Bus plunge in southern Brazil leaves 42 dead
A tour bus has plunged off a mountain road into a ravine in southern Brazil, killing at least 42 people.
Police say the bus, carrying about 50 people, fell 400m (1,300ft) into a wooded area near the city of Joinville in Santa Catarina state.
At least six survivors were freed from the wreckage and taken to hospital.
The cause of the accident has not been determined. However, police said it appeared the brakes on the bus had failed as it took a bend.
The accident happened as night fell and difficult access to the site was hampering the rescue effort, a local government spokesman told AFP news agency.
The mountainous area is a popular tourist attraction.
A rescue helicopter was sent to the scene but could not land due to the terrain, local media report.
The death toll was initially put at 32 but increased after several bodies were found and three children who had been rescued died in hospital, a government spokesman said.
Source-BBC
Chile forest fire near Valparaiso sparks evacuations
Chilean authorities have declared a state of emergency as a raging forest fire forced thousands of people to flee their homes.
The fire is threatening the port cities of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar.
The interior ministry said about 4,500 people had already been evacuated and another 10,000 might need to be moved.
Valparaiso is still recovering from a forest fire last April that killed 15 people, injured more than 500 and destroyed nearly 3,000 homes.
The fire began at an illegal garbage dump on Friday afternoon, officials said, and spread quickly fanned by strong winds.
By late Friday, Chile's Emergency Office estimated that about 300 hectares (740 acres) had been affected.
Emergency crews battled through the night to keep the flames from reaching residential districts in Valparaiso.
Three firefighters have been injured so far and a 67-year-old woman died of cardio-respiratory causes, the interior ministry said.
Valparaiso's poorest areas, often made up of little more than wooden huts, were worst hit by last year's devastating fire.
Entire neighbourhoods were razed and many of those who died were found in the burned-down homes they had refused to leave.
Source-BBC
West Indies win to reach quarter-finals in World Cup Cricket 2015
West Indies secured a place in the World Cup quarter-finals with a comfortable, if unconvincing, victory over the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE crumbled to 26-5 in Napier as Windies captain Jason Holder took 4-27.
But Nasir Aziz and Amjad Javed exploited some ragged bowling to add a record-tying 107 for the seventh wicket and lift the associates to 175 all out.
Johnson Charles and Jonathan Carter struck fifties as the Windies eased home by six wickets in 30.3 overs.
In reaching their target inside 36.2 overs, West Indies went through on net run rate, although their passage was not confirmed until Pakistan beat Ireland by seven wickets in Sunday's final Pool B contest in Adelaide.
West Indies' performance did little to suggest they will be a match for Brendon McCullum's unbeaten New Zealand side in Wellington on 21 March.
The inconsistency that has blighted their campaign was again in evidence as a wayward spell from Kemar Roach helped the UAE get back into the game after Holder and Jerome Taylor had blown away their top order with some high-class pace bowling.
There was also a show of dissent from former captain Darren Sammy when he reacted badly to being pulled from the attack after one over and earned himself a talking-to from Holder.
By that point, the UAE were in the midst of an impressive recovery in which Aziz and Javed equalled their own team's record for the highest World Cup seventh-wicket stand, set against Ireland in Brisbane in February.
14 Killed, 70 Injured in Blasts at 2 Christian Churches
Twin suicide bombings outside Christian churches in the Pakistani city of Lahore have killed at least 14 people and wounded nearly 70 others, authorities said.
Hospital officials said at least 30 of the wounded are in critical condition.
Witnesses said two gunmen tried to shoot their way into places of worship Sunday in a majority Christian suburb. When security guards stopped them at the gates, the attackers detonated explosives strapped to their bodies. The attacks happened minutes apart.
“The rescue operation is still underway and the death toll may increase,” rescue services spokesman Sajjad Hussain told Reuters.
Officials said a militant group allied to the Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The violence outraged Christians who later took the streets to protest against what they said was authorities’ failure to protect them.
There were reports of protesters ransacking government property in the city and torching vehicles.
Police spokeswoman Nabila Ghazanfar told the French news agency AFP two policemen on guard duty had been killed in the attacks, and that two people were beaten to death by protesters that took to the streets after the blasts.
Some material for this report came from Reuters and AFP.
Cyclone Pam Devastates Vanuatu
Rescue workers began a massive relief operation in Vanuatu on Sunday following a devastating cyclone that killed at least eight people, sent thousands into emergency shelters and disrupted communications in the Pacific island nation.
A nine-member U.N. team was due to arrive Sunday to carry out an initial assessment of the damage from the Category 5 cyclone named Pam, which at its peak covered the entire country on satellite maps.
The storm destroyed entire villages, reducing buildings to timbers, tearing off rooftops, downing power lines and toppling trees with winds of more than 300 kilometers per hour (185 miles per hour).
Several other neighboring countries also were affected.
Officials said the airport in Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, remained closed, though they hoped it might partly reopen later Sunday to allow in the first relief planes.
A change of course to the west sent Pam directly at populated areas. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there were unconfirmed reports of 44 more deaths in Vanuatu's northeastern islands after Pam drifted from the track that had been forecast.
People fleeing the storm's wrath flooded into more than 20 evacuation centers that were filled with thousands of evacuees, government officials said. They awoke to much calmer weather Sunday, but many who ventured out around Port Vila have found their homes damaged or blown away altogether.
Aid officials said the disaster could be one of the worst the Pacific region has ever experienced. UNICEF said the cyclone affected at least half the population of Vanuatu, including about 54,000 children. Oxfam said water, sanitation and hygiene supplies were an urgent priority.
Fears remained high that outlying islands, where there are few support services, may have been especially hard hit by flash flooding and cyclone-related damage. One group, World Vision, warned it could take days or weeks to reach the most remote islands. Officials said they were still unable to contact any region outside the capital.
"Our communication link is still down,'' said Paolo Malatu, an official at the country's National Disaster Management Office. "We have not got any information from outside Port Vila.''
The storm struck as Vanuatu's president, Baldwin Lonsdale, was at a United Nations conference on disaster reduction in Japan. He appealed for international assistance, saying he was speaking with "a heavy heart."
A U.N. statement on a meeting between Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Lonsdale on the sidelines of the conference quoted the U.N. chief as saying Vanuatu "has already been suffering from the adverse effects of climate change." He said "storms such as Pam only exacerbate the challenges that the country faces."
With Lonsdale away and unable to fly into Vanuatu, the government was being led temporarily by Charlot Salwai, acting minister for climate change, government officials said.
Officials on Sunday confirmed eight fatalities, a toll that was expected to increase amid unconfirmed reports of dozens of dead in the nation's remote northeast region. At least 20 others were injured.
Source-VOA
The Champions crucified the Saints in Softball
The Church Slow Pitch League resumed play after the secondary high school track and field event at the National Stadium.
The first game of the night was between Bethany & Prophecy.
Prophecy put the first runs on the board in the second inning, but in the third, Bethany returned with a 5 to 3 lead. In the fourth, Prophecy returned the favor, taking the lead 9 to 3. Bethany tried to mount a come back but it was not enough, as Prophecy ended the evening with a win of 9 to 6.
In the second game, Jericho challenged St Monica's; this game would prove that the champs are for real!
They erected the first runs on the board while the saints were trying to over come, to get a win over the champs, but the champions stood around the walls of Jericho and proved too much, beating St Monica's 12 to 4.
Games will continue on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of next week.
'Star Wars Episode VIII' Due May 2017, Spin-Off Titled 'Rogue One'
Disney has booked a release date for "Star Wars Episode VIII". The studio announced it at their annual shareholders meeting in San Francisco on Thursday, March 12. The eighth movie in the franchise is set for North American release on May 26, 2017.
The Mouse House also revealed the title of one of the "Star Wars" spin-offs. Directed by Gareth Edwards and scripted by Chris Weitz ("Cinderella"), the stand-alone film is called "Rogue One" with Felicity Jones taking on the lead role. It is scheduled for December 16, 2016.
The plot is still kept under tight wraps, but the title itself seems to refer to the starfighter squadron led by Luke Skywalker in 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back" during the Battle of Hoth. The squadron also appeared in 1983's "Return of the Jedi" during the attack on the second Death Star.
A sequel to J.J. Abrams' "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" which is due December 18 this year, "Episode VIII" will be directed by "Looper" helmer Rian Johnson. It is expected to be followed by another spin-off before "Star Wars Episode IX" bows in 2019.
Another major announcement at the shareholders meeting was the confirmation that "Frozen 2" is in the works. No other details including the release date are shared, but the original directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck are set to return for the sequel.
US, Cuba to Resume Talks on Diplomatic Relations
U.S. and Cuban officials will launch a third round of talks Monday on restoration of diplomatic relations.
A senior State Department official said the talks would take place in Havana and might last several days.
The two sides last met in Washington in late February. Negotiators have been discussing issues that include reopening embassies in Washington and Havana after five decades of estrangement.
When asked whether it was possible that the embassies might be reopened in time for the April Summit of the Americas in Panama, the senior State Department official said it was “something we would like.”
U.S. Assistant Secretary Roberta Jacobson and Josefina Vidal, the head of the U.S. division at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, are leading the talks.
After the two sides met last month, Vidal said a U.S. decision to remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism was not a precondition for re-establishing ties. But she thought it would be difficult to explain that Cuba and the U.S. had re-established relations if Cuba remained on the list.
The senior State Department official said that while the two issues remained separate, a review was underway on Cuba’s status and would be completed as quickly as possible.
The official also said U.S. and Cuban officials would meet later this month to discuss human rights issues and telecommunications policies.
The U.S. imposed a trade embargo on Cuba in 1960 and closed its embassy the following year. In January, following an initiative announced by President Barack Obama, the two sides began a series of meetings to re-establish ties.
Boko Haram Cleared From Adamawa State
The Nigerian military says troops have freed the last area held by Boko Haram militants in northeastern Adamawa state.
The military says on its Twitter feed that troops on Thursday cleared insurgents out of Madagali, an area near the Nigerian-Cameroon border. There was no independent verification of the report.
In an interview Wednesday with VOA, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan predicted Boko Haram would lose its last territories in Adamawa and Yobe states by the middle of next week.
A multinational offensive has pushed the Islamic extremist group out of the numerous towns it had occupied in northeastern Nigeria.
Forces from Chad, Niger and Cameroon have taken prominent roles in the fighting. This week, Jonathan and other government sources acknowledged that non-African military personnel also are involved.
Jonathan described the personnel as trainers, but Nigerian troops told VOA that many have taken part in the fighting.
The foreigners reportedly have come from South Africa, Britain and Ukraine.
Source-VOA
GOVERNMENT REWARDS WORKERS WITH KEY SKILLS
Details of how $9m will be invested in attracting, retaining and rewarding public sector workers who have the skills needed by the Turks and Caicos Islands Government were revealed today, Wednesday, 11 March 2015.
TCI Premier, Dr. Rufus Ewing, and Head of the Public Service, Deputy Governor Anya Williams, held a joint news conference to explain the implementation, and how it will be focused on workers in the fields of education, health and the nation’s security from 1 April 2015. It applies across the civil service and the Royal Turks and Caicos Police Force.
“This is the next necessary step in the process of properly rewarding and remunerating public servants,” said Premier Ewing. “After the restoration of the 10% pay cut in 2012, the implementation of this pay and grading review is the next logical step in a process of properly rewarding our front line staff. This is yet another key manifesto commitment being delivered by my Government.
“This is not an across the board pay increase - rather, it is focused on those front line, technical and professional roles that have a combination of responsibility and qualifications and competences.
This move will allow the TCI public service to become an even more attractive career option and will help to put the TCI on par with other regions,” added Anya Williams.
“We have known for some time that our public sector pay lagged behind those rates in other UK Overseas Territories and so it is only right and proper that we redress this now.
“The Premier and I have worked hard to ensure that this money goes into those areas where it is needed most - in education, health and in our security and protection of our borders.
It is also part of our ongoing reform process in the TCI public Service where we have been working hard to improve our management systems, especially in the area of performance management, and have been investing heavily in training and professional development through a number of programmes.”
Key principles are that the new Pay and Grading System must be transparent, fair, equitable and reflect the major differences in responsibility and skill levels. The new Pay and Grading System will allow the Public Service to have a structure for the proper and transparent management of remuneration.
The benefits of implementing the new pay and grading System are:
· A simplified structure for fair and equitable remuneration of public officers and waged staff
· Systems and structures that ensure accountability in allocating remuneration and rewards fairly and justly and according to procedure
· Line of sight between resources available to government with contribution made by effective people in well-designed jobs
· Linking performance and incremental progression
· Meeting equality of opportunity objectives
· Enhanced transparency and integrity.
There is now a new simpler scales for all jobs and pay in the civil service. There are 10 grades each with five pay points in the mainstream service. In recognition of the flatter management structure in teaching there are now five grades and 24 salary points; similarly given the rank structure in the Police there are six grades totalling 33 salary points. Previously there were two grade structures with 68 and 40 salary points respectively.
The cornerstone of the new pay and grading system is job evaluation which involved establishing grade level standards for each grade which are essentially a set of criteria that distinguish the compensable factors at the differing levels by describing features at each level.
The new system was developed through extensive consultation via a working group, including the Civil Servants Association, and the senior executive.
The Premier and Deputy Governor will go on to speak directly to civil servants at staff meetings in the capital Grand Turk and Providenciales on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.