Business Ideas

Archive for January, 2012

Release Date: 01/10/2012Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – Jan. 10, 2012) – EPA’s New England office is awarding 13 grants across New England under its 2011 Healthy Communities Grant Program, totaling approximately $372,000, to support community projects addressing environmental and public health issues.  The projects funded through this program will result in reduced environmental risk, protection and improvement of human health, and improvements to the quality of life for communities across New England. 
The Healthy Communities Grant Program combines resources from nine EPA programs to strategically address environmental and public health issues burdening New England communities.  The goal of the program is to competitively select projects that will achieve measurable environmental and public health results in communities across New England.   Eligible projects must meet several criteria including: (1) location  in /or directly benefit one or more of the EPA’s  identified Target Investment Areas; and (2) identification of how the proposed project will achieve measurable environmental and/or public health results in one or more of the EPA’s identified Target Program Areas.  Target Investment Areas and Target Program Areas are identified in the annual Request for Initial Proposal. 
In 2011, the Target Investment Areas included Environmental Justice Areas of Potential Concern, Narragansett Bay Watershed, areas with Sensitive Populations, and/or Urban Areas.  Target Program Areas included:  Asthma, Capacity-Building for Environmental and Public Health Issues, Healthy Indoor/Outdoor Environments, Healthy Schools, Narragansett Bay Watershed-Based Water Quality Management, and Urban Natural Resources.
The grants were awarded to the following recipients:
Connecticut:
Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust was awarded $25,000 for their “Bridgeport East Side Healthy Homes Initiative” project.  The project will conduct a targeted neighborhood approach to addressing environmentally related illnesses including: inhalant allergens that contribute to asthma triggers; and lead contamination that poisons young children. 
Town of Stratford, CT was awarded $25,000 for their “Reducing Exposure to Residual Nicotine among Children” project.  The project will develop and implement a community marketing/outreach strategy about Third Hand Smoke and Residual Nicotine Exposure (THS/RNE) to be incorporated into existing asthma programs. 
Maine:
Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point was awarded $25,000 for their “Algae to Diesel Fuel Production in Backyard Bio-Reactors for Home” project.  The project will build on an existing pilot project for producing home heating oil from algae grown in backyard reactors in order to reduce carbon and sulfur emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. This will ultimately improve ambient air quality and and have positive impact on Tribal health. 
Massachusetts:
Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health was awarded $24,999 for their “Healthy Learning Environments for Asthma Prevention” project.  The project will achieve measurable reductions in environmental triggers; improve asthma management, and build capacity to address environmental inequities in struggling schools.
Ecumenical Social Action Committee was awarded $25,000 for their “Boston Asthma Initiative” project.  The project will provide a holistic integrated clinical and environmental approach to managing asthma for children in the City of Boston. 
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection was awarded $39,235 for their “MA/RI Municipal Management Stormwater Assistance Initiative” project.  The project will improve the water quality of Narragansett Bay and its tributary rivers by improving the effectiveness of municipal stormwater management. 
Health Resources in Action was awarded $35,000 for their “Promoting Purchaser Demand” project.  The project will reduce health disparities, and promote environmental justice, health and safety of low-income and minority populations in New England by increasing the demand for Asthma Services which will result in increased financing/and reimbursement by medical insurance companies. 
New Hampshire:
New Hampshire Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health was awarded $25,000 for their “Healthy Schools, Children, Minds” project.  The project will expand the Tools for Schools program statewide in order to increase a) school building maintenance assessment, b) reporting to the Department of Education, and c) school building environmental improvements. 
Manchester Health Department was awarded $24,999 for their “Asthma Education & Outreach Program” project.  The project will advance the Department’s existing comprehensive pediatric asthma education and outreach program through the official adoption and integration of a holistic healthy homes approach to environmental diseases. 
Rhode Island:
Childhood Lead Action Project (CLAP) was awarded $25,000 for their “Up to Code Providence” project.  The project will expand CLAP’s Get the Lead Out Coalition to expand their work on childhood lead poisoning to include childhood asthma in order to protect children from severe health outcomes resulting from mold, pests, lead hazards, or unsafe renovation practices. 
Save the Bay was awarded $34,556 for their “Flood Hazard Reduction and Water Quality Improvement in the Upper Narragansett and Mount Hope Bay Watersheds” project.  The project will assess coastal adaptation techniques and include activities to provide at risk towns with planning tools for adapting to predicated climate changes.
Rhode Island Natural History Survey was awarded $39,209 for their “Expanding Watershed Counts” project.  The project will develop consensus-based freshwater quality indicators for the rivers and streams in the Narragansett Bay watershed.  
Vermont:
Parks Place Community Resource Center was awarded $25,000 for their “Contractor and Landlord Educational Outreach” project.  The project will reduce childhood exposure to lead contaminated dust during renovation and repairs.
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<span class="articleLocation”>(Reuters) – Civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Friday urged Grammy organizers to reinstate 31 ethnic and minority musical categories that have been cut from the music industry’s top awards.

In a letter to Recording Academy president Neil Portnow, sent three weeks before the February 12 Grammy Awards show, Jackson said the elimination of awards for Native American and Hawaiian musicians, and cuts in Latin Jazz, R&B and other categories were ill-considered and unfair.

Jackson said some of the categories dropped by the Recording Academy in a major overhaul last year “constitute the very heart of the music that nourishes and inspires minority communities.”

Writing on behalf of the Rainbow Push Coalition of U.S. civil rights groups, Jackson called for an urgent meeting with Portnow to try and resolve the conflict that has spurred months of protests and a lawsuit by leading musicians.

Portnow said on Friday he was “receptive to meeting with the Rev. Jackson to explain how our nomination process works and to show the resulting diverse group of nominees it produced” for this year’s Grammy Awards.

Paul Simon, Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt and Bobby Sanabria are among dozens of musicians who have protested the decision, announced last April, to slash the number of Grammy categories to 78 from 109 for the 2012 Grammy Awards.

Some categories, such as Hawaiian and Native American albums were dropped completely, while others including Latin music and R&B saw the number of award categories halved.

Portnow said at the time the changes were necessary to maintain “the prestige of the highest and only peer-recognized award in music.”

Sanabria and three other Latin Jazz musicians filed a lawsuit in New York in August saying the cuts would harm their careers financially. They have also called for a boycott of the CBS network, which broadcasts the annual Grammy Awards show in Los Angeles.

The 2012 Grammy Awards take place on February12. Rapper Kanye West leads the field of contenders with seven nominations followed by British singer Adele, Bruno Mars and alternative rock band Foo Fighters.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Corrects Jackson name in paragraph 1.

New York: Brandon Marshall was the star of the show with a Pro Bowl record four touchdowns to lead the AFC to 59-41 victory over the NFC at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii on Sunday.

Marshall, who caught six touchdowns for the Miami Dolphins during the regular season, had set his sights on capturing the game’s MVP award and ultimately delivered as he dominated the All-Star showcase.

"This is my playoff," Marshall told reporters. "I came in with the goal of trying to win the MVP. You never know when you’re going to be back so [I went for it]. It’s an honour."

In what was the third straight Pro Bowl played in advance of the Super Bowl, the offensive exhibition in sunny Honolulu provided a healthy appetiser for next week’s grand finale between the New York Giants and New England Patriots.

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The US Dollar sank to a new 2012 low this week as a dovish statement from the FOMC meeting weakened Dollar prospects and a combination of improved US fourth quarter corporate earnings along with further progress in the Greek debt deal brought optimism back to the markets. The US Dollar was not spared against any of the asset classes – the Dollar Index closed the week at 78.94, its lowest level since mid-December, and was particularly weaker against the Australian Dollar which gained 1.7% to close at its highest level since the beginning of November. Amongst the commodities, Gold closed at 1739 (+4.44%).

By Gaurav Kashyap, Head of DGCX Desk, Alpari ME DMCC

US Fed keeps QE3 option open, rates low through 2013

If positive US Q4 earnings and improved sentiments weakened the US Dollar, the FOMC’s statement from Wednesday cemented the bearish move of the Greenback. In the announcement, the Fed kept rates unchanged between 0.00% and 0.25% but more alarmingly for US Dollar bulls, pledged to keep rates exceptionally low until 2014 (revised from their previous stance to keep rates exceptionally low until 2013).

Targeting the US labour market and the housing sector, the Fed stated that to support a stronger recovery the Committee “expects to maintain a highly accommodative stance for monetary policy.” The comment left the door open for QE3 measures which were cheered by US markets with funds flowing into equities & higher yielding assets.

With additional easing measures bringing more liquidity (and as a result more US Dollars) into the US economy, the US Dollar tanked across the board and dropped to its lowest level in months.

Risk moods were also on a high following some rather robust tech earnings from Q4 – honourable mention goes to tech giant Apple who this week announced a whopping EPS of $13.87 on a net income of $13.1bn from the last three months of 2011. Apple shares gained 6.2% following the earnings announcement and took the company’s market cap to a staggering $415bn, dethroning ExxonMobil as the largest US company in terms of market value.

The other headline piece of data from the US, was Friday’s Q4 GDP expectations. The data showed that the US economy grew at 2.8% (missing expectations of 3.0%) during what many expected to be a robust fourth quarter for the world’s largest economy. Personal consumption also dropped to 2.0% (exp 2.4%).

EU finance ministers hold Greek debt deal talks

Across the pond, EU finance ministers kicked off the week with their first FinMin meetings of 2012 to discuss the pending Greek debt deal and the private sector’s involvement in any restructuring.

With negotiations ongoing, the topics of discussion include the required voluntary participation rates, swapping of existing bonds with newer bonds of longer maturities as well as what the role of the ECB would be in any debt swap deal. Also of note out of Europe was the confirmation that Iran would be placed under sanctions from exporting energy products to the EU. With the markets largely expecting such a move, Crude prices actually sold off, but the WTI contract closed the week at 99.56.

Reserve Bank of India reduces cash reserves ratio requirement

And finally, this week saw the Reserve Bank of India keep policy rates unchanged and announced a reduction in the cash reserve ratio requirement to 5.5% (lower than the expected 6.0%). The readjusted CRR, the amount of deposits that banks must keep deposited with the RBI Indian markets, is a move which increases liquidity and promotes growth in the nation and is a reversal of the actions over the past two years in a bid to restrict inflation which saw the RBI hike rates from 5.75% up to 8.5%.

The Indian Rupee and Indian equity markets responded very positively on the news. The INR shed almost 2.00% against the US Dollar this week to reach its strongest levels since November. Similarly, the Bombay Stock Exchange gained 3.3% in trading this week, and closed at a two month high of 17233. It was the fourth consecutive week of gains for the USD/INR pair which has dropped 7.30% since the start of 2012. The strengthening of the Indian Rupee has seen the Indian debt and equity markets benefited from strong in-flows from foreign institutional investors. In the first three weeks of January, FIIs have invested $1.56bn in Indian equities and an additional $29.5bn in Indian debt.

Week ahead: looking to US, China manufacturing data

Looking at the week ahead, tremendous event risk to drive pricing – along with the ongoing Greek negotiations which will continue to drive market sentiment, we turn our focus to Wednesday’s manufacturing data out of China (Chinese PMI Manufacturing at 0100 GMT – expected at 49.6) and the US (ISM Manufacturing at 1500 GMT – expected at 54.5).

This will lead up to the all important US jobs reading on Friday (150K exp). Friday’s jobs data will be particularly important considering December’s figure (200K act v 150K exp) were perhaps overinflated as they were supported by a bump in temporary hiring which came as a result of the busy holiday season. We saw a downward revision to November’s reading last month, and we can expect to see more downward revisions to December’s reading in the range of 150K-160K when the number releases on Friday.

Qatar, a former pearl-fishing centre and once one of the poorest Gulf states, is now one of the richest countries in the region, thanks to the exploitation of large oil and gas fields since the 1940s.

In 1995 Crown Prince Hamad bin Khalifa deposed his father to become emir and since then he has introduced some liberal reforms.

Press freedom has been extended and the Qatari satellite TV station Al Jazeera has become one of the most important broadcasters in the Arab world.

Elections in 1999 for a 29-member municipal council were the first in which Qatari women were allowed to vote and stand for office.

A constitution providing for limited democratic reforms came into force in 2005. The new basic law provided for a legislature – the Advisory Council – that would have 30 elected members and 15 members appointed by the emir.

In 2011, the emir announced that Qatar would hold its first national legislative elections in 2013.

The population is small. Foreigners – including labourers attracted by a construction boom – outnumber natives. Oil money funds an all-embracing welfare state, with many services being free or heavily subsidised.

Possessing more than 15% of the world's proven gas reserves, Qatar has ambitions to become a global energy giant.

The Address Hotels and Resorts has a number of properties in Dubai. The majority of these are based in the Downtown area of the city, with the exception of one – the Dubai Marina hotel. Away from the airport and attached to one of Dubai’s smallest malls, the Dubai Marina Mall, the hotel has had to work hard to establish a reputation similar to its sister properties in Downtown.

Given the extent of competition even from within the same group of hotels, it is sensible that the property does not rely solely on one source for its visitors. Serviced apartments are located in the same building as hotel rooms, while there is also a focus on the meetings and exhibitions industry.

Marina location in Dubai

The location in Dubai Marina means the hotel is only ten minutes walk to the beach and is close to business hubs such as Dubai Media City and Internet City. The hotel is also located in between two metro stations.

The lobby has a clean cut feel to it, not quite clinical, but efficient in its welcome. The staff have a professional attitude while retaining a personal touch.

The hotel features two main restaurants – Mazina and Rive Gauche. Mazina is a great location for lunch. It has a breezy, open decor and serves up buffets with a variety of cuisine from all over the world. Views from the restaurant would be more spectacular if Dubai Marina was completely finished, however a number of ongoing projects hinder the surrounding environment.

For evening dining, the hotel boasts Rive Gauche, a French restaurant which oozes class. A champagne bar marks the entry into Rive Gauche and provides diners with a comfortable setting to ease into the luxury on offer. The menu features a number of Gallic dishes including foie gras, shoulder of boar and snails. As is expected from this type of cuisine, the food is rich in flavour and delicate on the taste buds.

Leisure facilities on offer

The hotel’s gym is not huge, although it is adequately equipped. Outside, the swimming pool is a decent size and there is a calming feel to the entire pool area during the day. A bar serving drinks and food is located next to the pool.

The main highlight of the leisure facilities on offer is the spa, which makes you feel a million miles away from the busy shopping mall which is just next door. From the entrance right through to the treatment rooms themselves, the place exudes calm. The Zen-like atmosphere makes for a more comfortable experience when trying out the treatments on offer. The masseurs are both polite and skilled in their jobs and as a whole the spa offers a wonderful escape from the pressures of a business trip.

The rooms of the hotel are decorated tastefully and have plenty of space. The views let them down, but this will change in time as Dubai Marina nears completion. They are well decorated and spacious, with luxury bathroom fittings finishing off the tasteful decor.

Overall this is a classy, well designed hotel with very few rough edges. It’s only flaws come from its location, but what is outside the hotel is more than made up for by the insides.