E. Jay Saunders, Chief Executive Officer for Digicel TCI, is dismissing rumours that he was pushed from the company that he assisted Irishman Denis O’Brien to set-up in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In an interview with The SUN on Thursday (September 4, 2014), Saunders said that he was leaving the country’s number one telecommunications company at the end of October, to mount his own entrepreneurial pursuits, which he did not divulge much information on, only hinting that it would be on the

information technology side.Since Saunders announced his

impending departure from the eight-year-old company at the end of August, tongues have been wagging as to what may have triggered his decision. One of the talks is that he may have been the latest in a group of local CEOs in the telecommunications or cable business to be pushed after assisting companies to become successful.

But Saunders insisted that this was not the case.

“Digicel didn’t give me any ultimatums at all. There wasn’t any spirited talk about me leaving, it was more about me

wanting to spend more time with my intellectual property and stuff like that than spending less time with Digicel. It was a case more of them saying: ‘are you sure that you need that amount of time (with your new company)’? – Versus anything else. ‘We still want you to be around Digicel’,” Saunders pointed out.

He said that he would carry out assignments for Digicel but would be involved in its daily operation. He noted, too, that he chose the leave Digicel while at the top of his game.

“The best way to leave is when you are on a high; you don’t want to leave a few minutes before you flame out. You

pick the right moment and that is when you are doing well. The best evidence of when you are doing well is when your competitors acknowledge that you are doing well.

“And for the mere fact that our competitors said that, ‘we have to win the market back, we missed this opportunity’, I think it is acknowledgment that we are doing well. And so that is obviously the best time to leave knowing that you have won the market, and everyone is acknowledging that we have won the market,” he said.

Ashcroft School renamed

International School of TCI

– Page 16

Over 1/4 million spent in storm recovery efforts – Page 8

WI Day Parade brings colour to Eastern Parkway – Pages 26&27

Minister of Education defends using CVQ in schools – Page 9

Website: www.suntci.com Email: sun@suntci.com

$1.00

Tel: (649) 946-8542 Fax: (649) 941-3281

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 VOLUME 10 - No. 33

www.facebook.com/tcisun

Continued on Page 2.

BIG CHEQUE FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE. The Turks and Caicos Islands Community College Foundation on Friday (September 5, 2014) presented $27,000 worth of scholarships and grants to 14 qualified students pursuing Associate and Bachelor’s degrees. Associate Degree students were awarded full scholarships ($2,500) per term, while the Bachelor’s students received $1,500 grants. The presentation was made from funds raised through events and pledges to the Foundation, which amounted to almost $50,000. It was also announced at the event that monies from the funds raised were also separately donated to Grand Turk and Providenciales campuses of the TCI Community College. In Photo, President for the College Dr. Lee Ingham (left) could not hide his elation to receive the funds. Sharing in the cheque presentation occasion are (from left) Samuel Forbes, Vice President of the College and principal for the Provo campus; Claudette Munroe-Clare, Chairman for the Community College Foundation; Cecil Arnold, Treasurer and Karen Whitt, Board Member. PLEASE SEE PAGE 12.

I WAS NOT FIRED

Digicel CEO says he’s leaving company on good terms

by VIVIAN TYSON

E. Jay Saunders

LOCAL NEWSPage 2 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

Reacting to the question of the public’s response to him leaving, Saunders said: “Most of the public wants to make sure that I am okay, that this was not something that was forced on me. And so, most of the reactions would be like, ‘I hope that they are treating you well’. And people would come and say I was not doing this or that, but most of the public reaction was mostly positive. And there are others that are saying, ‘we want to see what you would be working on next’.

Saunders promised that whenever Digicel needs him he will be only a call away.

“I am not leaving Digicel, I am a shareholder and director in Digicel. I will always come to a Digicel fight and they know that. Lets’ say in the best case scenario my company is equal to Digicel, doing very well, and Digicel needs me for a fight, I would never say ‘no, you are on your own’. I would say, ‘tell me when you are ready’, because this is one of my loves, I started it. So I am certain that Digicel can always call on me, certainly I can always count on them,” he said.

Saunders emphasized that it would be in his best interest that Digicel does well after his departure, since it could be construed that he did not construct the company on sound footing.

“If Digicel doesn’t do well I think it would be more of an indictment on me than anybody else that I didn’t set it up for success. I don’t want to equate myself to the great Steve Jobs, but when he left Apple, he left Apple where Apple could be successful for a number of years, even

if he was the visionary and left. I think if Digicel does well in my absence that is actually more validation for me that I create a company that can run itself,” he said.

Saunders pointed out also that Digicel TCI is in very good hands, and the Digicel Group would ensure just that.

“ Digicel Group also spends a lot of time pushing the local markets so they can do well – it’s a combination of both. So, while I might have been the face of Digicel, and while I am still the face of Digicel, I think with the group support, they will do well,” Saunders assured.

Saunders, who was trained as a computer programmer and engineer revealed that his new company could see a rollout by December.

Good news for TCI

“I am happy where I am at right now, I think I am well placed. I am farther along the road than someone (who) leaves (a company) and think, ‘oh lord, what am I going to do’, or (say) ‘I am a computer programmer, I can probably develop something’; I am much farther along than that, and I am excited where I am at. I wouldn’t be leaving if I am not far along. If I was building a car, I am farther than the stage of just putting it on a piece of paper. You can be assured that I am about to put the wheels on.

“And, I think it is going to be good news for the Turks and Caicos. The company that I am creating, I am positioning it to be able to compete not just locally, but regionally and hopefully globally, and I hope that it turns out that it is something that Turks and Caicos can be

proud of,” he said.Saunders added: “I want to be able to

take it myself, take this concept that is in my head and turn it into something where lots of people are using. I am aiming high for this. That’s the type of star we are shooting for with this product.”

He said that even though he enjoyed working with Digicel’s owner Denis O’Brien, Saunders said he is looking to create his own signature company.

“Even though I have been there from the beginning, Digicel is Denis O’Brien’s baby. It is his brand that he has created, and he has done a phenomenal job with Digicel. As a fellow investor, I couldn’t have chosen a better partner. It is a tremendous partnership, and it all came down to his vision, tenacity, his brilliance in terms of being a businessman, and I would probably risk my money with him than I would probably do with myself, because certainly, he is almost guarantees for success at everything that he does. Sometimes you have to roll the dice and think that you can do it yourself, and that’s how it was for me.

“I think there is no more validation than your style of doing business that something can come out of that and you can spawn another business out of that and have the same type of success. And so to have what I would call an alumni of Digicel going out and be able to create that same type of success would be a tremendous amount of validation for Digicel and Dennis O’Brien.

“It is not only to say that he can drive that sort of management style but he can teach that management style to his employees who can now spawn other

ideas and turn them into success. So, I would like to think that Digicel would be happy. They have only shown me support so far.

“So I believe that if I go out there and turn out to be a success they would be happy. If I start to fail, and knowing Digicel, they would probably call me up and say, ‘you are doing this wrong, you are doing that wrong’, and try to give me their management expertise to ensure that I am successful,” Saunders said.

But even while planning to kick-start his own business, it will not be all work for Saunders; he will be embarking on some fun activities in between.

“I am looking forward to watching the Patriots and the Brancos on November 2nd, and I have been marking that calendar. My departure is at the end of October, and I said to myself, ‘please don’t let anything happen so that I don’t get to watch the Patriots. The Patriots are my favourite team right across all sports.

“I want to have a seat behind the patriots’ bench like right behind them where I could cheer them on or if I have to heckle them I can heckle them. I want to be able to call out Bill Belichick (Patriots coach) and Tom Brady, and have them turn around and be able to see me, and I wave to them and have a sign that says “Turks and Caicos”. That’s how close I want to be; I am going enjoy myself.

“And I am going to visit Canada a few times; I used to play football up there, so I want to watch a few football games from my old school. I just came back from Canada, and I saw them practicing, and I always want to get back there.

Continued from Page 1.

FortisTCI President & Chief Executive Officer Eddinton Powell, is proud to announce that the company has been awarded a ‘BBB’ (Outlook Stable) credit rating by Standard & Poor’s, the world’s leading provider of independent credit ratings.

Speaking on the assessment Mr. Powell said, “This is a milestone achievement for us. For any Caribbean company to achieve such a rating, especially on its initial application, is a significant accomplishment.”

Further discussing how this will impact the company, the CEO said,

“This investment grade rating will allow FortisTCI to gain access to regional and international capital markets and attain long-term favourable sources of funding.

The electrical utility is one of the most capital intensive industries in the world, and requires significant and continuous financial injection.”

Standard & Poor’s issued a press release recently, highlighting the long-term corporate credit rating of ‘BBB’ attained by the electric utility provider FortisTCI.

It stated, “The rating reflects what we view as the company’s “satisfactory” business risk profile and “significant” financial risk profile. In addition, we expect there will be no material adverse changes to the operating license, which expires in 2036. Despite the lack of full transparency and the risk of political intervention associated with the current regulatory structure, we do not expect any adverse regulatory rulings or government interference.”

Speaking to the risk profile of FortisTCI, Standard & Poor’s said, “We believe the company has a significant financial risk profile. Its adjusted funds from operations (AFFO)-to-debt ratio is 16.15%. The base case scenario forecast AFFO-to-debt during our two-year outlook horizon is 17%-21%. We attribute this improvement to an expected USD$10 million equity inject from parent Fortis Inc., a surge in

government infrastructure spending and commercial capital expenditures (resulting in additional demand for electricity), and improved margins from the use of more fuel efficient diesel power generators.”

The press release adds, “An upgrade would require a meaningful improvement to the transparency, consistency and tariff structure of the regulatory regime. Sustained

improvement to FTCI’s financial risk profile, specifically AFFO-to-debt of 23%-25% on a sustained basis, could also lead to an upgrade.”

The official application was filed in July, which was followed by a rigorous diagnostic and assessment process. This is an historic achievement for the Turks and Caicos Islands’ private sector and positions FortisTCI as one of the leading businesses in the region.

FortisTCI attains public credit rating of ‘BBB’; outlook stable

‘I was not fired’

From left: Allan Robinson, VP Customer & Corporate Services; Ruth Forbes, CFO & VP Finance and Human Resources; Eddinton Powell, President & CEO; Kevin Smith, CIO & VP of Business Systems and Devon Cox, VP of Transmission and Distribution.

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 3

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LOCAL NEWSSEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 7

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Applications are invited from individuals with a solid background to assist in the planning and coordinating of delivery activities within Managed Services Operations (MSO) team.

The successful candidate will maintain on-going and effective delivery of day-to-day relationships with the external point of contact and LIME internal partners.

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• Proactively support activities to ensure that priorities in the MSO are aligned to business needs and ensure effective participation.• Monitor the day-day activities and deliverables within the LIME/Ericsson work stream.• Work with the Manager-MSO to translate the MSC service deliverables into operational input.• Build effective and efficient liaisons within the LIME/Ericsson work stream, e.g. team members, Ericsson counterparts and other internal stakeholders.• Maintain adherence to all established and agreed processes, SLAs and Working Level Agreements (WLAs); reporting all non-compliance to the appropriate person.• Provide timely follow-up with internal stakeholders when SLAs are at risk of being missed.• Work closely with the Manager-MSO to develop project schedules, process flows and timelines; delegating tasks to relevant individuals to meet deliverables.• Monitor and provide updates on the status of outstanding issues, process improvements.

• Work closely with the Ericsson counterpart on service delivery topics and look to identify ways to improve processing and delivery of service across the work stream. • Track and monitor change progress; escalating issues to appropriate stakeholder

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Court of Appeal criticises Registrar and

TCI court systemThe Turks and Caicos

Islands Court of Appeal, which comprises three prominent Caribbean jurists, has expressed concern about the behaviour of the Registrar of the Supreme Court David Chetwynd and also the impact which the unavailability of transcripts from court proceedings continues to have on the administration of justice here.

President of the Court of Appeal, the Right Honorable Edward Zacca, QC, described as

“disgusting” and a “dereliction of duty”, the conduct of the Registrar, after Queen’s Counsel Courtenay Griffiths, the lawyer for former Premier Michael Misick, and who is one of the most prominent lawyers in the United Kingdom (UK), dropped a courtroom bombshell in the form of an internal memo which showed that Chetwynd instructed the person who takes notes of all court cases, to “stop all work on

the transcript of proceedings before Judge (Paul) Harrison” who was selected to preside over the corruption cases in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Griffiths, who was born in Jamaica but migrated to the UK as a youngster, informed the Court of Appeal about the shocking memo during last week’s appeal against Judge Harrison’s decision that he alone must try the corruption cases brought by the Helen Garlick-led Special Investigation and Prosecution Team (SIPT) without a jury.

Griffiths told the court that the memo from the Registrar was brought to his attention at a time when he was feverishly trying to get a transcript of the court proceedings when former Third Turtle developer Richard Padgett was sentenced by Judge Harrison.

The implication of Griffiths’ submission was that the Registrar’s memo at the very least frustrated his efforts to

be provided with important material that should have been made readily available to his client, Michael Misick, especially in circumstances where, for the first time in the history of the Turks and Caicos Islands, there is an attempt to deprive persons of the automatic right to trial by jury, which was a jealously guarded Constitutional

right up until the British Government suspended parts of the TCI Constitution in August 2009.

After Griffiths made his submissions, President Zacca told the court that the Court of Appeal had its own issues and concerns about the unavailability of transcripts, adding that it resulted in some appeals being delayed for so

much as one year.Zacca said the Court of

Appeal has had to “literally beg” the authorities in the Turks and Caicos Islands to have a proper recording system in the court.

The Court of Appeal comprises Jamaican President Zacca, Barbadian Elliott Mottley, QC, and Jamaican Ian Forte, QC.

Justice of Appeal Elliott Mottley, QCPresident of the Court of Appeal, the Right Honorable Edward Zacca. Justice of Appeal Ian Forte, QC

LOCAL NEWSPage 8 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

TCIG spent quarter million in recovery cost from

Tropical Storm CristobalThe Turks and Caicos Islands

Government has incurred approximately $250,000 in estimated recovery costs following Tropical Storm Cristobal.

According to a Government press statement, this cost is directly attributed to the rental of heavy equipment, the creation of the new access route, the construction of five new additional wells in the Leeward district and other recovery costs, such as anti-mosquito chemicals.

Acting Governor Hon. Anya Williams and Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing convened a national disaster committee meeting about the country’s ongoing recovery works from the floods caused by Tropical Storm Cristobal on Tuesday, 2 September 2014, where an update was given.

Following the 14 inches of rain that deluged the islands of North Caicos,

Middle Caicos and Providenciales over the weekend of 22-23 August 2014, there was significant flooding on each of these islands. The meeting also discussed the country’s readiness for the remainder of this year’s hurricane season which ends on 30 November.

The committee was informed that all major roadways in the island of Providenciales have now been cleared, with pumps now being mobilized to assist private residents.

Government workers have begun clearing debris from the main highway today, with this work due to be completed tomorrow.

In North Caicos major roadways in Bottle Creek have now been cleared and in addition to a new access route having been created in Kew, a trench is currently being put in place to allow drainage off the old existing road.

Regarding anti mosquito fogging, the Environmental Health Department

has advised that fogging has already commenced in Middle Caicos, North Caicos and in Long Bay and Leeward coming down to Richmond Hills. The areas of Chalk Sound and Downtown Providenciales will be fogged and it is expected that this work will continue over the course of the next two weeks.

Damage assessment teams have been mobilized to the various affected areas on both North Caicos and Providenciales and will be assessing damages that are still in place. All residents should report all damage caused by Cristobal to DDME in order that the full impact of the storm can be reported.

The meeting also noted that in comparison to the flooding in North Caicos in 1995, when recovery took over month, all major recovery efforts have been concluded this time in one week.

“The positive way that our residents,

civil servants and the private sector have come together to successfully deal with adversity is quite remarkable ,” said Anya Williams. “Of particular note was the Rotary Club of North Caicos who paid for two pumps and hoses on that island, and the developers behind the Shore Club helping out in the Leeward and Long Bay areas. Their efforts are greatly appreciated.”

“Our country is bouncing back from these floods,” said Dr Rufus Ewing.

“The efforts of everyone involved are very much appreciated – lots of people have been working very hard to help return things back to normal as soon as we can. The good news coming out of this situations that the Turks and Caicos can successfully deal with adversity, and I am sure that this experience will help ensure that we are even better prepared for whatever might come our way in the future. God, bless these Turks and Caicos Islands.”

At press time, the local authorities had already repatriated the majority of the 82 Haitian migrants whose sieve of a boat was intercepted while attempting to make landfall in the early morning of Monday (September 1, 2014).

The authorities said that the rickety vessel was stuffed with 60 males and 22 females suspected of trying to escape persistent arid economic conditions in their homeland. The Radar Station, The SUN was told, spotted the vessel in our waters early Monday and alerted the Marine Branch of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, who dispatched personnel that later intercepted it.

The vessel was ushered safely to the South Dock port on Providenciales at around 10 a.m. The SUN was informed that two members of the party were taken to the Cheshire Hall Medical Center for treatment – one for extreme fatigue and the other for a laceration received to the leg after unsuccessful leaping overboard in an escape bid.

Minister for Border Control and Labour Hon. Don-Hue Gardiner underscored his government’s stridency to stem what has been widely suspected to be a human trafficking ring operational between Haiti and the Turks and Caicos Islands in response to the latest Haitian migrant boat landfall attempt.

He warned especially those making the trip that they will not be successful in their bid to get to the Turks and Caicos Islands shores undetected, stressing also that when caught they would be shipped immediately back to their country.

“As I have done in the past, let me again caution persons against engaging in this illegal and dangerous practice, as they should know that their chances to successfully land in the TCI without detection is very limited. They will be

caught and will be repatriated,” the minister emphasized.

Before returning them to their country of origin the illegal migrants underwent the process of finger-printing and mug-shooting. Repatriation began on the day they arrived. This newspaper understands that by Tuesday, the only the illegal migrant with the slash to his leg remained behind.

In the meantime Minister Gardiner had high praises for the persons manning the Coastal Radar Station, the Marine Police and the members of the Immigration Department.

“I am grateful to the men and women in the Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force and the Immigration Services, including the Radar Station operators for their vigilance and their professionalism which led to

the interdiction of (the) 82 voyaging migrants earlier today (Monday, September 1).

Each year the Turks and Caicos Islands Government spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to combat the influx of Haitian migrants into the country, through mostly housing and repatriation. Last fiscal year, the government spent well over $1.2 million dollars on repatriation of illegal Haitians.

In the summer the government announced that there would be a formal signing of an MOU between it and Haiti to combat illegal migration into the TCI. The negotiation, which started August 2013, was intensified following tripartite talks in the Bahamas involving the host country. The MOU is expected to be signed this month (September).

The intended MOU signing was announced by His Excellency Governor Peter Beckingham and Minister Gardiner, during a joint news conference held at the Premier’s Office in Providenciales on Wednesday (July 30, 2014), on their return from the Bahamas.

Minister Gardiner told the news conference that since most of the clauses for the MOU was already in place, not a great deal of ground was left to cover.

“As far as I am concerned there is not a lot left to be covered. What is left is for us actually to reach agreements on the things that we can, and I believe that we are there, and that we can look forward to, perhaps, travelling to Port-Au-Prince or perhaps Cap Haitien in September this year,” the minister said at the time.

Another Haitian boatload apprehended

Illegal Haitian migrants about to be offloaded from their sloop.

LOCAL NEWSSEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 9

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Minister of Education defends

introduction of CVQ in schools

Deputy Premier and Minister of Education Hon. Akierra Misick is strongly defending her decision to introduce certification of vocational subjects at all levels, but at the high school level in the first place.

In fact, she said that officials from the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) will be in country before the end of the year, to audit facilities for readiness for the introduction of this certification in the 2015/2016 school year.

This, she said, does not mean that the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College cannot continue to offer the vocational programmes that they do offer.

“This just means that students have a greater control on their futures, and will allow the National Scholarship Policy to be tailored to take account of these qualifications, and truly be accessible by all,” Hon Missick said in a recent Ministerial Statement.

She added: “We continue to hear a lot about the introduction of vocational subjects, and why TCIG should not adopt a cookie-cutter approach.

“Detractors cannot continue to speak from the both sides of their mouths. On one hand the Ministry of Education through the National Curriculum is only focused on the academic students, and are not seeking to assist those students who are just not interested in algebra and classical Lit, to the other side, saying that the introduction of vocational courses at the High School level is premature and other areas of study should be introduced.”

“In a perfect world where funding is unlimited, and

everyone views the teaching profession as the profession they have to get their foot in the door, so that they can provide learning in all aspects of life and the competition to be a teacher is so fierce that the supply is greater than the demand, then that is the world I need to move too. I hear Finland has figured out the secrets to making the teaching profession be the most sought after profession in the Country, but also they have a budget that laps ours several times and then some.

“So, you’d ask what this perfect world has to vocational learning, I would

tell you everything. We may not be today where Finland is, but there is no harm in trying to be the best we can be, and providing all students an opportunity to be the best that they can be.”

She noted that the Turks & Caicos Islands is a growing country like its Caribbean neighbors, the majority of whom have made the shift to the suit-and-tie lifestyle.

The minister continued: “I am of the view that the TCI can sustain both shirt and tie working culture and a vocational culture. There may not always be a need for 100 lawyers a year graduating,

but there will always be a need for certified plumbers, masons, carpenters, spa technicians, pilots and all those persons who the suit and tie people have to call to fix simple problems, that they were too busy to learn how to fix because their nose was down in a book.”

She said the ministry’s first step to ensure that the country can supplement the construction industry by ensuring our people are qualified in various areas and not just those that are behind a desk.

She added: “The practice of law was deemed a vocation; that is, it required on the job training after an academic certification. Also, did you know that great lawyers are not made out of textbook but by watching and learning on the job every day, that is why it is still called the Legal Practice, or the profession certifications are referred to the Bar Vocation Course or Legal Practice Course.

“We are small in numbers and so it is not overly ambitious to ensure the generation coming through our schooling system now, should not have every single student the holder of some form of certification, whether it is academic or vocation in nature.

“With that said, I reiterate that the Ministry intends to ensure that even at form three a student can have a technical certification, and this certification will be granted by the Caribbean Vocation Qualification external body.

“Certification of vocational subjects increases all of our children chances at success, and allows students to test the waters in various disciplines so that we are not continually trying to force a square peg in a round hole.”

Detectives of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) are conducting investigations after a man and his family were robbed at a villa at Long Bay Hills on friday September 5th.

Police spokesman Audley Astwood said that about 2:59AM, a 61-year-old male was woken by a loud noise and

got out of his bed to investigate the source of the noise. He was immediately confronted by two masked male intruders dressed in black.

During the incident, one of the masked men struck a 24-year-old male on his head with a crowbar and demanded cash.

Both suspects fled the scene in victim’s brown Chevrolet

rented car, carrying with them items taken from the villa which included a silver Rolex watch, a Sony Viao Laptop and a black purse containing one credit card and one debit card.

Police searched the area; however, the two masked men were not located.

The villa at the time of the incident was occupied by two males (61 and 24 years old)

and two females (59 and 28 years old).

The 24-year-old male was offered medical treatment but he refused. No one else reported any physical harm during this incident.

Detectives from the RTCIPF are conducting inquiries into the incident are appealing for the public’s help to identify the offenders involved.

Family robbed at villa in Long Bay

Deputy Premier and Minister of Education Hon. Akierra Misick.

LOCAL NEWSPage 10 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

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The Management & StaffCSC INSURANCE BROKERS LTD.

After 11 years managing the picturesque Villa Renaissance on Grace Bay, Turks and Caicos based management company HAB Management Ltd has this month stepped down from its management contracts at the property, originally developed by their parent company HAB Ltd.

The 36 suite boutique property opened as a condo resort in 2003 and was managed for over 10 years by HAB Management Ltd, gaining recognition awards regularly from international users of independent travel website Tripadvisor.

The owners at the property are now in the process of agreeing their service requirements for owners and future guests/tourists staying at the property and requisite staffing levels and are progressing with securing a new strata property management company and new rental managers.

Officials from HAB Management Ltd said they would like to thank the staff, owners and guests at the property for their service and custom

over the past decade and wish them all well for the future.

HAB Management Ltd remains as the manager at the award winning 54

unit condo resort “The Regent Grand” also located on Grace Bay in the heart of the Regent Village, Providenciales. The Regent Grand is also now the only property directly associated with Provo Golf Club, located just 5 minutes away from the property and recognised as one of the Top 10 golf courses in the Caribbean.

HAB Management Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of HAB Ltd, a Turks and Caicos based company with multiple investments in the islands for over 30 years.

The HAB Group is one of the largest employers in the Turks and Caicos Islands, across 5 divisions in diverse areas such as water production and distribution, golf course, resort, restaurant and property management as well as being developers of luxury properties within the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Changes in Property Management at Villa

Renaissance, Turks and Caicos Islands

Minimum 2 years sales experience Experience in jewelry sales

Impeccable references and police clearance Impeccable English, other languages –advantage

High level of customer service and customer attending skills Sales references-advantage

JEWELER NEEDED WITH THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS Minimum 5 years experience in setting and sizing gold, silver

and gems Tel: 649-946-1083 Fax: 649-946-1988 E-mail:

kwatts@shopdi.com

The picturesque Villa Renaissance on Grace Bay.

AIRPORT PLAZA UNIT #4333-6695 or 243-3706 or 345-3439

LOCAL NEWSSEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 11

The efforts of the Public Works Department (PWD) and Disaster Management and Emergency (DDME) to pump stagnant water from some communities especially on Providenciales and North Caicos in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Cristobal have been bolstered with the acquisition of two nine horsepower pumps, thanks to the kind efforts of the Rotary Club of Providenciales.

The pumps, which together cost just over $5,000, and each has a discharge of 200 feet and a suction of 25 feet, were handed over on Tuesday (September 2) at the office of Disaster Management on Providenciales. Dr. Virginia Clerveaux, Director of Disaster Management and Emergency and Garvin Thomas, Project Coordinator for the Public Works Department received them on behalf of the government.

Bloneva Greene, President of the Rotary Club of Providenciales said that the service entity understands the importance of getting water out of certain areas before other problems develop. She also urged other organizations, including businesses to assist with restoring lives and community.

“It is a great pleasure today to do this presentation to Disaster Management and Public Works to assist with the pumping of the water throughout the islands, especially in North Caicos. I was very proud as president of the Rotary Club to assisting the department, and I hope by virtue of us coming forward, other members of the community will also step up to the plate to see how they can assist the government and this department,” Greene said.

For his part, Thomas who described the pumps as very powerful revealed that they are more robust that the ones currently owned by the PWD. He said that they would make pumping efforts much more manageable.

“I just want to say a big thank you to the Rotary Club for the donation of these two powerful pumps. They will go a very long way. We still have some

areas of Providenciales and North Caicos that we have to pump out to get persons back to a sense of normalcy, and so, we are very grateful for these pumps.

“At the moment we have one six-inch pump, which is a high-powered diesel pump, and we use that pump on the areas that are mostly affected with the water, and that is over three feet of water. We also have a number of 3-inch and 4-inch pumps similar to these that are currently pumping out the neighborhoods that the persons are mostly affected,” he said.

Dr. Clerveaux, Director, in the meantime, said that her department was happy for the kind effort, saying that by donating the pumps, Rotary

demonstrated the concept that disaster management is everybody’s business.

“We are now able to go into the Leeward areas, the Kew Town, the Five Cays, and Long Bay, where some private yards are still inundated. We will be able to access those and provide the necessary assistance that is needed. We are hoping that other agencies will step up and offer similar assistance.

“We have gotten assistance from the Shore Club Resort, from the Pine Cay Project and other areas, and we also would like to thank them for this. We look forward to working with all our stakeholders both public and private in ensuring that disaster management and the TCI will be first class,” she said.

Arthur Forbes, former president

of the club said that Rotary strongly believes in partnership, and that was why it was a breeze for it to undertake purchasing of the pumps.

“Today we just feel that we are especially being a great partner working with a wide cross-section of the community here in Providenciales and the rest of the islands, so today is a special day for us in the Turks and Caicos Islands, especially in this type of situation,” Forbes said.

Howard Hamilton, Deputy Assistant Governor for the Turks and Caicos, whose role is to assist the district governor in overseeing all the clubs in the TCI, said that the local body will do all it can to assist where possible.

Public Works, Disaster Manager get two

high-powered pumps

PROVO AIR CENTER SEEKS

TWO BAGGAGE HANDLER1.Over 5 years experience in Baggage Handling.2.Over 5 years experience in maneuvering heavy duty equipment. 3.Experience in general handling of General Aviation. 4.British Airways, JAR OPS, Aircraft loading qualified. 5.Comprehensive knowledge in the operation of Ground Service Equipment (GSE).

Position require the following:• Excellent command of the English language – reading, writing and speaking.• Good communication skills and team player• Detail oriented & organized individual• Ability to work shifts, early mornings, late nights, weekends and Holidays.• Clean police record• Able to work under pressure

Belongers need only apply.Interested persons should apply to HR@intercaribbean.com

No phone call please. Qualified candidates will be contacted for interview.

is seeking suitable qualified pilots to operate its EMB120 fleet.

Applicants must have the following:

CaptainsValid Air Transport License, Pic type rating - 3500hrs fixed wing total time including 1,500 hrs Multi engine,

500hrs Turbine and minimum 100hrs on Type.

First officeCommercial Pilot License, Sic type rating – 500hrs fixed wing total time, 250hrs Multi engine and 25hrs on Type.

Please send resume to HR@intercaribbean.com

Bloneva Greene, President of the Rotary Club of Providenciales addresses the media. Looking on from left are: Lofton Ellis of the Rotary Club; Kim Stubbs of the Interact Club – the Youth arm of Rotary International; Past President Art Forbes; Dr. Virginia Clerveaux – Director of Disaster Management; Garvin Thomas – Project Coordinator at PWD; Raymond Cushnie - Former President of Rotary; Leshem Fulford – Public Works Project Architect.

by VIVIAN TYSON

LOCAL NEWSPage 12 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

Financial Accounting ManagerQualified Accountant – CIMA, ACCA, CPA with at least 5 years post qualification experience at managerial level.Reporting to – Head of FinanceStaff reporting in to position – Accounts Payable Officers

Duties include but are not limited to- Reconciliation of multi currency bank accounts and posting of bank charges, credit card commissions, payment provider charges and loan transactions

- Reconciliation of all other balance sheet accounts on a monthly basis and raising issues with management to ensure all balances is accurate

- The booking and reconciliation of intercompany payments and transfers. Improve process for allocation of shared expenses across companies by intercompany journals and settlement in a cost efficient manner

- Booking of regular journals including intercompany rent/ rental income, loan and lease payments, bank charges, depreciation

- Reconciliation of internal group and external loans- Manage fixed assets for group – Fixed Asset register, additions and disposals, depreciation, impairment

- Book depreciation on a quarterly basis- Inventory/ Aircraft parts – Introduce an inventory control process from order to delivery to usage- check that delivery notes are received and signed, parts are checked v purchase order, booked in to stores and out of stores (on use) and that missing items from orders are followed up with the supplier.

- Perform bi annual stock take with stores manager, identify missing or obsolete values to Head of Finance/ chairman.

- The reconciliation of Passenger related taxes and charges for all airports using Radixx and the daily operational report and reporting of these taxes to the overseas bodies to meet deadlines. Prepare payment requests for these costs.

- Manage Accounts Payable function and supervise 2 Accounts Payable Officers. Reconciliation of Accounts Payable balance sheet accounts and analysis of aged creditors. Prepare Accruals and Prepayments journals.

- Reconcile monthly credit card spend, arrange payment in line with payment deadlines and post in to QuickBooks.

- Review and standardize chart of accounts across companies. Ensure revenues and costs are reflected in the correct part of the P & L and that balance sheet items are grouped in a logical manner

Experience/ skills required- Experience working with multi currencies and a high volume of transactions, accuracy and attention to detail, ability to work with minimal supervision, resilience, team working skills.

- Managerial skills- priorities tasks for self and accounts payable team supervise and develop accounts payable team, take ownership for tasks.

- Ability to deliver accurate accounts to Trial Balance

- Willingness and ability to work additional hours to meet business needs

Please send resume to HR@intercaribbean.com

Gansevoort Turks + Caicos is a contemporary luxury full service boutique resort on Grace Bay Beach. We are looking for driven and energetic professionals with Five

Star experience and who are committed to achieving excellence by ensuring Five Star standards and services are continuously delivered.

Resort ManagerReporting directly to the General Manager, the Resort Manager is responsible for the consistent delivery of exceptional performance of the resort in both guest experience and financial results, and for the successful management of all internal and external relationships.

The successful candidate must have/be; • Experienced hospitality executive with minimum 10 years five star international management success – Caribbean experience desirable with 3-5 years management in each departmental discipline.

• Thorough knowledge of resort front office and housekeeping procedures, operations and equipment, with the ability to execute all aspects

• Financial, Business and/or Hospitality Management degree or equivalent experience, with a passion for customer service

• Exceptional leadership skills with a proven record of providing consistently high guest experience standards balanced with operational efficiencies.

• Demonstrated success at delivering results through establishment of standard procedures, disciplined coaching and management.

• Proven ability to develop business plans and budgets, and effectively monitor performance to meet objectives

• Energetic, results driven leader with collaborative approach; focused on empowering people; developing skill in others through coaching, training and experiential learning.

• Sense for perfection and attention to detail • Self-motivated and dependable with an exceptional work ethic and strong problem solving skills

• Proficiency with general office PC applications (i.e. Microsoft Office software and Opera) to prepare reports, employee schedules, inventories, budgets as required.

• Professional appearance and demeanor • Must be fluent in English. Additional languages desirable.

Interested applicants can contact our Human Resources Department, Monday through Friday 9am to 6pm on (649)941-7555. E- Mail cover letter outlining your interest and supporting experience in a particular position along with your Resume or C.V. to hr@wymara.com

The educational lives of 14 Turks and Caicos Islands students should get a bit easier thanks to the awarding of scholarships and grants from the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College Foundation, which made the presentation on Friday (September 5, 2014) at a function at the Gansevoort Resort on Providenciales.

Nine students received full scholarships to pursue their Associate Degrees, while five, who are pursuing their Bachelor’s degrees, were given grants. The scholarship for each Associate Degree student is $2,500, while the grant to each Bachelor’s Degree student is $1,500.

Those receiving full scholarships are Building and Design students Kazz Wilson and Latavia Williams; Business students Aaliyah Carmichael, Oronnica Stubbs and Aldrieko Harvey; Lloydeka Handfield and Shantel Jasmin – Education; Jennifer Moore – Hospitality; and Deleovaun Hardware – Law. The students with grants are Joneil Blair-Williams, Kelisha Forbes and Angelique Garland – Education; Jalayah Francis

– Hospitality and Bernadya Smith – Business.

Cecil Arnold, Managing Director of Scotiabank TCI and Treasurer for the Foundation said that there was an established set of criteria that the students should meet to qualify. The criteria list includes posting a GPA of at least 2.5, adding that they were also chosen on academic potential, financial

needs, resiliency and leadership. “It wasn’t so difficult; first you have

to be a graduate of a high school with a minimum GPA of 2.5. You would have had to demonstrate earnest and a commitment to higher learning and an eagerness to learn and to progress in your own educational life, and you have to express some financial needs.

“Other stuff was required but they were basic stuff such as identification and proof of residency. The process was very transparent, it was without bias and with no form of favoritism; it was basically on the criteria that we chose the winners of the scholarships today,” Arnold said.

Claudette Munroe-Clare, Chairman for the Foundation said that the hard slog to raise almost $50,000, from which they were able to dispatch the funds to the students.

“It is a celebration of hard work, because raising funds today is hard work. And the

fact that we were able to raise close to $50,000, is testament to the commitment of this community to education. It is a testament to the community’s interest in seeing that the college’s doors remain open,” Munroe-Clare said.

She urged the students to make full use of the expenditure and to make their sponsors and supporters proud.

“I want to tell you that you must not take this lightly at all, because in you we see possibilities, endless possibilities, as we are trying to make you relevant to the TCI scenario as it relates to the economy. Because what drives an economy is an educated workforce.

“An educated workforce does not have to be someone necessarily with a doctorate or a master’s degree, but someone who is functional, someone who is literate, someone who can go into the workplace and make a difference. So as a foundation, we look to you to make that

difference, and I can assure you that the foundation would continue to every effort to support you,” Clare said.

Representatives of some of the corporate sponsors were on hand to express their companies’ commitment to education in the TCI. Present were the Airport Hotel, Gansevoort, Islandcom and the Regent Palms.

Karen Whitt, a member of the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College Foundation, announced at the event that there will be a major fund-raiser to be held at the Regent Palms on Friday, October 24, 2014.

The event entitled “Donate to Educate and be Great”, will take the shape of a party that will include sips and nibbles, video presentation, raffles and live actions, and entertainment and dancing. She said tickets is $125 and will be available at the college or call 649-941-3210; 649-241-4111; or 649-245-6827.

TCI students get $27,000 worth of scholarships, grants

Scholarship and grants recipients along with some of their sponsors and members of the TCI Community College Foundation intermingle shortly after the presentation.

LOCAL NEWSSEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 13

The Deputy Director of the Integrity Commission, Mr Richard Been, returned to the Turks and Caicos Islands on September 1st, following a Governor’s Office-funded attachment to the UK’s Electoral Commission.

The one-week training and development visit, which also included a visit to the UK’s Committee on Standards in Public Life, sought to build working relationships between UK and TCI bodies and to familiarise the Deputy Director with the processes the UK employs to govern and monitor the financing of political parties.

Mr Been’s programme, which was split between London and Edinburgh, included numerous meetings with officials that focused on how the Electoral Commission could assist the Integrity Commission in carrying out its mandate.

He also had the opportunity to observe the live monitoring and checking of proposed political expenditure carried out

by the Electoral Commission, and met with both the Electoral Commissioner for Scotland and the Head of Election Team for the Scottish Government.

“It was fascinating to be able to spend time with the Electoral Commission’s officials in the run-up to the Scottish referendum on independence on 18 September,” commented Mr Been on his return.

“I will be looking to apply what I learned during my visit to my work for the Integrity Commission as we strive towards ensuring TCI is a regional model of political transparency and accountability.”

Deputy Head of Mission at the Governor’s Office, Mr. Patrick Boyle, commented:

“I’m very pleased that we have once again been able to fund capacity building activities that will be of real benefit to the TCI. The UK’s commitment to good governance in the Islands continues, and the Integrity Commission plays a key role in

achieving this locally. “I hope Mr Been’s visit will

herald the beginning of a strong working relationship with the UK’s Electoral Commission.”

The Integrity Commission of the TCI is, among other things, charged with oversight of the Political Activities Ordinance of the Islands.

This governs the activities (financing, campaigning etcetera) of political parties and independent candidates during the four-year cycle of elections, and particularly the twelve month period prior to a General Election.

The Ordinance draws in fair measure from its counterpart legislation in the UK, and specifies donation and spending limits as well as who can or cannot donate to a political party.

The Ordinance also defines the enforcement powers and sanctions which can be implemented if there is a breach by any of the political parties.

Deputy Director of Integrity Commission works alongside

uk’s Electoral Commission

TCI Middle SchoolPO Box 1139, 48 Richmond Hill Road, Providenciales,

Turks and Caicos Islands, British West IndiesTel 649 231 1519

Email: principal@tcimiddleschool.com

TCI Middle School requires for September 2013 a teacher for this newly developed school

Full time teacherForm Tutor for Yr. 7 or 8, with responsibility for teaching specialist subjects to Yr. 7,- Yr 11 English or Maths is preferable as a subject specialism but please state other areas of strength

Headteacher requiredTCI Middle School requires for November 2014, a Headteacher for this developing school

Applicants will need to

- be dynamic, enthusiastic and creative teachers.

- have an excellent working knowledge of the National Curriculum for England and Wales Guidelines

- Have UK Qualified Teacher Status with at least 2 years teaching experience in the UK.

- Be flexible and adaptable in their approach to learning

- have expertise in one or more of the subject areas

The initial teaching contract will be for a period of two years. Salary will be negotiable according to experience.

Closing date – 7th September 2014

Please Email CV or letter of application with a recent photograph and contact phone number together with the names and phone numbers of referees to: Mark Dunbavand at the above address.

Private ChefA luxury villa is currently seeking a private chef to cater

for high-end guests. The successful applicant should have the following skills.

• 7 years experience as a villa chef or running a commercial kitchen for a caterer or high-end fine dining restaurant or hotel

• Knowledge of commercial level food prep safety and hygiene

• Menu planning and costing, including preparation and printing

• Ability to manage other chefs and servers

• Ability to match and select wines to complement menu

• Fluent in English (written and verbal)

• Able to cater weddings, cocktail parties and special events

• Excellent variety of menu of worldwide cuisine including desserts, pastries hors d’oeuvres and chocolates

Additionally, the position requires:• Working long hours (breakfast, lunch & dinner), public holidays, weekends and back to back rentals

• Shopping for food and beverages supplies

• Maintaining an inventory and billing clients for supplies and services

• Clean driving and police record, own insured car

• Ability to maintain complete confidentiality about guest’s identity

Salary: $3,000 per month Only Belongers need apply. Applications should be submitted by September 10th either by email to markpankhurst@hotmail.com or by post to Stargazer Villa, Box 196, Providenciales. Please include a current resume and a few sample menus of dinner entrees of items you regularly prepare. Also include a contact email address and phone number.

Deputy Director of the Integrity Commission, Mr Richard Been.

LOCAL NEWSPage 14 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

Pastor for the Abundant Live Ministries International Bishop Coleta Alexander Williams III is beseeching persons in the Turks and Caicos Islands community who may have knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the death of North Caicos resident Quincy Gardiner to come forward so that justice can be doled out on the perpetrators.

Bishop Williams, delivering his message from the pulpit on Sunday (August 31) said pointed that he was amazed at the scant regard that a number of people are showing towards Gardiner’s death.

“I traveled to North (Caicos) yesterday for the funeral of Quincy Gardiner, and it was such a sad situation. He has been killed for almost a month now and was just buried yesterday (Saturday, August 30).

“When I said I was traveling to North for a funeral, some persons were saying, ‘who died’? And then some folks said, “they ain’t bury him yet’? This is a young man who lost his life. They killed him and then left him on the side of the street, and in little Turks and Caicos it bothers me that it doesn’t matter to us,” Bishop Williams lamented.

He speculated as to whether or not the scant regard paid to the Gardiner’s murder by members

of the public could arise from the consideration that he may not have come from the right family or his family’s societal standing was not the readily acceptable one.

“(Probably his death was treated in this manner) because his last name ain’t the right name. Maybe because he didn’t’ matriculate from the right family and just maybe he just didn’t have the right pedigree, but he was somebody’s child,” Bishop Williams emphasized.

‘Something must change’

The man of the cloth pointed out that he is troubled at the fact that the challenges and concerns that the county once united against and around are no longer of importance. Bishop Williams insisted that there are persons in the community who have knowledge of Gardiner’s and other murders but are not willing to come forward.

“It bothers me that things that are important in this country no longer bother us, and something must change in this country. It bothers me that we have some 11 murders unsolved in this little Turks and Caicos.

“But what bothers me even more, we in this little country talk everybody’s business all day long, but we can’t say who killed these people. It bothers me because somebody somewhere

knows exactly what took place. Something needs to be done,” Bishop Williams urged.

He also urged the police to put more effort in their investigation, stating that their investigation should not only surround minor traffic violation and minute amount of marijuana in someone’s possession.

“The police have a responsibility. Instead of harassing people for a little grass in their pocket; harassing people for a little traffic violation; you have got 11 murders to be solved, when are you going to get on to that business? It ought to be a concern to you (general public) because if something is to ever happen to your loved one’s or to you, what’s going to happen about you?” Bishop Williams asked rhetorically.

“What bothers me was that to see they burying him (Gardiner) a month later, and not one word on what has happened to their (family’s) loved one.

The body of 31-year-old Gardiner, a resident of Kew, was discovered along the side of the road leading to Kew on that island on July 26, 2014 at about 5:30 in the morning.

Special Constable Audley Astwood, the media relations point man for the Royal Turks & Caicos Islands Police Force, in a statement, following incident, said the police viewed Gardiner’s death as suspicious.

Don’t let Quincy Gardiner’s murder become ninth unsolved, says Pastor

RAMP AGENTS/AIRCRAFT

CLEANERS• Good command of the English Language

• Willing to work shift pattern including weekends and holidays

• Clean Police record• Valid driver’s licenseSalary $7.00 per hour

Submit application along with photograph to:

General ManagerTCA Handling

Town Centre Mall, ProvidencialesTel: 649-941-5353

ELITE GAMING

SEEKS

1 Bartender

Salary $5.50 per hour5 days per week

Contact 331-1984

LIVE IN HOUSEKEEPER

Single family looking to hire a live-in housekeeper to help around

the house, yard and do cleaning.

Must be able to work late hours and holidays. Must

have a drivers license. Salary $6.50 per hour with room and

day to day living including.

Please contact (649)241-7278 Wednesday only

FORBES & CO LAW FIRMSeeking for immediate

employment of a

Legal Secretary

To process legal documents, legal research, prepare documents and

correspondence in the assistance of an attorney.

Salary commence with experience, working hours 8:30am-5:00pm,

Monday-FridayPlease contact (649)246-4175 or

(649)332-4176 weekdays

STYLZ ABOVE THE RESTSEEKS

1 Hairstylist1 Nail

Technicians

Salary $6.00 per hourContact 431-1726

Restaurant SaucierPosition Available

Minimum 3 years experience in similar position. Full knowledge of all basic sauces, food preparation & knife skills. Formal qualifications essential, experience in high pressure environments a must.

Qualified Belongers need only apply.

Position requires a six day work week Including holidays and weekends. Pay dependant on experience and qualifications.

Send resumes to: magnoliaprovo@live.com or PO Box

782, Providenciales, TCI

WANTED

1 Labourer

To work 6 days per weekWorking hours flexibleSalary $6.00 per hour

Contact 231-0005

LIFEGUARDQualified, current and experienced lifeguard needed for busy outdoor adventure school.

Requirements:-20 years or older-Minimum 8 years waterfront and pool lifeguard experience

-Able to teach first aid and CPR-Valid driver license-Work outdoors in the sun and on Holidays-other watersports certifications and experienced preferred

Job Duties:-planning and scheduling of pool programs-working with TCI Swim Federation to create a National Swim and Lifeguard standard for TCI and SURFside Ocean Academy

-creating and leading community aquatic outreach programs for local schools and youth groups

Salary based on qualifications and experience.Please email: surfsidetci@gmail.com to apply.

LIFE CHANGING LIQUOR STORE

seeks

ONE STORE ATTENDANT

Salary $6.00 per hour6 days per week

Contact 347-3520

BUTLER NEEDED

An experienced Butler is required based in Providenciales.References will be required.Remuneration based on experience.

All application must be submitted to:Employment DepartmentF Corporate & Management Services Limited007 Emily House, 1105 Leeward Highway, ProvidencialesTel 649-339-6275 Fax 649-333-7777

by VIVIAN TYSON

Bishop Coleta Williams, Pastor for the Abundant Life Ministries International Church.

LOCAL NEWSSEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 15

Director of Guest ServicesJob Overview: A member the management team responsible for the overall performance of the Personal Concierge (Butlers) staff and the operation of the concierge department; to include, but not limited to staffing, training, scheduling, ensuring high guest satisfaction.Reports to: Executive Assistant Manager – Rooms.

Minimum Qualifications:• Certification by a recognized Butler School• 6 – 10 years experience in Butler Service• 5 years experience in the hospitality industry, preferably as a Butler Manager• International hospitality experience• Read, write and speak English (2 or more additional languages desired)

Essential Job Functions:• Ensuring the complete satisfaction of all guests.• Ensuring that the staff of the Personal Concierge Department provides world class and personal service to all guests

• Daily training through the Line-up process plus weekly/monthly training sessions with Personal Concierge and other staff members. Maintaining records of all training

• Upholding the Grace Bay Resort’s Credo and culture• Coordinate and ensure smooth operations of all Guest Service areas• Build rapport with in-house guests• Utilize leadership skills, motivation techniques and experience in order to maximize employee productivity

• Interact with all guests to ensure their satisfaction, to gather personal preferences

• Conduct him/herself in manner reflecting the position as a department head and a senior leader of the Veranda management team

• Update and maintain all Guest History Files

Qualified Belongers need only apply.Salary Range: Commensurate based on qualification and experience

Interested persons can contact our Human Resources Department no later than September 5th 2014 @ (649) 946-5050 Ext. 1050Email: humanresources@gracebayclub.comFax: (649) 946-5758P.O. Box 128 Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands, British West Indies

RESTAURANT MANAGERHAB Management Limited is seeking an extroverted, bright, dynamic Restaurant Manager to assist with the management of our restaurant operations.

Main Duties• Assist restaurant owners with daily restaurant management.

• Communicate to owners all matters relating to the restaurant.

• Responsible for greeting guests in a warm and friendly manner.

• Maintain a regular presence on the dining room floor and oversee the host stand.

• Control the flow of work in the dining room by seating guests and handling the reservation book.

• Assist with the training, scheduling and supervising of staffs.

• Oversee the staff to ensure quality food and professional service is extended to all guest.

• Must be a customer service advocate, maintaining a high level of customer service standards.

Requirements• Must be suitably qualified.

• Must have five years or more experience in hotel food and beverage industry.

• Must have a strong working knowledge of dining room procedures, policies and EPOS system.

• Strong organizational skills required.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills required.

• Must be willing to work unsociable hours and a variety of split shifts.

• Excellent people skills in order to communicate well with guests and staff.

Base salary for this position is $40,000.00 per annum, commensurate with experience, training and education. Interested applicants should contact Veronica Rigby via email by September 22, 2014 at ronnie@habgroup.com or fax 649-946-5191. Only persons selected for an interview will be contacted by email or telephone to schedule an interview.

The Clerk to the House of Assembly recently attended a two-day Parliamentary Staff Development Workshop hosted by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). Ms Tracey Parker’s attendance at the event, held on the 12-14 August in Belize, was funded by the Governor’s Office Jubilee Fund.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association was established over nine decades ago to connect, develop, promote and support Parliamentarians and their staff to identify benchmarks of good governance and the implementation of the enduring values of the Commonwealth. It regularly hosts regional and international seminars for its 17,000 members, assisting them with their professional development and giving them an opportunity to keep abreast of the latest developments in the sphere.

The Belize workshop focused on a number of core skills required by parliamentary staff to carry out their duties, including research services and information

technology, effective committees, the administration and funding of parliament and engaging civil society and the media.

“The greatest asset of any civil service is its staff, and I’m pleased that the Governor’s Office has been able to assist our Clerk to the House in her continued professional development,” commented Deputy Governor and Head of the Civil Service, Hon. Anya Williams.

“Being able to draw on the expertise and resources of the CPA is extremely beneficial to TCI, and I look forward to the Island’s relationship with the Association continuing to thrive.”

The Governor’s Office Jubilee Fund supports capacity building activities for the Turks and Caicos Islands Government and has disbursed more than $125,000 of funding over the last three years. Projects supported have included international and regional secondments for TCIG staff members, the provision of world-class training and the support of numerous environmental protection projects.

Clerk to the House attends Commowealth Parliamentary

Association workshop

Clerk to the House of Assembly Tracey Parker.

LOCAL NEWSPage 16 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

In an attempt to equalize the level of international diversity that exists at the institution, the Ashcroft School in Leeward, Providenciales has changed its name to the International School of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The name-change unveiling was done on Wednesday (September 3) just before the start of the new school year and witnessed by the student population, the administration and teaching staff as well as a large contingent of parents and well-wishers, including Education Minister Hon. Akierra Missick, member of parliament for the area.

At the beginning of the new school year, the institution recorded 106 children from 19 different nations, including the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was also the first time in five years that the institution was seeing more than 100 students on its roster. The school educates children between the ages of two and 11, representing from preschool to grade six.

In addition to the name change, the school also underwent a great deal of upgrades, with Information Technology being one of them.

As a result, the institution is now equipped with wireless technology, which currently sees all classrooms now furnished with iPads, embedded with dedicated learning software for each child.

Principal Katie Hinks announced that a new musical garden has been installed to enhance the children’s creative learning abilities, pointing out that all facilities and buildings have been renovated and painted for the new school year. She added that two teachers dedicated to music and Physical Education also joined the staff.

Hinks said that over the summer break, a number of upgrades were made primarily from the support of Waterloo Investment Holdings Ltd (WIHL) and the school’s Parent Teachers Association (PTA).

“WIHL and our PTA have supported us tremendously to sow the seeds for

a new vision for The International School of the Turks and Caicos Islands. We are proud that with all these improvements the school is in an excellent position to provide education at a standard that is competitive with leading primary schools all over the world,” she said.

Hinks said that the school’s vision is to challenge children of all abilities to achieve excellence in a wide range of academics, cultural and sporting activities and to equip them for the demand and opportunities of the 21st century.

She said that would be done by offering a different but exciting and rigorous curriculum meant for all. She said also that values would also be a core part of the school’s administration, achieving them through integrity, honesty, sincerity, trustworthiness and reliability.

Minister Missick, for her part, told the gathering that not only was she happy to represent the Ministry of Education at the event, but was also pleased to be the MP for the

constituency in which the school falls.“You are now catering to a broader

spectrum of persons from around the world. You are also embarking on a new school year, new challenges, and I know that you are going to be prepared for them and step up to the plate – to use a sporting analogy – and knock out a homerun,” she said.

Stewart Howard, Managing Director of the British Caribbean Bank, and a Trustee of the school said that the International School of the Turks and Caicos Islands provides an essential building block to support the educational needs of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and particularly in the Leeward community.

In the meantime, Zaneta Adderley-Burton, President of the PTA noted that parents are extremely excited about the enhancements and the new school year.

“Daily school life and the quality of education have been raised to a new level. We look forward to continue our work with the school’s administration and the Board of Trustees,” she said.

Ashcroft School is now International School of the

Turks & Caicos Islands

HAB MANAGEMENT LTD.HAB Management Limited is seeking suitable applicants

for the following position:

LABOURERS Candidates must be physically capable of hard manual labour outside on a daily basis. Previous experience is preferred. Candidates must be willing to work holidays and weekends when required.

Wages starts at $6.00 per hour.

Interested applicants should contact Veronica Rigby via email at ronnie@habgroup.com or by fax 649-946-5191. Suitable applicants will be contacted by email or telephone to schedule an interview. Closing date for applications is September 22, 2014.

by VIVIAN TYSON

Minister of Education Hon. Akierra Missick (extreme right) and Julie Hinks (extreme left), Principal for the International School of the Turks and Caicos Islands, former the Ashcroft School, join students and teaching staff for photo opportunity shortly after the unveiling the school sign (partly hidden).

LOCAL NEWSSEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 17

While conducting an interview with The SUN on his imminent departure, E. Jay Saunders, CEO for Digicel told of the early challenges and subsequent string of successes of the telecommunications company.

He said that Digicel entered the marketplace with great disadvantage because LIME, which then went by the name Cable and Wireless, ruled the roost for more than a century. He said also that resources and local expertise were not as up to par as LIME’s but after eight years of operating in the Turks and Caicos Islands, even its competitors are beginning to acknowledge that Digicel is the number one telecoms provider, with more that 50 percent market share.

“We came into the market when we had zero market shares, zero customers, zero revenues, and they were in the market for over 100 years. And we have completely reversed that to the point where we have 50 percent today. So we took on a strong company that had everything and dismantled them,” Saunders boasted.

Saunders revealed that it was tough getting a telecoms license. He said

that government granted the license on the end of March 31st 2006, and then gave LIME 90 days to allow interconnectivity. He said though that the rival company held out on the interconnection allowance until almost the

11th hour.“We got it about three of

four days before the time ran out. I remember in meetings on a neutral place with the Telecommunications Commission ‘till like 1 o’clock in the morning before we

could get an agreement – so it was a tremendous experience,” Saunders recounted.

Saunders confessed that also that LIME had outfoxed Digicel and took away their launch spotlight by halving prices on some of its pricy high-end phones.

“We had a countdown to our launch, and I can remember about 1 o’clock in the morning going home, thinking that we are going to kill LIME. The next morning at about 6 o’clock there was a line in front of LIME’s door. And I asked myself how come there is a line in front of LIME’s door when we were the ones launching.

“I later learnt that LIME had slashed the price of the Razr Phones that time, very, very cheap, like $99. They were on the news that day, saying how their stores were packed and everything. Our first-day numbers were pretty strong, but we didn’t get the lines all the way out the door and all the way in the road.

“So, they took away our photo op, and they were bragging about it, and they had a right to brag about it. And I remembered the CEO (for LIME) at that time

saying: ‘Competition? What competition? I only hear about competition in the market because the press is talking about it,” he recalled.

However, Saunders said that the Digicel team learned pretty quickly what it should do to claw its way into marketplace.

“We are not afraid of any of the competitors; we have a solid product, we have a solid network where we are constantly rolling out innovative products,” he said.

He said that Digicel is now enjoying its best years and believe it was a good time to exit and branch off into something new and of his own. Saunders said he would only be too happy to return to assist Digicel especially in the event it is slipping ground to any of its rivals.

“The company (Digicel) is in a very good place, and it’s probably the best time to hand it over to someone else. If LIME starts to make any gains, I certainly assure you and everyone in Digicel that I would be more than happy to return and then to see if we could remind our competitors how the battles have been won in the past,” Saunders noted.

LIME upstaged Digicel on its opening day, says Jay Saunders

E. Jay Saunders

LOCAL NEWSPage 18 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

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

2. Parcel 60400/101 Chalksound, Providenciales. Single storey with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, living /dining room and laundry room on approx. 0.63 acre.Registered Proprietor: Delthia Felicia Francene Russell

3. Parcel 60811/17 The Bight and Thomas Stubbs, Providenciales. Single storey with two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen and living/dining room on approx. 0.28 acre. Registered Proprietor: Kirkley George Rigby

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

5. Parcel 50500/255 Whitby Cove, North Caicos. Unfinished single storey with four one-bedroom apartments with bathroom, kitchen and living/dining room on approx. 0.27 acre.

Registered Proprietor: Paul Anthony Gardiner

6. Parcel 60003/34 North West and North Central, Providenciales. Phase one of the Priton Homes: two bedrooms, one bathroom, laundry room, kitchen, living/dining area on 0.25 acre. Registered Proprietors: Leighton Cailo Green and Vanessa Pauline Green

7. Parcel 60807/172 & 173 The Bight and Thomas Stubbs, Providenciales. Two storey apartment building, main level with two one- bedroom apartments with kitchen and living room and second level with one two-bedroom, two bathroom, kitchen and living room on approx. 1.00 acre. Registered Proprietors: Jacqueline Edna Brown and Latasha Makalia Delancy

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

9. Parcel 51212/24 Bottle Creek Central, North Caicos. Vacant lot on King’s Road, approx. 0.74 acre overlooking Bottle Creek. Registered Proprietor: Wilbert Ebenezer Handfield

NOTICE OF SALE BY PUBLIC AUCTION

The auction will be held at the offices of Scotiabank (Turks and Caicos) Limited, Grace Bay Branch, Providenciales at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday the 19th day of September 2014.

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

Scotiabank (Turks & Caicos) Ltd. of Cherokee Road, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands hereby gives notice of its intention to sell by Public Auction the following properties pursuant to its power of sale as registered Chargee under the

Registered Land Ordinance of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Flood water-pumping on Providenciales is near completion while Public Works Department personnel in North Caicos said they are making a great deal of progress to drain residential areas and roadways.

Garvin Thomas, PDW Project Coordinator for the Turks and Caicos Islands, told The SUN that pumping work on Providenciales is about 80 percent complete, and should finish midway the new week. He said that stagnant waters on almost all public roadways in Providenciales have already been pumped and the PDW will now refocus its efforts on the draining of domestic dwellings and their peripheries.

Thomas said that some of the most affected areas on Providenciales were Five Cays and Long Bay. He said work in Five Cays has been wrapped up and the crews are now focusing on Long Bay.

He said that the Public Works Department started the week planning to drain 10 private properties, and at the end of the week, managed to drain five. The pumping crews could have achieved much more than it has so far had they not been recalled to some areas because of reported reformation

and rising of water.He said that some areas where

people live make it very difficult to pump the water, but the crews managed to make a great deal of progress under those circumstances.

The SUN understands that PWD crews experienced great difficulties trying to reach some of the affected areas, especially private ones, to pump away the water. One of the most challenging areas for the work crews is

an area in Long Bay near to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, where it took workmen three days to pump the water from the area.

Thomas said that the work crew in North Caicos is focusing most on the community of Kew, which was essentially cut off from the rest of the island at the passage of Cristobal. At Press time, he said that access to and from the community was possible again.

Thomas expressed confidence that in a few more days, the beds of water gathered in the community should be hosed away, making it possible for effective fogging of mosquitoes to take place. Thomas also said the crew is cognizant that they are working against time, since the threat of rain has not dissipated from the TCI after Cristobal’s passage.

Earlier in the week, the water-pumping effort was augmented courtesy of the donation of two high-powered pumps by the Rotary Club of Providenciales.

Thomas, who said the pumps which were utilized right away, are being used in the areas deemed most challenging.

One was sent to North Caicos and one to Provo.

Provo flood-water pump almost done, North coming on

Photo of the two pumps that the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Disaster Management and Emergency (DDME) received from the Rotary Club of Providenciales. The PWD said that two pumps will be the most powerful in its fleet, since they have a much greater suction capacity and depth.

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 19

Page 20 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 21

Page 22 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

Customer Service that puts the

“Pull Up a Seat...

— Aisha Laporte

www.fortistci.com | 649-946-4313 | P.O. Box 132 1030 Leeward HWY, Providenciales, TCI

Director, Customer Service

first. CUSTOMER

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 23

LOCAL NEWSPage 24 SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Scores of children and their parents swarmed the ninth annual National Church of God Back-to-school treat held at the Alice and Alice Plaza on Airport Road in Providenciales on Sunday (August 31).

Some patrons described the treat as like none other, since they could not recall any other where children, in addition to receiving back-to-school supplies, also got their hair cut.

The event was sponsored by Digicel, WIV, Lapel’s Dry Cleaners, Global United Fellowship, Nutrition in Demand and Quality supermarket, which provided the hotdogs, popcorns and other eating delights.

Pastor Brandford Dean of National Church of God told The SUN that the supplies available could serve over 700 children.

In addition to the backpacks, the children received geometry sets, writing books, pens, pencils and sharpeners.

Almost 1,000 feted at National Church of God

Back-to-school treat

Patrons see what is on offer at the WIV booth.

Digicel’s Marketing Manager Ava-Dayne Fulford (left), and Sales Specialist Trina Adams (second left) hand out school supplies to the children.Volunteers arrange the children into groups before handing them their gifts.

The popcorn counter was one of the busiest stands on the day.Volunteers sort out school supplies before presenting them to the children.

Akia Gurrier (left) and a friend share a laugh as they sort through the backpacks they just received.

Volunteers prepare hotdogs and other goodies for the children.

A number of children wait in queue to get their hair cut. Children and their parents flock the Alice and Alice Plaza for the back-to-school treat.

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 Page 25TURKS & CAICOS SUN

Almost 1,000 feted at National Church of God

Back-to-school treat

Miss Turks and Caicos Islands Shanice Williams was also on hand to assist with the distribution of school supplies. She took time out to pose for The SUN’s lens.MC Paula Arthur (centre) is seen performing with a group as part of the concert segment.

These children were only too happy to show off their new backpacks laden with school supplies.

This little boy broke out into a dancing after receiving his school supplies, much to the delight of some of the adult by-standers.Patrons see what is on offer at the WIV booth.

Branford Dean (right), Pastor for National Church of God, and the brains behind the annual event, is assisted with a carton of school supplies to be handed out to waiting children.

These two girls sport smiles as they show off their backpacks for the camera.

Digicel’s Marketing Manager Ava-Dayne Fulford (left), and Sales Specialist Trina Adams (second left) hand out school supplies to the children.

This little girl was all too eager to discover the contents of her backpack, shortly after receiving it. A huge pile of backpacks waiting to be delivered to the children.

Page 26 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

ENTERTAINMENT

West Indian day parade brings

colorful crowds to Eastern Parkway

CROWN HEIGHTS – Eastern Parkway was in a festive mood this Labor Day as huge crowds gathered to show off their Caribbean pride for the West Indian Day Parade.

People waved flags, dressed in colorful costumes and ate traditional food like jerk chicken and roti during the 47th annual parade last week Monday.

Adrienne Eason from Hackensack, New Jersey, said she was “loving every second” of the parade, which she attended for the first time this year.

“I love the music. I love food. I

love that we’re all together from the islands,” she said.

Mikerlyne Vallon, who wore a bright red wig and carried a Haitian flag, said her favourite things about the parade included the people and the food. The event, she said, was always a good time.

“The turn up is real,” she said.Bronx resident Yosef Brand,

24, who has attended the parade four times, called it a must-see attraction for visitors.

“You get to see Caribbean people come together as one,” said Brand, who is originally from St. Kitts and Nevis. Seeing so many

people celebrate their heritage gave him a “great feeling,” he said.

This year’s marchers included Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who along with his family entertained crowds with their “Smackdown” dance.

Gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout, who was joined by her running mate Tim Wu, also danced her way down the parade route, according to reports.

The parade began at 11 a.m. at Eastern Parkway and Schenectady Avenue and headed west toward Grand Army Plaza.

Adorned in feathers, an embellished two-piece and dramatic makeup, this festival-goer certainly looked the part. Parade marchers in coconut shell tops and grass skirts join the festivities. A costumed woman on stilts.

Bigger is always better.

Another dynamic costume seen on the road.

Showing off some smooth dance moves.

Hair to match the occasion. A dancer poses for a photograph. Reveler carrying the flag of Antigua.One parade marcher wears a gorgeous blue headdress adorned with colorful jewels.

Dancers perform for spectators during the West Indian Day Parade last week Monday.

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 27

ENTERTAINMENT

Jerk chicken on the grill floats a mouth-watering aroma over the parade route. Caribbean people brought along their identification: Flags!

Donning rainbow colours and big beaming smiles, these merymakers marched down the streets of Brooklyn.

The West Indian Day Parade is for people of all ages.Anything goes at the West Indian Day Parade.

Adrienne Eason, 45, from Hackensack said it was her first time at the parade but said she was loving every second of it.

Dancing is what we do and we do it well!

Marie Eugene, left, and her sister, Mikerlyne Vallon, right, take a selfie with Ronald McDonald during the 47th annual West Indian-American Day parade on September 1, 2014.Jamaican Tessane Chin, winner of The Voice.

Brittany Grice, dressed to march in the West Indian Day Parade, poses for a photo with an unidentified admirer.Revelers brought an explosion of colour to the streets of Brooklyn.

Donning an enormous feather headdress, this reveler certainly stands out in the crowd.NY Mayor Bill de Blasio and his family got the party started as they do the Smackdown dance move before they marched.

Page 28 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

ENTERTAINMENT

Carrie Underwood announces she’s

pregnant

Shakira expecting another baby

Angelina Jolie’s wedding dress designed by Donatella Versace – and her children

Joan Rivers, a comedic stiletto, is dead at 81

Puppies, babies – Labour Day couldn’t get any cuter for country star Carrie Underwood.

The “American Idol” alum, 31, revealed she’s having a baby by posting a sweet picture with her dogs.

“In honor of “Labor” Day...Ace & Penny would like to make an announcement. Their parents couldn’t be happier!” she wrote. The picture features her two dogs wearing shirts, saying they are going to be a big brother and big sister to a new baby.

NEW YORK – Shakira is pregnant with baby No. 2.

The Colombian singer made the announcement on her Facebook and Twitter pages on Thursday. Her representative confirmed that the accounts were real.

The Grammy winner wrote: “Yes, we are expecting our second baby!! Thank you all for your well wishes!”

No more details about the pregnancy were revealed.

Shakira and soccer player Gerard Pique, 27, welcomed their son, Milan Pique Mebarak, last year.

Pique, who is from Barcelona, is a soccer player for FC Barcelona.

Grammy-winning Shakira, 37, released her self-titled 10th album in March.

Well, it’s one way to stop your toddlers scribbling on the wall. Angelina Jolie has revealed that she married Brad Pitt in a couture wedding dress covered in drawings by her own children.

In the first published images of the couple’s August wedding in the south of France, Jolie wears a custom-designed ivory dress designed by Donatella Versace, featuring elegant spaghetti straps and a ruched bodice.

But the back view reveals a surprising addition: a veil and train scattered with multi-coloured doodles drawn by Jolie and Pitt’s six children.

Pitt wore a suit he already owned in what the couple described to People magazine as a “fun and relaxed” day.

And their 10-year-old son, Pax, baked the wedding cake.

Donatella Versace has tweeted an image of the dress, which she designed especially for Jolie, congratulating the actor. The drawings by sons Maddox, 13 and Pax, daughters Zahara and Shiloh, nine and eight, and six-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox were embroidered by Luigi Massi of Atelier Versace.

“Luigi is like family to me and I couldn’t imagine anyone

else making this dress,” Jolie told People magazine. “He knows and cares for the children and it was great fun putting it together.”

Pitt said of the wedding day itself: “It was such a special day to share with our children and a very happy time for our family.”

The couple pair first met when they played husband and wife assassins in the 2005 film, Mr and Mrs Smith. This is Pitt’s second wedding after a five-year marriage to Jennifer Aniston, and Jolie’s third after marriages to actors Johnny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton.

Their wedding bands were created by Robert Procop, who designed Jolie’s engagement ring when Pitt proposed in 2012. “We’re getting a lot of pressure from the kids,” Pitt said in an interview at the time.

“We didn’t realise how much it meant to them and then, in getting engaged, how much it also means to us.”

Jolie’s dress is already dividing opinion on social networks, where she is no stranger to sartorial scrutiny. A black gown she wore slashed to the thigh at the 2012 Academy awards spawned its own Twitter account, Angelina’s

Jolie’s Leg and an internet wide meme. During her marriage to Thornton, the pair wore necklaces containing vials of each other’s blood.

One commentator has labelled the Pitt and Jolie wedding “normcore” by comparison. Whether or not that is an accurate description, Jolie’s choice of dress is not

“very trad” as early rumours suggested.

Joan Rivers, the raspy loudmouth who pounced on America’s obsessions with flab, face-lifts, body hair and other blemishes of neurotic life, including her own, in five decades of caustic comedy that propelled her from nightclubs to television to international stardom, died on Thursday in Manhattan. She was 81.

Her daughter, Melissa Rivers, confirmed her death. A spokeswoman, Judy Katz, said the cause had not yet been determined.

Ms. Rivers died at Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was taken last Thursday after reportedly losing consciousness while undergoing a procedure on her vocal cords at a doctor’s office on the Upper East Side. Doctors at the hospital placed her in a medically induced coma. On Tuesday, her daughter said she was on life support; on Wednesday, she said she had been moved out of intensive care.

The State Health Department is investigating the circumstances that led to her death, a state official said Thursday.

She was one of America’s first successful female stand-up comics in an aggressive vein that had been almost exclusively the province of men, from Don Rickles to Lenny Bruce. And she was a role model and an inspiration for tough-talking comedians like Roseanne Barr, Sarah Silverman and countless

others.Vivacious even as a nipped-and-

tucked octogenarian, flitting from coast to coast and stage to studio in a whirl of live and taped shows, publicity stunts and cosmetic surgery appointments, Ms. Rivers evolved from a sassy, self-deprecating performer early in her career into a coarser assassin, slashing at celebrities and others with a rapier wit that some critics called comic genius in the bloodletting vein of Mr. Bruce. Others called it downright vicious. But if she turned the scowlers off, she left millions in stitches.

“Can we talk?” she demanded in her signature call to gossip and skewer — the brassy Jewish-American princess from Flatbush, Brooklyn, and Larchmont, in Westchester County, leveling with the world.

She would take the stage in a demure black sheath and ladylike pearls, a tiny bouffant blonde with a genteel air of sorority decorum. Then she’d stick her finger down her throat and regurgitate the dirt on the rich and famous, the stream-of-conscious take on national heroes and sacrosanct cultural idols.

On Nancy Reagan’s hairdo: “Bulletproof. If they ever combed it, they’d find Jimmy Hoffa.”

On Charlton Heston: “He told us, ‘I got Alzheimer’s.’ Surprise! He’s been wearing his wig sideways for 19 years.”

On Donatella Versace: “That skin! She looks like something you’d hang off your door in Africa.”

On Sandra Bullock’s Bottega Veneta gown at the Golden Globes: “It looked like Prince’s old prom dress.” (And Tina Fey’s Zac Posen: “A decorative toilet seat cover.”)

On Queen Elizabeth II: “Gowns by Helen Keller.” “Nice looking. Not at all like her stamp. Wears her watch over the glove, though — tacky.”

On herself, desperate for a man: “My parents had a sign, ‘Last girl before thruway.’ I’d get an obscene phone call. I’d say, ‘Hold on a minute, let me get a cigarette.’ ”

Nothing was sacred.On her husband’s suicide: “After

Edgar killed himself, I went out to dinner with Melissa. I looked at the menu and said, ‘If Daddy were here to see these prices, he’d kill himself all over again.’ ”

Even the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center were not off limits.

“A few days after 9/11,” Jonathan Van Meter recalled in a 2010 New York magazine article, “she called and asked me if I wanted to meet her for lunch at Windows on the Ground.”

Mr. Van Meter wrote: “She pushes as far as she can as soon as she can. It’s compulsive.”

Shocked? Offended?“Oh, grow up!” she advised.

Angelina Jolie walks down the aisle in a custom Atelier Versace gown. At right, Introducing Mr and Mrs Pitt.

Joan Rivers

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 29

Chris Brown pleads guilty to assault in Washington

ugly fight over dethroned beauty

queen’s $100,000 tiara

Nick Cannon goes on Twitter rant

Actress Gabrielle Union marries NBA star Dwyane Wade in a castle in Miami

WASHINGTON — Chris Brown pleaded guilty on Tuesday to hitting a man outside a Washington hotel, an assault that occurred while the singer was on probation for attacking his then-girlfriend Rihanna.

Brown pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to time served. He spent two days in a District of Columbia jail in this case.

The Grammy-winning singer was arrested in October. The victim told police Brown hit him after he tried to get in a picture the singer was taking with two women.

Brown had previously pleaded not guilty in the case. His trial had been set for April, but it was delayed.

At the time of his Washington arrest, Brown was on probation in a felony assault case in California for attacking Rihanna hours before the 2009 Grammy Awards. Because Brown was still on probation, the outcome of his Washington case had potential repercussions in California. During a court hearing in May, a Los Angeles judge sentenced Brown to serve an additional 131 days in jail. He was released in June.

The Miss Asia Pacific World pageant wants its $100,000 tiara back and said that it is gathering evidence that its dethroned queen lied about her age, her name and whether she got plastic surgery.

The woman who has lost the title, May Myat Noe, has returned to her home country of Myanmar and taken the crown with her. She claimed Tuesday that she was dismissed because the organizers pressured her into getting plastic surgery

“from head-to-toe., and denied the pageant’s claim that she had gotten a breast implant last month.

She said she did not intend to steal the crown, but wasn’t going to give it back without an apology to her and to Myanmar for being called a thief.

“I’m not even proud of this crown,” Noe said after opening a blue box and placing the glittering tiara on the table in front of her. “I don’t want a crown from an organization with such a bad reputation.”

The pageant responded: “We were going to wrap this up quietly to respect her reputation,” said Weon-Young Jung, founder and chairman of the beauty pageant. “But this is getting way overboard. She’s lying over and over again.”

The pageant organizers based in Busan, South Korea, said they are gathering proof that she did undergo breast implant surgery at a plastic surgery clinic in Busan, including operation agreement papers signed by Noe and her mother and video clips of her stay at the hospital for eight days.

“They got a VIP treatment and were happy with the surgery results,” said Jung. But the two sides got into a row after Noe demanded the organization pay for her mother to stay in South Korea for three months, which was not agreed in the contract.

The pageant warned Noe that she would be stripped of her title

“because she was dishonest and unappreciative.” The next day, Noe and her mother disappeared from the hospital bed, Jung said.

“It was the day before she was supposed to remove her stitches and be discharged. They ran off with the tiara, but leaving some of their

belongings behind. It seemed like they were in a hurry to run,” said Jung.

Plastic surgery was included as one of the prizes for winning the title.

“We offered total head-to-toe beauty care, not head-to-toe surgery as she claims. It was skin care, massage, nail, and spa treatment. Breast implant was her choice. She’s already beautiful. Why would she even need a total makeover?” Jung said. The organizers said that after Noe had gotten her visa, they realized that her name and age registered at the pageant was different from her passport.

Nick Cannon dropped off the face of the social media world a while back due to rumours of “trouble in paradise” with wife Mariah Carey.

Now, he’s back!“I have personally been absent from

social media for the past few months for obvious reasons, but I feel the need to finally speak up,” the “America’s Got Talent” host wrote on Twitter.

“During this challenging time for me and my family, it saddens me that the media can be such evil bottom feeders,”

he continued. “Because my family & I haven’t been forthcoming with personal information, people are quick to paint negative pictures and spread rumors.”

In August, multiple reports said Cannon confirmed his six-year marriage to the 44-year-old singer and mother of his twin children – 3-year-old son Moroccan and daughter Monroe

– was in turmoil.“We have been living in separate

houses for a few months,” Cannon’s

alleged statement read. “(Right now) my main focus is my kids.”

The 33-year-old TV personality is now denying claims he ever gave such a statement.

“For the record I NEVER have, nor will I make a statement regarding my marriage,” he wrote Wednesday. “So whatever your favorite gossip outlet is reporting has been created within their own imagination.”

“What infuriates me most is to hear people slander @MariahCarey,” his

Twitter rant stated. “I will forever be indebted to her for blessing me with our children.

“I will always love her unconditionally for this and so much more,” Cannon added. “@MariahCarey is an amazing Mother and I trust her wholeheartedly.”

While it remains unclear whether they are or are not heading toward divorce, one thing seems certain: Cannon still loves Carey despite it all.

“I love @MariahCarey and that will never change!!!” he wrote.

Swish! Actress Gabrielle Union has married basketball star Dwyane Wade.

The “Being Mary Jane” star and the Miami Heat point guard wed Saturday at Chateau Artisan castle in Miami, according to the New York Times.

The nuptials, which featured a performance by John Legend, were a black-and-white themed affair, to which Union wore a strapless Dennis Basso gown from Kleinfeld Bridal

and Wade wore customized DSquared2 suit and white bow tie he designed himself from Tie Bar’s wedding collection.

Female guests were asked to wear white; male guests were asked to wear black tuxes and were given the option of three different black bow ties that Wade helped design as well. The moat-surrounded castle appealed to the couple, who according to TMZ, asked their guests to sign confidentiality agreements and to refrain from

using social media at the event.“Everyone wants to look

good on their wedding day,” the fashion-forward basketball star told the NYT. “And I’m not going around the back. My fiancée may have the bigger moment, but I want everyone to turn and see me when I’m walking down the aisle. I want my entrance.”

About 175 to 200 guests were invited to the reception and 250 to 275 were on the guest list for the after-party.

ENTERTAINMENT

May Myat Noe, Myanmar’s first international beauty queen, winner of the 2014 Miss Asia Pacific World, sits with her crown that she allegedly ran away with, during a press conference in Yangon, Myanmar. The dethroned beauty queen from Myanmar said she won’t return her $100,000 worth crown until the pageant’s organizers apologize for calling her a liar and a thief.

Dennis Basso tells Us Weekly about the two custom gowns he created for Gabrielle Union’s wedding to Dwyane Wade.

Chris Brown arriving at the D.C. Superior Court in Washington in June.

Page 30 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 31

FUN & GAMES

Page 32 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

FUN & GAMES

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 33

International credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday downgraded The Bahamas’ sovereign credit rating yet again, citing massive debt and soft economic growth as the main factors behind the move.

The downgrade could make it more expensive for the country to borrow and add to the already daunting amount of money spent on just servicing government debt.

However, the Ministry of Finance stressed that the country’s credit rating remains at an investment grade level.

Though the downgrade of the country’s issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Baa2 from Baa1 was definitely bad news, Moody’s changed the country’s economic outlook to stable from negative – an expression of confidence in the Christie administration’s fiscal consolidation plan, coupled with a prediction that a recovering U.S. economy will bolster GDP growth in The Bahamas.

However, the rapidly rising level of government debt was the main thrust behind the downgrade, the second from this particular agency since December 2012.

“The government’s debt-to-GDP ratio has increased from 31.7 percent in 2007 to 59.0 percent in 2013, and Moody’s expects it to peak in 2015. At this level, it is almost 20 percentage points above the median for Baa-rated sovereigns (39.5 percent in 2013),” Moody’s said.

“Concurrently, as the debt stock increased, the interest burden on government debt has risen during the same time period. Interest payments now

represent over 14 percent of government revenues, compared to 9.3 percent in 2007 and above the current Baa-median of 8.3 percent.”

The next biggest reason for the downgrade would be the economy, Moody’s said. The agency pointed to the economy’s lackluster performance since the 2008/09 fiscal year.

The Bahamas has had an average of 1.1 percent growth since that year through 2013, Moody’s noted.

“The economy’s underperformance has negatively affected government revenues, and it has also led to higher current and capital expenditures by the government in order to support the economy,” said Moody’s.

That government support has led to gargantuan deficits that are “more than double the median of similarly rated peers”.

However, Moody’s believes that the government’s plan to arrest this trend beginning in 2015 by cutting spending and implementing the controversial value-added tax regime, seems doable.

“Key elements of the fiscal stabilization plan include expenditure controls that

seek to increase the efficiency of public spending,” Moody’s said.

“In addition, government intends to introduce a 7.5 percent valued-added tax in 2015.

“Nonetheless, even with an effective implementation of fiscal reforms, The Bahamas’ debt and interest burdens will remain at levels significantly weaker than most Baa-rating peers over the next two years at least, and over the medium term as well.”

The fiscal consolidation plan, Moody’s said, should coincide with economic recovery in the U.S. and lead to somewhat stronger GDP growth of two to 2.5 percent in 2015.

Moody’s said the country’s credit rating could move upward if debt levels fall to those that are closer to our similarly rated peers and by dumping “contingent liabilities stemming from loss-making public sector corporations”.

However, the credit rating could continue to fall if the economy underperforms and complicates the fiscal consolidation process.

Increased public spending will also put the credit rating at risk, Moody’s said.

CARIBBEAN NEWS

KACI Fennell won the Hyundai Miss Universe Jamaica 2014 title on Saturday at the Karl Hendrickson Auditorium, Jamaica College in St Andrew. A popular winner, the 21-year-old Mico University College student was selected over 18 other competitors.

“It has been tiring but I put my all into this. I really worked hard towards this title and now I am completely elated,” Fennell told the Jamaica Observer shortly after being crowned. She said the achievements of former Miss Jamaica and Miss Jamaica Universe Sandra Foster inspired her to enter the pageant.

“I remember my mom was always talking about Sandra

Foster and then I asked her to show me a photograph of her. Afterwards, I decided that I wanted to enter a pageant, but the time happened to be now,” said Fennell.

Nineteen-year-old Roshelle McKinley, niece of former Miss Jamaica World contestant, Bernadette McKinley, who finished third in the 1978 pageant finished second. Commercial pilot Kimar Muir was third with fourth and fifth places being taken by Saneta Kerr and Dianne Brown, respectively.

Fennell won a cash prize of $250,000, a Hyundai i10 car courtesy of title sponsors Key Motors. She will represent Jamaica at the Miss Universe

pageant, scheduled for later this year.

Prior to a show-stopping performance from singer Gem Myers, the finalists appeared in swimwear, then evening wear, followed by a question-and-answer segment. Shanice Rerrie, Christine Suraj, Davia Lynch, Diedre McKenzie, and Zandrea Bailey also made the top 10.

Sectional prizes went to: Most Photogenic – Shantana Folkes, Congeniality – Saneta Kerr, Essence Style Award – Kimar Muir, Runaway – Saneta Kerr, Best in Swimwear – Dianne Brown, Best in Evening Gown – Kaci Fennell, Most Aware – Kaci Fennell and Alturism Charity Award – Princess Fraser.

Moody’s downgrades The Bahamas rating

Caribbean must brace for “full impact”

of Chikungunya – CARPHA

Kaci Fennell is Miss Universe Jamaica 2014

B R I D G E T O W N , Barbados – The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is warning the Caribbean to be prepared for the “full impact” of the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus eight months after the first case was detected.

CARPHA executive director Dr. James Hospedales told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that almost all Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have now reported cases of the virus.

“There are a total of over 9,000 confirmed cases. There is an estimate in excess of 600,000 cases in total, most of those being from the bigger countries like the Dominican Republic and Haiti with 37 deaths in total.

“So it continues to spread, we will have an expert consultation next month to look at all the plans and also to see how we better inform and protect people and protect the economy of the region,” Dr. Hospedales told CMC.

HE SAID Caribbean governments were making a “valiant effort” in dealing with the virus, adding “what we have been doing has not been sufficient and the increase of dengue that we have seen in the last years is a marker that what we are doing is not working as well as it ought to work.

“That’s partly why we are having this experts meeting next month to look at what’s new in terms of the science and how can we better educate people and how can we deal with the mosquitoes that are so prevalent,” he added.

Chikungunya is a viral disease, carried mainly by the aedes aegypti mosquito and causes a dengue-like sickness.

Kaci Fennell (centre) is flanked by second runner-up Kimar Muir (left) and first-runner up Roshelle McKinley.

Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie.

Executive Director of CARPHA, Dr C. James Hospedales.

CARIBBEAN NEWSPage 34 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

Barbados is to legally declare its tourism sector an export industry, as part of two major developments which will radically transform the sector in that eastern Caribbean island.

In the second development announced recently by Finance Minister Christopher Sinckler, all local tourism investors will benefit from the unprecedented incentives negotiated by leading Caribbean hotelier, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart’s Sandals Resorts International (SRI).

The decision to declare the tourism industry as an export industry is something Stewart had himself championed in Jamaica, arguing that it would empower the sector to compete more substantially with the industry worldwide and bring greater benefits to the local economy.

Sinckler announced a comprehensive and permanent overhaul of the country’s tourism incentive legislation which would recognise tourism as an export industry, during a site visit of the Sandals Barbados Resort, now undergoing large-scale upgrade for a January 2015 opening on the island’s southcoast.

“What we are going to do for hoteliers in Barbados, for tourism operators, is not a transient waving of the pen or signing of a document by the minister of finance under 67 (b) of the Income Tax Act, “ said Sinckler.

“The concessions which Sandals got, all the others will get but they will get it permanently, in permanent legislation that they call on each and every time they require it rather than having to write the minister of finance every other time they’re doing upgrades to a

property to get it,” he added.The legislation, which the minister

indicated would resemble the menu of concessions offered to Sandals, would therefore allow for tax relief of up to 40 years on tourism inputs, including food and beverage imports.

SRI is pumping US$350 million and its vaunted Sandals and Beaches brands into the Barbadian economy to operate two financially challenged resorts – the 260-room Almond Causirina, at Dover in Christ Church and the 460-room Almond Beach Village at St Peter.

Sinckler also pointed out that Sandals would not merely bring more rooms but would inspire elevated standard levels in the country’s tourism sector.

“Sandals will cause many of our resorts to raise the bar and operate at

a higher level. And when the Beaches Brand comes along in St Peter it will raise the bar even further. So we are very assured that we have done the right thing by inviting the Sandals group here.

“Already we are seeing a different attitude from the airlines and travel community as it relates to investing in Barbados and that is because of the presence of the Sandals brand.

Sinckler suggested that the new legislation would transform the industry in an unprecedented manner.

Also on hand at the press conference was Barbados’ Tourism Minister Richard Sealy who acknowledged that the island had not understood how strong the Sandals Brand was in the US market until now.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – A U.S. civil rights lawyer said Monday that she is volunteering her time to help represent relatives of a slain Jamaican man whose death in custody has amplified distrust of the Caribbean country’s police force among many islanders.

Jasmine Rand, an attorney who heads the civil rights department for Florida law firm Parks & Crump, was one of the lawyers representing the family of slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin. Last week,

she joined the legal team representing relatives of Mario Deane, a 31-year-old Jamaican construction worker who died on Aug. 6 after he was beaten in a police lockup in Montego Bay.

Two inmates have been charged with Deane’s death, but attorney Michael Lorne asserts the death resulted from police brutality or misconduct. An independent commission that probes allegations of abuses by Jamaican security forces is investigating the death.

Appearing at a Monday press conference in Kingston alongside Deane’s parents, Rand said her pro bono work will bring international “resources” to the Jamaican legal team.

“Though I cannot speak in a court of law here, I can help to bring resources and I can help to bring legal strategies, share my failures and share the triumphs that we had in bringing the movement in the Trayvon Martin case,” she said.

NASSAU, Bahamas – The Bahamas regained control of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) with Prime Minister Perry Christie indicating that the agreement with the British telecommunications company, Cable and Wireless (CWC) “is undeniably more beneficial to the Bahamian interest, in all aspects, than the construct agreed by the former administration in 2011”.

The British telecom company, under the former agreement, had acquired 51 per cent of the BTC shares for a cash consideration of US$204 million.

But as he addressed the ceremony over the weekend to mark the transfer of the two per cent shares, Prime Minister Christie said that the new accord is in keeping with a promise his administration made during the campaign for the last general elections to regain majority stake in BTC through lawful means.

“The negotiations ran for the better part of a year, primarily, I am made to understand, due to CWC’s focus on global restructuring efforts in such wonderful places as Bahrain, Macau and Monaco, amongst others. As we would have heard from media accounts CWC’s restructuring was with a view to concentrating on the company’s future growth in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Christie said that the outcomes of the negotiations were memorialized in an MOU and that in January the two sides had reached an agreement for the re-transfer of two the per cent of the shares in BTC that were held by CWC, to a Foundation to be established by the government.

Bahamas take control of

telecoms company from Cable and

Wireless

US attorney joins legal team for slain Jamaican

Barbados tourism sector now an

export industry

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The Guyana government says it has developed a “strategic partnership” with the Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) to heighten awareness on the need to prevent suicides in the country.

It said that Health Minister Dr. Bheri Ramsaran met with the IAC who presented their organisation’s initiative and explored the possibility of a meaningful collaboration.

Dr. Ramsaran said that that the Ministry of Health has been involved in several plans aimed at curbing suicides,

including the training of persons.Ramsaran said there was a need

for all stakeholders to be involved in the fight against suicides reiterating the Ministry’s commitment to working with organisations that have expressed an interest in dealing with social issues.

The IAC in the past had demonstrated its willingness to lead and support any intervention regarding this issue and based on the magnitude of incidents, called for suicide to be declared a national priority. Further, the organisation

pointed out that due to the high rate of suicide, a major international news network visited Guyana and produced a story highlighting this distressing trend.

The IAC believes that much more can be done and had called for meaningful collaboration among the various government ministries “to derive a plan of action which will lead to the provision of education through awareness and related counselling with the aim of reducing, and hopefully, eliminating incidents of suicides”.

Guyana has by far the highest suicide rate in the Caribbean – WHO

SRI Chairman Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart gestures as he and Sandals CEO Adam Stewart (left) conduct a site tour of the Sandals Barbados Resort for the benefit of Barbados Finance Minister Richard Sinckler (fourth left), Tourism Minister Richard Sealy (third left), and Senator Irene Sandiford-Garner. Also accompanying the touring party is Mark Harding, Sandals projects manager.

PORT OF SPAIN –– “Something went horribly wrong and I want answers,” cried 26-year-old Ravi Lal-Ramsingh at the funeral of his baby girl. Lal-Ramsingh and his wife Vishwanie, 25, who are blaming medical negligence for their baby’s death, bade a tearful goodbye to their firstborn at their Princes Town home.

The service for baby Sara, who was born dead at the San Fernando General Hospital, was held under Hindu rites.

“Everybody rushes to make children, but I waited so long because I wanted to make sure I could give my child everything and look what happen,” cried Lal-Ramsingh as he hugged his mother Sylvia.

Vishwanie, who was discharged from hospital on Friday could not attend the burial of her baby at Batchyia Cemetery in Penal because her pressure was high. Lal-Ramsingh called on Minister of Health Dr Fuad Khan to intervene because he was not confident that a proper investigation would be done.

“No one from the hospital call us yet,” he said. He said the autopsy performed at the hospital’s mortuary on Saturday stated the cause of death was retro placenta haemorrhage, intra uterine asphyxia and maternal hypertension in pregnancy.

The South West Regional Health Authority has launched an investigation into the death.

Grieving parents seeking

answers to baby’s death

CARIBBEAN NEWSSEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 35

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – President Michel Martelly says he is prepared to meet with opposition legislators who are accused of delaying plans for holding legislative and municipal elections by the end of this year.

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) last week adopted a declaration calling on the three branches of government in Haiti to comply with the agreement, known as El Rancho, for the polls to be held in October.

“Unfortunately this agreement is now facing great difficulties; you supported us, encouraged all actors to respect their commitments, and today I come to seek the solidarity of the OAS and its member states regarding a situation facing our nation, because we know that the well-being of Haiti’s democracy must be a priority for the region,” said Haiti’s OAS Permanent Representative Edmond Bocchit.

Lucien Jura, the spokesman for President Martelly said the head of state had responded positively to a letter from Senator Simon Dieuseul Desras, President of the Senate, asking that he meet with the opposition legislators to discuss the matter.

The spokesman said President Martelly had invited the President of the Senate and members of the so called G for the discussions on Monday.

“President Martelly is ready to meet

on Monday the president of the senate and the six senators who have been reluctant to help pass the amendments,” he said.

But the meeting failed to materialise after Senator Desras indicated that the six opposition legislators said they were unable to attend.

Some of the G6 group have blamed President Martelly for failing to invite some opposition figures to the meeting as requested, while others argue such a meeting should not take place at the

presidential palace, but at a neutral venue.

But Jura said the Haitian leader has a right to welcome the senators at his office and argued that Martelly had invited only the six parliamentarians because “only the invited senators can help solve the problem, not the representatives of the political parties”.

The 30-member senate has been functioning with only two thirds of its members after the term of 10 senators ended more than two years ago.

Martelly prepared to meet with Haiti’s

opposition politiciansBRIDGETOWN, Barbados – St.

Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has defended the new attitude of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to developing countries even as he acknowledged he is still not fully satisfied with its lending policies.

Gonsalves, called in to the television programme “Time to Face the Facts” that was aired on the Barbados-based CARIBVISION, the television arm of the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Sunday night.

The programme hosted by the St. Vincent-based journalist, Jerry George, looked at the role of the IMF in the Caribbean.

Gonsalves recalled that St. Vincent and the Grenadines had benefitted from an US$6.4 million loan given by the Washington-based financial institution “especially in relation to balance of payments difficulties which arose out of consequence of the December 2013 natural disaster.

“The IMF of today is a somewhat different IMF than hitherto in terms of the manner in which it conducts its business and there is clearly an influence of new persons …but we still have somewhere to go,” he told television viewers.

He said the IMF “does not force any government to do something” and that Caribbean countries shortly after gaining political independence from Britain joined the IMF and other international institutions.

The chief of the Caribbean Division, Western Hemisphere at the IMF headquarters, Trevor Alleyne, one of the panellists on the television programme, agreed with Gonsalves that were many other types of IMF programmes that benefitted the region, saying “these are facilities that provide to countries as the prime minister mentioned hit by exogenous shocks, most typically things like natural disasters which are going to in a sense affect their ability to gain foreign exchange and create balance of payments difficulties.

“These types of loans as he said do not carry conditionalities,” he said.

The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has listed five Caribbean coral species as threatened, saying that they will be afforded Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection.

NOAA, however, said none of the 20 species identified were endangered and that 15 of the newly listed species occur in the Indo-Pacific.

The five Caribbean species listed as threatened are: mountainous star coral, pillar coral, rough cactus coral, lobed star coral and boulder star coral.

Two other Caribbean coral species, elkhorn and staghorn, were listed as threatened in 2006.

“The Caribbean corals are already

protected in the sanctuary and by state laws, but the ESA affords additional protections,” said NOAA coral expert Stephania Bolden, noting that, for example, people are not allowed to import listed species.

In addition, she said the ESA requires other US federal agencies to consult with NOAA on projects “so as not to jeopardize the species” adding that “the ESA makes federal dollars available to partner with the state for conservation and research efforts”.

As part of this “rule-making process,” NOAA identified a number of threats to coral ecosystems.

It said some of the most serious threats include impacts related to climate

change, rising ocean temperatures, ocean acidification and disease, ecological effects of fishing, and poor land-use practices.

NOAA said it will work with partners on mitigation measures and recovery plans for the newly listed corals.

It said these will likely include approaches that have shown success elsewhere, such as watershed management, to address land-based sediment pollution in the US Virgin Islands and Hawaii, and restoration efforts in the Southeastern United States.

NOAA said it is working with various stakeholders in transplanting corals grown in nurseries to help recover degraded reefs, in the Southern US.

St Vincent prime minister ‘reluctantly’

defends IMF lending

policies

United States lists five Caribbean coral species under threat

LONDON, England – In October 2009, a British tourist’s dream holiday in the Dominican Republic turned into a nightmare when he fell seriously ill just five days into a two-week stay at the four-star Bahia Principe Hotel in San Juan.

Mark Bidwell, a builder from Bristol, suffered diarrhoea, abdominal pain and lethargy during what was intended to be a relaxing getaway with his pregnant partner Nicola Greathurst before the birth of their first child.

Bidwell, 33, also experienced weight loss as a result of falling ill at the four-star hotel, and claims he is suffering ongoing health problems.

According to Bidwell: “The holiday was a nightmare for both of us. The food was awful and we have both been put off travelling to the Dominican Republic ever again.

“I regret ever staying at the hotel. It was a terrible experience for us and I am still suffering the consequences today as I am still experiencing ongoing symptoms.

“I feel as though my life has completely changed and it will never be the same again,” he added.

Bidwell sued tour operator Thomas Cook, and last week, a fortnight before the case was to go to trial, a £20,000 pay out was agreed.

Ms Greathurst received a sum of money from Thomas Cook at an earlier date.

It appears that the young British couple do not represent an isolated incident, with Irwin Mitchell, the law firm that represented them, having now secured in excess of £5.5million in settlements for vacationers who have stayed at the hotel since 2007.

Spokesman for the law firm Amandeep Dhillon said: “We are pleased that Mark’s case has been settled and that both of them can now move forward and put their awful experience behind them.

“Sadly, we have had a long history of having to take legal action due to illness at this hotel.

“This was meant to be a relaxing luxurious holiday for the couple before the arrival of their baby, and they had worked hard to save for it, but instead Mark fell badly ill and they were unable to enjoy the facilities the resort had to offer.

“Severe gastric illness can lead to long-term health problems and it is essential that the appropriate health and safety guidelines are followed to prevent illness to guests at hotels wherever they may be in the world.”

Tourist wins settlement after “nightmare” holiday in Dominican Republic

Haiti’s President Michel Martelly

Page 36 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

WORLD NEWS

Japan is battling its first outbreak of dengue fever in almost 70 years, with at least 22 people confirmed as being infected.

The health ministry said the cases were believed to have been contracted by visitors to Tokyo’s popular Yoyogi Park.

An outbreak of dengue fever was last recorded in Japan in 1945.

The tropical disease, which is spread by mosquitoes, causes symptoms like high fever and severe joint pain.

Severe cases may require hospital treatment and can occasionally develop into a potentially lethal complication called severe dengue, according to the World Health Organisation.

Japan sees imported cases of dengue fever each year, mostly from tourists who catch it while travelling to tropical regions, its health ministry said.

Domestic mosquitoes could have also picked up the dengue virus from tourists and passed it on, the ministry said.

Now the government is working to tackle the park thought to be the focus of the outbreak.

New warning signs have been put up and teams of workers in white overalls and masks have descended to spray insecticide and drain its ornamental ponds, says the BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo.

The spread of the disease has been helped by an exceptionally wet summer but authorities say the outbreak should be killed off by the onset of autumn weather, our correspondent adds.

There are no vaccines or drugs against dengue but medical experts said avoiding mosquito bites was the best precaution.

A government hotline for dengue fever queries was also set up last week.

Japan tackles first dengue

fever outbreak in 70 years

NEWPORT, Wales — NATO leaders grappled Thursday with whether the alliance has a role in containing a mounting militant threat in the Middle East, as heads of state converged in Wales for a high-stakes summit also focused on the crisis in Ukraine and next steps in Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron declared that their nations would “not be cowed” by extremists from the Islamic State group who have claimed responsibility for killing two American journalists. They also challenged NATO to not turn inward in the face of the threat.

“Those who want to adopt an isolationist approach misunderstand the nature of security in the 21st century,” Obama and Cameron wrote in a joint editorial in the Times of London.

“Developments in other parts of the world, particularly in Iraq and Syria, threaten our security at home.”

Obama, Cameron and dozens of other NATO leaders met on a golf resort in Wales for the two-day summit. Leaders here also planned to commit to a more robust rapid response force on its eastern flank, which would aim to serve as a deterrent to Russian aggression.

Yet much of the action was to take place on the sidelines of the summit, where the American and British leaders were expected to drum up support for an international response to confronting the Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

Arriving at the summit site on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he believes the broader international community “has an obligation to stop the Islamic State from advancing further,” but noted that the alliance hasn’t received any request for help.

“I’m sure that if the Iraqi government were to forward a request for NATO assistance, that would be considered

seriously by NATO allies,” Rasmussen said.

Obama also planned to meet Thursday with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East that’s caught in the crossfire of the region’s instability.

The Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for murdering two American journalists, releasing gruesome videos of their beheadings. Both the U.S. and Britain are deeply concerned about the potential threat to their homelands that could come from the foreign fighters who have joined the violent Islamic State group.

Cameron on Monday proposed new laws that would give police the power to seize the passports of Britons suspected of having traveled abroad to fight with terrorist groups.

The U.S. began launching airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq last month, and both the U.S. and Britain have been making humanitarian aid drops to besieged minority groups there. Cameron said that he hadn’t ruled out

joining the U.S. in airstrikes, but added that the priority was to support those already fighting the militants on the ground.

“We need to show real resolve and determination, we need to use every power and everything in our armory with our allies – with those on the ground – to make sure we do everything we can to squeeze this dreadful organization out of existence,” Cameron told the British network ITV.

Also facing Obama is a decision about whether to expand U.S. military action against the extremists to Syria. While Obama has said he’s considering that step, he has suggested in recent days that it’s not imminent.

U.S. officials say Obama is reluctant to delve into Syria’s quagmire on his own. He’s expected to use some of his discussions in Wales to try to build a coalition that could join him in confronting the Islamic State through a combination of military might, diplomatic pressure and economic penalties.

Dutch authorities leading an international investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine plan to publish a preliminary report next week.

The Dutch Safety Board said on Thursday the report would present factual information based on the sources available. A spokesman, Wim van der Weegen, said those sources include satellite imagery, radar details and data from the plane’s black box recorders.

Investigators had not visited the

site in conflict-stricken Ukraine, where wreckage of the plane plunged to the ground on 17 July, killing all 298 passengers, though they did have photos, he said.

The report will outline what investigators believe happened, but will not apportion blame. “What this investigation does is compare all these sources, and see whether they agree,” he said. “The investigation is still in full swing and the definitive report will be released within a year, according to

international civil aviation rules.”Flight MH17 was shot down while

flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over an area of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russia separatists. Victims came from 10 countries – most were Dutch, but there were also many Malaysians and Australians.

Pro-Russia rebels in Ukraine have denied responsibility for shooting down the craft, but one senior rebel told Associated Press they were involved.

The Netherlands is coordinating

criminal investigations into the disaster by multiple countries, including Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine.

Remains of many – but probably not all – victims were gathered in the days after the crash and flown to the Netherlands for identification. From these remains, 183 victims have been identified so far.

Searches of the crash site were halted on 6 August amid concerns that fighting in the area posed a threat to searchers.

OROCUINA Honduras – A severe drought has ravaged crops in Central America and as many as 2.81 million people are struggling to feed themselves, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday, though the region’s coffee crop has been largely unscathed.

The drought, which is also affecting South America, has been particularly hard on the so-called “dry corridor”

of Central America, which includes southern Guatemala, northern Honduras and western El Salvador.

“The drought has killed us. We lost all our corn and beans,” said Olman Funez, a 22-year-old farmer who lives in Orocuina, a rural town in southern Honduras.

Funez earns $4.74 per diem as a day laborer, and says he and his wife are rationing what food they have.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega

recently allowed 40,000 tonnes of red beans and 73,500 tonnes of white corn to be imported to help lower prices.

Guatemala declared a state of emergency after 256,000 families lost their crop.

“I am 60 years old, and this is the first time I have seen a crisis like this,” said Jesus Samayoa, a farmer in Jutiapa, about 160 km (99 miles) from Guatemala City.

Pea, green bean and broccoli farmers estimate losses of 30 to 40 percent of their crop.

Guatemala’s national coffee association Anacafe said earlier this month that a preliminary survey of two of the country’s coffee-growing regions, Santa Rosa and Jutiapa, revealed that drought will cause output to fall next season by 3 percent, or about 9,600 60-kg bags.

MH17 crash investigation team to publish preliminary findings

Drought leaves up to 2.81M hungry in Central America

Leaders: uS, uk will ‘not be cowed’ by militants

Obama said the US “cannot turn a blind eye” when it has the capability to prevent genocide of Iraqi minorities.

WORLD NEWSSEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 37

The United Nations said $600 million in supplies would be needed to fight West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, as the death toll from the worst ever epidemic of the virus topped 1,900 and Guinea warned it had penetrated a new part of the country.

The pace of the infection has accelerated, and there were close to 400 deaths in the past week, officials said on Wednesday. It was first detected deep in the forests of southeastern Guinea in March.

The hemorrhagic fever has spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria, and Senegal, and has killed more people than all outbreaks since Ebola was first uncovered in 1976. There are no approved Ebola vaccines or treatments.

An experimental Ebola vaccine that Canada said it would give to the World Health Organization for use in Africa was as of Wednesday still in the lab that developed it as officials are puzzled over how to transport it.

Ottawa said on Aug. 12 that it would donate between 800 and 1,000 doses of the vaccine, being held at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.

“We are now working with the WHO to address complex regulatory, logistical and ethical issues so that the vaccine can be safely and ethically deployed as rapidly as possible,” Health Canada spokesman Sean Upton said in a statement.

“For example, the logistics surrounding the safe delivery of the vaccine are complicated.” Upton said one of the challenges was keeping the vaccine cool enough to remain potent.

Human safety trials are due to begin this week on a vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline Plc and later this year on one from NewLink Genetics Corp.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday a federal contract worth up to $42.3 million would help accelerate testing of an experimental Ebola virus treatment being developed by privately held Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc.

Dr. David Nabarro, senior U.N. Coordinator for Ebola, said the cost of getting the supplies needed by West Africa countries to control the crisis would amount to $600 million. That was higher than an estimate of $490 million by the WHO last week.

Moving workers and supplies around the region has been made difficult by restrictions by some countries on air travel and landing rights as they try to control Ebola’s spread.

“We are working intensively with those governments to encourage them to commit to the movement of people and planes and at the same time deal with anxieties about the possibility of infection,” Nabarro said.

He said the president of Ghana has agreed to allow an airbridge, or route, through the country to affected regions

to move people and supplies.Ivory Coast, which closed its

borders with Liberia and Guinea last month, said on Tuesday it would open humanitarian and economic corridors to its two western neighbors.

Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) told a press conference in Washington, “This Ebola epidemic is the longest, the most severe and the most complex we’ve ever seen.”

Chan said there were more than 3,500 cases across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

In Liberia, Dr. Rick Sacra, a 51-year-old Boston physician infected with Ebola could be medically evacuated as soon as Thursday, according to staff at the hospital where he worked. Two other Americans recovered from the virus after being taken to the United States for treatment last month.

Amid shortages of equipment and trained staff, more than 120 healthcare workers have died in West Africa in the Ebola outbreak. The Liberian government has begun offering a $1,000 bonus to any healthcare workers who agreed to work in Ebola treatment facilities.

Guinea, the first country to detect the virus, previously said it was containing the outbreak but announced that nine new cases had been found in the prefecture of Kerouane, some 750 km (470 miles) southeast of the capital Conakry.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Justice Department is launching a civil rights probe into the police department in Ferguson, Missouri, several weeks after a white officer shot an unarmed black teenager, sparking racial unrest, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Citing two federal law enforcement officials, the Post said the investigation would also look at the practices of other police departments in St. Louis County.

The investigation could be announced as soon as Thursday afternoon and will be conducted by the

department’s civil rights division, the Post said.

The Justice Department has already begun a civil rights investigation into the deadly Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, 18, by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. The Post said the new probe “will look more broadly at whether the department employed policies and practices that resulted in a pattern of civil rights violations.”

A St. Louis County grand jury has begun hearing evidence in the shooting, which sparked violent protests in the St. Louis suburb and drew global attention

to race relations in the United States.The incidents highlighted the

racial divide in Ferguson, a majority black community of 21,000 residents where almost all the police force and local politicians are white. Civil rights activists say Brown’s death followed years of police targeting blacks.

Police in Ferguson came under sharp criticism, especially in the first several days of demonstrations, for arresting dozens of protesters and using heavy-handed tactics and military gear widely seen as provoking more anger and violence by protesters.

u.N. says $600 million needed to tackle Ebola

as deaths top 1,900

U.S. to probe Ferguson police force after shooting of teen: report

BAGHDAD – At least 1,420 people were killed in Iraq in August, the United Nations said last week Monday, as sectarian violence raged in the center and north of the country.

Another 1,370 Iraqis were wounded and 600,000 people forced to flee, the U.N. added, as Islamic State militants, who have grabbed large areas of territory since June, pushed into land controlled by Kurdish troops and targeted religious minorities.

“Thousands continue to be targeted and killed by ISIL (Islamic State) and associated armed groups simply on account of their ethnic or religious background ... The true cost of this human tragedy is staggering,” said the U.N. representative in Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov.”

The UN said the casualty figures could be far higher, but it could not get independent verification of reports of hundreds of incidents in areas under Islamic State’s control.

Violence killed 1,737 people, mostly civilians, in Iraq in July, and 2,400 in June, the U.N. data showed.

Both Islamist fighters and Iraqi government forces have committed atrocities in the three months of fighting, senior U.N. officials said in Geneva during an emergency debate on the conflict.

The controversial six-month dolphin hunting season began last week Monday in the infamous town of Taiji, but bad weather would delay any killing, a local official said.

The annual catch, in which people from the southwestern town corral hundreds of dolphins into a secluded bay and butcher them, was thrust into the global spotlight in 2010 when it became the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary

“The Cove”.

Iraq violence killed at least

1,420 in August: U.N.

Dolphin hunting season kicks off

in Japan

A Turkish police officer has been sentenced to nearly eight years in jail for killing a protester during last summer’s anti-government demonstrations in the capital Ankara.

Ahmet Sahbaz shot 26-year-old Ethem Sarisuluk in the head on 1 June 2013.

The demonstrations came amid violent nationwide protests sparked by controversial plans to redevelop Istanbul’s Gezi Park. In court, the victim’s supporters decried the verdict as too lenient

Angry scenes erupted as protesters shouted “murderer state” following the sentence of seven years and nine months being announced, an AFP reporter in Ankara said.

The trial was being seen as a test of the authorities’ willingness to prosecute police brutality, correspondents say.

A wave of demonstrations and civil unrest began in Turkey on 28 May 2013, initially to contest plans for the redevelopment of Istanbul’s Taksim Gezi Park.

Ethem Sarisuluk: Turkey policeman

Ahmet Sahbaz jailed

From left: World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan, Senior United Nations System Coordinator for Ebola Virus Disease Dr. David Nabarro, and Assistant WHO Director-General for Health Security Dr. Keiji Fukuda appear at a briefing to discuss the Ebola outbreak in West Africa at the UN Foundation in Washington.

WORLD NEWSPage 38 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

NEW DELHI - The famous “ice bucket” challenge is inspiring thousands of Indians to follow suit, but with a twist - they are replacing ice with rice in a bid to help the country’s vast population of poor, hungry people.

The challenge, going viral on social media, involves donating a bucket of rice to someone in need and clicking a picture to share online, with a tag #RiceBucketChallenge, to raise awareness.

Started by 38-year-old journalist Manju Latha Kalanidhi in the southern city of Hyderabad, the movement’s Facebook page defines it as a “local challenge for local needs” and has clocked more than

52,000 ‘likes’ so far.The inspiration was drawn

from the “ice bucket” challenge, in which people pour a bucket of ice-cold water over their heads to encourage donations for research into Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disease. Celebrities such as software tycoon Bill Gates and tennis great Roger Federer have participated.

“I felt (the ice bucket challenge) was a little bizarre ... hunger is a disease anybody would connect with,” Kalanidhi told Reuters.

Kalanidhi’s project has started to draw mass support. Students of the Indian Institute of Management in the southern state of Kerala

posted a video after donating rice, while budget airline AirAsia India said its chief executive and senior management will participate on Monday.

Mass hunger, much of it poverty-induced, continues to haunt India. The country last year ranked 63rd on a list of 78 countries tracked by the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Global Hunger Index. China ranked sixth.

Tackling poverty is high on new Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda. On Thursday, he launched a banking-for-all scheme that he said should end “financial untouchability” and help lift people out of poverty.

Geneva – One person commits suicide every 40 seconds – more than all the yearly victims of wars and natural disaster – with the highest toll among the elderly, the United Nations said Thursday.

In its first report on suicide, the UN’s World Health Organisation blamed intense media coverage when celebrities kill themselves for fuelling the problem.

“Suicide is an amazing public health problem. There is one suicide every 40 seconds – it is a huge number,” said Shekhar Saxena, director of WHO’s mental health department, at the presentation of the report in Geneva.

“Suicide kills more than conflicts, wars and natural catastrophes,” he said.

“There are 1.5 million violent deaths every year in the world, of which 800,000 are suicides.”

Some of the highest rates of suicide are found in central and eastern Europe and in Asia, with 25 percent occurring in rich countries, the report says.

Men are almost twice as likely as women to take their own lives. Common methods are hanging, gunshots, and especially in rural areas the use of poisonous insecticides.

“Globally, suicide rates are highest in people aged 70 years and over. In some countries, however, the highest rates are found among the young,” WHO said. “Notably, suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15-29 year-olds

globally.”Alexandra Fleischmann, one of the

report’s co-authors, said part of the blame lies with the publicity given to suicides by famous people, such as Hollywood actor Robin Williams.

The Oscar-winning star, who had suffered from depression, was found dead at his home on August 1, prompting an outpouring of emotion from the public and widespread media coverage.

Ella Arensman, president of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, said that after news broke of Williams’ death she received “five emails of people who had recovered (from a) suicide crisis and saying that they are thinking again about suicide.”

“These overwhelming reports can have a contagion effect on vulnerable people,” she said, referring also to the “sharp increase” in suicides after German football player Robert Enke killed himself in 2009.

“Suicide should not be glamorised or sensationalised,” Fleischmann said, urging news outlets not to mention suicide as the cause of death at the start of reports, but only at the end, “with a mention of where (the reader) can find help.”

WHO, which called suicide a major public health problem that must be confronted and stemmed, studied 172 countries to produce the report, which took a decade to research.

A knifeman stabbed three children to death and wounded five more plus a teacher in a rampage at a Chinese primary school on Monday, reports said, in the country’s latest attack against youngsters.

The attacker killed himself by jumping from a building following the carnage at a school in Shiyan in the central province of Hubei, according to the official news agency Xinhua.

The six wounded have been

hospitalised, it said, adding two were seriously hurt.

The man, surnamed Chen, “died on the spot”, Xinhua said without providing further details.

He carried out the attack “because he couldn’t enrol his child” at the school, local broadcaster Shiyan Television said on its verified Sina Weibo account, China’s version of Twitter, without elaborating.

A local police official declined to provide information, saying: “I am

not clear, the police bureau officials are at that school investigating.”

Monday was the first day of the new school year in many parts of China.

Xinhua said it was not immediately known how Chen entered the premises, adding:

“Security at many schools has been tightened after a spate of attacks on children in recent years.”

They include five incidents in 2010 that killed 17 people and wounded more than 80.

LUCKNOW, India – An Indian court on Thursday freed three men detained earlier this year on suspicion of raping and murdering two teenage girls found hanged outside their village, in a case that sparked global outrage.

Judge Anil Kumar Sharma ordered the men’s release after India’s top investigator, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), said it did not have enough evidence to prosecute them.

Their release came days after two police officers detained on suspicion of involvement in the case were freed on the same grounds.

The two cousins, aged 12 and 14, were found hanging from a tree in an impoverished village in northern Uttar Pradesh state in May.

The girls were reported at the time to have been gang-raped and murdered after going into the fields to relieve themselves because their homes, like most in their village in Badaun district, lacked lavatories.

The alleged attack sparked public outrage after the family complained that police had failed to take their case seriously because they came from a lower caste.

All five accused have now been released after spending 90 days in detention, the maximum time that a person can be held without being charged in India.

“Anil Sharma heard the case of my clients...and he granted bail to all three of them,” Jawahar Singh Yadav, lawyer for the three accused, told AFP by phone on Thursday.

They were freed on a bond of 200,000 rupees ($3,300) and on condition that they do not tamper with evidence or threaten witnesses for future court hearings.

Media reports said the CBI’s decision was based on forensic tests and polygraphs that had ruled out sexual assault in the case.

The CBI however told AFP last week that the move did not mean that the men had been given a “clean chit”.

India brought in tougher rape laws last year for crimes against women after the fatal gang-rape of a physiotherapy student on a bus in New Delhi in December 2012.

Knifeman kills 3 children in China school attack: media

Indian court frees three accused in hanged girls case

WHO: One person commits suicide every 40 seconds

In India, rice replaces ice in bucket challenge

A screen grab from the #RiceBucketChallenge Facebook page.

The grief-stricken father pointing to the mango tree where his 14-year-old daughter and niece, 12, were hanged. An Indian court on Thursday freed three men detained earlier this year on suspicion of raping and murdering two teenage girls found hanged outside their village, in a case that sparked global outrage.

WORLD NEWSSEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 39

Obamas attend wedding of their longtime chef

Uganda fears for children as overseas adoptions boom

POCANTICO HILLS, N.Y. – Setting aside for a few hours the pressures of trying to calm the world’s trouble spots, President Barack Obama assumed the role of spectator for something more joyous: the wedding of the first family’s longtime chef and friend.

Chef Sam Kass and MSNBC host Alex Wagner tied the knot last weekend at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a farm-to-table restaurant in Pocantico Hills, just north of NYC.

The president and his chef have a close relationship, which Obama highlighted earlier last month when he spent several hours at dinner at Kass’ apartment amid the turmoil in Iraq, Ukraine and Ferguson, Missouri.

It’s long been said that time is a president’s most precious commodity. That Obama would spend five hours at Kass’ home on one of the aide’s final evenings as a bachelor was a testament to their bond.

Obama’s rounds of golf are often his only other outings that last as long – and those games sometimes include Kass.

Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, attended the ceremony and reception at the restaurant. Obama wore a dark suit, and Mrs. Obama and their daughters each wore sleeveless black dresses. The first family spent about six hours at the wedding.

Kampala – Authorities in Uganda have raised fears that the east African nation’s children are being left vulnerable to abuse and exploitation by a staggering increase in unchecked overseas adoptions.

An official report, details of which were published on Tuesday by the New Vision newspaper, said a boom in what it called the “international adoption industry” had led to some children who were not even orphans being taken into care for adoption or child sponsorship schemes.

The report also said there was no

system for the government to track adoptions, leaving children at risk of being kidnapped or trafficked.

“There is no assurance that their fundamental rights have been respected and thus abduction, sale or trafficking of children cannot be ruled out,” the paper quoted Uganda’s Auditor General John Muwanga as saying.

Uganda, one of the world’s poorest countries, is home to approximately 2.4 million orphans, about half of whom lost their parents to HIV/AIDS.

A source in Uganda’s Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development,

confirmed that there had been an estimated 400 percent increase in adoptions from 2006 to 2013.

The report said the boom in adoptions had led to a “rapidly increasing number of baby and children homes”, with more than 500 such institutions now operating in the country.

“These homes have been reported to be removing children from families and communities and placing them into institutional settings and gradually exploiting these children for economic reasons through child sponsorship schemes,” it said.

A child rights activist, who asked not to be named, said the report was

“very welcome”, but that the concerns spelt out alluded to just a small part of the problem.

“The report fails to recognise the criminal, intimidating and unethical activities that are being carried out by lawyers, orphanages and adoption agencies to ensure that children continue to be made available for international adoption rather than be resettled with their own families or placed into families in-country,” he said.

5 women named to Japan’s Cabinet,

tying past highThe semi-naked body of a teenage girl who was

allegedly humiliated by village elders for protesting against her father’s harassment has been found near a railway track in eastern India.

Police suspect the 15-year-old girl in West Bengal was raped and murdered.

Her family said she was made to spit on the ground and lick it up - an act considered a grave form of humiliation.

Unofficial courts in India’s villages often sanction punishment of residents deemed to have violated local codes.

Scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.

The government tightened laws on sexual violence last year after widespread protests following the attack, but violence and discrimination against women remain deeply entrenched.

The BBC’s Amitabha Bhattasali in Calcutta says the girl’s body was found near a railway track in the state’s Jalpaiguri district on Tuesday - a day after a village court had summoned her and her farmer father to settle a dispute over a tractor.

Her family members told the police that the elders “threatened the girl with dire consequences” when she protested against the “harassment of her father” by the village court.

Villagers said the girl “disappeared” when the court was in progress, and her body was found the next morning.

Police said the girl’s family had lodged a complaint against 13 people in the village. No arrests have been made yet.

Local villagers said political rivalry between the village elders and the girl’s family could have led to an escalation of the dispute - the elders are reported to be supporters of the ruling Trinamul Congress party, while the girl’s family reportedly supports the state’s main opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Earlier this year, a woman in West Bengal’s Birbhum district was gang-raped, allegedly on orders of village elders who objected to her relationship with a man.

TOKYO – Japan’s prime minister picked five women for his Cabinet on Wednesday, matching the past record and sending the strongest message yet about his determination to change deep-seated views on gender and revive the economy by getting women on board as workers and leaders.

Japan has a vast pool of talented, well-educated women, but they are far under-represented in positions of power in government and corporations. Women make up 10 percent of parliament and just 3.9 percent of board members of listed Japanese companies, versus 12 percent at U.S. corporations and 18 percent in France.

Women here have long complained about the obstacles to getting taken seriously at work, receiving equal pay for equal work and finding child care or helpful spouses.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated Wednesday that a key part of his “Abenomics” growth strategy is making greater use of women and promoting them to leadership posts

— a campaign dubbed “womenomics,” a term he has embraced. Abe has set a goal of having women in 30 percent of leadership positions in both the private and public sectors by 2020.

“Realizing a society where women can shine is a challenge our Cabinet has undertaken,” he said during a news conference. “I look forward to the wind of change these women will bring.”

Having five women in the Cabinet, which currently has 18 members, is extremely rare for Japan. It matches the highest number set back in 2001 under

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Abe’s previous Cabinet, dissolved earlier in the day, had two female ministers.

Although ministerial positions are in some ways ceremonial in Japan, where government affairs are largely run by professional bureaucrats, expanding the presence of women in a place as high profile as the Cabinet is a step toward sexual equality.

“As a woman, I am happy to have even one additional woman in power. There doesn’t have to be a reason. I am rooting for them,” said Kazuko Watanabe, a public relations specialist in the port city

of Yokohama. “I hope they do their best to get the job done.”

Yuko Obuchi, daughter of a former prime minister, was named trade and economy minister, probably the most prominent post, and Midori Matsushima was appointed justice minister.

“I am usually not that conscious about being a woman politician,” Matsushima, a lawmaker for more than decade, told reporters.

But Matsushima stressed that she wanted to start a debate about Japan’s relatively light penalties for sexual assaults, as well as continue to push for the protection of crime victims’ human rights.

Indian girl ‘humiliated’ by village elders found dead

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center bottom, and his new Cabinet members, Trade Minister Yuko Obuchi, bottom left, Internal Affairs Minister Sanae Takaichi, right bottom, Minister in charge of Promoting Women Haruko Arimura, center, Minister in charge of Japanese Abducted by North Korea Eriko Yamatani, middle right, Justice Minister Midori Matsushima, top right, pose for the photo session of new Cabinet members following the first Cabinet meeting at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo on Wednesday.

President Barack Obama departs Westchester Countyl Airport in New York accompanied by his wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha Sunday, after attendending a wedding at Pocantico Hills.

Page 40 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

The FBI is looking into allegations that intimate pictures of celebrities have been stolen and posted online.

About 20 personalities, including the US actress Jennifer Lawrence, have had images of themselves leaked over the Internet.

It is understood some of the images were obtained from services such as Apple iCloud that back up content from devices on to the internet.

Apple says it is investigating whether iCloud accounts have been hacked.

Ms Lawrence, who stars in The Hunger Games films, has requested an investigation after a hacker apparently obtained photographs, with graphic content, from the mobile phones of numerous celebrities.

A spokeswoman for the actress said the internet posts were “a flagrant violation of privacy”.

An FBI spokesman told the Associated Press news agency that it was “aware of the allegations” and was “addressing the matter”.

Apple spokeswoman Nat Kerris was quoted by Reuters as saying in an email: “We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report.”

Experts have raised concerns over the security of “cloud” storage sites.

“It is important for celebrities and the general public to remember that images and data no longer just reside on the device that captured it,” said Ken Westin, security analyst at Tripwire.

“Although many cloud providers may encrypt the data communications between the device and the cloud, it does not mean that the image and data is encrypted when the data is at rest.

“If you can view the image in the cloud service, so can a hacker.”

Images of the celebrities were leaked on image posting website 4Chan.

The user posting them – who defined him or herself as a “collector”

rather than “hacker” – said more images of different celebrities would soon be posted.

Copies of the images spread to other services, including Reddit, Imgur and Twitter, from which they were subsequently deleted by administrators.

While some of the celebrities said the images were fake, others have confirmed their authenticity.

Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead posted on Twitter: “To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves.

“Knowing those photos were deleted long ago, I can only imagine the creepy effort that went into this.”

Winstead’s comments would suggest iCloud was not at play, as pictures on Apple’s service are only viewable online for 30 days.

Raj Samani from Intel Security said: “Almost every service used online requires a password, and to ensure your passwords are secure, they must be complex.”

But more often than not, it is human weaknesses that give hackers the simplest route to compromising accounts.

“Phishing” people – meaning to trick them into giving up their password – is considered perhaps the simplest and most targeted way hackers gain access to accounts.

BERLIN – Samsung’s new smartphones aren’t getting bigger, but one will have a side display for quick access to the flashlight, Twitter, news and frequently used apps.

The Galaxy Note Edge was announced at a trade show in Berlin on Wednesday, alongside the new Galaxy Note 4 phone, which lacks the side screen, and a virtual-reality headset called Gear VR. They are due for release in October – in time for holiday shopping – and aim to compete with Apple’s new iPhones due to be unveiled next week.

The Edge uses Samsung’s flexible-display technology, which came out with much fanfare last year but has seen little use beyond a phone and a fitness device with displays that were slightly curved.

With the Edge, Samsung is offering a practical use for the curvature. While the main screen remains flat like previous phones, the right edge extends and curves until it reaches the back. That creates a side display so information such as weather and time can be seen from the side when the phone is laid on a table or nightstand.

With the side display, the phone’s camera functions more like a stand-alone, point-and-shoot camera, as the shutter button and other functions appear on top when the phone is held horizontally.

The side display also provides one-tap access to various apps normally found on the home screen. It will also have a panel of tools, like the flashlight and stopwatch, akin to what Apple offers in the iPhone’s Control Center with a swipe up from the bottom. Samsung will look to app developers to find new ways to use the feature.

Analysts said the new display feature could cut both ways.

“An edge-based display will give Samsung’s smartphone clear differentiation in a crowded market,” said Ian Fogg, an analyst covering the mobile industry at IHS in London. “But for Samsung to maximize the potential of an edge display it needs third party apps to support the display with additional Samsung-specific functions,” he said.

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

Sony Corp on Wednesday unveiled new mobile devices which can function as displays for PlayStation games, as it adds features to win sales in a market dominated by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co.

The marquee Xperia Z3 smartphone is waterproof and comes with a battery that can stay charged for two days, Sony said on its Web site. The Tokyo-

based company also announced the Z3 Compact smartphone with a 4.6-inch screen and an 8-inch tablet computer.

Chief executive officer Kazuo Hirai has been pushing his

“One Sony” plan aimed at better integrating the company’s electronics and entertainment assets to revive earnings.

The PlayStation 4 has been one of the few bright spots

for Sony, outselling Microsoft Corp’s Xbox One, amid a decade of television losses and lackluster demand for Xperia smartphones, which barely crack the top 10 globally in shipments.

Sony is forecasting its sixth annual loss in seven years and Hirai cut the company’s full-year smartphone sales projection to 43 million units

from an earlier forecast of 50 million.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Acer Inc and Asustek Computer Inc, as well as South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co and other electronics companies, on Wednesday unveiled their latest product lineups ahead of the Sept. 5 through Sept. 10 IFA electronics trade show in Berlin, Germany, with an

eye on the year-end holiday shopping season in the US.

Acer showcased three Iconia series tablets running on Windows and Android operating systems, and a new Liquid series smartphone, claiming it is the smallest and lightest 5-inch device on the market. It announced plans to release a 50 euro (US$66) smartphone next year.

Home Depot’s outgoing CEO Frank Blake told investors Thursday that the nation’s largest home-improvement chain continues to investigate a potential breach at the company and reassured that customers will not be liable for any potential fraudulent charges.

In his first public comments about the issue, Blake didn’t confirm that a breach actually happened but said that Home Depot found out about the possible data theft early Tuesday.

He told investors during an address at the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference on

Thursday, that companies in this situation have a choice: to wait or

“communicate the facts as you know them.”

“We chose the latter path,” he said.

Blake told investors that Home Depot will be activating chip-enabled checkout terminals at all of its stores by the end of the year. That technology helps makes transactions more secure.

“Cybersecurity is a major issue,” he added.

Home Depot said on Wednesday that it has hired security firms Symantec and FishNet Security

to help it investigate the possible hacking.

The possible breach at Home Depot was first reported by Brian Krebs of Krebs on Security, a website that focuses on cybersecurity. Krebs said multiple banks reported “evidence that Home Depot stores may be the source of a massive new batch of stolen credit and debit cards” that went on sale on the black market earlier Tuesday.

Krebs also reported that a preliminary analysis indicates the breach may have affected all 2,200 Home Depot stores.

FBI investigates ‘Cloud’ celebrity

picture leaks

Sony unveils PlayStation-compatible phones

New Samsung phone with

side display for holidays

Home Depot CEO: Probe of possible breach continues

DJ Lee, Executive Vice President of Samsung, presents a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 during his keynote speech at an unpacked event of Samsung ahead of the consumer electronic fair IFA in Berlin.

US actress Jennifer Lawrence were among the celebrities.

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 41

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

Last year Mattel came under fire for its outdated representation of South America with its launch of Mexico Barbie who wore bright pink traditional dress and had a Chihuahua tucked under her arm.

However this doesn’t appear to have deterred the toy giant who has now launched their latest doll in traditional mariachi dress complete with wide brimmed sombrero and embellished suit.

According to the General Manager of Mattel Mexico, Ana Paula Martinez de Alba.The launch of the Mexican Barbie comes a month prior to the celebration of the national day of Mexico (15 September).

Barbie takes on a full transformation wearing a fitted black bolero jacket and cropped trousers trimmed in intricate golden brocade that mirrors the pattern on her impressive, wide-brimmed sombrero. Flourishes include a brilliant pink tie, low ponytail and tall black boots.

However, Mattel’s latest offering comes as a bit of a risk as Barbie’s previous venture into Mexican culture caused huge controversy.

Last April, the toy company sparked controversy with the launch of its first Mexico Barbie criticised for adhering to outdated and offensive stereotypes.

Mexico Barbie wore a bright pink ‘traditional’ dress and held a Chihuahua, sparking a debate over whether the dolls are helpful or harmful to cultural awareness in children.

She was part of Mattel’s Barbie Dolls of the World collection. Initially introduced in 1980, the line was relaunched in 2012 as Mattel’s attempt to appeal to a new generation of diverse Barbie fans.

Sara Rosales, a spokesman for Mattel, told Fox News Latino that the toys - which represent countries including Mexico, China, India and Holland - are educational tools for young children.

‘Girls enjoy exploring the world and learning about different cultures through play,’ she explained, adding: ‘The Barbie brand understands the significance of introducing new cultures to girls in a relatable way.’

Mattel launches its latest Mexican Barbie wearing

traditional dress Google has agreed to pay at least $19 million to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission complaint that the company unfairly billed Android mobile device owners for in-app purchases made by their children, the agency said Thursday.

Google will provide full refunds to affected Android users, and it has agreed to change its billing practices to ensure that it obtains informed consent from customers before charging them for items sold within mobile apps, according to the FTC.

The FTC this year has brought similar complaints against Apple and Amazon.com, and in March, Google customers filed a class-action lawsuit against the company for children’s in-app purchases.

In January, Apple agreed to pay at least $32.5 million to customers in a settlement with the FTC. The agency brought a lawsuit against Amazon in July, and results of that case are pending.

Google said it has changed its in-app purchasing process. “We’ve already made product changes to ensure people have the best Google Play experience possible,” a spokeswoman said by email. “We’re glad to put this matter behind us so we can focus on creating more ways for people to enjoy all the entertainment they love.”

The FTC alleged that Google, since 2011, violated U.S. law prohibiting “unfair” commercial practices by billing consumers for charges made within kids’ apps downloaded from the Google Play store. Many consumers reported hundreds of dollars of such unauthorized charges, according to the complaint.

“For millions of American families, smartphones and tablets have become a part of their daily lives,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a statement.

Google to pay $19 million to

refund kids’ in-app purchases

Fast food workers take to streets to demand $15 minimum wage

eBay, Kickstarter and Mozilla join internet slowdown day

Dozens of fast food workers have been arrested at protests around the country where they are demanding higher pay at popular restaurants such as McDonald’s, Burger King and Domino’s.

Fast food workers in New York City, Chicago, Detroit and possibly more cities were arrested for blocking traffic in front of restaurants early Thursday morning, while thousands more continued protesting peacefully, according to news

reports.Backed by the Service Employees

International Union (SEIU), fast food workers in 150 cities are walking off the job and picking up picket signs to demand that they be paid no less than $15 per hour. This is the seventh strike organized by the Fast Food Forward campaign since November 2012, when the campaign began.

“At Thursday’s strike, fast food

restaurants will see firsthand that workers are willing to do whatever it takes to win $15 and union rights,” said Kendall Fells, the organizing director at Fast Food Forward, which receives funding from the SEIU.

The fast food workers started the demonstrations early Thursday morning. At a McDonald’s in New York City’s Times Square, about 300 people showed up to protest, with reports indciating at

least 19 were arrested.In Detroit, about 200 fast food

workers protested outside a McDonald’s on the east side of the city with about 30 people being arrested, according to reports.

The demonstrations also spread to Chicago, where about 150 fast food workers protested outside a popular Windy City McDonald’s with another couple dozen being arrested.

INTERNET HEAVYWEIGHTS including eBay, Kickstarter and Mozilla are joining in a day of action to campaign for the preservation of net neutrality.

Major websites including Etsy, Kickstarter, Foursquare, Wordpress, Vimeo, Reddit, Mozilla, Imgur, Meetup, Cheezburger, Namecheap, Bittorrent, Gandi.net, StartPage, Boingboing, and Dwolla will take part in the protest that is due to take place on 10 September,

just five days before the new deadline for comments to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about net neutrality.

Participating websites will display “site loading” messages, hour-glasses and other iconography to represent the internet as they believe it will appear if the FCC abandons net neutrality.

The symbolic “spinning wheel of death” will be seen on home pages, social media avatars, apps and anywhere else

that participants choose to share it.Fight For The Future, which is

organising the campaign, is keen to stress that using the animated symbols won’t really slow your website down, but will simply raise public awareness.

The FCC has extended the deadline for comments on proposals to allow

“fast lane” traffic on the internet for paying customers, a move that has been derided by all except large internet service providers (ISPs), which stand to

profit from the arrangement, and FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, himself an ex-cable industry lobbyist.

Streaming service Netflix, which has been scapegoated by cable companies as the cause of the need for fast lanes, has begun to pay for direct access for its services, a halfway house to paid prioritisation, which its CEO Reed Hastings has repeatedly said it is doing out of necessity rather than endorsement.

Could Mattel’s latest Mexican Barbie cause as much controversy as their previous offering?

Cute or cliched? Hawaiian Barbie is decked out in luau attire and accompanied by a tortoise (left) while Ireland Barbie has red hair and wears an old-fashioned green dress (right).

Thai Barbie (left), Argentina Barbie (middle) and India Barbie (right) all sport apparently traditional native outfits. India Barbie carries a monkey on her arm.

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGYPage 42 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The most spectacular and costly failure in Atlantic City’s 36-year history of casino gambling begins to play out Monday when the $2.4 billion Revel Casino Hotel empties its hotel. Its casino closed early Tuesday morning.

Revel is shutting down a little over two years after opening with high hopes of revitalizingAtlantic City’s struggling gambling market. But mired in its second bankruptcy in two years, Revel has been unable to find anyone willing to buy the property and keep it open as a casino. It has never turned a profit.

Revel will be the second of three Atlantic City casinos to close in a two-week span. TheShowboat Casino Hotel closed its doors Sunday, and Trump Plaza is closing Sept. 16.

So what killed Revel?Analysts and competitors say it was

hampered by bad business decisions and a fundamental misunderstanding of the Atlantic City casino customer.

“The timing of it could not have been worse,” said Mark Juliano, president of Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania and the former CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts in Atlantic City. “The financial climate while Revel was developing and when it opened were completely different.”

Revel officials declined to comment.The casino broke ground just before

the Great Recession. It ran out of money halfway through construction and had to drop its plans for a second hotel tower while scrambling for the remaining $1 billion or so it needed to finish the project. When it opened in April 2012, it was so laden with debt that it couldn’t bring in enough revenue to cover it.

The idea behind Revel was to open a totally different resort, a seaside pleasure palace that just happened to have a casino as one of its features. That included Atlantic City’s only total smoking ban, which alienated many gamblers; the lack of a buffet and daily bus trips to and from the casino; and the absence of a players’

club. By the time those decisions were reversed, it was already too late. High room and restaurant prices hurt, too.

“If there had been a range of new attractions and potential customers with enough discretionary income, I think that Atlantic City could have absorbed the new capacity,” said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. “That’s certainly what happened with Borgata more than 10 years ago. But the market that Revel foresaw for its property just didn’t materialize, partially because of the growing perception that the city wasn’t ready for that kind of customer. At the same time, Revel didn’t have a plan to successfully market to the traditional Atlantic City customer.”

It also started at a huge disadvantage by not having a pre-existing database of gamblers to solicit, in the way that casinos owned by nationwide companies like Caesars Entertainmentor Tropicana Entertainment can.

MEXICO CITY – President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the construction of a new international airport for Mexico City on Tuesday, saying it will quadruple the capacity of the current one.

Costing an estimated $9.2 billion, the facility will have six runways and a capacity of 120 million passengers a year. Pena Nieto said it has been clear for decades that the capital’s overtaxed airport needed to be replaced.

“The current saturation restricts travel between the different states of the country, limits Mexico’s connectivity to the world, slows investment and commerce,” he said.

“We can no longer keep postponing the fun-damental solution.”

More than a decade ago, protests led authorities to scrap a planned new airport

on the outskirts of Mexico City. The new proposal is to build on federally owned land next to the existing facility.

Pena Nieto said it will be Mexico’s largest public infrastructure project in recent years, and called it “Mexico’s gateway to the world.”

He made the announcement during his second state-of-the-nation address, in which he defended reforms instituted since he took office in 2012. He predicted a brighter economic future, while acknowledging that recent performance has disappointed.

Independent analysts have lowered their 2014 economic growth forecast from 2.56 percent to 2.47 percent. GDP expand-ed just 1.1. percent the previous year.

“It’s clear that we still have not arrived

at the economic growth rates that the country and its people need,” Pena Nieto said. “The challenge of growth is not new for Mexico; achieving an accelerated, sustained and sustainable growth has been our principal economic challenge for decades.”

Pena Nieto’s administration has been waging a campaign to promote his reforms amid declining public support for the government.

A recent poll by Pew Research found that Pena Nieto’s approval numbers fell six points from last year, to 51 percent. Survey respondents with a negative view of his leadership rose nine points to 47 percent. Sixty percent said they were dissatisfied with the economy and Pena Nieto’s handling of it.

RIO DE JANEIRO – Thirty years ago, poor Brazilian women were paid for their breast milk, leaving their children at risk of malnourishment. Equipment at the few milk collection centers was so costly it limited the country’s ability to expand the program’s reach.

That has changed dramatically, thanks in part to Joao Arigio Guerrade Almeida, a chemist who has turned the Brazilian Milk Bank Network into a model studied by other countries and credited with helping slash infant mortality by two thirds.

“Brazil is really the world leader in milk bank development,” said Dr. Lisa Hammer, a University of Michigan pediatrician who was part of a team visiting the Rio de Janeiro-based network last week.

Relatively unusual in much of the world, donating breast milk is common in Brazil, where the network of banks works in much the same way as blood banks – testing, sorting and storing milk used mostly to feed premature infants in neo-natal units.

When a mother is unable to breast feed her baby, due to illness, drug addiction or other problems, the network steps in to offer free milk. Last year, it collected milk from some 150,000 women to nourish about 155,000 babies.

Reaching such success was not easy. Almeida recalled the trouble he saw on his first visit to a Rio milk bank in 1985, at the tail end of the country’s two-decade-long military dictatorship.

“What I saw frightened me,” he said. The system relied on “donations” from destitute mothers who often sold so much breast milk they were left without enough for their own infants.

Almeida lobbied for a ban on the sale of breast milk and sought alternatives to expensive imported equipment. High-end pasteurizing machines that cost $25,000 were swapped for $1,500 Brazilian-made machines used in food-testing laboratories.

Jars made for mayonnaise or instant coffee were sterilized to store milk for freezing, replacing imported beaker tubes that had accounted for a whopping 89 percent of operating costs at Brazilian milk banks.

“We found ways of adapting the system to the reality of a developing country without compromising the quality and safety of the milk,” said Almeida, 57.

“We also shifted the focus from the child to the mother, making her into the protagonist.”

FRANKFURT – The European Central Bank surprised many analysts on Thursday by cutting interest rates from their already record-low levels and said it would soon begin buying packages of bank loans, in its continuing efforts to stimulate lending in the faltering eurozone economy.

The moves are unprecedented, but appear to fall short of the broad, large-scale purchases of government bonds and other financial assets advocated by many economists – nothing yet close to the big program of purchases that the United States Federal Reserve has used in recent years to pump money into the economy.

And so, while financial markets initially rallied on the news, it remains to be seen whether the euphoria lasts.

The central bank’s president, Mario Draghi, said that the bank’s Governing Council was ready to take further measures if needed.

“The governing council is unanimous in its commitment to using additional unconventional instruments,” Mr. Draghi said at a news conference. And yet, he indicated the council was still divided on whether to pursue a Fed-style program of so-called quantitative easing.

Mr. Draghi indicated interest rates were now as low as the central bank would go, and he acknowledged that Thursday’s rate moves were merely technical adjustments unlikely to do much to stimulate lending in the eurozone.

The bigger news was the announcement of a programme to buy packages of bank loans and other asset-backed securities. But there were few details – making the potential impact hard to gauge.

Revel starts shutdown after

just 2 years

Mexico plans $9.2B airport project for capital

European Central Bank to start asset purchases

Brazil’s maternal milk banks model for globe

A lab technician shows a couple of containers of frozen donated human milk at the Fernandes Figueira Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A group of American doctors are in Brazil to learn how the country’s extensive milk bank system works. With more than 200 such banks nationwide, where breast-feeding women can donate milk that is then pasteurized and used in neo-natal facilities, Brazil has cut down dramatically in infant mortality. Doctors in the U.S. are looking to duplicate Brazil’s success.

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 43

Page 44 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

Jamaica’s swimming sensation Alia Atkinson won her second gold medal at the Doha FINA/MASTBANK Swimming World Cup 2014 in Doha, Qatar on Thursday.

The sensational Atkinson lived up to her top billing when she clocked a blistering 29.12 seconds to win the 50-metre breaststroke more than half a second ahead of America’s Breeja Larson who took silver in 29.87 seconds and Iceland’s Hrafnhildur

Luthersdottir (30.67s) taking the bronze.

She got off to her trademark fast start with a reaction time of 0.62 seconds, and as expected by the time she turned at the first and only wall at the 25-metre mark the battle was to be between her and the clock, as she romped home.

The 25-year-old now leaves Doha unbeaten from four starts and will next head to Dubai where she will compete from August 31

to September 1, with her personal and Jamaican best clocking of 1:02.91 minutes over the 100-metre breaststroke in sight.

Trinidad & Tobago’s George Bovell III also mined precious metal on Day 2, when he grabbed the silver medal in a two way tie with Poland’s sprint sensation Konrad Czerniak in a time of 21.43 seconds. American football player turned swimmer the Josh Schneider took the gold in 21.07 seconds.

BERLIN, Germany – Trinidadian Richard Thompson won the men’s 100 metres at the ISTAF athletics meeting on Sunday, as the Caribbean swept both sprints.

Thompson, a double silver medallist at the Beijing Olympics six years ago, clocked a pedestrian 10.15 seconds

to cross the line ahead of American Dentarious Locke who was timed at 10.16 seconds, and fellow Trinidadian Keston Bledman who was third in 10.23.

Thompson’s time was well off his 9.82 seconds posted at the National Championships in Port of Spain back in June, which was then the fastest time in

the world this year.Jamaican Kerron Stewart, meanwhile,

narrowly won the women’s 100 metres, beating American Joanna Atkins into second in a tight finish.

Stewart, who has fond memories of Berlin with sprint relay gold at the 2009 World Championships, was timed at

11.25 while Atkins clocked 11.26.Another American, Jessica Young,

was third in 11.32.In the women’s shot put, Trinidadian

Cleopatra Borel clinched third place with a throw of 18.53 metres, as German Schwanitz Gerger took victory with 19.53m.

CARIBBEAN SPORTS

Trinidad’s Thompson takes men’s World Challenge 100m in Berlin

BANGALORE, India – Sprint superstar Usain Bolt admitted last week Tuesday that his decision to pursue a career in track and field was based on the advice of his father.

The world’s fastest man has conceded that his passion was to represent Jamaica in cricket but changed his mind after his father convinced him to take to the tracks.

“Blame it on my dad. My father is a huge cricket fan, but when I got to higher secondary, I had two options — cricket or athletics,” said Bolt, the six-time Olympic gold medallist on

a promotional visit to India.“My dad said because of the

system in Jamaica, it would be better to take up athletics. He said, ‘You just have to run fast in athletics while it’s tougher to get into the national (cricket) team’.”

Bolt, an ardent cricket fan, was in Bangalore to captain a seven-a-side team against one led by India’s cricket World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh.

The exhibition match, organised by both men’s sponsors, was staged in a stadium in the southern city of Bangalore.

The world record holder in

both the 100 metres and 200 metres said his records at this stage were “pretty much out of reach”.

“There are quite a few runners who could challenge me but not beat me,” said Bolt.

“As an athlete, I have seen records come and go. They have always been broken, but if you want to be as great as me, you have to work very hard. That’s why my records will stand the time.”

Bolt, who has raced four times this season, plans to compete in his final Olympics in Rio in 2016 leading up to his retirement.

Usain Bolt credits father for focus on track and field career

Second gold for Alia Atkinson at Doha World Cup

SPRINTER Anthonique Strachan and quarter-miler Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown will both represent the Bahamas on the Americas team for the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) Continental Cup September 13-14 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The Americas, the defending champions of the Continental Cup that was held in Croatia, will be competing against teams from Europe, Asia/Pacific and Africa, the four regions which have replaced the national teams from each country in which was then called the IAAF World Cup.

On November 21, 2008, in response to growing feedback from the public and the sport’s stakeholders, especially the TV rights holders, the IAAF Council agreed to change the format of the event and the IAAF World Cup was transformed into the IAAF Continental Cup.

The changes were made to the composition of the participating teams in order to make the event more understandable and interesting for the public, and to achieve a better balance of strengths among the teams. It should be noted that the IAAF World Cup was instituted over

the weekend of September 2-4, 1977, in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Victor Lopez, president of the Association of Panamerican Athletics, the organisation that is responsible for the Americas region, said they are delighted this year to welcome both Strachan and Brown on what he has called the “Americas dream team.”

According to Lopez, Strachan will represent the Americas in the 200 metres for women, while Brown will be a member of the American men’s 4 x 400m relay team. Both events will take place on the final day of competition on Sunday, September 14.

This will be Strachan’s debut in the meet, while Brown will be back for his second appearance, having competed in 2006 in Athens, Greece in the 4x4 relay as a member of the Americas team that was runner-up to the United States.

“They are two very outstanding athletes and we welcome them to being a part of this year’s team. I think we have assembled some of the best athletes from within our region to help us go to Marrakesh to defend our title. We feel very confident that we will be able to achieve that goal,” says Lopez.

Strachan, Brown on ‘Americas Dream Team’

Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson

Usain Bolt

SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN Page 45

One of Tiger Woods’ former coaches is unsure who might get the job in the future, but Hank Haney believes it doesn’t much matter unless the golfer can get healthy enough to put in the time to work on his game.

“The biggest thing I see is that you have a cumulative effect of lack of practice,” Haney said in a phone interview. “This is the biggest issue as opposed to who is going to coach him next.”

Sean Foley, who succeeded Haney as Woods’ coach, saw his four-year tenure end Monday with an amicable announcement posted on Woods’ website.

Haney, who guided Woods for six years, is well aware of the hot seat Foley endured. Woods won 31 PGA Tour titles and six major championships in the time he spent with Haney from 2004 to 2010, but his methods were constantly critiqued. That has been the same for Foley, and while Haney disagreed with many of the technical aspects he saw Woods employ under his successor, he acknowledged there are so many unknowns when it comes to Woods, his health, his practice time and how much information he used.

“Either Sean hasn’t told him the right things, he hasn’t been able to commit to it, or Tiger hasn’t tried it,” Haney said. “In all honesty, all three of those

things fall on the coach. It’s part of coaching. At some point, you have to take responsibility.

“But then again, has he had a fair chance? If Tiger hasn’t listened, that’s on the coach. If he hasn’t practiced, that is on the player. If he can’t practice, there is nothing you can do about it. But that has been my theme for you know how long. What is his commitment level like? Is he capable of practicing?”

Woods is in the midst of another

break from golf after an aborted restart to his 2014 season following March 31 back surgery. He played just eight tournaments this year, withdrawing from two with injuries, missing the cut in two others and posting his best finish at Doral, a tie for 25th, in March. He played in just two major championships, posting his worst 72-hole finish at the Open Championship (69th) and missing just his fourth cut as a pro in a major at the PGA Championship.

WORLD SPORTS

Marcos Rojo is in line to make his Manchester United debut at home to Queens Park Rangers a week on Sunday after finally being granted a work permit.

United signed Rojo from Sporting Lisbon on 19 August but he had to miss the games against Sunderland, MK Dons and Burnley as he

was unable to obtain a work permit.

The Argentina international had to travel to Madrid for an interview regarding his permit because of an alleged altercation with a neighbour in his homeland four years ago. Rojo’s paperwork has now been signed off and he is

therefore available to feature in United’s next game.

United tweeted on Thursday: “The UK Border Agency has agreed to grant #mufc defender @MarcosRojo5 a visa and he will therefore be available to face QPR on 14 September.”

The 24-year-old played in Argentina’s 4-2 win over

Germany on Wednesday night. United’s record signing, Ángel di María, starred in the friendly win, which was a rerun of the World Cup final. The £59.7m signing set up three goals and found the net himself in Argentina’s victory over the world champions in Düsseldorf.

LONDON, England – Barcelona striker Luis Suarez said goodbye to his former Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard during a visit to the club’s Melwood training base on Monday, the former England captain revealed.

Gerrard published a photograph on his Instagram account of Suarez handing him a signed ‘SUAREZ 9’ Barcelona shirt, accompanied by the message: “He is back bearing gifts.

“Emotional saying goodbye to the main man this morning. Best wishes to a phenomenal player.”

Suarez had returned to Liverpool’s training ground to collect some personal belongings following his move to Barcelona for a reported fee of £75 million ($125 million, 95 million euros).

The 27-year-old Uruguay striker spent two and a half seasons with Gerrard at Anfield, scoring 69 league goals, but left in July after being banned by FIFA for four months for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.

TOKYO — Kei Nishikori’s run to the semifinals of the U.S. Open was hailed as a “win for all of Japan” back home.

Nishikori became the first Japanese man to reach the U.S. Open semifinals in 96 years by outlasting third-seeded Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-4 on Wednesday.

Japanese tennis fans had woken up at dawn to watch the quarterfinal and were rewarded.

“It was a spectacular win for all of Japan,” said office worker Toru Miura. “We haven’t had a lot of success in men’s tennis over the years.”

The previous Japanese

semifinalist at the U.S. Open was Ichiya Kumagae in 1918. No man from the country had made it to the final four at any major tournament since Jiri Satoh at Wimbledon in 1933.

“It’s really impressive,” Japan Tennis Association director Masaru Uchiyama told Sports Hochi newspaper. “It was truly inspirational to watch as he came back after dropping the fourth set.”

The 24-year-old Nishikori, the first Japanese to be ranked in the ATP’s top 10 after climbing to No. 9 in May, faces No. 1 Novak Djokovic on Saturday.

Wednesday’s 4 hour, 15 minute-win over the Australian

Open champion Wawrinka came a day after Nishikori defeated Milos Raonic in a fourth-round match that lasted over four hours.

“Even though he was tired he fought hard to the end,” said JTA director of strengthening and development Minoru Ueda.

“Let’s hope he can get another win.”

Nishikori is coached by 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang.

“He has improved his stamina immensely,” former Japan Davis Cup player Jun Kamiwazumi said. “I think the influence of Michael Chang has been a major factor in his progress.”

Tiger Woods needs more practice, says

former coach

Manchester United’s Marcos Rojo is set to make his debut against QPR

Suarez bids Liverpool

team-mates farewell

Japanese fans celebrate Nishikori’s US Open win

Kei Nishikori, of Japan, reacts after defeating Stan Wawrinka, of Switzerland, in five sets during the quarterfinals of the 2014 U.S. Open tennis tournament.

Marcos Rojo will make his long-awaited debut against QPR at Old Trafford after problems with his work permit.

Tiger Woods needs to get his health in order.

Page 46 TURKS & CAICOS SUN SEPTEMBER 6TH – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2014

Alastair Cook has admitted the idea England can win the World Cup is “a bit far fetched” but insisted he has no plans to step down as England’s ODI captain. England were thrashed by nine-wickets by India at Edgbaston with almost 20-overs remaining, sealing a 3-0 series result with one match to come.

It meant England had lost their last five ODIs in succession and five series out of six. The single series victory, in the Caribbean, came when Cook was not in the team.

With a maximum of 13 matches to go ahead of the World Cup, England are running out of time to find a viable plan to render them competitive – a view now officially sanctioned by a captain who has virtually written them off.

But while Cook, who has now not reached 80 in an ODI in 38 innings and 26 months, admitted to some doubts about his own form, he remains convinced that England’s strategy remains correct and that he can play a part in turning around the disappointing run of results.

“I’ve captained for three-and-a-half years with the goal to try to win the World Cup in Australia,” Cook said. “I know that seems a bit far-fetched at the moment but there’s a lot of really good players in that changing room and if we can improve at the rate we need to improve we’ve got a chance. That’s what we have to believe.

Any team that improves at the rate it needs to would, by definition, automatically become champions.

Cook insisted that his doubts about his own performance were ever present.

“You always have those doubts and I’ve had those doubts for 80 games and 100 Test matches. You always are trying to prove that you’re good enough and

trying to contribute runs for an England win. That’s the ultimate aim as a batter and at international cricket you’re tested every single day, There’s always doubts, that doesn’t change.

He insisted that he had no plans to quit. “At this precise moment in time, no. I don’t have a say on selection, but if I’m allowed to be, yes, I’ll be at the World Cup. If not, then I have to take that on the chin. I hope not, but if it is, it is.

“I believe at the top of the order that, if I bat for 40-odd overs, I will score enough runs at a good rate. That’s what I have done when I’ve been batting well.”

The reference to 40-odd overs suggested that Cook was putting his own emphasis on an ability virtually to

bat through the innings, which sounded dangerously close to all or nothing.

While Cook admitted the poor run of results had done nothing for the confidence in the dressing room, he suggested it was more due to poor execution of skills than poor tactics.

“Maybe for a few of these guys, it is the first time that we’ve lost as badly as this,” Cook said. “It is a true test of character for the whole team, really.

“We don’t quite know our best 11 at the moment because the results are showing we’re not performing. When that happens you always start to doubt. That’s the position we’re in at the moment. We’ve got six months of one-day cricket to try and put that right.”

WORLD SPORTS

Cook accepts World Cup chances ‘a bit far fetched’Formula One’s decision to turn a

blind eye to the crash between Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in the last race in Spa has been questioned by the British driver. In a packed press conference in Monzaon Thursday for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, Hamilton said:

“Can we race a lot closer and if the guy in front comes off and is out of the race nothing’s going to happen? Or if it happens again will there be a penalty?”

After the Spa race Rosberg, who has been fined by Mercedes, said he knew the two would touch and apologised for the incident. But the FIA, the sport’s governing body, decided to take no further action. The incident punctured Hamilton’s left rear tyre and ended his chances of victory.

Hamilton also received support from Felipe Massa, one of his keenest rivals in recent years. “What I saw in the last race was not so correct from Nico, to be honest. I don’t understand why they didn’t give him a penalty because it was impossible to pass Lewis at that place,” said the Williams driver.

“He needed to brake. He didn’t brake, they touched, Nico was behind, so Nico destroyed Lewis’s race. I think maybe the stewards are losing a little bit of direction.” Massa said he is now backing Rosberg for the title. “I’d put my money on him now. He has more points so it’s easier for him.”

When asked whether there was a trust between him and Rosberg he replied: “Trust is a big word and that’s not really something that I would particularly apply to racing on the track. Nico and me, we’ve been racing for a long time and I think we set a good foundation a long, long time ago, so that’s what we work from.”

Lewis Hamilton says trust is

not part of his relationship with Nico Rosberg

FIFA opens talks on 2022 World Cup in QatarZURICH, Switzerland — FIFA will

step up the search for new dates to play the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at talks with football officials next Monday.

Consultation was promised last year after FIFA President Sepp Blatter insisted the tournament cannot be played in the summer desert heat.

FIFA said Monday the six continental confederations plus clubs, leagues and players’ unions from around the world will be represented at its Zurich headquarters on Sept.

8. The meeting will be led by Asian Football Confederation President Sheik Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa of Bahrain.

A second session is scheduled for November, FIFA said.

Blatter has suggested his executive committee should make a decision next March.

Blatter and FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke have repeatedly said in interviews that only a November 2022 kickoff will work.

Qatar was awarded hosting rights in a December 2010 vote of FIFA’s ruling board. The local organizing committee has stood by a bid promise of hosting a traditional June-July tournament in air-cooled stadiums.

FIFA shifted its position last year after previously stating that any change must be requested by Qatari organizers. Blatter said it was “not rational” to play in summer when temperatures in Qatar rise above 40 degrees C (104 degrees F).

Last October, Blatter’s board called for consultation to follow the World Cup in Brazil.

Qatari officials have said they can change their hosting plan “if the international football community reaches a consensus.”

Europeans leagues and clubs are the biggest critics of a tournament played in their winter. Top club competitions face a two-month stoppage, and knock-on effect of changing calendars over three seasons from 2021 to 2024.

Nike wants Roger Federer to do for tennis what Michael Jordan has done for basketball

An unmistakable figure sat with Roger Federer’s entourage at the US Open last week: Michael Jordan.

His Airness is no tennis aficionado – this was apparently his first-ever appearance at the tournament – but like the rest of the Arthur Ashe stadium, he was there to look at Federer’s footwork.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner was wearing new Nike tennis shoes that he designed himself, which are based on

the Air Jordan basketball shoes that Nike has produced with Jordan for 25 years.

Federer’s shoes, officially known as Zoom Vapor 9 Tour AJ3s, are another example of Nike’s supreme skill in managing what it calls “demand creation.” Federer and Jordan are not believed to be friends, but Nike still released a short video of them messing around on the piano like old chums: Why has Jordan been drafted in to give Federer’s shoes a lift?

Because, even a decade after he retired, Jordan remains one of the biggest draws in sport. He is still paid around $90 million a year by Nike, who in turn made $2.3 billion on Jordan-associated merchandise in 2013.

These figures dwarf those of any of Jordan’s successors in the NBA. At the US Open, Federer’s bewildered opponent, Marinko Matosevic, called out to Jordan when he spotted him; the court cameras put him up on the big screen, and

the commentary team were frequently distracted.

The coverage also meant that a limited run of the trainer, which retails at $200, sold in just minutes. Nike is sure to produce a second run, but one that is small enough to maintain a scarcity value. But the real point of the collaboration is the hint it gives about what might come next for Federer. Even with his remarkable stamina and fitness – he has played in every

Grand Slam tournament for the past 15 years – he is 33, a pensionable age in men’s tennis. For his sponsors, the biggest of which is Nike, it is time to plan what comes next.

Federer is the most recognizable player on the planet. Statistically, he is also the best ever, and he wins his matches with style. These credentials, when combined with his squeaky clean reputation, make him a big draw for sponsors.

Alastair Cook has refused to step down as England’s one-day captain.

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