MINISTER OF HEALTH TO ATTEND THIRD PAN-AMERICAN CONFERENCE
Minister with responsibility for Health and Human Services Hon. Porsha Stubbs -Smith will leave the island today June 5, 2013 for Aruba where she will attend the “The Third Pan-American Conference on Obesity, with Special Attention on Childhood Obesity” (PACO III).
PACO III is supported by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and aims to identify regional actions to prevent childhood obesity and promote regional cooperation on the prevention of childhood obesity in interested countries.
The meeting is expected to provide ministers and delegates with an increase awareness of the importance of preventing childhood obesity as well as a compilation of technical documents on practical activities to promote physical activity and healthy food.
During the meeting will run from June 5 to 8, and cover the following:
· The development of partnerships to conduct activities with communities and families
· Procedures to conduct physical activity and for food culture at the population level.
· Identification of indicators to evaluate the training / intervention
· Development of healthy environments in the community, schools, and workplaces.
One of the objectives of this meeting is to increase well qualified human resources and health educators to prevent childhood obesity in countries participating in this project.
Minister Stubbs -Smith will be accompanied by TCIG Epidemiologist Dr. Terese Maitland. The Minister will return to the TCI on June 9.
Speech to Caribbean Association of Insurance Regulators, Monday, 3 June 2013 at the Regent Palms Resort, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos.
May I wish a very warm Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) welcome to all of the Caribbean Association of Insurance Regulators (CAIR) to this their annual conference. I am glad to see a number of TCI colleagues and residents here too.
I hope that all our visitors enjoy their stay and come back soon with their families and friends!
This conference takes place in the context of a fast moving and challenging world for the global financial services industry. The forthcoming G8 meeting at Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, is the manifestation of the determination of the G8 Chair, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of the world’s leading nations to raise global standards of transparency with regard to tax and beneficial ownership.
I know that the global reinsurance business – a truly global industry – is determined to stay at the forefront of this issue, working consistently to achieve the highest standards.
In this changing environment you know better than anyone that the ability to adapt, innovate and change is critical to success in insurance and reinsurance.
TCI’s prosperity is based upon being a high end tourist destination. Premier Ewing is currently in New York leading a strong public and private sector team to the Caribbean Tourism Conference.
We have a smaller financial services sector than some other Overseas Territories but we want to build on its successes and to further develop it.
To be clear, we are not a tax haven. We are a low tax jurisdiction.
We want TCI to compete in the world financial services industry through the quality of our products; the strength and credibility of our industry; the ease of doing business; and the skills of our practitioners.
The TCI Government is determined to work in partnership with the financial services industry. Given my responsibility for the regulation of the financial services sector I want to take this opportunity to underline the importance I attach to good, modern, high quality regulation. TCI is committed to improving industry regulation in our insurance sector – new domestic insurance legislation is currently being considered and is a specific example of this.
The TCI also is determined to play its part as a partner to regulators across the Caribbean region.
As you know, TCI is the leading domicile for a specific re-insurance product, the Niche Hybrid Re-Insurance Company, previously known as the Producer Owned Reinsurance Company, the famous PORC. It occurs to me that we might try to find a catchier name than Niche Hybrid Re-Insurance Company . Marketing matters!
The Conference and Workshop this week focuses on the management of risk. This is central to your role. It is very much a theme for TCI Government, as we develop the opportunities and deal with the challenges in front of this beautiful but fragile country. And not least as we enter the Atlantic hurricane season.
You carry a heavy responsibility for the protection of the policy holder across the region as well as the health of the industry. What you do matters to the insurance business, to the economy and to individuals across the Caribbean. I hope that this week’s conference will be valuable in discharging these responsibilities.
Finally, may I repeat my welcome and wish you an interesting and successful conference and a very enjoyable time.
H.E. Governor Todd
Ciara Gets Sued for Backing Out of Gay Event
Hip-hop/R'n'B singer Ciara may not have only lost a $10,000 payday but has also gained a major headache as West Hollywood gay bar The Factory filed a lawsuit against her for allegedly bailing out of a gay event scheduled at their venue during L.A. Gay Pride week. The Factory accused the 27-year-old singer of backing out of their deal to perform at the venue after they had already promoted her appearance.
Although the gay bar admits to having been advised by CiCi's camp that she is not allowed to perform at The Factory due to restrictions on her contract with the L.A. Pride event, she made it appear that she could show up on the gay bar's own event without any problems, making it a done deal. Ciara was supposedly booked for the Friday night pre-gay parade bash from which she eventually bailed out of.
The Factory is now suing the "Body Party" artist for breach of contract, asking to be compensated back not just for the money they spent on promoting her gig at their gay bar as well as the sales that they lost due to the non-appearance.
When asked for comment, Ciara's rep said there's no cause for a lawsuit as a deal was never sealed in the first place between her client and the gay bar since Ciara had already committed to perform at L.A. Gay Pride on Saturday night. The rep also said The Factory continued to promote Ciara's supposed appearance in their bar despite being already notified against it early last week.
Source-Ace.Show
Bruno Mars Feels Grateful for Fans' Support Following Mother's Death
Bruno Mars spoke out for the first time after her mother's death nearly a week ago. The 27-year-old singer took to Twitter on Thursday, June 6, to thank his fans for their support, saying, "So thankful for all the love during the most difficult time in my life. Ill be back on my feet again soon.Thats what mom wants, she told me."
Mars' mother, Bernadette Hernandez, died from a brain aneurysm on Saturday, June 1, at the age of 55 at the Queens Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Philippine-born Bernadette came to Hawaii and worked as a singer and hula dancer. She encouraged her son's interest in music from a very young age.
When Mars was nominated for seven Grammys, Hernandez said that she was so proud of his son. "I knew this was going to happen but not this extent," she said. "I still think of him as my baby and keep forgetting he is a grown man."
Mars was very close to her mother. He had her mother's name tattooed on his shoulder. Mars also wrote, sang and recorded a song entitled "I Love You Mom" when he was just 4 years old.
Source-Ace.Show
'Purge' Surges to the Top; 'Internship' Settles for Fourth Place
Universal. The studio claimed the top two movies, including surprise smash The Purge. The sci-fi thriller about a future when crime is permitted one night per year had been expected to debut on top of the chart and to sell modestly well, anywhere from $18 to $25 million, but no one expected it to earn an estimated $36.4 million. Credit the intriguing premise (which had the social media world buzzing for weeks in advance), the scares-on-a-shoestring ingenuity of producer Jason Blum (one of the masterminds behind the Paranormal Activity franchise and last fall's horror hit Sinister), and star Ethan Hawke (who also starred in Sinister). Made for an absurdly cheap $3 million, The Purge already looks like the best return-on-investment movie of the year.
In second place, Universal's Fast & Furious 6 lost a modest 44 percent of last weekend's business to earn another estimated $19.8 million, for a three-weekend total of $202.9 million. Also holding up well was the Number Three movie, Summit's magician caper Now You See Me, which saw just 34 percent of last weekend's sales vanish, for a take this weekend estimated at $19.5 million and a two-week haul of $61.4 million.
In fifth place, 20th Century Fox's cartoon Epic held on with an estimated $12.1 million, down just 27 percent from last week, for a three-week total of $84.2 million. And in sixth place, Star Trek Into Darkness earned an estimated $11.7 million, off just 30 percent from a week ago, and enough to cross the $200 million mark after 25 days.
Source-Rolling Stones
AEG exec feared Michael Jackson would sabotage his comeback tour
AEG Live executives feared Michael Jackson would sabotage his comeback concerts five days before his death, the company's CEO testified Thursday.
Randy Phillips refused to advance money to help Jackson pay his staff because he believed the singer was "in an anticipatory breach" of his contract because he had missed rehearsals, he testified.
Phillips testified in the sixth week of the trial to decide whether the concert promoter is liable in Jackson's death for the negligent hiring, retention or supervision of Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
The lawsuit filed by Jackson's mother and children contends that Phillips and other AEG Live executives pressured Jackson to attend rehearsals despite his deteriorating health and ignored red flags that should have warned them about the dangers posed by Murray.
Jackson lawyers questioned Phillips about his e-mail exchanges with Michael Kane -- Jackson's business manager -- when Kane asked for an advance, which was provided for in Jackson's contract with AEG Live for his "This Is It" tour.
Phillips said he was concerned that because Jackson had missed so many rehearsals, the show would not be ready for its debut in London on July 13, 2009.
"This is why it is impossible to advance any $$$," Phillips wrote to Kane on June 20, 2009. "He may, unfortunately, be in an anticipatory breach at this point."
"And I thought it couldn't get worse," Kane replied.
"It could," Phillips said. "(Show director) Kenny Ortega could quit."
Phillips' testimony that he believed Jackson was contractually obligated to attend rehearsals contradicted AEG Live Co-CEO Paul Gongware's previous testimony that Jackson was not required to rehearse.
Phillips acknowledged that by June 20, 2009, he was worried the production would not be ready on time Kane, in an e-mail to Phillips, offered to help motivate Jackson to get to rehearsals. "Would a financial coming to Jesus speech help or add to his pressure?" Kane asked.
"It would help," Phillips replied. "At this point, we need to break through. I'm going to call his doctor to discuss."
Later that day, Phillips and other AEG Live executives met with Murray and Jackson at the singer's home. The Jackson lawyers contend at that meeting they put Murray in charge of having Jackson at rehearsals.
AEG Live lawyers claim the company executives had no way of knowing that Murray was giving Jackson nightly infusions of the surgical anesthetic propofol to treat his insomnia.
The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Jackson died from an overdose of propofol on June 25, 2009.
Paris Jackson: Judge orders inquiry
A judge overseeing the guardianship of Michael Jackson's children has ordered an inquiry into Paris Jackson's wellbeing after she attempted to kill herself earlier this week.
Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff asked an investigator to look into the 15-year-old's health and welfare.
A lawyer for Katherine Jackson, Paris's grandmother, said he was "completely supportive" of the court order.
He declined to comment further on her current health status.
Judge Beckloff issued a similar inquiry into the welfare of the Jackson children last year after Mrs Jackson, their guardian at the time, was out of communication with them for several days.
That led to TJ Jackson, the late singer's nephew, being appointed co-guardian to Paris, Prince and Blanket.
A lawyer for Jackson's estate said it would assist the guardians however necessary to help Paris.
"The estate will work with Paris's guardians to provide whatever is required for her best interests,'' Howard Weitzman said in a statement.
"We are totally and completely supportive of Paris as her wellbeing is our foremost concern."
Judge Beckloff's order requires an investigator to prepare a report that only the judge will be allowed to review.
He did not include instructions on how the review should occur or when the report was due.
Authorities were dispatched to the Jackson family home on Thursday in response to a report of a possible overdose.
Lawyer Perry Sanders said Paris was "physically fine" and was getting "appropriate medical attention".
Two guards are killed and nine inmates escape in Mexico jailbreak
At least two guards have been killed and nine prisoners have escaped during a jailbreak in southern Mexico, officials say.
A prison warden and a prisoner were also injured when a group of men stormed the prison and opened fire.
The attack happened in the early hours of Sunday in the town of La Union, in the south-western state of Guerrero.
Correspondents say jailbreaks are common in Mexico's overcrowded prisons, which house inmates from rival gangs.
Guerrero's Public Security Secretariat said a "group of men armed with rifles and guns" stormed the building at 05:00 local time (10:00 GMT), killing the guards and freeing the inmates.
In a statement, it said that federal and state police were using helicopters to find the escaped prisoners.
It added that the whereabouts of the prison's director, Manuel Chavarria, was unknown; local media say he fled the attack.
Guerrero is one of the states most affected by fighting between organised criminal groups and by a military offensive against drug cartels that has left an estimated 70,000 people dead nationwide in the past six years.
No digital proof needed to investigate emails, say Trinidad police
Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams said opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley does not necessarily need to provide digital proof in relation to the emails he presented in the Trinidad and Tobago parliament last month, purporting to show that government officials conspired to cause harm to a journalist, bribe the DPP into accepting a position as a judge and seeking to get the assistance of Chief Justice Ivor Archie to help them accomplish their plan.
Information technology expert Mark Lindersay told the Trinidad Express that Rowley may need to furnish investigators with digital proof of his claims so the contents can be properly traced back to the alleged sources potentially incriminated in the matter. Lindersay also indicated that anyone can create what looks like email exchanges between several persons.
Williams, who is himself an attorney-at-law, agreed that anyone with the required technical knowledge can design what looks like an email exchange between parties; but explained that, in spite of this, while it would have been more useful for the opposition leader to provide the electronic proof of his claims, he does not necessarily have to do so.
The acting commissioner said once they find reasonable suspicion that a criminal offence was committed then they will consider one or two avenues to obtain the devices used in the alleged e-mail exchanges; that is either through a warrant or a court order that will lawfully allow the investigators to seize the devices that may have been used to communicate what is said to be intentions of a criminal nature between email addresses purporting to belong to Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Works and Infrastructure and Local Government Minister Suruj Rattan Rambachan and advisor to the prime minister Captain Gary Griffith.
All the parties named in the email exchanges admitted that the email addresses belonged to them, but denied any involvement in such an exchange.
The government showed discrepancies in the email content presented by Rowley, which included inconsistent dates and invalid email addresses.
Persad-Bissessar wrote to Williams and asked for an immediate investigation into the claims.
Williams said that Rowley, being the individual purporting to have the incriminating emails, is an integral part of what is now an ongoing investigation.
New government installed in Curacao
A new government was installed in Curacao on Friday, when Governor Adel van der Pluijm-Vrede swore in ten new ministers who will serve the rest of the coalition’s four year term.
As anticipated, Ivar Asjes is Curacao’s new prime minister. Asjes is the former president of parliament during the previous Schotte administration.
The new ministers are:
Prime Minister/General Affairs: Ivar Asjes
Health, Environment and Nature: Ben Whiteman
Education, Science, Culture and Sports: Rubia Bitorina
Social Development, Labour and Welfare: Jeanne Francisca
Government Policy, Planning and Services: Etienne van der Horst
Justice: Nelson Navarro
Economic Development: Stanley Palm
Finance: Jose Jardim
Traffic, Transport and Urban Planning: Earl Balborda
Minister Plenipotentiary: Marvelyne Wiels
Source-Curacao Chronicle