Greert Wilders Film “Fitna” Posted On LeakLive.com

BBC News has reported on its website that Dutch MP Greet Wilders has posted his controversial film “Fitna” on the internet.

Determine to get the film out before the end of the month, Wilders’s film critical of Islam’s holy book, the Koran was posted on the video-sharing UK based website, leak-live. It was originally to be posted on Network Solutions but the site was shut down, in order to see if the film violated any terms of service.

The film, opening with verses from the Koran, shows graphic images from the London bomb attacks on July 2005 and Madrid in March 2004, including a child giving the answer what she thinks of Jews and Christians, a woman being stoned, muslims declaring the supremacy of Islam worldwide and demonstrators holding up placards saying “God bless Hitler.”

With all the noise level created about this film, there is nothing really provocative about it, just the usually insight of what Islam teaches about itself according their Koran.

Further reading – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7317506.stm 

 Film                       http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7d9_1206624103

See article  UPDATED – Muslims Protest Against Critic’s Film

Barbadian Beaches Litter With Broken Coral

       Unusually large waves churned by a Caribbean storm system have littered the beaches of Barbados with chunks of broken coral in what could be a sign of damage to reefs across the region, a local scientist has said.

 Leo Brewster, director of Barbados’ Coastal Zone Management Unit, who was organising dives later this week to survey the damage, said that the amount of rubble on the island’s west coast suggests the coral took a heavy pounding.

“We think it’s going to be pretty extensive,” Brewster said. “I think we’re going to see it across the Caribbean.”

In Barbados, the white coral pieces washed up in chunks as heavy as 3.2kg, generally healthy but with their polyps rubbed away by the rough surf, Brewster said.

Waves as high as an estimated 9m, lashed coastlines from Guyana to Dominican Republic last week. This was a result of a large low-pressure system idle off the northeastern United States.

{Taken from International Press Reports}

Caribbean Tsunami A Possibility – Says Expert

A United Nations climate expert has pointed to the possibility of a tsunami hitting the Caribbean region.

Although not saying it would necessarily happen, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Peter Koltermann told dozens of regional participants at a special meeting in Panama that the likelihood of such an event was “probable”.

“The situation in the Indian Ocean was similar to the Caribbean. Nobody believed it would happen, but it happened,” he said, noting that Panama’s interoceanic canal could be vulnerable to a sea surge from an underwater earthquake.

Mr Koltermann made the point as Caribbean governments agreed at the meeting – the third session of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and Other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions – to set up a joint tsunami warning centre by the year 2010. The new system will replace the temporary service being provided by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.

The UN official said this would provide an early warning system to prevent the loss of lives and property which a tsunami would cause.

Barbados, Puerto Rico and Venezuela have been identified as possible hosts for the centre which is projected to have a US$250, 000 annual budget.

The most recent tsunamis in the Caribbean occurred in the San Blas Islands of Panama in 1882, Puerto Rico in 1918 and the Dominican Republic in 1946.

{Adapted from International Press Reports}

International Fugitive Held After Taking Holiday In Barbados

 An international fugitive being sought for rape has been apprehended after taking a holiday break in Barbados.

According to reports out of Miami, the 54-year-old Amaro Rodrigues was vacationing in the Caribbean island when he was identified by authorities there as a fugitive of France.

They notified the United States Department of State that Mr Rodrigues would be travelling to the United States. When he attempted to transit through the US en route to his home in Canada US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at Miami International Airport intercepted him.

Mr. Rodrigues was the subject of an Interpol Warrant, charging him with rape and attempted rate.

He was returned to France in keeping with a 1996 Bilateral Extradition Treaty between the United States and France, to face the charges.

{Taken from International Press Reports}

Central Bank Of Barbados Cuts Local Interest Rates Again – Fearing Slowdown In Economy

       A week from today, next Tuesday, April 1, 2008, the minimum interest rate payable on deposits will be reduced by quarter of a percent, from 4.75% to 4.5% the Central Bank of Barbados said late week”any weakening in the economics of major trading partners will impact negatively on economic activity in Barbados”. 

 The bank  said  its  action  was  an  attempt to reduce the cost of doing business, especially for companies which are foreign exchange earners. The bank noted that with many forecasters projecting a slowdown in world economic growth during 2008 mainly due to the rise in oil prices, .” The reduction in the minimum deposit rate follows a similar action taken by the bank on November 19, 2007, when it was reduced from 5.25% per annum to 4.75% per annum.

When a central bank raises its key interest rate, it does so expecting that commercial banks will have to follow suit, thus encouraging people to save more and borrow less. The goal is to protect the foreign reserves.

For example, the last time the Central Bank of Barbados raised interest rates, on December 15, 2006, from 4.75% to 5.25%, it noted that despite four interest rate hikes the previous year, bank credit to the private sector was still expanding due to the strong demand for residential mortgages along with other borrowing, and, as a result, the net international reserves (NIR) had fallen.

A strong demand for credit usually leads to a higher level of imports and weakens the external current account when the amount of foreign exchange being used up is in excess of the amount the country is earning in a particular year. Raising interest rates is therefore a measure to shore up the balance of payments by slowing credit and hence imports.

Last January, in its review of the economy for 2007, the central bank noted that the country’s current account deficit improved in 2007 for the third consecutive year, ending the year at 6.6% of GDP, down from 8.1% in 2006 and 12.5% in 2005 and 10.5% in 2004.

However, as it tries to find the right level for local interest rates, the bank has already warned that the NIR will be under pressure this year due to an expected fall-off in foreign exchange earnings due to the Olympic Games in China and Barbados’ increasing import bill, which has been estimated by the Thompson administration at about $3.1 billion this year.

[Taken from Broad Street Journal}

JPMorgan Offers Bear Stearn’s Best Brokers Incentives To Stay

JPMorgan Chase & Company is offering bonuses to the top brokers at Bear Stearns Cos. to get them to stay with the company after it is acquired, JPMorgan said Tuesday. The packages, which would go into effect when JPMorgan’s buyout is completed, are aimed at keeping Bear Stearns’ best-performing brokers from leaving for another investment bank. JPMorgan on Monday increased its offer for Bear Stearns from US$2 per share to US$10 per share.

“It’s been a challenging time for their brokers, and we want to make sure they know our desire to continue with the business,” said Jes Staley, chief executive of JPMorgan’s Asset Management Group.

 Bear Stearns employees have seen most of their stockholdings get wiped out after JPMorgan this month offered to buy the struggling investment bank for a small fraction of what it was valued at a few weeks ago.

The package offers are a gesture to tell the brokers to ‘hold tight’,” Staley said. “Our hope is to keep all the talented Bear brokers who are there.” Staley would not confirm how much the bonuses were worth.

Top performers only

But a person close to the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the private nature of the negotiations, said that cash-and-stock bonuses of as much as 100 per cent of annual output have been offered to top-performing Bear Stearns brokers.

The top performers are defined as those who earned at least US$500,000 in commissions and fees over the past year.

Brokers earning US$250,000 to US$500,000 in commissions and fees will receive half their annual production, the person confirmed. And advisers will get an additional bonus based on the average annual rise in their production in the next three years.

Brokers producing less than US$250,000 have not been offered a retention package.

On Monday, JPMorgan tried to appease disgruntled Bear Stearns employees by raising its buyout price fivefold. Bear Stearns employees – who collectively own about one-third of the embattled investment bank – have a great deal of their wealth tied up in Bear Stearns stock, which was worth nearly US$80 a share earlier this month.

JPMorgan does not appear concerned about the deal falling through at this point due to shareholder backlash. JPMorgan now has a 39.5 per cent stake in the company, and Bear Stearns board members – who have pledged to vote in favour of the deal – together have a nearly 10 per cent stake.

{Taken from the Jamaica Gleaner}