UN Warns of Crisis as Syrian Forces Squeeze Aleppo
The United Nations warned Tuesday that if pro-government forces in Syria succeed in encircling the strategic city of Aleppo then up to 300,000 people could be cut off from humanitarian aid.
In an assessment of the situation in Aleppo, the U.N. said the Aleppo offensive has already cut rebel supply lines between the eastern part of the city and the Bab al-Salam crossing on the Turkish border.
Further advances into the city could send another 100,000 to 150,000 civilians fleeing Aleppo.
The World Food Program said Tuesday it is distributing urgently needed meals to 21,000 people who fled Aleppo to A'zaz, just south of the Turkish border.
Pro-government forces have pounded their way toward Aleppo during the past week in their effort to crush rebels who have been fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime for more than five years.
“If that happens, the rebel momentum will be gone,” said Omar Lamrani, a military analyst for Stratfor, geopolitical intelligence firm based out of Texas. “If Aleppo were to fall, it would highlight how dire the situation is for the rebels throughout the country.”
Russian warplanes have been relentlessly bombing northern Syria for days, forcing U.S.-backed and other rebel forces to take shelter in tunnels and blast craters.
Source-VOA
Digicel Play subscribers top 10,000 mark
Telecommunications company Digicel says subscribers to its home entertainment service, Digicel Play, has surpassed the 10,000 mark mere months into its launch.
In a press release on Sunday, the company said that the milestone was “a testament to the quality and strength of the service”.
“We are very excited and encouraged by the feedback we are getting from customers who have been enjoying superfast streaming and the best picture quality in cable TV in Jamaica, as well as cool features like pause, forward and rewind of live TV, multi-screen and picture in picture. We would like to thank them for being a part of the Digicel Play family and encourage them to keep the feedback coming,” said John Suranyi, CEO for Digicel Play for the Caribbean and Central America.
“The overwhelming number of requests we continue to get from customers who want to sign up for our service shows that Jamaicans are eager and ready for better quality home entertainment — which is exactly what Digicel Play is delivering with our state-of-the-art all-fibre network,” he added.
Bahamas police seize millions in drug bust
Bahamas police say they have seized more than four million US dollars in cocaine after searching a container at the Freeport Container Port on Sunday.
They said the 161 packages of the drugs were found after a team of law enforcement officers including the police, Bahamas Customs and their US counterparts, acting on a tip-off, searched the container and discovered five black duffle bags.
A police statement said that the drugs had a street value of US$4.5 million and that “no arrest was made in this matter”. It said “active police investigation is ongoing”.
Meanwhile, police said that they have seized a quantity of guns and ammunition in separate operations over the weekend.
They said in one instance, four people, including a woman ”believed to be part of a major firearm trafficking ring” ,were arrested and that nine illegal handguns along with a large amount of ammunition and several bulletproof vest is were seized.
“The Royal Bahamas Police Force has renewed their appeal to citizens to collaborate with the police in removing illegal weapons from the hands of criminals in The Bahamas. The public is also being asked to contact the police with information regarding the whereabouts of any illegal firearm,” the police statement added.
Source-CMC
Miss Alexandria Missick appointed to Director of Legal Services at Fortis
FortisTCI is pleased to announce the appointment of Miss Alexandria Missick to Director of Legal Services within the Executive Services Division. The appointment was effective on Monday, January 11, 2016.
Miss Missick obtained her Bachelors of Law with Honors from the Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, United Kingdom. She obtained her Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from The College of Law, London. Miss Missick’s previous professional experience includes serving with Scotiabank (Turks & Caicos) Ltd. as Manager of Compliance & Legal Services and Manager of Human Resources. In her new role as Director of Legal Services at FortisTCI, Miss Missick will be responsible for the effective and efficient management of the legal function, provision of legal advisory services, providing support to the Board of Directors, ensuring effective management of all legal and contractual risks and overseeing the work of outside legal counsels.
FortisTCI President and CEO, Eddinton Powell said, “This appointment is consistent with the maturity of the organization and with our policy of identifying and recruiting high quality local talent at every level within the Company. We have complex local and international stakeholders and reporting obligations, including capital markets. This is a key position, and with Alexandria’s educational background and professional experience, we are confident that she will serve the Company well. We are pleased to welcome her to the FortisTCI team.”
Miss Missick is the current President of the Compliance Association of the Turks & Caicos Islands and is the former Secretary of the Banker’s Association of the Turks & Caicos Islands.
Soroptimist International Evening a great success
This past Friday February 5, 2016 the members of Soroptimist Club of Grand Turk hosted its main fundraising event under the theme” A night of Culture: Food, Dress and Entertainment”.
The event was well supported by members of the community of Grand Turk, in attendance were many senior officials of government and the community. The moderator for the evening was Ms. Angela Freites.
There were a number of dishes representing a majority of the nationalities residing in Grand Turk, such as Jamaica, Guyana, Nigeria, Barbados, Haiti, Dominican Republic, USA, Philippines, Cayman, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands, and the evening’s musical entertainment was provided by Mr. Dudley Been.
Following the opening prayer by Sister Agnes Kendal, President, Alexa Cooper-Grant in her welcoming remarks enlightened the audience on the history of SI Grand Turk, noting that Soroptimism (the longest serving women’s organization in the TCI), was introduced to these islands in 1978 by Mrs. Ena Collymore-Woodstock, who was at the time President of the Caribbean Area Network (known today as SICN) and Magistrate of the TCI. In 1979 the first Soroptimist club was chartered on the Island of Grand Turk under the leadership of Mrs. Cynthia Astwood the first President and the Patron of the Soroptimist Daycare center, and is still today a very active member of SI Grand Turk.
President Alexa spoke on the importance of this fundraising initiative, noting that all proceeds raised will be used for the much needed repairs to the Day Care center building which has sustained roof damages during the passage of Hurricane Ike in 2008. She mentioned that the pre-school (Ena Woodstock Preschool), named in honor of founding member Mrs. Woodstock, operated well over 30 years, catering to the underprivileged children in the community of Grand Turk. Despite the closure of the preschool, much strides are being made to repair the building.
The Entertainment for the evening was centered around culture. There was a demonstration by the moderator who is also a Culture Officer at the TCI Tourist Board, on the significance of the ‘Duster and Florida Water’ in the TCI, and also a display of the National Dress. She highlighted the colors in the national dress and explained the colors each island represents. Mention was also made of the brainchild of the national dress, Mr. David Bowen and Ms. Valarie Jennings-Forbin. There was also a Nigerian fashion and dance performance depicting the dress of our African sisters. The performances from other nationalities such as Jamaica, Haiti and the TCI were thoroughly enjoyed by the crowd. We were honored with the presence of Little Ms. Summa Jam 2015- Renee Myers, who also performed a skit entitled ‘The Salt Raker Man’.
The evening was one spent embracing culture through the three pillars; Food, Dress and Entertainment. There were giveaways complimentary of Lime TCI and Sister Michelle Fulford-Gardiner.
In moving the vote of thanks, President Alexa expressed thanks to the many persons for donating the various dishes and special thanks to Mrs. Jenny Canahan of Osprey Beach Hotel for her generous donation of various dishes for which we were grateful. Thanks were also expressed to our fellow sister Soroptimist for their participation in helping to make the evening a very successful one. Lastly, special thanks was given to the audience for being participative and supportive of the International Evening, and she encouraged them to continue to support our future fundraising initiatives of the club and assured them that their contributions are very much appreciated and vital to the sustainability of our continuing community based projects.
InterCaribbean Airways Announces New Flights to Havana
interCaribbean Airways today announced that commencing on May 3, 2016 interCaribbean Airways will launch its new nonstop services to Havana's Jose Martí International Airport (HAV), from Providenciales (PLS), Turks & Caicos Islands.
With this new nonstop service to Havana from Providenciales, as well as connections from numerous cities in the Caribbean, interCaribbean makes the journey to Cuba, the fastest of any airline within the region.
Twice weekly service to Havana will be as follows:
Providenciales (PLS) to Havana (HAV) Cuba
Flight No Routing Effective Date Days Depart Arrive
JY310 PLS HAV May 1, 2016 Tue, Thu 4:30pm 19:20pm
Havana (HAV) Cuba to Providenciales (PLS) JY 311 HAVANA to PLS May 1, 2016 Wed, Fri 08:10am 11:20am
Connection flights from Antigua, Kingston and Montego Bay, Jamaica, Santo Domingo, Punta Cana and Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, Port au Prince, Haiti, San Juan Puerto Rico, Grand Turk and South Caicos, Turks & Caicos Islands are available.
Onboard, enjoy Cacique Inflight Magazine, and join Cacique Reward to earn more points.
Seeing the demand for services to Cuba, interCaribbean Airways is pleased to launch new nonstop services and provides timed 45 minute connections to Cuba, from centrally located Turks & Caicos. With the USA easing entry to Cuba, we look forward to welcoming aboard those who wish to enjoy two destination trips, and increase trade and travel between our Caribbean Countries. Cuba is a beautiful country with so much to offer a visitor and one visit will not be enough.
"With People to People visits from the United States, and new categories of travel for USA citizens, interCaribbean is well placed to facilitate entry to Santiago, and now to Havana, as we serve two of the most important cities of the country", said Lyndon R. Gardiner, Chairman of interCaribbean Airways
$291,000 from contingency funds approved
His Excellency the Governor, Peter Beckingham, chaired the 4th meeting of the Cabinet last Thursday, 4 February 2016, at the Hon. Hilly Ewing Building on Providenciales.
All Ministers were present at this meeting Cabinet:
· Approved the appointment of Mr. Devon Williams as Chairman of the TCI Ports Authority Board with effect from 1 March 2016 for a period of 3 years;
· Advised His Excellency the Governor to place a moratorium on grants of new business licenses to operate in the areas of private investigation and security guards and security services until the Government has reviewed the Private Investigators and Security Guards Ordinance 2009 and an appropriate regulatory regime is brought into force;
· Approved an increase in the taxi quota from 175 to 195 and in the number of VIP vehicles by 5 on Providenciales and directed the Ministry of Home Affairs, Transportation and Communication to produce a draft national transportation strategy;
· Approved a prevention and control strategy developed by the Ministry of Health, Agriculture and Human Services to enhance contingency planning to address and combat the spread of the Zika Virus in the event of the virus reaching TCI and agreed to provide $291,000 from contingency funds to enable the Ministry to implement measures set out in the strategy;
· Endorsed changes that were appended to the draft 2016/17 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure following the Cabinet meeting of 28 January 2016 for forwarding to the UK Government for approval;
· Agreed a timetable for the passage of the 2016/17 Budget Estimates and Supplementary Appropriations Bill through the House of Assembly;
· Agreed amendments to the organisational chart of the Invest Turks and Caicos Agency to include a new position of Director of Small and Medium Enterprises to enable implementation of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Ordinance 2015;
· Cabinet agreed to a request by Logwood Development Co. Ltd to release a portion of the funds held in escrow by Bordier Bank in relation to the company’s involvement in the West Caicos Resort;
Cabinet received as well the report on the recently concluded public consultation on building height and density and requested a presentation from the Planning Department on its recommendations and findings at its next meeting.
Further information on these matters will be provided by Ministers in due course.
Latin Heath Ministers Hold Emergency Zika Meeting
Latin American health ministers agreed Wednesday on a public information campaign and boosted the number of medical workers to fight the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which poses the greatest threat to pregnant women.
The 14 officials — including Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Castro, whose country has been hit hardest by the virus — held emergency talks Wednesday in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Castro said regional leaders need to "exchange information, make alliances, and discuss what coordinated action we can take to control this epidemic."
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said her government will spare no expense in fighting the mosquito that experts say carries the virus.
"My entire government is working on fighting this emergency,” Rousseff said this week. “There will be no lack of funding. ... We will partner up with the U.S. government, with President [Barack] Obama ... in order to develop as quickly as possible a vaccine for the Zika virus."
A worrisome development intensified concerns this week when health officials in Dallas County, Texas, reported what appears to be the first Zika case in the U.S. transmitted through sexual contact.
The patient apparently was infected after having sex with an ill individual who returned from a country where the virus is present. It was later reported on Twitter that the infected traveler had recently been to Venezuela.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the top federal public health agency — confirmed the Texas case.
Source-VOA
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association to visit TCI
The Turks and Caicos Islands Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association will host four Parliamentarians from the Houses of Parliament Canada comprising:
Alexandra Mendes – MP – Liberal – Leader of the delegation
Todd Doherty – MP from Newfoundland
Senator Elizabeth Hubley – Liberal Senator from Prince Edward Island
Senator David Willis – Conservative Senator from British Columbia
Elizabeth Kingston – Secretary
His Honour the Speaker will host a reception in honour of the visiting delegation in Providenciales on Monday 8th February, 2016 at the Regent Palms Hotel. Additionally the delegation would make courtesy calls on His Excellency the Governor, The Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus W. Ewing, the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Sharlene L. Robinson. The team will also tour the Cheshire Hall Medical Hospital, Providenciales.
On Tuesday the 9th February the highlight of the visit will be an address to the House of Assembly by the leader of the delegation at 10:00a.m. The General Public is invited to this event.
The delegation will then meet with members of The CPA followed by a luncheon with present and former members of parliament, they will later tour the Cockburn Town Medical Center and then take a tour of Grand Turk. The delegation is scheduled to depart Providenciales for Guyana on 10th February 2016.
Obama Reaffirms Religious Liberty in First Visit to US Mosque
President Barack Obama, on his first visit to a U.S. mosque as president, says Americans "too often" conflate Islam with terrorism.
"We're one American family," Obama told Muslim-Americans at the Islamic Society of Baltimore. He said the entire Muslim community is often blamed for the "violent acts of a few."
He also said "inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslims has no place" in the country.
Earlier, Obama took part in a round table with Muslim-American leaders to hear their concerns.
“It will be an opportunity to do a couple of things. The first is to affirm the important role that Muslim-Americans play in our society and to affirm our conviction in the principle of religious liberty,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday.
Obama has previously visited mosques overseas.
President Barack Obama, on his first visit to a U.S. mosque as president, says Americans "too often" conflate Islam with terrorism.
"We're one American family," Obama told Muslim-Americans at the Islamic Society of Baltimore. He said the entire Muslim community is often blamed for the "violent acts of a few."
He also said "inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslims has no place" in the country.
Earlier, Obama took part in a round table with Muslim-American leaders to hear their concerns.
“It will be an opportunity to do a couple of things. The first is to affirm the important role that Muslim-Americans play in our society and to affirm our conviction in the principle of religious liberty,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday.
Obama has previously visited mosques overseas.