HERE ARE CLIPS from our promotion of the GTECh, WRB Enterprise, Cari Folk singers, The Trinidad Carnival Calendar, VP Records’ 25th Anniversary event, WRB Enterprises, and live address by Nation Of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Copyright 2004 Associated Press
All Rights Reserved

The Associated Press State & Local Wire

These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press

May 6, 2004, Thursday, BC cycle

ANTIGUA: U.S. global information company GTECH buys Antigua lottery firm

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua (AP) - U.S.-based GTECH Holdings Corp. said Thursday it had closed a US$40 million deal to buy an Antigua-based lottery company with contracts throughout the Caribbean.

The all-cash deal also gives the lottery giant licenses to operate games in Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Maarten and Saba and St. Eustatius, and Turks and Caicos.

GTECH said the acquisition of Leeward Islands Lottery Holdings Company Inc. would add between US$20 million and US$25 million to the company's $1 billion in annual gross revenues. Leeward should provide $6 million-$8 million in net revenues for the current fiscal year, GTECH said.

The purchase will "enhance our strategic foothold" in the Caribbean, CEO W. Bruce Turner said in a statement Thursday.

Leeward Islands was founded by Robert Washington Jr., Robert Johnson, founder and chief executive officer of Black Entertainment Television, and Johnnie Cochran Jr., the nationally known defense attorney.

Copyright 2004 Newsday, Inc.

Newsday (New York)

February 10, 2004 Tuesday
QUEENS EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A21

HEADLINE: QUEENS NEIGHBORHOODS

CITYWIDE

Jamaican Group to Perform

A Caribbean singing group from the island of Jamaica that won a gold and two silver medals at the 2002 International Choir Olympics in Austria is coming to New York. The group is on a fund-raising tour to pay its way to compete in the 2004 event in Germany. Known for their colorful costumes and pantomime, the Cari-Folk Singers will give a performance in Brooklyn on Feb. 29 titled "Tep Ova Makka" (which means overcoming obstacles in Jamaican Creole). The show will be at George Wingate High School, 600 Kingston Ave., at 5 p.m. Tickets cost $30 in advance and $35 at the door. They are available from VP Records, 170-21 Jamaica Ave. (718-297-5802), and Vital Health Foods, 196-14 Linden Blvd. (718-525-0992). Call 718-421-6927 for more information.

Copyright 2004 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)

February 22, 2004 Sunday
SPORTS FINAL EDITION

SECTION: SUBURBAN; CARIBBEAT; Pg. 45

HEADLINE: GET A VIRTUAL VIEW OF TRINIDAD CARNIVAL

BODY:

If you weren't fortunate enough to make this year's Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, don't despair. There's a way to enjoy some of the sights and sounds from that spectacular international event.

Starting this weekend, fans around the world will be able to view carnival events online through Carnival Live! 2004 from the Tourism and Industrial Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago.

Last Friday's Soca Monarch competition and a host of other carnival events - including the Dimanche Gras Show, the Panorama Finals, the Chutney Monarch competition, the Brass Festival and the massive carnival street parades tomorrow and Tuesday - are being taped and made available online for a minimal fee, payable by credit card or through local telephone company billing. The events will be posted the day after they are held in Trinidad, and will be accessible online for about six weeks.

Get to Carnival Live! 2004 by logging on to www.visittnt.com. Call (888) 595-4TNT for technical support or customer service.

Year's worth of carnival

The makers of the photo-packed Trinidad and Tobago Carnival Calendar 2004 want their product to spread vivid reminders of the big Caribbean carnival around the world.

The calendar - which will be available Thursday in Trinidad, online at www.caribbeancalendars.com and at retail outlets in New York, Miami, Washington, and the U.S. Virgin Islands - offers a colorful photographic celebration of Trinidad Carnival, starting with March 2004 and running through February 2005.

It also includes reference material, travel planning information and a comprehensive listing of carnival dates in the Caribbean and around the world.

Ray Llanos, president and founder of the Caribbean Calendars company, said a portion of the proceeds will go to PHIVA.NET, a Caribbean-centered organization for HIV/AIDS prevention.

Caring for Cari-Folk Singers

The grass-roots effort to return Jamaica's award-winning Cari-Folk Singers to the International Choir Olympics in July is picking up steam - and corporate sponsors.

Victoria Mutual Building Society, Grace Kennedy & Co., Caribbean Food Delights/Royal Caribbean Bakery and the Caribbean International Network are among the firms supporting the East Coast fund-raising tour of the cultural group, which will begin Friday in Hartford. The group performs in Orange, N.J., on Saturday afternoon and at Evander Childs High School in the Bronx Saturday night. The tour ends in Brooklyn next Sunday at Wingate HS.

For tickets, call (718) 421-6927, (800) 830-8339 or send E-mail to: mailto:info@kujimagazine.com. And visit www.caribbean.lycos.com and click the Cari-Folk Singers link.

Copyright 2004 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)

February 29, 2004 Sunday
SPORTS FINAL EDITION

SECTION: SUBURBAN; CARIBBEAT; Pg. 4

BODY:

Cari-Folk tour ends

The Cari-Folk Singers of Jamaica end their 2004 benefit tour today at Wingate High School, 600 Kingston Ave. in Brooklyn, at 5 p.m.

The group's staging of its music, drama and dance production "Tep Ova Makka" is the last stop of a tour to raise funds to attend the 2004 International Choir Olympics in Germany this summer.

Admission to the show, presented by Kuji Magazine and TOS Productions, is $30. For information, call (718) 421-6927.

Farrakhan in live broadcast

Reparations, the war in Iraq, the upcoming presidential elections and Michael Jackson are some of the topics to be discussed today by Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam.

Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and Toronto, are among the international locations where Farrakhan's Saviours' Day 2004 speech will be broadcast by satellite on the final day of the group's national convention in Chicago.

In this area, the address can be heard live at 1 p.m. at locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Westchester County, Long Island and New Jersey. There also will be a delayed Internet Webcast of the speech.

For a full listing of locations and Webcast information, visit the group's Web site: www.noi.org.

Copyright 2004 Billboard.com

March 5, 2004, Friday

SECTION: Entertainment News

LENGTH: 217 words

HEADLINE: VP records plans 25th anniversary bash

BYLINE: By BARRY A. JECKELL, Billboard.com

DATELINE: NEW YORK

BODY:
Beenie Man, Beres Hammond, Buju Banton, Elephant Man and Shaggy are among the acts that will be on hand for the VP Records 25th anniversary concert, set for May 8 at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Also appearing to celebrate the Jamaica, Queens-based reggae retail outlet/recording label's milestone will be Lady Saw, Marcia Griffith, Maxi Priest, Morgan Heritage and Wayne Wonder.

Tanto Metro & Devonte, Ricard "Rik Rok" Ducent, TOK, and the Allstar Band featuring saxophonist Dean Frazer will also perform, rounding out a night of Caribbean music. "This special evening will have all the fun, electricity and excitement of reggae and its cousin dancehall and is sure to be a memorable experience," VP CEO Randy Chin says.

A Miami celebration has been scheduled for May 30 at the city's Bayfront Park Amphitheatre. Confirmed for that event are Elephant Man, Shaggy, Ducent, Hammond, Sanchez, TOK and Tanya Stevens. Smaller events, exclusive releases and special projects are also planned as part of the anniversary.

After selling music at Randy's Records in Kingston, Jamaica, for years, Chin opened his Queens VP Records shop in 1979, and formed the record label and distribution company in 1993. In 2002, VP Records entered into a long-term strategic partnership with Atlantic Records.

US FIRM BUYS CONTROLLING STAKE IN DOMINICA ELECTRICITY COMPANY

BODY:

on 26 April

Roseau, Dominica: The Dominica Electricity Services Company (Domlec) says it has sold controlling shares of its operations to a Florida-based concern.

In a statement, Domlec said that WRB Enterprises Limited had bought a 72-per-cent stake of the monopoly electricity company but gave no details as to the amount of money involved in the transaction.

It said that the sale becomes effective from 7 May this year.

WRB Enterprises Limited bought the controlling shares from the London-based Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), Domlec said in the statement over the weekend (24-25 April).

Last year, Domlec and the Dominica government were at odds over the company's decision to raise the price to consumers with the government threatening to enact legislation to deal with the situation.

Source: Caribbean Media Corporation news agency, Bridgetown, in English 1519 gmt 26 Apr 04