EU ASSESSMENT RECOGNISES HUGE IMPROVEMENT IN PUBLIC FINANCES
The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) government has significantly improved the performance of its Public Financial Management (PFM) according to a leading European Union (EU) assessment, it was announced today, Wednesday, 27 May 2015.
The TCI’s 2015 Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment showed substantial improvements across a range of indicators since its previous assessment in 2011. The PEFA assessment is widely used by the World Bank and EU.
“The timing of this announcement could not be better in bolstering our nation’s rapidly improving financial reputation,” said Minster of Finance Washington Misick.
“We are also due to have our annual credit rating assessment by Standard & Poor’s in the next few weeks, so the news that we have made such significant improvements in public financial management I am sure can only benefit us in the longer term.”
The PEFA assessment examines seven key areas known as indicators, each with a number of sub areas known as dimensions.
The TCI’s improved performance saw it increase its top rated A grade dimensions from 12 to 30, and its B grade dimensions from 17 to 20. These increases saw dramatic improvements from the C and D grades which fell by the same amounts.
The indicators include: Credibility of the Budget; Comprehensiveness and transparency; Policy-based budgeting; Predictability and control in budget execution; Accounting, recording and reporting; External scrutiny and audit; Donor Practices.
This repeat assessment of the TCI was commissioned by the EU as part of its preparations for providing up to €14.6 million in direct budget support to the education sector under the 11th European Development Fund.
PEFA assessments are intended to serve as a common information base for dialogue between participating governments and development partners.
The PEFA PFM Performance Measurement Framework (PMF) is one of the elements of the Strengthened Approach to supporting PFM reforms developed by the World Bank, the European Commission and other development partners. This Approach has three components: (i) a country-led PFM reform strategy and action plan, (ii) a coordinated programme of activities financed by development partners which supports and is aligned with the government's PFM reform strategy, and (iii) a shared information pool.
The PEFA PMF assessment constitutes the third component.
A copy of the PEFA assessment is available at http://www.gov.tc/treasury/index.php/publications/government-financial-reports/8-pefa-assessment-report
German singing 'Superstar' Seeger admits card scam
The newly-crowned winner of a German TV singing contest has admitted in court to defrauding pensioners.
Severino Seeger won €500,000 (£360,000; $530,900) on the show, Germany's Quest for a Superstar (DSDS) last month.
The 28-year-old was accused of being part of a gang that tricked victims, mainly elderly women, out about €19,000 using a bank card scam.
Reports say the court hearing in Frankfurt was delayed until after the DSDS final.
Mr Seeger appeared before a judge on Tuesday as the court was due to hear testimony from several elderly witnesses.
Local media showed images of fans crowding around the building, some wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Superstar 2015: Prince of hearts".
The singer is alleged to have posed a as bank employee to help collect cards and pin numbers from victims, many of them older women.
Gang members - several of whom have already been convicted - called their targets to tell them their cards needed to be checked because of technical problems.
The oldest victim is said to have been 88 years old.
Mr Seeger told the court he had just separated from his first wife when he was manipulated by a number of people including a cousin, according to German media.
"I said yes because I was stupid," he said.
He was earlier quoted as saying he was "ashamed" of what he had done. "I will pay the money back to the cent," he told Bild newspaper.
The singer was voted winner of the 12th series of DSDS - part of the "Idol" franchise - in mid-May with the song Hero Of My Heart, written by Dieter Bohlen who is also a judge on the show.
Source-BBC
Porn, adware found on former FBI web domains
Websites overseen by the FBI have been briefly used to offer visitors porn or links seeded with adware.
Some of the sites involved were seized from net entrepreneur Kim Dotcom and are thought to attract large numbers of visitors.
The sites were taken over thanks to an administrative error by the FBI which forgot to renew its ownership of one domain.
The sites have now been suspended and no longer show any web content.
Tech news site Torrent Freak revealed that several web domains that used to be run by Kim Dotcom were suddenly directing visitors to sites peddling porn, fake security software, adware and bogus special offers.
These domains were seized three years ago when the FBI carried out raids on Mr Dotcom's business empire, alleging that his Megaupload service was a haven for pirates and copyright thieves. The legal action that started with the raids has yet to be resolved.
Megaupload.com and Megavideo.com were two of the domains briefly taken over by the adware peddlers.
Mr Dotcom lamented what happened to the domains in a tweet, saying the US government had "lost control" of them. He also warned people about adware and other bogus offers.
A separate investigation by news site Ars Technica revealed that the domains had become available because the FBI had forgotten to renew its ownership of a separate site - cirfu.net.
This was used by the agency's Cyber Initiative and Resources Fusion Unit that oversaw sites seized during investigations and raids conducted by the force. This unit replaced the seized site's content with banners announcing that they had been taken over by the FBI.
Megaupload.com, an associated Mega video site and several gambling domains were controlled via cirfu.net.
However, said Ars Technica, cirfu.net was auctioned earlier this month soon after the FBI's ownership of it expired and was not renewed.
The exact identity of who got control of cirfu.net and its associated sites is not known. However, net ownership records show it is now run by Syndk8 Media which is based in Gibraltar.
Soon after news stories about the sites began circulating, the sites were suspended by registrar GoDaddy for violating the company's terms and conditions.
The FBI has yet to comment on what happened to the domains.
Sepp Blatter wins another term as president
Meet Sepp Blatter. Still the most powerful man in the world's most popular game, scandal be damned.
You could also call the 79-year-old Swiss national a survivor, after he clung to his job as FIFA's president Friday. He won a fifth term despite a week marked by arrests, investigations in the United States and Switzerland and questions about whether he was the right man to rebuild the reputation of soccer's governing body.
It wasn't a slam dunk, and Blatter failed to get the required 140 votes in the first round of voting to prevail. (He got 133, compared to 73 for Jordan's Prince Ali bin al-Hussein.) But with the writing on the wall -- since Blatter would only need a simple majority of votes in the next round to win -- Prince Ali conceded.
"I take the responsibility to bring back FIFA," Blatter said, promising he would leave after his four-year term ends. "And I am convinced we can do it."
He is a masterful political operator and his knack for getting off clean amid scandal -- or at least without being directly tied to wrongdoing in the soccer world -- is uncanny.
Then there's the matter of the voters and their loyalties to Blatter.
Part of it is the system itself: There are 209 member associations within FIFA, and each of their votes counts the same. That means a vote from China, with about 1.4 billion citizens, carries the same weight as a vote from the Cook Islands, with about 11,000 citizens.
And, corruption or not, the FIFA gravy train provides quite a bit of gravy. The organization's executive committee members get $300,000 a year plus $500 per day for expenses. If you're on official FIFA business, you can expect flying first class and staying in five-star hotels.
The member associations benefit big-time, including $500,000 payouts linked to World Cup profits. That's a sizable chunk of change that goes a lot further in places where there are fewer people to share it.
No surprise, then, that many of these organizations -- especially in Africa, Asia and the Americas -- have been loyal to Blatter, given his commitment to divvying up the largesse of FIFA, which has $1.5 billion in the bank.
Blatter didn't mention such (perfectly legal) perks in the run-up to Friday's election, though he did reference the recent investigations, asserting that alleged corruption at FIFA was a result of "a few" individuals, not the whole organization.
"I'm willing to accept that the president of FIFA is responsible for everything, but I would like to share that responsibility with you," he told voters at the 65th FIFA World Congress. "We cannot possibly supervise everybody that's in football."
The soccer world, more than ever, needs "needs a strong (and) experienced leader" like himself to restore trust, Blatter argued. He urged voters to give him a chance to do that, but didn't promise any sweeping reforms.
Source-CNN
Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch up for sale
Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch has gone up for sale with a price tag of $100m (£65m), reports the Wall Street Journal.
The Santa Barbara development was once home to a zoo, an amusement park and its own fire station.
Much of this has gone but there is still a floral clock and a railway.
Jackson bought the house in 1987 for $19.5m but struggled to pay for it, until an investment company stepped in to help him save it from auction.
The property is now called Sycamore Valley Ranch and has undergone extensive redevelopment since Jackson's death in 2009.
The 2,800 acre (1,100 hectare) site, at 5225 Figueroa Mountain Road, is now being sold jointly by Sotheby's and Hilton & Hyland.
The estate agents have warned off fans hoping to get a glimpse inside the piece of Jackson history, telling the Wall Street Journal anyone wanting to view the property would be subject to "extensive prequalification".
"We're not going to be giving tours," said Suzanne Perkins of Sotheby's International Realty.
Jackson bought Neverland in 1987 intending to create a fantasy land for children, and moved in the following year.
It was named after an island in the story Peter Pan, where children never grow up.
After he bought it, Jackson built a zoo and fairground but it was closed to the public in 2006 after he failed to pay his staff or maintain proper insurance.
Source-BBC
US economy shrank in first quarter
The US economy shrank 0.7% in the first three months of 2015, compared to the same period last year.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis significantly revised down its earlier economic growth estimate of 0.2%.
The previous calculation underestimated the rise in the volume of imported goods and overestimated capital investment by companies, it said.
The US economy last contracted in the first quarter of 2014, when it shrank by 2.1%.
As was the case last year, a harsh winter may have been partly to blame for falling goods and services production in the US.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of economic activity, slowed to 1.8% growth in the first quarter, slightly below the 1.9% growth initially estimated.
The Bureau also highlighted the impact of weak exports and government spending.
The strong US dollar has pushed up imports and lowered exports. At current dollar prices, GDP slipped further from 0.1% growth to a 0.9% contraction.
The revision in GDP prompted investors to shift to traditionally safer assets, such as bonds. This is why yields on US Treasuries have fallen as their price has risen.
GDP figures are closely watched by investors, as the Federal Reserve makes decisions based on the health of the economy.
"From a policy perspective, the first quarter lull is already history; it's the extent of the rebound that will be critical in determining the timing of the Fed's first move on interest rates," says Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.
"Survey evidence is already pointing to a second quarter pick-up," he added.
Greek bank deposits fall to decade low
Greek bank deposits have fallen to their lowest level in more than 10 years, as concerns persist over the country's debt burden and possible exit from the euro.
Deposits stood at €139.4bn (£100bn) in April, a 3.9% decline on the previous month, according to the European Central Bank.
The data include all deposits by households and companies in Greece.
Its banks have struggled to hold on to deposits during the debt negotiations.
Greece's falling reserves have prompted calls for capital controls from some experts and an opposition MP.
However, government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis on Monday rejected the idea.
The Greek government, European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been locked in negotiations for four months over economic reforms the IMF and EU say must be implemented before the latest €7.2bn tranche of the country's bailout fund is released.
Greece has to make a payment of €1.5bn (£1.09bn) to the IMF on 5 June.
Mr Sakellaridis said that Greece would maintain repayments to its EU-IMF creditors for as long as possible.
Nevertheless, if Greece fails to come to a deal with its eurozone partners there is a real chance it could default on its loans.
That could push the Greek government towards leaving the single currency, otherwise known as "Grexit".
In an interview with a German newspaper on Thursday, IMF chief Christine Lagarde is quoted as saying that "a Greek exit is a possibility".
Source-BBC
Finance Minister's Statement and its context by Devon Williams
In the spirit of political maturity, I will try a critique of the government of the day and before and see what happens.
The statements made by Former Chief Minister Washington Misick in Parliament is one that is in my view, xenophobic and hypocritical and must be taken in the context that it is in. A xenophobe is person who is fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or of people from different countries or cultures.
This fear has no place in a modern society and should not be motivated or promoted by modern day political figures. The parliamentary statement is even hypocritical because it does not in any way reflect the views of the party on whose platform the same minister was elected. The Progressive National Party, PNP is known for being one of the most progressive and culturally tolerant political parties in the history of the TCI and for a PNP minister to be on a national stage spewing this level of xenophobia is in my view extremely hypocritical.
The TCI Constitution protects the rights of persons to freely associate. In other words you can gather with anyone you want to gather with and celebrate whatever you want to celebrate as long as you do so within the confines of the laws. Now before I go too deeply into this, allow me to also add that the idea of the Minister implying that other nationals should be subjected to celebrating TCI culture is also primitive and actually crazy.
Very few people in the TCI celebrate what is known and sold as TCI culture. This is because culture is at best a bit of history reenactments that date back only about 40 to 50 years. The mean problem with TCI Culture as it has been presented by the Goverment in modern years, is that it plastic and appears to be fabricated. Truth is the TCI as a nation lacks the basics for the formation of the level of self-pride that is needed to build a true and lasting cultural heritage.
The TCI is one of few countries in the region that has never had to unite and overcome any obstacles as a nation. Many will lash back and quip, JAGs McCartney and the Junkanoo Club incident, the Blackpower Movement. The Blackpower Movement of the 1970’s was a remains on record as the most “half-hearted” struggle against British rule ever in the history of men. Allow me to explain why self pride could not be built on it. Basically the British record reads like this - JAGS and his friends resented the idea of the governor recruiting foreign police offices, they booed the officers and made some “rookery” the police responded by firing some shots in the air, JAGs and his boys barricaded themselves in a rum bar, and made demands, and held hostages. Happy hostages I might add, because in actuality, those hostages may not have even known they were hostages, the story is that they were given unlimited liquor during the whole ordeal and the only tough choice they faced was choosing between rum and monkey bag.
Now for the life of me, do you expect a christian society to build their self-pride on a movement fueled by rum? The only demand of the Junkanoo Club incident was that a commission be setup to investigate the Junkanoo Club incident. The whole struggle lasted a single night, and no animals were armed during the operation.
Now as we get back the the statement, everyone who knows Hon. Washington Misick knows that his in not very xenophobic, in fact I don’t think he is in the least bit xenophobic. This man has a multitude of friend from Europe and Asia and North American and primarily spends his leisure times with them. The real problem is that this government of the day so busy on the unimportance that the important issues are going unnoticed.
Since the minister is finding so much time in Parliament to bash other nations for celebrating the fruits of their struggle, I would seize this opportunity to present a few struggles that are dear to the hearts of TCIslanders that should be on his tongue in parliament: 37.5% Import duties on goods, 72.5% import duties on cars, CPF, Payroll Tax, Property Tax, $500 fee to register a Belonger child, the invisibility of elected officials, government officials frequent flyer policy, bad roads, horrible internet and on and on and on.
The bottom line is that the TCI has been built on help and assistance from other nations and if the TCI does not represent anything else it represents an opportunity for advancement and an fertile ground for ideas to take root and grow into something good. The jealousy of the crowds that other nations attract and the unity they display cannot pale the fact that this is where many people have decided to call home. The difference is that the celebrations are based on love, love for country, love for unity and love for a proud identity. No nation, pride, love nor culture can ever be built on hate.
American Express president dies on flight
American Express said its president, Ed Gilligan, died after becoming ill on a flight to New York.
Mr Gilligan started his career at the company as an intern 35 years ago and became vice chairman in 2007 and president in 2013, it said in a statement.
The company did not describe the nature of his illness.
American Express chief executive Ken Chenault said Mr Gilligan's death was "devastating news" in a statement.
The company said he is survived by his wife Lisa, and their four children.
TCI Observes World No Tobacco Day May 31, 2015
The Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence in the Ministry of Health, Agriculture and Human Services joins the World Health Organization (WHO) and participating countries around the world in celebrating World No Tobacco Day, Sunday, May 31, 2015.
Every year since 1987, this day, May 31st. is set aside for this observance, the primary focus of which is to bring awareness to the fact that the use of tobacco and tobacco products has resulted in a world-wide health epidemic that is impacting most, if not all modern day societies.
The latest Report from WHO reveals the startling statistics that approximately 6 million preventable deaths occur around the world annually from smoking and the use of tobacco products and from exposure to second-hand smoke of tobacco products. The majority of these preventable deaths are caused by cancer of the lungs, throat and mouth, emphysema and other respiratory, diseases all attributable to the smoking and other uses of tobacco products.
Being cognizant of this, the Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Agriculture and Human Services has initiated a number of bold initiatives to ensure that the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands are properly protected from tobacco smoke, including the drafting of a national policy to affect 100% smoke-free environments in all public places throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands, and a comprehensive tobacco draft legislation that will provide for stringent guidelines for the sale, promotion, advertising and sponsorship of tobacco and tobacco products.
On World No Tobacco Day this year, Sunday, May 31, 2015, the Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence will launch a three month public awareness campaign to educate the public about the dangers of second hand smoking. Also on this day, the Department along with the Ministry of Health, is asking the public to join with us in observing a SMOKE-FREE DAY. Everyone is being urged to abstain from all forms of smoking and other uses of tobacco products and breathe the wonderful fresh air of our beautiful by nature Turks & Caicos Islands.
Further, we are challenging wholesale and retail distributors of tobacco products to abstain from selling any tobacco products on Sunday, May 31st, World No Tobacco Day.
For those persons who are desirous of overcoming their smoking habit, feel free to contact any of the offices of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence. In Grand Turk, the location is the Old Clinic, telephone number 338-3613, in Providenciales the location is Sam’s Building Downtown, telephone 338-4737, in South Caicos, the Old Disabled Center building, telephone 338-3601.
Remember this, if you can quit for a day, you can quit for life.