Suspected US drone 'kills three militants' in Pakistan
A US drone attack has killed at least three suspected militants in north-west Pakistan, intelligence officials say.
They say the drone fired two missiles close to a compound in the town of Miranshah in the North Waziristan tribal region, near the Afghan border.
North and South Waziristan are regularly targeted by drone missiles.
The US says the region provides sanctuary to al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents who are involved in attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan.
In August, a drone attack killed at least 21 militants in North Waziristan. Among the dead were several foreigners believed to be part of the Haqqani network.
Drone attacks have escalated in the region since President Barack Obama took office in 2008. More than 100 raids were reported in the area last year.
The US does not routinely confirm drone operations, but analysts say only American forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft in the region.
Pakistan publicly criticises drone attacks, saying they fuel support for militants. But observers say the authorities privately condone the strikes, although there have been recent signs that they want to limit the scope of such attacks.
A number of militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the raids, but many civilians have also died.
Source:BBC
Bhutan king Wangchuk marries commone
The 31-year-old king of the Himalayan nation of Bhutan has married his commoner bride in a Buddhist ceremony at a 17th Century monastery.
The British-educated Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck came down from his throne to place a crown upon the head of 20-year-old student Jetsun Pema.
As the monks chanted, the king returned to the seat and Ms Pema sat upon the throne beside him as the new queen.
Wangchuck is widely revered in the country of some 700,000 people.
After a brief ceremony, the king and his bride held hands and walked into the monastery.
An hour of blessings and prayers marked the marriage ceremony, reports said.
The king, who has been educated in India and Britain, took over after the abdication in 2006 of his father, who began the country's democratic transition.
In March 2008, Bhutan became a constitutional monarchy and the king relinquished his absolute powers.
A biography released by the palace listed her interests as fine arts, painting and basketball.
Source:BBC
Cruz, Rangers beat Tigers, take 3-1 lead in ALCS
Nelson Cruz made a rocket throw to keep the score tied, then hit a crushing three-run homer in the 11th inning off Jose Valverde that helped send the Texas Rangers over the Detroit Tigers 7-3 Wednesday night for a 3-1 lead in the AL championship series.
Cruz, whose grand slam in the 11th inning won Game 2, once again starred for the Rangers in a game delayed at the start for more than two hours by rain.
With Detroit runners at the corners in the eighth and the score 3-all, Cruz caught Delmon Young’s fly ball to right field and made a strong peg to catcher Mike Napoli to nail Miguel Cabrera.
Napoli blooped a go-ahead single in the 11th and Cruz soon added his fourth home run of the ALCS. Cruz became the first player in major league history to hit a pair of extra-inning homers in the same postseason series.
Texas tries for its second consecutive AL pennant on Thursday, sending C.J. Wilson to the mound to face Detroit ace Justin Verlander.
The ALCS has marked quite a turnaround for Cruz. After going just 1 for 15 in the first-round playoff win over Tampa Bay, he’s 5 for 14 with 9 RBIs in only four games against the Tigers—and seven of those RBIs have come in the 11th inning alone.
Brandon Inge(notes) hit a solo home run in the Detroit seventh that tied it. The Tigers wasted a terrific chance an inning later following some risky Texas strategy.
With one out and nobody on, the Rangers intentionally walked Cabrera, practically daring the rest of the struggling Detroit lineup to beat them. Victor Martinez, who hurt his ribcage on a home run swing in Game 3, followed with a single to right and Cabrera lumbered around to third.
Young, another Tigers starter who has been banged up lately, managed to lift the ball to medium right. Cruz caught it and made a perfect, one-hop throw to the plate that beat Cabrera by several feet.
Cabrera bowled over Napoli, to no avail. Napoli held onto the ball and Cabrera never touched the plate.
Austin Jackson was hit by a pitch with one out in the Detroit 10th, but Napoli threw him out stealing, and reliever Scott Feldman made it through the inning without further trouble.
Feldman got the win and Texas closer Neftali Feliz worked the 11th.
NBA, players heading to federal mediation
The NBA and its locked-out players will use the same federal mediator who tried to resolve the NFL’s labor dispute months before it eventually ended.
George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, announced Wednesday that he will oversee negotiations between the NBA and the NBA Players Association. Those meetings will start next Tuesday in New York.
Cohen said he already has been in contact with representatives of both sides “for a number of months.”
“I have participated in separate, informal, off-the-record discussions with the principals representing the NBA and the NBPA concerning the status of their collective bargaining negotiations,” Cohen said in a statement issued by the Washington-based FMCS.
It is evident that the ongoing dispute will result in a serious impact, not only upon the parties directly involved, but also, of major concern, on interstate commerce—i.e., the employers and working men and women who provide services related to the basketball games, and, more generally, on the economy of every city in which those games are scheduled to be played.”
Cohen was present for talks between NFL owners and players for 16 days in February and March but couldn’t bring them to agreement. When that mediation broke off March 11, the union disbanded, players sued owners in federal court, and the league locked out players.
After negotiations resumed later—including with a different, court-appointed mediator—a new NFL collective bargaining agreement was completed and signed in August.
The NBA’s labor talks stalled Monday, and the league announced it was calling off the first two weeks of its regular season, which was supposed to begin on Nov. 1.
The preseason was wiped out earlier.
Cohen was appointed director of the FMCS, an independent U.S. government agency, by President Barack Obama in 2009. The next year, Cohen helped broker a deal between Major League Soccer and its players just before the season was scheduled to begin, earning kudos from both the commissioner and players’ union.
As a labor lawyer, Cohen played a key role in ending the most notorious professional sports work stoppage in U.S. history, the baseball strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series. In 1995, as lead lawyer for the baseball players’ union, he helped win an injunction against the sport’s owners from U.S. District Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor—who is now a Supreme Court justice— ending the 7 1/2 -month strike.
Source;AP
International Day for Disaster Reduction 2011
International Day for Disaster Reduction 2011
In a statement released to RTC News on Disaster Reduction, the Director released the following:
Each year on October 13th, International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) is celebrated around the world with a goal of raising awareness on Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR), and is a call for singular global action.
This year’s theme is “Making Youth Partners for Disaster Risk Reduction”.
While natural hazards are on the rise, more and more people also suffer from the related catastrophes, with children among the most traumatized with some 66 million children affected every year.
Young people’s ability to cope with unexpected and painful interruptions to their regular schedules is still not fully developed, hence the need to involve those most at risk in effective risk management is widely acknowledged.
Too often a valuable resource is overlooked as children and young persons are viewed just as victims of hazardous event and climate change. Participation in disaster risk reduction and decision making should be encouraged, and the process must begin to define DRR as a wider community issue that requires the participation of all and particularly the most vulnerable.
The spotlight is now being shone on youth as potential disaster risk reduction facilitators.
Support and information needed for them to become participants, decision makers and implementers in the DRR process will be provided by the United Nations Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) with the support and cooperation of partners within the ISDR framework. With this in mind, we here in the Turks and Caicos Islands must invest in and involve the youth of this nation in DRR to ensure a safer TCI, and to celebrate IDDR we will, in collaboration with the Department of Youth and the Department of Education, have an art competition for the primary schools, an inter high school disaster management quiz and a youth debate involving members of the youth parliament.
Thank You.
The following was a release sent to RTC News from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Safety, Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies.
Advisory Council review
The Advisory Council met on Wednesday 5 October at the NJS Francis Building, Grand Turk.
The Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Judith Campbell and the Director of Health Services, Dr Rufus Ewing presented a paper on the current health care system and the challenges it faces.
The presentation noted that the current situation in health care is unaffordable and unsustainable and set out a number of options. Council members welcomed the paper and discussed its contents. They agreed that urgent action was needed. They asked the Ministry of Health to do further work on the options in the paper and to present them with
costings to the next Advisory Council meeting. In order to facilitate public discussion on the issues in the health care sector the report (entitled: Public Statement of Health Funding Challenges) will be published on the TCI Government website www.gov.tc for the public to view
while the remaining work is completed by the Ministry of Health.
The Council supported recommendations from the National Insurance Board to enact legislative amendments to the National Insurance Regulation, following the 6th Actuarial Review Report on
the TCI National Insurance Fund and agreed that they should be brought into effect. NIB undertook to give further information to the public about changes in pensions and to communicate directly with individuals affected. The Actuarial report has already been published on the TCI Government website http://www.gov.tc/portal/page/portal/G2G.
Governor Todd updated the Council on discussions which the TCI Government is having with developers about a proposed development on West Caicos. A consultation document on the development proposal will be presented to the Advisory Council at the next meeting and then
published for consultation.
The Council was briefed on a proposal for a new 250-300 room hotel with conference facilities in Grace Bay. As the TCI is one of the few Caribbean destinations without a European style hotel development at present, Council members agreed that the proposal could benefit the TCI.
It would mark a diversification of the tourist sector from a condominium based model and into another distinct area that could attract a new market. TCInvest will lead negotiations, in close consultation with the Governor’s office, with the developers on behalf of TCIG.
A paper was presented to the Council on the preparations required to enable elections to be held towards the end of 2012. Preparations will commence in October 2011 and will involve a number of activities including creation and update of Ordinances on: the elections process;
constituency boundaries; and the conduct of political parties in elections. Additional support to TCIG in developing new electoral measures and legislative drafting is being funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The next Advisory Council will be held on Wednesday 19 October 2011 in Providenciales.
LIMEs contribution to The House of Jeritt
The House of Jeritt is home to Jeritt Fashions, a fashion designing company originally from the Turks & Caicos Islands. Fashion Designer Jeritt Jermell Williams’ work has won top awards for three consecutive years at The Miss Turks & Caicos Pageant in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and his work has also been featured in numerous fashion shows and magazines of the Turks & Caicos Islands.
LIME has once again demonstrated its commitment to the Turks & Caicos Islands and is always pleased to see the youth of the Turks & Caicos making progress in their lives and will continue to support the educational and professional development of our nation’s people.
As Mr. Williams sets off to exhibit his work in the Bahamas, LIME has endeavored to contribute to his success. He stated that “I will be able to show the world what “The beautiful by nature Turks & Caicos Islands” has to offer.” LIME is a proud sponsor of his award-winning work.
General Manager, Mr. Drexwell Seymour commented, “In supporting Mr. Williams as LIME has supported other ventures in the community, we believe that this gives a boost of confidence in our youth who are striving ambitiously to succeed and LIME believes in giving whole- heartedly back to the society in order for prosperous change to occur.”
LIME is the Caribbean's largest telecommunications company with a proud history in the region, and which is always working to improve life in the Caribbean. LIME delivers the very best communication services to governments, businesses and families in 13 Caribbean countries with one unifying promise—building, connecting and serving communities. LIME is part of Cable & Wireless Communications PLC, one of the world's leading communications companies.
NIB TO CUT PENSIONS
A 15 percent increase in retirement, invalidity, disablement and survivor’s pension, granted by the former Progressive National Party (PNP) administration in 2007, is to see a partial roll-back as audits sanctioned by the Interim Government found that the decision was illegal under the Ordinance, and therefore has slashed it by 50 percent.
Now instead of receiving the 15 percent beneficiaries will take home 7.5 percent of that increase. This was disclosed by Director for the National Insurance Board (NIB) Colin Heartwell, at a news conference held inside the NIB Board Room on Providenciales, Thursday (October 6).
“In 2007, a ministerial directive was implemented without being legally sanctioned and pensioners between July 2007 and October 2010 were granted a 15% increase in Retirement, Invalidity, Disablement and Survivor’s Pensions that they weren’t legally entitled to receive. This pension increase will be reduced by 7.5 percent,” Heartwell said.
The adjustment, according to Heartwell, will impact approximately 242 beneficiaries across the islands.
Similarly, the NIB said it will also halt the collection of voluntary contributions by non-residents, since that could open the door for what it termed as abuse of the system.
According to Heartwell, contributors are qualified for pension payment after ten years paying into the NIB. And knowing this, a number of non-residents who once worked under ten years in the Turks and Caicos Islands, were still making what are called voluntary contributions with the aim of qualifying for pensions.
“That is not the standard process of operating in the region. Normally, a person has to live in the country to qualify for making voluntary contributions. So if you work for ten years in the country, you automatically entitled, wherever you live in the world (for pension), and many pensioners that we have are not living here; they are living in other areas.
Those people who have not yet met the minimum requirements to receive a pension, can under the current law, make voluntary contributions to bring their total years of contribution to ten years. We are going to eliminate that loophole for people who are living abroad and didn’t qualify.
So, it is going to be only for those people living in the country, who haven’t made, and then, they can make voluntary contributions to bring their total to 10 years.”
According to Heartwell, this group of contributors living overseas has seen some growth over the years, saying that it could pose a potential risk for abuse. He noted that the contributions collected from persons living abroad and not qualified under the new regime, will be used to benefit contributors living in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Source: The Sun
Conrad Murray drops claim Jackson swallowed propofol
Lawyers for Dr Conrad Murray have stepped back from claims that Michael Jackson swallowed a fatal dose of propofol when he was out of sight.
The claim had been a key argument in Dr Murray's defence against charged over the superstar's death. They may still argue he injected the dose himself.
The change came a day after the doctor who performed Jackson's autopsy said he could not have self-administered it.
Dr Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
If convicted Dr Murray could face up to four years in prison and the loss of his medical licence.
Both the prosecution and Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor appeared surprised by Wednesday's disclosure, reports said.
'Trivial' effect
J Michael Flanagan, one of Dr Murray's lawyers, said he had commissioned a study about the effects of swallowed propofol.
Mr Flanagan said the effects from swallowing propofol, a powerful anaesthetic that Dr Murray injected to relieve Jackson's insomnia, would be "trivial".
"We are not going to assert at any time during this trial that Michael Jackson orally administered propofol," Mr Flanagan said.
The disclosure was made in court but not in front of jurors, the Associated Press reported.
Lead defence lawyer Ed Chernoff said during opening statements on 27 September that his team would try to show that Jackson gave himself the fatal dose of propofol.
On Tuesday, Dr Christopher Rogers said it was more likely Jackson's Dr Murray mistakenly gave Jackson too much of the drug in an effort to help him sleep.
"The circumstances, from my point of view, do not support self-administration of propofol," the chief of forensic medicine at the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office said.
Source:BBC
Rihanna on Esquire Magazine cover - "Sexiest Woman Alive"
Rihanna has no doubt creating weaves over the last two years, with her music, videos, her performances on her "loud: tour and not to mention her mood of dress. Rihanna is not considered the " Sexiest Woman Alive 2011", a honour that she totally deserves.
In the November issue of Esquire Magazine , which will hit stand on October 16, Rihanna pose tastefully "Nude" for the cover.
In the issue she talks about her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown. "It's incredible to see how he pulled out of it the way he did. Even when the world seemed like it was against him, you know? I really like the music he's putting out. I'm a fan of his stuff. I've always been a fan. Obviously, I had some resentment toward him for a while, for obvious reasons. But I've put that behind me. It was taking up too much of my time. It was too much anger. I'm really excited to see the breakthrough he's had in his career. I would never wish anything horrible for him. Never. I never have."
She also spoke about how she felt about the people of her native country Barbados.
Early on in your career, you used the word hate a lot when describing the way the people of Barbados responded to your success.
"I grew to realize that that hate was just pride. I realized that it's a part of our culture. I'm always representing Barbados. All over the world, no matter what I was doing, no matter what I achieved, no matter what award it was, I always shouted them out. So, I started making them feel like, "This is our girl. If people in the UK could get this excited about her, what's wrong with us?"
About her love for her Country and the place she grew up "Kensington Oval""I travel everywhere in the world and nothing feels like this place. And it all started two streets over from this oval where I grew up, where I was raised, right there in Westbury — singing in the shower, annoying my neighbors"
Rihanna on the topic of "sex"
At the end of a concert, I don't feel like I've been this sexy thing. Really, I don't even think about it.
Unless it's a song that really calls for it, like "Skin" or "S&M," or when I cover "Darling Nikki." There's a section that's called "Sex" in the show, which is the obvious section for sexuality.
Like, really? Honestly, even if it comes across sexual — it has to be a part of my subconscious thought. It's never deliberate in the rest of the show. I don't even really... I could see "What's My Name?" — the dancing is pretty sexy. "Rude Boy." But I don't know. I guess people find different things sexy.