Brazil flood and mudslide deaths rise as search goes on
More than 500 people are now known to have died in floods in south-eastern Brazil, the country's worst natural disaster for several decades.
Heavy rain has led to massive mudslides hitting several towns, resulting in thousands being made homeless.
Police say the number of dead is likely to rise further.
The death toll has now surpassed the devastating 1967 mudslides in Caraguatatuba, Sao Paulo state, in which up to 430 people perished.
'Thousands trapped'
Rescue workers will resume searching for survivors in the mountainous Serrana region, north of Rio de Janeiro, later on Friday.
Many spent Thursday scrabbling with their bare hands through debris.
On her visit to the area, President Dilma Rousseff promised a shipment of seven tonnes of medicines.
In the Campo Grande area of Teresopolis, which was earlier cut off, rescuers found people pulling bodies from the mud.
In the neighbouring town of Petropolis, local resident Nelson Toledo told the BBC that some areas "had been completely devastated" by the floods and mudslides.
He said "thousands" of people remained trapped in their homes.
Morgues in the affected towns were full, with churches and police stations receiving bodies.
Officials in Brazil's civil defence department have warned there could be hundreds more bodies yet to be recovered in Teresopolis alone, the Globo media organisation reported.
One area of Teresopolis, Campo Grande, remains cut off entirely and is yet to be reached by any rescuers. It is feared 150 people may be buried there.
One resident of Teresopolis, Angela Marina de Carvalho Silva, told the Associated Press news agency she feared she might have lost 15 relatives, including five nieces and nephews.
"There are so many disappeared - and so many that will probably never be found," she said.
She said she had taken refuge at a neighbour's house on higher ground and watched the water sweep away cars, tree branches and animals and destroy the homes of friends and family.
"There was nothing we could do. It was hell."
A state of emergency has been declared in the town, after the mayor called the floods "a huge catastrophe, a major disaster".
Sixteen more bodies were found there early on Thursday, but the most dramatic rise was in Nova Friburgo, where 48 more people were reported to have died.
Amid the death and destruction in Nova Friburgo there was one glimmer of hope: a six-month-old baby, reportedly named Nicholas, was found alive after 12 hours trapped in the rubble of a ruined building, reports said.
In Petropolis, Mayor Paul Mustrangi said the waters had ripped through some areas with devastating effect.
"There is nothing left. All the houses were hit," he told Jornal do Brasil.
Tunisia protests: Live bullets fired in central Tunis
Security forces have fired live bullets and tear gas in the centre of the Tunisian capital Tunis, reports say.
At least one person is reported to have been killed and a large area of the city centre has been closed off by police and the military.
It comes after violent scenes in the capital overnight despite a night-time curfew being put in place.
At least 23 people have died since nationwide protests over poverty and corruption began last month.
The BBC's Adam Mynott in Tunis says the unrest has now reached the central streets of the capital, close to shops, banks and the French embassy.
Police have put up road blocks and have fired tear gas to push back crowds gathering to watch the events, our correspondent adds. There have been reports of looting.
Witnesses said at least one person had been shot and another seriously wounded.
It comes after one protester was reportedly shot dead in a western suburb of Tunis, and three others in a southern area of greater Tunis. Rights groups said up to eight people had died.
President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has called the unrest a "terrorist act".
But France, the former colonial power in Tunisia, has called on the government to show restraint.
Escalating anger
The protests reached the capital for the first time on Wednesday afternoon, as protesters threw stones and police responded with volleys of tear gas.
An indefinite night-time curfew was put in place but overnight, youths fought battles with security forces and set fire to buildings.
More clashes were reported from at least half a dozen towns across the country, including Sfax, Douz and Thala.
Reuters reported up to 10,000 people were on the streets in Sidi Bouzid.
"It is not just about unemployment any more," one protester said. "It's about freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, all the freedoms."
Switzerland's foreign ministry has confirmed that a woman who had dual Swiss-Tunisian nationality was killed in the north of Tunisia.
Swiss Radio said she was hit in the throat by a stray bullet while watching a protest late on Wednesday in the town of Dar Chaabane.
A foreign ministry statement said the Tunisian ambassador had been summoned, and called on the Tunisian government to "respect dialogue, fundamental liberties and human rights", including freedom of assembly.
French diplomats have also reportedly informed the family of a French-Tunisian academic, Hatem Bettahar, that he was one of two protesters killed by the police on Wednesday in the central town of Douz.
Mr Bettahar, a computer science lecturer in France, had been visiting his mother. A Tunisian teacher has said he has posted on the internet a video showing Mr Bettahar lying in a pool of blood after being shot.
French Prime Minister Francoi Fillon has criticised the "disproportionate use of violence" and called on all sides to show restraint.
Strike call
The International Federation for Human Rights says 66 people have died since mid-December, almost three times the government's official figure of 23.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has blamed the deaths on "excessive measures used, such as snipers" and urged the government to investigate them fully.
Earlier this week, Mr Ben Ali dismissed his interior minister and ordered the release of most of those arrested during the protests. He also promised to look into the allegations of corruption.
But many in Tunis view these assurances as empty words, says our correspondent.
"Tunisia needs global reform as well as the formation of a national unity government more than ever," said the secretary-general of the opposition Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), Maya Jribi.
Unions have also called for a strike in Tunis on Friday as another means to put pressure on the government. Union officials told the BBC that a strike had been observed in the central Kasserine region on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, al-Jazeera TV is reporting that the president has sacked two of his top advisers, Abdelaziz Ben Dhia and Abdelouahab Abdallah. And the AFP news agency quoted opposition officials as saying the Army chief of staff, Gen Rachid Ammar, had been replaced for refusing to order soldiers to put down the protesters.
There are also unconfirmed reports that the president's son-in-law, the billionaire businessman and MP Mohamed Sakher El Materi, has fled the country and taken refuge in the Canadian city of Montreal, where he owns a mansion.
Protesters have directed much of their anger at the great wealth and lavish lifestyle of the president's extended family.
Anti-government demonstrations have been rare in Tunisia, where there are tight controls aimed at preventing dissent.
Mr Ben Ali is only Tunisia's second president since the country gained independence from France in 1956. He came to power in 1987 and was last re-elected to a five-year term in 2009 with 89.62% of the vote.
Berlusconi suffers trial setback as judges amend law
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has suffered a setback after judges amended a law shielding him from prosecution temporarily.
A Constitutional Court meeting in Rome ruled that individual judges should be allowed to decide whether a prime minister could be tried in office.
The 15 judges found that some points of the law passed last year were not consistent with the constitution.
Mr Berlusconi is a defendant in three trials which have been suspended.
He denies wrongdoing and mocked the constitutional hearing earlier.
The court said in a statement that the prime minister could not automatically invoke a "legitimate impediment" claim exempting him and cabinet ministers from attending trials in progress because of their official duties.
Had the court rejected the law completely, Mr Berlusconi's trials on corruption and tax fraud charges would have resumed immediately.
But Giovanni Guzzetta, a professor at Rome's Tor Vergata University, predicted that the trials would eventually restart.
"At each hearing it will have to be decided if the impediment invoked by the prime minister for not appearing is legitimate or not," he told AFP news agency.
The law granting members of the government immunity from prosecution for up to 18 months was passed in March in the face of bitter opposition.
Mr Berlusconi, who owns the Mediaset business empire, faces three trials in Milan:
- He is accused of bribing British lawyer David Mills to give false testimony in 1997 to protect his business interests
- He is accused of inflating the price paid for acquiring television rights via offshore companies under his control and skimming off part of the sum declared to create illegal slush funds
- He is accused of fraud and embezzlement over the acquisition of television rights at inflated prices
The prime minister has argued he is the target of left-wing prosecutors.
Mr Berlusconi told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday that he found the Constitutional Court hearing "laughable".
Arizona shootings: Funeral for victim Christina Green
Christina Taylor Green, the nine-year-old killed in Saturday's shooting in Arizona, is to be buried on Thursday in the first of six such funerals.
Christina, whom President Barack Obama hailed on Wednesday night, was a top student, dancer and athlete.
She had hoped to meet Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at a constituency event on Saturday when she was killed and Ms Giffords gravely injured.
Doctors say Ms Giffords is making "encouraging" progress in hospital.
They said they had begun intense physical therapy, and that she was able to lift her legs on command.
Jared Loughner, 22, is jailed pending trial in the attack in the city of Tucson. Six people were killed in the shooting, including Christina Green and a federal judge. More than a dozen were wounded.
At a memorial service on Wednesday night, President Barack Obama honoured the victims of the shootings, urging the US to heal divisions opened by "sharply polarised" political debate.
"Imagine," Mr Obama said at a public ceremony in Tucson, "here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future."
A witness to Saturday's attack said Christina had been smiling broadly as she waited in line to meet Ms Giffords.
Christina, who was born on 11 September, 2001, had just been elected to the student council at Mesa Verde Elementary School, and her father has said her interest in politics was inspired by Mr Obama.
"President Obama and his campaign is where she started getting interested in politics, and at least to have heard him mention her makes me feel better," John Green said. "She began her life on a tragedy, on 9/11, and her life was ended with a tragedy, here in Arizona."
Mr Obama called on the nation to honour her: "I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it."
Giffords' progress
Meanwhile, Ms Giffords's doctors said on Thursday morning that she had opened her eyes and appeared to be trying to focus her vision, "encouraging" signs she was recovering.
Ms Giffords is moving both legs and both arms, has opened both eyes and is responding to friends and family, doctors said.
"She's making the progress that we could hope for her," Dr Michael Lemole said.
In another development, documents released by Pima Community College, where Mr Loughner attended school in the months before the attack, show a pattern of increasingly bizarre behaviour that troubled school officials and police.
The documents suggest Mr Loughner was prone to nonsensical outbursts and was confronted several times by police.
School officials described Mr Loughner's "dark personality" and some feared for their safety around him.
Source: BBC
The British Parliament made a mistake in approving the indefinite suspension of the TCI Constitution.
Most residents of the TCI are not happy with the way the country is being governed. The nonchalant manner in how the present administration engages the public has caused them to lose any goodwill that the public had for them. Their practice of preaching one thing and doing another must stop - transparency is also expected from them! However, like Captain Ramsey in the movie Crimson Tide, they appear to feel as if they are only “…here to preserve democracy, not practice it.” And this sentiment appears to be shared by others in the British Government.
For example, instead of presenting an action plan to the British Parliament with measurable objectives/milestones tied to target dates for returning the TCI to democratic rule, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Henry Bellingham MP, on the 10th December 2010, gave 8 vaguely defined “milestones” – with only one having a defined target date – that he stated are “…the minimum preconditions before the Turks and Caicos Islands can return to elected government”. Instead of requesting that he report back to Parliament with a clearly defined target date for his team to achieve the milestones, his colleagues in Parliament ignored the plight of the people of the TCI and approved his request to suspend the TCI Constitution indefinitely. (Note: The Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution (Interim Amendment) (Amendment) Order 2010 suspending the TCI Constitution indefinitely was approved on the 15th December 2010 and is currently waiting for the Governor to bring it into force).
Rather than treating Turks and Caicos Islanders as partners in the rebuilding of the country, the British Government has taken the position that the only way to fix the problems is to take away privileges, create more rules, and implement detailed procedures to ensure that going forward persons will have no choice but to do the “right thing.” However, as I stated in a previous article titled “The case against suspension of the TCI Constitution” published in the Free Press April 3rd, 2009 edition, “…rules and regulations, no matter how stringent they are, will never fully stop someone who is intent on breaking them. What this country requires is a new set of ideals.” Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe also makes this case in their new book “Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing”, Riverhead 30th December 2010, stating that “…What we desperately need, beyond, or along with, better rules…is we need virtue, we need character, we need people who want to do the right thing. And in particular, the virtue that we need most of all is the virtue that Aristotle called practical wisdom. Practical wisdom is the moral will to do the right thing and the moral skill to figure out what the right thing is.” Although they were referring to problems in the United States, those words are equally applicable to the Turks & Caicos Islands.
In crafting the rules and regulations for the new TCI, we must keep in mind that governing a country requires a flexibility that no set of rules can encompass. This is not to say that there should be no rules, but “rules and incentives are no substitutes for wisdom.” And wisdom tells us that great leaders do not only possess the intellectual ability to do the right thing, but also the will and desire to do so. Like Barry Schwartz further stated in one of his speeches, “… there is no set of rules, no matter how detailed, no matter how specific, no matter how carefully monitored and enforced, there is no set of rules that will get us what we need.”
What we need along with the right set of rules are leaders who are prepared to lead for others and not themselves. And we have that! However, the one way this country will not get back on track is through the indefinite suspension of its constitution. As such, I am publicly calling on the Prime Minister of Britain and Leader of its Conservative Party, Rt Hon David Cameron MP; the Prime Minister of Canada and Leader of its Conservative Party, Rt Hon Stephen Harper MP; and all the world leaders who believe in democracy to look into this distributing issue and help the people of the TCI stop this open-ended Order from going into force.
Thank you.
EJ Saunders
PPC focuses on safety
PPC Ltd recently completed a company standard for Customer and Secondary Voltage connections that focuses on safety and ensures that the customer, the electrician, the Electrical Commission and PPC all have the same expectations.
These newly published guidelines focus on the standard of both temporary and permanent electrical service connections throughout the islands. During the rebuilding of some older sections of the electrical infrastructure, PPC Ltd. recognised that there were several inconsistencies and possible safety concerns in some areas. The major concern was the older secondary connections to the customers’ main connection point. With this in mind, the idea to produce a Standard Customer and Secondary Voltage Guideline document was founded.
In an effort to maintain its working relationship with Government, PPC Ltd also presented a copy of the Standard Customer and Secondary Voltage Guidelines document to Frank Penn, Electrical Inspector of the Electrical Commission. During the presentation Devon Cox, PPC’s Director of Operations said, “As part of PPC’s commitment to safety we have developed these standards to ensure our customers receive safe, reliable electrical service. By publishing the standards the customer will understand the requirements to get electrical service and should receive consistent information from PPC, the electrical inspector and the electrician installing the service.”
Details of the document have been agreed upon and reviewed by relevant parties; electricians, the Electrical Commission and PPC Ltd. This document also guarantees that customers will have access to information that is accurate and consistent with one of PPC’s primary objectives; safety. These new standards will also ensure that proper clearances are maintained over roads, driveways and customers’ properties.
On receiving a copy of the document Electrical Inspector Frank Penn stated, “The Electrical Commission supports the efforts of the Management of PPC Ltd. to educate and inform electricians and electrical contractors of the minimum requirements and expectations for services and service equipment installations. The document serves to standardise the installation of services, feeders and equipment that subscribes to high levels of safety to personnel, property and equipment. We are cognizant of the need to strive not only to attain the highest safety standards but also to minimise and prevent illegal circuit connections, electricity pilferage and less than professional workmanship.”
PPC Ltd. along with the Electrical Commission hopes that within a few months, all stakeholders will become familiar with the new standards and make the new connection process run smoother.
Alison Capron fired from WIV
Familiar face and news anchor of WIV Channel 4 NEWS Alison Capron has been removed from her post.
RTC has been reliably informed that Capron and WIV 4 parted company yesterday for unspecified reasons. Capron also shot to popularity for her role as the 2009 winner of the coveted Miss TCI Earth pageant and has even acted as Miss TCI on other occasions.
Capron could not be reached for comment but we will have more in a subsequent newscast.
The Consultative Forum holds its first meeting for 2011 Tuesday 11th January
The Consultative Forum has scheduled its first meeting for 2011 and for the first time, will be held over a two day period.
The Consultative Forum will meet at the NJS Francis building on Pond Street in Grand Turk on Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th January 2011.
Tuesday’s session will be an open forum which will debate current recommendations before the public on constitutional and electoral from in the TCI. Forum members will convene in a closed session on Wednesday for further discussions and to make recommendations on the way forward.
The Forum has extended an invitation to members of the political parties, the all party commission and business and civic leaders to attend Tuesday’s Open Forum.
Radio Turks and Caicos will carry tomorrow’s meeting live.
License for Beach Parties
If you are thinking about having a beach party, just ensure that you have a license for the occasion.
The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force is drawing attention to this breach of the Liquor License law.
The Police in a public notice sent to RTC News, says it is an offence to sell alcoholic beverages at birthday parties, private homes and on public beaches without the granting of license authorizing the sale of such beverages.
The Police is hereby notifying the general public that in order to sell or expose alcoholic beverages at a location not specified by a License from Liquor Licensing Authority, person(s) are required to obtain an Occasioning Music and Dance License which would permit the sale and exposure of alcoholic beverages for that specific period applied for.
West Indies girls win first ODI by 9 wickets
West Indies Women achieved a superb victory over India Women in the first One-Day International of their tour on Monday.
Led by a four-wicket haul from off-spinner Anisa Mohammed and a half-century from opening batter Stafanie Taylor, the Windies won by nine wickets to take the lead in the five-match series. The hosts batted first and were bowled out for 161 off 49.3 overs. West Indies replied with 162-1 off 36.5 overs at the Bandra Kurla Complex.
The 22-year-old Mohammed, the vice captain and world-rated spinner, took 4-27 from eight overs. This was her second four-wicket haul in an ODI. Her career-best figures are 4-26. She was well supported by Taylor who got 2-20 from eight overs with her off-breaks.
In the second half of the match Taylor made an excellent 85 not out. She added a record unbroken second-wicket stand of 137 with left-hander Shanel Daley, who made a career-best 44 not out in her first knock at No.3. The 19-year-old Taylor, who is among the leading batters in the world, faced 122 balls and struck 10 boundaries. Daley was patient and hit four boundaries off 86 balls.
Coach Sherwin Campbell was pleased with the team’s performance.
“It was an excellent performance from the girls today. It was a very good start to the tour. The pitch was very good for batting and we did a lot of things right today. Anisa and Stafanie have delivered for us before and again today, they showed that they are world-class players. Anisa bowled really well, and from the start of her spell she was looking confident and posed problems for the Indians. Stafanie used the opportunity to build an innings and get some early runs. In the first part of the innings she was slow, but she understands batting, and she just grew in confidence after that. It was another excellent batting display,” he said.
Campbell added, “Daley moved up to the No.3 position and she did an excellent job for the team. It was something new for her but she made the adjustment and showed great determination. The bowlers were on song from the first ball and that gave us control of the game from the start. The girls were outstanding in the field and everything that we have been working on fell into place.”
The two teams will travel to Baroda on Tuesday where they will play the second ODI on Wednesday.