Cardiff told to pay Nantes $6m for plane crash victim Sala Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Jamaica News Loop News

GENEVA (AP) — A years-long transfer dispute after the death in an airplane crash of football player Emiliano Sala was decided on Friday in favour of his former club Nantes against Cardiff, which promised more legal action in the multi-million dollar case.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said it dismissed Cardiff’s appeal against a FIFA order that it must pay a first installment of 6 million euros ($6 million) for Sala. The full agreed transfer fee was 17 million euros ($17 million).

The 28-year-old forward from Argentina died before he could play for the Welsh club which later disputed that the transfer deal with the French club was finalized.

“The CAS Panel found the player’s transfer from FC Nantes to Cardiff City FC to have been completed,” the court said in a statement.

However, Cardiff said it would not immediately pay any money to Nantes and would likely pursue further legal action, including an appeal. CAS rulings can be challenged at Switzerland’s supreme court on limited procedural grounds.

“The award fails to decide the crucial question of FC Nantes (and its agents’) liability for the crash, which will therefore have to be decided in another forum,” Cardiff said in a statement.

“If those appeals are unsuccessful and the club is liable to pay the transfer fee the club will take legal action against those responsible for the crash for damages to recover its losses,” Cardiff said, adding: “This will include FC Nantes, and its agents.”

Though now a second-tier team, Cardiff were in the English Premier League in January 2019 when they agreed to pay a club record fee of 17 million euros for Sala.

Sala was killed along with the pilot when the single-engine Piper Malibu aircraft carrying them from Nantes crashed into the sea near the Channel Island of Guernsey.

Hours earlier, FIFA had received an online document from the Wales Football Association to complete the transfer of the player’s registration from France.

The jury at an inquest in England in March decided Sala had been “deeply unconscious” due to being poisoned by exhaust fumes before dying from severe head and chest injuries. Carbon monoxide had spread inside the cabin due to the plane’s faulty exhaust system.

The pilot did not have the correct authority to fly at night. His body was never found.

The businessman who organized the flight was sentenced to 18 months in prison last year and later was refused the right to appeal.

David Henderson was found guilty of endangering the safety of an aircraft and earlier admitted a separate offense of attempting to discharge a passenger without valid permission or authorization.

CAS said its two-day hearing in the transfer case held in March only concerned the first payment of the transfer.

Nantes said in a statement they hoped the CAS verdict marked the end of a disinformation campaign that it had not reacted to out of respect for the player and his family.

Cardiff said they are financially supporting Sala’s family members through a trust set up for them.

NewsAmericasNow.com

UPP Pulls-Up to Support Community Small Businesses in St. George

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Antigua News Room

UPP Pulls-Up to Support Community Small Businesses in St. George

The UPP recognizes that small businesses are an important economic engine for both local communities and the national economy. Not only do they play an important role in driving business but also in strengthening the community spirit.

On Saturday 27th August, members of the United Progressive Party (UPP) will show support for small businesses throughout the constituency of St. George. A convoy of supporters will gather at the popular food spot on Pigotts Main Road which features close to a dozen vendors. The group will also make stops in New Winthorpes, Barnes Hill and end in Potters. Along the route, they will patronize chefs, artisans, farmers and other vendors to help spark business activity in the community.

“It is time to support our small businesses, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet. We want to inspire dreamers to become successful, and individuals with ideas to create teams with vision,” said Algernon Watt, UPP Candidate for St. George.

The UPP believes that when more money is spent in the community, not only does this empower small businesses, but the entire community benefits. St. George is the second constituency to be featured in the “small business pull-up” initiative that is designed to spotlight community businesses and help generate new customers and well needed economic activity. It will also provide an opportunity for the UPP team to engage vendors one-on-one and share the Party’s plans and policies to support small businesses.

To join the caravan, or to get further information, please contact 562-9711 or 463-1111.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP

NewsAmericasNow.com

UPDATED: Antigua And Barbuda Travel Advisory

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Antigua News Room

The Government of Antigua and Barbuda has updated its travel advisory effective August 29, 2022 to facilitate the smooth movement of passengers to and from the country. Antigua and Barbuda has benefitted from a highly successful strategy of mass vaccinations, quick detection of imported and community-spread infections, and proactive public awareness campaigns in significantly reducing COVID 19 infection levels for the past five (5) months. At the same time, the State remains focused in its ongoing interventions to mitigate the risk of resurgence of COVID-l9 levels. This strategy is intended to protect and safeguard the health of both residents and visitors to Antigua and Barbuda.

Nationals and residents of Antigua and Barbuda are strongly advised to check travel advisories of destination countries prior to travel at this time.

The protocols implemented are as follows:

All COVID-l9 restrictions are to be lifted for arriving passengers by air.
COVID-9 restrictions are also tifted for persons arriving by yacht or ferry services. However, all marine pleasure craft and ferry services entering the waters of Antigua and Barbuda should contact the Antigua Port Authority, using VHF Channel 16, at least six (6) hours prior to arrival. Instructions will be given to guide the crafts to either the Nevis Street Pier or English/Falmouth Harbours, Jolly Harbour, or other holding area.
Passengers arriving aboard cruise ships are subject to the protocols enforced by the cruise lines until such time as the cruise lines themselves alter their protocols.
Visitors are required to observe all protocols as stipulated by the management businesses such as offices, banks, hotels, restaurants and excursions for the duration of their trip.
The wearing of face masks and social/physical distancing protocols in public spaces is actively encouraged throughout Antigua and Barbuda, especially wherever there are gatherings of significant numbers of people e.g., ports, supermarkets, bars and clubs.
Aniving passengers with symptoms of COVID-l9 may be isolated as determined by the Health Authorities.

Military Vessels/Aircraft and other Watercraft transporting food, medical supplies, humanitarian and emergency supplies will be required to follow the Port Authority/Port Health Guidelines and must give prior notification before arrival.

Any restrictions for maritime traffrc, and the consequential Antigua Port Authority guidelines, shall not restrict vessels engaged in innocent passage and/or transit passage, withinthe territorial seas and/or archipelagic waters of Antigua and Barbuda, under the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

This Travel Advisory replaces ALL previous Travel Advisories issued by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP

NewsAmericasNow.com

Paray criticises WASA for using debt-collection company

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

News

Mayaro MP Rushton Paray.

MAYARO MP Rushton Paray is criticising a decision by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to refer its debtors to a credit-collection agency.

In a statement on Thursday, Paray referred to a newspaper report which said WASA engaged the services of Credit Chex for this exercise. He described the decision as callous.

Paray claimed this could result in paying customers having their water supplies discontinued arbitrarily discontinuing their supply. He did not explain how.

“It would also lead to customers who have been without supply for months being made to pay for a non-existent service instead of being provided with the precious commodity.”

Paray said while WASA has a serious cash-flow problem, “the collection of debt must be guided by a watertight list of debt receivables and by management competence and professionalism.”

He added, WASA should be focusing on fixing its books, improving its distribution system, and repairing damaged water mains and roads.

In response, Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales said, “The vast majority of our citizens are educated and well informed, and they will ignore the populist stunt being played by my dear friend from Mayaro.”

He dismissed Paray’s claim about about WASA arbitrarily discontinuing the water supply of paying customers.

” I don’t get it. I can’t see how paying customers will be unduly worried about the authority’s debt-collection efforts.”

Gonzales said while he respects Paray as an individual, there is a difference in the views which an opposition and a government take on issues.

“The benefit of being in opposition is that it is easy to take populist positions to give the impression of caring for the citizens.

“In Government, decisions have to be taken for the benefit of all the citizens and sometimes that may mean taking action that may offend some segment of the population.”

Referring to Paray’s background in the private sector, Gonzales said, “As an astute businessman, MP Paray is well aware that there is a direct correlation between cash flows and the ability to provide a service especially a critical service of water supply.”

He said he was certain Paray is aware that if WASA improves its financial performance, “this will redound to an improvement in service levels to customers.”

This, he said, also includes Paray’s constituents.

“If he (Paray) truly believes in his statement, is he willing to also abandon his calls and pleas for better service especially when Mayaro is set to benefit from a major investment to improve supply to the citizens there?”

NewsAmericasNow.com

National Strategic Plan Being Developed For Saint Lucia’s Honey Industry – St. Lucia Times News

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: St. Lucia Times News

– Advertisement –

Honey production and exports present a viable economic option for a large group of Saint Lucia’s rural population.

To ensure the development of the sector and maximization of profits, Export Saint Lucia, with funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility (CCPF), is in the process of implementing the Bee City Honey Cluster Project.

Succinctly referred to as “Bee City”, this project will position Saint Lucian honey in specificmarkets through the development of a cluster model. Bee City seeks to increase thecompetitiveness of stakeholders within the sector, build the capacity of local stakeholders in the beekeeping industry and encourage the entrance of new members to drive and expand apiculture.

As work continues in the implementation of Bee City, a local consultant, Mr Melvin Edwards, has been engaged to develop a three-year strategic plan for the operations of beekeeper groups participating in the Bee City Honey Cluster.

– Advertisement –

During his consultancy, Edwards will also develop and facilitate training workshops and provide instruction in governance and cooperative management to the beekeeping cluster and industry stakeholders.

Partnering on this consultancy and the project as a whole is the Ministry of Agriculture and specifically the Veterinary and Livestock Services Division.

Like other IDB Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility Projects, Bee City will contribute to an improvement in the standard of living and quality of life of participants.

The program is also expected to result in an increase in the production of honey, and the number of beekeepers and apiaries on the island.

The Bee City Honey Cluster Project aims to remove any constraints that currently hinder the development of the honey industry.

Export Saint Lucia’s Chief Executive Officer, Sunita Daniel, remarks “Saint Lucia’s honey industry is brimming with export potential. As a trade promotion agency, Export Saint Lucia understands first-hand that the entrance of local honey to international, niche markets will result in increased economic prosperity at home.

The strategic plan being developed will be in tune with the overall plan of the Government for the sector’s development.

Daniel added that “The work in cooperative governance and management will assistin the proper maintenance of current and future cooperatives and groups. Export Saint Lucia has the utmost confidence in Mr Edwards’ ability to perform his duties toward a positive end for the men and women involved in our beekeeping industry.”

The consultancy will take place over the course of four (4) months, after which, Saint Lucia’s honey industry is expected to be in a more competitive state moving forward.

SOURCE: Export Saint Lucia

– Advertisement –

NewsAmericasNow.com

En peligro de perderse la cosecha del café local en Puerto Rico

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Radio Isla TV

La portavoz de la Campaña Hacia una Recuperación Justa del sector agrícola de Puerto Rico, Elisa Sánchez, denunció en RADIO ISLA que la cosecha del café local está en peligro de perderse. 

Esto, luego de que los agricultores, junto al Departamento de Agricultura, le reclamaran al Departamento de Asuntos al Consumidor (DACO) para que revise el precio del café. Según Elisa Sánchez, los torrefactores comenzaron a pagar entre $12 a $14 cuando antes pagaban $22 por el almut, entiéndase el saco de café. 

Sánchez indicó que los torrefactores prefieren pagar mucho menos por el café del extranjero mientras los caficultores locales están a punto de perder sus cosechas y que el procedimiento con el DACO “es muy lento”. 

“Nuestro café se está madurando, nuestro café se está perdiendo. Hace hasta apenas unos días, nuestros beneficiarios no habían abierto sus beneficiados para comprar el café mientras nuestros caficultores ya tenían café que estaba ya maduro para la venta. Si tu no cosechas el café al momento que está maduro, se pierde. (Esto) ha creado una crisis para el sector, especialmente para el pequeño agricultor de la montaña”, expresó Sánchez.  

[embedded content]

NewsAmericasNow.com

Powell: Fed could keep lifting rates sharply ‘for some time’ Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Jamaica News Loop News

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered a stark message Friday: The Fed will likely impose more large interest rate hikes in the coming months and is resolutely focused on taming the highest inflation in four decades.

Powell also warned more explicitly than he has in the past that the Fed’s continued tightening of credit will cause pain for many households and businesses as its higher rates further slow the economy and potentially lead to job losses.

“These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation,” he said in a high-profile speech at the Fed’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole. “But a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain.”

Investors had been hoping for a signal that the Fed might soon moderate its rate increases later this year if inflation were to show further signs of easing. But the Fed chair indicated that that time may not be near.

After hiking its key short-term rate by three-quarters of a point at each of its past two meetings — part of the Fed’s fastest series of rate increases since the early 1980s — Powell said the Fed might ease up on that pace “at some point” — suggesting that any such slowing isn’t near.

Powell said the size of the Fed’s rate increase at its next meeting in late September — whether one-half or three-quarters of a percentage point — will depend on inflation and jobs data. An increase of either size, though, would exceed the Fed’s traditional quarter-point hike, a reflection of how severe inflation has become.

The Fed chair said that while lower inflation readings that have been reported for July have been “welcome,” “a single month’s improvement falls far short of what the Committee will need to see before we are confident that inflation is moving down.”

He noted that the history of high inflation in the 1970s, when the central bank sought to counter high prices with only intermittent rate hikes, shows that the Fed must stay focused.

“The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely” lowering interest rates, he said. “We must keep at it until the job is done.”

Powell’s speech is the marquee event of the Fed’s annual economic symposium at Jackson Hole, the first time the conference of central bankers is being held in person since 2019 after it went virtual for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since March, the Fed has implemented its fastest pace of rate increases in decades to try to curb inflation, which has punished households with soaring costs for food, gas, rent and other necessities. The central bank has lifted its benchmark rate by 2 full percentage points in just four meetings, to a range of 2.25 per cent to 2.5 per cent.

Those hikes have led to higher costs for mortgages, car loans and other consumer and business borrowing. Home sales have been plunging since the Fed first signalled it would raise borrowing costs.

In June, the Fed’s policymakers signalled that they expected their key rate to end 2022 in a range of 3.25 per cent to 3.5 per cent and then to rise further next year to between 3.75 per cent and 4 per cent. If rates reached their projected level at the end of this year, they would be at the highest point since 2008.

Powell is betting that he can engineer a high-risk outcome: Slow the economy enough to ease inflation pressures yet not so much as to trigger a recession.

His task has been complicated by the economy’s cloudy picture: On Thursday, the government said the economy shrank at a 0.6 per cent annual rate in the April-June period, the second straight quarter of contraction. Yet employers are still hiring rapidly, and the number of people seeking unemployment aid, a measure of layoffs, remains relatively low.

At the same time, inflation is still crushingly high, though it has shown some signs of easing, notably in the form of declining gas prices.

At its meeting in July, Fed policymakers expressed two competing concerns that highlighted their delicate task.

According to minutes from that meeting, the officials — who aren’t identified by name — have prioritized their inflation fight. Still, some officials said there was a risk that the Fed would raise borrowing costs more than necessary, risking a recession. If inflation were to fall closer to the Fed’s 2 per cent target and the economy weakened further, those diverging views could become hard to reconcile.

At last year’s Jackson Hole symposium, Powell listed five reasons why he thought inflation would be “transitory.”

Powell indirectly acknowledged that history at the outset of his remarks Friday, when he said, “at past Jackson Hole conferences, I have discussed broad topics such as the ever-changing structure of the economy and the challenges of conducting monetary policy.”

“Today,” he said, “my remarks will be shorter, my focus narrower and my message more direct.”

NewsAmericasNow.com

Resident British Commissioner to Antigua & Barbuda Lindsy Thompson responds to a report of no Antiguans among Chevening scholars this year

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Antigua News Room
From left to right: Miss Jeniece St. Romain, Miss Malaeka Goodwin, Ms Lindsy Thompson, Miss Sharifa George. 2021 Scholars

Resident British Commissioner to Antigua & Barbuda Lindsy Thompson has responded to a report of no Antiguans among Chevening scholars this year.

She said on Twitter: Difficult news for our applicants this year. BUT future & repeat applicants take heart: has a strong record (8 scholarships in the past 3 years), some of whom succeeded on their 2nd/rd attempts. Stay tuned for this year’s coaching & mentoring for 22/23 apps!

@UKinCaribbean

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP

Editor

NewsAmericasNow.com

Valley Road North road project is now 70% complete

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Antigua News Room
Photo by Traffic-TV 268

The contracting firm implementing resurfacing work under the Government of Antigua and Barbuda Second Road Infrastructure Rehabilitation project (SRIRP) on Valley Road North (VRN) has reported that seventy percent (70%) of the work is now complete.

Valley Road North is one of four roads earmarked for rehabilitationas part of the multi- road improvement initiative now underway. The other roads are Old Parham Road, Anchorage Road and Sir Sydney Walling Highway.

Oversight for the SRIRP is being provided by the Ministry of Works through the Project Implementation Management Unit (PIMU).

The PIMU is calling on road users and residents to exercise patience as the Government rehabilitates the twin island’s road network.

The project office is also urging road users to proceed with extreme caution especially when travelling within road work zones.

The project office is also asking that all road users respect and adhere to the traffic management measures being employed for public safety.

The contractor C.O. Williams Construction Company Ltd. acknowledges that there have been recent setbacks in the progress of work in the Jennings area and they plan to remedy the situation by conducting work over the weekend. It is expected that by mid-September, the section of road will be resurfaced and reopened to the normal flow of traffic.

The delays are mainly due to inclement weather conditions as well as the requirement for full depth excavation in the area. The patience and cooperation of residents is appreciated during this challenging time.

The Government of Antigua and Barbuda was successful in obtaining financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) towards offsetting the cost of the Second Road Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project. The project is projected to end in 2023 -END

Project Facts: 

Project Contractor: C.O. Williams Construction Company Ltd.

All traffic interventions will be controlled by flag persons whenever necessary. Road users are advised to proceed with caution when travelling in the work zones.  For additional information, please contact the PIMU via email: [email protected] or call us: 562-9174/6 or 562-7782.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP

NewsAmericasNow.com

Police arrest two and seize cash and bullets at a home in Golden Grove

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Antigua News Room

TWO ARRESTED FOLLOWING SEIZURE OF CANNABIS, AMMUNITION AND CASH

Two people are now facing serious charges after the police seized ammunition, over 1.6 kilograms of cannabis and a wad of cash in both EC and US currency at a home in Golden Grove on Thursday.

Investigators executed a search warrant at a house in the area about 5am and made the discovery.

Police say the ammunition included both .38 and .45 calibre while over XCD$40,000.00 and over US$8,000.00 were found.

The search was carried out in the presence of both who were then taken into custody and are now being questioned. (State Media)

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP

Editor

NewsAmericasNow.com