TCIs Ifeanyi Otuyonye named Male Athlete of the Year
The Turks and Caicos recently recorded a new long jump National record thanks to young Ifeanyi Otuonye, and quite significantly the college student set a new indoor record for the triple jump and was named by the US Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association as the mid-west Field Male Athlete of the Year.
In her ministerial statement, Deputy Premier Akiera Missick congratulated Otuoyne on the feats as she announced that Akia Guerrier has qualified for the World Youth Track and Field competition which will be held next month in Colombia.
It was also revealed that a team of primary schoolers will represent the TCI at the Caribbean Primary School Competition within the second week of July and came the announcement of the September UK Territory Games; it was not revealed who will represent the country at that track & field meet but local trials were organized by the TCAAA and said to be supported by sprinter, Angelo Garland.
Source-MMTV
Fatal shooting claims the life of a young man on Bible Street, Providenciales
The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) have launched an investigation after a man was found on a roadway and later died, in Blue Hills yesterday morning.
At approximately 12:06AM (Sunday, 21 June 2015), officers attached to The Beat & Patrol Unit were called to Bible Street, after reports of multiple shots were heard being fired.
Police arrived to find a man, aged 22, with serious injuries lying on the road.
The man was taken to Cheshire Hall Medical Centre, where he later died. The name of the deceased is known to police but is not being released at this time.
And while Astwood did not release the name of the young man who succumbed to his injuries, social media was immediately flooded with a posting of the young man’s photo, along with condolences & prayers for the grieving family of young Robert Martinez who was gunned down just yards away from his home on Bible Street in Blue Hills.
Astwood noted there was also a second man, aged 20 who sustained a gunshot wound during the same incident on Bible Street. He was taken to hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries. He remains in a stable condition.
Meanwhile, a press release from the Public Relations Officer at the TCI Hospital, Ms. Takarra Bain, in response to media queries, confirmed that during the early hours of Sunday June 21st, 2015, the Turks and Caicos Islands Hospital received a 23-year-old male patient following a shooting in Blue Hills. “The patient was immediately treated by our medical team; however he succumbed to his injuries. Another male patient, age 21 was transferred to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre, following the same shooting incident in Blue Hills; that patient was treated and discharged.
Also, on Sunday June 2st 2015, the Turks and Caicos Islands Hospital received a 21 year-old male patient following an incident on the Leeward Highway, Providenciales. The patient was treated and later transferred overseas for further medical treatment,” confirmed Ms. Bain.
Astwood said an investigation has commenced and a crime scene established that was examined by detectives and forensic specialists.
Police are in search of two males who they believe can assist them with their investigations. Both males were last seen wearing short pants and black hoodies.
Police have not arrested any suspects at present.
Police are urging anyone with information about this incident to call Crime Stoppers on 1-800-8477 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: www.crimestoppers.tc. Information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. All calls are answered by Miami Dade Police and no one from the RTCIPF will know who called. Only the information received will be provided to the RTCIPF. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter pages.
The Turks and Caicos Islands is one of fourteen Caribbean countries among 30 territories blacklisted by the European Union
The Turks and Caicos Islands is one of fourteen Caribbean countries among 30 territories blacklisted by the European Union (EU) as the world’s worst tax havens.
The list published by the EU on Wednesday, also includes Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, and the US Virgin Islands.
Each of those countries, and the other 16 on the blacklist, had been suggested by at least 10 EU member states as problematic because they were not doing enough to crack down on tax avoidance.
Jurisdictions commonly labeled as offshore tax avoidance hubs, including Luxembourg, Jersey and Switzerland, were not on the list.
European Commissioner for economics, taxation and customs Pierre Moscovici said that publishing the list of “non-cooperative jurisdictions” was a decisive step in pushing the territories to adopt international standards.
“Our citizens can no longer tolerate that certain companies, often the most prosperous, avoid fair tax contributions and that certain tax regimes encourage them on this path,” he said.
The European Commission, the EU’s tax watchdog, issued the list at the same time it unveiled a plan for tackling corporate tax avoidance.
The aim of that plan is to tax companies where they earn their profits, rather than allowing firms to shift money into low-tax jurisdictions.
Moscovici said corporate tax needed a “radical reform” and all member states needed to “pull together” to ensure companies paid their way.
Meanwhile, Barbados’ Minister of International Business Donville Inniss said the move was unjustified and government would be objecting, saying Barbados had no right on that list.
“I can’t speak for all the jurisdictions but I know that this labeling of Barbados is extremely unfortunate and as minister responsible for international business I am not going to sit back and take this lightly,” he told the Daily Nation.
Cayman Finance, which represents the financial services industry in the Cayman Islands, said it was disappointed to see the territory included on the list, based on the views of 11 EU countries with which it does little international business.
“It is not clear what standards have been used by these 11 countries to come to such a conclusion, in particular when the Cayman Islands has exchange of information mechanisms in place with all but one of these countries,” it said.
“The Cayman Islands has consistently evolved and maintained its international tax cooperation practices to meet robust, balanced and globally implemented standards for regulation and cross border cooperation that apply equally to G20 countries and all International Financial Centres . . . .
It was just this past February that Premier Hon Dr. Rufus Ewing defended the Turks and Caicos when the UK’s Ed Miliband labeled the country as a ‘tax haven’ and it was just last October that the TCI signed the US FATCA agreement which now compels all financial institutions to report on US citizens regularly to the Financial Services Commission, who in turn reports to the US IRS.
RTC News understands that representatives of the various Caribbean countries are being called upon to fight this injustice, together. A joint position by the BOTC’s (including the Turks and Caicos Islands), is expected to be communicated in a press release that RTC News will share with you as soon as it’s made available to us.
The other countries on the blacklist are: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Guernsey, Monaco, Mauritius, Liberia, Seychelles, Brunei, Hong Kong, Maldives, Cook Islands, Nauru, Niue and Marshall Island.
TCI Cabinet Meeting for June 2015
His Excellency the Governor, Peter Beckingham, chaired the 16th meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday 17 June 2015 at the NJS Francis Building on Grand Turk.
All Minister were present.
At this meeting Cabinet:
· Received a presentation from Turks and Caicos Environmental Management who updated Cabinet about the work they have carried out so far under Phase 1 and also briefed Cabinet about a proposed Phase 2 of the Solid Waste Programme and other Public-Private Environmental Programmes. The Ministry and Cabinet will review the costings of Phase 2 before making decisions.
· Reviewed the draft Turks and Caicos Islander Status Bill 2015 and made amendments where appropriate. Advised H.E the Governor to approve a public consultation on the same and to approve the provision of instructions to the Honourable Attorney General to make amendments to the draft Bill as the consultation may suggest.
· Reviewed the draft Immigration Bill 2015 and made amendments where appropriate. Advised H.E the Governor to approve a public consultation on the same and to approve the provision of instructions to the Honourable Attorney General to make amendments to the draft Bill as the consultation may suggest.
· Cabinet received information on the proposed schools’ summer maintenance program, which will entail upgrading the various aspects and repairs and fixing of some of the identified issues in the Government schools throughout the islands. Renovation and replacement works will begin immediately following the schools' closing for the summer break.
· Received information about the proposed re-profiling of planning application fees in regards to developments, and discussed changes. Further details will be announced in the Gazette.
· Advised H.E the Governor to approve Nikita O’Neil Skippings "Chef Nik" to act as a Culinary Ambassador for the Turks and Caicos Islands for a period of 2 years with effect from 1 July 2015.
· Cabinet approved the instatement of the Appeals Tribunal of the National Health Insurance (Appeals) Regulations 2010. The following are being recommended to serve on the Appeals Tribunal; Mr Norman Hamilton, Rev. Conrad Howell, Dr. Euan Menzies and Ms Yvette Marcelin.
· Cabinet approved the appointment of the following members to the Health Practitioners Board (HPB); Dr Jameika Harvey (Chairman), Dr Kendra Hall (Deputy Chair), Dr Raquel D. Lightbourne, Mrs Audrey Ewing, Mr Shanwell Gardiner and Mrs Trammaine Swann-Harvey.
Turks and Caicos Islands latest FSAP experience is discussed in Caribbean Forum
The Caribbean Association of Insurance Regulators (CAIR) in conjunction with the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) organized a two day Conference and Meeting on June 10-12 in Trinidad and Tobago ,under the theme “Regional collaboration: enhancing insurance supervision and regulation”.
During the Conference, regional supervisory groups for insurance discussed their goals and objectives and current supervisory methodologies. Participants and presenters contributed ideas on how to better advance regulation regimes in the Caribbean and reviewed lessons learnt from Jamaica, Trinidad and the Bahamas.
Turks and Caicos Financial Services Commission (FSC) Managing Director Kevin Higgins gave insight into the TCI experience following its latest financial stability assessment conducted under the IMF’s Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP).
Noting that the assessment, which concluded in early May, had generated interest in the region, Mr. Higgins said dialogue and exchange at regulatory regional level is of fundamental importance to a sound supervisory regime, to the protection of policyholders and to financial stability as a whole.
“The Turks and Caicos Financial Commission was invited to this collaborative forum to discuss its views and experience on the heels of the FSAP; we are pleased that the Commission continues to bring a valuable perspective to the issue of insurance supervision and regulation in the region, ” said Higgins.
The TCI FSAP preliminary findings were summarized in a press release issued by the team of visiting International Monetary Fund experts. They indicated that, despite challenges and limitations, the FSC had made notable progress since the previous IMF assessment in 2003 and had now better governance, ample financial resources, and supervisory power.
The findings highlighted few initial recommendations such as the need to enhance regulation and supervision, to earmark funds for policyholder payout and to formalize communication and consultation with the industry in order to facilitate dialogues.
The final report is expected by July 2015.
David Smith to challenge extradition ruling
Convicted Ponzi schemer David Smith is to challenge a ruling by a Turks and Caicos magistrate that he be extradited to the United States to serve time.
Douglas Leys, QC, of the firm Leys Smith, told the Jamaica Observer that the ruling delivered by Magistrate Clifton Warner is to be challenged.
Warner had delivered a split decision. On the one hand he ruled that Smith be extradited on a charge of money laundering, while on the other hand he refused to extradite the former Olint boss on the more serious charge of wire fraud.
The wire fraud charge carries a sentence of 20 years, while the money laundering charge carries a 10-year sentence.
Smith's case was argued in the Turks and Caicos by Oliver Smith and Kimone Tenant of Leys Smith.
DAIC attends Third Regional Caribbean Growth Forum
The DAIC, at the invitation of the Government of St. Lucia, attended the “Third Regional Caribbean Growth Forum”, Pigeon Island, St. Lucia, June 16-17, 2015.
Dominica had representation from the Dominica Manufacturers Association and the Dominica Association of Industry and Commerce. Other local private sector representation invitations were included however not all were able to participate. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Planning, Economic Development and Investment, Mrs. Gloria Joseph was in attendance as well as representatives from the Reform Unit and the Ministry of Finance.
The high level forum included regional representation of a wide base from Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Barbados, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, all the way to Belize and Suriname to name a handful. Ministers attended from across the region, alongside their Economic Advisors. A critical element in this forum was the presence of Civil Society, Academia, the youth and Private Sector representation, all of whom were given the task of formulating the original input in each of their countries at the onset of the Forum in 2012 and monitoring the implementation of the development of the policy reforms in each of their respective islands.
The Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF) is a facilitated methodology for public-private dialogue around issues central to private sector development and growth. It brings a non-traditional approach to the greatest challenge currently faced by the region – creating sustainable and inclusive growth. The Forum also aims to facilitate an action oriented dialogue around key policy reforms needed across three thematic areas: Investment Climate, Skills and Productivity and Logistics and Connectivity.
The Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF) is a joint initiative by the Compete Caribbean Program, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and the Caribbean Development Bank. It is supported by the Canadian International Development Agency, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, CARICOM Secretariat, and the University of the West Indies.
Many Caribbean territories have a very good starting point with draft or completed national growth strategies. Therefore, the aim is to identify the priorities within the three pillars of the CGF that can contribute to these national strategies. In this respect, the CGF’s methodology has been designed to result in a consensual, concrete action plan with specific responsibilities and timelines, and it has built in transparency and accountability mechanisms to make sure that, over time, results are delivered. The CGF is part of the donor agencies’ commitment to support the Caribbean and develop and implement inclusive growth policies that generate jobs and opportunities for all. Ahead of the playing field in implementation of strategies to work towards reform and policy implementation are the Dominican Republic and Grenada. Affects of the agenda are already being realized in both countries.
Source-DominicaVibes
YouTube Launches ‘YouTube Newswire’
Google’s YouTube launched the YouTube Newswire channel that will post videos of the most newsworthy events occurring on a daily basis, according to reports.
According to a report by The Verge, Google will provide "a curated feed of the most newsworthy eyewitness videos of the day," which will allow viewers and journalists find the most relevant footage on YouTube.
YouTube has changed the way news organizations report on any big event and now with the launch of YouTube Newswire, the search engine giant wants to help the media find eyewitnesses videos and make sure they are trustworthy, reports CNET. The publication mentioned that YouTube Newswire collects and scrutinizes eyewitness videos from current events, making it convenient for news organizations to add them to their stories.
The new service is a joint collaboration between Google’s News Lab and Storyful, a News Corp-owned startup that targets at news coming from social media, reports CNET.
Olivia Ma, Head of Strategy and Operations, News Lab at Google said in an official blog post, “Today, more than 5 million hours of news video is watched on YouTube every day, and the role of the eyewitness has never had a more vital place in the newsgathering process.”
Besides the launch of YouTube Newswire, the YouTube official blog also announced the launch of two new projects that would support eyewitness journalism. The ‘First Draft Coalition; project announced by YouTube will be an educational resource for journalists as it will help them to verify eyewitness' videos and take cognizance of the ethics of using them is stories. The other project announced at the same time is YouTube’s partnership with Witness Media Lab that will provide a platform for people to share eyewitness video of human rights atrocities around the world.
According to a report on Tech Times, Storyful has been working with YouTube since a long time and it has verified YouTube videos since 2010, examining over 100,000 videos on YouTube till date.
Source-ibtimes
Google acts to curb ‘revenge porn’ from search results
Google said Friday it was taking steps to remove from search results “revenge porn,” or sexually explicit images of people posted without their consent.
The Internet search giant said it would soon put up an online form that will allow victims to make requests to remove these items from Google search queries.
“We’ve heard many troubling stories of ‘revenge porn': an ex-partner seeking to publicly humiliate a person by posting private images of them, or hackers stealing and distributing images from victims’ accounts,” Google search vice president Amit Singhal said in a blog post.
“Some images even end up on ‘sextortion’ sites that force people to pay to have their images removed. Our philosophy has always been that search should reflect the whole web. But revenge porn images are intensely personal and emotionally damaging, and serve only to degrade the victims — predominantly women.”
Singhal said Google will “honor requests from people to remove nude or sexually explicit images shared without their consent from Google search results.”
He said it was “a narrow and limited policy, similar to how we treat removal requests for other highly sensitive personal information, such as bank account numbers and signatures,” that may surface in search results.
“We know this won’t solve the problem of revenge porn — we aren’t able, of course, to remove these images from the websites themselves — but we hope that honoring people’s requests to remove such imagery from our search results can help.”
Twitter implemented a similar policy earlier this year, banning “intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent.”
Reddit also moved to curb the posting of explicit images without consent of the people in them, after the online bulletin board was criticized for allowing the distribution of hacked nude pictures of Hollywood stars.
Google is facing a legal dispute in Europe on a similar matter, after an EU panel ordered the US tech giant to honor requests from individuals to have links to information about them deleted from searches in certain circumstances, such as if the data is outdated or inaccurate.
Source-AFP
Haitian-American circulates petition to stop DR deportation of Haitians
As the deadline nears for the deportation of Haitian Dominicans in the Dominican Republic, a New York City legislator has created and circulated a petition calling on the Dominican Republic Government to stop what he describes as “this unjust plan that will displace hundreds of thousands of people who call the Dominican Republic home”.
“The majority of the individuals being deported are of Haitian descent, but classifying them as Haitians is inaccurate because many of these men and women and boys and girls were born in the Dominican Republic or have lived in the Dominican Republic for most of their lives,” Dr Mathieu Eugene, the first ever Haitian to be elected to New York City Council, told the Caribbean Media Corporation on Sunday.
“Sending individuals who identify as citizens of the Dominican Republic back to Haiti simply because they have Haitian ancestry is incredibly unjust,” added the representative for the predominantly 45th Council District in Brooklyn.
“This human rights issue will impact not just the individuals facing deportation but our entire society,” Eugene continued. “If this discriminatory deportation occurs, so many men, women, and children will lose the lives they’ve worked so hard to create.”
The council member is urging the public to vociferously voice their objection to this “atrocious act”.
“My heart hurts for the hundreds of thousands of people who are facing the unfathomable deportation from their own country,” he said. “Hard-working individuals who call the Dominican Republic their home are being forced out by a discriminatory ruling.
“Families are in limbo right now, fearing the worst,” he added. ”We must take a stand against this injustice and tell the Dominican (Republic) Government we will not idly stand by as people are thrown out of their country.
“Please lend your voice to this issue and sign the petition at http://chn.ge/1fhRybg,” Eugene said.
On the petition, he described the impending deportation of Dominican Republic nationals of Haitian descent as “a human rights issue”.
“We must ensure that all people feel safe in the country they call home,” said Eugene, adding that “the United States must take a stand and address this important human rights issue for Dominican Haitians”.
On Friday, the United Nations refugee agency urged the Dominican Republic to ensure that Haitians and Haitian descendants whose citizenship was thrown into question by a 2013 ruling of the Constitutional Court will not be deported.
“The court’s ruling and the subsequent regularisation plan which gave individuals born in the Dominican Republic until mid-June to regularise their status, impacts tens of thousands of people”, Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told a press conference in Geneva.
“Most of them were born in the Dominican Republic and are of Haitian descent,” he added. “With a stateless population in the Dominican Republic estimated at more than 200,000 people, the consequences of expulsion could be devastating.”
Edwards said UNHCR is concerned about the human rights considerations for people who may be expelled and end up being pushed into Haiti, even though they are not considered as citizens of that country.
“This would have serious repercussions for all who are affected and be a serious setback to efforts worldwide to end the problem of statelessness,” Edwards said.
He said it is of “the utmost importance” that the Dominican Republic takes necessary action to prevent any expulsions of stateless Dominicans and to avoid creating a new refugee situation.
In this regard, UNHCR has offered its support to the Dominican authorities to identify and register these individuals.
While the Dominican Republic authorities have announced that they will conduct screenings of all individuals subject to deportation, UNHCR has recommended that, for people who claim to be Dominican Republic nationals but do not have the required documents, the authorities can use other screening approaches, such as knowledge of Spanish – “in order to allow a reasonable determination of whether people are likely to have been born and lived all their lives in the Dominican Republic,” Edwards said.
Last November, UNHCR voiced deep concern about the Dominican Republic Constitutional Court’s ruling that the country’s recognition of the competence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights is unconstitutional.
Earlier, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Dominican Republic to revoke a judgement issued in September 2013 saying that the children of undocumented migrants, primarily Haitians, who have been in the country and registered as Dominican Republic nationals, as far back as 1929, cannot have Dominican Republic nationality, as their parents are considered to be “in transit”.
Reports indicated that the Constitutional Court said, when the Dominican Republic joined the jurisdiction of the regional court in 1999, it had done so without respecting its own constitution.
Source-CMC