VOLUME 9 ISSUE 45 by The SUN Newspaper

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Website: www.suntci.com

VOLUME 9 - No. 45

Email: sun@suntci.com

Tel: 649-946-8542

$1.00

Fax: 649-941-3281

www. twitter.com/suntci

GARLICK CONFIRMS MIKE’S RETURN BY HAYDEN BOYCE PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

pecial Prosecutor Helen Garlick has confirmed that former Premier Michael Misick will be returning to the Turks and Caicos Islands in early January 2014. Garlick made the confirmation in a letter that was written to Registrar of the Supreme Court David Chetwynd. She said that she was notified on December 17th, presumably by Brazilian authorities, that Misick will be returned to the TCI early next month. In the letter which was obtained by the SUN, Garlick said that even if Misick and his lawyers were to agree to shorten certain time “there is no chance” that he could be before the court on Monday, January 6th, 2014. “There is however a chance, were he to agree to abridge time, that he could be before the Court on the 13th of January 2014,” Garlick said in the one-page letter. Garlick also “invited” the judge presiding over the corruption trials, Mr. Justice John Harrison, to consider adjourning the sufficiency hearing from January 6th 2014 to January 13, 2014. Garlick said the postponement should be considered “if only so that the Court can hear from Mr Michael Misick’s counsel as to their proposals as to the future conduct of the case and take those submissions into account when considering the concerns of the other defendants and the Crown for this case to continue its progress towards trial in July.” In a previous letter, Garlick stated that whenever Misick returns to the Turks and Caicos Islands on the plane, SIPT’s Senior Investigating Officer is not prepared to let anyone,

More scholarships and jobs needed, says former Deputy Premier Lillian Boyce PAGE 11

SANDALS FOUNDATION BRINGS CHRISTMAS JOY TO OVER TURKS & CAICOS 2,000 CHILDREN Christmas came early for over 2,000 youngsters in Agency Recognition) Awards Children’s Christmas at TreaTurks & Caicos this holiday, all thanks to a unique part- sure Beach. During this event several Travel Partners from nership between Beaches Resort’s charity arm, the Sandals North America, UK, Canada and Latin America had the opFoundation and Hasbro, Inc., one of the world’s leading portunity to not only interact with the selected students, but also to hand deliver their gifts. toy manufacturers. “We are happy that we were able to share this exThousands of local children were given the opportunity to party with Sandals Foundation Volunteers, Jolly Old perience with our Travel Partners,” said Heidi Clarke, St. Nick, and several of their favorite furry Sesame Street Director of Program for the Sandals Foundation who attended the event, “The travel agents do so much in friends. The festivities started with excitement when 100 stu- creating awareness for the foundation, we wanted dents from three government primary schools, Ianthe them to see and interact with the students and also Pratt, Enid Capron and Oseta Jolly, were invited to attend show all of the wonderful charitable work we do here Sandals Foundation’s sponsored S.T.A.R. (Sandals Travel in Turks & Caicos.” ers. She also noted that while he is on the plane, no efforts will be made to interview Misick or talk to him about any matter relating to the case.

Garlick also stated that Misick will be charged as soon as he arrives in the Turks and Caicos Islands, depending on the time of day, and taken straight to court.

Police to get 19 new vehicles in February

Thief contacts victim for stolen iPad password

Abundant Life Ministries treats seniors for Christmas

PAGE 12

including the former Premier’s lawyers to have any conversations with him during the journey. Garlick said that this is standard procedure for transporting prison-

PAGE 18

Page 2

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Turks AND Caicos Islands named Most Outstanding Country in CIBC FirstCaribbean regional network for 2013 C

IBC FirstCaribbean’s two branches in the Turks & Caicos Islands have emerged as the top branches for Sales in CIBC FirstCaribbean’s network across the Caribbean in 2013. The Leeward Highway Branch achieved 99% of its annual branch sales target, and Grace Bay reached 94% of its target. Together they have placed ﬁrst and second respectively within the CIBC FirstCaribbean network of 67 branches. Last night, at a dinner attended by the bank’s Board of Directors, Retail Banking District Manager for TCI, Joy Callender, accepted the award on behalf of the two TCI branches. Managing Director for Retail and Business Banking, Mark St. Hill, noted: “Our bank’s vision of being the leading ﬁnancial services provider in the region - building enduring client relationships through trusted advice and superior service - is a challenge to every employee – from the CEO to the CSR – to make at least one connection each day that will drive our sales to achieve results. Delivering a superior sales and service experience to our clients with each and every interaction is the mantra of our frontline personnel, and none more so than our teams at our two branches in the Turks and Caicos Islands.” Country Manager for TCI, Larry Lawrence, was equally enthusiastic in his praise of Team TCI. He noted:

District Manager for Turks & Caicos Islands, Joy Callender, (left) accepts the award for Branch of the Year. Also pictured are Mark St. Hill, Managing Director for Retail and Business Banking and Christina Kramer, Executive, Vice-President, Retail Distribution and Channel Strategy, CIBC. “This year we in TCI have punched far above our body weight. In 2013, the Retail team made signiﬁcant enhancements to their way of working, introduced several process improvements and made key changes to improve our customer service delivery. In 2013 Team TCI embraced all these enhancements to deliver these spectacular results.”

With the enthusiastic backing of the 82 members of staff who support them, Mr. Lawrence, District Manager Joy Callender and Senior Sales Manager, Claudette Higgs have proven that size is no restriction in achieving excellence. The achievement by the TCI branches was as a result of the implementation of a solid sales plan, emphasizing sales in ﬁve key areas:

• Lending products • Credit cards • Deposit Accounts • Insurance • and Convenience Products This plan was implemented against a background of a program created by the TCI team themselves to improve service excellence, which has inﬂuenced positive service excellence behaviours. CIBC FirstCaribbean has thanked and commended the 48 members of staff at the Leeward Highway Branch and the 34 based at Grace Bay for their commitment to the CIBC FirstCaribbean’s vision and for their dedication to achieving excellence. The management team in TCI is made up of: • Larry Lawrence – Country Manager • Audley Higgs – Head of International Corporate Banking • Joy Callender – District Manager • Becky Glinton – Branch Manager (Grace Bay) • Claudette Higgs – Senior sales Manager • Arturo Rigby- Sales Team Leader • Dullette Toussaint – CSM (Leeward Highway) • Alissa Capron – CSM (Leeward Highway) • Roshara Williams – CSM (Grace Bay)

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Page 3

Page 4

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Page 5

Page 6

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Haitian Consulate to host first annual art exhibition BY VIVIAN TYSON

he Haitian Consulate will host the First Annual Art and Craft Exposé at the Regent Village Conference Room in Grace Bay, Providenciales on Saturday, December 21 and 22. Margrette Lemaire, Second Councillor in charge of Commercial and Cultural Affairs said, among the items to be on display, will be wood carvings, jewelry, sandals, bags, clay art and fabric paintings, all of which she caters to high-end clients. “They are very high-end products for high-end clientele. That initiative is responding to the desire of the Haitian government to promote the graciousness and diversity of the Haitian artists and artisans, and also to give them another market and exhibit their talents to the international community,” she said. “The objective of the consulate is to follow the desire of the government and strengthen the relationship between the two countries, to promote the country and to promote the arts of the

Margarette Lemaire country.” She said the exhibition also serves as a bridge between the Turks and Caicos and Haiti through culture. “My mission and my goal is to start to improve commerce and the relationship between the two countries and also cultural exchange between the two countries. I met with Mr. David Bowen several times, we explored different possibilities of exchange already and we decided at the consulate to have the ﬁrst art and

grand exhibit,” she said. She said that event represents a miniature exposé held annually in Haiti, where hundreds of artists parade their creation for display and purchase. “In Haiti, we already have something like that but it is a big thing that we have every year. It is a fair and exposition where we have hundreds of Haitian artists and artisans exhibit their products and we use that same event for Christmas again so that people can have national items made as gifts,” she said. She added: “The initiative of the consulate is to have a smaller quantity of artists and artisans. There will be 23, and they won’t be here. We will send a representative, who is an artist herself. She will also expose her product. She does a lot of jewelry and other things.” She said also that the event is also geared to give the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands some sense of pride, while affording locals, tourists and expatriates living here some insight in Haitian culture.

Kamol Ramchuram is Digicel’s Vespa Scooter Christmas winner BY VIVIAN TYSON

amol Ramchuram is the lucky winner of the Digicel TCI’s Christmas promotion’s top prize – a Vespa Scooter. The presentation was made to the grand prize winner at the Digicel ﬂagship store at Graceway House along the Leeward Highway, shortly after the telecoms company feted the media at the Provo Golf Club. Ava-Dayne Fulford, Head of Marketing at Digicel said that the scooter was one of the most popular grand prizes that the company has ever had in its promotions, since a great deal of customers bombarded them with queries on how to enter to win the prize. “It was from our recharge promotion. All you had to do was top up $15 dollar or more and you automatically entered. There were weekly random draws leading up to the presentation of the scooter. So we are excited. It was a very popular prize. A lot of persons enquired about it, and we are happy that we were able to give something that is eco-friendly and something that our customers could enjoy,” Fulford said. For his part Ramchuram said that he was happy to have won the prize since he has been a Digicel customer from the time he entered Turks and Caicos Islands some four years ago. Ramchuram said that he did not top up in anticipation to win the grand prize but recharged his phone whenever it needed to. “I feel very excited about the Christmas gift from Digicel,” he told the media. Asked how he planned to celebrate the

Kamol Ramchuram accepts to keys to the Vespa Scooter from Digicel’s Head of Marketing, Ava-Dayne Fulford

win, Ramchuram gave the tersest of answers: “Party”. The Digicel Christmas promotion was entitled “Brightens someone’s Christmas”.

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.

POLICE FORCE LAUNCHES ‘IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE’ ANTI BURGLARY CAMPAIGN

he Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) are advising the public to be more vigilant in protecting their valuables especially during the festive time. Burglary continues to be a major issue and priority for the RTCIPF and now that the festive time has arrived and the evenings are getting darker earlier - this often leads to an increase in burglaries. The RTCIPF are launching an anti burglary marketing campaign, which will run from now to the end of January, to encourage everyone to think about their home security. The campaign is titled ‘It Only Takes a Minute’ as it only takes a minute to lock your doors and windows but it is also the same amount of time that it could take a burglar to enter your house and steal your belongings. The key messages of the campaign are: • Traditionally there is an increase in burglary around the festive time. • It only takes a minute to lock your doors and windows to secure your home. • It only takes a minute to hide valuables out of view. • It only takes a minute for a burglar to enter your property and steal valuable belongings if your doors or windows are unlocked. • You should keep doors and windows locked, even when you are in the house and when you get home. Try to change your habit if you don’t lock your door behind you. • Door chimes, burglar alarms and CCTV will deter a burglar from entering your property. • Check that existing security, such as alarms and external lights, are working and use them to protect your home. • Being a victim of burglary can have both emotional and ﬁnancial effects. High value goods are costly to replace if stolen, and items such as phones and cameras often hold information with sentimental value such as photos, which cannot be replaced. • Don’t leave garden tools or furniture outside, as they can be used by burglars to enter your property. • Dispose of packaging for expensive items properly; don’t advertise what is in your house. • Consider downloading free tracking software for items such as laptops or mobile phones. • Mark your property and record serial numbers.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 7

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

Patrick Riel fired from EMS BY VIVIAN TYSON

arick Riel, Director for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has been given the boot by government, which offered no explanation as why he was put under the guillotine, even though it was an open secret that staff at the agency was uncomfortable with the leadership style. The information of Riel being cut loose by government came in the form of a media release on Wednesday, December 18, over the signature of Desiree Lewis, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Human Services. She said that Riel’s termination was immediate and has been readily replaced by Hugh Green as acting director. The statement read: “The Ministry of Health and Human Services wishes to advise the general public that effective immediately, Mr. Patrick Riel is no longer in the employ of Turks and Caicos Islands Government (TCIG) as Director of Emergency Medical Services (EMS). “Stakeholders and the general public are also being asked to note, that effective immediately, Mr. Hugh Green will be acting in that role. Mr. Green may be contacted via email at: hughmania@yahoo.com or via telephone on (649)347-6818,” Lewis said in the statement. Lewis also is alerting the general public to treat as annulled any interaction Riel may seek to conduct on behalf of government, stating that Green should be contacted instead. “Further, TCIG is advising all stakeholders to disregard any correspon-

Patrick Riel

Desiree Lewis

dence(s) from Mr. Riel which relate to EMS operations. All queries should now be directed to Mr. Hugh Green the acting Director of EMS or to Dr. Nadia Astwood – Director of Medical Services, Ministry of Health and Human Services,” the statement further said. The SUN understands that Riel has been placed himself in government crosshairs for some time now after EMS workers on Providenciales became restive about the working condition under which they were forced to work, including dilapidated building with little sanitary convenience. During the height of the staff disquiet, a well placed ministry ofﬁcial told this newspaper that correspondence were being made between Riel and the Hon. Porsha Stubbs-Smith-led Ministry of Health and Human Services regarding staff working condition and what steps were being made to address them. But the ofﬁcial said that it appeared Riel was not relaying the information

to the staff. About two months ago, the employees highlighted the decrepit condition under which they were working, which included no running water, forcing them to seek alternatives means of cleaning up themselves after returning from an emergency. Because the building had no running water staff said they were forced to seek the nearest bathroom off property if they felt the need to relieve themselves. They said also that the sleeping facility was inadequate for workers on the graveyard shift. About two weeks ago, they followed up with a letter a week and a half ago. This time they emphasized not only the dilapidated condition of the building’s interior but its exterior also. They said that for months the shrubs around the building had not been cut, rendering the premises unsightly.

They said further that while running water was reconnected following their ﬁrst protest, it is not constant. They said in the letter that Riel was almost never around, but spent most of his time on the road even when there was no medical emergency. “The EMS Director and supervisor Patrick Riel is always in uniform and on-call 24/7 with practically his own personal ambulance. However, he’s rarely physically in ofﬁce supervising, directing and assisting with hands-on daily operations,” the staff said through the letter. The EMS employees stated further in the letter that since they had not been getting any feedback from the ministry after making several representations through Riel, they believed government was giving them the pariah treatment. “The administration and the Ministry of Health appear to have left the EMS employees to fend for themselves. Employees’ complaints fall on deaf ears. The false hopes and broken promises is a blatant disrespect and disregard for the welfare and concerns of the employees that work diligently and professionally to adequately serve the people of The Turks & Caicos Islands,” the staff said in the letter. The letter continued: “These and many other matters mentioned in this email are tremendously affecting the entire EMS staff and will inevitably hinder their performance and that will consequently affect the people of the TCI society. The people deserve better. The SUN attempted to solicit a response from Riel, but we were told that he was on vacation.

Page 8

LOCAL NEWS Turks and Caicos Government Cabinet Statement - 18th December 2013

is Excellency the Governor, Peter Beckingham, chaired the 27th meeting of the Turks and Caicos Islands’ (TCI) Cabinet on Wednesday, 18th December 2013 at the Hilly Ewing Building on Providenciales. All Ministers were present at the meeting. At this meeting Cabinet: 1. Received a report from the Premier, Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance on the teams successful participation at the UK Government’s Joint Ministerial Conference (JMC) in London 26-27 November 2013. The event provided opportunities to work with the UK Government and other Overseas Territories in areas such as education, health, energy, immigration and ﬁnancial services. Premier Ewing and Governor Beckingham provided further details on the event at their joint press conference in Providenciales on 4th December 2013; 2. Received a report from the Minister of Finance and the Deputy Governor following their attendance at the 12th Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) Forum held in Brussels 2-10 December 2013. At this meeting the Turks and Caicos Government signed the EU Financing Agreement securing $15m of funding. The money will be used to reform the way the Government interacts with the private sector in order to stimulate economic activity. The Minister of Finance and Deputy Governor will provide further details at a press conference in Providenciales on Thursday 19th December 2013; 3. Received a report from the Minister of Finance setting out a draft Reform

Strategy for Growth and Empowerment. The draft strategy sets out the proposed measures required to attain the goals of transforming the business environment, developing a modern human resources infrastructure and re-establishing sustainable growth. Cabinet will consider the matter further at its meeting on the 8th January 2014; 4. Approved a request from the Minister of Government Support Services to allow the developer of North West Point Resort to maintain the public road leading from Millennium Highway through parcels 60101 and 60003 to their resort at Crystal Bay with an overlay of 100 loads (approximately 1,600 cubic yards) of limestone ﬁll from the airport stockpile; 5. Approved amendments to the Telecommunications Bill which seeks to promote the development of broadcasting services in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The matter will now proceed to the House of Assembly; The following Ministers will be out of the country on private affairs: • Hon. Deputy Premier and Minister of Education, 22nd – 29th December – Hon. Premier (Acting) • Hon. Minister of Border Control and Labour, 25th December – 5th January – Hon. Minister of Finance (Acting) • Hon. Minister of Health and Human Services, 22nd December – 6th January – Hon. Premier (Acting) • Hon. Minister of Environment and Home Affairs, 30th December – 6th January – Hon. Minister of Education, Youth and Sports (Acting) Further details will be provided by Ministers.

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS SET TO RECEIVE A FURTHER $19M FROM EU

he Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) has secured a further $19m in European Union funding the Territory’s Deputy Governor Hon Anya Williams announced. This funding from the European development Fund (EDF) 11 follows on from the successful TCI participation in the 12th Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) Forum held in Brussels 2-10 December. TCI signed an agreement last month to receive a further $15m from EDF 10, with this being used over the next three years to improve the TCI government’s business systems and procedures. The 12th OCT Forum was attended by Deputy Governor Anya Williams, Minister of Finance Washington Misick and Permanent Secretary Athenee Williams and other senior TCIG officials. In addition to attending the Ministerial Conference, the team held a Tri-lateral Meeting with Director of European Aid Jolita Butkeviche on the current and future EU grant funded programmes that could benefit the Islands. They also signed the Financing Agreement for EDF 10, which will see the TCI receive it’s first tranche of $5m in March 2014. A total of $298m (229 Euro) has been earmarked for EDF 11, with $19m being awarded to the TCI; $24m to Montserrat and $18m to Anguilla, among other UK Overseas Territories. The 11th EDF similar to the 10th will be delivered in the form of Budget support, but will need to be earmarked for a specific sector or purpose. “The TCI is now set to receive nearly $30m from the European Union, which is testament to our hard work to re-engage with this vital institution over the past year or so,” said Anya Williams. “I am happy that within a relatively short period of time the TCI will benefit from funding to develop and improve another sector of public life here in the islands. Cabinet will now begin its deliberations as to how we can best use these additional funds.” Minister of Finance, Washington Misick, added, “While still in the early stages of its development, I very much welcome the allocation of these substantial sums to the TCI. “Although no firm decisions have yet been made, we have an aspiration to use these monies to help further build our transport infrastructure. The first drawdown likely to take place in 2016 which is already a critical year for the TCI in terms of its debt refinancing, these funds will be of great importance to our nation.”

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Page 9

LOCAL NEWS

Dr. Cem Kinay speaks out about the sale of Joe Grant’s Cay BY DR. CEM KINAY

understand from Turks and Caicos Islands media sources that a 200 acre parcel of Joe Grant Cay has been sold for $4.04m in October 2013 in a transaction that was never made public. I was sure that one day, the truth about Joe Grant Cay’s true value will come to the light, Today, is my day. For the past 6 years, I have been living stripped of my basic human rights and assets just because the TCI Courts have concluded in connection with a political donation made to Michael Misick on 9 January 2007 “there to be a very strong probability that the money was paid as a bribe in order to ensure that the Defendant companies obtained the benefit of the proposed (Joe Grant Cay) development” disregarding the fact that there was in reality no benefit at all, as we have paid the true and accurate value of this land which was USD 3.2 million for the same 200 acres parcel back in 2008. More specifically, on the matter of Joe Grant Cay’s valuation, His Hon Justice completely ignored the Government’s valuation report obtained from BCQS, an independent commercial appraiser who valued 200 acres parcel of Joe Grant Cay, at USD 3.2 million for commercial use, exactly the amount of money asked by the Government in June 2008, which my development companies have paid in full. What is more astonishing was the fact that His Hon Judge ruled (Para 36, The Judgement) ‘When instructing BCQS to give an alternative valuation, McAllister Hanchell did not tell them of the proposed development, so that their valuation made no allow-

ance for the intended use of the land.’. The Learned Chief Justice has failed to recognize that BCQS valuation report specifically stated on Page 7 Item 3.5 ‘It is assumed that planning permission is available for the subdivision of the land for residential plots or for a commercial use.’ By omitting BCQS’s clear statement specifying “commercial use” in its report, The Hon. Chief Justice violated our right to a fair trial, and unfairly favored the Turks and Caicos Islands Government by omitting what the true valuation report states. Instead, the Hon. Chief Justice relied on a series of valuation reports prepared by the Turks and Caicos Island’s own employee Mr. Hoza, which are at best confused. Mr. Hoza’s valuation reports valued the 200 acre parcel at a whopping 45 million for commercial use! For those who doubt that the Development of Joe Grant Cay is not innocent, I have only one question: We have paid 3.2 million in 2008 for this 200 acre land, and today, 6

years later, the same land has been sold for 4.04 million in an open market transaction ! I ask you what happened to the alleged tens of millions of dollars that the Government and some of our opponents claimed that this land was supposed to be worth? I have the answer: The alleged valuation of this island was a big lie! Joe Grant Cay’s 200 acre was never valued more than what we paid for. That was the exact reason why many internationally repute valuation companies as well as all the local valuation companies have valued it at the exact value that we paid for it. That is why both Hon. Governor Tauwhare, and later on Hon. Governor Wetherell have approved and executed the sale of this 200 Acre land to us for USD 3.2 million, and that was why the sale was approved by the Attorney General, TCI Invest, Ministers, and the Premier. In fact, there was no “favor” from anyone for Joe Grant Cay. In fact, we have paid the true value of this land, and the shameless dark forces took away from us alleging the “undervalue” sale. The evidence is before you, the same land is now sold for USD 4.04 million after 6 years. In the past five years, I have been victimized by politics. My assets were frozen and hundreds of people lost their jobs. I could have developed Joe Grant Cay and create much needed jobs, and further tourism income for Turks and Caicos Islands. I was denied my fundamental right to a fair trial in TCI, a red notice application has been filed with the Interpol for my arrest. I am calling upon the TCI Government and the Attorney General to end these groundless accusations against me, return my assets, and clear my name as I have done nothing wrong.

Page 10

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Cabinet make changes to government travel policy BY VIVIAN TYSON

ersons traveling on the country’s business overseas would now do so under stricter spending rules so as to cut government waste, thanks to a cabinet decision to amend the travel policy. Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing, who made the disclosure while addressing a post cabinet news brieﬁng at the Premier’s Ofﬁce on Thursday, December 12, said that the decision was taken at the 26 meeting of the cabinet held in Grand Turk on Wednesday, December 11. “Basically the changes that were being made were related to the class of travel and greater accountability with

Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing

regards to receipts being submitted on return from travel,” he said. He quickly pointed out that cabinet did not make the decision because of irregularity in the system but, among other things, to ensure compliance. “It wasn’t a problem before. It’s just means that there needs to be no gaps or loopholes, and it’s just a reminder so that persons would deﬁnitely comply. This is something that has been in place long ago but never complied with, even before this new policy. So we have to make sure that it is complied with across the board. It is a government-wide policy not just a ministers’ policy. It is a policy for all government ofﬁcials,” he said.

He said that the move is also to ensure that government is ﬁscally responsible; explaining that the budget makes provision for government travel every year. “It is to ensure that we are ﬁscally prudent, basically. We just want to make sure that you stay within your budget,” the Premier said. The premier said that, barring certain nature, the regular class of travel now will be economy. “It various for certain class and category of individuals, and also the duration of travel,” he said. He said that the full travel policy would be published in the gazette shortly.

Premier says overseas travel is essential; dismisses PDM criticisms BY VIVIAN TYSON

remier for the Turks and Caicos Islands Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing has slammed the Opposition for criticizing government travels overseas on the country’s business. Opposition Leader and Head of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) Hon. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson gave the government high marks for its frequent travelling overseas, while marking them down for its management of the country. She was addressing a news conference at party headquarters in Providenciales recently when she made the comments. The Opposition held the news conference to assess the Progressive National Party’s (PNP) first year in office, using a grading system. She said while every cabinet record gives notice of which government minister that would next travel overseas, the country, on their return, is seldom given any tangible argument as to how those trips would be beneficial to the country. “(We give them) spectacular performance in the area of travel – A++. Every cabinet report now tells you

who is going to be out of the country. Scarcely when they returned they tell you what they have achieved or what’s there to beneﬁt from the trip,” the Opposition Leader said. But speaking at a recent press conference, Premier Ewing chided the opposition for those comments, tacitly dismissing them as government envy. “When you are in opposition you can say anything because when you are in this seat you would do the same thing. It is just chatter (on the part of the opposition),” the Premier emphasized. He told the band of reporters that the country could not afford to sit and wait for investors to come into the country because that may not happen. Instead he said that the right thing to do is to go out and seek investment that the country so critically needs. “The world is a global village, you need to go out and make contacts and make things happen. And so, whilst I take on board comments that have been said with regards to travel; travel is necessary to conduct government business. The only way you are going to go some place is if you go out and meet the world and

leaders of the world,” the Premier noted. In the meantime Premier Ewing said that the Joint Ministerial Conference attended by other members of his cabinet and Governor Beckingham, was successful, since they made important links with potential investors and had fruitful meetings with political movers and shakers including the Allan Duncan the Department International Development (DFID) Minister. Deputy Premier and Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hon. Akierra Misick and Minister of Finance Hon. Washington Misick were the other ministers who made the trip. Following the JMC, the finance minister went on to Brussels, Belgium for an international financial conference. Deputy Governor Her Excellency Anya Williams is to accompany the finance minister on the trip. In the meantime, the Opposition also gave government an A++ grade its tax implementation, but gave them failing grades on everything else, including, education, health, the environment, interaction with members of the public overall management of the country’s affairs.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 11

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

Government needs to create more scholarship and job opportunities, says former Deputy Premier Lillian Boyce F

ormer Deputy Premier and Minister of Education Lillian Boyce has called on the Government to create more scholarship and job opportunities for Turks and Caicos Islanders, especially the young people. Mrs. Boyce warned that if the Turks and Caicos Islands continues to cut the education budget, reduce scholarships and not provide jobs for its people, it will lead to the creation of a social time-bomb for which the country will pay a very dear price in the future. Mrs. Boyce said the country should be very concerned about the number of young people who leave school every year with nowhere to turn, with no opportunities for higher learning and no jobs to secure. The former minister was the guest speaker on Sunday December 15th at the New Beginnings Vocational School’s graduation ceremony which was held at the Paradise Baptist Church. She stated: “A country that does not invest heavily in the education of its people will eventually pay a very dear price for it. Education, as I have always said, must be regarded as an investment and not as an expense. Any young, developing country that embarks on drastic cuts in education simply because it wants to balance a budget or achieve a surplus, is a country that is heading for social and economic disaster. As it now stands, we have a real and serious concern with hundreds of students leaving high school every year, but nowhere to turn. Jobs are scarce, scholarships are not readily available, and opportunities for high-

er learning are not affordable for some persons.” Mrs. Boyce added: “For many of these young persons, there is little or no hope and the future is bleak. Their dreams and aspirations for a scholarship or for higher education have been dashed. In the absence of any viable options and without any doors being open to them, we as leaders in the society must ask ourselves, as these youngsters have been asking, what will the future be? We must move swiftly to restore hope, seek to persuade them that all is not lost, but most importantly, we must offer them tangible evidence by providing more of them with opportunities for higher learning and then ensure that it will ultimately lead to them securing jobs. The harsh reality is that if we continue to cut the education budget and reduce scholarships, we are really doing nothing more than creating a generation of lost, hopeless, under-educated youngsters and contributing to the development of a social time bomb.” Mrs. Boyce, who was this country’s ﬁrst deputy female premier, said that in harmonizing the education policy with the immigration policy, gpvernment must enforce the regulations and laws as they relate to Belongers being allowed to under-study for a prescribed period before moving into leading roles in various organsiations based on fairness and merit. “With an elected government in place one again, we must pay particular attention to development orders and investment policies to ensure that there are no over-generous pro-

Former Deputy Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands Lillian Boyce visions that will allow for the wholesale or unreasonable hiring of senior managers at the expense or disadvantage of able and qualiﬁed Turks and Caicos Islanders,” she added. “In collaboration with the Immigration and Labour Departments we must carry out the necessary due diligence and conduct human resource audits so that the students in whom we have invested, are swiftly and properly placed in the job market on completion if their studies. I cannot emphasise enough that as a small developing country when it comes to education,

we in the Turks and Caicos Islands must have a bold vision and a strategic plan. We must be a strong intellectual force and be prepared to ﬁght and resist those British ofﬁcials who want to strip our educational system down to bare bones. If we don’t stand up to them, we will be betraying and disappointing a whole generation of young Turks and Caicos Islanders. Education is the only instrument we have that can shape our future, and the investment and attention we give to it cannot be minimised. Based on what is happening in their country we know that the British have a totally different approach to education and its funding, but we in the Turks and Caicos Islands have to keep making strong and attractive arguments about the importance of education to our people.” Mrs. Boyce said that it is only when the Turks and Caicos Islands plans carefully and logically and matches its investment in education with its development strategies that it will be able to seriously talk about have a bright future and a sustainable economy for many years to come. The businesswoman said that between 2003 and 2008, the Turks and Caicos Islands experienced an education revolution which had at its core, the fundamentally important concept of preparing a generation of young people to take their rightful place in their own country by ensuring that they were skilled in a wide range of academic disciplines that could meet the growing and changing demands of a modern and dynamic Turks and Caicos Islands economy.

Page 12

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

19 new police vehicles to arrive in February BY VIVIAN TYSON

he new fleet of police vehicles procured by government to replace the current aging fleet should arrive in the Turks and Caicos Islands by February, 2014, Acting Attorney General Rhondalee BrathwaiteKnowles reported to the House of Assembly. Brathwaite-Knowles was responding to question in the House on Tuesday, February 17, by Member of Parliament for the Wheeland Constituency Hon. Delroy Williams, who enquired as to when those vehicles would arrive. “Eighteen SUVs and one van were secured from a company. The name and information of the company is provided to the Honourable minister. The company is based in Miami, Florida, and that is where the purchase took place,” she said. She said that the bid to secure the vehicles was just a few thousand dollars shy of $80,000. The acting attorney general said that the vehicles should arrive at the Florida-based company on or before the second week in February, in preparation for them to be shipped to the Turks and Caicos Islands shortly thereafter. “The final amount of the bid, I am informed, is $790,607. The vehi-

cles, I am informed, should arrive at the company in Florida between the first and second week in February, 2014. Once they arrived they will install the required police equipment on those vehicles and the vehicles should be available to the police in February, 2014,” she said. In the meantime, the Acting Attorney General, who was asked by Hon. Williams as to how long a local company, which secured the purchasing of the vehicles through the US company on behalf of the government has been in business. But she said that she did not have such information readily at hand, but promised to provide them at a later date. “I have not been provided with that information. However, I undertake to provide the House with the information for the benefit of the honourable member,” she said. At the opening of the Blue Hills Police Post on Friday, December 13, in Wheeland, Providenciales, Commissioner of Police Colin Farquar said that the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force could have been more effective had it not been for the aging fleet of vehicles it now has. He promised that once those vehicles have been secured the police would be more visible the community.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Burglar contacts victim for stolen ipad password BY VIVIAN TYSON

magine trying come to terms with a burglary of your house from which cash and small electronic items were stolen and then one of the crooks texted you and asked for your stolen ipad password. That is what happened to the daughter of a Five Cays woman, whose house was burglarized while she and her family slept in the early morning of Thursday, December 12, in what appeared to have been a wave of burglaries in that community that week. The SUN understands that the family woke up to discover their house ransacked and a number of items, including cell phones and an ipad stolen. A handbag belonging to the woman was emptied of its contents, some of which were stolen by the hoodlums. The most shocking part of the episode however, was that after the woman’s daughter was at school, possibly trying to let the invasion of their homes sink later in the day, she received a text message either from the burglars or someone in their circle, requesting that she give them the code to opening her ipad. She told friends that she was stunned by the brazenness of the criminals to boldly ask for the ipad password after committing the reprehensible act, which left them with emotional scars.

In the meantime, the woman guaranteed that if she was awoken and caught the criminals in their act, chances are someone; probably her, may have been hurt or worst because she would not back down from challenging them. “They could have been harmed by the criminals in their sleep,” a close family friend said. “These people are so bold they break into your house knowing that you are there. Something must be done to put them away.” In the meantime, other residents in the community have complained that their houses were broken into and valuable stolen during that same week. A high school student, who has been a victim of the burglary wave, explained that had she not brought her laptop to school that day, it would have been stolen, since the thieves made off with a number of items from their home, including her mother’s cell phone, which she forgot to take to work that day. “I was lucky to take my laptop to school. I don’t always take it with me, but that day I decided to take it. And it worked for me. But you would appreciate that we really feel violated that someone forced their way into our home, went through our stuff and took away some of the things that are dear to us. We really feel violated,” the student said.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Jasmine Parker is new Youth Director BY VIVIAN TYSON

overnment has announced that Jasmine Parker, formerly of the Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs, is now the new Director of Youth Affairs, also announcing the appointment of an agriculture director. Minister for Education, Youth and Sport Hon. Akierra Missick made the disclosure of the new Youth Affairs director while responding to questions from journalists at government’s post cabinet news briefing at the Premier’s Office in Providenciales on Thursday, December 12. “Our new director is Miss Jasmine Parker. We were very happy to steal her away from the Department of Maritime Affairs. She has been in office for the last two weeks now, so basically she is the familiarization stage of the ministry,” Minister Missick said. Missick told the news briefing that Parker has already presented her plans for the department and come January those ideas could start to put in gear. “We have discussed her plans and goals for the Ministry of Youth next year, as that would be one of the focal point of the Apprenticeship Programme coming on stream and the Youth Empowerment Policy that is spearheaded by the Office of the Premier and supplemented by the Ministry of Youth,” she said. Minister Missick said also that her ministry has also identified a senior programme development officer to carry out those programmes. “We are looking forward to the Senior Programme Development Officer, who

Page 13

LOCAL NEWS ACCIDENT ALONG AIRPORT ROAD: A female driver was taken to hospital for unspeciﬁed injuries sustained from a trafﬁc accident along Airport Road in Providenciales in the vicinity of the Airport Hotel and the Sammy Been Plaza. Initial reports are that a white Nissan Sunny, driven by the woman with other person on board, was

Services carried the woman on a stretcher to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre for treatment. The Sunny is said to be owned by Grace Bay Car Rental. The other occupants of the Sunny escaped injuries. The driver of the Ecclipse also escaped injuries. It is unclear as to whether he had passengers in the car. Although while taken was from

about to exit the Sammy Been Plaza onto the roadway when it collided with a black Mitsubishi Ecclipse. The Nissan Sunny, which is right-hand-driven, sustained damage to the driver’s side. The Ecclipse received extensive frontal damage causing both airbags to release. A team from the Emergency Medical

the car to the ambulance in a neck brace, the woman was seen conversing on her cell phone, which speaks to her level of consciousness. In photo, paramedics, with the assistance of members of the public, about to take the injured woman from the car into the waiting ambulance.

Jasmine Parker has already been identified, will not start until January,” she said. In the meantime, Minister of Home Affairs Hon. Amanda Missick said that the agriculture director has been identified and should take up the position in January. The director has been recruited already, and we are now negotiating subsistence for accommodation, we are trying to sort that out. That person should be on island in January, next year. Minister Missick however, declined to identity the individual and where the he or she is coming from, only pointed out that the persons with “CARICOM background”. “Not at the moment, I wouldn’t release the name, but it is somebody who is well-rounded, and is an individual with CARICOM background. It is somebody that is well qualified to handle the job,” Minister Missick said.

Page 14

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Lottery Board still out in the cold T

he National Lottery Board, which was dissolved after the Turks and Caicos went into direct British rule direct in 2009 has not been reappointed, Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing told The House of Assembly on Tuesday, December 17. Responding to a question from Deputy Leader of the Opposition Hon. Sean Astwood on the latest on the board, which has issued a license for the operation of TCI Lotto Games, Premier Ewing said that there has not been much new development on that front. “The National Lottery Board, which was established under the National Ordinance ceased operation after the suspension of the Constitution in 2009. The board has not been reappointed after the dissolution of the board with the government coming in after the Interim Administration,” he said. Addressing the matter of the duration of the TCI Lotto Games license, the premier said he would need to do some investigations since the documents in the hands of government does not specify. “The name of the company (which was granted the sole license by the National Lottery Board) – TCI Lotto Games Ltd. – was issued a license to operate lottery in June 2008. The period of the license I have not

941-5300

been able to confirm at this time, as I don’t have the documentations and correspondence relating to the issuance of the license, since none of them have on it the period of which the license was issued,” the premier said. “And I understand that the period may have been on the license itself, which I don’t have. I am seeking to get a copy of the actual license. “ The premier added: “The most I can say to you is that the principals are Turks and Caicos Islands Belongers, and before a supplementary comes up to this particular part, as I understand that the TCI Lotto Games Ltd., is a franchise of a larger company – FML Ltd., out of The Bahamas.” In the meantime, the premier said that from his knowledge regarding revenue collection from the lottery, a number of changes have been made. “The initial revenue structure that I saw on the original correspondence had the government getting 20 percent tax on winnings and five percent tax on gross sales. This was then changed to 15 percent tax on gross revenue, and then this is then changed again to the current status to 15 percent tax on gross gaining profits as opposed to gross revenue,” the premier said.

Taylor’s Variety Trading

TCI women are holding their own, says Governor

Public Area Supervisor $10.00 per hour

BY VIVIAN TYSON

Sales Person $5.00 per hour Labourer $5.00 per hour

Contact

941-3739

941-5300

he fact that there are a number of females in especially strategic public decision-making positions in the Turks and Caicos Islands proved that the country is making steady progress away from discrimination against women, His Excellency Peter Beckingham declared. Addressing the opening of the new Human Rights Commission Office on Providenciales, Tuesday, December 10, Governor Beckingham said that the number of women now in government demonstrates that the rights of women to attain certain achievement in the TCI are not being suppressed. He highlighted as examples of argument the ascendancy of Hon. Akierra Missick to Deputy Premier and Minister of Education, Youth and Sport; her cabinet colleagues – Hon. Amanda Misick – Minister of Home Affairs and Public Safety; and Hon. Porsha Stubbs-Smith – Minister of Health and Human Safety. He also pointed to Hon. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson – Leader of the Opposition and Doreen Quelch-Stubbs, head of the Turks and Caicos Islands Human Rights Commission. According to Governor Beckingham, with women placed in those prominent positions proved that to a great extent the rights of women in the TCI are being upheld. “The fact that the chairperson of this organization (Human Rights Commission) is a woman, the fact that the Deputy Premier is a woman, the fact that there are three members of the cabinet are women and the leader of the opposition is a woman; that suggests to me that discrimination, while cannot be taken for granted in this country, certainly is very much moving in the right direction,” Governor Beckingham said. There are also other women in the TCI that have been elevated to prominent positions, including Deputy Governor Her Excellency Anya Williams and Acting Attorney General Rhondalee Brathwaite-Knowles. In the meantime, Governor Beckingham noted that the problem of holding people against their will across the globe is something that governments are hard-pressed to eliminate. “The other area which is probably the most difficult and most challenging as a government is the treatment of people and the imprisonment unfairly, human trafficking and people being held against their will in some sort of ways,” he said. Referring to an article that he came across recently, Governor Beckhingam said that there is an estimated 27 million people across the world being held against their will. He said that there are individuals that are being forced to go to war against their wishes and others forced into human trafficking. He said also that there is a plethora of human rights violations in India, where he had his last posting before coming to the TCI. He said that there are hundreds of thousands of Filipinos working against their will or in a form of slavery in the Middle East and in Asia.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 15

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TCHTA job portal successful so far BY VIVIAN TYSON

Government not getting involved in WIV News 4 staff redundancy BY VIVIAN TYSON

he Turks and Caicos Islands Job Portal, a website launched by the TC Hotel and Tourism Association this past summer could have been responsible for a number of positions previously opened within the country’s resorts, so said Stacy Cox, Executive Director for that hospitality body. In an interview with The SUN earlier this week, Cox said that a number of hoteliers have been singing the site’s praise, saying that it has helped them in a big way. She could not readily provide specificity in traffic on the site. She believes that hotels have been using the site to advertise positions and is of the opinion that the majority of the positions posted on the site were given the persons visited the site. “A lot of resorts speak about how productive the site is and it has eliminated a lot of walk-in traffic to the resorts as well because people are just filtering through the website, and I think most of the positions on there are filled through the website,” she said. She said however, that the site is currently experiencing slow down in activity on the site cause the resorts, which are now going through a busy season, may have secured most of the positions needed. “The website is going good although there is a lull in the season because hotels would have already topped in preparation for the season, so there is minimum activities on it at this point. Prior to the opening of the seasons there was a huge amount of traffic on the website obviously because of the

LOCAL NEWS

Stacey Cox postings from the job availability on the website,” she Cox said. In the meantime, Cox said that while a number of persons have gone to the site to leave their application, she could not determine how many were being hired, since the site does not make provision to acquire and store such data. “We are not able to see it from that end,” she said. Tourism Association’s Job Portal designed especially for unemployed Turks and Caicos Islanders to register for job openings in the hospitality industry - was launched on August 2, and has been credited to American businesswoman Bridgette Thomas, who left the island recently. The site has been endorsed by the Ministry of Border Control and Labour. Hon. Don-Hue Gardiner, Minister for that ministry attended the launch of the event, which was held at Opus Restaurant in Grace Bay, Providenciales.

inister of Border Control and Labour Hon. Don-Hue Gardiner has said that the government has so far not identified any untoward actions on the part of WIV News 4 owners for terminating its entire staff core and shutting down of TCI longest serving electronic news entity. Responding to questions during a post cabinet news conference on December 12 at the Premier’s Office on Providenciales, Minister Gardiner said that off the face of it, the company had complied with TCI law in cutting loose all 11 staff. “The law sets a mechanism whereby companies may make their staff redundant. One of the things that companies are required to do is to advise them (staff) with sufficient time that they intend to take certain actions, and to require them to make representations as to what they could do in order to avoid the redundancies,” Minister Gardiner explained. He added; “Once they (staff) have done that and make those consultations, then it is to the company to decide how they would wish to go about their restructuring.” Using telecoms company LIME as an example, the minister hinted that there are talks on the street that the owners of the company was underhanded in dealing with the redundancy process, but so far, none of the axed staff made any representation to him or the Labour Department. He said that in the event that they did, his office would ensure that an investigation is carried out. “I have heard on the street, like I am sure you would have, that LIME may or may not be sold, or may or may not be in the process of being sold. Again, no one,

to my knowledge, who has been an employee of LIME has actually made any statements to me or written to me in my capacity as minister, requiring or seek my intervention. And so, until that happens I don’t see that there is a need for the Department of Labour to actually intervene. “If persons wish to (make a report against WIV News 4), then obviously our door is always open either through myself of the commissioner of labour, who, with the assistance, if needs be, of the attorney general department to become involved, would look into it,” he said. In the meantime, some staff members said though the management of WIV News 4, went about the redundancy in a ‘Nicodemus fashion’, they ensured that staff received all the monies owed to them under the law, including notice pay, vacation pay, bonuses and savings funds. “They did their homework. They made sure that they paid us everything that they owed us, I will give them that, even though I really didn’t like how they went about the redundancy exercise,” the axed staff member said. In the meantime, the redundant staff members said that for some time now they had been hearing off the street that the company would be wound up, but management said nothing to them. They said that the redundancy exercise came as accepting to most of them rather than a surprise since they had been hearing about it for more than three months prior. In the meantime, it is understood that the NEWS4 plans to open early in the New Year in the Grace Bay area, and axed staff were told they could apply but warned that there was no guarantee they would be hired.

Page 16

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

TCI applies for UWI contributing membership BY VIVIAN TYSON

he Turks and Caicos Islands is seeking to become a contributing member of the University of the West Indies so that, among other things, its students - on scholarships as well as out of pocket - could benefit from huge discounts. Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing made the disclosure while addressing the December 12 post cabinet news briefing at Premier’s Office on Providenciales. He revealed that an application for becoming a contributing member of the UWI has already been dispatched to that body, seeking to secure discounts for students already attending and seeking to attend any of the three campuses – Mona in Kingston Jamaica; Cave Hill in Barbados or St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago. The University of the West Indies is the brainchild of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) of which the Turks and Caicos Islands is an associate member. Weighing in on the endeavor, Deputy Premier and Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hon. Akierra Misick, said that the TCI has had a long history with the UWI from which a number of Turks and Caicos Islanders, including Premier Dr. Rufus Ewing, received his education. She said that by the TCI becoming a contributing member, the undiscounted fees that students from

Premier Hon. Rufus Ewing and Deputy Premier and Minister of Education Hon. Akierra Missick the Turks and Caicos Islands now pay, could be drastically reduced. “We have had a very good relationship with the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, having or people trained there and getting the education that they need. And so, for the Turks and Caicos, we are applying to the University Council for the Turks and Caicos becoming a contributing territory,” she said. Missick said that it would be too early to say how much the TCI would be required to contribute since the ap-

plication has not yet been processed. She said that the contribution will be based on several factors, including the state of the economy and the number of students that would go to the university each year. “In essence there is a slide in scale depending on the economy of the contributing territory and the number of students that would be utilizing the services on all three campuses. Those will determine the amount of money that we are obligated to pay to the University. “That would be a lump sum pay-

ment every year to assist with the operations and the cost of the university. On the other side, the beneﬁt that we gain is to substantially reduce rate of tuition fees for our students once we are a contributing territory. “And so that would allow us, at the ministry, to put a target number of students that we would like to send to the three campuses of the University of the West Indies so that we can ensure, again, more opportunities for people to receive tertiary education in the various complement of subject areas,” Missick said. She added; “And in the future students going to the university would also receive a discount. And it helps with no only our national scholars, who again, have a limited pot of money which we are allowed each year for scholarships but those self-funded students will be able to beneﬁt from these discounts as well.” The Education Minister said that the Turks and Caicos Islands is looking forward to a favourable response from the council, so it can begin to utilize the programme. “We are looking forward for the discount but also being able to be involved in the University of the West Indies. Historically it has been associated with the Turks and Caicos Islands. There was a drastic move to the United States for Education, but as we know, the University of the West Indies can hold its own against any university in the world,” she said.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 17

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

Community must assist the police to fight crime BY VIVIAN TYSON

remier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing is calling on the community to assist the police in arresting crime to make the TCI a much safer place. The premier made the call while addressing the commissioning of the Blue Hills Police Post on Providenciales, on Friday, December 13. The Premier said that nothing less than a proactive approach is needed to successfully fight crime. “We, as a people, need to take a proactive approach. We need to take a zero tolerance attitude to crime. If we had zero crime we probably wouldn’t have any need for police officers or a police post, and so, even as I hesitate to say that we would like to get to zero (crime), we indeed wish to get to zero crime. But we need to adopt a zero tolerance approach to get to zero,” the premier asserted. He said that one of the elements of zero tolerance is to see the police as allies rather than the enemy, and assist them in their investigations, stressing that they could be the eyes and ears of the police force. The premier also stressed the importance of the community working with young people so as to prevent them from taking on a life of crime, and the thwart such activities of those who have been involved in criminal activities. “And that zero tolerance approach does not only mean that the police officers need to use harsh measures, and by the law,

Clement Howell High gets interactive board BY VIVIAN TYSON

T Governor Beckingham (second left) and Premier Rufus Ewing (second right) share in a photo op with members of the police force at the newly-opened police post in Blue Hills. Among the officers sharing in the photo op are Inspector Calvin Chase (left) and Sergeant Winston Grant (who is shaking hands with the premier). use those tactics to be tough on crime. But you, the residents, need to have a zero tolerance attitude towards eradicating crime and criminal activities. “You, the residents, need to partner with the police ofﬁcers, treat them as your allies in solving crime; identifying crime and criminal activities, working with the youths in your community to ensure that they do not get involved in criminal activities, working with someone who are past offenders, preventing them from going back to criminal activities,” he said. The premier said that in this time and age, community policing should be the way forward, adding that while it is a challenging undertaking, it can achieved through collaborative with the police and the community. “We have an awesome job to do, and it can only be done effectively through effective community policing,” he said. In the meantime, Commissioner of Police Colin Farquar

said that the station would not open 24-hours a day, to facilitate community patrolling policing. He said though that arrangements would be made for persons to visit the office and make reports. He said that when no one is at the station, the relevant signs would be posted to direct the community what steps to take to reach an officer in quick time. The opening was also attended by Governor Peter Beckingham, Member of Parliament for the Wheeland constituency Hon. Delroy Williams and Hon. Godray Ewing, Member of Parliament for the Blue Hills Division and a number of sponsors who chipped in with donations to outfit the office with electronics and furniture. The post is located at the Grant’s Gas station near the entrance of the road leading to the Priton Afforable Housing Development in Wheeland, which is the constituency represented by Hon. Williams.

he computer lab at the Clement Howell High School is now outfitted with a futuristic white board that would not now enable teachers to teach more effectively and students to better able to take notes in a more technologically-friendly manner. The interactive white board’s acquisition was made courtesy of telecoms company Digicel TCI and was officially presented to the school on Friday, December 13 at the school. Ava-Dayne Fulford, Head of Marketing for Digicel, said that the school secured the board after coming out on top in a Digicel summer promotion. She said that the board should change the way students learn at the institution, adding that it was donated as part of Digicel’s Christmas campaign with the slogan “Brightens someone’s Christmas”. “It has brought technology to the classroom and will both benefit the teachers and the students,” she said. Digicel TCI CEO E. Jay Saunders said that the donation bears commitment on Digicel’s behalf that it wants to make technology big in schools and make their learning interactive. He said that studies done have shown that kids learn better when they are taught through technologically interactive means. He said that with the interactive board, students would not miss taking notes since the board is able to store data which can be retrieved whenever the need arises as oppose to a chalkboard which the teacher has to erase in order to make space for additional note-writing. “The reason why we choose this venture is to get kids in the Turks and Caicos to use the same tools that the kids in the developed world – the United States, the UK and Canada – are using,” Saunders said. Teachers at the school were elated to receive the gift, and were equally happy to demonstrate to the media how the board works and how the students would benefit. Digicel staff also took the opportunity to paint sections of the school also on Friday, December 13.

The BLUE HAVEN RESORT

The Alexandra Resort & Spa

is inviting applications for the following position:

Restaurant Supervisor

FINISH CARPENTER

SUMMARY: REQUIREMENTS Reporting to the Restaurant Manager, responsibilities • Previous Food and Beverage and essential job functions include but are not Supervisory experience limited to the following: • Degree or Diploma in Hospitality Management RESPONSIBILITIES • Excellent written and verbal • Consistently offer professional, friendly, hospitable communication, interpersonal and service leadership skills • Oversee restaurant operations ensuring compliance • Fluency in English (1 additional with departmental standards and meeting / language desirable) exceeding guest expectations • Ability to work independently, multi • Knowledgeable of all food and beverage products task and prioritize responsibilities • Ensure proper staffing and scheduling in • Strong guest service orientation and accordance to productivity guidelines training skills background • Communicate through pre-shift briefings, and • Ability to supervise a diverse staff departmental meetings all necessary information to compliment support the operation • POS experience – (IQ Ware • Train Team members in all job aspects – service, desirable) product knowledge and technical skills • Computer proficiency in Microsoft • Cash handling and daily accounting Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) • Capitalize on revenues by upselling and controlling • Basic First Aid expenses • Handle guest concerns in a timely and professional PHYSICAL ASPECTS: (include but manner are not limited to): • Follow resort policies, procedures and service • Constant standing and walking standards throughout shift • Ensure compliance with all Health & Safety policies • Lifting and carrying up to 25 lbs. • Other duties as assigned • 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 December 28th, 2013

RESPONSIBILITES • To perform layout fabrication, repair of equipment and structures using wood, glass, plastic, sheet metal and lead. • General rough inside and outside carpentry work. • Performs carpentry on new construction jobs. • Must be able to manually lift 50# on an intermittent basis. Heavier loads will be handled using other methods • Provides general maintenance, which includes but is not limited to minor electrical, plumbing, mechanical repairs, appliance repair, drywall, painting • And any other duties as may be assigned by the Chief Engineer

REQUIREMENTS: • At least 5-10 years experience with at least 3 or more those years in a four star resort property • Three or more years experience in a resort or condominium environment • High school diploma • Completion Certifica e of a recognized apprentice program • Equivalent combination of education, training and experience in carpentry trade. Salary will commensurate with experience.

All resumes along with references should be faxed to 941-4240 or emailed to hr@alexandraresort.com A copy should also be submitted to the TCI Labour Department. Submissions for these positions are to be received no later than December 28th, 2013. While we would like to thank, every applicant for their interest in the Alexandra Resort & Spa, only short-listed persons will be contacted. At that time a complete compensation package and job description will be discussed.

Page 18

LOCAL NEWS

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Abundant Life Ministries treats dozens of seniors for Christmas T

he Bishop Coleta Alexander Williams-led Abundant Life Ministries International Church staged its annual Senior Citizens Treat on Tuesday, December 17 at the Occasions Ball-

room, which is located in the Airport Hotel Plaza. Scores of seniors from across the country, as far as Salt Cay, were invited to Providenciales where they were given a healthy treat. In

addition to the three course meal, the seniors received gifts to take home. The following are photo highlights of the event

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 19

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM THE DESK OF THE PREMIER HON. DR. RUFUS EWING

ll across our country, families are gathering to share this joyous time and to give thanks for the good things in our lives. This holiday season, one of the greatest blessings of all, is that our Government has met its one year commitment to the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands given the many challenges faced following the re-instatement of Elected Government. Our Government remains committed to continuing our mandate: ”To protect the vulnerable, balance the budget, grow our economy and ensure that jobs are provided for all”. I am also proud of the continuous efforts of our hardworking citizens who despite all odds, work tirelessly to turn conﬂict into cooperation, transform fear into security and to replace hatred with hope. The Christmas season serves to re-

Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing mind us that we must all set aside contentious thoughts and acts and

resolve to honor the true spirit of Christmas not merely at this time but throughout the year. May the joy of the holidays renew our commitment to working together for a future of peace, opportunity, and prosperity. Let us also remember our responsibility and calling, to freely and reverently serve our fellow man as this is our charge and our purpose. The purpose of Christmas is celebration as this time of year we commemorate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people”, was the message brought unto the shepherds of Bethlehem by the angels and to this day, we continue to rejoice God’s everlasting gift of his only begotten son. The good news of Christmas is worth celebrating because through his eternal

presence, Christ inspires us with the promise of a better future despite our struggles, with the hope for progress and change despite the presence of obstacles set before us. Through our faith in him all things are possible and with his guidance all good works are achievable. Together as a Nation, let us give thanks for God’s gift of love and mercy as we also give thanks for his many blessings bestowed upon us this past year and pray that these blessings continue to shine upon us in the coming year. On behalf of my Family and the Government and myself, I would like wish you a Merry Christmas, good health and a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year. May God Bless you and May God bless our beautiful by Nature - Turks & Caicos Islands.

OPPOSITION LEADER’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2013 A

nother year has passed and this year like before has had its challenges, loss, disappointments, but also its joys and celebrations. Despite it all, God in His mercy continues to bless us with the gift of life and with that continued gift comes hope. This year as we enter the festive season and approach the closing of a year, automatically we are flung into a period of reflection and introspection. We begin to think of the events of the year now ending and the aspirations for the New Year. As I address you, my mind is bombarded with three words: gratitude, peace and hope. As I think of the difficult year that is fast approaching its end, I have purposefully abandoned the unfortunate human tendency to focus on all that has perhaps gone wrong in this year not in an effort to dismiss the challenges that remain or those whose effect linger but to honor the Christ of Christmas by choosing instead with a heart of gratitude to focus on the blessings that found its way to our country, our homes and our lives. I sincerely believe that if we were to stop and look through the lens of life with a grateful heart, we will see that things could have been worse and that the blessings still far

outweigh the challenges and troubles. We as a people must be careful to not become habitual complainers and frown in the face of God’s many blessings. We still enjoy a peaceful existence and God continues to be faithful from generation to generation. I charge us to focus on the blessings and begin to develop a culture of thanksgiving and gratitude. And then as we think of Christ and the message of the true reason for the season, we must think of the peace born on that Christmas morn. We know that there remain difﬁcult times ahead for us as a country and as individuals, let us face those challenges with a peace that only comes from God above. Let us in our own way and in our singular efforts seek to reconcile and live at peace with one another and seek after true unity on issues of grave national importance if only for our survival as a people. Let us seek to see the beauty and strengths in our diversity and then to peaceably and respectfully differ without the war of words or other forms of destructive actions. We need each other and going forward let us be slow to create mischief, incite hate and stiﬂe hope among ourselves by our actions. Let us in all sincerity wish each

Opposition Leader Hon. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson other and work towards peace and goodwill. Let us birth anew a new nation and give God the greatest gift of all as a people: our Nation, remembering that a people whose God is the Lord will rejoice. In that same spirit, let us share even from the little that we have and watch God miraculously and in covenant principles, increase our very own. During this season, perhaps the single greatest message is hope. Christ’s birth signiﬁed hope – hope for a dying world and an ability through his birth and eventual death to be rec-

onciled unto God. That hope is still available and it is the truest source of hope. Let us not hope in man but in turhe God that gives this hope and in hoping we can rest on his promise that he desires that we prosper as a people and individually. We are a great people in a great nation. We have so much to be thankful for and a Great God in which we can ﬁnd peace and hope. Let us with grateful hearts celebrate his birth by ensuring that he remains the welcomed guest at all our celebrations. Let us remember all of our brothers and sisters during this time of year. Let us especially remember those who lost loved ones this year, our elderly, our children, our relatives and friends in Prison, those with special needs, the less fortunate and all those that live among us. I ask us to allow ourselves to be guided by our hopes and not fears and let us share the message of gratitude, peace and hope. On behalf of the Peoples Democratic Movement: the Ofﬁcial Opposition and our families; and from our home to yours, from our heart to yours, I wish for you a Christ centered Christmas and a bright and prosperous New Year.(end)

GOVERNOR BECKINGHAM’S CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR MESSAGE

ill and I had the great privilege to visit Bethlehem this year, on the way to Turks and Caicos from India. The place where Jesus was born is now a shrine visited by millions of pilgrims, like us, from around the world. Despite the crowds it is a town, surrounded by the hills where shepherds can still “watch their ﬂocks”, with the mysticism of one of the world’s great religions. We look forward to sharing the experience of Christmas in Grand Turk this year. After the last three Christmas’s in a predominantly Hindu and Muslim India, I’m sure we will enjoy the carols and the Bible readings. We are used to spending the holiday without the traditional snow which Europeans expect! Christmas is also an occasion when families congre-

gate, and we are looking forward to one of our two daughters joining us with her husband after the long journey from Hong Kong. I hope that many Islanders and others living here will also enjoy the opportunity, if they are not working, to spend some time with friends and family. Jill and I have greatly enjoyed our ﬁrst months in Turks and Caicos. The welcome from the Premier, his Government, the opposition and everyone we have had an opportunity to meet so far has been warm and hospitable, not least in the family islands, as well as in the shops of Provo and the beaches on Grand Turk. Like all new years, I’m sure 2014 will bring its share of challenges, pleasures and disappointments. For Turks

and Caicos these will include the impending trials of the former Premier and some of his colleagues. There will also be big decisions to make about how much development the islands wish to see. In all of these challenges my wish is that the leaders of your country follow the example of one of the world’s ﬁnest leaders, Nelson Mandela, whose passing we mourn. His respect for others, including his former bitter enemies, his humility and his grace under pressure are examples to us all. I hope everyone in the Turks and Caicos has a peaceful Christmas, and a New Year which brings prosperity and optimism for our and the Islands’ future. I am conﬁdent this can all be achieved by working together with purpose and respect.

Governor Peter Beckingham

Page 20

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

It has been our pleasure serving you throughout 2013. We look forward to helping you bring your goals to life in 2014.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Discover what’s possible

™ Trademark of The Bank of Nova Scotia, used under license (where applicable).

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Page 21

Page 22

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Page 23

Page 24

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Page 25

Page 26

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Page 27

Page 28

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 29

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

WIN

AND DA

One of 15 SAMSUNG GALAXY TABS

EVERY WEEK

plus other fantastic prizes! Prepaid customers earn a chance to win with every $5 you Top Up.

The Insurance Center will be closed for the holidays from Tuesday, December, 24, 2013 until Tuesday, January 1, 2013. We will reopen for normal business on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

Postpaid customers pay your bill in full and on time and earn a chance to win for every $5 paid towards your bill.

Should you require our assistance during the period of closure, please feel free to contact either of the following persons via email or telephone: Rosemae Penn rosemae.penn@insurancecentretci.com 649-243-7156 Dwain Bayles dwain.bayles@insurancecentretci.com 649-232-3722

.0 laxy Tab 2 7 Samsung Ga

#sharethecheer Top Up now at lime.com/topup Facebook

Twitter

We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

www.insurancecentretci.com

LIME Terms and Conditions apply. Visit www.lime.com for more information.

Page 30

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Page 31

FUN&GAMES

Page 32

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

News

CARIBBEAN

Barbados to send home 3000 civil servants

RIDGETOWN, Barbados – Barbados’s Prime Minister Freundel Stuart on Monday promised that his administration would undertake a “careful analysis” before deciding on the 3,000 public workers who would be sent home next year as the government seeks to revive the ailing Barbadian economy. The National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), which represents the majority of public servants here, said it would hold a meeting with its membership on Thursday before making any public statement on the retrenchment of workers announced last week by Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Chris Sinckler. But Stuart speaking to reporters said that he wanted to assure the country that “we are not going to be sitting down and by the elegant ﬂourish of a pen or pencil, throw people’s life in disorder. “A careful analysis will be done, and we will try to make sure that this process is run as smoothly as possible…that households are disrupted minimally, but that the government objectives are achieved,” he added. Sinckler said that the government would trim the public service as well as reduce by 10 per cent the salaries of ministers, government legislators, parliamentary secretaries and those considered to be a “political appointee”. In Barbados there are 16 956 Public Sector posts in central government and another 9 000 spread across the various Statutory Corporations. In the general service 15 333 posts are established and I 623 are temporary posts. Further, there are 5 341 temporary employees in the public service composed of 1 082 in temporary posts and 4 177 in established posts. Some 70 public sector posts are ﬁlled with contract workers, another 72 listed as “Apprentice” and 80 persons working on a part-time basis. Sinckler said that the plan to cut public service jobs would result in the government saving as much as DBS$143 million (One BDS dollar = US$0.50 cents) and that the government had also agreed to institute a “strict programme of attrition” across the cen-

tral public service, filling posts only where it is absolutely unavoidable, over the next five years, ending 2018-2019. “This attrition is expected to reduce central government employment levels from approximately 16 970 to 14, 612 jobs – a projected loss of 2 358 posts; and savings of BDS$121 million. Over the current 19-month adjustment period public sector employment will be reduced by an additional 501 jobs with a projected savings of BDS$26 million,” he added. The government said that the first 2 000 job cuts would take place by January 15, followed by others by March 1. Barbados Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler Prime Minister Stuart, whose administration was re-elected in the February general election, said “no government sits down and decides that it is going to lay off people because it wants to be wicked, because it wants to show how malicious it can be; these are very, very difficult decisions and we held [off] on decisions like this for a very long time. “I take most serious exception to the situation of people erupting into applause and saying ‘we got them’ because they have to lay off people. When you have to lay off people you are making a very difficult decision and of course this situation has to be managed very humanely. It was so handled in the past and it will be handled similarly when we have to deal with it now. But this was not a situation that we could avoid.” Stuart said that 54.3 per cent of the government’s revenue was spent on wages and salary, adding that this translated to roughly BDS$0.55 cents (One BDS dollar =US$0.50 cents) of every dollar being earned going to pay wages and salary. He said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently noted that wages and salaries account for 10.3 per cent of the island’s gross domestic product (GDP). “The question is, can we continue to ignore structural and systemic problems… We have to see the big picture. Barbados has to be economically viable, it has to be economically sound and where tough

UN urges respect for the rights of immigrants

NITED NATIONS – The global community Wednesday celebrated International Migrants Day with the United Nations calling governments and people everywhere to reject xenophobia and embrace migration as a “key enabler for equitable, inclusive and sustainable social and economic development. “Let us make migration work for the benefit of migrants and countries alike. We owe this to the millions of migrants who, through their courage, vitality and dreams, help make our societies more prosperous, resilient and diverse,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in his message marking the occasion. Ban said that migration “is a reality” in the 21st century and there were now an estimated 232 million international migrants bringing consistent benefits to countries of destination and origin through their essential labor and remittances. “Yet, this important population remains largely invisible and unheard in society,” he said, noting that almost half of migrants are women; one in 10 is under the age of 15; and 40 per cent live in developing countries. Ban also said too many live and work in the worst conditions, with the least access to basic services and fundamental rights, making them disproportionately vulnerable to extortion, violence, discrimination and marginalization. The UN said it is acting to safeguard the rights of migrants, lower the social and economic costs of migration, and promote policies that maximize the benefits of mobility. “Migrants should not be forced to risk lives and

dignity,” the Secretary-General said, recalling that earlier this year, the Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers, many of whom were migrants, came into force. In October, a special high-level dialogue of the General Assembly called for the post-2015 development agenda to take full account of the positive impact of international migration. “It is essential that we conduct an open debate on this important subject. Let us make migration work for the benefit of migrants and countries alike,” said Ban, urging the international community to embrace migration as an enabler of broader development. Hailing the action taken at the high-level meeting, General Assembly President John Ashe said that member states have committed to doing a better job of protecting the legal and human rights of migrants the world over. The Assembly had also reaffirmed that “migration can and should not be stopped, but that is requires better governance,” added Ashe, who is also Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the UN. Yet, Ashe underscored the challenges, noting that each year billions of dollars that could be put to good use by migrant families are being pocketed by recruiters and financial intermediaries. Ashe said the 2013 High-level Dialogue demonstrated that the international community could come together on migration. “Now is the time to translate our shared vision into action. It is time to deliver on our promise and make a difference in the lives of millions of migrants across this planet,” he added.

decisions have to be taken, the Government of the people has to have the courage to take them,” Prime Minister Stuart said. He said the local economy must be restructured to ensure it did not remain vulnerable to the challenges. “That is why we were here …launching this Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel initiative, [and] that’s why we last Friday, in the House of Assembly, introduced the new Electric Light and Power Bill, piloted by myself because the restructuring that should have taken place in this economy years ago when things were going well, [and] the benefits that should have been harvested then were not harvested, that is why we are where we are now. “The challenge has to be met, it is being met and I am confident that out of this will come a socially balanced, economically viable and an environmentally sound Barbados that benefits … all of us, a Barbados of which we can be ultimately proud,” Stuart said. He said that Barbados also found itself in difficult circumstances in previous years, but “we were able to get things back together. “People had to make sacrifices but that is the nature of the Barbadian, we know how to make sacrifices when sacrifices are required. We are a resilient people; we could not have been the great nation we have become if we did not have the resilience of which we have been able to boast over centuries.” Prime Minister Stuart said his administration had been monitoring the situation and doing the best it could, in addition to ensuring that workers were not put on the breadline over the past six years. He told reporters that the government had taken the decision to extend the unemployment benefit period from 26 to 40 weeks in order to help those in the private sector who lost their jobs to weather the economic storm. He said the government, through the National Insurance Department, had put in place a BDS$10 million retraining fund to help those who lost their jobs in the private sector.

BRITAIN TO HELP IN RESETTLING JAMAICAN DEPORTEES

INGSTON, Jamaica - The Jamaica government has signed a multi-million dollar agreement with the United Kingdom government to assist in improving the monitoring and management of criminal deportees. The two countries have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) under which London would provide J$48 million (One Jamaica Dollar =US$0.01 cents) for the 18-month project, aimed at boosting the capacity of the Deportee Monitoring Unit (DMU). The initiative, which got underway in November, will provide for the training of key personnel, and provision of equipment such as computers, cameras, printers, servers, telephone handsets, cell phones and ofﬁce furniture. The government said the objectives of the DMU are to improve the systems of reception, processing and monitoring of deported migrants; and reduce the risk of recidivism through improved management and reintegration. “With this project, we sincerely hope that we will be better able to execute processes relating to the rehabilitation of these individuals and most importantly, to protect the citizenry against deportees, who are likely to continue to cause harm within the society,” said retired Major General Stewart Saunders, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security. He said that there was a component of the programme to provide the deportees with life skills and other learning opportunities to ensure that they are properly reintegrated into the society.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 33

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

CARIBBEAN NEWS

Premier says Bermuda must reinvent itself to survive B

ermuda- Premier Craig Cannonier says tough decisions still have to be made as Bermuda attempts to claw its way out of a four-year recession that has left the island with high unemployment. He says the British Overseas Territory will have re-invent itself to survive. In a televised national address to mark the ﬁrst anniversary of the One Bermuda Alliance’s (OBA) victory in the general elections last December, Cannonier said government has an “aggressive agenda” to help turn the island’s economy around, but tough decisions will have to be made. “Throughout our history, to survive, we’ve had to reinvent ourselves time and time again,” Cannonier said, adding “today, we have to do it again and believe me, we will. “With God’s help, we have always been able to overcome challenges from facing storms at sea and the hurricanes that have crossed our Island to economic adversity during

global wars. We now face another challenge. “How we react to this challenge will deﬁne us as a people. These are extraordinary times that will call for extraordinary measures, but I want you to know that I am conﬁdent that we are moving in the right direction. There are still many more tough decisions to come, but we are on the right path,” he said in the broadcast on Tuesday night. A year after ending 14 years in power by the main opposition Progressive Labour Party (PLP), Premier Cannonier said his administration had faced numerous challenges in the past 12 months, including those inherited from the previous administration. “After our extensive ‘look under the hood’, we discovered that our worse fears paled in comparison to the reality that faced us and continues to face us: A bloated and unsustainable budget, thousands of people out of work, thousands of people who have left our shores, an education sys-

tem whose core issues were never resolved, unsafe neighbourhoods and an unaffordable Bermuda. “One of our ﬁrst actions was to stabilise the economy, seeking out emergency loans because the government was literally running out of money. “We discovered that our reputation as a place to do business had taken a beating. International business, the mainstay of our economy had been shifting people and jobs overseas,” he said, adding “this directly impacted Bermudians. “We lost jobs. That, coupled with Bermuda Premier Craig Cannonier bureaucratic red tape and alienating policies was quickly destroying our economy,” he said, adding that creating new jobs remained the government’s top priority. Cannonier said government had tabled more than 45 pieces of legislation in the last year, created a Tourism Authority, worked to lower the cost of food and outlawed discrimi-

nation on the grounds of sexual orientation and age. “We start our second year with an increased sense of purpose to restore and renew Bermuda, to make the necessary decisions as tough as they may be with an urgency of now,” Cannonier said. “The times are too serious. The stakes are too high. I cannot continue to engage in party politics while people cannot feed their families or pay their bills. As your government, we’ve chosen to put people before politics. “The new year will bring new challenges. As you heard in the Throne Speech we’ve got an aggressive agenda — we’ve got a plan for success,” he told citizens. The OBA inherited a national debt of US$1.4 billion when it took ofﬁce. Unemployment among locals stands at around 10 per cent. International business is the main plank of the economy, having long outstripped tourism as the leading money-spinner.

Cuba eases 50-year-old restrictions on car imports H

avana - Cuba announced Thursday it will ease restrictions on car imports for the first time in half a century, marking the end of an era that made icons of the island’s vintage automobiles. The official newspaper Granma said the decision to allow cars to be imported for sale at market prices on the island was taken Wednesday by Cuba’s council of ministers. It said the decision will gradually free up retail sales of all manner of vehicles -- automobiles, vans, trucks and motorcycles -- and end the practice of granting some Cubans special permission to bring in vehicles as a privilege. Granma acknowledged the so-called “letters of authorization” issued by the transport ministry had generated “resentment, dissatisfaction and, in not a few cases ... (were) a source of speculation and enrichment.” Holders of the letters, however, will still be first in line to buy cars while the new system is phased in, Granma said. Opening Cuba’s domestic car market to imports is likely to have fateful consequences for the lovingly maintained 1950s Chevys, Fords and Pontiacs that have survived a 50-year-old US embargo. No official figures are available on Cuba’s automobile fleet, but experts believe there are around

Some of these cars are more than 50 years old and are still on the road in Cuba today. 60,000 American cars still circulating on the island. Mixed in with them are Soviet-made Ladas and Moskvich cars made in the 1970s and ‘80s and more modern, usually Asian-made, vehicles imported by the government. Mint condition Cadillacs, Chryslers and Oldsmobile convertibles can still be seen carrying tourists around Havana, but most of the rolling relics from pre-revolutionary Cuba are now used for collective public transportation. The changes are a long-awaited element of President Raul Castro’s attempts to gradually liberalize Cuba’s Soviet-style economy. The government in September 2011 allowed Cubans and foreigners living on the island to sell their used cars to one another. “We’ve been waiting for this for 20 years,” said a

HAITI GOVERNMENT PAVES WAY FOR LEGISLATIVE AND LOCAL ELECTIONS

ORT AU PRINCE, Haiti– Haiti has promulgated a new electoral law that has diffused a potential political crisis and paved the way for legislative and local elections next year. Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe had called on the Electoral Council to take all necessary measures to organize the polls, promising ﬁnancial and logistical support for the Council’s operations. “Haiti is a democracy and that means we should regularly organize elections to renew the political personnel,” Lamothe told the Haitian website, HCNN. “Now, it lies with the Electoral Council to really launch the process and ﬁx a date for the elections,” he added. The legislative election is to elect one third of the 30-member Senate, but a debate has started as to whether or not the vote should take place at the same time as scheduled elections due by the end of next year to elect 10 additional senators and all the members of the lower chamber of Parliament. The election issue has created tensions between the government, opposition parties and

parliamentary leaders over the prospect that Parliament could become dysfunctional if the new electoral law had not been approved and promulgated before January 13, 2014 ion keeping with the date set by a previous law in 2008. The Senate would have not been able to continue to function, because it needs a quorum of 16 members to hold a session, but the promulgation of the new law, which abrogates the one adopted in 2008, will allow the Senate to keep all its 20 members beyond the January 13, deadline. President of the Electoral Council, Emmanuel Menard, said that talks would take place with various stakeholders, including political parties and civil society groups, on staging the elections. “We are committed to organizing free, fair and democratic election and now that we have the electoral law, we are going to double efforts to take the process to a happy conclusion,” Menard told HCNN. “For those who were skeptical, I can give them the guarantee that the elections will be held in 2014,” he added.

54-year-old professional in Old Havana, who would not give his name. Freddy Mugercia, a 41-year-old taxi driver, also welcomed the news. “Now anyone who has money will be able to buy a car. There were a lot of people who had received money from their families (outside Cuba) and weren’t able to,” he said. Granma provided few speciﬁcs on how the broader car market will work, saying the new rules would be made public in the coming days. But it said pricing of new vehicles should be similar to that for used vehicles sold privately. That suggests the government will impose hefty taxes on sales of imported vehicles. Because of the restricted supply, car prices in Cuba are already astronomical. A basic Lada in good condition, for example, sells for around $12,000, about as much as a ‘57 Ford that has gotten decades of use as a taxi. A Cadillac convertible, like those that cruise the Havana waterfront with tourists aboard, can cost up to $80,000. For most Cubans, with salaries that average just $20 a month, owning a car is still just a dream. In the meantime, Granma said, proceeds from car sales are to go to ﬁnance upgrades to Cuba’s public transportation system.

GRENADA PARLIAMENTARIANS TO STOP RECEIVING CONSTITUENCY ALLOWANCES

T. GEORGE’S, Grenada – The Grenada government is moving to stop paying legislators a monthly allowance to assist with the operations of their constituencies. Soon after it won the February 2013 general election, the New National party (NNP) of Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell announced it would provide EC $1,500 (One EC dollar = US $0.37 cents) allowance to assist with the operations of constituency ofﬁces. This money was in addition to their monthly payment of EC $1,200. But the minutes of the Standing Committee on Finance, which is chaired by Mitchell, indicates that “the key reason for the new arrangement was that no monies would be going through … the parliamentarians hands, which would be safeguarding the parliamentarians and all concerned.”The minutes which were laid in Parliament earlier this week, also provide new guidelines as to the maximum fee for rental, payment to staff and other supplies for the effective operations and functioning of the ofﬁces. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mitchell presented a national budget of EC $933.9 million (One EC dollar=US $0.37 cents) outlining a series of taxes and stressing the need for a curtailment of government expenditure over the next 12 months.

Page 34

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

CARIBBEAN NEWS

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Haiti and Dominican Republic resume talks on controversial Constitutional Court ruling C

ARACAS, Venezuela – Haiti and the Dominican Republic have agreed to establish a joint commission to discuss the migration problem caused by a recent ruling by the Constitutional Court in the Dominican Republic that has the effect of rendering stateless, thousands of people of Haitian descent residing in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean country. Haitian President Michel Martelly and Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina met on Tuesday on the sidelines of a meeting of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) and of PetorCaribe. The meeting was chaired by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “I announce the creation of a high-level committee with representatives of both sides to address various issues on the bilateral agenda,” Maduro said, adding that the joint commission would comprise ﬁve representatives each from the two countries. He said Venezuela, the United Nations, the European Union and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have been invited as observers. Maduro said the proposed commission would address issues regarding trade, migration, environment, security and the border. The purpose of such an initiative is to ﬁnd a just, proper and balanced solution through which the interests and rights of all parties are protected.

Haiti’s President Michel Martelly Last month, CARICOM said it would defer consideration of the application by the Dominican Republic to join the regional integration grouping following the Constitutional Court ruling. Leaders of the three-member CARICOM Bureau, comprising host country Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Haiti, said the 15-member regional grouping would also seek to raise the court ruling with several bodies including the Association of Caribbean States, the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC) as well as maintaining “our interest and active participation at the Organization of American States (OAS).

On September 23, the Constitutional Court in Santo Domingo has ruled in favour of stripping citizenship from children of Haitian migrants. The decision applies to those born after 1929 — a category that overwhelmingly includes descendants of Haitians brought in to work on farms. But in defending the ruling, Dominican Republic ofﬁcials said it ends uncertainty for children of Haitian immigrants, allowing them to apply for residency and eventually for citizenship. The Geneva-based ofﬁce of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on authorities in Santo Domingo to ensure that the ruling did not leave persons of Haitian descent in “constitutional limbo”. A United Nations-supported study, released this year, estimated that there were around 210,000 Dominican-born people of Haitian descent and another 34,000 born to parents of other nationalities. However, the Government of the Dominican Republic estimates that around 500,000 people born in Haiti live in the Dominican Republic. St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, who had written two letters to Medina on the issue, had informed his CARICOM colleagues that quiet diplomacy would not get the Dominican Republic to change its position.

British national jailed for sexually assaulting 10-year-old boy P

ORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – A 67-yearold British national was jailed for three years after he pleaded guilty to performing oral sex on a 10-year-old boy. Magistrate Maureen Baboolal-Gafoor imposed the sentence on Derek Ide Tuesday after telling the court that children needed protection from sexual predators. Ide was accused of performing oral sex on April 28 on the child aboard his yacht, which was docked in a boatyard in Chaguaramas, west of here. He was initially charged with grievous sexual assault and was not called upon to plead to the charge. But in November, assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, George Busby, applied to have the charge amended to the lesser offence of serious indecency. The magistrate said such offences were prevalent in society and that the

court must send a message that such crimes” against the most vulnerable of our society, our children, will not be tolerated. Ide, a former teacher from Southampton, is not expected to complete his sentence here, as his attorney r Sean Cazabon has indicated he would apply for his client to be extradited to the United Kingdom to serve the sentence. “A request will be made to the British High Commission to have him extradited,” Cazabon said, admitting that in 1983, his client was convicted in England of a similar offence against a boy but said Ide was willing to participate in therapy and counselling when he was eventually deported. In recent weeks, law enforcement authorities have had to deal with a number of incidents including murder involving children.

On Tuesday, Justice Devan Rampersad jailed 45-year-old Rodney St. Bernard for two years and 11 months after he was found guilty of committing an indecent sexual act on a 16-year-old school girl. “Children need protection. That is the message this court has to send and that is the message this court will send,” the judge said he as imposed the sentence. “You were a grown man. You knew the victim. Trust was put in you and you took advantage of a young girl, only 16 years old. These experiences suffered by young people have a psychological effect,” the judge added. The court was told that the 16-yearold girl, accompanied by teachers and schoolmates, had gone to a Junior Soca Monarch show on February 14, 2001, and on leaving the show travelled in a taxi driven by the accused

INTERPOL URGES PUBLIC ASSISTANCE IN TRACKING INTERNATIONAL FUGITIVES IN THE CARIBBEAN

YON, France- The international police organization, INTERPOL, is seeking public assistance in tracking down international fugitives linked to organized crime networks and wanted for offences including murder and drug trafﬁcking. INTERPOL said Operation Infra (International Fugitive Round Up and Arrest) Americas involves 46 countries and territories in the Caribbean and Central and South America. INTERPOL said the operation targets 266 fugitives believed to be hiding out in Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and the Caribbean. “Members of the public are now being asked to provide information to help locate 15 individuals, including Rafael Caro-Quintero the former leader of the Guadalajara Cartel in Mexico,” INTERPOL said. “They are all cases where no new leads were generated during the initial phase of Infra Americas or where there is no current intelligence on the potential location of these individuals.” Ervin Prenci, criminal intelligence ofﬁcer with INTERPOL’s Fugitive Investigative Unit,

which is coordinating Operation Infra Americas, said the public could provide vital leads in helping to bring these fugitives to justice. “Any piece of information, no matter how small or apparently insigniﬁcant could be the missing piece in the puzzle which will help locate these dangerous criminals. “The public have a valuable role to play in supporting law enforcement efforts, but we would not encourage anyone to take action themselves, but instead to pass on any tips to their local or national police or INTERPOL,” he added. Prenci said information on the possible location of the suspects or any internationally wanted persons can be sent to “INTERPOL’s Fugitive Investigative Support Unit, adding that any leads would be passed on to the INTERPOL National Central Bureaus concerned for further action on the ground. INTERPOL said countries and territories taking part in Operation Infra Americas include Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

to return home. But before he dropped her off at her destination, he stopped his vehicle and told the girl he was going to urinate at the side of the road and that she could watch. He later took the girl’s hand and placed it on his groin area and even when she objected and pulled her hand away, he placed it back in the area. Defence attorney Fulton Wilson said despite the charge being a serious one, he was asking the court to take into consideration that no violence had been used during the incident. But State attorney Brent Winter disagreed arguing that the suitable sentence was three years hard labour. In passing sentence, Rampersad said trust was placed in St Bernard as he was known to the girl and her family.

CARIBBEAN RECORDS FIRST CASE OF CHIKUNGUNYA

ORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad– The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Tuesday said that for the first time, locally-acquired cases of chikungunya have been detected in the region. CARPHA said it had recently received notification of 10 confirmed cases of locally acquired chikungunya virus infection on the French side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. Chikungunya is a viral disease, carried mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and causes a dengue-like sickness. Symptoms include a sudden high fever, severe pain in the wrists, ankles or knuckles, muscle pain, headache, nausea, and rash. Joint pain and stiffness are more common with chikungunya than with dengue. The symptoms appear between four to seven days after the bite of an infected mosquito. The majority of clinical signs and symptoms last three to 10 days, but joint pain may persist longer. Severe cases requiring hospitalisation are rare. CARPHA said that health authorities on both sides of the island of St. Martin were cooperating closely in response to the cases and have enhanced epidemiological surveillance, carried out measures to control mosquito breeding sites and are advising people on how to protect themselves. “There is currently no evidence of cases on the Dutch side of the island, or in other parts of the Caribbean,” said CARPHA warning “there is no vaccine or treatment for chikungunya, which has infected millions of people in Africa and Asia since the disease was first recorded in 1952.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 35

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

News W

RLD

Georgia woman claims half of $648 million Mega Millions jackpot

56-year-old married woman has won half of the second-largest Mega Millions jackpot in U.S. history and has taken the cash option, which after taxes, will be about $120 million, Georgia Lottery President Debbie Alford said Wednesday. Ira Curry, of Stone Mountain, came to the lottery office with the winning ticket of hand-picked numbers, a mix of family birthdays and the lucky number 7. She did not appear at the afternoon lottery announcement in Atlanta. Curry bought the ticket at the end of the day Friday and it was a last-minute decision, Alford said. Alford gave a few details about Curry, saying she is married and had her daughter check online for the winning numbers after a radio announcer mentioned 7 was the Mega ball number. Two tickets matched the winning numbers in Tuesday night’s $648 million jackpot. Curry’s half of the cash option comes to $173million, before federal taxes (25%) and Georgia taxes (6%), officials said. According to CNN’s calculation, the payout will net her $119million. It will take one to two weeks before Curry will get her check, Alford said. Curry bought her winning ticket in Atlanta at a Gateway Newstand in the lobby of an office building near the city’s Buckhead community; the other ticket was sold in San Jose, California, lottery officials said. “(Curry) had the radio on, and the announcer was talking about the Mega ball, which was seven,” Alford said. So Curry called her daughter and “between tears of joys and laughter,” the daughter relayed to her mother

Lottery winner Ira Curry will take home $119million after taxes that she’d won, the lottery president said. Curry told Alford, “I was in a state if disbelief. I still didn’t believe it when my daughter told me,” Alford said. Alford said she suspects Curry called her boss to say she wouldn’t be coming in to work because Curry met with lottery ofﬁcials between 11 a.m. and noon. Curry told lottery ofﬁcials she hadn’t had time to think about what to do with the money. The winning numbers were 8, 14, 17, 20 and 39, with a Mega ball of 7. Twenty ticket holders will win $1 million after matching all the numbers except the Mega ball. Strong sales boosted the jackpot to $648 million from previous estimates of $636 million and $586 mil-

lion, lottery officials said.Mega Millions jackpot could be a billion That’s tantalizingly close to the U.S. record -- a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot split by three winning tickets in March 2012. This jackpot was so large in part because Mega Millions became tougher to win. The prize rises with each miss, and no one had won it since organizers increased the pool of numbers to choose from -- making astronomical odds even longer -- in October. The California winning ticket was sold at Jenny’s Gift Shop in a San Jose strip mall, lottery officials said. The chance of winning -- never particularly bright -- got worse in late October, when Mega Millions increased the drawing’s pool of numbers. The odds of hitting the jackpot, which were 1 in 176 million, are now 1 in 259 million. You have more than 1,000 times better chance of an asteroid or comet killing you -- and that’s using the longest estimated odds for the celestial bodies -- according to Tulane University. “Winning the Mega Millions is akin to getting struck by lightning at the same time you’re being eaten by a shark,” said Todd Northrop, founder of Lotterypost.com. Previously, lottery players chose five numbers, ranging from 1 to 56. It’s now 1 to 75. But the sixth, gold ball has fewer numbers from which to choose, as the pool decreased from 46 to 15. Mega Millions tickets are sold in 43 states -- all but Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming -- plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

India urges US to drop case against arrested female diplomat N ew Delhi - India Thursday urged the United States to drop the case against a female diplomat who was arrested and strip-searched and apologise for her “terrible” treatment, ratcheting up pressure in the blistering diplomatic row. US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed “regret” over the episode in New York, and India’s Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said he hoped the “valuable relationship” with Washington would soon return to an even keel. But in a sign of the bruised pride and humiliation felt in India, Khurshid reiterated calls for the visa fraud case against the diplomat to be withdrawn and branded her treatment as “terrible”. “We have asked for the case to be dropped and withdrawn ... we are not convinced that there are legitimate grounds for pursuing it,” Khurshid told foreign journalists. “I cannot believe if a US senator was arrested he would be put through this behaviour....I would rather not prejudge. Let us allow the American government to respond.” Kerry tried to end the row in a phone call to India’s national security adviser on Wednesday, expressing regret and stressing concern that the issue not be allowed to hurt a “vital relationship.” But Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said “a mere regret won’t make us happy. They must offer a

Dyani Khobragade

The arrest of Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general, sparked several protests. clear apology and accept that they made a mistake, that is what we will be satisﬁed with.” The row was sparked by last Thursday’s arrest of Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general at its mission in New York, as she dropped her children off at school. The 39-year-old, who is now free on bail, was detained over allegations that she paid an Indian domestic worker in New York a fraction of the minimum wage and lied about the employee’s salary in a visa application. Subsequent revelations that she was strip-searched have caused outrage in India and prompted a series of reprisals, including the removal of protective barricades outside the American embassy. Khurshid conﬁrmed India was transferring Khobragade to its UN

mission in New York to secure her full diplomatic immunity, instead of the partial immunity she currently has. However such a move could prove complicated as any change of designation requires the US State Department’s approval. In an email to colleagues published Wednesday, Khobragade wrote that she was repeatedly stripsearched and then subjected to a cavity search. However Preet Bharara, the US federal prosecutor handling her case, has insisted Khobragade was arrested in the “most discreet” way possible, was not handcuffed and was “fully searched” by a female deputy marshal in private as part of standard procedure. In an interview with Indian television, Khurshid acknowledged there was “a sense of hurt” over the treatment of the diplomat at a time when the Obama administration is looking to bolster ties with New Delhi. “Things happen between friends,

even things that are terrible,” he told the CNN-IBN network. “My duty is not to allow anyone to damage relations, the relationship,” he also told reporters. “We hope it will return (to normalcy) very soon.” The diplomat’s father pressed for his daughter’s release, saying he would go on hunger strike if action was not taken. “No compensation is enough. We are not beggars,” Uttam Khobragade added. The US State Department said it was “particularly important to Secretary Kerry that foreign diplomats serving in the United States are accorded respect and dignity just as we expect our own diplomats should receive overseas”. Bharara insisted his sole motivation was to uphold the rule of law, protect victims and hold accountable anyone who breaks the law “no matter how powerful, rich or connected they are”. But India’s foreign ministry spokesman lashed out at Bharara’s comments, saying “there is only one victim in this case (and) that victim is Devyani Khobragade”. The worker is said to have been paid just $3.31 an hour -- well below New York’s required $7.25 -- despite signing a contract to pay her three times that amount for childcare and other services. Such wages however are well above the average in India.

Page 36

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

WORLD NEWS

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

US Capitol Building dome to undergo $60million repairs A

mericans longing for a makeover in Washington will get their wish partially granted as the dome of the U.S. Capitol - but not the lawmakers who work inside - undergoes a $60 million restoration. After 150 years of exposure to rain, snow, sun and sleet, the castiron landmark is suffering from water leaks, cracks and corrosion that urgently need repair, Stephen Ayers, the Architect of the Capitol, said on Thursday. “A dozen years ago there were 300 and some cracks, a few more years there were 500 cracks, then 900 cracks, and now 1,300. Now is the time to intervene and make sure it’s preserved for generations to come,” he said at a news conference announcing the launch of the dome restoration project, standing beside a table bearing more than three dozen corroded pieces of cast iron from the massive structure. While Americans’ view of Congress is negative - polls have the legislature’s approval rating in the single digits the sprawling white building is a beloved symbol and tourist spot visited by thousands of people daily through much of the year.

The dome will be covered with scaffolding during much of the restoration, which is expected to take two years. Planners are determined to finish before January 20, 2016, when the next president of the United States will be inaugurated on a platform erected on the Capitol’s west front. The project is hugely complicated. The dome is 290 feet high and weighs 14.1 million pounds. Workers will be removing up to 13 layers of lead-based paint before they can reseal, prime and repaint the gleaming white structure. The cast iron will also be repaired and reinforced, and many elements like floral decorations and cracked columns - will be removed in order to be fixed. This is all complicated by the dome’s height, elaborate decoration and age. “The foundry practices in the 1850s and 1860s aren’t as controlled as they are today,” Kevin Hildebrand, head of the Capitol’s architecture division, said. The scaffolding must also be lit because much of the renovation will take place at night to avoid disrupting the work of Congress.

The US Capitol Dome is one of the most famous landmarks in the world. Inside the soaring dome, workers will hang a doughnut-shaped safety net that will not obstruct the view of the “Apotheosis of Washington” fresco on the ceiling from the rotunda. That fresco, which took a year to paint, has already sustained some water damage, Ayers said. Hildebrand said a “defunct” bird-prooﬁng system - wires painted white - would also be removed and replaced with a modern system.

Bird damage led to monitoring that eventually prompted the current restoration, he told reporters during a visit to the viewing deck atop the dome. In 1990, a heavy downpour caused a leak so bad that water accumulated on the rotunda floor - from a hole made to accommodate a nest. “It was clear that the culprit was birds nesting in the upper level,” Hildebrand said. The dome has not had major repairs in more than half a century, but planners have learned from the past. For example, Hildebrand said, welding during the last renovation - from 1959-1960 - has since failed. This time repairs of the cast iron will be via “lock and stitch,” a mechanical repair involving drilling and pins. Ayers said he felt good about the chance of finishing on time and under the $59.55 million budget. He noted that a $20 million project to repair the dome’s skirt finished in September on schedule and at the predicted price. “Guarantee? That’s a big word,” he said, when asked about the outlook for a similar performance on the larger project. “But we’re pretty confident,” he said.

Apollo Theatre ceiling collapse in London injures more than 75

unks of plaster and dust rained down on a packed audience when the ceiling of a London theatre partially collapsed Thursday night. More than 75 people were injured — seven seriously, authorities said. The collapse at the Apollo Theatre took place around 8:15 p.m. local time during a performance of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The NightTime at the height of the Christmas holiday season. Plaster and masonry from a section of the ceiling tumbled down, bringing parts of the theatre’s balconies down with it onto the audience, police said. More than 700 people were in the theatre at the time, according to the London Fire Brigade. Officials said most of the injured were “walking wounded” with upper-body injuries, and that all are conscious and breathing. Police and fire officials said it was too soon to say what had caused the partial collapse of the ceiling, but that a full investigation is being carried out. Dee Stephenson said she was just three or four seats from the stage when an actor shouted “watch out!” “Then what we felt was debris falling on us, a loud bang, and then all of a sudden there was a coat of dust,” she said. Scott Daniels, an American tourist who lives in the Dallas area, said he’d managed to buy a last-minute ticket to the acclaimed production just before show time. “I was lucky to get one seat that they had left over,” he told The Associated Press. About 40 or 45 minutes into the show, he said, he started hearing noises — and screaming. “I thought, maybe this is part of the play,” he said. “All of a sudden, plaster starts raining down,

The seats were left covered in planks of wood and debris after the ceiling collapsed on to the audience huge hunks of plaster ... The lights went out and everything ﬁlled with dust — everybody was coughing and choking.” He said he made it out with “a couple scrapes,” though he saw others with more serious lacerations. Dust-covered theatregoers, many with bandaged heads, were treated by dozens of emergency workers in the street outside the Apollo and at a nearby theatre. City buses were commandeered to usher some of the wounded to hospitals. Injuries ranged from head wounds to cuts and scrapes to breathing problems. Initially, London Ambulance Service said more than 80 people had been injured. But noting that the initial situation was confusing, it later adjusted that number to say it had treated 76 patients, 58 of whom were taken to hospitals.

Of those, 51 had suffered minor injuries and seven had suffered “more serious injuries.” There were no fatalities and none of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, officials added. The fire department said no one was trapped in the theatre, explaining that rescuers had helped evacuate some theatregoers who had been trapped “by the nature of their injuries” where they had stood when the ornate plastering came down. Chief Superintendent Paul Rickett said that “so far, we know that a number of items of masonry have fallen down from the ceiling. “There is no suggestion at this stage that this was as a result of a criminal act, however, at this stage we are keeping an open mind,” he added. Shaftesbury Avenue, normally one of London’s busiest streets and teeming with pedestrians, was completely shut down by emergency workers. The Apollo Theatre, named for the Greek and Roman god of music and the arts, was built in 1901 and has 775 seats. The show, which is aimed at young people as well as adults, is about a boy with Asperger’s who sets out to solve a crime. Prime Minister David Cameron said via Twitter that he was being updated regularly on the crisis. He praised the city’s emergency services — who were on the scene within three minutes — for their “fast work” in helping the injured. London Mayor Boris Johnson also thanked emergency services for their “incredible response in very difficult conditions.” Nimax Theatres, which owns the Apollo, described the incident as “shocking and upsetting” and said an investigation into what caused the ceiling collapse is under way.

TURKEY’S PRIME MINISTER SAYS CORRUPTION PROBE AIMS TO SMEAR GOVERNMENT

NKARA - Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday denounced a corruption crackdown on his allies months ahead of elections as a “dirty operation” to smear his administration and undermine the country’s progress. He said those behind the investigation were trying to form a “state within a state”, an apparent reference to the movement of U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers are inﬂuential in Turkey’s police and judiciary. A total of 52 people, including three ministers’ sons, prominent businessmen close to Erdogan and local government ofﬁcials, were detained on Tuesday in the country’s biggest corruption probe since Erdogan swept to power in 2002.

“As we fight to make Turkey in the top 10 countries of the world ... some are engaged in an effort to halt our fast growth. There are those abroad ... and there are extensions of them within our country,” Erdogan told a news conference. “Right now a very dirty operation is going on.” Several dozen senior police officers, including the heads of the financial crime, organized crime and smuggling units in Istanbul and at least 18 others in Ankara, were removed from their posts following the detentions, local media said. Edrogan said officers had been removed for abuse of office and warned more could follow in other cities. Tensions have grown in recent months

between Erdogan’s government and Gulen’s Hizmet (Service) movement over plans to close private schools which prepare teens for competitive high school and university entrance exams, some run by Hizmet. The schools, part of a global education network, are an important source of revenue and inﬂuence for Gulen’s movement, creating a web of contacts and personal loyalties among a religious-minded elite in Turkey and abroad. A lawyer for Gulen denied he had any hand in the probe. “The honorable Gulen has nothing to do with and has no information about the investigations or the public ofﬁcials running them,” Orhan Erdemli said in a statement published by Turkish media outlets.

Erdogan drew parallels with weeks of violent anti-government protests over the summer, which grew out of a demonstration against plans to redevelop Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Riot police clashed night after night with demonstrators protesting against what they said was Erdogan’s growing authoritarianism. “There is a process that started with the Gezi incidents. They could not get what they wanted there and now they have taken a new step,” Erdogan said. Representatives of Hizmet have always denied being behind June’s protests but tacitly chided Erdogan, who dismissed the protesters as “riff-raff”, throwing their weight instead behind more conciliatory voices in his AK Party.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 37

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

WORLD NEWS

Mandela family feud resumes J

OHANNESBURG— An ongoing feud between some of the Mandela family members which has made headlines in the past year has taken another turn with a report that Mandla Mandela was locked out of the family’s homestead in the village of Qunu by relatives four days before his grandfather, Nelson Mandela, was buried there. Mandla is also reported to have found his home on the Mandela estate without electricity and water on the day of his grandfather’s burial. The Johannesburg tabloid The Times reported Tuesday that locks at Nelson Mandela’s home in the Eastern Cape hamlet were changed shortly after his eldest daughter, Makaziwe Mandela, arrived there on Thursday. At the time, Mandla Mandela was keeping vigil next to his grandfather’s cofﬁn while the anti-apartheid icon’s body lay in state at the Union Buildings in Pretoria for three days. He escorted the cofﬁn to Qunu on Saturday for Mandela’s funeral the following day. Approached for comment on the report Wednesday, Mandla Mandela’s spokesman, Freddy Pilu-

sa, told The Associated Press: “He (Mandla) doesn’t want to conﬁrm nor deny the report. He wants to focus on promoting and upholding the legacy of his grandfather going forward.” Mandla and Makaziwe have been involved in a bitter public spat over the control of Mandela’s legacy and leadership of the fractured family. The newspaper report said that since Mandela’s death on December 5: • Water and lights at Mandla’s house on the Mandela estate were disconnected late on Saturday. The occupants, including Mandla, had no water when they awoke on Sunday; • Makaziwe had told Mandla, the statesman’s grandson, that he must remove his cattle, pigs and dogs from the homestead; • Relatives, politicians and religious leaders aligned to Mandla were sidelined and refused accreditation for Sunday’s funeral; • Traditional family rituals, scheduled to be held in Mvezo, a town near Qunu, where Mandla is Madiba clan chief, were cancelled.

•

No transport to the funeral was provided for Mandla’s mother, Nolusapho, or for her sister. They were brought to the funeral after a member of the family sent a text message to Mandla telling him of the situation. Nolusapho, who in the early 1970s had been with Nelson Mandela’s now deceased son, was reportedly in tears. A further outbreak of hostilities is expected over Mandela’s will, the contents of which have not been made public. Makaziwe, who is said to wield great inﬂuence in the family, oversaw the family’s preparations for Mandela’s funeral. Makaziwe and Mandla locked horns earlier this year when Mandla moved the remains of his father and two other relatives to Mvezo, Mandela’s birthplace and where Mandla is tribal chief. With Makaziwe spearheading the campaign to have the remains exhumed, Mandla was forced by a court order to return the remains to Qunu, where Mandela grew up and where he had expressed a wish to be buried.

Brazil says not considering Snowden asylum B

RASILIA - Brazil says it is not considering granting asylum to Edward Snowden even after the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor offered on Tuesday to help investigate revelations that the NSA has spied on Brazilians and their president. The Brazilian government has received no official request from Snowden since he arrived in Moscow in June, a foreign ministry spokesman said. Without a formal request, asylum will not be considered, the spokesman said. In a letter published Tuesday by the Folha de S. Paulo, a Brazilian newspaper, and by social media, Snowden offered to collaborate with a Brazilian investigation into the NSA Internet surveillance program he revealed earlier this year. Simultaneously, Avaaz, a website for public petitions, launched an online signature campaign to press President Dilma Rousseff to grant Snowden asylum. In his “Open Letter to the Brazilian People,” Snowden said he would like to assist in a congres-

sional probe into NSA’s program, which monitored the personal communications of Rousseff and other Brazilians. “I have expressed my willingness to assist wherever appropriate and lawful, but unfortunately the United States government has worked very hard to limit my ability to do so,” the letter said. Snowden is living in Russia under temporary asylum that is due to expire in August. He had previously asked for asylum in Brazil, among other countries, but Brasilia did not answer his request. While Snowden stopped short of asking for asylum again in the letter, he suggested that any collaboration with Brazilian authorities would depend on it. “Until a country grants permanent political asylum, the U.S. government will continue to interfere with my ability to speak,” Snowden wrote. The revelations of NSA spying damaged relations between the United States and Latin America’s largest country and prompted

Rousseff to cancel a state visit to Washington in October. The spying also led Rousseff to become a global advocate for curbs on Internet surveillance. Evidence that the NSA monitored Rousseff’s email and cellphone, and hacked into the computing network of state-run oil company Petrobras, angered Brazilians and led the Senate to probe the extent of U.S. spying in Brazil. Some members of Brazil’s Congress have asked Russia for permission to interview Snowden but have received no reply, a congressional aide said. In a Twitter message, Senator Ricardo Ferraço, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, said “Brazil should not miss the opportunity to grant asylum to Edward Snowden, who was key to unraveling the U.S. espionage system.” “The Brazilian government should grant him asylum and the U.S. government must understand that the NSA violated rights protected in Brazil’s Constitution,”

fellow committee member Senator Eduardo Suplicy said. The original English version of Snowden’s letter was published on the Facebook page of David Miranda, partner of journalist and blogger Glenn Greenwald, who first brought the Snowden leaks to the world’s attention. Miranda started the petition on the Avaaz site for Brazil to offer the “courageous” Snowden asylum. In his letter, Snowden praised Brazil’s efforts at the United Nations to limit excessive electronic surveillance. Last month a U.N. General Assembly committee expressed concern at the harm such scrutiny, including spying in foreign states and the mass collection of personal data, might have on human rights, following a joint resolution introduced by Brazil and Germany. On Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed the suggestion that the United States could grant amnesty to Snowden if he were to turn over the documents in his possession.

HAWAII OFFICIAL WHO RELEASED OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE DIES IN PLANE CRASH

Hawaii state health official who gained national attention when she released a copy of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate in 2011 was killed in a plane crash off the island of Molokai, authorities said on Thursday. Loretta Fuddy, director of the Hawaii Department of Health, died when a single-engine plane with nine people on board, operated by a small regional carrier, went down some 300 yards off Molokai’s Kalaupapa peninsula on Wednesday during an inter-island flight. The pilot and seven other passengers survived the crash with various injuries, U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue controller Darin McCracken said, adding that one of the injured swam to shore. A spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Health said Fuddy’s deputy, Keith Yamamoto, was among the passengers who survived the crash of the Cessna 208 Caravan. “Our hearts are broken. Loretta was deeply loved and respected. She was selfless, utterly dedicated, and committed to her colleagues in the Department of Health and to the people of Hawaii,” Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie, who appointed Fuddy in 2011, said in a statement.

Loretta Fuddy The ﬂight was being operated by Makani Kai Air, which ﬂies between Oahu and Molokai. Makani Kai Air owner Richard Schuman told local KITV4 that the crash was caused by engine failure and that the pilot tried to bring the plane down safely and keep the passengers together after they

were in the ocean. Schuman did not respond to calls from Reuters requesting comment. A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said the agency was investigating the crash and would issue a preliminary report within 10 to 14 days but that the plane was probably not recoverable. The Federal Aviation Administration was also conducting a probe of the incident, and a spokesman said its agents planned to speak with the pilot and some of the surviving passengers as early as Thursday. Amid accusations by so-called “birthers,” who claimed that Obama was not born in the United States, Fuddy released to him copies of his original certificate of live birth in Hawaii. She said that “in recognition of your status as president of the United States,” she was making an exception to her department’s policy of only releasing a computer-generated certified copy. Obama then released a copy of that longer version of his birth certificate in response to the widely discredited claims he was not born in the United States. In doing so, he blasted “carnival barkers” who refused to let the issue go.

Page 38

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 39

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

usiness B AND

T O ECHN

LOGY

Apple starts taking orders for new Mac Pro A

pple Inc. is taking orders today for the new Mac Pro personal computer, which is being built in Texas with components made domestically as part of Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook’s $100 million Made-in-the-USA push. “We have begun manufacturing the Mac Pro in Austin,” Cook wrote in a posting yesterday on Twitter. “It’s the most powerful Mac ever.” The cylindrical machine, which runs on Intel Corp.’s latest Xeon chip, will be available to order today at a starting price of $2,999, Apple said. While companies such as Google Inc. and Lenovo Group Ltd. are doing some final assembly in the U.S. of parts made overseas, Cook said in an interview in October that Apple is manufacturing -- not just putting together -- the Mac Pro’s metal parts in the U.S. “The difference with us is that we’re taking a bottoms-up approach,” Cook said at the time. “We don’t want to just assemble the Mac Pro here, we want to make the whole thing here. This is a big deal.” Apple’s partners are using industrial molds and production processes that were developed in the U.S., he said. Cook’s pledge to domesticate some production followed years of criticism from labor advocates about conditions at contractors’ facilities in China, where most of Apple’s products are built. Though Apple, the world’s largest technology company, hasn’t announced plans to make other products in the U.S., recent investments suggest it may head in that direction, including a new plant in Mesa, Arizona. The newest version of the Mac Pro, a top-ofthe-line computer used by graphic designers and filmmakers who require the fastest performance, is going on sale at the height of the holiday shopping season in customizable configurations starting at $2,999 and $3,999 depending on the chip’s power and amount of memory.

The new Apple Mac Pro The sleek, rounded black machine, which looks like a space-age trash can or a small jet engine, is 9.9 inches tall and is an eighth the size of the current Mac Pro, the company said. Intel’s Xeon processors will let it handle some calculations at twice the speed of the existing model, Apple has said, and will use 70 percent less power because of its smaller size. The computer comes with 256 gigabytes of ﬂash-based storage, expandable to one terabyte -the equivalent of 1,000 gigabytes. Apple executive Phil Schiller said in October that more than 2,000 people in 20 states were working on the Mac Pro. The Cupertino, California-based company released a video of the highly automated processes used to build the machine, showing a puck-shaped plug of aluminum being stamped into the shape of the cylindrical shell, and then passed through a series of robots for polishing, anodizing and painting. Other machines insert electronic components onto circuit boards.

Delta Air Lines will not allow cellphone calls on planes, CEO says

he chief executive of one of America’s largest airlines vowed to keep phones silent on ﬂights, despite some rumblings in Washington about lifting the ban on cellphone calls. Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson told his employees Wednesday that the airline won’t allow cellular or Internet-based calls, regardless of any changes in policy by the Federal Communications Commission. He is not the ﬁrst. Southwest Airlines, the nation’s largest domestic carrier, also announced recently that it won’t allow cellphone calls but, it will offer its passengers Internet service on most planes from takeoff to landing. United Airlines said in a statement Wednesday that it was still evaluating the views of its passengers but, for now, the airline plans to continue banning phone calls from its planes. American Airlines has yet to take a position on the future of onboard phone calls. The FCC voted last week to consider lifting the ban on cellphone calls from planes, saying modern technology can keep calls from disrupting navigation and communication systems. To lift the ban, the FCC must accept and consider comments from the public for a 60day period, starting after the rule change proposal is published in the federal registry. That is expected to take place in the next few days. Already more than 200 members of the public have submitted comments at the FCC

rule-making website. FCC Chairman Thomas Wheeler said if the agency lifted the ban, it would still be up to individual airlines to install the technology needed to allow cellphone calls from airborne planes. He added that airlines could ban voice calls but allow passengers to use phones for sending email and text messages and surfing the Internet. In a memo to employees, Anderson said research showed that most Delta passengers consider voice calls on planes to be disruptive. “In fact, a clear majority of customers who responded to a 2012 survey said they felt the ability to make voice calls onboard would detract from — not enhance — their experience,” he said. “Delta employees, particularly our in-flight crews, have told us definitively that they are not in favor of voice calls onboard.” Flight attendant unions have opposed allowing cellphone use on planes, saying calls could lead to disputes in the cabin and make it difficult for crew members to get the attention of passengers during safety announcements. But even if the FCC lifts its restrictions, other federal officials may take action to keep phones silent on planes. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has issued a statement saying his department might consider adopting a ban on cellphone calls after an outcry over the FCC’s plan to consider the proposal.

The last frames of the video show the words “Designed in Cupertino, Assembled in the USA” being etched on the bottom of the machine by laser. Under U.S. Federal Trade Commission regulations, companies can’t include the term “Assembled in USA” if that process only includes ﬁnal piecing together of imported parts “in a simple ‘screwdriver’ operation in the U.S.” So far, the company’s push isn’t poised to have a big impact. Of Apple’s $170.9 billion in annual revenue, more than 70 percent of that comes from the iPhone and iPad tablet, which are built in China. The new Mac Pro will probably contribute less than 1 percent of Apple’s sales in 2014, said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos. He predicts the company will sell 1.1 million Mac Pros in 2014, compared with 300 million iPhones and iPads. Apple has faced stepped-up scrutiny of its overseas labor in recent years. Allegations of use of underage workers, forced overtime and other infractions have led the company to investigate conditions at China-based manufacturing partners Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. and Pegatron Corp. Apple has joined the Fair Labor Association, and publishes regular results of hundreds of factory audits in a Supplier Responsibility Report. In December 2012, Cook told Bloomberg Businessweek that the company would spend $100 million to build a new version of one of its Mac models in the U.S. In testimony before the U.S. Senate in May, Cook said the Mac Pro would be assembled in Texas using parts made in Illinois and Florida and equipment made in Kentucky and Michigan. And last month, the company said a new Arizona plant will employ 2,000 people to produce a glass alternative made of synthetic sapphires that are increasingly being used in smartphones to cover camera lenses and home buttons.

RED LOBSTER TO BE THROWN OVERBOARD BY DARDEN

arden Restaurants is planning to spinoff its Red Lobster unit, making the restaurant chain the latest to bow to the demands of activist shareholders. Darden, the company behind Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Capital Grille and Bahama Breeze and other chains, has disappointed investors with declining proﬁts for each of the past three years has been under pressure to improve performance. As part of its Red Lobster announcement, the company also said earnings this year would dip further than expected. Shares of Darden fell $2.70, or 5.1%, to $50.22 in midday trading. Shares of the restaurant chain are up 11.4% this year. Most recently, hedge fund Barington Capital, which owns 2.8% of the company’s shares outstanding, has pushed Darden to narrow its focus so it can more effectively compete with more specialized rivals including Chipotle Mexican Grill. Barington has urged Darden to break is slower growing brands, like Olive Garden and Red Lobster, for those with better growth prospects, like LongHorn. Barington also wants Darden to convert to a real-estate investment trust to achieve tax advantages. Darden executives said they’re keeping Olive Garden, which accounts for about half of the company’s reve-

nue, since it’s still a big driver of cash flow. Nonetheless, Darden told investors it expected earnings to fall up to 20% in the fiscal year ended May 2014, largely due to sluggishness with Red Lobster. The company had told investors earlier it expected earnings to fall upward to 5%. “While today’s announcement is a first step toward improving focus and operating execution at Red Lobster and Olive Garden, we view the plan Darden announced today as incomplete and inadequate. The plan fails to address significant additional opportunities to enhance long-term shareholder value, including placing its real estate into a REIT. We believe that Darden can and should be doing more to improve value for its shareholders,” says James Mitarotonda, CEO of Barington Capital Group, stated: Red Lobster has been losing importance with consumers, due to the rise of newer concepts that pitch better value. Selling Red Lobster could generate upwards of $2.5 billion for Darden, Miller Takak analyst Stephen Anderson told Reuters.

Page 40

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

UK to start issuing plastic bank notes from 2016 B

ritish banknotes will get a tough new makeover from 2016 when plastic replaces the traditional paper, enabling them to survive accidental spins in the washing machine, the Bank of England said on Wednesday. Britain will be the largest economy so far to adopt the more durable polymer material for general banknotes, after 87 percent of respondents approved the change in a public consultation. The move will bring estimated savings of 100 million pounds ($162 million) over a decade. It will begin with five-pound notes in 2016 at the earliest, with 10-pound notes arriving the following year. Polymer notes were first adopted by Australia in 1988 and are now in use in more than 20 countries including Canada, the homeland of new BoE governor Mark Carney. The British ones will feature World War Two leader Winston Churchill on the five-pound

note and 19th-century author Jane Austen on the tenner. “Ensuring trust and conﬁdence in money is at the heart of what central banks do. Polymer notes are the next step in the evolution of banknote design to meet that objective,” Carney said in a statement. The notes will last about six years, more than twice as long as paper, allowing the Bank to make savings of 25 percent. Apart from passing the washing machine test, the notes are more dirt-resistant than paper and consist of a transparent plastic ﬁlm coated with an ink layer which can be wiped clean. They will be harder to fake thanks to features like a transparent window. Opponents of the move cited the slippery texture of the polymer, which the BoE said would reduce over time but added it would try to combat

with raised print. The new notes also fold differently to their paper counterparts. The Bank added that the plastic notes would be 15 percent smaller to become more in line with the size of other international currencies and ﬁt better in people’s wallets. The BoE originally decided to outsource banknote production in 2003, awarding the ﬁrst contract worth 40 million pounds a year to De La Rue. The contract expires in 2015 and the replacement is currently open to tender. The BoE expects to enter a contract with Innovia Security to provide the polymer material, for which the company would set up a new production plant in 2016. The BoE has issued paper banknotes ever since it was founded in 1694, and there are currently around 2.9 billion in circulation with a face value of about 58 billion pounds ($95 billion).

Target cyber breach hits 40 million payment cards at holiday peak T

arget Corp said hackers have stolen data from up to 40 million credit and debit cards of shoppers who visited its stores during the ﬁrst three weeks of the holiday season in the second-largest such breach reported by a U.S. retailer. The hackers worked at unprecedented speed, carrying out their operation from the day before Thanksgiving to this past Sunday, 19 days that are the heart of the crucial Christmas holiday sales season. Target, the third-largest U.S. retailer, said on Thursday that it was working with federal law enforcement and outside experts to prevent similar attacks in the future. It did not disclose how its systems were compromised. The retailer was alerted its systems might have been compromised by credit card processors who had noticed a surge in fraudulent transactions involving credit cards that had been used at Target, according to a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to discuss the matter.

The timing of the breach could not have been worse for Target, coming just before three of the four busiest days of what has been a bruising holiday season for retailers, with the highest level of discounting in years. Target last month lowered its proﬁt forecast for the year. “Most of these attacks are just a cost of doing business,” said Mark Rasch, a former U.S. prosecutor of cyber crimes. “But an attack that’s targeted against a major retailer during the peak of the Christmas season is much more than that because it undermines conﬁdence.” Investigators are still trying to understand how the attack was carried out, including whether hackers found a weakness at Target’s computer network or through credit card services vendors. It was not immediately clear what percent of the transactions at its brick and mortar stores had been compromised but the company said its online business had not been affected.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, who headed a multistate probe into a 2007 data breach at TJX Cos, said in a statement that her office was talking to Target about the breach and planned to work with other Attorneys General to determine whether the company had proper safeguards in place. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a public statement that he had asked Target for more information. A customer in California filed a class-action lawsuit against the company late on Thursday, the first of what lawyers said could be many such suits. Samantha Wredberg said in a court filing that she was a regular shopper at Target and had used her credit card at a company store on December 8. Besides seeking damages, Wredberg asked the court to certify the lawsuit as class action. She also asked the court to explore whether “Target unreasonably delayed in notifying affected custom-

BLACKBERRY ENLISTS FOXCONN TO MAKE PHONES AS SALES PLUNGE

lackBerry Ltd., the struggling smartphone maker, struck a five-year deal with Apple Inc. supplier Foxconn Technology Co. to make its devices, following another quarterly plunge in sales and mounting losses. Foxconn will manufacture products for BlackBerry at plants in Indonesia and Mexico, according to a statement today. BlackBerry will own all of its intellectual property and handle quality assurance on devices through Foxconn, the world’s largest manufacturer of electronic products. Sales in the three months that ended Nov. 30 fell 56 percent to $1.19 billion, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company said today in a statement. That missed the average estimate of $1.59 billion in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. BlackBerry posted a loss from continuing operations of 67 cents. Analysts estimated a loss of 46 cents. BlackBerry Chief Executive Officer John Chen, hired last month after the company abandoned a plan to sell itself, is trying to restore confidence among both investors and corporate customers, who he says will be the focus of BlackBerry’s efforts in the future. The exploration of a sale loomed over most of its fiscal third quarter, having been announced on

Aug. 12 before being scrapped on Nov. 4. That may have deterred customers from upgrading. “The near term will be very challenging,” said Pierre Ferragu, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein in London. It’s “difﬁcult at this stage to have a conviction that BlackBerry can succeed.” The company also said today that it’s taking a charge of $4.6 billion for assets, inventory and supply commitments it is writing down. Chen, who is credited with reviving software maker Sybase Inc. before it was sold to SAP AG (SAP), has already begun making big management changes. Three weeks after his Nov. 4 start date, BlackBerry’s marketing, ﬁnance and operations chiefs left the company. This week Chen appointed former SAP executives as BlackBerry’s new heads of enterprise services, corporate strategy and marketing. BlackBerry’s share of the global smartphone market tumbled to just 1.7 percent in the third quarter from 4.1 percent a year earlier, according to IDC. Android, the Google Inc. operating system used by Samsung Electronics Co. and others, had an 81 percent share, and Apple’s iOS had 13 percent, IDC said. That’s left investors skeptical of Chen’s chances of turning BlackBerry around.

ers of the data breach”. The theft of credit and debit card data from Target customers could end up costing hundreds of millions of dollars, but it is unclear who will bear the expense, lawyers and industry sources said. The affected payment cards include Target’s REDcard private label debit and credit cards as well as other bank cards, Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said. She declined to say if the incident was affecting store trafﬁc. The largest breach against a U.S. retailer, uncovered in 2007 at TJX Cos Inc, led to the theft of data from more than 90 million credit cards over about 18 months. Since then, companies have become far more adept at identifying intruders. But criminals have responded by developing more-powerful attack strategies, spending months on reconnaissance to launch sophisticated schemes with the goal of extracting as much data as they can in the shortest period of time.

MILLIONS OF UK HOMEOWNERS MAY NEED SECOND JOB IF INTEREST RATES RISE, BANK OF ENGLAND WARNS

illions of homeowners will be forced to rein in their spending or take a second job when interest rates rise to cope with higher mortgage repayments, the Bank of England has warned. Almost a third of the 11m households who currently have a mortgage will have to cut back or work longer hours if interest rates climb to 3pc from their current low of 0.5pc - even if annual pre-tax incomes grow 5pc. Under the most extreme scenario, where wages are frozen and rates hiked by 2.5 percentage points, the Bank said half of mortgage holders, which account for a quarter of the £1.2 trillion stock of loans, would have to slash spending. One in six households would be pushed to the edge of affordability, the Bank added, with the proportion of “vulnerable” borrowers with repayments above

35pc of gross income doubling to 16pc. Nominal household disposable income has grown by around 3pc a year over the past three years, the Bank noted in its Quarterly Bulletin on Friday, although much of this increase has been eroded by inflation, which has remained above the Bank’s 2pc target since 2009. The Bank said that markets do not expect interest rates to rise until mid-2015, and according to its November Inflation Report, rates will not reach 2.2pc until November 2017, when nominal and real wage growth is expected to return to robust levels. It also said the calculations assumed that lenders would pass the full impact of rate rises on to borrowers and did not take into account households on fixed-rate deals, which would not feel the full impact of rate rises straight away.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 41

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Sports

LOCAL

KITEBOARDERS COMPLETE WORLD RECORD ATLANTIC CROSSING

ix kiteboarders, including American Eric Pequeno, 30, of West Bloomfield, Mich., have completed the first ever non-stop kiteboard crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, a one way trip of well over 4,000 miles. The team departed Nov. 20, 2013, from Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands to cross the Atlantic Ocean en route to the Blue Haven Resort and Marina in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and reached their destination after 27 days and nights of travel. The HTC Atlantic Kite Challenge is the first-ever kiteboarding relay of its kind crossing the Atlantic Ocean. “It is unbelievable what the Enable Passion team has achieved with this crossing.” said the Honorable Premier of the Turks and Caicos, Dr. Rufus Ewing. “I am proud that the Turks and Caicos Islands are the official arrival destination and are able to provide a very warm welcome to the riders.” The kiteboarders’ welcome at the Blue Haven Resort and Marina began at sea when they were met by a contingent of Turks and Caicos-based kite-

boarders organized by local eco-adventure company Big Blue Unlimited, who rode the ﬁnal few miles alongside the record-setting athletes. The kiteboarders’ families were also on hand to watch them make their ﬁrst landfall in over three weeks. “The feat of the Enable Passion organisation in completing this marathon across one of the world’s wildest oceans is awe inspiring,” said His Excellency Peter Beckingham, Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands. “I toast the team for its commitment, effort and for choosing the Turks and Caicos as its ultimate destination. Their remarkable journey deserves the remarkable beach party that I know our friends at Blue Haven have organised for them this evening.” The HTC Atlantic Kite Challenge is the brainchild of Netherlands-based Filippo van Hellenberg Hubar, founder of the Enable Passion Foundation (www.enablepassion.com). Filippo is one of the six kiteboarders who participated in the crossing. “This is a landmark of human

achievement,” said Caroline van Scheltinga of Blue Haven Resort and Marina. “The successful ocean crossing demonstrates the power of human passion, and ingenuity, working as a team in harmony with nature.” Kiteboarders strap themselves to boards similar to wakeboards, and then tether themselves to 46 to 56foot wide parasails, or “kites.” The sole American on the expedition was Eric Pequeno, who won a slot on the adventure through a sixth rider Facebook competition. He has been a devoted kiteboarder since 2008, having become an experienced kiter on the Great Lakes. The kiteboarders have ridden through schools of leaping flying fish, left trails in bioluminescent algae at night, sailed next to whales, passed sharks, and faced storms, lightning, and becalmed conditions where no progress could be made. The six kiteboarders were accompanied by a catamaran, a Lagoon 500 called the Double-A, with five crew members including the Dutch sail-

ing professional Erik van Vuuren as team captain. Every kiter took two two-hour shifts per day – one in the daytime and one at night – so one member of the team was always out on the ocean going the distance. For more about the expedition, log onto http://www.enablepassion.com.

TCI Cricket Association steps up youth programme BY VIVIAN TYSON

he Turks and Caicos Islands Cricket Association has begun its youth development mechanism in earnest by introducing cricket to the physical education curricula of some schools that never had it before on their roster, according to President Colin Sterling. In a recent email update sent to members of the association and the news media, Sterling said that British West Indies Collegiate on Providenciales is the most recent school to add cricket to its P.E. curriculum at the request of the association. “As you are aware, cricket has been done in P.E. at the British West Indies Collegiate with the Year 10, ages 14-15 and will commence with the Year 9s next week,” Sterling told the members. He said that Mills Institute also on Providenciales has recently introduced the sport at that institution and much progress has been made since. “Mills Institute has also progressed the sport through the efforts of Mr. Bhagwandas and will be doing a session every other Friday at the Downtown Ballpark from 1:30 – 2:30pm, any assistance will be appreciated,” he said. Sterling said that steps are being made to strengthen the programme at another Providenciales learning institution - the Wesley Methodist School. He said that funds have been donated to the school to construct cricket training facilities at the institution.

Colin Sterling “In addition to this, we have agreed with Wesley Methodist School in Leeward, to construct batting cages, which works will begin next month and

have presented a cheque to the Principal, Mrs. Edna M. Cottoy in the amount of $3,000 in this regard,” the Cricket Association President said. Sterling said that the association is determine to take its youth cricket development campaign to other islands, and so work will commence in North Caicos and South Caicos in the not too distant future. “We will be seeking to do the same in North and South Caicos in the near future,” Sterling said. He said that the cricket programme in Grand Turk will not only be intensiﬁed but will also focus heavily on female cricket. “Our vice-president, Winston Quelch, has conﬁrmed that the children in Grand Turk will reconvene next week with emphasis placed on Women’s Cricket,” Sterling revealed. In the meantime, Sterling said that Annual General Meeting of the Turks and Caicos Islands Cricket Association will be held at the end of January 2014. He said that since all positions are open to contesting, interesting parties are free to make their intentions to run known. “The notice will be sent out to all interested parties to attend. All positions on the Executive Board will be up for election,” he said. In the meantime, Sterling said that the Senior Men’s Cricket Competition is scheduled to commence early in the New Year. He said that the format could be revised however.

Page 42

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Page 43

Page 44

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Page 45

Page 46

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

Page 47

Page 48

DECEMBER 21ST-DECEMBER 28TH, 2013

PUBLISHED BY SUN MEDIA GROUP, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS - TEL: 649-946-8542; FAX: 649-941-3281

TURKS & CAICOS SUN