Tag Archives: caribbean

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Excitement Over Wooden Shipwreck in Antigua’s Seabed

By Gemma Handy

BBC
English Harbour, Antigua

“It’s the best thing I’ve found in 31 years of diving,” says Maurice Belgrave, pointing to the spot where a centuries-old shipwreck lay hidden under the water for more than 200 years.

Here at the Antigua Naval Dockyard, historic anchors, cannons and capstans are on bountiful display, testimony to the pivotal role it played as a safe harbour for Royal Navy warships protecting Britain’s valuable sugar-producing islands.

The murky waters around it, however, conceal a wealth of secrets.

Over the years, commercial diver Mr Belgrave has found everything from 18th Century tobacco pipes to live cannon balls deep in the sediment beneath.

“Most of the real history is on the seabed,” he tells the BBC.

In 2013, a routine job cleaning an anchor chain unearthed his most impressive discovery to date: the remarkably well-preserved remains of a 250-year-old naval vessel.

“Whenever I’m down there, I run my hands through the mud,” he explains. “I saw the lumbers and realised it was the skeleton of a real big boat.”

Maurice Belgraveimage copyrightGemma Handy
Maurice Belgrave has been diving in the area for more than three decades

The presence of the 40-metre (130-ft) wooden ship was finally confirmed last month by a team of visiting archaeologists.

Not only does its sheer size set it apart from other wrecks around the Caribbean island, but local historians also believe it to be the 1762 Beaumont, a French merchant ship later bought by a private individual, renamed the Lyon and used in the American Revolutionary War.

The mud which kept it concealed just feet below the surface, traversed by hundreds of yachts a year, is credited with keeping it intact, offering archaeologists a veritable time capsule to explore.

Historians had long suspected the Beaumont was there – and a hydrographic survey, also in 2013, had given weight to that – but poor visibility made it tricky to locate.

Lack of funds hindered efforts to professionally scour the identified spot until recently, when the French and Martinique governments – as well as the US-based Richard Lounsbery Foundation – paid for a visit by a group of international experts.

Antigua Naval Dockyardimage copyrightGemma Handy
The Antigua Naval Dockyard is the only working Georgian dockyard in the Western Hemisphere

The timing was impeccable too, preceding celebrations for this month’s fifth anniversary of the dockyard’s award of Unesco World Heritage Site status. Dr Reginald Murphy, Antigua’s Unesco representative, says this is a “major historical find”.

“You read about the Age of Sail and the size of the ships, but it’s not until you actually see one that you realise how massive and powerful they were; it’s a way of reaching into history,” he says.

“We have many artefacts and buildings from that era but nothing compared to this. It’s a real touch of reality.”

The six-day excavation revealed the vessel’s measurements to match the dimensions of the 900-ton Beaumont.

Further research is required but if it is indeed the Beaumont, it could be the only shipwreck of its kind in the world, explains Antigua-based archaeologist Dr Christopher Waters.

The 1762 Beaumontimage copyrightDieppe Museum
image captionHistorians believe the wreck to be the 1762 Beaumont, a heavily armed French merchant ship
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The Beaumont was built by the French East India Company, an imperial commercial enterprise founded in 1664 to compete with English and Dutch trading firms in what is today east Asia.

While there are other wrecks of vessels built by the company, there are no known ones with an intact hull, Dr Waters says. Its discovery is comparable to the Mary Rose “in terms of its size and the stories we may be able to tell of it”, he adds.

Leading the underwater team was Jean-Sebastian Guibert, an associate professor at the University of the Antilles in Martinique. He describes finding the ship – using high-tech sonar equipment and a magnetometer – as “like hitting the jackpot”.

Mr Guibert says it is the largest wreck he has seen in 15 years working in the region.

One thing researchers are not expecting to find as investigations continue is a “treasure trove”, Dr Waters says, as the vessel was likely stripped down. Neither will it be raised due to the expense and complexity of doing so.

But the ship could offer new insight into 18th Century wooden ship construction.

Toothbrush made from boneimage copyrightGemma Handy
Centuries-old artefacts found in the dockyard over the years include a toothbrush made from bone

As a heavily armed merchant ship, the Beaumont was designed to travel from France to the Indian and Pacific oceans. After the collapse of the French East India Company, it served as a 56-gun warship in the French Navy from 1770 to 1772 before being bought and renamed.

It was later captured by HMS Maidstone in 1778 while supporting the Thirteen Colonies in the American War of Independence.

“We know it was brought here; we just don’t know what happened to it,” Dr Waters says. “But it was very badly damaged and probably never left the harbour again.”

The ship’s size means far more funding is needed to continue the research. But its mere existence enhances the profile of the dockyard, the only working Georgian dockyard in the Western Hemisphere and a cornerstone of Antigua’s tourism industry.

For Mr Belgrave, the significance goes deeper still.

As historians continue to piece together the stories of the enslaved Africans who built the dockyard 300 years ago and from whom many Antiguans are descended, this particular discovery has a special resonance.

“There’s a sweet music to this one,” he says. “I feel delighted that something so significant was rediscovered by me as an African.”

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Europe In Race Against Delta Variant at it Sweeps World, US Schools Masks Confusion, World Stats

Governments are launching de facto vaccine passport schemes as they try to head off a summer Covid wave like the UK’s
A large group of protesters, some waving French flags, between two buildings with the Eiffel Tower central in the background
People in Paris protest against the ‘pass sanitaire’, France’s requirements on vaccine certification for access to venues. Photograph: Ian Langsdon/EPA

 

With the school term finally over, Britons are flying to Europe in their tens of thousands, record levels for this Covid year. They are arriving in countries where the Delta variant paralysing Britain is just becoming dominant – and Europe is responding by clamping down.

Some countries have tightened border controls, with Malta barring entry to unvaccinated travellers and Germany bringing in stricter quarantine rules for people arriving from Spain and the Netherlands. More broadly, authorities from Greece to Italy and France to Portugal are bringing in what are effectively vaccine passports for a wide range of activities, although most are shying away from using that term, which has become incendiary.

Italy will require proof of vaccination – through the Europe-wide “green pass” – to do anything from visiting a museum, to working out at a gym or watching a film. Similar rules in France have sparked two weekends of headline-grabbing protests attended by tens of thousands, including far-right activists on Saturday. But most French adults are fully vaccinated now and polls show a majority support the new measures.

In Greece, bars and restaurants can now only welcome vaccinated customers inside, a curb that Portugal introduced at the start of July.

The WHO said on Friday that the Delta variant has now become dominant in much of Europe. And politicians have cited the rapid rise of this highly transmissible form of Covid to justify moves restricting much of public life to the vaccinated. “The Delta variant is even more of a threat than the other variants,” Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, told reporters. “The green pass is not arbitrary, but a necessary condition not to shut down the economy. Without vaccinations, everything will have to close again.”

The head of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, warned of the specific risks caused by Delta as the bank voted to keep its vast Covid stimulus programme in place last week. “The reopening of large parts of the economy is supporting a vigorous bounce-back in the services sector. But the Delta variant of the coronavirus could dampen this recovery in services especially, in tourism and hospitality,” she said.

Thira (capital of Santorini) - tourists resting on the greek cafe restaurant terrace, Santorini Island, Greece

 

In Greece, bars and restaurants can now only welcome vaccinated customers inside. Photograph: Jan Wlodarczyk/Alamy

Current data shows that the Delta variant is about 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which in turn is 60% more transmissible than the original variant from China, according to Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious disease at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

So 10 people infected with the original Covid strain would pass the disease to about 25 other people, without restrictions such as lockdown or vaccinations. But 10 people infected with the Delta variant will make between 60 and 70 people ill.

Scientists say Europe is now facing the same race between vaccination and the Delta variant that has been under way in the UK for several months. “Clearly the UK is doing well with getting the vulnerable groups like the over-50s vaccinated, and yet we’re still seeing more hospitalisations than the NHS would like at the moment, so it’s going to be tricky for Europe. And I think the answer is to do more vaccinations,” said Hibberd.

“Europe probably needs to expand [mass testing] a little bit more so that people can be more aware about whether they’re positive or not and then isolate if they are. [Europe] haven’t been quite as good at that: you can’t get free tests quite as easily across Europe as you can in the UK.”

There is mounting anecdotal evidence that requiring vaccines at schools, work, and leisure venues can spur people to get their jabs. In the week after Emmanuel Macron, the French president, announced tighter controls on 12 July, a record 3.7 million French citizens signed up for a vaccination, Reuters reports.

In Italy, Draghi’s decision also prompted a pickup in vaccine bookings, officials said. “I think the prime minister has achieved what he wanted to achieve,” said Giovanni Toti, president of the region of Liguria.

Overall, more than half of the EU’s population has now been fully vaccinated, but there are significant differences between countries. And the fast rise in cases can even put the fully vaccinated at risk.

“Sadly in many countries in our region we’re seeing a significant rise in cases associated with the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant,” said Hans Henri P Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe. “Despite tremendous efforts by member states to vaccinate people across the region, millions more remain unvaccinated and therefore at risk of ending up in hospital.”

The bleak example of Britain’s summer wave of infections may have pushed European politicians to bring in tighter controls, showing them what could lie ahead if they don’t act.

“Aside from vaccine rates, I’d say the way the UK has handled Delta is precisely the opposite of how it should be done,” said Stephen Griffin, associate professor in the school of medicine at the University of Leeds.

“Allowing mass infection alongside partial vaccination is not only causing avoidable illness and death, including under-18s, it will cause profound morbidity from long Covid and represents a huge experiment in virus evolution that could generate more dangerous variants.”

Europe, he noted, is at least protecting children over 12 by rolling out vaccines. The UK is still restricting eligibility to over-18s, even though mixing at schools appeared to be fuelling some of the increase in cases.

The UK’s high levels of Delta variant mean British tourists are banned from European countries including the Netherlands and Bulgaria. But summer holiday hotspots across the south of the continent that rely on tourism for a significant slice of their GDP are still encouraging travellers from the UK. EasyJet said this would be its busiest weekend of the year so far, carrying over 135,000 passengers to locations across Europe. That may well fuel an even faster spread of the dangerous variant.

“The UK was responsible for exporting Alpha, and now Delta. Countries across Europe, especially the UK, still haven’t learned the value of regulated quarantine,” said Griffin. Control measures including green pass rules “will all help”, he said. “But to control Delta properly you should ideally use both vaccination and restrictions in a concerted effort – unlike the UK.”

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Covid: Delta variant spreads globally as cases soar

BBC
People in PPE bury victims of Covid in Indonesiaimage copyrightReuters/Indonesia Out
image captionIndonesia has seen cases soar in recent weeks after the Delta variant arrived in the country

The Delta variant of Covid-19 has now been detected in 124 territories worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

It is expected to become the dominant variant globally in the coming months, with the WHO predicting that there could be more than 200 million confirmed cases within a matter of weeks.

Infections are rising, particularly in Europe and the western Pacific region. Some Western countries have started to ease restrictions as death rates have dropped. But those without access to vaccines or with a slower vaccine rollout are facing a deadlier threat.

Here, BBC journalists around the world give a sense of the toll the Delta variant is taking and what impact its spread could have.

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Indonesia – Demand for funerals soars

By Valdya Baraputri, BBC News Indonesia

With more than 1,300 deaths in a day, Indonesia has become Asia’s new Covid epicentre. Hundreds of people have died in self-isolation – possibly because they could not get immediate treatment or were turned away by overwhelmed hospitals.

Wirawan, a firefighter in the capital city of Jakarta, sees the worsening crisis first-hand. He and his team are tasked with picking up bodies from homes before finally delivering them for burial. Before the latest spike in cases, he arranged two or three funerals a day. Now, he gets calls for up to 24 funerals a day.

That’s more than he can handle, so the bodies need to wait.

The country is recording more than 50,000 new daily cases, and the government is keeping emergency restrictions until at least the end of this week. It is likely to extend the measures on Monday.

As the new highly transmissible Delta variant, which was first detected in India, continues to ravage the country, Indonesia is racing to vaccine its people. From 208 million people eligible for vaccines, only around 16 million have received both doses.

Graph showing rising cases and deaths in Indonesia
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What is the Delta variant?

By Michelle Roberts, BBC Health editor

  • The first cases were identified in India, but it has been reported in lots of countries around the world
  • It is a variant of concern, meaning it has undergone some genetic changes that are potentially worrying in terms of transmissibility and vaccine escape
  • In some countries, including the UK, Delta has become the dominant type of Covid circulating
  • Experts say vaccines still work well to protect against severe disease caused by this variant
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Tunisia – Pizza offers for vaccine registration

By Rana Jawad, BBC North Africa correspondent

Tunisia is now witnessing the most devastating impact of Covid since the global pandemic took hold.

It’s not known whether most of the new infections are the Delta variant specifically, but case numbers grew after its known arrival here.

Hospitals across the country are completely overwhelmed, with some medics filmed crying over a shortage of oxygen concentrators as they are forced to decide who lives and who dies.

A digger tears the ground up for graves in Tunisia, July 2021image copyrightGetty Images
image captionIn July a health ministry spokeswoman described the Covid situation in Tunisia as “catastrophic”

Infection rates are soaring, and the vaccination campaign has been very slow with less than 8% of the population fully jabbed. Rights organisations have accused the government of mismanaging the crisis, and on Tuesday the health minister was sacked.

In recent days, Tunisia’s national telecoms agency has offered 1GB of free internet for those who follow a mobile text prompt to register for a vaccine. At least one known pizza place in Tunis offered a 10% discount if customers showed proof of vaccine registration.

The situation could turn a corner next month after Tunisia received donations of vaccines, oxygen tanks and other medical supplies from European and Arabic countries, with several countries pledging to deliver more aid.

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Mexico – People tire of the crisis

By Marcos González Díaz, BBC Mundo correspondent

Mexico is facing its third wave of the pandemic. The number of infections has risen to more than 15,000 a day, reaching the peak we saw at the beginning of the year.

Authorities are concerned about the advance of the Delta variant, which in the capital Mexico City already accounts for around 60% of cases.

The government admitted that the spread of this variant in Mexico and the US is the reason they have extended the closure of the land border between the two countries to non-essential travel.

Most of those affected in Mexico are young and unvaccinated people. Only one in four over 18 year-olds in the country are fully vaccinated.

But with 65% of beds available, hospitals do not show for now the collapse seen in the worst moments of the pandemic.

In the streets, the feeling is almost of apparent normality among a population exhausted by this crisis. Many of them must leave home daily to work selling food or in other informal jobs, in order to earn the money they need to survive.

This is why the government does not plan to increase restrictive measures or shut down economic activities once again, despite the risk of Delta.

A busy street in Mexico City, July 2021image copyrightGetty Images
image captionDespite warnings of a third wave, the government has said it does not plan to bring back restrictions in Mexico
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Rwanda – Delta brings fresh restrictions

By Samba Cyuzuzo, senior digital journalist for BBC Great Lakes

Until recently, Rwanda had been praised for its swift and strong measures to contain the virus.

But since mid-June, the virus has hit harder. Cases and deaths have spiked to record highs week after week. By early July, all Covid treatment centres were said to be full.

“We have never been here before in this pandemic,” the health minister told the state broadcaster on 6 July. Two days later he confirmed the arrival of the faster spreading and deadlier Delta variant.

On 17 July, the country announced a 10 day lockdown in the capital Kigali and eight districts to try to halt virus. Cases and casualties, however, remain relatively high.

More than 400,000 people are fully vaccinated – around 3% of Rwanda’s population.

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Conflicting school mask guidance sparks confusion

By Justine Coleman –
The Hill

Conflicting mask recommendations and orders from all levels of government and advocacy groups have emerged over the past few weeks, flustering the public as back-to-school season approaches.

Confusion is mounting over whether children should wear masks in school and whether their vaccination status should play a role in any guidance ahead of next month, when many schools plan to fully reopen for in-person learning.

President Biden addressed the debate this week, saying during a Wednesday town hall that he expects the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to urge unvaccinated students to wear masks in schools and to continue to advise vaccinated students that they don’t need masks.

“The CDC is going to say that what we should do is, everyone under the age of 12 should probably be wearing a mask in school,” Biden said at the town hall, as those under 12 years old are currently ineligible to get vaccinated.

But the American Academy of Pediatrics issued contradictory recommendations days before, calling for all students older than 2 t o wear masks in school, regardless of their vaccination status.

The organization said many students can’t get vaccinated and that most schools are not planning to track the vaccination status of the children, although it noted that it “strongly recommends in-person learning.”

Mark Schleiss, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School, supports requiring masks for all children despite their vaccination status, saying that children make up an increasing percentage of new cases as more adults and seniors are vaccinated.

“We need to value and cherish the lives of these kids,” he said. “This idea that children are resistant to COVID-19, that they don’t have serious disease with COVID-19 is — I’m so tired of hearing that because it’s just simply not true.”

The CDC has documented almost 500 deaths among children during the pandemic.

He also pointed out that creating rules based on vaccination status could “single certain kids out” and put an “onerous burden” on schools to verify that status.

In the meantime, states and cities are taking matters into their own hands by announcing different school mask recommendations and mandates, leading to a patchwork of rules across the country.

This week, Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C., announced plans to require all students to wear face coverings in school in the fall.

Meanwhile, at least nine states, including Florida and Texas, so far have banned school districts from requiring masks in schools, according to a CNN analysis.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) decision to prohibit mask mandates on Thursday, saying, “if I were a parent in Florida, that would be greatly concerning to me because kids under the age of 12 are not vaccinated.”

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only shot authorized for children aged 12 and older, while the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines can be given only to adults. Children younger than 12 years old are currently ineligible to get vaccinated, and it’s unclear if they will be able to by the time school returns.

Just 39 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to data from The New York Times. In comparison, almost 70 percent of adults and nearly 90 percent of those 65 and older have gotten at least one shot.

National Education Association President Becky Pringle said bans against masks are “not from the science.”

“We will fight against any effort to take away any strategies that will keep our students and educators safe,” Pringle said, adding that the union will “follow the science” and recommendations from scientists.

“We want to be in school together and in person, and if it takes wearing masks, then that’s what we want to do,” she said.

Both kinds of mandates requiring and banning masks, however, stray from the current CDC guidance on masking in schools.

The CDC updated its school masking recommendations earlier this month, saying that fully vaccinated students and teachers do not need to wear a mask indoors or outdoors. Unvaccinated students and staff could go without a mask outside during gym and recess but are urged to wear one indoors.

Amber D’Souza, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said finding a nationwide solution is difficult with varying rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the country.

Areas with surges should “consider masking because there is a real risk to the children and the community,” she said.

“So if we need a one-size-fits-all [approach], what’s happened in the past four weeks is pushing us more and more to needing masks,” she said. “But we need to respond to the data and look locally as well as nationally.”

“Each state and each district has to look at their rates, and if there is a concern that it will not be safe, I think it is much preferable to keep kids in person in school and wear masks than to have to revert to virtual learning,” she added.

Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said on Tuesday that parents should do “what is locally asked for” in terms of masking students in schools.

Virginia took a different route this week by recommending students and staff wear masks indoors but allowing local school divisions to determine whether to implement requirements based on COVID-19 rates and expert recommendations.

The dispute over masks has also extended to adults amid the current rise in COVID-19 cases in many states and nationwide as well as the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant.

Los Angeles County reinstituted a mask mandate for all people indoors regardless of vaccination status last weekend. St. Louis city and county followed, saying residents will have to wear masks in indoor public places and on public transportation no matter if they were vaccinated.

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WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

194,846,628

Deaths:

4,175,434

Recovered:

176,788,733
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

[back to top ↑]

Latest News

July 26 (GMT)

Updates

  • 6,535 new cases and 108 new deaths in Mexico [source]

The post Europe In Race Against Delta Variant at it Sweeps World, US Schools Masks Confusion, World Stats appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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HMP AND RSCNPF OFFICERS WORK QUICKLY TO CAPTURE ESCAPED PRISONERS

Three (3) prisoners who escaped custody on Saturday, July 24, 2021, were quickly caught by Prison and Police Officers and are back in custody at Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP).

Lashon Hendrickson (24 years old) of Ponds Pasture, Jonothan Rawlins (19 years old) of Newtown, and Estevan Lawrence (26 years old) of St. Peters are on remand at Her Majesty’s Prison where they are awaiting trial. Through a joint operation, Hendrickson was captured by Police Officers in the vicinity of Hart Street shortly after escaping. Rawlins and Lawrence were
both captured by Prison Officers on the grounds of the former Basseterre High School. The matter will be investigated by the Police and the relevant charges will be laid.

While several measures have been implemented to improve security at the Prison, which was constructed in 1840, its management team will conduct an assessment to determine what additional steps can be taken to prevent further occurrences.

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Corruption: El Salvador Orders of Arrest of Former President Salvador Sanchez Ceren and 9 Top Officials

SAN SALVADOR, July 22 (Reuters) – El Salvador has ordered the arrest of former president Salvador Sanchez Ceren and nine top officials from a past administration as part of a money laundering and corruption probe, the Attorney General’s office said on Thursday.

The office said Sanchez Ceren was out of the country, but five former high-ranking members of former president Mauricio Funes’s government from 2009 to 2014 have been detained.

Sanchez Ceren was vice president at the time, before becoming president in the following term. His successor, President Nayib Bukele, has drawn rebukes for a string of controversial moves, including removing the attorney general and closing an anti-corruption office. read more

The Attorney General’s office said Sanchez Ceren and the other officials – including former heads of the health, finance, labor, agriculture and environment ministries – are wanted on charges of money laundering, embezzlement and illicit enrichment after they were transferred unauthorized funds.

Sanchez Ceren could not immediately be reached for comment.

“They were favored with the payment of bonuses,” the Attorney General’s office said in a statement.

Speaking at a news conference, Attorney General Rodolfo Delgado added he would seek international help to locate Sanchez Ceren.

“We’ve issued arrest orders and later we will request a red alert for Interpol to activate its search mechanisms against Salvador Sanchez Ceren,” he said.

Bukele on Twitter described Sanchez Ceren as a “fugitive from justice” who left the country in December 2020.

Sanchez Ceren and the other members of Funes’ government belong to the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the leftist party that Bukele represented early in his career, including as mayor of San Salvador.

Two years after becoming mayor in the capital, the FMLN expelled him, saying he had sowed division and violated party statutes, accusations that Bukele denies.

In recent months, some of Bukele’s own government officials, as well as opposition figures, have been deemed suspected of corruption by the United States. read more

Reporting by Nelson Renteria, Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Michael Perry

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Taino Beach Resort, Clubs in Bahamas Signs Multi -Year Affiliation with Interval Int.

The Coral and The Marlin at Taino Beach Resort in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas

Miami, FL, July 22, 2021 – Interval International, a prominent worldwide provider of vacation services, announces the affiliation of Taino Beach Resort and Clubs in The Bahamas. The beachfront property is located on Grand Bahama Island, just 55 miles east of Florida, and is surrounded by clear blue waters, powder-white sand beaches, and lush tropical landscaping.

TAINO BEACH RESORT AND CLUBS IN THE BAHAMAS SIGNS EXCLUSIVE, MULTI-YEAR Interval International, a prominent worldwide provider of vacation services, announces the affiliation of Taino Beach Resort and Clubs in The Bahamas. The beachfront property is located on Grand Bahama Island, just 55 miles east of Florida, and is surrounded by clear blue waters, powder-white sand beaches, and lush tropical landscaping.

“We are delighted to establish a long-term business relationship with such a dedicated group of industry professionals. Our team is always looking for ways to enhance our product offering and we chose Interval because of its steadfast commitment to excellence over the past 45 years,” said Soren Petersen, president of Taino Beach Limited, the developer of the property. “Our respective companies share a dedication to exceeding consumer expectations. Interval’s exchange network and industry-leading benefits and services will greatly assist us in fulfilling that promise for years to come.” “Taino Beach Resort and Clubs’ founder Arne Petersen played a significant role in the growth of the shared ownership industry in The Bahamas and was a driving force in the development of the current timeshare legislation,” said Marcos Agostini, Interval’s senior vice president of global business development.

“The resort has evolved into one of the largest vacation ownership operations in the market with a long track record of success. We are honored to serve as the company’s exclusive exchange provider and to support its business goals.” Situated on Freeport’s southeastern coastline, the property consists of 157 units, divided into three different phases, The Marlin, The Ocean, and The Coral. The resort offers high-quality accommodations, excellent service, and warm hospitality, for all types of travel parties, from singles and couples to families. -more- TAINO BEACH RESORT AND CLUBS IN THE BAHAMAS SIGNS EXCLUSIVE, MULTIYEAR AFFILIATION AGREEMENT WITH INTERVAL INTERNATIONAL – Page 2 Guests have access to a wide range of amenities and activities on the property, including a spectacular two-mile beach; a full-service signature restaurant open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; gift shop; tennis court; and an expansive 720,000-gallon free-form pool with a waterslide, waterfalls and caves, a lazy river, and a grotto swim up bar. At the on-site water sports center, outdoor enthusiasts can rent wave runners, kayaks, and paddleboats, bicycles and scooters, or book deep-sea fishing trips, glass-bottom boat tours, swimming with dolphins’ experiences, or sunset cruises.

Visitors to Freeport can enjoy rich Bahamian culinary experiences and choose from a variety of restaurants located in the vicinity of the resort. They can also take a ferry boat to bustling Port Lucaya Marketplace, the largest shopping, dining, and entertainment center on Grand Bahama. New purchasers at Taino Beach Resort and Clubs will be enrolled as Club Interval Gold® members, entitling them to exchange through Interval by depositing their week or converting it to points for maximum exchange flexibility.

As Club Interval Gold members they will also have access to a number of upgraded benefits and services that they can enjoy yearround, including Interval Options®, the ability to exchange their resort week or points toward a cruise, hotel, tour, spa vacation, or unique Interval Experiences adventure; ShortStay Exchange®; Golf Connection for access to select private courses; VIP treatment with Dining Connection; City Guides for insider advice; Hertz Gold Plus Rewards® membership, which gives them the opportunity to earn bonus points for up to two free weekend rental days; discounts on Getaway vacation rentals; online hotel discounts; dining and leisure discounts powered by Entertainment®; and VIP ConciergeSM, for personal assistance 24/7.

About Interval International Interval International operates membership programs for vacationers and provides valueadded services to its developer clients worldwide. Based in Miami, Florida, the company has been a pioneer and innovator in serving the vacation ownership market since 1976. Today, Interval’s exchange network comprises nearly 3,200 resorts in over 80 nations. Through offices in 13 countries, Interval offers high-quality products and benefits to resort clients and more than 1.7 million families who are enrolled in various membership programs. CONTACT: Beatrice de Peyrecave, 305.925.7032 Be******************@**********tl.com

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In praise of a black Caribbean woman

By Sir Ronald Sanders

(The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States.   He is also a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and Massey College in the University of Toronto.  The views expressed are entirely his own)  

 

CARICOM should be proud of the success of a Caribbean woman who was at the center of the effort to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Dominican born Dr Carissa Etienne, the Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), deserves the greatest admiration and respect of all the 37 nations of Latin America and the Caribbean that she and her team piloted through the impact of the pandemic.

It was good to see her being praised, at a meeting of the OAS Permanent Council on July 21, by the Secretary-General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, and many delegations that spoke at a special session of the Organization’s Permanent Council.

The meeting was called to discuss the implementation of a resolution on “The Equitable Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines” that Antigua and Barbuda had drafted and negotiated to adoption in February 2021.   It was not called to focus on the outstanding role of the Director.  But, it was inevitable that she would be singled out, for without the guidance, technical expertise and provision of equipment to 37 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, COVID-19 would have infected many more than the millions that it has.  It would also have killed more than the hundreds of thousands that it did.

It is not often that the competence of a woman is complemented and even more rare if the woman is black.  But it happened on July 21.

In my own remarks at the meeting, I stated the countries of the Caribbean were greatly aided by the guidance provided by PAHO experts and by the medical equipment the organization supplied.

In truth, the majority of countries in the world were ill-prepared for a pandemic of any kind, let alone one that moved with the swiftness and deadly impact of COVID-19.

The figures, given by Dr Etienne at the meeting underscored the unpreparedness of all our countries. Seventy-five million cases in our hemisphere and 2 million deaths are frightening figures and evidences the fact that our region was one of the worst affected in the world.

While progress has undoubtedly been made in the production of several vaccines that can help to suppress and contain the virus, much of the world, including many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean remain deprived of much needed vaccines.

CARICOM countries and other developing nations ought not to have been placed in the untenable situation in which they have to beg for vaccines to save their people from the deathly coronavirus.

This point was emphasized by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Antigua and Barbuda, E Paul ‘Chet’ Greene at the meeting. He said, “If this pandemic has taught the world a single salutary lesson, it is that humanity should never again experience conditions in which a few countries use their wealth to purchase almost all the vaccines produced, leaving the majority of nations in dire straits”.

“While we are grateful that countries, such as the United States, are making quantities of their oversupply available to nations in need, the point is that this situation should not have occurred. Nations ought not to have to plead for vaccines to save the lives of their people, or to spare their economies the harmful impact of a pandemic”

Developing countries are forced to beg for vaccines because of two circumstances.   First, a few rich countries purchased more than 70 per cent of the total vaccines produced by the major pharmaceutical companies.  In some cases, these countries bought as much as three times the quantity of vaccines needed to vaccinate all their people.  They left the rest of the world floundering.

Second, while vaccines against this lethal virus and its variants should have been a global good, available to all mankind, it became a commodity to be sold on commercial terms to the largest and richest purchasers, ignoring the needs of many citizens of our one planet.  The pharmaceutical companies left people quite literally dying for vaccines.

Conscious that the populations of Caribbean countries are too small to allow them to bargain effectively for supplies of the vaccines at an affordable price, Dr Etienne and her team at PAHO have again taken up cudgels on behalf of the Caribbean and other deprived countries in Latin America.

Through its Revolving Fund for Access to Vaccines, which can buy in much larger quantities than individual countries, PAHO has engaged various manufacturers, whose COVID-19 vaccines have been approved by the World Health Organization, to negotiate supply, delivery and costs.  PAHO’s success would provide more vaccines on a reliable and predictable basis to Caribbean countries.

PAHO believes that these negotiations are close to completion and vaccines could be available by the last quarter of 2021.

The Caribbean and Latin America owe much to the dedication and resourcefulness of PAHO – and particularly to the black, Caribbean woman at the center of its operations – Dr  Carissa F. Etienne.

Responses and previous commentaries: www.sirronaldsanders.com  

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One More Time: Jason Rogers After Olympic Glory for Himself and SKN

by Karla Berridge

Jason Rogers is the most decorated athlete in St. Kitts and Nevis. Now he’s after Olympic glory in Tokyo.

He came from humble beginnings, growing up in ‘Hub City’, ‘S.P. where de best be’, the town of Sandy Point if you will. He is 29 years old and he is a son, a father, a friend.

“Track and field has done so much for me. It has moulded me into the man that I am today.”

In July 2021, Rogers will represent St. Kitts and Nevis at the Olympics for the third consecutive hosting of the sporting event, having participated in London 2012 and Rio 2016.

He got his start in track and field at the primary school level, attending the Sandy Point Primary School where he ran at Sports Days and Sports meets. This is where said he noticed he was “kinda good”.

“I noticed I was winning all of my races and so I kept running and running and I never stopped.”

But track and field has become more than just something to do because he was good at it. Track and field has taught him lessons for a lifetime.

“Track and field has given me so much to believe in, so much morals and discipline, it trained me and has taken me around the world. I have been to every continent except Africa and Antarctica. I really appreciate the sport and have a lot of love and respect for it.”

Rogers carved some time out of his busy training schedule to have a chat with Loop about his decorated career and qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Grinning, He said “Yes I’m ready. I’m gonna lay it down!”

About a month and a half ago Jason had a setback; a hamstring issue. Right now he and his coach are very happy about how training has been going. “We have a nice tight schedule planned out and as long as we stick to it we will be pleased with the performance.”

He said while it is a great feeling knowing he has qualified for the 100M race with a personal best of 10.01, it was a bittersweet moment.

“It was great in the sense that I feel very proud of myself for never giving up because it was really tough but I didn’t let the tough times get the best of me. I fought and now I’m here with my qualifying standard, ready to go to the Olympics.

“It is a bittersweet feeling, however, knowing that there are athletes in St. Kitts and Nevis who could qualify alongside me but because of the lack of support and opportunities they are unable to hone their skills.”

While he is a professional athlete, Rogers is not signed to any brand or sponsored by any company. He said it all comes down to support which he doesn’t have, but had high praise for his coach and his team who has offered great assistance.

He said this can change through his performance at a level that would bring in outside support. “I have to put myself on a level where the support comes from outside.”

First Federal Credit Union in St. Kitts has come on board as a sponsor for Rogers in his participation at the upcoming Olympics.

What makes an Olympian

“A lot of long days, a lot of hard work…it’s a lot of hurt, pain and tears. There are a lot of injuries and hard times as well.”

Jason has sacrificed a lot for his athletic career. Being away from his 4-year-old daughter, his family and friends in St. Kitts for 6 to 8 months every year to train in the United States has been one of the most difficult things.

Jason cites his mother Pearlina Richards as his inspiration and driving force despite the challenges. He is, in some ways continuing her legacy.

“Track and field is a sport that my mother really loves.”

Jason said his mother made a name for herself in track and field when she was younger and he heard all the stories from persons within the community growing up as a young sprinter himself.

“Ever since I was small, my mother kept pushing me. Every time I would stray from track and field, she always reminded me about track and field.  She always says if she had the opportunities that we have now, she would have gotten so far in the sport. Her own love for the sport causes her to maintain my focus.”

Jason Rogers the entrepreneur

Rogers says he has a number of business ideas he wants to venture into.

During the pandemic, he joined with a couple of friends in Sandy Point to start the Reggae Rock Farm. The excitement about his business was visible as he spoke with pride about the farm’s unexpected success. He said because of how well it has been doing they keep pushing forward and the farm’s growth has been incredible.

His intention is to work toward assisting those athletes who will be coming after him.

“There is no one trying to help right now. I want to be the person who would change things for national athletes by being their voice; I need that and I don’t have that and I know athletes coming up will need that too.”

Rogers encourages young persons to follow their dreams whether it be in athletics or in business. “Going after what you want, you will encounter a lot of fights, a lot of obstacles, but all these struggles will shape you into the person you need to be to get what you really dream of.  No matter what you do, don’t give up. The fight will come; it will be hard, it will be tough but don’t let that make you give up. Enjoy the tough days because it can’t rain forever, you will have success one day.

“I always believe in myself. I always push myself.”

Jason Rogers’ Athletic Honours:

2021:

  • Placed 2nd in the TRUFIT Meet Series in Miami, Florida in a time of 10.01s.
  • Setting a new personal best time on 24th April 2021.

2019:

  • Placed 7th in the 100m finals in a time of 10.40s at the 2019 Pan Am Games held in Lima, Peru

2018:

  • Placed 2nd in the 100m semi-finals in a time of 10.23s at the 2018 NACAC Championships held in Ontario, Canada, but false-started in the finals.
  • Silver medalist in the 100m event in a time of 10.15s at the 23rd CAC Games held in Barranquilla, Colombia.
  • Placed 6th in the 100m finals in a time of 10.24s at the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia.

2017:

  • Gold medalist in the 100m event in a time of 10.27s at the 3rd ANOCES OECS Track & Field Championships held in St George, Grenada.
  • Gold medalist in the 100m event in a time of 10.04s at the National Youth, Junior & Senior Championships/National.

2015:

  • Placed 6th in the 100m finals in a time of 10.29s at the NACAC Senior Championships held in San Jose, Costa Rica.

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US: Critical Race Theory Becomes Focus of Midterms

Critical race theory increasingly looks like it will play a major role in the 2022 midterm elections as Republicans ramp up efforts on culture issues in their pursuit of winning back control of both the House and Senate.

Arguments about critical race theory (CRT), a decades-old academic theory that puts the nation’s history of institutional racism at the center of teaching history, are regularly featured on conservative media and are increasingly being seen in school debates around the country.

Black lawmakers in Congress are expressing disappointment with the emerging battle lines, arguing it is a sign of the pushback to progress on issues of racial justice.

“Unfortunately, as the country makes progress and deal with truth telling, there are a group of Americans that tries to halt that progress and deals with falsehoods, and tries to stop the growth that the country has made, particularly in relationship to African Americans,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, told The Hill.

Many Republicans, however, see an issue that could drive conservatives to the polls in a midterm election cycle, when turnout is generally lower. Democrats are defending narrow majorities in both the House and Senate. Historically, the president’s party has lost seats in his initial midterm election.

“This is an issue that can really help Republicans win back those suburbs that they might have lost in the 2020 election,” Republican strategist Ford O’Connell told The Hill.

CRT is something that “could contribute to a red wave in 2022, particularly as it relates to the House of Representatives,” O’Connell added.

CRT asserts that the U.S. was built upon racist structures such as slavery and Jim Crow and that remnants of these systems are present today and need to be dismantled because they continue to drive inequality and inequity across the country.

In this way, CRT states, racism is systemic and therefore ingrained in everyday life instead of being an abnormal personal affliction.

The theory was established in the ’70s and ’80s but isn’t widely taught outside of college and universities, but rhetoric used by conservatives in Congress and in state legislatures — that people’s children are being “indoctrinated” by CRT — has been effective in catalyzing a groundswell of indignation.

Some view the country’s recent reckoning with race as a step forward when it comes to racial justice. Efforts were energized by the nationwide reckoning with race that began last year with outrage over the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

The dissent surrounding CRT in some ways draws comparisons to the national discourse around “defund the police,” a progressive messaging tool that Democrats have struggled to keep on the rails, resulting in the phrase becoming a key flash point last November.

And like defunding the police, CRT could be a sticking point in congressional House races that are expected to be tight.

One of these races is in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, where Rep. Lucy McBath (D), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), is seeking a third term.

The seat has been occupied in the past by prominent Republicans, including former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Johnny Isakson, and is one that the GOP would love to flip.

“We look at all of that,” Meeks said when asked if CRT messaging could potentially receive more airtime in certain races, like McBath’s.

The Black Caucus, which turned 50 this year, is enjoying increased influence in part thanks to record membership and the fact that two caucus alums now reside within President Biden’s sphere of influence: Vice President Harris and senior White House adviser Cedric Richmond.

Moreover, the White House has been steadfast in its commitment to advance equity throughout the federal government and to stamp out systemic racism. Much of what the CBC has made top priority, such as voting rights, also sits high on Biden’s agenda.

McBath is currently the lone featured candidate on the CBC PAC’s website.

Meeks lauded McBath’s work in Congress, citing her as one of the CBC members who represents a district that doesn’t have a significant overrepresentation of Black residents.

The district, which encompasses a good portion of the northern Atlanta metropolitan area, is nearly 70 percent white, and just over 13 percent Black. However, Black Georgians make up nearly a third of the state’s population, according to the Census Bureau.

When asked how the political wing of the caucus will look to combat messaging around critical race theory, Meeks underscored the importance of speaking truth to power in regards to how the topic of race is broached.

“When you don’t tell the truth or let the truth be told, then falsehood generally prevails,” Meeks said.

“They are  — they being some of the folks who want to hold this country back — are being exposed. And that’s the battle line that’s being drawn, and we’ve got to make sure that we prevent it from happening.”

Democratic operative Ra Shad Frazier-Gaines told The Hill Democrats in situations similar to McBath’s don’t have to shy away from conversations surrounding CRT, but that it shouldn’t be part of a stump speech.

“I don’t see the need for any member of Congress to address that in their platform,” Frazier-Gaines told The Hill.

“If they’re asked by media, I personally think that they should divert that energy and attention to superintendents of education for their state and school board members. That is the easiest way for them to stay out of fire.”

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Bolsonaro Attempts to Sew Doubts About Brazil’s Democracy

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 22 (Reuters) – Brazil’s political leaders lined up on Thursday to stress next year’s presidential election is certain to take place, after a bombshell newspaper report that Brazil’s defense minister had issued a threat about holding the highly polarized vote.

The Estado de S. Paulo story landed at a fraught time in Brazil, amid repeated – and unfounded – allegations by President Jair Bolsonaro that the country’s electronic voting system is vulnerable to fraud.

With his popularity falling after overseeing the world’s second deadliest coronavirus outbreak, the far-right former army captain is pushing to replace the system with printed ballots, but the bill has not gained much traction in Congress.

Critics allege that Bolsonaro, like his idol, former U.S. President Donald Trump, is sowing election doubts to pave the way for him not to accept any loss. Opinion polls show he trails former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, although neither of them has officially announced their candidacy yet.

In its story, Estado de S. Paulo reported that Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto, a former army general, had told powerful House Speaker Arthur Lira via an interlocutor that the 2022 election would not take place unless printed ballots were used. Reuters was unable to independently verify the story, which cited anonymous sources.

Both Lira and Braga Netto denied the report.

Lira, who serves as a crucial bulwark against the multiple impeachment proceedings Bolsonaro faces, tweeted that Brazilians will vote next year in a “secret and sovereign” election.

His Senate counterpart Rodrigo Pacheco also assured Brazilians that the 2022 election will take place, either with printed or electronic ballots.

Brazil’s vice president, former army general Hamilton Mourao, said it was “logical” the vote would take place.

“Who’s going to prohibit an election in Brazil?” he said. “We’re not a banana republic.”

Braga Netto, speaking at an event in Brasilia, said the armed forces were committed to democracy and freedom.

In a statement released by the Defense Ministry, Braga Netto said “the discussion about auditable electronic voting through printed proof is legitimate,” adding that he believed “all citizens desire the utmost transparency and legitimacy” in the electoral process.

Bolsonaro, speaking in a weekly live video address on social media, declined to address the allegations in the story, referring people to the Defense Ministry statement. He said there needed to be elections but said they must be clean and transparent for people to have faith in the result.

The Estado de S. Paulo defended its reporting.

Joao Caminoto, director of news for the media group that runs the paper, tweeted: “I consider it important to reaffirm in full the contents of the published report.”

ELECTION THREATS

Bolsonaro has said he may not accept the result of an election using electronic voting in 2022.

“There will be printed ballots, because if there are no printed ballots, this is a sign that there will be no election. The message is clear,” Bolsonaro said earlier this month.

The news story resonated in Brazil, where an anti-communist coup in 1964 led to 21 years of military rule.

Bolsonaro has stocked his administration with current and former military officials. Many in Brazil wonder what path the armed forces, who bristled under leftist Lula governments, would take if the president were to reject the elections results.

“In a democracy, it is not the military who decides if there will or will not be an election but the constitution which they have sworn to defend and obey,” said lawmaker Marcelo Ramos, vice-president of the lower house, in a note.

Brazil’s electoral court has repeatedly denied that the system is vulnerable to fraud or that there is evidence of fraud in previous elections, and Bolsonaro has yet to provide proof to back up his claims.

Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu, writing by Carolina Mandl, Stephen Eisenhammer and Gabriel Stargardter, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Richard Pullin

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