Moontown

Nitrates seem to be the key ingredient in beetroot

Drinking beetroot juice boosts stamina and could help people exercise for up to 16% longer, a UK study suggests.

A University of Exeter team found nitrate contained in the vegetable leads to a reduction in oxygen uptake - making exercise less tiring.

The small Journal of Applied Physiology study suggests the effect is greater than that which can be achieved by regular training.

Beetroot juice has previously been shown to reduce blood pressure.

We were amazed by the effects of beetroot juice Professor Andy Jones University of Exeter

The researchers believe their findings could help people with cardiovascular, respiratory or metabolic diseases - and endurance athletes.

They focused on eight men aged 19-38, who were given 500ml per day of organic beetroot juice for six consecutive days before completing a series of tests, involving cycling on an exercise bike.

On another occasion, they were given a placebo of blackcurrant cordial for six consecutive days before completing the same cycling tests.

After drinking beetroot juice the group was able to cycle for an average of 11.25 minutes - 92 seconds longer than when they were given the placebo.

This would translate into an approximate 2% reduction in the time taken to cover a set distance.

The group that had consumed the beetroot juice also had lower resting blood pressure.

Mechanism unclear

The researchers are not yet sure of the exact mechanism that causes the nitrate in the beetroot juice to boost stamina.

However, they suspect it could be a result of the nitrate turning into nitric oxide in the body, reducing how much oxygen is burned up by exercise.

Study researcher Professor Andy Jones - an adviser to top UK athlete Paula Radcliffe - said: “We were amazed by the effects of beetroot juice on oxygen uptake because these effects cannot be achieved by any other known means, including training.

“I am sure professional and amateur athletes will be interested in the results of this research.

“I am also keen to explore the relevance of the findings to those people who suffer from poor fitness and may be able to use dietary supplements to help them go about their daily lives.”

Professor John Brewer, an expert on sports science at the University of Bedfordshire, said: “These findings are potentially exciting for many people involved in sport and exercise, but will almost certainly require further more extensive studies before the exact benefits and mechanisms are understood.

“We must also remember that exercise and training and a sensible diet will always remain as the essential ingredients for a balanced and healthy lifestyle.”

Dr Simon Marshall, of the University of San Diego, has carried out work on exercise and health.

He said much more work was needed involving many more subjects to draw firm conclusions.

“Certainly, a diet high in nitrate-rich fruits and vegetables is good for your heart health and this study provides further evidence of this.”

PEAS AND RICE; COW HEEL SOUP

BBQ CHICKEN; BAKED TURKEY

BAKED PORK; BAKED SNAPPER

FRIED FLYING FISH; MACARONI PIE

LAMB STEW; PLAIN GRAVY

STEAMED VEGS; TOSSED SALAD

St. Lucia Star

Written By: Toni Nicholas 

Minister for Home Affairs Guy Mayers says the government will come down hard on illegal immigrants.

Prime Minister Stephenson King proudly told regional journalists recently that Saint Lucia has had a “soft policy” when it comes to illegal immigrants and saw this as something CARICOM heads should adopt.It was his response to recent regional wrangling about Barbados’ immigration policy towards CARICOM nationals. However, at the end of a CARICOM amnesty here in Saint Lucia, Home Affairs and National Security Minister Guy Mayers says it is time to get tough.

The issue of CARICOM nationals living illegally in other regional territories has been a shouting match across the Caribbean seas ever since the Prime Minister of Barbados David Thompson made the statement that CARICOM nationals were “ever so welcome” but that they should “wait for a call” before seeking to live and work in Barbados.

The Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves blasted Thompson and Barbadian authorities for the treatment that some of his nationals had allegedly received in Bridgetown, adding that other nationals from Guyana and Jamaica were being targeted and treated unfairly. Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo also expressed concerns about the treatment meted out to his nationals in Barbados, many of whom claim they have been roughed up by immigration authorities and deported.

Prime Minister King had this to say on the matter: “This is not the kind of environment that we would want to establish within a Caribbean Community. We have to continue to pursue the ideals of one Caribbean and we have got to get over those hurdles. We have a common purpose which is building a Caribbean nation. And we cannot at this stage begin to place doors at our ports of entry and begin to profile our nationals by saying “you are Guyanese, I am not going to allow you to come in,” said King adding that his Government had a “soft” policy on Caribbean non-nationals.

But whilst the debate over the Barbadian issue continues to make headlines, there are some who are questioning these very lax and soft policies which seem to be creating more problems for regional integration and are reportedly also having an impact on crime, national security, food and economic security.

A recent crackdown on non-nationals living in Barbados illegally led to the detention and removal of 47 non-nationals some with criminal records. Just this past June, during early morning raids in Castries to crackdown on criminal activity, several non-nationals living here illegally, some of them wanted by the police, were apprehended. To date there has been no further information from the police as to who those persons were or their country of origin, something the Home Affairs Minister told the STAR is a question of national security. He also added that having persons living here illegally and not regularising their status could put a strain on the economy.

Similar sentiments were expressed by the Barbadian leader during a press conference on Tuesday. However, David Thompson told reporters that even if insult was taken, none was intended by his government’s new immigration policy.

“While Barbados remains on board with the CSME process, we cannot commit ourselves to full and unfettered movement at this time and that this country’s social services are already feeling the strain,” he said.

“That was my position. It was not meant to be an insult, what it essentially means is that when the conditions are appropriate in Barbados and the resources are there for us to accommodate more Caribbean nationals beyond the categories that are already agreed, we will do so. But we’re not ready right now,” he informed reporters.

“We were ready at the last Heads to admit two new categories and if there are others over time they will be welcomed when we make that call at the level of Heads,” Thompson added.

“We’re not carrying out any campaign against anybody. People have until December to make themselves right and I urge them to do so,” said Thompson, who had earlier announced the amnesty which took effect at the start of June.

Thompson has also been quoted earlier as saying that more than his own pronouncement, those of other Caribbean leaders who have spoken out against him was what was hurting the regional integration process more than the policy itself. “There seems to be a mad rush now for everybody to say something new. I have announced a domestic immigration policy, that is not a matter for other Caribbean prime ministers to comment on,” Thompson said earlier this year.

“It is a sovereign matter which our Parliament and our policy directives base the objectives on,” he said.

On Wednesday the STAR contacted Lokesh Singh, the Saint Lucia Consul to Guyana to comment on how an amnesty for CARICOM nationals announced earlier this year, by this government had worked. In December of 2008, Home Affairs and National Security Minister Guy Mayers had announced a three-month amnesty which commenced January 1, 2009. Under the terms, applicants should not have possessed a criminal record, whether locally or externally and should not have been a deportee. Additionally applicants must have had resided continuously in Saint Lucia for a period of not less than three years.

According to Singh, his agency fully supported the amnesty and worked with the Home Affairs Minister and started having meetings with Guyanese nationals immediately.

“We agreed upon a formula which I believed worked smoothly and in the end we processed more than 500 Guyanese national,” Singh told the STAR.

Singh acknowledged that there were many other Caricom non-nationals living in Saint Lucia some of them illegally, but that it was only his association which had responded and reacted to the government’s amnesty with such urgency. Guy Mayers had announced that there were an estimated ten thousand Guyanese nationals forming part of the local population a figure Singh described as just about right. He added that many of them were children of Saint Lucians who had lived in Guyana. About the Barbados situation, Singh said that their policy which looked at persons living in Barbados for eight years disqualified a lot of people.

“The Saint Lucia model is the most humane and practical model which has good merit and is something I would recommend other Caricom territories look at this,” he says.

On Wednesday Guy Mayers told the STAR that there were some other non-nationals coming in on their own to regularise their stay.

“Those who have done that can now apply for citizenship or temporary stay, depending on their status and what they qualify for. We have also forgiven their debts,” Mayers told the STAR. He is also awaiting a report from the immigration department and a report from his PS which will be tabled before Cabinet.

“Those who have not done so and taken the amnesty for granted would have to leave. I am sorry but we cannot allow persons breaking the law, we will come down hard on those persons who essentially can become a strain on the economy,” Mayers says.

With several global and domestic issues to deal with, the perennial problem of illegal immigration is one which Saint Lucia and other CARICOM states have had to deal with. And sometimes foreign policies, politics and even insularity can make the issues even thornier than they really are, this one being no different.

St.Lucia Star

Written By: Jason Sifflet 

Forget the Pitons. St Lucia’s latest prize asset is Pointe Seraphine?

It was strange to say the least. The man who, as prime minister, encouraged the sale of Fregate Island nature heritage park for hotel development and the Pigeon Island Causeway, in addition to development of the Piton Management Area was standing on a political platform, castigating the government for ‘selling St Lucia’s strategic assets.’“Point Seraphine is one of this island’s strategic assets,” he declared, as though the sale of the Castries duty free port facility would destroy the habitat of endangered White Breasted Thrashers and fer de lance.

“Pointe Seraphine is a prize asset to the people of St Lucia. But you know the latest thing they (the government) plan to do? They plan to sell the whole of Pointe Seraphine to a developer from the United States.”

But in spite of the strange nature of the claim that that Pointe Seraphine was a prize asset to an island that is home to the Pitons, the Sulphur Springs and several endangered species, Kenny Anthony proceeded to tell a compelling and intriguing story of potential corruption and bribery.

According to the opposition leader, the story of the imminent sale of Pointe Seraphine starts with an Englishman named Paul Sutton who invested in a tourism property called Caribbean Jewel.

“Sutton was interested in developing the port of Castries,” Anthony said. But Sutton is not the dastardly businessman that Kenny Anthony was about to criticise for bribing small island governments. Sutton apparently backed out of talks to upgrade the Castries port because he said that government ministers approached him with a multi-million dollar ‘request.’

“He got cold feet,” Anthony said, “because three ministers of the Flambeau government approached him for $3 million. It’s not me dat say it. Is de man dat say it. So much so he call them three names—Pinky, Perky and you know the other one…”

“The bus driver!” several red-shirted Labour members on the platform shouted out.

The search for a new business partner to finance the redevelopment of Port Castries led to the doorstep of the cruise giant Royal Caribbean.

“I remember, a few months ago when Allen Chastanet was hot, hot, hot,” Anthony told an audience of faithful St Lucia Labour Party supporters last week. “Royal Caribbean was supposed to be investing in the port of Castries and they had discussions with this fella by the name of Namdar.”

H.J. ‘Effy’ Namdar, a precious stones dealer based in New York, to be precise. He owns five diamond factories—three in the US and two in China. A rating of jewel dealers in New York rates the Namdar diamond dealers as ‘average.’ As jewel dealers go, Namdar had a reasonably good reputation. But as a port developer and financier, Namdar had been smeared and the mud seemed to stick.

“Royal Caribbean began to realise that this Namdar fella was too hot to handle,” Anthony said. “And I’ll tell you why.”

According to Anthony, Effy Namdar wanted to establish a company called Carib Invest to buy Pointe Seraphine. Nothing wrong with that. But Namdar also had a history in ports development in other islands that raised a red flag and scared Royal Caribbean away from the deal. A news search for Namdar’s history in the Caribbean turned up countless articles about his involvement in an ongoing bribery scandal in Aruba. (To be fair, it also turned up a couple of articles about jewelry franchise he owns and operates in Barbados and St Kitts/Nevis.)

According to various Aruban news sources, Namdar allegedly offered the ruling party of Aruba political contributions of up to one million florins in return for business favours. In a signed letter, Namdar promised to deposit half a million florins in the coiffeurs of the ruling party, with another half-million to come after the party was re-elected.

According to the Aruban media house Diario, Namdar planned to build a two-storey shopping mall with a variety of jewelers’ shops near an existing cruise terminal. The letter linked the port development to the million florin political contribution. It was addressed to Michael Williams, former ruling party campaign leader. Williams later told the media that Prime Minister Nelson Oduber had met with Namdar’s representatives on several occasions.

Diario admits that “The letter is naively written and there is a question as to whether it is authentic.” It must also be noted that the telephone number at the bottom of the letter exists and is being answered by a machine which mentions HJ Namdar and their 46th Street address in New York.

Royal Caribbean was part of the initial talks in the Aruban port deal, also, but backed down when the bribery letter erupted in a firestorm of controversy that now involves the United States Department of Justice.

“And this is the same fella they are in a hurry to sell Pointe Seraphine to,” said Anthony. “They are so short of money, they are trying to sell the prize possession of the people of St Lucia. That must never, ever happen. In this day and age when security is a big issue, you can’t sell your ports to any private person. And you know who is at the center of it?”

The crowd waited with baited breath.

The answer was calculated to push the crowd’s panic button and bring back memories of the 1990s UN Funds Scandal as well as the 2007 leadership crisis that almost caused the implosion of the current government.

“Who is at the center of it? d’Auvergne.” But, that, as the most muscular man in the media says, is for another show.

Jamaica Gleaner

Dr Omar Davies (left) and Audley Shaw. - FileOpposition spokesman on finance Dr Omar Davies said Thursday that the downgrade of Jamaica’s credit rating by Standard & Poor’s, highlights “clear deficiencies” in the management of the economy.

S&P on Wednesday cut the ratings on Jamaica’s foreign and domestic debt from ‘B-’ to ‘CCC+’ saying it was concerned about the country’s deteriorating fiscal position, and signalled that it expected conditions to worsen.

The deficit hit $35.85 billion in June, $4 billion worse than budgeted, while reve-nue collections were $7.7 billion off target.

Tax revenues underperformed by $6 billion.

“The downgrade and the negative outlook reflect our view that Jamaica’s vulnerable fiscal profile, combined with difficult financing conditions, may compel the government to undertake a debt exchange that we could regard as a distressed debt exchange,” said S&P credit analyst Roberto Sifon Arevalo.

Jamaica is in discussions with local banks and financial houses to restructure its domestic debt, but there has been no signal from the Bruce Golding administration that it plans to similarly renegotiate with its external creditors.

A ‘CCC’ rating signals that the ratings agency sees the debt issuer as ‘vulnerable’, and is an alert to investors that there could be interruption in servicing of the debt.

S&P says it expects Jamaica’s borrowing requirements to reach 20 per cent of GDP this fiscal year.

“The debt profile is weak,” said its release.

“Variable-rate domestic debt constitutes 58 per cent of total domestic debt. One-quarter of total domestic debt matures within one year.”

Davies echoing S&P’s “deep concern” charged that the government has not done enough to boost confidence, and has failed to demonstrate that it has control over the economy.

“Further evidence of the deficiency in economic management was publicly displayed in the presentation of the budget for FY 2009/10,” said the Opposition spokesman and former finance minister. “Even to this date, the country is not certain about the precise revenue measures which are expected to finance the expenditure budget. What is known is that revenue flows are not only below projections, but below the levels of a year ago in current terms, despite inflation.”

Davies charged, too, that the negotiations for a new borrowing arrangement with the International Monetary Fund were “badly” handled, and would not be a cure all for Jamaica.

Neither Finance Minister Audley Shaw, nor Bank of Jamaica governor Derick Latibeaudiere made the trip to Washington when the negotiations seemed to be at their apex.

Golding has said that details of the facility would be announced next week.

S&P meantime says any debt exchange negotiated by Jamaica will be viewed as “a technical default.”

“The vulnerabilities in the government’s debt profile may give it incentives to negotiate with its creditors, particularly its resident creditors, to extend maturities at below-market prices,” said the ratings agency.

“In the government’s last debt issue, it placed two-year debt at a 21 per cent coupon.”

Added Sifon Areval: “While the government’s engagement with the IMF is a positive effort to stabilise external pressures and going forward to address the long-standing structural issues, the negative outlook on the ratings signals the risk that a debt exchange, if undertaken by the government, could be an event of selective default under our distress debt exchange criteria.”

Jamaica Gleaner

Lavern Clarke, Business Editor

National Rums of Jamaica Limited (NRJ) is pouring US$12 million (J$1.07 billion) into its distillery in Clarendon to add capacity, but also position the company, if it chooses, said manager Evon Brown, to develop new branded rums.

The investment, said Brown Wednesday, will buy new stills and create a new wing at Clarendon Distillery Limited for state-of-the-art equipment.

“It is part of our modernisation programme to make ourselves more competitive in the global marketplace,” Brown said.

“It is part of our programme for growth.”

National Rums is making plans to grow on the eve of its 30th year, having been created back in 1980. The upgrade will add a new 40,000 litre per day column still and fermentation system and should improve efficiency by 40 to 50 per cent, Brown said.

The company was up to three or four years ago fully government owned, but Demerara Distillery Limited of Guyana and Goddard Enterprises Limited of Barbados have each acquired a one-third stake.

Each of the partners has two directors on the rum company’s board - Jamaica’s representatives are Howard Hamilton and Dr Richard Harrison of Sugar Company of Jamaica - plus Brown who has a seat on the seven-member board by virtue of his job as CEO.

Hamilton was chairman up to 2006 when govern-ment sold two-thirds of its share in the operation.

Asked who was the man-aging partner in the group of principals, Brown did not give a direct answer, but said chair-man John Taylor is a Goddard represen-tative, and that he as managing director was hired by the board. Goodard’s share in National Rum is held through its subsidiary West Indies Rum Dis-tillery Limited (WIRD).

NRJ produces rum and alcohol through subsidiaries, Long Pond Distilleries, which it owns 100 per cent, and Clarendon Distilleries in which it now has a 73 per cent stake, while Diageo owns the other 27 per cent.

The cost of the investment at the Monymusk-based Clarendon distillery will be shared, Brown said, according to the partners’ equity holdings, 73:27.

But the rum maker also told the Financial Gleaner that National Rums is tying down a grant - sum unspecified - from the European Union under the ‘Integrated Development Programme for Caribbean Rum Sector’ to help finance the project.

The euro70 million EU facility for rum producers was set up back in 2003, but has had few takers.

The rum that NRJ produces from its distilleries is mostly sold overseas, with Diageo its chief buyer. Some 95 per cent of output is exported.

Brown said the Clarendon upgrade would position the company to launch new branded products.

Information on rum websites indicates that NRJ, at least up to October 2008, owned at least one rum brand - Myers.

National Rums at mid-decade was a small company reporting small profits. Revenues then swung annually between $827 million and $892 million and profit when the company was in the black reached $25 million in one year.

In 2003/04, the forecast published by the Ministry of Finance indicated the company was on track to a loss of $16 million that financial year. Its asset base of $139 million included fixed assets of $54 million.

Its unclear how heavily capitalised the operation is now - Brown side-stepped the question - but at the change of ownership, the deals with Demerara, Diageo North America and Goddard in 2006 were said to have pumped in new equity of US$5.4 million.

The company does seem to hold promise. Just this week, for example, regional ratings agency CariCRIS which affirmed its AA- and AA ratings of Goddard’s US$16 million in notional debt, said the company’s 33.3 per cent of NRJ should improve the Barbados company’s “position in the bulk rum segment of the market” in the medium term.

Jamaica Gleaner

Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
( L - R ) Davies, Shaw

The Government has reacted with surprise and disappointment at the decision by the international rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) to further downgrade Jamaica’s credit rating from B- to CCC+.

The move by S&P came on Wednesday based on what it said was “Jamaica’s vulnerable fiscal profile, combined with difficult financing conditions, (which) may compel the Government to undertake a debt exchange that we could regard as a distressed debt exchange”.

But yesterday, the Government fired back arguing that “the rating action ignores several positive developments that have taken place in recent weeks”.

The Bruce Golding administration pointed to what it said were continued signs of an improved outlook for Jamaica’s credit profile supported by the decision to apply to the International Mone-tary Fund (IMF) for a standby arrangement.

The right direction

According to the Government, developments such as the over-subscription of locally issued debt and the sharp reduction in market-determined interest rates were clear signs that the country was headed in the right direction.

“The Government of Jamaica believes that S&P’s ratings action are out of context given these developments,” Finance Minister Audley Shaw said in a release.

Shaw also rejected S&P’s claim that the Government was embarking on a debt exchange that could be regarded as a “distressed transaction”.

But even as the Government blasted S&P over its action, Opposition spokesman on Finance, Dr Omar Davies, argued that the downgrade reflected clear deficiencies in the management of the country’s economic affairs by the administration.

“Whilst the Opposition recognises the negative impact of the world recession on the country, the plain fact is that the administration’s overall economic management and the handling of fiscal matters, in particular, have done very little to promote confidence, either domestically or externally,” Davies argued.

He was supported by one of the country’s leading financial analysts who requested that The Gleaner withhold his name.

“Too often in Jamaica, we kill the messenger and not listen to the message,” the analyst said.

“CCC+ was where Venezuela was rated before it defaulted on its debts and the latest numbers from the finance ministry confirm what I have been saying for some time that we are in serious trouble,” added the analyst.

He pointed to provisional figures for the first three months of this fiscal year which show revenue at $62 billion or almost $8 billion below projections. At the same time, expenditure was at $98 billion or $3.6 billion below projection.

This left the administration facing a fiscal deficit of almost $36 billion or $4 billion more than it projected.

Very worrying

“It is very worrying, and what is even more worrying is our reaction. We cannot react to numbers, we must project numbers and act accordingly,” the analyst said.

That is a position shared by Davies who has repeated his call for a full debate in Parliament on the Supplementary Budget before any agreement with the IMF is finalised.

“The downgrade by S&P cannot be dismissed or blamed solely on the impact of the global economic situation. While the S&P downgrade is regretted, the situation can be retrieved by decisive action guided by informed analysis,” Davies argued.