Cayman Islands premier facing three police investigations
A spokesman for the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) confirmed on Saturday that Cayman Islands premier McKeeva Bush is now the subject of three separate police investigations.
According to police, one of the investigations involves allegations of financial irregularities in relation to a land deal. In addition, a further allegation of financial irregularities has been made, which is entirely separate from the first investigation.
“Finally, allegations have been made in relation to the involvement of the premier in the periphery of a recent incident where a quantity of explosives were imported to the Cayman Islands without the necessary permit,” the police spokesperson said.
“All three of these investigations are actively ongoing. The governor and the FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] are being kept fully updated,” the spokesperson added, concluding that “It would be inappropriate for the RCIPS to make any further comment in relation to any of the allegations made, or the status of the investigations, at this time.”
The first of the three investigations was confirmed by Governor Duncan Taylor in July 2011, when he acknowledged that the investigation in question centred on a letter said to be written by Bush in 2004, when he was then Leader of Government Business.
The letter to developer Stan Thomas, written on Windsor Development Corporation letterhead, and apparently faxed from Bush’s ministry in October 2004, asked for a balance of $350,000 to be sent to the corporation’s account as a result of Bush having “ensured that all of the proposed re-zoning issues” had been approved by Cabinet.
Windsor Development Corporation is reportedly owned by Bush’s wife, although according to the official register of interests he is a signatory on the corporation’s bank account.
At the time, land purchased by Thomas was the subject of a zoning application. It was rezoned in July 2004 by the Legislative Assembly after Cabinet approved a change in the territory’s development map.
However, at a press briefing on Friday, attended by Britain’s Minister for the Overseas Territories Henry Bellingham, who was on his first visit to the Cayman Islands, local media workers were taken by surprise by Governor Taylor’s admission of a second such investigation in response to questions about the first enquiry.
Neither Bellingham nor Taylor would comment further and the governor said it was up to the police commissioner to take the investigation forward and that at some point it would be up to the director of public prosecutions to take the matter any further than that. He then revealed that there was another hitherto undisclosed investigation in relation to Bush.
No details of this second investigation were given but Bellingham said he was confident of the independence of the police and that they were handling the investigations properly.
He added that it was important to keep at arm’s length from the investigations but he was being updated on the progress.
“I can say that there is a further investigation, a second investigation involving the premier but, as the minister said, it is not appropriate for me to comment on it in any detail,” Taylor stated, adding it was for the police commissioner to comment.
Then on Saturday came the police announcement of a third investigation related to explosives that were apparently imported into the Cayman Islands without the necessary permit.
Earlier, on Thursday in a broadcast on local radio in response to opposition calls for him to reveal the details of the police investigation against him, Bush stated that he was aware of “none”.
On Saturday morning, his press secretary stated that the premier had no comment yet, as he was still trying “to determine what the governor was referring to” when he made the second disclosure at the press briefing on Friday.
These revelations in the Cayman Islands come amidst ongoing investigations in another British overseas territory, the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), into allegations of widespread government corruption that have resulted in a number of former cabinet ministers being charged with various offences of bribery, fraud and money laundering.
Former TCI premier Michael Misick is currently a fugitive from justice following the issue of an arrest warrant and an Interpol ‘Red Notice’.
By Caribbean News Now contributor
Iran Says Cyberattack on Oil Industry Had Little Impact
Iran says a suspected cyberattack on its state-run oil industry had little impact on operations thanks to rapid measures taken by experts to limit the spread of the virus.
Iranian state news agency IRNA quotes an Oil Ministry official as saying there was “no damage” to the ministry's computer data from the virus, which authorities first detected on Sunday. Deputy Minister for Oil and Civil Defense Hamdollah Mohammadnejad also said Iranian oil production facilities have continued to operate without interruption. But he said it will take several days to investigate and resolve the issue.
Iranian authorities say they responded to the cyberattack by switching off Internet access at Oil Ministry offices and facilities, including the country's main terminal on Kharg Island, which handles three-quarters of Iranian oil exports.
Iran has periodically reported cyberattacks on its nuclear and industrial sectors.
The head of a U.S.-based energy research company told VOA that the latest digital assault on the Iranian oil sector is likely to have only a minimal impact on the country's oil production. International Petroleum Enterprises president Hossein Ebneyousef says Iranian oil terminals are “very low-tech” and have operated for decades without the Internet. For example, he says they use gravity rather than pumps to transfer crude from storage tanks to ships.
Ebneyousef says Iranian oil terminal workers also have other means to communicate when email systems are down, including telephones.
He says Iran has improved its response to cyberattacks since 2010, when its nuclear facilities were affected by the Stuxnet computer worm. Iranian authorities have accused the United States and Israel of trying to sabotage Iran's nuclear program through methods such as cyberattacks. Both nations accuse Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons and refuse to rule out any options for preventing such an outcome.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Apple doubles quarterly profits to $11.6bn (£7.2bn)
Apple has reported its profits almost doubled in the first three months of the year.
Apple said its net profit came in at $11.6bn (£7.2bn), up from $6bn in the same period last year and much better than had been expected.
The technology giant sold 35 million iPhones in the quarter, which was also almost double the level from a year ago.
Apple shares rose more than 7% to $601 in after-hours trading.
"Apple once again surprises on the upside despite expectations that iPhone sales would lag," said Michael Yoshikami, chief executive of YCMNet Advisors.
"Clearly iPad results are driving results, as well as international sales. This is consistent with Apple continuing to capture market share against Android."
The strong results followed a 13% fall in its share price in the past few weeks.
"Apple had a blowout quarter," said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade.
"There were already high expectations and they blew the expectations away."
Some analysts had predicted that iPhone sales would be weak, suggesting that phone companies had reined in their sales.
"We're thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter," said Apple chief executive Tim Cook.
"The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you're going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver."
Government hits annual borrowing target
The UK government borrowed more than expected in March, official figures have shown, but still met its borrowing target for the year.
Public sector net borrowing, excluding interventions such as bank bail-outs, came in at £18.2bn in March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
However, previous months' borrowing was revised down, meaning the government met its target of £126bn for the year.
On Wednesday, figures will show how the economy performed in the first quarter.
They will show whether or not the UK economy is in recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.
The economy shrank by 0.3% in the last quarter of 2011.
The annual borrowing figure marked a reduction of almost £11bn on the £136.8bn borrowed in 2010-11.
Tax increases, such as the rise in VAT from 17.5% to 20%, and government spending cuts were the main reasons behind the reduction over the year.
The government is aiming to eliminate the deficit by 2016-17. A Treasury spokesman said: "This shows that the government's plan to reduce the budget deficit is working."
But Labour Treasury spokeswoman Rachel Reeves said: "These figures show that last year George Osborne borrowed £9bn more than he planned to at the time of his spending review."
Most analysts had expected borrowing of about £16bn in March.
But the higher figure of £18.2bn was more than offset by a £3bn downward revision to February's data.
Borrowing for the period from April 2011 to January 2012 was also revised up by £800m.
The ONS said in its latest release that most of the revisions were driven by changes to central government data.
This included a £1.1bn upward revision to income tax by HM Revenue and Customs, consisting of repayments and recoveries relating to the introduction of a new PAYE computer system in June 2009.
Net debt, excluding the effect of government interventions, topped £1 trillion, the equivalent of 66% of gross domestic product.
Adam Chester, UK economist at Lloyds, told the BBC there would be "a small sigh of relief" at the Treasury.
But he added that the longer-term worry was that if market sentiment changed, the UK could see a "vicious" upward change in government bond yields which could increase the cost of borrowing.
These figures were backward-looking, he said, whereas the market was more concerned with how the economy performed in the future.
Tom Vosa from National Australia Bank agreed.
"The issue going forward is if growth remains weaker, which we believe it will do, than the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) forecasts, then how much further progress will the government make in consolidating finances?" he said.
BP oil spill: First criminal charges filed in US
The US justice department has filed the first criminal charges linked to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
A former BP engineer was arrested on charges of intentionally destroying evidence.
Kurt Mix of Katy, Texas, faces two counts of obstruction of justice.
He is accused of trying to delete text messages between himself and a supervisor, in October 2010, containing details about how attempts to cap the leaking well were going.
In a sworn affidavit, FBI special agent Barbara O'Donnell said Mr Mix had "deleted numerous electronic records relating to the Deepwater Horizon disaster response, including records concerning the amount of oil potentially flowing from the well, after being repeatedly informed of his obligation to maintain such records".
Mr Mix, 50, was involved in some of BP's attempts to cap the well, including the unsuccessful Top Kill efforts in May 2010.
Prosecutors say he deleted messages that indicated Top Kill was failing at a time when BP officials were saying publicly that it was broadly proceeding according to plan.
Mr Mix resigned from BP earlier in 2012.
In a statement, BP said it "had clear policies requiring preservation of evidence in this case and has undertaken substantial and ongoing efforts to preserve evidence".
The justice department said Mr Mix would make his first appearance in a Houston federal court later on Tuesday.
The Deepwater Horizon rig, which had been leased by BP, exploded on 20 April 2010, killing 11 workers and eventually spilling more than 200 million gallons of crude oil.
Google Drive to offer free storage in the cloud
Google has launched a new consumer service offering up to 16TB (terabytes) of storage for photos and other online content.
Dubbed Google Drive, the service goes head to head with rival cloud services such as Dropbox and Microsoft's SkyDrive.
It offers 5GB (gigabytes) of storage for free. People pay on a rising scale for more space.
Experts say that Google is "late" to the market.
16TB of space could hold more than 4,000 two-hour movies coded in 720p high-definition resolution.
Cloud living
"Today, we're introducing Google Drive - a central place where you can create, share, collaborate and keep all of your stuff," said Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome and Apps in a blog post.
"Whether you're working with a friend on a joint research project, planning a wedding with your fiancé or tracking a budget with roommates, you can do it in Drive."
The service will allow users to upload and access videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and other documents.
It can be installed to a Mac or PC or as an app to an Android phone or tablet. Google said that it was working on an app for Apple's mobile operating system, which should be available in the coming weeks.
For blind users, Drive can be accessed with a screen reader.
"Google Drive will hit some competitors very hard and shake up the market," said Hanns Kohler-Kruner from tech research firm Gartner.
"It will also create another stream of more focused and potential ad revenue for Google around the content of personal files on Google Drive."Grand canyon
Google will draw on its search expertise to help differentiate the service.
Users will be able search by keyword and filter by file type, owner or activity. Drive will also recognise text in scanned documents using optical character recognition (OCR) technology.
This would allow someone, for example, to upload a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping and search for a word from the text of the news article.
Google Drive will also use image recognition.
"If you drag and drop photos from your Grand Canyon trip to Drive, the next time you search for Grand Canyon, photos of it will pop up," said Mr Pichai.
The first 5GB of storage comes free.
After that users can choose to upgrade to 25GB for $2.49 (£1.50) a month, 100GB for $4.99 a month, 1TB for $49.99 or 16TB for $799.99.
When users upgrade to a paid account, their Gmail account storage will automatically expand to 25GB.
By contrast, Microsoft offers yearly contracts. It charges $50 for maximum storage of 100GB.
Dropbox offers individual users up to 100GB at a rate of $19.99 per month or $199 per year. It also sells larger amounts to groups with the cost and size determined by how many people share the space.
Facebook?
Cloud services have become hugely popular as people seek to access content from a variety of places and devices.
Richard Edwards, principal analyst at research firm Ovum, said that Google was "very late" to the market but that its move could spur others.
"Facebook doesn't have a cloud service but this may prompt it into an acquisition," he said.
"If Facebook was to buy Dropbox that would be a game-changer."
In anticipation of Google's announcement, rivals updated their own services.
Dropbox now allows users to give non-members access to files via emailed links. Until now it had required both parties to sign up to its service and have shared folders.
Microsoft has also improved its SkyDrive service.
Among other features, it has integrated the drive into Windows Explorer and Apple's Finder so that it works as an extension of the desktop.
It also added capability to access files stored on the drive from an iPad as well as the iPhone and Windows Phone-based handsets.
Romney Faces Little Challenge in 5 Republican Presidential Primaries
Mitt Romney has won the primary elections in Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island, taking another step toward capturing the Republican presidential nomination.
Romney is also expected to win in Pennsylvania and New York — two other states where voters cast ballots Tuesday.
Former senator Rick Santorum dropped out of the race two weeks ago. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Congressman Ron Paul have just a fraction of the number of delegates Romney has, giving the former Massachusetts governor a clear field.
Incumbent Barack Obama will have enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination after Tuesday's primaries. He faced no challengers this year.
Mr. Obama began a two-day trip Tuesday to college campuses in North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa, touting his plans for more affordable higher education.
The president wants Congress to extend a law set to expire in July that would prevent interest rates on student loans from doubling.
Romney, who has questioned what the president has done for young people since taking office, has also endorsed extending the law.
Annan Alarmed by Reports of Syrian Attacks in Areas Visited by Monitors
International envoy Kofi Annan has expressed “alarm” about media reports that Syrian troops have attacked civilian areas visited by U.N. soldiers trying to monitor a shaky truce in the government's year-long conflict with rebels.
U.N. diplomats say Mr. Annan made the comment Tuesday in a closed-door briefing to the U.N. Security Council via video link from Sweden. They quote Mr. Annan as saying he is aware of reports that Syrian troops fired automatic weapons and killed a significant number of people in the central city of Hama on Monday. Several U.N. observers had visited the opposition hub a day earlier and were greeted by large crowds chanting anti-government slogans.
Mr. Annan said if confirmed, the Hama killings are “totally unacceptable and reprehensible.” He said two of the 11 U.N. monitors deployed in Syria returned to the city on Tuesday to set up a base. Observer mission spokesman Neeraj Singh said the monitors also visited the Damascus suburb of Douma, talking to residents and conducting patrols “for a good period of time.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that harassment and possible violence against Syrians who meet with U.N. monitors is “absolutely deplorable.”
The small group of U.N. truce monitors has been operating in Syria for more than a week, visiting rebellious areas such as Hama, Homs and the Damascus suburbs, where government forces have been violently suppressing dissent for months. The U.N. Security Council approved an expansion of the observer mission to 300 personnel last week.
Diplomats quote Mr. Annan as saying that a speedy deployment of the additional monitors is “crucial” to verify compliance by Syrian government and rebel forces with the April 12 cease-fire. But U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the Security Council it will take a month for the first 100 members of the mission to be in place. Exiled Syrian opposition leaders say that number is too small to cover Syria's territory.
Mr. Annan also told the council that he received a letter from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem saying Damascus has withdrawn troops and heavy weapons from population centers as required by the U.N.-backed truce.
Earlier, Mr. Annan's spokesman said Syria has failed to honor that commitment. Ahmad Fawzi said Tuesday Mr. Annan's team has satellite imagery and credible reports showing the Syrian government's promised pullout “has not fully happened.” Fawzi called this “unacceptable.”
In the latest violence Tuesday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told VOA that gunmen killed a Syrian intelligence officer in the Barzeh neighborhood of Damascus. In another incident, a vehicle rigged with explosives blew up in the capital's central Marjeh district, wounding several people. Syrian state media blamed the attack on “armed terrorists” whom they say are leading the anti-Assad uprising.
In Geneva, the U.N. World Food Program said it aims to deliver food assistance to 500,000 people in Syria “in the coming weeks” — a tenfold increase since December. The WFP said it is expanding its assistance at the request of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and stands ready to increase its operations in the country further “when access permits.”
U.N. aid agencies have been largely shut out of Syria, but a joint assessment carried out last month with Syrian authorities estimated that at least 1 million people needed humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile, Tunisian President Moncef al-Marzouki said his embattled Syrian counterpart is “finished” and will eventually leave power “dead or alive.” Mr. Marzouki told the pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper Tuesday that Mr. Assad's international allies, “the Russians, Chinese and Iranians, must understand this man is finished and…persuade him to leave power.”
Addressing the Syrian leader directly, the Tunisian president said “it is better for you and your family to leave alive, because if you decide to leave dead, that means that you have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents.”
The United Nations estimates that more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria's 13-month crackdown on the revolt, while activist groups put the death toll at more than 11,000.
3 More US Secret Service Agents Forced Out in Scandal
The U.S. Secret Service says three more agents have been forced out of their jobs because of a prostitution scandal that has shaken the agency that protects the president.
Officials said Tuesday two agents resigned and a third had his security clearance revoked. Two others were cleared of charges of serious misconduct.
This brings to nine the number of Secret Service agents who have lost their jobs for consorting with prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia earlier this month — days before President Barack Obama arrived for the Summit of the Americas. The Pentagon is also investigating 12 military members who were allegedly involved.
During the taping of his appearance on an NBC television talk show Tuesday, Mr. Obama called the agents caught in the scandal “knuckleheads.” But he said they should not detract from what the Secret Service does. The president called the majority of the agents incredible guys, protecting him and his family as well as U.S. officials all over the world.
Prostitution is legal in Colombia, but off-limits for many U.S. government employees because of the possible security risks.
Turks & Caicos International Flag Festival Coming
The Providenciales Flag Festival Committee is pleased to announce the 1st Turks & Caicos International Flag Festival. The festival will take place from June 1-4, 2012.
The Turks & Caicos Islands is home to nationals from more than 50 countries and this International Flag Festival will bring everyone together for a weekend of fun, cultural exchanges and will also give each person an opportunity to display their national pride.
President of the Provo Flag Festival Committee Abigail Delancy commented “We realize that we live in a multi cultural society and our neighbors are now closer to us then they were twenty years ago. The Turks and Caicos share its culture with over 50 different nationalities and this is why we believe we should celebrate together. We recognize that at the end of the day all of us here in TCI are working towards the same goal, which is to make the Turks and Caicos Islands a better place”.
Flag Fest 2012 will include a kickoff party, a beach picnic and the grand event will be a motorcade & flag party which will also include the Little Miss Flag Fest Pageant at the National Stadium on Venetian Road. There will be prizes given for the Best Flag Outfit and the Biggest Flag at the parade. A soccer match between Haiti & Jamaica will take place on Sunday June 3rd and a Beach Party & Food Festival will be held on June 4, 2012 at the Kids Park on the Lower Bight Road.
Musical guest will include DJ’s from TCI, DR, Jamaica, Trinidad & Haiti and the featured Band will be Lee & the Force from TCI.