to life," she wrote.

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The Barbican Theatre: 'The Harder They Come' opens today and runs until April 5
New Statesman: Reggae revolution

A ruling by New York City officials has saved from gentrification a Bronx building apartment building treasured as the birthplace of Hip Hop music.

Among those who campaigned to prevent the building from being sold to a high-end real estate developer was DJ Kool Herc, who emigrated from Kingston and is credited as the first deejay to spin records in the style that became familiar as Hip Hop.

Herc, real name Clive Campbell, lived in the building on 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, where his sound system began playing parties in the summer of 1973.

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New York Times: City Rejects Sale of Building Seen as Hip-Hop’s Birthplace

Rita Marley wants Lauryn Hill to portray her in a forthcoming movie adaptation of her 2004 autobiography, 'No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley'.

Filming will begin next year and the movie, which is being produced and distributed by the Weinstein Company, could arrive at theatres ahead of director Martin Scorcese's Marley family-authorised documentary about the reggae legend.

Rita Marley will executive produce the movie while Ziggy Marley has already been signed up for the same role on the documentary version.

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Reuters: Widow to produce Bob Marley movie
Observations: Scorsese to make Bob Marley documentary

American Airlines announced today that it will begin a new daily service between Kingston and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

American currently flies three times daily to Kingston from Miami, with another two flights to Montego Bay. The airline also flies to Montego Bay daily from New York-JFK and five times weekly from Dallas/Fort Worth.

Subject to government approval flights will begin on June 1.

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PR Newswire: American to Begin Service From Kingston, Jamaica to Fort Lauderdale

President of the Jamaica Institute of Architects (JIA) Louise McLeod is welcoming a suggestion by Prime Minister Bruce Golding that Kingston be developed more densely, as an alternative to expanding along the corridor to Spanish Town to meet housing demand - an option he has instructed the Urban Development Company (UDC) to study.

Today, addressing the International Symposium of Caribbean Modernist Architecture, held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston and convened by the University of Technology (UTech) and New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the Prime Minister said that the question facing planners remained, “How many people can we reasonably accommodate in the city of Kingston?”

He referred to one family occupying...

Read More "Golding: Denser housing for Kingston?"

The transfer list at English Premier League club Sunderland has now reached eight players. Eight is the exact same number of Caribbean under-20 hopefuls invited to try-out with the club for one week in March.

Meanwhile Sunderland rest just four points above the relegation zone.

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Times of London: Liam Miller given marching orders as Keane begins his summer clear-out