THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC MOVMENT ANNOUNCES AT LARGE CANDIDATES
In recent meetings held over the last few days by the PDM's Candidates Committee and its National General Council, the Party has selected five candidates from a number of worthy applicants to contest the At Large or All Island constituency for the upcoming General Elections on November 9th of this year.
Party Leader Oswald Skippings says “That he is satisfied with the choices made for the At Large Candidates as they reflect a diversity of persons coming from throughout the islands with a variety of experience and leadership skills. These persons have a patriotic passion for their country and people. The Leader further stated that he is confident that it is one of the most awesome At Large teams conceivable and one that will bring home all five of the At Large seats in the upcoming General Elections.
The National Chairman, Mr. Lynden Hall says “that he is also well pleased and satisfy with the final five At large candidates as they are a true representation of the Turks and Caicos. He was well encouraged by the number of persons that applied to the PDM to run at LARGE and is further excited about having two strong women on the AT Large team. He knows without a doubt that the PDM has the best team and will win the general elections in 2012. The National Chairman say “ he also wishes to thank the other persons who were not selected to run At LARGE. He encourages them to participate in the constituency candidate’s selection once the boundary commission completes its assessment”
The names of the “At Large Candidates are:
- Mr. Oswald Skippings
- Mrs. Sharlene Cartwright Robinson
- Mr. Derek Taylor
- Mr. Samuel Harvey
- Mrs. Josephine Connolly
The PDM is currently receiving applications for the ten constituency candidates and already a number of applications have been received. The choosing of the ten constituency candidates will only be made after the Boundaries Commission has completed its work of setting the constituency boundaries
TODDLER DIES IN POOL TRAGEDY
RTC News has learnt that emergency services were called to an address on Cherokee Road, Providencialees, just before 9am on Sunday July 22nd, after a two-yar-old girl was discovered face down in the swimming pool. At the time the residence was being occupied by a family which had just arrived on July 21st, for a vacation.
Family members and paramedics administered CPR before the child was rushed to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre by ambulance for further treatment.
Sadly the toddler who was visiting with family from Canada was pronounced dead by doctors at 9.41am.
A police investigation is taking place although at this time there does not appear to be any suspicious circumstances.
"This is a truly shocking tragedy and at this terrible time our thoughts and prays are with the family affected”, an RTCI Police spokesman said.
"Due to the nature of the investigation we are unable to give any further details at this time.”
'Dark Knight' rises to earn US$160m
The Dark Knight Rises was on track to earn US$160 million, which would be a record for 2-D films, over the weekend following a mass shooting at a Colorado screening of the Batman film.
Citing box office insiders, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and other media outlets reported Sunday that the latest Batman sequel earned US$160 to US$162 million.
That amount would best the US$158.4 million debut of The Dark Knight in 2008 and give Dark Knight Rises the third-highest domestic weekend opening ever after the 3-D films The Avengers with US$207.4 million and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 with US$169.2 million.
Tickets for 3-D films cost a few more dollars than 2-D screenings, netting extra cash at the box office. Movies released in 3-D typically earn under half of their income in 3-D screenings, sometimes as little as a third.
Sony, Fox, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Lionsgate joined Dark Knight Rises distributor Warner Bros in publicly withholding their usual revenue reports out of respect for the victims and their families.
Shabba takes Int'l Night I
SHABBA Ranks came, saw and conquered International Night I of Reggae Sumfest at the Catherine Hall Entertainment Complex in Montego Bay on Friday.
The Grammy-winning deejay made up for his 10-year absence from the local stage with a super-charged, hour-long set, reminding fans why he is regarded as one of dancehall's finest.
Charging on stage, he got the crowd fired-up with Winey Winey and X-Rated. Things got hotter when he did Mr Loverman as frenzied fans reached out to get a feel of their hero.
Shabba turned it up a notch when he invited singer Cherine Anderson on stage to perform Champion Lover and Twice My Age, two of his biggest hits.
Their sexually suggestive byplay drew gasps from some patrons but it just added to the excitement.
Shabba was honoured for his contribution to reggae and dancehall music by Summerfest Productions, promoters of Sumfest.
After thanking the organisers, he called his wife Michelle on stage to share in the moment.
"She is the reason for my peace of mind and tranquility. She mek mi look so good. Come to mi, baby" he said, as she joined him on stage.
Preceding Shabba's show-stopping performance was American singer Trey Songz. While he had a lot of the women screaming to songs such as Love Faces, Dive In, and We Can't Be Friends, he did not live up to his hyped billing.
The 'Jamaica 50' segment saw the 'greats' taking the stage and succeeded, with each act delivering enjoyable 10-minute sets.
Derrick Harriott, U-Roy, Leroy Sibbles, Leroy Smart, John Holt, the Mighty Diamonds, Pinchers and Yellow Man ensured there was never a dull moment.
Earlier, there were noteworthy performances from the Bonafide band, and emerging singer Nature, who had no problem connecting with his hometown.
It was all ladies after that, led by a scintillating performance from Tessanne Chin and strong showings from Sophia Brown and 14-year-old Bahamian artiste Angelique Sabrina. Tarrus Riley was also a hit.
Another highlight was the exciting 'Sumfest 20' fireworks which transformed the venue with a kaleidoscope of colours.
Also honoured was Irie FM disc jockey Elise Kelly, who was recognised for her contribution to Jamaican music and for being MC at Sumfest for 19 years.
R Kelly woos Sumfest patrons
PATRONS at Reggae Sumfest had to endure a near hour-long set change before seeing American Rhythm and Blues star R Kelly at the Catherine Hall Entertainment Complex in Montego Bay Saturday night.
Everyone stood their ground, not wanting to give up their vantage point.
But after the set was complete and MC Francois St Juste announced that everything was ready, he said there was another hitch. The artiste was just getting into his caravan at the hotel to be escorted to the venue by police.
This did not go down well with the crowd who had to wait another 40 minutes before R Kelly appeared.
The moment he took centrestage, however, the crowd instantly embraced him.
"What's up, Jamaica?" R Kelly asked. The audience was then his for the taking.
So Sexy and Snake were his start-up songs before he exclaimed: "Let me get my sound right or I can't do this can't do this f**king show!"
Whatever the problem, he seemed to have worked it out before going into a medley of early hits such as Bump 'N' Grind, Sex In The Kitchen and Strip For You which drew deafening screams from women at the front.
Their enthusiastic response influenced him him to the edge of the stage, wooing the ladies as he shook one hand after another.
One female fan grabbed on to his shoes to which he commented, "Take my shoes off!" She was more than happy to oblige!
R Kelly continued with Slow Wine, You Remind Me, Seems Like You're Ready, When A Woman's Fed Up and the gospel smassh I Believe I Can Fly. He made on female patron's evening when she caught his sweat-drenched towel which he tossed to the crowd.
Following his performance, some of the fans made their way out of the venue. But many who stayed enjoyed the performance of Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley who took command with Set Up Shop, More Justice, Still Searching and Affairs of the Heart.
Bunny Wailer brought the curtains down on the 20th staging of the festival in fine style as he took the crowd down memory lane with One Love and Simmer Down, songs he did in the early 1960s with the Wailers.
Earlier, good performances came from Jedani, Q-Ban, Rain Seville, Conkarah and hometown boy AJ Brown who was making his first appearance on the Sumfest stage.
Protoje and Christopher Martin also gave strong performances.
--JA.OBSERVER
Usher's injured stepson dies
The stepson of the Grammy award-winning pop star Usher has died, two weeks after the child was critically injured in a boating accident.
Eleven-year-old Kile Glover is a son of Usher's ex-wife Tameka Foster.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Kile died Saturday morning at an Atlanta area hospital.
The boy was run over July 6 by a personal watercraft on Lake Lanier, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
He had been hospitalised with a major brain injury. Lake Lanier is about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta.
(AP-USA)
Olympics head rejects silence for Israeli victims
The head of the International Olympics Committee again rejected calls for a moment of silence during the Games' opening ceremony to honor Israeli Olympians killed in a terror attack at the 1972 Games.
"We feel that the Opening Ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident," Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, said Saturday.
Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, condemned that stance Sunday as "unfeeling" and "completely out of touch."
More than 100,000 people have signed an online petition calling for a moment of silence in memory of the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches killed by Palestinian militants at the games in Munich, Germany, 40 years ago. A German policeman and five of the attackers also died.
President Barack Obama supports the campaign, the White House said Thursday.
Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has also been a vocal proponent, campaigning on Facebook and Twitter for "Just One Minute" of silence.
The refusal of the IOC to back the plan "told us as Israelis that this tragedy is yours alone and not a tragedy within the family of nations," Ayalon said in May.
Ankie Spitzer, whose husband Andrei was among those killed, was the first to sign the petition.
"They came to Munich in 1972 to play as athletes in the Olympics; they came in peace and went home in coffins," she writes in the online plea.
She says she has "no political or religious agenda. Just the hope that my husband and the other men who went to the Olympics in peace, friendship and sportsmanship are given what they deserve. One minute of silence will clearly say to the world that what happened in 1972 can never happen again."
Rogge said Saturday that the IOC would "be present" at the September 5 ceremony honoring the dead at the site where they were killed in Germany.
"We are going to pay a homage to the athletes, of course, as we always have done in the past and will do in the future," he said.
But Lauder of the World Jewish Congress said that was inadequate.
"Frankly, that's not good enough," he said, arguing that "hardly anybody" will notice that event.
The attack began in the early hours of September 5, 1972, when eight Palestinian terrorists disguised in track suits broke into the Olympic Village in Munich.
They stormed the apartments housing Israeli athletes and coaches, killing two and taking nine others hostage. Hours later, the world woke up to the image of a masked man on the balcony of the Olympic Village.
From the Olympic Village, the militants demanded the release of 200 Arab inmates from Israeli prisons or they would start killing the athletes in Munich, one every hour.
Israel refused to negotiate, and the terrorists demanded an airplane to Egypt. The German government then attempted a rescue at the airport. When it was over, all the Israelis, five terrorists and one German police officer lay dead.
The Munich Games were temporarily suspended, and a memorial service attended by some 80,000 people was held at the Olympic Stadium.
--BBC
London 2012: GB men's basketball team beaten by Belgium
Great Britain's men's basketball team lost a third warm-up game in a row as they suffered a 79-56 defeat by Belgium in their final pre-Olympics match.
Without NBA stars Luol Deng and Joel Freeland, GB got off to a bad start, trailing 21-15 after the first quarter.
Belgium stretched their advantage to 39-24 at half-time and never looked back as they cruised to victory.
GB have now lost to USA, Tunisia and Belgium heading into their London 2012 opener against Russia on Sunday.
Pops Mensah-Bonsu led the GB attack with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Eric Boateng hit 12 points and 15 rebounds.
However, GB were always behind in the game in Antwerp and despite a brave fight could not do anything to stop a third-straight loss.
England v South Africa: Dale Steyn sends England to innings defeat
Dale Steyn took five wickets as South Africa swept to an innings-and-12-run win in the first Test at the Kia Oval.
The pace bowler claimed 5-56 and Imran Tahir 3-63 to bowl England out for 240 shortly before tea on the final day.
Ian Bell's defiant 55 from 220 balls and Matt Prior's 40 failed to prevent England slipping to a first Test defeat at home since 2010.
Once they perished within six overs, England were quickly finished off by a ruthless South Africa side.
Their comprehensive victory capped a remarkable turnaround in fortunes after England closed the first day on 267-3.
Steyn did the damage on Monday, removing Ravi Bopara half an hour into the day before dismissing Bell, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann to give him seven wickets in the match.
With Bell and Prior at the crease, confidence grew that England could achieve the unlikely and save the Test, the first in the three-match series which will decide the best team in the world.
Bell was particularly stoic, reining in any attacking instincts on his way to a hard-working half-century.
His steadying influence helped England recover from the early blow of losing the under-pressure Bopara, who followed up his first-innings duck by dragging a back-footed force off Steyn on to his stumps.
The ugly nature of the dismissal seemed to focus Bell and Prior on the task at hand and they knuckled down for the remainder of the morning session, taking the sting out of the seamers and using their feet to negate any turn from leg-spinner Tahir.
Bell did get a faint edge on one Tahir delivery, but stand-in wicketkeeper AB de Villiers spilled the chance, helping England reach lunch without further alarm.
However, Prior's departure sparked a collapse that saw England lose their last five wickets for 37 runs.
The sweep shot was redundant until Prior attempted it against Tahir, succeeding only in gloving the ball to Jacques Kallis at first slip.
The importance of the wicket was not lost on South Africa, who took the new ball four overs later and set about finishing off England's tail.
Steyn, bowling with great hostility, drew Bell into playing at a wide one that found Kallis at second slip.
Broad was caught down the leg side after South Africa successfully reviewed a not-out decision, Swann drove tamely to extra-cover and James Anderson was trapped in front by Tahir.
The second Test of the series at Headingley starts on 2 August.
--BBC
Torch starts final leg before London Olympics open
The Olympic torch relay began its first full day in London on Saturday, marking the start of the final week-long countdown to the opening of the 2012 Games.
The flame was handed to the day's first torchbearer in Greenwich, home to the Equestrian Arena for the Games.
The torch was also carried up to the roof of the North Greenwich Arena, where gymnastics events and the basketball finals will be staged.
Later in the day, it will reach the Tower Hamlets neighborhood, one of the poorest in London, which has benefited from millions of dollars of investment in infrastructure and regeneration projects as a result of the Games.
The torch made a dramatic arrival at the Tower of London on Friday evening, when a Royal Marine commando, carrying the flame in a lantern descended a rope 180 feet from a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter into the grounds.
London Mayor Boris Johnson was there to greet the torch at the Tower, which dates to the 11th century. The flame spent the night in the safekeeping of the Jewel House, home of the Crown Jewels.
Over the next week, nearly 1,000 torchbearers will carry it along nearly 200 miles of streets around the capital before it takes a starring role at the opening ceremony at the Olympic Park next Friday.
More than 10 million people lined the streets of more than 1,000 communities around Britain to see the torch, which has been carried by more than 7,000 torchbearers over the past two months, Olympic organizers said.
The buildup to the Olympics has been overshadowed by a security fiasco caused by the failure of contractor G4S to supply enough guards for the Games.
But Johnson told CNN's Becky Anderson that while London authorities are not complacent, he is confident in their ability to keep visitors safe.
"We do everything in our power to maximize security at the venues and that's working well now -- the army, the military as well as G4S are providing very safe conditions on the site, plus there is a huge amount of work that nobody has seen involving the intelligence service," the mayor said
"That's something about an event like this -- you listen out for what may or may not be happening on the Internet, you try as hard as you possibly can to monitor the potential suspects."
Johnson said it is impossible to guard against all "unknown unknowns" and that's why strong security is needed at venues.
"At no stage can you guarantee that someone won't do something moronic, stupid, violent and tragic, not just in London but the whole of the UK is a potential target in this period," he said.
But at the same time, he said, "the intelligence is as reassuring as it could be under the circumstances. The threat level as far as we are aware has slightly come down in the last 12 months, but you can never be certain."
Some 3,500 extra military personnel have been called up to meet the shortfall in recruitment by G4S. Another 1,200 have been placed on standby as a contingency, the government said this week
--CNN