Dead driver's car displayed outside Parliament
The parents of a man killed when his car was hit at high speed have put the wreckage on display at Westminster as part of a campaign for tougher sentences by road safety charity Brake.
Joseph Brown-Lartey died as his vehicle was split in half by a car driven by Addil Haroon in Rochdale in 2014.
Haroon, then 18, drove through a red light in a residential area at 80mph and was later jailed for six years.
Mr Brown-Lartey's father said it was like being "kicked in the teeth twice".
Mr Brown-Lartey was 25 when he died, and his father Ian said it was "very upsetting" that Haroon would be younger than that when he got out of prison.
"It's just like we've been kicked in the teeth twice. You lose your son and then the legal system that you trusted lets you down too," he said.
Dawn Brown-Lartey, Joseph's mother, said there was "no deterrent" to stop people driving dangerously.
"Judges are bound by guidelines and the guidelines need to be changed," she said.
Hours before the fatal crash, Haroon took a photo on his phone as his speedometer reached 142mph.
He messaged a friend with the words: "Leeds to Rochdale in 11 mins catch me."
In court, he admitted causing death by dangerous driving, causing death whilst unlicensed, causing death whilst uninsured and dangerous driving.
Brake's Roads to Justice campaign argues that families are "betrayed time and again by our justice system", and calls for tougher penalties for drivers who maim or kill.
According to a poll commissioned by the charity, 66% of people believe drivers who kill should be jailed for a minimum of 10 years.
The survey of 1,000 people also found 91% believe drivers who cause a fatal crash after drinking alcohol or taking drugs should be charged with manslaughter, which carries a possible life sentence.
Source-BBC
F-150 sales undented by Chevy attack ad
The Chevrolet Silverado grabbed its biggest piece of the U.S. full-size pickup market since January in the first month of its blistering ad campaign attacking the Ford F-150's aluminum body as too flimsy.
But the F-150 emerged from the fray looking no worse for wear. Ford said F-150 sales soared 40 percent in June from a year earlier, and segment share for the full F-series line jumped to the highest level in 17 months. Ford normally doesn't report F-150-only numbers but did so for June to argue that the Chevy ads didn't hurt it.
It's an intense battle between two longtime archrivals in which both sides act like they're winning, though Chevy's campaign clearly didn't deter the tens of thousands who bought an F-150 last month.
"I love this truck," said Alan Monroe, an accountant in southern Illinois who bought an F-150 Lariat a few weeks after Chevy started airing the commercials in heavy rotation. The ads, launched June 8, show a load of concrete landscaping blocks and the corner of a toolbox gashing the F-150's bed, while the Silverado's steel box sustains lesser dings and scratches.
Monroe, 55, who traded in a Ram 1500, said he researched Chevy's claims online and came away reassured. His Caribou-colored F-150 includes a $495 spray-in bedliner, a popular protective coating that wasn't on the trucks Chevy's marketers abused.
Although Silverado sales dropped 3.7 percent in June amid a 9.7 percent gain for the segment, Chevy deems the campaign a success. A spokesman, Jim Cain, said about 10 percent of Silverado buyers in June previously owned an F-150, the most in five years.
Source-AN
Mercedes beats BMW at half-year mark
Mercedes-Benz solidified its sales lead over the BMW brand in the first half of the year, moving closer to a goal of unseating its rival for the first time since 2005.
BMW’s global six-month brand deliveries rose 5.8 percent from a year earlier to 986,557, compared with a 12 percent gain to just over 1 million cars for the Mercedes brand. That left BMW trailing by 20,062 vehicles for the No. 1 position. Third-placed Audi sold 953,200 a rise of 5.6 percent.
Mercedes is set to deliver four years early on a target of beating BMW’s annual sales. Audi has also said it wants to become No. 1 in the luxury-auto sales. All three have stressed that growth mustn’t come at the expense of profitability.
Daimler published second-quarter earnings on Monday in an unscheduled release, saying adjusted operating profit beat analysts’ expectations.
During June, BMW delivered 189,097 cars, a gain of 9.7 percent, as demand rose for 2-series sedans and the company’s SUV lineup, the automaker said today in a statement.
That compares with Mercedes’s 11 percent jump to 188,444 autos that was also propelled by a surge in SUV demand. Audi remained in third place with 169,000 deliveries, a gain of 7.4 percent.
Source-AN
Contributor: Elisabeth Behrmann of Bloomberg
'Water-resistant' Samsung Galaxy S7 Active fails test
A Samsung smartphone advertised as being water-resistant has failed a water immersion test by a leading product review site.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Active stopped working after being put in a tank that simulated the effect of being about 5ft (1.5m) underwater.
Consumer Reports repeated its test on a second model, which was also damaged.
Samsung said it was possible defective devices were "not as watertight" as they should have been.
When removed after half an hour, the first phone's display was non-responsive and marred by green lines. Bubbles had also formed in its two camera lenses.
The second handset subjected to the same test suffered similar faults.
Samsung's website stated the Galaxy S7 Active, which is sold in the US but is not available in the UK, is IP68-certified.
The ingress protection rating signifies the phone can withstand "continuous immersion in water".
Consumer Reports made headlines six years ago when it flagged a problem with the iPhone 4's antenna before Apple had acknowledged the issue.
The non-profit organisation said neither handset was usable following its experiments.
It noted the standard Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge models, which are also IP68-certified, had not sustained water damage during the same test conditions.
"While Consumer Reports generally doesn't evaluate phones for this feature, we do perform an immersion test when a manufacturer claims that its product is water-resistant," it said.
"When we recently evaluated the Galaxy S7 Active, it failed this test."
Samsung said it had received "very few complaints" about the issue, and that handsets should be covered under warranty. The Active model first went on sale in June.
Source-BBC
US court raises Netflix sharing anxiety in password ruling
A US appeals court ruling that password sharing is illegal is set to influence how other judges handle complaints about the activity.
The case involved a man who had been convicted of using someone else's login to access his ex-workplace's database.
The decision has serious legal implications for the wider sharing of passwords, one dissenting judge said.
The US press has speculated it could even have a bearing on disputes about the sharing of Netflix passwords.
But one of the other judges suggested the precedent that had been set had more limited consequences.
In 2004, David Nosal reportedly used an ex-colleague's password to gain access to his former recruitment firm Korn/Ferry, in order to use the information in his new firm.
He was charged in 2008 with hacking under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and convicted in 2013.
The case found the company issuing the password must give authorisation, rather than the individual who may choose to share it.
While the ruling that password sharing violated federal law is limited to the specific case, it could set a precedent for future cases in the US.
Judge Reinhardt, who disagreed with the majority ruling, said the case was "about password sharing" rather than hacking and that in his view "the CFAA does not make the millions of people who engage in this ubiquitous, useful, and generally harmless conduct into unwitting federal criminals".
He added: "The majority does not provide, nor do I see, a workable line which separates the consensual password sharing in this case from the consensual password sharing of millions of legitimate account holders, which may also be contrary to the policies of system owners.
"There simply is no limiting principle in the majority's world of lawful and unlawful password sharing," he added.
He suggested that people could now be jailed as a consequence of the ruling.
But Judge M Margaret McKeown, who wrote the majority opinion, disagreed and said the specifics of the case bore "little resemblance to asking a spouse to log in to an email account to print a boarding pass".
A summary of the ruling said that nearly all access of a "protected computer" - effectively all computers with internet access - without authorisation could therefore be criminalised.
Source-BBC
"Hamilton" Nabs a Record 16 Tony Nominations
What's your name, man? My name is T-O-N-Y.
The musical phenomenon know as Hamilton scored a record 16 Tony nominations Tuesday morning. Categories included Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score and Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for Hamilton creator and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda. In case you've been living under a rock, the musical is based on the life and times of founding father Alexander Hamilton, the guy on the 10-dollar bill.
In the category of Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play, movie and TV stars Lupita Nyong'o, Jessica Lange, Laurie Metcalf and Michelle Williams are all nominated. Jane Krakoswski, Frank Langella, Zachary Levi, Michael Shannon, Gabriel Byrne, Danielle Brooks and Jeff Daniels are among the other well-known nominees this year.
Steve Martin, singer/songwriter Edie Brickell and singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles are among the nominees in the Best Original Score category for the musicals Bright Star -- which Martin and Brickell wrote together -- and Waitress, respectively. On Your Feet!, the show based on the life of Gloria Estefan, received one nod.
Here are the shows that are among the top nominees:
Hamilton - 16
Shuffle Along, Or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed - 10
She Loves Me - 8
Long Day's Journey Into Night - 7
Eclipsed - 6
The Humans - 6
Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge - 5
Bright Star - 5
King Charles III - 5
Noises Off - 5
Arthur Miller's The Crucible - 4
The Color Purple - 4
School of Rock—The Musical - 4
Waitress - 4
THE13th TURKS AND CAICOS POST CABINET MEETING
His Excellency the Governor, Peter Beckingham, chaired the 13th meeting of Cabinet on Thursday, 21st April 2016, at the Hon. Hilly Ewing Building on Providenciales.
The Hon. Deputy Premier and the Hon. Minister of Border Control and Employment were the only two absent.
At this meeting Cabinet:
· H.E approved a review of the Trade Unions Ordinance (Chapter 17.07) with a view of undertaking the necessary consultations and providing the appropriate instructions to the Attorney General for the drafting of the amending and or new legislation deal with trade unions and the activities of trade unions generally;
· They also noted the initiation of the Electricity (Amendment) to the Ordinance on March 1st, 2016 and the effective date of the appointment of the Board commenced from April 1, 2016. Cabinet also approved the appointment of Mrs. Teresa Williams-Andrews as Secretary of the Board as per Section 2E of the Electricity (Amendment) Ordinance;
· Acknowledged was the replacement of Paul Gardiner with George Hinson as a member of the Physical Planning Appeals Board;
· Cabinet considered and approved the planning application from Fortis TCI for the relocation and placement of high voltage power transmission cables between Providenciales and North Caicos;
· H.E approved the establishment of a working group to review the Service Charge Ordinance and the practices of the hotel and restaurant industry as it relates to the application of the management of service charges within the industry. Membership shall include the Commissioner of Labour, Commissioner of Revenue, a Representative from the AG Chambers & a Representative of the TCHTA as well as three Employee Representatives. The reps are as follows – Monet Collymore (Chair), Russel Garland (Member) and Penditer Hutchinson (Member). Cabinet expressed the desire from the working group to have this work completed within the next 4-6 weeks;
· Cabinet advised the Governor to reaffirm the approval granted for a new 25 year lease to Leeside Estates over Crown Land parcels 6113/180-191, 312-340 and 343-376 inclusive, at Long Bay Hills, Providenciales, for the purpose of pursuing the development of a signature residential community for Turks and Caicos Islanders at an annual rent of $68,688.90 and 10% of the sale price of the residential parcels which were previously low-lying swamp lands;
· There was also approval for the development of a Donkey Sanctuary at parcel 10402/11 at (Over Island) as a tourism attraction to be funded through the monies appropriated in the TCIG Development Fund. Cabinet additionally agreed to work with the Donkey Welfare Committee to discuss further options to reduce the donkey population on the island of Grand Turk, as well as discussing with the Committee the proposed new Sanctuary;
· During the course of that meeting, Governor Beckingham approved the publication of a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the construction of a Police Headquarters and supporting facilities on the island of Providenciales;
· The development of a policy to assist the construction of privately owned primary and secondary roads traversed by the public was also approved;
· Finally during the cabinet meeting, amendments to the Customs (Government Transit Shed and Queen’s Warehouse Rent) Regulations under Section 19 and 66 of the Customs Ordinance to permit a waiver of storage fees for goods retained in the warehouse for more than 30 days, subject to the payment of the Duty and CPF and a reduction in the current rates by 50% for general merchandise was approved.
Further information on these matters will be provided by Ministers in a press conference to be announced.
Woman found dead in Pirate’s Cove identified as ‘Yuneiry Veras’
The woman found dead by Police Officers this past weekend has been identified as 26-year-old Yuneiry Veras of the Dominican Republic.
Ms. Yuneiry Veras was last seen around 2 am on Monday 18th April 2016 at her residence in Blue Hills. Her lifeless body was discovered about 1:04 pm on Saturday 23rd April 2016 in Pirate’s Cove located on Tom Lightbourne’s Drive, the North Western area of Providenciales. Police told RTC news when we enquired about the location, that this section of Providenciales is very secluded and is surrounded by bushes. Clarke said that the road is unpaved and leads to Bonefish Point Beach.
Investigators are awaiting the official results of an autopsy that was done on Monday 25h April, however a homicide investigation is already in progress
Officer Clarke in a telephone conversation this evening told RTC news that they know that someone out there may know what happened to Ms. Veras on the night of her disappearance.
She was well known and have been in contact with a few persons due to her working at a popular Bar and Night Club located on Aviation Drive.
The police are seeking your assistance to find the person or persons who may be responsible for her murder.
Anyone with information about this murder or other crimes is asked to contact the Chalk Sound Police Station at 339-5901.
To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1- 800 8477 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: www.crimestoppers.tc.
The information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence.
TCI Community College Students tour Wall Street
The Turks & Caicos Islands Community College’s Business Department took flight for an interesting tour of the Financial District of Manhattan, New York and to see Wall Street where the famed novelist John Grisham used this canvas to paint the stories that have captivated readers for years.
Three (3) lecturers along with nine (9) students from the Associates and Bachelor’s degree in Business and Finance Courses, donned scarves, coats, mitts and caps to brave the ‘freezing’ temperatures.
The Wall Street Tour was indeed the kick-off to a world of adventure and learning! The tour guides ably and superbly navigated the historical evolution of the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street. The group saw the Federal Hall where President George Washington was sworn in, passing by Morgan House, The Federal Bank, The 9/11 Memorial and the statuesque Wall Street Bull.
Students were enthralled by the stories behind the 2008 financial collapse and the lingering evidence of the 9/11 attack in the Federal Hall. The historical accounts continued with the story of the first terrorist attack on Wall Street via a horse and carriage. Even more interesting, especially for students pursuing a finance specialism, was the explanation of trading and stock markets, splits, options and futures and the reality of the bull and bear markets. At the end of this tour, we were given a US $1,000,000 note, which unfortunately will only remain in our purses and wallets!
The group had the opportunity to relax, unwind and enjoy some New York Culture as we enjoyed the Broadway play “Shear Madness”. No need to expand on this except to say the title was truly fitting of the play.
The Statue of Liberty remains such a vital part of the United States history, it was decided that the tour would definitely benefit from this rich experience. The group travelled via ferry to Liberty Island where the tour guide explained the island’s history and the reason behind the placement of Lady Liberty at that location. They got to see the breath-taking monument up close and gazed in awe at the sculptor which took so many years of hard work.
Ellis Island was the entry point for immigrants in the early days of New York. The process then was absolutely onerous and frightening and we can only be thankful that all of that will remain history.
Ms. Stacy Ann Lawrence, a Lecturer at the College said, “It is always interesting to see a bit of history to appreciate how far we have come and to get insight as to what it must have been like for the immigrants in those early days.”
Following an interesting and educational tour of New York, it was time to return to the Turks & Caicos Islands. There were a few sad faces as we entered the hotel shuttle and made our way to JFK airport, then sadly blew last minute kisses, “See you later, New York!”
This experience was made possible by Corporate partners who sponsored and participated in assisting our Community College:
N W Hamilton
First Caribbean Bank
Royal West Indies
Le Vele Management Services
CBMS Ltd
Turks and Caicos Banking Company
The Palms Resort Ltd.
British Caribbean Bank
IGA
Jais
International Beauty Salon
Grand Turk Cruise Center
FChambers
Discount Liquors
The Business Department and the TCI Community College told RTC that they wish to thank those who continue to play a role in the life of the College to ensure that these meaningful excursions can take place where students can see their classroom work come to life in the real world.
THE TURKS & CAICOS AIDS AWARENESS FOUNDATION (TCAAF) LAUNCHES INFORMATIVE WEBSITE
The Turks and Caicos AIDS Awareness Foundation (TCAAF) has finally launched there long awaited website.
The non-profit organisation founded back in December of 2003 by a group of individuals who lost friends and/or family members to AIDS continues the mission of the organisation to raise awareness and eliminate the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS, by providing necessary community assistance and participation, to effect positive lifestyle and behavioural changes.
In enforcing the mission to raise awareness, the TCAAF has launched its website on the .com domain at www.tcaaf.com.
The site provides detailed information on, all the charitable and fund raising activities of the Foundation, bios on the Directors and Board members and most importantly, educational particulars on HIV/AIDS.
The team at the foundation told RTC news that they are inviting one and all to visit the website as the Foundation continues its work to eliminate stigma and discrimination in the TCI.