Volume 7 Issue 03

e-mail: sun@suntci.com www.suntci.com

tel: (649) 946-8542 fax: (649) 941-3281 Volume 7 no. 03

FORMER CHIEF PROTOCOL Officer Jan Messam was arrested by police officers from the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team on Tuesday, January 18th. the Sun understands that police executed a search warrant at Messam’s apartment on Leeward Highway, where they took away several documents, then took her to the Chalk Sound Police Station where she was questioned for several hours and later released. She was not charged.

Sources told The SUN that Messam was interrogated about matters relating to Olint boss David Smith who bought a house in Chalk Sound from Jan and her husband Rex Messam a few years ago.

Smith is now in prison in the United States of America, where he was transferred last year after serving a few months of a six-and-half year sentence in Turks and Caicos Islands for serious financial crimes that were part of one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in the world, in which investors lost more than $200million.

Messam’s husband, a real estate agent with Prestigious Properties, had only just returned from their native Bahamas hours after his wife was arrested.

He told the media: “My wife wouldn’t run a red light. She wouldn’t take any chances or violate any laws so I can guarantee this is just an exercise. I’ve been married to her for 26 years and I guarantee you, at the end of the day, she’s going to be vindicated.”

Scores of curious onlookers gathered outside the police while the 50-year-old Messam was being questioned inside.

During the course of the day, there were some malicious rumours being spread about other prominent persons in the society being arrested.

However, there was absolutely no truth to those reports.

Police Probing 300 roundS of Stolen mmunition Story on Page 8

Former Chief Protocol Officer Jan Messam

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$1.00

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JANUARY 7TH21ST - JANUARY 14TH,28TH 2011, 2011 JANUARY - JANUARY JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011 JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH , 2011

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LOCAL NEWS

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH , 2011

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Page 6

2011 - Time to make up your mind

LOCAL NEWS

At the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, I wrote with a profound sense of disappointment that it was a “lost decade” for the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). We had failed miserably to complete the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and we had equally failed to build collectively the capacity that all CARICOM countries desperately require not only to bargain effectively in the international community but also to implement the things for which they have bargained.

The first year of the new decade was even worse, and 2011 portends greater grief unless CARICOM governments make up their minds about real and effective integration.

The time for tinkering at the edges of integration has run out. CARICOM states must now either resolve to proceed with integration, and by so doing maintain some autonomy over their affairs, and crucially a Caribbean culture and identity, or they can flirt with such short term opportunities that they might derive individually from external governments that find it convenient in their own interest to dally with a few states separately. The latter is not a sustainable development option, and is wholly reliant on the designs of the donor, not the bargaining strength of individual CARICOM states.

Failure to strengthen CARICOM has not only weakened our already weak states, it has lost us respect in the international community. And, this is true of every aid agency and every international and multilateral financial and trade institution including the Canadian International Development Agency, the European Commission and the European Development Fund, the United States Agency for International Development, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

What they see from their perspective is a region that fails to carry out its own agenda – a region that pays lip service to regionalism. The things that are obvious to them are blatant: failure to complete the CSME; discrimination by CARICOM states against themselves as they try to block market access to each other for goods and services while they are happy to give better access to others; a marked reluctance to apply for readily available money for regional projects – governments are interested in national projects only; and the comedy that has been made of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) with Trinidad and Tobago declining to participate in a Court whose headquarters is located in its Capital as a direct consequence of its insistence that it should be there; and, more recently, the heavy hint from Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, that Jamaica might opt for its own final Court of Appeal, notwithstanding that it has an eminent jurist on the

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Court, and the opportunity for others.

The recent Golding heavy hint is strangely out of synchronisation with the Jamaican government’s measurable attitude to the institutions of the Caribbean Community where Jamaicans now prevail and will be even more dominant by April 2011.

Jamaicans now head four principal regional institutions: the Caribbean Development Fund, the Caribbean Export Development Agency, the Caribbean Centre on Money and Finance, and the Office of the Trade Negotiations (OTN) of CARICOM. By April, a Jamaican will also head the Caribbean Development Bank putting five Jamaicans at the headship of these regional organisations, and another Jamaican will most likely move up from the number 3 position in the OTN to number 2. In addition, of course, Jamaica has a jurist on the CCJ itself. No other CARICOM country can boast of heading so many regional bodies.

These Jamaicans are all highly capable people working in the service of not only Jamaica but all of CARICOM, and accepted by all of CARICOM to look after CARICOM’s interest.

What then is the problem with the CCJ? If CARICOM can show such confidence in Jamaicans, what is missing here?

The CCJ shambles has added to the level of frustration and - now increasingly - disrespect for CARICOM in the international community. But, not amongst them alone; the frustration is now manifest among the region’s academics, business people, media, and all those who spent the better part of their lives trying to maintain a Caribbean identity and culture, and, at least, a modicum of Caribbean autonomy over the region’s affairs.

It is obvious to all who are, or have been, involved in our region’s development that none – not one – of our countries will successfully maintain Caribbean autonomy, culture and identity if the present trend of individual and opportunistic bargaining with larger and more powerful countries continues.

None of the CARICOM states have the capacity, individually, to cope with the demands of today’s globalised world. For instance, in the case of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU), few governments have established machinery for implementing their obligations, and it would be a great surprise if any have set up arrangements for monitoring implementation by the EU. What would seem to be a simple thing - like sending notifications that requirements have been met - has not been done.

And, not only in relation to the EPA, but also in regard to the WTO. It may be, of course, that this is a deliberate strategy – a strategy not to fulfil obligations until the

Editorial Cartoon

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH, 2011

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

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief: Hayden Boyce Senior Editor: Vivian Tyson Web Designer: Patrina Moore-Pierre Graphics Editor: Joleen Grant Office Manager: Dominique Rigby Distribution Manger: Kelano Howell Advertising and Marketing ManagerPatrina Moore-Pierre

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.

obligations of the treaties are enforced by the other side through costly arbitration and, eventually, punitive measures. If that is indeed the strategy, it is a game of high-stakes poker, and not one that the region can win.

The point is that CARICOM states have to decide whether they see their development in terms of gifts for the odd building, a new Airport terminal, a bridge here and a road there that are small plasters for sores, but do not make the region holistically healthy. While there is a place for these things in development plans, they cannot be the entire plan.

What CARICOM has always needed – and what is urgent now – is a comprehensive regional plan devised jointly by governments, the private sector, trade unions and the best Caribbean brains that can be assembled from in and out of the region. And, that plan must integrate production in a practical manner utilising resources from every country that has them, facilitate cross border investment, and encourage regional amalgamations of productive enterprises.

The beggar thy neighbour policies that have characterised the region’s dealings for a decade and a year, should not continue into 2011. It is time for leaders of individual states to make up their minds, state the case for regionalism boldly, and stop playing with the aspirations of the Caribbean people.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN’S LETTERS POLICY The Turks and Caicos SUN welcomes Letters to the Editor.

Letters containing libelous or defamatory charges, personal attacks or abusive language will not be considered for publication.

We would prefer letters of 500 words or less, and we will not print anonymous letters or letters tagged with initials.

All letters are subject to the final approval of the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, who reserves the right to accept or reject submissions and to edit letters and headlines to meet our established standards for grammar, clarity and length.

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Providenciales Airport expansion on track

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

By Vivian Tyson SUN Senior Editor

WHILE CONCEDING THAT there is a lot of work to be done on the Providenciales International expansion project, Chief Executive Officer for the Airports Authority, John Smith said the project is on target.

In an interview with The SUN, Smith said while there are some areas that they are behind on due to rain, there are other areas that they are far ahead on, noting that overall they are ahead of schedule.

“We are on schedule to have it ready on a reasonable time frame. We still have a significant amount of work to be done. We are ahead of the game in most areas, and we are on track for a reasonable completion date,” Smith said.

He said the apron area was about 80 percent complete, likewise the

LOCAL NEWS

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tarmac area, noting that the sub base extension has already been completed.

Smith said they are now looking to do overlay work using asphalt.

He noted that work could have been farther advanced but due to rains on some of the nights that certain level of concrete work was to be done, work there had to be called off until the rains subsided.

“From a square-footage point of view, you may look and say there is a significant square-footage work to be done; from a time perspective, some of those areas – even though there are a lot of square-footage to be covered, it takes less time to do it, particularly when you are looking at the asphalting and the overlaying.

“We did have some a bit of a hiccup with certain nights of rains and we not able to work they way we want to, so we kind of lost one or two days there, but overall we are confident that

we will have it done by the specified time. We said the schedule (completion) time (for phase one) would be done by September, October, but the contractors are trying as much to crash in as much as they can into their timeframe,” Smith noted.

The Airports Authority boss said that attention will now be turned to tackle the construction of the new terminal, which is to be outfitted with boarding bridges and other state-of-theart amenities. However, noted that they would seek to have the current terminal refurbished to accommodate the increase in airlifts that the TCI managed to snare in recent months, including Continental Airways and JetBlue.

“In relation to the terminal, we are in the process now of looking at doing some refurbishment work with the existing terminal before we commence the new building. The reason for that would be the immediate airlift coming

into the TCI and, we need to address that immediately.

“So that is our intention; we have flipped it (work at the airport) slightly instead of going ahead and build the new terminal straight away, and to that end, we are having discussions with the original building to get the original specs on all of that for the building,” Smith noted.

While not in a position to say when work would begin, Smith said it could be very soon since it is a priority.

The Providenciales Airport expansion project is being carried out

by Dexter Construction from Canada, which came out on top as the preferred bidders following the tendering process for the project. Cove Construction and CMBS are retained as the lead sub contractors for the project. Other contractors such as Herzog have also managed to land work on the site.

Taxi flips

On Sunday January 16, this taxi flipped while travelling along Leeward Highway, ending up in the carpark of Southern Shores, across from the Misick and Stanbrook lawfirm.

The ambulance quickly rushed to the scene as well as dozens of curious onlookers.

The driver, David Handfield, did not sustain any serious injuries.

Bahamian passengers from TCI held with cocaine

BAHAMIAN POLICE HAVE arrested two of their countrymen for possession of cocaine shortly after they alighted from a private flight from the Turks and Caicos Islands on Sunday, January 16.

The arrest was confirmed by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, but the names of the men or which of the islands the plane departed were not given.

Press Officer Sergeant Calvin Chase in a report noted: On Sunday 16th January 2011 about 9:55 a.m.

Bahamian Police Officers from The Drug Enforcement Unit in Nassau, Bahamas arrested two male Bahamian nationals ages 38 and 45 at The Lynden Pindling International Airport Nassau, Bahamas after they arrived on a private aircraft which originated out of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“One of the men was carrying a suitcase and when it was searched it contained 16 packages of suspected cocaine. The Bahamian Police and Turks and Caicos Islands Police are conducting investigations into this incident.”

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Police probing 300 rounds of stolen ammunition

LOCAL NEWS

THE PROVIDENCIALES POLICE are investigating a high ranking member of their own following allegation by a member of the public that the officer sold him 300 rounds of 9mm ammunition, which are now in the hands of crooks, who broke into that resident’s home.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Rodney Adams told The SUN that investigators have been probing the matter, and as soon as their investigations are complete the police will update the general public.

“Certainly, that report in currently under investigations, and of course at some point at the conclusion of our investigation the media will be informed of its findings; it is a matter currently under investigations,” ACPAdams said.

However, some members of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force have been complaining under their breaths that the investigations were moving to slow for their liking and are nudging the Governor, who is responsible for policing in the TCI to move with much more alacrity to bring the guilty party to justice.

On Thursday, January 6, a resident of Long Bay Hills in Providenciales informed the police that

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

300 rounds of 9mm ammunition are now in the hands of crooks after breaking into a Providenciales home (File Photo)

thieves had broken into his house and removed a number of items. Further investigations revealed that among the items stolen from the premises were 300 rounds of 9mm ammunition. The homeowner is the holder of a licensed 9mm pistol; however, the gun was not stolen by hoodlums.

The SUN learned that when the

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resident was grilled further by investigators as to how he became owner of three hundred rounds, he informed the crime sleuths that they were sold to him by a high-ranking officer of the force which he actually named. The matter was reported to the police high command, but some officers believe that investigations were moving

too slow or were not moving at all.

A local officer, who brought the situation to media light, explained that no private gun owner should be in possession of so many rounds of ammunition, further stating that probably the most that are allowed are about 20 rounds.

“And to make matters even worst, he said they were sold to him by a police officer in the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force. This needs to be investigated because 300 rounds in the wrong hands could be pointing at anyone living in the TCI. Right now I am nervous because I don’t know if my name is on one of those bullets.

“I can tell you that a number of us in the force are not happy about it, because it seems that while some of us are working overtime to make the country safe, others don’t give a damn about the well-being of those who live here and those who come to work and live among us. As a Turks and Caicos Islander and a member of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, I am so damned ashamed right now, it aint funny,” the officer said.

It is not clear what would be the fate of the individual who alleged to have bought the rounds from the officer.

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Domestic airfares will not increase

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

By Vivian Tyson SUN Senior Editor

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JOHN SMITH, THE Chief Executive Officer for the Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) has put to rest rumours that landing fees for domestic carriers are to be increased.

There have been swirling rumours that the TCIAA has either raised landing fees on local airlines or was in the process of doing so. As a result, a number of persons have called The SUN’s office to find out whether or not the rumours were true, also expressing fear that a raise in local landing fees may cause an increase in the cost of domestic travel.

“At the end of the day, the local travelling public will be hurt and it is after their (TCIAA) big announcement of giving special concessions to the big international carriers like Continental and Jet Blue,” one email noted.

But when contacted, Smith rubbished the rumours saying that any such recommendation or ratification would have go though the proper government channel for scrutiny and would also be available for public consumption.

“All matters; anything that has to do with change in statutory record or increase are always gazetted, and

always go through the proper channel. It has to be presented to the Advisory Council, and to the cabinet, and they have to approve that.

“And, I could say to you that the Airports Authority has not put forward any recommendations to any changes, and has no intention of doing that in the short run,” Smith emphatically said, noting that he had not heard of the rumour.

The TCIAA head also noted that since the travel fee revision that he had put forward and for which he got approval in 2008, no such recommendations have been made.

There are two local carriers now serving the T u r k s and Caicos Islands, they are Caicos Express Airways and Air Turks and Caicos. A third carrier Global Airways shut down operation, because of what the SUN learn was high cost of operating here.

A source noted also that domestic travel is not profitable either for Air Turks and Caicos, saying that the airline primarily benefits through its FBO, international flights and the selling of fuel. The source noted also that Caicos Express survives because it does regular charter flights and its niche market.

“So there is no money in local aviation, it is a very expensive but necessary public service,” the source said.

LOCAL NEWS

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Regent Palms manager fired

LOCAL NEWS

THE REGENT PALMS hotel has fired its general manager Monica Newman.

Well-placed sources told The SUN that Newman, who was with the company since 2009, was fired on the spot last week as a result of “some various serious matters”.

It is understood that Karen Whitt, who is currently general manager at The Somerset, however, up to press time she could not be reached for comment.

The Regent Palms Turks and Caicos is beautifully situated on 12 acres of landscaped gardens on worldfamous Grace Bay Beach.

The Palms features 72 one, two and three-bedroom suites with balconies and terraces, most with ocean views. Marble floors, vaulted ceilings with milled crown moldings, wainscoting and custom-made mahogany furnishings lend a luxury residential quality.

Another resort in the works for North West Point TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

By Vivian Tyson SUN Senior Editor

IF ALL GOES well, in a few months residents of Providenciales could see the construction of a resort on 303 acres of land at North West Point on that island.

Paul Slattery of HAB Group, told The SUN that things are at a very early stage and could not provide much information, even though expressing optimism about the realization of the project, which could be a saving grace for “Yes, we are looking at a resort development.

We have three hundred and three acres up there; we are just looking at master-planning it at the moment, and we are just in the process of

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doing that. We are looking at various options.

“Apart from that we are in very, very early stages, and there is nothing concrete to give you, basically; as I have said, we are just looking at master-planning it, to see what we can do with that land mass,” Slattery said.

The project, should it go through, could signal the start of a comeback for the construction industry which many declared ashes to ashes and dust to dust, following the collapse of the American financial industry, as a number of their banks were fanciers for developments in the TCI, including Ritz Carlton Molasses Reef resort project in West Caicos.

Following the collapse of the Ritz Carlton development a number of other projects have fallen through, including the much-touted multimillion dollar Dellis Cay Resort.

The Construction Industry is the sector that employs the majority of Turks and Caicos Islanders, and since its dramatic slow down scores have been left out of work and left to find other means of income, which many find extremely difficult to do.

While the airport expansion project employs almost 90 percent of Turks and Caicos Islander, it is not considered a major employment source for Belongers, since it is unable to absorb a huge block of the unemployed.

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Air Turks and Caicos to start flying to Puerto Rico

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

AIR TURK AND Caicos announced that it will start daily flights from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic to the popular Caribbean hub of San Juan, Puerto Rico from April 15th, subject to regulatory approvals.

The announcement was made at a lavish reception hosted for the airline by the Dominican Tourism Authorities at the upscale Hemingway’s Cafe in Puerto Plata on Monday, January 17th, and was attended by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, César José de los Santos, the Chamber of Commerce as well as representatives from local hotel and tourism organizations.

The airline was represented by its top executives, Chairman Lyndon Gardiner, CEO Darrell Richardson, VP, Business Development Deborah Aharon and VP of Flight Standards Capt. Harold Williams.

Deputy Minister De los Santos thanked the airline executives for choosing Puerto Plata as their new gateway to San Juan and assured them that the initiative would have the full support of the Minister of Tourism Sr. Francisco Javier Garcia and his Ministry.

President of the Puerto Plata Chamber of Commerce Amaurys Plá also welcomed the company and noted

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Air Turk and Caicos announced that it will start daily flights from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic to the popular Caribbean hub of San Juan, Puerto Rico from April 15th

that with the opening of the new route would also come new business opportunities for trading of goods and services as well as tourism, and reiterated his organization’s support.

Max Iglesias, president of the Northern Hotel Association, thanked the executives of Air Turksand Caicos and said that he was pleased that the route would open up many potential connections with other Caribbean islands, and President of the Hotel Association for the popular Playa Dorada region Roberto Casoni said that the daily flights would offer more

flexibility and convenience that he expected would result in longer stays by visitors.

After the welcoming speeches by the local authorities, Chairman of Air Turks and CaicosLyndon R. Gardiner surprised and delighted the crowd by addressing them in their native Spanish, explaining the history of the airline, which started with a single piston aircraft in 1992 as InterIsland Airways.

After changing the name to Air Turks and Caicos to better reflect this country’s identity and national pride, the airline continued to grow and now has a fleet of 15 mainly turbine aircraft, ranging in size from 9 to 30 passengers.

He also spoke about the long history of friendship and trade between the two countries, recalling the days of old when folks often sailed from North Caicos to the Dominican Republic in fishing boats to trade dried conch for produce and rum.

Gardiner told the crowd to much applause that this new route was an important step in realizing his dream to unite the Caribbean Islands through more convenient and expanded connections that promoted trade and tourism. He expressed his wish that the separate Caribbean nations would focus more closely on cooperative marketing for the benefit of the entire region.

The Air Turks and Caicos flights would all originate in Providenciales, thereby offering connections between Turks and Caicos, Puerto Rico and points beyond in the Eastern Caribbean.

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‘Mark Capes missed the real point’, says attorney Paul Dempsey

LOCAL NEWS

The 17th January, 2011 edition of Caribbean News Now!, ran an article entitled “Turks and Caicos corruption investigations “moving full steam ahead”.

The piece provided an update on the Garlick investigation from CEO Mark Capes, gave an overview of the economic contraction, and contained the following paragraph: “Capes went on to report that, during the Christmas holidays, numerous private jet arrivals demonstrated that monied people are still targeting TCI as a primary destination”.

With respect, Mr. Capes has missed the real point: numerous private jet arrivals simply demonstrate the mobility of monied people and the choices available to them.

The fact is that the Government’s incoherent approach to good governance, taxation, immigration and development has created a dangerous vacuum of reliable information and of policy which has neatly played into the hands of more street wise politicians and their followers.

The uncertainty created by Government’s approach is such that potential investors and immigrants posing simple questions such as “When will there be elections?”, “Will taxation be imposed?”, “Can I get a work permit / residency permit / PRC?” and “What is Government’s position with regard to new development?” cannot receive timely straightforward answers.

While I believe that Mr. Capes would like to attract the occupants of the numerous private jets to stay here and invest, I (and they) cannot be sure.

Until a base level of certainty exists, the private jets to which Mr. Capes refers will continue to arrive and, regrettably, depart.

Why would their occupants chose to stay? Government has provided scant reason for them to be anything other than visitors. It seems plain that until Government can provide cogent policies and a sound investment platform upon which potential investors can rely, the private jet arrivals of which Mr. Capes seems most enamored will become increasingly infrequent and leave us with a rueful knowledge of what might have been.

Yours Sincerely, Paul Dempsey

Production Manager

WIV Cable TV is seeking a qualified Production Manager for the production of news, pre-recorded television shows, live broadcast and productions.

Job Responsibilities • Keep talent and production organized and on schedule • Participate in shows’ planning process • Responsible for finalization of show prep sheet • Maintain a weekly calendar • Maintains a computer “bit” file; librarian for bits, production etc • Keeps updated lists of regular callers, guests and experts • Lines up guests for various shows • Serves as liaison with all other department, including legal and risk management • Responsible for turning ideas into reality, by taking ideas from the talent or management and “produce” results • Make talent and guest look good • Direct participants of the show • Be able to edit tape, phone conversations and bits • Be able to pull audio for show, sound bits etc • Produce drop-ins, beds, “best of shows” lift comedy service materials etc • Set up remote broadcasts • Supervising the placement and setup of cameras, lighting elements, microphone and props • Produce promos • Assist with writing to enhance scripts, skits, bits and promos • Contributes ideas and content for shows • Shows attention to details • Find inventive ways to do routine things • Possess grace under pressure/able to meet tight deadlines, change and numerous other tasks • Set line up and take to air the network’s program. This includes crafting a rundown and flow of all segments.

• The show integrates hard and soft news segments. Must be able

HAB MANAGEMENT LTD.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH, 2011

BAKER

Applications are invited from suitably qualified individuals to fill the following position:

Main Duties • Check Production schedule to determine variety and quantity of goods bake.

• Measure and mix ingredients to form dough or batter following recipes.

• Roll, cut and shape dough to form rolls, pie crusts, tarts, cookies and related products.

• Cut, peel and prepare fruits for pie fillings.

• Place dough in pans, molds or on sheets and bake in oven.

Observe products while cooking and adjust controls.

• Mix icings and other toppings and decorate cakes, pastries and other baked goods.

• Use a variety of kitchen tools, including electric mixers, pans, rolling pins and cutting tools.

• May develop new recipes.

General Activities • Monitor baking process to identify needed adjustments.

• Get information from products schedules and recipes.

• Handle and move ingredients, tools and cooking pans.

• Control mixing processes and oven controls.

• Implement products by following recipes or creating new ones.

Requirements Applicants must have at least 2 years working in a high class bakery or restaurant making a variety of bread and pastries to a high standard. Applicants will be required to work early morning hours so having personal transportation is a necessity for this position.

Perform other duties as assigned, requested or deemed necessary by management. Applicants will be required to work on a full time basis. Must be able to walk, stand or stoop for the duration of shift (at least 8 hours). Applicants must be able to understand/speak/read/write English proficiently. Applicants must be detail oriented, must be hardworking and a team player. Work with minimal supervision. Wages for this position is $7.00 hourly commensurate experience and training.

Interested applicants should contact Veronica Rigby via email by January 31, 2011 at ronnie@habgroup.com or by fax 649-946-5191.

Only persons selected for an interview will be contacted by email or telephone to schedule an interview. Belongers preferred. to create transitions in your rundown that incorporate all aspects of pre-planned segments as well as new news material that must be integrated from the overnight.

• Work with the news cast to coordinate stories. Provide assignments and feedback to the anchors and writers of the show.

• Must be able to interact in the booth coordinating the show and anchor talent in multiple locations.

• Coordinate show information with the Station Manager.

• Produce fully formed in-studio segments, live remotes, and multiple packages from location shoots as needed for the show.

Possesses rolodex (list of guests/personalities) and has a wide range of contacts on a variety of topics.

• Position must be comfortable with, and capable of, producing both serious and feature material.

• Develop contingency plans for breaking stories.

• Ability to operate in a fast paced television control room environment.

• Maintaining accuracy and details are critical to broadcast • Excellent knowledge of current events, regionally and nationally • Must prepare hosts for assigned segments • Other duties as assigned Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication or a related field or the recognized equivalent in work study or self study Minimum 7-12 years experience in broadcast/cable morning news/feature format experience Previous experience at Management level in news/show production Must be proficient in Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid and Final Cut Pro Excellent command of written and spoken English Proficiency with a PC, strong writing skills Must be able accommodate an irregular schedule including early mornings, some weekends and occasional travel Regular, consistent and punctual attendance Kindly forward your resume, police and three recent references to: Station Manager WIV Cable TV P. O. Box 679 Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands Email: administrator@wiv.tc Or fax us at: 946-4790 No phone calls please Only qualified candidates will be contacted for interview

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JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011 TURKS & CAICOS SUN

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH , 2011

LOCALNEWS NEWS LOCAL

Ambergris Cay home owners try to gain air access The SUN has been informed that individuals who own homes and land on the troubled Ambergris Cay have been negotiating with British Caribbean Bank in a bid to gain access to the island by air and the use of its amenities such as electricity, water and sewerage.

Property owners were sent into a tailspin when the bank seized operation of the island without notice on Friday, November 12, after the island’s developers faltered on their loan agreement, The SUN was told. The sudden receivership of the Ambergris Cay by British Caribbean Bank, put scores of individuals out of work. Among other things, the selfcontained island operated an aviation centre and a full-fledge fire department.

The seizure suddenly halted air services there, reducing access to the island only by boat, and so, homeowners who could gain access via sea would have life difficult, since power, water and sewerage services have been shut down.

DPS Sporting Club is responsible for the development of Ambergris Cay, through a subsidiary company – Ambergris Cay Partnership (ACP). DPS Sporting Club, its website said, develops properties all over the globe, including

Deep Water Cay Club in Grand Bahama and Ford Plantation in Savannah, Georgia, USA. While DPS and ACP primarily oversaw the development of the islands, the Turks and Caicos Sporting Club was assigned as the management company for the island.

When British Caribbean Bank seized operation of ACP, it also confiscated the assets that belonged to the Turks and Caicos Sporting Club. And while private homes and private land were not seized, home owners there were prevented from gaining access to the amenities.

Employees were busy carrying out their daily routines when a representative from British Caribbean Bank turned up and informed them that operation there would be ceased with immediate effect.

Later someone explained to the workers that DPS Sporting Club Development Company, though its subsidiary had defaulted on payments to British Caribbean Bank hence the receivership.

A source noted that weeks leading up to the seizure of the island by the bank, DPS representatives packed up and left the island, without even informing the top brass of ACP.

HIGHWAY SMASH UP

The police were called to the scene of a two motor vehicle accident on Saturday night, January 15, involving a Nissan Xterra SUV and a Ford SE motor car on the westbound lane of the Leeward High in the vicinity of Nell’s Gift Shop in Providenciales.

The occupants of the Exterra were reportedly injured and taken to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre for treatment; however, the driver of the Ford car was not injured. The police are investigating the cause of the accident, but eyewitness said they saw the Exterra flipped three times before landing back on its tires in the middle of the roadway.

The car was seen resting in nearby bushes. A friend of the driver of the SUV said he was due to sell the vehicle that same night. Police could not confirm rumours that the SUV was unlicensed. It was removed and taken to the Providenciales Police Station for further investigations.

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Duties Include: • Full responsibility for operating success of the resort • Ensuring that the selection, training and ongoing direction for resort staff at all levels is such that it maintains high level of job satisfaction, morale and teamwork • Achieve resort financial/budgeting goals and expectations as established in the annual resort business plan for all areas of responsibility, and organize/implement strategic and tactical plans to facilitate this aim • Consistently deliver accurate forecasting projections for areas of responsibility and implement effective adjustments as required in staffing and other cost drivers to ensure profit integrity • Achieve high levels of quality guest service and satisfaction for resort guests.

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HOUSEKEEPER

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• Run needed items to guest floors.

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Starting Wages $6.50 - $7.00 per hour/Commensurate with Experience.

Duties Include: • Assist guests with any requests and field guest complaints, conducting thorough research to develop the most effective solutions and negotiate results.

• Provide property and room orientation for the guest upon arrival.

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• Solicit guest feedback via guest comment cards.

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ELECTRICIAN

Requirements: The job requirements of the Maintenance Electrician are to perform tasks using skills in plumbing, electrical, and air conditioning.

The ability to troubleshoot/ install and repair plumbing, fixtures, do electrical repair (switches, outlets, light fixtures) and repair of air conditioning units when required.

Due to the vast responsibility of maintaining buildings and grounds the duties will vary and are only limited for safety or security reasons.

The Maintenance Electrician will do work requests whether in a written or verbal directive that insures the proper operation of the Regent Hotel and for the comfort of the guest.

Salary starting at $7.50 an hour commensurate with qualification and experience Requirements for all Applicants: • Prior experience in a similar role at a property of similar size and quality.

• Hardworking team player with excellent people skills and genuine desire to serve others.

• Ability to read, write and speak English proficiently.

• Ability to stand and exert well-paced mobility for up to 8 hours in length.

• Willingness to work nights, weekends and holidays as required to meet or exceed guest expectations at all times.

• In addition to the performance of the essential functions, employees may be required to perform supportive functions, with the percentage of time performing each function to be solely determined by the supervisor.

• Regular attendance is essential to the successful performance of these positions. Employees with irregular attendance will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

Interested applicants should apply to the Regent Palms, in person, for a first interview Monday through Friday 10AM to 12PM and bring along a recent C.V. Appointments may also be made by calling the Regent Palms Human Resources department at 946-8666 during business hours.

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Award-winning Banks Beer now available in TCI

LOCAL NEWS

By Vivian Tyson SUN Senior Editor

THE INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED and award-winning Guyana brewed and bottled Banks Beer is now available in the Turks and Caicos Islands, as the makers of the beverage seek to give the TCI a taste of what the world has been enjoying since the 1800s.

The local distributors will be IBO Liquor Stores located along the Leeward Highway and Airport Road in Providenciales.

Banks DIH Limited, the company which produces Banks Beers said it prides itself on quality and standard which is maintained in all its products.

As a result, in 1979, the beverage copped top award at the International Wine and Spirits Competition when its rum – XM Liquid Gold (aged for ten years) won a double gold medal, and also a bronze.

Between 1993 and 1995 XM Liquid Gold controlled the Coca-Cola award’s number one position. Also in 1995, Banks DIH was awarded a bronze medal for producing an exceptionally high quality beer from

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

the Institute of International Quality in Rome.

The company was started in the 1840s when Jose Gomes D’Aguiar, founded the rum business. In 1896 the four sons, Jose Jr., Manoel, Francisco and John formed the partnership of D’Aguiar Bros. after the death of their father in 1893.

In 1966 D’Aguiar was converted into a public company called Banks Bros. (DIH) Ltd. In 1969 the company merged with Banks Breweries Ltd., into a new company called Banks DIH Ltd. The business is now diversified and carries four major divisions – Beverage, Demico, Trisco and Caribanks Shipping.

The products within the beverage

SENIOR TRUST & ESTATE ATTORNEY/COMPLIANCE OFFICER

division include Banks Beer, Banks Malta, Banks Milk Stout, Guinness Stout, XM 10 year-old Rum, XM 5 year-old Rum, XM Light Gold Rum, Banko Wines (red and white), Tropical Mist (pure water), 10 flavours of aerated I-Cee Soft Drinks, Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Soda Water, Quinnetonic and D’Aguiar Crème Liqueur.

One of the major forces behind the Banks Beer being distributed in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Terrence Thomas, said in addition to Guyanese living here requesting the beverage, a large block of TC Islanders who tasted it sometime or another were also asking for it.

Thomas noted also that the Banks DIH Beverages have been enjoyed across the world, including Europe and

CONTINENTAL TRUST CORPORATION (TCI) LTD. is seeking to employ a qualified senior Trust & Estate Lawyer to serve as Managing Director of the Company as well as Group Compliance Officer of the MORRIS, COTTINGHAM Group of Financial Services Companies. The successful applicant must have a Bachelor of Laws Degree, a minimum of ten (10) years professional experience in and fully versant in all relevant aspects of international Trust Law and practice. The candidate must also be a self-motivated achiever with good leadership skills and the ability to supervise and communicate effectively.

Exposure to and extensive experience in Anti-Money Laundering compliance and reporting issues is essential.

The successful candidate will report directly to the Directors of the Company and the Managing Director of the MORRIS, COTTINGHAM Group and will be expected to undertake such duties and responsibilities, including advising clients on domestic and international Trust and Estate Planning matters, assisting in the marketing and promotion of the Group’s professional services generally and development of the Group’s Professional Trustee business. A considerable amount of client contact and exposure to a wide variety of offshore financial services, as well as challenging ad hoc project and business consultancy work would be encountered. Overseas, as well as some domestic, travel will from time to time be required.

A three year contract will initially be offered with an imminent to immediate starting date that may be extended in satisfactory circumstances. The salary level on commencement will be negotiable CONTINENTAL TRUST CORPORATION (TCI) LTD. BRIEF PROFILE CONTINENTAL TRUST CORPORATION (TCI) LTD. is a Licenced Professional Trustee, based on the Capital Island of Grand Turk, in the Turks and Caicos Islands, that specializes in the provision of professional trustee services to a wide range of private international clients. It is also part of the MORRIS, COTTINGHAM Group of financial services companies, in affiliation with a network of associate firms worldwide in all aspects of international financial services.

Interested persons must address their application in writing to the following: The Managing Director Morris, Cottingham Wilma House Hibiscus Square, Pond Street P.O. Box 156 Grand Turk Turks and Caicos Islands E-mail: mcal-gdt@tciway.tc or Fax: 649-946-2503 SUITABLY QUALIFIED BELONGERS NEED ONLY APPLY

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH, 2011

Bank Beer

the US for sometime now, and it was a good feeling that it would now grace the shores of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Abundant Life celebrates 10 glorious years of ministry

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

By Vivian Tyson SUN Senior Editor

ABUNDANT LIFE MINISTRIES International – one of the most effective and all-round ministries in the Turks and Caicos Islands celebrates 10 years in existence this year, notching a plethora of achievements.

The church, located along the Leeward Highway on Providenciales, gave birth on January 14, 2001 under the aegis of the erudite, dynamic and vibrant Bishop C. Alexander Williams III. He summed up the organisation’s decade of ministry as successfully carrying out the mandate of Jesus Christ in feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, in addition to unveiling the gospel and breaking it down to an understandable and practical level.

“I would say we have had a stellar performance over the last ten years through a broad spectrum of ministries that we were able to carry-out and the many lives that we have touched, not just by preaching on Sunday mornings, but preaching around the world. We have been meeting physical needs throughout the nation and parts of the world, and so, I think Abundant Life, in the past 10 years, will receive a ‘well done’ mark for the job that it has done,” Bishop Williams said.

According to Bishop Williams, the vision was to create a place where people can be encouraged or motivated to live the abundant life physically, spiritually, financially and emotionally, which is why the mantra of the church is taken from John chapter 10, verse 10, which said: I am come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.”

“Living the abundant life is not consisting of money and things, but also a state of mind and a healthy body, and so, over the years, we have tried to do a number of things, including the Dominating Money seminar and entrepreneurship workshops to help people to recognize and to understand what the abundant life is really all about. And so, from that particular day (time of inception), that has been our focus,” Bishop Williams revealed.

According to him, despite the ministry’s success in touching so many lives, at times challenges were daunting, and obstacles were gigantic, but said the church has always been successful in overcoming the odds.

He said the ministry has maintained a ‘my brother’s keeper’ attitude, always willing to aid a falling brother or sister, not necessarily a church member, but individuals in the wider community, some of whom were yet to accept Christ as their personal lord and saviour.

“We always to try to come to the aid and rescue of our people and to be that voice in the wilderness whenever they were marginalized or their rights have been trampled upon. I think the church has played a leading role in representing this country and the least among our people,” Bishop Williams elaborated.

Through the vision of the Abundant Life Ministries International, in addition to the chapel, a number of other entities have emerged, such as the

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

diplomat centre – a complex designed to host international guests, and located upstairs the sanctuary building; Whole Gospel Christian Academy – an educational institution which not only caters to academics, but also spiritual and moral teachings. That institution comprised nursery, primary, junior high and high school, staging its second high school graduation last year.

Over the past decade, it has managed to promulgate the word of the Lord all over the world through its use of the various media entities.

The Sunday services of Abundant Life Ministries International are broadcast live around the world via Streaming Faith and Ustream, also via local radio. On Sunday afternoons the programme, Abundantly Blessed, is which is aired on ZNS Television in the Bahamas, is viewed also in the Turks and Caicos Islands, South Florida, parts of Jamaica and other Caribbean Countries particularly in the eastern section.

Through its various ministerial arms, including the woman’s ministry – Daughters of Zion, its youth department and men’s ministry, and its outreach ministry, Abundant Life was able to augment its position on the local landscape, changing the lives of all demographic groups.

Each year its outreach ministry visits Her Majesty’s Prison in Grand Turk to minister not only to the incarcerated, but also the administration, and also present them with gifts and toiletries. For the past eight years Abundant Life Ministries International has been visiting the geriatric ward at hospital in Grand Turk to present gifts and share with the residents there.

Additionally, for the past nine years, it has been staging a senior citizens’ banquet, catering mostly to seniors in Provo and North Caicos. It is an anticipated event where seniors are honoured and served gifts and sumptuous meals, while being entertained.

Among its international outreach ministry is Operation Haiti, where the church now runs a feeding programme there for the needy. The ultimate goal, according to Bishop Williams, is to open an orphanage in that destitute neighbouring country for abandoned children.

In the past Abundant Life Ministries International had engaged in a number of impromptu international outreach programme, including ‘Operation Grand Bahama’ in the aftermath of two storms - Frances and Jean. Cash donations were made to the Christian community who had members of their church affected by the natural disasters.

Back home, Abundant Life played a leading role in aiding the victims in the passage of Hurricane Ike, in Grand Turk and South Caicos in 2008. The ministry went as far as adopting one of the communities there - West Road Community - by providing building materials in conjunction with a group out of the Bahamas and also doling out other necessities to the residents there, such as food and clothing.

The achievements for the past ten years for that ministry is just the tip of the iceberg, as the gear for a number of

Bishop C. Alexander Williams III.

other huge projects have already been select, the clutch soon to be lifted and the gas pedal to be floored .

Among the projects is the Abundant Life Estates - affordable home project to be sprawled on ten acres of land in the North West Point area of Providenciales that would enable especially its members to realize the dream of homeownership. The drawing for the project has already been completed, according to Bishop Williams.

Last year the ministry secured a $3.5 million property to construct a supermarket, which, according Bishop Williams is geared to operate in such a fashion as to drive down the cost of food on Providenciales.

Paneled in the vision also is a rehabilitation centre geared towards creating a safe place for TCI’s young men and women to be rehabilitated and trained, so as to make them valuable contributors to the society, working with prison and the parole board in that vein.

The ministry’s vision is also to create a school of ministry, with a view to allow individuals to hone their Christian ministries skills in that area of calling right here in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Life Radio is another project that Abundant Life Ministries International is now pregnant with and could give birth real soon.

Bishop Williams who received his PhD in Theology in 2009 – majoring in Psychology - has been in ministry more than a decade and a half ago. He first attended the Barbados Baptist College between 1994 and 1996, where he obtained an Associate’s Degree in Theology.

Over the past fifteen years, Bishop Williams has graced pulpits across North America and the Caribbean, proclaiming the gospel of Christ. He has rubbed shoulders and shared the pulpit with the likes of Bishop Carl Malone, Donnie McClurkin, Vickie Wynans, Evangelist Shirley Caesar and George Bloomer.

Bishop Williams declared that in the coming years the nation and the world should expect even greater things from that ministry as it follows in the footprints and precepts of God.

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LOCAL NEWS

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LOCALNEWS NEWS LOCAL

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN TURKS & CAICOS SUN

JANUARY - JANUARY JANUARY 21ST21ST - JANUARY 28TH28TH, , 2011 2011

Methodist Church stages 199th Annual Conference in TCI Vivian Tyson

The Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas Bahamas/Turks and Caicos Islands Conference staged its 199 Annual Session in the Turks and Caicos Islands from January 13 to 23.

Reverend Derek Browne, President and Bishop for the Methodist Church in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands said the conference is held every year to deliberate on matters relating to the churches in the Conference.

He said the ministers from the circuit first met in a retreat setting on Thursday, January 13, and then began their ministerial session on Saturday, January 15. The ministers were joined by the lay delegates who came in on Sunday, January 16, to begin the weeklong general session.

He said the delegates were broken down in various committees and the members discussed matters relating to that their respective groups. The committees include Christian Education; Mission and Evangelism; General Education Committee; and Resource and Development.

Rev. Brown said business was done in the day and evangelistic services were done in the nights in various communities including Five Cays and The flag-raising ceremony the Bight. A communion service was also held during the conference. Every morning a public devotional exercise was held on the grounds of the Blue Hills Methodist Church.

Church with a different circuit leading each day.

According to Rev. Browne, the game was geared at bridging the social On Saturday afternoon, January 22, there was a scheduled volleyball match gap between the elders in the church and the young people, saying that between the ministers of the conference and the young people of the Wesleyan it would be one way of establishing same level of interaction between the two groups so as to engender closer future relations between the demographic groups.

One of the highlights of the event was the flag-raising ceremony of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the media was invited to promulgate the event.

Air Turks & Caicos is seeking application for: (1) SECURITY TRAINER MUST HAVE Excellent leadership skills Excellent customer service skills Strong work ethics and team player Excellent supervisory, organizational and management skills Excellent computer knowledge SECURITY OFFICERS (1) HOUSEKEEPER Position require the following: � Excellent command of the English language ‒ reading, writing and speaking. � Good communication skills and team player � Detail oriented & organized individual � Ability to work shifts, early mornings, late nights, weekends and Holidays. � Clean police record � Able to work under pressure Belongers need only apply.

Interested person should apply to HR@flyairtc.com or via fax to HR Department 649-946-4040.

No phone calls please. Qualified candidates will be contacted for an interview.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH , 2011

LOCAL NEWS

Scotiabank and CJFE invite entries for Journalism Fellowship at Massey College in Toronto “In 2009, this Fellowship introduced us to Scotiabank, together with Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) and Massey College, an exceptional journalist, Eric Lemus from El look forward to welcoming another successful Salvador,” said Annie Game, President of CJFE. Latin American or Caribbean journalist to take “He was a dynamic representative of journalists part in the one-year Scotiabank/CJFE Journalism in the region who are working in incredibly challenging environments just trying to report the Fellowship at Massey College.

This unique opportunity is a two-semester news. We expect that similarly the 2011/12 the fellowship hosted by Massey College of the new Fellow will further increase our understanding University of Toronto. The contest is open to mid- of the situation facing journalists in Latin America career journalists from South America, Central and the Caribbean.”

The Scotiabank/CJFE Journalism Fellowship America, the Caribbean and Mexico.

“As a multi-national organization, we at Massey College will provide a qualified Latin interact with media around the globe every day American journalist with a mid-career sabbatical and recognize the courage and commitment of in which s/he will spend eight months at Massey international journalists who often face significant College in Toronto. The successful candidate will risks to bring their stories to the public,” said audit courses of their choice at the University of Wendy Hannam, Executive Vice President, Toronto and make connections with the Canadian International Banking. “We are honoured to media, while expanding their work related to continue supporting the CJFE in their work and a significant issue, with a view to applying this proud to bring another Latin American journalist experience to ongoing work upon return to their to study in Canada through the Scotiabank/CJFE home country.

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression Fellowship.” “We see this fellowship as one that is essential to helping increase, as Canadians, our (CJFE) is a Canadian organization founded in 1981 knowledge of a huge region that has largely been that works to defend and protect the right to free ignored by North America for too long,” said John expression in Canada and around the world. CJFE Fraser, Master of Massey College. “With our fine champions the free expression rights of journalists collaboration with Scotiabank and CJFE, this can and media workers around the world and is an active participant and builder of the global free only succeed.”

expression community, particularly through its management of the IFEX Clearing House.

Massey College is the only independent residential college solely for graduate students in the University of Toronto. Its architect-designed facilities provide a community for distinguished senior scholars, for elected graduates who are called Junior Fellows and some eminent members of the non-academic world. Since its inception in 1963, the College has also hosted the Journalism Fellowship Program whereby several mid-career journalists are annually offered Fellowships allowing them to take a leave of absence from their work to audit courses of any subject at University of Toronto and to generally broaden their horizons.

Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions and Canada's most international bank. With more than 70,000 employees, Scotiabank Group and its affiliates serve some 18.6 million customers in more than 50 countries around the world. Scotiabank offers a broad range of products and services including personal, commercial, corporate and investment banking. With assets above $526 billion (as at October 31, 2010), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (BNS) and New York Exchanges (BNS).

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LOCAL LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN TURKS & CAICOS SUN

JANUARY - JANUARY JANUARY 21ST21ST - JANUARY 28TH28TH, , 2011 2011

Laverne Ingham captures top prize for LIME’s Christmas promotion

LIME TCI gave the top three winners of the Christmas campaign a surprise to remember. General Manager Drexwell Seymour and Head of Corporate Sales, Delleriece Hall along with the television media greeted each winner who was picked up.

Ms. Yohlean Smith, Mr. Henry Harvey and Ms. Lavern Ingham were delightfully shocked and happiness radiated on the faces of the winners as they were brought back to the LIME office in a police escorted limousine for the announcement of who had won which prize.

At the beginning of the campaign, General Manager, Drexwell Seymour commented: “LIME’s grand prize of ‘Live free for a year’ with $24,000 for mortgage plus groceries and communications is the company’s way of helping in this challenging environment which we live. Other prizes include a Family vacation and an Entertainment pack which will alleviate the burden for some customers and help them start 2011 with a bright outlook.”

The winners received a cool drink in their personalized LIME champagne flutes as they received

flowers and wine. The atmosphere in the office was pulsing with excitement as the winners were seated and the presentation began.

Marketing Manager, Rachel Harvey welcomed everyone and gave a brief overview of the campaign. She said, “LIME is so pleased to be here today to conclude our Christmas promotion on a high note. All three customers won by using the text method of entry into the competition.” Staff members, Angell Gardiner, Darcia Ingham and Joanne Missick participate in the “big reveal” to indicate who had won. Each of them had a t-shirt with the name of one of the winners.

The 3D entertainment package which included a flat screen television, surround sound speakers and 3D glasses was captured by Laverne is embraced by GM Drexwell Seymour as she is overcome with emotion Mr. Henry Harvey. The crowd and the winners were then eagerly Someone said at the end of the anticipating who would be won anything in my life. Thanks LIME. This will be a great help.” presentation, “It brought tears to my announced next. Ms. Yohlean Smith Ms. Yohlean Smith said, “This eyes.” won the Family vacation and when is wonderful.

I am going to be LIME Turks & Caicos Islands it was announced that Ms. Lavern able to relax and enjoy a vacation is so proud that everything worked Ingham had won the top prize, she compliments of LIME and I am out well for our winners. Laverne was overcome with emotions and so grateful.”

Mr. Henry Harvey will live free for a year; Henry will she cried. commented, “I said that I would kick back with his new system Ms. Ingham said, “I have never enter by texting but I had no idea and Yohlean will enjoy a relaxing that I would win. I am in shock.” vacation courtesy of LIME.

JOB VACANCIES 1) DIVE INSTRUCTORS Looking for SCUBA Diving instructors with experience in the Turks and Caicos Islands dive industry to conduct dive courses, lead dives and snorkel trips and assist on other eco-adventure activities at Big Blue. Applicants must be a current PADI dive instructor and have the skills and personality for sales, reservations, & public relations. Starting salary of $2500 per month. Please drop resume and cover letter to Big Blue at the Leeward Marina between the hours of 8am to 5pm or e-mail to bigblue@tciway.tc. You will be contacted for an interview if successful and the deadline for applications is 4th Feb 2011. Positions start in Feb and Mar 2011.

2) MARINE BIOLOGISTS / ECO-TOUR GUIDES Looking for persons with experience and qualifications in the field of Marine Biology to join Big Blue s team of eco-tour guides and dive instructors. Applicants must have experience in tropical waters and be able to lead educational kayak, paddleboard, snorkel, scuba diving and sightseeing eco-adventures. Applicants must have a current first aid and CPR certificate and have the personality for sales, public relations and education. Starting salary of $2500 per month. Please drop resume and cover letter to Big Blue at the Leeward Marina between the hours of 8am to 5pm or e-mail to bigblue@tciway.tc. You will be contacted for an interview if successful and the deadline for applications is 4th Feb 2011. Positions start in Feb and Mar 2011. 2) KITEBOARDING INSTRUCTOR Looking for a kite-boarding instructor with at least 3 years experience teaching the sport. Applicants must have an additional 2 years experience kite-boarding and have the patience for long hours working in the sea & sun. Starting salary $2500 per month. Please drop resume and cover letter to Big Blue at the Leeward Marina between the hours of 8am to 5pm or e-mail to bigblue@tciway.tc.

The deadline for applications is 4th Feb 2011. Position starts Feb 2011.

Big Josh Food Service is seeking

3 DOMESTIC WORKER 1 LABOURER Salary $5 per hour Please contact 342 6297

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New year, new rule

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

By Royal S. Robinson

NOW THAT MORE Than a year has passed and we have yet to see any semblance of improvement in our lives owing to the intrusion subjected upon us by the Wetherall administration.

Imperatively, it is more than high time that we begin to expose them for the dictators that they are, and expeditiously too.

First and foremost, Mark Capes, Wetherall’s eminent CEO has no standing even under the suspended parts of our Constitution! The Constitution provides for the Attorney General, then Permanent Secretary for Finance - in that order to act during the absence of the Governor. The Deputy Governor would have been first in line, but since that post has been suspended, it does not come into play now. On many occasions during the Governor’s absence, Mark Cape has acted, even though the Attorney General and/or the PS/Finance were in the country. That is certainly illegal under the Constitution, partially suspended or not. This goes to show that anything that Capes did or is doing as Acting Governor must perforce be illegal. The record would show that under his name, Capes inflicted many atrocities, both known and unknown - that were, and are harmful to Turks and Caicos Islanders!

The Interim Administration’s other negative impact relates to the Chief Financial Officer, Caroline Gardiner and her Deputy, Stephanie Murray both leaving the country on Christmas holidays. In so doing, they effectively locked down our Treasury until they returned January 4/6. It has been noted that only cheques Gardiner and her Deputy processed prior to their leaving these shores could be distributed; and that no matter how urgent the need it was to provide companies or individuals with payment for legitimate bills, those were not to be accommodated!

It may not be known fact, but the PS/Finance is the person with overall responsibility for the Treasury.

Therefore, I cannot comprehend by what legal authority that Gardiner had to do what she did! Oh! But I forgot, these people have no respect for our laws, our culture and our people! The only time that they rely on the law is when they want to oppress us further!

What that lady did was totally egregious, and sends a clear message to all Turks and Caicos Islanders that she and her cohorts think of us as nothing more that thieves and robbers and cannot be trusted with the money that we have raised without any help from them. This, my people is appalling and condemnable.

I say before and I dare say again:

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these people have no clue as to how to run and manage a small growing economy such as ours! We have a saying “When thieves fall out, righteous men get their due”!

I was heartened to read of the spat between Clive Stanbrook as head of the tourism-working group and the financial advisors! Stanbrook too has come to realize that these guys are novices and don’t mean this country any good, else they would provide the finances to prime the pump of our economic engine!

The Brits cried that there was no transparency and accountability in our duly elected government; however I see the Governor and Capes jet setting, living a lush and posh lifestyle at our country’s expense, yet no one bats an eye, or has anything to say about it.

They have yet to highlight one new minor, let alone major development project that they has caused to come here during their tyrannical reign.

This reminds me of what has now proved to be prophetic in 2009, when the Turks and Caicos hosted the Caribbean Bank Board of Governors’ Meeting on Providenciales. In the procession, the director advised me that as Minister of Finance, the Governor had to follow me into the hall. To which I said, somewhat in jest at the time: “Get thee behind me satan!” That is certainly proving to be as close an approximation of his character than I could have imagined!

Next is the feeding of erroneous and misleading information to the Minister responsible for the UK Overseas Territories to say on the floor of the UK Parliament! The information presented is without question: false!

When and where was this civil unrest that the Minister was speaking to with reference to Turks and Caicos Islands?

These trumped up innuendos must stop; because all that it is doing is putting a bad taste in the mouths of potential investors. When the students in London protested the hiking of tuition fees, I did not hear civil unrest!

When they threw egg or whatever on Prince Charles’ vehicle, I did not hear civil unrest! One surmises that this too is a racial bias: “protest” for the mostly white UK students, however “civil unrest” for the coloured in the colonies! This Interim Administration must stop the double standard and report the truth for the sake of transparency! Investors are already skeptical about doing business with you because there is no clarity of policies and programmes and, they want to deal with the people’s representatives and not some potentate that has been set up to usurp the rights of the people!

I keep hearing about this financial package that is supposed to be

Royal S. Robinson

provided so as to help us out of this economic rut. What I have not heard is on what areas of priority that it would be spent! I just hope against hope that they don’t intend to spend the money on what they think are priority for them, and then leave us with the bill to pay!

Under the Galmo Williams administration, we developed a 90Day Plan for the economic recovery of this country. We clearly spelt out the priority areas on which the money, once obtained would be spent to jumpstart the economy. All you get from these guys are cloak and dagger and smoking mirrors! Let some light shine on what you are doing! All the persons that had some modicum of goodwill for you are totally “p-offed” by your lack of progress and your not too clearly defined goals. I have said on numerous occasions that you cannot get away with nebulous notions.

Something concrete on which people can hang their hats on must be provided. The time for idle and at best idealistic chatter has passed. The people of Anguilla are now saying that they are going to prepare themselves in the immediate future to sever ties because you have this notion that one man from “foreign” knows better than us who have been through the crucible on the ground here.

Wendall Swann was correct in reading in the Consultative Forum the obligations of the UK Government with respect to us “territory citizens” by signing on to the United Nations Charter; this is going to be the yardstick that your actions will be measured against. This notion that you are not going to permit elections until we have a balanced budget, is acting as if you are living in a fool’s paradise as I have previously said! Holding a phantom carrot in front of our faces to chase is foolhardy. Restricting us of our continued growth and prosperity while you attempt to right the so-called wrongs is dangerous and misleading the people of our nation; let alone strangling us for a protracted amount of time is entirely unjust.

We want serious efforts be made in

reforming our electoral and voter system! That would be the first sign that you are serious about elections.

The voters’ list is key to any election and if that is not sorted out; then the prospects of a real election is very far down the road. We cannot stomach or continence any further erosion of our democracy on the altar of some hairy fairy notion. It is really time to put up or shut up.

This Interim Administration was ushered in on the pretext that you would fix the system in a jiffy and hand it back to us slickity split. Not so!

While in control of our destiny, you have excluded us from the process of finding a solution and now it is quite evident to all and sundry that you have no solution of your own: “The Emperor has no clothes”! Now the posterior part of his anatomy is showing. To try and cover up, you are everyday moving the goal post! You are not going to dilly dally on our time and dime any more. The time for your wasteful spending of our money is over. We are reasonable people and have educated our youths at no expense to you and total opposition to you! But remember, that the voice of reason only lasts for so long in the face of obdurate resistance reason. We will publish your wrongs to the world so that all and sundry can see the advantage that you are taking of our people! You must cease and desist from such actions!

I was heartened recently by members of the public service getting up off their seats of “do nothingness” to revitalize the Civil Service Association! This is a body that I have great respect for, having the likes of Floyd Seymour and Derek Taylor, and myself having been as past Presidents!

The only way that the civil servants are going to get their rights is if they come together as one and provide a unified front, utilizing all of the rules and regulations that have been laid down and at your disposal. Right out of the block, some expatriate had to attack Dr. Rufus Ewing, the new President. If you cannot continence Turks and Caicos Islanders coming forth to lead these important institutions, then leave! We can most rightly do without you! And this has nothing to do with suppressing freedom of speech! If you have to spill your bile, then leave and do it. Don’t eat our food and belch in our faces!

This is a New Year and we are not going to let you get away with “murder” as previously obtained! You are surely, but certainly pushing the wrong buttons and you will get the response!

• Royal Robinson is a former Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance and Health under the Progressive National Party (PNP) administration.

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH , 2011

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LOCAL NEWS

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Three persons had magic fingers and texted their way to top prizes in LIME’s 2010 Christmas promotion. They were each surprised by LIME personnel and members of the media who collected them from their home or offices. The Top prize was the chance to “Live Free For One Year’, where the winner received $24,000 to buy groceries, pay their mortgage and communications costs. Runner- up prizes were a family vacation and a 3D entertainment package.

General Manager, Drexwell Seymour and Head of Corporate Sales, Delleriece Hall along with the television media greeted each winner who was picked up.

The Lucky winners were: Mr. Henry Harvey, winner of the 3D entertainment package which included a flat screen television, surround-sound speakers and 3D glasses; Ms. Yohlean Smith won the Family vacation and the luckiest of all was Ms. Lavern Ingham, who who cried without shame as her name was announced.

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1. Henry in the forefront and Laverne right behind.JPG 2. Grand style for the Grand prize winners 3. LIME employees welcome the limo with the winners.

4. Lavern does an on the spot media interview 5. Ms. Yohlean Smith is interviewed.

6. Media presence at the event 7. The big reveal - Laverne wins top prize 8. The picture says it all 9. Mr. Henry Harvey exits limo 10. Winners' personalized champagne flutes 11. LIME ladies Angell, Darcia & Joanne

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12. LIME's winner Henry Harvey 13. Yohlean Smith 14. Several customers joined in the celebrations.JPG 15. Yohlen is surprised 16. Henry Harvey is also surprised by LIME 17. Lavern Ingham wins top prize in LIME's Christmas campaign 18. LIME TCI's winners 19. LIME's Grand Prize winners 20. Mr. Henry Harvey exits limo 21. Team LIME with members of the media 22. Angell looks on in her reveal shirt for winner

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LOCAL NEWS

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

MARCH 5TH - MARCH 12TH, 2010

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Caring for your skin with

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH , 2011

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH , 2011

Homemade Remedies

Herbal remedies are popular among european and Indian womens from the ancient times.

Beauty Recipes are easily prepared at home provides best alternative to costly makeup products. This section of free-makeup-tips.com contains advice for prepration of various skin care utilities in home using things which are totally natural for beautiful glowing face.

If you just look carefully you will find many of the ingredients of these recipes in your kitchen. Some of the important ways to prepare face-pack at home are as below.

Homemade Astringent Lotion Astringent Lotion is used to check the oily skin's tendency to ooze stickness, because oiliness clogs the pores.

Take 2 teaspoons of honey, nutmeg, coriander seed, 4 teaspoons of grated lemon peel, orange flower water, 1 teaspoon of cloves, 8 teaspoon of alcohol, ½ teaspoon benzoin, very little storax and rose water.

To make astringent lotion at home mix all the ingredients and make a lotion. Pour this lotion in a large bottle for 24 hours to 48 hours.

Cleansing Creams Cleansing Cream is used to clean the face of makeup and the dust before going to bed. Cleansing Creams is made with a mixture of stearic acid, mineral oil, lanolin, teropenol, tri-ethanomine, propyline, glycol, and perfume. Some famous brands are: gala, lakme, anne french and max-factor.

Facial Masks Masks Application are one of the oldest beautifying treatment. All it needs for a beautiful, glowing, fresh skin is put it on preparation, leave it ten to twenty minutes, the wash off. Egg Mask - Separate the egg white from the yolk. Put the egg white on your face and relax for about 15 minutes. Wash off with lukewarm water. This facial mask leaves your skin smooth, refreshed and tightens your skin.

Facial Moisturizers Moisturizers provide moisture to the skin. Moisturizers trap moisture below your skin's outer layer and soften skin. Take one slice of water melon, one table spoon of lemon juice and then Squeeze the juice of lemon over the watermelon slice and keep in the fredge for about 15 minutes. Take out the slice and cut it into bits and place it over your face. This will reduce body temperature and moisturizes it.

Dry Skin Dry Skin is sensative to the weather and is prone to wrinkles. Protect it against wind, sun and water. The best defense against dry, scaly skin is moisturizer. Dry skin should not be washed with cols water and soap, nor should astringemt lotions be used. Instaed, after cleansing it at night, before bed time, it is better to use a good moisturizer which give it some freshness.

Diet, rich wit minerals and vitamins A,B,C,D should be taken. Before applying lipstick , use a soft piece of towelling material for removing rough bits of chapped skin and rub a piece of raw beetroot gently on them. After applying lipstick add a little vaseline to keep your lips soft and pretty.

Wrinkles Remedy The effects of aging on the dermal layer are significant. Wrinkles are generally divided into two categories: That is the fine wrinkles, surface lines and deep wrinkles. Use glycerine and egg as a anti-wrinkle lotion. Especially good for wrinkles on the hands and the neck. Take the white of an egg in a bowl and add to it 2 tablespoons of glycerine and 2 tablespoons of rose water. Stir well and then apply this lotion on the wrinkled skin as well as on the neck. Sit still and leave it on for 10-12 minutes and rinse off with cold water.

Acne Acne spoil the beauty of the face or rather make it ugly. Acne is a condition that must be controlled rather than cured. Lemon Juice for acne cure : Mix equal quantities of lemon juice with rose water. Apply the lotion on the face. Leave it to dry for some time and wash it well using fresh water. This is an excellent remedy which helps cure acne, pimples and reduces blemishes and scars.

Take garlic capsules, they boost the immune system and kill the bacteria found in acne. Cucumber leaves or grated pieces. Apply to area for acne cure.

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There's a spark inbetween us r When we're dancing on the floo I want more Wanna see it So I'm asking you tonight

loud If I said my heart was beating ehow som wd cro If we could escape the If I said I want your body now Would you hold it against me

Hey over there Please forgive me If I'm coming on too strong Hate to stare But you're winning And they're playing my favorite song

So come here 'Little closer Wanna whisper in your ear Make it clear Little question Wanna know just how you feel

If I said my heart was beating loud If we could escape the crowd somehow If I said I want your body now Would you hold it against me

Cause you feel like paradise And I need a vacation tonight So if I said I want your body now Would you hold it against me

Hey you might think That I'm crazy But you know I'm just your type I might be 'little hazy But you just cannot deny

Cause you feel like paradise t And I need a vacation tonigh now y bod r So if I said I want you Would you hold it against me [Spoken] If I said I want your body ?

Would you hold It against me (Yeah) (Uh huh) (Oh)

Gimme something good (na-na-now) Don't wanna wait I want It now Pop It like a hood It out And show me how you work (Alright)

If I said my heart was beating

If I said I want your body now Would you hold it against me

loud

loud If I said my heart was beating ehow som wd cro the If we could escape now y bod r If I said I want you Would you hold it against me Cause you feel like paradise t And I need a vacation tonigh now y bod r So if I said I want you Would you hold it against me

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'American Idol' 2011 premiere: Steven Tyler charms, Jennifer Lopez can't say no to singing hopefuls

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

The 10th season of "American Idol" kicked off Wednesday night, but new judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez didn't quite shake it up as promised.

While the Aerosmith front man was playful and flirty during two days of New Jersey auditions, J.Lo spent most of the time struggling with two letters, N and O. As promised, no members of the three-strong panel - that includes returning judge Randy Jackson - pulled the Simon Cowell card.

Instead, Tyler, who was pegged to take his place, could somehow soften even the most stinging insults, perhaps because he doesn't speak as dismissively as Cowell.

"Did you eat paint chips as a child?" he asked a burping contestant in a gruff voice, before adding: "We have a higher standard here."

While he drummed and squealed along with the contestants, J.Lo sat firmly in her seat, appearing to take her

ENTERTAINMENT

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Judges- Steven Tyler, left, Jennifer Lopez, center, and Randy Jackson.

new job seriously.

Unfortunately, while Tyler mostly commented on their tunes (with a few comments about the women's hotness thrown in), Lopez seemed to have an eye primarily for assembly-line pop

BRITNEY SPEARS TOPS TAYLOR SWIFT IN ALBUM SALES

Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" sold 411,000 digital copies this week, which enables Spears to break Taylor Swift's record for the biggest first-week sales tally for a song by a female solo artist. The old record-holder was Swift's "Today Was A Fairytale," which sold 325K in its first week a year ago.

This is Spears' biggest one-week digital sales total to date. It surpasses "Womanizer," which sold 303,000 copies during Christmas week 2008 (when sales traditionally spike).

"Hold It Against Me" posted the fourth biggest firstweek sales tally in digital history. It trails Flo Rida's "Right Round," which sold 636K in its first week in February 2009; the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow," which sold 465K in its first week in April 2009; and Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent's "Crack A Bottle," which sold 418K in its first week in February 2009.

"Hold It Against Me" debuts at #1 on this week's Hot 100. This is the second time that Spears has opened atop the chart. She achieved the feat in October 2009 with "3."

Spears is only the second artist in the chart's 52-year history to debut at #1 with two or more songs. Mariah Carey has debuted at #1 three times. She scored with "Fantasy" in September 1995, "One Sweet Day" (with Boyz II Men) in December 1995 and "Honey" in September 1997.

Spears' achievement is all the more impressive because she has been a star so long. Her first single, "...Baby One More Time," reached #1 in January 1999. Most of the artists who have entered the Hot 100 at #1 have been relative newcomers (such as the red-hot Ke$ha, who did it in November with "We R Who We R").

Only five other artists who have debuted at #1 had been stars for more than a decade at the time they made these powerful debuts. Elton John had been a star for 27 years when he debuted at #1 in 1997 with "Candle In The Wind 1997." Michael Jackson had been a star for nearly 26 years when he debuted in the top spot in 1995 with "You Are Not Alone." Aerosmith had been a top act for 25 years when they debuted at #1 in 1998 with "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing." Eminem had been a star for nearly 12 years when he debuted at #1 last year with "Not Afraid." Whitney Houston had been on top for 10 years when she debuted in the top spot in 1995 with "Exhale (Shoop Shoop Song)."

princesses like her predecessors.

"You guys are crazy - she's beautiful, she's only 15 and she's giving us some energy," she said of Kenzie Palmer, a pretty teenager from Philadelphia with a generic voice that

failed to ignite Tyler or Jackson.

She and Jackson later subtly slammed the dress sense of perfectly attractive, clear front-runner Devyn Rush, a 20-year-old bluesy singing waitress from Pennsylvania who works in Times Square.

"Your voice is the star," Lopez told her, "so start dressing that way...because this business is about image as well."

Lopez appeared to loosen up and stop sneaking looks at the camera so often as the contest progressed.

Stand-outs included a Jersey Shore native named Tiffany Rios who wore stars on her brassiere; Ashley Sullivan, a rabid Britney Spears fan; Victoria Huggins, a spunky 16-year-old from North Carolina and a Japanese Michael Jackson impersonator named Yoji "Pop" Asano who hated Miley Cyrus.

Ultimately, 51 people were chosen for Hollywood, including Kenzie Palmer, 15, one of the youngest contestants the show has ever seen.

Macy Gray asks fans if she should boycott Israel

Soul singer Macy Gray has indeed sing in Tel Aviv next asked her fans on Facebook month. whether she should cancel "Dear Israel fans. Me planned concerts in Tel Aviv and the band will be there in because of the "disgusting" 20 days. Can't wait. See you way the Israeli government then. Peace," she wrote in a treats Palestinians.

Tweet.

International artists, Israelis and Palestinians entertainers and academics have been locked in conflict are under increasing pressure for six decades, with U.S.to boycott Israel because of led initiatives to bring about Israeli actions in the Israelia negotiated settlement Palestinian conflict. making little head way over But Gray took the the years. unusual step of asking Palestinians accused Soul singer Macy Gray Facebook followers what to Israel of operating a de-facto do, in a posting that went up Monday. apartheid system in the occupied West Bank, "I'm getting a lot of letters from activists where they want to establish an independent urging/begging me to boycott by NOT state. Israel says Palestinian militants are intent performing in protest of Apartheid against the on destroying the Jewish State.

Palestinians," she wrote.

Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, for "What the Israeli government is doing to example, canceled his planned concerts in the Palestinians is disgusting, but I wanna go. Israel last summer because of what he called I gotta lotta fans there I don’t want to cancel the "grave and complex" sensitivities. on and I don’t know how my NOT going Earlier this month, French singer Vanessa changes anything. What do you think? Stay or Paradis, who is married to actor Johnny Depp, go?" canceled a February 10 concert in Israel. She After receiving almost 4,000 often said it clashed with an important meeting, but impassioned messages in just four days, Gray the Israeli media have speculated that is was a has announced via Twitter that she would political decision.

KFWS • MindGym

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King Features Weekly Service

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January 17, 2011

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

FUN & GAMES

January 17,January 2011 17, 2011

King Features WeeklyService Service King Features Weekly

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) The week continues to encourage the forming of new personal relationships and the shoring up of those that might be weakening.

New contacts also dominate the workaday world.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) While the bold Bovine might want to move quickly to deal with sudden plan changes, it might be best to wait until you can come up with some solid facts behind the unexpected turn of events.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) It’s a good week to consider how you’ll move on matters both personal and professional. In either case, the more you know about them, the more likely it is that you’ll make the right decisions.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Although you might find more colleagues ready to support your plans, some of them could ask for changes you don’t approve of. Be ready to defend your position if necessary.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) This is a good time for Leos and Leonas to think about opportunities that might be outside your usual interests. You could be surprised to find something well worth your consideration.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) You can turn a troublesome workplace issue to your advantage by prompting that Virgo penchant for preciseness to take over where all else has failed. An old friend makes contact.

LIBRA —13—(September 23 to October 22) A friend’s unex-

THE LONG JOURNEY HOME

Most key plays made by declarer are arrived at through a progression of logical thoughts. Today’s deal illustrates how this process works.

1. After West leads the heart seven, South can count seven sure winners — three spades, one diamond, two clubs and a heart. Two additional tricks are therefore needed.

2. If West has the king of diamonds, a simple finesse or two in that suit will yield 11 tricks, so declarer focuses on those hands where East has the king of diamonds.

3. The contract is safe if the opposing hearts are divided 4-4,—13— since in that case the opponents can’t score more than three hearts and a diamond. Thus, the only real threat is a 5-3 or 6-2 heart division.

4. In view of the foregoing, which heart should be played from dummy at trick

pected work-related news could be a wake-up call to get you to reassess your position. See if you need to make changes to strengthen your position at this time.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) You might want to review a decision to work alone on a project. You might see it as efficient and prudent, but some might see it as unnecessary secretiveness, even for a Scorpio.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Don’t be put off by a lukewarm response to a recent effort. Perhaps you didn’t present a strong enough argument. Rebuild your case with more facts, and try again. Good luck.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) A surprise development in the early part of the week could be linked to an ongoing situation. Before you decide to take further action, consider calling for a group discussion.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Your sensitive side helps you work through an emotionally difficult situation with a minimum of bruised feelings all around. A welcome change bows in by the week’s end.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) While the week still favors new pursuits, some things from the past also make a claim for your attention. The weekend is open for good times with some of the people closest to you.

BORN THIS WEEK: You have a wonderful gift for seeing the best in people.

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© 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.

one? Highly relevant is the question of who holds the ace.

5. West must have the ace.

Assuming he has led his fourth-best heart, East can have only one card higher than the seven. It can’t be the ace, because that would leave West with the J-10-97, from which he would have led the jack initially.

6. If the king is played from dummy at trick one, it will therefore win, but the contract eventually will fail after East takes the diamond king and returns a heart through the Q-8. So playing low from dummy must be considered.

7. Nothing can be gained by playing low from dummy if the first trick is taken with the queen. The contract will still fail if the hearts are divided 5-3 or 6-2 and the diamond finesse loses.

Allowing East to hold the first trick must therefore be considered.

8. If the hearts are 5-3 and the diamond finesse loses, three notrump cannot be made against best defense (West simply withholds his ace on the second round of hearts). But if the hearts are divided 6-2, the contract can be made by letting whatever card East plays win the first trick. In the actual deal, playing low from both hands on the first trick renders the defense helpless, and South winds up with at least nine tricks. © 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.

Axis Voic

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FUN & GAMES

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King Features Weekly Service

January 17, 2011

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Former Prime Minister’s wife wins by-election in Barbados JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

Mara Thompson, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate and widow of late Prime Minister David Thompson, created history in Barbadian politics on Thursday when she was declared the winner of the St John by-election, crushing her Barbados Labour Party (BLP) opponent Hudson Griffith by a massive 4 613 votes to 553.

It was the first occasion the widow of a parliamentarian had replaced her husband as constituency representative in the House of Assembly.

Thompson won all of the 23 boxes counted with her highest tally (527) coming in the JA2 Polling Station representing Coach Hill, Pot House and the surrounding areas. Griffith’s best effort was reflected in the JB2 station covering Mount Tabor, Venture, Sherbourne and Clifton Hall where he tallied 96 votes to Thompson’s 363.

Thompson surpassed the performance of her late husband who gained 4 300 votes in the 2008 general election. Griffith’s 553 was far less than that of party colleague Tyrone Power who received 829 votes in 2008.

Griffith’s failure to get at least onesixth of the overall 5 166 votes cast meant that he would forfeit his $250 election deposit.

An animated crowd, which steadily grew to about 400, braved the cold wind and damp conditions to gather outside the counting centre at the school from about 7 p.m. Thompson, accompanied by daughters Misha, Oya and Osa-

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Mara Thompson, wife of former prime minister of Barbados, David Thompson

Marie, arrived at the school about 10:55 p.m. to tumultuous acclaim from the crowd, many bedecked in yellow apparel.

As the results of the various boxes were announced, sections of the crowd started chanting: “She’s royal.”

One supporter humorously demanded a recount, shouting: “Griffith getting too much votes!”

When Harris made his final announcement it was the signal for rapturous cheers and chants of “Mara, Mara”. The victor emerged from the counting station, spoke briefly to the media and then went into the arms of her adoring supporters, who loudly acclaimed her as their “queen”.

Neither Griffith nor his campaign manager Deputy Opposition Leader

Dale Marshall was present at The Lodge School. Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler, Minister of Housing Michael Lashley, Minister of Foreign Affairs Senator Maxine McClean, Minister of Transport and Works John Boyce and Senator Peter Gilkes were among the DLP members at the school.

A beaming Thompson described the victory as “fantastic” and thanked the people of St John for their support.

She praised Boyce for the way he managed her campaign, as well as for the support she had received from Prime Minister Stuart, colleagues and constituency branch president Cleeton Coppin.

“I am happy that as of tomorrow I am the chief servant of the people of St

John,” she said.

Stuart said the people of St John would benefit from Thompson’s resilience and strength of character which she had shown during the byelection campaign in the face of the vilification to which she had been subjected on the BLP platform.

Stuart said Opposition Leader Owen Arthur had suggested that the byelection would have been a referendum on the Government, but that he had “got it wrong” and it turned out to be a “thunderous rebuff” of the BLP. He stated it had been a referendum on the Opposition and its conduct in the public domain and the BLP had been “found guilty”.

“It was a judgement on the quality of politics which they brought to this campaign and the new depths to which they sunk . . . ,” he said.

The celebrations meanwhile continued way into the night with Thompson leaving The Lodge School and arriving at the Gall Hill Community Centre at midnight where a victory party was already in full swing.

“Thank you, the good people of St John. I am happy to do this for you, I am overwhelmed. I love you, let’s celebrate,” Thompson told hundreds who had waited on her arrival.

Her entrance there was to the loud sounds of the Sister Sledge hit song We Are Family and her exit to the sounds of the Taurus Riley hit She’s Royal – after being crowned with a glistening tiara.

Bahamas government to make BTC documents public

ALL documentation related to the privatisation of BTC from 1999 to the present will be tabled in Parliament for scrutiny by the public, said Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest, leader of government business.

As soon as the terms of the BTC sale agreement are finalised, Mr Turnquest said the government will release all the details and documents related to the sale process from its inception.

The government will place the latest agreement of sale for 51 per cent of BTC to Cable and Wireless Communication (CWC) in the public domain and allow two weeks before debate is scheduled, said Mr Turnquest.

Details of the Bluewater deal, negotiated under the former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government, also will be revealed, he said.

Zhivargo Laing, Minister of State for Finance,

said he could not say whether or not the names of the Bluewater owners would be revealed in the documentation.

Parliament resumes today from its Christmas recess amid much speculation over the anticipated agenda. Debate is set to focus on amendments to the Business License Act tabled at the close of the last session.

Until an agreement is reached over the terms of the sale, the government will not present any BTC documents, said Mr Turnquest.

While there is already a signed Memorandum of Understanding, Mr Turnquest said the MoU is a document, perhaps 10 pages long, to say "we agree to move in this regard and these are the main tenants."

What is presently being finalised is the agreement of sale, which contains the "fleshed out" details of the sale, he said.

Bridget Robinson Seeking

1 Labourer

$5 per hour call 347 8393

The possibility existed that an agreement would have materialised yesterday, but up to press time there was no news of a deal.

Other possible documents forthcoming include a shareholders' agreement, a voluntary workforce restructuring plan and a pension feeder trust, according to the PLP. Regarding debate on the BTC sale, Mr Turnquest said segments of the media are perpetuating a "misunderstanding" of comments made by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.

Clarifying the point, Mr Turnquest said the documents will not be released to any third party prior to them being tabled in the House of Assembly, and debate on the sale will not happen the same time the documents are tabled.

Based on common practice and the "voluminous" nature of the documents, there will be at least two weeks before the debate is set, he said.

Page 33

Bahamas government to make BTC documents public

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

ALL documentation related to the privatisation of BTC from 1999 to the present will be tabled in Parliament for scrutiny by the public, said Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest, leader of government business.

As soon as the terms of the BTC sale agreement are finalised, Mr Turnquest said the government will release all the details and documents related to the sale process from its inception.

The government will place the latest agreement of sale for 51 per cent of BTC to Cable and Wireless Communication (CWC) in the public domain and allow two weeks before debate is scheduled, said Mr Turnquest.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Details of the Bluewater deal, negotiated under the former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government, also will be revealed, he said.

Zhivargo Laing, Minister of State for Finance, said he could not say whether or not the names of the Bluewater owners would be revealed in the documentation.

Parliament resumes today from its Christmas recess amid much speculation over the anticipated agenda. Debate is set to focus on amendments to the Business License Act tabled at the close of the last session.

Until an agreement is reached over

the terms of the sale, the government will not present any BTC documents, said Mr Turnquest.

While there is already a signed Memorandum of Understanding, Mr Turnquest said the MoU is a document, perhaps 10 pages long, to say "we agree to move in this regard and these are the main tenants."

What is presently being finalised is the agreement of sale, which contains the "fleshed out" details of the sale, he said.

The possibility existed that an agreement would have materialised yesterday, but up to press time there was no news of a deal.

Other possible documents forthcoming include a shareholders'

$150million project slated for the island of San Salvador in The Bahamas

Construction could begin as early as September 2011 on Phase One of the $100$150 million real estate project “The Residences at Columbus Isle”.

Partner of Club Med and owner of Sand and Oceans Investments Limited Jean-Marc Daigle told Guardian Business yesterday that the new development will not only reap benefits for San Salvador’s economy, but will increase the marketability and transparency of Club Med on the island.

“We just like the competition and to increase the activity of tourists on the island,” Daigle said. “We have a phase to put around 300 new rooms, so it’s twice as much as Club Med is offering. It’s good for the island, it’s good for everybody and it’s good for Club Med too.”

According to Daigle, Phase One of the project is valued at nearly $25 million and will feature construction of 60 condominiums, which will have 1, 2 or 3 bedroom designs. It will be located on Club Med’s Columbus Isle 4 Trident Village which will be dispersed over a 7.28 hectare area. Prices for the properties will range from $375,000 to $1 million.

He said the reason for the September 2011 start date was to be in line with Club Med’s regular closure during that period, saying that

he wants to use the “same window” as the resort to undergo work.

Daigle also mentioned that it will be sharing charter services with Club Med as well, which could translate into additional passengers coming to the island.

The joint project between Sand and Ocean and Club Med will also provide additional opportunities for new owners, as they will have the option of letting Club Med manage their property during their absence, creating a route to generate revenue. They will also benefit from the amenities of Club Med four weeks a year either at The Residences or another property affiliated with the resort throughout the world.

The construction will be managed by Sand and Ocean and the Boulle School of Paris will be responsible for the interior and exterior design. Daigle didn’t specify the exact amount of jobs that will be created for the project, but he indicated that a “large amount” of jobs will come out of the development.

Daigle said he is targeting 2012 as a completion date for the entire project and is hoping that he could maintain the timeline he has set for it.

“Only God knows but we expect to finalize everything in 2012,” he said. “This is the goal.”

Bridget Robinson Seeking

1 Labourer

$5 per hour call 347 8393

agreement, a voluntary workforce restructuring plan and a pension feeder trust, according to the PLP. Regarding debate on the BTC sale, Mr Turnquest said segments of the media are perpetuating a "misunderstanding" of comments made

by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.

Clarifying the point, Mr Turnquest said the documents will not be released to any third party prior to them being tabled in the House of Assembly, and debate on the sale will not happen the same time the documents are tabled.

Based on common practice and the "voluminous" nature of the documents, there will be at least two weeks before the debate is set, he said.

JAMAICA PASSES THIRD IMF REVIEW

WASHINGTON, United States, Monday January 17, 2011 Jamaica has passed the third review of it's economic performance under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), enabling the immediate disbursement of about US$49.3 million.

The IMF said that Jamaica’s performance under the programme has been positive overall. All end-September quantitative performance criteria were met. The Executive Board approved modifications of certain performance criteria, including a small relaxation of some fiscal targets to accommodate spending related to Tropical Storm Nicole and an increase in the floor on net international reserves.

Following the approval, Murilo Portugal, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair said: “Overall performance under the Stand-By Arrangement has been satisfactory. Signs of recovery have emerged, with net job creation for the first time in four quarters, and inflationary pressures remain subdued, allowing an accommodative monetary policy."

He said the authorities’ macroeconomic program continues to focus on restoring fiscal sustainability and increasing the economy’s resilience to external shocks.

"Further progress is necessary on the fiscal and structural reform agenda. Enhancing competitiveness and the overall investment climate is key to boosting potential growth," he added.

"Full implementation of the fiscal reform agenda will create fiscal space for contingency buffers and increased spending on social programmes and growth-enhancing capital projects."

The IMF’s Executive Board approved a 27-month SBA in an amount equivalent to US$1.27 billion on February 4, 2010.

The latest disbursement bring the money received so far under the arrangement to about US$838.2 million.

Page 34

Ackee poisoning cases reported in Jamaica

CARIBBEAN NEWS

The Ministry of Health in Jamaica is warning members of the public against eating unfit and unopened ackees, saying its surveillance unit has detected 35 cases of ackee poisoning between December 1, 2010 and January 12, 2011.

Ackee is a very popular Jamaican fruit that should only be picked when ripened and opened naturally on the tree.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

If not properly ripened, ackee contains high levels of hypoglycin which may be poisonous and can potentially lead to death if consumed.

Symptoms of ackee poisoning include vomiting, stomach cramps/abdominal pain, dizziness, diarrhoea and sweating. If persons are experiencing these symptoms they

TCA HANDLING

is now accepting applications for the following positions:

BAGGAGe HANDLer/AIrCrAfT CLeANers seCurITy AGeNTs Good command of english Language Willing to work shift pattern including weekends and holidays Clean Police record Valid driver’s license Baggage handler starting salary $6.50 per hour security Agent $7.50 Cleaners starting salary $10 per aircraft submit application along with photograph to: General Manager TCA Handling Town Center Mall, Providenciales Tel: 649 941 5353

should seek medical attention immediately and should have a sweet drink while on their way to the health centre or hospital. Children, especially those who are undernourished, are most at risk.

The ackees should be properly cleaned by removing the seed and the pink or reddish membrane, then washed before cooking to prevent possible poisoning, especially because of the high levels of toxins that may be contained in the unripe fruit.

The water that is used to boil the ackee should be discarded immediately and should not be ingested or reused for cooking other foods.

According to the ministry of health, all incidents of ackee poisoning have been from ackees cooked at home. There has been no incident involving tinned ackees.

Health Minister Rudyard Spencer — who has instructed the ministry’s Outbreak Response Team to devise strategies to strengthen the programme of public education as well as to enhance the capacity of the surveillance system at the ministry’s head office — yesterday said special attention should be paid in

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH, 2011

ensuring that only fit and wellopened ackees are used by householders.

“It cannot be said too often that ackee should be allowed to open naturally and fully on the tree before it is picked and eaten or sold. They should not be opened by force, or by using a knife or any other implement. The water that is used to boil the ackee should be discarded immediately and should not be ingested or reused for cooking other foods such as ground provisions and rice,” the minister stressed.

TurKs AND CAICOs IsLANDs financial services Commission

Tender request for Construction services-Interior redesign The financial services Commission invites proposals from suitably qualified contractors to undertake a remodeling of the Commission’s offices. The brief scope of the works is as described below: • remove existing partitions; • supply of new partitions, fixtures and fittings according to the design specifications; • Installation of new partitions, fixtures, fittings and furniture according to design specifications; • replace existing flooring with new raised surface and installation of carpeting as indicated; • upgrading and improvement of plumbing, electrical and air conditioning systems; • The installation of permanent hurricane shutters; • repainting of finished surfaces and the removal of debris.

Interested parties may pick up a copy of the design drawings and specifications, which will be provided at a cost, between the hours 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 pm Mondays to fridays. Interested parties are required to submit their bids in writing to the Commission at its office at Caribbean Place, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos no later than 2:00 pm february 4, 2011. Late tenders will NOT be considered under any circumstance.

Tenders must be accompanied by the following: i.

Valid business licence; ii.

Certificate of Good-standing from the Companies registry (for companies) or Business Names registration for partnerships and individuals; iii.

List of personnel who will be involved in the execution of the works and their qualification and or experience; iv.

Details of at least two (2) references for which similar works have been carried and v. reference from the bankers of the interested parties.

Tenders should be submitted in ordinary form to include detailed description of the service provider and setting out the timeframe for carrying out the works. The original and one copy of the Tender proposal should be placed in a sealed envelope and delivered to the Commission’s office at Caribbean Place. The envelope should be addressed to the Managing Director of the Commission and clearly marked “Tender for Construction Works”.

The tender will be opened after the expiry of the deadline by a panel comprising the Managing Director, the financial Controller and the Office Manager. The Commission does not bind itself to accept the lowest or any other tender. financial services Commission: 01/2011 January 18, 2011

With Baby Doc back in Haiti, Aristide calls next

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Page 35

CARIBBEAN NEWS

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haitians adjusting to the sudden return of one exiled ex-president could soon have another on their hands.

As former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier held court with allies at an upscale hotel on Wednesday, ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide sent out a letter saying he is ready to come back from six years of South African exile "today, tomorrow, at any time."

"As far as I am concerned, I am ready," he wrote in an e-mail distributed by supporters and posted online. "The purpose is very clear: To contribute to serving my Haitian sisters and brothers as a simple citizen in the field of education."

Ex-dictator dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier look out from a balcony at the Hotel Karibe Aristide was ousted in 2004, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. leaving Haiti aboard a U.S. plane as a small group of rebels neared the capital. back from his homeland's government.

"He will have to answer that His return has been a principal demand The U.S. State Department reacted question himself but for now, we're of his Fanmi Lavalas party, which has to the letter in a series of posts by here," Georges said. lost influence as electoral officials spokesman P.J. Crowley on Twitter.

Asked if Duvalier had been invited blocked it from participating in "This is an important period for to Haiti by anyone in the government, elections including the disputed Nov. 28 Haiti. What it needs is calm, not the attorney said not to his knowledge. vote now under challenge — though divisive actions that distract from the "It's his country. He doesn't need an Aristide himself has remained a widely task of forming a new government," invitation." popular figure. said one.

Duvalier assumed power in 1971 at He is two years younger than The other: "We do not doubt age 19 following the death of his Duvalier, the now 59-year-old ex- President Aristide's desire to help the notorious father, Francois "Papa Doc" dictator he spoke against as a Roman people of Haiti. But today Haiti needs Duvalier. The two leaders presided over Catholic priest in the La Saline slum. to focus on its future, not its past." one of the darkest chapters in modern Together the men represent the two Duvalier also applied for a new Haitian history, a period when a secret main oppositional forces in Haitian passport Wednesday and intends to police force known as the Tonton politics over the last half century: stable, leave the country when he gets it, a Macoute tortured and killed opponents. often brutal authoritarianism in favor of spokesman said, insisting that the onceelites against charismatic populism that reviled strongman can neither be forced The private militia of sunglass-wearing opponents said bordered on to leave his homeland or compelled to demagoguery. stay and face a potential criminal trial According to Duvalier's confidants on allegations of corruption and the two men have never met. Their human-rights abuses. mutual presence in Haiti could cause He had been scheduled to leave long-simmering tensions to erupt.

Thursday but can't because his passport Aristide did not endorse a candidate has expired, said spokesman Yves in the current race and has said he Germain Joseph. He stunned the would not seek office if he came back. country Sunday with his sudden and Instead he said in the letter, whose mysterious return nearly 25 years after authenticity was confirmed by Lavalas he was forced into exile by a popular spokeswoman Maryse Narcisse, his uprising against a regime widely return is necessary to help his viewed as brutal and corrupt. countrymen and for his medical needs The spokesman said he did not following six eye surgeries in his six know how long it would take to get a years of exile. new passport but that the former "The unbearable pain experienced dictator known as "Baby Doc" was in in the winter must be avoided in order no rush to leave Haiti. to reduce any risk of further "He is home here. He is a Haitian," complications and blindness," he said. Joseph said. "Nobody can ask Mr. South African winter begins in June.

Duvalier or any Haitian to leave his "Let us hope that the Haitian and country at any time."

South African governments will enter Duvalier may at least change his into communication in order to make lodgings, according to his defense that happen in the next coming days," attorney Reynold Georges. He said the he said. former leader would be leaving the Narcisse said supporters were luxurious Hotel Karibe. He said he eagerly awaiting his arrival, pending the couldn't speculate how long the exdelivery of a new Haitian passport. dictator would stay in the country, but it Brian Concannon, a lawyer who would take at least two weeks to has represented Aristide, says the ousted resolve the legal cases filed against leader has applied but has never heard him.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide

thugs enforced the dynasty's absolute power and lived off extortion.

He fell in 1986, followed by years of repressive rule by military officers who continued his style of rule.

Aristide rose to prominence as a critic of those regimes' abuses and was elected in a 1990 landslide, then quickly ousted in a military coup. He was returned to power through U.S. military force in 1994 but especially after being re-elected in 2000 was also accused of corruption and abuses.

His former protegee, Rene Preval, was elected two years after his ouster, in 2006, largely thanks to the votes of Aristide's supporters. But they now consider him a traitor for having failed to return their leader from exile.

Page 36

Chinese president faces tough audience in Washington TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Washington -- Chinese President Hu Jintao wrapped up his visit to the U.S. capital Thursday, telling an audience of American business leaders that Beijing is seeking closer ties and greater trust with the United States on a range of areas.

He sought to assuage concerns about China's rising economic and military power, declaring that his country "will never seek hegemony or pursue an expansionist policy."

The Chinese leader was unapologetic, however, about Beijing's position on politically sensitive questions relating to the status of Tibet and Taiwan, calling them a matter of Chinese territorial integrity and a "core interest."

We are building "a socialist country under the rule of law," he asserted. He said relations between Washington and Beijing need to be governed by a belief in "equality" and "mutual respect."

Hu made his remarks at a luncheon hosted by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the U.S.-China Business Council, and several other groups.

Earlier in the day, Hu traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional leaders, who used the occasion to raise strong concerns about Beijing's commitment to human rights and economic issues such as the protection of intellectual property.

Hu met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, among others. Neither man attended Wednesday night's White House state dinner in honor of the Chinese leader.

Earlier in the week, Reid called Hu a "dictator" -- words that were later recanted by his spokesman. Reid refused to answer CNN's Dana Bash when she asked him what he expected "to

Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama

accomplish with a man you called a dictator."

Boehner noted that concerns relating to tensions on the Korean peninsula also were raised during Thursday's talks.

We had "a good meeting," Boehner said. "I would hope that the dialogue on all of these subjects would continue."

Disagreements over human rights -including China's treatment of imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo -- were "raised very strongly," according to Rep. Howard Berman of California, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"I would not indicate there was great engagement ... other than a general recognition by the president of China that they have a ways to go," Berman told reporters.

On Wednesday, Hu met with President Barack Obama behind closed doors at the White House for several

hours as top officials from both countries worked to address a range of issues tied to the global economic crisis, international security, the environment and human rights.

Obama administration officials used the president's meeting with Hu to highlight economic progress between the two countries, announcing Beijing's approval of $45 billion in new contracts for U.S. companies to export goods to China. The contracts will support an estimated 235,000 American jobs, according to the White House.

The two leaders acknowledged continuing differences on human rights, but they pledged to keep working on such issues in a "frank and candid way," according to Obama.

Human rights is always a touchy subject in China, as censors in China have made clear during Hu's visit. The censors blacked out CNN's news broadcast each time human rights was

Iran bans production of Valentine's Day gifts

TEHRAN - Iran has banned the production of Valentine's Day gifts and any promotion of the day celebrating romantic love to combat what it sees as a spread of Western culture, Iranian media reported.

The February 14 celebration named after a Christian saint is not officially banned but hardliners have repeatedly warned about the corruptive spread of Western values. Under Iran's Islamic law, unmarried couples are not allowed to mingle.

The printing works owners' union issued an instruction on the ban, imposed by Iranian authorities, covering gifts such as cards, boxes with the symbols of hearts and red roses.

"Honoring foreign celebrations is the spread of Western culture," said the union's head, Ali Nikou Sokhan, ILNA news agency reported. "Our country

has an ancient civilization and various days to honor kindness, love and affection."

Valentine's Day has become increasingly popular among the Iranian youth and is a money-maker for businesses in a country where 70 percent of people are under 30 and have no memory of the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the U.S.-backed Shah.

"Printing and producing any products related to Valentine's Day, including posters, brochures, advertising cards, boxes with the symbols of hearts, half-hearts, red roses and any activities promoting this day are banned," read the instruction. "Authorities will take legal action against those who ignore the ban."

Some nationalists have suggested replacing Valentine's Day with "Mehregan," an Iranian festival celebrated since the pre-Islamic era. Mehr means friendship, affection or love.

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH, 2011

mentioned. Even when Hu spoke about human rights, it was blacked out.

Censors also blacked the network out in China whenever a CNN report mentioned or showed video of Liu. Footage of anti-China protesters near the White House was similarly blacked out.

Hu, who started his three-day trip to the United States on Tuesday afternoon, was treated to a military honor guard and review at the White House -- part of the traditional pomp and circumstance reserved for visiting leaders of major powers.

Obama hailed Hu's visit as a chance to lay a foundation for the next 30 years of Sino-American relations.

"At a time when some doubt the benefits of cooperation between the United States and China, this visit is ... a chance to demonstrate a simple truth," Obama said. "We have an enormous stake in each other's success. In an interconnected world, in a global economy, nations -- including our own - will be more prosperous and more secure when we work together."

Hu declared the relationship between the two powers to be one of "strategic significance and global influence."

Under "new circumstances, and in the face of new challenges, China and the United States share broad common interests and important common responsibilities," he said.

"Our cooperation as partners should be based on mutual respect," he added.

"China and the United States should respect each other's choice of development path and each other's core interests."

The formal state dinner for Hu on Wednesday evening was the third such occasion of Obama's administration.

Among the 225 dignitaries who attended were former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton; former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright, George Schultz and Henry Kissinger; Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; actor Jackie Chan; Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire; and designer Vera Wang.

Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang were to provide entertainment after the dinner.

The last White House state dinner for China was in October 1997, when Clinton welcomed President Jiang Zemin and his wife, Wang Yeping.

While Hu was at the White House, he joined Obama in a meeting with key business leaders. The list of corporate executives taking part in the discussion included Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, HSBC's John Thornton, Intel's Paul Otellini, Motorola's Greg Brown, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, GE's Jeff Immelt and Boeing's Jim McNerney.

Hu later met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden at the State Department.

Page 37

FBI and police arrest more than 100 in mob sweep

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

In a blanket assault against seven mob families in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island, the F.B.I. and local authorities began arresting more than 100 people on Thursday on charges including murder, racketeering and extortion, people briefed on the arrests said.

The sweep began before dawn and the targets ranged from small-time book makers and crime-family functionaries to a number of senior mob figures and several corrupt union officials, according to several people briefed on the arrests. Among those arrested or sought, some of the people said, were more than two dozen made members of New York’s five crime families and the families in New Jersey and New England, along with dozens of their associates.

Several of of the men arrested, the people who had been briefed said, were charged with murders — some dating back to the 1980s and 1990s. Others were charged with selections from a full menu of mob crimes: racketeering, extortion, loan-sharking and gambling, as well as labor-racketeering crimes in two sectors that officials say remain under the mob’s sway: the construction industry and the waterfront.

The arrests were based on more than a dozen unrelated indictments handed up in federal courts in four jurisdictions, several of the people said.

Taken together, the arrests appeared to be the largest such sweep of organized crime figures ever conducted by federal authorities.

WORLD NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Federal agents arrested more than 100 suspected mobsters in New York City, New Jersey and New England in pre-dawn raids on Thursday

The charges were expected to be announced by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. at a news conference Thursday morning in Brooklyn, where the charges against many of defendants were lodged, the people briefed on the arrests said.

Those who talked about the case did so on the condition of anonymity because the official announcement had not yet been made and because some court papers remained sealed. Most of the arrests were completed by 8 a.m. — a mammoth undertaking involving the F.B.I. and other law enforcement agencies, along with the United States attorneys’ offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Newark and Providence, R.I. The cases were also investigated by the New York Police Department, the New Jersey State Police, the federal

Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States. Labor Department’s Office of Labor Racketeering, the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor and several other agencies.

The decision to announce the arrests in Brooklyn and Mr. Holder’s planned presence at the news conference would seem to underscore the importance of the case to the Justice Department.

The arrests came at a time when several federal, state and local law enforcement officials have expressed some concern about a resurgence of organized crime’s influence in some quarters after two decades of decline.

An impressive string of victories over the mob began in 1991 with the defection of the Luchese family’s acting boss, Alphonse D’Arco, who proved to be a devastating witness. Later that year,

Salvatore Gravano, the Gambino family underboss, defected, and his testimony secured the conviction of John J. Gotti.

With the cooperation of those two men, a trickle of significant defections grew into a torrent, weakening the culture of omertà, the Mafia’s code of silence, and thus the foundation of organized crime itself.

The subsequent loosening of the mob’s grip on several industries and unions led to proclamations about the mob’s decline and some refocusing of law enforcement resources. Those resources directed at organized crime were further reduced after the 9/11 attacks.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn and the F.B.I. nonetheless waged a campaign over the last decade that decimated the Bonanno crime family . But the relative health of crime families tends to run in cycles, with some ascendant and some on the decline.

The more-powerful Genovese family, for example, which has found its strength in labor racketeering and construction and some moresophisticated schemes, remains powerful, as do the Gambino and Luchese families, law enforcement officials have said. .

And in recent years, after the period of some declining focus, officials and union monitors say the mob remains stubbornly entrenched in a number of major construction unions — including locals representing carpenters, concrete workers and operating engineers — as well as on the waterfront.

Burglars snort 2010 tied for warmest year on record man's ashes, thought it was cocaine GENEVA -- The warmest year on record is a three-way tie: 2010, 2005 and 1998.

So says the U.N. weather agency, providing further evidence Thursday that the planet is slowly but surely heating up.

Average temperatures globally last year were 0.95 degrees Fahrenheit (0.53 Celsius) higher than the 1961-90 mean that is used for comparison purposes, according to World Meteorological Organization.

That's a bit lower than what the U.S. National Climatic Data Center announced earlier this month, but the World Meterological Organization also uses figures based on data collected by Britain's Meteorological Office and NASA. "The 2010 data confirm the Earth's significant long-term warming trend," said Michel Jarraud, WMO's top official. He added that the ten warmest years after records began in 1854 have all occurred since 1998.

The average worldwide temperature for the 20th century was 57.0 degrees Fahrenheit.

But rising global temperatures over the last century are causing climate experts to worry.

Most atmospheric scientists attribute the change to carbon dioxide and gases released into the air by gasoline-burning engines and other industrial processes. The gases tend to trap heat in the atmosphere like a greenhouse.

The Geneva-based global weather agency noted that last year's extreme weather - notably

the heat wave in Russia and monsoon flooding in Pakistan - has continued into the new year. It also cited the heavy floods in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Brazil and Australia as examples.

The year 2010 also was the wettest on record, according to the Global Historical Climatology Network. But since rain and snowfall patterns varied greatly around the world, scientists say more research is needed to establish a link between the warmer temperatures with the unusual moisture.

Land stations, ships, buoys at sea and satellites are all use to collect temperature readings. A "La Nina" condition took effect in the tropical Pacific Ocean in the last half of 2010, marked by below-normal temperatures.

Other findings in the WMO's climate report included: - Arctic sea ice cover in December was the smallest since records began in 1979, with an average monthly extent of 12 million square kilometers (4.6 million square miles). The ice cover is considered a marker of climate change as global warming tends to be seen first at the poles.

- Recent warming has been especially strong in Africa, parts of Asia, and parts of the Arctic in Greenland and Canada, the agency said.

Significantly cooler weather was registered mainly toward the end of the year, especially in northern Europe, parts of Russia and in the eastern United States.

MIAMI- Burglars snorted the cremated remains of a man and two dogs in the mistaken belief that they had stolen illegal drugs, Florida sheriff's deputies said on Wednesday.

The ashes were taken from a woman's home in the central Florida town of Silver Springs Shores on December 15. The thieves took an urn containing the ashes of her father and another container with the ashes of her two Great Danes, along with electronic equipment and jewelry, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said.

Investigators learned what happened to the ashes after they arrested five teens in connection with another burglary attempt at a nearby home last week.

"The suspects mistook the ashes for either cocaine or heroin. It was soon discovered that the suspects snorted some of the ashes believing they were snorting cocaine," the sheriff's report said.

Once they realized their error, the suspects discussed returning the remaining ashes but threw them in a lake instead because they thought their fingerprints were on the containers, sheriff's spokesman Judge Cochran said.

Police divers were trying to recover the ashes.

The suspects were jailed on numerous burglary and other charges.

Page 38

Giffords able to stand up as she readies for rehab

WORLD NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

TUCSON, Arizona- Less than two weeks after surviving a bullet through the brain, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords stood up and looked out the window of her hospital room Wednesday as she prepares to move to Houston to begin an arduous journey of intensive mental and physical rehabilitation.

Hospital spokeswoman Janet Stark said Giffords was able to stand on her feet with assistance from medical staff Wednesday in another significant milestone in her recovery.

The next step is extensive rehabilitation in which she will have to relearn how to think and plan. It's unclear if she is able to speak or how well she can see.

And while she is moving both arms and legs, it's uncertain how much strength she has on her right side.

Her swift transition from an intensive care unit to a rehab center is based on the latest research, which shows the sooner rehab starts, the better patients recover.

Giffords' family hopes to move the Arizona congresswoman on Friday to TIRR Memorial Hermann hospital in Houston, where her husband lives and works as an astronaut. The exact day of the move will depend on her health.

"I am extremely hopeful at the signs of recovery that my wife has made since the shooting," Mark Kelly said in a statement released by Giffords' congressional office. The staff at University Medical Center in Tucson "has stabilized her to the point of being ready to move to the rehabilitation phase."

Dr. John Holcomb, retired Army colonel and a trauma surgeon at the Houston hospital, praised the care she received in Tucson and said Giffords would "move quickly toward a tailored and comprehensive rehab plan."

Giffords was shot in the forehead Jan. 8 while meeting with constituents outside a grocery store in Tucson. She remains in serious condition. Her recovery has amazed her family and impressed her doctors, who say she is improving every day.

Over the weekend, Giffords was weaned off the ventilator and had her breathing tube replaced with a tracheotomy tube in her windpipe. Doctors also

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

inserted a feeding tube to boost her calorie intake and repaired her right eye socket, which was damaged by the bullet.

Since being taken off sedation, Giffords has been alert and opening her eyes more often. She also started rigorous physical therapy, dangling her legs over her bedside to exercise her muscles and sitting in a chair for periods at a time. Kelly told ABC in an interview that she gave him a neck rub.

Still, the extent of her injuries and long-term prognosis won't be known for some time.

The gunman shot 18 other people, killing six and wounding 12. All survivors have been released from hospitals, and doctors say the hospital is now no longer the best place for Giffords.

"When she's medically stable, there's really no reason to keep her there," where she could get infections and other complications long known to plague patients with long hospital stays, said Dr. Steve Williams, rehab chief at Boston Medical Center and the Boston University School of Medicine.

"Over the last five to 10 years, there has been a big push to getting patients rapidly to rehab," because

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH, 2011

research shows they recover faster and better the earlier therapy starts, he said.

Giffords will likely be moved to Houston by Medevac jet, Williams said, and there is little risk of a brain injury from flying. Since part of her skull has been removed, there is less pressure on the brain, and there has been no problem with swelling during her recovery. During rehab, she will probably wear a helmet.

Once she arrives in Houston, doctors will do a complete assessment of what Giffords can and cannot do, said Dr. Reid Thompson, neurosurgery chief at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

"The rehab is going to be pretty intense for her, both cognitively and physically," because she'll need to recover frontal lobe functions, Thompson said.

"She's going to have to relearn how to think, plan, organize."

A penetrating brain injury like a bullet wound leaves a specific path of damage. Giffords' wound path appears to be below the motor cortex, which controls movement, but may include an area controlling speech, Williams said.

He is not involved in Giffords' care and based his comments on diagrams and reports of her injury that have been made public so far.

"One of the questions is whether she'll be able to speak," Williams said. Giffords has a breathing tube now, and even if this impedes her speech, she might be able to mouth words.

"That would be a good indication that she at least is able to express herself," Williams said.

"The cognitive ability and the speech are the key things," he said. "We know that she's moving her limbs. The question is, how strong is she."

Giffords' family considered rehab centers in Washington, New York, Chicago and Houston, doctors said. The Houston one "has a national reputation for treating serious penetrating brain injuries and is also in a community where I have family and a strong support network," Kelly's statement said.

He is scheduled to command NASA's last space shuttle flight in April, but that's uncertain now.

More than 20 years later missing NY baby is found

NEW YORK- More than two decades ago, a newborn sick with fever was snatched from a New York City hospital, her frantic mother returning to the emergency room to find an empty crib. On Wednesday, police said the baby — now a woman — has been found.

Carlina White was just 19 days old when she disappeared from Harlem Hospital on Aug. 4, 1987.

Police searched for her kidnappers but never found enough evidence to charge any suspects. Her mother, Joy White, always had a feeling that her baby was alive, her family said.

On Jan. 4, a woman known as Nejdra Nance, who was raised in Bridgeport, Conn., and now lives in Atlanta, contacted White, sending along baby photos that looked nearly identical to shots of Carlina posted on a missing children's website.

Nance told White she thought she may be her daughter.

"She said she just had a feeling, she felt different from the people raising her," said Nance's maternal grandmother, Elizabeth White, 71.

A missing person no more ... searching online, Carlina White found the photo of the baby girl taken from Harlem in 1987.

"She searched, and then she found Joy." Joy White contacted the New York Police Department to see if it could help investigate whether the woman was really Carlina White.

"It sounded legitimate and credible, so I had missing persons reach out to her," said Detective

Martin Brown, who fielded the call.

DNA tests performed on Joy White, her ex-husband, Carl Tyson, and 23year-old Nance matched, police said.

Nejdra Nance was Carlina White.

As part of their investigation, police are talking to retired detectives who handled the case years ago. Because she was so young

when she was kidnapped, it's impossible for Nance to know if she has lived with the same family the entire time.

Nance was on her way back to New York from Atlanta on Wednesday, said Elizabeth White, and Joy White was en route to the airport to meet her. But they already reunited once recently, when Nance came to New York with her 5-yearold daughter, Samani.

"It was wonderful, she didn't even seem like a stranger, she just fit right in," Elizabeth White said. "We all went up there, we had dinner together, her aunts were there. She brought her beautiful daughter. It was magic."

Elizabeth White said she didn't ask Nance too many questions about how she grew up or how she knew she was not a member of the family with whom she lived. She didn't want to push Nance too much.

"That will all come," Elizabeth White said of the history. "What's important now is our baby girl is home. She's home."

South Korea accepts North Korean proposal for defense talks

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea said Thursday it accepted a North Korean proposal to hold high-level defense talks a day after the leaders of the U.S. and China called for better communication between the two Koreas.

The talks could prove significant if Seoul and Pyongyang can put aside military and political tensions that soared to their worst level in years in 2010 and lay the groundwork for a resumption of long-stalled international negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear programs. Lower-level defense talks last year foundered over the issue of the sinking of a South Korean naval ship in disputed waters.

The agenda this time should include North Korean assurances that it will take "responsible measures" over the ship

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sinking and another deadly incident last year and not provoke further tensions, said Lee Jong-joo, a spokeswoman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is in charge of inter-Korean affairs.

North Korea launched artillery at a South Korean island in November in an attack that killed four people. It denies, however, attacking the navy ship that sank in March, killing 46 sailors.

Inter-Korean relations have been complicated by a power transition under way in the North, where leader Kim Jong Il is believed to be grooming his youngest son Kim Jong Un to succeed him. Some analysts say the ship sinking and the artillery attack were carried out to display the younger Kim's mettle to North Korea's military and bolster his legitimacy as the next leader.

Irish Prime Minister Sets General Election For March 11

DUBLIN --Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen Thursday named March 11 as the date for the country's general election and, in the intervening weeks, will re-assign recently vacated ministerial posts to existing ministers.

Opposition parties and Cowen's junior coalition partner, the Green Party, expressed their surprise and unhappiness after a wave of resignations late Wednesday by government ministers who are not standing in the election.

Cowen told a rowdy and packed parliament that the government has tried to stabilize the economy. "I understand that people are suffering and experiencing immense hardship because of this recession," he said. "I deeply regret that."

Irish President Mary McAleese Thursday accepted the resignations of Health Minister Mary Harney, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey and Defense Minister Tony Killeen, and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O'Keefe.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin had already tendered his resignation earlier this week, which was accepted by the president, after an unsuccessful challenge to Cowen's leadership of the ruling Fianna Fail party.

Enda Kenny, leader of the opposition Fine Gael party, said: "These are the last days of the worst days in the history of the state. What is happening with a government that is imploded, that has disintegrated and has let our country down?"

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WORLD NEWS

The Unification Ministry's Lee said North Korea had proposed talks earlier Thursday to ease tensions and "express opinions" about the two incidents. South Korea's Defense Ministry said the North suggested talks at the level of minister.

The ministry said it would suggest preliminary meetings to discuss the timing and other details of the talks.

South Korea will also propose separate talks with North Korea to verify its commitment toward denuclearization, Lee said.

North Korea's state news agency was silent on the proposed defense talks.

South Korea had rejected earlier North Korean calls for unconditional dialogue as insincere. South Korea has also called for an apology from the North.

"North Korea may make gestures in

the talks that can be accepted by South Korea," said Jeon Kyong-mann, an analyst at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul.

The two countries' defense chiefs last met in Pyongyang in November 2007, a month after the second summit between the leaders of their countries.

Seoul, Washington and Japan have pressed the North to prove it is serious about giving up its atomic ambitions before they will allow a new round of aid-for-disarmament talks.

North Korea has expressed a desire to restart the nuclear talks it quit in early 2009. The talks involve the two Koreas, Japan, the United States, China and Russia.

North Korea conducted two nuclear tests in recent years and is believed to have produced enough weaponized plutonium for at least half a dozen bombs.

The North also unveiled in November a uranium enrichment facility that could give it a second way to make atomic bombs.

Police fire shots to disperse new Tunis protest

A soldier pushes back a protester as shots are fired in the air in front of the headquarters of the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party of ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali

Tunisian police fired shots into the air on Thursday to try to disperse hundreds of protesters demanding that ministers associated with the rule of ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali leave the government.

The protesters, who gathered outside the Tunis headquarters of the RCD, Tunisia's ruling party for several decades, refused to move back when police fired shots from behind a metal fence.

For the first time since the fall of Ben Ali last week, there were also protests in other towns across Tunisia.

The protesters on Mohamed V Avenue near the center of Tunis, chanted: "After Ben Ali and his wife, we want to bring down his thieves!" They also burned the logo of the party and carried banners saying: "Government out!"

One of the protesters, who gave his name as Aymen, said: "We are here, we are not going to move until the RCD falls. We will come every hour and every day."

At the RCD headquarters, workmen were removing the large plaque from the outside of the building bearing the party's name, a Reuters reporter said.

A mustachioed military officer whose unit was guarding the building told the crowd: "Translate this as you wish: the RCD is going away."

The protesters responded with rapturous applause and began embracing members of the security forces. It was not clear if the officer had meant the RCD was simply leaving the headquarters building or that it was relinquishing power.

Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on Friday after weeks of violent unrest spurred by anger over poverty, unemployment and repression. The popular revolt was seen as sending shockwaves through autocratic governments across the Arab world.

The central committee of Ben Ali's RCD power base has been dissolved, state television reported. It said the decision was taken as many committee members, who were also government ministers, had quit the party under opposition pressure. The party itself will continue to operate, the report said.

The ministers in the interim government resigned from the RCD party in a bid to restore credibility after four opposition ministers quit the cabinet, saying ministers belonging to the RCD party must go.

In a new blow to the government, a junior minister stepped down on Thursday, the official news agency said.

"I am stepping down for the higher interests of the country in this delicate situation to try to bring the country out of crisis and ensure a democratic transition," Zouheir M'Dhaffar, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office, was quoted as saying by the official TAP news agency.

The prime minister and caretaker president left the RCD party this week, but protesters in Tunis and other cities kept up pressure on Thursday for a government free of ties with Ben Ali and the old guard.

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Obama approval rises as economy improves

President Barack Obama is getting a bump in his approval ratings from an improving economy but Americans want him to focus on reducing debt and spending, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.

The poll found reasons for optimism for Obama as he searches for areas of compromise with newly emboldened Republicans this year and lays the groundwork for his 2012 reelection bid.

Obama's job approval rating went up to 50 percent from 45 percent in December, the first time Obama has achieved 50 percent approval in this poll since last June.

Still, many Americans still do not approve of his job performance -- 47 percent disapproved of him in this poll, compared to 46 percent in December.

With the economy showing signs of picking up its pace of growth, more Americans are likely to say the country is on the right track -- 36 percent in

President Barack Obama

January, up from 29 percent in December. But 59 percent of Americans still said the country is on the wrong track.

"As the economy gets better, so does the administration," said Ipsos

China confirms $19 billion agreement with Boeing

Global aircraft manufacturers, Boeing received final approval on Wednesday from the Chinese Government confirming a $19 billion aircraft agreement. The contract involves a delivery of 200 aircraft comprising of 737s and 777s over a period of three years (2011-2013). The agreement with the Chinese government was part of a trade deal which took place amid an official visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to the US. During the state meet, Jintao announced that the Chinese government would invest a total of $45 billion in US products and services.

"We value China's support for our products and its confidence in Boeing. With the outstanding support provided by the United States Government, this deal is a winwin for the Boeing-China partnership, which is approaching its 40th anniversary," said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes in a statement.

Currently, Boeing jets are a mainstay in China's air travel and cargo system, representing over 50 percent of all commercial jetliners operating in the country.

The new deal with China is stipulated to have a positive impact on US economy affecting over 100,000 jobs including those at Boeing and with its thousands of suppliers throughout the country.

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JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH, 2011

pollster Cliff Young. "Looking to 2011, he's going to have more credibility among voters. It suggests that pushing his agenda, while difficult, is not going to be impossible."

Obama had a good month in December as Congress approved key bills he supported, like an extension of Bush-era tax cuts, the START nuclear treaty with Russia and an end to a ban on gays serving openly in the military.

The survey was conducted January 7-10 and did not cover the unfolding events in Tucson, Arizona, where U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head and six people were killed in a gunman's rampage on Saturday.

Independent voters who abandoned Democrats in November 2 elections and who Obama will need to win a second term in 2012 are willing to take a second look. In this poll, independents backed him 50 percent to 45 percent.

Most of the gains came from his fellow Democrats, 77 percent of whom approved of him, evidence that he is bolstering his position within his core constituency.

There was plenty in the poll to buoy the hopes of Republicans in their drive to cut the $1.3 trillion U.S. budget deficit and overall debt of $14 trillion.

The United States may reach its legal limit on borrowing by March 31, potentially creating a crisis scenario unless Congress acts to raise the debt limit.

But the poll found 71 percent of Americans oppose raising the debt ceiling. Many Americans are willing to cut spending in areas including the defense budget and foreign aid.

"People are saying, 'Listen, enough is enough,'" Young said. But as in all budgetary debates, the devil is in the details. Americans said hands-off some of their sacred cow programs.

Google co-founder Larry Page to replace Eric Schmidt as CEO

SAN FRANCISCO – Eric each other during a Thursday Schmidt, a technology veteran conference call with analysts, with brought in as Google Inc.'s "adult Schmidt describing Google's cosupervision" a decade ago, is founders as his "best friends." relinquishing the CEO job to "I believe Larry is ready" to be Larry Page, one of the prodigies CEO, Schmidt said during the call. who co-founded the company "It's time for him to have a shot at behind the Internet's dominant running this." gateway.

Schmidt also may have been The surprise shake-up growing weary of all the scrutiny announced Thursday January that comes with running one of 20th, appears to be driven by world's most scrutinized companies.

Schmidt's desire to assume more In his new role, Schmidt of a behind-the-scenes role as indicated he will focus on meeting much as Page's personal ambition. with Google's business partners and "Day-to-day adult supervision government regulators who have no longer needed!" Schmidt wrote been taking a harder look at whether on his Twitter account moments Google has been abusing its Larry Page after Google dropped the dominance in Internet search to bombshell that upstaged its thwart competition. fourth-quarter earnings. Schmidt, 55, will still be Brin intend to concentrate on a few high-priority available to advise Page, 37, and Google's other 37- products. Although Brin wouldn't discuss what he is year-old founder, Sergey Brin, as the company's working on, one of his pet projects is believed to be executive chairman. the development of social media tools to counter a Under the new pecking order effective April 4, looming threat posed by Facebook's increasing Page will reclaim the CEO job that he held for three popularity. Facebook is selling more Internet ads and years before Google's investors insisted that a more collecting an immense amount of information about its mature leader be brought aboard. nearly 600 million users within the confines of a social That led to the 2001 hiring of Schmidt, a network that Google hasn't been able to crack. professorial engineer who had previously held top Facebook still has a long way to go to catch executive jobs at Sun Microsystems Inc. and Novell Google, as demonstrated by the way Google cranked Inc. After initially resisting Google's overtures, up its Internet marketing machine during the holiday Schmidt bonded with Page and Brin to form a brain shopping season. trust that proceeded to build the Internet's most Google earned $2.5 billion, or $7.81 per share, powerful company. during the final three months of 2010. That's a 29 Google now boasts a market value of more than percent increase from net income of $2 billion, or $200 billion, a success story that has minted Page, Brin $6.13 per share, in the prior year. and Schmidt among the world's wealthiest individuals.

Google shares rose $12.23, or nearly 2 percent, to All three are billionaires. $639 in extended trading after Thursday's The management reshuffling appears to be announcements. In the regular session earlier, the stock amicable. Both Page and Schmidt had high praise for fell $4.98, or 0.8 percent, to close at $626.77.

Page 41

Morgan Stanley profit jumps; Smith Barney pays off

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

Morgan Stanley's fourth-quarter shareholder profit surged 60 percent as rising fees from retail brokerage helped offset the weak fixed-income trading results that have marred earnings across Wall Street.

The second-largest U.S. investment bank said fourth-quarter shareholder profit was $600 million, or 41 cents a share, compared with $376 million, or 29 cents a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings were 26 cents a share, below analysts' average forecast of 35 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue was $7.81 billion, topping the average forecast of $7.35 billion.

Adjusted profit fell well short of analysts' average forecast, but revenue

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

exceeded expectations, and the bank's shares rose 2.3 percent to $28.38 in early trading.

The results, while mixed, indicate Morgan Stanley's strategy of diversifying its businesses to reduce reliance on traditional investment banking operations may be paying off.

Revenue from asset management jumped 68 percent, and from retail brokerage rose 7 percent. The company has focused on improving revenue in these two areas even as rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc has focused more on traditional investment banking. "(Morgan Stanley is) starting to look a little clever with these more stable revenue businesses," said Adrian Cronje, chief investment officer at Atlanta-based Balentine, a wealth

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

management firm.

Still, excluding gains from the sale of its investment in China International Capital Corp, Morgan Stanley's earnings missed analysts' expectations.

"The Morgan Stanley results are a mixed bag. There's some good news, but trading revenue is down. That's been a problem across Wall Street," said David Carter, chief investment officer at Lenox Advisors in New York.

Morgan Stanley suffered from the same trading malaise that hit JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Citigroup Inc. Morgan Stanley's trading revenue fell 38 percent, and it lost money in fixedincome trading.

"This market was a tough market," Ruth Porat, chief financial officer, told

Reuters in an interview.

The bank is still trying to boost its fixed-income trading business, which is small compared to many of its rivals.

The bank earlier this month said Jack DiMaio, global head of interest-rate, currency and commodity trading, was leaving, and that chief risk officer Kenneth deRegt was becoming global head of fixed income sales and trading.

Morgan Stanley hopes trading volumes will improve as the global economy improves, and hopes it can boost market share, Porat said.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, the bank's retail brokerage joint venture with Citigroup, generated income for Morgan Stanley of $166 million, up from $29 million a year earlier.

Morgan Stanley holds a 51 percent stake in the joint venture.

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Page 42

Sarwan recalled to West Indies team

Now cleared of fitness concerns, Ramnaresh Sarwan has been recalled while underachievers Devon Smith and Ravi Rampaul are surprise inclusions in the West Indies’ World Cup cricket squad.

But there is no room for the Barbadian pair of Tino Best and Ryan Hinds in the 15-member squad announced yesterday for the prestigious 50 over-an-innings global tournament to be jointly held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from February 19 to April 2.

Neither has Trinidadian Lendl Simmons nor Jamaicans Marlon Samuels and Jerome Taylor, who had not been named in the provisional 30man list, but are now playing and performing in the Caribbean Twenty20, been selected.

In explaining the reason why former captain Sarwan, who was excluded from recent West Indies teams and not given a retainer contract because of fitness and attitudinal issues, has been selected, chairman of selectors Clyde Butts told reporters at Kensington Oval yesterday during a Press conference, that he had personally seen him train in Guyana and recognised improvements in his overall fitness and body structure.

Butts also noted there had been a report from the Guyana team’s trainer about the training Sarwan had been doing over the past five to six months, while he has played in the regional Twenty20 and 50-over competitions as well as the Champions League T20.

“As we have said before, he was coming back into cricket and he didn’t

Ramnaresh Sarwan

play as much cricket as we would’ve liked.

He was getting injured more times than not so we have looked at him since then,” Butts said.

“We think, right now, he has played injury-free as well and he looks fit. We are satisfied that he is fit and that he can play cricket for us over a period of time without being injured,” Butts added, but acknowledged that injuries did happen.

He, however revealed that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) was unable to conduct its own fitness test on Sarwan, who has hit four centuries while amassing 5 098 runs in 156 ODIs at an average of 43.94.

The team, which will be led by St

Sunderland looking to sign Reggae Boy- Ricardo Fuller

Searching for a replacement for striker Darren Bent, Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has opened talks with Stoke City to sign Reggae Boy Ricardo Fuller for £3 million, reports the Daily Mail newspaper.

Sunderland are reportedly looking at Fuller as a short term option before investing more of the £24 million they received from the transfer of Darren Bent to fellow English Premier League Club Aston Villa.

The Mail speculated that Fuller would be "an ideal solution before the end of the season and would allow Bruce to pursue bigger targets in the summer."

Fuller has scored three goals in 23 appearances for Stoke this season.

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JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH, 2011

Lucian allrounder Darren Sammy, also includes rookie 22-year-old Jamaican fast bowler Andre Russell, the only player in the squad who is yet to play a One-Day International, while Carlton Baugh, whose last ODI was in 2008, gets the wicketkeeper’s position.

Also selected are sacked former skipper Chris Gayle, and Trinidadian allrounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, who all refused contracts offered by the West Indies Cricket Board for the 2011 season.

The trio is currently “Down Under” playing in the Australian Big Bash Twenty20 Tournament but participated in the last regional 50-over one-day tournament in Jamaica, qualifying for selection.

“The selection committee deliberated extensively over the selection of this most important World Cup squad and while choosing some players was straightforward we believe that we have come up with a good mix of players who will be able to do well in the Asian conditions," Butts further pointed out.

“We have some of the most experienced ODI cricketers on the international stage along with the effervescence and freshness of some quality young players who we are confident can not only contribute to the team but win matches,” he added.

Big-hitting Pollard, 23, only has one 50 in 30 ODI at an average of19.92 while the 29-year-old Smith, who according to Butts had been scoring runs with the “A” Team, averages 24.32 in 32 ODIs with three halfcenturies and has a strike rate of 69.63.

Rampaul, 26, has taken49 wickets in 50 ODIs at 34.14 with an economy rate of 5.04 runs an over. He took three wickets at an expensive 65.66 runs apiece in his last four ODIs against South Africa in the West Indies’ last One-Day series.

Two specialist left-arm spinner, Sulieman Benn and Nikita Miller, are in the team, and according to Butts, they will get support from the experienced Gayle, whose accurate offspin has served the Windies well in the past.

With Best, who was the most impressive fast bowler in the one-day tournament in Jamaica, named as one of the three reserves, along with Antiguan wicketkeeper Devon Thomas and Barbadian batsman Kirk Edwards, Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul will lead the pace attack.

They will be backed up by the seam bowling of Sammy, Dwayne Bravo and Russell.

Prior to the World Cup, the West Indies will return to Sri Lanka to play three ODIs, which had to be rescheduled after the one-day leg of the tour there late last year, was deferred due to torrential rain.

Butts said a vice-captain for the side would be named at a later date.

WORLD CUP SQUAD: Darren Sammy (captain), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Sulieman Benn, Nikita Miller, Carlton Baugh, Andre Russell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Adrian Barath.

Lara backs India for World Cup West Indies batting legend Brian Lara has backed India to win the ICC World Cup which starts next month, but says the one-day powerhouses will need to play a measured campaign if they are to lift their second title.

"With the World Cup being held in Asia, India are definitely the favourites," Lara told reporters here Tuesday.

"India have been on the top of their game, they will be a very tough team to beat. They have a well-balanced team that can compete with anyone in the world, but playing before home crowds will not be easy."

Brian Lara India have been installed in Group B of the competition and will play alongside West Indies, Bangladesh, England, Ireland, The Netherlands and South Africa.

"As hosts, India may find it difficult because they would want to start on top and stay on top. They have to ensure that they do not run out of steam. This requires both physical and mental strength."

India last won a World Cup when they beat West Indies in the 1983 final in England. One of India's biggest threats in the group will come from South Africa, but Lara says while they were a strong side, they always falter at the big showpiece.

"South Africa are a very good team. They can play consistently good cricket.

But they have a bit of World Cup bogey which is why I won't put my money on them," Lara said.

Page 43

Diack: 'Outrageous' to tear down Olympic stadium

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH, 2011

LONDON – IAAF President Lamine Diack on Thursday issued his strongest criticism yet a proposal to tear down London's Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Summer Games and replace it with a soccer venue with no running track, calling it "outrageous."

Premier League clubs Tottenham and West Ham are bidding to use the stadium site after the Olympics, but only West Ham would keep the track used for athletics. Tottenham wants to level the stadium and build a new soccer-specific venue.

The teams' proposals were put in doubt Thursday when the Olympic Park Legacy Company told The Associated Press it could still go ahead with its original plan to downsize the stadium to a 25,000-seat athletics venue if neither bid was deemed "viable."

Diack then reiterated his criticism of the plans and urged London

London's Olympic Stadium

organizers to stick to their original promise.

"To now demolish the Olympic stadium, throwing away the original 500-million-pound investment of public money seems to me an outrageous proposition, especially in the present world economic climate,"

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Diack said in a statement. "Instead, let us keep London's promise alive and leave an athletics legacy at the venue with a top football club as a valued partner."

Both Tottenham and West Ham must submit their final plans for the stadium to the Olympic Park Legacy Company on Friday. West Ham's plan involves rebuilding the stadium and reducing seating from 80,000 to 60,000, while keeping the running track.

If the OPLC board rejects the soccer team bids, it would have to reopen the search for a tenant. The 25,000-seat design is the only option that already has planning permission.

Diack said the pledge to maintain the $853 million stadium, which is still being constructed, as an athletics venue was part of the reason London was awarded the games.

"This promise was not a footnote of London's bid — it was a core policy of their presentation to convince the Olympic family of their exciting, viable legacy plans," he said.

"There is no doubt that this commitment played its part in the UK winning the right to host the 2012 games."

Tottenham's plans have angered both its own supporters, who are unhappy that the club would be moving from north to east London,

IAAF President Lamine Diack

and track stars, including Olympic champion Usain Bolt.

West Ham, meanwhile, is currently at the bottom of the Premier League and facing a costly relegation to the League Championship.

Former British Olympic Association chief executive Simon Clegg has said the stadium is unsuitable for both athletics and soccer. Tottenham has produced documents showing that having a running track around the field would hamper fans' ability to see action during soccer matches, while raising questions about West Ham's ability to fill a 60,000-seat stadium if the team is relegated.

Under the original 25,000-seat design, the stadium couldn't host a world athletics championships, but the flexible design would allow the capacity could be temporarily increased.

The initial plan was for the stadium to also house a secondary school for about 500 students, the National Skills Academy for sports and leisure industries, and the English Institute of Sport.

Those plans were criticized in 2009 by the London Development Agency, which warned that the 25,000-seat stadium could become a white elephant "without a credible anchor tenant."

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JANUARY 21ST - JANUARY 28TH , 2011

Agassi elected to Hall of Fame

JANUARY 21ST- JANUARY 28TH, 2011

NEWPORT, Rhode Island– Eighttime Grand Slam singles champion Andre Agassi, among only seven men to achieve a career Grand Slam, has been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, officials said Thursday.

Agassi's induction ceremony will be conducted July 9 at the Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, during the ATP Hall of Fame Championships grasscourt event. He will be the only enshrinee in the recent player category.

Former world number one Agassi, the husband of 2004 Tennis Hall of Fame inductee Steffi Graf, announced the honor at Agassi Prep, the public charter school he founded in Las Vegas in 2001 for at-risk youth.

"I'm truly honored to be recognized alongside the greatest players of tennis," Agassi said. "My tennis career afforded me the opportunity to make a difference in other people's lives and it was truly special to share this exciting moment with the students of Agassi Prep.

"Tennis has given me everything in my life. It has given me my wife. It has given me my life's work by allowing me the resources to build this school."

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INTERNATIONAL SPORTS

singles gold medal.

Agassi's 1999 French Open triumph gave him a career Grand Slam and made him the first such man to have won the titles on three different surfaces -- grass, clay and hardcourt.

Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Fred Perry are the other men to complete the career Grand Slam.

Agassi, who played for Davis Cupwinning US teams in 1990 and 1992, turned professional at age 16 in 1986, won his first ATP crown the following year and retired in 2006 after a thirdround loss at the US Open.

Agassi won Australian Open titles in 1995, 2000, 2002 and 2003, the US Open crown in 1994 and 1999, Wimbledon in 1992 and the French Open in 1999.

"During his 20-year career Andre Agassi recorded some of the most incredible achievements in tennis," Hall of Fame chairman Christopher Clouser said.

Eight-time Grand Slam singles champion Andre Agassi, seen here in 2005, among only seven men to "The energy and excitement that he achieve a career Grand Slam, has been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, officials personally brought to the game inspired said . generations of players. Andre is a true The 40-year-old American topped including four Australian Opens, two champion of the game and we are the rankings for 101 weeks and went US Opens, one Wimbledon and one delighted to honor him for his 870-274 with 60 titles in his career, French Open plus the 1996 Olympic contributions and achievements."

Lance Armstrong on wonder drug? Mmmmmm

By JOHN LEICESTER

PARIS – The notion that Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times because he was on some kind of secret wonder-drug somehow unavailable to others riders has long floated around the frothosphere where sports fans trade rumor, fiction and the occasional fact.

Now, Sports Illustrated gives a possible name for such a potion — HemAssist. The magazine reports "the FDA has information that Armstrong gained access" in the late 1990s to the experimental drug that was never commercialized. A doctor who oversaw the clinical studies spoke enthusiastically to SI about how HemAssist, theoretically at least, could help riders scale French mountain passes by delivering oxygen to tired muscles.

"Better than EPO" — long a performanceenhancer of choice in cycling — but without its potential nasty side-effects like making blood gooey, Robert Przybelski was quoted as saying.

Mmmmmm. Really?

If Armstrong doped, which he has always vociferously insisted was not the case, then it's difficult to believe that a drug like HemAssist would have been his magic bullet, or that he had a magic bullet at all. There are plenty of other products and methods out there, unlike drugs in HemAssist's family, that are known to truly give the boost that cheats seek.

Horrific but now depressingly mundane practices like transfusing blood. Cocktails of growth hormone, steroids, EPO, testosterone. The list of things riders took to try to beat Armstrong runs on and on. Either Armstrong was monk-like in resisting the temptations so many others succumbed to or he's lying. SI's claims add to the pile of allegations against Armstrong that has grown too large and too explosive to easily dismiss.

Instead, let Jeff Novitzky get to the bottom of it. The taxpayer dollars that Armstrong's lawyers grumble are being wasted on the federal investigator's hunt of Armstrong will have been money well spent if he unmasks the Tour's biggest champion as a cheat or, alternatively, determines that there's really nothing or not much there.

The current limbo of allegation vs. denial, of mounting anecdotal evidence but no smoking-gun proof that Armstrong doped, is good for nobody, with the exception of journalists to whom this offers a rich vein of stories.

Bad for Armstrong and the cancer survivors he

Lance Armstrong

fills with hope. Bad for cycling, which combats doping more convincingly now than during Armstrong's winning era. And bad for all of us who want to believe in champions and be inspired by the human body's capacity to achieve incredible things.

Now back to SI's HemAssist claim.

Just the idea that a sports star could use his wealth, clout and connections to access experimental drugs meant to be strictly controlled is alarming. It is way beyond the sports world's remit or powers to probe such organized fraud alone. More reason to think that snooping by gumshoes like Novitzky is entirely valid.

Still, the HemAssist allegation doesn't appear to make much scientific sense.

Scientists from Europe and Australia tried out another HemAssist-like drug a few years back on sports students in the southern French city of Montpellier, infusing them with Hemopure and having them pedal exercise bikes. They were surprised to discover that, contrary to their expectations, the drug did not seem to boost athletic performance or endurance. Those findings make them doubt that HemAssist would have done huge good for Armstrong if, indeed, he was cynical enough to have used it.

Armstrong spokesman Mark Fabiani says the cyclist never took HemAssist. He also says that because its developer, Baxter International,

abandoned trials of the drug in 1998, it was "impossible" that Armstrong could have gotten hold of it.

"It would have been a big story, 'Now we know why Armstrong was so strong — because he took HemAssist,'" says one of the researchers who took part in the study of Hemopure, Yorck Olaf Schumacher of Freiburg University in Germany.

"But, pffff, I think that would be oversimplifying things."

Of this type of drug, called hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers or HBOCs, Schumacher adds: "There's nothing up to now that shows or proves that it improves performance."

"I'm very skeptical," says another of the scientists, Michel Audran at the University of Montpellier. The drug they tested, Hemopure, was "better than HemAssist and it didn't improve performance, so it would surprise me that he (Armstrong) took this for nothing."

He adds that a side-effect of Hemopure was that it gave the students stomach gas.

"Either you burp or break wind. It's very uncomfortable. I tried it out on people and I can guarantee that they were all ill," he says.

Hardly ideal for an elite cyclist. But some of them still gave this stuff a whirl, risking their health.

Spanish rider Jesus Manzano keeled over at the 2003 Tour after, he says, he was injected with an HBOC used to treat anemic dogs. Audran believes Manzano's experience scared off other riders.

"Some of them used it, a few of them," he says.

"But after the Manzano story ... they abandoned it."

An anti-doping blood test for HBOCs has been in force since 2004 but, as far as the World AntiDoping Agency knows, no athlete has yet tested positive. Armstrong's seven consecutive Tour wins ran through to 2005.

Przybelski, who oversaw HemAssist's early development for Baxter, maintained in a subsequent phone interview with The Associated Press that the drug could have improved sports performance, although he added that no direct studies were done to prove that theory.

"I could not imagine a cyclist using HemAssist or any HBOC day after day ... I would imagine that such a product would be used selectively for a most difficult mountain stage," Przybelski wrote in a follow-up e-mail to the AP. "But of course," he added, "I don't believe these products were ever used."

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