72 Hour Crime Recap – Providenciales
As unemployment rises, the police are kept busy with the ugly face of crime keeping the RTC Police Force busy.
During the past seventy-two (72) hours, Police in Providenciales responded to ten reports of a serious nature.
Three Attempted Burglaries---Kew Town, Blue Hills & Behind Glass Shack
Seven Burglaries—Long Bay, Richmond Hill & 5 Blue Hills
A male was arrested on suspicion of Burglary.
A male was arrested on suspicion of Aggravated Burglary.
A male was charged for Theft in connection with a report made on 26th January 2012, he was later released on Police Bail with a surety to appear in the Providenciales Magistrate’s Court # 2 on 15th February 2012 to answer to the charge.
Two males were charged for Burglary in connection with a report made on 29th January 2012, they were later released on Police Bail with sureties to appear in the Providenciales Magistrate’s Court # 2 on 12th February 2012 to answer to the charge.
Bernard Colebrooke who was charged for Attempted Murder, Robbery, Conspiracy to Rob, Carrying Firearm with intent to Rob, Discharging Firearm in relation to the incident at the RBC on 13 January 2012 appeared in the Providenciales Magistrate’s Court # 1 on Friday, 3 February 2012. He was remanded in custody until 9 March 2012 when he is scheduled to appear in the Grand Turk Supreme Court for a Sufficiency Hearing.
North Caicos- Burglary--- Bottle Creek
Grand Turk- Burglary--- Close Haul Road
A male was arrested on suspicion in connection with the above report of burglary, he was later released pending further investigations.
A female was arrested on suspicion of burglary in connection with a report made on 14 January 2012; she was later released pending further investigations.
Michael McIntosh who was charged for wounding appeared in the Supreme Court in Grand Turk on Friday 3rd February 2012, he was remanded in custody until 17th February 2012 when he is schedule to appear in the Grand Turk Supreme Court.
Prison Inmates Graduate from Anger Management Training
Efforts by prison authorities to assist prisoners' development and change continue to show results with the graduation of a batch of inmates from Anger Management and "Just Think" courses on Friday 3rd January 2012.
Fourteen males and one female graduated from the programmes which were facilitated by Rev. John Malcolm for the Anger Management course and Officers Lawanda Jennings and Robert Lewis for the Just Think course.
The graduation ceremony was a joint collaboration by the Ministry of Home Affairs, under which the Prison falls, and the Ministry of Health and Human Services. It was attended by Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs Ms. Barbara Higgs, Undersecretary of Health and Human Services Ms. Charlene Higgs, and Prison Superintendent Ian Sargent.
Acting Permanent Secretary of Home Affairs Ms. Higgs stated that:
"The ongoing work in this area between the two Ministries has had a significant impact on the delivery of interventions offered to offenders.
The two courses have been run side to side and it has demonstrated a positive impact in relation to the rehabilitation initiatives within the Government departments. The course work in both programs has led to a reinforcement of message in relation to how a prisoner can overcome poor decision making and take positive steps to control potential anger. Providing interventions within the custodial environment is essential in ensuring that offenders develop coping skills when returning to society."
BHP Billiton profits fall on lower iron ore prices
Falling commodity prices have pushed down profits at the world's biggest mining company, BHP Billiton.
The Anglo-Australian company reported a 5.5% annual drop in first-half net profit to $9.9bn (£6.2bn).
It also warned of a volatile outlook due to Europe's debt crisis and slowing demand from China.
The prices of benchmark commodities like iron ore, copper and coal have gradually fallen over the last few months.
During the same period in 2010, BHP recorded profits of $10.5bn, a record in Australian corporation history.
Shares in BHP Billiton fell by 1.1% in early trading in Sydney.
Since the start of the year its shares have risen by 11%, outperforming the broader Australian market.
The results come after rival miner Xstrata formally announced plans to merge with Glencore, the world's biggest commodity trader, in a $90bn deal.
'General weakness'
Despite the fall in profits in the most recent period, revenues increased by 9.7% over the same period to $37.5bn.
"We expect volatility in commodity markets to persist as the European sovereign debt crisis and general weakness in the manufacturing and construction sectors... are expected to weigh on customer behaviour and sentiment," the company said in a statement.
It added it would stick to its timetable of spending $80bn on significantly expanding its operations by 2015.
One area where BHP Billiton is looking to increase its activities is in the oil and gas markets.
Last year it bought the US shale gas firm Petrohawk for $12.1bn (£7.5bn), its largest acquisition to date.
However analysts say the focus on natural gas could hurt BHP Billiton's profits for some time, as US gas prices have almost halved since last June.
Meanwhile, rival Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto said it will pump a further US$3.4bn into expanding iron ore operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
It wants to increase operations in the Pilbara by 50%.
"We believe we have the best quality iron ore expansion projects anywhere in the world," said Rio executive Sam Walsh. "They are high return, low-risk investments that are highly value-adding for shareholders.
Greek leaders postpone meeting as euro exit discussed
Pressure is rising on Greece's national unity government to agree tough reforms demanded by the country's lenders.
Greek party leaders once more postponed plans to meet on Tuesday and approve terms of a new bailout.
This comes as the European Commission's Neelie Kroes told a Dutch newspaper that there would be "absolutely no man overboard" if Greece left the euro.
But Prime Minister Lucas Papademos' office told the BBC that a draft agreement has been finalised.
A formal sign-off on the reforms demanded by international lenders - including a 20% cut to the minimum wage, pension cuts and civil service job cuts - is hoped to be concluded on Wednesday, the BBC's Athens correspondent Mark Lowen said.
Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte also told public radio that a Greek exit from the eurozone now would be less risky than if it had happened in 2010 when its debt crisis first broke.
"There is less risk now," Mr Rutte said. "It is in our interest that Greece remain [in the eurozone] and to achieve that it must do all it has promised to do but if that does not work out, then we are stronger now than a year and a half ago."
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday there would be "unforeseeable consequences" if Greece left the euro.
"I will have no part in forcing Greece out of the euro," she said.
Meanwhile, public transport and the country's ports ground to a halt as two of the largest Greek public sector unions began a strike on Tuesday in protest at spending cuts, tax rises and job losses.
Police had to use tear gas to prevent some protesters on Syntagma Square from breaking a cordon around the parliament building.
The government held meetings with EU, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank delegates on Monday.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the negotiations were "so tough that as soon as one chapter closes another opens".
At the same time, as part of Greece's new 130bn euro ($170bn; £110bn) bailout deal, private sector lenders are negotiating with Greece to write off up to 70% of the value of the money that the Greek government currently owes them.
The leader of the left-wing Syriza party coalition, which is not part of the interim government, repeated a call on Tuesday either for Greece's debts to be written off, or else for the country to pause its debt repayments for three years.
"The debt is not sustainable," Alexis Tsipras told Greek television channel SKAI.
"With the [debt restructuring], most of the [bailout] money will go to the banks and to the bondholders."
The Greek trade unions called for an end to the policies promoted by the government and the so-called "troika".
In a petition delivered to parliament, the unions expressed "opposition to measures included in the new memorandum which, aside from the dramatic impact on workers, it is also a confession of the dead-end economic policy followed and its adverse consequences on real economy".
"The Greeks have to realise that we Dutch and we Germans can only sell emergency Greek aid to our taxpayers if there's evidence of good will."
A similar message was delivered with a more optimistic spin by Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the "eurogroup" of eurozone finance ministers, who said he had no doubt that Greece would remain within the eurozone, provided that it met its obligations to other members.
"The euro will outlive us all," he said.
On Monday, Greece agreed to pass a new law allowing more government employees to be fired - it is likely to lead to 15,000 civil service jobs being cut.
They are also likely to agree to a 20% cut in the minimum wage, BBC correspondents in Athens say.
The Greek economy is expected to suffer a fifth consecutive year of recession this year, and has already shrunk 12% since 2008.
BP ups dividend as profits rise
BP has raised its dividend to shareholders by 14%, the first increase since the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, following sharply higher profits.
Replacement cost profit, which is profit stripping out the effect of oil and other price movements, for the three months to the end of December 2011 was $7.6bn (£4.8bn).
This compares with $4.6bn for the same period in 2010.
For all of 2011 BP's profit was $23.9bn compared with a $4.9bn loss in 2010.
BP's dividend was raised to 8 cents per share for the fourth quarter of 2011.
Amid intense political pressure, the company suspended dividend payments to shareholders for the the first time in 60 years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
"BP's earnings certainly benefited from oil prices, and investors will no doubt welcome the rise in dividend payments," said Saket Vemprala, oil analyst at Business Monitor International.
"However, the legal liabilities stemming from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill continue to weigh on the company's shares, and we would not be surprised to see a financial settlement between the company and the US government."
BP is asking contractor Halliburton to pay for all costs and damages that arose from the Gulf of Mexico spill. The trial between BP and its contractor Halliburton is expected within weeks.
BP has so far paid out $8.8bn in damages claims.
The blast at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers and created the worst offshore spill in US history.
BP's profits were boosted by the price of oil which has remained at relatively high levels of about $100 a barrel throughout the final three months of 2011.
Separately on Tuesday, BP's chief executive, Bob Dudley, told the Reuters news agency that the company was set to begin a new project in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr Dudley said BP had agreed with Chevron and BHP, its partners in the project, to go ahead with the investment.
The US government lifted the ban on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in October 2011.
Brazil's Itau Unibanco has record profits in 2011
Itau Unibanco has posted the highest-ever annual profits for a bank from Brazil.
Itau Unibanco, the biggest private bank in Brazil, said net profits rose almost 10% to 14.6bn reais ($8.5bn, £5.3bn) in 2011 from the previous year.
The bank is also the largest in Latin America and primarily exposed to its fast-growing countries.
But the bank's profits fell annually in the last three months of the year, as Brazil's economy slowed.
"In the domestic scenario, the trend towards slowdown in the economic activity was consolidated," the bank said.
Brazil's official IBGE statistical bureau said in September that it expected 3.5% growth in 2011 - compared to 7.5% in 2010.
In the last quarter of 2011, the bank registered net profits of 3.7bn reais, down 5.4% from the same period a year earlier.
Brazil's central bank has had high interest rates for many years, encouraged by fears of a return to the runaway inflation that plagued the country in the 1980s and early 1990s.
At the end of 2011, the benchmark central bank rate was 11%.
Itau Unibanco has a market capitalisation of about $90bn - about 50% bigger than Goldman Sachs - and has a 25% share of the Brazilian market.
UBS profits slump on weak business
Profits UBS have slumped by 76% in its latest quarterly results.
Net income for the last three months of 2011 were 393m Swiss francs ($430m; £270m), down from 1.7bn francs a year ago and well short of expectations.
Business levels fell both at its key wealth management unit, as well as at its struggling investment bank.
As the eurozone debt crisis rumbles on, the Swiss bank warned that business in the coming three months was also likely to disappoint.
"Traditional improvements in first quarter activity levels and trading volumes may fail to materialise fully, which would weigh on overall results for the coming quarter, most notably in the investment bank," UBS said as it announced its fourth quarter results.
Profits for the full year of 4.2bn francs were down 44% from 2010.
Bonus pool
UBS has never fully recovered from the financial crisis, when it had to be rescued by the Swiss government.
The bank took heavy losses during the 2007-09 financial crisis and recession, reporting a total loss of 39bn francs during the period.
Last year, it lost a further 2bn francs thanks to a rogue trader.
The latest quarter fell well short of its post-crisis average profit of 1.5bn francs, which is itself half the 3bn franc profits the bank typically reported each quarter in the years leading up to the financial crisis.
The Swiss authorities have ordered UBS to massively increase its capital ratio - its risk buffer against future possible losses.
The bank duly announced an increase in its "Basel II core tier 1 ratio" - that is the value of its highest-quality capital as a percentage of its assets, based on the old and soon-to-be-replaced international methodology - from 18.4% to 19.7%.
The firm has also been downsizing its London-based investment bank, following severe criticism of its risk-management practices by Swiss regulators.
The investment bank reported a 256m franc loss for the quarter, mainly due to weak client business during tough trading conditions last autumn when markets feared Italy might be pushed into default.
In response, the head of the investment banking business, Carsten Kengeter, agreed to forego his bonus.
The bonus pool for employees of the bank as a whole has been cut by 40%, and that of the investment bank by 60%.
US Senators Warn Egypt of ‘Disastrous Rupture’ in Relations
Three United States Senators are warning of a “disastrous rupture” in relations with Egypt if the case of 19 Americans charged with illegal fundraising is not resolved soon.
Republicans John McCain and Kelly Ayotte and Independent Joe Lieberman said Tuesday that congressional support for Egypt, including financial aid, is in jeopardy.
The senators say those inside the Egyptian government who oppose relations with the United States are exacerbating tensions and inflaming public opinion. But they say there are people of good will in both countries who are working hard to resolve the crisis.
Egypt says 43 activists, including 19 Americans, who were working with non-governmental organizations will be put on trial on charges of illegally finding pro-democracy groups. One of the Americans is Sam LaHood, son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
The State Department says the Americans and others were working to support Egyptian elections. It says they are completely non-partisan and were not raising money to support any individual candidate.
Egypt is in the midst of a presidential election aimed at replacing the interim military government with a democratically-elected civilian administration. Parliamentary elections were held last month.
Thousands of Egyptians have been demanding a faster transition to civilian rule, including violent street protests. Egypt has been under a military government since President Hosni Mubarak fled last year.
Santorum Leading in Minnesota Caucus, Missouri Primary
U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum appears poised for a campaign boost with a strong showing in two of Tuesday's nominating caucuses.
The former senator from Pennsylvania has a solid initial lead in Minnesota, earning 43 percent of the vote with about six percent of precincts reporting. And his early lead in Missouri is even greater at 54 percent with nearly a quarter of the votes counted.
Mitt Romney, who had been hoping to solidify his front-runner status in Tuesday's contests, is more than 20 points behind Santorum in Missouri and lagging in third place in Minnesota.
The former Massachusetts governor may be helped by voters in Colorado, however, where Tuesday's caucus results have not yet been posted. Romney won the state by a large margin when he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and was expected to win again Tuesday.
A total of 70 delegates are up for grabs in the Colorado and Minnesota, although they will be awarded later at district and state conventions. Missouri's primary is non-binding, with no delegates at stake.
To be selected to face Mr. Obama, a Republican needs to have the support of 1,144 delegates at the Republican nominating convention in Florida in August. To date, Romney has a reported 101 committed delegates, Gingrich 32, Santorum 17 and Paul 9.
Despite Romney's wins in the primaries in Florida, Nevada, and New Hampshire, a new poll Tuesday indicated Republican support for him nationwide has fallen during the past month. In the Reuters/Ipsos telephone survey conducted this month, 29 percent of Republican voters backed Romney, down one percent from a survey in early January. The latest survey showed Texas Congressman Ron Paul's support growing by 5 percent to 21 percent, putting him in second place ahead of former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich . Santorum also saw a 5 percent rise in support to land close behind Gingrich .
The Reuters news agency says the results suggest Romney still has many doubters among Republicans.
Gingrich, once considered Romney's top rival for the nomination, held a large lead in the Colorado polls late last year. But he has since lost ground in that state and was focusing his attention Tuesday on Ohio, as the state begins early voting ahead of its primary on March 6. Gingrich has vowed to fight all the way to the August nominating convention.
Meanwhile, Paul holds an election event in Minnesota Tuesday night.
In a hypothetical election match-up, an ABC News-Washington Post poll indicates President Obama would beat Romney. The survey shows Mr. Obama ahead 51 percent to 45 percent among registered voters . The poll found that half of those surveyed approve of President Obama's job performance and believe he deserves a second term.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found Mr. Obama's approval rating is up one percent from the January survey to reach 48 percent, but his disapproval rating is the same at 49 percent.
California Court Rules Voter-Approved Ban on Gay Marriage Unconstitutional
A California appeals court has ruled that a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
The judges said in their ruling Tuesday the ban, known as Proposition 8, “serves no purpose” other than to lessen the “status and human dignity” of homosexuals in the state. The dissenting judge in the 2-to-1 decision said he thought the government could have a “legitimate reason” to restrict same-sex couples from marrying.
Gay marriage supporters cheered the ruling, while Proposition 8's proponents said they would appeal it, either to a higher California Court or directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But some legal analysts said Tuesday the Supreme Court may choose not to weigh in, because Tuesday's ruling only applies to California's specific circumstances. The judges said the Proposition 8 was illegitimate because it took away a right that had already been granted.
California Senator Dianne Feinstein told VOA she thought the ruling, though narrow, was indicative of the broader issue, that no laws can change the U.S. constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.
“On page 79 of the decision, there is one sentence: 'By using their initiative power to target a minority group, and withdraw a right it possessed without a legitimate reason for doing so, the people of California violated the Equal Protection clause. We hold Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional'. Now, what this means is that, in a very narrow sense, the court is saying that an initiative cannot change the guarantee that the constitution gives with respect to equal protection. So, it is a narrow decision, but it is really dispositive of the question.”
She said the federal law restricting gay marriage, known as the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, should likewise be overturned.
“My belief is that DOMA should fall on the same basis that Proposition 8 fell. But in the event it does not, or will not, we have produced a bill that would essentially repeal DOMA.”
Proposition 8 passed in 2008 with 52 percent of the vote, just months after the state had approved gay marriages.
Homosexual couples will still be prevented from marrying in California until the appeals process is complete.
The appeals court Tuesday also ruled that the judge who declared the ban unconstitutional in 2010 did not have a conflict of interest. Lawyers for the ban's supporters argued the judge should have been disqualified or recused himself because his long-term same-sex relationship meant he could have had a personal interest in allowing marriages between homosexual couples.
Several U.S. states and the District of Columbia allow gay couples to marry.