JIMMY CLIFF wins reggae Grammy
REGGAE veteran Jimmy Cliff yesterday won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album with the album Rebirth. The artiste, who has been enjoying a wave of popularity thanks to a controversial Super Bowl Volkswagen television advertisement, trumped four other nominees in the category to take the golden gramophone in a ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The other nominees in the category were: The Original Wailers Miracle; Sean Paul Tomahawk Technique; Sly & Robbie & The Jam Masters New Legend — Jamaica 50th Edition and Toots And the Maytals Reggae Got Soul: Unplugged on Strawberry Hill. This is Jimmy Cliff’s second Grammy triumph. In 1986, the second year of the reggae category, he won for his album Cliff Hanger.Produced by Tim Armstrong of punk group Rancid, Rebirth was a sleeper hit in 2012. It sold favourably and earned strong reviews from major publications such as Rolling Stone.
Cliff has been nominated for a Best Reggae Album Grammy seven times. His other nominations were Reggae Nights (1985), Club Paradise (1987), Hanging Fire (1989), Breakout (1993), and Black Magic (2005).
Machel feels honored to share title with SuperBlue
SuperBlue and Machel Montano are the joint International Power Soca Monarchs, having trounced all opponents at the final of the competition on Friday night.
No decision has been made yet with regard to how the total prize money for 1st and 2nd places will be divided between Montano and SuperBlue.
Montano who also retained his title from 2012 as the Groovy Soca Monarch winner, say he feels "honoured" to have tied with five-time winner Austin "SuperBlue" Lyons.
He said: "It is a great honour to tie with the man that made me want to sing soca. He pushed me to work harder and go beyond my limits (Friday) night. I congratulate him and his ability to return and be a force to be reckoned with. I feel proud to be the defender of my generation as Superman returned to meet the Boy of Steel."
Montano said he was caught unawares when the results were being announced, but gave all praise to God once he heard the results.
Source--Express
Pink Panther is the 2013 National Calypso Monarch in Trinidad
His renditions "Travel Woes" and "Crying in the Chapel" were enough to earn the judges approval and nod to win the 2013 National Calpso Monarch title early this morning.
When Eric "Pink Panther" Taylor was announced as winner of the monarch title there was a more than a smile of contentment on his face, after his sterling performances.
Taylor won the $1m first prize.
His first song "Travel Woes" is a tongue-in-cheek ditty aimed at the government in which he accounts the problems he encountered after booking a trip to London via sea but can't see the ship anywhere in sight.
He sings: "I see the scholarship, I see the sponsorship, I see the dealership, I see the ownership, I find the membership, some underhand relationship all around the Partnership, but I can;t find the Leadership."
In his other piece "Crying in the Chapel", Taylor puts into song the recent deaths of Sonny "Mighty Power" Francois and Seadley "Penguin" Joseph, along with other cultural icons who have passed away, coincidentally, around Carnival time.
Results
1. Eric "Pink Panther" Taylor - Travel Woes/Crying In The Chapel
2. Kurt Allen - Political Sin Phony/Black Stalin Say
3. Heather MacIntosh - The Old Man's Lament/Invisible
4. Roderick "Mr Chucky" Gordon - Bear With Me/The New Addiction
5. Karene Asche - Meh Pardna Ship/Eat Ah Food
6. Eunice Peters - None Of The Above/Keshorn D Javelin Champion
7. Duanne O'Connor - Building A Wall/ Seeking Sparrow's Advice
8. Alana Sinnette Khan - No Moral Authority/Pathological
9. Dr Hollis "Chalkdust" Liverpool - Prodigal Son/Virginia's Alzheimer
10. Kizzie Ruiz - In The Age Of Blog/T And T Forever
11. Marva "Marvelous Marva" Joseph - Come Back To What/Woman's Contribution To Trinidad And Tobago
12. Victoria "Queen Victoria" Cooper - D Betrayal/Club 34
Express
Round one to Gorstew, ‘Butch’ Stewart
THE Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Gordon 'Butch' Stewart and his holding company Gorstew, granting them leave to commence a judicial review against the contractor general in the Sandals Whitehouse Hotel matter. Following is the full text of a news release from Gorstew's lawyers:
"On January 30, 2013, Mr Justice Fraser granted permission to Gorstew Limited and its principal the Hon Gordon Stewart, OJ, to commence a claim for judicial review against the contractor general.
The proceedings relate to the Contractor General's decision to initiate investigations and issue requisitions concerning the sale of the Sandals Whitehouse Hotel.
In granting permission for the proceedings to be commenced, the learned judge accepted the submissions of counsel for Gorstew and Mr Stewart that the application was made promptly, but had there been a need to extend the time for the application to have been brought, he would have done so as to enable the important substantive issues raised to be resolved.Additionally, Mr Justice Fraser, having already determined that there was no alternative remedy available to Gorstew and Mr Stewart to challenge the actions of the contractor general, ruled that there was a good arguable case with a realistic prospect of success.
In his detailed reasons for judgment, comprising 199 paragraphs, His Lordship explained that due to:
a. the uncertainty on several levels as to the scope of the Contractor General's Act, and in particular whether its remit included contracts for the divestment of government-owned land
b. the long-standing case of Wright v The Telecommunications of Jamaica Limited (decided on October 6, 1989 in open court), in which the former Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe ruled that an agreement for the sale of land to The Telephone Company of Jamaica, which was a public body at the time, was not a government contract (a decision which has never been challenged on appeal); and
c. Parliament's decision to not amend the Contractor General's Act in spite of the recommendation to do so in the Wright case and the repeated entreaties of the contractor general, it was appropriate for the issues which arose in the claim to be determined in an expedited hearing before a Full Court.
In view of the contractor general's insistence that the requisitions issued be complied with, even if this was being challenged in court by Gorstew and Mr Stewart, the learned judge also ordered that the permission to commence the claim for judicial review would operate as a stay of the pending investigations being conducted by the contractor general until the ruling of the Court in the future hearings of the judicial review by the Full Court.
The learned judge said that in the event he were wrong in granting the stay, he would have in any event granted an interim injunction against the contractor general in view of the reputational risk at stake for Gorstew and Mr Stewart, and this moreso in light of the absence of any prejudice to the contractor general. He also ordered that the costs of the application were to be costs in the judicial review proceedings.
Counsel for the contractor general had previously indicated that their instructions were to appeal Justice Fraser's decision.
Mr Justice Fraser said that the matter is of public importance and scheduled it for first hearing on March 21, 2013 at 2:00 pm."
PM Gonsalves seeks to discuss CAL fuel subsidy
Vincentian Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves is now seeking talks with the Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led coalition People's Partnership administration in Trinidad, over the fuel subsidy Port of Spain provides to the national carrier Caribbean Airlines (CAL).
Gonsalves says he wants to engage in discussions, not a fight with Trinidad and Tobago sine he has now received a legal opinion on the matter .
Gonsalves contends that the fuel subsidy given to CAL contravenes the treaty governing the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to which both countries belong.
St Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica are the main shareholders of the regional airline, LIAT, and Gonsalves, who is chair of LIAT shareholder governments, said the legal opinion supports his view that the subsidy contravenes the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
CMC
Shorty Guzman's 'security chief' arrested in Mexico
The Mexican military says it has captured the man accused of being the security chief for Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, Mexico's most wanted drug lord.
A military spokesman said Jonathan Salas was arrested without a shot being fired in north-western Sinaloa state.
Three helicopters and at least eight navy vehicles surrounded Mr Salas.
Last year, the governor of Sinaloa mistakenly announced that Mr Salas, who is also known as The Ghost, had been killed in a clash with the Navy.
Mexican prosecutors accuse Mr Salas of being the man tasked with guarding Joaquin Guzman, the fugitive leader of the Sinaloa cartel.
Joaquin Guzman, known as "El Chapo", or "Shorty", was arrested in 1993.
But he has been in hiding ever since he escaped from his maximum-security prison in a laundry basket in 2001.
The US State Department has offered a reward of up to $5m (£3.2m) for information leading to Shorty Guzman's arrest.
Mr Salas was detained on Saturday near the town of Costa Rica in Sinaloa state.
Sinaloa Governor Mario Lopez Valdez has not commented yet on the arrest.
In March 2012 he had told local media that Mr Salas had been shot dead by Marines.
State prosecutors later denied Mr Salas's death saying that he had escaped the clash with the military alive.
Colombian drug lord' alias Pichi arrested in Panama
A Colombian man suspected of leading a drug cartel in the city of Medellin has been arrested in neighbouring Panama.
The man, known as Pichi, was arrested in a joint operation by the Panamanian and Colombian police. His real name as not yet been released.
He is accused of leading a drug gang known as The Office and is suspected of ordering the murder of nine people in the city of Medellin last December.
The motive behind that killing is believed to be gang-internal rivalry.
'Murderous gang'
He is also wanted in connection with the murder of two counter-narcotics police officers in Medellin.
Sergio Castro and Franklin Moreno, who had been investigating The Office, were shot dead in Medellin in July 2012.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos congratulated the police on alias Pichi's arrest via his Twitter account. "A good hit", the president tweeted.
He also thanked Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli for his country's help in the arrest in the capital, Panama City.
Alias Pichi is suspected of having taken over the leadership of The Office after the arrest in August of the gang's previous leader, alias Sebastian.
At the time, Colombian Defence Minister, Juan Carlos Pinzon, said the gang had "killed more people than any other criminal network in Colombia in the last 10 years".
On 31 December 2012, police found nine bodies in a luxury home in Envigado, on the outskirts of Medellin.
Among them was a man suspected of working as a hitman for The Office.
Because there were no signs of forced entry, police suspect the murder may have been carried out by someone attending the party at the house, or someone known to the revellers, possibly a gang-internal settling of scores.
Colombia has requested the extradition of alias Pichi from Panama.
Peru, Chile and Bolivia hit by floods after heavy rain
Torrential rain has been causing havoc along the Pacific coast side of South America, with flooding causing the deaths of at least six people in Peru.
In the southern city of Arequipa, thousands of people were left without electricity and drinking water.
In Chile, some four million people were hit by cuts to water supply blamed on landslides in San Jose de Maipo, 30 miles (48 km) south east of Santiago.
The landslides contaminated two rivers supplying the capital's water plants.
The Aguas Andinas water company said it expected to bring the water supply back to normal by Sunday afternoon.
Last week, even Chile's Atacama desert, one of the driest places in the world, suffered with heavy rain.The authorities in Peru declared a state of emergency in Arequipa.
The national meteorological service said that the bad weather brought down the equivalent of three months of rain in about seven hours.
"There are no records of an event of this magnitude", the local director of the service, Sebastian Zuniga, told the Andina news agency.
At least two bodies were found in a car that was buried in mud after a road collapsed.
Torrential rain has also fallen over most regions in neighbouring Bolivia.
Nearly 9,000 people are said to have been affected and crops lost to the rain.
Last week, Brazil announced it would send 500 tonnes of rice to aid Bolivians hit by the natural disaster.
Pope Benedict XVI in shock resignation
Pope Benedict XVI is to resign at the end of this month after nearly eight years as the head of the Catholic Church, saying he is too old to continue at the age of 85.
The unexpected development surprised governments, Vatican-watchers and even the 85-year-old's closest aides.
The Vatican says it expects a new Pope to be elected before the end of March, ahead of Easter.
Papal resignations are not unknown, but this is the first in the modern era.
The BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome says the news has come "out of the blue", and that there was no speculation whatsoever about the move in recent days.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is quoted as saying he was "greatly shaken by this unexpected news".
A Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said that even the Pope's closest aides did not know what he was planning to do and were left "incredulous". He added that the decision showed "great courage" and "determination".
The brother of the German-born Pope said the pontiff had been advised by his doctor not to take any more transatlantic trips and had been considering stepping down for months.
Talking from his home in Regensburg in Germany, Georg Ratzinger said his brother was having increasing difficulty walking and that his resignation was part of a "natural process".
He added: "His age is weighing on him. At this age my brother wants more rest."
'Incapacity'
At 78, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was one of the oldest new popes in history when elected.
He became Pope in April 2005 following John Paul II's death.
He took the helm as one of the fiercest storms the Catholic Church has faced in decades - the scandal of child sex abuse by priests - was breakingIn a statement, the pontiff said: "After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.
"I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering.
"However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to steer the boat of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry entrusted to me.
"For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is."
A German government spokesman said he was "moved and touched" by the surprise resignation of the pontiff.
"The German government has the highest respect for the Holy Father, for what he has done, for his contributions over the course of his life to the Catholic Church.
"He has left a very personal signature as a thinker at the head of the Church, and also as a shepherd."
There is a clause in Church Canon Law saying that a papal resignation is valid if the decision is made freely and manifested properly.
Preparations for bi-elections
The Turks and Caicos Island’s Supervisor of Elections Mr. Dudley Lewis has advised that preparations for the by-election starts with the issue of a writ by the Governor.
This happens within 35 days of receiving notice from the Judge indicating that the seat has been vacated. The Writ will specify the day and place of nomination of candidates which should be no less than 14 working days after the writ has been issued.
The date of the by-election will be no more than 21 days from the date of nomination. That means by-elections could be held by the last week in March. If By-Elections are to be held before March 31st, the 2012 Electors register will be used. If the By-Election is held after March 31st, the new register will be used.
The Elections Office will employ additional staff for each polling station, and increase the number of polling areas. Electors will not be required to return to the Presiding Officer for verification of signature on the ballot. Instead they will deposit the marked ballot in the boxes provided - to ensure the secrecy of their vote.
Employers MUST allow electors reasonable time for voting. Electors are reminded that proof of identification is required. These include the TCI Status Card, passport, NIB Card, NHIP Card or Drivers License.