RICE AND PEAS; MACARONI PIE
VEGETABLE CHOWMEIN; SCALLOPED POTATOES
CREAMED YAM; BBQ SPARERIBS
BBQ PIG TAIL; STIR FRIED SEA CAT
BAKED CHICKEN; BAKED FISH
FRIED STEAK FISH; GRILLED STEAK FISH
LAMB STEW; PORK STEW;PLAIN GRAVY
STEAMED VEGETABLES; TOSSED SALAD
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Fresh information from blogs, news sites, Twitter and other popular hangouts will appear in Google’s search results more quickly as the company aims to give people a more comprehensive look at what’s happening on the Web.The feature unveiled Monday represents Google Inc.’s most significant step yet in the field of “real-time” search - a catch phrase for the torrent of information constantly being shared on blogs and the personal pages of social-networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
As those destinations have turned into increasingly popular forums for swapping opinions, offering news tips and highlighting interesting stories, Google, Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. all have been scrambling to retool their search engines so they reel in and showcase real-time data more rapidly.
Google reached a deal in October to blend Twitter updates, or “tweets,” into its results, but hadn’t explained how its system would work until Monday.
Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, has included a section for tweets since late October. Yahoo began relying on tweets to point out hot news stories in its results last month.
Twitter’s own search engine doesn’t attempt to identify which tweets are the most relevant to each request; it simply provides a chronological list of the updates containing a specified word or phrase.
In Google’s version of real-time search, a section of its main results page will include a capsule that automatically scrolls relevant information within a few seconds after it pops up in the Web index.
Normally, a new search request was the only way to see the blog posts, status updates and other information that Google had collected since the previous query.
With the change, a person requesting information about President Obama, for instance, will see the usual set of static links, photos and video, as well as the capsule with pertinent tweets, blog posts and news stories.
The real-time data won’t show up right away for everyone because it will take Google’s computer centers a few days to make it work everywhere.
Google’s real-time information eventually will be expanded to include some of the chatter on Facebook and MySpace, the world’s two largest social networks.
Although Google announced its partnerships with the sites Monday, the feeds from Facebook and MySpace won’t start appearing in the real-time results until early next year, said Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president for search products and user experience.
As with Google’s Twitter alliance, Mayer declined to say how much the company is paying Facebook and MySpace for better access to their users’ musings. The contributions from Facebook and MySpace will be limited to commentary that already can be read by anyone logged into the sites.
Microsoft and Yahoo also have worked out deals so their visitors can see some Facebook material.
Google is trying to provide better real-time results to maintain its huge lead in search as Microsoft and Yahoo prepare to team up in a partnership that still needs regulatory approval. Google processes about two-thirds of the search requests worldwide while Yahoo and Microsoft handle a combined 10 percent.
“People expect search engines to make all kinds of information available to them,” said Amit Singhal, a Google engineer who oversaw the development of the real-time tool.
Google relies on its dominance of search to drive the bulk of more than $21 billion in advertising sales annually.
Besides introducing real-time search, Google also showed off several other new tools in an auditorium down the block from its Mountain View headquarters.
The company added a voice recognition to process mobile search requests in Japanese on phones running its operating system, Android (Google already does this in English and in Mandarin Chinese). It also provided a preview of a test product, called “Google Goggles,” that will enable people to send a picture taken on a mobile phone and get search results about the photographed object. (Antigua Sun)
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada – The Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is providing Grenada with a grant of US$70,000 to fund a draft plan aimed at alleviating poverty on the island.
The announcement by the bank followed a release of a poverty survey, conducted by the Trinidad-based Kairi Consultants, which found more than five per cent increase in poverty over the past 10 years.
The money is expected to further boost a three-year home grown poverty reduction strategy backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), scheduled for completion next year. (Antigua Sun)
The driver of a sewage truck, C1875 escaped serious injury last evening when the vehicle he was driving tipped over on the Golden Grove road near the Creekside area.
According to reliable reports the truck tried to negotiate its way from the hillside on to the main road yesterday afternoon but might have lost balance because of the weight it was carrying in the tank at the time.
Other information reaching the AntiguaSun stated that some of the contents spilled from the tank on to the road. A special foam was poured over the area to neutralise the smell and any other harmful effects that might have been caused by the waste.
In short order another vehicle came to empty the disabled carrier and a crane was called into action to lift the truck and tank into a position that they could be removed from the area and allow the traffic, which was backed up for a considerable distance to start flowing again.
“I guess it wasn’t as bad or as dangerous as it looked but it was something unique to many people. It really looked like a fantastic accident that you see on television, one bystander said. (Antigua Sun)
| WASHINGTON, USA — Responding to a request from Prime Minister Roosavelt Skerrit, the Organization of American States (OAS) is sending an electoral observation mission for the general elections in Dominica, scheduled for December 18, 2009.
The first observers will arrive on Wednesday, December 9, to prepare the transportation and communication infrastructure of the mission. OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza appointed Steven Griner, the Head of the Electoral Observation Section of the OAS Department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation, to serve as the Chief of Mission. Steven Griner will arrive on Sunday, December 13, and meet with political leaders, governmental representatives and electoral authorities. The mission will number twelve people from eight different OAS member countries. These observers will visit polling centers in each of the 21 political constituencies of the country. The Mission will remain until the promulgation of the final results. The Chief of Mission will report to the OAS Permanent Council the observations of the missions in early January. |
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| By Anna Driver
HOUSTON, USA (Reuters) — The receiver in accused swindler Allen Stanford’s civil fraud case is suing about 200 investors for as much as $545 million they collected from certificates of deposit alleged to be at the center of a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. The investors named in the lawsuit are said to have unfairly cashed out before the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges and seized Stanford’s assets and businesses in February. “The CD proceeds the Stanford investors received from Stanford International Bank (SIB) were not, in fact, their actual principal or interest earned on the funds they invested,” said the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Dallas on Monday. “Instead, the money used to make those payments came directly from the sale of SIB CDs to other investors,” the lawsuit said. Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed lawyer charged with returning assets to Stanford investors, attempted to settle with the investors before filing the lawsuit. Some of those investors have returned the amounts they received in excess of their principal investment in the CDs issued by SIB in Antigua, and more settlements are expected, according to the court papers. Janvey is pursuing the claims under fraudulent transfer law and principles of unjust enrichment after a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled last month that he could not sue the investors using a different legal claim. Stanford faces criminal charges that he defrauded thousands of investors around the globe through CD sales. He has pleaded not guilty and is in a Houston jail awaiting trial. |
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-whistleblower protections being expanded
The Inter-American Develop-ment Bank has approved an action plan to help countries reduce corrupt practices, while bolstering whistleblower protections.
Richard Thornburgh
Moreover, the Bank has done a major overhaul of its anti-corruption framework to ensure that allegations of corruption in Bank-financed activities are investigated and sanctioned more quickly, an IDB release stated yesterday.
The new measures, which build on an overhaul of the anti-corruption framework put in place in 2001, have been endorsed by the IDB’s Board of Executive Directors, the release added.
Some of these measures took effect immediately, while others will be rolled out over the course of 2010.
In addition, the IDB is exploring ways to coordinate the sanctioning of prohibited practices together with other multilateral development institutions.
“In recent years, at the IDB we have been strengthening our efforts to deter prohibited practices in our own programmes, by investigating and sanctioning more cases of fraud or corruption,” IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno is quoted as saying.
“At the same time, we are also ensuring that our staff abides by the highest ethics standards. With these new measures, we are taking our battle against corruption to an even higher level.”
“We are also going to work more closely with countries to help them fight corruption more effectively,” Moreno added.
“Corruption weakens democratic institutions, and discourages investment and job creation. Ultimately, it hits hardest the poor and those without access to proper legal recourse.”
Recommendations
The IDB’s anti-corruption framework was reviewed by an external group headed by Richard Thornburgh, former Attorney General for the United States and Governor of Pennsylvania. The report, presented in late 2008, included several recommendations to bolster the investigations and sanctions processes as well as actions to provide greater support to member countries to combat corrupt practices.
A number of those recommendations have been incorporated into the IDB’s organizational policies and procedures.
In that regard, whistleblower protections are being expanded to include third parties. The Bank may notify national authorities when it receives allegations of reprisals by or against third parties involving Bank programmes; and the Bank’s policy of protecting staff members from reprisals – including reassignment where needed – is also reaffirmed.
And the Office of Institutional Integrity (OII), which investigates allegations of wrongdoing and was previously a unit within the Bank’s presidency, is now elevated as an independent advisory office within the Bank’s basic organization.
To enhance the resources available to the sanctions process, the release said, the Bank has approved the creation of a new Case Officer position. The Case Officer reviews OII investigative findings and has the authority to sanction parties for wrongdoing, including a suspension from participating in Bank-funded programmes.
However, the Case Officer’s recommendations can be appealed to the new Sanctions Committee, which for the first time will include external members (four), as well as Bank staff (three).
The Sanctions Committee will adjudicate cases previously considered by the Oversight Committee on Fraud and Corruption (OCFC), which was made up of senior Bank managers who had other responsibilities within the institution. The OCFC has been replaced by the Anti-corruption Policy Committee, which will focus on policy development and oversight of the Bank’s anti-corruption initiatives.
Support for countries
In addition, the IDB has approved a new framework containing actions to strengthen the Bank’s ability to identify vulnerabilities and support countries’ efforts to foster transparency and prevent and control corruption.
The plan provides clearer strategic direction and added value to the Bank’s financial, knowledge, and capacity-building products in these areas.
The IDB will allocate more budgetary resources to help countries better analyze and make a diagnosis of anti-corruption practices.
Working at the country, sector, and institutional level, the aim is to spot potential weaknesses early and identify opportunities to strengthen institutions.
For instance, the release explained, in its dialogue with national authorities that the IDB will strive to draft a joint work agenda to foster transparency and prevent corruption that is sustainable over time.
Institution-strengthening actions will be incorporated into Bank programme designs, and good practices and lessons learned will be disseminated through the Bank’s knowledge products.
Meanwhile, the release noted that the previous anti-corruption framework was adopted in 2001. In 2004, the Office of Institutional Integrity (OII) was established to investigate allegations of fraud and corruption in Bank-financed activities.
As the system became known to Bank staff, executing agencies and the public, the number of investigations conducted by OII increased from 92 in 2004 to 150 in 2008. Last year alone the Bank sanctioned 25 individuals and eight firms.
In 2007, the Bank created the ethics officer position with responsibility for investigating allegations of ethics violations by Bank staff. It also revised and updated the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, as well as the statement of interests programme for staff.
The Bank already has numerous tools to assess and detect potential instances of corruption in its programmes, including the Project Risk Management, the Red Flags Matrix in Project Procurement, and the Integrity Risks Review programme, the release added.
The IDB is a key financier of local programmes in a variety of sectors. (Stabroek News)
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Leader of the Opposition, Basdeo Panday, yesterday called upon Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon to find out why legitimate non-immigrant visa applicants continue to be blanked at the United States Embassy without explanation. He said the US Embassy in Port of Spain should clearly state its criteria for rejection or acceptance of applicants for visas. Panday said it was time the Minister meet officials at the US Embassy to have the matter resolved. Panday was responding to an exclusive report in the Express detailing the findings of a report done by the US State Department on the operations at the local embassy. The report found that non-immigrant visa workers at the embassy were being trained up to February this year, to refuse visas to certain groups of applicants. Among those who were being refused-pregnant women, women who already had a child in the US, and locals working with multinational corporation and going to America for job training. Panday said: ’While it is recognised that a sovereign country has a right to determine who should enter its territory, such a right should be exercised with empathy in this global village, that is today’s world. Many of our citizens have families in the United States given the long history of our movement between the two countries.’ He said although it was their right to do so, the US Embassy was discriminating against those with families in the United States who were sick, dead or dying. ’This amounts to an act of cruelty,’ he said. ’One understands that US clamping down in the post-9/11 period and the calamities that have faced not only in America, but worldwide. However, it is insulting that dignified people in our society are being treated as if they were drug mules and criminals at the US Embassy here or when they arrive on American soil,’ Panday said. (Trinidad Express) |
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A tough-talking UNC deputy leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has challenged Prime Minister Patrick Manning to call the general election now. Persad-Bissessar shared the platform on Monday night with Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday at the Orange Valley Community Centre, Couva, where she hailed him as this country’s best prime minister. She did not state whether she would challenge Panday for the party’s leadership in the January 24, 2010 internal election but her speech left many to assume that she was ready and capable of undertaking the challenge. Panday listened attentively and the both were warm to each other. Persad-Bissessar took Manning to task, saying the country was in despair because of his poor leadership. ’Our nation is crying for leadership and for responsible Government accountable to the people. Manning’s days are numbered because he failed the leadership tests in every step of the way. So tonight, I serve notice on Mr Manning, your days are numbered. Mr Patrick, enjoy your last breakfastses at the mansion because we coming for you,’ she said. ’The people are ready…the nation is ready. We have had enough. The people are crying out for a leader and I promise you tonight they will get the leadership from the United National Congress. I challenge you tonight to face the people and ask for a fresh mandate. I challenge you, Mr Manning, to call an election and face the people,’ she said. Transformation, she said, was coming as sure as the rising sun heralds the dawn of a new day. ’We the people of the UNC will eclipse the PNM in the next general election. We will return the power to the hands of the people and the money back to the Treasury,’ she said. She charged that Manning has been usurping the powers of the Parliament and the Judiciary for his personal use and self-aggrandisement. Persad-Bissessar said unity demands commitment to nation-building and harmony among the diverse population. She said while Manning was a divider of the people, the UNC embraced everyone. ’We have room in our house of the rising sun for all of you who have had enough of Manning. We have room for our brothers and sisters who strayed to the Congress of the People. So tonight, I invite you to come home. Come home to a party that is going to form the next Government of Trinidad and Tobago,’ she said. ’A true leader thinks about the big picture and the welfare of the citizens, not just his friends. A true leader listens to the voice of the people because the voice of the people is the voice of God. Our Prime Minister masquerades as a man of God and lives like a man intoxicated with power,’ she said. Persad-Bissessar is expected to make her decision on vying for the post of political leader of the UNC before the end of the week. At the community centre there were posters on the walls calling for Panday’s continued leadership. Members of the audience also carried small placards stating ’Bas is Boss’. Some people present expressed strong support for Persad-Bissessar as well.(Trinidad Express) |
