Jamaican Ambassador Audrey Marks

“I have offered my resignation as is the normal protocol in these circumstances,” Marks told the Observer via cellphone from Washington yesterday evening.

Marks, Jamaica’s first female ambassador to the US capital, offered no further details. However, an Observer source said she tendered the resignation letter early January but has not yet received a response from the People’s National Party Government, which took office following the December 29, 2011 general election.

According to the source, Marks gave the administration three months’ notice, therefore her resignation will take effect in March.

Last night, Government ministers dodged Observer queries on the issue.

When contacted, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Senator A J Nicholson directed the Observer to speak with the permanent secretary in his ministry.

“You are asking the wrong person. You need to speak with the permanent secretary,” Nicholson said.

However, the acting permanent secretary, Vilma McLish, did not respond to an e-mail sent to her up to press time.

A check with the minister with responsibility for information Senator Sandrea Falconer also did not shed any further light as she said she was not aware of the matter and referred the Observer to the foreign affairs minister.

Marks is the founder and chief executive officer of the bill payment agency, Paymaster, for which she received an Observer Business Leader nomination for the year 1999.

She was sent to Washington in May 2010 by the Jamaica Labour Party Government to replace Anthony Johnson, who was dispatched to the United Kingdom as Jamaica’s High Commissioner to that country.

Johnson had replaced the former PNP Cabinet minister Burchell Whiteman as Jamaica’s top diplomat to the United Kingdom.

Prior to assuming office as ambassador, Marks served as deputy chairman of the Urban Development Corporation. She also sat on the boards of RBTT Securities Jamaica Limited, Jamaica Trade and Investment Company Limited, National Health Fund, Mona School of Business, as well as a number of private and public sector bodies.

A graduate of Immaculate Conception and Marymount High schools, Marks holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in business administration from the University of West Indies and Nova University (Florida), USA, respectively.

Jamaican legislators sworn in

During the ceremony, Member of Parliament for South Manchester, Michael Peart, was chosen as Speaker of the House of Representatives, while MP for Central St. James, Lloyd B. Smith, will serve as Deputy Speaker of the Lower House.

Member of Parliament for East Kingston and Port Royal, Phillip Paulwell, is the new Leader of Government Business in the Lower House, with Member of Parliament for North East St. Andrew, Delroy Chuck, serving as Leader of Opposition Business.

Meanwhile, 20 members of the 21-member Senate were sworn in. Reverend Stanley Redwood was elected President of the Senate, while Senator Angela Brown Burke will serve as his deputy.

Opposition Leader Andrew Holness is yet to appoint an eighth senator, having named seven on January 16.

Senator A.J. Nicholson is the new Leader of Government Business in the Upper House, while Senator Arthur Williams will serve as Leader of Opposition Business.

In her remarks, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said her administration is committed to accountability and responsibility.

“We commit to serve with humility and dedication to the principles of fairness, justice and equity. We will apply ourselves with diligence in tackling the challenges confronting us for the good of all people. We will uphold the laws of the land and conduct ourselves and the people’s business with integrity, sensitivity and sincerity,” Simpson Miller said.

For his part, Leader of the Opposition, Andrew Holness, vowed to “rabidly seek out the welfare and benefit of the people of Jamaica.”

The Simpson Miller-led People’s National Party won 42 of the 63 parliamentary seats in the December 29 polls, with the remaining 21 going to the Jamaica Labour Party.

Observers have predicted a strong challenge from the main opposition People’s National Party (PNP) led by Portia Simpson Miller, this state’s first female prime minister.

In his final national broadcast ahead of the poll on Thursday, Holness urged the 1.64 million registered voters to support the JLP, stating that that party has “taken the country through some tough times.”

“We give God thanks that we have been able to prevent the type of instability that wealthier countries have experienced,” he said.

In her final hours of campaigning, Simpson Miller, the PNP president, questioned Holness’ ability to run the country, and warned Jamaicans against voting for an inexperienced leader.

“I don’t know if you would put your children in a car with someone who has just learned to drive,” said Simpson Miller, who headed government from March 2006 to September 2007.

Holness, 39, was appointed in October following the resignation of then Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

The PNP has predicted it would win at least 37 of the 60 seats, up from the 28 it won in the 2007 polls.

The latest Jamaica Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll shows that the JLP and the PNP are in a statistical dead heat.

The election would be monitored by national, regional and international observers.

A 25-member team from the Organisation of American States (OAS) was scheduled to be deployed here today.

The Caricom Secretariat has announced that its team arrived in the country December 26 and would remain here until month end.

Holness, 39, ended months of speculation last night when he announced the December poll at a massive political meeting of his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in Central Manchester.

Nomination Day is December 12.

“I want you to have a happy Christmas, a merry Christmas. So we break for the Christmas period, but by the 28th you back on the road, and by the 29th you put your vote in the box, happy New Year, government in place, back on track, ready for work, ready for progress, ready for development, ready for a positive future,” Holness told JLP supporters.

He also made a pitch for undecided voters.

“I want to assure those at the crossroads tonight. I want to assure you that in this leader you have a fair leader, one who understands the issues,” he stated.

Holness, the former Minister of Education, was sworn in as prime minister in late October following the resignation of veteran politician Bruce Golding.

The JLP’s main challenge will come from the Portia Simpson Miller-led People’s National Party (PNP), which declared on Saturday that was ready to go to the polls.

“I have the best team. I have a blend of experience and wisdom and you are looking at not a weak, weak leader,” Simpson Miller stated.

The JLP and PNP will each field 63 candidates for the country’s 16th general election since Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944.

There are just over 1.6 million voters – 300,000 more than was registered for the 2007 poll in which the then Bruce Golding-led JLP won 32 of the seats to the PNP’s 28.

A Jamaica Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson national poll shows both parties locked in a statistical dead heat with 29 per cent of Jamaicans saying they would vote for the JLP, while 32 per cent would vote for the PNP.

Saturday, December 3, 2011 – Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain told supporters Saturday that he is suspending his presidential campaign.

The news came in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment and an Atlanta woman’s claim that they carried on a 13-year affair.  Amid the controversy, Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, has denied any wrongdoing.

With ‘Plan A’, Republican presidential nomination, in the history books, the Cain brand recognition likely boosted – the launching of ‘Plan B’ was announced.

“I am not going to be silenced and I’m not going away,” Cain said, announcing the launch of TheCainSolutions.com, a new organization, which he said would continue to promote his policy ideas, including his signature 9-9-9 economic recovery plan.

Similar to Sarah Palin, in the wake of a presidential run, the Cain brand is expected to boost higher speaking fees, larger book deals, and potential lucrative roles on television.

Cain should be finding a home at Fox News soon.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe a candidate’s faith is very important and should be one of the criteria people use to decide who gets their vote. I just don’t believe it should matter which faith is in play.

Faith is not just about believing in God or a higher power, but in those select few elected by the people to act on our behalf in the governing of this country, faith is about character.

We must remember, as much as we use the term democracy to describe our system of government, it’s actually a republic. The people don’t make decisions on how they are governed. We elect others to do that for us. In doing so, it is in our best interests to do what we can to ensure that those officeholders are individuals of strong character.

That’s why it’s so easy for the legitimate debate about issues in this country to be derailed by the frequent morality play of scandal. Compromising pictures on Twitter, affairs with staffers, arrests for indecent public behavior and a side order of graft and corruption will always make the headlines. However, there is a reason for that, above and beyond the public’s fascination with the prurient and the lurid. That reason is character.

That is where I believe faith comes in. In short, I believe faith signifies trust. For those individuals seeking public office who profess faith in any higher power, the common conception is that they hold themselves to a higher moral standard, one of honesty, transparency, and veracity.

I believe faith is important for everyone and, as Americans, it is our responsibility to tolerate and accept the varied individual belief systems prevalent throughout our culture whether Christian, Hebrew, Hindu, Muslim, Agnostic, Mormon or any other. If faith results in a constancy of moral and ethical behavior, then faith should be a key component of a good candidate’s character.

However, as responsible citizens seeking elected office, their faith should be used only as a tool to promote their credibility, and not as a platform to preach condemnation. A candidate who sings the song “My God is better than your God” is misusing their professed faith. I use the qualifier “professed” faith, because it has been my experience that those who bellow about the superiority of their chosen faith are charlatans and lack the strength of character valued by the very faith they proclaim they possess.

This can sometimes make candidates wary of discussing their faith, but leaders should not be afraid of their spiritual beliefs. They should embrace them. They will gain more respect as people who hold steadfast to their beliefs than if they abandon their faith or misuse their faith for the sake of the ballot.

Mark Espat had been serving as PUP’s interim leader since Briceño relinquished the party post almost two weeks ago.

Espat has already been endorsed by all but one constituency, however, he told party officials the demands on him are too much to lead the 61-year-old institution at this time.

According to media reports, the interim leader has not been able to secure financing for a multi-million dollar plan for party operations ahead of the next general elections.

The party owes BZD$5 million dollars, reports indicated, and requires an additional $10 million.

Espat stated in a release: “I informed members of the National Executive and the Standard Bearers of the People’s United Party of my final decision not to seek the post of Party Leader. I am profoundly grateful for the numerous expressions of support for my leadership from Standard Bearers, party branches, party members and from the general citizenry of Belize.

“…Working along with our Deputy Leaders and National Executive and in conformity with our Constitution, the Party will proceed with the election of a substantive Party Leader in the shortest possible timeframe.”

This is said to be the first time in Belize’s parliamentary history that a leader of the opposition has stepped down with no immediate successor in place.

Golding said he will step down as prime minister on Sunday, about a month earlier than expected, to make way for Andrew Holness, the 39-year-old education minister who has consistently dominated polls asking Jamaicans who should replace the departing leader.

The 63-year-old Golding, who has called for a youthful successor, said the leadership transition will be completed on Sunday when he formally resigns and Holness will be sworn in by Jamaica’s governor general in the capital of Kingston.

Golding announced in late September that he would step down once a new leader of the ruling Jamaica Labor Party is elected. The party’s leader automatically becomes the prime minister.

After Golding announced that he would step down, attention immediately focused on Holness as his possible successor. He took a big step toward becoming the island’s next leader earlier this month when he received the backing of a Labor parliamentary group, including several rivals.

On Sunday, Holness would become the youngest head of government in the island’s history. He has promised to fight corruption, improve efficiency, and vowed the debt-wracked island would fulfill its obligations and agreements with international partners.

Holness was first elected to Parliament in 1997, at the age of 25, and was once special assistant to former Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who was chief of the Labor Party until Golding took over in 2005.

The 81-year-old Seaga said his former assistant’s “firm disposition” gives him the “right characteristics” for the government’s No. 1 job. He urged Holness to give special focus to improving the economy, saying “until you fix that, you’re really not going anywhere.”

Political analysts said the selection of Holness will give the ruling party the best chance at beating the main opposition People’s National Party in 2012 general elections.

“There’s no question that with Golding gone and Holness in charge that will lead to a far more competitive race,” said Brian Meeks, a professor of government at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies.

Many analysts believe that Holness will call general elections sooner rather than later instead of allowing harsh economic realities weigh down his early days as prime minister. The country has seen two quarters of economic growth this year, but it has been slight and average Jamaicans continue to struggle.

On Tuesday, Golding presided over his final Cabinet meeting and thanked his colleagues. During his remarks to his ministers, Golding said he “emphasized that much remains to be done to accelerate the pace of economic recovery in order to be able to tackle the country’s urgent social needs.

Last year, Jamaica’s towering debt and the damaging impact of the global recession forced Golding’s government to seek assistance from the IMF, which helped his administration carry out a domestic debt restructuring and provided $1.27 billion in standby credits.

The island’s leader since 2007 when he brought Labor back to power after 18 years in opposition, Golding and his administration have launched a crackdown on violent drug and extortion gangs that have troubled the Caribbean country for years.

Golding has suffered from anemic public backing because of his handling of the 2009 U.S. extradition request for Jamaican drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke. The prime minister’s handling of the Coke case, in particular his authorization of a U.S. firm to lobby Washington to drop the request, provoked an outcry that hobbled his political career.

Coke has since pleaded guilty to racketeering and assault charges in federal court in New York, admitting he was leader of the brutal Shower Posse gang.

In a nationally televised address, Prime Minister Bruce Golding said questions about the role he played in the Coke saga, which he said affected him deeply, have remained a source of concern.

“I cannot allow the challenges we face and the issues that we as a people must confront to be smothered or overpowered by this saga and the emotions that they ignite. It would not be fair to my country; it would not be fair to my party,” Golding said.

As he has maintained previously, Golding said his nine-month opposition to the U.S. extradition request for Coke in 2009 and 2010 was due to the U.S. indictment relying on illegal wiretap evidence.

“It was about a breach of our Constitution and had it been a person other than Coke it perhaps would never have become the cause celebre that it turned out to be,” said Golding, whose Parliament district included Coke’s West Kingston slum stronghold.

After Golding reversed himself amid growing public discontent over his opposition, Coke’s supporters began barricading streets and preparing for battle in West Kingston’s Tivoli Gardens. A hunt for Coke in May 2010 led to four days of fighting that killed at least 73 civilians and three security officers.

Coke was captured about a month later and extradited. He has since pleaded guilty to racketeering and assault charges, admitting his was leader of the brutal Shower Posse gang.

The prime minister’s handling of the Coke case, in particular his authorization of a U.S. firm to lobby Washington to drop the request, provoked an outcry that threatened his political career. With opposition parties and public sector groups calling for his resignation, the governing party vouched for him following a high-level conference last year.

Golding’s words on Sunday night were the first public comments he had made since he and his Labor Party abruptly announced a week ago that he would be stepping down after four years in office. They said he would formally resign once a new party leader is chosen by roughly 5,000 delegates at an upcoming party conference. The party’s leader automatically becomes the prime minister.

While stepping down from the island’s No. 1 political job, it’s still not clear if Golding will be closing out some four decades in politics. He made no mention of whether he planned to step down from his parliamentary seat representing West Kingston.

The Labor Party said Golding had previously planned to give up leadership in 2014, if he led his party to victory for a second consecutive term. Golding led the Labor Party back to power in 2007 after 18 years in opposition.

On Sunday night, the 63-year-old also said a younger leader is needed to breathe new life into his party ahead of 2012 general elections.

Noting that he was first elected to Parliament nearly 40 years ago and will soon turn 64, Golding said it was time for members of his generation to make way for younger leaders “more in sync with 21st Century realities.”

Attention has focused on Education Minister Andrew Holness and Commerce Minister Christopher Tufton, relatively young Cabinet members in Golding’s administration. A poll earlier this year suggested that Holness was the most popular choice to lead Labor if Golding were to resign.

If the Labor Party chooses a young politician as its chief it will contrast sharply with the opposition People’s National Party, whose leader has been a fixture in Jamaican politics for decades.

Opposition boss Portia Simpson Miller led the nation as prime minister for about a year-and-a-half before the 2007 loss to Labor. She was first elected to Parliament in 1976 and became a Cabinet member in 1989.

Golding said the next few weeks will be crucial for the Labor Party but also for the country.

The election of a new leader is a process that must be done in a “mature, transparent and dignified manner,” he said.

Labor was in the opposition for nearly two decades before Golding brought his party back to power in 2007.

Perceptions of corruption, patronage and cronyism dog the governing party, but they also haunt the People’s National Party.

Golding argues that his government is finally putting the country on a solid economic pathway. This year it has divested money-losing entities such as Air Jamaica and its three remaining sugar factories. A crackdown on gangs has decreased the crime rate.

The country was hard hit by the global recession, but lately the economy appears to be on a meager upswing. The country recorded first-quarter growth of 1.4 percent and the inflation rate for the first five months of the year was 1.7 percent.

Last year, Jamaica’s towering debt and the damaging impact of the global recession forced Golding’s government to seek assistance from the IMF, which helped his administration carry out a debt restructuring and provided $1.27 billion in standby credits.

Information Minister Daryl Vaz said the prime minister will outline issues relating to transition and other critical matters facing the country.

“It was always expected that he would be addressing the nation, but I don’t think it could have been done before he laid his mother to rest,” Vaz said.

Enid Golding, who died at the age of 91, was buried September 28.

Golding’s surprise announcement, last Sunday, to the JLP’s Central Executive, prompted opposition calls for immediate general elections, and caused uncertainty within the country.

And with no clear successor, several high-ranking party officials have said they are being “encouraged” to contest the leadership race, among them, Finance Audley Shaw; Deputy Prime Minister and former JLP Chairman, Dr Kenneth Baugh; Deputy Leader of the JLP, Dr. Christopher Tufton, and party Chairman Lester ‘Mike’ Henry.

“I am receiving encouragement (and) I am in my process of looking at everything,” said Shaw, 59, adding he would make a decision soon.

The 70-year old Dr. Baugh – the current minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade – struck aside concerns about his age, stating he feels young and has enough experience to handle the position.

He disclosed that he will decide, next week, whether he will contest the election.

On the other hand, Dr Christopher Tufton, 43, told the Jamaica Gleaner, he is not certain he will contest the race, and is holding consultations.

“I would not do anything to hurt the country or the party, so I would restrain my political ambition to ensure that we maintain the recovery and growth that we have seen in the past four years. We cannot let political expediency jeopardise the gains,” Dr. Tufton said.

The 76-year old JLP Chairman said he too, would be listening to his supporters.

Henry is the current transport and works minister.

The JLP will close nominations midnight October 20, ahead of the November 19 poll.

“We anticipate a pleasant, unifying, dynamic and, for the People’s National Party, a frightening result and I am certain that result will ensure that when I sit here next year, my government will still be in office,” General Secretary Senator Aundre Franklin told a media conference Thursday

Widener University in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said Wednesday the reception with President Abdoulaye Wade would need to be rescheduled.

“Unrest in Senegal has forced President Wade to adjust his travel plans for an earlier return home,” a university statement said.

The announcement came as a surprise in Senegal, where a small protest was wrapping up in the capital’s downtown district led by employees of a telephone company. On Friday _ the day before Wade was due to attend the university event _ a coalition of opposition groups was planning a rally to call for Wade’s departure.

The 85-year-old Wade is planning to run for a third term in next year’s election, exploiting a loophole in the constitution which allows a maximum of two terms. In June, riots broke out after Wade’s party attempted to rush a law through parliament which would have lowered the percentage of votes needed for a candidate to win a presidential election, a move critics say was designed to make it easier for the aging leader to win re-election against a divided opposition.

Paul Ndir, a spokesman for opposition leader Moustapha Niasse, said by telephone on Wednesday that Friday’s rally is intended to commemorate the three-month anniversary of the massive June protest. “But we don’t expect it to be very big _ so frankly, it seems to me that Wade is afraid,” he said. “Why else would he be cutting his visit short?”

The Democratic mayor said he was willing to provide political cover to the governor and lawmakers by suggesting changes to Proposition 13, the 1978 ballot initiative that rolled back property taxes and capped their increases. A pillar of California’s direct democracy, the initiative is seen as untouchable in the state because it so popular with the electorate.

“I’m here to shine a light on a dark cloud hanging over California,” Villaraigosa said during a speech to the Sacramento Press Club. “I’m here because I believe there’s an opportunity for a grand bargain, but it’s going to mean including broad stakeholders to acknowledge that we need to fund government. That we need to make government more efficient.”

Villaraigosa’s comments came against a backdrop of fiscal gloom. Lawmakers closed an 18-month, $26.6 billion budget deficit this year primarily with spending cuts and the hope that tax revenue would continue to rise in a rebounding economy. The rebound has stalled and tax revenue has since reversed, leading to the prospect of even deeper cuts to higher education, public schools and other services at the beginning of the year.

The mayor said the current taxing and budgeting systems are insufficient and are cutting too deeply into the state’s safety net, schools, universities and infrastructure.

He advocated the governor and legislative leader convene a commission on tax reform. He suggested that a major component be a split tax roll, in which caps remain for residential properties but are lifted for businesses. He estimated that such a move would raise between $2.1 billion and $8 billion a year, money the state could invest in education and lower property taxes for homeowners.

He said the impact on business would be softened if the changes are phased in gradually.

“You don’t have to agree with every one of my ideas to acknowledge that a grand bargain is the only way out. A big solution is the only way forward,” he said.

Villaraigosa, who has served in the state Assembly as speaker, said Proposition 13 was intended to protect homeowners from skyrocketing property taxes, not provide a tax-giveaway to corporations. He declined to say what he’ll do after he’s termed out in 2013.

Any attempt to change the initiative will be met swiftly by advocates of limited government. Anti-tax advocates and business groups moved quickly Tuesday to criticize the idea as an attack on small businesses.

Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said Villaraigosa’s proposal makes no sense at a time when businesses large and small are struggling and the state has the nation’s second highest unemployment rate. A group of concerned Los Angeles business leaders issued a letter to Villaraigosa urging him to drop the proposal.

“There’s a correlation between a favorable tax-and-regulatory climate (and) economic development,” Coupal said. “What he is suggesting is making that tax-and-regulatory climate worse for business, which will hurt California’s employment situation, not help.”

Brown’s spokesman, Gil Duran, said the governor has not had a chance to speak to the mayor directly about his proposal but looks forward to hearing the mayor’s ideas.

“Like Gov. Brown, Mayor Villaraigosa believes both sides must stand up to the ideologues and do what’s best for California,” Duran wrote in a statement.

Former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had convened a bi-partisan tax commission to try to smooth out the fluctuations in state revenue but its proposals never gained traction.

Proponents of the split tax roll say Proposition 13 has shifted the property tax burden from commercial property owners to homeowners. Lenny Goldberg, a lobbyist with the labor-backed California Tax Reform Association, said businesses, particularly those that invest in commercial real estate, are often able to evade property assessments when there’s a change in ownership.

For example, Goldberg said the famous Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills was not reassessed when it was bought out by the Blackstone Group, a private equity firm. The property’s value is still assessed far less than neighboring properties.

“It’s time to address the unfairness inherent in a system that allows Wall Street hedge fund managers to devise complex real estate investment trusts that give the super-rich a free pass on the taxes every ordinary homeowner in California has to pay,” Villaraigosa said.

Pro-business groups like the California Taxpayers Association say small businesses wouldn’t be able to absorb rent increases at commercial buildings, shopping centers and business parks if split roll were enacted.

Any major changes will be daunting.

Proposition 13 can only be changed by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or through an initiative process approved by voters. In 2009, San Francisco County Assessor Recorder Phil Ting failed to obtain enough signatures for an initiative that would have placed the split roll question before voters.

The mayor also backed an effort to allow local school districts and local governments to raise taxes on a majority vote, rather than two-thirds. Coupal said the mayor’s ideas are nothing more than a push by labor to increase taxes.

“Unless they’ve changed their tune, we believe the public employee unions just want more revenue and that’s pretty clear in their agenda and that’s contrary to what businesses and families want,” Coupal said.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell, the euro slid against the dollar and key European markets edged down in off-hour trading after Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the results of their emergency talks in Paris.

Sarkozy called for a “new economic government” for Europe that would meet at least twice a year with European Union President Herman Van Rompuy as its head, but he offered few other details or indications that the body would have real power.

Merkel and Sarkozy also called for all euro zone nations to enact constitutional amendments requiring balanced budgets. They said they want the process completed by the summer of 2012, but it would almost certainly run into protracted political difficulties in many countries.

Both leaders said the moment was not right to replace 17 government bonds with a single one allowing weaker economies to borrow in cooperation with the powerhouse economies of France and Germany. A growing number of experts are calling for the eurobond as a way to prevent the unaffordable interest rates that have driven Greece, Ireland, and Portugal to seek bailouts from the eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.

New figures show slowing French and German growth, and the German government fears it would face higher borrowing costs and more risks if it had to borrow jointly with financially shaky nations.

“We have exactly the same position on euro bonds,” Sarkozy said. “One day we could imagine them, but at the end of a process of European integration, not at the beginning.”

The Dow fell as many as 190 points shortly after 1 p.m. in New York, a sign of clear market disappointment with the lack of immediate action.

Merkel and Sarkozy also said they did not want to increase the size of the EU’s 440 billion euro rescue fund, which may have to take over a massive, multibillion euro European Central Bank program to support the prices of Spanish and Italian bonds by buying them up on the open market. The ECB spent 22 billion euros ($32 billion) in the first week of the program alone and says it wants to hand off that responsibility in coming months to the rescue fund, or European Financial Stability Facility.

Sarkozy described the EFSF’s current funding as “a considerable sum” and “sufficient.”

The two leaders also proposed a Europe-wide tax on financial transactions and pledged to harmonize their countries’ corporate taxes in a move aimed at showing the eurozone’s largest members are “marching in lockstep” to protect the euro.

Shares of financial markets operators, such as NYSE Euronext and the IntercontinentalExchange Inc., already under pressure as part of a broader sell-off of financial stocks, tumbled.

NYSE Euronext fell 10 percent, or $2.87, to $26.10, leading the S&P 500 Index in percentage losses. The IntercontinentalExchange was not far behind, falling 5.5 percent, or $6.33, to $110.10, the third biggest loser on the S&P.

Investors may be concerned about how the euro bloc will put in place what its leaders have suggested and how a proposed tax on financial transactions may effect demand for European assets, said David Gilmore of Foreign Exchange Analytics in Essex, Connecticut.

“On the surface, it sounds very bold, a federal `eurozone,”’ Gilmore said. “The practical part still seems, to me anyway, to be a pipe dream.”

He said the plan to form a deeper fiscal union among the 17 countries using the euro “made the euro credible,” but governments might not want to surrender their rights to set tax and budget policies.

But some analysts say only tighter fiscal convergence between the euro zone’s 17 members, with the block’s strongest members guaranteeing the debts of the weaker partners, will resolve a crisis that has dragged on for nearly two years and resulted in a string of sovereign bailouts worth hundreds of billions of euros.

Sarkozy and Merkel stressed their commitment to defending the common currency, a cornerstone of integration on this long-fractured continent. They presented their proposals after meeting Tuesday in Paris amid signs of economic slowdown, and after an exceptionally turbulent week on financial markets prompted by concern about Europe’s financial health.

Sarkozy told reporters that he and Merkel want a “true European economic government” that would consist of the heads of state and government of all eurozone nations.

The new body would meet twice a year _ and more in times of crisis _ and be led initially by Van Rompuy for a 21/2-year term. After that, Sarkozy suggested, it could be opened up to other heads of states and government.

The move appeared a step toward the closer long-term economic integration that many analysts have said is inevitable to make the euro experiment survive, though it was unclear how much effect it would have in the short term.

“There has to be a stronger coordination of financial and economic policy” to protect the euro, Merkel said.

Some were not impressed.

“Investors might be left wondering what was the point of this meeting,” said Neil MacKinnon, economist at VTB Capital in London. MacKinnon said the measures outlined amounted to “well-intentioned rhetoric” but are not the “silver bullet” needed to settle Europe’s debt and banking crisis once and for all.

The chancellor stressed that the crisis built up over several years by the actions of several member states, and there is no solution to tackle the crisis within days now.

“We will regain the lost confidence,” she said. “That is why we go into a phase with a new quality of cooperation within the eurozone,” she added, referring to the proposal of forming a permanent economic government for the eurozone.

Sarkozy and Merkel will send a letter outlining their proposals to Van Rompuy on Wednesday.

The leaders want the new budget rules to be enshrined in euro zone constitutions by summer of next year. They said the common French-German corporate tax would be established by 2013.

The two leaders ruled out, however, issuing common government debt in the form of eurobonds, at least for now, despite demand by many investors for such a bold but politically difficult move.

Sarkozy said that euro bonds could be considered “one day, but at the end of a process of European integration, not at the beginning.”

In afternoon trading in New York Tuesday, the euro slid to $1.4385 as investors digested the proposal for greater coordination. It had spiked to $1.4472 immediately after French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced their plan.

Late Monday, it was worth $1.4451.

Not all the missteps that President Obama has made have been entirely his fault.  But he is going to have a lot of work to do in the next four months in order to win back disaffected supporters.  When he first came to power the president promised to usher in a new era of cooperation with the Republicans.  He wanted to change the rancor which was part of the culture in Washington.  Armed with the ideals that he articulated so glowingly during his presidential run, President Obama came into office determined to put them to work.  Then reality struck!  He encountered a Republican-led Congress hell-bent on denying him any successes.  The Republicans said “no” to the president at every turn, and had their right-wing talk-show surrogates praying for the president to fail.  After sticking his hand out a number of times to the Republicans – only to have it bitten – President Obama was too reluctant to go it alone.  Every time the Republicans voiced opposition to his proposals, he was too quick to tone them down.  With this policy of appeasement, he removed the “public-option” from his healthcare plan, which cost him dearly with Democrats.

Also, much to the dismay of many voters, President Obama did not honor his campaign pledges to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and to bring the soldiers home from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Instead, he has increased the number of troops and lengthened the timetable for the troop withdrawal.  The irony here is that the same Republicans that chastised him for wanting to bring the troops home too early, are now complaining that he’s letting them stay too long! President Obama has also continued many of the abhorrent Bush administration’s policies regarding the Patriot Act and has failed to properly regulate corporations that are damaging the environment and endangering lives, especially in the energy sector.

In politics however, no-one is ever able to deliver 100% of their campaign promises.  Proving to the public that you are trying and having some successes along the way, is usually enough to keep supporters happy.  Will Obama’s continued attempts to bend over backwards for the Republicans threaten his reelection bid?  Maybe.  While I would not take too much from the Republican gains in the 2010 mid-term elections, there are some lessons that can be learned to help the president win a second term.  Though Obama entered office on a wave of public support, independents who did not think “change” came soon enough voted Republican and many Democrats just stayed home.   This resulted in the anti-worker laws now being passed in Wisconsin by Governor Scott Walker and should serve as a national wake-up call for Obama supporters and help re-energize them for his 2012 run.

The biggest issue for the president will be the state of the economy.  The president usually takes all the credit for the good times and gets all the blame for the bad times.  President Obama inherited the recession from President Bush but will be blamed if unemployment doesn’t start going down.  If the economy starts to turn around, he definitely has the charisma to get back enough of his following.  There is definitely enough time for Obama to get reacquainted with the voters before November.  He’ll help himself more by standing up to the Republicans and getting back to some of the campaign pledges he outlined at the start of his first term.  Also, if the Republican nomination gets bloody with infighting among Tea Party and traditional GOP members, his job will be that much easier.  But even with the sputtering economy, I’d still put my money on President Obama to repeat assuming he does not mess it up by going back to his over-compromising ways.

Ndaba, 52, was born and educated in the coastal South African city of Durban.  This was not the free South Africa of today.  In 1978, he enrolled at the University of Zululand, but his studies were interrupted three years later when he was suspended for political activism. “Once you are expelled,” Nada said, “it is very difficult for you to be absorbed because you end up being blacklisted.”

Fortunately, Ndaba was able to return to his studies and completed his degree in 1986. He was employed as a school teacher before embarking on a career as a diplomat in a new and free South Africa.

He first served as diplomat in New York from 1995 to 1998, followed by stint in Rwanda from 2000 to 2004.  Prior to his current position, Ndaba served as a Deputy High Commissioner of South Africa to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 2004 to 2010.

This year, the consulate opened its doors to host an Africa Day Celebration on May 25th. The event brought in over a hundred participants representing various business and community interests.  Africa Day is an annual commemoration of the founding of the Organization of African Unity in 1963.
South Africa is part of the South African Development Community (SADC), one of five major inter-governmental regions in the continent of Africa.  The others are the Arab Maghreb Union (representing the northern part of the continent), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),  Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the East African Community (EAC).

For the last five years, there’s been a move to create a sixth region to represent  the African Diaspora including the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).  A summit was planned to discuss the inclusion of the CARICOM nations, but was shelved upon the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki.  However, upon the election of President Jacob Zuma, the talks have resumed.

Reflecting on his struggles against oppression, he does not forget the contributions of those outside South Africa, who tirelessly spoke out against apartheid.  “Had it not been for the pressure which was mounted in the main by our CARICOM, Caribbean Community, brothers and sisters,” Ndaba said,  “South Africa wouldn’t be free today.”