Mega Yacht White Cloud Captain Found Guilty
On Monday, October 7, the Captain of the mega yacht White Cloud, Benjamin Craig Cameron, was found guilty on three counts related to coral reef damages in the Magistrates Court on Providenciales resulting from damages to the reef in the Northwest Point National Park.
The charges included the following:
1. Violation of National Parks Ordinance Regulation 3(1)(e), which prohibits anchor damage to reef structures and associated marine life;
2. Violation of Fisheries Protection Ordinance Regulation 9(h), which prohibits breaking or causing damage to any coral reef or marine plant within the fishery limits of the Islands; and
3. Violation of Fisheries Protection Ordinance Regulation 10(1), which prohibits disturbance of coral, sand, rock and other substances forming part of the sea bed.
Captain Craig-Cameron was found not guilty on the charge of anchoring a vessel greater than 60 feet in length other than in an anchoring zone (National Parks Ordinance Regulation 3(1)(f). He was also ordered to pay a $30,000 fine within 90 days.
On April 1, 2013, DEMA responded to reports from dive operators that the anchor and chain of the mega yacht White Cloud was causing extensive damage to coral reef within the Northwest Point National Park, at a dive site known as “Boo’s Garden.” Quantitative damage assessments later confirmed that the coral injury was among the most catastrophic in TCI’s history.
Commenting on the verdict DEMA Director Kathleen Wood noted, “DEMA is very satisfied with this outcome, and we are pleased that justice has been served in this case. We want to thank all of the dive operators who responded at the scene and testified in Court. Their dedication and commitment to the preservation of TCI’s fragile marine ecosystem is both humbling and inspiring. DEMA and the entire TCI community are indebted to them”.
In a demonstration of good faith, the White Cloud’s insurer AIG has contributed approximately $150,000 to the Turks and Caicos Reef Fund’s large vessel and dive boat mooring initiatives. Negotiations towards a damage settlement between TCIG and AIG are on-going.
DEMA Sets Conch Quota for 2013-2014 Season
The Department of Environment and Marine Affairs (DEMA) today Friday October 11, 2013 announced the conch quota for the 2013/2014 season.
In preparation for the upcoming opening of the queen conch (Strombus gigas) fishing season on 15 October, the Department met with the CITES Scientific Authority Committee (SAC), Fisheries Advisory Committee (FAC) and industry stakeholders in order to determine a quota that will allow for the sustainable harvest of queen conch this season, while simultaneously supporting fishing livelihoods.
The department noted that queen conch stocks have been in decline in TCI since the passing of hurricanes Ike and Hannah in 2008. As a result, DEMA will undertake a TCIG-approved project to conduct a Conch Visual Survey (CVS), which will help DEMA to determine current stock characteristics and to estimate a total allowable catch (TAC) that can be sustainably harvested. DEMA has begun preliminary work on the CVS, assisted by international expert Dr. Paul Medley; however, results from the CVS will not be available until next year.
The 2012-2013 catch for queen conch showed some improvement over the previous year’s catch; however, improvements were not significant enough to merit increasing the quota at this time. Therefore, the quota for 2013-2014 will remain as follows:
500,000 lbs. for export
320,000 lbs. for local consumption
1,000,000 shells for export
Missing Teen Safe at Home
The 14 year old child reported missing on September 27th 2013 is safe at home after returning home to her parents.
Officers of the Royal Turks & Caicos Islands Police Force and the department of Social Services are conducting further investigations into the matter in which 14 year old Melene Jean Louis ran away from her home.
Last night (Thursday, October 10th 2013) at approximately 9PM, the missing teen returned to her home in Kingston Lower Bight area of Providenciales.
The RTCIPF is thanking members of the public for any assistance that they may have given in the search for the missing teen and ask the public not to harbor any minors in their homes.
Police and Social Services are conducting further investigations into this matter.
LIME introduces MyPlans
LIME is transforming the telecommunications industry again, with the launch of My Plan, a game-changing mobile offering that gives customers the opportunity to sign up for a flexible post paid plan that includes voice, text messages and data, and also gives them the option to customize the plan with bolt-ons.
With MyPlan, post paid mobile customers can sign up for the core plan that provides a combination of voice, text messages and data for one low monthly fee. Customers can then add additional voice, text and data bundles to suit their needs and lifestyle. They can choose the add-ons individually or collectively, and they can also change the package combination monthly.
My Plan also offers a major game changer as unused data will be rolled over into the following month. If a customer has not consumed the full data allocation, the extra amount will be available at the start of the new subscription period. This is unprecedented, not just with LIME, but in telecommunications in the Caribbean. With a slew of exciting and affordable products, LIME is poised to serve the needs of the regional market like no other company possibly can.
In addition, when customers sign up for a 24 month MyPlan contract, they will receive a Samsung Pocket S5310L absolutely free.
Customers who already own a handset but do not wish to commit to a long-term contract can sign up for a rolling one-month plan, which allows them to enjoy the same value and benefits available with the MyPlan long-term plans.
MyPlan also allows customers to share their plans with friends and family. For a low monthly fee you can add extra people to your account and all the users share the core bundles and the bolt-ons.
The minutes in the MyPlan packages can be used for calls to any LIME mobile and landline network locally and regionally, to other local operators (landline and mobile) as well as to the USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands (USVI) and to UK landlines only. The text component can be used for local, regional and international text messages.
LIME’s Acting General Manager Lacal Palmer said the company understands that telecommunications in the Turks & Caicos Islands and the wider Caribbean is constantly evolving, hence the reason for the new enhancement of its mobile offerings.
“LIME is changing the way customers think about mobile calling. Our introduction of MyPlan makes mobile calling more affordable than ever,” said Lacal. “With this ground breaking new offer, we are giving customers the freedom and the flexibility to communicate any way they like by choosing only the services they need and can afford, and they still enjoy the same great value. If they don’t need minutes and have a greater need for data, they don’t have to buy minutes, they can simply buy a data bolt-on. There are no hidden costs or additional charges. You only pay for what you need. “This puts customers in control of their spend while offering them the added convenience of making adjustments to their plans at any time during the course of the contract. Moreover, with a rolling one-month contract, customers get the same great value without committing to a long term plan.
All these fantastic benefits coupled with our offer of a free Samsung Pocket S5310L for customers signing up for a 24-month plan, means you will always be better off with LIME!” Lacal added.
US Republicans make temporary debt-ceiling offer
US Republicans have offered President Barack Obama a short-term debt limit increase to stave off default.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said they would do so in exchange for negotiations with the White House to end a government shutdown that took effect on 1 October.
Republicans will meet Mr Obama, who is a Democrat, later on Thursday.
Officials have warned the US risks default on 17 October if the nation's borrowing limit is not increased.
Mr Boehner told reporters on Thursday: "What we want to do is to offer the president today the ability to move a temporary increase in the debt ceiling in agreement to go to conference on the budget for his willingness to sit down and discuss with us a way forward to reopen the government."
"It's time for leadership," the Ohio Republican said. "It's time for these negotiations and this conversation to begin."
A spokesman for Mr Boehner told media that the deal on the table ahead of Thursday afternoon's meeting was a "clean" increase of the debt limit, with no additional policies attached.
It would only last six weeks - until 22 November.
White House Scrutiny of Leaks Threatens Press Freedom
The Obama administration's aggressive prosecution of leaks and its efforts to control information are becoming a threat to press freedom and democracy, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
A report released Thursday by the New York-based media watchdog group said U.S. President Barack Obama's actions have been a sharp contradiction to his promise of transparency and open government.
Former Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie, the report's author, said "administration officials and employees are increasingly afraid to talk to the press" due to heightened scrutiny of leaks.
He said six government employees and two contractors have been targeted for prosecution under the 1917 Espionage Act for accusations they leaked classified information to the press. Downie said this was a chilling use of a law used "only in three previous cases in the past nine decades."
White House officials interviewed for the report strongly objected to being portrayed as against press freedom. "The idea that people are shutting up and not leaking to reporters is belied by the facts," Obama press secretary Jay Carney told Downie.
National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said there is still investigative reporting about national security issues with information from "non-sanctioned sources with lots of unclassified information and some sensitive information.''
Downie interviewed numerous reporters and editors, including a top editor at The Associated Press, following revelations this year the government secretly seized records for telephone lines and switchboards used by more than 100 AP journalists. Downie also interviewed journalists whose sources have been prosecuted on felony charges.
In a statement accompanying the report, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was "disturbed by the pattern of actions" that "have chilled the flow of information on issues of great public interest, including matters of national security."
The report about the United States is unusual for the press freedom group, which has this year completed investigations on Burma, China, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, and Tanzania. The only time the United States has been the subject of a CPJ report was 19 years ago in a study on attacks on immigrant journalists.
CPJ executive director Joel Simon said the group decided to investigate U.S. press freedom "because journalists told us that the relationship with the administration had deteriorated to the point where it makes it difficult for them to do their job."
Downie added the Obama administration's "war on leaks and other efforts to control information are the most aggressive" he had seen since the Nixon administration and The Washington Post's investigation of Watergate.
He said the policies are also harmful to U.S. efforts to promote press and Internet freedom around the world.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
N Korea Replaces Hawkish Army Chief
North Korean state media have confirmed the country's hawkish army chief has been replaced, just months after he was appointed.
Since August, there have been rumors North Korea's young leader Kim Jong Un ousted his army's general chief of staff Kim Kyok Sik.
On Thursday, the Korean Central News Agency confirmed the move, mentioning Ri Yong Gil as the military chief that accompanied Kim on an official visit to a prominent mausoleum.
Little is known about Ri, except for that he was a three-star general who previously headed up the army's general staff operations department.
Kim Jong Un has replaced several top military and government officials since he took power following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in late 2011.
Analyst Ken Gause of the CNA Corporation, told VOA's Korean service the shuffling of military leaders is part of Kim's attempt to exert more control over the armed forces.
"He is maintaining a line of information on military matters from individuals who have a lot of operational experience, but they don't have a whole lot of political clout. So I think that is what we are seeing here. Its part of the consolidation process in terms of enforcing his will over the military."
The KCNA article was documenting Kim's visit to Pyongyang's Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of his father and grandfather are on display. Thursday is the 68th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean Worker's Party.
(This report was produced in collaboration with the VOA Korean service.)
Former Pariah State Burma Takes Over ASEAN Chair
Former pariah state Burma has taken another step in normalizing its international standing by taking over the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
At a ceremony in Brunei Thursday, Burmese President Thein Sein accepted the gavel and the responsibility to host more than 1,100 meetings in the next year.
Zaw Htay, a government spokesman in Rangoon said his country has been preparing for two years and has gotten a lot of help from its regional neighbors.
"The Kasakawa Foundation of Japan has given us financial and technical assistance, and some other countries like Singapore and South Korea have also helped us," said Htay. "With Chinese assistance, we are building a state guest house in Nepyitaw [the capital] to accommodate all the visiting heads of states. It is big enough to accommodate all the state guests together," he said.
The chairmanship follows political reforms that have led to the lifting of most international sanctions. Thein Sein's government has won praise for freeing hundreds of political prisoners, lifting censorship laws and holding elections in which many opposition members won seats in parliament.
However, the ASEAN chairmanship is being criticized by some who say the country has not done enough, pointing to continuing sectarian violence against Muslims and the country's remaining political prisoners.
Activist Aung Thu Nyein says the ASEAN chairmanship will shine a much needed spotlight on Burma's human rights record.
"There will be many human rights organizations and civil societies from various countries coming to this country during that moment," said Aung. "There will be discussions and observations about our country's situations. I therefore think the Myanmar National Human Right Commission should be more proactive so as to enhance our human rights situation," he said.
Burma, which joined ASEAN in 1997, was passed over for the chairmanship in 2006.
This report was produced in collaboration with the VOA Burmese service.
UN Calls for Peacekeeping Force in CAR
The United Nations Security Council has approved a resolution to help stabilize the war-torn Central African Republic.
The 15-member council approved the resolution in a unanimous vote Thursday. The measure calls on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to prepare options for helping a small African Union force in the country.
It said the options should include the possibility of transforming the force into a U.N. peacekeeping operation.
Much of the Central African Republic has descended into chaos since the rebel coalition Seleka overthrew President Francois Bozize in March. Humanitarian groups say rebel fighters have attacked and looted villages, displacing tens of thousands of civilians.
Reports this week said clashes between Seleka fighters and local self-defense groups had killed at least 23 people in the northwest village of Gaga.
The Central African Republic has endured a long series of coups and rebellions since gaining independence from France in 1960.
Pakistan Rearrests Ex-President Musharraf
Pakistan rearrested former President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday, a day after he was granted bail in other cases and appeared ready to leave the country.
In the latest charge, Mr. Musharraf is accused of ordering a 2007 commando operation against a Islamabad mosque to crack down on armed militants. The raid left a cleric and several other people dead.
A complaint against Mr. Musharraf in the so-called Red Mosque case was registered two weeks ago on the orders of a judge.
The arrest came after the former president had been granted bail in three other cases and his lawyer said he was free to leave the country.
One of the cases is a murder charge in connection with the assassination of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She was killed in a gun and bomb attack after leaving a political rally in Rawalpindi in December 2007.
Mr. Musharraf has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include murder, conspiracy to murder and facilitation of murder.
The former leader has blamed Ms. Bhutto's assassination on Taliban militants and said he warned her of militant threats to her safety.
Mr. Musharraf took power in a 1999 coup and ruled as president until resigning under threat of impeachment by his opponents in 2008 and going into exile.
He returned to Pakistan in March after nearly four years in self-imposed exile in a bid to resurrect his political career.