VOLUME 9 ISSUE 43

DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

Website: www.suntci.com

VOLUME 9 - No. 43

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RICHIE TO PAY $1.3MILLION

But former Director of Planning Clyde Robinson wins his case

BY HAYDEN BOYCE PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

A

Turks and Caicos Islands Supreme Court judge who handed down judgments in two separate high-profile land-flipping cases last week, ordered the former pilot of ex-Premier Michael Misick to pay US$1.3million to Government, but she dismissed another civil law suit which the Attorney General brought against a former senior Government official who also sold Crown land to owners of a luxury tourism development here.

The rulings by Madame Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale were in relation to the sale of prime pieces of beach-front real estate which popular pilot Richardson Arthur and former Director of Planning Clyde Robinson acquired from the Government at concessionary rates and then sold at handsome profits to companies owned

by Stan Hartling, to form part of his Shore Club condominium/hotel development, construction of which is expected to start early next year.

The Attorney General’s Chambers alleged that there were several irregularities surrounding the land sales and brought civil action against Arthur, and jointly against Robinson and his former wife Ms. Susannah Bishop.

British Queen’s Counsel David Phillips, Patrick Patterson and Rowan Cosgrove represented the Crown in the Arthur matter, while Ariel Misick, QC, and his son Jahmal Misick were the lawyers for Arthur and Robinson. Steven Thompson appeared for Bishop.

The claim against Arthur, who now owns his own airline Cai-

cos Express, stemmed from a series of transactions concerning a piece of land that was first leased to him under the terms and conditions of a Conditional Purchase Lease (CPL), then sold to him without any restrictions for $50,000 and immediately sold on by him to one of Hartling’s companies called “172 Limited” for

the sum of $1.35 million to form part of the proposed Shore Club Development.

The proceedings against Robinson arise from a series of land transactions in 2007 in which 1.4 acres of Crown land in Long Bay Hills in Providenciales was purchased for $70,000 by Mr. Robinson, at the time the Director of

Planning in the Ministry of Natural Resources, then transferred for no consideration to his former wife Susannah Bishop, who then sold it on to Wawa Co. Ltd., a company owned by property developer Stan Hartling, for the sum of $1.5 million, also to form part of his proposed Shore Club Development.

Grace Bay wins World’s Best Beach

Outrage over jailing of 11-year-old boy

Fines for litterbugs

Piper and Richie respond to court and AG

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

RICHIE TO PAY $1.3MILLION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The Crown’s position was that Arthur was at the time a member of the Board of the Turks and Caicos Investment Agency (“TCInvest”) and pilot for Michael Misick, then Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands and that because of his relationship to members of Misick’s Cabinet, then Minister of Natural Resources, McAllister Hanchell, granted Arthur a residential CPL of the Land at a gross undervalue and later allowed him to acquire the Freehold Title with no restrictions although he was in beach of the terms of the CPL, in order to facilitate the onward sale of the Land to Mr. Hartling.

The Crown alleged that in so doing, Mr. Hanchell acted in breach of his fiduciary duty to the Crown and that Arthur had such knowledge as to make it unconscionable for him to have purchased the Land.

According to Madame Justice Ramsay-Hale’s 16-page judgment, the Crown alleged that Mr. Hanchell breached his fiduciary duty to act in its best interest by directing the grant of a CPL of land valued at $520,000 for residential use to Mr. Arthur for $200,000 on the basis of an out of date valuation and in later allowing him to purchase the Freehold at a further unwarranted discounted price of $50,000 for the purpose of selling it on to Mr. Hartling for $1.35 million.

According to the judgment: “The essence of a fiduciary’s obligation is that he can act only in the interests of the person to whom he owes the duty. His duty is one of undivided loyalty. If Mr Hanchell acted in the matter of the transfer of the Land to Mr. Arthur for an improper purpose or intending to prefer Mr. Arthur’s interests to those of the Crown, then he acted in breach of his duty of loyalty to the Crown. Having considered all the evidence, I am satisfied and find that in directing that an out-ofdate valuation be used, Mr Hanchell breached his fiduciary duty by preferring Mr. Arthur’s interests to that of the Crown, the Crown’s interest being that Crown Land be disposed of at its open market value and discounted under the Crown Land Policy only when leased to a Belanger under the terms of a CPL. I am also satisfied that in approving the transfer of the Freehold to Mr. Arthur other than under the terms and conditions of a CPL, the Minister exceeded his delegated authority to transfer Crown land and abused his position in order to convey the Freehold title to Mr. Arthur. Mr. Misick’s submitted in closing that the Crown Land Policy envisaged that all Crown Land sales should take place on CPL terms and that if the terms were breached, the purchaser would either be required to refund the discount or the land revert to the TCIG for resale. In the circumstances, it would not have been a breach of the Minister’s duty to transfer the freehold and require repayment of the discount. I cannot accept this submission. There was no determination by anyone that Mr. Arthur was in breach of the terms of the CPL and he had never acquired the freehold subject to the CPL restrictions so there was no discount for him to refund. Further, the Cabinet Minute makes it clear that the Minister’s delegated authority was limited to approving transfers under and in terms of CPL ‘s and offer letters

and did not extend to approving outright transfers for value.”

“Even if I were wrong, and it was within his delegated power, the approval of the transfer was for an improper purpose as it was not intended to empower Mr. Arthur as a Belonger by giving him access to land at a preferential price for his own use for residential purposes as prescribed by the Crown Land policy, but was an outright disposal contrary to the Policy to allow him to capitalise on the purchase of residential land by selling it on for commercial development without the knowledge and approval of Cabinet.

Arthur denied any wrongdoing and asserted that at the time he applied for the CPL of the Land he was not speculating but wanted the land bona fide for his own use. He said in his defence that he was later persuaded by then Minister of Finance, Floyd Hall, to sell the property to Hartling as the government wanted to facilitate the proposed development of the Shore Club as being in the public interest.

The judge stated that Arthur knew he had applied for, and been granted, a CPL of Crown land and that the Minister had power to grant him the Freehold Title under the terms of that CPL and also knew that the Freehold was being transferred to him otherwise than under the terms of the CPL and for a price which was $150,000 less than the Freehold price at which he had been offered the land .

The judge said: “On the facts of this case I am bound to conclude that even if Mr. Hanchell had apparent authority to approve the transfer of the Freehold without restriction, Mr. Arthur’s belief that he was entitled to do so at an unexplained undervalue of $50000 to facilitate a sale by him for $1.35 million was not rational as there was no good reason for the Minister to do so.

It could hardly have been in the interest of the TCIG for the Minister to secure for the benefit of a third party a windfall profit from the sale of its land at an undervalue. In the absence of any explanation the transaction was obviously improper. Not only was there no good reason for the price of the Freehold to have been reduced to $50,000 there was in my judgment no good reason for the Minister to transfer the Land to Mr. Arthur - if the government had indeed determined it was in the national interest to sell the land to Hartling for commercial development -as he had not performed the building covenants under the CPL or purchased the Freehold. The facts lead to the ready inference that he knew the transfer to him on those terms was wrong.”

In the course of her jugdment , Madame Justice Ramsay-Hale said that Arthur was, on his own evidence, a businessman and a pilot and he accepted that he was an intelligent professional man who was a former member of the Board of TCInvest which undertook significant work in the public interest.

She continued: “Having considered his evidence and the forgoing matters in particular, I say that I am satisfied on a balance that he was very much aware when he received that letter from Mr Hanchell (offering him the Freehold without restrictions for $50,000) that the market value of the Freehold had been wrongly stated.

On the question of the Ministers’ proposal to transfer the Freehold to him so he could sell it on to Mr. Hartling,

he said that he didn’t think anything was wrong with it as the Government wanted to facilitate the Shore Club development as in the national interest but was unable to sell the land directly to Mr. Hartling as he had leasehold title to the Land.

“Mr. (Ariel) Misick submits that it cannot be said that Mr. Arthur’s receipt was unconscionable on the basis of the direction by the Minister to apply an out of date valuation to the land as he was entirely unaware that of itWith respect to the Minister’s decision to transfer the Freehold title free and clear of restrictions to facilitate the proposed Shore Club development, Mr. (Ariel) Misick submits that no-one in Mr. Arthur’s position would question the Minister’s authority to do so but would proceed on the assumption that the Minister who says this Land is needed for commercial development in the interests of the country was authorised to make such a decision. In the result, Mr. Arthur was entitled to rely on the Minister’s ostensible authority to transfer the land to him. Finally, he says with respect to the $50,000, there was no breach of duty and therefore no unconscionable receipt.

“I do not think it can be right to divide the transaction into its separate parts as Mr. Misick has done and say that Mr Arthur didn’t know of the first undervaluation of the Land and the second was a mistake so he didn’t have knowledge of the relevant breach of fiduciary duty. The Court must look at Mr. Arthur’s knowledge of the transaction in the round and when I do so, I am unable to accept the proposition implicit in Mr. Misick’s submissions that Mr. Arthur could acquire the unrestricted Freehold Title to the Land for $50,000 which on his own knowledge was valued at $200,000 so that he could at the instigation of the Minister sell it on for $1.35 million and not know or be on inquiry that the Minister was doing something wrong because he didn’t know that the $200,000 was itself an undervaluation.”

The Judge concluded: “Any person who takes receipt of trust property, except a bona fide purchaser for value, takes it subject to the trust. The third party recipient of property transferred in breach of fiduciary duty is either liable to restore the property to the beneficiary if it is still in his hands or is personally liable to account to the beneficiary for the value of property received. I enter judgment for the Plaintiff in the sum of $1.35 million for which Mr. Arthur sold the Land less the sum of $200,000 which he has already paid to the TCIG, with pre-judgment interest on that sum from 20 March 2008.”

In relation to Robinson, Madame Justice Ramsay-Hale found that former Minister Hanchell had breached his fiduciary duty in directing that land be leased and later sold to Mr Robinson at an undervalue, but that Robinson was unaware of the Minister’s breach.

The Crown’s case against Robinson was that after he got a grant of a CPL for $280,000, Robinson got a valuation for $1.5million for commercial use and should have known that something was wrong with the price at which he had been offered the Land and that the Minister was in breach of his duty in offering Land to him at that price. But the value of the Land was stated in a memo by Director of

Lands and Surveys and referred to valuation done by Hoza which had been copied to Mr. Robinson and there was no reason for Robinson not to accept Charles’ advice or to know or suspect that after that memo , Mr Hoza had valued the land at the substantially greater value of $750,000 and that the Minister had directed that the earlier valuation be used.

Further, given that another piece of Land owned in same area of Long Bay by Robinson was valued comparably by the Crown at the time, objectively there was no basis for saying he ought to have known that the value put on Land was wrong or that the undervalue had been at the direction of the Minister.

The Crown alleged in the alternative that that Robinson was also a fiduciary and had breached his duty to the TCIG by failing to inform them of the possibility that the value which had been placed on the land was wrong, but the Judge found he was not a fiduciary and was not responsible for dispositions of Crown Land or for valuations and therefore had no duty to inform the TCIG of the valuation he had received.

The judge stated: “I am not persuaded that Mr. Robinson owed the Crown any relevant fiduciary duty. He was not concerned with valuations or allocations of land or the transfer of Freehold Titles under the Crown Land Policy. He dealt with issues of planning. The seniority of his post could not fix him with a greater fiduciary obligation than that which arose out of his contract of employment with the Crown. Simply put, Mr. Robinson as an employee was not a fiduciary in relation to Crown Land or any other assets of the Crown-including information which did not form part of his duties. The disposition of Crown Land not being one of his duties, if he benefits from a disposal of Crown Land in his favour he does not breach any fiduciary duty owed by virtue of his office. As an employee, I am satisfied and find that he was not required to pursue his employer’s interests at the expense of his own and disclose that he had received a valuation for the Land which was greater than the stated open market value at which the Land was offered to him.

The claim of knowing receipt on the ground that Mr. Robinson breached a fiduciary obligation owed to the Crown by virtue of his office in accepting a transfer of the freehold Title to the Land on the ground that he knew or ought to have known that the Land had been offered to him at an undervalue is not made out. The claim of knowing receipt on the ground that he failed to alert the Crown in breach of that duty to the possibility that the Land was being disposed of at an undervalue is also not made out.”

The other causes of action against Robinson, of unjust enrichment and deceit also failed.

Finally the Crown alleged that Mr Robinson evaded Stamp Duty on the transfer of the land between his wife and himself which was stated as being for Love and Affection.

The Judge said she would have found that the transfer was chargeable to stamp duty as a voluntary disposition inter vivos but dismissed the claim as it had been brought by the AG on behalf of the Crown and not on behalf of the Collector of Stamp Duty as required by the Stamp Duty Ordinance.

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DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

THE CASE AGAINST FCO’S SIPT, AND ITS INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

BY JONATHAN FORBES

W

hile Turks and Caicos Islands residents now realize that British technocrats have plundered millions from the treasury, the truly unforgivable sin is the lost opportunities in having the country in stasis for four years, along with the human toll of having an all-white and racist European prosecuting team selecting who to prosecute, in a predominantly Afro-Caribbean society, under the thumb of Helen Garlic’s SIPT. This latter travesty, which has ensnared a generation of successful Belongers, has been the subject of infrequent public comment, although negative sentiment is widespread.

On 24 January 2013 Professor Trevor Munroe, the Executive Director of Jamaica’s National Integrity Action (NIA) group, wrote to then TCI Governor Todd about shortcomings in the rule of law in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and what his group said was the “uneven application of the law”.

His concern was the deals that were hatched with white developers and businessmen while others were being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Munroe’s letter was answered, but his concerns were given scant attention.

Almost six months after Munroe’s letter, a Caribbean Community (“CARICOM”) Ministerial fact finding mission to the Turks and Caicos Islands, headed by eminent members of that important regional body, published its findings on 11 July 2013. The group found widespread sentiments that: (1) the SIPT’s investigation and prosecutions have created a climate of fear, that they have the country on pause, that the prosecutions have destroyed reputations, and that (2) no regional persons are on the SIPT, giving the impression that it is intended to treat Belongers as crooks and target only Islanders for prosecution, that (3) justice is for sale to foreigners while locals face criminal charges and jail time, that (4) there is a complete disconnect between the TCI and British narratives and perspectives, that (5) the UK should say what its level of culpability is for the events that are the subject of the SIPT’s prosecutions, given its oversight responsibility, and (6) that there are widespread concerns over the manipulation of the criminal justice system, including removal of the right to trial by jury, changes to the laws on the collection and admissibility of evidence, etc.

There has been no public response by the UK Government to that important regional body’s report but, even more alarming,

there has been no movement on any of the recommendations in the report.

As for the merits of the CARICOM delegation’s findings, with twelve out of thirteen of the SIPT’s defendants being Belongers, the charge that the SIPT’s prosecutions have yielded unnaturally skewed results is unanswerable.

Even on the SIPT’s account the crimes they are prosecuting involve white expatriates paying bribes to black Government Ministers for favours, with roughly even numbers of persons paying and receiving bribes. With only one exception their prosecutions involve only blacks being strung, drawn, and quartered, and in case after case the person paying the bribes are conspicuously missing, in most cases as a result of having cut a deal, in some instances there is simply no good explanation for the missing developer, and in at least one case the SIPT seems to be making every effort to avoid the particular businessman.

In addition, in legal transactions they say were corrupt, the consistent conclusions they have drawn is that white professionals representing expatriates were not knowingly a party to the corruption, but long standing and successful Belonger professionals, with much to lose and nothing to gain, they say were mired in the corrupt deals.

The fact that this prosecution has yielded such obviously racist results in its decisions to prosecute is hardly surprising when you consider that the SIPT’s membership is lily-white and all-European, which is not a travesty in itself, even though its members inevitably bring to their jobs preconceived notions about the region and its mostly Afro-Caribbean subjects, with no one in their midst to disabuse them of those prejudices.

A close look at the composition of the SIPT, however, shows that its predilection for bias goes beyond the colour and culture of its membership.

The majority of the team are retired veterans, with thirty plus years experience, many of whom are former members of London’s Metropolitan Police Service (“MET”), which puts them at the heart of one of the most racist police forces in the world.

If that seems an unwarranted claim the MET has a record of stopping and searching blacks more than three times the frequency of whites in 2000, and more than six times in 2009-2010.

The Macpherson Report on London’s MET, published in 1999, found that it was “institutionally racist” (which is defined by unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping among its

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

membership), and came up with a long list of recommendations to tackle its racism, a very important component of which is that its staffing should reflect the cultural and ethnic makeup of the communities it serves.

Despite significant changes the MET is still considered institutionally racist, with cries that decades later it still does not reflect the markup of the communities it serves. If that is a yardstick to avoid ‘institutional racism’, Garlic’s SIPT clearly fails miserably on that score, being all-white and all-European, and its defendant lineup and prosecutions speak for itself.

TCI’s mainstream press has been too fearful to state the obvious, and it has therefore been quiet about the travesty of this injustice.

A few local blogs have been braver, beating around the central point, and marveling at how by far the largest allegations of corruption have gone completely untouched by the SIPT because of who is at the center of the allegations, but even those ‘anonymous’’ blogs, that have been most vocal, have been intimidated and shut down.

No matter whatever happens now to try and rehabilitate what are self-evidently racist prosecutions, a very large segment of the community will now never accept any convictions of the SIPT, particularly in a judge alone trial, as being the reflection of a fair or reasonable judicial process. These trails will bring the TCI’s criminal justice system completely into disrepute.

British justice does not stink...it reeks, and the FCO should be absolutely ashamed of its part in this travesty parading as a criminal justice system.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

GRACE BAY BEACH IS BEST IN THE WORLD G

race Bay Beach retaining its position as second to none, has once again copped the most prestigious and fiercely vied for title as World’s Best Beach.

This was the announcement amongst roars of applause at the World Travel Awards Grand Final Gala, held at the magnificent La Cigale Hotel in Doha Qatar last Saturday, which brings to an end the 2013 World Tour in honour of the 20th Anniversary for the World Travel Awards.

As a nominee in the World’s Leading Beach Destination Category, the world-reknown beaches of Grace Bay was one of nine hopefuls for the coveted title in the October 2013 voting season of the World Travel Awards.

Among them were the romantic shores of Cancun, Mexico, the DECO allure of South Beach in Florida and the azure waters along the coastline of Zanzibar, Tanzania in East Africa. However, it was the crystal turquoise waters and pristine white sandy shores of our multi-award-winning Grace Bay Beach that rose to be the best of the best.

Not to be outdone, and also walking away as one of the world’s best, was The Regent Palms Resort, which brought home the title of World’s Leading Hotel Spa 2013, and ending a three year-long record for Mardan Spa in Antalya, Turkey, and it was no surprise when Beaches Resort and Spa received World’s leading All Inclusive Family Resort Brand, a title they have held for fourteen years since 1998, with the exception of 2009 and 2010.

Premier and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing remarked, “I am indeed proud as the Premier and Minister of Tour-

Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing ism with the awards that our spectacular Grace Bay Beach has received over the years. We as a people and as a country have done a lot to promote the Tourism product that we have to offer here in the Turks and Caicos Islands and it is fitting, and indeed rewarding, that the accolades received are from the very agencies that we are dependent upon to sell our destination to the world.”

He added: “As we continue push our product as a world class high-end luxury tourist destination, my government has begun the development of policies and legislation to also diversify our tourism industry towards medical tourism as well as eco-tourism. Our state of the art medical facilities and the unspoilt beauty of the marsh lands and cave systems make this a very real possibility. So we are really excited about things to come and I must recognize and congratulate The Regent Palms, Beaches Resort and Spa, and all other nominees who were winners in the different categories throughout 2013, for their contribution in building

and maintaining our hospitality sector and thus ensuring that Turks and Caicos is Beautiful by Nature, not just to us, but to the world.”

The World Travel Awards, dubbed the “Oscars of the Travel Industry”, recently held voting for the nominees in the World’s Best categories for the crème de la crème of airlines, resorts, beaches and all other sectors of the Tourism industry.

The Turks and Caicos Islands took home the title in the WTA World’s Leading Beach category in 2012 and held its position this year, making it the seventh win in this category. The country also boasts five distinctions in the Caribbean’s Leading Beach category, the most recent being awarded at a Gala event in September 2013 at

Sandals Grande Resort and Spa in Antigua.

Recognition of the Turks and Caicos Islands as a world-class luxury tourism destination was also received, with some of our top Resort and Spa Brands being nominated in other major World Leading categories. The Grace Bay Club was nominated in four major categories, World’s Leading All Suite Hotel, World’s Leading Luxury All Suite Hotel and World’s Leading Hotel Residences.

In addition to The Regent Palms vying for the title won, it also received nominations for World’s Leading Luxury Resort and World’s Leading Spa Resort.

Other nominees were Parrot Cay Resort and Beach Villa 2 at Amanyara for World’s Leading Spa and World’s Leading Villa, respectively.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

Outrage over 11-year-old boy’s sentencing

BY VIVIAN TYSON

T

he incarcerated sentencing of an 11-year-old boy to Her Majesty’s Prison in Grand Turk last week has not only drawn the outrage of many persons but also a call for the courts to fashion more innovative ways for teen sentencing and the Government to fast-track a juvenile correctional facility.

The boy, who police said has been fingered in a number of burglaries on the capital island, was in the Grand Turk Magistrate’s Court to 28 days in prison after being found guilty of burglary. But his sentencing did not go down well with some members of the community, who expressed outrage.

Among those condemning the imprisonment of the juvenile is Opposition Leader Hon. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson. Cartwright-Robinson said child’s sentencing should serve as a wake-up call for the country to spring into action to save our youth from plunging down the abyss of crime and destruction.

“The sentence of an 11 year old ought to call this country to action. Whilst we appreciate that there is evidence of deviant behavior, this move signals a need for the people of these Islands to demand that an alternative sentence or arrangement be made for him and other juveniles,” she said.

Cartwright-Robinson bemoaned that consideration that the 11-year-old would now join other prisoners with whom he should not have been grouped.

“We were deeply disturbed and outraged at the fact that a child of 11 years has received a sentence requiring detention and has therefore been sent to Her Majesty’s Prison. The Opposition has been speaking to the plight of our juveniles and the fact that the system is failing them and are making life all the more difficult for them through the lack of proper housing, lack of education instruction and

Opposition Leader Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson general Programs to assist them and their parents in their rehabilitation,” said.

Cartwright-Robinson added: “We are further asking the people of these Islands to call on the Government to make the Facility to house the juveniles a priority. The idea of a Facility has been tossed about for years and has been seen multiple experiences where residents do not wish to have the facility in their area.

“We need the Government to treat this issue with great priority and the Courts must become more innovative in its sentencing towards our children who are at risk and have run afoul of the Law.” Earlier this year government identified a location in West Road, Grand Turk to house a juvenile detention facility, but residents in that community

Deputy Premier and Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Akierra Misick vociferously objected to the plan. The Physical Planning Department later declined government’s application to set-up the centre.

Deputy Premier and Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hon. Akierra Missick, later explained that the decline had to do with a faulty application and planned to make changes before resubmitting the bid.

In the meantime, Cartwright-Robinson said that an appeal would be lodged on the boy’s behalf and encouraged the public make submissions to support the initiative. Emails are asked to submit to juvenilesneedhelp@gmail.com.

She said that the letters would be printed and delivered to the Court and the relevant authorities so as to secure the boy’s release.

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DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

Fines, imprisonment coming for litterbugs

BY VIVIAN TYSON

B

eginning soon, residents or business owners who fail to store their garbage properly or bush outside of their fence could face prison time or face hefty fines or both, according to Director of Environmental Health, Kenrick Neely.

The charge that would be laid against the delinquent parties, according to Neely is nuisance.

Neely, who was speaking at a news conference at the Ministry of Health in Providenciales on Thursday, November 28, said that if found guilty, persons could be fined up to $500 or incarcerated for six months or both.

He said that someone can be charged with nuisance if they have bottles, cans old tyres and other debris in the vicinity of their premises.

“This is going to be enforced; it has been on the books for a long time but a lot of people are not aware of it. So we are trying to make the public aware of it so that they will know that outside of their fence is their responsibility to clean. It also helps them and helps us to prevent mosquitoes, rats and roaches etc. from spreading diseases.

“The area that is directly out of your premises, you are responsible to keep that clean as well.

That is very, very important that residents adhere this, as we will be, in the future, we will be enforcing the law that is on the books,” Neely said.

H e added: “We, at the Environmental Health Department, would like to urge residents of the Turks and Caicos to ensure that they store their garbage properly. Place them with containers that have covers and in plastic garbage bags. You do

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Kenrick Neely.

this to prevent dogs, horses, cats etc. from getting to the waste and to spread it all over the place.

If we are not storing our garbage properly, there is the potential for the spread of diseases and other vectors such as rats, roaches and mosquitoes. So we are urging residents to store their garbage properly until the day of collection, and that is through-out the Turks and Caicos Islands.”

Neely revealed that Environmental Health Department officials identify improper disposal of garbage and occupied properties that are poorly kept on a daily basis. He said that such situation exist on most of the islands.

As we drive along the road and checking our routes in the afternoon time or during work hours we see where we can have assistance from the community in cleaning up the roadside just outside their fence,” he said, but warned that in the coming weeks, the department would begin to take action against those who do not comply with the law.

“As the vector control and the environmental health officers and conduct their routine inspections, it will be something that is going to be enforced, so we want to public to know what their responsibilities are.”

There are a lot of areas (that need to be cleaned by owners of those properties). For example, if you drive on South Dock Road you would see a lot of garbage near garbage bins, you see overhanging trees from persons yards. It is their responsibility to ensure that they are trimmed. But it is not just in Provo, if you go Grand Turk and South Caicos you see the same thing,” he said.

In the meantime, Neely blamed manpower shortage as the reason had not been enforced.

A Dinamic Mobile Service provider seeks to recruit for the following post: Job Title: Chief Financial Officer | Type: Permanent | Location: Digicel TCI, Graceway House Leeward Highway, Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands

RESPONSIBILITY: ● Manage the financial resources of the company and conduct resource planning for future needs. ● The strategic planning of an organization. ● Monitors the preparation of the financial budget for submission to the Senior Management team and Board of Directors ● Supervises business performance and takes steps to improve the performance of the organization. ● Responsible for account monitoring and control of all the departments of the organization. ● Prepares and supervises the financial reports in discussion with other departments in the company, and presents to Senior Management Team/Board of Directors ● Assist in the analysis and development of new pricing structures and promotions. ● Management of all Balance sheet accounts, ensuring timely completion of reconciliations and clearance of reconciling items. ● Input in preparing annual accounting files for auditors and draft statutory accounts. ● Ensure that company's policy regarding procurement and expenditure is observed and that the requisite approvals are obtained before disbursement of funds.

ACADEMIC QULIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE: ● Qualified CIA,ACCA,CMA or CPA ● Experience in finance, accounting, budgeting, forecasting, reporting and cost control principles including International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) ● At least five years of financial experience and management experience with the day –to-day financial operations in an organization. ● Telecoms experience an advantage REQUIRED SKILLS AND SPECIALIZED TECHNIQUES: ● Knowledge of finance, accounting, budgeting, and cost control principles ● Knowledge of automated financial and accounting software applications ● Ability to analyze financial data and prepare financial reports, statements and projections. ● Working knowledge of short and long term budgeting and forecasting, rolling budgets, and product-line profitability analysis ● Professional written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills ● Leadership skills and ability to motivate team to produce quality output and meet tight deadlines while keeping routine tasks up-to-date ● Willingness to work flexible hours ● Willingness to travel to Board meetings Interested Applicants should forward their resumes to hrtci@digicelgroup.com

Page 10

DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS

London yet to respond to CARICOM Fact-Finding Report on Turks and Caicos Islands T

he Caricom Community (CARICOM) as well as the local government said they are still waiting on a response from the British Government concerning the regional bloc’s recommendations from findings conducted regarding constitutional and other relationships between the UK and TCI. Acting Premier Hon. Donhue Gardiner and CARICOM’s Assistant Secretary General, Ambassador Colin Granderson, told reporters on Monday November 25th, that the 14-page report was sent to UK and they only acknowledged receiving it.

In June of this year, CARICOM sent a fact-finding team to Turks and Caicos Islands after UK Foreign Secretary William Hague wrote them a letter challenging certain statements made by Premier Dr. Rufus Ewing at a February 2013 CARICOM meeting in Haiti.

When the high-level team which was led by The Bahamas Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fred Mitchell came to the TCI, they found strong evidence which supported what Premier Ewing told Caribbean leaders. The fact-finders then made a number of key recommendations including a referendum on the acceptance of British rule under the present Constitution.

The CARICOM team also recommended a Truth and Justice Commission exercise, similar to what took place in South Africa, as an alternative to the current SIPT and prosecutions, because of the long time that it is taking to conclude the matters, and the feeling expressed by many locals that the pending cases are costing too much money and has the TCI society on pause.

“The report was sent to the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands and a copy was sent to British Authorities. The report made some recommendations both for the TCI government and the British Authorities to carry out as they see fit,” said Granderson said.

Colin Granderson (left), CARICOM Assistant Secretary General for Foreign Services and Acting Premier Hon. DonHue Gardiner address the media at the 16TH CARICOM Consultations regarding the 5-year development plan.

“I think the report is extremely important and will take some time to be properly adjusted because it covers a number of areas. The recommendation is also wide-ranging.”

For his part, Acting Premier Hon. Don-Hue Gardiner said that his government received the report and is already taking steps to act on some of its recommendations, including establishing a constitutional review committee.

“I can say that the report has been received and it is something that government has received with interest, and we are working with HMG to initiate, as best as best as we are able, the recommendations that are there,” Gardiner said.

He told the media that individuals to be appointed to a constitutional review committee were named at the last sitting of the House of Assembly recently.

“That (constitutional review) was a major rec-

ommendation in that report, and it is something that is well underway. It is something that we would expect that that committee would begin its work in the next few weeks, and that there would be a report to the parliament sometime before the end of this financial year in the hopes that we can, after the new financial year in April (2014), really push these changes, and (to see) how best we can have them signed unto and accepted by HMG,” Gardiner said.

However, he said so far, the British Government has not reacted publicly to the CARICOM slate of recommendations.

“There has not been any feedback necessarily concerning their views on the report. They do however, have that report, and I could only recommend that questions of sort regarding them shall put to them,” Gardiner said.

The Acting Premier said that if the need arises, government could call on local as well as external bodies, including CARICOM, for constitutional input.

“The first step is to have the review committee do its work. Once that review committee has done its review of the Constitution, and it would have made recommendations as it sees fit, then depending on what those recommendations are, we would then look to CARICOM and whomever else could provide us with assistance in achieving the aims that we deem best, coming out of that constitution review process,” he said.

In the meantime, Granderson said that CARICOM plans to raise the matter with the British Government during the Meeting of the UK/Caribbean Forum next year.

“We certainly have a chance. Early next year there is going to be a meeting of the UK/Caribbean Forum, and that would give us an opportunity to get more information in regards as to how they see it. But Apart from that, we have not received any response,” Granderson said.

TCI LOTTO GAMES LTD

IS HIRING AN ASSISTANT MANAGER ‘REPORTING DIRECTLY NTO TE DIRECTORS OF THE COMPANY SUMMARY OF DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Overseas ALL of the day- to- day managerial functions maintain the integrity of the online gaming system ; assure compliance of the rules and regulations of the government, he company and the industry; prepares budgets-operating, marketing and special projects; ensure adequate staffing- hire, train, evaluate and discipline; procure and ensure adequate inventory of operating supplies; identify and coordinate employees’/ customers’/ third parties’/ suppliers’ and vendors’ special events; project manager of special projects; interface with external forces on behalf of the directors; coordinate and provide the company’s directors with operational reports TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES x Online Gaming System Management x In-depth understanding of the Gaming Industry x Ability to develop and implement budgets x Ability to make crucial/good business decisions x Strong understanding of Human Resources Management x Strong understanding of Third Parties Relationships x Strong understanding of Customers Service Satisfaction x Result Driven- Ability o prioritize and complete multiple tasks within specified x Excellent communication skills; written and verbal x Excellence interpersonal skills x Problem Solver ( Conflict resolution management) QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE x Proficient knowledge of the FML Group of Companies’ Online Operating System; or a ‘ comparable’ Online Gaming Operating System x At least eight(8) to ten (10) years experience in Business Management with particular focus on : - Development and implementation of budgets - Coordination and preparation of Reports - Employees Management ( not less a team of (ten) 10 persons) - Conflict Resolution Management PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES x An unblemished character ( substantiated by at least three verifiable references) x A professional demeanor with a pleasant personality x Self motivated and adherent to timelines x Respect for authorities, peers and subordinates All Applications should be addressed to: The Manager Director Harbour House Gran d Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands Email Address: namesakealt@hotail.com Telephone Number (649) 331-5691

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 11

DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

LIME to cut 16 percent of workforce in TCI

BY VIVIAN TYSON

T

elecoms provider LIME is to pull the plug on its entire Technical Field department and outsource the work they do to an international company, effectively cutting 16 percent of its workforce, a senior regional official confirmed.

The 20 jobs to go under the guillotine locally is part of Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 650 Caribbean-wide staff cut, or 18 per cent of its employees, over the last year.

Jan Remmelg, LIME’s Chief Executive Officer for the Northern Caribbean region told a media event on Monday (November 25) to launch its Christmas Promotion, that the outsourcing mechanism is geared to render the company more efficient and competitive, and also to provide faster speeds, improve voice quality and increase coverage.

Remmelg declined to name the international outsourcing company, which he blamed on legal reasons. But reports have shown that LIME has outsourced its network maintenance operations to Ericsson in at least two Caribbean countries – Jamaica and Barbados - under a seven-year agreement, which effectively began on May 20, 2013.

Ericsson will manage mainly the external component of LIME’s fixed, mobile, Internet, and data networks to include installation, maintenance and repair of those platforms.

“This is one step to be able to provide quality of service to our consumers and corporate customers with regards to technical support, field support. We have done the same thing in Barbados and Jamaica. The result that we have seen is two things: a clear improvement of the quality of service delivery,” Remmelg said, adding that the international outsourcing company has invested heavily in field technical support, enabling it to provide such service internationally.

LIME’s regional CEO

He said LIME was not in a position to provide the level of technical field support service that the international company would be able to, hence the outsourcing.

“And by having an international partner that is having this outsourcing as their core business around the world, and are investing in these things, that’s assurance enough to mean that they would be able to provide better service, and we have the facts to support that from our experi-

ence in Jamaica and Barbados,” he said.

Remmelg revealed also that LIME has recorded exponential customer satisfaction in the countries that it has outsourced its technical field work.

LIME, which had 3,028 full-time staff in the Caribbean at the end of September, said in a release earlier this year that it saved US$18 million during the six months to September 30, but it said it plans to intensify cost cutting measures over the next 18 months.

It said that all revenue streams, except mobile, declined as the drop in average revenue per user (ARPU) outpaced the growth in usage of highspeed data services and exacerbated the reduction in fixed line subscribers.

The telecommunications firm recorded US$130 million in fixed line revenue for the sixmonth review period, reflecting a 13 per cent decline in income as the number of fixed line subscribers fell from 713,000 at the end of September 2012 to 696,000 as at September 30, while ARPU dropped by 11 per cent, from US$34.90 per month to US$31.10.

Broadband (and TV) revenue fell by two per cent year on year to US$59 million, despite registering five per cent more subscribers at the end of September this year compared to year-earlier levels. ARPU fell from US$42.10 per month to US$40.50.

For mobile, the two per cent growth in subscriber base over the 12 months to September 30 — led by a “23 per cent rise in Jamaica subscribers” — translated into higher revenue, despite lower ARPU of US$27.50 month, compared to US$28 a year earlier, the report said.

In the meantime, Remmelg said that those affected by the redundancy exercise would be able to get employment with the outsourcing company, pointing out that they would be first in line for consideration as were the cased in Jamaica and Barbados.

Page 12

DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS RICHIE ARTHUR AND MCALLISTER “PIPER” HANCHELL RESPOND TO HIGH COURT RULINGS AND THE PRESSS RELEASE FROM ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL

P

opular Turks and Caicos Islands pilot Richie Arthur and former Government Minister McAllister “Piper” Hanchell are speaking out against the Supreme Court land-flipping ruling and subsequent statements made by Acting Attorney General Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles.

In a press statement issued late Friday, Arthur said: “I believe that the outcome is unfair to me as I have done no more than the other Belongers who were also given land and made the land given to them available for development to the Shore Club at a profit. The Shore Club is now under construction and will bring more benefits to the Government and people of the Turks and Caicos Islands than me building a house on the land could ever do. The Government’s policy of empowering Belongers in this case has disempowered me.”

Arthur noted that in 2010 the Attorney General commenced proceedings against him alleging that he obtained a parcel of Crown Land by fraud or that he obtained it knowing that it was transferred to him in breach of trust.

His press release added: “I denied both allegations and the Supreme Court has ruled that I did not obtain the Land by fraud but held that I did obtain it knowing that it was transferred to me in breach of trust. I was ordered to pay to the Government the sum of $1.5million representing the difference between what I paid to the Government and the price that I sold it for to the Shore Club Development. I wanted to build a house on the Land but was later told that it was in the national interest for the land to be used as part of the Shore Club Development.”

The statement continued: “A mistake was made at the Land Registry which resulted in the land being transferred to me for US$50,000 instead of the agreed price of US$200,000. I have paid the extra US$150,000 to the Government following the commencement of the proceedings. I am disappointed that having paid this sum, the Attorney General pursued me to recover the profit I made on the sale of the land as I made the sale only because I was persuaded that the use of the land by the Shore Club Development would bring greater benefit to the Turks and Caicos Islands than me building a house on the land.”

Richardson Arthur

McAllister Hanchell

The Attorney General’s Chambers and the Civil Recovery Unit have lost the land-flipping case against former Director of Planning Clyde Robinson, but they won the court action that was brought against Richie Arthur, the former pilot for ex-Premier Michael Misick.

Both judgments were handed down by Madame Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale in the Turks and Caicos Islands Supreme Court over the past few days. Arthur and Robinson were represented

by Queen’s Counsel Ariel Misick, while the AG’s Chambers was represented by British Queen’s Counsel David Phillips, Patrick Patterson and Rowan Cosgrove.

In a press release, Acting Attorney General of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Rhondalee Braithwaite, said: “We are delighted to have been successful in obtaining judgment in the claim against Richardson Arthur. This is another substantial judgment for the civil recovery team, at $1.35m (less $200,000 already paid to the Turks and Caicos Islands Government by Mr Arthur) plus more than five year’s interest. The claim arose out of a serious case of land ‘flipping’ which took place in 2008; Mr Arthur acquired a piece of Crown land for $50,000 and then almost immediately sold it on for development for $1.35m.”

She added: “We welcome the Judge’s finding that McAllister Hanchell, then Minister of Natural Resources, breached his fiduciary duties as Minister by directing the use of an out of date valuation (paragraph 58) in connection with the sale; and that he also exceeded his delegated authori-

ty to transfer Crown land and abused his position in order to convey the freehold title to Mr Arthur (paragraph 59). We also welcome the finding that Mr Arthur knew that the transfer to him on the beneficial terms that Mr Hanchell directed was wrong. Judgment in this claim is an important milestone in the civil recovery programme. It demonstrates that a serious abuse occurred in the management of Crown land, the Turks and Caicos Islands’ prime asset. We are very pleased that this abuse has been dealt with by the Courts. It also adds significantly to the judgments obtained by the Civil Recovery team. Since April of this year, the team has obtained judgments and cash recoveries of nearly $4m alone, as well as recovering nearly 600 acres of land. The Civil Recovery team has now obtained cash and judgment orders or agreements to pay totaling over $23.3m, and has recovered nearly 3,100 acres of land which has been or is being re-registered as Crown land.”

What the Acting Attorney failed to mention was that the law firm Edwards Palmer Wildman which hired by the Attorney has been paid in excess of US$16million so far for these cases and that the legal bill is climbing.

The press release added: “We have also received and are reviewing the judgment in the claim against Clyde Robinson and his former wife, Susannah Bishop. We are disappointed not to have also been successful in that claim. Like the Arthur case this also involved the acquisition of a piece of Crown land (adjacent to that acquired

by Mr Arthur) by Mr Robinson, who transferred it to his then wife, who then sold it for $1.5m to the same developer as Mr Arthur.

“Again we welcome the Judge’s finding that McAllister Hanchell breached his fiduciary duties by directing the use of an out of date valuation (paragraph 64); it is, however surprising that the Judge found that Mr Robinson’s conduct was not unconscionable, nor was it a breach of his own fiduciary duties as a senior Government official. We are troubled by those findings and we will be considering the judgment carefully and whether we should appeal.”

In a separate press release, Hanchell said he felt obliged to respond to the press release issued

by Braithwaite-Knowles, whom he had the pleasure of working with as an elected Minister of Government.

Hanchell stated: “I note her delight to have received Judgment against Richardson Arthur and her disappointment as it relates to Clyde Robinson. I also note that she is troubled by the decision of a Judge of the Supreme Court in Clyde Robinson’s case and that she is considering spending more of the public’s money to pursue an appeal.

The public must have grave concern as to the ongoing spending of its money without any accountability to the People of the Turks and Caicos Islands by the Acting Attorney General and most notably the entire Judiciary must take offense to her arrogance towards a sitting Supreme Court Judge in a public statement.”

The former Government minister added: “As for me, the welcoming of the Judges findings by the Acting Attorney General is a total misrepresentation of what is inferred in the decision and the selective reference to particular statements intended to create mischief against me. I was not party to either of these proceedings and cannot comment further in this regard, however it is unfair that the Attorney General sought to make me a central figure in the case, without joining me in as a defendant or calling me as a witness. It is of some significance that in paragraph 59 of the judgment relating to Mr. Robinson the judge said “Mr. Misick also submits with some force that a Court should be slow to find an allegation of dishonesty proved against someone who has not been made a party to the suit and from whom the Court has not been heard. I would also say that where what is in issue is a person’s state of mind – and Mr. Phillips has submitted that the Minister’s state of mind is in issue- and the pleaded facts are consistent with two opposing inferences – mistake and dishonesty-and the Court has not had the benefit from the hearing from the person against whom the allegations are made, it is difficult for the Court to draw a conclusion either way”. It should be troubling to all citizens of the country that the Attorney General would seek to publicly condemn me by a side wind, without giving me the opportunity of being heard.”

Applications are invited for teaching positions

Preschool Teachers RESPONSIBILITIES The Preschool Teachers will be responsible for teaching the Abeka program to young children.

DUTIES Design educational programs for students based on their needs.

KNOWLEDGE The incumbent must have proficient knowledge in the following areas: • Child development and early education theories and practices • Safe and appropriate activities for children • Ensure that children are supervised and safe at all times

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: The incumbent should attain the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for the position through completion of an Early Childhood Education Program combined with related day care and/or preschool teacher’s diploma experience or its equivalent.

Interested applicants please contact Tumble Totz at 649-339-5878 or email resume to tumbletotz@gmail.com

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 13

DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

Norovirus protocol triggered in schools despite no evidence

BY VIVIAN TYSON

E

ven though lab testing has not turned up the strain, the Environmental Health Department has triggered its Norovirus protocols in schools that children, over the past three weeks, have been experiencing bouts of vomiting and diarrhea.

Kenrick Neely, Director of the Environmental Health Department said that the majority of cases occurred in South Caicos, with the few found in Providenciales. He said all three schools in South Caicos were affected – private, primary and high school.

He said that the Norovirus protocols demands that a child experiencing vomiting or diarrhea, that the parents contacted the child taken to the doctor, and remain at home until there is no more signs of the virus. And also to ensure that we have cleaners at the school. That has been going on throughout the year. We are overseeing cleaning of some of the schools.

“Over the last two to three weeks or so we have seen an increase in vomiting and diarrhea at school especially in South Caicos and a few in Provo. Our lab confirmation shows that it is not Norovirus that we are seeing.

“We have tested for other things and everything that they have tested for turned out negative. Even though it (Norovirus) is not in the schools, we have asked the Education Department to put the Norovirus protocols,” he said.

Poor basic hygiene practices, including hand-washing after using the

Kenrick Neely, Director of the Environmental Health Department and Imterniza McCartney speak to the media on the importance of proper hygiene to combat diarrhea and vomiting strain currently experienced in some schools bathroom and before eating have been blamed for the outbreak. Neely revealed that many students told Environmental Health Department Officials, during educational campaigns in schools, that they do not wash their hands before eating on most occasions.

“When we visited some of the schools on Provo and South Caicos and we asked some of the students if they are aware of hand-washing, all of them said yes. When we asked, are you putting in practice what you have learned, the answer is no. “it is sad to see that our kids are not taking in the message that we, at the department and at the Ministry are putting out there. And this is why you are seeing an increase in vomiting and di-

arrhea in the schools and in some communities,” Neely said.

In the meantime, Neely is reminding the public that germ spread easily and persons must take every necessary precaution not to contract it or to pass it on.

“We want to let the public know that it is important that they practice proper hygiene such as hand-washing after using the toilet, before eating breakfast, lunch, dinner or anything like that. In preparation of food they must make sure that they wash their hands, after changing babies diapers ensure that you wash your hand,” he said.

Neely pointed out, however, that while the Environmental Health Department is vigilant in its campaign, it is up to the community to take heed.

“We have putting out this message of hand-washing since last year. The whole of this year we have been talking about hand-washing. The Ministry of Health and the government can only do so much. We can only give the information; we cannot force people to wash their hands because we are not with them 24 hours a day.

“And as the saying says, ‘you can take the horse to the water but you can’t make them drink’. So the information that people are getting, they need to put them into practice. And if they put them in practice we will see increase in vomiting and diarrhea going forward,” he said.

With Christmas season approaching, Neely predicted that there will be increase in cook-outs, parties and other food-related activities, and if proper hygiene is not practiced, could result in increase of the strain.

In the meantime, Neely said that the department has seen a decrease in persons contracting the strain.

In the meantime, Health Educator, Imterniza McCartney, has urged school administrators to waste no time in reporting cases of diarrhea and vomiting in schools, reiterating that the early those cases are reported the less chance they have to spread to other students.

“I want to encourage principals and members of staff to report any diarrhea or vomiting cases, anything that is communicable to the Environmental Health Department and the Ministry of Health as soon as it occurred. This is very important,” McCartney said.

If so, we would like to speak with you about joining our dynamic team in the capacity of:

General Manager – Turks and Caicos We are looking for an accomplished experienced executive with an acknowledged and proven track record of having successfully directed, developed, and managed within the telecommunications industry with a focus on the fast growing mobile business in the Caribbean and who has a strong sales and marketing focus.

As General Manager of our Turks and Caicos Business Unit you will have responsibility for: • • • • •

All relevant activities in growing the company across all lines of business – mobile, landline, internet and entertainment.

The recruitment, development, and growth of the team members across all commercial lines.

The effective use of robust management tools, metrics and reporting structures to measure and ensure performance.

The delivery of monthly; quarterly; semi annually; and annual revenue and performance targets.

Participating in cross-functional meetings and implementation of tactical and strategic initiatives.

Minimum Experience and Qualifications: The successful candidate will have: • Worked previously as a Senior Manager in a telecommunications company with a bias towards Sales and Marketing.

• A Minimum of five years proven experience working in the Telecommunications and Technology arena • Proven track record in managing and motivating teams.

• Have a track record of success in driving profits, and in building and developing high performing teams.

• Educated up to degree standard. Strong people management skills.

• Can demonstrate experience of driving and managing change within a fast-paced, operational environment.

To explore this exciting career opportunity please send your application and resume no later than December 3rd, 2013 to recruit@lime.com or fax to 1 (876) 920-9336

Page 14

DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

THE CROWN AND THE PNP HEADQUARTERS

BY ROYAL S. ROBINSON

I

think that it is more than high time that the issue of the PNP’s Headquarters be settled now, once and for all!

I must at the outset say that if the relevant officers at the time had done their jobs properly, we would not have been in this mess in the first instance!

However, the type of shenanigans that have been going on by the agents of the Crown in the persons of the former Attorney General and the UK law firm of EWP has been nothing less than atrocious, to say the least!

The governments of the day have bent over backwards to grant land to those Turks and Caicos Islands people and entities over time. There is little daylight between the formation of the two major political parties in TCI, the PDM and the PNP, which was formerly the PNO, and was done to symbolize the transformation into a political party.

Before the Progressive National Party was registered under the new Political Activities Ordinance and be in compliance with the Integrity Commission Ordinance, it existed. The Party contested every election since the coming into force of the 1976 Constitution and so it

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Royal Robinson should be the beneficiary of everything that any political party, NGO or religious organization would receive from the Crown or the government in TCI. We have seen in time and over time, that every effort has been made to regularize various individual or entity that was in breach of paying rents or the cost of the freehold of a piece of land. In the case of the PNP Headquarters, I do not for the life of me see how the Crown could allow the PDM to pay up the back rents for the piece of land in Grand Turk, but file documents in the Courts to break down a perfectly good building, that has been built by the people of this country.

Unless something has drastically changed overnight, the PNP represents a significant portion of the people of this country, and at the time the Headquarters was being built, the overwhelming majority of the people, in terms of actual votes garnered and the subsequent allocation of seats following the 2007 Elections! The number was 13 to 2.

When I was doing a title search for a different purpose, discovered that the land on which the Headquarter was built, was not in our name. I knew that there was a grant of approval by Cabinet for the PNP to get the land. The follow-up was not done; sloppy of the individuals concerned. So efforts were then made to rectify the situation. What we got back was correspondence from EWP to the effect that if we did not repay the money given for the upkeep of the 6 constituency offices in Providenciales that were housed in the Headquarters and pay exorbitant rents, then we would not be granted anything.

We were eventually summoned to Court. During the process of the trial, the Civil Recovery arm of EWP abandoned the claim for the money for the upkeep of the constituency offices as well as the remedy of demolishing the building. We at all material times recognized that the land was Crown, but wanted to make good so that we could have free access to the property, through the granting of the Freehold, after the reasonable back rents and the cost of the Freehold based on the offer that had been agreed by the Cabinet of the day. Notwithstanding the blustering of the former AG and EWP, the Court did not recognize or granted anything more after the ruling as obtained before the ruling and that was the land belonged to the Crown and that the PNP had to settle with the Crown for the transfer. The foolishness with respect to the changing of locks on Progressive House was nothing more

than an overreach, by persons hell-bent on abusing power that they have as well as that not granted them!

We made a good-faith offer to purchase the Freehold and pay the rent for the duration of the occupation. What we have gotten to date, is a complete misrepresentation of the Court’s findings and an attempt to extort money from the PNP by trickery and underhand legal verbiage. I say away with such nonsense!

Why should the PNP be asked to pay nearly one million dollars just to obtain a long term lease? They want to start charging for money from under the previous Crown Land Policy, but want it to take effect under the current one that provides no ability for the transfer of the Freehold in the land. These guys want to have their cake and eat it too.

Why should we pay for their legal cost in bringing this nonsense of a case in the first instance? They have “robbed” us legally of a lot of money already! Witness what portion of the cash we got as oppose to their take for themselves! But I still say that we should go to TAXATION to ensure that we have gotten value for money in ALL of the cases that they have litigated! Experience has shown that the bill have been reduces by more than half if the process is used. For small amounts, the lawyers’ fees to go through the process might not be worth it, but when you are talking about MILLIONS of dollars in legal fees, you must challenge the basis on which those fees are arrived at.

These peoples’ approach to Turks and Caicos Islanders generally and PNPs specifically, has been nothing less than vindictive, in an attempt to erase us from the history books. But that is not going to happen! We want to get the Freehold to the land on which the PNP’s Headquarters is built for a fee that was in keeping with the previous land policy under which the original offer was made and not this trumped up bogus fee.

It is just a mean and vicious streak that is being exhibited towards us and we must expose the injustice of what is being done in the name of justice on one hand, but of paramount importance, in the name of the people of this country. There may be a few Turks and Caicos Islanders that might glory in the approach of this group, but the vast majority of us certainly would not. Those persons within our communities that have been advocating for the demise of political parties would be glorying in Shylock exacting this pound of flesh, but they are few and far between!

There is no coming to Equity with clean hands by these operatives! We have to expose them for who and what they are!

Their mission is to destroy our way of life and bring us to our knees, particularly PNP supporters. We have to stop this gravy train, otherwise, there would be nothing left for our children and any future generation of Turks and Caicos Islanders to aspire to! *Royal Robinson was a former Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance and Health in a Progressive National Party (PNP) Administration.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 15

DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

LIME to go 4G early 2014 T

urks and Caicos Islands oldest telecommunications provider –LIME – is to go offer 4G service before the end of the first quarter of 2014, its Northern Caribbean Regional CEO, Jan Remmelg revealed.

When that time comes, LIME would become the third company to provide that service in the Turks and Caicos Islands behind new-kid-on-the-block IslandCom, which unveiled the service in 2011 and Digicel, which rolled out their’s earlier this year.

Remmelg, who was speaking the launch of LIME’s Christmas Promotion at its corporate office on Providenciales on Monday, November 25, explained that with the implementation of the G4 network, LIME should be able to outpace its competitors.

Remmelg did not say as to whether LIME would build its network locally as Digicel or whether it would originate the service from outside the country’s borders.

He said that the launch of the 4G network is an indication of the telecoms company commitment to investing further in the Turks and Caicos contrary to popular belief.

“We are committed to continue to invest, provide value and we will launch 4G, and we will invest substantial money to be able to make that happen. It won’t be a present by the Christmas tree but we will launch in the first quarter of 2014,” he said.

He said that with the impending launch of its 4G network, LIME is cognizant that there will be a need for not only more smart phones, but affordable ones.

“I think we all know that the world and the need for mobile data are growing. And what is important to us, 4G is a technology – HSPA Plus – that provides higher data speed. We are also fully committed to providing the quality service and the quality network, and that is fixed (line), internet and mobile.

“It’s more of what people can do with that speed and how it can enhance their lives; that’s the key thing to focus on. It is also important to give the opportunity to every person in Turks and Caicos,

LIME UNVEILS CHRISTMAS PROMOTIONAL GOODIES

L

Jan Remmelg, LIME’s CEO for the Northern Caribbean region and Lacal Palmer, Acting Manager for LIME Turks and Caicos Islands at the media event on Monday, November 25. to enjoy the benefit of mobile data. That means we need to have more smart phones at a lower cost.

We have introduced smart phones recently, more is to come,” he said.

Remmelg also revealed that LIME would be doling out more wonderful goodies in the near future, but appeared to be keeping those secrets close to his vest.

“We have some exciting things on the proposition side for mobile data coming up as well. It is important again that every single person in Turks and Caicos can benefit from. We have been around for 115 years, (and we are) fully committed for many more years to come. “(LIME will be) investing in Turks and Caicos; investing in the ability for people to communicate,” he said.

In the meantime, Remmelg has defended the current service LIME is offering, stating that it is not a bad service. He said the reason for increasing the service has to do with the market becoming more competitive.

“We have not been providing a bad service in any way. But I also want to mention that we are looking to improve the service in particular when it becoming a more and more competitive environment, and Turks and Caicos is clearly a competitive environment, so we need to step up the game on the quality of service,” he said.

IME Customers stand the change of not only doubling their data plans for at least the next six months but also stand a chance to win fabulous prizes this Christmas.

The telecoms company, which unveiled its Christmas Promotion on Monday, November 25, at its corporate office in Providenciales, said that customers also stand the chance of winning cash.

LIME representative Valerie Clare, said that free data one of the biggest feature of its Christmas promotion.

“Our theme for this year is “Sharing the joy”, and it is all about data at LIME for Christmas; that is what our mobile offers are based on,” she said.

Clare pointed out that customers signing up for a new data plan is guaranteed double data for six months. She said that new prepaid customers will also get double data this Christmas. Broadband customers with one year and two year contracts will also get lower rates for six months.

She added that customers also stand the chance of winning weekly prizes in time for Christmas. Post paid customers who pay their bills in full and on time will be eligible. Their prepaid counterparts will qualify for the prizes by topping up $5 or more.

Sales and Marketing Manager Delleriece Hall, said that there will be five draws per week, starting Friday, December 4, and goes on until December 31st. Among the prizes, according to Hall, are Samsung Galaxy Tablets, certificates, gas vouchers, food store vouchers and cash.

“It is going to be a beautiful time at LIME this Christmas. We want everybody to participate, and we just want to tell our customers, we really appreciate you, as LIME customers and we do hope you enjoy this Christmas season at LIME,” Hall said.

Members of the local media were not left out of the “Sharing the Joy” campaign, as each media house was given a $500 voucher to purchase the item of their choice.

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DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL NEWS CARICOM does a lot for TCI but goes unnoticed

UK HOLDS KEY TO TCI BECOMING FULL CARICOM MEMBER

T

E

he Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been doing a great deal for the Turks and Caicos Islands but the people are unaware due to poor public relations, says Acting Premier Hon. Don-Hue Gardiner.

Gardiner, responding to questions of how the TCI would benefit from the 16th CARICOM Consultations on developing a five-year strategic plan for the period 2014 to 2018, has charged that regional body to make allowance for the respective member states to begin enlightening their populaces on CARICOM works and workings.

“What we, as a Caribbean Community must do is let the population of the various countries know that, yes, you may not see the word ‘CARICOM on CXC’, but that is CARICOM. And once we are able to do that persons would begin to see the worth of CARICOM and how it impacts their lives every day,” he urged.

The Acting Premier continued: “We have not, in CARICOM, been as good as we perhaps could be in getting the message of the works of CARICOM to TCI and the wider Caribbean Community out there. When we look at areas like the University of the West Indies, you are touching CARICOM; when you look at CXC, you are touching CARICOM; when you look at what CARICOM has done in the area of the fight against AIDS and the model that CARICOM has been able to develop, which is now a model to be followed by the rest of the world, that is the work of CARICOM.” When there is a disaster and you look to the wider community disaster management and emergency issues – CEDAMA – that is the work of CARICOM. There are lots of things, good things that CARICOM has done in this region and for TCI in particular. Many of those things are unknown.”

In response, Colin Granderson, the CARICOM Assistant Secretary General for Foreign Services, said that while CARICOM tries it best to get information out as to what it is doing what it is about, more could be done regarding its impact on individual states.

“Giving information in very good time is something we try to do as best as we possibly can. But apparently from what we have heard there are times that obviously we have not done as good a job as we should do.

“I reiterate the importance of information sharing, not only information sharing but sharing a very good time, for example, certain activities, certain programmes, certain projects that have to be carried out at the level of CARICOM, include the Level of Associate Members states,” he said.

Granderson revealed that during the meeting, the government expressed concern that the TCI, which is an associate member, was being excluded from some of CARICOM’s

Acting Premier Hon. Don-Hue Gardiner (fourth from left) seizes a photo opportunity with CARICOM representatives (from left) Melbour Phillips – CARICOM;s Technical Action Service Coordinator; Shenner Leonce Rapature; Glen Wilson, Change Facilitator; Colin Granderson, Assistant Secretary General for Foreign Services; Jennifer Cudjoe-Brathwaite, Change Facilitator; and Mara Mason-Roberts, Change Facilitator. programmes, and had sought how these shores could benefit from them.

“One of the things that came out strongly this morning is the fact that some of the Associate Members were excluded from some of the activities of CARICOM. It is very important to see to what extent that perception can be rectified. We know that there are certain projects that are assisted by donors, and donors insisted that only the independent member states of CARICOM benefit from them,” Granderson said.

In the meantime, Acting Premier Gardiner said that the TCI has not signed up to some of the protocols of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, which includes free movement between states.

“To the extent that the TCI has signed up to the protocols of the (Revised) Treaty (of Chagaramus), TCI would certainly be bound by them. As it stands presently, those various protocols regarding free movements the TCI has not signed up to those protocols,” he said.

Pressed for an opinion as to how he believes signing up for those treaties would impact the TCI, the Acting Premier referred us to the Attorney General Chambers.

“Even though I am a lawyer, I wouldn’t want to give you my opinion on how that would impact the TCI. I would encourage you to seek clarification from the attorney general’s office, who are the legal advisor to government, and who would be able to provide you with the answers,” he said.

ven if the people of the Government and People of the Turks and Caicos Islands declaring they want the territory to become full member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) the British Government still has to give the go ahead,” according to Acting Premier Hon. Don-Hue Gardiner.

The TCI presently holds Associate Member status on the regional body.

The Acting Premier was speaking at a news conference at the Premier’s Office in Providenciales on Monday, November 25, to inform the media about the discussions between a CARICOM delegation and the government on the 16th Consultation on the five-year 2014 – 2018 Strategic Planning.

He said that, while the people of the TCI have to initiate the process, they would still have to rely on the willingness of the United Kingdom Government to give them clearance to become full member of CARICOM. He said that in the event the government and the people of the TCI deciding to gain full membership of CARICOM, the British Government, after local government representation, would grant an entrustment instrument.

“The issue of full membership with CARICOM is a matter that is left to the government and the people of the TCI with the concurrence of the British Government. And what would be required for the TCI to do to become a full member of CARICOM would be for the United Kingdom Government deed of entrust-

ment to the TCI Government in respect of CARICOM matters.

“That has not been done, to the extent that we would require becoming full member in CARICOM, and it is an issue that may well become live as we move forward,” Acting Premier Gardiner said.

Gardiner said that administration is well aware of CARICOM’s significance to the Turks and Caicos Islands, and so, pledges the country’s support to that body at any rung of the ladder.

“Where we are now, we certainly understand the worth of CARICOM to the TCI and we will certainly do our best to continue to work with CARICOM even in our position as associate member, to achieve what is best for all the people of the TCI and by extension the wider Caribbean Community,” he said.

He said granting of the clearance for TCI to become full member of CARICOM could either be determined the TCI Government making representation and, or the British Government deciding that the TCI could benefit by becoming a full member.

“These instruments could be motivated by the local government requesting and, or by HMG deciding that there is a need for that, even if there is not a need, that reserving unto themselves the issue of TCI interacting CARICOM was no longer the in the best interest of the TCI. And so, when the time is right the TCI Government would make whatever moves it deems appropriate to secure its full membership in CARICOM,” he said.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

LOCAL NEWS

THE RECENT LAND-FLIPPING CASES AND THE FCO-APPOINTED BLOOD SUCKING LEECHES

BY JOHN THOMPSON

T

he Turks and Caicos Islands Supreme Court has recently handed down two judgments on land flipping: the Richardson ruling was in favour of the AG, while the AG’s case against Robinson was dismissed, but the results were far from a draw.

As usual the Governor’s spokesman, Neil Smith, was quick to issue a press release, proclaiming victory in the Richardson case and bragging about the civil recovery team’s record.

True to form there were comments about appealing the Robinson case, where the AG’s claims were dismissed. That is not surprising for Neil Smith, but what is disappointing, is that Rhondalee Braithwaite continues to allow herself to be misused. She should be ashamed of paddling spin for the FCO and its agents, suggesting that the recent court results were a victory for the people of this country, when that is far from true.

What might at first seem like a tie is in fact a defeat and a total waste of the country’s resources. The first sign that the AG has been pissing away the country’s resources with these cases is the three advocates he had in court against Ariel Misick alone, none of whom were Belongers.

In addition to legal fees being spent outside the country there was also no trickle down of the experience from those cases, despite the AG having an office full of Belonger attorneys. So the AG ‘won’ the Richardson case but in the Robinson case, however, the same mathematics apply, and the AG lost that one.

The position is therefore that they won one and lost one, but that really isn’t a tie because in total Government ended up spending far more than the defendants. If the response to that is the drivel put out by Neil Smith in Braithwaite’s name, which is that the AG is happy because they

secured an award of $1.35M in the Richardson case, what they did not explain is that the country has in fact not won anything because the London Civil Recovery team is milking the country at the rate of approximately $500,000.00 a month, and to just break even they would have to win similar awards at the rate of one every three months, and then they would have to collect those awards just to break even, which they have not been doing.

So the situation is that the recent award, if they get paid, will not cover the fees that they have charged government over the last four months, and the only person that has won from this gravy train is the FCO appointed and London based civil recovery team. Neil Smith can spin the facts as much as he likes, but when you look at the total cash collected, of which the overwhelming majority has gone directly into the pockets of the FCO-appointed civil recovery team, it is obvious who is benefitting from this.

Neil Smith’s response to that criticism is to point to all of the land that the FCO-appointed civil recovery team has recovered on behalf of the country, which he says is our most valuable resource. That is just swell, because we thought it was our people, but in any event who made that deal with them: they get to keep all our cash and we get to keep a few IOUs and the land? Furthermore, who are they really taking land back from anyway? The PNP handed out land very broadly, and much of the land they have taken back came from ordinary citizens, who they have been writing by the dozens, terminating leases that are in default. Any first year lawyer in the AG’s office could have done much of that work.

Even the land that they have been taking back from expatriates, which is substantial in some cases, you must wonder how the calculus actually stacks up.

Who really is better off as a result of the civil recovery team taking all the land back from

Hoffman, for instance, and forcing him to hand over a lot of cash…the overwhelming majority of which has ended up directly into the civil recovery team’s pockets! Who is really being ripped off here, and by whom?

You ask the people of Salt Cay if they are any better off as a result of the good deed that was done for them and in their name by the FCO-appointed civil recovery team. Don’t mention anything about water shortages and how, even after the deal that apparently netted the country a windfall, that Island could not afford to replace an old and failing reverse osmosis plant under the interim administration, and its austerity measures. And there is also the SIPT, the other leech on the back of this country, who we are accommodating in a five star beachfront resort.

The point is that despite what Braithwaite says, this song and dance routine only benefits the FCO-appointed blood sucking leeches.

On the subject of the Acting Attorney General, it is regrettable that she has allowed Smith to put out such misleading propaganda under her name, being herself one of hundreds of benefactors of Crown land under a CPL. On 7 May 2009 Rhondalee Moreen Braithwaite-Knowles was the benefactor of the transfer of Crown parcel 10407/057 (0.68 acres) and again on 7 July 2009 she benefited from the transfer of Crown parcel 10401/393 (1.64 acres) (two months later). On 7 July 2009 Denise Theresa Braithwaite-Tennant also received her entitlement, being the transfer of Crown parcel 10407/057 (0.70 acres) 2009. After acquiring absolute title the Acting Attorney General also requested one of her two parcels be rezoned to commercial, and she has also lobbied Government to rent her properties. I don’t wish to tear the lady down, but there was a broad program of Belonger entitlement, from which the Acting Attorney General benefited outside of the Crown Land Policy guidelines.

A thousand shames on Braithwaite.

NOTICE OF SALE BY PUBLIC AUCTION TOLCO LTD. c/o Karam & Missick, Suites A 201-203, Regent Village East, Grace Bay 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 10401/229 Eastern Suburbs, Grand Turk, The property comprises of a .31 acre lot upon which a partially complete two storey residence has been constructed. The residence has four bedrooms, three or four bathrooms and substantial living space, dining and kitchen areas and enclosed and open deck areas on the ground floor. Great elevation and views over town.

Registered Proprietor: Montel Archibold 2. Parcel 10408/61 East Suburbs, Grand Turk, The property comprises of a .32 acre lot upon which a single storey residence has been constructed. A residence has been constructed on the lot with two bedrooms. There are also some timber buildings to the rear of the house.

Registered Proprietor: Colin & Patsy Carter 3. Parcel 10401/201 East Suburbs, Grand Turk, The property comprises of a 2.08 acre water front lot on North Creek upon which a former single storey detached gas station with rear extension (assumed to provide warehouse accommodation) has been constructed.

Registered Proprietor: Glenn/Dorothy Clarke 4. Parcel 10204/93 North West Suburbs, Grand Turk, The property comprises on a .20 acre lot upon which a single storey residence has been constructed. The property has two bedrooms, one bathroom and an open plan living, dining, kitchen area.

Registered Proprietor: Charles & Alicia Glinton 5. Parcel 10401/8 East Suburbs, Grand Turk, The property comprises of a .10 acre lot upon which a single storey residence has been constructed. A residence has been constructed on the lot which appears to have been subsequently split into two apartments. The property is split into a two bed one bathroom apartments and a one bedroom one bathroom apartment.

Registered Proprietor: Quinton Hall 6. Parcel 10406/38 East Suburbs, Grand Turk, The property comprises of a .24 acre lot upon which a single storey residence has been constructed. The residence has three bedrooms, two

bathrooms, a kitchen/living/dining area and a screened covered deck.

Registered Proprietor: Edith Mesa 7. Parcel 10203/165 North West Suburbs, Grand Turk, The property comprises of a .24 acre lot upon which a single storey residence has been constructed. The land is a flat rectangular lot with a two storey four bedroom residence having been constructed to the south side of the parcel with a parking area and garden area to the side. The second floor of the building has views of the pond to the east.

Registered Proprietor: Trevor Missick 8. Parcel 10401/403 East Suburbs, Grand Turk, The property comprises of a .45 acre lot upon which a detached single storey residence has been constructed. This residence has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen/living/dining area and a screened covered deck.

Registered Proprietor: Preston Penn 9. Parcel 10408/45 East Suburbs, Grand Turk, The property comprises of a .22 acre lot upon which a single storey residence has been constructed. The residence has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen/living/dining area and a screened covered deck.

Registered Proprietor: Lydia Prospere 10. Parcel 10403/59 East Suburbs, Grand Turk, The property comprises of a .47 acre ocean view lot upon which a detached residence has been constructed. The parcel has been developed with a large, part-complete two storey residence comprising of a main upper floor with up to 5# bedrooms and 5# bathrooms, and a partial lower floor with two studio apartments.

Registered Proprietor: Marcian Sturrup 11. Parcel 10204/221 North West Suburbs, Grand Turk, The property comprises of a .20 acre lot upon which a detached single storey residence has been constructed with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen/living/dining area.

Registered Proprietor: Delvia Williams

12. Parcel 60715/23 Cheshire Hall & Richmond Hill, Providenciales, The property comprises of a .48 acre lot upon which 2# two storey apartment buildings have been constructed, one comprising 8# one bedroom apartments and the other 4# one bedroom apartments, together with surrounding parking areas.

Registered Proprietor: Thomas Chalmers Misick 13. Parcel 51105/32 Bottle Creek, North Caicos, The property comprises of a .74 acre lot, upon which a two storey block of 5# one bedroom apartments (3# ground floor and 2# first floor) has been constructed.

Registered Proprietor: Elizabeth Tamer Gardiner 14. Parcel 60900/279 TCI Mini Golf & Leeward Going Through, Providenciales, The property comprises of a 1.43 acre lot which fronts onto the northern boundary of Leeward Highway in the Leeward Going Through subdivision in Providenciales. Upon the land has been constructed the TCI Mini Golf facility which comprises an 18 hole miniature golf course, club house with bar/restaurant, covered seating area, open decks, kitchen, office and restrooms together with associated apparatus external works.

Registered Proprietor: David Earl Been 15. Parcel 60611/42 Norway & Five Cays, Providenciales, The property comprises of a .22 acre lot upon which has been constructed a single storey building which comprises of several apartment units in the Norway & Five Cays subdivision of Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands.

Registered Proprietor: Kimberley Laverne Rolle 16. Parcel 60900/104 Leeward Going Through, Providenciales, The property comprises of a .65 acre lot upon which a main residence, guesthouse and part complete guesthouse have been constructed upon the land in the Leeward Palms settlement in the Leeward Going Through subdivision of Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands.

Registered Proprietor: Alicia Kaye Swann

The auction will be held outside the offices of Karam & Missick, Suites A 201-203 Regent Village East, Grace Bay Road, Providenciales at 11:00 a.m. on Friday 13 December, 2013.

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

Draft Terms and Conditions of Sale by Auction are available by request from TOLCO Ltd. (649) 333-4000 or admin@tolcoltd.com

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DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

BLUE HAVEN RESORT & MARINA GRAND OPENS FROM DEC 6 – 8 WITH EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES FOR THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY T

he countdown has begun to the grand opening of Blue Haven Resort and Marina. To celebrate, the resort will be kicking off with a three-day community festival over the weekend of December 6 - 8.

Blue Haven will host a wide array of events featuring live music, DJs and dancing, pig roasts, BBQs and clambakes, arts, crafts and cultural fairs, beach volleyball and beach soccer tournaments and a bonfire with fire displays.

BLUE YOUR MIND Party at Salt (Friday, Dec 6, from 5:30pm) Friday, Dec 6, guests can enjoy live music and local cuisine with a succulent Bacardi Pig Roast starting at 5:30pm at Salt Bar & Grill. Be sure to wear something blue for the ‘Blue your Mind’ party kicking off around 9pm with DJ Viper.

4th Annual TCFAF Art and Craft Expo (Sat/Sun, Dec 7/8, 11am – 4pm) The 4th Annual TC Friends of the Arts Foundation (TCFAF) Art and Craft Expo will take place starting from 11am until 4pm on Saturday, Dec. 7 and Sunday, Dec. 8 offering the ideal spot to shop for Christmas presents and stocking stuffers.

1st Annual TCI Corporate Budweiser Beach Volleyball Tournament (Sat/Sun, Dec 7/8, 11am – 4pm) Grab your colleagues and show your team spirit in the 1st annual TCI Corporate Budweiser Beach Volleyball Tournament also scheduled from 11am until 4pm on Saturday and Sunday. Email contact@bluehaventci.com for a registration form. Don’t hesitate as spots are limited. 1st prize is a USD 500 donation to a charity of the winner’s choice! A coinciding beach BBQ will be on offer with savory treats to satisfy all appetites.

Official Opening of Fire & Ice Restaurant | Bar | Lounge (Sat, Dec 7, from 5pm) On Dec. 7, Blue Haven Resort and Marina will also be celebrating the opening of Fire & Ice, the property’s casual dining restaurant. Champagne, cocktails, canapés and live music can be enjoyed from 5 – 7pm in the new Fire Lounge. Following, the restaurant will officially open for dinner with an opening special clambake (reservations recommended). After 9pm, the beach party begins with a bonfire and a fire dancing show, followed by DJ Dayoh and dancing on the beach.

TCI FA Youth Beach Soccer Tournament (Sun, Dec 8, from 11am – 4pm) Spectators are welcome to come out and cheer on the TCI Football Association Youth Soccer in exhibition matches and a beach soccer tournament on Sunday, Dec. 8 from 11am to 4pm. Don’t go hungry watching the matches, head over to Fire & Ice, where the local catch will be featured in a fish fry themed menu.

Throughout the weekend, beach games and watersports activities, as well as exhibitors and stalls will complete the family fun for the whole TCI community.

As part of the festivities, the resort will also be celebrating the first ever trans-Atlantic crossing by kiteboard by the Enable Passion team in anticipation of the their arrival in the coming weeks. The team, which departed from the Canary Islands November 20, is expected to land at Blue Haven Resort and Marina around December 15 and will be welcomed with great cheers when they arrive at the resort.

A group of local kite boarders are also planning a special welcome by riding the last stretch with the Enable Passion team before they arrive at Blue Haven Resort beach.

As the “Gateway to the true Turks

and Caicos Islands,” Blue Haven Resort and Marina will provide the ideal vacation destination for outdoor and water sports enthusiasts. The property is home to restaurants such as Fire & Ice, Salt Bar & Grill and the Market (from early 2014), a local café and convenience store serving light snacks, fresh sandwiches and pizzas as well as sundries for boaters and guests alike.

The resort will also have a fully operational spa facility and conference center.

The Blue Haven Resort and Marina team welcomes everyone to come out for the Grand Opening event festivities, a weekend of community fun for the whole family.

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE DEC 6 - 8: Friday, from 5:30 pm: BLUE YOUR MIND Party at Salt Sat/Sun, Dec 7/8, 11am – 4pm: 4th Annual TCFAF Art and Craft Expo (Sat/Sun, Dec 7/8, 11am – 4pm) 1st Annual TCI Corporate Budweiser Beach Volleyball Tournament Beach games, sales and other stalls, BBQ Sat, Dec 7, from 5pm: Official Opening of Fire & Ice Restaurant | Bar | Lounge

Seven Stars Resort is seeking suitably individuals to fill the positions outlined below. Ideal candidates must possess luxury resort experience, a professional demeanor, and a strong command of the English Language (oral and written).

Relevant experience and a passion for hospitality is required.

Salary is based on experience and qualifications.

• • • • • • • • •

Spa Therapist Watersport Manager Security Mixologist Inventory Controller Carpenter Room Attendant Duty Manager Floor Crystallizer

Interested candidates should apply via e-mail to Seven Stars at hr@sevenstarsgracebay.com for consideration.

Application deadline: December 6, 2013 ONLY CANDIDATES MEETING ABOVE REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS WILL BE CONTACTED.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Page 19

DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

Brittania Missick is new Junior Tourism Minister

BY VIVIAN TYSON

B

rittania Missick, of TCIPS Comprehensive High School has been crowned the 2013/2014 Junior Tourism Minister after out-speaking several other high school competitors from across the country on Friday, November 22, at the Regent Palms Resort.

Brittania told The SUN that she was elated to have been crowned the winner, adding that the win was as a result of the countless hours that she spent preparing her speech.

As a result of the win, Brittania will now turn her attention next year’s Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s (CTO) State of the Industry Conference in the United States Virgin Islands, competing against more than a dozen other Caribbean representatives.

The CTO designates October as Caribbean Tourism Month, during which activities are held in member countries. The CTO theme year was “One Sea, One Voice, One Caribbean”. But Blythe Clare, the TCI’s Tourism Training Manager at the Tourist Board, said that a different theme was chosen locally to reflect the state of tourism, the environment and the desired achievements.

“In the TCI, we call it Tourism and Environmental Awareness Month (instead of Tourism Awareness Month), where we partner with the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association, DEMA (Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs), Environmental Health, where we go around to various schools and we speak about tourism.

“We have chosen for our theme: “Tourism is Key, Clean, Its Cool”. The reason being, we have very, very beautiful country, pristine beaches that have earned us many, many accolades. But of course, you and I know, we are not good custodians of what God has given us. Some parts of our country are very, very dirty and therefore, we are placing emphasis on a clean, pristine environment,” she said.

Brittania Missick

Blythe Clare

Clare added that the TCI is marketed as a premier destination, and for that trend to continue it must be kept clean.

“When visitors come they must enjoy ambience – visitors as well as residents must enjoy our environment,” she said.

Clare said that Brittania, who executed her research well, found favour with the judges, who believed that not only did she give the best delivery, but also was able to negotiate an on-the-spot “mystery question”.

“She did very well, and of course they had a prepared speech, where they spoke about social media to market the Turks and Caicos. They also had a mystery question and Brittania, the judges felt, did an excellent job in acing her mystery question.

“Students must be able to think on their feet, be able to speak and of course, do interviews when

Willandra Elliot

they are called out of prepared address,” she said.

In the meantime, Clare pointed out that the contest not only enable the participants the opportunity to represent the Turks and Caicos Islands on the international circuit, but is also serves as a tool for future leader development.

“So we are preparing our young people to not only be future leaders but ambassadors for our country.

In the meantime, WIllandra Elliot, who was the 2012/2013 Junior Tourism Minister, told The SUN that she felt honoured representing her country at this year’s CTO Conference even thought she did not win. She said that experienced has helped to fuel her law ambitions.

Clare agreed that even though Willandra did not come home with the regional trophy, believed she represented the TCI extremely well.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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The Providenciales Chamber of Commerce invites you

Thursday December 12, 2013 12.00 to 2:30 pm at the Seven Stars Resort

to E X P E R I E N C E a

n o e h nc

u L s ’ n a

M r o o P

Speakers: Salvation Army Ambassador - E. Jay Saunders Salvation Army - Colonel Raphael Mason

Raising awareness of TCI’s poor and hungry

Tickets $50.00

Call 332-6418 or email provochambertci@gmail.com All proceeds go to the Salvation Army to help feed the hungry in TCI

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FUN&GAMES

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News

CARIBBEAN

Several thousand in Haiti march in 2 protests; some call for Martelly to resign

T

housands of Haitians took to the streets last week calling for President Michel Martelly to resign, and some protesters scuffled with police as international concern mounts over rising violence in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

One group was protesting what its members saw as political interference by the U.S. and carried a banner that asked President Barack Obama to stop supporting Haitian President Michel Martelly.

That protest reached a peak of a few thousand people but shrank to about 1,000 as it approached the U.S. Embassy.

Riot police blocked the area with barricades. Protesters responded by taking a back route to reach the embassy compound where they met police with tear gas. The demonstrators set fire to discarded tires and broke the windows of homes and cars with rocks.

Police officers were seen taking four demonstrators into custody following the disturbance. A second group of about 600 people led by opposition leader Maryse Narcisse placed a flower Friday morning in a school yard to mark the anniversary of an election day massacre 26 years ago.

Some of the protesters displayed banners supporting former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his Lavalas Family party, which Narcisse leads.

Haiti has seen a spike in protests in recent months, with a few of them turning violent.

Demonstrators have objected to the rising cost of living, government waste and corruption, and the long delay of legislative and local elections.

Aristide’s political party has said it wants to run in the elections for which there’s still no date.

A protestor being restrained by law enforcement The crowd marched up the busy commercial street of Delmas to the wealthy suburb of Petionville where rocks were thrown and police responded with tear gas.

It was the largest anti-government protest since Martelly took office in May 2011, surpassing scenes in May this year when deposed former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide made a rare court appearance.

The protest was held on the anniversary of the Battle of Vertieres in 1803, marking the final defeat of French troops in Haiti’s struggle for independence and the abolition of slavery.

“We are taking the streets to demand President Martelly’s departure,” said Volcy Assad, a spokesman for the pro-Aristide Fanmi Lavalas party. “Martelly represents the minority which has always kept the people in misery, in pain .... We want to write a new page of history for children to have access to water, education and food.”

Jamaica Health Minister supports use of marijuana for medicinal purposes INGSTON, Jamaica– Health K Minister Dr. Fenton Ferguson says while smoking marijuana has serious implications for a person’s health, he nonetheless fully supports its use for medicinal purposes.

“Jamaica can’t lock off itself from the rest of the world or the research findings that are available, that is pointing to a significant number of elicits that medical marijuana is responding to, so I want that to be very, very clear, that when it comes to medical marijuana, I am fully on board,” he said.

Speaking at the Rotary Club of St. Andrew, Fergusson, who is leading a campaign to ban cigarette smoking in public areas said that smoking of marijuana, is “bad”, and with marijuana, “the Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the critical addictive substance.”

There have been recent calls from various Caribbean countries for the use of marijuana for medicinal use and earlier this year, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders discussed the issue, deferring any position until a later date.

Ferguson said that the recently imposed ban on smoking in specified public places was the most far-reaching public health policy in decades.

“What you will see from these regulations within another couple of years, as happened in Northern Ireland, which was the first to have a ban on smoking in public

Dr. Fenton Ferguson places, is less strokes, less heart attacks, and less asthmatics,” he said.

He said there had also been a 20 per cent reduction in asthmatic admissions to hospitals since the imposition of the no smoking policy in specified public places.

Dr. Ferguson said that the country spent billions of dollars annually to address the ills caused by tobacco smoke, and pointed out that the direct and indirect cost of tobacco use and exposure is estimated to be between US$750 million and US$1.3 billion.

He urged Jamaicans to continue supporting the ban as well as to embrace healthier lifestyle practices, in order to significantly reduce cardiac-related illnesses

and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Fergusson said that the regulations were put in place to protect the country’s workers, non-smokers, the nation’s children and smokers themselves.

Dr. Ferguson also pointed out that one of the main goals of the government is to reduce by 25 per cent, the number of avoidable deaths related to non-communicable diseases by 2025.

He said the implementation of the Public Health (Tobacco Control) Regulations 2013, which was imposed on July 15, was in keeping with the government’s 2013/14 strategic priority focus on human capital development in relation to health care.

The tobacco regulations outline places where smoking is prohibited, such as all enclosed places, public transportation, workplaces, government buildings, health facilities; sport, athletic and recreational facilities for use by the public; educational institutions; areas specifically for use by children, and places of collective use, such as bus stops.

There is also the requirement of the use of large, graphic health warnings on tobacco products, instead of the text only warnings currently used.

The 2010 Global Youth Tobacco Survey, undertaken by the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA), indicates that just over 40 per cent of young people, aged 13 to 15 years, have smoked at least once.

Haitian President Michel Martelly is under pressure to step down.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti on Saturday noted the resurgence of violence and killings in the notorious seaside slum of Cite Soleil in the capital, as well as the northern city of Cap Haitien.

“Such crimes are particularly disturbing as they endanger the safety of all, and the social peace that Haiti needs to move forward on the path of strengthening rule of law and socio-economic development,” mission head Sandra Honoré said in a statement.

She reiterated the U.N.’s commitment to support Haitian authorities, especially the Haitian National Police, to prevent violence and to strengthen the rule of law.

Last month the U.N. Security Council extended the mission in Haiti until mid-October 2014, and reiterated that building the capacity of the Haitian National Police remains “a most critical task.”

TRINIDADIAN JUDGE ELECTED TO INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

P

ORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Justice Geoffrey Henderson has been elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here on Saturday.

It said that Henderson, a former director of public prosecution with 24 years experience in the criminal justice system, was the island’s candidate at the ICC’s 12th session of the assembly of States Parties to the rome Statute.

“Mr. Justice Henderson’s candidacy was approved by the Assembly of States Parties in the first and only round of voting, and he secured 98 votes out of a maximum 99 votes (with 1 abstention), easily surpassing the two-thirds majority required for election whilst drawing support from all regions of the world,” the statement said.

The statement said that his candidacy was supported by Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states of Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Lucia and Suriname. It said that Uruguay had withdrawn its candidate earlier this week.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that apart from his impecca-

Justice Geoffrey Henderson ble credentials the election of Justice Henderson “is a fitting tribute to the consummate efforts of former President Arthur N.R. Robinson in promoting the creation of a Permanent International Criminal Tribunal on the international agenda, and is ample indication of the deserved esteem in which Trinidad and Tobago is held by the international community.

Henderson will serve the unexpired portion of the term made vacant as a result of the resignation of another Trinidad and Tobago judge, Anthony Carmona, who has since been elected head of state.

Justice Henderson’s term of office will expire on March 10, 2021.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS

Cayman Islands to start immigration talks with Cuba in new year C

ayman authorities will meet their Havana counterparts early in the new year to negotiate revisions to the 1999 memorandum of understanding prescribing the treatment of illegal Cuban immigrants.

According to the Caymanian Compass newspaper, discussions are likely to touch on subjects including the timing of mutual notifications, repatriation flights, shared expenses and even asylum claims.

The changes come in the wake of a 12-page summertime Human Rights Commission review of the issues in the MOU that, until now, has elicited little response from policymakers at the Ministry of Home Affairs, sparking fears that government may do little to boost important changes.

Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, however, told the Caymanian Compass that he had been in touch with Cuban authorities.

“We are in discussion with the Cuban government about the MOU, and received correspondence a couple of weeks ago agreeing to sit down and discuss the terms of the MOU. “We will do that in the early New Year,” he said.

The move comes after a series of meetings – the first in April 2012 and three others in January and February 2013 – with Mr. Manderson, the chief immigration officer and other department officials, the director of public prosecutions, the attorney general and commissioner of police.

“When we spoke to the deputy governor, he did say he was intending to revisit the MOU and some of the issues,” said Richard Cole, Human Rights Commission chairman.

“We haven’t heard anything since then,” he said. “They said they would go back to the Cuban authorities and, after 14 years, see if [the MOU] needs modernization.”

“They met with the deputy governor and the attorney general to express their concerns,” a commission spokeswoman said. “The meeting took place. Rewriting the MOU did

Cayman Islands Deputy Governor Franz Manderson not.”

The April 15, 1999, 10-point MOU, between Havana and George Town committed the Cayman Islands government to a series of enforcement actions whenever Cuban migrants appeared inside the 12-mile limit of Cayman waters.

Within seven days of their apprehension by RCIPS marine units or Immigration Department officers, Cayman must provide a cursory list of names and addresses of each immigrant, followed “in as short a time as possible,” according to the document, details of “sex, date of birth [and] their most recent address in Cuba to include street name, house number, flat number, municipality and province as well as a photograph ... and the place and date of their illegal arrival in the Cayman Islands.”

Havana, within 20 days, shall answer “with its authorization to accept the return of the Cuban citizens.”

Without naming a time frame, the MOU says Cayman must notify Havana within seven days of the date of the

illegal immigrants’ repatriation flight into Havana’s main Jose Marti Airport, detailing both their names and those of the Cayman officials accompanying them.

No arrival or other tax shall be charged to the repatriates, who must not bring with them any foreign goods or currency.

“It‘s time the MOU was revised,” said Bruce Smith, deputy chief immigration officer for border control, “but there has been a bit of foot-dragging.”

Among other things, he pointed to the “extremely costly” nature of holding and returning illegal Cuban immigrants, describing the process as “extremely extravagant.”

“We have to provide police operations and airfare and there are human rights aspects,” he said, pointing to the costs of room, board and various amenities.

Mr. Manderson was cautious about the new year talks, saying they would be “in terms of the time it takes to return the refugees, and some of the asylum claims.”

Despite the MOU, he said, the repatriation process was often prolonged past the point of comfort for local authorities.

“Normally now, it drags out over many months, and we are hoping it should be speeded, like before.” He declined to say what Cayman officials would ask in terms of timing the capture, processing and repatriation, offering only that “if we can get agreement to a time line, well, that would be fabulous.”

“We have found the Cubans to be very cooperative,” he said, minimizing potential disagreements, but acknowledged that “the MOU maybe was appropriate in 1999, but it’s not appropriate any longer.”

In its report of meetings with local officials, The Human Rights Commission pointed out that, under UN Conventions, any refugee had the right to seek asylum, although such claims were difficult to support, requiring distinctions between economic mi-

grants and true political threats of persecution.

The commission nonetheless sought in its report to ensure that Immigration Department interviews of Cuban arrivals included procedures for asylum applications.

“The Cayman Islands, like any other country, should not facilitate irregular migration, and there is an obligation to balance migrant control with ensuring fair and appropriate asylum processes,” the commission’s report said.

While “the Cayman Islands do not support or condone illegal migration,” Mr. Coles wrote, officials should “ensure that timelines set out in the MOU are complied with and to ensure that screening of asylum claimants takes place within a reasonable period of time.”

Mr. Manderson said, “We have to be very careful that we – under that 1951 UN Convention – are not allowed to advise any government that we are advising their people to seek asylum.”

While it was unlikely to form part of any MOU, the subject was “a bit of a delicate thing” in any negotiation.

“We do not want to say ‘we are advising’ people to claim asylum,” he said.

On the subject of expenses, Mr. Manderson acknowledged the high cost of repatriation procedures, saying that “in the past, many years ago, the Cubans had sometimes sent the cost of airfares.” In new-year talks, he said, “it could be an agenda item.”

Finally, he said, the penalties for aiding illegal Cuban immigrants arriving in Cayman – fines as high as $50,000 and seven years in prison – was “not going to change. We take this very seriously,” he said, wishing to discourage illegal immigration.

While no one had ever been prosecuted under the laws prohibiting aid to immigrants, they would remain in force, he said, while accepting the Human Rights Commission recommendation for better public education on the issue.

Speculation about former Trinidad prime minister Basdeo Panday planning comeback P

ORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad– Even though he insists that he has no desire to return to “electoral politics” former prime minister Basdeo Panday is seeking election as chairman of the ruling United National Congress (UNC).

He is also calling for a change in the leadership style of Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, who defeated him in 2010 for the top post of party he founded.

“I have said that I have no wish to return to electoral politics but I have been inundated with so many calls from people weeping over the fact that the UNC, which we took some 23 years to build, has all but been destroyed.

“It has lost its moorings, it no longer struggles for the things which we created it and they have asked whether I would be willing to seek office in order to return it to its pristine days,’ said Panday, 80, who served as head of government from 1995-2001.

Panday told radio listeners that he was being asked to seek the chairman-

ship of the party when it holds internal elections next year.

“If that be their wish,. So be it,” he said, noting however, he was prepared to do so”providing that I will be assured that the elections will be free and fair”.

He said that in 2010 he had indicated that the “elections were stolen and if they control the electoral machinery they will still the elections, I know that and I have no intention of taking part in an election, the results of which are known before the votes are cast”.

Panday said he intends to consult the membership of the party “because I owe it to them. Safer all I did not build this party by myself but by the blood sweat and tears of hundreds of people and if it is their wish that I should return to an active part in the party I am willing to accede to their request”.

Asked whether he thought that Prime Minister Persad Bissessar, whose coalition government of which the UNC is the major partner suffered four electoral defeats this year, should change ahead of the next general elec-

Former Trinidad Prime Minister Basdeo Panday tion constitutionally due in 2015, Panday replied “Yes I think the leadership style has got to change.

“My view is that if they continue as how they are continuing they are going

to lose the next elections,” he said, adding that he is no longer consulted by the UNC members on the way forward.

“I am what you call persona non grata,” he added.

But UNC Deputy Leader and Housing Minister Dr. Roodial Moonilal said while he would not speculate on rumours, the UNC is focused on its priorities at the moment.

“We are focused on government business right now, this is a very important time in the cycle of government and we prefer not to be distracted by the talk and the ole talk of who is running and who is not running and so on.

“When the elections come around we will meet and treat with that. He (Panday) has always been in public life and bringing healthy comments and commentaries and criticisms and so on.

He has a respected view he has never left the political process so there is no issue of a return.”

Moonilal said whether Panday returns or not “is a question for him”.

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CARIBBEAN NEWS

Bermuda Government backs $350million luxury hotel development T

he Bermuda Government has given its backing for a $350 million luxury hotel and condominium development to be built in Hamilton.

The Corporation of Hamilton had already signed a 120-year lease — renewable to 262 years — with developers to construct the new resort on the Par-la-Ville car park site.

But under new retroactive laws passed by Government last month, any Corporation lease longer than 21 years has to be approved by Parlia-

ment before it can go ahead.

Once the Act came into force, the Corporation had 14 days to submit to Government all land leases for more than 21 years, as well as outright land sales, for review by the Minister who is then required to table them in Parliament.

The new law was condemned by developer Michael Maclean who said that the additional red tape could deter potential investors.

But yesterday Deputy Premier Mi-

chael Dunkley tabled a motion in the House of Assembly to authorise the Corporation to give an $18 million guarantee to the developers for the purpose of getting the project off the ground.

The motion will now be debated

by MPs next week.

Home Affairs Minister Michael Fahy yesterday said the project would “add a boost to the economy by creating much needed jobs” and also increase the Island’s hotel bed stock.

“Today’s motion demonstrates the Government’s support for the project in aiding the developer to raise the necessary financing to bring this project to fruition,” Mr Fahy said.

“It is intended that the guarantee is subject to very specific criteria and the Corporation of Hamilton will be required to conduct thorough due diligence, to the satisfaction of the Bermuda Government, before execution of what is essentially a collateralised mortgage.”

Bahamas Government Issues First Set of $360,000 Mobilisation Cheques to Contractors N

assau, The Bahamas – The Urban Renewal Commission has issued the first set of mobilisation cheques to over 100 contractors. At a price tag of some $360,000, the funds will be used to kick off the Small Homes Repairs Project. This exercise follows the government’s recent announcement that relief would be coming soon to those whose homes were badly in need of repairs. The cheques were distributed on Wednesday, November 27 at the St. Agnes Parish Hall.

Prime Minister Perry G. Christie told contractors to carry out the works to the best of their ability.

“Urban Renewal is a very near and dear project for me. When my government came in, we said that we ‘believed in Bahamians’ and so this is one of the ways that my government is carrying out this promise,” said Mr. Christie. “I, therefore, advise you to work with pride and to the highest of standards.”

Mr. Christie told the contractors that this proj-

Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie

INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES INVITED TO ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

K

INGSTOWN, St Vincent and Grenadines- International airlines have been invited to St. Vincent and the Grenadines “to finalise arrangements and look at scheduling” as the island prepares to open its international airport at Argyle next year, Tourism, Culture and Sports Minister Cecil “Ces” McKie has said.

McKie said that construction on the multi-million dollar airport, which began in 2008, is expected to be completed early next year and “by October next year, persons (in the Diaspora) should be able to come home”.

He said the tourism sector is expected to benefit tremendously from the opening of the airport.

“We expect to triple the numbers (of tourist arrivals) within two years, once the airport finishes,” he said, adding that a number of airlines in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom have been invited to St. Vincent and the Grenadines before year’s end for talks.

McKie said the international airport would also enable the country to better market agricultural products overseas, noting that “marketing is a challenge now.”

He said the agricultural sector has recently made two very successful shipments of “all types of agricultural products” to Brooklyn, New York, where arguably

most Vincentians in the Diaspora reside.

“Now that you have a guaranteed market, it’ll give us confidence that you’ll get our products sold,” McKie said.

McKie said St. Vincent and the Grenadines was the only country in the sub-regional Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to have experienced two consecutive years of growth in recent years.

“All in all, the economy is doing well. For all these reasons, I can put forward with confidence that people can come home and invest. The climate is right.”

McKie said there were a number of developments taking place in St. Vincent and the Grenadines including the National Economic and Social Development Plan 2013-15, “that captures all aspects of development of the country and how we intend to go forward”.

McKie said successful testing and production of geo-terminal energy at La Soufriere volcano by the Clinton Foundation would be a “major game changer” in helping to reduce the nation’s energy bill.

He said the country would also benefit from expansion of medical colleges, with the St. James School of Medicine joining three other medical schools – Trinity Medical College, All Saints Medical School and American School of Medicine.

ect may be a ‘short term’ one, however, next year the government will embark on a public-private partnership for the construction of hundreds of homes in The Bahamas and consequently create hundreds of job opportunities for those in the construction industry.

“This upcoming project will be big in its impact and persons such as you who are seen to do good work at this level will be given contracts to carry out those works as well,” he said. “So the incentive to you is to recognise that this is a stepping stone to the programme which will be launched next year.”

The Prime Minister said he believes the clean up of urban areas will spark a new way of thinking among Bahamians as they would take more pride in their environment and that would trickle into a reduction in the crime rate.

A second group of cheques will be issued next week.

The Bahamas government expresses sadness at loss of Haitian lives at sea N

ASSAU, Bahamas– The Bahamas government Wednesday said it was “deeply disturbed and saddened” at the loss of Haitians lives in the Exumas on Tuesday as the United States Coast Guard said it would continue the search for an “undetermined number” still missing.

The Perry Christie government described the incident as a “human tragedy” adding “this tragic story continues with too much regularity despite strenuous efforts to stop and discourage it”.

Haitian President Michel Martelly said he was “deeply affected by this tragedy” and reiterated his call for citizens not “to venture offshore in ‘makeshift boats’.

Martelly said he was also reiterating his commitment “to maintaining in the country a stable environment conducive to investment and job creation in order to put an end to these dangerous practices”.

The Coast Guard said on Tuesday that more than 100 Haitian migrants fell into the sea onr Monday night when their overloaded sail freighter grounded and capsized They have raised the number of dead bodies retrieved from 10 to 30 and that so far 110 Haitians had been rescued.

The rescued migrants were severely dehydrated and were taken to New Providence in the Bahamas

and Elcott Coleby deputy director of the Bahamas government information office said the authorities could account for 110 survivors.

The Bahamas government said it was seeking to hold urgent talks with “all the surrounding stakeholders and governments within the next few days with a view again to taking additional measures to discourage the smuggling of human beings through Bahamian waters.

“In the mean time, we again urge people not to take the risky journeys on the high seas which too often lead to the loss of life and the tragedy that occurred in the Exuma Cays.

“We will seek to take additional measures to seek to prosecute those who are responsible for these illegal journeys,” the government added.

US Coast Guard officials said they were also trying to rescue a second group of Haitian migrants, who were spotted on Ragged Island in the Bahamas.

Officials have reported a spike in the number of Haitians trying to reach US shores in recent times.

Earlier this month, the US Coast Guard rescued 171 Haitians from a 40-foot sailboat in Bahamian waters, and another crew rescued 68 Haitian migrants off the coast of Haiti.

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News W

RLD

President Obama: ‘Nowhere to Go But Up’

D

espite facing a disastrous rollout of his health care plan, criticism over his policies and approval ratings that have plunged to an all-time low, President Obama said he remains confident that his signature health care law will be an important part of his legacy and things can only get better.

“I’ve gone up and down pretty much consistently throughout,” Obama told ABC’s Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview at the White House. “But the good thing about when you’re down is that usually you got nowhere to go but up.”

Barbara Walters’ exclusive interview with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama airs on a special edition of “20/20,” “Walters at the White House,” on Friday, Nov. 29, at 10 p.m. ET Obama’s Affordable Care Act,, which was meant to be a centerpiece of his presidency, has been hit with enormous backlash since its website, Healthcare.gov, went live in October and has continued to suffer from technical glitches. The race is now on for the tech-surge team to produce a fully functional website.

“I continue to believe and [I’m] absolutely convinced that at the end of the day, people are going to look back at the work we’ve done to make sure that in this country, you don’t go bankrupt when you get sick, that families have that security,” the president said of his health care law. “That is going be a legacy I am extraordinarily proud of.”

But in the aftermath of the website’s troubled rollout, reports surfaced that senior Obama ad-

President Obama: “I got re-elected in part because people did think I was trustworthy.” ministration officials expressed ongoing anxiety over the site not working properly months before it went live on Oct. 1, but seemed to have left the president in the dark about their concerns.

“Obviously my most recent concern has been that my website’s not working ... and we’re evaluating why it is exactly that I didn’t know soon enough that [it] wasn’t going to work the way it needed to,” Obama said. “But my priority now has been to just make sure that it works.”

Since the rollout, Obama has been front and center, apologizing for “fumbling the ball” and not executing the rollout better. But Republicans continue to pounce on what has now been called a “broken promise” to deliver affordable health care to the nation. According to a ABC News-Washington Post poll released last week, the president’s job approval rating fell to 42 percent, down 13 percent-

Fast and Furious star Paul Walker dies in car accident A

ctor Paul Walker, a star of the “Fast & Furious” movie franchise, died Saturday in a car accident, his publicist said.

“Sadly, I must confirm that Paul did pass away this afternoon in a car accident,” publicist Ame van Iden confirmed to CNN Entertainment.

She said she could not elaborate beyond statements posted on Walker’s official Twitter and Facebook accounts.

A post on Walker’s Facebook page said, “It is with a truly heavy heart that we must confirm that Paul Walker passed away today in a tragic car accident while attending a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide. He was a passenger in a friend’s car, in which both lost their lives.”

The website for the charity indicated there was an event in Southern California on Saturday to benefit victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

Along with Vin Diesel, the 40-yearold Walker has been one of the stalwarts of the “Fast & Furious” movie series, characterized by its racing scenes and attractive cast.

The box-office success of the first film in 2001 fueled sequels. The series’ sixth installment came out earlier this year, topping the Memorial Day weekend box office.

Paul Walker A seventh film is scheduled for release in 2014.

On his verified Twitter account, Walker described himself as “outdoorsman, ocean addict, adrenaline junkie ... and I do some acting on the side.”

Walker also is the star of “Hours,” an independent film scheduled to be released December 13 about a father struggling to keep his newborn infant alive in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Twitter and other social media exploded with reactions to Walker’s death.

“Completely numb and saddened to hear of the tragic death of Paul Walker,” wrote one posted “Wow.” Hollywood condolences came from Will Smith, Jack Osbourne, DMX and others.

age points this year and 6 points in the past month to match the lowest of his presidency. Obama is also at career lows for being a strong leader, understanding the problems of average Americans and being honest and trustworthy -- just 41 percent rate him as a good manager.

Even still, Obama brushed off the notion that the American people think he is untrustworthy.

“I got re-elected in part because people did think I was trustworthy and they knew I was working on their behalf,” he said, noting that every president goes through rough patches. “Very rarely are the good things that happen get the same attention as the things that aren’t working so well.”

President Obama’s job approval rating roughly matches that of President George W. Bush at the same point in his second term, according to recent polling, but again, Obama pressed that he isn’t finished yet.

“Every president in their second term is mindful that you’ve only got a limited amount of time, and you want to make sure you are squeezing every last ounce of energy that you have to try to deliver on the commitments you made to the American people,” he said.

Even faced with a firestorm of criticism, and recent incidents of the president being booed or heckled during speeches, First Lady Michelle Obama joked that even though her approval ratings are higher than the president’s, she too had been booed before and told Walters it is just “part of the job.”

CAMERON PAYS ‘WIZARD OF OZ’ £500K TO WIN HIM 2015 GENERAL ELECTION

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avid Cameron has stepped up his planning for the General Election by giving his Australian ‘attack dog’ a new £500,000-a-year contract.

Election strategist Lynton Crosby, who until now has been advising the Prime Minister part time, will receive the doubled salary for devoting himself full time over the 18 months until the vote in 2015.

Mr Crosby, known as ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and an ‘evil genius’, has been credited with sharpening the Tories’ message over the past year. He is renowned for hard-hitting campaigns with so-called ‘dog- whistle’ policies on issues such as immigration and welfare.

He has been criticised for links to the tobacco industry, with Labour questioning if he was involved in the Coalition decision to drop a plan enforcing plain packaging for cigarettes.

He denies raising the issue with David Cameron or wielding any influence on Government policy.

Crosby’s supporters praise his no-nonsense Australian political style – what he calls ‘getting the barnacles off the boat’ to offer voters a streamlined message.

His tough methods have won him fans and enemies on both sides of the political divide, as well as a track record of both success and controversy.

The Mail on Sunday revealed last year how Crosby made derogatory remarks about ‘f****** Muslims’ in a private meeting while working for Boris Johnson.

He helped Right-wing Australian politician John Howard win four elections and won two victories in London mayoral elections for Mr Johnson, but had less success running Tory leader Michael Howard’s Election campaign in 2005.

Tories admire the Australian’s ‘re-

Lynton Crosby’s tough methods have won him fans and enemies on both sides of the political divide, as well as a track record of both success and controversy freshing’ lack of deference, which two months ago included poking fun at how rich Tory supporters were in David Cameron’s constituency. He had Tory MPs in fits of laughter by recounting how much expensive jewellery had been on display at a fundraiser in the Oxfordshire seat, joking: ‘If just one of the ladies had managed to sell one earring, we could have funded the Tory Party for three months.’

Crosby is also said to reassure the party on the threat from UKIP, telling Tory MPs to ‘stop worrying’ because ‘a lot of UKIP supporters will come back’ at the next Election.

But he was sharply rebuked earlier this year by influential Tory peer Michael Ashcroft, after allegedly branding George Osborne and Tory chairman Grant Shapps ‘liabilities’.

A senior Tory said last night: ‘We are thrilled to have Lynton. Labour hates him because they know he gets results.’

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WORLD NEWS

8 dead and dozens hospitalized after helicopter crashes into Scotland pub E

ight people died and dozens were hospitalized after a police helicopter crashed into a bustling pub in Glasgow late Friday night, police said at a press conference Saturday.

All three aboard police chopper were killed in the crash and five were found dead inside the pub.

Chief constable Stephen House said specialist teams are working to make sure everyone is recovered from the scene, where revelers were packed into the pub to hear a local ska band when the helicopter crashed through the roof.

Photos taken at the scene on Stockwell Street, located near the banks of the River Clyde, showed a helicopter smashed into the roof of The Clutha pub. The crash, which occurred around 10:30 p.m., appeared to cave in parts of the bar’s roof.

Witnesses described a noisy, dusty scene inside the popular bar, where about 120 people were listening to a band.

Labour party spokesman Jim Murphy, who was present at the scene, helped pull people out of the pub.

“I just saw dozens and dozens of people coming out of the pub,” he told Sky News. “It is a horrible,

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said teams of firefighters were working to stabilize the building. horrible scene.”

He added that people had formed a human chain to help pass unconscious people out of the pub so that “inch by inch, we could get the people out.”

Fraser Gibson, 34, who was inside the pub, described to the BBC what he said sounded like “a gi-

ant explosion.”

“Part of the room was covered in dust. We didn’t know what had happened. We froze for a second; there was panic and then people trying to get out the door.”

He estimated that there were perhaps 120 people inside the bar at the time of the crash.

“There was no fireball and I did not hear an explosion,” said Gordon Smart, editor of the Scottish edition of the Sun newspaper. “It fell like a stone.

The engine seemed to be spluttering.”

Claire Morris, who lives near the Clutha bar, told BBC News: “We heard this bang. We didn’t really know what had happened and then we heard people coming out and screaming.

“I wasn’t sure whether there had been an explosion. My daughter said to me it was a helicopter that had hit the roof.

“Police are everywhere. We are just very shaken.”

Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: “My thoughts are with everyone affected by the helicopter crash in Glasgow — and the emergency services working tonight.”

Nelson Mandela remains quite ill, and can’t speak, former wife says S

outh Africa’s former president, Nelson Mandela, remains “quite ill” and unable to speak because of tubes that are keeping his lungs clear of fluid, though he is relaxed, his former wife told a South African newspaper.

“He remains very sensitive to any germs, so he has to be kept literally sterile. The bedroom there (in his suburban Johannesburg home) is like an ICU ward,” Winnie Madikizela-Mandela told the Sunday Independent. “He is 95 years old and it is difficult for him, because of all the tubes that are in his mouth to clear the (fluid from his) lungs, and prevent an infection recurring.” Because of those tubes, she said, he communicates through his face.

“But the doctors have told us they

Nelson Mandela hope he will be able to recover his voice,” she said, adding that he is being treated by 22 doctors at his home.

Mandela’s former wife shot down reports that the former anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace prize winner was on life support.

“I have heard this nonsense that he is on life support. He is not,” she told the newspaper. When asked if he was peaceful, she said, “Very.

When he is very relaxed, he is fine,” adding that it helps he is at his home, an environment that he recognizes.

Mandela has been in intensive medical care at his Johannesburg home since being discharged on Sept. 1 after nearly three months in a hospital for a recurring lung infection.

Madikizela-Mandela’s comments come days before the release of the film based on Mandela’s autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom” and which stars British actor Idris Elba.

Madikizela-Mandela, 77, published a

SASHA OBAMA WILL DECIDE IF THE FAMILY STAYS IN WASHINGTON COME 2016

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ome 2016, the Obama family will have to find new digs and the President says daughter Sasha, now 12, will have a huge say in whether or not the family sticks around Washington or heads back to their Chicago home.

Admitting to Barbara Walters that the women in his life have “made a lot of sacrifices on behalf of my cockamamie ideas, the running for office,” the President says he wants his youngest daughter to be the guiding force in his post-presidential plans as he considers how the move will impact her school experience and circle of friends.

Sasha was just a 7-year-old when her dad was elected president in November 2008 and she and older sis, Malia, moved to D.C. from their Chicago birthplace.

Sasha is the youngest child to reside at the executive mansion since 1-year-old John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his 3-year-old sister, Caroline, charmed the nation as toddlers when their father took over the White House in 1961.

The youngest Obama daughter will be 15 and a high school sopho-

more in January 2017 when Obama’s second term ends. She attends Sidwell Friends School, a private Quaker school, as does her older sister.

“Sasha will have a big say in where we are,” he said about the future, in an interview for the “Walters at the White House” special on “20/20” to air Friday night.

“You know we gotta make sure that she’s doin’ well … until she goes off to college,” he added.

Malia, Obama’s oldest daughter, is now 15 and she will be 18 and in college come 2017, when a new tenant takes over the White House.

The current President was mum on who he thinks will follow him into the Oval Office but he did say there is “no doubt” a female will soon become President, as speculation swirls that his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will run.

“We have some amazing female [public] servants all across the country and there is no doubt that sometime very soon, we’re going to have a female president,” the President said.

“I’m confident that she will do a

Sasha Obama great job,” he added, without naming names.

It’s unusual for a former President to remain in the Beltway when his term is up, since it can give off an odd impression that they are keeping an eye on their successor.

Former President George H.W. Bush retired to Houston after his de-

book of her prison diaries earlier this year entitled “491 Days: Prisoner number 1323/69.”

“Of course, I wish he could read the book, but I really wish he could see the film,” she said.

Madikizela-Mandela and Mandela divorced in 1996.

Mandela served a single five-year term as president of South Africa and afterward he focused on charitable causes, including the fight against HIV/AIDS. He withdrew from public life years ago. Mandela’s last public appearance was in 2010 at the World Cup soccer tournament, which was hosted by South Africa. At that time, bundled against the cold, he waved but did not speak to the stadium full of fans. feat to Bill Clinton in 1992.

Clinton opted to settle down in New York, rather than his native Arkansas, when he left the White House in 2001, and Bush “43” moved to Dallas — an easy distance from his ranch retreat in Crawford, Tex., after the end of his second term 2009.

Obama could be the first former President in nearly 100 years to remain in Washington. Woodrow Wilson was the last ex-president to remain in D.C. after his term ended in 1921, although Harry Truman considered doing so.

It’s an annual tradition for Walters to chat with the President and his wife for a holiday interview, when they typically set aside policy rhetoric and venture into personal topics.

The first daughters are a subject usually off-limits to the protective parents, but the First Lady did discuss with Walters the great lengths at which they go to shield their girls from social media.

“We try to protect them from too much of the public voice,” the mom said, adding that she’s not a “big believer in Facebook for young people.”

She also dished on her 21 year marriage to Barack, saying she tries “to stay out of his ear” since he has more than enough advisers telling him what to do.

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WORLD NEWS

Typhoon Haiyan death toll tops 5,600 T

he death toll in the world’s most powerful typhoon to hit land rose to 5,632 as volunteers dug out more bodies buried in rubble in ravaged areas in the Philippines, the country’s national relief agency said.

At least 1,759 people remained missing and more than 26,000 injured when Typhoon Haiyan pummelled a large area of the eastern and central Philippines on November 8 with record winds of more than 300 kilometres per hour, the agency said on Saturday.

Some 3.8 million people were displaced by the bad weather, with damage to public infrastructure and agriculture estimated at $US711 million ($A782.82 million), it added.

A spokeswoman for the UN Office for Coodination of Humanitarian Affairs in Manila said Friday the world body was seeking additional funds for the reconstruction of areas hit by Haiyan in the eastern and central Philippines.

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan has urged immediate interventions in the key areas of livelihood, employment, housing and public infrastructure restoration.

Around 5.2 million workers are now jobless after an earthquake and typhoon Haiyan, locally named “ Yolanda,” struck central Philippines, the

International Labour Organization (ILO) said Friday.

ILO Country Director for the Philippines Lawrence Jeff Johnson said many of these workers are at risk of losing their livelihoods permanently.

“As of today, over 5.2 million workers were affected and have lost their livelihoods either temporarily or permanently. This is close to the entire population of Singapore,” Johnson said in a statement.

He noted that even before the typhoon battered the central Philippines, 2.3 million workers in “vulnerable” employment are already living in poverty--accepting or creating whatever work is available in order to survive.

“However, this is not just a matter of numbers.

We talk about people living in uncertainty,” Johnson said.

He called for the need to increase funding for programs aimed at increasing livelihood.

The ILO is currently coordinating with the Philippine government in the implementation of an emergency employment program in areas severely affected by typhoon Haiyan.

Johnson said the Philippine government needs help considering the massive reconstruction work that needs to be undertaken.

ILO said it is reaching out to its partners and other donors to support the reconstruction of affected communities in central Philippines and create jobs for displaced workers. UN Humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has called for longer-term support for the Philippines people, millions of whom are affected by the devastating Typhoon Haiyan.

“Amos warned that people left without homes will require substantial longer-term support from the international community to ensure they are provided with the means to rebuild their houses, “ Fahran Haq, associate spokesman for the secretary-general, said at a regular news briefing here.

Of the 4.4 million homeless people, more than 387,000 people are still staying in evacuation centers across the six affected regions in the Philippines, according to the spokesman.

Amos on Thursday wrapped up a three-day visit to the Philippines in an effort to promote humanitarian aid.

The Philippines government estimated that 13.25 million people have been affected by the typhoon

by Wednesday, including some 5. 4 million children, many of whom were facing serious health and safety risks, Haq said, adding that a measles, vitamin A and polio vaccination campaign is set to start in the country Monday.

Where did the $1 coins go?

T

o all the great mysteries of life, add this: Why is the lowly, tarnished penny so revered, and the shiny $1 coin so reviled?

Pennies proliferate. They fill our pockets. Our jars runneth over.

When we drop a penny, we conduct the ultimate cost-benefit analysis: Should I pick it up?

Consequently, pennies are everywhere.

But where are your Sacagaweas?

And where are all those John Quincy Adams presidential coins?

The answer: in the inventory of the nation’s Federal Reserve Banks.

The Federal Reserve Banks hold about $1.4 billion in $1 coins -- enough to meet the demand for the next 40 years.

In fact, far more than half of all $1 coins ever minted are in government

vaults.

Last year, more $1 coins were returned to the Federal Reserve than were paid out. More business returned the unpopular coin than asked for them. So the government’s stockpile actually grew.

All of this information is gleaned from a Government Accountability Office report this week with the evocative title: “U.S. Currency: Coin Inventory Management Needs Better Performance Information.”

The report traces the history of the $1 presidential coins from their inception in Congress in 2005, through initial distribution in 2007, through 2011 when the mint stopped making them because of a lack of public appetite to their current ignoble status as the coin that is now costly to store.

The $1 coins have a lot going for

VENEZUELAS PRESIDENT MADURO THREATENS ARRESTS OVER PRICES

V

enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro vowed Friday to arrest shopkeepers who defy government price controls, the latest salvo in a populist “economic war” ahead of key municipal elections.

Maduro delivered the warning in a nationally televised address that laid the ground for tougher enforcement of a three-week-old crackdown on actions seen as fueling Venezuela’s soaring inflation.

He urged authorities who find retail prices that have been raised “to act with all the severity of the law and, because they are crimes in flagrante, to proceed immediately to detain those responsible.”

Using new powers to rule by decree, the socialist leader also ordered lower rents for commercial spaces and barred property owners from asking for payments in foreign currency.

“We are going all out. We are taking measures with even more authority,” he said.

The latest declarations came with Maduro facing a key test of political strength on December 8, when municipal elections will take place in the midst of a burgeoning econom-

ic crisis.

It will be the first elections since Maduro succeeded his political mentor, late leader Hugo Chavez, in April elections whose tight results the opposition has refused to recognize.

Inflation is running at 54 percent a year, shortages of basic goods are widespread despite the country’s oil wealth and a hard currency crunch wreaking havoc on the import-dependent domestic economy.

Earlier this month, Maduro fired what he called his first salvo in an “economic war against the bourgeoisie and imperialism,” the latter a reference to the United States or US interests.

He ordered home appliance stores to slash prices and deployed National Guard troops to enforce the measure.

This unleashed a tumultuous early start to the Christmas shopping season with Venezuelans mobbing consumer electronic stores for windfall bargains.

The National Assembly then granted Maduro special decree-making powers, which he immediately used to impose price controls and cap profit margins at 30 percent.

them. They are durable and can be used easily in vending machines.

They far outlast paper money.

But in the rock-paper-scissors public opinion contest, paper always wins.

The public’s preference comes at a cost. The federal government would save $4.4 billion over 30 years -- or about $150 million a year -- if Congress decided to go metal, according to the GAO, which would like to see the $1 paper notes phased out.

One way to tilt public opinion would be to eliminate $1 notes, the GAO said. In Canada and the United Kingdom, public resistance to coins dissipated within years when there was “no alternative to the note,” the GAO said.

But the Treasury Department -which currently mints only a limit-

ed number of $1 presidential coins for collectors -- is not swayed.

“Minting $1 coins that ultimately end up sitting in Federal Reserve Bank vaults -- and serve no useful purpose for businesses, financial institutions and consumers -- is simply not a prudent use of taxpayer resources,” the Treasury Department said when it stopped production of the coins.

So the government continues to mint copper pennies, which are largely zinc, and which since 2006 have cost more than a penny to produce.

And it mints nickels, which cost more than a nickel to produce. But it eschews dollar coins.

A Senate bill seeks to improve the circulation of $1 coins. But GovTrack. us gives the bill a 1% chance of making it out of committee.

CUBAN BANK ACCOUNT IN THE US CLOSED

T

he decision by a New York bank to close Cuba’s checking account in the United States has presented an unusual diplomatic quandary that provides a test for new-found pragmatism in relations between the two longtime foes.

Cuba announced on Tuesday that it is ceasing almost all consular services in the United States after M&T Bank (MTB.N) closed its account, sending shock waves through the booming Cuba-U.S. travel industry and threatening to undermine the Obama administration’s goal of closer “people-to-people” ties.

Cuba blamed its unusual bank-less status on the longstanding U.S. economic embargo against the communist island, as well as sanctions resulting from it being included on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. These incur regulations - and potential fines - so onerous that banks are reluctant to accept such toxic accounts, experts say.

Cuba has so far not threatened any reciprocal action against the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana, and observers were watching for signs of restraint, which diplomats would take as further indication that Cuba is pursuing improved relations.

The banking snafu was a problem not likely to go unresolved for too long because both Cuba and the United States have too much to lose from disrupting travel between the two countries, experts said.

But it exposed a conflict within U.S. policy towards Cuba which on the one

hand wants closer travel ties with the island, and yet on the other brands it a supporter of terrorism.

“It begs the question how do we modernize these rules so they don’t conflict with our policy goals. We want more people-to-people travel, and more family travel,” said U.S. Representative Joe Garcia, a Cuban-American Democrat from Miami.

He was referring to the Obama administration’s support for educational and cultural exchanges, as well as unrestricted visits for Cuban families divided by the Florida Straits.

“We have a series of rules that are at best arcane and were cumbersome when they were created three decades ago.

They are out of tone and time.”

Cuba also cannot afford a drop in tourism to the island, which has become a mainstay of its cash-strapped economy.

The Obama administration says it is “actively working” to help Cuba find a bank willing to handle its U.S. accounts, but officials declined to go into details.

“We would like to see the Cuban missions return to full operations,” a State Department spokeswoman said.

The fastest way to do that would be by taking Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism, a pariah status many Cuba analysts say the island no longer deserves.

The Obama administration may be contemplating such a move, but does not appear ready to go that far yet, analysts say.

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WORLD NEWS

Pope Francis calls for big changes in Church P

ope Francis has called for big changes in the Roman Catholic Church – including at the very top – saying the church needs to rethink rules and customs that are no longer widely understood or effective for evangelizing.

“I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security,” the Pope said in a major new statement.

“I do not want a Church concerned with being at the center and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures,” Francis added.

The Pope’s address, called an “apostolic exhortation,” is part mission statement, part pep talk for the world’s 1.5 billion Catholics. Francis’ bold language and sweeping call for change are likely to surprise even those who’ve grown accustomed to his unconventional papacy.

“Not everyone will like this document,” said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author in New York. “For it poses a fierce challenge to the status quo.”

And it’s not just a verbal challenge, the Pope said on Tuesday.

“I want to emphasize that what I am trying to express here has a programmatic significance and important consequences.”

Since his election in March, Pope Francis, the first pontiff to hail from Latin America, has made headlines by decrying the iniquities of modern capitalism, embracing the poor and people with disabilities and reaching out to gays and lesbians.

At the same time, the 77-year-old pontiff has sought to to awaken a spirit of joy and compassion in the church, scolding Catholic “sourpusses” who hunt down rule-breakers and calling out a “tomb psychology” that “slowly transforms Christians into mummies in a museum.”

“An evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral!” the Pope said.

Officially known in Latin as “Evangelii Gaudium” (The Joy of the Gospel), the 85-page statement released on Tuesday is the first official document

written entirely by Pope Francis. (An earlier document was co-written by Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.) Although Francis sprinkles the statement with citations of previous popes and Catholic luminaries like St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine, the new pontiff makes a bold call for the church to rethink even long-held traditions.

“In her ongoing discernment, the Church can also come to see that certain customs not directly connected to the heart of the Gospel, even some which have deep historical roots, are no longer properly understood and appreciated,” the Pope said.

“Some of these customs may be beautiful, but they no longer serve as means of communicating the Gospel. We should not be afraid to re-examine them. At the same time, the Church has rules or precepts which may have been quite effective in their time, but no longer have the same usefulness for directing and shaping people’s lives.”

Such statements mark a sharp break from Benedict XVI, a more tradition-bound pope who focused on cleaning up cobwebs of unorthodoxy in the church.

By contrast, in “Evangelii” Francis repeats his calls for Catholics to stop “obsessing” about culture war issues and to focus more on spreading the Gospel, especially to the poor and marginalized.

The outside world, particularly its economic inequalities, didn’t escape Francis’ notice either.

In a section of “Evangelii” entitled “some challenges to today’s world,” he sharply criticized what he called an “idolatry of money” and “the inequality that spawns violence.”

The Pope also blasted “trickle-down economics,” saying the theory “expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power.”

“Meanwhile,” Francis said, “the excluded are still waiting.”

But the bulk of Francis’ statement addresses the church, which, he said, should not be afraid to “get its shoes soiled by the mud of the street.”

The Pope also hinted that he wants to see an end to the so-called “wafer wars,” in which Catholic politicians who support abortion rights are denied Holy Communion. His comments could also be taken as another sign that he plans to reform church rules that prevent divorced Catholics from receiving the Eucharist.

“Everyone can share in some way in the life of the Church; everyone can be part of the community, nor should the doors of the sacraments be closed for simply any reason,” Francis said.

“The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”

Even so, Francis reiterated the church’s stand against abortion, defending it against critics who call such arguments “ideological, obscurantist and conservative.”

“Precisely because this involves the internal consistency of our message about the value of the human person, the Church cannot be expected to change her position on this question,” Francis said.

The Pope also reiterated previous rejections on ordaining women, saying the topic is “not open for discussion.”

But that doesn’t mean the church values men more than women, he said.

“We need to create still broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church,” the Pope said.

Francis also said he expects other parts of the church to change, and called on Catholics to be unafraid of trying new things.

“More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving.”

Francis didn’t mention specific reforms, but he suggested that it could include changes at the very top of the church.

“Since I am called to put into practice what I ask of others, I too must think about a conversion of the papacy,” he said.

FLORIDA WOMAN GIVEN 20 YEARS Gay US ambassador faces FOR WARNING-SHOT RELEASED backlash in Dominican Republic M

S

anto Domingo, Dominican Republic -- The welcome message from America’s new top diplomat in the Dominican Republic touched on baseball, culture and trade ties. No surprises there.

But U.S. Ambassador James “Wally” Brewster brought one thing with him this week that’s a first for a male U.S. ambassador in the Caribbean nation: a husband.

“My spouse, Bob, and I have traveled the world, from the far reaches of Asia to the stunning coastlines of southern Europe,” Brewster says in a video introducing himself on the U.S. Embassy’s website.

Then husband Bob Satawake chimes in: “But we always return to the beauty of the Dominican Republic.”

After months of pressure from religious groups in the Dominican Republic who protested his appointment, Brewster arrived in Santo Domingo this week to begin his tenure as ambassador.

U.S. President Barack Obama praised Brewster’s “knowledge and dedication” when he announced his appointment to the post in June.

The Dominican Republic’s government quickly said it accepted Brewster’s selection.

But some have been less welcoming.

High-profile Catholic Church leaders have decried the new dip-

US Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, James Brewster, is gay and is married to a man lomatic appointment as a sign of a lack of respect from Obama.

“He has not considered the particularities of our people. The United States is trying to impose on us marriage between gays and lesbians as well as adoption by these couples,” said Father Luis Rosario, director of youth ministries for the church.

Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez has also criticized Brewster’s selection several times since Obama announced his appointment over the summer.

Local media reported that an evangelical church called for “black Monday” protests, asking people to show their opposition to Brewster by tying black ribbons on their cars, according to local media reports.

Others, including gay rights groups, have praised Brewster’s appointment.

His arrival in the Dominican

Republic this week was front-page news in many of the country’s newspapers, which also prominently discussed the arrival of his spouse.

A major fundraiser for Obama’s 2012 campaign who most recently worked as a senior managing partner of SB&K Global, Brewster has also served on the national board of directors for the Human Rights Campaign, a prominent gay rights group.

In a blog post this month, the group described Brewster as the fifth openly gay U.S. ambassador.

“It is a testament to President Obama and the U.S. Senate that the sexual orientation of these ambassadors is irrelevant to their qualifications for their posts,” the campaign said.

In his introductory video, Brewster says that he and Satawake are longtime fans of baseball, which is very popular in the Domincan Republic, and that he’s eager to increase economic connections between the United States and the Dominican Republic.

“My parents taught me that all people deserve respect, dignity, love and opportunity. They also instilled in me a strong belief in God, and the values of love and tolerance,” he says. “Bob and I bring those beliefs and values with us as we come to the Dominican Republic. We are both thrilled to be coming back to our second home.”

arissa Alexander, the Florida woman who was sentenced to 20 years for firing a gun to scare off her allegedly abusive husband has been released from prison as she awaits a new trial, her attorney said.

Last month, an appellate court ordered a new trial for Alexander. The case will be retried because the jury had incorrect directions, the court ruled.

Alexander’s Marissa Alexander case gained the attention of civil rights leaders, who say nobody was hurt and the sentence for the mother of three was too harsh.

The case shined the spotlight on Florida’s “stand your ground” law after she unsuccessfully argued before her 2012 trial that she was immune to prosecution because of the law.

According to court paperwork filed in Duval County, Florida, Alexander was granted a pretrial release with special conditions and a $150,000 bond.

Alexander will be under electronic monitoring at all times and on home detention until the completion of her case, the documents state.

A campaign supporting Alexander said that she was back home with her family.

“We hope the decision means that the Florida justice system has relented in its vindictive, hostile and racist legal assault on this African-American mother of three,” the statement by the Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign said.

Thrilled supporters in Jacksonville, Florida, cheered Alexander’s release Thursday, but also said they were prepared to keep fighting.

“We do know this is temporary joy. ... This is a victory, but the battle’s not over yet. The battle will be won in court,” said Anthony Heard of Free Marissa Now. “We’re all just happy that she’ll be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we’re going to focus on that right now.”

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usiness B AND

O T Thanksgiving openings take ECHN

LOGY

sales from Black Friday

S

hoppers who braved the sales on Black Friday may have wondered at the size of the crowds.

Did they seem a bit smaller than in years past? hat’s because, according to one major research firm, they were.

More large retailers were open on Thanksgiving Day this year, and for more hours than in years past. And it appears those openings nibbled away not only at the holiday, but at the sales the day after, too.

“The Thursday store openings did well,” said Bill Martin, founder of the research firm ShopperTrak. “But a lot of it was at the expense of Black Friday.”

Collectively, sales on Thursday and Friday were up 2.3 percent in brick-and-mortar stores over the same two days last year, according to ShopperTrak.

But foot traffic on Black Friday, traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year, was down more than 11 perfect over last year. Sales were off even more, down 13.2 percent.

The holiday season generally accounts for 20 to 40 percent of a retailer’s annual sales, according to the National Retail Federation, and Thanksgiving weekend alone typically represents about 10 to 15 percent of those holiday sales.

This year, however, there is an unusually short window between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and retailers tried hard to encourage people to shop early. Deals were offered weeks in advance, and ads pushed the idea that shoppers should get an early start. And many did. According to the retail federation, 53.8 percent of shoppers surveyed in the first week of November said they had already started their shopping, drawn by early sales.

Mr. Martin said that over all, he expected November sales figures to be stronger than last year’s. By Saturday evening, ShopperTrak had not yet completed its data for Thanksgiving Day, but Mr. Martin said he expected sales to be up “dramatically.”

Many major retailers have been bracing for a lackluster holiday season. Walmart and Target both trimmed their yearly forecasts recently, citing major economic factors like slow wage growth, consumer confidence and unemployment. And executives at Best Buy warned that intense price competition on certain items during the holiday season was likely to affect their bottom line, despite its improved earnings performance of late.

While sales increased on Thursday and Friday, there are additional costs associated with being open on Thanksgiving Day, like holiday pay for employees.

“Thursday is going to be a tough day to make any profit,” Mr. Martin said.

The data from ShopperTrak addresses only brickand-mortar stores.

Shopping online, however, grew substantially on Thanksgiving and Black Friday this year.

Online sales on Thursday were up nearly 20 percent over last year, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, which tracks about 800 retail websites in the United States. Online sales on Friday were up almost 19 percent.

Another major surge came from mobile traffic, which accounted for nearly 40 percent of all online traffic on Friday, said Jay Henderson, strategy director for IBM Smarter Commerce.

“That’s pretty staggering,” he said. “You hear a lot about the year of mobile, and this is probably the

Apple beats Microsoft and Google to top valuable brands list

G

lobal technology major Apple is the world’s most valuable brand followed by Microsoft, Coca-Cola, IBM and Google, according to Forbes magazine.

Apple has topped the World’s Most Valuable List compiled by Forbes with a brand value of $104.3 billion, nearly double the other technology major, Microsoft, which has a brand value of $56.7 billion. “...the Apple name is as strong as ever. Apple is the most valuable brand in the world for a third straight time at $104.3 billion, up 20% over last year. It is worth nearly twice as much as any other brand on the planet by our count,” Forbes said.

Microsoft’s brand value has remained flat over the past three years, as the company struggles to make the transition from PC to the mobile world, Forbes said.

“Growth has slowed, but it is still one of the most profitable brands in the world with

operating margins of 34% in its latest fiscal year,” it said.

With a brand value of $54.9 billion, Coca-Cola was ranked third on the list, followed by IBM ($50.7 billion) and Google ($47.3 billion), which make up the top five.

Among the top 10 brands, McDonald’s, with a brand value of $39.4 billion was ranked sixth, followed by General Electric ($34.2 billion), Intel ($30.9 billion), Samsung ($29.5 billion) and Louis Vuitton ($28.4 billion). Brands from US-based companies make up just over half of the list of 100, with the next biggest representation from Germany (nine brands), France (eight) and Japan (seven). No Indian company features in the list.

Technology brands are the most prevalent with 19, including six of the top 10.

Samsung, which came at No. 9, had the strongest one-year gain of any brand in the top 100, up 53% to $29.5 billion.

The company’s value soared

136% over the past three years.

“Sales for Samsung’s Galaxy S4 smartphone have been on fire and the company also benefits from its market leading position with memory chips,” Forbes said. However the value of a brand can collapse in the complex, fast-moving technology world, Forbes noted.

Forbes had valued the Blackberry brand at $6.1 billion last year, but this year it stood at just $2.2 billion and has come out of the top 100 brands list.

Similarly, three years ago, Forbes had deemed the Nokia brand worth $27.3 billion, the ninth highest in the world, but is now worth just $7 billion, at 71st place.

Forbes valued the brands on three years of earnings and allocated a percentage of those earnings based on the role brands play in each industry. The 100 most valuable brands span 15 countries across 20 broad industry categories.

fifth annual year of mobile. But 40 percent of all traffic feels like a tipping point.”

Mobile sales grew to about 26 percent of total online sales on Thursday and nearly 22 percent on Friday. On both days, the company saw a late surge in online shopping, presumably, as people finished spending time with their families and snuggled up on the couch with their credit cards.

Much of online traffic came from smartphones, which accounted for about 25 percent of online traffic on Friday, as opposed to over 14 percent from tablets. But actual purchasing came predominantly from elsewhere. Tablets made up about 14 percent of online sales, double that of smartphones which accounted for only about 7 percent.

Traffic and sales at Target.com on Thursday were among the highest the site has ever had on a single day. Walmart.com had nearly 400 million page views that day, including mobile traffic.

There was also a small decline in IBM’s online numbers. Though online sales were up on Thursday, the average order value decreased 2.5 percent, Mr. Henderson said.

“I think the lesson there is that maybe since the idea of shopping on Thanksgiving Day is new,” Mr. Henderson said, retailers offered, “slightly better deals to try to drive people to shop earlier.”

Those numbers bounced back on Friday, he said, with the average order value increasing 2.2 percent over the previous year.

Despite all this growth, online purchases remain a very small portion of retail sales. Mr. Martin of ShopperTrak said that over 90 percent of all United States retail commerce still takes place in physical stores.

EUROZONE UNEMPLOYMENT FALLS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2011

T

he eurozone’s unemployment rate has fallen for the first time since early 2011, according to official data.

The jobless rate across the 17 countries using the euro currency fell to 12.1% in October, the first fall since February 2011, the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said.

About 19 million people are out of work across the region.

Meanwhile, the annual rate of consumer inflation rose from 0.7% to 0.9%.

The European Central Bank (ECB) aims to keep inflation just below 2% the level it deems right for growth.

The data indicates that the fragile eurozone economy may be gradually improving, although there are big disparities between individual countries.

The unemployment rate in Spain and Greece is about 27%, for example, while Austria’s is 5%.

Anaemic growth In a surprise move earlier this month, the ECB cut its benchmark interest rate

from 0.5% to a record low of 0.25%.

ECB president Mario Draghi said the decision reflected its view that low inflation and weak economic growth would be the dominant story in the region.

When eurozone inflation fell to 0.7% in October - its lowest level since January 2010 - there were fears that growth could be stalling and that some countries could even be moving into deflation.

This latest rise in inflation has led some economists to think the ECB will not have reduce interest rates further in the near future.

Frederik Ducrozet, an economist at Credit Agricole bank, said that it “should buy the ECB more time to decide whether or not to provide more accommodation”.

But the eurozone economy remains anaemic, growing 0.3% in the second quarter and just 0.1% in the third.

The European Commission has forecast growth of 1.1% for 2014 and 1.7% for 2015.

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

American Airlines US Airways merger officially cleared for takeoff A

federal judge gave American Airlines and US Airways his blessing to merge on December 9th and create the world’s largest airline.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane also gave American and its parent, AMR Corp., the green light to leave bankruptcy almost two years to the day after they filed for protection.

“Today’s rulings by the court are another important step in our path toward emerging from restructuring and closing our planned merger with US Airways,” American spokesman Mike Trevino said in a statement. “The new American will compete on a global scale with a network that benefits our people, our customers and the communities we serve.”

The new company will be called American Airlines Group, replacing the AMR name, and will remain at American’s headquarters in Fort Worth.

Lane also rejected a request for a temporary restraining order to block the merger. The request came from 40 plaintiffs represented by San Francisco attorney Joe Alioto, who said the deal violated federal antitrust law. Alioto said later he planned to appeal the judge’s decision.

The judge agreed with American that a November 12th settlement of a Justice Department lawsuit did not significantly change the airline’s plan of reorganization. He then ruled that American could complete its merger with US Airways.

Based on the closing price of US Airways stock Wednesday, the deal is now valued at $18.1 billion, up from $11 billion when the two companies agreed to merge in February.

The new airline will put its management in place on December 9th, 2013. Six of the top nine executives come from US Airways.

Doug Parker, chairman, president and chief executive of US Airways, will be CEO of American Airlines Group. The president of US Airways, Scott Kirby, will have that job at the new airline.

Tom Horton, currently chairman, CEO and president of AMR and American, will become non-executive chairman after the merger. He’ll step down from that job just before American Airlines Group has its first annual meeting.

Still unresolved is the issue of any special severance for Horton. He had a deal to get nearly $20 million as he left the CEO position, but Lane said the payment would violate bankruptcy laws.

Horton may get the money anyhow. After the airline is out of bankruptcy, it will have a new board of directors, which could decide to reward Horton for guiding American through a difficult time.

Customers will start seeing results of the merger in early January. That’s when the new airline expects to begin tying the separate frequent-flier programs together.

But it will be a long time before the US Airways brand will go away. The new company must get a single operating certificate. That will require a lot of work with the Federal Aviation Administration.

In addition, the new airline must repaint airplanes so they all look alike. It must change airport signs and relocate its gates at many airports. The merger also will require new uniforms for many employees.

In January, American adopted a new livery that is much different from its traditional design and its first major change since 1968. An early decision for Parker and Kirby: Should the new American keep that paint job?

US Airways and American also must combine their reservation systems. In fact, technology may be one of the biggest hurdles that the new airline faces. Another is labor and the difficulty of combining workforces and seniority lists.

“In our business, we’re used to handling delays and a little turbulence,” the two airlines said in an internal newsletter Wednesday. “But smoother skies

are ahead as we’re now approved to move forward in building the new American together!

“While it is exciting to prepare to close our merger, we know there is much work to be done.”

The Dec. 9 closing will end a long, difficult period for AMR, American and their employees. After years of losses, AMR, American and various subsidiaries filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code on Nov. 29, 2011.

American made its unions agree to new contracts in 2012 that cut the airline’s costs by $1 billion a year.

American Airlines Group will adopt the stock symbol AAL. Its stock will trade on the NASDAQ market beginning Dec. 9.

AMR trades as AAMRQ over the counter. US Airways trades as LCC on the New York Stock Exchange. They will last trade under those symbols on Friday, Dec. 6.

US Airways shareholders will own 28 percent of the stock in the merged company. Based on Wednesday’s close of $23.98, that puts their stake at $5.08 billion.

AMR and American creditors will get paid in full, including accrued interest, with stock valued at about $6 billion. Members of American’s labor unions would get about $2 billion in stock.

Current shareholders in AMR, whose stock price dropped as low as 20 cents when AMR filed for bankruptcy, will receive just under $5 billion in stock — nearly as much as US Airways shareholders.

But the stock won’t all be distributed on day one.

It will be handed out in four groups spread out over 120 days.

The American-US Airways merger is the fifth major airline merger since 2005.

First was the merger of US Airways and America West that year. Then Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines merged in 2008. United Airlines merged with Continental Airlines in 2010. And Dallas-based Southwest Airlines merged with AirTran Airways in 2011.

Snowden leaks force Google Yahoo and Microsoft to upgrade security against hackers F ormer U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden succeeded where President Barack Obama couldn’t -- getting Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. to upgrade computer security against hackers.

The companies are adopting harderto-crack code to protect their networks and data, after years of largely rebuffing calls from the White House and privacy advocates to improve security. The new measures come after documents from Snowden revealed how U.S. spy programs gain access to the companies’ customer data -- sometimes with their knowledge, sometimes without -- and that’s threatening profits at home and abroad.

“These companies actively fought against numerous mechanisms that would have mandated far more secure data,” Sascha Meinrath, director of the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation in Washington, said in a phone interview. “Now they are paying the literal price.”

While Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Facebook Inc. provide data to the government under court orders, they are trying to prevent the NSA from gaining unauthorized access to information flowing between computer servers by using encryption. That scrambles data using a mathematical formula that can be decoded only with a special digital key.

The NSA has tapped fiber-optic cables abroad to siphon data from Google and Yahoo, circumvented or cracked encryption, and covertly introduced weaknesses and back doors into coding, according to reports in the Washington Post, the New York Times and the U.K.’s

Guardian newspaper based on Snowden documents. He is now in Russia under temporary asylum.

Microsoft is the latest company considering measures to ensure the protection of customer data and strengthen security “against snooping by governments,” according to Brad Smith, general counsel for the Redmond, Washington-based company.

Microsoft’s networks and services were allegedly hacked by the NSA, the Washington Post reported Nov. 26. Documents disclosed by Snowden suggest, without proving, that the NSA targeted Microsoft’s Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger services under a program called MUSCULAR, the newspaper said.

“These allegations are very disturbing,” Smith said in an e-mailed statement. “If they are true these actions amount to hacking and seizure of private data and in our view are a breach of the protection guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.”

Smith didn’t provide details about what the company is considering doing.

Microsoft lags behind other major companies when it comes to protecting “users against extralegal attacks on its networks to obtain user data without a warrant,” said Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney for the digital-rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, based in San Francisco.

“We have asked companies to implement encryption on every step of the way for a communication on its way to, or within, a service provider’s systems,” Opsahl said in an e-mail. “The news about the NSA’s MUSCULAR program served as a wakeup call, and it’s encour-

aging to see so many companies working to ensure that user data is not stolen out the backdoor.”

The difference now is the companies are responding to market pressure, said James Lewis, director of the technology and public policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington nonprofit.

“They’ve got to do something to show the foreign customers they’re protecting them from surveillance,” Lewis said in a phone interview. “The administration was looking for incentives and it appears they found one.”

The Obama administration and members of Congress say cybersecurity legislation is still needed to secure the networks of power grids, banks and pipelines, which haven’t been affected by the Snowden disclosures. Legislation has been proposed in the Senate to establish voluntary cybersecurity standards for companies, while the House passed a bill that would give companies legal protections for sharing hacking threat data with each other and the government.

News about the spy programs has “great potential for doing serious damage to the competitiveness” of U.S. companies, Richard Salgado, Google’s director for law enforcement and information security, told a U.S. Senate panel Nov. 13.

Revelations of NSA spying may cost the U.S. cloud industry as much as $35 billion by 2016, according to the Information Technology Industry Council and the Software Information Industry Association, two Washington trade associations.

BANK OF ENGLAND’S GOVERNOR WARNS HOUSE-BUYERS ON RATES ONDON - Bank of England GoverL nor Mark Carney has warned wouldbe British homeowners to consider the risks of higher interest rates, amid concerns that rising house prices could create a property market bubble, a newspaper reported.

“Think about the mortgage you are taking on, the debts you are taking on,” Carney was quoted as telling The Guardian.

“Are you going to be able to service that mortgage five years from now, 10 years from now, if interest rates are higher?”

The BoE unexpectedly said it would put the brakes on a scheme launched last year to help boost mortgage lending and would refocus it instead squarely on lending to businesses.

Recent data showed British house prices in November rose at their fastest pace in three years and mortgage approvals hit a nearly six-year high last month.

Carney told The Guardian he wasn’t worried about the British housing market as the BoE’s Financial Policy Committee was taking action and had powers to prevent a bubble, including the ability to recommend to banks that they do not offer mortgage loans that are too large.

“I’m less concerned about the housing market, given the steps the FPC has taken,” he was quoted as saying.

Carney reiterated his view that raising interest rates - currently at a record low of 0.5 percent - would be “a very blunt tool” for controlling the housing market and could hurt the wider economy.

The BoE has stressed it will be in no rush to raise interest rates even when unemployment falls to its threshold level of 7 percent for considering a tightening of monetary policy.

Carney also told The Guardian he opposed a European Union cap on bankers’ bonuses which is due to come into force soon.

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

Sports

LOCAL

Stallions bolt past Flyers in Basketball opener

BY VIVIAN TYSON

D

efending champions Grand Turk Stallions kicked off the defense of their Provo Basketball Association Men’s League on a successful note courtesy of a hard-fought 57-54 win over the Five Cays Flyers, on Friday, November 22, at the Gustarvus Lightbourne Sports Complex, in what was a repeat of last season’s final.

That game was the feature of double header. In the first game, the South Caicos Harbour Boys got

by Police Badgers 70-65, courtesy of a team-high 16 points from J. Paul, 3 steals and 2 rebounds. He was supported by K. Adams, who shot 14 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals.

Grand Turk Stallions

Tamari Lightbourne For the Police, S. Germain shot a team-high 19 points, 7 rebounds and one steal. K. Doughty supported by shooting 13 points, 8 rebounds and 1 steal.

In the feature game, it was the Flyers who made a flying start, opening with two 3-pointers and two free throws to score eight unanswered points. However, nearing the end of the first period, the Stallions clawed their way back, and with one minute to go, took the lead 14-13. They then end the quarter with a 16 to 13 lead.

The Flyers, however, fought back, and early in the second period, took over the lead on 18 points.

At halftime they enjoyed a 31-24 lead.

The third period proved to be a fruitful stanza for both teams who made frequent scoring shots. The Stallion appeared to have the upper hand in that exchange when they took over the lead on 38. However, the Flyers fought hard to gain the upper hand, and at the end of the third period shared the spoils 41 apiece.

The stallions came out hot in the last quarter, finding their team mates with pin-point accuracy, resulting in them scoring five unanswered

Five Cays Flyers points. But the Flyers continued their pesky challenge and it was not long before they erased the deficit and retook a slim 46-45 lead midway the final quarter.

But the Stallions tied the score 47-47 with four and a half minutes remaining on the clock.

But with a little over two minutes to go, Flyers again regained the lead 50-48, but that was shortlived when the Stallion tied up proceedings.

The Stallions then scored six unanswered points to open up a 56 to 50 lead with about a minute and a half on the clock, but Flyers scored four points to trigger a mouth-watering finish and rattled nerves in the Stallions’ camp.

The Stallions, however, held off the challenge, when they sank one point from a free throw with

six seconds on the clock, and it was at that point, they knew that they had bagged the win.

For the Stallions Tamari Lightbourne scored 11 points, 2 steals and 1 assist. M. Lightbourne supported with 10 points, 11 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal.

For the Flyers, Jordon scored 14 points, 2 steals and 1 rebound. Cameron scored 10 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals and 1 assist.

The competition continued on November 29, with three games - Flyers taking on Steelers, Collectors vs Police Badgers and Predators going up against Harbour Boys. However, at press time the score was not available.

Before the start of the game, the Stallions were awarded with their championship rings and the championship trophy from last season.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL KICKS OFF DECEMBER 11

T

he National High School Basketball Tournament kicks off on Wednesday 11th December, 2013 through to the Friday 14th December at the Gus Lightbourne Sports Complex, down town. Ten high schools are taking part in the competition, and according to organizers, this year’s event is expected to be extremely competitive.

Admission adults $50.00, students and $7.00.

Tip-off time is 11am. The following is the schedule for the games.

Day 1 – Wednesday 11th December, 2013 10:00am TECHNICAL MEETING at Gus Lightbourne Sports Complex 11:30am Game 1 – Holy Family Vs. TCI Middle School 1:00pm Game 2 – Wesley Methodist Vs. British West Indies Collegiate 2:30 pm Game 3 – Maranatha Academy Vs. TCIPS Comprehensive

5:30pm

Game 7 – Loser of game 3 Vs Loser of game 2 7:00pm Game 6 – Winner of game 2 Vs Clement Howell High Day 2 – Thursday 12th December, 2013 9:30am Game 4 – Helena J. Robinson Vs Raymond Gardiner High 10:30am Game 5 – Marjorie Basden Vs Winner of game 1 5:00pm OPENING CEREMONY

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TURKS & CAICOS SUN

LOCAL SPORTS

Huge turnout at Provo Triathlon T

he Provo Sprint Triathlon took place recently at the Bight Park and brought out scores of participants and spectators. The three-sport event took the form of swimming, cycling and running. Proceeds from the event were designated for the Special Needs Association of Providen-

The relay from cycling to tracks

ciales (SNAP) Centre. Both residents and visitors took part in the event.

And based on its success, the organizers, led by Keven Bethel, have already commenced planning for next year. The following are photo highlights of the event.

This runner is cheered on by the spectators at the event

This athlete raises his hands in triumph as he passes the finish line ahead of another competitor

This cyclist punches the air after completing his leg of the Triathlon

This female competitor is cheered on by spectators as she powered to the finish line

This trio of athletes stands proud with their medals

The swimming leg of the Provo Triathlon kick-started what turned out to be a fierce competition

Members of the Philippines community were well represented

Pedal cyclists try to gain the upper hand

TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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DECEMBER 2ND - DECEMBER 7TH, 2013

Sports

CARIBBEAN

Preparation going smoothly for IAAF World Relays in The Bahamas 2014

A

delegation from the IAAF World Relays Bahamas 2014 Local Organising Committee (LOC), which included the nation’s Minister of Sport Dr Daniel Johnson, recently provided an update on the organization of this inaugural event to the IAAF Council.

No less than 43 IAAF Member Federations have expressed intent at competing in the event.

The delegation confirmed that transport between the team hotels should be swift and smooth and the main route will incorporate the a duel carriage way between hotels and track, with a police escort.

In addition, access to The Bahamas’ capital Nassau will be smooth as there a new wing to the local international airport has been recently opened.

A junior relay meeting, incorporating The Bahamas’ top teams, was unveiled and will take place before the main competition programme.

A communications plan, including a very aggressive promotion plan for ticket sales, will commence in December.

The LOC also announced that discussions with sponsors were well advanced and announcements, including a title sponsor, were imminent.

An IAAF delegation recently concluded the second official IAAF site visit to Nassau, The Bahamas, host city of the upcoming IAAF World Relays.

IAAF Senior Vice President Bob Hersh said: “The IAAF is delighted to be in The Bahamas making the final

The Bahamas National Stadium organisational check up on a brand new competition, the World Relays.

We are pleased to see the hard work and dedication that has been shown so far by the organisers. We will work hard to help them as we approach the crucial final straight.

“The IAAF believes there will be worldwide interest in a weekend of sport dedicated just to the relays, which have always an exciting and dramatic highlight at our World Championships and Olympics.

“We will introduce exciting innovations in terms of both the event presentation and the TV coverage. I am also certain that the world’s best athletes – not only from sprints but middle distances also – will be excited about visiting Nassau in May, where the weather conditions and the support from a track-crazy public will

help them achieve exceptional performances.”

During the two-day site visit, all matters related to the general organisation of the IAAF World Relays were discussed.

Visits were also made to the athletes’ hotels and various other facilities, including the main competition venue itself, which is the National Thomas A Robinson Stadium.

The facility has a seating capacity of 15,000. The first edition of the relays will be an historic occasion for the city of 250,000 as it is the first country to host the event and the largest sporting event ever in The Bahamas.

“As the organisers of this important IAAF World Relays, we will meet the IAAF’s expectations,” added Local Organising Committee Executive Chairman, Keith Parker.

The delegation included IAAF Senior Vice President and Technical Delegate Robert Hersh, IAAF Council Member and Organisational Delegate Alberto Juantorena Danger and senior staff from the IAAF led

by General Secretary Essar Gabriel.

During the visit, the IAAF representatives also met key figures from the political and business sectors in The Bahamas, who are determined to make the IAAF World Relays Bahamas 2014 an outstanding success.

A courtesy call was also paid to The Bahamas’ Prime Minister, Perry Gladstone Christie.

Minister of Youths, Sports and Culture, Dr Daniel Johnson, said: “We are encouraged that this competition will reach millions of viewers in more than 100 countries and we see it as a great opportunity to remind the world that The Bahamas is now a major destination for world class sporting events.”

The IAAF World Relays Bahamas 2014 is expected to welcome more than 700 athletes and 300 team officials from more than 40 nations.

President of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA), Mike Sands, commented, “We will ensure that the these World Relays not only promote the great sport of athletics, but showcase Nassau, and the entire Bahamas, in the best possible light.”

West Indies looked drunk on T20 during Tests, says former caption Clive Lloyd

W

est Indies cricket team “looked drunk” on too much Twenty20 cricket during their 2-0 Test series defeat to India. That is the critical opinion expressed by Clive Lloyd, the former West Indies captain, who led the most dominating Test team of all times in mid-1970s and 80s.

Before coming to India, West Indies had won six Tests, against opponents ranked below them in the ICC Test rankings. However, they participated in one of the most one-sided contests as West Indies lost both in Kolkata and Mumbai inside three days, suffering humiliating innings defeats.

Lloyd, asked whether the defeat was due to a Twenty20 hangover, was emphatic in his response.

“T20 hangover? I think they looked drunk,” he told The Indian Express at an event in Pune on Monday. “I personally believe that T20 is something that brings people to the game, brings money to players and if it’s doing that then you have to stick with it.

However, a diet of too much T20 can be very harmful. I believe T20 is an exhibition while Test cricket is an examination. If you can separate them, then it is absolutely fine. However, I don’t want the first thing that young players want to learn is to hit the ball out of the ground. Proper technique and the vital rudiments of the game are very important,” Lloyd said.

According to Lloyd the balance of the squad, a weak bowling attack and the inability of batsmen to adapt from shorter formats to Tests were the ar-

Clive Lloyd, the most successful captain in West Indies cricket eas West Indies need to improve on. “It has been a deeply disappointing tour. The team needs to have a hard look at itself and they have a lot of work to do,” he said.

During their four innings, not once did West Indies play 100 overs. The closest was the 78.2 overs in the first innings at Eden Gardens. Only two batsmen managed to score fifties. Throughout the series, Chris Gayle, Kieran Powell, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Sammy, all went for attacking shots before settling in.

“I think and I hope that the West Indian batsmen have learned their lessons after watching how the Indian batsmen went about their business,” Lloyd said. “The Indians can play aggressive ODI

cricket but they can also transform into Test players, show restraint and bat for long periods.

“You simply cannot play some of the shots that a few of the (West Indian) batsmen played. The batting unit is pretty young, but these young batters need to learn how to apply themselves in a Testmatch situation,” he said.

As much as he blamed the batsmen, Lloyd also pointed to the lack of good fast bowlers as another big reason West Indies failed to rally back. “In the first Test when we had them at 120 odd for five, we really missed quality bowlers. We were short on penetrative bowling. I believe that any side you choose, be it ODI or Test, it needs to have balance.

Sadly, there is no visible balance in this side,” Lloyd said.

And that is where Lloyd felt West Indies selectors have the onerous task of figuring out what to do with Sammy. The West Indies captain made a total of 25 runs in the four innings and went wicketless, forcing questions to be asked of his role as an allrounder in the team.

“Sammy as a captain has brought the guys together. They are definitely looking a better bunch under his leadership. But now, I think people are taking a look at the balance of the side. I believe that when a team is losing, the captain is the first person to be blamed. However, having said that, he (Sammy) needs to take a look at himself, put his hand up and the selectors need to take a decision on his future,” Lloyd said.

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Sports W

RLD

Pacquiao says he is borrowing to give typhoon aid because his accounts are frozen

M

ANILA, Philippines -- Despite returning like a hero from beating Brandon Rios over the weekend, Manny Pacquiao said he has no money to keep his promise to help typhoon victims because Philippine revenue authorities have frozen his bank accounts.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue says Pacquiao hasn’t proved he paid taxes in 2008-2009. It has assessed that Pacquiao, once one of the world’s highest paid athletes, owed 2.2 billion pesos ($50 million) in back taxes as of July.

Pacquiao, the wealthiest member of the Philippine Congress, said Tuesday he borrowed over 1 million pesos ($22,700) to purchase relief supplies before his fight Sunday with Rios in Macau and will borrow more to keep his word to typhoon victims.

Pacquiao said he plans to provide aid to more than 10,000 families.

Fierce winds and tsunami-like storm surges from Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons on record, demolished entire communities and killed over 5,200 people when it ploughed through the central Philippines. More than 1,600 are missing.

Pacquiao said he paid taxes in the United States following his victories against Ricky Hatton and Os-

Manny Pacquiao car de la Hoya and that a treaty prevents double taxation. A criminal case was dropped by prosecutors for alleged unpaid taxes in 2010, but the revenue authorities’ tax claims for the 2008-2009 are still pending. ‘’I appeal to them to remove the garnishment so that I can move and pay for my staff’s salaries,’’ Pacquiao told reporters in his southern hometown of General Santos city. ‘’I am not a criminal or a thief.’’

He said his wife’s accounts have also been frozen.

Pacquiao said if he had not paid the right taxes

in the United States, he would have been arrested during one of his visits there. ‘’The money that was garnished by (the Bureau of Internal Revenue) is not stolen,’’ he said. ‘’This came from all of the punches, beatings, blood and sweat that I endured in the ring.’’

He said the revenue agency’s claims that he earned more than what he actually did were baseless.

Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares, however, said that the only proof Pacquiao has given of his tax payments was a letter from promoter Top Rank and HBO of the taxes he has paid to the United States, but nothing from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. ‘’That is self-serving and a mere scrap of paper,’’ she said. ‘’What he can do is go to the IRS, ask IRS to certify this copy (of his tax payments) as a true copy. We have been waiting for that for two years.’’

She said of 22 banks her agency has ordered to report on Pacquiao’s accounts, only two said they held deposits for Pacquiao and that the total was only 1.1 million pesos ($25,200), which is now covered by the garnish. ‘’It is unbelievable to me that he has only 1.1 million pesos,’’ Henares said.

Brazil hit by World Cup stadium deaths A

construction accident at the site of the Brazilian stadium that will host the opening match of the World Cup killed two workers, Sao Paulo fire officials said Wednesday.

Officials initially said there were three victims, but the fire department amended the death toll on its Twitter account.

The Arena Corinthians is one of the venues that will host World Cup matches in 2014.

A crane was hoisting a part of the metal roof when it collapsed, causing the piece to fall, partially damaging the building, according to a statement released by the construction company, Odebrecht Infrastructure.

It was a procedure that had been carried out many times at the construction site without incident, including the installation a week ago of a piece of roof of the same proportions, the company said.

A section of the stadium in Brazil which collapsed.

The stadium is to be the home of Sport Club Corinthians Paulista. The club’s directors issued a statement expressing sadness over the incident.

The construction company identified the victims as Fabio Luiz Pereira, 42, and Ronaldo Oliveira dos Santos, 44.

The accident comes as Brazil faces an approaching deadline to finish construction on its World Cup stadiums.

Earlier this year, FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke declared that all stadiums would have to be ready

by December. The tournament is to be held from June 12 to July 13.

In August, Brazil’s sports minister, Aldo Rebelo, relayed concerns over delays at five of the stadiums being built.

It was unknown how much Wednesday’s incident would affect the construction of the Arena Corinthians.

The state-run Agencia Brasil news agency reported that about a third of the stadium will be closed off as officials investigate the accident. Workers were excused for several days of mourning.

“We are less concerned with timelines,” Andres Sanchez, the former president of Corinthians, told reporters, according to Agencia Brasil. “We are concerned about satisfying you

CHICAGO BULLS STAR DERRICK ROSE OUT FOR SEASON

C

ing the anterior cruciate ligament in HICAGO -- Derrick Rose’s comehis left knee in Chicago’s 2012 playoff back turned out to be a cameo, opener against Philadelphia. and the Chicago Bulls’ worst nightHe has played in just 50 NBA games mare became a reality again.

- 49 in the regular season and that lone The Bulls’ hopes about contending playoff game - since the Bulls’ run to for a championship this season took a the Eastern Conference finals during serious hit. Their long-term plans aphis MVP season. pear to be up in the air, too.

The latest injury occurred in the The team said Rose will miss the third quarter against the Trail Blazers. remainder of the season after having He lost his footing while trying to surgery Monday morning in Chicago Derrick Rose change direction to get back on deto repair a torn medial meniscus in his right knee. For the Bulls and their point guard, it’s an fense when Nicolas Batum stole a pass from Joakim Noah and started the other way. Rose limped across the court all-too-familiar spot. ‘’I felt for him. He is a great person, first and fore- and couldn’t put any weight on his knee. After the Blazers most,’’ coach Tom Thibodeau said before Chicago played scored, he came out of the game during a timeout.

It didn’t appear there was any contact on the play. at Utah.

Rose was injured Friday night at Portland, a huge set- Rose was unable to return and was on crutches afterward.

With Rose back, the Bulls were expected to challenge back for him and the organization.

The 2011 NBA MVP missed all of last season after tear- LeBron James and the Miami Heat for supremacy in the

and attending to the victims’ families.”

Brazil suffered a setback last month when a judge ordered the suspension of construction at another host venue due to safety concerns.

The judge stopped work at the Arena de Baixada, in the city of Curitiba, over concerns that workers were in danger of “being buried, run over, falling from heights and being hit by material, among other serious risks.”

Preparations for the World Cup have been controversial in Brazil.

Protesters are outraged at what they consider lavish spending on the World Cup as well as the 2016 Olympic Games.

They have also been critical of the lack of investment in public services, schools, hospitals and transportation.

That led thousands to march earlier this year on the streets across the country.

Eastern Conference and contend for their first championship since the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen era.

Instead, they’re in a familiar spot - trying to get by without their cornerstone player.

Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement he was ‘’heartbroken’’ when he heard about Rose’s injury. ‘’Everyone at the Bulls knows firsthand how extremely hard Derrick worked to return to the court this year, and I have no doubt he will do the same with regards to his recovery from this injury,’’ Reinsdorf added. ‘’Despite Derrick’s absence, this is still a good team. I know from last year, this team and coaching staff will continue to make our fans proud.’’

He added that doctors expect Rose to make a full recovery. But the latest injury raises big questions about whether they should continue to build around him as their cornerstone player and how this will impact the rest of the roster. ‘’It’s obviously too soon to go down that road,’’ general manager Gar Forman told the team’s website. ‘’Derrick had surgery this morning. Look, we are always evaluating our team, just like everyone else does.

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WORLD SPORTS

Lakers sign Kobe Bryant to 2-year extension E

L SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Lakers signed Kobe Bryant to a two-year contract extension Monday, securing the fourth-leading scorer in NBA history into his 20th season with the franchise.

Bryant hasn’t played this season while recovering from surgery on his torn Achilles tendon in April, but the Lakers didn’t wait to renew their commitment to the five-time NBA champion before he got anywhere close to the free-agent market next summer.

Bryant inked the deal with owner Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak at his side in agent Rob Pelinka’s office moments before the Lakers left for an East Coast road trip. Bryant, Buss and Kupchak all had repeatedly stated Bryant wouldn’t leave his only NBA home.

The 35-year-old guard quickly tweeted a picture of his signature with the hashtag: Laker4Life. ‘’This is a very happy day for Lakers fans and for the Lakers organization,’’ Kupchak said in a statement. ‘’We’ve said all along that our priority and hope was to have Kobe finish his career as a Laker, and this should ensure that that happens.’’

Bryant has spent more than half of his life playing for the Lakers, and if he fulfills his new contract, he will break John Stockton’s record of 19 seasons with one NBA franchise.

But Kobe’s legacy in L.A. already is secure: No less than Magic Johnson

and Jerry West have declared Bryant the franchise’s greatest player, given his fistful of championship rings and his consistent brilliance while scoring more points than anybody in a Lakers uniform.

Although Bryant is taking a pay cut from his $30.45 million salary this season, Kobe and the Lakers didn’t exactly agree to a hometown discount, either. ESPN reported the deal is worth $48.5 million, keeping Kobe among the NBA’s highest-paid players.

Some fans grumbled online that the contract will limit the Lakers’ flexibility in the free-agent market next summer, clouding their starry-eyed dreams of signing Carmelo Anthony or LeBron James. Other fans approved the payout as a reward for an iconic player who still ranked among the NBA’s most dangerous scorers before his injury.

Bryant and 39-year-old point guard Steve Nash are the only players signed to significant contracts for next season with the Lakers, who have been anticipating a major roster restructuring in 2014 ever since Dwight Howard fled town in July.

Even if the Lakers waived the oft-injured Nash under a special provision limiting his salary cap hit, Bryant would eat up roughly a third of their room under the projected cap before anybody else joins him next season.

Bryant returned to practice earlier this month, and his return to the

‘’It’s always a much greater appreciation for it,’’ Bryant said of his imminent return. court seems imminent, although he isn’t rushing back from perhaps the most significant injury of his career.

Bryant said last week that he could adjust his game and contribute something to the Lakers right now, but he wants to make a full return when he finally steps on the court for his 18th NBA season. ‘’It’s definitely something where you’re kind of champing at the bit a little bit, but we’ve come so far,’’ Bryant said after practice last week. ‘’I want to make sure, we all do, when you step out there you’re ready to go the long haul, and (the injury) isn’t something that continues on.’’

Coach Mike D’Antoni has said Bryant can return whenever Kobe says he’s ready. The Lakers are surviving in his absence, improving to 7-7 on Sunday night by beating Sacramento for their third straight victory. ‘’I’ve been extremely proud of the way we’ve competed,’’ Bryant said.

Tiger Woods reveals his nerdy side H

is girlfriend Lindsey Vonn thinks he’s “dorky,” but what does Tiger Woods think?

“I guess so. My teammates used to call me ‘Urkel’ back in college,” Woods told CNN’s Rachel Nichols in an exclusive interview.

Like the bespectacled character from 90s sitcom, “Family Matters,” Woods freely admits to having a “nerdy side” but his attraction to Olympic skiing champion Vonn, who also described him as “funny” and “a great guy” in a recent interview, has far more to do with mutual passions.

“I like to have fun. I enjoy life.

I’m very competitive. I think that’s why we get along so well,” Woods said.

The pair, who went public with their relationship in March, also share an understanding of the physical demands of top athletes, although Woods concedes golf isn’t exactly littered with glorious physical specimens.

“I think we understand the work ethic that it takes. It’s two totally different training regimes because she’s got to spend so much time on leg development and core development and time on the bike that we don’t have to. Looking at some of the guys on tour, they’ve got huge guts and can’t breathe when they go up to tee boxes but they can still win golf tournaments,” Woods said.

In her sport, unless you’re feeling close to 100% you are not going to win. So it’s very different.”

Woods famously won the U.S. Open in 2008 (his last major triumph) playing through the pain barrier of a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament and a double stress fracture of his tibia, and injuries (knees, Achilles and elbow) have dogged him since. But barring the withdrawal from the AT&T National at Congressional in June, 2013 has

Tiger Woods “A lot of golfers peak in their 30s. You start eliminating mistakes as you get older.” been kinder physically, enabling the Tiger of old to re-emerge more regularly.

“I knew I could get back, but I had to get healthy first. I couldn’t practice unless I got healthy. And in order to play tournaments you gotta practice,” he says.

Enlisting the help of swing coach Sean Foley in 2011 has also paid dividends creating more consistency in his game, he says.

“I’ve won eight times these last two years, so I’m very proud of that.”

There is, however, the small matter of Woods’ continuing failure to make an impact on the biggest stage -- Woods remains stuck on 14 major titles, four short of Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18.

It’s a frustration, admits Woods, after being in contention at two majors this year.

For once, his feted accuracy landed him in trouble during the second round of the Masters in April. While tied for the lead, Woods’ third shot to Augusta’s parfive 15th hit the flagstick before ricocheting back into the water. After taking a drop -- in the wrong place as it later transpired -- Woods ended up with a triple-bogey eight and eventually finished in a tie for fourth.

Woods felt the same sense of lost momentum three months later at Muirfield.

Time, insists the 37-year-old, is still on his side.

“A lot of golfers peak in their 30s. You start eliminating mistakes as you get older. I might not bomb it as far, but strategic awareness improves. You understand how to attack the golf course and that’s why there are so many great players -(Ben) Hogan for instance, won most of his majors at my age and over.

“For Jack (Nicklaus) it took him until he was 46 ... You are going to have your years when you play really well -- you may clip two or three -- and then you have years when you just don’t win anything -- you are there, you just don’t happen to win,” he said.

“Quite frankly, since 2008, I’ve been there with a chance to win about a half of them. I just haven’t seemed to have won one.”

Woods may have enjoyed his most successful season since 2009, but not everyone has been pleased with his progress.

Last month, golf journalist Brandel Chamblee awarded Woods a grade “F” for his 2013 labors, noting provocatively that he had been “a little cavalier with the rules” -- a reference to four rules violations this year including the controversial two-shot penalty at Augusta.

Woods’ agent Mark Steinberg raged on his behalf calling the slur “shameless” and “baseless,” before Chamblee offered an apology of sorts via Twitter.

The constant scrutiny has become par for the course for Woods who says its just the nature of 21st century media landscape.

It’s a new world for everyone because it’s a 24-hour news cycle.

Everyone has outlets via blogs, the Internet has changed everything in how our sport is looked upon.”

The contract is another milestone in Bryant’s remarkable career. He was a 17-year-old high schooler when the Lakers acquired him after the Charlotte Hornets chose him in the first round of the 1996 draft, and Lakers fans watched as he evolved into one of the most dominant scorers in NBA history, dazzling fans with his offensive inventiveness and drawing critics for his ball-dominating style of play.

Bryant won three championships with Shaquille O’Neal from 2000-02 and added two more with Pau Gasol in 2009 and 2010, winning the NBA finals MVP award after each of those titles. He won his only NBA MVP award in 2008 and his scoring titles in 2006 and 2007, also earning 15 selections to the All-Star game - with four MVP awards from the showcase - and two Olympic gold medals with the U.S. national team.

Bryant hasn’t given up hope of adding a sixth championship ring to his trophy case, even while the Lakers struggle to keep up with the NBA’s best teams. With his immediate future secure, Bryant can focus on getting back to full strength on his injured leg. ‘’It’s always a much greater appreciation for it,’’ Bryant said of his imminent return. ‘’You understand the mortality that comes with being on that doorstep. There’s always a sense of enjoyment when you come back.’’

HEINEKEN CUP: ENGLISH CLUBS MAY PLAY IN NEXT SEASON’S TOURNAMENT

E

nglish clubs could yet play in next season’s Heineken Cup, despite previously threatening to set up a rival European tournament.

French teams, who backed the new Rugby Champions Cup, have now committed to the current competition - as long as their English counterparts do likewise.

And that could happen, if a new structure is introduced for 2015-16.

If somebody outlines the structure, we could look at it,” said Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty.

English and French clubs gave notice 17 months ago they would leave rugby union’s biggest European club competition and organise a new tournament.

Disagreements about the Heineken Cup’s qualification criteria, voting structure, income distribution and future television rights are behind the proposed breakaway.

Premiership Rugby, the umbrella body of the English top-flight clubs, said its teams would not participate in any tournament organised by European Rugby Cup (ERC), which runs the Heineken Cup and second-tier Amlin Challenge Cup. And despite initially backing that stance, French clubs will now remain in the competitions for what Ligue National de Rugby (LNR) described as a “transitional year”, though president Paul Goze added that was “on condition it will be staged with clubs from England”.

Their reluctance to follow through on a breakaway has seen the stance of their English counterparts soften.

“If we can see there is a new structure to replace ERC and we have the detail of that, then something might be feasible, at the moment it’s all very general and difficult to comment on,” added McCafferty.

There is speculation that if the English clubs remain isolated, they will set up a tournament involving South African clubs, or even increase the number of teams in the Premiership.

Irish, Scottish and Italian clubs are already committed to next year’s Heineken Cup, while the four Welsh regions have offered their support to a breakaway.

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