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Saturday October 15, 2016
Kaieteur News
Online passport applications soon The Ministry of Public Telecommunications will be collaborating with the Ministry of Citizenship to make a more effective passport application system. Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes, told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) would be used to make the process easier and faster. Hughes said that the ministries are working together to get to the stage where persons would not only have the passport forms but would be able to fill it up online and then the staff at the Passport Office would be able to view that form to ensure all the necessary information is provided. The Minister noted that improvements to the system will fast tract the process and the waiting time would be reduced. “The end result is that the whole process that you would have had to come down to the passport office, line up, take a number and sit there for five hours. Not forgetting that unfortunately we have people not from Georgetown but as we saw
US embassy working with Jamaica to curb financial crimes
Minister Cathy Hughes recently people from Berbice, Essequibo, that come down and waste all those hours waiting to be able to get there to hand over their form,” Minister Hughes explained. Hughes said that part of her Ministry’s vision, is to set up a system where more of the stages for the passport application can be done online which would allow for less time spent at the passport office. Earlier in the year Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, announced that passport services would be decentralised to Linden, while services in Anna Regina and New Amsterdam would com-
Government has announced plans to have passport applications completed online. Luis Moreno mence soon. Information from the Ministry of Citizenship stated that citizens in these locations can apply for renewals of passports and uplift them in the regions. First time applicants would have to travel to Georgetown. The Ministry of Public Telecommunications was established in January 2016 with a mission to have a strategic placement of ICT in Guyana’s development agenda.
Trump vows to stay in race after calls for him to quit over lewd remarks Reuters - U.S. Presidential nominee Donald Trump vowed yesterday to remain in the race even as his campaign was thrown into crisis as his own running mate criticized him and some prominent Republicans withdrew support and urged him to drop out following news of a recording of him making lewd comments in 2005. Trump told the Wall Street Journal yesterday morning “zero chance I’ll quit.” He also told The Washington Post he may deliver a speech Saturday afternoon to address concern among supporters and reiterate his determination to stay in the race. In an unusual move, vice presidential running mate Mike Pence issued a critical statement, posting on the social media website Twitter that he cannot defend the nominee. “As a husband and father, I was offended by the words and actions described by Donald Trump in the elevenyear-old video released yesterday,” Pence, who is governor of Indiana, said in a statement. “I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them.”
Donald Trump
A hastily recorded apology by Trump early yesterday morning did not stymie an avalanche of calls from members of his party to quit. At least three Republican members of the Senate announced they will not vote for him and former rival Carly Fiorina called on him to withdraw. The 2005 video of Trump talking on an open microphone showed the then-reality TV star speaking openly about groping women and trying to seduce a married woman. The video was taped only months after Trump mar-
ried his third wife, Melania. Trump quickly moved to conduct damage control in yesterday’s video in which he declared himself a changed man and attempted to shift the focus to his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. He threatened, again, to focus his attacks on the infidelities of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, saying he would talk more about the pasts of both Clintons with only a month until the Nov. 8 election. Trump has dismissed questions about his own marital infidelities as irrelevant. Trump took to Twitter yesterday morning, seeming to make light of the controversy by posting: “Certainly has been an interesting 24 hours!”
KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — United States ambassador to Jamaica, Luis Moreno, says the US Mission in Jamaica is working closely with local stakeholders to curb financial crimes and boost regulatory compliance of financial institutions. This is in response to the threat of international correspondent banks cutting ties with local and regional financial institutions in a move to eliminate risk of crimes such as money laundering, fraud and terrorism financing. Moreno, addressing the final day of the fifth AntiMoney Laundering/CounterFinancing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Conference in Kingston on Tuesday, said his Mission recognises the critical nature of correspondent banking relationships to the local economy. As such, he said the Embassy is seeking to help local partners build capacity, increase transparency and comply with the regulatory framework of the US. “We have mutual interest in fighting the scourge. We are partners in this effort; and together, through more dialogue and action, we can combat money laundering
and the financing of terrorism without sacrificing the important correspondent banking relationships,” Moreno said. He noted that the US Embassy has offered training in best practices to law-enforcement, prosecutors and other stakeholders on how to combat financial crimes. They also provide training to investigators at the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) and the Financial Investigations Division (FID) and help in criminal investigations that lead to money-laundering charges. Moreno said the Embassy has also trained regulators in non-financial sectors, such as realtors, accountants and attorneys, as well as professionals from the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission and the Casino Gaming Commission in developing sound practices to ensure risk of money laundering and terrorism financing are understood, identified and reported. “We work with our counterparts, law enforcement and regulatory, to develop and share money-laundering and terrorism-financing
methods and trends,” he said. The US Embassy also has an ongoing Jamaica Operations Linked to Telemarketing (JOLT) Task Force designed to facilitate identification, investigation and prosecution of telemarketers who victimise US and Jamaican citizens. “Deficiencies in antimoney laundering and counter-financing of terrorism are a few drivers of de-risking that jurisdictions can address. It is essential that countries and their financial institutions work to improve their controls, and it’s also important that they publicise the efforts in an increasingly riskaverse economic climate,” he said. He said the US government is working to develop appropriate policy responses to advance the objective of combating financial crimes, while also providing and promoting financial inclusion. Correspondent banking involves a bank in one country facilitating certain services for a financial institution in another country, including wire transfers, business transactions, deposits and gathering of documents. Over the last five years, a number of international banks have restricted or ended their relationship with the region due to concerns about money laundering, fraud and terrorist financing. The two-day conference, to facilitate discussion on strengthening compliance, was hosted by the Jamaica Bankers Association (JBA) and the Jamaica Institute of Financial Services (JIFS), under the theme ‘Understanding our obligations… Safeguarding our Future’.
Barbados Govt. prepared to ease ganja restrictions One day after Prime Minister Freundel Stuart told church leaders the “nefarious” illegal drug – as well as firearms – trade was “haunting” the country and threatening the very safety and security of the Barbadian family, it emerged yesterday that Government was examining the possible use of marijuana for medical purposes. Senior Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George revealed at a conference on the availability and rational use of opioids that the Ministry of Health was undertaking research into the use of medical marijuana in palliative care.
Dr George told the gathering hosted by the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care, the ministry was collecting “evidence” for use of the drug as a remedy against pain for patients suffering from chronic diseases and cancer. “The Ministry of Health is currently gathering the evidence with respect to marijuana use in well-defined clinical situations that will include assisting persons in pain management for cancers and chronic degenerative diseases,” he told the medical practitioners and pharmacists gathered at the Hilton Barba-
dos Resort. The senior medical official said Barbados has been the primary supplier of opioids to Eastern Caribbean countries, and he argued that the use of such drugs, as well as painkillers, was a pivotal part of the palliative process. “Although the majority of patients with cancer have pain, proper use of opioids and adjuvant drugs can provide adequate relief in most cases. Opioids are the mainstay of pain control in patients with advanced disease, and they are effective in treating most types of pain,” he explained.