Inter Health celebrates i's 1st anniversary
DIOVANNI Fulford is preparing for an emotional return to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre.
The 20-year-old will be guest of honour when InterHealth Canada celebrates its year anniversary on Monday.
Diovanni became the hospital’s first trauma patient after he was knocked down by a car in Blue Hills, just hours after the facility opened on April 10, last year.
He was rushed to the emergency department suffering serious multiple injuries and immediately underwent life-saving surgery.
Once stable, he was flown to Florida for further treatment before returning to Cheshire Hall to undergo an intense physiotherapy programme.
Remarkably, the basketball fanatic returned to work as a ticket agent for Air Turks and Caicos, just three months after the horrific accident and is now back playing his favourite sport.
Diovanni will be cutting a special birthday cake at Cheshire Hall during a programme of celebrations that includes entertainment by pupils from Clement Howell High School.
Meanwhile, doing the honours simultaneously in Grand Turk will be Juliet Arthur and her partner Derron Thelwell.
Juliet gave birth to twins, Derron Jnr and Derronique, at the Cockburn Town Medical Centre, in December.
Unfortunately they were born two months premature and spent the first few weeks of their lives fighting for survival.
But thanks to the expertise of both doctors and nurses Derron Jnr and Derronique pulled through.
InterHealth Canada TC CEO, Roger Cheesman, explained: “It’s incredible to think we are about to celebrate our one year anniversary. The time has flown by and we have achieved so much.
“We have seen, treated, and continue to work with, some very special patients whose lives we have been able to either save or greatly improve.
“Diovanni and the Thelwell twins are fantastic examples of the wonderful service we provide the people of the TCI and we are honoured that they will be helping us celebrate this very special occasion.”
The Ona Glinton Junior School choir will be entertaining guests in Grand Turk.
Satyam and PwC are fined in US for accounting fraud
Satyam Computer Services and its former auditor PricewaterCoopers (PwC) have agreed to pay a combined $17.5m (£10.7m) in fines in the US after one of India's biggest corporate scandals.
Satyam, an outsourcing company, will pay $10m for falsely reporting more than $1bn in profits over five years.
The company's chairman Ramalinga Raju admitted to the fraud in 2009.
Satyam's shares were indirectly traded on the New York Stock Exchange as well as in India.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it had fined the Indian affiliate of PwC $7.5m, describing it as the largest American penalty against a foreign firm.
The SEC said the auditor failed to independently verify cash balances in Satyam bank accounts.
Celtics blast Sixers, move into tie for 2nd in East
The Celtics point guard had 16 points and 13 assists to lead Boston to a 99-82 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night and help the defending conference champions reclaim the second-best playoff position in the East.
"He's getting himself ready," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "You can see what they're all doing, they're sharpening their tools. ... They know where they're at."
With the win, the Celtics and Heat were tied at 54-23 with four games left in the regular season - including one head-to-head matchup in Miami on Sunday. The Celtics would win the tiebreaker because they beat Miami in their first three meetings this season.
"We want all these games," said Kevin Garnett, who scored 14 points. "Playoffs is like the main course. This will definitely be an appetizer."
Reserve Evan Turner scored 21 - two points short of his career high - for the Sixers, who clinched a playoff berth on Friday but could still finish anywhere from fifth to seventh in the East. They ended the night in sixth, four games behind the Atlanta Hawks and one-half game ahead of the New York Knicks .
"When we play a team like this, I told our guys we want to keep growing every single game," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "That's why coming down this stretch these games give us a blueprint on what we have to do to beat these teams."
Rondo started the season on a torrid passing pace, averaging 15 assists over Boston's first 10 games - including a season-high 24 in the third game of the year. He failed to reach 10 assists only 11 times heading into March, not counting injuries; he matched that in the past month alone - including eight games in a row.
From March 6 to March 27, when he sat out to rest a strained right pinky, Rondo also shot 34 percent from the field, averaged seven points and 7.4 assists, and the Celtics went 5-6.
But Rondo is back on track, reaching double digits in assists or rebounds in four straight games after failing to do so a dozen times in the 14 games before that.
"I wouldn't say I'm feeling 100 percent, but I'm doing OK," Rondo said. "Tonight was a good test for us. That might be a first-round (opponent) and we did a good job of making a little statement that it's going to be hard to beat us in a seven-game series."
Rondo added four rebounds, shot 6 for 14 from the floor and even made all four of his free throw attempts on Tuesday. Paul Pierce scored 18 points, Kevin Garnett had 14 and Ray Allen had 13 for Boston, which is 8-8 in the past month.
"Rondo is once again leading their team," Collins said. "When they play like that, it should make Doc smile because they're one of the best teams in the league.
Nenad Krstic scored eight points in 18 minutes after missing two games with a bruised right knee, and Jermaine O'Neal had nine points in 12 minutes as the Celtics try to find big men to fill in for Shaquille O'Neal. The 15-time All-Star returned on Sunday after missing 27 games but lasted just 5 minutes, 29 seconds before leaving the game with a strained right calf muscle.
The Celtics do not have a timetable for his return, Rivers said, and getting Krstic and O'Neal healthy would be crucial if they're going to have a chance to return to the NBA finals.
Philadelphia led 49-47 with just over a minute left in the half before the Celtics scored seven of the last eight points heading into the break. Boston then scored the first nine points of the third quarter to complete a 16-1 run and turn a two-point deficit into a 63-50 lead.
Texas A&M wins first national title
Scoring at will, grabbing boards and making a key steal, Danielle Adams saved her best game for the biggest stage and gave Texas A&M its first national championship.
Adams scored 22 of her 30 points in a dominating second half and answered the Fighting Irish basket for basket Tuesday night to help the Aggies bring a title to the former all-male military academy with a thrilling 76-70 victory over Notre Dame.
"I knew they couldn't stop me inside so that's what I did, I took it inside," said Adams, who became the school's first All-American just a week ago.
DEITSCH: Championship game blog
No one was happier than Gary Blair, the outspoken A&M coach who hadn't been in the Final Four since 1998 when he was with Arkansas. Blair bluntly said it was a good thing that top powers like Connecticut, Tennessee and Stanford weren't in the title game.
"We don't give up," Blair said. "We might not play the prettiest game in the world but it's good for women's basketball to see a Texas A&M and a Notre Dame in this game."
And then his Aggies went out and proved him right in front of a pro-Irish crowd.
Tyra White added 18 points for A&M, including a huge 3-pointer as the shot clock buzzer sounded to put the Aggies up 73-68 with 1:07 left. She and her teammates then staved off a final, frantic push by the Fighting Irish and their sensational young star guard, Skylar Diggins.
The Aggies are a national championship newcomer and bullied their way through the tournament to get to the top. Like Notre Dame, they vanquished their conference rival on the way, beating Baylor in the Dallas regional final after losing to the Lady Bears three times during the season.
Adams, who struggled badly against Baylor, was up to the task and then some against Notre Dame, scoring the second-most points ever in a championship game (Sheryl Swoopes had 47 in 1993).
"We did not find an answer for her," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "We had a plan. We just weren't able to stop her. ... She's just a great player. She's got a big body and we couldn't get around her."
Both teams reached the championship by knocking off two No. 1 seeds. Notre Dame eliminated Tennessee in the regional final, then swept past Connecticut in Sunday night's national semifinals, the first time one team has taken down those two women's basketball icons in the same tournament.
A&M also had two impressive wins to get here. After beating Baylor, the Aggies edged Stanford on Sunday night.
It was the first title game without a No. 1 seed since 1994 and only the second overall. It also was the first final without either Connecticut or Tennessee since Maryland beat Duke in overtime for the 2006 championship.
And it turned out to be a good one.
After a back-and-forth first half, and with the Aggies trailing 48-43 early in the second half, Adams simply took over.
The 6-foot-1 center scored 10 of the next 13 points for the Aggies to give them a 56-53 lead midway through the second half. Texas A&M then extended the advantage to 64-57 behind the two Sydneys -- Carter and Colson.
But Notre Dame wouldn't give up, battling back behind Diggins and Devereaux Peters. The Irish scored nine of the next 11 points to tie the game at 66 on Diggins' jumper with 3:56 left.
Blair went right to Adams on the next two possessions and she delivered, hitting back-to-back layups. Adams hit nine of her first 10 shots in the second half.
After Peters' putback cut it to 70-68, White hit the huge 3. Diggins had two free throws with 40.7 seconds left, and the Irish had one last chance after a turnover by the Aggies with 29 seconds remaining.
McGraw called her final timeout, but Diggins turned it over in front of the bench. White hit two free throws to seal the win.
Diggins finished with 23 points and Peters added 21 and 11 rebounds for Notre Dame (31-8).
Diggins, fighting back tears, said the Irish couldn't handle A&M's pressure.
"We turned it over too much. I don't know if it was nerves or what," she said. "We just didn't handle the pressure."
Indeed, the night belonged to the Aggies.
It hasn't been easy changing attitudes at a university that began as an all-male military school. Some alumni opposed the decision to begin admitting women in 1963, and school administrators didn't always see the advantage of funding men's and women's sports equally when Title IX passed in 1972.
By 1994, A&M had earned its first NCAA tournament bid and immediately reached the regional semifinals, but the program's reputation remained stagnant until Blair arrived in 2003.
The man with the sharp tongue, quick wit and deep Southern drawl found himself at home recruiting Texas' best players, and teaming up with others in the athletic department to sell the school.
Winning the title Tuesday night will certainly help.
The Aggies (33-5) have been riding a relentless defense that didn't allow more than 50 points until Stanford scored 62 in the semifinals. Fortunately for the Aggies, a lay-up with 3.3 seconds left was enough to lift them over the top-seeded Cardinal.
Notre Dame was trying to win its first national championship since 2001. The Irish had an impressive tournament run led by Diggins. She led the Irish in their back-to-back victories over two Tennessee and Connecticut.
And with the Lady Vols and Huskies both gone -- only the fifth time since 1995 that neither was in the title game -- Diggins and the Irish tried to seize the moment and take out the Aggies.
But Diggins and Peters weren't enough in a matchup of No. 2 seeds.
This was the only the second time no top seed made the title game and the first since No. 3 seed North Carolina beat No. 4 Louisiana Tech in 1994.
The Irish were trying to become the first team to win in their home state since Stanford won in Los Angeles in 1992. There definitely was a home feel for Notre Dame with two-thirds of the 17,473 people in the arena wearing green and gold.
So much was made this season of UConn's record winning streak and their quest for a third straight national championship that would have cemented Maya Moore's place as the top women's player ever.
Diggins and the Irish ruined those plans in the semifinals, beating the Huskies for the first time in four meetings this season. They fell short of the ultimate prize Tuesday night.
Source: sportsillustrated.
Mariah, Nick Pose Nude for Intimate Pregnancy Photos
Parents-to-be Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon recently got buck naked for a photo shoot, but the final images are displayed only within the privacy of their own home.
Due to welcome twins within weeks, Mariah decided to commemorate her impending motherhood by posing naked in the same vein as Demi Moore’s iconic Vanity Fair shot in 1991.
Cannon says he wanted to get in on the act and joined his wife for the intimate images, which now decorate their Los Angeles mansion, but the actor admits he’s already dreading the day his kids are old enough to realize the naked shoot isn’t normal.
“My children are going to have to see these pictures… It’s a little weird,” he said today on his radio show. “When they get older and their friends come over… they will see the pictures and say, ‘Your daddy’s butt naked!’”
Hot 97′s Mister Cee Busted For Public Sex with Man
Monday wasn’t exactly a good day for Hot 97 DJ, Mister Cee (Calvin Lebrun). That’s because the news came out that he was busted last Wednesday for public lewdness when police found him receiving oral sex from another man in his car.
Yikes! That could be bad for his career.
Mister Cee, 44, was first exposed as Big Daddy Kane’s DJ and he went on to later executive produce “Ready to Die” Biggy’s first album.
Both the radio icon and his partner, 20-year-old Lawrence Campbell (pictured in mugshots) were arrested and charged, but later released and are due back to court in June.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, Mister Cee has received some interesting remarks via Twitter and other public forums, criticizing his sexual preference.
Black fans and Twitter users in particular have expressed some homosexual sentiments and some sympathetic remarks here and there.
He knew he was in for a Twitter-storm, so his first Tweet was:
“Time to clear my name NY. Stand Up Brooklyn they shootin (Haters ) this is my city you can’t hurt me lets gooooooooo.”
He also took the liberty of addressing the issue of a long rumored Hip Hop police squad targeting rappers and industry folks in the city.
Obama, Lawmakers Fail to Reach Budget Accord
U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers failed to reach a 2011 budget agreement Tuesday, and the president said it would be “inexcusable” if the two sides cannot achieve a compromise.
Mr. Obama met at the White House with top congressional leaders in an effort to avert a shutdown of the U.S. government at the end of the week, if no budget agreement is reached. He said Democratic and Republican congressional leaders are closer than ever to reaching a deal that would fund the government through the end of the current fiscal year in September.
Late Tuesday, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, John Boehner, met with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to try to craft a compromise that could win enough votes to be approved by Congress.
But there was no apparent breakthrough. An aide to Boehner said the two congressional leaders agreed to continue working on a budget solution.
Mr. Obama had said that if the two failed to reach a deal, he would summon them back to the White House on Wednesday for more discussions.
The U.S. government has been operating with a series of stopgap funding measures since last October. But the country's leaders have not been able to reach a pact on funding the remaining six months of the fiscal year. Mr. Obama said it “would be inexcusable for us” not to be able to finish “last year's business.”
If no deal is reached this week, government agencies will run out of funding after Friday, and many services deemed non-essential would be halted starting Saturday.
Mr. Obama said he is opposed to another stopgap spending extension, unless the lawmakers had reached essential agreement and needed a very short time to finish passage of the budget.
The president said an agreement is needed to avoid jeopardizing the country's economic recovery. Republicans say they do not want a shutdown, but that sharp spending cuts must be enacted to help cut the government's deficit.
The White House and congressional leaders have been trying to cut at least $33 billion from the $1 trillion-plus discretionary part of the U.S. government's budget.
But Tea Party supporters among the Republican majority in the House of Representatives have been seeking broader cuts of at least $61 billion. It is part of their effort to cut the size of the federal government, one of their campaign platforms when they were elected last November.
Boehner said Republican negotiators would continue to “fight for the largest (spending) cuts possible.”
Gunmen Release Remaining Hostages in Philippines
Philippine authorities say gunmen have freed 12 hostages kidnapped by gunmen demanding the release of fellow tribesmen jailed for a similar abduction two years ago.
The officials say the hostages were freed unharmed Wednesday. Four of the hostages had already been let go.
The gunmen had abducted two children and 14 school officials and teachers Friday afternoon as a graduation ceremony was ending in Agusan del Sur province on Mindanao island.
Government negotiators say the attackers were demanding police free Manobo tribal leader Ondo Perez and three other tribesmen. The four men had been jailed since a December 2009 incident in which several dozen villagers were taken hostage. Police say two of the leaders in Friday's attack are relatives of Perez.
Police say Perez helped negotiators resolve the standoff.
Last August, Philippine authorities were widely criticized for the botched attempt to rescue hostages held on a bus in Manila. Eight Hong Kong tourists and the gunman, a policeman who had been fired, died in the incident.
Libyan Rebels Flee Brega
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi pummeled rebel positions near the key eastern oil town of Brega Tuesday, forcing opposition fighters into their biggest retreat in several days of inconclusive battles.
Anti-government forces abandoned Brega and headed east toward Ajdabiya in the face of a sustained rocket and mortar bombardment by Mr. Gadhafi's well-armed troops. Both sides exchanged heavy fire on Tuesday, one day after rebels had taken over a residential part of the city.
The loyalist gains came as the head of Libya's opposition forces lashed out at the NATO alliance, saying it was failing in its mission to protect civilians.
Abdel Fattah Younes Tuesday accused NATO of indecision and lengthy delays in carrying out needed airstrikes while loyalist troops killed residents in the besieged western city of Misrata. He said when rebels request an airstrike, they can wait for up to 10 hours.
Younes said when the opposition asks to use its fighter jets to aid ground forces, NATO has denied permission. He said he may urge rebel leaders to take opposition grievances to the United Nations Security Council, which authorized force in Libya to stop government troops from harming civilians.
NATO officials say air power over Libya is undiminished but that Mr. Gadhafi has been using civilians as human shields and hiding his armor in populated areas.
Brigadier General Mark van Uhm, chief of allied operations, said NATO's operational tempo remains, but loyalist troops had changed tactics.
The general said that in Misrata, the alliance has “absolute confirmation” that tanks are being dispersed and humans used as shields “in order to prevent NATO sorties to identify and target those assets.”
Rebel officials disputed Van Uhm's claim that civilians are present in all areas where pro-Gadhafi forces are positioned.
NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said Tuesday that “the pace of operations since NATO took over has not abated.” The alliance reported that coalition airstrikes have destroyed 30 percent of Libya's military while enforcing the U.N.-authorized no-fly zone aimed at protecting civilians.
U.S. envoy Chris Stevens met with members of the opposition Transitional National Council Tuesday in Benghazi to better understand who the rebels are and what they need. Qatar, France and Italy have already granted official recognition to the rebel administration.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the conflict continue. Libyan envoy Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi ended a shuttle mission to Greece, Malta and Turkey after setting out Libya's official position. The government said Tuesday that Obeidi has been appointed to replace Moussa Koussa as foreign minister after the close Gadhafi ally defected to Britain.
Both rebel and Western leaders say they will not accept any deal that allows Mr. Gadhafi or his sons to stay in power.
That scenario became even more unlikely Tuesday when the International Criminal Court said it has evidence Mr. Gadhafi's government had developed plans to deliberately kill civilians even before the uprising in Libya broke out last month.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who is investigating Mr. Gadhafi, told the Reuters news agency that after the Tunisia and Egypt conflicts, “people in the regime were planning how to control demonstrations in Libya.” He called the shooting of civilians “predetermined.”
In a step toward securing more funds for opposition weapons and supplies, a tanker arrived Tuesday near the eastern port of Tobruk to load the first rebel oil shipment for export in nearly three weeks. The ship is capable of carrying 1 million barrels of oil.
The rebel leadership also apologized for Libya's role in the 1988 bombing of a jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people, most of them Americans, and pledged to cooperate with all investigations. The council offered the apology on behalf of the Libyan people.
Commission Urges Brazil to Halt Dam in Amazon
The human rights arm of the Organization of American States is urging Brazil to halt work on a massive hydroelectric dam in the Amazon until the government deals with concerns of the region's residents.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights made the request in a letter dated April 1. The commission calls on Brazil to immediately stop the licensing process for the Belo Monte dam project and take protective measures for the indigenous peoples who live in the area. The commission also calls on the government to give the groups access to environmental impact reports.
In Brasilia, the Foreign Ministry described the request as unjustified.
The $11-billion Belo Monte dam would require submerging at least 400 square kilometers of land. Builders would have to excavate land comparable to the work needed to build the Panama Canal.
Environmentalists and indigenous groups have said Belo Monte would devastate wildlife in the area. Opposition to the project also has come from British rock star Sting and American film director James Cameron.
Belo Monte would be the world's third-largest hydroelectric energy producer, behind China's Three Gorges Dam and the Itaipu Dam that straddles the border of Brazil and Paraguay.