Operation Drive Safe and Positive Ticket Launched
With the general lack of compliance with the road traffic legislation, The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force on Monday January 21st, 2019, launched "Operation Drive Safe".
Effective January 28th, 2019, Police Officers throughout the territory will be targeting the main behaviours that contribute to death and serious injury on the roadways – not wearing your seatbelt, driving impaired (by drugs, or alcohol); careless and dangerous driving (such as using a cell phone), and speeding. Officers will also be targeting road users with unlicensed and uninsured vehicles and those vehicles without a license plate.
The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force will also be introducing the "Positive Ticket" in the coming weeks. This initiative will reward road users who are compliant with road traffic laws.
The rewards on offer include coupons and freebies, all of which have been donated by local businesses.
Speaking on the "Positive Ticket" initiative Commissioner James Smith said, "With Operation Drive Safe almost into effect, we thought that instead of handing out tickets for violations, we would also like to start off 2019 on a positive note. It's not about how many tickets are redeemed but building a better relationship with the community."
The "Positive Ticket" initiative will not only improve the community policing strategy but also promote the law. The tickets will feature the road traffic legislation and a promotional message from the participating sponsor.
Participating Sponsors includes:
Patti Place
Outback TCI
Shay Cafe
IGA
Wingz and Things (Grand Turk)
Digicel
World AIDS Day Cocktail Party
REVENUE DEPARTMENT VISITS NORTH & SOUTH CAICOS
Officers of the Revenue Department will be visiting the Communities of North Caicos November 14th through the 16th and South Caicos November 21st through the 23rd. The visiting Officers will maintain the standard hours of 8 am to 4:30 pm daily.
During their visit, the Officers will be based primarily at the District Commissioner's Offices in the respective islands and will be facilitating Revenue Department activities, strengthening service delivery of the District Commissioner's Office and engaging tax registrants in efforts to improve voluntary compliance.
For more information, please visit the Revenue Department in Grand Turk & Providenciales or the District Commissioner's Offices in the family Islands.
Phase 1 of Blue Hills New Road Works completed
Traffic out of Blue Hills flowed smoothly this morning, Thursday, September 27th, following road works that erected a dedicated left turn lane onto Leeward Highway and a mini round-a-bout at Walter Cox Drive.
Before the road works, traffic congestion was a regular occurrence along Millenium Highway during morning and afternoon rush hours.
Road engineers identified the round-a-bout at the junction between Millenium Highway and Leeward Highway as the main cause of traffic congestion in this area.
By creating a dedicated left turn lane, drivers seeking to head East can turn left onto Leeward Highway without interruption while those heading
right can access the round-a-bout as usual.
Additionally, a mini round-a-bout has been placed at Walter Cox Drive so that drivers heading South on Millenium Highway will be forced to give way to those merging in from Walter Cox Drive.
These changes will help to ease congestion and create a better flow of traffic in the area.
Road engineers have also inserted a pedestrian crossing on Millenium Highway to increase safety for pedestrians. The crossing is raised with ramps on either side to increase visibility and to force drivers to slow down.
Sergeant Damien Mitchell, Head of Traffic for the Royal Turks and Caicos Police Force, explained the rules of these new roadways during RTC’s morning newscast and added that the new path is working beautifully..
Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ian Astwood, was on site this morning to observe the public’s interaction with the new road ways. He was joined by Public Works Project Manager, Mark McCabe and representatives from Herzog.
The Public Works Department is eager to hear feedback from the public on the new roads ways as this is only Phase 1 of the road works in the Blue Hills area.
In Phase 2, government has plans to make Millenium Highway a dual carriageway much like Leeward Highway.
The pedestrian crossings in the downtown area will also be raised, repainted and ramped to match the crossing that is now in Millenium Highway, very soon.
Source: Allie Capron (RTC News)
Dozens feared trapped under Indonesian quake rubble
Dozens of people are thought to be trapped under the rubble of buildings in the Indonesian city of Palu following an earthquake and tsunami.
Rescuers are awaiting heavy machinery to search the ruins of a hotel and a shopping centre as aftershocks made it unsafe for them to go in.
They have been getting water and food to some of those trapped, who have been screaming for help to get out.
The quake and tsunami killed at least 832 people, officials say.
The national disaster agency has announced plans for mass graves and one that was being dug on Sunday night is expected to hold at least 300 bodies.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the region to urge a "day and night" effort to rescue survivors.
Survivors of the disaster have been sleeping in the open, wary of returning to their homes, even if they are still intact.
With hospitals damaged, injured people have been treated in the open and at least one military field hospital has been set up.
The military has taken over the airport to fly aid in, and injured people and other evacuees out.
"What you'll see, you know, as the days go by and people don't have access to adequate hygiene supplies, shelter, you'll see the situation deteriorate if they don't get that access so, we've sent shelter kits," Tom Howells, programme director for Save The Children, said on Sunday.
The 7.5 magnitude quake occurred at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles) just off the central island of Sulawesi at 18:03 (10:03 GMT) on Friday, setting off a tsunami, US monitors say.
Many people were on the beach in Palu, preparing for a festival, and were caught when the waves swept in.
The earthquake was powerful but shallow and with more lateral than vertical movement, not typically the kind of tremor that sets off tsunamis.
Vice-President Jusuf Kalla has said the final death toll could be in the thousands while the Red Cross estimates that more than 1.6 million people have been affected.
Source-BBC
PUBLIC FORECAST THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT
GENERAL SITUATION: A BROAD MID TO UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL MAINTAIN UNSTABLE CONDITIONS WHILE A STRONG HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE NORTH OF THE AREA CONTINUES TO SUPPORT BREEZY CONDITIONS OVER THE ISLANDS TODAY.
SPECIAL WARNINGS: BOATERS AND BEACHGOERS SHOULD CONTINUE TO EXERCISE CAUTION DUE TO ROUGH SURF AND THE HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENTS AT EAST COAST BEACHES GENERATED FROM SWELLS.
BAHAMAS & TURKS & CAICOS
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY, HOT AND BREEZY WITH A FEW SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THE CHANCE OF ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY ACROSS THE NORTHWEST AND CENTRAL ISLANDS THIS AFTERNOON. VARIABLE CLOUDINESS AND BREEZY WITH A FEW LATE NIGHT SHOWERS AND THE CHANCE OF ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT.
ADVISORY: SMALL CRAFT CAUTION REMAINS IN EFFECT AND BOATERS SHOULD ALSO BE ALERT FOR GUSTY WINDS AND HIGHER SEAS IN OR NEAR HEAVY SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS.
WINDS: EASTERLY AT 15 TO 20 KNOTS OVER OPEN WATERS
SEAS: 4 TO 7 FEET BUT UP TO 11 FEET IN MODERATE NORTHEASTERLY SWELLS OVER THE OCEAN.
DAYTIME HIGH TEMPERATURE: 91°F 33°C
OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURE: 77°F 25°C
HEAT INDEX: 105°F 41°C
SUNSET: 06:56PM MOONSET: 12:05PM LOW TIDE: 05:39PM
SUNRISE: 07:02AM MON. MOONRISE: 11:16PM HIGH TIDE: 11:32PM
LOW TIDE: 05:42AM MON.
HIGH TIDE: 12:08PM MON.
TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK: ..LESLIE EXPECTED TO SLOWLY STRENGTHEN WHILE IT MEANDERS OVER THE CENTRAL ATLANTIC...
AT 11AM EDT, THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM LESLIE WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 33.6°NORTH AND LONGITUDE 52.6° WEST OR ABOUT 710 MILES EAST OF BERMUDA.
LESLIE IS MOVING TOWARD THE SOUTHWEST NEAR 3 MPH. A SLOW SOUTHWESTWARD OR SOUTH-SOUTHWESTWARD MOTION IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT FEW DAYS.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 50 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS. SOME GRADUAL STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 72 HOURS.
50m Facebook accounts attacked
Facebook says almost 50 million of its users were left exposed by a security flaw.
The company said attackers were able to exploit a vulnerability in a feature known as “View As” to gain control of people's accounts.
The breach was discovered on Tuesday, Facebook said, and it has informed police.
Users that had potentially been affected were prompted to re-log-in on Friday.
The flaw has been fixed, wrote the firm’s vice-president of product management, Guy Rosen, adding all affected accounts had been reset, as well as another 40 million "as a precautionary step".
Facebook - which saw its share price drop more than 3% on Friday - has more than two billion active monthly users.
The company has confirmed to reporters that the breach would allow hackers to log in to other accounts that use Facebook's system, of which there are many.
This means other major sites, such as AirBnB and Tinder, may also be affected.
The firm would not say where in the world the 50 million users are, but it has informed Irish data regulators, where Facebook's European subsidiary is based.
The company said the users prompted to log-in again did not have to change their passwords.
"Since we’ve only just started our investigation, we have yet to determine whether these accounts were misused or any information accessed. We also don’t know who’s behind these attacks or where they’re based. “
He added: "People’s privacy and security is incredibly important, and we’re sorry this happened."
The company has confirmed that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and its chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg were among the 50 million accounts affected.
The breach comes at a time when the firm is struggling to convince lawmakers in the US and beyond, that it is capable of protecting user data.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said on a conference call on Friday that the firm took security seriously, in the face of what he said were constant attacks by bad actors.
But Jeff Pollard, vice-president and principal analyst at Forrester, said the fact Facebook held so much data meant it should be prepared for such attacks.
"Attackers go where the data is, and that has made Facebook an obvious target," he said. "The main concern here is that one feature of the platform allowed attackers to harvest the data of tens of millions of users.
"This indicates that Facebook needs to make limiting access to data a priority for users, APIs, and features."
Source-BBC
Regulators accuse Tesla's Elon Musk of fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit accusing Tesla boss Elon Musk of securities fraud.
The US financial regulator says Mr Musk's claims that he had secured funding to take the electric carmaker private were "false and misleading".
It is seeking to bar Mr Musk from acting as an officer or director of a publicly traded company.
Mr Musk called the action "unjustified" saying he acted in the "best interests of truth, transparency and investors".
"Integrity is the most important value in my life and the facts will show I never compromised this in any way," he said in a statement.
Tesla's board of directors said in a statement that they were "fully confident in Elon, his integrity and his leadership of the company".
Mr Musk startled the business world last month when he took to Twitter to announce that he was considering a plan that would de-list the company from the stock exchange.
He wrote he had "funding secured" for the proposal, which would value Tesla at $420 per share.
The statements "created the misleading impression that taking Tesla private was subject only to Mr Musk choosing to do so and a shareholder vote", according to the SEC complaint, which was filed on Thursday in federal court in New York.
"In truth and in fact Musk had not even discussed, much less confirmed, key deal terms, including price, with any potential funding source," it said.
Mr Musk, who co-founded Tesla and has served as chief executive since 2008, is a divisive figure in the business world, who has inspired passionate fans and critics.
Supporters credit Mr Musk, also the head of the rocket company SpaceX, with pushing the car industry to produce electric cars.
Source-BBC
Petrobras hit with $853m corruption fine
Petrobras, Brazil's state oil company, has agreed to pay more than $853m (£650m) to the US and Brazil, ending a long-running corruption investigation.
The probe stemmed from a bribery scheme at the firm, which involved millions in payments that were concealed from investors and regulators.
The payments were facilitated by executives at the "highest levels", including the firm's board, the US Department of Justice said.
Brazil is to receive 80% of the money.
Authorities in the US - where Petrobras is listed on the stock exchange - agreed not to prosecute in exchange for the remainder of the funds.
"Those who choose to access our capital markets while failing to disclose the corrupt activities of company executives will be held accountable," said US Attorney Zachary Terwilliger.
The payments were uncovered as part of Brazilian money laundering investigation at a petrol station, before widening to uncover corruption involving some of the country's top politicians and biggest companies, including Petrobras and Odebrecht.
According to the Petrobras settlement's official account of the scandal, former executives funnelled payments from companies seeking business with the state to politicians, in some cases accepting part of the bribe themselves.
The payments were often concealed through fictitious costs or consultancy agreements, it says.
The full scale of the scheme, which took place between at least 2004 and 2012, is estimated at $2bn, of which more than $1bn went to politicians and political parties, the account says.
In a statement, Petrobras stressed that the agreement found that the company was also a victim of the scheme, which involved former executives, some of whom are now serving prison sentences in Brazil.
It said: "The agreements serve the best interests of Petrobras and its shareholders and put an end to the uncertainties, burdens and costs associated with potential litigation in the United States."
Under an order from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Petrobras has agreed to return $933m in gains stemming from the false financial statements.
That will be credited toward a $2.95bn settlement reached in a class-action suit brought by investors in New York.
Source-BBC
Ronaldo will miss one match after Champions League red card
Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo will be available to play former club Manchester United next month after Uefa ruled he must serve only a one-match ban for his Champions League red card.
The Portugal captain, 33, was sent off during Juve's 2-0 win over Valencia last week after appearing to pull defender Jeison Murillo's hair.
It was the first Champions League red card of Ronaldo's career.
Juventus play United in Group H at Old Trafford on 23 October.
A three-match suspension would have seen Ronaldo also miss the return fixture in Turin on 7 November.
He will definitely miss Juve's next Champions League game against Swiss club Young Boys on 2 October.
Five-time Champions League winner Ronaldo - who joined Juve from Real Madrid for £99.2m in the summer - tried to latch onto a cross when he was blocked off by a tumbling Murillo.
He gesticulated to Murillo to get up and appeared to pull the defender's hair before turning away in frustration.
Referee Felix Brych consulted his assistant behind the goal before producing a red card, reducing Ronaldo to tears as he left the pitch.
Unlike the Premier League's automatic three-game ban for violent conduct, Uefa's punishments are on a case-by-case basis.
A one-game ban is automatic - with no right of appeal - but Uefa regulation 50.01 for the competition says that "in case of serious offences, the Uefa control, ethics and disciplinary body is entitled to augment this punishment".
Source- BBC