“Global Entry expedites the customs and security process for trusted air travelers through biometric verification, while helping DHS ensure the safety of all airline passengers,” said Napolitano. “Making Global Entry permanent will improve customer service at airports across the country and enable law enforcement to focus on higher-risk travelers.”

Global Entry — currently available at 20 US international airports — allows pre-approved members a streamlined, automated alternative to regular passport processing lines. The program currently reduces average wait times by more than 70 percent, with more than 75 percent of travelers using Global Entry processed in under five minutes.

The final rule, published on Monday, sets forth federal regulations that replaces the current pilot with a permanent Global Entry program. The final rule provides CBP with the ability more to readily expand the program to additional US international airports. In addition, age eligibility criteria have changed to allow more families to enjoy the benefits of the program. Persons under the age of 18 who meet the general eligibility criteria and have the consent of a parent or legal guardian will now be eligible to participate in Global Entry.

Those members currently participating in the pilot will not experience a break in membership or need to re-apply when the program becomes permanent. Members currently participating in the pilot will have their time credited to the five-year membership as proposed in the rule.

At Global Entry kiosks, members insert their passport or lawful permanent resident card into a document reader, provide digital fingerprints for comparison with fingerprints on file, answer customs declaration questions on the kiosk’s touch-screen, and then present a transaction receipt to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers before leaving the inspection area.

To date, there have been approximately 1.8 million admissions with Global Entry by more than 260,000 members and more than 1 million trusted travelers receive Global Entry benefits. The program is available to US citizens and US lawful permanent residents, as well as Mexican nationals. Citizens of the Netherlands may also apply under a special reciprocal arrangement that links Global Entry with the Dutch Privium program in Amsterdam. Canadian citizens and residents may participate in Global Entry through membership in the NEXUS program.

For more information on this or other CBP Trusted Traveler programs, or for an application to enroll in the Global Entry pilot program, visit the CBP or Global Entry websites.

At the opening session of the seventh meeting of the working group on cyber-crime of the meetings of ministers of justice or other ministers or attorneys general of the Americas (REMJA), the OAS secretary general stressed the “paradox” that the rapid change of technology and telecommunications poses in comparison with its use for negative purposes.

He said that these advances allow for “unimaginable developments to improve the quality of life for millions of people around the world, including: education, trade, industrial development, research, and the progress of science,” but at the same time, he warned that “it can become a powerful weapon that produces serious economic and security damages.”

“We are facing criminal methods with unexpected characteristics, that bring in new problems, giving the fact that to these crimes are held with no borders, no customs, no passports, no visas, and there is no need to even be in the country where the crimes are committed,” highlighted the highest representative of the hemispheric organization, who in this context made special emphasis to the need for strengthening international legal cooperation against cybercrime given its trans-boundary nature.

Insulza noted the OAS efforts to support countries in this struggle, through mechanisms such as conducting regional training workshops for the development of legislation, and to strengthen international legal cooperation; the creation of special units in fourteen countries on the continent to investigate and prosecute such crimes, the consolidation of the Inter-American Cooperation Portal on Cyber-Crime, the development of a regional survey on the subject, and the progress accomplished in the collaboration with other agencies and international bodies as well as with the private sector.

“All these steps are crucial to deal with cyber criminals through international cooperation, but if we want to get better results, our priority remains to continue strengthening the legal frameworks in our countries and ensuring the protection of other interests that are equally legitimate, such as access to information, copyright, and adequate protection of privacy,” he said.

The seventh meeting of the Group on Cybercrime, which takes place on Monday and Tuesday at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC, is chaired by US representative Rodolfo Orjales, and includes in its agenda topics such as: the progress made on the implementation of the Comprehensive Inter-American Cyber-security Strategy, cooperation between authorities responsible for investigating and prosecuting crime, the existing international legal frameworks in this area and recent developments at national level.

The working group, established in 1999, is the principal hemispheric forum to strengthen international cooperation in the prevention, investigation and prosecution of cybercrime, facilitate the exchange of information and experience among its members and make necessary recommendations for collaboration among OAS member states and with other organizations and mechanisms.

Minister Peters also advised that Caribbean Airlines has confirmed 220,000 visitors expected for 2012.

Under the chairmanship of Dr. Gonsalves, the three Prime Ministers first met with members of LIAT’s Board of Directors and management to discuss the way forward for the regional carrier; and following this the shareholder Prime Ministers, Board of Directors and management met with representatives of LIAT’s 10 trade unions in an effort to foster communication and dialogue among LIAT’s stakeholders.

At a press conference following the meetings, Dr. Gonsalves pointed to the EC$60 million in losses which the airline had incurred over the last two years and noted that the shareholders had agreed with the airline’s management on certain steps for effecting the stabilization of the company. These would involve a range of measures including reductions in the airline’s schedule, enhanced marketing and promotions in a number of markets, improving efficiency within certain departments, and targeted staff reductions aimed at reining-in escalating recurrent costs.

Dr. Gonsalves indicated that the shareholders had noted the continuing challenges which the company faced, including high oil prices; continuing weaknesses in the regional and international economy; intensified competition on LIAT routes; the costs of maintaining an ageing fleet; and industrial relations problems.

Dr. Gonsalves noted that the company had been mandated to put together proposals for possible restructuring of LIAT which would be presented to the shareholders for their review.

He pointed to the significance of the company’s planned re-fleeting efforts, and indicated that following in-depth technical work by a LIAT technical team, shareholder governments would be reviewing the various proposals with the aim of meeting shortly in order to arrive at a recommendation as to the best choices for acquisition of new aircraft for the company.

In relation to the meeting with the unions, Dr. Gonsalves noted the need to continue the dialogue and indicated that a further meeting was planned for LIAT’s management with the unions for the following week to seek to address outstanding issues including discussion of the company’s strategic plan and objectives.

On the matter of outstanding pension payments due to LIAT staff members from CLICO, Dr. Gonsalves noted that information from the Government of Barbados indicated the likelihood of this mater being satisfactorily resolved in the near future.

Chairman of the LIAT Board of Directors Dr. Jean Holder pointed out to the meeting LIAT’s continuing lead role in the movement of people throughout the region. He noted that LIAT remained committed to closer cooperation with other regional carriers where the interests of the airline and its shareholders were sufficiently guaranteed.

In his remarks, Prime Minster Stuart noted the continuing importance of LIAT to the economic and social development of the region as well as its significance to its shareholder countries, and indicated the continuing support of the three shareholder governments to the airline including working with the company’s management to chart a way towards its long term sustainability. “We have, in our discussions today, laid the foundation for meaningful progress on the issue of LIAT,” Prime Minister Stuart said.

When Dan Brown’s deftly plotted work of fiction, The Da Vinci Code, was released in 2003, the book succeeded in stirring controversy, challenging the origins of the Christian faith and its central founding figure, the Galilean Jesus Christ.

Since then, numerous incisive and persuasive responses have been produced to challenge Dan Brown’s speculative endeavor that threatened to malign an established religious institution. Among the publications that provided the most thorough and impassioned debunking is Persaud’s work. Unlike other undertakings refuting Dan Brown’s novel, however, The Da Vinci Code Revisited highlights the historical inaccuracies Persaud identifies in The Da Vinci Code, countering his arguments with an insightful presentation of the Christian gospel.

“The Da Vinci Code, the book to which my own book, The Da Vinci Code Revisited: A Conclusive Refutation of the Widespread, Sinister Lie, constitutes a response, is a deliberate, shameless assault on my religion”, Persaud insists. “I felt I had to defend my faith.”

This book was adjudged the first prize winner in the theology category of the 2010 Christian Choice Book Awards, a national inspirational book competition held annually, which attracts hundreds of self-published books from across America.

“There will not be a sequel to The Da Vinci Code Revisited as far as I know, but I am working on my sixth book, Little Miracles, Big Miracles & Supernatural Experiences, a true story of my experiences as a Christian believer.”

When asked what his advice to would-be authors, Persaud says, “Read widely and objectively and never be afraid to defend your beliefs and convictions.”

Persaud served as an auditor with Touche Ross, Deloittes & Co. (UK) as a senior banking official at Guyana’s premier full-service bank, the Guyana National Cooperative Bank, and as a member on the board of directors of the Guyana National Cooperative Bank Trust Corporation, the largest lending institution at the time in Guyana, South America—the land of his birth.

After emigrating to the USA in the early 1980s, Persaud continued working in the financial services field and held senior positions at The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP, New York) and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

All of Persaud’s books—The Da Vinci Code Revisited, God In Our Midst, Famous People Speak About Jesus and Transformed Lives —are available at the Xlibris bookstore.

Hamlet Mark, who is based in Miami, refers to the group as the “triumvirate.” He has written that the group includes NDC leader and prime minister of Grenada, Tillman Thomas; NDC deputy leader and finance minister Nazim Burke; and former NDC chairman and minister of information and national mobilization, Glen Noel.

“For this past week, I have been quietly following reports from Grenada that some members of the ‘triumvirate’, in cahoots with others, are on a specific trajectory to politically destroy some of their own,” Mark writes in his latest internet blog, titled “The politics of destruction has begun.”

“There has been a strong suspicion that the phones of some members of cabinet have been bugged,” Mark added. “The evidence has largely been circumstantial – and so I have never written about it, since I was quietly digging deeper for a few weeks now. But the writing is on the wall, when it became clear last week that a specific request had gone out to the FIU – Financial Intelligence Unit – directing that they demand the phone records of a very senior government official. And I mean very senior.”

Mark, who campaigned for the NDC in its run to victory in the 2008 general elections, claims “that a clique in this government has embarked on the politics of destruction. The Glen Noel-led Tillman Thomas wing of the NDC has declared a scorched earth policy.”

Members of the clique, he says, “are satisfied that they cannot win the next election on their own – and nobody else will stand to win it, which makes the prime minister – without him realizing – being the biggest agent for the return of Keith Mitchell.”

Passengers who depart or connect to these new flights through Copa’s Hub of the Americas at Tocumen International Airport will have access to a network of 63 destinations in 29 countries in North, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

As part of the airline’s strategic plan, Copa will add 10 new Boeing 737-800s Next Generation aircraft this year, for a total of 83 aircraft equipped with cutting-edge technology.

Copa announced the new destinations at a press conference in Panama during the reveal of its new corporate campaign and highlight the airline’s 2011 achievements. Last year, the airline transported 8.8 million passengers and experienced a growth in capacity of more than 20% over 2010.

“Our sustained growth in the past few years has reinforced our position as the leading Latin American provider of passenger and cargo services and made an impact on the business and tourism development of Panama and Latin America,” said Copa Airlines CEO, Pedro Heilbron. “We have opened doors to important key markets in the region with connectivity to 59 cities in the Americas.”

Copa’s achievements have been possible because “of our talented personnel, as we point out in our corporate campaign,” Heilbron added. “We will continue to strengthen our leadership position by offering the best service, flight frequencies and destinations for our passengers.”

Heilbron said that Copa Airlines will continue to add routes as well as enhance schedules and connections in 2012, and expects to transport 10 million passengers and to experience a 20% increase in capacity.

This growth will have a positive impact on the local economy. Copa expects to generate more than 626 new positions in 2012 and have more than 7,900 employees system wide by year’s end.

The airline also will reinforce its position as a world-class Panamanian company when it joins Star Alliance, the largest global airline alliance, in April 2012. As a result, Copa expects to increase codeshare agreements with additional airlines, especially in Asia and Europe. In addition, Copa will reaffirm its alliance with Continental Airlines (now United) and its award-winning frequent-flyer program: MileagePlus.

New Service

Recife, Brazil: Starting on June 23, 2012, Copa will offer four-times-weekly service to Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco in the northern part of Brazil. The new route will be Copa’s first in the northern region of Brazil and its seventh Brazilian destination.

Liberia, (Guanacaste) Costa Rica: This twice-weekly flight will increase travel options through the Hub of the Americas to the attractive province of Guanacaste, in Costa Rica, beginning June 24, 2012. Copa’s flight will provide the first jet service to this major tourist area from Latin America and will be Copa’s second destination in Costa Rica.

Las Vegas, Nev.: As part of its growing North American route system, Copa Airlines will offer four-times-weekly flights to Las Vegas, a major business, convention and tourism destination. The new flight, to begin June 27, 2012, will offer the first direct connecting service from Las Vegas to Central and South America. Las Vegas will be Copa’s seventh U.S. destination.

Curacao: Copa will operate flights to this major tourist destination four times a week starting June 10, 2012. Curacao is Copa’s 13th destination in the Caribbean.

Copa Airlines important achievements in 2011

The airline achieved an on-time performance above 90 percent, among the best worldwide.

The airline added nine destinations to its network in 2011: Toronto, Canada; Brasilia and Porto Alegre, Brazil; Nassau, Bahamas; Asuncion, Paraguay; Chicago, Ill.; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Monterrey, Mexico; and Cucuta, Colombia. The airline rounded out the year with a total of 59 destinations in 28 countries in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean from its Hub of the Americas.

Copa ended 2011 with a fleet of 73 aircraft, having taken delivery of 10 Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft. The airline also generated more than 886 new employment positions.

In June 2011, Copa Airlines implemented an important operational change in its Hub of the Americas, expanding from four to six flight banks (connecting schedules), providing passengers with improved connection times and more frequent flights to all its destinations.

As a result of new routes and frequencies, Copa Airlines increased its available seat mile capacity by approximately 22 percent. The airline has maintained a sustained growth of 15 percent over the last five years.

About Copa Holdings

Copa Airlines and Copa Airlines Colombia, subsidiaries of Copa Holdings, are leading Latin American providers of passengers and cargo services The airlines provide service to 59 destinations in 28 countries in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean, operating one of the youngest and most modern fleets in the industry, consisting of 73 aircraft: 47 Boeing 737NG aircraft and 26 Embraer-190s.. To make reservations, check seat assignment, access OnePass frequent-flyer accounts, create a trip log, print boarding passes or pay for tickets via secure transactions in 11 currencies, visit copaair.com. Copa recently launched its mobile website, m.copaair.com, becoming the first airline in Latin America to offer travelers the ability to use electronic boarding passes. Copa Airlines will join Star Alliance in April 2012.

The IDB is partnering with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank to help policy-makers tackle this challenge and design and implement effective retirement-income policies. The project, Pensions at a Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean, will compare pension systems in the region using an OECD methodology. The most recent edition of the OECD’s report – Pensions at a Glance: Retirement-income Systems in OECD and G20 Countries – looked at pension provision in 43 economies around the world and was published in March 2011.

Pensions at a Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean will be the first analysis of its kind in the region, providing a wide range of indicators for comparing pension policies and their outcomes among all of the IDB’s 26 member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. “We are very excited to be partnering with the OECD and the World Bank in this endeavor,” said Kei Kawabata, Manager of the IDB’s Social Sector Department. “Because many countries are thinking about reforming their pension systems, there is an urgent need for this work. The information generated will help to diagnose problems with current pension programs.”

Pension systems typically involve detailed and complex rules, so comparing them between countries is difficult. Nevertheless, policy-makers can learn important lessons from the experience of other countries in the design of pension systems and the implementation of pension reforms. The new report will provide reliable and comparable, cross-country information on the value of pension entitlements for workers at different levels of earnings and with different career paths. “Latin America is an important partner for the OECD, beyond Chile and Mexico that are members of the organization,” said Monika Queisser, the OECD’s Head of Social Policy. “The extension of the pension models to Latin America and the Caribbean will be an important step in strengthening a policy dialogue with the region.”

Pensions at a Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean also will include demographic data, detailed descriptions of national pension systems, the percent of workers that are covered, and information on old-age income safety nets that countries have in place.

“This is an excellent example of collaboration between international agencies as well as a unique opportunity to produce internationally comparable indicators of pension system design that will inform policymakers and the public debate as to how best to plan for the future of an aging world,” added Robert Palacios, Pensions Team Leader, Human Development Network at the World Bank.

A preliminary analysis will be completed later in 2012 and the final report – including detailed analyses and an assessment of the policy implications of the results – to be published early in 2013.

This project is supported by IDB’s Institutional Strengthening Thematic Fund, funded by a donation from the People’s Republic of China for capacity building and knowledge flows for development effectiveness in the region. It is part of IDB’s regional learning agenda on social security.

Minister of Tourism Industry and Commerce Irfaan Ali (ag) who was at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri this morning to welcome yet another team, the International History Channel, told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that Guyana is seemingly becoming an ideal explorative and tourism destination in the world. The team of over 20 cast members and crew who will be in Guyana for six weeks, shooting and capturing some of the country’s most untouched and pristine areas will further help to advance the country’s uniqueness.

“The History channel has a very wide reach and large market which is consistently looking for different products that will rekindle them with nature and, Guyana’s unique ability will help to meet those demands,” Minister Ali said.

Guyana’s present tourism ability, he noted is as a result of many investments by Government in ensuring the right and necessary infrastructure were put in place to help promote and expand the country’s potential.

He is optimistic that the documentaries that will be produced by the cast will further expand the country’s marketing reach.

“Guyana is already known as one of the leading countries in environmental protection as a result of its Low Carbon Development Strategy that is being discussed around the globe…so the environment itself is product that is in high demand from world, so this is an opportunity for us to further promote what we have,” Minister Ali explained.

Guyana’s unexplored nature is considered as the Caribbean and South America’s best kept secret, according to Tim Evans, President of the New River Holdings, a company that has been in Guyana for over five years.

The 72-minute documentary, “The Third Jihad: Radical Islam’s Vision for America,” was shown to at least 1,489 police officers on a “continuous loop” during counterterrorism training sessions for three months to a year in 2010, according to recently released police documents.

“The New York City police not only showed an offensive anti-Muslim film during training, but its leadership grossly misrepresented the scope of the problem,” said Alison Parker, US program director at Human Rights Watch. “A real investigation is promptly needed, with real results.”

The New York City police have provided false information about the showing of the film since the story broke a year ago, Human Rights Watch said. In the Village Voice article that first reported the story in January 2011, the police spokesman claimed that the film had only been shown “a couple of times.” In March, the spokesman responded to WNYC news by email saying that the video was “aired once while officers were doing paper work.” Police documents, obtained by the Brennan Center for Justice under New York’s Freedom of Information Law after nine months of effort, show this statement was untrue.

The police department’s spokesman also told the media last year that Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly’s appearance in the film came from old video clips and that Kelly had no direct participation in the film’s production. However, after the New York Times recently obtained information from the filmmaker confirming that Kelly was specifically interviewed for the film, the spokesman conceded that this was the case.

Officers from the police training unit in New York told the media that they had obtained the film from the US Department of Homeland Security. The police spokesman asserted that senior police officials had not approved the showing of the film and that the decision was made by a police sergeant who has since been reprimanded. The incident follows in the wake of city admissions last year that the New York police have been conducting aggressive surveillance of Muslim American neighborhoods, mosques, and Muslim student groups in the city.

The film uses video of atrocities purportedly taken from Islamist extremist websites interspersed with interviews and clips from the United States to claim that the aim of “much of Muslim leadership here in America” is to “infiltrate and dominate” the United States. The movie was produced by the New York-based Clarion Fund, which has previously produced films about Islamist terrorism and Iran’s nuclear program.

The city’s response to the incident to date has been strong on condemnation but weak on action, Human Rights Watch said. Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the media on January 24, 2012, that whoever showed the film to police officers during training “exercised some terrible judgment.” He said he was unaware of who did, but, “We’ll find out.”

In a January 25 statement, Commissioner Kelly offered apologies to the Muslim community, “who would find the film inflammatory and its airing on department property, though unauthorized, to be inappropriate.” Neither official apparently made any mention of disciplinary action against those responsible for showing the film or any other steps the city would take to remedy the situation.

“The problem here is not just about the police showing an inflammatory movie,” Parker said. “Their failure to begin disciplinary action shows a serious disregard for the rights of the city’s Muslims and fuels concerns that the Muslim community is being singled out for this kind of treatment. The city needs to demonstrate that the police will not engage in discrimination.”

HRW