Michael Misick row with British & TCIG Government
The row between the family of the former premier, Michael Misick, and the British and TCIG Governments - over his detention in a Brazilian jail - has continued this week.
The family has restated it believes there are flaws in the legality of the case for detaining the former Premier under an extradition request filed by the Attorney General. They say his continued detention in Brazil is entirely unnecessary because he wishes to return to the TCI.
The dispute appears to be about whether the British Government and TCIG are being transparent about what may have gone on behind the scenes in relation to the complex extradition process.
The Misick family are disputing the Attorney General’s assertion that the request was made lawfully and properly - and say they can point to evidence suggesting it wasn’t. The Misick family claims the AG’s correspondence was riddled with half truths and innuendoes. They allege, for example, it was represented to the Brazilian courts that Mr Misick escaped lawful custody after he was charged with offences of Conspiracy to receive bribes and with conspiracy to defraud.
In fact, they point out, Mr Misick was never charged with anything before his departure from the TCI. The family dismisses the AG’s assertion that Mr Misick can consider whether he wishes to return home voluntarily after the UK has formally requested his extradition. The family claims the former premier is being detained by the Brazilian Authorities at the AG’s pleasure.
It is folly, insist the Misicks, to pretend the extradition application had to be completed before arrangements could be made for him to return home. All the AG has to do – say the Misicks - is rescind the warrants he caused to be put in place. If that happened Michael Misick could be released by the Brazilians to the custody of his lawyers and SIPT officers - so that he could board a pre-arranged direct flight to the TCI.
According to the family, The AG had the power to get the politician home within 24 to 36 hours. There were no legitimate security concerns in lifting the warrants. Michael Misick could fly on a direct flight from Brazil, stopping only to refuel in the BVI - a British Overseas Territory.
The circumstances surrounding Michael Misick’s detention are a “set up” - claim the Misick family. They demand their kinsman should be given a fair trial by jury of his peers. You can read the statement in full on the RTC website.
Vat Preparations for TCI
The Governor’s Office said tonight that preparations for the introduction of Value Added Tax were continuing at full speed in line with British Foreign Office Minister Mark Simmonds’ letter to the Premier, the Honorable Dr Rufus Ewing, on 14th January. The plan was to put VAT into effect on 1st April, while UK Ministers awaited a proposal for a credible alternative to VAT in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Some of the key elements of this VAT implementation program were spelt out by the Governor’s Office. The first element of this final lap is the setting up of a new Revenue Department under the former Belize under-secretary Cynthia Costillo. She takes up post as Commissioner of Revenue on the 18th of February. This brings together the people who previously worked in the Revenue Control and VAT implementation units. Here’s Chris Jarrett.
" The members of the VAT team have been receiving training from the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Center (CARTAC) on VAT Fundamentals and VAT Legislation Training since December last year. They are about to begin a visit program to the 500 VAT registered firms: 130 businesses have already received their packs in this regard; 41 compliance visits have already taken place with a further 18 already scheduled to take place in January. The team will visit all registered businesses in good time for implementation on 1st April. The TCI Government signed a $500,000 contract with Sogema on 17th of January for a new software system to help implement and monitor VAT. Hugh McGarel-Groves, Chief Financial Officer of the TCI Government said VAT was internationally recognized as a good tax both for Government revenues and for the economy. The CFO said it was straightforward to collect, broadly based and improved cash flow by being paid more regularly than other forms of tax. He added that given the improving but still weak state of the country’s finances, VAT had been signed into law in 2012 to finally allow the TCI to begin to benefit from VAT after many years of discussion. UK ministers were confident VAT was an important tool in further securing the TCI public finances. However - as politicians themselves - they recognized the democratic mandate of those elected here. They awaited proposals for credible alternatives." This is Chris Jarrett for RTC
Still on this VAT statement, Mr McGarel Groves went on to say that the obligations of Government could not wait – there were investments, bills and salaries to be paid month in and month out. The new financial year would begin in only a few weeks. That was why UK Ministers believed that the TCI should proceed with Value Added Tax now – to protect Government revenues and through them public spending levels – and to review it again at the end of the next financial year. This would also allow local political leaders even more time to further develop credible alternatives, he added.
Pirates Seize Oil Tanker in Ivory Coast
Armed men have hijacked a tanker carrying 5,000 tons of oil from a port in Ivory Coast.
Ivorian port officials said Monday that the Nigerian-owned vessel, along with its 16 crew members, was seized late last week as it was preparing to unload at the port in Abidjan, the country's commercial capital.
The statement says officials believe the ship is currently located off the coast of neighboring Ghana. However, that has not been confirmed.
Hijackings and attacks on ships have increased along Africa's Gulf of Guinea in the past year.
The International Maritime Agency says piracy in West Africa, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea, is on the rise with 58 incidents reported in 2012, including 10 hijackings and 207 crew members taken hostage.
A total of five incidents were reported off Ivory Coast in 2012, up from one the previous year. In October, suspected Nigerian pirates seized a tanker carrying more than 30,000 tons of gasoline off the coast of Abidjan, the first reported hijacking in the country.
Opposition Wins German State Election
Germany's center-left opposition has won a razor-thin victory in a regional election that is seen as a test for Chancellor Angela Merkel eight months before nationwide legislative elections.
The opposition Social Democrats and Greens won a one-seat majority over Ms. Merkel's center-right coalition in Sunday's election in Lower Saxony state.
Ms. Merkel described the defeat as 'painful'.
“I am not going to pretend, after all the feelings generated by this election, defeat hurts even more. We are all sad today. Sad that it did not work.''
The election is the last test before September, when polls for Bavaria will take place followed by national elections, which will determine whether Ms. Merkel will win a third term.
Mathew Knowles’ Baby Mama Says He Threatened Her
According to TMZ, Matthew Knowles emailed an ominous threat to the mother of his 2-year-old son — or so the woman claims, and now she’s gunning for him in court.
Knowles’ baby mama Alexsandra Wright filed legal docs, asking the family court judge to up her child support to cover expenses for security to protect their kid. Mathew is currently on the hook for $12k a month.
Wright claims she needs security because of a “threatening” email Knowles sent her back in September 2011, in which he wrote, “You hurt my family. There’s a price to pay.”
According to the docs, Wright also wants additional dough to cover expenses for a secure, private school.
Sources close to Knowles tell TMZ … he faithfully pays child support, adding the only reason he hasn’t paid expenses for schooling is because they haven’t agreed on the school.
We’re told Knowles thinks Wright’s latest legal move could backfire because his income has drastically decreased since the original order was issued. As you know, Beyonce gave him walking papers in 2011.
Knowles believes the judge could actually reduce his monthly payments.
Source-TMZ
Chastain tops US box office with Mama and Zero Dark Thirty
Supernatural thriller Mama has topped the US box office with its star Jessica Chastain leading in this weekend's two top grossing films.
It opened above expectations, earning $28.1m (£18m) while Zero Dark Thirty, in which Chastain leads the hunt for Osama Bin Laden made $17.6m (£11m).
Continuing its success, the Oscar-nominated Silver Linings Playbook made $11.4m (£7m) after 10 weeks on release.
Rounding off the top five were crime films Gangster Squad and Broken City.
While horror films generally have a greater appeal with male audiences, Mama was a big hit with females, who made up 61% of its audience.
The weekend's other films included Broken City, Django Unchained, Gangster Squad and The Last Stand.
Female audience
"Never underestimate the drawing power of a PG-13 horror film," Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for movie tracker Hollywood.com said of Mama, which tells the tale of sisters Victoria and Lily who disappeared in the woods the day their mother was murdered by their father.
Elsewhere in the chart, Arnold Schwarzenegger's post-politics comeback failed to ignite cinema-goers. His action film, The Last Stand debuted with just $6.3m (£4m) to take the number 10 spot, making it one of the worst openings for the 65-year-old Terminator star.
While Schwarzenegger co-starred in The Expendables 2 in August, action comedy The Last Stand was his first lead role since he exited the California governor's seat in January 2011.
Quentin Tarantino had another successful week with his Oscar-nominated Django Unchained.
After four weeks on release in north America, the Spaghetti Western became the director's biggest box office success, outperforming his previous film Inglourious Basterds, by adding $8.2 million for a domestic total of $138.4m (£87m).
Internationally, the film did exceptionally well, taking in $48.1m (£30m) in its opening weekend.
Other Oscar favourites saw their largest boost internationally. Ang Lee's 3-D fantasy Life of Pi added $20.7m (£13m) to its huge $393.9m (£248m) international haul.
The international take for Tom Hooper's musical, Les Miserables, also grew to $150.5m (£95m) with $19.4 million on the weekend.
NORTH AMERICAN TOP FIVE
1. Mama $28.1m
2. Zero Dark Thirty $17.6m
3. Silver Linings Playbook $11.4m
4. Gangster Squad $9.1m
5. Broken City $9m
Source: Hollywood.com
Arnold Schwarzenegger is indestructible in 'The Last Stand'
The Governator is back! Retired from politics, Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking a leaf out of his "Expendables" buddy Sylvester Stallone's book and setting out to prove that he can still kick butt at 65.
"The Last Stand" represents his first starring role in eight years, and it seems there's plenty more gas in his tank. The timing for a primed, pumped, itchy-trigger-finger shoot-em-up leaves something to be desired, no doubt, but with Nicolas Cage unaccountably AWOL this January, Arnie has the knucklehead R-rated action field pretty much to himself. What's more, "The Last Stand" brings it. If you park your brain outside, and double-park any misgivings about vicarious gun mayhem right alongside, it's passable fun.
It's a modern-day Western -- a souped-up and dumbed-down "Rio Bravo," if you will -- with Schwarzenegger making like John Wayne as border town Sheriff Ray Owens, the last man standing between a runaway bad guy (Mexican drug baron Eduardo Noreiga) and his freedom. Charting a spectacularly erratic 24-hour course, the movie juggles self-consciously hokey small-town comedy with slick (or at least semi-slick) high-tech chase scenes as the road-racing desperado leads Forest Whitaker and the feds on a merry chase through the Southwest in his prototype Corvette 01.
The auto action seems a transparent pitch to sell high-end sports cars and inject a little momentum in a movie that's equally content to dawdle over its morning coffee, shooting the breeze with amusing (or at least semi-amusing) supporting players like Ray's deputies, ornery Mike (Luis Guzman in the Walter Brennan role), bumbling Jerry (Zach Gilford), and sexy Sarah (Jaimie Alexander).
Johnny Knoxville gets unaccountably prominent billing for little more than an extended cameo as a guy named Dinkum, a screwy gun nut with a penchant for cavalier headgear. He's excruciating, but almost puppy-like he's so eager to please.
The same might go for director Kim Jee-woon, a talented Korean known for macabre ghost stories like "A Tale of Two Sisters," whacky adventures ("The Good, the Bad, the Weird"), and grisly cop thrillers ("I Saw the Devil").
His first U.S. effort is full of bold, broad comic book strokes -- some of them pleasingly original, like a car chase through a cornfield, the husks of corn thudding against the windscreens like oversized bugs. Listen to how he picks out the sound of a helmet rolling across the pavement. That's a filmmaker alert to his environment and the tools at this command. But there's just as much that's ham-fisted or tin-eared. At best these are stereotypes we might recognize from other B flicks. There's never a whiff of authenticity, except maybe when Harry Dean Stanton appears for a cruelly brief bit part as a cranky local farmer.
The uninspired score by Kim's countryman Mowg doesn't lift the so-so climactic shoot-out any, but the movie's tongue in cheek humor will buy off most of the target audience. And Arnie? He's indestructible.
--CNN
Les Miserables soundtrack tops UK album chart
The soundtrack to Tom Hooper's Oscar-nominated Les Miserables has become the first cast recording to top the UK and Ireland album chart in 16 years.
It has knocked Brit-nominated Emeli Sande's best-selling Our Version of Events into second-place with newcomer Jake Bugg's self-titled debut in third.
The last musical to achieve a similar feat was the soundtrack to the film Evita, starring Madonna, in 1997.
Will.i.am and Britney Spears had the number one single for a second week.
Their track, Scream & Shout, held off competition from rapper 50 Cent, whose new release, My Life, featuring Eminem and Maroon 5's Adam Levine, entered the chart at number two.
Also failing to claim the top spot was singer-turned-actor Justin Timberlake, who released his first single in six years - Suit and Tie, featuring Jay-Z - earlier this week.
The last time Timberlake, who has recently starred in films including The Social Network and Friends with Benefits, had a UK chart hit was as a guest on rap producer Timbaland's Carry Out in April 2010.
The 31-year-old had to settle for number three with his latest release. Taylor Swift and Rihanna rounded off the top five.
'Songs missing'
Les Miserables's success was not limited to the album chart as actress Anne Hathaway scored her first ever UK Top 40 hit with I Dreamed A Dream, which climbed 58 places to number 22.
The soundtrack album contains highlights from the two-and-a-half hour film, including On My Own, Empty Chairs At Empty Tables and Suddenly, a new song written specifically for the film adaptation.
However, it is missing more than an hour of music, with the likes of Lovely Ladies, Who Am I and Do You Hear The People Sing omitted from the compilation.
Several fans have petitioned film company Universal Studios and record label Republic Records to release the full score.
Russell Crowe, who plays police inspector Javert, has joined the calls, writing on Twitter: "I know there has been talk of releasing the complete score and 48 tune soundtrack of #LesMis tell @UniversalPics you want it."
But not everyone is a fan of the album, which features live vocals recorded on the set of the film.
"I think it would have been better if they tweaked the sound a little bit on the voices," said stage veteran Elaine Paige on her Radio 2 show.
"It's all too naturalistic, overblown, over-acted for my taste".
The Telegraph's Emma Gosnell agreed, saying: "For me, at key moments in the score, the vocals just weren't raw and real enough."
Even Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the scheming bar owner Madame Thenardier, said she was underwhelmed by her own performance.
"I had lots of vocal training for Les Mis but I didn't improve as much as I thought I would," she said.
"I watched it and I thought I was going to be so much better, I thought my voice was going to be so much bigger.
"I practised and practised and practised but the thing with Les Mis is that it was real, so that's what we sounded like."
Elsewhere in the album charts, Manchester-based indie rockers Everything Everything - whose debut record Man Alive was nominated for the Mercury prize - enjoyed their highest-charting album to date, as Arc entered at number five.
Rapper and BBC Sound of 2012 finalist, A$AP Rocky, scored his first top ten album with Long Live A$AP, which debuted at number seven.
Other new entries were Irish folkster Villagers whose Awayland charted at sixteen and pop veterans New Order, whose Lost Sirens - made up of tracks recorded during sessions for their 2005 album Waiting For The Sirens' Call - landed at 23.
Original Batmobile sold for $4.2m at US auction
The Batmobile used by actor Adam West in the original TV series of Batman has sold for $4.2m (£2.6m) at a US auction.
The car was bought by Rick Champagne, a logistics company owner from Phoenix, Arizona.
The 56-year-old, who was just 10 when the high-camp TV series began in 1966, said it "was a dream come true".
The Batmobile design was based on a 1955 Lincoln Futura, a concept car built in Italy by the Ford Motor Company.
It was the first time that car had come up for public sale since it was bought in 1965 by car-customiser George Barris for a nominal fee of $1.
Barris then spent $15,000 (roughly £5,370 at the time) to transform it into the famous superhero vehicle, over a period of 15 days.
Adam West, now 84, played the caped crusader in 120 episodes in four years of programming, with Burt Ward starring as the "boy wonder" Robin and comedian and actor Cesar Romero as Batman's arch nemesis, The Joker.
The 60s show was camp in its portrayal of Batman. More recent incarnations of billionaire Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego - such as British director Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy - have had a much darker tone.
The newer Batmobiles have reflected the more brutal portrayal of Gotham City's saviour, such as the "Tumbler" of 2005's Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale.
It had a V-8 engine, arguably one of the first in-car phones, and parachutes, which were deployed to help Batman turn sharp corners.
Mr Barris told reporters at the auction: "The car had to be a star on its own. And it became one."
Since the show was cancelled in 1968, he has toured the Batmobile and was eventually housed in a private showroom in California.
Morgan Stanley swings back to profit
US bank Morgan Stanley has said it swung back to profit in the fourth quarter of 2012, a turnaround it described as a "pivot point".
It reported a net profit of $481m (£302m) in the last three months of the year, compared to a loss of $275m in the same period a year earlier. Revenue jumped 37% to $7.5bn.
The bank, which has been shedding staff, earned more in fees for financial services.
Shares jumped 5.5% in early trading.
The profit included a net tax benefit of about $155m.
Rival US banks Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase both reported sharp rises in profits on the back of strong performances by their investment banking arms earlier this week. Citigroup also said its profits rose despite $2.32bn in one-off charges.
But Bank of America reported a decline in quarterly profits after it took another financial hit on bad mortgage debt.
'Meaningful progress'
Over the year, it cut nearly 4,500 jobs, or 7% of its workforce. It plans to cut another 1,300 jobs, with cuts focused on the investment bank and senior-ranking employees.
"After a year of significant challenges, Morgan Stanley has reached a pivot point," said James Gorman, the bank's chairman and chief executive.
"We demonstrated meaningful progress in our wealth management joint venture, reaching the highest pre-tax margin since the inception of the joint venture."
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the bank plans to change how bonuses are paid to higher-paid bankers.
Bonuses, which are usually awarded in the first couple months of the year, will be paid in four instalments spread over almost three years, instead of one lump sum, the Journal reported.
Compensation was $1.5bn compared with $1.6bn in the same period of a year before, it added.