Monthly Archives: March 2017

HAVANA

Foreign ministers and other officials from 25 Caribbean countries met in Havana on Friday to discuss a joint response in the face of Trump administration threats to migrants and trade.

Opening remarks at the closed-door event, attended by representatives from Colombia, Mexico, Cuba and other countries in Central America and the Caribbean islands, made clear the new U.S. administration and key economic partner was uppermost on the agenda, though the name "Trump" was never uttered.

Foreign ministers pose for the official photo after the opening ceremony of the XXII Ordinary Meeting of the Council of Ministers of the the Association of Caribbean States at the Havana Libre Hotel in Havana, Cuba, March 10, 2017.

"We are meeting at an exceptional historic moment when there are geographic changes on the global scene and we have to be prepared," said June Soomer, from Saint Lucia and secretary general of the Association of Caribbean States.

"We are not going to resign ourselves to what others in the world dictate. We are not a mediocre region, we are one of excellence and peace," Sooner added.

Cuban President Raul Castro also attended the meeting.

His foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, lit into U.S. President Donald Trump's policies in his opening remarks and said the organization should come up with a joint response, as they threaten the development models of local economies.

"The excluding and repressive migration policies announced by countries of destination... as well as the implementation of extremely protectionist trade measures, are real challenges for our sub region," he said.

"In the face of the walls intended to be built, our choice should continue to be unity, solidarity and cooperation to defend the most legitimate interests of our peoples," he said.

The rest is here:

Caribbean Nations Huddle in Havana on Migration, Trade - Voice of America

Melanie Reffes, Special for USA TODAY 8:02 a.m. ET March 10, 2017

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Home to Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins, Dolphin Cay sits on 14 acres and is fed by seven million gallons of seawater.(Photo: Atlantis Paradise Island)

A hot spot during the 1960s, Paradise Island Hotel and Casino was owned by game show guru Merv Griffin. In 1994, it was bought by a South African hotelier and transformed into Atlantis Paradise Island, after an unprecedented $800 million investment. Modeled after the mythical lost city of Atlantis, the gargantuan playground across the bridge from downtown Nassau opened in 1998 and today is the largest resort in the Caribbean.

Changing hands again in 2011, the resort joined Marriotts Autograph Collection in 2014. On the northern edge of the island of New Providence, the resort is like a hotel on steroids where you could easily spend a weekend, a week or even a month and still not see everything. The world changes, the consumer changes so were also in the midst of a transformation of Atlantis, said Howard Karawan, president and managing director, referring to upcoming additions like clambakes on the beach, a swim-up Popsicle bar and a Bahamian conch salad stand.

Do the math

With 3,414 rooms and suites and 7,575 employees, Atlantis Paradise Island is the most checked-into hotel in the Bahamas. Due to its sheer size, it can be daunting to navigate, although every staff person is trained to assist befuddled guests. Since it opened 19 years ago, 3,100 couples have tied the knotat the umpteen picturesque venues that dot the Titanic-sized resort. Twenty-one restaurants and 19 bars keep hunger and thirst at bay, and 30,000 meals are served every day to guests and staff. For the active-minded, there are six tennis courts, an 18-hole Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course and a 9,000-square-foot Aura Nightclub. The many stores mimic those on Rodeo Drive and Madison Avenue with designer names and hefty price tags. There are plunge pools and massages in Mandara Spa. Also on the largest in the Caribbean list: the casino plays with Vegas rules at 850 slot machines and 85 table games (and in a novel twist for the gaming industry, sports a wall of sunlit windows).

Best places to gamble in the Caribbean

Big splash

Marine Habitat, the world's largest open-air aquatic facility, is where youll find 50,000 marine animals (250 species), like stingrays the size of catchers mitts, swimming in eight million gallons of saltwater and munching 1,000 pounds of fish each day.

There are 11 pools and four beaches; Paradise, Cove, Atlantis and Cabbage. Also ranking as the largest in the Caribbean, Aquaventure is a 141-acre watery wonderland with 14 fresh and saltwater lagoons, 18 high-speed water slides,two river rides with tidal surges and waterfalls and a life-size replica of a Mayan temple that houses the Leap of Faith, a 60-foot drop through a shark-filled lagoon. The tallest attraction is called the Power Tower, 120 feet high with inner tube slides that drop riders 50 feet into total darkness and then into a deep cenote filled with toothy alligator gars.

Home to Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins, including 16 who were rescued after they were swept to sea during Hurricane Katrina, Dolphin Cay sits on 14 acres and is fed by seven million gallons of seawater. Brand new and a must-do for dolphin fans, Rise and Shine is an early morning swim with the friendly mammals, Kayak with Dolphins is thrilling for kids and Serenity Snorkel is a freestyle swim. In the Marine Habitat, The Dig comes with a 100-foot clear underwater tunnel for unobstructed views of sea critters like venomous lionfish, piranhas, iridescent jellyfish and moray eels that measure a whopping 6 feet long. The interactive touch tank aquarium is filled with conch, starfish, sea urchins and crabs. Viewable from The Dig, Ruins Lagoon is awesome with 20,000 fish and lost city artifacts.

Chow down

Menus cover the globe from American Southern fare at Virgils Real Barbecue, sushi at Nobu, Chop Stix for Chinese and Mediterranean at Olives to fine dining in Bahamian Club, sweet treats at Platos and rock star chef Jean-Georges Vongerichtens Caf Martinique made famous by its appearance in the 1965 James Bond thriller Thunderball. Starbucks has also set up shop at the resort. Next to the resort, Marina Village is an open-air marketplace with 63 mega-yacht slips and plenty of eating and shopping options.

Towers of power

The Beach Tower is the smallest with 423 rooms; 600 rooms at The Cove are more upscale; The Reef has 497 rooms and easy access to Paradise Beach; and most of the rooms in the 693-room family-friendly Coral Towers are being renovated and will reopen on July 1. Colossal with 1,201 rooms, Royal Towers is also where youll find the celeb-favorite 10-room Bridge Suite that spans the 17th floor and comes with a dining room capped with a 22-karat gold chandelier, a grand piano and a staff of seven who access the suite through a private entrance.

Flight deck

The resort is a 30-minute cab ride from the Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau. On the return, youll pre-clear U.S. Customs and Immigration. The Bahamas is one of three countries in the Caribbean that offer this convenience. Aruba and Bermuda are the other two, with Punta Cana International Airport in the Dominican Republic coming online later this spring.

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Caribbean resort photo tour: Atlantis Paradise Island - USA Today - USA TODAY

"For too long, we have been too quiet. We can't keep doing things the same way and expect the different results"

By Rebekah Kebede

KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Caribbean-wide movement to fight violence against women started in a truly pedestrian way - with one woman's walk to work.

Ronelle King was on her daily commute in Bridgetown, Barbados, when a man tried to pull her into his car after she refused his offer of a ride. She reported it to police, only to have them shrug it off.

That's when King decided to share her experience publicly and encourage other women to do the same. She posted on Facebook, using #lifeinleggings as a social media hashtag for her campaign.

Within a day, #lifeinleggings took off, with women in Barbados recounting stories from street harassment to sexual assault. By the next day, #lifeinleggings island-hopped to Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.

On Saturday, women in seven Caribbean countries linked by the #lifeinleggings movement plan to hold marches for women's rights.

The #lifeinleggings women say their online movement provides an accessible and safe way to express their feelings about violence in a region where it is all too common.

"You had a sense of feminist solidarity," King said.

"You had women that never met each other, like Trinidadian women reaching out to Dominican women saying, 'Thank you for sharing your story. It helped me. It touched me. It let me know I wasn't alone.'"

The hashtag is a reference to leggings popular among urban women in Caribbean. Although they are practical, the leggings are skin tight and women wearing them are often accused of "asking for it" if they are harassed, King said.

"We were debunking the myth that women attract this behavior because of the way that they are dressed and that men have the right to approach you in this manner," King said. "You deserve respect regardless."

Violence against women and girls is rife in the Caribbean.

Three of the world's top ten countries with the highest incidence of rape are the Bahamas, Jamaica and Barbados, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. It also found nearly a third of women in the region have suffered domestic abuse.

The University of the West Indies' Institute of Gender Studies estimates 30 to 50 percent of murders in Caribbean countries are related to domestic violence.

More than 30 percent of women in the Caribbean report high rates of fear of sexual assault compared with 11 percent of men, according to a U.N. Development Programme report.

And those are just the few statistics available.

There is a gap between official data and reality, said Taitu Heron, a gender and development specialist for U.N. Women in Jamaica.

Hospital data, for instance, may show a greater incidence of assaults against women than do police reports because women may seek treatment but not report being assaulted.

"AFTER 12 IS LUNCH"

Acceptance of harassment and assault is also widespread.

Colloquial sayings in the region reflect that statutory rape is taken very lightly, Heron said.

For instance, the idea that any girl over puberty is fair game is expressed in the saying, "Anything after 12 is lunch."

The #lifeinleggings organizers say the casual attitude extends to harassment and physical violence.

"We have this culture of violence where even if people are aware of you being abused, they still encourage you to stay," said Akola Thompson, a 21-year-old student and human rights activist in West Bank Demerara, Guyana.

Thompson, who is organizing the #lifeinleggings march in Guyana, said she was in an abusive relationship until three years ago.

"My family encouraged me to stay, and so I did," she said.

Nadeen Spence, 44, said she never talked about being molested by strangers as a child but found strength in telling her story through #lifeinleggings.

"It's feeling as if you're not the only voice in the wilderness," said Spence, director of residential life at the University of the West Indies' Kingston campus.

While #lifeinleggings is hardly the first feminist movement in the Caribbean, it is perhaps the first to resonate with a younger generation, Amanda McIntyre, who is organizing the #lifeinleggings march in Trinidad and Tobago and a director of Womantra, a Caribbean feminist organization.

Marches are set for Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, the Bahamas, Guyana and Jamaica.

"I'm 35 and I can't remember when a march of this magnitude took place," she said. She suggested that social media has helped spread feminism in the Caribbean.

Many women are speaking out for the first time about experiences such as street harassment that used to be considered "little things," said Abby-Sade Brooks, a 29-year-old student and organizer of the #lifeinleggings march in Kingston.

"For too long, we have been too quiet. We can't keep doing things the same way and expect the different results," Brooks said.

(Reporting by Rebekah Kebede, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)

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A #lifeinleggings: Caribbean women's movement fights sex ... - Thomson Reuters Foundation

Bottom line: Legoland's new Shanghai theme park spotlights the growing lure of China's leisure travel market, while Royal Caribbean's removal of South Korean ports from its China-based trips spotlights how political tensions can affect tourism-reliant businesses.

A couple of Shanghai-based leisure stories are spotlighting two very different trends in China's leisure travel sector, where a burgeoning middle-class is seeking new and interesting vacation ideas. On the more upbeat side, one of Europe's top theme park developers is expressing a major vote of confidence in the market, with word that the developer of Legoland theme parks will open one of its mega-resorts in Shanghai. But on the downside, the country's largest cruise operator, Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), has removed South Korean ports from its China-based trips amid growing frictions between Beijing and Seoul over a controversial missile defense system.

The Legoland deal spotlights the big upside to China's leisure travel market, which has attracted most of the world's major theme park operators including Disney (NYSE: DIS), Universal Studios and Six Flags (NYSE: SIX). The latter story spotlights one of the biggest downside risks to doing business in China, namely the potential for politics to become entangled in business.

Let's jump right in with Legoland news, which is quite big in terms of investment and the arrival of another major player to the market. The latest reports say that Britain's Merlin Entertainment, developer of Legoland theme parks, will build a $300 million resort in Shanghai's Qingpu district.

Here we need to distinguish between the various formats that Legoland takes. Merlin has already opened a much smaller-scale rendition of its Legoland Discovery Center in Shanghai, probably costing in the tens of millions of dollars. But this particular new project involving a full-scale outdoor Legoland involves the company's premier product, and the size of the investment attests to the big potential Merlin sees in the market.

The reports say the resort will be completed in 2022, and will complement similar parks under construction in Japan and South Korea. it's significant the park is being built in Shanghai, which is fast becoming China's theme park capital for this kind of world-class entertainment. Disney last year opened its first mainland-based resort in the city, and Six Flags is building one of its resorts nearby. By comparison, only Universal has chosen Beijing, whose weather and nearby population base are less ideal for this kind of major outdoor attraction.

Cruising Cuts

Meantime, there's the other news that Royal Caribbean has removed all South Korean ports of call from its cruises originating in China, many of those from Shanghai. The move was announced in low-key fashion on the company's China website, citing "recent developments regarding the situation in South Korea".

That's a slightly subtle reference to the current political tensions occurring between Seoul and Beijing over a high-tech anti-missile defense system the former is installing. Seoul says the system is necessary to protect against potential threats from North Korea, while Beijing worries the system could be used for spying on China.

In this case the biggest losers will be the South Korean ports that are usually included on such cruises, such as the island of Jeju that has become heavily dependent on Chinese tourism. South Korean retailer Lotte has also seen its China operations suffer as a result of the tensions, with a number of its retail stores and one of its joint venture factories recently forced to close after local inspectors discovered various violations.

This kind of fallout for businesses as a result of political tensions is one of the biggest risks for companies doing business in China, or in this case overseas firms that rely on Chinese tourists. Beijing is notorious for parlaying political tensions into the business realm, allowing state-controlled media to report extensively on the matters and fuel discontent among ordinary citizens.

In this case government is keeping a close watch on things, and appears to be making sure that the public outrage doesn't get out of hand the way it has in the past with other similar tensions. Still, that won't be much consolation for the people at Lotte or hundreds of small businesses in South Korea that have come to depend on Chinese tourists.

Disclosure: None

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Legoland Builds In Shanghai, Royal Caribbean Steers Clear Of Korea - Seeking Alpha

Caribbean Climate Wire, Climate Change, Environment, Featured, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean, Projects

Big data is used by scientists in the Caribbean to forecast drought conditions for farmers and other farming interests. Credit: Zadie Neufville/IPS

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Mar 11 2017 (IPS) - On Nov. 30 last year, a new high-performance Super Computer was installed at the University of the West Indies (UWI) during climate change week. Dubbed SPARKS short for the Scientific Platform for Applied Research and Knowledge Sharing the computer is already churning out the big data Caribbean small island states (SIDS) need to accurately forecast and mitigate the effects of climate change on the region.

Experts are preparing the Caribbean to mitigate the devastating impacts rising seas, longer dry spells, more extreme rainfall and potentially higher impact tropical cyclones associated with climate change. The impacts are expected to decimate the economies of the developing states and many small island states, reversing progress and exacerbating poverty. Observers say the signs are already here.

The system will help scientists to "better evaluate potential risk and impacts and effectively mitigate those risks as we build more resilient infrastructure." --UWI Professor Archibald Gordon

Before SPARKS, regional scientists struggled to produce the kinds of credible data needed for long-term climate projections. Only a few months ago, UWIs lack of data processing capacity restricted researchers to a single data run at a time, said Jay Campbell, research fellow at the climate research group . Each data run would take up to six months due to the limited storage capacity and lack of redundancy, he said noting: If anything went wrong, we simply had to start over.

Immediately, SPARKS answered the need for the collection, analysis, modelling, storage, access and dissemination of climate information in the Caribbean. Over the long term, climate researchers will be able to produce even more accurate and reliable climate projections at higher spatial resolutions to facilitate among other things, the piloting and scaling up of innovative climate resilient initiatives.

So, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) produces its next global assessment report in 2018, there will be much more information from the Caribbean, making SPARKS a critical tool in the regions fight against climate change.

Not only has the new computer described as one of the fastest in the Caribbean boosted the regions climate research capabilities by plugging the gaping hole in regional climate research, UWI Monas principal Professor Archibald Gordon said, It should help regional leaders make better decisions in their responses and adaptation strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change.

The experts underscore the need for big data to provide the information they need to improve climate forecasting in the short, medium and long term. Now, they have the capacity and the ability to complete data runs that usually take six months, in just over two days.

The system will help scientists to better evaluate potential risk and impacts and effectively mitigate those risks as we build more resilient infrastructure, Gordon said.

As the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) reported in June 2016 as the 14th consecutive month of record heat for land and oceans; and the 378th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th century average, regional scientists have committed to proving information to guide Caribbean governments on the actions they need to lessen the impact of climate change.

The region has consistently sought to build its capacity to provide accurate and consistent climate data. Efforts were ramped up after a September 2013 rapid climate analysis in the Eastern Caribbean identified what was described as a number of climate change vulnerabilities and constraints to effective adaptation.

The USAID study identified among other things the lack of accurate and consistent climate data to understand climate changes, predict impacts and plan adaptation measures. To address the challenges, the WMO and the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), with funding from USAID, established the Regional Climate Centre in Barbados.

The launch of the new computer is yet another step in overcoming the constraints. It took place during a meeting of the IPCC at UWIs regional headquarters at Mona significant because it signalled to the international grouping that the Caribbean was now ready and able to produce the big data needed for the upcoming 2018 report.

Head of the Caribbean Climate Group Professor Michael Taylor explained in an interview that the credibility and accuracy of climate data require fast computer processing speeds, fast turn-around times as well as the ability to run multiple data sets at higher resolution to produce information that regional decision-makers need.

Climate research and downscaling methods will no longer be limited to the hardware and software, he said, trying but failing to contain his excitement.

SPARKS also puts Jamaica and the UWI way ahead of their counterparts in the English-speaking Caribbean and on par with some of the leading institutions in the developed world. This improvement in computing capacity is an asset for attracting more high-level staff and attracting students from outside the region. Crucially, it aids the universitys push to establish itself as a leading research-based institution and a world leader in medicinal marijuana research.

This opens up the research capability, an area the university has not done in the past. Before now, the processing of big data could only be done with partners overseas, Professor Taylor said.

Aside from its importance to crunching climate data for the IPCC reports, SPARKS is revolutionising DNA sequencing, medicinal, biological and other data driven research being undertaken at the University. More importantly, UWI researchers agree that a supercomputer is bringing together the agencies at the forefront of the regional climate fight.

What is clear, SPARKS is a game-changer and a big deal for climate research at the regional level and for UWIs research community.

The rest is here:

SPARKS Plugs Gap in Caribbean Climate Research - Inter Press Service

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The films synopsis, courtesy of Disney:

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Thrust into an all-new adventure, a down-on-his-luck Captain Jack Sparrow finds the winds of ill-fortune blowing even more strongly when deadly ghost pirates led by his old nemesis, the terrifying Captain Salazar, escape from the Devils Triangle, determined to kill every pirate at sea including him. Captain Jacks only hope of survival lies in seeking out the legendary Trident of Poseidon, a powerful artifact that bestows upon its possessor total control over the seas.

In addition to Depp, Pirates 5 stars Javier Bardem as the villainous Captain Salazar, Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa, Brenton Thwaites, Stephen Graham and Orlando Bloom returning as Will Turner in his first appearance in the franchise since 2007s At Worlds End.

Dead Men Tell No Tales is directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki, Bandidas) off of a script from Jeff Nathanson (Tower Heist, The Terminal).

The film hits theaters May 26. Watch the first full trailer above.

Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum

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Watch: Jack Sparrow Returns in 'Pirates of the Caribbean 5' Trailer - Breitbart News