TCI Islands
Did you know that the Turks and Caicos Islands are an archipelago of about forty islands and cays at the southern end of the Bahamas chain.
Only six large islands and several small cays are inhabited. The inhabited Islands range from Middle Caicos (48 sq.miles) to Salt Cay (2.5 sq miles).
The total land area is 193 square miles. TCI has a population of 31,438 according to the 2012 census.
Maleficient rules at the box office
Disney live-action film Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie, has debuted at the top of the North American box office, taking $70m (£41m).
The film, based on the villain from Sleeping Beauty, has given Jolie her biggest box office debut to date.
"The whole movie kind of rises and sets on her performance," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak.
Last weekend's number one, X-Men: Days of Future Past, dropped to second It took $32.6 million (£19.4m).
3) A Million Ways to Die in the West $17.1m (£10.2m)
4) Godzilla $12.2m (£7.3m)
5) Blended $8.4m (£5m)
Source-BBC
Airline profits in 2014 to be hit by China
The global airline industry's profit forecast for this year has been cut amid fears over China's economic growth, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.
The trade body predicts airlines will make $18bn (£10.7bn) in profit in 2014, lower than its $18.7bn March forecast.
It blamed concerns over the Chinese economy's performance and a slowdown in world trade for the downgrade.
The industry faced "strong headwinds", IATA director general Tony Tyler said.
He said rising infrastructure costs, inefficiencies in air traffic management, a heavy tax burden and costly regulation were all expected to weigh on the airline industry this year.
IATA predicted that total revenues for airlines would reach $746bn in 2014.
"The brutal economic reality is we will earn an average net margin of just 2.4%," added Mr Tyler.
Source-BBC
Apple unveils iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite
Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday to announce the latest features for iPhones, iPads and Macs.
Apple (AAPL) unveiled iOS 8, an update to the operating system that powers iPhones and iPads. It will be available for download in the fall.
One of the biggest additions to iOS 8 is a new HealthKit application. The app will monitor users' heart rates, sleep, weight and blood pressure among other health-related information.
HealthKit will allow clinicians at the Mayo Clinic to send health information to a user's app, which can in turn send that data to a user's primary physician. It also syncs with third-party fitness devices and apps.
Apple also unveiled HomeKit, a new platform that would enable people to control all the items in their homes with the iPad or iPhone. That means iOS 8 will let people manage their lights, cameras, door locks, switches, plugs, thermostats and other connected devices.
Brothers murdered execution style in Trinidad
Police are searching for the gunmen who stormed into a house in Morvant and shot and killed, execution style, two brothers, including a nine-year-old on Sunday.
Police said the gunmen entered the house and ordered the occupants, including nine-year-old Jadel Holder and his older brother, Jamal Brathwaite, 15, to lie on the ground before shooting them in the head.
A 16-year-old neighbour, Glendel Alexander, who was at the house of the time, was shot in the leg, while Michelle Holder, the mother of the dead brothers, escaped unhurt.
Investigators said despite his age, Brathwaite was well known to police, who they suspect had recently been initiated into the gang, which operates in his community. He was also a suspect in several recent shootings in the Morvant area on the outskirts of the capital.
Residents described Brathwaite as a “trouble maker” and dropped out of school at the primary school level, while the nine-year-old is reported to have been a follower of his elder brother.
The murders bring to 185, the number of people murdered here so far this year. Last year the figure for the corresponding period was 154.
Maya Angelou 'the brightest light' says Barack Obama
US President Barack Obama has led the tributes to Maya Angelou, describing the poet, author and activist as "one of the brightest lights of our time".
He hailed Angelou, who has died aged 86, as "a brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman".
She made her name with the memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which charted a childhood of oppression and abuse in the Deep South in the 1930s.
Her family described her as "a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace".
Former President Bill Clinton, who invited Angelou to read at his 1993 inauguration, said America had lost a national treasure and he and wife Hillary had lost "a beloved friend".
"The poems and stories she wrote and read to us in her commanding voice were gifts of wisdom and wit, courage and grace," he said.
Others paying tribute included civil rights campaigner Reverend Jesse Jackson, who wrote on Twitter: "The renaissance woman has made a peaceful transition. She acted, sang, danced & taught She used poetry as a road for peace."
Her career had many outlets, straddling television, theatre, film, children's books and music.
Angelou was also a prominent civil rights activist and a friend of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.
CDB gives update of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors
Caribbean countries ended 2013 on a more solid economic footing than it had done since the start of the 2007/2008 global economic recession, according to figures released by the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
The CDB, which is holding its 44th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors here, said that many of its borrowing member states (BMCs) recorded increases “albeit modest in economic activity”.
CDB President Dr. Warren Smith said, “At the regional level, growth and sustainability were recurring themes in discussions about performance”.
The CDB said that preliminary estimates indicate that the economic activity in the region grew by an average of 1.5 per cent last year, up slightly from a revised figure of 1.2 per cent for 2012.
The CDB said that moderate growth of between one and three per cent were recorded here in the Turk & Caicos Islands, in Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Grenada, St. Vincent and St. Kitts and Nevis. These showed improved economic position to the general improvement in construction and tourism.
“Notably, there was significant public investment in critical economic infrastructure, including roads in Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Jamaica and Turks and Caicos Islands, as well as construction of a new airport in St.Vincent and the Grenadines and airport expansions in Antigua and Barbuda and here in our Turks and Caicos Islands.
WIV CEO addresses problems with service
WIV’s CEO, E. Jay Saunders, says WIV is working feverishly to address the issues and to improve upon the Customer Service Experience.
In a release to RTC News, the CEO said: As part of its commitment to delivering unmatched cable TV and broadband internet service to our customers, WIV has been performing upgrades to its network over the last few weeks. As a result, customers in certain areas have experienced intermitted service interruptions. Some areas, unfortunately experienced extended service outage, longer than what was anticipated.
Mr. Saunders continued, “At WIV, the customer experience is of paramount importance to us and we apologise for the service interruption a number of our customers have been experiencing. While unavoidable, but disappointing nevertheless, we want our customers to know that we are doing our utmost to address their concerns. As such we have more than doubled our customer care personnel so we can better address our customer’s needs. During this time we have also extended our call centre hours – we will be operational from 8 am – 6pm Monday – Friday and on Weekends from 8 am – 5pm.”
E. Jay further stated, “Some areas are already boasting of improved service, with some customers stating that it’s the best TV experience they have ever had. The process will take some time to reach everyone but we politely ask that customers remain patient as we go through this process to bring them TCI’s best cable and internet service”.
Ukraine PM Yatsenyuk in Russia border demand
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has called on Russia to control its border to stop "terrorists" from crossing into his territory.
Mr Yatsenyuk said Kiev could solve the crisis quickly if Moscow stopped meddling in the situation.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that Kiev's policies were pushing Ukraine into "fratricidal war".
Earlier this week rebels and government forces were embroiled in some of the worst fighting of the crisis so far.
The separatists say they lost up to 100 fighters as they tried to seize Donetsk airport from pro-Kiev forces.
Ukraine's interior ministry says the military is now in full control of the airport, although gunfire was reported in Donetsk itself on Wednesday.
Speaking on a visit to Germany, Mr Yatsenyuk said the situation in the east was deteriorating and Russia's involvement was causing huge difficulties.
"A number of trucks full of live ammunition, full of Russian-trained guerrillas crossed the Russian border into Ukraine," he said.
The French government faces a 14bn-euro black hole in its public finances
French President Francois Hollande has raised income tax, VAT and corporation tax since he was elected two years ago.
The Court of Auditors said receipts from all three taxes amounted to an extra 16bn euros in 2013.
That was a little more than half the government's forecast of 30bn euros of extra tax income.
The Court of Auditors, which oversees the government's accounts, said the Elysee Palace's forecasts of tax revenue in 2013 were so wildly inaccurate that they cast doubt on its forecasts for this year.
It added the forecasts were overly optimistic and based on inaccurate projections.
The figures come a week after French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who was appointed in March following the poor showing of Mr Hollande's Socialists in municipal elections, appeared to criticise the president's tax policy by saying that "too much tax kills tax".
Opinion polls put Mr Hollande's approval rating among voters consistently below 20% and critics say his tax policies have hurt France's chance of a sustained economic recovery.
Despite being elected on a wave of anti-austerity sentiment, Mr Hollande has had to implement a series of spending cuts, alongside a number of tax rises.
Meanwhile, economic growth has been inconsistent and the unemployment rate hit a record high of 11% at the end of 2013.
The French economy saw zero growth in the first three months of 2014, compared with 0.2% growth three months earlier.