Vol 7 Issue 1

e-mail: sun@suntci.com

tel: (649) 946-8542 fax: (649) 941-3281

www.suntci.com

volume 7 no. 01

$1.00

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

by vivian tyson sun senior editor

AFTER

LAYING OFF for a few months, the nagging and dangerous practice of trafficking illegal Haitian immigrants to the Turks and Caicos Islands has restarted, with more than 100 persons landing on the island of West Caicos on January 3, 2011.

Police and immigration officers found 116 migrants on West Caicos last Monday and another six on Tuesday.

Media officer for the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, Detective Sergeant Calvin Chase, said the authorities believed that the 122 Haitians captured represented the majority that arrived in the country on a rickety boatl.

According to Sergeant Chase, of the 122 illegal migrants, 86 were adult males, 11 were male children, 20 were adult females and five were female children.

The joint Special Police Immigration and Customs Enforcement (SPICE) unit dismissed reports that a second sloop had landed more migrants in the Chalk Sound area in Provo on Wednesday.

SPICE said it conducted a thorough search after receiving reports that people were seen running through the bushes in Chalk Sound. They subsequently apprehended four Haitian males who had made their way from West Caicos to continued on Page 2 Provo.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

four men on Gun chArGes storY on PAGe 13

scotiA bAnk offers scholArshiP storY on PAGe 11

Government GettinG touGh on businesses who owe storY on PAGe 15

music stAr tAYlor swift visits tci storY on PAGe 13

On Sunday December 26th, 2010 Denario and Sakera Cook sealed their love in the presence of God and friends and family, by joining in holy matrimony at the Wyndham Hotel in Orlando, Florida. See pages 24 and 25 for photos.

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LOCAL NEWS

Continued from Page 1

Illegal Haitians coming again

A medical team from the Ministry of Health accompanied police for the West Caicos operation and their timely screening found no-one with any of the symptoms associated with cholera, the water borne disease which has recently spread through Haiti. The medical team was assisted by the Red Cross and the Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies.

All of those detained were provided with humanitarian support including food, water, clothing if required and personal hygiene items.

The sixteen children among the group were provided with medical care and proper adult supervision.

With the full co-operation of the Haitian authorities, all the prospective migrants have now been returned to Haiti, on direct flights from Providenciales.

A government press release requested the public to remain vigilant for signs of attempts to enter the country illegally and to report any suspicious activity to the police.

The apprehension of the migrants was déjà vu all over again for members

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

of the police force, as it was on January 22 last year that the police apprehended 122 illegal Haitians off the coast of Providenciales. The refugees were spotted by local Marine Police in the early morning hours, and ushered ashore by local authorities, comprising the Marine Police, Immigration officials and regular police. Five children were among the group, with age ranging from eight to 15.

In 2009, an untold number of Haitians were killed after the feeble boat in which they were travelling capsized off the coast of West Caicos after it reportedly rammed into the Molasses Reef, during an encounter of bad weather. When first responders reached the survivors, a number of them were dehydrated to the point of unconsciousness.

Some made it to shore and died thereafter, while others were spotted

by US Coast guard choppers clinging on to sections of the reef. They were taken to Providenciales where they underwent medical attention.

There is fear among some residents that an untold number of Haitians that have managed to reach

IT WAS A CACTUS!

1

Providenciales and so far eluded authorities after docking on West Caicos on January 3, may be infected with the deadly cholera virus.

Meantime, residents of Chalk Sound in Providenciales told The SUN that a number of suspicious-looking individuals were seen in that community early Wednesday morning. The authorities, who arrived on the scene later to investigate, apprehended two of the individuals, who they later identified as undocumented Haitian nationals.

Based on the number persons seen in the area, some residents thought that a boat had docked in their area, but according to Government Press Officer, Kendol Morgan, the illegal immigrants were among the group of Haitians that came in on West Caicos.

One Chalk Sound resident who spoke to The SUN on the matter, noted: “Right now I am not comfortable with all these people running up and down in the community. We don’t know if they bring cholera with them. When I saw them and realized that they were illegal Haitians, I ran back inside the house, not because I am afraid of them personally, but I don’t want to be affected by cholera, if they are carrying it.”

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting.

Transmission is primarily through consuming contaminated drinking water or food. The severity of the diarrhea and vomiting can lead to rapid dehydration and electrolyte imbalance.

According to Haitian health officials, up to December 31, cholera claimed 3,333 lives in Haiti, since the outbreak first occurred in mid-October.

The number of confirmed cholera deaths on December 19 alone was just over 100, the new data showed, far higher than previous peaks around 80 in midNovember.

More recently, the death tolls have returned to previous averages of around 50 new reported deaths each day. The total number of infections soared towards 150,000 in Haiti and authorities in neighboring Dominican Republic said there have been 139 cases there, none of them fatal.

In 2007, close to a hundred Haitians sailing in severe predawn storm conditions met their death after their boat capsized while being towed ashore by the local authorities.

2

1. Dr. Carlton Mills (left) and Lynn Bengtsson (background) of Grace Bay Resorts, assist Drexwell Seymour (foreground), Country Manager for LIME in opening the box and releasing the balloons 2. Drexwell Seymour, Country Manger of LIME shares a laugh with Dr. Carlton Mills as he unveils the cactus

ONLY TWO PERSONS guessed correctly what was sealed up in the huge gift box

placed in the roundabout at the intersection in the vicinity of FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB).

The drawing was made on Christmas Eve, December 24. Sponsors of the

beautifully manicured roundabout, the Grace Bay Resorts, LIME and FCIB, set up the box at the location and placed the cactus in it, inviting members of the public to guess what it contained for prizes of accommodation at the Veranda, a $500 account at FCIB and a Blackberry handset from LIME. Two persons made the lucky guess.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Local EMPLOYMENT JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

OPPORTUNITIES After nine years of operation, Digicel Group Limited has 10.8 million customers across its 32 markets in the Caribbean, Central America and the Pacific.

With revenues of US$2.2 billion, the company is renowned for delivering best value, best service and best network. !S PART OF THIS 'ROUP $IGICEL 4URKS #AICOS IS LOOKING FOR ENTHUSIASTIC INDIVIDUALS TO JOIN OUR TEAM WITH THESE EXCITING OPPORTUNITIES

HEAD OF SALES

ACCOUNTS SUPERVISOR

Salary circa US$70,000 plus bonus

Reporting to Finance Manager, the primary objective of this role is to perform a variety of accounting activities related to accounts payable, intercompany transactions and bank reconciliations. It will also involve reconciling accounts, resolving queries, using lNANCIAL SOFTWARE PROCESSING PAYMENTS AND MAINTAINING RECORDS THROUGH lLING AND COMPILATION OF DOCUMENTS

Reporting to the General Manager, the primary objective of this role is to manage the sales function to ensure that customer targets set by the organization are achieved. The Head of Sales is responsible for growing sales through the retail and SME channels, as well as ensuring that a healthy recharge channel exists. In addition, they will be responsible for developing and maintaining the organization’s relationship with key partners, supplies and customers. They will lead a team of Sales & Customer Care professionals.

You should possess: s ! "ACHELORS $EGREE IN 3ALES OR A RELATED DISCIPLINE s !T LEAST YEARS 3ALES -ANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE

ideally in an FMCG environment s 0ROVEN MANAGEMENT TRAINING AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS s 0ROVEN NEGOTIATION SKILLS s 3TRONG UNDERSTANDING OF -3 /FlCE n PRIMARILY -3 7ORD

-3 %XCEL AND -3 0OWER 0OINT s 6ALID $RIVER S LICENSE

You should possess: s ! DEGREE IN ACCOUNTING BUSINESS OR EQUIVALENT s 0ART QUALIlCATION WITH AN INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED ACCOUNTING BODY AND STUDYING TO BECOME FULLY QUALIlED s 7ORKING KNOWLEDGE OF -ICROSOFT /FlCE SUITE WITH PARTICULAR emphasis on exel, which is essential s 7ORKING KNOWLEDGE OF -ICROSOFT 'REAT 0LAINS IS desirable but not essential s %XCELLENT CUSTOMER RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS s !BILITY TO WORK ON OWN INITIATIVE MAKE DECISIONS and be flexible s 'OOD ANALYTICAL PLANNING AND ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS s 0ROFESSIONAL APPEARANCE AND EXCELLENT %NGLISH Language skills

CUSTOMER CARE TEAM LEADER Salary circa US$40,000 plus bonus Reporting to the Head of Sales, the primary objective of this role is to coach and train the retail and corporate care agents and evaluate the customer care given to customers in our retail stores and to corporate customers. It will also involve approving adjustments to customers’ accounts and resolving escalated queries and complaints. This person will also be expected to act as the primary liaison on a daily and weekly basis with our customer care call centre in Jamaica.

You should possess: s 0REFERABLY A DEGREE IN A BUSINESS RELATED DISCIPLINE s ! STRONG PROVEN TRACK RECORD IN DELIVERING BEST IN CLASS customer service s !T LEAST YEARS EXPERIENCE IN A STRONG CUSTOMER service environment s 0ROVEN MANAGEMENT TRAINING AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS s 3TRONG UNDERSTANDING OF -3 /FlCE n PRIMARILY -3 7ORD

-3 %XCEL AND -3 0OWER 0OINT IS ESSENTIAL

Preference will be given to Belongers for all of these positions.

To apply for these positions please send your resume no later than January 21st 2011, PREFERABLY BY EMAIL TO HRTCI DIGICELGROUP COM !LTERNATIVELY PLEASE MARK IT FOR THE ATTENTION OF (2 $EPARTMENT $IGICEL 4#) 'RACEWAY (OUSE 0ROVIDENCIALES 4URKS #AICOS )SLANDS

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN TURKS & CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011 JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

TURKS & & CAICOS CAICOS SUN SUN TURKS

TURKS & & CAICOS CAICOS SUN SUN TURKS

NOVEMBER 26TH 3RD, 2011 2010 JANUARY 7TH- DECEMBER - JANUARY 14TH,

NOVEMBER 26TH 3RD, 2011 2010 JANUARY 7TH- -DECEMBER JANUARY 14TH,

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LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

LIVE BY NATURE’S BEAUTY AND ONE CAN PERISH BY THE SAME ATTRIBUTE

By Mark Lubdub

The Turks and Caicos Islands became special to me ten years ago, when I first visited there to spend a sevenday stay at Club Med. As their shuttle drove me and my other vacationers from the airport to the resort, it was past dark in the evening and I wondered what I would see the next day when the sun rose? When I awoke early the next morning, I quickly dressed and walked out into the beautiful Caribbean sun with great anticipation for what I would see.

As I looked toward the water, I saw the sun light up Grace Bay and I was overwhelmed by the natural beauty nature had created. The beautiful colors of the magnificent clean turquoise ocean water framed by the white waves breaking over the far away reef. Then the nearly perfect beige manicured sandy beach was a contrast only God could create. Somehow at the moment, I knew I was looking at one of the great wonders of the world and I would want to come back as often as possible in my life. I have been fortunate to have traveled the world much of my life and as I walked along the beach, I knew I had never seen any beach area, anywhere, that exceeded this masterpiece.

I was into jogging everyday as part of fitness routine and as I exited Club Med’s gate on Grace Bay Road, I would begin to see occasional beverage containers thrown towards the roadside growth from vehicles. Frankly, I was amazed that someone thought so little of the island that they could just carelessly throw their trash along the roadways. What I also noted, was much of the trash was recyclables.

On other days I ran in the opposite direction and there was also this unsightly litter there along Grace Bay Road. No matter where I ran, nor how far I went, I would always see some trash. Not so much trash that it would be hard to pick up the litter and restore the beauty to the roadsides.

I must say it disappointed me, to think each day, that I was in paradise but there were those who apparently were unmoved by the beauty of Providenciales. Those litterers felt that they could throw out this trash without concern for the unsightly mess they were leaving behind.

I would return to the Turks and Caicos Islands and Club Med five more times over the last ten years for a total of six visits. On each of these visits Grace Bay and its beauty would take my breath away each and every time. However on each of my visits, I would be whisked by cab or van directly to the Club.

I was preoccupied looking out the windows of the vehicle at the building growth along the Leeway Highway that changed nearly every year. But unfortunately every time I ventured off the Club Med campus for my exercise run, I would see more trash than had been there on my last visit.

Instead of using some of the fees generated from the visiting tourists to clean up the roadways, nothing

was happening. The trash was multiplying and I could see it going deeper into the woods. Frankly this year the visible bottles, cans and god knows what other waste was reaching a level that made me wonder why I would leave the campus to experience the man made destruction of natures beauty?

However this year I decided to avoid some of unappealing roadside sights and decided to run along the beach. Not that I hadn’t done that in the past but this year I began look at the trash that was making its way to the magnificent beach and the surrounding ocean.

Not on sections of beach where the resorts maintained the area and were concerned with beauty nature had blessed us all with. But the trash was building alone the lovely uninhabited sections of the beach. Places where in the past where you listened to the wonders of nature and your eyes were fixed upon the meeting of water and beach.

Unfortunately, above the high tide level were now beverage bottles and cans. Similar to the quantity and sight I had seen to my dismay ten years ago. I could only wonder what would happen to the beach and the water in the next ten years, if someone didn’t intervene and stop this thoughtless damage to nature’s masterpiece? I began to see this continuing erosion in my mind’s eye and knew if this mindless destruction was allowed to continue, I and others like me would look for a new place to vacation. I would vote for with my tourist money, by finding another place where nature’s beauty was not tarnished with trash.

This trip was extended by the massive December 2010 blizzard in the northeast. I was forced to spend another day on the island because of a canceled flight.

This extra night was not spent in Grace Bay at Club Med, but rather I had to move to a hotel near the airport for convenience. This time when I went to exercise, I went on roads outside the touristy areas.

This time I was truly disgusted, because every step I took exhibited tons trash of every description on both sides of the road. It wasn’t just along the road but was deep into the woods and it had been there for years. The last time I saw this much thoughtless abuse of Mother Nature, I was in a third world country.

Where neither the government nor the populace concerned themselves with the beauty God had entrusted with them. By the way that unconcerned attitude in those countries never improved and not surprisingly did their economy. Well Turks and Caicos, apparently has a new government that believes the status quo is fine. Maybe that will work for a while and no one will leave the Grace Bay areas or the other areas where the tourist spends their money? But if your job, business, home, rental or investment depends on the visitor money, allowing your island to become a trash dump you may be playing Russian Roulette with six bullets in that revolver.

Remember much of that trash is recyclable and has a monetary energy saving value. Nearly everywhere in

Editorial Cartoon

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 Williams 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.

the world recycling has become the norm and we are all better off from that endeavor. So could Turks and Caicos and all visitors and residents.

In the United States many states have added a five to ten cent deposit to all disposable containers. That provides an incentive to return those containers to get the deposit money back or for those in need of money, to pick up and return the litter for the deposit. That is a home run for everyone, because it helps clean the streets, provides revenue for those who pick up and return the deposits and makes it possible to better balance nature by returning, recycling and reusing materials. Groups, schools, boy or girl scouts, teams, churches and individuals can fund raise while cleaning the island. Those not reclaiming the deposit also provide the government with added revenue to help maintain the public street and beach cleaning. Not to mention that removing these recycling items from all the regular garbage, reduces the size of daily trash, that needs a land fill, incineration or whatever way it is dealt with.

The government could run this operation or make it possible with tax abatements that a private contractor could hire individuals to clean up the areas, set up the recycling equipment and return for a profit the raw materials extracted from the recycling process. Or immediately in act a law that all property owners must clean the footage they have on every road or be fined.

That would be the fastest change and will lower the cost for the cleaning, get the population involved. It will also generate revenue for the government from those failing to clean their frontage.

This makes complete sense to me because everyone wins by taking care of nature. The local Belonger, the ex patriots who have invested and live on island, the businesses, the tourists who bring their money, the environment, the local economy who will enjoy more money coming to the island, those looking for income, the world because raw materials are being returned for use and saving energy, local waste disposal would be reduced and finally God who’s beautiful creation will remain for everyone to enjoy forever. So you decided if you want to keep driving by the trash and let your future remain uncertain by not taking action. Maybe if someone takes action then Turks and Caicos can begin to market itself as the cleanest Island in the Caribbean? That kind of ad campaign will help draw more tourists and provide more money and jobs on the Island. Just it began by doing something right and cleaning up God’s gift to all people on the Turks and Caicos Islands.

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TCI Tourism officials expecting ten percent increase in arrivals

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

BUBBLING FROM THE bullish holiday arrivals which

saw resorts across the country recording an average of 90 percent occupancy rate, the Turks and Caicos Islands Hotels and Tourism Association (TCHTA) is aiming for a ten percent increase this year in stopover visitors over the 2009/2020 winter season.

Chief Executive Officer for the TCHTA, Caesar Campbell, told The SUN that he is confident that the 10 percent arrival increase goal will be achieved based on, among other factors, the increase in airlifts scheduled to come on stream within the next few weeks.

“I think that the marketing which the hotel industry has done individually and collectively will drive business here, and also we are in the cold winter season, so certainly, it will help us. We are hoping that it would be good for business within the cold winter season, providing that people (travelers) can get out. We had a very strong holiday season, and we expect the rest of the winter season to be very strong as well,” Campbell said.

U.S. visitors to the Caribbean are rebounding, with arrivals up 8.3 percent in the past high season of January through April of 2010 compared with the prioryear period, says the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

In the meantime, Campbell pointed out that the tourism arrival number for last season is in danger of being shattered since forward booking records have been showing another wave of arrivals from, especially the United States, to the Turks and Caicos Islands in February.

“I think so, because we have more than this (current occupancy) coming in February. As you know, Continental Airlines and JetBlue will be coming, so we are projecting to achieve (more) over last year. We are aiming for an increase – hopefully a 10 percent increase over last year,” Campbell further stated.

Starting February 17, JetBlue will fly from New York's JFK Airport to the Providenciales International Airport, and Continental is scheduled to start service from Newark.

JetBlue, which offered just three percent of the

Mega Job Fair for Grand Turk

BEACHES RESORT TURKS & Caicos

takes job search to Nation’s Capital The Human Resource team at Beaches Resort Turk & Caicos made a big splash in Grand Turk this week when a group of 6 recruiters took the successful Belongers-only Job Fair to the nation’s capital.

The Job Fair which aimed at hiring enthusiastic Turks & Caicos Islanders for the new year and upcoming 2011 tourism season made its first trip to Grand Turk giving residents an opportunity to join the team at Beaches Resorts.

Applicants were invited to attend the fair at the Anglican Church where candidates were encouraged to apply and be interviewed for several positions at the resort. Among the Beaches recruiters were Human Resource Manager Monique McCleanVaughn and Human Resource Trainee Manager in charge of local talent recruit, Lorenzo Seymour who

reviewed applications and interviews several promising candidates from the island.

Monique McClean-Vaughn commented on the new initiative, she said, “The resort is happy to extend the Belongers-only job fair and local talent recruit to residents of our nation’s capital,” she continued, “We are continuing our efforts to explore all avenues to ensure that Belongers are indeed first and that recruitment efforts reach all Turks & Caicos residents.”

Beaches Resort kicked off their local talent search in October 2010 and since the launch the resort has seen a large number of Belongers and PRC holders in Providenciales secure permanent position ranging from line staff to management in over 20 departments. While the Grand Turks Job fair has already seen applicants hired and are already scheduled to commence employment as early as next week.

seats between the U.S. and the Caribbean in 2005, now offers more than 15 percent, according to the Boyd and Innovata data. That makes the New York-based carrier number two in the region by seats offered behind AMR Corp.'s American Airlines.

By next summer, JetBlue plans to have 23 percent of its total capacity in Latin America and the Caribbean, compared with about 10 percent in 2008, says Scott Laurence, JetBlue's vice president of network planning.

Asked about the role of the Tourist Board in the scheme of things based on recent developments with that sector, Campbell noted that the Hotel and Tourism Association and the Tourist Board initiated a $400,000 marketing campaign with JetBlue, which he said should yield rich reward in the close future.

The Tourist Board, in the past two years, has been rendered financially handicapped, annulling its ability to pay its local and international bills, thereby opening the door to a slew of lawsuits, which the Interim Government has been struggling to settle.

Lorenzo Seymour, Human Resource Trainee Manager also commented on the Grand Turk job fair, he said, “With the economic downtown, the resort felt it was necessary to take the job search initiatives to Grand Turk, we understand that individuals may not have the available funds to travel between Grand Turk and Providenciales for interviews, so we brought the interview to them,” and concluded, “We have interviewed several promising candidates and we are looking forward to recruiting some of the best talents Grand Turk has to offer. ” The Human Resource team has been actively promoting local talent at the resort. Under the guidance of Human Resource Manager, Monique McClean- Vaughn, Lorenzo Seymour has successfully spearheaded the summer recruitment program which saw over 50 students and new

graduates secure summer internship and permanent positions as well as bring a huge increase in Belonger employees. The Human Resource team has also been working closely with the sponsored school Clement Howell High School to launch a successful internship placement program.

The Human Resource team promises to bring another Job Fair to the nation’s capital in early 2011.

Belonger applicants are encouraged to send in resumes via fax or email to the Human Resource office for any position of interest to secure interviews. All applicants must have valid identifications, proof of Turks & Caicos status, a clean police record, and a good command of the English language. In addition candidates must be able to work nights, public holidays, and week-ends.

For more information applicants are encouraged to contact the Beaches Resorts Human Resource Department at 946-8000, fax 941-4870 or via at mmvaughn@grp.sandals.com.

Christy Smith Seeks

1 Labourer

Salary $5.50 per hour Contact 242-1920

NEW YEAR ARRIVAL AT CHESHIRE HALL

Charles and Angeline Etherard had another reason to celebrate on New Year’s Day. The Provo couple welcomed the arrival of 2011 with a beautiful bouncing baby boy. Little Badson Etherard was born at the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre at 5.45pm, weighing in at a healthy 3.311kg.

Badson is their second child.

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Four face gun charges

LOCAL NEWS

MEMBERS OF THE Royal Turks and Caicos Islands

Police Force have seized two firearms and arrested four persons in separate incidents in Providenciales between Christmas Day, December 25 and New Year’s Day, January 1.

The accused have been identified as Jimmy Harris, a 23 year old Turks Islander, Stephen Joseph, a 20 year old Turks Islander, Evens Petit, a 23 year old Haitian national and Jermaine Simpson, a 33 year-old Jamaican.

Harris, Joseph and Petit, in addition to being charged with possession of unlicensed firearm, possession of ammunition and discharging of a firearm, are also charged with wounding. Simpson is charged with unlicensed firearm and possession of

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

ammunition.

Press Liaison Officer, Sergeant Calvin Chase, in a press statement, said Harris, Joseph and Petit were charged in connection with an incident in Blue Hills, Providenciales .The three appeared in the Providenciales Magistrate's Court and have been remanded in custody at Her Majesty Prison in Grand Turk. They are due to return to court on Tuesday, February 1.

Simpson was charged after the police reportedly accosted him, and during a search of his car and on his person, stumbled upon the firearm. Simpson appeared in the Providenciales Magistrate's Court on January 3, where he pleaded not guilty and was remanded at Her Majesty Prison in Grand Turk for

Still time to comment on revised recommendations for constitutional and electoral reform

MS KATE SULLIVAN, TCI Constitutional and Electoral Reform Adviser, has today reminded all interested persons that there is still time to comment on her revised recommendations for constitutional and electoral reform in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI).

Following the interest shown by TCI residents throughout 2010, Ms Sullivan added a second opportunity for the public to comment on formal proposals for change. Her revised recommendations were published in November for this purpose and remain available for consideration and reaction until 14 January 2011.

Interested persons are welcome to make a written response to some or all of the recommendations. Such responses can be made via: tciconstitution@hotmail.com Or PO Box 68 Grand Turk Ms Sullivan has published her report on the Governor’s Office website and copies are available from the Governor’s Office in Grand Turk at Waterloo and from the Governor’s Office in Providenciales at the Hilly Ewing Building.

Ms Sullivan further noted that once UK ministers have considered the areas for possible constitutional change, a draft constitutional order will be prepared to incorporate those changes. This draft order will be published in TCI and opportunities for further public input will be provided before UK ministers decide on the submission of the final version for the Queen’s Assent.

• Kate Sullivan was appointed by the FCO to put forward proposals for constitutional and electoral reform in the TCI and to consult the Islands community on these issues.

• The report is available on the Governor’s website at: http://turksandcaicosislands.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/constitutional-electoralreview/ • Comments have been invited from the public with a deadline of 14 January 2011.

aNaLIa LaINe ForbeS SeeKS

1 Labourer Salary $5.00 per hour Contact 246-9525

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

another date with the judge on Tuesday February 1.

If found guilty, the four face at least five years behind bars under the new firearms and detention laws, which under went amendments and kicked into effect in December 2010. Under the new law, individuals caught with guns face five years to life imprisonment depending on the nature of the gun crime.

Under the detention law, an individual accused of a serious crime can be detained without charge for up to 28 days, owing that the Supreme Court grant investigators such request.

In the meantime, the police have charged Alexander Duncanson, a 40 year old Bahamian/ Turks Islander for robbery which occurred on December 27, 2010. He appeared in the Providenciales Magistrate's Court and was remanded at Her Majesty Prison in Grand Turk until Tuesday, January 25.

SPECIAL DELIVERY AT CHESHIRE HALL CHRISTMAS DAY BROUGHT an extra

special present for Jasmine Georges and Gregory Sampson.

The Blue Hills couple received a tiny bundle of joy in the shape of a healthy baby boy.

Little Jayden Sampson arrived on the big day at the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre in Provo, much to the delight of Jasmine.

“He’s our first child and he is the most wonderful gift of them all”, said the hospitality worker. “Jayden wasn’t due until Boxing Day but he was determined to make an appearance on Christmas Day and that’s exactly what he did.

“He’s a beautiful, healthy little boy with lots of character and a lovely smile.

Gregory and I are truly blessed.”

Jayden, who was born at 2.32pm and weighed in at 3.060kgs, was delivered by cesarian section.

Jasmine added: “I have to say the staff and facilities at the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre are fabulous. The nurses have taken care of my every need and everyone has been so kind and lovely.

“The maternity ward is warm, friendly and extremely comfortable and I would like to say a big thanks to all the doctors and nurses who have supported us.”

With Jasmine and Gregory otherwise engaged on Christmas Day, the couple are now planning a late

Jasmine Georges and baby Jayden

celebration at home.

“Christmas Day was very magical and an occasion we will never forget”, said Jasmine. “But it did mean we missed out on Christmas dinner and so we hope to have a celebration at home for family and friends.

“This time of year will always be extra special for us now and we thank God for the birth of Jayden – a wonderful, wonderful gift.”

To celebrate their first ever Christmas day birth, staff at Interhealth Canada presented the proud parents with a layette packed full of goodies for little Jayden.

CARIBBEAN TOURS INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Professional needed to assist management of a tour operation, currently working with major cruise lines. The successful candidate must reside in Grand Turk and have a minimum of five (5) years experience working with major cruise lines ships. Such experience must include tour inventory allocation and tour inventory management; pier-side operations and logistics; shore to ship communications and tour operational planning and development.

Additional experience should include attraction management and/or marketing as well as tour development. Must also be proficient in Excel, Work, PowerPoint and QuickBooks and possess excellent communication skills – verbal and written. Language skills and a business degree will be considered a “plus”. Must be able to effectively communicate with company accountant and understand basic accounting principles. Salary is commensurate with experience and qualifications.

INTERESTED APPLICANTS SHOULD CALL 649-431-4022

Page9 9 Page JANUARYTURKS 7TH - JANUARY & CAICOS14TH, SUN 2011

TURKS AND CAICOS7TH SUN JANUARY - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

Fire razes two-storey dwelling in Provo

LOCALNEWS NEWS LOCAL HOWELL INTERNATIONAL Howell International wishes to employ a

MECHANIC, WELDER AND STARTER ALTERNATOR SERVICEMAN must have a minimum of eight years experience with appropriate qualifications.

Must be proficient, honest and a reliable worker. Must be willing to work on different Islands, weekends and holidays. Clean police record essential.

Please contact Keith Howell at Business Park, Providenciales Tel: 941-5548 / 231 6399

SHORE CONSTRUCTION Seeks

Firefighters attempt to douse the fire

Despite the efforts of 11 firefighters, two fire units, a water tanker and three hours worth of battle, an attractive two storey dwelling house on Cooper Jack Hill in Providenciales, owned

by Alecia Outten, was razed by an inferno of unknown origin on New Year’s Day, January 1.

The Fire Department said they were alerted of the blaze at minutes to 4p.m. and dispatched the units to the scene, but despite valiant efforts on the part of the firefighters, they were unable to save the dwelling. No one was at home when the fire started.

In the meantime, the police, as well as the fire department are investigating two fires in Grand Turk – one a house belonging to former Chief Minister, Norman Saunders and the other, the John Missick Fish Market. Fire Prevention Officer, Georgie Penn said the origins of the fires are unknown.

Penn noted that, while investigators were yet to ascertain the true value of the house, it was clear that the value of the

Fire razes this Cooper Jack two storey house owned by Alecia Outten

fish market was of significant value, since there was also a fully-stocked Dominican store on the complex that was totally destroyed.

The true value of the Cooper Jack home is also not ascertained. The fire took place at the home while its owner, Alecia Outten was out of the country and her daughter who left the home to conduct business.

“I was out of the country to visit my mother in the Bahamas. Every Christmas and New Year we would go home to see her. My mother is 85 years old. I came back on Sunday (January 2).

My daughter was here but she was not home,” Outten said.

While acknowledging the loss, Outten – a school teacher – was more thankful that no lives were loss, saying that she had experienced worst that losing the dwelling, as a few years ago, she and other family members were involved in a nasty traffic accident on the ultra busy Interstate 95 (I -95), but walked away from the wreckage with their lives and health intact.

“I have Christ. I didn’t lose my life, none of my children lost their life; once there is life there is hope, things just happened,” she said pertaining to

VINCENT is looking for a Domestic Worker Salary $5.00 per hour Contact 243-5738

the fire. “This is the second worst thing I went through; my whole family almost lost our lives on I -95, when the vehicle that we were in turned over. And I came out of that, no broken bones, nobody was hurt, so I know that He (Christ) is there to keep me.

“If you don’t anchor yourself in Christ, then you would go crazy.

These things (houses) are temporary, they can be replaced. When you have some loved one who has passed away and they know they were not anchored in Christ, that’s when you see me shed a tear.

“When you see me in service and you see me shedding tears it’s because God has flashed something before me, and I am seeing something, and it is not about me, but for somebody else. I labour for other people, especially if they are young and I know they are not saved. I would be burdened until I see them come to Christ,” a strong and optimistic Outten emphasized.

Meanwhile, the fire department noted that there were also three bush fires in Providenciales over the holiday period.

A laborer and kitchen helper is needed to work 5 days a week, to help with general operations, from 11 am to 5 pm @ 5.50 per hour. Please contact 2417278 for interview

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Page 10 10 Page

LOCAL NEWS NEWS LOCAL

TCI wants its own Christian council

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011 TURKS & CAICOS SUN TURKS AND CAICOS SUN JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

The Turks and Caicos Islands men But making further explanation of the cloth are on path to establish during Thursday’s news conference, their own Christian council and in Dr. Howell noted that TCI would the interim pledged not to join with be forming a pure Turks and Caicos any external counterpart in doing so, Islands Christian Council, which but will be opened to guidance and he said will not come on stream advice from such quarters. until meetings were held with other At a news conference in the ministerial Fellowships on Grand studio of the Rock of Jesus Ministry Turk, South Caicos, North Caicos in Five Cays, Providenciales, on and Middle Caicos.

Thursday (January 6), Head of “All the pastors here with the Providenciales Ministerial me today except one, were part of Fellowship, Rev. Dr. Conrad Howell, a workshop where we were asked accompanied by Head of the TCI to agree a statement. We could not Baptist Union, Pastor Pedro Williams conclude as pastors of the Turks and and Bishop Bryant Cox of Rock of Caicos because while brethren from Jesus Ministry, said they would not North and Middle Caicos were there, go ahead with the establishment of that workshop had not yet been held the body until receiving the input of in Grand Turk for the remaining ministerial fellowships from all the islands, and therefore we had to craft a document so as not to speak on other islands.

On December 9, while hosting their behalf without their knowledge a news conference at the Somerset of the matter at hand.

“Following on, since we had Resort on Grace Bay, Providenciales, President of the Bahamas Christian the opportunity to participate in the Council and General Superintendent National Conversations, discussing for the Assemblies of God Church in Turks and Caicos identity, it was the Bahamas, Rev. Patrick Paul, along during these meetings the gesture of with other ranks of his denomination the creation of the Turks and Caicos said they met with members of Islands Christian Council - that is a local clergy, where the idea of a representative of the church throughjoint Christian Council between the out Turks and Caicos, the entire Bahamas and the TCI was floated Christian community - (was raised),” and appeared to have been received Dr. Howell said.

He pointed out that the warmly.

thought was well received by the ministers, and since all appeared serious about such idea coupled with the knowledge that Rev. Paul would be visiting the country days following, it would be good to have audience with him so as to garner greater understand of the Bahamas Christian Council,.

While seeking to avoid being dogmatic against the idea of some linkages of a TCI Christian Council and that of the Bahamas, Dr. Howell noted that such idea would not be explored until a local Christian council was germinated.

“While our conversation with the President of the Bahamas Christian Council was mainly to gain a deeper appreciation for what obtains through the council, we do recognize that some point in time there may be need for fellowship, but until the council is formed, that question must remain a silent question,” Dr. Howell asserted.

According to him, since the New Testament, which is the new covenant represents a multiplicity of elders, a Christian council representing all or the majority the churches in the Turks and Caicos could become that entity.

“And since we are in the time where there is need for unity, there is need to be able to speak with one voice, we firmly believe that it lessens what we often see as things appearing to start and falling apart because there are so many people appear to be involved in discussions.

“Once there is a Turks and Caicos

Islands Christian Council that represents us as a whole, certainly we can accomplish more with less people at the table. Turks and Caicos needs direction, and while we firmly believe that the church gives spiritual direction, certainly that direction can be more enhanced and have greater appreciation when it is seen as one entity, being able to speak on one common value,” Dr. Howell said.

For his part, Pastor Williams expressed the hope that the formation of the Turks and Caicos Islands Christian Council will get the support of all the church heads across the country. Echoing the sentiments of the Dr. Howell, Pastor Williams said with the formation of the local Christian council, the people would be better off, since the council would be speaking as one voice on their behalf.

In the meantime, Bishop Cox explained that while he would appreciate that all churches would see the need to be part of the council, reality would dictate that that would not happen.

Bishop Cox also pointed out clearly that the Ministerial Fellowships would be a separate entity from the council, further accounting that a church head could decline his membership on the council, while still being part of any of the fellowships. He noted however, that a Christian council would bring the oneness to the Turk and Caicos that people have been clamoring for a long time.

Page 11 11 Page

JANUARYTURKS 7TH - JANUARY & CAICOS14TH, SUN 2011

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

LOCAL LOCALNEWS NEWS

Scotiabank Turks and Caicos Ltd Establishes

a $100,000 (CDN) Scholarship in Partnership with York University

Scotiabank has announced the establishment of a scholarship program with York University (Toronto), Canada's third largest university. The scholarship, valued at CDN $100,000 is financed by Scotiabank (Turks and Caicos) Limited in partnership with York University and provides funding for one student for four years of study at York University.

"Through this scholarship, Scotiabank is investing in the future leaders of The Turks and Caicos Islands" said Doug Cochrane, Managing Director, Scotiabank (Turks & Caicos) Limited. "The scholarship recipient will have the opportunity to travel abroad and learn from some of the brightest minds before returning to The Turks & Caicos Islands and applying their skills to the continued development of the Islands," "This scholarship is emblematic of the leadership example set

by Scotiabank (Turks & Caicos) Limited in supporting the communities it serves," said Claude Norfolk, Senior Vice President, Caribbean, International Banking, Scotiabank. "This scholarship will help to foster and develop the

minds of bright, young Turks & Caicos citizens."

The scholarship is made possible through the Scotiabank Bright Future philanthropic program. Youth education is a key pillar of the program, which seeks opportunities to support children and the communities in which we live and work.

The scholarship program at York University was created to impact the development of sound academic talent within The Turks & Caicos Islands. One undergraduate scholarship (renewable for three years) will be awarded with proceeds going toward academic and living expenses. As part of the scholarship, the recipient receives an International Merit Scholarship from York University for each year they receive the scholarship funding. Special consideration will be given to students who have participated in the ScotiabankYork University Emerging Global Leaders Program in the Caribbean.

The application deadline is March 15, 2011 for a September, 2011 entry to York University. Applicants may apply for the scholarship at http:// futurestudents.yorku.ca/.

KADEEN AGENCY is looking for ONE DOMESTIC WORKER on behalf of a

client to run household. Interested person must be honest and be willing to work hard without supervision. Salary is $5 per hour, closing date is December 15th 2010. Contact Mrs. Handfield at 3443144 between 9:00am ‒ 5:00pm

INTERISLAND AVIATION SERVICES GROUP Ground Mechanics: Experience in repair and maintenance of the Airline ground service equipment gas/diesel engine etc.

Ability to drive trucks, towing vehicles. Salary range - $8.00$10.00 per hour.

All positions 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 call please. Qualified candidates will be contacted for interview. Application deadline Dec 30, 2010

The York University Student Financial Services Office will manage all aspects of the scholarship, including the selection of the recipient. Applicants must demonstrate excellent academic standing as well as a proven record of community involvement through a minimum of 25 hours of volunteer experience. It is expected that the successful candidate will participate on an annual basis in the paid summer internships program at Scotiabank, and will return to The Turks and Caicos Islands and join Scotiabank (Turks and Caicos) Limited as an employee for at least three years after the successful completion of four years at York University.

Scotiabank has been a part of the Caribbean and Central America since 1889. It is now the leading bank in the region, with operations in 20 countries, including Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad

and Tobago. The Bank has more than 7,000 employees in the region, including affiliates, serving more than two million customers, with 232 branches, kiosks and other offices, plus 615 automated banking machines.

Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions and Canada's most international bank. With close to 70,000 employees, Scotiabank Group and its affiliates serve approximately 18.6 million customers in some 50 countries around the world. Scotiabank offers a diverse 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). For more information please visit www.scotiabank.com.

Page 12

LOCAL NEWS

COME AND JOIN OUR WINNING TEAM!!!

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

BEACHES TURKS & CAICOS RESORT VILLAGES AND SPA, THE ONLY 6 DIAMOND ALL INCLUSIVE PROPERTY IN THE CARIBBEAN AND ITS AUTHORIZED RECRUITMENT AGENCIES ARE INVITING APPLICATIONS FROM SUITABLY QUALIFIED TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDERS FOR THE FOLLOWING VACANT POSITIONS. APPLICANTS MUST HAVE A CLEAN POLICE RECORD AND A GOOD COMMAND OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE BOTH WRITTEN AND SPOKEN. IN ADDITION CANDIDATES MUST BE ABLE TO WORK NIGHTS, PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AND WEEK-ENDS.

THE RESORT THANKS EVERYONE FOR THEIR INTEREST IN ADVANCE AND ADVISES THAT ONLY SHORT LISTED APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED FOR AN INTERVIEW. Dining Room Department requires:

Restaurant Manager Supervisor Requirements include: o Three years supervising a restaurant with seating over 100 persons an asset. o Excellent customer service skills o Knowledge of wines

The rate for the position listed above is $7.00 to $15.00 an hour.

Servers Requirements include: o One years experience in a restaurant with seating for over 100 persons an asset. o No food allergies o Physically fit

The rate for the positions listed above is $5.00 to $6.00 an hour.

Bar Department requires:

Bartenders Requirements include: o Ability to mix a variety of drinks alcoholic and non-alcoholic. o Outgoing personality o Physically fit Pool Servers Beach Server Bar Porters Requirements include: o Outgoing personality o Physically fit

The rate for the positions listed above is $5.00 to $7.00 an hour.

Housekeeping Department requires:

Room Attendants Housemen Public Area Attendants Requirements include: o One years experience in a hotel environment an asset. o Physically fit

The rate for the positions listed above is $5.00 to $6.00 an hour.

Housekeeping Supervisor Requirements include: o Supervises and may participate in housekeeping services including cleaning, mopping, scrubbing, sanitizing the floors and other surfaces as well as the refinishing, waxing and polishing of floors, tile work and other various floor and wall surfaces in stairways, hallways, restrooms, offices, laboratories, recreation and locker rooms.

The rate for the position listed above is $6.00 to $10.00 an hour.

Kitchen Department requires:

Kitchen Helper o Must have worked in a Resort kitchen or medium to large sized restaurant Cooks (Grade 1,2 and 3) Head Baker Requirements include: o Must have worked in a Resort kitchen or medium to large sized restaurant o Must have over three years experience o Professional qualification an asset The range in the rates for the positions listed above is $5.00 to $12.00 an hour.

Laundry Department requires:

Laundry Manager Requirements include: o Five (5) years experience in managing a Laundry

The salary for the position listed above is $20,000.00 to $30,000.00 per annum.

Sales & Weddings Department requires: Guest Agent Wedding Coordinator Requirements include: o Three (3) years experience in wedding coordination o Attention to detail

The rate for the positions listed above is $5.00 to $8.50 an hour.

Spa Department requires: Hair Braider Requirements include: o Ability to Braid hair o Ability to sell service

The rate for the positions listed above is Commission Based.

Spa Attendant Requirements include: o Maintain the cleanliness of the Spa and environs Tennis Pro. Requirements include: Profession Tennis designation Ability to sell service to guest

Receptionist Requirements include: o Ability to work a switch board

o o

Ability to coordinate appointments Ability to sell products after service

The rate for the positions listed above is $5.00 to $7.00 an hour.

Watersports Department requires: Beach and Pool Attendants Requirements include: o Sweep, mop, and assist with the maintenance of the pool. o Keep the pool area tidy and well stocked Dive Instructor Dive Master Requirements include: o International Dive certification required o An outgoing personality required o Strict adherence to safety procedures

The rate for the positions listed above is $5.00 to $8.00 an hour.

Rooms Division Department Requires: Rooms Division Manager Requirements include: o Experience in Managing the following Departments, Housekeeping, Laundry, Front Office and Concierge o Ten (10) years management experience in a property over 300 rooms.

Translator Ambassador Requirements include: o Multi-Lingual o Experience at Management level Concierge Manager Requirements include: o Five (5) years experience in managing a Front Office or Concierge desks. o Five (5) years management experience in a property over 300 rooms.

The salary for the position listed above is $25,000.00 to $65,000.00 per annum.

Security Department Requires:

Supervisor Requirements include: o Experience in supervising a team of over 20 persons o Physically Fit o Ability to write reports o Attention to detail and ability to enforce procedures

The rate for the position listed above is $6.00 to $10.00 an hour.

Applications giving full details of qualifications and experience should be sent to: mmvaughn@grp.sandals.com or Fax to: 941-4870 Attn: M McClean-Vaughn and copied to the addresses below

The Human Resources Department Beaches Turks and Caicos P.O. Box 186 Lower Bight Road

The Labour Commissioner Labour Department Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands

and should reach not later than January 8th 2011. Otherwise, please call anytime for an appointment tel # 649-946-8000 ext 4138

Page 13

Record breaking numbers at Provo Air Center

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

PROVO AIR CENTER released its holiday figures today, and they are astounding. An impressive fortyeight private jets arrived on Boxing Day, but it was Sunday, January 2nd that broke all records in the Caribbean for this holiday period. Seventy-three private jets arrived and 40 left, for a total of 113 movements, according to the Customs and Immigration logbooks.

Chairman Lyndon Gardiner says he was trying to relax with his family on vacation over the holidays, but excited residents kept calling him from Provo to tell him about the number of jets on his ramp.

“I received at least 10 calls from friends,” he said cheerfully. General Manager Deborah Aharon says that she also received calls from friends, commenting about the number of jets flying overhead and asking how she was holding up, but she had no time to stop and chat.

Flight planning company Jeppesen Flight Support, which handles flight planning for most of the fractional aircraft companies and many privately owned jets, reported that Provo Air Center jumped from the 10th to the 6th busiest FBO worldwide in 2010, and that on January 2nd it was the busiest FBO of all their locations worldwide.

Mercury Fuel, which arranges fuel for most Jeppesen customers, confirmed the figures.

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Taylor Swift leaving Turks and Caicos Islands on her private jet on December 24

“Debby met with Mercury and the other fuel resellers in October and guaranteed that Provo would not run out of fuel. We are very pleased that through planning and cooperation with our suppliers we were able to keep that promise,” said Gardiner.

Provo Air Center completed construction on a new fuel farm just days before Christmas.

LiNdAMAE ZAPATA SEEKS

1 cARPENTER

“We have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in upgrading our fuel facility and training staff,” said Gardiner, adding that he viewed the costly venture as an investment in the

future of the TCI as well as his own companies.

Both Gardiner and Aharon said they were very proud of the Provo Air Center staff, who worked around the clock for weeks, foregoing their own holidays and taking all the extra activity in stride.

Aharon also commented that Customs, Immigration and the Air Traffic Controllers played a big role in the success.

“We knew we were all in it together, and everyone was key to our success,” she said, “Together we processed a lot of the world's highest end clientele, poured a lot of coffee, carried a lot of bags and washed more aircraft dishes than I care to remember, and we did it all well. I'm so proud of everyone: ramp, refuelers, concierge, housekeeping, security, the caterers, Tower, Customs and Immigration. Everybody helped everybody.”

As for exactly who was in those planes, as always Provo Air Center won’t say. But it’s no secret to anyone who watches the entertainment news that country crossover singer Taylor Swift, teen heartthrob Zac Efron and even Prince spent at least part of their holidays right here.

Miracles BAR & RESTAURANT SEEKS

BARTENdERS WAiTRESS LABoURERS doMESTic WoRKERS Salary $5.00 per hour contact 241-6608

Work hours 8:00am-4:30pm Salary $7.00 per hour contact 246-9775

MECHANIC

GOLF COURSE EQUIPMENT

Provo Golf Club seeks a QUALIFIED MECHANIC. A minimum of twelve (12) years experience in golf course equipment is required and the applicant must possess the following skills and experience.

• A history of maintenance of Golf Carts, mowers and tractors.

• General maintenance and repairs of all equipment used and operated on the Golf Course.

• Ordering or replacing any parts necessary.

• An aptitude to work unsociable hours is required.

• Salary is $600.00 per 44 hour week

Interested applicants should contact Veronica Rigby via email

by December 27, 2010 at ronnie@habgroup.com or by fax 649946-5191. Only persons selected for an interview will be contacted by email or telephone to schedule an interview.

The Sands is now accepting applications/résumé for the following position. Only highly self-driven & motivated, personable and professional individuals, who have the desire to serve others, need apply:

EXECUTIVE HOUSEKEEPER

Responsibilities Establish and/or implement operating procedures and standards.

Plan and coordinate the activities of housekeeping supervisors and their crew.

Coordinate inspection or inspect assigned areas to ensure standards are met.

Handle administrative tasks. .

Requirements Education: A secondary school diploma is an asset Experience: Minimum of three to five years as an Executive Housekeeper is required

Turks Island citizens only need to apply in person to Tiersa Smith, Human Resources Manager at The Sands Resort located on Grace Bay Road, Providenciales, or via e-mail: tsmith@thesandstc.com .

Applications must be in by December 20, 2010.

Page 14

The occupiers must leave LOCAL NEWS

By Royal Robinson

I

HAVE READ with bated breath and utter consternation, the last pronouncement that came out of London and Waterloo and must say that that is the biggest crock of nonsense that has ever come down the pike to us!

We expect some guidelines and milestones to govern the occupation and indicate the departure date, but to come up with this foolishness is a slap in our face and an insult to our intelligence.

In the wake of what is happening to the global financial markets, how in heaven’s name is it expected that we could realistically dig ourselves of the current hole of a projected $60M deficit and be in balance by 2012/13? The most advanced countries cannot come up with a programme to balance their budgets in ten years, so how do they realistically expect a small, vulnerable economy to do so in two to three years?

To further add insult to injury, these guys are planning to hold on to the purse strings of this country even after a politically elected Government is in place. Which sane Premier would allow himself to be so hamstrung by some unelected civil servant?

Do you really think that he would be comfortable raising revenue and then ceding how that money is spent and let himself be subordinate to some unelected official that would dictate as to what is the priority of the elected representatives? Hell no! That is not going to be so!

The British, after they joined the European Union refused to be part of the Euro the official currency. So why do they feel that they can best determine what is in our best interest over and above the will of those persons specifically elected so to determine?

They cannot claim to be the bastions of financial propriety because Bering Bank and Castle Rock went under during their supervision. The persons that are currently being sent here are no economic Nobel Prize laureates!

Let us look at what we are subtly being told! Lay off Civil Servants in record numbers, further cut service delivery programmes and raise taxes on the backs of an ever shrinking population!

With the private sector contracting every day due to the lack of promotion of Turks and Caicos Islands as a destination in which to do business and the constant threat of land and other taxes, where in the hell are those persons

CALICO JACK Is looking for

Kitchen Helper

Job requires 6 hours a day with pay $6.00 hour.

Job duties: wash dishes, clean floors prep work and any duties assign by manager Tel: 946-2380

that are laid off are going to find employment? Is it the covert plan to really turn us into a basket case for Turks and Caicos Islanders and create an enclave for the British who want the bask in our sunshine at our expense?

Look around us! Have you seen a major private sector initiative that has come to the fore during the Wetherell administration to date? The answer must be a resounding NO! The Governor is the only politician in charge of everything and everything is going to hell in a hand basket. He was seen presenting keys to a low cost housing owner a few days ago! Is that what we must now aspire to?

Yes we must rethink our approach to balanced development, but that must not be by looking at the bottom of the barrel, but more smartly utilizing the resources available to us.

Everything that the Governor has been doing is to advance his position and not that of Turks and Caicos Islanders!

He is bit by bit dismantling the Civil Service and bringing in his cronies to take their places. The worst part of this is that these guys are old retards that all have backward linkages to the same group! They are recycling their redundant persons on us.

A prime example is the Crown Land Adviser! He was an unemployed noname that was foisted on us! If he thinks that by publishing the list of persons and companies that had been granted Crown land and have failed to pay leases, that the money would suddenly be forthcoming, then he is living a fools dream.

If he were to look at the list of companies being struck off the company’s registry, that would be instructive. Secondly, many Turks and Caicos Islanders have moved on from those leases because there was no infrastructure in place that would have allowed them to effectively make use of those pieces of land or the administration has been so slow in responding to requests to rectify certain situations, that the original opportunity had been lost.

So who realistically are going to fork out money in these tough times for something that they have abandoned, when the choice is paying that or keeping bread on the table or their kids is school? The choice is a no-brainer and an exercise in futility. The only thing that makes sense is that it would be used as an excuse to deny Turks and Caicos Islanders the legitimate right to expect a piece of Crown land because they want

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Royal Robinson

to hoard it for those laid off British workers who are expected to find their way here.

We have to draw the line in the sand and say “so this far and no further”! The time to do that is now! It must be abundantly clear that the current administration, contrary to any of the platitudes, do not have our best interest at heart!

There is nothing being done by way of Legislation to advance the wellbeing of Turks and Caicos Islanders! All the moves are of the law and order type and to keep and put us in our places! That surely can’t be progressive or helpful!

We have to realize that we have to put our own petty differences aside and band together for the common cause of advancing our own wellbeing! These guys do not care if we suffer! They do not have our best interest at heart! Look around you! All of the things that they have accused the political directorate of doing, they are doing more and in spades! When it suits them, they call up health and NHIP officials to bend the rules guiding the provisions health care to spouse. (We do not recognize “significant other” as being a married couple).

The Christmas small contracting jobs were vilified, but I see advertisement for them to be done by TCInvest under the Small Business Development arm and that is being run by the Chairman of the Forum! Talk about conflict of interest!

There is the saying “what’s good for the goose, must be good for the gander”!

We have to hold them to living up to and using the same yardstick and stop being hypocritical. They are worst than those two-handed economists!

On the one hand it is corruption, but on the other hand it is good when applied to me. We as Turks and Caicos Islanders must see these guys for what they are!

Non-beneficial occupiers of our land and

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

we must rise up and root them out “root and branches”!

They do not intend to leave of their own free will and accord and we must recognize that! We must tell them in no uncertain terms that their continued tenure in our land is no longer welcomed and stick to that until they leave. Every step of the way they are tilting the playing field against us! The hand of Government that is to help and give us a leg up is no longer there. They call our brand of politics transactional, but it is not that when it come to bringing in “advisors” of questionable qualifications without showing us what their qualification and experience are or the remuneration that is being given them.

We have to let these fellows know in no uncertain term that we mean business! They cannot be allowed to live comfortably on the fat of our land while our people suffer. That is an untenable situation and we must not put up with it!

Give us real, realistic and tangible goals that have been negotiated and agreed to by the people’s representatives, that are achievable and not some hairy fairy pie in the sky objectives that have no prospect of being successful!

If ever there were a “while the grass is growing the horse is suffering” syndrome that we are suffering from is that of the economic package that is being provided by DFID aided by private banks! I must continue to stress that had we been given the assistance at the time that we requested it, we would have been well on our way to economic recovery, at the same time as the American economy is showing positive signs.

The hole is so deep now and the measure not being made in tandem with a stimulus programme, that the bang that is expected could very well not be realized. To date, there is not an indication as to the quantum of the package or the areas on which the package would be spent to engender public and private sector confidence. We must move now! Time is of the absolute essence if we are to save our country for our children and wrest it from the iron hands of the occupiers!

My fellow Turks and Caicos Islanders enjoy what there is of this upcoming Christmas. All that I can tell you though, is that we should brace ourselves for the coming year, because the proverbial “do do” is about to hit the fan! *Royal Robinson is a former Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance and Health, under the Progressive National Party (PNP) Government.

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Email all resumes/links to ceo@tropicalimaging.com

Page 15

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

LOCAL NEWS

Mega Job Fair for Grand Turk

Beaches Resort Turks & Caicos takes job search to Nation’s Capital The Human Resource team at seen a large number Beaches Resort Turk & Caicos made of Belongers and PRC a big splash in Grand Turk this week holders in Providenciales when a group of 6 recruiters took the secure permanent successful Belongers-only Job Fair position ranging from to the nation’s capital. line staff to management The Job Fair which aimed at in over 20 departments. hiring enthusiastic Turks & Caicos While the Grand Turks Islanders for the new year and Job fair has already seen upcoming 2011 tourism season made applicants hired and are its first trip to Grand Turk giving already scheduled to residents an opportunity to join the commence employment team at Beaches Resorts. as early as next week.

Applicants were invited to attend Lorenzo Seymour, the fair at the Anglican Church Human Resource where candidates were encouraged Trainee Manager also to apply and be interviewed for commented on the several positions at the resort. Grand Turk job fair, he Among the Beaches recruiters were said, “With the economic Human Resource Manager Monique downtown, the resort McClean-Vaughn and Human felt it was necessary Resource Trainee Manager in charge to take the job search of local talent recruit, Lorenzo initiatives to Grand Turk, we Seymour who reviewed applications understand that individuals and interviews several promising may not have the available funds candidates from the island. to travel between Grand Turk and Monique McClean-Vaughn Providenciales for interviews, so we commented on the new initiative, she brought the interview to them,” and said, “The resort is happy to extend concluded, “We have interviewed the Belongers-only job fair and local several promising candidates and talent recruit to residents of our we are looking forward to recruiting nation’s capital,” she continued, “We some of the best talents Grand Turk are continuing our efforts to explore has to offer. ” all avenues to ensure that Belongers The Human Resource team has are indeed first and that recruitment been actively promoting local talent efforts reach all Turks & Caicos at the resort. Under the guidance of residents.”

Human Resource Manager, Monique Beaches Resort kicked off their McClean- Vaughn, Lorenzo Seymour local talent search in October 2010 has successfully spearheaded the and since the launch the resort has summer recruitment program which

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LOCAL NEWS

saw over 50 students and new graduates secure summer internship and permanent positions as well as bring a huge increase in Belonger employees. The Human Resource team has also been working closely with the sponsored school Clement Howell High School to launch a successful internship placement program.

The Human Resource team promises to bring another Job Fair to the nation’s capital in early 2011. Belonger applicants are encouraged to send in resumes via fax or email to the Human Resource office for any position

Government getting tough on businesses who owe outstanding amounts Businesses who fail to pay arrears owed to Government could face sanctions which include being named in the media and having their assets confiscated, the Ministry of Finance has said.

A number of businesses, developers and individuals have accumulated arrears in their commercial transactions with the Turks and Caicos Government. The arrears have been identified in areas of government activity including, but not restricted to, utilities consumption, scholarship contributions, Crown Land rents, work permits renewals, business licensing fees, vehicle and driver’s license renewals.

Staff of the Revenue Control Unit are assisting all revenue raising departments in their efforts to recover amounts outstanding and will be visiting defaulters to remedy the situation and collect monies owed to the Government. Defaulters will be served notice of amounts outstanding for immediate settlement to avoid unnecessary disruptions in accessing public services.

Additional sanctions will be applied for noncompliance including the following actions: • Publishing of names & businesses in the

Miracles BAR & RESTAURANT of interest to secure interviews.

SEEKS All applicants must have valid identifications, proof of Turks & Bartenders Caicos status, a clean police record, Waitress and a good command of the English language. Labourers In addition candidates must be Domestic able to work nights, public holidays, Workers and week-ends.

Salary $5.00 per For more information applicants hour are encouraged to contact the Beaches Resorts241-6608 Human Resources Contact

Lorenzo Seymour, Human Resource Trainee Manager interviewing local talents

newspapers • Legal action by the Attorney General & other civil recovery measures.

•Services, agreements, contracts & leases terminated.

• Confiscation, retention & garnishing of assets and property.

Permanent Secretary of Finance, Delton Jones, said: "These are tough economic times for everybody, but we cannot excuse the non-payment of debts to the Government.

Withholding money from the Government is ultimately taking money from the people of TCI for vital public services like health, education and policing. Additionally, cooperation

by Government debtors to pay their dues on time will enable TCIG to meet its financial commitments including paying its creditors.

“We will not hesitate in bringing sanctions upon those businesses who do not pay up, including naming them in the press, terminating their contracts and taking legal action through the courts.”

Department at 946-8000, fax 941-4870 or via at mmvaughn@grp. sandals.com.

JCW SEEKS

ONE LABOURER To work 5 days per week Salary $5.50 per hour Contact 232-1778 Expression Car Wash & Store is seeking :

4 LABOURERS 3 DOMESTICE WORKERS Salary $5.50 per hour 5 days per week Please contact 649 231 0931 CALICO JACK Is

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

PPC LIMITED STAFF VACANCY

SECURITY GUARD

Applications are invited from interested and suitably qualified persons to fill the position of

Security Guard in the Business Systems & Information Technology Department.

Description In accordance with proven Security industry standards: Provide a professional safe and secure environment at any of PPC’s facilities located throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Main Duties

• Oversee and protect PPC’s employees, customers and visitors from physical harm while on the company’s premises.

• Act as a deterrent in crime and the theft of company property from wither internal or external sources.

• Provide guidance and general information, in a helpful and courteous manner, to customers and visitors while on the company’s premises.

• Monitor CCTV cameras, fire and burglar alarms, or any other monitoring devices installed by the company to protect its facilities and assets.

• Maintain accurate logs of those that enter or exit secure areas of the company’s facilities.

• Conduct physical patrols and inspections of the Company’s facilities.

• Document and report any security breaches, irregularities and safety related concerns that may arise while

conducting patrols.

• Actively participate in any criminal or safety investigation.

• Inspect and report unsafe delivery or contractor vehicles entering PPC’s facilities.

• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Requirements • High School diploma.

Previous security or law enforcement education or experience would be considered an asset.

• Knowledge and exposure to the operation of Security Alarm equipment, Access Control, Fire Alarm and Protection Equipment, CCTV Cameras would be considered an asset.

• Acceptable knowledge and skills relating to Microsoft Family of software products (Word, Excel, Outlook).

• Possess a valid driver’s license.

• Must be bondable.

• Excellent Team Player and Team building skills.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.

• Must be able to make quick and logical decisions based on visual observations and facts.

• Must have excellent customer relation skills.

Compensation • Salary Grade 7: $28,100.00 $35,130.00 based on qualifications and ability.

PPC offers a competitive compensation package for more information contact Director, Human Resources

Deadline for submission of application is January 21st, 2011. Please submit to:Director, Human Resources PPC Limited P. O. Box 132, Providenciales Email address: jmissick@ppcltd.tc Turks & Caicos Islands Fax: 649-946-4532

PPC LIMITED STAFF VACANCY Applications are invited from interested and suitably qualified persons to fill the position of

SECURITY SERVICES SUPERVISOR IN THE BUSINESS SYSTEMS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT.

Description Design, implement, integrate and manage a comprehensive modern internal mechanical and electronic security, CCTV, and fire protection infrastructure throughout all PPC’s facilities in accordance with latest industrial standards and regulations.

Main Duties • Conduct Risk Assessments of all Company Business Functions, provide sound and reliable solutions, keeping in pace with the changing market and economic conditions of the PPC’s strategic business environments.

• Provide new and innovated techniques in the areas of facility security, monitoring and control.

• Provide new and innovated techniques in investigation procedures and protocol.

• Provide leadership and training to security and technical staff.

• Conduct and document intensive and factual investigations.

• Design, troubleshoot and maintain all aspects of PPC’s mechanical and electronic security, CCTV and Fire Protection systems throughout all PPC’s facilities.

• Plan and oversee all Capital and Maintenance Security, CCTV and Fire Protection Projects.

• Ensure that all projects come within budget.

• Conduct Risk Assessments and make recommendations to Senior Management.

• Provide training to internal security enforcement staff using proven industrial security training methods and standards.

• Provide training to technical staff on security and fire protection systems.

• Ensure that all employees and contractors perform their work in a safe manner

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

according to the Company policies and procedures.

• Provide input into the creation and implementation of Company Security Policies and Procedures.

• Assist in the preparation of the Security Department Annual Budget.

• Provide recommendations on future recruitment and terminations as required.

• Provide supervision and monitoring of external security employees.

• Provide periodical departmental reports.

• Conduct periodic Health, Safety, Environment and Departmental meetings with employees.

• Maintain all necessary departmental records for review and scrutiny.

• Liaison between local Turks and Caicos and International law enforcement agencies.

• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Requirements • Post high school diploma in related technical trade or law enforcement.

• 15 years’ experience in law enforcement or private security industry.

• Extensive knowledge of all mechanical and electronic infrastructures associated with Security Alarm equipment, Access Control, Fire Alarm and protection Equipment, CCTV Locking Devices and Vaults.

• Extensive knowledge and skills relating to Microsoft Family of software products (Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook).

• Possess a valid driver’s license.

• Must be bondable.

• Excellent team player and team building skills.

• Excellent written andoral communication skills.

• Ability to deliver to strict deadlines and to work under pressure • Goal-oriented • Self-motivated Compensation • Salary Grade 12: $51,420.00 $64,270.00 based on qualifications and ability.

PPC offers a competitive compensation package for more information contact Director, Human Resources Deadline for submission of application is January 21st , 2011. Please submit to:Director, Human Resources PPC Limited P. O. Box 132, Providenciales Email address: jmissick@ppcltd.tc Turks & Caicos Islands Fax: 649-946-4532

Page 17

Classes to resume at Ona Glinton by month-end

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

By the end of January, limited school activities should return at the Ona Glinton Primary School site, which was the scene of a raging inferno of unknown origin on November 21, last year, which gutted more than fifty percent of the building, destroying unspecified amount of valuables.

Dr. Beatrice Fulford, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, told The SUN, on Thursday, January 6, that as soon as the fire-ravaged section of the building is demolished and minor repair work completed, classes would resume.

The education permanent secretary said there is a tender out for the demolition of the affected section of the fire-razed building, which she said should have been returned and opened

by Friday (January 7), and within the next two weeks carried out.

“So once that (tender process) is done and demolition takes place, then we are going to make ready the remaining classrooms that were not damaged, for students to attend the campus at the Ona Glinton Primary School. Once the demolition takes place, that section is going to be cordoned off, and students would have access to those remaining classes.

Ona Glinton students are now being accommodated at the Eliza Simons Primary School courtesy of a shift system, but Dr. Fulford noted that with the school’s partial reopening, special

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

provision would be made to grades five and six students, who should return to a full school day activities, so as to prepare the latter for their GSAT examinations in May. “As you know, the grade six students are supposed to take their GSAT in another few months, and we are going to try and maybe make the full time available to the grade five students that they will not be held back in any way,” Dr. Fulford explained.

Dr. Fulford noted that even as some children return to the Ona Glinton Primary School compound, the shift

system at the Eliza Simons Primary would more than likely come to an end, since there is space to accommodate them.

She noted though that the K1, K2 and grade one classes would continue to be housed at the Baptist Church auditorium, which does not operate on a shift system.

Dr. Fulford explained that when classes resume later this month, the school would be about 90 per cent operational, since facilities such as the computer lab would not be able to operate.

She noted that while there are immediate plans to reconstruct the damaged section of the compound following the demolition exercise, could not give details at that time, since the working committee which was established shortly after the fire, would hammer out the details. Dr. Fulford noted, however, though, that external support was involved in the school’s rehabilitation.

Nine classrooms, including the computer lab, teachers’ rooms and the canteen were destroyed during the early Sunday afternoon fire.

SALT CAY RESIDENTS RESCUE HAWKSBILL SEA TURTLE

THE DEPARTMENT OF Environment and Coastal Resources’ expert knowledge on wildlife protection has helped the people of Salt Cay rescue a trapped Hawksbill Sea Turtle. The turtle was estimated to weigh 200 pounds, and measured approximately 3.5 x 4 feet.

“The Department was called by Salt Cay resident Debbie Manos after the turtle had apparently lost its way and ended up in a pond far from the sea. I was able to advise her on removing the turtle from the pond and releasing it in open sea while ensuring the turtle was not flipped over on its back”, said Deputy Director of the DECR Jewel Batchasingh.

Acting on the advice Ms Manos mobilized several residents of the Salt Cay community to move the turtle to the Tradewinds beach for safe release. Local Salt Cay residents involved in the recovery and release were RichardAgraba, Enye Guerrier, Heather Floan, Paul Turner, Wiley, Santo Polanco and Debbie Manos.

“We all felt so happy to see the turtle back where she belongs .The way she took off once she hit the water was exciting to see,” Ms Manos said.

JOB VACANCY NOTICE DIRECTORTURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS INTEGRITY COMMISSION Applications are invited from suitably qualiCied individuals for a two year contract as the Director of the Integrity Commission in the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI).

Background The Integrity Commission was inaugurated on May 12th 2010, under the Chairmanship of Sir David Simmons. If currently proposed Constitutional amendments are agreed, the Commission will develop as one of six major ‘Watchdog Institutions’ in TCI. An executive arm for the Commission is at an early stage of development. An interim Director and a Secretary have been appointed; basic systems and procedures have been put in place; and a Cirst set of ‘declarations’ from people in public life have been collected and are being appraised. The plan now is to recruit further staff in a phased manner, commencing with the appointment of a Director who would take over the day-to-day running of the Commission from the Interim Director.

Job purpose The appointed Director will play the lead role in establishing the executive arm of the Turks and Caicos Islands Integrity Commission. He/she will ensure that the executive arm fairly and judiciously implements the TCI Integrity Commission Ordinance and any designated ‘Watchdog’ functions under a new Constitution, and properly serves the Commission in so doing. He/she will have overall responsibility for the day-to-day running of the Integrity Commission ofCices, taking responsibility for staff dealing with a substantive range of functions including compliance, investigation, public relations and education.

He/she will be required to ensure that these functions are fulCilled in a satisfactory and timely manner; maintaining rigid security of conCidential information; guiding policy, planning and appropriate resourcing; and supporting the Commission in fulCillment of its goals in any other way that Members may direct.

Primary responsibilities The primary responsibilities of the appointee will be to: manage and assist personnel to ensure the timely and appropriate implementation of the Integrity Commission Ordinance requirements; develop and sustain systems and procedures for the effective and efCicient running of the ofCice; develop policy and (short, medium and long term) strategy for the Commission, particularly aimed at strengthening the Integrity Commission’s ethical standards and anti-corruption efforts, and to ensure its sustainable evolution; oversee the declaration, compliance and investigation processes, ensuring due process, management and administration in accord with the requirements of the Ordinance;

ensure the proper investigation of allegations of fraud, Cinancial crimes, corruption and misconduct within the public service, and facilitate investigators to develop methods and strategies to detect, deter and prevent such, liaising and coordinating with external agencies as appropriate; support government departments and public bodies in implementing anti-corruption measures and securing integrity, and particularly foster an ethical work environment within the TCI’s Public Service; oversee the development of Cit-for-purpose computer and communication systems; ensure the development of a whistle blowing hot-line within an appropriate legal framework; ensure the security of the Commission ofCices and all assets whether on or off the premises (including but not conCined to computer equipment, and manual and electronic Ciles), and link with the police (e.g. for movement of declaration Ciles) where necessary; budget preparation and management of Commission Cinances.

Personnel SpeciCications Ideally, the appointee will have: a minimum of 12 years professional experience in general management or public administration, including at least three years at a senior managerial level; a Bachelors Degree in Management or Public Administration, or similar; overseas work experience or experience in working closely with other cultures; the highest standards of integrity; excellent inter-personal / relationships management skills, respect for conCidentiality, discretion and tact, conClict resolution skills, and the ability to lead a specialist, multi-disciplinary team working to tight deadlines; the ability to rapidly attain a good working knowledge of TCI law as it pertains to corruption and integrity in public life; the willingness to subscribe to the Commission’s philosophy, policies and values and articulate them in public fora Remuneration A basic salary of $110,000 per annum, plus appropriate allowances are payable.

Application procedure To obtain further details please contact Mrs Wanda Ariza, Secretary to the Integrity Commission, tel: 946 2801 ext 20252, fax 946 1355, e-mail integrity.commission1@gmail.com Applicants are requested to submit their CV together with an accompanying letter demonstrating why they would wish to work with the Commission and what particular attributes they would bring to its work. Applications must be returned to the Secretary either by email, fax, or mail. Direct mail should be addressed to Mrs Wanda Ariza, Secretary, The Integrity Commission, Waterloo Plaza Complex, Unit 16, Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands.

CertiCied copies of qualiCications as well as the names and letters of two referees must be submitted with your application.

The deadline for applications is 21st January 2011, with the view to commencement of work as early as possible in 2011 but ideally no later than mid March. Please note that only applicants selected for interview will be notiCied.

Page Page18 18

LOCALNEWS NEWS LOCAL

TURKS & CAICOS SUN TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011 JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

Digicel opens swanky store

Telecoms provider Digicel has refashioned its flagship store at Graceway House located along the Leeward Highway into a chic and glitzy outlet, which described by some of its customers as futuristic.

The official opening of the store took place on December 23, 2010 and coincided with that company’s ‘Media Day’, when members of the fourth estate were pampered with gifts.

E. Jay Saunders, Manager for Digicel TCI said the idea behind the refashioning of the store was to constantly keep ahead of the competition. He said the design was spearheaded by one of its managers, Ada Valdez, noting that the store was torn apart on and put back together in quick succession.

Describing the store as the first of its kind in the TCI, Saunders said one of the main features of the new and improved facility is a fully interactive a touch screen monitor which assists the customer in making up his mind as to choose which handset to purchase, by displaying a variety of products on the screen with each touch.

There is also a section where live Blackberry handsets are located, ready to make calls, with the idea of testing the capabilities of the devices by making Blackberry to Blackberry calls. He noted also that the store offers workshop experience on how to use Blackberry handsets, on computer screens.

Saunders also revealed that Digicel has partnered with US technology giant Cisco whose business video surveillance solutions the store is now uses.

“So, those cameras allow the store to be

Customers enjoying the new store

monitored simultaneously from multiple locations, so at any time you can have three or four different spots from around the world monitoring the store. I can monitor it from upstairs, I can monitor it when I am away on board meetings,” Saunders explained.

Saunders also used the event to unreel the various activities, including humanitarian and social endeavours in which Digicel was involved during the course of 2010. Among the humanitarian work was the restoration of Haitian project, and the social events included a fun day with children

of the SNAP Centre in Provo and the screening of the Ironman2 movie at the LRaye Cinema.

He noted that one of the highlights for Digicel during the year was its Nauru launch – a tiny island nation located in the South Pacific with an approximate population of 10,000. A public holiday was declared on that island at the launch of Digicel.

Media practitioners were later gifted with airline tickets to anywhere in the continental US, Mexico and the Caribbean, aside from served with delectable meals and drinks.

INTERIOR DESIGN/MANAGER DUTIES: Provide the leadership necessary to achieve projected sales goals while ensuring complete customer satisfaction at all times.

Conduct yourself as a coach who observes and facilitates necessary change to achieve company goals. Partner with each project manager and ensure that sales staff is working within a system where the team can consistently meet its goals. Provide direction and guidance to all employees that will maximize their full potential.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS OF JOB: Direct and participate in the marketing and business development efforts of the firm including strategies and promotional materials.

Oversee Sales Staff and Office support personnel. Achieve sales goals through the recruitment, development, training, coaching and management of the sales staff. Evaluates needs and strengths of your sales team members on a continuous basis. Utilize training tools provided by the Company to ensure your team's success.

Effectively manage customer contacts and relationships to improve customer service, build sales volume, improve effectiveness and increase overall customer satisfaction.

Establish individual sales goals and hold sales team accountable for achieving goals.

Create and nurture a positive team environment and a high level of energy and ambition with employees to ensure sales growth.

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS: Professional design degree and minimum 10 yrs professional experience required, operating knowledge of Windows, Quickbooks, Excel and CAD programs essential and of Design Manager, Quark/IN Design, Photoshop preferred.

BA or BS degree in a related field or comparable experience. Proven background in retail selling.

Experience as design sales professional preferred.

Broad knowledge of design and effective sales techniques.

Supervisory experience required.

At least 5 years proven retail management experience in the Furniture Industry knowledge in fields such as retail, interior design or sales OTHER REQUIREMENTS: This position requires team leadership abilities, strong communication and organization skills.

Ability to train for product knowledge, sales performance and customer service.

Serve as a role model for customer service, design and sales performance.

Qualified applicants should forward a cover letter and resume to: Brian Trowbridge, Attorney at Law, c/o Integra Services Ltd., P.O. Box 656, Unit 2A, Courtyard Plaza, Leeward Highway, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands.

IF THE APPLICANT IS CONSIDERED BY VIRTUE OF THEIR CV EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE) A REPRESENTATIVE FROM ROCOCO WILL CONTACT THE APPLICANT TO CONDUCT A TELEPHONE INTERVIEW, IF THE PHONE INTERVIEW IS ACCEPTABLE, THE APPLICANT WILL BE INVITED FOR AN IN-PERSON INTERVIEW. RESUMES WILL BE REVIEWED IN THE ORDER THEY ARE RECEIVED AND MUST BE SUBMITTED NO LATER THAN MONDAY, 17TH JANUARY, 2011.

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

PROVO WATER COMPANY LTD.

Provo Water Company Ltd is seeking suitable applicants to fill the following positions: POSITION: SYSTEM DESIGN ENGINEER

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION:

• Registered Civil Engineer • 5 to 10 years experience in the general construction and design works particularly on waterworks buildings and piping networks.

• Have a strong knowledge of hydraulics and piping design calculations.

• Effective organization skills and ability to work effectively both in a team setting and independently • Computer proficient with exposure in Microsoft Word and Excel.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

The System Design Engineer works under the direction of the head of the Engineering Department. This individual provides technical direction and management for the design compliance and construction works leading to the maintenance of the islands waterworks system.

This position can be adapted to either primary or construction or facility maintenance functions.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES ARE TO:

• Provide Surveys, Designs and detailed engineering for proposed waterworks, civil works, engineering projects, modifications and maintenance.

• Monitor and Record hydraulics input - output data such as system’s pressures, velocities and flows including pumping stations and water storage facilities for engineering design task.

• Carry out continuous engineering studies, investigations and design calculations for the maintenance of water supply system in the island.

• Provide cost-effective solutions to waterworks requirements/situations and establish review procedures to minimize cost growth.

• Perform Engineering field surveys for establishing boundaries and limits , developing contours and profiles, piping routes and levels.

• Develop company standards for all construction and or facility maintenance works.

• Apply standard practices and techniques in specific engineering assignments, including proficiency in use of engineering/project scheduling tools.

• Provide technical assistance to the Operations and Maintenance Department • Ensure that the integrity of master plans is maintained and maintain and update the general site plans for all waterworks facilities including new connections and facilities.

• Ensure all subcontractors employed to execute engineeringconstruction tasks conform to applicable company standards for security, safety, environmental controls, hazardous materials and underground utilities.

Salary Range: US$ 36, 000 – 48, 000 per annum

POSITION: CONTRACT AND DOCUMENT CONTROLLER

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION: • Graduate of bachelors degree in business or office administration.

• At least 5 years experience in contracts and documents preparation, dissemination and monitoring including the safekeeping thereof particularly acquired from a construction or utility industry.

• At least 2 years experience in storekeeping and stock control system.

• Good communications and organization skills • Computer proficient.

JOB DESCRIPTION: A Contract and Document Controller is required to maintain a master contract and document register of all the latest transactions and drawings on every project and purchasing activities of the company and ensure that all recipients are transmitted the documents they require as soon as new revisions are received. This individual reviews contracts; formulate, revise and finalize documents according to what was required and has been agreed upon by the company and parties concerned such as contractors, sub-contractors, suppliers and the likes. This individual is in charge with all the liaison works including the submission and transmittal of contracts/documents to all concerned government and private agencies relative to the on going

projects or purchasing activities.

The duties of a Contract and Document Controller are: • Reviews and registers internal and external contracts and documents.

• Maintenance of controlled and uncontrolled documents registers.

• Sending of document transmittals and submittals to all parties concerned.

• Log, reference, distribute, and file all related correspondence, drawings, and documents.

• Ensuring that contracts and document transmittals are acknowledged in case there is a dispute on whether the said papers were transmitted.

• Manage the contracts & document/drawing review process, Internal and External.

• Designs and formulate office forms and control system whenever necessary.

• Inspect, accept, and store delivered materials and equipment including documentation and control thereof.

• Archiving data for historical purposes.

• Performs other task as may be assigned from time to time relative to the day to day operation of the engineering and administrative department such as detailed engineering and inventory management task.

Salary Range: US$ 32, 400 – 42, 000 per annum

POSITION: AUTOCAD OPERATOR

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION

• Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering or equivalent experience • 3 to 5 years AutoCAD experience a must.

• Must have at least 1 year of exposure to waterworks environment • Knowledge of AutoCAD Civil or equivalent software for piping network design is an advantage.

• Strong knowledge of Primavera (P3) planning software and Microsoft applications.

• Must have previous experience in mechanical, electrical and civil drafting, blue print reading and 2 or 3 dimensional work JOB DESCRIPTION: The AutoCAD Operator must be able to generate engineering flow diagrams from engineer’s examples, update and modify building and piping layouts, update and modify piping networks and details.

The duties of an AutoCAD Operator include: • Ability to draft bend charts for pipes and tubes and read hose charts.

• Able to prepare plans and exhibits which entail making accurate computer drawings from design sketches, conceptual drawings, field compiled survey data, and verbal instructions.

• Updates mechanical, electrical and civil plans and drawings according to amendments and revisions.

• Produce and compile standard facility and utility drawings.

• Make all required revisions to approved designs and maintains complete and accurate drawings.

• Perform 3D view layout, layer and dimensioning techniques.

• Create new drawings out of survey data and verbal instructions.

• Follow through with all projects to ensure successful fabrication and installation.

Salary Range: US$ 32, 400 – 42, 000 per annum All applications must be submitted by January 10th, 2011.

Office Manager PROVO WATER COMPANY LTD. P.O. Box 39, Grace Bay Road Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands Fax: (649) 946-5204 Email: K.Clarke@provowater.tc

Page 20

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

3

2

1

5

4

6 7

On December 23, 2010 telecoms provider Digicel opened its flagship store at Graceway House on Leeward Highway. E. Jay Saunders, Manager for Digicel TCI said the idea behind the refashioning of the store was to constantly keep ahead of the competition.

The opening coincided with the company’s ‘Media Day’, when members of the fourth estate were gifted with airline tickets to anywhere in the continental US, Mexico and the Caribbean.

8

9

CAPTIONS

10

1. Store opens to Media and Customers.

2. Members of the Media listen to the presentation.

3. Customer using new touch screen computer.

4. Digicel TCI’s CEO, E. Jay and Brid of Seven Stars.

5. CEO, E. Jay Saunders presentation to the media.

6. CEO, E. Jay Saunders and media presenter Deandrea Hamilton 7. E. Jay Saunders has a word with Devon Williams of Blaze 97.5 8. L-R: $3000 postpaid winner Jessica Fox with Digicel’s CEO E. Jay Saunders 9. Media and customers enjoying the new store.

10. Customer excited with her new purchase.

Page 21

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

11

12

13

15

16

14

11. Customer checking out accessories.

12. Ada and AJ with customer.

13. Members of the marketing team, Turkesa Rolle and Trina Adams

17

14. Excited customers at the store’s opening 15. Members of the Media listen to the presentation.

16. Winner of Beaches Day pass, Samardia Walkin with Ava Kerr

18 19

20

21

17. Ava- Dayne Kerr, head of Marketing and "Pleaser" 18. Proud customer, Carla Pratt of TCI Lotto 19. Pastor Pedro Williams (L) blesses the store

20. CEO, E. Jay Saunders and Ava-Dayne Kerr make their presentation to the media 21. Ava-Dayne Kerr speaks with $3000 winner Jessica Fox

Page 22

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

Talk.

Txt. Surf.

Bank.

Scotiabank no longer charges a fee to access your Scotia* mobile banking or Scotia On-line*.

And, we have reduced our fees on bill payments for both channels.

USE YOUR INTERNET-ENABLED MOBILE PHONE and personal computer to do your everyday banking anytime, anywhere. Simply and securely. It’s banking freedom like you’ve never experienced before.

Check it out at turksandcaicos.scotiabank.com or turksandcaicos.scotiabank.com/mobile

* Trademarks of The Bank of Nova Scotia, used under licence. † Data charges by your wireless carrier and/or internet provider may apply.

(12/10)

Page 23

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

TCI’S

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Maskanoo celebrations received a rousing start with hundreds of locals and tourists alike turning out to greet the masquerade and stage performances along the Grace Bay strip between the Seven Stars Resort and the Salt Mills Plaza on Monday, December 27.

The event was sizzling in spite the fact that the original number of masquerade groups down to perform – all of whom were from the tourism sector - were forced to withdraw at the last minute due to the influx of visitors over the holiday season.

The groups that turned up, which included a band from the Clement Howell High School, excited the massive crowd with their deft precision antics and rhythmic dancing.

Patrons were also treated to a variety of sumptuous dishes, including indigenous Turks and Caicos Islands foods. The entertainment was rich in FIRST EVER

delivery, with the performing attraction being TCI songstress Barbara Johnson.

In the midst of the festivities there was much education about Maskanoo, as Director of Culture and main planner behind the event, David Bowen, pointed out that the world Maskanoo was a fusion of Junkanoo and Masquerade, since the original Junkanoo, which is celebrated in its masquerade form across many Caribbean countries but in the Bahamas as a costume and band marching exercise, was long ago celebrated in the Turks and Caicos Islands, but went dormant some years ago.

The highlight of the evening was the glitzy midnight fireworks display which took place on the beach. Patrons were led by the Maskanoo groups onto the beach for the fireworks display. Bowen said based on the experience this year, Maskanoo plans to be even bigger and better next year.

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1. The Junkanoo band was melodious 2. Tourists and locals blending together in perfect harmony 3. TCI Songstress Barbara Johnson excites the massive crowd 4. This Rastafarian could not contain his excitement from the playing of the catchy beat 5. This female tourist gets wild during festivities 6. A section of the large crowd that turned out for the inaugural Maskanoo celebrations in Grace Bay

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7. Junkanoo dancers were a hit among the patrons 8. King of the ripsaw 9. David Bowen demonstrates his conch shell blowing abilities 10. Crystal Malcolm could not contain her excitement after learning that she was the winner of the $5,000 raffle 11.The Junkanoo Band also took part in the parade

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JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

Things babies born in 2011 will NEVER know Huffington Post recently put up a story called You're Out: 20 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade. It's a great retrospective on the technology leaps we've made since the new century began, and it got me thinking about the difference today's technology will make in the lives of tomorrow's kids.

I've used some of their ideas and added some of my own to make the list below: Do you think kids born in 2011 will recognize any of the following?

Video tape: Starting this year, the news stories we produce here at Money Talks have all been shot, edited, and distributed to TV stations without ever being on any kind of tape. Not only that, the tape-less broadcast camera we use today offers much higher quality than anything that could have been imagined 10 years ago -- and cost less than the lens on the camera we were using previously.

Travel agents: While not dead today, this profession is one of many that's been decimated by the Internet. When it's time for their honeymoon, will those born in 2011 be able to find one?

The separation of work and home: When you're carrying an emailequipped computer in your pocket, it's not just your friends who can find you -- so can your boss. For kids born this year, the wall between office and home will be blurry indeed.

Books, magazines, and newspapers: Like video tape, words written on dead trees are on their way out. Sure, there may be books -- but for those born today, stores that exist solely to sell them will be as numerous as record stores are now.

Movie rental stores: You actually got in your car and drove someplace just to rent a movie?

Watches: Maybe as quaint jewelry, but the correct time is on your

smartphone, which is pretty much always in your hand.

Wired phones: Why would you pay $35 every month to have a phone that plugs into a wall? For those born today, this will be a silly concept.

Long distance: Thanks to the Internet, the days of paying more to talk to somebody in the next city, state, or even country

are limited.

Newspaper classifieds: The days are gone when you have to buy a bunch of newsprint just to see what's for sale.

Dial-up Internet: While not everyone is on broadband, it won't be long before dial-up Internet goes the way of the plug-in phone.

Encyclopedias: Imagine a time when you had to buy expensive books that were outdated before the ink was dry. This will be a nonsense term for babies born today.

Forgotten friends: Remember when an old friend would bring up someone you went to high school with, and you'd say, "Oh yeah, I forgot about them!"

The next generation will automatically be in touch with everyone they've ever known even slightly via Facebook.

Forgotten anything else: Kids born this year will never know what it was like to stand in a bar and incessantly argue the unknowable. Today the world's collective knowledge is on the computer in your pocket or purse. And since you have it with you at all times, why bother remembering anything?

The evening news: The news is on 24/7. And if you're not home to watch it, that's OK -- it's on the smartphone in your pocket.

CDs: First records, then 8-track, then cassette, then CDs -- replacing your music collection used to be an expensive pastime. Now it's cheap(er) and as close as the nearest Internet connection.

Film cameras: For the purist, perhaps, but for kids born today, the word "film" will mean nothing. In fact, even digital cameras -- both video and still -- are in danger of extinction as our pocket computers take over that function too.

Yellow and White Pages: Why in the world would you need a 10-pound book just to find someone?

Fax machines: Can you say "scan," ".pdf" and "email?"

One picture to a frame: Such a waste of wall/counter/desk space to have a separate frame around each picture. Eight gigabytes of pictures and/or video in a digital frame encompassing every person you've ever met and everything you've ever done -- now, that's efficient. Especially compared to what we used to do: put our friends and relatives together in a room and force them to watch what we called a "slide show" or "home movies."

Hand-written letters: For that matter, hand-written anything. When was the last time you wrote cursive? In fact, do you even know what the word "cursive" means? Kids born in 2011 won't -- but they'll put you to shame on a tiny keyboard.

Talking to one person at a time: Remember when it was rude to be with one person while talking to another on the phone? Kids born today will just assume that you're supposed to use texting to maintain contact with five or six other people while pretending to pay attention to the person you happen to be physically next to.

Mail: What's left when you take the mail you receive today, then subtract the bills you could be paying online, the checks you could be having directdeposited, and the junk mail you could be receiving as junk email? Answer: A bloated bureaucracy that loses billions of taxpayer dollars annually.

Hiding: Not long ago, if you didn't answer your home phone, that was that -- nobody knew if you were alive or dead, much less where you might be.

Now your phone is not only in your pocket, it can potentially tell everyone -- including advertisers -- exactly where you are.

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TONIGHT (I'M LOVIN' Yenrique OU) iglesias I know you want me I made it obvious that I want you too So put it on me Let's remove the space between me and you Now rock your body Damn I like the way that you move So give it to me Cause I already know what you wanna do

Here's the situation Been to every nation Nobody’s ever made me feel the way that you do You know my motivation Give in my reputation Please excuse I don't mean to be rude

But tonight I'm loving you Oh you know That tonight I'm loving you Oh you know That tonight I'm loving you

You’re so damn pretty If I had a type than baby it’d be you I know your ready If I never lied, than baby you’d be the truth

Here’s the situation Been to every nation Nobody’s ever made me feel the way that you do You know my motivation Given my reputation Please excuse I don’t mean to be rude But tonight I'm loving you Oh you know That tonight I'm loving you Oh you know That tonight I'm loving you

[Ludacris] LUDA..

Tonight I’m gonna do Everything that I want with you Everythin that u need Everything that u want I wanna honey I wanna stunt with you From the window To the wall Gonna give u, my all Winter n summertime When I get you on the springs Imma make you fall You got that body That make me wanna get on the boat Just to see you dance And I love the way you shake that ass Turn around and let me see them pants You stuck with me I’m stuck with you Lets find something to do (Please) excuse me I don't mean to be rude

featuring ludacris

But tonight I'm loving you Oh you know That tonight I'm loving you Oh you know That tonight I'm loving you

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Homeless man with velvety voice becomes overnight star

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

CLEVELAND – From the streets to the studios.

Ted Williams, whose deep, velvety radio voice and touching story prompted an outpouring of sympathy and job offers from across the country, has become an overnight sensation.

He's America's hottest — and most improbable — star.

On Thursday, Williams, who was living in a tent near a highway in Columbus, Ohio, just days ago, was in New York for an emotional reunion with his 90-year-old mother, media appearances, and to do some commercial voiceover work. On NBC's "Today" show, he described his previous 48 hours as "outrageous."

"There's no way in the world that I could have ever imagined that I would be — I mean, just have all of this just all of a sudden come into this portion of my life," he said during a live interview in the program's studio.

Left homeless after his life and radio career were ruined by drugs and alcohol, Williams has been offered a job by the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, and the 53-year-old is being pursued by NFL Films and others for possible work. Williams and his compelling tale became an online sensation after The Columbus Dispatch posted a clip of him demonstrating his voiceover skills while begging by the side of the road.

Now, he's in demand.

"I don't know which one to choose, which one is the right one," he said on "Today," regarding the job prospects.

But he said he was ready to handle the second chance he was being given and predicted that in five years, he'd be working as a radio program director and living in his own apartment.

Williams said he found a "new sense of spirituality" in 2010 that would help him deal with whatever success comes.

Williams was contacted Wednesday by the Cavaliers, who have offered him a position that could include announcing work at Quicken

PRINCE SURPRISES WITH IMPROMPTU NEW YEAR'S EVE SHOW Soul superstar PRINCE thrilled holidaymakers in the Turks and Caicos Islands on New Year's Eve (31Dec10) by putting on an impromptu show as the clock struck midnight.

The Purple Rain hitmaker spent the holiday weekend on vacation at the sunsoaked Amanyara resort, with members of his band.

And when the time came to ring in 2011, the singer delighted fellow guests by playing a short set to see in the new year.

A source tells New York Post gossip column Page Six, "Prince is a regular guest at the resort and was staying with his band. He got up at midnight and did an impromptu session of three songs, including 1999."

ENTERTAINMENT

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Ted Williams, a homeless man from Columbus, Ohio, whose deep, velvety voice and touching story prompted an outpouring of sympathy and job offers from across the US

Loans Arena, the team's downtown facility. Williams said the team has offered him a two-year contract and said they would pay his living expenses.

It's been a shocking turn of events for the golden-voiced man, who had gotten by living in shelters and occasionally with family and friends over the past few years. Williams has also been in his share of trouble. His past includes a lengthy list of arrests.

He has served time in prison for theft and forgery and has been cited with numerous misdemeanors, including drug abuse.

He was most recently arrested on May 14. He pleaded guilty to a firstdegree misdemeanor theft charge. In court records, his address is listed as "Streets of Columbus."

Williams acknowledged his record during the "Today" show appearance and explained that he turned to crime so he could afford his drug habits.

Upon learning of Williams' criminal history, the Cavaliers said their offer still stands.

"We believe in second chances and second opportunities," said Tracy Marek, the team's senior vice president

of marketing. "The gentleman deserves an opportunity to explain certain situations. We're not jumping to conclusions. It's not fair."

Cavaliers spokesman Tad Carper said exact details of the team's offer and their plans to help Williams with housing were still being worked out.

"They said that they're going to give me LeBron's old house," Williams joked on NBC Thursday, referring to former Cavaliers star LeBron James, who left for the Miami Heat.

The Cavaliers did not know much about him, but were moved by Williams' ordeal.

During a timeout in the first quarter of Wednesday night's game against Toronto, the Cavaliers put a picture of Williams on their giant scoreboard and urged fans to send him messages at http://www.wewanttedwilliams.com.

Williams flew Wednesday night to New York, where he was expected to stay in a posh hotel off Central Park.

He plans to see his mother, Julia, who lives in Brooklyn. She has stood by him during his battles with addiction.

"She has always been my best friend," he told The Associated Press on Wednesday, crying. "When I was a

kid, she would take me down to Radio City Music Hall and on the subway. I'm just glad that she is still around. I prayed that she would live long enough that I could make her proud and see could her son do something other than stand along the side of the road with a sign asking for money."

Julia Williams is thrilled her only child is turning his life around. She can't wait to see him.

"This will be my day to see my son get up and do something to help himself," she said. "He has so much talent. I hope this will be the thing for him. He came from a nice family. And then he went poor, poor. So, maybe this will build him up and let him see that there's more in life than hanging around with the wrong people, and taking drugs."

Williams said his life began spiraling downward in 1996 when he began drinking alcohol "pretty bad."

He used marijuana and cocaine and lost interest in his radio career. He eventually wound up on the streets, despite the best efforts of his children, seven daughters and two sons who all live in the Columbus area.

Williams said he celebrated two years of sobriety "around Thanksgiving.

I just hope everyone will pray for me."

When he first heard Williams' soothing delivery, Kevin McLoughlin of NFL Films, which has chronicled pro football for nearly 50 years, knew he had to contact the unknown man.

"It's that voice," McLoughlin, director of post-production films for the NFL, told the AP. "When he was telling his story, I said, 'That's what we do. This guy can tell a story.' Somehow, some way, I need to get a demo with him. He could be that diamond in the rough."

McLoughlin has not been able to contact Williams, but he intends to track him down.

"The man deserves a second chance," he said.

'Twilight,' 'House' top the People's Choice Awards

LOS ANGELES – Dreamy vampires, a surly doctor and a rapper in "Recovery" are top winners at the People's Choice Awards.

"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," TV's "House M.D." and Eminem each won four awards at Wednesday's ceremony, hosted by Queen Latifah at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

Fans picked "Twilight" as their favorite overall movie and favorite drama. Stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner were their favorite onscreen team, and Stewart also won actress honors.

Johnny Depp was fans' favorite actor, Jackie Chan won for action star, Adam Sandler won for comedic star, and "Toy Story 3" was voted favorite family movie.

"House M.D." was TV's top winner. The show was fans' favorite television drama, and stars Hugh Laurie and Lisa Edelstein were the favorite actor and actress in the drama category. Laurie's character, Gregory House, was named favorite TV doctor.

"Glee" was voted top TV comedy, and star Jane Lynch was the favorite comedy actress. Neil Patrick Harris won comedy actor honors.

Eminem dominated the music category. He was fans' favorite hip-hop artist and male musician, and his song with Rihanna, "Love the Way You Lie," won favorite

ctors Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner accept the favorite movie award for "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" at the 2011 People's Choice Awards in Los Angeles January 5, 2011

song and music video. Katy Perry was a double winner: Favorite female artist and favorite online sensation.

Rihanna, Usher and Taylor Swift were named favorite pop, R&B and country artist, respectively.

Fans chose the winners in all categories.

KFWS • MindGym

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FUN & GAMES

January 3, 2011

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FUN & GAMES

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

January 3, 2011

King Features Weekly Service

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Aspects call for care in preparing material for submission. Although you might find it bothersome to go over what you’ve done, the fact is, rechecking could be worth your time and effort.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) The week is favorable for Bovines who welcome change. New career opportunities wait to be checked out. You might also want to get started on that home makeover you’ve been considering.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) You might have to be extra careful to protect that surprise you have planned, thanks to a certain snoopy someone who wants to know more about your plans than you’re willing to share.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Family ties are strong this week, although an old and still-unresolved problem might create some unpleasant moments. If so, look to straighten the situation out once and for all.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) Although the Lion might see it as an act of loyalty and courage to hold on to an increasingly shaky position, it might be wiser to make changes now to prevent a possible meltdown later.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Your gift for adding new people to your circle of friends works overtime this week, thanks largely to contacts you made during the holidays. A surprise awaits you at the week’s end.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) Don’t hide your talents. It’s a good time

King Features WeeklyService Service King Features Weekly

January 3, 2011 January 3, 2011

AN UNUSUAL SAFETY PLAY

—13—

It is sometimes necessary to improvise when faced with a potentially dangerous situation. Almost anything that serves to protect the contract is acceptable, even if it means doing something you would not ordinarily do.

Take this case where West led the queen of diamonds against four spades. Declarer won with dummy’s ace, drew trumps and led a club to the queen. East won with the king and shifted to the —17— jack of hearts, and South quickly went down one.

Granted that declarer was unlucky to find both the club king and heart ace badly placed, the fact remains that he missed a virtually certain way to guarantee the con-

to show what you can do to impress people who can do a lot for you. A dispute with a family member might still need some smoothing over.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Be open with your colleagues about your plan to bring a workplace matter out into the open.

You’ll want their support, and they’ll want to know how you’ll pull it off.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Trying to patch up an unraveling relationship is often easier said than done. But it helps to discuss and work out any problems that arise along the way.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) While your creative aspect remains high this week, you might want to call on your practical side to help work out the why and wherefore of an upcoming decision.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Dealing with someone’s disappointment can be difficult for Aquarians, who always try to avoid giving pain. But a full explanation and a show of sympathy can work wonders.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Getting a jobrelated matter past some major obstacles should be easier this week. A personal situation might take a surprising but not necessarily unwelcome turn by the week’s end.

BORN THIS WEEK: You can be both a dreamer and a doer. You consider helping others to be an important part of your life.

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© 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.

tract. All he had to do was to allow West’s queen of diamonds to hold the first trick!

The advantage of this play is that it prevents East from ever gaining the lead for the killing heart return. At the same time, it gives declarer time to develop 10 tricks in total safety.

Assume West continues with a diamond at trick two (nothing else is any better).

South wins with dummy’s king and cashes the A-Q of trumps. He then leads a club to the ace and discards his other club on the ace of diamonds.

Now the queen of clubs is led. If East covers with the king, South ruffs, crosses to the king of spades, discards a heart on the club jack and thus ends up losing a diamond and only two hearts.

If East refuses to play the king of clubs on the queen, declarer discards a heart then and there.

The contract is also assured if West holds the king of clubs. After West takes the queen with the king, the defense cannot get more than one heart trick to go with the two tricks lost in diamonds and clubs.

The unusual ducking play at trick one proves to be just the right prescription for assuring 10 tricks. © 2011 King Features Synd., Inc.

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King Features Weekly Service

January 3, 2011

FUN & GAMES

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Haiti second round vote impossible before February

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

PORT-AU-PRINCE – Haiti will not be able to hold a second round of its disputed presidential election before February as it awaits a report from regional experts on contested preliminary results from the November 28 first round, a senior electoral official said on Tuesday.

The outcome of Haiti's chaotic November elections has remained in limbo since violent protests greeted the December 7 preliminary results of the first round vote in the Caribbean nation. The presidential and legislative polls were held amid confusion, fraud allegations and a raging cholera epidemic.

The Western Hemisphere's poorest state is preparing to mark the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck a year ago on January 12. There are fears the political instability will delay the handover of billions of dollars of urgently needed reconstruction funds from foreign donors.

"Today we are at a dangerous crossroads," outgoing President Rene Preval said in a Haitian Independence Day broadcast over the weekend.

He rejects accusations by opposition presidential candidates that he and his ruling Inite (Unity) coalition rigged the vote to put their contender in the second round.

Responding to international concern over reported irregularities in the November 28 vote results, Preval requested help from the Organization of American States and a team of OAS experts is working on verifying the preliminary tally.

But this has delayed the original electoral timetable which had foreseen

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Jude Celestin

final first round results being announced on December 20 and a second round run-off being held on January 16.

"It will be materially impossible to hold the run-off on January 16," Pierre-Louis Opont, director general of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, told Reuters.

"From the date of the publication of the final results of the first round, we will need at least one month to hold the run-off," the electoral official added.

But he could not say when the final results of the November 28 first round might be announced, saying only that this would follow the report by the OAS experts and completion of the process that deals with challenges to the results.

The December 7 preliminary results put Jude Celestin, a littleknown government technocrat and Preval protege, in a second round runoff with former first lady Mirlande

former first lady Mirlande Manigat

Manigat.

But popular musician Michel Martelly, whom the electoral council placed narrowly third, less than a percentage point behind Celestin, has rejected this and called for a second round vote to include all 18 original presidential candidates.

Of these, a dozen demand complete cancellation of the vote, alleging massive fraud. They want Preval to resign and hand over to a provisional government when his fiveyear mandate formally ends on February 7.

Preval, who has served the constitutional limit of two terms in office, has rejected this option, saying he will only hand over to a legitimately elected president.

To allow for the possibility of election delays following the crippling January 12 earthquake, Haiti's parliament last year passed legislation allowing Preval to stay on in office until May 14 this year if necessary, to

Outgoing President Rene Preval

be able to hand over to the new president once his successor was legally elected.

In December, supporters of Martelly, a charismatic star of Haiti's Kompa dance music, staged several days of violent protests against the preliminary results, paralyzing the quake-ravaged capital Port-au-Prince and several other cities.

At least four people were killed in the riots, which the United Nations and aid groups warned would hinder an international medical response to the cholera epidemic.

The epidemic, which has affected all of Haiti's 10 provinces, had killed 3,481 people up to December 29, according to the Haitian Health Ministry.

The United Nations, the United States and the European Union have appealed to Haiti's government and presidential candidates to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the electoral dispute through legal and constitutional channels.

Former Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson's widow to contest by-election

The widow of late Prime Minister of Barbados David Thompson has confirmed that she is ready to contest the St John by-election on a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) ticket.

Mara Thompson has formally written to the executive of the DLP expressing her interest.

"I am ready to represent the people of St John just as my late, beloved husband did. At this moment I will offer no further comment since there is a process to be followed," she told the Nation newspaper.

For several weeks since the death of her husband on October 23, speculation had been rife about a successor for the 48-year-old leader, who held the seat since the passing in 1987 of then prime minister and Father of Independence Errol Barrow.

Thompson, a graduate of Howard University in Washington DC, easily defeated attorney-at-law Vere

Brathwaite (one vote), Leroy McClean "I have embraced the (five) and Anthony Walrond (three) in the opportunity and the invitation to nomination process. Candidates Peter serve the people of St John as Carter and David Gittens received no their representative, not only in votes.

Parliament and in the media, but Four others who had expressed an importantly, at their homes, in interest in the riding were no-shows: their communities, and always Matthew Farley, Renaldo White, Evans in their best interest," she said.

Maughan and Herman "Ras Bongo Spear" Following the nomination Lowe. Candidates Dale Lashley and DLP process, Thompson visited the Senator Jepter Ince withdrew from the race graveside of her husband where and endorsed Thompson's candidature. she laid a wreath and paused to During her presentation to the branch, speak to several supporters. a confident Thompson, who is native of St. The opposition Barbados Mara Thompson Lucia and whose father was once president Labour Party (BLP) has already of the St. Lucia Senate, said she commiserated with nominated businessman Hudson Griffith to contest all those who did not see her as a politician, adding the seat, a traditional stronghold of the DLP, in the she did not see herself as a politician either.

January 20 poll.

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Bermuda’s tourism industry records major loss

CARIBBEAN NEWS The tourism industry as a whole made a $9 million loss in 2009, according to a report released by the Department of Statistics.

Yesterday the Department released the Tourism Satellite Account, a look at the industry's direct impact on the Island's economy.

“In 2009, the tourism industry's share of total GDP (gross domestic product) stood at four percent, which is slightly less than the 4.5 percent share held in 2008,” it stated.

The report added that approximately 90 percent of the money made within the industry was used to pay wages and salaries and the industry's “losses amounted to $9

million”.

In 2008 the tourism industry made a $24 million profit while the industry made a $55 million profit in 2007, the report stated.

Approximately nine percent of Bermuda's workforce was employed by the tourism industry in 2009, down from 13 percent in 2008. In total, 77 jobs were lost in the industry that year.

The industry is the largest private sector employer of Bermudians, who account for 70 percent of tourism's workforce.

“A decline in visitors during the year resulted in job losses by workers in the industry,” the report stated.

“Lower demand for tourism services

Chavez, Clinton chat at Brazil inauguration

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

led employers to cut operational costs and scale back the number of industry workers.”

The report also stated that visitors spent $350 million on the Island in 2009, down from $425 million from 2008. Business Development and Tourism Minister Patrice Minors, said the lower figures were a result of a poor economy.

“Some of these stats show a slight drop from the 2008 data. Obviously, Bermuda has not been immune from feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown brought about by the global financial crisis.

“This has had trickle-down effects on many areas, including international

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shakes hands with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez during the inauguration ceremony of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, unseen, at the Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia

BRASILIA (AFP) – Despite a simmering diplomatic row, President Hugo Chavez and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were seen having a brief, friendly chat on Saturday January 1st, 2011, at the inauguration of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff.

"They talked and smiled, at least for five minutes. It looked like a social conversation, both were smiling," a Brazilian official who witnessed the encounter said on condition of anonymity.

The encounter came only three days after the United States revoked the visa of Venezuela's ambassador in Washington, in reprisal for Chavez's rejection of the US president's appointed ambassador to Caracas.

But Chavez and Clinton were all smiles as they mingled with the presidents of Chile and Colombia and the prime minister of Portugal while waiting to meet Rousseff.

At one point, Chavez extended his hand to Clinton, who shook it, smiling. They chatted for a few minutes before moving on to formally greeting Rousseff.

There were no reports on what was said between them.

Chavez on Tuesday reaffirmed his decision to reject diplomat Larry Palmer as President Barack Obama's ambassador-designate to Caracas, and challenged Washington to break off diplomatic relations if it didn't like it.

The State Department responded the following day by revoking the visa of Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez, who was in Venezuela on vacation.

A US State Department spokesman on Wednesday said the visa revocation was an "appropriate, proportional and reciprocal action," recalling that Washington had already warned of "consequences" if Caracas turned down the US ambassadordesignate.

Palmer infuriated Chavez by criticizing his government during Senate confirmation hearings in August. He is still awaiting confirmation by the US Senate.

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

business, the real estate market, the construction industry and yes tourism.

“Yet I believe that despite the challenges, Bermuda can position itself to enjoy a stellar year.”

Mrs Minors announced a new Tourism Board yesterday, which she said she hoped would be a step in the right direction in turning around the industry's decline.

“If we are to succeed, then we must explore and embrace different options if we are to remain viable.

“We have a great opportunity having the twin pillars of our economy under one umbrella in order to ensure that Bermuda reaches and surpasses this success.”

Legal action considered to block sale of BTC

UNIONS representing BTC employees are in talks with their legal team to file suit against the government to block the impending $210 million sale of the telecommunications company, according to the Tribune newspaper in The Bahamas.

Bernard Evans, president of the Bahamas Communications Public Officers Union, said that the unions are prepared to do all they can to prevent the utility company from being privatised.

"We did have communication with our legal team, but nothing is finalised. All options are on the table there is nothing off the table whatever is required for us to get our message across but nothing has been finalised," said Bernard Evans, president of the BCPOU. He did not confirm or deny tabloid reports that the unions had retained lawyer Maurice Glinton to file court papers this week in an attempt to stop government's sale.

"Anything that we can do to stop the sale, within the law, we will do," was all Mr Evans would say.

The BCPOU along with the Bahamas Communications Public Managers Union are opposed to the sale of 51 per cent of BTC to London-based Cable & Wireless. They are calling on government to instead find a Bahamian consortium to purchase the majority stake in the company.

"Bahamians are qualified to run and stay abreast of technology and if the government has to divest (majority shares in BTC) as the WTO (World Trade Organisation) may be forcing them to do or other external factors forcing them - but they can do better than Cable & Wireless," Mr Evans told The Tribune.

BTC's unions staged several protests last year in opposition to the sale and there was speculation that workers may have called in sick or performed poorly yesterday as further protest.

Government signed a memorandum of understanding with C&W on December 2, 2010 and are expected to table the document when Parliament resumes on January, 19.

Parliament will have to approve the sale before it is finalised.

Page 35

GOP takes charge: New Speaker Boehner leads House

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

WASHINGTON – Claiming power beneath the Capitol dome, resurgent Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives on Wednesday as the 112th Congress convened in an era of economic uncertainty. Dozens of tea partybacked lawmakers took office in both houses, eager to cut spending and reduce government's reach.

"The people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin carrying out their instructions," said newly elected House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, replacing Democrat Nancy Pelosi and transformed instantly into the nation's most powerful Republican in a new era of divided government.

Both the House and the Senate convened at the constitutionally mandated hour of noon for a day of pageantry and bipartisan flourishes that contrasted sharply with the fierceness of the midterm elections that set the new roll of lawmakers.

In the Senate, where Democrats retain control, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada selected retired Republican Sen. Paul Laxalt to accompany him when he took the oath for a new term. In the House, children and grandchildren squirmed in the laps of their elders, less than transfixed at the historic events unfolding around them.

Republicans hold a 242-193 conservatives' majority in the House and have pledged to challenge President Barack Obama both with legislation and with their power to investigate. The first salvo is expected next week, a bill to repeal the sweeping health care law that Democrats pushed to passage 10 months ago and have vowed to defend.

Reid signaled as much, and more, in a speech marking the beginning of a new two-year Congress. "We have to do even more to help middle-class families, to create jobs, to hasten our energy independence, to improve our children's education and to fix our broken immigration system," he said.

Within a few hours of the opening gavel, Democrats unveiled a plan to limit the ability of Republicans to filibuster their legislation. No resolution is expected for weeks.

Sixteen blocks away, Obama seemed content to renew old battles in some areas at the same time he calls for bipartisanship in others. The White House resubmitted numerous appointments left over from 2010 for

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Outgoing US speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi and newly elected US Speaker of the House John Boehner

Senate confirmation, including four nominees for federal judgeships blocked by Republicans last year.

Senate Republicans gained six seats in last fall's elections, and their leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said the voters had made it clear they "want lawmakers to cut Washington, tackle the debt, rein in government and to help create the right conditions for private sector growth."

The day's events unfolded as the economy, which was the dominant issue in the elections, showed signs of increased strength as it emerges from the worst recession in eight decades.

Even so, unemployment remains at nearly 10 percent, a historically high level, and a problem that politicians of both parties have vowed to tackle.

Additionally, instead of merely opposing Obama's every proposal, as they did in 2009 and 2010, House Republicans in particular must compromise with him if they are to show results in their drive to cut spending. Yet their eagerness to vote quickly on repealing the health care bill is in line with a no-compromise position articulated by the tea party forces that helped propel many GOP challengers to victory.

For his part, Obama will be forced to compromise with Republicans, much as he did in last month's lame duck session of Congress when compromise legislation was approved to avert an increase in income taxes, enact a cut in Social Security taxes and extend jobless benefits for the long-

term unemployed.

"The big changes today are of course happening across the dome," McConnell said in his remarks, "and I'd like to welcome the many new Republican members of Congress who've come to Washington to change the way things are done around here."

With that, he walked across the Capitol to witness Boehner's moment of triumph.

Given to displays of emotion, Boehner paused to dab at his eyes with a handkerchief as he made his way to the speaker's rostrum. His was an unlikely ascension, capping two decades in Congress in which the 61year-old Ohioan held and then lost a leadership position when Republicans were last in a majority. He re-emerged as leader of a dispirited minority in 2006.

Unlike Newt Gingrich, whose style bordered on frenetic when he led Republicans to power in 1994, Boehner has been careful to strike a humbler pose as he works to keep faith with the anti-government voters who supported the party's candidates.

"The American people have humbled us. They have refreshed our memories as to just how temporary the privilege to serve is. They have reminded us that everything here is on loan from them. This includes this gavel," he said, as outgoing Speaker Pelosi handed over a gavel that symbolized his authority.

On their first day in power, House Republicans pushed through a series of

rules changes they said would make the House more accessible to the public and enhance the rights of minority lawmakers.

The Thursday agenda includes cutting funding of lawmakers' offices, committees' budgets and leadership staff by 5 percent, for a savings estimated at $35 million.

The first volley in Obama's direction is expected next week, when Republicans advance a bill to repeal the health care overhaul that Democrats passed last March after months of struggle.

After four years of wielding power, Pelosi sat with a smile frozen on her face and a granddaughter, Madeleine, on her lap during a lengthy roll call of lawmakers that sealed Boehner's election as speaker.

Republicans had turned her into a political target during the campaign, and her decision to return as minority leader caused grumbling among Democrats that was evident when 19 of them declined to support her for speaker. A 20th, Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, pointedly skipped the day's events.

In the moments before she handed Boehner the gavel, Pelosi listed the benefits the Democrats claim for the health care bill Republicans want to repeal, saying "children with preexisting conditions can get coverage" and seniors pay less for their prescription drugs.

There were personal milestones aplenty during the day.

Rep. Allen West, a conservative Republican from Florida, became the first member of his party to join the Congressional Black Caucus in more than a decade. And Sen. Barbara Mikulski, a liberal Democrat from Maryland, took the oath for a fifth term and became the longest-serving woman in Senate history.

There were 94 new House members in all including 85 Republicans, many of them helped to victory in last fall's elections by tea party supporters. Sixteen newcomers took the oath of office in the Senate, most of them Republican, as well.

Among them was Rand Paul of Kentucky, whose victory in last year's Republican primary was an early indications of the fed-up-withgovernment mood that ultimately swept the Democrats from power in the House and eroded their strength in the Senate.

Page 36

US sending 1,400 more Marines to Afghanistan

WORLD NEWS

WASHINGTON – The United States is sending an additional 1,400 Marines to southern Afghanistan to help counter a Taliban offensive ahead of mandated US troop reductions, a Pentagon official said on Thursday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates had "approved additional Marine forces to southern Afghanistan to exploit and consolidate gains already achieved and apply pressure on the enemy during the winter campaign," Pentagon spokesman Colonel David

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Lapan said.

The Wall Street Journal Thursday reported that combat forces could start arriving in Afghanistan as early as midJanuary and that commanders were considering an even larger boost of up to an additional 3,000 troops.

President Barack Obama last month said the US war plan in Afghanistan was "on track," but warned that gains won by his surge strategy at a heavy human cost were fragile and reversible.

That assessment came one year after Obama announced both a surge of 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan and the conditions-based troop drawdown beginning in July 2011.

The new Marine deployment is seen as a surprise given the preparations for withdrawals by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan, where a war against Taliban insurgents has dragged on for more than nine years, with nearly 2,300 coalition deaths, about two-thirds of

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to leave

WASHINGTON - White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, one of President Barack Obama's closest aides, said on Wednesday he will resign and become an outside adviser for Obama's re-election campaign in a major staff shake-up.

Gibbs, 39, a fierce defender of the president at White House news briefings, told reporters he will leave in early February.

A successor to Gibbs is expected to be named within the next couple of weeks. The short list includes Vice President Joe Biden's top spokesman, Jay Carney, and two of Gibbs' deputies, Bill Burton and Josh Earnest.

Obama also is in discussions on whether to retain Pete Rouse as White House chief of staff or bring in J.P. Morgan Chase executive William Daley

for the job. A decision may come this week.

In a sign that Obama may be getting close to a decision, Daley was at the White House on Wednesday for talks with Obama and other officials.

Daley was commerce secretary for President Bill Clinton and administration sources said he is believed to be prepared to accept the job if it is offered.

In addition, Obama is expected to announce on Friday the members of his new economic team, including the chief of the National Economic Council. Treasury Department aide Gene Sperling appears to have the inside track for that job.

"You'll be seeing announcements in due course," Obama told the New York Times. "Obviously, we've got a lot of work to do. The American people are

Elizabeth Edwards leaves husband John out of will

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. – The will Elizabeth Edwards signed days before her death last month made no mention of her estranged husband and two-time presidential candidate John Edwards.

The document Elizabeth Edwards signed Dec. 1, six days before her death, also named her eldest child, lawyer Cate Edwards, as the executor of her estate.

In the will, filed in Orange County Superior Court in North Carolina, Edwards left personal effects, furniture, automobiles and other property to be divided among her children — Cate, 12year-old Emma Claire and 10-year-old Jack.

Other documents valued Elizabeth Edwards' estate at $496,000 in cash, securities, household furnishings, vehicles and ownership in businesses. She also owned real estate worth an additional $1 million, and she controlled a trust that may hold more assets that do not have to be disclosed in court.

A death certificate said she died from the incurable breast cancer that returned in 2007 as John Edwards campaigned for the presidency.

The cancer was first diagnosed in 2004, a day after the Democratic ticket that included John Edwards as the vice presidential candidate lost to George W. Bush.

John and Elizabeth Edwards separated early last year after 32 years of marriage. John Edwards admitted he fathered a child during an affair with a former campaign worker.

The Edwardses had several tumultuous years leading up to her death, struggling through his

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

John and Elizabeth Edwards

admission of the affair and eventual acknowledgment that he'd fathered a child with his mistress in the middle of his 2008 presidential campaign. Elizabeth Edwards said she worked for two years trying to reinvent her role as a spouse before making the difficult decision to separate from him.

The Edwardses were law school sweethearts who married just days after they took the bar exam together in the summer of 1977. They had four children together, including a son who died at age 16. Although the couple had separated, John Edwards was at her side around the clock as her health deteriorated. He did not speak at her funeral.

them Americans.

US commanders are under pressure to show clear security gains in Afghanistan in 2011 and successfully counter any upswing in Taliban attacks in the spring, lest the Pentagon's war strategy be seen as flawed.

There are currently some 97,000 American personnel in Afghanistan.

Officials said the new Marines would not put the total number of US combat forces above the limit authorized by the president, according to the Journal.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs

expecting us to hit the ground running and start working with this new Congress to promote job growth and keep the recovery going."

Gibbs departure comes after senior adviser David Axelrod and deputy chief of staff Jim Messina left the White House to work on what could be a difficult re-election campaign for Obama as he seeks to convince Americans he deserves another term despite a stubbornly high 9.8 percent jobless rate.

Gibbs, a veteran of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, said at his Wednesday briefing, that the press secretary job is relentless and that it was time to see his family more.

"There is no doubt that this is a tough place to work," Gibbs said. "It's time to take a little break.

"There's a little boy who probably needs a ride to school every now and then," he said, referring to his young son.

Gibbs is expected to remain in Obama's inner circle of political advisers, appear on television on Obama's behalf and make the Democratic argument against Obama's 2012 Republican challengers.

Gibbs' departure came as no surprise. He spent two years in the high-profile position, which has a high-burnout rate due to the long work hours.

"In an age of televised briefings, two years is about right for a press secretary," said Martha Joynt Kumar, a political scientist at Towson University who studies White House communications.

In a statement, Obama called Gibbs a close friend and adviser and said "it's natural for him to want to step back, reflect and retool."

"That brings up some challenges and opportunities for the White House -- but it doesn't change the important role that Robert will continue to play on our team," he said.

After Nov. 3 congressional elections that were disastrous for Democrats, Obama is now revamping his team in order to take account of the new Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and their increased numbers in the Senate.

Axelrod is to return to Chicago and help set up the re-election campaign after the president's State of the Union address, which could come as early as Jan. 25.

Page 37

Hawaii’s governor wants to reveal Obama birth info

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

HONOLULU – Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie wants to find a way to release more information about President Barack Obama's Hawaii birth and dispel conspiracy theories that he was born elsewhere.

Abercrombie was a friend of Obama's parents and knew him as a child, and is deeply troubled by the effort to cast doubt on the president's citizenship.

The newly elected governor will ask the state attorney general's office about what can be done to put an end to questions about Obama's birth documentation from Aug. 4, 1961, spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said.

"He had a friendship with Mr. Obama's parents, and so there is a personal issue at hand," Dela Cruz said. "Is it going to be done immediately? No, the first thing on our list is the economy."

It's unclear what Abercrombie could do because Hawaii's privacy laws have long barred the release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who doesn't have a tangible interest.

Hawaii's health director said last year and in 2008 that she had seen and

WORLD NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie

verified Obama's original vital records, and birth notices in two Honolulu newspapers were published within days of Obama's birth at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu.

So-called "birthers" claim Obama is ineligible to be president because they say there's no proof he was born in the United States, with many of the skeptics questioning whether he was actually born in Kenya, his father's home country.

"What bothers me is that some people who should know better are trying to use this for political reasons," Abercrombie told the Los Angeles Times last week. "Maybe I'm the only one in the country that could look you right in the eye right now and tell you, 'I was here when that baby was born.'"

The Obama campaign issued a certificate of live birth in 2008, an official document from the state showing the president's birth date, city and name, along with his parents' names and races. The certificate doesn't list the name of the hospital where he was born or the physician who delivered him, information collected by the state as part of its vital records.

Abercrombie, originally from New York, befriended Obama's parents at the University of Hawaii after he moved here in 1959, the same year the islands became a state.

Abercrombie, 72, has said he remembers seeing Obama as a child with his parents at social events, although he acknowledged that he didn't see his parents with their newborn son at the hospital.

The number of requests for

Obama's birth information increased this month as the Obama family prepared to vacation in Hawaii.

The Department of Health had received 27 requests for the president's birth information this month as of last Thursday, up from 16 in November, said spokeswoman Janice Okubo.

Information requests rose despite a new state law allowing officials to ignore persistent and repetitive inquiries, a law that has been used about six times by the department, Okubo said.

"It's just a few people, and some of their requests are the same," she said.

"The requests fluctuate from month to month."

Nearly all birth certificate information seekers are from the mainland United States, with requests rarely coming from Hawaii residents, said Cathy Takase, acting director for the state Office of Information Practices.

Takase usually responds to appeals for Obama's birth records by telling requesters that the information they're seeking is contained in records protected by statute.

Rousseff sworn in as Brazil’s new president

From torture in a dictatorship-era jail cell to the helm of Latin America's largest nation, it's been an unlikely political rise for President Dilma Rousseff, a former Marxist rebel turned career technocrat who claimed Brazil's seat of power on Saturday, January 1st, 2011.

In becoming the country's 36th president, Rousseff pulled off a feat nearly unthinkable a year ago when the relative unknown was tapped by thenPresident Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to be the ruling Workers Party candidate.

She swept into office on the back of Silva's near universal adoration in Brazil.

"I am going to consolidate the transformative work done by President Lula," said Rousseff, 63, during a 40-minute inaugural address. "He changed the way the government is run and led the people to trust in themselves."

Silva left office as the nation's most popular president, with an approval rating that hit 87 percent in his last week. Rousseff served during both of his four-year terms, first as energy minister and then as chief of staff.

After signing the oath of office in Congress, Rousseff traveled to the presidential palace, where Silva removed his sash and placed it over her head as thousands of onlookers cheered. Silva, always emotional, hugged several ministers and aides as he left by car to begin the journey to civilian life at his private home near Sao Paulo.

Silva, who broke barriers by becoming Brazil's first working-class president, could not resist one last dive into the crowds. He was unable to hold back sobs as his wife, Marisa, tried in vain to comb his hair for photos.

Rousseff, known for her tough demeanor, also teared up as she said goodbye to her political mentor and returned to the palace.

In her inaugural address, Rousseff paid homage to Silva and the advances Brazil made under his watch.

His social programs and wealth redistribution helped pull 20 million people out of poverty. Once on the brink of a sovereign default in 2002, the nation now lends money to the International

needed tax and social security Monetary Fund. Unemployment is at a record low, and the currency reforms passed. The country's has more than doubled against the education system lags, as does its U.S. dollar. Brazil will host the infrastructure — which could 2014 World Cup and is expected to hamper the World Cup and be the world's fifth-largest Olympics. Economic advances economy by the time the 2016 could be threatened by Olympics come to the nation. bottlenecks of poor roads and While proud of those gains, railways that transport raw goods Rousseff said this is no time to to the coast for shipment abroad. relax.

Rousseff has acknowledged "There is still poverty shaming all these issues, but offered few our country," she said. "I will not details on how they would be rest while there are Brazilians solved. without food on their table, The president — whose homeless in the streets and poor managerial manner as chief of children abandoned to their luck." staff earned her the moniker "Iron Rousseff referenced those of Lady," a name she has said she her generation who fought and detests — lacks Silva's charisma, President Dilma Rousseff died at the hands of the 1964-85 military dictatorship. Rousseff was and her election didn't generate part of an armed rebel group for three years before the same excitement that his did. being arrested and imprisoned in 1970. She spent Few expect her to change many of Silva's three years in jail, during which time she was policies — which portends a good kind of boring, brutally tortured. Eleven women who were jailed said Alexandre Barros of the Early Warning political with her were special guests at the inauguration. risk group in Brasilia.

"That at times tough path made me value and "Dilma represents a great novelty in Brazil," he love life much more," Rousseff said during her said. "Before, every new government brought with it speech. "It gave me, more than anything else, huge uncertainty. Everybody would shout about how courage to confront even bigger challenges. It's with Brazil was going to ruins. But now, with Rousseff, this courage that I'm going to govern Brazil." no. She represents what we've already seen."

A heavy rain swept over the capital, Brasilia, as Francisca Guimaraes, a 55-year-old subsistence Rousseff arrived at the Congress in a 1953 Rolls farmer from Maranhao state, said she traveled three Royce, waving out the window to the crowd. Her days by bus to attend the inauguration and believes security detail included six young women, clad in Rousseff "will be a warrior for the poor." black and running alongside the car through the But when asked about Silva, Guimaraes' eyes downpour. welled with tears and she acknowledged that perhaps Wearing a white skirt and matching jacket, she she traveled to Brasilia more to say goodbye to him took the oath of office alongside Vice President than to welcome Rousseff.

Michel Temer.

"I feel great sadness with Lula's leaving, my heart Rousseff now takes on the formidable task of is shrinking. He was the first leader who was good to maintaining the momentum built up during the eight the poor," Guimaraes said. "I hope Lula taught Dilma years under Silva. how to help the poor. We need her to have the caring Her predecessor did not manage to get badly heart of a mother if we are to succeed."

Page 38

Hungary takes over EU presidency WORLD NEWS

Hungary has taken the helm of the European Union, even as a controversial new law that has sparked concerns over media freedom in the country comes into force.

The country will have the six-month rotating presidency at a crucial time for the 27-nation bloc. Chief amongst the issues Hungary will have to grapple with are the eurozone debt crisis and negotiations over the EU's long-term budget.

Alarm bells are ringing in Brussels, however, about Hungary's domestic political agenda.

Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, came to power in April, when his centre-right Fidesz party won an unprecedented two-thirds majority in the parliament, giving him the power to change laws and amend the constitution with little opposition.

Critics say he has set about creating a one-party state, with independent institutions either abolished or taken over by his allies.

The latest issue to raise alarm among other EU countries has been the creation of a new watchdog agency to regulate Hungarian media content, with effect from Saturday.

The new authority will be headed by members of Orban's Fidesz party, and will have the right to inspect media equipment and documents, and to force journalists to reveal their sources on issues related to national security.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has criticised the law as a danger to press freedom. The European Parliament has also spoken out against the move, as have individual countries, including Germany.

"The newly created media authority will receive an exceptionally wide power and it will be able to control all kinds of media outlets, not only the electronic media like TV and radio stations but also the printed press and the Internet," Marton Nehez-Posony, a media law expert, told Al Jazeera.

Regardless of domestic concerns, Hungary's biggest challenge as EU president will be to manage the euro zone debt crisis.

The country will oversee the launch of highly delicate talks about the EU budget from 2014-2020, which looks set to pit rich countries such as Britain, France and Germany against poorer eastern members.

The UK has publicly called for the EU budget to be frozen at current levels, in light of the global financial crisis.

Another potentially divisive issue will be the possible enlargement of Europe's "Schengen" visa-free travel zone.

Romania and Bulgaria, supported by Hungary, hope to join the area in March 2011, but France and Germany have decided to block their membership bids.

One of the big events of the presidency will be the second Eastern Partnership Summit in Budapest in May. The goal of the partnership, launched by the EU in 2009, is to develop economic and political relations between the bloc and six former Soviet Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Hungary also hopes to advance Croatia's bid to join the EU. Hungary narrowly escaped bankruptcy in late 2008 thanks to a 20bn euro bailout package from the EU and the International Monetary Fund. In return, the country pledged to reduce its deficit from over 9 per cent of gross domestic product in 2006 to below 3 per cent in 2011.

In order to do so, however, Orban will walk a political and financial tightrope, as he was elected on promises to cut taxes.

So far, he has ordered the nationalisation of Hungary's private pension funds' assets, and levied "crisis" taxes on the banking, telecommunications, energy and retail sectors.

The EU and IMF have said these measures are too short-term in nature.

Jailed sisters freed but must trade kidney TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JACKSON, Miss. – A South Dakota governor once commuted the sentences of 36 criminals — on the condition they leave his state. In Florida, a convict was told in the 1990s to move to Maryland in order to be set free.

Governors granting early releases have sometimes imposed unusual conditions.

But as far as anyone can tell, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour may be the first to require an inmate to give up a kidney to her sister.

The unusual agreement has alarmed some experts, who have raised legal and ethical questions. Among them: If it turns out the sisters aren't a good tissue match, does that mean the healthy one goes back to jail?

"All of the 'What if' questions are, at this point, purely hypothetical," Barbour said in a statement from his office. "We'll deal with those situations if they actually happen."

And Barbour said, the inmate wants to try to save her sister's life.

Barbour's decision to suspend the life sentences of Jamie and Gladys Scott was applauded by civil rights organizations and the women's attorney, who have long said the sentences were too harsh for the crime.

The sisters are black, and their case has been a cause celebre in the state's AfricanAmerican community.

After 16 years in prison, Jamie Scott, 36, is on daily dialysis, which officials say costs the state about $200,000 a year.

Barbour agreed to release her because of her medical condition, but 38-year-old Gladys Scott's release order says one of the conditions she must meet is to donate the kidney within one year.

The idea to donate the kidney was Gladys Scott's and she volunteered to do it in her petition for early release.

National NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous thanked Barbour on Thursday after meeting him at the state capital in Jackson, calling his decision "a shining example" of the way a governor should use the power of clemency.

Others aren't so sure.

Arthur Caplan, the director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, has studied transplants and their legal and ethical ramifications for about 25 years. He said he's never heard of anything like this.

Even though Gladys Scott proposed the idea in her petition for an early release and volunteered to donate the organ, Caplan said, it is against the law to buy and sell organs or to force people to give one up.

"When you volunteer to give a kidney, you're usually free and clear to change your mind right up to the last minute," he said.

"When you put a condition on it that you could go back to prison, that's a pretty powerful incentive."

So what happens if she decides, minutes from surgery, to back off the donation?

"My understanding is that she's committed to doing this. This is something that she came up with," said Barbour's spokesman, Dan Turner. "This is not an idea the governor's office brokered. It's not a quid pro quo."

What happens if medical testing determines that the two are not compatible for a transplant? Turner said the sisters are a blood-type match, but that tests to determine

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

Sisters Gladys(R) and Jamie Scott.

tissue compatibility still need to be done.

If they don't match, or if she backs out, will she be heading back to prison?

Legally, there should be no problems since Gladys Scott volunteered to donate the kidney, said George Cochran, a professor at the University of Mississippi School of Law who specializes in constitutional matters.

"You have a constitutional right to body integrity, but when you consent (to donate an organ) you waive that" right, he said.

Other experts said the sisters' incarceration and their desire for a transplant operation are two separate matters and should not be tied together.

Dr. Michael Shapiro, chief of organ transplants at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey and the chair of the ethics committee at the United Network for Organ Sharing, said the organ transplant should not be a condition of release.

"The simple answer to that is you can't pay someone for a kidney," Shapiro said. "If the governor is trading someone 20 years for a kidney, that might potentially violate the valuable consideration clause" in federal regulations.

That clause is meant to prohibit the buying or selling of organs, and Shapiro said the Scott sisters' situation could violate that rule because it could be construed as trading a thing of value — freedom from prison — for an organ.

Whatever the legal or ethical implications of Barbour's decision, it thrust him back into the spotlight, after his recent comments in a magazine article about growing up in the segregated South struck some as racially insensitive.

In the article, Barbour explained that the public schools in his hometown of Yazoo City didn't see the violence that other towns did, and attributed that to the all-white Citizens Council in Mississippi.

Some critics said he glossed over the group's role in segregation. He later said he wasn't defending the group.

The Scott sisters' attorney, Chokwe Lumumba, said people have asked if Barbour, who is mentioned as a potential presidential contender in 2012, suspended their sentences for political reasons.

"My guess is he did," Lumumba said, but he still said the governor did the right thing.

Mississippi Rep. George Flaggs, an outspoken Democrat in the state legislature and an African-American, scoffed at suggestions that Barbour's motive was political and said the decision wasn't an attempt to gloss over the magazine comments.

Flaggs said Barbour suspended the sentences "not only to let this woman out of prison, but to save her life.

"If she doesn't get a kidney, she's going to die," he said.

Page 39

Texan declared innocent after 30 years in prison

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

WORLD NEWS

DALLAS – A Texas man declared innocent Tuesday after 30 years in prison had at least two chances to make parole and be set free — if only he would admit he was a sex offender.

But Cornelius Dupree Jr. refused to do so, doggedly maintaining his innocence in a 1979 rape and robbery, in the process serving more time for a crime he didn't commit than any other Texas inmate exonerated by DNA evidence.

"Whatever your truth is, you have to stick with it," Dupree, 51, said Tuesday, minutes after a Dallas judge overturned his conviction.

Nationally, only two others exonerated by DNA evidence spent more time in prison, according to the Cornelius Dupree Jr., center, raises his hands in celebration with his lawyer Nina Morrison, left, Innocence Project, a New York legal and attorney Barry Scheck in Dallas on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011. Dupree served 30 years for rape and center that specializes in wrongful robbery before being exonerated by DNA evidence. conviction cases and represented Dupree. James Bain was wrongly recently as 2004. He was set to be from prison. Texas has freed 41 imprisoned for 35 years in Florida, and released and thought he was going wrongly convicted inmates through Lawrence McKinney spent more than home, until he learned he first would DNA since 2001 — more than any have to attend a sex offender treatment other state.

31 years in a Tennessee prison.

Dallas County's record of DNA Dupree was sentenced to 75 years program.

Those in the program had to go exonerations — Dupree is No. 21 — is in prison in 1980 for the rape and robbery of a 26-year-old Dallas through what is known as the "four unmatched nationally because the woman a year earlier. He was released R's." They are recognition, remorse, county crime lab maintains biological in July on mandatory supervision, and restitution and resolution, said Jim evidence even decades after a lived under house arrest until October. Shoemaker, who served two years with conviction, leaving samples available About a week after his release, DNA Dupree in the Boyd Unit south of to test. In addition, Watkins, the DA, has cooperated with innocence groups test results came back proving his Dallas.

"He couldn't get past the first in reviewing hundreds of requests by innocence in the sexual assault.

A day after his release, Dupree part," said Shoemaker, who drove up inmates for DNA testing.

Watkins, the first black district married his fiancee, Selma. The couple from Houston to attend Dupree's attorney in Texas history, has also met two decades ago while he was in hearing.

Shoemaker said he spent years pointed to what he calls "a convict-atprison.

His exoneration hearing was talking to Dupree in the prison all-costs mentality" that he says delayed until Tuesday while recreation yard, and always believed permeated his office before he arrived in 2007. authorities retested the DNA and made his innocence.

"I got a lot of flak from the guys At least a dozen other exonerated sure it was a match to the victim.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig on the block," Shoemaker said. "But I former inmates from the Dallas area Watkins supported Dupree's innocence always believed him. He has a quiet, who collectively served more than 100 peaceful demeanor." years in prison upheld a local tradition claim.

Under Texas compensation laws by attending the hearing and welcoming Looking fit and trim in a dark suit, Dupree stood through most of the short for the wrongly imprisoned, Dupree is the newest member of their unfortunate hearing, until state district Judge Don eligible for $80,000 for each year he fraternity. One of them, James Giles, Adams told him, "You're free to go." was behind bars, plus a lifetime presented Dupree with a $100 bill as a One of Dupree's lawyers, Innocence annuity. He could receive $2.4 million way to get his life restarted.

At one point, Scheck pointed out Project Co-Director Barry Scheck, in a lump sum that is not subject to federal income tax. that eyewitness misidentification — the called it "a glorious day."

The compensation law, the nation's most common cause of wrongful "It's a joy to be free again," Dupree most generous, was passed in 2009 by convictions — was the key factor that said.

This latest wait was nothing for the Texas Legislature after dozens of sent Dupree to prison. The attorney then Dupree, who was up for parole as wrongly convicted men were released asked how many of the others were

wrongly imprisoned because an eyewitness mistakenly identified them.

A dozen hands went in the air.

Not in attendance Tuesday was Dupree's accused accomplice, Anthony Massingill, who was convicted in the same case and sentenced to life in prison on another sexual assault. The same DNA testing that cleared Dupree also cleared Massingill. He says he is innocent, but remains behind bars while authorities test DNA in the second case.

Dupree was 20 when he was arrested in December 1979 while walking to a party with Massingill.

Authorities said they matched the description of a different rape and robbery that had occurred the previous day.

Police presented their pictures in a photo array to the victim. She picked out Massingill and Dupree. Her male companion, who also was robbed, did not pick out either man when showed the same photo lineup.

Dupree was convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. According to court documents, the woman and her male companion stopped at a Dallas liquor store in November 1979 to buy cigarettes and use a payphone. As they returned to their car, two men, at least one of whom was armed, forced their way into the vehicle and ordered them to drive. They also demanded money from the two victims.

The men eventually ordered the car to the side of the road and forced the male driver out of the car. The woman attempted to flee but was pulled back inside.

The perpetrators drove the woman to a nearby park, where they raped her at gunpoint. They debated killing her but eventually let her live, keeping her rabbit-fur coat and her driver's license and warning her they would kill her if she reported the assault to police. The victim ran to the nearest highway and collapsed unconscious by the side of the road, where she was discovered.

Dupree was convicted and spent the next three decades appealing. The Court of Criminal Appeals turned him down three times.

China launches car quota to counter gridlock

BEIJING -- For thousands of hopeful commuters in China's capital, 2011 started with a click not a bang.

Residents hoping to snap up Beijing car license plate numbers under the debut of a quota system aimed at easing paralyzing traffic logged onto a website that launched in the first moments of the new year. Within 10 minutes, 6,000 people had successfully claimed a new plate number, the Beijing Daily newspaper reported.

The new system aims to reduce the number of cars in the notoriously gridlocked capital. The city will only allow 240,000 new car registrations in 2011 - two-thirds less than last year and is parceling them out via the monthly online lottery.

The city now has 4.76 million vehicles, compared to 2.6 million in

2005.

A global survey conducted last year by IBM said Beijing is tied with Mexico City for the world's worst commute. Worries are growing that Beijing is choking itself for future growth as it gets more difficult to move people and goods around the city.

Nearly 70 percent of Beijing drivers told the IBM survey they had run into traffic so bad they've turned around at least once and gone home.

Some netizens have joked that the new system won't bring much relief and have mocked the web address,http://www.bjhjyd.com, which stands for "Beijing Huanjie Yongdu," or "Beijing Eases Congestion." Some say the same letters could also be short for "Beijing Haiyao Yongdu" or "Beijing Will Still Be Gridlocked."

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Starbucks gives logo a new look TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Starbucks Corp. is giving its siren a facelift.

The world's largest coffee company unveiled a new logo Wednesday that drops the words encircling its iconic sea nymph and gives her a few subtle updates.

Starbucks says the changes amount to more than nips and tucks to its favorite lady. The fresh look goes with a new direction for the company as it makes its way back from its toughest times in its 40-year history.

Prior versions of the logo helped build Starbucks into one of the world's best recognized brands, and the company felt it no longer needed to reinforce its name at every turn. The new wordless logo also is better suited to the company's expansion beyond coffee into a wider array of business lines and into more international markets.

Starbucks revealed the logo Wednesday to a cheering crowd of employees in its Seattle offices and on a webcast and plans to bring it to stores in March to coincide with the company's 40th anniversary.

"What is really important here is an evolutionary refinement of the logo, which is a mirror image of the strategy," said Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks. "This is not just, let's wake up one day and change our logo."

This is the fourth version of Starbucks' logo since the company's beginnings as a small coffee, tea and spice shop in Seattle in 1971. The first update came in 1987, taking the original bare-breasted siren in brown to a more stylized -- and modest -version in green as the company began to expand. The image was further

Starbuscks an illustrated history of their logo

refined in the 1990s as the company went public and its growth soared.

Starbucks eventually suffered from its own success. It grew too far, too fast and began drawing criticism that it had become the Wal-Mart of coffee. Its luster further faded as the recession hit and consumers drank coffee at home or went to lower-priced competitors like McDonald's Corp., which had upped their coffee offerings. The coffee's giant's sales and stock price both fell.

Starbucks brought back founder Schultz to lead daily operations in 2008, closed hundreds of stores and cut jobs. It reemphasized training for employees, allowed customers to customize drinks more, opened stores with more local flavor, increased its Wi-Fi offerings and launched a rewards program.

Its sales have rebounded, and its fiscal 2010 profit was more than double what it earned in 2009.

"We learned the hard way two and a half years ago that we have to earn it every day," Schultz told employees Wednesday.

The company also expanded its product lines -- introducing Via, its first instant coffee. It increased its emphasis on beans, ice cream and other packaged goods sold in grocery stores. And it put a big push on its other business lines like Tazo tea and Seattle's Best Coffee. Starbucks ramped up its plans for international markets, like China, where it now has 400 stores on the mainland and plans to open hundreds more in coming years.

"We're sitting today with record revenue, record profit; the stock price

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

is at a five-year high. This isn't an accident," Schultz said.

Starbucks leaders say the changes to the logo are in some ways a metaphor for the company dropping the boundaries of its own business and growing into new areas. Marketing experts agree.

"The brand is now evolving to a point where the coffee association is too confining and restrictive," said John Quelch, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School. "Starbucks is fundamentally selling an experience, but by no means is coffee the only part of the experience. It is important that they not have a logo that is too confining."

Starbucks looked to companies like Nike Inc. and Apple Inc., which had earned the clout with consumers to drop the words from their logos. And it closely watched the missteps of others, such as Gap Inc., which launched a new logo in October only to withdraw it after harsh criticism by customers and others.

Starbucks sees other changes ahead under its new banner: it's testing a system for customers to order and pay for coffee by mobile phone. It's seeking a way for rewards card holders to earn points buying Starbucks products at grocers or other stores. And it's considering offering beer and wine at night in some of its cafes. Starbucks also suggested it is looking at new food business opportunities, though company officials would not disclose details.

"I've never been more excited about the future of the company, I'll tell you that," Schultz said.

Travel site Expedia stops selling tickets to American Airlines flights amid price dispute

NEW YORK — Expedia Inc. has stopped selling tickets on American Airlines flights, the latest twist in a simmering pricing dispute between American and travel websites.

"Expedia has chosen to no longer offer American Airlines fares on its website," American said in an statement posted on its website.

"Customers looking to compare flights or fares online should visit other travel sites such as Kayak.com or Priceline.com for the most accurate and up-to-date information."

The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline has said that it would like to sell more tickets through its own website, as paying to have its flights listed on sites such as Expedia can be costly. Airlines have to pay a commission every time people search a particular flight, look up a fare or book a trip.

American, which is owned by AMR Corp., also claims it can offer more personalized packages such

as hotel and flight deals to fliers who purchase tickets directly from the airline.

Expedia's removal of American flights marks an escalation in a months-long dispute between the airline and various travel sites. Last month,

American Airlines pulled its flights from travel website Orbitz, saying consumers could just as easily buy tickets from American's website and "we won't have to pay as much for it."

Last week, Expedia made American flights more difficult to find on its website, an apparent response to the airline's decision to drop Orbitz.

Expedia warned that it "cannot support efforts that we believe are fundamentally bad for travelers."

Experts have cautioned that while American might save money in commission fees, its sales will drop if its flights don't appear on travel sites such as Orbitz and Expedia. About a third of Americans book their tickets on independent travel sites.

Analysts have added that only smaller airlines such as Southwest Airlines Co. can get away with selling tickets exclusively on their own websites, as these airlines already have a reputation for offering cheap fares.

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Goldman invests in Facebook at $50 Billion valuation

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

Facebook, the popular social networking site, has raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor in a deal that values the company at $50 billion, according to people involved in the transaction.

The deal makes Facebook now worth more than companies like eBay, Yahoo and Time Warner.

The stake by Goldman Sachs, considered one of Wall Street’s savviest investors, signals the increasing might of Facebook, which has already been bearing down on giants like Google.

The new money will give Facebook more firepower to steal away valuable employees, develop new products and possibly pursue acquisitions — all without being a publicly traded company. The investment may also allow earlier shareholders, including Facebook employees, to cash out at least some of their stakes.

The new investment comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun an inquiry into the increasingly hot private market for shares in Internet companies, including Facebook, Twitter, the gaming site Zynga and LinkedIn, an online professional networking site. Some experts suggest the inquiry is focused on whether certain companies are improperly using the private market to get around public disclosure requirements.

The deal could add pressure on Facebook to go public even as its executives have resisted. The popularity of shares of Microsoft and Google in the private market ultimately pressured them to pursue

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

initial public offerings.

So far, Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has brushed aside the possibility of an initial public offering or a sale of the company. At an industry conference in November, he said on the topic, “Don’t hold your breath.” However, people involved in the fund-raising effort suggest that Facebook’s board has indicated an intention to consider a public offering in 2012.

There has been an explosion in user interest in social media sites. The social buying site Groupon, which recently rejected a $6 billion takeover bid from Google, is in the process of raising as much as $950 million from major institutional investors, at a valuation near $5 billion, according to people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

“When you think back to the early days of Google, they were kind of ignored by Wall Street investors, until it was time to go public,” said Chris Sacca, an angel investor in Silicon Valley who is a former Google employee and an investor in Twitter.

“This time, the Street is smartening up.

They realize there are true growth businesses out here. Facebook has become a real business, and investors are coming out here and saying, ‘We want a piece of it.’ ” The Facebook investment deal is likely to stir up a debate about what the company would be worth in the public market. Though it does not disclose its financial performance, analysts estimate the company is profitable and could bring in as much as $2 billion in revenue annually.

Under the terms of the deal,

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

Goldman has invested $450 million, and Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investment firm that has already sunk about half a billion dollars into Facebook, invested $50 million, people involved in the talks said.

Goldman has the right to sell part of its stake, up to $75 million, to the Russian firm, these people said. For Digital Sky Technologies, the deal means its original investment in Facebook, at a valuation of $10 billion, has gone up fivefold.

Representatives for Facebook, Goldman and Digital Sky Technologies all declined to comment.

Goldman’s involvement means it may be in a strong position to take Facebook public when it decides to do so in what is likely to be a lucrative and prominent deal.

As part of the deal, Goldman is expected to raise as much as $1.5 billion from investors for Facebook at the $50 billion valuation, people involved in the discussions said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the transaction was not supposed to be made public until the fund-raising had been completed.

In a rare move, Goldman is planning to create a “special purpose vehicle” to allow its high-net-worth clients to invest in Facebook, these people said. While the S.E.C. requires companies with more than 499 investors to disclose their financial results to the public, Goldman’s proposed special purpose vehicle may be able get around such a rule because it would be managed by Goldman and considered just one investor, even though it could conceivably be pooling investments from thousands of clients.

It is unclear whether the S.E.C. will look favorably upon the arrangement.

Already, a thriving secondary market exists for shares of Facebook and other private Internet companies.

In November, $40 million worth of Facebook shares changed hands in an auction on a private exchange called SecondMarket. According to SharesPost, Facebook’s value has roughly tripled over the last year, to $42.4 billion. Some investors appear to have bought Facebook shares at a price that implies a valuation of $56 billion. But the credibility of one of Wall Street’s largest names, Goldman, may help justify the company’s worth.

Facebook also surpassed Google as the most visited Web site in 2010, according to the Internet tracking firm Experian Hitwise.

Facebook received 8.9 percent of all Web visits in the United States between January and November 2010. Google’s main site was second with 7.2 percent, followed by Yahoo Mail service, Yahoo’s Web portal and YouTube, part of Google.

For Mr. Zuckerberg, the deal may double his personal fortune, which Forbes estimated at $6.9 billion when Facebook was valued at $23 billion. That would put him in a league with the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who are reportedly worth $15 billion apiece.

Even as Goldman takes a stake in Facebook, its employees may struggle to view what they invested in. Like those at most major Wall Street firms, Goldman’s computers automatically block access to social networking sites, including Facebook.

BlackBerry PlayBook will debut on Sprint's 4G network

At long last, the promised BlackBerry 4G PlayBook tablet is making an appearance. Attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show got a firsthand look at the Research In Motion device.

RIM will come to market with the PlayBook on Sprint Nextel's 4G network sometime this summer. The company is hyping it as the first tablet to include wide area wireless connectivity and Sprint 4G to offer consumers download speeds 10 times faster than 3G, which is what Apple's iPad gets on AT&T's network.

"RIM believes a significant portion of the tablet market will want a higherperforming, multitasking, professional-grade tablet, and that is why we chose to design the BlackBerry PlayBook for premium performance with a powerful dual-core processor and multitasking OS," said Mike Lazaridis, RIM president and co-CEO. Meet the Tablet Competition In what CES organizers have proclaimed the 'year of

the tablet,' RIM is one of many entering the market to take on Apple's iPad. But RIM won't be the first to take a shot at the Mac maker.

"First up at the show will be Microsoft, which is expected to highlight its response to Apple and Android-based tablets by talking about Windows 8," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

"Surrounding this are the Google Android Honeycombbased products built on processor architectures like Nvidia's Tegra 2, which sport dual cores and heavy graphics, and stand-alone products like the Notion Ink Adam and RIM PlayBook."

RIM will also find competition from HewlettPackard. Although HP already put out a Windows-based tablet that didn't get off the ground, the company is reportedly looking to leverage its Palm acquisition with a Palm webOS-based, HPbranded tablet. However, Enderle said a HP Palm tablet could almost immediately

seem obsolete when pitted against the future products being released at virtually the same time.

Does RIM stand a chance in the deluge of tablets being introduced at CES? Is summer too late for an introduction when Apple is likely to have its second-generation iPad out in the spring?

"The key to this battle will be about timing and performance -- earlier vs vastly more powerful -- as much as it will be between

brands and platforms," Enderle said. "Apple is likely to cherrypick from this mess to derive strategic issues for the iPad 2 launch."

When the PlayBook does officially launch, it will be a professional-grade tablet with a portable design that offers true multitasking and HD multimedia as well as advanced security features and out-of-the-box enterprise support. Those last two features could help it compete against Apple in the business

world. RIM is known for its mobile security and enterprise support, and will translate that to its tablet.

So what's the buzz on the PlayBook from CES? Lazaridis said the initial feedback has been outstanding: "Our strategic decision to invest in groundbreaking performance, web fidelity, and an open webbased development environment is resonating extremely well with customers and developers."

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Regional cricket will be shown on ESPN

All regional cricket matches under the auspices of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will now be shown live on the ESPN Caribbean television channel for the next three years.

A source close to the WICB told the Barbados Nation today that a three-year deal with the cable sports giants, has been signed which would help to defray the cost of staging its regional competitions.

As a result, television cricket fans around the region will once again have to tune into ESPN to watch the popular, fast-paced Caribbean Twenty20 competition which bowls off on

Monday in Antigua with a double header at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.

ESPN Caribbean will show all 23 matches of the tournament which involves seven Caribbean teams, along with the three invited sides, Canada and English counties, Hampshire and Somerset.

“In addition to the matches on ESPN they will be shown LIVE in the UK on Euro Sport, so the deal is a better one for the overall viewership capacity of the tournament,” the source said.

While Sky Sports already has the rights to show the Digicel international

Sir Viv and Lara in fans’ ICC ODI dream team

L-R: Sir Vivian Richards and Brian Lara

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Legendary West Indies captain Sir Vivian Richards and prodigious left-hander Brian Lara are the only two West Indians voted to an alltime One-Day International (ODI) dream team to commemorate the 40th anniversary of ODIs. Sir Viv, one of the most devastating batsmen of the 1980s era, and Lara, who dominated the contemporary game, were selected to an XI from a shortlist of 48 players, by fans from nearly 100 countries who voted on the International Cricket Council website.

They were both named in a middle order along with Australian captain Ricky Ponting, with batting prodigy Sachin Tendulkar and Indian counterpart Virender Sehwag, chosen as the openers.

Sir Viv plundered 6721 runs from 187 ODIs at an average of 47, in a career spanning 1975 to 1991. He scored 11 centuries and had a strike rate of 90.

Lara, who quit international cricket four years ago, piled up 10 405 runs from 299 ODIs at an average of 40 and a strike rate of 79. He stroked 19 centuries.

The dream team also comprises Indian legend Kapil Dev as the all-rounder, former Australian shotgun Adam Gilchrist as the wicketkeeper/batsman, with Pakistani leftarmer Wasim Akram, Australian Glen McGrath and South African Allan Donald comprising the seam attack.

Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is the slow bowling option.

Tendulkar, Sehwag and Ponting are the only current players in the squad.

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

home series, until 2012, as part of the arrangement, ESPN will be allowed to show a highlights package.

Following the Antigua leg which ends on January 15, the historic Kensington Oval will host the remaining preliminary round matches between January 18 and 21 as well as the semifinals on January 22 and final on January 23.

But local fans, without the ESPN cable package option have to tune into CBC 94.7 FM radio for live ball-by-ball coverage on the Line & Length Network.

The ESPN’s television coverage

will be hosted by sportscaster Barry Wilkinson and will include for the first time former West Indies pacer Curtly Ambrose, along with Jeffrey Dujon, Courtney Walsh and Fazeer Mohammed for the Antigua leg.

Former West Indies opener Robert Samuels will replace Ambrose for the Barbados leg.

The radio coverage which will also be going worldwide will be anchored by experienced commentator and former CBC radio talk show host, Andrew Mason with analysis by Kenny Benjamin, Wayne Daniel and Hendy Wallace.

Jamaica’s Jermaine Gonzales aims high

LIKE the mythical phoenix, Jamaica's 400metre record-holder Jermaine Gonzales ascended from the ashes last season to cap a phenominal year after being besieged by injuries for most of his senior career.

The unpretentious athlete ended the 2010 term as the No 2-ranked quarter-miler in the world, with his national record run of 44:49 to erase Roxbert Martin's long-standing record being his crowning moment. For the 2011 season, the lanky Gonzales has set the bar even higher and is targeting a sub-44-seconds clocking, the World Championship title and the No 1 world ranking in the quarter-mile.

The former Tacius Golding High School student who has resumed training since undergoing a knee operation at the end of last season, told the Observer in an interview that his aim is to go one step further this year.

"Last season was a great season. Breaking the national record and finishing number two in the world in 400 metres was an amazing achievement for me," he said. "... I have to give God thanks because that has been my best season so far and I'm really looking forward to the next season," he said.

But Gonzales' ambition does not stop there either for the upcoming season, which is expected to be a very active one at the international level. "... I'm looking to go one step further... because I want to finish the season as the number one 400-metres runner and win the World Championship," he declared.

The soft-spoken athlete is also aware that there is room for him to improve in his pet event.

"My aim is always to do better and so I'm looking to run some faster times and the aim for me is 43 as no American has ever run 43 seconds, and that's why I have set that as my objective," he explained.

Well, not exactly.

The 400m world record is 43.18 seconds held by American Michael Johnson, who is now

retired, while Jeremy Wariner — also of the US and the current world No 1 — has a lifetime best of 43.45.

But while Gonzales is cognisant of the hard work that this lofty feat will demand, he also believes he is up for the challenge.

"It's not going to be easy, but I'm hungry for it and I'm working hard and the sky is the limit for me right now," he stated.

The 26-year-old former World Junior bronze medallist over one lap conceded that the surgery he did last season has hampered his preparations this season and doesn't believe he will be fully ready for competition until May. "I was a little slow in my background work because of the surgery, but (training) is picking up now and I'm doing full-time training and it's looking good so far," he explained.

Gonzales, a close friend of world sprint king Usain Bolt, also trains with the local-based Racers Track Club, situated at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies, where the veteran Glen Mills is head coach.

Meanwhile, having had an extremely rough time with injuries in the earlier part of his career, the Jamaican star is wary of returning too soon after the operation.

"I'm... not sure when I will return. I want to take it slow and make sure that it (injury) is completely healed, so I can't say when, but I'm definitely looking to open in the May (JIII) meet, although I might run a couple of races before," he said.

And true to form, Gonzales is expressing gratitude to his fans for their support during his injury-plagued years.

"Jamaica has always been behind me supporting me all the way," he said.

He also had reassuring words for the local fans of track and field. "... I want them to know that as long as you have a healthy Jermaine Gonzales they can expect good performances all the time...

"I just want to thank them for everything and tell them to continue supporting me," he added.

Page 43

Tiger Woods still top earner in golf

JANUARY 7TH - JANUARY 14TH, 2011

LOS ANGELES – Tiger Woods has once again ended a calendar year as golf's top earner, despite suffering a pay-cut of $48 million (31 million pounds) after losing his swing and his marriage and failing to win a single tournament.

The American world No.2, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Thursday, topped Golf Digest magazine’s annual list for 2010 with overall earnings of US$74.2 million.

Of that, only US$2.29 million came from tournament purses with the rest accumulated off-course through endorsements and appearance fees.

Fellow American Phil Mickelson was second with total earnings of $40.18 million, followed by Arnold Palmer ($36 million), Greg Norman fourth ($30 million) and Jack Nicklaus fifth ($25.17 million).

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Tiger Woods

Jim Furyk, who collected a $10 million bonus for winning the PGA Tour’s season-long FedExCup in September, was sixth on $23.58 million.

Other players featuring in the Top

50 included South Africans Ernie Els seventh ($21.5 million) and Gary Player eighth ($15.01 million), Britain’s Lee Westwood ninth ($14.73 million) and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington ($11.61 million).

Overall earnings were compiled by Golf Digest through interviews with agents, players, executives of companies involved with endorsements, industry analysts and also via the official money lists of the leading professional tours.

In 2009, Woods led the standings with a mind-boggling $121.9 million but his earnings have dipped following his unexpected fall from grace after being engulfed by a sex scandal.

The 14-times major champion spent much of 2010 unsuccessfully trying to repair his marriage and also undergoing the fourth swing change of his career.

His troubles led such firms as AT&T and Accenture to end sponsorship deals, costing Woods up to $35 million in annual revenue. He ended his PGA Tour season without a single title for the first time since he turned professional in 1996 and was deposed as world No.1 by Britain’s Lee Westwood on November 1.

However, since Woods joined forces with Canadian swing coach Sean Foley after the PGA Championship in August, his form has steadily improved and he remains the biggest drawcard in the game. He is still paid more than $60 million annually by Nike, Electronic Arts, Procter & Gamble’s Gillette, Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets unit, LVMH Moet Hennessy, Louis Vuitton’s Tag Heuer, Upper Deck and TLC Laser Vision Centres.

Page 44

Jackson says this is his last year coaching INTERNATIONAL SPORTS

Lakers coach Phil Jackson reiterated to reporters that this season will be his last in coaching.

The Lakers coach for 11 years, Jackson contemplated retirement after winning an NBA championship last season and breaking longtime Celtics coach Red Auerbach.

Jackson has a record 11 NBA championships, five of which he has won with the Lakers. Jackson was asked if he'd take time off and return to coaching, to which he responded with a quick "No." "I think I've put in my service time," Jackson, 65, said to reporters.

"I think I've done my due diligence that I set out to do, especially with this organization."

Jackson was brought in by the Lakers in 1999 and won three consecutive NBA championships before leaving in 2004.

His return after the 2005 season has led to back-to-back championships in Los Angeles. He is now vying for the fourth threepeat of his career in his final season of coaching.

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Lakers coach Phil Jackson

NBA seeks to popularize basketball in India

NEW DELHI — The success of N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern’s 25-year crusade to globalize basketball is often summed up in two words: Yao Ming. After Yao, a 7-foot-6 center from Shanghai, was drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2002, the league attracted hundreds of millions of new fans in China. And though Yao is out for the season with a stress fracture that could end his professional career, the N.B.A.’s international march continues.

This season, the league will play its first regular-season games in Europe, a two-game matchup in March between the Nets and the Toronto Raptors in London. And having conquered China, the N.B.A. has its sights fixed on Asia’s other big emerging market: India.

Like China, India has a rapidly expanding middle class with newfound leisure time and disposable income, factors that Heidi Ueberroth, the president of N.B.A. International, says make the country ripe for new forms of entertainment.

“There is a growing appetite for sports and entertainment and more options in India,” she said.

In a nation where cricket is an obsession, other sports have struggled to find an audience. Cricket’s popularity has been reinforced by the Indian Premier League, which began in 2008. I.P.L. teams play Twenty20, a faster-paced game that has attracted younger fans and billions of dollars in corporate sponsorship.

But in part because the I.P.L. has proved that city-based sports franchises can succeed in India, many sports are betting that they will be able to find new fans and corporate backers here.

“The race is now on to become India’s second-most-popular sport,” said Sunder Aaron, the head of Pix, one of two Indian television channels that earlier this month signed a contract to broadcast live games and other N.B.A. programming.

The list of international sports

knocking on India’s door is a long one: Formula One is scheduled to hold its first race in India in 2011. The European Tour of professional golf has held tournaments here. English Premier League soccer, which has a growing following, held a promotional trophy tour in the country this month. And FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, has opened a marketing campaign to sell official merchandise here. Even Major League Baseball has attempted to recruit pitching talent in India.

Ueberroth said that basketball’s popularity could grow rapidly in India because of the sport’s relative simplicity and the fact that a court can be created almost anywhere one can hang a hoop. This gives it an advantage over soccer and cricket, which require open fields. Basketball also requires little specialized equipment.

A core part of the N.B.A.’s expansion strategy in India is increasing grass-roots participation, based on the belief that people who play basketball are also more likely to follow the N.B.A. The league also knows that the more Indians who play basketball, the more likely it is that one day an Indian player will be good enough to make the leap to the N.B.A. — an event that could vastly expand the league’s popularity in the world’s second-most-populous nation.

The Basketball Federation of India, the sport’s governing body, estimates that 4.5 million Indians play the game.

That is a fraction of the country’s 1.2 billion people, but Ueberroth said the N.B.A. suspected the real number was much higher because the federation’s statistics missed players who did not belong to a league.

To try to accelerate basketball’s growth, the N.B.A. dispatched Troy Justice to India in February to serve as its first director of basketball operations in the country. Justice helps run the N.B.A. Mahindra Challenge, a series of youth leagues and tournaments in five Indian cities.

Justice said the N.B.A. saw the young players as the vanguard of the N.B.A.’s efforts. The concept, he said, was to give the country’s teenagers more opportunities to play basketball in a formal setting throughout the year.

“The kids here have the natural ability and the talent, but they are not given the opportunity to develop it,” he said.

In addition to Justice, the league sent the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Pau Gasol on short ambassadorial missions to Mumbai and Delhi in the summer. It also sent two coaches to India to train the men’s and women’s national teams ahead of November’s Asian Games in China. It has created an India-specific portion of NBA.com, featuring postings by two Indian bloggers.

Viewership for the N.B.A. in India has also been rising quickly, but from such a low base that it remains minuscule, said Atul Pande, the chief executive of Ten Sports, which has contracted to broadcast Eastern Conference games. Pande said he thought the audience for a live N.B.A. game would never exceed 200,000 households. The viewership for many I.P.L. cricket matches is in the tens of millions.

“The problem is timing,” he said.

Games played in the Eastern United States are broadcast at 5:30 a.m. or 6:30 a.m. in India.

“It was hard at first to get up and watch the games,” said Karan Madhok, the communications director of India’s federation, who also runs an N.B.A.related blog called Hoopistani, which is featured on the N.B.A. Web site.

“I thought I was the only person in the country watching. But as I’ve started blogging about the N.B.A., I’ve been contacted more and more by other fans, and I realize there are a lot more fans who do it.”

For the N.B.A. to reach critical mass among Indian sports fans, many

say, will require what Madhok calls a Yao Ming moment. In other words, India is waiting to see a homegrown star make it in the N.B.A. N.B.A. officials dispute this assessment.

“There are a number of countries where basketball is extremely popular without any players in the league,” Ueberroth said.

Others note that the ranks of English Premier League soccer fans in India are growing rapidly even though there are no Indians playing in the league.

Still, the N.B.A. is not turning a blind eye to the search for an Indian Yao. Among Justice’s jobs is scouting talent. And he has found a few prospects. Among the most promising is Satnam Singh Bhamara, 14, a 7-foot2 player from a rural village in Punjab Province. Justice helped him land a spot at an IMG basketball academy in Bradenton, Fla. “He has a bright future,” Justice said. “We don’t know where he’ll end up, but he’s got a lot of natural — for a 14-year-old, 7-footer — a lot of natural basketball instincts.”

Others point to the potential of two Canadian brothers of Indian descent, 15-year-old Sim and 17-year-old Tanveer Bhullar, who are more than 7 feet. Madhok said that if either made it to the N.B.A., it would inspire Indian fans and players.

The lack of a native star had not dented enthusiasm for the N.B.A. among the young players who were competing in the Mahindra Challenge tournament here last Saturday. All the players on the Basketball Rocker Jazz, a team from Shalimar Bagh, a middleclass neighborhood in the northern reaches of this sprawling city, said they followed the league closely.

Their favorite team?

“The Lakers,” Raghav Mittal, 11, said without hesitation. “Most of the best players are there.”

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