Warner rejects Qatar vote claims
Recently resigned FIFA vice-president and Concacaf boss, T&T’s Jack Warner has described as “nonsense” claims by one of his close associates that he voted for Qatar instead of the USA to be hosts of the 2022 World Cup. Warner was, until his resignation last month three weeks after his provisional suspension on corruption charges, president of the CONCACAF confederation made up of countries from North and Central America and the Caribbean, as well as a FIFA vice-president and Caribbean Football Union boss. As CONCACAF president it would have been shocking for Warner to have backed Qatar over the USA, one of the countries in his confederation. But Patrick John, president of the Dominica Football Association and a long-time ally of Warner, claims that he did vote for Qatar - and that the charges against Warner were a result of a conspiracy organised in response by the USA and England.
John told local radio in Dominica: “The whole thing is a conspiracy against Jack Warner. Jack promised the United States to push for the World Cup but when the thing came along at FIFA level Jack supported Qatar. That hurt the United States. “Jack promised the English FA to push for the World Cup for them, but Jack sided with Russia so these two federations are up in arms against Jack, they are the only federations making trouble.” Warner insisted that was not the case, saying in an email: “If Mr John did say so then that is nonsense but I imagine that one day all of this foolishness will come to an end.” Warner and fellow FIFA member Mohamed Bin Hammam were provisionally suspended after being charged with bribery. It was alleged they organised cash gifts totalling one million US dollars to Caribbean officials while Bin Hammam was campaigning for the FIFA presidency. Bin Hammam expressed his hope that he will receive a fair hearing when he appears before FIFA’s ethics committee later this month.
The 62-year-old said he was disappointed by “continuous leaks of confidential information”. He said on his Web site: “I am still looking for and hoping to receive a fair hearing—one which will not be influenced by any political agenda or motivation.” Bin Hammam repeated his earlier claim that “there has been a bias against me”. FIFA’s ethics committee will meet on July 22 and 23 to hear the case against Bin Hammam, who had been the Asian confederation president until his suspension. The investigations by the committee have been completed and their report has been sent to the Qatari. The ethics committee will also hear the cases of Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, the two Caribbean Football Union officials who were also suspended. FIFA dropped the investigation against Warner following his resignation from football-related activities, saying he was no longer under their jurisdiction.
Argentina booed off after goalless draw
Hosts Argentina remain winless at the 2011 Copa America after being held to a 0-0 draw by Colombia in Sante Fe on Wednesday.
The result left Sergio Batista's team second in Group A on two points, with Hernan Gomez's Colombia leading the way on four.
Striker Dayro Moreno wasted a golden opportunity to give Colombia all three points, but the 25-year-old could only fire wide from 12 yards with the goal gaping.
It was another frustrating result for two-time world champions Argentina, after La Albiceleste could only draw 1-1 with Bolivia in their opening match.
Despite calling on attacking talents such as FIFA Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi, Manchester City's Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero of Atletico Madrid, Argentina were unable to truly trouble Luis Martinez in the Colombia goal.
The home team's night was summed up on 80 minutes, when Barcelona's Messi blazed a free kick 20 yards over the crossbar from the corner of the penalty area.
A win for Bolivia in Thursday's other Group A clash against Costa Rica will mean Argentina have to secure three points in their final group game -- against Costa Rica -- to stand any chance of progressing into the quarterfinals.
"No one expected this kind of game," Batista told the tournament's official web site. "Nothing comes out the way we expected.
"We have a game against Costa Rica, and we can have five points to qualify. We need to keep calm, think it is a final and come out with this mentality."
Batista, who was part of Argentina's World Cup winning squad in 1986, also defended Messi, who has struggled to replicate his stunning club form for the national team.
"He has no space because opponents know how to play and close in the defence."
West Indies fall for 204
Fast bowler Ishant Sharma took 5-77 and offspinner Harbhajan Singh claimed his 400th test wicket at Windsor Park as India bowled out West Indies for 204 on a rain-hit day two yesterday of the third and final cricket test. Wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh top-scored with 60 while Darren Bravo completed an even 50. Harbhajan grabbed 2-26 while swing bowler Praveen Kumar took 2-22. India reached 8-0 before showers and bad light ended play a quarter hour after tea. Rain, which limited the first day to just 31.1 overs, caused a delayed start to day two proceedings but India hit swiftly once play got under way 50 minutes late. Left-handers Bravo and veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul stretched their fourth-wicket partnership to 52 before Munaf Patel made the crucial breakthrough. Chanderpaul, in his record 133rd test for West Indies, nibbled at a good length delivery outside off stump and edged to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The 36-year-old compiled 23 off 59 balls.
West Indies slumped to 99-5 soon after when Kumar bowled Marlon Samuels (9) off the inside edge.
But Bravo batted with grit and determination and Baugh played with enterprise to stall the visitors’ charge. The pair added 59 either side of lunch, emerging after the break with a boundary-laden attack that had India on the back foot. Bravo collected his 50 off 130 deliveries but Sharma removed him a few balls later. Bravo, who struck eight fours in 197 minutes, pushed outside off stump and edged to Dhoni, celebrating his 30th birthday. Baugh found another useful ally in captain Darren Sammy after the loss of Bravo. The pair shared a stand of 41 before Sammy's dismissal sparked a slide in which the final four wickets tumbled for five runs. Sammy lashed three fours and a six in 20 off 23 balls before he prodded to short leg for Harbhajan’s 399th wicket.
One run later, Harbhajan was celebrating his landmark wicket when Baugh was bowled trying to square cut a delivery too close to him. The pint-sized Jamaican hit seven fours and a six off 79 balls. Harbhajan, who turned 31 last Sunday, is the third Indian to 400 wickets (and 11th overall) following seamer Kapil Dev (434) and legspinner Anil Kumble (619). Sharma wrapped up the innings with tailenders Fidel Edwards (3) and Devendra Bishoo (0) falling to short balls that were deflected onto the stumps.
Edwards tried an ugly pull while left-hander Bishoo tried to ride a lifter. Sharma’s third five-wicket haul in his 34th test carried his series tally to 21. Light rain brought an early tea before India emerged to begin their reply. The visitors faced only four overs before the showers became more steady and prompted another lengthy interruption.
SCOREBOARD
WI vs India
WI 1st Inns (o/n 75-3)
A Barath b Sharma 12
K Powell c Laxman b Kumar 3
K Edwards c Dhoni b Sharma 6
D Bravo c Dhoni b Sharma 50
S Chanderpaul c Dhoni b Patel 23
M Samuels b Kumar 9
C Baugh b Harbhajan 60
D Sammy c Mukund b Harbhajan 20
F Edwards b Sharma 3
R Rampaul not out 0
D Bishoo b Sharma 0
Extras: (8b, 10lb) 18
TOTAL: (76.3 overs) 204
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-24, 3-32, 4-84, 5-99, 6-158, 7-199, 8-200, 9-204, 10-204.
Bowling: P Kumar 16-7-22-2, I Sharma 21.3-4-77-5, M Patel 20-7-48-1, Harbhajan 15-7-26-2, Raina 4-1-13-0.
India 1st Inns
Abhinav Mukund not out 6
Murali Vijay not out 1
Extras: (1lb) 1
TOTAL: (without loss) 8
Bowling: Fidel Edwards 2-1-2-0, Darren Sammy 2-0-5-0.
Umpires: Richard Kettleborough, England, and Asad Rauf, Pakistan.
Third umpire: Joel Wilson, T&T.
Match referee: Chris Broad, (Eng)
Look to the south, Colombia urges CARICOM
President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, has encouraged heads of government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to look to the south, even as he acknowledged that the south had to “look to those states that shine like pearls in the sea that unites our continent”.
In remarks during an audience last Friday with the heads of government of CARICOM at their thirty-second meeting in Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis, the Colombian president said that he brought messages of unity and prosperity and announced that Colombia wanted to give special importance and priority to the needs of the Caribbean region.
Bearing in mind the slogan of the sixth Summit of the Americas (SOA), `Connecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity’ -- which his country hosts next year -- Santos underscored that the summit was a partnership at the highest political level to find solutions to the problems the continent and islands of the Americas were facing.
“It is a partnership… to deliver better living conditions to the peoples of our hemisphere. And, in that context, Colombia wants to give special importance and priority to the needs of the Caribbean region,” he told the CARICOM heads of government.
While acknowledging the historic role the north has played in the region, Santos noted the difficulties being faced by that part of the world and pointed out that the sixth SOA would serve the purpose of further developing hemispheric relations.
“We must understand that the Summit of the Americas is a unique and privileged space for dialogue that brings together all the heads of state and government of the hemisphere. In that sense, it is an important forum with opportunities for agreement and understanding,” he pointed out.
The summit, the Colombian president said, could be an ideal scenario for CARICOM to set out its priorities on matters such as the reduction of poverty and inequality, solutions to combat the insecurity that affects the citizenry and the threats posed to the stability of democracies by transnational crime; and the effects of natural disasters.
Jamaican lesbian gains asylum in UK
A tribunal has awarded a Jamaican lesbian "refugee protection" in the United Kingdom following her appeal that she would be at risk of persecution and clinical depression should she return to this country.
The BBC reported that the woman, who had left Jamaica to study abroad in 2003, and now lives in Stoke-on-Trent, was originally refused the right to remain in the UK by the Home Office.
However, she appealed on the grounds that in Jamaica, which she described as a "deeply homophobic" country, she had been threatened with 'corrective rape' and suffered clinical depression.
She said that it was only in the UK that she could live her life as an openly gay person and that her girlfriend would be unwilling to return with her to Jamaica given the situation here.
Bruce tells Audley to ensure workers get paid
PUBLIC sector leaders were finally able to put their signatures to an agreement this morning for the more than 100,000 civil servants to receive the long-awaited seven per cent increase which has been owed by Government since 2009.
At a special signing ceremony at Jamaica House, Prime Minister Bruce Golding assured the public sector groups that the Public Sector Transformation Unit’s monitoring committee will be ensuring that Government delivers on the agreement.
Golding also urged Minister of Finance Audley Shaw to ensure that the scheduled dates for payments are kept.
"I will not be of much assistance to you if at some point in time you sat here and witnessed our signing this agreement to say we are going to pay a certain amount on a certain day, if the month before it is due you come to me to say you have a problem," he told Shaw.
The new wage rates will begin to be applied in September this year, covering the period April-August 2011 and the retroactive sums for this period will be paid in two tranches in September and December.
Retroactive sums owed the workers the for 2009 to March 2011 will start to be paid out in June 2012 and extend over a subsequent 26-month period.
The public sector groups had flatly rejected Government's first offer which would see them begin receiving outstanding money in 2013/2014.
In a June 3 letter to the unions, Government proposed that payment of the outstanding amount for the financial year 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 be paid in equal installments over five years.
International Drug Gang Busted --- 1.1 ton of Cocaine Seized on Sea --- Heist worth 42 Million Euros.
An international operation between Flensburg and the French and Spanish authorities has allowed the French Coast Guard to apprehend two Germans on board a yacht which was moving towards St. Maarten on July 2nd 2011 with 1.1 ton of cocaine on board. The operation started since September 2009 between the BKA and the French and Spanish authorities whose mission was to identify the perpetrators of a multinational group that was suspected of smuggling large quantities of cocaine from the Caribbean to Europe.
The Yacht it is believed left Grenada and anchored close to Venezuela before they began moving towards St. Maarten on the night of July 2nd 2011 when the two Germans were captured. A raid on the 13m long vessel led authorities to 1127 kilos of cocaine worth 42 million Euros announced a Flensburg Prosecutor. The illegal substance was hidden behind professional wall coverings inside the vessel. Authorities conducted searches in Hamburg and they managed to seize 400,000.00 Euros in cash and 900,000.00 in assets as well as documents and electronic devices.
Details on the heist were not made locally, but were reported in a German newspaper.
PDM OBJECTS TO APPOINTMENT OF NON-TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDER TO POSITION OF NIB DIRECTOR
Leader of the Peoples Democratic Movement, Doug Parnell has come out in objection of the new appointment for the post of NIB Director to National Insurance, in a release sent to RTC news.
Last night we learned that the Governor intends to appoint a non Turks and Caicos Islander to the position of Director of the National Insurance Board.
We do not accept this as appropriate or within the Governor’s remit to appoint a director who is a non Turks and Caicos Islander for some 3 years particularly when a General Election is due soon.
In the history of the board this would be a first. National Insurance Board is a Turks and Caicos Islands institution imagined, created and enshrined in law by both PDM and PNP Governments. However, it was under the watchful eye of the Wetherell Interim Government that brought us the collapse of TCIBank and the investment of the final 5.5M of NIB capital that is still at risk. Although we are under direct rule the Governor is not a Minister of Finance and should not confuse himself as such. We request that he gets his thinking in line with what would be more acceptable and appropriate action on behalf of the people at NIB.
The issue of whether or not the NIB director is also a Turks and Caicos Islander is not up for debate.
Any new director who does not fit this mandatory prerequisite will not be well received by the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands. We welcome persons to our country, however, not at the expense of directing, without interference, our own affairs or our dignity and express again our willingness to work with others towards improving our political, social and economic condition but this proposed action is outrageous and contemptible. We will fiercely resist any attempt to treat Turks and Caicos Islanders with disdain, while marginalizing us from the institutions that Political Governments have successfully built that administrative Government now seeks to alter without mandate.
That was a release sent to RTC News by the leader of the PDM, Doug Parnell.
Haiti - Travel : Flights between the Turks and Caicos Islands - Port-au-Prince
A new airline is preparing to offer flights, among others, between the Turks and Caicos Islands and Port-au-Prince, and Cap Haitien. Currently Skycruiser Airways has submitted plans to the Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA) to operate scheduled air services, from November 1st, 2011.
According to documents filed with the ATLA, points of departure, final destination and intermediate points of call are Providenciales, South Caicos, North Caicos, Grand Turk, Salt Cay, Nassau and Freeport in The Bahamas, Kingston Jamaica, Santiago, Puerto-au-Plata and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic; San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Cap Haitien and Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
If the new company gets the necessary approvals, its fleet will be composed of DH6, which have 19 seats, Jetstreams which have 30 seats and CRJ-2000/700 which have between 50 and 72 seats.
Caribbean leaders concerned about Turks and Caicos Islands
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government have expressed concern on the situation in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) where Britain resumed direct administration of its overseas territory in August 2009.
The communiqué issued at the end of the 32nd regular meeting of the Conference of Caribbean Heads of Government in St Kitts on Monday noted that “the constitutional reform process had been completed though not to the full satisfaction of the Islanders.”
The TCI has associate membership within the 15-member regional grouping, and citizens there have been demanding an end to British rule and a return to parliamentary democracy.
London resumed direct administration of the affairs of the British Overseas Territory, disbanded the locally elected government and suspended the legislature after a Commission of Inquiry said it found widespread corruption under the administration of former premier Michael Misick.
Misick, who resigned in March 2009, after the commission made its findings public, has called on all Turks and Caicos Islanders, churches and political parties to put differences aside and "unite to fight the common enemy -- the British.”
Misick accused London of staging what he termed a "modern-day coup" in the Turks and Caicos Islands while the rest of the world was not watching.
In its communiqué, the regional leaders said that the citizens are expecting that elections will be held in the shortest timeframe possible, “in order to lead to a return to self rule and democratic and representative governance’.
The leaders said that have requested the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) “to continue to monitor the situation closely, in order to keep them informed.”