Britain's Prince Philip, 96, in hospital
Prince Philip, the 96-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has been admitted to hospital as a "precautionary measure" for treatment of an infection, Buckingham Palace said Wednesday.
The infection arose from "a pre-existing condition", the palace said.
The Duke of Edinburgh, who is to retire from public duties later this year, was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London on Tuesday night.
Prince Philip had been due to accompany the monarch to the state opening of parliament on Wednesday as well as day two of the Royal Ascot horse races.
Their eldest son Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, accompanied Queen Elizabeth to the Houses of Parliament in his place.
"Prince Philip is in good spirits and is disappointed to be missing the state opening of parliament and Royal Ascot," a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.
"Her Majesty is being kept informed and will attend Royal Ascot as planned."
Prince Philip was by Queen Elizabeth's side on Saturday for Trooping the Colour, her official birthday military parade in London.
And he was with her at the opening day of Royal Ascot on Tuesday, wearing a grey top hat and tails in the sweltering heat.
But on day two, Queen Elizabeth was accompanied by Charles and his wife Camilla in the first open carriage in the procession.
Source-AFP
Barbados PM wants the region to have a new look at 'brain drain'
Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart says to describe the export of Caribbean nationals to countries across the world as a brain drain “is to see the glass as half-empty”.
“I have never seen the export of manpower as a disadvantage because it is important to have our own people strategically dispersed across the world, especially in metropolitan countries,' Stuart said while meeting the new Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Robert Bermudez.
A government statement issued here Tuesday noted that the Chancellor agreed that Caribbean nationals abroad could be assets to the region, but he said this could only happen if they saw themselves as Caribbean people living abroad rather than “people who came from the region”.
However he said, the challenge was to figure out how to keep these nationals engaged.
Bermudez said the responsibility of the UWI was to produce nationals who understood the important role they had to play in the region's development.
“The more our graduates see themselves as citizens, the more we can solve our social problems. We need a lot of hands on deck at a lot of levels,” he added.
Prime Minister Stuart pointed to the need for the University to direct its focus to issues such as entrepreneurship and innovation, as it sought to respond to some of the region's more pressing challenges.
“It is perceived that one of the areas of regional deficit is in developing an entrepreneurial and innovative culture and it is thought that that is the direction the University needs to take,” he added.
The statement said that Bermudez maintained “we have to teach young people to be disrupters. Entrepreneurship is really people's willingness to be disruptive and the UWI must encourage that. To try to stop it is a losing proposition, so we must embrace it.
“The University has to be more engaging. It must become more integrated because we need people in all kinds of areas to help,” Bermudez said, noting that the Caribbean is made up of micro-economies and it was important to stick together and speak with a collective voice in order to have relevance in the world.
Travel company bosses visit the TCI
THE OWNERS and Directors of 25 of the top travel companies in the United States, the United Kingdom and South America recently visited the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The travel professionals were invited to the TCI by officials from Grace Bay Resorts and were treated to a cocktail dinner on Grace Bay beach earlier this week.
Chief Operating Officer for the Grace Bay Resorts, Nikheel Advani, explained that this was the first event of its kind in the TCI.
He said: "It is the first time that 25 of them have come all together to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
"They have hundreds of thousands of travel agents and travel advisors that actually sell this island [Providenciales].
"Over the years they have become very fond of this 'Beautiful by Nature' Turks and Caicos."
The trip also served as an educational opportunity, where students had a chance to showcase the outer islands of the TCI, added Mr Advani.
"Hon Ralph Highs [Minister of Tourism] and the Director of Tourism, Ramone Andrews' focus has been the outer islands.
"We wanted to take them to the outer islands, so we took them on a boat. We went to Little Water Cay, we went to Half Moon and we brought students from all the different islands to make presentations and show pictures of their island.
"Everyone was really excited to know that besides Providenciales, there is so much more to see
"It really opened their eyes and next time they come back they are going to advise their guests or visitors about the outer islands," he said.
One travel agent, Delores Diaz said that she was impressed with the pristine beaches and the beautiful coastline.
Founded by Jena Gardner, an industry veteran with over 20 years of experience, JG Black Book's elite team has more than 175 years of combined travel industry service.
Convicted rapist gets third trial for same crime
LINCOLN Smith, a man convicted twice already of the almost two-hour long rape of a Dominican woman back in 2010, will get a third shot to prove his innocence.
The decision came down on Wednesday (June 14) in the Court of Appeal after arguments by Smith's counsel, Oliver Smith about some missing documents related witness testimony and questions about the judge's summation of the second trial.
Smith's arguments related to some of the witness testimony corroborated by the Crown.
Upon questioning from the three appellate justices about the whereabouts of court transcripts, the court was told that there was none at the moment.
However, the Crown counsel told the court that efforts would be made to get a copy from the trial judge, whom it was assumed kept a written transcript of the proceedings as it was conducted.
The transcripts in question were that of the victim and of a South Caicos pastor who had found the young lady in the bushes where she was attacked and raped, allegedly by Lincoln Smith and another man.
There were also some questions raised about the judge's summation of the case to the jury and information provided to them that should not have been part of their deliberations in reaching a verdict.
After a brief deliberation in chambers, the justices ordered a retrial for Smith; his third so far.
Smith was convicted in the first trial and sentenced to nine years of imprisonment. He was convicted on the strength of his DNA being found on the victim.
However, his alleged accomplice, Lanard Forbes' DNA was not found, and as such he walked free.
Smith appealed the conviction, won and a retrial was ordered.
He was convicted again in the retrial and sentenced to 10 years.
At the time of the arrest of both men, the prosecution had alleged that the men brutally raped the Dominican woman without the use of condoms for over one and half hours.
It was said that they beat her in the face then dragged her into some bushes where they took turns sexually assaulting her.
A South Caicos local pastor later found her lying in the bushes naked from the waist down and crying for help.
In court this week, it was revealed that during his trials, Smith had claimed, as his defence, that he had sexual intercourse with the woman on three other occasions, and that while he saw her on the day that she was raped, he did not rape her.
The Court of Appeal also heard that Smith had claimed that the woman is a prostitute.
The defendant's lawyer also argued that the identification of his client was faulty, and called into question the testimony provided by the pastor during the trial.
Fish Fry to relocate to new venue, says Premier
AFTER five successful years at the Children's Park in The Bight, the popular island Fish Fry will be relocated to a more spacious venue.
Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson said that the new location is a three acre lot, adjacent to Beaches Resort and Spa in Providenciales.
She said: "Moving ahead with the home for The Bight Fish Fry, the tender has been completed for that one."
This information was shared during last Tuesday's (June 6) town hall meeting at the Gus Lightbourne Sports Complex.
Members of the crowd were sceptical about the parking space at the mentioned new venue, but the Premier assured that the location is suitable enough to host the event.
The date for the relocation has not been announced.
The Fish Fry is a collaborative effort between the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board, the Department of Culture, the Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs and Flow.
The event has been growing week by week, enticing locals and visitors alike to experience an evening in the park in a fun, family style setting.
Plates loaded with crab and rice, lobster mac and cheese and local island corn straight off the grill sit in front of hungry patrons relaxing on park benches under starry skies.
Local restaurants come from all corners of the island and include Froggie's on da Beach, Kay Jo's, Miss Moonies, Upstairs Bar and Grill, Hole in the Wall, Smokey's on da Bay, Cactus Bar and Grill, Uncle Dough's Salad Bar, Middle Caicos Café, Bugaloo's Conch Crawl, Doreen's Place, Sailing Paradise, Native Cuisine and Three Queens - with each offering up their specialty menu items and the opportunity to try one or all.
Each week a new band takes the stage with rotations by local favourites Lee and the Force, Sea Breeze Rip Saw Band, Keno and Kazz, Alroy and Daz, Kew Band Lynx and V6 Rake n Scrape Band to bring to the venue a variety of styles and sounds and keep the line-up fresh.
Team TCI Strikes Gold at 2017 Taste of the Caribbean
Team TCI walked away with 5 Golds, 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze at the recently concluded Taste of the Caribbean in Florida, Miami.
The relatively young team managed by veteran chef Colin Watson and TCHTA’s Stacy Cox, created some much talked about dishes and cocktails despite this being TCI’s 2nd representation at the competition in the last 10 years. With 2017 seeing tremendous improvement from the previous year Team TCI is already discussing their strategy to win the Caribbean National Team of the Year in 2018.
• Caribbean National Team of the Year – Gold
• Caribbean Chef of the Year – Gold - Chef Edwin Gallardo, Seven Stars Resort
• Caribbean Pastry Chef of the Year – Gold – Chef Yoginder Singh, Beaches Resort
• Caribbean Junior Chef of the Year – Gold - Chef Martin Wilkiens – Seven Stars Resort
• Caribbean Seafood Competition – Gold - Chef Edwin Gallardo, Seven Stars Resort
• Caribbean Beef Competition – Silver – Chef Joseph Charles, Grace Bay Resorts
• Caribbean Chocolate Competition – Silver - Chef Yoginder Singh, Beaches Resort
• Caribbean Bartender of the Year – Bronze - Jean Tissaint, Seven Stars Resort
As food enthusiasts spent June 02 – 06 savouring not only creations from TCI but from across the Caribbean, along with embracing the various cultures, “Mama Bear” Stacy Cox noted, “I could not be prouder of this team, the commitment and drive to win and put TCI on the culinary map amazes me every year. The training they endured leading up to Taste of the Caribbean including Taste of Tapas truly paid off as they were able to stand alongside seasoned teams like Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica and still walk away with five Gold awards.
When the team wasn’t competing they were busy participating in a number of educational seminars for food and beverage professionals, which allowed them to broaden their skills and techniques. Skills which I know they will share with our Lit’l Chefs at this year’s Hospitality Adventure Summer Camps next month.”
The team included Team Manager Colin Watson, Yoginder Singh, Edwin Gallardo, Joseph Charles and Lit’l Chefs alumni Martin Wilkiens, Robinangel Simmons, Jean Tissaint, Korea Rolle and Christin Greene who is also currently a culinary student at TCICC.
Presented by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), Taste of the Caribbean is an annual event that highlights the art of Caribbean cooking as it brings together top chefs and bartenders from the region to compete for honours in a variety of food and beverage competitions.
PNP launch membership drive with family fun day
On Saturday (June 10) the Progressive National Party (PNP) held its first family fun day and membership drive, since becoming the opposition.
And on Thursday, leader of the opposition, Washington Misick expressed his party's thanks to those who showed up for what he deemed "a most successful" event.
Misick noted that the purpose of the event was to promote camaraderie and citizens engagement, a direct consequence of which was the launch of the party membership drive.
He stated that the membership drive is an appeal to all who support the ideas of the party.
"It seeks to broaden the range and participation of those who align themselves with the party, and offer an opportunity to affirm that relationship by becoming a card carrying member of the party qualifying one to hold office in the party."
The June 10 event was the first in a series of events planned by the social committee for the rest of the calendar year across the various communities within the Turks and Caicos Islands.
And the party leader has extended a special invitation to the electorate to become engaged in the decision-making and operation of the PNP through formal membership and active participation.
Misick further stated that the PNP is aware of the contrasting complex socio-economic challenges of race, culture, education, status and economic opportunities that in some instances have resulted in the marginalisation of Turks and Caicos Islanders.
Adding: "The PNP has always been and will continue to be committed to empowerment and social inclusiveness by working to improve the opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged for whatever the reason.
"To that end we invite all who share our dreams of a more just society (one in which the welfare of the masses trump that of the individual, one in which change is more than a cliché) to join us."
He also stated that "a promise without commitment is nothing more than a falsehood" and that his party commits, promises and delivers.
"Ask the others what has changed in the last six months," he added.
Further information can be obtained from the the party office at Progress House on airport road, Providenciales.
Mapping the Turks & Caicos from Space
June 19 through 21, 2017 will see yet another important training initiative for the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR).
The training-workshop is part of the project "Natural Capital Valuation" spearheaded by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), of which 10 Territories in the Caribbean and South Atlantic are involved.
The JNCC, with funding by the UK Government, will be hosting a training workshop which aims to introduce ecological remote sensing and show how it can benefit the Turks & Caicos for their spatial planning and environmental management needs.
"The primary aim of the collaboration between the Government of the Turks and Caicos, through the DECR, and the JNCC, is to assess the value of the natural environment such as beaches, reefs and mangrove forests and the services and goods derived from them, such as the benefits from the local fisheries. This training will not only provide the technical skills to map - through satellite imagery and computer programs - the natural environment and the benefits derived from it; but also how this knowledge can be employed to benefit environmental management and spatial planning in the Turks and Caicos Islands", said Mr. Ethan Griesbach, Deputy Director for the DECR.
The TCI and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) who will be represented at the workshop have tourism dependent economies, which include beach and dive tourism, boating services and yacht charters, all of which directly benefit from services provided by local ecosystems such as beaches, coral reefs, sea grass beds and mangroves.
The DECR – JNCC collaboration, which will run through to 2019, will provide significant data, training and information to inform economic development, terrestrial, coastal and marine spatial planning within the islands, and support environmental management and resilience building measures.
In addition to supporting the important tourism sector, Caribbean ecosystems provide recreational opportunities for the local population, protect coastal and inland infrastructure, prevent soil degradation and coastal/beach erosion, provide valuable scientific research opportunities, and support commercial fishing industries that provide economic and social benefits.
John Legend postpones tour dates
John Legend is feeling a little under the weather and needs some time to recuperate. That means that the Oscar, Grammy and Tony winner is canceling two tour dates this week.
John recently tweeted to fans, "I want to personally apologize. I've gotten sick and need a few days to recover and rest my voice. We are postponing the shows in MD & NJ."
He continues, "I'm so sorry for the inconvenience. I will get healthy and look forward to spending the evening with you as soon as possible."
The artist planned to perform at the Merriweather Post Pavilion venue in Columbia, MD tonight and BB&T Pavilion in Camden, NJ this Thursday.
According to John's Twitter account, his Camden, Columbia and Mashantucket, CT concerts have all been rescheduled for separate dates this July.
Mobb Deep's Prodigy dead at 42
Prodigy, best known one-half of iconic hip hop duo Mobb Deep, has died, possibly due to complications from sickle cell anemia. He was 42.
A statement from the late artist's publicist to XXL magazine reads, "It is with extreme sadness and disbelief that we confirm the death of our dear friend Albert Johnson, better known to millions of fans as Prodigy of legendary NY rap duo Mobb Deep. Prodigy was hospitalized a few days ago in Vegas after a Mobb Deep performance for complications caused by sickle cell anemia crisis."
The statement continues, " As most fans know, Prodigy battled the disease since birth. The exact causes of death have yet to be determined. We would like to thank everyone for respecting the family's privacy at this time."
Both Nas, who collaborated with Mobb Deep in the past, and DJ Green Lantern sent their condolences via social media upon hearing the sad news.
On Instagram, Nas wrote, "QB RIP KING P. Prodigy 4 Ever," while Green Lantern wrote on Twitter, "RIP @PRODIGYMOBBDEEP.. from God we come and to HIM we all shall return .. tomoro [sic] no[t] promised, today not promised. Pray."
Mobb Deep member Havoc has yet to issue a statement. The duo released eight albums during their career, including their 1995 collection The Infamous, which was their breakthrough.
Their song, "Shook Ones," the lead single from that album, was dubbed one of the 50 greatest hip-hop songs of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.
Source-ABC