Oprah, Louis Farrakhan visit Haiti
President Michel Martelly said he intends to ask American talk show host Oprah Winfrey to serve as a goodwill ambassador for Haiti to boost aid to the country.
He said the request would be made during her visit to the country this week. He is scheduled to meet with Winfrey today, a day after she arrived in the country.
Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced following the 2010 earthquake that devastated the country. Many continue to live in makeshift camps.
During her visit, Winfrey will visit a settlement camp for displaced people run by Hollywood actor Sean Penn and his aid group.
She is also expected to meet with American fashion designer Donna Karan.
Winfrey’s visit coincides with a five-day trip to the country by Louis Farrakhan, Leader of the African-American religious movement, Nation of Islam, who is looking at ways his organization can assist with rebuilding the country.
“I have longed throughout my life to set my foot in the sacred soil of Haiti,” Farrakhan told journalists.
Caribbean 360 News
MC Hammer Pays Off Financial Debt to IRS
Oakland bred rapper MC Hammer is reportedly being sued by the United States Government for $779,585 in back taxes owed from his earnings.
The money in contention dates back to 1996 to 1997, during the years in which Hammer was believed to be facing his worst financial problems, since he filed for bankruptcy in 1996.
But according to Hammer, he’s already taken care of the debt.
The rapper took to Twitter to assure fans and naysayers, that has proof that he took care of his debt with the IRS.
“700k … Don’t get too excited .. I paid them already and kept my receipt. Stamped by a US Federal Judge,” Hammer Tweeted from his Twitter account @MCHammer.
Despite his bankruptcy claim in 1996 due to $13 million worth of debt, just half a decade earlier in 1991, Forbes Magazine had estimated the rapper’s net worth at over $33 million dollars.
Hammer, who is known for his hit songs “U Can’t Touch This” and “Too Legit to Quit,” admittedly mismanaged his finances during that period.
“I didn’t just take money and say, ‘I want to be a blessing to myself,’” he said. “I took my money and employed 200 people in my community. I had a payroll of a million dollars a month at times.”
allhiphop
Jermaine Dupri Sued Over Repossessed Lamborghini
Rap mogul Jermaine Dupri is at the center of a lawsuit over his 2005 Lamborghini Murcielago.
Premier Financial Services recently filed a lawsuit against the So So Def mogul in Georgia Superior Court, claiming he has failed to make payments on the car.
According to the lawsuit, Jermaine Dupri made a $70,000 down payment on the car and financed the remainder of the luxury vehicle at a price of $330,000.
He was to make 58 payments at a cost of $4,323, but around 2009, the mogul defaulted on the loan.
The lawsuit claims that Jermaine Dupri still owes almost $80,000 on the Lamborghini.
According to reports, Jermaine Dupri’s Lamborghini has already been repossessed and sold for $115,000, but the company is suing the rapper/producer for $79,095 damages.
allhiphop
More Carnival bands next year
he newly built Carnival seating facilities at the Queen’s Park Savannah which was completed at a cost of more than $50 million in time for Carnival activities this year, is being “tweaked” to make it better for patrons attending Carnival activities come 2012. Minister of Arts and Multiculturism, Winston Gypsy Peters said on Saturday.
Peters was at the time fielding questions from reports at the Launch of Carnival 2012, at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain. According to Peters, “We are enhancing the facilities and making it better. This needs a little tweaking here and there so we are improving on the facilities,” Peters said.
According to Peters, Carnival 2012 is going to be branded “The Real Thing”. He said he is expecting a bigger, better Carnival 2012 with more tourists than ever before. He noted that people should feel safer because the recently disbanded state of emergency (SoE) had a positive effect on the country. Peters said, “The National Carnival Bands Commission (NCBA) has confirmed that there will be more bands on the road next year, so Carnival is going to be bigger. Carnival is going to be safe, innovative and vibrant. It is going to be a spectacle to behold; it’s going to be a bigger, better Carnival. People should feel safer being in Trinidad and Tobago today.
Last year had a record-breaking visitorship in the country and we had more crime than we have now.
There is no reason why we should not have more people now in the country; the SoE has had a positive effect on the country.”
Questioned on the Carnival routes Peters said unless the routes are expanded to other places in the city, routes will always be a problem. “The routes will always be a problem, there is nothing that we can do because Carnival keeps expanding and every year we get larger bands and the fact is that this is what we are going to have unless and until we expand the routes to other places in the city,” he said.
While the government increased prize monies for all the major Carnival competitions this year, Peters confirmed that last year’s $2 million was a “one off”. “There will be no $2 million prize monies next year.
We made it clear this year that it was a one off thing. The government could only do what we could do,” Peters said.
US box office hits three-year low
The US box office has suffered its lowest takings in three years, despite the pulling power of romantic comedy New Year's Eve's all-star cast.
The film, featuring the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Halle Berry, Robert De Niro and Ashton Kutcher debuted at number one with just $13.7m (£8.8m).
Jonah Hill comedy The Sitter opened at number two with just $10m (£6.4m).
The poor weekend leaves total box office revenues for 2011 about four percent down compared to last year.
"It's unbelievable how bad it is," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
The last two weeks have been the lowest-performing at the US box office for the entire year.
Cinema-goers spent $77.4m (£49.5m) on tickets over the weekend, down from $81m (£52m) the previous week.
Reviews for New Year's Eve, a follow-up to box office hit Valentine's Day, were not kind.
The London Evening Standard said: "This is one of those unusual films that's more boring than life."
Time magazine added: "Neither nicely written, nor nicely acted nor nicely made."
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 found itself in in third place with takings of $7.9m (£5.1m).
The fourth film in the vampire franchise has made around $260m (£167m) in the US so far.
Disney's The Muppets took fourth place for the weekend with $7.1m (£4.5m) and British comedy animation Arthur Christmas took the fifth spot with $6.6m (£4.2m). Its total earnings in the US now stand at $33.5m (£21.5m).
Next weekend sees the release of Hollywood's end-of-year blockbusters with Robert Downey Jr returning in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and the family film Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.
Also on the horizon are Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Shaggy supports Jamaica Jazz and Blues
The Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival was hailed by a musical superstar as one of the remaining bastions in support of not just reggae music but other musical genres and culture as a whole.
Alerting the music world he was about to deliver “real talk,” Shaggy, the Jamaican dancehall hit-maker and Grammy winner, spoke frankly about the importance of the 2012 festival in promoting reggae music, while others around the world turn the volume down on the Jamaican art form.
The Grammy award-winning artist, one of several top Jamaican acts headlining the bill for the 2012 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, was speaking to a spellbound audience at the New York launch of the 16th annual festival set for January 26 to 28, 2012 at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium in Jamaica.
“In Europe there are only three remaining festivals,” he lamented. “At one point there were 15. This is …something we need to change for ourselves.”
Shaggy’s appearance at the 2012 festival will be part of a Thursday night tribute to Jamaica’s golden anniversary of independence as organizers highlight Jamaica’s rich musical sounds over the past 50 years.
Shaggy, affectionately known as “Mr. Bombastic”, Richie Stephens and a slate of top Jamaican reggae musicians are expected to deliver some of their classic hits and newer material at the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival.
“I call this the Shaggy festival,” he joked, “and I’m really looking forward to once again being part of the event.”
Noting the importance of the host destination the star remarked, “There is a cool factor that comes with brand Jamaica – we are a small country but we have an exceptional brand. And that brand comes with this enormous cool factor which we need to market to its fullest.”
Shaggy added events such as the Jazz and Blues Festival attract not only music-loving visitors, but also investors to the island. “In so doing, we create revenue and jobs.”
The international headliner also declared the creation of jobs brought another critical contribution: “when you eliminate poverty, you eliminate crime.”
Walter Elmore, chairman of the event producers, Art of Music Productions Ltd, predicted next year’s festival will be “the biggest event Jamaica has ever seen. We are extremely happy and proud of the fact that the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival kicks off a year-long series of major events in celebration of Jamaica’s 50th Anniversary of Independence.”
“We are promising to deliver an event that will make both the Jazz Festival and the Independence celebrations unforgettable experiences,” Elmore stated.
Multi-platinum, five-time Grammy award-winning, Celine Dion, headlines a top talent line-up which brings to the stage Nicole Henry, Jully Black, Earl Klugh, Heads of State, Cee-Lo Green, The Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards, Destra, and Jamaica’s finest musical talent, including Shaggy, Richie Stephens, John Holt, Yellow Man, Half Pint, Tessanne Chin and Tami Chynn, Marcia Griffiths, Lloyd Parkes and We The People, George Nooks, Luciano, Mykal Rose, AJ Brown, Freddy McGregor, Pluto Shervington, Etana, Chris Martin, and Marcia Barrett (Boney M).
Caribbean News Now
Commissioners of Police attend Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP) was held in Christ Church, Barbados
Present at the meeting were Commissioners from Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Turks & Caicos Islands. Bermuda and Jamaica were represented by their respective Deputy Commissioners.
Apologies for absence were received from the Commissioners of Police of Anguilla, Aruba, Grenada and United States Virgin Islands.
At the Opening Ceremony, the Acting Commissioner of Barbados, Mr. Birdie Hinds welcomed participants and reminded the Commissioners that the focus of this inter-sessional meeting was the delivery of community based policing and combating organised crime for the survival of the region. The President of the ACCP, Commissioner Ellison Greenslade, QPM, MBA in his brief remarks said that he was pleased for the ACCP to be here in Barbados to discuss with partners regional crime issues and the importance of partnerships in crime fighting.
HE Ruth Archibald, the Canadian High Commissioner in her remarks expressed the importance of police training and that Canada had funded a recent senior command course. Mr Phil Culligan, Deputy British High Commissioner Barbados identified the importance of donor country coordination and the importance of partnerships in fighting crime. Mr Christopher Sandrolini, Charge d'Affaires, Embassy of the United States Barbados identified the importance of the role of the ACCP in coordinating regional crime fighting efforts.
The key note address by the Hon. Adriel Braithwaite MP, Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs, Barbados stressed the importance of engaging strategic partners in the fight against crime. His comprehensive and wide ranging address covered drug and firearms trafficking, seizing criminal assets, the need for effective witness protection program, videotaping of suspect interviews, witness engagement, intelligence sharing, community policing and schools programmes, complaints against police and police integrity.
In the plenary sessions of the meeting the following was presented and discussed:
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Community based policing and its impact on community safety
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Regional approach to dealing with organised crime and attendant challenges
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Obtaining forensic evidence from bank notes and other items
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A framework for regional cooperation for training and development
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A regional approach to ethics and integrity education
The meeting received reports from:
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Carnival Cruise Lines and Cruise Lines International Association on crimes committed on board cruise ships
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Regional Security System
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Federal Bureau of Investigation
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Drug Enforcement Administration
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Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms
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Serious and Organised Crime Agency
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US Department of State INL
Among the topics/subject areas presented and discussed at the business sessions were:
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Minutes of the 26th AGM of the ACCP held in Antigua and Barbuda in 9th-12th May 2011;
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Secretary/Treasurer Financial Report;
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Review of ACCP Permanent Secretariat;
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Post of Secretariat Manager;
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Proposal for a new IT Environment at the Permanent Secretariat;
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Discussion on 2012 Conference to be held in the Bahamas 21st – 25th May, 2012.
During the meeting Mr. Arnaldo Martinez, Systems Sales Manager Caribbean Region of Motorola Solutions Inc awarded ten scholarships to the under-mentioned children of police officers in the Caribbean:
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Kerry-Ann Jacobs Antigua & Barbuda
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Hermon Harewood Barbados
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Jason Wilkinson Barbados
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Jamika Yearwood Barbados
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Lybron Sobers Barbados
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Ranaldo Sealey Barbados
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Michelle-Ann Segura Belize
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Calber Francis Jr Jamaica
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Chamion Golding Jamaica
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Kerlyn Williams St. Christopher & Nevis
The ACCP is deeply indebted to the Government of Barbados and the Royal Barbados Police Force in providing assistance to the ACCP Permanent Secretariat who organised the meeting and to the Divi Southwinds Resort for the venue.
Armed robbery on South Dock Road
Police in Providenciales were kept rather busy this past weekend, with one of their call-outs being in response to an armed robbery.
Media relations Officer, Detective Inspector Calvin Chase reported to RTC News that on Saturday night the 10th of December, the Police responded to
a report of a robbery at gunpoint on South Dock Road, where a male subject was shot and robbed of a computer by a masked gunman.
The victim was treated for his non-life-threatening injury at the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre and released. The investigation is continuing.
The Police are asking for the public's assistance as it relates to this incident. Anyone with information is requested to contact the Police at 946-4259; 999 or through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-8477 or through a web tip on www.crimestoppers Turks and Caicos on facebook.
A couple was accosted and the female subsequently sexually assaulted by armed bandits in Provo
Police in Providenciales are seeking the public's help in apprehending and bring to justice the culprits responsible for the robbery of a couple and
the subsequent sexual assault of the female.
Police reported to RTC News that on Saturday night 10th December 2011 a couple was accosted along South Dock Road Providenciales by an armed subject.
The couple was forced to drive to an area off the South Dock road where Police say two additional male subjects became involved. The driver of the vehicle was robbed of his personal belongings and had his vehicle stolen.
The female was taken to the nearby bushes where she was sexually assaulted by one of the males before he made good his escape.
The investigation is being conducted by the Criminal Investigation Division and the Sexual Offence / Domestic Violence unit. Meanwhile, Police are cautioning persons traveling in the area of the South Dock road to use extreme caution in slowing to pick up persons or parking in unlit, unpopulated areas. They are also advising persons to
keep their vehicle doors locked at all times and only open for persons known to them.
The Police are asking for the public's assistance as it relates to this incident. Persons with any information which may be of assistance are asked to contact the Police at one of the following telephone numbers 946-4259 or 999. They can also utilize Crime Stoppers by contacting 1-800-8477 or through a web tip on www.crimestoppers Turks and Caicos on facebook.
Police in Provo execute a routine stop and search which led to cocaine and cash being seized
Police in Provo also reported that on Friday night, the 9th December 2011, during the execution of a routine stop and search on a vehicle and its passengers, information was gleaned which led to the execution of a search warrant at a premise in the Bight area.
The subsequent search resulted in a significant quantity of suspected cannabis, cocaine and cash being seized.
Two men and three women were arrested at the time and the investigation is continuing. Charges are anticipated to be laid later this week.