The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is forecasting an extremely active hurricane season this year.

In its 2013 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, the NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, said 2013 would be prolific in raising storms out of the Atlantic and the Caribbean.

During the six-month hurricane season, which begins June 1, it is forecasted that there is a 70 percent likelihood of 13 to 20 named storms, with winds of 63 kph (40 mph) or higher.

Seven to 11 of those storms could become hurricanes with winds of 120 kph (74 mph) or higher, including three to six major hurricanes – Category 3, 4 or 5 and winds of 178 kph (111 mph) or higher.

“These ranges are well above the seasonal average of 12 named storms, six hurricanes and three major hurricanes,” it said.

NOAA acting administrator, Dr. Kathryn Sullivan said with the devastation of Hurricane Sandy still fresh in many people’s minds and another active season predicted “everyone at NOAA is committed to providing life-saving forecasts in the face of these storms. -(CMC)

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U.S. President Barack Obama. PHOTO/File

(Reuters) – Twelve years after the “war on terror” began, President Barack Obama wants to pull the United States back from some of the most controversial aspects of its global fight against Islamist militants.

In a major policy speech on Thursday, Obama narrowed the scope of the targeted-killing drone campaign against al Qaeda and its allies and took steps toward closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba.

He acknowledged the past use of “torture” in U.S. interrogations; expressed remorse over civilian casualties from drone strikes; and said that the Guantanamo detention facility “has become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law.”

After launching costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States is tiring of conflict. While combating terrorism is still a high priority for the White House, polls show by large margins that Americans’ main concerns are the economy and domestic concerns such as healthcare.

“We have now been at war for well over a decade,” Obama said near the start of his address. Toward the end, he added: “But this war, like all wars, must end.”

Though aimed first at a domestic audience, Obama’s speech at Washington’s National Defense University was also the latest milestone in his campaign to reshape the global image of the United States – particularly in the Islamic world.

But he faces obstacles from opponents in Congress who will try to block the closure of Guantanamo prison and reject his call to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed right after the September 11, 2001, attacks. The law is the legal basis for much of the “war on terror.”

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In recent years, China and Africa have formed one of the modern era’s most successful economic and trade partnerships.

China benefits from Africa’s oil, minerals, and markets, while Africa benefits from increased trade and investment in infrastructure, health, education, small-scale businesses, and low and medium technologies.

Many Western observers – and some Africans – have condemned China’s involvement on the continent as a new form of colonialism, however, such criticism is largely misplaced.

The model that China is facilitating, which combines productive investment and trade with concessional loans, is helping to break the cycle of underdevelopment in Africa – a goal that Western-led development strategies and agencies have failed to achieve.

Moreover, African countries are building on their relationship with China to advance cooperation with other emerging markets, including India, South Korea, Turkey, Brazil, and Malaysia. Such efforts have bolstered global demand for commodities, while diversifying African economies and enhancing the productive capacity of domestic suppliers.

Today, Africa’s rate of economic growth is second only to Asia’s.

This could just be the beginning. With Africa’s current market of one billion people set to swell to three billion by 2045 – including 1.1 billion people of working age (more than in China or India) – its long-term economic and commercial prospects are reminiscent of China’s when it opened up more than three decades ago.

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The opposition People’s Progressive Movement led by Alden McLaughlin (pictured), has won the elections in the Cayman Islands, however, McLaughlin will need to form a coalition government, given that his party won 9 out of 18 ridings – one short of a majority.

Embattled former premier McKeeva Bush – who is facing 11 charges of charges of corruption, theft and fraud was winner in his riding located in the West Bay district. His United Democratic Party was victor in 4 ridings.

Incumbent and now outgoing Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, who replaced Bush after he was removed in a no-confidence vote, won in Little Cayman riding running as an independent candidate.

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NAACP leaders from around the United States are honoring the memory of the group’s former Mississippi leader, Medgar Evers, nearly 50 years after he was assassinated outside his Jackson home.

NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous and board chairwoman Roslyn Brock helped Evers’ widow lay a wreath of yellow and white flowers Thursday at the modest one-story house, now a museum.

Myrlie Evers-Williams told nearly 200 people that she and her husband knew his civil rights work put his life in danger in a deeply segregated state, and he had endured threats. She said the night before he was slain, they sat in their home and he made her promise she’d take care of their three young children if anything should happen to him.

Evers-Williams said she vividly remembers hearing the shot that cut down her 37-year-old husband in their carport on June 12, 1963, blowing a hole in his chest. He died a short time later at a Jackson hospital. She and the children were up past midnight, waiting for him, and she said all she could do was scream.

“Fifty years later, it is almost as fresh to me as it was that night,” Evers-Williams said.

The NAACP board is meeting in Jackson for the first time in 30 years. It chose the city because of the 50th anniversary of the Evers assassination.

The NAACP meeting started Wednesday and goes through Saturday. Several other events are planned in Mississippi and Washington, D.C., to mark the Evers anniversary in the next few weeks.

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Latest reports from Ghana indicate a slow down in the country’s economy.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Ghana, Henry Kofi Wampah indicated that business and consumer sentiments on growth prospects have also softened amid heightened inflation expectations.

The Central Bank’s Composite Index of Economic Activity (CIEA) – a rough measure of the pace of economic activity, dropped by 0.6 percent in May after a 14.8 percent growth in March.

The period also saw all the components of the CIEA recording negative yearly growth rates with the exception of tourist arrivals, domestic value added tax and increased credit to the private sector.

“The pace of growth in credit to the private sector has also moderated, while the credit stance of banks has tightened,” Wampah said in his the monthly monetary policy report presented on Wednesday.

Business Confidence Index fell to 99.0 in March 2013, from a high 104.1 in December 2012. The geovernor attributed this drop partly to the energy crisis, which he said had lowered business confidence.

“Similarly, the Consumer Confidence Index also fell to 96.1 in April, from 105.0 in January 2013,” he added. Governor Wampah also revealed that the country’s trade deficit had also widened on the back of a significant deterioration in exports on account of low international commodity prices, which fed through to lower exports receipts, despite imports remaining broadly flat.

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Jamaica is in the process of making amendments to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Free Movement of Skilled Persons Act, so as to broaden the categories of skilled nationals able to access jobs in other regional countries.

The island-nation’s Labor and Social Security Minister, Derrick Kellier, will table the amendments to increase the categories of workers who can apply for a CARICOM Skills Certificate.

Under the present CARICOM Skills Certificate in Jamaica, the categories of skilled workers currently able to access employment in other Caribbean islands are artistes; musicians; holders of degrees from recognized tertiary educational institutions; journalists/media workers; and sportsmen and women.

The proposed amendments will legally extend this facilitation to nurses; teachers; and workers holding specific categories of vocational qualifications, and are currently being addressed administratively.

The Caribbean Community Free Movement of Skilled Persons Act was promulgated by the Jamaican legislature in July 1997, in furtherance of the provisions of 1989 Grand Anse Declaration that underpins the advancement of the Caribbean regional integration process through the creation of a CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

The CARICOM Single Market and Economy allows for the free movement of skills, services, goods and labor across the 15-member regional grouping.-(CMC)

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(AP) – African nations this week mark the 50th year since the founding of a continent-wide organization that spearheaded efforts to liberate Africa from colonialism. Now leaders want to map out the next 50 years of political and economic integration.

Its primary mandate was to liberate Africa from the shackles of colonialism and apartheid. The weeklong 50-year celebrations culminate Saturday in the Ethiopian capital where African leaders will be joined by foreign dignitaries including United States Secretary of State John Kerry. African leaders will also consider Agenda 2063, a blueprint they say will bring socio-economic and political transformation to the continent.

Kerry, who recently expressed concerns over China’s growing influence in Africa, is expected to be joined by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s special representative, Vice Premier Wang Yang, at the celebrations.

The 53-member African Union, which replaced the Organization of African Unity in 2002, has been quite successful as a force for stability on the continent.

One key achievement of the Organization of African Unity – now the African Union “has been to set standards and norms that we are now using at the continental level,” said Erastus Mwencha, deputy chair of the AU. “We are now talking of having norms such as a protocol on governance, on elections and so forth.”

As the African Union strives to make peaceful transfers of power across Africa the norm, it often sanctions coup leaders and suspends membership of states.

The African Union is also a long way from its founders’ dream of a united Africa. The continent sees a huge disparity in the economic and political conditions of its nations.

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Davon Kelly, Founder and CEO Novad Management Consulting

Davon Kelly is the founder and CEO of Novad Management Consulting – a company he founded in 2003.

The company, Novad Management Consulting, is a multi-faceted company providing financial and audit management services; project, program and risk management; business process re-engineering, business evaluation, property management, and training and coaching services.

According to the company’s website, NOVAD Management Consulting has been “the prime contractor for multi-million dollar projects in both private industry and the federal government”. The company’s successes include process improvements for a personnel and administration support center of the Small Business Administration’s Office of Disaster Assistance, provide expertise in project management for the Food and Drug administration; audit services for various other Federal Government Agencies; and organizational assessment of the Office of Asset Management for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Under his stewardship, the company has grown from a one-person shop to a multi-million dollar company with 30 full-time employees and independent contractors in Landover, Maryland; Atlanta, Georgia and a satellite office in New York. NOVAD is a multi-faceted company providing financial and audit management services; project, program and risk management; business process re-engineering;

Davon Kelly is a serial entrepreneur, and is also the owner of the upscale barbershop chain – My Barber’s Lounge (MBL) franchise.

Prior to founding NOVAD, Kelly had worked in various capacities, including: general accounting services, banking and with the federal government. He is an alumni of both the Florida Tech University and Bowie University – where he earned his Bachelors degree in Finance and Masters degree in business administration respectively.

Kelly is a socially minded entrepreneur and serves on the Boards of the Atlanta-based Laughing at Leukemia and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). In 2012 he was elected president of of the Board of Directors for Boys Town of Washington, D.C. He is a holder of several awards including the Washington Business Journal’s Minority Business Leader Award 2010 and The SmartCEO/Clifton Gunderson Future 50 Award 2012.

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Oil Refinery in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. PHOTO/File

Press Release

(Business Wire) – Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Nigeria Storage Market Analysis and Outlook to 2020 – Drivers, Challenges, Infrastructure, Supply- demand and competitive landscape” report to their offering.

Nigeria oil and gas storage industry research work is a compulsory report for all analysts involved in the oil storage sector. It provides all the key trends and analyzes the drivers and restraints of investing and operating in the market.

All operational and planned oil, oil products, chemicals and underground gas storage terminals in the country are covered. Further, supply and demand forecasts of oil and gas to 2020 are included in the report.

The report also provides company wise and terminal wise outlook to 2018. Key strategies and operations of each of the major storage companies in the country are analyzed in detail. It identifies key investment opportunities in Nigeria storage market and also analyzes all the upcoming terminals in detail. It updates the major deals and events in the industry from 2011 to 2012.

Some of the Key issues addressed in the report include:
- How will the Nigeria storage sector emerge by 2018?
- Who are the leading storage operators and what are their strategies for near term future?

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