Muesli price jumps by fifth in year

The cost of a bowl of muesli has jumped a fifth in a year as the prices of hazelnuts and almonds soared, market researchers have found.

Boxes of Alpen are up by 24p and Dorset Cereals have increased in cost by 47p, according to a survey published in The Grocer magazine.

Researchers blamed the increasing cost of raw ingredients, with the average wholesale price of a tonne of muesli rising by 56 per cent to £608.80 in the past three years.

The price is up 13 per cent on the end of 2010 and 1.2 per cent year-on-year, the survey found.

The biggest single increase was in the cost of almonds, which rose 38.6 per cent year-on-year to £2,404 per tonne, while the price of a tonne of whey powder was up 35.7 per cent to £760 and hazelnuts increased by 32.6 per cent to £5,624 during the same period.

These increases were partially offset by a reduction in the cost of wheat, skimmed milk powder and raisins which fell by 22.2 per cent, 16.5 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively year-on-year.

Manufacturers could reduce the damage of the overall price rise by altering their recipes, The Grocer suggested, but if core ingredients become more expensive over a long period there would be a limit to how much they could do.

The impact is already being felt in supermarkets, the report said, with a 750g box of Alpen Original now costing £2.60, 24p more than this time last year.

An 850g pack of Dorset Cereals Simply Delicious Muesli has risen by 21 per cent from £2.26 to £2.73 during the same period, analysts BrandView.co.uk said.

Nick Barnard, co-founder of breakfast cereal maker Rude Health, said muesli manufacturers were feeling the effect of higher ingredient prices, with oats a particular concern having risen 4.2 per cent to £187.5 per tonne.

He said: "Oats are in increased demand to fulfil the growth in porridge and granola. All the oats in our muesli and porridge are organic – prices have risen and we expect them to continue to."

SOURCE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9077877/Muesli-price-jumps-by-fifth-in-year.html

Airlift still high on regional agenda

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, Thursday February 9, 2012 – Ministers of tourism and civil aviation across the Eastern Caribbean are meeting today in St Vincent to discuss and devise strategic solutions to tourism and aviation issues and challenges currently confronting the sub-region.

This meeting follows a recent high-level confab in Barbados by the Prime Ministers of the stakeholder governments in Liat Airlines and reflects the high priority that regional leaders continue to place on airlift issues.

Today’s joint meeting is in response to a decision taken at the OECS Council of Tourism Ministers and subsequently endorsed by the OECS Authority in May last year.

The purpose of this meeting, as articulated in the ministerial mandate, is to address matters geared towards improving the attractiveness of the OECS airspace and accessibility of destinations, in order to increase air passenger traffic in the region.

More specifically, the ministers will seek to indentify priority areas for joint action including the development of a Common OECS Air Transport Policy; and the preparation of airlift capacity studies to empirically assess the air service needs of the region, and to guide OECS member states’ efforts at attracting and sustaining airlift.

Another matter to be discussed is the implementation of relevant aspects of the San Juan Accord, which is a set of decisions taken by ministers with responsibility for tourism and international transport of member countries of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in October 2007, when the ministers met to discuss proposals for restructuring the region’s air transport sector, with a view to offering safe, secure and sustainable air services in the Caribbean.

This joint meeting, to be chaired by the prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, is deemed important given that not all ministers of tourism in the OECS are assigned the civil aviation portfolio. Whilst Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis have joint tourism and civil aviation ministerial portfolios, the ministries of tourism and civil aviation are separate in Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Montserrat, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Dominica to receive Euro millions over next 2 years

ROSEAU, Dominica, Thursday February 9, 2012 - Dominica expects to receive between 14 and 15.5 million Euros during 2012 and 2013, from the 190 million Euros allocated to the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) nations through the European Commission’s BAM (Banana Accompanying Measures) programme.

Dominican agricultural officials say the country is positioning itself to make maximum use of funds being made available to ten banana-exporting nations by the European Union.

The funding of is intended to provide additional development assistance to help the countries involved adjust to new market conditions, following the erosion of the preferential market access that was previously enjoyed by the ACP group of countries through trade with Europe.

Director of Agriculture Ricky Brumant says under the BAM arrangement, Dominica will seek to make its banana production and exports more competitive, while focusing on other areas of agriculture as well.

Stakeholders in the agricultural sector were meeting on Tuesday, to help ensure that “what we say we are going to do with the money is going to bring to the country maximum benefits”.

Brumant said also that another priority would be to “place the agricultural sector, the banana sub-sector, on a plain that we can enhance competitiveness and of course move our non-banana programmes or crop programmes, production programmes to a level to where it can ensure that we are competitive not only on the regional market but also the international market”.

The agriculture official says the BAM funds being allocated to Dominica will make a significant difference.

“From a government standpoint enhancing trade is important, ensuring food security is important, these are some of the broad areas that we will look at,” Brumant said.

He confirmed that a substantial amount of the available funds is expected to go to the banana industry, to make it more competitive.

“I cannot tell you now how much would go into bananas.  I can tell you that we are prepared to ensure the right production mix between banana and non-banana crops,” the Director of Agriculture told Dominica News Online.

SOURCE:http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/business/553760.html#axzz1mDnB6dBU

St Lucia first Royal stop

CASTRIES, St Lucia, Friday February 10, 2012 – St. Lucia will be the first port of call by Their Royal Highnesses Prince and Princess Edward, Earl and Countess of Wessex.

The couple is expected to arrive in St. Lucia on February 21 in time for the country’s 33rd independence celebrations.

During their one-day stay, The Royal Highnesses are expected to attend the Independence Day Parade, a cultural dance performance, visit the Association of St. Lucia Headquarters and the St. Lucia School of Music.

They will also attend receptions hosted by the island’s Governor-General and Prime Minister.

The Earl and Countess are expected to leave St. Lucia on February 22. Their itinerary includes visits to Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago, Montserrat, St Kitts, Anguilla and Antigua as part of the celebrations to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

SOURCE:

http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/st_lucia_news/554000.html#axzz1mDnB6dBU

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Date Confirmed

Microsoft is set to release a trial version of its touch-centric operating system to everyday computer users.

By Paul McDougall   InformationWeek
February 08, 2012 05:12 PM

The general public won't have to wait long to get its hands on Windows 8, as Microsoft has confirmed the date on which it will make a trial version of its newest operating system freely available to anyone who wants to download it and kick the tires.

Microsoft will hold an event in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 29 to formally launch Windows 8 Consumer Preview, according to an invitation the company sent to journalists Wednesday. The date and location coincide with the World Mobile Congress, an indication that Microsoft is serious about pushing Windows 8 as a mobile operating system for tablets, as well as for traditional desktops and laptops.

The general public won't have to wait long to get its hands on Windows 8, as Microsoft has confirmed the date on which it will make a trial version of its newest operating system freely available to anyone who wants to download it and kick the tires.

Microsoft will hold an event in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 29 to formally launch Windows 8 Consumer Preview, according to an invitation the company sent to journalists Wednesday. The date and location coincide with the World Mobile Congress, an indication that Microsoft is serious about pushing Windows 8 as a mobile operating system for tablets, as well as for traditional desktops and laptops.

What would you like to see in Windows 8? Read 8 Features That Could Make Windows 8 Great.

Microsoft typically warns users that unfinished software can cause system problems and that users should try it only if they have reasonably advanced computer skills.

Microsoft in September released the Windows 8 Developer Preview along with tools that programmers could use to build apps and get familiar with Windows 8.

The new OS represents the most fundamental redesign of the OS since the debut of Windows 95. For its interface, Windows 8 relies heavily on design elements taken from Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 environment, including Metro themes and Live Tiles. Tiles are blocks of screen real-estate that feed real-time updates from social networks, messaging, e-mail, and other services to the home screen.

Leaked screenshots appear to show that Microsoft has even eliminated the Start button, a familiar Windows navigation tool in past versions, and replaced it with a swipeable area users can touch to bring up various menus.

Such a design is more tablet friendly, and Microsoft has made little secret of the fact that it's counting on Windows 8 to make it a player in the tablet market, which is dominated by Apple and Google-powered devices.

Microsoft has not announced a release date for the final version of Windows 8, saying that it prefers to work from "milestone to milestone." Still, many analysts believe the OS could show up in some consumer products in time for the 2012 holiday season.

Social media are generating tons of data, but that data only becomes truly valuable when examined in context. Attend the virtual Enterprise 2.0 event Social Analytics: The Bridge To Business Value, and learn how social analytics will provide the bridge to unlocking business value. It happens Feb. 16.

Participatory management for Jamaican tourism

Dr. Wykeham McNeill

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Thursday February 2, 2012 – Ordinary Jamaicans will get a say in the management of the tourism product of Jamaica.

This assurance has come from newly appointed Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, Dr. Wykeham McNeill, who revealed this week that plans are afoot to re-establish local Resort Boards, to enhance governance within the sector.

In making the announcement, Minister McNeill stressed: “The boards will play a crucial role in ensuring that the management of the sector is more inclusive and participatory. We need to reestablish these boards to ensure that the voices of the people are heard. Once they are reinstated representatives of the resort boards will also be placed on the board of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo.) to ensure they play a role in the development of the sector at that level as well.”

Dr McNeill said the process toward the restructuring and re-establishment of the Resort Boards had begun and he believed that, once revamped, these boards would help significantly in ensuring that the process of developing resort areas is managed properly.”

The minister explained that: “I have realized that there is a disconnect between the administrators within the sector and the people on the ground. Unfortunately the deactivation of the Resort Boards under the previous administration has removed that critical link. We are now holding discussions in a bid to re-engage these stakeholders by reestablishing these boards.”

“The reality is that the resort boards will help to more effectively address many of the concerns shared by community members in resort areas. They will also allow us to better prioritize when addressing the issues affecting the people. Too often we implement policies that don’t really impact the people, hence we need to know what the people want and the resort boards will better enable us to determine this,” he added.

McNeill, who discussed the issue with tourism partners during a Stakeholder Meeting in Negril recently added that “so far our stakeholders have welcomed the move, and those we met with in Negril have underscored that the Resort Boards will empower tourism partners to address issues affecting them at the local level. They also agree that the boards will go a long way in ensuring that we will be working closer as a team, moving forward, which is precisely how we intend to manage the sector.”

Source:http://www.caribbean360.com/

EARTHQUAKE (Magnitude 4.1) STRUCK MARTINIQUE REGION, WINDWARD ISLANDS

An earthquake (magnitude 4.1) struck Martinique and the Windward Islands on Sunday at 11:33:14 UTC.


Below is a summary of the quake:

Magnitude	4.1
Date-Time	·         Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 11:33:14 UTC ·         Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 07:33:14 AM at epicenter ·         Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location	14.280°N, 60.246°W
Depth	68.6 km (42.6 miles)
Region	MARTINIQUE REGION, WINDWARD ISLANDS
Distances	86 km (53 miles) ENE of CASTRIES, St. Lucia 96 km (59 miles) ESE of FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique 147 km (91 miles) NNW of BRIDGETOWN, Barbados 782 km (485 miles) SE of SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 30.3 km (18.8 miles); depth +/- 38.1 km (23.7 miles)
Parameters	NST= 15, Nph= 20, Dmin=109.1 km, Rmss=1.43 sec, Gp=184°, M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=7
Source	·         Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D) Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Barbados consortium wins regional ferry contract

The ferry, a 112-metre wave piercing catamaran,

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Friday January 27, 2012 - The Barbados-based Fast Caribbean Ltd has been selected to manage a regional ferry service scheduled to come on stream this year, Transport Minister Devant Maharaj announced Thursday.

Initially, the ferry will carry passengers, vehicles and goods from its base in Trinidad and Tobago to Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia and Barbados.

More routes would be added once the venture is deemed commercially viable, the minister said.

“Fast Caribbean Ltd, Barbados-based consortium, will charter from owners Montrose Global a 112-metre wave piercing catamaran similar to those operating on the Trinidad and Tobago route,” he told journalists at a post-Cabinet news conference.

“It still remains a private sector driven project based on the proposal from Fast Caribbean Ltd. They have indicated in their proposal to us the minimum capital requirement to start the service is approximately US$12 million, they propose however to raise US$20 million.”

Maharaj said a proposal has been made for 100,000 seats to be provided annually at US$10 a ticket, though nationals of Trinidad and Tobago may have to pay up to US$35.

“What the government is contributing to this is forming part of the negotiations. It includes how they would like to see our fuel price locked in at a particular rate, facilities at the Port Authority, requests in terms of fuel and lubricant duties and tariffs, corporate tax concessions,” he said.

The ferry would depart Port of Spain at 6 a.m. and arrive at its final daily destination – Barbados - at 6 p.m.

Trade Minister Stephen Cadiz suggested this service would lead to reduced regional freight cost.

“Not every shipping line goes to Grenada or St Vincent because of the volume of trade,” he noted. “It means that these islands, in getting their goods out, can in fact ship to Trinidad and then do a trans-shipment onto the larger lines.”

Cabinet approved the establishment of the inter-island ferry service last September.

SOURCE: http://www.caribbean360.com/

FAMOUS PEOPLE WITH DEPRESSION

"Despite their fame, celebrities are not exempt from the feelings of low self-worth and sadness, restlessness, irritability, and apathy associated with depression. Many stars suffer from bouts of crying and fatigue, and have difficulty concentrating. They lose sleep, weight, and interest. They withdraw. But their depression isn’t just juicy tabloid fodder—they are insights into a condition that affects 19 million Americans every year. Here’s a look at some familiar faces of people with depression.

JIM CARREY

"Jim Carrey made a career on making people laugh, yet Carrey’s humor was born out of “desperation” while growing up with an ailing mother and an unemployed father. To help make ends meet, he dropped out of high school and went to work full time. Depression was a constant battle for Carrey, and he was medicated off and on for years. These days, he relies on his spirituality to get him through the valleys.

J.K. ROWLING

"Before becoming a wildly successful author and creator of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling contemplated suicide while a single mother in a cramped apartment after her marriage dissolved. She thought of suicide, but instead Rowling used her daughter as motivation to rise above grim circumstances and began writing what would become a multi-billion-dollar franchise. She often reflects back on those darker days, but doesn’t blame herself.

BILLY JOEL

"The talented six-time Grammy winner has long struggled with a depression that frequently coincides with alcoholism and failed marriages. In 1970, Joel attempted suicide, later turning his suicide note into the song “Tomorrow Is Today.” Although he’s had a scattered history of stints of sobriety and relapses, Joel has everything mostly in control these days, noting that it’s an ongoing battle for the piano man.  . .

"As these celebrity stories have illustrated, money and fame can’t buy happiness. Depression can strike anyone. Like many celebrities did, getting the right support is important to overcoming depression. If you’re suffering from depression, or know someone who is, you are not alone. It’s important you know how to get the right treatment.

Depression is a serious mental health condition that affects one in 10 Americans, including celebrities like comedian Jim Carrey and astronaut Buzz Aldrin."

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

SOURCE: http://www.healthline.com/

ELECTRIC SHOCK TREATMENT 'IMPROVES ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE'

By Murray Wardrop

Scientists believe that passing small electric currents through certain parts of the brain can lead to increased academic performance.

The technique, known as Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS), has previously been used to treat cognitive impairment among stroke and brain injury patients and those with learning difficulties.

However, experts from the University of Oxford, have discovered that the technique can also help improve the abilities of healthy adults.

Researchers from the University’s Department of Experimental Psychology ran a series of experiments on healthy volunteers, testing how well they performed in mathematical, problem solving, and linguistic tasks before and after undergoing TDCS.

Electrodes were strapped to their heads to deliver small electric currents to individual parts of the brain for short bursts up to 20 minutes.

Results showed that the treatment improved subjects’ vision, decision making, problem-solving, mathematical, language, memory, and attention capabilities.

The positive effects can last up to 12 months, researchers claim.

Dr Roi Cohen Kadosh, who led the research, said: “The idea is to stimulate the brain in order to make it easier to learn new information such as maths.

“What we find with adults is that the improvement is not only in maths but actually in language, attention and decision making – they not only become better for a short time, but for long periods.

“It is not a magic pill like you might find in Hollywood movies, it’s not going to make you Einstein in one day – you still need to work hard – but together with that it makes an enhancement to your performance.”

Their research, published in the journal Current Biology, also claims there are no apparent negative side effects from undergoing the treatment, if applied correctly.

Capable of being administered through portable devices worth little more than £500, the research raises questions over whether the treatment should be widely available to help improve people’s academic performance, including schoolchildren.

However, Dr Cohen Kadosh warned that as the technology is so new, there are no training or licensing rules, which could lead to poorly qualified clinicians misusing the treatment and causing brain damage to patients.

He added: “Inadequately trained clinicians might misidentify suitable sites for stimulation — an important issue as different cognitive abilities may be subserved by different brain areas at different stages across the lifespan.

“These unique features of TDCS technology raise important ethical issues for scientists, ethicists, policy-makers and the general public.

“At best, this situation could result in the exploitation of vulnerable patients or parents for financial gain; at worst, it may risk long-term damage to the brain and exacerbate the disadvantage, potentially worsening other psychological functions.”

Julian Savulescu, Uehiro Professor of Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, said if proved safe, TDCS could be widely used to maximise people’s cognitive potential.

He said: “This could be the first step down a path to not only maximising human potential but perhaps even increasing it

“It has significant potential advantages to every human being because the capacity to learn is fundamental to our humanity.

“If some people have access to a technology and others don’t it creates inequality and in a sense that’s having an unfair advantage but this is relatively cheap and if it’s as cheap as caffeine then it should be made available to everyone.”

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

St Lucia in “national crisis” due to banana plant disease

CASTRIES, St Lucia, Friday January 20, 2012 – Minister for Agriculture and Food Production Moses Jn.  Baptiste said the country is facing a national crisis as the Black Sigatoka Disease continues to ravage the banana sector, a significant foreign exchange earner.

BLACK SIGATOKA IN ST. LUCIA

The government revealed it has asked a team of experts from the University of the West Indies to assist in combating the fungal disease that destroys banana leaves causing them to turn yellow and brown.

He said the country’s response requires support from the highest level and from all St Lucians, to avoid “total disaster”.

“I want to re-emphasise that this situation was left to develop into a crisis proportion and this calls for urgent and decisive action,   Therefore the government in which I serve will spare no effort as we seek to confront and manage this dreaded disease which is threatening the livelihoods of a wide cross section of our society,” he assured.

The minister said a “proactive and multifaceted approach” is being taken to prevent widespread destruction of the sector, including a review of a short-term plan of action.

Fungicides would also be provided to banana producers to spray plantations, he stated.

“In addition the Ministry has prepared a proposal, which details an action plan and suggests that a Task Force may be necessary to deal with the problem of Black Sigatoka. This proposal will go to my Cabinet colleagues for their consideration this week.   It will also encompass all banana and plantain farmers and there will also be a very serious and sustained education component to this plan.”

Meetings have been held with major banana stakeholders such as the National Fair Trade Organisation, WINFRESH and the Banana Production Management Unit.

Black Sigatoka is a leaf spot disease caused by ascomycete fungus Mycosphaerella fijiensis (Morelet). The first symptoms are narrow, rusty, reddish-brown streaks on the underside of leaves

Source:http://www.caribbean360.com/

Banana - Black Sigatoka Disease

The following article about BLACK SIGATOKA was written (in 1995) by Paula Flynn, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Iowa.

“Black Sigatoka is a leaf spot disease of banana that can cut a tree's fruit production in half. The fungal disease causes dark leaf spots that eventually enlarge and coalesce, causing much of the leaf area to turn yellow and brown. The high rainfall and humidity of the tropical regions in which bananas are grown are especially favorable for disease development. The fungus that causes black Sigatoka (Mycosphaerella fijiensis) is spread from tree to tree by wind, rain, and irrigation water. The name black Sigatoka was given to the disease because it was first discovered in 1963 in the Sigatoka Valley of Fiji.

BANANA LEAF AFFECTED BY BLACK SIGATOKA

“Black Sigatoka is a difficult and expensive disease to control. It is estimated that 15-20% of the price of bananas is due to the cost of the disease control measures that are used to produce the fruit. Airplanes or helicopters are used to apply fungicides to leaves. Cultural practices such as removing diseased leaves and pruning branches to improve air circulation are also helpful in reducing the occurrence of the disease, but these practices are labor intensive.

“Because fungicides are used so frequently, growers are finding that the fungus is becoming resistant to the fungicide products applied to the crop. In addition, many of the farmers that operate small plantations cannot afford to purchase fungicides. A convenient and low-cost way to control the disease would be to grow banana varieties that are resistant to the disease, but the most popular banana cultivars grown are extremely susceptible to black Sigatoka. Fortunately, banana hybrids that show resistance to this disease are being developed. More work still needs to be done to identify hybrids that produce fruit with a good shelf life and that are acceptable in taste to the consumer.”

Source: http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2005/3-23-2005/banana.html