VOLUME 9 ISSUE 25

JUNE 29TH - JULY 6TH, 2013

Website: www.suntci.com

VOLUME 9 - No. 25

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INTEGRITY COMMISSION WANTS PAY INCREASE

BY HAYDEN BOYCE PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

T

he Integrity Commission, which significantly slashed the salaries of Turks and Caicos Islands Cabinet Ministers, and has imposed some stringent financial guidelines on certain Government operations, has asked for a 7.5 percent pay raise for some of its staff.

This was confirmed by the Commission’s Director Eugene Otuonye who said that the proposal is however “subject to budgetary provision being approved by the House of Assembly”, As it now stands, the Director of the Integrity Commission, Otuonye, is paid US$110,000 per year or $9166 per month; the Investigative Officer Simon Baker is paid US$78,000 per year or $6500 per month; the Compliance Officer Karen Taylor-Bell is also paid $78,000 per year, the Coordinator of the Political Financial Activities Unit, Patrick Noonan is paid $60,000 a year or $5000 per month and the Secretary, Wanda Ariza, is paid $45,000 a year or $3750 per month.

BEST INSTITUTE STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN TREE PLANTING AT CLUB MED: Club Med across the world on Wednesday, June 26, celebrated International Tourist Day. Each resort marked the event by participating in communityrelated activities and the Turks and Caicos was no different. The local resort, which is located along the famous Grace Bay Beach, invited students from BEST Institute to spend the day on property. The students, accompanied by their teachers, were treated to a great deal of fun activities led by manager Michael Clarke. The activities included basketball, soccer and tree-planting.

Here they are seen along with club med staff, including Clarke (in blue top), planting one of the trees on the property.

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Attorney Norman Premier Ewing Small businesses Companies want responds to Saunders denies want NIB/NHIP to supply Fortis SIPT charges Observer editorial Amnesty with energy PAGE 8

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INTEGRITY COMMISSION WANTS PAY INCREASE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Otuonye told The SUN that with the exception of Patrick Noonan who was initially seconded from the Governor’s office but who is now on temporary appointment with the Commission, all other officers are currently on 2-year contract without end of contract gratuity.

He added: “The contracts of the Director and Investigative Officer will expire next month, July. The Commissioners have in principle approved a renewal of these contracts when they expire. They also proposed, a 7.5% (seven and half percent) increase in the salaries of the Director and the Investigative Officer in the renewed contracts. The proposal is however subject to budgetary provision being approved by the House of Assembly,” He added: “The basis for proposing an increase

were: (a) At the time of fixing the current salaries of the Director and the Investigative Officer, the Commissioners took into account the 10% cut in the salaries of Civil Servants. The 10% cut was restored in February this year. (b) The contracts for these officers envisage that upon satisfactory completion, their contracts will be renewed on such revised terms no less favourable to the officer as the Commissioners may determine. This is also compliant with section 97(3) of the Constitution which prohibits a change in the remuneration of an office holder in the Commission in terms less favourable during the holder’s continuance in office.”

Otuonye stressed that no members of the Integrity Commission itself, have received any salary increases.

The current members are: Sir David Simmons (Chairman) ; Bishop Clarence Williams;

Rev. Reuben Hall; Mr Paul Harvey; Mr Martin Green and Mr. Nick Haywood. Mr Haywood is the newest member of the Commission having been appointed in April 2013 for the statutory 3-year term with effect from May 1, 2013. He replaced Mr. Gary Brough who served in the Commission for 3 years up to April 30th, 2013. The Chairman and the other Members have all been re-appointed in April this year for another 3-year term. The Integrity Commission Ordinance (the Ordinance) requires a mandatory 3- year term unless the member earlier resigns or is earlier removed.

Otuonye explained: “Strictly speaking, none of them is on salary. Each member (except the Chairman) however receives the sum of $525 (per diem) for every meeting of the Commission which he attends. The Chairman receives $1000 for every meeting he attends. He receives an additional $600 every month for the Commission’s work he does outside the meetings. The Commission usually meets at least once every month. The $525 is equivalent to the per diem paid to members of the defunct Advisory Council and Consultative Forum and (together with the Chairman’s per diem) was set in 2010 at the initial appointments of the members. There has been no increase or decrease since then.”

The Director added that all the Officers are directly accountable to and were employed by the Commission in exercise of its powers under section 15 of the Ordinance which provides in subsections 1 & 2 as follows: (1) The Commission may, acting within the funds and resources available to it – (a) employ such officers and employees as are required for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission; (b) retain the services of professional persons.

(2) The remuneration and other terms and conditions of employment of the officers and employees of the Commission employed under subsection (1) and the professional persons retained under that subsection shall be such as may be determined or varied by the Commission from time to time.

DPP MAKES COMPLAINT AGAINST INTEGRITY COMMISSION Meantime, Otuonye also confirmed that the Director of Public Prosecutions Joanne Meloche also lodged an official complaint against Martin Green, a member of the Integrity Commission.

He said: “As Director of the Commission however, I can confirm that such a complaint was lodged with the Governor and the Chairman of the Commission by the DPP. The Commissioners will formally be informed about it for the first time in their meeting scheduled for next week Friday in Providenciales. The complaint arose from a telephone conversation that the DPP had with Martin Green on a criminal matter involving the luxury boat that allegedly caused extensive damage to coral reefs in Providenciales. Mr Green is the Defence Attorney in that criminal matter. To the best of my knowledge, I think the Governor awaits the conclusion of the criminal proceedings before he deals fully with the complaint. This matter falls within the statutory purview of the Governor in so far as he appoints and removes the Commissioners and indeed the DPP, subject to certain constitutional and statutory conditions. He is therefore the authoritative source to provide you information on this.”

However, when contacted on the matter, Governor’s spokesman Neil Smith referred The SUN to the Integrity Commission.

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JUNE 29TH - JULY 6TH, 2013

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LOCAL NEWS

Caricom’s Visit To Turks And Caicos Islands W

e in the Turks and Caicos Isadequately funded because we lands have been an Associare putting $41M, up to this point ate Member of CARICOM (Caribthis year, into a sinking fund to bean Community) for quite some pay off this loan guarantee. time, but that membership was There is of course the SIPT that suspended during the reign of the seems to want to charge a ham Interim Administration here. sandwich for having meat inside However, that membership it and the Civil Recovery firm was renewed subsequent to an that say that it recovered $19.5M elected government being refor us, but paid itself $13M for doturned here. We were invited to ing it. The egregious part about attend a Heads of Government that is that part of the recovery is Meeting that was held in Haiti at land that has been inflated in valwhich, Premier Ewing addressed ue, and will be sitting there until

BY ROYAL S. ROBINSON, MBE the relationship between the UK someone buys it. It need not be at government and TCI among other those inflated rates. However, we things. The UK Foreign Office Minister then wrote are forking-out cash to them. to CARICOM for it dismiss the assertions made by These are but some of the item a Turks and CaPremier Ewing as his statement was misleading as icos Islander must have put to the Caricom deleto the relationship between our two countries. gation when it was here. I know that some quarCARICOM, therefore, assembled a delegation, ters put it succinctly and appropriately to them, headed by the Hon. Fred Mitchell, Foreign Min- but there were some mealy-mouths that hid in the ister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and closet to push out notes. I am sure that the delegaincluded persons from Haiti, Jamaica and St. tion will be able to sift out fact from fiction!

Kitts, to do a fact-finding mission here and find Royal Robinson was a former Deputy Premier and Minister out what was truly happening on the ground. of Finance in a previous Progressive National Party (PNP) AdThey would no doubt have been given the line ministration. from Waterloo and some of its supporters that all was well and there was no rift between us as expressed by the Premier. But the countervailing view must be different from the real TCI perspective.

How can things be right when the duly elected representatives of the people are held in a straight-jacket with respect to many of the key reins of government? Is it right and fair that our main resource, land is not overseen by an elected representative, but an appointee of the UK, who has no direct ties to the people of this country?

Every development proposal requires land as a basis. How can Minister for Development provide a coherent plan, when the man who has land is of a contrary view as to the onward development of our country? That in itself makes governing cumbersome, to say the lease.

Well, of course you have this draconian Crown Land Ordinance that really and truly restricts the access to Crown Land by the ordinary citizen of this country. Just think about it for a moment.

You identify a plot on which to build a house for purposes relevant to you, but some functionary is going to tell you it is better for you to go in Juba Sound, rather than in Kew Town, next to you cousin. That is utter nonsense. On the commercial land side, you do a business case, pay money for a number of things, only to be told that you have to be in a bidding war with persons with greater wherewithal than you.

The greatest stricture is in the area of Finance.

No Minister can approve any allocation of funds above ten thousand dollars, save and except with the prior approval of the CFO, another UK appointed functionary. The beauty of that is that the Ministers are required to put in place a number of revenue raising measures, but cannot dictate how that money is to be spent. The atmosphere is further charged by the layer and layer of rules that test the fortitude of any individual that wants to get things done. The Financial Management Ordinance has a number of rules to be adhered to; then, the Procurement Ordinance has another set. All these must be complied with in order to purchase a stick of pencil that is urgently needed for a classroom.

There is of course that $ 260M gorilla in the room. We have yet to see a true accounting of how that money was spent, but we are responsible to retire it by or before 2016. This must be done in the face of our infrastructure being not

Turks and Caicos Sun Suite # 5, Airport Plaza Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands Tel: (649) 946-8542 Fax: (649) 941-3281 Email: sun@suntci.com Read us online at www.suntci.com Publisher & Editor-in-Chief: Hayden Boyce Senior Editor: Vivian Tyson Office Manager: Dominique Rigby Information Technology and Production Manager: Kelano Howell Design by Design2pro.com The Turks and Caicos SUN is a subsidiary of The SUN Media Group Ltd. We are committed to excellence in journalism, educating and informing our readers, serving and satisfying our advertisers and assisting in the overall development of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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JUNE 29TH - JULY 6TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

CARICOM fact-finding team on TCI resists releasing early findings

BY VIVIAN TYSON

F

red Mitchell, Head of the Caricom Fact-ďŹ nding Mission to the Turks and Caicos Islands has resisted temptation by the press on revealing some of the group’s ďŹ ndings while on the ground during its three days of information gathering.

Mitchell, who is the Bahamas foreign affairs minister, led the group which comprised representatives from Haiti and St. Kits and Nevis, to have discussions with different blocs of society in the TCI, so as to ďŹ gure out the real situation regarding the relationship between TCIG and the Foreign OfďŹ ce. The mission lasted three days – June 24 to 26. “I am not sure I am in a position to say what people are saying to us, except that, broadly speaking it appears that people are relieved that elections are held. Obviously there is an act of discussion on the way forward, but in terms of how people have characterized what is happening, I probably think it is best to wait until the report is actually done, and the heads of government have actually pronounced on the future,â€?

Mitchell said.

Mitchell said that the mission stemmed from differing of state-

Fred Mitchell, which leads the Caricom Fact-ďŹ nding Mission to the TCI, explains to a welcoming party what the trip was all about. At left is TCI Premier Rufus Ewing.

At far left in photo is the Bahamas Ambassador to Caricom, Pricewell Forbes, while at second left is Foreign Minister from St. Kitts and Nevis Patrice Nisbett. ments made between Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing at the Caricom Heads of Government Meeting in Haiti, earlier this year, and a reply

by Foreign OfďŹ ce shortly after. The statement suggested in part that the UK was placing stumbling blocks in the way of TCIG as it seeks to climb from the economic abyss in which it fell along with many other countries worldwide during the recession. “Back in February of this year, the Premier (Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing) made a statement at the Heads

of Government Conference at Caricom, of which the Turks and Caicos Islands are associate members. The statement made certain assertions about the state of play between the British and the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands. “That statement caused the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the UK (William Hague), to make a public letter, which attempted to contradict the statements made by the premier. We were asked in the councils of the foreign ministers what should we do, because the secretary of state

circulated his letter to our heads of government,� Mitchell explained.

He said further: “And we indicated that there appeared to be to us a disconnect about the British view of what had happened in the Turks and Caicos Islands and what had happened on the ground as far as the people in the government of the Turks and Caicos are concerned. “Following on that, a recommendation was made that there be a fact-ďŹ nding mission that would just come and see what happens here on the ground and making a report to the heads of government. That meeting takes place the 4th of July. So we had to get the visit in before 4th of this month, so that the report can be written,â€? Mitchell said.

While here, the delegation met with HE Governor Ric Todd, the premier and his cabinet, members of the opposition, the business sector among other groups. Mitchell said the delegation already met with Opposition Leader Charlene Cartwright-Robinson while she was on a visit to the Bahamas.

The group also comprised Foreign Minister from St. Kitts and Nevis Patrice Nisbett, Bahamas Ambassador to Caricom, Pricewell Forbes and representatives from Haitian.

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JUNE 29TH - JULY 6TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS RAMANO “JUSTICE” HOWELL CHARGED WITH MURDER OF DOMINICAN WOMAN

T

hirty year-old musician Romano Giovanni Howell otherwise called “Justice” has been charged with the killing of Dominican National Damaris Gomez Martinez, 30, whose body was found in a makeshift casket in nearby bushes on Sunday, June 23 along the Millennium Highway in Providenciales.

Howell was charged with the crime on the weekend, a few days after being picked up by investigators.

The accused, sporting a dreadlocks hairstyle and clad in a brown shirt and pants, appeared in the Providenciales Magistrate’s Court One on Monday (June 24) before Chief Magistrate Clifton Warner, who read out the case against him.

The charge is that, between Monday, June 10 and Sunday 16, he murdered Martinez. Howell was not asked to enter a plea.

Following the reading of the charge, Magistrate Warner remanded Howell to Her Majesty’s Prison in Grand Turk, until his sufficiency hearing date, which is set for August 2, later this year.

“All I can say is that the matter is adjourned for sufficiency hearing on August 2nd, 2013 in Grand Turk,” the chief magistrate told the accused.

Magistrate Warner instructed him however, that he could apply for bail through his lawyers to a Supreme Court judge. Howell is represented

by Mark Fulford of F.Chambers Attorneys-at-law.

ATTORNEY NORMAN SAUNDERS DENIES SIPT’S MONEY LAUNDERING CHARGES

L

Romano Howell being escorted by police from the courthouse From as early as 9 a.m. members of the media were at the court house awaiting the accused man’s arrival, but minutes after 11 a.m., were told that he would appear in the afternoon session.

When he made the appearance, Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) JoAnn Meloche, made an application on behalf of investigators for the collection of DNA samples from him, which the court granted, triggering a close to one hour adjournment.

Before adjourning proceedings for the collection of the sample, Magistrate Warner informed Howell that he could not read out the charges until the procedure was done.

Howell was supported by family members in court, including his dad Howard and uncle Rev. Dr. Conrad Howell.

ocal attorney Norman Saunders Jnr, said he is shocked at SIPT’s decision to charge him with three counts of money laundering.

In a media statement issued on Thursday June 27th, Saunders said: “I have not committed the offences for which they have accused me, their charges are unfair, and I will strongly contest them. I am grateful for the messages of support that I have already received from friends, clients, and professional colleagues. My hope now is that a trial with a jury of my peers can soon proceed, so that I can put this matter behind me and my family, and so that we can return to a normal life. I do not intend to make further statements.”

The 44-year-old Saunders appeared in the Magistrates Court before magistrate Jolyon Hatmin on Wednesday charged with three counts of money laundering.

The matter was sent to the Supreme Court for a sufficiency hearing on August 2nd, 2013.

Saunders, who was represented by attorney Guy Chapman, was released on $300,000 bail.

Saunders and SIPT have had a

Attorney-at-law Norman Saunders stormy relationship over the past few years. He was the lawyer for former Chief Protocol Officer Jan Messam, who was one of the first persons arrested by SIPT. Messam has not been charged, but around that time, Saunders had threatened to take legal action against SIPT because of how they had treated his client.

In addition to the Messam incident, reliable sources told the SUN that there have been a number of ongoing legal squabbles, including some strongly-worded letters between Saunders and SIPT.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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LOCAL NEWS

Companies seeking to supply Fortis with power to help lower electricity costs

BY VIVIAN TYSON

D

ue to the flurry of proposals from private entities to cultivate alternative energy sources in the Turks and Caicos Islands, government has embarked on fashioning a co-generation legislation which it expects to pass into law by yearend, according to Finance Minister Hon. Washington Misick.

“There are a number of proposals on the table to generate electricity through renewable energy sources. There are several, they are coming out of the woodworks. (The legislation is) pretty advance. I am hoping it happens before the end of the year,” the finance minister explained.

He said the legislation would pave the way for alternative energy providers supplying the country’s sole light and power suppliers FortisTCI with additional energy, which he said would drive down the cost of electricity cost.

“The result of that (legislation) should be the reduction of your power bill because, let’s say that some third party is able to sell electricity to Fortis for 20 cents per kilowatt hour and they (Fortis) put their mark-up on it – I don’t know what that would be – it would still be significantly lower than the almost 50 cents (per kilowatt hour) you are paying now.

“It (alternative energy) is not only related to fuel, because fuel is not something we have any control over, and it is a very volatile supply. So I think people are looking at co-generation in alternative energy, like solar and wind and stuff like that,” he said.

The minister said that government has already begun talks with FortisTCI and the potential alternative energy providers on the proposed renewable energy path, and so far the responses have been encouraging.

“There are talks going with Fortis and with private generators, and the government. That’s what we want to focus on – legislation that would allow co-generation of energy that can be sold on to Fortis.

Fortis, by its very nature, would be better off and might be able to focus on distribution that they can buy energy quick, cheaper, whether it is created by alternative sources or other means, would be in their interest to buy it cheaper and still make their return on their investment. That is where the direction of the argument is being headed,” he said.

When contacted, Talisha Simons, Corporate Communications Officer FortisTCI said in an email response that the light and power company could not comment at length on any such initiative since the entity has not been involved in any talks regarding co-generation.

“The only co-generation plans that we are vaguely aware of involved a project on South Caicos that was supported by the Government of the day. That project has been in the pipeline now for 20 years. We continue to stress that when dealing with the electricity systems of the country, that development and changes in this area must involve prior consultations with the utility company to ensure that changes are economically and technologically feasible,” she pointed out.

She said that Fortis has been looking into the worthiness of alternative energy in the TCI, which she said is ongoing. She said that Fortis is expected to initiate its first turbine and solar pilot in the latter part of this year as means of testing the feasibility of such energy here at this time.

“Solutions are not easy or cheap. FortisTCI plans to have its first Wind Turbine and Solar Pilot programs launch later this year. One of the next key steps is to construct demonstration projects to gather engineering, controls, and financial feasibility data that will guide the Company’s renewable energy activities going forward.

“FortisTCI, subject to obtaining the necessary planning approvals, will embark on a wind turbine pilot program that will demonstrate its true value of fuel displacement and utility scale power generating source. During the initial stages data will be recorded to track output of electrical energy, reduction of carbon emissions, and savings to customers in fuel displacement,” she said.

She said that is not believed that renewable energy would increase the cost of electricity to its customers or reduce safety and reliability of the electricity system.

In the meantime, the finance Minister said that fuel will not fall under the proposed 15 percent import tax that government is proposing for the 2013/2014 budget.

“Fuel is one of those things that is exempt from the 15 percent (duty tax), but what the government is keen to do is to introduce co-generation legislation,” he said.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

Premier Dr. Rufus Ewing Responds To Editorial In Jamaica Observer Newspaper P

remier of the Turks and Caicos Islands Dr. Rufus Ewing has responded to a recent editorial in the Butch Stewart-owned Jamaica Observer newspaper which accused him of “dishing dirt” to Caribbean investors while he “cozies up” with American and European investors.

In a press statement released on Tuesday June 25, Premier Ewing said that the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands has an obligation to create job opportunities for its permanent resident population (Belonger and Permanent Residents) as a matter of priority and it also has a responsibility to implement measures to ensure employed permanent residents are provided with the training and other tools to capitalize on those opportunities.

The Premier stated: “As more job opportunities are created with the expansion of Beaches Resort or through any other investment group, the Government will continue to implement policy measures that hold developers accountable ensuring that Turks and Caicos Islanders are afforded opportunities for employment and training in the industry, whilst allowing for investor signature brand protection through assurance of service standards that is delivered by employees.”

He added: “The Turks and Caicos Islands is an ethnically and culturally diverse society with over 60 different nationalities making up two thirds of our population of which our Caribbean brothers and sisters represent the vast majority, the largest group of Caribbean nationals being from Haiti followed by Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. These nationalities have been embraced without exception and general prejudice. We therefore feel proud to say that the Turks and Caicos Islands reflects the true spirit of Caribbean integration that many more CARICOM sister states are still yet to achieve, and we indeed have a pivotal role to play in this movement in the future. The rate at which this happens and how it happens will be dictated by the government and people of the Turks and Caicos Islands and not by developers and investors.”

In a Friday, June 21st editorial under the heading “CARICOM Crabs In A Barrel”, the Observer newspaper stated: “We have very little regard for each other as

Caribbean people. We know this by experience with the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) which, though not a member of CARICOM, seeks its support conveniently in the current Administration’s fight with Britain over Independence. We can’t help noticing how the Rufus Ewing Administration cozies up to American and European investors while dishing dirt to Caribbean investors who set the island on the road to development, long before others knew it existed.”

The leading article continued: “We can cite other examples, but so as not to embarrass anyone, let us use Beaches TCI which is owned by the chairman of this newspaper. The power of the Beaches/Sandals brand has taken the TCI from a little known archipelago, known for salt mining, to a thriving entity now able to attract top-of-the-line airlines, hotel chains, financial houses and build modern infrastructure.

Beaches TCI is now the largest private sector employer, the largest earner of foreign exchange, is responsible for nearly half of the flights into the island and is the biggest promoter, by far, of the island’s tourism. But despite all this massive investment, its presence is merely tolerated and every imaginable obstacle placed in its path to growth.

The editorial added: Jamaicans there (in Turks and Caicos Islands) are generally not embraced as brothers and sisters, despite the fact that we represent the most sophisticated example of multiculturalism as a country. The TCI would choose Asians and Europeans over us any day. Frankly, freedom of movement is still the biggest regional joke. But our leaders will meet every year at their well-fed Caricom Heads of Government summit to sign the usual communiqué in which the only differences are a minor change of issues or freshly elected actors. We must ask ourselves, urgently, is this all we are worth?

However, in his press release, Premier Ewing said that over the last few decades, the Turks and Caicos Islands Government has welcomed investors who have come to the country with not only their objectives of financial success, but also with focus on the development of the country’s people, which is its most valuable resource.

$Q\WLPH $LU &RQGLWLRQLQJ 6HUYLFHV Anytime Air-Conditioning services is looking a qualified technician requirements:

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in the field of refrigeration and air-conditioning • Must have a valid driver’s license • Must be fluent in written and spoken English Required to repair these commercial equipments:

• Hobart kitchen equipments to include • Hobart mixers; Hobart meat saws; Commercial stoves; Deep fat fryers • Must be able to repair (any brand) air condition units & Refrigerators • Commercial washers and dryers; Diking refrigeration systems • Must be able to install & repair commercial walk-in coolers & freezers • Must have a strong knowledge to trouble shoot electrical circuits and read electrical diagrams • Must be able to work on their own without supervision Belongers only need apply Salary Range: Commensurate base on qualification & experience

He stressed: “It therefore goes without saying, that development projects that do not have any interest in fostering the development of our human capital or lack interest in ensuring our progression into a balanced and socially diverse society, having no regard or respect for our way of life and ideals, are not developments that we wish to support and encourage.”

Stating that the Turks and Caicos Islands, like many countries globally, is facing tremendous financial challenges with rising unemployment among the permanently resident population, Premier Ewing added: “Our government, like any other, has a responsibility to preferentially provide jobs for its people and to ensure that standards of living are maintained. It is therefore expected that the elected representatives of the people throughout their period of negotiations with any investor / developer would seek to ensure that Belongers/Permanent Residents have the opportunity to be employed in developments once they are qualified, willing, trainable and able in preference to any other group of individuals. Whilst the local labour force in the Turks and Caicos Islands may be limited, this group of individuals should neither be sidelined nor continue to remain unemployed. The relationship agreements we therefore seek with our development partners must be mutually beneficial to all stakeholders.”

Dr. Ewing noted that the Sandals Group which has created employment and economic opportunities for residents and has significantly contributed to government revenue, but it has also benefitted from investment in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

According to the Premier, Beaches Turks and Caicos, with an employee base of over 1200, employs just under 700 Turks and Caicos Islanders (Belongers and Permanent Residents) and is a major driver of the TCI economy.

The TCI Government is currently in re-negotiations with Beaches over a controversial 2006 Development Agreement which granted the hotel generous immigration and customs concessions. A beach access between Beaches Resort and the former Veranda Hotel, which was bought by Stewart for close to US$100million, is also another contentious issue between the two sides.

Our company consist of a diversified group of companies, ranging from financial services to hotels and resorts as well as other industries.

We are now looking for a candidate for the following position: Applications are invited for the position of Head Chef The ideal candidate must have luxury brand experience in a hotel/restaurant setting.

Responsibilities • You will be accountable for overall success of the daily kitchen operations.

• You should exhibit culinary talents by personally performing tasks while leading the staff and managing all food related functions.

• You should work to continually improve guest and employee satisfaction while maintaining the operating budget.

• You will supervise all kitchen areas to ensure a consistent, high quality product is produced.

• You will be responsible for guiding and developing staff including direct reports.

• You must ensure all safety, sanitation and food standards are achieved.

Requirements • Good communication skills, both verbal and written.

• Extensive knowledge of menu development, insight into cost and wage control.

• Thorough knowledge of food products, standard recipes and proper preparation.

• Ability to supervise a large diverse staff compliment.

• 5-10 years experience in an upscale fine dining restaurant and hotel environment.

Salary for this position will commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Email CVs to: anytimeaircond@yahoo.com or call 649-241-5542

Belongers need only apply.

Please Submit Applications to: P.O. Box 622 Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands and/or Hospitality622@gmail.com

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 11

JUNE 29TH - JULY 6TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

Beaches stages nearly 30 job fairs in under two years – General Manager

BY VIVIAN TYSON

B

eaches Turks and Caicos Resort and Spa has conducted close to 30 job fairs in less than two years, averaging one every three weeks, according to Donald Dagenais, General Manager for the property.

In an interview with The SUN on Thursday, during a luncheon at the recently opened Key West Village – formerly the Veranda Resort – Dagenais said that the property is always looking for people hence a job fair every three weeks.

He explained that Beaches has had 29 job fairs in the past 19 months, the last one was two weeks ago. However, said the hotel still falls short of its desired staff complement.

“If we are running a good occupancy we would still be short of about 300 plus,” he said.

“We carry a lot of job fairs. We have had 29 job fairs. We had one last Thursday (June 6). Every three weeks we have job fairs for a year and a half. We had 80 people who showed up for the job fair, which was one of our best job fairs.

“Fifty people didn’t show up and nine people didn’t have their status. And we hired a very, very high percentage of those people that did show up. We have a HR department that is functioning with eight or nine people. We are accepting applications every day,” Dagenais disclosed.

Explaining the procedure of the job fairs, Dagenais said: “First of all, somebody has to put in their application to the HR department. Once their application goes to the HR department then we phone that individual, we do a prescreening,

Don Dagenais, Manager for Beaches Turks and Caicos if they pass the prescreening then they come into the job fair. They come to the conference room, we have a quiz that we put them through and ev-

The Alexandra Resort & Spa is inviting applications for the following position: Applications are invited for the position of Hospitality Support Analyst To provide support analysis and management and assist in the planning, developing, installing, configuring, maintaining and supporting hardware, software and communication systems in order to maintain the stable operation of the information systems and networks of our Hospitality Group.

Job Description • Assist in analyzing the IT needs of the Group and in determining the immediate and long-range software and hardware requirements • Maintain, secure, troubleshoot and administer Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Internet (Cable / DSL / Wi-Fi connection) and IPTV • Maintain & evaluate computer hardware, communication equipment, networking software, operating system and application software; • Network administration and management • Maintain control records, implement & secure network traffic and optimize server performance;

• Perform & ensure System / Data back-ups and its recovery operations; • Provide problem-solving services and assist network users on systems & software such as PMS, POS Software and Telephone Billing System; • Interact and negotiate with vendors, outsourcers and contractors to seek products and services; • Provide on-call technical support; Job Requirements: • Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or Information Technology • 10 years Working Experience in IT • Knowledge of VLAN and switch management technology • Strong customer service orientation • Microsoft Server Administrator, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint Other Skills/Abilities • Highly self motivated and directed • Keen attention to details • Knowledge of Apple Macintosh Operating System • Knowledge of IQware and/or Visual One would be a distinct advantage

Please Submit Applications to: hr@alexandraresort.com A copy should also be submitted to the TCI Labour Department.

Submissions to be no later than July 13th, 2013 Belongers need only apply.

ery manager on property interviews these people.

“It’s not an open house job fair because that would be chaos. It wouldn’t be structured, it wouldn’t be organized. So there is certain prescreening that we do.”

Dagenais revealed that in the event an interviewee is not suited for the area for which he or she applies, recommendations for alternative areas are made to them, instead of telling that they did fit the criteria of choice and them let them go.

“We always offer an alternative, always,” he emphasized.

The Key West Village opened for business on May 11, and Dagenais said that the luncheon was held to show the community a little bit on how the resort does its core business – service - and also to tell the public of plans for the future.

With the addition of the Key West Village, Beaches Resort and Spa now boasts a total room inventory of 770 rooms and is able to accommodate more than 3,000 people.

“Hope that shortly there will be full staffing to take care of all the hotel’s needs,” Dagenais remarked.

He said that the property will close to renovate especially Key West, which he said needs a great deal of structural and aesthetic facelift.

“We will close for six weeks because there is a lot of work to do in the hotel especially Key West, where work is to be done on the infrastructure and general enhancement, to upgrade the services, do a lot more training to better able to meet the customers’ needs.

Page 12

JUNE 29TH - JULY 6TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

Small businesses calls for NIB, NHIP Amnesty

BY VIVIAN TYSON

A

number of businesses are calling on government to grant them National Insurance and National Health Insurance amnesties because many of them have hit rock bottom and are finding it difficult to meet those monthly obligations.

Those asking for the amnesty primarily operate small businesses.

Contributions to both entities are taken from workers’ salaries and from employers. National Insurance is collected to cover a variety of things, including pension, and maternity and sickness leaves. National Health Insurance enables contributors to access health care cost at a reduced rate.

Some employers said up to recent time they were prolific in their payments, but in the last few months they have fallen on hard times and are having difficulties meeting those statutory obligations, and so are calling on the government to grant a reprieve.

None of the employers who raised those concerns elicited a preferred duration of the amnesty. They stated that the period should be generous enough so that it affords their businesses time to recover.

Phillip Robinson, who is small a contractor, is one of those advocating for the amnesty. He said that the lull in the construction industry has taken a heavy toll on his business’s ability to generate enough funds to meet the National Insurance and National Health Insurance obligations.

“There is nothing taking place now in the construction industry. The money most of us in the

Phillip Robinson industry make is hardly enough to sustain our family. And so, it is very difficult for us to meet our NHIB and NHIP obligations. If government does not grant this amnesty, they will be making criminals out of a lot of us, who are hard-working law abiding citizens, and who mean this country well and want to see it get better,” Robinson said.

He added: “I hope that Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing, pays this some thought and looking into what we are saying. It is really difficult for us to

operate our businesses at this time. Some persons have locked down already and some are contemplating.”

In a recent post cabinet news conference, the premier said that government would be waiting on an actuarial review and possible changes to the ordinance before considering granting an amnesty to those outstanding in their National Health Insurance Plan (NHIP) payments.

He said one of the changes has to do with whether or not it was necessary for someone who was working but now unemployed, to notify the Board of their employment status, so that they would not be billed before obtaining another job.

“We have not given any case to the amnesty as yet simply because some internal procedures have to take place. One of the changes in the ordinance or amendments speaks to whether or not someone does not write in to say they or not employed, whether or not they should continue to be charged or whether or not you would require them to write in to allow it to be discontinued.

“We have a lot of situations where individuals may have not engaged in any unemployment activities and hence have no return. So those nil returns actually mean that those persons are unemployed or nil return means they failed to make notes of their earnings,” the Premier said.

Also asked about an amnesty for the National Insurance, Premier said that it would also depend on a review that that body is also considering to assess its operation. He said that a review of how such amnesty would impact the coffers of the NIB would have to be assessed before giving any consideration.

HAB MANAGEMENT LTD HAB Management Limited is a seeking suitably qualified individual to fill the following opening.

Only candidates who meet the minimum requirements will be considered.

SECURITY GUARD Job Description Responsible for implementing and enforcing security measures in order to provide maximum protection to the lives and properties of the company, employees and guests. Responsible to guard, patrol and monitor company premises to prevent theft, violence or infractions of rules.

Main Duties •Maintaining safety and security for all guests and employees.

•Must be trained in self defense and security operations.

•Document reports of daily activities and irregularities that occur on premises in logbook.

• Inspect and adjust security systems, equipment and machinery to ensure operational use.

•Responding quickly to emergency situation.

Requirements •Must have five years or more experience as a Security Officer.

Law enforcement/ security experience preferred.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills are required.

• Must be computer literate and have working knowledge of CCTV systems and software.

• Must be willing to work a variety of day/night and weekend shifts.

• Able to be on feet for long periods of time.

• Excellent people skills.

•Professional, neat, clean cut appearance is necessary.

•Clean driver’s license.

The salary for this position is $14,400.00 per annum, commensurate with experience, training and education. Interested applicants should email resumes by July 15, 2013 to ronnie@habgroup.com or submit by fax 649-946-5191. Only persons selected for an interview will be contacted by email or telephone to schedule an interview.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 13

JUNE 29TH - JULY 6TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

Controversy over GSAT results T

he Education Department has poured out its heart to the parents of a child who should have obtained second overall in the country from his Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) exams but was placed sixth overall due to a bungling on his Math paper, by tabulators.

The adjustment was made on his Mathematics paper.

A letter over the name of GSAT Education Officer, Maurice Ingham and sent to the parents of the affected student, Devesh Aswani noted: “A review of Divesh Aswani Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) Mathematics Paper was carried out as requested by you. Subsequently, a review was made of all his GSAT grades. An error was discovered in regard to Divesh’s Mathematics Paper1 grade.

“This error has been corrected and his new grade(s) are reflected in his individual examination profile (see attached copy). As a result, Divesh now holds 2nd position in the top ten passes. Please accept my apology for this error and any inconvenience that it may have caused you and Divesh. I wish Divesh every success in his future scholastic pursuits.”

The monumental error has now forced many parents to open the door of doubt, questioning whether or not the grades obtained by their chil-

dren are in fact the right grades.

“If the grade was moved from sixth to fifth, then it would not be a big deal, but from sixth to second, something went terribly wrong,” a parent, who called the office of this newspaper, said.

Divesh , who attends the Precious Treasures Preparatory School, normally scores between 95 and a 100 percent on his Math paper, so when he returned a score of 87.41, his parents sensed that something was not right and wasted no time in contacting the Education Department requesting a review of his grades.

The adjustment obviously triggered a shuffle in part of the original standing, which earlier had Ona Glinton Primary in Grand Turk capturing the top three spots. dJanelle Tennant still holds her first place position, but Amrita Rampersaud, who was second with an 88.28 overall average, now occupies the third spot. Miranda Archbold, who was third with an 88.02 overall average, is now fourth.

Emerson Bataille of Community Christian Primary, who was fourth with an overall average of 87.72, now holds fifth place, with Dahanda Pluviose of Ona Glinton now in sixth position with an 87.50 score.

The shuffle did not affect Brian Gardiner of Adelaide Oemler Primary School, who registered 85.86 for seventh position; Ashley Agenor of Oseta

ROYAL WEST INDIES RESORT is looking for motivated proactive individuals to joins its ‘Resort Team’ and contribute to this growing Condominium Resort. Candidates MUST want to actively participate in creating an excellent and professional guest experience.

POOL AND BEACH ATTENDANT Requirements: • MUST speak English and the ability to write and read english • Fit and able for heavy lifting • Personality suited for the hotel industry • Ability to maintain pools and hot tub chemicals and maintenance issues related to same • Willing to work split shifts, holidays and weekends.

• Some knowledge of water sports equipment • Able to swim.

Wages 5.50/hr

RWI Management Ltd. A small but growing Turks and Caicos Islands management company is seeking a qualified and experienced Managing Director to head corporate and client level operations. The successful candidate must possess: • Bsc. In Hotel and Food Administration • Masters in Business Administration • Minimum five years directly relevant post qualification work experience at directorial and regional level.

• Proven track record in growing business and contract negotiation.

Will be able to produce mission critical reporting and provide solutions and decision making based on proper analysis and understanding.

• Computer literate with modern property management systems, productivity software and internet distributed marketing and reservations systems.

Package is based on qualification and experience, $70,000 to $80,000 negotiable.

All resumes and applications must The suitable candidate will be be forwarded to: aged 30 to 45 years old and be Royal West Indies Resort able to lead all aspects of P.O. Box 482, Providenciales hospitality and corporate Turks & Caicos Islands operations.

You may also fax to: (649)946-5008

Jolly Primary School, who took eight place, scoring 85.86; Caitlin Lewis of Provo Christian School, who scored 85.17 for ninth place; and Zaria Ingham of B.E.S.T. Institute, who scored an 85.09 overall for 10th place.

Kirti Aswani, Divesh’s mother, has high praise for the Education Department for looking into the matter on her behalf, specifically applauding Director of Education Edgar Howell and Maurice Ingham, Education Officer in charge of GSAT. “It (new score card) feels good. He worked hard. His teachers help him tremendously and we worked hard with him. We are happy now with the scores, definitely,” Aswani beamed.

Aswani told The SUN that she felt something was awry after reviewing especially her son’s Math scores because she knew that is one of his strong subjects.

“When we saw the Math scores, we thought it was much lesser than what we expected because he always scores 95 to 100 percent in the terms before. So we wanted to review the scores just for that paper. So, we requested the Ministry of Education, Mr. (Edgar) Howell (to intervene). He then sent a request to Mr. (Maurice) Ingham in Grand Turk. Then they sent us the score yesterday (Tuesday, June 25). So now, out of 33 (out of 50) he now has 43 out of 50 (on his Math paper),” she said.

Page 14

JUNE 29TH - JULY 6TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

Fisherman’s Tournament Held In Grand Turk U

nder the leadership of Honourary Chairman, Captain Everette Freites, the inaugural Fishermen’s Tournament held last weekend in Grand Turk has been deemed a great success. Nine boats participated in a one day billďŹ sh hunt on Saturday, June 22nd, 2013. While winds and seas were brisk, most boats

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left around 5am returning to Governor’s Beach at 3pm. Each captain received a case of beer courtesy of Grand Turk Liquors. Fishing, as always, was challenging, but after the weigh in, supervised

by Weighmaster Wayne Williams, , Captain Daniel Oselette, of Crystal Seas Tours in Grand Turk, landed the larg-

est ďŹ sh of the day, a 62 lb YellowďŹ n Tuna.  Daniel took home cash and prizes valued at over $4,000, and split his cash winnings with a lucky Calcutta bidder from the previous evening. HE Governor Todd presented Daniel, and his ďŹ rst mate, Leonard Talbot of Talbot Adventures in Provo,  with the “Largest Fishâ€? trophy. The Princess Lauren, captained by Lazarus McKenzie, ďŹ nished second, earn-

ELITE SECURITY SERVICES

SECURITY OFFICERS

ing over $1,800 in cash and prizes for the largest dolphin and the most ďŹ sh landed, and also shared cash winnings with another lucky Calcutta bidder. All boats returning to Governors Beach for the weigh in received a participation prize.

Tournament highlights included over $9,000 raised  in cash and prizes.

Over $2,000 will be going to the Community In Action Project sponsoring the Grand Turk Hospital Geriatric Project, which was the charity focus of the event.

Funds raised at the Calcutta hosted at the Salt Raker Inn on Friday night, included $3,500 in boat wagers and a 50/50 draw, and over $700 from a rafe and drink donations by the house.  Food for the Calcutta was generously provided by Bohio Dive Resort, Osprey Beach Hotel, Salt Raker Inn, Sand Bar Restaurant and John Young.  Sunday’s ďŹ sh auction at Governors Beach raised over $1,000, and drink sales were brisk, generating another $385 in drink donations from Jack’s Shack.

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GLAMOUR GIRLS BEAUTY SALON SEEKS

1 Hairdresser Salary $150 per week

Contact

941-4708

Needed with at least four years experience in the security industry.

Salary negotiable

Please contact

231-0047

JID Barbershop Is looking for one

Hairdresser.

Experience is a must. Must be reliable and have own transportation.

Hours include evenings a nd Saturdays and some holidays.

Salary $5.00 per hour plus commission

Please call

241-9194 COUGAR HOLDINGS LTD

REQUIRES

LABOURER

for immediate start

Must speak good English & have a clean driving licence.

$6.00 per hour, 6 days per week.

Please call 946 5701 to arrange interview.

Turtle le Cove M Marina SEEKS KS

JEANETTE & ROLAND GAUDREAULT SEEKS

1 LABOURER $5.00 per hour 1 MASON $7.00 per hour

Contact

242-0388

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$10/hour

HT

RIG W PSalary paid

Required to work 7 days/week (Weekends and Holidays may also be required)

Applicant must have his own tools and at least 10 years experience All applicants must apply by July 15, 2013

Contact

243-9968

&2/21,$/ ,1685$1&( %52.(56 /,0,7(' $ PHPEHU RI &RORQLDO *URXS ,QWHUQDWLRQDO ,QVXUDQFH +HDOWK 3HQVLRQV /LIH

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 15

JUNE 29TH - JULY 6TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

POST-CABINET REPORT FROM GOVERNOR RIC TODD

H

is Excellency Governor Ric Todd chaired the meeting of the Turks and Caicos Islands’ (TCI) Cabinet on Wednesday, 26 June 2013 at the House of Assembly Building on Grand Turk.

All Ministers were present at the meeting except for the Premier and the Minister for Government Support Services, who were out of the country on official business.

At this meeting Cabinet: · Discussed the Amended and Restated Development Agreement between TCIG and CMK BWI Ltd covering the development led by CMK on South Caicos and agreed that the Governor should sign the Development Agreement when it had been checked and finalised by AG’s Chambers; · Considered and agreed, a proposal from the Minister of Finance for the write off of impaired staff advances and bank balances going back to the financial year 2007/08 and before. Cabinet satisfied itself, on the basis of advice from the CFO and the National Audit Office, that the impaired balances were essentially unverifiable, irreconcilable or the result of accounting errors and should have been written off in the past on an annual basis. Cabinet also noted that improved procedures had been put in place to ensure reconciliation of balances and advances on a monthly basis; · Agreed to a proposal from the Minister of Health and Human Services that Mrs Sonia Williams, Mrs Olga Hall -Taylor and Dr Christopher Steven Bourne be appointed Members of the National Health Insurance Board and that the term of Mr Wilbur Caley on the Board be extended for one month · Considered a proposal from the Minister of Finance for approval of reciprocal cabotage rights between the TCI and Jamaica and approved it subject to confirmation of agreement from the TCI Civil Aviation Authority. The proposal would permit Air Turks and Caicos to provide

domestic air services in Jamaica in return for TCI extending similar privileges to Jamaican operators who wish to provide domestic air services on TCI; · Heard a presentation from United Manufacturer Ltd in support of their proposal to establish a factory on TCI to produce tissue paper products. Cabinet agreed that the investment was potentially valuable to TCI. It invited the Investment Unit to work with United Manufacturer to develop the business plan and options for support from TCIG and the Minister of Finance to bring a developed proposal to Cabinet in a month’s time. It also confirmed its wish to consider policy on the further development of manufacturing on TCI on the basis of a paper from the Minister of Finance; · Considered a paper presented by the Acting Premier on behalf of the Minister for Government Support Services about a review of broadcasting regulations and a draft Ordinance on the licensing of sound and television broadcasting. Cabinet noted both that action was required on this subject and its previous agreement in principle that such regulation and legislation would be desirable. It directed that a six week period of consultation be held. In the light of this consultation, the Minister would present a further paper and draft regulation and legislation to Cabinet at a subsequent meeting; · Discussed the draft Development Agreement with Beaches and gave instructions to the AG for the finalisation of the remaining outstanding issues. It confirmed that subject to a satisfactory and mutually agreed conclusion to these discussions the Governor would sign the Agreement as soon as possible; · Agreed a proposal from the Minister of Finance, on the basis of advice from the Ports Authority, that Mr Clinton Wilson be appointed Director of Ports on a one year contract; · Underlined the importance of Financial Services to the TCI economy and invited the Financial Services Com-

TRADE WIND INDUSTRIES LIMITED (“the Company”) NOTICE is hereby given pursuant to the Companies Ordinance and the Company’s Articles of Association, that an Annual General Meeting of the Company will be held at the offices of Saunders & Co, Town Centre Building, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands at 10:00 am on Thursday, 11 July 2013 in order to consider and if deemed appropriate.

1. Appoint and remove directors and officers to the Board of Directors of the Company, and accept the resignation of directors, if appropriate.

2. Present the accounts for the Company, if applicable, or dispense with the same.

3. Appoint auditors to the company, if applicable, or dispense with the same.

4. Ratify acts undertaken by the company, if applicable.

5. Instruct the company’s secretary to file the annual returns.

John Hartley - Chairman c/o SAUNDERS & CO. Post Office Box 257 Town Centre Building Town Centre Providenciales TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS

mission and the Financial Services Industry to present to Cabinet as soon as they could proposals for how the two could work together with TCIG on a tripartite basis to support and promote the financial services industry on TCI; · Discussed the TCIG Travel Policy in the light of comments from the Integrity Commission as well as some outstanding issues which required resolution and agreed that the policy should be considered further and returned to Cabinet for final approval before publication in the Gazette; · Noted that the Governor and the Minister for Border Control and Labour would travel to Haiti in August. This visit would follow up both the discussions which FCO Minister Hugo Swire had had with the Haitian authorities when he opened the new British Embassy in Port au Prince in June and discussions which the Governor and Ministers had held recently on TCI with the Premier and Foreign Minister of Haiti about how TCI and Haiti could work together to combat illegal migration from Haiti to TCI; · Heard from the AG that he would present to the next Cabinet papers on juries and the rehabilitation of offenders at its next meeting and that Chambers was working to complete the drafting of legislation on citizenship; · Noted the Minister for Border Control and Labour would be in Trinidad from 2-3 July to attend the International Labour Organisation Caribbean Ministerial Conference and then join the Premier at the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting, also in Trinidad 4-6 July.

Cabinet welcomed the visit to TCI of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Lancaster from 25 -28 June.

Further information on the issues addressed by Cabinet will be provided by Ministers in due course.

Cabinet decided to give further consideration to the date of the next Cabinet and to fix this over the next few days.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

Nigerians seek to establish economic links with TCI

BY VIVIAN TYSON

W

hen Pastor Sunday Akande, Special Assistant to the Redeem Christian Church of God General Overseer of Nigeria, comes here from Sunday, July 7 to 14, as special guest to commission two RCCG churches, and to participate in three nights of crusade and the opening of a food bank, he may also seek to establish economic ties between his country and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Pastor Sunday Adebamiro, Region Four Coordinator for the RCCG – which includes the Turks and Caicos Islands – told The SUN that in addition to sharing the gospel to the people of this country, there are many business opportunities that can be shared between the two countries.

“God wants to bless the Turks and Caicos Islands, and I believe my country can be of help.

Nigeria has been privilege to have a lot of mineral resources. It is the number seventh oil nation in OPEC. What we have in the Redeemed Church of God is that the Nigerian President also fellowship there.

“There are a lot of things in Nigeria that is cheaper because of the foreign exchange. A hundred dollars in Nigeria is a lot of money, and so, there are some things we can import from Nigeria at very cheap rate. Because Nigeria is a producing nation, they produce so many things. In terms of the oil sector, the Turks and Caicos can benefit,” he said.

He said that a bond can also be established between the countries’ chambers of commerce,

Pastor Sunday Adebamiro to explore a great deal of business opportunities.

God will use Nigeria to assist the Turks and Caicos Islands, and that partnership will give Turks and Caicos Islanders an opportunity to go to Nigeria and see what can be done there; to get familiar with the Nigerian market.

“They also can benefit from the area of tourism. We have members of the Redeemed Christian Church with airline companies, so a lot of things can happen between the two countries.

The purpose of the chamber of commerce is to partner with other countries. Every nation is a partner,’ he said.

On Sunday at 5p.m. will be the commissioning of RCCG Desires for Nations Church along Airport Road in Providenciales. From July 9 to 11 will be the crusade at the Kishco Complex parking lot along Airport Road. The food bank will open on Saturday July 13, at Central Storage on Providenciales. Sunday, July 14 will be the commissioning of the RCCG Desire for Nations Church in Grand Turk.

“The Redeemed Christian Church of God is one of the Pentecostal Churches that is in 220 nations. In the United States, we have 650 parishes there. We have 315 in Canada, and we have about to 215 in the UK,” Pastor Adebamiro said Missionaries are agents of change. Missionaries are agents of transformation. Missionaries are people that God sent ahead to rescue the nation. We are called to rescue and to add value to wherever we find ourselves, and we have been doing that by the grace of God. Speaking about the Africans Mission Food Bank, Pastor Ademaniro said: “We want to make sure that the Turks and Caicos becomes the depot that feeds all the Caribbean. The Bible declares that there is no point in preaching to those who are hungry. The food bank is free to all who is needy.”

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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LOCAL NEWS

Chef Nik’s Crackpot Kitchen Cooking Show partnering with resorts to Intern Little Chefs of Turks and Caicos Islands

T

he Regent Palms Resort has awarded two Little Chefs a fourweek internship with the resort’s world class chefs, following their success in a 30-minute cook-off during an episode filming of the local cooking show “Crackpot Kitchen”.

The two teenagers, Detresha Cox, 16, and Snider Pierre, 16, who are among the four-member winning team from last year’s Little Chef’s Competition, won the opportunity as a part of the grand prize for taking first place in the competition against their cooking counterparts.

The resort’s Executive Sous Chef, Lauren Callighen was one of individuals on the panel of judges who marked the two winners and their two rivals, 14 year old Aaron Robinson and 11 year old Thasya Smith.

The four teenagers, who were separated into two groups, were judged on taste, time management, presentation and knowledge of the cooking techniques. Callighen praised the Little Chefs knowledge of the basics in culinary.

During the 30-minute cook-off, both teams were given basic ingredients such as cooking oil, butter, a range of seasonings and basic vegetables, but the task was to create a main course using a surprise protein in a mystery basket which was duck breast and sea bass. Other ingredients were added during a shopping

Executive Sous Chef Lauren Callighen (left), Chef Nik (Nikita Skippings) centre, Angela Freites, winner of Crackpot Kitchen Show “What’s in the Box” and Roland Georges, general manager of The Palms (with trophy) along with the little Chefs rush challenge filmed at IGA Gourmet with a $30 spending limit.

The competition was filmed in the kitchen at the resort’s top-class restaurant, Parallel 23, giving the budding trainees a sneak peek of their future classroom. Other judges on the panel included star of the show, Nikita “Chef Nik” Skippings, and Crackpot Kitchen “Guess what’s in the pan” competition winner” Angela Freites. The release date for the episode has not yet been published.

Chef Nik commented: “I am de-

lighted to have taken on this venture to promote and enhance the culinary Skills of the Little Chefs here in the Turks & Caicos Islands.” since the Release of Crackpot Kitchen Cooking Show I have been approached by many Parents whose kids are deeply interested in the field and would like to get them in programs and so forth to assist with their interest.

With my six week Culinary Camp that I’m currently partnering with the Edward C. Garland Youth Centre Providenciales, I’m also reaching out

to other Resort to take on the Beneficial venture in giving these little Chefs the training and experience in the Field of Culinary.”

Barry Cohen, Restaurant and Bars Manager at The Palms Hotel stated: “We are excited about the opportunity to provide two internships to the Little chefs program of TCI. At Regent Palms we feel it is extremely important for young chefs to develop techniques and concepts for their future in the culinary industry..It is a great opportunity to sharpen lifeskills and stir-up creativity! They will learn from many people on their journey, but the greats take all they have learned and they create dishes that inspire them. Like musicians learn licks from other artists, the great ones develop their own lines.. Be your authentic self and let your personality come through in your food is what we teach at Regent Palms. It will show in your plates and it will be recognized. These special Little Chefs programs provide a unique culinary experience and offers cooking education to children in a safe environment that encourages discovery and creativity. Each day in there internship is a new experience. Students will sharpen their skills by employing the mantra, “Mise en Place” which, in the cooking world, translates into “Everything in its place.”

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

Opposition Leader feels vindicated on gun amnesty result

BY VIVIAN TYSON

L

eader of the Opposition Hon. Sharlene Cartwright Robinson feels vindicated for telling the police long before the one-month gun amnesty was imposed that it would not work unless they removed the term that stipulates that guns collected would be tested for criminal activities and could lead to charges.

The gun amnesty runs from June 1 to July 1.

The proliferation of guns on our streets of the Turks and Caicos Islands in recent time has become a cause for concern with the government and the police. To this end, Commissioner of Police Colin Farquar initiated a gun amnesty with the hope of collecting some of these illegal weapons from their unauthorized holders.

Persons who turn the guns in would not face possession charges, but the commissioner of police said that the weapons would undergo ballistic testing to ascertain whether or not they were involved in any criminal activities. And if they have, investigations would be done and the guilty parties prosecuted.

But Opposition Leader predicted that unless such term is changed the amnesty would not work. She had earlier said in a news conference that the terms of the amnesty was a deterrent to what the reprieve sets out to achieve. According to her, if someone is doubtful that the illegal weapons they hold was involved in criminal activities such person would be unwilling to turn it in.

In response, Governor Todd said that the amnesty was not an underlying plot to trick peo-

Sharlene Cartwright Robinson ple into sending them to prison, but is a mere attempt rid the streets of illegal weapons.

The police commissioner, for his part, defended the terms of the amnesty, echoing the sentiments expressed by Governor Todd that it is not meant to incriminate anyone. He said that the testing of the firearms is a routine exercise by the police, to ensure that the guns are clean. He reiterated that no one would be charged with weapons possession.

However, up to earlier this week, the police did

not reportd any voluntary surrendering of weapons since the beginning of the amnesty, and Cartwright-Robinson stopped shy of saying ‘I told you so’.

“We are trying to help the police get illegal guns off the street. But we have to ensure that when we support them that we do so in the best interest of everyone. The police has its work to do, we are not trying to impede their investigation. But if you are going to say to a man, ‘bring in your gun and we are going to test it to see if it was involved in any crime, and then we are going to charge you’, what do you expect?”, she said.

Cartwright-Robinson was quick to point out that her party’s stance against the terms of the amnesty is not an attack on law enforcers, but nonetheless believes that the initiative could have been approached from a different angle.

“It is not an attack on the police; we are trying to assist you. We will work with the police always. And I believe that people can find that the opposition has been a strong supporter of the police in fighting for tools and resources for them.

But we are saying to them, it (that particular term of the gun amnesty) is unrealistic.

“We need to set an objective and make it clear.

Our objective is to immediately take the guns off the street. Crime fighting, solving crime, yes, that is always your agenda. But for this initiative, we have to focus and narrow our focus, and it has to get these guns off the street. So yes, I have been vindicated,” Cartwright-Robinson noted.

IMMEDIATE OPENING The Hope Foundation for Autism Awareness will be hosting a Walk/Run on July 13th, 2013, entitled “A

Walk for HOPE”

We are inviting the public to join in and Walk/Run with us and support the cause and families living in the TCI who are affected by Autism.

Wear a blue shirt, register for only $5 and support

“A Walk for HOPE” Autism is a disorder of neural development character-

ized by impaired social interaction and verbal and nonverbal communication, and by restricted, repetitive or stereotyped behavior. The diagnostic criteria require that symptoms become apparent before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood. Statistics suggest that 1 in 88 children born will be diagnosed with this disorder, and of that number 1 in 54 will be male. The Hope Foundation sees the need to help educate and be an advocate for these children and families that have to face these challenges. Your support can make a huge difference in the lives of these children facing this disorder every day of their lives.

FITNESS INSTRUCTOR Requirements: • Prior experience as a fitness trainer in a high end environment with experience in both personal training and teaching classes.

• Certification(s) in fitness instruction, personal training, pilates etc.

• High level of personal fitness with ability to demonstrate proper usage of equipment and proper exercise techniques.

• Very energetic person with commitment to ensuring high levels of guest satisfaction.

Duties Include: • Create and provide consistent professional fitness classes and personal training sessions in accordance with spa protocols and accepted certification practices.

• Provide instruction on safe usage of fitness equipment.

• Care for and maintain fitness equipment.

• Actively promote the spa, treatments, services and retail as well as any promotions or discounts.

• Assist in areas of the spa operation as requested by management.

• Must be able and willing to work all days and shifts • Starting salary $6.00 per hour not including service charge

• Must be able and willing to work all days and shifts.

Duties Include: • Impeccable maintenance of grounds and landscaping.

• Ability to identify areas for improvement and keeps abreast of latest trends in regards to plants, irrigation, landscape maintenance and chemical applications.

• Ensuring proper utilization and maintenance of equipment.

• Managing overall cleanliness of work, storage and space areas.

Starting salary $35,000 per annum, not including service charge Waste Water Plant Requirements: • Minimum 2 years prior experience in the Waste Water plant of a luxury hotel property.

• Knowledge of water testing and reading sample results.

• Proficiency with hospitality operating systems.

• Strong organizational and time management discipline with ability to multi-task.

• Solid judgment and ability to resolve conflicts effectively.

• Must be able and willing to work all days and shifts Duties Include: • Take water samples and provide testing for sediment amount, chlorine and ph.

• Ability to make adjustments to the plant equipment pending outcome of testing results.

• Washing down of all floats, sidewalks, equipment and railings on a daily basis.

• The technician will also be required to fill the chlorine feeder with the proper amount of tablets as needed.

• Responsible to do all checks and repairs on plant equipment to include air compressors, pumps and filter equipment.

• Ensure that proper backwashing is done on a regular basis or as needed.

• Required to legibly record all discrepancies and testing information on a daily record log.

Starting salary $7.50 per hour not including service charge

Landscaping Project Manager Requirements: • Minimum of 5 years experience in managing the landscaping department of a 5 star Luxury Caribbean Resort.

• Post secondary degree or equivalent qualification by experience • Expert knowledge of Zone 9 Caribbean landscaping.

• Vast knowledge in horticulture, native plant species and chemical usage towards the prevention of plant disease and insect control.

• Must have extensive experience with Irrigation systems and landscape maintenance.

• Must have strong supervisory skills and demonstrated experience managing a grounds department.

• landscaping, tool safety, chemical usage and operation of lawn equipment.

Interested applicants should apply to Regent Palms, Human Resources Department, Monday through Friday, and bring along an updated resume, or by emailing your resume to marjorie.dorsett@regenthotels.com no later than Friday, July 5, 2013.

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Career Opportunity: Grace Bay Club is looking for candidates that have the requirements listed along with an outgoing professional manner. They love to work with different types of people, meet challenges with a positive attitude and live the standards of our organization. Their management style is one that balances a commitment to people and their development with business/financial accountability and delivers an exceptional guest experience.

SPA SUPERVISOR/ THERAPIST

• Display, effectively communicate, and hold all employees accountable to our Company Credo. Goals and mission.

• Complete in-house orientation program, which includes all policies and procedures as per the manual and employee handbook.

• Complete all training provided by The Grace Bay Resorts.

• Have complete knowledge of all Spa services, packages, promotions and retail products presently offered by the Spa. .

• Present a well-groomed, professional appearance. You must be in full uniform at all times while on property or at a work-related event.

• Be punctual and prepared for your day.

• Assist in all spa activities including staff meetings, educational events, workshops, inventory or promotions.

• Manipulation of schedules to optimize the guest’s time and Spa experience, as needed.

• Managing several different tasks at once.

• Assure quality control for all guest areas of the Spa. • Maintain accountability for all subordinate spa employees, to include quality control for all guest and employee areas.

• Conduct line-up sessions in a professional, timely and effective manner.

• Have working knowledge of Spa ordering procedures to assure spa staff have products and guest supplies as necessary.

• Have a working knowledge of all Spa menu items, packages, group functions and special promotions.

• Correct and or contact the proper department to address any immediate problem related to the mechanical function of the spa.

• Have a working knowledge of all Spa related job functions and responsibilities.

• Have a thorough knowledge of Micros • Ensure that all treatments have the proper coverage and resource availability.

• Complete various reports, i.e. Time and Attendance Reports, daily activity reports, line-up notes, customer complaints, etc.

• Provide on- the-job training to any new and current employees as needed, or as directed by Spa Management.

• Follow up with guests while in the spa who present any negative feedback regarding any portion of the spa.

• Recognize, correct and be proactive with any guest complaint or concern, then handle it within a timely manner.

• Recognize and correct any safety hazard within a timely manner.

• Clearly communicate daily events to other Supervisors or Management through a daily Supervisor Log and verbally as needed.

• Assist any other members of the Spa family as needed.

• Other duties and special projects as needed and assigned by Resort Management.

• Attend resort morning operations meetings, rooms division and arrival meetings.

• Attend Manager’s cocktail reception.

• Mentor spa staff as well as persons chosen in the Labor Mentoring Program.

• Attend spa yield meetings.

• Coordinate spa upgrades and renovations.

• Create spa SOP • Offer lateral service to other departments when needed and when available.

• Create spa promotions and coordinate the mktg.

• Monitor spa daily/ monthly revenues.

• Handle spa commission payroll.

• Minimum of 15 hours per week in spa treatments is required Qualified Belongers need only to apply Salary Range: Commensurate based on qualification and experience

Kitchen Helper

Requirements: • Assist with Food & beverage service • Receive and store supplies • Stock cupboards, refrigerators and salad bars • Clean food preparation and storage areas • Assist with food preparation • Work with minimal supervision Belongers need only to apply Salary Range: Commensurate based on qualification and experience

Restaurant Servers / Wait Staff

Job Overview: Qualified individuals should have a minimum of 3 years restaurant experience. Individuals must possess strong work ethics; have a working knowledge of fine dining steps of service, and the ability to provide our guests with an outstanding dining experience. Servers should be industry professionals with excellent food and wine knowledge.

Job Requirements: • Responsibilities include setup, organization and cleanup of service areas.

• Responsible for staying current with daily menu items and changing wine lists.

• Must be able to work as part of a motivated, high energy team that takes pride in their work.

• Lifting of trays loaded with food, plates and glassware required.

• Responsible for responding to any situation at any given time in a professional and courteous manner.

This may include answering any questions posed by guests • Stack, lift and carry trays in a systematic and safe manner • Clean and retrieve tables in a neat, timely and professional manner.

• Receive, process, and present all food and beverage orders according to Grace Bay Club standards • Responsible for using suggestive selling techniques, when appropriate and doing so in a courteous manner to up sell and in turn increase the average check Qualified Belongers need only to apply Salary Range: Commensurate based on qualification and experience

Domestic Worker/Housekeeper

Job Requirements: • Ensure the cleanliness of all hotel areas • Assist in all Housekeeping responsibilities, cleaning of all guest rooms, stocking amenities and linens • physical stamina and mobility including ability to reach, kneel and bend • ability to lift, push and pull required load (usually about 30lbs) • Ensure inventory is used properly and in supply at all times • Possess knowledge of proper cleaning supplies and chemical handling Qualified Belongers need only to apply Salary Range: Commensurate based on qualification and experience

Storeroom Clerk

Job Requirements: • Uses hand truck to move, convey, or hoister shipments from shipping and receiving platform to storage or work area • Properly rotates, prices and stores incoming merchandise • Accurately issues all store room merchandise to all departments • Maintains cleanliness of all storeroom, freezers and coolers • Maintains security in storerooms • Assists with inventories • Receives and processes all hotel packages • Processes all accounting invoices

• Reports problems and shortages to purchasing manager • Adhere to all Sanitation and Safety Standards and Guidelines • All other duties as assigned Belongers need only to apply Salary Range: Commensurate based on qualification and experience

Labourer

Job Requirements: • Operate, maintain and repair the property’s heating, ventilation air conditioning and refrigeration systems • Perform Laundry and Kitchen services • Perform preventative maintenance on the hotel’s systems • Pool cleaning, chemical testing, adding chemical as required • Maintain the proper use, cleaning, maintenance and storage of all tools.

• Responsible for cleaning grease traps, lift stations, checking & treatment of sewage treatment plant Belongers need only to apply Salary Range: Commensurate based on qualification and experience

Executive Sous Chef

Duties and Responsibilities • Demonstrate a participative supervisory style which promotes effective use of subordinates calculating added value profit return against time and resources invested.

• Meet all company and statutory requirements with regards to food hygiene and employee health & hygiene.

• To remain alert to potential threats to life, safety and security of employees and guests, with particular emphasis being placed on fire prevention, training / awareness, evacuation and emergency procedures.

• To show a positive attitude at all times and promote mutual respect within the Kitchen and through all departments.

• To ensure budgeted food costs are met by structured, conservative buying and produce utilization.

• To keep up to date records for compliance with health & safety regulations.

• To assist the F&B Director to monitor department’s performance against budget and GSTS, communicating feedback and providing appropriate support/action where necessary.

• Help to maintain appropriate levels of staffing, according to business levels and help to ensure staffs are motivated to deliver consistently high levels of guest service.

• To be responsible for the day to day running of the kitchen.

• To assist the F&B Director in the maintaining of food cost percentage through control in wastage, purchasing, storing, portion control.

• To assist the F&B Director in implementing and carrying out the departmental training needs.

• To check mis en place is ready and is to the required standard for service.

• On a daily basis check with the function sheets and liaise with the F&B Director to the duties needed to be carried out that day.

• To be responsible for the writing of menus in the F&B Director’s absence.

• To act in accordance with all Health & Safety and Hygiene regulations and to adhere to the Company’s Health &Safety policy.

Job Requirements • Minimum 5 years experience as Executive Chef.

• Extensive knowledge of International food including Asian, Indian as well as Mediterranean.

• Qualified first aid trainer.

Qualified Belongers need only to apply Salary Range: Commensurate based on qualification and experience

Interested persons can contact our Human Resources Department no later than July 1st 2013 @ (649) 946-5050 Ext. 1050 Email: veronica.clare@gracebayclub.com Fax: (649) 946-5758 P.O. Box 128 Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies

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Make Carambola Grill and Lounge Your First Choice for Catering this year!

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LIME Offers Free Airline Trip To Lucky Patron At ‘Groovin’ In The Park’ Concert In New York L

IME, the Caribbean’s leading full-service telecommunications company is back as major sponsor of the 3rd annual ‘Groovin’ in the Park’ Concert to be held in Queens, New York on Sunday June 30 and has partnered with Jamaica’s newest airline, Fly Jamaica, to give patrons a chance to win two free round trip tickets to Jamaica for topping up any LIME Prepaid mobile.

Fabian George, LIME’s Regional Manager of Diaspora Sales explained, “We never miss an opportunity to show the Caribbean people why we remain committed to the Region we have served for over 100 years. This collaboration with Fly Jamaica to connect one lucky patron with their loved ones in Jamaica or to visit the island is just another way we add value to the Groovin’ moments -

filled with music, food and fun.”

Patrons who visit the LIME booth and top up their friends or loved ones’ phones in any of the 14 islands LIME operates with a minimum of U$5 will qualify to win the free travel.

Speaking about the innovative collaboration Roxanne Reece, Fly Jamaica’s Director of Marketing expressed, “We have partnered with LIME as we are both committed to connecting the Diaspora. LIME through mobile and other forms of communication and Fly Jamaica uniting people with their loved ones from our New York and Kingston gateways.”

“Grooving in the Park is the perfect setting that brings people together to enjoy music, food, friends and a good time which embodies the

warmth of our Caribbean culture,” she added.

In addition to the attractive free travel offer at the LIME booth, some patrons will receive complimentary LIME merchandise as well as information about its products and services.

The promoters of Groovin’ are promising an even more unforgettable entertainment experience this year for the event which has become an important date on the social calendar for members of the Diaspora in the Tri-State area.

The historic event will feature headline acts; Patti Labelle, Tank, Ginuwine, Tyrese, Sanchez, Barrington Levy, Steel Pulse, Half Pint and Queen Ifrica.

Groovin’ is the largest reggae and R&B festival of its kind in the Caribbean Diaspora.

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Win a trip for two to the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, courtesy of Visa.

It’s easy! Simply get approved for an RBC Royal Bank™ Visa‡ credit card for a chance to win.

Plus! Approved clients can win one of two LCD TVs! For further information, call or visit any RBC Royal Bank branch.

Score big in Brazil!

- Special conditions apply - See in-branch leaflet for full promotion details - Approved cards get a chance to win the regional grand prize of a trip to Brazil or local prizes of two (2) LCD TVs - Grand prize includes airfare, accommodation, spending money and tickets to selected 2014 FIFA World Cup™ matches - Promotion starts June 3rd and ends August 30th, 2013 - You are automatically entered for a chance to win AFTER your application for any one of RBC Royal Bank Visa credit cards has been approved - Employees of RBC Royal Bank and its advertising agencies are not eligible to enter - Winners for the grand prize will be selected on September 30th, 2013

® /™ Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under licence. ‡ All other trademarks are the property of their respective owner(s).

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Office and Thrift Shop 1041 Leeward Highway Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands TEL 1 649 941 8056 FAX 941 8871

July 13, 2013 Bight Park Activities begin at 11:00 am

Come support your local charities as they compete for the Grand Prize!

Fun and games for the whole family

1 $ n e r d l i s - $3, Ch

t l u d ildren A h : c e n h o t i r s o f s r slides Admi e t a w d n a mes le. be ga ks for sa n i r d d n There will a and food

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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ENTERTAINMENT

Nephew says Michael Jackson was murdered L

os Angeles -- Michael Jackson’s nephew testified Thursday that he believes his uncle was murdered.

T.J. Jackson, the youngest son of Jackson brother Tito, revealed his suspicion while being cross examined by an AEG Live lawyer in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial.

Jurors also heard him testify about the emotional devastation caused by Michael Jackson’s death.

“He was just everything,” said T.J. Jackson, who shares guardianship of Michael Jackson’s children -Prince, Paris and Blanket -- with their grandmother.

Michael Jackson’s mother and his children contend his last concert promoter was liable for his death because it hired, retained or supervised Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

AEG Live lawyers argue it was Jackson, not the company, who chose and controlled Dr. Murray.

Their executives had no way of knowing he was giving nightly infusions of the surgical anesthetic propofol to Jackson, which the coroner ruled killed the singer, the lawyers say.

“Do you believe your uncle was murdered?”

AEG Live attorney Jessica Stebbins Bina asked T.J. Jackson.

“I do,” he answered. “I believe it because he did tell me and the brothers that he was going to be murdered on a couple of occasions.

“He said that just because of his position he was a target.”

T.J. Jackson had earlier testified that his mother, Delores Jackson, was the victim of murder 19 years ago.

“My mother was murdered for money, too, so I don’t put that past anyone,” he said.

Initially it was believed that his mother, Delores Martes Jackson, who had divorced from Tito

TJ Jackson Jackson in 1993, drowned in a swimming pool, but the case was reopened, and her sons in 1995 filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against a man they accused of killing her. Three years later, the man was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

If the jury concludes AEG Live has liability in Jackson’s death, then they must put a dollar figure on damages -- including the emotional toll on the children caused by the loss of their father.

The oldest child, 16-year-old Prince, testified Wednesday that sister Paris, 15, “was probably hit the hardest because she was my dad’s princess.”

Paris has been hospitalized since a suicide attempt earlier this month, although it is unclear whether jurors will know about it.

“The loss of my uncle has hit her at a different level and she’s in a tough spot, but we’re loving her and doing everything we can,” T.J. Jackson tes-

Halle Berry Testifies for Stronger Anti-Paparazzi Laws A

ctress Halle Berry testiShe said she understood fied before California and respected the media’s lawmakers Tuesday to suprights. port a proposed law that “We have a love-hate relawould limit the ability of tionship. I need them. They paparazzi to photograph need me. But this bill would the children of public fignot infringe on their rights,” ures, and she detailed her she said, adding that the bill, own daughter’s experiencif passed, would change her es with aggressive photoglife and the lives of her chilraphers. dren.

“My daughter doesn’t Berry filed a criminal comwant to go to school beplaint in 2008 against a phocause she knows ‘the men’ to agency that, she claimed, are watching for her,” the was circulating pictures of HALLE BERRY “Monster’s Ball” actress told her and her daughter, Nahla, the Assembly Committee pictured in their backyard. on Public Safety at the California state Capitol in The former Bond girl has tried unsuccessfully Sacramento. “They jump out of the bushes and to move with her daughter to France, citing her from behind cars and who knows where else, be- fears of a stalker and her concerns for her daughsieging these children just to get a photo.” ter’s safety and privacy, but Nahla’s father, model She added: “I have to yell ‘She’s a child. Leave Gabriel Aubry, strongly objected to the move. my child alone. Leave my child alone.’ We get into Paparazzi in France are considered more rethe car, and my daughter is now sobbing, and she spectful than their U.S.-based counterparts, and says to me, ‘Are they going to kill us? Are they go- images of celebrity children are blurred to proing to kill us?’” tect their privacy.

Berry has had several public clashes with paOther celebrities, including Angelina Jolie and parazzi, including one incident where she berat- Ben Affleck, have criticized the paparazzi’s praced photographers who were waiting at her young tices, and rock star Steven Tyler even lobbied lawdaughter’s school. makers for tougher paparazzi regulations in HaBerry, who is expecting a child with boyfriend waii. That effort ultimately failed.

Olivier Martinez, said she was speaking in favor ABC News’ Nick Watt spoke Ricardo Mendoza, of the anti-harassment bill by Sen. Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles-based paparazzo, earlier this year D-Los Angeles, as a “mother of a daughter and the and asked Mendoza if he would have waited outbaby boy in my belly.” side Berry’s daughter’s school to take a photo.

tified Thursday He said he was at a loss for words to describe what Paris is going through. “It’s tough, you know, it’s tough.”

“She was daddy’s girl,” he said. “My uncle was her world. My uncle gave them more love and for it to be taken away, it’s been very hard for Paris, and for all of them.”

Blanket, who was 7 when his father died, “was always wrapped around his leg, very shy,” T.J. Jackson said. “Wherever my uncle was, Blanket was a foot away, My uncle was everything to Blanket.”

“Right now, I don’t know if Blanket realizes what he lost,” Prince said. “He was so young. He is still growing up just like I am and he doesn’t have a father to guide him.”

Prince said he has “a hard time sleeping” since his father’s death in 2009. It left him “emotionally distant from a lot of people” for a while, he said.

He’s missed sharing with his father “the first day of going to school, having the first girlfriend, being able to drive,” Prince testified.

T.J. Jackson said Prince was Michael Jackson’s “little assistant.”

“He was very mature for his age, very smart.

My uncle would prepare him for things” by telling him about his business deals.

“He’s very strong, he’s very smart,” he testified.

“He was always the smartest kid I’d ever known.”

As a guardian, T.J. Jackson said he must constantly deal with paparazzi stalking the children for photographs.

“It’s, just to be frank, a complete annoyance,” he said. “It’s awful.”

He suggested there should be a new law to protect celebrity children from photographers.

“I know it’s making everything harder for the kids to grieve and to recover and to progress,” he said.

RIHANNA BASHES BRIT FAN WITH HER MICROPHONE

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ONDON, England – Don’t tick off Rihanna unless you don’t mind getting your clock stopped.

An overenthusiastic member of the audience at the Barbadian superstar’s recent concert at the LG Arena in Birmingham found that out the hard way when he got a good clocking in return for clinging too hard to the object of his admiration.

The incident, which was captured on video and posted on YouTube, shows the 25-year-old singer apparently clubbing the fan with her microphone after her arm was grabbed during the concert.

In the footage, the star is seen reaching out to fans and touching hands while singing “We Found Love” until a member of the audience grabs her sleeve and appears reluctant to let go.

By way of response, the “Talk That Talk” girl then strikes the fan with her microphone to secure her release before walking away.

The “Unapologetic” star remained unapologetic after the incident, taking to Instagram to say she did it on “purpose”.

“That b**** won’t let me go,” she explained.

The incident took place in front of crowd control barriers, with the “Stay” singer flanked by several security guards.

While some news reports claim that Rihanna hit the fan in the face, this cannot be verified by the footage.

The Grammy-winning performer is currently on the British leg of her Diamonds world tour.

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PUBLIC NOTICE he National Health Insurance Board wishes to request the following persons who are registered as â&#x20AC;&#x153;SelfEmployed Personsâ&#x20AC;? to visit the Office of the National Health Insurance Board, located at Hospital Road, Grand Turk, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. from July 01 to 12, 2013.

Abraham Carvajal Pena Derek Antonio Rolle Kevin Forbes Ana Luisa Abreu Godet Derek Marlon Astwood Leslie Modesta Willams Antonio Feliz Carvajal Dorothy Clarenda Clarke Louis Clinton Williams Antonio Oswaldo Fulford Eric Whitfield Smith Mary Louise Forbes Barbara Diane Lightbourne Franklyn Lumbard Virgil Mitch Eric Rolling Benmore Alex Kennedy

Franklyn Stanley Missick Moses Wilfred Ambritton Beverly Vinett Harvey Howard Evan Dickenson Neville Anthony Adams Brenton Andrew Murray Huntley Stanford Forbes Noel Terrence Skippings Carl Ellington Churchill Coverley Ivena Natasha Brooks Otis C Morris Carmen Robinson Jack Daniel Williams Raymone Arlington Fenimore Charles Ashton Garland Jannis Louise Glinton

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PUBLIC NOTICE The National Health Insurance Board wishes to request the following persons who are registered as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Self-Employed Personsâ&#x20AC;? to visit the Office of the National Health Insurance Board, Salt Mills Plaza, Providenciales between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. from July 01 to 12, 2013.

Albray Victor Butterfield Jr. George Cleophas Missick Philipe Kunz Alex Higgs Gloria Irene Symonette- Forbes Plutarck Rene Alexander James Pratt Gresten A. Gray Ray Anthony Harris Alvardo Edwin Seymour Henley Lewis Reginald Nathaniel Forbes Alvin Ellesley Parker Howard G. Gardiner Reuben Cornelius Misick Alvin Kingstly Garland Ian Harrison Ricardo Davornie Forbes Andre Carvel Jeran Peter Kerr Isaac Oral Selver Richard Danis Andrew Peter Sharp Jacques Belizaire Robert Nathaniel Stubbs Angela Sharonna Jenning Jay Peter Bennett Ron Burchill Arthur McBoyd Gardiner Jr. Jeff Clare Ronald Petit-Dieu Ashleigh Ann Simonton Jeffrey Racette Ronald Walkin Aulden Lea Smith Jeremy Jermaine Quant Rouddy Delancy Beatrice A. Rolle Jerry Deon Skippings Samuel Davidson Salathiel Handfield Bently Rosevelt Johnson Joanne Renee Gobeil Samuel Iotis Harvey Bridgette Michele Thomas John Emanuel Williams

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Thomas Gray Dieufruit Nathan Gregoire Lynden Hall Tiadel Pierre Duverna Louis Rigby Marie Augustin Hall Timothy Christopher Deane Dwayna Lekeisha Higgs Martin Freeman Theodore Tracy Rebecca Smith Eddie Laporte Mcallister E Hanchell Trevor Cooke Edith Annette Burns Newmond Arlington Buckley Trevor Albert Musgrove Edline Pierre Nicholas Liviston Watkins Trevor Sandwith Bromley Edmond Banberian Forbes Nicola Roberts Troy Swan Errol Talbot Nidia Lightbourne Virginie De Boer Evan Harvey Olga Kovalyk Walter Pablo Ciudad Felix C Pena Olivia Loretta Gardiner Whitney Bain Francois Rodolphe Bohn Osias Joseph Winsett Alboin Williams Franklyn Lightbourne Pamela Walkin Wood Kaizer Zirm Fred Harris Patricia Laraine Williams Yudelka Altagracia Martinez De Smith Fred Rowe Patsy Jennings Zennie Jane Morris Gary Lee Mead Peter Przygoda

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News CARIBBEAN

Auditor General report highlights serious political interference in Cayman Islands A

llegations of elected ministers and board members fiddling with the appointment of employees and the award of bank loans were reported Tuesday by the Cayman Islands auditor general’s office.

According to the Caymanian Compass newspaper, as part of a larger review of perceived problems within public sector statutory authorities and government-owned companies, Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick identified a number of instances where politically-appointed boards of directors overstepped their bounds or government ministers engaged in questionable activities.

“We found examples where the boards are getting involved in the day-to-day operations of the entities, rather than letting the executive management run the business for which they are remunerated,” Mr. Swarbrick stated in the report. “I also have significant concerns about how boards are appointed and members are chosen for various roles that they are required to perform.”

Some “significant issues” were listed in the auditor general’s report for specific public sector organisations.

The board of the Cayman Islands Development Bank, a government-supported financial institution that assists small businesses and homeowners in need with loans, apparently was the subject of political interference in its operations during the 2010/11 government budget year.

According to the AG’s report: “A customer that did not meet CIDB’s credit criteria was granted a

loan in the amount of $232,500 as a result of requests made by several members of the Legislative Assembly and the chairman of the board that ‘the loan be favourably considered’.”

Development bank general manager Tracy Ebanks noted that transaction occurred prior to the current board chairman’s tenure, but also said the loan designate’s account was up to date and that the bank needed to maintain some flexibility in its credit policies, just like any commercial institution.

Another loan was given out totalling $131,000 that was not supported by the general manager because the customer had a “poor payment history”. In the 2010/11 year, that loan was “converted” to a business loan and increased to $329,000 to “facilitate a payout to other financial institutions”, according to the auditor general. The previous loan was five months behind |was it was “converted”.

In a third case, a $136,000 charge was approved on a property only worth $132,000 – typically, the CIDB does not green-light more than 90 per cent of the maximum property value for a loan. The loan was 183 days behind as of May 2012.

“The bank’s credit policies, approved by the board of directors, are designed to ensure that loans are only disbursed to customers who are credit worthy,” Mr. Swarbrick wrote. “When a breach occurs this exposes CIDB to increased risk of losses due to delinquency.”

Ms Ebanks pointed out that the problems iden-

tified in the report had been “mitigated against” and that a review of the government’s 2011/12 fiscal year found no similar issues at the development bank.

In some cases, auditors found that the Cayman Islands Airports Authority board overstepped its bounds with regard to management of authority employees.

Mr. Swarbrick said board members often sat on recruitment interview panels that hired mid-level employees, that board members participated in procurement committees for airport projects and approved applications for businesses to operate at Cayman Islands airports.

“The actions ... provide a significant opportunity for corrupt practices to exist,” Mr. Swarbrick wrote in his evaluation.

In general, there was a noted lack of procedures in dealing with the appointment of authority board members, including certain steps to ensure conflicts of interest with regard to board members’ ownership of companies affiliated with the airport would not occur, auditors found.

The CIAA has been “operating outside the realm of acceptable governance practices”, the report noted.

Former authority board chairman Richard Arch, who resigned from that position earlier this month, denied any conflicts of interest relating to his ownership of Air Agencies ground handling firm and insisted he had always acted properly and within the law.

DIESEL SMUGGLING RACKET UNCOVERED IN TRINIDAD

BUJU BANTON GUN CHARGE DROPPED

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gun charge against imprisoned Jamaican reggae artiste Mark Myrie, better known as ‘Buju Banton’, was dropped in a United States court.

In the meantime, the entertainer’s attorney, Chokwe Lumumba, said yesterday that he was mulling over the possibility of filing an appeal to have the artiste’s 10-year drug conviction overturned after yesterday’s ruling on the gun charge by Judge James Moody.

Judge Moody overturned the gun conviction on the basis of a revelation to the US media by jury foreman Teri Wright that she had defied his orders at the start of the trial that no juror should study any aspect of the law as it related to the entertainer’s trial for drug offences.

“We are thinking of filing an appeal to have his drug conviction overturned. However, we have not made a decision as yet. In a couple of days we will decide on which course to take,” Lumumba told the Jamaica Observer last evening.

Banton was slapped with the additional five years on the gun charge after a Georgia-based Appeals Court threw out a motion to have his sentence overturned.

Even though Judge Moody dismissed the gun conviction, which was slapped on Banton through the use of the Pinkerton Law -- which states that an accused person can be convicted of using a firearm in furtherance of a drug offence despite the fact that the individual was not present when the gun was being used -- he left the door open for the prosecutors to retry Banton for the offence.

ORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – A team of law enforcement officials on Saturday arrested two persons involved in a diesel smuggling racket in which the fuel is exchanged for guns and drugs.

Senior investigators uncovered the racket when they swooped down on a truck at a seafront compound here on Saturday morning.

According to the police they had been tracking the movements of the truck over the past week, and the vehicle’s occupants were caught in the act when they were returning to offload their second diesel trip from a San Fernando gas station.

They told police they had bought 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel at a gas station in San Fernando for TT$25,000 (One TT dollar = US$0.16 cents).

With diesel selling at National Petroleum (NP) stations at $1.50 per litre, this quantity of fuel would have cost upwards of TT$100,000 at pump prices.

Sources close to the investigation said the truck would usually arrive on the seafront, via a compound that has a steel gate before driving onto the seafront and parking near a huge mound of dirt, approximately 20-25 feet in height.

The police say they spotted the two men

attaching an industrial marine hose to the truck’s tank and making their way up the hill to place the hose into a hole in the ground.

Smugglers usually run a line from the diesel tank to smaller boats with configured tanks that take the diesel to larger vessels out at sea.

“What we know is that Caricom boats would come to purchase diesel, especially Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and smaller boats would come up to this Sea Lots seafront, collecting fuel from them and in exchange, they would give them drugs and guns,” explained a senior police investigator.

The police believe that the majority of guns recently discovered in the Laventille area entered the country by way of the racket.

Officials in the Ministry of Energy say this operation was being tracked for over two years, and the mastermind behind the operation is a notorious gang leader who also has ties with officials in various law enforcement agencies, as well as NP and Unipet.

Law enforcement authorities say this is not the end of the investigation, and they will continue to dig deeper to find out who are some of the other major players involved in this illegal trade.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS

St Lucia prime minister proposes overhaul of regional education system C

ASTRIES, St.Lucia - Prime Minister Kenny Anthony is proposing major changes to the regional educational system in order to reduce the growing problem of unemployment among young people.

He made the recommendations in an address to over 150 youth attending a regional conference hosted by the Caribbean Youth Empowerment Programme which highlights challenges facing youth at risk in the region, at a three day conference Thursday.

Anthony contends that training is not the sole responsibility of the state and cited the need to make better use of the available learning institutions.

He called for targeted interventions to help young people in the acqusition of skills that combine training with employment.

“As far as I am concerned if students stay in school longer, perhaps an additional two years in post secondary school education, then the employment rate would most likely decline,” he suggested.

The Prime Minister lamented that there were hundreds of under-skilled school drop outs, who cannot obtain gainful employment. In this regard he outlined changes to be implemented in the education system and called for more accountability from the learning institutions.

“We must not be afraid of change in the education system: curriculum, technology and the delivery of technology cannot simply remain stagnant.There must be a new level of accountability, expected from the schools and agencies charged with administering the delivery of education. There must also be a willingness to experiment in areas where we continue to record failures.”.

The Prime Minister said the schools can do more for the development of communities by convening after school programmes and ensuring increased in-

M

KENNY ANTHONY struction time for students in the fields of maths and science. He reiterated that education is a major investment for all Caribbean governments and must the objective of producing well educated citizens must be achieved.

The Caribbean Youth Empowerment Programme launched in 2008 with support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), seeks to tackle the problem of rising youth employment which translates into increase numbers of youth, who are unproductive, alienated from society and more likely to pursue negative behaviour like involvement in gangs and substance abuse. (CMC)

Bahamasair continues to be a financial drain N

ASSAU, The Bahamas – The Bahamas government says the state-owned Bahamasair continues to suffer from high labour costs; an ageing fleet; escalating fuel costs; and a commitment to unprofitable domestic routes.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works and Urban Development Phillip Davies said that while US$20 million have been budgeted for the Bahamasair Holdings this fiscal year, the problems facing the airline increased as a result of competition..

“Its circumstances have been further compounded by competition from smaller local private carriers providing services to domestic routes and ongoing downward pressure on airfares in the Florida market due to competition by low fare international carriers.”

Davis said that subsequent to the May 2012 general election, it was discovered that industrial agreements between Bahamasair and associated trade unions had expired for over three years, and employees were not paid annual increments to which they were entitled.

“In response to these circumstances and in keeping with this government’s campaign promise of ‘putting the people first,’ we moved very swiftly to approve and provide the funding necessary to satisfy this obligation.

US CLAIMS RELATIVES FUELING HAITIAN MIGRANT SMUGGLING

“The government, early in the last budgetary cycle, agreed to the purchase of a third 120-seat Boeing 737-500 jet aircraft to permit an improvement in service and efficiency.”

He said the board and the management of Bahamasair are presently reviewing adjustments to the business model as a means of providing options, which would result in greater service to the people as a substantial cost saving over the existing expensive approach.

In March, Davis said the national airline had recorded a loss of US$11.7 million last year as compared with US$9.8 million in 2011and that for the period July-December 2012, the airline’s revenue amounted to US$37.4 million, while expenses totalled US$49.1 million.

“The increase in net loss has been attributed mainly to challenges associated with an aged fleet of aircraft along with increases in airport and fuel charges,” Davis told legislators.

Davis said that a position paper/business plan for Bahamasair has been prepared by its management and was presented to government for consideration with a view towards changing Bahamasair’s business model.

But the minister noted that from a financial standpoint, the airline continues to struggle.(CMC)

IAMI – A high-ranking United States military official claims that Haitian family members in South Florida are possibly behind a “dangerous new trend” in the smuggling of undocumented Haitian immigrants from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico.

“The new thing that’s happening is in the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and it’s being fueled, we think, by money from relatives probably, almost assuredly, up here in South Florida,” Rear Admiral William D. Baumgartner, commander of the Seventh US Coast Guard District in Miami, told reporters here.

“In February, they started smuggling Haitians,” he said, adding that the [migrant smugglers] are charging US $1,500 to US $2,000 a person, again probably being paid for by relatives up here.”

According to the Miami Herald, the trend was first mentioned by US Coast Guard officials earlier this year.

But it said Baumgartner’s statements are the first to “directly link the smuggling to possible payments to Dominican migrant smugglers by Haitian family members in South Florida.

Baumgartner said his goal was to publicize the dangers of the new Haitian migrant route and, by doing so, to try and deter family members in the US to stop paying smugglers to get their loved ones to the United States.

“The (migrants) are going in homemade open boats that can have anywhere from 30 to 100 migrants stuffed in them and they’re highly unstable and they capsize easily, we are worried that it’s only a matter of time before we lose dozens of lives,” he said.

“The seas are fairly rough in the Mona Passage,” he continued. “When these boats slow down to approach the shoreline, they tend to lose control.”

Baumgartner said US Coast Guard officials have seen a dramatic increase – between 900 and 1,000 – in the number of Haitian migrants attempting to cross the Mona Passage since February1.In the previous eight years, he said the US Coast Guard detected only 188 Haitians in the passage.

He described smugglers involved in the “criminal enterprise” as “ruthless.”

“They have no concern about the people that they’re smuggling,” he said. “And we’ve already see them force people into the water and tell them to swim to shore, and many of them don’t swim. If they think they’re going to get caught, they’ll throw migrants into the water,” he added.

Baumgartner said Haitians began using the Mona Passage route after realizing that getting to South Florida on a boat from Haiti is now “extremely difficult” because of improved Coast Guard patrolling.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS

Caribbean leader says sections of US Trafficking in Persons report are inaccurate W

ASHINGTON – The Government of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says while the 2013 United States Trafficking in Persons Report gives a more accurate reflection of the situation in the country, some aspects are “of concern to government officials as being inaccurate or unfounded.”

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Ambassador to the United States, La Celia Prince, criticized the report as “prescribing solutions for problems that do not exist”.

“While recognizing the commendable progress made by the government, the report asserts that St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a source, transit and destination country for trafficking victims, while the report praises the country for investigating potential trafficking cases, it laments the fact that no prosecutions were made,” she said Prince noted that, in previous meetings with the US Department of State’s Trafficking Unit, she “made it clear that the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has confidence in the legal process, so that if an investigation is conducted, which concludes that elements of trafficking are not substantiated in the case, then there can be no prosecution.”

“In my view, the report practically begs the trumping up of charges,” she said. “It notes that there were no reports of public officials complicit in human trafficking offenses, as though this was an expected outcome of the investigations.

Although Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments, during the past year, have seemingly made efforts in addressing human trafficking, the United States says many of them have still not done enough in tackling the issue.

In the report, the US Department of State listed six CARICOM member-states on its Tier 2 Watch List: Barbados, Guyana, Haiti, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Jamaica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are listed on the Tier 2 List.

In distinguishing the Tier 2 Watch List from Tier 2 list, the Department of State defines countries on the Tier 2 Watch List as those whose governments “do not fully comply” with the minimum standards in its Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, and the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is, among other things, “very significant or is significantly increasing.”

Countries on the Tier 2 List, on the other hand, are those whose governments do not fully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards but are simply making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.

The State Department claims that St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a “source, transit and destination country for some men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking

ST. KITTS PRIME MINISTER SAYS HIS PARTY STILL HOLDS MAJORITY

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ASSETERRE, St. Kitts – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr. Denzil L. Douglas on Tuesday emphasized that his governing St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party administration holds a majority in the National Assembly.

During his weekly radio programme Prime Minister Douglas related an experience he had with a young man who lives in the United States and the fact that even though he lives overseas and is involved in a very rigorous law programme he makes the time to keep apprised of what it happening at home, and that he made a point of engaging him on the subject.

“This young man clearly did not lack for confidence, and it was a good thing to see. ‘You have to speak more frequently about the legitimacy of your Government’ he said to me with the earnestness that we tend to see only in the young. ‘You cannot assume that the man and woman in the street, who are busily earning a living and taking care of their children, have the time to really follow these issues. And the Opposition is hoping that if you just allow them to keep saying that your Government is illegal, the people might believe them. You have to explain to the public, PM, that when a Government is a minority Government, that Government does not have the votes to pass its legislation. You have to remind the public that if your Government were truly illegal the Opposition, which is led by a lawyer, would most certainly have taken you to Court.

Most of all you have to not just explain to the public, but you have to give them examples to prove your point. PM, show them’,” he said.

GOVERNMENT VACANCY JOB TITLE: PSYCHIATRIST

DEPARTMENT: Department of Mental Health and Substance MINISTRY: Ministry of Health and Human Services LOCATION: Grand Turk JOB SUMMARY: The purpose of this job is to ensure provision of a high standard of Mental Health Care to the residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The incumbent in this posiƟon will have responsibility for ensuring that mental health clients are given adequate treatment in a Ɵmely and eīecƟve manner.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: • Conducts a complete psychiatric assessment of all assigned or referred clinic paƟents and develops an appropriate management plan for the paƟents consulted.

• Provides psychiatric assessments and management to persons referred for psychiatric evaluaƟon from the hospital, prison and Magistrates, Primary Health clinics, Social Services and private clinics.

• Implements and monitors community mental health programs in collaboraƟon with Community Mental Health Nurses and Aides and social workers.

• Works collaboraƟvely with hospital based physicians, nurses, substance abuse counselors and social workers in the care of psychiatric in-paƟents.

• Prepares discharge management plans for community management of Psychiatric in-paƟents.

• Works collaboraƟvely with the staī of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Department (psychologists, counselors, administraƟve oĸcer) in the proper management of clients in need of counseling services.

• Maintains paƟent conĮdence and protects the Department by keeping informaƟon conĮdenƟal.

• Makes sound recommendaƟons to the Director of Mental health and Substance Abuse for overseas treatment referral of psychiatric paƟents needing care not available in the TCI. • Develops and conducts conƟnuing medical educaƟon for the staī and other health providers MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE: • Post Graduate QualiĮcaƟon in Psychiatry • 3 years post graduate experience • 2-3 years in Drug Abuse management and rehabilitaƟon • Forensic Psychiatry would be an asset SALARY: T39 – T43 $44,400.00 - $48,000.00 per annum APPLICATION PROCEDURE Resumes with current contact informaƟon must be accompanied by a Cover LeƩer, two leƩers of reference (one preferably from a former employer), copies of educaƟonal cerƟĮcates, a Police CerƟĮcate and a copy of the Passport Photo page.

ApplicaƟons should be addressed to the Oĸce of the Human Resource Directorate, Church Folly, Grand Turk Facsimile: 946-1582 or sent by email to: recruitment@gov.tc with the subject line being PYSCHIATRIST. ApplicaƟons sent by post or brought by hand should have the subject: PYSCHIATRIST clearly marked on the envelopes. Successful applicants will work in accordance with the Public Service Ordinance.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 9TH July 2013.

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Obama jabs Russia and China on failure to extradite Snowden

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AKAR - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday he would not start “wheeling and dealing” with China and Russia over a U.S. request to extradite former American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Obama, who appeared concerned that the case would overshadow his three-country tour of Africa begun in Senegal, also dismissed suggestions that the United States might try to intercept Snowden if he were allowed to leave Moscow by air.

“No, I’m not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker,” he told a news conference in Dakar, a note of disdain in his voice.

Snowden turned 30 last week.

Obama said regular legal channels should suffice to handle the U.S. request that Snowden, who left Hong Kong for Moscow, be returned to the United States.

He said he had not yet spoken to China’s President Xi Jinping or Russian President Vladimir Putin about the issue.

“I have not called President Xi personally or President Putin personally and the reason is ... number one, I shouldn’t have to,” Obama said sharply.

“Number two, we’ve got a whole lot of business that we do with China and Russia, and I’m not going to have one case of a suspect who we’re trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where I’ve got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues.”

Snowden fled the United States to Hong Kong in May, a few weeks before publication in the Guardian and the Washington Post of details he provided about secret U.S. gov-

President Barack Obama looks out a window as he and First Lady Michelle Obama tour the Maison des Esclaves (House of Slaves) Museum on Gorée Island, Senegal, June 27, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) ernment surveillance of Internet and phone traffic.

The American, who faces espionage charges in the United States and has requested political asylum in Ecuador, has not been seen since his arrival in Moscow on Sunday.

Russian officials said he was in a transit area at Sheremetyevo airport.

A Russian immigration source close to the matter said Snowden had not sought a Russian visa and there was no order from the Russian Foreign Ministry or Putin to grant him one.

CHARGES OF U.S. HYPOCRISY Snowden’s case has raised tensions between the United States and both China and Russia. On Thursday, Beijing accused Washington of hypocrisy over cyber security.

Obama’s remarks in Senegal seemed calibrated to exert pressure without leading to lasting damage in ties with either country.

“The more the administration

SENATE APPROVES MASSIVE IMMIGRATION BILL

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enators approved sweeping legislation Thursday to remake the nation’s immigration system for the first time in a generation by spending tens of billions of dollars to bolster security along the U.S. southern border and offering a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

By a vote of 68 to 32, senators concluded a nearly month-long debate of the 1,200-page measure. Fourteen Republicans voted with every member of the Senate Democratic caucus to approve the bill.

can play it down, the more latitude they’ll have in the diplomatic arena to work out a deal for him (Snowden),” said Andy Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

Obama indicated that damage to U.S. interests was largely limited to revelations from Snowden’s initial leak.

“I continue to be concerned about the other documents that he may have,” Obama said. “That’s part of the reason why we’d like to have Mr. Snowden in custody.”

Still, Snowden’s disclosures of widespread eavesdropping by the U.S. National Security Agency in China and Hong Kong have given Beijing considerable ammunition in an area that has been a major irritant between the countries.

China’s defense ministry called the U.S. government surveillance program, known as Prism, “hypocritical behavior.”

To note the significance, Vice President Biden presided over the vote and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) made the unusual request that senators sit at their assigned desks and stand to vote when called.

Supporters, led by the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” who wrote the bill and steered it through the Senate, fell just short of the 70 votes they had hoped to earn, but the measure got a significant margin for any legislation in the often-divided chamber.

After the last senator had cast his vote, there was a long pause in the ornate Senate chamber.

The chamber was unusually packed: almost all senators were at their desks, and the public galleries were full. One section was full of young

“This ‘double standard’ approach is not conducive to peace and security in cyber space,” the state news agency Xinhua reported, quoting ministry spokesman Yang Yujun.

In Washington, the top U.S. military officer dismissed comparisons of Chinese and American snooping in cyber space.

“All nations on the face of the planet always conduct intelligence operations in all domains,” Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience at the Brookings Institution.

“China’s particular niche in cyber has been theft and intellectual property.” Dempsey said. “Their view is that there are no rules of the road in cyber, there’s nothing, there’s no laws they are breaking, there’s no standards of behavior.”

In Ecuador, the leftist government of President Rafael Correa said it was waiving preferential rights under a U.S. trade agreement to demonstrate what it saw as its principled stand on Snowden’s asylum request.

Correa told reporters Snowden’s situation was “complicated” because he has not been able to reach Ecuadorean territory to begin processing the asylum request.

“In order to do so, he must have permission of another country, which has not yet happened,” Correa said.

In a deliberately provocative touch, Correa’s government also offered a multimillion dollar donation for human rights training in the United States.

The U.S. State Department warned of “grave difficulties” for U.S.-Ecuador relations if the Andean country were to grant Snowden asylum, but gave no specifics.

people wearing blue T-shirts supporting immigration reform: their shirts said “11 Million Dreams.”

“Expressions of approval or disapproval are not permitted,” said Biden, presiding as Senate president. “The yeas on this bill are 68. The nays are 32. The bill as amended is passed.”

There were claps. Then shushing. Then, briefly, silence. But the silence did not last. “Yes we can! Yes we can!” the group in blue chanted.

“Thank you!” one man shouted, wearing a graduation gown.

At midday, two key gang members, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) admitted they initially doubted whether their efforts would succeed.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

WORLD NEWS

Friend saysTrayvon Martin Encounter Racially Charged G

eorge Zimmerman’s defense attorney insisted during several testy exchanges with an important prosecution witness Thursday that Trayvon Martin injected race into a confrontation with the neighborhood watch volunteer and insinuated the young woman was not believable because of inconsistencies in her story.

However, 19-year-old Rachel Jeantel stood firm in her testimony about the night Zimmerman shot the unarmed black 17-year-old after a fight that Jeantel said she overheard while on the phone with Martin. Jeantel has said Martin told her he was being followed by a “creepy-ass cracker” — implying Martin was being followed by a white man because of his race.

Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic. Race has permeated nationwide discussions of the case since the February 2012 shooting, which prompted nationwide protests and claims from critics that police took too long to arrest Zimmerman.

The neighborhood watch volunteer has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and says he acted in self-defense.

Defense attorney Don West also zeroed in on slight differences among three different accounts of what happened before Martin’s killing, in an apparent effort to discredit her. Jeantel has described what she heard over the phone in a deposition; a letter to Martin’s mother; and an interview with the Martin family attorney. Among the differences highlighted by West: In some accounts, she said race was an issue but not in others.

Rachel Jeantel testified Wednesday that her friend’s last words were “Get off! Get off!”

— Jeantel testified Wednesday that her friend’s last words were “Get off! Get off!” before Martin’s phone went silent. But on Thursday, under cross-examination, she conceded that she hadn’t mentioned that in her account of what happened to Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton. She had left out some details to spare Fulton’s feelings, and also because neither Fulton nor the Martin family attorney asked her directly about them, Jeantel said.

— After Martin asks why he is being followed, Zimmerman responds, “What are you doing around here?” in one account by Jeantel. In another account, according to West, she says Zimmerman said, “What are you talking about?”

Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if con-

victed of second-degree murder. Zimmerman followed Martin in his truck and called a police dispatch number before he and the teen got into a fight. Zimmerman has said he opened fire only after the teenager jumped him and began slamming his head against the concrete sidewalk. Zimmerman has denied the confrontation had anything to do with race, as Martin’s family and their supporters have claimed.

Jeantel testified Thursday that she thought race was an issue because Martin told her he was being followed by a white man.

But West responded, “It was racial because Trayvon put race in this?”

She answered no.

After the court session was over for the day, when explaining how Martin’s parents didn’t want race injected into the trial, Martin family attorney Daryl Parks said, “Some young people loosely use language they probably shouldn’t use.”

“It’s just slang they use,” he said.

The exchanges between Jeantel and West got testier as the day progressed.

At one point, West suggested that though Martin told her he was by his father’s fiancee’s house while Zimmerman was following him, that she doesn’t know that for sure.

“Why he need to lie about that, sir?” Jeantel asked West.

“Maybe if he decided to assault George Zimmerman, he didn’t want you to know about it,” West replied.

Snowden still at airport as Ecuador asylum decision could take months A

former U.S. spy agency contractor facing charges of espionage remained in hiding at a Moscow airport on Wednesday while the prospect grew of a protracted wrangle over his fate.

Ecuador, where Edward Snowden has requested asylum, said a decision could take months and asked Washington to argue its case for extradition. Russia said Snowden, whose flight is proving a growing embarrassment for President Barack Obama, was still in the transit area of Sheremetyevo airport.

A leading U.S. senator sought to raise pressure on Ecuador by saying he would seek to end preferential access for its goods to the United States if it gave asylum to Snowden, while Quito denied it had given him any travel document.

Snowden fled the United States to Hong Kong this month after leaking details of secret U.S. government surveillance programs, then flew on to Moscow on Sunday.

He has not been seen in the transit area - the zone between the departure gate and formal entry into the country - since his arrival, although a receptionist at a hotel in the transit zone said he looked at the prices there on Sunday, then left.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that Snowden was being

Edward Snowden interviewed by Russian intelligence and called any U.S. accusations that Moscow was aiding him “ravings and rubbish”.

There was no sign of Snowden registering for onward flights out of Russia on Wednesday.

“They are not flying today and not over the next three days,” an Aeroflot representative at Sheremetyevo said when asked if Snowden and his legal adviser, Briton Sarah Harrison, were due to fly out. “They are not in the system.”

‘SERIOUS SECURITY BREACH’ U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday that Snowden’s leaks to news media had been a “serious security breach” that damaged U.S. national security. He repeated calls for Moscow to hand him over.

“I would hope that the Russians do the right thing here,” Hagel told a Pentagon news conference, adding that Moscow evidently had not

made a final decision since Snowden reportedly was still at the airport.

Putin has said he will not extradite Snowden. By declaring that he is in the transit area, Russian authorities maintain the position that he has not formally entered Russia - a step that would take the dispute to another level.

Russian law requires travelers who spend more than 24 hours in the airport’s transit area - as Snowden has done - to obtain a transit visa, which in some cases is valid for three days.

It is unclear whether Snowden has sought or received a visa, and if so when it would expire. The United States said on Sunday it had revoked Snowden’s passport.

Several people, mainly refugees, have been able to stay in Moscow’s airports for months.

What is clear is that the longer the situation remains unresolved, the more it could fray U.S.-Russian ties.

The former Cold War-foes are already at odds over human rights and Putin’s treatment of opponents and have squared off over the Syria conflict in the U.N. Security Council.

Hagel reiterated criticism of China over Snowden’s departure from Hong Kong. “We’re very disappointed in the Chinese government in how they’ve handled this. And it could have been handled a different way,” he said.

The United States has no extradition treaty with Moscow, but says there is a clear legal basis for Snowden to be handed over. White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Wednesday that U.S. and Russian officials were “having conversations” on the issue, but declined to give details.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated Putin’s view that Snowden should choose a destination and fly out as soon as possible, state-run Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Putin, a former KGB officer, may feel little sympathy for someone who has broken the secrecy code. He has suggested the surveillance methods revealed by Snowden were justified in fighting terror, if carried out lawfully.

But Snowden could be a useful propaganda tool for Moscow, which accuses the United States of violating rights and freedoms it vocally urges other countries, including Russia, to protect.

Despite Putin and Lavrov’s remarks, Moscow is clearly not in a hurry to dispatch Snowden from its territory. Ecuador, which has not in the past flinched from taking on Western powers, is similarly not rushing to banish the uncertainty plaguing U.S. authorities.

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WORLD NEWS

Scandal Will Cost Paula Deen Over $10 Million, as she is fired by Target, Home Depot, WalMart and More P

aula Deen’s teary-eyed defense on this morning’s Today Show wraps up a week of controversy that will cost the former Food Network star an estimated $4.5 million, according to Forbes. But the financial toll on Deen’s empire will grow.

Wal-Mart just announced today that it is cutting ties with Deen. Dave Tovar, a spokesperson for the company, said Wal-Mart will not place “any new orders beyond what’s already committed.”

Deen has sold a variety of branded products from grocery items to health products at the world’s largest retailer since 2011. And Caesar’s also announced on Wednesday that Deen’s name is being stripped from four buffet restaurants it owns.

“She will never be whole again,” says Howard Bragman, Vice Chairman of Reputation.com and a long-time crisis manager. “You just can’t say it’s a one-time hit of $3 or $4 million dollars, I think it’s much more than that. I think its tens of millions of dollars when you look at it over time.”

In the Today Show interview Matt Lauer asked Deen if she was there “to express what she just said or to stop the financial bleeding.” Deen responded by saying that she was there because she wanted people to know exactly who she was.

Bragman tells The Daily Ticker that the interview was more of a business move, “today’s interview was an attempt to define herself and from a business point of view to stop the bleeding, to stop the attrition of brands.”

The southern chef has published 14 cookbooks, runs seven restaurants, and has hosted two

Paul Deen admitted using the “N” word and she is now paying a dear price for it.

Food Network shows. Deen became embroiled in a legal suit when a former manager at one of her restaurants alleged sexual harassment and a workplace rife with racism.

In testimony, Deen admitted that she had used the N-Word and other racist remarks in the past.

Her admission prompted Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, to dump Deen as their spokesperson.

Last Friday The Food Network also announced that they would be dropping the 4th highest-earning celebrity chef after 11 years with the channel.

QVC, which sells a line of cookware created by Deen, has released a statement saying that they are “closely monitoring these events and we are reviewing our business relationship with Ms. Deen. In the meantime, we have no immediate plans to have her appear on QVC.” According to Forbes, the star brought in an estimated $17 million in 2012 but will Deen, 66, be able to recover from the recent blows to her butter-fueled empire?

It will be tough, according to Howard Bragman: “It’s safe to say her brand is tarnished and even damaged to a great extent, she’s lost money but more importantly her reputation.”

If Paula Deen were his client, Bragman says he’d advise her to not do any more interviews. “You do it once, you do it seemingly well and I think there should be a lot of behind the scenes work with her brands touting that she did the interview and she was courageous, talking about the support that’s coming out for her.”

The list of corporate sponsors backing away from Paula Deen continues to grow. Target, Home Depot and diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk are the latest companies to ends their relationships with the celebrity chef after she admitted to using a racial slur in the past.

A spokesperson for Target tells ABC News Radio, “We have made a decision to phase out the Paula Deen merchandise in our stores as well as on Target.com. Once the merchandise is sold out, we will not be replenishing inventory.”

Cyberattacks Shut Down Major Korean Websites M

ajor websites in both North and South Korea are under a series of cyberattacks after international hacking group Anonymous warned last week it planned to disclose North Korea’s military documents today.

The targeted state-run North Korean websites Rodong Sinmun, Korea Central News Agency and Air Koryo, among others, were down or temporarily blocked today. Twitter accounts of Anonymous were tweeting live as the attacks were underway.

One Korean Twitter account suspected as that of hacker @Anonsj tweeted, “is #TANGODOWN ~ ” just minutes after the Pyongyang-run website went blank.

Anonymous had widely advertised its plans to infiltrate North Korean websites through a video message posted on YouTube June 17.

“Your major missile documentation and resi-

dents, military documents show down is already in progress … We are partially sharing this information with the world,” the two-minute video clip said.

The group claimed it will “no longer tolerate North Korea’s way of ruling and will work towards world peace.”

Anonymous had warned that the cyberattack would be conducted today, the 63rd anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War in 1950, to prove its strength.

North Korea has accused the U.S. and South Korea governments of backing Anonymous but released no immediate statement today.

In South Korea, dozens of websites were also temporarily disabled throughout the day, including the official site for the presidential office, major government agencies and media companies such as Chosun Ilbo.

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING GARNERS $2.1 BILLION CASH BID BY MYSTERY WOULD-BE BUYER

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mystery Middle Eastern bidder has offered $2.1 billion for the Empire State Building, topping a $2 billion bid by a part-owner of the Woolworth Building.

Both of the colossal bids are cash offers and the flush Middle Eastern group is prepared to wage a bidding war, a New York real estate executive working with the bidder told the Daily News.

“These people want this asset badly,” said Philip Pilevsky, CEO of Philips International. “If they want something, they’ll get it.”

The bids for the 102-story skyscraper were revealed in a June 24 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that was made public Wednesday.

The high-stakes offers come as the Empire State Building’s majority owner, Malkin Holdings, is preparing to make the iconic tower part of an initial public offering.

Some smaller investors have opposed the move. But they lost a vote last month after Malkin gave them an ultimatum: go along with the IPO or surrender their shares — which could be worth as much as $320,000 each — for just $100 each.

The opposing investors, who are fighting the IPO move in court, want Malkin to take the two bids for the property very seriously, said their lawyer, Stephen Meister.

They may prefer selling the Empire State Building to taking its stock public.

“We don’t know what the stock will trade at — and cash is cash,” Meister said.

Meister and his son, Avison Young investment broker Jason Meister, helped put together the $2 billion bid by Woolworth Building part-owner Rubin Schron.

Jason Meister said Schron is offering a $50 million non-refundable deposit.

“That means we’re for real,” he said.

Hugh Burns, a spokesman for Malkin, declined to comment on the two bids.

But in the SEC filing, Malkin Holdings Chairman Peter Malkin and his son, Anthony Malkin, said they were reviewing the offers.

“We consider all matters, including unsolicited offers, consistent with our fiduciary duties, to form a judgment on what action is appropriate,” the filing said.

The Empire State Building has been valued at $2.53 billion, the Malkins have said in a separate filing.

Pilevsky of Philips International, who along with Joe Tabak of Princeton Holdings is working with the Middle Eastern bidder, said the mystery group already has real estate interests in New York.

The bidder is not Israeli, Pilevsky said.

Tabak didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Empire State Building was the world’s tallest building from its completion in 1931 until 1972.

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WORLD NEWS

Mandela remains critical as a nation shows concern S

outh Africans held prayer vigils and other demonstrations of concern for Nelson Mandela on Thursday as much of the world waited for word of any change in his condition.

Hundreds demonstrated support outside his Pretoria hospital Thursday. Others gathered in prayer around the

Nelson Mandela, who was released from prison in February 1990, turns 95 next month. small matchbox house that once was his home in Soweto, a mainly black section of Johannesburg that was the center of the struggle against apartheid, government-imposed racial segregation.

“I won’t lie — it doesn’t look good,’’ daughter Makaziwe Mandela told a South African broadcast outlet after visiting her father. “But as I say, if we speak to him, he responds and tries to open his eyes. He’s still there.”

She complained that news coverage, particularly from foreign outlets, had become intrusive for her family.

“There’s sort of a racist element with many of the foreign media, where they just cross boundaries,” she said.

“It’s like truly vultures waiting when a lion has devoured a buffalo, waiting there for the last carcasses. That’s the image that we have, as a family.”

She acknowledged that her father’s condition is grave and that “anything is imminent.’’ She added: “We don’t mind the interest. But I just think it has gone overboard.”

South African President Jacob Zuma visited Mandela and said he had received an encouraging update from doctors that Mandela’s condition had stabilized, though he was still critically ill.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj, who has been issuing official updates on Mandela’s health, declined to confirm or deny reports based on anonymous sources that said Mandela is on medical life-support equipment.

But Maharaj said in a written statement that the Zuma administration “is disturbed by the rumours that are being spread about former President Mandela’s health’’ and appealed “for respect for the privacy and dignity of the former President.’’

Mandela, who turns 95 next month, has been hospitalized several times this year, most recently since June 8.

He was the country’s first democratically elected president. He served one term after being imprisoned for 27 years for battling apartheid, the official system of racial separation that was in place under the country’s previous white minority rule.

“I want to emphasize again that it’s only God who knows when the time to go is,” Makaziwe Mandela said.

“So we will wait with Tata (father). He’s still giving us hope by opening his eyes. He’s still reactive to touch. We will live with that hope until the final end comes.”

Zuma canceled a planned trip to Mozambique because of Mandela’s illness, further raising speculation that the government was preparing for the passing of the man who became a global symbol of the struggles for human rights and reconciliation with former oppressors.

President Obama, on the first leg of a visit to Africa that includes a stop this weekend in South Africa, said he regarded Mandela as a “personal hero.”

Gay marriage gets big boost in two Supreme Court rulings T

he U.S. Supreme Court delivered a landmark victory for gay rights on Wednesday by forcing the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in states where it is legal and paving the way for it in California, the most populous state.

As expected, however, the court fell short of a broader ruling endorsing a fundamental right for gay people to marry, meaning that there will be no impact in the more than 30 states that do not recognize gay marriage.

The two cases, both decided on 5-4 votes, concerned the constitutionality of a key part of a federal law, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), that denied benefits to same-sex married couples, and a voter-approved California state law enacted in 2008, called Proposition 8, that banned gay marriage.

The court struck down Section 3 of DOMA, which limited the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman for the purposes of federal benefits, as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.

The ruling was a victory for President Barack Obama’s administration, which had decided two years ago it would no longer defend the law in court. Obama applauded the DOMA ruling and directed U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to review all relevant federal laws to ensure that it is implemented.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, 76, appointed to the court by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1988, was the key vote and wrote the DOMA opinion, the third major gay rights ruling he has authored since 1996.

In a separate opinion, the court ducked a decision on Proposition 8 by finding that supporters of the California law did not have standing to appeal a federal district court ruling that struck it down. By doing so, the justices let stand the lower-court ruling that had found the ban unconstitutional.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the Proposition 8 opinion, ruling along procedural lines in a way that said nothing about how the court would rule on the merits. The court was unusually split, with liberals and conservatives in both the majority and the dissent.

By ruling this way on Proposition 8, the court effectively let states set their own policy on gay marriage. This means a debate is set to continue in various states via ballot initiatives, legislative action and litigation potentially costing millions of dollars on both sides of an issue that stirs cultural, religious and political passions in the United States as elsewhere.

The rulings come amid rapid progress for advocates of gay marriage in recent months and years. Opinion polls show a steady increase in U.S. public support for gay marriage.

‘SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS’ Gay marriage advocates celebrated outside the courthouse. A big cheer went up as word arrived DOMA had been struck down.

“DOMA is dead!” the crowd chanted, as couples hugged and cried.

Paul Katami and Jeffrey Zarrillo, a gay

couple from Burbank, California, who were two of the four plaintiffs in the Proposition 8 case, were both outside the courthouse.

“We are gay. We are American. And we will not be treated like second-class citizens,” Katami said.

He turned to Zarrillo, voice cracking and said: “I finally get to look at the man I love and say, ‘Will you marry me?’”

Before Wednesday, 12 of the 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia recognized gay marriage. Three of those dozen - Delaware, Minnesota and Rhode Island - legalized gay marriage this year. California would become the 13th state to allow it.

About a third of the U.S. population now lives in areas where gay marriage is legal, if California is included.

“We are a people who declared that we are all created equal, and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” Obama, the first sitting president to endorse gay marriage, said in a written statement.

While the ruling on DOMA was clearcut, questions remained about the meaning of the Proposition 8 ruling for California. Proposition 8 supporters vowed to seek continued enforcement of the ban until litigation is resolved. But California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, said the justices’ ruling “applies statewide” and all county officials must comply with it.

“We are now faced with this unusual situation where we have some uncertainty,” said Andrew Pugno, one of the Proposition 8 proponents’ lawyers. He expressed satisfaction that the Supreme Court had “nullified” a San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that, if left intact, could have had set a precedent for other Western states in its jurisdiction.

FEDERAL BENEFITS By striking down Section 3 of DOMA, the court cleared the way for legally married couples to claim more than 1,100 federal benefits, rights and burdens linked to marriage status.

Kennedy wrote for the majority that the federal law, as passed by Congress, violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. “The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the state, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity,” Kennedy wrote.

The law imposed “a stigma upon all who enter into same-sex marriages made lawful by the unquestioned authority of the states,” he said.

Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia both wrote dissenting opinions in the DOMA case.

Roberts went out of his way to state that the court was not making any big pronouncements about gay marriage. The court, he said, did not have before it the question of whether states “may continue to utilize the traditional definition of marriage.”

Scalia accused the majority of ignoring procedural obstacles about whether the court should have heard the case in order to reach its desired result.

“This is jaw-dropping,” he said of Kennedy’s analysis.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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usiness B AND

T ObamaOhas shortlist to succeed ECHN

LOGY

Federal Reserve chairman Bernanke

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he White House has assembled a shortlist of candidates to succeed Federal Reserve Bank chairman Ben Bernanke, a source familiar with the process said, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is running the search.

Bernanke is expected to leave when his second term ends on January 31, after an eventful eight years in helping the U.S. economy recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Lew has assembled a short list with the help from several senior White House officials, the source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

There was no information on who is on the list, although Janet Yellen, Lawrence Summers and Timothy Geithner are considered to be likely leading choices.

“We decline to comment on speculation on any personnel matters until the President has made his decisions and is ready to announce them,” said Amy Brundage, White House spokeswoman.

“The President believes that Chairman Bernanke is a vital and excellent partner in promoting our economic recovery and he continues to serve admirably and with distinction during this important time for our country,” she said.

President Barack Obama hinted in an interview aired on Monday that he may be looking for

President Barack Obama in a meeting with Ben Bernanke a new chief of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, saying Ben Bernanke has stayed a lot longer than the current chairman had originally planned.

Obama, speaking to Charlie Rose, host of a PBS interview program, compared Bernanke to longtime FBI Director Robert Mueller, who agreed to stay two years longer than he had planned and is to leave in the coming months.

“Well, I think Ben Bernanke’s done an outstanding job. Ben Bernanke’s a little bit like Bob Mueller, the head of the FBI - where he’s already stayed a lot longer than he wanted or he was sup-

posed to,” Obama said.

Asked whether he would reappoint Bernanke if he wanted to keep the job, Obama did not answer directly.

“He has been an outstanding partner, along with the White House, in helping us recover much stronger than, for example, our European partners, from what could have been an economic crisis of epic proportions,” Obama said.

Bernanke, who has tried to nurse along the ailing U.S. economy through the 2008 financial crisis, is widely expected to step down when his second term as chairman expires at the end of January.

Obama was making the point that Bernanke worked through the stressful financial crisis of 2008, and is in his eighth year as Fed chair, and has likely stayed longer and endured more than he might have personally have wanted to, out of a sense of duty and public service, the official said.

Bernanke has been a vital and excellent partner in helping to bring the United States back from the brink of depression, the official said. No decisions have been made about any personnel decision involving the Fed, the official added.

Obama is said to be considering a number of monetary experts for the job, including Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, and former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Google takes aim at gaming market with new Android video game console G

oogle Inc. is developing a videogame console and digital wrist watch powered by its Android operating system, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Internet company seeks to spread the software’s domination beyond smartphones and tablets and cement build the company ‘s reputation as a hardware maker.

With the watch and game console, Google is hoping to combat similar devices that Apple Inc. may release in the future, according to the people familiar with the matter.

Google is also preparing to release a second version of a Web-connected, Android-powered media-playing device, called Nexus Q, that was unveiled last year but not sold to the public, these people said. The Internet giant hopes to design and market the devices itself and release at least one of them this fall, they added.

The hardware plans are the latest sign of Google’s determination to build on the success of Android, the software it launched in 2008 that powered 75% of all smartphones and 56.5% of tablets shipped globally in the first quarter, according to the research firm IDC. Games that run on Android software have proved particularly popular, and they are growing much more quickly than games made for the big-name consoles supplied by Microsoft Corp., Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co. The appeal of such

games has prompted the development of new devices aimed specifically for Android by other hardware companies.

The people briefed on the matter said Google is reacting in part to expectations that rival Apple will launch a videogame console as part of its next Apple TV product release.

Google has also been watching the efforts of Ouya Inc., a startup that this week began selling a $99 Android-based console and game controller, one of these people said.

The company’s hardware efforts come as it wraps up development on the next version of Android, which is expected to be released in the fall.

Among other things, the software will be better tailored to the lower-cost smartphones prevalent in developing countries with the aim of firming up Android’s market-share dominance globally, said some of the people familiar with the matter.

Google, through its Android unit and Google X hardware lab, is seeking to build next-generation devices separately from the company’s Motorola hardware division. The hardware maker

was acquired last year and is currently focused on launching an Android-based smartphone called the Moto X, these people said.

Meanwhile, Google has been developing lowcost Android smartphones of its own with an eye toward offering them in developing markets, other people familiar with the matter have said, including in markets where Google plans to fund or help create next-generation wireless networks.

With the next release of Android this fall, Google is also moving more aggressively to take the software into additional kinds of devices, including laptops and appliances such as refrigerators.

Personal-computer makers including Hewlett Packard Co. are already working on Android-powered laptops running the next version of the software, an effort that is separate from already launched Android tablets that can physically connect to a keyboard, according to people familiar with the matter. Android laptops would thus compete with those powered by Microsoft’s Windows software. An HP spokesman didn’t immediately provide a comment.

Android is offered free to makers of devices like smartphones and tablets, with Samsung Electronics Co. the biggest of Google’s hardware partners. The hardware helps Google generate revenue from Google Search, YouTube and other Web services.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

BUSINESS AND T ECHNOLOGY

Spy program gathered Americans Internet records

NEW APPLE TV ADS FLOP WITH VIEWERS

I

f you don’t like Apple’s latest TV ad, you aren’t alone.

This month the company launched a commercial dubbed “Designed by Apple in California” showing users with their Apple devices while an actor reads what is essentially a company manifesto. That ad premiered at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference.

According to one consulting firm, it has been Apple’s lowest rated ad in the last year.

Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s newest TV commercials, showing consumers enjoying its products while an actor reads the company’s corporate philosophy, are a flop compared with earlier ads from the maker of iPhones and iPads.

The company’s latest ad, which began airing June 10, has earned the lowest score of 26 Apple TV ads in the past year, according to Ace Metrix Inc., a consulting firm that analyzes the effectiveness of TV ads through surveys of at least 500 TV viewers. The ad scored 489 on the company’s scoring system, below an industry average of 542 and far below past iconic Apple campaigns that often topped 700.

The 60-second commercial, which shows kids in school with iPads as a voice declares the company’s product-design goals, underlines a strategic advertising shift at Cupertino, California-based Apple. The company is moving away from upbeat ads promoting product features toward ones that identify it as a reliable provider of products that combine quality, innovation and utility.

“Apple was never a company that bragged about itself,” said Edward Boches, a professor of advertising at Boston University. “In a manifesto ad, it’s hard not to come across as self indulgent. And even though it suggests the wonderful things Apple products can do, the ad lacks joy.”

The change in tack started earlier this year, with similar ads that highlighted the iPhone’s status as a popular camera and music player. These ads, which show contemplative montages of people using iPhones in their daily rounds, also fared poorly by Apple’s standards on Ace Metrix’s scale, with scores of 560 and 537, respectively.

Samsung Comparison Apple had intended for the ads to energize its customers and slow market share gains by Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) while it prepares new versions of the iPhone and iPad, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month.

Apple shares fell 1.1 percent to $393.78 at the close in New York. They’re down 44 percent from a record high in September amid concern that Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has taken too long to deliver a new breakthrough product to help make up for stiffer iPhone competition.

Also holding down scores for Apple is the lack of a recent “big product launch,” Ace Metrix CEO Peter Daboll said in an e-mail in May. He was referring to ads generally.

Apple’s new ad, dubbed “Designed by Apple in California,” scored a 528 on “Information,” versus an hardware-industry average of 603. A recent ad for Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 phone that showed features such as the ability to answer a call without touching the screen scored a 757 by that same measure.

Since May, Samsung has had eight ads that scored an average of over 600, according to Ace Metrix.

Apple’s new ad scored poorly with male viewers, particularly those over 21 years old, though it fared better with women. Some viewers described the music as “sad,” and said the spot was too long.

Boches, the BU professor, said the final seconds of the ad may strike some viewers as inappropriately political.

The words “Designed by Apple in California” appear as the voice says, “This is our signature, and it means everything.”

“Is this a subtle way of saying we’re not a Korean company? That’s not the way a leader like Apple should talk,” said Boches, who also described himself as a “huge fan” of Apple.

Apple has been under fire for poor working conditions at the Chinese contract manufacturing firms that make its products, and for employing tax avoidance practices that while not illegal, drew criticism from Congress.

“It feels like Apple is groping a bit,” said Boches. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this campaign is short-lived.”

W

ASHINGTON — The Obama administration gathered U.S. citizens’ Internet data until 2011, continuing a spying program started under President George W. Bush that revealed whom Americans exchanged emails with and the Internet Protocol address of their computer, documents disclosed Thursday show.

The National Security Agency ended the program that collected email logs and timing, but not content, in 2011 because it decided it didn’t effectively stop terrorist plots, according to the NSA’s director, Gen. Keith Alexander, who also heads the U.S. Cyber Command. He said all data was purged in 2011.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Thursday released documents detailing the collection, though the program was also described earlier this month by The Washington Post.

The latest revelation follows previous leaks from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who is presumed hiding at a Moscow airport transit area, waiting to hear whether Ecuador, Iceland or another country might grant him asylum. He fled Hong Kong over the weekend and flew to Russia after being charged with violating American espionage laws.

The collection appears similar to the gathering of U.S. phone records, and seems to overlap with the Prism surveillance program of foreigners on U.S. Internet servers, both revealed by Snowden. U.S. officials have said the phone records can only be checked for numbers dialed by a terrorist suspect overseas. According to the documents published by The Guardian on Thursday, the Internet records show whom they exchanged emails with and the specific numeric address assigned to a computer connected to the Internet, known as the IP, or Internet Protocol, address.

The program, described in a top secret draft report from the NSA inspector general, described the efforts of then-NSA Director Gen. Mike Hayden to fill gaps in intelligence gathering after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. One NSA officer quoted in the report described “NSA standing at the U.S. border looking outward for foreign threats” and “the FBI looking within the United States for domestic threats.

But no one was looking at the foreign threats coming into the United States. That was the huge gap that NSA wanted to cover.”

The draft added that the sweeping phone and Internet data-gathering programs were

meant to speed up the process of surveillance of a terrorist suspect overseas, because “the average wait time was between four and six weeks” to get a court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. “Terrorists could have changed their telephone numbers or Internet addresses” before the NSA received permission to spy on them on U.S.-based phone or Internet systems.

Alexander said at a Baltimore conference on cybersecurity that the NSA decided to kill the Internet data gathering program because “it wasn’t meeting what we needed and we thought we could better protect civil liberties and privacy by doing away with it.”

He said the program was conducted under provisions of the Patriot Act, and that NSA leaders went to the Obama administration and Congress with the recommendation to shut it down.

Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the director of national intelligence, said the program has not resumed.

The Washington Post had described the Internet surveillance in an earlier report, without publishing the documents or releasing as many details. The Post described it as part of four secret surveillance programs — two aimed at phone and Internet metadata, while two more target contents of phone and Internet communications.

Alexander, who has been up on Capitol Hill frequently for hearings and meetings since the NSA phone and email surveillance was made public, laid out a broad defense of the programs.

He said he worries that more leaks are coming, adding that “every time a capability is revealed we lose our ability to track those targets.”

While never mentioning Snowden by name, Alexander said his irresponsible releases of classified information “will have a long term detrimental impact on the intelligence community’s ability to detect future attacks.”

He declined to provide more details on what the NSA is doing to prevent such leaks in the future. He has said that the agency is changing passwords and improving its ability to track what system administrators are doing.

On Thursday, he said he was looking at how the leak happened and the people involved. He said the NSA can’t do its job without contractors because it doesn’t have all the talent or access it needs to do the job.

SATELLITES TO BRING ULTRAFAST INTERNET TO DEVELOPING WORLD

F

ibre-speed internet is expected to be available in remote parts of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific following the launch of four satellites Tuesday and another four later this year.

The first four satellites of O3b Networks Ltd.’s eight-satellite constellation are scheduled to blast off aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Guaiana Space Centre in French Guiana at 2:53 p.m. ET, following a day-long weather delay.

The remainder of the constellation is expected to launch in September and the network is scheduled to go online in November. A second constellation is expected to launch within 18 months.

Read about Google’s other solution to bring-

ing broadband to the developing world — balloons Ob3 — which stands for “the other 3 billion,” referring to the proportion of the world’s population that currently has limited or no highspeed internet — is based in St. Helier, Jersey, U.K. According to the company’s website, it aims to provide “low-cost, high-speed, low-latency internet and mobile connectivity” to 180 countries.

Its satellites will provide internet connectivity between 45 degrees north (slightly north of Toronto) and 45 degrees south latitude (which passes through New Zealand’s South Island and the southern part of Chile and Argentina), covering roughly 70 per cent of the world’s population.

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Sports LOCAL

Cole Nickson most improved player

Fred dorvil League MVP

Herby Magny Player of the season

AFC Academy win Bugaloo Beach Soccer competition in thriller T

he Bugaloo’s Men’s Beach Soccer league ended in fine style last Saturday as AFC Academy won a thrilling final (8-7) against Teachers FC. The final was heading into overtime before Herby Magny scored his sixth goal of the game to ensure his team remained undefeated during the season. The final was eagerly anticipated and a large crowd was fortunate to witness and exhilarating spectacle.

AFC Academy held a narrow 4-3 lead after the first period and the scored were soon locked at 4-4 going into the final period. This when the game really can alive as AFC Academy opened up a 6-4 lead. However, the Teachers showed their resilience as they fought back and took a 7-6 lead with just a few minutes remaining.

Fred Dorvil led the comeback scoring 4 goals late in the game after Ian Chang, Junior Ceide

and Haroon Swaby had scored in the opening period. However it was the skillful Magny who had the final say as he scored the winning goal with less than a minute remaining.

Magny rounded off another fine display scoring six goals in the win with James Rene and Fitzgerald Norvius scoring the other goals. It was perhaps fitting that AFC Academy won the final having dominated the regular season winning all of their games, however the Teachers came close to pipping the Academy team to the championship title.

In the third and fourth play-off the young U15 Center of Excellence team showed they have what it takes to play against older and stronger teams as they defeated the SWA Sharks 11-2. Cole Nickson (4), Wilkins Sylvain (3), Mackenson Cadet, Myrohn Pereira, and Adner Davilmar scored

for the COE team and Paul Collis scored twice for the Sharks.

TCIFA President Chris Bryan thanked everyone who was involved in making the league such a great success. “It is great to see a final that was so closely contested. Special thanks to all the players, coaches, referees, fans and the league sponsors – Bugaloos”.

The following awards were given out after the games: League Champions – AFC Academy; Runners Up – Teachers FC; Third Place – U15 COE Boys; Player of the Season – Herby Magny; League MVP – Fred Dorvil; Most Improved Player – Cole Nickson; Top goal scorer – Fred Dorvil; Sharks MVP – Mike Fox; AFC Academy MVP – Rodney Davilmar; U15 COE Boys MVP – Mackenson Cadet; Teachers FC MVP – Courtney Evans.

IF YOU NEED YOUR SPORTING EVENT COVERED JUST CALL US AT 946-8542 OR EMAIL US YOUR REPORTS AND PHOTOS AT sun@suntci.com

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

RESS RELEASE -81( %5,7,6+ &$5,%%($1 %$1. /,0,7(' :,16 $33($/ $*$,167 7+( *29(510(17 2) %(/,=( ,1 7+( &$5,%%($1 &2857 2) ,867,&( $//2:,1* 8. %(/,=( BILATERAL TREATY CLAIM TO PROCEED TO ARBITRATION

The Caribbean Court of Justice ("CCJ") has today released its decision granting British Caribbean Bank's appeal DJDLQVW WKH *RYHUQPHQW RI %HOL]H DQG VSHFL¿FDOO\ DOORZLQJ %&% V LQWHUQDWLRQDO DUELWUDWLRQ XQGHU WKH 8. %HOL]H Bilateral Investment Treaty to go ahead. The CCJ discharged the injunction in place against the arbitration, and JUDQWHG %&% LWV FRVWV LQ WKH DSSHDO 7KLV LV JUHDW QHZV IRU %&% ZKLFK KDV EHHQ SUHYHQWHG IURP FRQWLQXLQJ LWV DUEL tration against the Government since December 2010. %ULWLVK LQYHVWRUV ZRXOG KDYH EHHQ YHU\ FRQFHUQHG E\ WKH FDVH DQG RWKHUV EURXJKW E\ WKH *RYHUQPHQW FRQWHQGLQJ WKDW WKH 8. %HOL]H %LODWHUDO ,QYHVWPHQW 7UHDW\ ZDV QRW ELQGLQJ RQ WKH *RYHUQPHQW ,W LV H[FHOOHQW QHZV WKDW WKH &&- KDV FRQ¿UPHG WKDW WKH 7UHDW\ LV YDOLG DQG ELQGLQJ DQG WKDW WKHUH DUH QR LPSHGLPHQWV WR LQYHVWRUV ULJKW WR arbitrate against the Government under the Treaty.

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For further information contact: %ULWLVK &DULEEHDQ %DQN /LPLWHG DW *RYHUQRUV 5RDG 3 2 %R[ /HHZDUG Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands (Telephone No: (+1) 649 941 5028; Email: info@bcbtci.com].

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS NEMO Building 3 2 %R[ Belmopan, BELIZE C.A. 7HO

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( PDLO EHOL]HPID#EWO QHW Our

ference: Re A/BR/12/13(20) F

May 4, 013 2 2

His Excellency Mr. Pat Ashworth High Commissioner British High Commission Belmopan Belize Central America Dear Excellency, I refer to earlier exchanges between our governments regarding the entry into force of the UK-Belize Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement signed between Belize and the UK in 1982.

Upon further review, the Government of Belize is pleased to confirm that it regards itself as being bound by UK-Belize Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.

Sincerely Hon. Wilfred P. Elrington Attorney General Minister of Foreign Affairs

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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Sports CARIBBEAN

CONCACAF Funding to Bolster Confederation-Wide Youth Development with Targeted Resources

T

he Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) today announced the next phase of the trail blazing “Win in CONCACAF with CONCACAF” program, which provides grants to Member Associations for youth development programs across the Confederation in an effort to build the foundation for a long-lasting legacy of support.

The goal of the initiative, which boasts a CONCACAF budget of $4.1 million dollars for 2013, is to fund grassroots development programs in each of the 41 Member Associations across the region. Member Associations may apply for grants to fund self-directed grassroots development initiatives, with the Confederation providing up to $100,000 dollars for each individual project. A well-defined and meticulous follow-up process, spearheaded by CONCACAF’s Development Department, will assure that the program achieves lasting and sustainable impact.

In the larger, holistic context of development, the Win in CONCACAF with CONCACAF projects will target youth and grassroots initiatives at the Member Association level, with the aim of addressing needs specific to each CONCACAF Member. These resources assure the availability of funding for one sector of the Confederation’s multi-faceted development plan, which also includes distinct emphasis on coaching licensing, marketing development, broader grassroots programming, and general coordination with broader FIFA development initiatives.

“The main goal of every initiative conceived at today’s CONCACAF is to continue to empower the region through individual member development, by means of a sustainable strategy that will leave a positive and permanent imprint on our sport and region as a whole,” said CONCACAF President Jef-

From left to right: Right Honourable Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, Prime Minister of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis; President of SKNFA, Anthony Johnson; and CONCACAF President, Jeffrey Webb, during the official presentation of the first ‘Win in CONCACAF’ program official check of US$100,000 to the St. Kitts and Nevis Football Association during a ceremony held on Saturday, June 22nd frey Webb. “This program, along with existing FIFA development resources and other developmental aspects addressed specifically through CONCACAF’s integral development program, helps provide a wide variety of opportunities for all Member Associations in our Confederation.”

Central to the design of the Win in CONCACAF with CONCACAF template are the follow-up and sustainability elements incorporated into the plan, assuring that funding will go a long way towards building a brighter future for the associations that take part in the program.

The program has kicked off with a series of promising grants to over a dozen Member Asso-

ciations that have already submitted proposals to CONCACAF, and been approved after a thorough evaluation process by the Development Department. The funds will be used for grassroots programming such as development of youth leagues and youth coaching initiatives in previously hard to reach or underserved areas of CONCACAF member states.

President Webb visited St. Kitts and Nevis on Saturday, June 22, where he personally delivered the first official check funding yet another well-designed Win in CONCACAF with CONCACAF project, set to be implemented in support of that Member Association’s soccer-playing youth.

Bahamas sprint icon Chandra Sturrup calls it a day F REEPORT, Grand Bahama — A sprint icon in the Bahamas, Chandra Sturrup, has announced her retirement from athletics after a long career.

Sturrup, the national record in the women’s 100 metres (10.84 seconds) announced her retirement at the National Open Track and Field Championship in Freeport, Grand Bahama, over the weekend.

The announcement from the 41-year-old athlete comes a year after the the London summer Olympics when she announced her intention to quit the sport.

“I have run my race. It’s sad to leave but you have to go one day,” said Sturrup, who will go down as one of the most accomplished track

Chandra Sturrup calls it quits and field athletes in the history of The Bahamas.

“I have many proud moments

but 2000 is the single most proud moment when we got the gold in Sydney. That was a touching moment for me that I have never experienced in my life.”

Sturrup has a personal best time of 22.33 in the 200 metres and was a world-class performer in the long jump as well.

She is a former world indoor champion over 60m, a two-time World Championship bronze medallist, a World Championship sprint relay champion and an Olympic sprint relay champion.

“My hope is that they take their talent and use it wisely and carry themselves approximately,” said Sturrup of the emerging athletes in her country.

“Wherever they go, because they are not just representing themselves they are representing The Bahamas.”

The Bahamas athlete, who made her Olympic debut at the Atlanta Games in 1996, has accomplished all in her career with the exception of winning an individual medal at the Olympics.

“What happens next is that I am going to continue and finish my degree in interior design. I should be finished, hopefully, next year,” said Sturrup, who has represented her country at five Olympic games and eight consecutive World Championships.

“I have been coaching high school for five years now, so I am back and fourth coaching high schools and doing school.”

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Sports W

RLD

Aaron Hernandez denied bail in appeal hearing

F

ormer New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez will remain in jail on a first-degree murder charge after a judge in Bristol County (Mass.) Superior Court denied his appeal Thursday to be released on bail.

The decision from Judge Renee P. Dupuis upholds the ruling of district court Judge Daniel J. O’Shea issued Wednesday after Hernandez was arraigned on the murder charge and five weapons charges in relation to the slaying of Odin Lloyd. The bullet-riddled body of the 27-year-old former semipro football player and friend of Hernandez was discovered in an industrial park near Hernandez’s home June 17.

Hernandez’s defense team, led by attorney James Sultan, argued that Hernandez should have been freed on bail because Hernandez was not a risk to flee while awaiting charges, was a solid citizen and homeowner in North Attleborough, Mass., and had a longtime fiancee and a 7-month old daughter.

But Judge Dupuis said she did not believe, based on the evidence laid

Aaron Hernandez was arraigned on a murder charge and five weapons charges out by Bristol County Assistant District Attorney William McCauley, that Hernandez would adhere to any conditions of release.

“The facts, as I understand them, I think the Commonwealth has presented a case that is circumstantial to be sure, but very, very strong,” Du-

puis said.

Sultan had urged Dupuis not to “take the easy way out” by denying baill but to “do the right thing, the courageous thing” instead.

“It is relatively rare, but it is not unheard of,” said Sultan, adding that many defendants facing first-degree

murder charges do not have the type of stable work and family life that Hernandez does.

Sultan argued that Hernandez was an accomplished football player – bringing up Hernandez’s on-field accomplishments dating to high school through his three years with the Patriots – who also needed specialized medical treatment for football-related back and shoulder injuries.

“He is not just a football player, but one of the best football players in America,” Sultan said. “I say this, your Honor, to show he is a young man that is extremely hard working and accomplished in his profession.”

Also Thursday, the Associated Press reported police have been searching a third-floor unit in a condo complex in Franklin, Mass., that Hernandez had visited in recent weeks, according to the unit’s nextdoor neighbor. Condo resident Carol Bailey said that starting Wednesday and continuing Thursday, police removed items from the modest, two-bedroom rental unit and asked her questions about its occupants.

Federer and Sharapova exit Wimbledon in wipeout W

imbledon king Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova endured jolting second-round losses to opponents outside the world top 100 in a freakishly dramatic ‘Wednesday Wipeout’ that saw seven players withdraw injured and the draw shredded.

Second seed Victoria Azarenka, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and even Steve Darcis, manof-the-moment after his opening day victory over Spaniard Rafa Nadal, were among the casualties as the medical bulletins piled up.

With title contenders dropping like flies, some before even striking a ball in anger, home favorite Andy Murray must be licking his lips after avoiding the scrapheap with an incident-free second round win over Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun.

Murray’s hopes of emerging as “last man standing” to claim his first Wimbledon crown on Sunday week have soared after two rounds which have culled Nadal, Federer and sixth seed Tsonga from his half of the draw.

After a day of slips and slides, strained shoulders and aching knees, seven-times champion Federer was expected to glide serenely above the mayhem around him when he stepped out on Centre Court to play Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Three hours later on what former champion John McEnroe called “the craziest day ever” the Swiss great’s dream of an eighth title was over.

Playing old-school serve and volley tennis the like of which was supposed to have gone out of fashion, the 27-year-old world No.116 won 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 7-5 7-6(5) to snap third seed Federer’s streak of reaching 36 consecutive grand slam quarter-finals.

“I’m still in disbelief,” Stakhovsky said. “I

Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts at a news conference after being defeated by Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in their men’s singles tennis match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London June 26, 2013. played the best tennis I have ever played. When you play Roger Federer it’s like your’re playing two persons.

“First you play Roger Federer, then you play his ego. I couldn’t play any better today. It was a fantastic day for me.”

For once, Federer’s box of tricks could not rescue him and there was an “end of era” feel as the 31-year-old walked into the Centre Court shadows to a standing ovation.

“It’s normal that after all of a sudden losing early after being in the quarters 36 times, people feel it’s different,” Federer, who suffered his earliest Wimbledon defeat since a first-round loss in 2002, defiantly told a news conference.

“Usually I do turnarounds pretty good. I’m

looking forward to what’s to come. I hope I can play a good summer.”

Nadal’s first round defeat by Darcis on Monday created shockwaves but Wednesday’s seismic events went off the scale.

Ten seeds perished and the seven players to withdraw or retire mid-match was record for a single day at a grand slam.

Croatian 10th seed Marin Cilic, who could not take to the court to play France’s Kenny De Schepper after a knee injury flared up, described Wednesday as a “very black day”.

Third-seed Sharapova was sent across the grounds to the bowl-like Court Two to face Portuguese firebrand Michelle Larcher de Brito and found the 131st-ranked qualifier too hot to handle as she slipped and slid to a 6-3 6-4 defeat.

Sharapova needed a 10-minute injury timeout after one of several falls left her clutching her hip and at one stage was overheard describing the court surface as “dangerous.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever fallen three times in a match before in my career, so that was a little strange,” the Russian former champion told reporters.

Women’s ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki also fell heavily on Court Two in her defeat by Czech Petra Cetkovska while second seed Azarenka did not even start against Italy’s Flavia Pennetta due to the knee injury she suffered in a first-round tumble.

“I don’t know if it’s the court or the weather,” the Belarussian told reporters. “I can’t figure it out it.

“Would be great if the club or somebody who takes care of the courts would examine (it).”

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WORLD SPORTS

I’m here to win says new Clippers coach Rivers N

ewly-appointed Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers arrived at his team’s practice facility on Wednesday in casual attire that showed just how surprised he was to be there.

Rivers, one of the most successful active coaches in the National Basketball Association, was wearing low-top sneakers and a shortsleeved shirt at his introductory news conference a day after he was acquired from the Boston Celtics.

Weeks of on-again, off-again talks between the two teams finally resulted in a deal on Tuesday that saw the Celtics release the 51-yearold former coach of the year from his contract in exchange for a 2015 draft pick.

“This was a strange ordeal over the last couple weeks, to the point, as you can see my attire, I don’t have any suits because they’re all in Boston right now,” Rivers told reporters.

“I flew in from Orlando, that’s where I stay in the off-season, and I basically wear shorts and T-shirts all summer.”

The Clippers did not release terms of the contract given to Rivers but multiple media reports say he agreed to a three-year, $21 million deal.

Prior to joining the Celtics in 2004, Rivers spent just over four seasons as head coach of the Orlando Magic, earning NBA Coach of the Year honors in his first season when

Doc Rivers he led a team that was expected to finish last to a playoff berth in 2000.

Under Rivers, the Celtics won six Atlantic Division titles in nine seasons and the league championship in 2008. He also owns the NBA’s third-best record since 2007 among active coaches, according to the Clippers.

Despite telling the dozens of reporters gathered at the Clippers practice facility that he was uncomfortable being the center of attention, Rivers was less bashful about his goals for himself and his new team.

“It’s nice to do a lot of winning, it’s nicer to be the winner and that’s why I’m here, that’s what I want to do,” said Rivers. “And quite honestly, at this point in my life, that’s the only reason I’m coaching, is to try to win titles.”

‘STEADY HAND’ The Clippers won the Pacific Division last season with a 5626 record but lost to the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs. Shortly after, the team decided not to resign Vinny Del Negro as coach after three seasons.

The Clippers are led on the court by six-time All-Star point guard Chris Paul and the arrival of Rivers, a high-profile coach with proven success, is expected to help ensure the club does not lose their top player to another team in free agency.

“We’re just going to have to wait until he makes his decision and signs his contract, but all the indications are that he likes and respects Doc and I hope that helps,” Andy Roeser, president of the Clippers, told

reporters.

Roeser called Rivers a “seasoned and steady hand that we’re going to rely on to take us to the championship level.”

Paul was not at the Clippers training facility on Wednesday, but teammate Ronny Turiaf was on hand to see Rivers.

“He might be one of the major missing pieces to success,” Turiaf told a small group of reporters on the edge of the gym.

“One thing that we as a team was lacking a little bit down the stretch was a couple (defensive) stops. One stop here, one stop there, our season is totally different.”

Celtics general manager Danny Ainge officially announced the departure of Rivers on Tuesday, but the veteran coach said as recently as a few days ago he thought the deal was dead.

“I called Danny I said, ‘I’m staying, I’m coming back, I’m coaching (in Boston), that’s what I am and let’s move forward.’ Two hours later he called me and said, ‘No you’re not staying. You’re going,’” Rivers said.

The coach also said that as recently as Sunday he was going over the Celtics player roster with Ainge for the upcoming NBA season, but that on Sunday night the deal was agreed upon.

“I’m hope this is the last time that I’m the center of attention here,” River said, “I can say that honestly. It will be about the players.”

Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez planning to return and retire to collect $114million before MLB suspension hits A

lex Rodriguez has 114 million reasons for telling the world that he has the green light to play baseball games again.

According to sources close to the ongoing drama surrounding the starcrossed Yankee third baseman, Rodriguez and his advisers are so concerned that Major League Baseball’s drug posse is quickly closing in on him that they have racheted up the timetable for him to return to game action.

Once he’s back playing in rehab games, the sources say, he could then claim he is physically unable to perform because of the serious hip injury he is recovering from, “retire” from the game, and still collect the full amount of his salary — $114 million over the next five years.

“It’s all about him getting his money and not losing it to suspension,” one source close to the situation told the Daily News. “He knows he’s never going to the Hall of Fame.

All that’s left for him is to make sure he gets his money — all of it.”

One way to do that is for Rodriguez to return to game action, find he can no longer perform up to his

Axel Rod standards, then retire before he’s hit with a suspension without pay.

A player who retires because he is physically unable to perform, even if he’s later suspended, would still get the full amount of his contract.

Albert Belle suffered a similar hip injury that ended his career in 2001, and he was forced to go on a series of 60-day disabled lists in order to collect the remainder of his contract.

Now, a player who is deemed

physically unable to perform is allowed by baseball to retire and still collect his money.

Sources told the Daily News they believe MLB will try to suspend Rodriguez, no matter his status. If he is given a lifetime ban, he would not be able to re-enter the game in any capacity.

“It’s not going to have any effect on what or when MLB does something,” said a baseball source.

The Yankees, who are currently paying Rodriguez’s $28 million 2013 salary, could conceivably then try to collect insurance on the remainder of the contract, as the Orioles did with Belle.

After the Daily News reported on Sunday that Rodriguez had been given medical clearance to begin playing in rehab games on July 1 as long as the Yankees felt he was ready to do so, Yankee GM Brian Cashman began disputing that claim, saying only that the Yankees and their team of doctors, trainers and ultimately, Cashman, can clear Rodriguez for game action.

Then on Tuesday night, after A-Rod confirmed what The News had already reported, tweeting that Dr. Bryan Kelly, who performed hip surgery on A-Rod in January “gave me the best news — the green light to play games again!” and posting a weekend photo of himself with Kelly, Cashman erupted, saying, “You know what? When the Yankees want to announce something, we will. Alex should just shut the f--- up. That’s it. I’m going to call Alex now.”

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