Allan Stanford trial starts
Jury selection began on Monday morning in the fraud trial of Allen Stanford in US federal court in Houston.
The 61-year-old Stanford is charged with using his Houston-based financial empire to swindle investors of more than $7 billion. At the heart of Stanford’s alleged fraud are certificates of deposit sold by his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd to about 28,000 investors.
Among the allegations is a claim he bribed an Antiguan banking regulator to ignore irregularities.
Receivers are still trying to locate the money that was invested with the Stanford Financial Group and its affiliate companies, but indications are that Stanford’s lavish, globe-trotting lifestyle, including the sponsorship of multi-million dollar Caribbean cricket tournaments, may have consumed most of it.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2009 sued Stanford, alleging that he and his employees lied about the certificates of deposit, telling investors the proceeds were invested in safe, liquid assets.
The financier has been in federal custody as a flight risk since his June 2009 indictment and, in September 2009, he suffered broken facial bones in a beating by another inmate. He reportedly became addicted to anti-anxiety medications prescribed by prison doctors after the attack and, after eight months in a prison rehabilitation unit, his lawyers claim he cannot now remember much of his life or details of his business empire.
Earlier this month, Stanford’s entire defence team tried to withdraw from the case, complaining that time and budget constraints imposed by the court had left them unable to defend him adequately. However, the judge disagreed and ordered the team to prepare for trial as scheduled.
Penn State coach Joe Paterno dead at 85
Happy Valley was perfect for Joe Paterno, a place where "JoePa" knew best, where he not only won more football games than any other major college coach, but won them the right way: with integrity and sportsmanship. A place where character came first, championships second.
Behind it all, however, was an ugly secret that ran counter to everything the revered coach stood for.
Paterno, a sainted figure at Penn State for almost half a century but scarred forever by the child sex abuse scandal that led to his stunning dismissal, died Sunday at age 85.
His death came just 65 days after his son Scott said his father had been diagnosed with a treatable form of lung cancer. The cancer was found during a follow-up visit for a bronchial illness. A few weeks later, Paterno broke his pelvis after a fall but did not need surgery.
Mount Nittany Medical Center said in a statement that Paterno died at 9:25 a.m. of "metastatic small cell carcinoma of the lung." Metastatic indicates an illness that has spread from one part of the body to an unrelated area.
The hospital says Paterno was surrounded by family members, who have requested privacy.
Paterno had been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation after what his family called minor complications from his cancer treatments. Not long before that, he conducted his only interview since losing his job, with The Washington Post. Paterno was described as frail then, speaking mostly in a whisper and wearing a wig. The second half of the two-day interview was conducted at his bedside.
His family released a statement Sunday morning to announce his death: "His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled."
"He died as he lived," the statement said. "He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."
Paterno's death just under three months following his last victory called to mind another coaching great, Alabama's Paul "Bear" Bryant, who died less than a month after retiring.
"Quit coaching?" Bryant said late in his career. "I'd croak in a week."
Paterno alluded to the remark made by his friend and rival, saying in 2003: "There isn't anything in my life anymore except my family and my football. I think about it all the time."
Two police officers were stationed to block traffic on the street where Paterno's modest ranch home stands next to a local park. The officers said the family had asked there be no public gathering outside the house, still decorated with a Christmas wreath, so Paterno's relatives could grieve privately. And, indeed, the street was quiet on a cold winter day.
Paterno's sons, Scott and Jay, arrived separately at the house late Sunday morning. Jay Paterno, who served as his father's quarterbacks coach, was crying.
Paterno built a program based on the credo of "Success with Honor," and he found both. The man known as "JoePa" won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and two national championships. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL.
"He will go down as the greatest football coach in the history of the game," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said after his former team, the Florida Gators, beat Penn State 37-24 in the 2011 Outback Bowl.
Paterno roamed the sidelines for 46 seasons, his thick-rimmed glasses, windbreaker and jet-black sneakers as familiar as the Nittany Lions' blue and white uniforms.
The reputation he built looked even more impressive because he insisted that on-field success not come at the expense of high graduation rates.
But in the middle of his 46th season, the legend was shattered. Paterno was engulfed in a child sex abuse scandal when a former trusted assistant, Jerry Sandusky, was accused of molesting 10 boys over a 15-year span, sometimes in the football building.
Outrage built quickly when the state's top cop said the coach hadn't fulfilled a moral obligation to go to the authorities when a graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, told Paterno he saw Sandusky with a young boy in the showers of the football complex in 2002.
At a preliminary hearing for the school officials, McQueary testified that he had seen Sandusky attacking the child with his hands around the boy's waist but said he wasn't 100 percent sure it was intercourse. McQueary described Paterno as shocked and saddened and said the coach told him he had "done the right thing" by reporting the encounter.
Paterno waited a day before alerting school officials and never went to the police.
"I didn't know which way to go ... and rather than get in there and make a mistake," Paterno said in the Post interview.
"You know, (McQueary) didn't want to get specific," Paterno said. "And to be frank with you I don't know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man. So I just did what I thought was best. I talked to people that I thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it."
When the scandal erupted in November, Paterno said he would retire following the 2011 season. He also said he was "absolutely devastated" by the abuse case.
"This is a tragedy," he said. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."
But the university trustees fired Paterno, effective immediately. Graham Spanier, one of the longest-serving university presidents in the nation, also was fired.
Paterno was notified by phone, not in person, a decision that board vice chairman John Surma regretted, trustees said. Lanny Davis, the attorney retained by trustees as an adviser, said Surma intended to extend his regrets over the phone before Paterno hung up him.
After weeks of escalating criticism by some former players and alumni about a lack of transparency trustees last week said they fired Paterno in part because he failed a moral obligation to do more in reporting the 2002 allegation.
An attorney for Paterno on Thursday called the board's comments self-serving and unsupported by the facts. Paterno fully reported what he knew to the people responsible for campus investigations, lawyer Wick Sollers said.
"He did what he thought was right with the information he had at the time," Sollers said.
The university handed the football team to one of Paterno's assistants, Tom Bradley, who said Paterno "will go down in history as one of the greatest men, who maybe most of you know as a great football coach."
"As the last 61 years have shown, Joe made an incredible impact," said the statement from the family. "That impact has been felt and appreciated by our family in the form of thousands of letters and well wishes along with countless acts of kindness from people whose lives he touched. It is evident also in the thousands of successful student athletes who have gone on to multiply that impact as they spread out across the country."
New Penn State football coach Bill O'Brien, hired earlier this month, offered his condolences.
"The Penn State Football program is one of college football's iconic programs because it was led by an icon in the coaching profession in Joe Paterno," O'Brien said in a statement. "There are no words to express my respect for him as a man and as a coach. To be following in his footsteps at Penn State is an honor. Our families, our football program, our university and all of college football have suffered a great loss, and we will be eternally grateful for Coach Paterno's immeasurable contributions."
Paterno believed success was not measured entirely on the field. From his idealistic early days, he had implemented what he called a "grand experiment" - to graduate more players while maintaining success on the field.
"He maintained a high standard in a very difficult profession. Joe preached toughness, hard work and clean competition," Sandusky said in a statement. "Most importantly, he had the courage to practice what he preached."
Paterno was a frequent speaker on ethics in sports, a conscience for a world often infiltrated by scandal.
The team consistently ranked among the best in the Big Ten for graduating players. As of 2011, it had 49 academic All-Americans, the third-highest among schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision. All but two played under Paterno.
"He teaches us about really just growing up and being a man," former linebacker Paul Posluszny, now with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, once said. "Besides the football, he's preparing us to be good men in life."
Paterno certainly had detractors. One former Penn State professor called his high-minded words on academics a farce, and a former administrator said players often got special treatment. His coaching style often was considered too conservative. Some thought he held on to his job too long, and a move to push him out in 2004 failed.
But the critics were in the minority, and his program was never cited for major NCAA violations. The child sex abuse scandal, however, did prompt separate inquiries by the U.S. Department of Education and the NCAA into the school's handling.
Paterno played quarterback and defensive back for Brown University and set a defensive record with 14 career interceptions, a distinction he still boasted about to his teams in his 80s. He graduated in 1950 with plans to go to law school. He said his father hoped he would someday be president.
But when Paterno was 23, a former coach at Brown was moving to Penn State to become the head coach and persuaded Paterno to come with him as an assistant.
"I had no intention to coach when I got out of Brown," Paterno said in 2007 in an interview at Penn State's Beaver Stadium before being inducted into college football's Hall of Fame. "Come to this hick town? From Brooklyn?"
In 1963, he was offered a job by the late Al Davis - $18,000, triple his salary at Penn State, plus a car to become general manager and coach of the AFL's Oakland Raiders. He said no. Rip Engle retired as Penn State head coach three years later, and Paterno took over.
At the time, Penn State was considered "Eastern football" - inferior - and Paterno courted newspaper coverage to raise the team's profile. In 1967, PSU began a 30-0-1 streak.
But Penn State couldn't get to the top of the polls. The Nittany Lions finished second in 1968 and 1969 despite perfect seasons. They were undefeated and untied again in 1973 at 12-0 again but finished fifth. Texas edged them in 1969 after President Richard Nixon, impressed with the Longhorns' bowl performance, declared them No. 1.
"I'd like to know," Paterno said later, "how could the president know so little about Watergate in 1973, and so much about college football in 1969?"
A national title finally came in 1982, after a 27-23 win over Georgia at the Sugar Bowl. Another followed in 1986 after the Lions intercepted Vinny Testaverde five times and beat Miami 14-10 in the Fiesta Bowl.
They made several title runs after that, including a 2005 run to the Orange Bowl and an 11-1 season in 2008 that ended in a 37-23 loss to Southern California in the Rose Bowl.
In his later years, physical ailments wore the old coach down.
Paterno was run over on the sideline during a game at Wisconsin in November 2006 and underwent knee surgery. He hurt his hip in 2008 demonstrating an onside kick. An intestinal illness and a bad reaction to antibiotics prescribed for dental work slowed him for most of the 2010 season. He began scaling back his speaking engagements that year, ending his summer caravan of speeches to alumni across the state.
Then a receiver bowled over Paterno at practice in August, sending him to the hospital with shoulder and pelvis injuries and consigning him to coach much of what would be his last season from the press box.
"The fact that we've won a lot of games is that the good Lord kept me healthy, not because I'm better than anybody else," Paterno said two days before he won his 409th game and passed Eddie Robinson of Grambling State for the most in Division I. "It's because I've been around a lot longer than anybody else."
Paterno could be conservative on the field, especially in big games, relying on the tried-and-true formula of defense, the running game and field position.
He and his wife, Sue, raised five children in State College.
Bolt top man, women share
Usain Bolt, along with fellow sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown and women’s cricketer Stafanie Taylor were named Jamaica’s top sports personalities for last year on Friday.
Bolt grabbed the men’s prize ahead of fellow sprinter Yohan Blake, while the voting panel failed to choose between Campbell-Brown and Taylor, forcing the women’s award to be shared for the third time in its history and for the first time in four years.
While Campbell-Brown and Taylor may have been straightforward choices for the women’s honour, the voting academy must have faced a stiff challenge choosing between Bolt and Blake for the men’s award.
Bolt, like Campbell-Brown, had a strong season on the track last year, highlighted by his capture of the 200-metre World title at the World Championships last year in Daegu, South Korea.
But Blake became the World 100 champion, following Bolt’s disqualification in the final in Daegu, but he, too, had a strong season on the track with an amazing 19.26 seconds in the 200 at a Diamond League meet in Brussels topping his performances.
Bolt had also been overlooked for the top men’s athlete award, when Jamaica’s track and field authorities staged their honours ceremony late last year.
The sprint megastar said in his acceptance speech that he and Blake would continue to work together at the Racers Track Club, where they are under the supervision of coach Glen Mills.
“We are good friends, and we will continue to make our country proud,” he said, while admitting there will be some rivalry.
Taylor had another excellent year, playing her way to her sport’s world governing body’s Women’s Cricketer-Of-The-Year award. She also ended the last year as the No.1 ranked women’s all-rounder in the world, No.2 in the batting and No.7 in bowling in the world One-day rankings.
Campbell-Brown was her usual impressive self, romping her way to a first-ever World Championships 200 gold medal shortly after taking a silver medal in the 100 at the same championships. She also helped the Jamaica women’s 4x100 team to a silver medal at Worlds. It was her fourth national sports personality award.
Bolt also collected the Icon award, while Asafa Powell, one of seven male nominees, won the People’s Choice Award for his victory at Jamaica’s World Championship trials. (CMC)
Pierce has best game of the season in Celtics win 100-94
The Boston Celtics were missing one of their star guards when the game started, and then lost another in the second quarter.
The way Paul Pierce was playing, it didn't matter.
Pierce had season highs with 34 points and 10 assists and tied his season best with eight rebounds to lead the Celtics to a 100-94 victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday.
"Paul carried us," said Ray Allen, who left after jamming his left ankle in the first half. "He played great for us. The team, everybody rallied behind him."
Boston started without point guard Rajon Rondo, out for the second straight game with a sprained right wrist, and Allen left after being fouled by Jan Vesely with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter.
Pierce - who had scored a total of 20 points in the previous two games - made up for their absence, going 10 for 15 from the floor and 12 of 15 from the line. His three steals were also a season high.
"I'm one of our, if not our main scorer on this ballclub," Pierce said. "That's my role. I haven't been doing a good job of it lately, but a lot of that has to do with just being in game shape, getting my legs stronger, being able to get up and down and jump."
John Wall had 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Wizards. Nick Young scored 19 points, and JaVale McGee added 13, but they had no answer for Pierce.
"It's tough. The last five minutes we were right there," Wall said. "We've got to execute down the stretch."
Pierce was at his best right after the Celtics let a 15-point third-quarter lead slip away.
Washington tied the game at 75 with 9 1/2 minutes left on a fast-break alley-oop for a dunk from Wall to Trevor Booker, and the Wizards seemed to have the momentum. Pierce scored Boston's next 10 points, countering Washington's surge.
Pierce capped his 10-point run after the Wizards took an 84-83 lead with six minutes to go on Young's three-point play. Pierce hit a jumper to get the lead back, and the Celtics did not trail the rest of the way.
"At the end of the day, your big players have to step up and play well for you to win, especially games when you have guys out," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "And Paul did everything."
Pierce scored 14 of Boston's final 25 points. Kevin Garnett scored five of his 17 points in the final two minutes, including an emphatic dunk down the lane with two minutes left to give Boston a 95-90 lead which effectively ended the Wizards' chances.
"We got ahead because we defended, got ahead and ran, and we moved the ball offensively," Washington coach Flip Saunders said. "Then all of a sudden we got ahead and the ball had Velcro."
Half of Boston's six wins this season have come against the Wizards, who have the league's worst record at 2-14.
Washington has some reason for optimism despite a two-game losing streak. On Wednesday, the Wizards got their second win of the season, and the past two losses were both close until the end.
"Ten days ago we weren't competing at a high level," Saunders said. "We've gotten to the point now we're competing at a high level. Now we've got to find a way to close out these games."
SI
Jamaica beat Windwards to reach Caribbean Twenty20 final
Tidy bowling followed by steady batting moved Jamaica one step closer to a rare regional triple of titles, when they conquered Windward Islands by five wickets on Saturday to reach the Grand Final of the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament.
Jamaica bowled purposefully, if not menacingly, but the Windwards self-destructed with careless batting and were restricted to 98 for eight from their allocation of 20 overs in the low-scoring first semi-final at Kensington Oval.
Lindon James, playing for the first time in the tournament, laboured over the Windwards’ top score of 37 not out and Johnson Charles made 29.
Leg-spinner Odean Brown earned the Man-of-the-Match for his two wickets for 15 runs from his allotted four overs which strangled the Windwards’ middle order.
Left-arm pacers Krishmar Santokie and Sheldon Cotterrell collected two wickets apiece.
No Jamaica batsman distinguished themselves, but their captain Dave Bernard Jr scored a valuable 22 that brought back stability, after they wobbled on 38 for three in the eighth over.
In the Grand Final late today, the Jamaicans face the winner of the second semi-final yesterday between hosts Barbados and their bitter arch-rivals Trinidad & Tobago.
The Windwards have to settle for the Consolation Final, where they will meet the loser between the Barbadians and the Trinbagonians to play for third and fourth place.
Jamaica got a measured, if not flying start from openers Nkrumah Bonner and Danza Hyatt when they began the chase.
A pull for four through backward square leg off left-arm spinner Garey Mathurin got Hyatt off the mark before Bonner got into gear with an upper cut to third man and a hook – both for four – in an expensive first over from Nelon Pascal.
The two openers put on 33 before they were dismissed five balls apart. Hyatt was run out for 14, when he failed to beat Delorn Johnson’s throw to the ‘keeper going for a single, and Bonner was adjudged lbw for 19 playing back and across a well-pitched delivery.
The Jamaica got into further difficulty, when left-hander Shawn Findlay was caught behind edging a loose drive off Shane Shillingford’s off-spin leaving Jamaica 36 for three in the eighth over.
Bernard arrived and put his side back on track, hitting a six over long-on off Sebastien’s off-spin and the same bowler over mid-wicket for another six two overs later. Marlon Samuels was fortunate on 12, when Garey Mathurin dropped him at short third man off Sebastien.
Bernard found him a steady ally and they added 41 before the Jamaica captain was lbw playing back and across to the same bowler in the 15th over. Samuels was caught behind for 16 off Windwards and West Indies captain Darren Sammy in the 16th over, leaving Carlton Baugh Jr and Andre Russell to usher the side over the finish line.
Earlier, Jamaica got a fortuitous breakthrough in the third over, when Miles Bascombe was run out for a six-ball duck, forced to take a single when fellow opener Johnson Charles hared down on him. An unplayable in-swinging yorker from Santokie bowled Andre Fletcher for a duck three deliveries later to leave Windwards 12 for two.
Jamaica met resistance, when Devon Smith joined Charles and stemmed the flow of wickets before he was caught at short fine leg for six off Brown, top-edging a sweep. Four balls later, Brown struck again, when Charles was caught behind for 29, top edging a cut, leaving Windwards 36 for four.
The Jamaicans never allowed the Windwards to fully recover, although James and Liam Sebastien, with 19, added 43 for the fifth wicket.
Once Cotterrell bowled Sebastien for 11 in the 17th over and Sammy failed to produce his customary tail-end pyrotechnics, the Windwards’ innings faded miserably, as they lost four wickets for 22 inside the last four overs.
Scores: Windward Islands 98/8 (20/20 ov), Jamaica 99/5 (18.0/20 ov). Jamaica won by 5 wickets (with 12 balls remaining).
Serena turns on the power
Serena Williams was so dominant in her 6-1, 6-1 third-round win over Greta Arn at the Australian Open that there's probably only one shot she'll remember more than most.
At 5-0 and a point from winning the first set, Williams lined up in the ideal position for an overhead but then completely shanked it, spraying the ball wide. She screamed and put a hand over her face.
"It was an awkward smash. Then she missed one and I felt a little better," Williams said. "I felt like, 'Am I losing my mind out here?' Everyone sometimes hits a shot that's a little bit insane - you just got to allow yourself to get over it."
The 92nd-ranked Arn saved another set point before holding serve for the first time. Williams responded by winning the next five games before Arn held again. The match ended in 59 minutes yesterday, on consecutive double-faults by the Hungarian.
"I'm nowhere near where I want to be," said Williams, who has won her last 17 matches at Melbourne Park. "I'm just trying to play through it. A little rusty - just trying to play through my rust."
Williams has won the Australian Open five times, including back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010. She didn't get to defend her title last year due to injury.
sprained her left ankle
She badly sprained her left ankle in a warm-up tournament at Brisbane two weeks ago, casting doubt again on her participation at Melbourne, but the 13-time major winner has shown no signs of being restricted in her first three matches - she has only conceded 11 games.
Next up she faces Ekaterina Makarova, who beat fellow Russian and seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva earlier Saturday.
Williams is the only American left in the singles at the Australian Open after Vania King lost earlier to former French Open winner Ana Ivanovic - the last US man exited the tournament last Friday when John Isner lost in five sets to Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
"I'm definitely going to keep representing the flag and doing the best I can," Williams said.
Novak Djokovic won the last Australian title at the beginning of a 41-match unbeaten run and finished 2011 with the No. 1-ranking after winning three of the four major titles. He next plays two-time Grand Slam winner Lleyton Hewitt, who reached the round of 16 in his 16th Australian Open after beating No. 23-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 on his third match point in the night match.
Against a Frenchman with a reputation for playing long matches, Djokovic wasn't exactly generous with his time.
Djokovic ensured Nicolas Mahut had a 30th birthday he won't quickly forget, routing him 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 in 1 hour, 14 minutes. Mahut lost the longest match in Grand Slam history over 11 hours, 5 minutes against Isner at Wimbledon in 2010.
Mahut was slowed by a left leg injury, but continued the match because the previous matches on Rod Laver Arena were over so quickly.
Djokovic commended him: "I wish him happy birthday and hopefully tonight he can enjoy it."
Djokovic has won 24 straight sets at the Australian Open, and has lost 10 games in his first three matches this time.
"I always played well in Australia. This is the only Grand Slam I won twice," he said. "The conditions are great. They're very suitable to my style of the game, day and night. I'm really looking forward to next week."
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who lost the 2008 final here to Djokovic, beat Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
Like Djokovic, No. 4-ranked Andy Murray was also up against a French opponent and had no trouble advancing in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 over Michael Llodra.
In all six Frenchmen reached the third round, but only two of them advanced. Tsonga wasted hardly any time becoming the first of them to move into the round of 16 and will next play Kei Nishikori of Japan.
Nishikori became the first Japanese man to reach the fourth round in Melbourne in the Open era with a 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over unseeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau.
Richard Gasquet, the fourth highest-ranked Frenchman at No. 18, knocked out ninth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. He will play fifth-seeded David Ferrer, who lost the first four games against Juan Ignacio Chela before recovering to win 7-5, 6-2, 6-1.
biggest upset of the day
In the biggest upset of the day, No. 92-ranked Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan held off an ailing Gael Monfils, seeded 14th, 6-2, 7-5, 5-7, 1-6, 6-4.
On the women's side, two Wimbledon winners - Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova - advanced, but two top-10 players were among the five seeded players who went out.
Zvonareva was beaten 7-6 (7), 6-1 by Makarova and No. 9 Marion Bartoli lost 6-3, 6-3 to Zheng Jie of China, a former Australian Open semi-finalist.
Fourth-seeded Sharapova routed Germany's Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-2 to continue her fantastic start to the tournament. The 2008 Australian champion has only dropped five games in three rounds and next plays No. 14 Sabine Lisicki, who beat two-time major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Sharapova and Petra Kvitova are among the four women who can claim the No. 1 ranking at the end of the tournament. They could play each other in the semi-finals, although Kvitova insisted she hasn't looked that far ahead.
Kvitova reached the round of 16 when Maria Kirilenko retired with a left thigh injury while trailing 6-0, 1-0 after 38 minutes.
Grenada environment minister dismissed
Grenada’s Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, whose National Democratic Congress won 11 of 15 seats in the last general election, has fired a second minister in fewer than four years in office.
Informed sources said Joseph Gilbert, MP for St Patrick West, was told of his dismissal in a telephone call from the prime minister on Thursday morning.
Gilbert, who was appointed Minister for the Environment, Foreign Trade and Export Development last October, was awaiting confirmation of his dismissal in an official letter from Governor General Sir Carlyle Glean.
In 2010, Thomas dismissed his former Environment Minister Michael Church, MP for St John. Church subsequently resigned from cabinet after being offered a junior minister’s position by the prime minister.
The wheels were put in motion for Gilbert’s dismissal when Thomas, who is also MP for St Patrick East, summoned an emergency cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning.
A report out of St George’s quoted “an informed source close to the Office of the Prime Minister” as saying that Thomas told his cabinet colleagues that he had advised the governor general to revoke the appointment of Gilbert as a minister of government.
But a Wednesday evening written statement issued by the prime minister’s press secretary, Richard Simon, seemed to dismiss the idea that Thomas had actually fired Gilbert earlier in the day.
The statement said the Grenadian leader had “certain troubling information before him pertaining to what appears to be a serious breach of cabinet principles” involving Gilbert.
“The prime minister anticipates that he would come to a decision on this matter very shortly, whereupon he will duly inform his cabinet and the general public,” the statement said.
Thomas, in a brief nationally televised address on Thursday evening, confirmed the sacking of Gilbert. The prime ministers said he had “irrefutable, documented evidence” of misconduct on Gilbert’s part.
He revealed that in August 2011, while serving as Minister of Works, Public Utilities and Physical Development, Gilbert wrote a letter giving certain assurances to a foreign company that was interested in establishing a casino in Grenada.
Thomas said Gilbert did not seek cabinet’s approval in writing the letter, and accused the former minister of “irresponsible” behaviour.
The Grenadian leader promised to continue combating wrongdoing, adding that what was at stake was not the survival of his government but the preservation of “core values” relating to good governance.
However, the letter written by Gilbert and his firing are now being hotly debated by Grenadians, including legal experts.
One veteran St George’s attorney, who read the so-called letter, said he was “bemused” at the fuss that was being made.
“The letter has no binding effect, no legal consequences, on the government,” he said. “In my view, it is simply trying to keep the developer interested in Grenada and not bolting from the country at a time when jobs are so badly needed.”
When contacted, Gilbert declined to comment on the specifics of the issue, only saying that “I did no wrong; I breached nothing; I committed the government to nothing. I did my utmost as a minister, first in the Ministry of Works, and then in the Ministry of Environment. A priority for me is meeting the needs of the Grenadian people, and they have told me that one of their most urgent needs is jobs.”
Casino gambling, and possibly issuing a gaming licence, has been an ongoing debate in cabinet, and the matter is said to be still under review. Although Thomas has repeatedly stated his opposition to casino, cabinet has never taken a position on the matter.
On call-in radio talkshows and among internet bloggers, people have been commenting on the latest developments.
Many have expressed surprise at the prime minister’s response to Gilbert, comparing Thomas’ inaction to the move last year by Ministry of Finance officials who – without the knowledge and approval of cabinet – engaged representatives of Sewang One World in trying to get investment and development projects for Grenada.
As part of the Sewang discussions, the prime minister signed a memorandum of understanding that Finance Minister Nazim Burke later admitted should not have been signed by the Grenadian leader.
Caribbean News Now
Trinidad prime minister cleared by Integrity Commission
The Integrity Commission has cleared Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar of any wrongdoing in a complaint made alleging interference by her in the appointment of the director of the Financial Intelligence Unit.
The prime minister had previously in a statement made in Parliament clarified the basis on which she exercised her constitutional veto in this matter. Her decision was based on representation made by the Minister of Finance Winston Dookeran, who feared that the stability of the work undertaken by the Financial Intelligence Unit would be adversely affected by any sudden change at the helm.
Dookeran had commended the present acting director Susan Francios for her efforts in the strategic planning and management of the Financial Intelligence Unit and observed that this work would have contributed to the improved rating given to Trinidad and Tobago by the Financial Action Task Force.
Concerns had been raised by the opposition in Parliament that Trinidad and Tobago was blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force. The government rejected this and subsequently clarified that the country was not blacklisted, but had been placed on the “dark grey list” and were subject to the ICRG enhanced monitoring process.
In June 2011 at the plenary session of the Financial Action Task Force meeting, Trinidad and Tobago’s position was reviewed and was found to have taken action and showed progress and as such were upgraded to the “light grey” list and were not in danger of being sanctioned.
In a letter dated January 16, 2012, the Integrity Commission ruled that there was no breach of the Integrity in Public Life Act Chapter 22:01, and dismissed the complaint alleging interference in the appointment of Michelle Austin to the position of Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit.
US Presidential candidate allegedly linked to 1981 failed coup attempt in Dominica
In 1981, a lawyer tried to subpoena Ron Paul to testify in the trial of Don Black, a Grand Wizard for the Ku Klux Klan who would later go on to found the white supremacist, neo-Nazi website, Stormfront. Black was charged along with two other Klansmen with planning to violently overthrow the small Caribbean country of Dominica in what they called “Operation Red Dog.” While a judge refused to subpoena Paul, Don Black would come back to haunt him many years later.
In 1981 a group of American and Canadian white supremacists lead by Klansman and mercenary, Michael (Mike) Perdue planned on taking over a small West Indian country called Dominica by overthrowing the government and Prime Minister Eugenia Charles and restoring its previous prime minister, Patrick Johns into power. The group planned to create an Aryan paradise in Dominica and make money through casinos, cocaine and brothels.
On the day the group of white supremacists were supposed to travel to Dominica, they were arrested by ATF agents and were found with over thirty automatic weapons, shotguns, rifles, handguns, dynamite, ammunition, a confederate flag and a Nazi flag. The plan would be dubbed “The Bayou Of Pigs” after the failed invasion of Cuba.
The leader of the group, Michael Perdue, would plead guilty to planning the coup and turned state’s evidence. Perdue would testify that several other people helped organize and fund the coup and that two Texas politicians were aware of the plan. Among those Perdue implicated were infamous white supremacist, David Duke, former Texas Governor, John Connally and Congressman, Ron Paul whom he claimed knew about the plot. Connally was credited with helping Paul win his first congressional election.
A judge refused to subpoena Paul and Connally despite the fact that Perdue had claimed that both of them were aware of the plot. Don Black’s friend and fellow KKK Grand Wizard, David Duke was called to testify before a grand jury but claimed that he would take the Fifth Amendment and never testified. While Duke was never charged with a crime, several books points to Duke as the organizer who connected Perdue to the other mercenary Klansmen and the people who funded their endeavor. (1 2 3) Everyone else implicated by Perdue was charged with the plot.
Perdue implicated three men as funders of the plot, L.E. Matthews of Jackson, Mississippi, James C. White of Houston, and David Duke’s close friend and backer, J.W. Kirkpatrick. Kirpatrick would kill himself before he could stand trial and White and Matthews would be acquitted in court. Former Prime Minister of Dominica, Patrick Johns would be sentenced to 12 years in prison for his part of the plot. Michael Perdue, Don Black and seven other Klansmen would be sentenced to only 3 years in prison.
Ron Paul has never made a statement denying knowledge of the plot despite the fact that he was implicated by Perdue and almost subpoenaed. Two of the people involved in the plot, Don Black and David Duke have gone on to become two of the most prominent white supremacists of the modern era, and also two of Paul’s most controversial supporters.
Paul would be once again tied to Don Black 26 years after the Bayou Of Pigs. After it was revealed that Black donated $500 dollars to the Ron Paul Presidential campaign, Ron Paul’s campaign refused to give it back. Paul was photographed with Black and his son by David Duke’s former assistant, Jamie Kelso who was an organizer for Ron Paul and the owner of white supremacist sites, WhiteNewsNow.com and TheWhiteRace.com and a moderator for Black’s neo-Nazi website, Stormfront.
Black would become one of Paul’s most enthusiastic supporters and helped rally the white supremacist community around Paul, through Stormfront. Paul would praise another Operation Red Dog planner, David Duke in his newsletters and Duke would return the favor calling him “our king” and endorsing him for President.
This would not be the first time Paul was tied to white supremacists. In 80s, Paul claimed that the best source of his campaign donations came from a list from notorious neo-Nazi, Willis Carto’s publication, The Spotlight. In the 90s, Paul’s newsletters were originally discovered from an online neo-Nazi directory. As recently as 2006, Paul was scheduled to appear on David Duke’s white supremacist protégé, James Edwards’ radio show, “The Political Cesspool.”
Given the scrutiny given to presidential candidates, shouldn’t Paul’s connection to an attempted violent invasion of a small island by white supremacists be re-investigated. If the media investigates every accusation of affairs or sexual harassment for Herman Cain or Newt Gingrich, shouldn’t they investigate accusations that Paul knew about a white supremacist plot to violently overthrow the government of a small Black island, especially with Paul’s other connections to white supremacists?
Written by Casey Gane-McCalla, Lead Blogger
Newsone.com
US Envoy: Taliban Must Renounce Terrorism to Participate in Talks
A top U.S. diplomat visiting Afghanistan said Sunday the Taliban must renounce international terrorism and endorse peace initiatives if it wants to participate in negotiations to end the 10-year war.
Marc Grossman, the special U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, made the comment after talks with Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin.
“I am looking forward to the Taliban being clear about breaking ties with international terrorism, denouncing it, distancing themselves from it, and also to say that they are prepared to participate in an Afghan peace process where Afghans talk to Afghans about the future of Afghanistan.''
Grossman also endorsed a Taliban move to open a diplomatic office in Qatar, which is widely seen as a key step in starting a multi-lateral peace process. But he said Afghan Taliban participation in any such dialogue will require a clear commitment to end armed conflict.
“Afghanistan and the US support a peace process for Afghanistan. Efforts being made with Qatar to open an office for the Afghani Taliban need now to move to enable a conversation among Afghans for peace.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Ludin also voiced support for opening the Taliban office and said Kabul backs a possible U.S. move that would transfer some Taliban inmates from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) to Qatar.
“If the US decides to transfer these detainees to Qatar, to the extent that that means these people will be reunited with their families, the Afghan government will support that. But, as I said, if the US decides to do this, we will support it, but it is a decision for your (U.S.) government, but you will also have to ascertain the desire of the detainees themselves.”
Grossman said no decision has been made about the prisoner transfer.
“We haven't made any decisions and it's no surprise to any of you that this is an issue in the United States of law. First of all we have to meet the requirements of our law.''
Also Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with visiting French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet and once again expressed his condolences over the loss of four French soldiers killed Friday by their Afghan colleague. He said the Afghan Defense Ministry has been ordered to thoroughly investigate the incident.
Mr. Karzai thanked France for all of its assistance over the past ten years, calling France “an old and sincere historic friend” of the Afghan nation.
Longuet thanked the Afghan leader for his condolences and vowed that his country would continue to assist the people of Afghanistan.