TCIFA GENERAL SECRETARY, OLIVER SMITH OFFERS APOLOGY FOLLOWING CONCACAF GAME.
A video posted online, which has surpassed 140 thousand views on Facebook, depicts TCIFA General Secretary Responsible for Coaching, Oliver Smith walking onto the football pitch in Providenciales and ripping a football out of the hands of member of the Haitian team.
This was after an exciting Concacaf World Cup Qualifier match-up between the TCI and Haitian football teams which ended in a 10-0 victory for the Haitian team. The initial reaction from the public ranged from anger to confusion.
Mr. Smith following the action has issued an apology to all who witnessed the ordeal via RTC Sports:
"On June 5, 2021, approximately 10 to 15 minutes after a World Cup qualifier game between the Turks and Caicos Islands and Haiti Men’s National Team there was an exchange between some members of the Haitian football team and I.
The exchange was as a result of the Haitian Team’s refusal to return footballs belonging to the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association. My response was not in keeping with established protocols, and was unbecoming of a representative of the TCIFA. For that I apologize to all affected parties.
This situation serves as a poignant reminder to all stakeholders to remain respectful of each other, and that football is a sport which unites all nations and creeds. It is through this sport that opportunities for advancement have been made available to many persons living in the Turks and Caicos Islands irrespective of nationality.
We all have a role in safeguarding the sanctity of the game, and we must never allow tempers or egos to overshadow its purpose. I am now equally painfully reminded of that and again express my apology."
RTC's Ruthea Robinson got the chance to ratify some of the details surrounding the incident in an exclusive interview with the President of the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association, Sonia Fulford. She explained that prior to the incident the match was a beautiful 90 minutes of football and that the video only captured an excerpt of the heat of the moment caused by emotions running high.
The confrontation started because of the confusion surrounding who keeps the footballs used in the game. In football culture a well known practice is that when a team or player performs a hat trick, which is the achievement of a generally positive feat (goal) three times in a game, they would take home the football that was used. In this case the team that performed the hat trick was Haitian team were allowed to keep one of the match balls after the match but were unaware that the TCI equipment manager was looking to put away the rest of the balls, two of which the Haitian team was still holding on to.
Smith went to retrieve these balls and after asking the Haitian team’s coach for assistance and after receiving none, he sought to collect them himself.
This, according to the President, led to Smith taking the ball from one of the Haitian players as seen in the viral video.
The president noted that beyond the confusion surrounding the possession of the balls there were other protocols that were being ignored by both teams. For instance, both teams were supposed to leave the field immediately after the match officially ended, however both teams stayed on the field.
The President stated that she does not condone the actions of the General Secretary in any way. However, she does acknowledge that both sides had a role in escalating the confrontation. On the note of taking disciplinary actions, she clarified that she cannot disclose the specifics but that the association is currently investigating the situation and is internally dealing with the matter.
She also shared a heart-felt apology on behalf of Smith and the Association saying that he wanted to take part in the interview but she advised against his appearance. The president did not mention what she thought the reaction of the TCI Sports Commission would be but noted that internationally situations like these are common place and that she has personally witnessed much worse incidents.
The President ended by stating that there will be immediate action taken to ensure that an incident like this does not happen again.
Following that interview, RTC Sports on Wednesday June 9th received an email from the TCIFA on the actions that will be taken against Mr. Smith:
Following the unfortunate incident involving our General Secretary, Oliver Smith, after the completion of our World Cup Qualifier game versus Haiti this past Saturday, an internal review of the incident and our General Secretary’s conduct has been undertaken by the TCIFA Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee has found that the General Secretary brought the TCIFA into disrepute, and did not act in the best interests of football or the FA. We acknowledge the sincere remorse and public apology of the General Secretary, however, the decision has been made to suspend the General Secretary with immediate effect for two months from all football activities.
Protocols will be more strictly enforced in the future added Mrs. Sonia Fulford.
The Conjuring 3 scares its way to No.1 at the box office
A horror film has once again taken the top spot at this week's box office. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It made an estimated $24 million besting last week's leader A Quiet Place Part II ($20 million), according to Comscore.
Third place goes to Disney's Cruella ($11.2 million), followed by Spirit Untamed ($6.2 million), and Raya and the Last Dragon ($1.3 million) rounds out the top five.
The Conjuring 3, however, was short of beating A Quiet Place's record for the best opening during the pandemic era with $48 million. Currently, 75 percent of all North American theaters are open.
It was confirmed on Friday that a third installment of the latter was greenlit with a tentative date of March 31, 2023, for release. Jeff Nichols is set to take over writing and directing from John Krasinski as the film expands on the universe created by the former The Office star, according to Deadline.
Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson star as married paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren in The Conjuring 3, a couple who witnessed the exorcism of an eight-year-old in the small Connecticut town of Brookfield. Due to the events of that fateful night, the Warrens become involved with the investigation into the demon's origins while chasing the exchange of an evil totem that takes them across state lines.
The film costars Ruari O'Connor, John Noble, Sterling Jerins, and Charlene Amoia.
Cinemascore audiences gave the film a B+.
Also making its debut this weekend is DreamWorks Animations Spirit Untamed, a spin-off of 2002's Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. The latest film, directed by Elaine Bogan, follows the adventures of a spirit young girl named Fortuna (voiced by Isabela Merced), who discovers she has a magical connection to a wild horse most are intimidated by.
Other featured voices include Julianne Moore, Jake Gyllenhaal, Eiza González, Andre Brauer, and Walton Goggins.
Moviegoers at Cinemascore awarded the animated film an A rating.
Check out the June 4-6 numbers below:
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It— $24 million
A Quiet Place Part II — $20 million
Cruella — $11.2 million
Spirit Untamed— $6.2 million
Raya and the Last Dragon — $1.3 million
Wrath of Man — $1.3 million
Spiral—$900k
Godzilla vs. Kong— $500k
Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train— $450k
Dream Horse— $230k
Source-EW
Atlanta Hawks moves onto victory over Philadelphia 76ers
Trae Young scored 35 points as the Atlanta Hawks beat the Philadelphia 76ers 128-124 in the opening game of their NBA play-off series.
Young starred in Atlanta's first-round series win over the New York Knicks, averaging 29 points a game.
And the 22-year-old was on form again, leading the Hawks to a dominant victory despite a late 76ers fightback.
Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Dallas Mavericks 126-111 in game seven of their first-round series.
Young helped the Hawks to a fast start and they held a 19-point lead with eight minutes left.
Philadelphia produced a late comeback, scoring 11 straight points, but Atlanta held on.
Game two of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final series is in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
The series winners will face either the Milwaukee Bucks or the Brooklyn Nets for a place in next month's NBA Finals.
Source-BBC
PREMIER ATTENDED UKOTA PRE JOINT MINISTERIAL COUNCIL MEETING
The Premier and Minister for Finance, Investment and Trade, Honourable Charles Washington Misick attended the annual United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association (UKOTA) Pre-Joint Ministerial Council (Pre JMC) Meeting which was hosted virtually by the UKOTA President of Political Council, Premier of Bermuda the Honourable David Burt, on Thursday, 27 May 2021.
All Overseas Territories (OT) Leaders made representation at the conference to discuss and agree on pertinent matters and the format of the annual Joint Ministerial Conference.
During the meeting, Overseas Territories (OT) Leaders discussed a number of topics including: -
- OT/ UK Relationship post EU Exit
- Environment
- Ocean Management
- Crisis and Disaster Management
- Border Security
- Financial Services
- Post COVID economic recovery and resilience
The Premier shared with OT heads of government and delegates, TCI’s successes in the management of COVID-19 and highlighted the country’s positive vaccination rate. The council heard also updates from the Premier on the impact of the pandemic on the TCI’s tourism industry, the TCI Citizen Relief Stimulus and the careful management of the country’s finances during the COVID-19 pandemic period, Premier Misick stated: “We were fortunate to have entered the pandemic in a strong financial position with a BBB+ credit rating and I am pleased to report that we will maintain that standard going forward.”
Amendments to the Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution were also highlighted as a priority matter to be discussed at the upcoming Joint Ministerial Council Meeting at the end of the year.
OT Leaders all expressed a united stance on all issues raised. At the end of the meeting, agreed priority agenda items was collated in a letter which will be submitted to the Minister for the Commonwealth at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Lord Ahmad ahead of the Joint Ministerial Conference 2021.
The Premier was joined by Executive Director for the Office of the Premier, Ronlee James and United Kingdom Representatives from the TCI Government London Office, Tracy Knight and Kimo Tynes.
The Pre JMC was launched as an initiative of the United Kingdom Overseas Territory Association (UKOTA). UKOTA was established to promote the interests of Overseas Territories and the co-operation between them. Specifically, UKOTA demonstrates the collective and individual partnerships between the territories and the United Kingdom Government.
China's EV maker Li Auto expects monthly sales to reach 10,000 cars in Sept
China's electric vehicle maker Li Auto expects sales to reach 10,000 cars a month from September and will expand its sales network, executives said on Wednesday.
Li Auto President Shen Yanan said Li Auto, which has only one model, expects monthly sales of its facelifted Li ONE extended-range electric sport-utility vehicle model to nearly double by September. It sold 5,539 cars in April.
Shen said the firm would expand its sales network and continue to use a direct-sales model strategy to sell its vehicles, adding that it is building a team to research selling overseas. It has 75 stores in more than 50 Chinese cities.
Li Auto, with a market capitalisation of $18 billion, is competing with Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and a swathe of Chinese EV makers, including Nio Inc (NIO.N) and Xpeng Inc (XPEV.N).
CEO Li Xiang said Li Auto plans to invest 3 billion yuan in research and development this year, and expects that number to grow.
Li said he open to further fundraising options, including bonds, loans and follow-ons.
Source- Reuters
Prince Harry, Meghan Markle announce birth of daughter
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced Sunday the birth of their daughter Lilibet Diana, who was born in California after a year of turmoil in Britain's royal family.
"Lili is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet. Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honour her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales," said a statement from the couple.
The child — the couple's second, who will be eighth in line to the British throne — was born Friday in Santa Barbara and was now out of the hospital and at home.
"She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz. Both mother and child are healthy and well, and settling in at home," the statement said.
The couple, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, live near Los Angeles following their decision to quit frontline royal duties early last year.
The couple sat in March for a bombshell interview with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey, triggering the royal family's biggest crisis since Harry's mother died in a car crash in 1997.
During the two-hour sit-down, viewed by more than 17 million people in the US and over 11 million in Britain, Harry and Meghan said racism had played a part in them quitting the UK for North America.
Source-AFP
Cruise ships return to Barbados starting on June 7th,2021
Barbados is preparing to welcome back cruise ships to its shores from Monday, with all passengers on board being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
This was disclosed by Tourism Minister Lisa Cummins on Saturday.
“We are preparing…to welcome back for the first time in over 15 months cruise ships to Barbados. We have the Celebrity Millennium that will be making a transit call on Barbados on Monday. She will arrive in Barbados at approximately 11 (local time) in the morning.”
“It has been over a year of discussions, negotiations, and engagement at the level of the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), the European Union (EU) healthy sail guidelines, working through the Americas Crews Task Force, …chaired by the President and CEO of Royal Caribbean, Michael Bailey, and Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados.”
Cummins pointed out that a number of protocols are in place and all passengers are required to have a valid negative PCR test three days prior to arrival.
“There is testing that is going to be taking place on board the ships that will make sure that people are continually kept safe, but there are multiple different scenarios, and we want to spend some time just talking you through what that looks like. So, everybody's comfortable that we have been robust and rigorous in the assessment of what the parameters need to be, what the risk is going to be, what risks are going to be posed, and what measures need to be put in place,” she stated.
The minister also outlined the plans that have been put in place to receive cruise ships and passengers.
There are at least three different types of parameters that we needed to consider for cruising …people are going to be flying in; they're going to have to meet the requirements first for boarding an aircraft, which would be a negative PCR test before they land in Barbados, and they're taken via sterile corridor directly to the port, where they then have to be subjected to further screening in order to embark on the ship, which is homeported here in Barbados,” she said.
She said that bubble tours will be made available for passengers.
“What that means is that we're restricting what types of activity can be undertaken at this stage because despite our best efforts, and despite the level of rigour that we have put into developing these protocols, this is still the first ship. We need to take small, confident but careful steps,” the tourism minister said.
Source-CMC
U.S. VP Harris' plane forced to return due to `technical issue'
A technical issue that involved “no major safety concerns” forced US Vice President Kamala Harris' plane to return to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland about 30 minutes after she had left Sunday on a trip to Guatemala and Mexico.
The plane landed safely and she gave a thumbs-up when she got off.
“I'm good, I'm good. We all said a little prayer, but we're good,” she said.
The vice president departed in another plane about an hour and a half later.
Her spokesperson, Symone Sanders, told reporters travelling with Harris that it was a technical issue with the original plane and there were “no major safety concerns”.
Source-AP
New Music Friday: Tinashe, H.E.R., Lucky Daye, Raheem DeVaughn, and more
Here's a roundup of new music from today's hottest R&B singers.
Tinashe brings the summer vibes with her new single, "Pasadena," featuring West Coast rapper Buddy. The uplifting track finds the singer relishing in everything that the good weather will bring.
"Up in the penthouse to see to the ocean / How did we get here, we don't even know / Hands in the wind, racin' out to the coast / Feelin' free, can't get better than this," Tinashe sings.
"Pasadena" is the first single from Tinashe's upcoming album, 333, the follow-up to 2019's Songs for You.
After "Fight For You," Grammy-winning vocalist H.E.R. returns with another poignant single, "Change." The inspiring anthem will appear in the upcoming Netflix series, We the People, and finds H.E.R encouraging younger generations to be a part of the change they want to see.
"Don’t have to wait for someday just to have change / No, you’re never too young to make a difference / You have the power to be an active citizen," she sings.
H.E.R. won her first Oscar for "Fight for You" earlier this year, which D’Mile produced for the film Judas and the Black Messiah.
D'Mile also reunited with his other frequent collaborator, singer Lucky Daye, for the new single, "Running Blind." Daye put his New Orleans spin on the first single from the compilation album, Liberated / Music for the Movement Vol. 3, arriving June 18th, ahead of Juneteenth.
Liberated comes from Hollywood Records and ESPN's The Undefeated as a celebration of Black beauty and empowerment during Black Music Month.
Meanwhile, R&B vet Raheem DeVaughn partnered with Detroit producer Apollo Brown to craft 12 anecdotal love songs for their collaborative album, Love Sick. "Everything Baby" is a special track in which DeVaughn mentions everything he loves about his woman.
Source- ABC
2021 Grand Prix has been dropped due to Covid restrictions
The Singapore Grand Prix has reportedly been removed from the 2021 F1 calendar due to the Covid-19 pandemic restricting travel to the country.
Unlike many countries, Singapore has responded to the Coronavirus outbreak by imposing strict immigration restrictions which F1 and Singapore authorities have agreed make it impossible to hold the event in the city state.
The thousands of people due to descend on Singapore for the race would have put too great a strain on the city state's test-and-trace system.
While F1 has yet to issue an official statement, a spokesperson told the BBC: "We continue to work with all promoters during this fluid time and have plenty of options to adapt if needed."
This is the second year in a row that the Singapore event has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus.
The race series’ organisers have yet to confirm which track will replace Singapore’s Marina Bay Street Circuit, which was scheduled to host the GP on 1-3 October. According to the BBC, Turkey is being considered as a replacement. There could also be a revival of the Chinese Grand Prix.
A double header at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, is also a possibility, as the track owners recently offered F1 the option of two races at the venue in the middle of October. F1 owner Liberty Media is an American company.
While F1 will hope that Singapore is the last race to be cancelled this season, there are warnings that other Grand Prix may drop from the rota. These include the Mexico and Brazil GPs, whose countries are currently dealing with some of the world’s highest Covid infection rates.
Source-Auto Car