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Watch brutal Xenomorph attack in new ‘Alien: Covenant’ trailer – CNET

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Before we all get too excited about those new Earth-like planets discovered in the Trappist-1 star system last week, we should all watch "Alien: Covenant," the next installment in Ridley Scott's "Alien" franchise.

The new trailer, posted by 20th Century Fox today, almost feels like a romantic love story with a ship full of couples, and then the eeriness of the mission sets in.

In director Ridley Scott's "Alien: Covenant," the sequel to 2012's "Prometheus," the crew of colony ship Covenant discover what they think is an uncharted paradise.

But the crew is in for a surprise when they learn that this new utopia is actually a dangerous world that is home to the kind of creatures that gave us all nightmares from the original "Alien" movie.

The new trailer shows scenes of the crew exploring a breathtakingly beautiful world, unknowingly stumbling upon aliens eggs spewing facehuggers, screaming shipmates running through their ship, and best of all, more footage of Xenomorphs attacking.

The film stars Michael Fassbender (reprising his role as the robot David), Noomi Rapace (reprising her role as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw), Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Billy Crudup, Guy Pearce and James Franco.

"Alien: Covenant" opens on May 19 in the US, May 12 in the UK and May 18 in Australia.

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Watch brutal Xenomorph attack in new 'Alien: Covenant' trailer - CNET

At BAMPFA, ‘Hippie Modernism’ Proves the Fight for Utopia is Far from Over – KQED

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

A year after the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive reopened in its sleek Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed building, it plays host to Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia, an exhibition which did not surprisingly originate in the Bay Area.

Curated by Andrew Blauvelt for the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Hippie Modernism arrives at the birthplace of the hippie with a thrilling survey of counterculture art, architecture and design from 1964 to 1974 or, as Blauvelt bookends it, a period of optimism from the beginning of the New York Worlds Fair to the end of the OPEC oil crisis.

If hippies, usually characterized by Timothy Learys turn on, tune in, drop out mantra, didnt (and dont) seem particularly interested in the design principles of modernism, Blauvelt argues in the exhibition catalog that the hippie modern is a slightly different beast, able to realize the democratic potential of new technologies while seeking a recuperation of the avant-gardes utopic dream of integrating art into everyday life.

On both floors of the BAMPFA, the expansive exhibition shows art integrated into new forms of everyday life: living spaces, wearables, publications, new media collectives, concert posters and artistic experiments that defy easy categorization. Conveniently built into the flow of the exhibition are immersive chill spaces meant to cocoon viewers from what might otherwise be an onslaught of information for those who didnt live through the era in question.

Ken Isaacs Knowledge Box (originally constructed in 1962) creates one such space, inside a 12-foot-tall wooden cube with 24 slide projectors positioned outside its six faces, pointing in. Viewers enter the cube through a round-cornered door and a two-minute slideshow begins, with black-and-white images culled from 1950s and 60s magazines flashing randomly on the walls, floor and ceiling. A soundtrack of collaged music and spoken audio recordings plays. The artworks title suggests we should be learning something from it by osmosis, but its much more fun to stand, turn slowly in awe and appreciation, then loop back around the cube and do it all again.

Even though the Knowledge Box is quite literally a white cube, many of the works escape institutional or architectural constraints. Tucked into one corner of the exhibition, film and photographs of Ugo La Pietras Per Oggi Basta! (Enough for Today!) show the Italian artist taking his practice to the streets of 1970s Milan. With a wooden A-frame structure he dubbed Il Commutatore (the switch), La Pietra switched his view of the city, laying against the A-frame at different angles to take in building tops, overhead trees and crisscrossing electrical wires.

Hippie Modernism makes clear that the objects on view are not simply artifacts of a subculture flying under the radar of mainstream media, but the output of a counterculture seeking to reclaim every aspect of public, private and political life. In many cases, these gestures appear completely absurd: inflatable homes, a car cover crocheted from videotape, or Franois Dallegrets enigmatic KiiK. Dallegret declared the stainless steel barbell-shaped object a unique, functional product to help cure body discomforts and mild obsessions. The KiiK is whatever you want it to be, though for external use only.

For children under the age of three, the accompanying poster reads, consult your kiikologist.

Absurdity was just one manifestation of the decentralized movements underlying earnestness. In display after display, Hippie Modernism showcases experiments in education, publication and building community, from the Colorado artists commune Drop City to the Community Memory Terminal, a coin-operated electronic bulletin board originally installed at Leopolds Records in Berkeley in 1973.

Its hard to view Hippie Modernism now and not have mixed feelings about the unrealized utopias presented within it. The ideas put forth still have the power to excite and feel new in part because the society these artists, designers and radicals sought to remake very much resembles the society we currently occupy. On my short walk to BART from the museum, signs of the Feb. 1 protest at UC Berkeley against a lecture by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos were still visible, a fitting reminder that the struggle for utopia or basic civil rights isnt relegated to the past.

Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia is on view at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive through May 21, 2017. For more information visit bampfa.org.

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At BAMPFA, 'Hippie Modernism' Proves the Fight for Utopia is Far from Over - KQED

THE SOUND OF MUSIC to Welcome New ‘Georg von Trapp’ on Tour in Hershey – Broadway World

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

The lavish new production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien, announces Nicholas Rodriguez as Captain Georg von Trapp, beginning March 21 in Hershey, PA.

"Rarely, but once in a blue moon the planets align in such a way to make both a director happy and his audiences even more so" said O'Brien. "Nicholas Rodriguez assumes the crucial role of Captain von Trapp in our wonderful THE SOUND OF MUSIC, bringing me not only pride that one of my own friends has turned up in the perfect role, but with the assurance that our audiences are about to hear this great music sung as beautifully as can be imagined. Nicholas's voice is one of the major theatrical gifts I've known, and any production lucky enough to snag him will glow with melodic pride! We welcome him, and envy those about to experience this remarkable evening!"

Nicholas Rodriguez joins a cast that includes Charlotte Maltby as Maria Rainer in her national tour debut and Melody Betts as The Mother Abbess, with Merwin Foard as Max Detweiler, Teri Hansen as Elsa Schraeder, Austin Colby as Rolf and Paige Silvester as Liesl. The von Trapp children are played by Elliot Weaver (Friedrich), STEPHANIE DI FIORE (Louisa), James Bernard (Kurt), DAKOTA RILEY QUACKENBUSH (Brigitta), Taylor Coleman (Marta) and Anika Lore Hatch (Gretl).

Completing the cast is Christopher Carl, Donna Garner, Robert Mammana, Darren Matthias, Carey ReBecca Brown, Woody Buck, Citln Burke, Maria Failla, Meghan Hales, Jillian Jameson, Mark Bradley Miller, Anna Mintzer, Julia Osborne, Zane Phillips, Rebecca Pitcher, Michael Spaziani and Emily Trumble.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC features music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, suggested by The Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp. This new production is directed by Jack O'Brien (Hairspray, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Coast of Utopia), choreographed by Danny Mefford (Fun Home, The Bridges of Madison County and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) and music supervision by Andy Einhorn (Bullets Over Broadway, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Brief Encounter, The Light in the Piazza). The design team is comprised of Douglas W. Schmidt, set design (Tony Award nominee: 42nd Street, Into the Woods); Jane Greenwood, costume design (2014 recipient of the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre), Natasha Katz, lighting design (Six-time Tony Award winner: Long Day's Journey Into Night, An American in Paris, Once, Aida, The Coast of Utopia, The Glass Menagerie) and Ken Travis, sound design (Aladdin, Newsies, Memphis). Casting by Telsey + Company/Rachel Hoffman, CSA.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC enjoyed extraordinary success as the first live television production of a musical in over 50 years when "The Sound of Music Live!" aired on NBC in December, 2013 and was seen by over 44 million people. 2015 marked the 50th anniversary of the film version, which continues to be the most successful movie musical in history. The spirited, romantic and beloved musical story of Maria and the von Trapp family will once again thrill audiences with its Tony, Grammy and Academy Award winning Best Score, including "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," "Edelweiss" and the title song.

A complete list of tour cities can be found below, and online.

UPCOMING TOUR DATES:

Rochester, NY February 28-March 5, 2017

Waterbury, CT March 7-12, 2017

Hershey, PA March 21-26, 2017

Buffalo, NY March 28-April 2, 2017

Schenectady, NY April 4-9, 2017

Memphis, TN April 18-23, 2017

West Palm Beach, FL May 9-14, 2017

Toronto, ON June 6-11, 2017

Washington, DC June 13-July 16, 2017

Cleveland, OH July 18-23, 2017

For more information, visit http://www.TheSoundOfMusicOnTour.com, or follow on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheSoundOfMusic, Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SoundOfMusic, and Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/SoundOfMusicOnTour.

Nicholas Rodriguez (Captain Georg von Trapp). Broadway: Tarzan. Off-Broadway: Toxic Avenger, Almost Heaven, Death for Five Voices, Collette Collage, Bajour. Carnegie Hall: Guys and Dolls. Tours: Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Hair. Regional: Carousel (Helen Hayes nomination), Destiny of Desire, Mother Courage and Her Children, Oklahoma!(Helen Hayes Award), My Fair Lady (Helen Hayes nomination) and The Light in the Piazza at Arena Stage; The Ten Commandments at the Kodak Theatre; Beauty and the Beast, Wizard of Oz, Tarzan, The Buddy Holly Story at The MUNY; Mothers and Sons, LES MISERABLES, Master Class, Love!Valour!Compassion! at ZACH Theatre, South Pacific and The King and I at Casa Maana. Film: Sex in the City II (also soundtrack). Television: Madam Secretary, Nick Chavez on ABC's One Life to Live (GLAAD Award). His debut CD The First Time... is available at http://www.psclassics.com and via iTunes. http://www.thenickrod.com

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THE SOUND OF MUSIC to Welcome New 'Georg von Trapp' on Tour in Hershey - Broadway World

Oceania Cruises Announces New 180-Day Cruise for 2019 … – TravelPulse

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

PHOTO: Oceania Cruises Insignia ship. (photo via Flickr/Roderick Eime)

On Monday, Oceania Cruises announced that it will be hosting another 180-day world cruise scheduled to depart on March 1, 2019, aboard the Insignia ship.

The Insignia vessel will carry 684 guests during the 180-day world cruise that covers more than 45,000 nautical miles across two oceans, five continents and 16 seas. In addition, passengers will visit 90 fascinating destinations in 36 countries.

For added flexibility, passengers will be able to embark from New York, Miami or Los Angeles.

The 180-day voyage will feature a total of 14 overnight stays in cities including Bali, Indonesia; Hong Kong, China; Yangon, Myanmar; and Luxor, Egypt. There will also be shore excursions in Tokyo, Japan; Jerusalem, Israel; and Bordeaux, France.

Our exciting 2019 Around the World journey offers guests an expertly crafted route spanning the four corners of the globe, touching on nearly 100 captivating destinations and dozens of UNESCO World Heritage sites, Oceania Cruises CEO Bob Binder said in a statement. Its truly the journey of a lifetime. The added convenience of three departures, new for 2019, brings guests greater flexibility and can help simplify their travel plans.

READ MORE: Oceania Cruises Reveals Additional Cuba Cruises for 2017

While the Oceania Cruises Insignia ship holds 684 guests, it also boasts an astounding 400 professionally trained staff members who are onboard to make the luxurious voyage even more pampered and elegant.

Passengers will be treated to four open-seating gourmet restaurants, compelling lectures by engaging experts and unbelievable views only found on an around-the-world voyage. Included in the price of a ticket are first class roundtrip airfare, prepaid gratuities, onboard medical care and laundry service.

Passengers will also be able to choose from 72 shore excursions, a beverage package or a $7,200 shipboard credit. For more information on the 180-day voyage, check out the official website of Oceania Cruises.

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Oceania Cruises Announces New 180-Day Cruise for 2019 ... - TravelPulse

Refining Industry Outlook in Asia and Oceania to 2021 – Capacity and Capital Expenditure Forecasts with Details of … – Business Wire (press release)

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Refining Industry Outlook in Asia and Oceania to 2021 - Capacity and Capital Expenditure Forecasts with Details of All Operating and Planned Refineries" report to their offering.

The report provides refinery details such as the refinery name, country, and refinery operator name, with in-depth coverage on crude distillation unit or, CDU capacity and other major unit capacities for all active and new build (announced, planned and stalled) refineries in the region. The report also provides refinery capital expenditure outlook by key countries, year on year, till 2021 in the region.

The report also provides key country comparisons within the region based on contribution to regional refining capacity. Further the report also offers recent developments and latest contracts awarded in the refining industry across different countries.

Scope:

- Updated information relating to all active and planned refineries

- Provides historical data from 2011 to 2016, forecast to 2021

- Information on refining, FCC, hydrocracking and coking capacities by refinery and country

- Provides operator information for all active and planned refineries

- Latest developments and contracts related to refineries across different countries

Key Topics Covered:

1 Table of Contents

1.1 List of Tables

1.2 List of Figures

2 Introduction

3 Asia and Oceania Refining Industry

3.1 Asia and Oceania Refining Industry, Overview of Active Refineries Data

3.2 Asia and Oceania Refining Industry, Total Refining Capacity

3.3 Asia and Oceania Refining Industry, Overview of Planned Refineries Data

3.4 Asia and Oceania Refining Industry, Planned Refining Facilities

3.5 Refining Industry in China

3.6 Refining Industry in India

3.7 Refining Industry in Japan

3.8 Refining Industry in South Korea

3.9 Refining Industry in Singapore

3.10 Refining Industry in Thailand

3.11 Refining Industry in Indonesia

3.12 Refining Industry in Taiwan

3.13 Refining Industry in Malaysia

3.14 Refining Industry in Australia

3.15 Refining Industry in Pakistan

3.16 Refining Industry in Philippines

3.17 Refining Industry in Vietnam

3.18 Refining Industry in New Zealand

3.19 Refining Industry in North Korea

3.20 Refining Industry in Myanmar

3.21 Refining Industry in Sri Lanka

3.22 Refining Industry in Bangladesh

3.23 Refining Industry in Papua New Guinea

3.24 Refining Industry in Brunei

3.25 Refining Industry in Afghanistan

3.26 Refining Industry in Mongolia

3.27 Refining Industry in Cambodia

3.28 Refining Industry in East Timor

4 Appendix

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/nvd7cq/refining_industry

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Refining Industry Outlook in Asia and Oceania to 2021 - Capacity and Capital Expenditure Forecasts with Details of ... - Business Wire (press release)

New Zealand cyclist Sam Miller looking forward to aggressive racing … – Stuff.co.nz

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

SCOTT DONALDSON

Last updated12:40, March 1 2017

John Hawkins/Fairfax NZ

Sam Miller of Invercargill, is in the NZ U19 cycling team to ride in Australia.

New Zealand under-19 cyclist Sam Miller is looking forward to testing himselfatthe 2017 Oceania Road Championships in Canberra.

The Southland rider is attending the event as part of a 12-strong New Zealand under-19 squad.

He previously enjoyed a taste of the Oceania Road Cycling Championships in theunder-17 event, along with the experience ofthe Oceania Track Cycling Championships, which have given him an idea of what to expect.

EUGENE BONTHUYS/SUPPLIED

Southland rider Sam Miller on his way to finishing second in the Yunca Junior Tour of Southland.

"When I went over to the Oceania Track Champs it was like completely different racing to over here, a lot more aggressive and faster, so I am expecting a similar thing for the road," he said.

READ MORE: Promising southern cyclists named in Southern Performance Hub intake

For Miller, the Oceania Champs includes a 25km time trial on Thursday March 9, followed by a 120km road race on Saturday March 11.

"It is a one off event, the race will be quite long, just two one off races and you get medals at the end of it," he said.

While the 18-year-old picked up gold medals in the team sprint and team pursuit, along with a bronze medal in the points race at the 2017 NZ Track Cycling Championships in Invercargill, he prefers hitting the road.

"I find it more interesting biking around different places and up hills as opposed to around a velodrome.," he said.

"I do quite like the speed of the velodrome though I guess."

The architect puts his selection down to some promising performances over the last 18 months.

"They have a Calder Stewart series and we had a development team in that for the last few rounds of last year and I got a couple of good placings there because it was up against elite riders, I placed quite well in comparison to them I guess," he said.

The Invercargill-based rider has plenty of goals in his second year as an under-19 rider.

"For track I am aiming for Junior Worlds this year, but that is up to selectors now," he said.

"For the road it is to keep participating in these tours, and eventuallytowards the end of under-19, get picked for pro teams overseas or here and hopefully opportunities will come."

He is also looking forward to his first chance to ride in the Tour of Southland, after finishing on the podium in last year's Yunca Junior Tour of Southland.

"I haven't been old enough, I am excited because I get to ride it this year," he said.

-Stuff

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New Zealand cyclist Sam Miller looking forward to aggressive racing ... - Stuff.co.nz

Mohammed receives President of Seychelles – Gulf Today

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

DUBAI: Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, received on Tuesday at Zabeel Palace, President of Seychelles Danny Faure.

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority also attended the reception.

Sheikh Mohammed welcomed President Faure in the UAE, and stressed his country's keenness on developing ties with Seychelles. The two sides reviewed bilateral relations of the countries and ways to enhance them in various fields.

Mr Faure emphasised his country's desire to boost cooperation in various domains. He also praised the UAE's pioneering stature at the regional and global arenas, in addition to its role in boosting cooperation between the two countries.

Present at the meeting were Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Emirates Group; Mohammad Bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and The Future; Reem Bint Ibrahim Al Hashemi, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Ahmed Saeed Alneyadi, Charge d'Affaires of the UAE Consulate in Seychelles.

WAM

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Mohammed receives President of Seychelles - Gulf Today

Lanka and Seychelles to jointly fight drug menace – The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

SriLankan Airlines welcomes sophisticated Airbus A320neo to its fleet

Bond Commission members visit Central Bank

Mangala meets British Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Ban in SL: Gunaratne and Dickwella in Sri Lanka Test squad

The governments of Seychelles and Sri Lanka have decided to fight against the drug menace in the country.Praising President Maithripala Sirisenas campaign against illegal drugs, President of Seychelles, Danny Faure said that his country would extend fullest cooperation to Sri Lankas endeaour to stop drugs and narcotics smuggling during a bilateral meeting held on Fenruary 27.

Two leaders discussed the whole range of bilateral relations, especially about close cooperation in tourism, fisheries and agriculture.

President Faure said Seychelles also faced with the menace of drug smuggling in to the country and said the two countries could share intelligence on drugs smuggling in their joint fight against drugs.

President Sirisena, referring to the powerful drug cartels, said that even many political leaders also fear to talk against drug mafia and said he was glad that President Faure fearlessly speak against drug smugglers. I consider you as a dear friend with a common cause, President Sirisena said and President Faure commented, I am strongly with you in our common fight against the drug menace.

President Faure thanked Sri Lanka for providing high professionals to Seychelles and said, Our students learn from Sri Lankan teachers, your doctors look after our health and your legal experts provide us excellent judiciary services. He said former Attorney General of Seychelles, Anthony Fernando is also a Sri Lankan and he is now a respected judge. Now we do not go to Europe for legal expertise, we come to Sri Lanka, Seychelles President said.

President Faure invited President Sirisena to be the chief guest at the function to be held in October 2018 to mark the 30 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Seychelles Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, Michael Benstrong, Presidential secretary Ms Aude Labaleine, Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Esala Weerakoon and Seychelles Ambassador David Pierre also participated in the discussion.

SriLankan Airlines welcomes sophisticated Airbus A320neo to its fleet

Bond Commission members visit Central Bank

Mangala meets British Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Ban in SL: Gunaratne and Dickwella in Sri Lanka Test squad

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Lanka and Seychelles to jointly fight drug menace - The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

#TravelGoals 2017: Rent a private Island in Indonesia or the Seychelles – GQ India

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Every once in a while the gods smile upon Earth, and its good people discover a new island. Utter seclusion and spiritual renewal are the new touchstones of luxury, and for a few dozen lakhs you can kick back on your own piece of paradise.

Bawah (bawahisland.com), the newest find in the relatively unexplored Indonesian archipelago its address, a few coordinates in the South China Sea is set to become the next Bintan. Arriving via a tony seaplane from Singapore, as all guests must, is spine- tingling: The atoll glimmers as you approach. Coral gardens stretch for miles into abyssal depths, rare birds and flowers surround three lagoons and 11 empty beaches. And amidst it all is a mysterious jungle that rises from the centre, 150m tall, like a lost world from a James Cameron movie.

The 35 villas that have been built entirely by hand, using bamboo, stone and recycled teak, dont clutter the powdery sands. And with a maximum of 70 guests here at any given time, everything feels entirely folded away, a place to dream and read.

If you cant wait for the property to open this summer, theres the newly-launched Zil Pasyon on Flicit (sixsenses.com), a private island in celeb-magnet Seychelles. For nine years, the Six Senses team has been bushwhacking its way through a tangled mass of coco plum so that more delicate indigenous species can re-establish themselves. Jagged granite rocks on white sands provide a dramatic setting for a vacation thats entirely otherworldly. When you arent in your generously appointed villas with private pools and organic mattresses, there are paddleboards and kayaks, speedboats and jet skis and long walks that are medicinal for the soul. Nature feels different in places where man treads lightly.

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#TravelGoals 2017: Rent a private Island in Indonesia or the Seychelles - GQ India

Seychelles Tourism on the road in South Africa – eTurboNews

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

The Oakfield Expo is dubbed the Gautengs favorite bridal show where high-quality exhibitors attend, and couples get to meet South Africas leading wedding specialists in the beautiful and romantic gardens of the Oakfield Farm.

It was from the prestigious Oakfield Bridal Expo at the end of January, the Seychelles Tourism Boards (STB) office in South Africa attended the Travel Expo and the World Leisure Holiday roadshow last week.

Located in close proximity between Johannesburg and Pretoria, the Oakfield Farm is one of the most sought-after wedding venues, and according to the Seychelles Tourism Boards Manager for South Africa, Lena Hoareau, it was an excellent backdrop to promote the destination.

It was a beautiful venue, with stands both inside and outside in the magnificent gardens, which set the stage for a different atmosphere, as opposed to the usual vast exhibition centers. We had a busy two days with lots of serious and genuine inquiries, she added.

I am happy to learn that some of the queries have actually converted into firm bookings after I touched base with the partnering tour operators a few days after the show.

The following weekend, the Seychelles Tourism Board moved to the heart of Johannesburg for South Africas biggest travel fair the Travel Expo. The expo is organized by the Flight Centre Travel Group, one of the largest travel outlets, pushing sales for Seychelles on the South African market.

Over 100 travel exhibitors were present at this years expo, presenting exclusive deals for the two days.

From domestic to international travels, visitors hunted the best deals on offer as they booked their next holiday and in some cases, their honeymoon.

The island destinations were a hit on that weekend, and the Seychelles stand was always full with consumers getting all the information they needed in order to make the ultimate decision of where they should go.

We always like exhibiting at Travel Expo, because it is full of buzz and excitement as consumers try to find the best deals of the weekend. Once they are happy with a particular deal, they can book then and there at the show itself. With several of the island destinations offering attractive packages, we get a lot of questions as to why someone should go for Seychelles and not another island like Zanzibar or Mauritius, said Mrs. Hoareau.

Such queries allow us to talk about Seychelles uniqueness and what it has to offer as opposed to its competitors. And I am glad to say it was another successful expo for us, and we registered several bookings in the post-expo days.

Right out of the Travel Expo, STO SA took to the roads for the World Leisure Holidays roadshow, starting off with 2 workshops in Johannesburg followed by Pretoria, Durban, and Cape Town.

Mrs. Hoareau said over 500 agents attended the 4-city roadshow, and it allowed the office to present Seychelles products to a lot of new agents. Other exhibitors were destinations, resorts, and hotels offered by World Leisure.

STB shared a table with Air Seychelles on this roadshow, as the airline talked about its services and network, with the highlight being the introduction of the new Durban flights starting on March 30.

This annual roadshow allows World Leisure to introduce all its products in the Indian Ocean [region], and it is a great platform for us to capture the hundreds of travel agents, increasing their awareness on Seychelles. The workshop format allows you to have one-to-one contact with agents, and you are able to answer their questions then and there as you do your presentations, said Mrs. Hoareau.

The tourist office continues with its calendar of marketing activities as it targets the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) segment next week with the Meetings Africa (MICE) Fair in Johannesburg and the wedding/honeymoon niche with the NWJ Bridal Fair in Durban.

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Seychelles Tourism on the road in South Africa - eTurboNews

Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships Will Soon Have Lifeguards – Cond Nast Traveler

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

It's only the second major cruise line to have guards at sea.

Making industry waves, Royal Caribbean just became the second major cruise line to staff its ships pools with lifeguards , rolling out a brand new water safety program on the Oasis of the Seas, one of the world's largest cruise ships, this past weekend. Before 2017, Traveler Reader's Choice Award-winning Disney was the only major American cruise company to employ on-board lifeguardsa move that came about after a near-drowning on one of their ships in 2013.

Considering most cruise ships dont have lifeguards (and whats more fun than floating in a pool in the middle of the ocean?), this is a pretty big step, especially for travelers with children. We are a family brand, Lyan Sierra-Caro, Royal Caribbean's manager of corporate communications, told Cruise Critic . Pool-based fun is an important aspect of the cruise vacation for all guests, and we are doing everything we can to ensure they have the safest vacation possible.

Having lifeguards on cruises is an important safety measure. In recent yearsand in the wake of other tragic incidentsguards at sea have been a talked-about topic . In 2015, a young boy nearly drowned in a pool on a Royal Caribbean ship ; and this past summer, an eight-year-old was found unconscious in a pool on RC's Anthem of the Seas.

Beyond lifeguards dotting every on-ship pool, Royal Caribbeans new water safety program also includes a 15-minute safety talk that both kids and adults can attend on embarkation day, and life vests for children ages 4 to 12 (a feature Royal Caribbean added to their ships in 2015).

Royal Caribbean expects the full water safety program, lifeguards included, to be fleet-wide by June. Until then, well keep a watchful eye to see if its a policy change that other cruise ships hop on board with, too.

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Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships Will Soon Have Lifeguards - Cond Nast Traveler

Disneyland 1967 Part One: Pirates of the Caribbean – MousePlanet

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Disney has been around so long and has done so many things in so many different areas, that, these days, every year seems to be a significant anniversary of something. This particular year is the 50th anniversary of Disneyland 1967 which most people don't think of being an important celebration.

However, 1967 marked the first year that Disneyland and the Disney Company had to adjust to not having Walt Disney around since he died in December 1966.

Even the cast training program for Disneyland was re-named "Traditions," because both Dick Nunis and Van France worried that new hires to the company needed to be reminded of Walt's personal philosophy, since the "boss" was no longer there personally to model the proper attitude and behavior.

For Disneyland in 1967, the park still featured Walt's special touch with the opening of an attraction that has become the iconic Disney theme park attraction that influenced all future rides (Pirates of the Caribbean), the addition of a brand new land (New Orleans Square) and the complete re-imagining of another land (Tomorrowland) to more completely reflect Walt's vision of the future.

In addition, there were many smaller touches also introduced to the park, including some additions to the Jungle Cruise attraction with some new dancing natives and two new gorillas.

Walt had personally developed and approved all of these changes, but, unfortunately, was unable to see them open. Walt's experiences with his contributions to the 1964-65 New York World's Fair notably influenced the updates.

One new addition from the fair that is usually forgotten was that Walt went to the Spanish pavilion and saw a display and demonstration by the Arribas brothers and invited them to open up a shop at Disneyland. Disneyland had a glass blower from 1955-1966 named Bill Rasmussen who left the park to open a series of shops in cities like San Francisco and Boston.

Disney released this booklet about its new Pirates of the Caribbean attraction in 1967.

In 1967, the brothers came to Disneyland and opened a glass shop and now have shops at a number of different Disney theme parks.

On November 20, 1967, Disneyland got permission from Anaheim to expand its borders both in the park and the parking lot. By end of December, 7.9 million guests had visited (meaning since the park's opening in 1955 roughly 67 million guests had been in the park). There were 4,910 cast members who worked the park that had more than doubled the number of attractions since 1955.

Anaheim Stadium opened in 1966 (home of the California Angels) and the Anaheim Convention Center opened July 12, 1967. Hotels/motels had grown from 60 rooms in 1955 to more than 6,500 rooms in 1967.

And sadly, 1967 was the last summer for mermaids in the Submarine Lagoon.

Fortunately, the changes in the summer of 1967 were documented in the Wonderful World of Disney television program "Disneyland: From the Pirates of the Caribbean to the World of Tomorrow" that aired on January 21, 1968.

Walt Disney had earlier provided a sneak peak at the Pirates attraction in the episode titled "The Disneyland Tenth Anniversary Show," which was shown January 3, 1965. Both episodes are easily found online with a little effort.

Walt Disney had wanted an attraction featuring pirates at Disneyland as early as 1954 to be part of the pre-Civil War New Orleans area of the park. On the July 17, 1955 telecast of the opening of Disneyland, co-hosts Ronald Reagan and Bob Cummings both referred to the New Orleans flavor at the edge of Frontierland "down on New Orleans Street".

Wrought iron balconies and similar New Orleans architectural touches decorated the exterior of the Aunt Jemima's Pancake House and Chicken Plantation Restaurant. Imagineer Herb Ryman had done a concept piece of artwork where there would be a pirate shack with the pirate's laundry hanging on an outside line and further down the block Bluebeard's Den.

In 1958, artist Sam McKim further expanded on the concept on his Disneyland map design that included a haunted house and a Pirate Wax Museum featuring a Rogue's Gallery of famous pirates and a Thieves Market for merchandise.

In 1961, Walt approached artist Marc Davis. Davis studied the history of pirates and came up with some dramatic tableaus to tell the story in a walk-through attraction meant to be underneath the New Orleans location. Up above would be an enormous enclosed area where it was always a moonlit twilight and guests could wander through a Pirate Alley shopping district and an elegant restaurant located outside of a plantation near a bayou.

Davis went through three different designs of the underground pirate presentation where guests in groups of 50-70 would walk through a harbor town, onto a pirate ship and then through a tavern and a cobblestone town square. There were discussions about having simplified electro-mechanical pirates narrate the story as guests gazed into the various tableau scenes. Electro-mechanical figures, like the ones on the Jungle Cruise or the Rivers of America, could repeat two or three motions and were the forerunners of Audio-Animatronics.

At the World's Fair, Walt saw how successful the sophisticated Lincoln Audio-Animatronics figure was and how the boat system in "it's a small world" was so efficient in transporting a large number of guests through an attraction. Even though a huge hole had been dug for the Pirate Wax Museum and concrete and steel already laid in anticipation of finishing shortly after the fair, Walt had it all torn out and he started over.

Disneyland's New Orleans Square, based on concept art by Herb Ryman, was officially dedicated on July 24, 1966 by Walt and Victor Schiro, who served as mayor of New Orleans from 1961-1969. Schiro made Walt an honorary citizen of New Orleans. It was Walt's last major public appearance in the park before his death.

However, because of Walt's new vision influenced by the World's Fair, the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction would be delayed until 1967 along with the Blue Bayou restaurant and Club 33 (inspired by the VIP lounge he saw in operation on the second floor of the Tower of the Four Winds in front of "it's a small world").

Why was it called New Orleans Square since it doesn't seem to be a square at all, but a series of curved, winding streets? The Vieux Carr is the historic name for the actual New Orleans French Quarter, and translates from the original French into "Old Square."

In an interview I did with Marc Davis in 1998, he told me:

"Walt came to me and said, 'Marc, I'd like to do an attraction on pirates. You know, maybe pirates of the Caribbean.' He had come up with the name for it by that casual remark like he often did. He named the PeopleMover that way but thought it would just be a placeholder name and we would come up with something better but we couldn't.

"Originally, this was going to be a walk-through wax museum down under New Orleans Square and feature the real pirates of history like Captain Kidd and [Captain] Morgan, but after the success of the boats in 'it's a small world' at the New York World's Fair, he realized it would be so popular that it needed a larger capacity than a walk-through, and the boats would provide that.

"He had [Head of Disneyland construction Joe] Fowler rip out all the steel that had already been laid and re-designed the entire thing with waterfalls so it can go under the berm and train track to a larger show building. That was an expensive decision but the right one."

The original hole dug for the museum is now the caves before the main show.

During Davis' research, it turned out that real pirates were not as interesting and dramatic as people remembered, so the thrust of the new show was to create the world of pirates people knew from the movies and books.

Davis' specialty was humor, and his skill was utilized to take the edge off the nefarious behavior of characters who proudly admit that they "kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot." Instead of being rough men who would take advantage of women, they became lonely bachelors desperately looking to "buy a wench for a bride" to fill their affection-starved lives.

Exaggerated facial features (especially since the figures would only be seen for a few seconds) and a light-hearted theme song also underscored that these were simply "boys will be boys" having some fun like a high school football team out of control after winning a game. That certainly doesn't excuse their actions, but it made it all a bit more understandable for guests and less offensive for almost thirty years when some changes were made.

Lust is one of the seven deadly sins, but so is gluttony so, in 1997, instead of chasing the women, the Disneyland pirates were after food to have a good meal for once. In 2006, elements from the popular film franchise were introduced into the ride.

Musician George Bruns, whose previous credits included co-writing the hugely popular song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," composed the attraction's score, with lyrics and script created by the Francis Xavier "X" Atencio, who later penned the narration script and song lyrics for The Haunted Mansion.

Atencio had never written a script before and is still unclear why Walt decided the he could do the job. Atencio studied not only the Disney live-action film Treasure Island (1950), but similar Hollywood films like Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, Blackbeard the Pirate and The Buccaneer.

Atencio voice-directed the performers for the attraction, but had some help from Imagineer Marty Sklar. Paul Frees did the voice of the Auctioneer and some of the other pirates. He was the voice of the Ghost Host in the Haunted Mansion, Ludwig von Drake, Bullwinkle's foe Boris Badenov, and countless other credits.

Thurl Ravenscroft, best known as the voice of Kellogg's Tony the Tiger for decades and the singer of "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" did several pirate voices, including the accordion playing one in the trio of minstrels by the donkey and the drunk pirate hanging on a lamppost. He also did the sound of the singing/howling dog with the minstrels as he had supplied dog sounds in Disney's animated feature Lady and the Tramp (1955).

J. Pat O'Malley who was a popular Disney animated voice artist, including Colonel Hathi in The Jungle Book (1967) also voiced several pirates. He has become notorious as the person who Walt had coach Dick van Dyke for his cockney accent for Mary Poppins (1964).

The voice of the magistrate's wife pleading with Carlos not to be "cheeken" was supplied by June Foray, who has countless credits, including being Grandma Fa in Mulan (1998). She will be celebrating her 100th birthday this year.

A long model of the attraction was built. The figures were each nine inches high and could be moved from place to place. It was put up in sections on sawhorses with rings for each scene, so that someone could get the same view that the audience would see. A desk chair with rollers was pushed through the path. Walt went through many times and made suggestions and changes.

Before Walt's death, a full-sized mock-up of the auction scene was set up in a WED (Imagineering) warehouse in Glendale. A dolly with a chair on it was rigged up so that Walt could be pushed through at two feet per second (the approximate speed of the boats). Walt also got to walk the unfilled flume of the attraction, but there was not much in place in terms of scenery and figures to see.

Blaine Gibson told me that the Auctioneer's face was "inspired" by a fellow Imagineer but refused to reveal the identity. Studying the original head without facial hair and hat, to me it looks very much like a young Rolly Crump.

While, for the most part, the faces of the pirates came from Davis' drawings, Gibson added in some faces of people who sat in the pews at his church on Sundays that he sketched when he was bored. The singing minstrel in the middle of the singing trio was based on a janitor at WED.

Several of the sculpted heads are re-used throughout the attraction. For instance the character in his chair outside his shack across from the Blue Bayou Restaurant was also used as the standing pirate in the jail cell trying to tempt the dog to give them the keys.

In September 1998, I also got to talk with Alice Davis, Marc's wife, who was responsible for doing the costumes on the attraction. In the early days, she and her team of four costumers would go through each morning and check the costumes and adjust the wigs and with their own make-up kits applied make-up to each of the human figures and then powdered them so they looked more realistic. Today, Disney merely paints the faces.

I got to see her in person do a drawing of one of the costumes she did for a child in "it's a small world," and I am telling you that she was an amazing artist herself, even though she always chose to stand in the shadow of her husband.

She has told the following story in a variety of places, but this is how she told me and if you have never heard it, then it is new to you:

"I graduated from (doing costumes on "it's a small world") sweet little children to dirty old men overnight.

"I had the machinists make some special bras for the women in that chase scene. It was some sort of contraption so that when the girls were running, their bosoms would bounce up and down just as in real life.

"The red head in the auction scene was a real problem at first. From the area below her bust to her hips the only thing there was a two inch tube holding her up straight. I came up with the idea of making this special stiff corset that would attach just below the bust and then to the top of the hips to give her some shape but really she's all just hollow inside there. With costuming, it is all about what the audience sees. It is an illusion.

"About two or three months after the attraction opened, there was a real fire in the ride in that final burning town scene. It had melted some of the figures with wires hanging out and the faces pretty much gone except for the glass eyes. Some of the costumes were burned and there were others that were damaged when the sprinklers went on.

"I had wanted to make a back-up set of costumes for emergencies but Dick [WED president Dick Irvine] said it was too expensive and we would worry about doing it later. I realized they had no idea how much it took to make a costume so I simply ordered twice as much yardage and we made a second set. It is easier to do that when you are doing the first one rather than wait. I just told the bean counters that the costumes cost double what they actually did.

"The show had just opened and was a huge hit and they worried how long the attraction would be down before they could get it up and running again. Dick came to me in a panic and said, 'Alice, what are we going to do? How long will it take to make new costumes? How much overtime?' and so on and so on.

"I replied, 'I think we can be ready in about a half an hour' and walked over to a cabinet and opened it and there was the second set. He didn't know whether he wanted to kiss me or kill me for tricking the accountants, but Pirates opened the next day and now they generally make three sets of costumes at the same time for a new attraction."

Several Imagineers have told me that they felt the story in the attraction was a dream, a dead pirate's dream. It is his last memories on earth before he became one of the skeletons. It is highly doubtful that Walt consciously thought that was the story. Walt was very instinctive and just "knew" when a story seemed to work.

While the Blue Bayou (originally designated as the Blue Bayou Terrace) was ready to open months before the attraction, Walt refused to do so because he felt that part of the experience for the restaurant was to see the bateaux slowly drifting in the nearby bayou. Both Pirates and Blue Bayou restaurant opened in March 1967. Club 33 opened in June 1967.

The opening of the attraction had the media reporters on the Sailing Ship Columbia. Comedian Wally Boag (iconic for his performances in the Golden Horseshoe Revue) was dressed as a pirate captain in a row boat along with his pirate crew.

They climbed aboard the Columbia and took the reporters prisoner (and brought up some attractive and appropriately dressed young women from down below, sometimes slung over their shoulders) and celebrated with music and dancing on the deck. Then they herded everyone off the ship and marched them toward the attraction.

In front of the boarded up entrance were two armed soldiers guarding the place but they were quickly overcome. The pirates used a huge log to "smash" open the door and the media entered for the first time.

The attraction cost more than $8 million dollars and was the longest attraction adventure at Disneyland.

In 1997, the original Pirates of the Caribbean attraction became the first recipient of the Classic Attraction award from the Themed Entertainment Association (THEA), an honor accepted by Disney Legend Marty Sklar.

Sklar called the attraction the quintessential Disney show, saying, "It broke the mold. It created a genre that was so new, that everything else that follows has to be measured against it. The one constant at Disneyland is change, and the attraction has had some changes over the years, but it kept the spirit and values that Walt envisioned."

Next time: I take a closer look at the New Tomorrowland that opened at Disneyland in 1967 and reveal some things that might not be common knowledge to most Disney fans.

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Disneyland 1967 Part One: Pirates of the Caribbean - MousePlanet

AP PHOTOS: Best of Carnival in Latin America, Caribbean – SFGate

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Photo: Mauro Pimentel, AP

Performers from the Salgueiro samba school dance during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Feb. 27, 2017.

A performer from the Uniao da Ilha samba school dances on a float during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Feb. 27, 2017.

A youth sells foam cans to revelers during the "Get out Temer" carnival street party in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Feb. 24, 2017. Merrymakers took to the streets to protest Brazil's President Michel Temer.

A performer from the Academicos do Grande Rio samba school parades during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Feb. 27, 2017.

Revelers wearing costumes pack a bus during carnival festivities in the Cidade de Deus, or "City of God" slum, before going to another party in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Feb. 27, 2017.

AP PHOTOS: Best of Carnival in Latin America, Caribbean

This gallery is a selection of some of the best moments captured during Carnival celebrations by Associated Press photographers across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The highlight of the year for many in Brazil is Rio de Janeiro's over-the-top party and competition at the famed Sambadrome. This year featured sensual red devils, the classic high-heeled women in barely covering outfits of feathers, singing performers with instruments, and people in large dresses spinning across the floor to impress the judges.

There was plenty of action outside the famed stadium, too. While the city's elite held a private bash in tuxedos and cocktail dresses resembling the "Great Gatsby" era, outside in the street a scrawny young boy sold cans of spray foam to partiers at an anti-government Carnival protest and costumed patients from a mental hospital sat dazed on the sidewalk.

Men in blue beards partied in the streets as did a half-man, half-unicorn and "Mike" the boxing dog. People in costumes from "The Simpsons" and "Wonder Woman" brought color to the subway, and one man squeezed in a power nap along the parade route.

In other parts of Brazil, muddy men bonded over beer and celebrants in rural areas honored traditions dating back to the country's sugar plantation days.

Outside Brazil, rum-fueled parties and high-energy dance music gave life to a city in southern Haiti still recovering from last fall's punishing Hurricane Matthew. An elderly couple in Panama showed up in bride and groom costumes. In Oruro, Bolivia, local people in colorful horned costumes performed the "Dance of the Devils," a celebration that has developed over more than 200 years to blend pagan and Roman Catholic religious practices.

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AP PHOTOS: Best of Carnival in Latin America, Caribbean - SFGate

Best (Most Affordable) Times To Travel to the Caribbean – Caribbean360.com (subscription)

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

MASSACHUSETTS, United States, Tuesday February 28, 2017 If the 2017 Hotel Pricing Report is anything to go by, then travelers could be getting a big discount on hotel prices in the Caribbean this year.

Online travel planning and booking company TripAdvisor announced the results of the report today, revealing global accommodation trends based on the websites hotel shopping data. And it points to the Caribbean being a good idea for tourists right about now.

TripAdvisor hotel shopping data reveals that some destinations offer significant hotel value this year compared to last, including theCaribbeanwhere hotel prices are down eight percent, making it a perfect time for Americans to book a dream trip there, it said.

The Hotel Pricing Report is designed to help travelers discover destinations that offer great year-over-year accommodation value, and highlights the most affordable months to stay at hotels in popular travel destinations worldwide.

It noted thattravelers can find the best prices on hotels in the Caribbean from August through October, with nightly rates averaging as low as $301. Sincethat time is hurricane season, travelers were advised to watch the weather and consider purchasing travel insurance.

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Best (Most Affordable) Times To Travel to the Caribbean - Caribbean360.com (subscription)

Bahamas famous swimming pigs dead from possible tourist feeding – MyStatesman.com

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Authorities in the Bahamas are investigating the deaths of more than a half-dozen of the island nations famous swimming pigs.

The pigs, which are a big tourist draw on the uninhabited island of Big Major Cay in Exuma, were reportedly killed by visitors last weekend when the animals were given the wrong food, one of the pigs owners, Wayde Nixon, told The Nassau Guardian.

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About 15 of the pigs survived and have been checked over by a vet. Nixon said the incident wont stop tourists from coming to the island.

The other remaining pigs are alive and healthy and out on the beach and going, he said.

The government announced that it will begin regulating the pigs and that no feeding will be allowed, following this incident.

BRB, swimming with adorable pigs in the Bahamas.

We have people coming there giving the pigs beer, rum, riding on top of them, all kind of stuff, Nixon said.

After 30 years on the island, the swimming pigs popularity has exploded, and Nixon thinks the increase in unregulated feeding of the animals has become a problem.

The government has said part of the new plan to protect the pigs involves creating a new boundary between the surviving pigs and tourists.

Another difference between tourist and travelers. Be responsible when you travel people please!

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Bahamas famous swimming pigs dead from possible tourist feeding - MyStatesman.com

Several of the Bahamas’ Beloved Swimming Pigs Found Dead – TownandCountrymag.com (blog)

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Seven of the Bahamas' famed swimming swine (who've splashed around with visitors in the Exumas for three decades) have been found dead, and the Bahamian government is currently investigating whether the tourists themselves are at fault.

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It seems, according to some reports, that the "swimming pigs" were poisonedthough it's unclear whether the deaths were accidental or intentional. One of the pigs' owners, Wayde Nixon, told The Nassau Guardian, "We have people coming there giving the pigs beer, rum, riding on top of them, all kind of stuff." Nixon says that the remaining 15 pigs are alive and well, but he's working with the government to better regulate the interaction between tourists and the animals going forward.

"If we have boundary lines, the people will be able to take photographs and see the pigs swim, all of that, but they will not be able to feed them things," said V. Alfred Gray, the Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources. "[We] seek to implement that as soon as it is practical to do so."

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Several of the Bahamas' Beloved Swimming Pigs Found Dead - TownandCountrymag.com (blog)

Amnesty Int’l critical of Jamaica, Haiti, The Bahamas – NYCaribNews

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) The London-based international human rights group, Amnesty International, has criticised the situation in three Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries on issues ranging from the ill-treatment of documented migrants to alleged crimes against humanity.

In its 2017 State of the Worlds Human Rights, Amnesty International paid attention to alleged human rights abuses in Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas. The other CARICOM countries were not mentioned in the report released over the weekend.

The report noted that in the Bahamas, there was widespread ill-treatment of undocumented migrants from countries including Haiti and Cuba.

It said the Dominican Republic deported thousands of people of Haitian descent including Dominican-born people who were effectively rendered stateless while often failing to respect international law and standards on deportations.

Upon arrival to Haiti, many people who had been deported settled in makeshift camps, where they lived in appalling conditions. Despite a commitment from newly elected authorities in the Dominican Republic to address the situation of stateless individuals, tens of thousands of people remained stateless following a 2013 Constitutional Court ruling which retroactively and arbitrarily deprived them of their nationality. In February, the IACHR described a situation of statelessness of a magnitude never before seen in the Americas.

Amnesty International said that rampant impunity allowed human rights abusers to operate without fear of the consequences weakened the rule of law, and denied truth and redress to millions.

Impunity was sustained by justice and security systems that remained under resourced, weak and often corrupt, compounded by a lack of political will to ensure their impartiality and independence. The resulting failure to bring the perpetrators of human rights violations to justice allowed organised crime and abusive law enforcement practices to take root and prosper.

Denial of meaningful access to justice also left huge numbers of people including in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela unable to claim their rights.

Amnesty International said in Jamaica, impunity prevailed for the decades-long pattern of alleged unlawful killings and extrajudicial executions by law enforcement officials.

While more than 3,000 people have been killed by law enforcement officials since 2000, only a handful of officials have been held accountable to date. In June, the Commission of Enquiry into alleged human rights violations during the 2010 state of emergency made recommendations for police reform; by the end of the year Jamaica had yet to outline how it would implement the reforms.

The human rights group noted that in Haiti, no progress was made in the investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed by former President Jean-Claude Duvalier and his former collaborators.

It said that States made little headway in tackling violence against women and girls. This included failing to protect them from rape and killings as well as failing to hold perpetrators accountable. Reports of gender based violence came from Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Nicaragua, the USA and Venezuela, among other countries.

Amnesty noted that legislative and institutional progress in some countries such as the legal recognition of same-sex marriage did not necessarily translate into better protection against violence and discrimination for LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) people.

Across the Americas, high levels of hate crime, advocacy of hatred and discrimination, as well as murders and persecution of LGBTI activists persisted in countries including Argentina, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, the USA and Venezuela.

In the Bahamas, Amnesty International noted Bahamians voted no in a constitutional referendum on gender equality in citizenship matters in June.

Discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people continued, it said, adding that in the June referendum Bahamians voted on gender equality in citizenship matters under Bahamian law.

The proposed amendments backed by the government would have strengthened anti-discrimination protections based on sex. The result maintained inequality in Bahamian laws so that women and men pass on citizenship to their children and spouses in different ways.

The result put at risk the citizenship rights of families, in particular the risk of separation of families with diverse nationalities or children born outside of the Bahamas to Bahamian parents.

Amnesty said that stigma and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people continued and in April, activists founded the group Bahamas Transgender Intersex United.

In Jamaica, Amnesty said that unlawful killings and extrajudicial executions continued. Violence against women and discrimination against LGBTI people persisted. Children continued to be detained in violation of international standards.

It said that despite committing to the establishment of a national human rights institution, Jamaica had not established the mechanism by the end of the year.

Jamaica continued to have one of the highest homicide rates in the Americas, Amnesty International reported, saying that in June, a Commission of Enquiry published its much-anticipated report into the events that took place in Western Kingston during the state of emergency, declared on 23 May 2010, which left at least 69 people dead.

Almost 900 pages long, the report identified a number of cases of possible extrajudicial execution and produced a number of important recommendations for police reform. In an official response, the Jamaica Constabulary Force accepted a number of recommendations, such as committing to hold administrative reviews into the conduct of officers named in the Commissioners report.

But Amnesty said that the police continued to refuse to accept any responsibility for human rights violations or extrajudicial executions during the state of emergency.

By the end of the year, the government had still not officially indicated how it would implement the recommendations of the Commissioners. While the number of killings by police have been significantly reduced in recent years, 111 people were killed by law enforcement officials in 2016, compared with 101 in 2015. Women whose relatives were killed by police, and their families, experienced pervasive police harassment and intimidation, and faced multiple barriers to accessing justice, truth and reparation.

The human rights group said that Jamaica again failed to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, signed in September 2000, nor had it adhered to the UN Convention against Torture or the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

The trials and triumphs of offshore wind – GreenBiz

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

When it comes to renewable energy, theres a new kid on the block and hes making lots of new friends quickly. Were talking of course, aboutoffshore wind. While once resisted as too expensive and too unsightly, the technology finally has found its sea legs and is really making a splash.

Europe is where most of the activity has been. It started withVindeby, the worlds first offshore wind farm, off the Danish coast. Vindeby, commissioned in 1991, has 11 turbines, with a combined capacity of 4.95 MW.

Thats significantly less than the output of just one of 32 8 MW turbines that Danish-based Dong Energy is installing at theBurbo Bank Extension (PDF)wind farm off the English west coast near Liverpool. Dong, which also operates Vindeby, has 3,000 MW of offshore wind online, and plans to grow that to 6,500 MW by 2020. Their 21 existing facilities are off the coasts of Denmark, the Netherlands and the U.K. Dong, which both builds and operates these wind farms, is one of a growing number of players in this market.

Better known perhaps, are the turbine manufacturers.Vestas, the Danish turbine maker, has formed a joint venture withMitsubishi Heavy Industriesof Japan, to compete withSiemens, the longstanding frontrunner.General Electricis getting into the game as well, along with a number of Chinese manufacturers.

Here are some reasons why offshore wind makes sense. First, it overcomes most of the not-in-my-back-yard (NIMBY) concerns about visual pollution and noise, although there has been resistance from certain upscale seaside communities, notably theCape Windproject in Nantucket Sound, and Donald Trumps lawsuit attempting to block a wind farm off the coast of Scotland, near a golf course he owns. (AlthoughTrump lost, Cape Wind is apparently "dead in the water.")

Winds at sea blow more consistently and with less obstruction than winds traveling across the land.

Second, wind speeds increase the higher you get off the ground. For that reason, larger turbines, with blades that reach hundreds of feet into the air, capture more energy than smaller turbines. This factor also combines with the previous one, as the larger the turbines, the more objectionable they tend to be. This is not an issue when they are far out at sea. (Of course, they generally arent that far out because its easier to plant them in shallow waters, not to mention the length of undersea cable required.) Also, a substantial portion of most countries' population lives near the sea.

Finally,winds at seablow more consistently and with less obstruction than winds traveling across the land. Thats why hurricanes lose strength when they make landfall.

Still, until recently, costs were too high, and there was plenty of low-hanging fruit with less costly land-based turbines.

But as builders have come up the learning curve on how to anchor the turbines to the seabed more cost-effectively, and manufacturers have come out with new turbines that are both larger and more efficient, that equation is changing. Just since 2014, the cost of offshore wind has dropped from $166 per megawatt-hour to $82.

According to a recent piece inthe Guardian, electricity from offshore wind will be less expensive than that produced by a new wave of nuclear plants currently being built. According to Hugh McNeal, a career civil servant who last year joined RenewableUK from the former Department of Energy and Climate Change, "I dont think theres any doubt about the political commitment of any party, apart from perhaps UKIP, to offshore wind. I think its got an incredibly healthy future."

At present, there is only one wind farm, the Block Island Wind Farm, off the coast of Rhode Island, that just came online last year.

The future beyond that is clearly an unknown given President Trumps infatuation with fossil fuels.

However, a group of20 governorsfrom both red and blue states recently sent aletterto the president asking him to support wind and solar. On the question of offshore wind, the letter stated:

The Department of Energys 2015 Wind Vision Report predicted that our countrys offshore wind resources could support the installation of 22 GW of new wind by 2030 and 86 GW by 2050. If we capitalized on that potential, a new American offshore wind industry could create thousands of jobs in research and development, engineering, manufacturing, marine construction and other sectors.

Given its location, offshore wind presents greater development challenges than onshore wind, resulting in longer construction times and higher initial costs. In addition, most of the nations best offshore wind resources are found in federal waters requiring federal permits and other logistic efforts that can add years to the construction timeline.

Because of these offshore development challenges, different tax incentives, infrastructure investments, and research are needed for offshore wind projects to be successful. Understanding this, the governors recently informed Congressional leadership that the nations offshore wind industry cannot grow without specific federal policy foundations that will encourage offshore wind development in shallow and deep water. The governors have urged Congress to approve comprehensive offshore development legislation as soon as possible.

According to theNational Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL), the gross wind resource along the two coasts of the U.S. amounts to 4,223 GW. Thats an amount roughly four times the entire generating capacity of the current U.S. electric grid.

So, the stage has been set for a massive increase in renewable power, courtesy of offshore wind technology. Governments around the world already are jumping in to take advantage of this opportunity. Hopefully, the U.S. wont be left too far behind.

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The trials and triumphs of offshore wind - GreenBiz

Rystad: Offshore gaining on shale – OE Digital

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Even though the oilfield service market in shale is the place to be in 2017, Rystad Energy says there is clear evidence that offshore projects are still being prioritized by exploration and production (E&P) companies.

In fact,for every dollar that is invested into the North American shale market in 2017, a dollar is also earmarked for the development of new offshore resources. Both sources of future production, shale and offshore, will receive around US$70 billion each of planned capital expenditures, says Rystad.

In both 2014 and 2015, E&P companies looked at North America and the shale industry for where they would invest in new production capacity. In 2014,$160 billion was invested into drilling and completion of wells and $20 billion on infrastructure, while only $95 billion was committed to unlock new offshore resources.

For 2015, 40% more was directed towards shale. Both 2014 and 2015 were the result of offshore projects pricing themselves out of the competition of providing oil to the market. However, with two years of cost cutting programs in the offshore value chain,2016 and 2017 are showing full competitiveness within these two sources of supply. This shows what the offshore industry has worked with during the downturn. In a time when many thought that offshore projects could not compete with shale, offshore operators managed to turn uncommercial projects into highly competitive projects with the help from service companies.Offshore projects that were uncommercial at $110/bbl in 2013 are now commercial at an oil price of $50/bbl.

The top 10 offshore projects in 2017 make up almost 70% of all of the committed capex and it is only the best-in-class projects that will pass the decision gate in 2017.One of the key efforts has been reviving projects such as Mad Dog phase 2, Coral FLNG and Leviathan. It would be key for suppliers to be exposed to these projects, but for those that win these contracts, most of them will need to wait until 2018 before seeing increased revenues.

One of the key reasons for offshore projects starting to becoming competitive again, is the strong deflation of unit prices which is actually higher for offshore than onshore. In 2016,unit prices for offshore developments have been reduced 27% from the peak in 2014 for awarded contracts. One of the key segments, which have helped the offshore cost to come down, is related to the immense pressure on dayrates for drilling rigs. Here, prices have come down more than 50%. For other segments, the cost is down more in the range of 20-30%, where subsea is on the upper end.

For onshore developments, the overall deflation is 21% where well services and commodities, as well as land rigs, holds the majority share of the reduction.On top of the unit price deflation, comes efficiency gains, currency effects, and changes to design which have helped total breakeven prices to come down.However, with surging activity increase, both within shale and offshore this year, inflation will take its toll going forward. The time window of low service prices has started to shrink, but it will stay open longer for offshore activity due the longer contract durations and lead times.This will impact even more the 2018 volumes of activity and benefit service companies on their top and bottom line.

Continued here:

Rystad: Offshore gaining on shale - OE Digital

New is Better at the 2017 Offshore Technology Conference – Journal of Petroleum Technology

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Danzig

Some of the best opportunities for upstream companies to move forward during this downturn will be represented through the new technologies and processes discussed and displayed at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston from 1-4 May.

In the midst of enormous change, shifting business, political, and economic paradigms have altered the complexion of the eventbut not its status as a must attend technical conference for engineers and scientists.

OTCs uniqueness spurs from its organizers: 13 nonprofit societies in the energy sector that work cooperatively to develop the technical program. This years event features more than 300 technical papers from leading upstream firms, more than 60 technical sessions, 24 topical breakfasts and luncheons, along with several in-depth panel discussions.

A theme that will permeate OTCs technical program is updates on world-class projects, including Shells Gulf of Mexico Stones project, billed as the worlds deepest subsea development. Low oil prices have created new demand for lower-cost ways to support such projects and that in turn is driving development of breakthrough technologies.

Technologies that will be presented at OTC include a new cement integrity evaluation system developed by Baker Hughes and several all-electric subsea systems that will be the focus of an entire technical session.

OTC will also address new developments in major offshore basins, especially those of Mexico and Brazil, two countries that have made significant changes in the regulation and development of their offshore resources.

One panel session will feature executives from Chevron, BP, ExxonMobil, BHP Billiton, Statoil, and Murphy Oil Corporation that will shed light on companies plans to explore Mexicos virgin deepwater blocks.

There will also be breakfast and luncheon forums on business opportunities in Brazil and a panel session featuring leaders of Shell, Total, ExxonMobil, and Petrobras sharing views on how recently announced government incentives will affect that countrys offshore future.

OTC will also feature new technical topics that were not on the radars of E&P professionals a decade ago. The digital revolution has hacked its way into the program, which will closely examine the issues of big data and the growing importance of cybersecurity.

James Pappas, an OTC program subcommittee vice chairperson representing the Marine Technology Society, said the committee also selected thought-provoking technical papers that match the dual industry needs of safety and improved economics.

These papers, and the sessions in which they are a part of, provide insights into cutting-edge technologies that will result in more efficient and safer operations, he said. Those in attendance will have unique and ample opportunity to interact with others who have similar interests, including the authors and presenters, to discuss their thoughts and experiences and delve into more in-depth knowledge on particular topics.

Pappas noted that attendees of OTC are sure to learn something new to take back to their companies. All they need to do is show up, listen, and speak up, either during the presentations or after the sessions, he said.

Paul Jones, a member of the OTC board representing SPE, explained that attending the conference has enabled him to challenge his thinking and engage with other thought leaders.

OTC is important because it is the premiere venue to see and learn about new technologies and expand your professional networks, he noted, adding that the conference is a must-attend event at any time because of the quality of technical papers and expanse of the exhibition.

To foster the growth of attendees professional skills there will a number of networking events as well as discussions on how to improve business operations. A networking opportunity focusing on efficiency will feature high-level managers from Hess and Kiewit while a luncheon keynoted by executive leaders of Intecsea and Schlumberger will discuss the importance of diversity in an organization.

Joe Fowler, OTC Board Chairperson, emphasized that the conference represents an invaluable platform for new business opportunities and technologies, especially in challenging times. OTC is important because it is the best source of technology for new offshore developments, he said.

Among this years returning highlights is the University R&D Showcase, which showcases innovative ideas and emerging technologies from the world of academia. In a separate event, the Rice Alliance Startup Roundup will give 50 young upstream-focused firms a chance to pitch their innovations to potential investors and interested attendees.

New is Better at the 2017 Offshore Technology Conference - Journal of Petroleum Technology

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