Sep 3rd 10 Posted in International News. 0 Comments

Oil rig explodes in Gulf of Mexico; Bahamas halts drilling

Channel 5 Belize | The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico put the world on alert. Well, there is more bad news to report. An oil rig exploded this morning in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig which was located about eighty miles south of Vermillion Bay, Louisiana belongs to an oil company called Mariner Energy. Thirteen persons were onboard the Vermillion three hundred and eighty platform when it caught on fire. The fire is currently contained to one active well at the platform that has seven active wells. On average, the platform was producing fifty-eight thousand eight hundred gallons of oil and nine hundred thousand cubic feet of gas per day, while storing up to four thousand, two hundred gallons of oil. Here’s an interview with Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, who confirmed that only one person has been injured.

Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary

“There’s a production platform about a hundred miles off the coast. I’m told the dept of water was about three hundred and forty feet so this is not a deep water facility. As I understand it, the well is not in active production. I will, in some ways, rhetoric what I think the Coast Guard has said in a statement they released and that is that they responded to reports of a fire onboard an oil platform in the gulf. The initial report that we got was that thirteen people were on the platform. They are accounted for, one is injured and is on his way out of that area. Two Coast Guard cutters, multiple Coast Guard aircraft were en route, one Coast Guard helicopter was on the scene. We will continue to gather information as we respond. We obviously have response assets ready for deployment should we receive reports of pollution.” (more…)

Sep 2nd 10 Posted in International News. 1 Comment

New Green Globe Library features sustainability achievements

PR | Green Globe Certification launched the new Green Globe Library to promote the sustainability achievements of its members.

The Green Globe Library features case studies from Green Globe’s diverse membership including eco-resorts and urban convention centers. The case studies are researched and written by the members themselves in collaboration with Green Globe Certification. The main aim is to help members begin to communicate their own sustainability achievements in their own voice.

While the sustainability movement across the world has recently been dominated by global climate change issues, the member case studies are designed to put a human face on real work being done at the community level.

Beyond the environmental indicators of energy and water usage and waste production and recycling are many human stories. These stories reflect the efforts made by the workers and managers at tourism resorts and other travel companies to improve and protect their local communities while solving real challenges through cooperative and innovative actions. (more…)

Sep 1st 10 Posted in International News. 1 Comment

Living in Belize: A True Retirement Paradise

International Living | For anyone looking for that perfect second-home or retirement paradise, living in Belize is hard to beat. This little Central American country has so much going for it—sun, sand, sea and an incredible retiree program. Three Major Reasons Why You Should Consider Living in Belize

1. English is Spoken Here
Once known as British Honduras, Belize gained its independence in 1981, but still retains English as its national language. Spanish and Creole are widely spoken, but you won’t have to learn them to get by in Belize… English is everywhere, making it incredibly easy to get along no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

2. The Belize Retiree Program
Belize’s offshore laws ensure maximum financial privacy, allow asset-protection trusts, and encourage international business and banking. Of particular interest to those living in Belize is the “qualified retired persons” (QRP) program, which resembles Panama’s popular pensionado program.

Foreign residents under the QRP program are exempted from all taxes on income from sources outside Belize. They can own and operate international businesses based in Belize, again exempt from all local taxes. They can also import personal effects without paying import duties.

3. Relaxed Beach-Living
If you’re looking for the perfect beach…power-white sand, waving palm trees, calm, clear water glinting in the tropical sun… Belize has the genuine article. Many genuine articles, in fact! Below are some areas of Belize worth considering as your ideal retirement or second home destination: (more…)

Sep 1st 10 Posted in International News. 1 Comment

How a Fort Worth Museum Pulls Mayan Culture From its Watery Depths

D Magazine | I arrived at the preview of the Kimbell’s new exhibition, Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea, a few minutes early and wandered through the show’s four galleries without looking at the accompanying wall essays, cue cards, or catalogue scholarship. Moving through the neatly arranged collection of artifacts, I was struck by their strange incomprehensibility. I saw small animal figurines with human heads sticking out; exquisitely painted pottery with ornate scenes depicting moments in very unknown stories; plates decorated with royal scenes, dense with indecipherable symbols; stone reliefs covered in boxy hieroglyphics; tiny precious gems and jewelry; and what looked like trifling play things – tiny sculpted frogs, human figurines – that were executed with the utmost care and craftsmanship.

It is rare to encounter the artifacts of a culture in such an unadulterated way, absent the usual associations that are the byproduct of cultural references, adaptations, and assimilations. Even the Dallas Museum of Art’s African Masks exhibition isn’t this culturally raw (we can all conjure an image of an African mask in our minds without seeing that show). For most of us, encountering this Mayan work is an unfettered experience, an approach of something bafflingly new and utterly foreign.

As it turns out, I’m not the first to be baffled by these bizarre and fascinating objects from the ancient culture. The scholarly project of Fiery Pool is the culmination of twenty years of new research into Mayan culture that followed the important deciphering of a single glyph: the symbol the Mayans used for “sea.” This discovery led to a reimagining of the workings of Mayan culture and brought to light the central role the sea played in the daily and spiritual lives of the Mayan people. The exhibition, organized by the Peabody Essex Museum, brings together some key objects to help flesh out our understanding of the sea and the Mayan people. “Fiery Pool” is the phrase the Mayans used to describe the sea, and as a culture nearly surrounded by water, the sun’s rising and setting on the water, the fiery reflections of orange and yellow on the sea’s surface, created the context for the Mayan understanding of the world. (more…)

Aug 26th 10 Posted in International News. 0 Comments

Morgan Freeman joins OCEANA’s ban against offshore drilling

Channel 5 Belize | Over the past few weeks, we’ve told you about OCEANA’s tour and research along the coastline of Louisiana and other parts of the United States that have been deeply affected by the BP oil spill. OCEANA Vice President in Belize, Audrey Matura Shepherd gave an update last week on what she saw in coastal towns and has returned to the U.S. accompanying a significant partner, San Pedro’s Mayor, Elsa Paz, to learn how communities like San Pedro can be crippled by a petroleum leak.

Paz is also joined by award-winning actors Ted Danson, Morgan Freeman and Spanish model Almudena Fernandez. Mayor Paz spoke at a press conference earlier in the week and said QUOTE “this visit allows me to carry the message back to my hometown and country with the hope of enlightening those who have been blinded by the greed of allowing oil exploration to develop freely in our country” END QUOTE. Paz expressed her commitment to do her share in discouraging her government from allowing oil exploration and drilling in Belizean waters. Freeman also spoke to Matura Shepherd about offshore drilling in Belize. News Five’s Jose Sanchez reports.

Morgan Freeman, the Hollywood actor, has performed in notable movies such as the Shawshank Redemption, the Dark Knight and even Evan Almighty. The Oscar Award Winner is aboard OCEANA’s vessel, the Latitude, which is sailing along the Gulf of Mexico to visit areas which were damaged by BP’s Deep Horizon oil spill. (more…)

Aug 25th 10 Posted in International News. 0 Comments

Miss Mexico wins Miss Universe; Jamaica becomes first runner up

Channel 5 Belize | There was no representation from Belize in this Year’s Miss Universe pageant, in fact the last time the Jewel sent a contestant was back in 2007. And the only time we ever made it to the top ten was in 1979 when Sarita Acosta put us on the world map. She still holds that distinction. If you follow pageants, it was a first-rate moment for the region last night at the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas. At least four beauties from the region were semifinalists. In the end, the competition narrowed down to two. Mexico’s Jimena Navarette won the title and the beauty queen from Jamaica, Yendi Phillips, was the number one runner-up which means that she can move up to the top spot in the event that something goes awry for the Miss Mexico. Since last night, in both Mexico and Jamaica, the mood has been celebratory.

Aug 20th 10 Posted in International News. 1 Comment

Intel Expands its Empire: Buys McAfee for $7.7 Billion

Fast Company | Intel’s plans for its future are diverse and impressive–if it all comes good, Intel hardware will be powering everything from your desktop PC to your smartphone to the entertainment center in your car. But that doesn’t mean it can ignore the other, softer side of the computer business, so it’s just revealed it’ll be buying PC security firm McAfee.

The deal amounts to $48 per McAfee share (reasonable, given that the price has sharply spiked today, driven by this news, and is now running at almost exactly that rate), and has been approved by the board of directors on both sides. All that remains before it can be completed is to gain regulatory approval.

But what’s actually going on here? This deal has come as something of a surprise to everybody, since McAfee is all about protecting PC users from viruses, and Intel is all about the ultra-high-tech business of designing CPUs to power the PCs themselves. McAfee has also been in the news a fair amount recently, and not necessarily for good reasons: Its founder John McAfee has “run off” to Belize, chased by law suits, to search for new sources of antibiotics in the jungle. And back in April the firm released a patch for its Windows XP installation that was so flawed it wreaked havoc on thousands upon thousands of user’s PCs. Not necessarily the firmest ground to be establishing an acquisition upon. (more…)

Aug 19th 10 Posted in International News. 1 Comment

Rich Man, Bad Yacht

NY Times | “I started with absolutely nothing and I have lived the American dream,” Jeff Greene, a Senate candidate and billionaire, told a small crowd in one of Miami’s poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods this week.

It was not entirely clear how the cheering audience found this information.

But Greene kept repeating it. Like almost all the really, really rich people running for office this year, he regards his story as the core of his campaign. His policy message (jobs, jobs, jobs) and his prescriptions for the American economy (education, infrastructure repair, home weatherization) are pretty much what the Democrats have been pushing in Washington for the last two years.

But Barack Obama doesn’t have a $24 million house and a 145-foot yacht.

“I’m a regular middle-class kid who achieved the American dream,” Greene reminded his listeners.

Greene popped up out of nowhere earlier this year, prepared to “spend what it takes” to grab the Democratic nomination in the U.S. Senate race in Florida to go to Washington and do for America what he has done for his bank account. (more…)

Aug 12th 10 Posted in International News. 1 Comment

Belize Featured in History Channel Documentary

Ambergris Today | The Belize Film Commission and NICH are excited to announce the premiere of “Gates of Hell” on the History Channel (Channel 71 on Coral Cable Vision), Tuesday, August 17, at 8 p.m. According to Courtney Engelstein, Development Producer of Red Marble Media, “The show looks fantastic, and the segment in Belize is beautiful, compelling, and creepy. Thank you so much for your help in pulling that shoot together. History Channel has just begun airing promos, which we are very happy with as well.”

Red Marble Media filmed in Belize earlier this year for a commissioned two-hour History Channel special originally called “Portals to the Underworld.” The documentary charts historical thoughts and beliefs about the afterlife from the ancient Maya to modern Christianity. Producers traveled to places that were once believed to be sacred portals to spiritual realms of which Belize was one and used interviews with experts and artistic depictions of the Underworld from throughout the ages for the project.

“For our 2-hour History event “Gates of Hell,” we traveled to Belize, Nicaragua, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, and across the US,” posted Red Marble Media on their Facebook Page. Dr. Jaime Awe was filmed at the Xibalba cave – “Place of Fear” and will be featured in the documentary.

Don’t for get to check out the two-hour special of”Gates of Hell” on History Channel on Tuesday, August 17 at 8:00 p.m., and discover actual portals into the Underworld. Caves, volcanoes, lakes of fire…all were believed by the ancients to be gateways into Hell itself.

Aug 11th 10 Posted in International News. 0 Comments

Jeff Masters’ “Hurricane Haven” airing this afternoon

Weather Underground | Tune into another airing of my live Internet radio show, “Hurricane Haven”, at 4pm EDT today. Listeners will be able to call in and ask questions. The call in number is 415-983-2634, or you can post a question in the comments area on my blog during the show.

You can also email the questions to me today before the show: jmasters@wunderground.com. Be sure to include “Hurricane Haven question” in the subject line. Some topics I’ll cover today on the show:

• Invest 94 and 93
• A look ahead at the coming two weeks
• Status of La Niña

Today’s show will be about 30 minutes, and you can tune in at http://www.wunderground.com/wxradio/wubroadcast.html. The show will be recorded and stored as a podcast.

Jeff Masters co-founded the Weather Underground in 1995 while working on his Ph.D. He flew with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters from 1986-1990.