IS Executed Nearly 2,000 in Syria in 6 Months
The Islamic State militant group has killed 1,878 people in Syria during the past six months, the majority of them civilians, a British-based Syrian monitoring organization said on Sunday.
Islamic State militants also killed 120 of its own members, most of them foreign fighters trying to return home, in the past two months, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The militant group has taken vast parts of Iraq and Syria and declared a caliphate in territory under its control in June. Since then it has fought the Syrian and Iraqi governments, other insurgents and Kurdish forces.
Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Syrian monitoring group, told Reuters that Islamic State fighters killed 1,175 civilians, including eight women and four children.
He said 930 of the civilians were members of the Sheitaat, a Sunni Muslim tribe from eastern Syria that fought the Islamic State group for control of two oilfields in August.
Reuters cannot independently verify the figures, but the Islamic State group has publicized beheadings and stoning of many people in areas it controls in Syria and Iraq. These are for actions it sees as violating its reading of Islamic law, such as adultery, homosexuality, stealing and blasphemy.
The group, an offshoot of al-Qaida, has also released videos of executions of captured enemy fighters, activists and journalists.
Middle Caicos Pine Yard Treated with Controlled Burning
Members of the Department of Environment & Maritime Affairs (DEMA) initiated the second controlled burn in the Middle Caicos pine yard on Tuesday, 9 December 2014.
This is an on going part of the Caicos Pine Recovery Project. Various measures were put in place to ensure safety and residents were alerted via radio announcements and other media outlets.
B Naqqi Manco, Caicos Pine Recovery Project Manager, DEMA stated; “Similar to 2012, the low-intensity fire will help to replenish important nutrients in the thin soil and the fire-adapted pine trees will survive without difficulty.
“As the National Tree of the Turks & Caicos Islands, Caicos pine dominated the pine yards in North and Middle Caicos and Pine Cay until an invasive insect called the pine tortoise scale killed over 95% of the pine trees between 2005 and 2010.”
He also said; “The controlled burn is part of an effort to save the pine from extinction due to the scale insect. The Caicos pine variety should not be confused with the invasive Australian pine or “cedar” which is not a pine at all.”
Amy Avenant, Outreach Coordinator, DEMA added; “Some of these experts were on the team of the successful controlled burn in May 2012. We saw improvement shortly after the previous burn, with insect-stunted trees growing up quickly, free from pests, and producing cones within a year.
“We expect the same results. The burn was also used as a training exercise and Five people received training in controlled burning, including three DEMA staff members.”
The controlled burn team includes members of the Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the United States Forest Service. Turks & Caicos Fire & Rescue, Environmental Health Department, and Civil Aviation Department have given their support of the exercise.
Lawyer claims Bravo, Sammy, Pollard 'wronged' by WICB
A prominent lawyer retained by some West Indies players during the recent strike impasse, has accused the West Indies Cricket Board of victimisation in the axing of the experienced trio of Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard from the one-day squad to face South Africa.
Barbadian Ralph Thorne QC, who still represents Bravo, said his client had been "wronged" and he would "await his instructions" before deciding on the next move.
Bravo, Sammy and Pollard were members of the one-day side which took the controversial decision to quit the tour of India last October, sparking a bitter impasse with the WICB and players union, WIPA.
"The demotions of Bravo, Sammy and Pollard exclusively to the T20 team reveals evidence of the victimisation that we have fought against," Thorne told the Sunday Sun newspaper here.
"A region's best cricketers normally wind down their careers by moving to the longer versions of the game. The WICB is reversing that trend by sending its most senior players in the opposite direction.
"Until these selections and deselections make sense, we will have to continue to accuse the WICB of victimisation."
Bravo served as the players' spokesman on the ill-fated tour of India, a role that brought him into conflict with the WICB and WIPA president and chief executive, Wavell Hinds.
Appointed to lead the ODI side last year May, Bravo was dumped in favour of 23-year-old emerging all-rounder Jason Holder for the South Africa series starting next month, and is now unlikely to be selected for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand bowling off in February.
In the wake of the abandoned tour, the WICB appointed a three-man task force to investigate the circumstances surrounding the players' controversial action. The task force, headed by Michael Gordon QC and which submitted its report to the board a week ago, said the WICB, WIPA and the player were all to be blamed.
"The chairman of the task force told me in writing that they had no powers of coercion nor sanction against any player," Thorne said.
"I will not reasonably conclude that in spite of his assurances, the WICB has exploited portions of the report to dismiss Bravo."
He added: "When Mr Bravo telephoned me this week from Australia we knew that the WICB was about to do him wrong. Still I was hoping they would not have wronged my client in this way.
"Mr Bravo has been victimised and I will await his instructions before I act further. In the meantime, I will also await the position of WIPA on this matter."
The 31-year-old Bravo has played 164 ODIs, scoring 2,968 runs at an average of 25 and taking 199 wickets at 29.51 apiece.
Since taking over ahead of last year's Champions Trophy in England, Bravo has led the West Indies to series victories only over minnows Ireland -- a one-off game in Jamaica -- and over Bangladesh, ranked number nine in the World.
Pollard, meanwhile, averages 25 with the bat from 91 ODIs, while Sammy averages 23 from 115 matches, and has taken 79 wickets at 44 apiece.
Despite their exclusion from the ODI squad, all three players have remained a part of the Twenty20 set-up for the three-match series in South Africa.
Source-CMC
British singer Joe Cocker dies of lung cancer
British singer Joe Cocker, whose had hits that included You Are So Beautiful and Up Where We Belong, and a contortionist style of performance memorably parodied by John Belushi on Saturday Night Live, has died. He was 70.
His London-based agent, Barrie Marshall, said Cocker died Monday of lung cancer in Colorado, where he has lived for the past two decades.
Cocker, a song interpreter more than a songwriter, first became known through his hit cover of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends," and a characteristically manic performance at the first Woodstock festival in 1969. His raucous "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" tour of 1970 produced a film and a recording that went gold.
He had a top 10 hit in 1975 on the aching ballad "You Are So Beautiful," with his voice cracking on the final emotional note and won his first Grammy Award in 1983 for his "Up Where We Belong" duet with Jennifer Warnes, which was the theme of the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman."
Cocker, who received an Order of the British Empire in 2011 for his contribution to music, released 40 albums and continued to tour after the hits dried up.
He was known for an intense, twitchy stage presence where his arms would flail and face contort as he wrung notes from his raspy voice. When he performed on "Saturday Night Live" in 1976, Belushi parodied him onstage, exaggerating his movements by flipping to the ground. It was a clip seen as widely as Cocker's own performances.
Years later, Cocker told The Associated Press' Mary Campbell that he was playing an imaginary piano and air guitar while singing - the elements that contributed to this unique style.
"That was the frustration of not being able to play, really," he said.
Cocker moved to Crawford, Colorado, a town of fewer than 500 people, in the early 1990s. He and his wife, Pam, ran a children's educational foundation - the Cocker Kids Foundation - that raised funds for the town and schools, and ran the Mad Dog Cafe for several years in town, said Tom Wills, publisher of The North Fork Merchant Herald, a local community newspaper.
Wills said Cocker bought about 40 acres of property and built a hillside mansion - which he called Mad Dog Ranch - when he moved to Colorado.
A group of Cocker's friends gathered Monday at community radio station KVNF to play Cocker's songs.
"He had a long battle with cancer. We're trying to do a little tribute for him," said Bob Pennetta, a real estate agent and board member of the Cocker Kids Foundation.
Source-AP
Haiti appoints Interim Prime Minister
Health Minister Florence Duperval Guillaume was named as Haiti's interim prime minister on Sunday following the resignation of her predecessor a week ago amid a stalemate over delayed legislative elections.
Duperval Guillaume will hold the post for a maximum of 30 days, as established by the constitution, before a permanent choice is presented to parliament by President Michel Martelly, according to Enex Jean Charles, secretary general of Haiti's council of ministers.
The former prime minister, Laurent Lamothe, resigned a week ago amid the bitter political standoff over legislative elections.
Martelly was supposed to call elections in 2011 for a majority of Senate seats, the entire Chamber of Deputies and local offices.
However, several opposition senators have used parliamentary procedure to prevent a vote authorising the election while orchestrating a series of large protests in the capital to call for the president to resign.
An independent commission formed to resolve the crisis had recommended that Lamothe resign, which he did following days of violent protests.
Its recommendations also include renewing the membership of the electoral council and freeing several people the opposition considers political prisoners.
On January 12, the terms of the current Senate will expire and the president can sign a decree that will enable the country to hold the elections in the first half of the year.
Ukraine's Parliament Drops Non-aligned Status
Ukraine took a further step toward seeking NATO membership Tuesday, when the country's parliament passed a law abolishing Kyiv's neutral, non-aligned status.
Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly scrap the non-aligned status, which was adopted in 2010 under Russian pressure and had prevented Kyiv from entering into any military alliances.
The amendment passed easily, receiving 303 votes, 77 more than the minimum required to pass into law.
“Aggression against Ukraine on the part of the Russian Federation, the illegal annexation of [Crimea], the waging of a so-called ‘hybrid war’ against our state, [Russia’s] military intervention in eastern Ukraine, permanent military, political, economic and informational pressure on the part of Russia, have forced Ukraine to seek better safeguards of its independence, sovereignty, security and territorial integrity,” some of the bill’s language reads.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said he will seek membership in NATO, the Western military alliance, as Kyiv fights Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said the move underscored the country's determination to pivot towards Europe and the West. "This will lead to integration in the European and the Euro-Atlantic space,” he said.
Digicel/Claro merger in order, court rules
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the merger of telecoms providers Digicel and Claro was in keeping with provisions of the Telecommunications Act and does not fall within the Fair Competition Act (FCA).
The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) had, in December 2011, challenged the merger, contending that it would result in a lessening of competition in the telecoms market and adversely affect customers.
Telecoms company LIME also joined in the matter on the side of the FTC.
But before the Supreme Court could hear the suit scheduled for January 2012, Digicel, through the law firm Henlin Gibson Henlin, filed a counter action challenging the FTC's jurisdiction to bring the claim.
The matter was taken to Court of Appeal after the Supreme Court ruled that the FTC in fact had the legal standing to challenge the merger, which was first approved by then Prime Minister Bruce Golding in August 2011 and took effect on March 1, 2012 when Claro ceased operating in Jamaica.
The appellate court reserved judgement in May 2013 after hearing arguments from attorneys in the matter.
The court, which delivered its ruling on Friday, said the FCA does not apply to the agreement entered into by Digicel and Claro. Section 17 of the Act, the court ruled, is aimed at agreements involving collusive conduct and that there was no collusion between the parties.
The court also ruled that agreements that comply with Section 17 of the Telecommunications Act and approved by the minister upon compliance with section 11 of the Telecommunications Act do not fall within the purview of section 17(3) of the FCA.
Contributor- Paul Henry
Source-Jamaica Observer
Fed Pledges 'Patience' Before Raising Interest Rates
Top officials of the U.S. central bank (Federal Reserve ) say they will keep their key interest rate at its current ultra-low level and be "patient" in assessing economic data before they raise rates.
Interest rates were cut to nearly zero during the financial crisis in a bid to boost U.S. economic growth. With the world's largest economy recovering, such help is no longer needed and most economists expect interest rates to begin rising in the middle of 2015.
Investors watch Federal Reserve statements with great care for hints about how soon and how much rates will go up. The Dow, a key U.S. stock index, rose sharply late Wednesday as traders apparently concluded the Fed's economic stimulus efforts will continue for a while.
Some economists say the Fed's efforts to bolster the economy helped fuel a strong stock market rally. But others warn keeping rates too low for too long could overshoot and spark inflation that could harm the economy.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen and her colleagues got a new look at U.S. inflation. New data show falling oil prices cut prices in the overall economy by three-tenths of a percent in November. Outside the volatile areas of food and energy, prices in the overall economy rose a very modest one-tenth of a percent.
Sony Scraps NY Premiere of Comedy About North Korea
The New York premiere of a film about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been canceled following threats by a shadowy hacker group.
The so-called Guardians of Peace on Tuesday released a statement promising a "bitter fate" to those who see "The Interview," which is set to be released nationwide on Christmas Day.
In broken English, the brief statement invoked the September 11, 2001, attacks against the U.S. and warned potential movie-goers to "keep yourself distant" from theaters that show the film.
It also included another round of leaked e-mails that appear to be from Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it is analyzing the message, but insisted "there is no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters."
Sony Pictures says it will release the film as planned, but that it will not object if theaters decide to cancel screenings. At least one U.S. theater chain, Carmike Cinemas, has already done so.
Late Tuesday night, Landmark Cinemas, another major U.S. movie theater chain, announced it, too, was canceling Thursday's premiere of "The Interview" at its New York City location.
Source-VOA
Bill Cosby won't be charged over 1974 molestation claim
Charges will not be filed against comedian Bill Cosby over allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl in 1974, US prosecutors say.
They cited the statute of limitations which restricts the length of time in which legal action can be taken after an alleged crime has been committed.
Judy Huth alleges that Mr Cosby molested her when she was 15 years old.
She is one of at least 15 women who since early November have alleged that Mr Cosby sexually assaulted them.
The comedian's lawyers have denied most of the allegations while dismissing others as either being discredited or decades old.
Most of the women concerned say that the comedian drugged them before assaulting them.
Ms Huth claimed that she was forced by Mr Cosby to perform a sex act on him at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.
Mr Cosby's lawyer has accused her of trying to extort $250,000 from the star before she decided to sue - he also accused her of trying to sell her story to a tabloid a decade ago.
The actor has never been charged with a crime but the accusations have led to his stand-up tour being called off and the cancellation of a number of TV projects.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Cosby's wife Camille spoke for the first time to defend her "wonderful husband" against claims of sexual assault.
"He is the man you thought you knew," Mrs Cosby said in a statement.
Mrs Cosby, who has been married to the comedian for 50 years, said she continued to love the man she "fell in love with".
She suggested the media's portrayal of Cosby was a "portrait" of a man she "didn't know".