The Russians aren"t coming

BY STEVEN JACKSON Business reporter jacksons@jamaicaobserver.com

Wednesday, December 31, 2014    

THE fallout in the Russian economy has halted the rise of the fastest-growing tourism market for Jamaica.

So significant is the fallout that Russia now accounts for the market with the largest drop in tourist arrivals, according to latest data from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB).

“We are concerned because we started to see growth in that market,” Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association President Nicola Madden- Greig told the Jamaica Observer. “The reasons for its decline are beyond our control at the moment. What we can hope for is that once things settle back in Russia, that they will resume flights.”

The Russian ruble lost more than 60 per cent of its value since January, due to rapidly falling oil prices and the impact of Western-imposed sanctions over Russia’s alleged involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

“The company operating the charter was not able to put the charter through to Jamaica because of the economic issues that Russia is going through,” Madden-Greig added.

Earlier this year, Transaero Airlines stopped chartering flights to the island, which dramatically reduced available seats from Russia. As such, Russian arrivals dipped by two-thirds year-on-year to some 3,300 visitors over 11 months ending November. It’s the largest drop from any tourism market this year.

Just a year ago, Russian arrivals grew by 622 per cent to over 12,200, which represented the fastest growth market. It surpassed arrivals from France and was on track to usurp Germany (currently at 19,000 year to date) as the main market from continental Europe.

“During 2013, Russia became the second main visitor-producing country from continental Europe (which excludes the UK…). This performance occurred mainly due to the year-round airline operations of Transaero out of Moscow,” stated the Jamaica Tourist Board annual travel 2013 publication.

Sweden now accounts for the fastest growth in stopover arrivals to Jamaica, up 224 per cent year-on-year to 5,900 visitors between January and November. Overall, Jamaica recorded 1.86 million stopover arrivals over 11 months ending November 2014 or 3.3 per cent higher than a year earlier. Some 62 per cent of those visitors came from the US. Over the same period, cruise arrivals totalled 1.2 million or 12 per cent higher than a year earlier.

Last year, in anticipation of further growth from Eastern Europe, the industry started offering Russian tours that focused on art, coffee and adventure. Stores posted Russian signage and hotels employed translators. Additionally, the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment and its agency, the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), launched a Russian and Spanish Language Skills Training Programme for tourism workers. The $3-million programme was aimed at front-line workers in the tourism sector, including immigration and customs officers; red cap porters; taxi and bus operators; craft vendors and workers in hotels and attractions, and Jamaica Tourist Board personnel.

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The Russians aren"t coming

Charlie coming back to "Men?"

April 11. 2013. Charlie Sheen poses at the premiere of his new film “Scary Movie 5″ in Hollywood. (Reuters)

Charlie Sheen’s departure from “Two and a Half Men” was not pretty. He was fired after feuding with the show’s creator Chuck Lorre and when he left the successful sitcom Sheen called Lorre among other things a “little worm.” He was replaced by Ashton Kutcher.

But now rumors are swirling that Sheen may return for the final episode.

RadarOnline reports that at a press conference this week Lorre was surprisingly effusive when talking about Sheen, who was the highest paid actor on TV for his role as a lothario playboy.

“It would be inappropriate not to acknowledge our success with Charlie and how grateful I am and we are,” he said. “I have nothing but good feelings for those eight-and-a-half years.”

“The show has morphed into something else entirely for the last four years to something we love,” Lorre said. “How to honor both is the challenge of this finale, and the other challenge [is] how to get people to watch it without telling them what it is.

“I think you will be very, very pleased with the finale and that’s all I’m going to say about it,” he said.

This comes after the 49-year-old actor said in December that his dream, “is to be in the last scene of the last show” and to guest star “for the fans.”

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Charlie coming back to "Men?"

THE BRITISH ARE COMING: Fighters take off for combat shortly after vote

Britain’s Ministry of Defense says warplanes have taken off for their first combat mission over Iraq since Parliament approved airstrikes targeting the Islamic state group.

The Tornado GR4 aircraft took off from RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus on Saturday, hours after Britain joined the U.S.-led coalition of nations that are launching airstrikes against the extremists.

The Ministry of Defense says that the Tornados “are now ready to be used in an attack role as and when appropriate targets are identified.”

There were six Tornado jets stationed on Cyprus that have been used previously to fly reconnaissance flights, The Independent reported.

Prime Minister David Cameron has described U.K. involvement as critical to security on home soil, arguing that facing down terrorists has become a matter of urgency. He says the hallmarks of the campaign would be “patience and persistence, not shock and awe.”

Meanwhile, activists say the American-led coalition attacking a jihadi group in Syria has launched airstrikes on its positions including wheat silos in the country’s east.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the strikes targeted compounds for the Islamic State group in the central province of Homs and the northern region of Raqqa.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said the Saturday strikes hit the eastern province of Deir el-Zour as well as Raqqa.

VIDEO: ALLEN WEST SAYS GROUND FORCES NEEDED IN ISIS FIGHT

The LCC also said the coalition targeted wheat silos west of the eastern city of Deir el-Zour.

The coalition, which began its aerial campaign against Islamic State fighters in Syria early Tuesday, aims to roll back and ultimately crush the extremist group, which has created a proto-state spanning the Syria-Iraq border.

Britain did not approve airstrikes in Syria. 

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THE BRITISH ARE COMING: Fighters take off for combat shortly after vote

Job cuts coming at Sagicor Bank

RJR News has been informed that job cuts are coming at the recently merged Sagicor Bank.
However, the number of  posts to be cut has not yet ascertained by the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, BITU.

The union represents more than 400 workers at the bank which recently took over RBC Jamaica. When contacted, BITU President-General Kavan Gayle confirmed that a rationalisation exercise is taking place. He has concerns about how the process is being carried out. According to Mr. Gayle, the union had recommended a voluntary separation programme.

He charges that the company instead has embarked on an involuntary process involving redundancy and without consultation with the union. The union has requested a meeting with Sagicor’s management to discuss the matter. It has also informed the Ministry of  Labour of  its concerns.                                                                            

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Job cuts coming at Sagicor Bank

Job cuts coming at Sagicor Bank

RJR News has been informed that job cuts are coming at the recently merged Sagicor Bank.
However, the number of  posts to be cut has not yet ascertained by the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, BITU.

The union represents more than 400 workers at the bank which recently took over RBC Jamaica. When contacted, BITU President-General Kavan Gayle confirmed that a rationalisation exercise is taking place. He has concerns about how the process is being carried out. According to Mr. Gayle, the union had recommended a voluntary separation programme.

He charges that the company instead has embarked on an involuntary process involving redundancy and without consultation with the union. The union has requested a meeting with Sagicor’s management to discuss the matter. It has also informed the Ministry of  Labour of  its concerns.                                                                            

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Job cuts coming at Sagicor Bank

Cancer-treatment equipment coming -- Ferguson

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — Health Minister, Dr Fenton Ferguson, says that discussions are advanced with a leading Canadian hospital for the acquisition of equipment to improve cancer treatment in the local public health sector.

Ferguson said that during a recent visit to Canada, he was able to make “significant progress” with the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre for the supply of two Linear Accelerator machines, which are used for radiotherapy treatment.“We are closer to achieving our objective of getting two Linear Accelerator machines. As it is now, we only have one in the private sector, and we are moving to have two in the public sector,” the Minister said, while addressing Friday’s (August 30) groundbreaking ceremony for expansion of the St. Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital in St Ann.He stated that the acquisition of the machines “will take a tremendous burden off our cancer patients”. Dr Ferguson said that the Government is committed to reducing the cost of cancer treatment and care.“Cancer care remains a burden for individuals and families, and part of my mandate is to work to get cancer care down to a certain manageable level. There is a particular drug that is going at over J$200,000 per dose, and for persons with breast cancer, you need 18 doses. We must find a way to get those prices down,” he stated.The Minister said that even as he works on improving care, he also has to encourage Jamaicans to adopt healthier lifestyle choices to reduce cancers and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs).“This is why I have been so steadfast in my arguments against smoking in specified public places. We are facing a debilitating problem where NCDs are concerned. High blood pressure, diabetics, cancer, respiratory diseases; these NCDs are responsible for over 70 per cent of deaths in Jamaica,” he said.JISLike our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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Cancer-treatment equipment coming -- Ferguson

New iPhone coming in September — reports

News

Monday, August 12, 2013 | 3:59 PM

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Apple is expected to present its redesigned iPhone in September, according to media reports out of the US.Technology blog AllThingsD blog cited unnamed sources as saying that Apple will unveil its next smart phone at a special event on September 10.It was reported in June that Apple is exploring launching iPhones with bigger screens, as well as cheaper models in a range of colours, over the next year.Wall Street analysts said that the launch date made sense and was in line with what they expected from the company, according to USA Today.“As the date gets closer, speculation is likely to mount as to the phone’s features and capabilities. Some have already suggested it could feature things like a fingerprint sensor that changes colour during the phone’s setup process,” the report said.

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New iPhone coming in September — reports

New iPhone coming in September — reports

Latest News

Monday, August 12, 2013 | 3:59 PM

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Apple is expected to present its redesigned iPhone in September, according to media reports out of the US.Technology blog AllThingsD blog cited unnamed sources as saying that Apple will unveil its next smart phone at a special event on September 10.It was reported in June that Apple is exploring launching iPhones with bigger screens, as well as cheaper models in a range of colours, over the next year.Wall Street analysts said that the launch date made sense and was in line with what they expected from the company, according to USA Today.“As the date gets closer, speculation is likely to mount as to the phone’s features and capabilities. Some have already suggested it could feature things like a fingerprint sensor that changes colour during the phone’s setup process,” the report said.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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New iPhone coming in September — reports

Nkengas" second coming

IN the early 1970s when Jamaican music producer Clinton ‘Sonny’ Roberts met a 10-piece Nigerian band named the Nkengas, he had little knowledge of them or the music coming out of Africa.

He decided to take a chance on the band, who were in the United Kingdom doing a series of shows in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. He gathered them in a London recording studio and cut a series of what turned out to be memorable sides.Those sessions resulted in two albums — Destruction and The Nkengas In London — which were both released by Roberts’ Orbitone Records, an independent company located in London.Destruction was recently released digitally under a new distribution deal between Orbitone and Secret Stash Records, an American company that specialises in roots music.The digital version of Destruction has been available through Secret Stash for two months while another deal between Orbitone and London-based Believe Digital went into effect two weeks ago.The nine-song instrumental album is also available on compact disc from Secret Stash, a Minneapolis, Minnesota label which unearths rare recordings from Africa, Latin America and the United States.Cleon Roberts, daughter of Sonny Roberts, told the Sunday Observer that the second coming of Destruction is timely.“There’s been a resurgence of interest in America for the Afro-funk beat, you hear it in the clubs and on the radio,” she said. “It’s also making a comeback in Africa, in countries like Nigeria.”The Afro beat was first made famous during the 1970s by Nigerian revolutionary Fela Kuti, whose mix of traditional African sounds and American jazz won him fans throughout the continent, Europe and North America.In the 1980s, British avant garde artiste Peter Gabriel discovered the music which record companies described as world beat. Artistes like Manu Dibango of Cameroun, Youssou N’Dour of Senegal and Alpha Blondy of the Ivory Coast built on the trailblazing feats of Fela and were signed to major record labels.The Nkengas were unknown outside of their homeland when they were introduced to Roberts, a Manchester-born carpenter who moved to the UK in the late 1950s. He quickly got involved in the music business, becoming the first Jamaican to operate a recording studio in the basement of his London flat, which was owned by Lee Gopthal, who would later start Trojan Records.Cleon Roberts says her father’s musical interests at the time concentrated on Caribbean balladeers like Tim Chandell, Joyce Bond and Belinda Parker. Though he knew little of African music when he first met the Nkengas, Roberts was in the business long enough to know a good thing when he heard it.“For a Jamaican to listen to a bunch of Nigerian guys and record them back then, was remarkable,” she said.Sonny Roberts would record two albums with another Nigerian, saxophonist Peter King. His work for Orbitone, previously available on vinyl, is now available on compact disc.Now 82, Roberts lives in St Andrew with his wife. Only four members of the Nkengas survive; they live in Nigeria.Cleon Roberts hopes the new deal with Secret Stash and UK interests will revive interest in their work.“My father is a firm believer that nothing happens before its time. This sound is timeless and can appeal to a new generation including the hip hop community.”Sonny Roberts cutting master tape in studio.ROBERTS… there’s been a resurgence of interest in America for the Afro-funk beatMembers of the 10-piece Nigerian band, Nkengas.

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Nkengas" second coming