CBMP and Scotiabank host HIV Regional Testing Day across the Turks and Caicos Islands today
Today Friday 27thJune 2014 Scotiabank TCI, through its Bright Future Program, will host the 7th annual HIV Regional Testing Day across the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Residents can visit any one of the testing sites where trained personnel from the Ministry of Health and Human Services will conduct free and confidential screenings and provide counselling on taking precaution to stop the spread of HIV.
Cecil Arnold, Country Head, Scotiabank (Turks and Caicos) Ltd told RTC News yesterday that “Scotiabank is proud to contribute to the health of our communities by partnering with the CBMP and opening up their branches to host clinics for HIV Regional Testing Day.
Scotiabank’s support of this program is part of the Bank’s Global HIV Strategy launched in 2011, which works to fight the stigma and discrimination of this life-threatening disease by promoting awareness and education.
Dr. Allyson Leacock, Executive Director, Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership said. "I congratulate Scotiabank for their committed involvement in this important HIV prevention initiative now in its 6th year,”
Ms. Leacock added “Our unique collaboration creates a powerful response to fighting the spread of HIV and raising awareness on the importance of preventing the disease in our region. We would also like to thank the ministries and departments of health who provide valuable support to facilitate testing and counseling.”
Clinics will be held at all Scotia Centre Branches today, between 9am & 4pm. We urge everyone to out and get tested.
Clean Russian Athletes Can Compete
Russian athletes who can prove they are untainted by the country's doping scandal were Thursday given the go-ahead to compete at the Rio Olympics but as neutrals and not under their national flag, the IAAF said.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Council decided last week to maintain the suspension of Russia after findings of drug test violations, including ignored positives and altered test results.
But clean athletes have now been offered an olive branch -- under certain conditions.
"If there are any individual athletes who can clearly and convincingly show that they are not tainted by the Russian system because they have been outside the country and subject to other effective anti-doping systems, then they should be able to apply for permission to compete in international competitions, not for Russia but as a neutral athlete," said an IAAF statement.
England women win Pakistan ODI series with record total
England women made their highest one-day total and secured the series against Pakistan with an emphatic 212-run win at New Road.
They hit 39 fours and 11 sixes in 378-5, with 132 made in the final 10 overs.
Openers Lauren Winfield and Tammy Beaumont scored maiden ODI centuries in a stand of 235 and Natalie Sciver struck six sixes in a 33-ball 80.
Anya Shrub-sole took 4-19 as Pakistan were bowled out for 166 in the 48th over, despite Bismah Maroof's 61.
England, who won the first ODI by seven wickets at Grace Road on Tuesday, will attempt to complete a series whitewash in the final match at Taunton on Monday.
Messi eyes Copa crown after goal-scoring milestone HOUSTON, USA (AFP)
Lionel Messi's goal-scoring exploits at the Copa America Centenario have rewritten his country's record books and left Argentina on the brink of their first major title for 23 years.
But if Argentina are to avoid a fourth straight defeat in a major final when they take the field in New Jersey on Sunday, the chances are they will have to do something they have never done before in the Messi era: score.
In three finals dating back to the climax of the 2007 Copa America, when Messi lined up in an Argentina side that was beaten 3-0 by Brazil in Venezuela, the Albiceleste have failed to find the back of the net.
Another shutout followed in the 2014 World Cup final, which ended in a 1-0 loss to Germany, before an agonising defeat on penalties to Chile in last year's Copa America following a 0-0 draw.
Supreme Court Deadlock Thwarts Obama Immigration Plan
A deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday thwarted President Barack Obama's plan to defer the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.
The 4-4 decision left in place a lower court decision that rejected an Obama bid to set a new immigration policy by executive order after Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration changes.
He called the ruling "heartbreaking" for the immigrants who will not be able to "come out of the shadows to more fully contribute to this country in a meaningful way." But he said there will be no push to deport law-abiding immigrants living in the U.S., even though the ruling leaves their continued presence in the country in legal limbo.
Obama, as he has in the past, condemned Republicans in the Senate for refusing to consider his appointment of federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland to fill the ninth seat on the court left vacant by the death earlier this year of Justice Antonin Scalia. The lawmakers say the seat should be filled by the country's next president, after Obama leaves office in January.
Texas and 25 other states sued the Obama administration over his immigration plan, arguing that it was unconstitutional since it conflicted with current federal immigration law. The administration, though, argued that the states had no standing to sue, since immigration law falls under the purview of the federal government.
UK goes to the polls
Voting is taking place in a historic referendum on whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union or leave.
A record 46,499,537 people are entitled to take part, according to provisional figures from the Electoral Commission.
Polling stations will close at 22:00 BST with counting throughout the night.
It is only the third nationwide referendum in UK history and comes after a four-month battle for votes between the Leave and Remain campaigns.
Sunshine and heavy showers are forecast for Northern Ireland and Scotland but it is set to be drier and brighter elsewhere.
After the referendum polls close, sealed ballot boxes will be collected and transported to the count venue for each of the 382 local counting areas.
These represent all 380 local government areas in England, Scotland and Wales, plus one each for Northern Ireland and Gibraltar.
Results from these areas will then be declared throughout the night, along with result totals from 11 nations and regions.
Democratic Party unity was the Target
Democratic Party unity was the target when Hillary Clinton, the party's presumptive nominee for the presidential election, met with fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill. But some rank-and-file Democrats who campaigned against Clinton are still skeptical about voting for her in the November general election, and that could put the party's united front at risk.
A 20-year-old woman from Vermont, home state of Senator Bernie Sanders, says talk of party unity will not affect her choice when it comes time to vote.
Asked whether she will vote for Clinton, as former Sanders supporters are being urged to do, Hiltz was firm: "Absolutely not. I truly believe she is in it [politics] for the money, and I don't care if she gets the nomination."
Hiltz said she feels Clinton has changed her positions on key issues over the years, and does not have the same passionate concern for ordinary Americans' problems that Sanders displayed.
Among Sanders supporters overall, Hiltz is not alone in her beliefs.
Politics survey this month of likely general-election voters said 45 percent of those who have supported Sanders do not intend to vote for Clinton, and nearly half of that group told pollsters they will vote instead for Republican Donald Trump.
Congressman James Clyburn, who was in the group of Democrats who met with Clinton, said, "That is a problem for the party."
Clyburn, who is from South Carolina, said he hopes the Vermont senator will try to change his supporters' minds. "I would love to see Mr. Sanders endorse [Clinton], go all in, and I think he will."
Sanders, who was not at Wednesday's meeting, appeared to be coming to terms with his political situation following months of primary-election battles with Clinton across the country. "It doesn't appear that I'm going to be the nominee," Sander told an interviewer (for the cable television network C-SPAN), "so I'm not going to be determining the scope of the convention."
Members of Congress at the Clinton meeting said she acknowledged the difficulty of winning over supporters of her opponent from the primaries.
House Democrats said their meeting with Clinton took place in a "calm, relaxed" atmosphere. The second-ranking Democrat in the House, Steny Hoyer, said there was "unity, enthusiasm and confidence in our candidate."
Clinton told the Democrats she plans a 50-state election strategy, aiming to win back control of both chambers of Congress from the Republicans, who have wielded majority control since the last presidential vote in 2008.
House Democrats Launch Sit-in to Demand Gun Reform
The call went up from the House floor again and again - "No Bill. No Break."
House Democrats going into the eleventh hour of a sit-in calling for gun control legislation heard House Speaker Paul Ryan was making his way to the floor and increased the chant they had repeated throughout a day of speeches calling for legislative action in response to the Orlando attack, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
Members of the public watching up in the galleries chanted back the lines that have trended on social media since earlier Wednesday, asking for the House of Representatives to vote on gun control legislation before leaving for the Independence Day holiday break.
Ryan could barely be heard calling for a vote as House Democrats chanted and waved a sea of white papers bearing the names of gun violence victims. They booed Ryan and called out, "Mr Speaker give us a vote."
During the 15-minute vote, Rep. Ted Deutch called out to "My Republican friends," but could not finish speaking as he was shouted down. Democrats responded by singing the Civil Rights anthem "We Shall Overcome" while Republicans looked on silently.
The chaotic vote capped an intense and unprecedented day on the House floor.
For a second consecutive week, Democrats in the U.S. Congress commandeered a chamber to demand action on gun violence that has shattered numerous American communities — most recently in Orlando, Florida.
Venezuela president hoping for improved US ties
Venezuela (AFP) – Venezuela is interested in improving its rocky relations with the United States, and hopes President Barack Obama will "rectify" US policy toward the crisis-torn South American country, its president Nicolas Maduro said Wednesday.
The troubled relationship between the two countries, which have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010, reached a new low point last March, when Obama designated Venezuela a threat to national security.
Maduro comments on reconciliation come one day ahead of a debate by the Organization of American States, which will decide whether Venezuela's leftist government is upholding democratic norms enshrined in the organization's Democratic Charter.
Maduro met with US Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon on Wednesday at the Miraflores presidential palace.
US Transfers Yemeni Guantanamo Bay Detainee to Montenegro
The U.S. military has announced the transfer of a Yemeni man from its detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Montenegro.
The transfer of Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab Al Rahabi leaves 79 people detained at Guantanamo where nearly 800 people have been held at some point since it opened in early 2002.
Pentagon documents describe Al Rahabi as a member of al-Qaida who was once a bodyguard to the group's late leader Osama bin Laden and took part in fighting against U.S. and coalition forces. He was captured in December 2001 by Pakistani forces as he tried to cross the border from Afghanistan and arrived at Guantanamo a month later.
A review board determined in 2014 that Al Rahabi's detention was no longer necessary to protect against a significant threat to the United States, and recommended he be transferred.
The Pentagon thanked Montenegro in a statement Wednesday "for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility."