PDM Leader on the passage of Matthew
Leader of the Opposition People’s Democratic Movement (PDM), Hon Sharlene Robinson, in a press release, while expressing thanks that the Turks and Caicos Islands have been spared the wrath of hurricane Matthew, expressed the need for residents here in the TCI to render assistance to our neighbors when relief efforts do begin.
“We are indeed grateful that we have by God's mercy been spared the dangerous Hurricane Matthew that has left a trail of damage in the Caribbean.
We are ever thankful to the Staff of DDME for their updates and management and we are equally thankful to the many volunteers who stood ready to assist,” she said.
“Whilst we have been spared and rightly ought to celebrate, we must be mindful of the tragic loss of life and property and other damage in our sister countries after the passage of Hurricane Matthew. We especially think of Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica and countries in the eastern Caribbean. We also pray for the safety of residents of Florida (where we have many relatives and friends) as they brace for what their Governor has repeatedly called "a deadly killer storm" as he urged for mass evacuation from coastal areas,” said Hon Robinson.
“We are currently receiving and sharing videos from our sister country, the Bahamas, again where many of our relatives and friends reside. We are saddened by what we have seen thus far and encourage us all to pray for the residents and Government even now as many continue to feel the impact of this storm. We wish to also call on the Government to favorably consider the possibility of allowing a team from TCI to lend assistance in their recovery efforts. We must indeed be our brother's keepers in meaningful ways.
We trust that when relief efforts do begin that we as residents will recall our not too distant past experience when we too needed assistance and how our neighbour did come to our aid. I trust we consider the needs of those who in time past assisted us and will reciprocate such behavior.
May God continue to bless us and be merciful to us all,” Hon Sharlene Robinson added in her press release.
Police Investigates Two Gun Related incidents in Provo
Members of the press met with the Senior Officers of the RTCIPF today for an update on the death of Gary Mead which occurred on Friday September 30th 2016.
During the press conference, the media corps was not provided with any new information.
Supt. Clifford Ashton however did add that the public’s help is needed in piecing the puzzle together.
Mead was leaving the Slots-O-Fun Casino when he was approached by two men who shot and killed him before making off with undisclosed goods that was in his possession.
In a separate incident one week later, RTC news understood that gunshots were fired in the vicinity of Chicken Shack formerly Lamont’s in Providenciales.
At that time, Police were on the scene conducting investigations.
Unconfirmed reports reaching our newsroom the male individual who was nursing a gunshot wound at the Cheshire hall Medical Complex, later died from his injuries.
No word yet from our sources if this was an attempted robbery of the male or the establishment.
This is the 7th homicide for the year 2016.
FORTIS to upgrate polls on Leeward Highway
FORTIS TCI to undertake a major transmission line relocation and upgrade project, beginning this month.
The utilities company FORTIS TCI, has announced that it will undertake a major transmission line relocation and upgrade project, beginning this month October.
According to the Company, the project, which will last for up to eight months, includes the installation of more than one-hundred poles at various locations along Leeward Highway westbound in Providenciales between the Tropicana Plaza Roundabout and the FORTIS TCI Provo Generation Site.
Phase 1, the company noted, is scheduled to continue through the end of December 2016 and will have traffic implications from Tropicana Plaza to Beaches Roundabout. As a result, motorists are being asked to take caution while driving on the roadways and reduce speed in the dedicated work zones that are marked by traffic cones and barriers.
FORTISTCI says it will issue regular public updates throughout the duration of the project and expresses thank the public in advance for their understanding and cooperation.
Trump & Clinton Hit Campaign Trail After Debate
Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are back on the campaign trail after an eventful few days that included a vicious debate, lewd Trump comments about women, a major split among Republicans and leaked emails showing a private Clinton versus a public one.
Both candidates are struggling to overcome voter mistrust with less than a month before the presidential election.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan told fellow Republicans in a conference call Monday that he will no longer campaign for Trump or defend his often harsh comments that have offended many voters.
Ryan said he will instead focus his efforts on getting Republicans elected to the House so the party will keep its hold on Congress. Republicans currently control both the House and Senate.
One person on the conference call said Ryan did not withdraw his support for Trump, but simply will not campaign for him. Ryan told other Republican House members "to do what's best for you in your district."
A Clinton campaign spokesperson called Ryan's decision not to stump for Trump "pretty stunning." Trump criticized the speaker, saying he "should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting [the] Republican nominee.
Clinton said Monday that Trump spent Sunday's presidential debate attacking when he should have been apologizing.
She was talking about a Trump's comments on a leaked 2005 in which he boasted to a TV personality that could grope women because he is a "star."
Clinton told a crowd in Detroit that Trump "doubled down" on his explanation that the comments were just locker room talk between men. She called it "a really weak excuse for behaving badly and mistreating people."
Moments later, Trump appeared in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, saying all Clinton could talk about in the debate was "small petty things."
Trump said at the debate he was "very embarrassed" by his remarks and hated them.
But he tore into the media Monday for "beating me up" for 72 hours while ignoring allegations that Clinton threatened women who Trump says were raped and sexually assaulted by her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
Meanwhile, Clinton campaign emails released by WikiLeaks showed Clinton made private remarks about Wall Street and her relations with the middle class that differ from what she has said on the campaign trail.
She has publicly called for tougher rules for big banks and investment houses, while in paid speeches to financial firms expressed a willingness to make deals and let Wall Street put together some of those regulations.
Clinton has also spoken of how she and Bill Clinton were "broke" when they left the White House in 2001. But she apparently said in 2014 that she is now "far removed" from those struggles because of "the fortunes" they now enjoy.
When asked in Sunday's debate to reconcile her public and private comments, Clinton cited President Abraham Lincoln, saying he used different arguments with different people to get things done.
Source-VOA
President Obama Wants Humans on Mars by 2030's
President Barack Obama says with the help of private companies, the United States will send humans to Mars by the 2030's.
In an op-ed published on CNN.com, Obama wrote, "We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America's story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030's and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time."
Obama said an effective public-private partnership that is essential to transporting humans to Mars is already under way. U.S. companies, he said, already own more than one-third of the global commercial launch market. And within two years, Obama said, private companies will send astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time.
Obama said the U.S. government is already working with commercial partners to construct new habitats that can accommodate humans on extended space missions.
"These missions will teach us how humans can live far from Earth — something we'll need for the long journey to Mars," Obama wrote.
Obama cautioned it will take years to prepare for a trip to Mars, including educating the next generation of workers who would help make the trip a reality.
"For the first time, more than 100,000 engineers are graduating from American schools every year, and we're on track to accomplish my goal of training 100,000 excellent new STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teachers in a decade."
The president said stronger leadership of the space program will lead to new scientific advances and provide a better understanding of the human race and Earth's environment.
When humans have gone to Mars to stay, Obama said the advances that got them there will "make our lives better here on Earth."
Doctors Warn of Cholera Crisis After Matthew
Haiti is facing a surge in cholera cases in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, doctors warned as the death toll on the devastated island climbed past 1,000.
U.S. Marines delivered badly-needed food aid Sunday, after Haiti's government said more than 1.5 million people had been affected by the storm and 350,000 of those were in need of immediate assistance.
Ninety percent of crops have been destroyed in worst-hit areas of the country according to U.N. World Food Program officer for Haiti, Lorene Didier.
Throughout Haiti's southwestern peninsula, people were digging themselves out from the wreckage of the storm, which also brought flooding and at least 21 deaths to the United States.
Haiti's National Civil Protection agency in Port-au-Prince said Sunday that its official death toll for the country was 336, which included 191 deaths in Grand-Anse. However, a tally of numbers from local officials, compiled by Reuters, put the number at more 1,000. NBC News could not independently confirm that figure.
At the Port-a-Piment hospital, survivors carried in a string of weak and severely sick patients with symptoms of cholera.
Missole Antoine, the hospital's medical director, said the number of patients admitted with cholera symptoms had doubled to 60 during Sunday and that four people had died of the waterborne illness.
Source-NBC
Death Toll Rises in Haiti
The death toll in Haiti as a result of Hurricane Matthew has soared, the government says.
Some 50 people were reported to have died in the southern town of Roche-a-Bateau alone.
The peninsula's main city, Jeremie, saw 80% of its buildings levelled. In Sud province 30,000 homes were destroyed.
The hurricane has again been upgraded to a Category Four storm, the second highest hurricane classification, as it heads for the US state of Florida.
The new death toll was given by Haitian government officials. On Thursday, a toll of just over 100 was being given.
Hurricane Matthew - the most powerful Caribbean storm in nearly a decade - has pounded the Bahamas after slicing through Haiti and Cuba.
Trees and power lines were reportedly down in the Bahamas but no fatalities were reported.
Most of the fatalities in Haiti were in towns and fishing villages around the southern coast, with many killed by falling trees, flying debris and swollen rivers.
The collapse of an important bridge on Tuesday had left the south-west largely cut off.
Non-governmental organisations said phone coverage and electricity were down and people were running out of food and water.
The BBC's Tony Brown in south-western Haiti said he had seen people trying to cope with the mass destruction on their own, trying to rebuild from the rubble but without the help of the army or police.
Across the country, there were some 350,000 in need of assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
A spokesperson for the American Red Cross, Suzy DeFrancis, said the first priority was to get phone networks across the country back up and running.
"We will bring in technology to help do that," she said.
"We also have warehouses with relief supplies that we will be distributing. Some of the needs that families may have are kitchen kits so they can cook meals, any kind of hygiene kits and then we are most worried about cholera, so we will be helping to distribute aqua tabs to purify the water."
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL ADVISORY GROUP REVIEWS INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL POLICING ISSUES
The Governor and Premier held a meeting of the National Security Council Advisory Group on Monday, 3 October. Members who attended also included the Hon. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson, the Minister of Border Control, the Deputy Governor, the Police Commissioner and Bishop Bryan Cox.
The Commissioner gave a brief account of domestic crime. There had been an unwelcome increase in home invasions, but the arrest of a number of people charged with murder, including of the two Dominican Republic women, had been a welcome development. A recent study of the Police's IT infrastructure should help to enhance road safety, customs and immigration measures. The CCTV project for Providenciales was continuing, and involved an invitation to tender.
The Commissioner also noted that the Force was acquiring a number of police dogs to help pursue a variety of offenders. Twenty new officer recruits would qualify in October, and the Commissioner clarified that tourist police officers would, where appropriate, be accompanied by more experienced staff. The Force had acquired a drone, but would be in urgent need shortly of replacement vehicles. The Commissioner described changes in security for the SIPT trial and participants.
On external security the Governor noted that there were no specific terrorist threats to TCI, but he warned that there could be supporters of ISIS in the region. The Commissioner noted that two new police patrol vessels had been identified. The US authorities had highlighted an increase in drug smuggling through the DR and Haiti. The Commissioner welcomed the participation of TCI in the US-led regional airport security operation (APIS).
The Group welcomed the Premier's proposal to commission an independent Review of the Police Force. Its parameters should include strategy, succession planning and in particular opportunities for local staff at senior level, community policing and internal communications. The Government would need to allocate funding for the Review.
The Group noted with concern the increase in illegal communities in Providenciales, and reports of police revealing private briefings.
Putin Orders Suspension of Plutonium Cleanup Program with US
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Monday to suspend an agreement with the United States on disposing of weapons-grade plutonium, citing Washington's "unfriendly actions".
It also claimed the United States was unable "to ensure the implementation of its obligations to utilize surplus weapons-grade plutonium".
The deal, initially signed in 2000 and renewed in 2010, called for both nuclear powers to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium from their defense programs.
Based on the 2010 agreement, signed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, each side would dispose of 34 metric tons of plutonium by burning it in nuclear reactors.
Clinton said that was a quantity large enough to make almost 17,000 nuclear weapons.
Russia and the United States viewed that deal as a sign of increased cooperation between them toward nuclear non-proliferation.
But ties between Moscow and Washington plunged to the lowest point since the Cold War when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has supported pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Washington has been instrumental in imposing Western economic sanctions on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis.
Bahamas preparing for passage of Hurricane Matthew
The Bahamas were preparing for the passage of Hurricane Matthew, closing schools and the national airline, Bahamasair suspending flights to the southern islands.
In addition, the Bahamian authorities have organised for more than 100 students studying in Jamaica to be repatriated.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the storm, one of the strongest in the Atlantic since 2007, is expected to affect the Bahamas on Tuesday.
It said that the hurricane, which at 8.00 am (local time) was located 220 miles south east of Kingston, Jamaica and 280 miles south west of Port au Prince in Haiti, had maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (mph).
It said that a hurricane warning is in effect for Jamaica, Haiti, provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Granma, and Las Tunas, south-eastern Bahamas, including the Inaguas, Mayaguana, Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay, and Ragged Island.
The NHC urged people in the Bahamas should monitor the progress of Matthew, which is “a dangerous category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
“Tropical storm conditions are expected to reach the south-eastern Bahamas early Tuesday with hurricane conditions expected by late Tuesday. Hurricane conditions are possible in the hurricane watch areas by Tuesday night with tropical storm conditions possible on Tuesday,” the NHC added.
Matthew is expected to produce total rain accumulations of eight to 12 inches over the south-eastern Bahamas, with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) here has released the official list of hurricane shelters and has implemented an emergency warning system to better prepare and inform the public about a disaster about to impact the country.
NEMA said it is following the “Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), which provide instructions for activation and the operations of the NEOC, amongst other things”.
Meanwhile, Bahamasair said due to the impending approach of Hurricane Matthew, all services to the southern islands will be suspended effective Tuesday.
“Persons affected as a result of Hurricane Matthew to and from these destinations can contact our Reservations department to make alternate travel plans. Passengers will be accommodated without a change of itinerary fee,” the airline said.
Source-CMC