CaribPR Wire

CaribPR Wire, MIAMI, FL, Weds. April 6, 2011: BlackBerry® Travel™, an application that provides BlackBerry® smartphone users with an all-in-one integrated tool to plan, book, manage and share travel activities quickly and easily, is now available in the major markets of the Caribbean.

The new app was recently announced in February at MWC 2011 in Barcelona and is now ready for download for BlackBerry users in the following markets: Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Bahamas, Aruba, Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands and US Virgin Islands.

The BlackBerry Travel app offers convenient push notifications and seamless integration of travel itineraries and flight status updates into the familiar BlackBerry Calendar.  When a new booking confirmation or itinerary arrives in the user’s email inbox, the BlackBerry Travel app is automatically updated with the relevant itinerary details, which makes travel planning and management easier than ever. With the BlackBerry push technology, the BlackBerry Travel app can keep users informed and in control of their itineraries by monitoring flight statuses and promptly providing notifications about changes to their flight information. The app can even identify potential omissions or scheduling concerns with their itineraries, such as missing accommodations or timing conflicts, and provide users with suggestions.

The BlackBerry Travel app also brings together tools that travelers need while planning on the go, including:

• Hotel booking
• Currency converters
• Weather forecasts
• Local search functionality

In addition, BlackBerry smartphone users can share their travel information with colleagues, friends and family over email or through LinkedIn®, directly from the BlackBerry Travel app. The LinkedIn integration allows users to search for people in their network who will be in the same city, send messages to contacts and update their status.

The BlackBerry Travel app also features a web component that allows users to book flights and car rentals, as well as edit and print itineraries, from their computer.

The BlackBerry Travel app was built in collaboration with WorldMate, a leader in mobile travel platforms.  WorldMate and RIM are working together with leaders in the travel industries such as Continental Airlines, Expedia Affiliate Network, Hilton Worldwide, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, United Airlines to provide BlackBerry Travel app users with an amazing mobile experience.

The BlackBerry Travel app will be available as of today from BlackBerry App World™ (www.blackberry.com/appworld). The app is free and works on select BlackBerry smartphones running the BlackBerry® 5 OS (Device Software) or higher.* For more information please visit www.blackberry.com/travel

* BlackBerry Travel is available at launch for the BlackBerry® Bold™, BlackBerry® Curve™, BlackBerry® Storm™ and BlackBerry® Torch™ series of smartphones.

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CaribPR Wire, Barbados, March 2, 2011: Artisans from the Caribbean region are invited to exhibit their products at the region’s foremost trade show, Design Caribbean, which offers unique access to important regional, international and diaspora buyers.

From September 1-4, 2011 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Design Caribbean will unite a passion for design with the soul of the Caribbean. All products are vetted for excellence so only the best of the region will be on show. Alongside the main trade fair, there will be many related events including a major musical event, a film programme, spa and wellness and a fashion show. Participating artisans will also attend a number of product and market development workshops on hot topics such as copyright, growing a business and accessing foreign markets.

Design Caribbean will attract buyers from North America, Europe and the Caribbean region. This year promises to be a notable event that no artisan should miss. If you want your products to reach a global marketplace, please register your interest immediately as places are limited.

Artisan Sign-up Details

All artisans engaged in design in the Caribbean region are eligible to participate in the Design Caribbean trade show. We are seeking products from diverse creative specialties including but not limited to ceramics, jewellery, fashion accessories, home furnishings, spa and wellness items and leather goods. In addition, there will a number of cash awards and incentives for winning various design categories.  For participation criteria and sign up details, please email  [email protected].

Sharing the Caribbean Experience

“Design Caribbean is an opportunity for exhibitors and visitors to experience the Caribbean, where all cultures collide to create something beautiful,” says Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export), organisers of the event. Participants will leave the show inspired and invigorated by the creative splendor of the Caribbean and new business insight.

Ms. Coke Hamilton believes that Caribbean Design operates within a unique environment where “every race, culture and creed has been able to create a truly genuine melting pot of racial, religious and ethnic blending, which has now become the foundation of the Caribbean identity and culture. This region is the only one where anyone can land and immediately fit in without fear of exclusion or isolation. We merge all the varying aspects of our differing ethnic backgrounds to create a spirit, which is uniquely and quintessentially Caribbean. This spirit is captured and reflected in the originality, boldness and inherent creativity that mirror the experience of those who landed on our shores from disparate parts of the globe. The Caribbean soul is, without apology, dynamic, vibrant and intrinsically beautiful. This is Design Caribbean.”

About Design Caribbean
Inspired by the passion and talent of both distinguished and aspiring artists, Design Caribbean brings the region’s finest handmade designs and innovative products onto the world stage.

Encapsulating the spirit of design to celebrate the ‘beautiful,’ our event takes place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from Sept. 1-4, 2011. Showcasing a broad product range of handmade quality products, it will connect artists to buyers, and design enthusiasts from the Caribbean region, North America and Europe.  Design Caribbean visitors will come away with a true sense of the diversity and splendor that breathes vibrancy into the Caribbean region.

Design Caribbean is organized by Caribbean Export, a trade and promotion organization with 15 member regions, whose mandate is to “take Caribbean excellence to the world.”

For media inquiries or to contact a spokesperson for an interview, please contact:                                     

Quentin T. Baldwin
Email: [email protected]       
Phone:   1 246 436 0578  (Barbados)

Caribbean Export Head Office
Mutual Building, Hastings Main Road
Christ Church, BB15154
BARBADOS

 

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HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Jan. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Emera Inc. (”Emera” – Toronto Stock Exchange listing “EMA”) wishes to advise all shareholders of Light & Power Holdings Ltd. (”Light & Power Holdings” – Barbados Stock Exchange listing: “LPH”) that the offer to purchase all issued and outstanding common shares in Light & Power Holdings at a cash price per share of BB$25.70 (twenty five Barbados dollars and seventy Barbados cents) closed as of 5 pm on January 24, 2011.

 7,129,269 shares of LPH were deposited in response to the offer and Emera announced today that it will purchase all deposited shares. If the tender and acceptance of all shares is confirmed by the Barbados Stock Exchange as valid, this will increase Emera’s ownership in LPH to 79.74 per cent.

 This 41.43 per cent additional investment will make Emera the majority shareholder in LPH. The remaining shares of LPH are primarily held by 1,700 Barbadian shareholder accounts, including the National Insurance Board of Barbados.

 Payments for deposited shares will be made to shareholders by January 31, 2011. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter.

 Light & Power Holdings is the parent company of The Barbados Light & Power Company Limited (”BLPC”). BLPC is the sole electric utility operator on the island of Barbados, serving 120,000 customers. BLPC has three power generation stations consisting of 239 MW of installed capacity.

 Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information:

 This release contains forward-looking information and should not be read as a guarantee of future events, performance or results, and will not necessarily be an accurate indication of whether, or the times at which, such events, performance or results will be achieved. Emera disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws.

 About Emera

 (EMA and EMA.PR.A – TSX) is an energy and services company with $5.8 billion Canadian dollars in assets. Electricity is Emera’s core business. Approximately 94% of Emera’s revenues are earned by Nova Scotia Power Inc (NSPI), Bangor Hydro Electric Company (BHE) and the Brunswick Pipeline. NSPI and BHE are wholly-owned regulated electric utilities which together serve 603,000 customers. The Brunswick Pipeline is a 145 km gas pipeline in New Brunswick. Emera also owns Maine and Maritimes Corporation, the parent company of Maine Public Service Company, a regulated electric utility serving approximately 36,000 electricity customers in Northern Maine, and MAM Services Group. In the Caribbean, Emera owns 19% of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, which serves more than 50,000 customers on the island of St. Lucia; 80.4% of Grand Bahama Power Company which serves 19,000 customers on the island of Grand Bahama; and 38% of Light & Power Holdings which serves 120,000 customers on the island of Barbados through its regulated electric utility The Barbados Light and Power Company. As well, Emera owns 8.2% of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. and 50% of Calpeco which serves 47,000 customers in California. In addition to its electric utility investments, Emera owns Bayside Power, a 260 MW gas-fired power plant in Saint John, New Brunswick; Emera Energy Services, a physical natural gas and power marketing and asset management business; a joint venture interest in Bear Swamp, a 600 megawatt pumped storage hydro-electric facility in northern Massachusetts; a 12.9% interest in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline; and an 8.2% interest in Open Hydro. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com .

 (EMA.)

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CaribPR Wire, Toronto, Canada, October 7, 2010 – As part of a campaign to identify and link up with Barbadians across the world, and register their skills and qualifications, Invest Barbados, an economic development agency for Barbados, has  launched a new campaign called, “Return to the Rock,” in which eligible participants could win a free trip for two people to Barbados.

 

 

CAMPAIGN DETAILS

The website www.networkbarbados.com  was created to facilitate this process, and Barbadians in the Diaspora are being encouraged to register on the site. To enter the contest, Barbadians living abroad only need to register at www.networkbarbados.com. Each entry has a chance to win an economy fare trip for two people to Barbados. Flights must depart from New York, U.S.A., Toronto, Canada or London, U.K. If Network Barbados receives 10,000 registered names over the next 60 days, two winners will be selected, instead of just one. (Terms & Conditions)

 

The winning flights will be booked for the final week during Crop Over 2011. This five-week summer Festival has turned into a cultural and culinary extravaganza that attracts thousands of international visitors every year to Barbados.

 

CAMPAIGN PURPOSE

“We need to significantly increase registrations in order to make the database meaningful as a site for Barbadians to connect, and be informed about what’s happening on the island, and especially what’s happening for Barbadians in the diaspora specifically. We hope this competition initiative for a prize draw of a trip back home for crop over will help us achieve that critical mass of registrations,” said Wayne Kirton, the CEO of Invest Barbados. “Keeping in touch with Barbadians living across the globe also helps us spread the word about what continues to make our country a highly desirable investment location.”

 

Barbadians living abroad benefit in several ways from signing up on the site, apart from connecting at a social level with other Barbadians, registering on www.networkbarbados.com provides Barbadians living aboard with the opportunity to access timely updates and insights including:

 

• Governmental changes, legislative shifts, that could directly impact business on and off the island.
• Ability to invest in the development of Barbados and access new initiatives on the ground level.
• Inside access to reach local Barbadians and exclusive ability to post projects (business opportunities) for local responses on the site, the ‘go to’ location for entrepreneurs as well as long-standing business owners.
• Sector trends that help to highlight various business and growth opportunities.
• Wide array of specific investment prospects from government debentures to real estate developments. 

 

Invest Barbados

Invest Barbados (IB) is the economic development agency of the government of Barbados that  is responsible for attracting, winning and sustaining foreign direct  investment in, and through Barbados, utilizing its international tax treaties, into other countries. The corporation is also responsible for promoting the export of indigenous services and helping to develop and manage the Barbados Business brand.

For more visit: www.investbarbados.org.

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- Migratory bird stop between North and South America at risk

 BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, May 6 /PRNewswire/ — A new environmental study sharply critical of the Government of Barbados shows the key Graeme Hall mangrove wetland is disappearing due to outside pollution and poor water quality.

 The Graeme Hall wetland is the last remaining mangrove in Barbados — a red mangrove forest that has existed for no less than 1,300 years. It is the only wetland in Barbados recognized internationally under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar). It acts as a Caribbean flyway stop for migratory birds between North and South America.

 The extensive 800-page study (www.graemehall.com/press/papers/Graeme Hall 043010 MEA.pdf) prepared for the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary by Environmental Engineering Consultants of Tampa, Florida shows the Sanctuary has suffered a 77 per cent reduction in salinity in the past ten years due to an inoperative government-run sluice gate. The huge reduction signals “an inevitable failure of the mangrove ecosystem” as freshwater flora and fauna take over.

 The study also cites damaging factors including: dumping of raw sewage into the wetland instead of the sea by the South Coast Sewage Treatment Plant; contaminated storm water runoff originating from 1,150 acres of government-managed drainage systems; and, commercial and residential pollutants from adjoining properties.

 ”The government owned and operated sluice gate failure confirms our worst fears,” said Stuart Heaslet, an official with Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary. “It means that as the mangrove forest dies, it will not grow back because freshwater plants are taking over.”

 The original environmental investment was based on the area being protected as a brackish mangrove ecosystem.

 ”The study confirms that Government-controlled pollution is being dumped into the wetland. Despite our formal offers of technical and financial assistance to government, there has been no response. We can’t defend ourselves against pollution and environmental mismanagement outside our boundaries. Bird counts are down, crabs are disappearing, and we are seeing environmental degradation everywhere.”

 Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary occupies 42 per cent of the Ramsar wetland at Graeme Hall, and is owned by Peter Allard, a Canadian investor and philanthropist who has put more than US $35 million into the 35-acre eco-tourism site to preserve the last significant mangrove woodland and wetland on the island.

 ”The investment in the Sanctuary was supposed to be part of a sustainable environmental initiative, dependent on government leadership,” said Allard. “As the largest private environmental stakeholder in Barbados, we continue to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to maintain the Sanctuary, but we all have to face the fact that it’s Government who is killing the wetland. The study shows that our environmental commitment and investment cannot withstand this assault.”

 The Sanctuary in fact closed its doors to the general public in late 2008 when problems of pollution and water quality became overwhelming.

 ”This isn’t just a problem for the Ramsar environmental wetland and our investment, it’s also a health and human welfare problem for the people of Barbados,” said Allard.

 Despite a 6,000 signature petition by citizens of Barbados to create a 240-acre national park at Graeme Hall, a new government zoning policy calls for commercial and residential development for the majority of the area.

 As the Canadian owner of the Sanctuary, Allard has filed several complaints alleging that the Government of Barbados has violated its international obligations by refusing to enforce its environmental laws, thereby allowing increased pollution and land development to damage the Sanctuary.

 See study: www.graemehall.com/press/papers/Graeme Hall 043010 MEA.pdf

 Related articles:

 http://graemehall.com/press/releases/bilateral-investments-treaty-complaint/20091028-BIT-Complaint.pdf

 http://graemehall.com/press/releases/barbados-endangers-wetlands/20091203-Barbados-Endangers-Wetlands.pdf

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HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 3 /PRNewswire/ – Today, Emera (TSX: EMA) announced that it will acquire a 38% interest in Light & Power Holdings Ltd. (Barbados Stock Exchange: “LPH”) from Leucadia National Corporation (”Leucadia”). Under the terms of the agreement with Leucadia, Emera will acquire the interest from Leucadia for US $85million.

 LPH is the parent company of The Barbados Light & Power Company Limited. (BLPC) BLPC is the sole utility operator on the island of Barbados, serving 120,000 customers. BLPC has three power generation stations consisting of 239 MW of installed capacity. There is a regulatory regime on the island that allows a full fuel pass through mechanism.     

 ”This acquisition is an exciting next step in our Caribbean growth strategy as we begin to build scale in the region,” said Chris Huskilson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Emera Inc. “BLPC is consistently ranked as one of the top-performing electric utilities in the Caribbean for efficiency, performance, and rate structure.”

 The Board of LPH has said that “they welcome the investment of Emera” and that “the combined knowledge and experience of Emera and LPH in the electric utility business will maintain and enhance the technical strength and future prospects of BLPC for the continued benefit of electricity customers in Barbados”.

This 38% investment will make Emera the largest single shareholder of LPH. Approximately 62% of LPH is locally held by 2,700 Barbadian shareholders, including the National Insurance Board of Barbados, which owns 23%.

LPH is Emera’s third investment in the Caribbean. This follows a 19% investment in St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited (Lucelec), a vertically-integrated monopoly utility on the island of St. Lucia, and a 25% indirect interest in Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC), a vertically-integrated electric utility on the Grand Bahama Island in The Bahamas.

 The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter and is not subject to regulatory approval. This transaction will be financed with existing credit facilities and is expected to be immediately accretive.

Barbados is the most eastern island in the Caribbean, with a population of approximately 285,000. The government is a parliamentary democracy and the legal system is based on English common law. Canada enjoys a strong working relationship with Barbados, and Canadian companies make up approximately 75% of the international financial community on the island. Barbados enjoys one of the highest per capita incomes in the region, and tourism is the main economic activity.

 Forward Looking Information

This news release contains forward looking information. Actual future results may differ materially. Additional financial and operational information is filed electronically with various securities commissions in Canada through the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR).

 About Emera

Emera Inc. (TSX: EMA) is an energy and services company with $5.3 billion in assets. Electricity is Emera’s core business. Approximately 94% of Emera’s revenues are earned by Nova Scotia Power Inc (NSPI), Bangor Hydro Electric Company (BHE) and the Brunswick Pipeline. NSPI and BHE are wholly-owned regulated electric utilities which together serve 603,000 customers. The Brunswick Pipeline is a 145 km gas pipeline in New Brunswick. Emera also owns 19% of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, which serves more than 50,000 customers on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia and 25% of Grand Bahama Power Company which serves 19,000 customers on the Caribbean island of Grand Bahama in The Bahamas. In addition to its electric utility investments, Emera owns Bayside Power, a 260 MW gas-fired power plant in Saint John, New Brunswick; Emera Energy Services, a physical natural gas and power marketing and asset management business; a joint venture interest in Bear Swamp, a 600 megawatt pumped storage hydro-electric facility in northern Massachusetts; a 12.9% interest in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline; and an 8.2% interest in Open Hydro. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com.

 For further information: Emera Investor Contacts: Jennifer Nicholson, CA, Senior Director, Stakeholder Relations, (902) 428-6347; Jill MacDonald, CA, Manager, Investor Relations, (902) 428-6486; Emera Media Contact: Sasha Irving, Director, Corporate Communications, (902) 428-6685; Media Contact Light and Power Holdings Ltd., Peter Williams, Director, (246) 430-4200

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