VOLUME 10 ISSUE 31

AUGUST 23RD – AUGUST 30TH, 2014

VOLUME 10 - No. 31

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NO TO 14-FLOOR HOTELS IN TCI

by Hayden Boyce

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Two of the most powerful and influential organisations in the Turks and Caicos Islands have objected strongly to a proposal by Government to raise the height of hotels from seven storeys to 14.

The Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association (TCHTA) and the Turks and Caicos Real Estate Association (TCREA) made their objections known to Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing and Minister of Finance Hon. Washington Misick at a public consultation on July 23rd, 2014.

The majority of TCHTA’s members

are concerned that increasing the building height of properties will have a negative impact on the tourism brand especially since the destination’s affluent and high net worth customer base comes to Turks and Caicos to escape the “concrete jungles” of Florida and other markets.

This, according to the TCHTA, was confirmed by many of its international travel partners who noted that their clients prefer destinations which protect the nature and environment with low density and low type buildings.

Executive Director Stacy Cox stated: “We have already seen significant damage to our reef system and aquifer by landscaping chemicals, impacts of desalination by-products and other

factors of increase development over the past years and we believe that a long term comprehensive plan is needed to protect our existing brand and products. Our Association also believes that having several high rise buildings in various developments will put a huge strain on our resources such as the fire service, the power and water infrastructure and emergency services which at this time can’t cope with such a high volume.”

At a meeting on June 4th, 2014, Cabinet agreed to open a consultation on increasing the height limit of buildings in Providenciales to 14 storeys (150 foot.) The consultation was co-ordinated by the Ministry of Home Affairs and will be open to all

interested stakeholders.

The TCHTA directors stated: “TCI as we know and love it maintains the slogan “Beautiful by Nature” which differentiates us from other Islands in the region. Many of our competitors have the same beautiful beaches, great restaurants etc so our country’s differentiation and competitiveness advantage are in what we “do not” have.”

The TCHTA said that the new proposal by Government will not only cripple TCI’s brand but will also have a detrimental effect on the country’s land and sea environment.

Continued on Page 2.

HARTLING GROUP’S GOT TALENT!

It was showtime as Regent Palms and The Sands at Grace Bay presented the second annual “Hartling Group’s Got Talent!” staff talent show which included performances in song and dance routines from various departments at the resorts.

Pictured are the first place winners, from the Regent Palms Front Office Team, (all smiles!)

Sheldine Pubien, Kanthal Capron and Frantzline Augustine, along with Regent Palms General Manager Karen Whitt and The Sands at Grace Bay General Manager Mona Beeson.

(Photo by Kelano Howell)

LIME to invest US$10 million in TCI network upgrade – Page 7 TCIG never committed to renting Whole Gospel Academy – Page 8

Migrant workers make significant contributions to the Turks and Caicos Islands – Page 10

Plans to restart Dellis Cay project – Page 11

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

LOCAL NEWS

No to 14-floor hotels Continued from Page 1. Greenwood

“Having the same objective as Government, which is to improve and maintain the slogan that TCI have built its brand on “Beautiful by Nature”, TCHTA believes that this however can’t be done at the expense of the country’s unique reputation and welcomes the opportunity for further discussions with the Government,” the association added.

The TCHTA represents a wide range of members from hotels and resorts to insurance companies and financial service providers, from watersports operators to catering outlets, from taxi drivers to human resources.

The Association aims to assist the organisations through networking opportunities, training, promotional activities and representation at all levels of decision-making in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the region.

TCREA president Rob

who attended the consultation, told The SUN that the meeting gave a general outline of what was being considered as it relates to a significant increase in building height and density regulations for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“Given that this was a short meeting that only provided a broad outline of what was being proposed, it is difficult to formulate a definitive and final position, something that would normally be taken to TCREA’s Broker’s Council for a formal position.

“However, the general consensus of TCREA’s membership is that any such changes would adversely affect the islands as a whole. Such changes would forever alter what has always been one of the islands’ overwhelming attractions of providing a low density development model that allowed for peaceful enjoyment of our beautiful islands.

“The Turks and Caicos

Fatal accident on Leeward Highway Traffic officers from the Royal Turks & Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) are investigating a fatal motor vehicle collision in Richmond Hill along the Leeward Highway Sunday August 17th.

About 7:24AM on that date, police and other emergency services were called to an area in the vicinity of Caicos Lodge, along Leeward Highway, after reports of a collision.

On arrival officers found a blue Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and a grey Toyota corolla car had collided.

Emergency services attended the scene and freed the driver, 55-year-old Luma Gracious, who was trapped in the vehicle. He was rushed to Cheshire Hall Medical Centre where he was admitted in a serious condition with multiple injuries.

The sole passenger in that vehicle, a 34-year-old male was also transported to Cheshire Hall Medical Centre and admitted for life threatening injuries to his head and body.

The driver of the blue Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, a 48-year-old male did not receive any major injuries but refused medical treatment.

34-year-old Orionel Fenelus died in hospital the same day.

President of the Turks and Caicos Real Estate Association Rob Greenwood (left) and Executive Director of The Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association Stacy Cox, at right.

Islands are known for having some of the best beaches in the world, and over populating our beaches would certainly jeopardize such an attraction,” Greenwood stated.

Greenwood said it was also noted by several TCREA members that allowing for a higher density model would significantly and unnecessarily slow development in other areas of Providenciales and neighbouring islands in the Turks and Caicos.

“The low density development is what differentiates us from other Caribbean destinations and this has what has always appealed to our clientele,” he added In 2012 there was widespread public criticism when developer Hugh McLean announced plans to construct a 28-storey, mixed-use hotel and conference centre in the upscale area of Grace Bay on the island of Providenciales.

The developers of the project,

Skyline Development Co. Ltd., said the facility will have 608 rooms/suites, a 12,000 square foot/600 seat conference centre, three restaurants (one Rooftop Terrace Restaurant), a racquet club, spa, business centre and commercial space.

McLean, who owns 50 percent of the project, had promised that the proposed development will create 502 Construction Jobs and 482 permanent full-time jobs once complete.

Hotel and Restaurant (Taxation) Ordinance Amendment approved

by Parliament The Revenue Department in the Ministry of Finance advises the public that the House of Assembly has approved: An amendment to the Hotel and Restaurant (Taxation) Ordinance to provide for the imposition of a tax on Tourism Services.

The commencement date of the amendments to the Hotel and Restaurant (Taxation) Ordinance which will now be cited as the Hotel and Tourism (Taxation) Ordinance (“hereinafter referred to as the Ordinance”) is 1st November, 2014.

Schedule 3 of the Hotel and Tourism (Taxation) Ordinance details what will be considered Tourism Services for the purposes of the Ordinance. They are as follows: • Tour Operator Services • Tourist Guide Services • Camping and Caravanning Site Services • Camping Equipment Leasing or Rental Services • Water Sports • Water Sports/Beach Equipment Leasing or Rental Services • Sports Fishing • Sightseeing Excursion Services • Sightseeing Services, Aircraft or Helicopter • Non-motorized Land Transport Equipment Leasing or Rental Services – e.g. bicycles • Non-motorized Air Transport Equipment Leasing or Rental Services

• Parasailing, Parachuting, Zip Lining • Horse-back Riding and Related Services • Photography and Photographic Camera Rental Services • Museum Services Except for Historical Sites and Buildings • Golf Course Services • Spa Services • Destination Wedding and Planning Services • Concierge Services.

• All businesses providing the aforementioned services are required under section 26A of the Hotel and Tourism (Taxation) Ordinance to register with the Revenue Department.

•Prescribed forms for registration as a Tourism Service Provider are available at the Revenue Department.

• A Tourism Service Provider whose annual turnover does not exceed $50,000 or $4,000 in three consecutive months, may at the time of lodging an application for registration or at any other time, apply to be exempt from the requirement to charge and collect tax.

• The rate of tax to be charged by a Designated Tourism Service Provider under section 26B (1) of the Ordinance is twelve percent (12%) of the charge paid or payable for that service.

For more information, please visit the Revenue Department in Grand Turk & Providenciales or the District Commissioner’s Offices in the family Islands.

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

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AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

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AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 7

LOCAL NEWS

LIME investing US$10 million in TCI network upgrade

by Hayden Boyce

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Telecommunications giant LIME will be spending a staggering $10million upgrading its network over the next nine months, in a strategic move aimed at regaining its dominance in the Turks and Caicos Islands market.

Having already spent $2.5million in 4G mobile network upgrade, LIME said it will invest $5M to upgrade broadband services in fibrebased technology to deliver significantly improved speed to customers and another $1million will be spent to launch new TV services later this year. Sponsorships and community development Phil Bentley, Chief Executive Officer, Cable & Wireless Communications PLC and James Pitt, General Manager LIME Turks & programmes account for the Caicos Islands at the press conference at the Regent Grand. balance bringing the total that countries with greater market and it is a struggle for relative to its competitors and combined investment to access to broadband services them, but I think we’ve got two it now has the fastest and most $10million. achieve higher levels of GDP highly competitive companies reliable network in the Turks To demonstrate the growth, employment and between LIME and the other and Caicos Islands. seriousness of its renewed “The download speeds have people whose name I forget productivity,” he noted. commitment to the Turks and Bentley, who joined Cable now. We think that we’ve not been quite slow here in the Caicos Islands, the company and Wireless earlier this year, given them as good a run for TCI and we have to fix that. brought out its top international conceded that the company their money here in the Turks So any customers who might and regional executives for which had a monopoly in the and Caicos as we should have be thinking about switching a press conference at the Caribbean for more than 100 done and that’s why we are to somebody else, all I will say Regent Grand conference years, allowed the competition investing. At the end of the day is don’t do that because LIME room on August 21st, where it it is our customers that decide is coming with some very fast to gallop ahead of it. announced what was its most “My observation when I first what our market share is, if broadband speeds and what we significant investment in the came in is that we had under- we give them value for money,” are going t offer is something TCI since the former Cable and that everybody will want to invested in the Caribbean and Bentley added.

Wireless lost its monopoly.

The $10million investment experience,” Bentley added. frankly we let our competitors The high-powered team steal the market from us and in the Turks and Caicos Islands “We are investing heavily and comprised Phil Bentley, Chief that cannot continue,” he is part of a major US$1.05billion increasing speed in broad Executive Officer, Cable & said, adding that Cable and capital investment programme band by delivering fibre optic Wireless Communications Wireless is now focused solely in region called Project Marlin. cable and that should add PLC, Martin Roos, CEO LIME “We think this (Turks between 50 and 100 megabits on the Caribbean and Central Caribbean, Jan Remmelg, CEO, and Caicos Islands) is a good per second, compared with America.

LIME North Caribbean and Despite the competition from economy to invest in and we the 2 and 4 megabits that James Pitt, General Manager two other telecommunications want to play our role as a are presently in the TCI. LIME Turks & Caicos Islands. players, Bentley is confident catalyst for future development We want to play our role in Bentley said LIME’s about improved performance by making sure that TCI developing faster networks network upgrade investment in and increased market share in has international standards and giving the country the Turks and Caicos underscores for telecommunications economic leg-up to be able to the Turks and Caicos Islands. its long term commitment to compete internationally in “I think we can definitely do infrastructure,” he added. the country and to the economic Bentley said LIME has telecommunications and data.” a lot better than we have been. empowerment of its people.

The Cable and Wireless There’s a third player in the tested its speeds and coverage “It is a well-documented fact

ELECTRICIAN A construction site in South Caicos requires a qualified and capable ELECTRICIAN with at least five (5) years experience in the position

CEO added that he would love to see more hotel development in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“We are really focusing on the hospitality sector in terms of how we can invest in the infrastructure the same time that hotels are being built so that we work hand in hand with encouraging investment into the TCI, in the knowledge that when investments are made, those hotels will have the very best fibre optic communication networks to deliver to their customers.”

Meantime, James Pitt, the CEO for LIME Turks and Caicos Islands, said that since LIME has launched its 4G network it has delivered consistently excellent performance when stacked up against competitors.

“I dare say that it has outperformed our competitors.

Further, our corporate and residential customers now enjoy the best value packages for both mobile voice and data on the best network here in the Turks and Caicos Islands,” Pitt said. “And we are not done. The journey continues in earnest.

We are now in the process of deploying a truly “world-class” broadband network that will allow our customers to enjoy speed and reliability like that which exists in some of the leading metropolitan cities.”

Pitt noted that LIME’s customers enjoy competitive international calling rates and a mobile data network that is second to none.

“No effort is spared to improve our customer touch points:- our stores, contact centers and online portals are just a few that I will mention.

Our track record for investing in education for our youth and other community programs is indicative of our commitment to the development of the Turks and Caicos Islands,” he added.

Labourer/Senior Hatchery Technician

Qualified and capable individuals required.

Trade Wind Industries Limited, owners & operators of the Caicos Conch Farm in Leeward seeks to employ a Labourer/Senior Conch Hatchery Technician with a minimum of 5 years of experience in the domestic cultivation of Caribbean queen conch and a familiarity with warm water fin fish.

This is a 57 hour per week labour position that involves the maintenance and upkeep of conch and fish currently growing at the Caicos Conch Farm.

Daily job activities include cleaning and waste removal from conch ponds / cleaning and waste removal from fish tanks / the sorting, counting, relocating and harvesting of conch and fish /general maintenance of the facility including (but not limited to) trash removal, site maintenance, repairs etc.

Other related and necessary duties may be as assigned.

Interested persons should email resumes to info@saunders.tc

Salary: $8.00 per hour.

Send resume to: Saunders & Co, Town Centre Building, Providenciales, Attention: Caicos Conch Farm.

Must be prepared to live full time in South Caicos Salary $900 weekly depending on experience

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

LOCAL NEWS

Education minister: TCIG never committed to renting Whole Gospel Academy School

by Hayden Boyce

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Government did not make any firm plans or any final offers to rent the Whole Gospel Academy School.

This was stated by Deputy Premier and Minister of Education Hon. Akierra Missick, following widespread reports that the Turks and Caicos Islands Government had abruptly backed out of a deal with the now defunct school which is owned by Bishop Coleta Williams of the Abundant Life Ministries International.

“The Government, at no stage indicated it had firm plans or a final offer to rent the site known as the Whole Gospel School,” Hon. Missick told The SUN. “The Government was looking at all options for addressing the overcrowding at Clement Howell High School (CHHS), including a shiftsystem, installing modular classrooms on the current CHHS, and one of the options was identifying and assessing a possible building for lease,” she said.

“The building had to be able to house at least the transfer of forms 1

and 2 of CHHS which is roughly 200 students. The Government, looked at four buildings and the Whole Gospel site did seem a possible forerunner for the Government’s needs,” she added.

The Minister of Education said that after much debate and discussions with the various TCIG Departments involved, including the Public Works Department, TCIG Estate Department, and Education Department, it was agreed that a more permanent and economically viable solution should be adopted.

“The final decision was that TCIG would make the investment to have a permanent solution developed, as the return to TCIG would be of greater benefit, than leasing a property.

Further, the site selected is a 13 acre parcel of Crown Land which was “Reserved for Educational Institutions”, and allows for further expansion of facilities and amenities on a phased basis,” the Deputy Premier added.

Missick said the Ministry of Government Support Services and Education are working against a very strict timeline to have this project started and completed by the second

school term of the 2014/2015 school year.

She added that provisions for teachers, a principal, vice principal and other administrative costs were all made in the 2014-2015 Budget.

“The delay in the Budget of course delayed the ability of Government Support Services to send out the Invitation to Tender. However it is expected that an invitation to build the first phase of the Long Bay High School which is expected to house approximately 200 children should be out by the end of August 2014,” she continued.

In relation to the inquiries about the development of the Long Bay High School, Missick said that this facility would be a purpose built facility.

“The construction of the new school is a needed investment to ease the overcrowding at the Clement Howell High School, and will increase access to school places which are under a great demand, but further, it would place a secondary school in that portion of Providenciales for the high school Deputy Premier and Minister of Education Hon. students in the region from Glass Akierra Missick.

Shack to Leeward,” she said.

Fast Growing Business is looking to hire

Sales Clerks, Sales Associates & Sales Persons & Cashiers

Applicants must:

• Have at least 3 years’ experience or prior working knowledge of the • related department.

• Must be a High School graduate and computer literate • Must be punctual and responsible able to work on your own initiative • Have a friendly temperament and be willing to go beyond the call of duty to make customers happy.

• Be able to write and speak English fluently (bi or multilingual is a plus.

• Be willing to work flexible hours.

Salary $6.50 per hour.

CASHIER SUPERVISOR

Applicants must:

• Have at least 3-5 years’ experience or prior working knowledge and xperience in the related field.

• Must be a High School graduate and computer literate and possess strong leadership skills.

• Must be punctual and responsible able to supervise, motivate and train a team of 5 or more cashiers.

• Be able to write and speak English fluently (bi or multilingual is a plus.)

• Be willing to work flexible hours.

Salary $8.00 per hour.

MECHANIC

Applicants must:

• Have at least 5 years’ experience mechanic experience in heavy equipment and trucks 2 tons or more and all other automotive.

• Must possess a class B-H Turks and Caicos Islands Driver’s License • Be able to write and speak English fluently (Bi-multilingual is a plus).

• Be willing to work flexible hours.

• Must be punctual and responsible able to work on own initiative.

• Be willing to work as a team member Salary $9:00 per hour

THE HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT Building Materials, Ltd. / Do it center 1213 Leeward Highway, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands Tel Number: (649) 946-4131; Fax Number: (649) 941-3513 Hand Deliver or Email: hr@doitcenterprovo.com

The Alexandra Resort & Spa is inviting applications for the position of:

RESERVATIONS AGENT To be responsible for accurately processing room reservations ensuring optimal occupancy; preparing and distributing hotel statistics on a daily and monthly basis and provide relief for front office staff as needed.

This position requires a minimum of two years’ experience in Front Office/reservations with excellent oral and written communications skills as well as a pleasant and professional attitude; must be computer literate, knowledge of Visual One would be considered a plus.

Previous experience in this area is a must. Salary for this position will commensurate with experience Please Submit Resumes to:

cgibbons@wihl.com

A copy should also be submitted to the TCI Labour Department.

Submissions to be no later than August 22nd, 2014 Belongers and Permanent Residents of the TCI need only apply.

Please note that only short listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 9

LOCAL NEWS

Tourist arrivals continue to improve, says report Tourism officials in the Turks and Caicos Islands has cause for optimism as overall tourist arrivals to the destination surged 35 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2014. A combined total of 676,937 visitors were welcomed to the destination; this number represents a total of 199,347 stop-over visitors and 477,590 visitors arriving by cruise ship for the 2Q 2014 (01 January to 30 June).

According to a press release from the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board, the 199,347 stop-over visitors for the second quarter of 2014, represent a 25 percent increase when compared to 159,038 stop-over visitors who graced our shores for the same period in 2013.

The Premier and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, the Hon. Dr. Rufus W. Ewing, commenting on the country’s performance said, “I am extremely thrilled to know that the number of tourist arrivals are up.

This attests to the fact that despite the challenges being faced throughout the world economies, travel has sustained the necessary cutbacks in leisure spending and further, our beautiful by nature Turks and Caicos Islands remains the destination of choice.

“As my Government continues to roll out and execute our infrastructural development strategy, and with the completion of the expansion of the Providenciales International Airport as well as the planned upgrades and facelifts for the beautification of Grand Turk which will be carried out under the Infrastructure Development Fund, I am extremely optimistic and confident that our numbers will continue to climb and that our high end luxury brand destination will deliver the highest numbers that our industry has ever seen.”

Director of Tourism, Ralph L. Higgs, stated: “We are thrilled to see our overall arrival numbers for the first half of 2014 up 35 percent, and we are optimistic that these numbers will continue to climb throughout the remainder of the year. It is a most encouraging sign that stop-over arrivals growth came from all regions in the first quarter of the year.

“If all factors prove equal and barring any unforeseen disasters, natural or man-made, the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board is projecting a total of 1.35 million visitors to the destination for 2014; the highest amount of visitors to ever grace the shores of the Turks and Caicos Island within a given year.”

Higgs continued, “Moreover, this projection also signifies an overall increase in land-based arrivals for the destination, which was declining and or static in 2012 and 2013 respectively, following a recoding breaking 2011.

“With the Providenciales International Airport nearing completion, we hope to improve our visitor’s experience from the point of entry until their return; ensuring that the Turks and Caicos remains top of mind, strengthening positive visitor’s reviews and referrals, thus continuing to grow our land-based arrivals in the future.”

As previously reported, the island’s success was buoyed by a robust growth in the first quarter (2014) that saw a 41 percent increase in visitor arrivals over the previous year (2013). January, February and March saw a combined total of 358,188 visitor arrivals to the destination, accounting for 104,437

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 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.

SHINEY’S BAKERY The Premier and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, the Hon. Dr. Rufus W. Ewing (left) and Director of Tourism, Ralph L. Higgs (right) are both extremely thrilled about the increase in tourist arrivals. more visitor arrivals than in the corresponding period in 2013.

The destination maintained the momentum in the second quarter of the year, welcoming an increase of 25 percent in visitor arrivals when compared to the same period, April thru June, in 2013.

A combined total of 318,749 visitor arrivals to the destination, accounting for 72,248 more visitor arrivals than in the corresponding period, April thru June, in 2013.

STRONG GROWTH ACCROSS ALL MARKETS The Turks and Caicos continue to record strong growth across all major source markets.

For the first half of the year, stop-over arrivals to the Turks and Caicos surged by 25 percent when compared to the same period in 2013. The United States was the leading market generator of all stopover arrivals to the Turks and Caicos with a sum total of 161,385 stop-over arrivals during the first half of 2014, a 28 percent increase compared to the same period in 2013. The destination’s second largest source market, Canada, indicated a slight rebound with a total of 22,593 stop-over arrivals during the first quarter of 2014, an increase of 14 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.

Stop-over arrivals from the European markets also grew, with arrivals from the United Kingdom and France increasing by 17% and 86% respectively in the first half of the year.

Continuing on its upward trend, the Turks and Caicos more than doubled its stop-over arrivals from Italy in the first quarter of 2014 when compared to the same period last year. Collectively the European markets recorded 3,807 stopover arrivals to the destination in the first half of 2014. A breakdown in stayover arrivals from the European region

reveals 1,784 visitors from the United Kingdom; 361 visitors from France; 738 visitors from Italy; 80 visitors from Germany and 775 visitors from other European nations.

The destination’s newest source market, Brazil, recorded 919 stop-over arrivals, an impressive growth rate of 57 percent at the end of first half of 2014. Increases in visitors from the Eastern Caribbean have also seen a growth trend. Stop-over arrivals from the Caribbean region in the first half of 2014 increased 8 percent accounting for an additional 8,775 tourists. 1,868 stop-over arrivals visited the Turks and Caicos from the rest of the world, including countries in Asia, Africa and the Pacific.

During the first half of 2014, the Grand Turk Cruise Center welcomed a total of 477,590 cruise passengers, a 40 percent increase over the same period in 2013 when the destination welcomed 341,352 cruise passengers.

The months of March, April and June saw 95,517 and 72,862 cruise passenger arrivals respectively, recording the highest increases in cruise passenger arrivals of 187 percent, 67 percent and 45 percent respectively when compared to the previous year.

Projections show that the Grand Turk Cruise Center is poised to welcome over 1 million cruise passengers by the end of 2014 year’s end.

Moving forward the Tourist Board will continue to increase its presence within the market place, embarking on a series of travel and trade shows, sponsorships, and promotional events in the US, Canada, Europe and Brazil, and continue working with wholesalers and hotel partners, especially the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association (TCHTA) and the Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) to promote the destination.

SEEKS

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Must have at least 5 years experience Salary based on experience Interested persons should contact 247-8206

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 10

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

LOCAL NEWS

Migrant workers make a significant contribution to Turks and Caicos Islands

by N. Christian Stokes I am happy to see an overdue public discourse on the contribution made to the local economy by migrant workers.

According to FSC statistics, in 2013, $74.9 million was remitted from the Turks and Caicos Islands through three licensed money transmitters, International Transfer Company Ltd. (doing business as CAM), NCS eMoney Services (offering MoneyGram services) and The Money Center by Fidelity Ltd. (offering Western Union services).

The vast majority of these funds, about 70%, were remitted by migrant workers from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, and Jamaica, though persons from over 75 countries as diverse as Argentina and the Congo to Serbia and China remit funds monthly.

If we are to be generous and say that migrant workers on average remit 33% of their take home pay then we can conservatively estimate that they would have made a contribution of $224.7 million to an economy whose size at the time would have been in the neighborhood of $560 million.

This contribution was made in the finest of free enterprise traditions, the payment of wages for the provision of services. Migrant workers can be justly proud of their role in the economy of the TCI; so to my Haitian brothers and sisters, merci; to my Dominican

Christian Stokes amigos, muchas gracias, at sa aking kapatid na lalaki Pilipino, salamat., and to all the Yardies ‘big up yuself’.

Taxes There are those who would seek to advance the idea that funds remitted by migrant workers should be taxed.

Presently, Domestic Financial Services Sales tax is payable on local money transfer fees at 10%.

The argument seems to be that the funds being sent should be taxed. Now there are a plethora of reasons why this would be socially unjust, bad public policy, and bad economics. Here are a few: Far more funds are sent out of the island through the banking system by white-collar workers and companies repatriating profits etc., than are sent by the

working class. Yet we would propose to tax the working class and leave the white-collar worker and capitalist to move money freely without concern for a tax.

I understand the frustration with the process of agreeing on a tax but do not believe the fair minded people of the TCI with such a keen sense of justice, and repulsion of themselves being oppressed would readily agree to a solution built on the backs of the poorest and most vulnerable in the society. We ought to be seeking to protect the vulnerable, not to take advantage of them because their protests would have no ear to care, boardroom to resound in, or halls of power to echo through.

If we were to tax the repatriation of the wages of labor then we should also tax the repatriation of the profits of capital. Our banks, RBC, CIBC FCIB, and Scotiabank, would then, in the name of equity, be required to pay a tax on the remittance of their profits to their home country. I do not believe we want to set out on this road.

We are at a stage where we need to encourage foreign direct investment, not chase it away with the risk and precedence of taxing the repatriation of earnings. On the eve of the long awaited formation of the Invest Turks and Caicos Islands Agency, let us not add unnecessarily to the considerable challenges which that body will face.

Finally, a tax on remittance outflows lends itself too easily

to avoidance. Migrant workers in the US send more money to Latin America with people travelling than by either banks or MoneyGram.

Taxing remittances would only encourage the use of various informal methods of remitting funds which comes with it a significant increase in money laundering and terrorist financing exposure.

With the significant work done by the FSC, our legislature and the banking system, to improve TCI’s compliance image and practices, it would be irresponsible to incentivize actions which would put the country at further risk. We have a hard enough time securing our borders against the illegal movement of people without increasing the work of policing the undeclared movement of cash. We need more transactions going through the formal system, not less.

Capital Formation It seems to me that a discussion about encouraging the retention of more funds in the local economy would be very useful.

Generally speaking as long as we have expatriate workers we will have the remittance of funds to their home countries, however there is an argument to be made to encourage local capital formation.

TCI has the good fortune, or bad, that it does not need the capital from savings of its residents to be lent out as investment capital for projects.

Thanks to our Canadian banks, projects in the TCI can be financed from the savings of Canadians, and the international capital markets. Yet, if we are to encourage the development of a vibrant business class, we will need savings to be accumulated for use as equity capital by the local capitalist.

There may be a role for fiscal policy to encourage this in conjunction with the development of domestic savings and lending institutions more geared towards domestic capital formation and small business lending.

We cannot though expect the migrant worker to participate in retaining funds in the TCI and participating in this capital formation if she is ever mindful of the knock-on-the-door which will see her taken off to the detention center for deportation or if the work permit granting process seems protracted, arbitrary and unpredictable, or if prospects of residence status are remote, or if the loved ones for whom she must care have no opportunity to legally enter the TCI. We may have 99 problems but remittances is not one.

* N. Christian Stokes is the founder and CEO of NCS Enterprises, a holding company with interests in financial services, leadership development and sports. He is the beneficial owner of NCS eMoney Services (TCI) Ltd. a licensed money remitter in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Superfast Internet packages now available from WIV

WIV customers with 1Mb, 2Mb or 3Mb plans can now upgrade to 8Mb or 16Mb superfast Internet packages and experience the fastest home broadband Internet service in TCI. According to a press release, customers can choose to

upgrade to either an 8Mb plan for US$89.99 or a 16Mb for US$159.99 per month.

“With faster speeds they can do more using their Internet at home – for less and, to make it easier for customers to upgrade, WIV’s home broadband Internet service does not require a

phone line for installation,” the release noted.

WIV Marketing Manager, Andrew Williams, said; “We’re listening to our customers and so we have made it easier for them to upgrade their service which will see them getting the fastest and most reliable home

To All Our Valued and Prospective Clients.

We are currently refurbishing our offices at Unit 2G, Courtyard Plaza, Leeward Highway, Providenciales, which will be completed in the next few weeks and is being prepared to serve you better.

The current access is at Unit 2F, Courtyard Plaza, and can contact us at Telephone Number 941-7975 or 9418353 and Fax at 941-3988.

We do apologize for any inconvenience.

The Management & Staff CSC INSURANCE BROKERS LTD.

broadband Internet service available on the Turks and Caicos Islands.”

WIV currently provides the Turks and Caicos Islands with the fastest home broadband and best digital cable TV packages and was acquired by Digicel Turks and Caicos in

April 2014.

The company is currently undergoing numerous upgrades to its broadband and digital cable TV infrastructure, which will see greater choice, quality and value in broadband and cable TV services for customers across TCI.

 

   •   •   •    •  •  •   •  •  •  •  •          

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 11

LOCAL NEWS

Some of the unfinished buildings on Dellis Cay.

Plans to restart the Dellis Cay project

by Hayden Boyce

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

The multi-million-dollar luxury hotel and condominium project, Dellis Cay, may soon be restarted, in a move that would create hundreds of jobs and add diversity and additional brand strength to the Turks and Caicos Islands tourism product.

The controversial project ground to a halt after it was placed in receivership in October 2009. However, Hon. C. Washington Misick, Minister of Finance, Investment and Trade, told The SUN that there has been renewed interest in Dellis Cay. “We understand that negotiations are ongoing between the seller and potential buyers and investors.

An acquisition would essential see either a remobilsation of the Dellis Cay Project or a new development which would essentially bring employment opportunities especially in the construction industry, stimulation of the retail sector and revenues to the Government. All in all, the renewal of any sustainable activity on Dellis Cay would certain be a great benefit to the Turks and Caicos Islands economy,” Misick said.

An architect’s impression of one of the Dellis Cay villas.

The resort was expected to include a 25-room hotel, 78 for-sale condominiums and 17 villas, all of which were to be managed by the prestigious Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.

World-famous actor Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones were among those who endorsed the project.

Its villas, mansions and spa were designed by internationally renowned architects including Japan’s Shigeru Ban, London’s David Chipperfield and Milan’s Piero Lissoni. Construction started in 2008 with an expected completion date of late 2010.

Hundreds were employed on the project when it collapsed, after developers Cem Kinay and Oguz Serim failed to make Dellis Cay’s full interest payment on its debt. They had attempted to

negotiate a compromise with lender Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust Corp. on the resort’s loan. The lender opted instead to take over the property by appointing William Tacon, an accountant in the British Virgin Islands, as receiver.

Dellis Cay is a 560-acre private island south of Parrot Cay and north of Pine Cay and a few miles from Providenciales.

The island got its name from the Dellis family who lived on the island and earned their living sponge farming in the 1950s. In addition to being known for sponge farming and conching, Dellis Cay is also known for its large collection of island shells that can be found along its shoreline.

In addition to Dellis Cay, a number of other projects are in the pipeline in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

These include Dolphin Cove, a $3 million tourist attraction

Minimum 2 years sales experience Experience in jewelry sales Impeccable references and police clearance Impeccable English, other languages –advantage High level of customer service and customer attending skills Sales references-advantage JEWELER NEEDED WITH THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS Minimum 5 years experience in setting and sizing gold, silver and gems Tel: 649-946-1083 Fax: 649-946-1988 E-mail: kwatts@shopdi.com

slated for Grand Turk, the North Creek Marina Resort Project, a $60 million marina and resort project that is vital to the redevelopment of a vibrant private sector in Grand Turk; an FBO to be developed by a local Grand Turk entrepreneur; the 4 Star East Bay Hotel which will be opened on a phased basis on 1st October 2014, with a total of 137 keys; the Sail Rock Development in South Caicos; the $100 million Shore Club which started in January of this year is on schedule for a December 2015 completion; the $100 million project on the old Third Turtle on which construction is expected to begin in 2015.

In addition, Desarrollos Hotelco Turks and Caicos Limited are planning to develop three (3) luxury resort properties in Turks and Caicos, including a Ritz Carlton hotel costing approximately $200 million.

The West Caicos Project has been delayed, as the developers have decided to redesign the project to facilitate a more exclusive clientele; but the result will be increased scale and cost of the project.

There are two micro resorts being developed in Providenciales.

Hon. C. Washington Misick, Minister of Finance, Investment and Trade.

The Exclusive Micro Resort known as the Residences by Grace Bay Club on Grace Bay Beach is currently under construction. The Project is a $12 million high end project, and will add value to the resort offering on Providenciales allow the Grace Bay Club to increase employment, and generate additional revenue for the islands.

The second resort, the Beach Enclave is scheduled to start construction in September 2014. There will be 9 exclusive villas ranging from $2 million to $3.5 million.

It will also add value to the tourism offering, generate employment and revenue for the Government.

Government has also signed MOU’s for the Toscana, a $40 million project with 54 keys and the Utopia, a $64million project.

Several other projects are under consideration, including an adventure resort project for Five Cays, and two new projects for Grace Bay.

Minimum 5 years managing sales experience Experience in managing jewelry sales Impeccable references and police clearance Impeccable English, other languages –advantage High level of customer service and customer attending skills Sales references-advantage Strong Motivational Skills-Asset Tel: 649-946-1083 Fax: 649-946-1988 E-mail: seitan@almod.com

Page 12

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

LOCAL NEWS

FortisTCI Invests $10million to meet future economic growth A third Wartsila 20V32 generation unit has been placed on order by FortisTCI (the Company) to ensure the Company is prepared to meet future electricity demand in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI).

This is just one of the latest major capital projects FortisTCI is embarking upon, further solidifying the Company’s commitment to providing its customers with safe, reliable, least cost energy.

The signing for the new 8.75 MW engine took place on June 10, 2014, and once installed will help to meet projected load growth, based on economic development data, through 2018. Installation and commissioning of the latest Wartsila is scheduled for completion by the end of September 2015.

FortisTCI President and CEO, Eddinton Powell, said: “The load on the electricity system is determined by customers’ demand. A utility company must invest to

array of our investments, from generation and transmission & distribution (T&D) systems to customer service support and delivery infrastructure, demonstrates that we are committed to ensuring that the Turks and Caicos Islands continue to have the best electricity system in the region.”

Other investments by FortisTCI for generation also include alternative sources of energy. The Company believes that no new form of generation should increase the cost to customers or reduce the safety and reliability in service. While diesel continues to be the best generation option for a system our size, we continue to evaluate FortisTCI President and CEO, the applicability of other forms Eddinton Powell of energy options such as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Natural Gas efficiently meet the load Compressed demand at all times with the (CNG), Liquefied Petroleum most appropriate technology. Gas (LPG), and renewable The new Wartsila engines energy such as wind and solar. are the most technologically The Company maintains that all proper research locally must advanced in the world.”

Mr. Powell added: “The be done before implementing

any new forms of generation.

The 35 kW solar pilot project that was initiated at the Company’s headquarters on Providenciales in early 2014 is fully operational and being monitored. Data from this project will be assessed to determine economic viability and effectiveness on a utility scale. A wind turbine pilot project is scheduled to begin in 2015 for the purpose of gathering necessary data. Both projects will further assist the country’s energy provider with determining the conditions in which interconnection of Renewable Energy Systems to the electricity grid can occur.

Investments have also recently been made in Salt Cay, where a new multipurpose generation building is in the final stages of completion. This new building will house two generating units, storage space for tools and equipment, and proper employee working space for personnel. This project will help to ensure the customers

of Salt Cay continue to receive the same level of reliability in service available across the islands. This investment likewise, prepares FortisTCI for any future load growth that may occur on Salt Cay. These projects are in total an estimated $10.5 Million.

FortisTCI aims to build upon the world class electricity service available in the TCI and help to place the country at the forefront of Caribbean nations with investor interest and opportunities.

APOLOGY

On Page 11 of the last edition, Issue # 30, of the Turks and Caicos SUN, the text in an article under the headline “FortisTCI Invests $10million to meet future economic growth”, was irrelevant to the headline.

The Turks and Caicos SUN accepts responsibility for this error and apologies for any inconvenience or embarrassment caused.

ABRAHAM & GALLIS GRAND TURK LTD. and its affiliated chain of signature brand stores trading as Ron Jon Surf Shop, Pirana Joe, Del Sol, Silver Sun and Splash Down, at the Grand Turk Cruise Center, South Beach Grand Turk, is accepting applications along with CVs/ Resumes from interested and suitably qualified persons for the following positions:

LABOURER Requirements: • Handyman to assist with cleaning and maintenance • Ability to give general assistance to Sales Clerks on receiving and storage of merchandise • Proven and unblemished track record of employment • Positive and disciplined attitude and aptitude toward work in a customer service oriented business

ROYAL WEST INDIES RESORT, is looking for motivated proactive individuals to join its ‘Resort Team’ and contribute to this growing Condominium Resort.

Candidates MUST want to actively participate in creating an excellent and professional guest experience.

• • • •

GENERAL MAINTENANCE HOUSEMAN GARDENER LABOURER

Requirements:

• Excellent communication, inter-personal and customer service skills

• MUST speak English and the ability to write and read English

• Trustworthy and reliable disposition

• Ability to maintain pools and hot tub chemicals and maintenance issues related to same

• Must be willing and able to work flexible hours, including on weekends and public holidays, as necessary to meet the challenging needs of cruise ship schedule and/or reasonable needs of the business.

• Fit and able for heavy lifting • Personality suited for the hotel industry

• Clean criminal record

• Must be customer friendly

• All candidates must be proficient in the English written and spoken word.

Command of a second language will be a definite asset

• Willing to work split shifts, holidays and weekends.

Suitable candidates that do not meet the above requirements may, at the sole discretion of the Company’s management team, be eligible for consideration in circumstances where they demonstrate a clear willingness to embrace the Company’s in-house training initiatives and established standard operating policies and procedures. Preference will be given to documented Turks and Caicos Islanders.

Written applications only and accompanying CVs/Resumes must be addressed to the Regional Manager at the following address: Via mail or delivery:

Abraham & Gallis Grand Turk Ltd. Ron Jon Surf Shop Grand Turk Cruise Center Grand Turk Turks & Caicos Is.

Via email to:

pedro@loscincosoles.com

• Knowledge of waste water treatment plants • Knowledge of Commercial Laundry Equipment including propane systems • Air Conditioning systems, Fire Alarm systems, Domestic Water systems including Water Heaters • Irrigation systems • Greet and escort guests to room • Monthly housekeeping inventory • Daily replenishment of room items and restocking of closets • Daily cleaning of buildings • Must be able to work on weekends and public holidays Wages $6.50/hour All resumes and applications must be forwarded to:

Royal West Indies Resort

P.O. Box 482, Providenciales

Turks & Caicos Islands You may also fax to: (649)946-5008

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 13

LOCAL NEWS

Beaches Resort graduate interns.

More than 90 locals graduate from Beaches internship programme

Over 90 local students at Beaches Resort graduated from their highly acclaimed Internship Programme after successful competition of their internship programmemes.

Hosted by Beaches’ Human Resort Manager and Entertainment Director, the afternoon event saw a large crowd of graduates and well-wishers. Among those in attendance were, Permanent Secretary of Education, Youth and Sports, Mrs. Cheryl Ann Jones, Minister of Border Control and Labor Honorable, Mr. Donahue Gardiner, Chairman of the Immigration Board, Mrs. Sheba Wilson and Commissioner of Labor Mrs. Michelle FulfordGardiner. Also in attendance were Beaches Stars Intern Sandra Dolce with Adonis Pena De Jesus with HR Manager family members who came to commend Melissa Holiette-Allen.

Monique Vaughn. the interns for their hard work and returning to high school or going to their development within the tourism months of practicum.

The graduates came from three the Community College this year. industry. Roxie Pierre, a Beaches Stars different internship programmes We have been able to show them the Intern mentioned, “The SCU courses within the resort; the Ministry of opportunities available in the industry have made me more professional Education Apprenticeship (9), Beaches and hopefully they will consider a and taught me the benefits of good Stars (5) and the Beaches Summer career in tourism or hospitality in the communication skills. Not only am I now able to communicate with my Intern Programme (80). All students near future.”

Unlike the Summer Programme, peers, but I can take these skills and who graduated successfully completed weeks and in some cases months the Ministry of Education (MOE) use it with the guest to ensure that of training throughout the various Apprenticeship Programmeme ran for their vacation is unforgettable.” eight months, whilst the Beaches Star Miss Pierre, who was also the departments within the resort.

The internship programmes saw programme was a year long. Both of Beaches Star Valedictorian, was able participants ranging from ages 15 to these programmes featured on-the-job to complete all four of the SCU core 20 and they were given the experience skills training, job rotation and on- course during her yearlong internship of being a full time Beaches employee. going coaching. During the internship, with the company. She stated, “I was Deleria Simms, Assistant Human the trainees completed required able to gain more experience in a year Resources Manager and key person certifications, challenge projects and with this programme than I would for the summer trainees stated, “The were monitored and evaluated at the have gained in a classroom.” Miss Pierre continued, “I have been given so internship programme is not a new end of specific periods.

In addition to interdepartmental many opportunities to grow with the one. We usually host interns every summer and in fact some of the training, the MOE Apprentices and the company and I’m extremely grateful graduates are interns who were a part Beaches Star interns were also given a to have gone through this internship unique opportunity to partake in the programme.” of the programmeme from last year.”

Interns who completed the MOE She continued, “This year’s Sandals Corporate University (SCU) programme were programme has been rather successful. courses. When used with practical Apprenticeship Not only have all 80 summer interns experience, these courses are aimed also awarded a full time position at successfully completed their 6 week to enhance students’ knowledge of the the resort upon completion. Alicia programmememe, but for the first time, hospitality industry and to help them Swann, Assistant Training Manager at Beaches and overseer of the MOE all of the interns from the Watersports flourish within the company.

All of the interns have successfully programme explained exactly what Department received international completed at least two of the four the programme was and the benefits certifications for open water diving.”

“These summer students are 4th core courses and have expressed the that it offered participants.

She mentioned, “The and 5th formers who will either be benefits of the SCU programme to

Belika Been with Assistant HR Manager Deleria Simms.

Apprenticeship Programme is a new training & development initiative formulated specifically between the Turks and Caicos Government (Ministry of Education) and Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages and Spa, to allow for fast track development of promising young talents within the Turks & Caicos Islands positioned for the Hospitality & Tourism Industry.”

She continues, “The trainees who have completed the programme, were given the opportunity to select departments of interests based on their experiences with the resort. Each trainee was placed in an area of their choice and is looking to start work in about a weeks’ time.

Beaches Turks and Caicos has continuously worked on enhancing the youth through education and job opportunities. Through the collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Beaches has been able to extend its outreach throughout the Turks and Caicos, even employing interns from Grand Turk and North Caicos. The summer internship programme and MOE Apprenticeship looks to be continued next year and upon completion of their education, students are invited to join the Beaches team in the field of their choice.

Page 14

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

LOCAL NEWS

pdm concerned over delayed constitutional talks but recommits to the work Since coming to Office, the PNP Government has repeatedly used the Constitution as a crutch and a reason for not being able to represent its people effectively.

We maintain that the pressing issues of unemployment, access to and the affordability of healthcare, opportunities for youth, education, environmental and other issues are left unaddressed by this Government because of their priorities and lack of ability and not because of Constitutional provisions.

Whilst the PDM has identified theoretical problematic provisions released since October 15, 2012 in our Official Position, we are yet to see if these provisions have in practice been a challenge.

process and made it political, amendments to the terms of reference has been sent by my Office since April and we have since that date been waiting on the Government’s green light and a letter of appointment from the Speaker to begin work which we received yesterday August 21, 2014.

The PDM and the people of this country are also left wondering the outcome of the Premier’s case against the Office of the Attorney General on a constitutional point. This seemed to have also lost steam. This Ewing led Administration must be consistent and should at all times attempt to appear credible. The Constitution is a serious, national issue and should always be treated as such.

We believe that this laid back

by Sharlene CartwrightRobinson Opposition Leader Despite our doubts at the Government’s sincerity on this issue, we agreed, voted for and joined the Government’s Motion to create a Body to review the Constitution many months ago.

From that date to this, the Government’s complaints about the Constitution has weaned, the Premier botched the nomination of members’

approach taken by the Government to Constitutional talks may cost us.

Constitutions should remain under review but TCIG’s complaints initially made it appear urgent. With the upcoming UK Election period already in motion, we believe that TCI’s Constitutional talks may very well not attract the full attention it requires.

In the best interest of our people and this Country’s advancement, we remain committed to working along with the members of Government and the people of this Country, to review and make recommendations on the 2012 Constitution.

We look forward to traveling around the Islands and hearing from the people of these Islands and to sharing as well the areas that we see as regressive together with suggestions for enhancement.

PIPER hires top lawyer for Trial Without Jury Appeal McAllister “Piper” Hanchell, the former Minister of Natural Resources, has decided to fight next week’s appeal at the court of appeal of the Turks and Caicos Islands in the corruption case brought against him, the former Primer Michael Misick, three other

TOYOTA CONSTRUCTION SEEKS

Two Electricians $12.00 per hour

Two Plumbers

$10.00 per hour Must have atleast 5 years experience

Shandra Restaurant Seeks

Two Waitresses Salary $5.00 per hour

Contact 341-5121

JERK JUICE BAR & GRILL SEEKS

ONE WAITER

ex- cabinet ministers and others by instructing a top UK Constitutional lawyer, Richard Clayton QC. Hanchell will be arguing that the case against himself and the other defendants’ trial breaches the constitutional right to a fair trial under

the 2011 Turks and Caicos and Ian Forte, QC. Clayton is the UK Constitutional Ordinance.

“When you got a job to do, you representative to the Council go to the guy who specializes in of Europe’s advisory body on what needs to be done,” said constitutional law, a Deputy High Court judge, a former Hanchell.

The Court of Appeal chairman of the Constitutional Administrative Bar comprises Edward Zacca, QC and (president), Elliott Mottley, QC Association.

LIGHT VEHICLE DRIVER

VEHICLE FOR SALE

An experienced Driver of Light Vehicles is required for a business based in Providenciales.

The successful candidate must have at least 5 years experience and must hold a valid driver’s license.

References will be required. Remuneration based on experience.

All applications must be submitted to:

Employment Department F Corporate & Management Services Limited 007 Emily House, 1105 Leeward Highway, Providenciales Tel 649-339-6275 Fax 649-333-7777

The VIP Lounge at Club 2005 Is looking for

AV Technician

DAVIS WALKIN Seeks one

HOUSEKEEPER/ MAID

Cleaner

45 hours a week Salary: $5.50 per hour Tel: 241-5635

2006 Diahatsu Terios

6 days a week Salary $5.50 per hour Contact 431-1778

FOR SALE

Asking price is $7500 or next best offer.

Contact 232-3227.

LIVE IN NANNY An experienced live-in nanny is required for a family based in Providenciales.

References will be required.

Remuneration based on experience.

To work 5 days a week (as needed) Salary: $7.00 per hour

Salary $5.00 per hour Contact 241-2487

He has done many Privy Council and Supreme Court cases and wrote the leading legal textbook on the Human Rights Act which UK’s Supreme Court has cited over 40 times.

“We are looking forward to our case being heard,” said Hanchell.

Applications must be submitted to: Employment Department F Corporate & Management Services Limited 007 Emily House, 1105 Leeward Highway, Providenciales Tel 649-339-6275 Fax 649-333-7777

Call 946-8542 to place your ad with us

BAREFOOT CABANA RESTAURENT & BAR

Is Seeking

ONE

COOK TEL:331-1963

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 15

LOCAL NEWS

Man charged with obtaining property by deception

The new Quality Food Centre

Quality Supermarket opening new outlet

Quality Supermarket chain is expanding its operations with a third outlet on the Leeward Highway, at the junction of the Cheshire Hall hospital.

Spokesperson for the supermarket chain, Sabrina Hamilton told the SUN: “We are very excited to announce the upcoming opening of our new Supermarket, Quality Food Centre and Wholesale. We aim to provide

our customers an enjoyable shopping experience with excellent products in a comfortable atmosphere.”

Hamilton said it has always been a goal of her parents to offer the peopleof the Turks and Caicos Islands the best Quality Food with the best prices.

“We are committed to that goal,” she added. “Our family of employees share our enthusiasm and will offer

PROVO GOLF CLUB Provo Golf Club is seeking a suitably qualified individual to fill the following opening. Only candidates who meet the minimum requirements will be considered.

GOLF PROFESSIONAL JOB SUMMARY • Provide competent golf instruction to members and guests.

• Run Golf Clinics for larger groups needing instruction.

• Assist with organizing charity golf events at PGC. • Fully co-ordinate group events from start to finish.

• Assist in tournament sales and set up.

• Assist in budgeting and forecasting.

• Assist in a variety of other Professional Golf duties at PGC.

REQUIREMENTS • Must have membership in PGA of America or Canada.

• Strong computer skills using Microsoft Word, Excel and Publisher.

• Minimum (2) years or more experience as a Golf Professional.

• Proven organizational skills.

The salary for this position is commensurate with experience, training and education. Interested applicants should contact Veronica Rigby via email by August 31, 2014 at ronnie@habgroup.com or by fax 649-946-5191. Only persons selected for an interview will be contacted by email or telephone to schedule an interview.

the best Quality of service in the Turks & Caicos. Our philosophy is that,we provide wholesome produce for our customers as we would provide for our own families.

We are here to serve the wonderful people of the Turks and Caicos Islands and to contribute to the economic growth and health of this beautiful country.”

On Tuesday August 19th, 2014 Cyril Nathaniel Smith was granted bail in the Magistrate’s Court in the sum of $10,000 for the offences of Obtaining Property by deception and Attempt obtaining Property by deception to appear in the Magistrate Court number 2 Providenciales on Friday October 31st, 2014 at 9a.m.

The charges stem from a report made on Wednesday, July 30th, 2014 by a male of Leeward who reported to the Police that on Monday, July 28th, 2014 it is alleged that a male of Leeward received a phone call from an individual saying that he was someone known to him and the person asked him to lend him a sum of cash because his account is held up because of court case.

The man told him that another male was going to meet him at Butterfield Square to pick up the money. The male of Leeward later met an individual and he gave him a sum of cash.

On Wednesday, July 30th, 2014, it is also alleged that the male of Leeward received another phone call from the said individual asking him for another sum of cash and he was told to bring it to Butterfield Square.

The male of Leeward stated that he became suspicious and made a report to the Police. as a result an investigation was launch and an arrest was made later that same day.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

LOCAL NEWS

Turks and Caicos Islands Hospital first to introduce Pavisse system in the Caribbean Region Turks and Caicos Islands Hospitals have announced the implementation of Pavisse, a cutting-edge electronic incident management system, deployed at both Cheshire Hall Medical Centre and Cockburn Town Medical Centre to manage patient safety, patient privacy and other compliance related functions across the entire enterprise.

TCI Hospital is the first in the Hospital. “Pavisse will help us better Caribbean region to adopt the unique track and manage incidents, develop IT system which is designed to support corrective action plans, determine the hospital’s goal, to continuously the root cause of incidents, conduct enhance its delivery of high quality peer reviews and perform audits.

All of these activities will help us to patient care.

“We selected Pavisse because we investigate promptly and resolve any are dedicated to providing world- concerns our patients may have and class care for our patients” said Jill improve the quality of care provided Magri, Chief Executive Officer of TCI to them.”

RGP Healthcare President Radgia Cook said “TCI is the first publicprivate partnership in its region. We are honored that they chose Pavisse to help them achieve their healthcare goals.”

RGP, founded in 1996 within a Big Four accounting firm, is headquartered in Irvine, California and has served over 1800 clients around the world.

Fire officers receive training

The Regulatory organizations (ICAO, ASSI & CAA) which oversees the aviation industry, require that all members of the Turks & Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) Fire Service receive both initial and recurrent training that is sufficient to perform their jobs.

ICS is a standardized on-scene incident management concept designed specifically to allow responders to adopt an integrated

organizational structure equal to the complexity and demands of any single incident or multiple incidents without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries.

In this photograph, some of the officers proudly display their certificates that were achieved after completing refresher training in the use of the Incident Command System (ICS).

The course was delivered by the Justice Institute of Brit- From left: Station Manager Stanford Forbes, FF Micheal Taylor, Crew Manager Garvin Moss, FF Phillip Edwards, Crew Manager Akin Selver, Crew Manager Lowell Seymour, FF Thaddus Simmons, Watch Manager Darvelle Penn and FF Shemroy Vigilance. ish Columbia (JIBC).

Seven Stars is seeking a suitably qualified candidate to fill the position outlined below. The ideal candidate must possess experience in a luxury resort environment, as well as a professional, outgoing and friendly demeanor with a strong command of the English Language (oral and written).

DIRECTOR OF RESTAURANTS AND BARS The Director of Restaurants and Bars is responsible for the overall satisfaction of all Food and Beverage Outlets in the Resort and ensure that service standards are met, delivery and service conform to all Seven Stars Standards and all Outlets are meeting or exceeding budgets as set. The candidate must have experience in a 5 star Hotel Food and Beverage Department and experience in managing a fine dining restaurant.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: • To have a thorough knowledge of the market situation in terms of business mix of competing resorts, their pricing structures, sales strategies, future hotel planning.

• Select, train, evaluate, lead, motivate, coach, and discipline employees and managers/team leaders in multiple Food & Beverage operations and outlets to ensure that established cultural and hotel standards are met.

• Identifies the developmental needs of others and coaches, mentors, or otherwise helps others to improve their knowledge or skills.

coordination and cooperation between departments.

• To work closely with the Food and Beverage Coordinator and the Executive Chef.

• To oversee the presentations and service of all Food and Beverage products to ensure highest standard of quality at all times.

• Ensure proper handling, cleaning and sanitation of equipment, meeting Resorts Health and Safety standards.

• Maintains an up to date working knowledge of all resort amenities as well as any special events.

• Together with the F&B Coordinator reviews findings from comment cards and guest satisfaction results with F& B team and ensures appropriate corrective action is taken.

• Makes recommendations for CAPEX funding of food and beverage equipment and renovations in accordance with the resorts brand business strategy.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Serves as a role model to demonstrate appropriate behaviors.

• Requires 7-9 years’ experience in restaurant management

• Control labor and operating costs through effective scheduling, budgeting, purchasing decisions, and inventory control while focusing on creative revenue generation solutions to maximize profit.

• Requires experience in teambuilding and collaborative projects

• The ability to be visible in the operation, recognize and maintain relationships with regular guests.

• Requires experience interacting with executive levels and the ability to work without supervision on specific assignments.

• Communicate with employees and managers to ensure operational needs are met as well as attend regular operational meetings to ensure effective

• Requires excellent project management and working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications and Point of Sales System.

• Requires strong technical, written, oral and interpersonal communications skills and attention to detail.

Closing Date: September 4, 2014 Suitably qualified candidates should apply via email to Seven Stars at: hr@sevenstarsgracebay.com for consideration Candidates must possess relevant skills, experience, and a clean police record.

ONLY CANDIDATES MEETING MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS WILL BE CONTACTED

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Page 17

PROVIDENCIALES TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS

SOMMELIER

Certified wine Sommelier with extensive knowledge of wines, beverage & bar, profound education of Old and New World wines. Able to pair wine with our degustation menus also explain characteristics of the wines. Knowledgeable to conduct wine workshops; to build entire wine list in line with our beverage purchasing as per budget, costing, pricing, promotion and marketing. Be in charge of all bins on wine list (ordering, receiving, storage to serving). Must be able maintain and ensure Aman service standards is render. Must be also to conduct wine training for entire F & B team in restaurant & bar, as well to maintain wine programs. Flexible & able to work required hours, team player, social, young, dedicated and passionate F&B professional (W/M). Professional appearance a must and able to communicate with our high end clientele, and willing to go the extra mile daily. Experience in similar position required, additional European Language besides English is an advantage Reports directly to F&B Manager.

ASST.VILLA TECHNICIAL SERVICE MANAGER

Post-Secondary technical education required in mechanical engineering.

(Or equivalent training and experience) 5 years engineering experience in facility maintenance and Resort experience, speaks, read, and writes English fluently. Demonstrate leadership quality, and project positive attitudes, also working long hours.

Minimum 3years experience as a Senior Supervisory level or higher in Engineering Dept.

Familiar with all aspects of property maintenance including: Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, Painting, Carpentry, De-Stalinization Water Plants, Waste Water Treatment Plants, Power Generation, Pest Control.

VILLA HOUSEKEEPING SUPERVISOR

Minimum 3 years experience as Senior Supervisor in the Housekeeping Department of a luxury resort. Must have good organizational and communication skills and detail orientated. Solid experience in managing and controlling inventories good computer skills. Friendly outgoing professional demeanor and immaculate presentation have proven experience in training housekeeping staff and a hands-on leadership approach.

ASST. VILLA F & B SUPERVISOR

Minimum 3 years experience as a F&B Supervisor in a 5-star/luxury resort. Must have good organizational and communication skills and be detail orientated. Friendly, outgoing, professional demeanor and immaculate presentation. Solid experience in managing and controlling inventories and good computer skills. Must have proven experience in training F & B service staff and organizing special events/functions. A hands-on leadership approach is required along with a sound knowledge of wines and spirits. This position requires working extended hours including all holiday periods.

PEST CONTROL SUPERVISOR

Supervises and participates in the work of a pest eradication and control crew. This position allocable to this class works under the general administrative supervision of the Chief Engineering Manager and is responsible for supervising subordinates who are responsible for the full range of inspection of Resort buildings. The immediate extermination of a variety of insects, rodents, vertebrate, or invertebrate pests.

The incumbent is required to utilize demonstrated knowledge of the chemical and environmental principles of pesticide use and working knowledge of the principles of inspection, the methods, materials, and equipment utilized in the manufacture, distribution, and application of pesticides. Must have 3-5 years of experience working with a Pest Control Environment.

LABOURER

Must be reliable, strong, able to help clean ponds and swimming pools, hard working and willing to work under the sun all day. Should be able to speak reasonable English.

Previous experience beneficial.

MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN

At least five years experience in a Resort with knowledge of A/C and Refrigeration systems repair and maintenance, sound knowledge of Plumbing and electrical systems. Knowledge of Kitchen Equipment repairs, also Laundry Steam Boilers and Steam Systems.

All positions require a flexible schedule (which may include holidays, weekends and evenings) and extended hours on occasion. Salaries based on experience and qualifications. **These positions will be available for the upcoming season which starts in November.

APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE FROM THE HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE WEDNESDAYS ONLY 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM. E-mail amanyarahr@amanresorts.com

BUTTERFIELD GOLD GROUP OF COMPANIES POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Three (3) Domestic Workers

For general cleaning & other domestic duties Applicant must be of excellent character and work ethics.

Be able to work independently Be willing to work flexible hours

Wages: starting from $5.50 per hour

One (1) Cashier

To operate a cash register and check stand to provide the store’s customer with the most friendly, accurate and efficient checkout service possible; to perform stocking and other duties as assigned, according to company policy; to ensure that the work shift contributes to the financial best interest of the store.

Wages: from $6.00 per hour

Requirements for all Applicants: • Hardworking team player with excellent people skills.

• Willingness to work, weekends and holidays as required.

• In addition to the performance of the essential functions employees may able required to perform supportive functions, with the percentage of time performing each function to be solely determined by the supervisor.

Only Belongers apply for these positions.

Application forms available from Butterfield Gold Human Resource Department.

Only applicants selected for interview will be notified.

Submit applications to by September 3, 2014 to: Butterfield Gold Ltd., Human Resource Department Town Center Mall Providenciales Tel: 649-946-4211

Blue Haven Resort is inviting applications for the following position:

Lead Barista Job Summary: The barista is responsible for the Allegro Coffee Bar within the Deli/ Market concept. Serving all products, with friendly individualized attention towards each customer. He/she is also responsible for educating customers & coworkers alike about our premium products. The lead barista educates and trains on the job with coworkers and takes a leading role in the Allegro Coffee Bar. Running a smooth operation within the store concept and using his/ her creativity to increase efficiency and revenue.

Junior Supervisor position.

• Minimum 2 years’ experience in same or related field • Well-organized and detail-oriented.

• Minimum high school diploma or equivalent.

• Takes a lead role in the coffee bar operation • Develop & shape the barista team by training on the job & challenging them to perform to their best performance • Develop seasonal promotions in line with the different clientele visiting the island during different seasons • Maintains positive Company morale and professional attitude.

• Must be able to work overtime, as needed.

• Excellent verbal and written skills.

• Regularly required to stand, walk, talk and hear.

• Frequently required to use hand to finger motions, handle or feel objects, reach with hands and arms.

• Regularly required to lift and/or move items up to 30 pounds.

Salary for this position will commensurate with qualifications and experience.

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

Submissions to be no later than September 5th, 2014 Belongers need only apply.

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AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

NOTICE OF SALE BY PUBLIC AUCTION Scotiabank (Turks & Caicos) Ltd. of Cherokee Road, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands hereby gives notice of its intention to sell by Public Auction the following properties pursuant to its power of sale as registered Chargee under the Registered Land Ordinance of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

1. Parcel 10401/382 East Suburbs, Grand Turk. Single storey with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, living/dining room and laundry room on approx. 0.36 acre.

Registered Proprietor: Shirlene Smith 2. Parcel 61113/57 Long Bay Hills, Providenciales. Three story with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, dining room and laundry room on the main floor. Second level with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen and living room. Third level has one bedroom, one bathroom and a kitchen on approx. 0.49 acre.

Registered Proprietor: Shunaven Selver 3. Parcel 60400/101 Chalksound, Providenciales. Single storey with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, living /dining room and laundry room on approx. 0.63 acre.

Registered Proprietor: Delthia Felicia Francene Russell 4. Parcel 60811/17 The Bight and Thomas Stubbs, Providenciales. Single storey with two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen and living/dining room on approx. 0.28 acre.

Registered Proprietor: Kirkley George Rigby 5. Parcel 60807/170 & 171 The Bight and Thomas Stubbs, Providenciales. Single storey with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen, living/dining room and laundry room on approx. 0.26 acre.

Registered Proprietor: Thoshena Terrell Adderley 6. Parcel 50500/255 Whitby Cove, North Caicos. Unfinished single storey with four one-bedroom apartments with bathroom, kitchen and living/dining room on approx. 0.27 acre.

Registered Proprietor: Paul Anthony Gardiner 7. Parcel 60003/34 North West and North Central, Providenciales. Phase one of the Priton Homes: two bedrooms, one bathroom, laundry room, kitchen, living/dining area on 0.25 acre.

Registered Proprietors: Leighton Cailo Green and Vanessa Pauline Green 8. Parcel 60807/172 & 173 The Bight and Thomas Stubbs, Providenciales. Two storey apartment building, main level with two one- bedroom apartments with kitchen and living room and second level with one twobedroom, two bathroom, kitchen and living room on approx. 1.00 acre.

Registered Proprietors: Jacqueline Edna Brown and Latasha Makalia Delancy 9. Parcel 60900/187 Leeward Going Through, Providenciales. Single storey with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, kitchen and living/dining room and two one- bedroom guesthouses with bathroom, kitchen and living/dining room on 0.65 acre.

Registered Proprietor: Jacqueline Edna Brown The auction will be held at the offices of Scotiabank (Turks and Caicos) Limited, Grace Bay Branch, Providenciales at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday the 29th day of August 2014.

A reserve price will be fixed on all parcels. A deposit of 10% is due immediately upon all accepted bids.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Smart Investments...

- New Wartsila Engine

Signing contract for third Wartsila engine.

Solar Panel Pilot Project.

Signing of Salt Cay Project.

Salt Cay Project.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 23

Find.

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ENTERTAINMENT

Cr Primet Awar

The stars stepped ou for one of the glitziest c season: the Creative Pr Having previously political drama ‘The W House press secretary Janney’s award for actress in a drama se Masters of Sex, which Sheen and Lizzy Capla highlight.

Backstage, Janney playing Margeret Sc challenging at times. “ Scully challenged me never been challenged on so many levels - on on a physical level - a scenes was extraordina and stressful for me a I didn’t think I’d hav frankly,” she explained Sherlock, the BB drama, picked up four

Cat Deeley looked stunning in a silk frock.

Heidi Klum wore a loud royal blue dress for her turn on the Creative Arts Emmy Awards red carpet on Saturday in Los Angeles.

Alison Janney was svelte in her full length black form fitting gown.

Laverne Cox

Liz Hernandez

Nikki Reed went for a deep green Orange Is The New Black silk dress. star Uzo Aduba.

Jon Voight looked dapper in suit and a scarf.

Seth Green and his wife Clare Gran looked striking.

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reative time Emmy rds 2014

ut onto the red carpet ceremonies of awards rimetime Emmys. y won for NBC’s West Wing’ as White y C.J. Cregg, Allison outstanding guest eries for her role in h also stars Michael an, was a particular

y highlighted that cully was certainly “I felt that Margaret e in ways that I’ve before as an actress n an emotional level, and having to do sex arily nerve-wracking and something that ve to do at this age, d.

BC’s popular crime r Emmys for Single

his

nt

Camera Picture Editing, Sound Editing, Music Composition and Cinematography for a Miniseries. All the awards arrived the episode, ‘His Last Vow’. Game of Thrones, True Detective and Seth MacFarlane’s project, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey also picked up four awards each on a memorable night.

Uzo Aduba won the award for best guest actress in a comedy series for her turn as Suzanne Warren, known as ‘Crazy Eyes’ in the Netflx prison drama, Orange is The New Black. Meanwhile, Jimmy Fallon picked up best guest comedy actor for NBC’s “Saturday Night. In terms of networks, HBO Jane Lynch was classy as always in a received a leading 15 creative arts Emmys, black pants suit. followed by NBC with 10, PBS grabbed 8, Fox and Netflix managed 7 each while CBS got six and ABC got five.

But there’s little time to sit and revel in achievements gone by; the rest of 2014 and 2015 have huge potential with the return of Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead and the second season of True Detective.

Joseph Gordon Levitt was his usual studly self.

Wendy Treece and Beau Bridges.

Natasha Lyonne slipped a white blazer over a black gown.

Steve Buscemi and Jo Andres were coordinated in all black.

Bellamy Young must have stopped traffic in this elegant golden number.

Ian Somerhalder posed on his lonesome in a suit and black bow tie.

Judy Greer looked stunning in a tight fitting dress.

Maria Shriver and her daughter Katherine Schwarzenegger.

Derek Hough opted for a bright purple suit.

Jenny McCarthy was taking the Amy Schumer looked stunning plunge in a lacy teal dress on the red carpet with Donnie Wahlberg. in a short silver number.

Aisha Tyler looked incredible in a purple dress.

Keltie Knight stood out in Kate Mara looked stunning in this clinging lace garment. a bright yellow tailored dress.

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ENTERTAINMENT

Jackie Chan expresses shame over son’s drug arrest

BEIJING — Jackie Chan apologized to the public Wednesday over his son’s detention on drug charges in Beijing, saying he’s ashamed and saddened.

The Hong Kong film star wrote on his microblog that Jaycee Chan would have to face the consequences of his actions, but that they would do so together.

“Regarding this issue with my son Jaycee, I feel very angry and very shocked. As a public figure, I’m very ashamed. As a father, I’m heartbroken,” Chan wrote.

Jaycee Chan, 31, and Taiwanese movie star Kai Ko, 23, were detained last Thursday, becoming the latest high-profile celebrities to be ensnared in one of China’s biggest anti-drug crackdowns in two decades.

Police said both actors tested positive for marijuana and admitted using the

drug, and that 100 grams (3.53 ounces) of it were taken from Chan’s home.

“Jaycee and I together express our deep apology to society and the public,” Chan wrote.

Local media reported that the elder Chan and Ko’s father traveled to Beijing to meet with their sons this week. The reports could not be immediately confirmed.

Extending from his fame as an actor and singer, the elder Chan is a highprofile public figure in mainland China and was named by Beijing as an antidrug ambassador in 2009.

“I hope all young people will learn a lesson from Jaycee and stay far from the harm of drugs,” Chan wrote. “I say to Jaycee that you have to accept the consequences when you do something wrong. As your father, I’m going to face

the road together with you.”

Ko was part of an anti-drug campaign two years ago in which he appeared in a public service announcement declaring: “I don’t use drugs.” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed him weeping and apologizing for setting a poor example and making “a big mistake.”

The younger Chan, whose mother is former Taiwanese actress Lin Fangjiao, was raised in Los Angeles and has appeared in some 20 films, most of them low-budget Hong Kong and Chinese productions.

Also a singer and multiinstrumentalist, he has yet to enjoy anything like the global superstardom attained by his father. Most recently, the younger Chan had been had been working with famed Chinese director

Jackie Chan poses with son Jaycee.

Chen Kaige on “The Monk” due for release next summer.

Ko, whose real name is Ko Chentung, became a sensation after his 2011 coming-of-age film “You Are the Apple of My Eye.” It earned him a Best New Performer award at the Golden Horse film awards in Taiwan, considered the most prestigious in Chinese-language cinema.

Buju Banton lawyers to make oral arguments before US Appeals Court

FLORIDA, United States – Lawyers representing the jailed Jamaican singer, Buju Banton, say the US Appeals Court has granted their request to present oral arguments regarding his efforts to obtain a new trial.

Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, is serving a 10year sentence on drug-related charges after he was arrested at his South Florida home in December 2009 and charged with conspiracy to distribute five or more kilogrammes of cocaine.

His arrest followed a sting operation at a Drug Enforcement Agency-controlled warehouse in Tampa, which also resulted in the arrest of James Mack and Ian Thomas, who were attempting to purchase cocaine from undercover agents.

After two trials he was sentenced in a Tampa, Florida court.

Banton has maintained his innocence and says he was entrapped by the United States

Kevin Hart and Eniko set to marry.

Kevin Hart and Eniko Parrish are engaged

Buju Banton government and the lawyers are arguing that their client was entrapped by a paid informant, and that there is clear evidence of juror misconduct.

Lead attorney, Charles Ogletree, said the court’s decision

to allow oral arguments is a positive step towards justice and freedom for the Grammy Award singer.

However, no date has yet been set for the lawyers to appear before the Appeal Court.

Gisele Bundchen top-earning model for eighth year Gisele Bundchen has been named the top-earning model in the world for an eighth year in a row.

According to Forbes, the Brazilian supermodel took home an estimated $47m (£28m) before taxes and fees, in the last 12 months.

She is by far the biggest earner on the list, with Victoria’s Secret stars Doutzen Kroes and Adriana Lima taking second place with $8m (£4.8m) each.

Bundchen has earned $386m (£231m) from modelling since 2001, said Forbes.

The 34-year-old is married to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and has two children.

Forbes claim she made about $16m (£9.5) more than her husband last year.

Model Gisele Bundchen In addition to modelling for clients including H&M, Chanel and Carolina Herrera, Bundchen also has design deals for underwear and sandals.

Kate Moss made it into fourth place on the list, taking home $7m, as did Kate Upton and Miranda Kerr.

Also in joint fourth is Liu Wen, who became the first Chinese model to walk Victoria’s Secret runway.

British models Cara Delevigne and Jourdan Dunn were newcomers to the list, earning $3.5m (£2m) and $4m (£2.4) respectively.

To compile the list, Forbes works out the earnings from June 2013 to June 2014 for the models, examining income from cosmetics, endorsements, advertising and perfume deals.

The list features the 21 highest paid models in the world, who together took home a total of $142m (£85m).

Kevin Hart and model Eniko Parrish are gearing up to walk down the aisle.

The actor/comedian proposed at Parrish’s 30th birthday party, and one of the guests shared footage of the moment. “On this perfect day, I chose to make the most perfect decision,” Hart said during the proposal before going down on one knee.

Hart and Parrish have been dating for five years. He was previously married to Torrei Hart.

Hart recently hit the big screen in “Think Like a Man Too” and has appeared in “The Five-Year Engagement,” “About Last Night” and “Ride Along.”

Coming up for Hart is a sequel to “Ride Along” and the film “Wedding Ringer.”

Dwayne Johnson may play Black Adam in DC comics adaptation

MEXICO CITY — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson says he will play a role in an upcoming DC Comics movie adaption but has yet to decide between superhero Shazam and his archnemesis Black Adam.

He may not have a hard time making a decision. He told The Associated Press on Monday that he has always been a fan of antiheroes and said one of his favorite DC Comics characters is Black Adam.

Appearing in Mexico City to promote “Hercules,” Johnson said he will make sure comic fans are not disappointed.

“I am putting my heart and soul and my bones into this role,” he said.

Johnson didn’t say whether his character will appear in the film “Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice,” which is scheduled to be released in 2016.

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FUN & GAMES

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As we gear up to the start of the new school year, most of you have probably already decided on the school of your choice for September. This doesn’t mean that you can’t compare what’s on offer here in TCI and perhaps offer suggestions for ideas and improvements during a PTA meeting at your own child’s school. There is always plenty of opportunity for us as parents and teachers, to share ideas and improve the teaching and learning environments for our children. In doing so, Turks and Caicos will see a much brighter future for everyone, so let’s work together!

A visit to Provo Primary is necessary in order to experience exactly what makes our school so unique, but if you can’t do that, continue to read on, and visit our website at www.provoprimary.com to learn more about what we offer.

It’s hard to answer exactly what makes Provo Primary such a special place, but here are some reasons why you might want to consider Provo Primary for your child: • Since its inception in 1991 as Headstart Learning Centre, we have grown to be one of the biggest, most well established and successful primary schools on the island with a student body of 145+ children from the age of 18months to 11/12 years • Our truly diverse student body is made up of children from all socio-economic backgrounds and nationalities. We feel it is important for all our children to grow up being able to mix and communicate with people from all walks of life.

• Our philosophy, teaching faculty and resources allow us to deliver a rich, varied and international curriculum to our children.

• It is a well-known fact that children learn by questioning and being active participants in their learning: We offer exploratory learning, encouraging curiosity and creativity.

• Our academic standards are high and we hold a proven track record for achieving above average SAT scores and excellent Middle and High School Entrance Test placement results: Our students have consistently held the top 1st 2nd and/or 3rd places in entrance exams for the past 4+ years.

• We consider all areas of learning important and encourage children to recognize and develop their innate talents and strengths.

• We offer a superior and competitive Sports programme and facilities.

• We have an excellent Music programme and Steel Band.

• We are also well known for our Theatre Arts, Drama and Dance programmes.

• Our Mindful philosophy encourages children to understand how positive thinking and mindful actions can affect learning, relationships, success and happiness.

• We offer foreign Language teaching and a large range of after school activities.

• Although our facilities and resources are first class, we consider our most important resource to be our teachers. Our teachers are carefully chosen out of approximately 250 applicants each year. We choose teachers who will contribute individual and varied strengths to our team, who share a common philosophy towards teaching and learning and whose experience, work ethic and personality will enable them to successfully plan for each child in their class. Being able to differentiate between abilities within a class and teaching to individual needs is a requirement for our school. This enables gifted children to achieve their absolute highest potential while supporting children who may have weaknesses in certain areas of learning.

Scholarships

It has always been Provo Primary’s philosophy to offer scholarship places to as many Turks Islanders as possible. That way, we feel as though we are making a difference in our community by offering subsidies to families who would not normally be able to afford our tuition fees. The impact of this is huge. Many of the children who have benefited from our scholarship programme are now successful adults and we are proud to have made a difference in these children’s lives. Judging by the messages we receive, they are very grateful too and look back at Provo Primary as playing an important role in helping to shape their futures.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the following companies for their pledges for the 2014-1015 school year. Without them, our scholarship programme wouldn’t be possible. Pledges this year have ranged from $250 donations to full-scholarships.

We’d also like to thank our other sponsors who have requested that they remain anonymous. Thank you everyone for your support!

For more information about how our scholarship programme works or to donate funds, please contact Alison Williams at director@provoprimary.com Tel # 431 6327or Toby Barkworth-Knight at viceprincipal@provoprimary.com Tel # 442 2807

What’s new at Provo Primary this year?

• Increased enrollment • Additional teachers to join our international staff of 15 female and 4 male teachers • Improved and increased foreign language teaching, including Spanish Immersion in Early Years.

• Larger Soft Play and Toddler/Pre-school areas • New garden/outdoor classroom and Aquaponics areas so children can grow their own fruits and vegetables, harvest them and learn the business side of farming, by selling their produce on Provo Primary market day! These learning experiences will be integrated into other areas of learning such as Literacy, Numeracy and Science.

• A new shade for our soccer pitch protecting children from the hot sun.

• 15 new lap tops • Additional Tablets/I pads • Lots and lots of other new and exciting resources!

We always welcome visitors, and encourage you to stop by and see us at our location in Flamingo Park, behind Graceway Sports Centre.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon!

Alison Williams Director, Providenciales Primary School

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CARIBBEAN

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

NEWS

Police killings on the rise in Dominican Republic

The London-based human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, says the number of killings perpetrated by the police is once again on the rise while legislation intended to fix the problem stalls and stagnates in Congress.

According to Amnesty,the past six months have seen the number of people killed by the police rise by 13 percent compared with the year before, with 87 people dead between January and June this year.

“Fourteen people a month are dying at the hands of the police in the Dominican Republic. Many of these killings seem to have been unlawful,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Americas Director on Friday.

“Clearly, the government needs to push harder for concrete action

to stop these abuses once and for all,” he added. “It’s a tragic state of affairs when the police, the very people tasked with protecting the human rights of citizens, are the ones committing such terrible crimes, further endangering public security in the country.”

Guevara said crime in the Dominican Republic is “rife,” adding that public security is “a major concern for the population.

“However, evidence shows that far from helping to tackle the problem, hard-line policing methods are contributing to escalating violence and crime,” she said.

Amnesty International said news of the increase in police killings comes as President Danilo Medina celebrates the mid-point of his presidential term.

It noted that police reform was

would be able to gain proper access to the crash site for the rescue and recovery mission to be successful,” she said.

Justin Snisky, chairman of the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association (BASRA), added, “Following reports of the plane crash BASRA immediately launched its rescue vessels along with the RBPF Marine Division and RBDF into the crash site area.

“However, due to the location of the aircraft, which is in extremely shallow waters, recovery efforts at this time have been next to impossible.”

Noting that as BASRA’s rescue vessel got closer to the crash site challenges arose,

Arrest warrant for Jean Bertrand Aristide still out

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A judge who has issued an arrest warrant for former president Jean Bertrand Aristide says he expects the police to bring the former head of state before him by force if necessary. a key component of the President’s Lawyers representing Aristide have filed a motion election manifesto. seeking to have investigating judge Lamarre Bélizaire “But, two years into his removed on the grounds of bias. presidency, the reform has yet to But the judge told the Port au Prince based news start while allegations of unlawful website, Haitian-Caribbean News Network (HCNN) killings and torture by the police that he had not revoked the warrant in light of the continue to be rife.” motion filed the former president.

As well as allegations of unlawful “I issued a arrest warrant for Mr. Aristide and I don’t killings, Amnesty said it has also know what takes the police so long to bring him before received numerous complaints of me, because they know where he is,” Belizaire said, torture and ill-treatment at the adding “I heard rumours that I had waived the arrest hands of the police. warrant.

It said while some of the cases “I want to say that it is absolutely false.The warrant it has documented are being still holds and I am still the judge in charge of the inquiry investigated, “others are merely and nothing has changed in that regard,” he said, that covered up. he would continue his work in conformity with existing The human rights group says laws, without any form of abuse. it is calling on the Dominican “I don’t have any particular problem with anybody.

Republic to push reforms through I am a judge and I am only doing what the law requires in order to overhaul the National me to do and that is all I can say for now,” Belizaire Police force and to investigate and added. prosecute all those responsible Aristide and several of his former colleagues have for unlawful killings, torture and been accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of other human rights violations. dollars from the State through his organisation, Aristide for Democracy Foundation and other organisations during the period 2001-04.

Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, and his colleagues including Mirlande Liberus, Yvon Neptune, Jean Nesty Lucien and Gustave Faubert, have also been banned from leaving the country.

The Dean of Port Au Prince first instance court, Raymond Jean-Michel, confirmed Tuesday that he had received a copy of a motion seeking recusal and disqualification of Justice Bélizaire on the grounds of bias.

Aristide’s lawyers said their client did not receive the summons which was sent to his residence, but the judge believed he deliberately chose not to appear.

Aristide’s lawyers argue that the judge is now obligated to stop all proceedings in the case regarding serious acts of corruption blamed on the former leader, but legal observers say the arrest warrant against Aristide is still valid and that the judge may proceed with the criminal inquiry while relevant judicial authorities examine the request for recusal.

Four killed in plane crash in Bahamas

FREEPORT, Bahamas – Four people traveling from Florida were killed when the small plane they were in crashed in waters about five miles off Grand Bahama on Monday, authorities said.

The plane left Ormond Beach Municipal Airport en route to Grand Bahama, according to Inspector Terecita Pinder, a police spokesperson.

Pinder said authorities were alerted about the crash of the twin-engine Cessna 340 around 10 am.

She said low tide made the recovery operation difficult.

“Rescue and recovery operators had to revamp their strategy in order to ascertain how best they

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Snisky said operators of the vessel were forced to pull it back before it became stuck in the shallows.

“After facing those challenges we regrouped with the RBPF Marine Division and the Defence Force with another plan along with the US Embassy and Coast Guard to assist in the rescue and recovery,” Snisky said. “Upon gaining proper access to the crash site and conducting an investigation of the aircraft, it was confirmed that there were deceased persons onboard and unfortunately there were no survivors.”

The victims’ identities were not released.

Gun worry in Barbados

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Barbados, faced with an upsurge in gun related crimes, has stepped up surveillance and vigilance at ports of entry, Home Affairs Minister Adriel Brathwaite has said.

He said the new initiative is based on intelligence and that he has already convened a meeting with Acting Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith and Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Seymour Cumberbatch on the issue.

“One of the things we are going to do is get (officials from the) Customs Department to come and sit down with us because guns are coming in through our ports of entry. We have to be more vigilant, even at the post office,” he said.

Brathwaite said the vigilance would also extend to those engaged in the fishing industry.

“We have to do more random checks, even with our own fishermen when they go out on to the waters. It cannot be business as usual. I am saying that with traffic (coming) into the country by boat, by air, by cargo, we are going to have to pay more attention to it,” he said.

A government statement announcing the new crime initiative gave no details as to the number of gun-related crimes in Barbados.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS

Record 685,000 visitors expected for upcoming St Lucia cruise season

CASTRIES, St. Lucia,– Port Authority officials here are reporting that they are poised to welcome over 685,000 cruise passengers and over 375 cruise ships for the upcoming 2014/2015 Cruise Season, which is an increase from the previous year.

Dona Regis, Director of Marketing and Product Development says over the years, there has been a slight dip in numbers, but the upcoming season seems to be better than previous.

“A number of cruise lines are returning

including Carnival cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean International, P&O Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Windstar and MSC cruise lines which has contributed to the increase in numbers this season.

Back on the itinerary this year after over an eight-year hiatus, is Disney Cruise lines, which will be making approximately five calls to the island for 2014/2015.

“St Lucia has become one of the best performing cruise destinations in the Caribbean and this is no accident.

“The port is located in Castries where there is an eclectic mix of traditional charm and modern day conveniences including Duty Free shopping at La Place Carenage and Pointe Seraphine Duty Free Shopping Malls.

“We continue to work with our industry partners to ensure that passengers and crew receive the warmest welcome at Port Castries and continuously promote Port Castries and Saint Lucia as the ideal cruise destination,” Regis stated.

The Bahamas makes unfriendliest cities in the world list

NEW YORK, United States – The Caribbean lit up Conde Nast Traveler magazine’s annual Readers’ Choice Survey like a damp matchstick, failing to secure a place among the world’s friendliest cities and having the dubious distinction of securing representation among the unfriendliest cities in the world.

Flying the flag for the region in this regard was Nassau in The Bahamas, which thankfully placed 10th on the unfriendliest list, making it friendlier than several surprise unfriendly inclusions such as Paris, Milan, and Monte Carlo.

According to Conde Nast Traveler, its “subjective” survey asked readers to rate cities on a number of factors, including friendliness.

The travel magazine nevertheless pointed out that the results didn’t always reflect the local residents.

In the case of Beijing, China, for example, it was the visitor-unfriendly “dirty streets and hideous traffic” that landed it at number six on the unfriendly list.

Joining Beijing were cities like “rude” Frankfurt (Germany), the French port of Marseille (“Stay away!

Threatening”), and “cold and aloof” Paris, also in France.

Bagging the booby prize, Johannesburg (South Africa) was named the most unfriendly city in the world because “safety still remains a serious concern,” with one reader calling it “a city of crime and contrasts.”

This, despite being acknowledged as “one of the most beautiful” cities.

South Africa’s coastal city of Cape Town nevertheless copped eighth place on the friendly list, with one reader

The harbour in Nassau in The Bahamas. describing it as “the most amazing place on Earth.”

Topping Conde Nast’s list of friendliest cities, in a dead heat for first place, were Melbourne (Australia) and Auckland (New Zealand).

The survey said this result was no surprise, with readers calling Melbourne “Australia’s capital of cool,” and Aucklanders lauded for their humour and attitude.

Australia also scored with Sydney capturing a place on the friendliest list.

The United States also copped two cities onto the friendly list, with Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina.

World’s friendliest cities according to Conde Nast Traveler magazine’s Readers’ Choice Survey

11. Budapest, Hungary 9 (tie). Seville, Spain 9 (tie). Savannah, Georgia 8. Cape Town, South Africa 7. Siem Reap, Cambodia 5 (tie). Sydney, Australia 5 (tie). Dublin, Ireland 4. Charleston, South Carolina 3. Victoria, BC, Canada 1 (tie). Melbourne, Australia 1 (tie). Auckland, New Zealand

World’s unfriendliest cities 10. Nassau, Bahamas 9. Monte Carlo, Monaco 8. Milan, Italy 7. Frankfurt, Germany 6. Beijing, China 5. Marseille, France 4. Paris, France 3. Moscow, Russia 2. Cannes, France 1. Johannesburg, South Africa

Diaspora remit US$16b over ten years – Foreign Affairs Ministry

WASHINGTON DC – Jamaicans living overseas have remitted US $16 billion to the island over the past 10 years.

The figure was disclosed by Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Arnaldo Brown, while addressing the launch of the Mapping Jamaica’s Diaspora Project recently in Baltimore, Maryland.

Brown said the level of inflow demonstrates the continued commitment of the Diaspora to the development of

the country.

He noted that last year alone, there were over 300 health missions to the island, while schools continue to receive tremendous support from organisations, institutions and alumni groups.

The State Minister, in hailing the contribution, called on members to strengthen their partnership “with their land of origin in the areas identified in the national grow and investment agenda,” by participating in the Mapping Jamaica’s Diaspora Project.

Brown said that there are an estimated three million Jamaicans living in the Diaspora, with the United States accounting for 1.8 million of that number.

The United Kingdom and Canada are home to approximately 800,000 and 300,000 Jamaicans, respectively.

He encouraging them to log on at www.mapjadiaspora.iom.int and take the online survey, to register their skills, interests and location. He said the goal is to have a 100,000 Jamaicans in the database by June 2015.

Billion-dollar Mega-resort to be built in Antigua Chinese company Yida International Investment Group will invest approximately $1 billion in a mega-resort development on Antigua, to be built on 1,600 acres previously owned by disgraced U.S. financier Allen Stanford.

The Singulari project calls for multiple hotels and what is being billed as the Caribbean’s largest casino, plus residences, a school, a hospital, marinas, golf courses, an entertainment district and a horse track.

Construction is slated to begin early next year, according to a notice posted on Antigua and Barbuda’s official government website.

Job fairs will be held this fall to ensure that locals are given priority for 200 positions later this year when the land is prepared for development.

Another 800 jobs will open up when construction starts.

The deal comes on the heels of a recent agreement by Sheik Taniq bin Faisal Al Qassemi, a member of the ruling family of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, to invest in a $120 million hotel in the village of Old Road on Antigua’s southwestern coast.

Both projects follow the government’s promise to bring investments that will provide jobs, help reduce debt and reinforce the economy.

Stanford was once Antigua’s largest employer. A dual citizen of Antigua and the U.S., Stanford was convicted of fraud in 2012 and is serving a 110year sentence in a Florida prison.

3 men killed in shootout with Trinidad police PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — Police in the eastern Caribbean island of Trinidad say officers have killed three people in a shootout.

Police told reporters that the officers came under fire as they surrounded a house in western Trinidad late Tuesday to search for arms and ammunition.

Police say the men were taken to the hospital and were pronounced dead.

China pledges nearly $5M to Guyana’s military GEORGETOWN, Guyana — China has signed a deal pledging nearly $5 million to help Guyana’s military buy new equipment and improve training.

Officials said the money will be used only to buy non-lethal items, including medical supplies. The deal was signed late Tuesday.

The South American country established diplomatic ties with China in 1972. Guyana officials noted that high-ranking police officers also have received training in China in recent decades.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS

Ebola plan iced – Govt looking for quarantine centre closer to QEH

According to health sources, patients now housed at the St Lucy District Hospital near River Bay in the northernmost parish were to have been transferred to other facilities across the island so the complex could be readied in short order.

However, worried staff of the institution raised the issue with the National Union of Public Workers last week, soon after being informed they would have to move.

Last Friday, someone close to the workers told the DAILY NATION that Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Tennyson Springer informed the staff during a meeting they and all patients were being moved to three district hospitals – the St Philip District Hospital in Ruby; Gordon Cummins Hospital in Rock Hall, St Thomas, and the Geriatric Hospital in Beckles Road, St Michael.

The St Lucy Hospital houses 29

patients, and 15 were to be transferred to the St Philip District Hospital, eight to Gordon Cummins and six to the Geriatric Hospital.

The 15 nurses were to have been redeployed at the three institutions.

In response to questions from the DAILY NATION, Springer said: “We did give serious consideration to the use of the St Lucy Hospital, but we are now looking at an option closer to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).”

No economic citizenship programme for St. Vincent

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent – Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves says his administration remains opposed to an economic citizenship programme even as St Lucia became the latest Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) country to express interest in the initiative.

“It is my view that economic citizenship is a superficially attractive option. To me, the downside outweighs whatever money you can collect, the downside being whatever problems you may have, dealing with due diligence.

“I want to also indicate that in the OECS or the Caribbean, once you have one country already which has taken the lead, others which are coming are unlikely to be able to get the kind of results,” Gonsalves told a news conference.

St. Lucia’s Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony last month reported significant interest across the globe since St Lucia announced in March that it would be exploring possible introduction of an economic citizenship programme.

Gonsalves said St Kitts and Nevis has “jumped the queue”, having had an economic citizenship programme for years. Antigua & Barbuda and Dominica also have economic citizenship programmes.

But Gonsalves told reporters that apart from the practical questions relating to due diligence, he also has “a fundamental, philosophical objection to economic citizenship.

“I maintain that the highest office in the land is that of citizen. What binds us together is the bonds of citizenship,

Prime Minister of St Vincent Dr Ralph Gonsalves. community of spirit with one another and the accepted forms of citizenship, to me, are appropriate to our circumstances,” Gonsalves said.

He noted that currently persons become citizens of the country by birth, descent and by marriage to a national as well as by naturalisation.

Gonsalves said there is also a provision where someone has had a connection to the country for five years and has made a significant economic, social or cultural development, is of sound character, understand what it means to be a citizen, and can write and speak the English language with a certain level of proficiency.

Prime Minister Gonsalves, defended the decision of his administration to grant citizenship to businessman Dave Ames, the owner of the Buccament Bay Resort, saying this was not an economic citizenship initiative.

He said Ames became a citizen in the same way that former prime minister, Sir James Mitchell, granted citizenship to Canouan investor Antonio Saladino.

Gonsalves, who has ministerial responsibility for citizenship, said the citizenship granted to these investors is not economic citizenship, because they were required to have a commitment to the country for several years up front and then consideration was given for citizenship.

Gonsalves had his doubts about the extent to which due diligence can be conducted under an economic citizenship programme.

“When anybody tells me that they do due diligence, I know how due diligence is being done, and to do due diligence for one or two investors or one or two persons who come in and seeking citizenship in one of the other ways, … you can manage the due diligence in those respects.

“But if you have a flood of application, as you have in some jurisdictions for citizenship, you tell me you are doing the due diligence, I only smile, because I know you are going to get caught with several,” Gonsalves said.

“This is why in some jurisdictions you have all these complaints being made about this or that persons being associated with this or that criminal enterprise and so on and do forth.

“For me, citizenship is not a commodity for sale, and the passport, which is a manifestation of the citizenship, what I call the outward sign of the inward grace of citizenship, is also not for sale,” Gonsalves said.

He stressed the plan was that under no circumstances would any suspected or confirmed Ebola cases be sent to the QEH and therefore it was absolutely necessary to have a facility ready in short order.

The veteran health administrator, a former director of the QEH as well as the Psychiatric Hospital, explained that this week alone there were “three scares” relating to Ebola in Trinidad and Tobago, emphasising the need for Barbados and the region to be ready.

Joseph “Powda” Bennett, of the band The Jolly Boys, poses for a portrait in Port Antonio, Jamaica.

Mento performer Joseph ‘Powda’ Bennett dies at 76

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaican folk musician Joseph Bennett has died in his Caribbean homeland at age 76.

Music promoter Jon Baker said Thursday that the man nicknamed “Powda” died of respiratory problems. He was pronounced dead Wednesday at a Kingston hospital.

Bennett was a member of the Jolly Boys, who played a rollicking genre of Jamaican folk music known as Mento.

Baker said Bennett “will always be lovingly remembered as that cheeky little fellow in the Jolly Boys who danced and shook his maracas.”

In recent years, the Jolly Boys toured the world, fusing traditional sounds with rock and pop hits.

Mento typically features banjo, maracas and a wooden box with plucked metal prongs, as well as often bawdy lyrics.

Kamla wants Caribbean leaders to meet on Ebola and Chikungunya PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – Trinidad and Tobago has called for a meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders to discuss a coordinated response to the public health threats posed by the Ebola and Chikungunya viruses.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, responding to an advisory issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) said Port of Spain would be willing to host the meeting.

“My advice to colleague Heads of Government in the Caribbean is to take preemptive measures to ensure the safety, health and well-being of

millions of citizens of the Caribbean region. While our risk is low, our actions must further diminish the risks to our citizens. And I am confident that nations across CARICOM will respond favourably,” she said.

“The meeting will feature discussions geared towards orchestrating a plan of action in response to the increasing number of cases of Chikungunya in the Caribbean and the prevention of the Ebola virus disease,” according to a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister, adding that it would also “be instrumental in CARICOM’s stance, together with the rest of the

global community in the fight against these life threatening viruses.

It said furthermore, CARICOM must address international decisions made which will undoubtedly affect the region’s tourism industry.

So far, the Caribbean has not recorded any cases of the Ebola virus that has caused a number of deaths in Africa, but many regional countries have reported cases of the mosquito borne Chikungunya virus.

“As Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, my approach to regional matters is similar to my approach here at home, we must not wait for a crisis

to act”.

The statement said that the meeting will also act as a direct response to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) which has been calling for CARICOM member states “to adequately prepare for potential cases to implement the necessary steps to protect health care facilities, patients, health care workers and communities”.

The statement noted that Jamaica is already moving to acquire feverdetecting devices to use at its ports as part of efforts to boost the country’s defence against the deadly Ebola and other viruses.

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U.S. government faces high bar charging cop in Ferguson death

U.S. government prosecutors investigating the fatal police shooting of a black teenager that sparked a Missouri city’s nights of rage face an uphill fight delivering the swift or sweeping results demanded by rights activists.

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch expects a local grand jury investigating the killing to take evidence until mid-October, while a federal investigation may take longer and with results just as uncertain.

Protesters have called for the arrest of Officer Darren Wilson since the killing of Michael Brown, 18, in Ferguson on Aug. 9. Defenders of the white officer say he acted lawfully to defend himself during a confrontation with Brown.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder answered calls for an independent investigation this week, putting some 40 FBI agents along with prosecutors in his Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division on the case despite the legal challenges.

What makes it difficult for the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute local police for criminal civil rights violations, even when a death results, is the high bar of proving an officer’s intent to violate civil rights. Under laws in the United States, criminal charges of murder or manslaughter are most often left to the states, and federal criminal charges typically are brought against local law enforcement as violations of people’s civil

rights.

“The government has to show that the police officer acted with specific intent to use more force than was reasonably necessary under the circumstances. You can’t prosecute a police officer for making a mistake or even for a lack of judgment,” said William Yeomans, a former acting head of the Civil Rights Division.

“That can be particularly hard,” he said.

“They rarely set out to shoot someone.”

One of the Justice Department’s more notable successes prosecuting law enforcement officers on criminal charges was perhaps also one of the most prominent cases of the last 25 years the 1991 beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles.

Islamic State threat ‘beyond anything we’ve seen’: Pentagon The sophistication, wealth and military might of Islamic State militants represent a major threat to the United States that may surpass that once posed by al Qaeda, U.S. military leaders said on Thursday.

“They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it’s in Iraq or anywhere else,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.

Hagel’s assessment of Islamic State, which gained strength during Syria’s civil war and swept into northern Iraq earlier this summer, sounded a note of alarm several days after the group posted a video on social media showing one of its fighters beheading an American hostage kidnapped in Syria.

Asked if the hardline Sunni Muslim organization posed a threat to the United States comparable to that of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Hagel said it was “as sophisticated and well-funded as any group we have seen.”

“They are beyond just a terrorist group.

They marry ideology, a sophistication of ... military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded. This is beyond anything we’ve seen.”

Hagel spoke as the United States continued attacking Islamic State targets in Iraq. In the past two weeks, U.S. drones and fighter jets have conducted 89 airstrikes against militant targets in northern Iraq.

So far, President Barack Obama has sought to limit his renewed military campaign in Iraq to protecting American

The footage showed the gruesome killing of US journalist James Foley. diplomats and civilians under direct threat. Obama ended the war in Iraq that killed thousands of American soldiers and consumed U.S. foreign policy for nearly a decade, Even after the gruesome killing of U.S. journalist James Foley, Obama is seen as unlikely to deepen his near-term military involvement in either Iraq or Syria as he seeks to avoid becoming embroiled in another messy Middle Eastern conflict.

But U.S. officials say they have not ruled out escalating military action against Islamic State, which has increased its overt threats against the United States since the air campaign in Iraq began.

“We haven’t made a decision to take

additional actions at this time, but we truly don’t rule out additional action against ISIL if it becomes warranted,” Ben Rhodes, a senior Obama aide, told National Public Radio earlier on Thursday, using another name for Islamic State.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said officials were worried about the possibility that European or U.S. nationals, radicalized after fighting in Iraq or Syria, would return to their home countries.

Dempsey suggested Islamic State would remain a danger until it could no longer count on safe havens in areas of Syria under militant control.

After being acquitted by a state jury, two officers were convicted in federal court. Both were sentenced to 30 months.

The two were criminally charged with deprivation of rights under color of law and aiding and abetting that deprivation of rights. It was a rare success for federal prosecutors, although the legal proceedings lasted some five years. King died in 2012.

In another case, federal prosecutors obtained convictions against five New Orleans police officers for killings in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The convictions were thrown out last year because of prosecutorial misconduct, but a judge has ordered a new trial, now nine years since Katrina.

Two charged in Malaysia with stealing from MH370 victims Kuala Lumpur – A Malaysian bank officer and her husband were charged Wednesday with forgery, theft and other offences after allegedly stealing more than $30,000 from the accounts of four people who were aboard missing flight MH370.

Nur Shila Kanan, who has worked for the Malaysian operations of British banking giant HSBC for 10 years, and her mechanic husband Basheer Ahmad Maula Sahul Hameed pleaded not guilty in a Kuala Lumpur court to a total of 16 charges, their lawyer Hakeem Aiman Affandi said.

The couple, who have three children and are both aged 33, are alleged to have withdrawn a total of 110,643 ringgit ($34,850) from the accounts of two Malaysians and two Chinese nationals who were on the Malaysia Airlines flight.

The withdrawals were allegedly made via ATMs and electronic transfers between May 14 and July 8, Hakeem added.

Each could face several years in prison if convicted.

The charges include illegally transferring money electronically, which alone carries up to 10 years in prison.

Police are still looking for another suspect, a Pakistani, who is believed to have had some of the money deposited into his bank account through an online transfer.

The case has provoked outrage in Malaysia, which has seen an outpouring of sympathy for MH370 victims and their families.

Up to 30,000 ‘eligible for Ebola drugs’

Up to 30,000 people could have been eligible for drugs in the current Ebola outbreak – if they had been available, a report in Nature suggests.

Experts used data from previous outbreaks to work out how many family members, medics and others would have contact with infected people.

The World Health Organization recently permitted the use of experimental Ebola drugs.

But there are only enough supplies to treat just a few of those infected.

Official figures suggest more than 1,000 people across west Africa have died from Ebola in the last nine months – a number that is likely to “vastly underestimate the size of the problem” according to the World Health Organization.

And this uncertainly makes it difficult to predict the volume of medicines

required to either treat infected people or protect those at risk.

Using data available from previous episodes of Ebola, researchers at the University of Oxford built a statistical model to estimate the number of people who may require medication.

Past infections mostly involved rural populations across central and East Africa – in contrast to this more quicklyspreading outbreak which has reached

several urban centres.

Their model suggests around 30,000 people could have gained some protection from drugs or vaccines so far.

And they identified four groups most at risk, listing them in order of urgency.

Dr Oliver Brady, the lead researcher from the University of Oxford, said policy makers and funders needed to make urgent decisions about how best to prioritise these groups.

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India’s 14-year-long hunger striker walks free from custody IMPHAL, India – An Indian woman who has staged a 14-year hunger strike against rights abuses in the country’s northeast broke down in tears on Wednesday as she was finally released from a hospital jail.

Irom Sharmila, known as the Iron Lady of Manipur for her unwavering and non-violent protest, said she was “happy” at being freed after spending years in custody, but vowed to continue her fast in protest at alleged abuses by the military.

Sharmila, looking frail and with her voice faltering, said she wanted “mass support” for her protest, as she

emerged from a hospital in Imphal, the capital of Manipur state.

“I will continue with my hunger strike no matter what comes,” she told the hundreds of journalists and wellwishers massed outside the hospital in Imphal.

“Unless and until my demand is fulfilled I will not touch anything else through my mouth.”

Supporters greeted her with flowers and erupted into cheers as she appeared.

“I am overwhelmed with the support given to me by the people,” Sharmila said.

“What I want from our people is not singing my glory. What I want from our people is their mass support,” the 42-year-old said.

A Manipur court on Tuesday ordered Sharmila’s release, ruling that a longstanding criminal charge against her of attempting suicide was unsustainable.

The lower sessions court ruled that the fast by Sharmila, who insists she is not trying to take her own life, is a “political protest through lawful means”.

The court said in Tuesday’s judgment that the state government “may take appropriate measures for her

Thailand coup General Prayuth Chan-ocha named PM Thailand’s junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha has been named the new prime minister of the southeast Asian nation.

Gen Prayuth, 60, was nominated on Thursday in a legislature hand-picked by the junta and made up of mostly military and police figures.

The general was the head of the army when he led a dramatic coup in May. It followed months of intense political deadlock between Yingluck Shinawatra’s government and opposition parties that resulted in protests and clashes.

Gen Prayuth was chosen after all 197 members of Thailand’s National Assembly cast their votes on Thursday morning.

The BBC’s Jonathan Head in Bangkok says the vote in Parliament was little more than a formality, lasting just 15 minutes, as Gen Prayuth was the only candidate.

The Bangkok Post quoted Gen Prayuth as saying he was not approached before he was nominated.

Asked whether he was ready for the post, he said: “I only want the country to move forward.”

The assembly’s choice is expected to be approved by King Bhumibol Adulyadej later.

The vote in that ushered in Thailand’s 29th Prime Minister was the kind of rushed acclamation favoured by dictatorships and communist parties of old. In just 15 minutes, 191 out of 194 assembly members approved General

China’s latest bus fire kills 1, injures 19 BEIJING – A public bus in eastern China caught fire Wednesday in what was likely arson, killing one person and injuring 19 others, a local state-run newspaper reported.

The blaze is at least the fifth bus fire this year in China. Several public attacks in recent years, including bus arson and hackings, have been blamed on people who are mentally unstable or who are seeking revenge against society.

Few details were available on the latest bus fire in the port city of Yantai in Shandong province. The Qilu Evening News said it was likely arson and that one person was killed and 19 injured.

The general led the army in the May coup that ousted Yingluck Shinawatra’s civilian government.

Prayuth Chan-ocha, who was the only candidate.

As some pointed out before the vote, the general now exercises such complete grip on power there was not much point in considering anyone else. Fittingly, Gen Prayuth was not in parliament for the vote - instead he was attending a ceremony at his old regiment, whose alumni form the core of the coup-makers.

His next task is to appoint a 35-member cabinet, and to oversee the establishment of a 250-member reform council, which is supposed to

carry out a root-and-branch reform of politics and government. It is a hugely ambitious agenda.

How successful Gen Prayuth is will depend on how skilfully he uses the formidable hand he now holds. Critics say he is abrupt and impatient, with deeply conservative outlook. His fans describe him as decisive, and a good listener.

Given the way the military has smothered dissent since the coup, there has been little visible opposition so far.

That may change as they tackle more difficult issues.

health and safety” such as continuing with feeding her through her nose if she continues to fast.

Sharmila began her hunger strike in November 2000 after witnessing the army’s killing of 10 people at a bus stop near her home in Manipur, which is subject to the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

She was arrested a few days later and was then sent to a hospital that was partly converted into a prison. She was force-fed via a nasal drip several times a day.

“For the last 14 years, I have been suffering so much,” she said.

Gunmen execute 18 alleged collaborators in Gaza Hamas-led gunmen in Gaza executed 18 Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel on Friday, a day after Israeli forces killed three Hamas commanders, the highest-ranking militants to die in the six-week war.

Militants wearing masks and dressed in black gunned down seven of those condemned, whose faces were covered and hands bound, in front of worshippers emerging from the Omari mosque on Palestine Square, in the first public executions in the enclave since the 1990s.

A further 11 were killed at an abandoned police station near Gaza City, Hamas security officials said. Two bodies were seen being loaded onto an ambulance before Reuters journalists were told to leave the area.

“The resistance has begun an operation called ‘strangling the necks’, targeting collaborators who aid the (Israeli) occupation, kill our people and destroy houses,” said Al-Majd, a website run by Hamas’s internal security service.

A so-called conviction letter signed by the “Palestinian Resistance” was posted on a wall near where the bodies of the alleged collaborators lay. The notice read: “They provided the enemy with information about the whereabouts of fighters, tunnels of resistance, bombs, houses of fighters and places of rockets, and the occupation bombarded these areas, killing a number of fighters ...

Therefore, the ruling of revolutionary justice was handed upon him.”

Germany, Italy say prepared to send weapons to Iraq’s Kurds

BERLIN/ROME – Germany and Italy joined Britain and France on Wednesday in saying they would arm Iraqi Kurdish security forces fighting Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, in close coordination with the Baghdad central government.

Islamic State, which posted a video on Tuesday purporting to show the beheading of an captive American journalist, poses a threat to the world and Europe cannot simply stand by, Germany’s defense and foreign ministers said. Besides humanitarian aid and military equipment such as body armor and helmets, “we can also imagine providing further equipment, including weapons,” Foreign Minister Frank-

Walter Steinmeier said.

“In close agreement with our European and international partners we will do this in such a way that it boosts the peshmerga’s [semi-autonomous Kurdish security forces] ability to defend themselves,” Steinmeier said. “We see the risks attached to this, and we will therefore show a sense of proportion in the nature of what and how much we deliver.”

Sending arms into conflict zones is a major departure for Germany, which has often shied away from direct involvement in military conflicts since World War Two due to its Nazi past. Berlin opposed the U.S.-led 2003 Iraq war although it later took part in the international military

mission in Afghanistan.

Germany – the world’s third largest arms exporter after the United States and Russia – had previously promised to cut back on arms deliveries to non-allied states particularly to the Gulf. Deliveries to direct conflict zones was always ruled out.

Asked why Germany would make an exception for northern Iraq, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said: “ISIS’ advance and what these terrorists are doing.. has a unique quality.

We cannot be indifferent in Europe and Germany - it also affects our security interests... all the dangers arising from there and the huge scale of human suffering informed this decision.”

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UN launches aid operation for 500,000 in northern Iraq

Geneva – The UN refugee agency said it had launched a huge operation Wednesday to bring desperately needed aid to half a million Iraqis driven from their homes by jihadist rebels.

“It’s the largest single aid push we have mounted in more than a decade,” UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

The first Boeing 747 of the 10-day operation flew into the Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil from Jordan carrying 100 tonnes of aid including tents, plastic sheets, kitchen sets, and jerry cans.

It was the first consignment in an

operation that aims at bringing a total of in 2,410 tonnes of aid by the start of September.

Three other flights were due to leave Jordan on Thursday, Friday and Saturday carrying 100 tonnes each.

Aid was also on its way by road and sea, with 175 trucks bringing tents, blankets, plastic tarpaulins, and household items across borders from Turkey, Jordan and Iran from UNHCR warehouses in the region and Europe.

“This is a massive logistics operation to bring in relief supplies by air, land, and sea to help the hundreds of thousands of

desperate people who have fled suddenly with nothing but their lives, and are now struggling to survive in harsh conditions,” said Guterres.

The goal, the agency said, is to help almost 500,000 displaced people in the region, many of whom are crammed into unfinished buildings, living in parks or by the roadside.

Jihadists from the Islamic State group which had already occupied parts of Syria launched an offensive in Iraq in June and rapidly seized much of its Sunni heartland.

They have declared a “caliphate” in a

36 dead, 7 missing in Hiroshima landslide

TOKYO – Rain-sodden slopes collapsed in torrents of mud, rock and debris Wednesday on the outskirts of Hiroshima city, killing at least 36 people and leaving seven missing, Japanese police said.

Public broadcaster NHK showed rescue workers suspended by ropes from police helicopters pulling victims from the rubble.

Others gingerly climbed into windows as they searched for survivors in crushed homes.

Hillsides were swept down into residential areas in at least five valleys in the suburbs of the western Japanese city after heavy rains left slopes unstable.

Hiroshima prefectural police said 36 people were confirmed dead and at least seven others were missing as of Wednesday night. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 15 people were injured, two seriously.

Local government official Nakatoshi Okamoto said a few people were washed away it was hard to know exactly how many were unaccounted for, because harsh conditions in the disaster area were hindering rescuers.

Authorities issued warnings that additional rain could trigger more landslides and flooding.

The land collapsed so quickly at multiple locations that evacuation advisories came an hour after the first mudslide, said Kenzo Kanayama, the city’s disaster management chief. “We misjudged the situation. It was too late,” he

In this aerial photo, a rescue helicopter hovers over an area devastated by a massive landslide in Hiroshima, western Japan. said.

“It’s so regrettable,” Kyodo News service quoted Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui as saying. “We’ll find out what went wrong and take the necessary measures.”

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was on vacation, had to cancel his plans to play golf outside Tokyo and rush back to his office to set up a taskforce.

Landslides are a constant risk in mountainous, crowded Japan, where many homes are built on or near steep slopes. Torrential rains early Wednesday apparently caused slopes to collapse in an area

where many of the buildings were newly constructed.

Hiroshima’s geology, consisting of highly water-retentive soil, makes the city particularly prone to such disasters, said Hiroshi Ikeya, a landslide expert at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

The damage was extensive “because of intense rain, extremely fragile slopes and the disaster hitting in the dead of night,” he said in an interview on NHK. Mudslides, floodwater, broken trees and debris flowed down the hill, smashing into houses, he said.

region straddling the Iraq-Syria border, and have taken Iraq to the brink of breakup. Many of those fleeing have found a haven in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, whose fighters have provided a bulwark against the jihadists.

The UNHCR said Kurdistan was hosting over 600,000 internally displaced civilians, among them more than 200,000 people who have fled the flashpoint Sinjar area since the beginning of this month.

They include members of Iraq’s Christian and Yazidi religious minorities, whom the jihadists have given a “convert or die” option.

Indonesia court upholds Joko Widodo poll victory Indonesia’s top court has rejected an appeal from defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto over the results of July’s presidential poll.

The constitutional court’s decision upholds the results from the elections, which Joko Widodo won by a 6 per cent margin.

Mr Subianto had claimed widespread electoral fraud, and taken his case to the court.

Hundreds of Mr Subianto’s supporters gathered outside the court ahead of the verdict, clashing briefly with police.

The court decision means that Mr Widodo, who was declared president last month, has his position firmly sealed, the BBC’s Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta reports.

The constitutional court is the highest authority in the country – and the decision from the court is final, our correspondent adds.

Mr Widodo’s win was seen as heralding a new era for Indonesia, whose leaders have generally been drawn from the military and political elite.

Mr Prabowo is a former army general closely associated with the traditional elite, while Mr Widodo, a former furniture-maker who grew up in a small village, has promised a decisive break with Indonesia’s authoritarian past and better social welfare for the poor.

Austrian police arrest 9 suspected Decapitated bodies of four men extremists

found in Egypt’s Sinai

Cairo – The decapitated bodies of four men were found in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula Wednesday, security officials said, adding that they suspected jihadists had killed the victims in the belief they were supporting the army.

Egypt’s military has been carrying out a vast offensive against jihadist groups in the north of Sinai since militants stepped up attacks following the army’s ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July last year.

Residents in Sheikh Zuweid

town, south of Rafah, discovered the bodies on Wednesday, two days after the men had been abducted, according to the security officials.

They said the militants may have murdered the men because they suspected the victims had aided the army’s offensive.

A little known group had recently distributed leaflets in the region which threatened to kill anyone who collaborated with Egyptian forces, officials said.

Militants in northern Sinai, which also borders Israel and

the Gaza Strip, have launched a number of attacks in retaliation for a government crackdown on supporters of Morsi.

At least 1,400 people have been killed in the crackdown, mostly Islamist supporters of Morsi.

The militant attacks usually target security forces, but they have also led to civilian casualties.

Earlier this month, a US soldier with the Multinational Force and Observers mission (MFO) was wounded when gunmen shot at his camp in Sinai.

VIENNA — Austrian police have arrested nine foreigners suspected of seeking to join Islamic extremists fighting in Syria.

State Prosecutor Nina Bussek said Wednesday the arrests were made over the last few days. None were identified by name or nationality.

Austria’s Interior Ministry said all of the suspects are immigrants who had been granted asylum status.

They stand to lose that standing if the suspicions are proven, meaning their likely deportation.

Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner described the arrests as “a blow against the jihadists,” while urging Austrians to remain tolerant in general of asylum seekers, many of them from strife-torn areas of the Middle East.

She said most of them are “fleeing exactly these jihadists and need our protection.”

The Austria Press Agency said all were arrested in Austrian border regions.

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Father of Texas ‘affluenza’ teen arrested for impersonating police officer

Couch is the father The father of the Texas teenager who the then 16-year-old killed four people while boy who was sentenced driving drunk and to probation for the claimed his family’s deadly accident after wealth was partially to his lawyers argued the blame has been arrested enormous wealth of the for impersonating a police youth’s family blinded officer, legal documents him to responsibilities resulting from his actions. showed.

Frederick Anthony An expert witness for Couch was arrested on the defense described Tuesday for an incident the boy’s condition as that occurred on July 28 “affluenza.”

The American in the Fort Worth suburb Psychiatric Association of North Richland Hills.

does not recognize “affluenza” as a diagnosis.

The probation given to the teen sparked outrage, with social critics saying it indicated a more lenient court system for the wealthy.

Police said in a statement that officers encountered Couch during a disturbance call.

Couch identified himself as a reserve officer with a police department in another Fort Worth area

community.

“Couch reached into his vehicle and took out his wallet displaying what appeared to be a police badge and identification card, suggesting he was a police officer,” the statement said.

Officers at the scene later determined that Couch was not a police officer and never has been licensed as a police officer in Texas, the statement said.

Sakari Momoi, a 111-year-old Japanese retired educator, poses for a photo after receiving a certificate from Guinness World Records, in Tokyo Wednesday. Momoi was recognized as the world’s oldest living man, succeeding Alexander Imich of New York, who died in April at the age of 111 years, 164 days.

111-year-old from Japan recognized as oldest man

Angry villagers protested at the tree where the girls were found hanged in Badaun district.

Hanged India girls’ ‘rape’ in doubt A forensic investigation into clothing and swabs taken after the murder and alleged gang rape of two teenage cousins in northern India has concluded they were not sexually assaulted.

The girls were found hanged from a tree in Uttar Pradesh state in May, in a case which sparked global outrage.

Three suspected attackers were taken into custody along with two policemen.

At the time a local post-mortem examination confirmed multiple sexual assaults and death due to hanging.

The case was initially investigated by the state police, but later handed over to federal investigators at India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Correspondents say it is not clear how the CBI will be able to resolve the apparent contradictions between the latest forensic conclusions and the earlier postmortem performed by the local authorities.

The father of one of the victims said he was shocked by the latest report.

“I don’t know whether the samples sent to the labs were of my daughter or of someone else.

Ever since the post-mortem was conducted every effort has been made to conceal the facts... Justice is being denied to us,” he said.

Last month, the CBI attempted to exhume the bodies of the girls but their graves were under floodwaters and remain inaccessible to this day.

But India’s Centre for DNA

Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) was able to examine the clothes and personal effects of the two girls and reported that it found no proof of sexual assault, a CBI spokesperson told BBC Hindi.

The CBI refused to provide any more details, but media reports quoting sources in the CDFD said “no male DNA had been found on the clothes and personal effects” of the girls and also “no female DNA was found on the samples taken from the male suspects”.

The Indian Express reported that the laboratory analysed “items of clothing” and personal effects worn by the two victims as well as the clothes worn by the accused. It also said that blood samples and swabs from both the victims and the accused were examined.

TOKYO — A 111-year-old retired Japanese educator who enjoys poetry has been recognized as the world’s oldest living man.

Sakari Momoi received a certificate from Guinness World Records on Wednesday. He succeeds Alexander Imich of New York, who died in June at the age of 111 years, 164 days.

The world’s oldest living person is also Japanese: Misao Okawa, a 116-year-old woman from Osaka.

Momoi was born Feb. 5, 1903, in Fukushima prefecture, where he became a teacher. He moved to the city of Saitama, north of Tokyo, after World War II and was a high school principal there until retirement.

At the televised ceremony, Momoi wore a dark suit and silver tie, with his white hair neatly combed.

He stood up from his wheelchair and moved to a chair next to it with little assistance.

Asked how he felt about the record, Momoi pushed his back upright and said he wants to live longer.

“Say, another two years,” he said.

Momoi said he enjoys reading books, especially Chinese poetry, and sometimes practices calligraphy.

He said there is no special trick for his longevity, but his caregivers say Momoi keeps early hours and eats healthy, according to NHK public television.

He has five children and lives at a nursing home in Tokyo.

Momoi is one of 54,000 centenarians in Japan.

The country is the fastest aging in the world and has the highest average life expectancy – 80.21 for men and 86.61 for women.

Norway killer’s father to publish book The father of jailed Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik has written a book expressing feelings of guilt and responsibility over his son’s actions.

Anders Breivik admitted killing 77 people when he bombed central Oslo and then went on a shooting spree at a youth camp on a nearby island in 2011.

His parents separated when he was a year old and his father Jens claims to have had little contact with the boy.

Entitled My Fault? A Father’s Story, the book is set for release in October.

“I feel some guilt and I feel some responsibility. What would have happened if I had been a better father?

Would Anders have done what he did?” Jens Breivik wrote, according to an excerpt of the book released by the publisher Juritzen.

A retired Norwegian diplomat living in southern France, Mr Breivik wrote the book with the help of a ghost writer and is expected to question his behaviour as a parent and his role in the life of the radical far-right killer.

In 2012, Anders Breivik was sentenced to the maximum 21 years in prison for carrying out the country’s worst peacetime massacre in its modern history.

He harboured extremist right-wing

views and claimed he had reacted against what he saw as a MarxistIslamic takeover of Europe.

His deadly rampage against a Labour Party youth camp on Utoeya island was found by an Oslo court to have been a premeditated act of terrorism.

His jail term can be extended if he is deemed to remain a danger to society.

‘Self-trial’ Jens Breivik has often been described as an absent father after the separation from his wife. At the time of the separation, Jens attempted to win custody over Anders but was unsuccessful, and he lost touch with his

son when Anders was a teenager.

A previous book about Anders Breivik’s late mother, Wenche, portrayed Jens Breivik as a domestic tyrant.

During the murder investigation and trial, it emerged that Norwegian social services had suspected Anders Breivik was neglected at home as a child.

According to the editor of My Fault, Arve Juritzen, the book is a form of selftrial for Jens Breivik.

Jens Breivik has re-established contact his his son in the last two years but has not shared the manuscript with him.

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TECHNOLOGY

Zimbabwe economy takes another dive

HARARE, Zimbabwe – It is 4 a.m. and people are already lining up outside Zimbabwe’s main passport office – four hours ahead of opening time – in hopes of securing a passport that will allow them to escape their country’s dearth of opportunities and search for work abroad.

Several million Zimbabweans left for South

Africa and other countries during past economic turmoil.

Now, a year after the reelection of longtime leader Robert Mugabe, the country is facing new financial hardships.

Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate is estimated at 80 percent, pushing many people try to earn a living as street traders. An informal economy has mushroomed around the

passport office, where young copies of your birth certificate, men charge $5 to hold a place national ID and two passport in the line for those eager to photos ready to avoid delays,” they say. return to bed for a few hours.

Zimbabwe, a onceBy 5 a.m., the line stretches for blocks. Hustlers prosperous nation of 13 million point potential customers people in southern Africa, to a makeshift studio has struggled since 90-yearwhere a generator powers a old Mugabe defeated rival photocopying machine and Morgan Tsvangirai in a 2013 vote marked by allegations of instant photo service.

“Make sure you have irregularities.

Mugabe’s victory ended an uneasy power-sharing deal with the opposition, but foreign investors have been deterred by concerns about corruption and government policies to force foreign-owned and whiteowned businesses to cede 51 percent of their shares to black Zimbabweans. Hundreds of manufacturing companies have closed in the past year.

Bank of America reaches record $17bn settlement over questionable mortgages

Bank of America has agreed to pay a record $16.65bn to settle charges it sold flawed mortgage securities in the run up to the financial crisis, the largest fine ever levied by US authorities on a single company.

“This morning we demonstrate once again that no institution is either too big or too powerful to escape appropriate enforcement action by the department of justice.

At nearly $17bn, this resolution with Bank of America is the largest the department has ever reached with a single entity in American history,” associate attorney general Tony West said at a press conference on Thursday.

The bank will pay $9.65bn in cash to the Justice Department, six US states, and other government agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A further $7bn in aid will go to consumers struggling with home loan payments and towards demolishing derelict properties.

John Coffee, Adolf A Berle professor of law at Columbia University, said: “There is another shoe that needs to drop before we can assess this settlement. This is the largest fine but yet again we have seen an inability, or a reluctance, to name and go after the individuals responsible.”

The settlement comes as US prosecutors are preparing a civil lawsuit against Angelo Mozilo, cofounder of Countrywide Financial,

Bank of America’s settlement follows a series of similar deals by other banks with the Justice Departments. the largest subprime mortgage lender ahead of the financial crisis. Bank of America bought Countrywide for $2.5bn in 2008 and has since paid tens of billions in fines related to its activities.

The Justice Department’s fine comes after a series of similar deals over the mortgage-related conduct of major US banks ahead of the crisis. In July,Citigroup paid $7bn to settle its case and last November JP Morgan Chase agreed to a then record $13bn to end an investigation that alleged it routinely overstated the quality of mortgages it was selling to investor.

Many of Bank of America’s issues

stemmed from loans originated by Countrywide and packaged and sold to investors by Merrill Lynch, which the bank also bought in 2008. But the Justice Department also found problems with Bank of America’s own mortgage securities.

“Bank of America has acknowledged that, in the years leading up to the financial crisis that devastated our economy in 2008, it, Merrill Lynch and Countrywide sold billions of dollars of RMBS [residential mortgagebacked securities] backed by toxic loans whose quality and level of risk they knowingly misrepresented to investors and the US government,” attorney general Eric Holder said.

Dubai’s Nakheel to pay $2.1 billion in debt early DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai’s developer Nakheel behind the famed man-made palm-shaped islands said Wednesday it is repaying 7.9 billion dirhams, or roughly $2.15 billion this month — nearly four years before the last installment is due.

The indebted state developer was scheduled to repay the credit over three installments between September 2015 and March 2018.

Nakheel said in a statement that it made early repayments of 2.35 billion dirhams ($640 million) in February. The remaining 5.54 billion dirhams ($1.51 billion) is being paid

and cleared this month, it said.

Nakheel will pay the $1.51 billion to 31 banks, of which almost $940 million will go to UAE banks and $570 million to overseas banks.

The company said it will also pay interest of around $35 million covering the six months from end of February to end of August.

The company’s credit-fueled building spree was at the heart of Dubai’s financial crisis in 2009 following a property market crash the year before. The state developer was part of Dubai World, but separated during financial restructuring.

It received a multi-billion dol-

lar bailout from the Dubai government, which itself was lent billions of dollars from the Abu Dhabi-based federal government. Nakheel was almost faced with default and had to suspend its projects on its large man-made islands.

Nakheel said earlier this year that strong real estate growth and improved economic conditions in Dubai boosted its finances and allowed it to make early debt repayments.

It has also promised to repay trade creditors $1.23 billion in Islamic bonds, known as sukuk, that mature in 2016.

Octopus inspires new camouflage material

Washington – The octopus’s ability to camouflage itself has inspired a new kind of thin, flexible fabric that can automatically match patterns, US researchers said Tuesday.

Creatures of the ocean known as cephalopods – including cuttlefish, squid and octopuses -- are naturally equipped with sensors in their skin that help in some way to mimic the look of their surroundings.

By closely studying how these soft-bodied swimmers do it, engineers and biologists joined in a nearly three-year-long US Navy-funded research collaboration to create a material that acts in a similar way.

The team’s initial result, described in this week’s edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is far from ready for commercial use.

But architects, interior designers, fashion houses and the military all have their eyes on its eventual capability to provide a first-of-its-kind man-made camouflaging material, experts say.

“If you illuminate it with white light and different patterns, it will automatically respond to that and produce a pattern that matches,” said lead author John Rogers, a professor in the department of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois.

“Having said that, we are a long way from colormorphing wallpaper, but it is a step that could lead in that direction over time,” he told AFP. The flexible material’s layers include temperature-sensitive dye and photosensors that respond in one to two seconds to changing patterns.

The dye appears black at low temperatures and clear at temperatures above 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit).

“These devices are capable of producing blackand-white patterns that spontaneously match those of the surroundings, without user input or external measurement,” said the study.

The international research team included chemistry and mechanics experts at leading Chinese institutions as well as Roger Hanlon, a top world expert on the physiology of cephalopod skin.

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BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

Online video stars mobilize for U.S. net neutrality

Online video personalities are joining together to advocate for equal treatment of Internet traffic, aiming to stop the U.S. government from allowing what they worry will be fast and slow lanes for delivering content.

The video creators are signing an online petition that will be submitted to the Federal Communications Commission, which is now considering new “net neutrality” rules governing how broadband providers route Internet traffic.

Some stars have posted videos about the issue to rally their legions of fans.

Internet campaigns have impacted policy issues in the past. In 2012, a

massive online mobilization of Internet users and major websites helped sink anti-piracy legislation.

Organizers hope the new effort, which they are starting to publicize on Wednesday, will raise the visibility of online video creators and the scope of their industry with regulators.

The top stars have built careers by posting videos on Google Inc’s YouTube and other platforms. While many aren’t mainstream celebrities, they reach millions of fans daily.

As of Wednesday, dozens of online personalities had joined the effort on www.videocreatorsfornetneutrality.org.

Those creators represent more than 10,000 videos that have been viewed 5.2 billion times, according to the website.

“This is a huge community, and they will be massively impacted by this,” said Michael Weinberg, a vice president at consumer group Public Knowledge, one of the organizers behind the petition.

Another organizer is The Harry Potter Alliance, a group of fans who advocate for social change.

The FCC’s proposal, while prohibiting Internet providers from blocking content, suggests allowing some “commercially reasonable” deals where content companies such as Netflix orAmazon.

McDonald’s: Russia watchdog widens probe into food chain

Russia’s consumer watchdog has announced unscheduled checks on McDonald’s restaurants across Russia as part of a probe into food standards.

The move comes after watchdog Rospotrebnadzor temporarily shut four McDonald’s restaurants in Moscow.

The actions come amid rising tensions and sanctions between Russia and the West over the crisis in the Ukraine.

The regulator denied the checks were politically motivated. McDonald’s said “top quality” food was its priority.

The regulatory agency said: “There are complaints about the quality and safety of the products in fast food restaurant chain McDonald’s.”

BBC Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg said: “The suspicion is that because McDonald’s is one of the symbols of America, that’s why it’s encountering problems now.”

Russian MPs have also called for checks on other US fast-food brands, including Burger King and KFC, he said.

“It does seem, if not the public, then the people in power, are losing their appetite for American fast food,” he added.

McDonald’s said its main priority was to serve customers “top quality menu items”, and that it was studying a claim by the food standards watchdog “to define what should be done to reopen the [Moscow] restaurants as soon as possible.”

State news agency Ria Novosti reported that the regulator was preparing to take McDonald’s to court over alleged breaches of health and safety regulations.

McDonalds decline to comment on that report.

Microbiology tests Unscheduled checks will be made

The fast-food chain has become one of the symbols of the US in Russia. in McDonald’s restaurants in the region of Sverdlovsk in west-central Russia, the Volga region of Tatarstan, the central Voronezh region, and the Moscow region.

“There has been a selection of microbiology tests, sanitary and chemical tests, and identification indicators,” the watchdog said.

McDonald’s said it was “open to any checks”.

A company spokeswoman for European operations said it was aware that the regulator was carrying out the checks, which would be likely to continue for a couple of months.

The spokeswoman added that McDonald’s serves millions of customers a day in Russia, and wanted minimal disruption for them.

According to Ria Novosti, checks have been ordered across Russia’s Central Federal District, and that inspections of McDonald’s in all of

Russia’s regions will take place.

Food bans The checks and restaurant closures come amid a background of diplomatic tensions and tit-for-tat sanctions between Russia and the West over the crisis in the Ukraine. The West has accused Russia of supporting proRussian militants.

Earlier this month, Russia imposed an embargo on food imports from the EU, US and some other Western countries, in response to sanctions over Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the regulator temporarily closed four Moscow restaurants as part of an ongoing investigation of McDonald’s.

The first ever McDonald’s in Pushkin Square, which opened 24 years ago, was one of the outlets that was shut. Restaurants on Manezh Square, Svobodny prospect 35b and Prospect Mira were also closed.

com could pay broadband providers such as Comcast Corp or Verizon Communications to ensure smooth and fast delivery of their web traffic.

Critics, which include Netflix, worry that such rules could result in “slow lanes” for content from sources that do not pay. Video creators are concerned that such rules would limit the ability of independent producers to reach audiences.

The petitioners are asking the FCC to consider classifying Internet service as a public utility, a step advocates say would give the agency more power to stop potential net neutrality violators.

Eurozone business growth slows in August, PMI data shows

Eurozone business growth slowed in August, weighed down by sluggish French and German economies.

The latest Markit Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 52.8 from July’s 53.8. A reading above 50 indicates growth.

In France, the service sector expanded faster, but manufacturing shrank, to give a reading of 50, slightly up from 49.4 in July.

In Germany, the composite index fell to 54.9, from 55.7 in July.

The eurozone’s timid performance may fuel calls for the European Central Bank to act to inject more life into the euro bloc.

“We are not seeing a recovery taking real hold as yet. We are not seeing anything where we look at it and think ‘yes, this is the point where the euro zone has come out of all its difficulties’,” said Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit.

He added: “Even before rising geopolitical headwinds began to buffet the economy, the doubledigit unemployment rate prevailing in the eurozone was already excessively high. Signs are that the modest job creation of recent months has stalled in August,” he said.

Oliver Kolodseike, another Markit economist, said that although Germany’s service sector grew, manufacturing had lost further momentum this month.

Official figures showed that the German economy shrank by 0.2% between April and June, its first quarterly contraction in more than a year.

However, Mr Kolodseike said he still expected Germany to return to growth in the third quarter.

Self-employment in UK at highest level since records began

Britain’s deepest postwar recession has led to record numbers of selfemployed people, who are earning lower wages and working longer hours than other workers, a study suggests.

Self-employment in the UK is at its highest level since records began almost 40 years ago, according to a report by the Office for National Statistics, with taxi-driving, construction and carpentry among the most common jobs. There are 4.6 million people working for themselves, with the proportion of the total workforce self-employed at 15% compared with 13% in 2008, and 8.7%

in 1975.

Fewer people left self-employment over the last five years than at any period in the last 20 years, with the ONS suggesting that they might have struggled to find an alternative job during the downturn. It also pointed to the increasing number of people choosing to work for themselves beyond the state pension age of 65.

The ONS said more people than usual staying in self-employment was the main reason behind the sharp rise in numbers over recent years, which itself has accounted for the majority of the overall

rise in employment since early 2008.

“The rise in self-employment can be accounted for by fewer people leaving self-employment than in the past. About 886,000 people who were self-employed in 2009 had left by 2014, compared with 1.3 million who were self-employed in 2004 leaving by 2009,” the ONS said.

Of the 1.1 million increase in the total number of workers in the UK between the first quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2014, 732,000, or just over two-thirds, were self-employed.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “[The] figures

show the rise is mainly due to fewer people leaving self-employment than in the past and self-employment in the UK is still below the EU average. And in fact many people aspire to be their own boss and self-employment has been a growing part of the labour market for most of the last 30 years.”

The number of self-employed people over 65 has more than doubled in the past five years to reach almost half a million. Self-employed people tend to be older, with an average age of 47, compared with an average of 40 among employees.

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‘Google for kids’ is coming Reports indicate Google is planning to roll out a suite of services specifically targeting young users.

Google is working on versions of its services, such as YouTube and Gmail, that are specifically outfitted for children.

Currently, Google services are technically only meant for persons over the age of 13 years. Users attempting to create a new Google account are asked to enter their birthday, in addition to other information like username and password.

Those under the age limit are directed to a page explaining Google’s policy and linking to the Federal Trade Commission’s web page on child privacy.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google’s new childapproved services will allow parents to control how their children interact with Google’s products and what information the search giant collects from their child’s activity.

The Information previously reported that a version of YouTube featuring beefed up parental controls was in development.

Google currently limits its services to an older age group because the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires parental consent before a child’s data can be collected, and restricts how that data can be used and stored. While web sites are not liable if underage users lie about their age, a person familiar with Google’s plans told the Journal that demand from parents who want to create accounts for their children and a desire to remain in compliance with COPPA spurred the company to act.

Amazon enters Shanghai free trade zone to boost offering in China

Amazon.com will set up shop in China’s Shanghai free trade zone, the company said on Wednesday, aiming to take advantage of less stringent trade regulations to sell a wider range of products in the country.

The U.S. online retailer’s move shows an intent not only to remain in China but to beef up its presence in an e-commerce market dominated by Alibaba Group Holding and Beijing-based JD.com, the second-biggest player.

Amazon signed a memorandum of cooperation to give Chinese customers access to its products from its global supply chain and to help small and mediumsized enterprises inChina to export their products to customers in other countries,

the company said in an e-mailed statement.

Amazon did not say when the company is likely to begin operations in the free trade zone, which enjoys more relaxed import and export regulations than the rest of China.

The company is also pushing its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing business in China and said in December that the country will have its own AWS region to improve speeds for its mainly corporate customers.

However, persistent expansion has come at a cost, leaving Amazon with a $126 million net loss in the second quarter, up from a loss of $7 million in the same period last year. The company also forecast an operating loss of between

$810 million and $410 million for the third quarter to Sept. 30, up from a $25 million loss a year ago.

“I look forward to working with our Shanghai partners to realize the incredible opportunity of developing the best cross-border shopping experience possible for not only customers in China but also around the world and establishing Shanghai as a recognized international cross-border e-commerce center,” said Diego Piacentini, Amazon’s senior vice president of International Consumer Business.

But Amazon has also been hit by counterfeit goods that frequently plague companies in China, from fashion to pharmaceuticals and even food and drink.

Hitchhiking robot charms its way across Canada

HitchBOT

Diaspora social network cannot stop IS posts The team behind a social network being used by Islamic State (IS) militants has admitted it cannot prevent the spread of extremist material.

Diaspora is a decentralised network with data stored on many private servers which cannot be controlled by any single administrator.

IS is believed to have switched to Diaspora after Twitter upped its efforts to block accounts.

Diaspora’s creators said they were “concerned” about the activities.

In a blog post, they wrote: “Various newspapers have reported that members of the Islamic State (IS) have set up accounts on Diaspora to promote the group’s activities.

“In the past, they have used Twitter and other platforms, and are now migrating to free and open source software.”

The post explained that Diaspora’s network is spread across several independent servers - known as pods which are not controlled by the Diaspora team.

“There is therefore no way for the

project’s core team to manipulate or remove contents from a particular node in the network (which we call a “pod”),” the blog post explained.

“This may be one of the reasons which attracted IS activists to our network.”

Diaspora was launched in 2010, paid for by a crowdfunding campaign set up by four students in New York.

Diaspora said it was contacting administrators of the individual pods known as podmins - to alert them to the problem of extremist content, stressing the legal implications of hosting such material.

“Because this is such a crucial issue, we have also accumulated a list of accounts related to IS fighters, which are spread over a large number of pods, and we are in the process of talking to the podmins of those pods.

“So far, all of the larger pods have removed the IS-related accounts and posts.”

A bigger challenge is in contacting owners of smaller pods to ask for material to be taken down, the team said.

Before shifting some of its focus to

Diaspora, much of IS’s efforts were focused on Twitter. But in the past week, the site has been pro-active in removing the accounts of IS members and supporters.

It has since widened that scope to include any member who shares graphic images of video relating to the killing of US photojournalist James Foley.

However, Diaspora, due to its nature, will be unable to take similar action. It is therefore unsurprising that IS would turn to the network, argued Jamie Bartlett, author of The Dark Net, a book looking at hidden internet services and decentralised social networks.

“Not a great deal can be done,” he told the BBC. “In terms of the base technology, decentralised services are incredibly difficult for police to get a handle on.

Every time they’re clamped down on the services get a bit smarter, a bit better at evading detection.

“It’s absolutely inevitable that organisations like IS are going to be among the early adopters of this sort of innovation.”

TORONTO — He has dipped his boots in Lake Superior, crashed a wedding and attended an Aboriginal powwow. A talking, bucket-bodied robot has enthralled Canadians since it departed from Halifax last month on a hitchhiking journey to the Pacific coast.

HitchBOT, created by team of Ontario-based communication researchers studying the relationship between people and technology, will reach its final destination Sunday in Victoria, British Columbia, where it will receive a traditional aboriginal canoe greeting at Victoria Harbor.

“What we wanted to do is situate robotics and artificial technologies into unlikely scenarios and push the limits of what it’s capable of,” said David Smith, the robot’s co-creator, who teaches at Ontario’s McMaster University. “It’s challenging but it can also be highly engaging and entertaining as hitchBOT has proven.”

The robot looks like it was made out of components scavenged from a yard sale — a bucket, pool noodles, cake saver, garden gloves and yellow Wellington boots — but it has a sense of direction and can even ask and answer questions.

His conversation skills might be a bit stilted, but hitchBOT has managed to charm its way across 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) since it began its journey in Nova Scotia on July 26.

Smith said hitchBOT has a builtin GPS system and is programmed with mobile technology similar to a smartphone, with speech recognition software that works in conjunction with language modelling. The robot links questions with answers by looking for certain key words and is programmed to scour Wikipedia to spit out regionally relevant facts.

The team also programmed hitchBOT to track its adventures online and take pictures to post on Twitter and Instagram.

It didn’t take long for HitchBOT to become a social media sensation and, truth be told, many of the people who have offered him a ride already knew about him before encountering the bizarre contraption. Smith said its Instagram following was approaching 11,000 people, its Facebook account had garnered more than 41,000 “likes” and it has nearly 32,000 Twitter followers.

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LOCAL SPORTS A true revelation of the first director of sports

by Richard Williams

For the last 10 years I have sat back and listened to this man demoralize our athletes, especially our Track and Field Athletes, our Officials, and particularly the former and now current Presidents of the TCAAA. As a Government Representative with the Ministry of Sports back in the 70’s and one that travelled with the Team on the very first trip, it is my responsibility to let the nation know the truth about the first Director of Sports, Mr O at the time, so I will call him by his birth name although he changed his name from Mr. O to Mr. J. I would like to ask Mr. O what is the real reason why he continues to write the same repetitive nonsense every week, trying to promote himself as the most outstanding and authoritative individual on every sport.

Why are you checking every country the Presidents travelled to? Why do you always print the worst or celebrate when the Athletes do not bring a medal? Why do you always criticize the Associations? If you were the one who started them, shouldn’t you be happy that they were able to continue on after you abandoned them? I truly believe if you haven’t left an impact strong enough for an organization to continue on, then your work was in vain. No matter who presides over the Associations, you are critical and try your very best to discredit them.

Remember, Mr. O you had your chance, in 1977 and abandoned the ship just 8 months later, and led a life of criminal activity, so I would even like to say your words are hypocritical, when you are going to ask for investigation on Sports leaders, when you have done the most despicable crimes perpetrated on women. The world is so small now, nothing can be hidden, so persons wanting to find out the true story can Goggle your name in the Canadian Crime stories in 1978 and see Turks and Caicos 1st Director listed amongst the most sickening crimes ever perpetrated on individuals.

You are always saying that you took

the TCI to its first CARIFTA. Of course you trained the Team, however, you didn’t travel to the games that were held in Nassau, Bahamas. You travelled to the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Florida where 3 medals were won.

There you hired a Coach by the name of Brooks Johnson to accompany the Assistant Coaches, Thomas Swann and Rita Mills-Gardiner to take the Team to the CARIFTA Games.

I was a Government Representative on the Team at the time, so I know exactly what went down. On arriving at Sir Linden Pindling’s International Airport we were accosted by Police Officers, asking for the Coach. This was a scary moment for the Team and a total embarrassment for Turks and Caicos Islands on the first International championship.

We were soon to learn why we were met with such a welcome and why they were looking for Mr. O. He was a wanted man in the Bahamas. It became clear to me now, why Mr. O never wanted to venture out of the Turks and Caicos. When the country had to make a presentation to the IAAF Congress to obtain membership, the Director of Sports and TCI’s National Coach who claimed to have all the International Sporting experience and know-how should have led the delegation to the IAAF Congress, after all Mr. O claimed he was a Super Star in The Bahamas, (the one they were searching for, but the Star fled to Turks for refuge).

Mr. O sent Leslie Musgrove to represent the TCAAA and make the presentation on behalf of the Turks and Caicos for membership. Mr. Musgrove returned from the congress with good news, the Turks and Caicos gained membership and was now able to participate in all IAAF Championships, beginning with the 1978 CARIFTA Games. We ask the public at large to be the judge, who should get the recognition? Mr. Musgrove or Mr. O? Mr. O, I hate to burst your bubble yet again. You claim that you are the God Father of Track and Field in the Turks and Caicos and we knew nothing about the Sport. This is absurd and mere

Groups 1 & 2 of CFU Men’s Under 17 starts soon Groups 1 of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) 2014 Men’s Under 17 competition is set to be played from August 23 -27 on the grounds of the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex in Kingston, Jamaica, while Group 2 is scheduled to begin on August 20-24 at the Beausejour Cricket Ground, in St Lucia.

The teams in Group 1 are hosts Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Guadeloupe and the US Virgin Islands while in Group 2 the teams are Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and hosts St Lucia.

These teams will tussle for a place in the final rounds set to be played in September.

The two top teams from these Groups joins Barbados, Martinique and Cuba winners of Groups 3, 4 and 5 respectively at the finals.

rubbish.

Going back as far as I can remember, and I’m a 62 year old man, having run for my House Sports at the High School in Grand Turk, (now H.J. Robinson High). How do you think we got the names Woods, Crawfords, Sherlocks and Administrator.

These persons served us in the schools, Clergy and government from the 50’s and 60’s. I can recall running on the Parade Grounds and our times were just as good as some of the International Athletes of today. If anyone should lay claim to such a title, it should be some of these guys or Mr. Alfred Been, who was so instrumental in House Sports ensuring the children were fit and drinking their glucose and water for stamina and energy.

Do you know that a young teenager died running at the High School, he fell few times, but he was so bent on reaching the finish line that he stumbled and fell until he made it, that is how much Grand Turk Youths enjoyed the sport.

He suffered a heart attack and died later that night. Where were you at the time Mr. O? Promoting the Bahamas and disowning Turks as your place of birth?

Besides, forming the TCAAA with support from then Minister of Sports, Oswald Skippings and TCI’s first Chief Minister, JAGS McCartney, you along with founding members: Anita Smith, Lea Astwood, Leslie Musgrove, Oswald Williams, Hugh Wilson, Rita MillsGardiner, whom you selected as your Assistant Coach along with Thomas Swann, they along with the Public Works Engineer, Jim Lawlor assisted you with training.

Although, not a trained Coach, you were a very good one, had you not had a sick mind, you could have stayed in the country, I do believe Turks and Caicos would have been a power house in the area of Track and Field).

Your contribution was short lived (8 months), the country is sick and tired of hearing about what you did, and all about your participation in championships.

You did it for the Bahamas, we are not the Bahamas, it is time for you to let go Mr. O. You are never happy for the

Athletes when they do well, I have never heard you congratulated Delano for his outstanding contribution to this country, all you do is compare him with you.

Please do not even use these Athletes in the same sentence as you. It is wrong, YOU ARE NO ROLE MODEL, I would be damn if I would sit back knowing what I know of you and didn’t let the country know. It is disgusting that you continue to write in a National Newspaper fooling the public. The majority of persons in the islands do not know your background, but we in Grand Turk know exactly who you are and your background.

Are you asking for an investigation on these persons to take the focus off yourself. I’m sure you know that these persons are unpaid workers and thank God they are keeping the Associations going just to ensure the Youths participation Internationally. Not many people will take this kind of abuse, week in to week out. I do applaud their efforts and the Athletes owe them a debt of gratitude.

In your last column, you had the nerve to write that you have been free of crime and not got into any trouble in 20 years. What are you saying, that it is ok for what you did prior? Or are you too feeble to continue your trend on women?

I challenge you to come clean with the TCI public and let them know what you did to your Canadian wife and her Paraplegic Son at gun point?

I challenge you to tell the TCI people where were you following the 1978 Commonwealth Games, just to surface some 10 years later?

I challenge you to tell the TCI people why the women of Grand Turk feared you and only got relief once you were incarcerated.

I challenge you to tell the TCI people what you did to your Bahamian daughter, then flee to Haiti where you was in hiding for 5 years?

I’m still confused at how you can return to the country 5 years later and can walk Scott free? Is this justice when a warrant was out for your arrest? Please investigate this man who changed his name from Mr. O to Mr. J.

CFU MEN’S U-17 QUALIFIER

Match Day August 23 August 25 August 27

GROUP 1

Match No.

Team A

Team B

1

Guadeloupe

Cayman Islands

4:00PM

2

Jamaica

US Virgin Islands

7:00PM

3

US Virgin Islands

Guadeloupe

4:00PM

4

Jamaica

Cayman Islands

7:00PM

5

Cayman Islands

US Virgin Islands

4:00PM

6

Jamaica

Guadeloupe

7:00PM

CFU MEN’S U-17 QUALIFIER

Match Day August 20 August 22 August 24

Time

Venue ANTHONY SPAULDING SPORTS COMPLEX Jamaica

GROUP 2

Match No.

Team A

Team B

Time

1

Trinidad & Tobago

Grenada

6:00PM

2

St. Lucia

Curacao

8:00PM

3

Curacao

Trinidad & Tobago

6:00PM

4

St. Lucia

Grenada

8:00PM

5 6

Grenada St. Lucia

Curacao Trinidad & Tobago

6:00PM 8:00PM

Venue Beausejour Stadium

St. Lucia

Page 44

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

CARIBBEAN

SPORTS

Windies head coach Gibson and WICB sever ties

ST. JOHN’s, Antigua – Ottis Gibson’s tenure as head coach of the West Indies cricket team has ended, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) confirmed late Tuesday.

The statement, released by the board ending rampant speculation over Gibson’s future with the regional side, said both parties ‘mutually agreed’ to terminate their association with immediate effect.

Team Manager, Sir Richie Richardson, has been asked to take charge of the team on an interim basis for the series against Bangladesh starting in Grenada on Wednesday.

“Today the West Indies Cricket Board and Mr. Ottis Gibson mutually agreed to terminate their association with immediate effect,” said the short four line statement.

“The WICB wishes to express

its gratitude to Mr. Gibson for his unwavering commitment and professionalism during his tenure as the Coach of the West Indies team”.

Gibson became West Indies coach in early 2010, replacing John Dyson, after serving as England’s bowling coach.

West Indies have shown recent improvements under Gibson by winning the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.

Ottis Gibson, former head coach of the West Indies cricket team.

However the poor performances that have followed including losing the recent series in the Caribbean to New Zealand have triggered fresh speculation over his future as head coach of WICB. “On behalf of the Board and West Indies cricket as a whole we express our gratitude to Ottis for his work, particularly in coaching the team to winning the ICC World Twenty20

Desmond Haynes eyes Pollard as future Windies captain

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – West Indies legend Desmond Haynes earmarked Kieron Pollard as a possible West Indies captain in the shorter forms of the game.

The former Barbados captain and West Indies opener was mentor of the Barbados Tridents which won the Caribbean Premier League on Saturday following a rainstorm that disrupted the Final at Warner Park.

“Last year, when I was coach, we started by winning four or five games, but we didn’t do very well moving towards the end,” said Haynes in an interview with the Cricket Country website.

“But this year, we have been more consistent at the back-end of the tournament. I think it is because of Kieron Pollard’s captaincy as well.

“He is one guy who would try a lot of things on the ground. He has shown great leadership and hopefully, I would like to see him being the captain of the West Indies at some stage.”

Haynes formed one of the most durable opening partnerships in the history of the game with fellow Barbadians Gordon Greenidge.

He said he would have relished the opportunity to play Twenty20 and felt his generation of West Indies players would have mastered the format – but he was happy with his role on the

Keiron Pollard periphery of the game.

“It has been a great experience,” he said. “My role as mentor is to ensure that I assist in any way possible and to discuss how to play the shortest version of the game. I didn’t play T20 cricket, but I have been very successful as a one-day cricketer.

“I know what it is to play the short version of the game and believe that the guys are learning from my experience and used it to the best of their abilities.”

He said: “You’ve got this Barbados Tridents side with some young Barbadians, who would have heard of me and know my role, and you have the internationals as well.

“We have had a very good relationship and that is also because of some good work by our coach here, Robin Singh.”

Tridents captured the CPL tile by eight runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method, after the weather interrupted Guyana Amazon Warriors’ run chase.

in 2012, and offer our best wishes to him in all his future endeavours,” the release quoted WICB Chief Executive Officer Michael Muirhead as saying.

West Indies play Bangladesh at the Grenada national stadium on Wednesday in the first of three One-Day International matches.

The two sides are also due to play two test matches and one T20 fixture.

Sluggish Usain Bolt wins 100 metre RIO DE JANEIRO – Usain Bolt won a 100-metre race on a Rio de Janeiro beach with a time of 10.06 seconds today.

Bolt cruised to victory on a four-lane standard running track set up on Leme beach.

The Jamaican easily beat Mark Lewis-Francis of Britain, Jefferson Liberato Lucindo of Brazil and Wallace Spearmon of the United States.

Downplaying his win, Bolt said he felt “sluggish” and that his final time was compromised by “a poor start”. He expects to do better “in a couple of races”.

It was Bolt’s first 100-metre race of the year.

Brazilian Rosangela Santos won the women’s race in 11.33 seconds, beating Jamaican Schillonie Calvert and threetime Olympic medallist Carmelita Jeter of the United States, who holds the secondfastest time in history with 10.64. Fellow American Cleo VanBuren finished fourth.

Former West Indies cricketer charged with incest granted bail

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – A former West indies cricketer will reappear in court on September 15 after he was granted the Trinidad equivalent to US$47,326 bail on a charge of incest.

The Trinidad Guardian reports that “the 38-year-old appeared before magistrate Siumungal Ramsaran charged

with the offence allegedly committed against his 12-year-old daughter on July 8.”

The former cricketer cannot be identified because it could reveal the identity of the alleged victim in contravention of the Trinidad & Tobago Sexual Offences Act.

The accused, who also represented Trinidad and Tobago, was arrested at his home last Friday and appeared before Magistrate Seemungal Ramsaran on Monday where the indictable charge was read out. He was not required to enter a plea.

According to the Trinidad Guardia,

the Trinidad police reported the man’s daughter told her mother she was at home with her father when he forced himself on her.

The prosecution had objected to bail on the grounds that the accused was a flight risk and the magistrate ordered that his passport be seized as a condition of bail.

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

WORLD

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 45

SPORTS Athens Olympics leave mixed legacy, 10 years later

ATHENS, Greece – In an obscure corner of a park sits a forlorn reminder that, 10 years ago, Athens hosted the 2004 Summer Olympics. The crumbling miniature theater is inscribed with the words “glory, wealth, wisdom, victory, triumph, hero, labor” – and it is where visiting Olympic officials planted an olive sapling that would bear their names for posterity.

Once a symbol of pomp, the marble theater is now an emblem of pointless waste in a venture that left a mixed legacy: a brand-new subway, airport and other vital infrastructure that significantly improved everyday life in a city of 4 million, set against scores of decrepit sports venues built in a mad rush to meet deadlines – with little thought for post-Olympic use.

As Greece groans under a cruel economic depression, questions linger of whether the Athens Games were too ambitious an undertaking for a weak economy. While economists agree it would be unfair to blame the meltdown on the 17-day Games, the post-Olympic era is seen as a decade

The abandoned beach volleyball Olympic venue is seen in Neo Faliro, southern Athens. As Greece groans under a cruel depression, forecast to end this year, the 10-year anniversary once again raises the question of whether the Athens Games were too costly an undertaking for a weak economy.

“We didn’t take advantage of this of lost opportunities – including failure to significantly boost the country’s dynamic that we got in 2004,” said sporting culture. It’s a lesson to which former Olympic weightlifting champion Brazil may pay heed, as it races to Pyrros Dimas, a Greek sporting hero complete projects ahead of the 2016 turned Socialist member of Parliament.

“We simply made the biggest mistake Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Mario Balotelli: Liverpool agree £16m fee for AC Milan striker

Liverpool have agreed a £16m fee with AC Milan to sign former Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli.

Reds boss Brendan Rodgers wants the Italy international, 24, to strengthen his attack after last season’s top scorer Luis Suarez joined Barcelona.

Balotelli moved to Milan for £19m from City last year and has scored 30 goals in 54 games for the Serie A club.

Liverpool travel to Etihad Stadium in their next Premier League match on Monday.

Negotiations are still taking place to agree terms with the player, but Balotelli has already said his farewells in Italy.

Milan said in a statement on their website: “Mario Balotelli left Milanello’s sporting centre at 13:30 local time, after saying goodbye to his team-mates.

“Before leaving the premises, the striker has said goodbye to members of Milan’s press office.”

Balotelli was a big hit with City supporters during his first spell in England, helping the club win a first league title since 1968.

But he was also in the headlines for several off-the-pitch incidents - including a training-ground bust-up with thenmanager Roberto Mancini.

In his second season in Manchester, he scored only three goals in 20 games.

The striker agreed a four-and-a-halfyear deal with Milan in January 2013, and played for Italy at the World Cup in Brazil.

He was heavily linked with Arsenal earlier in the summer, but after bringing in Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona for £35m, Arsene Wenger ruled out signing another forward.

Liverpool have so far brought in only one frontman for the new campaign, signing Rickie Lambert from

Former Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli.

Southampton for £4m.

The Reds paid £10m for Lille’s Belgium striker Divock Origi, 19, but have loaned him back to the French club for the season.

With doubts surrounding the future of Fabio Borini, who remains a target for Sunderland, Rodgers is keen to add to his forward line.

“I do still think we need another striker,” he said after Liverpool began their Premier League campaign with a 2-1 victory over Southampton.

“It is something that we will look at, but it will depend on the availability of one.

“We will search through to the end of the transfer window.”

AC Milan endured a difficult campaign last season, finishing eighth in Serie A and failing to qualify for Europe.

Balotelli would be guaranteed Champions League football at Liverpool, who finished runners-up to City in the Premier League last term.

in our history: We switched off, locked up the stadiums, let them fall to pieces, and everything finished there.”

“We spent a lot of money for some projects (that) are shut and rotting,” said Dimas, who won his last Olympic medal in an Athens arena now reinvented as a lecture and conference venue. “There were projects that should have cost 2 and 3 million (euros) and suddenly became so big that they cost 13 and 14 million. There was no control.”

The latest government estimate sets the final cost of the Games at 8.5 billion euros, double the original budget but a drop in the ocean of the country’s subsequent 320 billion-euro debt, which spun out of control after 2008. Former organizing committee chief Gianna Angelopoulos has commissioned the first independent survey of the Olympics’ overall economic effect. It will aim to weigh Olympic overspend and waste against a possible boost to the crucial tourism industry – arrivals have almost doubled since 2004, from 11.7 to 20.1 million – foreign investment and employment.

UEFA fines Ukrainian club Dnipro for hooliganism

NYON, Switzerland — UEFA has fined Ukrainian club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 50,000 euros ($66,500) for the hooligan behavior of its fans during a Champions League qualifying match against FC Copenhagen.

UEFA says Dnipro will play a home Champions League or Europa League match in an empty stadium if crowd trouble is repeated within two years.

The deferred sanction clears Dnipro to have fans when it hosts Hajduk Split in the Europa League.

Dnipro is playing in Kiev because UEFA judged Dnipropetrovsk in eastern Ukraine to be unsafe to host matches.

Copenhagen fans were attacked by Dnipro fans during a match on July 30.

The second half kickoff was delayed by 15 minutes.

The Danish club denied claims that its fans provoked trouble by displaying a Russian flag.

FIFA rejects Barcelona appeal against transfer ban

ZURICH – Barcelona will be barred from signing any players in 2015 after FIFA rejected the club’s appeal against a one-year ban for breaching transfer regulations.

FIFA said Wednesday that its appeal committee confirmed that the signing of 10 players to Barcelona’s renowned La Masia program violated rules designed to prevent child trafficking.

Because the Spanish giants launched an appeal against the punishment in April, the ban was temporarily lifted during the current transfer window, which closes on September 1.

That allowed Barcelona to spend around $240 million strengthening during the offseason, with Uruguay

striker Luis Suarez the headline signing from Liverpool.

A fine of 450,000 Swiss francs ($494,000) was also imposed on Barcelona, which was given 90 days by FIFA “to regularize the situation of all minor players concerned.”

Barcelona said it would appeal against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, calling the FIFA ruling “an affront to the spirit of our Masia, a world renowned example of academic, human and sporting education.”

The Spanish Football Federation was also found to have violated FIFA rules covering the registration of minors. Its appeal against a fine of 500,000 Swiss francs ($565,500) was also rejected.

Page 46

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

WORLD SPORTS

99-year-old sprinter from New York sets world record

Ida Keeling from New York City achieved the feat on Tuesday at the Gay Games in Akron, Ohio.

Phelps impresses in first international comeback race

Michael Phelps made an ominous return to international competition on Friday, qualifying for the final of the 100 meters freestyle at the Pan Pacific championships at Australia’s Gold Coast.

Taking on the world’s best sprinters in an event he rarely competed in even at his peak, Phelps won his heat and touched the wall in 48.45 seconds.

His time was third fastest overall, just behind the reigning Olympic champion Nathan Adrian (48.05) and the two-time world champion James Magnussen (48.25), but was still the talk of the pool deck on a rainy morning.

Still in the early stages of his comeback after he retired following the 2012 London Olympics, Phelps has struggled to get back to his best and pulled out of the 200m freestyle and 100m backstroke heats on Thursday.

And although he is not expected to keep up with Adrian and Magnussen in the final, his eyepopping performance was the best sign yet that he is on track to make a big splash at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“I am excited to get that out of the way and hopefully race faster,” Phelps told reporters.

“We were working on just the stroke and today I was saying my stroke felt easier than it normally had so I guess that’s a good thing.

“The first 50 felt really good and I knew I had to win that heat if I wanted a chance to swim in the final.”

Ohio, Akron – Even the USA Track and Field East Akron Beacon Journal). “I said, ‘Mama, you had four kids, but though Ida Keeling came in Regional Championships.)

Ida, standing 4 feet 6 and I only have one mother. You’re last place in the 100 meter race on August 12th, 2014, she weighing 83 pounds, started coming out with me.’ I wasn’t took first place in the record competitive running at age sure if it would work, but I books. The 99-year-old great- 67 to help deal with grief over knew I had to try something.”

Keeling lives by herself in a great-grandmother from New losing her two sons from drugstudio apartment and uses the York finished the 100-meter related homicides.

“I was so depressed, and gym twice a week in addition race Tuesday with a time of 59.8 seconds, becoming the my daughter wanted to take to running and yoga, according first woman in the 95-99 age me on a mini run,” Keeling to the Akron Beacon Journal. group to have completed the said before the race (via the Shelley, 63, is a real estate event in an internationally Akron Beacon Journal). “After investor who coaches track at certified race, according to her it was finished, I felt relaxed Fieldston School in the Bronx.

Ida turns 100 on May 15 and relieved.” daughter, Shelley Keeling.

“She was sinking deeper and and hopes to set a new record (In June 2012, Ida, then 97, ran the 100-meter in 51.85 at deeper,” Shelley said (via the in the 100 and older age group.

Ex-CEO Ballmer quits Microsoft board to focus on NBA’s Clippers Former Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has left the software company’s board in order to spend more time on his newly acquired Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, but said he plans to hang on to his 4 percent stake in Microsoft.

“I see a combination of the Clippers, civic contribution, teaching and study taking a lot of time,” Ballmer said in a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made public by Microsoft on Tuesday.

“The fall will be hectic between teaching a new class and the start of the NBA season so my departure from the board is effective immediately,” he wrote.

Ballmer, 58, paid an NBA-record $2 billion for the Clippers. On Monday he greeted several thousand fans gathered at the team’s Staples Center home with the trademark screams that punctuated employee meetings at Microsoft.

His exit marks the end of a 34-year association with the company that led the personal computer revolution.

Ballmer joined Bill Gates’ firm in 1980 when it was just a small startup in the Seattle suburbs, and succeeded him as CEO from 2000 until this February.

His decision to step down from the board is not surprising after 12 months of change at the head of the 39-year old software giant. It avoids potential board tension between Microsoft’s new leader and the old regime, as Nadella attempts to move the company away from its traditional PC-focused mindset toward mobile computing.

“It removes the final ‘Ballmer

Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer at fan fest at Staples Center.

As Gates sells shares to fund his overhang’ at Microsoft,” said FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives philanthropy, Ballmer has become of Ballmer’s exit. “His resignation the biggest individual shareholder in from the board represents a positive, Microsoft, owning a 4 percent stake as it leaves the company with a clean worth about $15 billion.

“I hold more Microsoft shares than sheet of paper.”

A year ago this week Ballmer anyone other than index funds and announced his plan to retire from love the mix of profits, investments Microsoft, amid discontent over and dividends returned in our stock,” his leadership fueled by activist Ballmer said in his letter to Nadella.

“I expect to continue holding that shareholder ValueAct Capital.

That caused five months of position for the foreseeable future.”

Microsoft shares closed up 50 cents uncertainty at the top of Microsoft until Feb. 4, when veteran insider at $45.33 on Nasdaq. They are up 40 Nadella was appointed CEO and percent since Ballmer said he planned co-founder Gates stepped down as to retire, and are trading at levels not seen since the tech stock boom of 2000. chairman.

Djokovic, Federer favoured for grand slam sequel Top seed Novak Djokovic and number two Roger Federer are favoured to wage another title showdown in the last grand slam of 2014, although some emerging young guns have other ideas for the U.S. Open starting on Monday.

Djokovic and Federer’s path to a championship clash could be less troubled than usual with the absence of last year’s winner Rafa Nadal due to a wrist injury, and the subpar form of 2012 champion Andy Murray since last year’s

back surgery.

If the leading men star in the Arthur Ashe Stadium final, it would provide a sequel to their five-set thriller at the All England Club in which a teary-eyed Djokovic hoisted the Wimbledon trophy.

Both claim to be overdue for another taste of triumph at Flushing Meadows.

Djokovic counts just one U.S. title (2011) in his haul of seven grand slams despite reaching the Flushing Meadows final in each of the last four years and five times

overall.

Federer, 33, has five successive U.S. Open crowns from 2004 but has gone without since.

He extended his grand slam title record collection to 17 by winning the 2012 Wimbledon, which stands as his only slam triumph in his last 18 tries.

Lying in wait for another chance to spring a surprise and trumpet their arrival on the main stage are promising players who made a big splash in London.

Seeded fifth is hardserving Canadian Milos Raonic, a Wimbledon semifinalist along with fellow 23-year-old Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, seeded seventh in Flushing Meadows, where girlfriend Maria Sharapova will likely be seen cheering him on.

Also hoping to follow up the fireworks he set off at the last major is 19-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios, who ousted Nadal in the fourth round before falling to Raonic in the quarters at Wimbledon.

Among the veterans, Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland is seeded third ahead of Spaniard David Ferrer, with Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic at number six, two places ahead of Murray, who has shown hints of a return to form of late.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who beat Federer in the Rogers Cup final in Toronto, holds the ninth seed while Japan’s Kei Nishikori rounds out the top 10 seeds.

AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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AUGUST 23RD - AUGUST 30TH, 2014

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