Lionel Messi wins best men's player of the year
Barcelona's Lionel Messi won the best men's player at the Best Fifa Football Awards in Milan as Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk missed out on the top prize.
It is the sixth time Messi has been voted the world's best, after wins in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015.
The 32-year-old Argentine helped Barcelona win La Liga and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.
United States forward Megan Rapinoe won the best women's player award.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was named men's coach of the year after a season in which they beat Tottenham 2-0 to lift the Champions League.
The Reds also finished second in the Premier League with 97 points - the third-highest tally recorded in the competition.
Klopp was nominated for the award along with two other Premier League bosses - Manchester City's Pep Guardiola and Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino.
"It is great, nobody expected this 20, 10, five, four years ago that I would be standing here," said Klopp, whose team have won all six league matches at the start of the 2019-20 season.
"We know what an incredible job you Mauricio Pochettino did and what Pep did. I have to say thank you to my outstanding club Liverpool FC.
"To the owners thank you, they gave me an incredible team. I have to thank my team - as a coach you can only be as good as your team is. I'm really proud of being manager of such an incredible bunch of players."
In accepting the award, Klopp announced that he is joining the Common Goal initiative set up by Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata. It means the Reds boss will donate 1% of his salary to the charity, which pledges to "generate social change and improve lives".
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson was also a winner as he took the best goalkeeper prize ahead of Manchester City's Ederson and Barcelona's Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa won the fair play award after he ordered his team to allow Aston Villa to score an uncontested equaliser during their 1-1 draw in their Championship match in April.
Bielsa's side had gone ahead controversially when the Villa players stopped as they expected the ball to be kicked out of play when Jonathan Kodjia was injured, before the Argentine intervened.
Eighteen-year-old Daniel Zsori won the Puskas award for the best goal with his spectacular 93rd-minute overhead kick for Debrecen against Ferencvaros, just after he came on as a substitute for his Hungarian league debut in February.
His strike beat Messi's chip from the edge of the penalty area against Real Betis and Juan Quintero's powerful 30-yard free-kick for River Plate against Racing Club.
Source-BBC
Sajid Javid eliminated from the British contest
Sajid Javid has been knocked out of the Tory leadership race, leaving three contenders vying for the job and to be the next prime minister.
The home secretary received 34 votes, coming behind Jeremy Hunt with 59.
Michael Gove received 61 votes, leapfrogging Mr Hunt to gain second place; while front runner Boris Johnson got 157 votes from MPs.
MPs are now voting in a fifth ballot to select the two candidates who will go through to a party membership vote.
The vote will close at 17:30 BST and the result is due at about 18:00.
The remaining two MPs will compete in a run-off of the party's 160,000 or so members, and the winner will be announced in the week of 22 July.
Addressing his comments to "kids who look and feel a bit different to their classmates" he said: "Don't let anyone try and cut you down to size or say you aren't a big enough figure to aim high.
"You have as much right as anyone to a seat at the top table."
Mr Johnson, a former Foreign Secretary, said he was "incredibly grateful" for the support of more than half of all Conservative MP, adding that "we have much more work to do".
Environment Secretary Mr Gove jumped into second place, overtaking Foreign Secretary Mr Hunt, who had been second in each of the three previous rounds of voting.
Mr Gove said he was "absolutely delighted" adding: "If I make the final two I look forward to having a civilised debate of ideas about the future of our country."
Mr Hunt said: "The critical decision now for all colleagues is what choice do we present to the country.
"Choose me for unity over division, and I will put Boris through his paces and then bring our party and country back together."
A source close to Mr Hunt told the BBC: "Boris and Michael are great candidates but we have seen their personal psychodrama before. Jeremy Hunt is the candidate who can best unify the party."
Of the 313 Conservative MPs who voted, there were two spoilt ballots.
Source-BBC
US adds Saudi Arabia and Cuba to blacklist on human trafficking
The United States on Thursday added Saudi Arabia and Cuba to its blacklist of countries that are not doing enough to fight human trafficking, a designation that could bring sanctions.
In an annual report, the State Department faulted ally Saudi Arabia for rampant violations among foreign laborers and accused adversary Cuba of trafficking through its program of sending doctors overseas.
Countries that remained on Tier 3, the lowest ranking in the report, included China, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela.
"If you don't stand up to trafficking, America will stand up to you," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said as he presented the report alongside Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump's daughter and adviser.
A Tier 3 designation means that the United States can restrict assistance or withdraw support for the country at the International Monetary Fund or other global development bodies.
Pompeo said that the United States last year took actions against 22 countries due to the human trafficking designation.
Source-AFP
Trump & Xi meeting at G20 raises hope for trade truce
US President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping said yesterday they plan to meet next week at the Group of 20 summit in Japan, raising hopes for a truce in an increasingly damaging trade war between the world's top two economies.
Trump said the leaders had a “good” conversation, while Xi said the countries have more to gain by cooperating than by engaging in a protracted battle.
The comments set a more upbeat tone for the talks after worsening tensions created fears over whether the two economic powers would be able to resolve their differences after exchanging steep tariffs on hundreds of billions in exports.
“Had a very good telephone conversation with President Xi of China. We will be having an extended meeting next week at the G-20 in Japan,” Trump said on Twitter.
“Our respective teams will begin talks prior to our meeting.”
Xi too was relatively upbeat.
“In recent times, China-US relations have encountered some difficulties, which is not in the interest of either side. China and the US will both gain by cooperating, and lose by fighting,” Xi told Trump, according to a readout by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
The White House readout of the call said the leaders “discussed the importance of levelling the playing field for US farmers, workers, and businesses through a fair and reciprocal economic relationship”.
The White House repeated that the focus of the talks will be to address “structural barriers to trade with China and achieving meaningful reforms that are enforceable and verifiable”.
Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow warned that there are “no guarantees” of any resolution in Osaka.
“Our position continues to be (that) we want structural changes,” Kudlow told reporters.
“They'll have a good conversation. The fact that they're meeting is a good thing.”
Trump's tweet sparked a rally on Wall Street, where the multi-front trade battles have repeatedly rankled investors worried about dented corporate profits and disruption to one of the major axes of global trade.
Source- AFP
Immigrants sue US gov't over wait for files to fight deportation
Immigrants accused the US government in a lawsuit Wednesday of failing to promptly give them copies of their own immigration records, hampering their ability to fight deportation and apply for citizenship.
Two immigrants and three attorneys said they are seeking class-action status for thousands of people waiting more than 30 business days to get the documents from the US Department of Homeland Security.
The plaintiffs, who are represented by the American Immigration Council and other immigrant rights advocates, sued in federal court in San Francisco.
Immigrants need the files to review details in their own immigration histories to defend themselves against deportation and apply for asylum, green cards and citizenship, advocates said.
The records, known as immigrants' A-files, contain information about how they came into the country and any immigration benefit applications they have submitted.
The delay "causes unnecessary emotional and financial hardship for individuals left in legal limbo while they wait to obtain the records that hold the key to assessing their immigration options in the United States," the lawsuit said.
A spokesperson for US Citizenship and Immigration Services didn't immediately comment.
The US immigration system is facing massive backlogs in naturalisation applications, asylum filings and the immigration courts. Advocates have decried lengthy waits for citizenship interviews and asylum hearings, and with the lawsuit, they are adding the ability to obtain immigration documents to the list.
The numbers of pending asylum applications and immigration court cases have grown since the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and a rise in children and families arriving on the southwest border, many from Central America.
About 41,000 Freedom of Information Act requests were pending at US Citizenship and Immigration Services in the 2018 fiscal year, the lawsuit said.
Claudia Valenzuela, FOIA staff attorney at the American Immigration Council, said she didn't know how many are from people seeking their own A-files but believes there are thousands.
The average processing time for A-file requests ranges from 55 to 90 days, according to the Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
Cheryl David, an immigration attorney in New York and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said wait times for A-files aren't new. She said it regularly takes her about eight months to get the documents and they are critical to prepare a case, especially when immigrants have lived in the US for a long time and may have filed applications previously on their own or with other lawyers.
"You don't want to go into an immigration interview blind as to what your client has applied for before or has submitted to immigration if they don't remember," she said.
Source-AP
Public Weather Forecast June 20, 2019
THE PUBLIC FORECAST FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT THURSDAY, 20TH JUNE, 2019 ISSUED BY THE BAHAMAS DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY.
GENERAL SITUATION: AN AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BECOME THE MAIN WEATHER FEATURE AS IT HOVERS OVER THE ISLANDS THROUGH TONIGHT.
SPECIAL WARNINGS: BOATERS AND RESIDENTS SHOULD REMAIN VIGILANT FOR POSSIBLE WATERSPOUT OR TORNADIC ACTIVITY WHILE BEACH-GOERS IN THE SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS AND TURKS AND CAICOS SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION DUE TO THE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS AT EAST COAST BEACHES.
ALL AREAS:
WEATHER: PARTLY TO MOSTLY SUNNY AND HOT WITH THE CHANCE OF ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY ACROSS THE EXTREME NORTHERN ISLANDS BECOMING MOSTLY FAIR AND VERY WARM TONIGHT.
ADVISORY: SMALL CRAFT SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION IN THE SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS AND TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS.
WINDS: SOUTHEAST TO SOUTH AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS OVER OPEN WATERS IN THE NORTHWEST AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS BUT EAST TO SOUTHEAST AT 15 TO 20 KNOTS OVER OPEN WATERS IN THE SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS AND TURKS AND CAICOS.
SEAS: 2 TO 4 FEET IN THE NORTHWEST AND CENTRAL BAHAMAS AND 4 TO 6 FEET IN THE SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS AND TURKS AND CAICOS.
DAYTIME HIGH TEMPERATURE: 94°F 34°C
OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURE: 81°F 27°C
HEAT INDEX: 106°F 41°C
SUN
SUNRISE: 6:21 AM
SUNSET: 8:00 PM
MOON
MOONSET: 9:08 AM
MOONRISE: 10:54 PM
TIDES
HIGH TIDE: 9:43 AM & 10:04 PM
LOW TIDE: 3:43 PM & 4:36 AM (FRI.)
10 candidates running in Brexit-dominated UK leadership race
Leading lawmakers from Britain's governing party battled over Brexit as the contest to become the next Conservative prime minister officially kicked off Monday with the declaration of 10 candidates for the top job.
The choice of who will replace Prime Minister Theresa May affects all Britons, but will be made only by members of the right-of-centre Conservative Party.
After the 5:00 pm (UK time) close of nominations, party officials announced the names of the 10 lawmakers who are running, including former Cabinet minister Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Environment Secretary Michael Gove. An 11th, Sam Gyimah, withdrew because he was unable to secure the support of eight colleagues as required by party rules.
The winner will face the challenge of breaking Britain's impasse over Brexit, an issue that has bedevilled politicians for three years and ultimately defeated Theresa May.
May stepped down Friday as Conservative leader after failing to secure Parliament's backing for her EU withdrawal deal. She will remain caretaker prime minister until the party picks its new leader, a process that could run until late July.
Many of the candidates have been campaigning unofficially for weeks, laying out policies on everything from policing to tax, and facing questions about past drug use. But the overriding issue in the contest is Brexit.
The Conservatives have been hammered in recent European and local elections as voters punish the party for failing to leave the 28-nation EU.
"Our failure to deliver Brexit has put our country and party in grave peril," Hunt said as he officially launched his campaign on Monday. "Without Brexit there will be no Conservative government and maybe no Conservative Party."
The candidates divide into those, including Hunt and Gove, who say they will prioritize finding a divorce deal that's acceptable both to the EU and to Parliament, and hard-core Brexit backers such as Johnson who say the UK must leave on the scheduled date of October 31 — with or without a deal.
Gove, one of the front-runners, is trying to limit fallout from his admission of long-ago cocaine use, which brought allegations that the former justice secretary — who oversaw a system that sends drug users to prison — is a hypocrite.
"I've acknowledged that I made a mistake," Gove said, adding that as justice secretary he was a reformer who sought to rehabilitate prisoners and "take broken lives and put them back together."
Most of the other contenders have also confessed to occasional past use of drugs. In most cases it involved marijuana, although International Development Secretary Rory Stewart said he smoked opium at a wedding in Iran 15 years ago.
The contest's winner will be chosen in a two-stage process. First, the 313 Conservative lawmakers will vote in a series of rounds starting Thursday, with the worst performers dropping out until only two candidates remain. The final two will be put to a postal vote among the 160,000 Conservative Party members in the country.
The favourite on betting markets is Johnson, a former foreign secretary with an instantly recognizable mop of blond hair and a knack for entertaining the public.
He says he will take Britain out of the bloc without a deal if necessary, and on Monday promised a tax cut for millions of middle- and high-income Britons.
Unlike the other candidates, Johnson hasn't given television interviews or held any public events, as his campaign team tries to avoid gaffes that could spoil his front-runner status.
Several candidates appeared to take aim at Johnson in comments Monday.
"We won't deliver Brexit with bluff and bluster," said former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, who is competing with Johnson for the support of hardcore Brexiteers.
Hunt said the party needed a "serious leader."
"We need tough negotiation, not empty rhetoric," he said.
Gove took aim at Johnson's backing for a no-deal Brexit, saying it could spell the end of the Conservative government.
"There would be a vote of confidence in the House of Commons that the government would lose," Gove said. "We would have (opposition Labour Party leader) Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street by Christmas."
Source-AFP
NATIONAL HONOURS AND AWARDS NOMINATIONS OPEN
The General Public are advised that the National Honours and Awards Nominations are open. The National Honours and Awards Committee (NHAC) is reminding the public of the following instructions for nomination and submissions for the Annual National Honours and Awards.
The Honours and Awards form depicts a description of the achievements, merits and service a recipient should possess in order to qualify for such an honour. It is of utmost importance that you nominate persons that you believe are worthy to receive an award. Additionally, a nominator must ensure to make clear which category the nominee is being considered for.
The Committee will only consider persons who are nominated in the category submitted; therefore, the General Public are advised to carefully consider the criteria for each category to ensure the nominee is suitable for the submitted category.
The Committee cannot make any corrections, additions or amendments to a submitted nomination form and cannot nominate any person included in the list of nominations, for a different honour or award category than originally selected by the nominator.
The category of awards are as follows:
- The Order of National Hero
- The Order of Turks and Caicos Islands
- The Patriotic Award
- The Long Service Medal
- The Meritorious Award
- National Young Achievers Medal
Forms are available at the Premier’s Office in both Grand Turk and Providenciales, The District Commissioners Offices in the sister islands and on the Government’s website. Completed nomination forms must be submitted in a sealed envelope, to your District Commissioner or Premier’s Office on or before July 22nd, 2019 and MUST BE clearly marked:
National Honour and Awards OR
“Ronlee James
Re: National Honours and Awards Committee”
The form only introduces your nominee. You are encouraged to add and attach information regarding your nominee’s work, service & merits. Ensure that you provide all the information, in whatever form that information takes, to support your reason why your nominee should be so honoured. Whether it be documents, newspaper clippings, letters or testimonials.
The Ordinance provides that an Honour or Award may be revoked if the Awardee allows persons to whom the award was not granted to wear his insignia or commits an act the Committee sees as bringing the Honours system into disrepute.
The general public is reminded to ensure that all nominations are submitted by July 22nd 2019.
From the desk of Hon. Vaden D Williams
The Minister Hon. Vaden D Williams, responsible for Immigration, Citizenship, Labour & Employment Services is urging residents from all islands across the Turks and Caicos Islands to register with employment service.
The Employment Services Department is also seeking to register students who are graduating high school, along with all college and university students returning home for the summer. This initiative targets unemployed persons, as well as those seeking new employment.
Persons interested in registering with Employment Services are encouraged to visit The Employment Service Office, located in the Sammy Been Plaza on Airport Road, Upstairs Unit 1.
Please bring with you the following documents: Passport or Status Card; Naturalization Certificate; Belonger Certificate, and your resume.
The registration process is free. If you are unable to go to the office, please email them at jobregistration@gov.tc.
Power Outage Update
FortisTCI crews continue efforts this morning to resolve a major technical fault at the power plant on Providenciales. Engineers and technicians are presently carrying out work to replace electrical equipment at the main substation that failed yesterday. This equipment is needed to route electricity to the customers affected.
The necessary work will take approximately four hours to complete and will require additional time for restoration of services. The company estimates that restoration of electricity to customers in Grace Bay, Leeward, and Leeward Palms will begin this afternoon by approximately 3 p.m.
FortisTCI understands the impact to its customers and is making every effort to normalize service as soon as possible. Updates will be provided as additional information becomes available.
For more information, please contact our customer service representatives at 649-946-4313. Follow our Facebook page for regular updates.