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Category Archives: Islands

Faroe Islands seeking to stem brain drain

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The future of the remote Faroe Islands is at risk unless the self-governing Danish territory can halt the droves of residents who are leaving to settle abroad.

Located in the North Atlantic some 250 kilometres north-west of Scotland, and with a current population of 48,000, the 18-island archipelago is considering its options after statistics showed that 300 people move away each year.

According to figures from parliament, the Faroese population may drop below 42,000 in 30 years and fall to 37,000 in 2052.

The majority of those leaving are young people seeking education, though women in particular tend not to return. As a result, the Faroes face a gender deficit of around 2,000 women.

While the islands managed to recover from economic hardship following the collapse of its fishing industry in the 1990s and currently enjoys a low unemployment rate, its ageing population through the loss of young people threatens the country's future.

Sanna Svennson, 24, was born in Copenhagen but has a large family in Faroe Islands, where her mother was raised before she settled in Denmark.

She visits regularly and recognises the problems the islands face because of its limited educational and cultural offerings.

There really isnt very much to do thats really stimulating or interesting, which is why so many people look abroad after they finish school, Svensson told The Copenhagen Post.

Edmund Joensen, one of two MPs representing the Faroe Islands in the Danish parliament, hopes Copenhagen will set aside more money for educational opportunities in order to keep young people in the Faroe Islands.

The Faroe Islands are suffering from a brain drain and the islands will lack the people necessary to ensure the survival of a welfare state, Joensen told Kristeligt Dagblad. That is why we need to strengthen higher education on the Faroe Islands.

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Faroe Islands seeking to stem brain drain

Let’s Play Swap Force #10 (Mum Plays) – Chap 10 Boney Islands (with Super Gulp Pop Fizz unboxing) – Video

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Let #39;s Play Swap Force #10 (Mum Plays) - Chap 10 Boney Islands (with Super Gulp Pop Fizz unboxing)
IT #39;S OUT! So here #39;s the start of our big Skylanders Swap Force video series. Let #39;s Play Swap Force #10 (Mum version) - Chap 10 Boney Islands (with Super Gulp...

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Let's Play Swap Force #10 (Mum Plays) - Chap 10 Boney Islands (with Super Gulp Pop Fizz unboxing) - Video

Fire destroys two Cook Islands schools

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Published: 5:46PM Tuesday October 22, 2013 Source: ONE News

Two Cook Islands schools have been hit by suspicious fires several hours apart, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Six classrooms at Nukutere College were burned to the ground after a fire was reported just after 1am on Sunday (local time).

Now, mangled roofing iron is all that remains of the classrooms, three resource rooms and the school's canteen.

A second fire was reported at Avatea School in Nikao just after 4pm that afternoon, damaging classrooms and the primary school's library.

Nukutere College Principal George Rasmussen told ONE News that he felt an "absolute sense of helplessness" in the face of the damage.

While Nga Charlie, from Avatea Primary School, said staff and students were "so sad" to see the damage.

"A lot of work has gone into the school in the last five years," she said.

The Cook Islands News reports that firefighters were unable to respond immediately to the Nukutere College fire due to three aircraft arriving at the Rarotonga International Airport at the same time.

Rescue Fire Service chief Nga Jessie said he was very worried by the two incidents and has called on the government to invest more resources into the service.

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Fire destroys two Cook Islands schools

Visiting Cook Islands rugby players arrive in Bristol ahead of World Cup

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Bristol's Lord Mayor, Councillor Faruk Choudhury, players and coaches from the Cook Islands Rugby League team and representatives from the consortium raised the Cook Island flag outside City Hall, for the duration of the Cook Islands' team's stay. (L-R) John Hirst (Destination Bristol), Ian 'Muddy' Waters (Rugby league fans' rep), Lord Mayor, Kevin Iro, Charlie Hoff and Teina Tapurau.

THE Cook Islands rugby league team have landed in Bristol and are making themselves at home.

Their national flag was unfurled outside City Hall yesterday as the players, coached and officials were welcomed ahead of their World Cup clash with the USA Tomahawks at the Memorial Stadium next Wednesday night.

They will be hoping their public appearances during the next week will boost ticket sales, as only about 1,500 seats in the near-12,000 capacity ground have been sold so far.

Bristol Lord Mayor Faruk Choudhury, Cook Islands players and local dignitaries raised the country's flag, which will fly outside City Hall for the duration of the team's stay. They will be based here their group D matches and will train at Filton College's Wise Campus.

Tonga and Wales are their other opponents, but only the USA clash will be held in Bristol.

Fans Local Advisory Group representative Ian "Muddy" Waters, a rugby league referee from Southmead, said: "We have an ambitious target to fill the Memorial Stadium. We want local people to rally round, go and buy their tickets and be prepared to enjoy a great sporting spectacle right on their doorstep."

Councillor Simon Cook, executive member for leisure and tourism, said: "By hosting this international sporting event we are demonstrating the city's credentials as the West Country's sporting capital."

The Cook Islands is a country in the South Pacific ocean. The former British colony comprises 15 small islands whose total land area is only 240 square kilometres. In a warm-up game against world champions New Zealand at the weekend, the Cook Islands lost 50-0.

But their clash against the Tomahawks is likely to be much more evenly matched.

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Visiting Cook Islands rugby players arrive in Bristol ahead of World Cup

The Turks and Caicos Islands, a haven of seaside splendor and ease

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We fell in love even before touchdown. The clouds that had blocked our view during the flight to Turks and Caicos mercifully dispersed right before we landed, and we caught our first glimpse of the radiant sea. We watched as the little snail-shaped island of Providenciales materialized in the middle of the ocean, dazzled by the turquoise, aquamarine and emerald hues of the water surrounding it.

Details: Turks and Caicos Islands

Throughout our stay, my husband and I made a point of never letting that water out of our sight. We found it a force so relaxing that it quickly canceled out the noise of daily life.

Up to that point, 2013 had been a frantic year. Work and family had taken us all over the world, including to such taxing destinations as Afghanistan and Syria. When not traveling, wed been drowned in paperwork buying a condo.

So wed shopped for a nearby holiday destination where we could just lie back and enjoy natures show for a while. A couple of friends whod just returned from a vacation there recommended the still relatively unknown Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). It was the perfect place, they assured us, to escape the grind.

This British Overseas Territory about 500 miles southeast of Miami consists of 40 islands and cays, only eight of which are inhabited, home to a grand total of 30,000 year-round residents. As the name suggests, TCI is made up of two archipelagos: To the east are the Turks islands, named after the native Turks head cactus, and to the west are the Caicos, a word derived from caya hico, which, in the language of the indigenous Lucayan Indians, means string of islands.

Providenciales, one of the Caicos, boasts the islands largest airport and is the only real tourist hub, although its a far cry from such overdeveloped destinations as Jamaicas Montego Bay. Provo, as the locals call it, is only 38 square miles, and while much of its development has happened in just the past decade, today its infrastructure is much improved, and scattered low-rise strip malls have sprouted in the interior. There is even a small casino. The magnificent coast has a growing but still limited number of handsome resorts and villas, along with good restaurants and bars. These are concentrated on the north shore, overlooking the beautiful and aptly named Grace Bay.

During our nine-day stay, my husband and I took countless strolls along Grace Bay Beachs 12-mile stretch of uncontaminated, sparkling white sand. Sometimes we walked more than an hour each way to reach some faraway waterfront cafe, returning to our hotel in complete darkness, our steps illuminated only by the stars and the moon. We always made sure that sunset would find us somewhere sipping local Turks Head beer or Bambarra rum with a front-row seat on the ocean and that dipping orange ball of fire.

Because we can be lazy and bookwormy, a good chunk of our time on TCI was spent swimming in the calm, pool-like ocean water or planted on beach chairs with our heads buried in crime novels, our true holiday obsession. But Grace Bays gleaming sea also spurred us onto a Hobie Cat, a toy catamaran that our hotel, like most others, made available to guests for free. Its supposedly a craft that anybody can sail, so light and safe that its practically impossible to sink. We, however, managed to capsize the thing about 15 minutes into our ride and, unable to right it, we had to be rescued, to my husbands chagrin, by a lifeguard on a motorboat.

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The Turks and Caicos Islands, a haven of seaside splendor and ease

Seabird found on Channel Islands turned down for endangered species status

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contributed photo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Ashy storm-petrel

A small, smoke-gray seabird that nests in craggy cliffs and sea caves on the Channel Islands has been turned down for protection as an endangered species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made that decision after a 12-month review of the ashy storm-petrel. The agencys findings were published Tuesday in the Federal Register.

The review found the seabird population is not in a long-term decline and has not lost a significant portion of its range.

Our review of the best available scientific and commercial information indicates that the ashy storm-petrel is not in danger of extinction nor likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future, the agency said.

Others disagree.

Numerous studies have raised red flags that these rare and beautiful seabirds are suffering declines and current management efforts just arent enough, said Shaye Wolf, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

The group petitioned to have the bird considered for endangered listing in 2007 and challenged a 2009 ruling that it was not warranted. In a settlement, Fish and Wildlife agreed to more review.

After this weeks decision, the center released a statement calling Endangered Species Act protection a much-needed safety net for the ashy storm-petrel. The seabirds are threatened on their breeding islands by predators and rising sea levels, the group said.

The ashy storm-petrel has 32 known breeding spots from northern Baja California to Mendocino County, researchers say. But more than 90 percent of its population breeds in two spots the Channel Islands and Southeast Farallon Island, off the San Francisco coast.

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Seabird found on Channel Islands turned down for endangered species status

Dilapidated Davis Islands mansion a neighborhood battle

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Davis Islands, Florida -- "It should be leveled to the ground. It's a danger, it's an eyesore, and it's detrimental to the neighborhood," said Bill Newman.

Newman has had enough. He's watched the abandoned Davis Islands mansion at 545 Severn Avenue slowly rot across the street from his home. So has resident Kim Fatica.

"It's a total mystery why the owners have lets this go one for so long," said Fatica.

Bad blood has been brewing ever since the owners abandoned it almost four years ago. Each passing day, the mansion gets worse. Broken windows, crumbling stucco, the yard unkept. Recently, Tampa cops had to clean out vagrants and teenagers.

Antonio Amadeo is on the board of the Davis Islands Civic Association and said there's another issue.

"Safety is a big issue for a community and it always has been," he said.

Fast-forward to Monday, where the owners started cleaning it up, but only because the story has exploded in the media. Code enforcement condemned the property and suggested demolition the very day of the inspection, but a public hearing was granted because the owners are fighting it.

Residents say it's too little, too late.

"This is an 11th hour attempt to try and save face on a property that should have been taken care of a long time ago," said Fatica.

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Dilapidated Davis Islands mansion a neighborhood battle

Solomon Islands Approves Limited Reintroduction of Firearms

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Cabinet Approves Limited Reintroduction of Firearms

Cabinet has approved a limited reintroduction of firearms into the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.

Minister for Police, National Security and Corrections Chris Laore announced the Cabinet decision at the signing of the 5 year RAMSI Drawdown Strategy at the Rove Police Headquarters last Thursday.

Minister Laore said the limited reintroduction of firearms is a capacity development program within the 2013-2017 RAMSI Drawdown Strategy for the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.

He said firearms will be reintroduced into three specialist police areas - Close Personal Protection, Airport Policing and the Police Response Team.

Minister Laore also said there are two phases to the limited reintroduction of firearms project.

The two-phased approach will allow Cabinet to monitor the progress of implementation, and inform and consult with stakeholders to authorize the final issue and carriage of firearms by the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.

A similar policy was attempted by former Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who eventually conceded and backed off due to public pressure not to re-arm the police.

During five years of ethnic conflict in the Solomon Islands from 1998 to 2003, thousands of firearms, the most dangerous of which were stolen from local police armories, were the instruments most responsible for destabilizing the nation and terrifying its population.

In 2000, under the terms of the Townsville Peace Agreement, the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) launched its first gun amnesty. This aimed to collect and destroy between 2,640 and 3,520 illegally held, mass-manufactured small arms.

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Solomon Islands Approves Limited Reintroduction of Firearms

Bohol islands sinking amid aftershocks

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MANILA, Philippines -- Some small islands off the coast of Bohol are sinking amid aftershocks following the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the province last October 15, residents said.

Isla Batasan is one of the islands located between Bohol and Cebu. It is experiencing sudden floods, causing its residents to believe that their island is slowly sinking.

"Iba ngayon. Dati nung lumindol hindi nakakapasok yung tubig dagat pero kagabi, hanggang tuhod yung tubig," said Dindo Carmona, a barangay councilor.

The flood also left watermarks on some of the buildings on the island.

Some residents decided to stay on their boats after their houses were submerged in water after the earthquake.

On Isla Obay, another island in the area, residents cannot clearly see the shore, even during low tide.

Fishermen also find it hard to catch fish because of aftershocks.

Residents of Isla Bagong Banwa are suffering from lack of supplies and food as fishermen experience difficulty in finding fish.

Captain Epifanio Saavedra of Isla Batasan feels helpless seeing his constituents suffer from lack of food and supplies.

"Problema po namin dito talaga ang pagkain," he adds.

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Bohol islands sinking amid aftershocks

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Soundtrack – The Islands of the West Indies – Video

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Assassin #39;s Creed 4: Black Flag Soundtrack - The Islands of the West Indies
Assassin #39;s Creed 4: Black Flag OST - The Islands of the West Indies Composed by Brian Tyler. Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO_WZCimKasyFnho...

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Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag Soundtrack - The Islands of the West Indies - Video


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