FOUR MEN & ONE WOMAN SENTENCED FOR IMMIGRATION OFFENCES
Four Haitian men and a female from the Dominican Republic were sentenced at the Magistrates Court last week after being found guilty of a series of immigration offences.
The Immigration Department said that three of the Haitian men were imprisoned following their conviction for offences relating to their arrival in the Turks and Caicos Islands on illegal migrant vessels. This news comes amid the rising chaotic state steadily developing in Haiti.
The Immigration Department said that Diu Jean, also known as Donald Jean Baptiste, aged twenty-seven, was sentenced to 39 months imprisonment for entering the Islands illegally and for entering in breach of a Deportation Order. Melius Pierre, aged 48, was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment for entering the Islands illegally and entering in breach of a Deportation Order. John Will Charles, aged 47, was sentenced to six months imprisonment for entering the Islands illegally, and was recommended for Deportation at the end of his sentence.
Thirty-four-year-old Andy Jerlonge, a Haitian national, received a sentence of three months' imprisonment for possession of a false certificate. Jerlonge was also recommended for deportation after his sentence has been served.
Veronica Rojas Gutiernez, a 47-year-old from the Dominican Republic, was convicted of remaining in the Islands beyond the permitted time and sentenced to a fine of $800 or, in default, 21 days imprisonment. The Immigration Department said that deportation was also recommended for Gutiernez. The fine has been paid in full and arrangements are underway to repatriate her to the Dominican Republic.
The Minister of Immigration and Border Services, Hon. Arlington Musgrove, congratulated the Immigration Department on the convictions. He said that tackling illegal migration remains a key priority and person's risk prosecution if they try to enter illegally, use false documents to stay here illegally, or stay beyond the time they are
allowed. He added that the Immigration Taskforce officers continue to work in communities and on the road to find persons who are illegally staying in the islands who will surely face prosecution and repatriation if found.
The Immigration Department said that all five persons sentenced and deported have had their fingerprints recorded on immigration and police systems which will enable their identification if they attempt to return to the Turks and Caicos Islands, even if they attempt to change their identity.
Last week's convictions follow the investigation into Samuel Voltare, a Haitian national convicted of entering the Islands illegally and entering in breach of a Deportation Order last month. Voltare was sentenced to 24 months in custody for each offence, to run concurrently.
The Immigration Department encourages members of the community to report what they know about illegal migration activity and can do so using Crime stoppers anonymously on 1-800-8477.
Colorado Avalanche beat Tampa Bay Lightning to win first title since 2001
The Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2001 after a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Games Six.
Two-time NHL champions Tampa Bay were aiming for a third consecutive title in Florida but were defeated 4-2 in the best-of-seven series.
Nathan MacKinnon scored a goal and an assist and Darcy Kuemper made 22 saves for Colorado.
"Disbelief. It's crazy," MacKinnon said.
"I didn't really know what it would feel like to actually win it, but just seeing all these warriors battle, it just feels unbelievable. Words can't describe how I feel right now."
Colorado were behind to Tampa Bay before Artturi Lehkonen scored with seven minutes and 32 seconds remaining in the second period to put his side ahead.
Cale Makar collected eight goals and 21 assists and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the Most Valuable Player of the NHL play-offs.
The 23-year-old was also awarded the Norris Trophy - given to the league's top defensive players - before the play-offs and becomes only the third defender to win both trophies in the same year.
"It's just been building over time," Makar told ESPN of his team's success.
"For us, I've been here only three years, a couple tough exits in the play-offs. It was just all leading up to this."
Source-BBC
Congress reacts to the overturning of Roe v. Wade
Calls to protect members of the judicial branch are growing after violence infiltrated protests over the weekend following the reversal of Roe v. Wade Friday.
An off-duty Providence, Rhode Island police officer who’s running for office as a Republican punched his Democratic opponent at an abortion protest. That officer is now suspended and dropping out of his race.
In Arizona, police used tear gas to disperse abortion rights protesters who breached the state capitol.
And in Iowa, a pickup truck driver allegedly struck an abortion rights demonstrator after an argument. The concern from federal law enforcement officials is that extremists on the far-left and the far-right are seizing this divisive moment to incite violence, and that there will be more incidents like the ones witnessed this weekend.
Meanwhile, Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle reacted over the weekend to the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio praised the decision, “Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to allow states to regulate abortion was right constitutionally and morally,” while Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused the court’s conservative justices of lying during their confirmation hearings, stating “It sends a blaring signal to all future nominees that they can now lie to duly elected members of the United States Senate in order to secure Supreme Court confirmations.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren looked ahead to the midterm elections, “We get two more senators on the Democratic side, two senators who are willing to protect access to abortion and get rid of the filibuster so that we can pass it... then we’ve got the votes, and we can protect every woman, no matter where she lives.”
Republican Senator Lindsay Graham disagreed, saying, “It’s not going to change the 2022 outcome.”
Source-ABC
Novak Djokovic overcomes 2nd-set to win Wimbledon opener
Novak Djokovic needed one set more than expected to reach the second round at Wimbledon.
The top-seeded Serb, a six-time champion at the All England Club, beat Soonwoo Kwon 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court on Monday.
Kwon played well with the roof closed on the main stadium, but Djokovic improved midway through the third set.
It was Djokovic's 80th victory at the All England Club, making him the first man or woman to have won at least that many matches at each of the four major tournaments.
Source-ESPN
Bahamas moving to make its mark as a digital assets hub
Bahamas Prime Minister Phillip Davis says as the country continues to set a path toward economic diversity and innovation, more stakeholders take advantage of the opportunities stemming from the new digital age.
Speaking at the launch of Agio Digital Ltd. & Gryphon Investment Advisors Bahamas over the last weekend, Prime Minister Davis said businesses like these help to uphold and facilitate the very mandate of economic stimulation his government continues to work diligently to advance.
He said with the government’s recent introduction of the policy White Paper on The Future of Digital Assets in The Bahamas, the launch of the two companies could not have come at a better time.
“As our country becomes the vanguard in digital assets around the Caribbean and the world, the policy that we put in place now can significantly generate a much needed economic recovery and change the landscape of the Bahamian financial markets as we know it, opening our doors to international trade and business.”
Agio Digital Ltd. makes history in The Bahamas as the first alternative investments platform and the first company to be licensed as a Digital Wallet Provider for crypto assets.
The company has also partnered with Bahamian artist, Antonius Roberts, to bring Bahamian culture and creativity to the digital assets space with the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Prime Minister Davis also on the weekend attended the ground breaking of the new FTX Digital Markets Commercial Complex.
In September of last year, the company moved its headquarters to The Bahamas and Prime Minister Davis said that it has since contributed greatly to various sectors of the community.
“Today, they continue to make positive impressions with the ground breaking for their new headquarters, which will be a space to rival the Google campus, and one for innovation and training, attracting Bahamian and international talent,” said Davis.
He said the government regards this strategic move toward digital assets as a boost to economic recovery and diversification and future plans include ensuing that Bahamians are well equipped and educated to function in the new digital space.
“The government of The Bahamas will be partnering with the University of The Bahamas, the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute, FTX of course, and other financial institutions, to provide the best training and education, awarding certifications to degree levels for those already in the sector, and those who are interested in making this a career choice.”
He said that the introduction of Digital Assets to the Bahamas will also provide the arena for more comprehensive policy around climate change with the introduction of carbon credits, a mandate the government is keen on progressing.
Source-CMC
Netflix cuts 300 more jobs after subscriptions fall
Netflix has announced another round of job cuts as it grapples with slowing growth and increased competition.
The streaming giant said it was cutting 300 more jobs - roughly 4% of its workforce - mostly in the US, after axing 150 people in May.
The moves come after the company reported its first subscriber loss in more than a decade in April.
The firm is exploring an ad-supported service and cracking down on password sharing as it tries to boost growth.
"While we continue to invest significantly in the business, we made these adjustments so that our costs are growing in line with our slower revenue growth," Netflix said in a statement on Thursday, adding that it was continuing to hire in other areas.
While Netflix has 220 million subscribers globally and remains the clear leader in the streaming market, it has faced fierce competition in recent years with the launch of rival platforms such as Disney Plus and Amazon's Prime Video.
The company also recently embarked on a series of price increases in the US, UK and elsewhere, which have contributed to its subscriber losses.
The firm has said it expects its subscriber count to fall by another two million in the three months to July, after dropping by 200,000 earlier this year.
Surveys by Kantar research firm consistently identify saving money as the number one reason for cancelling streaming services - even in the US, where overall streaming subscriptions have held steady, unlike the UK.
On Thursday, Ted Sarandos, the company's co-chief executive, told an audience at a conference in Cannes on Thursday that Netflix was in talks with many companies as it explores new advertising partnerships to appeal to price-sensitive audiences.
"We're not adding ads to Netflix as you know it today. We're adding an ad tier for folks who say 'Hey, I want a lower price and I'll watch ads'," Mr Sarandos said at Cannes Lions.
The job cuts at Netflix come amid rising worries in the US that the labour market boom the country has enjoyed since the pandemic is coming to an end.
Signs of slowdown are particularly evident in the tech sector, where start-ups have cut nearly 27,000 workers since May - roughly double the number recorded in all of 2021, according to layoffs.fyi, which tracks publicly announced redundancies.
Firms in the housing sector have also announced hundreds of cuts in recent weeks.
The head of America's central bank told members of Congress this week that its efforts to bring down rapidly rising prices by raising interest rates risk triggering a sustained economic slowdown, but were worth it to restore price stability.
"We're not trying to provoke, and don't think we will need to provoke a recession," Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said.
Source-BBC
Significant number of Caribbean nationals ‘moderately or severely food insecure’
A new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) notes that a significant number of nationals in Latin America and the Caribbean are “moderately or severely food insecure.”
The report titled, “Confronting Food Insecurity in the Americas: Good Practices and Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” systematizes information from 16 countries on policies and programmes to ensure food security in the region and identifies priority lines of action on this issue.
It also states that 41 per cent of people in the region were “moderately or severely food insecure.”
The report also notes 14 per cent experienced extreme food insecurity, defined as having no food and going a day or more without eating, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
“The number of people lacking physical or economic access to a quantity and quality of food necessary for health and development increased to 267 million people in 2020, an increase of 60 million people from the previous year.
“Food insecurity disproportionately affects groups that are already in a situation of greater vulnerability, such as women, indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, people with disabilities, the elderly, people in a situation of human mobility, among others,” according to the report.
It notes that food insecurity is on the rise in several countries around the world, reversing years of progress and jeopardizing the ability to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, specifically the goal to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.”
The combination of the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic with declining incomes and disruptions in food supply networks and distribution chains have led to a significant increase in chronic and acute hunger, the report says.
“We hope that this report will be of the greatest use to member states in combating this scourge,” said Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, director of the Department of Social Inclusion of the OAS Secretariat for Access to Rights and Equity, which prepared the report.
“Sharing this information at the regional level is of great importance to guide countries in their actions to expand and improve their efforts towards food security in the Americas.”
The OAS said the report was an essential input to the joint session of the OAS Permanent Council with the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI), whose purpose was to address and promote viable actions and regional cooperation to strengthen food security in a comprehensive and sustainable manner “as a fundamental strategy to address persistent social and economic needs in the Americas, including those emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This report is one of the actions adopted by the OAS as a follow-up to the declaration adopted at the OAS General Assembly in 2021, “Renewed Commitment to Post-COVID-19 Sustainable Development in the Americas”, which highlights the “commitment to continue promoting national and regional measures to respond to the multiple crises that have unfolded, addressing the structural causes, particularly to counteract the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss, as well as discrimination, hunger and food and nutrition insecurity, displacement, poverty and violence”.
The OAS said it “remains at the disposal of member states to continue to promote effective measures to eradicate hunger throughout the region”.
Source-CMC
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige teases big return to July's San Diego Comic-Con
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Marvel Studios stormed 2019's San Diego Comic-Con, where the studio's head Kevin Feige teased projects, including eventual Emmy nominees The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and WandaVision as well as big-screen hits, including Black Widow, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.
Both 2020 and 2021's San Diego Comic-Cons were moved to virtual events because of the pandemic. However, while promoting the Thor four-quel on Friday, Feige said Marvel Studios is coming back to San Diego's famed Hall H this year, where big projects are announced.
"Yes, you can," Feige said when asked if fans can expect a return in 2022.
"We'll be at Comic-Con next month, which we're excited about. First time since we were on stage there three years ago, talking about this movie [Love and Thunder] and many others."
He added, "So, yes, we're excited to go and talk about the future. We always look at five, ten years ahead --and it changes and twists and turns -- but that's usually, you know, as far out as we go, and then start to build it."
Feige has a lot to tease come July when San Diego Comic-Con returns, including 2023's big-screen sequels Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Marvels and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, as well as the reboot of Blade starring two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali and Disney+ projects, including Ironheart, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Secret Invasion.
Thor: Love and Thunder, starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale and Oscar-winning writer-director Taika Waititi, opens July 8.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Source-ABC
UN Chief Says World Faces ‘Real Risk’ of Multiple Famines This Year
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an international conference on food security Friday that the world is facing the “real risk” of multiple famines this year and that 2023 could be even worse.
“The war in Ukraine has compounded problems that have been brewing for years: climate disruption; the COVID-19 pandemic; the deeply unequal recovery,” Guterres said by video message to the Uniting for Global Food Security ministerial conference in Berlin.
He said rising fuel and fertilizer prices are dramatically affecting the world’s farmers.
“All harvests will be hit, including rice and corn – affecting billions of people across Asia, Africa and the Americas,” Guterres said. “This year’s food access issues could become next year’s global food shortage.”
He warned that no country would be immune to the social and economic fallout.
Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine has led to availability and supply chain disruptions. The United Nations says more than 36 countries get half or more of their grain supply from the Black Sea region.
In addition to destroying and stealing some Ukrainian grain, Russia’s military has blockaded the country’s key southern port of Odesa, preventing more than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain from being exported. The Kremlin has also held back some of its own grain and fertilizer production from global markets, claiming Western sanctions are obstructing their export.
“Nothing – nothing — is preventing food and fertilizer from leaving Russia,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said of the sanctions. “And only one country is blocking food and fertilizer from leaving Ukraine and that is Russia.”
Japan’s foreign minister noted that Russia’s own statistics show its wheat exports had doubled this May over last year.
“Despite this, Russia is spreading disinformation to the contrary,” Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
Guterres has been conducting intense, private diplomacy with Russia and Ukraine, as well as Turkey, which could soon host grain talks between the warring parties, and key actors the United States and European Union. His goal is a package deal that would let Ukraine export its grain, not only by land but also through the Black Sea, and would bring Russian food and fertilizer to world markets.
Getting the port of Odesa open and safely functioning again is a top priority.
“We have got to get the port of Odesa open right now,” World Food Program chief David Beasley told the conference. “Failure to do so is a declaration of war on global food security — it is that simple.”
The grain in the silos must be exported before it begins to rot. It also needs to be moved to make way for the next grain harvest that will begin in September.
In the meantime, neighbor Romania has been stepping up to help Kyiv get its grain out.
“We are receiving Ukrainian grain by road, rail, sea and the Danube River,” Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu told the meeting. “Since the start of the invasion, the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta, which is the largest port on the Black Sea, has become the main gateway for Ukrainian grain shipments to the outside world.”
He said Romania is working to make Constanta a European food hub and increase its processing capacity. In 2021, he said more than 25 million tons of grain were exported through Constanta.
The African continent has been badly hit by the impacts of the grain and fertilizer shortages, as many of those nations receive large quantities of these imports from the Black Sea region.
“My country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, it had to lift value added tax on basic foods, had to subsidize products such as fuel, in order to avoid uprisings as a consequence of the general price increases,” said Minister of Planning Christian Mwando Nsimba Kabulo. “Of course, this has enormous consequences for the national budget of my country, and it makes the efforts for greater resilience more difficult.”
“There is a straight line between the actions in the war in Ukraine and the suffering we see in the [global] South,” U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said.
Action and announcements of assistance for the most vulnerable nations are expected in the coming days, as members of the world’s largest economies meet in Germany for the G-7 summit
Source-VOA
32-year-old dies in Fatal Road Collision on Grand Turk
Sad news coming out of Grand Turk! RTC News has learned that at 1:27am on Saturday 25th June 2022, the Police Control Room was contacted by a caller who reported a vehicle accident.
Officers responded to the location along Pond Street, Grand Turk, where bystanders pointed out a male, who appeared to be unconscious, lying on his stomach and his clothing appeared to be wet. Officers also saw a white SUV with extensive damages.
Emergency medical services, dispatched to the scene, attended to the male, who was then transported to the Cockburn Town Medical Centre for further medical treatment.
32-year-old Garrick Tucker later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 2:27am on Saturday 25th June, 2022.
The vehicle involved in this incident was reported stolen earlier on Friday 24th June, 2022. The Traffic Enforcement team is investigating this incident.
Acting Commissioner of Police, Mr. Rodney Adams said, “On behalf of the Force Executive Team and members and staff of RTCIPF, I would like to extend condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased. Investigations into this incident are underway by the RTCIPF Traffic Enforcement Department.”