Some 1.8 million Haitians affected by Hurricane Sandy
Some 1.8 million Haitians have been affected by Hurricane Sandy, the United Nations relief agency said on Friday after its first assessment of the situation in the region, adding that food security remains an urgent concern in the Caribbean nation.
Initial data collected by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) showed Hurricane Sandy, which ploughed through the Caribbean country before hitting the eastern coast of the United States, killed 60 people and significantly damaged critical infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals in addition to destroying thousands of homes.
“Floodwater had been receding since Sunday but more than 18,000 homes have been flooded, damaged or destroyed,” an OCHA spokesperson, Jens Laerke, told reporters in Geneva, adding that food security remains a main concern as the country is now struggling with the combined impact of hurricanes Sandy and Isaac, which hit in August, as well as drought.
Preliminary data estimated that food security had been severely affected, Laerke said, with up to two million people at risk of malnutrition.
In addition to food insecurity, OCHA said it is concerned about the nearly 350,000 people that are still living in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) as a result of a devastating earthquake which hit the country in January 2010. Laerke noted that, while most vulnerable IDPs in camps that had been evacuated before the storm have returned home, some 1,500 people remain in 15 hurricane shelters.
Because of the impact of the hurricane, OCHA said it is now considering an emergency revision of the Consolidated Appeal (CAP) to accommodate increased needs.
During the same briefing, a spokesperson for the UN World Health Organization (WHO) reported that access to health services and restocking supplies was limited as rivers had become impassable and roads had been obstructed. It also warned that poor sanitary conditions could increase the risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera, which is still endemic in the country.
The WHO spokesperson said there has already been an increase in cholera alerts, especially in the south, and added that field teams are monitoring the situation closely. WHO is also working with the government in the area to ensure that health supplies could be delivered to treatment centres that had been damaged by strong winds and flooding, he added.
Cuba was also severely affected by the hurricane, OCHA’s Laemke said, with power cuts affecting more than 890,000 people and nearly 200,000 homes damaged by the storm.
In addition, 375 health centres and several hospitals were damaged, as were 2,100 schools. Crops have been damaged and remote communities are cut off because of road and bridge damage.
UN humanitarian agencies are working closely with national and local authorities, donors and emergency organizations to support national efforts. An emergency cash grant of $100,000 has been approved and a request for the UN Central Emergency Response Fund is under preparation.
Launched in 2006 and managed by OCHA, CERF enables the fast delivery of life-saving assistance to people affected by natural disasters and other crises worldwide. It is funded by voluntary contributions from member states, non-governmental organizations, regional governments, the private sector and individual donors.
Bahamas to hold gambling referendum next month
A controversial gambling referendum will be held in The Bahamas on December 3, Prime Minister Perry Christie announced in the House of Assembly on Thursday.
The ballot will have only one question: Do you support the legalization and regulation of web shops?
Christie said his government no longer intends to include the question of a national lottery based on advice from London-based consultants who do not consider the scheme to be “commercially viable at this time”.
The prime minister reiterated that the question of removing the prohibition on casino gambling for Bahamians will not be a part of the referendum.
Christie pledged to shut down web shops across the country if a majority of voters vote ‘no’ in the referendum.
“In that event, the government will act in furtherance of the expressed will of the electorate and take all necessary steps to ensure that our gaming laws are enforced and that the transgressors of those laws are dealt with in full accordance with those laws,” he said.
Christie also warned that not all web shop operators would be licensed if the referendum is successful and that only a small number will be legalized.
He said this would make it easier for the regulator to oversee the industry.
“In order to qualify for a web shop license, applicants would have to meet stringent criteria including possessing the necessary experience, integrity and expertise, as well as possessing the necessary financial resources and having organization capacity and internal controls needed to operate in an efficient, responsible and transparent manner.”
The government expects to get annual tax revenue of $15 million to $20 million from web shops if the referendum passes.
The money would fund scholarships, athletic and sporting development, music, art and Junkanoo programs, infrastructure, along with social and recreational outreach programs, according to the prime minister.
If web shops are legalized, they would be subject to a licensing fee of at least $1 million and a performance bond once the license is issued, he said.
Christie said the businesses would also have to pay annual taxes, based on their revenue, similar to the taxation structure casinos currently adhere to.
The businesses would also have to contribute to the cost of implementing the new laws and regulations for their industry.
Web shops would also have to -- as a condition of their licenses -- create and maintain programs to protect gamblers from addiction.
They would also have to help shoulder the cost of setting up a system to rehabilitate gambling addicts and bar them from entry to their shops.
The Gaming Board will serve as the licenser, arbitrator of disputes against licensed web shops and regulator of the industry.
Particular focus will be placed on anti-money laundering efforts to ensure that web shops are not concealing funds derived from criminal means, the prime minister said.
He stressed that his government will remain neutral on the issue and distanced himself from a website urging people to vote yes on the referendum.
“Information has been given to me that someone somewhere initiated a web program ‘Say Yes’ registered in the name Perry Gladstone Christie,” he said. “For what reason I do not know. That [isn’t] right and I hope it’s not politics.”
Persons who voted in the last general election will be able to vote in the referendum. Those who have not registered to vote will have up to 10 days before the December 3 poll to register.
Republished courtesy of the Nassau Guardian
Alleged Scammers Still In Custody ... As Police Continue To Investigate
Police investigators are continuing to question 14 persons, including six females, who were arrested in simultaneous operations across four St James communities last Friday.
According to reports from the Anti-Lottery Scam Task Force, the operations began at about 5 a.m. in the communities of Lilliput, Rose Heights, Bogue Hill and Granville, all in St James.
Members of the task force were assisted by personnel from the Mobile Reserve, the Jamaica Defence Force and the Area One Fraud Squad.
other items seized as well
One 9-mm Browning pistol, with its serial number erased and loaded with a magazine containing 13 9-mm rounds, was seized at premises in Rose Heights.
The five occupants were arrested and are to be interviewed this week with the aim of laying charges against them.
The other nine persons were arrested at various locations and they, too, are to be interviewed in the coming days.
Also seized during the operations were US$8,000, J$180,000, £10, several documents, laptops, cellular phones, television sets, a magic jack, SIM cards, three motor cars, a wrecker and a quantity of ganja.
Accused in $80 million housing scam case set for trial
The trial of the two persons implicated in the $80 million housing scam will commence on November 19, 2012. The case was called up before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on Friday, but was transferred to another court where it is scheduled for trial.
Danica Griffith, of Seaforth Street, Campbellville, Georgetown and Balkaran Lillie, of 26 North East Grove, East Bank Demerara, are accused of conducting a multi-million-dollar housing scam. The plot saw several persons being tricked into paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire house lots.
The police have alleged that the two accused had set up a system where they collected money from house applicants under the pretext that they were in a position to acquire lands for those applicants.
They are accused of tricking persons into believing that they had connections with staffers of the Ministry of Housing who would facilitate them in acquiring the house lots.
Although the duo is likely to face 18 more fraud charges in relation to the matter, thus far Griffith and Lillie have only been accused of three counts of obtaining money by false pretense. Police have not yet arrested the mastermind of the crime for whom a warrant had been issued.
At their initial hearing, the 19 year-old clothes vendor and the 25-year-old laboratory technician were not required to plead to the charges. However when given the opportunity to plead on Friday, both denied the allegations.
The allegation is that the two accused obtained from Latchmie Manbodh the sum of $380,000; from Benna Stanislaus the sum of $660,000; and from Ramkumar Rajban the sum of $250,000 for house lots. Griffith who is represented by Attorney at Law Rexford Jackson is out on bail but Lillie remains incarcerated since he could not afford the bail which was set at over $1.7 million.
The latter is being represented by Attorney At law Paul Fung-a-Fat who indicated that his client needs a reduction in bail because he has been imprisoned for more than ten weeks. The Magistrate did not grant the reduction thus Lillie remains behind bars.
Alec Sanguinetti steps down at CHTA
The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association announced that Alec Sanguinetti is retiring as Director General after 19 years in executive positions with the organization and 52 years as one of the tourism industry’s top airline and hotel executives.
Richard Doumeng, president of CHTA, said that a search committee is being formed to find a replacement for Sanguinetti who will step down as of January 31st, 2013 following Caribbean Travel Marketplace.
“October 1st, 2012 marked 52 years for me in the travel and tourism industry and the last 19 years with CHTA have been among the most enjoyable,” said Sanguinetti.
“I have had the opportunity in working with CHTA to be involved with the Caribbean hotel and tourism industry which is a far more encompassing and broader playing field than working with any single entity such as an airline or destination,” he said.
He added “I had the opportunity to meet and work with wonderful and dedicated individuals from whom I have learned such a great deal.”
Sanguinetti was only the second chief executive for CHTA in the association’s 50-year history.
He originally joined CHTA as deputy director general in 1993 working closely with John Bell, the association’s first chief executive.
He was named director general and chief executive in 2003.
US Presidential Race Back at Full Speed After Superstorm
U.S. President Barack Obama is back to campaigning for reelection after spending most of the week heading Washington's response to Superstorm Sandy.
The incumbent Democrat was in Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado Thursday — three so-called “battleground states” that could determine whether he or Republican Mitt Romney wins next Tuesday's presidential election.
Mr. Romney was in Virginia, another crucial state in the November 6 election.
Both men criticized each other's plans for improving the sluggish U.S. economy. Mr. Romney told supporters in Roanoke that middle income Americans have been “squeezed” financially during Mr. Obama's first term in office.
“The median income in America has dropped by $4,300 over the last four years. So now, you're earning 43 hundred dollars a year less than you were four years ago. And gasoline prices, they've gone up $2,000 per family. And health insurance costs, they've gone up $2,500 a family.”
Mr. Obama told supporters in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that Mr. Romney touts economic policies favoring the wealthy — policies he says failed in the past.
“Now in the closing weeks of this campaign, Governor Romney has been using all his talents as a salesman to dress up these very same policies that failed our country so badly, the very same policies that we have been cleaning up after for the past four years. And he is offering them up as change.”
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed Mr. Obama for a second term Thursday. The mayor, a former Republican turned independent, cited the president's efforts to fight pollution from cars and factories. Many scientists say carbon emissions contribute to global warming and possibly more powerful storms like Sandy.
President Obama says he is honored to have the mayor's endorsement. The president says although they do not agree on every issue, they both back improvements in education, immigration reform, and fighting climate change.
Bloomberg is mayor of the United States' largest city and is a major endorsement. New York was devastated by this week's storm.
With less than a week before Election Day, polls show the race is tied.
Ukraine’s Tymoshenko Refuses to End Hunger Strike
Ukraine's jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko is refusing to end a hunger strike she began this week to protest alleged widespread vote irregularities in Sunday's parliamentary polls, which have been described by U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as “a step backward” for the nation's democracy.
Ms. Tymoshenko — in custody at a hospital in northeastern Ukraine — called election tallies favoring the ruling party of political arch-foe President Viktor Yanukovych “a total falsification.” Her refusal to eat was relayed by opposition party leaders outside the hospital in Kharkiv, and amplified in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
With 99 percent of the vote counted Thursday, Ukrainian media reports show the president's ruling party ahead with just over 30 percent of the vote. Ms.Tymoshenko's United Opposition Fatherland party was running second with 25.4 percent.
Sunday's elections spawned a firestorm of protests from international observers who found widespread campaign irregularities, including evidence the ruling party used state funds to finance campaign activities. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also accused the ruling party of restricting the free low of campaign information.
The 51-year-old Ms. Tymoshenko was not allowed to vote Sunday. She was charged last year with abuse of the office of prime minister for her approval of a 2009 natural gas imports deal with Russia. She was found guilty and is serving a seven-year prison term that has drawn protests from a host of Western governments and human rights organizations.
Earlier this week the United States renewed charges that the Tymoshenko conviction was politically motivated and called on the government of Viktor Yanukovych to put an end to what it said was the selective prosecution of political opponents.
Syrian Opposition Says Rebels Kill 28 Soldiers
The Syrian opposition says rebel forces have killed 28 government soldiers during attacks on three army checkpoints as the violence in Syria escalates.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the attacks occurred Thursday in the northern province of Idlib, near the Turkish border. It said five rebels were killed in the skirmishes.
There was no comment from the Syrian government.
In neighboring Turkey, a car full of explosives blew up in the port town of Iskenderun near the Syrian border. Four people were killed. It was not immediately clear if the blast was linked to the Kurdish militants or the Syrian conflict.
Turkey is home to more than 100,000 Syrian refugees and opposition leaders who live in camps along the border.
The Syrian conflict is entering its 20th month and has caused the deaths of an estimated 36,000 people. Hundreds of people were killed in the past week as the government has stepped up airstrikes against rebel-controlled areas.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday addressed concerns that Islamic extremists who have fought alongside the rebels are radicalizing the opposition.
She said Washington hopes that Syrian opposition talks next week in Doha will produce a new rebel leadership that represents those fighting and dying in the country. She said the Syrian National Council, composed mainly of exiles, can no longer be viewed as the leader of the opposition, but it can still play a role.
Supervisor of Elections Warns Candidates Against 'Treating'.
With just under two weeks to go until the election on November 9th the Supervisor of Elections, Mr. Dudley Lewis has written to candidates to remind them that under the Elections Ordinance they are not allowed to offer inducements to electors to influence their voting intentions.
"I have been satisfied that campaigning up to the present time has been overwhelmingly fair and free. By issuing this announcement I wish to ensure any tendency to cut corners and disregard election law is avoided during the intensive final days of campaigning.
I have also written to the leaders of the political parties and the independent candidates to remind them of their obligation to continue to ensure their campaigns remain within the law," explained Lewis.
During political rallies, meetings or general campaigning candidates, political parties or anyone associated with them are not permitted to provide food, drink, gifts of any kind or cash as these could interpreted as an attempt to corruptly influence a voter in the way they may cast their vote at the election.
This behavior is known as 'treating' and is illegal. It has been illegal for many years, although in past elections some people chose to ignore it. Such behavior is no longer being ignored. The person offering this kind of inducement is committing a serious criminal offence and so is any member of the public who accepts a gift or cash.
The Supervisor will follow up all reports received where this behavior is illegal and will not hesitate to collaborate with the Police to initiate criminal investigations. He also invites members of the public to inform him if they are aware of any incident involving inducements to voters. Mr. Lewis also points out that inexpensive tee shirts, caps and advertising materials provided by political parties and candidates are not regarded as treating.
A fair election, untainted by any hint of corrupt practices, is in the best interests of the citizens of the TCI.
The Supervisor of Elections can be contacted by telephone 946-2558 and email at dllewis@gov.tc
Dolphin Cove Development Proposal
A proposal from the operators of the Dolphin Cove brand to open a 'dolphinarium' on Providenciales is raising some eyebrows.
Governor’s spokesperson Neil Smith said the Governor's Office has received a number of media enquiries about the Dolphin Cove development proposal and in a press release to RTC News, said in addition to the operator’s proposal, the company has also registered interest in a future similar facility on Grand Turk.
Smith said the application was made in an open and transparent manner through the Inward Investment Unit of TCIG and has been the subject of discussion within TCIG.
“The application was granted a business license in order for it to be fairly considered under the existing planning processes. It is important to make clear that the granting of a business license is not a licence to commence operations. The go ahead for building and operating the facility would only come once the planning processes have been finished, and final planning permission had been granted, Mr. Smith explained.
He said the Fisheries Protection (Amendment) Regulations that was Gazetted on 25 October, permits the importation and keeping of marine mammals for the purposes of display, exhibition or performance for those companies that have completed the application processes and gained all the required permissions to develop and operate their facilities.
In lending clarity to the enquiry, Mr. Smith said quote:-
“Let me make clear that the government has received an application to develop a tourist facility on Providenciales;
* We are considering it, using the same processes and procedures that we used for all other applications for development;
* The granting of the business license and the gazetting of the Fisheries Protection (Amendment) Regulations, allows the application to be considered fully by the Planning Department;
* No license to operate has been granted;
* The application will now be considered by the TCIG Planning Department, who will make their recommendations to the responsible Minister in due course.” END QUOTE.