Daily Archives: October 6, 2016

How America Lost the War on Drugs – News | Rolling Stone:

Posted: October 6, 2016 at 3:02 pm

Taibbi on Six Million Adults Who Won't Influence This Presidential Race

One in 40 Americans can't vote because of a criminal conviction. But the rules aren't exactly fair

Lee Daniels Rejoins Jay Z-Produced Richard Pryor Film

Harvey Weinstein offers no details about director's return to Mike Epps-starring biopic he left in May

Furry Community Shocked After Gory Triple Murder

Members of misunderstood subculture mourn loss, prepare for potential backlash

Jay Z Talks Kalief Browder Doc, Inhumanity of Solitary Confinement

Six-part 'Time: The Kalief Browder Story' will premiere early next year

Hear Pusha T, Rivers Cuomo on Soft Rock Zeds Dead Jam 'Too Young'

Canadian electronic duo will release debut LP this month

Keith Urban to Headline Nashville New Year's Eve Party

A Thousand Horses and Charlie Worsham also represent country on the all-genre bill

Watch 'The Warriors' Reunite to Discuss Cult Film's Legacy, Fandom

Vermin, Cochise, Swan and more look back on Walter Hill's 1979 gangland New York classic in exclusive new video

Watch U2 Blast Donald Trump During San Francisco Show

Bono blasts Republican nominee for trying to "run off with the American dream"

See Dolly Parton Play 'Dollywood Squares'

Icon visits 'The Talk' for a humorous game, during which she reminisces about working with Burt Reynolds and writing "Jolene"

Watch Lera Lynn Perform Rumbling 'What You Done'

Slow-burning accusation is the latest in singer-songwriter's Live at Resistor Studio series

'Insecure' Creator Issa Rae Talks Drake, Maintaining 'Awkward'-Ness

Comedian on translating her sensibility to small screen: "I didn't set out to be like 'I want to tell the black female millennial story'"

Watch Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Mournful 'Girl in Amber' Video

Band performs ballad in new clip made from 'One More Time With Feeling' footage

Go Behind the Scenes of Metallica's Raging 'Moth Into Flame' Video

Director Tom Kirk talks blending vintage, contemporary styles while James Hetfield plays with warehouse equipment

Flashback: David Bowie Plays a Haunting 'Heroes' in 1978

London performance was professionally recorded for a concert movie that has yet to see an official release

D.R.A.M. Announces Debut Album 'Big Baby D.R.A.M.'

"Cha Cha" and "Broccoli" rapper will make solo late-night television debut on 'Conan'

Watch Norah Jones Unleash Fiery 'Flipside' on 'Fallon'

Musician delivers politically charged cut off new LP 'Day Breaks'

Dustin Lynch's Next Album Will Be 'Very Sexy'

Country singer reports much of the upcoming project is about falling in and out of love

Watch Pixies Prowl for Love in 'Um Chagga Lagga' Video

Black Francis makes directorial debut with peculiar new clip

Hear Love and Theft's Sexy New Song 'Candyland'

"Angel Eyes" duo releases acoustic performance of lead single from forthcoming album

Hear Tift Merritt's Blues-Fueled 'Dusty Old Man'

Singer-songwriter looked to Bonnie Raitt's first album as inspiration for her bluesy, guitar-driven new tune

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Holidays to the Caribbean 2016 / 2017 | loveholidays.com

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Top Hotels Caribbean Treasures

Think Caribbean and you think beach holiday. And you certainly wont find a better destination for lounging in the sand, preferably with something rum-based nearby. That isnt nearly all that these islands have to offer though. Rain forests and mountains for starters; distinctive island cultures that only have providing a good time in common; and exciting towns and cities with some fascinating history.

Youve got a picture of the perfect Caribbean island in your head already the palm tree-fringed, white-sand beach, the funky little beach bar under the trees, yachts sailing by on the deep blue sea. The good news is that youve got it just right; the Caribbean more than lives up to the most demanding expectations.

You might want to replace that tin-shack bar in your fantasy with a big, luxurious, all-inclusive resort hotel. And thats easily enough done. The islands of the Caribbean are very used to welcoming guests, and they do it style. High quality customer service and endless pampering is top of the agenda here.

But if youre worried about the effect all that good living is going to have on the beach body you spent months working to perfect, you can throw in a very healthy dose of activities while youre at it. The islands all have excellent water sports on tap. Divings a particular favourite because the underwater picture here is as colourful as the one above the waves. There are also inland adventures to be had, from off-roading or zip-wiring through unspoiled jungle to climbing extinct volcanoes and canyoning in mountain streams.

The Caribbeans far from being one-dimensional. There are more than 7,000 islands in the group. Though only 13 of them are inhabited island nations, they are a colourful cocktail of distinctive cultures, unique environments, and long, storied histories.

The Dominican Republic is the most popular island with visitors. Its a perfect mix of beach resort luxury, tropical rainforest paradise, and pretty colonial towns. Trinidad is the capital of carnival, where a party of some sort is never far from breaking out. To Jamaicas beautiful beaches are added a super-laid-back attitude and the rich musical culture. Antigua fits the desert island dream to a tee.

Cuba just opening up to America again is the Caribbeans biggest, most populated island, an intriguing cultural stew of cuisines, cultures and rhythms that along with the rum will leave you intoxicated.

As holiday destinations the islands of the Caribbean offer something for everyone. Theyre a brilliant family destination with loads of attractions and days out for kids. For romantic souls theres nothing like a Caribbean sunset to tick the box. You might want to return for your honeymoon or even to get married on the beach. But if a beach towel, a book and a planters punch is all you need, youll never find anywhere better to lie back and soak in relaxation.

What a lot of choices this diverse little box of treasures hold. The beaches and resort hotels at the likes of Punta Cana are all-inclusive paradises. Kick off your sandals for a pair of boots and you could be hiking through rain forest or up Pico Duarte, the Caribbeans tallest mountain. Historic rum factories are uncorked around Puerto Plata. Santo Domingo, the islands capital, was the first port of call for Christopher Columbus on his way to the New World and is a beautiful UNESCO-protected historic town.

The Dominican Republic is made for family or his-and-her beach breaks, with big resort hotels offering brilliant value and all-inclusive facilities with perfect sands and crystal-clear waters.

Jungle tumbles down the dramatic mountains in the interior. Head for the hills and get ready to explore an unspoiled new world and release your inner Bear Grylls with rainforest adventure sports.

Get ready to change your desert island preconceptions in beautiful Santo Domingo, where modern high rises stand side-by-side with the oldest European buildings in the Caribbean. Its lively, laid-back, and enormous fun.

Food is an obsession with the Dominican locals, and if youre a visitor you should be no different. Super-fresh fish, spicy meat stews, straight-from-the-tree fruit juice and some of the best rum and coffee in the world are highlights.

The big beach resorts around Punta Cana, La Romana, Samana and Puerto Plata offer great value all-inclusive access to some of the best beaches in the world.

Santo Domingo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with 16th-century churches, plazas and forts, standing over a beautiful port. There are good museums to explain the islands place in world history too.

Theres more UNESCO protection for the pristine Eastern National Park (Parque Nacional del Este), an internationally important land and sea wildlife reserve full of colourful species from pelicans to dolphins.

With its long-established British links, Jamaicas a top destination for UK sun seekers. Theyve got good reason to love it. The beaches are classically Caribbean with white sand, palm trees, coral reefs and blue waters. Then there are the forests, mountains, waterfalls and banana plantations pure beauty. Finally, the people, the music, the food, the culture; theyre all as wonderful, welcoming and worth exploring as youve been led to believe.

Lying back on a perfect island beach. Seven Mile Beach in Negril has room to spread out. Montego Bay is busy with beach bars and water sports. You can surf at Boston Bay Beach in Port Antonio, or lose yourself on Winnifred Beach, a favourite with the locals as well as seclusion-seeking visitors.

Climbing the Blue Mountain Peak is just one inland adventure to experience on this stunningly beautiful island. The Blue Hole springs at Ocho Rios, the Dunns River Falls, the cliffs at Negril - Jamaica is packed with natural wonders to discover.

Dancing the night away is expected in the home of reggae. Theres more to Jamaican musical and party culture than Bob Marley though. But from African-inspired folk songs or church gospel to booming dancehall beats and street sound systems, everythings got passion and rhythm.

Eating like royalty is every Jamaicans birth right! The cuisine is spicy and international mixing African, European and Latin American flavours. With fantastic local produce yam, plantain, fish, goat, fruit to conjure with, Jamaican food is as rich and diverse as the islands landscapes.

From jumping Montego Bay to fashionable Seven Mile Beach or isolated Treasure Beach, Jamaicas coastline is one of the best for sun and sand in the world. And guess what youll find at Reggae Beach?

Jamaica has a proud cultural heritage with music just the best known of its exports. Historic houses and capital-city museums celebrate everyone from Noel Coward to Bob Marley. The best way to understand it all is just to dive in and immerse yourself.

The twin islands of Antigua and smaller Barbuda are as beautiful as any in the Caribbean. The reefs around the shore make the islands diving really rewarding. Smaller and less-developed than some of the islands but with 365 beaches, Antigua has room for everyone on its sands.

Everything that makes the Caribbean great a good choice of top-quality resorts; party people; beaches and jungles; a beautiful historic capital can be found in spades in Barbados. Bridgetown has UNESCO World Heritage Status, but the beaches and wild interior dont need any certification to confirm their timeless beauty.

The times are changing in Cuba. But its the years of time standing relatively still that give the crumbling, colourful facades and classic American motors of Havana much of its charm. Elsewhere there are resorts and beaches to match any in the region, and a rum, a cigar and some Afro-Cuban beats are the icing on a colourful cake.

Trinidad (busy and relatively built up) and Tobago (chilled and empty) are a beautiful contrast. Party in Port of Spain or zip wire through Tobagos protected forests before lying back on the pink tinged sands.

St Lucia is a supremely romantic island, its mountains and waterfalls stealing the hearts of many a visitor. Brilliant beach-front resorts include the famous Sandals brand. A party can always be found in Gros Islet, and peace and quiet is the hallmark or Choc Bay.

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Caribbean Vacation – Expedia

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Have a warm beach vacation at any time of year on your choice of lush tropical islands. Snorkel, dive, sail or simply relax and enjoy laid-back island life.

The Caribbean islands offer an amazing choice of beach vacations, high-end shopping and fascinating cultures. Stop in major ports on a luxury cruise or charter a sailboat to hop from one to another of thousands of islands. Sunbathe on vast sandy shores. Scuba and snorkel in clear waters filled with colorful fish.

Beautiful beaches are common across the region, while art, architecture, cuisine and customs vary from island to island. Appreciate the pleasing mix of cultures of the indigenous island people and descendants of European settlers.

Aruba, Bonaire and Curaao off the coast of Venezuela display Dutch influence. Have rijstaffel, a Dutch colonial meal of rice accompanied by 20 to 30 side dishes. Aruba has an unusually dry terrain, with miles of sandy beaches on the northwestern shores. Look for divi divi trees blown to the side in the regions strong winds. Bonaires marine park and donkey sanctuary feature a range of wildlife. On Curacao, swim with dolphins and participate in extreme sports.

See the colorful buildings in old San Juan and the castles across the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands is a popular tour boat stop for buying diamonds and lazing on beaches. Nearby St. John is dominated by the Virgin Islands National Park, on land and in the underwater reefs. Learn about the 2,000 years of human occupants, including native Caribs, in the Salt River Bay National Historical Park on St. Croix.

For many people, Cuba has for decades been a land of mystery under Communist rule. While U.S. residents are not allowed to visit strictly for tourism, licensed visits can be arranged for various purposes. While here, see the cathedrals, squares and museums of Old Havana and visit exceptional beaches.

View the tropical plants in Huntes Gardens on Barbados. Dive and sample rum at a distillery on the Cayman Islands. Observe waterfalls and wildlife in the Dominican Republic. On the western side of the island, explore the Citadelle of Haiti. Golf, ride a bobsled and listen to steel drum music on Jamaica. Learn about Christopher Columbus and the native Arawaks while visiting the more than 700 islands of the Bahamas.

Most important of all, enjoy beach after beach after beach in the Caribbean region.

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Beaches

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TAKE YOUR FAMILY ON A

Culinary trip

Rooms & Suites

DESIGNED WITH

FAMILIES IN MIND

Choose from over two dozen different room categories, from ocean view rooms and suites, to quaint villas in sun-washed colors. At Beaches, dreams come true every day and night.

Our unprecedented Butler Service, only available in our very highest level of suites, provides our most discerning guests with an unimaginably supreme standard of service and luxury, where your every need is anticipated.

SCUBA DIVING & Watersports

The ocean is your playground with watersports and scuba diving. Only Beaches all-inclusive Caribbean resorts offer the most comprehensive resort diving program, and best of all, it's all included.

Pirates Island Waterparks

The ocean is your playground with watersports and scuba diving. Only Beaches all-inclusive Caribbean resorts offer the most comprehensive resort diving program, and best of all, it's all included.

Fun & Games

KIDS program

At Beaches, we give kids extra attention with tailor-made fun just for them, offering age-appropriate activities for kids of all ages, from tots to teens. With a staff that's so genuinely caring, it'll feel like your kids are in the loving hands of a family member who just wants to spoil them.

Hang out with new friends

TEEN ACTIVITIES

At Beaches, teens have the ultimate freedom to their own thing with the people they really want to be with-other teens-at more places created exclusively for them! Always unlimited, always included.

Championship GOLF

Our golf vacation provide everything down to a tee for every level of skill, even for those who want to take their very first shot at it. A Beaches golf vacation in the Caribbean includes more than any other destination for family resort vacations.

BEACHES

Weddingmoons

Have the Caribbean wedding you've always dreamed of in the most romantic places on earth - from laid-back Jamaica to the pristine shores of Turks & Caicos - with Beaches all-inclusive Caribbean wedding packages.

Premium brand DRINKS

Only Beaches includes premium brand liquors at up to 14 bars per resort-the highest bar-to-guest ratio in the whole Caribbean!

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Caribbean Information Office

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The Top Site for Caribbean Resort Reservations and Villas Caribbean Information Office is a travel wholesaler. We are authorized by the hotels and resorts, villas and cruise lines to act as their reservations agent. There are no service charges nor any booking fees for our reservations services. We are one of the few agencies in the United States that can book these tropical destinations at a lower prices than advertised. We'll save your vacation dollars by finding the lowest airfare and reserving the nicest cruise cabin, hotel room or villa as a package deal. We can also include meal options for you or your family to take advantage of as well. We are proud to promote Caribbean vacations for the past 44 years. Clicks on the links on the side or the top of this page for information about the Caribbean islands and places to stay. Contact us to plan your customized Caribbean vacation and enjoy personalized, professional reservation services. We can take you anywhere in the Caribbean that you'd like to go!

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Caribbean Sea | sea, Atlantic Ocean | Britannica.com

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Alternative Title: Antillean-Caribbean Sea

Caribbean Sea, suboceanic basin of the western Atlantic Ocean, lying between latitudes 9 and 22 N and longitudes 89 and 60 W. It is approximately 1,063,000 square miles (2,753,000 square km) in extent. To the south it is bounded by the coasts of Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama; to the west by Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and the Yucatn Peninsula of Mexico; to the north by the Greater Antilles islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico; and to the east by the north-south chain of the Lesser Antilles, consisting of the island arc that extends from the Virgin Islands in the northeast to Trinidad, off the Venezuelan coast, in the southeast. Within the boundaries of the Caribbean itself, Jamaica, to the south of Cuba, is the largest of a number of islands.

Together with the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea has been erroneously termed the American Mediterranean, owing to the fact that, like the Mediterranean Sea, it is located between two continental landmasses. In neither hydrology nor climate, however, does the Caribbean resemble the Mediterranean. The preferred oceanographic term for the Caribbean is the Antillean-Caribbean Sea, which, together with the Gulf of Mexico, forms the Central American Sea. The Caribbeans greatest known depth is Cayman Trench (Bartlett Deep) between Cuba and Jamaica, approximately 25,216 feet (7,686 metres) below sea level.

The geologic age of the Caribbean is not known with certainty. As part of the Central American Sea, it is presumed to have been connected with the Mediterranean during Paleozoic times (i.e., about 541 to 252 million years ago) and then gradually to have separated from it as the Atlantic Ocean was formed. The ancient sediments overlying the seafloor of the Caribbean, as well as of the Gulf of Mexico, are about a half mile (about one kilometre) in thickness, with the upper strata representing sediments from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras (from about 252 million years ago to the present) and the lower strata presumably representing sediments of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras (from about 541 to 66 million years ago). Three phases of sedimentation have been identified. During the first and second phases the basin was free of deformation. The Central American Sea apparently became separated from the Atlantic before the end of the first phase. Near the end of the second phase, gentle warping and faulting occurred, forming the Aves and Beata ridges. Forces producing the Panamanian isthmus and the Antillean arc were vertical, resulting in no ultimate horizontal movement. The sediment beds tend to arch in the middle of the basins and to dip as landmasses are approached. The younger Cenozoic beds (formed during the last 65 million years) are generally horizontal, having been laid down after the deformations occurred. Connections were established with the Pacific Ocean during the Cretaceous Period (from about 145 to 66 million years ago) but were broken when the land bridges that permitted mammals to cross between North and South America were formed in the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (about 23 to 2.6 million years ago).

The existing sediment cover of the seabed consists of red clay in the deep basins and trenches, globigerina ooze (a calcareous marine deposit) on the rises, and pteropod ooze on the ridges and continental slopes. Clay minerals appear to have been washed down by the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, as well as by the Magdalena River in Colombia. Coral reefs fringe most of the islands.

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U.S. and Cuba

The Caribbean Sea is divided into five submarine basins, each roughly elliptical in shape, which are separated from one another by submerged ridges and rises. These are the Yucatn, Cayman, Colombian, Venezuelan, and Grenada basins. The northernmost of these, the Yucatn Basin, is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by the Yucatn Channel, which runs between Cuba and the Yucatn Peninsula and has a sill depth (i.e., the depth of the submarine ridge between basins) of about 5,250 feet (1,600 metres). The Cayman Basin, to the south, is partially separated from the Yucatn Basin by Cayman Ridge, an incomplete fingerlike ridge that extends from the southern part of Cuba toward Guatemala, rising above the surface at one point to form the Cayman Islands. The Nicaraguan Rise, a wide triangular ridge with a sill depth of about 4,000 feet (1,200 metres), extends from Honduras and Nicaragua to Hispaniola, bearing the island of Jamaica and separating the Cayman Basin from the Colombian Basin. The Colombian Basin is partly separated from the Venezuelan Basin by the Beata Ridge. The basins are connected by the submerged Aruba Gap at depths greater than 13,000 feet (4,000 metres). The Aves Ridge, incomplete at its southern extremity, separates the Venezuelan Basin from the small Grenada Basin, which is bounded to the east by the Antillean arc of islands.

Subsurface water enters the Caribbean Sea across two sills. These sills are located below the Anegada Passage, which runs between the Virgin Islands and the Lesser Antilles, and the Windward Passage, which stretches between Cuba and Hispaniola. The sill depth of Anegada Passage is between 6,400 and 7,700 feet (1,950 and 2,350 metres), whereas that of the Windward Passage is between 5,250 and 5,350 feet (1,600 and 1,630 metres).

North Atlantic deep water enters the Caribbean beneath the Windward Passage and is characterized by its rich oxygen content and by a salinity of slightly less than 35 parts per thousand. From there it divides to fill the Yucatn, Cayman, and Colombian basins at depths near 6,500 feet (2,000 metres). This Caribbean bottom water also enters the Venezuelan Basin, thus introducing high-oxygen water at depths of 5,900 to 9,800 feet (1,800 to 3,000 metres). Subantarctic intermediate water (i.e., water differing in several characteristics from the surface and bottom layers of water that it separates) enters the Caribbean below the Anegada Passage at depths of 1,600 to 3,300 feet (500 to 1,000 metres). Above this water, the subtropical undercurrent and surface water enter. The shallow sill depths of the Antillean arc block the entry of Antarctic bottom water, so that the bottom temperature of the Caribbean Sea is close to 39 F (4 C), as compared with the Atlantic bottom temperature of less than 36 F (2 C).

Surface currents, bearing both high- and low-salinity water depending on the source, enter the Caribbean mainly through the channels and passages of the southern Antilles. These waters are then forced by the trade winds through the narrow Yucatn Channel into the Gulf of Mexico. The wind-driven surface water accumulates in the Yucatn Basin and the Gulf of Mexico, where it results in a higher average sea level than in the Atlantic, forming a hydrostatic head that is believed to constitute the main driving force of the Gulf Stream. Of the water passing through the Yucatn Channel each second, only about one-fourth represents the deeper Subantarctic intermediate water. The remainder is the surface water that passed over the Antillean arc at depths of less than 2,600 feet (800 metres).

The climate of the Caribbean generally is tropical, but there are great local variations, depending on mountain elevation, water currents, and the trade winds. Rainfall varies from about 10 inches (25 cm) per year on the island of Bonaire off the coast of Venezuela to some 350 inches (900 cm) annually in parts of Dominica. The northeast trade winds dominate the region with an average velocity of 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 km) per hour. Tropical storms reaching a hurricane velocity of more than 75 miles (120 km) per hour are seasonally common in the northern Caribbean as well as in the Gulf of Mexico; they are almost nonexistent in the far south. The hurricane season is from June to November, but hurricanes occur most frequently in September. The yearly average is about eight such storms. The Caribbean has fewer hurricanes than either the western Pacific (where these storms are called typhoons) or the Gulf of Mexico. Most hurricanes form in the eastern Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands and follow the path of the trade winds into the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, although the exact path of any hurricane is unpredictable. In 1963 one of the deadliest hurricanes on record, Flora, caused the loss of more than 7,000 lives and extensive property damage in the Caribbean alone. Such storms also have been a major cause of crop failure in the region.

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While the vegetation of the Caribbean region is generally tropical, variations in topography, soils, rainfall, humidity, and soil nutrients have made it diverse. The porous limestone terraces of the islands are generally nutrient-poor. Near the seashore, black and red mangroves form dense forests around lagoons and estuaries, and coconut palms typify the sandy vegetation of the littoral. Both the Central American region and the Antillean islands are on the routes of birds migrating to or from North America, so that large seasonal variations occur in the bird populations. Parrots, bananaquits, and toucans are typical resident Caribbean birds, while frigate birds, boobies, and tropic birds can be seen over the open ocean.

The shallow-water marine fauna and flora of the Caribbean centres around the submerged fringing coral reefs, which support diverse assemblages of fishes and other forms of marine life. The marine biota is derived from the Indian and western Pacific oceans via the Panamanic Seaway, which was closed by the rise of the Isthmus of Panama some four million years ago. Coral reef growth throughout the Antillean region is favoured by uniformly warm temperatures, clear water, and little change in salinity. Submerged fields of turtle grass are found in the lagoons on the leeward sides of reefs. Sea turtles of several species, the manatee, and the manta (devil) ray (Manta birostris) are also characteristic of the region. The spiny lobster is harvested throughout the Caribbean and is sold mainly to restaurants and tourist hotels, while the queen conch and reef fishes are local staples.

Fishes of commerce are sardines from Yucatn and species of tuna. Among common game fish are the bonefishes of the Bahamian reefs, barracuda, dolphin, marlin, and wahoo.

Since the signing of the Law of the Sea Treaty in the early 1980s, no part of the Caribbean remains outside the extended mineral, fishing, and territorial zones of the seas bordering countries. Explosive human population growth and the overexploitation of marine resources in the region have stimulated international initiatives toward managing and preserving the environment. The Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartegena Convention) was adopted officially by about half of the countries of the Caribbean in 1983, but its measures have since been implemented more broadly across the Caribbean community. The Cartegena Convention calls for its signatories to provideindividually and jointlyprotection, development, and management of the common waters of the wider Caribbean. Three protocols have been developed and launched under the framework of the convention: cooperation on combating oil spills (1983); establishment of specially protected areas and wildlife (1990); and prevention, reduction, and control of land-based marine pollution (1999).

Tourism is an important part of the Caribbean economy, serving primarily the populations of the United States and Canada to the north and Brazil and Argentina to the south. Connections by air and sea between the Caribbean and North America are generally more developed than are interisland connections. With its typically sunny climate and recreational resources, the Caribbean has become one of the worlds principal winter vacation resort areas.

The Caribbean has a complex pattern of trade and communications. The volume of trade per capita is high, but most of this trade is conducted with countries outside the region. Each Caribbean country tends to trade with countries elsewhere that share a common language. Cuba, an exception, trades with a variety of countries, trade with former communist-bloc countries accounting for much of the total. Intra-Caribbean trade is small, owing to limited industrial resources and the monocultural economic pattern. Goods and commodities exchanged within the Caribbean economy are relatively fewrice from Guyana; lumber from Belize; refined petroleum from Trinidad and Curaao; salt, fertilizer, vegetable oils, and fats from the eastern islands; and a few manufactured products. A lack of capital and limited natural resources generally have discouraged industrial development, although low labour costs and tax incentives have attracted some industry. Markets for most Caribbean products are in the United States and Canada, which import bananas, sugar, coffee, bauxite, rum, and oil. All Atlantic-Pacific shipping via the Panama Canal passes through the Caribbean.

The first European to enter the Caribbean Sea was Christopher Columbus, who made landfall in the Bahamas in 1492 convinced that he had discovered a new route to Asia. He continued south to found a key Spanish colony on the island of Hispaniola (now divided politically between Haiti and the Dominican Republic). In his subsequent three voyages, Columbus discovered the major features of the region.

The study of Caribbean natural history began with observations published by early voyagers, notably those of the English buccaneer and explorer William Dampier in the late 17th century. The British Challenger Expedition briefly passed through the Caribbean in 1873, followed by more-extensive American expeditions (187789) on the Blake. Danish and American expeditions from 1913 to the late 1930s initiated the systematic research of the basin that has continued to the present day, with periodic expeditions mounted by various countries.

The invention of scuba equipment, the development of research submarines, and the establishment of marine research laboratories in a number of countries in the Caribbean region led to a rapid increase in the level of scientific activity in the second half of the 20th century. One of the more-recent areas of research has focused on coral "bleaching" events, including those in 1995 and 1998 off the coast of Belize (on the largest coral barrier reef in the Northern Hemisphere) and in 2005 on the reefs near Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Coral bleaching occurs when the animals that constitute the reef expel associated algae in response to changes in water chemistry (temperature, salinity, acidity, or increases in silt or pollution). The process ultimately kills those animals. One of the leading hypotheses for this phenomenon has been that Caribbean waters have increased in temperature, perhaps as a result of global climate change.

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Caribbean

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Calendario de Actividades

Entrate de los prximos eventos desde el 28 de septiembre al 25 de octubre de 2016. Ver ms

Repaso Intensivo de College Board

Matemticas, Espaol e Ingls. Desde el 1, 8 u 15 de octubre de 2016. Ver ms

Resultados de la L.A.I.

Semana del 26 al 30 de septiembre de 2016. Ver ms

Visita la Comisin Estatal de Elecciones de Puerto Rico a Caribbean University.

El 1ro de septiembre de 2016, la Comisin Estatal de Elecciones estuvo de visita en los diferentes Centros y Recinto de Caribbean University. Ver ms

Participacin en Feria Planeta Digital, Ecoexploratorio San Juan Puerto Rico

Caribbean University particip de la Feria Planeta Digital Ciencia, Tecnologa y Tierra, en Atrio Central-Plaza Las Amricas del 11 al 17 de abril 2016 Ver ms

Estudiante Nivel Sub-Graduado MATRCULA EN LNEA

Podrs escoger tus secciones desde la comodidad de tu hogar, evitando la fila de pasar por tu asesor acadmico. Ver ms

Manuales de Referencia Rpida para Estudiantes

Manual creado para que el estudiante de Caribbean University active su cuenta en la red y la

impresora. Ver ms

Manual para depositar dinero a Uniflow a travs de Paypal. Ver ms

Caribbean University y la Guardia Nacional firman acuerdo

El proyecto pretende apoyar econmicamente a todos los interesados en obtener grados de bachillerato, maestra y doctorado. Ver ms | Ver Vdeo

Caribbean University embajadora de la EPA

Caribbean University (CU) firm ayer un acuerdo con la Agencia de Proteccin Ambiental de Estados Unidos (EPA) y con la Asociacin Interamericana de Ingeniera Sanitaria y Ambiental (AIDIS), para continuar desarrollando investigaciones sobre el recurso agua en Puerto Rico. Ver ms

Derechos Reservados Caribbean University.

P.O. Box 493 Bayamn, Puerto Rico 00960-0493

1888.780.0070

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Hurricane Matthew heads to Bahamas after killing 7 – CNN.com

Posted: at 2:57 pm

At least 15 people died from Matthew's wrath in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said.

The devastation was especially brutal in southern Haiti, where winds of 125 mph (200 kph) destroyed homes, flooded villages and cut off the island from the rest of the country.

National Route 2, which connects Port-au-Prince with Haiti's southern peninsula, broke apart when the bridge collapsed, the country's civil protection agency said. In the wake of the storm, the Electoral Commission postponed the country's Presidential election, which had been scheduled for Sunday. A new date has not been set.

As of Thursday morning, Matthew hurled 125 mph (205 kph) winds as it churned toward the Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southeast of Nassau and was moving northwest at 12 mph.

Farther south, on the outer island of Long Island, residents began to feel Matthew's presence.

Jeanette Walker said she lost power around noon as winds whipped palm trees and angry waves crashed on the beach, shaking her home.

CNN meteorologists expect storm surges in the Bahamas as high as 15 feet, along with intense rains and damaging winds.

Prime Minister Perry Christie warned that Matthew had the potential to be "violently unpredictable."

Resident Bruce Darville said he prepared for Matthew's arrival by collecting water, nonperishable foods and other essentials.

"We've got a generator, so we make sure that's all fueled up, make sure your vehicle's fueled up. And we leave the rest to the good master."

At least 10 people are dead, 25 injured and thousands more displaced. At least 1,580 homes have been flooded, and about 3,215 families have been affected by Matthew, the country's Civil Protection Agency said.

More than 300,000 people are in shelters across the country, the United Nations said.

Haitian pastor Louis St. Germain said the storm sheared a wall off his house and tore roofs off many buildings in the area.

"The river has overflowed all around us," St. Germain said. "It's terrible ... a total disaster."

Forecasters predicted parts of Haiti could get a total of 40 inches of rain -- a disastrous amount for a nation still recovering from a devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people.

"Much of the population is displaced and communication systems are down," Wahba said. "We've received reports of destroyed houses and overflowing hospitals with shortages of buckets and fresh water. The hospital in Les Cayes has had its roof blown off by the force of winds."

The U.S. Agency for International Development is sending $1 million in humanitarian assistance to Haiti following the deployment of a Disaster Assistance Response Team the previous day. USAID workers are set to receive help from a joint task force lending military helicopters to carry personnel and supplies for disaster relief operations.

"Water is going to be a major issue," said Jean Claude Fignole, Oxfam's influence program director in Haiti.

"Our priority is to get clean water and hygiene items to families as fast as possible to avoid a spike in cases of cholera. In the weeks and months to come, hunger is likely to emerge as big concern. Some crops in the south of the country have been totally destroyed."

At least 15 people have died in relation to the slow-moving hurricane within the past week, officials in three countries said.

On Wednesday, Haiti's Civil Protection Service reported 10 deaths, including a man who died when his house collapsed and two others who were killed by falling trees. A fisherman died Sunday and another fisherman is presumed dead, the spokesman for the Haitian Interior Ministry said.

Four people died in the Dominican Republic, the country's government said. Authorities there did not provide details about how they died.

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a teenage boy died in a landslide as he was cleaning a drain behind his house, the National Emergency Management Office said. He died Wednesday after storms from Matthew passed.

More than 30 houses were washed away by Hurricane Matthew in Cuba's northeastern seaside town of Baracoa, the site where Christopher Columbus first landed in the Americas, a resident in the town said.

No fatalities were reported, as the seafront area of the town had been evacuated ahead of Matthew's arrival.

Elsewhere in the region, hundreds of people lost the roofs on their houses due to the storm, Cuban state media reported.

"I cannot emphasize enough that everyone in our state must prepare now for a direct hit," Florida Gov. Rick Scott said. "Having a plan in place could mean the difference between life and death."

Patrick Oppmann reported from Cuba; Holly Yan and Max Blau reported from Atlanta. CNN's Deborah Bloom, Alexander Leininger, Alison Daye, Natalie Gallon and journalist Yvetot Gouin contributed.

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Hurricane Matthew heads to Bahamas after killing 7 - CNN.com

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space travel – NYMag.com

Posted: at 2:56 pm

(Photo: Courtesy of Virgin Galactic)

At dawn one morning last Novemberjust as the edge of Earth comprising Florida spun into the field of light bursting from roughly 93 million miles awayshe emerged one last time from the monstrous doors of the Vehicle Assembly Building, twelve stories long but dwarfed. This was what had been billed as the final mission of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, a 9.8-mile journey to her final resting place at the Kennedy Space Centers visitors complex. That Atlantiss journey would begin at the VAB525 feet tall, the largest single-story structure in the world, having sprouted a half-century ago in the frenzy of the space race, as stupendous an achievement as each of the space-faring rockets that would be assembled inside itmultiplied the emotion.

Very far away, still sheathed in its massive launch-apparatus exoskeleton, one could make out Launchpad 39A, site of the historic Apollo 11 moonwalking blastoff, where Atlantis had also taken off to orbit the Earth, once more and finally, in 2011, marking the last in NASAs 30-year-old shuttle program. The other surviving orbiters, Discovery and Endeavor, had already completed their extraordinary processionals to museums in northern Virginia and Los Angeles (the latter requiring hundreds of trees cut and roadways reconfigured to accommodate its size). A throng of personnel was on hand, those who had built and maintained and flown her, including some of the 7,000 whose jobs were ending with the program. With signs and T-shirts that read WE LOVE YOU ATLANTIS and THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES and WE MADE HISTORY, they fell in behind her. Many wiped away tears as she crept along at two miles an hour, past the dense, still swampland that had, many times before, exploded along with her, the alligators and pigs and birds flushing at her ignition, the fish heaving themselves from the water, the light from the trail of fire flashing from their scales.

Now the procession was funereal. For NASAs public-relations machine, desperate to engage Americans notoriously fickle interest, it would amount to an odd victory: Stories about Atlantiss retirement appeared in media outlets across the globe, all written as obituaries. The events of the following evening were equally bleak: A formal dinner at the nearby Radisson commemorating the mission of Apollo 17, whose lunar module had closed its hatch 40 years earlier and ferried the last man back from the moon. In attendance were ten surviving Apollo astronauts, an extraordinary group to say the least, the only men to have traveled to the moon, now gray-haired or bald. Their fears for the nations space future were well aired; many of themincluding the famously reticent Neil Armstrong, whose recent death had cast a significant pallhad written letters to President Obama saying his space policy portended the nations long downhill slide to mediocrity. Just as China rushes to land on the moon by the end of this decade, the astronauts noted ruefully, the U.S. is now essentially vehicleless. For a taxpayer-funded fare of almost $71 million per seat, American astronauts are now taxied to the International Space Station by their former archenemies, the Russians, aboard the old, reliable Soyuz rockets against which NASA once raced. The delivery of cargo is now outsourced to private companies. In a tear-stained column titled In an Earthbound Era, Heaven Has to Wait, the Timess Frank Bruni said that for Americans already profoundly doubtful and shaken, the shuttles end carries the force of cruel metaphor, coming at a time when limits are all we talk about. When we have no stars in our eyes.

All of which made the scene Id observed in a desert town in southern New Mexico a week earlier even more exceptional.

In a landscape redolent of Mars, a group of scientists, many of them young NASA astronauts recently decamped to private industry, practically evangelized about this very moment: Unbeknownst to most of the world, after decades of failed Jetsons-esque promises of individual jetpacks for all, peoplecivilians, you and me, though with a good deal more meansare finally about to ascend to the heavens. If the twentieth-century space race was about the might of the American government, the emerging 21st-century space age is about something perhaps even more powerfulthe might of money. The necessary technology has converged in the hands of a particularly boyish group of billionaires whose Right Stuff is less hard-boiled test-pilot, more high-tech entrepreneuring wunderkindand whose individual financial means eclipse those of most nations. A massive industry is coalescing around them. Towns and states and even some countries are fighting one another for a piece of it. In New Mexico, workers are putting the finishing touches on the first of at least ten spaceports currently under construction around the world. More than 800 people have paid as much as $200,000 apiece to reserve seats on commercial flights into space, some of which are expected to launch, at long last, within a year. Space-travel agents are being trained; space suits are being designed for sex appeal as much as for utility; the founder of the Budget hotel chain is developing pods for short- and long-term stays in Earths orbit and beyond. Over beers one night, a former high-ranking NASA official, now employed by Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin transportation conglomerate, put it plainly: We happen to be alive at the moment when humanity starts leaving the planet.

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space travel - NYMag.com

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Articles about Space Travel – latimes

Posted: at 2:56 pm

BUSINESS

November 26, 2013 | By Shan Li

Virgin Galactic, the company aimed at taking tourists to space, is accepting the digital currency bitcoin as payment for future space travel. Richard Branson, the British billionaire who founded the futuristic company, called bitcoin "a brilliantly conceived idea" that has "really captured the imagination recently. " "All of our future astronauts are pioneers in their own right," Branson wrote in a blog post titled "Bitcoins in space. " "This is one more way to be forward-looking.

HEALTH

November 2, 2013 | By James S. Fell

Col. Chris Hadfield, who until recently was commander of the International Space Station, has a workout regimen that is out of this world. Sorry. Couldn't resist. Hadfield's new book, "An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth," goes into detail about what it takes to be in shape for space travel. What kind of shape do you need to be in to qualify for the space program? To qualify to live on the space station, you have to pass the hardest physical exam in the world. There has to be a high lack of a probability of a problem, whether it's your appendix or an injury.

TRAVEL

October 6, 2013 | By Jane Engle

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - I was inept at moonwalking. My rocket was a dud. And I crashed the space shuttle. Fortunately, I was just an astronaut wannabe and not the real deal. But it's as close as this middle-aged space geek is going to get. That geekiness, inspired by IMAX documentaries on space and news coverage of NASA's final shuttle launch in 2011, was what brought me to Adult Space Academy. The trip was a gift from my wife. The three-day program is among more than a dozen versions of Space Camp, which the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville created more than 30 years ago to give visitors a taste of what it's like to train as an astronaut.

ENTERTAINMENT

October 3, 2013 | By Scott Collins

NBC is hoping to get a space-travel reality show off the ground this time. The network is teaming up with producer Mark Burnett and billionaire Richard Branson to make "Space Race," a competition series that would send the winner up in SpaceShipTwo, a commercial space-travel service from Branson's Virgin Galactic. The series could offer Virgin a key opportunity to plug its services. FULL COVERAGE: Fall TV preview 2013 "Virgin Galactic's mission is to democratize space, eventually making commercial space travel affordable and accessible to all," Branson wrote in a statement.

SCIENCE

September 4, 2013 | By Geoffrey Mohan

A lemur that hibernates is strange and cute enough. But studying its lethargic state may provide a clue to sending humans on long-distance space travel or healing the ravages of heart attacks, stroke and head trauma, according to researchers at Duke University. The western fat-tailed dwarf lemur, a pocket-sized nocturnal primate native to Madagascar, is the closest genetic cousin of humans to hibernate for long periods, a discovery made by a German research team in 2004. The revelation that primates hibernated led to a happy coincidence at Duke, which happens to have a lemur center and a sleep laboratory.

ENTERTAINMENT

June 21, 2013 | By Joe Flint

A new distribution platform is emerging and no one knows what to make of it. The established players are wary of it and see it as more foe than friend. Others are afraid of losing their shirt by investing in it. Sound familiar? But this isn't the Internet. This was cable television in the early 1980s. Back then there were only a handful of networks and few were talking about 500 channels full of original content. "It was an unproven business, investors were not convinced that cable programming was a good investment," said John Hendricks, founder of Discovery Communications.

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Articles about Space Travel - latimes

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