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Bahama Islands News, Articles and Information
The good and the bad
There are some very happy residents of South Abaco today, the more than 120 people who work in various capacities at the Baker's Bay development on Guana Cay. The Court of Appeal's dismissal of the Save Guana Cay Reef Association's application means that work will resume on the $500 million development, which should substantially make available more employment opportunities for all the people of Abaco.And then there are some not so happy South Abaconians, the residents of Guana Cay and members of the Association, who say the development, with its attendant golf course and marina, will destroy their way of life as it will kill the lush coral reef offshore and therefore the breeding grounds for future generations of fish and other marine animals.
The Save Guana Cay Reef Association is also upset with the central government for leasing more than 100 acres of crown land and treasury land, without the approval of the local government, to help the Discovery Land Company build Baker's Bay Golf and Ocean Club.
Hurricanes blow in tropical bargains
Vacations to the Caribbean and Florida are always sharply reduced in price for the autumn months, but this year those rates have nearly collapsed. Fear of hurricanes, caused by the severity and frequency of last year's autumn storms, has reinforced the normal disinclination to travel in the tropics from September through November. Nothing else can explain the $435 price for an all-inclusive (all meals, drinks and activities), six-night vacation in the Dominican Republic from Miami and $495 from New York, currently offered by industry leader Liberty Travel (www.libertytravel.com) from Sept. 1 to Dec. 14, the height of the storm season. Since that $400 price includes round-trip airfare, the amount of money allocated for six nights and 18 meals at the hotel has to be small indeed.
Bajan takes up CHA presidency
MIAMI, Florida – Peter Odle, owner and managing director of the 76-room Mango Bay Hotel in Barbados, assumed the leadership of the Caribbean Hotel Association as President for the 2006-2008 term. During the closing gala of the 2006 Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference (CHIC), held 28 June, at the Hyatt Regency Miami, outgoing President Berthia Parle, MBE, officially passed the gavel to Odle. In his inaugural speech at the helm of CHA, Odle summed up the essence of his platform as ‘Unity through Consultation and Communication'. “It is clear to me that one of the first steps is that we do all that is necessary to be a more effective leader in regional tourism while strengthening our relationships with other Caribbean tourism partners. Of equal importance, we must also become more responsive to the needs of our members," he said, underscoring the importance of upholding and advancing the diversity and representation that is the core of CHA.
Acting COB head honoured
Acting President of The College of The Bahamas (COB), Dr Rhonda Chipman-Johnson was lauded by the college's Alumni Association for her heroic work in bringing stability to the changing institution over the past year.While making a presentation of $5,000 for The Harry C Moore Library yesterday, Donald Saunders, President of the Alumni Association, offered heart-felt congratulations to the current acting president, whose duties will end July 1. "The College of The Bahamas has been going through some challenging times especially over the last twelve months, but Dr Chipman-Johnson has, nonetheless, manned this ship to safe port."
Mr Saunders said that although Dr Chipman-Johnson has accomplished much during her many years at COB, she "truly showed her worth during her period as Acting President" over the last year.
AP Blog: World Cup a Hot Topic at U.N.
U.N. Correspondent Edith M. Lederer, who has covered the world diplomatic beat since September 1998, writes a periodic blog about life behind the scenes at U.N. headquarters in New York.---
Friday, June 23, 2006, 8 p.m. local
UNITED NATIONS
Occasionally at the United Nations, conflicts, crises, and debates on pressing international issues are forced to share center stage with other global events - like the World Cup.
"Before the World Cup, the place in the United Nations to meet different ambassadors was the Indonesian Lounge," a hideaway outside the General Assembly chamber, said Argentina's U.N. Ambassador Cesar Mayoral, whose country is a contender for the cup. "Now it's the set of televisions - because all the ambassadors are watching football and not watching the papers" dealing with U.N.
USM loses Dandy Dozen signee
HATTIESBURG Southern Miss men's basketball coach Larry Eustachy no longer has to worry about having too many players on scholarship. In fact, USM has gone from being four players over the NCAA's 13-player scholarship limit to one below. .Foreigners flock to thriving Nepal Buddhism schools
Since hippies first beat the overland travel trail to Nepal in the 1960s, thousands of foreigners have flocked to monasteries to study Buddhism.Today, despite political upheaval and a decade-long Maoist insurgency, they continue to come and there are more schools than ever, many of which are now home to Westerners who donned Buddhist robes and never left.Thousands of masters and teachers fled Tibet with the invasion of the Chinese in 1950 and large numbers settled in neighbouring Nepal, where many Nepalis had been practising forms of Tibetan Buddhism for centuries.Perched on a hill with spectacular views of Kathmandu, Kopan Monastery was the first to start offering foreigners meetings with Tibetan Buddhist lamas from the foothills of Everest in 1969.The tradition continues to this day, and thousands of foreigners have passed through.Fans of this tropical shirt wear a vacation spirit on their sleeve
Come July, when vacations are looming and the air is so hot it surely compromises better judgment, the well-groomed, well-bred, well-paid men of the Valley take a vow of wardrobe latitude. It's too hot for ties - too hot, even, to tuck in. So they drape themselves proudly with tropical Tommy Bahama shirts and wear palm trees and hula girls, straight-faced, to the office.Lawyers and real estate agents and salesmen alike revel in their silk smugness: how good it feels to have conference calls or important lunches at Houston's while wearing the Uke Lady Luau Camp shirt (yes, these tops have titles). They can pretend they're in St. Bart's, not Scottsdale, and dude, how 'bout some mai tais at lunch?
Somehow, since its arrival in the universe in 1993, the Tommy Bahama silk shirt has bewitched the middle-aged male contingent.