Marine Forecast for TCI & Bahamas
MARINE FORECAST
MARINE FORECAST FOR THE BAHAMAS & TCI FOR 24 HOURS FROM 12PM MONDAY 1ST DECEMBER 2014 ISSUED BY THE BAHAMAS DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY AT 1600 UTC
WARNINGS: SWIMMERS AND MARINERS ARE BEING URGED TO CONTINUE TO EXERCISE CAUTION FOR HIGH SURF CONDITIONS AND HIGH RISK OF HAZARDOUS RIP CURRENTS THAT ARE EXPECTED TO PRESIST THROUGH THE WEEK
ALL AREAS
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT..SMALL CRAFT ARE URGED TO REMAIN IN PORT
WINDS: NORTHEAST TO EAST AT 20 T0 30 KNOTS OVER OPEN WATERS
SEAS: 8 TO 12 FEET OVER THE OCEAN
WEATHER: THE CHANCE OF A FEW BRIEF PASSING SHOWERS THROUGH TONIGHT
MOONRISE: 1:56PM MOONSET: 2:43AM TUE.
HIGH TIDE: 3:13AM TUE. LOW TIDE: 9:34PM
HIGH TIDE: 3:56AM TUE. LOW TIDE: 10:19AM TUE.
WEATHER FORECAST FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT
WEATHER FORECAST FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT
MONDAY 1ST DECEMBER 2014
GENERAL SITUATION: A STRONG RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE ACROSS THE BAHAMAS & TCI GENERATING BRISK WINDS ACROSS THE ISLANDS
SPECIAL WARNINGS: SWIMMERS AND MARINERS ARE BEING URGED TO CONTINUE TO EXERCISE CAUT1ON FOR HIGH SURF CONDITIONS AND HIGH RISK OF HAZARDOUS RIP CURRENTS THAT ARE EXPECTED TO PRESIST THROUGH THE WEEK
ALL AREAS
WEATHER: PARTLY CLOUDY, COOL AND WINDY WITH THE CHANCE OF A FEW BRIEF PASSING SHOWERS THROUGH TONIGHT
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT SMALL CRAFT ARE URGED TO REMAIN IN PORT
WINDS: NORTHEAST TO EAST AT 20 TO 30 KNOTS OVER OPEN WATERS
SEAS: 8 TO 12 FEET OVER THE OCEAN
DAYTIME HIGH TEMPERATURE: 80F 26C
OVERNITE LOW TEMPERATURE: 70F 21C
SUNSET: 5:20PM SUNRISE: 6:39AM TUE.
MOONRISE: 1:56PM MOONSET: 2:43AM TUE.
HIGH TIDE: 3:13PM LOW TIDE: 9:34PM
HIGH TIDE: 3:56AM TUE. LOW TIDE: 10:19AM TUE.
WEATHER OUTLOOK: STRONG RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE DOMINANT WEATHER FEATURE FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS GENERATING BRISK WINDS AND ROUGH SEAS ACROSS THE ISLANDS.
LIME ANTIGUA & BARBUDA LAUNCHES FIRST MOBILE 4G LTE NETWORK"
LIME Antigua and Barbuda launched the fastest and most advanced 4G network in Antigua & Barbuda and the first AWS mobile LTE network in the Eastern Caribbean on Thursday, November 20.
LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a ‘fourth generation’ (4G) mobile service which will enable the company’s customers to access mobile data at far higher download speeds than previously available. Browsing the internet, downloading files and streaming videos will become almost instantaneous for 4G (LTE) customers.
The 4G LTE network, which was deployed by Ericsson, boasts 100% coverage across Antigua & Barbuda as well as higher capacity with enhanced mobile data services.
The upgrade to mobile 4G LTE is part of the ongoing EC$37M dollar upgrade across Antigua & Barbuda under the umbrella capital investment programme, called Project Marlin which is valued at US$1.05 Billion.
LIME’s General Manager Davidson Charles said "The launch of 4G LTE in Antigua & Barbuda sets our country apart as one of the best connected and best served countries not just in the Caribbean but anywhere in the world. High Definition (HD) video will be available without buffering as soon as customers click on a website. The freedom, speed and functionality that 4G LTE delivers is immense. We have invested significantly to meet our commitment to deliver a world class mobile data and voice experience to our customers."
LIME’s 4G LTE will allow smartphone users to fully unleash the power of their smart devices and comes just after the only authorised carrier in the English-speaking Caribbean of the Apple® iPhone® 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launched the sale of the devices in stores across the region for the Christmas holiday season. The latest iPhones are considered globally as the most sought-after smartphones to hit the market in recent times. The company also offers a wide array of other LTE-enabled handsets at very affordable prices including the Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 4 and Samsung Ace 4. The launch of LIME’s mobile 4G LTE services positions Antigua and Barbuda on par with the gold standard for mobile data anywhere in the world.
Minister of Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Information Technology Melford Nicholas said "This investment in 4G LTE by LIME will undoubtedly unlock further opportunities for new business development, self-entrepreneurship and employment growth. Moreover, it is an important step in Antigua & Barbuda's journey towards creating a highly skilled knowledge based society"
Shand Merchant Marketing and Communications Manager at LIME said “We value innovation and embrace excellence in the services we offer our customers; we have made a huge effort to deliver an unbeatable mobile data customer experience.
This will revolutionise the opportunities available to both consumers and businesses in Antigua and Barbuda."
DIGICEL BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS
Digicel is ensuring that the most wonderful time of the year is even more social this festive season with the launch of its “#ChristmasTogether” Facebook campaign.
With the goal of bringing everyone comes together to make it an extraordinary Christmas, Digicel is asking customers to use their smartphones to film 15 second videos using the 12 days of Christmas as a theme to show how coming together is what makes Christmas Extraordinary.
Each day between December 1-12, customers will be provided with a theme like family, sharing, love, joy, peace and friendship around which to base their mini-video which they can then upload to our Facebook app to be viewed and voted on by the wider Digicel family.
With each and every approved video entrant receiving Digicel credit as a token of thanks, prizes up for grabs for customers also include smartphones – and the chance to have their video creation feature as part of the extra special Christmas commercial which Digicel will create from the user-generated content and broadcast as a special feature on Christmas Day on TV and via social media.
Commenting on the #Christmastogether campaign, Trina Adams, Marketing Specialist of Digicel TCI, said; “Christmas is a time of togetherness so we wanted to do something that would bring people together and make them smile at this special time of year. Our customers are bursting with creativity so we look forward to working with them to bring our 12 days of Christmas theme to life as we spread a little happiness and come together this festive season.”
TCI NON PROFITS MUST REGISTER
Legislation delayed by one year is now live; the Non Profit Organizations Regulation 2014 has been Gazetted and calls for all not for profit entities to register; which means they now become supervised by the Financial Services Commission.
This legislative change was strongly resisted by NPOs, but now the move is forward as the law requires groups like Crime Stoppers, the Turks and Caicos Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Red Cross, the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association, the Heart Foundation and others that fall into this category to not only state who they are, name executives, directors or trustees but to report on the monies being made, how they are being made and to show what the funds are being used to do.
Greater transparency and accountability some might call it; for the Turks and Caicos as a UK overseas territory it is a part of the mandate to line up with global expectations about financial transactions within the territory. Ironically, as these organizations were seeking to have more time to brace themselves for this added expense and administrative procedure and hoping for the legislation to be tweaked; a Canadian attorney operating in the Turks and Caicos: Patrick Poulin was arrested in an undercover operation by US agents. Poulin and two others were accused of using a non-profit organization in the Turks and Caicos to launder money; $2 million dollars. Poulin, 41, who worked at Bishops here in Provo, entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to 14 months in prison and three years of supervised released in a Virginia courtroom last month, according to records from the US DOJ, aka the Department of Justice.
All NPOs in the TCI are required to register, with an exemption going only to groups making less than $10,000 annually, who have less than $20,000 in assets and are with a certificate of exemption. On November 13th HE Peter Beckingham, the Governor signed this revised legislation into law; the three objectives being for non-profits to register, to maintain records and to annually report on finances of up to half a million dollars. There are fines for breaching the ordinance; they range from $30,000 to $50,000.
Turks & Caicos Islands Recognizes World AIDS Day 2014
As the Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) observe World AIDS Day on Monday, 1st December with the rest of the world, it is a time to remember loved ones and friends that have passed on. It is also a time to pause and reflect not only on persons presently living with HIV but, on ourselves as individuals. Have our lives impacted someone living with HIV in a positive way? What are we doing if anything and how can we do it better. Achieving an AIDS-free Turks and Caicos as resources for HIV shrink, requires strategic action at both the local and national levels.
We must find the resources to sustain prevention programmes, increase access to services for key populations, while we scale up and expand treatment and care programmes and also meet the needs of our ageing population of people living with HIV.
National AIDS Program Coordinator, Mrs. Aldora Robinson stated; “This year’s theme “take a stand, I stand, we stand for Zero new infections, Zero Deaths, Zero discrimination did you stand?” encourages everyone to stand, it is important that we do. We must ask ourselves what is my organization doing concerning HIV, what is my role. What is my church doing? How do I get involved? What is my civic group doing am I doing my part, anyone in business thinks about profit, for all of us in the business of HIV/STI prevention, profit is an AIDS free TCI.
“Priorities for the TCI for the next year and beyond is a people-centred approach that promotes the welfare and well-being of people ensuring that we meet the 90% of persons in country tested for HIV and know their status, 90% of persons who test positive are linked to care and 90% of persons on treatment viral loads are undetectable. We are also focusing on eliminating Mother To Child Transmission of HIV and Syphilis, a men’s health strategy, the prison population, sex workers. We hope to develop targeted interventions for the key populations mentioned. So, let us take a stand.”
Minister for Health and Human Services, Hon. Porsha Stubbs-Smith added; “As a nation, we have recognized how far we have come, and acknowledge the lengths we still must travel. I would like to applaud the National HIV Prevention Unit on the work that they have done thus far. We must continue the fight together by reducing the acquisition and transmission of HIV within our Beautiful by Nature, Turks & Caicos Islands.
HSBC and Goldman sued for allegedly fixing metal price
Goldman Sachs and HSBC are among four platinum and palladium dealers to be sued in New York for allegedly fixing the price of the metals.
The four companies are said to have rigged prices for eight years. BASF and Standard bank were also sued in the first lawsuit of its kind in the US.
The four defendants declined to comment.
Modern Settings, a Florida-based maker of jewellery and police badges, said purchasers lost millions of dollars.
The Florida company filed the complaint in Manhattan federal court.
Platinum and palladium are used in jewellery, cars and dentistry.
The companies were accused of having conspired since 2007 to rig the twice-daily platinum and palladium fixings.
Jamaica's Opposition walks out of House
Jamaica's Opposition parliamentarians walked out of the House of Representatives yesterday in protest against the Government's handling of the controversial Outameni property purchase and the refusal of the prime minister to answer questions tabled on the issue.
The walk-out brought an early end to the meeting of the legislature, setting back some issues including the closing of the debate on reparations.
The Government sought to recover the agenda by going ahead with the opening of the debate on three bills seeking to replace the Judicial Committee of the United Kingdom Privy Council with the regional Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). But after a large group of students who were visiting to watch the proceedings left the gallery with their teachers, the writing was on the wall.
Leader of the House Phillip Paulwell called it quits after Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller opened the debate on three bills, and House Speaker Michael Peart adjourned the sitting.
In the meantime, the Opposition invited the press to a briefing in its conference room at Gordon House, at which its leader, Andrew Holness, warned that the protest would not end there. He said that he would widen it to add areas of collaboration between Government and Opposition, including the Partnership for Jamaica, launched in July 2013.
The partnership is a programme designed to ensure the country's stabilisation, growth with equity and sustainable development initially over the period 2013-2016. It gives special focus to fiscal consolidation, rule of law, ease of doing business, employment creation, and energy diversification and conservation.
Yesterday, Holness told the press briefing that Prime Minister Simpson Miller's appointment of four new members to keep the National Housing Trust board afloat, without giving new policy directions or the dismissal of the chairman of the board, was a "slap in the face".
He said that her refusal to answer questions he had tabled a week earlier in the House had made things worse.
"It is a slap in the face of persons who want to see good governance in our country. The Opposition accepts that it will be our job to hold the Government to account," he told journalists.
"We have started by taking parliamentary action, but it is not reserved to parliamentary action alone... We are prepared to go to the highest levels of action to get the Government to comply," he added.
Asked what that meant, the opposition leader responded, "We will always resort to the people."
Holness said that in all other jurisdictions of the Westminster system of governance, the prime minister tries to reassure the public by providing answers to questions tabled in Parliament as quickly as possible. However, he said that Simpson Miller was refusing to respect the will of the people by refusing to answer his questions.
Leader of Opposition Business in the House Derrick Smith said that he had received an assurance from Paulwell that the questions would have been answered this week.
Source-Jamaica Observer
For the UK it is all about the money, the money, not justice
Dear Sir,
For the UK it is all about the money, the money,...not justice
More than five years after the suspension of the TCI constitution, it is now clear that the United Kingdom’s excursion into TCI’s internal affairs is more about finding lucrative employment for retired and semi-retired British civil servants, policemen, and lawyers, than cleaning up corruption. Readers might think that conclusion is cynical, and it may be, but all I ask is that you give me five minutes as the evidence could not be more compelling.
First, if the UK Government wanted to clean up corruption in the TCI, it could not have done a worse job. The best solution would have been to send a few Scotland Yard detectives to the TCI, posing as investors, to confirm that bribes were being solicited or, as the SIPT suggests, demanded by Ministers as the price to play. If that was done, and if there was rampant and systemic corruption as Auld has suggested, irrefutable evidence of the SIPT’s allegations could have been easily recorded, putting the FCO’s case beyond all doubt, and charges and trials could have been brought and completed within a year, avoiding the need for expensive and protracted investigations and prosecutions, by retired and semi-retired former British civil servants, all while living it up in five star beachfront resorts at the TCI taxpayer’s expense.
Second, what we got instead is a bizarre show in the form of a Commission of Inquiry (“COI”), held at a five star beachfront resort, and presided over by retired British judge Sir Robin Auld, along with a cast of other British characters. While that exercise was entertaining, it was very expensive entertainment, it shut the country down for months, with Government being distracted and dysfunctional for several months before the COI and for many months afterwards. Likewise with many member of the community. Even worse yet, it put Auld’s subjects on alert that they were the targets of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). If the FCO wanted to catch criminals, and tackle corruption, that was the worse way to do so, but don’t draw any conclusions yet.
Third, following Auld’s COI, UK law firm Edwards Wildman was engaged to recover assets, for which it has charged the TCI more than $13M, to collect just over $19.5M in cash. That firm now attends international conferences on corruption, bragging about the hundreds of acres it has recovered for the people of the TCI, describing its efforts as one of the most extensive asset recovery programs in the world. What it fails to mention is that despite ‘the extensive scope of its work’, it has left untouched the largest allegations of misappropriation of public assets in the history of the TCI, involving contracts in the hundreds of millions and land in the thousands of acres. You don’t need to be too imaginative to guess that the lucky recipient of that myopia just happens to be a powerful and politically connected British subject, with tentacles reaching to the highest levels of the UK’s conservative party.
Fourth, in addition to Edwards Wildman’s TCI gravy train, Helen Garlic, a semi retired former employee in the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), was also hired by the FCO in 2009. She had been ‘sacked’ by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2006, over an expensive two-year investigation, which the UK Government forced her to shut down. In August 2009, after languishing in private practice for three years, but more or less behaving, the FCO returned the favour, and asked Garlic to quote on heading up criminal investigations and possible prosecutions of Auld’s COI subjects, a financial opportunity she jumped on, quoting six million dollars for a two year contract. Once engaged, with no effective oversight, Garlic’s joyride has gone from madness to even greater madness, with her hiring dozens of retired, white, former officers of London’s MET, along with a half dozen or so white English lawyers. What started out as a two year engagement, with a trove of evidence handed to her SIPT by Auld, and given to him by the very persons Garlic was investigating, more than five years and fifty million dollars later, has turned into a fleecing of the TCI taxpayer.
Fifth, as for the FCO’s seriousness about fighting corruption, the SIPT has been consistently side tracked by matters outside their remit, including ponzi schemes and stamp duty prosecutions, all while on the public’s purse. Finally, and we suggest that it is now safe to draw conclusions, even when attending to its corruption investigations, shockingly, white anglo saxon developers Garlic says paid bribes have consistently been the recipients of backroom deals involving the sale of Get Out of Jail Cards. In all but one case the expats Garlic says paid bribes have gotten off entirely free, with at least three well known cases of persons she says paid bribes now actively involved in promoting local businesses, with several key persons sitting at the very top of the local tourism industry.
After more than five years, with trials no where in sight, Garlic’s shambolic investigations have turned out to be more of a racket than part of a criminal justice system. Unlike The Auld Show, the SIPT’s investigations are not just painful to watch, they are offensive to the TCI’s sense of right and wrong, and Garlic’s SIPT has brought the entire TCI judicial system into disrepute. Large swathes of the public now believe that even the judiciary is a joke, at best blindly overseeing a rigged criminal justice system, and at worst being the handmaiden of a prosecutor who has written and is implementing the selective enforcement of this country’s criminal laws. In 2009 Garlic SIPT was welcomed to these Islands by a large segment of the community like a rock star, more than five years later she is the target of picketers, with even her defendants’ most ardent enemies distancing themselves from what has been a disgraceful abuse of investigative authority and a shameful lining of her pockets at the taxpayer’s expense.
This might have all been dismissed as gross incompetence and sloppiness if Garlic’s SIPT had indulged in a two year investigation, as originally contracted, but what we have here is a lavishly funded investigation that is more than half a decade in the works, that was given a head start, involving dozens of senior UK police officers, that have cost TCI taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. My view, to put it bluntly, is that this fleecing of the the TCI public, while turning a blind eye to the biggest incidences of corruption, is an egregious form corruption in itself. Yes, corruption. I also have a theory, which is that it is also a clever scheme pushed by Garlic’s SIPT to keep their gravy train rolling, permitted because of the UK’s stated policy of exporting its legal services, its long standing desire to reward washed up and/or retired British civil servants and technocrats, and its indifference to corruption that benefits anglo saxon Britons. If you think my views are far off the mark, just Google “UK Legal Services on the International Stage: Underpinning growth and stability”, or conveniently clink the link below. You only need to read the first page.
While more than two centuries have past since the U.K. abolished slavery, the people of the Caribbean are still treated as chattels for the financial benefit of the English, with hypocritical lip service to rule of law, justice, and other grand ideals, but can you say Ka-Ching? It is all about the money, the money, not justice.
http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/corporate-reports/MoJ/legal-services-action-plan-0313.pdf
John Thompson
Another successful year for TCI Financial Services Commission
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) today extends congratulations to five of its employees for completion of their Bachelors and Associate Degrees at the Turks and Caicos Islands Community College.
Kristen Brown, Gessie Germain, Tanecia Hall, Zonelle Hamilton and Clinteriah Wilson are the latest members of the FSC Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to graduate this year. Established in 2010, The TAP initiative has proven to be an integral part of the Financial Services Commission’s mission. Geared towards assisting employees wishing to pursue higher education courses to sharpen specific skills; the program has to date assisted twenty-five young professionals since its inception.
Following the completion of her Bachelors and Associate Degree in Finance and Management, Kristen Brown, employed by the Commission since September 1, 2003 said: “Being a student and an employee was a bit challenging at times but perseverance, dedication and determination to do my best in both was my aim.”
She added: “Education and self-improvement bring great dividends when it comes to quality of life and I am grateful for the opportunity TAP provided.”
Commenting of this latest positive year for the program, Managing Director Kevin Higgins took the opportunity to emphasise that the FSC would continue to provide support for those wishing to develop their skills set in today’s competitive market. He also praised young professionals for seizing opportunities such as the Assistance Tuition Program to further their education and career. “ We keep seeing individuals within the Commission successfully taking on this challenge. It is very encouraging and certainly strengthens our commitment to provide assistance.” He said.
Gessie Germain, Tanecia Hall and Zonelle Hamilton completed a Bachelor’s Degree course in Finance and Management while Clinteriah Wilson completed an Associates Degree in Business Studies.