OPENING OF LONG BAY HIGH SCHOOL
The General Public and parents of students entering Form 1 on Providenciales who are earmarked to attend the Long Bay High School are advised of the following:
Due to construction and some administrative delays we regret to inform the public, parents, teachers and the incoming first batch of new students, that the Long Bay High School will not open its doors to the first batch of new students on September 7th as planned.
However the Ministry, since the beginning of the project ensured that in the event of a delay the education of the new entrants would not be negatively impacted.
All Form 1 students will be housed at the Clement Howell High School (CHHS) until the completion of the building. The students are expected to report with their Long Bay Uniforms.
All teachers who were recruited for the Long Bay High School will be assigned their classes and will assume teaching responsibilities at the CHHS.
Once completed, the Form 1 students along with their teachers will transfer to the Long Bay High School as planned.
All parents are asked to collect letters from the Department of Education outlining start dates and other necessary information from Thursday 13th of August.
The Ministry of Education would like to assure all parents, that the delay in the opening of the Long Bay School will not deter the education and development of their child/children.
Construction and other plans are continuing to ensure that we begin operations before the end of the new school term.
This is the first Government High School to be built on the islands in twenty (20) years and so we will ensure that it is done to the standard that will make all of us proud.
All public schools will reopen on Monday, 7th September 2015.
Black Funeral To Be Held Next Week In Liverpool
The entertainer's funeral will take place on Thursday 20 August at St Mary's Church in the suburb of Woolton. The Right Reverend Thomas Williams, Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool and former Parish Priest of St Anthony's, Scotland Road, will officiate.
Black, who emerged from the city's music scene to find fame in the 1960s before becoming a TV host, died after having a stroke at the age of 72.
After the funeral, her body will be laid to rest at a private ceremony in Allerton Cemetery, where her parents are buried. Her late husband and manager, Bobby Willis, was cremated in 1999.
The late entertainer's representative said further details would be released "once all the preparations have been finalised". A statement said: "Once again the family have asked for their privacy to be continually respected at this difficult time."
The Blind Date and Surprise Surprise host died of a stroke after falling over at her Spanish home earlier this month.
UK Roads Charges Vehicles
Motorists will be able to recharge their cars as they drive if a scheme being proposed by Highways England comes to fruition.
The government agency has announced plans to test wireless power-transfer tech that it hopes to build under the country's motorways and major A roads. It has already completed a feasibility study and is now asking companies to tender bids to host off-road trials.
But one expert questioned whether such a scheme would be cost effective.Electric cables buried under the road are used to generate electromagnetic fields, which are picked up by a coil inside the device and converted into electricity.
Last year, Milton Keynes also began use of a more limited scheme, which involves buses being wirelessly recharged via plates installed into road. In this case, however, the vehicles have to stop for several minutes at a time to receive the power boost.
US Military Helicopter Crashes in Japan
A US military helicopter has crashed off the coast of the southern island of Okinawa, Japanese officials say.
The Kyodo state news agency said 17 crew members were rescued, and seven people were injured.
Japan's defence ministry said the crash happened near Camp Schwab, the US Army base on the east coast of the island.
Kyodo said police confirmed that the helicopter crashed as it tried to land on a ship at sea. The exact cause is not yet known.
Reports in Japan said the helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk, which has been deployed by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.Okinawa is home to several US bases and around 27,000 personnel. The deployment is part of the US-Japan post-war defence alliance.
A new US military base is planned for Okinawa, but it has been met with opposition by officials on the island.
Anti-crime protestors in the Bahamas say enough is enough
ORGANISERS of an anti-crime protest in the Bahamas, yesterday accused the Christie administration of “giving a deaf ear to the cries of the people” as the country’s murder rate continues to climb.
Chanting “enough is enough” and “sick and tired of being sick and tired,” protesters occupied Rawson Square from 9am to 5pm.
During the House of Assembly’s afternoon recess, National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage walked past protesters as they chanted: “Help us Nottage, help us”, offering only a thumbs up and a smile.
The Tribune reported Dr Nottage as refusing to give a statement when pressed for a comment on the state of crime in the country.
The Bain and Grant’s Town MP has been noticeably silent in recent weeks despite a spike in homicides. According to The Tribune’s records, 15 homicides happened in the month of July alone, making it one of the deadliest for the year.
Khandi Gibson, president of Families of All Murder Victims (FOAM), one of the groups responsible for the event, said the “hurt of violence” has become too much to bear for many people.
Reflecting on the country’s murder toll, which stood at 90 up to press time, Ms. Gibson said Bahamians are beginning to develop a passive nature towards violent crimes.
“We are out here today to let the government know that we are sick and tired of where the murder rate is going now, we are sick and tired of ‘Marco’s law’ not being (implemented) as yet,” she insisted.
“Marco’s law” was passed in Parliament in 2013 as an amendment to the Child Protection Act and the Sexual Offences Act. The amendments were expected to create a MARCO alert system, similar to the United States’ AMBER alert for missing children, and a sex offender registry implemented for the first time in the Bahamas. But despite being promised by the government, the amendments have not been enacted and the changes have not come into effect.
Ms. Gibson said they are mostly sick and tired of the government acting as if they don’t hear their cries. “A lot of persons are being murdered in the Bahamas and we (as a country) have become so passive that we keep going as if it is a cat or a dog; but that is someone’s life and we want the government to know that we care and this issue matters,” Gibson added.
FOAM was founded in 2012 with the aim of assisting persons affected by violent crimes.
FNM Leader Hubert Minnis who spoke to the protestors moments before entering the House of Assembly endorsed their stance, calling it an important step to defeating crime in the country.
“When an individual is murdered within a particular family, you must remember that not just him is affected by his death, the whole family is affected by his death,” he said.
“Members of that family may internalise that and we are missing that aspect of the picture in that we are not reaching out to the families.
“We have to reach them, we have to counsel them and ensure that they aren’t internalising anger.
“I think we are missing the big picture. If anger is internalised and suppressed it can overtime manifest itself in violent ways. Then we see the picture years later and wonder what happened,” he said.
Dr Minnis maintained that the opposition party remains greatly concerned with crime.
The Killarney MP said as far as he was concerned, “one murder is too much”.
The group Rise Bahamas, founded by activist Terneille Burrows, also helped to organise the protest.
Insider Trading Hack Scheme
US authorities have now charged 32 members of an alleged international hacking and insider trading ring.
The group, operating in the US and Ukraine, allegedly netted more than $100m (£64m) in illegal profits.
Nine members had already been charged by district attorneys in New York and New Jersey.
Hackers are accused of accessing data being processed by financial "wires" in order to obtain information about companies before it was made public.
The information was then used to buy and sell shares, according to indictments.
The total of 32 fraud charges was made by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and relate to individuals in several countries including the US, Russia, Ukraine, France and Cyprus.
Source: BBC
PDM ADDRESSES GUN CRIMES AND RECENT SHOOTING DEATH
Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition People’s Democratic Movement Hon Sharlene Robinson today expressed her sadness to once again learn of the shooting death of yet another young man in these Islands.
She said that we as a people must first accept that we have a problem on our hands and we cannot ignore it and that all sectors of society - from Governor, to Government to People must realize we have a problem.
While we are cognizant of the fact that we remain among countries with the lowest crime rate and that it is politically correct to not alarm our tourists, Hon Robinson said we must question at what time, should we be alarmed? We cannot continue to be satisfied that we have one of the lowest crime rates and safest countries when residents are becoming fearful and when gun related incidents are becoming common place. In a little, developing country like ours, one crime is too much and now, it appears to be trending.
A passionate opposition leader said as colloquial as the phrase is, it is true, that crime is everyone's business and we need to be about the business of crime fighting from where we stand.
Premier Wants To Eradicate Illegal Guns
While Police say a male is currently assisting them with their enquiries in connection with the latest heinous crime, that saw a 31 year old man murdered in cold blood – shot in the head by a lone masked gunman as he sat playing a slot machine at Tropical Vibes Bar in Blue Hills Wednesday night, they have made no arrests in connection with this crime..
Police are still however urging anyone who may have information that could assist with their investigations to please come forward by calling 649-941-8083 or Crime Stoppers on 1-800-8477 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: www.crimestoppers.tc. Information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. All calls are answered by Miami Dade Police and no one from the RTCIPF will know who called. Only the information received will be provided to the RTCIPF. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter pages.
This latest execution style shooting has prompted the Premier during his post cabinet press conference, to call on the Commissioner of Police and his force to get their act together and assemble a task force to eradicate illegal guns off the streets of the Turks and Caicos Islands and help to save our young people.
Three Men Parachuted off New York's One World Trade Center
Two base jumpers who parachuted off New York's One World Trade Center "sullied the memories" of 9/11 victims, a judge has said. Andrew Rossig, 34, and James Brady, 33, were convicted of reckless endangerment and unauthorised climbing in connection with the jump in September 2013. They were fined $2,000 (£1,285) each yesterday and given community service. The pair leapt from the top of the 104-storey skyscraper after sneaking through a hole in a construction fence. A third jumper, Marko Markovich, will be sentenced on 17 August.
Base jumping is an extreme sport, which involves leaping from high structures with a parachute. The jumpers filmed their night-time exploits at One World Trade Center using helmet cameras and posted the video online. The building, which was still under construction at the time, is located at the same site where 2,700 lost their lives in the Islamist attack on 11 September 2001. It contains a museum and memorial garden dedicated to those who died.
Judge Juan Merchan said: "These defendants tarnished the building before it even opened and sullied the memories of those who jumped on 9/11, not for sport but because they had to." In June, a jury acquitted each of the three men of the more serious charge of burglary.
Speaking after sentencing, Rossig apologised for his actions and vowed never to parachute in New York City again. "We understand that what we did could possibly have endangered other people and it's never going to happen again," he added.
Coldplay Tries To Save The Treehouse
Coldplay are "looking at options" to save the Treehouse, a facility run by the defunct Kids Company charity.
The venue in north London provided education and therapeutic help for vulnerable children.
The band, led by singer Chris Martin, have previously donated an estimated £10m to the charity, which closed down last week amid claims of financial mismanagement and sexual abuse.
Coldplay's manager Phil Harvey said: "It's very early stages."
He added: "We're incredibly proud of Treehouse's work with children in great need over the past six years. We're not going to give up on the centre without looking at all options for the future."