Volume 8 Issue

Page $1 1

VOLUME 8 No. 22

JUNE 4TH - JUNE 8TH, 2012

RUFUS IS NEW

PNP LEADER Website: www.suntci.com

Email: sun@suntci.com

Tel: 649-946-8542

Fax: 649-941-3281

www. twitter.com/suntci

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

Dr. Rufus Ewing became the new leader of the Progressive National Party (PNP) on Saturday June 2nd, defeating Queen’s Counsel Carlos Simons by six votes in what was one of the most keenly contested races in the party’s history.

The 44-year-old surgeon got 52 votes while 46 votes went to the 57-year-old Simons, who suffered his second loss in as many contests for PNP leadership, having been defeated by lawyer and former Speaker of the House of Assembly Clayton Greene at the party’s convention in August 2010.

An emotional Dr. Ewing told the media that while he was confident of victory, he was also mindful that Simons was a formidable opponent.

“I was confident, but I know lots of things could happen. You can only be as confident as much as you believe people will tell you that they would vote for you. But I know sometimes things are not always what they seem, so I had to keep that in the back of my head. One can’t ever be overconfident,” said Ewing.

Scores of PNP supporters turned out for the twoday convention which included a banquet at Occasions Ballroom at Airport Hotel, Providenciales, on Friday night, followed by a prayer-breakfast at the same location on Saturday morning and then voting at the party’s headquarters.

Ewing said he intends to hit the ground running as soon as he assembled his executive team, including naming his deputy later this week. He hinted that he would not make similar mistake as his immediate predecessor, Clayton Greene, who had to recant his decision of naming Albray Butterfield Jr., as his deputy, shortly after winning the party leadership two years ago.

“I would be tackling a number of things such as elections, the CFO Bill, the issues that deal with the VAT – those are some of the issues that people are looking for the leader to address, so we have to address them right now. We would be formulating the PNP’s position on those issues, and then we throw it across to our brothers and sisters in the PDM (People’s Democratic Movement), for them to join with us,” Ewing added.

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Dr. Rufus Ewing with his wife Dr. Dawn Perry and his father, Hon. Hilly Ewing, former Deputy Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands

MARIO HOFFMANN LOSSES APPEAL AT PRIVY COUNCIL

TCI RESIDENTS MUST PAY MORE TO CALL JAMAICA STORY ON PAGE 9

STORY ON PAGE 5

BILLIONS IN GOLD BURIED IN HAITI STORY ON PAGE 33

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Rufus Ewing is new PNP Leader ...Cont’d

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The former head of the Civil Service Association also noted also that he would also have to undertake immediate house-cleaning matters, such as reenergizing the base of the party and rally the wider Turks and Caicos to buy into the message that the PNP would be selling, so that the party would be successful at the polls tentatively set for this for this year, as announced by the United Kingdom Interim Administration.

“The immediate hurdles would be to deal with the party first and foremost. There are a number of issues, even surrounding this PNP building. We have to deal with party organization and party organizational structure, and energizing people across the Turks and Caicos, to get them back in the fold of the party.

There are a lot of persons who feel disconnected from the party, and so one of the hurdles is to get them back in, because a party is only as strong as those who support it. And so, organizing the party would be one of my goals this month,” Ewing asserted.

In the meantime, the new PNP Leader said that he would ensure that Simons plays a key role within the party as it revs up its election campaign machinery, emphasizing that his former party opponent still has a great role to play in the political entity.

“I wish him well, I he has a lot to contribute to this party, and I am going to make sure that, as an icon of this party, he assist us in winning the next general election,” Ewing said.

Simons, who was momentarily lost for words, said he was confident that Ewing would do a good job, and pledged his support for the party going forward.

Meantime, former director of the National Insurance Board (NIB) Trevor Cooke was voted as the PNP’s new National Chairman and PeterGaye Blake his deputy. Gordon Burton was returned as treasurer; Stanley ‘Boysie’ Taylor is the new Party Whip; while Justin Missick was voted the new Director of Public Relations.

Ewing, who is married to Guyanaborn Dr. Dawn Perry with whom he has a 16-year-old son, Stuart, was educated in Turks and Caicos Islands, Barbados, Jamaica and England.

A Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS), Dr. Ewing is the son of former Deputy Chief Minister Hon. Hilly Ewing and his wife Jane.

He is the brother-in-law of former Premier Galmo “Gilley” Williams, who is married to Ewing’s sister Althea. Dr. Ewing’s niece Deserie is married to former PNP Cabinet Minister McAllister “Piper” Hanchell.

According to his website, after the suspension of the TCI constitution and the imposition of direct rule from Britain, Dr. Ewing became frustrated by the policy direction of the Interim Administration and the manner in which policies and laws were being introduced and enacted, these policies having a significant negative impact on the lives of citizens in general and Civil Servants in particular.

Dr. Ewing considered resignation from the service in late 2010 but

decided to stay in the Service to help fight against the policies that he considered detrimental to the welfare of citizens and Civil Servants and to protect the rights of Civil Servants. In November of 2010 Dr. Ewing and a few Civil Servants formed a working group to revitalize the dormant Civil Service Association (CSA). This came to pass on January 6, 2011 with the election of the CSA’s management Council with Dr. Ewing as President.

The CSA under the Leadership of Dr. Ewing had ongoing negotiations and dialogue with the Interim Administration to prevent the implementation of policies which they thought were not in the best interest of Civil Servants and the country. The Administration’s failure to address fairly the issues of salaries, allowances, pensions and gratuities and redundancy

of Civil Servants lead the CSA to industrial action on many occasions and improvement of some benefits in the interest of Civil Servants.

In August of 2011, Dr. Ewing, frustrated by the actions of the Interim Administration led a one man demonstration against the Governor and his Advisory Council demanding their resignation and the imposition of a democratically elected government.

Just prior to this action Dr. Ewing submitted his letter of resignation to the Ministry of Health with an effective date of March 30, 2012. This gave him greater comfort and freedom to speak out against the injustices of the Interim Administration. Dr. Ewing continued his work with the CSA defending the rights of Civil Servants until his resignation from the Civil Service on March 30, 2012.

Beaches Turks and Caicos ordered to close for one week The world-famous Beaches Resort Villages and Spa on the island of Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands, has been ordered by health authorities to close and not take any new guests until June 9th because of the mystery virus that has plagued more than a dozen hotels in this high-end Caribbean tourist destination.

The temporary closure was ordered today Saturday June 2nd, following a number of high-level meetings between Beaches officials and a Government delegation and after it was reported that close to 60 guests at the hotel were affected by severe diarrhea and vomiting in recent weeks.

This action came at a time when Beaches was at full occupancy, with an estimated 2,500 guests, who are now either being transferred to other hotels in Providenciales or reimbursed for their vacation and going back to their countries of origin.

A statement from Beaches confirmed that the resort “experienced a very small number of cases” of persons affected by the illness.

The statement added: “We now have a fewer number of people affected by the illness. We continue to monitor the situation very closely and are working with the resorts and country’s healthcare professionals to ensure that health and safety practices are followed. Like other resorts on the island, Beaches Turks and Caicos has agreed to follow a recommendation by the TCI Ministry of Health not to accept NEW guests at the resort until Saturday, June 9, 2012 in order to undertake precautionary cleaning programs and break the 14-hour incubation of the illness.We advise guests booked to stay at Beaches Turks and Caicos over the next seven days to contact their travel agent or call 1-800-BEACHES (232-2437) as soon as possible in order to revise their booking. We apologize unreservedly for any inconvenience that this may cause and extend our thanks for your patience and understanding. We would also like to thank the TCI Ministry of Health for their cooperation."

Beaches Turks and Caicos is the

largest resort in the Turks and Caicos Islands, currently boasting 633 rooms and suites that are spread among the Caribbean Village, the French Village and the Italian Village. It has 16 restaurants and 12 bars and boasts one of the largest waterparks in the Caribbean. It is also the largest private sector employer in the country, with a staff of around 1250.

Last week, another high-end Turks and Caicos hotel, Grace Bay Club, whose guests have included Rihanna, Al Gore, Denzil Washington, Stevie Wonder, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, temporarily suspended new reservations after there were reports of diarrhea and vomiting among its guests. Operations there are now back to normal.

Meantime, the Ministry of Health and Education (MOHE) and Environmental Health Department (EHD) revealed that laboratory tests for ten individuals conducted at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) Reference Laboratory were confirmed as Norovirus and that investigations are ongoing.

A Government press release Saturday said Dr. Lisa Indar, Foodborne Diseases Manager at CAREC and Ms. Leslie Edwards, an Epidemiologist also from CAREC have arrived in Turks and Caicos Islands to help unravel the mystery virus which caused more than 150 persons to seek medical attention for gastroenteritis over the past six weeks.

Additional assistance is due to arrive shortly from PAHO in the form of two Environmental Health Officers with extensive experience working with the hotel industry, the statement added.

Norovirus is a highly contagious viral illness, which is common in outbreaks of gastroenteritis (diarrhea and vomiting) throughout the world. It can be rapidly transmitted from person to person, through contact with vomitus or feces of infected individuals, contaminated food or water, soiled surfaces, bed linens, and gym equipment. Other than supportive therapy, it usually requires little by way of medical interventions and usually resolves without incident.

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Mario Hoffmann loses appeal at the Privy Council

Salt Cay developer Mario Hoffmann recently lost his appeal before the Privy Council in London in which he had challenged certain aspects of the Sir Robin Auld Commission of Inquiry Report into corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Hoffmann had claimed, among other things, that Sir Robin’s findings, and the findings of fact that related to them, fell outside the Commissioner’s terms of reference. However, the Privy Council rejected the arguments advanced on behalf of Mr Hoffmann in respect of the procedural fairness of the inquiry and dismissed his appeal.

The matter was heard by Lord Phillips, Lord Brown, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr and Lord Dyson.

Hoffman was represented by Lord Pannick QC, Javan Herberg, QC and Naina Patel, while the Crown was represented by Phillip Havers QC and Howard Stevens, QC. Hoffmann is a wealthy Slovakian businessman.

He is, indirectly, the owner of over 90% of Postova Banka, a regulated Slovakian retail bank, and is the Chairman of its supervisory board of directors.

Since 1997 he has been a frequent visitor to TCI, having built a house there and spending 2 to 3 months there every year. Since 2000 he has been pursuing a project to develop, through a company called DEVCO, the island Salt Cay. To that end he has steadily acquired land on this island from the Government of TCI. Another Slovakian bank, J & T Banka, is a partner in this project. An important part of the project is the creation of a golf course.

The TCI Government, under the leadership of its premier, the Hon Michael Misick, granted to DEVCO the land on which the golf course was to be built, on a 99 year lease at a “peppercorn” rent. In August 2006 Salt Cay Golf Club was incorporated as the company that would own and run the golf club. 50% of the shares in this company were held

by Mr Hoffmann’s Cyprus based holding company.

The other 50% were given to a holding company of which Mr Chal Misick, a brother of the Premier, was the owner. In the following year, 2007, the Hon Michael Misick successfully applied to J & T Banka for a loan, made to himself and his wife, of US$ 6 million. Mr Chal Misick provided, and J & T Banka accepted, his 50% shareholding in Salt Cay Golf Club as security for this loan.

The Privy Council noted that findings made by the Commissioner in relation to the implications of these transactions formed the principal subject matter of Mr Hoffmann’s complaint. In particular objection is taken to the Commissioner’s rejection of Mr Hoffmann’s assertion that the land that was to be transformed into a golf course had no intrinsic value and the reasons given by Mr Hoffmann for taking Mr Chal Misick as a partner.

The Privy Council judges said that the Chief Justice rather than the Court of Appeal reached the correct conclusion as to the point at which the Commissioner and his staff must first have become aware of the significance of the part that Mr Hoffmann played in the story.

They stated: “The Commissioner focussed on Salt Cay as early as September 2008.

Furthermore the terms in which the Hon Michael Misick was examined by counsel to the inquiry on 15 January 2009 show that the latter was very well briefed about Mr Hoffmann and the role that he had played in respect of the Salt Cay development.

With hindsight, it would have been better and

Salt Cay developer Mario Hoffmann

fairer if the Commissioner had notified Mr Hoffmann, before the start of the oral hearing in TCI, that his conduct was a subject of the inquiry and that he was entitled to be represented at its hearings. (We) can, however, understand how it came about that he was not.”

The Privy Council ruling which was deliverd on May 23, 2012, stated: “It seems clear that the Commissioner and his staff focussed initially on attempting to obtain information from the members of the House of Assembly and the Cabinet Secretary, the Permanent Secretaries and under Secretaries.

The stated intention was that the Commissioner would then decide upon those whose conduct was the subject of the inquiry or who were implicated or concerned in its subject matter and afford them the opportunity to testify.

This plan was derailed by the obduracy of members of the Assembly in attempting to bring the inquiry to a halt by judicial review and in failing to respond to the Commissioner’s invitation to provide relevant evidence. This forced him to group the proposed oral hearings into stages. The first stage, unusually, involved calling those whose conduct formed the express subject matter of the inquiry, the members of the House of Assembly suspected of corruption.

The reason for this, as the Commissioner explained in his Report was that these oral hearings were necessary “in the main to secure full disclosure of interests from Ministers and other Members of the House of Assembly”.”

“It seems to (us) that, perhaps understandably having regard to the pressure that he was under and the difficulties that he was experiencing, the Commissioner had not at this stage turned his attention to the question of whether any developers fell within the scope of section 7(1) of the Ordinance.

It was only when Mr Hoffmann’s letter was read to the inquiry that the Commissioner, belatedly, appreciated that justice required that he should be afforded the opportunity to give oral evidence to the inquiry.

Is the fact that Mr Hoffmann was denied the

opportunity to take part in the first stage of the oral hearings a procedural shortcoming that should have led the Chief Justice to order that any adverse findings in relation to him should be removed from the Report, and that should lead the Board to make a declaration that he has been unfairly treated?

(We) think not. The findings that it has just made will stand as part of the record, but the Board agrees with the Chief Justice that overall Mr Hoffmann was fairly treated.”

The Privy Council Lords said they did not consider that, if Mr Hoffmann had been represented at the hearing of the evidence given in the first stage of the oral hearings, intervention by the lawyer representing him would have been likely to alter the overall import of the evidence given at that stage.

“Before the Court of Appeal his counsel gave examples of the questions that might have been posed to witnesses. They would have been largely designed to obtain confirmation of the evidence that he was subsequently to give in his statements. As the Court of Appeal observed, it is hard to see how this would have added much to the examination of the main protagonists already conducted by their own counsel.

The critical question is whether the Commissioner afforded, by his letter of 20 January, a fair opportunity for Mr Hoffmann to give oral evidence to the inquiry. The Board agrees with both the courts below that he did. Mr Hoffmann had, on his own evidence, spent about three months in TCI after the Commission of Inquiry had been set up. His letter of 12 January made it clear that he was aware of the allegations that his participation in the Salt Cay project involved corruption. Had he wished to give oral evidence the Board would have expected him to do his utmost to take advantage of the request to do so made in the letter of 20 January. He himself has given no explanation of why he did not do so,” the judges added.

“He has given no explanation for the delay between 20 January, when the letter was sent to him and 26 January, when Mr Katan responded on his behalf. Mr Katan’s explanation of the delay was that Mr Hoffmann’s schedule was planned well in advance and that it was not always possible to gain instructions from him immediately. That does not explain why Mr Hoffmann could not have corresponded more expeditiously with his lawyer, had he wished to do so, nor indeed does it state that he did not do so.

The reason given to explain Mr Hoffmann’s failure to comply with the request to give oral evidence was that “owing to pre-existing commitments it would be extremely difficult for him to attend before the Commission within the timetable provided”.

Without any evidence from Mr Hoffmann of the overriding nature of those commitments the Board agrees with the Court of Appeal that the proper conclusion on the evidence is that Mr Hoffmann effectively declined what was, on 20 January, a reasonable opportunity to give oral evidence at some point in the following two weeks.

Thereafter the Commissioner did all that fairness required by admitting lengthy written evidence from Mr Hoffmann, coupled with submissions from his lawyer both before and after the issue of a Salmon letter.”

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Where are businesses in Caribbean business?

BY SIR RONALD SANDERS

The countries of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), with the exception of Guyana and Suriname, are each experiencing severe decline in their economies. The small Leeward and Windward Islands are worst affected, and so too is Barbados.

Governments are struggling to find ways in which to spur economic activity that could produce growth. Meanwhile, unemployment and poverty are growing. Unemployment is highest amongst the youth, making for an alarming situation.

Presenting a lecture to students of the University of the West Indies recently, I received the greatest applause and nods of approval, when I lamented the fact that there were now many graduates of the University who were unable to find jobs that correspond to their level of qualifications, if they could find any jobs at all.

Many Caribbean countries are like pressure cookers, waiting to explode. Only migration and remittances from family abroad are easing the pressure. But, even these valves are not sufficient to relieve discontent completely.

In many cases, this has led to borrowing from local statutory bodies, such as national insurance and social security schemes, to fund capital projects and even to pay wages and salaries. Governments have also borrowed from local banks causing them to carry the greatest risk if there is a default.

A few governments have also borrowed from the Government of the Peoples Republic of China and while many of these loan agreements have not been made public but are said to be concessionary, they have added to the burden of national debt and will have to repaid in the future. Where is the Caribbean business community in all this?

They appear not to be involved at all. Indeed, in some CARICOM countries, the only involvement of the business community in the present difficulties is that some of them are seeking greater concessions from governments.

The recent Landell Mills report to CARICOM

Heads of Government on the restructuring of the CARICOM Secretariat points out that the regional private sector is “fragmented and divided” and many “key private sector players do not even bother to get involved”.

This situation is not good for the region or for the private sector. It is not governments that trade; it is businesses. Therefore, the business community throughout the region should have a keen interest in the meetings of CARICOM trade ministers and meetings of heads of government. The decisions they reach have a major impact on business and on the capacity of businesses to contribute to economic growth and development.

Yet, there are no regular and structured meetings between Caribbean governments and the Caribbean private sector. In other words, governments reach decisions with little or no input from the private sector which they all proclaim is “the engine of growth”.

It is telling that the member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union Commission regularly consult the private sector of their countries recognizing fully that the rules to which they agree, or set, are meant to facilitate businesses on which their economies depend for growth, employment and prosperity.

The Landell Mills report states what should be obvious to all: “The private sector’s views on what works and what does not and on where priorities lie would be invaluable”. For some reason, it does not appear obvious to many CARICOM governments.

They treat the private sector with suspicion.

Only Barbados has a system of structured consultations with the private sector in joint meetings with trade unions, but even these meetings are not attended by the “key private sector players”.

As the report says, the officials who attend these meetings “are often not business people themselves”.

The latter point suggests that serious business people see little point in engaging governments which fail to act on the proposals they put forward.

The report recommends “regular small and

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TCI POLITICAL CARTOONS

Turks and Caicos Sun Suite # 5, Airport Plaza Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands Tel: (649) 946-8542/ (649) 241-1510 Fax: (649) 941-3281 Email: sun@suntci.com Read us online at www.suntci.com

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The Turks and Caicos SUN is a subsidiary of The SUN Media Group Ltd. We are committed to excellence in journalism, educating and informing our readers, serving and satisfying our advertisers and assisting in the overall development of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

informal meetings, possibly over dinner. In our experience an informal arrangement is the best way of building up relationships and getting busy executives to open up on a freewheeling basis”.

There is merit in this idea provided it is done in an open and transparent manner. If not, it will lead to allegations of favouritism, discrimination and marginalisation from others who are not invited.

There should be no guessing about who is coming to dinner.

The report also dismisses the notion of structured meetings, including a Council of representatives of governments and the private sector. But such a Council is necessary and it would be well attended if it comprised Heads of Government and leading business figures from across the region. Both groups would want to be sure they are dealing with persons who can make and implement decisions.

Of course, businessmen will cease to attend meetings, whether it be small working dinners or a council, as soon as they get the first inkling that nothing is done as a result of the discussions.

How to achieve a higher level of confidence between governments and the private sector is a challenge. Each group needs the other if the economies in which they operate – and indeed the Caribbean Single Market – are to be advanced so as to create jobs, reduce poverty and to grow.

In 2009, as head of the Jamaican-based company, Grace Kennedy, Douglas Orane, told a regional private sector body: “The CARICOM region needs to go through a process of self transformation”. The vibrant Jamaican private sector is well placed to propose a basic plan for the regional business community’s involvement in, and contribution to, the region’s economic progress. With the help of the new Jamaica government, such a plan could be a basis for wider regional discussion, refinement and adoption at the regional level.

Businesses cannot be left out of business. *Sir Ronald Sanders is a business executive and former Caribbean diplomat who publishes widely on Small States in the global community.

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LOCAL NEWS

Police investigate internet robbery at major bank

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

The Financial Crimes Unit is investigation a case of cyber crime at one of the major banks in the Turks and Caicos Islands, after it was alleged that hackers gained access to an account and removed a substantial sum.

While this practice appeared not to be widespread, it has created some jitters within the banking sector, forcing some institutions to revisit their firewall internet banking system, since some believed that it could become a trend if not tackled in its early stages.

Up to press time, the police had not indicated a breakthrough or resolution in the matter. A spokesman for the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands

Police Financial Crimes Unit, said: "We can confirm that we have received a report from a banking institution that is currently being investigated by officers from the RTCI Police Financial Crimes Unit. However, the investigation is in its infancy and therefore we cannot discuss the particulars of this case, including the victims, at this stage."

The SUN also contacted President of the Bankers Association, Tony Faessler, on the matter, who said that he was also in contact with the police to fully learn of the incident, but up to press time, did not get a definitive statement as to their progress of investigation.

“I checked with all my other colleagues in the (Banker’s) Association, and asked if anybody had any issues, and then I contacted the

police, because one colleague did seem to have something, I don’t know what it was. He didn’t get into it. All he told me was that they had one particular issue, and that they had liaised with the police, and that it seemed to be settled,” Faessler said.

In the meantime, Faessler, who is associated with the Turks and Caicos Company Ltd., is warning banking institutions and clients to exercise all the care in the world in the wake of increasing technology which allows for accounts to be accessed from a phone or a computer.

“You read the media worldwide and you read about things like that (cyber crimes) around the world.

Hackers hacked into the Pentagon, they hacked into Microsoft, and hackers can hack in anywhere. There is no fail-safe system in the world,” he warned.

However, the Bankers Association Head believed that the financial institution system in the Turks and Caicos Islands is one of the most secured in the world as it relates to cyber attack, which is the reason there is negligible reporting of such incident.

“I have been living in the Turks and Caicos for some 32 years, and I have not come across any major cyber attacks whereby accounts (hacking) or identity theft happening on a large scale; really, for this whole time I have never seen that, so I believe our banks down here have pretty good firewalls; I think they are probably very well protected.

“Here (Turks and Caicos Banking Company Ltd. - a very small private bank - we have an excellent and fantastic firewall. Our accounting system is separated from our internet as a safety precaution, so nobody can hack it. And a certain time, whether day or night, we transfer data, so we are not really exposed at any given time (to cyber crime). But everybody might be different. Of course, you have other banks with online banking systems,” Faessler pointed out.

ree acres of Crown Land Police source said 186 applied on Grand Turk dedicated for National Memorial Park for severance package

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

A police source is refuting a recent statement by the police hierarchy that only 26 individuals from the police force applied for the Voluntary Severance Package, rather saying that the correct figure was 186.

Of the 186 persons who applied, the source said, 95 percent comprised police officers, while the remainder consisted of civilian staff which included all of the police records staff, as well as all of the civilian staff in headquarters in both Grand Turk and Providenciales.

Among those that were granted severance packages were Superintendent Ralph Doughty, Inspector Simon Talbot of the Marine Branch, Inspector Bennett Spring, Sergeant Terrence Thomas, Sergeant Rohan Ash, Constable Noel Thomas and Constable Damian Windsor.

Civilians Juanita skippings and Jean Been were also successful in their severance application bid.

The Voluntary Severance Scheme was introduced by Government in the bottom half of last year, as a vehicle that the Interim Administration said was not only to chop the sector to a manageable number but also to cut cost and made the sector more relevant to the needs of the public.

Approximately 700 persons from various sectors applied and about 400 were successful. At a press conference in Providenciales earlier this year, Head of the Civil Service, Patrick Boyle explained that not all who applied for the package would get it, since the Civil Service could not afford to get rid of the useful talent among its ranks.

He said also that some persons would be too expensive to get rid of, owing to the consideration that Government was operating under budget constraints.

The JAGS McCartney Memorial was built in 1980 by the People’s Democratic Party (PDM) on property leased from the Crown for the development of their Party Headquarters. Its location on Airport Road, made it visible to both residents and visitors to Grand Turk.

However, today, JAGS memorial has become less visible as a result of the airport being relocated.

Recognising the significance of the site, the expiration of the lease presented the opportunity for TCIG to support this valid initiative by mutating the property leased to the PDM Party in order to establish the JAGS McCartney Memorial site as a separate national institution and further, expanding it to create a National Memorial Park.

The 3-acre JAGS McCartney National Memorial Park will be a public space to remember and honour the courage and sacrifice of our war veterans and future national heroes. In approving the instrument for mutation, H.E. The Governor, Ric Todd expressed delight in this initiative and commented, “The expansion of the memorial site will not only improve the setting and capacity of the site but also strengthen the heritage value of the area”.

During discussions with the Government last year, Doug Parnell, then leader of the PDM, expressed full support of the Government’s proposal to expand the JAGS McCartney Memorial site to create a National Memorial Park. The Party also offered to enter into a Management Agreement with TCIG to assist with the maintenance and upkeep of the Park and to develop it into a national cultural centre of attraction and significance. Mr. Parnell noted, "As former Party Leader, the task had fallen on me to renegotiate the terms of our Party's existing lease over the property held in Grand Turk – the property which housed the remains of the late great, JAGS McCartney. I am delighted that we as a Party have come to such a historic settlement with the Turks and Caicos Islands Government. He belongs to all the peoples of these Islands and the establishment of the National Memorial Park signifies that we ALL recognizes him as a National Hero.”

CALL 946-8542 FOR MORE INFORMATION

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JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Slash in statutory boards coming

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

A number of statutory bodies are expected to become casualties under the Public Sector Reform Programme if they are ruled irrelevant to their intended purposes.

It is also ruled that some of these boards were weighing heavily on the public purse, while not delivering.

At news briefing at the National Environment Centre on Tuesday, May 29, to announce the launch of the programme, Chief Executive Officer for the Civil Service, Patrick Boyle, explained that while there will be amalgamations of some of the boards, certain abolitions are on the cards for others.

He said that the approximately 37 statutory bodies that currently existed were far too many, while explaining that the cutting of the ministries from nine to five would warrant the extinction of those bodies.

Boyle hinted also that some boards were abetting tardiness within the system, since they were facilitating payment for work which was not done.

“There will definitely be less statutory bodies (after the restructuring of the civil service). I said to you (media) before that statutory bodies cost too much. Too many people who sit on boards of statutory bodies just turn up to collect their stipend and actually do very little on the boards of these bodies. Many of the 35, 37 statutory bodies are not organizations of lots of people.There are statutory advisory boards that are here to advise government.

“And if you look at the previous ministry structure you would have had a number of these boards serving each ministry. Now that we are bringing the ministries together, it is entirely appropriate that we review what we are doing. Some of these boards, we will get rid of them in their entirety,” Boyle asserted.

He emphasized that under the restructuring programme, government would ensure that the core focus of these entities was to effectively serve the interest of the public, which he said was the main objective of government.

“We need to also make sure that

statutory bodies exist to meet the government objectives. There are too many statutory bodies that just exist for themselves. Government will be setting out very clearly, for statutory bodies what their objectives are and what government’s expectations are of those statutory bodies, in order that we can start to create an effective partnership between Government and the statutory bodies to deliver what the public wants.

That is what we are here for, so it will be a huge piece of work. To do that, we need to make sure that those people who are appointed to public bodies in the future are appointed for their skills, their experience and their expertise that they bring to government. This is so important not because they happen to know someone who is on the board, but it is really important that we get people that can deliver on these boards,” Boyles said.

He noted however, that before government began to swing the hatchet

at these boards, proper dialogues, assessments and deliberations would take place with individual bodies, so as to arrive at a sound overall decision.

“We have been asking the question – what do these statutory bodies do? Is it something that government could do or should do by itself? And do we really need some of these statutory bodies at all? So you would see less of them, and we have started dialogue with each of the individual statutory bodies.

“We need to have proper discussion with the statutory bodies so that they hear it from government, and they are engaged in proper dialogue with government before we put it in the media,” Boyle emphasized.

The Civil Chief Executive was accompanied by Susan Malcolm, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Home Affairs and Wesley Clerveaux, Permanent Secretary for Government Support Services.

Melanie Smith graduates with honors Melanie Smith, a recent graduate from Keiser University in Fort Lauderdale Florida and a Citizen of the Turks and Caicos Islands captured the hearts of her close friends and family members when she was nominated to be Valedictorian.

However, even though the decision was a hard choice for her colleagues at the University, she still managed to capture Salutatorian.

Ms. Smith graduated with honors as a Sigma Beta Kappa Honor’s member, Magna Cum-Laude and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, with concentrations in Human Resource Management and Finance.

She has made her parents Mrs. Rosita Elaine Smith of the Providenciales Treasury and Aulden Smith, owner of Smokey’s on the Beach very proud parents.

Ms. Smith says, “even though the road was a long and rocky one with many long nights and stressful days, there was always Melanie Smith the inspiration of her grandmother Mrs. Marjorie Basden of the Marjorie Basden High School, who encouraged her to always aim high and put God first. Although she was chosen as Salutatorian she is proud and feels satisfied of her achievements. She would like to give many thanks to the Ministry of Health and Education for their support and thinks on their behalf she has performed exceptionally well.”

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JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

Page 9 LOCAL NEWS LOCAL NEWS

TCI residents must pay more to call Jamaica

By Vivian Tyson Senior Sun Editor

Local telecoms providers could see their profit margins from calls terminating in Jamaica drastically slashed after that country’s government has decided to impose taxation on calls to its shore.

The measure was proposed by that island’s finance minister Peter Phillips during his presentation of the country’s estimates of expenditure for 2012/2013 earlier this week.

Under the new tax measure, international calls terminating in Jamaican would attract a cess of 9.5 cents. The telecoms provider from which the calls originate would be responsible for collecting the tax from its customers and then dispatch the sum to the telecoms company in Jamaica, who in term would pass it on to the government.

However, whether or not the terminating provider collects the funds, it would be mandated to turn over the tax percentage from the number of calls made over a particular period to government.

While there has been no official word from LIME Jamaica on the matter, its competitor, Digicel, has come out swinging against the proposed measure, labeling the

move as a retrograde step, and further arguing that its very concept was counter growth.

The opposition Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) has also lashed the government for conceptualizing such a cess, and warned that the telecoms companies in that country could be left holding the bag, since there was no guarantee that international providers would sign on to such as tax measure.

The opposition also warned that it could damper diplomatic relations between Jamaican and the United States, from that country said it received 80 percent of its international calls.

When contacted, E. Jay Saunders, General Manager for Digicel TCI, said the new tax measures would cut into his company’s profit margin, especially as it relates to prepaid customers. According to Saunders, a prepaid customer who normally tops $20 on a regular basis, would be more than likely still be topping up the same figure even after the tax measure becomes law. He said that, whereas in the past Digicel would pocket the whole $20, it would now have to share it with the Jamaican government courtesy of the levy, thereby

leaving the company with a reduced profit margin.

He said too, that whereas $20 could hypothetically buys the customers 1,000 minutes, under the new tax system it would now only be able to fetch 600 minutes, since Digicel would collect from that figure to pass on to the Jamaican government.

He said that international telecoms provider who failed to comply could run the risk of being blocked by their terminating counterparts, since it would be unfair for them to be paying government its required margin while not collecting the equivalent from the provider that the calls originated.

Saunders explained that Haiti was the first country to impose a levy on incoming calls, after being okayed by the US government following the devastating Hurricane in 2010.

He said prior to that, the government attempted to raise funds from the millions of Haitians abroad who called home ever so often, but providers in the US opposed the move.

The local Digicel boss predicted that the new development could trigger countries with large diasporas to adopt the principle, having discovered that it could become a cash cow for its budget.

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LOCAL NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Government to transfer $18million to NHIB this year Government again this year will funnel additional funds than the originally yearly agreed sum to the National Health Insurance Board (NHIB) albeit a lower figure than last year, since that body remained in a state of chronic insolvency.

Last year Government expended $2million per month to the NHIB, but this year, it intends to channel $1.5 each

month to that body to cushion its apparent cash flow freefall.

Under the original agreement, Government is obligated to contribute $1million per month to the National Health Insurance Board to cover costs that cannot be met from its member’s contributions, such as treatment abroad as well as contributions for wards of the state.

TRAFFIC COURT DAY The curiosity of a number of motorists and pedestrians passing the Magistrate’s Court along Old Airport Road in Providenciales on Thursday, May 31, got the better of them, when they saw an unusually large crowd gathered in the court yard. Some believed it was a high-profile case that attracted a large gathering. When The SUN turned up on the scene, we were told that it was actually traffic court day for a number of persons who had outstanding traffic tickets, persons contesting the issuance of police tickets, those who were involved in accidents and also traffic insurance matters. In photo, a number of persons mill outside the courthouse after being unable to be accommodated inside the building.

The Master’s Academy Is looking for persons to fill the following positions: (2) IT teachers with knowledge in QuickBooks (3) Pre-school teachers with diploma (5 years experience) (1) Part-time music teacher Please call: 241-2975 or 431-2975 or Email. themastersacademy@ymail.com to schedule an interview

GARDENER NEEDED

For a private home in Providenciales.

A hardworking person needed to work six days a week .

Must likes animals. Must speak English. Must be Fit and able.

Wages $5.00 a hour Belongers Apply.

If you fit the above qualifications please send your resume to the following address: PO Box 560, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands.

But during the 2011/2012 fiscal year, Government said that the NHIB experienced cash flow problems, forcing the Interim Administration to bridge the shortfall by fully covering its Clinical Service payment of $2million per month to Inter Health Canada, which runs the two hospitals – the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre in Providenciales and the Cockburn Town Medical Centre in the capital Grand Turk.

Government said that the gesture was done as a temporary measure, while allowing the NHIB to work on increasing its contribution rate and to build up sufficient cash reserves to cover these costs going forward.

However, it emphasized that that it would appear that the board would still not be in a position to resume full responsibility for the costs for this fiscal year, and so the Interim Administration would have to move in and fill the breach once again.

“Therefore, TCIG has agreed to transfer $1.5million per month this year to the NHIB in 2012/2013 to assist with these and other costs. This increases the budget from the normal transfer of $12.0m to $18.0m instead, but still well below the total transferred last year,” the budget statement said.

In addition to budgeting $18

million, the Interim Administration disclosed that it would also be bankrolling $5millon for ICL Reconciliation (electricity and operating expenses) and insurance costs. The Interim Administration emphasized that the costs were the responsibility of the NHIB, but at this time it was unable to absorb them in their budget at this time, hence government’s intervention.

Government said however, that it would be working closely with the NHIB so that it becomes solvent in the very near future thus easing the burden of government having to cover for it.

“In order to resolve this problem, TCIG intends to work closely with NHIB during the financial year to help to improve their financial position and also to help managing all costs in the healthcare sector more effectively,” the budget statement continued.

In the meantime, under the agreement with Inter Health Canada, the Turks and Caicos Islands Government said its primary responsibility was to cover the cost of infrastructure and equipment costs. And so, the budget included a $18.4million for hospital and provisional charges.

This, the Interim Administration said would cover the monthly unitary and equipment cost payments.

LOCAL NEWS TURKS & CAICOS SUN

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

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LOCAL NEWS

Bahamas/TCI Anglican heads hold ‘open, frank’ talk with Governor Todd

By Vivian Tyson Senior Sun Editor

concerned about what is happening, as in the Bahamas, the economic community. To say that the church is and we continue to encourage challenges, as with the entire world not doing enough is entirely unfair. It persons to show respect, support the – those are things people continue to may not be doing what John or what Open and frank, that was the administration and to work toward be concerned about. But, of course, Mary or what Suzie thinks it should hierarchy of the Anglican Diocese the development of these islands. when we deal with life, life presents be doing, but we are doing what we for the Bahamas/ Turks and Caicos In due course, I would be making a us with all kinds of things; how do are supposed to be doing,” Bishop Islands described their rendezvous statement as the Anglican Bishop. we approach the circumstances Boyd said. with Governor for the TCI His For his part, Arch Deacon of life, the attitude with which we In the meantime, Arch Deacon Excellency Ric Todd on their visit Cartwright asserted: “I would approach those circumstances is key. Cartwright reiterated that despite the to the country earlier this week. describe it (meeting) as very frank, “And so, as spiritual leaders many challenges being experienced Laish Boyd, Bishop for the straight forward and open.” we try to do all that we can to help by the Turks and Caicos Islands Anglican Diocese for the Bahamas Bishop Boyd declared that a people, not only to approach things there were many bright spots for the and the Turks and Caicos Islands and number of his parishioners in the in a positive light, but also to keep people to feel confident about their Keith Cartwright, Arch Deacon for TCI indicated that they were gravely God in the picture; develop their future. the Southern Bahamas and the TCI concerned, especially over the fact own faith, and allow their faith to “There is evidence that the country met with Governor Todd on Tuesday, that the Constitution was pulled encourage them and to strengthen is still holding its own in the tourism May 39, to discuss issues affecting and direct British rule through the them through challenges times, sector, much better than many places the TCI, but which they failed to governor instituted by Britain. He this is the important role which the in the region. And I think that augurs divulged to the media, promising stated that many had indicated to church plays as representatives of well for the sector. I think there are rather to do so at a later day. him that they yearned for democracy Jesus Christ. God is able to help us to some concerns about the inflows “As Bishop of the diocese I to be returned so that they would ride through the good times and the of foreign investment, to bring in am concerned about whatever is be able to be fully in charge of their bad,” Bishop Boyd assured. new capital into the country, but I happening in the diocese that affects affairs.

In the meantime, Bishop Boyd think that is expected in this Interim not just the Anglican flock but the “As with everywhere you go said that persons were not being fair situation where investors may not be people of the territory in general. We there is concern about the economics, when they said that they church was quite comfortable knowing that this are concerned because persons are and certainly in the Turks and Caicos, not doing enough to appease certain might only be a interim government, political and social situations in a and would rather wait to deal with a country. more substantive government.

“And I don’t think it is a fair “We recognize that we have to statement because human beings move past this stage to get to the tend to always look for solutions stage where our own people are in the outside of themselves. Human beings halls of parliament, our own people generally don’t take responsibility are making meaningful decisions on for their own circumstances, that’s behalf of the people; what the people one thing. Secondly, the church is want for their country, and we fully a presence and a stabilizing force, intend to address those issues,” Arch working towards the betterment of Deacon Cartwright asserted. the human condition in the name of Bishop Boyd is responsible for God, and challenging people to reach 21 islands in the Bahamas and four their God-given potential. in the TCI – those are the islands “We are preaching and teaching that the Anglican faith has churches all the time, as bishop, I made press or congregations. The visits by the statements on numerous visits. The Anglican hierarchy is to interact arch deacon has been working in this with the clergy, lay persons, other area for more than 30 years, so he is members of the community, and very well known, and he has been if possible, leaders as to gauge the very vocal in his utterances, and political and social climate in the also very involved in the life of the country.

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Page 12

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Government still short of key ministry personnel

By Vivian Tyson Senior Sun Editor

So far there are no takers for a number of top tier positions in government that have been created mainly through the Interim Administration’s reengineering of the civil service by government in its attempt to make the system more efficient.

Susan Malcolm, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Home Affairs, who was speaking at the launch of the next step of the Public Sector Reform Programme at the National Environment Centre conference room on Tuesday, May 29, revealed that some positions became vacant due to promotion of individuals

within the respective ministries, while others were created due to the recent Voluntary Severance Scheme.

She said that her ministry was without the services of a Director of Planning, a Deputy Director of Planning and Director for Environment and Maritime Affairs.

The Director of Planning position became vacant upon the promotion of then Acting Director Ian Astwood to Deputy Permanent Secretary, while the Director of Environment and Maritime Affairs position became open when Wesley Clerveaux was promoted to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Government Support Services.

She said that interviews were completed and the files were now with the Public Service Commission

to sign off on.

“There are a number of positions that are vacant, some are critical positions and we are actively trying to fill those positions at this moment, especially since the budget has been recently passed.

We have those positions advertised at the moment; (for some positions) we have completed the first stage of the interview process and some of these recommendations are now with the Public Service Commission.

“Some positions became vacant by severance; however, you must understand that if a position became vacant by severance we were not allowed to fill that position. We had to determine that there were other positions within that ministry that

we could do without in order to replace that person. For example, if we allowed a secretary to go, and we needed to fill that position, we had to show savings somewhere else, so it is a tradeoff, “she explained.

On March 5, during a news conference on Providenciales, Patrick Boyle, Head of the Civil Service said that government was forced to embark on another round of deputy permanent secretary selections after only six of the 61 individuals who were interviewed to fill the 14 available positions were successful.

In the meantime, both Malcolm and Boyle have refuted allegations that government was forced to rehire some of the persons that left the sector under the Voluntary Severance Scheme.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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LOCAL NEWS

Disruptive behaviors unchecked could lead to prison

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

Children who now display Disruptive Behavioral Disorders could later end up in Her Majesty’s Prison or similar institutions somewhere else if proper and urgent attention is not applied, according to Government Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Patrick Prince.

In a post presentation interview at the Oseta Jolly Primary School Annual Teachers Development Programme held at the LIME Corporate Office along the Leeward Highway on Thursday, May 24, Dr. Prince, who works out of the Ministry of Health and Education, said that Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiance Disorder and Conduct Disorder among students posed most problems for players in the education sector.

“These disorders are what usually challenge academia, our school settings and usually give teachers, the Ministry and the Department of Education the hardest challenge possible. These challenges left un-helped, left unguided, can actually turn into more societal problems, which would result in Antisocial Personality Disorder.

“And most of those persons who are challenged by Antisocial Personality Disorders will faced their future in Her Majesty’s Prison in Grand Turk or any prison anywhere in the world, because they are often times left unchecked (they can become) lawbreakers - defiance of laws, rules and regulations,” he said.

Dr. Prince emphasized that such behaviours were not limited to a particular or a few schools, but practically all the schools in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He said that he and others from that ministry intervened in a number of activities across the country each week.

“Weekly, I or have some form of intervention in these behaviours from various schools. These schools are not just government schools but they are private schools also. Name any school in the Turks and Caicos Islands; name any school in Providenciales, there is a child (that suffers

Teachers mimicking their students as they say lunchtime grace (teachers)

from one of those disorders), because as I indicated earlier, three in every 30 students would suffer from ADD, ADHD or any of the Disruptive Behavioral Disorders. In every class there is at least one or two persons. In the smallest school, you would probably have at least one in every class,” he said.

Dr. Prince pointed out that Disruptive Behavioral Disorder does not discriminate, as it affects children of every race and is no respecter or age group or gender.

“It does not necessarily mean that it is guided or targeted any specific race; it’s in any race, any age group and any gender.

However, Disruptive Behavioral Disorder, especially Conduct Disorder and Opposition Defiance Disorder – those two are usually more prominent in boys. That, in itself, can lead to antisocial behaviours in society. As a matter of fact, it starts off with not learning, being distracted, to be destructive of personal properties and destruction of other person’s property as a child – like destroying toys.

“And then, if that behavior is left unguided, those persons would start destroying vehicles, fire-setting to homes, to businesses to cars, and these are actual highlights. When a child does that under age 16, it is classified as conduct disorder.

When someone does that over age 18, it is classified as antisocial behavior, and that is

CORRECTION In last week’s edition of The SUN, a caption under a photograph on Page 22 erroneously identified Selina Wright as “Organizer Melanie Smith”.

The SUN regrets the error.

This photograph is of Melanie Smith who successfully organsied the “I Am my Mother’s Daughter” event at Occasions Ballroom, at the Airport Hotel.

where the criminality aspect comes in. it is a criminal act either way, but of course, because of our laws, there is one way to deal with children and there is one way to deal with adults.

In the meantime, Dr. Prince pointed out that Government lacked the proper resources to tackle the problem on a broad

scale.

“We do have expertise, and we do have a handful of professionals dealing with it.

But to actually attack the problem or the challenge we will need more persons per school, because as it stands, you have myself and one or two others to take care of the entire Turks and Caicos Islands.

“There is a group of persons numbered about 10 or 12 within and without government that I know of currently that is able to address this problem, and this is a population of twenty-five to thirty thousand; so that is one of the challenges that we are looking at,” Dr, Prince asserted.

Rachel Handfield, Principal for the Oseta Jolly Primary School indicated that the Annual Teachers Development Programme, which was sponsored mainly by telecoms company LIME, was aimed at equipping the teachers to more ably identify, understand and to modify behaviors of children under their care.

Other speakers were motivational speaker Edward Smith, who spoke on leadership and Winsome Fearon, Guidance Teacher at Oseta Jolly. The theme for this year was “Teaching with Passion”.

NOTICE

AmSouth Reinsurance Company, Ltd. (“in Voluntary Liquidation”) Registered No. E31340 NOTICE is hereby given, pursuant to Section 133 of the Companies Ordinance 1981, that, pursuant to a written resolution of the shareholders of AmSouth Reinsurance Company, Ltd. (“the Company”) on 15th day of March 2012 it was RESOLVED that the Company be wound-up voluntarily and that Gary Brough of KPMG Restructuring Ltd. be appointed Liquidator for the purposes of such winding up.

NOTICE is hereby given that creditors of the Company, which was located at The Village at Grace Bay, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, are required, on or before 27 July 2012, to send their names and addresses with particulars of their debts and claims, to the liquidator of the Company at the following address: Gary Brough KPMG Restructuring Ltd. KPMG Building The Village at Grace Bay Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands (F) 649 946 4619 and, if so required by notice in writing by the said liquidator are, by their Attorney’s or personally, to come in and prove their said debts or claims at such time and place as shall be specified in such notice, or in default thereof they may be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such debts are proved.

Dated the 29nd Day of May 2012 Gary Brough, Liquidator, Range Insurance Company, Ltd.

Page 14

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

BELONGERSHIPS BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MRS. JO-ANN NATALEA BEEN of Providenciales, a national of Barbados being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MRS JOSCELYNE JOSEPHLOCKHART of Providenciales, a national of Haiti, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MRS ANNETTEDOREEN HENFIELD of Providenciales, a national of Jamaica, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR. LOUIS MARY FRANCOIS of Providenciales, a national of Haiti, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR RAYMOND STORIN BUREY of Providenciales, a national of Jamaica, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR. PHENEL SAINT JEAN of Providenciales, a national of Haiti, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR. RONALD PLUVIOSE of Providenciales, a national of Haiti being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Page 15

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

LOCAL NEWS

Family Emergency Plan Development Workshops launched During the month of June 2012, the official beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, LIME Turks and Caicos and Caicos Express Airways are partnering to sponsor seven (7) Family Emergency Plan Development Workshops on six (6) islands in the Turks and Caicos, which are being facilitated by Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy.

Families and the community where they live could be affected by hazardous events at any time, hence the purpose of a Family Emergency Plan is to help persons in our communities to increase their resilience to the impact of hazard events by planning for and mitigating against the potential adverse effects of a significant emergency or hazardous event. To ensure families are aware of the hazards that could affect their community, plans should include all hazards, which can impact the community, and should be documented.

Families can cope with a disaster by preparing in advance and working

together as a team.

LIME CEO, Mr. Drexwell Seymour noted “As we approach the 2012 Hurricane Season, it is important that all residents are informed and prepared adequately not only for the Hurricane Season but throughout the entire year. We cannot take anything for granted and LIME believes that the best way forward is to ensure that all residents are fully informed. LIME is happy to partner with Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy who are well experienced in this area.”

Operations Manager of Caicos Express Airways, Mr. Stephane Menelas stated “As an airline we at Caicos Express Airways know and live by planning. In our business it is important to be ready for any emergency. We are living in the TCI where we are prone to be hit by hurricanes, and being prepared is very important. So it is our pleasure for Caicos Express Airways to be a part of this initiative to prepare the people of

Salt Cay – Grand Turk – South Caicos – Middle Caicos – North Caicos -

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Thursday 7th June 2012, 10:30am at the Salt Shed Thursday 7th June 2012, 6:00pm – Location TBD Monday 18th June 2012, 6pm at the Community Center Thursday 21st June 2012, 10:30am Conch Bar Community Center Thursday 21st June 2012, 6pm at the Adelaide Oemler Primary School Auditorium Providenciales – Saturday 30th June 2012, 10:30am and 3pm at the LIME Training Facility FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Jamell Robinson Principal Consultant Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy 649-231-3399 jamell.r.robinson@gmail.com www.learnandleaddc.com

the TCI for any emergency situation.

We are committed to the people and want to contribute to them for their support in any way possible” Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy is the premier private Disaster Management Company in the

Turks and Caicos whose motto is “Learn to Prepare to Lead in Crisis”. L and L DC specializes in: Disaster Risk Management; Business Continuity Management; Geographic Information Services and Systems; and Community Outreach and Research.

Page 16

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

SNAP Centre gets $5,000 playground

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

Students at the Marion Williams Special Needs Association of Providenciales (SNAP) Centre now have a recreational area to develop their motor and other skills, thanks to a joint venture between Scotiabank and AND construction, who partnered to erect a playground comprising slides, swings and rocktype climbing facility.

The ribbon-cutting to officially open the playground, which cost in excess of $5,000, was held on Friday, May 18, at the Centre’s Kew Town facility, and was witnessed by members of staff of Scotiabank and AND Construction.

Keno Forbes, Scotiabank’s Assistant Manager for Business Support with the Managing Director’s Office, told The SUN that the initiative with AND Construction marked a litany of benevolent support that the bank had been rendering to the institution in recent times “We partnered with AND Construction and we have donated this playground so that the kids can have somewhere to play because they did not have any facilities to play and to be a child, basically. And so, AND graciously assisted us in purchasing the playground and installing it.

Paulette Simmons (fourth from right) and one of her students (fifth from right) about to cut the ribbon to officially open the playground at the SNAP Centre in Kew Town. Chris Haggie (third from left) of AND Construction shares in the moment, so do Assistant Scotiabank Manager for Business Support, Keno Forbes (third from right), staff members of bank and students of the institution.

“AND Construction is one of the premier construction companies in the Turks and Caicos, and they have been contracted by Scotiabank to carryout construction projects on our behalf, and that was where they partnership started,” Forbes revealed.

For his part, Chris, Haggie, Operations Director for AND Construction said that his company had built up a solid relationship with

Scotiabank, having done a number of constructions for them.

“Keno Forbes and other members of Scotiabank explained to us that they got involved with SNAP, in aiding them to improve their facilities and make a better environment for the children here.

They approached us and asked us if we could possibly build a playground for the children, and we decided that the best thing was to go and purchase a

purpose-made playground from the United States.

“Our colleagues and employees over the past few months had actually gone ahead in their spare time and built this for SNAP, and we are extremely happy that we are in a position to offer them (children) extracurricular activities outside of what the guys at Scotiabank had done from inside,” Haggie said.

Paulette Simmons, a teacher at the institution, said that it was a relief knowing that the children were now able to engage in extracurricular activities, which he said, were almost non-existent before the gesture. She pointed out that the facility would allow them to further develop their physical and mental capacities.

“This was well-needed. The children now have more outdoor activities because before now, all the time they were in their classrooms. I feel good to know that this has come through; the kids are now enjoying themselves even more, as they use the swings from day to day,” Simmons said.

In the meantime, Forbes said that the prior work that Scotiabank had carried out at the SNAP Centre included the purchasing of computers, school supplies, repair work to the building, repainting of the walls and he painting of murals.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

LOCAL NEWS

Digicel TCI CEO Jay Saunders tells European telecommunications companies to follow the clouds E. Jay Saunders, CEO of Digicel TCI who just last month was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil informing Latin American and Caribbean telecommunications companies on why they are better positioned to financially benefit from their 4G investments – specifically their Long Term Evolution (LTE) investments – than North American telecommunications companies, was in Barcelona, Spain on the 23rd May at the LTE World Summit 2012.

He spoke on the topic “Business Opportunities that ‘scream’ out for LTE: How operators can utilize LTE to become relevant again”. While at the summit, E. Jay also shared the stage with Mark Harrop, (Director of Devices, Mobility and Innovation, BT Wholesale, UK) for a panel discussion on “Accelerating Broadband Access in Rural Areas”; and he participated in a TV interview for Telecoms.com (to be aired in June).

During his presentation, E. Jay pointed out that combined global revenues from Cloud services and mobile advertising was approximately US$44 billion dollars in 2011 and that total revenues from the same are expected to grow to US$121 billion dollars in 2015.

Turning to the telecommunication companies in the audience, E. Jay asked “What percentage of those revenues are you going to capture?” Currently telecommunication companies globally are not well positioned to capture any of

E. Jay Saunders, CEO of Digicel TCI

those revenues, and it would be remiss of them after having financed the huge CAPEX requirements to rollout LTE – the most advanced wireless telecommunications standard to date – which by its very design will cannibalize traditional voice and SMS revenues, to not attempt to capture some of the revenues coming from the new areas that their investments in LTE is making possible such as Cloud services, video streaming, and mobile advertising, stated E. Jay. Micaela Giuhat, vice president of product marketing at GENBAND, a company who is poised to play a major role in assisting mobile operators in meeting subscribers' future expectations for innovative, empowering and personalized services through a unique

portfolio of LTE and IMS-enabled security, control and application layer products, such as Mobile Life and Office, stated that “GENBAND considers LTE to be the catalyst of a new and dramatic advance in the evolution of the communications industry, and one of the highlights of the LTE World Summit was the presentation from Digicel's E. Jay Saunders. It was by far one of the most positive and well thought out presentations, with concrete examples on how to really take advantage of LTE. Amongst long discussions on what makes an LTE business case, E. Jay's speech was not only reaffirming that there is a business case for LTE, but also a huge upside that service providers can easily capitalize on."

Some of the other speakers at the conference were: Micaela Giuhat, Vice President Product Marketing, GENBAND; Mark Harrop, Director, Devices, Mobility and Innovation, BT Wholesale, UK; Luis Angel Sanchez, Head of Innovation 2.0, Telefonica, Spain; Carlos Domingo, President & CEO, Telefónica R&D. Director of Product Development and Innovation, Telefónica Digital; Takehiro Nakamura, Director & 3GPP Chairman, NTT DoCoMo; Karim Lesina, Executive Director of International External Affairs, AT&T; Daniel Lönnblad, Director, Sony

Ericsson; ABOUT DIGICEL TURKS & CAICOS Digicel Turks and Caicos has created positive competition that drove mobile telecommunications development, creating choice, competitive pricing, and technological innovation that benefited a large number of Turks & Caicos mobile customers since its launch in 2006. *With its aggressive thrust into the market, residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands are now enjoying cheaper local and international calls, competitive calling rates, state-of-the art mobile phones, services that other providers charge a fortune for, and customer service beyond their expectations. Digicel raised the bar where acceptable levels of service and network coverage were concerned, thus firmly establishing itself as the Number One GSM mobile provider in the Turks & Caicos.

Since its inception, Digicel has been a major contributor to national income, and to employment creation for many Turks & Caicos Islanders, both directly and indirectly. Its presence has further impacted the lives of residents of the islands, through its corporate citizenship and sponsorship of events such as the Turks and Caicos Music and Cultural Festival, The Doris Robinson Primary School, and the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association (TCIFA).

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LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Speech delivered by former Chief Minister Oswald Skippings on National Heroes Day 2012 I am mindful of the request or dignity and patriotism that gave us caution for me to bring BRIEF international recognition. remarks, I'll keep that in mind.

Humble and meek yes, but About two weeks ago, minutes strong and resilient enough to before I got the invitation to address engage even the superpowers in this audience on this august negotiations and representation for occasion, I saw a message on my his country and people and to lead BBM. For those who may not know, the famous and historic Junkanoo it’s a text message sent to me via my Rebellion. black berry cellphone. It read Paradoxical indeed. Yes! That something like this: was Jags McCartney in a nutshell.

"Don't just remember Jags, honor But you see, we cannot nutshell him.

Jags, we cannot put Jags in a box, Honor him with the way we live and his mentality and his persona would treat each other not allow that confinement and ill Honor him by being the best that definement to happen even in his you can be for the Turks & Caicos death, for in his exploits and Oswald Skippings Islands accomplishments, he was larger Honor him by having the deepest than life itself. Jags was a pioneer! love and patriotism for your country He was exceptional in his compassion and in his Honor him by not letting the dream of a united Turks love for his country and his people, and for humanity & Caicos die on the whole. Jags was an extraordinaire.

Honor him by exercising your right to vote. Pass it We as a people have a tendency to forget, we on. have a tendency to neglect, we have a tendency to Thanks Sharlene, I'm passing it on now in the be complacent and apathetic, and then we become most appropriate and public forum. vulnerable, but let's be mindful of Jags chiding. Jags Short but profound. She too must have been was a born leader. cautioned to be brief, but nonetheless demonstrated But it is in times like these, when the leaves of that quality supersedes quantity. the tree of freedom have withered and the branches Earlier on, I referred to this ceremony as an are dry and brittle, and the trunk is not so robust, that August occasion. we need to remember the ROOTS, for the roots were It may not carry the royal gravity and the pomp planted deep by Jags McCartney, deep enough to and pride of the her majesty the Queen's birthday sustain us thought the drought and the famine, parade, but to those of us who are conscious of our through the storms and the turbulences, through this heritage and concerned with our destiny, it is indeed unconscionable interim and oppressive august, and is more relevant than the queen's administration. birthday, especially in times like these.

My fellow Turks and Caicos Islanders, if only Especially at this critical juncture in our history. for the sake of our youth, we need to find our roots.

We may not have the array of dignitaries, school Jags was a Legend. children, official police turnout With the march pass When we reflect on the fact that we have and the firing of the guns in her majesty's honor, but advanced from a system of British administrators to us who may be constitutionally chained but and commissioners and a powerless legislative mentally liberated and politically conscious, this is council, to that of majority rule government, then we a most memorable and august occasion as any, that are compelled to think of James Alexander George may take place in this our land.

Smith McCartney. Jags was a Visionary.

For we were taught at home, at school and at When we think of a modern constitution that Sunday school that charity begins at home and ends provided for ministerial government, with an abroad. executive council and with locally elected ministers We were also instructed to give honor to whom with portfolios allowing us to ably represent our honor is due, and the designation of national hero, people, we think of Jags Alexander George Smith denotes that national honor should be proffered and Mc Cartney. JAGS was a deliverer bestowed upon Jags.

When we recall the mass demonstrations on But if we forget from whence we came it makes behalf of the nurses and other civil issues it all that much easier to find ourselves right back nationwide, Jags Mc Cartney has to come to mind. there. Hence here we are today, back to square zero, Jags was a fighter. not square one.

When one remembers the very first foreign We have this irresponsible habit in the Turks and affairs negotiation ever between a locally elected Caicos of repeating history and re-inflicting its terror government and a super power. Held in Washington on ourselves and our country, then conveniently DC between the US Government and the Turks and blame history for repeating itself.

Caicos government, concerning the US Bases that Lessons are taught not simply to be learnt but to were in the TCI, there is no other to think about but be learnt from and to be applied, and Jags taught us Jags Mc Cartney. Jags was a Statesman. to love one another and respect one another, he It is under his administration that we got taught us unity, self worth, pride in ourselves and in international exposure in sports, the Commonwealth our country, and patriotism, and he taught us how to Games, the Carifta Games, the Florida and Gator stand up and fight for what is ours even if we die in Relays, the Pan American Games, and we brought the process, Jags was an honorable man. back medals way back then. Jags was an Innovator.

The person that we so fondly refer to as JAGS, In the political arena and as a statesman, Jags was actually James Alexander George Smith Mc was closest . . . To being all things to all men. Jags CARTNEY was Resourceful.

Ordinary yes, but at the same time more When you were frustrated, distressed, paralyzed renowned for his extraordinary accomplishments he by hopelessness and void of vision and unable to see achieved in his lifetime. any way forward, it was Jags who would provide the Common maybe, but very uncommon in his motivation. Jags was an Inspiration. dedication and love for his people and his He had advanced us to a status where the British unorthodox way of doing things, but still got success. were no longer our masters, but our associates and Regular, yet irregular enough to be held in such our partners, where there were mutual respect and high esteem to become the first National Hero of the recognition for each other’s intellectualism, but TCI unfortunately because of the former administration, Simple yet sophisticated enough to hold the we are right back to where he took us from and there highest elected position in the land and become the is no longer any respect for us, there is no first Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands acknowledgement of our intellect and our proven Down to earth, yet high enough to elevate his ability to function as other educated and people with him, to an unprecedented level of pride,

accomplished human beings. Jags was a liberator.

Now, the British have sought to dehumanize and emasculate us. They have sought to rob us of our human dignity and the national pride that Jags has instilled in us. They have robbed our youth of every ounce of hope of ever achieving anything meaningful in their own country We cannot allow it to happen, we must not allow it to happen. We too are children of the universe, and we have a right to be here.

Who would have ever imagined that we would be in the state of condition that we are now in, where our greatest desire, is for us to be afforded democratic elections, can you imagine that in the year 2012' when slavery was abolished in 1834, almost some two hundred years ago? That this would be the case?

Who would have thought that a democratic parliament and general elections could elude us, and that we would not only, not be able to spend our own money, but not be able to determine how it is spent nor get an audited account of how it was spent.

I would be telling a bold face lie if I say that I am not angry at the reproach that is being dealt to us so callously and arrogantly.

And I make no apologies for being angry, because I have every right to be, and so does every other Turks & Caicos Islander and legal resident who has invested time, labor and money in this country.

The word says be angry and sin not!

Be that as it may, anger is not going to solve this problem!

We have got to first rediscover ourselves as a people and decide where we want to go from here and how we are going to get there. That is an indispensable, unchangeable McCartney principle.

Our problem is that we have outgrown too many relevant things, things that never change, or were never meant to be changed.

We are so fascinated and overwhelmed by newness, that in our over-exuberance for change, we throw the baby out with the bath water.

It has suddenly become a new thing for Caicos to be against Grand Turk and vice versa, for PNP to be against PDM in a vicious way, for the young to be against the old. We have been duped and divided by people who had ulterior motives to personally empower and enrich themselves and destroy what McCartney had so diligently built up including his legacy.

So bold in their destructive and divisive crusade, that it was openly promoted in election campaigns to pit the Caicos against the Turks and the Turks against the Caicos. That is partly why we are where we are today, because of foolish, immature and destructive practices by our own people, simply for political gain.

For truly, where there is no vision, a people perish.

Then again, while we were partying and splurging, the fundamental pillars in our social structure were being torn down. Our health system was wrench from under us in corruption, and while we are paying through our eyes and nose, we can't get the proper health care, that we are accustomed to getting, and for the first time in this country there are people who are denied health care.

That's change. That's what we have been given for progress, a six for a nine, and many of us celebrated when it was happening and ignored the warnings and resisted, scoffed at and alienated those who were wise, committed and brave enough to sound the alarm, as Jags would have done.

We have been divided to the extent that we were blinded to truth and reality. The division that separated us as a people from the unity that Jags showed us, was among us long before the British came, the British just exploited it.

McCartney sank the buoy which was then the symbol of division between the Turks Islands and the Caicos Islands.

CONTINUES ON NEXT PAGE

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JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

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LOCAL NEWS

Speech delivered by former Chief Minister Oswald Skippings on National Heroes Day 2012 CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

Unfortunately, we had leaders that had no vision, no genuine concern and love for our people and country, leaders who were overcome by self interest, and greed, and resurfaced the buoy by re-igniting the fire of hate, resentment and division once again among our people, in this era where our people are supposed to be educated and aware.

In their flamboyant style of indoctrination, they deceived, misled and divided even our unsuspecting youth.

The British followed in their evil footsteps and exploited the division that they created to conquer us, and further oppress us, by emasculating our dignity, our pride, our human rights and our freedoms, the very accomplishments for which JAGS struggled and persevered, for which he fought so hard and died for.

It is very unfortunate, and indeed disingenuous of those who conveniently prostituted his name for political mileage, under the guise of national pride, but did not have the common patriotic decency to attend his memorial service not even once while holding the highest political offices in this land.

Jags was genuine and not a fake or a deceiver of his people. It is why his legacy has earned him the privileged status of being the sole National Hero of the Turks and Caicos to date. Let us not fool ourselves by not facing the reality of how we got where we are today in this sad state of affair.

In spite of the dilemma, in spite of the oppression, in spite of the denial of our fundamental rights and freedoms, in spite of the oppressive and onerous tax regimes that are being placed on us, in spite of the fact that our jobs are being taken away, in spite of the salary cuts and the pensions being taken from us, in spite of the fraudulent National Health Scheme that is being operated with the corrupt Interhealth Canada Programme, orchestrated by the British themselves, in spite of the corruption that is still going on with our airports, again engineered by the British and a few puppets we have among us, in spite of the disrespect and the lack of transparency in government and the continued squandering of our money on criminal investigations that deliberately exclude and elude the criminals in the UK who have and still are masterminding this evil that is going on among us, I am persuaded that we as a people are not forgotten, God knows our name, and we shall overcome someday, and justice shall prevail not just for those among us but for those who continue to exploit us criminally in the UK. As Jags would have said, nobody is beyond the law, not even governors and Foreign and Commonwealth office Officials, British Ministers of government, not even those who are known as peers in the highest echelons of British affluent society, they too shall be brought to justice,. Mark my words.

Jags taught us, equal rights and justice for all, not some. It isn't just for blacks and not whites, not only for TCI'S and not for British. Justice is not for just us as is now the case.

Let me just remind you that the Turks and Caicos youth organization was founded because of the oppression of our people by the British, then the Junkanoo Club which birthed the Junkanoo Club Rebellion in 1975, then it morphed into the People's Democratic Movement, of which JAGS was at the heart of all these groups and from their very inception. All this to seek justice, equality and progress for our people. But one may now justifiably asked, "Where have all the flowers gone?

JAGS was all about, Mobilizing, agitating, advocating, demonstrating, fighting, reforming, building, all for the good of our people, for their liberation, for their representation, for their pride and dignity, for the fundamental rights and freedoms and for equal rights and justice for all.

It was not just a dream, it was a vision, it was a cause, it was a mission and it became a movement, for the people, by the people and of the people of this our beautiful by nature Turks and Caicos.

Jags taught us that freedom was never free and never achieved without a fight. Nowhere and at no time.

Now we are being challenged to a fight once again, we are being pushed into a corner, we are being marginalized in our own country once again and treated as idiots.

But the sparks of revolution though they may only be smoldering, are not extinguished.

The will to be free and to be treated with human dignity, though seemingly dormant, has not been eliminated.

The aspirations of our youth to take their rightful places in this society, in the work place, in the business and investment arena and in government, have not been totally killed.

The desire to be given a fair chance in our own country, to do what is best for our people and what is in their best interest, is still very much alive, for JAGS has planted those roots of freedom and the will to fight for it, deep, much deeper than the British or anyone else is able to reach down and uproot.

Unemployment, hunger, hopelessness, rejection, oppression, disrespect and suppression, are all taking their toll on our people, and there seems to be no one who cares and no one to turn to who can help us.

But my people, this too shall pass. For if my people that are called by my name etc. - That is the comforting words of the God in whom we trust And when this is over, let's not kick God aside again, let's not dis acknowledge his goodness toward us. Let's not forget that the British is the oppressor now, but remember the oppressor before the British, let's not forget how we get where we are today and why the British is here, otherwise it would all be fruitless, and for the fourth time, the same people, would bring us to the same disgraceful status, yet once again.

Remember also that, "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

The philosophy of McCartney and the McCartney Doctrine have never been more in demand, more appropriate, more relevant and more applicable than it is today, when this our Turks and Caicos and its humble people are being so unconscionably exploited by a superpower.

A superpower that has taken our meekness for weakness.

A super power which by association, is supposed to exhibit parental qualities, instead, if this situation were to be humanized, one would have no choice but to categorize this ill treatment as child abuse.

According to the proverbial saying, McCartney must have a multitude of restless nights, having being forced to turn over and over in his grave at the abusive suffering of his people and the deteriorating condition of his country.

First at the hands of a careless, callous and corrupt regime comprising of our own people, and now at the hands of this colonial superpower whose commission was to rescue us, but instead seems hell bent on burying us as deep as they possibly can.

But we shall resurrect as a people and we shall with the help and direction of the almighty God, resurrect this country out of the dust and the ashes, and once again be a thriving and prosperous people, who will once again hold the reins of our destiny and chart our own course, a course that would put us back on the highway of self determination, and restore this country's economy, and its peoples' hope and dignity, way beyond our former glory.

My people in Providenciales, Pine Cay, Parrot Cay, North Caicos, Middle Caicos, South Caicos, Ambergris Cay, Grand Turk and Salt Cay, in remembering Jags, the young the old, the blacks the whites, remember that we need each other.

Remember that we are our brother's keeper.

Remember that what we are going through is rougher than many of us ever experienced, but this too, shall pass.

In honoring our National Hero, remember that to take our country forward, we have first got to take

it back, take it back from those who are insensitive to our needs and our suffering.

Remember that we must change some attitudes if we are to salvage our country. We must stop the bickering, the backbiting, the mistrust and the disloyalty among ourselves.

Let us not be so blinded by contempt for each other that we fail to see the bigger common enemy.

Be not deceived, for the common enemy is not so common after all, but is persistent and strategic in its relentless attempt to smolder our dreams and aspirations and derail our destiny. But the saints can say with power and authority "Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world" I noticed this paragraph among others in the Governor's statement last week; • that the TCI Government will develop and introduce a ‘diversity policy’, as part of the ongoing reform of public sector human resources and staff management – this will set a standard for all managers and employees, and will be designed to ensure fair treatment for all staff and a zero tolerance for bullying; and . . . . .

(Our TCI Civil Servants are being disrespected and bullied now by British advisers; and where is the European Union or any other Union for that matter?

Of course This paragraph here sticks out like a sore thumb, this is the very first paragraph; "Tomorrow, 17 May, is the annual International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. This is the day when the international community campaigns to STOP DISCRIMINATION , in all forms, against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

However, we have not seen such discrimination against our people in this country since before 1975 when the Junkanoo Rebellion took place.

Only certain people are getting any major government deals Only British people are getting any top civil service advisory jobs, while our people are being sent home.

Even when we get jobs, there is a British advisor, making a big fat paychecks, living in extravagant accommodations and flying first class.

I had unintentionally embarrassed the former Governor in front of the British minister, when I spoke about the Blacks being put out of the Governors offices in the governors yard and placed in a building outside the gate, across the street, while the White British were kept in the offices in Governor's yard.

And no disrespect to his excellency who is sitting right here, talking about discrimination? It is amazing that the governor is worried about his British homosexual colleagues being discriminated against verbally, in the Turks and Caicos, because it goes against our moral and I spiritual fibre? This is the spirit of Antichrist. As a man of God I can't stand here and ignore the word of God that tells us that Eve and not Steve was made for Adam.

When our people are suffering career discrimination, job discrimination, location discrimination, salary discrimination, and every other kind of discrimination imaginable by the British and this governor, they have the effrontery to talk about discrimination against imported homosexuals. I am looking closely at that Tomb because Jags can't be lying still in there, not at all.

If our National Hero was alive today, he would lead us, and inspire us to stand up against the injustices and the oppression that is raining down upon us.

He would vociferously object to and reject this onerous Value Added Tax that is designed to wipe out what little chance of recovery is left of our devastated economy and what little hope is left of our oppressed and overtaxed people. This I declare, is the straw that breaks the camel's back.

To be continued NEXT WEEK

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Beaches honors employees at annual Prestige Award It was all glitz, glam and celebration last week as Beaches Resorts Villages and Spa honoured top performing employees in 21 categories at the 2011/2012 Prestige Awards.

The annual award recognizes and rewards individuals whose performance has consistently made a positive impact on the quality of services offered at the resort. The annual ceremony has earned a top reputation for excellence for those who have worked diligently and have a proven record of professionalism and appreciation for Beaches and Sandals Resorts International.

The ultimate winners were twenty one year old Pirate’s Island Camp Counsellor, Lavadio Seymour, who took the top title of Team Member of the Year, with Tanisha Brown from the Front Office Department as his runner up. Manager of the Year went to Resorts Sales Manager Tanya Swann, while Supervisor of the Year was awarded to Roxanne Wade of the Animation Department.

Beaches Resort also acknowledged the Most Nominated Team Member which was awarded to Bartender Andrew Rodney and the Smile & Courtesy Award went to Patricia Reid of the Wedding Department.

Most improved Team Member was captured by Watersport’s Dion Wilson, while the General Manager’s award went to Grounds Manager Malcolm Campbell and his Grounds Team. The coveted prize of Financial Comptroller Award which recognizes the top revenue generating department

Awardees with the certificates

went to Resort Shop Manager Elesia Chin for the second year in a row.

Ultimate winners Lavadio Seymour and Manager of the Year Tanya Swann both held outstanding records for the year beating out over 12 hundred employees for the top prestige titles. Lavadio expressed his excitement as 2011/2012 Team Member of the year by saying, “My job is to go the extra mile for our guests and winning this award says a lot about my contribution and commitment in delivering exceptional customer service to my team members and our valued guests,” he concluded, “Big thanks to management and staff for recognizing my commitment and dedication and presenting me with this

wonderful award.”

Manager of the Year Tanya Swann, who started with the company as a Food & Beverage Secretary and now runs the Resort’s Sales Department has been with the company for the past eight years, she said she is ecstatic that she was chosen over so many wonderful hard working managers, she commented, “I am overwhelmed with happiness to have been chosen as Manager of the Year”, she said, “ I was up against some tough competition but I am grateful my General Manger saw my drive and my contribution to the company and awarded me with such a prestigious title” General Manager, Don Dagenais

also commented on the success of the Prestige awards, he said, “Our resorts continue to win the industry’s most prestigious awards year after year and it is because of the hospitality, spirit and commitment to excellence of the top performing individuals who go above and beyond the call of duty to make a difference in this resort,” and concluded, “We take every opportunity possible to pay tribute to these outstanding individuals, I applaud and congratulate all the 2011/2012 Prestige Awards winners.”

Other awards for the evening included, ‘Department of the Year’ which went to Engineering Department, ‘HM’s Heart of the House Award’ won by Richard Rowe, The Sandals Foundation Community Spirit of the Year Award won by Chef Marlene Campbell, Top Trained Team Member of the Year went to Anna Abdala Dorvil of Housekeeping.

Other winners included, Fedeline Julian of Camp Sesame who won the Best Team Player of the year, Omar Hazel of the Banqueting department who captured the grand prize of Special Service Award for the year In addition to engraved trophies and certificates, winners were also presented with fantastic prizes which included all-expense paid vacations, laptop computers, home theatre systems, plasma televisions, camcorders, cameras and lavish cash prizes. Team member of the year, Lavadio Seymour will also go on to represent Beaches Turks & Caicos at the 4th Annual Sandals Ultimate Team Member Award in Jamaica this summer.

Courtney Robinson introducing the miss body beautiful TCI pageant People of the Turks & Caicos Islands – a brand new pageant will be entering the entertainment scene this summer. That being, the inaugural Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant slated to be held on Saturday, July 28th at The Williams Auditorium in Providenciales.

The Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant is one which encourages women to appreciate the beauty of who they are inside out. As a fitness and personal growth competition, the show is geared towards empowering women to have a positive image of self, that they can accept their bodies as they are – thereby showcasing it in its entire splendor.

“Developing a positive body image and a healthy mental attitude is crucial to a woman's happiness and wellness,” says Courtney Robinson, the event’s Executive Producer. “Being young, thin and beautiful may not sound like cause for concern, but that ideal can lead many women to be highly dissatisfied with their bodies, something that can bring about unhealthy behaviors.”

“Often when producing the annual TCI Top Model Contest – committee members and myself

have been approached by ladies of various sizes and ages looking for an outlet to showcase themselves on the national stage. They, like many, have not had the opportunity to model or enter a pageant before, but were quite inclined to do so, should an event be created with them in mind. Hence, the birth of the Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant. ” Robinson added that: “Through this pageant, we want women to recognize that beauty, health and strength come in all ages and sizes. Real beauty encompasses what’s inside - your zest for life, your fun-loving spirit, your compassion for others - with the added bonus of showing the world just how beautiful you are.”

The pageant is open to ladies 18 years of age and older, with no restriction on height, body shape, marital status or nationality. Past pageant experience is not necessary. All that is required is a positive selfimage and the confidence to strut your stuff in front of a LIVE audience. To enter, registrations is being held on Saturday, June 23rd at The Culture & Arts Commission in Turtle Cove, Providenciales from 10AM to 12Noon.

With ‘Stronger, Confident, Beautiful’ as its motto, the Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant Contestants will be judged during four segments - a pre-show interview round, and over the course of the event - Introduction, Swimwear and Fantasy Swimwear. After the Fantasy Swimwear round, Contestants will be invited to answer a question posed by the judges on health, fitness and/or the body beautiful. From there, the judges will decide, 2nd Runner’s up, 1st Runner’s up and the Winner!

The Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant will take place on Saturday, July 28th at The William’s Auditorium, South Dock Rd, Providenciales - with the top three contestants receiving cash and fabulous prizes! Washanda Registre, 2012 TCI Top Model will crown the winner. What is more, there will be performances by today’s leading singers, rappers, dancers and other headliner! Advanced purchase of tickets: General admission $40.00 and VIP $65.00; with $10.00 added to the cost at the door.For more information, contact Courtney Robinson, Executive Producer on (649) 232-6796 or email: msbodybeautifultci@gmail.com.

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JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

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Photo highlights from Healing Waters Ministries “A touch of Purple” charity gospel concert The Music Ministries Department of the Healing Water’s Ministries hosted its first all-charity fundraiser, A Touch Of Purple 2012, under the theme “Honoring the Greatest Commandments”, on May 25th 2012.

The event turned out to be a smashing success as it attracted persons from all sectors of our communities in large numbers to raise awareness, celebrate our survivors, show support for those affected and honor the lives lost through cancer.

Head of Music Ministry Elery James & Wife Owenta James

Steering Committee Members

Ladies in Purple

The concert raised over NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($9000) in cash and pledges. All of these funds will be donated to the National Cancer Society and the Turks & Caicos Cancer Foundation to assist in the battle against cancer in the Turks & Caicos Islands.

All those who have outstanding pledges are asked to call 231-0978 as soon as possible as the presentation of the funds is slated for Wednesday June 6, 2012.

Representatives of the National Cancer Society

Beth & Griscel

The Turks & Caicos Brass Band

Pastor Coleby and Deputy Head of Music Terrance Rodgers

Ms. Humpries brings remarks

Representatives of the National Cancer Society

Ladies from Support

Gertude SandersForbes

Ms. Carol Musgrove

Children and Grandchildren of the late Anita Porter - Founder of the Cancer Foundation

Bethany Baptist Praise Team

MC Shaun Malcolm and Ms. Archibold

Carlos Simons with Elery James

Matthew & Maurine Williams

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LIFESTYLE

From child bride to multi-millionaire in India An Indian Dalit (formerly untouchable) woman, who once attempted suicide to escape discrimination, poverty and physical abuse, becomes the CEO of a multimillion dollar company. The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Mumbai captures Kalpana Saroj's journey - a symbol of the Dalit struggle to mark their arrival at the top.

Her life reads like the plot of a Bollywood film, with a narrative which has defied so many obstacles, to conclude with a happy ending.

The "rags to riches" cliche can be overused, but it goes some way in describing the story of Kalpana Saroj, a woman who struggled on so many occasions on her way to the top.

Born into a low-caste Dalit family, she was bullied at school, forced into marriage at the age of 12, fought social pressures to leave her husband, before she tried to take her own life.

Today, she is a multi-millionaire.

At the helm of a successful company, she rubs shoulders with prominent businessmen and has won awards for her professionalism.

"The first time I came to Mumbai, I did not even know where to go. I was from such a small village. Today my company has two roads named after it in the city," she says, summing up the extent to which her life has transformed.

India's caste system is an ancient social hierarchy, which places people into different categories by birth.

Those born into the lower castes have historically faced discrimination.

"Some of my friends' parents

would not let me in their homes, and I was not even allowed to participate in some school activities because I was a Dalit," says the 52-year-old.

"I used to get angry. I felt really nervous because I thought even I am a human being," she adds.

Marital woes Even though her father allowed her to get an education, wider family pressures saw Kalpana become a bride at the age of 12.

She moved to Mumbai to be with her husband who was 10 years older, but was shocked to find herself living in a slum.

But that was not the only hardship she had to endure.

"I was treated badly by my husband's elder brother and his wife.

They would pull my hair and beat me, sometimes over little things. I felt broken with all the physical and verbal abuse," she says.

Leaving a husband is widely frowned upon in Indian culture, but Kalpana was able to escape the violent relationship, thanks to her supportive father.

When he visited her in Mumbai, he was shocked to see his daughter emaciated and wearing torn clothes and took her back home.

Many villagers were suspicious of her return, viewing Kalpana as a failure.

She tried to ignore the judgemental comments thrown at her, focusing instead on getting a job. She learnt tailoring as a way to make money.

But, even with some degree of

financial independence, the pressure became too much.

"One day, I decided to end my life.

I drank three bottles of insecticide, termite poison," she says, recalling her lowest moment.

Kalpana was saved after her aunt walked into the room and found her frothing at the mouth and shaking uncontrollably.

The big change It marked a watershed for her. "I decided to live my life, and do something big, and then die," she says.

So, at the age of 16, she moved back to Mumbai to stay with an uncle and work as a tailor.

She began by earning less than a dollar a month, but tirelessly learnt how to operate industrial sewing machines, and as a result saw her income rise.

But the money she earned was not enough to pay for her sister's treatment which could have saved her life, a moment which defined Kalpana's entrepreneurial spirit.

"I was highly disappointed and realised that money did matter in life, and that I needed to make more."

She took a government loan to open a furniture business and expand her tailoring work.

She worked 16 hours a day, a routine she has not managed to shake off to this day.

In the following years, she remarried, this time to a fellow furniture businessman, and had two children.

Her reputation led to her being asked to take over the running of a metal engineering company, Kamani

Kalpana Saroj

Tubes, which was in massive debt.

By restructuring the company, she turned things around.

"I wanted to give justice to the people who were working there. I had to save the company. I could relate to the staff who needed to put food on the table for their family," she says of her motivations at the time.

Now, Kamani Tubes is a growing business, worth more than $100m.

Kalpana employs hundreds of people, from all backgrounds and castes. She has met prominent businessmen such as Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani, and in 2006 won a prestigious award for her entrepreneurial spirit.

Kalpana regularly visits her home village and does charity work to help those in her community.

As a Dalit and a woman, her story is all the more remarkable in a country where so few CEOs are from such a background.

"If you give your heart and soul to your job and never give up, things can happen for you," she says.

It is a mantra that has helped Kalpana through the worst of times and still rings true for her.

e world was once smitten with Syria’s first lady but she has become a hate figure for many After a year of lethal violence the woman who has worked with Ms Assad. who married into Syria's powerful ruling Before the uprising, the world family has become a hate figure for was taken by Ms Assad's many. immaculate facade.

The London-born first lady, once In Western media, the 36-yeardescribed as a "rose in the desert", is at old mother of three was described the heart of the shadowy inner circle of as sophisticated, elegant, confident, president Bashar al-Assad. with a "killer IQ" and an interest in A British-educated former opening up Syria through art and investment banker, she cultivated the charity. image of a glamorous yet serious-minded For those who pinned their woman with strong Western-inspired hopes on Mr Assad as a potential values. reformer, his photogenic wife She was expected to humanise the bolstered that image, lending a increasingly secretive and isolated touch of glamour to his awkward Asma al-Assad Assad family. public appearances.

That image crumbled when her A glowing article in Vogue husband's regime responded to an anti-government magazine described her as a "rose in the desert" and rebellion with extreme violence a year ago. her household as "wildly democratic". The fashion Mr Assad says he is fighting an insurrection, bible has since removed the article from its website, involving foreign-backed "terrorists", and Ms Assad but copy of the text has been reprinted on other sites. has clearly decided to stand by her man despite French newspaper Paris Match, meanwhile, said international revulsion at his actions. she was an "element of light in a country full of With her penchant for crystal-encrusted Christian shadow zones".

Louboutin shoes and Chanel dresses, Ms Assad is a People were charmed by her classy demeanour, puzzle for many. liberal views and British accent.

The opposition roundly rejects suggestions she is She received the Gold Medal of the Presidency effectively a prisoner of conscience in the presidential of The Italian Republic for humanitarian work in palace.

2008 and won an honorary archaeology doctorate "She was very much, as we would say, left wing. from La Sapienza university in Rome.

She seemed to be very bright, very respectful of Yet emails published by Britain's Guardian others," said Gaia Servadio, a writer and historian newspaper this month from accounts believed to

belong to the family offer a different portrait.

They show her as a capricious dictator's wife spending tens of thousands of pounds on jewels, fancy furniture, and a Venetian glass vase from Harrods.

"I am the real dictator, he has no choice," she apparently said in one of the emails in a comment about her husband.

Ms Assad, the London-born daughter of a Sunni Muslim Syrian doctor, spent the first 25 years of her life in North Acton.

Known as Emma to her British friends, she was a rising star at JP Morgan when she met Bashar, who had studied ophthalmology in London but was sent home to be groomed for the presidency after his elder brother, Basil, died in a car crash in 1994.

They married in 2000. What followed was a life full of glamour.

The Assad side of the clan, however, reportedly did not take to Ms Assad, not least because of her Sunni Muslim origins.

Before the start of the 2011 uprising, there was hope Syria could change. Syrians saw his choice of wife as proof that things were about to change.

But those hopes faded as the revolt unfolded. As the death toll from the fighting grew, Ms Assad gradually disappeared from public view.

She broke her silence in February, saying in a statement: "The president is the president of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the first lady supports him in that role."

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Man suing doctor over lost penis A 65-year-old Peruvian man is suing a Florida doctor after losing his penis to infection following a 2007 penile implant surgery. He told a courtroom on Thursday via webcam that the defendant failed to properly warn him of the risks and that the loss of his genitalia has robbed him of his manhood and dignity.

According to Erik Ortiz of the New York Daily News, the man, Enrique Milla, appeared via Skype from his home in Lima, where he currently resides after being deported in 2011 following an immigration dispute.

Milla told the judge that he opted to have the surgery because he had suffered from erectile dysfunction.

Milla and his wife, Gloria, are

reportedly seeking “tens of millions” of dollars worth of damages from Dr. Laurentiu Boeru of Coral Gables Hospital, the Huffington Post reported, claiming that the doctor had failed to properly evaluate the risks associated with Enrique’s pre-existing conditions, including diabetes.

Boeru was the anesthesiologist assigned to Milla’s surgery, and according to Milla’s attorney, the doctor failed to properly investigate or address those other conditions, reports Fox News affiliate WSVN-Miami.

According to Milla’s testimony, neither his blood pressure nor his blood sugar had been taken before Boeru cleared him for the surgery. Boeru, in contrast, testified that he is only liable for

anesthesia-related, preoperative risks, and not those related to the surgery itself or the actual penis implant.

Nine days following the surgery, a Gangrene infection began to spread through Milla’s penis. That infection eventually “turned into a flesh-eating bacteria that ate his penis centimeter by centimeter,” Milla’s lawyer, Spencer Aronfeld, told WSVN-Miami. “As a result of this, he has to spend the rest of his life without a functioning penis. He has to sit down to urinate. He’ll never have any intimate relationships with anyone, and he’s lost his manhood.”

Likewise, according to Susan Donaldson James of ABC News, Aronfeld told ABC affiliate WPLG that the process has been “devastating,

painful and embarrassing” for his client, emphasizing that Milla “didn’t do this to have a bigger penis… This was because of medical reasons: He just wanted to have relations with his wife.”

Boeru’s lawyer Jay Chimpoulis denied the accusations, telling WPLG, “This is an infection that occurred in this gentleman because he didn’t do what he was supposed to do postoperatively nine days after the surgery… There are any number of ways he could’ve gotten that. None of them had anything to do with [Boeru]” and suggesting that Milla may have ignored instructions to avoid sex, developing a fecal infection as a result, James wrote.

Todd Bridges splits with wife Todd "Willis Jackson" Bridges and his wife of 14 years have called it quits.

The "Diff'rent Strokes" star said in a statement to People.com: "The Bridges have decided that disunion is in the best interest of their collective futures.

Although Todd and Dori are going their separate ways, they are mutually committed to the well-being of their son [Spencir, 13]."

Elvis Presley crypt up for auction this month LOS ANGELES — For the right price, you or a loved one can rest in peace in the tomb of The King.

Celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien is selling Elvis Presley's original crypt to the highest bidder as part of his "Music Icons" auction later this month.

The tomb is located inside the granite and marble mausoleum at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tenn.

Presley was interred there alongside his mother, Gladys, after he died Aug. 16, 1977. Two months later, they were re-buried at his Graceland home. The original crypt has remained empty ever since.

Julien says the winning bid from the auction beginning June 23 will receive the crypt, opening and closing of the vault for burial, a memorialization inscription and use of a chapel for a committal service.

Transportation and funeral home charges are not included.

MARRIAGE ISN'T IN THE CARDS FOR WIDOWER AND GIRLFRIEND DEAR ABBY: I am a 70-year-old widower with three grown children. My girlfriend is 53. We dated for several months before she moved in with me.

I thought maybe with her living here I might fall in love with her. It has not, and will not, happen.

I hate to break her heart, but I know now that I will never ask her to marry me. I intend to remain single for the rest of my life.

Bridges, 47, first announced the break-up on, what else, Twitter.

"She's a great mother I'm glad to have had the years to know her and have a great kid with her. As we know, people grow apart and we did," he tweeted.

Bridges starred in "Diff'rent Strokes" from 197886 and chronicled his downward spiral after the show's cancellation in the 2010 book "Killing Willis."

has done nothing wrong, and it is not a failure on her part, but you realize that you do not wish to remarry. Explain that feeling as you do, it would be best if she moved. Offer to help her find a place if she has nowhere to go.

You will be doing both of you a favor by being upfront now. ________________________

I’M A CRY BABY

Dear Abby

How do I bring closure to this relationship?

What are the words? I'm lost because this is a first for me. I was married for 40 years, and I just do not wish to be married again. How do I tell this nice lady? -- IN A BIND IN TEXAS DEAR IN A BIND: Having the woman move in with you "hoping" you would fall in love with her was a huge mistake, and one you should not repeat. When you say what you need to say, have plenty of tissue handy and expect her to be tearful and angry.

Start by saying, "We need to talk." Tell her she

DEAR ABBY: I am an adult male with a longtime problem. Whether it's a sad or happy occasion, I start crying, sometimes sobbing. I try to avoid any situation that may cause this.

I am at a new point in my life where I can no longer avoid these situations. People think it's not normal. Please don't suggest I live with it.

Is there a magic pill to control this? -- BIG CRYBABY IN BROOKLYN, N.Y. DEAR CRYBABY: There is no pill that can help you control those emotions that I know of. And because it is causing you problems, I do not recommend you "live with it." I do think, however, that if you discuss with a therapist what it is about sad and happy occasions that causes such an extreme reaction that you could get quickly to the bottom of it and learn to better control those emotions.

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

BRAIN TEASER Three people check into a hotel. They pay £30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager suddenly remembers that the room rate is £25 and gives £5 to the bellboy to return to the people. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that £5 would be difficult to share among three people so he pockets £2 and gives £1 to each person. Now each person paid £10 and got back £1. So they paid £9 each, totalling £27.

The bellboy has £2, totalling £29. Where is the missing £1?

Answer: We have to be careful what we are adding together.

FUN and GAMES

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Originally, they paid £30, they each received back £1, they now have only paid £27. Of this £27, £25 went to the manager for the room and £2 went to the bellboy.

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HIGHLIGHTS

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• Trinidad in recession • Dudus confidant stuns

court with graphic evidence • Gold buried in Haiti

New Governor of Bermuda pledges to tackle economy and gang violence HAMILTON, Bermuda – Bermuda’s new British Governor, George Fergusson, says the island’s struggling economy and gang violence are two challengers he will face alongside the government.

Praising the island’s “internationally respected record for following the rule of law and managing its own affairs”, Fergusson added that reputation is hardearned.

“It’s a major asset to this country, not least during this economic turbulence.”

The island’s 88th Governor, who lost an eye during a mugging in London shortly before he was due to leave for Bermuda, pledged after being sworn in on the grounds of the Cabinet Building

Bermuda’s new British Governor, George Fergusson

in Hamilton to “play my part working with the elected government of Bermuda to uphold and preserve this asset”.

Bermuda, Britain’s most populous remaining Overseas Territory, faces two immediate challenges, he said, listing them as a “serious and obvious economic and financial challenge” and gang violence.

The island’s police, even with their high reputation, “cannot address this problem alone”, he warned, adding “It’s a problem for all of us”.

In a brief and candid speech before local dignitaries, visitors and the Bermuda Regiment’s guard of honour, Fergusson began by acknowledging the assault last month in London that left him blind in his left eye.

“I am delighted to be here. I might have hoped to see Bermuda over the next few years with two eyes, but it’s

looking pretty good with one,” he said as he expressed his gratitude for messages of good cheer sent to him in recent weeks from Bermudians.

Fergusson’s wife Margaret has been delayed in London for medical tests.

The Governor said tests were going well and she was looking forward to being on the island soon.

In her welcoming remarks, Premier Paula Cox told him “I believe it’s a good omen that the sun has come out today. Bermuda welcomes you as you start your tour of duty, and we look forward in due course to also welcoming your wife.”

The island, she said, needed “a solid dose of inspiration to get people through hard times.”

Jamaica seeks heritage Hundreds willing status for sunken port to pay to be St Kitts KINGSTON, Jamaica — Archaeologists said Tuesday that they'll ask the United Nations' cultural agency to bestow world heritage status on Port Royal, the mostly submerged remains of a historic Jamaican port known as the "wickedest city on Earth" more than three centuries ago.

Receiving the designation from UNESCO would place Port Royal in the company of global marvels such as Cambodia's Angkor temple complex and India's Taj Mahal.

The sunken 17th century city was once a bustling place where buccaneers including Henry Morgan docked in search of rum, women and boat repairs.

In recent days, international consultants have conducted painstaking surveys to mark the old city's land and sea boundaries to apply for the world heritage designation by June 2014, said Dorrick Gray, a technical director with the Jamaican National Heritage Trust, a government agency responsible for preserving and developing the island's cultural spots.

Port Royal was the main city of the British colony of Jamaica in the 17th century until an earthquake and tsunami submerged two-thirds of the settlement in 1692. It boasted a well-to-do population of roughly 7,000 at the time, and was comparable to Boston during the same period.

After the quake, the remainder of the town served as a British royal navy base for two centuries, even as it was periodically ravaged by fires and hurricanes.

In his sprawling book "Caribbean," American author James Michener described Port Royal as having "no restraints of any kind, and the soldiers stationed in the fort seemed as undisciplined as the pirates who roared ashore to take over the place night after night. They were of all breeds, all with nefarious occupations."

Now, it's a depressed fishing village at the tip of a spit of land near Kingston's airport. It has little to attract visitors except some restaurants offering seafood and a few dilapidated historic buildings.

The sunken, algae-covered remnants of the city are in murky waters in an archaeological preserve closed to divers without a permit.

But in recent decades, underwater excavations have turned up artifacts including cannonballs, wine glasses, ornate pipes, pewter plates and ceramic plates dredged from the muck just offshore. The partial skeleton of a child was found in 1998.

At a Tuesday press conference, experts said it's among the top British archaeological sites in the Western Hemisphere and should be protected for future generations.

"There is outstanding potential here.

Submerged towns like this just do not exist anywhere else in the Americas," said Robert Grenier, a Canadian underwater archaeologist who has worked closely with UNESCO. He believes the Jamaican site has a strong chance of getting on the world heritage list.

and Nevis citizens BASSETERRE, St Kitts – While economic citizenship has been scorned by some Caribbean nations, St Kitts and Nevis is reaping the benefits of such a programme.

According to Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas, the Citizenship by Investment Unit in St Kitts and Nevis receives approximately 300 applications per year and collects nearly EC$60 million in processing fees.

This was disclosed by the prime minister, who is also the Minister of Finance, during the last sitting of the St Kitts and Nevis National Assembly.

However, Dr Douglas took pains to point out that all applications that are received go through the rigours of the system established to ensure that only individuals who are worthy of becoming citizens of St Kitts and Nevis do so.

“Mr Speaker the Citizenship by Investment unit receives applications from all over the world. Our system is a robust and attractive one. We receive and process applications from the USA, Canada, China, the United Arab Emirates especially Dubai, Russia, Jordan, Yemen, Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Ethiopia, Ukraine, France, Kuwait, Vietnam, India, Nigeria, Lebanon,” he told the parliamentary body.

Responding to questions from Eugene Hamilton, the Member for St Christopher 8, Douglas also noted that the nature of the information required in part (c) of the question would take some time to analyze and the Citizenship by Investment Unit is in the process of fully computerizing its operations so that this level of information can be easily gathered.

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Cayman Islands Governor denies British conspiracy The Cayman Islands’ governor has said he is disappointed that relations between him and the premier have broken down and denied the conspiracy theories thrown around by McKeeva Bush. Duncan Taylor also revealed Friday in a televised interview that the UK minister had made it clear to Bush that the FCO was not trying to undermine the Cayman Islands but that it was merely concerned about good governance.

The governor said the constitution did not require the premier to step down from office while under police investigation but added that it was a matter for the premier himself to decide.

Speaking to Cayman27 following his return from a conference in London, Taylor denied any conspiracy at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and said he was saddened by the state of affairs as there was no foundation in the premier’s suggestions.

Two weeks ago Bush issued a statement accusing the governor of “stealthily and insidiously”

undermining his efforts to get the Cayman economy off the ground. The premier had also previously suggested that the three police probes into him regarding the Stan Thomas land deal, his role in the illegal importation of dynamite and an as yet undisclosed further financial irregularity were nothing more than a UK conspiracy to get him out of office and undermine Cayman.

Taylor said there was however no truth to the premier’s accusations.

“The minister for overseas territories, Henry Bellingham, has also told the premier that there is no truth whatsoever in those allegations,” he said. Taylor added he had also told the premier he had made no judgements about him regarding the investigations.

“There are no charges yet but I have also told him that if serious allegations are made I expect the commissioner of police to carry out that investigation properly and thoroughly,” he said. Taylor said neither he nor the FCO took a view about the need for the premier to step aside as it was not a constitutional

requirement but a matter for him.

Taylor said he did not think the situation in Cayman was considered by the FCO to have reached an impasse or a level of seriousness to cause real concern but there were difficulties that had to be worked through.

The governor also denied that his office had tried to stop the progress of the Dr Devi Shetty health city project and said he was supportive of that potential development.

“I made it clear from the outset that this is a project with tremendous potential for the Cayman Islands,” he said. Taylor believed Bush’s allegations about him not supporting it came from the fact that Taylor had recommended that government carry out a proper independent impact assessment on the proposal before agreeing to go ahead.

The governor said this was not a matter of bureaucratic harassment but good governance.

“Having good governance in place and following and practicing that good governance is actually an essential underpinning for a successful economy … In the long term, if you don’t have

Billions of dollars in gold buried in Haiti TROU DU NORD, Haiti—Its capital is blighted with earthquake rubble. Its countryside is shorn of trees, chopped down for fuel. And yet, Haiti’s land may hold the key to relieving centuries of poverty, disaster and disease: There is gold hidden in its hills—and silver and copper, too.

A flurry of exploratory drilling in the past year has found precious metals worth potentially $20 billion deep below the tropical ridges in the country’s north-eastern mountains. Now, a mining company is drilling around the clock to determine how to get those metals out.

In neighbouring Dominican Republic, workers are poised to start mining the other side of this seam later this year in one of the world’s largest gold deposits: 23 million ounces worth about $40 billion. The Haitian government’s annual budget is $1 billion, more than half provided by foreign assistance. The largest single source of foreign investment, $2 billion, came from Haitians working abroad last year. A windfall of locally produced wealth could pay for roads, schools, clean water and sewage systems for the nation's 10 million people, most of whom live on as little as $1.25 a day.

“If the mining companies are honest and if Haiti has a good government, then here is a way for this country to move forward,” said Bureau of Mines Director Dieuseul Anglade. “The gold in the mountains belongs to the people of Haiti,” he said.

“And they need it.”

Until now, few Haitians have known about this buried treasure. Mining camps are unmarked, and the work is being done miles

up dirt roads near remote villages, on the opposite side of the country from the capital.

But US and Canadian investors have spent more than $30 million in recent years on everything from exploratory drilling to camps for workers, new roads, offices and laboratory studies of samples. Actual mining could be under way in five years.

“When I first heard whispers of this I said, ‘Gold mines? There could be gold mines in Haiti?’” said Michel Lamarre, a Haitian engineer whose firm, SOMINE, is leading the exploration. “I truly believe this is our answer to taking care of ourselves instead of constantly living on donations.”

On a rugged, steep Haitian ridge far above the Atlantic, brilliant boulders coated with blue-green oxidised copper jut from the hills, while colourful pebbles litter the soil, strong indicators that precious metals lie below. The prices of precious metals have been volatile in recent years, with copper selling for about $8,000 per ton, silver at $30 an ounce, and gold at $1,600 per ounce.

Gold was last gathered in Haiti in the 1500s, after Christopher Columbus ran the Santa Maria onto a Haitian reef. Spaniards enslaved the Arawak Indians to dig for gold, killing them off with harsh conditions and infectious diseases. When the Spaniards learned of even more lucrative deposits in Mexico, they moved on.

Three firms are considering mining in Haiti, but so far only SOMINE has full concessions to take the metals out of the mountains. Those permits, for 31 square miles, were negotiated in 1996 under President Rene Preval and require the firm to hire Haitians whenever possible.

Duncan Taylor

good governance in place then the economy is under threat,” Taylor said.

Speaking about the proposed cruise port development project in George Town, however, Taylor implied that the UK did have concerns about that particular project and to get the FCO’s support things would have to change.

Although Bush has said he intends to go ahead with the deal with the Chinese and that the port will not need to be re-tendered, Taylor made it clear that, as things were, this was not a deal which had the backing of the UK. “To get that support the project would need to be put back in line with minimum international best practice standards," he added.

Trinidad in recession says Central Bank PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago –The Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank has revised its projections and is now reporting that the country had entered a technical recession at the end of 2011.

This is according to its recently released April Monetary Policy Report and Summary Economic Indicators bulletin.

In this bulletin, the Central Bank reported that economy growth for the twin-island republic had declined by 2.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011, (October 1 to December 31, 2011) following a decline by the same amount in the third quarter (July 1 to September 30, 2011). This conforms to the classic definition for a recession as countries that experience two or more consecutive quarters of a declining gross domestic production (GDP) are generally defined as being in recession.

In the report, the Central Bank stated that the decline in the Trinidad and Tobago economy in the fourth quarter was driven by a “considerable reduction in activity in the energy sector of -7.8 per cent,” and while the non-energy sector increased by 1.2 per cent, this was “insufficient to offset the slippage in the energy sector.”

Across the energy sub-sectors declines were registered in the last three months of 2011 as the exploration and production sub-sector declined by 7.2 per cent mainly as a result of an 8 per cent drop in natural gas production; the refining sub-sector declined by 15.3 per cent with LNG output falling by 16.5 per cent and the production of natural gas liquids dropping by 16.1 per cent; the petrochemicals subsector declined by 10.4 per cent; and ammonia production fell by 13.3 per cent, while the output of methanol was lower by 2.4 per cent.

The central bank also reported further declines in the energy sector during the first quarter of 2012, including crude oil production that slipped to an average of 82,500 barrels a day, down from 96,900 barrels a day during the first quarter of 2011.

Natural gas production during has reportedly remained depressed so far throughout 2012 with a significant decline in liquefied natural gas in the first quarter by 15.4 per cent.

Page 34

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

CARIBBEAN NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Dudus confidant stuns court with graphic evidence Last week’s evidentiary hearing of confessed Jamaican crime lord Christopher Dudus Coke featured compelling evidence about the criminal pursuits of the man also called “Presi” and his link to prominent politicians and businessmen in Jamaica.

Coke’s former lieutenant, Jermaine 'Cowboy' Cohen, who is jailed in America, was on the witness stand for more than three hours when he told the United States Southern District Court in Lower Manhattan that businessman Justin O’Gilvie was Coke’s “chief finance minister”.

He also testified that he had intimate knowledge of Coke’s inner circle, describing the convict as worse than his father Lester Lloyd Coke alias Jim Brown.

Jim Brown died in jail in 1992 while awaiting extradition to the United States.

Cohen also gave graphic details of an attempt by Coke to kill him.

According to Cohen, Coke wanted to kill him because he had an altercation with an aunt of the former Tivoli Gardens don in which he punched her in the face.

Cohen said his altercation with Coke’s aunt sparked a feud between his men and Coke’s ‘soldiers’ which resulted in frequent shooting incidents in Kingston.

Cohen also said in 2004, politicians, Bruce Golding and Edward Seaga, and businessmen Saleem Lazarus and Justin O’Gilvie met with Coke in a bid to quell the feud among his loyalists and those of Dudus.

Christopher Dudus Coke

US prosecutors had used Cohen’s affidavit in building the case against Dudus.

The document filed by US prosecutors in the Southern District Court of New York gives extensive details about Coke’s rise and rule of the Shower Posse in his native Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston.

The document entitled ‘Declaration in connection with the sentencing of Christopher Michael Coke’ is a 26-page statement by a unidentified cooperating witness.

It covers the Coke Family, the Shower Posse organisation, acts of violence, firearms trafficking, cocaine trafficking and extortion.

The statement introduces the informant’s association with Jim Brown, Coke’s father as a bodyguard and his acquaintance with Jah-T and Dudus. He describes the Shower Posse organisation

Jamaican divorces on the rise as marriages fail KINGSTON, Jamaica – According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), 1,960 divorces absolute were granted by the Supreme Court for 2011.

More than a half (53 per cent) of divorces granted were to persons who had been married for between five and 14 years, stated the information in the most recent edition of the Demographic Statistics.

The data indicates that 78 per cent of the persons who got divorced were married for fewer than 20 years.

Previous reports published by STATIN show that 1,853 marriages ended in divorce in 2009.

And while the divorce rate continues to rise, the marriage rate is not keeping pace.

According to the STATIN data, 20,403 persons were married last year.

"This was 1,009 or about five per cent fewer marriages less than the 21,412 registered for 2009," the document noted.

The parishes with the highest number of marriages in 2011 were St James (3,579), St Ann (3,442), Westmoreland (2,981), Kingston and St Andrew (2,499) and St Catherine (2,416).

as one involved in murder, extortion, armed robbery, narcotics and firearms trafficking in Jamaica and United States.

The statement says that Coke provided certain services to the community, some arising out of Government contracts. For these projects , Coke, would deduct from the salaries a portion of funds as a contribution to the ‘system’. These funds were then used in illegal activities.

The document states that Coke also held treats and dances in the community and provided humanitarian services to community members on a needs basis in exchange for loyalty and goodwill.

The statement described Coke as a violent individual, who maintained a strict code of discipline and frequently ordered and participated in acts of violence against individuals who violated his code of conduct.

In one instance, shortly after the death of his brother Jah T, Coke approached an elder of the Shower Posse, known as “Stumbo” on Ebenezer Lane in West Kingston. Coke asked “Stumbo” if he was with or against him.

Stumbo appeared hesitant. Coke then fired a handgun over Stumbo’s head and shortly after Stumbo agreed to support Dudus.

Coke is also described as keeping an army of 200 gunmen loyal to him. These gunmen ranged in ages from 14 to 40 years. These men were paid as enforcers.

The document also says that these “Shotters” were deployed to campaign on behalf of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

These “Shotters” went door to door in different areas using intimidation at times to ensure Jamaicans voted JLP. The cooperating witness also detailed an incident in which an enforcer known as Screbeng committed a robbery without Coke’s permission. In the robbery Screbeng lost a firearm issued by the Shower Posse organisation. After the robbery, Coke spoke to Screbeng giving him a number of days to recover the firearm. Coke said Screbeng would have been killed immediately if it wasn’t for his past actions in freeing another gunman from police custody in the Kingston Public Hospital. Screbeng, however, did not accede to Coke’s request and was subsequently shot and killed in his home in Denham Town.

The statement also spoke to Coke ordering thugs to shoot up Maxfield Avenue, him ordering the murder of parents of men who did not send money from the US to fund his gun operations and Coke also participating in the shooting of a troublesome enforcer who had developed a crack cocaine and stealing habit.

Coke is also described as having an affinity for guns and ensured he had "heavy machinery". The document said that Coke favoured an assault rifle manufactured by HK which uses 7.62 millimeter rounds.

According to the informant, Coke referred to the gun as the "Bomber".

For handguns, Coke reportedly favoured the Glock and the Desert Eagle, but said that the Desert Eagle was too big to carry around.

Barbados Government to crack down on cash for gold scheme BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Barbados government will table legislation aimed at regulating the “cash for gold” phenomenon and the sale of other metals, Attorney general Adriel Brathwaite has said.

Speaking at the launch of Police week, Brathwaite said the new legislation would also provide for stiffer penalties for people who engage in the theft of copper.

He said that over the past several months, some of the most significant challenges have been associated with property crimes, burglary and theft on the street.

“As most Barbadians are now aware, much of this offending has been attributable to the cash for gold phenomenon. It is most unfortunate that what some people might have considered to be legitimate form of commercial activity, is now being exploited by those severely affected by the ‘easy money syndrome’ and dishonest dealers who conveniently turn a blind eye to the origin of gold and other metals.

Brathwaite said that the appropriate legislative adjustments would be made to ensure that greater penalties are attached to those who engage in the theft of metals.

Metal theft ban partially lifted in Anguilla THE VALLEY, Anguilla – The Anguilla government on Thursday announced the partial lifting of a ban on the export of scrap metal effective June 1, which had been imposed in a bid to fight metal thieves.

But, according to Wycliffe Fahie, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, scrap metal dealers will have to adhere to new conditions.

He said the all scrap metal currently in stock prior to June 1 may be exported subject to police and customs inspection and approval.

While a moratorium on the export of scrap copper will remain in effect, the export of scrap

aluminium will continue until August 31, after which there will be review, Fahie said.

He said that a timetable must be set up by all dealers indicating the times when metals are to be loaded on to containers so there can be a police and customs presence.

Fahie said that access to containers once loading begins will not be possible without the police and customs present.

A government press release called on the scrap metal industry to uphold the highest standards of honesty and integrity so that the industry remained an asset to the island and avoid triggering crime and bad press.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

Page 35

HIGHLIGHTS

• Interpol searches for Canadian murder

suspect as dismemberment video surfaces • Romney cinches Republican 2012 Nomination in Texas

Edwards acquitted on 1 count, mistrial on others GREENSBORO, N.C. — John Edwards' campaign finance fraud case ended in a mistrial Thursday when jurors acquitted him on one charge and deadlocked on the other five, unable to decide whether he used money from two wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress while he ran for president and his wife was dying of cancer.

The monthlong trial exposed a sordid sex scandal, but prosecutors couldn't convince jurors the candidate masterminded a cover-up using about $1 million, and ultimately, jurors decided tawdry didn't necessarily mean criminal.

"While I do not believe I did anything illegal, or ever thought I was doing anything illegal, I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong and there is no one else responsible for my sins," Edwards said on the courthouse steps.

The jury's decision came on a confusing day. The judge initially called jurors in to read a verdict on all six counts, before learning that they had only agreed to one. About an hour later, the jury sent the note to the judge saying it had exhausted its discussions.

It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would retry Edwards on the other counts.

When the not guilty verdict was read, Edwards choked up, put a single finger to his lip and took a moment to compose himself. He turned to his daughter, Cate, in the first row and smiled.

When the judge declared the mistrial and discharged the jury, Edwards hugged his daughter, his parents and his attorneys.

Later, he thanked the jury and his family, even choking up when talking about the daughter he had with his mistress Rielle Hunter. He called Francis Quinn Hunter precious "whom I love, more than any of you can ever imagine and I am so close to and so, so grateful for. I am grateful for all of my children."

Then he started talking about his future.

"I don't think God's through with me. I really believe he thinks there's

still some good things I can do and whatever happens with this legal stuff going forward, what I'm hopeful about is all those kids that I've seen, you know in the poorest parts of this country and some of the poorest parts in the world that I can help them," he said.

The jury reached a verdict on count three, which involved to $375,000 given by elderly heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon in 2008. The other counts dealt with $350,000 Mellon gave in 2007, money from wealthy Texas attorney Fred Baron, filing a false campaign finance report and conspiracy.

Jurors did not talk to the media as they left the courthouse, and prosecutors did not immediately comment.

The trial recounted the most intimate details of Edwards' affair with Hunter, including reference to a sex tape of the two together that was later destroyed. It also rehashed the elaborate cover-up that involved his most trusted aide, the aide's wife, and Baron and Mellon.

It featured testimony that sometimes read like political thriller, as aide Andrew Young described meeting Edwards on a secluded road, and Edwards warning him, "you can't hurt me." There was also the drama of John Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, tearing her shirt off in front of her husband in a rage after a tabloid reported the affair.

Edwards was accused of masterminding a plan to use the money to hide Hunter from the media and from his breast cancer-stricken wife.

Prosecutors said Edwards knew of the roughly $1 million being funneled to former aide Andrew Young and Hunter and was well aware of the $2,300 legal limit on campaign donations.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Bobby Higdon used Edwards' own campaign rhetoric about the need for the rich and poor to have an equal say in elections — what he called uniting

the "two Americas."

"Campaign finance laws are designed to bring the two Americas together at election time," Higdon said.

"John Edwards forgot his own rhetoric."

Edwards' attorneys said prosecutors didn't prove that Edwards knew that taking the money violated campaign finance law. They said he shouldn't be convicted for being a liar, and even if he did know about some of the money, it was a gift, not a campaign contribution.

"This is a case that should define the difference between a wrong and a crime ... between a sin and a felony," attorney Abbe Lowell told the jury.

"John Edwards has confessed his sins.

He will serve a life sentence for those."

They also said the money was used to keep the affair hidden from his wife, not to influence his presidential bid.

Neither the Democrat nor his mistress took the witness stand during about four weeks of testimony.

Baron died in 2008 and Mellon, who is 101 years old, did not testify.

Edwards met Hunter in a New York hotel bar in 2006 and they spent the night together. She soon joined his campaign, and despite a lack of filmmaking experience, the politician arranged a $250,000 contract for her to make a series of behind-the-scenes documentaries from the campaign trail.

Word of the affair eventually got back to Edwards' wife. On Dec. 30, 2006, the day Edwards officially announced his bid for president at an event in his hometown of Chapel Hill, Elizabeth Edwards bumped into Hunter for the first time and became visibly upset, according to testimony.

She told her husband to get rid of her, and while Hunter officially left the campaign, John Edwards continued to meet with her on the road.

Hunter became pregnant in the summer of 2007. As Hunter's belly began to show that September, tabloid

John Edwards

reporters began tailing her. Within weeks, the Youngs had set up Hunter in a $2,700-a-month rental home not far from the Edwards estate in Chapel Hill, using the donated money.

In October 2007, a day after a tabloid reported the affair, Elizabeth Edwards blew up at her husband, according to testimony from former adviser Christina Reynolds. Edwards' now-deceased wife stormed away from her husband at a private hangar, collapsing into a ball on the pavement.

After composing herself in a nearby ladies room, Elizabeth Edwards ripped off her shirt and bra and screamed, "You don't see me anymore!" As staffers scrambled to cover her up and whisk her into a car, her husband boarded a jet and headed to a campaign event in South Carolina.

That December, in an attempt to contain the scandal, Young issued a statement claiming the baby was his.

Prosecutors presented phone records showing Edwards and Young — and Young and Baron — talked with each other that day and claimed they conspired to come up with the plan.

About a month later, Edwards' presidential campaign began to fold with poor showings in the early presidential primary states. Even before he officially suspended his presidential campaign at the end of January 2008, Edwards had begun wooing the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for a spot in their administration, perhaps as vice president.

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

WORLD NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Interpol hunts Canada murder suspect as video surfaces OTTAWA — Interpol on Thursday joined an intense manhunt for a Canadian porn star suspected of the grisly murder and dismemberment of his boyfriend, as a video of the killing surfaced online.

Interpol posted the picture and profile of Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, who is being hunted across Canada over the killing, first brought to light when a human foot was sent to the headquarters of Canada's ruling Conservative Party.

A hand was later found in the mail at an Ottawa post office, and a torso was discovered in Montreal. Police believe the remains belong to a man who was dating Magnotta -- and that Magnotta is to blame.

Authorities say they believe the suspect, also known as Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov, may have fled the country.

"There is no country in the world that is not talking about him," Montreal police commander Ian Lafreniere told public broadcaster CBC, adding that police have evidence he fled North America.

"There's a lot of heat on him. There's a lot of pressure on him, so we believe that it's going to be hard for him."

The video circulating online shows a man repeatedly stab another man with an ice pick and dismember him, as a song from the soundtrack of the film "American Psycho" plays in the background.

Canadian Luka Rocco Magnotta

"It's a video of the murder," police told the daily Globe and Mail. The newspaper also reported that the footage showed acts of cannibalism.

Despite efforts to take it down, frustrated police said Thursday the gory 10 and a half minute video first brought to the attention of Canadian authorities by a Montana lawyer has kept popping up all over the Internet.

US civil litigation lawyer Roger Renville told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation he came across the video last Saturday, and informed police in the United States and Canada.

"What I saw in that video exceeds your worst nightmare. It's Jeffrey Dahmer-esque," he said.

When Renville spoke to Canadian police on Sunday, he said they were "very skeptical." A police officer "suggested that whatever I was seeing must be fake. And he suggested that special effects are pretty good these days and it'd be hard to tell if it was real or not," said Renville.

An investigation was launched Tuesday when a package sent from Montreal was partly opened by the receptionist at the Conservative Party office in Ottawa, who called police after seeing blood stains and being overwhelmed by the smell.

Hours later, a second suspicious package was intercepted by Canada Post at a nearby mail sorting facility. It "contained a human hand," said police.

Soon, the probe shifted to Montreal where a torso was discovered by a janitor in a suitcase in a pile of garbage. Police said the torso belonged to a white male.

It is believed that the victim and the suspect were dating.

"We're missing parts of the body so it's difficult at this time to positively identify the victim," Lafreniere told a press conference.

The investigation quickly brought police to a studio apartment overlooking an expressway in the neighborhood where the torso was found.

After combing it for evidence, the doors and windows were left open to air out the "pungent" smell of death, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

Bush and Obama on stage together share laughs WASHINGTON — All smiles, President Barack Obama shared the stage with former President George W. Bush, the predecessor he often inveighs against, in a friendly White House welcome for the unveiling of the 43rd president's official portrait.

Obama told Bush and an assembly of former Bush aides and Cabinet members on Thursday: "We may have our differences politically, but the presidency transcends those differences."

Bush, light-hearted and expansive, saluted artist John Howard Sanden for "a fine job with a challenging subject."

With George Washington over his shoulder, Bush jokingly noted symmetry in the lineup of presidential portraits: "It now starts and ends with a George W." It was a rare public appearance for the former president, who was joined by his wife, Laura, and other family members, including his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush.

Obama thanked Bush for his service to the country and said it takes someone who has served as president to understand the challenges that face the White House occupant.

"In this job, no decision that reaches your desk is easy, no choice you make is without cost, no matter how hard you try,

you're not going to make everybody happy," Obama said. "I think that's something that President Bush and I both learned pretty quickly."

What's more, he told Bush, "you left me a really good TV sports package. ... I use it."

The unveiling ceremony amounted to a reunion of old Bush-era hands, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Secretary of State Colin Powell, political adviser Karl Rove and Homeland Security head Tom Ridge. Before the ceremony, Obama and his wife, Michelle, hosted more than a dozen members of the Bush family for a private lunch.

The good humor and the well-wishes belied sharp political differences between the two men.

Obama is still bad-mouthing Bush's time in office, and it's not just because of the federal debt and the unfinished wars Obama inherited. Obama sees Bush's economic ideas as the same as those of his current rival, Republican Mitt Romney, so he lumps them together.

Still, the political reunion put aside any campaign rhetoric.

Obama has never run against Bush, although it was easy to forget that during his 2008 contest with Sen. John McCain, when Bush's tenure was so often Obama's target.

A CBC reporter, who was let in by the building superintendent, said he saw blood stains on a bed mattress where police say the victim may have been killed, around a bathtub drain, and on other furniture.

Only two months ago, Magnotta wrote in his last known public comments on a blog: "It's not cool to the world being a necrophiliac. It's bloody lonely."

Police have not said whether there was evidence of sexual assault on the victim.

Several websites describe Magnotta as a washed-up porn star and hustler, who allegedly posted videos online of himself torturing kittens.

Online reports also said Magnotta once dated Karla Homolka, who was convicted in 1991 of manslaughter following a plea bargain in the rape and murder of two teenage girls and her sister.

Homolka had claimed in testimony that helped send her husband Paul Bernardo to prison for life that she was abused and an unwilling accomplice to the murders.

But videotapes of the crimes later surfaced showing that she was a more active participant than she had claimed.

She was released from prison in 2005 and moved to Montreal.

In a 2007 interview with a Toronto newspaper, Magnotta denied knowing Homolka, who is reportedly now married with three children.

Guards strike, inmates set free at Norway prison OSLO- Convicted sex offenders and violent criminals were let loose from a Norway prison this week when guards went on strike, forcing authorities to free 52 inmates, officials said.

"Some of these are prisoners convicted for violence, drugs, economic crime and sex crimes," Harald Aasaune, the manager of the Bjoergvin prison outside Bergen, said on Friday.

"Bjoergvin is an open prison, but still, many of them are sitting in relatively long sentences," he added. "I don't think this has ever happened before."

Four of Bjoergvin's prisoners were released on probation while 48 were granted a five-day furlough as guards joined other public workers on strike.

State workers in Norway, whose rapid economic growth stands out in a troubled continent, went on strike for the first time in 28 years on Thursday after pay talks broke down, shutting schools, child care centres and other public institutions.

The indefinite strike initially affected up to 30,000 of the 600,000 people employed by the central and local governments but it is expected to widen unless the two sides reach a settlement.

Norway's open prisons allow inmates to roam freely, primarily in a natural setting, as the Nordic nation's justice system focuses on rehabilitation over incarceration.

Violent criminals who pose a danger to society are not allowed in open prisons but even they, particularly toward the end of a sentence, are sometimes transferred to such facilities.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Page 37

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

WORLD NEWS

Romney clinches Republican 2012 nomination in Texas WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday with a resounding victory in Texas and now faces a five-month sprint to convince voters to trust him over Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

Although the race has been essentially over for weeks, Romney finally cleared the benchmark of 1,144 delegates needed to become the Republicans' presidential candidate after a long, bitter primary battle with a host of conservative rivals.

He will be formally nominated at the Republicans' convention in Florida in late August.

In a statement, Romney said he was humbled to win enough of Texas' 155 delegates to secure the nomination.

"Our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last three and a half years behind us. I have no illusions about the difficulties of the task before us. But whatever challenges lie ahead, we will settle for nothing less than getting America back on the path to full employment and prosperity," he said.

Romney endured serious threats

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney greets supporters during a campaign rally in Las Vegas, May 29, 2012.

from Republican opponents from Rick Perry to Rick Santorum to reach a goal that his late father, former Michigan Governor George Romney, fell short of achieving -- winning his party's stamp of approval as its presidential candidate.

It is always difficult to unseat an incumbent president and Romney is

Russian colonel convicted of spying for US MOSCOW - A retired Russian military officer has been convicted on charges of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to 12 years in prison, the counterintelligence agency said Thursday, the latest in a raft of espionage cases that come amid tensions between Moscow and Washington.

A court has ruled that retired Col. Vladimir Lazar will be sent to a highsecurity prison and stripped of his military rank, the Federal Security Service, or FSB, said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Lazar purchased several computer disks with more than 7,000 images of classified maps of Russia from a collector in 2008 and smuggled them to neighboring Belarus, where he gave them to an alleged American intelligence agent.

The FSB said the maps could be used for planning military operations against Russia. Lazar had served with the General Staff of the Russian armed forces in Moscow before his retirement in the early 2000s.

The FSB did not specify when the Moscow City Court's verdict and sentence were handed down. Prosecutors first reported charges against Lazar in April.

Russian state television broadcast brief footage from the courtroom, showing the gray-haired, bespectacled Lazar sitting in a cage.

Earlier this month, a court in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg handed an eight-year prison sentence to Alexander Gniteyev, a defense company worker accused of passing information about Russia's latest missile, the Bulava, to a foreign intelligence agency.

And in February, Lt. Col. Vladimir Nesterets, who oversaw missile tests at the Plesetsk Launchpad in northern Russia, was convicted on charges of providing the CIA with secret information on new missiles and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

The series of spy trials come as U.S.-Russian relations have soured over U.S.led NATO missile defense plans for Europe, which Moscow sees as a potential threat to its nuclear forces, and other disputes.

Vladimir Putin, re-elected to a third term in March, had taken a strongly antiAmerican posture during his campaign, accusing Washington of staging the mass protests against his 12-year rule in an effort to weaken Russia.

He has snubbed the Group of Eight Summit in Chicago earlier this month, a move interpreted by many as an expression of his annoyance about the U.S.

considered the underdog. But with the economy staggering along, polls are close.

All indications are that Americans face the possibility of a cliffhanger election in November that will be decided by relatively small percentages of voters in as many as a dozen battleground states, such as

Ohio, Florida and Virginia.

The former Massachusetts governor now faces a lengthy to-do list to gird for his duel with Obama, from picking a vice presidential running mate to raising hundreds of millions of dollars for a national campaign.

In the immediate weeks ahead, his goal is to bolster his case that Obama has been ineffective in handling the sluggish U.S. economy and hostile to job creators.

This argument will move soon to the energy industry, which Romney thinks Obama has bungled by not ramping up domestic production of oil and natural gas.

Romney in weeks ahead will turn to Obama's 2010 healthcare overhaul.

The U.S. Supreme Court is to decide in late June on the constitutionality of the law's requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance.

Romney has vowed to repeal the law if elected, citing it as an example of too much government under Obama. He has faced criticism from Republicans for the healthcare overhaul he developed for Massachusetts that Obama has called a model for revamping the U.S. system.

Pope’s top aide at centre of Vatican controversy Amid all the rivalries and gossip exposed by a growing Vatican crisis, Pope Benedict's deputy Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has emerged as the chief target of an unprecedented campaign of leaks.

The publication of embarrassing details about men he has appointed or moved out and projects he has promoted or opposed suggests a concerted effort to force him out of his post as secretary of state, or Vatican prime minister.

Benedict ruffled feathers in 2006 by choosing the theologian and canon law expert to head the Vatican bureaucracy known as the Curia, which is normally run by an experienced papal diplomat.

A series of mishaps embarrassing the pope and Bertone's increasingly authoritarian management style finally prompted his critics to launch the campaign to discredit him, according to Vatican insiders.

"It's all aimed at Bertone," said a monsignor in the Curia who sides with his gregarious boss. "It's very clear that they want to get rid of Bertone."

Exactly who is behind the murky leaks campaign is still a matter of speculation; but Vatican watchers suspect the miffed "diplomatic wing", including Bertone's still influential predecessor Cardinal Angelo Sodano, is involved.

Bertone has also frustrated some Curia officials by exerting more control over their access to the pope and slighted some Italian prelates by getting involved with local politicians, a task normally reserved for national bishops conferences.

Some commentators see the crisis as the start of jockeying for power after Benedict dies. "The majority in the next conclave is really what is at stake," the daily La Stampa wrote.

With criticism of Bertone increasing, Benedict made a rare declaration of support for his deputy and other close aides on Wednesday.

"I would like to renew my trust and my encouragement to my closest collaborators and all those who every day, with faith, a spirit of sacrifice and in silence help me to perform my ministry," he said at his weekly public audience.

Benedict opted for a trusted colleague in 2006 when he named Bertone, his former deputy at the Vatican's powerful doctrinal office, to the post overseeing the Curia bureaucracy in Rome and the Vatican's embassies abroad.

The cardinal was supposed to run the Vatican shop while Benedict, now 85, devoted his time more to doctrinal issues and writing a three-book theological study of Jesus Christ.

Bertone hinted early on that internal management was not his main interest, saying soon after his appointment that he wanted "to be secretary of the Church more than of the state."

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

WORLD NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Haiti will take 30 years to reach middle income status, says U.S. oďŹƒcial OTTAWA - It will take Haiti the better part three decades to become a middle income country on par with its Caribbean island neighbour, the Dominican Republic, says the top U.S. official on the file.

But Thomas Adams, the State Department's special co-ordinator for Haiti, told The Canadian Press that "realistic" estimate should not be seen as daunting to countries like Canada that are heavily invested in helping the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, still struggling after its devastating 2010 earthquake.

Nor should it deter investors, who are crucial to Haiti's long-term recovery, Adams added, as long as the country builds credible democratic institutions.

"There is no reason why Haiti can't become a middle income country. But because they're starting so low, it's going be to be 25-30 years even if they have good economic growth," Adams said in an exclusive interview, after two days of meetings in Ottawa with various government officials.

"It's not a quick fix. These problems in Haiti - their educational system, their health system, cholera, the infrastructure - these aren't quick fixes," he added.

"It's good to be realistic. That's not to say we're not making progress each year ‌ But overall, you're not going to see a Haiti the way you'd like it for a while."

Forty years ago, Haiti was slightly ahead of the Dominican Republic economically, said Adams, with 20 large American corporations setting up their Caribbean headquarters there. The two countries share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

Adams sees economic growth for Haiti in textiles, agriculture and tourism.

"Haiti needs private investment. All the donor money, as generous as it is - and I think Canada and a lot of countries have been very generous - isn't enough to fix Haiti."

The U.S. and Canada, said Adams, remain in lock-step when it comes to helping Haiti recover from the devastating January 2010 earthquake that left 300,000 dead and displaced 1.5 million. Canada has pledged more than $1 billion to Haiti, making it the second largest aid recipient after Afghanistan.

That co-operation extends to co-ordinated messaging of Haiti's political leaders, to break the political paralysis of the last year - a crisis that has raised serious questions about the country's ability to stave off corruption and govern itself effectively.

That crisis appeared to ease earlier this month when President Michel Martelly swore in a new prime minister, Laurent Lamothe, whose predecessor resigned in February after barely four months on the job.

The turmoil rendered Haiti's government rudderless and left billions of dollars of donor pledges in limbo.

"That's pretty much over," said Adams. "There's a truce between the president and the parliament. It seems they're willing to work together. The president has confidence in the new prime minister."

With Lamothe confirmed, parliamentary amendments will pave the way for elections of senators and local officials, as well as paving the way for reforms of the court system, said Adams.

Throughout it all, the Canadian and U.S. governments have continued to "give co-ordinated messages on some sensitive topics."

The underlying message can be boiled down to this: reign in the corruption and work together politically.

"That's one of our constant messages," Adams explained.

"We don't say, if you're not going to do X, Y, and Z we're going to cut off all of your aid. But we do say,

and Canada says, and everybody else says, over time businessmen and donors are going to go elsewhere if you're not seen as making your best efforts to curb corruption to bring in the rule of the law and be democratic.

"I think they're hearing that."

Diane Ablonczy, Canada's junior foreign affairs for the Americas, said Haitians are "crying out for leadership" so Canada is urging its leaders to step up and provide it.

"We are really urging the new government as its formed to emphasize and really roll up its sleeves and emphasize the need to deliver results for strong institutions in Haiti."

Adams also lauded Canada's former governor general, Haitian-born Michaelle Jean, as a key player in that co-ordinated communication effort with Haiti's leadership.

Jean, now the UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti, travels to Haiti again this week, for meetings will political leaders. She'll also take part in events to highlight programs that help curb malnutrition and poverty.

Earlier this month, Jean laid bare her frustration with the pace of change in her native country during a recent speech in Ottawa to government officials and non-governmental organizations.

"The aid and handout system has become kind of a business model, a scheme used by some to wheel and deal as it generates opportunities for embezzlement and corruption," Jean said the text posted on her website.

"It can't go on like this."

Adams said that's the message the U.S., Canada and other allies continue to deliver to Haiti.

"We're on the same message too. Again, cut the chaos," he said. "That's all we're saying there: come on guys, let's keep our eye on the ball here."

Diplomats expelled as Annan tells Assad to stop the killing Syrian diplomats were expelled from countries around the world as former United Nations boss Kofi Annan presented an ultimatum to Bashar alAssad in Damascus.

Australia, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Spain all threw out Syrian diplomats in a coordinated move to escalate pressure on Mr Assad after the massacre of at least 108 people, mostly women and children, in the town of Houla.

And in Damascus, UN Arab League envoy Mr Annan told the Syrian president to implement a ceasefire "not tomorrow, now".

Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr announced late on Tuesday afternoon that Syrian chargĂŠ d'affaires Jawdat Ali and another diplomat would have 72 hours to leave Australia.

He said the move was the most effective way of sending a message of revulsion to the Syrian government over the Houla massacre.

In the United States, the state department said it had given Syria's top diplomat in Washington, Zuheir Jabbour, 72 hours to leave the country.

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland described the massacre as indefensible, vile and despicable and said it was clear what a full investigation of the

People gather at a mass burial for the victims killed during an artillery barrage from Syrian forces in Houla

killings in Houla would show.

"It's going to show that these were regime-sponsored thugs who went into villages, went into homes and killed children at point-blank range, and their parents, and that the responsibility goes right back to the Assad regime," she said.

"We hold the Syrian government responsible for this slaughter of

innocent lives."

UK foreign secretary William Hague said Syria's charge d'affaires and two other diplomats in London had a week to leave.

Meanwhile, Mr Annan met Mr Assad in Damascus after a series of talks with Syrian officials.

Mr Annan said he reinforced his message that the six-point peace plan

and ceasefire brokered in April must be implemented immediately.

"We are at a tipping point. The Syrian people do not want the future to be one of bloodshed and division.

Yet the killings continue and the abuses are still with us today," Mr Annan said.

Mr Annan said he "conveyed in frank terms the grave concern of the international community about the violence in Syria, including the recent shocking events in Houla".

He appealed to Mr Assad's armed opponents also to cease acts of violence.

He said Mr Assad had also condemned the killings in Houla. But the Syrian government has denied any role and blamed Islamist "terrorists".

In Paris, French president Francois Hollande said the use of armed force could be possible, but that it had to be carried out under UN auspices.

"It is not possible to allow Bashar al-Assad's regime to massacre its own people," Mr Hollande told France 2 television.

"Military intervention to end the crisis in Syria cannot be ruled out if it is backed by the United Nations Security Council," he said.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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HIGHLIGHTS

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Device to inject a variety of drugs without needle READ ON PAGE 40

Oil headed for biggest drop since 2008 NEW YORK — The price of oil is headed for its biggest monthly decline since December 2008.

Oil has dropped more than 16 percent so far in May, erasing all of its gains for the year. That's helped lower gas prices and provided a little financial relief to cautious consumers.

Prices are falling on expectations that the world won't use as much oil this year as previously thought.

Europe's financial crisis is the most immediate concern, but there have been plenty of signs of weaker demand. Benchmark U.S. crude fell $2.94, or 3.2 percent, on Wednesday to finish at $87.82. It's now down 11 percent from Jan. 1.

Oil rose near $110 per barrel in February because of the potential for conflict between Iran and the West. Those tensions have eased somewhat, and the market's focus has turned to weak spots in the global economy.

The month started with so-so U.S. jobs numbers.

Other U.S. economic data have been mixed and gasoline consumption has dropped for 62 straight weeks. Meanwhile, China's manufacturing sector is slowing down. The U.S. and China are the biggest oil consumers in the world.

Earlier this year, energy economists mostly agreed that world oil demand would hit a new record in 2012, probably around 89 million barrels per day.

But with demand not growing in China and declining in the U.S., those expectations are starting to change.

"I wouldn't be surprised if demand was lower this year," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic

Energy & Economic Research.

That could be the case in Europe. Experts worry the 17 nations that use the euro will fall into recession. Europe consumes about 16 percent of the world's oil.

Fears about Europe's financial stability sent ripples through world markets Wednesday. Major stock indexes slipped 1 percent to 2 percent. The European Commission fanned those concerns by reporting that economic confidence has plummeted this month to the lowest level in two and a half years.

The euro fell near a two-year low against the dollar, helping to push oil prices even lower. Oil, which is priced in dollars, tends to fall as the dollar rises and makes crude barrels more expensive for investors holding foreign money. Brent crude, which is used to price oil varieties that are imported into the U.S., fell by $3.21 to end at $103.47 per barrel in London.

Traders have seen this show before. This is the third consecutive May where oil has plunged, in part because of similar concerns about European debts.

Oil fell 9.9 percent in May of last year and 14.1 percent in May 2010. Jim Ritterbusch, an independent oil trader and analyst, said it's a coincidence that the month has become known for tumbling oil prices.

A number of one-time factors moved oil prices over the past few years, he said, including last year's Libyan rebellion, the 2011 release of emergency oil supplies by the U.S. and other industrialized

countries, fighting in Nigeria and fears over Iran's nuclear program. In the past two years, oil recovered from its swoon in May and ended the year higher than it started.

"Who knows, maybe that will happen again this year," Ritterbusch said.

Drivers hope not. A gallon of regular unleaded has dropped by 31 cents since peaking in the first week of April. U.S. retail gasoline prices fell by a penny Wednesday to $3.626 per gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Experts see gas falling to at least $3.50 by July 4.

Drivers aren't rushing to use more of the cheaper gasoline, however. MasterCard SpendingPulse said that motorists bought less gasoline last week, even though it cost about 13 cents per gallon less than in the same week last year. People are driving fewer miles and getting around in more fuel-efficient cars.

And gas is still 90 cents more expensive than at this time in 2010.

Other futures prices also declined Wednesday.

Natural gas fell by 6.7 cents, or 2.7 percent, to end at $2.418 per 1,000 cubic feet. Natural gas has dropped by 32 cents in the past four trading days.

Analysts said prices are falling after investors cashed in on futures contracts that jumped 44 percent since April 19.

Heating oil lost 6.9 cents to end at $2.7398 per gallon while wholesale gasoline lost 4.83 cents to finish at $2.8582 per gallon.

NYC proposes ban on large sodas at restaurants NEW YORK — Want to super-size that soda? Sorry, but in New York City you could be out of luck.

In his latest effort to fight obesity in this era of Big Gulps and triple bacon cheeseburgers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing an unprecedented ban on large servings of soda and other sugary drinks at restaurants, delis, sports arenas and movie theaters.

Drinks would be limited to 16 ounces, which is considered a small at many fast-food joints.

"The percentage of the population that is obese is skyrocketing," Bloomberg said Thursday on MSNBC. He added: "We've got to do something."

It is the first time an American city has directly attempted to limit soda portion sizes, and opponents again accused the three-term mayor of creating a "nanny state" and robbing New Yorkers of the right to choose for themselves.

But city officials said they believe the plan — expected to win approval from the Bloomberg-appointed Board of Health and take effect as soon as March — will ultimately prove popular and push governments around the U.S. to adopt similar rules.

"We have a crisis of obesity," said city Health Commissioner Thomas

Farley. "People often go with the default choice, and if the default choice is something which is very unhealthy and is feeding into that health crisis, it's appropriate for the government to say, 'No, we think the default choice should be healthier.'"

The soft drink industry responded with scathing criticism, even as the administration said it felt certain the companies could simply trim back their offerings from 20-ounce bottles to 16ounce bottles — reversing a trend that has been under way for decades. In the 1950s, McDonald's offered only one size for soft drinks: 7 ounces, city officials said.

Coca-Cola called the ban an "arbitrary mandate."

"The people of New York City are much smarter than the New York City Health Department believes," the company said in a statement. "New Yorkers expect and deserve better than this. They can make their own choices about the beverages they purchase."

The ban would apply only to sweetened drinks over 16 ounces that contain more than 25 calories per 8 ounces. (A 12-ounce can of Coke has about 140 calories.) It would not affect diet soda or any drink that is at least half milk or milk substitute.

Various size cups and sugar cubes are displayed at a news conference at New York's City Hall, Thursday, May 31, 2012. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing a ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks in the city's restaurants, delis and movie theaters in the hopes of combating obesity, an expansion of his administration's efforts to encourage healthy behavior by limiting residents' choices.

Nor would it apply to drinks sold in supermarkets or convenience stores, unless those businesses primarily sell foods meant to be eaten right away. Businesses would face fines of $200 per failed inspection.

City officials said some calorieheavy drinks such as Starbucks Frappuccinos would probably be exempted because of their dairy content, while the Slurpees at 7Eleven wouldn't be affected because the stores are regulated as groceries.

The Porse Pajun

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Device may inject a variety of drugs without using needles Getting a shot at the doctor’s office may become less painful in the nottoo-distant future.

MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, highpressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle. The device can be programmed to deliver a range of doses to various depths — an improvement over similar jetinjection systems that are now commercially available.

The researchers say that among other benefits, the technology may help reduce the potential for needlestick injuries; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that hospital-based health care workers accidentally prick themselves with needles 385,000 times each year. A needleless device may also help improve compliance among patients who might otherwise avoid the discomfort of regularly injecting themselves with drugs such as insulin.

“If you are afraid of needles and have to frequently self-inject, compliance can be an issue,” says Catherine Hogan, a research scientist in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and a member of the research team. “We think this kind of technology … gets around some of

MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, high-pressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle.

the phobias that people may have about needles.”

In the past few decades, scientists have developed various alternatives to hypodermic needles. For example, nicotine patches slowly release drugs through the skin. But these patches can only release drug molecules small enough to pass through the skin’s pores, limiting the type of medicine that can be delivered.

With the delivery of larger protein-based drugs on the rise, researchers have been developing new technologies capable of delivering them — including jet injectors, which produce a highvelocity jet of drugs that penetrate the

skin. While there are several jetbased devices on the market today, Hogan notes that there are drawbacks to these commercially available devices. The mechanisms they use, particularly in spring-loaded designs, are essentially “bang or nothing,” releasing a coil that ejects the same amount of drug to the same depth every time.

Now the MIT team, led by Ian Hunter, the George N. Hatsopoulos Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has engineered a jet-injection system that delivers a range of doses to variable depths in a highly controlled manner. The design is built around a mechanism called a Lorentz-force

actuator — a small, powerful magnet surrounded by a coil of wire that’s attached to a piston inside a drug ampoule. When current is applied, it interacts with the magnetic field to produce a force that pushes the piston forward, ejecting the drug at very high pressure and velocity (almost the speed of sound in air) out through the ampoule’s nozzle — an opening as wide as a mosquito’s proboscis.

MIT-engineered device injects drug without needles, delivering a highvelocity jet of liquid that breaches the skin at the speed of sound.

The speed of the coil and the velocity imparted to the drug can be controlled by the amount of current applied; the MIT team generated pressure profiles that modulate the current. The resulting waveforms generally consist of two distinct phases: an initial high-pressure phase in which the device ejects drug at a high-enough velocity to “breach” the skin and reach the desired depth, then a lower-pressure phase where drug is delivered in a slower stream that can easily be absorbed by the surrounding tissue.

Through testing, the group found that various skin types may require different waveforms to deliver adequate volumes of drugs to the desired depth.

BlackBerry maker RIM sinks, but patents and network have value WATERLOO, Ontario — Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry, is in steep decline. The company, once the crown jewel of the Canadian technology industry, is now worth 1 percent of Apple's market capitalization. One way for RIM to stop the downward tailspin: It could sell itself to a competitor or financial firm. But who would step up to buy RIM —and why?

Late Tuesday, the company said it expects to post an operating loss for the current quarter, a sign that BlackBerry sales are falling even faster than analysts expected. On Wednesday, the company's stock hit its lowest level since 2003, the year RIM went from making two-way e-mail pagers to smartphones.

The stock has fallen 93 percent since their peak in 2008. Since then, the BlackBerry's dominance as the smartphone for on-the-go business people has been eviscerated by Apple Inc.'s iPhone, and more recently, by phones running Google Inc.'s Android software. Research firm IDC says BlackBerrys now account for 6.4 percent of the global smartphone market, a third of what they had two years ago.

In that time, the company's financial performance has suffered. RIM reported a 25 percent revenue decline in the latest fiscal quarter, to $4.2 billion from $5.6 billion. For the full fiscal year that ended on March 3, it earned $1.2 billion, or $2.22 per share, on revenue of $18.4 billion.

That's down from net income of $3.4 billion, or $6.34 a share, on revenue of $19.9 billion in fiscal 2011.

RIM issued the dire warning about its business Tuesday, adding that it will lay off a "significant" number of employees.

Still, the company is defiant. Chief executive, Thorsten Heins, says he can turn things around with the help of fresh smartphone software. Heins joined RIM four years ago and was most recently its chief operating officer. He replaced co-CEOs Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis in January after the company lost tens of billions in market value.

"My charter from the board of directors is very clear: long-term value creation with RIM," Heins told The Associated Press in an interview at the company's headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, earlier this month.

Analysts give RIM only a slight chance of coming out of the crisis. To hedge its bets, the company has hired bankers to look at its options. It's not actively looking to sell itself, Heins said, but it wants to be prepared.

Michael Walkley at Canaccord Genuity believes most of the company's value lies in the monthly fees it gets from phone companies in exchange for running the systems that deliver email and Web pages to BlackBerrys.

RIM has 78 million users connected to this system, but Walkley estimates that only 20 million are corporate and government users who are likely to stick around because of the communications security RIM provides. The rest are consumers who will jump to competing phones, he believes. That business is worth about $2.75 billion to a competitor, Walkley wrote in a research report Wednesday.

The other major component of RIM's value is its patent portfolio. The company had an early scare in U.S. patent courts in 2006, when it was forced to pay $612.5 million to a small company founded by

an inventor who had patents on wireless e-mail delivery. Since then, it's filed for thousands of patents to use as a defense against future suits.

Patents on wireless technologies exploded in value last year, as Apple and Microsoft Corp. started suing makers of phones that run Google's Android software. Countersuits followed. A consortium that included Apple and RIM bought the patents of a defunct Canadian maker of telecommunications gear, Nortel, for $4.5 billion last year. That compares with the $1.13 billion Nortel's once-prominent wireless networks business fetched in 2009.

As a counter-move, Google bolstered its own patent portfolio by buying Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., a U.S. phone maker with only slightly better prospects than RIM, for $12.5 billion.

Where does that leave RIM? Christopher Marlett, the CEO of MDB Capital, said RIM's patents are worth more than $1 billion, and could be worth as much as $4 billion if a bidding war develops between Apple, Google, Microsoft Corp. and perhaps Samsung Electronics Co. "It's a question of how aggressive they get," Marlett said. His firm is an investment bank that focuses on intellectual property, including patents.

Walkley puts the value of RIM's portfolio at $2.5 billion, excluding the patents RIM bought from Nortel and shares with Apple, Microsoft and other buyers.

RIM has $2.1 billion in cash, but Walkley discounts this completely, since the phone business will likely start using up cash soon, and downsizing will require severance payments. That means the email network and the patents comprise RIM's entire value at $5.25 billion, by his estimate.

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Delano Williams exudes confidence ahead of Olympic trials

LOCAL NEWS

Rashard Goddard of Cable and Wireless presents rising sprint star Delano Williams with a Blackberry Torch shortly before he departs the TCI for Jamaica, where he is attending school and training. Looking on at left is Edith Skippings, President of the Turks and Caicos Amateur Athletics Association (TCAA).

Read more on pg 42

Little League Baseball to start soon

By Vivian Tyson

The Turks and Caicos Islands Sports Commission is laying the framework for the commencement of a country-wide little league baseball tournament to encompass all the primary schools in the country starting with Providenciales.

Head of the Sports Commission, Alvin Parker, who made the disclosure, last week, said that the kick-starting of the league was triggered by a container shipment of baseball and softball gear, made possible by US donor.

Parker said that the Sports Commission, for the past three years, had been trying to establish a little league baseball tournament in the TCI but was unsuccessful to resources. However, he said now that the well-needed gear was donated, the programme would now take off.

“We made several attempts at it. The first year we tried and we found out that we had more kids than equipment, and for that reason the programme died out. The second year we were able to muster a little more equipment and we didn’t have enough kids and teachers at the time, so again, we couldn’t get things together and the programme died out for a year or two.

“This year we travelled to Charlotte, North Carolina where we visited Myers Park Little League Baseball Programme, and we pretty much partnered with Myers Park and the community there for them to assist us with equipment, and we were able to get about $50,000 worth of used equipment donated to us,” Parker said.

He said that there was enough gear to dispatch across the country, so that students would get themselves familiar with the game of baseball well enough to play in competitions.

While the TCI has a softball association, it is without a baseball association to govern the sport, but Parker said that was about to change, as the Sports Commission would be moving with

photo shows budding baseball and softball players posing the dozens of the sporting equipment at the Downtown Ball Park

alacrity to establish such a body, while working closely with Softball Association Head, Godfrey Been. Coach of the Predators Softball team, Shanella Forbes, is to coordinate the little league programme.

“Godfrey Been and myself are heading this project. He would continue to govern softball, while creating this baseball association. We also established contacts with some baseball coaches there (Charlotte) and very shortly we are going to have some baseball coaches come down here to assist us with training, and also to host seminars with all the NGBs in the Turks and Caicos, on the recruiting process, to pretty much bring them up to speed on what needs to happen and what it takes to get in a US college or any US institution on an athletic scholarship,” Parker said.

Conch Shack demolish Northern Star 11 – 3

In the meantime, Forbes said that she was very excited to have been given the task of streamlining the programme. She would be working with two age groups – 4 to 7 and 8 to 10.

“It is something that I wanted to do, I love kids, I like being around kids. Kids are more aggressive; they want to play the game; they want to be out there, and they are willing to learn,” she said.

She said that the equipment donated by the Myers Park Programme would assist a great deal.

“I need the bats, and I need balls, and a lot of these equipment like the helmets, gloves, mitts – all of them are going to be a lot of help. We hope to start the league; I will be sending letters to every school in Provo – black, white whatever – doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, we are going to get everybody together,” Forbes said.

the game would be close as they scored for AFC Academy .

The Captain Marvin’s Women’s Beach Soccer league has one round of games left before the championship will be decided. The Pink Mermaids who are still undefeated will play The Men’s Beach Soccer League Jean Guerrier (5), Robert Valmyn against the Blue Marlins in two weeks completed its second round of (3) Mackinson Davilmar (1) and time in the championship decider. games last weekend as AFC Andre Turner scored for the Conch The Mermaids dispatched the Great National moved to the top of the Shack and Richard Long added a White Sharks 7-1 and the Marlins table with a 8-4 win against AFC consolation goal for Northern Star. secured the spot in the final with a 9-5 Academy . The Conch Shark also In the second game AFC National win against the Purple Pirates. recorded an impressive 11-3 victory left it until late to pull away from AFC The Mermaids put in another over the defending champions Academy . National took an early 4-0 impressive team performance as Northern Star. lead but the Academy side pulled it Kadine Delphin scored six of her Northern Star held a slender 2-1 back to a 5-4 deficit going into the teams goals. Yarileny De la Cruz lead after the first period with goals final period. James Rene, Michael scored the final goal and made three from matt Green and Haroon Swaby, Laird, Luis Turbyfield each scored assists as the Sharks lost their fifth however the Conch Shack responded twice and Wildens Delva and Myrohn game in a row. Jessica Lange, who well and found the net with ease Pereira found the back of the net for worked tirelessly for her team scored for the remainder of the match as the National team. Herby Magny (2), a consolation goal for the Sharks. they ran out comfortable winners. Frandly jean and Anell Super ensured

The second game promised to be exciting as both the Pirates and the Marlins were fighting it out for second position and with it a place in the grand final. Both teams appeared to be evenly matched but it was the Marlins who claimed the win, largely as a result of better finishing in front of goal.

On far too many occasions the Pirates wasted good goal scoring opportunities or shot wide or high.

Sarah Cenary (4), Amelie Speer (3) and Waldine Pierre (2) scored for the Marlins and Tina Hinds (4) and Ruth Francois (1) were on target for the Pirates.

The final round of group games takes place this weekend as teams will hope to put in a good performance before the grand finals on the 10th June.

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LOCAL NEWS SPORTS LOCAL

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

Wahoos Go Unbeaten to Take Out Heineken Tag League

The spring season of the Heineken M i x e d Tag Rugby League finished in fine style at Finals Night last Thursday, with the players battling out some excellent games that were certainly worthy of the occasion.

The Wahoos had gone through the entire season unbeaten, with 12 wins and just two drawn games out of their 14 regular season matches preceding their tight win over the Turtles last week in the first round of the playoffs. They had to wait to see who their Major Semi-Final opponents would be, as the Red Mist took on the Harriers for the right to play in that match. Outstanding play from both teams meant a very tight score line in a match that eventually went the way of the Harriers by 6 – 3.

Navy Seals and the Try Harders competed at the same time for a place in the other Major SemiFinal against the Jolly Ranchers, and this one was even closer. The Try Harders edged out to a

reasonable lead only for the Seals to pull it back to 6 – 6 and with only the final play of the match remaining the game looked destined for overtime.

Franco Mompremier had other ideas though and ran a brilliant line to score a great individual try and club the Seals out of the tournament.

So it was that the Wahoos took on the Harriers, and they were made to work hard before eventually running away with the match to record a slightly flattering 18 – 4 victory and book their place in the final. The following match finished with a similarly inflated score line of 16 – 5 in favour of the Jolly Ranchers over the Try Harders, whose heroics in their earlier match had possibly left them fatigued and struggling with the speed of the Ranchers’ play.

The Grand Final, therefore, was a replay of the same fixture from the previous season and saw the top two teams from the League deservingly

Delano Williams exudes confidence ahead of Olympic trials

By Vivian Tyson

Turks and Caicos Sprint prodigy, Delano Williams, is ramping up his preparation for the June 22 to 24 British trials for a place on the 200m team to London Summer Olympics to be held from July 27 to August 12.

Williams revealed to journalists before departing the Turks and Caicos for Jamaica where he attends school and trains, that he had been preparing himself in cool conditions so as to acclimatize to the London environment. However, he said that he had to be balancing his training with his studies, as he was currently sitting his external examinations.

“I am actually going back to school right now, external examinations still in progress.

Going back to Jamaican, I would be training hard. My coach (Neil Harrison) said even if I arrive in Jamaica at night I would still need to train,” Williams said.

Outside of a top three finish at the trials would be disappointing for Williams, and while two of the three main athletes that he would be competing against posted better times that he did this year, Williams believes that he could upstage them in the trials.

“I am really looking to come in the top three. I have confidence in myself; I know I can do it. I am still getting into it. I ran 20.83

in 0.5 wind in Bermuda, in the cold, at the Carifta Games. I felt at the time that I could go faster but I did not have anybody there to push me, so I will go to London and give it my best shot,” Williams said.

In the meantime, telecoms company LIME, presented Williams with a Blackberry Torch and free calls from Jamaica to the Turks plus free Blackberry service. The presentation was made by Rashard Goddard at the Providenciales International Airport on Thursday, just before Williams departed.

“LIME Turks and Caicos has always been supportive of our youths, whether it be academically or through athletics, and that is why we are presenting Mr. Delano Williams with this Blackberry Torch, as a token of our appreciation so that you can keep in contact with family and friends in the Turks and Caicos, and as an added bonus, all calls home and Blackberry service will be free, ” Goddard said.

In response Williams said: “I am really excited about it. All calls are free! I am going to call home a lot, get closer with my mom, get closer with my family because the next few weeks I have something big to do. I will also keep in touch with all the people of the Turks and Caicos that I am really close with, because I want the country to be behind me when I go to the trials the next three weeks.”

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

battle it out to claim the trophy. Well organised defence from both teams meant opportunities were tough to come by, but when they did the Wahoos were the more able team at converting them into points, and they took a commanding 6 – 1 lead to the half-time break.

The large crowd of spectators urged on the Jolly Ranchers even more in the second half, and they took heart from that as they came out firing against the overwhelming favourites. A hat-trick to Callis Jones and good interplay between Simon Taylor and his team-mates had the Ranchers right back in the contest. However, second half tries to Lincoln Outten and Dean Griffiths, who were both extremely dangerous throughout the season, kept the buffer there for the Wahoos and they held on with courageous defence to deservedly become the 2012 Spring Heineken Tag League champions.

The TCIRFU wishes to sincerely thank all of those who took part in the League, it was indeed a great success. A prizegiving ceremony will be held during the annual President’s Dinner and Oval Ball on Friday the 8th of June at Brayton Hall. Those wishing to attend can contact Jamie Tait, Rugby Development Officer, at rdo@rugby. tc

Quality Supermarket Kings in T20 semis

Quality Supermarket Kings secured a semifinal berth when they dismissed Jam Turk as the HAB Group/Gansevoort sponsored T20 Competition continued on Sunday May 27, at the Downtown Ball Park.

After losing the toss, Jam Turk was asked to take first knock by Quality, and posted 149 runs for the loss four wickets from their allotted 20 overs.

Kevaughn Brown led the Jam Turk batting charge with an unbeaten 37 runs, which comprised two 4s and a 6. He was supported by Glen Campbell, who was also unbeaten on 33 runs, which included with five 4s. Bowling for Quality Kings,

Colin Williams, Robert Johson, Earl Henry and Nagarajan Kuthalingham took one wicket each.

In reply, Quality Kings overhauled in just 16.4 overs, reaching 150 runs for the loss of five wickets. Earl Henry was the top-scorer with 56 runs, which included six 4s three 6s and Lloyd Lynch, who supported with an unbeaten 29 runs that included five 4s.

Bowling for Jam Turk, Glen Campbell claimed 2 wickets for 16 runs, from 2 overs and Dane Richie took 2 wickets for 26 runs from 3.4 overs.

Earl Henry was named man of the match.

Green Dragons singe the competition for Sailrock U11 boys title

The Sailrock U11 Boys league total to St. Jour’s twelve.

Technical Director Matthew ended last weekend with the Green Dragons finishing as champions Green was delighted with the success and the Orange all Stars as of the league. It is great to see so many young players in this group Runners up. improving their standard of play.

The Dragons needed just one win to secure the title but with This is our biggest age group with wins against Red Devils and Purple over sixty children playing so this Pirates their loss against the All means we have a solid base for years Stars did not make a difference in to come. I would like to thank all the final standings. Orin Campbell the players, coaches, referees and scored the winning goals in both his sponsors for making this league so team victories but Jamie Grey scored successful” Following the days play trophies for the All Stars in their win against were given out to the following the league champions. The All Stars managed a 0-0 draw with the Pirates players. League Winners – Green before finishing with a win against Dragons; Runners Up – Orange All the Yellow Strikers which secured Stars; Orange All Stars MVP – Jamie Grey; Green Dragons MVP – Orin them second place.

In the other key games Shadown Campbell; Purple Pirates MVP – St. Jour ensured he claimed the top Bradley Ayer; Red Devils MVP goal scorer award as he scored twice – Joovens Joseph; Yellow Strikers in the Purple Pirates 2-0 win against – MVP Sebastien Turbyfield; Blue the Blue Marlins. He was pushed marlins MVP - Junior Paul; Top all the way by Joovens Joseph who Goalscorer – Shadown St. Jour (12 scored on two occasions for the Red goals); Most Improved – Jack Parley; Devils to end up with eleven goals in and League MVP – Shadown St. Jour.

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JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

HIGHLIGHTS

Jack Warner cleared of football bribery READ MORE BELOW

Usain Bolt runs his worst 100 metres in three years A flat-looking Usain Bolt raced his worst 100m in three years here on Friday, still managing to claim victory after he recovered sufficiently from a dreadful start and a limp drive phase.

The Jamaican double Olympic sprint champion clocked 10.04 seconds, some distance off the 9.7sec time he was seeking to build on his season-opening 9.82sec earlier this month.

A false start played its part, throwing a distinctly average field into automatic play-safe mode.

Into a -0.8m/s headwind, Bolt grimaced his way from the 50m mark and did enough to beat home veteran Kim Collins of St Kitts and St Nevis (10.19sec) with American Darivs Patton third (10.22).

"I haven't run that badly since a meet in Canada in 2009," said a noticeably downbeat Bolt, also the world record holder in both the 100 and 200m (9.58 and 19.19sec).

"That's reality, a very bad day at the starting blocks. When I was in the back warming up, I did some starts and I was flying.

"But I ran out and didn't get going,

couldn't generate speed in middle of race so I had to work hard to get some speed up."

Elsewhere on the track, defending Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo of Kenya fired a broadside at South African pretender Caster Semenya with a convincing victory in the women's 800m.

Jelimo, also the newly-crowned world indoor champion but who missed almost three years of competition after her Beijing Games triumph through injury, dominated the race to win in 1min 58.49sec, with Semenya in second in 2:00.80.

"Of course everybody wants to do their best because it is so close to the Olympics," said Jelimo, whose kick at the bell opened up too much air between her and the chasing pack.

"I do not run against anybody, including Caster. I just focus on myself.

I want to try and do even better next week."

Semenya, with doubts over her real gender long buried in her past, left her push for the line too late.

Sir Viv blasts West Indies batting NOTTINGHAM – Legendary West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards has blasted the Caribbean side’s disastrous batting in the second Test at Trent Bridge and criticized newly recalled wicketkeeper/batsman Denesh Ramdin for having “deteriorated in such a big way”.

West Indies slumped to 61 for six in their second innings at the end of the third day Sunday and went on to lose the match by nine wickets yesterday.

“It was immature, and these individuals need to think about the requirements to play at this level,” Sir Viv told BBC’s Test Match Special. “They must be given credit for the way they bowled, but the batters did not come to the party and need to sort their heads out where shot selection is concerned.”

Not for the first time in the series, West Indies’ top order collapsed after England had secured a 58-run first innings lead at tea. Ramdin, recalled after two years in the wilderness, has failed to make a meaningful contribution in three of his four innings.

“Ramdin just looks out of sorts. When he first came into the game I felt he was a huge prospect,” said Sir Viv, who never lost a series as captain.

“For some reason, he has deteriorated in such a big way. Just the way he is walking back, he looks like a totally lost guy.”

Ramdin averages 22.28 after 44 Tests.

Sir Viv, who scored 8 540 from 121 Tests at an average of 50, said vice-captain Kirk Edwards’ technique was lacking. “The flaws in Kirk Edwards’ technique . . . he’s looking all over the place. His confidence has been totally destroyed,” Sir Viv said.

The South African, who shot to fame when she won the world title in Berlin in 2009 but was then sidelined for 11 months during a probe into her true gender, settled in at the back of the pack and only kicked with 150m to go.

By that stage, Jelimo had kicked and there was too much for Semenya, now coached by Mozambique running legend Maria Mutola, to make up.

"I'm quite happy with my preparations for the Olympics. I now just need to build up more speed for competition," said Semenya.

There was more South African disappointment when double amputee Oscar Pistorius raced a horrendous 400m in his ongoing bid to nail qualification for the able-bodied Olympics.

The 25-year-old South African, who runs with carbon-fibre artificial 'blades', came in a sorry eighth and last in 47.66sec, 2.54sec off American winner LaShawn Merritt and far away from the 45.70 he needs to run to ensure his participation at the London Games.

"The time was so bad!" Pistorius

said. "I don't know what to say. I can run that fast at the end of a tough training session or straight after getting up out of bed in the morning."

The stand-out field performance was from Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie, who made his return to competition in impressive style by setting a new world lead and meet record of 5.90m in the pole vault in blustery conditions.

"It was a great start to the season," beamed Lavillenie. "I'm not unbeatable, but it's a good response to (Bjorn) Otto", who had set the previous world lead of 5.83m on Wednesday.

Jamaica's two-time Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown won the women's 200m in 22.38sec, and American Wallace Spearmon the men's equivalent in 20.14sec.

American Dexter Faulk claimed the 110m hurdles in an impressive 13.13sec.

And Barbora Spotakova gave home fans something to cheer about, the Czech world record holder throwing a world lead and meet record 67.78m to win the women's javelin.

Jack Warner cleared of football bribery PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Former vice president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and a senior member of the coalition Trinidad and Tobago government, Austin “Jack” Warner, has been told that he has no case to answer with respect to allegations of bribery purported to have taken place here last year during the campaign for the FIFA presidential elections.

“On the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), no further action can be taken in this matter,” Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs informed the Police Service Commission on March 21.

He said the matter which was alleged to have occurred on or about May 10, 2011, was investigated by the police and the DPP advised the matter can proceed no further.

The PSC has since informed Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Rowley by letter dated May 7.

In an immediate reaction Warner told television viewers that he was he was happy and felt vindicated while praising Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar for showing confidence in him.

There had been several calls for the Prime Minister Persad Bissessar to dismiss Warner from the Cabinet after the bribery allegations first surfaced.

Last May, Warner invited the heads of various Caribbean football associations to meet with FIFA presidential candidate Mohammed Bin Hammam here and at that meeting several of the delegates reported that over one million (US) dollars had been distributed to them in brown envelopes.

In June 2011, the Opposition wrote Commissioner Gibbs about the possible breach of the laws of Trinidad and Tobago, including the Exchange Control Act, the Customs Act and generally the criminal law relating to bribery.

The move by the Opposition followed the suspension of Warner and Bin Hammam by the FIFA Ethics Committee based on allegations that they were involved in a bribes-for-votes campaign.

A secret report by FIFA’s Ethics Committee, which was published in England’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, noted there was “comprehensive, convincing and overwhelming evidence” to support claims that Warner and Bin Hammam colluded to pay the bribes.

Warner and Bin Hammam were suspended from FIFA pending the completion of the scheduled hearing of the Ethics Committee, but Warner subsequently resigned and his charges were dropped while Bin Hammam was found guilty and banned for life from FIFA.

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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HIGHLIGHTS

Mayweather will be housed in a standard administrative segregation cell no larger than 7-by-12 feet, with a bunk, stainless steel toilet and sink, a steel and wood desk with a permanently bolted stool and two small vertical windows with opaque safety glass.

READ: FLOYD MAYWEATHER TO TRADE MANSION FOR VEGAS JAIL CELL

Usain Bolt records fastest time for three years An hour and a half before the main event of the Golden Gala meeting here on the north side of the Italian capital last night Usain Bolt was paraded around the track on a motorised buggy, wearing an Italian football shirt. A fate-tempting lap of honour?

Not likely.

The Lightning Bolt was less than electrifying on his first appearance of the season in Europe last Friday night, having to dig deep to get past Kim Collins to salvage victory in the 100m at the Golden Spike meeting at Ostrava in the Czech Republic. It was his slowest time outside of heats and semifinals. Last night, when the gun fired, the world's fastest man did not get off to the best of starts but he made up for it big time.

Bolt trailed his Jamaican compatriot Asafa Powell by a quarter of a stride but he was level by halfway and he proceeded to surge decisively clear.

From the worst of his 100m times six days previously, he catapulted to his best of times for three years.

Bolt crossed the line in 9.76sec, with Powell a distant second in 9.91sec and Christophe Lemaitre third in 10.04sec. It was the Jamaican phenomenon's joint-fastest time since he clocked his world record 9.58sec at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009. He also clocked 9.76sec in Brussels at the end of last season.

The 25-year-old has gone quicker on only three occasions, all of them world record performances. It was an emphatic statement two months out from the London Olympics. Anyone suspecting that Usain might have shot his bolt will have to think again. "I came out here not to prove anything to the world but to tell myself that I've still got it and I'm working my way from here," Bolt said. "I knew I could do it but since I've been in Europe I've not been sleeping

Usain Bolt set the world record in the 100 meters with a time of 9.58 in Germany in 2009.

regularly, so after Ostrava I decided that I would make sure I started going to bed early. I felt extremely well, extremely great tonight, so it's

coming back."

If Bolt was feeling on top of the world, having also broken the meeting record (which stood at 9.77sec to Tyson Gay of the US), so was Robbie Grabarz. The former Cambridgeshire county hockey player showed a glimpse of world high jumping class in the indoor season with a clearance of 2.34m at Wuppertal in Germany. Last night the 24-year-old jumped 2.33m to seal victory over a world-class field with an outdoor personal best by 5cm – and also the highest jump in the world this summer.

"I've been jumping well in training but I've been trying to keep a lid on it, which is why I've started my season late," Grabarz said.

There was also a British victory in the long jump, Greg Rutherford maintaining his early-season form with 8.32m in the final round. Sadly, there was no Roman showdown between Bershawn "Batman" Jackson and Dai "The Riddler" Greene in the 400m hurdles. Greene, the world champion from Wales, withdrew from the field because of a virus and Jackson finished second to Javier Culson of Puerto Rico.

Perri Shakes-Drayton was a non-starter in the women's 400m hurdles because of a hamstring injury while there was cause for concern from the triple jump pit, where Yamile Aldama landed awkwardly on her second attempt. The 39-year-old world indoor champion finished fourth with 14.65m but was unable to take any further attempts. She will have a scan on a damaged shoulder back in London today.

There was an encouraging 64.73m throw for third place in the javelin for Goldie Sayers and in the final event of the night Dwain Chambers ran the opening leg for a far from full strength Great Britain 4x100m relay team, who finished second to Canada.

Floyd Mayweather to trade mansion for Vegas jail cell LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather Jr. may be one of the richest prizefighters ever.

But the unbeaten five-division champion who goes by the nickname "Money" is about to trade life in a posh five-bedroom Las Vegas home for almost three months in a cell about one-third the size of a small boxing ring.

Mayweather surrendered Friday before a Las Vegas judge who sentenced him for his guilty plea to reduced domestic battery charges in a hair-pulling, arm-twisting attack in September 2010 on the mother of three of his children.

As a high-profile inmate, police say Mayweather, 35, probably will serve most of his time in a small solo cell. There is floor space for sit-ups and push-ups. But Mayweather's stint in the high-rise Clark County Detention Center is expected to limit his ability to train for another fight.

At least for the first week,

Mayweather will be segregated for his protection from the other 3,200 inmates in the downtown Las Vegas facility, police Officer Bill Cassell said this week.

Mayweather won't have a TV in his cell, and Cassell said televisions in jail dining areas probably won't carry the June 9 pay-per-view WBO welterweight fight between Mayweather rival Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand Garden arena.

Mayweather's lawyers, Karen Winckler and Richard Wright, have said they didn't plan to seek another postponement or delay.

The judge sentenced Mayweather on Dec. 22, then later allowed him to remain free long enough to fight Miguel Cotto on May 5 in Las Vegas.

Mayweather was accompanied into the ring by entertainers Justin Bieber and 50 Cent before winning the Cinco de Mayo weekend bout and a guaranteed $32 million. Cotto was

paid $8 million.

Saragosa said when she sentenced Mayweather that she was particularly troubled that he threatened and hit exgirlfriend Josie Harris while their two sons watched. The boys were 10 and 8 at the time. The older boy ran out a back door to fetch a security guard in the gated community.

However, the judge accepted the deal that had Mayweather plead guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery and no contest to two harassment charges.

Prosecutors dropped felony and misdemeanor charges that could have gotten Mayweather 34 years in prison if he had been convicted on all counts.

Mayweather's jail stay will be capped at 87 days, because the judge gave him credit for three days previously served. It could be reduced by several weeks for good behavior, Cassell said Thursday.

Mayweather also was ordered to complete a yearlong domestic violence counseling program, 100 hours of

community service and pay a $2,500 fine.

Harris and the three children now live in Southern California. Her lawyer, Charles Kelly, declined to comment Thursday.

Mayweather will be housed in a standard administrative segregation cell no larger than 7-by-12 feet, with a bunk, stainless steel toilet and sink, a steel and wood desk with a permanently bolted stool and two small vertical windows with opaque safety glass.

The cell will be a far cry from Mayweather's nearly 12,800-squarefoot, two-story mansion on a cul de sac in an exclusive guarded community several miles south of the Las Vegas Strip. Mayweather's home has two garages, five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and a swimming pool and hot tub overlooking a golf course.

Mayweather could have about an hour a day out of his cell with access to an exercise yard, Cassell said.

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WORLD SPORTS

Kevin Pietersen quits international limited-overs cricket England batsman Kevin Pietersen has announced his retirement from international limited-overs cricket.

The 31-year-old, who made his debut in 2004, played 127 one-day internationals and 36 Twenty20 internationals.

"I think it is the right time to step aside and let the next generation of players come through to gain experience for the World Cup in 2015," he said.

"I still wish to be considered for selection for England in Test cricket."

Pietersen, who was player of the tournament in England's World Twenty20 triumph in the Caribbean in 2010 with 248 runs in six matches at an average of 62, had been expected to be at the forefront of the side again during this year's competition, which takes place in Sri Lanka from 18 September to 7 October.

But it has emerged that the ECB does not allow players to pick and choose between ODI and Twenty20 formats.

Pietersen said: "For the record, were the selection criteria not in place, I would have readily played for England in the upcoming ICC World Twenty20."

Kevin Pietersen

Hugh Morris, managing director of England Cricket, said the ECB was disappointed with the timing of Pietersen's decision, coming four months before the World T20.

"As the programming and planning for ODI and T20 format cricket are very closely linked, we have a selection policy that means that any player making himself unavailable for either of the one-day formats, rules himself out of consideration for both

formats," he said.

"The selectors will now replace Kevin in both the ODI and the T20 squads.

"Kevin is a world-class player and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his efforts and we look forward to his continued contributions to the Test match side."

Andrew Strauss was the last senior player to retire from ODI cricket, although he was not part of the

Twenty20 set-up.

In an interview with BBC Sport late last year, England spinner Graeme Swann said the 50-over international format should be scrapped.

Pietersen said he had considered the "intensity of the international schedule and the increasing demands on my body, approaching 32".

South Africa-born Pietersen, who has an English mother, has been one of the most successful England batsmen of recent times since he qualified to play international cricket by serving four years in the county game.

His 4,184 one-day international runs at an average of 48.14, puts him sixth in the all-time list of England batsmen, and he heads their T20 list with 1,176 runs at 37.93, the only England player to pass four figures in the shortest form of the game.

Pietersen's relationship with the ECB, which came under scrutiny when he resigned as England captain in January 2009 following a rift with then coach Peter Moores, was tested again this month after he was fined for criticising commentator Nick Knight on Twitter.

He scored 111 not out and 130 in his final two one-day innings, against Pakistan in Dubai in February.

Mickelson joins group Dennis Rodman trying to buy Padres sentenced in family court DUBLIN, Ohio - Phil Mickelson wants to be more than just a fan of the San Diego Padres. He wants to help buy the team.

Mickelson said he has a joined one of the five groups trying to buy the team from John Moores, the Padres' majority owner for the last 18 years. Mickelson is part of the group that includes four grandchildren of former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley - Kevin and Brian O'Malley, and their cousins Peter and Tom Seidler, the chief executive of Class A Visalia Rawhide. ''I've been talking to them about being involved with them, having an opportunity to invest in the team and being part of the ownership group,'' Mickelson said. ''I think it's a very good investment opportunity. More than that, it's opportunity to be involved in the community in San Diego, with something that gives the community a sense of pride. I feel like we can make the Padres a competitive team that can contend year in and year out, and we can do something for the community. ''It's something I've loved since I was a kid.''

The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported the involvement of Mickelson, a four-time major champion who was inducted this month into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Mickelson brings the O'Malley clan a local investor and of San Diego's greatest athletes.

San Diego's biggest baseball star - another lefty - is involved in another

group trying to buy the Padres. Tony Gwynn said last week he is joining the bid led by Thomas Tull, chairman and CEO of Legendary Entertainment.

Mickelson said he was asked to get involved in an ownership bid three years ago, but didn't feel it was a good fit. ''I think the O'Malley and Seidler family is the right group,'' he said. ''They want to enhance the community tie, and that's something I've wanted to be part of, as well. The tie between the community and the team has not been as strong as it has been in the past. I think there are some things where we can increase that relationship, the emotional tie with the community and the players.''

Moores' proposed sale of the team to Jeff Moorad collapsed in March after baseball owners refused to approve Moorad as controlling owner.

Moorad headed a group that in March 2009 agreed to a gradual takeover of the Padres. At the time, the deal was estimated to be worth around $500 million.

The Padres could be worth a few hundred million more this time, in light of the Dodgers being sold for a record $2 billion and the Padres' new TV deal with Fox. Moores owns 51 percent while Moorad's group owns 49 percent.

Asked about his proposed investment, Mickelson said only that it would be ''a lot,'' and that it would be a ''significant investment opportunity.''

ORANGE, Calif. Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman was sentenced in family court Tuesday to 104 hours of community service on four counts of contempt for failing to pay child support.

Court Commissioner Barry Michaelson also placed Rodman on three years of informal probation. The sentence includes the condition that Rodman pay current child and spousal support obligations. ''My suggestion is to use your talents as a motivator, as a fine, fine athlete and as a fine person to assist others in need,'' Michaelson told the retired basketball player.

The court hearing remained under way at late morning on other issues in the case. Rodman was present.

Mary Ann Noiroux, an attorney for Rodman's ex-wife Michelle, said in an earlier interview that Rodman could also be ordered to pay more than $800,000 in back child support.

Noiroux said Rodman also faces additional contempt charges for other missed payments, and another conviction could land him in jail.

Rodman's attorney, Linnea Willis, did not return calls for comment prior to the hearing.

Rodman - known for his wild behavior and Technicolor hair as well as his rebounding skills - married in 2003. His wife filed for divorce a year later. Since then, the couple has been feuding over custody and support of their two children, ages 10 and 11.

Rodman was found guilty of the counts of contempt last year for child support owed in 2009 and 2010.

His attorney has claimed he owes far less money. Court documents filed earlier this year indicated that Rodman was ''broke.'' His tax return from 2010 shows he earned roughly $150,000, but his financial manager said he owes significant amounts in back taxes.

She also said Rodman's alcoholism has tarnished his image and made it difficult for him to obtain corporate endorsements and other work.

Rodman currently pays about $4,500 a month in child and spousal support, said Jack Kayajanian, another attorney for Michelle Rodman who is focused on recovering the payments. ''My desire is not to put Dennis Rodman in jail. My desire is to shake the tree a little bit and get money for his children,'' he said.

Rodman was a bad-boy star of the Detroit Pistons and won three NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. He also played for the Los Angeles Lakers, and lived in California's affluent Orange County before moving to Florida. He was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame last year.

Rodman dated Madonna, was married briefly to Carmen Electra, and gave loud parties that led to frequent run-ins with the law when he lived in Newport Beach.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN TURKS & CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 6TH - JANUARY 13TH, 2012 JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

JANUARY 6TH - JANUARY 13TH, 2012

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LOCAL NEWS

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Published by SUN MEDIA GROUP, Turks & Caicos Islands | Tel: 649.946.8542 | Fax: 649.941.3281

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page $1 1

VOLUME 8 No. 22

JUNE 4TH - JUNE 8TH, 2012

RUFUS IS NEW

PNP LEADER Website: www.suntci.com

Email: sun@suntci.com

Tel: 649-946-8542

Fax: 649-941-3281

www. twitter.com/suntci

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

Dr. Rufus Ewing became the new leader of the Progressive National Party (PNP) on Saturday June 2nd, defeating Queen’s Counsel Carlos Simons by six votes in what was one of the most keenly contested races in the party’s history.

The 44-year-old surgeon got 52 votes while 46 votes went to the 57-year-old Simons, who suffered his second loss in as many contests for PNP leadership, having been defeated by lawyer and former Speaker of the House of Assembly Clayton Greene at the party’s convention in August 2010.

An emotional Dr. Ewing told the media that while he was confident of victory, he was also mindful that Simons was a formidable opponent.

“I was confident, but I know lots of things could happen. You can only be as confident as much as you believe people will tell you that they would vote for you. But I know sometimes things are not always what they seem, so I had to keep that in the back of my head. One can’t ever be overconfident,” said Ewing.

Scores of PNP supporters turned out for the twoday convention which included a banquet at Occasions Ballroom at Airport Hotel, Providenciales, on Friday night, followed by a prayer-breakfast at the same location on Saturday morning and then voting at the party’s headquarters.

Ewing said he intends to hit the ground running as soon as he assembled his executive team, including naming his deputy later this week. He hinted that he would not make similar mistake as his immediate predecessor, Clayton Greene, who had to recant his decision of naming Albray Butterfield Jr., as his deputy, shortly after winning the party leadership two years ago.

“I would be tackling a number of things such as elections, the CFO Bill, the issues that deal with the VAT – those are some of the issues that people are looking for the leader to address, so we have to address them right now. We would be formulating the PNP’s position on those issues, and then we throw it across to our brothers and sisters in the PDM (People’s Democratic Movement), for them to join with us,” Ewing added.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Dr. Rufus Ewing with his wife Dr. Dawn Perry and his father, Hon. Hilly Ewing, former Deputy Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands

MARIO HOFFMANN LOSSES APPEAL AT PRIVY COUNCIL

TCI RESIDENTS MUST PAY MORE TO CALL JAMAICA STORY ON PAGE 9

STORY ON PAGE 5

BILLIONS IN GOLD BURIED IN HAITI STORY ON PAGE 33

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TURKS AND AND CAICOS CAICOS SUN SUN TURKS

LOCAL NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 4TH-JUNE 8TH, 8TH, 2012 2012 JUNE

Rufus Ewing is new PNP Leader ...Cont’d

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The former head of the Civil Service Association also noted also that he would also have to undertake immediate house-cleaning matters, such as reenergizing the base of the party and rally the wider Turks and Caicos to buy into the message that the PNP would be selling, so that the party would be successful at the polls tentatively set for this for this year, as announced by the United Kingdom Interim Administration.

“The immediate hurdles would be to deal with the party first and foremost. There are a number of issues, even surrounding this PNP building. We have to deal with party organization and party organizational structure, and energizing people across the Turks and Caicos, to get them back in the fold of the party.

There are a lot of persons who feel disconnected from the party, and so one of the hurdles is to get them back in, because a party is only as strong as those who support it. And so, organizing the party would be one of my goals this month,” Ewing asserted.

In the meantime, the new PNP Leader said that he would ensure that Simons plays a key role within the party as it revs up its election campaign machinery, emphasizing that his former party opponent still has a great role to play in the political entity.

“I wish him well, I he has a lot to contribute to this party, and I am going to make sure that, as an icon of this party, he assist us in winning the next general election,” Ewing said.

Simons, who was momentarily lost for words, said he was confident that Ewing would do a good job, and pledged his support for the party going forward.

Meantime, former director of the National Insurance Board (NIB) Trevor Cooke was voted as the PNP’s new National Chairman and PeterGaye Blake his deputy. Gordon Burton was returned as treasurer; Stanley ‘Boysie’ Taylor is the new Party Whip; while Justin Missick was voted the new Director of Public Relations.

Ewing, who is married to Guyanaborn Dr. Dawn Perry with whom he has a 16-year-old son, Stuart, was educated in Turks and Caicos Islands, Barbados, Jamaica and England.

A Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS), Dr. Ewing is the son of former Deputy Chief Minister Hon. Hilly Ewing and his wife Jane.

He is the brother-in-law of former Premier Galmo “Gilley” Williams, who is married to Ewing’s sister Althea. Dr. Ewing’s niece Deserie is married to former PNP Cabinet Minister McAllister “Piper” Hanchell.

According to his website, after the suspension of the TCI constitution and the imposition of direct rule from Britain, Dr. Ewing became frustrated by the policy direction of the Interim Administration and the manner in which policies and laws were being introduced and enacted, these policies having a significant negative impact on the lives of citizens in general and Civil Servants in particular.

Dr. Ewing considered resignation from the service in late 2010 but

decided to stay in the Service to help fight against the policies that he considered detrimental to the welfare of citizens and Civil Servants and to protect the rights of Civil Servants. In November of 2010 Dr. Ewing and a few Civil Servants formed a working group to revitalize the dormant Civil Service Association (CSA). This came to pass on January 6, 2011 with the election of the CSA’s management Council with Dr. Ewing as President.

The CSA under the Leadership of Dr. Ewing had ongoing negotiations and dialogue with the Interim Administration to prevent the implementation of policies which they thought were not in the best interest of Civil Servants and the country. The Administration’s failure to address fairly the issues of salaries, allowances, pensions and gratuities and redundancy

of Civil Servants lead the CSA to industrial action on many occasions and improvement of some benefits in the interest of Civil Servants.

In August of 2011, Dr. Ewing, frustrated by the actions of the Interim Administration led a one man demonstration against the Governor and his Advisory Council demanding their resignation and the imposition of a democratically elected government.

Just prior to this action Dr. Ewing submitted his letter of resignation to the Ministry of Health with an effective date of March 30, 2012. This gave him greater comfort and freedom to speak out against the injustices of the Interim Administration. Dr. Ewing continued his work with the CSA defending the rights of Civil Servants until his resignation from the Civil Service on March 30, 2012.

Beaches Turks and Caicos ordered to close for one week The world-famous Beaches Resort Villages and Spa on the island of Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands, has been ordered by health authorities to close and not take any new guests until June 9th because of the mystery virus that has plagued more than a dozen hotels in this high-end Caribbean tourist destination.

The temporary closure was ordered today Saturday June 2nd, following a number of high-level meetings between Beaches officials and a Government delegation and after it was reported that close to 60 guests at the hotel were affected by severe diarrhea and vomiting in recent weeks.

This action came at a time when Beaches was at full occupancy, with an estimated 2,500 guests, who are now either being transferred to other hotels in Providenciales or reimbursed for their vacation and going back to their countries of origin.

A statement from Beaches confirmed that the resort “experienced a very small number of cases” of persons affected by the illness.

The statement added: “We now have a fewer number of people affected by the illness. We continue to monitor the situation very closely and are working with the resorts and country’s healthcare professionals to ensure that health and safety practices are followed. Like other resorts on the island, Beaches Turks and Caicos has agreed to follow a recommendation by the TCI Ministry of Health not to accept NEW guests at the resort until Saturday, June 9, 2012 in order to undertake precautionary cleaning programs and break the 14-hour incubation of the illness.We advise guests booked to stay at Beaches Turks and Caicos over the next seven days to contact their travel agent or call 1-800-BEACHES (232-2437) as soon as possible in order to revise their booking. We apologize unreservedly for any inconvenience that this may cause and extend our thanks for your patience and understanding. We would also like to thank the TCI Ministry of Health for their cooperation."

Beaches Turks and Caicos is the

largest resort in the Turks and Caicos Islands, currently boasting 633 rooms and suites that are spread among the Caribbean Village, the French Village and the Italian Village. It has 16 restaurants and 12 bars and boasts one of the largest waterparks in the Caribbean. It is also the largest private sector employer in the country, with a staff of around 1250.

Last week, another high-end Turks and Caicos hotel, Grace Bay Club, whose guests have included Rihanna, Al Gore, Denzil Washington, Stevie Wonder, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, temporarily suspended new reservations after there were reports of diarrhea and vomiting among its guests. Operations there are now back to normal.

Meantime, the Ministry of Health and Education (MOHE) and Environmental Health Department (EHD) revealed that laboratory tests for ten individuals conducted at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) Reference Laboratory were confirmed as Norovirus and that investigations are ongoing.

A Government press release Saturday said Dr. Lisa Indar, Foodborne Diseases Manager at CAREC and Ms. Leslie Edwards, an Epidemiologist also from CAREC have arrived in Turks and Caicos Islands to help unravel the mystery virus which caused more than 150 persons to seek medical attention for gastroenteritis over the past six weeks.

Additional assistance is due to arrive shortly from PAHO in the form of two Environmental Health Officers with extensive experience working with the hotel industry, the statement added.

Norovirus is a highly contagious viral illness, which is common in outbreaks of gastroenteritis (diarrhea and vomiting) throughout the world. It can be rapidly transmitted from person to person, through contact with vomitus or feces of infected individuals, contaminated food or water, soiled surfaces, bed linens, and gym equipment. Other than supportive therapy, it usually requires little by way of medical interventions and usually resolves without incident.

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Mario Hoffmann loses appeal at the Privy Council

Salt Cay developer Mario Hoffmann recently lost his appeal before the Privy Council in London in which he had challenged certain aspects of the Sir Robin Auld Commission of Inquiry Report into corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Hoffmann had claimed, among other things, that Sir Robin’s findings, and the findings of fact that related to them, fell outside the Commissioner’s terms of reference. However, the Privy Council rejected the arguments advanced on behalf of Mr Hoffmann in respect of the procedural fairness of the inquiry and dismissed his appeal.

The matter was heard by Lord Phillips, Lord Brown, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr and Lord Dyson.

Hoffman was represented by Lord Pannick QC, Javan Herberg, QC and Naina Patel, while the Crown was represented by Phillip Havers QC and Howard Stevens, QC. Hoffmann is a wealthy Slovakian businessman.

He is, indirectly, the owner of over 90% of Postova Banka, a regulated Slovakian retail bank, and is the Chairman of its supervisory board of directors.

Since 1997 he has been a frequent visitor to TCI, having built a house there and spending 2 to 3 months there every year. Since 2000 he has been pursuing a project to develop, through a company called DEVCO, the island Salt Cay. To that end he has steadily acquired land on this island from the Government of TCI. Another Slovakian bank, J & T Banka, is a partner in this project. An important part of the project is the creation of a golf course.

The TCI Government, under the leadership of its premier, the Hon Michael Misick, granted to DEVCO the land on which the golf course was to be built, on a 99 year lease at a “peppercorn” rent. In August 2006 Salt Cay Golf Club was incorporated as the company that would own and run the golf club. 50% of the shares in this company were held

by Mr Hoffmann’s Cyprus based holding company.

The other 50% were given to a holding company of which Mr Chal Misick, a brother of the Premier, was the owner. In the following year, 2007, the Hon Michael Misick successfully applied to J & T Banka for a loan, made to himself and his wife, of US$ 6 million. Mr Chal Misick provided, and J & T Banka accepted, his 50% shareholding in Salt Cay Golf Club as security for this loan.

The Privy Council noted that findings made by the Commissioner in relation to the implications of these transactions formed the principal subject matter of Mr Hoffmann’s complaint. In particular objection is taken to the Commissioner’s rejection of Mr Hoffmann’s assertion that the land that was to be transformed into a golf course had no intrinsic value and the reasons given by Mr Hoffmann for taking Mr Chal Misick as a partner.

The Privy Council judges said that the Chief Justice rather than the Court of Appeal reached the correct conclusion as to the point at which the Commissioner and his staff must first have become aware of the significance of the part that Mr Hoffmann played in the story.

They stated: “The Commissioner focussed on Salt Cay as early as September 2008.

Furthermore the terms in which the Hon Michael Misick was examined by counsel to the inquiry on 15 January 2009 show that the latter was very well briefed about Mr Hoffmann and the role that he had played in respect of the Salt Cay development.

With hindsight, it would have been better and

Salt Cay developer Mario Hoffmann

fairer if the Commissioner had notified Mr Hoffmann, before the start of the oral hearing in TCI, that his conduct was a subject of the inquiry and that he was entitled to be represented at its hearings. (We) can, however, understand how it came about that he was not.”

The Privy Council ruling which was deliverd on May 23, 2012, stated: “It seems clear that the Commissioner and his staff focussed initially on attempting to obtain information from the members of the House of Assembly and the Cabinet Secretary, the Permanent Secretaries and under Secretaries.

The stated intention was that the Commissioner would then decide upon those whose conduct was the subject of the inquiry or who were implicated or concerned in its subject matter and afford them the opportunity to testify.

This plan was derailed by the obduracy of members of the Assembly in attempting to bring the inquiry to a halt by judicial review and in failing to respond to the Commissioner’s invitation to provide relevant evidence. This forced him to group the proposed oral hearings into stages. The first stage, unusually, involved calling those whose conduct formed the express subject matter of the inquiry, the members of the House of Assembly suspected of corruption.

The reason for this, as the Commissioner explained in his Report was that these oral hearings were necessary “in the main to secure full disclosure of interests from Ministers and other Members of the House of Assembly”.”

“It seems to (us) that, perhaps understandably having regard to the pressure that he was under and the difficulties that he was experiencing, the Commissioner had not at this stage turned his attention to the question of whether any developers fell within the scope of section 7(1) of the Ordinance.

It was only when Mr Hoffmann’s letter was read to the inquiry that the Commissioner, belatedly, appreciated that justice required that he should be afforded the opportunity to give oral evidence to the inquiry.

Is the fact that Mr Hoffmann was denied the

opportunity to take part in the first stage of the oral hearings a procedural shortcoming that should have led the Chief Justice to order that any adverse findings in relation to him should be removed from the Report, and that should lead the Board to make a declaration that he has been unfairly treated?

(We) think not. The findings that it has just made will stand as part of the record, but the Board agrees with the Chief Justice that overall Mr Hoffmann was fairly treated.”

The Privy Council Lords said they did not consider that, if Mr Hoffmann had been represented at the hearing of the evidence given in the first stage of the oral hearings, intervention by the lawyer representing him would have been likely to alter the overall import of the evidence given at that stage.

“Before the Court of Appeal his counsel gave examples of the questions that might have been posed to witnesses. They would have been largely designed to obtain confirmation of the evidence that he was subsequently to give in his statements. As the Court of Appeal observed, it is hard to see how this would have added much to the examination of the main protagonists already conducted by their own counsel.

The critical question is whether the Commissioner afforded, by his letter of 20 January, a fair opportunity for Mr Hoffmann to give oral evidence to the inquiry. The Board agrees with both the courts below that he did. Mr Hoffmann had, on his own evidence, spent about three months in TCI after the Commission of Inquiry had been set up. His letter of 12 January made it clear that he was aware of the allegations that his participation in the Salt Cay project involved corruption. Had he wished to give oral evidence the Board would have expected him to do his utmost to take advantage of the request to do so made in the letter of 20 January. He himself has given no explanation of why he did not do so,” the judges added.

“He has given no explanation for the delay between 20 January, when the letter was sent to him and 26 January, when Mr Katan responded on his behalf. Mr Katan’s explanation of the delay was that Mr Hoffmann’s schedule was planned well in advance and that it was not always possible to gain instructions from him immediately. That does not explain why Mr Hoffmann could not have corresponded more expeditiously with his lawyer, had he wished to do so, nor indeed does it state that he did not do so.

The reason given to explain Mr Hoffmann’s failure to comply with the request to give oral evidence was that “owing to pre-existing commitments it would be extremely difficult for him to attend before the Commission within the timetable provided”.

Without any evidence from Mr Hoffmann of the overriding nature of those commitments the Board agrees with the Court of Appeal that the proper conclusion on the evidence is that Mr Hoffmann effectively declined what was, on 20 January, a reasonable opportunity to give oral evidence at some point in the following two weeks.

Thereafter the Commissioner did all that fairness required by admitting lengthy written evidence from Mr Hoffmann, coupled with submissions from his lawyer both before and after the issue of a Salmon letter.”

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Where are businesses in Caribbean business?

BY SIR RONALD SANDERS

The countries of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), with the exception of Guyana and Suriname, are each experiencing severe decline in their economies. The small Leeward and Windward Islands are worst affected, and so too is Barbados.

Governments are struggling to find ways in which to spur economic activity that could produce growth. Meanwhile, unemployment and poverty are growing. Unemployment is highest amongst the youth, making for an alarming situation.

Presenting a lecture to students of the University of the West Indies recently, I received the greatest applause and nods of approval, when I lamented the fact that there were now many graduates of the University who were unable to find jobs that correspond to their level of qualifications, if they could find any jobs at all.

Many Caribbean countries are like pressure cookers, waiting to explode. Only migration and remittances from family abroad are easing the pressure. But, even these valves are not sufficient to relieve discontent completely.

In many cases, this has led to borrowing from local statutory bodies, such as national insurance and social security schemes, to fund capital projects and even to pay wages and salaries. Governments have also borrowed from local banks causing them to carry the greatest risk if there is a default.

A few governments have also borrowed from the Government of the Peoples Republic of China and while many of these loan agreements have not been made public but are said to be concessionary, they have added to the burden of national debt and will have to repaid in the future. Where is the Caribbean business community in all this?

They appear not to be involved at all. Indeed, in some CARICOM countries, the only involvement of the business community in the present difficulties is that some of them are seeking greater concessions from governments.

The recent Landell Mills report to CARICOM

Heads of Government on the restructuring of the CARICOM Secretariat points out that the regional private sector is “fragmented and divided” and many “key private sector players do not even bother to get involved”.

This situation is not good for the region or for the private sector. It is not governments that trade; it is businesses. Therefore, the business community throughout the region should have a keen interest in the meetings of CARICOM trade ministers and meetings of heads of government. The decisions they reach have a major impact on business and on the capacity of businesses to contribute to economic growth and development.

Yet, there are no regular and structured meetings between Caribbean governments and the Caribbean private sector. In other words, governments reach decisions with little or no input from the private sector which they all proclaim is “the engine of growth”.

It is telling that the member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union Commission regularly consult the private sector of their countries recognizing fully that the rules to which they agree, or set, are meant to facilitate businesses on which their economies depend for growth, employment and prosperity.

The Landell Mills report states what should be obvious to all: “The private sector’s views on what works and what does not and on where priorities lie would be invaluable”. For some reason, it does not appear obvious to many CARICOM governments.

They treat the private sector with suspicion.

Only Barbados has a system of structured consultations with the private sector in joint meetings with trade unions, but even these meetings are not attended by the “key private sector players”.

As the report says, the officials who attend these meetings “are often not business people themselves”.

The latter point suggests that serious business people see little point in engaging governments which fail to act on the proposals they put forward.

The report recommends “regular small and

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The Turks and Caicos SUN is a subsidiary of The SUN Media Group Ltd. We are committed to excellence in journalism, educating and informing our readers, serving and satisfying our advertisers and assisting in the overall development of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

informal meetings, possibly over dinner. In our experience an informal arrangement is the best way of building up relationships and getting busy executives to open up on a freewheeling basis”.

There is merit in this idea provided it is done in an open and transparent manner. If not, it will lead to allegations of favouritism, discrimination and marginalisation from others who are not invited.

There should be no guessing about who is coming to dinner.

The report also dismisses the notion of structured meetings, including a Council of representatives of governments and the private sector. But such a Council is necessary and it would be well attended if it comprised Heads of Government and leading business figures from across the region. Both groups would want to be sure they are dealing with persons who can make and implement decisions.

Of course, businessmen will cease to attend meetings, whether it be small working dinners or a council, as soon as they get the first inkling that nothing is done as a result of the discussions.

How to achieve a higher level of confidence between governments and the private sector is a challenge. Each group needs the other if the economies in which they operate – and indeed the Caribbean Single Market – are to be advanced so as to create jobs, reduce poverty and to grow.

In 2009, as head of the Jamaican-based company, Grace Kennedy, Douglas Orane, told a regional private sector body: “The CARICOM region needs to go through a process of self transformation”. The vibrant Jamaican private sector is well placed to propose a basic plan for the regional business community’s involvement in, and contribution to, the region’s economic progress. With the help of the new Jamaica government, such a plan could be a basis for wider regional discussion, refinement and adoption at the regional level.

Businesses cannot be left out of business. *Sir Ronald Sanders is a business executive and former Caribbean diplomat who publishes widely on Small States in the global community.

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LOCAL NEWS

Police investigate internet robbery at major bank

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

The Financial Crimes Unit is investigation a case of cyber crime at one of the major banks in the Turks and Caicos Islands, after it was alleged that hackers gained access to an account and removed a substantial sum.

While this practice appeared not to be widespread, it has created some jitters within the banking sector, forcing some institutions to revisit their firewall internet banking system, since some believed that it could become a trend if not tackled in its early stages.

Up to press time, the police had not indicated a breakthrough or resolution in the matter. A spokesman for the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands

Police Financial Crimes Unit, said: "We can confirm that we have received a report from a banking institution that is currently being investigated by officers from the RTCI Police Financial Crimes Unit. However, the investigation is in its infancy and therefore we cannot discuss the particulars of this case, including the victims, at this stage."

The SUN also contacted President of the Bankers Association, Tony Faessler, on the matter, who said that he was also in contact with the police to fully learn of the incident, but up to press time, did not get a definitive statement as to their progress of investigation.

“I checked with all my other colleagues in the (Banker’s) Association, and asked if anybody had any issues, and then I contacted the

police, because one colleague did seem to have something, I don’t know what it was. He didn’t get into it. All he told me was that they had one particular issue, and that they had liaised with the police, and that it seemed to be settled,” Faessler said.

In the meantime, Faessler, who is associated with the Turks and Caicos Company Ltd., is warning banking institutions and clients to exercise all the care in the world in the wake of increasing technology which allows for accounts to be accessed from a phone or a computer.

“You read the media worldwide and you read about things like that (cyber crimes) around the world.

Hackers hacked into the Pentagon, they hacked into Microsoft, and hackers can hack in anywhere. There is no fail-safe system in the world,” he warned.

However, the Bankers Association Head believed that the financial institution system in the Turks and Caicos Islands is one of the most secured in the world as it relates to cyber attack, which is the reason there is negligible reporting of such incident.

“I have been living in the Turks and Caicos for some 32 years, and I have not come across any major cyber attacks whereby accounts (hacking) or identity theft happening on a large scale; really, for this whole time I have never seen that, so I believe our banks down here have pretty good firewalls; I think they are probably very well protected.

“Here (Turks and Caicos Banking Company Ltd. - a very small private bank - we have an excellent and fantastic firewall. Our accounting system is separated from our internet as a safety precaution, so nobody can hack it. And a certain time, whether day or night, we transfer data, so we are not really exposed at any given time (to cyber crime). But everybody might be different. Of course, you have other banks with online banking systems,” Faessler pointed out.

ree acres of Crown Land Police source said 186 applied on Grand Turk dedicated for National Memorial Park for severance package

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

A police source is refuting a recent statement by the police hierarchy that only 26 individuals from the police force applied for the Voluntary Severance Package, rather saying that the correct figure was 186.

Of the 186 persons who applied, the source said, 95 percent comprised police officers, while the remainder consisted of civilian staff which included all of the police records staff, as well as all of the civilian staff in headquarters in both Grand Turk and Providenciales.

Among those that were granted severance packages were Superintendent Ralph Doughty, Inspector Simon Talbot of the Marine Branch, Inspector Bennett Spring, Sergeant Terrence Thomas, Sergeant Rohan Ash, Constable Noel Thomas and Constable Damian Windsor.

Civilians Juanita skippings and Jean Been were also successful in their severance application bid.

The Voluntary Severance Scheme was introduced by Government in the bottom half of last year, as a vehicle that the Interim Administration said was not only to chop the sector to a manageable number but also to cut cost and made the sector more relevant to the needs of the public.

Approximately 700 persons from various sectors applied and about 400 were successful. At a press conference in Providenciales earlier this year, Head of the Civil Service, Patrick Boyle explained that not all who applied for the package would get it, since the Civil Service could not afford to get rid of the useful talent among its ranks.

He said also that some persons would be too expensive to get rid of, owing to the consideration that Government was operating under budget constraints.

The JAGS McCartney Memorial was built in 1980 by the People’s Democratic Party (PDM) on property leased from the Crown for the development of their Party Headquarters. Its location on Airport Road, made it visible to both residents and visitors to Grand Turk.

However, today, JAGS memorial has become less visible as a result of the airport being relocated.

Recognising the significance of the site, the expiration of the lease presented the opportunity for TCIG to support this valid initiative by mutating the property leased to the PDM Party in order to establish the JAGS McCartney Memorial site as a separate national institution and further, expanding it to create a National Memorial Park.

The 3-acre JAGS McCartney National Memorial Park will be a public space to remember and honour the courage and sacrifice of our war veterans and future national heroes. In approving the instrument for mutation, H.E. The Governor, Ric Todd expressed delight in this initiative and commented, “The expansion of the memorial site will not only improve the setting and capacity of the site but also strengthen the heritage value of the area”.

During discussions with the Government last year, Doug Parnell, then leader of the PDM, expressed full support of the Government’s proposal to expand the JAGS McCartney Memorial site to create a National Memorial Park. The Party also offered to enter into a Management Agreement with TCIG to assist with the maintenance and upkeep of the Park and to develop it into a national cultural centre of attraction and significance. Mr. Parnell noted, "As former Party Leader, the task had fallen on me to renegotiate the terms of our Party's existing lease over the property held in Grand Turk – the property which housed the remains of the late great, JAGS McCartney. I am delighted that we as a Party have come to such a historic settlement with the Turks and Caicos Islands Government. He belongs to all the peoples of these Islands and the establishment of the National Memorial Park signifies that we ALL recognizes him as a National Hero.”

CALL 946-8542 FOR MORE INFORMATION

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Slash in statutory boards coming

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

A number of statutory bodies are expected to become casualties under the Public Sector Reform Programme if they are ruled irrelevant to their intended purposes.

It is also ruled that some of these boards were weighing heavily on the public purse, while not delivering.

At news briefing at the National Environment Centre on Tuesday, May 29, to announce the launch of the programme, Chief Executive Officer for the Civil Service, Patrick Boyle, explained that while there will be amalgamations of some of the boards, certain abolitions are on the cards for others.

He said that the approximately 37 statutory bodies that currently existed were far too many, while explaining that the cutting of the ministries from nine to five would warrant the extinction of those bodies.

Boyle hinted also that some boards were abetting tardiness within the system, since they were facilitating payment for work which was not done.

“There will definitely be less statutory bodies (after the restructuring of the civil service). I said to you (media) before that statutory bodies cost too much. Too many people who sit on boards of statutory bodies just turn up to collect their stipend and actually do very little on the boards of these bodies. Many of the 35, 37 statutory bodies are not organizations of lots of people.There are statutory advisory boards that are here to advise government.

“And if you look at the previous ministry structure you would have had a number of these boards serving each ministry. Now that we are bringing the ministries together, it is entirely appropriate that we review what we are doing. Some of these boards, we will get rid of them in their entirety,” Boyle asserted.

He emphasized that under the restructuring programme, government would ensure that the core focus of these entities was to effectively serve the interest of the public, which he said was the main objective of government.

“We need to also make sure that

statutory bodies exist to meet the government objectives. There are too many statutory bodies that just exist for themselves. Government will be setting out very clearly, for statutory bodies what their objectives are and what government’s expectations are of those statutory bodies, in order that we can start to create an effective partnership between Government and the statutory bodies to deliver what the public wants.

That is what we are here for, so it will be a huge piece of work. To do that, we need to make sure that those people who are appointed to public bodies in the future are appointed for their skills, their experience and their expertise that they bring to government. This is so important not because they happen to know someone who is on the board, but it is really important that we get people that can deliver on these boards,” Boyles said.

He noted however, that before government began to swing the hatchet

at these boards, proper dialogues, assessments and deliberations would take place with individual bodies, so as to arrive at a sound overall decision.

“We have been asking the question – what do these statutory bodies do? Is it something that government could do or should do by itself? And do we really need some of these statutory bodies at all? So you would see less of them, and we have started dialogue with each of the individual statutory bodies.

“We need to have proper discussion with the statutory bodies so that they hear it from government, and they are engaged in proper dialogue with government before we put it in the media,” Boyle emphasized.

The Civil Chief Executive was accompanied by Susan Malcolm, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Home Affairs and Wesley Clerveaux, Permanent Secretary for Government Support Services.

Melanie Smith graduates with honors Melanie Smith, a recent graduate from Keiser University in Fort Lauderdale Florida and a Citizen of the Turks and Caicos Islands captured the hearts of her close friends and family members when she was nominated to be Valedictorian.

However, even though the decision was a hard choice for her colleagues at the University, she still managed to capture Salutatorian.

Ms. Smith graduated with honors as a Sigma Beta Kappa Honor’s member, Magna Cum-Laude and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, with concentrations in Human Resource Management and Finance.

She has made her parents Mrs. Rosita Elaine Smith of the Providenciales Treasury and Aulden Smith, owner of Smokey’s on the Beach very proud parents.

Ms. Smith says, “even though the road was a long and rocky one with many long nights and stressful days, there was always Melanie Smith the inspiration of her grandmother Mrs. Marjorie Basden of the Marjorie Basden High School, who encouraged her to always aim high and put God first. Although she was chosen as Salutatorian she is proud and feels satisfied of her achievements. She would like to give many thanks to the Ministry of Health and Education for their support and thinks on their behalf she has performed exceptionally well.”

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TCI residents must pay more to call Jamaica

By Vivian Tyson Senior Sun Editor

Local telecoms providers could see their profit margins from calls terminating in Jamaica drastically slashed after that country’s government has decided to impose taxation on calls to its shore.

The measure was proposed by that island’s finance minister Peter Phillips during his presentation of the country’s estimates of expenditure for 2012/2013 earlier this week.

Under the new tax measure, international calls terminating in Jamaican would attract a cess of 9.5 cents. The telecoms provider from which the calls originate would be responsible for collecting the tax from its customers and then dispatch the sum to the telecoms company in Jamaica, who in term would pass it on to the government.

However, whether or not the terminating provider collects the funds, it would be mandated to turn over the tax percentage from the number of calls made over a particular period to government.

While there has been no official word from LIME Jamaica on the matter, its competitor, Digicel, has come out swinging against the proposed measure, labeling the

move as a retrograde step, and further arguing that its very concept was counter growth.

The opposition Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) has also lashed the government for conceptualizing such a cess, and warned that the telecoms companies in that country could be left holding the bag, since there was no guarantee that international providers would sign on to such as tax measure.

The opposition also warned that it could damper diplomatic relations between Jamaican and the United States, from that country said it received 80 percent of its international calls.

When contacted, E. Jay Saunders, General Manager for Digicel TCI, said the new tax measures would cut into his company’s profit margin, especially as it relates to prepaid customers. According to Saunders, a prepaid customer who normally tops $20 on a regular basis, would be more than likely still be topping up the same figure even after the tax measure becomes law. He said that, whereas in the past Digicel would pocket the whole $20, it would now have to share it with the Jamaican government courtesy of the levy, thereby

leaving the company with a reduced profit margin.

He said too, that whereas $20 could hypothetically buys the customers 1,000 minutes, under the new tax system it would now only be able to fetch 600 minutes, since Digicel would collect from that figure to pass on to the Jamaican government.

He said that international telecoms provider who failed to comply could run the risk of being blocked by their terminating counterparts, since it would be unfair for them to be paying government its required margin while not collecting the equivalent from the provider that the calls originated.

Saunders explained that Haiti was the first country to impose a levy on incoming calls, after being okayed by the US government following the devastating Hurricane in 2010.

He said prior to that, the government attempted to raise funds from the millions of Haitians abroad who called home ever so often, but providers in the US opposed the move.

The local Digicel boss predicted that the new development could trigger countries with large diasporas to adopt the principle, having discovered that it could become a cash cow for its budget.

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Government to transfer $18million to NHIB this year Government again this year will funnel additional funds than the originally yearly agreed sum to the National Health Insurance Board (NHIB) albeit a lower figure than last year, since that body remained in a state of chronic insolvency.

Last year Government expended $2million per month to the NHIB, but this year, it intends to channel $1.5 each

month to that body to cushion its apparent cash flow freefall.

Under the original agreement, Government is obligated to contribute $1million per month to the National Health Insurance Board to cover costs that cannot be met from its member’s contributions, such as treatment abroad as well as contributions for wards of the state.

TRAFFIC COURT DAY The curiosity of a number of motorists and pedestrians passing the Magistrate’s Court along Old Airport Road in Providenciales on Thursday, May 31, got the better of them, when they saw an unusually large crowd gathered in the court yard. Some believed it was a high-profile case that attracted a large gathering. When The SUN turned up on the scene, we were told that it was actually traffic court day for a number of persons who had outstanding traffic tickets, persons contesting the issuance of police tickets, those who were involved in accidents and also traffic insurance matters. In photo, a number of persons mill outside the courthouse after being unable to be accommodated inside the building.

The Master’s Academy Is looking for persons to fill the following positions: (2) IT teachers with knowledge in QuickBooks (3) Pre-school teachers with diploma (5 years experience) (1) Part-time music teacher Please call: 241-2975 or 431-2975 or Email. themastersacademy@ymail.com to schedule an interview

GARDENER NEEDED

For a private home in Providenciales.

A hardworking person needed to work six days a week .

Must likes animals. Must speak English. Must be Fit and able.

Wages $5.00 a hour Belongers Apply.

If you fit the above qualifications please send your resume to the following address: PO Box 560, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands.

But during the 2011/2012 fiscal year, Government said that the NHIB experienced cash flow problems, forcing the Interim Administration to bridge the shortfall by fully covering its Clinical Service payment of $2million per month to Inter Health Canada, which runs the two hospitals – the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre in Providenciales and the Cockburn Town Medical Centre in the capital Grand Turk.

Government said that the gesture was done as a temporary measure, while allowing the NHIB to work on increasing its contribution rate and to build up sufficient cash reserves to cover these costs going forward.

However, it emphasized that that it would appear that the board would still not be in a position to resume full responsibility for the costs for this fiscal year, and so the Interim Administration would have to move in and fill the breach once again.

“Therefore, TCIG has agreed to transfer $1.5million per month this year to the NHIB in 2012/2013 to assist with these and other costs. This increases the budget from the normal transfer of $12.0m to $18.0m instead, but still well below the total transferred last year,” the budget statement said.

In addition to budgeting $18

million, the Interim Administration disclosed that it would also be bankrolling $5millon for ICL Reconciliation (electricity and operating expenses) and insurance costs. The Interim Administration emphasized that the costs were the responsibility of the NHIB, but at this time it was unable to absorb them in their budget at this time, hence government’s intervention.

Government said however, that it would be working closely with the NHIB so that it becomes solvent in the very near future thus easing the burden of government having to cover for it.

“In order to resolve this problem, TCIG intends to work closely with NHIB during the financial year to help to improve their financial position and also to help managing all costs in the healthcare sector more effectively,” the budget statement continued.

In the meantime, under the agreement with Inter Health Canada, the Turks and Caicos Islands Government said its primary responsibility was to cover the cost of infrastructure and equipment costs. And so, the budget included a $18.4million for hospital and provisional charges.

This, the Interim Administration said would cover the monthly unitary and equipment cost payments.

LOCAL NEWS TURKS & CAICOS SUN

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

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LOCAL NEWS

Bahamas/TCI Anglican heads hold ‘open, frank’ talk with Governor Todd

By Vivian Tyson Senior Sun Editor

concerned about what is happening, as in the Bahamas, the economic community. To say that the church is and we continue to encourage challenges, as with the entire world not doing enough is entirely unfair. It persons to show respect, support the – those are things people continue to may not be doing what John or what Open and frank, that was the administration and to work toward be concerned about. But, of course, Mary or what Suzie thinks it should hierarchy of the Anglican Diocese the development of these islands. when we deal with life, life presents be doing, but we are doing what we for the Bahamas/ Turks and Caicos In due course, I would be making a us with all kinds of things; how do are supposed to be doing,” Bishop Islands described their rendezvous statement as the Anglican Bishop. we approach the circumstances Boyd said. with Governor for the TCI His For his part, Arch Deacon of life, the attitude with which we In the meantime, Arch Deacon Excellency Ric Todd on their visit Cartwright asserted: “I would approach those circumstances is key. Cartwright reiterated that despite the to the country earlier this week. describe it (meeting) as very frank, “And so, as spiritual leaders many challenges being experienced Laish Boyd, Bishop for the straight forward and open.” we try to do all that we can to help by the Turks and Caicos Islands Anglican Diocese for the Bahamas Bishop Boyd declared that a people, not only to approach things there were many bright spots for the and the Turks and Caicos Islands and number of his parishioners in the in a positive light, but also to keep people to feel confident about their Keith Cartwright, Arch Deacon for TCI indicated that they were gravely God in the picture; develop their future. the Southern Bahamas and the TCI concerned, especially over the fact own faith, and allow their faith to “There is evidence that the country met with Governor Todd on Tuesday, that the Constitution was pulled encourage them and to strengthen is still holding its own in the tourism May 39, to discuss issues affecting and direct British rule through the them through challenges times, sector, much better than many places the TCI, but which they failed to governor instituted by Britain. He this is the important role which the in the region. And I think that augurs divulged to the media, promising stated that many had indicated to church plays as representatives of well for the sector. I think there are rather to do so at a later day. him that they yearned for democracy Jesus Christ. God is able to help us to some concerns about the inflows “As Bishop of the diocese I to be returned so that they would ride through the good times and the of foreign investment, to bring in am concerned about whatever is be able to be fully in charge of their bad,” Bishop Boyd assured. new capital into the country, but I happening in the diocese that affects affairs.

In the meantime, Bishop Boyd think that is expected in this Interim not just the Anglican flock but the “As with everywhere you go said that persons were not being fair situation where investors may not be people of the territory in general. We there is concern about the economics, when they said that they church was quite comfortable knowing that this are concerned because persons are and certainly in the Turks and Caicos, not doing enough to appease certain might only be a interim government, political and social situations in a and would rather wait to deal with a country. more substantive government.

“And I don’t think it is a fair “We recognize that we have to statement because human beings move past this stage to get to the tend to always look for solutions stage where our own people are in the outside of themselves. Human beings halls of parliament, our own people generally don’t take responsibility are making meaningful decisions on for their own circumstances, that’s behalf of the people; what the people one thing. Secondly, the church is want for their country, and we fully a presence and a stabilizing force, intend to address those issues,” Arch working towards the betterment of Deacon Cartwright asserted. the human condition in the name of Bishop Boyd is responsible for God, and challenging people to reach 21 islands in the Bahamas and four their God-given potential. in the TCI – those are the islands “We are preaching and teaching that the Anglican faith has churches all the time, as bishop, I made press or congregations. The visits by the statements on numerous visits. The Anglican hierarchy is to interact arch deacon has been working in this with the clergy, lay persons, other area for more than 30 years, so he is members of the community, and very well known, and he has been if possible, leaders as to gauge the very vocal in his utterances, and political and social climate in the also very involved in the life of the country.

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Page 12

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Government still short of key ministry personnel

By Vivian Tyson Senior Sun Editor

So far there are no takers for a number of top tier positions in government that have been created mainly through the Interim Administration’s reengineering of the civil service by government in its attempt to make the system more efficient.

Susan Malcolm, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Home Affairs, who was speaking at the launch of the next step of the Public Sector Reform Programme at the National Environment Centre conference room on Tuesday, May 29, revealed that some positions became vacant due to promotion of individuals

within the respective ministries, while others were created due to the recent Voluntary Severance Scheme.

She said that her ministry was without the services of a Director of Planning, a Deputy Director of Planning and Director for Environment and Maritime Affairs.

The Director of Planning position became vacant upon the promotion of then Acting Director Ian Astwood to Deputy Permanent Secretary, while the Director of Environment and Maritime Affairs position became open when Wesley Clerveaux was promoted to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Government Support Services.

She said that interviews were completed and the files were now with the Public Service Commission

to sign off on.

“There are a number of positions that are vacant, some are critical positions and we are actively trying to fill those positions at this moment, especially since the budget has been recently passed.

We have those positions advertised at the moment; (for some positions) we have completed the first stage of the interview process and some of these recommendations are now with the Public Service Commission.

“Some positions became vacant by severance; however, you must understand that if a position became vacant by severance we were not allowed to fill that position. We had to determine that there were other positions within that ministry that

we could do without in order to replace that person. For example, if we allowed a secretary to go, and we needed to fill that position, we had to show savings somewhere else, so it is a tradeoff, “she explained.

On March 5, during a news conference on Providenciales, Patrick Boyle, Head of the Civil Service said that government was forced to embark on another round of deputy permanent secretary selections after only six of the 61 individuals who were interviewed to fill the 14 available positions were successful.

In the meantime, both Malcolm and Boyle have refuted allegations that government was forced to rehire some of the persons that left the sector under the Voluntary Severance Scheme.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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LOCAL NEWS

Disruptive behaviors unchecked could lead to prison

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

Children who now display Disruptive Behavioral Disorders could later end up in Her Majesty’s Prison or similar institutions somewhere else if proper and urgent attention is not applied, according to Government Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Patrick Prince.

In a post presentation interview at the Oseta Jolly Primary School Annual Teachers Development Programme held at the LIME Corporate Office along the Leeward Highway on Thursday, May 24, Dr. Prince, who works out of the Ministry of Health and Education, said that Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiance Disorder and Conduct Disorder among students posed most problems for players in the education sector.

“These disorders are what usually challenge academia, our school settings and usually give teachers, the Ministry and the Department of Education the hardest challenge possible. These challenges left un-helped, left unguided, can actually turn into more societal problems, which would result in Antisocial Personality Disorder.

“And most of those persons who are challenged by Antisocial Personality Disorders will faced their future in Her Majesty’s Prison in Grand Turk or any prison anywhere in the world, because they are often times left unchecked (they can become) lawbreakers - defiance of laws, rules and regulations,” he said.

Dr. Prince emphasized that such behaviours were not limited to a particular or a few schools, but practically all the schools in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He said that he and others from that ministry intervened in a number of activities across the country each week.

“Weekly, I or have some form of intervention in these behaviours from various schools. These schools are not just government schools but they are private schools also. Name any school in the Turks and Caicos Islands; name any school in Providenciales, there is a child (that suffers

Teachers mimicking their students as they say lunchtime grace (teachers)

from one of those disorders), because as I indicated earlier, three in every 30 students would suffer from ADD, ADHD or any of the Disruptive Behavioral Disorders. In every class there is at least one or two persons. In the smallest school, you would probably have at least one in every class,” he said.

Dr. Prince pointed out that Disruptive Behavioral Disorder does not discriminate, as it affects children of every race and is no respecter or age group or gender.

“It does not necessarily mean that it is guided or targeted any specific race; it’s in any race, any age group and any gender.

However, Disruptive Behavioral Disorder, especially Conduct Disorder and Opposition Defiance Disorder – those two are usually more prominent in boys. That, in itself, can lead to antisocial behaviours in society. As a matter of fact, it starts off with not learning, being distracted, to be destructive of personal properties and destruction of other person’s property as a child – like destroying toys.

“And then, if that behavior is left unguided, those persons would start destroying vehicles, fire-setting to homes, to businesses to cars, and these are actual highlights. When a child does that under age 16, it is classified as conduct disorder.

When someone does that over age 18, it is classified as antisocial behavior, and that is

CORRECTION In last week’s edition of The SUN, a caption under a photograph on Page 22 erroneously identified Selina Wright as “Organizer Melanie Smith”.

The SUN regrets the error.

This photograph is of Melanie Smith who successfully organsied the “I Am my Mother’s Daughter” event at Occasions Ballroom, at the Airport Hotel.

where the criminality aspect comes in. it is a criminal act either way, but of course, because of our laws, there is one way to deal with children and there is one way to deal with adults.

In the meantime, Dr. Prince pointed out that Government lacked the proper resources to tackle the problem on a broad

scale.

“We do have expertise, and we do have a handful of professionals dealing with it.

But to actually attack the problem or the challenge we will need more persons per school, because as it stands, you have myself and one or two others to take care of the entire Turks and Caicos Islands.

“There is a group of persons numbered about 10 or 12 within and without government that I know of currently that is able to address this problem, and this is a population of twenty-five to thirty thousand; so that is one of the challenges that we are looking at,” Dr, Prince asserted.

Rachel Handfield, Principal for the Oseta Jolly Primary School indicated that the Annual Teachers Development Programme, which was sponsored mainly by telecoms company LIME, was aimed at equipping the teachers to more ably identify, understand and to modify behaviors of children under their care.

Other speakers were motivational speaker Edward Smith, who spoke on leadership and Winsome Fearon, Guidance Teacher at Oseta Jolly. The theme for this year was “Teaching with Passion”.

NOTICE

AmSouth Reinsurance Company, Ltd. (“in Voluntary Liquidation”) Registered No. E31340 NOTICE is hereby given, pursuant to Section 133 of the Companies Ordinance 1981, that, pursuant to a written resolution of the shareholders of AmSouth Reinsurance Company, Ltd. (“the Company”) on 15th day of March 2012 it was RESOLVED that the Company be wound-up voluntarily and that Gary Brough of KPMG Restructuring Ltd. be appointed Liquidator for the purposes of such winding up.

NOTICE is hereby given that creditors of the Company, which was located at The Village at Grace Bay, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, are required, on or before 27 July 2012, to send their names and addresses with particulars of their debts and claims, to the liquidator of the Company at the following address: Gary Brough KPMG Restructuring Ltd. KPMG Building The Village at Grace Bay Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands (F) 649 946 4619 and, if so required by notice in writing by the said liquidator are, by their Attorney’s or personally, to come in and prove their said debts or claims at such time and place as shall be specified in such notice, or in default thereof they may be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such debts are proved.

Dated the 29nd Day of May 2012 Gary Brough, Liquidator, Range Insurance Company, Ltd.

Page 14

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

BELONGERSHIPS BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MRS. JO-ANN NATALEA BEEN of Providenciales, a national of Barbados being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MRS JOSCELYNE JOSEPHLOCKHART of Providenciales, a national of Haiti, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MRS ANNETTEDOREEN HENFIELD of Providenciales, a national of Jamaica, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR. LOUIS MARY FRANCOIS of Providenciales, a national of Haiti, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR RAYMOND STORIN BUREY of Providenciales, a national of Jamaica, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR. PHENEL SAINT JEAN of Providenciales, a national of Haiti, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR. RONALD PLUVIOSE of Providenciales, a national of Haiti being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Page 15

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

LOCAL NEWS

Family Emergency Plan Development Workshops launched During the month of June 2012, the official beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, LIME Turks and Caicos and Caicos Express Airways are partnering to sponsor seven (7) Family Emergency Plan Development Workshops on six (6) islands in the Turks and Caicos, which are being facilitated by Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy.

Families and the community where they live could be affected by hazardous events at any time, hence the purpose of a Family Emergency Plan is to help persons in our communities to increase their resilience to the impact of hazard events by planning for and mitigating against the potential adverse effects of a significant emergency or hazardous event. To ensure families are aware of the hazards that could affect their community, plans should include all hazards, which can impact the community, and should be documented.

Families can cope with a disaster by preparing in advance and working

together as a team.

LIME CEO, Mr. Drexwell Seymour noted “As we approach the 2012 Hurricane Season, it is important that all residents are informed and prepared adequately not only for the Hurricane Season but throughout the entire year. We cannot take anything for granted and LIME believes that the best way forward is to ensure that all residents are fully informed. LIME is happy to partner with Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy who are well experienced in this area.”

Operations Manager of Caicos Express Airways, Mr. Stephane Menelas stated “As an airline we at Caicos Express Airways know and live by planning. In our business it is important to be ready for any emergency. We are living in the TCI where we are prone to be hit by hurricanes, and being prepared is very important. So it is our pleasure for Caicos Express Airways to be a part of this initiative to prepare the people of

Salt Cay – Grand Turk – South Caicos – Middle Caicos – North Caicos -

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Thursday 7th June 2012, 10:30am at the Salt Shed Thursday 7th June 2012, 6:00pm – Location TBD Monday 18th June 2012, 6pm at the Community Center Thursday 21st June 2012, 10:30am Conch Bar Community Center Thursday 21st June 2012, 6pm at the Adelaide Oemler Primary School Auditorium Providenciales – Saturday 30th June 2012, 10:30am and 3pm at the LIME Training Facility FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Jamell Robinson Principal Consultant Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy 649-231-3399 jamell.r.robinson@gmail.com www.learnandleaddc.com

the TCI for any emergency situation.

We are committed to the people and want to contribute to them for their support in any way possible” Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy is the premier private Disaster Management Company in the

Turks and Caicos whose motto is “Learn to Prepare to Lead in Crisis”. L and L DC specializes in: Disaster Risk Management; Business Continuity Management; Geographic Information Services and Systems; and Community Outreach and Research.

Page 16

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

SNAP Centre gets $5,000 playground

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

Students at the Marion Williams Special Needs Association of Providenciales (SNAP) Centre now have a recreational area to develop their motor and other skills, thanks to a joint venture between Scotiabank and AND construction, who partnered to erect a playground comprising slides, swings and rocktype climbing facility.

The ribbon-cutting to officially open the playground, which cost in excess of $5,000, was held on Friday, May 18, at the Centre’s Kew Town facility, and was witnessed by members of staff of Scotiabank and AND Construction.

Keno Forbes, Scotiabank’s Assistant Manager for Business Support with the Managing Director’s Office, told The SUN that the initiative with AND Construction marked a litany of benevolent support that the bank had been rendering to the institution in recent times “We partnered with AND Construction and we have donated this playground so that the kids can have somewhere to play because they did not have any facilities to play and to be a child, basically. And so, AND graciously assisted us in purchasing the playground and installing it.

Paulette Simmons (fourth from right) and one of her students (fifth from right) about to cut the ribbon to officially open the playground at the SNAP Centre in Kew Town. Chris Haggie (third from left) of AND Construction shares in the moment, so do Assistant Scotiabank Manager for Business Support, Keno Forbes (third from right), staff members of bank and students of the institution.

“AND Construction is one of the premier construction companies in the Turks and Caicos, and they have been contracted by Scotiabank to carryout construction projects on our behalf, and that was where they partnership started,” Forbes revealed.

For his part, Chris, Haggie, Operations Director for AND Construction said that his company had built up a solid relationship with

Scotiabank, having done a number of constructions for them.

“Keno Forbes and other members of Scotiabank explained to us that they got involved with SNAP, in aiding them to improve their facilities and make a better environment for the children here.

They approached us and asked us if we could possibly build a playground for the children, and we decided that the best thing was to go and purchase a

purpose-made playground from the United States.

“Our colleagues and employees over the past few months had actually gone ahead in their spare time and built this for SNAP, and we are extremely happy that we are in a position to offer them (children) extracurricular activities outside of what the guys at Scotiabank had done from inside,” Haggie said.

Paulette Simmons, a teacher at the institution, said that it was a relief knowing that the children were now able to engage in extracurricular activities, which he said, were almost non-existent before the gesture. She pointed out that the facility would allow them to further develop their physical and mental capacities.

“This was well-needed. The children now have more outdoor activities because before now, all the time they were in their classrooms. I feel good to know that this has come through; the kids are now enjoying themselves even more, as they use the swings from day to day,” Simmons said.

In the meantime, Forbes said that the prior work that Scotiabank had carried out at the SNAP Centre included the purchasing of computers, school supplies, repair work to the building, repainting of the walls and he painting of murals.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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LOCAL NEWS

Digicel TCI CEO Jay Saunders tells European telecommunications companies to follow the clouds E. Jay Saunders, CEO of Digicel TCI who just last month was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil informing Latin American and Caribbean telecommunications companies on why they are better positioned to financially benefit from their 4G investments – specifically their Long Term Evolution (LTE) investments – than North American telecommunications companies, was in Barcelona, Spain on the 23rd May at the LTE World Summit 2012.

He spoke on the topic “Business Opportunities that ‘scream’ out for LTE: How operators can utilize LTE to become relevant again”. While at the summit, E. Jay also shared the stage with Mark Harrop, (Director of Devices, Mobility and Innovation, BT Wholesale, UK) for a panel discussion on “Accelerating Broadband Access in Rural Areas”; and he participated in a TV interview for Telecoms.com (to be aired in June).

During his presentation, E. Jay pointed out that combined global revenues from Cloud services and mobile advertising was approximately US$44 billion dollars in 2011 and that total revenues from the same are expected to grow to US$121 billion dollars in 2015.

Turning to the telecommunication companies in the audience, E. Jay asked “What percentage of those revenues are you going to capture?” Currently telecommunication companies globally are not well positioned to capture any of

E. Jay Saunders, CEO of Digicel TCI

those revenues, and it would be remiss of them after having financed the huge CAPEX requirements to rollout LTE – the most advanced wireless telecommunications standard to date – which by its very design will cannibalize traditional voice and SMS revenues, to not attempt to capture some of the revenues coming from the new areas that their investments in LTE is making possible such as Cloud services, video streaming, and mobile advertising, stated E. Jay. Micaela Giuhat, vice president of product marketing at GENBAND, a company who is poised to play a major role in assisting mobile operators in meeting subscribers' future expectations for innovative, empowering and personalized services through a unique

portfolio of LTE and IMS-enabled security, control and application layer products, such as Mobile Life and Office, stated that “GENBAND considers LTE to be the catalyst of a new and dramatic advance in the evolution of the communications industry, and one of the highlights of the LTE World Summit was the presentation from Digicel's E. Jay Saunders. It was by far one of the most positive and well thought out presentations, with concrete examples on how to really take advantage of LTE. Amongst long discussions on what makes an LTE business case, E. Jay's speech was not only reaffirming that there is a business case for LTE, but also a huge upside that service providers can easily capitalize on."

Some of the other speakers at the conference were: Micaela Giuhat, Vice President Product Marketing, GENBAND; Mark Harrop, Director, Devices, Mobility and Innovation, BT Wholesale, UK; Luis Angel Sanchez, Head of Innovation 2.0, Telefonica, Spain; Carlos Domingo, President & CEO, Telefónica R&D. Director of Product Development and Innovation, Telefónica Digital; Takehiro Nakamura, Director & 3GPP Chairman, NTT DoCoMo; Karim Lesina, Executive Director of International External Affairs, AT&T; Daniel Lönnblad, Director, Sony

Ericsson; ABOUT DIGICEL TURKS & CAICOS Digicel Turks and Caicos has created positive competition that drove mobile telecommunications development, creating choice, competitive pricing, and technological innovation that benefited a large number of Turks & Caicos mobile customers since its launch in 2006. *With its aggressive thrust into the market, residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands are now enjoying cheaper local and international calls, competitive calling rates, state-of-the art mobile phones, services that other providers charge a fortune for, and customer service beyond their expectations. Digicel raised the bar where acceptable levels of service and network coverage were concerned, thus firmly establishing itself as the Number One GSM mobile provider in the Turks & Caicos.

Since its inception, Digicel has been a major contributor to national income, and to employment creation for many Turks & Caicos Islanders, both directly and indirectly. Its presence has further impacted the lives of residents of the islands, through its corporate citizenship and sponsorship of events such as the Turks and Caicos Music and Cultural Festival, The Doris Robinson Primary School, and the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association (TCIFA).

Page 18

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Speech delivered by former Chief Minister Oswald Skippings on National Heroes Day 2012 I am mindful of the request or dignity and patriotism that gave us caution for me to bring BRIEF international recognition. remarks, I'll keep that in mind.

Humble and meek yes, but About two weeks ago, minutes strong and resilient enough to before I got the invitation to address engage even the superpowers in this audience on this august negotiations and representation for occasion, I saw a message on my his country and people and to lead BBM. For those who may not know, the famous and historic Junkanoo it’s a text message sent to me via my Rebellion. black berry cellphone. It read Paradoxical indeed. Yes! That something like this: was Jags McCartney in a nutshell.

"Don't just remember Jags, honor But you see, we cannot nutshell him.

Jags, we cannot put Jags in a box, Honor him with the way we live and his mentality and his persona would treat each other not allow that confinement and ill Honor him by being the best that definement to happen even in his you can be for the Turks & Caicos death, for in his exploits and Oswald Skippings Islands accomplishments, he was larger Honor him by having the deepest than life itself. Jags was a pioneer! love and patriotism for your country He was exceptional in his compassion and in his Honor him by not letting the dream of a united Turks love for his country and his people, and for humanity & Caicos die on the whole. Jags was an extraordinaire.

Honor him by exercising your right to vote. Pass it We as a people have a tendency to forget, we on. have a tendency to neglect, we have a tendency to Thanks Sharlene, I'm passing it on now in the be complacent and apathetic, and then we become most appropriate and public forum. vulnerable, but let's be mindful of Jags chiding. Jags Short but profound. She too must have been was a born leader. cautioned to be brief, but nonetheless demonstrated But it is in times like these, when the leaves of that quality supersedes quantity. the tree of freedom have withered and the branches Earlier on, I referred to this ceremony as an are dry and brittle, and the trunk is not so robust, that August occasion. we need to remember the ROOTS, for the roots were It may not carry the royal gravity and the pomp planted deep by Jags McCartney, deep enough to and pride of the her majesty the Queen's birthday sustain us thought the drought and the famine, parade, but to those of us who are conscious of our through the storms and the turbulences, through this heritage and concerned with our destiny, it is indeed unconscionable interim and oppressive august, and is more relevant than the queen's administration. birthday, especially in times like these.

My fellow Turks and Caicos Islanders, if only Especially at this critical juncture in our history. for the sake of our youth, we need to find our roots.

We may not have the array of dignitaries, school Jags was a Legend. children, official police turnout With the march pass When we reflect on the fact that we have and the firing of the guns in her majesty's honor, but advanced from a system of British administrators to us who may be constitutionally chained but and commissioners and a powerless legislative mentally liberated and politically conscious, this is council, to that of majority rule government, then we a most memorable and august occasion as any, that are compelled to think of James Alexander George may take place in this our land.

Smith McCartney. Jags was a Visionary.

For we were taught at home, at school and at When we think of a modern constitution that Sunday school that charity begins at home and ends provided for ministerial government, with an abroad. executive council and with locally elected ministers We were also instructed to give honor to whom with portfolios allowing us to ably represent our honor is due, and the designation of national hero, people, we think of Jags Alexander George Smith denotes that national honor should be proffered and Mc Cartney. JAGS was a deliverer bestowed upon Jags.

When we recall the mass demonstrations on But if we forget from whence we came it makes behalf of the nurses and other civil issues it all that much easier to find ourselves right back nationwide, Jags Mc Cartney has to come to mind. there. Hence here we are today, back to square zero, Jags was a fighter. not square one.

When one remembers the very first foreign We have this irresponsible habit in the Turks and affairs negotiation ever between a locally elected Caicos of repeating history and re-inflicting its terror government and a super power. Held in Washington on ourselves and our country, then conveniently DC between the US Government and the Turks and blame history for repeating itself.

Caicos government, concerning the US Bases that Lessons are taught not simply to be learnt but to were in the TCI, there is no other to think about but be learnt from and to be applied, and Jags taught us Jags Mc Cartney. Jags was a Statesman. to love one another and respect one another, he It is under his administration that we got taught us unity, self worth, pride in ourselves and in international exposure in sports, the Commonwealth our country, and patriotism, and he taught us how to Games, the Carifta Games, the Florida and Gator stand up and fight for what is ours even if we die in Relays, the Pan American Games, and we brought the process, Jags was an honorable man. back medals way back then. Jags was an Innovator.

The person that we so fondly refer to as JAGS, In the political arena and as a statesman, Jags was actually James Alexander George Smith Mc was closest . . . To being all things to all men. Jags CARTNEY was Resourceful.

Ordinary yes, but at the same time more When you were frustrated, distressed, paralyzed renowned for his extraordinary accomplishments he by hopelessness and void of vision and unable to see achieved in his lifetime. any way forward, it was Jags who would provide the Common maybe, but very uncommon in his motivation. Jags was an Inspiration. dedication and love for his people and his He had advanced us to a status where the British unorthodox way of doing things, but still got success. were no longer our masters, but our associates and Regular, yet irregular enough to be held in such our partners, where there were mutual respect and high esteem to become the first National Hero of the recognition for each other’s intellectualism, but TCI unfortunately because of the former administration, Simple yet sophisticated enough to hold the we are right back to where he took us from and there highest elected position in the land and become the is no longer any respect for us, there is no first Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands acknowledgement of our intellect and our proven Down to earth, yet high enough to elevate his ability to function as other educated and people with him, to an unprecedented level of pride,

accomplished human beings. Jags was a liberator.

Now, the British have sought to dehumanize and emasculate us. They have sought to rob us of our human dignity and the national pride that Jags has instilled in us. They have robbed our youth of every ounce of hope of ever achieving anything meaningful in their own country We cannot allow it to happen, we must not allow it to happen. We too are children of the universe, and we have a right to be here.

Who would have ever imagined that we would be in the state of condition that we are now in, where our greatest desire, is for us to be afforded democratic elections, can you imagine that in the year 2012' when slavery was abolished in 1834, almost some two hundred years ago? That this would be the case?

Who would have thought that a democratic parliament and general elections could elude us, and that we would not only, not be able to spend our own money, but not be able to determine how it is spent nor get an audited account of how it was spent.

I would be telling a bold face lie if I say that I am not angry at the reproach that is being dealt to us so callously and arrogantly.

And I make no apologies for being angry, because I have every right to be, and so does every other Turks & Caicos Islander and legal resident who has invested time, labor and money in this country.

The word says be angry and sin not!

Be that as it may, anger is not going to solve this problem!

We have got to first rediscover ourselves as a people and decide where we want to go from here and how we are going to get there. That is an indispensable, unchangeable McCartney principle.

Our problem is that we have outgrown too many relevant things, things that never change, or were never meant to be changed.

We are so fascinated and overwhelmed by newness, that in our over-exuberance for change, we throw the baby out with the bath water.

It has suddenly become a new thing for Caicos to be against Grand Turk and vice versa, for PNP to be against PDM in a vicious way, for the young to be against the old. We have been duped and divided by people who had ulterior motives to personally empower and enrich themselves and destroy what McCartney had so diligently built up including his legacy.

So bold in their destructive and divisive crusade, that it was openly promoted in election campaigns to pit the Caicos against the Turks and the Turks against the Caicos. That is partly why we are where we are today, because of foolish, immature and destructive practices by our own people, simply for political gain.

For truly, where there is no vision, a people perish.

Then again, while we were partying and splurging, the fundamental pillars in our social structure were being torn down. Our health system was wrench from under us in corruption, and while we are paying through our eyes and nose, we can't get the proper health care, that we are accustomed to getting, and for the first time in this country there are people who are denied health care.

That's change. That's what we have been given for progress, a six for a nine, and many of us celebrated when it was happening and ignored the warnings and resisted, scoffed at and alienated those who were wise, committed and brave enough to sound the alarm, as Jags would have done.

We have been divided to the extent that we were blinded to truth and reality. The division that separated us as a people from the unity that Jags showed us, was among us long before the British came, the British just exploited it.

McCartney sank the buoy which was then the symbol of division between the Turks Islands and the Caicos Islands.

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Speech delivered by former Chief Minister Oswald Skippings on National Heroes Day 2012 CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

Unfortunately, we had leaders that had no vision, no genuine concern and love for our people and country, leaders who were overcome by self interest, and greed, and resurfaced the buoy by re-igniting the fire of hate, resentment and division once again among our people, in this era where our people are supposed to be educated and aware.

In their flamboyant style of indoctrination, they deceived, misled and divided even our unsuspecting youth.

The British followed in their evil footsteps and exploited the division that they created to conquer us, and further oppress us, by emasculating our dignity, our pride, our human rights and our freedoms, the very accomplishments for which JAGS struggled and persevered, for which he fought so hard and died for.

It is very unfortunate, and indeed disingenuous of those who conveniently prostituted his name for political mileage, under the guise of national pride, but did not have the common patriotic decency to attend his memorial service not even once while holding the highest political offices in this land.

Jags was genuine and not a fake or a deceiver of his people. It is why his legacy has earned him the privileged status of being the sole National Hero of the Turks and Caicos to date. Let us not fool ourselves by not facing the reality of how we got where we are today in this sad state of affair.

In spite of the dilemma, in spite of the oppression, in spite of the denial of our fundamental rights and freedoms, in spite of the oppressive and onerous tax regimes that are being placed on us, in spite of the fact that our jobs are being taken away, in spite of the salary cuts and the pensions being taken from us, in spite of the fraudulent National Health Scheme that is being operated with the corrupt Interhealth Canada Programme, orchestrated by the British themselves, in spite of the corruption that is still going on with our airports, again engineered by the British and a few puppets we have among us, in spite of the disrespect and the lack of transparency in government and the continued squandering of our money on criminal investigations that deliberately exclude and elude the criminals in the UK who have and still are masterminding this evil that is going on among us, I am persuaded that we as a people are not forgotten, God knows our name, and we shall overcome someday, and justice shall prevail not just for those among us but for those who continue to exploit us criminally in the UK. As Jags would have said, nobody is beyond the law, not even governors and Foreign and Commonwealth office Officials, British Ministers of government, not even those who are known as peers in the highest echelons of British affluent society, they too shall be brought to justice,. Mark my words.

Jags taught us, equal rights and justice for all, not some. It isn't just for blacks and not whites, not only for TCI'S and not for British. Justice is not for just us as is now the case.

Let me just remind you that the Turks and Caicos youth organization was founded because of the oppression of our people by the British, then the Junkanoo Club which birthed the Junkanoo Club Rebellion in 1975, then it morphed into the People's Democratic Movement, of which JAGS was at the heart of all these groups and from their very inception. All this to seek justice, equality and progress for our people. But one may now justifiably asked, "Where have all the flowers gone?

JAGS was all about, Mobilizing, agitating, advocating, demonstrating, fighting, reforming, building, all for the good of our people, for their liberation, for their representation, for their pride and dignity, for the fundamental rights and freedoms and for equal rights and justice for all.

It was not just a dream, it was a vision, it was a cause, it was a mission and it became a movement, for the people, by the people and of the people of this our beautiful by nature Turks and Caicos.

Jags taught us that freedom was never free and never achieved without a fight. Nowhere and at no time.

Now we are being challenged to a fight once again, we are being pushed into a corner, we are being marginalized in our own country once again and treated as idiots.

But the sparks of revolution though they may only be smoldering, are not extinguished.

The will to be free and to be treated with human dignity, though seemingly dormant, has not been eliminated.

The aspirations of our youth to take their rightful places in this society, in the work place, in the business and investment arena and in government, have not been totally killed.

The desire to be given a fair chance in our own country, to do what is best for our people and what is in their best interest, is still very much alive, for JAGS has planted those roots of freedom and the will to fight for it, deep, much deeper than the British or anyone else is able to reach down and uproot.

Unemployment, hunger, hopelessness, rejection, oppression, disrespect and suppression, are all taking their toll on our people, and there seems to be no one who cares and no one to turn to who can help us.

But my people, this too shall pass. For if my people that are called by my name etc. - That is the comforting words of the God in whom we trust And when this is over, let's not kick God aside again, let's not dis acknowledge his goodness toward us. Let's not forget that the British is the oppressor now, but remember the oppressor before the British, let's not forget how we get where we are today and why the British is here, otherwise it would all be fruitless, and for the fourth time, the same people, would bring us to the same disgraceful status, yet once again.

Remember also that, "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

The philosophy of McCartney and the McCartney Doctrine have never been more in demand, more appropriate, more relevant and more applicable than it is today, when this our Turks and Caicos and its humble people are being so unconscionably exploited by a superpower.

A superpower that has taken our meekness for weakness.

A super power which by association, is supposed to exhibit parental qualities, instead, if this situation were to be humanized, one would have no choice but to categorize this ill treatment as child abuse.

According to the proverbial saying, McCartney must have a multitude of restless nights, having being forced to turn over and over in his grave at the abusive suffering of his people and the deteriorating condition of his country.

First at the hands of a careless, callous and corrupt regime comprising of our own people, and now at the hands of this colonial superpower whose commission was to rescue us, but instead seems hell bent on burying us as deep as they possibly can.

But we shall resurrect as a people and we shall with the help and direction of the almighty God, resurrect this country out of the dust and the ashes, and once again be a thriving and prosperous people, who will once again hold the reins of our destiny and chart our own course, a course that would put us back on the highway of self determination, and restore this country's economy, and its peoples' hope and dignity, way beyond our former glory.

My people in Providenciales, Pine Cay, Parrot Cay, North Caicos, Middle Caicos, South Caicos, Ambergris Cay, Grand Turk and Salt Cay, in remembering Jags, the young the old, the blacks the whites, remember that we need each other.

Remember that we are our brother's keeper.

Remember that what we are going through is rougher than many of us ever experienced, but this too, shall pass.

In honoring our National Hero, remember that to take our country forward, we have first got to take

it back, take it back from those who are insensitive to our needs and our suffering.

Remember that we must change some attitudes if we are to salvage our country. We must stop the bickering, the backbiting, the mistrust and the disloyalty among ourselves.

Let us not be so blinded by contempt for each other that we fail to see the bigger common enemy.

Be not deceived, for the common enemy is not so common after all, but is persistent and strategic in its relentless attempt to smolder our dreams and aspirations and derail our destiny. But the saints can say with power and authority "Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world" I noticed this paragraph among others in the Governor's statement last week; • that the TCI Government will develop and introduce a ‘diversity policy’, as part of the ongoing reform of public sector human resources and staff management – this will set a standard for all managers and employees, and will be designed to ensure fair treatment for all staff and a zero tolerance for bullying; and . . . . .

(Our TCI Civil Servants are being disrespected and bullied now by British advisers; and where is the European Union or any other Union for that matter?

Of course This paragraph here sticks out like a sore thumb, this is the very first paragraph; "Tomorrow, 17 May, is the annual International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. This is the day when the international community campaigns to STOP DISCRIMINATION , in all forms, against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

However, we have not seen such discrimination against our people in this country since before 1975 when the Junkanoo Rebellion took place.

Only certain people are getting any major government deals Only British people are getting any top civil service advisory jobs, while our people are being sent home.

Even when we get jobs, there is a British advisor, making a big fat paychecks, living in extravagant accommodations and flying first class.

I had unintentionally embarrassed the former Governor in front of the British minister, when I spoke about the Blacks being put out of the Governors offices in the governors yard and placed in a building outside the gate, across the street, while the White British were kept in the offices in Governor's yard.

And no disrespect to his excellency who is sitting right here, talking about discrimination? It is amazing that the governor is worried about his British homosexual colleagues being discriminated against verbally, in the Turks and Caicos, because it goes against our moral and I spiritual fibre? This is the spirit of Antichrist. As a man of God I can't stand here and ignore the word of God that tells us that Eve and not Steve was made for Adam.

When our people are suffering career discrimination, job discrimination, location discrimination, salary discrimination, and every other kind of discrimination imaginable by the British and this governor, they have the effrontery to talk about discrimination against imported homosexuals. I am looking closely at that Tomb because Jags can't be lying still in there, not at all.

If our National Hero was alive today, he would lead us, and inspire us to stand up against the injustices and the oppression that is raining down upon us.

He would vociferously object to and reject this onerous Value Added Tax that is designed to wipe out what little chance of recovery is left of our devastated economy and what little hope is left of our oppressed and overtaxed people. This I declare, is the straw that breaks the camel's back.

To be continued NEXT WEEK

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Beaches honors employees at annual Prestige Award It was all glitz, glam and celebration last week as Beaches Resorts Villages and Spa honoured top performing employees in 21 categories at the 2011/2012 Prestige Awards.

The annual award recognizes and rewards individuals whose performance has consistently made a positive impact on the quality of services offered at the resort. The annual ceremony has earned a top reputation for excellence for those who have worked diligently and have a proven record of professionalism and appreciation for Beaches and Sandals Resorts International.

The ultimate winners were twenty one year old Pirate’s Island Camp Counsellor, Lavadio Seymour, who took the top title of Team Member of the Year, with Tanisha Brown from the Front Office Department as his runner up. Manager of the Year went to Resorts Sales Manager Tanya Swann, while Supervisor of the Year was awarded to Roxanne Wade of the Animation Department.

Beaches Resort also acknowledged the Most Nominated Team Member which was awarded to Bartender Andrew Rodney and the Smile & Courtesy Award went to Patricia Reid of the Wedding Department.

Most improved Team Member was captured by Watersport’s Dion Wilson, while the General Manager’s award went to Grounds Manager Malcolm Campbell and his Grounds Team. The coveted prize of Financial Comptroller Award which recognizes the top revenue generating department

Awardees with the certificates

went to Resort Shop Manager Elesia Chin for the second year in a row.

Ultimate winners Lavadio Seymour and Manager of the Year Tanya Swann both held outstanding records for the year beating out over 12 hundred employees for the top prestige titles. Lavadio expressed his excitement as 2011/2012 Team Member of the year by saying, “My job is to go the extra mile for our guests and winning this award says a lot about my contribution and commitment in delivering exceptional customer service to my team members and our valued guests,” he concluded, “Big thanks to management and staff for recognizing my commitment and dedication and presenting me with this

wonderful award.”

Manager of the Year Tanya Swann, who started with the company as a Food & Beverage Secretary and now runs the Resort’s Sales Department has been with the company for the past eight years, she said she is ecstatic that she was chosen over so many wonderful hard working managers, she commented, “I am overwhelmed with happiness to have been chosen as Manager of the Year”, she said, “ I was up against some tough competition but I am grateful my General Manger saw my drive and my contribution to the company and awarded me with such a prestigious title” General Manager, Don Dagenais

also commented on the success of the Prestige awards, he said, “Our resorts continue to win the industry’s most prestigious awards year after year and it is because of the hospitality, spirit and commitment to excellence of the top performing individuals who go above and beyond the call of duty to make a difference in this resort,” and concluded, “We take every opportunity possible to pay tribute to these outstanding individuals, I applaud and congratulate all the 2011/2012 Prestige Awards winners.”

Other awards for the evening included, ‘Department of the Year’ which went to Engineering Department, ‘HM’s Heart of the House Award’ won by Richard Rowe, The Sandals Foundation Community Spirit of the Year Award won by Chef Marlene Campbell, Top Trained Team Member of the Year went to Anna Abdala Dorvil of Housekeeping.

Other winners included, Fedeline Julian of Camp Sesame who won the Best Team Player of the year, Omar Hazel of the Banqueting department who captured the grand prize of Special Service Award for the year In addition to engraved trophies and certificates, winners were also presented with fantastic prizes which included all-expense paid vacations, laptop computers, home theatre systems, plasma televisions, camcorders, cameras and lavish cash prizes. Team member of the year, Lavadio Seymour will also go on to represent Beaches Turks & Caicos at the 4th Annual Sandals Ultimate Team Member Award in Jamaica this summer.

Courtney Robinson introducing the miss body beautiful TCI pageant People of the Turks & Caicos Islands – a brand new pageant will be entering the entertainment scene this summer. That being, the inaugural Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant slated to be held on Saturday, July 28th at The Williams Auditorium in Providenciales.

The Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant is one which encourages women to appreciate the beauty of who they are inside out. As a fitness and personal growth competition, the show is geared towards empowering women to have a positive image of self, that they can accept their bodies as they are – thereby showcasing it in its entire splendor.

“Developing a positive body image and a healthy mental attitude is crucial to a woman's happiness and wellness,” says Courtney Robinson, the event’s Executive Producer. “Being young, thin and beautiful may not sound like cause for concern, but that ideal can lead many women to be highly dissatisfied with their bodies, something that can bring about unhealthy behaviors.”

“Often when producing the annual TCI Top Model Contest – committee members and myself

have been approached by ladies of various sizes and ages looking for an outlet to showcase themselves on the national stage. They, like many, have not had the opportunity to model or enter a pageant before, but were quite inclined to do so, should an event be created with them in mind. Hence, the birth of the Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant. ” Robinson added that: “Through this pageant, we want women to recognize that beauty, health and strength come in all ages and sizes. Real beauty encompasses what’s inside - your zest for life, your fun-loving spirit, your compassion for others - with the added bonus of showing the world just how beautiful you are.”

The pageant is open to ladies 18 years of age and older, with no restriction on height, body shape, marital status or nationality. Past pageant experience is not necessary. All that is required is a positive selfimage and the confidence to strut your stuff in front of a LIVE audience. To enter, registrations is being held on Saturday, June 23rd at The Culture & Arts Commission in Turtle Cove, Providenciales from 10AM to 12Noon.

With ‘Stronger, Confident, Beautiful’ as its motto, the Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant Contestants will be judged during four segments - a pre-show interview round, and over the course of the event - Introduction, Swimwear and Fantasy Swimwear. After the Fantasy Swimwear round, Contestants will be invited to answer a question posed by the judges on health, fitness and/or the body beautiful. From there, the judges will decide, 2nd Runner’s up, 1st Runner’s up and the Winner!

The Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant will take place on Saturday, July 28th at The William’s Auditorium, South Dock Rd, Providenciales - with the top three contestants receiving cash and fabulous prizes! Washanda Registre, 2012 TCI Top Model will crown the winner. What is more, there will be performances by today’s leading singers, rappers, dancers and other headliner! Advanced purchase of tickets: General admission $40.00 and VIP $65.00; with $10.00 added to the cost at the door.For more information, contact Courtney Robinson, Executive Producer on (649) 232-6796 or email: msbodybeautifultci@gmail.com.

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Photo highlights from Healing Waters Ministries “A touch of Purple” charity gospel concert The Music Ministries Department of the Healing Water’s Ministries hosted its first all-charity fundraiser, A Touch Of Purple 2012, under the theme “Honoring the Greatest Commandments”, on May 25th 2012.

The event turned out to be a smashing success as it attracted persons from all sectors of our communities in large numbers to raise awareness, celebrate our survivors, show support for those affected and honor the lives lost through cancer.

Head of Music Ministry Elery James & Wife Owenta James

Steering Committee Members

Ladies in Purple

The concert raised over NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($9000) in cash and pledges. All of these funds will be donated to the National Cancer Society and the Turks & Caicos Cancer Foundation to assist in the battle against cancer in the Turks & Caicos Islands.

All those who have outstanding pledges are asked to call 231-0978 as soon as possible as the presentation of the funds is slated for Wednesday June 6, 2012.

Representatives of the National Cancer Society

Beth & Griscel

The Turks & Caicos Brass Band

Pastor Coleby and Deputy Head of Music Terrance Rodgers

Ms. Humpries brings remarks

Representatives of the National Cancer Society

Ladies from Support

Gertude SandersForbes

Ms. Carol Musgrove

Children and Grandchildren of the late Anita Porter - Founder of the Cancer Foundation

Bethany Baptist Praise Team

MC Shaun Malcolm and Ms. Archibold

Carlos Simons with Elery James

Matthew & Maurine Williams

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LIFESTYLE

From child bride to multi-millionaire in India An Indian Dalit (formerly untouchable) woman, who once attempted suicide to escape discrimination, poverty and physical abuse, becomes the CEO of a multimillion dollar company. The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Mumbai captures Kalpana Saroj's journey - a symbol of the Dalit struggle to mark their arrival at the top.

Her life reads like the plot of a Bollywood film, with a narrative which has defied so many obstacles, to conclude with a happy ending.

The "rags to riches" cliche can be overused, but it goes some way in describing the story of Kalpana Saroj, a woman who struggled on so many occasions on her way to the top.

Born into a low-caste Dalit family, she was bullied at school, forced into marriage at the age of 12, fought social pressures to leave her husband, before she tried to take her own life.

Today, she is a multi-millionaire.

At the helm of a successful company, she rubs shoulders with prominent businessmen and has won awards for her professionalism.

"The first time I came to Mumbai, I did not even know where to go. I was from such a small village. Today my company has two roads named after it in the city," she says, summing up the extent to which her life has transformed.

India's caste system is an ancient social hierarchy, which places people into different categories by birth.

Those born into the lower castes have historically faced discrimination.

"Some of my friends' parents

would not let me in their homes, and I was not even allowed to participate in some school activities because I was a Dalit," says the 52-year-old.

"I used to get angry. I felt really nervous because I thought even I am a human being," she adds.

Marital woes Even though her father allowed her to get an education, wider family pressures saw Kalpana become a bride at the age of 12.

She moved to Mumbai to be with her husband who was 10 years older, but was shocked to find herself living in a slum.

But that was not the only hardship she had to endure.

"I was treated badly by my husband's elder brother and his wife.

They would pull my hair and beat me, sometimes over little things. I felt broken with all the physical and verbal abuse," she says.

Leaving a husband is widely frowned upon in Indian culture, but Kalpana was able to escape the violent relationship, thanks to her supportive father.

When he visited her in Mumbai, he was shocked to see his daughter emaciated and wearing torn clothes and took her back home.

Many villagers were suspicious of her return, viewing Kalpana as a failure.

She tried to ignore the judgemental comments thrown at her, focusing instead on getting a job. She learnt tailoring as a way to make money.

But, even with some degree of

financial independence, the pressure became too much.

"One day, I decided to end my life.

I drank three bottles of insecticide, termite poison," she says, recalling her lowest moment.

Kalpana was saved after her aunt walked into the room and found her frothing at the mouth and shaking uncontrollably.

The big change It marked a watershed for her. "I decided to live my life, and do something big, and then die," she says.

So, at the age of 16, she moved back to Mumbai to stay with an uncle and work as a tailor.

She began by earning less than a dollar a month, but tirelessly learnt how to operate industrial sewing machines, and as a result saw her income rise.

But the money she earned was not enough to pay for her sister's treatment which could have saved her life, a moment which defined Kalpana's entrepreneurial spirit.

"I was highly disappointed and realised that money did matter in life, and that I needed to make more."

She took a government loan to open a furniture business and expand her tailoring work.

She worked 16 hours a day, a routine she has not managed to shake off to this day.

In the following years, she remarried, this time to a fellow furniture businessman, and had two children.

Her reputation led to her being asked to take over the running of a metal engineering company, Kamani

Kalpana Saroj

Tubes, which was in massive debt.

By restructuring the company, she turned things around.

"I wanted to give justice to the people who were working there. I had to save the company. I could relate to the staff who needed to put food on the table for their family," she says of her motivations at the time.

Now, Kamani Tubes is a growing business, worth more than $100m.

Kalpana employs hundreds of people, from all backgrounds and castes. She has met prominent businessmen such as Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani, and in 2006 won a prestigious award for her entrepreneurial spirit.

Kalpana regularly visits her home village and does charity work to help those in her community.

As a Dalit and a woman, her story is all the more remarkable in a country where so few CEOs are from such a background.

"If you give your heart and soul to your job and never give up, things can happen for you," she says.

It is a mantra that has helped Kalpana through the worst of times and still rings true for her.

e world was once smitten with Syria’s first lady but she has become a hate figure for many After a year of lethal violence the woman who has worked with Ms Assad. who married into Syria's powerful ruling Before the uprising, the world family has become a hate figure for was taken by Ms Assad's many. immaculate facade.

The London-born first lady, once In Western media, the 36-yeardescribed as a "rose in the desert", is at old mother of three was described the heart of the shadowy inner circle of as sophisticated, elegant, confident, president Bashar al-Assad. with a "killer IQ" and an interest in A British-educated former opening up Syria through art and investment banker, she cultivated the charity. image of a glamorous yet serious-minded For those who pinned their woman with strong Western-inspired hopes on Mr Assad as a potential values. reformer, his photogenic wife She was expected to humanise the bolstered that image, lending a increasingly secretive and isolated touch of glamour to his awkward Asma al-Assad Assad family. public appearances.

That image crumbled when her A glowing article in Vogue husband's regime responded to an anti-government magazine described her as a "rose in the desert" and rebellion with extreme violence a year ago. her household as "wildly democratic". The fashion Mr Assad says he is fighting an insurrection, bible has since removed the article from its website, involving foreign-backed "terrorists", and Ms Assad but copy of the text has been reprinted on other sites. has clearly decided to stand by her man despite French newspaper Paris Match, meanwhile, said international revulsion at his actions. she was an "element of light in a country full of With her penchant for crystal-encrusted Christian shadow zones".

Louboutin shoes and Chanel dresses, Ms Assad is a People were charmed by her classy demeanour, puzzle for many. liberal views and British accent.

The opposition roundly rejects suggestions she is She received the Gold Medal of the Presidency effectively a prisoner of conscience in the presidential of The Italian Republic for humanitarian work in palace.

2008 and won an honorary archaeology doctorate "She was very much, as we would say, left wing. from La Sapienza university in Rome.

She seemed to be very bright, very respectful of Yet emails published by Britain's Guardian others," said Gaia Servadio, a writer and historian newspaper this month from accounts believed to

belong to the family offer a different portrait.

They show her as a capricious dictator's wife spending tens of thousands of pounds on jewels, fancy furniture, and a Venetian glass vase from Harrods.

"I am the real dictator, he has no choice," she apparently said in one of the emails in a comment about her husband.

Ms Assad, the London-born daughter of a Sunni Muslim Syrian doctor, spent the first 25 years of her life in North Acton.

Known as Emma to her British friends, she was a rising star at JP Morgan when she met Bashar, who had studied ophthalmology in London but was sent home to be groomed for the presidency after his elder brother, Basil, died in a car crash in 1994.

They married in 2000. What followed was a life full of glamour.

The Assad side of the clan, however, reportedly did not take to Ms Assad, not least because of her Sunni Muslim origins.

Before the start of the 2011 uprising, there was hope Syria could change. Syrians saw his choice of wife as proof that things were about to change.

But those hopes faded as the revolt unfolded. As the death toll from the fighting grew, Ms Assad gradually disappeared from public view.

She broke her silence in February, saying in a statement: "The president is the president of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the first lady supports him in that role."

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Man suing doctor over lost penis A 65-year-old Peruvian man is suing a Florida doctor after losing his penis to infection following a 2007 penile implant surgery. He told a courtroom on Thursday via webcam that the defendant failed to properly warn him of the risks and that the loss of his genitalia has robbed him of his manhood and dignity.

According to Erik Ortiz of the New York Daily News, the man, Enrique Milla, appeared via Skype from his home in Lima, where he currently resides after being deported in 2011 following an immigration dispute.

Milla told the judge that he opted to have the surgery because he had suffered from erectile dysfunction.

Milla and his wife, Gloria, are

reportedly seeking “tens of millions” of dollars worth of damages from Dr. Laurentiu Boeru of Coral Gables Hospital, the Huffington Post reported, claiming that the doctor had failed to properly evaluate the risks associated with Enrique’s pre-existing conditions, including diabetes.

Boeru was the anesthesiologist assigned to Milla’s surgery, and according to Milla’s attorney, the doctor failed to properly investigate or address those other conditions, reports Fox News affiliate WSVN-Miami.

According to Milla’s testimony, neither his blood pressure nor his blood sugar had been taken before Boeru cleared him for the surgery. Boeru, in contrast, testified that he is only liable for

anesthesia-related, preoperative risks, and not those related to the surgery itself or the actual penis implant.

Nine days following the surgery, a Gangrene infection began to spread through Milla’s penis. That infection eventually “turned into a flesh-eating bacteria that ate his penis centimeter by centimeter,” Milla’s lawyer, Spencer Aronfeld, told WSVN-Miami. “As a result of this, he has to spend the rest of his life without a functioning penis. He has to sit down to urinate. He’ll never have any intimate relationships with anyone, and he’s lost his manhood.”

Likewise, according to Susan Donaldson James of ABC News, Aronfeld told ABC affiliate WPLG that the process has been “devastating,

painful and embarrassing” for his client, emphasizing that Milla “didn’t do this to have a bigger penis… This was because of medical reasons: He just wanted to have relations with his wife.”

Boeru’s lawyer Jay Chimpoulis denied the accusations, telling WPLG, “This is an infection that occurred in this gentleman because he didn’t do what he was supposed to do postoperatively nine days after the surgery… There are any number of ways he could’ve gotten that. None of them had anything to do with [Boeru]” and suggesting that Milla may have ignored instructions to avoid sex, developing a fecal infection as a result, James wrote.

Todd Bridges splits with wife Todd "Willis Jackson" Bridges and his wife of 14 years have called it quits.

The "Diff'rent Strokes" star said in a statement to People.com: "The Bridges have decided that disunion is in the best interest of their collective futures.

Although Todd and Dori are going their separate ways, they are mutually committed to the well-being of their son [Spencir, 13]."

Elvis Presley crypt up for auction this month LOS ANGELES — For the right price, you or a loved one can rest in peace in the tomb of The King.

Celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien is selling Elvis Presley's original crypt to the highest bidder as part of his "Music Icons" auction later this month.

The tomb is located inside the granite and marble mausoleum at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tenn.

Presley was interred there alongside his mother, Gladys, after he died Aug. 16, 1977. Two months later, they were re-buried at his Graceland home. The original crypt has remained empty ever since.

Julien says the winning bid from the auction beginning June 23 will receive the crypt, opening and closing of the vault for burial, a memorialization inscription and use of a chapel for a committal service.

Transportation and funeral home charges are not included.

MARRIAGE ISN'T IN THE CARDS FOR WIDOWER AND GIRLFRIEND DEAR ABBY: I am a 70-year-old widower with three grown children. My girlfriend is 53. We dated for several months before she moved in with me.

I thought maybe with her living here I might fall in love with her. It has not, and will not, happen.

I hate to break her heart, but I know now that I will never ask her to marry me. I intend to remain single for the rest of my life.

Bridges, 47, first announced the break-up on, what else, Twitter.

"She's a great mother I'm glad to have had the years to know her and have a great kid with her. As we know, people grow apart and we did," he tweeted.

Bridges starred in "Diff'rent Strokes" from 197886 and chronicled his downward spiral after the show's cancellation in the 2010 book "Killing Willis."

has done nothing wrong, and it is not a failure on her part, but you realize that you do not wish to remarry. Explain that feeling as you do, it would be best if she moved. Offer to help her find a place if she has nowhere to go.

You will be doing both of you a favor by being upfront now. ________________________

I’M A CRY BABY

Dear Abby

How do I bring closure to this relationship?

What are the words? I'm lost because this is a first for me. I was married for 40 years, and I just do not wish to be married again. How do I tell this nice lady? -- IN A BIND IN TEXAS DEAR IN A BIND: Having the woman move in with you "hoping" you would fall in love with her was a huge mistake, and one you should not repeat. When you say what you need to say, have plenty of tissue handy and expect her to be tearful and angry.

Start by saying, "We need to talk." Tell her she

DEAR ABBY: I am an adult male with a longtime problem. Whether it's a sad or happy occasion, I start crying, sometimes sobbing. I try to avoid any situation that may cause this.

I am at a new point in my life where I can no longer avoid these situations. People think it's not normal. Please don't suggest I live with it.

Is there a magic pill to control this? -- BIG CRYBABY IN BROOKLYN, N.Y. DEAR CRYBABY: There is no pill that can help you control those emotions that I know of. And because it is causing you problems, I do not recommend you "live with it." I do think, however, that if you discuss with a therapist what it is about sad and happy occasions that causes such an extreme reaction that you could get quickly to the bottom of it and learn to better control those emotions.

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

BRAIN TEASER Three people check into a hotel. They pay £30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager suddenly remembers that the room rate is £25 and gives £5 to the bellboy to return to the people. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that £5 would be difficult to share among three people so he pockets £2 and gives £1 to each person. Now each person paid £10 and got back £1. So they paid £9 each, totalling £27.

The bellboy has £2, totalling £29. Where is the missing £1?

Answer: We have to be careful what we are adding together.

FUN and GAMES

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Originally, they paid £30, they each received back £1, they now have only paid £27. Of this £27, £25 went to the manager for the room and £2 went to the bellboy.

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HIGHLIGHTS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

• Trinidad in recession • Dudus confidant stuns

court with graphic evidence • Gold buried in Haiti

New Governor of Bermuda pledges to tackle economy and gang violence HAMILTON, Bermuda – Bermuda’s new British Governor, George Fergusson, says the island’s struggling economy and gang violence are two challengers he will face alongside the government.

Praising the island’s “internationally respected record for following the rule of law and managing its own affairs”, Fergusson added that reputation is hardearned.

“It’s a major asset to this country, not least during this economic turbulence.”

The island’s 88th Governor, who lost an eye during a mugging in London shortly before he was due to leave for Bermuda, pledged after being sworn in on the grounds of the Cabinet Building

Bermuda’s new British Governor, George Fergusson

in Hamilton to “play my part working with the elected government of Bermuda to uphold and preserve this asset”.

Bermuda, Britain’s most populous remaining Overseas Territory, faces two immediate challenges, he said, listing them as a “serious and obvious economic and financial challenge” and gang violence.

The island’s police, even with their high reputation, “cannot address this problem alone”, he warned, adding “It’s a problem for all of us”.

In a brief and candid speech before local dignitaries, visitors and the Bermuda Regiment’s guard of honour, Fergusson began by acknowledging the assault last month in London that left him blind in his left eye.

“I am delighted to be here. I might have hoped to see Bermuda over the next few years with two eyes, but it’s

looking pretty good with one,” he said as he expressed his gratitude for messages of good cheer sent to him in recent weeks from Bermudians.

Fergusson’s wife Margaret has been delayed in London for medical tests.

The Governor said tests were going well and she was looking forward to being on the island soon.

In her welcoming remarks, Premier Paula Cox told him “I believe it’s a good omen that the sun has come out today. Bermuda welcomes you as you start your tour of duty, and we look forward in due course to also welcoming your wife.”

The island, she said, needed “a solid dose of inspiration to get people through hard times.”

Jamaica seeks heritage Hundreds willing status for sunken port to pay to be St Kitts KINGSTON, Jamaica — Archaeologists said Tuesday that they'll ask the United Nations' cultural agency to bestow world heritage status on Port Royal, the mostly submerged remains of a historic Jamaican port known as the "wickedest city on Earth" more than three centuries ago.

Receiving the designation from UNESCO would place Port Royal in the company of global marvels such as Cambodia's Angkor temple complex and India's Taj Mahal.

The sunken 17th century city was once a bustling place where buccaneers including Henry Morgan docked in search of rum, women and boat repairs.

In recent days, international consultants have conducted painstaking surveys to mark the old city's land and sea boundaries to apply for the world heritage designation by June 2014, said Dorrick Gray, a technical director with the Jamaican National Heritage Trust, a government agency responsible for preserving and developing the island's cultural spots.

Port Royal was the main city of the British colony of Jamaica in the 17th century until an earthquake and tsunami submerged two-thirds of the settlement in 1692. It boasted a well-to-do population of roughly 7,000 at the time, and was comparable to Boston during the same period.

After the quake, the remainder of the town served as a British royal navy base for two centuries, even as it was periodically ravaged by fires and hurricanes.

In his sprawling book "Caribbean," American author James Michener described Port Royal as having "no restraints of any kind, and the soldiers stationed in the fort seemed as undisciplined as the pirates who roared ashore to take over the place night after night. They were of all breeds, all with nefarious occupations."

Now, it's a depressed fishing village at the tip of a spit of land near Kingston's airport. It has little to attract visitors except some restaurants offering seafood and a few dilapidated historic buildings.

The sunken, algae-covered remnants of the city are in murky waters in an archaeological preserve closed to divers without a permit.

But in recent decades, underwater excavations have turned up artifacts including cannonballs, wine glasses, ornate pipes, pewter plates and ceramic plates dredged from the muck just offshore. The partial skeleton of a child was found in 1998.

At a Tuesday press conference, experts said it's among the top British archaeological sites in the Western Hemisphere and should be protected for future generations.

"There is outstanding potential here.

Submerged towns like this just do not exist anywhere else in the Americas," said Robert Grenier, a Canadian underwater archaeologist who has worked closely with UNESCO. He believes the Jamaican site has a strong chance of getting on the world heritage list.

and Nevis citizens BASSETERRE, St Kitts – While economic citizenship has been scorned by some Caribbean nations, St Kitts and Nevis is reaping the benefits of such a programme.

According to Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas, the Citizenship by Investment Unit in St Kitts and Nevis receives approximately 300 applications per year and collects nearly EC$60 million in processing fees.

This was disclosed by the prime minister, who is also the Minister of Finance, during the last sitting of the St Kitts and Nevis National Assembly.

However, Dr Douglas took pains to point out that all applications that are received go through the rigours of the system established to ensure that only individuals who are worthy of becoming citizens of St Kitts and Nevis do so.

“Mr Speaker the Citizenship by Investment unit receives applications from all over the world. Our system is a robust and attractive one. We receive and process applications from the USA, Canada, China, the United Arab Emirates especially Dubai, Russia, Jordan, Yemen, Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Ethiopia, Ukraine, France, Kuwait, Vietnam, India, Nigeria, Lebanon,” he told the parliamentary body.

Responding to questions from Eugene Hamilton, the Member for St Christopher 8, Douglas also noted that the nature of the information required in part (c) of the question would take some time to analyze and the Citizenship by Investment Unit is in the process of fully computerizing its operations so that this level of information can be easily gathered.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS

Cayman Islands Governor denies British conspiracy The Cayman Islands’ governor has said he is disappointed that relations between him and the premier have broken down and denied the conspiracy theories thrown around by McKeeva Bush. Duncan Taylor also revealed Friday in a televised interview that the UK minister had made it clear to Bush that the FCO was not trying to undermine the Cayman Islands but that it was merely concerned about good governance.

The governor said the constitution did not require the premier to step down from office while under police investigation but added that it was a matter for the premier himself to decide.

Speaking to Cayman27 following his return from a conference in London, Taylor denied any conspiracy at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and said he was saddened by the state of affairs as there was no foundation in the premier’s suggestions.

Two weeks ago Bush issued a statement accusing the governor of “stealthily and insidiously”

undermining his efforts to get the Cayman economy off the ground. The premier had also previously suggested that the three police probes into him regarding the Stan Thomas land deal, his role in the illegal importation of dynamite and an as yet undisclosed further financial irregularity were nothing more than a UK conspiracy to get him out of office and undermine Cayman.

Taylor said there was however no truth to the premier’s accusations.

“The minister for overseas territories, Henry Bellingham, has also told the premier that there is no truth whatsoever in those allegations,” he said. Taylor added he had also told the premier he had made no judgements about him regarding the investigations.

“There are no charges yet but I have also told him that if serious allegations are made I expect the commissioner of police to carry out that investigation properly and thoroughly,” he said. Taylor said neither he nor the FCO took a view about the need for the premier to step aside as it was not a constitutional

requirement but a matter for him.

Taylor said he did not think the situation in Cayman was considered by the FCO to have reached an impasse or a level of seriousness to cause real concern but there were difficulties that had to be worked through.

The governor also denied that his office had tried to stop the progress of the Dr Devi Shetty health city project and said he was supportive of that potential development.

“I made it clear from the outset that this is a project with tremendous potential for the Cayman Islands,” he said. Taylor believed Bush’s allegations about him not supporting it came from the fact that Taylor had recommended that government carry out a proper independent impact assessment on the proposal before agreeing to go ahead.

The governor said this was not a matter of bureaucratic harassment but good governance.

“Having good governance in place and following and practicing that good governance is actually an essential underpinning for a successful economy … In the long term, if you don’t have

Billions of dollars in gold buried in Haiti TROU DU NORD, Haiti—Its capital is blighted with earthquake rubble. Its countryside is shorn of trees, chopped down for fuel. And yet, Haiti’s land may hold the key to relieving centuries of poverty, disaster and disease: There is gold hidden in its hills—and silver and copper, too.

A flurry of exploratory drilling in the past year has found precious metals worth potentially $20 billion deep below the tropical ridges in the country’s north-eastern mountains. Now, a mining company is drilling around the clock to determine how to get those metals out.

In neighbouring Dominican Republic, workers are poised to start mining the other side of this seam later this year in one of the world’s largest gold deposits: 23 million ounces worth about $40 billion. The Haitian government’s annual budget is $1 billion, more than half provided by foreign assistance. The largest single source of foreign investment, $2 billion, came from Haitians working abroad last year. A windfall of locally produced wealth could pay for roads, schools, clean water and sewage systems for the nation's 10 million people, most of whom live on as little as $1.25 a day.

“If the mining companies are honest and if Haiti has a good government, then here is a way for this country to move forward,” said Bureau of Mines Director Dieuseul Anglade. “The gold in the mountains belongs to the people of Haiti,” he said.

“And they need it.”

Until now, few Haitians have known about this buried treasure. Mining camps are unmarked, and the work is being done miles

up dirt roads near remote villages, on the opposite side of the country from the capital.

But US and Canadian investors have spent more than $30 million in recent years on everything from exploratory drilling to camps for workers, new roads, offices and laboratory studies of samples. Actual mining could be under way in five years.

“When I first heard whispers of this I said, ‘Gold mines? There could be gold mines in Haiti?’” said Michel Lamarre, a Haitian engineer whose firm, SOMINE, is leading the exploration. “I truly believe this is our answer to taking care of ourselves instead of constantly living on donations.”

On a rugged, steep Haitian ridge far above the Atlantic, brilliant boulders coated with blue-green oxidised copper jut from the hills, while colourful pebbles litter the soil, strong indicators that precious metals lie below. The prices of precious metals have been volatile in recent years, with copper selling for about $8,000 per ton, silver at $30 an ounce, and gold at $1,600 per ounce.

Gold was last gathered in Haiti in the 1500s, after Christopher Columbus ran the Santa Maria onto a Haitian reef. Spaniards enslaved the Arawak Indians to dig for gold, killing them off with harsh conditions and infectious diseases. When the Spaniards learned of even more lucrative deposits in Mexico, they moved on.

Three firms are considering mining in Haiti, but so far only SOMINE has full concessions to take the metals out of the mountains. Those permits, for 31 square miles, were negotiated in 1996 under President Rene Preval and require the firm to hire Haitians whenever possible.

Duncan Taylor

good governance in place then the economy is under threat,” Taylor said.

Speaking about the proposed cruise port development project in George Town, however, Taylor implied that the UK did have concerns about that particular project and to get the FCO’s support things would have to change.

Although Bush has said he intends to go ahead with the deal with the Chinese and that the port will not need to be re-tendered, Taylor made it clear that, as things were, this was not a deal which had the backing of the UK. “To get that support the project would need to be put back in line with minimum international best practice standards," he added.

Trinidad in recession says Central Bank PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago –The Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank has revised its projections and is now reporting that the country had entered a technical recession at the end of 2011.

This is according to its recently released April Monetary Policy Report and Summary Economic Indicators bulletin.

In this bulletin, the Central Bank reported that economy growth for the twin-island republic had declined by 2.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011, (October 1 to December 31, 2011) following a decline by the same amount in the third quarter (July 1 to September 30, 2011). This conforms to the classic definition for a recession as countries that experience two or more consecutive quarters of a declining gross domestic production (GDP) are generally defined as being in recession.

In the report, the Central Bank stated that the decline in the Trinidad and Tobago economy in the fourth quarter was driven by a “considerable reduction in activity in the energy sector of -7.8 per cent,” and while the non-energy sector increased by 1.2 per cent, this was “insufficient to offset the slippage in the energy sector.”

Across the energy sub-sectors declines were registered in the last three months of 2011 as the exploration and production sub-sector declined by 7.2 per cent mainly as a result of an 8 per cent drop in natural gas production; the refining sub-sector declined by 15.3 per cent with LNG output falling by 16.5 per cent and the production of natural gas liquids dropping by 16.1 per cent; the petrochemicals subsector declined by 10.4 per cent; and ammonia production fell by 13.3 per cent, while the output of methanol was lower by 2.4 per cent.

The central bank also reported further declines in the energy sector during the first quarter of 2012, including crude oil production that slipped to an average of 82,500 barrels a day, down from 96,900 barrels a day during the first quarter of 2011.

Natural gas production during has reportedly remained depressed so far throughout 2012 with a significant decline in liquefied natural gas in the first quarter by 15.4 per cent.

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Dudus confidant stuns court with graphic evidence Last week’s evidentiary hearing of confessed Jamaican crime lord Christopher Dudus Coke featured compelling evidence about the criminal pursuits of the man also called “Presi” and his link to prominent politicians and businessmen in Jamaica.

Coke’s former lieutenant, Jermaine 'Cowboy' Cohen, who is jailed in America, was on the witness stand for more than three hours when he told the United States Southern District Court in Lower Manhattan that businessman Justin O’Gilvie was Coke’s “chief finance minister”.

He also testified that he had intimate knowledge of Coke’s inner circle, describing the convict as worse than his father Lester Lloyd Coke alias Jim Brown.

Jim Brown died in jail in 1992 while awaiting extradition to the United States.

Cohen also gave graphic details of an attempt by Coke to kill him.

According to Cohen, Coke wanted to kill him because he had an altercation with an aunt of the former Tivoli Gardens don in which he punched her in the face.

Cohen said his altercation with Coke’s aunt sparked a feud between his men and Coke’s ‘soldiers’ which resulted in frequent shooting incidents in Kingston.

Cohen also said in 2004, politicians, Bruce Golding and Edward Seaga, and businessmen Saleem Lazarus and Justin O’Gilvie met with Coke in a bid to quell the feud among his loyalists and those of Dudus.

Christopher Dudus Coke

US prosecutors had used Cohen’s affidavit in building the case against Dudus.

The document filed by US prosecutors in the Southern District Court of New York gives extensive details about Coke’s rise and rule of the Shower Posse in his native Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston.

The document entitled ‘Declaration in connection with the sentencing of Christopher Michael Coke’ is a 26-page statement by a unidentified cooperating witness.

It covers the Coke Family, the Shower Posse organisation, acts of violence, firearms trafficking, cocaine trafficking and extortion.

The statement introduces the informant’s association with Jim Brown, Coke’s father as a bodyguard and his acquaintance with Jah-T and Dudus. He describes the Shower Posse organisation

Jamaican divorces on the rise as marriages fail KINGSTON, Jamaica – According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), 1,960 divorces absolute were granted by the Supreme Court for 2011.

More than a half (53 per cent) of divorces granted were to persons who had been married for between five and 14 years, stated the information in the most recent edition of the Demographic Statistics.

The data indicates that 78 per cent of the persons who got divorced were married for fewer than 20 years.

Previous reports published by STATIN show that 1,853 marriages ended in divorce in 2009.

And while the divorce rate continues to rise, the marriage rate is not keeping pace.

According to the STATIN data, 20,403 persons were married last year.

"This was 1,009 or about five per cent fewer marriages less than the 21,412 registered for 2009," the document noted.

The parishes with the highest number of marriages in 2011 were St James (3,579), St Ann (3,442), Westmoreland (2,981), Kingston and St Andrew (2,499) and St Catherine (2,416).

as one involved in murder, extortion, armed robbery, narcotics and firearms trafficking in Jamaica and United States.

The statement says that Coke provided certain services to the community, some arising out of Government contracts. For these projects , Coke, would deduct from the salaries a portion of funds as a contribution to the ‘system’. These funds were then used in illegal activities.

The document states that Coke also held treats and dances in the community and provided humanitarian services to community members on a needs basis in exchange for loyalty and goodwill.

The statement described Coke as a violent individual, who maintained a strict code of discipline and frequently ordered and participated in acts of violence against individuals who violated his code of conduct.

In one instance, shortly after the death of his brother Jah T, Coke approached an elder of the Shower Posse, known as “Stumbo” on Ebenezer Lane in West Kingston. Coke asked “Stumbo” if he was with or against him.

Stumbo appeared hesitant. Coke then fired a handgun over Stumbo’s head and shortly after Stumbo agreed to support Dudus.

Coke is also described as keeping an army of 200 gunmen loyal to him. These gunmen ranged in ages from 14 to 40 years. These men were paid as enforcers.

The document also says that these “Shotters” were deployed to campaign on behalf of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

These “Shotters” went door to door in different areas using intimidation at times to ensure Jamaicans voted JLP. The cooperating witness also detailed an incident in which an enforcer known as Screbeng committed a robbery without Coke’s permission. In the robbery Screbeng lost a firearm issued by the Shower Posse organisation. After the robbery, Coke spoke to Screbeng giving him a number of days to recover the firearm. Coke said Screbeng would have been killed immediately if it wasn’t for his past actions in freeing another gunman from police custody in the Kingston Public Hospital. Screbeng, however, did not accede to Coke’s request and was subsequently shot and killed in his home in Denham Town.

The statement also spoke to Coke ordering thugs to shoot up Maxfield Avenue, him ordering the murder of parents of men who did not send money from the US to fund his gun operations and Coke also participating in the shooting of a troublesome enforcer who had developed a crack cocaine and stealing habit.

Coke is also described as having an affinity for guns and ensured he had "heavy machinery". The document said that Coke favoured an assault rifle manufactured by HK which uses 7.62 millimeter rounds.

According to the informant, Coke referred to the gun as the "Bomber".

For handguns, Coke reportedly favoured the Glock and the Desert Eagle, but said that the Desert Eagle was too big to carry around.

Barbados Government to crack down on cash for gold scheme BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Barbados government will table legislation aimed at regulating the “cash for gold” phenomenon and the sale of other metals, Attorney general Adriel Brathwaite has said.

Speaking at the launch of Police week, Brathwaite said the new legislation would also provide for stiffer penalties for people who engage in the theft of copper.

He said that over the past several months, some of the most significant challenges have been associated with property crimes, burglary and theft on the street.

“As most Barbadians are now aware, much of this offending has been attributable to the cash for gold phenomenon. It is most unfortunate that what some people might have considered to be legitimate form of commercial activity, is now being exploited by those severely affected by the ‘easy money syndrome’ and dishonest dealers who conveniently turn a blind eye to the origin of gold and other metals.

Brathwaite said that the appropriate legislative adjustments would be made to ensure that greater penalties are attached to those who engage in the theft of metals.

Metal theft ban partially lifted in Anguilla THE VALLEY, Anguilla – The Anguilla government on Thursday announced the partial lifting of a ban on the export of scrap metal effective June 1, which had been imposed in a bid to fight metal thieves.

But, according to Wycliffe Fahie, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, scrap metal dealers will have to adhere to new conditions.

He said the all scrap metal currently in stock prior to June 1 may be exported subject to police and customs inspection and approval.

While a moratorium on the export of scrap copper will remain in effect, the export of scrap

aluminium will continue until August 31, after which there will be review, Fahie said.

He said that a timetable must be set up by all dealers indicating the times when metals are to be loaded on to containers so there can be a police and customs presence.

Fahie said that access to containers once loading begins will not be possible without the police and customs present.

A government press release called on the scrap metal industry to uphold the highest standards of honesty and integrity so that the industry remained an asset to the island and avoid triggering crime and bad press.

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HIGHLIGHTS

• Interpol searches for Canadian murder

suspect as dismemberment video surfaces • Romney cinches Republican 2012 Nomination in Texas

Edwards acquitted on 1 count, mistrial on others GREENSBORO, N.C. — John Edwards' campaign finance fraud case ended in a mistrial Thursday when jurors acquitted him on one charge and deadlocked on the other five, unable to decide whether he used money from two wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress while he ran for president and his wife was dying of cancer.

The monthlong trial exposed a sordid sex scandal, but prosecutors couldn't convince jurors the candidate masterminded a cover-up using about $1 million, and ultimately, jurors decided tawdry didn't necessarily mean criminal.

"While I do not believe I did anything illegal, or ever thought I was doing anything illegal, I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong and there is no one else responsible for my sins," Edwards said on the courthouse steps.

The jury's decision came on a confusing day. The judge initially called jurors in to read a verdict on all six counts, before learning that they had only agreed to one. About an hour later, the jury sent the note to the judge saying it had exhausted its discussions.

It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would retry Edwards on the other counts.

When the not guilty verdict was read, Edwards choked up, put a single finger to his lip and took a moment to compose himself. He turned to his daughter, Cate, in the first row and smiled.

When the judge declared the mistrial and discharged the jury, Edwards hugged his daughter, his parents and his attorneys.

Later, he thanked the jury and his family, even choking up when talking about the daughter he had with his mistress Rielle Hunter. He called Francis Quinn Hunter precious "whom I love, more than any of you can ever imagine and I am so close to and so, so grateful for. I am grateful for all of my children."

Then he started talking about his future.

"I don't think God's through with me. I really believe he thinks there's

still some good things I can do and whatever happens with this legal stuff going forward, what I'm hopeful about is all those kids that I've seen, you know in the poorest parts of this country and some of the poorest parts in the world that I can help them," he said.

The jury reached a verdict on count three, which involved to $375,000 given by elderly heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon in 2008. The other counts dealt with $350,000 Mellon gave in 2007, money from wealthy Texas attorney Fred Baron, filing a false campaign finance report and conspiracy.

Jurors did not talk to the media as they left the courthouse, and prosecutors did not immediately comment.

The trial recounted the most intimate details of Edwards' affair with Hunter, including reference to a sex tape of the two together that was later destroyed. It also rehashed the elaborate cover-up that involved his most trusted aide, the aide's wife, and Baron and Mellon.

It featured testimony that sometimes read like political thriller, as aide Andrew Young described meeting Edwards on a secluded road, and Edwards warning him, "you can't hurt me." There was also the drama of John Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, tearing her shirt off in front of her husband in a rage after a tabloid reported the affair.

Edwards was accused of masterminding a plan to use the money to hide Hunter from the media and from his breast cancer-stricken wife.

Prosecutors said Edwards knew of the roughly $1 million being funneled to former aide Andrew Young and Hunter and was well aware of the $2,300 legal limit on campaign donations.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Bobby Higdon used Edwards' own campaign rhetoric about the need for the rich and poor to have an equal say in elections — what he called uniting

the "two Americas."

"Campaign finance laws are designed to bring the two Americas together at election time," Higdon said.

"John Edwards forgot his own rhetoric."

Edwards' attorneys said prosecutors didn't prove that Edwards knew that taking the money violated campaign finance law. They said he shouldn't be convicted for being a liar, and even if he did know about some of the money, it was a gift, not a campaign contribution.

"This is a case that should define the difference between a wrong and a crime ... between a sin and a felony," attorney Abbe Lowell told the jury.

"John Edwards has confessed his sins.

He will serve a life sentence for those."

They also said the money was used to keep the affair hidden from his wife, not to influence his presidential bid.

Neither the Democrat nor his mistress took the witness stand during about four weeks of testimony.

Baron died in 2008 and Mellon, who is 101 years old, did not testify.

Edwards met Hunter in a New York hotel bar in 2006 and they spent the night together. She soon joined his campaign, and despite a lack of filmmaking experience, the politician arranged a $250,000 contract for her to make a series of behind-the-scenes documentaries from the campaign trail.

Word of the affair eventually got back to Edwards' wife. On Dec. 30, 2006, the day Edwards officially announced his bid for president at an event in his hometown of Chapel Hill, Elizabeth Edwards bumped into Hunter for the first time and became visibly upset, according to testimony.

She told her husband to get rid of her, and while Hunter officially left the campaign, John Edwards continued to meet with her on the road.

Hunter became pregnant in the summer of 2007. As Hunter's belly began to show that September, tabloid

John Edwards

reporters began tailing her. Within weeks, the Youngs had set up Hunter in a $2,700-a-month rental home not far from the Edwards estate in Chapel Hill, using the donated money.

In October 2007, a day after a tabloid reported the affair, Elizabeth Edwards blew up at her husband, according to testimony from former adviser Christina Reynolds. Edwards' now-deceased wife stormed away from her husband at a private hangar, collapsing into a ball on the pavement.

After composing herself in a nearby ladies room, Elizabeth Edwards ripped off her shirt and bra and screamed, "You don't see me anymore!" As staffers scrambled to cover her up and whisk her into a car, her husband boarded a jet and headed to a campaign event in South Carolina.

That December, in an attempt to contain the scandal, Young issued a statement claiming the baby was his.

Prosecutors presented phone records showing Edwards and Young — and Young and Baron — talked with each other that day and claimed they conspired to come up with the plan.

About a month later, Edwards' presidential campaign began to fold with poor showings in the early presidential primary states. Even before he officially suspended his presidential campaign at the end of January 2008, Edwards had begun wooing the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for a spot in their administration, perhaps as vice president.

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JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Interpol hunts Canada murder suspect as video surfaces OTTAWA — Interpol on Thursday joined an intense manhunt for a Canadian porn star suspected of the grisly murder and dismemberment of his boyfriend, as a video of the killing surfaced online.

Interpol posted the picture and profile of Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, who is being hunted across Canada over the killing, first brought to light when a human foot was sent to the headquarters of Canada's ruling Conservative Party.

A hand was later found in the mail at an Ottawa post office, and a torso was discovered in Montreal. Police believe the remains belong to a man who was dating Magnotta -- and that Magnotta is to blame.

Authorities say they believe the suspect, also known as Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov, may have fled the country.

"There is no country in the world that is not talking about him," Montreal police commander Ian Lafreniere told public broadcaster CBC, adding that police have evidence he fled North America.

"There's a lot of heat on him. There's a lot of pressure on him, so we believe that it's going to be hard for him."

The video circulating online shows a man repeatedly stab another man with an ice pick and dismember him, as a song from the soundtrack of the film "American Psycho" plays in the background.

Canadian Luka Rocco Magnotta

"It's a video of the murder," police told the daily Globe and Mail. The newspaper also reported that the footage showed acts of cannibalism.

Despite efforts to take it down, frustrated police said Thursday the gory 10 and a half minute video first brought to the attention of Canadian authorities by a Montana lawyer has kept popping up all over the Internet.

US civil litigation lawyer Roger Renville told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation he came across the video last Saturday, and informed police in the United States and Canada.

"What I saw in that video exceeds your worst nightmare. It's Jeffrey Dahmer-esque," he said.

When Renville spoke to Canadian police on Sunday, he said they were "very skeptical." A police officer "suggested that whatever I was seeing must be fake. And he suggested that special effects are pretty good these days and it'd be hard to tell if it was real or not," said Renville.

An investigation was launched Tuesday when a package sent from Montreal was partly opened by the receptionist at the Conservative Party office in Ottawa, who called police after seeing blood stains and being overwhelmed by the smell.

Hours later, a second suspicious package was intercepted by Canada Post at a nearby mail sorting facility. It "contained a human hand," said police.

Soon, the probe shifted to Montreal where a torso was discovered by a janitor in a suitcase in a pile of garbage. Police said the torso belonged to a white male.

It is believed that the victim and the suspect were dating.

"We're missing parts of the body so it's difficult at this time to positively identify the victim," Lafreniere told a press conference.

The investigation quickly brought police to a studio apartment overlooking an expressway in the neighborhood where the torso was found.

After combing it for evidence, the doors and windows were left open to air out the "pungent" smell of death, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

Bush and Obama on stage together share laughs WASHINGTON — All smiles, President Barack Obama shared the stage with former President George W. Bush, the predecessor he often inveighs against, in a friendly White House welcome for the unveiling of the 43rd president's official portrait.

Obama told Bush and an assembly of former Bush aides and Cabinet members on Thursday: "We may have our differences politically, but the presidency transcends those differences."

Bush, light-hearted and expansive, saluted artist John Howard Sanden for "a fine job with a challenging subject."

With George Washington over his shoulder, Bush jokingly noted symmetry in the lineup of presidential portraits: "It now starts and ends with a George W." It was a rare public appearance for the former president, who was joined by his wife, Laura, and other family members, including his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush.

Obama thanked Bush for his service to the country and said it takes someone who has served as president to understand the challenges that face the White House occupant.

"In this job, no decision that reaches your desk is easy, no choice you make is without cost, no matter how hard you try,

you're not going to make everybody happy," Obama said. "I think that's something that President Bush and I both learned pretty quickly."

What's more, he told Bush, "you left me a really good TV sports package. ... I use it."

The unveiling ceremony amounted to a reunion of old Bush-era hands, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Secretary of State Colin Powell, political adviser Karl Rove and Homeland Security head Tom Ridge. Before the ceremony, Obama and his wife, Michelle, hosted more than a dozen members of the Bush family for a private lunch.

The good humor and the well-wishes belied sharp political differences between the two men.

Obama is still bad-mouthing Bush's time in office, and it's not just because of the federal debt and the unfinished wars Obama inherited. Obama sees Bush's economic ideas as the same as those of his current rival, Republican Mitt Romney, so he lumps them together.

Still, the political reunion put aside any campaign rhetoric.

Obama has never run against Bush, although it was easy to forget that during his 2008 contest with Sen. John McCain, when Bush's tenure was so often Obama's target.

A CBC reporter, who was let in by the building superintendent, said he saw blood stains on a bed mattress where police say the victim may have been killed, around a bathtub drain, and on other furniture.

Only two months ago, Magnotta wrote in his last known public comments on a blog: "It's not cool to the world being a necrophiliac. It's bloody lonely."

Police have not said whether there was evidence of sexual assault on the victim.

Several websites describe Magnotta as a washed-up porn star and hustler, who allegedly posted videos online of himself torturing kittens.

Online reports also said Magnotta once dated Karla Homolka, who was convicted in 1991 of manslaughter following a plea bargain in the rape and murder of two teenage girls and her sister.

Homolka had claimed in testimony that helped send her husband Paul Bernardo to prison for life that she was abused and an unwilling accomplice to the murders.

But videotapes of the crimes later surfaced showing that she was a more active participant than she had claimed.

She was released from prison in 2005 and moved to Montreal.

In a 2007 interview with a Toronto newspaper, Magnotta denied knowing Homolka, who is reportedly now married with three children.

Guards strike, inmates set free at Norway prison OSLO- Convicted sex offenders and violent criminals were let loose from a Norway prison this week when guards went on strike, forcing authorities to free 52 inmates, officials said.

"Some of these are prisoners convicted for violence, drugs, economic crime and sex crimes," Harald Aasaune, the manager of the Bjoergvin prison outside Bergen, said on Friday.

"Bjoergvin is an open prison, but still, many of them are sitting in relatively long sentences," he added. "I don't think this has ever happened before."

Four of Bjoergvin's prisoners were released on probation while 48 were granted a five-day furlough as guards joined other public workers on strike.

State workers in Norway, whose rapid economic growth stands out in a troubled continent, went on strike for the first time in 28 years on Thursday after pay talks broke down, shutting schools, child care centres and other public institutions.

The indefinite strike initially affected up to 30,000 of the 600,000 people employed by the central and local governments but it is expected to widen unless the two sides reach a settlement.

Norway's open prisons allow inmates to roam freely, primarily in a natural setting, as the Nordic nation's justice system focuses on rehabilitation over incarceration.

Violent criminals who pose a danger to society are not allowed in open prisons but even they, particularly toward the end of a sentence, are sometimes transferred to such facilities.

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WORLD NEWS

Romney clinches Republican 2012 nomination in Texas WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday with a resounding victory in Texas and now faces a five-month sprint to convince voters to trust him over Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

Although the race has been essentially over for weeks, Romney finally cleared the benchmark of 1,144 delegates needed to become the Republicans' presidential candidate after a long, bitter primary battle with a host of conservative rivals.

He will be formally nominated at the Republicans' convention in Florida in late August.

In a statement, Romney said he was humbled to win enough of Texas' 155 delegates to secure the nomination.

"Our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last three and a half years behind us. I have no illusions about the difficulties of the task before us. But whatever challenges lie ahead, we will settle for nothing less than getting America back on the path to full employment and prosperity," he said.

Romney endured serious threats

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney greets supporters during a campaign rally in Las Vegas, May 29, 2012.

from Republican opponents from Rick Perry to Rick Santorum to reach a goal that his late father, former Michigan Governor George Romney, fell short of achieving -- winning his party's stamp of approval as its presidential candidate.

It is always difficult to unseat an incumbent president and Romney is

Russian colonel convicted of spying for US MOSCOW - A retired Russian military officer has been convicted on charges of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to 12 years in prison, the counterintelligence agency said Thursday, the latest in a raft of espionage cases that come amid tensions between Moscow and Washington.

A court has ruled that retired Col. Vladimir Lazar will be sent to a highsecurity prison and stripped of his military rank, the Federal Security Service, or FSB, said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Lazar purchased several computer disks with more than 7,000 images of classified maps of Russia from a collector in 2008 and smuggled them to neighboring Belarus, where he gave them to an alleged American intelligence agent.

The FSB said the maps could be used for planning military operations against Russia. Lazar had served with the General Staff of the Russian armed forces in Moscow before his retirement in the early 2000s.

The FSB did not specify when the Moscow City Court's verdict and sentence were handed down. Prosecutors first reported charges against Lazar in April.

Russian state television broadcast brief footage from the courtroom, showing the gray-haired, bespectacled Lazar sitting in a cage.

Earlier this month, a court in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg handed an eight-year prison sentence to Alexander Gniteyev, a defense company worker accused of passing information about Russia's latest missile, the Bulava, to a foreign intelligence agency.

And in February, Lt. Col. Vladimir Nesterets, who oversaw missile tests at the Plesetsk Launchpad in northern Russia, was convicted on charges of providing the CIA with secret information on new missiles and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

The series of spy trials come as U.S.-Russian relations have soured over U.S.led NATO missile defense plans for Europe, which Moscow sees as a potential threat to its nuclear forces, and other disputes.

Vladimir Putin, re-elected to a third term in March, had taken a strongly antiAmerican posture during his campaign, accusing Washington of staging the mass protests against his 12-year rule in an effort to weaken Russia.

He has snubbed the Group of Eight Summit in Chicago earlier this month, a move interpreted by many as an expression of his annoyance about the U.S.

considered the underdog. But with the economy staggering along, polls are close.

All indications are that Americans face the possibility of a cliffhanger election in November that will be decided by relatively small percentages of voters in as many as a dozen battleground states, such as

Ohio, Florida and Virginia.

The former Massachusetts governor now faces a lengthy to-do list to gird for his duel with Obama, from picking a vice presidential running mate to raising hundreds of millions of dollars for a national campaign.

In the immediate weeks ahead, his goal is to bolster his case that Obama has been ineffective in handling the sluggish U.S. economy and hostile to job creators.

This argument will move soon to the energy industry, which Romney thinks Obama has bungled by not ramping up domestic production of oil and natural gas.

Romney in weeks ahead will turn to Obama's 2010 healthcare overhaul.

The U.S. Supreme Court is to decide in late June on the constitutionality of the law's requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance.

Romney has vowed to repeal the law if elected, citing it as an example of too much government under Obama. He has faced criticism from Republicans for the healthcare overhaul he developed for Massachusetts that Obama has called a model for revamping the U.S. system.

Pope’s top aide at centre of Vatican controversy Amid all the rivalries and gossip exposed by a growing Vatican crisis, Pope Benedict's deputy Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has emerged as the chief target of an unprecedented campaign of leaks.

The publication of embarrassing details about men he has appointed or moved out and projects he has promoted or opposed suggests a concerted effort to force him out of his post as secretary of state, or Vatican prime minister.

Benedict ruffled feathers in 2006 by choosing the theologian and canon law expert to head the Vatican bureaucracy known as the Curia, which is normally run by an experienced papal diplomat.

A series of mishaps embarrassing the pope and Bertone's increasingly authoritarian management style finally prompted his critics to launch the campaign to discredit him, according to Vatican insiders.

"It's all aimed at Bertone," said a monsignor in the Curia who sides with his gregarious boss. "It's very clear that they want to get rid of Bertone."

Exactly who is behind the murky leaks campaign is still a matter of speculation; but Vatican watchers suspect the miffed "diplomatic wing", including Bertone's still influential predecessor Cardinal Angelo Sodano, is involved.

Bertone has also frustrated some Curia officials by exerting more control over their access to the pope and slighted some Italian prelates by getting involved with local politicians, a task normally reserved for national bishops conferences.

Some commentators see the crisis as the start of jockeying for power after Benedict dies. "The majority in the next conclave is really what is at stake," the daily La Stampa wrote.

With criticism of Bertone increasing, Benedict made a rare declaration of support for his deputy and other close aides on Wednesday.

"I would like to renew my trust and my encouragement to my closest collaborators and all those who every day, with faith, a spirit of sacrifice and in silence help me to perform my ministry," he said at his weekly public audience.

Benedict opted for a trusted colleague in 2006 when he named Bertone, his former deputy at the Vatican's powerful doctrinal office, to the post overseeing the Curia bureaucracy in Rome and the Vatican's embassies abroad.

The cardinal was supposed to run the Vatican shop while Benedict, now 85, devoted his time more to doctrinal issues and writing a three-book theological study of Jesus Christ.

Bertone hinted early on that internal management was not his main interest, saying soon after his appointment that he wanted "to be secretary of the Church more than of the state."

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Haiti will take 30 years to reach middle income status, says U.S. oďŹƒcial OTTAWA - It will take Haiti the better part three decades to become a middle income country on par with its Caribbean island neighbour, the Dominican Republic, says the top U.S. official on the file.

But Thomas Adams, the State Department's special co-ordinator for Haiti, told The Canadian Press that "realistic" estimate should not be seen as daunting to countries like Canada that are heavily invested in helping the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, still struggling after its devastating 2010 earthquake.

Nor should it deter investors, who are crucial to Haiti's long-term recovery, Adams added, as long as the country builds credible democratic institutions.

"There is no reason why Haiti can't become a middle income country. But because they're starting so low, it's going be to be 25-30 years even if they have good economic growth," Adams said in an exclusive interview, after two days of meetings in Ottawa with various government officials.

"It's not a quick fix. These problems in Haiti - their educational system, their health system, cholera, the infrastructure - these aren't quick fixes," he added.

"It's good to be realistic. That's not to say we're not making progress each year ‌ But overall, you're not going to see a Haiti the way you'd like it for a while."

Forty years ago, Haiti was slightly ahead of the Dominican Republic economically, said Adams, with 20 large American corporations setting up their Caribbean headquarters there. The two countries share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

Adams sees economic growth for Haiti in textiles, agriculture and tourism.

"Haiti needs private investment. All the donor money, as generous as it is - and I think Canada and a lot of countries have been very generous - isn't enough to fix Haiti."

The U.S. and Canada, said Adams, remain in lock-step when it comes to helping Haiti recover from the devastating January 2010 earthquake that left 300,000 dead and displaced 1.5 million. Canada has pledged more than $1 billion to Haiti, making it the second largest aid recipient after Afghanistan.

That co-operation extends to co-ordinated messaging of Haiti's political leaders, to break the political paralysis of the last year - a crisis that has raised serious questions about the country's ability to stave off corruption and govern itself effectively.

That crisis appeared to ease earlier this month when President Michel Martelly swore in a new prime minister, Laurent Lamothe, whose predecessor resigned in February after barely four months on the job.

The turmoil rendered Haiti's government rudderless and left billions of dollars of donor pledges in limbo.

"That's pretty much over," said Adams. "There's a truce between the president and the parliament. It seems they're willing to work together. The president has confidence in the new prime minister."

With Lamothe confirmed, parliamentary amendments will pave the way for elections of senators and local officials, as well as paving the way for reforms of the court system, said Adams.

Throughout it all, the Canadian and U.S. governments have continued to "give co-ordinated messages on some sensitive topics."

The underlying message can be boiled down to this: reign in the corruption and work together politically.

"That's one of our constant messages," Adams explained.

"We don't say, if you're not going to do X, Y, and Z we're going to cut off all of your aid. But we do say,

and Canada says, and everybody else says, over time businessmen and donors are going to go elsewhere if you're not seen as making your best efforts to curb corruption to bring in the rule of the law and be democratic.

"I think they're hearing that."

Diane Ablonczy, Canada's junior foreign affairs for the Americas, said Haitians are "crying out for leadership" so Canada is urging its leaders to step up and provide it.

"We are really urging the new government as its formed to emphasize and really roll up its sleeves and emphasize the need to deliver results for strong institutions in Haiti."

Adams also lauded Canada's former governor general, Haitian-born Michaelle Jean, as a key player in that co-ordinated communication effort with Haiti's leadership.

Jean, now the UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti, travels to Haiti again this week, for meetings will political leaders. She'll also take part in events to highlight programs that help curb malnutrition and poverty.

Earlier this month, Jean laid bare her frustration with the pace of change in her native country during a recent speech in Ottawa to government officials and non-governmental organizations.

"The aid and handout system has become kind of a business model, a scheme used by some to wheel and deal as it generates opportunities for embezzlement and corruption," Jean said the text posted on her website.

"It can't go on like this."

Adams said that's the message the U.S., Canada and other allies continue to deliver to Haiti.

"We're on the same message too. Again, cut the chaos," he said. "That's all we're saying there: come on guys, let's keep our eye on the ball here."

Diplomats expelled as Annan tells Assad to stop the killing Syrian diplomats were expelled from countries around the world as former United Nations boss Kofi Annan presented an ultimatum to Bashar alAssad in Damascus.

Australia, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Spain all threw out Syrian diplomats in a coordinated move to escalate pressure on Mr Assad after the massacre of at least 108 people, mostly women and children, in the town of Houla.

And in Damascus, UN Arab League envoy Mr Annan told the Syrian president to implement a ceasefire "not tomorrow, now".

Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr announced late on Tuesday afternoon that Syrian chargĂŠ d'affaires Jawdat Ali and another diplomat would have 72 hours to leave Australia.

He said the move was the most effective way of sending a message of revulsion to the Syrian government over the Houla massacre.

In the United States, the state department said it had given Syria's top diplomat in Washington, Zuheir Jabbour, 72 hours to leave the country.

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland described the massacre as indefensible, vile and despicable and said it was clear what a full investigation of the

People gather at a mass burial for the victims killed during an artillery barrage from Syrian forces in Houla

killings in Houla would show.

"It's going to show that these were regime-sponsored thugs who went into villages, went into homes and killed children at point-blank range, and their parents, and that the responsibility goes right back to the Assad regime," she said.

"We hold the Syrian government responsible for this slaughter of

innocent lives."

UK foreign secretary William Hague said Syria's charge d'affaires and two other diplomats in London had a week to leave.

Meanwhile, Mr Annan met Mr Assad in Damascus after a series of talks with Syrian officials.

Mr Annan said he reinforced his message that the six-point peace plan

and ceasefire brokered in April must be implemented immediately.

"We are at a tipping point. The Syrian people do not want the future to be one of bloodshed and division.

Yet the killings continue and the abuses are still with us today," Mr Annan said.

Mr Annan said he "conveyed in frank terms the grave concern of the international community about the violence in Syria, including the recent shocking events in Houla".

He appealed to Mr Assad's armed opponents also to cease acts of violence.

He said Mr Assad had also condemned the killings in Houla. But the Syrian government has denied any role and blamed Islamist "terrorists".

In Paris, French president Francois Hollande said the use of armed force could be possible, but that it had to be carried out under UN auspices.

"It is not possible to allow Bashar al-Assad's regime to massacre its own people," Mr Hollande told France 2 television.

"Military intervention to end the crisis in Syria cannot be ruled out if it is backed by the United Nations Security Council," he said.

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HIGHLIGHTS

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Device to inject a variety of drugs without needle READ ON PAGE 40

Oil headed for biggest drop since 2008 NEW YORK — The price of oil is headed for its biggest monthly decline since December 2008.

Oil has dropped more than 16 percent so far in May, erasing all of its gains for the year. That's helped lower gas prices and provided a little financial relief to cautious consumers.

Prices are falling on expectations that the world won't use as much oil this year as previously thought.

Europe's financial crisis is the most immediate concern, but there have been plenty of signs of weaker demand. Benchmark U.S. crude fell $2.94, or 3.2 percent, on Wednesday to finish at $87.82. It's now down 11 percent from Jan. 1.

Oil rose near $110 per barrel in February because of the potential for conflict between Iran and the West. Those tensions have eased somewhat, and the market's focus has turned to weak spots in the global economy.

The month started with so-so U.S. jobs numbers.

Other U.S. economic data have been mixed and gasoline consumption has dropped for 62 straight weeks. Meanwhile, China's manufacturing sector is slowing down. The U.S. and China are the biggest oil consumers in the world.

Earlier this year, energy economists mostly agreed that world oil demand would hit a new record in 2012, probably around 89 million barrels per day.

But with demand not growing in China and declining in the U.S., those expectations are starting to change.

"I wouldn't be surprised if demand was lower this year," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic

Energy & Economic Research.

That could be the case in Europe. Experts worry the 17 nations that use the euro will fall into recession. Europe consumes about 16 percent of the world's oil.

Fears about Europe's financial stability sent ripples through world markets Wednesday. Major stock indexes slipped 1 percent to 2 percent. The European Commission fanned those concerns by reporting that economic confidence has plummeted this month to the lowest level in two and a half years.

The euro fell near a two-year low against the dollar, helping to push oil prices even lower. Oil, which is priced in dollars, tends to fall as the dollar rises and makes crude barrels more expensive for investors holding foreign money. Brent crude, which is used to price oil varieties that are imported into the U.S., fell by $3.21 to end at $103.47 per barrel in London.

Traders have seen this show before. This is the third consecutive May where oil has plunged, in part because of similar concerns about European debts.

Oil fell 9.9 percent in May of last year and 14.1 percent in May 2010. Jim Ritterbusch, an independent oil trader and analyst, said it's a coincidence that the month has become known for tumbling oil prices.

A number of one-time factors moved oil prices over the past few years, he said, including last year's Libyan rebellion, the 2011 release of emergency oil supplies by the U.S. and other industrialized

countries, fighting in Nigeria and fears over Iran's nuclear program. In the past two years, oil recovered from its swoon in May and ended the year higher than it started.

"Who knows, maybe that will happen again this year," Ritterbusch said.

Drivers hope not. A gallon of regular unleaded has dropped by 31 cents since peaking in the first week of April. U.S. retail gasoline prices fell by a penny Wednesday to $3.626 per gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Experts see gas falling to at least $3.50 by July 4.

Drivers aren't rushing to use more of the cheaper gasoline, however. MasterCard SpendingPulse said that motorists bought less gasoline last week, even though it cost about 13 cents per gallon less than in the same week last year. People are driving fewer miles and getting around in more fuel-efficient cars.

And gas is still 90 cents more expensive than at this time in 2010.

Other futures prices also declined Wednesday.

Natural gas fell by 6.7 cents, or 2.7 percent, to end at $2.418 per 1,000 cubic feet. Natural gas has dropped by 32 cents in the past four trading days.

Analysts said prices are falling after investors cashed in on futures contracts that jumped 44 percent since April 19.

Heating oil lost 6.9 cents to end at $2.7398 per gallon while wholesale gasoline lost 4.83 cents to finish at $2.8582 per gallon.

NYC proposes ban on large sodas at restaurants NEW YORK — Want to super-size that soda? Sorry, but in New York City you could be out of luck.

In his latest effort to fight obesity in this era of Big Gulps and triple bacon cheeseburgers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing an unprecedented ban on large servings of soda and other sugary drinks at restaurants, delis, sports arenas and movie theaters.

Drinks would be limited to 16 ounces, which is considered a small at many fast-food joints.

"The percentage of the population that is obese is skyrocketing," Bloomberg said Thursday on MSNBC. He added: "We've got to do something."

It is the first time an American city has directly attempted to limit soda portion sizes, and opponents again accused the three-term mayor of creating a "nanny state" and robbing New Yorkers of the right to choose for themselves.

But city officials said they believe the plan — expected to win approval from the Bloomberg-appointed Board of Health and take effect as soon as March — will ultimately prove popular and push governments around the U.S. to adopt similar rules.

"We have a crisis of obesity," said city Health Commissioner Thomas

Farley. "People often go with the default choice, and if the default choice is something which is very unhealthy and is feeding into that health crisis, it's appropriate for the government to say, 'No, we think the default choice should be healthier.'"

The soft drink industry responded with scathing criticism, even as the administration said it felt certain the companies could simply trim back their offerings from 20-ounce bottles to 16ounce bottles — reversing a trend that has been under way for decades. In the 1950s, McDonald's offered only one size for soft drinks: 7 ounces, city officials said.

Coca-Cola called the ban an "arbitrary mandate."

"The people of New York City are much smarter than the New York City Health Department believes," the company said in a statement. "New Yorkers expect and deserve better than this. They can make their own choices about the beverages they purchase."

The ban would apply only to sweetened drinks over 16 ounces that contain more than 25 calories per 8 ounces. (A 12-ounce can of Coke has about 140 calories.) It would not affect diet soda or any drink that is at least half milk or milk substitute.

Various size cups and sugar cubes are displayed at a news conference at New York's City Hall, Thursday, May 31, 2012. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing a ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks in the city's restaurants, delis and movie theaters in the hopes of combating obesity, an expansion of his administration's efforts to encourage healthy behavior by limiting residents' choices.

Nor would it apply to drinks sold in supermarkets or convenience stores, unless those businesses primarily sell foods meant to be eaten right away. Businesses would face fines of $200 per failed inspection.

City officials said some calorieheavy drinks such as Starbucks Frappuccinos would probably be exempted because of their dairy content, while the Slurpees at 7Eleven wouldn't be affected because the stores are regulated as groceries.

The Porse Pajun

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Device may inject a variety of drugs without using needles Getting a shot at the doctor’s office may become less painful in the nottoo-distant future.

MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, highpressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle. The device can be programmed to deliver a range of doses to various depths — an improvement over similar jetinjection systems that are now commercially available.

The researchers say that among other benefits, the technology may help reduce the potential for needlestick injuries; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that hospital-based health care workers accidentally prick themselves with needles 385,000 times each year. A needleless device may also help improve compliance among patients who might otherwise avoid the discomfort of regularly injecting themselves with drugs such as insulin.

“If you are afraid of needles and have to frequently self-inject, compliance can be an issue,” says Catherine Hogan, a research scientist in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and a member of the research team. “We think this kind of technology … gets around some of

MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, high-pressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle.

the phobias that people may have about needles.”

In the past few decades, scientists have developed various alternatives to hypodermic needles. For example, nicotine patches slowly release drugs through the skin. But these patches can only release drug molecules small enough to pass through the skin’s pores, limiting the type of medicine that can be delivered.

With the delivery of larger protein-based drugs on the rise, researchers have been developing new technologies capable of delivering them — including jet injectors, which produce a highvelocity jet of drugs that penetrate the

skin. While there are several jetbased devices on the market today, Hogan notes that there are drawbacks to these commercially available devices. The mechanisms they use, particularly in spring-loaded designs, are essentially “bang or nothing,” releasing a coil that ejects the same amount of drug to the same depth every time.

Now the MIT team, led by Ian Hunter, the George N. Hatsopoulos Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has engineered a jet-injection system that delivers a range of doses to variable depths in a highly controlled manner. The design is built around a mechanism called a Lorentz-force

actuator — a small, powerful magnet surrounded by a coil of wire that’s attached to a piston inside a drug ampoule. When current is applied, it interacts with the magnetic field to produce a force that pushes the piston forward, ejecting the drug at very high pressure and velocity (almost the speed of sound in air) out through the ampoule’s nozzle — an opening as wide as a mosquito’s proboscis.

MIT-engineered device injects drug without needles, delivering a highvelocity jet of liquid that breaches the skin at the speed of sound.

The speed of the coil and the velocity imparted to the drug can be controlled by the amount of current applied; the MIT team generated pressure profiles that modulate the current. The resulting waveforms generally consist of two distinct phases: an initial high-pressure phase in which the device ejects drug at a high-enough velocity to “breach” the skin and reach the desired depth, then a lower-pressure phase where drug is delivered in a slower stream that can easily be absorbed by the surrounding tissue.

Through testing, the group found that various skin types may require different waveforms to deliver adequate volumes of drugs to the desired depth.

BlackBerry maker RIM sinks, but patents and network have value WATERLOO, Ontario — Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry, is in steep decline. The company, once the crown jewel of the Canadian technology industry, is now worth 1 percent of Apple's market capitalization. One way for RIM to stop the downward tailspin: It could sell itself to a competitor or financial firm. But who would step up to buy RIM —and why?

Late Tuesday, the company said it expects to post an operating loss for the current quarter, a sign that BlackBerry sales are falling even faster than analysts expected. On Wednesday, the company's stock hit its lowest level since 2003, the year RIM went from making two-way e-mail pagers to smartphones.

The stock has fallen 93 percent since their peak in 2008. Since then, the BlackBerry's dominance as the smartphone for on-the-go business people has been eviscerated by Apple Inc.'s iPhone, and more recently, by phones running Google Inc.'s Android software. Research firm IDC says BlackBerrys now account for 6.4 percent of the global smartphone market, a third of what they had two years ago.

In that time, the company's financial performance has suffered. RIM reported a 25 percent revenue decline in the latest fiscal quarter, to $4.2 billion from $5.6 billion. For the full fiscal year that ended on March 3, it earned $1.2 billion, or $2.22 per share, on revenue of $18.4 billion.

That's down from net income of $3.4 billion, or $6.34 a share, on revenue of $19.9 billion in fiscal 2011.

RIM issued the dire warning about its business Tuesday, adding that it will lay off a "significant" number of employees.

Still, the company is defiant. Chief executive, Thorsten Heins, says he can turn things around with the help of fresh smartphone software. Heins joined RIM four years ago and was most recently its chief operating officer. He replaced co-CEOs Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis in January after the company lost tens of billions in market value.

"My charter from the board of directors is very clear: long-term value creation with RIM," Heins told The Associated Press in an interview at the company's headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, earlier this month.

Analysts give RIM only a slight chance of coming out of the crisis. To hedge its bets, the company has hired bankers to look at its options. It's not actively looking to sell itself, Heins said, but it wants to be prepared.

Michael Walkley at Canaccord Genuity believes most of the company's value lies in the monthly fees it gets from phone companies in exchange for running the systems that deliver email and Web pages to BlackBerrys.

RIM has 78 million users connected to this system, but Walkley estimates that only 20 million are corporate and government users who are likely to stick around because of the communications security RIM provides. The rest are consumers who will jump to competing phones, he believes. That business is worth about $2.75 billion to a competitor, Walkley wrote in a research report Wednesday.

The other major component of RIM's value is its patent portfolio. The company had an early scare in U.S. patent courts in 2006, when it was forced to pay $612.5 million to a small company founded by

an inventor who had patents on wireless e-mail delivery. Since then, it's filed for thousands of patents to use as a defense against future suits.

Patents on wireless technologies exploded in value last year, as Apple and Microsoft Corp. started suing makers of phones that run Google's Android software. Countersuits followed. A consortium that included Apple and RIM bought the patents of a defunct Canadian maker of telecommunications gear, Nortel, for $4.5 billion last year. That compares with the $1.13 billion Nortel's once-prominent wireless networks business fetched in 2009.

As a counter-move, Google bolstered its own patent portfolio by buying Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., a U.S. phone maker with only slightly better prospects than RIM, for $12.5 billion.

Where does that leave RIM? Christopher Marlett, the CEO of MDB Capital, said RIM's patents are worth more than $1 billion, and could be worth as much as $4 billion if a bidding war develops between Apple, Google, Microsoft Corp. and perhaps Samsung Electronics Co. "It's a question of how aggressive they get," Marlett said. His firm is an investment bank that focuses on intellectual property, including patents.

Walkley puts the value of RIM's portfolio at $2.5 billion, excluding the patents RIM bought from Nortel and shares with Apple, Microsoft and other buyers.

RIM has $2.1 billion in cash, but Walkley discounts this completely, since the phone business will likely start using up cash soon, and downsizing will require severance payments. That means the email network and the patents comprise RIM's entire value at $5.25 billion, by his estimate.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

Page 41

Delano Williams exudes confidence ahead of Olympic trials

LOCAL NEWS

Rashard Goddard of Cable and Wireless presents rising sprint star Delano Williams with a Blackberry Torch shortly before he departs the TCI for Jamaica, where he is attending school and training. Looking on at left is Edith Skippings, President of the Turks and Caicos Amateur Athletics Association (TCAA).

Read more on pg 42

Little League Baseball to start soon

By Vivian Tyson

The Turks and Caicos Islands Sports Commission is laying the framework for the commencement of a country-wide little league baseball tournament to encompass all the primary schools in the country starting with Providenciales.

Head of the Sports Commission, Alvin Parker, who made the disclosure, last week, said that the kick-starting of the league was triggered by a container shipment of baseball and softball gear, made possible by US donor.

Parker said that the Sports Commission, for the past three years, had been trying to establish a little league baseball tournament in the TCI but was unsuccessful to resources. However, he said now that the well-needed gear was donated, the programme would now take off.

“We made several attempts at it. The first year we tried and we found out that we had more kids than equipment, and for that reason the programme died out. The second year we were able to muster a little more equipment and we didn’t have enough kids and teachers at the time, so again, we couldn’t get things together and the programme died out for a year or two.

“This year we travelled to Charlotte, North Carolina where we visited Myers Park Little League Baseball Programme, and we pretty much partnered with Myers Park and the community there for them to assist us with equipment, and we were able to get about $50,000 worth of used equipment donated to us,” Parker said.

He said that there was enough gear to dispatch across the country, so that students would get themselves familiar with the game of baseball well enough to play in competitions.

While the TCI has a softball association, it is without a baseball association to govern the sport, but Parker said that was about to change, as the Sports Commission would be moving with

photo shows budding baseball and softball players posing the dozens of the sporting equipment at the Downtown Ball Park

alacrity to establish such a body, while working closely with Softball Association Head, Godfrey Been. Coach of the Predators Softball team, Shanella Forbes, is to coordinate the little league programme.

“Godfrey Been and myself are heading this project. He would continue to govern softball, while creating this baseball association. We also established contacts with some baseball coaches there (Charlotte) and very shortly we are going to have some baseball coaches come down here to assist us with training, and also to host seminars with all the NGBs in the Turks and Caicos, on the recruiting process, to pretty much bring them up to speed on what needs to happen and what it takes to get in a US college or any US institution on an athletic scholarship,” Parker said.

Conch Shack demolish Northern Star 11 – 3

In the meantime, Forbes said that she was very excited to have been given the task of streamlining the programme. She would be working with two age groups – 4 to 7 and 8 to 10.

“It is something that I wanted to do, I love kids, I like being around kids. Kids are more aggressive; they want to play the game; they want to be out there, and they are willing to learn,” she said.

She said that the equipment donated by the Myers Park Programme would assist a great deal.

“I need the bats, and I need balls, and a lot of these equipment like the helmets, gloves, mitts – all of them are going to be a lot of help. We hope to start the league; I will be sending letters to every school in Provo – black, white whatever – doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, we are going to get everybody together,” Forbes said.

the game would be close as they scored for AFC Academy .

The Captain Marvin’s Women’s Beach Soccer league has one round of games left before the championship will be decided. The Pink Mermaids who are still undefeated will play The Men’s Beach Soccer League Jean Guerrier (5), Robert Valmyn against the Blue Marlins in two weeks completed its second round of (3) Mackinson Davilmar (1) and time in the championship decider. games last weekend as AFC Andre Turner scored for the Conch The Mermaids dispatched the Great National moved to the top of the Shack and Richard Long added a White Sharks 7-1 and the Marlins table with a 8-4 win against AFC consolation goal for Northern Star. secured the spot in the final with a 9-5 Academy . The Conch Shark also In the second game AFC National win against the Purple Pirates. recorded an impressive 11-3 victory left it until late to pull away from AFC The Mermaids put in another over the defending champions Academy . National took an early 4-0 impressive team performance as Northern Star. lead but the Academy side pulled it Kadine Delphin scored six of her Northern Star held a slender 2-1 back to a 5-4 deficit going into the teams goals. Yarileny De la Cruz lead after the first period with goals final period. James Rene, Michael scored the final goal and made three from matt Green and Haroon Swaby, Laird, Luis Turbyfield each scored assists as the Sharks lost their fifth however the Conch Shack responded twice and Wildens Delva and Myrohn game in a row. Jessica Lange, who well and found the net with ease Pereira found the back of the net for worked tirelessly for her team scored for the remainder of the match as the National team. Herby Magny (2), a consolation goal for the Sharks. they ran out comfortable winners. Frandly jean and Anell Super ensured

The second game promised to be exciting as both the Pirates and the Marlins were fighting it out for second position and with it a place in the grand final. Both teams appeared to be evenly matched but it was the Marlins who claimed the win, largely as a result of better finishing in front of goal.

On far too many occasions the Pirates wasted good goal scoring opportunities or shot wide or high.

Sarah Cenary (4), Amelie Speer (3) and Waldine Pierre (2) scored for the Marlins and Tina Hinds (4) and Ruth Francois (1) were on target for the Pirates.

The final round of group games takes place this weekend as teams will hope to put in a good performance before the grand finals on the 10th June.

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LOCAL NEWS SPORTS LOCAL

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

Wahoos Go Unbeaten to Take Out Heineken Tag League

The spring season of the Heineken M i x e d Tag Rugby League finished in fine style at Finals Night last Thursday, with the players battling out some excellent games that were certainly worthy of the occasion.

The Wahoos had gone through the entire season unbeaten, with 12 wins and just two drawn games out of their 14 regular season matches preceding their tight win over the Turtles last week in the first round of the playoffs. They had to wait to see who their Major Semi-Final opponents would be, as the Red Mist took on the Harriers for the right to play in that match. Outstanding play from both teams meant a very tight score line in a match that eventually went the way of the Harriers by 6 – 3.

Navy Seals and the Try Harders competed at the same time for a place in the other Major SemiFinal against the Jolly Ranchers, and this one was even closer. The Try Harders edged out to a

reasonable lead only for the Seals to pull it back to 6 – 6 and with only the final play of the match remaining the game looked destined for overtime.

Franco Mompremier had other ideas though and ran a brilliant line to score a great individual try and club the Seals out of the tournament.

So it was that the Wahoos took on the Harriers, and they were made to work hard before eventually running away with the match to record a slightly flattering 18 – 4 victory and book their place in the final. The following match finished with a similarly inflated score line of 16 – 5 in favour of the Jolly Ranchers over the Try Harders, whose heroics in their earlier match had possibly left them fatigued and struggling with the speed of the Ranchers’ play.

The Grand Final, therefore, was a replay of the same fixture from the previous season and saw the top two teams from the League deservingly

Delano Williams exudes confidence ahead of Olympic trials

By Vivian Tyson

Turks and Caicos Sprint prodigy, Delano Williams, is ramping up his preparation for the June 22 to 24 British trials for a place on the 200m team to London Summer Olympics to be held from July 27 to August 12.

Williams revealed to journalists before departing the Turks and Caicos for Jamaica where he attends school and trains, that he had been preparing himself in cool conditions so as to acclimatize to the London environment. However, he said that he had to be balancing his training with his studies, as he was currently sitting his external examinations.

“I am actually going back to school right now, external examinations still in progress.

Going back to Jamaican, I would be training hard. My coach (Neil Harrison) said even if I arrive in Jamaica at night I would still need to train,” Williams said.

Outside of a top three finish at the trials would be disappointing for Williams, and while two of the three main athletes that he would be competing against posted better times that he did this year, Williams believes that he could upstage them in the trials.

“I am really looking to come in the top three. I have confidence in myself; I know I can do it. I am still getting into it. I ran 20.83

in 0.5 wind in Bermuda, in the cold, at the Carifta Games. I felt at the time that I could go faster but I did not have anybody there to push me, so I will go to London and give it my best shot,” Williams said.

In the meantime, telecoms company LIME, presented Williams with a Blackberry Torch and free calls from Jamaica to the Turks plus free Blackberry service. The presentation was made by Rashard Goddard at the Providenciales International Airport on Thursday, just before Williams departed.

“LIME Turks and Caicos has always been supportive of our youths, whether it be academically or through athletics, and that is why we are presenting Mr. Delano Williams with this Blackberry Torch, as a token of our appreciation so that you can keep in contact with family and friends in the Turks and Caicos, and as an added bonus, all calls home and Blackberry service will be free, ” Goddard said.

In response Williams said: “I am really excited about it. All calls are free! I am going to call home a lot, get closer with my mom, get closer with my family because the next few weeks I have something big to do. I will also keep in touch with all the people of the Turks and Caicos that I am really close with, because I want the country to be behind me when I go to the trials the next three weeks.”

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

battle it out to claim the trophy. Well organised defence from both teams meant opportunities were tough to come by, but when they did the Wahoos were the more able team at converting them into points, and they took a commanding 6 – 1 lead to the half-time break.

The large crowd of spectators urged on the Jolly Ranchers even more in the second half, and they took heart from that as they came out firing against the overwhelming favourites. A hat-trick to Callis Jones and good interplay between Simon Taylor and his team-mates had the Ranchers right back in the contest. However, second half tries to Lincoln Outten and Dean Griffiths, who were both extremely dangerous throughout the season, kept the buffer there for the Wahoos and they held on with courageous defence to deservedly become the 2012 Spring Heineken Tag League champions.

The TCIRFU wishes to sincerely thank all of those who took part in the League, it was indeed a great success. A prizegiving ceremony will be held during the annual President’s Dinner and Oval Ball on Friday the 8th of June at Brayton Hall. Those wishing to attend can contact Jamie Tait, Rugby Development Officer, at rdo@rugby. tc

Quality Supermarket Kings in T20 semis

Quality Supermarket Kings secured a semifinal berth when they dismissed Jam Turk as the HAB Group/Gansevoort sponsored T20 Competition continued on Sunday May 27, at the Downtown Ball Park.

After losing the toss, Jam Turk was asked to take first knock by Quality, and posted 149 runs for the loss four wickets from their allotted 20 overs.

Kevaughn Brown led the Jam Turk batting charge with an unbeaten 37 runs, which comprised two 4s and a 6. He was supported by Glen Campbell, who was also unbeaten on 33 runs, which included with five 4s. Bowling for Quality Kings,

Colin Williams, Robert Johson, Earl Henry and Nagarajan Kuthalingham took one wicket each.

In reply, Quality Kings overhauled in just 16.4 overs, reaching 150 runs for the loss of five wickets. Earl Henry was the top-scorer with 56 runs, which included six 4s three 6s and Lloyd Lynch, who supported with an unbeaten 29 runs that included five 4s.

Bowling for Jam Turk, Glen Campbell claimed 2 wickets for 16 runs, from 2 overs and Dane Richie took 2 wickets for 26 runs from 3.4 overs.

Earl Henry was named man of the match.

Green Dragons singe the competition for Sailrock U11 boys title

The Sailrock U11 Boys league total to St. Jour’s twelve.

Technical Director Matthew ended last weekend with the Green Dragons finishing as champions Green was delighted with the success and the Orange all Stars as of the league. It is great to see so many young players in this group Runners up. improving their standard of play.

The Dragons needed just one win to secure the title but with This is our biggest age group with wins against Red Devils and Purple over sixty children playing so this Pirates their loss against the All means we have a solid base for years Stars did not make a difference in to come. I would like to thank all the final standings. Orin Campbell the players, coaches, referees and scored the winning goals in both his sponsors for making this league so team victories but Jamie Grey scored successful” Following the days play trophies for the All Stars in their win against were given out to the following the league champions. The All Stars managed a 0-0 draw with the Pirates players. League Winners – Green before finishing with a win against Dragons; Runners Up – Orange All the Yellow Strikers which secured Stars; Orange All Stars MVP – Jamie Grey; Green Dragons MVP – Orin them second place.

In the other key games Shadown Campbell; Purple Pirates MVP – St. Jour ensured he claimed the top Bradley Ayer; Red Devils MVP goal scorer award as he scored twice – Joovens Joseph; Yellow Strikers in the Purple Pirates 2-0 win against – MVP Sebastien Turbyfield; Blue the Blue Marlins. He was pushed marlins MVP - Junior Paul; Top all the way by Joovens Joseph who Goalscorer – Shadown St. Jour (12 scored on two occasions for the Red goals); Most Improved – Jack Parley; Devils to end up with eleven goals in and League MVP – Shadown St. Jour.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

HIGHLIGHTS

Jack Warner cleared of football bribery READ MORE BELOW

Usain Bolt runs his worst 100 metres in three years A flat-looking Usain Bolt raced his worst 100m in three years here on Friday, still managing to claim victory after he recovered sufficiently from a dreadful start and a limp drive phase.

The Jamaican double Olympic sprint champion clocked 10.04 seconds, some distance off the 9.7sec time he was seeking to build on his season-opening 9.82sec earlier this month.

A false start played its part, throwing a distinctly average field into automatic play-safe mode.

Into a -0.8m/s headwind, Bolt grimaced his way from the 50m mark and did enough to beat home veteran Kim Collins of St Kitts and St Nevis (10.19sec) with American Darivs Patton third (10.22).

"I haven't run that badly since a meet in Canada in 2009," said a noticeably downbeat Bolt, also the world record holder in both the 100 and 200m (9.58 and 19.19sec).

"That's reality, a very bad day at the starting blocks. When I was in the back warming up, I did some starts and I was flying.

"But I ran out and didn't get going,

couldn't generate speed in middle of race so I had to work hard to get some speed up."

Elsewhere on the track, defending Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo of Kenya fired a broadside at South African pretender Caster Semenya with a convincing victory in the women's 800m.

Jelimo, also the newly-crowned world indoor champion but who missed almost three years of competition after her Beijing Games triumph through injury, dominated the race to win in 1min 58.49sec, with Semenya in second in 2:00.80.

"Of course everybody wants to do their best because it is so close to the Olympics," said Jelimo, whose kick at the bell opened up too much air between her and the chasing pack.

"I do not run against anybody, including Caster. I just focus on myself.

I want to try and do even better next week."

Semenya, with doubts over her real gender long buried in her past, left her push for the line too late.

Sir Viv blasts West Indies batting NOTTINGHAM – Legendary West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards has blasted the Caribbean side’s disastrous batting in the second Test at Trent Bridge and criticized newly recalled wicketkeeper/batsman Denesh Ramdin for having “deteriorated in such a big way”.

West Indies slumped to 61 for six in their second innings at the end of the third day Sunday and went on to lose the match by nine wickets yesterday.

“It was immature, and these individuals need to think about the requirements to play at this level,” Sir Viv told BBC’s Test Match Special. “They must be given credit for the way they bowled, but the batters did not come to the party and need to sort their heads out where shot selection is concerned.”

Not for the first time in the series, West Indies’ top order collapsed after England had secured a 58-run first innings lead at tea. Ramdin, recalled after two years in the wilderness, has failed to make a meaningful contribution in three of his four innings.

“Ramdin just looks out of sorts. When he first came into the game I felt he was a huge prospect,” said Sir Viv, who never lost a series as captain.

“For some reason, he has deteriorated in such a big way. Just the way he is walking back, he looks like a totally lost guy.”

Ramdin averages 22.28 after 44 Tests.

Sir Viv, who scored 8 540 from 121 Tests at an average of 50, said vice-captain Kirk Edwards’ technique was lacking. “The flaws in Kirk Edwards’ technique . . . he’s looking all over the place. His confidence has been totally destroyed,” Sir Viv said.

The South African, who shot to fame when she won the world title in Berlin in 2009 but was then sidelined for 11 months during a probe into her true gender, settled in at the back of the pack and only kicked with 150m to go.

By that stage, Jelimo had kicked and there was too much for Semenya, now coached by Mozambique running legend Maria Mutola, to make up.

"I'm quite happy with my preparations for the Olympics. I now just need to build up more speed for competition," said Semenya.

There was more South African disappointment when double amputee Oscar Pistorius raced a horrendous 400m in his ongoing bid to nail qualification for the able-bodied Olympics.

The 25-year-old South African, who runs with carbon-fibre artificial 'blades', came in a sorry eighth and last in 47.66sec, 2.54sec off American winner LaShawn Merritt and far away from the 45.70 he needs to run to ensure his participation at the London Games.

"The time was so bad!" Pistorius

said. "I don't know what to say. I can run that fast at the end of a tough training session or straight after getting up out of bed in the morning."

The stand-out field performance was from Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie, who made his return to competition in impressive style by setting a new world lead and meet record of 5.90m in the pole vault in blustery conditions.

"It was a great start to the season," beamed Lavillenie. "I'm not unbeatable, but it's a good response to (Bjorn) Otto", who had set the previous world lead of 5.83m on Wednesday.

Jamaica's two-time Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown won the women's 200m in 22.38sec, and American Wallace Spearmon the men's equivalent in 20.14sec.

American Dexter Faulk claimed the 110m hurdles in an impressive 13.13sec.

And Barbora Spotakova gave home fans something to cheer about, the Czech world record holder throwing a world lead and meet record 67.78m to win the women's javelin.

Jack Warner cleared of football bribery PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Former vice president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and a senior member of the coalition Trinidad and Tobago government, Austin “Jack” Warner, has been told that he has no case to answer with respect to allegations of bribery purported to have taken place here last year during the campaign for the FIFA presidential elections.

“On the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), no further action can be taken in this matter,” Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs informed the Police Service Commission on March 21.

He said the matter which was alleged to have occurred on or about May 10, 2011, was investigated by the police and the DPP advised the matter can proceed no further.

The PSC has since informed Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Rowley by letter dated May 7.

In an immediate reaction Warner told television viewers that he was he was happy and felt vindicated while praising Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar for showing confidence in him.

There had been several calls for the Prime Minister Persad Bissessar to dismiss Warner from the Cabinet after the bribery allegations first surfaced.

Last May, Warner invited the heads of various Caribbean football associations to meet with FIFA presidential candidate Mohammed Bin Hammam here and at that meeting several of the delegates reported that over one million (US) dollars had been distributed to them in brown envelopes.

In June 2011, the Opposition wrote Commissioner Gibbs about the possible breach of the laws of Trinidad and Tobago, including the Exchange Control Act, the Customs Act and generally the criminal law relating to bribery.

The move by the Opposition followed the suspension of Warner and Bin Hammam by the FIFA Ethics Committee based on allegations that they were involved in a bribes-for-votes campaign.

A secret report by FIFA’s Ethics Committee, which was published in England’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, noted there was “comprehensive, convincing and overwhelming evidence” to support claims that Warner and Bin Hammam colluded to pay the bribes.

Warner and Bin Hammam were suspended from FIFA pending the completion of the scheduled hearing of the Ethics Committee, but Warner subsequently resigned and his charges were dropped while Bin Hammam was found guilty and banned for life from FIFA.

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

HIGHLIGHTS

Mayweather will be housed in a standard administrative segregation cell no larger than 7-by-12 feet, with a bunk, stainless steel toilet and sink, a steel and wood desk with a permanently bolted stool and two small vertical windows with opaque safety glass.

READ: FLOYD MAYWEATHER TO TRADE MANSION FOR VEGAS JAIL CELL

Usain Bolt records fastest time for three years An hour and a half before the main event of the Golden Gala meeting here on the north side of the Italian capital last night Usain Bolt was paraded around the track on a motorised buggy, wearing an Italian football shirt. A fate-tempting lap of honour?

Not likely.

The Lightning Bolt was less than electrifying on his first appearance of the season in Europe last Friday night, having to dig deep to get past Kim Collins to salvage victory in the 100m at the Golden Spike meeting at Ostrava in the Czech Republic. It was his slowest time outside of heats and semifinals. Last night, when the gun fired, the world's fastest man did not get off to the best of starts but he made up for it big time.

Bolt trailed his Jamaican compatriot Asafa Powell by a quarter of a stride but he was level by halfway and he proceeded to surge decisively clear.

From the worst of his 100m times six days previously, he catapulted to his best of times for three years.

Bolt crossed the line in 9.76sec, with Powell a distant second in 9.91sec and Christophe Lemaitre third in 10.04sec. It was the Jamaican phenomenon's joint-fastest time since he clocked his world record 9.58sec at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009. He also clocked 9.76sec in Brussels at the end of last season.

The 25-year-old has gone quicker on only three occasions, all of them world record performances. It was an emphatic statement two months out from the London Olympics. Anyone suspecting that Usain might have shot his bolt will have to think again. "I came out here not to prove anything to the world but to tell myself that I've still got it and I'm working my way from here," Bolt said. "I knew I could do it but since I've been in Europe I've not been sleeping

Usain Bolt set the world record in the 100 meters with a time of 9.58 in Germany in 2009.

regularly, so after Ostrava I decided that I would make sure I started going to bed early. I felt extremely well, extremely great tonight, so it's

coming back."

If Bolt was feeling on top of the world, having also broken the meeting record (which stood at 9.77sec to Tyson Gay of the US), so was Robbie Grabarz. The former Cambridgeshire county hockey player showed a glimpse of world high jumping class in the indoor season with a clearance of 2.34m at Wuppertal in Germany. Last night the 24-year-old jumped 2.33m to seal victory over a world-class field with an outdoor personal best by 5cm – and also the highest jump in the world this summer.

"I've been jumping well in training but I've been trying to keep a lid on it, which is why I've started my season late," Grabarz said.

There was also a British victory in the long jump, Greg Rutherford maintaining his early-season form with 8.32m in the final round. Sadly, there was no Roman showdown between Bershawn "Batman" Jackson and Dai "The Riddler" Greene in the 400m hurdles. Greene, the world champion from Wales, withdrew from the field because of a virus and Jackson finished second to Javier Culson of Puerto Rico.

Perri Shakes-Drayton was a non-starter in the women's 400m hurdles because of a hamstring injury while there was cause for concern from the triple jump pit, where Yamile Aldama landed awkwardly on her second attempt. The 39-year-old world indoor champion finished fourth with 14.65m but was unable to take any further attempts. She will have a scan on a damaged shoulder back in London today.

There was an encouraging 64.73m throw for third place in the javelin for Goldie Sayers and in the final event of the night Dwain Chambers ran the opening leg for a far from full strength Great Britain 4x100m relay team, who finished second to Canada.

Floyd Mayweather to trade mansion for Vegas jail cell LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather Jr. may be one of the richest prizefighters ever.

But the unbeaten five-division champion who goes by the nickname "Money" is about to trade life in a posh five-bedroom Las Vegas home for almost three months in a cell about one-third the size of a small boxing ring.

Mayweather surrendered Friday before a Las Vegas judge who sentenced him for his guilty plea to reduced domestic battery charges in a hair-pulling, arm-twisting attack in September 2010 on the mother of three of his children.

As a high-profile inmate, police say Mayweather, 35, probably will serve most of his time in a small solo cell. There is floor space for sit-ups and push-ups. But Mayweather's stint in the high-rise Clark County Detention Center is expected to limit his ability to train for another fight.

At least for the first week,

Mayweather will be segregated for his protection from the other 3,200 inmates in the downtown Las Vegas facility, police Officer Bill Cassell said this week.

Mayweather won't have a TV in his cell, and Cassell said televisions in jail dining areas probably won't carry the June 9 pay-per-view WBO welterweight fight between Mayweather rival Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand Garden arena.

Mayweather's lawyers, Karen Winckler and Richard Wright, have said they didn't plan to seek another postponement or delay.

The judge sentenced Mayweather on Dec. 22, then later allowed him to remain free long enough to fight Miguel Cotto on May 5 in Las Vegas.

Mayweather was accompanied into the ring by entertainers Justin Bieber and 50 Cent before winning the Cinco de Mayo weekend bout and a guaranteed $32 million. Cotto was

paid $8 million.

Saragosa said when she sentenced Mayweather that she was particularly troubled that he threatened and hit exgirlfriend Josie Harris while their two sons watched. The boys were 10 and 8 at the time. The older boy ran out a back door to fetch a security guard in the gated community.

However, the judge accepted the deal that had Mayweather plead guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery and no contest to two harassment charges.

Prosecutors dropped felony and misdemeanor charges that could have gotten Mayweather 34 years in prison if he had been convicted on all counts.

Mayweather's jail stay will be capped at 87 days, because the judge gave him credit for three days previously served. It could be reduced by several weeks for good behavior, Cassell said Thursday.

Mayweather also was ordered to complete a yearlong domestic violence counseling program, 100 hours of

community service and pay a $2,500 fine.

Harris and the three children now live in Southern California. Her lawyer, Charles Kelly, declined to comment Thursday.

Mayweather will be housed in a standard administrative segregation cell no larger than 7-by-12 feet, with a bunk, stainless steel toilet and sink, a steel and wood desk with a permanently bolted stool and two small vertical windows with opaque safety glass.

The cell will be a far cry from Mayweather's nearly 12,800-squarefoot, two-story mansion on a cul de sac in an exclusive guarded community several miles south of the Las Vegas Strip. Mayweather's home has two garages, five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and a swimming pool and hot tub overlooking a golf course.

Mayweather could have about an hour a day out of his cell with access to an exercise yard, Cassell said.

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WORLD SPORTS

Kevin Pietersen quits international limited-overs cricket England batsman Kevin Pietersen has announced his retirement from international limited-overs cricket.

The 31-year-old, who made his debut in 2004, played 127 one-day internationals and 36 Twenty20 internationals.

"I think it is the right time to step aside and let the next generation of players come through to gain experience for the World Cup in 2015," he said.

"I still wish to be considered for selection for England in Test cricket."

Pietersen, who was player of the tournament in England's World Twenty20 triumph in the Caribbean in 2010 with 248 runs in six matches at an average of 62, had been expected to be at the forefront of the side again during this year's competition, which takes place in Sri Lanka from 18 September to 7 October.

But it has emerged that the ECB does not allow players to pick and choose between ODI and Twenty20 formats.

Pietersen said: "For the record, were the selection criteria not in place, I would have readily played for England in the upcoming ICC World Twenty20."

Kevin Pietersen

Hugh Morris, managing director of England Cricket, said the ECB was disappointed with the timing of Pietersen's decision, coming four months before the World T20.

"As the programming and planning for ODI and T20 format cricket are very closely linked, we have a selection policy that means that any player making himself unavailable for either of the one-day formats, rules himself out of consideration for both

formats," he said.

"The selectors will now replace Kevin in both the ODI and the T20 squads.

"Kevin is a world-class player and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his efforts and we look forward to his continued contributions to the Test match side."

Andrew Strauss was the last senior player to retire from ODI cricket, although he was not part of the

Twenty20 set-up.

In an interview with BBC Sport late last year, England spinner Graeme Swann said the 50-over international format should be scrapped.

Pietersen said he had considered the "intensity of the international schedule and the increasing demands on my body, approaching 32".

South Africa-born Pietersen, who has an English mother, has been one of the most successful England batsmen of recent times since he qualified to play international cricket by serving four years in the county game.

His 4,184 one-day international runs at an average of 48.14, puts him sixth in the all-time list of England batsmen, and he heads their T20 list with 1,176 runs at 37.93, the only England player to pass four figures in the shortest form of the game.

Pietersen's relationship with the ECB, which came under scrutiny when he resigned as England captain in January 2009 following a rift with then coach Peter Moores, was tested again this month after he was fined for criticising commentator Nick Knight on Twitter.

He scored 111 not out and 130 in his final two one-day innings, against Pakistan in Dubai in February.

Mickelson joins group Dennis Rodman trying to buy Padres sentenced in family court DUBLIN, Ohio - Phil Mickelson wants to be more than just a fan of the San Diego Padres. He wants to help buy the team.

Mickelson said he has a joined one of the five groups trying to buy the team from John Moores, the Padres' majority owner for the last 18 years. Mickelson is part of the group that includes four grandchildren of former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley - Kevin and Brian O'Malley, and their cousins Peter and Tom Seidler, the chief executive of Class A Visalia Rawhide. ''I've been talking to them about being involved with them, having an opportunity to invest in the team and being part of the ownership group,'' Mickelson said. ''I think it's a very good investment opportunity. More than that, it's opportunity to be involved in the community in San Diego, with something that gives the community a sense of pride. I feel like we can make the Padres a competitive team that can contend year in and year out, and we can do something for the community. ''It's something I've loved since I was a kid.''

The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported the involvement of Mickelson, a four-time major champion who was inducted this month into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Mickelson brings the O'Malley clan a local investor and of San Diego's greatest athletes.

San Diego's biggest baseball star - another lefty - is involved in another

group trying to buy the Padres. Tony Gwynn said last week he is joining the bid led by Thomas Tull, chairman and CEO of Legendary Entertainment.

Mickelson said he was asked to get involved in an ownership bid three years ago, but didn't feel it was a good fit. ''I think the O'Malley and Seidler family is the right group,'' he said. ''They want to enhance the community tie, and that's something I've wanted to be part of, as well. The tie between the community and the team has not been as strong as it has been in the past. I think there are some things where we can increase that relationship, the emotional tie with the community and the players.''

Moores' proposed sale of the team to Jeff Moorad collapsed in March after baseball owners refused to approve Moorad as controlling owner.

Moorad headed a group that in March 2009 agreed to a gradual takeover of the Padres. At the time, the deal was estimated to be worth around $500 million.

The Padres could be worth a few hundred million more this time, in light of the Dodgers being sold for a record $2 billion and the Padres' new TV deal with Fox. Moores owns 51 percent while Moorad's group owns 49 percent.

Asked about his proposed investment, Mickelson said only that it would be ''a lot,'' and that it would be a ''significant investment opportunity.''

ORANGE, Calif. Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman was sentenced in family court Tuesday to 104 hours of community service on four counts of contempt for failing to pay child support.

Court Commissioner Barry Michaelson also placed Rodman on three years of informal probation. The sentence includes the condition that Rodman pay current child and spousal support obligations. ''My suggestion is to use your talents as a motivator, as a fine, fine athlete and as a fine person to assist others in need,'' Michaelson told the retired basketball player.

The court hearing remained under way at late morning on other issues in the case. Rodman was present.

Mary Ann Noiroux, an attorney for Rodman's ex-wife Michelle, said in an earlier interview that Rodman could also be ordered to pay more than $800,000 in back child support.

Noiroux said Rodman also faces additional contempt charges for other missed payments, and another conviction could land him in jail.

Rodman's attorney, Linnea Willis, did not return calls for comment prior to the hearing.

Rodman - known for his wild behavior and Technicolor hair as well as his rebounding skills - married in 2003. His wife filed for divorce a year later. Since then, the couple has been feuding over custody and support of their two children, ages 10 and 11.

Rodman was found guilty of the counts of contempt last year for child support owed in 2009 and 2010.

His attorney has claimed he owes far less money. Court documents filed earlier this year indicated that Rodman was ''broke.'' His tax return from 2010 shows he earned roughly $150,000, but his financial manager said he owes significant amounts in back taxes.

She also said Rodman's alcoholism has tarnished his image and made it difficult for him to obtain corporate endorsements and other work.

Rodman currently pays about $4,500 a month in child and spousal support, said Jack Kayajanian, another attorney for Michelle Rodman who is focused on recovering the payments. ''My desire is not to put Dennis Rodman in jail. My desire is to shake the tree a little bit and get money for his children,'' he said.

Rodman was a bad-boy star of the Detroit Pistons and won three NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. He also played for the Los Angeles Lakers, and lived in California's affluent Orange County before moving to Florida. He was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame last year.

Rodman dated Madonna, was married briefly to Carmen Electra, and gave loud parties that led to frequent run-ins with the law when he lived in Newport Beach.

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Published by SUN MEDIA GROUP, Turks & Caicos Islands | Tel: 649.946.8542 | Fax: 649.941.3281

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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VOLUME 8 No. 22

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RUFUS IS NEW

PNP LEADER Website: www.suntci.com

Email: sun@suntci.com

Tel: 649-946-8542

Fax: 649-941-3281

www. twitter.com/suntci

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

Dr. Rufus Ewing became the new leader of the Progressive National Party (PNP) on Saturday June 2nd, defeating Queen’s Counsel Carlos Simons by six votes in what was one of the most keenly contested races in the party’s history.

The 44-year-old surgeon got 52 votes while 46 votes went to the 57-year-old Simons, who suffered his second loss in as many contests for PNP leadership, having been defeated by lawyer and former Speaker of the House of Assembly Clayton Greene at the party’s convention in August 2010.

An emotional Dr. Ewing told the media that while he was confident of victory, he was also mindful that Simons was a formidable opponent.

“I was confident, but I know lots of things could happen. You can only be as confident as much as you believe people will tell you that they would vote for you. But I know sometimes things are not always what they seem, so I had to keep that in the back of my head. One can’t ever be overconfident,” said Ewing.

Scores of PNP supporters turned out for the twoday convention which included a banquet at Occasions Ballroom at Airport Hotel, Providenciales, on Friday night, followed by a prayer-breakfast at the same location on Saturday morning and then voting at the party’s headquarters.

Ewing said he intends to hit the ground running as soon as he assembled his executive team, including naming his deputy later this week. He hinted that he would not make similar mistake as his immediate predecessor, Clayton Greene, who had to recant his decision of naming Albray Butterfield Jr., as his deputy, shortly after winning the party leadership two years ago.

“I would be tackling a number of things such as elections, the CFO Bill, the issues that deal with the VAT – those are some of the issues that people are looking for the leader to address, so we have to address them right now. We would be formulating the PNP’s position on those issues, and then we throw it across to our brothers and sisters in the PDM (People’s Democratic Movement), for them to join with us,” Ewing added.

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Dr. Rufus Ewing with his wife Dr. Dawn Perry and his father, Hon. Hilly Ewing, former Deputy Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands

MARIO HOFFMANN LOSSES APPEAL AT PRIVY COUNCIL

TCI RESIDENTS MUST PAY MORE TO CALL JAMAICA STORY ON PAGE 9

STORY ON PAGE 5

BILLIONS IN GOLD BURIED IN HAITI STORY ON PAGE 33

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Rufus Ewing is new PNP Leader ...Cont’d

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The former head of the Civil Service Association also noted also that he would also have to undertake immediate house-cleaning matters, such as reenergizing the base of the party and rally the wider Turks and Caicos to buy into the message that the PNP would be selling, so that the party would be successful at the polls tentatively set for this for this year, as announced by the United Kingdom Interim Administration.

“The immediate hurdles would be to deal with the party first and foremost. There are a number of issues, even surrounding this PNP building. We have to deal with party organization and party organizational structure, and energizing people across the Turks and Caicos, to get them back in the fold of the party.

There are a lot of persons who feel disconnected from the party, and so one of the hurdles is to get them back in, because a party is only as strong as those who support it. And so, organizing the party would be one of my goals this month,” Ewing asserted.

In the meantime, the new PNP Leader said that he would ensure that Simons plays a key role within the party as it revs up its election campaign machinery, emphasizing that his former party opponent still has a great role to play in the political entity.

“I wish him well, I he has a lot to contribute to this party, and I am going to make sure that, as an icon of this party, he assist us in winning the next general election,” Ewing said.

Simons, who was momentarily lost for words, said he was confident that Ewing would do a good job, and pledged his support for the party going forward.

Meantime, former director of the National Insurance Board (NIB) Trevor Cooke was voted as the PNP’s new National Chairman and PeterGaye Blake his deputy. Gordon Burton was returned as treasurer; Stanley ‘Boysie’ Taylor is the new Party Whip; while Justin Missick was voted the new Director of Public Relations.

Ewing, who is married to Guyanaborn Dr. Dawn Perry with whom he has a 16-year-old son, Stuart, was educated in Turks and Caicos Islands, Barbados, Jamaica and England.

A Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS), Dr. Ewing is the son of former Deputy Chief Minister Hon. Hilly Ewing and his wife Jane.

He is the brother-in-law of former Premier Galmo “Gilley” Williams, who is married to Ewing’s sister Althea. Dr. Ewing’s niece Deserie is married to former PNP Cabinet Minister McAllister “Piper” Hanchell.

According to his website, after the suspension of the TCI constitution and the imposition of direct rule from Britain, Dr. Ewing became frustrated by the policy direction of the Interim Administration and the manner in which policies and laws were being introduced and enacted, these policies having a significant negative impact on the lives of citizens in general and Civil Servants in particular.

Dr. Ewing considered resignation from the service in late 2010 but

decided to stay in the Service to help fight against the policies that he considered detrimental to the welfare of citizens and Civil Servants and to protect the rights of Civil Servants. In November of 2010 Dr. Ewing and a few Civil Servants formed a working group to revitalize the dormant Civil Service Association (CSA). This came to pass on January 6, 2011 with the election of the CSA’s management Council with Dr. Ewing as President.

The CSA under the Leadership of Dr. Ewing had ongoing negotiations and dialogue with the Interim Administration to prevent the implementation of policies which they thought were not in the best interest of Civil Servants and the country. The Administration’s failure to address fairly the issues of salaries, allowances, pensions and gratuities and redundancy

of Civil Servants lead the CSA to industrial action on many occasions and improvement of some benefits in the interest of Civil Servants.

In August of 2011, Dr. Ewing, frustrated by the actions of the Interim Administration led a one man demonstration against the Governor and his Advisory Council demanding their resignation and the imposition of a democratically elected government.

Just prior to this action Dr. Ewing submitted his letter of resignation to the Ministry of Health with an effective date of March 30, 2012. This gave him greater comfort and freedom to speak out against the injustices of the Interim Administration. Dr. Ewing continued his work with the CSA defending the rights of Civil Servants until his resignation from the Civil Service on March 30, 2012.

Beaches Turks and Caicos ordered to close for one week The world-famous Beaches Resort Villages and Spa on the island of Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands, has been ordered by health authorities to close and not take any new guests until June 9th because of the mystery virus that has plagued more than a dozen hotels in this high-end Caribbean tourist destination.

The temporary closure was ordered today Saturday June 2nd, following a number of high-level meetings between Beaches officials and a Government delegation and after it was reported that close to 60 guests at the hotel were affected by severe diarrhea and vomiting in recent weeks.

This action came at a time when Beaches was at full occupancy, with an estimated 2,500 guests, who are now either being transferred to other hotels in Providenciales or reimbursed for their vacation and going back to their countries of origin.

A statement from Beaches confirmed that the resort “experienced a very small number of cases” of persons affected by the illness.

The statement added: “We now have a fewer number of people affected by the illness. We continue to monitor the situation very closely and are working with the resorts and country’s healthcare professionals to ensure that health and safety practices are followed. Like other resorts on the island, Beaches Turks and Caicos has agreed to follow a recommendation by the TCI Ministry of Health not to accept NEW guests at the resort until Saturday, June 9, 2012 in order to undertake precautionary cleaning programs and break the 14-hour incubation of the illness.We advise guests booked to stay at Beaches Turks and Caicos over the next seven days to contact their travel agent or call 1-800-BEACHES (232-2437) as soon as possible in order to revise their booking. We apologize unreservedly for any inconvenience that this may cause and extend our thanks for your patience and understanding. We would also like to thank the TCI Ministry of Health for their cooperation."

Beaches Turks and Caicos is the

largest resort in the Turks and Caicos Islands, currently boasting 633 rooms and suites that are spread among the Caribbean Village, the French Village and the Italian Village. It has 16 restaurants and 12 bars and boasts one of the largest waterparks in the Caribbean. It is also the largest private sector employer in the country, with a staff of around 1250.

Last week, another high-end Turks and Caicos hotel, Grace Bay Club, whose guests have included Rihanna, Al Gore, Denzil Washington, Stevie Wonder, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, temporarily suspended new reservations after there were reports of diarrhea and vomiting among its guests. Operations there are now back to normal.

Meantime, the Ministry of Health and Education (MOHE) and Environmental Health Department (EHD) revealed that laboratory tests for ten individuals conducted at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) Reference Laboratory were confirmed as Norovirus and that investigations are ongoing.

A Government press release Saturday said Dr. Lisa Indar, Foodborne Diseases Manager at CAREC and Ms. Leslie Edwards, an Epidemiologist also from CAREC have arrived in Turks and Caicos Islands to help unravel the mystery virus which caused more than 150 persons to seek medical attention for gastroenteritis over the past six weeks.

Additional assistance is due to arrive shortly from PAHO in the form of two Environmental Health Officers with extensive experience working with the hotel industry, the statement added.

Norovirus is a highly contagious viral illness, which is common in outbreaks of gastroenteritis (diarrhea and vomiting) throughout the world. It can be rapidly transmitted from person to person, through contact with vomitus or feces of infected individuals, contaminated food or water, soiled surfaces, bed linens, and gym equipment. Other than supportive therapy, it usually requires little by way of medical interventions and usually resolves without incident.

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Mario Hoffmann loses appeal at the Privy Council

Salt Cay developer Mario Hoffmann recently lost his appeal before the Privy Council in London in which he had challenged certain aspects of the Sir Robin Auld Commission of Inquiry Report into corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Hoffmann had claimed, among other things, that Sir Robin’s findings, and the findings of fact that related to them, fell outside the Commissioner’s terms of reference. However, the Privy Council rejected the arguments advanced on behalf of Mr Hoffmann in respect of the procedural fairness of the inquiry and dismissed his appeal.

The matter was heard by Lord Phillips, Lord Brown, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr and Lord Dyson.

Hoffman was represented by Lord Pannick QC, Javan Herberg, QC and Naina Patel, while the Crown was represented by Phillip Havers QC and Howard Stevens, QC. Hoffmann is a wealthy Slovakian businessman.

He is, indirectly, the owner of over 90% of Postova Banka, a regulated Slovakian retail bank, and is the Chairman of its supervisory board of directors.

Since 1997 he has been a frequent visitor to TCI, having built a house there and spending 2 to 3 months there every year. Since 2000 he has been pursuing a project to develop, through a company called DEVCO, the island Salt Cay. To that end he has steadily acquired land on this island from the Government of TCI. Another Slovakian bank, J & T Banka, is a partner in this project. An important part of the project is the creation of a golf course.

The TCI Government, under the leadership of its premier, the Hon Michael Misick, granted to DEVCO the land on which the golf course was to be built, on a 99 year lease at a “peppercorn” rent. In August 2006 Salt Cay Golf Club was incorporated as the company that would own and run the golf club. 50% of the shares in this company were held

by Mr Hoffmann’s Cyprus based holding company.

The other 50% were given to a holding company of which Mr Chal Misick, a brother of the Premier, was the owner. In the following year, 2007, the Hon Michael Misick successfully applied to J & T Banka for a loan, made to himself and his wife, of US$ 6 million. Mr Chal Misick provided, and J & T Banka accepted, his 50% shareholding in Salt Cay Golf Club as security for this loan.

The Privy Council noted that findings made by the Commissioner in relation to the implications of these transactions formed the principal subject matter of Mr Hoffmann’s complaint. In particular objection is taken to the Commissioner’s rejection of Mr Hoffmann’s assertion that the land that was to be transformed into a golf course had no intrinsic value and the reasons given by Mr Hoffmann for taking Mr Chal Misick as a partner.

The Privy Council judges said that the Chief Justice rather than the Court of Appeal reached the correct conclusion as to the point at which the Commissioner and his staff must first have become aware of the significance of the part that Mr Hoffmann played in the story.

They stated: “The Commissioner focussed on Salt Cay as early as September 2008.

Furthermore the terms in which the Hon Michael Misick was examined by counsel to the inquiry on 15 January 2009 show that the latter was very well briefed about Mr Hoffmann and the role that he had played in respect of the Salt Cay development.

With hindsight, it would have been better and

Salt Cay developer Mario Hoffmann

fairer if the Commissioner had notified Mr Hoffmann, before the start of the oral hearing in TCI, that his conduct was a subject of the inquiry and that he was entitled to be represented at its hearings. (We) can, however, understand how it came about that he was not.”

The Privy Council ruling which was deliverd on May 23, 2012, stated: “It seems clear that the Commissioner and his staff focussed initially on attempting to obtain information from the members of the House of Assembly and the Cabinet Secretary, the Permanent Secretaries and under Secretaries.

The stated intention was that the Commissioner would then decide upon those whose conduct was the subject of the inquiry or who were implicated or concerned in its subject matter and afford them the opportunity to testify.

This plan was derailed by the obduracy of members of the Assembly in attempting to bring the inquiry to a halt by judicial review and in failing to respond to the Commissioner’s invitation to provide relevant evidence. This forced him to group the proposed oral hearings into stages. The first stage, unusually, involved calling those whose conduct formed the express subject matter of the inquiry, the members of the House of Assembly suspected of corruption.

The reason for this, as the Commissioner explained in his Report was that these oral hearings were necessary “in the main to secure full disclosure of interests from Ministers and other Members of the House of Assembly”.”

“It seems to (us) that, perhaps understandably having regard to the pressure that he was under and the difficulties that he was experiencing, the Commissioner had not at this stage turned his attention to the question of whether any developers fell within the scope of section 7(1) of the Ordinance.

It was only when Mr Hoffmann’s letter was read to the inquiry that the Commissioner, belatedly, appreciated that justice required that he should be afforded the opportunity to give oral evidence to the inquiry.

Is the fact that Mr Hoffmann was denied the

opportunity to take part in the first stage of the oral hearings a procedural shortcoming that should have led the Chief Justice to order that any adverse findings in relation to him should be removed from the Report, and that should lead the Board to make a declaration that he has been unfairly treated?

(We) think not. The findings that it has just made will stand as part of the record, but the Board agrees with the Chief Justice that overall Mr Hoffmann was fairly treated.”

The Privy Council Lords said they did not consider that, if Mr Hoffmann had been represented at the hearing of the evidence given in the first stage of the oral hearings, intervention by the lawyer representing him would have been likely to alter the overall import of the evidence given at that stage.

“Before the Court of Appeal his counsel gave examples of the questions that might have been posed to witnesses. They would have been largely designed to obtain confirmation of the evidence that he was subsequently to give in his statements. As the Court of Appeal observed, it is hard to see how this would have added much to the examination of the main protagonists already conducted by their own counsel.

The critical question is whether the Commissioner afforded, by his letter of 20 January, a fair opportunity for Mr Hoffmann to give oral evidence to the inquiry. The Board agrees with both the courts below that he did. Mr Hoffmann had, on his own evidence, spent about three months in TCI after the Commission of Inquiry had been set up. His letter of 12 January made it clear that he was aware of the allegations that his participation in the Salt Cay project involved corruption. Had he wished to give oral evidence the Board would have expected him to do his utmost to take advantage of the request to do so made in the letter of 20 January. He himself has given no explanation of why he did not do so,” the judges added.

“He has given no explanation for the delay between 20 January, when the letter was sent to him and 26 January, when Mr Katan responded on his behalf. Mr Katan’s explanation of the delay was that Mr Hoffmann’s schedule was planned well in advance and that it was not always possible to gain instructions from him immediately. That does not explain why Mr Hoffmann could not have corresponded more expeditiously with his lawyer, had he wished to do so, nor indeed does it state that he did not do so.

The reason given to explain Mr Hoffmann’s failure to comply with the request to give oral evidence was that “owing to pre-existing commitments it would be extremely difficult for him to attend before the Commission within the timetable provided”.

Without any evidence from Mr Hoffmann of the overriding nature of those commitments the Board agrees with the Court of Appeal that the proper conclusion on the evidence is that Mr Hoffmann effectively declined what was, on 20 January, a reasonable opportunity to give oral evidence at some point in the following two weeks.

Thereafter the Commissioner did all that fairness required by admitting lengthy written evidence from Mr Hoffmann, coupled with submissions from his lawyer both before and after the issue of a Salmon letter.”

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Where are businesses in Caribbean business?

BY SIR RONALD SANDERS

The countries of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), with the exception of Guyana and Suriname, are each experiencing severe decline in their economies. The small Leeward and Windward Islands are worst affected, and so too is Barbados.

Governments are struggling to find ways in which to spur economic activity that could produce growth. Meanwhile, unemployment and poverty are growing. Unemployment is highest amongst the youth, making for an alarming situation.

Presenting a lecture to students of the University of the West Indies recently, I received the greatest applause and nods of approval, when I lamented the fact that there were now many graduates of the University who were unable to find jobs that correspond to their level of qualifications, if they could find any jobs at all.

Many Caribbean countries are like pressure cookers, waiting to explode. Only migration and remittances from family abroad are easing the pressure. But, even these valves are not sufficient to relieve discontent completely.

In many cases, this has led to borrowing from local statutory bodies, such as national insurance and social security schemes, to fund capital projects and even to pay wages and salaries. Governments have also borrowed from local banks causing them to carry the greatest risk if there is a default.

A few governments have also borrowed from the Government of the Peoples Republic of China and while many of these loan agreements have not been made public but are said to be concessionary, they have added to the burden of national debt and will have to repaid in the future. Where is the Caribbean business community in all this?

They appear not to be involved at all. Indeed, in some CARICOM countries, the only involvement of the business community in the present difficulties is that some of them are seeking greater concessions from governments.

The recent Landell Mills report to CARICOM

Heads of Government on the restructuring of the CARICOM Secretariat points out that the regional private sector is “fragmented and divided” and many “key private sector players do not even bother to get involved”.

This situation is not good for the region or for the private sector. It is not governments that trade; it is businesses. Therefore, the business community throughout the region should have a keen interest in the meetings of CARICOM trade ministers and meetings of heads of government. The decisions they reach have a major impact on business and on the capacity of businesses to contribute to economic growth and development.

Yet, there are no regular and structured meetings between Caribbean governments and the Caribbean private sector. In other words, governments reach decisions with little or no input from the private sector which they all proclaim is “the engine of growth”.

It is telling that the member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union Commission regularly consult the private sector of their countries recognizing fully that the rules to which they agree, or set, are meant to facilitate businesses on which their economies depend for growth, employment and prosperity.

The Landell Mills report states what should be obvious to all: “The private sector’s views on what works and what does not and on where priorities lie would be invaluable”. For some reason, it does not appear obvious to many CARICOM governments.

They treat the private sector with suspicion.

Only Barbados has a system of structured consultations with the private sector in joint meetings with trade unions, but even these meetings are not attended by the “key private sector players”.

As the report says, the officials who attend these meetings “are often not business people themselves”.

The latter point suggests that serious business people see little point in engaging governments which fail to act on the proposals they put forward.

The report recommends “regular small and

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informal meetings, possibly over dinner. In our experience an informal arrangement is the best way of building up relationships and getting busy executives to open up on a freewheeling basis”.

There is merit in this idea provided it is done in an open and transparent manner. If not, it will lead to allegations of favouritism, discrimination and marginalisation from others who are not invited.

There should be no guessing about who is coming to dinner.

The report also dismisses the notion of structured meetings, including a Council of representatives of governments and the private sector. But such a Council is necessary and it would be well attended if it comprised Heads of Government and leading business figures from across the region. Both groups would want to be sure they are dealing with persons who can make and implement decisions.

Of course, businessmen will cease to attend meetings, whether it be small working dinners or a council, as soon as they get the first inkling that nothing is done as a result of the discussions.

How to achieve a higher level of confidence between governments and the private sector is a challenge. Each group needs the other if the economies in which they operate – and indeed the Caribbean Single Market – are to be advanced so as to create jobs, reduce poverty and to grow.

In 2009, as head of the Jamaican-based company, Grace Kennedy, Douglas Orane, told a regional private sector body: “The CARICOM region needs to go through a process of self transformation”. The vibrant Jamaican private sector is well placed to propose a basic plan for the regional business community’s involvement in, and contribution to, the region’s economic progress. With the help of the new Jamaica government, such a plan could be a basis for wider regional discussion, refinement and adoption at the regional level.

Businesses cannot be left out of business. *Sir Ronald Sanders is a business executive and former Caribbean diplomat who publishes widely on Small States in the global community.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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LOCAL NEWS

Police investigate internet robbery at major bank

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

The Financial Crimes Unit is investigation a case of cyber crime at one of the major banks in the Turks and Caicos Islands, after it was alleged that hackers gained access to an account and removed a substantial sum.

While this practice appeared not to be widespread, it has created some jitters within the banking sector, forcing some institutions to revisit their firewall internet banking system, since some believed that it could become a trend if not tackled in its early stages.

Up to press time, the police had not indicated a breakthrough or resolution in the matter. A spokesman for the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands

Police Financial Crimes Unit, said: "We can confirm that we have received a report from a banking institution that is currently being investigated by officers from the RTCI Police Financial Crimes Unit. However, the investigation is in its infancy and therefore we cannot discuss the particulars of this case, including the victims, at this stage."

The SUN also contacted President of the Bankers Association, Tony Faessler, on the matter, who said that he was also in contact with the police to fully learn of the incident, but up to press time, did not get a definitive statement as to their progress of investigation.

“I checked with all my other colleagues in the (Banker’s) Association, and asked if anybody had any issues, and then I contacted the

police, because one colleague did seem to have something, I don’t know what it was. He didn’t get into it. All he told me was that they had one particular issue, and that they had liaised with the police, and that it seemed to be settled,” Faessler said.

In the meantime, Faessler, who is associated with the Turks and Caicos Company Ltd., is warning banking institutions and clients to exercise all the care in the world in the wake of increasing technology which allows for accounts to be accessed from a phone or a computer.

“You read the media worldwide and you read about things like that (cyber crimes) around the world.

Hackers hacked into the Pentagon, they hacked into Microsoft, and hackers can hack in anywhere. There is no fail-safe system in the world,” he warned.

However, the Bankers Association Head believed that the financial institution system in the Turks and Caicos Islands is one of the most secured in the world as it relates to cyber attack, which is the reason there is negligible reporting of such incident.

“I have been living in the Turks and Caicos for some 32 years, and I have not come across any major cyber attacks whereby accounts (hacking) or identity theft happening on a large scale; really, for this whole time I have never seen that, so I believe our banks down here have pretty good firewalls; I think they are probably very well protected.

“Here (Turks and Caicos Banking Company Ltd. - a very small private bank - we have an excellent and fantastic firewall. Our accounting system is separated from our internet as a safety precaution, so nobody can hack it. And a certain time, whether day or night, we transfer data, so we are not really exposed at any given time (to cyber crime). But everybody might be different. Of course, you have other banks with online banking systems,” Faessler pointed out.

ree acres of Crown Land Police source said 186 applied on Grand Turk dedicated for National Memorial Park for severance package

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

A police source is refuting a recent statement by the police hierarchy that only 26 individuals from the police force applied for the Voluntary Severance Package, rather saying that the correct figure was 186.

Of the 186 persons who applied, the source said, 95 percent comprised police officers, while the remainder consisted of civilian staff which included all of the police records staff, as well as all of the civilian staff in headquarters in both Grand Turk and Providenciales.

Among those that were granted severance packages were Superintendent Ralph Doughty, Inspector Simon Talbot of the Marine Branch, Inspector Bennett Spring, Sergeant Terrence Thomas, Sergeant Rohan Ash, Constable Noel Thomas and Constable Damian Windsor.

Civilians Juanita skippings and Jean Been were also successful in their severance application bid.

The Voluntary Severance Scheme was introduced by Government in the bottom half of last year, as a vehicle that the Interim Administration said was not only to chop the sector to a manageable number but also to cut cost and made the sector more relevant to the needs of the public.

Approximately 700 persons from various sectors applied and about 400 were successful. At a press conference in Providenciales earlier this year, Head of the Civil Service, Patrick Boyle explained that not all who applied for the package would get it, since the Civil Service could not afford to get rid of the useful talent among its ranks.

He said also that some persons would be too expensive to get rid of, owing to the consideration that Government was operating under budget constraints.

The JAGS McCartney Memorial was built in 1980 by the People’s Democratic Party (PDM) on property leased from the Crown for the development of their Party Headquarters. Its location on Airport Road, made it visible to both residents and visitors to Grand Turk.

However, today, JAGS memorial has become less visible as a result of the airport being relocated.

Recognising the significance of the site, the expiration of the lease presented the opportunity for TCIG to support this valid initiative by mutating the property leased to the PDM Party in order to establish the JAGS McCartney Memorial site as a separate national institution and further, expanding it to create a National Memorial Park.

The 3-acre JAGS McCartney National Memorial Park will be a public space to remember and honour the courage and sacrifice of our war veterans and future national heroes. In approving the instrument for mutation, H.E. The Governor, Ric Todd expressed delight in this initiative and commented, “The expansion of the memorial site will not only improve the setting and capacity of the site but also strengthen the heritage value of the area”.

During discussions with the Government last year, Doug Parnell, then leader of the PDM, expressed full support of the Government’s proposal to expand the JAGS McCartney Memorial site to create a National Memorial Park. The Party also offered to enter into a Management Agreement with TCIG to assist with the maintenance and upkeep of the Park and to develop it into a national cultural centre of attraction and significance. Mr. Parnell noted, "As former Party Leader, the task had fallen on me to renegotiate the terms of our Party's existing lease over the property held in Grand Turk – the property which housed the remains of the late great, JAGS McCartney. I am delighted that we as a Party have come to such a historic settlement with the Turks and Caicos Islands Government. He belongs to all the peoples of these Islands and the establishment of the National Memorial Park signifies that we ALL recognizes him as a National Hero.”

CALL 946-8542 FOR MORE INFORMATION

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Slash in statutory boards coming

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

A number of statutory bodies are expected to become casualties under the Public Sector Reform Programme if they are ruled irrelevant to their intended purposes.

It is also ruled that some of these boards were weighing heavily on the public purse, while not delivering.

At news briefing at the National Environment Centre on Tuesday, May 29, to announce the launch of the programme, Chief Executive Officer for the Civil Service, Patrick Boyle, explained that while there will be amalgamations of some of the boards, certain abolitions are on the cards for others.

He said that the approximately 37 statutory bodies that currently existed were far too many, while explaining that the cutting of the ministries from nine to five would warrant the extinction of those bodies.

Boyle hinted also that some boards were abetting tardiness within the system, since they were facilitating payment for work which was not done.

“There will definitely be less statutory bodies (after the restructuring of the civil service). I said to you (media) before that statutory bodies cost too much. Too many people who sit on boards of statutory bodies just turn up to collect their stipend and actually do very little on the boards of these bodies. Many of the 35, 37 statutory bodies are not organizations of lots of people.There are statutory advisory boards that are here to advise government.

“And if you look at the previous ministry structure you would have had a number of these boards serving each ministry. Now that we are bringing the ministries together, it is entirely appropriate that we review what we are doing. Some of these boards, we will get rid of them in their entirety,” Boyle asserted.

He emphasized that under the restructuring programme, government would ensure that the core focus of these entities was to effectively serve the interest of the public, which he said was the main objective of government.

“We need to also make sure that

statutory bodies exist to meet the government objectives. There are too many statutory bodies that just exist for themselves. Government will be setting out very clearly, for statutory bodies what their objectives are and what government’s expectations are of those statutory bodies, in order that we can start to create an effective partnership between Government and the statutory bodies to deliver what the public wants.

That is what we are here for, so it will be a huge piece of work. To do that, we need to make sure that those people who are appointed to public bodies in the future are appointed for their skills, their experience and their expertise that they bring to government. This is so important not because they happen to know someone who is on the board, but it is really important that we get people that can deliver on these boards,” Boyles said.

He noted however, that before government began to swing the hatchet

at these boards, proper dialogues, assessments and deliberations would take place with individual bodies, so as to arrive at a sound overall decision.

“We have been asking the question – what do these statutory bodies do? Is it something that government could do or should do by itself? And do we really need some of these statutory bodies at all? So you would see less of them, and we have started dialogue with each of the individual statutory bodies.

“We need to have proper discussion with the statutory bodies so that they hear it from government, and they are engaged in proper dialogue with government before we put it in the media,” Boyle emphasized.

The Civil Chief Executive was accompanied by Susan Malcolm, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Home Affairs and Wesley Clerveaux, Permanent Secretary for Government Support Services.

Melanie Smith graduates with honors Melanie Smith, a recent graduate from Keiser University in Fort Lauderdale Florida and a Citizen of the Turks and Caicos Islands captured the hearts of her close friends and family members when she was nominated to be Valedictorian.

However, even though the decision was a hard choice for her colleagues at the University, she still managed to capture Salutatorian.

Ms. Smith graduated with honors as a Sigma Beta Kappa Honor’s member, Magna Cum-Laude and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, with concentrations in Human Resource Management and Finance.

She has made her parents Mrs. Rosita Elaine Smith of the Providenciales Treasury and Aulden Smith, owner of Smokey’s on the Beach very proud parents.

Ms. Smith says, “even though the road was a long and rocky one with many long nights and stressful days, there was always Melanie Smith the inspiration of her grandmother Mrs. Marjorie Basden of the Marjorie Basden High School, who encouraged her to always aim high and put God first. Although she was chosen as Salutatorian she is proud and feels satisfied of her achievements. She would like to give many thanks to the Ministry of Health and Education for their support and thinks on their behalf she has performed exceptionally well.”

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

Page 9 LOCAL NEWS LOCAL NEWS

TCI residents must pay more to call Jamaica

By Vivian Tyson Senior Sun Editor

Local telecoms providers could see their profit margins from calls terminating in Jamaica drastically slashed after that country’s government has decided to impose taxation on calls to its shore.

The measure was proposed by that island’s finance minister Peter Phillips during his presentation of the country’s estimates of expenditure for 2012/2013 earlier this week.

Under the new tax measure, international calls terminating in Jamaican would attract a cess of 9.5 cents. The telecoms provider from which the calls originate would be responsible for collecting the tax from its customers and then dispatch the sum to the telecoms company in Jamaica, who in term would pass it on to the government.

However, whether or not the terminating provider collects the funds, it would be mandated to turn over the tax percentage from the number of calls made over a particular period to government.

While there has been no official word from LIME Jamaica on the matter, its competitor, Digicel, has come out swinging against the proposed measure, labeling the

move as a retrograde step, and further arguing that its very concept was counter growth.

The opposition Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) has also lashed the government for conceptualizing such a cess, and warned that the telecoms companies in that country could be left holding the bag, since there was no guarantee that international providers would sign on to such as tax measure.

The opposition also warned that it could damper diplomatic relations between Jamaican and the United States, from that country said it received 80 percent of its international calls.

When contacted, E. Jay Saunders, General Manager for Digicel TCI, said the new tax measures would cut into his company’s profit margin, especially as it relates to prepaid customers. According to Saunders, a prepaid customer who normally tops $20 on a regular basis, would be more than likely still be topping up the same figure even after the tax measure becomes law. He said that, whereas in the past Digicel would pocket the whole $20, it would now have to share it with the Jamaican government courtesy of the levy, thereby

leaving the company with a reduced profit margin.

He said too, that whereas $20 could hypothetically buys the customers 1,000 minutes, under the new tax system it would now only be able to fetch 600 minutes, since Digicel would collect from that figure to pass on to the Jamaican government.

He said that international telecoms provider who failed to comply could run the risk of being blocked by their terminating counterparts, since it would be unfair for them to be paying government its required margin while not collecting the equivalent from the provider that the calls originated.

Saunders explained that Haiti was the first country to impose a levy on incoming calls, after being okayed by the US government following the devastating Hurricane in 2010.

He said prior to that, the government attempted to raise funds from the millions of Haitians abroad who called home ever so often, but providers in the US opposed the move.

The local Digicel boss predicted that the new development could trigger countries with large diasporas to adopt the principle, having discovered that it could become a cash cow for its budget.

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Government to transfer $18million to NHIB this year Government again this year will funnel additional funds than the originally yearly agreed sum to the National Health Insurance Board (NHIB) albeit a lower figure than last year, since that body remained in a state of chronic insolvency.

Last year Government expended $2million per month to the NHIB, but this year, it intends to channel $1.5 each

month to that body to cushion its apparent cash flow freefall.

Under the original agreement, Government is obligated to contribute $1million per month to the National Health Insurance Board to cover costs that cannot be met from its member’s contributions, such as treatment abroad as well as contributions for wards of the state.

TRAFFIC COURT DAY The curiosity of a number of motorists and pedestrians passing the Magistrate’s Court along Old Airport Road in Providenciales on Thursday, May 31, got the better of them, when they saw an unusually large crowd gathered in the court yard. Some believed it was a high-profile case that attracted a large gathering. When The SUN turned up on the scene, we were told that it was actually traffic court day for a number of persons who had outstanding traffic tickets, persons contesting the issuance of police tickets, those who were involved in accidents and also traffic insurance matters. In photo, a number of persons mill outside the courthouse after being unable to be accommodated inside the building.

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But during the 2011/2012 fiscal year, Government said that the NHIB experienced cash flow problems, forcing the Interim Administration to bridge the shortfall by fully covering its Clinical Service payment of $2million per month to Inter Health Canada, which runs the two hospitals – the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre in Providenciales and the Cockburn Town Medical Centre in the capital Grand Turk.

Government said that the gesture was done as a temporary measure, while allowing the NHIB to work on increasing its contribution rate and to build up sufficient cash reserves to cover these costs going forward.

However, it emphasized that that it would appear that the board would still not be in a position to resume full responsibility for the costs for this fiscal year, and so the Interim Administration would have to move in and fill the breach once again.

“Therefore, TCIG has agreed to transfer $1.5million per month this year to the NHIB in 2012/2013 to assist with these and other costs. This increases the budget from the normal transfer of $12.0m to $18.0m instead, but still well below the total transferred last year,” the budget statement said.

In addition to budgeting $18

million, the Interim Administration disclosed that it would also be bankrolling $5millon for ICL Reconciliation (electricity and operating expenses) and insurance costs. The Interim Administration emphasized that the costs were the responsibility of the NHIB, but at this time it was unable to absorb them in their budget at this time, hence government’s intervention.

Government said however, that it would be working closely with the NHIB so that it becomes solvent in the very near future thus easing the burden of government having to cover for it.

“In order to resolve this problem, TCIG intends to work closely with NHIB during the financial year to help to improve their financial position and also to help managing all costs in the healthcare sector more effectively,” the budget statement continued.

In the meantime, under the agreement with Inter Health Canada, the Turks and Caicos Islands Government said its primary responsibility was to cover the cost of infrastructure and equipment costs. And so, the budget included a $18.4million for hospital and provisional charges.

This, the Interim Administration said would cover the monthly unitary and equipment cost payments.

LOCAL NEWS TURKS & CAICOS SUN

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

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LOCAL NEWS

Bahamas/TCI Anglican heads hold ‘open, frank’ talk with Governor Todd

By Vivian Tyson Senior Sun Editor

concerned about what is happening, as in the Bahamas, the economic community. To say that the church is and we continue to encourage challenges, as with the entire world not doing enough is entirely unfair. It persons to show respect, support the – those are things people continue to may not be doing what John or what Open and frank, that was the administration and to work toward be concerned about. But, of course, Mary or what Suzie thinks it should hierarchy of the Anglican Diocese the development of these islands. when we deal with life, life presents be doing, but we are doing what we for the Bahamas/ Turks and Caicos In due course, I would be making a us with all kinds of things; how do are supposed to be doing,” Bishop Islands described their rendezvous statement as the Anglican Bishop. we approach the circumstances Boyd said. with Governor for the TCI His For his part, Arch Deacon of life, the attitude with which we In the meantime, Arch Deacon Excellency Ric Todd on their visit Cartwright asserted: “I would approach those circumstances is key. Cartwright reiterated that despite the to the country earlier this week. describe it (meeting) as very frank, “And so, as spiritual leaders many challenges being experienced Laish Boyd, Bishop for the straight forward and open.” we try to do all that we can to help by the Turks and Caicos Islands Anglican Diocese for the Bahamas Bishop Boyd declared that a people, not only to approach things there were many bright spots for the and the Turks and Caicos Islands and number of his parishioners in the in a positive light, but also to keep people to feel confident about their Keith Cartwright, Arch Deacon for TCI indicated that they were gravely God in the picture; develop their future. the Southern Bahamas and the TCI concerned, especially over the fact own faith, and allow their faith to “There is evidence that the country met with Governor Todd on Tuesday, that the Constitution was pulled encourage them and to strengthen is still holding its own in the tourism May 39, to discuss issues affecting and direct British rule through the them through challenges times, sector, much better than many places the TCI, but which they failed to governor instituted by Britain. He this is the important role which the in the region. And I think that augurs divulged to the media, promising stated that many had indicated to church plays as representatives of well for the sector. I think there are rather to do so at a later day. him that they yearned for democracy Jesus Christ. God is able to help us to some concerns about the inflows “As Bishop of the diocese I to be returned so that they would ride through the good times and the of foreign investment, to bring in am concerned about whatever is be able to be fully in charge of their bad,” Bishop Boyd assured. new capital into the country, but I happening in the diocese that affects affairs.

In the meantime, Bishop Boyd think that is expected in this Interim not just the Anglican flock but the “As with everywhere you go said that persons were not being fair situation where investors may not be people of the territory in general. We there is concern about the economics, when they said that they church was quite comfortable knowing that this are concerned because persons are and certainly in the Turks and Caicos, not doing enough to appease certain might only be a interim government, political and social situations in a and would rather wait to deal with a country. more substantive government.

“And I don’t think it is a fair “We recognize that we have to statement because human beings move past this stage to get to the tend to always look for solutions stage where our own people are in the outside of themselves. Human beings halls of parliament, our own people generally don’t take responsibility are making meaningful decisions on for their own circumstances, that’s behalf of the people; what the people one thing. Secondly, the church is want for their country, and we fully a presence and a stabilizing force, intend to address those issues,” Arch working towards the betterment of Deacon Cartwright asserted. the human condition in the name of Bishop Boyd is responsible for God, and challenging people to reach 21 islands in the Bahamas and four their God-given potential. in the TCI – those are the islands “We are preaching and teaching that the Anglican faith has churches all the time, as bishop, I made press or congregations. The visits by the statements on numerous visits. The Anglican hierarchy is to interact arch deacon has been working in this with the clergy, lay persons, other area for more than 30 years, so he is members of the community, and very well known, and he has been if possible, leaders as to gauge the very vocal in his utterances, and political and social climate in the also very involved in the life of the country.

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JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Government still short of key ministry personnel

By Vivian Tyson Senior Sun Editor

So far there are no takers for a number of top tier positions in government that have been created mainly through the Interim Administration’s reengineering of the civil service by government in its attempt to make the system more efficient.

Susan Malcolm, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Home Affairs, who was speaking at the launch of the next step of the Public Sector Reform Programme at the National Environment Centre conference room on Tuesday, May 29, revealed that some positions became vacant due to promotion of individuals

within the respective ministries, while others were created due to the recent Voluntary Severance Scheme.

She said that her ministry was without the services of a Director of Planning, a Deputy Director of Planning and Director for Environment and Maritime Affairs.

The Director of Planning position became vacant upon the promotion of then Acting Director Ian Astwood to Deputy Permanent Secretary, while the Director of Environment and Maritime Affairs position became open when Wesley Clerveaux was promoted to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Government Support Services.

She said that interviews were completed and the files were now with the Public Service Commission

to sign off on.

“There are a number of positions that are vacant, some are critical positions and we are actively trying to fill those positions at this moment, especially since the budget has been recently passed.

We have those positions advertised at the moment; (for some positions) we have completed the first stage of the interview process and some of these recommendations are now with the Public Service Commission.

“Some positions became vacant by severance; however, you must understand that if a position became vacant by severance we were not allowed to fill that position. We had to determine that there were other positions within that ministry that

we could do without in order to replace that person. For example, if we allowed a secretary to go, and we needed to fill that position, we had to show savings somewhere else, so it is a tradeoff, “she explained.

On March 5, during a news conference on Providenciales, Patrick Boyle, Head of the Civil Service said that government was forced to embark on another round of deputy permanent secretary selections after only six of the 61 individuals who were interviewed to fill the 14 available positions were successful.

In the meantime, both Malcolm and Boyle have refuted allegations that government was forced to rehire some of the persons that left the sector under the Voluntary Severance Scheme.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

LOCAL NEWS

Disruptive behaviors unchecked could lead to prison

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

Children who now display Disruptive Behavioral Disorders could later end up in Her Majesty’s Prison or similar institutions somewhere else if proper and urgent attention is not applied, according to Government Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Patrick Prince.

In a post presentation interview at the Oseta Jolly Primary School Annual Teachers Development Programme held at the LIME Corporate Office along the Leeward Highway on Thursday, May 24, Dr. Prince, who works out of the Ministry of Health and Education, said that Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiance Disorder and Conduct Disorder among students posed most problems for players in the education sector.

“These disorders are what usually challenge academia, our school settings and usually give teachers, the Ministry and the Department of Education the hardest challenge possible. These challenges left un-helped, left unguided, can actually turn into more societal problems, which would result in Antisocial Personality Disorder.

“And most of those persons who are challenged by Antisocial Personality Disorders will faced their future in Her Majesty’s Prison in Grand Turk or any prison anywhere in the world, because they are often times left unchecked (they can become) lawbreakers - defiance of laws, rules and regulations,” he said.

Dr. Prince emphasized that such behaviours were not limited to a particular or a few schools, but practically all the schools in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He said that he and others from that ministry intervened in a number of activities across the country each week.

“Weekly, I or have some form of intervention in these behaviours from various schools. These schools are not just government schools but they are private schools also. Name any school in the Turks and Caicos Islands; name any school in Providenciales, there is a child (that suffers

Teachers mimicking their students as they say lunchtime grace (teachers)

from one of those disorders), because as I indicated earlier, three in every 30 students would suffer from ADD, ADHD or any of the Disruptive Behavioral Disorders. In every class there is at least one or two persons. In the smallest school, you would probably have at least one in every class,” he said.

Dr. Prince pointed out that Disruptive Behavioral Disorder does not discriminate, as it affects children of every race and is no respecter or age group or gender.

“It does not necessarily mean that it is guided or targeted any specific race; it’s in any race, any age group and any gender.

However, Disruptive Behavioral Disorder, especially Conduct Disorder and Opposition Defiance Disorder – those two are usually more prominent in boys. That, in itself, can lead to antisocial behaviours in society. As a matter of fact, it starts off with not learning, being distracted, to be destructive of personal properties and destruction of other person’s property as a child – like destroying toys.

“And then, if that behavior is left unguided, those persons would start destroying vehicles, fire-setting to homes, to businesses to cars, and these are actual highlights. When a child does that under age 16, it is classified as conduct disorder.

When someone does that over age 18, it is classified as antisocial behavior, and that is

CORRECTION In last week’s edition of The SUN, a caption under a photograph on Page 22 erroneously identified Selina Wright as “Organizer Melanie Smith”.

The SUN regrets the error.

This photograph is of Melanie Smith who successfully organsied the “I Am my Mother’s Daughter” event at Occasions Ballroom, at the Airport Hotel.

where the criminality aspect comes in. it is a criminal act either way, but of course, because of our laws, there is one way to deal with children and there is one way to deal with adults.

In the meantime, Dr. Prince pointed out that Government lacked the proper resources to tackle the problem on a broad

scale.

“We do have expertise, and we do have a handful of professionals dealing with it.

But to actually attack the problem or the challenge we will need more persons per school, because as it stands, you have myself and one or two others to take care of the entire Turks and Caicos Islands.

“There is a group of persons numbered about 10 or 12 within and without government that I know of currently that is able to address this problem, and this is a population of twenty-five to thirty thousand; so that is one of the challenges that we are looking at,” Dr, Prince asserted.

Rachel Handfield, Principal for the Oseta Jolly Primary School indicated that the Annual Teachers Development Programme, which was sponsored mainly by telecoms company LIME, was aimed at equipping the teachers to more ably identify, understand and to modify behaviors of children under their care.

Other speakers were motivational speaker Edward Smith, who spoke on leadership and Winsome Fearon, Guidance Teacher at Oseta Jolly. The theme for this year was “Teaching with Passion”.

NOTICE

AmSouth Reinsurance Company, Ltd. (“in Voluntary Liquidation”) Registered No. E31340 NOTICE is hereby given, pursuant to Section 133 of the Companies Ordinance 1981, that, pursuant to a written resolution of the shareholders of AmSouth Reinsurance Company, Ltd. (“the Company”) on 15th day of March 2012 it was RESOLVED that the Company be wound-up voluntarily and that Gary Brough of KPMG Restructuring Ltd. be appointed Liquidator for the purposes of such winding up.

NOTICE is hereby given that creditors of the Company, which was located at The Village at Grace Bay, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, are required, on or before 27 July 2012, to send their names and addresses with particulars of their debts and claims, to the liquidator of the Company at the following address: Gary Brough KPMG Restructuring Ltd. KPMG Building The Village at Grace Bay Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands (F) 649 946 4619 and, if so required by notice in writing by the said liquidator are, by their Attorney’s or personally, to come in and prove their said debts or claims at such time and place as shall be specified in such notice, or in default thereof they may be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such debts are proved.

Dated the 29nd Day of May 2012 Gary Brough, Liquidator, Range Insurance Company, Ltd.

Page 14

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

BELONGERSHIPS BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MRS. JO-ANN NATALEA BEEN of Providenciales, a national of Barbados being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MRS JOSCELYNE JOSEPHLOCKHART of Providenciales, a national of Haiti, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MRS ANNETTEDOREEN HENFIELD of Providenciales, a national of Jamaica, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR. LOUIS MARY FRANCOIS of Providenciales, a national of Haiti, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR RAYMOND STORIN BUREY of Providenciales, a national of Jamaica, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR. PHENEL SAINT JEAN of Providenciales, a national of Haiti, being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

BELONGER STAUTUS APPLICATION (Section 3 (2) of the Immigration Ordinance Take notice that I, Governor of The Turks and Caicos, in excercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 (2) of Immigration Ordinace, intend to grant a Certificate of Belonger Status to MR. RONALD PLUVIOSE of Providenciales, a national of Haiti being satisfied by virtue of marriage to a belonger of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Page 15

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

LOCAL NEWS

Family Emergency Plan Development Workshops launched During the month of June 2012, the official beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, LIME Turks and Caicos and Caicos Express Airways are partnering to sponsor seven (7) Family Emergency Plan Development Workshops on six (6) islands in the Turks and Caicos, which are being facilitated by Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy.

Families and the community where they live could be affected by hazardous events at any time, hence the purpose of a Family Emergency Plan is to help persons in our communities to increase their resilience to the impact of hazard events by planning for and mitigating against the potential adverse effects of a significant emergency or hazardous event. To ensure families are aware of the hazards that could affect their community, plans should include all hazards, which can impact the community, and should be documented.

Families can cope with a disaster by preparing in advance and working

together as a team.

LIME CEO, Mr. Drexwell Seymour noted “As we approach the 2012 Hurricane Season, it is important that all residents are informed and prepared adequately not only for the Hurricane Season but throughout the entire year. We cannot take anything for granted and LIME believes that the best way forward is to ensure that all residents are fully informed. LIME is happy to partner with Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy who are well experienced in this area.”

Operations Manager of Caicos Express Airways, Mr. Stephane Menelas stated “As an airline we at Caicos Express Airways know and live by planning. In our business it is important to be ready for any emergency. We are living in the TCI where we are prone to be hit by hurricanes, and being prepared is very important. So it is our pleasure for Caicos Express Airways to be a part of this initiative to prepare the people of

Salt Cay – Grand Turk – South Caicos – Middle Caicos – North Caicos -

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Thursday 7th June 2012, 10:30am at the Salt Shed Thursday 7th June 2012, 6:00pm – Location TBD Monday 18th June 2012, 6pm at the Community Center Thursday 21st June 2012, 10:30am Conch Bar Community Center Thursday 21st June 2012, 6pm at the Adelaide Oemler Primary School Auditorium Providenciales – Saturday 30th June 2012, 10:30am and 3pm at the LIME Training Facility FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Jamell Robinson Principal Consultant Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy 649-231-3399 jamell.r.robinson@gmail.com www.learnandleaddc.com

the TCI for any emergency situation.

We are committed to the people and want to contribute to them for their support in any way possible” Learn and Lead Disaster Consultancy is the premier private Disaster Management Company in the

Turks and Caicos whose motto is “Learn to Prepare to Lead in Crisis”. L and L DC specializes in: Disaster Risk Management; Business Continuity Management; Geographic Information Services and Systems; and Community Outreach and Research.

Page 16

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

SNAP Centre gets $5,000 playground

BY VIVIAN TYSON SUN SENIOR EDITOR

Students at the Marion Williams Special Needs Association of Providenciales (SNAP) Centre now have a recreational area to develop their motor and other skills, thanks to a joint venture between Scotiabank and AND construction, who partnered to erect a playground comprising slides, swings and rocktype climbing facility.

The ribbon-cutting to officially open the playground, which cost in excess of $5,000, was held on Friday, May 18, at the Centre’s Kew Town facility, and was witnessed by members of staff of Scotiabank and AND Construction.

Keno Forbes, Scotiabank’s Assistant Manager for Business Support with the Managing Director’s Office, told The SUN that the initiative with AND Construction marked a litany of benevolent support that the bank had been rendering to the institution in recent times “We partnered with AND Construction and we have donated this playground so that the kids can have somewhere to play because they did not have any facilities to play and to be a child, basically. And so, AND graciously assisted us in purchasing the playground and installing it.

Paulette Simmons (fourth from right) and one of her students (fifth from right) about to cut the ribbon to officially open the playground at the SNAP Centre in Kew Town. Chris Haggie (third from left) of AND Construction shares in the moment, so do Assistant Scotiabank Manager for Business Support, Keno Forbes (third from right), staff members of bank and students of the institution.

“AND Construction is one of the premier construction companies in the Turks and Caicos, and they have been contracted by Scotiabank to carryout construction projects on our behalf, and that was where they partnership started,” Forbes revealed.

For his part, Chris, Haggie, Operations Director for AND Construction said that his company had built up a solid relationship with

Scotiabank, having done a number of constructions for them.

“Keno Forbes and other members of Scotiabank explained to us that they got involved with SNAP, in aiding them to improve their facilities and make a better environment for the children here.

They approached us and asked us if we could possibly build a playground for the children, and we decided that the best thing was to go and purchase a

purpose-made playground from the United States.

“Our colleagues and employees over the past few months had actually gone ahead in their spare time and built this for SNAP, and we are extremely happy that we are in a position to offer them (children) extracurricular activities outside of what the guys at Scotiabank had done from inside,” Haggie said.

Paulette Simmons, a teacher at the institution, said that it was a relief knowing that the children were now able to engage in extracurricular activities, which he said, were almost non-existent before the gesture. She pointed out that the facility would allow them to further develop their physical and mental capacities.

“This was well-needed. The children now have more outdoor activities because before now, all the time they were in their classrooms. I feel good to know that this has come through; the kids are now enjoying themselves even more, as they use the swings from day to day,” Simmons said.

In the meantime, Forbes said that the prior work that Scotiabank had carried out at the SNAP Centre included the purchasing of computers, school supplies, repair work to the building, repainting of the walls and he painting of murals.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

LOCAL NEWS

Digicel TCI CEO Jay Saunders tells European telecommunications companies to follow the clouds E. Jay Saunders, CEO of Digicel TCI who just last month was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil informing Latin American and Caribbean telecommunications companies on why they are better positioned to financially benefit from their 4G investments – specifically their Long Term Evolution (LTE) investments – than North American telecommunications companies, was in Barcelona, Spain on the 23rd May at the LTE World Summit 2012.

He spoke on the topic “Business Opportunities that ‘scream’ out for LTE: How operators can utilize LTE to become relevant again”. While at the summit, E. Jay also shared the stage with Mark Harrop, (Director of Devices, Mobility and Innovation, BT Wholesale, UK) for a panel discussion on “Accelerating Broadband Access in Rural Areas”; and he participated in a TV interview for Telecoms.com (to be aired in June).

During his presentation, E. Jay pointed out that combined global revenues from Cloud services and mobile advertising was approximately US$44 billion dollars in 2011 and that total revenues from the same are expected to grow to US$121 billion dollars in 2015.

Turning to the telecommunication companies in the audience, E. Jay asked “What percentage of those revenues are you going to capture?” Currently telecommunication companies globally are not well positioned to capture any of

E. Jay Saunders, CEO of Digicel TCI

those revenues, and it would be remiss of them after having financed the huge CAPEX requirements to rollout LTE – the most advanced wireless telecommunications standard to date – which by its very design will cannibalize traditional voice and SMS revenues, to not attempt to capture some of the revenues coming from the new areas that their investments in LTE is making possible such as Cloud services, video streaming, and mobile advertising, stated E. Jay. Micaela Giuhat, vice president of product marketing at GENBAND, a company who is poised to play a major role in assisting mobile operators in meeting subscribers' future expectations for innovative, empowering and personalized services through a unique

portfolio of LTE and IMS-enabled security, control and application layer products, such as Mobile Life and Office, stated that “GENBAND considers LTE to be the catalyst of a new and dramatic advance in the evolution of the communications industry, and one of the highlights of the LTE World Summit was the presentation from Digicel's E. Jay Saunders. It was by far one of the most positive and well thought out presentations, with concrete examples on how to really take advantage of LTE. Amongst long discussions on what makes an LTE business case, E. Jay's speech was not only reaffirming that there is a business case for LTE, but also a huge upside that service providers can easily capitalize on."

Some of the other speakers at the conference were: Micaela Giuhat, Vice President Product Marketing, GENBAND; Mark Harrop, Director, Devices, Mobility and Innovation, BT Wholesale, UK; Luis Angel Sanchez, Head of Innovation 2.0, Telefonica, Spain; Carlos Domingo, President & CEO, Telefónica R&D. Director of Product Development and Innovation, Telefónica Digital; Takehiro Nakamura, Director & 3GPP Chairman, NTT DoCoMo; Karim Lesina, Executive Director of International External Affairs, AT&T; Daniel Lönnblad, Director, Sony

Ericsson; ABOUT DIGICEL TURKS & CAICOS Digicel Turks and Caicos has created positive competition that drove mobile telecommunications development, creating choice, competitive pricing, and technological innovation that benefited a large number of Turks & Caicos mobile customers since its launch in 2006. *With its aggressive thrust into the market, residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands are now enjoying cheaper local and international calls, competitive calling rates, state-of-the art mobile phones, services that other providers charge a fortune for, and customer service beyond their expectations. Digicel raised the bar where acceptable levels of service and network coverage were concerned, thus firmly establishing itself as the Number One GSM mobile provider in the Turks & Caicos.

Since its inception, Digicel has been a major contributor to national income, and to employment creation for many Turks & Caicos Islanders, both directly and indirectly. Its presence has further impacted the lives of residents of the islands, through its corporate citizenship and sponsorship of events such as the Turks and Caicos Music and Cultural Festival, The Doris Robinson Primary School, and the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association (TCIFA).

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LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Speech delivered by former Chief Minister Oswald Skippings on National Heroes Day 2012 I am mindful of the request or dignity and patriotism that gave us caution for me to bring BRIEF international recognition. remarks, I'll keep that in mind.

Humble and meek yes, but About two weeks ago, minutes strong and resilient enough to before I got the invitation to address engage even the superpowers in this audience on this august negotiations and representation for occasion, I saw a message on my his country and people and to lead BBM. For those who may not know, the famous and historic Junkanoo it’s a text message sent to me via my Rebellion. black berry cellphone. It read Paradoxical indeed. Yes! That something like this: was Jags McCartney in a nutshell.

"Don't just remember Jags, honor But you see, we cannot nutshell him.

Jags, we cannot put Jags in a box, Honor him with the way we live and his mentality and his persona would treat each other not allow that confinement and ill Honor him by being the best that definement to happen even in his you can be for the Turks & Caicos death, for in his exploits and Oswald Skippings Islands accomplishments, he was larger Honor him by having the deepest than life itself. Jags was a pioneer! love and patriotism for your country He was exceptional in his compassion and in his Honor him by not letting the dream of a united Turks love for his country and his people, and for humanity & Caicos die on the whole. Jags was an extraordinaire.

Honor him by exercising your right to vote. Pass it We as a people have a tendency to forget, we on. have a tendency to neglect, we have a tendency to Thanks Sharlene, I'm passing it on now in the be complacent and apathetic, and then we become most appropriate and public forum. vulnerable, but let's be mindful of Jags chiding. Jags Short but profound. She too must have been was a born leader. cautioned to be brief, but nonetheless demonstrated But it is in times like these, when the leaves of that quality supersedes quantity. the tree of freedom have withered and the branches Earlier on, I referred to this ceremony as an are dry and brittle, and the trunk is not so robust, that August occasion. we need to remember the ROOTS, for the roots were It may not carry the royal gravity and the pomp planted deep by Jags McCartney, deep enough to and pride of the her majesty the Queen's birthday sustain us thought the drought and the famine, parade, but to those of us who are conscious of our through the storms and the turbulences, through this heritage and concerned with our destiny, it is indeed unconscionable interim and oppressive august, and is more relevant than the queen's administration. birthday, especially in times like these.

My fellow Turks and Caicos Islanders, if only Especially at this critical juncture in our history. for the sake of our youth, we need to find our roots.

We may not have the array of dignitaries, school Jags was a Legend. children, official police turnout With the march pass When we reflect on the fact that we have and the firing of the guns in her majesty's honor, but advanced from a system of British administrators to us who may be constitutionally chained but and commissioners and a powerless legislative mentally liberated and politically conscious, this is council, to that of majority rule government, then we a most memorable and august occasion as any, that are compelled to think of James Alexander George may take place in this our land.

Smith McCartney. Jags was a Visionary.

For we were taught at home, at school and at When we think of a modern constitution that Sunday school that charity begins at home and ends provided for ministerial government, with an abroad. executive council and with locally elected ministers We were also instructed to give honor to whom with portfolios allowing us to ably represent our honor is due, and the designation of national hero, people, we think of Jags Alexander George Smith denotes that national honor should be proffered and Mc Cartney. JAGS was a deliverer bestowed upon Jags.

When we recall the mass demonstrations on But if we forget from whence we came it makes behalf of the nurses and other civil issues it all that much easier to find ourselves right back nationwide, Jags Mc Cartney has to come to mind. there. Hence here we are today, back to square zero, Jags was a fighter. not square one.

When one remembers the very first foreign We have this irresponsible habit in the Turks and affairs negotiation ever between a locally elected Caicos of repeating history and re-inflicting its terror government and a super power. Held in Washington on ourselves and our country, then conveniently DC between the US Government and the Turks and blame history for repeating itself.

Caicos government, concerning the US Bases that Lessons are taught not simply to be learnt but to were in the TCI, there is no other to think about but be learnt from and to be applied, and Jags taught us Jags Mc Cartney. Jags was a Statesman. to love one another and respect one another, he It is under his administration that we got taught us unity, self worth, pride in ourselves and in international exposure in sports, the Commonwealth our country, and patriotism, and he taught us how to Games, the Carifta Games, the Florida and Gator stand up and fight for what is ours even if we die in Relays, the Pan American Games, and we brought the process, Jags was an honorable man. back medals way back then. Jags was an Innovator.

The person that we so fondly refer to as JAGS, In the political arena and as a statesman, Jags was actually James Alexander George Smith Mc was closest . . . To being all things to all men. Jags CARTNEY was Resourceful.

Ordinary yes, but at the same time more When you were frustrated, distressed, paralyzed renowned for his extraordinary accomplishments he by hopelessness and void of vision and unable to see achieved in his lifetime. any way forward, it was Jags who would provide the Common maybe, but very uncommon in his motivation. Jags was an Inspiration. dedication and love for his people and his He had advanced us to a status where the British unorthodox way of doing things, but still got success. were no longer our masters, but our associates and Regular, yet irregular enough to be held in such our partners, where there were mutual respect and high esteem to become the first National Hero of the recognition for each other’s intellectualism, but TCI unfortunately because of the former administration, Simple yet sophisticated enough to hold the we are right back to where he took us from and there highest elected position in the land and become the is no longer any respect for us, there is no first Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands acknowledgement of our intellect and our proven Down to earth, yet high enough to elevate his ability to function as other educated and people with him, to an unprecedented level of pride,

accomplished human beings. Jags was a liberator.

Now, the British have sought to dehumanize and emasculate us. They have sought to rob us of our human dignity and the national pride that Jags has instilled in us. They have robbed our youth of every ounce of hope of ever achieving anything meaningful in their own country We cannot allow it to happen, we must not allow it to happen. We too are children of the universe, and we have a right to be here.

Who would have ever imagined that we would be in the state of condition that we are now in, where our greatest desire, is for us to be afforded democratic elections, can you imagine that in the year 2012' when slavery was abolished in 1834, almost some two hundred years ago? That this would be the case?

Who would have thought that a democratic parliament and general elections could elude us, and that we would not only, not be able to spend our own money, but not be able to determine how it is spent nor get an audited account of how it was spent.

I would be telling a bold face lie if I say that I am not angry at the reproach that is being dealt to us so callously and arrogantly.

And I make no apologies for being angry, because I have every right to be, and so does every other Turks & Caicos Islander and legal resident who has invested time, labor and money in this country.

The word says be angry and sin not!

Be that as it may, anger is not going to solve this problem!

We have got to first rediscover ourselves as a people and decide where we want to go from here and how we are going to get there. That is an indispensable, unchangeable McCartney principle.

Our problem is that we have outgrown too many relevant things, things that never change, or were never meant to be changed.

We are so fascinated and overwhelmed by newness, that in our over-exuberance for change, we throw the baby out with the bath water.

It has suddenly become a new thing for Caicos to be against Grand Turk and vice versa, for PNP to be against PDM in a vicious way, for the young to be against the old. We have been duped and divided by people who had ulterior motives to personally empower and enrich themselves and destroy what McCartney had so diligently built up including his legacy.

So bold in their destructive and divisive crusade, that it was openly promoted in election campaigns to pit the Caicos against the Turks and the Turks against the Caicos. That is partly why we are where we are today, because of foolish, immature and destructive practices by our own people, simply for political gain.

For truly, where there is no vision, a people perish.

Then again, while we were partying and splurging, the fundamental pillars in our social structure were being torn down. Our health system was wrench from under us in corruption, and while we are paying through our eyes and nose, we can't get the proper health care, that we are accustomed to getting, and for the first time in this country there are people who are denied health care.

That's change. That's what we have been given for progress, a six for a nine, and many of us celebrated when it was happening and ignored the warnings and resisted, scoffed at and alienated those who were wise, committed and brave enough to sound the alarm, as Jags would have done.

We have been divided to the extent that we were blinded to truth and reality. The division that separated us as a people from the unity that Jags showed us, was among us long before the British came, the British just exploited it.

McCartney sank the buoy which was then the symbol of division between the Turks Islands and the Caicos Islands.

CONTINUES ON NEXT PAGE

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

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LOCAL NEWS

Speech delivered by former Chief Minister Oswald Skippings on National Heroes Day 2012 CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

Unfortunately, we had leaders that had no vision, no genuine concern and love for our people and country, leaders who were overcome by self interest, and greed, and resurfaced the buoy by re-igniting the fire of hate, resentment and division once again among our people, in this era where our people are supposed to be educated and aware.

In their flamboyant style of indoctrination, they deceived, misled and divided even our unsuspecting youth.

The British followed in their evil footsteps and exploited the division that they created to conquer us, and further oppress us, by emasculating our dignity, our pride, our human rights and our freedoms, the very accomplishments for which JAGS struggled and persevered, for which he fought so hard and died for.

It is very unfortunate, and indeed disingenuous of those who conveniently prostituted his name for political mileage, under the guise of national pride, but did not have the common patriotic decency to attend his memorial service not even once while holding the highest political offices in this land.

Jags was genuine and not a fake or a deceiver of his people. It is why his legacy has earned him the privileged status of being the sole National Hero of the Turks and Caicos to date. Let us not fool ourselves by not facing the reality of how we got where we are today in this sad state of affair.

In spite of the dilemma, in spite of the oppression, in spite of the denial of our fundamental rights and freedoms, in spite of the oppressive and onerous tax regimes that are being placed on us, in spite of the fact that our jobs are being taken away, in spite of the salary cuts and the pensions being taken from us, in spite of the fraudulent National Health Scheme that is being operated with the corrupt Interhealth Canada Programme, orchestrated by the British themselves, in spite of the corruption that is still going on with our airports, again engineered by the British and a few puppets we have among us, in spite of the disrespect and the lack of transparency in government and the continued squandering of our money on criminal investigations that deliberately exclude and elude the criminals in the UK who have and still are masterminding this evil that is going on among us, I am persuaded that we as a people are not forgotten, God knows our name, and we shall overcome someday, and justice shall prevail not just for those among us but for those who continue to exploit us criminally in the UK. As Jags would have said, nobody is beyond the law, not even governors and Foreign and Commonwealth office Officials, British Ministers of government, not even those who are known as peers in the highest echelons of British affluent society, they too shall be brought to justice,. Mark my words.

Jags taught us, equal rights and justice for all, not some. It isn't just for blacks and not whites, not only for TCI'S and not for British. Justice is not for just us as is now the case.

Let me just remind you that the Turks and Caicos youth organization was founded because of the oppression of our people by the British, then the Junkanoo Club which birthed the Junkanoo Club Rebellion in 1975, then it morphed into the People's Democratic Movement, of which JAGS was at the heart of all these groups and from their very inception. All this to seek justice, equality and progress for our people. But one may now justifiably asked, "Where have all the flowers gone?

JAGS was all about, Mobilizing, agitating, advocating, demonstrating, fighting, reforming, building, all for the good of our people, for their liberation, for their representation, for their pride and dignity, for the fundamental rights and freedoms and for equal rights and justice for all.

It was not just a dream, it was a vision, it was a cause, it was a mission and it became a movement, for the people, by the people and of the people of this our beautiful by nature Turks and Caicos.

Jags taught us that freedom was never free and never achieved without a fight. Nowhere and at no time.

Now we are being challenged to a fight once again, we are being pushed into a corner, we are being marginalized in our own country once again and treated as idiots.

But the sparks of revolution though they may only be smoldering, are not extinguished.

The will to be free and to be treated with human dignity, though seemingly dormant, has not been eliminated.

The aspirations of our youth to take their rightful places in this society, in the work place, in the business and investment arena and in government, have not been totally killed.

The desire to be given a fair chance in our own country, to do what is best for our people and what is in their best interest, is still very much alive, for JAGS has planted those roots of freedom and the will to fight for it, deep, much deeper than the British or anyone else is able to reach down and uproot.

Unemployment, hunger, hopelessness, rejection, oppression, disrespect and suppression, are all taking their toll on our people, and there seems to be no one who cares and no one to turn to who can help us.

But my people, this too shall pass. For if my people that are called by my name etc. - That is the comforting words of the God in whom we trust And when this is over, let's not kick God aside again, let's not dis acknowledge his goodness toward us. Let's not forget that the British is the oppressor now, but remember the oppressor before the British, let's not forget how we get where we are today and why the British is here, otherwise it would all be fruitless, and for the fourth time, the same people, would bring us to the same disgraceful status, yet once again.

Remember also that, "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

The philosophy of McCartney and the McCartney Doctrine have never been more in demand, more appropriate, more relevant and more applicable than it is today, when this our Turks and Caicos and its humble people are being so unconscionably exploited by a superpower.

A superpower that has taken our meekness for weakness.

A super power which by association, is supposed to exhibit parental qualities, instead, if this situation were to be humanized, one would have no choice but to categorize this ill treatment as child abuse.

According to the proverbial saying, McCartney must have a multitude of restless nights, having being forced to turn over and over in his grave at the abusive suffering of his people and the deteriorating condition of his country.

First at the hands of a careless, callous and corrupt regime comprising of our own people, and now at the hands of this colonial superpower whose commission was to rescue us, but instead seems hell bent on burying us as deep as they possibly can.

But we shall resurrect as a people and we shall with the help and direction of the almighty God, resurrect this country out of the dust and the ashes, and once again be a thriving and prosperous people, who will once again hold the reins of our destiny and chart our own course, a course that would put us back on the highway of self determination, and restore this country's economy, and its peoples' hope and dignity, way beyond our former glory.

My people in Providenciales, Pine Cay, Parrot Cay, North Caicos, Middle Caicos, South Caicos, Ambergris Cay, Grand Turk and Salt Cay, in remembering Jags, the young the old, the blacks the whites, remember that we need each other.

Remember that we are our brother's keeper.

Remember that what we are going through is rougher than many of us ever experienced, but this too, shall pass.

In honoring our National Hero, remember that to take our country forward, we have first got to take

it back, take it back from those who are insensitive to our needs and our suffering.

Remember that we must change some attitudes if we are to salvage our country. We must stop the bickering, the backbiting, the mistrust and the disloyalty among ourselves.

Let us not be so blinded by contempt for each other that we fail to see the bigger common enemy.

Be not deceived, for the common enemy is not so common after all, but is persistent and strategic in its relentless attempt to smolder our dreams and aspirations and derail our destiny. But the saints can say with power and authority "Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world" I noticed this paragraph among others in the Governor's statement last week; • that the TCI Government will develop and introduce a ‘diversity policy’, as part of the ongoing reform of public sector human resources and staff management – this will set a standard for all managers and employees, and will be designed to ensure fair treatment for all staff and a zero tolerance for bullying; and . . . . .

(Our TCI Civil Servants are being disrespected and bullied now by British advisers; and where is the European Union or any other Union for that matter?

Of course This paragraph here sticks out like a sore thumb, this is the very first paragraph; "Tomorrow, 17 May, is the annual International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. This is the day when the international community campaigns to STOP DISCRIMINATION , in all forms, against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

However, we have not seen such discrimination against our people in this country since before 1975 when the Junkanoo Rebellion took place.

Only certain people are getting any major government deals Only British people are getting any top civil service advisory jobs, while our people are being sent home.

Even when we get jobs, there is a British advisor, making a big fat paychecks, living in extravagant accommodations and flying first class.

I had unintentionally embarrassed the former Governor in front of the British minister, when I spoke about the Blacks being put out of the Governors offices in the governors yard and placed in a building outside the gate, across the street, while the White British were kept in the offices in Governor's yard.

And no disrespect to his excellency who is sitting right here, talking about discrimination? It is amazing that the governor is worried about his British homosexual colleagues being discriminated against verbally, in the Turks and Caicos, because it goes against our moral and I spiritual fibre? This is the spirit of Antichrist. As a man of God I can't stand here and ignore the word of God that tells us that Eve and not Steve was made for Adam.

When our people are suffering career discrimination, job discrimination, location discrimination, salary discrimination, and every other kind of discrimination imaginable by the British and this governor, they have the effrontery to talk about discrimination against imported homosexuals. I am looking closely at that Tomb because Jags can't be lying still in there, not at all.

If our National Hero was alive today, he would lead us, and inspire us to stand up against the injustices and the oppression that is raining down upon us.

He would vociferously object to and reject this onerous Value Added Tax that is designed to wipe out what little chance of recovery is left of our devastated economy and what little hope is left of our oppressed and overtaxed people. This I declare, is the straw that breaks the camel's back.

To be continued NEXT WEEK

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Beaches honors employees at annual Prestige Award It was all glitz, glam and celebration last week as Beaches Resorts Villages and Spa honoured top performing employees in 21 categories at the 2011/2012 Prestige Awards.

The annual award recognizes and rewards individuals whose performance has consistently made a positive impact on the quality of services offered at the resort. The annual ceremony has earned a top reputation for excellence for those who have worked diligently and have a proven record of professionalism and appreciation for Beaches and Sandals Resorts International.

The ultimate winners were twenty one year old Pirate’s Island Camp Counsellor, Lavadio Seymour, who took the top title of Team Member of the Year, with Tanisha Brown from the Front Office Department as his runner up. Manager of the Year went to Resorts Sales Manager Tanya Swann, while Supervisor of the Year was awarded to Roxanne Wade of the Animation Department.

Beaches Resort also acknowledged the Most Nominated Team Member which was awarded to Bartender Andrew Rodney and the Smile & Courtesy Award went to Patricia Reid of the Wedding Department.

Most improved Team Member was captured by Watersport’s Dion Wilson, while the General Manager’s award went to Grounds Manager Malcolm Campbell and his Grounds Team. The coveted prize of Financial Comptroller Award which recognizes the top revenue generating department

Awardees with the certificates

went to Resort Shop Manager Elesia Chin for the second year in a row.

Ultimate winners Lavadio Seymour and Manager of the Year Tanya Swann both held outstanding records for the year beating out over 12 hundred employees for the top prestige titles. Lavadio expressed his excitement as 2011/2012 Team Member of the year by saying, “My job is to go the extra mile for our guests and winning this award says a lot about my contribution and commitment in delivering exceptional customer service to my team members and our valued guests,” he concluded, “Big thanks to management and staff for recognizing my commitment and dedication and presenting me with this

wonderful award.”

Manager of the Year Tanya Swann, who started with the company as a Food & Beverage Secretary and now runs the Resort’s Sales Department has been with the company for the past eight years, she said she is ecstatic that she was chosen over so many wonderful hard working managers, she commented, “I am overwhelmed with happiness to have been chosen as Manager of the Year”, she said, “ I was up against some tough competition but I am grateful my General Manger saw my drive and my contribution to the company and awarded me with such a prestigious title” General Manager, Don Dagenais

also commented on the success of the Prestige awards, he said, “Our resorts continue to win the industry’s most prestigious awards year after year and it is because of the hospitality, spirit and commitment to excellence of the top performing individuals who go above and beyond the call of duty to make a difference in this resort,” and concluded, “We take every opportunity possible to pay tribute to these outstanding individuals, I applaud and congratulate all the 2011/2012 Prestige Awards winners.”

Other awards for the evening included, ‘Department of the Year’ which went to Engineering Department, ‘HM’s Heart of the House Award’ won by Richard Rowe, The Sandals Foundation Community Spirit of the Year Award won by Chef Marlene Campbell, Top Trained Team Member of the Year went to Anna Abdala Dorvil of Housekeeping.

Other winners included, Fedeline Julian of Camp Sesame who won the Best Team Player of the year, Omar Hazel of the Banqueting department who captured the grand prize of Special Service Award for the year In addition to engraved trophies and certificates, winners were also presented with fantastic prizes which included all-expense paid vacations, laptop computers, home theatre systems, plasma televisions, camcorders, cameras and lavish cash prizes. Team member of the year, Lavadio Seymour will also go on to represent Beaches Turks & Caicos at the 4th Annual Sandals Ultimate Team Member Award in Jamaica this summer.

Courtney Robinson introducing the miss body beautiful TCI pageant People of the Turks & Caicos Islands – a brand new pageant will be entering the entertainment scene this summer. That being, the inaugural Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant slated to be held on Saturday, July 28th at The Williams Auditorium in Providenciales.

The Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant is one which encourages women to appreciate the beauty of who they are inside out. As a fitness and personal growth competition, the show is geared towards empowering women to have a positive image of self, that they can accept their bodies as they are – thereby showcasing it in its entire splendor.

“Developing a positive body image and a healthy mental attitude is crucial to a woman's happiness and wellness,” says Courtney Robinson, the event’s Executive Producer. “Being young, thin and beautiful may not sound like cause for concern, but that ideal can lead many women to be highly dissatisfied with their bodies, something that can bring about unhealthy behaviors.”

“Often when producing the annual TCI Top Model Contest – committee members and myself

have been approached by ladies of various sizes and ages looking for an outlet to showcase themselves on the national stage. They, like many, have not had the opportunity to model or enter a pageant before, but were quite inclined to do so, should an event be created with them in mind. Hence, the birth of the Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant. ” Robinson added that: “Through this pageant, we want women to recognize that beauty, health and strength come in all ages and sizes. Real beauty encompasses what’s inside - your zest for life, your fun-loving spirit, your compassion for others - with the added bonus of showing the world just how beautiful you are.”

The pageant is open to ladies 18 years of age and older, with no restriction on height, body shape, marital status or nationality. Past pageant experience is not necessary. All that is required is a positive selfimage and the confidence to strut your stuff in front of a LIVE audience. To enter, registrations is being held on Saturday, June 23rd at The Culture & Arts Commission in Turtle Cove, Providenciales from 10AM to 12Noon.

With ‘Stronger, Confident, Beautiful’ as its motto, the Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant Contestants will be judged during four segments - a pre-show interview round, and over the course of the event - Introduction, Swimwear and Fantasy Swimwear. After the Fantasy Swimwear round, Contestants will be invited to answer a question posed by the judges on health, fitness and/or the body beautiful. From there, the judges will decide, 2nd Runner’s up, 1st Runner’s up and the Winner!

The Miss Body Beautiful TCI Pageant will take place on Saturday, July 28th at The William’s Auditorium, South Dock Rd, Providenciales - with the top three contestants receiving cash and fabulous prizes! Washanda Registre, 2012 TCI Top Model will crown the winner. What is more, there will be performances by today’s leading singers, rappers, dancers and other headliner! Advanced purchase of tickets: General admission $40.00 and VIP $65.00; with $10.00 added to the cost at the door.For more information, contact Courtney Robinson, Executive Producer on (649) 232-6796 or email: msbodybeautifultci@gmail.com.

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LOCAL NEWS

Photo highlights from Healing Waters Ministries “A touch of Purple” charity gospel concert The Music Ministries Department of the Healing Water’s Ministries hosted its first all-charity fundraiser, A Touch Of Purple 2012, under the theme “Honoring the Greatest Commandments”, on May 25th 2012.

The event turned out to be a smashing success as it attracted persons from all sectors of our communities in large numbers to raise awareness, celebrate our survivors, show support for those affected and honor the lives lost through cancer.

Head of Music Ministry Elery James & Wife Owenta James

Steering Committee Members

Ladies in Purple

The concert raised over NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($9000) in cash and pledges. All of these funds will be donated to the National Cancer Society and the Turks & Caicos Cancer Foundation to assist in the battle against cancer in the Turks & Caicos Islands.

All those who have outstanding pledges are asked to call 231-0978 as soon as possible as the presentation of the funds is slated for Wednesday June 6, 2012.

Representatives of the National Cancer Society

Beth & Griscel

The Turks & Caicos Brass Band

Pastor Coleby and Deputy Head of Music Terrance Rodgers

Ms. Humpries brings remarks

Representatives of the National Cancer Society

Ladies from Support

Gertude SandersForbes

Ms. Carol Musgrove

Children and Grandchildren of the late Anita Porter - Founder of the Cancer Foundation

Bethany Baptist Praise Team

MC Shaun Malcolm and Ms. Archibold

Carlos Simons with Elery James

Matthew & Maurine Williams

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LIFESTYLE

From child bride to multi-millionaire in India An Indian Dalit (formerly untouchable) woman, who once attempted suicide to escape discrimination, poverty and physical abuse, becomes the CEO of a multimillion dollar company. The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Mumbai captures Kalpana Saroj's journey - a symbol of the Dalit struggle to mark their arrival at the top.

Her life reads like the plot of a Bollywood film, with a narrative which has defied so many obstacles, to conclude with a happy ending.

The "rags to riches" cliche can be overused, but it goes some way in describing the story of Kalpana Saroj, a woman who struggled on so many occasions on her way to the top.

Born into a low-caste Dalit family, she was bullied at school, forced into marriage at the age of 12, fought social pressures to leave her husband, before she tried to take her own life.

Today, she is a multi-millionaire.

At the helm of a successful company, she rubs shoulders with prominent businessmen and has won awards for her professionalism.

"The first time I came to Mumbai, I did not even know where to go. I was from such a small village. Today my company has two roads named after it in the city," she says, summing up the extent to which her life has transformed.

India's caste system is an ancient social hierarchy, which places people into different categories by birth.

Those born into the lower castes have historically faced discrimination.

"Some of my friends' parents

would not let me in their homes, and I was not even allowed to participate in some school activities because I was a Dalit," says the 52-year-old.

"I used to get angry. I felt really nervous because I thought even I am a human being," she adds.

Marital woes Even though her father allowed her to get an education, wider family pressures saw Kalpana become a bride at the age of 12.

She moved to Mumbai to be with her husband who was 10 years older, but was shocked to find herself living in a slum.

But that was not the only hardship she had to endure.

"I was treated badly by my husband's elder brother and his wife.

They would pull my hair and beat me, sometimes over little things. I felt broken with all the physical and verbal abuse," she says.

Leaving a husband is widely frowned upon in Indian culture, but Kalpana was able to escape the violent relationship, thanks to her supportive father.

When he visited her in Mumbai, he was shocked to see his daughter emaciated and wearing torn clothes and took her back home.

Many villagers were suspicious of her return, viewing Kalpana as a failure.

She tried to ignore the judgemental comments thrown at her, focusing instead on getting a job. She learnt tailoring as a way to make money.

But, even with some degree of

financial independence, the pressure became too much.

"One day, I decided to end my life.

I drank three bottles of insecticide, termite poison," she says, recalling her lowest moment.

Kalpana was saved after her aunt walked into the room and found her frothing at the mouth and shaking uncontrollably.

The big change It marked a watershed for her. "I decided to live my life, and do something big, and then die," she says.

So, at the age of 16, she moved back to Mumbai to stay with an uncle and work as a tailor.

She began by earning less than a dollar a month, but tirelessly learnt how to operate industrial sewing machines, and as a result saw her income rise.

But the money she earned was not enough to pay for her sister's treatment which could have saved her life, a moment which defined Kalpana's entrepreneurial spirit.

"I was highly disappointed and realised that money did matter in life, and that I needed to make more."

She took a government loan to open a furniture business and expand her tailoring work.

She worked 16 hours a day, a routine she has not managed to shake off to this day.

In the following years, she remarried, this time to a fellow furniture businessman, and had two children.

Her reputation led to her being asked to take over the running of a metal engineering company, Kamani

Kalpana Saroj

Tubes, which was in massive debt.

By restructuring the company, she turned things around.

"I wanted to give justice to the people who were working there. I had to save the company. I could relate to the staff who needed to put food on the table for their family," she says of her motivations at the time.

Now, Kamani Tubes is a growing business, worth more than $100m.

Kalpana employs hundreds of people, from all backgrounds and castes. She has met prominent businessmen such as Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani, and in 2006 won a prestigious award for her entrepreneurial spirit.

Kalpana regularly visits her home village and does charity work to help those in her community.

As a Dalit and a woman, her story is all the more remarkable in a country where so few CEOs are from such a background.

"If you give your heart and soul to your job and never give up, things can happen for you," she says.

It is a mantra that has helped Kalpana through the worst of times and still rings true for her.

e world was once smitten with Syria’s first lady but she has become a hate figure for many After a year of lethal violence the woman who has worked with Ms Assad. who married into Syria's powerful ruling Before the uprising, the world family has become a hate figure for was taken by Ms Assad's many. immaculate facade.

The London-born first lady, once In Western media, the 36-yeardescribed as a "rose in the desert", is at old mother of three was described the heart of the shadowy inner circle of as sophisticated, elegant, confident, president Bashar al-Assad. with a "killer IQ" and an interest in A British-educated former opening up Syria through art and investment banker, she cultivated the charity. image of a glamorous yet serious-minded For those who pinned their woman with strong Western-inspired hopes on Mr Assad as a potential values. reformer, his photogenic wife She was expected to humanise the bolstered that image, lending a increasingly secretive and isolated touch of glamour to his awkward Asma al-Assad Assad family. public appearances.

That image crumbled when her A glowing article in Vogue husband's regime responded to an anti-government magazine described her as a "rose in the desert" and rebellion with extreme violence a year ago. her household as "wildly democratic". The fashion Mr Assad says he is fighting an insurrection, bible has since removed the article from its website, involving foreign-backed "terrorists", and Ms Assad but copy of the text has been reprinted on other sites. has clearly decided to stand by her man despite French newspaper Paris Match, meanwhile, said international revulsion at his actions. she was an "element of light in a country full of With her penchant for crystal-encrusted Christian shadow zones".

Louboutin shoes and Chanel dresses, Ms Assad is a People were charmed by her classy demeanour, puzzle for many. liberal views and British accent.

The opposition roundly rejects suggestions she is She received the Gold Medal of the Presidency effectively a prisoner of conscience in the presidential of The Italian Republic for humanitarian work in palace.

2008 and won an honorary archaeology doctorate "She was very much, as we would say, left wing. from La Sapienza university in Rome.

She seemed to be very bright, very respectful of Yet emails published by Britain's Guardian others," said Gaia Servadio, a writer and historian newspaper this month from accounts believed to

belong to the family offer a different portrait.

They show her as a capricious dictator's wife spending tens of thousands of pounds on jewels, fancy furniture, and a Venetian glass vase from Harrods.

"I am the real dictator, he has no choice," she apparently said in one of the emails in a comment about her husband.

Ms Assad, the London-born daughter of a Sunni Muslim Syrian doctor, spent the first 25 years of her life in North Acton.

Known as Emma to her British friends, she was a rising star at JP Morgan when she met Bashar, who had studied ophthalmology in London but was sent home to be groomed for the presidency after his elder brother, Basil, died in a car crash in 1994.

They married in 2000. What followed was a life full of glamour.

The Assad side of the clan, however, reportedly did not take to Ms Assad, not least because of her Sunni Muslim origins.

Before the start of the 2011 uprising, there was hope Syria could change. Syrians saw his choice of wife as proof that things were about to change.

But those hopes faded as the revolt unfolded. As the death toll from the fighting grew, Ms Assad gradually disappeared from public view.

She broke her silence in February, saying in a statement: "The president is the president of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the first lady supports him in that role."

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Man suing doctor over lost penis A 65-year-old Peruvian man is suing a Florida doctor after losing his penis to infection following a 2007 penile implant surgery. He told a courtroom on Thursday via webcam that the defendant failed to properly warn him of the risks and that the loss of his genitalia has robbed him of his manhood and dignity.

According to Erik Ortiz of the New York Daily News, the man, Enrique Milla, appeared via Skype from his home in Lima, where he currently resides after being deported in 2011 following an immigration dispute.

Milla told the judge that he opted to have the surgery because he had suffered from erectile dysfunction.

Milla and his wife, Gloria, are

reportedly seeking “tens of millions” of dollars worth of damages from Dr. Laurentiu Boeru of Coral Gables Hospital, the Huffington Post reported, claiming that the doctor had failed to properly evaluate the risks associated with Enrique’s pre-existing conditions, including diabetes.

Boeru was the anesthesiologist assigned to Milla’s surgery, and according to Milla’s attorney, the doctor failed to properly investigate or address those other conditions, reports Fox News affiliate WSVN-Miami.

According to Milla’s testimony, neither his blood pressure nor his blood sugar had been taken before Boeru cleared him for the surgery. Boeru, in contrast, testified that he is only liable for

anesthesia-related, preoperative risks, and not those related to the surgery itself or the actual penis implant.

Nine days following the surgery, a Gangrene infection began to spread through Milla’s penis. That infection eventually “turned into a flesh-eating bacteria that ate his penis centimeter by centimeter,” Milla’s lawyer, Spencer Aronfeld, told WSVN-Miami. “As a result of this, he has to spend the rest of his life without a functioning penis. He has to sit down to urinate. He’ll never have any intimate relationships with anyone, and he’s lost his manhood.”

Likewise, according to Susan Donaldson James of ABC News, Aronfeld told ABC affiliate WPLG that the process has been “devastating,

painful and embarrassing” for his client, emphasizing that Milla “didn’t do this to have a bigger penis… This was because of medical reasons: He just wanted to have relations with his wife.”

Boeru’s lawyer Jay Chimpoulis denied the accusations, telling WPLG, “This is an infection that occurred in this gentleman because he didn’t do what he was supposed to do postoperatively nine days after the surgery… There are any number of ways he could’ve gotten that. None of them had anything to do with [Boeru]” and suggesting that Milla may have ignored instructions to avoid sex, developing a fecal infection as a result, James wrote.

Todd Bridges splits with wife Todd "Willis Jackson" Bridges and his wife of 14 years have called it quits.

The "Diff'rent Strokes" star said in a statement to People.com: "The Bridges have decided that disunion is in the best interest of their collective futures.

Although Todd and Dori are going their separate ways, they are mutually committed to the well-being of their son [Spencir, 13]."

Elvis Presley crypt up for auction this month LOS ANGELES — For the right price, you or a loved one can rest in peace in the tomb of The King.

Celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien is selling Elvis Presley's original crypt to the highest bidder as part of his "Music Icons" auction later this month.

The tomb is located inside the granite and marble mausoleum at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tenn.

Presley was interred there alongside his mother, Gladys, after he died Aug. 16, 1977. Two months later, they were re-buried at his Graceland home. The original crypt has remained empty ever since.

Julien says the winning bid from the auction beginning June 23 will receive the crypt, opening and closing of the vault for burial, a memorialization inscription and use of a chapel for a committal service.

Transportation and funeral home charges are not included.

MARRIAGE ISN'T IN THE CARDS FOR WIDOWER AND GIRLFRIEND DEAR ABBY: I am a 70-year-old widower with three grown children. My girlfriend is 53. We dated for several months before she moved in with me.

I thought maybe with her living here I might fall in love with her. It has not, and will not, happen.

I hate to break her heart, but I know now that I will never ask her to marry me. I intend to remain single for the rest of my life.

Bridges, 47, first announced the break-up on, what else, Twitter.

"She's a great mother I'm glad to have had the years to know her and have a great kid with her. As we know, people grow apart and we did," he tweeted.

Bridges starred in "Diff'rent Strokes" from 197886 and chronicled his downward spiral after the show's cancellation in the 2010 book "Killing Willis."

has done nothing wrong, and it is not a failure on her part, but you realize that you do not wish to remarry. Explain that feeling as you do, it would be best if she moved. Offer to help her find a place if she has nowhere to go.

You will be doing both of you a favor by being upfront now. ________________________

I’M A CRY BABY

Dear Abby

How do I bring closure to this relationship?

What are the words? I'm lost because this is a first for me. I was married for 40 years, and I just do not wish to be married again. How do I tell this nice lady? -- IN A BIND IN TEXAS DEAR IN A BIND: Having the woman move in with you "hoping" you would fall in love with her was a huge mistake, and one you should not repeat. When you say what you need to say, have plenty of tissue handy and expect her to be tearful and angry.

Start by saying, "We need to talk." Tell her she

DEAR ABBY: I am an adult male with a longtime problem. Whether it's a sad or happy occasion, I start crying, sometimes sobbing. I try to avoid any situation that may cause this.

I am at a new point in my life where I can no longer avoid these situations. People think it's not normal. Please don't suggest I live with it.

Is there a magic pill to control this? -- BIG CRYBABY IN BROOKLYN, N.Y. DEAR CRYBABY: There is no pill that can help you control those emotions that I know of. And because it is causing you problems, I do not recommend you "live with it." I do think, however, that if you discuss with a therapist what it is about sad and happy occasions that causes such an extreme reaction that you could get quickly to the bottom of it and learn to better control those emotions.

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

BRAIN TEASER Three people check into a hotel. They pay £30 to the manager and go to their room. The manager suddenly remembers that the room rate is £25 and gives £5 to the bellboy to return to the people. On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that £5 would be difficult to share among three people so he pockets £2 and gives £1 to each person. Now each person paid £10 and got back £1. So they paid £9 each, totalling £27.

The bellboy has £2, totalling £29. Where is the missing £1?

Answer: We have to be careful what we are adding together.

FUN and GAMES

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Originally, they paid £30, they each received back £1, they now have only paid £27. Of this £27, £25 went to the manager for the room and £2 went to the bellboy.

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FUN and GAMES

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HIGHLIGHTS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

• Trinidad in recession • Dudus confidant stuns

court with graphic evidence • Gold buried in Haiti

New Governor of Bermuda pledges to tackle economy and gang violence HAMILTON, Bermuda – Bermuda’s new British Governor, George Fergusson, says the island’s struggling economy and gang violence are two challengers he will face alongside the government.

Praising the island’s “internationally respected record for following the rule of law and managing its own affairs”, Fergusson added that reputation is hardearned.

“It’s a major asset to this country, not least during this economic turbulence.”

The island’s 88th Governor, who lost an eye during a mugging in London shortly before he was due to leave for Bermuda, pledged after being sworn in on the grounds of the Cabinet Building

Bermuda’s new British Governor, George Fergusson

in Hamilton to “play my part working with the elected government of Bermuda to uphold and preserve this asset”.

Bermuda, Britain’s most populous remaining Overseas Territory, faces two immediate challenges, he said, listing them as a “serious and obvious economic and financial challenge” and gang violence.

The island’s police, even with their high reputation, “cannot address this problem alone”, he warned, adding “It’s a problem for all of us”.

In a brief and candid speech before local dignitaries, visitors and the Bermuda Regiment’s guard of honour, Fergusson began by acknowledging the assault last month in London that left him blind in his left eye.

“I am delighted to be here. I might have hoped to see Bermuda over the next few years with two eyes, but it’s

looking pretty good with one,” he said as he expressed his gratitude for messages of good cheer sent to him in recent weeks from Bermudians.

Fergusson’s wife Margaret has been delayed in London for medical tests.

The Governor said tests were going well and she was looking forward to being on the island soon.

In her welcoming remarks, Premier Paula Cox told him “I believe it’s a good omen that the sun has come out today. Bermuda welcomes you as you start your tour of duty, and we look forward in due course to also welcoming your wife.”

The island, she said, needed “a solid dose of inspiration to get people through hard times.”

Jamaica seeks heritage Hundreds willing status for sunken port to pay to be St Kitts KINGSTON, Jamaica — Archaeologists said Tuesday that they'll ask the United Nations' cultural agency to bestow world heritage status on Port Royal, the mostly submerged remains of a historic Jamaican port known as the "wickedest city on Earth" more than three centuries ago.

Receiving the designation from UNESCO would place Port Royal in the company of global marvels such as Cambodia's Angkor temple complex and India's Taj Mahal.

The sunken 17th century city was once a bustling place where buccaneers including Henry Morgan docked in search of rum, women and boat repairs.

In recent days, international consultants have conducted painstaking surveys to mark the old city's land and sea boundaries to apply for the world heritage designation by June 2014, said Dorrick Gray, a technical director with the Jamaican National Heritage Trust, a government agency responsible for preserving and developing the island's cultural spots.

Port Royal was the main city of the British colony of Jamaica in the 17th century until an earthquake and tsunami submerged two-thirds of the settlement in 1692. It boasted a well-to-do population of roughly 7,000 at the time, and was comparable to Boston during the same period.

After the quake, the remainder of the town served as a British royal navy base for two centuries, even as it was periodically ravaged by fires and hurricanes.

In his sprawling book "Caribbean," American author James Michener described Port Royal as having "no restraints of any kind, and the soldiers stationed in the fort seemed as undisciplined as the pirates who roared ashore to take over the place night after night. They were of all breeds, all with nefarious occupations."

Now, it's a depressed fishing village at the tip of a spit of land near Kingston's airport. It has little to attract visitors except some restaurants offering seafood and a few dilapidated historic buildings.

The sunken, algae-covered remnants of the city are in murky waters in an archaeological preserve closed to divers without a permit.

But in recent decades, underwater excavations have turned up artifacts including cannonballs, wine glasses, ornate pipes, pewter plates and ceramic plates dredged from the muck just offshore. The partial skeleton of a child was found in 1998.

At a Tuesday press conference, experts said it's among the top British archaeological sites in the Western Hemisphere and should be protected for future generations.

"There is outstanding potential here.

Submerged towns like this just do not exist anywhere else in the Americas," said Robert Grenier, a Canadian underwater archaeologist who has worked closely with UNESCO. He believes the Jamaican site has a strong chance of getting on the world heritage list.

and Nevis citizens BASSETERRE, St Kitts – While economic citizenship has been scorned by some Caribbean nations, St Kitts and Nevis is reaping the benefits of such a programme.

According to Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas, the Citizenship by Investment Unit in St Kitts and Nevis receives approximately 300 applications per year and collects nearly EC$60 million in processing fees.

This was disclosed by the prime minister, who is also the Minister of Finance, during the last sitting of the St Kitts and Nevis National Assembly.

However, Dr Douglas took pains to point out that all applications that are received go through the rigours of the system established to ensure that only individuals who are worthy of becoming citizens of St Kitts and Nevis do so.

“Mr Speaker the Citizenship by Investment unit receives applications from all over the world. Our system is a robust and attractive one. We receive and process applications from the USA, Canada, China, the United Arab Emirates especially Dubai, Russia, Jordan, Yemen, Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Ethiopia, Ukraine, France, Kuwait, Vietnam, India, Nigeria, Lebanon,” he told the parliamentary body.

Responding to questions from Eugene Hamilton, the Member for St Christopher 8, Douglas also noted that the nature of the information required in part (c) of the question would take some time to analyze and the Citizenship by Investment Unit is in the process of fully computerizing its operations so that this level of information can be easily gathered.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS

Cayman Islands Governor denies British conspiracy The Cayman Islands’ governor has said he is disappointed that relations between him and the premier have broken down and denied the conspiracy theories thrown around by McKeeva Bush. Duncan Taylor also revealed Friday in a televised interview that the UK minister had made it clear to Bush that the FCO was not trying to undermine the Cayman Islands but that it was merely concerned about good governance.

The governor said the constitution did not require the premier to step down from office while under police investigation but added that it was a matter for the premier himself to decide.

Speaking to Cayman27 following his return from a conference in London, Taylor denied any conspiracy at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and said he was saddened by the state of affairs as there was no foundation in the premier’s suggestions.

Two weeks ago Bush issued a statement accusing the governor of “stealthily and insidiously”

undermining his efforts to get the Cayman economy off the ground. The premier had also previously suggested that the three police probes into him regarding the Stan Thomas land deal, his role in the illegal importation of dynamite and an as yet undisclosed further financial irregularity were nothing more than a UK conspiracy to get him out of office and undermine Cayman.

Taylor said there was however no truth to the premier’s accusations.

“The minister for overseas territories, Henry Bellingham, has also told the premier that there is no truth whatsoever in those allegations,” he said. Taylor added he had also told the premier he had made no judgements about him regarding the investigations.

“There are no charges yet but I have also told him that if serious allegations are made I expect the commissioner of police to carry out that investigation properly and thoroughly,” he said. Taylor said neither he nor the FCO took a view about the need for the premier to step aside as it was not a constitutional

requirement but a matter for him.

Taylor said he did not think the situation in Cayman was considered by the FCO to have reached an impasse or a level of seriousness to cause real concern but there were difficulties that had to be worked through.

The governor also denied that his office had tried to stop the progress of the Dr Devi Shetty health city project and said he was supportive of that potential development.

“I made it clear from the outset that this is a project with tremendous potential for the Cayman Islands,” he said. Taylor believed Bush’s allegations about him not supporting it came from the fact that Taylor had recommended that government carry out a proper independent impact assessment on the proposal before agreeing to go ahead.

The governor said this was not a matter of bureaucratic harassment but good governance.

“Having good governance in place and following and practicing that good governance is actually an essential underpinning for a successful economy … In the long term, if you don’t have

Billions of dollars in gold buried in Haiti TROU DU NORD, Haiti—Its capital is blighted with earthquake rubble. Its countryside is shorn of trees, chopped down for fuel. And yet, Haiti’s land may hold the key to relieving centuries of poverty, disaster and disease: There is gold hidden in its hills—and silver and copper, too.

A flurry of exploratory drilling in the past year has found precious metals worth potentially $20 billion deep below the tropical ridges in the country’s north-eastern mountains. Now, a mining company is drilling around the clock to determine how to get those metals out.

In neighbouring Dominican Republic, workers are poised to start mining the other side of this seam later this year in one of the world’s largest gold deposits: 23 million ounces worth about $40 billion. The Haitian government’s annual budget is $1 billion, more than half provided by foreign assistance. The largest single source of foreign investment, $2 billion, came from Haitians working abroad last year. A windfall of locally produced wealth could pay for roads, schools, clean water and sewage systems for the nation's 10 million people, most of whom live on as little as $1.25 a day.

“If the mining companies are honest and if Haiti has a good government, then here is a way for this country to move forward,” said Bureau of Mines Director Dieuseul Anglade. “The gold in the mountains belongs to the people of Haiti,” he said.

“And they need it.”

Until now, few Haitians have known about this buried treasure. Mining camps are unmarked, and the work is being done miles

up dirt roads near remote villages, on the opposite side of the country from the capital.

But US and Canadian investors have spent more than $30 million in recent years on everything from exploratory drilling to camps for workers, new roads, offices and laboratory studies of samples. Actual mining could be under way in five years.

“When I first heard whispers of this I said, ‘Gold mines? There could be gold mines in Haiti?’” said Michel Lamarre, a Haitian engineer whose firm, SOMINE, is leading the exploration. “I truly believe this is our answer to taking care of ourselves instead of constantly living on donations.”

On a rugged, steep Haitian ridge far above the Atlantic, brilliant boulders coated with blue-green oxidised copper jut from the hills, while colourful pebbles litter the soil, strong indicators that precious metals lie below. The prices of precious metals have been volatile in recent years, with copper selling for about $8,000 per ton, silver at $30 an ounce, and gold at $1,600 per ounce.

Gold was last gathered in Haiti in the 1500s, after Christopher Columbus ran the Santa Maria onto a Haitian reef. Spaniards enslaved the Arawak Indians to dig for gold, killing them off with harsh conditions and infectious diseases. When the Spaniards learned of even more lucrative deposits in Mexico, they moved on.

Three firms are considering mining in Haiti, but so far only SOMINE has full concessions to take the metals out of the mountains. Those permits, for 31 square miles, were negotiated in 1996 under President Rene Preval and require the firm to hire Haitians whenever possible.

Duncan Taylor

good governance in place then the economy is under threat,” Taylor said.

Speaking about the proposed cruise port development project in George Town, however, Taylor implied that the UK did have concerns about that particular project and to get the FCO’s support things would have to change.

Although Bush has said he intends to go ahead with the deal with the Chinese and that the port will not need to be re-tendered, Taylor made it clear that, as things were, this was not a deal which had the backing of the UK. “To get that support the project would need to be put back in line with minimum international best practice standards," he added.

Trinidad in recession says Central Bank PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago –The Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank has revised its projections and is now reporting that the country had entered a technical recession at the end of 2011.

This is according to its recently released April Monetary Policy Report and Summary Economic Indicators bulletin.

In this bulletin, the Central Bank reported that economy growth for the twin-island republic had declined by 2.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011, (October 1 to December 31, 2011) following a decline by the same amount in the third quarter (July 1 to September 30, 2011). This conforms to the classic definition for a recession as countries that experience two or more consecutive quarters of a declining gross domestic production (GDP) are generally defined as being in recession.

In the report, the Central Bank stated that the decline in the Trinidad and Tobago economy in the fourth quarter was driven by a “considerable reduction in activity in the energy sector of -7.8 per cent,” and while the non-energy sector increased by 1.2 per cent, this was “insufficient to offset the slippage in the energy sector.”

Across the energy sub-sectors declines were registered in the last three months of 2011 as the exploration and production sub-sector declined by 7.2 per cent mainly as a result of an 8 per cent drop in natural gas production; the refining sub-sector declined by 15.3 per cent with LNG output falling by 16.5 per cent and the production of natural gas liquids dropping by 16.1 per cent; the petrochemicals subsector declined by 10.4 per cent; and ammonia production fell by 13.3 per cent, while the output of methanol was lower by 2.4 per cent.

The central bank also reported further declines in the energy sector during the first quarter of 2012, including crude oil production that slipped to an average of 82,500 barrels a day, down from 96,900 barrels a day during the first quarter of 2011.

Natural gas production during has reportedly remained depressed so far throughout 2012 with a significant decline in liquefied natural gas in the first quarter by 15.4 per cent.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Dudus confidant stuns court with graphic evidence Last week’s evidentiary hearing of confessed Jamaican crime lord Christopher Dudus Coke featured compelling evidence about the criminal pursuits of the man also called “Presi” and his link to prominent politicians and businessmen in Jamaica.

Coke’s former lieutenant, Jermaine 'Cowboy' Cohen, who is jailed in America, was on the witness stand for more than three hours when he told the United States Southern District Court in Lower Manhattan that businessman Justin O’Gilvie was Coke’s “chief finance minister”.

He also testified that he had intimate knowledge of Coke’s inner circle, describing the convict as worse than his father Lester Lloyd Coke alias Jim Brown.

Jim Brown died in jail in 1992 while awaiting extradition to the United States.

Cohen also gave graphic details of an attempt by Coke to kill him.

According to Cohen, Coke wanted to kill him because he had an altercation with an aunt of the former Tivoli Gardens don in which he punched her in the face.

Cohen said his altercation with Coke’s aunt sparked a feud between his men and Coke’s ‘soldiers’ which resulted in frequent shooting incidents in Kingston.

Cohen also said in 2004, politicians, Bruce Golding and Edward Seaga, and businessmen Saleem Lazarus and Justin O’Gilvie met with Coke in a bid to quell the feud among his loyalists and those of Dudus.

Christopher Dudus Coke

US prosecutors had used Cohen’s affidavit in building the case against Dudus.

The document filed by US prosecutors in the Southern District Court of New York gives extensive details about Coke’s rise and rule of the Shower Posse in his native Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston.

The document entitled ‘Declaration in connection with the sentencing of Christopher Michael Coke’ is a 26-page statement by a unidentified cooperating witness.

It covers the Coke Family, the Shower Posse organisation, acts of violence, firearms trafficking, cocaine trafficking and extortion.

The statement introduces the informant’s association with Jim Brown, Coke’s father as a bodyguard and his acquaintance with Jah-T and Dudus. He describes the Shower Posse organisation

Jamaican divorces on the rise as marriages fail KINGSTON, Jamaica – According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), 1,960 divorces absolute were granted by the Supreme Court for 2011.

More than a half (53 per cent) of divorces granted were to persons who had been married for between five and 14 years, stated the information in the most recent edition of the Demographic Statistics.

The data indicates that 78 per cent of the persons who got divorced were married for fewer than 20 years.

Previous reports published by STATIN show that 1,853 marriages ended in divorce in 2009.

And while the divorce rate continues to rise, the marriage rate is not keeping pace.

According to the STATIN data, 20,403 persons were married last year.

"This was 1,009 or about five per cent fewer marriages less than the 21,412 registered for 2009," the document noted.

The parishes with the highest number of marriages in 2011 were St James (3,579), St Ann (3,442), Westmoreland (2,981), Kingston and St Andrew (2,499) and St Catherine (2,416).

as one involved in murder, extortion, armed robbery, narcotics and firearms trafficking in Jamaica and United States.

The statement says that Coke provided certain services to the community, some arising out of Government contracts. For these projects , Coke, would deduct from the salaries a portion of funds as a contribution to the ‘system’. These funds were then used in illegal activities.

The document states that Coke also held treats and dances in the community and provided humanitarian services to community members on a needs basis in exchange for loyalty and goodwill.

The statement described Coke as a violent individual, who maintained a strict code of discipline and frequently ordered and participated in acts of violence against individuals who violated his code of conduct.

In one instance, shortly after the death of his brother Jah T, Coke approached an elder of the Shower Posse, known as “Stumbo” on Ebenezer Lane in West Kingston. Coke asked “Stumbo” if he was with or against him.

Stumbo appeared hesitant. Coke then fired a handgun over Stumbo’s head and shortly after Stumbo agreed to support Dudus.

Coke is also described as keeping an army of 200 gunmen loyal to him. These gunmen ranged in ages from 14 to 40 years. These men were paid as enforcers.

The document also says that these “Shotters” were deployed to campaign on behalf of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

These “Shotters” went door to door in different areas using intimidation at times to ensure Jamaicans voted JLP. The cooperating witness also detailed an incident in which an enforcer known as Screbeng committed a robbery without Coke’s permission. In the robbery Screbeng lost a firearm issued by the Shower Posse organisation. After the robbery, Coke spoke to Screbeng giving him a number of days to recover the firearm. Coke said Screbeng would have been killed immediately if it wasn’t for his past actions in freeing another gunman from police custody in the Kingston Public Hospital. Screbeng, however, did not accede to Coke’s request and was subsequently shot and killed in his home in Denham Town.

The statement also spoke to Coke ordering thugs to shoot up Maxfield Avenue, him ordering the murder of parents of men who did not send money from the US to fund his gun operations and Coke also participating in the shooting of a troublesome enforcer who had developed a crack cocaine and stealing habit.

Coke is also described as having an affinity for guns and ensured he had "heavy machinery". The document said that Coke favoured an assault rifle manufactured by HK which uses 7.62 millimeter rounds.

According to the informant, Coke referred to the gun as the "Bomber".

For handguns, Coke reportedly favoured the Glock and the Desert Eagle, but said that the Desert Eagle was too big to carry around.

Barbados Government to crack down on cash for gold scheme BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Barbados government will table legislation aimed at regulating the “cash for gold” phenomenon and the sale of other metals, Attorney general Adriel Brathwaite has said.

Speaking at the launch of Police week, Brathwaite said the new legislation would also provide for stiffer penalties for people who engage in the theft of copper.

He said that over the past several months, some of the most significant challenges have been associated with property crimes, burglary and theft on the street.

“As most Barbadians are now aware, much of this offending has been attributable to the cash for gold phenomenon. It is most unfortunate that what some people might have considered to be legitimate form of commercial activity, is now being exploited by those severely affected by the ‘easy money syndrome’ and dishonest dealers who conveniently turn a blind eye to the origin of gold and other metals.

Brathwaite said that the appropriate legislative adjustments would be made to ensure that greater penalties are attached to those who engage in the theft of metals.

Metal theft ban partially lifted in Anguilla THE VALLEY, Anguilla – The Anguilla government on Thursday announced the partial lifting of a ban on the export of scrap metal effective June 1, which had been imposed in a bid to fight metal thieves.

But, according to Wycliffe Fahie, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, scrap metal dealers will have to adhere to new conditions.

He said the all scrap metal currently in stock prior to June 1 may be exported subject to police and customs inspection and approval.

While a moratorium on the export of scrap copper will remain in effect, the export of scrap

aluminium will continue until August 31, after which there will be review, Fahie said.

He said that a timetable must be set up by all dealers indicating the times when metals are to be loaded on to containers so there can be a police and customs presence.

Fahie said that access to containers once loading begins will not be possible without the police and customs present.

A government press release called on the scrap metal industry to uphold the highest standards of honesty and integrity so that the industry remained an asset to the island and avoid triggering crime and bad press.

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HIGHLIGHTS

• Interpol searches for Canadian murder

suspect as dismemberment video surfaces • Romney cinches Republican 2012 Nomination in Texas

Edwards acquitted on 1 count, mistrial on others GREENSBORO, N.C. — John Edwards' campaign finance fraud case ended in a mistrial Thursday when jurors acquitted him on one charge and deadlocked on the other five, unable to decide whether he used money from two wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress while he ran for president and his wife was dying of cancer.

The monthlong trial exposed a sordid sex scandal, but prosecutors couldn't convince jurors the candidate masterminded a cover-up using about $1 million, and ultimately, jurors decided tawdry didn't necessarily mean criminal.

"While I do not believe I did anything illegal, or ever thought I was doing anything illegal, I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong and there is no one else responsible for my sins," Edwards said on the courthouse steps.

The jury's decision came on a confusing day. The judge initially called jurors in to read a verdict on all six counts, before learning that they had only agreed to one. About an hour later, the jury sent the note to the judge saying it had exhausted its discussions.

It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would retry Edwards on the other counts.

When the not guilty verdict was read, Edwards choked up, put a single finger to his lip and took a moment to compose himself. He turned to his daughter, Cate, in the first row and smiled.

When the judge declared the mistrial and discharged the jury, Edwards hugged his daughter, his parents and his attorneys.

Later, he thanked the jury and his family, even choking up when talking about the daughter he had with his mistress Rielle Hunter. He called Francis Quinn Hunter precious "whom I love, more than any of you can ever imagine and I am so close to and so, so grateful for. I am grateful for all of my children."

Then he started talking about his future.

"I don't think God's through with me. I really believe he thinks there's

still some good things I can do and whatever happens with this legal stuff going forward, what I'm hopeful about is all those kids that I've seen, you know in the poorest parts of this country and some of the poorest parts in the world that I can help them," he said.

The jury reached a verdict on count three, which involved to $375,000 given by elderly heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon in 2008. The other counts dealt with $350,000 Mellon gave in 2007, money from wealthy Texas attorney Fred Baron, filing a false campaign finance report and conspiracy.

Jurors did not talk to the media as they left the courthouse, and prosecutors did not immediately comment.

The trial recounted the most intimate details of Edwards' affair with Hunter, including reference to a sex tape of the two together that was later destroyed. It also rehashed the elaborate cover-up that involved his most trusted aide, the aide's wife, and Baron and Mellon.

It featured testimony that sometimes read like political thriller, as aide Andrew Young described meeting Edwards on a secluded road, and Edwards warning him, "you can't hurt me." There was also the drama of John Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, tearing her shirt off in front of her husband in a rage after a tabloid reported the affair.

Edwards was accused of masterminding a plan to use the money to hide Hunter from the media and from his breast cancer-stricken wife.

Prosecutors said Edwards knew of the roughly $1 million being funneled to former aide Andrew Young and Hunter and was well aware of the $2,300 legal limit on campaign donations.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Bobby Higdon used Edwards' own campaign rhetoric about the need for the rich and poor to have an equal say in elections — what he called uniting

the "two Americas."

"Campaign finance laws are designed to bring the two Americas together at election time," Higdon said.

"John Edwards forgot his own rhetoric."

Edwards' attorneys said prosecutors didn't prove that Edwards knew that taking the money violated campaign finance law. They said he shouldn't be convicted for being a liar, and even if he did know about some of the money, it was a gift, not a campaign contribution.

"This is a case that should define the difference between a wrong and a crime ... between a sin and a felony," attorney Abbe Lowell told the jury.

"John Edwards has confessed his sins.

He will serve a life sentence for those."

They also said the money was used to keep the affair hidden from his wife, not to influence his presidential bid.

Neither the Democrat nor his mistress took the witness stand during about four weeks of testimony.

Baron died in 2008 and Mellon, who is 101 years old, did not testify.

Edwards met Hunter in a New York hotel bar in 2006 and they spent the night together. She soon joined his campaign, and despite a lack of filmmaking experience, the politician arranged a $250,000 contract for her to make a series of behind-the-scenes documentaries from the campaign trail.

Word of the affair eventually got back to Edwards' wife. On Dec. 30, 2006, the day Edwards officially announced his bid for president at an event in his hometown of Chapel Hill, Elizabeth Edwards bumped into Hunter for the first time and became visibly upset, according to testimony.

She told her husband to get rid of her, and while Hunter officially left the campaign, John Edwards continued to meet with her on the road.

Hunter became pregnant in the summer of 2007. As Hunter's belly began to show that September, tabloid

John Edwards

reporters began tailing her. Within weeks, the Youngs had set up Hunter in a $2,700-a-month rental home not far from the Edwards estate in Chapel Hill, using the donated money.

In October 2007, a day after a tabloid reported the affair, Elizabeth Edwards blew up at her husband, according to testimony from former adviser Christina Reynolds. Edwards' now-deceased wife stormed away from her husband at a private hangar, collapsing into a ball on the pavement.

After composing herself in a nearby ladies room, Elizabeth Edwards ripped off her shirt and bra and screamed, "You don't see me anymore!" As staffers scrambled to cover her up and whisk her into a car, her husband boarded a jet and headed to a campaign event in South Carolina.

That December, in an attempt to contain the scandal, Young issued a statement claiming the baby was his.

Prosecutors presented phone records showing Edwards and Young — and Young and Baron — talked with each other that day and claimed they conspired to come up with the plan.

About a month later, Edwards' presidential campaign began to fold with poor showings in the early presidential primary states. Even before he officially suspended his presidential campaign at the end of January 2008, Edwards had begun wooing the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for a spot in their administration, perhaps as vice president.

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

WORLD NEWS

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Interpol hunts Canada murder suspect as video surfaces OTTAWA — Interpol on Thursday joined an intense manhunt for a Canadian porn star suspected of the grisly murder and dismemberment of his boyfriend, as a video of the killing surfaced online.

Interpol posted the picture and profile of Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, who is being hunted across Canada over the killing, first brought to light when a human foot was sent to the headquarters of Canada's ruling Conservative Party.

A hand was later found in the mail at an Ottawa post office, and a torso was discovered in Montreal. Police believe the remains belong to a man who was dating Magnotta -- and that Magnotta is to blame.

Authorities say they believe the suspect, also known as Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov, may have fled the country.

"There is no country in the world that is not talking about him," Montreal police commander Ian Lafreniere told public broadcaster CBC, adding that police have evidence he fled North America.

"There's a lot of heat on him. There's a lot of pressure on him, so we believe that it's going to be hard for him."

The video circulating online shows a man repeatedly stab another man with an ice pick and dismember him, as a song from the soundtrack of the film "American Psycho" plays in the background.

Canadian Luka Rocco Magnotta

"It's a video of the murder," police told the daily Globe and Mail. The newspaper also reported that the footage showed acts of cannibalism.

Despite efforts to take it down, frustrated police said Thursday the gory 10 and a half minute video first brought to the attention of Canadian authorities by a Montana lawyer has kept popping up all over the Internet.

US civil litigation lawyer Roger Renville told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation he came across the video last Saturday, and informed police in the United States and Canada.

"What I saw in that video exceeds your worst nightmare. It's Jeffrey Dahmer-esque," he said.

When Renville spoke to Canadian police on Sunday, he said they were "very skeptical." A police officer "suggested that whatever I was seeing must be fake. And he suggested that special effects are pretty good these days and it'd be hard to tell if it was real or not," said Renville.

An investigation was launched Tuesday when a package sent from Montreal was partly opened by the receptionist at the Conservative Party office in Ottawa, who called police after seeing blood stains and being overwhelmed by the smell.

Hours later, a second suspicious package was intercepted by Canada Post at a nearby mail sorting facility. It "contained a human hand," said police.

Soon, the probe shifted to Montreal where a torso was discovered by a janitor in a suitcase in a pile of garbage. Police said the torso belonged to a white male.

It is believed that the victim and the suspect were dating.

"We're missing parts of the body so it's difficult at this time to positively identify the victim," Lafreniere told a press conference.

The investigation quickly brought police to a studio apartment overlooking an expressway in the neighborhood where the torso was found.

After combing it for evidence, the doors and windows were left open to air out the "pungent" smell of death, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

Bush and Obama on stage together share laughs WASHINGTON — All smiles, President Barack Obama shared the stage with former President George W. Bush, the predecessor he often inveighs against, in a friendly White House welcome for the unveiling of the 43rd president's official portrait.

Obama told Bush and an assembly of former Bush aides and Cabinet members on Thursday: "We may have our differences politically, but the presidency transcends those differences."

Bush, light-hearted and expansive, saluted artist John Howard Sanden for "a fine job with a challenging subject."

With George Washington over his shoulder, Bush jokingly noted symmetry in the lineup of presidential portraits: "It now starts and ends with a George W." It was a rare public appearance for the former president, who was joined by his wife, Laura, and other family members, including his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush.

Obama thanked Bush for his service to the country and said it takes someone who has served as president to understand the challenges that face the White House occupant.

"In this job, no decision that reaches your desk is easy, no choice you make is without cost, no matter how hard you try,

you're not going to make everybody happy," Obama said. "I think that's something that President Bush and I both learned pretty quickly."

What's more, he told Bush, "you left me a really good TV sports package. ... I use it."

The unveiling ceremony amounted to a reunion of old Bush-era hands, including former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Secretary of State Colin Powell, political adviser Karl Rove and Homeland Security head Tom Ridge. Before the ceremony, Obama and his wife, Michelle, hosted more than a dozen members of the Bush family for a private lunch.

The good humor and the well-wishes belied sharp political differences between the two men.

Obama is still bad-mouthing Bush's time in office, and it's not just because of the federal debt and the unfinished wars Obama inherited. Obama sees Bush's economic ideas as the same as those of his current rival, Republican Mitt Romney, so he lumps them together.

Still, the political reunion put aside any campaign rhetoric.

Obama has never run against Bush, although it was easy to forget that during his 2008 contest with Sen. John McCain, when Bush's tenure was so often Obama's target.

A CBC reporter, who was let in by the building superintendent, said he saw blood stains on a bed mattress where police say the victim may have been killed, around a bathtub drain, and on other furniture.

Only two months ago, Magnotta wrote in his last known public comments on a blog: "It's not cool to the world being a necrophiliac. It's bloody lonely."

Police have not said whether there was evidence of sexual assault on the victim.

Several websites describe Magnotta as a washed-up porn star and hustler, who allegedly posted videos online of himself torturing kittens.

Online reports also said Magnotta once dated Karla Homolka, who was convicted in 1991 of manslaughter following a plea bargain in the rape and murder of two teenage girls and her sister.

Homolka had claimed in testimony that helped send her husband Paul Bernardo to prison for life that she was abused and an unwilling accomplice to the murders.

But videotapes of the crimes later surfaced showing that she was a more active participant than she had claimed.

She was released from prison in 2005 and moved to Montreal.

In a 2007 interview with a Toronto newspaper, Magnotta denied knowing Homolka, who is reportedly now married with three children.

Guards strike, inmates set free at Norway prison OSLO- Convicted sex offenders and violent criminals were let loose from a Norway prison this week when guards went on strike, forcing authorities to free 52 inmates, officials said.

"Some of these are prisoners convicted for violence, drugs, economic crime and sex crimes," Harald Aasaune, the manager of the Bjoergvin prison outside Bergen, said on Friday.

"Bjoergvin is an open prison, but still, many of them are sitting in relatively long sentences," he added. "I don't think this has ever happened before."

Four of Bjoergvin's prisoners were released on probation while 48 were granted a five-day furlough as guards joined other public workers on strike.

State workers in Norway, whose rapid economic growth stands out in a troubled continent, went on strike for the first time in 28 years on Thursday after pay talks broke down, shutting schools, child care centres and other public institutions.

The indefinite strike initially affected up to 30,000 of the 600,000 people employed by the central and local governments but it is expected to widen unless the two sides reach a settlement.

Norway's open prisons allow inmates to roam freely, primarily in a natural setting, as the Nordic nation's justice system focuses on rehabilitation over incarceration.

Violent criminals who pose a danger to society are not allowed in open prisons but even they, particularly toward the end of a sentence, are sometimes transferred to such facilities.

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WORLD NEWS

Romney clinches Republican 2012 nomination in Texas WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday with a resounding victory in Texas and now faces a five-month sprint to convince voters to trust him over Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

Although the race has been essentially over for weeks, Romney finally cleared the benchmark of 1,144 delegates needed to become the Republicans' presidential candidate after a long, bitter primary battle with a host of conservative rivals.

He will be formally nominated at the Republicans' convention in Florida in late August.

In a statement, Romney said he was humbled to win enough of Texas' 155 delegates to secure the nomination.

"Our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last three and a half years behind us. I have no illusions about the difficulties of the task before us. But whatever challenges lie ahead, we will settle for nothing less than getting America back on the path to full employment and prosperity," he said.

Romney endured serious threats

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney greets supporters during a campaign rally in Las Vegas, May 29, 2012.

from Republican opponents from Rick Perry to Rick Santorum to reach a goal that his late father, former Michigan Governor George Romney, fell short of achieving -- winning his party's stamp of approval as its presidential candidate.

It is always difficult to unseat an incumbent president and Romney is

Russian colonel convicted of spying for US MOSCOW - A retired Russian military officer has been convicted on charges of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to 12 years in prison, the counterintelligence agency said Thursday, the latest in a raft of espionage cases that come amid tensions between Moscow and Washington.

A court has ruled that retired Col. Vladimir Lazar will be sent to a highsecurity prison and stripped of his military rank, the Federal Security Service, or FSB, said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Lazar purchased several computer disks with more than 7,000 images of classified maps of Russia from a collector in 2008 and smuggled them to neighboring Belarus, where he gave them to an alleged American intelligence agent.

The FSB said the maps could be used for planning military operations against Russia. Lazar had served with the General Staff of the Russian armed forces in Moscow before his retirement in the early 2000s.

The FSB did not specify when the Moscow City Court's verdict and sentence were handed down. Prosecutors first reported charges against Lazar in April.

Russian state television broadcast brief footage from the courtroom, showing the gray-haired, bespectacled Lazar sitting in a cage.

Earlier this month, a court in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg handed an eight-year prison sentence to Alexander Gniteyev, a defense company worker accused of passing information about Russia's latest missile, the Bulava, to a foreign intelligence agency.

And in February, Lt. Col. Vladimir Nesterets, who oversaw missile tests at the Plesetsk Launchpad in northern Russia, was convicted on charges of providing the CIA with secret information on new missiles and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

The series of spy trials come as U.S.-Russian relations have soured over U.S.led NATO missile defense plans for Europe, which Moscow sees as a potential threat to its nuclear forces, and other disputes.

Vladimir Putin, re-elected to a third term in March, had taken a strongly antiAmerican posture during his campaign, accusing Washington of staging the mass protests against his 12-year rule in an effort to weaken Russia.

He has snubbed the Group of Eight Summit in Chicago earlier this month, a move interpreted by many as an expression of his annoyance about the U.S.

considered the underdog. But with the economy staggering along, polls are close.

All indications are that Americans face the possibility of a cliffhanger election in November that will be decided by relatively small percentages of voters in as many as a dozen battleground states, such as

Ohio, Florida and Virginia.

The former Massachusetts governor now faces a lengthy to-do list to gird for his duel with Obama, from picking a vice presidential running mate to raising hundreds of millions of dollars for a national campaign.

In the immediate weeks ahead, his goal is to bolster his case that Obama has been ineffective in handling the sluggish U.S. economy and hostile to job creators.

This argument will move soon to the energy industry, which Romney thinks Obama has bungled by not ramping up domestic production of oil and natural gas.

Romney in weeks ahead will turn to Obama's 2010 healthcare overhaul.

The U.S. Supreme Court is to decide in late June on the constitutionality of the law's requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance.

Romney has vowed to repeal the law if elected, citing it as an example of too much government under Obama. He has faced criticism from Republicans for the healthcare overhaul he developed for Massachusetts that Obama has called a model for revamping the U.S. system.

Pope’s top aide at centre of Vatican controversy Amid all the rivalries and gossip exposed by a growing Vatican crisis, Pope Benedict's deputy Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has emerged as the chief target of an unprecedented campaign of leaks.

The publication of embarrassing details about men he has appointed or moved out and projects he has promoted or opposed suggests a concerted effort to force him out of his post as secretary of state, or Vatican prime minister.

Benedict ruffled feathers in 2006 by choosing the theologian and canon law expert to head the Vatican bureaucracy known as the Curia, which is normally run by an experienced papal diplomat.

A series of mishaps embarrassing the pope and Bertone's increasingly authoritarian management style finally prompted his critics to launch the campaign to discredit him, according to Vatican insiders.

"It's all aimed at Bertone," said a monsignor in the Curia who sides with his gregarious boss. "It's very clear that they want to get rid of Bertone."

Exactly who is behind the murky leaks campaign is still a matter of speculation; but Vatican watchers suspect the miffed "diplomatic wing", including Bertone's still influential predecessor Cardinal Angelo Sodano, is involved.

Bertone has also frustrated some Curia officials by exerting more control over their access to the pope and slighted some Italian prelates by getting involved with local politicians, a task normally reserved for national bishops conferences.

Some commentators see the crisis as the start of jockeying for power after Benedict dies. "The majority in the next conclave is really what is at stake," the daily La Stampa wrote.

With criticism of Bertone increasing, Benedict made a rare declaration of support for his deputy and other close aides on Wednesday.

"I would like to renew my trust and my encouragement to my closest collaborators and all those who every day, with faith, a spirit of sacrifice and in silence help me to perform my ministry," he said at his weekly public audience.

Benedict opted for a trusted colleague in 2006 when he named Bertone, his former deputy at the Vatican's powerful doctrinal office, to the post overseeing the Curia bureaucracy in Rome and the Vatican's embassies abroad.

The cardinal was supposed to run the Vatican shop while Benedict, now 85, devoted his time more to doctrinal issues and writing a three-book theological study of Jesus Christ.

Bertone hinted early on that internal management was not his main interest, saying soon after his appointment that he wanted "to be secretary of the Church more than of the state."

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Haiti will take 30 years to reach middle income status, says U.S. oďŹƒcial OTTAWA - It will take Haiti the better part three decades to become a middle income country on par with its Caribbean island neighbour, the Dominican Republic, says the top U.S. official on the file.

But Thomas Adams, the State Department's special co-ordinator for Haiti, told The Canadian Press that "realistic" estimate should not be seen as daunting to countries like Canada that are heavily invested in helping the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, still struggling after its devastating 2010 earthquake.

Nor should it deter investors, who are crucial to Haiti's long-term recovery, Adams added, as long as the country builds credible democratic institutions.

"There is no reason why Haiti can't become a middle income country. But because they're starting so low, it's going be to be 25-30 years even if they have good economic growth," Adams said in an exclusive interview, after two days of meetings in Ottawa with various government officials.

"It's not a quick fix. These problems in Haiti - their educational system, their health system, cholera, the infrastructure - these aren't quick fixes," he added.

"It's good to be realistic. That's not to say we're not making progress each year ‌ But overall, you're not going to see a Haiti the way you'd like it for a while."

Forty years ago, Haiti was slightly ahead of the Dominican Republic economically, said Adams, with 20 large American corporations setting up their Caribbean headquarters there. The two countries share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

Adams sees economic growth for Haiti in textiles, agriculture and tourism.

"Haiti needs private investment. All the donor money, as generous as it is - and I think Canada and a lot of countries have been very generous - isn't enough to fix Haiti."

The U.S. and Canada, said Adams, remain in lock-step when it comes to helping Haiti recover from the devastating January 2010 earthquake that left 300,000 dead and displaced 1.5 million. Canada has pledged more than $1 billion to Haiti, making it the second largest aid recipient after Afghanistan.

That co-operation extends to co-ordinated messaging of Haiti's political leaders, to break the political paralysis of the last year - a crisis that has raised serious questions about the country's ability to stave off corruption and govern itself effectively.

That crisis appeared to ease earlier this month when President Michel Martelly swore in a new prime minister, Laurent Lamothe, whose predecessor resigned in February after barely four months on the job.

The turmoil rendered Haiti's government rudderless and left billions of dollars of donor pledges in limbo.

"That's pretty much over," said Adams. "There's a truce between the president and the parliament. It seems they're willing to work together. The president has confidence in the new prime minister."

With Lamothe confirmed, parliamentary amendments will pave the way for elections of senators and local officials, as well as paving the way for reforms of the court system, said Adams.

Throughout it all, the Canadian and U.S. governments have continued to "give co-ordinated messages on some sensitive topics."

The underlying message can be boiled down to this: reign in the corruption and work together politically.

"That's one of our constant messages," Adams explained.

"We don't say, if you're not going to do X, Y, and Z we're going to cut off all of your aid. But we do say,

and Canada says, and everybody else says, over time businessmen and donors are going to go elsewhere if you're not seen as making your best efforts to curb corruption to bring in the rule of the law and be democratic.

"I think they're hearing that."

Diane Ablonczy, Canada's junior foreign affairs for the Americas, said Haitians are "crying out for leadership" so Canada is urging its leaders to step up and provide it.

"We are really urging the new government as its formed to emphasize and really roll up its sleeves and emphasize the need to deliver results for strong institutions in Haiti."

Adams also lauded Canada's former governor general, Haitian-born Michaelle Jean, as a key player in that co-ordinated communication effort with Haiti's leadership.

Jean, now the UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti, travels to Haiti again this week, for meetings will political leaders. She'll also take part in events to highlight programs that help curb malnutrition and poverty.

Earlier this month, Jean laid bare her frustration with the pace of change in her native country during a recent speech in Ottawa to government officials and non-governmental organizations.

"The aid and handout system has become kind of a business model, a scheme used by some to wheel and deal as it generates opportunities for embezzlement and corruption," Jean said the text posted on her website.

"It can't go on like this."

Adams said that's the message the U.S., Canada and other allies continue to deliver to Haiti.

"We're on the same message too. Again, cut the chaos," he said. "That's all we're saying there: come on guys, let's keep our eye on the ball here."

Diplomats expelled as Annan tells Assad to stop the killing Syrian diplomats were expelled from countries around the world as former United Nations boss Kofi Annan presented an ultimatum to Bashar alAssad in Damascus.

Australia, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Spain all threw out Syrian diplomats in a coordinated move to escalate pressure on Mr Assad after the massacre of at least 108 people, mostly women and children, in the town of Houla.

And in Damascus, UN Arab League envoy Mr Annan told the Syrian president to implement a ceasefire "not tomorrow, now".

Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr announced late on Tuesday afternoon that Syrian chargĂŠ d'affaires Jawdat Ali and another diplomat would have 72 hours to leave Australia.

He said the move was the most effective way of sending a message of revulsion to the Syrian government over the Houla massacre.

In the United States, the state department said it had given Syria's top diplomat in Washington, Zuheir Jabbour, 72 hours to leave the country.

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland described the massacre as indefensible, vile and despicable and said it was clear what a full investigation of the

People gather at a mass burial for the victims killed during an artillery barrage from Syrian forces in Houla

killings in Houla would show.

"It's going to show that these were regime-sponsored thugs who went into villages, went into homes and killed children at point-blank range, and their parents, and that the responsibility goes right back to the Assad regime," she said.

"We hold the Syrian government responsible for this slaughter of

innocent lives."

UK foreign secretary William Hague said Syria's charge d'affaires and two other diplomats in London had a week to leave.

Meanwhile, Mr Annan met Mr Assad in Damascus after a series of talks with Syrian officials.

Mr Annan said he reinforced his message that the six-point peace plan

and ceasefire brokered in April must be implemented immediately.

"We are at a tipping point. The Syrian people do not want the future to be one of bloodshed and division.

Yet the killings continue and the abuses are still with us today," Mr Annan said.

Mr Annan said he "conveyed in frank terms the grave concern of the international community about the violence in Syria, including the recent shocking events in Houla".

He appealed to Mr Assad's armed opponents also to cease acts of violence.

He said Mr Assad had also condemned the killings in Houla. But the Syrian government has denied any role and blamed Islamist "terrorists".

In Paris, French president Francois Hollande said the use of armed force could be possible, but that it had to be carried out under UN auspices.

"It is not possible to allow Bashar al-Assad's regime to massacre its own people," Mr Hollande told France 2 television.

"Military intervention to end the crisis in Syria cannot be ruled out if it is backed by the United Nations Security Council," he said.

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HIGHLIGHTS

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Device to inject a variety of drugs without needle READ ON PAGE 40

Oil headed for biggest drop since 2008 NEW YORK — The price of oil is headed for its biggest monthly decline since December 2008.

Oil has dropped more than 16 percent so far in May, erasing all of its gains for the year. That's helped lower gas prices and provided a little financial relief to cautious consumers.

Prices are falling on expectations that the world won't use as much oil this year as previously thought.

Europe's financial crisis is the most immediate concern, but there have been plenty of signs of weaker demand. Benchmark U.S. crude fell $2.94, or 3.2 percent, on Wednesday to finish at $87.82. It's now down 11 percent from Jan. 1.

Oil rose near $110 per barrel in February because of the potential for conflict between Iran and the West. Those tensions have eased somewhat, and the market's focus has turned to weak spots in the global economy.

The month started with so-so U.S. jobs numbers.

Other U.S. economic data have been mixed and gasoline consumption has dropped for 62 straight weeks. Meanwhile, China's manufacturing sector is slowing down. The U.S. and China are the biggest oil consumers in the world.

Earlier this year, energy economists mostly agreed that world oil demand would hit a new record in 2012, probably around 89 million barrels per day.

But with demand not growing in China and declining in the U.S., those expectations are starting to change.

"I wouldn't be surprised if demand was lower this year," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic

Energy & Economic Research.

That could be the case in Europe. Experts worry the 17 nations that use the euro will fall into recession. Europe consumes about 16 percent of the world's oil.

Fears about Europe's financial stability sent ripples through world markets Wednesday. Major stock indexes slipped 1 percent to 2 percent. The European Commission fanned those concerns by reporting that economic confidence has plummeted this month to the lowest level in two and a half years.

The euro fell near a two-year low against the dollar, helping to push oil prices even lower. Oil, which is priced in dollars, tends to fall as the dollar rises and makes crude barrels more expensive for investors holding foreign money. Brent crude, which is used to price oil varieties that are imported into the U.S., fell by $3.21 to end at $103.47 per barrel in London.

Traders have seen this show before. This is the third consecutive May where oil has plunged, in part because of similar concerns about European debts.

Oil fell 9.9 percent in May of last year and 14.1 percent in May 2010. Jim Ritterbusch, an independent oil trader and analyst, said it's a coincidence that the month has become known for tumbling oil prices.

A number of one-time factors moved oil prices over the past few years, he said, including last year's Libyan rebellion, the 2011 release of emergency oil supplies by the U.S. and other industrialized

countries, fighting in Nigeria and fears over Iran's nuclear program. In the past two years, oil recovered from its swoon in May and ended the year higher than it started.

"Who knows, maybe that will happen again this year," Ritterbusch said.

Drivers hope not. A gallon of regular unleaded has dropped by 31 cents since peaking in the first week of April. U.S. retail gasoline prices fell by a penny Wednesday to $3.626 per gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Experts see gas falling to at least $3.50 by July 4.

Drivers aren't rushing to use more of the cheaper gasoline, however. MasterCard SpendingPulse said that motorists bought less gasoline last week, even though it cost about 13 cents per gallon less than in the same week last year. People are driving fewer miles and getting around in more fuel-efficient cars.

And gas is still 90 cents more expensive than at this time in 2010.

Other futures prices also declined Wednesday.

Natural gas fell by 6.7 cents, or 2.7 percent, to end at $2.418 per 1,000 cubic feet. Natural gas has dropped by 32 cents in the past four trading days.

Analysts said prices are falling after investors cashed in on futures contracts that jumped 44 percent since April 19.

Heating oil lost 6.9 cents to end at $2.7398 per gallon while wholesale gasoline lost 4.83 cents to finish at $2.8582 per gallon.

NYC proposes ban on large sodas at restaurants NEW YORK — Want to super-size that soda? Sorry, but in New York City you could be out of luck.

In his latest effort to fight obesity in this era of Big Gulps and triple bacon cheeseburgers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing an unprecedented ban on large servings of soda and other sugary drinks at restaurants, delis, sports arenas and movie theaters.

Drinks would be limited to 16 ounces, which is considered a small at many fast-food joints.

"The percentage of the population that is obese is skyrocketing," Bloomberg said Thursday on MSNBC. He added: "We've got to do something."

It is the first time an American city has directly attempted to limit soda portion sizes, and opponents again accused the three-term mayor of creating a "nanny state" and robbing New Yorkers of the right to choose for themselves.

But city officials said they believe the plan — expected to win approval from the Bloomberg-appointed Board of Health and take effect as soon as March — will ultimately prove popular and push governments around the U.S. to adopt similar rules.

"We have a crisis of obesity," said city Health Commissioner Thomas

Farley. "People often go with the default choice, and if the default choice is something which is very unhealthy and is feeding into that health crisis, it's appropriate for the government to say, 'No, we think the default choice should be healthier.'"

The soft drink industry responded with scathing criticism, even as the administration said it felt certain the companies could simply trim back their offerings from 20-ounce bottles to 16ounce bottles — reversing a trend that has been under way for decades. In the 1950s, McDonald's offered only one size for soft drinks: 7 ounces, city officials said.

Coca-Cola called the ban an "arbitrary mandate."

"The people of New York City are much smarter than the New York City Health Department believes," the company said in a statement. "New Yorkers expect and deserve better than this. They can make their own choices about the beverages they purchase."

The ban would apply only to sweetened drinks over 16 ounces that contain more than 25 calories per 8 ounces. (A 12-ounce can of Coke has about 140 calories.) It would not affect diet soda or any drink that is at least half milk or milk substitute.

Various size cups and sugar cubes are displayed at a news conference at New York's City Hall, Thursday, May 31, 2012. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing a ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks in the city's restaurants, delis and movie theaters in the hopes of combating obesity, an expansion of his administration's efforts to encourage healthy behavior by limiting residents' choices.

Nor would it apply to drinks sold in supermarkets or convenience stores, unless those businesses primarily sell foods meant to be eaten right away. Businesses would face fines of $200 per failed inspection.

City officials said some calorieheavy drinks such as Starbucks Frappuccinos would probably be exempted because of their dairy content, while the Slurpees at 7Eleven wouldn't be affected because the stores are regulated as groceries.

The Porse Pajun

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BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

JUNE 1ST-JUNE 8TH, 2012

Device may inject a variety of drugs without using needles Getting a shot at the doctor’s office may become less painful in the nottoo-distant future.

MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, highpressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle. The device can be programmed to deliver a range of doses to various depths — an improvement over similar jetinjection systems that are now commercially available.

The researchers say that among other benefits, the technology may help reduce the potential for needlestick injuries; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that hospital-based health care workers accidentally prick themselves with needles 385,000 times each year. A needleless device may also help improve compliance among patients who might otherwise avoid the discomfort of regularly injecting themselves with drugs such as insulin.

“If you are afraid of needles and have to frequently self-inject, compliance can be an issue,” says Catherine Hogan, a research scientist in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and a member of the research team. “We think this kind of technology … gets around some of

MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, high-pressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle.

the phobias that people may have about needles.”

In the past few decades, scientists have developed various alternatives to hypodermic needles. For example, nicotine patches slowly release drugs through the skin. But these patches can only release drug molecules small enough to pass through the skin’s pores, limiting the type of medicine that can be delivered.

With the delivery of larger protein-based drugs on the rise, researchers have been developing new technologies capable of delivering them — including jet injectors, which produce a highvelocity jet of drugs that penetrate the

skin. While there are several jetbased devices on the market today, Hogan notes that there are drawbacks to these commercially available devices. The mechanisms they use, particularly in spring-loaded designs, are essentially “bang or nothing,” releasing a coil that ejects the same amount of drug to the same depth every time.

Now the MIT team, led by Ian Hunter, the George N. Hatsopoulos Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has engineered a jet-injection system that delivers a range of doses to variable depths in a highly controlled manner. The design is built around a mechanism called a Lorentz-force

actuator — a small, powerful magnet surrounded by a coil of wire that’s attached to a piston inside a drug ampoule. When current is applied, it interacts with the magnetic field to produce a force that pushes the piston forward, ejecting the drug at very high pressure and velocity (almost the speed of sound in air) out through the ampoule’s nozzle — an opening as wide as a mosquito’s proboscis.

MIT-engineered device injects drug without needles, delivering a highvelocity jet of liquid that breaches the skin at the speed of sound.

The speed of the coil and the velocity imparted to the drug can be controlled by the amount of current applied; the MIT team generated pressure profiles that modulate the current. The resulting waveforms generally consist of two distinct phases: an initial high-pressure phase in which the device ejects drug at a high-enough velocity to “breach” the skin and reach the desired depth, then a lower-pressure phase where drug is delivered in a slower stream that can easily be absorbed by the surrounding tissue.

Through testing, the group found that various skin types may require different waveforms to deliver adequate volumes of drugs to the desired depth.

BlackBerry maker RIM sinks, but patents and network have value WATERLOO, Ontario — Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry, is in steep decline. The company, once the crown jewel of the Canadian technology industry, is now worth 1 percent of Apple's market capitalization. One way for RIM to stop the downward tailspin: It could sell itself to a competitor or financial firm. But who would step up to buy RIM —and why?

Late Tuesday, the company said it expects to post an operating loss for the current quarter, a sign that BlackBerry sales are falling even faster than analysts expected. On Wednesday, the company's stock hit its lowest level since 2003, the year RIM went from making two-way e-mail pagers to smartphones.

The stock has fallen 93 percent since their peak in 2008. Since then, the BlackBerry's dominance as the smartphone for on-the-go business people has been eviscerated by Apple Inc.'s iPhone, and more recently, by phones running Google Inc.'s Android software. Research firm IDC says BlackBerrys now account for 6.4 percent of the global smartphone market, a third of what they had two years ago.

In that time, the company's financial performance has suffered. RIM reported a 25 percent revenue decline in the latest fiscal quarter, to $4.2 billion from $5.6 billion. For the full fiscal year that ended on March 3, it earned $1.2 billion, or $2.22 per share, on revenue of $18.4 billion.

That's down from net income of $3.4 billion, or $6.34 a share, on revenue of $19.9 billion in fiscal 2011.

RIM issued the dire warning about its business Tuesday, adding that it will lay off a "significant" number of employees.

Still, the company is defiant. Chief executive, Thorsten Heins, says he can turn things around with the help of fresh smartphone software. Heins joined RIM four years ago and was most recently its chief operating officer. He replaced co-CEOs Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis in January after the company lost tens of billions in market value.

"My charter from the board of directors is very clear: long-term value creation with RIM," Heins told The Associated Press in an interview at the company's headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, earlier this month.

Analysts give RIM only a slight chance of coming out of the crisis. To hedge its bets, the company has hired bankers to look at its options. It's not actively looking to sell itself, Heins said, but it wants to be prepared.

Michael Walkley at Canaccord Genuity believes most of the company's value lies in the monthly fees it gets from phone companies in exchange for running the systems that deliver email and Web pages to BlackBerrys.

RIM has 78 million users connected to this system, but Walkley estimates that only 20 million are corporate and government users who are likely to stick around because of the communications security RIM provides. The rest are consumers who will jump to competing phones, he believes. That business is worth about $2.75 billion to a competitor, Walkley wrote in a research report Wednesday.

The other major component of RIM's value is its patent portfolio. The company had an early scare in U.S. patent courts in 2006, when it was forced to pay $612.5 million to a small company founded by

an inventor who had patents on wireless e-mail delivery. Since then, it's filed for thousands of patents to use as a defense against future suits.

Patents on wireless technologies exploded in value last year, as Apple and Microsoft Corp. started suing makers of phones that run Google's Android software. Countersuits followed. A consortium that included Apple and RIM bought the patents of a defunct Canadian maker of telecommunications gear, Nortel, for $4.5 billion last year. That compares with the $1.13 billion Nortel's once-prominent wireless networks business fetched in 2009.

As a counter-move, Google bolstered its own patent portfolio by buying Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., a U.S. phone maker with only slightly better prospects than RIM, for $12.5 billion.

Where does that leave RIM? Christopher Marlett, the CEO of MDB Capital, said RIM's patents are worth more than $1 billion, and could be worth as much as $4 billion if a bidding war develops between Apple, Google, Microsoft Corp. and perhaps Samsung Electronics Co. "It's a question of how aggressive they get," Marlett said. His firm is an investment bank that focuses on intellectual property, including patents.

Walkley puts the value of RIM's portfolio at $2.5 billion, excluding the patents RIM bought from Nortel and shares with Apple, Microsoft and other buyers.

RIM has $2.1 billion in cash, but Walkley discounts this completely, since the phone business will likely start using up cash soon, and downsizing will require severance payments. That means the email network and the patents comprise RIM's entire value at $5.25 billion, by his estimate.

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Page 41

Delano Williams exudes confidence ahead of Olympic trials

LOCAL NEWS

Rashard Goddard of Cable and Wireless presents rising sprint star Delano Williams with a Blackberry Torch shortly before he departs the TCI for Jamaica, where he is attending school and training. Looking on at left is Edith Skippings, President of the Turks and Caicos Amateur Athletics Association (TCAA).

Read more on pg 42

Little League Baseball to start soon

By Vivian Tyson

The Turks and Caicos Islands Sports Commission is laying the framework for the commencement of a country-wide little league baseball tournament to encompass all the primary schools in the country starting with Providenciales.

Head of the Sports Commission, Alvin Parker, who made the disclosure, last week, said that the kick-starting of the league was triggered by a container shipment of baseball and softball gear, made possible by US donor.

Parker said that the Sports Commission, for the past three years, had been trying to establish a little league baseball tournament in the TCI but was unsuccessful to resources. However, he said now that the well-needed gear was donated, the programme would now take off.

“We made several attempts at it. The first year we tried and we found out that we had more kids than equipment, and for that reason the programme died out. The second year we were able to muster a little more equipment and we didn’t have enough kids and teachers at the time, so again, we couldn’t get things together and the programme died out for a year or two.

“This year we travelled to Charlotte, North Carolina where we visited Myers Park Little League Baseball Programme, and we pretty much partnered with Myers Park and the community there for them to assist us with equipment, and we were able to get about $50,000 worth of used equipment donated to us,” Parker said.

He said that there was enough gear to dispatch across the country, so that students would get themselves familiar with the game of baseball well enough to play in competitions.

While the TCI has a softball association, it is without a baseball association to govern the sport, but Parker said that was about to change, as the Sports Commission would be moving with

photo shows budding baseball and softball players posing the dozens of the sporting equipment at the Downtown Ball Park

alacrity to establish such a body, while working closely with Softball Association Head, Godfrey Been. Coach of the Predators Softball team, Shanella Forbes, is to coordinate the little league programme.

“Godfrey Been and myself are heading this project. He would continue to govern softball, while creating this baseball association. We also established contacts with some baseball coaches there (Charlotte) and very shortly we are going to have some baseball coaches come down here to assist us with training, and also to host seminars with all the NGBs in the Turks and Caicos, on the recruiting process, to pretty much bring them up to speed on what needs to happen and what it takes to get in a US college or any US institution on an athletic scholarship,” Parker said.

Conch Shack demolish Northern Star 11 – 3

In the meantime, Forbes said that she was very excited to have been given the task of streamlining the programme. She would be working with two age groups – 4 to 7 and 8 to 10.

“It is something that I wanted to do, I love kids, I like being around kids. Kids are more aggressive; they want to play the game; they want to be out there, and they are willing to learn,” she said.

She said that the equipment donated by the Myers Park Programme would assist a great deal.

“I need the bats, and I need balls, and a lot of these equipment like the helmets, gloves, mitts – all of them are going to be a lot of help. We hope to start the league; I will be sending letters to every school in Provo – black, white whatever – doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, we are going to get everybody together,” Forbes said.

the game would be close as they scored for AFC Academy .

The Captain Marvin’s Women’s Beach Soccer league has one round of games left before the championship will be decided. The Pink Mermaids who are still undefeated will play The Men’s Beach Soccer League Jean Guerrier (5), Robert Valmyn against the Blue Marlins in two weeks completed its second round of (3) Mackinson Davilmar (1) and time in the championship decider. games last weekend as AFC Andre Turner scored for the Conch The Mermaids dispatched the Great National moved to the top of the Shack and Richard Long added a White Sharks 7-1 and the Marlins table with a 8-4 win against AFC consolation goal for Northern Star. secured the spot in the final with a 9-5 Academy . The Conch Shark also In the second game AFC National win against the Purple Pirates. recorded an impressive 11-3 victory left it until late to pull away from AFC The Mermaids put in another over the defending champions Academy . National took an early 4-0 impressive team performance as Northern Star. lead but the Academy side pulled it Kadine Delphin scored six of her Northern Star held a slender 2-1 back to a 5-4 deficit going into the teams goals. Yarileny De la Cruz lead after the first period with goals final period. James Rene, Michael scored the final goal and made three from matt Green and Haroon Swaby, Laird, Luis Turbyfield each scored assists as the Sharks lost their fifth however the Conch Shack responded twice and Wildens Delva and Myrohn game in a row. Jessica Lange, who well and found the net with ease Pereira found the back of the net for worked tirelessly for her team scored for the remainder of the match as the National team. Herby Magny (2), a consolation goal for the Sharks. they ran out comfortable winners. Frandly jean and Anell Super ensured

The second game promised to be exciting as both the Pirates and the Marlins were fighting it out for second position and with it a place in the grand final. Both teams appeared to be evenly matched but it was the Marlins who claimed the win, largely as a result of better finishing in front of goal.

On far too many occasions the Pirates wasted good goal scoring opportunities or shot wide or high.

Sarah Cenary (4), Amelie Speer (3) and Waldine Pierre (2) scored for the Marlins and Tina Hinds (4) and Ruth Francois (1) were on target for the Pirates.

The final round of group games takes place this weekend as teams will hope to put in a good performance before the grand finals on the 10th June.

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LOCAL NEWS SPORTS LOCAL

JUNE 1ST - JUNE 8TH, 2012

Wahoos Go Unbeaten to Take Out Heineken Tag League

The spring season of the Heineken M i x e d Tag Rugby League finished in fine style at Finals Night last Thursday, with the players battling out some excellent games that were certainly worthy of the occasion.

The Wahoos had gone through the entire season unbeaten, with 12 wins and just two drawn games out of their 14 regular season matches preceding their tight win over the Turtles last week in the first round of the playoffs. They had to wait to see who their Major Semi-Final opponents would be, as the Red Mist took on the Harriers for the right to play in that match. Outstanding play from both teams meant a very tight score line in a match that eventually went the way of the Harriers by 6 – 3.

Navy Seals and the Try Harders competed at the same time for a place in the other Major SemiFinal against the Jolly Ranchers, and this one was even closer. The Try Harders edged out to a

reasonable lead only for the Seals to pull it back to 6 – 6 and with only the final play of the match remaining the game looked destined for overtime.

Franco Mompremier had other ideas though and ran a brilliant line to score a great individual try and club the Seals out of the tournament.

So it was that the Wahoos took on the Harriers, and they were made to work hard before eventually running away with the match to record a slightly flattering 18 – 4 victory and book their place in the final. The following match finished with a similarly inflated score line of 16 – 5 in favour of the Jolly Ranchers over the Try Harders, whose heroics in their earlier match had possibly left them fatigued and struggling with the speed of the Ranchers’ play.

The Grand Final, therefore, was a replay of the same fixture from the previous season and saw the top two teams from the League deservingly

Delano Williams exudes confidence ahead of Olympic trials

By Vivian Tyson

Turks and Caicos Sprint prodigy, Delano Williams, is ramping up his preparation for the June 22 to 24 British trials for a place on the 200m team to London Summer Olympics to be held from July 27 to August 12.

Williams revealed to journalists before departing the Turks and Caicos for Jamaica where he attends school and trains, that he had been preparing himself in cool conditions so as to acclimatize to the London environment. However, he said that he had to be balancing his training with his studies, as he was currently sitting his external examinations.

“I am actually going back to school right now, external examinations still in progress.

Going back to Jamaican, I would be training hard. My coach (Neil Harrison) said even if I arrive in Jamaica at night I would still need to train,” Williams said.

Outside of a top three finish at the trials would be disappointing for Williams, and while two of the three main athletes that he would be competing against posted better times that he did this year, Williams believes that he could upstage them in the trials.

“I am really looking to come in the top three. I have confidence in myself; I know I can do it. I am still getting into it. I ran 20.83

in 0.5 wind in Bermuda, in the cold, at the Carifta Games. I felt at the time that I could go faster but I did not have anybody there to push me, so I will go to London and give it my best shot,” Williams said.

In the meantime, telecoms company LIME, presented Williams with a Blackberry Torch and free calls from Jamaica to the Turks plus free Blackberry service. The presentation was made by Rashard Goddard at the Providenciales International Airport on Thursday, just before Williams departed.

“LIME Turks and Caicos has always been supportive of our youths, whether it be academically or through athletics, and that is why we are presenting Mr. Delano Williams with this Blackberry Torch, as a token of our appreciation so that you can keep in contact with family and friends in the Turks and Caicos, and as an added bonus, all calls home and Blackberry service will be free, ” Goddard said.

In response Williams said: “I am really excited about it. All calls are free! I am going to call home a lot, get closer with my mom, get closer with my family because the next few weeks I have something big to do. I will also keep in touch with all the people of the Turks and Caicos that I am really close with, because I want the country to be behind me when I go to the trials the next three weeks.”

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

battle it out to claim the trophy. Well organised defence from both teams meant opportunities were tough to come by, but when they did the Wahoos were the more able team at converting them into points, and they took a commanding 6 – 1 lead to the half-time break.

The large crowd of spectators urged on the Jolly Ranchers even more in the second half, and they took heart from that as they came out firing against the overwhelming favourites. A hat-trick to Callis Jones and good interplay between Simon Taylor and his team-mates had the Ranchers right back in the contest. However, second half tries to Lincoln Outten and Dean Griffiths, who were both extremely dangerous throughout the season, kept the buffer there for the Wahoos and they held on with courageous defence to deservedly become the 2012 Spring Heineken Tag League champions.

The TCIRFU wishes to sincerely thank all of those who took part in the League, it was indeed a great success. A prizegiving ceremony will be held during the annual President’s Dinner and Oval Ball on Friday the 8th of June at Brayton Hall. Those wishing to attend can contact Jamie Tait, Rugby Development Officer, at rdo@rugby. tc

Quality Supermarket Kings in T20 semis

Quality Supermarket Kings secured a semifinal berth when they dismissed Jam Turk as the HAB Group/Gansevoort sponsored T20 Competition continued on Sunday May 27, at the Downtown Ball Park.

After losing the toss, Jam Turk was asked to take first knock by Quality, and posted 149 runs for the loss four wickets from their allotted 20 overs.

Kevaughn Brown led the Jam Turk batting charge with an unbeaten 37 runs, which comprised two 4s and a 6. He was supported by Glen Campbell, who was also unbeaten on 33 runs, which included with five 4s. Bowling for Quality Kings,

Colin Williams, Robert Johson, Earl Henry and Nagarajan Kuthalingham took one wicket each.

In reply, Quality Kings overhauled in just 16.4 overs, reaching 150 runs for the loss of five wickets. Earl Henry was the top-scorer with 56 runs, which included six 4s three 6s and Lloyd Lynch, who supported with an unbeaten 29 runs that included five 4s.

Bowling for Jam Turk, Glen Campbell claimed 2 wickets for 16 runs, from 2 overs and Dane Richie took 2 wickets for 26 runs from 3.4 overs.

Earl Henry was named man of the match.

Green Dragons singe the competition for Sailrock U11 boys title

The Sailrock U11 Boys league total to St. Jour’s twelve.

Technical Director Matthew ended last weekend with the Green Dragons finishing as champions Green was delighted with the success and the Orange all Stars as of the league. It is great to see so many young players in this group Runners up. improving their standard of play.

The Dragons needed just one win to secure the title but with This is our biggest age group with wins against Red Devils and Purple over sixty children playing so this Pirates their loss against the All means we have a solid base for years Stars did not make a difference in to come. I would like to thank all the final standings. Orin Campbell the players, coaches, referees and scored the winning goals in both his sponsors for making this league so team victories but Jamie Grey scored successful” Following the days play trophies for the All Stars in their win against were given out to the following the league champions. The All Stars managed a 0-0 draw with the Pirates players. League Winners – Green before finishing with a win against Dragons; Runners Up – Orange All the Yellow Strikers which secured Stars; Orange All Stars MVP – Jamie Grey; Green Dragons MVP – Orin them second place.

In the other key games Shadown Campbell; Purple Pirates MVP – St. Jour ensured he claimed the top Bradley Ayer; Red Devils MVP goal scorer award as he scored twice – Joovens Joseph; Yellow Strikers in the Purple Pirates 2-0 win against – MVP Sebastien Turbyfield; Blue the Blue Marlins. He was pushed marlins MVP - Junior Paul; Top all the way by Joovens Joseph who Goalscorer – Shadown St. Jour (12 scored on two occasions for the Red goals); Most Improved – Jack Parley; Devils to end up with eleven goals in and League MVP – Shadown St. Jour.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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HIGHLIGHTS

Jack Warner cleared of football bribery READ MORE BELOW

Usain Bolt runs his worst 100 metres in three years A flat-looking Usain Bolt raced his worst 100m in three years here on Friday, still managing to claim victory after he recovered sufficiently from a dreadful start and a limp drive phase.

The Jamaican double Olympic sprint champion clocked 10.04 seconds, some distance off the 9.7sec time he was seeking to build on his season-opening 9.82sec earlier this month.

A false start played its part, throwing a distinctly average field into automatic play-safe mode.

Into a -0.8m/s headwind, Bolt grimaced his way from the 50m mark and did enough to beat home veteran Kim Collins of St Kitts and St Nevis (10.19sec) with American Darivs Patton third (10.22).

"I haven't run that badly since a meet in Canada in 2009," said a noticeably downbeat Bolt, also the world record holder in both the 100 and 200m (9.58 and 19.19sec).

"That's reality, a very bad day at the starting blocks. When I was in the back warming up, I did some starts and I was flying.

"But I ran out and didn't get going,

couldn't generate speed in middle of race so I had to work hard to get some speed up."

Elsewhere on the track, defending Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo of Kenya fired a broadside at South African pretender Caster Semenya with a convincing victory in the women's 800m.

Jelimo, also the newly-crowned world indoor champion but who missed almost three years of competition after her Beijing Games triumph through injury, dominated the race to win in 1min 58.49sec, with Semenya in second in 2:00.80.

"Of course everybody wants to do their best because it is so close to the Olympics," said Jelimo, whose kick at the bell opened up too much air between her and the chasing pack.

"I do not run against anybody, including Caster. I just focus on myself.

I want to try and do even better next week."

Semenya, with doubts over her real gender long buried in her past, left her push for the line too late.

Sir Viv blasts West Indies batting NOTTINGHAM – Legendary West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards has blasted the Caribbean side’s disastrous batting in the second Test at Trent Bridge and criticized newly recalled wicketkeeper/batsman Denesh Ramdin for having “deteriorated in such a big way”.

West Indies slumped to 61 for six in their second innings at the end of the third day Sunday and went on to lose the match by nine wickets yesterday.

“It was immature, and these individuals need to think about the requirements to play at this level,” Sir Viv told BBC’s Test Match Special. “They must be given credit for the way they bowled, but the batters did not come to the party and need to sort their heads out where shot selection is concerned.”

Not for the first time in the series, West Indies’ top order collapsed after England had secured a 58-run first innings lead at tea. Ramdin, recalled after two years in the wilderness, has failed to make a meaningful contribution in three of his four innings.

“Ramdin just looks out of sorts. When he first came into the game I felt he was a huge prospect,” said Sir Viv, who never lost a series as captain.

“For some reason, he has deteriorated in such a big way. Just the way he is walking back, he looks like a totally lost guy.”

Ramdin averages 22.28 after 44 Tests.

Sir Viv, who scored 8 540 from 121 Tests at an average of 50, said vice-captain Kirk Edwards’ technique was lacking. “The flaws in Kirk Edwards’ technique . . . he’s looking all over the place. His confidence has been totally destroyed,” Sir Viv said.

The South African, who shot to fame when she won the world title in Berlin in 2009 but was then sidelined for 11 months during a probe into her true gender, settled in at the back of the pack and only kicked with 150m to go.

By that stage, Jelimo had kicked and there was too much for Semenya, now coached by Mozambique running legend Maria Mutola, to make up.

"I'm quite happy with my preparations for the Olympics. I now just need to build up more speed for competition," said Semenya.

There was more South African disappointment when double amputee Oscar Pistorius raced a horrendous 400m in his ongoing bid to nail qualification for the able-bodied Olympics.

The 25-year-old South African, who runs with carbon-fibre artificial 'blades', came in a sorry eighth and last in 47.66sec, 2.54sec off American winner LaShawn Merritt and far away from the 45.70 he needs to run to ensure his participation at the London Games.

"The time was so bad!" Pistorius

said. "I don't know what to say. I can run that fast at the end of a tough training session or straight after getting up out of bed in the morning."

The stand-out field performance was from Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie, who made his return to competition in impressive style by setting a new world lead and meet record of 5.90m in the pole vault in blustery conditions.

"It was a great start to the season," beamed Lavillenie. "I'm not unbeatable, but it's a good response to (Bjorn) Otto", who had set the previous world lead of 5.83m on Wednesday.

Jamaica's two-time Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown won the women's 200m in 22.38sec, and American Wallace Spearmon the men's equivalent in 20.14sec.

American Dexter Faulk claimed the 110m hurdles in an impressive 13.13sec.

And Barbora Spotakova gave home fans something to cheer about, the Czech world record holder throwing a world lead and meet record 67.78m to win the women's javelin.

Jack Warner cleared of football bribery PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Former vice president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and a senior member of the coalition Trinidad and Tobago government, Austin “Jack” Warner, has been told that he has no case to answer with respect to allegations of bribery purported to have taken place here last year during the campaign for the FIFA presidential elections.

“On the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), no further action can be taken in this matter,” Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs informed the Police Service Commission on March 21.

He said the matter which was alleged to have occurred on or about May 10, 2011, was investigated by the police and the DPP advised the matter can proceed no further.

The PSC has since informed Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Rowley by letter dated May 7.

In an immediate reaction Warner told television viewers that he was he was happy and felt vindicated while praising Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar for showing confidence in him.

There had been several calls for the Prime Minister Persad Bissessar to dismiss Warner from the Cabinet after the bribery allegations first surfaced.

Last May, Warner invited the heads of various Caribbean football associations to meet with FIFA presidential candidate Mohammed Bin Hammam here and at that meeting several of the delegates reported that over one million (US) dollars had been distributed to them in brown envelopes.

In June 2011, the Opposition wrote Commissioner Gibbs about the possible breach of the laws of Trinidad and Tobago, including the Exchange Control Act, the Customs Act and generally the criminal law relating to bribery.

The move by the Opposition followed the suspension of Warner and Bin Hammam by the FIFA Ethics Committee based on allegations that they were involved in a bribes-for-votes campaign.

A secret report by FIFA’s Ethics Committee, which was published in England’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, noted there was “comprehensive, convincing and overwhelming evidence” to support claims that Warner and Bin Hammam colluded to pay the bribes.

Warner and Bin Hammam were suspended from FIFA pending the completion of the scheduled hearing of the Ethics Committee, but Warner subsequently resigned and his charges were dropped while Bin Hammam was found guilty and banned for life from FIFA.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Mayweather will be housed in a standard administrative segregation cell no larger than 7-by-12 feet, with a bunk, stainless steel toilet and sink, a steel and wood desk with a permanently bolted stool and two small vertical windows with opaque safety glass.

READ: FLOYD MAYWEATHER TO TRADE MANSION FOR VEGAS JAIL CELL

Usain Bolt records fastest time for three years An hour and a half before the main event of the Golden Gala meeting here on the north side of the Italian capital last night Usain Bolt was paraded around the track on a motorised buggy, wearing an Italian football shirt. A fate-tempting lap of honour?

Not likely.

The Lightning Bolt was less than electrifying on his first appearance of the season in Europe last Friday night, having to dig deep to get past Kim Collins to salvage victory in the 100m at the Golden Spike meeting at Ostrava in the Czech Republic. It was his slowest time outside of heats and semifinals. Last night, when the gun fired, the world's fastest man did not get off to the best of starts but he made up for it big time.

Bolt trailed his Jamaican compatriot Asafa Powell by a quarter of a stride but he was level by halfway and he proceeded to surge decisively clear.

From the worst of his 100m times six days previously, he catapulted to his best of times for three years.

Bolt crossed the line in 9.76sec, with Powell a distant second in 9.91sec and Christophe Lemaitre third in 10.04sec. It was the Jamaican phenomenon's joint-fastest time since he clocked his world record 9.58sec at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009. He also clocked 9.76sec in Brussels at the end of last season.

The 25-year-old has gone quicker on only three occasions, all of them world record performances. It was an emphatic statement two months out from the London Olympics. Anyone suspecting that Usain might have shot his bolt will have to think again. "I came out here not to prove anything to the world but to tell myself that I've still got it and I'm working my way from here," Bolt said. "I knew I could do it but since I've been in Europe I've not been sleeping

Usain Bolt set the world record in the 100 meters with a time of 9.58 in Germany in 2009.

regularly, so after Ostrava I decided that I would make sure I started going to bed early. I felt extremely well, extremely great tonight, so it's

coming back."

If Bolt was feeling on top of the world, having also broken the meeting record (which stood at 9.77sec to Tyson Gay of the US), so was Robbie Grabarz. The former Cambridgeshire county hockey player showed a glimpse of world high jumping class in the indoor season with a clearance of 2.34m at Wuppertal in Germany. Last night the 24-year-old jumped 2.33m to seal victory over a world-class field with an outdoor personal best by 5cm – and also the highest jump in the world this summer.

"I've been jumping well in training but I've been trying to keep a lid on it, which is why I've started my season late," Grabarz said.

There was also a British victory in the long jump, Greg Rutherford maintaining his early-season form with 8.32m in the final round. Sadly, there was no Roman showdown between Bershawn "Batman" Jackson and Dai "The Riddler" Greene in the 400m hurdles. Greene, the world champion from Wales, withdrew from the field because of a virus and Jackson finished second to Javier Culson of Puerto Rico.

Perri Shakes-Drayton was a non-starter in the women's 400m hurdles because of a hamstring injury while there was cause for concern from the triple jump pit, where Yamile Aldama landed awkwardly on her second attempt. The 39-year-old world indoor champion finished fourth with 14.65m but was unable to take any further attempts. She will have a scan on a damaged shoulder back in London today.

There was an encouraging 64.73m throw for third place in the javelin for Goldie Sayers and in the final event of the night Dwain Chambers ran the opening leg for a far from full strength Great Britain 4x100m relay team, who finished second to Canada.

Floyd Mayweather to trade mansion for Vegas jail cell LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather Jr. may be one of the richest prizefighters ever.

But the unbeaten five-division champion who goes by the nickname "Money" is about to trade life in a posh five-bedroom Las Vegas home for almost three months in a cell about one-third the size of a small boxing ring.

Mayweather surrendered Friday before a Las Vegas judge who sentenced him for his guilty plea to reduced domestic battery charges in a hair-pulling, arm-twisting attack in September 2010 on the mother of three of his children.

As a high-profile inmate, police say Mayweather, 35, probably will serve most of his time in a small solo cell. There is floor space for sit-ups and push-ups. But Mayweather's stint in the high-rise Clark County Detention Center is expected to limit his ability to train for another fight.

At least for the first week,

Mayweather will be segregated for his protection from the other 3,200 inmates in the downtown Las Vegas facility, police Officer Bill Cassell said this week.

Mayweather won't have a TV in his cell, and Cassell said televisions in jail dining areas probably won't carry the June 9 pay-per-view WBO welterweight fight between Mayweather rival Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand Garden arena.

Mayweather's lawyers, Karen Winckler and Richard Wright, have said they didn't plan to seek another postponement or delay.

The judge sentenced Mayweather on Dec. 22, then later allowed him to remain free long enough to fight Miguel Cotto on May 5 in Las Vegas.

Mayweather was accompanied into the ring by entertainers Justin Bieber and 50 Cent before winning the Cinco de Mayo weekend bout and a guaranteed $32 million. Cotto was

paid $8 million.

Saragosa said when she sentenced Mayweather that she was particularly troubled that he threatened and hit exgirlfriend Josie Harris while their two sons watched. The boys were 10 and 8 at the time. The older boy ran out a back door to fetch a security guard in the gated community.

However, the judge accepted the deal that had Mayweather plead guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery and no contest to two harassment charges.

Prosecutors dropped felony and misdemeanor charges that could have gotten Mayweather 34 years in prison if he had been convicted on all counts.

Mayweather's jail stay will be capped at 87 days, because the judge gave him credit for three days previously served. It could be reduced by several weeks for good behavior, Cassell said Thursday.

Mayweather also was ordered to complete a yearlong domestic violence counseling program, 100 hours of

community service and pay a $2,500 fine.

Harris and the three children now live in Southern California. Her lawyer, Charles Kelly, declined to comment Thursday.

Mayweather will be housed in a standard administrative segregation cell no larger than 7-by-12 feet, with a bunk, stainless steel toilet and sink, a steel and wood desk with a permanently bolted stool and two small vertical windows with opaque safety glass.

The cell will be a far cry from Mayweather's nearly 12,800-squarefoot, two-story mansion on a cul de sac in an exclusive guarded community several miles south of the Las Vegas Strip. Mayweather's home has two garages, five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and a swimming pool and hot tub overlooking a golf course.

Mayweather could have about an hour a day out of his cell with access to an exercise yard, Cassell said.

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WORLD SPORTS

Kevin Pietersen quits international limited-overs cricket England batsman Kevin Pietersen has announced his retirement from international limited-overs cricket.

The 31-year-old, who made his debut in 2004, played 127 one-day internationals and 36 Twenty20 internationals.

"I think it is the right time to step aside and let the next generation of players come through to gain experience for the World Cup in 2015," he said.

"I still wish to be considered for selection for England in Test cricket."

Pietersen, who was player of the tournament in England's World Twenty20 triumph in the Caribbean in 2010 with 248 runs in six matches at an average of 62, had been expected to be at the forefront of the side again during this year's competition, which takes place in Sri Lanka from 18 September to 7 October.

But it has emerged that the ECB does not allow players to pick and choose between ODI and Twenty20 formats.

Pietersen said: "For the record, were the selection criteria not in place, I would have readily played for England in the upcoming ICC World Twenty20."

Kevin Pietersen

Hugh Morris, managing director of England Cricket, said the ECB was disappointed with the timing of Pietersen's decision, coming four months before the World T20.

"As the programming and planning for ODI and T20 format cricket are very closely linked, we have a selection policy that means that any player making himself unavailable for either of the one-day formats, rules himself out of consideration for both

formats," he said.

"The selectors will now replace Kevin in both the ODI and the T20 squads.

"Kevin is a world-class player and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his efforts and we look forward to his continued contributions to the Test match side."

Andrew Strauss was the last senior player to retire from ODI cricket, although he was not part of the

Twenty20 set-up.

In an interview with BBC Sport late last year, England spinner Graeme Swann said the 50-over international format should be scrapped.

Pietersen said he had considered the "intensity of the international schedule and the increasing demands on my body, approaching 32".

South Africa-born Pietersen, who has an English mother, has been one of the most successful England batsmen of recent times since he qualified to play international cricket by serving four years in the county game.

His 4,184 one-day international runs at an average of 48.14, puts him sixth in the all-time list of England batsmen, and he heads their T20 list with 1,176 runs at 37.93, the only England player to pass four figures in the shortest form of the game.

Pietersen's relationship with the ECB, which came under scrutiny when he resigned as England captain in January 2009 following a rift with then coach Peter Moores, was tested again this month after he was fined for criticising commentator Nick Knight on Twitter.

He scored 111 not out and 130 in his final two one-day innings, against Pakistan in Dubai in February.

Mickelson joins group Dennis Rodman trying to buy Padres sentenced in family court DUBLIN, Ohio - Phil Mickelson wants to be more than just a fan of the San Diego Padres. He wants to help buy the team.

Mickelson said he has a joined one of the five groups trying to buy the team from John Moores, the Padres' majority owner for the last 18 years. Mickelson is part of the group that includes four grandchildren of former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley - Kevin and Brian O'Malley, and their cousins Peter and Tom Seidler, the chief executive of Class A Visalia Rawhide. ''I've been talking to them about being involved with them, having an opportunity to invest in the team and being part of the ownership group,'' Mickelson said. ''I think it's a very good investment opportunity. More than that, it's opportunity to be involved in the community in San Diego, with something that gives the community a sense of pride. I feel like we can make the Padres a competitive team that can contend year in and year out, and we can do something for the community. ''It's something I've loved since I was a kid.''

The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported the involvement of Mickelson, a four-time major champion who was inducted this month into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Mickelson brings the O'Malley clan a local investor and of San Diego's greatest athletes.

San Diego's biggest baseball star - another lefty - is involved in another

group trying to buy the Padres. Tony Gwynn said last week he is joining the bid led by Thomas Tull, chairman and CEO of Legendary Entertainment.

Mickelson said he was asked to get involved in an ownership bid three years ago, but didn't feel it was a good fit. ''I think the O'Malley and Seidler family is the right group,'' he said. ''They want to enhance the community tie, and that's something I've wanted to be part of, as well. The tie between the community and the team has not been as strong as it has been in the past. I think there are some things where we can increase that relationship, the emotional tie with the community and the players.''

Moores' proposed sale of the team to Jeff Moorad collapsed in March after baseball owners refused to approve Moorad as controlling owner.

Moorad headed a group that in March 2009 agreed to a gradual takeover of the Padres. At the time, the deal was estimated to be worth around $500 million.

The Padres could be worth a few hundred million more this time, in light of the Dodgers being sold for a record $2 billion and the Padres' new TV deal with Fox. Moores owns 51 percent while Moorad's group owns 49 percent.

Asked about his proposed investment, Mickelson said only that it would be ''a lot,'' and that it would be a ''significant investment opportunity.''

ORANGE, Calif. Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman was sentenced in family court Tuesday to 104 hours of community service on four counts of contempt for failing to pay child support.

Court Commissioner Barry Michaelson also placed Rodman on three years of informal probation. The sentence includes the condition that Rodman pay current child and spousal support obligations. ''My suggestion is to use your talents as a motivator, as a fine, fine athlete and as a fine person to assist others in need,'' Michaelson told the retired basketball player.

The court hearing remained under way at late morning on other issues in the case. Rodman was present.

Mary Ann Noiroux, an attorney for Rodman's ex-wife Michelle, said in an earlier interview that Rodman could also be ordered to pay more than $800,000 in back child support.

Noiroux said Rodman also faces additional contempt charges for other missed payments, and another conviction could land him in jail.

Rodman's attorney, Linnea Willis, did not return calls for comment prior to the hearing.

Rodman - known for his wild behavior and Technicolor hair as well as his rebounding skills - married in 2003. His wife filed for divorce a year later. Since then, the couple has been feuding over custody and support of their two children, ages 10 and 11.

Rodman was found guilty of the counts of contempt last year for child support owed in 2009 and 2010.

His attorney has claimed he owes far less money. Court documents filed earlier this year indicated that Rodman was ''broke.'' His tax return from 2010 shows he earned roughly $150,000, but his financial manager said he owes significant amounts in back taxes.

She also said Rodman's alcoholism has tarnished his image and made it difficult for him to obtain corporate endorsements and other work.

Rodman currently pays about $4,500 a month in child and spousal support, said Jack Kayajanian, another attorney for Michelle Rodman who is focused on recovering the payments. ''My desire is not to put Dennis Rodman in jail. My desire is to shake the tree a little bit and get money for his children,'' he said.

Rodman was a bad-boy star of the Detroit Pistons and won three NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. He also played for the Los Angeles Lakers, and lived in California's affluent Orange County before moving to Florida. He was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame last year.

Rodman dated Madonna, was married briefly to Carmen Electra, and gave loud parties that led to frequent run-ins with the law when he lived in Newport Beach.

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