Robbery at Digicel Grand Turk
Investigators of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force are investigating a burglary of a business establishment that was reported to the Grand Turk Police station yesterday (Wednesday 22nd June 2016).
Complainant reported to officers that at 6:20pm the day before (Tuesday 21st June 2016) the office of Digicel located on Old Airport Road was properly secured and upon her arrival to work at 8am on Wednesday she noticed the building broken into.
Stolen from the store-room area were a quantity of CAT and DLS cellular phones, also missing from an office on the upper floor are two (2) white deposit bags containing large sums of money and a dark blue Dell Laptop.
Investigations are ongoing in the matter.
Police are asking anyone with information about this incident to call Crime Stoppers on 1-800-8477 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: www.crimestoppers.tc, Chalk Sound Police Station 338-5901 or 941-8082. The information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter page.
GOVERNOR ENCOURAGES TCI FATHERS TO FOCUS ON EDUCATION, SPORT AND HISTORY
Speaking to the Senior Citizens’ Fathers’ Day luncheon in Providenciales on 18 June, the Governor, Peter Beckingham, encouraged the fathers of Turks and Caicos Islands to remember the value of encouraging education, sport and tradition among their children and grandchildren.
“Education is probably the single most important gift we can present to our children” the Governor said “and the more we can do to stimulate an interest in school and college work the better. I’m in no doubt my parents made sacrifices to stimulate my education, and I was fortunate in the attention they gave to this.
“But as well as education it would be great if fathers could encourage their offspring to spend more time developing their sporting prowess. Delano Williams has set a wonderful example for every child in Turks and Caicos, not least with his forthcoming participation in the world’s greatest sporting event, and I hope more fathers will as a result inspire their families to spend more time on the sports field. We still have some catching up with other countries”.
Finally, the Governor reminded his audience of the long term value and importance of passing on their family history and traditions to their children. “I regret not asking my late father more about his contribution in the Second World War, when he parachuted into France and served in Bombay, India. Fortunately we were able to piece together more about my father-in law’s service for the Royal Air Force. I hope that every father and grandfather will pass on his memories of earlier times in Turks and Caicos, so that the wonderful history of these islands is preserved for our successors. If we don’t we will lose a major part of our heritage. ”
TCHTA Addresses Rising Negative Trends
An increase in illegal beach vending as well as tourist harassment is becoming very alarming and is raising concerns among the destination's tourism partners especially its leading private sector association TCHTA.
The Association's Board met recently to address these concerns which have seen the once highly ranked tourism destination drop from the number 1 to number 5 island in the world and from the number 1 beach to number 4 beach in the world on the popular TripAdvisor site.
In addition to the increase in illegal beach vending and tourist harassment, long lines in the departure area at the country's major airport and slow processing by Immigration as it relates to work permits were also discussed with the hope of finding quick and effective solutions which will alleviate the issues.
The Board noted, "These rising negative trends are very alarming and we are finding ourselves working overtime to ensure that our tourism product is not tarnished severely. The Association and its members can continue to pump money into promoting the destination but this will all be for naught if visitors don't feel safe and at peace when they visit.
We rely on our visitors to help us promote TCI on sites like TripAdvisor through their positive reviews but not only are we seeing less visitors voting for us in the various categories but we are also seeing an increase in negative reviews."
Residents who are involved in these illegal activities especially on our beaches need to realize what damage they are doing to the tourism product, damage, which may be irreversible in the long run. Why jeopardize our industry for a quick dollar? The industry belongs to all of us and we all need to play a positive part in its growth and survival.
A better partnership must also be forged with our tourism partners, TCIG and the Police Force to resolve the issues at the airport, the illegal beach vending and tourist harassment in particular. "
The Board is also gravely concerned with the new Immigration processing rules which have created an enormous burden on businesses in the industry as they may not be able to reach their staffing levels required to run their operations effectively. The Board will be reaching out to all relevant groups in the near future to address the concerns and members will also sensitize and educate their staff who in turn will educate their friends and family about being a positive part of our tourism industry puzzle.
QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY PARADE MARKS TO MAJOR ANNIVERSARIES
The Turks and Caicos Islands will join sister Commonwealth nations around the world in celebrating Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday on Saturday, 11 June 2016.
The ceremony will be held on the nation’s capital, Grand Turk, where the annual Queen’s Birthday celebrations will take place on the parade ground at 10am.
“The Governor’s Office would like to invite everyone to come out and enjoy this special event marking the ninetieth birthday of Her Majesty the Queen,” said the Governor, Peter Beckingham. “As this is a particularly special occasion, and also marks the 50th anniversary of the visit by Her Majesty the Queen to the Turks and Caicos Islands it would be great to a strong turnout to mark the event, and also to support the many members of the local community who will be participating.”
The ceremony will include participants from the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF), staff from HM Prison, Customs and Immigration officials, Fire fighters, the Ex-Serviceman Legion, TCI Red Cross youth, Cadets, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Girls Brigade, Rainbows and children from the Island’s schools. The RTCIPF band will accompany all.
Following the parade, Governor Peter Beckingham will present long service awards to key members of the uniformed services in recognition of their 18, 25 or 30 years of service to the Crown.
The ceremony will last for approximately 60 minutes and it will conclude with a royal salute taken by the Governor.
As is traditional in the TCI, the Governor’s Office will provide refreshments to all participating in the parade.
Jamaican track and field administrators and fans are worried as they await the results of the B sample test of a senior athlete.
The Jamaican athlete is among the 31 athletes from six sports and 12 countries at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China who returned a positive sample during a retesting by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Unconfirmed reports are that the athlete, who cannot be named until the outcome of the B sample is known, tested positive for methyl-hexa-namine.
If the B sample proves positive, the effect of this could have far reaching implications for the country and other athletes
News about the adverse analytical finding broke weeks ago and since then there has been heavy speculation especially on social media on the matter.
US Takes Steps to Further Cut Off North Korea from US Banks
The United States is taking further action to cut off North Korean access to the U.S. financial system, calling the North a "primary money-laundering concern."
U.S. banks and other financial concerns are already barred from directly doing business with the North. The steps announced Wednesday would require them to be extra vigilant by keeping banks in third-world countries from gaining access to the U.S. system on North Korea's behalf.
"The United States, the U.N. Security Council, and our partners worldwide remain clear-eyed about the significant threat that North Korea poses to the global financial system," senior Treasury official Andrew Szubin said Wednesday. "The regime is notoriously deceitful in its financial transactions in order to continue its illicit weapons programs and other destabilizing activities."
State Department spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that the North uses state-controlled financial institutions and front companies to hide transactions that support building weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.
Also Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council strongly condemned three recent failed ballistic missile launches by North Korea last month and in April.
The council said the repeated attempts to fire ballistic missiles are "grave violations" of previous resolutions that increase world tensions and contribute to North Korea's development of missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
The council said it regrets that the North is diverting resources to building missiles when the North Korean people have "great unmet needs."
US Immigration Data Shows Numbers Up, Many from Asia
Legal and illegal immigration to the United States has risen over the past two years, reaching levels not seen since the beginning of the 21st century — and the greatest number of them are coming from Asia, not Latin America.
The findings appear in a year in which U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump is promising to build a wall on the Mexican border to keep illegal immigrants from entering the United States.
New findings by the Center for Immigration Studies show more than three million legal immigrants came to the United States in 2014 and 2015, which is a 39 percent rise over the previous two years. The survey measures the flow of people in and out of the United States, including those on long-term visas.
The CIS said in a statement Wednesday that factors influencing immigration may include the healthier economy, cutbacks in enforcement of immigration laws, and the nature of the U.S. legal immigration system, which provides options for long-term temporary visas for students and guest workers.
The center analyzed U.S. government data collected in its monthly Current Population Survey and found that the jump in immigration was due to a jump in immigrants from East Asia, South Asia, and Latin America — excluding Mexico.
Experts say that, regarding legal immigration, there has been a rise in the number of long-term work visas issued to Indians and Chinese. Meanwhile, the largest share of illegal immigrants was from Central America, which may mean they are part of the large numbers of unaccompanied children that began crossing U.S. southern borders illegally in recent months.
Experts unconnected with the CIS numbers say many illegal immigrants are in the country because they had legal visas but stayed after the visas expired. The rise in immigrant numbers suggests that more people may be overstaying their visas than in past years.
Lawyers file appeal after court subpoenas PNP officials
ATTORNEYS representing Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller and three People’s National Party (PNP) officials in the long-standing Trafigura matter yesterday filed an appeal seeking to halt the proceedings after High Court Judge Justice Lennox Campbell ordered that subpoenas be issued for them.
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn, QC, yesterday explained that the subpoenas were issued after Simspon Miller, Robert Pickersgill, Phillip Paulwell, Colin Campbell, and businessman Norton Hinds failed to appear in court.
The witnesses were required to give sworn testimony regarding the investigation by the Netherlands Government into the payment, in September 2006, of $31 million to an account bearing the name CCOC to which certain members of the PNP were signatories.
The Trafigura scandal rocked the then governing PNP after it emerged that the party accepted the money from the Dutch firm which, at the time, had an oil-lifting agreement with Jamaica.
The PNP had said the money was a donation, but Trafigura said it was payment on a commercial transaction. The party has since said the money was returned.
Three Opposition politicians in Antigua on corruption charges
The leader of the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) Harold Lovell and two other former ministers have been charged with corruption in connection with three buses donated to the former administration.
Lovell, along with former education minister Senator Dr. Jacqui Quinn-Leandro and former health minister Wilmoth Daniel have been summoned to appear in court next Wednesday on charges of larceny, fraudulent conversion and corruption.
It’s alleged that they converted the buses, valued at more than EC$600,000 (US$222,222), to their personal use and had the vehicles registered in their names.
But the UPP says the charges are politically motivated, and accused the ruling Antigua Labour Party (ALP) of attempting to deflect from its “dismal failures to deliver on any of the promises that it made to the electorate”, as it approaches its two-year anniversary in office.
“The charges reflect a poor attempt to cover up the political policing practised by the Gaston Browne administration, in full collaboration with the Commissioner of Police,” the UPP said in a statement.
6th Annual Wine Cellar Golf & Fishing Tournament
This year’s 6th Annual Wine Cellar Golf & Fishing Tournament team made Cheque Presentations to two important charities in Providenciales.
The Edward Gartland Youth Centre and the TCI Sailing Association, both were recipients of cheques in the sum of US $25,000.00 each.
This brings to total donated thus far by the WCGFT to $163,000.00 added Desmond Wilson, PR Sales & Marketing.
During the presentation, Wilson thanked their sponsors and organizers who were key in the efforts to give back to the Youth of the TCI Community.
We look forward with great anticipation to next year's event. He also thanked the media for covering this event so well.