THE RECESSSION HITS JAMAICA AS WELL

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Unemployment is becoming a serious problem in Jamaica and to underscore the current situation, 600 persons recently turned up to apply for 10 vacancies at the Captain's Bakery and Grill in St Andrew.

In a recent story in the Jamaica Gleaner entitled “We want work”, the newspaper reported that the cry for jobs has been echoing across the island.


"You have a job can give me?” one frustrated woman asked the Gleaner reporters, while others offered to do any sort of job that was available.

The Gleaner report stated that that thousands more Jamaicans had lost their jobs in the past 12 months and indications that the worsening global economic crisis could cause many others to be sent home.

The government, which was elected in 2007 with a promise to create "jobs, jobs and more jobs", has said that it is “pulling out all the stops” to find new job opportunities.

The Minister of Labour Pearnel Charles has announced that his Ministry will be switching its focus from industrial disputes to human-resource development.

According to Charles, the government will spend approximately J$90 million (US$1 million) to train and place Jamaicans in jobs locally and in the wider western hemisphere.

OH SNAPPPPP MACY'S SHUTTING DOWN STORES

Department-store operator Macy's Inc. said Thursday it will close 11 underperforming stores in nine states -- affecting 960 employees -- and lowered its forecast for the fourth quarter after one of the weakest holiday seasons in years.

Stores slated to close include locations in Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, Fla., Nashville, Tenn., and St. Louis, among others. Cincinnati-based Macy's Inc. says the closures will cost about $65 million, most of which will be booked in the 2008 fourth quarter.

Clearance sales at the stores begin next week.

"These closings are part of our normal-course process to prune underperforming locations each year in order to maintain a healthy portfolio of stores," said Macy's Chief Executive Terry J. Lundgren in a statement.

Employees at the stores that are closing may be considered for open positions at other Macy's stores, the company said.

Department-store operators have been among the harder-hit in the retail sector as consumers cut back amid the recession, hunting for bargains and trading down to discounters.

Macy's reported Thursday that its December sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, fell 4 percent -- still not as bad as the 5.3 percent drop analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting.

Total sales for the five-week period ended Jan. 3 fell 5 percent to $4.4 billion from $4.61 billion last year.

Same-store sales fell 7.5 percent during the combined November and December holiday period. Macy's said the holiday season ended with improving sales in the fourth and fifth weeks of December but that sales were sluggish before that.

The company said it marked items down sharply in the fourth quarter to gain sales and reduce its inventories, but that hurt its margins and led it to lower its profit forecast for the fourth quarter and full year.

Macy's now expects earnings of 90 cents to $1 per share in the fourth quarter, down from its previous guidance of $1.10 to $1.30 per share. Analysts expect earnings of $1.11 per share.

For the full year, the company now expects to earn $1.10 to $1.20 per share, down from its previous forecast of $1.30 to $1.50 per share. Analysts expect a profit of $1.35 per share.

"Viva Daisy!" Rachael Ray, Daisy Martinez Cooking Up New Latino Food Show

Rachael Ray is giving Food Network fans a taste of the Latino kitchen.

Ray is producing a new show for the network starring actress and cookbook author Daisy Martinez. The weekly "Viva Daisy!" premieres Saturday for a six-week run. The show is the network's second focused on Latino foods, joining Ingrid Hoffman's "Simply Delicioso."

Martinez previously hosted public television's Hispanic foods-focused "Daisy Cooks." The new show will be the first from Ray's production company, Watch Entertainment, that doesn't feature Ray.

The collaboration began after Ray and Martinez bonded while participating in a panel discussion together. Ray says she knew immediately she wanted to give Martinez a bigger platform from which to talk about Latino foods.

"She can't tell you about a recipe without telling you why you would want to make it," Ray said in a telephone interview. "Which is so much more important to me than learning a technique."

Martinez said she hopes to use the show to get people excited about the diversity of Latino food. And while she won't limit herself to Ray's signature 30-minute meals, Martinez says her cooking is always user-friendly.

"It's really going to be a peek into my life, into my home, into my kitchen," she said. "I'm going to be sharing my family with you, sharing meals that we have."

15-year-old Bronx girl accused of killing 2 men

Sharell Butler

amd umpierre



john_drago



NEW YORK — With her slight frame and big grin, Sharell Butler still looks like a child. But the 15-year-old has been charged as an adult with killing two men over three days, including one whose dismembered remains were found in a garbage bag.

Butler pleaded not guilty over the weekend to second-degree murder in the deaths of 24-year-old Christopher Umpierre on Dec. 19 and 22-year-old John Hopkins-Drago on Dec. 21. She was being held without bail Monday.

Her attorney, Xavier Donaldson, referred to her as "just a kid" and said she is scared. Her father, James Butler, told the Daily News of New York that he believes his daughter is innocent.

Police say Sharrell Butler and others stabbed Hopkins-Drago at an apartment in the Bronx, perhaps as many as 40 times. A superintendent found the dismembered body stuffed in a garbage can outside a building the same day he was killed.

Hopkins-Drago, who had been adopted from a Russian orphanage by a suburban couple, was estranged from his family and had a history of drug arrests, his brother, Patrick Hopkins-Drago, told the Journal News. He had been living on the streets but had not been reported missing.

According to his brother, the victim was apparently trying to turn his life around this fall, hoping to enroll in classes at Westchester Community College outside New York City.

"He didn't deserve what he got," his mother, Ann Marie Hopkins, told the Daily News. "He's just an innocent kid."

Butler is also facing charges of criminal possession of a weapon and criminally negligent homicide in Hopkins-Drago's slaying. Prosecutors say she had a loaded gun at the time of the stabbing.

Officials said Monday that Butler may have killed Hopkins-Drago because she thought he might talk about the death of Umpierre, who was shot to death after a botched robbery at his apartment in the Bronx.

Authorities believe she and another suspect intended to rob Umpierre, but no one else had been charged in that slaying as of Monday.

Butler's nickname was Lady Red, which authorities say may refer to the notorious Bloods street gang. Butler's attorney denied that his client was involved with gang activity.

Four other suspects were in custody Monday in connection with both deaths, including a 23-year-old man suspected of hindering prosecution.

Hopkins-Drago was killed in the 23-year-old's apartment, but it wasn't clear whether the man was there at the time. Officials said he may have tampered with crime scene evidence. It also wasn't clear Monday what roles the other three might have played in the killings.

WTF FOX NEWS IS FULL IS SH&T AND NEEDS TO BE SHUT DOWN

Think Progress caught a "magic negro" reference during the New Years Eve broadcast on Fox News.

Viewers were allowed to text in messages that scrolled across the bottom in lieu of the news.

One message read:
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND LET'S HOPE THE MAGIC NEGRO DOES A GOOD JOB. LOVE JEN AND JOHN C.