VOLUME 9 ISSUE 27

JULY 13TH - JULY 20TH, 2013

VOLUME 9 - No. 27

$1.00

CARICOM FINDS THE TRUTH Website: www.suntci.com

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BY HAYDEN BOYCE PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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high-powered, independent CARICOM delegation to the Turks and Caicos Islands has found strong evidence here which supports what Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing told Caribbean leaders in February and they have made a number of key recommendations including a referendum on the acceptance of British rule under the present Constitution.

In a comprehensive 14-page report released on Thursday July 11th, the CARICOM team also recommended a “Truth and Justice Commission type exercise along the lines of the South African post- apartheid experience might be considered as an alternative to the current SIPT and prosecutions, given the long time that it is taking to conclude the matters and the feeling expressed that the justice is costing too much money and has the society on pause”.

The CARICOM report says Britain should give some public explanation of their position on the culpability or non culpability of the last Governor (Richard Tauwhare) for events that led to the Commission of Enquiry in view of his oversight responsibility.

It also recommended an investigation by the UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons with specific reference to the consistent descriptions of a “climate of fear”.

The report stated: “Indeed, a recurrent theme was that justice could be purchased, that there were no local people or regional people on the SIPT which gave the impression that it was designed to treat all people of TCI as crooks and target only Islanders.

HIGH COURT JUDGE MARGARET RAMSAY-HALE MAKES RULING ON PNP HEADQUARTERS In the case between the Honourable Attorney General and the Progressive Labour Party and Trevor Cooke, sued on behalf of the PNP, an order dated July 12, 2013 before Her Ladyship Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale, found that: the beneficial and legal interest in parcel 60602/79 was always and remains in the Crown; the Progressive National Party has no legal personality and cannot sue or be sued; Mr. Cooke cannot represent members of the PNP in action for trespass and there is no evidence that Mr Cooke has trespassed on parcel 60602/79. It is hereby ordered that: the plea of estoppels raised by the first and second defendants (PNP and Trevor Cooke) in response to the Plaintiff’s (Attorney General) claim to possession of parcel 60602/79 fails; The claims for possession of parcel 60602/79 and damages against the defendants (PNP and Trevor Cooke) are dimissed.

(SEE PAGE 6 FOR FULL STORY)

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Beaches overpays Lord Ashcroft questions British millions in contracts room tax PAGE 5

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Hotel Manager David Crofts skips bail

Woman sentenced to death for cutting off husband’s penis

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That Committee might also investigate a common thread and view espoused at all levels of the society that the British have used the imposition of Direct Rule and the subsequent new constitutional arrangements to provide jobs for British nationals in key areas of the Government and economy of the TCI to the exclusion of the Turks and Caicos Islanders.”

CARICOM also noted that another common narrative which bears examination is that the justice being administered by the SIPT has cost the people of the TCI some $46million with no end in sight and that only islanders are facing criminal charges and jail time when non-islanders have been able to purchase justice.

From 24-26 June 2013 a CARICOM Ministerial Fact-Finding Mission led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas, the Hon. Frederick Mitchell, comprising the Minister of Foreign Affairs of St Kitts and Nevis, the Hon. Patrice Nisbett, the Designated Special Envoy to CARICOM of the President of Haiti, Noel Peterson, and supported by Ambassador Cohn Granderson, Assistant Secretary-General, Foreign Policy and Community Relations, CARICOM Secretariat, visited the TCI.

CABINET AT ODDS WITH GOVERNOR The fact-finders noted that the meeting with the Premier and Members of his Cabinet shed a totally different light on the general situation and the current constitutional arrangements, compared to what they heard from Governor Ric Todd. This, the CARICOM members said, underlined once again that there was a clear disconnect between the British and TCI narratives and perspectives: “The Premier indicated that his statement to the Conference was not posturing and that he stood by its contents. The Governor was viewed as enjoying absolute power over the executive and legislative branches arising from the provisions of the new Constitution enacted in October 2012 which had strengthened his role, as well as from the narrow margin between the governing party and opposition of one seat. The Constitution empowered the Governor to designate two Members of Parliament, which in the present political circumstances placed the balance of power in the hands of the Governor. In addition, the Governor enjoyed the power to deny a draft bill at the level of Cabinet as well as withhold assent from a Private Members Bill adopted by Parliament as was the case with the legislative decision not to implement VAT.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM QUESTIONED

The CARICOM fact-finders noted that concern was expressed with regard to the functioning of the judicial system with its independence and selection procedures being questioned as well as what was viewed as examples of bias in favour of expatriates.

“The greatest concerns were expressed over the operations of the agencies put in place to investigate and prosecute the findings of corruption and wrongdoing arising from the Commission of Enquiry and to recover ill-gotten monies and property - the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team (SIPT) and the Civil Recovery Unit (CRU). Among the criticisms was what was perceived as the inequitable treatment being meted out. The expatriate developers were being allowed to return land and to pay back large sums of monies while not being brought to trial. This was said to be taking place in the absence of transparency and accountability.

On the other hand, the same facility was not being offered to the locals, former Ministers and others, though one TCI person was said to have benefited from it. The long-running operations of these agencies were also said to have ruined reputations, to be over reaching and to have created an atmosphere of fear,” the report added.

Meetings were held with the representatives of other groups and sectors Members of the Opposition, the Speaker of the House, former Ministers of Government, the Grand Turk and Providenciales Chambers of Commerce as well as other business and hotellery associations, the Bar Association and legal-advocacy groups, media, the clergy, youth, NGOs. The prevailing sentiment was that the Constitution of 2012 had been imposed and was not the fruit of genuine negotiation. It was also widely viewed as a major step backwards compared to the Constitution of 2006 because of the wide discretionary powers provided to the Governor, the dissolution of ministerial power resulting from the restrictions placed on the TCIG with regard to financial governance and to the oversight vested in the Chief Financial Officer. In a word, the government could not govern. The Office of the Premier had been depreciated. Many of those met were of the view that these new constitutional arrangements did not constitute true democracy. The Governor and the Chief Financial Officer had override powers but were nor accountable to the electorate. The strictures placed

on the TCIG were viewed as precluding good governance.

Though the Opposition PDM Party acknowledged that portions of the 2012 Constitution were “problematic and regressive for an elected government”, it indicated that, not sitting in Cabinet, it was not privy to the relationship between Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) and the TCIG, nor to the Governor preventing the TCIG from taking any action on behalf of the people. However, it welcomed what it saw as improvements. The oversight role of the Leader of the Opposition had been strengthened with regard to the management of public finances. At present she chaired the Appropriations Committee newly established by the Constitution.

INTERIM ADMINISTRATION CONDEMNED The conduct of the Interim Administration (IA) was widely condemned. It had taken decisions which had weakened the rule of law, dismantled institutions and polices that had empowered the people of TCI (TClnvest, the TCI bank that provided mortgages, reduced scholarships) and downsized the public service. The Governor at the time was said to have largely bypassed the Advisory Council and the Consultative Forum established in the absence of representative government. One interlocutor summed up the situation as the “Mother of democracy empowering autocracy. The conduct of the IA was seen as responsible for the prevailing strained relationship and sentiment of mistrust between the TCIG/TCI People and HMG/British.

There were however a number of voices that did say that the previous PNP Government did wrong to the country and needed to make some public acts of contrition. They had brought about the economic collapse and the resulting present difficult situation for which they should pay the judicial price.

Though acknowledging that the new TCI Constitution had to be respected, there was overwhelming support for constitutional change with some believing that this could take place once the TCI debt had been discharged and the TCIG had displayed fiscal discipline and performed beyond expectations. Reference was made several times to attaining the form of internal self-government presently enjoyed

by Bermuda. Independence was not seen as a solution on the grounds that the territory was not ready, resources lacked and it needed to be studied and planned.

The United Kingdoms representative, the Governor, had claimed that there is no distinction between the people of the TCI and the British; that the people of the TCI are

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

British. While that is not the view of the Islanders except as conceded in a legal sense, the arguments advanced by the TCI are that Britain in the TCI should extend to the people of the TCI the same standards of democracy that obtain in the United Kingdom with communities able to govern themselves fully according to democratic norms.

The CARICOM statement said outrage was also expressed over the fact that of $19million recoverd by the Civil FRecovery Unit, some $13million went to a British alw firm hired to collect the monies.

It was also noted that The Cabinet had responsibility but not authority. A number of restrictive constitutional arrangements as well as other regulatory and administrative arrangements put in place by the Interim Government during the Direct Rule period which the present government indicated it could not repeal placed unassailable strictures on government action. These included the impossibility of the Minister of Finance to authorise expenditure beyond $5000 without the authorisation of the Chief Financial Officer; Permanent Secretaries were said to report to the Deputy Governor and not the Ministers; responsibility for Crown Land, the only existing asset available for the economic development of the territory as well as for housing, was vested in the Attorney General, a British appointed official, which hampered nimble development policy making. In their own words, the Cabinet viewed itself as “window-dressing” and as being placed in a “straightjacket”.

In the interest of governing, the government had decided tactically to “toe the line”, “to go along to get along”. As a consequence, from the outside everything appeared to be going well, but it was simply a case of “behave yourself or see where the power lies”. At the outset there was mutual suspicion and mistrust but the level of acrimony had subsided.

The point was however made by the Cabinet, as well as later by the Parliamentary Opposition, that the willingness of the Governor to use or not use his significant powers rested on the quality of the chemistry between himself and the TCI political leadership. Personality was a rather tenuous platform for such a critical relationship.

In view of the regressive nature of the 2012 Constitution for an elected government, the observation was made that the present constitutional arrangements did not amount to democracy even though, paradoxically, representative democracy was said to be functioning well. Consequently, there was need for early Constitutional reform to get rid of the restrictions on government action.

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LOCAL NEWS

Beaches Overpay Millions Of Dollars In Room Tax

D

espite statements made in Parliament to the contrary, Sandals Resorts International, the Caribbean’s leading hotel company, has released financial information revealing that Beaches Turks and Caicos has been overpaying room accommodation tax for almost 20 years.

Beaches Turks and Caicos, the country’s largest hotel resort has been operating in the Turks and Caicos Islands, paying taxes, including the Hotel Accommodation Tax (HAT) each month, since it opened in 1995.

However, the latest figures show that unlike ‘European Plan’ hotels, where guests pay, and hotels are taxed separately, for rooms and food and beverages, Beaches pays a ‘lump’ sum percentage on its ‘all-inclusive’ revenues, a ‘basket of goods and services’ that include water sports, kids camp, entertainment, night club, tennis, wine tasting and cooking classes which are not subject to the Hotel Accommodation Tax based on the existing tax regulations.

Furthermore, despite tax rules stating that children under the age of 12 years are to be excluded from “taxable revenues,” Beaches Turks and Caicos has been paying for every child as if

Adam Stewart, Chief Executive Officer , Sandals Resorts International they were an adult. Additionally, Beaches pays tax upon team member gratuities that does not attract HAT tax.

Adam Stewart, Chief Executive Officer, Sandals Resorts International commented, “We were surprised to read comments from Parliament in the media suggesting that Beaches have been underpaying room accommodation taxes especially as, certainly in the case of our resort, the exact opposite is true. I appreciate that the Minister behind the statement has been honest enough to state that he “is uncertain about the method of calculation” in which case I would humbly suggest he undertake a little research before making statements that are totally wrong and misleading the general public. On this basis, we call for the Government to retract this statement and issue an apology immediately.”

Stewart continued, “We have been audited on various occasions by the Revenue Authorities and are in full compliance with all audits and, in fact, were complemented for good and timely housekeeping in our accounting records.”

Beaches Turks and Caicos currently contributes approximately US20million per annum in taxes (HAT/departure tax/NHIP/NIS/Work permits) a figure expected to increase to over US25 million in taxes per annum when the Key West Village is fully operational.

Premier Ewing not interested in Canadian takeover

BY VIVIAN TYSON

C

anadian Member of Parliament, Peter Goldring’s push to have the Turks and Caicos Islands annexed to Canada is not a move expressed by the Canadian Government, according to Premier for the Turks and Caicos Islands Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing.

Goldring, after meeting with Premier Ewing, who was on an investment scouting trip in that country two weeks ago, told the media that while he will be giving the thumbs up to economic participation between the countries, would be pushing for the Turks and Caicos Islands to become a province of Canada.

The Edmonton East Member of Parliament told the National Post that a Caribbean province could mean development of strategic, deep-water trading port for Canada and do wonders for national unity.

The MP’s interest in annexing the TCI has fueled speculations among locals, some of whom welcomed the idea, while others rebuffing it.

Seeking to explain the scenario, Premier Ewing, who The SUN caught up with while attending the Fortis TCI Plenary Session at Beaches Resort on Spa on Monday (July 8), pointed out that the move was not being piloted by the Canadian Government, but by the MP. And since he endeavored to make the investment-seeking trip in Canada, the topic resurfaced.

“I don’t think Canada is interested in forming an alliance with the Turks and Caicos, I think there is a specific MP and some others, who have always had interest in the Turks and Caicos annexing with Canada. And I guess each time that

Premier Rufus Ewing you have Turks and Caicos politician visiting Canada and seeking greater relationships, seeking economics and getting investors, the topic will come up, and so, that is what happened there,” Ewing explained.

Premier Ewing said that while there are no immediate plans to take up the MP’s offer, he is

not averse to the topic being in the air, since it could yield investments for the Turks and Caicos Islands because some of its citizens may want to come here and explore why their some of their political representatives are interested in the chain of islands.

“This particular MP has been doing it for years.

But I don’t mind them talking about things. Maybe more Canadians should come down to check us out and to see what we have to offer. Come down, take a holiday and do some investments; invest in some projects and spend some dollars.

I would love it,” Premier Ewing said.

The premier said that he would be relentless in shoring up the shape of the economy, and in order for that to happen, would need to forge as much external relationships as possible. He said that at this time, he is not prepared to walk from under the United Kingdom’s regime to be ruled by another country, unless it is the will of the people.

“Right now, as premier, my focus is on getting this economy off the ground and in good shape, forging as much relationships as possible with many countries, with many investors, to get us off the ground. I know there will be some stumbling blocks to get this economy going. Bu my role is to find ways around the stumbling blocks.

I won’t be too hasty to jump from one mother’s nest to another mother’s nest – one master to another. That is something that the people of the Turks and Caicos have to demonstrate to me that they want and then take it from there. But I think right now it is important to get this economy to turn around, get people to work, get people getting employed and empowered,” he said.

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LOCAL NEWS Statement issued on behalf of the Turks and Caicos Islands’ (TCI) Attorney General, Huw Shepheard regarding court ruling on PNP Headquarters

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he TCI Supreme Court ruled in the Crown’s favour, giving judgment in the claim by the Attorney General against the Progressive National Party (PNP) today, Friday, 12 July 2013.

The Court, dismissing the PNP’s argument that it is entitled to parcel 60602/79 in Providenciales on which its headquarters stands, held (paragraph 53) that “The only possible conclusion is that the beneficial and legal interest in the Land was always and remains in the Crown”.

Judge Ramsey Hale, giving the Court’s judgment, rejected the evidence of Floyd Hall, former Deputy Leader of the PNP and Deputy Premier of the PNP Government in 2006/7. Mr Hall was the primary witness in support of the PNP’s defences to the TCI Government’s claim for the Land. Mr Hall gave evidence that he mistakenly believed that the PNP had a lease of the land (paragraphs 10 and 12 of the Judgment). The Judge rejected Mr Hall’s evidence. She said: “…it is impossible to accept that Mr Hall, an experienced accountant and a leader of the Party, and the man responsible for preparing the Party’s accounts, was unaware that no rent had been paid in respect of the Land. He would have known from the fact that no rent had been paid that no Conditional Purchase Lease (CPL) had been granted.

His evidence that he believed, because planning permission had been granted, that the PNP had a lease the execution of which Arlington Musgrove somehow co-ordinated and for which Musgrove, as a card carrying member of the Party, had elected to pay, frankly strains the credulity of this Court and I reject it.” (paragraph 33).

The Judge went on to conclude (paragraph 34): “…in my judgment, the only inference to be drawn from the evidence is that Mr Hall and the PNP knew that no lease had been agreed, executed or granted by the Governor and that it had no title to the land”.

In other findings in the case, the Judge also determined that the PNP, as an unincorporated association, has no legal personality and cannot sue or be sued. She therefore determined that the

claims for damages could not be pursued against the PNP as a body, or Mr Cooke, the Chairman of the PNP, since it had not been shown that he personally was a trespasser, nor was he deemed by the Court to be legally representative of all the PNP members.

The outcome of the case is therefore that the Crown is entitled to parcel 60602/79 including the PNP headquarters, but it is not entitled to pursue its claim for damages against the PNP (because it does not legally exist according to the Court) or against Mr Cooke (because he has not personally been shown to be a trespasser). The Crown would be entitled to claim damages for trespass against any individual PNP member or other person whom it could prove had been trespassing on the land.

Commenting on the Judgment, the Attorney General said: “I am pleased that judgment has now been given, and that the Court has agreed with our case that the Crown is entitled to this valuable parcel of land and office building built on it. This has been a difficult case, which we had always hoped would be resolved amicably, and I am sorry that it was necessary to bring the matter to a trial to resolve it. I very much hope it will now be possible to deal with the remaining matters amicably, and for the PNP to accept the judge’s ruling and voluntarily to hand over possession of the building as quickly as possible.

“I will consider the comments of the judge carefully in relation to the damages aspect of the case. Although it seems that it would be open for me to bring proceedings for damages against anyone who has been in occupation of the building since 2006, these proceedings were always about recovery of the land and never really about money. Our foremost aim was always to recover the land and that has now been achieved. I will now have to consider whether it is in the public interest to take any further steps to seek to recover damages, and I will do that over the coming days.

“We will also need to wait and see whether the

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.

PNP decides to appeal this judgment but I do hope all aspects of this matter can be brought swiftly to an amicable conclusion. My door is open, as it always has been, to resolving all matters in a friendly way with the PNP as quickly as possible without the need for any further legal steps.”

This successful judgment is the latest in a series of recoveries by the Civil Recovery Team led

by Edwards Wildman. It follows the announcement at the end of May of the recovery of 550 acres of land and $75,000 in cash in a settlement with Richard Padgett. The team has now recovered for TCIG over 3,000 acres of land (currently valued at in excess of $100m) and nearly $20m in cash paid or ordered to be paid for TCIG.

Pnp Response To Attorney General’s Statement On Court Ruling

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press release issued on behalf of the Attorney General about the outcome of the Supreme Court ruling on the Progressive National Party (PNP) headquarters is misleading to the point of dishonesty and can only be intended to cover up this almost criminal waste of Turks and Caicos Islands tax payers’ money.

The PNP has never claimed title to the land, but rather only to be allowed to purchase it for a reasonable amount and to pay a reasonable rent for the time the Party has occupied the land since building its headquarters there.

Ownership of the land was never in issue and for the Attorney General to spend thousands of tax payer dollars for the Court to tell him what everyone knew and accepted was wasteful.

The court proceedings were brought by the Attorney General to evict the PNP and take possession of the building, but that claim was dismissed by the court, which stated: “As the PNP is not a legal entity the claim against it must be dismissed. For the reasons I have given, Mr Cooke cannot represent the members of the PNP in the action for the trespass as it cannot be said that all the members of the PNP have the same defence. The claim against Mr Cooke personally in respect of the trespass to the land is dismissed, there being no evidence before the court that he is or has been a trespasser.

As action to recover possession can only be taken against the persons, real or legal, who are in possession of the property and the PNP is not a person. No evidence has been led as to who is in actual possession of the premises. Insofar as the as the Plaintiff (AG) purports to proceed against Mr Cooke personally to recover possession of the land, that claim too is dismissed, there being no evidence that he is in possession of the land or any part of it.”

The Attorney General also claimed to be entitled to repayment of the sum of $480,000.00 in rents paid to a private management company for MPs constituency offices located in the building. That claim was abandoned midway through the trial.

The Attorney General further claimed an order to be permitted to demolish the building.

That claim was abandoned at the commencement of the trial. It would have amounted to nothing more than court sanctioned vandalism.

The Attorney General was told, before he issued these proceedings that he could not sue the PNP because it is not a legal person. It was for this reason that his case for possession against the PNP was dismissed.

The Attorney General was told that naming Trevor Cooke as a defendant on the basis that he is the Chairman of the PNP did not help his cause. In the end the case against

Trevor Cooke was dismissed.

It is true that the Court rejected the estoppel defences raised on behalf of the PNP. However these were defences, not claims. The distinction is important: a claim is a request of the court to allow some positive action, whilst a defence is a request to deny that action. In this case the Court denied the Attorney General’s claim to evict the PNP though not on the basis of the estoppels raised on behalf of the PNP but on the basis that the PNP cannot be sued because it is not a legal person. That is a principle that is taught in first year law school!

So after all is said and done the Attorney General has paid the Civil Recovery Team in excess of $250,000.00 to get no further than where he was before the proceedings were commenced and for the Court to tell him what we all knew and accepted from the beginning. It’s no wonder he’s looking forward to negotiating an amicable resolution.

An amicable resolution is what the PNP has been asking for from the very beginning, however the Attorney General was hell-bent on litigation, designed to have what was not his. Contrary to free advice, he went about it in the wrong way and the Court has now dismissed his claims. At the costs submissions hearing next Friday 19 July the PNP and Trevor Cooke will be seeking costs orders against him.

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LOCAL NEWS

Lord Ashcroft enquires in House of Lords about British contracts in the Caribbean

BY HAYDEN BOYCE PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

L

ord Michael Ashcroft, one of the most powerful and inuential ďŹ gures in British politics, has weighed in on the controversial issue of contracts being offered by the British government to the Caribbean.

In the House of Lords recently, Lord Ashcroft asked Her Majesty’s Government what contracts have been awarded by the Foreign and Commonwealth OfďŹ ce to the Caribbean Council; for what services; and for what cost.

Baroness Warsi replied: “Since 2010, the Foreign and Commonwealth OfďŹ ce (FCO) has awarded four Accountable Grant Agreements to the Caribbean Council in support of the Government’s growth and jobs objectives. These were: • November 2011; a grant of ÂŁ9,051 to part-sponsor a Caribbean Council led trade and investment mission to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.• March 2012; a grant of ÂŁ10,000 to carry out a scoping study into commercial opportunities for UK companies in Guatemala and El Salvador.• March 2013; a grant of ÂŁ3,500 to part sponsor a Caribbean Council led trade and investment mission to Guatemala and Nicaragua.• June 2013; a grant of ÂŁ9,990 to carry out a scoping study into commercial opportunities for UK

companies in Guyana and Suriname.

In addition to this, the FCO provides an annual subvention of £25,000 to the Caribbean Council to support its work in promoting and developing trade and investment links between the UK and the Caribbean region.�

Lord Ashcroft also asked Her Majesty’s Government what contracts have been awarded by the Department for International Development to the Caribbean Council; for what services; and for what cost.

Baroness Northover replied: “DFID has issued 3 contracts to the Caribbean Council in recent years, funded through DFID Caribbean. The Council works to foster trade, investment and development in the Caribbean and promotes the region’s interests internationally. The contracts were as follows: Contract for “Developing Effective Social Partnerships – Jamaica Study and Lecture Tourâ€? (2008-09). The assignment included research and analysis, a lecture tour, public dialogue and media awareness work. The contract sum was ÂŁ40,000.2) Contract for “Gender and Entrepreneurship Proposal for Strategic Fundâ€? (2009-10). The assignment included the development of a database of women entrepreneurs in the Caribbean, research, analysis and recommendations. The contract sum was ÂŁ10,825. Contract for “Exploratory work

on Developing Effective Social Partnerships in St. Lucia� (2010). The assignment included scoping discussions and research. The contract sum was £7,900.

Lord Ashcroft also asked Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to promote trade and cultural links with the Overseas Territories and Members of the Commonwealth in the Caribbean.

The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth OfďŹ ce (Baroness Warsi) said the British Government is keen to promote trade and cultural links between the UK and both the Overseas Territories and the Commonwealth Caribbean. “We believe there are considerable opportunities for British business particularly in the energy (both hydrocarbons and renewable), ďŹ sheries, agriculture, education and tourism sectors.

The Foreign and Commonwealth OfďŹ ce (FCO) is working closely with the Department for Trade and Investment (UKTI) to ensure that UK companies are aware of the opportunities available,â€? she said. “We plan to hold a business event in London in November to bring together UK companies and representatives from the Overseas Territories. In the Commonwealth Caribbean, the Department for International Devel-

Lord Michael Ashcroft opment-funded Compete Caribbean Initiative supports growth and development of the private sector. The FCO and UKTI are working together on a regional approach to increase trade links.

We are proud of the strong cultural and people to people links between the UK and the region. The 2012 Olympics and Paralympics highlighted the close ties between the Caribbean and the UK in tourism, trade, sport and arts.�

British MP Diane Abbott recently drew the House of Common’s attention to what she described as “the growing phenomenon of wealthy UKbased management consultancies creaming off millions of pounds from the aid budget..

She stated: “ We are seeing—the process has accelerated in recent years— the emergence of lords of poverty. People are building fat businesses and paying themselves fat salaries creamed from the budget of the Department for International Development. Lords of poverty, hardship tycoons, pinstriped famine magnates: whatever we call them, the phenomenon is growing, and I think the British public would deprecate it.�

GOVERNMENT VACANCY

JOB TITLE: PRISON OFFICER t &OTVSFT UIBU BMM JONBUFT BSF DIFDLFE QSJPS UP BOE BGUFS FBDI WJTJU WJTJU SFHVMBUJPOT BSF DPNQMJFE XJUI PO FOUFSJOH or leaving the Prison and at any time directed by the Senior Officer in charge. t 3FQPSUT UIFJS QPTU UP UIF 4VQFSJOUFOEFOU %FQVUZ 4VQFSJOUFOEFOU 4FOJPS 0óDFS XIFOFWFS IF TIF WJTJUT BGUFS hours. t "DUT BT 1FSTPOBM $BTF 0óDFS BT EJSFDUFE CZ UIF "TTJTUBOU %FQVUZ 4VQFSJOUFOEFOU JOB SUMMARY: t &OTVSFT UIBU GFNBMF QSJTPOFST BOE +VWFOJMF QSJTPOFST BSF LFQU TFQBSBUF BOE BQBSU GSPN NBMF JONBUFT To support the Superintendent of Prisons to maintain security, control, supervision and the safe custody of t .VTU CF BCMF UP XPSL XFMM JO B UFBN offenders. The successful candidate will be responsible for looking after Offenders and to help them lead law t .VTU CF JO QIZTJDBMMZ ÜU abiding and useful lives in custody and after release. t .VTU CF EJTDJQMJOFE øFYJCMF BOE DPNNJUUFE UP UIF KPC BT XFMM BT CF BCMF UP GPMMPX MBXGVM JOTUSVDUJPO GSPN IJHIFS ranks.

DEPARTMENT: MINISTRY: LOCATION:

Her Majesty’s Prison Service.

Environment and Home Affairs.

Grand Turk.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: t &OTVSFT UIBU 4FDVSJUZ NFBTVSFT JO QMBDF BU UIF QSJTPO BSF TBUJTGBDUPSZ CZ DIFDLJOH DFMMT CPMUT MPDLT HSJMMT perimeter checks and to report to the Senior Officer any weakness detected in security arrangements. t $PNQMJFT XJUI DJSDVMBUFE TUBOEJOH PSEFST BOE OPUJDFT UP 4UBò t $IFDLT NVTUFS CZ DPVOUJOH JONBUFT UP FOTVSF UIBU UIF QIZTJDBM DPVOU DPSSFTQPOET XJUI UIF OVNCFS PO SFDPSE BT detailed by Prison Routine and the Shift Leader. t &OTVSFT UIF TBGFUZ HPPE DPOEVDU XFMGBSF BOE JOEVTUSZ PG JONBUFT CZ PXO QFSTPOBM FYBNQMFT ESFTT NBOOFSJTN and general deportment. t $BSSJFT PVU TFBSDIFT BT SFRVJSFE BOE NBLFT UIF OFDFTTBSZ SFQPSUT UP UIF 4FOJPS 0óDFS BOE SFDPSET JO UIF QSJTPO diary/Orderly sheets. t &OTVSFT UIBU QSPIJCJUFE BSUJDMFT BSF OPU CSPVHIU JOUP UIF *OTUJUVUJPO t &OTVSFT UIBU QSJTPOFS DPNQMBJOUT BOE SFRVFTUT BSF UBLFO BOE BEESFTTFE BQQSPQSJBUFMZ XIFUIFS QFSTPOBMMZ PS CZ SFGFSSJOH UP 4FOJPS 0óDFS PS SFDPSEFE JO UIF SFRVFTU CPPL t 4VQFSWJTFT JONBUF PS HSPVQ PG JONBUFT PO 8JOHT BOE JO UIF QFSGPSNBODF PG UIFJS UBTLT HJWF QSPQFS HVJEBODF accordingly. t &TDPSUT JONBUFT UP $PVSU JO XPSL 1BSJUJFT UP )FBMUI $FOUSF BOE 1VCMJD )PTQJUBM BOE BOZ PUIFS QMBDF BT EJSFDUFE

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE: t )JHI 4DIPPM EJQMPNB FRVJWBMFOU PS SFMBUFE XPSL FYQFSJFODF

COMPENSATION: t 4BMBSZ 5 o 5 QFS BOOVN

APPLICATION PROCEDURE 3FTVNFT XJUI DVSSFOU DPOUBDU JOGPSNBUJPO NVTU CF BDDPNQBOJFE CZ B $PWFS -FUUFS BOE UXP MFUUFST PG SFGFSFODF POF QSFGFSBCMZ GSPN B GPSNFS FNQMPZFS BT XFMM BT DPQJFT PG FEVDBUJPOBM DFSUJĂśDBUFT BOE B DPQZ PG UIF 1BTTQPSU QIPUP QBHF 4IPSUMJTUFE DBOEJEBUFT NVTU TVCNJU B 1PMJDF $FSUJĂśDBUF "QQMJDBUJPOT TIPVME CF BEESFTTFE UP UIF 0ĂłDF PG UIF )VNBO 3FTPVSDF %JSFDUPSBUF $IVSDI 'PMMZ (SBOE 5VSL 'BDTJNJMF PS TFOU CZ FNBJM UP SFDSVJUNFOU!HPW UD XJUI UIF TVCKFDU MJOF CFJOH 1SJTPO 0ĂłDFS "QQMJDBUJPO &OWFMPQFT TIPVME IBWF UIF TVCKFDU 1SJTPO 0ĂłDFS "QQMJDBUJPO DMFBSMZ NBSLFE PO UIF GSPOU Successful applicants will work in accordance with the Public Service Ordinance.

Qualified Belongers will be given first consideration.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 25TH July, 2013

Page 8

JULY 13TH - JULY 20TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

Delton Jones displeased on shelving of that 10-year Development Plan

BY VIVIAN TYSON

F

ormer government chief economist and permanent secretary for finance Delton Jones is disgruntled at the decision by the powers that be to allow the 2007 10-year development plan to gather dust instead of applying its contents to grow the country.

Speaking at the Second Annual Fortis TCI Plenary Session at Beaches Turks and Caicos Resort and Spa, Jones told the packed room that while he was happy that a House of Assembly has initiated the debating of a national agenda, was equally disappointed that the document, which encapsulated the recommendations from persons near and far, was allowed to become a dust manufacturer rather than being used to institute policies for nation building. “…I was equally disappointed that a lot of resources were expended by the former administration to prepare a national and social economic development strategy for the period 2007 to 2017, which seems to be largely forgotten, lying on the shelf graveyard. This strategy was prepared consulting over 500 people at town hall meetings, focus groups and 22 subcommittees, addressing topics such as revenue and tax policies, local government, health, education, crime and security, climate change adaptation, empowerment strategies, diversification and sustainable tourism,” he said.

He said that the plan was a comprehensive one, since it catered to giving development attention to all the inhabited islands across the island chain.

“Island plans were prepared for all the inhabited islands. The development strategy was comprehensive, ambitious and flexible, allowing for its monitoring and adjustment to address emerging issues,” he said.

Jones pointed out that since the plan is a 10-year one, and which expires in four year’s time, some of it could still be implemented. He

pointed out that in short order another plan would be needed, and warns the powers that be not to allow it to waste away like the current strategic plan.

“We are still within the timeframe of the strategy. In the resource constrains that we find ourselves, a simple vision of the strategy could be a logical starting point as we embark on the future development planning initiative.

“Preparation of the national development plan would present an exciting opportunity for us to agree and debate some specific national development targets and progress indicators along the lines of the millennium development goal.

When we embark on the next development planning initiative, as we must, we need to ensure that it does not become a next shelf document,” he said.

Against that backdrop, Jones said that government should take a leaf from the Commonwealth Secretariat’s book kin its observations for regional development.

“The plan should practical. That is, while it should be comprehensive and ambitious, covering priority policies and issues, it should be consistent with the level of resources and the implementation capacity in the islands.

“The plan should have national ownership amongst government departments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and the ordinary citizens, who should all be involved in this preparation. The plan should be effectively communicated and marketed. The use of social media can be helpful here. The plan should be endorsed by the House of Assembly, to give it legitimacy.

“There must be a clear implementation framework. The plan should provide a basis for national budgets, to give it true meaning. Implementation of the plan would present a framework for citizens to hold their government accountable and build credibility,” he said.

Jones urged that as the quest for

economic development continues, no sector should be left out of the equation, since, when all hands are on deck, the goal would be easier achieved.

“Governments cannot dictate social and economic developments by legislation. As we would no doubt agree, private sector investment and responsible business conduct, thriving small businesses and effective non-government organizations are essential conditions for a vibrant economy, sustained developments, better living conditions and accelerated people-centred national development. All actors should be seen equal, complementary partners.

“My observation is that private sector/public sector collaboration in the Turks and Caicos Islands is mostly ad hoc. This is not to suggest that there is no mutually beneficial collaboration between the public and private sectors. I wish to highlight collaborations in the areas of attracting sustained airlift and past efforts to an investment promotion.

“My point however, is, we need to create better synergies between the public and private sectors, to maximize the benefits of dialogue and collaboration. Such benefits include cost-sharing, building confidence, and working in accordance with their respective comparative advantages,” he said.

Jones used the opportunity to suggest examples from the Caribbean on Public /Private Sector Dialogue, which he hopes the authorities would consider going forward.

“Firstly, to build better understanding and trust among the public and private sectors, governments in the Bahamas, Barbados and St. Kits and Nevis host national consultations on the economy and development, which are held in advance of

Delton Jones the budget presentation.

“These consultations facilitate comprehensive examination and challenges facing the economy as a starting point for the national budget and updating of development plans and strategies. They also facilitate good governance and transparency objectives. The Caribbean Development Bank has facilitated such consultations.

“Secondly, Barbados has a long history of social compacts between government, labor and the private and the private sector, which has been key to fostering a climate for economic stability in that country, while protecting the value of the Barbados Dollars. Overtime, these compacts have evolved to address issues such as the disabled, poverty and HIV/AIDS. “As part of these compacts, quarterly meetings, which are chaired by the prime minister, are held. And thirdly, we need to embrace our Diaspora, living in places such as the Bahamas, the U.S. and Jamaica. They know us, they have a stake in our success,” Jones said.

The Plenary Session was held by Fortis to pool ideas so as to foster economic prosperity for the TCI.

“BUTCH” STEWART COULD GET BEACH ACCESS SOON

BY VIVIAN TYSON

D

eputy Governor Hon. Anya Williams has been given the green light by cabinet to sign a license granting Beaches Resort and Spa the go ahead to incorporate as part of its property the controversial beach access, which runs between its already sprawling property and new acquisition – the former Veranda Resort, now Key West Village.

Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing made the announcement while addressing the bi-monthly post cabinet press briefing, at the Tourist Board in Grace Bay, on Thursday (July 11). He said that the granting of the license would be predicated on a number of conditions that Beaches would need to fulfill, including its commitment to underwrite the overhauling of the craft market and to allow the artisans at the facility a more open access to hotel guests for patronizing.

“Cabinet has given the deputy governor the authority to sign a license which regards to the beach access, while the process for the lease of the beach access still ongoing. That also rests on the conditions of other things such as the redevelopment of the cultural and craft market and forging a closer relationship between the vendors at the craft market and Beaches, in terms of increasing their sales and boosting their sales,” the premier said.

In recent months, there has been public perception of major disagreement between Progressive National Party (PNP) Government and the country’s largest resort.

The government has been trying to get Beaches to renegotiate the 2006 development agreement, penned between the former Michael Misick administration and the Gordon “Butch” Stewart-run resort.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 9

JULY 13TH - JULY 20TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

Hotel manager David Crofts skips bail, leaves Turks and Caicos Islands in middle of police investigation A

former hotel manager who was under police investigation in connection with the alleged theft of large sums of money has skipped bail and left the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Police confirmed that they are investigating serious reports made against Canadian David Crofts, the former manager of Ports of Call Resort, formerly Comfort Suites.

Dale Papke, the owner of Ports of Call Hotel, also confirmed with The SUN that he had reported Crofts to the police after discovering serious financial irregularities.

In an exclusive interview with The SUN, Papke said that two months ago he was notified by Presidential Security, who provide security services for the hotel, that some of their guards had reported that Crofts was returning back to the hotel late at night, several times a week over the past year, and going to the hotels safe, removing money then returning to a popular bar in the Grace Bay area.

“On being notified I had our head office accounting department investigate and they came to the conclusion that a lot of cash that had been registered in the daily sales over the past year but never actually made it to the bank,” Papke said.

“Based on this information I arranged my head office controller to accompany myself to the island to investigate. Due to a combination of Mr. Crofts not having an explanation for the

David Crofts

missing funds as well as his poor record keeping and a build up of complaints from the staff concerning his treatment of them I terminated Mr. Crofts from his position at the resort on May 23rd and went to the Providenciales police to see if charges could be laid. In the interim we have implemented stricter cash controls and promoted from within our ranks with employees that have our full confidence to ensure that similar incidents do not occur in the future.”

Papke said that over the May 23rd, 24th period he arranged for several witnesses to give statements to the police to support the suspicions and on May 24th the police arrived at the resort to take Mr. Crofts in for questioning.

The SUN understands that Crofts was released on condition that he not leave the island until the matter could be further investigated. According to sources a well-known bar owner signed bail for Crofts, who was scheduled to report to police for final questioning on July 1st.

When the police went looking for Crofts, they discovered that he fled the country.

It is understood that the person who signed bail for Crofts may have to forfeit around $50,000.

Crofts is a former Executive Assistant Manager at Beaches Resort Villages and Spa Turks & Caicos and Hotel Supervisor at Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa Grand Cayman.

Page 10

JULY 13TH - JULY 20TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

Some government workers rather resign than be transferred to another island, says Acting Governor Hon. Anya Williams G

overnment workers who prefer to resign than to be transferred to a different island is contributing to the unemployment situation in the Turks and Caicos Islands, according to Acting Governor Hon. Anya Williams.

Acting Goverrnor Williams made the declaration while addressing the Second Annual Fortis TCI Plenary Session at the Beaches Resort and Spa on Tuesday, July 9, speaking on the topic - Foundations for Sustained Social and Economical Developments in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

She was however, quick to clear any misconception that locals did not want to work, hinting that those cases should not be used to define the wider unemployed population.

“There are a number of the persons around the Islands are not employed for various reasons.

Some are the lack of will to work in many cases because there are no employment opportunities on the family islands and it is very, very challenging. We train many locals to come back and work in the government in Turks and Caicos. But when we say to them that we are going to transfer you to South Caicos, North Caicos or Middle Caicos, they resign. So that is a challenge for us,” she said.

Acting Governor Williams said that as a result, many persons who work on the outer islands are expatriates, working on contractual employment.

“You find actually that when you visit these islands, many of the persons working on those islands are actually contract workers. Many of the locals on those islands do not work because of issues surrounding migration. They don’t want to

Acting Governor Hon. Anya Williams migrate to Provo, and yet, people in Provo that are not working don’t want to migrate to the other islands. That is particularly a challenge for us.

We are trying to move people from out of unemployment to job opportunities,” she pointed out.

She told the meeting that in the coming months, some jobs would emerge in government, which she hopes would ease some of the problem. She said, too, that government would be using development agreements in new constructions to ensure that locals are trained and jet jobs in the private sector. “ There will be a few jobs that would be com-

ing up in government, but in addition to that, (we are) trying to work with the private sector, trying to use development agreements to secure places for persons through internship programmes and so on. And in addition to that, (we are) trying to put in place at the (Community) College, new programmes and actually a trade school. However, these things are very challenging because they all have financial implications, but they are something that we are trying to work towards,” she said.

She said took that government is working to channel new developments to the outer islands to fill the number of existing job chasms on each island, and to lower the unemployment rate, which is set at eight percent.

Acting Governor Williams said that the poverty assessment that the Turks and Caicos Islands is currently using as a yardstick to gauge the level of poverty in the country was issued in 2001. However, she said that figures from the 2012 census would be extracted to be used as the latest data.

In the meantime, the acting governor said that the Turks and Caicos Islands has built a foundation for sustained social and economical development for the islands based on five key pillars of strength. They include putting in place a good government structure, making the best use of our proximity and access to outside markets, established renowned telecommunications, utility and other infrastructures, developed a vibrant economy, and establishment of a strong policy and development objectives.

Restaurant Supervisor

Summary: Reporting to the Restaurant Manager, responsibilities and essential job functions include but are not limited to the following: RESPONSIBILITIES

REQUIREMENTS

• Consistently offer professional, friendly, hospitable service • Oversee restaurant operations ensuring compliance with departmental standards and meeting / exceeding guest expectations • Knowledgeable of all food and beverage products • Ensure proper staffing and scheduling in accordance to productivity guidelines • Communicate through pre-shift briefings, and departmental meetings all necessary information to support the operation • Train Team members in all job aspects – service, product knowledge and technical skills • Cash handling and daily accounting • Capitalize on revenues by upselling and controlling expenses • Handle guest concerns in a timely and professional manner • Follow resort policies, procedures and service standards • Ensure compliance with all Health & Safety policies • Other duties as assigned

• Previous Food and Beverage Supervisory experience • Degree or Diploma in Hospitality Management • Excellent written and verbal communication, interpersonal and leadership skills • Fluency in English (1 additional language desirable) • Ability to work independently, multi task and prioritize responsibilities • Strong guest service orientation and training skills background • Ability to supervise a diverse staff compliment • POS experience – (IQ Ware desirable) • Computer proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) • Basic First Aid

PHYSICAL ASPECTS: (include but are not limited to): • Constant standing and walking throughout shift • Lifting and carrying up to 25 lbs.

• Pushing, pulling, lifting

Salary for this position will commensurate with qualifications and experience.

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 19th, 2013

Belongers need only apply.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 11

JULY 13TH - JULY 20TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

Government to probe Belonger jobs at Provo Airport project

BY VIVIAN TYSON

T

he Dr. Rufus Ewing administration will be embarking on a verification exercise with the Labour Department to ensure that persons who the Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) lists as Belongers working on the multimillion dollar Providenciales Airport phase two expansion programme are people with authentic Turks and Caicos Islander status.

The Premier made the announcement while hosting his bi-monthly post cabinet news briefing at the Tourist Board Office in Grace Bay on Thursday, ( July 11).

He said that his office has decided to make the probe after a cabinet update on Wednesday (June 10), by Chief Executive Officer for the TCIAA, John Smith.

“The cabinet is still concerned about the status of employment of Belongers on the airport project, and coming out of cabinet, the premier took the responsibility to engage the Labour Department, and also committed to engage contractors and subcontractors of that project concerning the employment of Belongers, to ensure that Belongers derive maximum benefits from that airport project, during these times of high

unemployment,” the premier told the news briefing.

Asked why such a probe was necessary after the TCIAA made public declaration that the project boasts 90 percent and above of local employment, Premier Ewing affirmed that while there needs to be reviews of the level of employment there from time to time, the CEO may share different views from him on who is a Belonger in real terms.

“I would let you know what Mr. Smith’s perception is (on who is a Belonger); he basically said that there is a high percentage of Belongers that are employed. But fortunately, unfortunately, how we may call it, the majority of those are not what we would identify as Belongers, because they are of different ethnicity. So, you may have a lot of persons that are employed that are Dominicans and are Belongers; that is according to his views.

“And think it is important that we have those verified, to make sure that there is no discrimination with regards to preference.

There should be equal opportunity regardless of your skin colour, regardless of your ethnicity. As long as you are a Belonger, there shouldn’t be any preferential treat-

ment. So my review is to basically make sure that all persons who are qualified, willing and able (to work), to have equal opportunity to access jobs that are available on that project,” the Premier said.

Phase two of the Providenciales International Airport will focus mainly on the terminal building and the car park. Work is expected to last 72 weeks, and according to Smith, in a recent interview, the project is ahead of schedule.

On completion, upgrade will be made to the domestic area, extension in the arrival area, redundancies in the carousels, extension in the car parking facility, a new drainage system, a full backup power system and increase and introduction of more amenities befitting that of the destination. Smith noted at the time that pumps will be installed at the facility that will address 25 years worth of flooding.

Phase one of the project saw the lengthening of the runway from 51,462 square feet to 92,321 square feet, nearly doubling the size of the terminal to better accommodate the more than 500,000 passengers that pass through the Airport each year. That leg of the project was done at a cost of $40 million.

QUESTION ABOUT TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS CROWN LAND ASKED IN HOUSE OF COMMONS

T

he controversial issue of Crown land in the Turks and Caicos Islands was recently brought up in the British House of Commons. On July 4th Andrew Rosindell asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the area of Crown land in the Turks and Caicos Islands was in each of the last 10 years.

Mark Simmonds, the Minister for Overseas Territories said that a definitive list of land parcels owned by the Crown in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) for each of the last 10 years is not available. He added that records maintained by previous TCI Governments (who had devolved responsibility for Crown Land) do not contain this information.

Simmonds said that since December 2009, as part of a wider land administration reform programme under the Interim Administration, work began to generate a definitive listing of land parcels owned by the Crown and registered at the TCI Land Registry.

He noted, however, that as the listing is live and regularly updated, historical versions are not kept.

“Moreover, areas of Crown land without registers of title, such as foreshore, are not included in the listing. Since the election in November 2012, this work continues under the TCI Government,” Simmonds stated.

He told British MPs that in November 2012 there were approximately 6,117 registered parcels of Crown land totalling 87,342 acres, approximately 68% of the registered land extent recorded on the listing.

Page 12

JULY 13TH - JULY 20TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

Ambassador Andrew Young urges private/public partnership in TCI

BY VIVIAN TYSON

F

ormer United States Congressman and Atlanta Mayor, Ambassador Andrew Young, said that while there is a role for government to play in development, it is the private sector that should be the economic engine, since it is the one with the money to spend.

Ambassador Young, who was invited by Fortis TCI, to headline the speaking roster of its Second Annual Plenary Session, held at the Beaches Turks and Caicos Islands Resort, on Tuesday, July 9, said that governments everywhere are broke and don’t have much money to put in social and infrastructural programmes. And so, it is important that they see the private sector as a close ally to assist them to attain the development goal they seek. “It is true that governments don’t have much money now. And there are enormous amounts of money in the private sector. But the way to make things work now, we have to create partnerships between government and the private sector. The government has to establish the environmental rules and regulations and things like that, and see to it that local citizens participate. But ultimately, the money comes from the private sector. “I looked at this place some 20 years ago when I ďŹ rst came here, and almost all the growth here is the private investment that has come in. And I think you want to keep that happening, but you also want to keep small businesses coming in and working,â€? he said.

Ambassador Young said that one way that government could encourage especially the growth

Ambassador Young (standing) evokes laughter among members of the head table (from left) Former PS for Finance Delton Jones, Acting Governor Hon. Anya Williams, Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing and President and CEO for Fortis TCI Eddington Powell of small businesses is to make it easier for them to obtain business licenses. “We try to give away business licenses in Atlanta because we want people to start businesses. If they start a business they create jobs and become self sustaining. The one thing missed is, there are not enough shops owned by people who are the Belongers,� he said.

He pointed out also that the culture of the islands could be a bit more visible for the tourists to experience.

“I don’t see people doing business along the streets. The cultural ambience that makes a tourist experience (is not there).I would love to have a painting of the seascapes or this beautiful garden (of a TCI hotel) or something, to take back with me. And if somebody was here painting those kinds of paintings and they charge me $500, it would be that some man could take care of his family for another week, just by doing a paintCONTINUED ON PAGE 13

OPERATORS DECK HAND STEVEDORES & JANITOR JOB PURPOSE: Â? A_N[`]\_a` ZNaR_VNY N[Q R^bV]ZR[a a\ S_\Z cR``RY` N[Q W\O `VaR` Â? <SS Y\NQ N[Q /NPX Y\NQ P\[aNV[R_ `UV]` :b`a OR NOYR a\ \]R_NaR A\] =VPX Reach Stacker, Excavator, Front End Loader & Forklift. Â? :b`a OR NOYR a\ d\_X b[`b]R_cV`RQ

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES: Â? 8[\dYRQTR \S cN_V\b` a_bPX af]R` N[Q aURV_ b`R \S ZNV[aR[N[PR Â? .OVYVaf a\ \]R_NaR W\PXRf a_bPX SYNaORQ a_bPX N[Q ]VPX b] a_bPX Â? .OVYVaf a\ b`R UN[Q a\\Y` N[Q ON`VP T_\b[Q` XRR]V[T a\\Y` N[Q R^bV]ZR[a Â? 8[\dYRQTR \S `aN[QN_Q P_N[R `VT[NY N[Q `NSRaf ]_\PRQb_R`

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED: Â? :b`a UNcR N UVTU `PU\\Y QV]Y\ZN \_ 421 Â? :b`a UNcR Na YRN`a " fRN_` Re]R_VR[PR Â? :b`a `bZZVa N PYRN[ ]\YVPR _RP\_Q Â? :b`a `bZZVa N cNYVQ Q_VcV[T YVPR[`R Â? :b`a `bZZVa N PYRN[ Q_bT ZRQVPNY Â? :b`a OR dVYYV[T a\ d\_X ReaR[QRQ U\b_` [VTUa QNf dRRXR[Q N[Q ]bOYVP U\YVQNf` Â? :b`a OR dVYYV[T a\ P\\]R_NaR N[Q d\_X N` N W\V[a aRNZ dVaU \aUR_ `aNSS ZRZOR_`

PHYSICAL REQUIRMENTS: Sitting, standing, walking, driving, climbing/ladders, squatting/kneeling, reaching, grasping, pushing/pulling, twisting/bending, lifting/carrying up to 50 lbs multiple times per shift, fingering, talking, hearing, and seeing.

WORKING CONDITIONS: Spends most time outdoors, frequent exposure to extreme hot or cold temperature S\_ \[R U\b_ ]Yb` =\``VOYR Re]\`b_R a\ distraction/uncomfortable noise levels and vibration of body or extremities. Risk of bodily V[Wb_f S_\Z ZRPUN[VPNY ]N_a` RYRPa_VPVaf RaP =\``VOYR Re]\`b_R a\ SbZR` \Q\_` RaP aUNa may effect respiration and skin.

Please apply before August 1 to:

CRYSTAL GREENE Human Resources Manager P.O. Box 427 Ports Administration Building South Dock, Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 13

JULY 13TH - JULY 20TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

Government achieves another quarterly budget surplus

AMBASSADOR ANDREW YOUNG URGES PRIVATE/ PUBLIC PARTNERSHIP IN TCI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

ing,” he pointed out.

He said that the size of the Turks and Caicos Islands presents a grand opportunity for it to create a model solution that other countries could follow.

“I think that the Turks and Caicos and the leadership you have here has a tremendous opportunity. Because you are small, you can take on big problems and create a model solution. We did well in Atlanta because we were just a million people. Atlanta was a million people, Detroit was six million people. And so, we tried new things. Detroit had big government and the government ran everything. But they ran business away. We had nothing and we brought business in. Now, we have six million people and Detroit has a million people,” Ambassador Young said.

He added: “We want the Turks and Caicos and the Caribbean to move in the direction of private/public partnerships, where everybody can share in the blessings that God gave us in this beautiful earth. And I am always thrilled when I come down here because you have so much to be thankful for. I just don’t want you to take it for granted and complaining when you have got nothing to complain about.”

BY VIVIAN TYSON

T

he Dr. Rufus Ewing administration has chalked up another period of budgetary surplus of more than a million dollars and a year-todate surplus of $12 million, which started in the twilight years of the previous Interim Administration.

The premier made the disclosure while addressing the twice-a-month post cabinet news briefing, held on Thursday (July 11) at the Tourist Board in Grace Bay, Providenciales.

Premier Ewing said that the latest round of surplus - $1.5 million – was recorded between May and July. He said the fiscal performance means that government finances have been showing great strength ahead of new budget.

“The Government surplus as of May shows an operation surplus of $1.5 million and a year-to-date surplus $12 million. This is $1.2 million and $8.2 million ahead of budget respectively,” he said.

The premier noted also that customs duty, righting the anomalies in its collection, the marginal increase in accommodation tax and a sizable cash handover to government by the Financial Services Commission at the beginning of the second quarter of the year have been the main

contributors to the bump in figures.

“This is mainly due to the recovery of customs duties, as importers increase their inventory, correcting the negative variances that were witnessed towards the end of the last financial year that ended in April, and accommodation tax showing slight progress against last year. There was also a $2 million receipt from the financial services commission in April,” the Premier said.

The premier pointed out also that expenditure has been showing positive variance, which could mean in some cases that the budgeted amount was less than the actual amount spent. However, he said that it was primarily due to the budget being used to report against.

He said also that there appears to be an employee overspending, but that anomaly will be corrected once it is reflected in the up-coming budget.

“Expenditure is also showing a positive variance although this is mainly due to the budget being used to report against. You would also notice that employee costs are overspending at this point in time, and this is due mainly to the $10 percent reinstatement in civil servants’ salary, that is not reflect-

ed in the current budget, because the current budget has not yet being passed. But once it is reflected against the current budget that is about to be passed, it would not be an overspent,” the premier said.

He noted also that a sizable amount of excess money was dumped into the sinking fund, which is the pool from which the $260 million UK Department of International Development (DIFID) guaranteed loan, which is due by 2016, will be paid. He said the sum deposited has raised the amount in the sinking fund to almost $44 million.

“Also of note, there was $2.6 million that was added to the sinking fund during April, 2013, as a result of year-end cash sweeping from other funds not being captured to meet the end of the previous financial year, as a result of the Easter holidays. The sinking fund balance currently stands at $43.6 million. The sinking fund will accumulate and goes towards the payment of debt towards the end of 2015.

The 2013/2014 budget, which has been approved by both the Foreign Office and DFID, is now being finalized by the Ministry of Finance for it to present to the House of Assembly possibly before the end of this month.

Page 14

JULY 13TH - JULY 20TH, 2013

Reliable Cleaning Service

LOCAL NEWS

TCI, UK and Canada pay Commissioner Farquhar’s salary

is looking for a FEMALE CLEANER with experience who can work unsupervised, work on holidays and long hours.

Serious inquires only.

Belongers only need apply.

Contact 6492414798

Salt Cay Divers Looking for a Certified PADI Divemaster. Must have 3 years experience leading guided dive tours. Must have boat driving experience and safety record.

Must be reliable, hard working, work ethics must include safety and customer service as top priorities. Domestic worker needed on Salt Cay. Must have 3 years previous experience in the hospitality industry.

Must be willing to relocate to Salt cay full time.

CONTACT

scdivers@tciway.tc with CV.

INTERNATIONAL BEAUTY SALON SEEKS

HAIRDRESSER

Salary $6.00 per hour 6 days per week Contact

343-4584

TCI Sporting Ventures DBA Nautique Sports is looking for a Sales Clerk to work in its store in Gracebay.

• EDUCATION • TRAINING • EXPERIENCE Must have a High School Diploma or at least 5 years experience as a Sales Clerk.

Please drop resume off at the Store in Gracebay or call 941-7544 for further info.

Deadline for submission is

July 11th, 2013 Only successful Candidates will be contacted.

WANTED

DOMESTIC WORKER Applicant must be honest, reliable, Hardworking & fluent in English & French Contact

242-1011 IMMEDIATE OPENING FOR EXECUTIVE STAFF SOLUTIONS LTD. Requirements: • Excellent verbal, written and computer skills including Word, Excel, Quickbooks and Access with analyze complex legal issues and advise clients thereon • Strong organizational skills with ability to prioritize competing tasks and work with no supervision Duties Include: • Conducting sales calls and all follow-up related thereto • Drafting correspondence, documents, applications and contracts for the company and for clients Wages are commission only with no set salary.

Interested applicants should email resume and reference letters to Curtis Selver (SSL@express.tc) within 1 week of this notice. Qualified candidates will be contacted for an interview.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

BY VIVIAN TYSON

A

ttorney General Huw Shepheard has revealed that three countries – the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom and Canada - are funding the contract of Commissioner of Police Colin Farquhar, which was renewed this year and expires in 2015.

The Attorney General made the revelation, while fielding question from the Opposition in the House of Assembly last week, during question time.

“The UK, Canada and the Turks and Caicos Islands Governments are jointly funding the placement of Mr. Farquar, who is a Canadian National, to

Commissioner of Police Colin Farquhar

act as commissioner of police,” he said.

Farquhar, after recently submitting a 2013/14 Senior Management Succession Plan to the Governor’s Office, His Excellency Governor Ric Todd extended his contract until March 31, 2015. However, his deputy, Brad Sullivan, whose contract ended on May 31, did not get an extension. Sheppard told the House that Farquhar’s contract was extended by the governor under the Constitution.

“With the exercise of the powers invested in His Excellency the Governor by Section 91 (1) of the Constitution and 14 (1) of the Police Force Ordinance, and acting in his discretion, he reappointed Colin Farquar as the Commissioner of Police with effect from the 12th of March, 2013, until the 31st of March, 2015,” he said.

The attorney general said that Farquhar’s original contract warrants that he furnishes the For Insight Ltd Must speak English and be able Governor’s Office with to work nights and weekends. an annual report, plus Salary $5 per/hr weekly reports on the Call 231-3323 progress of the police or e-mail thepattyplace@gmail.com force. He said the new contract also requires SPARKLE CLEANING SERVICES that he makes weekNeeded Urgently: Four (4) Cleaners/Car washers. ly and annual reports to Duties: Washing and detailing automobiles the Governor’s Office.

Wages: On a commission basis “Under the original agreement covering Qualification: Honest, hardworking, the funding of the comhighly motivated, friendly, missioner’s contract bemust be able to work tween 2011 and 2013, the under minimum supervision and flexible Commissioner of Police hours, ability to safely does an annual progoperate motor vehicle.

Experience is essential. ress report, in addition Closing date for application to weekly meetings to is 25th July 2013 update the governor,” Sparkle Cleaning Services Shepheard said.

Suite 5, Southside Plaza, Five Cays Road, Providenciales He told the House Tel: (649) 241-0237 Email: carwashguy@hotmail.com that a general assess-

NEEDED

Kitchen Helper

ment is carried out by Governor Todd, in addition to consulting advisors in the United Kingdom, before deciding to renew the commissioner’s contract.

“Before taking his decision to renew the commissioner’s contract, the governor reviewed progress to date and consulted others, including the UK law enforcement advisor and the authorities in the UK. The requirement is on the commissioner to report continues under the contract, he said.

Commissioner Farquar and Sullivan took control of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force in March, 2011. In their first news conference held at the Chalk Sound Police Station, they promised to raise the policing level in the TCI to international standard, by addressing the personal and working environmental needs of its men and women.

Both however, faced a series of backlashes from some officers under their watch, who accused them of autocratic management style, blaming them also for not heeding to the wisdom of local long-serving officers. On a number of occasions, officers from varying tiers complained to the print and electronic media about critical issues, which they said the two failed to address.

In response however, the top cops noted that some of the complaining officers were rooted in their old ways and refused to accept the changes that were taking place in the organization, modernizing it.

And when they did not get their way, complained publicly.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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LOCAL NEWS

Royal Bank Of Canada Relocating Its Branch To The Building At Iga Roundabout R

oyal Bank of Canada (RBC) will be relocating its branch in Turks and Caicos Islands to the ground floor of the three-storey building at the IGA roundabout.

This was announced by Jan Knowles, public relations manager of RBC Bahamas Ltd, who said the bank has invested $800,000 in this new facility.

“We look forward to providing continued quality service to the Turks and Caicos Islands from our new location,” said Knowles, who added that the move from the present location at Normandy House, Centre Mews, will occur this summer.

The SUN recently reported that the Royal Bank of Canada has launched a major investigation into what has been described as a very serious internal matter.

While the details of the investigation could not be confirmed by The SUN, this newspaper understands that branch manager Toure Holder has been questioned by senior bank officials from the bank’s head office in The Bahamas.

When the SUN called the bank and asked for

Mr. Holder, he was said to be on vacation.

However, a July 3rd statement from Jan Knowles, public relations and communications manager for Royal Bank of Canada (Bahamas) Ltd, said: “We are aware of a situation at the Bank and the matter is under investigation.

RBC is a responsible financial institution and will certainly do what is right to safeguard our bank, our client’s interests and our employees’ rights. RBC has a century long history of good governance and commitment to the Caribbean region. We value our operations in the Turks and Caicos Islands and we have a zero tolerance policy for actions that compromise our integrity as a bank. As this situation is under investigation we are not able to comment further.”

Noting that Royal Bank has recently received a number of queries from clients and the general public as it relates to operations in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Knowles stated: “We wish to advise that RBC is very committed to being a part of the Turks and Caicos community. We value our operations here and the team of 14 employees who are an integral part of our

success in Turks and Caicos over the past five years.”

She added: “RBC has a century long history of good governance and commitment to the Caribbean region. We are a responsible financial institution committed to doing what is right to safeguard our bank, our clients’ interest and our employee’s rights. Integrity, safety and soundness are the hallmarks of our business. As a part of Caribbean Banking, RBC, we are the 2nd largest bank by assets in the English-speaking Caribbean, backed by close to 6,400 employees proudly serving more than 1 million clients in 20 countries and territories.”

Knowles said the bank will continue to be strengthened by the market leadership of our parent, Royal Bank of Canada – one of Canada’s largest banks by assets and market capitalisation, and the 11th largest bank in the world, with approximately 80,000 full and part-time employees who serve more than 15 million personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 49 countries

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Come and join our winning team!!!

Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages and Spa, the only 6 Diamond all inclusive property in the Caribbean is inviting applications from suitably qualified Turks and Caicos Islanders for the following vacant positions.

Applicants must have a clean police record and a good command of the English language both written and spoken. In addition candidates must be able to work nights, public holidays and week-ends. The Resort thanks everyone for their interest in advance and advises that only short listed applicants will be contacted for an interview.

The Project Department requires: ¥ Project Manager

The Administrative Department requires: ¥ General Manager

Requirements include but are not limited to: • Prepare budgets, programs and monitor expenditure • Working experience over 20 years. Hotel Industry over 5 years • Review all design drawings, and prepare design drawings where necessary • Inspect and set out all FF&E for pools, restaurants, hotel rooms and Public areas • Co-ordinate all shipments, and quantify and orders FF&E items • Strong Knowledge of BMS, RO plants, Fire, Chill Water System and irrigation system • Co-ordinate ALL Local building approvals eq Health, Planning, Environmental, Fire • Co-Ordinate all warehouse inventory for installation • Train Project Co-ordinators and Local tradesmen • Software knowledge: ACAD, Microsoft Projects, MSWord, MSExcel, Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat • Work and communicate with all GM’S, HM’S , CE’s and HOD’s

• Minimum 20 years previous General Management Experience • Experience with a 6 diamond hotel with excess of 700 rooms • Strong Food & Beverage, Rooms and Operational background • Administrative & Financial proficiency • Be an initiator, able to achieve deadlines The salary for the position listed above is negotiable ¥ Administrative Assistant Requirements include but are not limited to: • 10 years Administrative experience • Confidential • Proficient in Word, Excel and Microsoft Outlook • Highly detailed orientated and well organized • An excellent communicator

The salary for the position listed above is negotiable

Rooms Division Department Requires: ¥ Executive Housekeeper Requirements include but are not limited to: • Schedules staff according to forecasted occupancy and maintains productivity standards.

• Oversee the financial processes of budgeting, purchasing, payroll and inventory control.

• Maintain quality standards to ensure the highest level of cleanliness • Maintain all safety and security policies. Minimum of 3 years housekeeping management The salary for the position listed above is negotiable

Bar Department requires: ¥ Bar/Beverage Manager Requirements include but are not limited to: • Three years managing more than 10 bars and their inventory • Excellent customer service skills • Knowledge of wines

Rooms Division Department Requires: ¥ Front Office Manager Requirements include but are not limited to: • Three years managing two or more Concierge desk • Excellent customer service skills • Ability to multitask and give the guest more than he or she expects

Stewarding Department Requires: ¥ Stewarding Manager Requirements include but are not limited to: • Knowledge of the clean requirements of kittens and environs • Physically Fit • Ability to supervise a teams located in three or more kitchens

The rate for the position listed above is $8.00 to $12.00 an hour.

Laundry Department requires: ¥ Laundry Attendant Requirements include but are not limited to: • Physically fit • Previous experience in commercial Laundry an assist The rate for the position listed above is $5.00 to $5.50 an hour. ¥ Engineering Department requires: ¥ Water treatment Plant Operator ¥ Pool Operator ¥ Carpenter Requirements include but are not limited to: • Knowledgeable of in related fields both in theory and practical The rate for the positions listed above is $5.00 to $8.00 an hour.

Accounts and Cost Control Department requires: ¥ Receiving Clerk Requirements include but are not limited to: • Knowledge of inventory • Knowledge of customs • Physically fit and ability to lift 25lbs • Experience in Cost control, Accounts or a warehouse would be an asset The rate for the position listed above is $6.00 to $8.50 an hour.

Entertainment Department requires:

The Grounds Department requires: ¥ Grounds Manager Requirements include but are not limited to: • Minimum 2 year diploma in related field.

• Experience with tropical or sub-tropical plants, Greenhouses and Irrigation • Physically Fit The salary range for the positions listed above $30,000.00 to $65,000.00

¥ AV Technician Requirements include but are not limited to: • Ability to set up and breakdown sound system for an event • Conduct inventory and ensure equipment is maintained in a good working order.

The rate for the position listed above is $6.00 to $8.00 an hour.

Applications giving full details of qualifications and experience should be sent to: mmvaughn@grp.sandals.com or Fax to: 941-4870 Attn: M McClean-Vaughn The Human Resources Department Beaches Turks and Caicos P.O. Box 186 Lower Bight Road

The Labour Commissioner Labour Department Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands

and should reach not later than July 26th 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

JULY 13TH - JULY 20TH, 2013

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LOCAL NEWS

Kendra Parker is first local manager at Ports of Call Resort

BY VIVIAN TYSON

P

rovo girl Kendra Parker has become the first native to ascend to top management of the Ports of Call Resort, formerly Comfort Suites in Grace Bay, thanks to Dale Papke, the new owner, who purchased the resort two years ago and rebranded it.

“I am just excited. I am looking forward for the challenges. I didn’t see this happening at this time, but of course, you want to elevate to that position. And I am really excited about the challenge. With the support I know I will get from the team, as well as the owners, I think we will do very well here at the resort,” Parker said.

Parker, who was born in Bahamas to Provo parents, worked with comfort suites, as assistant front office manager for two year when it opened 15 years ago. She returned in 2009, under then general manager Eugene Burns, where she worked as front office manager.

After Papke purchased the property, she worked under new manager David Croft also as front office manager. But when Croft was fired because of poor management, Parker became the most suitable individual for the job.

“I was excited that somebody with great vision had purchased this property, invest in it and brought it to this level. The property is in the prime of the island. It is in a great location,” Parker said.

She said her promotion to general manager of Ports of Call Resort bears testament that Turks and Caicos Islanders have rich potential to undertake great tasks if given the opportunity.

Newly-promoted General Manager, Kendra Parker and owner of the Ports of Call Resort, Dale Papke In the meantime, Papke said that even though it is early days yet, he believed that Parker is a great choice for general manager, which he said was based on her overall knowledge of the island and also her warm interaction with guests and staff.

“Typically, a G.M. is an office person that is taking care of the strata fees, doing long term budgeting, dealing with the lawyers, dealing the accountants and so on. We handle a lot of that off island, so what we really need is a manager on site.

“Not having a hotel background when I purchased this hotel, I thought about the situation of having a G.M. This hotel needs more of what I referred to as a manager. A managers goes out and talks to people , walks around the ground, checking to see if people are having a good time, checking to see if the staff are happy and motivated.

Kendra is very good at that.

“We changed manager a few weeks ago. I looked no further than what we have on proper-

ty, and Kendra emerged the best person for the job. It has only been a few weeks now (that she has assumed the position) but she is shining and we are super happy with her.

“The rest of staff seems to be happy. They have got an Islander running the place. She certainly relates to them better than the manager we had before. When I came down here two weeks ago, I felt a new attitude and a new atmosphere. It is just a very happy staff,” Papke declared.

Papke added: “First of all, over the years, Kendra has always does everything that I asked. When I made inquiry, I would get an email response back very quickly. She is always good at that. She understands the Island. She is very, very good with guests. Guests who interacted with her speak very favourably of her. So, those are some of the qualities.”

He said that Parker has superior management skills over many of her predecessors, including the terminated Croft.

“Prior to me purchasing the hotel, I know that Kendra worked under three or four G.Ms over the years. And most of them not really do the job that they were supposed to do, with the exception of her predecessor (Burns) before I purchased this hotel.

But a lot of them, in my opinion, didn’t do a great job here. And the one I hired didn’t do a great job either. So if I came here and hired one more person and promoted another person over her again, I think I would possibly killed the morale of the staff here. That was probably the primary factor of my decision (to promoted Kendra as manager),” Papke said.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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LOCAL NEWS

Local Entrepreneur Achieves Week-Long Trip to Hawaii Top Avon Leadership and Sales Representatives awarded recognition trip in paradise for success with Avon P rovidenciales Turks & Caicos Islands- Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) recently announced that Turks & Caicos Avon Representative Shirley Hentutler has been recognized among the beauty company’s top Representatives in the U.S. The company recently awarded Hentutler, along with other top Avon Representatives at the company’s annual President’s Recognition Program Celebration, a luxurious tropical trip Honolulu to celebrate their success.

Avon’s President’s Recognition Program Celebration (PRPC) is an annual event at which brings together the nation’s top achieving Representatives who have distinguished themselves as top performers in Sales or Leadership.

“I’m so proud of our very best Avon Representatives who have achieved this distinctive honor and was excited to celebrate with them in Hawaii,” says Angelo Rossi, Group Vice President, Avon North America Sales. “Shirley embodies the entrepreneurial spirit that has been at the heart of Avon for all these years, demonstrating first hand how Avon Representatives can have economic empowerment, financial freedom, and the opportunity to lead a team and mentor others.”

In recognition of their success, the elite group

of Avon Representatives celebrated their accomplishments with a six-day, five-night trip to Honofulu, Hawaii from June 21st through June 26th 2013. During their trip, the top Representatives enjoyed guided island tours of Honolulu’s famed beaches and historical sites like Pearl Harbor and participated in hula dancing and luaus, cultural Polynesian pastimes. They were also recognized for their achievements with a Recognition Gala, hosted by Avon Executives.

Avon, the company for women, is a leading global beauty company, with nearly $11 billion in annual revenue. As one of the world’s largest direct sellers, Avon is sold through more than 6 million active independent Avon Sales Representatives.

Avon products are available in over 100 countries, and the product line includes color cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, fashion and home products, featuring such well-recognized brand names as Avon Color, ANEW, Skin-So-Soft, Advance Techniques, and mark. Learn more about Avon and its products at www.avoncompanv.com.

Contcacts: Elizabeth Bergman Avon Priducts Inc. 212 282 8197 Elizabeth.Bergman#avon.com

Shirley Hentutler with her Avon award

Carambola Grill & Lounge is seeking an enthusiastic Waitress to support the management team in the day to day running of the establishment.

WAITRESS Responsibilities include:

Set table cutlery serviettes and condiments before the start of meals; pleasantly greet and seat guests when they arrive, efficiently take their orders, and professionally serve food and beverages; familiarize yourself with the menu and recommend dishes, drink and wines when taking orders clears used cutlery and replace table settings when guests leave; serve individual portions or dishes and refill drinks when requested salary $6.50 per hour.

Requirements

Must have experience in working in a busy established restaurant as a trained professional waitress.

Must be neat, tidy and smartly dress Must be tactful, courteous and able to communicate well with people Have a good service attitude and be able to work in a team.

Contact 946-8122

Or drop off resume at Carambola, Airport Road, Providenciales

Are you aware that Propane is 3.7 to 4.33 times cheaper than electricity as a fuel source in the TCI Market????

The range of 3.7 to 4.33 depends upon the particular appliance.

Don’t be stuck paying high bills anymore switch to Propane.

T. C Gas Ltd. your number one source for Propane in the TCI. To learn more please contact: T.C. Gas Ltd. Provo Industrial Park Providenciales Turks & Caicos Islands Ph: 649 339 3854/339 339 3585** Fax: 649 941 4654 Email: mcn@tciway.tc

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

At RBC Royal Bank we're always mindful of our clients' needs. To better serve you, we will be moving to new premises located on the Ground Floor, Raleigh House, Leeward Highway, Providenciales. There, RBC Royal Bank will provide continued quality service with an additional measure of comfort, safety and convenience.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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

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ers s/ w e o h h c S Lun tions p u Gro h Func ns rc Chu l Functio o Scho e Parties t Priva ings s d Wed ay Partie d Birth e Villas t Priva

nts e i d re g n i es h d s i e rc rd u u o o s l l ly a e h r c s i o f e o r F ch r u o of y s e s n ag r o i e t v op be u y n n A me s â&#x20AC;&#x2122; n re d l i h C Tel: (649)

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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ENTERTAINMENT

Harper Lee sues over copyrights to “To Kill a Mockingbird” H

arper Lee, the reclusive author of To Kill A Mockingbird, has sued a literary agent, claiming that he tricked the ageing writer into assigning him copyright on the classic book.

The move marks a rare step into the spotlight for Lee, who is known for keeping a low profile for such a household name, living quietly in a tiny town in the deep south of America and eschewing almost all media requests.

However, in a shock move, 87-year-old Lee has now filed a lawsuit in a Manhattan court alleging that Samuel Pinkus, the son-in-law of Lee’s longtime agent, Eugene Winick, tricked Lee into signing over the copyright on the book.

The case claims that Pinkus “engaged in a scheme to dupe” Lee into assigning the copyright without any payment. The ploy is alleged to have taken place in 2007, five years after Winick became ill and Pinkus started diverting some of his clients into his own company. Lee’s lawsuit says Pinkus engineered the transfer of Lee’s rights to secure himself “irrevocable” interest in the income derived from To Kill A Mockingbird. It adds that he also avoided paying legal obligations that he owed to his father-in-law’s company for royalties that Pinkus had allegedly misappropriated.

Lee has been suffering declining health for some years and has trouble with her eyesight and hearing. The case reveals that when she signed the document she was living in an assisted-living facility after suffering a stroke. It says she argues that she has no memory of agreeing to relinquish her rights to the book and signing an agreement that memorialises the purported transfer of income.

“Pinkus knew that Harper Lee was an elderly woman with physical infirmities that made it dif-

Harper Lee, who wrote one book, To Kill a Mockingbird, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian award.v ficult for her to read and see,” Gloria Phares, Lee’s lawyer, said in the complaint. The suit also reveals that the copyright was reassigned to Lee last year after she took legal action. Though Pinkus then ceased to be Lee’s agent, he was still getting royalties this year, according to the file. So far Pinkus has made no comment on the allegations.

Lee is one of the most renowned names in modern fiction. To Kill A Mockingbird is an esteemed part of the American canon, with its tale of racial injustice in the deep south. Framed around a young girl called Scout, it also features her father, heroic lawyer Atticus Finch, as he seeks to prevent an innocent black man from being convicted of rape.

The book was published in 1960 to wide acclaim. It won a Pulitzer prize and is a mainstay of literature studies in high schools and universities across America. It has sold more than 30m copies

worldwide and was also made into a classic 1962 film starring Gregory Peck in the role of Finch.

A half century after its publication, “To Kill a Mockingbird” still sells more than 750,000 copies a year. In one typical six-month period in 2009, its royalties amounted to more than $1.6 million.

However, the book remains Lee’s only published novel, though it is far from the only reason that she became a major literary figure. Lee had an intensely close relationship with Truman Capote, who was a childhood friend. She helped Capote on projects such as his famous real-life crime exploration In Cold Blood and acted as a sort of muse, researcher and confidante for him.

But, unlike the gregarious and attention-hungry Capote, Lee has always preferred to remain in the shadows of public life. She has spent most of her life living quietly with her older sister in the small town of Monroeville, Alabama. She has rejected almost all interview requests for the past half-century and, despite keeping an apartment in New York City, has not been a presence on America’s literary circuit.

An exception has been an obscure essay contest at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

In 2006 the New York Times wrote a story describing how Lee had agreed to become a judge for the contest, which featured work from young schoolchildren. In one of the only interviews Lee has ever given, the writer told the newspaper about how she was always pleased with the way young people took to her book. “They always see new things in it. And the way they relate it to their lives now is really quite incredible,” she said.

Who would have predicted that, in her late 80s, Harper Lee would have to file suit to get the control of “To Kill a Mockingbird” returned to her?

Michael Jackson ‘frightened me’ director tells US court T

he director of Michael Jackson’s planned comeback shows, Kenny Ortega, has broken down in tears while giving evidence at the singer’s wrongful death trial in the US. Ortega said Jackson’s appearance was “very, very troubling” at a rehearsal, days before his death in June 2009.

“I saw a Michael that frightened me,” Ortega told the jury.

The director was giving evidence for a third day in the case against live event promoter AEG Live.

The company is being sued by Jackson’s mother for $40bn (£26bn) over his death.

Katherine Jackson claims the company failed to properly investigate her son’s personal doctor, Conrad Murray, and missed warning signs about his failing health as he prepared for his This Is It tour.

Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after giving Jackson a lethal dose of the anaesthetic propofol in 2009.

The company has denied any wrongdoing.

Ortega told the jury on Wednesday that, based on Jackson’s condition, he didn’t believe the This Is It concerts could go forward.

He said Jackson appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance during at least four rehearsals.

The director-choreographer said he was

MICHAEL JACKSON under the impression Jackson’s strange behaviour followed visits to his doctor.

The singer’s state was “fairly obvious” to others involved in the production, he added.

Jackson also missed several scheduled rehearsals, said Ortega, adding that during a session six days before his death, he was cold, shivering and seemed lost.

Ortega, 63, told the court that Jackson improved somewhat as the night went on but wasn’t coherent when he arrived that day. The singer didn’t rehearse that night.

Reading an email he sent to the CEO of concert promoter AEG Live hours after the rehearsal, Ortega shed tears as he described Jackson as a “lost boy”.

The director said he sent the email to alert AEG officials about Jackson’s condition and trusted them to get the singer appropriate care.

He said he repeatedly called Murray that night, “the doctor who I thought would be the most natural person” to help.

“Then I reached out to AEG, Michael’s partners, to make sure they were aware of how I felt and what I saw,” he added.

Ortega outlined a tense meeting with Murray the following day, during which Murray assured him and AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips that Jackson was capable of rehearsing.

AEG has denied it hired Murray and said there was no way it could have known the doctor was giving Jackson propofol as a sleep aid.

Ortega - who directed the High School musical trilogy - is the highest-ranking tour worker to give evidence at the trial and had the most direct contact with AEG executives and Jackson.

The trial, currently in its 11th week, is expected to last until the end of July.

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FUN&GAMES

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News CARIBBEAN

No quick fix to economic problems, says Bermuda Premier

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AMILTON, Bermuda- Premier Craig Cannonier has reiterated a warning that recovery for Bermuda’s reeling economy, which has been in recession for more than four years, would take time and effort.

Cannonier, made the statement in a televised address late Monday as he summed up the One Bermuda Alliance’s (OBA) first six months in power.

“There are a thousand things to do before we’re out of the woods.

It is not going to be easy. There is no magic wand to wave; there is no quick fix. It will take time and patience, with steady leadership focused on the big and little things, with all of us working together, playing our part.

Our goal is to renew the promise of Bermuda, to shake off past mistakes and reposition the island to meet people’s needs.”

The OBA inherited a national debt of US$1.4 billion after it ended 14 years of rule by the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) in last December’s general election.

The debt ceiling has since been raised from $1.45 billion to $2.5 billion to help the country pay its bills and stay afloat. Local unemployment is running at 10 per cent.

“Everything we are experiencing

DENGUE WARNING FOR BRITS TRAVELLING TO THE CARIBBEAN

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ONDON, England – The United Kingdom has issued a new health advisory for Britons travelling to the Caribbean following a surge in the incidence of dengue fever in England.

The steep rise in British cases of the mosquito-borne disease has forced the health agency Public Health England (PHE) to warn travellers to be on the alert for signs of the illness after visiting the Caribbean.

The health agency is also advising travellers to seek medical advice if they experience fever and other flulike symptoms within two weeks of returning home to Britain from destinations such as Barbados, Jamaica, Brazil, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and several other countries in the Americas and Asia.

The advice came after 11 travellers

Bermuda’s Premier Craig Cannonier tells us we must chart a new course forward, doing things better. Everything tells us we must be about solutions — prepared to change what is not working — for the sake of building the strongest possible future.

For this government, the first imperative is to get out-of-work Bermudians back to work, providing once again for their loved ones, growing pay cheques and new opportunities.”

He urged the people of Bermuda to “remember that nothing will be handed to us on a platter”, saying:

“We have to work for it. There may be no easy answers.”

Cannonier also announced that the school day would be extended to benefit students, while municipal government would be reformed.

At the same time, new standards had been introduced for teachers in the core subjects of English, maths and science.

He said: “Some issues will ask you to support change that you’re not yet comfortable with. Do not give in to scaremongering and remember that

returned home to England from Barbados reporting dengue-like symptoms between January and April.

Six had similar symptoms after visiting Jamaica, nine Brazil, Sri Lanka 13, and 37 from Thailand.

At the end of April, authorities had documented 141 confirmed and probable cases of dengue fever in England, up from 51 recorded during the same period last year.

The total number of cases in England in 2012 was 343, as compared with 223 in 2011.

“The increase in the number of people returning with dengue fever is concerning, so we want to remind people of the need to practise strict mosquito bite avoidance at all times to reduce their risk of becoming unwell,” said Jane Jones, a PHE expert in travel-related infections.

PHE is advising travellers to use insect repellent and wear protective clothing like long-sleeved shirts and pants to deter mosquitoes, especially at dusk and dawn.

The agency said that a “very small” number of people go on to develop more serious health problems requiring hospitalisation.

RIHANNA TO ROCK BARBADOS AT NOVEMBER CONCERT

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RIDGETOWN, Barbados – Sixtime Grammy Award-winner Rihanna is expected to “rock de rock” when she returns home to Barbados to stage her second concert here in November.

According to Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy, the privately produced event is scheduled for Saturday November 2.

Sealy told the press that the event would not be produced by the stateowned Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA), but by international concert promoters Live Nation Entertainment.

“On the last occasion, as part of the Loud concert tour, the BTA produced a concert here. That is not the case this time around. There is a private promoter, Live Nation, internationally known, and as part of [Rihanna’s] Caribbean tour she is scheduled to perform here in Barbados November 2,” the tourism minister said.

we Bermudians control our destiny, no one else.

What we do is up to us, no one else. We make the rules, we make the decisions.

Through it all we must do our best to work together – to look beyond differences that so often keep us apart. All of us have a role to play in the renewal of Bermuda, because all of us are in this boat together.”

Concerning the achievements of the government, Cannonier pointed to axing work permit term limits and cutting back on red tape to make the island more attractive to investors and boost job prospects for Bermudians.

He added that a payroll tax exemption for new Bermudian hires made them more attractive to employers.

He said in an effort to cut mushrooming debt, government ministries now had to file monthly reports on their spending.

“We set responsible targets for how much we can borrow – and for the cost of that borrowing – against what the government takes in.”

Cannonier said gun violence was being tackled through a mediation scheme, as well as through extra police recruits.

Sealy noted that it would be another coup for Barbados from a tourism industry perspective.

“We’re going to work with them [Rihanna’s team], obviously. There’s a natural tourism advantage to be gained from it,” the minister indicated.

The 25-year-old Barbadian megastar’s original concert on her home ground was staged on August 5 two years ago at Kensington Oval and played to a standing-room-only audience of local and visiting fans.

Rihanna, who burst onto the world stage in 2005 with her Music Of The Sun debut album, has since earned numerous accolades including six Grammys, five American Music Awards, 22 Billboard Music Awards and two BRIT Awards.

She has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, which makes her one of the bestselling artists of all time, and has achieved 12 number one singles on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, the youngest solo artist to achieve this feat.

Last year, TIME named Rihanna one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS

Barbados economy contracts during first half of the year B

RIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Barbados economy contracted during the first six months of the year with the main foreign exchange sectors also suffering a decline, according to figures released by the Central Bank of Barbados (CBB) on Tuesday.

The CBB said that among the priorities for the future will be to reduce spending “in the economy so as to balance the inflows and outflows of foreign exchange” and also “to revive economic growth led by tourism, international business, agro processing and alternative energy”.

The CBB said that the first half of 2013 saw a contraction in the main foreign exchange earners, namely tourism and international business and financial services.

“At the same time, private foreign capital inflows were less than a quarter of the figure recorded in the same period last year,” the CBB said, adding “foreign exchange levels were relatively unchanged for most of the first three months, but weakened considerably during the second quarter”.

The CBB said as a result, the foreign reserve cover fell from 19 weeks of imports as at March to 16 weeks at the end of June.

“Overall economic growth is estimated to have contracted by 0.6 percent in the first half, inflation rate is estimated at 2.7 percent to June and the rate of unemployment was 11.5 percent at end-

March,” the CBB added.

It said that long-stay visitors decreased by seven percent for the first six months of the year with earnings also declining by three percent.

The Central Bank said the island recorded declines in all markets including the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.

“The average length of stay was higher by about four per cent but airline seating capacity and hotel room occupancy rates were below last year’s levels,” the CBB said, adding that within the financial services, the island also recorded declines.

It said the number of new licences issued to international businesses and financial services (IFBS) increased by eight percent up to May, but renewables fell by 14 percent.

“Measures to stimulate this sector included amendments to the tax structure and intensified marketing in Canada and Latin America.”

The CBB said that rum exports also declined by 37 percent and exports of sugar were down significantly in the first four months, the CBB said, adding that similar declines were recorded for exports of chemicals and other beverages.

Activity within the construction sector declined by nine percent and the government’s deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio for the April to June period “widened to an estimated 9.4 percent, up from 6.2 percent during the first quar-

Major hotel chain going to Cayman Islands A

San Francisco-based hotel chain, famous for its trendy restaurants, has signed up to manage Dart Realty’s new US$170 million hotel on Seven Mile Beach in the Cayman Islands.

The Kimpton hotel, which hasn’t been named, will open at the site of the former Courtyard Marriott on West Bay Road in 2016, developers said.

With 263 rooms and 56 residencies, the hotel, which was described as “boutique-style”, will be among the biggest in the Cayman Islands, according to the Caymanian Compass newspaper.

Dart Realty acquired the site for the project from developer Stan Thomas in 2011.

The former hotel has been demolished and a new 10-storey building is being constructed in its place. The developer said Wednesday that the project would generate more than 400 jobs during the “build-out” phase.

The finished hotel will include five restaurants and lounges, indoor and outdoor meeting spaces and a cascading oceanfront pool and spa, according to a news release from Dart Realty.

Every room will have sweeping ocean views and the resort will feature six beachfront bungalows. Dart Realty considered alternative offers from “many major brands” before opting for Kimpton, according to the release.

The deal has been in the works for some time with former Premier McKeeva Bush dropping the chain’s name as the likely brand for the property in a speech last November.

Ken Hydes, president of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, welcomed the news on Wednesday, saying, “This is great news for the tourism sector and we look forward in the coming months to learn more about the plans for this property and all the

opportunities it will present in elevating our offerings in the Cayman Islands.”

A defining characteristic of the Kimpton brand is its celebrity-chef driven restaurants and distinctive, eco-friendly designs. The company boasts quirky touches aimed at modern travellers, including a yoga-mat in every room and free bicycle rentals, according to its website.

The company markets itself as restful, tasteful and playful.

The website boasts: “Kimpton puts the fun back in travel by seeing to it that you’re inspired by our playful touches and feel cared for in every sense of the word.

“We have stylish boutique hotels so comfortable that you’ll be tempted to hang around long after the purpose of your trip.

The chefs, wine experts and mixologists at our restaurants are super cool in our eyes.

Sorta like rock stars.”

Kimpton’s hotels usually have their own individual names and are in the four-star range. No details of a planned pricing structure for the Cayman hotel were released this week. A double room at the company’s Argonaut Hotel in San Francisco runs to US$329 for one night.

Jackie Doak, chief operating officer of Dart Realty, said, “Kimpton excels in offering stylish yet comfortable hotels and providing genuine, unscripted guest experiences. We were particularly drawn to Kimpton’s passion for creating a vibrant atmosphere in hotels and restaurants equally enjoyed by guests and locals.

“Ken Dart’s vision is for a welcoming resort that showcases the same Caymanian hospitality that inspired him and his family to return to the island after their first visit more than 25 years ago.”

ter of fiscal year 2012/13”.

The CBB said that tax receipts fell BDS$36 million (one Barbados dollar=US$0.50 cents) or six percent due to declines in value added tax (VAT) and personal income tax, BDS$20 million in each case.

On the other hand, expenditure rose by BDS$18 million or three percent, interest payments rising

by BDS$12 million and transfers to state-owned enterprises rising by seven million dollars.

The CBB said the government’s deficit of BDS$198 million was financed by commercial banks, non financial institutions, the National Insurance Scheme and the CBB itself.

It said that external indebtedness fell by BDS$22 million.

“The overall public debt, net of public sector financial assets, increased by BDS148 million to the equivalent of 58 percent of GDP,” the CBB added.

The CBB said that going forward, economic growth of three percent by 2017 is achievable, noting that last month the government held a national consultation with special partners with a view to addressing the priorities for the economy.

“Based on investment projects that have been identified by private sector enterprises and infrastructural and other projects which the government plans over the next five years, growth rates rising from about one percent in 2014 to over three percent in 2017 are achievable,” the CBB said.

CARIBBEAN MUST PLACE GREATER FOCUS ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CRIME

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RIDGETOWN, Barbados - Intellectual property crime is not victimless crime. Such crimes pose severe risks to Caribbean consumer health and safety, have serious economic consequences, and fund transnational organised crime.

This caution has come from Warren MacInnis, a director of Anti-Counterfeiting Operations with UL (Underwriters Laboratories), and one of the presenters at the upcoming 34th annual Crime Stoppers International Conference, which will be staged in Barbados from September 29 to October 2, 2013.

MacInnis admitted that intellectual property crime, in many cases, is a low priority for many governments given the nature of other priorities for law enforcement agencies around the world. However, despite this, MacInnis noted that trade mark counterfeiting and copyright piracy should still be considered serious offenses.

“Intellectual property crime impacts everyone, puts the health and safety of consumers at risk, funds organized crime and robs billions from the global economy.

No one is immune from this crime and even small economies should be concerned about how it impacts their tax base or affects the bottom line of profitability for companies which will affect employment,” he said.

MacInnis noted that his organization has worked with authorities in Trinidad and Tobago on counterfeit electrical products, such as seasonal decorative lighting, which can provide risks to consumers and their property.

He encouraged Caribbean law enforcement agencies to engage in global partnerships and initiatives to combat intellectual property crime, such as INTERPOL and the annual International Law Enforcement IP Crime Conference, or receive training from the International IP Crime Investigators College, which offers free courses to law enforcement personnel.

MacInnis will be speaking on “The magnitude of IP Crimes globally” when he addresses the Crime Stoppers conference at the Hilton Barbados on October 1.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS

Accusations of forgery in Sandals fraud case D

MITRI SINGH, the general counsel for the Appliance Traders Limited (ATL)/Sandals group, yesterday testified that it was obvious to him that the four letters purporting to give consent to the distribution of surplus from the ATL group pension fund were forged.

Singh, who gave this evidence under cross-examination from Queen’s Counsel KD Knight, indicated that the letters were clearly not made on the dates — June 10, 1998; June 7, 2002; May 12, 2005; and July 18, 2008 — on them.

Singh had earlier testified this week that he formed the opinion that the letters were created on December 15, 2010, the same day that Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart confronted Patrick Lynch, a former director of his holding company Gorstew Ltd, about the distribution by the pension fund trustees of $1.7 billion in surplus without consent.

He gave a slew of reasons for his opinion, among them that the paper on which the letters were typed appeared to be new, and that Lynch had told Stewart that he did not know that consent was needed.

Singh testified yesterday that he shared his opinion about the letters with ATL group external counsel Trevor Patterson after the letters were presented by Catherine Barber,

(L-R) Patrick Lynch, Catherine Barber and Jeffrey Pyne former pension fund general manager, to Stewart on December 16, 2010 after he asked her to show him proof that Gorstew Ltd had given consent for the 2008 surplus distribution.

The following day Singh, on instruction from Stewart, took the letters to expert Erich Speckin to have them tested.

The letters, which the prosecution believes to have been created on December 15, 2010, bear the signature of Dr Jeffery Pyne, who had been asked to resign from the company seven months earlier, in May. The prosecution is contending that Pyne, Lynch and Barber, who

are being tried in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court, used the letters to deceive Gostew Ltd into believing that consent was given for the distribution from which they benefited.

Yesterday, Knight sought to question Singh about why no other trustee but Lynch had been charged, given the fact that all the trustees voted for the distribution of the surplus and, under the law, are jointly liable. However, Singh said that joint liability depended on the breach committed.

Questioned further about consent, Singh said: “The forgery is why we are here.”

Later in the day, Knight asked Singh if the matter would have gone any further were the letters not presented to Stewart, and Singh responded: “I don’t know; I couldn’t say. I can’t speak for Mr Stewart.”

At another point, Singh was asked if he would agree that the case depends on whether the letters were created on December 15, 2010, but he said he didn’t agree.

Betraying apparent frustration at not getting the answers he was trying to adduce, Knight resorted to insulting and shouting at the witness, forcing the intervention of Senior Resident Magistrate Lorna Shelly-Williams.

Knight said variously that he wondered if Singh had “copied to pass”; “you are an embarrassment to your profession” and “I wouldn’t continue to cross-examine someone who was not sane”.

When he described one of Singh’s answers as “rubbish”, the magistrate again inter-vened, asking the attorney: “Did you describe his answer as rubbish?”

“I am entitled to do so,” said Knight.

The case has attracted a large number of law students doing summer internship, leaving standing room-only in court number four.

The trial resumes on Monday.

Jack Warner trying to bring down Trinidad Government says Prime Minister J

ack Warner has formed a new political party—the Independent Liberal Party (ILP)—to bring down the People’s Partnership Government, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said.

Persad-Bissessar said Warner could have contested the Chaguanas West by-election as an independent but he chose to form a party.

“It is not just for Chaguanas West, it is an attempt to bring down your duly elected Government. Mark my words,” she told supporters in an address at a political meeting at the ASJA Girls’ College in Charlieville.

She pointed out that former attorney general (AG) Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj did the same in 2001 with Team Unity.

Persad-Bissessar questioned whether Warner will now put candidates against the (United National Congress) UNC to contest the upcoming local government election.

She pointed out that he had people on his ILP political platform attacking her Government.

She also warned that the People’s

National Movement (PNM) can embrace former Government minister Jack Warner in its political bosom in an effort to oust her Government.

She stressed that Chaguanas West must remain in Government and in the UNC family and no other party must be taken seriously. She called on supporters to wear their yellow in pride.

Persad-Bissessar noted Rowley’s interview with the media where he was asked if he would embrace Warner, to which he responded, “There is a maxim: the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so some people see it that way, and I am a very friendly guy.”

Said Persad-Bissessar: “That sounds like he is trying to say he would join with your former MP if Mr Warner returns to Parliament.”

The Prime Minister said this decision was totally up to Warner, butshe would like to believe that he (Warner) was no PNM, and after spending many years fighting against the PNM, he would join with Rowley.

She criticised Rowley, saying he

was a man with no ethics and morals and hypocrisy was expected of him.

Persad-Bissessar said Rowley was “hounding” Warner from day one.

“He had a problem with everything with him and almost every day, he demanded that he be fired.

And today, he is courting him,” she said as she warned voters to be on guard.

Turning to Warner, she noted he had formed his own party—the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) and recalled that in 2007 when she was bypassed as the UNC leader—she never abandoned the UNC, she remained loyal and faithful to the party.

She added when UNC candidate for Chaguanas West Khadijah Ameen sacrificed the UNC chairmanship in 2010 for Warner, she did not go and form her own party or betray the UNC. Persad-Bissessar reiterated that he voluntarily gave up his position and now he was back begging the people for it.

She said she had no quarrel with

Trinidad Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar him and, in fact, it pained her to speak of the issues surrounding him on the platform.

She said there was the suggestion that the UNC was unfair to Warner and she was ungrateful.

“Let me tell each and every one of you, no one, absolutely no one, would understand the anguish I have experienced over this entire matter. No one is as conscious of the contribution and sacrifice made by so many persons towards the resurgence of our great party,” she said.

“High on that list, and he will remain high on that list regardless of whatever circumstance we encounter, is the name of Austin Jack Warner,” she added.

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News W

RLD

Pilots of crashed Asiana Airlines say auto-throttle didn’t maintain landing speed

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AN FRANCISCO — The pilots flying the Asiana Airlines jetliner that crashed in San Francisco told federal investigators that an automatic throttle — a system akin to a car’s cruise control — had failed to keep the jetliner at the proper speed for landing.

The Asiana pilots said in interviews with the National Transportation Safety Board that they had set the auto-throttles to maintain an air speed of 137 knots. That’s a significantly faster speed than the plane actually achieved as it came in for its landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday.

As the inquiry entered its fourth day, Deborah A.P. Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said investigators were still trying to verify whether the throttles were properly activated.

The pilots’ statements do not resolve the central question of why the Boeing 777’s speed and altitude fell so far out of the normal range for landing at SFO before it hit a sea wall and crash-landed. But outside air safety experts said the statements suggest a risky reliance on technology when the flight crew should have been constantly monitoring the airplane’s speed.

“Whether it was engaged or not working is almost irrelevant,” said Barry Schiff, a former TWA pilot and an air safety consultant. “The big mystery of Flight 214 is why in God’s name did these two pilots sit there and allow the air speed to get so low.”

Experts said the pilots should have been monitoring the plane’s speed every few seconds, and could have manually taken control of the engines at any time.

Auto-throttles, which are connected to an airplane’s flight management computers, allow pilots to select the appropriate speed for takeoff, cruising or landing. The devices automatically make corrections if there are deviations from the setting.

Jon Russell, a veteran airline pilot and safety official for the Air Line Pilots Assn. on the West Coast, said the auto-throttle is a valuable tool.

“I don’t know what happened. It just doesn’t make sense,” said Russell, noting that the pilots were very experienced in Boeing aircraft. “The situation deteriorated a lot farther than it should have.”

Much of the information released

by the NTSB since Saturday morning’s crash has focused on the pilots, who were flying too low and slow during their final approach. Two people were killed and 182 were injured as the plane’s landing gear and tail struck a seawall at the end of Runway 28L. Investigators said the plane was flying 30 knots under its target landing speed of 137 knots, or almost 158 mph, and had dipped well below the normal flight path into the airport.

Several seconds before the crash landing, a stall warning went off in the cockpit. With the impact 1.5 seconds away, the pilots finally attempted to accelerate and abort the landing, investigators said.

The Asiana pilots were making a visual approach to San Francisco without the instrument landing system, a part of which was not operating due to airfield renovations. NTSB officials said, however, that there were other automated systems and visual references available to assist the flight crew.

At the time, the pilot, Lee Kangkook, who had only 35 hours flying Boeing 777s, was being checked out and supervised in the plane by Lee Jung-min, a captain who had been certified as a training pilot June 15, less than a month before the crash.

It was Lee Kang-kook’s first landing in San Francisco in a Boeing 777 and Lee Jung-min’s first landing at the airport in a training situation.

Hersman said that when the jetliner crashed, three pilots were in the cockpit. Lee Kang-kook was in the left-hand or captain’s seat. Lee Jungmin was in the right-hand or co-pilot’s seat, supervising his flight, and a relief first officer was sitting in the jump seat to monitor the landing.

The approach to San Francisco International Airport is not particularly difficult, but it does require closely monitoring a jetliner’s air speed as it executes a sweeping 180-degree counterclockwise turn in the

approach from the north, according to Robert Ditchey, former vice president for operations at US Airways.

Ditchey said that only the pilot in the left-hand seat — in this case, one who was not yet fully qualified to land the 777 — could see the runway during the turn. The supervising pilot in the right-hand seat could not see the runway from his position, he said.

Aviation safety experts and federal investigators have questioned why the crew did not recognize the problem and take action before the plane struck the end of the runway.

Hersman rejected the suggestion that any problem or misunderstanding about the auto-throttle by the crew would excuse the pilots from their duty to manually fly the airplane.

“But let me be clear: the crew is required to maintain a safe aircraft, which means that they need to monitor. They have a monitoring function, all three of them in the cockpit.

One of the very critical things that need to be monitored on approach to landing is speed,” she said.

None of the crew was tested for drugs or alcohol after the crash, Hersman said, because foreign flight crews involved in accidents do not fall under the same regulatory requirements as U.S. crews.

Hersman also said that two flight attendants in the rear of the aircraft were ejected after the impact and found on the side of the runway with injuries.

During a news briefing in Seoul on Tuesday, Asiana President Yoon Young-doo defended the pilots, saying they were “excellent” and qualified members of the flight crew with experience flying into San Francisco International.

Lee Kang-kook, who has almost 10,000 hours in the air, had previously flown into San Francisco 29 times as a co-pilot on Boeing 747s, Yoon said. Lee Jung-min, with almost 12,000 hours, had flown into the airport 33 times.

Yoon said he personally apologized to the families of the two Chinese girls who were killed in the crash. He said he planned to visit the crash site and meet with survivors and their families in San Francisco to apologize. He added that would assist the investigation in any way he could.

MANDELA REMAINS CRITICAL, RESPONDS TO TREATMENT

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OHANNESBURG - Former South African president Nelson Mandela remained in a critical but stable condition and was responding to treatment, President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday after visiting the anti-apartheid hero in a Pretoria hospital.

Mandela, whose 95th birthday is on July 18, has been receiving treatment for a recurring lung infection that has led to four hospital stays in the past six months.

Several of Mandela’s comrades in the anti-apartheid struggle gathered at Liliesleaf Farm outside of Johannesburg on Thursday to mark the 50th anniversary of a police raid that led to their arrests, which dealt a heavy blow in the battle to end white-minority rule.

Mandela had been in jail for a separate conviction at the time of the farm raid but was named as “accused number one” in a conspiracy plot when those arrested at Liliesleaf were brought to court in what is known as the Rivonia Trial.

Mandela had previously evaded apartheid police by posing as a caretaker and hiding out at Liliesleaf.

Many of Mandela’s comrades lamented the precarious state of the man who was a giant in the struggle.

“It’s a sad coincidence that he can’t be with us and that he is in hospital today,” said Bob Hepple, who was initially charged of plotting with Mandela to overthrow the apartheid regime.

Mandela and several others were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. They later won their release and struck a deal that brought about all-race elections in 1994 that ended apartheid Mandela has spent more than a month in hospital. His eldest daughter Makaziwe said in a court document filed in June that her father was breathing with the aid of life-support machines.

The failing health of South Africa’s first black president, a figure admired globally as a symbol of struggle against injustice, has reinforced a realization that the father of the post-apartheid state will not be around forever.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

WORLD NEWS

Railway CEO blames engineer in Quebec train crash L

AC-MEGANTIC, Quebec — The head of the U.S. railway company whose runaway oil train crashed into a Quebec town blamed the engineer Wednesday for failing to set the brakes properly before the train hurtled down a seven-mile (11-kilometer) incline, derailed and ignited a fire that killed at least 15 people and left dozens missing.

He said the engineer has been suspended without pay and was under police supervision.

The startling disclosures from Edward Burkhardt, president and CEO of the railway’s parent company, Rail World Inc., came as he encountered sharp criticism from Quebec politicians and jeers from Lac-Megantic residents while making his first visit to the lakeside town where some 60 people remain missing following Saturday’s disaster.

Until Wednesday, the railway had defended its employees’ actions, but

Death toll continues to rise from train crash that changed abruptly as Burkhardt singled out the engineer as culpable.

“We think he applied some hand brakes, but the question is, did he apply enough of them?” Burkhardt said. “He said he applied 11 hand brakes. We think that’s not true. Initially we believed him, but now we don’t.”

VENEZUELA SAYS SNOWDEN HAS STILL NOT FORMALLY RESPONDED TO ASYLUM OFFER

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ONTEVIDEO - Venezuela has still not received a formal response to its offer of asylum to former U.S. spy contractor Edward Snowden, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua told Reuters on Thursday.

“We communicated last week, we made an offer and so far we haven’t received a reply,” Jaua said on the sidelines of a regional foreign ministers’ meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Venezuela along with leftist allies Bolivia and Nicaragua have offered asylum to Snowden, who is wanted by Washington on espionage charges for divulging details of extensive, secret U.S. surveillance programs.

Snowden has been stuck in the transit area of Moscow’s international airport since June 23 amid mounting speculation that he might board a flight at any moment to travel to Latin America.

Foreign ministers from the Mercosur bloc of South American nations are preparing for a summit on Friday when leaders are expected to respond to allegations Washington spied extensively in the region and to last week’s diversion of Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane over European airspace on suspicions Snowden was on board.

“We’ve discussed the issue of spying on the continent, issues related to ... the right of asylum,” said Uruguay Foreign Minister Luis Almagro.

Mercosur is comprised of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela. The presidents of Ecuador and Bolivia will also attend the meeting on Friday.

He said the engineer was “under police control.”

“He’s not in jail, but police have talked about prosecuting him,” the CEO said. “I understand exactly why the police are considering criminal charges ... If that’s the case, let the chips fall where they may.”

Burkhardt did not name the en-

gineer during his impromptu and sometimes chaotic outdoor news conference, though the company had previously identified the employee as Tom Harding of Quebec and termed him a hero for rushing to the scene and managing to stop some of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway train’s runaway cars.

All but one of the 73 cars was carrying oil, and at least five exploded.

Burkhardt, who arrived in town with a police escort, said he had delayed his post-crash visit to Lac-Megantic in order to deal with the crisis from his office in Chicago, saying he was better able to communicate from there with insurers and officials in different places during what he described as 20-hour work days.

“I understand the extreme anger,” he said, likening the devastation in Lac-Megantic to a war zone. “We owe an abject apology to the people in this town.”

Pope criminalizes leaks, sex abuse in first laws V

ATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis overhauled the laws that govern the Vatican City State on Thursday, criminalizing leaks of Vatican information and specifically listing sexual violence, prostitution and possession of child pornography as crimes against children that can be punished by up to 12 years in prison.

The legislation covers clergy and lay people who live and work in Vatican City and is different from the canon law which covers the universal Catholic Church.

The bulk of the Vatican’s penal code is based on the 1889 Italian code. Many of the new provisions were necessary to bring the city state’s legal system up to date after the Holy See signed international treaties, such as the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Others were necessary to com-

ply with international norms to fight money-laundering, part of the Vatican’s push toward financial transparency.

One new crime stands out, though, as an obvious response to the leaks of papal documents last year that represented one of the gravest Vatican security breaches in recent times.

Paolo Gabriele, the butler for then-Pope Benedict XVI, was tried and convicted by a Vatican court of stealing Benedict’s personal papers and giving them to an Italian journalist, Gianluigi Nuzzi.

Using the documents, Nuzzi published a blockbuster book on the petty turf wars, bureaucratic dysfunction and allegations of corruption and homosexual liaisons that afflict the highest levels of Catholic Church governance.

Gabriele, who said he wanted to expose the “evil and corrup-

tion” that plagued the Holy See, was convicted of aggravated theft and sentenced to 18 months in the Vatican’s police barracks. Benedict eventually pardoned him and he is now a free man.

But his crime devastated the Vatican, shattering the confidentiality that typically governs correspondence with the pope.

In an indication of how serious the Vatican considers such confidentiality, the penalties for violations of the new law are stiff: Anyone who reveals or receives confidential information or documentation risks six months to two years in prison and a €2,000 euro ($2,500) fine; the penalty goes up to eight years in prison if the material concerns the “fundamental interests” of the Holy See or its diplomatic relations with other countries.

US unmanned drone jet makes first carrier landing I

n a key development for the future of robotic flight, a pilotless US jet has landed aboard an aircraft carrier.

The US Navy X-47B drone touched down on the deck of the USS George H W Bush as it sailed off the coast of Virginia.

The bat-wing aircraft can deliver guided bombs from a range of 3,200km (1990 miles). It is the first drone to land on a ship at sea.

In May an unmanned aircraft launched from the same carrier but landed on a runway on the US mainland.

The plane was one of two test aircraft purpose-built by the aerospace giant Northrop Grumman, under a 2007 contract at a cost of about $1.4 bn.

In clear weather and light winds, the aircraft took off from the Patuxent River Naval Air Sta-

tion in the US state of Maryland.

It headed for the ship which was operating in the Atlantic Ocean 112km off the coast of Virginia.

At 1740 GMT on Wednesday, the plane dropped its tail hook which then caught a cable across the carrier deck.

This arrested landing had been carried out before - but never at sea.

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WORLD NEWS

Pay increase proposed for UK Members of Parliament L

ONDON — An independent watchdog has proposed an 11 percent pay raise for British members of parliament despite a cap on public sector salaries.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority announced recommendations Thursday to increase MPs’ annual salaries to around 74,000 pounds ($112,000) by 2015 while reducing pensions and additional expenses.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told a London radio station it was “about the worst time to advocate a double-digit pay increase for MPs.” IPSA chairman Ian Kennedy last week warned that avoiding an increase in salaries could lead to an expenses scandal similar in scale to the one that erupted in 2009 during the previous parliamentary term.

That emerged after freedom of information

requests revealed that some members of parliament had abused their expense accounts by purchasing items like model duck houses and pornographic movies. The scandal led to a series of resignations and some prosecutions.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said Thursday former MP Denis MacShane is to be charged with false accounting over parliamentary expenses claims.

Kennedy said IPSA’s proposals, which cannot be blocked by government, would end the era of MPs effectively setting their own salaries and bring their remuneration in line with private sector pay.

Any sizable raise would contrast with what employees in the public sector, such as doctors and teachers, have been handed in recent years as part of the government’s austerity measures — pay freezes have been commonplace.

British public sector workers were told in 2012 they would receive only a 1 percent annual pay rise cap until the 2015-16 financial year.

Labour party leader Ed Miliband said Thursday he was against the pay rise particularly when “nurses and teachers are facing either pay freezes or very low increases.”

Public and Commercial Services Union general secretary Mark Serwotka said public servants would be rightly outraged if MPs accept a “hypocritical” pay increase.

British lawmakers currently receive 66,000 pounds ($99,000) a year, less than their compatriots in Japan, Australia and the U.S. but more than lawmakers in Spain and France.

Kennedy said Thursday he would spend the next two months consulting with the public on the IPSA proposals.

War crimes court restores genocide charge against Karadzic T

he U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia reinstated a charge of genocide against wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic on Thursday, reversing a trial court’s ruling that prosecutors hadn’t made a convincing case that the Serb nationalist “possessed genocidal intent.”

The decision by a five-judge appeals panel coincided with a solemn ceremony in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, where the recently identified remains of 409 victims of Europe’s worst massacre since World War II were reburied.

Karadzic and Bosnian Serb army commander Gen. Ratko Mladic face charges in their concurrent war crimes trials for their alleged roles in orchestrating the July 11, 1995, killings of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

At the U.N. court in The Hague, Netherlands, the appeals panel’s chief judge read out its decision reversing the ruling a year ago that prosecutors had failed to present compelling evidence that Karadzic plotted to exterminate Muslims and Croats during the 1992-1995 war.

In their ruling posted on the tribunal’s website, the appellate judges cited evidence presented by the prosecution last year that Karadzic took part in meetings where “it had been decided that one-third of Muslims would be killed, one third would be converted to the Orthodox religion and a third will leave

on their own,” purging the proclaimed state of Republika Srpska of all Muslims.

Karadzic was also involved in subjecting Muslim captives to inhumane and physically destructive conditions, packing hundreds in single rooms, denying them food and water and depriving them of toilets or bathing facilities, causing the spread of disease and death, the appellate judges noted.

Karadzic, 68, who has been at the tribunal detention facility since his 2008 capture, now faces the restored charge of genocide when the defense phase of his trial resumes. He also faces 10 other charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws of war.

He faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted.

Karadzic and Mladic are among 25 Balkan war crimes suspects detained at The Hague, and their trials are being closely watched by survivors of the conflict that took at least 100,000 lives. Proceedings have been concluded against another 136 suspects by the court, which has succeeded in serving all 161 of its indictment warrants since its formation two decades ago.

Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian nationalist blamed for masterminding the atrocities in a bid to “ethnically cleanse” territory claimed as Serb heritage, died in The Hague prison in 2006 midway through his trial.

ADVERTISE WITH THE TCI SUN • CALL 9468542 FOR SPECIAL RATES

Two injured in Running Of The Bulls H

undreds of daredevils tested their bravery Thursday by fleeing half-tonne fighting bulls through the winding streets of Pamplona in northern Spain in a run that sent two men to hospital.

No one was gored but a 20-yearold Spaniard and a 42-year-old American were taken to hospital with injuries after falling in the fifth bull run of the famed San Fermin festival, regional health officials said.

Six bulls and six steers, castrated bulls that keep the herd together, charged through the narrow, cobbled streets of the city, clearing a path through a sea of runners mostly dressed in white with red handkerchiefs around their necks.

“I was scared because the bulls ran quickly and it is hard to get in front of the horns,” said 26-year-old Jaime Silvestre who came from the eastern Spanish city of Castellon with a group of friends to take part

in the festival for the first time.

The bulls from the Torrestrella ranch in the southern province of Cadiz completed the 848.6-metre (928-yard) course from a holding pen to the city bull ring in two minutes and 47 seconds.

People from around the world flock to the city of 200,000 residents to test their bravery and enjoy the festival’s mix of round-theclock parties, religious processions and concerts.

Fifteen people have been killed in the bull runs since records started in 1911.

The most recent death took place four years ago when a bull gored a 27-year-old Spaniard in the neck, heart and lungs.

The nine-day fiesta, which dates back to medieval times and was immortalised in Nobel prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises”, ends on July 14.

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WORLD NEWS

Woman sentenced to life for cutting off her husband’s penis A

California woman who was accused of cutting of her husband’s penis before tossing it in the garbage disposal has been sentenced to seven years to life in state prison.

Catherine Kieu, 50, was guilty of charges of torture and aggravated mayhem for the July 11, 2011, attack and sentenced to life in jail, but she could be eligible for parole after seven.

She was convicted of one count each of torture and aggravated mayhem.

The victim, known only as Glen throughout the trial, was in court for sentencing.

‘I’m hoping this will be the last time I ever have to see her,’ he said. ‘I felt some relief, and it was a very sad day for me.’

Kieu was convicted in April of aggravated mayhem - maliciously depriving a human of a body part.

‘This was a horrible event,’ said John Christl, of the Orange County District Attorney’s office. ‘In effect, the victim is going to be serving a life sentence because of what the defendant did to him. She, in turn, deserves her life sentence.’

The victim was hospitalized, but reconstructive surgery was not successful.

‘I remember the event. It’s not cohesive because of the shock, the trauma, the torture,’ he said. ‘There may be a situation where I can become happy.

Whole? Never.’

‘In my 24 years on the bench, I’ve seen a number of murder cases,’ said Judge Richard F. Toohey. ‘Her actions were as calculated, as cold, as callous as any murder in the first degree.’

Prosecutors argued that Kieu refused to accept her husband’s demand for a divorce and carried out the attack as part of a revenge plot. The attack occurred about two months after the husband filed for divorce.

‘I don’t think she wanted to get divorced -- that’s what it came down to.

As far as the reason for it,she was adamant. Maybe this is her way.’

During trial, the 60-year-old victim testified that his penis could not be reattached and that he felt as though he had been murdered.

Deputy District Attorney John Christl told jurors that Kieu, 50, drugged the man’s tofu with sleeping pills and screamed ‘You deserve it!’ before attacking him with a 10-inch kitchen knife.

Kieu was jealous and angry about her husband’s plans to divorce her because he was seeing his ex-girlfriend, the prosecution said.

Kieu spiked her husband’s dinner with Ambien, tied him to his bed with nylon ropes and then cut off his penis with a 10-inch kitchen knife, according to prosecutors.

She then threw it in the garbage disposal and turned it on, mutilating the organ, authorities said.

Her husband was treated and re-

Catherine Kieu,was found guilty of charges of torture and aggravated mayhem for the July 11, 2011, attack and has now been sentenced to seven years to life in jail leased from UC Irvine Medical Center, but doctors were unable to re-attach his penis.

The couple was reportedly going through a divorce at the time, and the defense argued that Kieu was suffering from depression and other mental health issues.

Audio of the incident was captured by a voice-activated recorder Kieu had hidden in the bedroom, Christl said.

‘This was a cruel and calculated violation of a person’s body and mind,’ the victim, who was not identified, said in an impact statement at the sentencing.

‘I now struggle with what is before me. She has torn off my identity as a man,’ he said. ‘She has caused doubt in my belief in good. She has betrayed my trust in people.’

The victim testified he had spent a few days in a hospital and underwent surgery, but ‘not reconstructive surgery.’

The operation was ‘to make it usable as far as going to the bathroom.

‘The defense argued she ‘had a break from reality’ on the night of the attack.

Kieu apparently had mental health problems caused by a childhood full of molestation and other trauma in war-torn Vietnam and her husband also constantly demanded sex in ways that caused her pain, her defence lawyer said.

Kieu’s public defender, Frank Bittar, said before jury deliberations: ‘She’s a shattered woman who tried to do the best she could’.

The husband said he remembered waking up tied to the bed.

During the trial Mr Christl described the scene: ‘When he woke, she told him ‘You deserve it’ three times, and then slices off his penis with one motion of the knife’.

‘She then walks into the kitchen, takes the severed penis, and puts it into the garbage disposal.’

‘All of a sudden I felt a very sharp pain,’ the husband said. ‘I will never have a sex life again.’

Bittar agreed that Kieu had a difficult past, but said no one could condone what the victim went through.

ACCUSED BOSTON MARATHON BOMBER PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO ATTACK

B

OSTON - Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, with his arm in a cast, accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleaded “not guilty” to committing the worst mass-casualty attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, a crime that could bring him the death penalty.

Appearing in court for the first time, the 19-year-old ethnic Chechen - a naturalized U.S. citizen - spoke clearly, answering seven times that he was “not guilty” and occasionally glancing back at the gallery, where survivors and victims’ relatives were watching.

Tsarnaev is charged with killing three people and injuring about 264 others by setting off homemade bombs - pressure-cookers filled with explosives, nails and ball bearings - assembled by him and his older brother, Tamerlan.

Prosecutors say the brothers placed backpacks containing the bombs among the spectators near the finish line of the race on April 15.

Several days later, in the suburb of Watertown, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer was killed in a shootout, during which 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after his brother ran over him with car as he escaped. The ensuing manhunt resulted in a daylong lockdown of most of the Boston area until Dzhokhar was found, badly wounded, hiding in a boat in a backyard.

Tsarnaev’s appearance in the federal courtroom on Wednesday was the first time he has been seen in public since his arrest on April 19. His hair was long and unruly, his left arm in a cast and the orange jumpsuit, unbuttoned to the waist, revealed a black T-shirt underneath.

He fidgeted, scratched his face and looked around the courtroom, watching prosecutors as they spoke and occasionally looking back at about 30 survivors of the attack and victims’ families.

“He didn’t seem too shaken up by this. He didn’t seem affected one bit, but I’m not a mind reader,” said John DiFava, chief of the MIT police department, who attended the proceeding.

Tsarnaev is also charged in the shooting death of 27-year-old police officer Sean Collier.

The biggest challenge for Tsarnaev’s attorney, public defender Miriam Conrad, will be sparing him the death penalty, observers said.

Security was tighter than usual on Wednesday outside Boston’s U.S. District Courthouse, which is also the site of the ongoing murder and racketeering trial of mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger, now in its fifth week.

A handful of Tsarnaev supporters were outside and a few attended the proceeding.

WASHINGTON DC TO CONSIDER DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA

T

he Washington, D.C., City Council announced on Wednesday that it will consider legislation that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The “Simple Possession of Small Quantities of Marijuana Decriminalization Amendment Act,” introduced by Councilman Tommy Wells, would remove criminal penalties for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. Those 18 and older would face a civil fine of $100 for possession of less than an ounce; those under 18 would be required to attend a drug and alcohol awareness program. Under the current D.C. law, possession of any amount of marijuana is a crime punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

“The effort to decriminalize marijuana is about removing barriers for individuals—the impact on their education, and their opportunities for employment,” Wells said.

“Current legal practices in the District impose a record that sticks with them for life, rather than imposing more sensible civil fines.”

Pro-pot advocates welcomed the news. “It is time to adopt a more sensible marijuana policy in our nation’s capital,” the D.C.-based

Marijuana Policy Project said in a news release. “The District’s current policy of arresting and prosecuting thousands of adults for marijuana possession each year is doing far more harm than good.”

Washington has the country’s highest arrest rate for marijuana possession. According to a report released last month by the American Civil Liberties Union, there were 846 marijuana arrests per 100,000 people in 2010—more than three times the national rate, or 256 per 100,000 people. (New York had the second highest, at 535.)

The council’s proposal likely has something to do with a different kind of green. The District of Columbia money spends more per capita enforcing marijuana possession laws than any state in the country, the report found. The city spent $26.5 million in 2010 in police, judicial and jail costs enforcing pot laws, or more than $40 per resident.

There is also an extreme racial disparity in D.C.’s marijuana arrests. The ACLU report found that African Americans were more than 8 times more likely to be arrested for pot possession in Washington than white people — more than twice the national rate.

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usiness B AND

T GlobalOeconomy ECHN

LOGY

growing slower than expected, says IMF

T

he global economy is growing more slowly than expected, with risks to that growth increasing especially in emerging markets, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in an update to its World Economic Outlook (WEO). Global growth is now projected at 3.1 for 2013 and 3.8 percent for 2014, a downward revision of ¼ percentage point each year compared with the forecasts in the April 2013 WEO. Global growth increased only slightly in the first quarter of 2013, instead of accelerating further as expected at the time of the April 2013 WEO. The underperformance was due to continuing growth disappointments in major emerging market economies, a deeper recession in the euro area, and a slower U.S. expansion than expected. By contrast, growth was stronger than expected in Japan.

Looking ahead, the IMF expects the brakes behind the recent underperformance to ease, but only gradually. Growth in the United States is forecast to rise to rise from 1¾ percent in 2013 to 2¾ percent in 2014, as fiscal consolidation slows and private demand remains solid. In Japan, growth in 2013 is now expected to be 2 percent, up ½ percent from the last WEO, reflecting the boost to confidence and private demand from recent accommodative policies. The euro area is forecast to remain in recession in 2013 before growing again in 2014. Activity in the region continues to suffer from the combined effects of low demand, depressed confidence, financial market fragmentation, weak balance sheets, and fiscal consolidation.

Growth in emerging market and developing economies is expected to moderate to 5 percent in 2013 and about 5½ percent in 2014, some ¼ percentage point lower than projected in the April 2013 WEO. The weaker prospects reflect, to varying degrees, infrastructure bottlenecks and

other capacity constraints, lower export growth, lower commodity prices, financial stability concerns, and, in some cases, weaker monetary policy support. In China, growth will average 7¾ percent in 2013–14, ¼ and ½ percentage point lower in 2013 and 2014, respectively, than in the April 2013 forecast.

Financial market volatility increased globally in May and June after a period of calm since last summer. Emerging market economies have generally been hit hardest. Recent increases in advanced economy interest rates and asset price volatility combined with weakness in emerging market domestic activity led to some capital outflows, equity price declines, rising local yields, and currency depreciation in the latter.

The WEO forecast assumes that the rise in volatility and yields will partly reverse, as it largely reflects a one-time reassessment of risks by investors based on the weaker growth outlook for these economies and temporary uncertainty about the U.S. exit from monetary policy stimulus. But if the underlying vulnerabilities persist and financial market volatility remains high, this could increase capital outflows and lower growth in emerging market economies.

More generally, downside risks, old and new, still dominate the outlook. The WEO Update highlights increased risks of a longer growth slowdown in emerging market economies.

These risks reflect the possibility of capital flow reversals and the possibility of more protracted effects of domestic capacity constraints, slowing credit growth, and weak external conditions.

Weaker growth prospects in emerging markets and new risks worldwide are challenging global growth, employment, and rebalancing.

The report underscores the need for policymakers everywhere to increase efforts to address these challenges and restore robust growth.

APPLE PLAYED CENTRAL ROLE IN EBOOK PRICEFIXING CONSPIRACY, SAYS FEDERAL JUDGE

A

pple has been found guilty of conspiring with book publishers to raise ebook prices, in one of the biggest anti-trust lawsuits ever brought by US federal authorities.

US district judge Denise Cote ruled on Wednesday that the company played a “central role” in a conspiracy with the biggest book publishers in the US to fix prices in violation of antitrust law.

Executives from the companies would meet in the private dining rooms of upscale New York restaurants to bemoan the low prices charged by the ebooks market leader Amazon, and what they could do about it, Cote said in her ruling.

Cote ruled that that damages would be determined at a new hearing. Apple continued to deny on Wednesday that it had done anything

wrong, and said it planned an appeal.

The ruling was not unexpected, as Cote had earlier suggested that Apple’s defense would fail, and the publishers – Hachette Book Group Inc, Macmillan, HarperCollins Publishers LLC, Penguin Group and Simon & Schuster – settled with the Department of Justice ahead of the trial. With Random House, these six firms are the largest publishers of trade books in the United States.

“The plaintiffs have shown that the publisher defendants conspired with each other to eliminate retail price competition in order to raise e-book prices, and that Apple played a central role in facilitating and executing that conspiracy,” Cote said in the decision (pdf). “Without Apple’s orchestration of this conspiracy, it would not have succeeded as it did in the spring of 2010.”

Nokia unveils 41 megapixel phone N

okia has unveiled a new handset with a 41 megapixel sensor which it claims can record “details never thought possible from a smartphone”.

It says consumers will be able to zoom in and reframe their photos without worrying about the image quality suffering.

Analysts who have tested the device said that it was “without doubt” the best smartphone camera on the market But they added that was not a guarantee that it would be a bestseller.

Market research firm IDC recently carried out a survey of smartphone owners in 25 countries to identify what factors were most likely to drive future purchases.

The results placed camera resolution 15th on a list of 23 features. Audio quality for voice, battery life, device security and browsing came top of the poll.

“Most people just look at their photos on their smartphone or via a social network on a computer - and for this the other vendors already provide very good quality,” Francisco Jeronimo, a mobile phone analyst at the firm, told the BBC. “Nokia needs to convince consumers that this new handset outperforms others in low-light conditions, otherwise they would only really notice the difference if they zoomed in on the images on a large screen or printed out a poster.

“It may be the best smartphone out there but I doubt it will be enough to convince many users to jump platform from Android or iOS which accounted for 92% of global shipments in the last quarter.”

The Lumia 1020 marks the second time Nokia has fitted a 41MP sensor to one of its phones.

Last year it launched the Pureview 808 model, but its appeal was limited by the fact it ran the ageing Symbian operating system for which few developers are still writing software. The new handset instead runs on Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform which has more than 160,000 apps.

As well as offering highly detailed 41MP-resolution photos, the new phone also uses a process called “oversampling” to combine the pixels of an image into a smaller 5MP version from which it removes unwanted visual noise.

Unlike its predecessor, the Lumia 1020 can save both types at the same time, meaning that the owner does not need to worry about switching settings.

In addition, the handset’s video recording capabilities take advantage of the extra resolution, allowing the user to zoom in four times while recording a 1080p high definition video without losing quality, and six times into a 720p version.

It also adds optical image stabilisation by mounting the lens system on ball-bearings and using a gyroscope and motors to counteract any movement to prevent the problem of camera shake.

However, all this comes at a premium price.

When it launches in the US it will cost $300 (£198) on top of a two-year contract.

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BUSINESS AND T ECHNOLOGY

Samsung surpasses Apple in smartphone Web usage W

orldwide, people now use Samsung’s smartphones more often than Apple’s to surf the Web, according to a study released Wednesday.

In January 2013, Apple iPhones and iPod Touches surpassed Nokia phones to account for the most Web pages viewed on the Internet, according to a report (PDF) from StatCounter, which monitors Web usage across a network of 3 million Web sites. But in June, Samsung devices passed Apple’s for the global lead.

But not by much. Samsung’s devices accounted for 25.5 percent of page views to 25.1 percent for Apple and 22 percent for Nokia in June. Research in Motion’s BlackBerry devices are a distant fourth place at 3.6 percent.

Samsung is closely allied with Google for use of the Net giant’s Android operating system, but Samsung also is developing a rival mobile OS called Tizen.

For mobile browsing in the United States, Apple’s devices are far and away the leader, growing from 50.4

percent of usage in July 2012 to 54.8 percent in June 2013. Over that period, Samsung devices rose from 12.7 percent to 18.3 percent.

StatCounter tallies every page view -- 17.5 billion in June -- though it screens out “prerendered” page views, which are pages a browser loads invisibly in anticipation that a person might want to see them.

StatCounter doesn’t include tablets in its mobile rankings.

“We define a mobile device as a pocket-sized computing device, typically having a display screen with touch input or a miniature keyboard. Tablets, while portable, are not considered mobile devices according to this definition,” the company said.

Ballmer tightens grip on Microsoft with major revamp M

icrosoft Corp’s sweeping re-organization on Thursday creates a company that, more than ever, bears the stamp of Chief Executive Steve Ballmer.

The face of Microsoft since he took the reins from co-founder Bill Gates in 2000, Ballmer stressed the importance of improving internal collaboration and eliminating redundancies when he released the company’s new organizational blueprint.

But some analysts say the changes also mean less leeway for Microsoft’s individual businesses to set and pursue their own agendas, as the company imposes a more streamlined, topdown approach to its strategy and operations.

For all the changes promised, the move reinforces Ballmer’s grip on the company’s direction and further muddies the succession picture.

“There’s still no heir apparent or any succession strategy that has become apparent,” said David Smith, an analyst with industry research firm Gartner. “It sounds like he wants to run it in a more centralized style.”

That Ballmer, 57, who presided over a decade of share price stagnation and was deemed slow to respond to mobile computing, remains more entrenched may worry investors and spur concern that the reorganization will truly effect change.

“In theory, it’s a great idea. The key

question will be can Ballmer deliver this in new model and can it be successful,” said Channing Smith, co-manager of the Capital Advisors Growth Fund, which does not own Microsoft shares.

“With his track record, it will be question mark for investors going forward.”

Microsoft is the world’s No.1 software company, whose $74 billion in annual revenue is powered largely by its dominant role in the PC business via its flagship Windows and Office software. But the company has been caught flat-footed by new trends such as mobile computing, where software

by Google Inc and Apple Inc lead the pack, as well as by Web-based “cloud” services.

Investors credit Ballmer for expanding the Windows and Office franchises and growing Microsoft into one of the world’s largest technology corporations.

But they also fault him for missing out on technology trends. And despite the success of the Xbox - the leader in a declining videogames industry - the company has cranked out a string of failed devices from the Zune media player to the Kin phone.

“It’s been a rocky road. There’s definitely been a lot of optimism around certain products, which have not met expectations,” said Daniel Ives, an analyst with FBR.

Although many choose to put iPads and other tablets in the mobile category, StatCounter’s assessment does agree with Microsoft’s approach that considers tablets to be merely the latest variety of a personal computer.

StatCounter said 83.9 percent of usage is currently from non-mobile devices. On those machines, Windows 7 is the top operating system at 52.6 percent. Windows XP is declining but stayed in second place at 21.1 percent. Windows 8 rose to 5.9 percent to pass Windows Vista at 5.4 percent. Apple’s OS X was at 7.4 percent, while iOS running on iPads was at 4.2 percent.

Regarding the actual browsers used on mobile devices, StatCounter gave first place to the unbranded Android browser at 29.1 percent of usage worldwide. Second place went to Apple’s Safari at 25.0 percent. Chrome for mobile devices, available only on devices running Android 4.0 or later, is growing and has reached 3.2 percent, StatCounter said.

Some Dell shareholders plan to vote against CEO’s buyout A

t least three shareholders who collectively hold nearly 3 percent of Dell Inc’s shares plan to vote against Chief Executive Michael Dell’s $24.4 billion buyout offer, raising questions about shareholder proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services’ sway with the PC maker’s shareholders.

The three managers - Highfields Capital Management, Pzena Investment Management and Yacktman Asset Management owned 50.65 million shares combined out of the PC maker’s 1.76 billion shares outstanding as of March 31, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Boston-based investment management firm Highfields Capital Management, which held a 1.3 percent stake in Dell as of March 31, plans to vote against the buyout by Mr. Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake, sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday. The sources wished to remain anonymous because they are not permitted to speak to the media.

On Monday, Richard Pzena of Pzena Investment Management, which owns a 0.7 percent stake, told CNBC he will vote against the Dell buyout proposal. The following day, Yacktman Asset Management, which has a 0.85 percent stake, said it too would vote against the Dell buyout, in favor of Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset management’s buyout proposal of the company.

Institutional Shareholders Services (ISS) is recommending shareholders accept Mr. Dell’s proposal.

“ISS’ role is to analyze the deal and make a recommendation that we see as being in the best interest of shareholders. That’s what we’ve done in concluding that taking $13.65 (per share) now is a better alternative than continuing to hold equity in a publicly-traded Dell,” an ISS spokeswoman said in an e-mail to Reuters.

“At the end of the day however, as with any proxy vote, shareholders will make their own decisions based on their own circumstances,” she said.

The decisions by the three firms to vote against the buyout by Mr. Dell and Silver Lake come despite recommendations by ISS, Glass Lewis & Co and Egan-Jones proxy services, who are all in favor of the deal.

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Sports LOCAL

TCI Soccer women gear up for festival

U

p to 40 female players are currently in training to prepare for the TCIFA’s annual Women’s International Festival of football.

This year two TCI teams consisting of players from its youth academies and national teams will play against Bethesda SC form Washington and the Greater Tampa Bay Football Club from Florida.

The visiting teams will prove to be a stern test as they are highly ranked in the USA. Bethesda are one of the top four female clubs in America, regularly producing US national team players and Tamba Bay have improved with the acquisition of several key new players.

Despite the fearsome reputation of their opponents Technical Director Matthew Green is confident that the TCI players will not be in awe of their opponents. “every year our players get better technically and tactically. These games will be a great opportunity for our players to see where they are and realize what steps they need to improve moving forward”.

The TCIFA is clearly thinking about next year’s world Cup qualifying competition whilst preparing for these games. “We have brought back several play-

ers to train with the squads so that we can look at a few things as we plan for the World Cup games in 2014. We also have a lot of young players who need experience against high level opponents so these games are a vital part of the process.

We are looking at the big picture which is to ensure we have a chance of success next year. In the past

our teams have come close to world cup success with a narrow defeat to the Dominican Republic and a tie with Dominica on their home soil. Our win against the Bahamas in the Beach Soccer Tournament as well as our 4-0 win against the

TCI’S EARL HENRY SHINES IN BAHAMAS CRICKET LEAGUE

D

ynasty Stars and St. Agnes will meet in the final of the Bahamas Cricket Association’s 40-over tournament on June 23rd after winning their respective semi-finals last weekend.

British Virgin Islands in 2011 shows we have the ability to beat many teams in the region”.

The TCIFA has every right to feel optimistic about the potential success of its female national team.

Many of their players have had been involved in previous World Cup campaigns and with so much young talent coming through the ranks.

Although the festival will not see the national team in action, many of its players will be involved as members of the TCI U16 Team and the TCI Select team.

Green added

“many of our players are still barely teenagers but what they lack in age they make up for in spirit and determination. When you combine this with the experience of players like Amelie Speer, Pekiera Brooks and Emmanuella Meneide we have a great balance”.

As far as Green is concerned success during the upcoming tournament will be measured in how well the teams adapt to playing against more experienced opposition. “It would have been easy for us to put together a strong team that could win the event by combing the best players from the U16 Group and the Select team but we have to ensure that all our players get some playing time so they can benefit from this experience.

By having two differently composed teams we will be able to assess more players and see how they can fit into our long term plans.

The games promise to be exciting with a lot of skill on display, I am sure our girls will benefit from the tournament as they have done in recent years” Six games will be played in total from Friday 12th to Sunday 14th July at 4.00pm and 5.30pm at the TCIFA Academy Field.

Earl Henry Dynasty booked their place in the championship match after St. Alban’s failed to show up in sufficient numbers on Saturday, while St. Agnes advanced after beating Police by 71 runs on Sunday.

In Sunday’s game, Earl Henry hit a responsible 100 to lead St. Agnes to 212 all out in 36.2 overs. The all-rounder, who is based in the Turks and Caicos Islands, received minimal support with only Omar James (29) showing any resistance.

For Police, skipper Gregory Taylor Jnr claimed three wickets for 29 runs while his brother Marc had three for 41. Rudolph Fox, Jamal Rolle and Leonard Dersaint also picked up a wicket each.

Police could only muster 141 in 25.5 overs in their reply. Marc Taylor and Rolle both made 34 while Gregory Taylor contributed 20.

For St. Agnes, Orville Wright took three wickets for 23 runs and Henry two for 45.

There was also a wicket each for James, John Dolphin and Earl Thomas, the third.

The venue for both semi-finals was the Haynes Oval where the final will be played on Sunday.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL SPORTS

Race for the conch Eco-SeaSwim a huge success T

hreatening storm clouds, a rain shower, and a stronger than usual current could not stop or dampen the spirits of the 4th annual “Race for the Conch” Eco-SeaSwim last Saturday July 6.

The now well-established island charity event saw 100 swimmers turn out to enjoy a thrilling day that showed off Grace Bay as a World Class open water swim race destination. Swimmers from Provo, USA, Canada, and Europe, many returning for the 3rd or 4th time, competed for a unique conch trophy or just do their personal best.

Defending champion and resident swimmer, Dan Redmond, once again took first in the 1 Mile Men’s Division in a superb time of 23 minutes 38 seconds. Eric Erenstoft and Clay Britt of the USA came in 2nd and 3rd.

Provo resident Jessica Sloan, came if first in the 1 Mile Women’s Division in an excellent time of 27 minutes 53 seconds. She was followed by Rachel Jenny and Sally Ann Patton of the USA for 2nd and 3rd place.

First place overall winner for the 2.4 Mile event was Wally Dicks of Virginia, USA. Wally had taken second place for the past two years, but this time won it handily as he clocked in at 56 minutes 42 seconds.

Americans Ladislav Sebestyan and James Lyness came in 2nd and 3rd.

Club Med won the Resort Cup with a combined time (3 swimmers) of 118 minutes 15 seconds.

The event also featured a 100 meter open water Children’s Swim for youngsters 11 and under. “These are our future open water racers,” said race Co-Director Chloe Zimmermann, “and we want to do all we can to encourage their participation.”

In keeping with the “conch” theme, TCI Director of Culture, David Bowen, blew the conch shell to start the races, adding another uniquely TCI touch to the event.

Race organizers made minor changes in this year’s 1 mile and 2.4 mile course that put the start/finish

right at the half-way point in front of Ricky’s Flamingo Cafe. That allowed spectators a better view of the entire event. Swimmers complimented the new course for its easy navigation close to the shore with large, visible buoys. Three time competitor John Corcoran from Thunder Bay, Canada commented: “This is definitely the best organized open water swim race in the world with friendly volunteers, organizers, and swimmers at every level.”

“It’s very gratifying to get comments like that,” said race Co-Director Ben Stubenberg. “We had lots of good people--water safety and medical personnel, timers, registrars, beach staff, and others--working hard to make it happen. Everyone deserves credit for the success.”

“Swimmers train hard to do this race,” added Co-Director Zimmermann. “And they mentally steel themselves to do a mile or 2.4 miles.

So we have to get it right. Seeing them beam when they finish is pretty cool.”

This year the swim event raised

$6000 for local charities that include Provo Children’s Home, the Salvation Army program to feed school kids, and the Reef Fund. “Island sponsors from businesses large and small really came through once again to make this a first class race,” said co-Director Zimmermann. Race Directors also expressed thanks to the TCI Tourist Board for actively promoting the event that brought in many more swimmers. They added a big compliment as well to Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs and Marine Police, who did a great job in getting the course ready and keeping boat traffic at bay.

In addition to raising money for charity, the race aims to build interest in swimming in the Turks & Caicos and help protect the reefs and ocean. “We want to get more people in TCI island to learn how to swim and identify and develop talent for regional and international competition,” said Co-Director Stubenberg.

“TCI abounds with great athletic talent, so there is every reason to be-

lieve that we could produce some outstanding swimmers similar to Jamaica, Bahamas, and Cayman.” Efforts are underway to start an open water swim club and build a proper swim facility that could take TCI to the next level of swimming.

The top 3 male and female finishers in the 1 mile and top 3 overall finishers in the 2.4 mile races, as well as the best resort team, received hand-carved conch trophies created by local artist Stanford Hanfield. Local artist Brenda Luddington of Paradise Arts hand-made and hand-painted kiln-fired trophy bases. She also designed and made the medals using local materials that every finisher received. Awards were also given for the oldest (64) and youngest (13) swimmers, as well as for greatest effort.

Next year’s race is set for Saturday July 5, 2014. More information on the race with full results and more pictures can be found at race website www.ecoseaswim.com and Turks & Caicos Eco-SeaSwim Facebook site.

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Sports CARIBBEAN

Usain Bolt says he could have run faster in 200

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ARIS — Forget for a moment the laid-back, fun-loving Usain Bolt. Even when he’s winning the six-time Olympic champion is finding fault with his running these days.

The Jamaican sprinter gave himself a grade of 7 out of 10 after running the fastest 200 meters of the season Saturday with a time of 19.73 seconds at the Areva Diamond League meet in Paris.

Bolt shaved 0.01 second off the previous best time this year, set by American sprinter Tyson Gay at the U.S. trials last month.

“I think I could have run the last 50 after the turn much better,” Bolt said. “I didn’t come in the straight as powerful as I used to. The last 30 meters, I was kind of, I won’t say struggling, but my technique wasn’t perfect.”

Fellow Jamaican Warren Weir was second in 19.92, ahead of former European champion Christophe Lemaitre in 20.07.

“The time, I think I could have done better,” Bolt said. “I wanted to do better, but it’s just one of those things you never get but you wish for sometimes.”

Bolt broke the meet record of 20.01 seconds set

by Michael Johnson in 1990. But he said he still has plenty to work ahead of the world championships in August.

“First, I think I should have run faster on the curve,” he said. “My first 50 was great. But then,

for some strange reason, my last 50 wasn’t so great. So I just need to figure what went wrong and then work on it.”

However, Bolt laughed off suggestions that he was past his prime after losing to American sprinter Justin Gatlin in the 100 of the Golden Gala meet last month in Rome.

“I lost one 100 meters, a lot of people are making a big deal of it,” Bolt said. “It doesn’t really bother me. All I have to do is just train. The same people in that lane beside me, if he’s one of them, then I’ll get it right that I’m a championship person. I’m not worried.”

Bolt will next compete in the 100 and 4x100 relay in London on July 26-27 in a one-year anniversary event for the 2012 Olympics. That will be his final major meeting before the worlds, which start Aug. 10.

In other events at the Areva meet, the ninth leg in the Diamond League circuit, Olympic champion Kirani James of Grenada clocked a world-leading 43.96 in the men’s 400, beating Americans LaShawn Merritt (44.09) and Tony McQuay (44.84).

“Today in comparison with previous races, I had a little bit better first 200,” James said. “You need to always pay attention to runners like LaShawn. If he would be too far ahead, it would be tough to beat him.”

James caught Merritt in the backstretch before running away on the final straight.

Bolt of Jamaica waves from the open roof of a vintage car during the Athletics Diamond League meeting at Stade de France stadium in Saint Denis north of Paris, Saturday.

“I could have done better,” Merritt said. “Some parts of my race were slower than they should be.

But I will correct it. To win in Moscow, I need to use my speed. That is the key.”

Merritt won gold at the 2008 Olympics and the world title in 2009 before completing a 21-month suspension for failing doping test.

The next Diamond League meet is in Monaco on July 19.

Jeffrey Webb hopes his presidency will transform CONCACAF C

ONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands says it’s an “injustice” that CONCACAF will have to go at least 32 years between hosting World Cups, and he thinks the country that is best suited to host World Cup 2026 is the United States.

That may not come as welcome news to Mexico or Canada, CONCACAF countries that might also be interested in hosting or co-hosting global soccer’s showpiece event, but it’s just reality, Webb told SI.com in an interview at the Gold Cup in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday.

“We have to do every single thing within our power to make sure [the World Cup] comes back to CONCACAF,” says Webb. “Which country is the best-suited to host it from an infrastructure standpoint and from an economic standpoint to FIFA’s benefit? At the end of the day, it’s business, and it’s the United States.

We need the U.S. [soccer] market to continue to grow.”

The 1994 World Cup in the U.S.

remains the highest-attended World Cup of all time.

Webb, 48, was elected president of CONCACAF last year and is one of the three CONCACAF members of the powerful FIFA Executive Committee (along with the U.S.’s Sunil Gulati and Guatemala’s Rafael Salguero).

Webb has already taken a big role on several fronts as he tries to 1) rehabilitate the image of corruption that developed under previous CONCACAF leaders Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer, and 2) promote real change as the chair of FIFA’s Anti-Racism and Discrimination Task Force.

Neither task will be easy for Webb, who grew up in both the Caymans and in the Tampa, Fla., area. What is he hoping to achieve on the anti-racism committee? “For many years, unfortunately, we’ve been paying lip-service to [racism in soccer],” he says. “I think we finally put some teeth in [sanctions] at the FIFA Congress with the measures we’ve taken. In our confederation, we have nowhere near some of the

things we’re seeing in Europe.”

“What we’re trying to achieve is No. 1, sanctions, and now No. 2 is going to be looking at how do we prevent things from happening,” he goes on. “And then education. We have to start from within the clubs, with the players and the coaches.

Once you start there, then you can affect the stadiums. Then you can go out into the communities.”

Growing up in Tampa, Webb remembers players from the NFL’s Buccaneers like Lee Roy Selmon and Doug Williams coming to visit his high school as part of community outreach programs. Meanwhile, Webb is the point man for the rebranding of CONCACAF’s terrible image, one that resulted from Warner becoming something close to a soccer warlord and Blazer being investigated by the FBI and IRS for alleged white-collar misdeeds.

A recent scathing integrity report

by CONCACAF alleged that the previous CONCACAF leaders misused tens of millions of dollars.

CONCACAF President Jeff Webb of the Cayman Islands Webb nods his head when asked if he’s trying to overhaul CONCACAF’s shady image. “We have to,” he says.

“Since I got elected last year, we’re focused so much on oversight and governance.” He cites hiring a Big Five firm as the confederation’s auditor and the appointment of a Price Waterhouse partner as chair of the audit and compliance committee.

“Our statutes and regulations are now starting to be modified and probably go a lot further than the FIFA reforms will go,” Webb says.

“But I think that in rebuilding the vision and the image of the confederation, actions speak louder than words. We’ve gotta do it. We have to rebuild that trust and integrity and reestablish that credibility that we’ve lost.”

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Sports W

Shane Warne to join Cricket Hall of Fame S

hane Warne will be inducted into the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame during the second Ashes Test between England and Australia.

Warne, who represented Australia in 145 Tests between 1992 and 2007 and was the first bowler to take 700 Test wickets, will join the likes of Sir Don Bradman.

He will be formally inducted during the tea interval of the second day at Lord’s on 19 July.

Shane Warne “I’m very honoured and proud,” said the former leg spinner, 43.

“I’d like to thank the voting academy very much for even considering me. I’m looking forward to celebrating my induction with my friends and family in front of the crowd at Lord’s during the second Ashes Test.”

Warne ended his Test career with 708 wickets, at an average of 25.41, and 3,154 Test runs, the most any player in the game has made without scoring a hundred.

His final Test was at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium where he made his Test debut against India in 1992, as Australia completed a 5-0 whitewash of England in the 2006-07 Ashes.

The Victorian also took 293 wickets in 194 one-day internationals at an average of 25.73, and was man-of-the match as Australia beat Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup final at Lord’s.

He was sent home ahead of the 2003 World Cup after a drugs test during a one-day series in Australia returned a positive result for a banned diuretic.

The Australian Cricket Board Anti-Doping Committee subsequently found Warne guilty of breaching the Board’s drug code and banned him for 12 months.

The other 2012-2013 inductees are the former West Indies captain Brian Lara, Warne’s compatriot Glenn McGrath and England’s Enid Bakewell, who became the third woman cricketer in the ICC Hall of Fame after Rachel Heyhoe-Flint and Belinda Clark.

Lara and Bakewell were inducted last year at the LG ICC Awards in Colombo in September, while McGrath received the accolade during the Sydney Test between Australia and Sri Lanka in January this year.

Warne becomes the 18th Australian member of the Hall of Fame, and the 72nd in total.

ICC Cricket Hall of Fame - initial inductees (55): Sydney Barnes, Bishan Bedi, Alec Bedser, Richie Benaud, Allan Border, Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Denis Compton, Colin Cowdrey, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Lance Gibbs, Graham Gooch, David Gower, WG Grace, Tom Graveney, Gordon Greenidge, Richard Hadlee, Walter Hammond, Neil Harvey, George Headley, Jack Hobbs, Michael Holding, Leonard Hutton, Rohan Kanhai, Imran Khan, Alan Knott, Jim Laker, Harold Larwood, Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, Clive Lloyd, Hanif Mohammad, Rodney Marsh, Malcolm Marshall, Peter May, Javed Miandad, Keith Miller, Bill O’Reilly, Graeme Pollock, Wilfred Rhodes, Barry Richards, Vivian Richards, Andy Roberts, Garfield Sobers, Brian Statham, Fred Trueman, Derek Underwood, Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes, Frank Woolley, Frank Worrell.

RLD

Kobe Bryant won’t waste time on Dwight Howard’s decision

S

ANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- If choosing to unfollow Dwight Howard on Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the center’s decision to leave the Los Angeles Lakers wasn’t sign enough of Kobe Bryant’s indifference toward his former teammate, his first public comments on Howard’s choice made it perfectly clear.

“I haven’t followed enough to hear what he’s kind of said about going to Houston and some of the reasons why he went to Houston,” Bryant said Wednesday at his annual youth basketball academy on the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara. “I don’t know. I don’t. You look at me, you really think once a guy decides to go someplace else, I’m going to waste my time trying to figure out why that happened?”

It was more of a shrug than a silver-tongued reaction from Bryant. If Howard wanted to be a Rocket, so be it.

“I’m happy for him,” Bryant said, without a hint of his usual sarcasm. “I’ve said that before. I’m happy for him. It’s important for free agents to make decisions that they feel is best for them. That’s really what it’s about, being a free agent. You have to make decisions that you feel is best for you, best for your family and best for your brand, whatever it may be. So, it is what it is.”

What has become abundantly clear is Howard is not, and never was, fit to be the next face of the Lakers’ franchise once Bryant, who turns 35 next month, chooses to retire.

“I think everybody is cut differently,” Bryant said. “[Howard] has his way of leading that he feels like would be most effective and would work for him, and obviously the way we’ve gone about it with this organization and the leaders that we’ve had -- myself, Magic [Johnson] and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] -- we’ve done it a different way.”

Bryant said he had no problem with the “Stay.” billboard campaign the team launched to try to keep Howard -- “You want a player back, you got to do what you can to try to bring him back,” he said -- but the final sit-down meeting with Howard was too somber for Bryant’s taste.

“I was just kind of going in there and I really didn’t know what to expect, to be honest with you,” Bryant said of the Lakers’ pitch to Howard last Tuesday. “I walk in there and everybody is sitting down and everybody is quiet. I didn’t know what the hell was going on. Everybody was just really dead-ass serious. It was pretty funny to me.”

With Howard out of the picture, Bryant is working his way back to the place that’s

felt like home for the past 17 seasons -- on the court, playing in a Lakers uniform.

“It’s progressing faster than everybody expected,” Bryant said of his recovery from the Achilles tendon surgery he underwent in April. “I should be able to be more active with conditioning in the middle of August, which is like four months after the surgery.

Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard It’s crazy, but I’ve been very, very fortunate to be able to have [Lakers head physical therapist] Judy [Seto] travel with me absolutely everywhere, be with me all the time, and I was fortunate to be able to go in and have the procedure done the next day [after rupturing the tendon]. I think all that’s helped.”

While Bryant is normally a very active participant in his basketball academy, his Achilles rehab is forcing him to slow down this summer.

“I’m limited,” Bryant said. “I’m not going to be able to get out there and do too much without the Lakers having a heart attack.

So, I’ll just be around, walking through, showing various things.”

Bryant, who has one year remaining on his contract, told the Lakers Nation fan blog at his camp not to assume he will take a pay cut to remain in Los Angeles.

“I’m not taking any at all -- that’s the negotiation that you have to have,” Bryant told the website. “For me to sit here and say, ‘Oh yeah, I’m just going to take a huge pay cut.’ Nah, I’m going to try to get as much as I possibly can.”

And Bryant hasn’t had any problem with cutting Howard out of his social media loop.

“Listen, man, it’s just me,” Bryant said.

“That’s just how I am. I have a hard time following people that want to beat us and stuff. I have a hard time doing that. Not to say that we’re not friends or I don’t respect him or anything like that. It’s just hard for me to do that.”

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WORLD SPORTS

Queen Elizabeth leads Murray plaudits after historic triumph Q

ueen Elizabeth joined politicians, sports stars and celebrities in congratulating Andy Murray on Sunday after he made tennis history by becoming the first Briton in 77 years to win the Wimbledon men’s title.

Millions of tennis fans across the country were glued to their televisions as Murray took to Centre Court for his second Wimbledon final, facing the world No. 1 Novak Djokovic after he lost last year to Roger Federer.

At the All England Club in Wimbledon, up to 30,000 fans packed Centre Court and crowded on to a hill within the grounds recently retagged “Murray Mound” to watch the match live on a giant TV screen, chanting “Murray, Murray, Murray”.

Waving Union Jack flags and sheltering from the blazing sun under umbrellas, the tension rose amongst the crowd on the hill as Murray took the first two sets against Serbian Djokovic and erupted when he won in a nail-biting finish.

In Centre Court’s royal box, Prime Minister David Cameron cheered on the Scottish player alongside England striker Wayne Rooney, “Hangover” actor Bradley Cooper and Victoria Beckham, the ex-Spice Girl, who cracked a rare smile as Murray won.

“It was an amazing performance from Andy Murray but also an amazing day for British tennis and for Britain. He never gave up and it was magnificent,” Cameron told BBC Radio 5.

Cameron earlier said he hoped Murray would add the Wimbledon title to the British and Irish Lions’ win over Australia on Saturday which ended a 16-year wait for a series triumph.

One notable absentee from the royal box was the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, who

Andy Murray of Britain poses with the trophy after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia during the Men’s singles final match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Sunday, July 7, 2013. watched Murray last year but is due to give birth to the future heir to the British throne.

“ONE IS VERY PLEASED” Queen Elizabeth is not a tennis fan and last came to the tournament in 2010, her first visit in 33 years, but she was reported to have sent Murray a private congratulatory message.

Sports stars, celebrities and politician jumped on to Twitter to congratulate the 26-year-old Scot who is the first Briton to claim the title since Fred Perry in 1936 - and the first British to win the tournament wearing shorts.

“Pretty sure @andy_murray might have to change his twitter name to @sirandymurray ......

Well played and deserved!,” tweeted retired U.S. tennis player Andy Roddick who lost the final at Wimbledon three times.

“77th on the 7th of the 7th.. 2013. Cool,” tweeted British actress Emma Watson, star of the Harry

Potter films, referring to the fact that the number seven is considered lucky.

“Murray Mania” was running high before Sunday’s match when tickets became like gold dust with website viagogo reporting one pair of tickets on sale for a record 71,000 pounds ($106,000) over 320 times more than the 260 pound face value.

Some fans camped out for two days for the chance to see Murray play and were overcome with emotion when he won.

“I’m crying. This is just amazing. The best day ever,” said Hannah Slater, 28, a management consultant from London.

“It’s another good thing for the country. We had the London Olympics, we have a royal baby coming soon, and a win like this keeps us on a roll when times are hard,” said Graham Bredbere, 47, a railway worker, from Hive in Kent.

The crowd chanted “Judy” as Murray leapt into the players’ box to hug his longterm girlfriend Kim Sears, best friend Ross Hutchins who is battling cancer and his mother Judy who has been a constant presence during his career.

His mother broke down in tears and was heard to say “finally” as she hugged other supporters in the box.

As for Murray, he shied away from questions about whether he would drop his usual tea-total lifestyle to celebrate, after admitting that he brushed his teeth with face cream after celebrating his U.S. Open win last year with champagne.

He certainly was not going to get personal when asked if he would now pop the question to Sears and consider starting a family.

“I haven’t thought about that yet,” he told reporters.

Dwayne Wade lawsuit proves that not even sponsors are safe from divorce court W

inning consecutive NBA titles usually provides a boost for most players’ off-court opportunities, but for Dwayne Wade, a new lawsuit by ex-wife Siohvaugn Wade has him scrambling to keep his existing relationships intact. According to Siohvaughn, Wade conspired with several of his endorsement companies to keep her from receiving a share of his future earnings as awarded by an earlier matrimonial court decision. The suit was specifically brought against the Miami Heat guard, his attorneys, as well as sponsors T-Mobile USA Inc., Staples SPLS +1.59% Office Superstore LLC, the Gatorade Gatorade Co. and Lining LLC., and seeks more than $1 million in damages for breach of contract and civil conspiracy.

Wade his ex-wife divorced in 2008, and at the time entered into a “Agreed Preliminary Injunction (API)”, which stated that “all of Dwayne Wade’s income received from endorsements and marketing contracts (less [broker] fees) was required to be ‘immediately and directly’ deposited into a mutually selected financial institution.”

Siohvaughn then sent letters to all of Wade’s endorsement and marketing partners giving them notice that any funds paid to him were to be deposited in their joint account.

Siohvaughn’s complaint states that in response to her letters, Wade breached the API

by, “refus[ing] to advise marketing and endorsement companies and the NBA of the direct deposit requirement or, directly through agents advised them not to comply…. had [his] marketing and endorsement companies and the NBA pay him the funds that should have been directly deposited and Dwayne Wade, his agents and attorneys have decided when and how much of those funds should be deposited into the mutually agreed upon account.”

It will not be difficult for Siohvaughn to prove if she received a proper allocation of Dwayne’s endorsement money or whether it was done through the correct channels. The bigger question is whether she has enough evidence to show that Wade and his cohorts specifically conspired to prevent her getting her fair share. While the civil conspiracy charges are likely to be dismissed against the endorsement companies named in the suit, matrimonial courts do not respond softly to spouses who avoid fulfilling alimony and child support payments, and any breach can lead to financial consequences that are significantly worse than the original payment requirements.

More importantly for Wade, as long as the battle is ongoing, he is unlikely to be able to sign any new endorsement deals for fear by partners of being drawn into the suit. Furthermore, depending on the outcome of the litigation, a prec-

Dwayne Wayne edent might be set in which companies endorsing professional athletes in the future structure deals so as to insure that they cannot be held liable in these types of situations.

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