Volume 6 Issue 39

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

Tel: (649) 946-8542 VOLUME 6 No. 39

Fax: (649) 941-3281

$1.00

OCTOBER 29TH- NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

THE TURKS AND CAICOS Islands Immigration Department will no longer be issuing travel letters.

On Thursday, October 28, the Ministry of Border Control and Labour along with the Immigration Department issued a three line statement saying that it would immediately cease the issuing of travel letters until further notice is given to do otherwise.

“The Immigration Department would like to inform the general public that the issuing of travel letters by this department has been suspended with immediate effect until further notice. We regret the inconvenience this may cause,” the statement read.

Story Continued on Page 2

TCI’S TAX SYSTEM WILL BE ASSESSED - MARK CAPES

STORY ON PAGE 7

Pastor Samuel L. Cornish (partly hidden at center in suit) of Change Ministries Abaco, Bahamas ministers to persons on the prayer line during night two of the annual Back to the Bible Conference, staged by Abundant Life Ministries International Church. The event ran from August 25 to 27 at the church, located along Leeward Highway. The Speakers were Pastor Cornish, Bishop Carlos Malone of Bethel Baptist Church in Florida and Pastor Torrey Phillips of Gospel of Christ Ministries in Florida. Psalmist, Pastor William Murphy of Atlanta, Georgia and Minister Simeon Outten of Freeport, Bahamas also attended the event. In the foreground at right is pastor for Abundant Life, Bishop C.A. Williams III, while in the background also at right is Minister Outten.

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No more Travel Letters

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This decision will mainly affect from certain countries such as Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, who, sources told the SUN have been the chief recipients of travel letters.

Investigations by The SUN revealed that Government put the screeching halt to travel letters because the system was being abused.

Our investigations revealed that several business persons were bringing in staff, mainly women, on travel letters, paying the Immigration Department/Treasury up to $100 for the documents, and then the businessmen would charge the women as much as $1500 for the travel letters.

These persons, The SUN understands, would then have to work to repay the businessmen while they were here for up to three months, although they are not legally entitled to work.

Meantime, while these “visitors” are working, they are not required to have blood tests for HIV/AIDS etc, since they are technically not in the mainstream system for the granting of work permits.

The SUN understands, too, that hundreds of persons are presently in the Turks and Caicos Islands under this scheme.

However, businesses which depend on expatriates to keep their companies afloat are not happy with the announcement by government to immediately suspend the issuing of travel letters.

While Government did not furnish a reason for their decision, members of the public are of the view that it was instituted to control especially the number of Dominican women who come to the islands to work in bars.

The SUN understands that concerned members

of the society have been questioning the logic and validity of having the very large numbers of especially expatriate females being allowed to work in what can be described as very small local bars.

In response, the Turks and Caicos Islands Government began to review its licensing system regarding the procedures used to grant licenses to bar workers in the country.

His Excellency Governor Gordon Wetherell made the disclosure during an Advisory Council news conference on Thursday, September 2.

According to the Governor, the matter first came up in the Advisory Council in November last year, and as a result of the discussion, the decision was made to limit the number of people who could get licenses to work, depending on the size of the bar, and for how long that could happen.

“What we wanted to do today was to review the operations of those concessions and to see how well they were working or not working. We had an initial briefing on that from the Department of Immigration and we will continue with that discussion at our next meeting in light of more data that we have asked for on the matter,” Governor Wetherell said at the time.

This newspaper also understands that previously bars were allowed to employ a large number of women, much to the delight of many of their male patrons. But, it has been revealed that the situation was being abused by bar operators, who, for the sake of attracting greater clientele, crammed their bars with the women, who are mainly from Dominican Republic flavour.

However, after an initial review, the Advisory Council cut the number of girls allowed to work in these bars at one given time, reducing the number to the square footage of the bars.

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

Under the initial review, bars with square footage of more than a thousand feet were allowed to have five girls working in them, while others with square footage of between five hundred and a thousand were allowed to have three girls employed in them.

The SUN was also told that Turks and Caicos Islanders shun these jobs because the salaries are below the minimum wage. As a matter of fact, an authority figure said the salaries that the women get were alarming, and such, many of them subsidized those meagre incomes by selling their bodies to the bars’ amorous clients.

As a result of some of the concerns the Advisory Council has taken to decision to review the process of, among other things, to review the work permit procedures for these women and to have the bars streamline to see how best they can operate to accommodate Turks and Caicos Islanders who want to work in them.

The Governor said a greater study would be conducted on that matter with a view to see its feasibility.

But the move could affect some legitimate businesses in the TCI, including air travel. Lyndon Gardiner, Chief Executive Officer for Air Turks and Caicos, the airline which services The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti and the Bahamas, said the move was not a wise one, owing to the fact that local employers often seek travel letters for nationals of those neigbouring countries to assist with the TCI in its development.

Gardiner noted that the move was an apparent revelation that government was not serious about the boasting of the economy, since the indefinite suspension of travel letters would result in a decrease of persons coming to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“It is obvious that they are not serious about maintaining any king of economy. We need people to travel and we need people to work. When this happens it will further decline what is left of the economy,” Gardiner said.

Grace Bay Beach is Caribbean’s best at WTA

By Vivian Tyson SUN SENIOR EDITOR

THE WORLD-FAMOUS GRACE BAY Beach in Providenciales, regains the award of Caribbean’s Best Beach at the World Travel Awards Caribbean Gala presentation held at the Sandals White House Resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica last Saturday, October 23.

Grace Bay Beach, which relinquished the title to the Montego Bay Beach in 2009, regained honour ahead of the last year winners plus nine others, namely Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands; Dawn Beach, St. Maarten; Diamond Beach, Martinique; Grand Anse Beach, Grenada; Half Moon Bay, Antigua; Luquillo Beach, Puerto Rico, Shoal Bay, Anguilla; and the Golden Coast, Barbados.

Prior to this year’s win, Grace Bay Beach won the title in 2008 and 2007.

Grace Bay Club and point Grace also scored big wins on the night.

Grace Bay Club collected the trophy for the Caribbean's Leading Resort for 2010 – winning the title for the first time, while Point Grace retained the award for being the Caribbean's Leading Boutique Hotel for 2010.

On its way to taking the title, Grace Bay Club fought off the challenges of about 23 other resorts, including Atlantis Paradise Island Resort, Nassau, Bahamas; Cambridge Beaches, Bermuda; Casa Colonial Beach & Spa and Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic; Coco Reef Resort & Spa, Tobago; Coral Reef Club, Barbados; Cotton Bay Villa, St Lucia; Royal Plantation Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Sandals Grande Antigua

Prior to this year’s win, Grace Bay Beach won the title in 2008 and 2007.

Resort & Spa, Antigua; Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort & Offshore Island Grace Bay Club is now down to compete in the Grand Gala to be held in the UK early November, in the category of World's Leading All-Suite Hotel.

In the meantime, Point Grace, which has been winning the title consecutively since 2005, warded off a number of other high-end regional resorts, including fellow TCI resort Parrot Cay. The others included Cap Juluca, Anguilla; Graycliff Hotel, Bahamas; Horned Dorset Primavera Hotel, Puerto Rico; Malliouhana Hotel & Spa, Anguilla; Rockhouse Hotel, Jamaica; and the Caves, Jamaica.

Point Grace also copped the title of the Turks & Caicos’ Leading Spa Resort for 2010, coming out ahead of Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort &

Spa, Grace Bay Club, Parrot Cay and the Regent Palms.

The night, which undoubtedly belonged to Jamaica, saw the country copping no fewer than 15 Caribbean awards, with hotels there also winning another hatful of regional awards.

Jamaica copped the coveted Caribbean's Leading Destination title; Caribbean's Leading Cruise Destination; Caribbean's Leading Cruise Port -Ocho Rios; the Caribbean's Leading Airport Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay; Caribbean's Leading Boutique Resort - Jakes Island; Caribbean's Leading Family AllInclusive Beaches Negril Resort & Spa; Caribbean's Leading Luxury Villa -The Fleming Villa at Goldeneye; Caribbean's Leading Meetings & Conference Centre Jamaica

Conference Centre, Kingston; Caribbean's Leading Tourist Board Jamaica; Caribbean's Leading Tourist Excursion - Dunn's River Falls; and the Caribbean's Leading Villa Resort Round Hill Hotel & Villas.

The Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewartowned Sandals/Beaches chain of hotels also shone brightly on the night.

Among the awards were Caribbean's Leading Hotel Brand Sandals Resorts International; Jamaica's Leading Hotel, Sandals Negril; St Lucia's Leading Hotel, Sandals Regency La Toc; St Lucia's Leading Resort, Sandals Grande St Lucian; Bahamas Leading Spa Resort, Sandals Emerald Bay Great Exuma; Caribbean's Leading Honeymoon Resort & Antigua & Barbuda's Leading Hotel, Sandals Grande Antigua; Cuba's Leading Resort, Sandals Royal Hicacos; Jamaica's Leading Resort, Sandals Whitehouse; Caribbean's Leading Family All-Inclusive, Beaches Negril; and Caribbean's Leading Hotel Brand, Sandals Resorts International.

Chukka Caribbean Adventures, which also operates in the Turks and Caicos Islands, was voted the Caribbean's Leading Adventure Excursion Operator. The Caribbean's Leading Airline award went to Caribbean Airlines, the Caribbean's Leading Travel Information Website went to Totally Barbados www.totallybarbados.com The 2010 World category winners will be announced at the 17th Annual Grand Final Gala Ceremony, which will take place on 7th November at the Grosvenor House, a JW Marriott Hotel in Mayfair, London on the eve of World Travel Market.

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Journalist Deandrea Hamilton leaves PTV and takes another bold leap of faith

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Popular television personality and journalist, Deandrea Hamilton has decided to launch out full time into her own company, Magnetic Media, leaving the News Room at PTV8.

Ms. Hamilton, who migrated to the TCI from The Bahamas in December 2006 and started as Editor of the Free Press Newspaper, has also worked as news anchor on WIV News and did a stint in radio with 88 Jamz.

“It was just time to move out of the fast pace and unpredictable environment which is news, and do something more structured. I feel that ultimately, my creative energies will result in immeasurable benefits for The Turks and Caicos Islands through a variety of avenues which demanded some sacrifice.” said Hamilton.

As Managing Director of Magnetic Media, Ms. Hamilton will continue with her first client, Building Materials Ltd Do it Center, but now welcomes a new customer with the National Health Insurance Board.

“It is a very wonderful challenge actually; to work with the officials and employees who make up the NHIB team to assist in redefining communication and public relations. I believe the public will be thrilled at what we are developing behind the scenes to cater more ideally to their curiosities, concerns and yes, misgivings. I love being linked to people who truly care.”

Ms. Hamilton explains that a campaign will be rolled out in November and assures that this new assignment will be complimentary for Magnetic Media as it continues with its PTV8 morning show, Turquoise Morning which airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7am and at the company website: www.TurksandcaicosonTV.com.

“Add to the clients we take care of at Magnetic Media and the ongoing Turquoise Morning productions, we are working closely with One Caribbean Weather by sending daily news reports on the outstanding developments of The Turks and Caicos. We call it ‘the Development Report’ and WSEE/ One Caribbean Weather rotates into their programming fifteen times a day as the two-minute feature is seen in over

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

Deandrea Hamilton

32 regional countries giving our islands previously untapped exposure.”

Radio broadcast continues for Ms. Hamilton, as you can hear her down to earth brand of reporting on Power 92 and Kiss FM at the top of the hour, weekdays from 6am to 9am.

“It is great working with Kenny the Hitman! It is also great to be able to have my church, Community Fellowship Centre support a 2-hour Gospel radio show on Faith 98.9FM on Mondays at 7am. Jesus Christ is my first love, and to be able to give this time which includes motivating messages, nuggets of Godly wisdom and Holy Spirit-filled music at the start of a work and school week is humbling…the Arise & Shine Show will be branching out too and will soon air on 90.5 Praise Him FM.” Deandrea Hamilton is known for her in-your-face approach and had become an integral part of the PTV News Department and Network since its inception in November 2008.

Almost two years to the date, she has decided to shift gears but remains thankful to the people who trusted her with their vision.

“I am very grateful to Peter and Kay Stubbs. They opened up to me at a vulnerable time in the development of PTV and I continue to feel privileged at being the first employee and a part of the earliest days. I am also a believer that good stewards are able to leave a legacy. God has

enabled me to do that and in working with a professional like Mr. Enrico Angeles to develop a newsroom system which young talent like Ange Toussaint, Easher Parker, Talisha Simons, Rueben Altidor, Jaron McCarthy and Lindy Rigby can step into and marvelously manage, proves that a legacy is indeed established and that the real news continues.”

Since the announcement of her departure, Hamilton says she has been contacted by a number of TCI and Bahamian companies to provide multi-media services.

“It is all about being faithful and sincere. I love what I do, and it shows.

I believe people are drawn to that honesty and I just pray that it is an inspiration. Mass Communications offers the diversity to keep a person like me intrigued with life. My team and I have determined that we are going to help us all realize that we do not need to wait on a handout from anyone to ‘make it rain’ in this market… Magnetic Media has the perfect ingredients and we plan to cook up a pot of potential on which everyone can feast… this is truly just the beginning.”

Deandrea Hamilton is also a freelance writer for the Religion section of the Turks and Caicos Weekly News and is now an authorized Sales Agent for Island Displays (Billboards).

Magnetic Media is located in Plantation Hills, Providenciales.

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Albray agreed to resign about two weeks ago

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

ALTHOUGH HIS RESIGNATION was only made public and official last week, Albray Butterfield Jnr. had deciced about two weks ago, on October 17th, to be precise, that he would have resigned as deputy leader to Clayton Greene, the leader of the Progressive National Party (PNP).

Butterfield confirmed this in a press statement that was issued to local media houses on Thursday, October 28th.

He stated that as the weeks went on after he was chose as deputy, “it became more and more evident via the hostile opposition and attitudes of some of the rank and file members, inclusive of former leaders of the PNP, that as long as I remained deputy leader of the Party, and was unwilling to soften my message and/or pander to that faction of the Party that is opposed to a COMPLETE OVERHAUL AND A CHANGE IN DIRECTION of the PNP, then the divide affecting the Party would not be narrowed within a reasonable time period during Mr. Greene’s first year as leader of the Party, thus putting him at a disadvantage to forward his and the Party’s agenda.

The businessman said: “Hence, Mr. Greene requested a meeting with

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

myself, and we met on 17th October 2010, to discussed the issue of my appointment, and we mutually agreed that in order for his political campaign to have any chance of success, the distraction and controversy as to my appointment would have to come to an end with immediate effect, for him to try and bring the Party back together early in his term, so he could begin to concentrate on the real issues facing the country.”

Butterfield added: “Because I’m a Progressive Democrat at heart, I subscribe to the theory that ‘NO MAN IS AN ISLAND UNTO HIMSELF’, and because the PNP and its agenda is bigger than me or any one person within the Party, I should not allow my PRIDE, PERSONAL OPINIONS, or SELFISHNESS to stand in the way of Mr. Greene’s leadership of the Party.

He was the person that the Party’s National General Congress (“NGC”) elected to lead the PNP, therefore, it is his political leadership that he must ensure that it succeeds and not fail; so on those fundamentals, I felt that Mr. Greene should be given a fair chance to lead the PNP without extra party distractions. The reality is that my message was not going to be changed or soften, and I was not going to

pander in order to gain Party support of my appointment; and seeing that my appointment caused such divisiveness within the NGC and the rank and file of the Party, then the PNP should have a deputy leader that is acceptable to the leader as well as the Party at large; and I have no problem with that, because as previously stated above, I’m a Progressive Democrat at heart.”

He continued: “I was never a person to follow the crowd just because everyone else was doing so, or because it was the most popular and politically correct thing to do. In order for a person to lead, he or she must be willing to turn their back to the crowd.

Stephen R. Covey once said "I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a "transformer" in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader."

Butterfield said this recent experience have only reaffirmed my convictions and strengthened my determination to ensure that corruption is eliminated as much as possible from public office; persons in public office that are found to have abused the office

of which they have been entrusted, that they should be banned for life from holding any future public office, following due process that is impartial; amendments of the various legislations for the removal of every loophole that allows for the gross exploitation of the system and assets of the government; prudent, good governance and transparency are re-established within the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands; the rule of law is upheld and strengthened to avoid anarchy within the society; and the electoral process, and financing of political campaigns and organizations are completely reformed in a fair and just manner for the future generation of politicians.

“Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership.

Therefore, I will continue to assure the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands, that I will not allow any person or the enticement of any unjustly monetary possessions to cause me to corrupt my integrity and character,” added.

SEE PAGE 17 FOR MR. BUTTERFIELD’s FULL STATEMENT 4. Tracking and costing refurbish able engine spares

STAFF VACANCY – COST AND PLANT ACCOUNTANT

Applications are invited from interested and suitably qualified persons to fill the position of Cost and Plant Accountant in the Finance Department.

Description To provide a high quality plant and inventory accounting services on a timely and cost effective basis.

Main Duties Maintenance of Fixed Assets Sub Ledger, including Fixed Asset Count results.

Examines records to determine that acquisition, sale, retirement, and other entries have been properly and accurately made.

Prepares statements reflecting monthly appreciated and or depreciated values.

Responsible for reconciliation of Fixed Asset Sub Ledger with the General Ledger balances.

Responsible for the preparation of the Company’s depreciation budget and depreciation forecasts.

Responsible for compiling capital project budgets and preparing the monthly capital variance report.

Manage capital expenditure projects and ensure that the fixed asset register is updated and accurate.

Determining overhead costs particularly for capital projects.

In charge for maintaining the Work Orders System which includes but not limited to the following: 1. Maintenance of the CWIP account 2. Reconciling the CWIP account against the Work Order System 3. Setting up and closing work orders (WOs)

Responsible for analyzing the appropriateness of costs allocated to each work order.

Responsible for providing capitalizable interest figures on a monthly basis.

Maintenance of the Inventory Sub Ledger including Inventory Count results.

Coordinate with Operations and Materials Management Department for setting up Inventory Aging Procedures.

Ensures that there is proper inventory costing recorded.

Responsible for the preparation of the monthly Inventory General Ledger and Inventory Sub Ledger reconciliation.

Assists Financial Accounting Supervisor and/or Financial Reporting and Business Planning Consultant.

Other duties that may be assigned from time to time.

Minimum Requirements · CPA, ACCA, CMA, CIA · 5-7 years experience in cost or plant accounting or related field. · Working knowledge of finance, accounting, cost and budgeting principles in conjunction with generally accepted Accounting Principles; · Working knowledge of financial and accounting software applications; · Working knowledge of related financial regulations; · Experience with ERP preferred. · Goal-oriented 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 Human Resources Manager

Deadline for submission of application is November 5th, 2010. Please submit to:Ms. Judith V. Missick Manager, Human Resources PPC Limited P. O. Box 132, Providenciales Email address: jmissick@ppcltd.tc

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Continental Airlines coming to Turks and Caicos Islands LOCAL NEWS

UNITED CONTINENTAL HOLDINGS, Inc. has announced that Continental Airlines will begin nonstop flights between its New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport and Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands , on Feb. 18, 2011, subject to government approval.

Providenciales will be Continental’s 26th Caribbean destination.

Initially, flights will operate four times a week, on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, converting to daily service on March 6, 2011.

“We are pleased to offer convenient access to Providenciales, a world-class get-away and an exciting new addition to the list of Caribbean destinations served by Continental and United,said John Slater, United Airlines vice president of sales.

“Our merger allows us to offer new flights to new destinations as we begin to efficiently utilize the combined fleet of both carriers.”

The approximately three-and-ahalf-hour flight (CO 610) will depart Newark at 9:35 a.m., arriving in Providenciales at 1:10 p.m. The return flight (CO 615) will depart Providenciales at 2:05 p.m., arriving in Newark at 5:45 p.m.

Continental will utilize a Boeing 737-800 for the new service, with seating for 160 passengers (16 in first class and 144 in economy).

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

The new service complements the combined airlines’ services to other top Caribbean leisure destinations like Aruba, Punta Cana, and Nassau.

Acting Goveror Mark Capes said the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands welcomes the decision of Continental Airlines, a leading international airline, to operate nonstop flights between New York and Providenciales in time for winter travel.

Continental's decision demonstrates continuing confidence in the TCI and in our tourism product.

“Tourism, as the predominant industry of the Turks and Caicos Islands and its main income generator, is an important part of the Interim Government's agenda. With various initiatives, such as the Tourism Working Group, the aim is to grow, promote, and support the industry in order to expand the target markets and range of tourism activities. This in turn will provide economic stimulus in the hospitality sector as well as in retailing and other related activities,” he said.

“Following its endorsement of the timely Providenciales International Airport expansion project, the Government continues to work closely with the TCI Airports Authority to encourage new services and routes to Providenciales. Today , the TCI Airports Authority CEO, Mr John Smith, joined the Interim Government in welcoming the announcement

POSITION AVAILABLE

Turks and Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay is seeking a suitably qualified applicant to fill the post of:

FLY FISHING GUIDE Daily tasks will include, but are not limited to: • Responsibility for all fly fishing activities • Responsibility for teaching and leading fishing experiences for members and guests • Development of programmes for children and adults such as – nature walks, educational workshops, kayak trips, nature camps, canoe trips, fly casting lessons • Communication with members and guests of all ages to ensure a positive experience on all fishing excursions • Prospect Sales visits Requirements: • to work and live on Big Ambergris Cay with rotated weekends off • must possess a Boat Captain License • must possess a Coast Guard license • must have at least two years experience as a certified lifeguard • must have experience with fly casting for bonefish • must be an experienced Chartered fishing guide • must be attentive to details • must be able to work under little or no supervision • must produce a clean Police Record • must be reliable, hard working and enthusiastic Salary: $30,000 - $35,000 per annum.

Closing date for all applications is Friday, November 12, 2010.

Applications must be submitted to: Ms. Dorothea Malcolm, Human Resources Director Turks & Caicos Sporting Club @ Ambergris Cay Unit 66, Salt Mills Plaza, Grace Baay Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands E-mail: dorothea@ambergriscay.com Tel: 649-941-3777 Fax: 649-941-3778

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

Continental Airlines may begin nonstop flights between its New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport and Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands , on Feb. 18, 2011

by Continental Airlines. He took the opportunity to report that work on the expansion project was on target and that a busy tourism season was expected. The Interim Government will continue its effort to work with all sectors of the TCI economy to help promote economic growth, new business opportunities and inward investment.”

Caesar Campbell, CEO of the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association (TCHTA) said: “This new initiative ( Continental Airlines) on the heels of JetBlue’s recent announcement where they will be introducing service to the Turks and Caicos Islands during the 2011 winter season demonstrates that the government and the TCHTA are committed in growing the tourism industry.”

When contacted, Director of the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board, Ralph Higgs, said: “This is brilliant! Continental is another powerful and recognizable brand in air travel that we are delighted to have associated with our destination.”

A popular vacation destination, Providenciales (also called Provo) is the most well known of the Turks and Caicos Islands. While geographically part of the Bahamas chain of islands, Turks and Caicos Islands is a separate country consisting of 40 different islands and cays. Providenciales features the 12-mile white-sand Grace

Bay Beach, ranked Best Beach by Conde Nast magazine and by the World Travel Awards for several years.

Visitors also can enjoy the island’s coral reef; water sports such as diving, snorkeling and fishing; golf; a marine park; the world’s first conch farm; and luxury hotels, villas and spas.

Providenciales’ official language is English, and its currency is the U.S. dollar.

Continental Airlines is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Continental Holdings, Inc..

Continental, together with Continental Express and Continental Connection, has more than 2,400 daily departures throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving 142 domestic and 131 international destinations.

Continental is a member of Star Alliance, which overall offers more than 21,200 daily flights to 1,172 airports in 181 countries through its 28 member airlines. Continental has hubs serving Cleveland, Guam, Houston and New York, and together with its regional partners, carries approximately 63 million passengers per year.United Continental Holdings, Inc. became the holding company for both United and Continental upon close of the merger transaction. The two airlines will operate separately as they begin to integrate key customer services, marketing activities and airport processes.

WANTED

1 DOMESTIC WORKER Salary $5.00 per hour 4 days per week Contact 246-3745

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OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF PAYS TRIBUTE TO HIS FRIEND AND MENTOR THE RIGHT HONORABLE DAVID THOMPSON, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF BARBADOS

By Hayden Boyce

I AM COMPLETELY saddened, shocked into numbness and totally dislocated by the news of the passing of my dear friend, the late Prime Minister David Thompson. I have had the singular good fortune of knowing David for most of my life.

He was my very close friend, my mentor and a trusted confidant. David was also a friend of the Boyce family from St. Lucy and the godfather of my son, Taj Sivers. He was also my brother in the Freemason fraternity in Barbados. To be sure, David played a critical role in helping to shape and define me, first as a man, and also as a journalist.

Last Saturday morning, my wife Lillian and I listened with heavy and broken hearts via the internet to people from Barbados, the Caribbean and around the world paying tribute to David through a kaleidoscope of anecdotes. Yet, I thought, the many aspects of his goodness cannot be distilled in any, or even all, of those tributes.

Many will remember him as an

Barbaos late Prime Minister David Thompson

exceptional politician, but to me, David Thompson was a friend for all seasons and a man among men. In my humble opinion, David Thompson was also one of the most gifted Caribbean politicians of this generation. He was a deeply devoted family man and a dedicated father and husband. He dearly loved his wife Mara and his three daughters.

After the Democratic Labour Party suffered a landslide loss in the 1994 general elections it was rough, tough and lonely for those of us in his inner circle and also for members of his immediate family.

We, however, became extremely close during that period and for years, David and I would telephone each other first thing every morning. We spoke several times daily and met often to strategise and discuss local and international politics and life in general. That is when it became apparent to me that David had big dreams and an exceptionally great vision for Barbados.

At the personal level, he always inspired and encouraged those around him to aspire to greatness and excellence. He was adamant that nobody around him would fail, and that no one around him will make him fail. That was the David Thompson I knew.

In the face of the most daunting challenges, David always remained optimistic and strong. He never backed down from a fight; and those of us

around him acquired much strength and confidence from his innate resilience, sharp intellect, great sense of humour and his unmatched ability to communicate effectively while thinking on his feet. I am grateful beyond measure that I was a part of David’s unique and exemplary life and that he was a part of mine.

It is my certain knowledge that as a person, a politician and then as Prime Minister, he always wanted to make a defining and decisive difference to Barbados. That is why it is so sad that his journey became unfinished so soon, too soon, and that Barbados will never get the chance to experience the full extent of the great prime minister he could have been.

On behalf of my wife Lillian, the Boyce family, the family of my son Taj Sivers, my daughter Che Adams and her family, the Masonic fraternity in Barbados and worldwide, and all Barbadians living in the Turks and Caicos Islands, I extend deepest condolences to David’s family during this time of sorrow.

May his soul rest in peace in the kingdom of God.

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Turks and Caicos Islands on cholera alert

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Health and Human Services Ministry is advising those who have recently travelled to Haiti or have come into contact with persons that have travelled to that country to particularly monitor themselves and family members for signs and symptoms of cholera.

THESE INCLUDE: profuse watery diarrhea of three or more liquid bowel movements within a day and vomiting...

By Vivian Tyson SUN Senior Editor

THE TURKS AND CAICOS Islands has been placed on Cholera alert following an outbreak of the disease in neighboring Haiti and resulting in scores of persons being killed from the more than fifteen hundred that have been confirmed with the ailment.

Chief Medical Officer and Director for Health Services in the TCI, Dr. Rufus Ewing confirmed that the country being put an alert, to The SUN earlier in the week, during an interview.

“Yes, you can say that, the country has been placed on cholera alert, so we will take all the precautionary measures possible so that it does not reach here,” Dr. Ewing pointed out.

“This new initiative ( Continental Airlines) on the heels of JetBlue’s recent announcement where they will be introducing service to the Turks and Caicos Islands during the 2011 winter season demonstrates that the government and the TCHTA are committed in growing the tourism industry” Following the outbreak of cholera in Haiti, contingency plans have been drawn up by Interhealth Canada in the event of a similar outbreak in the Turks and Caicos islands.

Interhealth Canada TCI chief of medical services, Dr Robyn Barnes, explained: “Obviously the recent outbreak of cholera in Haiti is

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

Dr. Rufus Ewing

something we are watching closely and it’s vital that we are prepared here in TCI for every eventuality.

“Representatives from both hospitals in Provo and Grand Turk have, in the past few days, attended meetings with members of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carec, the Ministry of Health and Public Health, regarding the outbreak.

“Information about events in Haiti and disease specifics has been disseminated to all medical and appropriate nursing staff.

Recommendations regarding screening

of patients have also been distributed to the relevant departments.

“Supplies, in particular IV fluids and oral rehydration solution, have been increased to cope with possible demand and our suppliers have also been made aware of situation.”

She added: “The hospitals will now be reporting all diarrhea cases to Public Health and guidelines on testing for cholera have been discussed with PAHO and appropriate supplies provided.”

The United Nations (UN) confirmed earlier this week that 1,526 cases of Cholera have been reported in the economically ravished island nation, claiming 138 lives. The UN said the water-borne disease was discovered in the Artibonite province of Haiti along the Artibonite River northwest of Port-au-Prince, which is said to be a rural part of the country that has absorbed thousands of refugees since the earthquake in January 2010.

The statement from the Turks and Caicos Islands Ministry of Health, noted that the Haiti cholera outbreak poses significant threat to four of Haiti’s English-speaking neighbours the Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. These are the four countries that boat-travelling Haitians often frequent in their attempt to escape abject poverty in their homeland.

According to the statement, the Health and Human Service Ministry said it was working closely with the Pan American Health Organization ( PAHO) and the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) to monitor the situation and potential threat to the Turks and Caicos Islands and has taken the measures of surveillance and disease prevention.

As part of the measure, the Health Ministry said it will be increasing environmental health surveillance at all sea and airports of entry. It will also require all health care providers to report cases of diarrhea to the Ministry of Health and Human Services on a daily basis, also advising anyone experiencing profuse watery diarrhea of three or more liquid bowel movements within a day and vomiting, to seek immediate medical attention from a health care provider.

Additionally, the Health and

Human Services Ministry is advising those who have recently travelled to Haiti or have come into contact with persons that have travelled to that country to particularly monitor themselves and family members for signs and symptoms of cholera.

The public is also advised to drink bottled water or only water that has been boiled or treated with chlorine or iodine. They should also institute proper hygiene measures, including clean water source selection, household and latrine sanitation, and correct hand washing and food preparation practices.

The public should also consider avoiding travel to Haiti until the cholera outbreak is under control and the Ministry of Health has given the green light by way of public notice to that fact.

The Ministry of Health and Human Services said it will continue to monitor the situation and keep the public informed of new developments and recommendations.

In the meantime, global and regional bodies are working feverishly to combat the outbreak and contain its spread. The UN has provided medical personnel and supplies to the region, including 10,000 water purification tablets and 300,000 doses of antibiotics; and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has collaborated with partners including the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other government and nongovernment organizations, to help local and national authorities assess and deal with the event.

Cholera, described as an infectious, water-borne disease, is an acute intestinal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Cholera causes profuse, painless, watery diarrhea (three or more liquid bowel movements within a day) that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment is not promptly given. Vomiting also occurs in most patients.

Cholera can be simply and successfully treated by immediate rehydration (replacement of the fluid and salts lost through diarrhea). With prompt rehydration, less than one percent of cholera patients die.

Private aviation is bouncing back, says InterIsland Aviation Group’s VP

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

THE INTERISLAND GROUP is looking ahead to a busy winter, according to VP of Business Development Deborah Aharon, and she believes that’s good news for the TCI. Speaking from the World Congress Center in Atlanta, where she attended the National Business Aviation Association’s 63rd annual convention, Aharon immediately noticed a difference from the glum atmosphere and poor attendance of last year’s convention.

According to the NBAA’s press association, attendance on the first day of the three day convention exceeded the total from last year. ‘”The minute I walked in to the building I could feel a return of enthusiasm and purpose,” she observed. “There was a tremendous sense of energy that was lacking last year.”

The NBAA convention is attended by a wide range of aviation businesses engaged in manufacturing, selling, operating and servicing business or private aircraft.

Overall, 24,206 people attended this year’s convention from around the world. Aharon and her colleagues from a number of Caribbean FBOs usually attend to network with each other and their vendors, and were invited to private functions that ranged from a swanky dinner in a revolving restaurant 72 stories high (a little unnerving, says Aharon) to an evening of Mediterranean food, music and belly dancing.

“I was most impressed with the job that Cayman Islands is doing to promote themselves” she commented.

“They were the only Caribbean

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

InterIsland Group P of Business Development, Deborah Aharon

destination that had its own dedicated section, which comprised of a double booth manned by the Cayman Islands Civil Aviation Authority and IslandAir, an FBO owned by the Cumber family.

The symbiosis between the Cayman CAA and IslandAir is an example more Caribbean nations should follow, including our own.” “'From what I saw, Government is there to support the private sector, with the clear understanding that success there will naturally have a positive impact on the economy.”

She noted that the Cayman CAA had even produced a DVD promoting the benefits of registering private aircraft in their country, an effort that could produce more revenue both for government and the private sector.

Aharon also learned that the residents of the Caymans are paying

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Page 15

close attention to the TCI and suffering from a similar crime wave.

“Just like us, they find themselves suddenly living in fear, and are very concerned that if they are not able to get on top of this sudden increase they will lose a significant portion of their anticipated tourism for the season.”

She said that while they seemed sympathetic to the political situation, they appeared to feel that the citizens of the TCI should make a better effort to develop a closer and more cooperative relationship with the British representatives.

“They seem to have a stronger sense of identity as British subjects than exists here,” she noted.

However, she went on to say that attendees from other Caribbean nations expressed stronger sympathies for the political troubles of the TCI, and asked a lot of questions.

Although everyone complained about crime, it seemed that only the TCI and Caymans had noted a marked increase.

Aharon and her Caribbean colleagues from FBOs ranging from the Bahamas to Antigua have plans for cooperative development to help each other draw more business into the region, a project that she says has been in discussion for some time and is gaining momentum.

“Overall, I feel revitalized by this opportunity to reconnect with my aviation peers and see for myself definite signs of economic recovery.

Provo Air Center will be calling on Government to follow the excellent example of the Cayman Islands and work more closely with us to promote the TCI and the region for our mutual benefit.”

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS FOR 2011

•

NEW YEAR’S DAY - JANUARY 1st OBSERVED) JANUARY 3rd • COMMONWEALTH DAY - MONDAY, MARCH 14th • GOOD FRIDAY - FRIDAY, APRIL 22nd • EASTER MONDAY- MONDAY APRIL 25th • NATIONAL HEROES DAYMONDAY MAY 30st • HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY- JUNE 11th *(OBSERVED) MONDAY, JUNE 13th • EMANCIPATION DAY- MONDAY AUGUST 1st • NATIONAL YOUTH DAYFRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th • COLUMBUS DAY- MONDAY, OCTOBER 10th • INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY- MONDAY, OCTOBER 24th • CHRISTMAS DAY – SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25th *(OBSERVED) MONDAY , DECEMBER 26th • BOXING DAY - MONDAY DECEMBER 26th *(OBSERVED) TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27th

Graceway Supermarket Requires

(1) DAIRY / FREEZE STOCKMAN

All applicants must be able to read, speak and understand the English Language and will be expected to sit and pass an in-house Math and English Test WAGES RANGE: $6.50 TO $7.00 / HOUR

Deadline for submission of applicants is November 5th 2010 Submit to: Graceway IGA Supermarket main office complex or email: hr@gracewayiga.com Previous experience in the Supermarket Industry will be an added plus Please Note: Only short –listed applicants will be contacted to attend interview

$1.5 million recycling plant opens in Blue Hills

Page 16

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

By Vivian Tyson SUN Senior Editor

THE TURKS AND CAICOS Islands’ first ever recycling plant - a $1.5 million operation is now up and running in Blue Hills, Providenciales – as the country’s pledge to go green begins in earnest.

The plant, which is operated by TCI Waste Disposal, does glass bottle recycling on site, but will be shipping other materials, such as cardboards and plastic bottles to a plant in the United States for recycling.

The TCI Waste Disposal Recycling Factory began operation on Monday, October 25, and according to one of its principals, Ramez Hakoura, already work at the site has been tremendous.

“The factory is up and running as of Monday, we have spent hours sorting through recyclables and garbage. The stuff that we are recycling is glass, aluminium cans, glass bottles, PT1 plastic bottles, which are all soft drinking water bottles, but not the gallon ones, basically all the clear ones and cardboard boxes,” Hakoura explained.

Hakoura pointed out that, residents with whom the company has contracts to remove their wastes, have been given two separate residential bins – one for regular garbage collection and the other to store recyclables. Garbage is collected twice a week – one day for recyclables and the other day for regular wastes.

The plant does glass bottle recycling on site, but will be shipping other materials, such as cardboards and plastic bottles to a plant in the U.S.A.

Hotels, Hakoura further explained, are given separate bins, depending what they produce.

According to him, glass bottles taken to the location are put through a machine where they are shredded into tiny particles, suitable for using as aggregate for the paving as roads or car park, while the others are packaged and sent out of the country. He noted that all of its three hundred residential customers have all their recyclables picked up for free.

Hakoura noted hotels that want to have their recyclables picked up, can contact TCI Waste Disposal, where an agreement could be worked out for pick-up. The hotels already on board are Grace Bay Club, Miramar, Comfort Suites and Northwest Point Resort.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC AUCTION SALES

Notice is hereby given that the Chargee (holder of charge), pursuant to the Registered Land Ordinance, will cause to be sold by Public Auction the following properties outside the offices of Miller Simon O’Sullivan, Upper Floor, East Wing, Beatrice Butterfield Building, Butterfield Square, Providenciales at 10 a.m. on 5 November 2010:

Title No. 60900/171, Leeward Going Through, Providenciales Registered Proprietor: Sandra Ariza Comprising 0.76 acre parcel with a substantially complete single-storey dwelling house located on the south side of the Grace Bay Road, consisting four bedrooms, three bathrooms, living room, family room, dining room and kitchen with breakfast room.

Title 60715/210 Cheshire Hall & Richmond Hill, Providenciales Registered Proprietor: Lincoln Hudson Ferriera Comprising 0.54 acre parcel with bare land containing dense indigenous bush and mature trees and is accessed via turning off the unpaved Turtle Creek Drive, which runs from the west of the Shell Station and proceeding southerly until the T junction, the subject land is accessed by taking the western turning and following the road until just before the canal starts to curve, where the subject land is located on the right hand side immediately fronting the canal.

Title 60503/143 Blue Hills and Stamers Run, Providenciales Registered Proprietor: Delroy Christian Lightbourne Comprising 0.35 acre parcel with one storey residence and is accessed via turning off the unsurfaced portion of Millennium Highway. The turning to the property is found via taking the left immediately prior the High School when travelling in a North West direction and the property is located at the end of the marl access road. The building consists of four bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen/dining and living area, open deck and gazebo, external bathroom and block work storage area

“They’ve all helped up to get this going – joining the recycling - and they are all doing recycling as we speak,” Hakoura said.

In pointed our that in the near future, TCI Waste Disposal aims to move beyond recycling just glass, aluminium cans, plastic and glass bottles, but is hoping to expand it to landscaping, newspapers and oil among other things.

The TCI Waste Disposal Head said his company aims to have the public more sensitized to the nature of recycling and how to prepare their wastes for undertaking, explaining that on the first day of official operation, they had a torrid time separating the recyclables from regular garbage.

“I am hoping that within a year’s

time, when our recyclable truck comes back (to the plant) we would see only recyclables in it. We are speaking with the schools because we want to launch our educational campaign. We want to teach the kids about recycling and the benefits of recycling and so on. We have made brochures and handed them out to all the people, showing the benefits and what being recycled right now,” Hakoura said.

He noted that TCI Waste Disposal has also contacted the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board, to inform that body of its operation, so that it could pass on the information to the wider travel industry, highlighting the fact that the TCI is now a full-fledged recycling country.

“The Tourist Board is speaking directly with the travel agents outside the Turks and Caicos, and all the tourists are now aware that the Turks and Caicos Islands is a recycling nation, so that tourists will now have a choice as to which Caribbean Islands to go to. They would know that the Turks and Caicos is an environmentally green island, and they would be more persuaded to come here over the other Caribbean Islands,” Hakoura said.

Hakoura noted that while the recycling plant cost TCI Waste Disposal approximately $105 million to set up, chances are it would never be a profit-making business, saying that the would consider itself “very lucky” if it breaks even in the next four years.

Title 60905/155K5, Leeward Going Through, Providenciales Registered proprietor: - Renaissance 105 Co Ltd Located in the Vila Renaissance comprising of twenty-eight luxurious one, two and three bedroom beachfront villas located in the main accommodation. Located in the middle of the core area of development in Grace Bay area. The property is Unit 105, Villa Renaissance. Unit 105 is an ocean front lower floor two-bedroom end of terrace unit, which is located to the eastern portion of the main beach accommodation block.

Unit has 2,664 Unit entitlement and 1,700 square foot gross external area. Entrance foyer, living/dining area, kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, laundry closet, balcony off living area, storage and closet space, dedicated parking space and use of all facilities including the communal pool, fitness centre and pool bar.

Interested buyers should contact Curtis Small at FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) Ltd (Barbados: Tel 01 246 467 1616; fax 01 246 431 0691) or the local branch Credit Counsellor at FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) Ltd, Leeward Highway, Providenciales on tel 649 946 4245 ext 343

6. Title 60900/216, Leeward Going Through, Providenciales Registered Proprietor: Pelican Estates Ltd. The property to be sold comprises four (4) acres of undeveloped land located in the Leeward area of Providenciales – see location map below. Please note that, for appropriate qualified buyers, financing may be available for part of the purchase price.

Title No. 61110/25, Long Bay Hills, Providenciales Registered Proprietor: Hugh Williams and Kimberly Ewing Williams Comprising 0.89 acre parcel with a partially complete residential building on a Conditions of Auction and draft Agreement for Purchase and Sale, Block Plan and residential lot in the Long Bay area. Neighbourhood is residential although sparsely Registry may be had from the Chargee’s attorneys, Miller Simons O’Sullivan, P.O. Box developed. Property is on the south side of an unpaved cul-de-sac in Long Bay Hills 260, Beatrice Butterfield Building, Butterfield Square, Providenciales, Turks and residential sub-division. The property is elevated at its roadside section and the land Caicos Islands, British West Indies, Telephone 1-649-946-4650, Fax 1-649-946-4663, slopes down steeply in a south-easterly direction. email: mlw@mslaw.tc, Attention: Timothy P. O’Sullivan, Managing Partner.

Why I resigned as Deputy Leader of the Progressive National Party (PNP)

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

By Albray V. Butterfield, Jr. 28th October 2010

ON THURSDAY 21ST OCTOBER 2010, an online news publication Caribbean News Now, published an article titled ‘Turks and Caicos political party deputy leader resigns’. The article implied and made unsubstantiated allegations against me, as to what may have motivated my decision to step down from the position of deputy leader of the Progressive National Party (“PNP”) six weeks into my unelected appointment.

The unsubstantiated allegations mentioned in the article, was fed to the media by unprincipled individual(s) with the intent to subliminally defame and tarnish the uncorrupted reputation and good name of my family and me.

It was my intention to step down quietly from the position of deputy leader of the PNP, in order not to create any further distraction and controversy to the political campaign of Mr. Clayton Greene (current elected leader of the Progressive National Party). However, my intentions of stepping down quietly took an about turn, as a result of the abovementioned article. Hence, I am left with no other option, but to address the issue in order to set the record straight.

On 1st September 2010, Mr. Greene held his first press conference at the party’s headquarters at which he

Albray V. Butterfield, Jr.

announced and introduced me to the nation as his and the Party’s new deputy leader. From the onset of his announcement, there was dissention within the Party to my appointment (of which such appointment was conferred in accordance with Chapter III, Article 5, Subsection 3, of The Constitution of the Progressive National Party, 2001 Edition), which over the days and weeks that followed, PNP members began voicing their opinions and dissent via the local radio stations, news papers and at social venues, which was their democratic and constitutional right to do so, and I applauded all of those persons who chose to exercise such rights.

However, as the weeks went on, it became more and more evident via the hostile opposition and attitudes of some of the rank and file members, inclusive of former leaders of the PNP, that as long as I remained deputy leader of the Party, and was unwilling to soften my message and/or pander to that faction of the Party that is opposed to a COMPLETE OVERHAUL AND A CHANGE IN DIRECTION of the PNP, then the divide affecting the Party would not be narrowed within a reasonable time period during Mr. Greene’s first year as leader of the Party, thus putting him at a disadvantage to forward his and the Party’s agenda. Hence, Mr. Greene requested a meeting with myself, and we met on 17th October 2010, to discussed the issue of my appointment, and we mutually agreed that in order for his political campaign to have any chance of success, the distraction and controversy as to my appointment would have to come to an end with immediate effect, for him to try and bring the Party back together early in his term, so he could begin to concentrate on the real issues facing the

Page 17

country.

Because I’m a Progressive Democrat at heart, I subscribe to the theory that ‘NO MAN IS AN ISLAND UNTO HIMSELF’, and because the PNP and its agenda is bigger than me or any one person within the Party, I should not allow my PRIDE, PERSONAL OPINIONS, or SELFISHNESS to stand in the way of Mr. Greene’s leadership of the Party. He was the person that the Party’s National General Congress (“NGC”) elected to lead the PNP, therefore, it is his political leadership that he must ensure that it succeeds and not fail; so on those fundamentals, I felt that Mr. Greene should be given a fair chance to lead the PNP without extra party distractions.

The reality is that my message was not going to be changed or soften, and I was not going to pander in order to gain Party support of my appointment; and seeing that my appointment caused such divisiveness within the NGC and the rank and file of the Party, then the PNP should have a deputy leader that is acceptable to the leader as well as the Party at large; and I have no problem with that, because as previously stated above, I’m a Progressive Democrat at heart.

In 1756 the Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke, an Irish political theorist, and philosopher authored and published a book/paper titled ‘A Vindication of Natural Society: A View of the Miseries and Evils Arising to Mankind’; in that book, Hon. Burke wrote the following: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing.”

Well, I am of the opinion that I am one of those good men the Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke was referring to. Hence, the rationale behind me choosing to be a public voice of reason for the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands at this

juncture in my life; in order to help AFFECT CHANGE within the Turks and Caicos Islands. One of the means in which I chose to try and help affect such change, was through the restructuring of the PNP, but the Party saw it differently. However, such opposition will not stop me from continuing to advocate loudly for a better governed Turks and Caicos Islands.

I was never a person to follow the crowd just because everyone else was doing so, or because it was the most popular and politically correct thing to do. In order for a person to lead, he or she must be willing to turn their back to the crowd. Stephen R. Covey once said "I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a "transformer" in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader."

This recent experience have only reaffirmed my convictions and strengthened my determination to ensure that: corruption is eliminated as much as possible from public office; persons in public office that are found to have abused the office of which they have been entrusted, that they should be banned for life from holding any future public office, following due process that is impartial; amendments of the various legislations for the removal of every loophole that allows for the gross exploitation of the system and assets of the government; prudent, good governance and transparency are re-established within the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands; the rule of law is upheld and strengthened to avoid anarchy within the society; and the electoral process, and financing of political campaigns and organizations are completely reformed in a fair and just manner for the future generation of politicians.

Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership.

Therefore, I will continue to assure the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands, that I will not allow any person or the enticement of any unjustly monetary possessions to cause me to corrupt my integrity and character.

People of the Turks and Caicos Islands, continue to stay strong and keep the faith, because there are still a few good men left in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and who are not afraid to stand up for what is right and just, and confront the Talibans of our country. There is light at the end of this road that we are presently on.

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

Page 19

LOCAL NEWS

Cocktail party at The Veranda raises Over $6000 for Aids Awareness Organisation

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Proceeds to go towards the running of the Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre in Providenciales and upcoming AIDS awareness events

LAST SATURDAY EVENING a spectacular cocktail event was hosted

by The Veranda and The Wine Cellar for the Turks & Caicos AIDS Awareness Foundation (TCAAF).

The event was well attended, as party goers tapped their toes to the live music of Bowen Arrow, with some remaining well after the event’s finish to enjoy the venue and the DJ Alvardo Seymour. Guests enjoyed complimentary wine and champagne donated by The Wine Cellar as well as delicious hors d’oeuvres supplied

by The Veranda, all the while showing support for TCAAF’s continued work within the community.

While the event was a fun and light-hearted affair the Directors of the Foundation took time out to acknowledge the importance and gravity of their quest to bring awareness to HIV/AIDS, as well as to show appreciation to one of the hardest-working, yet rarely acknowledged, soldiers leading the fight against HIV/AIDS – Nora Tyndall, the HIV Treatment and Care Nurse with the National AIDS Programme.

The proceeds from the evening will be put towards running programmes at the Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre, as well as an upcoming TCAAF AIDS awareness event for high school students. Both are important initiatives because studies show the youth are most at risk when it comes to HIV/AIDS and the biggest impact on fighting the disease is equipping young people with the tools, services and environment they need to make smart, healthy choices.

“The TCAAF is grateful to everyone who came out to support the event and especially to Mark Durliat, Wolfgang von Weiser and Kulbhushan Tyagi from The Veranda, who were instrumental in making it all happen,” said Dawn O’Sullivan, President of the TCAAF. “The attention to detail by Wolfgang and

Party goers enjoyed the event

A fruit carving is displayed

his team was amazing - from a magnificent ice sculpture at the event entrance to fruit carvings bearing an AIDS ribbon placed on every table, which were admired by all”.

As well as The Veranda, TCAAF would like to thank The Wine Cellar, Bowen Arrow for providing live entertainment; DJ Alvardo Seymour and Rapport members for their assistance selling raffle tickets.

TCAAF would also like to thank the people and businesses who kindly gave prizes – The Alexandra Resort,

A dramatic ice sculpture captured the imagination

Caicos Dream Tours, Big Blue Unlimited, Blue, Art Provo, Beauty & the Beach, Environmental Arts and the Goldsmith (newly located in the Regent Village).

The TCAAF is a non-profit organisation that was founded in December of 2003 by a group of individuals who lost friends and/or family members to AIDS. The mission of the organisation is to raise awareness and eliminate the stigma

and discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS through education and community participation to affect positive lifestyle and behavioural changes. In addition, the TCAAF supports the efforts of the Turks and Caicos National AIDS Programme and funds the running of the Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre.

The TCAAF relies on donations for its existence. Anyone who would like more information can email TCAAF on info@aidsawareness.tc

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 20

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010 TURKS & CAICOS SUN

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

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OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Providenciales experienced three nights of spiritual revival when Abundant Life Ministries International, located along the Leeward Highway, hosted its yearly international worship series – Back to the Bible Conference 2010.

The three night event ran from Monday, October 25 to Wednesday, October 27, and featured three international speakers - Bishop Carlos Malone of Florida, Pastor Williams Cornish of the Bahamas and Pastor Torrey Phillips of Florida, along with Psalmist Pastor

LOCAL NEWS Williams Murphy and Gospel singer Simeon Outten.

The conference, which also had a day session on Wednesday, October 27, was attended by a number of individuals across Providenciales, who apparently had an awesome time in the Lord. Next year, Back to the Bible Conference will be held in the Holy Land during the month of October and persons wishing to go are asked to start planning and preparing now.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

THE FACTS PLEASE

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

NOTMYTHS A Teachable Moment Perhaps, unintended by David Tapfer (“Power to the People,” Weekly News Newspaper, September 17th 2010), he has afforded us a teachable moment. It is difficult to understand how someone can seriously compare electricity rates in the Turks and Caicos Islands with electricity rates in the United States and Canada. What the Turks and Caicos Islands need (my personal opinion) is an earnest public discourse that might produce serious solutions to the country’s current economic challenges, and that will help lay the foundation for long term sustained

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

diesel is relatively expensive, it is less expensive

not seen credible data that says we have. Whereas

than any other form of generation available to us

the evolution in wireless technology was the initial

locally. PPC routinely evaluates the commercial

enabler to the introduction of multiple carriers, the

feasibility of other forms of generation, including

promise of reduced cost was the crest on which

heavy oil, wind, solar, ocean wave, ocean thermal,

it rode. However, the average person, household,

and emerging micro reactors (hydro is not an option

and business in the Caribbean now spend more

in the Turks and Caicos Islands).

on telecom than ever before. Indeed, the Cayman that households in that country in 2008 spent 48% more on telephone calls and internet than they spent on electricity.

needs further diversification. However, if the creation of “light industry” was a viable engine of economic development regionally, it begs the question: Why haven’t neighbouring countries with low-cost labour done exactly that and become wealthy nations like the called Newly Industrialised Countries (NIC’s) of eastern and southeastern Asia? As a matter of

and other low cost manufacturing in places like Haiti and Jamaica in the 1990’s. They couldn’t compete with Mexico (NAFTA) and the Pacific Rim countries (skilled, disciplined, lower cost labour). The driver in global manufacturing is skilled low-cost labour, as exemplified by the auto industry where the United States’ auto industry, with a base-line salary of $28 per hour, continues to lose ground to Mexico where auto workers are paid $7 per hour, to China where they are paid $4 per hour, and to India that pays auto workers $1 per hour. High-end tourism and an expanded well regulated financial services offer us the greatest opportunity for sustained economic development. Trinidad, the most industrialised country in the English speaking Caribbean, with abundant domestic energy supplies, struggles to compete globally in manufacturing. Unlike Trinidad, the Turks and Caicos Islands have no cheap domestic energy source, which makes Mr. Tapfer’s exposé on the electricity industry in these Islands

is important. If the Turks and Caicos Islands are to develop into a serious offshore financial centre and compete with financial centres like Hong Kong and Singapore, we will need much better telecommunication infrastructure than we presently have. That will only happen if the local market demands more from the telecom carriers.

Moreover, the advent of multiple telecom carriers in the Caribbean is a bit more involved than Mr.Tapfer is making out.

site. I was told that the hotel generated its own

in our houses or businesses, we are in fact plugging

is 167 megawatts; customers: 121,000. As this

electricity because the local utility’s reliability did

into diesel oil, in the form of electricity. When was

sampling of data shows, PPC’s cost is spread over

not meet the hotel’s reliability standards. It was

the last time you pulled up at the gas station and

a comparatively small sales volume and customer

not because the hotel could produce electricity at a

bought cheap gasoline?

base. Indeed, the two countries with the closest

lower cost. In Cayman, the experience was almost

market profiles (Cayman and Bermuda) are more

the opposite. The local utility’s reliability is so high,

than three times our size. In business, size provides

that the Cayman Ritz Carlton Hotel does not even

critical mass and economies of scales. However,

have standby power facilities, let alone its own plant

size is only part of the story. Cost is also determined

because it was determined during the due diligence

by how efficiently and effectively management runs

stage that CUC’s historical reliability was so high,

the organisation, invests in technology, and by

standby generation was not needed and therefore

the competence of the organisation’s employees.

not designed into the project. (CUC, the local utility

PPC’s strategic objective is to be the best utility

in Grand Cayman, is owned by Fortis.) Both hotels

in the Caribbean by 2013 and we are well on the

were operating to the strict Ritz Carlton’s service

way to achieving this.

standards. In the latter case, the local utility actually

Electricity remains a very fair-value proposition

makers must carefully weigh the choice between the

of electricity in the world. Canada is in the top

when compared with other components of the cost

perceived environmental benefits of more expensive

ten. The USA has a population of three hundred

of living and doing business in the region. However,

green-energy versus the economic benefits of

million; Canada: a population of thirty million.

compared with electricity rates in Canada and

reliable, lower cost energy produced from hydro

North America (Canada, Mexico, and the USA) has

America, there is no such thing as cheap electricity

carbons, and the socioeconomic ramifications of

the largest integrated electrical grid in the world,

in the Caribbean, unless it’s heavily subsidised

that choice. Renewable energy policy is not the focus

followed by Europe and China. Combined total

by the respective governments. The exception is

of this article, but my view is that small emerging

electricity production in Canada, the USA, and

Trinidad with its abundant domestic source of oil

countries should be very careful and not rush to jump

Mexico in 2007 was five trillion kilowatt hours (yes,

and natural gas.

on the renewable energy bandwagon just because

5,000,000,000,000). Moreover, electricity consumers

it is fashionable. Renewable energy programmes in

in the USA and Canada draw energy from the grid

Belize has the second lowest electricity rates in the

large developed countries are supported by an array

that is produced from a variety of low cost energy

Caribbean (I classify Belize as part of the Caribbean

of government subsidies, tax breaks, and special

sources (nuclear, natural gas, hydro, and coal), which

because of its membership in CARICOM and the

consumer surcharges.

are pooled in a highly sophisticated market to arrive

Caribbean Electric Utility Service Corporation

energy is premature and extra market, consumers

(CARILEC). Also, Belize’s electricity company, Belize

(particularly those in small countries) will pay a heavy

Electricity Limited (BEL), is owned by PPC’s parent

economic price. We should not get ahead of the

In comparison, PPC is a miniscule, stand-alone,

company, Fortis Inc. BEL is able to offer Belize

market. In time, renewable technologies will improve,

isolated, vertically integrated utility, which produced

relatively low electricity rates because of what Fortis

and the cost will come down. Utilities will naturally

185 million kWh’s (185,000,000) in 2009 for a

has done since acquiring the company: it has built

transition to renewables as they become economically

permanent population of approximately 30,000 to

three hydro dams, thus shifting Belize from being

feasible to all stakeholders and become appropriate

35,000 and a seasonal tourist population of some

dependent on diesel fuel for electricity generation

to the particular market. In the meantime, we should

250,000. But even as a stand-alone island system,

to cheaper renewable hydro energy. Furthermore,

focus on improving generation efficiencies, low-loss

PPC has an obligation to serve and to ensure

the development of domestic hydro electricity

transmission systems, and consumer demand-side-

a continuous supply of quality electricity to its

enabled Belize to negotiate much better rates from

management and energy conservation programmes.

customers. Therefore, the Company must invest in

the Mexican electricity grid, which were already

For example, a programme encouraging wider use of

sufficient capacity and spinning reserves to ensure

low by Caribbean standards. Belize’s hydro dams

household solar water heating systems would be a

that it is able to meet demand even in the event of

demonstrate Fortis’ commitment to the cheapest

good start.

multiple simultaneous engine failures. Ninety nine

If migration to renewable

at the prices Tapfer cites.

percent of the time, Mr. Tapfer and the rest of PPC’s

Caribbean subsidiaries. The hydro dams also show

customers are unaware of these events; as it should

Fortis’ willingness to invest in renewable energy, whenever economically feasible.

Standalone As explained above, Belize Electricity Limited is not your typical Caribbean electricity company.

Most Caribbean utility companies (especially small companies like PPC) are stand-alone, isolated,

be. In addition, PPC must transmit the electricity to our customers on a safe, robust transmission and distribution grid all the way to North Caicos and Middle Caicos.

It is not correct, as was implied at a recent

vertically integrated utilities, with limited energy

Chamber of Commerce meeting by a member of

sources. Meaning: they generate, transmit, and

Caribbean Comparisons

the Government’s delegation in attendance, that the

distribute electricity, and are not connected to a

David Tapfer is equally off the mark with his

reason why electricity is expensive in the Turks and

large continental grid. In the Turks and Caicos

Caribbean utilities comparisons. Even by Caribbean

Caicos Islands is because we generate electricity

Islands, diesel is the basic form of electricity,

standards, PPC is a small utility. For example, the

using expensive imported diesel fuel instead of

and the most economical. Diesel is a derivative

Company’s current maximum peak demand is 30.5

using renewable forms of energy. PPC uses Number

of crude oil and its price is therefore subject to the

megawatts, and a customer base of approximately

2 light diesel fuel to generate electricity because it

fluctuations and vagaries of international commodity

9,000.

remains by far the least expensive, ecologically

markets. Fuel price hedging is expensive and

system peak is 119 megawatts; customers: 36,000.

friendly means of generating electricity in the Turks

speculative. Moreover, the price we pay for diesel

Cayman Islands: peak maximum demand is 102

and Caicos Islands (Number 2 diesel is the same fuel

at any given moment in time is further influenced

megawatts; customers: 26,000. Jamaica: maximum

used by diesel automobiles, for example). Although

by regional factors and a protracted supply chain.

peak demand is 627 megawatts; customers:

In

comparison,

enabled the investor to reduce his development Using CARILEC’s annual rate survey, the table below

cost. There is no doubt that PPC’s high service

shows the all-in price consumers pay for 400 kWh’s

reliability and comparative rates provide the Turks

of electricity (as of the end of 2009) in a sampling

and Caicos Islands with a competitive advantage for

of Caribbean countries. 400 kWh’s of electricity

inward investment.

is the average monthly residential consumption in the CARILEC group. In other words, it compares oranges to oranges. The data also shows that PPC’s

available forms of electricity generation for its

Green Vs. Conventional Mr. Tapfer is spot on when he says telecommunication

including fossil fuels. Equally important, wind and

585,000; and Barbados: maximum peak demand

The United States of America is the largest producer

somewhat baffling.

Telecommunication

expensive than conventional forms of energy,

Indeed, whenever we plug into an electrical outlet

provide “firm” electricity capacity. Government policy

fact, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) forced the closure of burgeoning textile

Green Energy (or renewable energy) is much more

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OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

USA, Canada, TCI

Fair-Value I agree with David Tapfer that the local economy

Green Energy

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

solar (the most popular forms of renewables) do not

economic prosperity.

Economic Diversification

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

Do we have lower telecom costs regionally? I have

Islands’ Economic and Statistics Office reported

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Bermuda’s

maximum

rates are competitive even against some of the much larger systems.

Regulation Teachable moments should never be missed, and as I reminded another audience recently, electricity utilities are granted exclusive service licenses where

The economic value of electricity (or the cost of unreliable electricity) is perhaps even more important, but a lot more difficult to quantify and report. In the United States, for example, some estimates put the economic cost of electricity interruptions at somewhere between $120 billion and $160 billion annually. Given the generally lower levels of reliability in the Caribbean, one can construe that the economic cost of electricity interruptions are even greater on a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) basis. PPC’s ASAI service reliability index of 99.9% is one of the best in the Caribbean and steadily improving.

natural monopoly conditions exist. That is, it benefits the particular service territory (or country) to have a sole supplier because it’s more efficient, reliable, and cost effective. Under these conditions, the utility is regulated by the respective government. Contrary, to David Tapfer’s insinuation that the Electricity Commissioner is not doing his job, I can assure the public that the present Electricity Commissioner is on top of his responsibilities. However, I will let the Commissioner’s Office speak for itself.

I hope in some small way I have contributed to the public discourse. Feel free to contact me at epowell@ppcltd.tc.

Competitive Advantage From my experience, the first question a prospective

Eddinton M. Powell

investor is apt to ask is how reliable is the local

President and Chief Executive Officer

electricity company.

PPC and AEP.

A few years ago, I stayed

at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Jamaica where at the time the hotel generated its own electricity on

400 KWH AVERAGE MONTHLY CONSUMPTION – US$ TCI (PPC)

TCI (TCU)

Bermuda (BELCO)

Antigua (APUA)

Curacao (AQUALECTRA)

Cayman (CUC)

Dominica (DOMLEC)

Jamaica (JPSCo)

Montserrat (MUL)

156.00

161.20*

126.80

142.07

153.69

132.00

158.92

133.63

158.54

*estimated

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 26

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010 TURKS & CAICOS SUN

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

You can't change your family history but your diet can help lower your risk Cancer, women who ate a quarter grapefruit or more a day had a 30 percent increased risk of breast cancer.

ADD THESE FOODS TO YOUR PLATE Extra virgin olive oil The benefits: Olive oil isn’t only loaded with riskreducing antioxidants and phytonutrients -- including squalene which inhibits tumor growth -- it also has a higher monounsaturated fat content than other oils.

Monounsaturated fats don’t oxidize in the body.

Oxidation, a process that produces chemicals called free radicals, increases cancer risk.

Reap the rewards: Add at least two tablespoons of olive oil a day to your diet, perhaps even tossing vegetables in oil, which will make veggies tastier and encourage you to eat more. Use one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil for every cup of veggies.

Although it can be high in calories -- about 120 calories per tablespoon-- studies have found that the more extra virgin olive oil in your diet, the lower your risk.

Cruciferous vegetables The benefits: Cruciferous veggies contain phytonutrients that stop the spread of cancer and halt cancer cells from forming. These phytonutrients also shift estrogen metabolism so your body produces a form of estrogen that doesn’t drive breast cancer.

Tame your tastebuds: If you’re a grapefruit junkie, switch to other citrus fruits until more research is done, especially if you’ve had estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer.

VEGETABLE OILS

getting omega-3s directly from fish. Chomp at least two 3.5-ounce servings of fatty fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel each week.

Tomatoes The benefits: Tomatoes are packed with lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that not only gives tomatoes their redness but also protects against breast cancer by stopping cancer cell growth.

Why they’re bad: Vegetable oils, including soybean, safflower, sunflower and corn, are high in polyunsaturated fats, which increase cancer-promoting oxidation in the body.

Tame your tastebuds: Replace vegetable oils with extra virgin olive oil or canola oil. Unfortunately, you should also eliminate mayonnaise (unless it’s made with olive or canola oil and contains no partially hydrogenated fats), margarine and foods that contain partially hydrogenated oil (i.e. peanut butter, cookies and muffins), as all of these foods contain vegetable oils. The upshot? You now have permission to eat butter again.

Reap the rewards: Your body absorbs lycopene best when tomatoes are cooked, concentrated or Reap the rewards: Load your diet with broccoli, processed. Top sources include canned tomatoes, sWEETS broccoli rabe, brussels sprouts, cabbage and kale. tomato sauces and tomato paste so you no longer To get a bigger cancer-busting bang, cook them in have to feel guilty about indulging in pasta and pizza Why they’re bad: Women who reported consuming the most sweets, including desserts, sweetened oil, preferably extra virgin olive oil, which will help (as long as it’s veggie). beverages and added sugars, had a 27 percent greater your body absorb more nutrients. risk of breast cancer than women who consumed less, according to the journal Cancer Causes and Dark green leafy vegetables GO EASY ON THESE FOODS Control. A diet high in refined carbohydrates like those found in sweets is associated with higher The benefits: Leafy veggies are loaded with folate, a RED MEAT levels of blood glucose, forcing the body to release B vitamin that strengthens your DNA. Low levels of insulin.

That insulin encourages cancer cells to grow folate have been linked to increased cancer risk.

Why it’s bad: Grilling red meat creates compounds and could result in higher levels of estrogen, which called heterocyclic amines (HCA), which drive may promote the development of breast cancer.

Reap the rewards: Choose spinach and kale, as the cancers. Red meat also contains amino acids that darker the leaves, the better. stimulate the production of insulin and increase oxidation in the body, both of which boost cancer Tame your tastebuds: Keep that sweet tooth in Fatty Fish risk. In one study, women who ate well-done meat check. Although you don’t have to go cold turkey, three times a week increased breast cancer risk by view sweets as an occasional treat, not a daily indulgence.

The benefits: Women who consumed fish oil over 400 percent. supplements had a 32 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer after six years compared Tame your tastebuds: You don’t have to give up PROCESSED MEATS to non-users, according to a study from the journal your meat-eating ways and turn vegetarian, but do Cancer Epidemiology, limit red meat consumption, eating no more than six Why it’s bad: Researchers suspect that compounds used as preservatives in processed meat like deli Biomarkers & Prevention. Fatty fish contains omega-3 ounces a month. meats, bacon, ham and hot dogs morph into cancerfatty acids, which may decrease inflammation in the causing compounds in the body. body. Researchers believe chronic inflammation GRAPEFRUIT may encourage breast cancer development.

Why it’s bad: Grapefruit may elevate levels of Tame your tastebuds: Cut all processed meat from Reap the rewards: Although women in the above estrogen, which is associated with increased breast your diet. If you must indulge, do so only during study took supplements, researchers recommend cancer risk. In a study from the British Journal of special occasions.

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

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Page 28

OCTOBER 22ND - OCTOBER 29TH, 2010

Just a

I was thinkin about her, thinkin about me.

Thinkin about us, what we gonna be? m.

Open my eyes, yeah; it was only just a drea So I travel back, down that road.

Who she come back? No one knows.

I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream.

ment.

I was at the top and I was like I’m at the base ent. acem repl a Number one spot and now she found her y. bab dy's got my I swear now I can't take it, knowing somebo .

And now you ain't around, baby I can't think . ring that got ulda Shoulda put it down. Sho air. the in Cuz I can still feel it her hair.

See her pretty face run my fingers through

My lover, my life. My shorty, my wife.

She left me, I'm tied.

Cuz I knew that it just ain't right.

I was thinkin about her, thinkin about me.

Thinkin about us, what we gonna be? m.

Open my eyes, yeah; it was only just a drea . road that So I travel back, down Who she come back? No one knows.

I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream.

at every turn.

When I be ridin man I swear I see her face .

Tryin to get my usher over, I can let it burn for. n year I one And I just hope she notice she the only Oh I miss her when will I learn?

my payback.

Didn't give her all my love, I guess now I got y.

Now I'm in the club thinkin all about my bab ss that love Hey, she was so easy to love. But wait, I gue wasn't enough

.I'm goin through it every time that I'm alone.

And now i'm missin, wishin she'd pick up the phone.

But she made a decision that she wanted to move one.

Cuz I was wrong.

And I was thinkin about her, thinkin about me.

Thinkin about us, what we gonna be?

Open my eyes, yeah; it was only just a dream.

So I travel back, down that road.

Who she come back? No one knows.

I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream.

If you ever loved somebody put your hands up.

If you ever loved somebody put your hands up.

And now they're gone and you wish you could give them everything.

I said, if you ever loved somebody put your hands up.

If you ever loved somebody put your hands up.

And now they're gone and you wish you could give them everything.

I was thinkin about her, thinkin about me.

Thinkin about us, what we gonna be?

Open my eyes, yeah; it was only just a dream.

So I travel back, down that road.

Who she come back? No one knows.

I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream.

And I was thinkin about her, thinkin about me.

Thinkin about us, what we gonna be?

Open my eyes, yeah; it was only just a dream.

So I travel back, down that road.

Who she come back? No one knows.

I realize, yeah, it was only just a dream.

Obama defends record on 'The Daily Show': 'We have done an awful lot'

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

Carrie Dann writes:It was the first appearance ever by a sitting president on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," but President Barack Obama was serious in his defense of his administration's efforts over the past two years.

"We have done an awful lot that we talked about in the campaign," the president told comedian Jon Stewart during a taping of the show Wednesday, according to a pool report.

"And we are going to do more."

"Over and over again we have moved forward an agenda that is making a difference in people's lives," the president said, citing the health care overhaul that he ushered to passage and the steps his administration has taken to address the economic downturn.

Stewart challenged Obama to explain how he has delivered on his promises of "hope" and "change" – pledges that many of his supporters in

ENTERTAINMENT

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

President Obama gestures during a commercial break as he talks with host Jon Stewart

2008 are still waiting to see fulfilled.

"Legislation has felt timid at times," the comedian said.

"Jon, I love your show," the president responded. "But this is something where I have a profound disagreement with you, this notion that health care was timid."

) %"

*

In an exclusive interview with "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush, Mariah Carey confirms, "yes we are pregnant, this is true!"

Carey told Bush -- in a segment which aired on TODAY Thursday morning -- that it's been a struggle to keep the news private. "It's been a long journey, but it's been tough because I've been trying to have ... to hold onto a shred of privacy. And that was not easy."

In the spirit of some privacy, Carey, who shared the news with Bush from her home in Tribeca, didn't divulge how far along she is. "It's still early, I'm expecting in the spring, I'll say that. I don't want to give too much of like, specific outlines."

Her husband Nick Cannon, who was also on hand for the interview, describes the journey as an emotional one.

"Uh, it's absolutely emotional, but first, so many reasons I mean obviously the greatest gift on earth is a child," Cannon said. "But ... you know how much we have been through, you know."

Cannon is referring to something that's not been made public until now, that Carey suffered a miscarriage.

Two years ago, shortly after the couple's secret wedding, Carey and Cannon were in Monte Carlo for the World Music Awards when Carey took a pregnancy test, and it turned out to be positive. "Only one person knew about this and we were like, um, 'let's not tell anybody else,'" Carey said.

A little more than a month later, she miscarried. "It was really sad so we had to just, we had really to absorb this and take it in," Carey said.

Bush added on TODAY that the couple conceived naturally, and that they would not be finding out whether the baby was a boy or a girl before its birth. For more details, tune in to "Access Hollywood" Thursday.

Page 29

"What happens is it gets discounted because the assumption is we didn't get 100 percent of what we wanted, we only get 90 percent of what we wanted -- so let's focus on the 10 percent we didn't get," Obama added.

Obama also defended the tenure of National Economic Council director

Larry Summers, saying that Summers had done "a heckuva job."

"You don't want to use that phrase, dude," Stewart responded, alluding to former President George W. Bush's infamous use of the same compliment.

Riffing on Obama's famous 2008 chant, Stewart later quipped that the slogan could be modified to: 'Yes, we can – but…"

"Yes, we can -- but it's not going to happen overnight," the president replied.

The broadcast is scheduled to air at 11 p.m. ET. Stewart, along with Comedy Central colleague Stephen Colbert, are the hosts of a joint rally Saturday that is being billed as a jokey but organized response to political extremism.

(Colbert's tongue-in-cheek schtick at the event is his pledge to "Keep Fear Alive," while Stewart aims to "Restore Sanity." Over 100,000 people are expected to attend.

%$ &$% ! # "! "& & ' ($

First, Lady Gaga had the most viewed music video on YouTube with 'Bad Romance,' and then Justin Bieber stole the throne away back in July. Now, Gaga's YouTube channel has crossed the one billion mark, and yet again the Biebs is closing in quick. Lady Gaga became the first musician to record over one billion views on YouTube, crowning her the cultural Queen of the YouTube generation, but even with a huge head start, Bieber is on track to pass the same mark by Nov. 1, Hollywood Reporter estimates.

"We reached 1 Billion views on youtube little monsters! If we can stick together we can do anything. I dub you kings and queens of youtube! Unite!" Lady Gaga announced Monday morning on Twitter.

Currently, Gaga's YouTube channel has 1,001,881,969 total upload views, while Bieber's has 965,831,991.

Though Lady Gaga beats Justin Bieber to 1 billion YouTube views, he is also expected

to reach the same level on November 1st. With both of them having huge fan bases they not only hold the top two spots for overall views, but individual items of theirs are also the most viewed.

For the “Telephone” singer her “Bad Romance” video has 297 million views and “Just Dance” has 124 million views. The 16 year old has the most-watched video ever on YouTube, “Baby,” with 366 million views!

And his “Never Let You Go” has 96 million views.

This isn’t the only thing she has going for her. Lady Gaga surpasses Obama on Facebook.

10 million friends is what put her over the top.

The 24 year old is now the first person to ever reach the amazing amount of video views.

Overall though, with her crazy and unique ideas the Grammy Award winning Stefani Germanotta (her real name) has become the most popular living star on Facebook and Youtube!

KANYE WEST AND JAY­Z COLLABORATE ON A FULL ALBUM

Kanye West and Jay-Z have worked together on a few projects in the past, but now in an interview with MTV, West says that the two will be working on a full-length album together.

The Watch the Throne project was Initially planned as a five-song EP but evolved to become full album. “We did like five [songs] so far, and then a few of them kind of were out there, and I put them on my album," West said. "But we’ve got some more, and we’re going to the south of France at the end of this month just to record our ideas.”

Though there's no official release date, fans will get a taste of what to expect from the two hip-hop stars based on tracks like "Monster" and "So Appalled" offer West's new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which will be released on November 22.

MTV points out that Jay-Z has done collaborative albums in the past including one with Linkin Park and another with R. Kelly.

West recently opened up to audiences

previewing his upcoming 40 minute film Runaway last week, saying that the years following his mother's death in 2007 have changed him.

"There were times that I contemplated suicide," the rapper told the star studded crowd at the premiere, according to The Associated Press.

"I will not give up on life again."

He called himself a "solider of culture" and said, "There's so many people that will never get the chance to have their voice heard I do it for them."

Indeed his turn around seems to also be reflected in a recent Tweet where he says, "I have decided to become the best rapper of all time! I put it on my things to do in this lifetime list!"

Though West didn't specify the time when he considered suicide, he did tell reports that after a "long, hard year" he was able to recapture his creative spirit that allowed him to think like "a 5year-old at all times," according to the wire service.

KFWS • MindGym

Page 30

FUN & GAMES

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

October 25, 2010

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

—2—

King Features Weekly Service

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

October 25, 2010

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 31

FUN & GAMES

October 25,October 2010 25, 2010

King Features WeeklyService Service King Features Weekly

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Your honesty continues to impress everyone who needs reassurance about a project. But be careful you don’t lose patience with those who are still not ready to act.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Pushing others too hard to do things your way could cause resentment and raise more doubts. Instead, take more time to explain why your methods will work.

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Be more considerate of those close to you before making a decision that could have a serious effect on their lives. Explain your intentions and ask for their advice.

CANCER (June 21 to July 22) You might have to defend a workplace decision you plan to make. Colleagues might back you up on this, but it’s the facts that will ultimately win the day for you. Good luck.

LEO (July 23 to August 22) The Big Cat’s co-workers might not be doing enough to help get that project finished.

Your roars might stir things up, but gentle purrr-suasion will prove to be more effective.

VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) Someone you care for needs help with a problem. Give it lovingly and without judging the situation. Whatever you feel you should know will be revealed later.

LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) While you’re to be admired for how you —13—recent workplace handled problems, be careful not to

TRUMP MANIPULATION

Assume you’re in four hearts and West leads a club, taken by you with the ace.

There seems to be nothing much to the play, so let’s say you cash the ace of trumps, ruff a club in dummy and start running your diamonds, hoping to discard a spade on dummy’s fourth diamond.

Unfortunately, East ruffs the third diamond and returns the queen of spades, and down you go.

You could attribute the outcome to bad luck — and your opponents might even —13— sympathize with you. After all, East could have held the ace of spades instead of West, in which case you’d have made 11 tricks. Also, the diamonds might have been divided 3-3 instead of 4-2, or the player with two

—15—

react the same way to a new situation until all the facts are in.

SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) Rely on your keen instincts as well as the facts at hand when dealing with a troubling situation.

Be patient. Take things one step at a time as you work through it.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) Your curiosity leads you to ask questions. However, the answers might not be what you hoped to hear. Don’t reject them without checking them out.

CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Be careful not to tackle a problem without sufficient facts.

Even sure-footed Goats need to know where they’ll land before leaping off a mountain path.

AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) Appearances can be deceiving. You need to do more investigating before investing your time, let alone your money, in something that might have some hidden flaws.

PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Your recent stand on an issue could make you the focus of more attention than you would like. But you’ll regain your privacy, as well as more time with loved ones, by week’s end.

BORN THIS WEEK: You’re a good friend and a trusted confidante. You would be a wonderful teacher and a respected member of the clergy.

• It w produc directo who m sage o ever y sus of someth for yo you’re • Stat babies ber tha of the y • Talk May o broke in Mil their lo their g out of t were more the illended u crime, were ar • Acc by the U are m shipwr floor.

• You the turd stuffed into a

© 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.

trumps — East in the actual deal — might have held four diamonds. In all of these cases, you’d have gotten home safe and sound.

Despite this, the fact remains that if you played the hand as described, you didn’t try hard enough. You should have ruffed a club in dummy at trick two, then led a trump from dummy and played low when East followed with the jack!

West would win the trick with his queen, and you could now be sure of making at least 10 tricks. Whatever West returned, you would draw the one missing trump and later discard a spade on dummy’s fourth diamond.

The suggested method of play, which gains when West started with the singleton king or queen of trumps, gives you an extra chance to keep East, the dangerous opponent, off lead.

It is true that East can frustrate your plan by playing the king instead of the jack on your first trump lead from dummy. Nevertheless, you should give him this chance to distinguish himself instead of making things easy for him. If East is smart enough to play the king, you should arrange to change partners as quickly as possible and start playing with him, not against him. © 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.

Hear

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King Features Weekly Service

October 25, 2010

FUN & GAMES

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Haiti struggles to contain Cholera

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

ST. MARC, Haiti—A deadly cholera epidemic in Haiti showed no signs of stabilizing Wednesday, even as the government and international aid groups scrambled to try to curb its spread.

The Pan American Health Organization said 4,147 people have been infected and 292 have died from the outbreak, which was first detected last week.

Those numbers are up from what the organization described as more than 3,100 infected and more than 250 dead on Monday, when health officials said an influx of aid was slowing the increase but warned that the numbers would continue to rise. "With a disease like this, you see a rapid upswing in the number of cases over a short period of time, and that's what we're seeing," Jon Andrus, PAHO's deputy director, said at a news conference Wednesday.

The epidemic "doesn't appear to be stabilizing," he added.

Here in the town of St. Marc, about 60 miles north of Port-au-Prince, St. Nicolas Hospital continued to treat a steady stream of cholera patients Wednesday afternoon. Before entering the hospital, patients stepped on two large pieces of foam soaked in chlorine and washed their hands from a bucket of water. Medical staff rushed about to diagnose and treat more than 80 people with oral rehydration salts and intravenous fluids at two large triage tents in the hospital's courtyard.

More than 20 patients with more serious cases of cholera lay on mats on the floor of the emergency room, including Dassode Rosalgo, an 11-

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year-old boy draped in a diaper and a T-shirt. His mother, Justicia, said he was rushed to the hospital from the town's outskirts by ambulance on Tuesday. Ms. Rosalgo said she believed her son became sick after drinking from a plastic bag of water bought in a local store.

The aid group Doctors Without Borders was scrambling Wednesday to find an alternative site for a dedicated 400-bed cholera treatment center in St. Marc to reduce the strain on the hospital, where it said "patients are currently being treated in less than ideal conditions."

Construction of such a facility was nearing completion Tuesday when a large group of locals demonstrated at the site, apparently fearing the facility A child suffering from the symptoms of cholera is given fluid by a relative at a hospital in St. Marc. would bring more cholera to the area.

Several tents were burned during the in Haiti are ramping up the distribution massive earthquake. demonstration, but there were no of water purification tablets, oral Many people are in crowded serious injuries, the aid group said in a rehydration kits and even soap to try refugee camps in Port-au-Prince and statement Wednesday. and contain the acute diarrheal disease, its outskirts. Some makeshift camps The epicenter of the outbreak is in which is transmitted through stretch for about 20 miles along the the Artibonite region, north of Port-au- contaminated water and food. USAID, highway from the capital toward St. Prince. But PAHO said Wednesday the U.S. humanitarian agency, said Marc, including thousands of that cases also have been identified in Wednesday it had distributed 25,000 displaced residents under blue plastic Haiti's Central and West regions, and sachets of oral rehydration solution, tarps. that possible instances are being 5,000 bars of soap and 50,000 Authorities said last weekend they investigated in the North, Northeast educational posters with aid partners. had identified half a dozen cases of and Northwest regions. The regional Authorities and aid groups also are cholera in the capital. arm of the World Health Organization trucking chlorine and clean water to PAHO said Wednesday it's not said it expects cases to surface affected areas. recommending widespread eventually in the neighboring Many Haitians don't have ready vaccinations against cholera because Dominican Republic and that it has access to potable water, heightening multiple doses are required, meaning sent planning teams to that country. the risk that the epidemic will continue it would take too long to provide The Dominican government said to spread. Aid workers also worry the protection in the middle of an earlier this week that it tightened disease could expand easily in the outbreak. But health authorities are restrictions on border traffic with Haiti. capital, where more than one million evaluating preemptive vaccinations in Authorities and aid organizations people were displaced by January's areas that cholera hasn't reached yet.

St. Vincent Prime Minister outlines new economic policies, eyes general election

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, - Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has outlined new policies aimed at improving the socio-economic well-being of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines as the island observed its 31st anniversary of political independence from Britain.

"Although our economic circumstances are challenging as a consequence of the global economic meltdown, surely we can afford these modest but vital measures to assist in the further upliftment of the economically disadvantaged, the working people, children, young persons, the elderly and sportsmen and sports women,” Gonsalves said in a 22-minute address to the nation.

Gonsalves said his Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration would continue with the distribution of hundreds of housing lots at preferential prices to economically disadvantaged citizens.

“Moreover, the interest rate on outstanding balances on purchases of these lands have been reduced from eight per cent to three per cent and a cap of five years has been placed on the number of years for which interest is payable,” Gonsalves said.

He further announced that the special allocation of university education for nurses, police officers, teachers, and public servants will continue for the current and upcoming academic year.

Additionally, construction work on two sporting and recreational facilities in Kingstown will commence shortly.

Gonsalves announced the measure even as he said the nation was celebrating its 31st anniversary “at a most challenging time, occasioned by economic, financial and climatic events internationally not of out making” He however said that the small nation of limited natural resources “has not only been weathering the ill winds from abroad, but we have been making admirable progress on several fronts…

“Still, we are not yet out of the woods and the road to be travelled holds many perils,” he said.

Gonsalves further announced that more focused development priorities will be implemented early next year.

These include an agricultural diversification programme to uplift farmers to be financed by an EC$30 million (US$11.11 million) soft-loan from the Export-Import Bank of Taiwan.

An EC$35 million (US$12.96 million) health sector development programme, financed by the European Union (EU), will be implemented, along with an EC$45 million (US$16.66 million) project for the further development of post-secondary education.

Gonsalves also spoke of the implementation of an integrated agricultural development programme expected to be financed by EC$37 million (US$13.7 million) from the EU. Gonsalves also said that the one-laptop per student project, through collaboration between the governments of Portugal and SVG, would also be implemented in Jan. “Indeed, two days ago, the government of Portugal confirmed to me after a face-to-face meeting between its prime minister and President [Hugo] Chavez of Venezuela that 30,000 laptops will be delivered from January 2011 for our primary, secondary and post-secondary students,” Gonsalves said to cheers.

“This laptop per student initiative will make St. Vincent and the Grenadines the only country in the Caribbean and one of the few in the world to provide one laptop for every primary, secondary and postsecondary student. Remarkable indeed,” Gonsalves said.

The Prime Minister spoke of the nation’s history, including its experience with “colonialism, genocide, slavery and indentureship.

“The challenges that confront us now pale into insignificance comparatively. As always, we shall dig deeply into our individual and collective selves to survive and thrive. We have been doing so to our families’ and nation’s credit. It is true that we are not better than anyone else. But no one is better than us.

We can be and do what we want to be and do in accordance with out goodness, wisdom, potential and God-given talents,” Gonsalves said.

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Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson dies at 48 CARIBBEAN NEWS

Prime Minister David Thompson of Barbados died early Saturday October 23, of pancreatic cancer at his private residence in the eastern parish of St. Philip. He was 48.

Mr. Thompson, who became the youngest ever elected prime minister of the Caribbean nation of 300,000 people in January 2008, had been ill since March and traveled to New York several times for treatment. He would not discuss his condition until last month, when his doctor announced that Mr. Thompson had pancreatic cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.

Thompson was the third Barbadian prime minister to die in office.

Former prime minister Errol Barrow, who led Barbados into independence on November 30, 1966, died in office on June 1, 1987 at the age of 67, after winning the 1986 general elections, while Tom Adams died in office on March 11, 1985.

In a radio address to the nation last month, Mr. Thompson said he was shuffling his cabinet to pass many of his responsibilities to other ministers.

He said he chose the radio for his speech rather than television so islanders would focus on his message, not his appearance.

Mr. Thompson’s attorney general and deputy, Freundel Stuart, was sworn in Saturday as the new prime minister after his nomination by local lawmakers and his appointment by the governor-general of Barbados, Sir Clifford Husbands.

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The Thompson family- wife Mara and children Misha, Oya and Osa-Marie

The prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Denzil Douglas, called Mr. Thompson’s death “a loss to not only the people of Barbados, but also the people of the Caribbean.”

Trained as a lawyer, Mr. Thompson led his Democratic Labor Party to victory in 2008 elections, defeating an effort by the Barbados Labor Party to win a fourth consecutive term. The party holds 21 of the 30 seats in the Parliament of Barbados, the easternmost Caribbean island.

The next elections are scheduled for 2013 on the island, which won independence from Britain in 1966 and has overcome the decline of its once powerful sugar industry to grow

relatively wealthy through high-end tourism, light industry and offshore financial services.

Mr. Thompson is survived by his wife, Marie-Josephine Mara, and their three daughters.

According to the Barbados Nation newspaper, the family of the late Prime Minister David Thompson got a chance to view his body Thursday at the Barbados Parliament where he was lying in state.

The family, including his wife Mara, children Misha, Oya and OsaMarie, along with his parents Margaret Knight and Charles Thompson, and siblings, filed into Parliament early where their loved one was lying in

USVI outlines plan to boost arrivals

ST. THOMAS — The V.I. Tourism Department has released its 2011 marketing plan, which details the strategies and initiatives designed to boost visitor arrivals in the coming year.

Tourism has developed the annual plans and shared them with the public for the past four years.

The strategic plan lays out the department’s approach to marketing and includes the plans of its sales, advertising and public relations teams.

According to a Tourism news release, the strategies outlined in the plan are guided by marketplace insights, research and trends to determine how the Virgin Islands can adjust its marketing efforts to appeal to potential visitors.

During the last four years, Tourism has established and maintained a minimum 3-to-1 return on investment for the amount of money spent on marketing, Tourism spokeswoman Allegra Kean-Moorehead said.

“By sharing the Department’s strategic marketing plan, we are able to foster increased collaboration with our private sector and industry partners as we work together toward the common goal of increasing visitor arrivals and the economic contribution from tourism to the Territory,” Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty said in a written statement. “At the same time, we are mindful that any plan should be flexible and must be shifted and reassessed on an ongoing basis to respond to changes in the marketplace. This approach allows us to remain nimble to capitalize on opportunities that will reach potential visitors.”

The initiatives included in the Fiscal Year 2011 marketing strategy build on ideas contained in past plans.

Social media marketing, comprehensive marketing events in key cities, a focus on the bridal market and a focus on developing the territory’s tourism product are some of the plan’s highlights.

According to Tourism, research has shown that travelers make decisions based on recommendations from social media channels.

To capitalize on that opportunity, Tourism has already launched several successful initiatives

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

that will continue into 2011. The department’s Facebook page has more than 11,500 friends, and the agency is using those connections to lure new and returning visitors.

The department also is using Twitter to broadcast promotions, which allows the government the opportunity to interact directly with travelers. According to Tourism, a recent Twitter promotion boosted the department’s Twitter following by more than 50 percent.

In the last year, the department conducted a series of “blitz” marketing events, in which Tourism officials saturated a city or region by visiting malls, conducting receptions for travel agents and journalists and appearing on local television and radio shows to promote the Virgin Islands. The cities chosen have direct or connecting flights to the territory. The 2011 marketing plan calls for more marketing blitz events.

For years, couples have come to get married against the beautiful backdrop of the Virgin Islands, and the bridal market will continue to be a focus for the coming year. According to the plan, Tourism will unveil several high-profile promotions to reach brides and potential honeymooners in 2011.

To make planning a destination wedding easier, the department’s website — visitusvi.com — will add a way to solicit proposals from local wedding vendors.

Improving the destination’s tourism product also will continue under the new plan. In 2011, the department will extend its local campaign — “Tourism, It’s all of Us.” The campaign reminds Virgin Islanders of the importance of the territory’s tourism industry and informs the local community of the opportunities available through tourism.

In the last year, Tourism conducted a secret shopper program that rated the islands on customer service in a number of areas, from taxi operators to hotel staff. The data collected during that program will continue to be used to establish a baseline of the territory’s customer service level and determine what training would be effective to improve that baseline.

state.

Governor-General Sir Clifford Husbands, and new Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, who was previously Thompson’s deputy, warmly greeted the family and expressed words of comfort at this time of mourning.

The family was joined by hundreds who gathered in Parliament Yard queuing to file past the late leader, and pay their last respects.

The late leader will be buried next Wednesday. There will be a funeral service at Kensington Oval, followed by burial at St John’s Parish Church, in the constituency which Thompson represented since he was 25 years old.

Tears flowed freely when Barbadians turned out in their numbers Thursday to view the body of the late Prime Minister David Thompson at Parliament.

Some wept openly, some choked back tears and others buckled as they filed past Thompson’s body which was lying in state from early.

The young and old didn’t hold back their emotions as they spoke openly and shared memories of the late Prime Minister who died last Saturday at home in Mapps, St Philip surrounded by his family, including wife Mara and his daughters.

The mood was sombre in Parliament yard with many waiting patiently in long snaking lines to get a last glimpse of the man who was Prime Minister from January 2008 and say their final farewells.

Gregory Isaacs — one of the most popular and versatile reggae singers of the late-Seventies, and the smooth-voiced dancehall crooner behind the genre's landmark 1982 LP Night Nurse — passed away this morning at his London home following a yearlong battle with lung cancer, the BBC reports.

Isaacs was 59. "Gregory was well loved by everyone, his fans and his Gregory Isaacs family, and he worked really hard to make sure he delivered the music they loved and enjoyed," Isaacs' wife Linda said. "He will be greatly missed by his family and friends."

Over the course of his prolific career — in which he release an estimated 500 albums within Jamaica, the UK and the U.S. — Isaacs collaborated with reggae, dub and dancehall icons like Lee "Scratch" Perry, King Tubby, Sugar Minott, Freddie McGregor, Dennis Brown and Errol Holt. After spending the Seventies building a reputation as both a top-notch roots reggae singer and a soulful "lovers rock"-style crooner, Isaacs recorded his masterpiece Night Nurse at Bob Marley's Tuff Gong Studios in 1982, the year after Marley's death.

Isaacs was poised to become a worldwide star when Night Nurse climbed to Number 32 on the British charts, but instead found himself sentenced to six months in a Jamaican prison on illegal firearm charges. (Isaacs' police record is almost as prolific as his discography, with over 50 reported arrests in his lifetime.) Dubbed the "Cool Ruler" by fans, Isaacs wrestled with drug addiction throughout his career, eventually losing his teeth and jeopardizing his legendary voice from persistent drug use, but he continued to make music, releasing his final album, Brand New Me, in 2008.

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UN again condemns US embargo of Cuba

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

The United States found itself up against virtually the entire world Wednesday as country after country at the United Nations denounced the nearly 50-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, which the island government says is as strong as ever under President Barack Obama.

It was the 18th time the U.N. General Assembly voted to condemn the embargo, and the first time since Obama took office in January. In a near unanimous vote -- 187 to 3 -- the only nations to side with the United States were Israel and Palau, a country of 21,000 people in the Pacific.

Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.

Experts said the vote underscored Washington's increasingly isolated position on Cuba, and highlighted how little Obama has moved on the topic since taking office.

While the buzz in the U.S. is how Obama is warming relations with the long-hostile nation, Cuba's

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government says much of the talk is a media gimmick. ``The vote represents the fact that the continued consensus around the world is that the United States policy doesn't make any sense,'' said American University dean William LeoGrande, an expert on Cuba. ``The more time passes without the Obama administration doing something significantly different than [former President] George Bush did, the more hollow the promise of change for Cuba policy looks.''

Calling trade sanctions an act of genocide and economic warfare, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said the embargo has cost the country $96 billion. ``The blockade is an uncultured act of arrogance,'' Rodríguez said, according to the Associated Press. In a report submitted to the General Assembly, Cuba asserts: • The food sector alone lost $121 million because of the embargo last year.

United States Magistrate Anthony Porcelli on Wednesday approved a security company that Jamaican Reggae star Buju Banton has expressed an interest in contracting to provide him with 24-hour security as part of his bail condition.

Porcelli has also approved the $350,000 Miami property put up by Stephen Marley, the son of Reggae legend Bob Marley, as collateral for Banton's bond.

But despite the development in the Sam M Gibbons federal court, Banton will have to remain in jail as the prosecution will be appealing Porcelli's decision to approve the Buju Banton security company the Jamaican artiste wants to hire to ensure he sticks to the previous conditions of his house arrest.

The prosecution has five days to file its appeal.

Banton's lead attorney, David Oscar Markus, was yesterday livid at what he said was the repeated attempts by Prosecutor James Preston to keep his client behind bars.

"The Government's dogged attempt to keep Buju behind bars is disheartening," Markus told the Observer.

Banton has been in jail since last December, following his arrest at his Tamarac South Florida home. He was granted $250,000 bail earlier this month after a panel of 12 jurors failed to reach a verdict in his drug and weapon trial in September.

As part of his bail condition, Banton, whose real name is Mark Anthony Myrie, will be placed under house arrest and will be required to wear a tracking device, pending the outcome of his retrial in December.

If released, Banton will have to remain at home other than when he wants to purchase medication, see his attorney or attend court.

Yesterday, attorney Marc Seitles, who handled the hearing on Banton's behalf, was delighted at the outcome.

"We achieved a bond today and we are happy that Judge Porcelli reaffirmed that Buju is entitled to be released on bond," said Seitles.

If Banton successfully beats back the appeal, he will have to seek another bond in the immigration court as his entertainment visa was revoked upon his arrest.

Banton is facing a charge of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute five kilogrammes of cocaine and possession of a weapon during the furtherance of a crime. His two co-defendants, Ian Thomas and James Mack, have both pleaded guilty and will be sentenced next month.

CARIBBEAN NEWS

• The nation spends $5.2 million a year refrigerating stockpiled eggs in case there are shortages.

• Increased shipping of educational materials from Asia cost $1.39 million, which Cuba could have used to buy 40 million pencils or a half million boxes of crayons.

• Cuba can't buy child-size specialized medical supplies for sick kids -- and the report made the point of listing the kids by name.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. called Rodríguez's speech a ``hostile'' relic of the Cold War. ``Here we go again,'' Ambassador Susan Rice said. ``I suppose old habits die hard . . . We will not respond in kind to painfully familiar rhetoric that we have heard in years past -- rather, I am prepared to acknowledge that there is a new chapter to this old story.''

She stressed that the Obama administration had renewed family visits to the island and loosened restrictions on U.S.

telecommunications companies to do business in Cuba. Talks are under way for direct mail and migration, she said, and the American companies last year sold Cuba some $700 million in food.

In 2008, the United States was Cuba's No. 5 trade partner. ``Regrettably, the government of Cuba has not yet reciprocated these important steps taken by my government,'' she said, adding that Washington has the sovereign right to conduct economic relationships how it ``sees fit.''

Lifting the embargo would require an act of Congress, but Obama has the right to issue licenses that would chip away at it. ``The United States is standing on principle,'' said the University of Miami's Jaime Suchlicki. ``We cannot have a policy that stands for democracy, human rights and elections and then suddenly lift the embargo and get friendly with Cuba. It would be a major contradiction.''

United States and CARICOM security officials to meet in Jamaica

The first meeting of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) Commission will take place in Jamaica from November 3.

The two-day meeting will bring together officials from all Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states, the United States (US), the Dominican Republic (DR), the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), and the Regional Security System (RSS).

The Commission was established following the inaugural Caribbean–United States Security Cooperation Dialogue held in Washington D.C. on in May last year and a statement from the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat said that “this first meeting is intended to move the process into the coordination and implementation phase”.

United States President Barack Obama announced his intent to pursue a security partnership with the Caribbean at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, which was held in Trinidad and Tobago, in April 2009. Since then, the governments of the Caribbean and the US have met four times to jointly define and develop the goals and scope for the CBSI. “The Governments of the Caribbean broke new ground in April 2008 by agreeing to develop a common regional strategy and operational framework, and they continue to embrace President Obama’s response to CARICOM’s call for greater cooperation in the critical area of regional security.

“More than a series of programmes, this partnership will be an ongoing collaboration that draws upon and helps develop the capacity of the Caribbean to address common security-related challenges,” the statement said.

It noted that this first meeting of the Commission will focus on two fundamental components of the CBSI – policy and programme coordination - and will provide an opportunity to agree on the Terms of Reference for the initial four Technical Working Groups (TWGs) agreed to at the inaugural Caribbean-US Security Cooperation Dialogue.

“The meeting will also establish venues and participants - including other international partners - for the Meetings of the TWGs; exchange views on how best to achieve the objectives and implement the Joint Plan of Action; and begin preparation for the Second Caribbean-US Security Cooperation Dialogue, scheduled for the first half of 2011,” the statement added.

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Major arrest in FBI terror sting

WASHINGTON—Federal agents on Wednesday arrested a PakistaniAmerican man in a sting operation, accusing him of helping scout out potential targets for bombings of Washington's Metrorail subway system.

The suspect, 34-year-old Farooque Ahmed, of Ashburn, Va., believed he was part of an al Qaeda bombing conspiracy, but the purported plot was actually set up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to a federal grand-jury indictment in Virginia's eastern district.

The indictment says that from April to October, Mr. Ahmed tried to aid what he believed was a plot to carry out multiple bombings at Washington-area subway stations. He recorded video of stations in Arlington, Va., on four occasions and drew diagrams of three stations in Arlington, according to the indictment.

He provided suggestions for where to place bombs in attacks that were supposedly to be carried out next year, it says. Mr. Ahmed is charged with attempting to provide support to terrorists and assisting in planning a terrorist attack on transit.

The public was never in any danger, officials said.

At a hearing Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., the bearded suspect politely told a judge he understood the charges. Prosecutors told the judge they expected to use classified evidence in the case and asked that he appoint a lawyer with security clearance for Mr. Ahmed. Mr. Ahmed, who is being held pending a Friday detention hearing, didn't comment on the substance of the charges and said he couldn't afford a lawyer.

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OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

FBI Investigators leave the home of Farooque Ahmed in Ashburn, Virginia, Wednesday. Ahmed, a naturalized citizen born in Pakistan was arrested Wednesday and charged with trying to help people posing as Al-Qaeda operatives planning to bomb subway stations around the nation's capital, the FBI said.

A profile on the LinkedIn professional networking site shows a Farooque Ahmed working as a network engineer at a U.S. unit of Swedish telecommunications company Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson. A spokeswoman for Ericsson said Mr. Ahmed worked as a contract employee assigned to clients in the area.

The indictment doesn't say how U.S. officials became interested in Mr. Ahmed. The FBI and other agencies are known to monitor Internet forums that attract jihadists and other Islamist sympathizers in the U.S. and around the world. U.S. officials said Mr. Ahmed didn't participate in overseas terror training.

In April, FBI agents set up a meeting with Mr. Ahmed under the guise of making contact with a terror

operative, according to the indictment.

During a meeting in May, the indictment says, Mr. Ahmed told the purported terrorist contact he was planning to attend the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in November and then "might be ready to travel overseas to conduct jihad in January 2011."

In July and August, Mr. Ahmed conducted surveillance and recorded videotape of the Arlington Cemetery, Pentagon City and Court House Metro stations in Washington's Virginia suburbs, the indictment says. He also did surveillance of a hotel in Washington, to study security and determine the busiest periods at the locations, the indictment says.

At a meeting in September, prosecutors allege, Mr. Ahmed told the contact an attack could cause the most

Former Argentine President Kirchner Dies of Heart Attack

Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, who antagonized investors in the aftermath of the country’s $95 billion debt default before handing power to his wife in 2007, died of a heart attack on Wednesday. He was 60.

Kirchner, who underwent surgery twice this year for heart problems, was rushed to the hospital in the company of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner after falling ill at their home in the Patagonian town of El Calafate, the president’s website said. He died before 10 a.m. local time.

While Kirchner was seen as the “strongman” behind his wife’s rule, and his death is likely to produce an outpouring of support for her, “economic decisions in the near future are unlikely to be much affected,” said Guillermo Mondino, an analyst in New York with Barclays Plc. “I don’t want to sound heartless, but it does enhance the chance of an opposition candidate winning” the October 2011 election, said Edwin Gutierrez, who manages about $6 billion of emerging-market debt, including Argentine pesoand dollar- denominated securities, at Aberdeen

Asset Management Plc in London. “He is seen as a big stumbling block” to more market- friendly policies.

Kirchner said in July that either he or his wife would run for president next year. If Fernandez seeks a second term, she’ll face competition from Buenos Aires province Governor Daniel Scioli, who served as Kirchner’s vice president, and former President Eduardo Duhalde, according to Molano.

Kirchner took office in 2003, in the wake of Argentina’s default and a devaluation that forced his elected predecessor, Fernando de la Rua, to resign amid deadly protests and saw five presidents in two weeks.

While boosting economic growth to an average 8.8 percent during his term, he antagonized investors by offering creditors bonds at 30 cents on the dollar in exchange for $95 billion in defaulted debt, the harshest sovereign restructuring terms since World War II. In June, Fernandez settled with holders of $12.2 billion in bonds who rejected the 2005 offering.

In 2007, he blamed loans and advice from the

casualties between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. He suggested placing bombs on trains at the three stations he had cased and proposed using rolling suitcases in simultaneous attacks in 2011, the indictment says. The suburban stations Mr. Ahmed allegedly scouted are often crowded with contractors and military personnel who work in offices affiliated with the nearby Pentagon.

The case is the latest of several involving FBI sting operations luring alleged extremists in the U.S. to carry out terrorist plots, in which FBI informants or undercover agents control the plot.

Last month, prosecutors charged a Chicago man who tried to detonate what he thought was a bomb on a crowded street in the city's Wrigleyville neighborhood. The bomb was a dud, provided by the FBI, which had set up the sting.

A similar operation led to a 24-year prison sentence this month for a Jordanian man who thought he was carrying out a truck bombing of a Dallas skyscraper last year. The FBI had orchestrated the plot, providing a fake bomb.

In recent years, the FBI has refined its use of the sting as a way to stop terror plots before they can be carried out. In some cases, defense lawyers have accused investigators of entrapment, in which law enforcement induces people to commit a crime they otherwise wouldn't commit. The FBI and prosecutors argue that the cases are brought only against suspects who have given investigators cause to believe they are inclined to support terrorism. Juries and judges mostly have sided with the government in cases brought in recent years.

Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner

International Monetary Fund “dictatorship” for leading the country into failure during the 1990s.

Since paying back $9.8 billion in debt to the IMF in 2006, the government has yet to allow the Washington-based lender to conduct a review of its finances as it does in other member countries.

“It’s pathetic to listen to them sometimes,” Kirchner said of the IMF in February 2005.

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International face of Saddam regime to hang

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

Saddam Hussein's foreign minister Tariq Aziz was sentenced to death by hanging Tuesday for persecuting members of Shiite religious parties under the former regime.

Iraq's high criminal court spokesman Mohammed Abdul Sahib did not say when Aziz, 74, would be put to death. The death sentence was for a conviction on charges of taking part in a Saddam-led campaign that hunted and executed members of the Shiite Dawa Party, of which current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a member.

Aziz, a Christian who became known as the international face of Saddam's regime, has already been convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants found guilty of profiteering. He also received a seven-year prison sentence for a case involving the forced displacement of Kurds in northern Iraq.

WORLD NEWS

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Iraqi Deputy Premier Tareq Aziz passes a poster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein at the end of a press conference in Baghdad 24 November 1999.

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Aziz predicted he will die in prison, citing his old age and lengthy prison sentences.

Aziz was well known in foreign capitals and at the United Nations before Saddam's downfall. He rose to

prominence at the time of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf War when he was foreign minister.

He gave himself up to invading U.S. forces in April 2003 but was handed over to Iraqi prison authorities this year. In August he accused

Strikes continue in France after Pension Bill voted

French unions were trying to keep the pressure on President Nicolas Sarkozy Thursday despite dwindling protester numbers after the French Parliament approved the government-sponsored pensions overhaul bill.

The bill, which among other things, raises the pension age to 62 years from 60, mightn't take effect for another week or two as the opposition Socialist Party, as expected, said it will appeal the law to the Constitutional Court. The law is expected to clear that legal hurdle.

Christine Lagarde, the country's Finance Minister, said the reform is essential to maintain investor confidence.

The unions want to maintain the pressure through protests to keep the debate alive on what to do with pensions before President Nicolas Sarkozy signs the law, Marcel Guignard, the deputy general secretary of the moderate CFDT union, said in a video posted on the union's website.

But on French streets, fewer demonstrators were chanting against Sarkozy than during previous mass rallies. The Interior Minister put at 198,000 the country-wide figure at noon, down from 480,000 at the same time on Oct. 19 during the time of previous nationwide demonstrations.

Jean-Claude Mailly, the general secretary of Force Ouvriere union, acknowledged fewer protesters had showed up during a TV interview and said there will be more "actions".

The head of the communist-leaning CGT union Bernard Thibault said on a local radio interview that the protests will continue regardless of the approval of the bill in Congress.

A union defeat would be a milestone in French politics, said Boston University Professor William Keylor. "The unions always succeeded, if they back down this time it would mark an important change in the relationship between government and organized labor movement," he said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Sarkozy could emerge stronger from the conflict ahead of the 2012 presidential elections.

Although strike action has been waning over the past week, industrial action in crucial areas, such as air traffic control, rail transport, refineries and ports, continue to have a big impact on some sectors Thursday.

The unions have diminished in power in recent years, although the CGT retains strong following in those sectors.

Between 20% and 50% of French trains weren't running Thursday, stateowned train operator SNCF said in a statement. There have been varying degrees of disruptions for several weeks.

Following the French civil aviation authority's instruction, airlines generally have canceled 50% of their flights to and from Paris Orly airport, and 30% at other airports, including Paris Charles De Gaulle.

Meantime, the key oil terminal at the port of Fos-Lavera, the world's third largest, remained on strike for a 32nd consecutive day, preventing tankers from entering the port with crude oil or leaving with refined products, a spokeswoman for the port told Dow Jones Newswires.

President Barack Obama in a jailhouse interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper of "leaving Iraq to the wolves" because of U.S. plans to withdraw.

The high tribunal's media office said two other defendants in the case were also sentenced to death.

One was a former interior minister and intelligence chief, Sadoun Shakir, and the other was Abed Hamoud, a former private secretary to Saddam.

It was not immediately clear if Aziz's Jordan-based lawyer, Badee Izzat Aref, will appeal the verdict.

Aref questioned the timing of the death sentence. He said the court's decision was politically motivated and accused al-Maliki's Shiite-led government of trying to divert attention from recent WikiLeaks revelations of prisoners' abuse by Iraqi security forces and the U.S. military.

"This sentence is not fair and it is politically motivated," he said.

The strikes at the refineries and ports have led to widespread fuel shortages over the past couple of weeks, with many filling stations running dry, though fourout-of-five stations are now working normally.

Seven French refineries are ready to restart operations, according to the refiners body UFIP, but they are stuck until the Fos-Lavera oil port strike ends and crude oil supplies resume.

Commercial road transport in France has been severely hit by fuel shortages in the last weeks and 9.2% of haulage companies have had to put some of their fleet on stand-by, the Federation Nationale des Transports Routiers French truckers association said in a statement.

"Transport costs have risen for 95% of trucking companies due to rescheduling, delays, longer routes, gas price hikes and staff working overtime," the FNTR said.

Popular opinion supports continuing industrial action against the unpopular Sarkozy government. According to a poll published Thursday by French daily Le Parisien, 65% of French people approve of the strikers' action.

Unions have scheduled another day of national protests on Nov. 6.

ROBBER STOPPED FOR FOOD, CIGARETTES

MISSOULA, Mont.-- Police in Montana said a suspected bank robber stopped for breakfast and a pack of cigarettes before taking a cab to his hotel, where police were training.

Missoula Police Detective Sgt. Bob Bouchee said Vincent Sullivan, 64, allegedly left Sterling Savings Bank with an undisclosed amount of cash about 10 a.m. Tuesday after telling a teller he was armed and was next seen having breakfast at Liquid Planet, only a few stores away from the bank, the Missoulian reported Wednesday.

Police said Sullivan called a cab and canvassing police arrived at the restaurant only moments after the suspect left, the Missoula newspaper said.

Investigators said Sullivan had the driver stop at a store so he could buy two packs of cigarettes before asking to be taken to the DoubleTree Edgewater Hotel.

Investigators said witnesses from the restaurant told them Sullivan's destination and they arrived at the hotel just as he was paying his cab fare. Additional officers came from inside the hotel, where they had been participating in a training session, police said.

Sullivan was arrested in connection with the robbery, police said.

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UK spy boss defends secrecy

WORLD NEWS

LONDON – Britain's top spy, in the first public speech by a serving UK espionage chief, said on Thursday terrorists might hit the West again "at huge human cost" but nuclear proliferation by states was a more farreaching danger.

Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) chief John Sawers, in an address to the Society of Editors media group hosted at Thomson Reuters London offices, said the risks of failure in tackling proliferation by countries like Iran "are grim."

"Terrorism is difficult enough, and despite our collective efforts, an attack may well get through. The human cost would be huge. But our country, our democratic system, will not be brought down by a typical terrorist attack," he said.

"The dangers of proliferation of nuclear weapons and chemical and biological weapons are more farreaching. It can alter the whole balance of power in a region," said Sawers, whose century-old service is popularly known as MI6.

Sawers defended MI6's secrecy and its ties to counterparts in Muslim nations accused of poor rights records,

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

a theme that has resurfaced in the West after the whistle-blowing Wikileaks website published secret U.S. files it said showed how coalition forces turned a blind eye to torture by Iraqi security forces.

"We are the secret frontline of our national security," he said. "Secrecy is not a dirty word. Secrecy is not there as a cover up. Secrecy plays a crucial part in keeping Britain safe."

"We have to deal with the world as it is ... We can't do our job if we work only with friendly democracies.

Dangerous threats usually come from dangerous people in dangerous places."

He added that intelligence failings on Iraq before the 2003 invasion showed "politicians and officials alike" how important it was that sources of information were rigorously evaluated. intelligence Improving performance has been a focus for the West since the September 11, 2001, attacks and the 2003 Iraq invasion, events involving profound faults in preparedness.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush launched the Iraq invasion citing a threat of weapons of mass

destruction from Saddam Hussein's government. No such weapons were ever found.

On Iran, Sawers said conventional diplomacy was not an adequate means of countering its nuclear ambitions: "We need intelligence-led operations to make it more difficult for countries like Iran to develop nuclear weapons."

Sawers, a career diplomat, had previously been the ambassador to the United Nations, the Foreign Office's political director, and also worked as an envoy in Baghdad and as foreign affairs adviser to former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

His speech is a move to more public accountability and openness at SIS, a big cultural shift for a service that 20 years ago was so secret the government would not publicly avow its existence, even if it still enjoys more anonymity than its close U.S. ally, the Central Intelligence Agency.

The pressure on intelligence officials to be more transparent has many roots -pressure from lawmakers to prevent abuses and improve performance, public concern over surveillance by authorities, and a need by the intelligence community to make their work known so as to widen

Pancreatic cancer grows slowly and could be caught

WASHINGTON– Pancreatic cancer grows slowly, taking years and even decades to develop, a finding that offers the chance to catch it early and cure it, researchers reported on Wednesday.

They said their findings confirm that one of the most lethal cancers kills not because it spreads like wildfire, but because it does not cause symptoms until it is advanced.

"That provides a large window of opportunity to try to detect the presence of these cancers in the first 20 years of their existence, before they become lethal," said Dr. Bert Vogelstein of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who helped lead the study.

"If one can do that, one can in principle cure them by surgery," Vogelstein added in a telephone interview.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, killing 95 percent or more of its victims within five years of diagnosis. The American Cancer Society says 42,000 Americans were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2009 and more than 35,000 died of it.

Vogelstein's team, working with British researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge, did a kind of genetic archeological dig into pancreatic tumors.

They collected tissue samples during autopsies immediately after patients died from pancreatic cancer, as well as from three patients whose tumors were surgically removed in an attempt to save their lives.

In two papers in the journal Nature, they described how they used mutations in the tumors as a "molecular clock" to time the evolution of the tumors.

DNA mutates at a rate that can be calculated and the researchers already knew which mutations were caused by

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

pancreatic cancer. They compared the DNA mutations in the primary tumor -the first tumor that grew in the pancreas - to the secondary tumors in the liver and other organs.

CANCER FAMILY TREE "We could kind of create a family tree with each successive generation having additional mutations to the genes that started the process," Vogelstein said.

"From doing that it was obvious that it took a very long time, in fact decades, for the cancer to develop to its fully malignant state. That means ... these cancers, at least most of them, do not develop quickly but in fact more like other cancers, including colon cancer."

They estimated it takes an average of 11.7 years before the first true cancer cell develops within a precancerous lesion. It takes another 6.8 years for a tumor to grow and the first cancer cell to break off to go somewhere else in the body, and then 2.7 years until the patient dies.

The hard part is going to be screening for pancreatic cancer. Colon cancer can be found and prevented with colonoscopies, which involve threading a camera through the colon and removing pre-cancerous lesions when they are spotted.

But the pancreas is not easy to get to and even if a tumor can be spotted before it gets too big, it requires complicated surgery to get it out, Vogelstein said.

"The bowel you can just go in and snip it out, which is great," he said.

His team is working on ways to find mutated DNA from pancreatic tumors or pre-cancerous lesions in the blood. Other teams are looking for ways to find circulating tumor cells, while other groups may look at using MRI or CT scans to detect the tumors before they cause symptoms.

Former British Ambassador to the U.N. and present SIS chief John Sawers

the avenues of recruitment.

On terrorism, Sawers said al Qaeda was unlikely to achieve its goals of weakening Western power and toppling moderate Arab governments. But the threat of "Islamic terrorism" was unlikely to fade away soon and reading reports of what militants were plotting was the most draining part of his job.

"Working to tackle terrorism overseas is complex, often dangerous.

Our agents and sometimes our staff risk their lives."

FRANCE SLAMS BIN LADEN, PLAYS DOWN HOSTAGE THREAT

PARIS — France denounced Thursday new threats of attacks from Islamist militant leader Osama bin Laden, and played down his ties to the kidnappers of five French nationals held hostage in the Sahara.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France was in a state of "extreme vigilance" but that the grim warning had come as no surprise, and he played down Bin Laden's ability to influence events from his current hideout.

Kouchner was reacting after the author of a taped message purportedly from the Al-Qaeda kingpin said that five French hostages kidnapped in the Sahara had been taken as a warning and threatened more attacks on French interests.

"These unacceptable threats are not new," Kouchner told reporters, playing down Bin Laden's influence over the North African Al-Qaeda affiliate that carried out September's kidnap of the French nationals in Niger.

"Mr Bin Laden has taken this opportunity. It was opportunism. It's not him, it's not Mr Bin Laden who is holding the hostages, it's much more complicated than that," Kouchner said, on the sidelines of a diplomatic meeting in Paris.

"We expected this threat and I don't think Bin Laden has the same means at his disposal as he once had," he said, minimising the threat posed by the man behind the September 11 attacks, now thought to be based in Pakistan.

Kouchner was speaking before authorities had confirmed the threat was genuine, but his spokesman Bernard Valero later briefed reporters that its authenticity "can be considered as confirmed in light of initial checks."

"It only confirms the reality of the terrorist threat," he said.

Gunmen kidnapped five French nationals and two African colleagues on September 15 from their homes in the uranium mining town of Arlit in Niger. They are now thought to be being held hostage in neighbouring Mali.

Kouchner denied reports France had developed "contacts" with the kidnappers.

The group that claimed responsibility for the kidnap, "Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb" (AQIM), has pledged allegiance to Bin Laden's global network after evolving from groups of Islamist rebels roving the Sahara.

It is not clear how closely connected AQIM is with Bin Laden's organisation, which is based in Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan and has offshoots and cells in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and scattered around the world.

Bin Laden's message connected the kidnap to France's deployment of troops to Afghanistan and ban on the Islamic full face veil.

"How could you take part in occupying our countries and support the Americans in killing our children and women, and then expect to live in peace and security?" Bin Laden demanded.

"It is very simple: As you kill, you will be killed, as you take hostages, you will be taken hostage, and as you compromise our security, we will compromise your security," he said, in the two-minute message.

Saudi prince backs moving planned NYC mosque

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

WORLD NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Protesters with the NYC Coalition to Stop Islamophobia, rally near the proposed Islamic Center August 22, 2010.

Inset: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – A Saudi prince who has aided the imam spearheading a proposed Islamic center near New York's ground zero is appealing for another site not associated with the "wound" of the Sept. 11 attacks, a report said Thursday.

In interview excerpts published by the Dubaibased Arabian Business magazine, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was quoted as saying that moving the planned mosque and other facilities would respect the memory of those killed in the 2001 attacks and allow American Muslims to choose a more suitable location.

The comments are reportedly the prince's first public views on the dispute, which has stirred street protests and fiery debates between religious and political leaders over America's freedom of worship versus the lingering anger over the 9/11 attacks.

Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Foundation has contributed to the group run by New York's Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, but said he has given no funds to the planned center.

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Prince Alwaleed urged the backers of the proposed Islamic center not to "agitate the wound by saying, 'We need to put the mosque next to the 9/11 site.'"

"Those people behind the mosque have to respect, have to appreciate and have to defer to the people of New York," the prince was quoted as saying by the magazine, which said the full interview will be published Sunday. "The wound is still there. Just because the wound is healing you can't say, 'Let's just go back to where we were pre9/11.'"

Prince Alwaleed, who chairs a Saudi investment company that has major stakes in international giants News Corp. and Citigroup, also said Muslims in New York should consider a more "dignified" location than the proposed site in lower Manhattan.

"It can't be next to a bar or a strip club, or in a neighborhood that is not really refined and good.

The impression I have is that this mosque is just being inserted and squeezed over there," he said.

UN URGES US AND IRAQ TO PROBE WIKILEAKS TORTURE CLAIMS

The US and Iraq should investigate claims of abuse contained in files published on the Wikileaks website, the UN's rights chief says.

Navi Pillay said the files suggested US forces had continued to hand detainees to Iraqi authorities despite evidence that they had been tortured.

Meanwhile, the UN's adviser on torture, Manfred Novak, called for a wider inquiry to include alleged US abuses.

The US military has denied turning a blind eye to torture in Iraq.

On Monday, Gen George Casey, who was in charge of US forces in Iraq from 2004 to 2007, said all soldiers were instructed to report any allegations of abuse.

But Ms Pillay said the Wikileaks disclosure of almost 400,000 secret war logs added to her concerns that serious breaches of international human rights law had occurred in Iraq.

"The US and Iraqi authorities should take necessary measures to investigate all allegations made in these reports and to bring to justice those responsible for unlawful killings, summary executions, torture and other serious human rights abuses," she said in a statement.

Mr Novak said it was not enough to investigate only what happened in Iraq.

He urged US President Barack Obama to launch a full investigation into all allegations of torture against US military and intelligence officials.

He said the inquiry should include accounts of US agents handing detainees to states such as Egypt, Morocco and Syria, knowing they would be ill treated.

Mr Novak told journalists he now received far fewer allegations of torture than he had done during the so-called war on terror launched by former US President George W Bush.

But he pointed out that Mr Obama, like his predecessor, had refused to grant private interviews with detainees, and had invoked state secrecy privileges to prevent civil lawsuits by alleged victims of US torture.

"Hotel Rwanda" hero implicated in terrorism case

KIGALI - Paul Rusesabagina, the man who saved more than 1,200 people from genocide in events depicted in the Oscar-nominated film "Hotel Rwanda," has been implicated in the terrorism case against a Rwandan opposition leader.

The 2004 movie "Hotel Rwanda" told Rusesabagina's real-life story as the hotel manager (played by Don Cheadle) who used his connections with the Hutu elite to protect Tutsis and moderate Hutus fleeing militiamen during Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Martin Ngoga, Rwanda's prosecutor general, told Reuters that Rwandan courts would summon Rusesabagina because investigations indicated he funded the terrorism activities that opposition leader Victoire Ingabire is being held for.

Ingabire, the outspoken head of the unregistered United Democratic

Paul Rusesabagina

Forces (UDF) party, was arrested by Rwandan police on October 14. She pleaded not guilty at a hearing on Monday and has said the case against her is politically motivated.

"We have evidence that Paul Rusesabagina is one of those others

who have been financing the same genocidal rebels of the FDLR," Ngoga said.

"We have the dates of transactions made. Money was sent from San Antonio, Texas, and received in different banks in Bujumbura and Dar es Salaam. The people who received this money told us what the money was for," he said.

"Hotel Rwanda" was nominated for three Oscars, including a best actor nomination for Cheadle. Rusesabagina now lives in the United States and tours Western countries lecturing on Rwanda's 1994 genocide. He is an outspoken critic of President Paul Kagame, saying an ethnic Tutsi elite now runs the central African country and risks reigniting violence there.

His story has also won him audiences with a number of highprofile personalities including former

U.S. President George W. Bush. He received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 for heroism during Rwanda's genocide.

Some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were butchered in the central African nation in 100 days from April 6, 1994.

Ngoga called on the United States to help Rwanda investigate Rusesabagina's case.

"The Rwandan law allows prosecution in absentia. The transactions are enough to offer the evidence. Rwanda has already made contacts with the war crimes office in the U.S. and this evidence has been submitted," he said.

"The U.S. has shown signs of cooperating. If terrorism is a crime in the USA, then what about financial support of a genocidal organization?"

Nissan to recall 2.1 million cars

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

TOKYO - Japan's third-largest automaker Nissan Motor said on Thursday it was recalling more than 2.1 million cars globally due to a faulty engine control system, in one of its biggest ever single recalls.

Nissan will exchange for free defective parts on certain models, as the fault may "cause the engine to stall while running", the company said in a report to the Japanese transport ministry.

In Japan alone, Nissan will recall a total of 834,759 vehicles ranging across nine models, including the Cube, March and Tiida, produced domestically between 2003 and 2006, the spokesman said.

A spokesman for Japan's transport ministry, Yoshiaki Imaizumi, said it was Nissan's fourthbiggest recall in the country.

Nissan will also recall 761,528 vehicles in North America, 354,170 in Europe and 194,409 in the China and Taiwan markets due to the same system trouble, the company said.

No accident has been reported in connection with the problem, another spokesman said, adding: "We will replace the parts in other countries as well, following the regulations of each country."

Nissan, which is part-owned by Renault of France, separately said it would recall another 1,399 cars in Japan because of insufficient welding of rear cushion springs, "which may come out in the worst case".

The two sets of recalls, announced shortly before Thursday's close of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, did not immediately affect shares in Nissan, which rose 0.27 percent as the Nikkei index fell 0.22 percent.

Japan's top carmakers have been bedevilled by recall woes in recent months, with Nissan already having recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles for issues including faulty accelerators and airbags that do not deploy in a crash.

Thursday's massive single recall of 2.1 million cars compares with some of the biggest by Toyota, the world's largest automaker, which has been battered by a recall crisis affecting more than 10 million units worldwide.

Among its largest, in late 2009 Toyota announced it would carry out voluntary repairs on the accelerator pedals of around four million vehicles in the United States.

In January it recalled a further 2.3 million

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

Nissan is recalling 2.14 million vehicles in the U.S., Japan, Europe and Asia, including the popular March and Mycra subcompacts, for an ignition problem that may stall the engine-its third-largest recall ever

vehicles in the United States to fix a problem with sticking gas pedals.

Toyota said last week it would voluntarily recall another 1.5 million cars globally due to a brake fluid leak, while Honda announced the recall of nearly 528,000 vehicles due to a cylinder defect.

Nissan earlier this year said it plans to introduce 10 new products globally, including the Japanese and US release of its all-electric Leaf, which has become the fulcrum of its green ambitions.

Dubai real estate crash sends prices and rents falling There's a half-off sale in the world's tallest building.

Even with an address at the iconic Burj Khalifa, rents for residences in the tower are not immune from Dubai's real estate crash. Indeed, nearly a year after it was inaugurated with a massive water-and-fireworks display, about 825 of the tower's 900 ultra-luxury apartments remain unoccupied, according to Better Homes, a real estate brokerage in Dubai.

The cost of renting a studio with floor-to-ceiling windows, marble fixtures and wooden floors has dropped to $1,815 a month from $3,025, while a one-bedroom apartment is available for $2,722 (it used to be $4,536), the brokerage says.

Two-bedroom residences are expected to get $4,310, down from $7,183. Interested parties "call every few days and go for a viewing," says Imad Ben Khadra, a Moroccan expatriate who owns two 1,000-sq.-ft. one-bedroom apartments he purchased in late 2008 for about $950,000, both of which he is trying to rent out. "We got some offers [from prospective tenants], but nobody confirms.�

Varun Chaudhary bought two twobedroom residences in the Burj for about $1.5 million in 2005 even before construction began. He saw the value leap from $762 per sq. ft. to $3,811 per sq. ft. at the heights of the boom. Today, those values hover just above his purchase price. But he says he isn't worried about his investment. "These properties will recuperate faster than other properties because it's an icon, because it's only one in the world," he says. "You just have to say 'Burj Khalifa.' That's the address; you don't have to explain. It's a style statement in itself."

Still, the Burj, with its one-of-a-

kind address and amenities like the first-ever Armani Hotel, is only the most high-profile example how Dubai's once flying real estate market has crashed. Overall in the emirate, property prices have dropped an average of 50%. Some half-built projects, located away from the main highway that runs through the city, may never be completed because their values have dropped too much, analysts say.

But it's the units that will be completed that are looming as a problem. The Dubai economy must still digest a flood of housing units coming on line or soon to be opened, which will further dampen prices. Through September, 27,000 residential units have been put on the market, and another 9,000 are expected to be completed by the end of the year, according to real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle. For 2011, the firm forecasts that about 30,000 new units will come on line. A glut in commercial property has forced landlords to offer previously unheard-of incentives such as free rent and allowances to finish out shell construction space. "They built the infrastructure for a much larger economy than it can [now] attract," says Wissam Haroun, a Syrian expatriate who owns entertainment and technology companies in Dubai.

Worried about the glut, Dubai's Real Estate Regulatory Agency recently said it was canceling or in the process of canceling about half of all projects registered with the authority.

Of about 980 developments, 495 are on the chopping block, according to a Dubai sovereign-bond prospectus made public last week.

Some, however, see opportunity in the depressed prices. "It's a massive change in terms that it's no longer the

man on the street or the lady on the street buying property on spec or off plan," says Paul Devonshire, a director with Pramerica Real Estate Investors who specializes in the Middle East and North Africa region. Now, he explains, institutions or more savvy investors are moving in, eyeing distressed or repriced assets.

But the buzz was decidedly subdued at the recent Cityscape Global, the annual real estate exhibition that in the past featured the launch of glitzy projects like the Palm Trilogy, the world's largest man-made islands. The name of the event itself had been changed from Cityscape Dubai in order to expand the focus beyond the citystate. Only a fraction of exhibitors 200, down from around 1,000 during the boom - showed up to participate.

With speculators gone and credit still tight, Dubai is going about the hard work of adjusting to its new economic reality. Top of the list is paying back creditors that helped finance the boom.

Over the past decade, Dubai amassed $109 billion in debt, with about $15.5

billion due this year, the International Monetary Fund estimates. Dubai World, one of the three main holding companies controlled by Dubai's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid alMaktoum, said last month that 99% of its creditors had agreed to alter the terms on $24.9 billion of its debt. Last November, Dubai World sent stock markets around the world tumbling when it announced it wanted a moratorium of its debts. "We are back.

Of course we are back," Sheik Mohammed said in a Bloomberg TV interview last month while attending the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Ky. But, having been through the financial volatility, few seem to want to part with their cash just yet. The Syrian expatriate Haroun, who has lived in Dubai most of his life and plans to raise his family there, says he would like to buy a home. But his forays into the market so far have left him unsatisfied.

"People got stupid rich and stupid poor at the same time," he says. "I'm glad I stayed out of it."

CHINA UNVEILS NEW BULLET TRAINS Journalists photograph the bullet trains of a new highspeed railway linking Shanghai with Hangzhou Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010 in Shanghai, China.

Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed railway start the operation Tuesday

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Foreclosure activity up across most US metro areas

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

LOS ANGELES – The foreclosure crisis intensified across a majority of large U.S. metropolitan areas this summer, with Chicago and Seattle — cities outside of the states that have shouldered the worst of the housing downturn — seeing a sharp increase in foreclosure warnings.

California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona remain the nation's foreclosure hotbeds, accounting for 19 of the top 20 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates between July and September, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.

Those states saw housing values surge during the housing boom years.

When the boom ended, values collapsed and foreclosures soared.

But the latest data show that many of the metro areas in those states saw a decline in the number of households receiving foreclosure-related filings, while many cities in other states saw a spike in foreclosure activity.

"The epidemic is spreading from the states at the ground zero of the foreclosure problems out into areas that hadn't been previously affected," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac.

The trend is the latest sign that the nation's foreclosure crisis is worsening as homeowners facing high unemployment, slow job growth and uncertainty about home prices continue to fall behind on their mortgage payments.

In all, 133 out of 206 metropolitan

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

In this July 2, 2008 file photo, a bank owned home is seen for sale in Sacramento, Calif. The foreclosure crisis intensified across a majority of large U.S. metropolitan areas this summer.

areas with at least 200,000 residents posted an annual increase in foreclosure activity in the three months ended Sept.

30, RealtyTrac said.

The firm tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions — warnings that can lead up to a home eventually being lost to foreclosure.

Eleven out of the nation's 20 largest metropolitan areas saw foreclosure activity increase in the third quarter compared to the same period last year.

The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area registered the sharpest annual increase — 71 percent. One in every 129 households received a foreclosure filing.

The Chicago-Naperville-Joliet metropolitan area posted the second-

COURT SHUTS DOWN FILE SHARING WEB SITE

NEW YORK -- File-sharing U.S. Web site LimeWire posted an online notice Wednesday telling visitors it had been court-ordered to stop any illegal content distribution.

The notice appears like a sign nailed to the door of a building, advising its visitors that a court had shut the Web site down.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood issued the order after four years of court battles with the Recording Industry Association of America, which negotiated settlements on distribution of copyrighted material with other file-sharing Web sites but could not agree on terms with LimeWire, BetaNews reported.

In a statement, LimeWire Chief Executive Officer George Searle said, "Naturally, we're disappointed with this turn of events. We are extremely proud of our pioneering history and have, for years, worked hard to bridge the gap between technology and content rights holders."

This week's injunction was the follow-up to a court ruling in May, InformationWeek reported. On Tuesday, Wood ordered the firm to discontinue all "searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality."

Searle said LimeWire would find a new direction with "a completely new music service" but did not reveal details on any new ventures.

In a statement, RIAA, which represents 13 record companies, said closing down LimeWire "will start to unwind the massive piracy machine that LimeWire and (founder and Chairman Mark) Gorton used to enrich themselves immensely."

highest annual jump, a 35 percent increase. One in every 84 households received a foreclosure notice.

Among the other metro areas where foreclosure activity jumped by a large margin this summer were Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, up 26 percent; DetroitWarren-Livonia, at nearly 23 percent; and, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, up 20 percent.

Economic woes, such as unemployment or reduced income, continue to be the main catalysts for foreclosures this year. The U.S. unemployment rate hit 9.6 percent last month.

In the Seattle metro area, unemployment stood slightly lower at 8.5 percent in August and has been

edging lower. It was 8.7 percent in August last year.

Still, many troubled homeowners have been unable to hang on. As a result, there's been no letup in the inventory of foreclosed homes on the market this year, says John Bauer, an agent with ZipRealty in Seattle who represents lenders selling foreclosed properties.

"It has been on an upward trend curve ever since 2008," Bauer said. "And not just the third quarter of this year, but the last 12 months, it's been on a steady ascension."

Chicago also had the third-highest number of homes repossessed by lenders during the quarter — 12,568 — behind the Phoenix metro area's 14,317 and the Miami metro area's 12,963, RealtyTrac said.

Banks have seized more than 816,000 homes through the first nine months of the year and are on pace to seize more than a million.

A controversy stemming from allegations that banks evicted people without reading foreclosure documents wasn't a factor in the July-September quarter, Sharga said.

Lenders such as Bank of America and Ally Financial's GMAC Mortgage initially halted foreclosure activity but have since resumed processing foreclosures.

Preliminary data from this month shows almost no change in foreclosure activity versus September, Sharga said.

Corrupt Countries: Somalia most corrupt, US slips in rankings

In Transparency International’s annual corruption perception index (CPI) released Tuesday, some of the countries hit hardest by the financial crisis saw their reputations suffer as a result.

The United States, for example, dropped from the 19th spot last year to 22nd out of 178 countries this year, with their index also falling by 0.4 points.

The U.K., ranked 20th, posted an all-time low score of 7.6, a slight slip from last year’s 7.7, but a huge fall from their rating of 8.6 four years ago.

The countries least perceived as corrupt, according to TI’s analysis, are New Zealand and Denmark, which have held on to top spots since 1995. TI is an international nongovernmental organization founded in 1993 that is dedicated to fighting corruption, according to its website.

TI’s assessments encompass corrupt practices in the both public and private sectors. The 2010 CPI comes from different analysts' conclusions and business opinion surveys carried out by 10 independent institutions around the world between January 2009 and September 2010.

TI says that corruption itself is difficult to measure. At the same time it underlines that such phenomena as scandals, investigations, or prosecutions reflect less on the prevalence of corruption in a country, but more on such factors as press freedom or the efficiency of the judicial system.

Countries with recent histories of war and strife continued to dominate the bottom of the list

with Somalia at the very bottom of the heap and Afghanistan, Iraq, and Burma just slightly above it. Somalia, an extremely poor country, is known as the “producer of pirates” who continue to capture ships passing by in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. International maritime forces and Somali authorities have been mostly ineffective at reigning in the lawlessness.

The CPI indicates that perceived corruption levels in Russia continue to rise. The Russian Federation is tied with such countries as Tajikistan, Cambodia, and Laos in its CPI. Russia dropped from 146th to 154th place compared to last year.

Georgia, which fought a short-term war with Russia in 2008, was placed at 68 on the index.

Among European countries, the lowest ranked was Ukraine finishing at 134th, up from 146th last year.

The CPI also fell for the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Madagascar, and Niger.

Overall, the 2010 rankings do not show any major changes compared to last year’s report.

“These results signal that significantly greater efforts must go into strengthening governance across the globe,” Huguette Labelle, chairwoman of Transparency International said in a statement.

“With the livelihoods of so many at stake, governments’ commitments to anti-corruption, transparency and accountability must speak through their actions,” she added.

Bolt is fit again

Page 42

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Usain Bolt has passed himself as fully fit again and is looking forward to the challenges of the coming year.

The sprint megastar from Jamaica has finally resumed training, after he was sidelined with a back injury last August, following a defeat to arch-rival

Sarwan gets mixed signals from WICB

Ramnaresh Sarwan

Tyson Gay of the United States over 100 metres in Stockholm.

“Training has started, and the good news is that I am 100 per cent healthy, and am completely over my back and Achilles problems from the summer,” he said in an entry on the website of the International Amateur Athletics

Discarded West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan says he is been getting "mixed signals" from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) selectors about why he was left out of the squad for the tour to Sri Lanka.

The Guyanese captain says the selectors at one time told him it was his attitude, the next time it was his fitness.

The WICB did not offer Sarwan a central contract last month, on fitness grounds, and he was not picked as part of the touring side for the same reason.

However Sarwan, who averages over 40 in both tests and odis, said he had no plans of retiring from international cricket but in the meantime his present goal is to commit himself to cricket in Guyana.

On the subject of Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo turning down their central contracts, Sarwan said the two are mature enough to make their own decisions, and that "it is their right to sign or not sign".

He believes the new West Indies captain, Darren Sammy, is a good leader and wished him success on the Sri Lankan tour.

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OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

Federation.

“I am really enjoying training at the moment. For the first time in my career, I was looking forward to getting back into training before my end of season break was over.”

The 24-year-old Bolt now feels he is over his injury setback and is looking forward to defending his World 100 and 200 metres titles in Daegu, South Korea.

“I know the importance of putting in the work required,” he said. “Coach Glen Mills is also aware of this. He is

putting on the pressure from early, but so far so good.”

Bolt also talked about his activities in recent weeks, including a trip to Australia, and the launch of his first book, My Story.

He was also following the progress of English Premiership football club Manchester United and the recent moves by star forward Wayne Rooney.

“People know that I am a big ManU fan, and I am delighted that he has decided to stay at the club.”

Garner appointed interim Team Manager for Sri Lanka tour

Having advertised the Team St John's, Antigua – The West Manager position the WICB is Indies Cricket Board (WICB) continuing the process of identifying announced on Thursday that Joel a candidate to fill the position for the Garner has been appointed interim long term.

Team Manager of the West Indies WEST INDIES SQUAD: Team for the upcoming tour of Sri Darren Sammy (Captain), Brendan Lanka. Garner served as Team Nash (Vice Captain), Adrian Barath, Manager until the end of the Digicel Carlton Baugh, Sulieman Benn, Series 2010 having been previously Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Shiv appointed for the West Indies Tour Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Nelon to Australia a year ago.

Pascal, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Speaking on Thursday, Garner said: “It is an honour to serve West Shane Shillingford, Devon Smith, Devon Thomas Indies cricket in whatever capacity I am asked. As always, I am willing to TEAM MANAGEMENT UNIT: do what is required to see West Joel Garner Ottis Gibson (Head Coach), Joel Indies cricket move forward. The upcoming tour to Sri Lanka is an important one for us Garner (Team Manager), David Williams (Assistant and I am happy to offer my full support to the team.” Coach), C.J Clark (Physiotherapist), Richard Garner, 57, is a West Indies fast bowling legend Berridge (Video & Statistical Analyst), Hector who played at the international level between 1977 Martinez Charles (Strength & Conditioning Coand 1987. He was recently inducted into ICC Hall of ordinator), Philip Spooner (Media Officer), Virgil Fame. He is President of the Barbados Cricket Browne (Massage Therapist), Courtney Browne (Selector) Association and Director of the WICB.

TRINIDAD’S JACK WARNER MEETS WITH RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER PUTIN

MOSCOW, Russia – FIFA Vice President Jack Warner met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the Presidential Office on Tuesday in the Kremlin.

Putin invited Warner to Moscow since May this year, but had to decline the invitation due to his involvement in Trinidad & Tobago’s general elections.

The meeting saw discussions on a number of issues, including the FIFA World Cup and the changing global political landscape.

During the meeting, which lasted half-hour, Warner and Putin discussed the importance of sporting programmes to a nation’s development. “The development of sporting programmes in a country is intricately linked to the development of any nation, and governments must ensure that all avenues for youth development are fully explored,” said Warner.

While in Russia, Warner also met with Minister of Transport Igor Levin, and Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko.

Mutko, who is also a member of the FIFA

Executive Committee, outlined Russia’s plans if granted the rights to host the 2018 World Cup. “I am impressed by all I have seen from all bidding nations and I wish them all the best,” said Warner.

“Sport can only be used to encourage positive social transformation. The power of the beautiful game to unite the World is unrivalled and proven in all spheres. The energy created by South Africa 2010 consumed the World.

Warner said: “Football achieves what many geopolitical agreements cannot. It can unite nations with a common purpose. At this time, we are not happy with all that has emerged over the past weeks.

“The committees have been given a mandate, and its best we give them the opportunity to do their jobs.

We must always remember that football encourages hope, and we must be hopeful, let us not be deterred from the principles of this beautiful game – freedom, equality, equity and fair play.”

Following his meetings in Russia, Warner flew to Zurich to attend a special Executive Committee meeting.

Sprinter Marion Jones apologises in book

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

AUSTIN, Texas – Marion Jones wants you to know she's sorry.

Not so much about the performance-enhancing drugs she took – unknowingly, she says – when she was the most famous and lauded track athlete in the world, a winner of five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, medals she no longer owns.

What Jones really wants you to know is she's sorry for lying to federal investigators about her drug use. That, and her role in a check-fraud scam, are what landed her in prison for six months in 2008, during which she spent a month and a half in solitary confinement after fighting another inmate.

"I surely wish that I could go back and change certain things in my past, on one hand, but then I wouldn't be who I am today, someone who I'm actually really proud of," Jones said in an interview with The Associated Press, her gaze steady. "If I hadn't gone through certain things, and because I had those six months or whatever – just a lot of quiet time – if I hadn't gone through it, I don't know if I would ever have that much time to reflect. A lot of people don't."

Jones also wants you to know how that self-reflection changed her as a

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Marion Jones

person. Her priorities, her goals, the way she defines success, the way she makes decisions each day – all are rather different now, due in part to what she says is her faith. She emphasised that repeatedly during an hour-long interview with the AP at a park near a school her children attend, and in her new book, "On the Right Track," which comes out Tuesday and quotes several biblical passages.

"My story is unique, in that the first part of my life, my journey, I hit

the pinnacle of my career, and it was a very public career, and then I made decisions that cost me all of that," Jones said. "And so I was at that low point. But I didn't give up. I kind of developed a way to get out of that, and I'm on my way back up."

Sitting on a wooden bench facing the park's pond, Jones, who turned 35 this month, still looks like an elite athlete. She played for the WNBA's Tulsa Shock last season, but isn't certain if she will be asked to return for another. One thing's for sure: She can still flash that famous wide smile — the one so familiar to anyone who followed her feats on the track a decade ago.

Her 213-page book, written with Maggie Greenwood-Robinson, is based in part on letters Jones wrote to her husband, Obadele Thompson, while she was in a federal prison in Fort Worth. The book contains a harrowing depiction of Jones' stay.

"I didn't have a sentence that was a slap on the wrist. I wasn't sentenced to an institution that I kicked back in a hammock for my time there," she said, punctuating that point with a chuckle.

"It was tough."

Jones writes about fearing her life was in danger during a five-minute

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tussle with a roommate. Jones says she emerged uninjured, but the other woman's face "was bruised and bloody."

In the interview, Jones called her ensuing trip to solitary confinement "probably the worst part of my life."

"There were moments while I was there, where you just feel like you cannot go on: 'How in the world can I make it to tomorrow?'" Jones said.

She writes in depressing detail about prison conditions and specific personnel; about inmates using empty toilet paper rolls threaded through toilets as a sort of telephone; about being chained to her seat during a "ConAir" flight with other prisoners on a trip to another jailhouse.

"What transpired during the period when she was incarcerated was both a crucible but also a wonderful opportunity," said Thompson, who won a bronze medal for Barbados in the 100 meters at the Sydney Games and married Jones in 2007. "She's not one of these people who's bitter. She's not spiteful. She's not looking to get even with anyone. She's just turned it into something positive. She's used it to take the next steps in life, to rebuild."

Paul, the octopus who predicted World Cup matches, dies

Sad news from Germany: Paul the octopus, whose record predicting World Cup soccer games was unmatched by mollusk or man, has died. He was 2 years old.

“He appears to have passed away peacefully during the night, of natural causes, and we are consoled by the knowledge that he enjoyed a good life,” said Stefan Porwoll, the director of the Oberhausen Sea Life Center in Germany. He said in a statement, according to Reuters, the staff at the center that Paul called home was “devastated.”

Paul achieved international notoriety by correctly predicting all seven of Germany’s World Cup matches, and choosing Spain over the Netherlands in the World Cup final. Bettors the world over wagered on Paul’s advice, and his notoriety earned him admirers across Europe. According to wire reports, after the World Cup final, a Spanish zoo offered to buy Paul, but was rebuffed.

For him to predict a match, food was placed in two containers in Paul’s tank with the flags of the competing teams. The one he chose to eat first was deemed his “pick.”

No funeral arrangements have been made, but Porwoll said Paul would be kept in cold storage until the staff at the center decided how best to memorialize him.

“We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine,” he said.

Paul the octopus

Page 44

Bryant and Durant stand opposed to the Heat

WORLD SPORTS Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant stand in stark contrast.

Bryant is an owner of five championship rings, a pathological drive to win, a checkered history with the law and advertisers, and a man who only seems to smile once a year - when his team has won a title.

At 32, he is the game's most decorated player.

Durant has never won a championship series, but is the patron saint of all that is good in the league.

He is humble, he did not make a big show of signing a contract extension this summer, and he led a starstrapped United States team to a gold medal at this summer's world championship in Turkey.

"Quiet but driven, very focused, extremely polite and a well-mannered kid," Jay Triano, an assistant coach with that team, said of Durant. "You couldn't ask for a better person. He's just a great person that's going to be a great player."

At 22, Durant is the game's most promising player.

And yet, the two megastars are quite alike on one front: They represent the greatest hopes in thwarting what could be a half-decade reign of the Miami Heat.

If it is Durant that ends up toppling the Heat, Bryant will probably end up kicking himself. He may have helped shape Durant in the spring.

In his post-season debut, Durant and his Oklahoma City Thunder lost to Bryant's Lakers in six games. The series was one of the most entertaining of the playoffs, with the Thunder losing Game 6 by just a single point.

Durant, however, shot just 35% in

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

2008 pick Toronto sent to Indiana in the Jermaine O'Neal deal.

3. Kevin Love, Min Might be the league's best rebounder, if the T'wolves ever play him the minutes he deserves.

4. Andray Blatche, Was 20.8 ppg in 36 starts last season.

5. Michael Beasley, Min Fewer distractions than Miami.

Kobe Bryant

that series. Still, he had gained his opponent's respect. "I'm glad I'm done with you," Bryant told Durant and teammate Russell Westbrook.

"It probably gave [Durant] more experience," Triano said. "It gave him an experience that he needs ... to take his game to another level, playing in those conditions in that situation. I even noticed this summer at the worlds, he did not back off from being the go-to guy and the guy that wants to take it to another level. The only thing missing is experience. He got it this summer, and he got it last year in the playoffs."

Durant is the league's darling right now, its brightest unblemished star. Lakers forward Ron Artest, who called Bryant the game's best player, said Durant was No. 2 this summer. "I only count to two," Artest added when asked about where LeBron James might fit on such a list.

Kevin Durant

"I am NOT in the top 2 players in the NBA," Durant replied on Twitter.

"I haven't done anything yet ... I'm trying [though]!!!"

Bryant stands in his way, and has more help on his team with Artest, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum and new recruit Matt Barnes.

Byrant also has that legendary work ethic. With Durant, that is still an unknown. You cannot assume a star will become pathological about his craft.

Durant is as affable, charming and likeable as stars come. We know that.

Bryant does not match Durant in those categories. But he is merciless. And that counts for plenty.

FIVE READY TO BREAK OUT 1. Darren Collison, Ind Chris Paul's former backup.

2. Roy Hibbert, Ind Taken with the

FIVE READY TO BREAK DOWN 1. Kenyon Martin, Den Already broken down, and wants a contract extension. Bwahahahahahaha.

2. Greg Oden, Por Two major knee surgeries already.

3. Yao Ming, Hou Being limited to 24 minutes a game.

4. Somebody on the Celtics Pick one: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Shaq, Jermaine O'Neal, somebody.

5. The city of Cleveland Gonna be a lot of sobbing.

THE BEST ...

Wing man Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers. Kevin Durant might be the favourite for MVP, but Bryant is the guy with five rings and a sterling playoff reputation.

Little man Chris Paul, New Orleans. Injuries are a concern, especially with his knees. But when Paul is on, he is the best point guard in the league.

Big man Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas.

Perhaps he is doomed to never win a championship, but no power forward is more reliable with the ball than Dirk.

Player you might not have heard of Luis Scola, Houston. Scola is more valuable in the international game, but the Argentine is a great frontcourt sidekick to Yao.

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OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

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Page 6

COMMENTARY

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

OAS/CARICOMCHALLENGESINHAITI

RICKEY SINGH

LAST Wednesday's (October 20) annual Eric Williams Memorial Lecture, delivered in Miami, Florida, by Jamaica's former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, would have served to further underscore the urgent need for the international community to cut the talk and walk the walk in delivering pledged reconstruction aid for earthquakeravaged Haiti.

Questions raised among the hundreds in attendance for the lecture pointed to the horrors of life for the people of Haiti, the "mother of freedom in this hemisphere".

Hopefully, the concerns expressed at the event would also serve as a reminder why both the Caribbean Community and the Organisation of American States should speak boldly to the reconstruction aid problem, among other things.

There is also the dangerous politicking that has already led to the unilateral exclusion of some 14 parties from contesting the upcoming November 28 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Before returning to the aid and political problems affecting Haiti, readers should know that the topic for this year's lecture was "The Renaissance of Haiti: A Template for Caribbean Integration".

It was organised by The Eric Williams Memorial Lecture Collection (EWMC), headed by Erica Williams-

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

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

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

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

Connell, daughter of the late historian prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago who led the country into independenceandheadedgovernmentsoveraquarter century until his death in office in 1981.

Patterson, known for his deep commitment to regional integration, was chosen as the Caribbean Community's special envoy for Haiti in the wake of last January's unprecedented earthquake disaster.

He knows only too well about the prevailing "words game" over the distressing gap between aid pledges by donors and lack of deliveries in the face of immense suffering of Haitian earthquake victims, and in general the entire population of Haiti. In the circumstances, Patterson was the perfect choice for this year's Eric Williams Memorial Lecture.

He is well aware of the influence of Williams' panCaribbean vision that had significantly contributed to the inauguration of the Caribbean Community at Chaguaramas in 1973; and why today's 37-year-old Caricom must remain firmly committed to being a strong voice in the mobilisation of international support for the reconstruction of Haiti.

With respect to the current challenges facing the Haitian people and what functions as their"government" amid the ruins and squalor in Port-au-Prince, it may be useful for the region's public to learn of Patterson's latest assessment as Caricom's special envoy on Haiti.

It is certainly time that the secretariats of Caricom andtheOAS communicatewiththeregion'spublic,either separately, or through a joint statement, their own concerns over the two very critical, agonising problems affecting the Haitian people -- one economic, the other political.

Desperately struggling to survive amid choking poverty long before their country was devastated by an unprecedented earthquake disaster, Haitians are today anxious toknowwhyitistakingsolong--ninemonths after their worst natural disaster - for just US$732 million of the promised US$5.03 billion in "reconstruction aid and debt relief" to trickle down to them.

Of particular concern is, why has the administration of President Barack Obama, which had committed itself to an initial US$1.15 billion of the original US$5.03 billion, not yet delivered even a portion of its pledge?

BothUnited NationsSecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon, and former President Bill Clinton, the UN special envoy to Haiti, continue to openly lament the failures to honour aid pledges in the face of the horrible daily problems of Haitians, who languish in tents where criminality, sickness, hungerandalossof dignityformanyremainawayof life.

The second, and related question, is why are donor nations, among them the USA and Canada, yet to

Editorial Cartoon

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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.

condemn the arbitrary exclusion by Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) of candidates from 14 political parties?

Among the parties is Haiti's largest and most popular Fanmi Lavalas, whose founder-leader, ex-President Bertrand Aristide, remains in exile. What would justify this most strange action by the Electoral Council?

With presidential and legislative elections just about six weeks away, there needs to be a proper explanation from the Council, a constitutional and supposedly independent body, which is being funded by the international community to ensure free and fair elections in the interest of democratic governance.

That's why neither the OAS nor Caricom can fail to share their positions on the sensitive issues of lack of aid delivery and the arbitrary exclusion by the CEP of more than a dozen parties from contesting the forthcoming elections.

Afterall,bothCaricomandtheOAShaveteamedup to monitor the conduct of the Novermber 28 elections.

Page 7

Wide range of options and improvements for TCI’s tax system, says Acting Governor Mark Capes

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

ACTING GOVERNOR MARK CAPES says a wide range of options for current and potential new revenue sources will be assessed, along with improvements to Turks and Caicos Government’s tax administration system.

“Work is at a very early stage; no decisions will be taken without comprehensive modelling of the effect on TCI's economy and widespread consultation with the public, the business community and Consultative Forum. Any changes to the revenue system will be decided by the Governor in consultation with the Advisory Council,” Capes said in a media statement released Thursday.

“The TCI is not alone in taking these prudent steps. Many countries face similar tough choices to stabilise their public finances. Reviewing and strengthening their revenue base and taking difficult steps to reduce debt.

Only through these measures can we restore the confidence of the global capital markets in our economy,” he said.

Capes, who is deputising for Governor Gordon Wetherell who is overseas on Government business, said the global economic recession has “hit the Turks and Caicos Islands very hard and has exposed weaknesses in the territory's economy” and has resulted in falling revenues.

He added: “The impact has been

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Acting Governor Mark Capes

compounded by the scale of the national debt accumulated by previous administrations; a legacy of poor public financial management; and, the overexpansion of the public service that will this year cost the TCI $72 million, representing 60% of the revenues we expect to collect of $120 million. Accordingly, it is essential that the TCI’s revenues are reviewed and where necessary revised as part of the Government’s comprehensive programme of public finance reform.

The Government is committed to develop a more sustainable revenue base; one that will help to rebuild the territory's public finances and put it on

a stable footing for future generations.”

Capes, whose substantive post is that of Chief Executive, added: “That is why, earlier this year, the Government initiated a review of the TCI’s tax system and options for the future, conducted by Professor Roe. This work involved representatives from business and professional groups. Professor Roe’s revenue study, published in February, made a number of recommendations which the Government is taking forward. We are now progressing this important work.

EU-funded revenue consultants have last week started a project to follow-up the Roe recommendations.”

Capes statement came on the heels of a widely circulated email from David “Jumpy” Hartshorn on Monday October 25, which indictaed that Government was about to introduce direct taxation.

In the email which made reference to a Revenue Consultants Presentation on October 18th, Hartshorn stated: “ Next battle to wage. I have leaked this

to Weekly News and hopefully they will print and we can all initiate correspondence accordingly. I don’t mind being taxed we always have been of course but at least it was always under the guise of indirect taxation. To blatantly tax us directly will finish off what’s left of the economy and just another reason to move on. Please pass on and motivate others.

Best david.”

A Fred Skovberg, who was copied in the email, replied: “While the subject of this e-mail is not directly involved in NW activity, the message below and the attachment do not bode well for the future of the TCI. One sure way to kill the economic recovery would be to introduce property taxes and a VAT tax. It appears that is exactly what the government is intent on doing. This will cause a further collapse of the TCI economy and, as a result, lead to even greater amounts of violent crime. As David has said – “Next battle to wage”!

Fred Skovberg”

PNP Leader Clayton Greene not considering deputy now

By Vivian Tyson SUN News Editor

LEADER OF THE Progressive National Party (PNP) Clayton Greene, is not focused on looking for a new deputy leader right now, after his selected choice, Albray Butterfield Jr., tossed in the towel after meeting stiff resistance from disgruntled elements within the party.

In a short interview with The SUN, Greene, who was apparently perturbed by the tremendous resistance to Butterfield from within the party, indicated that finding a new deputy was not at the top of his list of things to do at this time, pointing out that there were other telling issues towards which his efforts could be channeled.

“I am not directing my mind to that right now, not at the present time.

I would come to that eventually, but there are pressing issues right now than that, for me to focus on, so at this time I cannot say,” Greene said.

A news release issued by PNP director of public relations DonHue Gardiner last week, to announce Butterfield’s resignation, indicated: “Both Mr. Butterfield and Party Leader Clayton Greene, believe that in an effort to further engender a spirit of unity within the party, this move is in the best interest at this time.” The statement was a clear indication that Butterfield’s selection by Greene had created a rift among party members.

Greene, who gave a news conference early September, to announce his choice of deputy leader, said his leadership style was one predicated on the establishment of a big tent, to include his supporters as well as his detractors. He explained that he wanted to play his part in bringing an end to the political

divisiveness in the country, also expressing the hope that once voters realized what he was all about country, would support his cause.

Greene told the news conference at the time: “I campaign on a message of inclusion. If this party is to build on the successes of the past, we must going forward, build a big tent where all and sundry can feel welcome and able to give free expression to their views, confident that they will not be ostracized or vilified because their view maybe critical. This is how our party will grow.”

Greene, an attorney-at-law argued that at the news conference that someone should not be seen as less than a PNP because he was bold enough to criticize the party, stressing that it should be seen as a sign of political maturity.

“That’s the kind of party we need to build, that’s the kind of county we need to build – and I am going to lead by example,” he said during the recent news conference.

Notwithstanding his impassioned plea for togetherness within the party, some members were still not comfortable with the 44 year-old Butterfield being second in command, accusing him of having a hand in the demise of the PNP administration, which was toppled by the British Government following the partial suspension of the Constitution.

And following the intense blowback, the businessman finally decided to appease that bloc by calling it a day.

It is not clear what level of political ramification that Butterfield’s exit could bear for the party, especially for first time entrants who, because of their views, fear being purged from membership.

Page 8

Dr. Steve Bourne speaks out on the role and function of the two new hospitals

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER5 TH, 2010

By Vivian Tyson SUN Senior Editor

THE MEDICAL SITUATION in the Turks and Caicos Islands had been assessed as complicated by veteran medical practitioner Dr. Steve Bourne of Associate Medical Practices, especially as it relates to the operation of the two new hospitals – the Cockburn Town Medical Center in Grand Turk and the Cheshire Hall Medical Center Providenciales.

In an interview with The SUN, Dr. Bourne said the medical situation in the Turks and Caicos Islands is a mixed “bag of good, bad and confusing things”, in relation to what was placed in the contract for primary care and what government is doing about it.

According to him, while plans were made to construct the two hospitals, no such plans were put in place to build primary care facilities on the two major islands – Grand Turk and Providenciales - and as a result the hospitals have been made to juggle primary care and the regular hospital work, which he said they were not designed to do.

Primary care includes, among other things, vaccinations, immunizations and antenatal care, also catering to diabetes, hypertension, flu, fever and cold, which according to the general practitioner, are not emergency room matters and should not be handled first hand by the hospitals.

Dr. Bourne noted, too, that the primary care facilities in North Caicos and South Caicos were operating well below the desired levels for which they were established to work. He said while government had ensured that funds for the two new hospitals were secure, plans to set up primary care facilities which would ease an overrun on the hospitals were not put in place, and hence what he described as the chaos now existed.

“Patients also do not know what we are doing about primary care, so it is still confusing and too soon to say. We

should have meetings in the few weeks and months to try work out what to do in 2011. If you are going to open two huge hospitals, in Grand Turk with three and a half thousand people, pour all the money down there, and you open another big hospital in Provo and you pour lots and lots of money down there, and then you don’t build a primary care clinic in Provo, you don’t refurbish the primary care clinics for North Caicos, and if you don’t put any drugs in the clinic in South Caicos – because they have got no injections or anything except what we, the private doctors, give them – then you have got a very confusing situation,” Dr. Bourne noted.

According to him, while the construction of the hospitals were necessary, provisions should have been made to offer primary care in the Turks and Caicos, so that the hospitals are not burdened with work which they were not designed for.

“If you shut Myrtle Rigby, where do you go? You have to go into the new hospital. So the new hospital, which is trying to cope, is doing what Myrtle Rigby was doing, which is primary care, but it was never designed for that. So,

The Providenciales Hospital

the picture is confusing at the moment.

They are doing their best to deal with all the patients that they have got, that they never planned to deal with, and the recession has caused lots of people to don’t have the money they used to have to go to private doctors, because the economy is so bad,” Dr. Bourne explained.

According to him, government was supposed to cater to primary care in the TCI, while the hospitals would cater to the more complicated medical work, and private doctors operate their own private practices.

“Unfortunately, the government seems to have dropped the ball on the primary care thing, because their money has dried up, and all plans that were made four years ago when there was lots of money, relied on that money. And so, the hospital got their money – that is alright, it was a signed contract – the government never signed a contract with itself to put the money for primary care into primary care. It is confusing, it’s a round-a-bout way.

“So, forget about what is happening to the private doctors, it is what’s happening to the patients, is the more

important question. They have found that their primary care doctors and their primary care nurses have dried up.

Myrtle Rigby had a bunch of doctors and nurses serving the population of Providenciales, half of those doctors and nurses are not there anymore in primary care.

“Half the rooms that they (doctors and nurses) used to be seen in are not there in primary care. And pretty much all the drugs and bandages are gone from primary care,” Dr. Bourne further noted.

Dr. Bourne explained that while there is a doctor and nurses in North Caicos, the facility lacked basic necessity such as bandages and injection needles. He noted that a number of patients who visit Associated Medical Practices do so as to avoid the long waiting time at the new facility.

He noted that a lot of the complaints coming from the hospitals are primarily overcrowding, since the standard at the two facilities is pretty impressive, but said the patients were made to wait longer periods than expected due to the overcrowding.

Page 9

Land-owners in controversial Chalk Sound subdivision not amused by relocation proposal

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

INDIVIDUALS WHO OCCUPY the controversial Chalk Sound subdivision in Providenciales are not satisfied with the alternative deal that Government is proposing, some of them saying that they stand to lose a lot more if decided to accept the relocation offer, since the alternative land have been revalued.

Recently Government carried out a revaluing exercise on land in certain areas across the Turks and Caicos resulting in land, in some instances, increasing to more than four hundred percent.

A landowner in Long Bay Hills told this newspaper that about four years ago, he had applied and was given a piece of land in Long Bay Hills for $7,000. He said the piece of land was revalued earlier this year by Government and now he is required to pay almost $40,000 for the property. It is that level of expense that the Chalk Sound land owners are facing.

Recently, the landowners received letters from Government informing them of the alternative locations. The areas proposed for relocation, The SUN understands, are Long Bay Hills,

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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN

Leeward and Northwest Central in the Blue Hills area, which they claimed were not far from the dump.

The SUN understands that those who have lease documents for land in the area received letters indicating that plots elsewhere would be allotted to them, and while they could refuse the offer, when their leases come up for renewal, they would be refused.

For those who have freehold titles but had not begun to build, receive letters also informing them of alternative land, but stated that while they could refuse the offer, they would have to conform to national parks laws, rules and guidelines.

This simply means that they would not be able to continue building, since the area is a national park and reserved for the shelter and procreation of wildlife.

For those who have freehold titles and have built houses, they were informed that a compensation packages were being worked out.

Individuals, who own homes in the area stand to lose the most, since they would not be compensated for

their homes, plus if they were given freehold titles, would have to pay the difference for the proposed relocation sites.

One of those persons, who stand to lose the most, is Daphne Penn, whose house has reached the stage of habitation. She said even though freehold title holders were told by the authorities, through letters, that compensation packages were being worked on for them, it appears that it would cost homeowners more, since there is no indication that their houses would be rebuilt on the proposed sites.

“Those people who have got freehold titles for their land in Chalk Sound, would have to pay the difference for the land that they are proposing because they have revalued them and we now would have to pay two or three times the original value.

“As far as I gather, the compensation package includes giving us land of higher value, and additional piece of land, so they would not have to pay us any money. My reaction when I heard it is that, I can’t live on land like that; I can live in a house. So

that is where we are now,” Penn said.

The residents and landowners in the area are claiming that they were being unfairly treated by the Interim Government, since they went through the proper channel in obtaining the land.

According to them, their occupancy of the land was approved by the Land Agency and the Physical Planning Department, both of which are the government authorities that deal with land development in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

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www.suntci.com

ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES: 1. Ensures that all members, guests and co-workers are treated in a friendly and respectful manner in accordance with the rules of Turks & Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay. 2. Assists in other departments and performs additional related duties as required.

3. Understands and follows policies and procedures of the department and Turks & Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay overall.

POSITION AVAILABLE

Turks and Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay is seeking a suitably qualified applicant to fill the post of

Food and Beverage Manager at Big aMBergris Cay.

Daily tasks will include, but are not limited to:

JOB SUMMARY: Works along with the Club Manager to plan, organize and direct the activities of the Food and Beverage Department at Turks & Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay to ensure an exceptional level of customer service and patron satisfaction.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: 1. Ensures that all members and guests are welcomed upon arrival and treated in a friendly and respectful manner in accordance with the standards of excellence of Turks & Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay. 2. Coordinates the activities of the Food and Beverage Department and Employees to maintain exceptional service to members and guests of Turks & Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay. 3. Oversees and implement the hiring, training and evaluation of the performance of Food and Beverage employees. Recommends disciplinary actions and promotions.

4. Assists the Club Manager in preparing and submitting proposed budgets for the Food and Beverage Department.

5. Provides a continuous review of the service level and offering of the dining facilities and recommends changes to upgrade and improve them.

6. Oversees and works with the Executive and Sous Chefs and front of house managers to compile menus and wine lists to be served in the restaurants.

7. Oversees and monitors all orders and supplies of food, beverages, table linens, kitchen equipment and related items.

8. Responsible for and oversees the entire Food and Beverage Department of Turks & Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts/Hospitality Management (specializing in food and beverage) preferred or equivalent.

2. Minimum of 5 years experience in food service management, including the supervision of employees and relationships with outside vendors.

3 Excellent wine and food knowledge, (Sommelier certificate is preferred) 4. Excellent oral and written communication skills.

5 Has knowledge of office administration and budget in the food service industry.

6 Computer knowledge in Microsoft Word, Excel and general formatting, typing and printing 7 Has knowledge in Point of Sales System programming and operation.

8 Must be able to pass the food and beverage knowledge test

REQUIREMENTS - Successful applicant must: 1. Have a pleasant personality and excellent communication skills 2. Be reliable, hard working and enthusiastic 3. Be able to reside on Big Ambergris Cay 4. Possess a valid TCI Driver’s License 5. Produce a clean Police Record 6. Be physically fit Salary: $50,000.00 - $60,000.00 per annum.

Closing date for all applications is Friday, November 12, 2010.

Applications must be addressed to:

Ms. Dorothea Malcolm Human Resources Director Turks & Caicos Sporting Club @ Ambergris Cay Unit 66. Salt Mills Plaza, Grace Bay Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands E-mail: dorothea@ambergriscay.com Tel: 649-941-3777 Fax: 649-941-3778

TURKS & CAICOS SUN TURKS TURKS & & CAICOS CAICOS SUN SUN TURKS & CAICOS SUN TURKS TURKS & & CAICOS CAICOS SUN SUN

JUNE 25TH - JULY 2ND 2010 - JUNE 25TH, OCTOBERJUNE 29TH18TH - NOVEMBER 5TH 2010 2010 JUNE 25TH- -JUNE JULY 2ND, 2010 OCTOBERJUNE 29TH18TH - NOVEMBER25TH, 5TH, 2010 2010

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OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010 TURKS & CAICOS SUN

OCTOBER 29TH - NOVEMBER 5TH, 2010

TURKS & CAICOS SUN