US urges DomRep to avoid mass deportation of Haitians
The United States has again urged the Dominican Republic to avoid mass deportations. The renewed call comes in the wake of emeriging reports of the resumption of the deportation of persons of Haitian decent from the Dominican Republic.
US Department of State spokesman Mark C Toner said Washington is “aware of the decision by the Dominican Republic to begin deporting persons who are deemed illegally present in the country.
He said in a statement that the US recognises the prerogative of the Dominican Republic to remove individuals from its territory who are present without authorisation, but at the same time, he urge the Dominican Republic to avoid mass deportations and to conduct any deportations in a transparent manner that fully respects the human rights of deportees. Toner said deportation procedures must adhere to clear, publicly available and verifiable protocols and procedures.
“Dominican nationality and migration policies and practices should be consistent with Dominican law and the Dominican Republic’s international obligations and commitments.
“We urge the Government of the Dominican Republic to permit the observation of deportation proceedings by civil society groups and international organisations, such as the International Organization for Migration and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, including at the borders,” Toner added.
Toner said the Obama administration remains “deeply concerned that individuals with a right to citizenship or otherwise eligible to remain in the Dominican Republic may not have had sufficient time and means to access the processes to regulate and formalise their status and have their claims adjudicated.
He said it is imperative that the Dominican Republic effectively screen people potentially subject to deportation, to determine if they are Dominican citizens, require international protection, or are eligible for naturalisation or regularisation.
In all cases, Toner urged the Dominican Republic to take adequate measures to prevent the risk of statelessness and the discriminatory confiscation of documents.
Additionally, the United States wants the Dominican Republic and Haiti to consult and collaborate with each other “to develop effective processes and procedures for the safe and orderly return of migrants across their shared border”.
According to Toner, the United States will continue to actively monitor developments in the Dominican Republic, and engage the Government of the Dominican Republic to ensure the protection of human rights.
On Saturday the Dominican Republic deported five people of Haitian descent under the controversial migration policy.
Drop in Profits for Walmart & ASDA
US supermarket giant Walmart has posted a fall in profits, missing analysts' expectations, and a drop in sales at its UK supermarket, Asda. Walmart reported net income of $3.48bn (£2.2bn) in the three months to July, down from $4.09bn a year earlier. Asda said like-for-like sales were down 4.7% in the period compared with last year, because of tougher competition. The quarterly report is the worst to date for Asda under Walmart's ownership.
Walmart sales at stores open for more than a year increased by 1.5% in the period, while revenue was $120.2bn, roughly unchanged compared with a year earlier. Chief executive Doug McMillon said: "We're pleased that the investments we've made are helping to improve our business. Even if it's not as fast as we would like."
Walmart said its fall in profit was due to increased investment in staffing - including more worker hours on the shop floor. It also cited weaker profit margins in its US pharmacy business.
Bitcoins could Split the Virtual Currency
A row over changing the software that produces bitcoins could split the virtual currency, core developers say.
Bitcoin XT, a new version, is currently being recommended by the currency's chief scientist, Gavin Andresen.
And its developer, Mike Hearn, says its adoption essential to ensure the currency can cope with growing demand.
But some, including a large number of bitcoin miners in China, are resisting XT because of how it might affect control over the currency.
Bitcoin's blockchain - a digital ledger of all transactions made with the currency - is currently made up of 1MB blocks.
Bitcoin XT would enable these blocks to grow to 8MB.
But this would mean XT was no longer compatible with existing Bitcoin software, creating, its detractors say, two separate currencies and eroding trust in both.
Mr Hearn told the BBC the Bitcoin community's reaction to the release of the XT software at the weekend had been mixed, but there were some encouraging signs.
"We've gone from zero people running the software to 10% of the network in 72 hours, which is really good," he said.
Source:BBC
Overfishing and Climate Change, Combined, Intensify Ocean Threats
The combination of overfishing and climate change may be putting the oceans' health--- and our own wellbeing--- at risk. As State of the World 2015 contributing author Katie Auth explains, protecting lives and livelihoods will require urgent and concerted action to improve the oceans' condition (www.worldwatch.org).
"Our sense of the oceans' power and omnipotence--- combined with scientific ignorance--- contributed to an assumption that nothing we did could ever possibly impact it," writes Auth. "Over the years, scientists and environmental leaders have worked tirelessly to demonstrate and communicate the fallacy of such arrogance."
Three billion people worldwide depend on fish as their main source of animal protein, essential micronutrients, and fatty acids. The livelihoods of millions of people in both developing and high-income countries rely on the multibillion-dollar fisheries industry--- a sector that accounted for 1.5 million jobs and more than $45 billion of income in the United States alone in 2010.
"As our negative impact on the oceans has grown, so has our understanding of the myriad ways in which the health of the marine environment determines our own," writes Auth. "The combined stresses of human activities like overfishing and climate change now pose distinct and intensified threats to marine systems."
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that the global share of marine stocks considered to be fished "within biologically sustainable levels" fell from 90 percent to 71 percent between 1974 and 2011. Of that 71 percent, a large majority (86 percent) of stocks are already fished to capacity. Rapid human population growth and rising incomes are increasing the demand for food fish and pushing wild fish populations to the brink.
Climate-related changes in the marine ecosystem are also affecting the oceans. Over the last 40 years, the upper 75 meters of the world's oceans have warmed by an average of more than 0.1 degrees Celsius per year. Temperate species are responding to this change and other stressors, such as pollution and fishing pressures, by moving toward the poles, possibly increasing competition with polar animals.
Further, increased carbon in the atmosphere is triggering ocean acidification. About a quarter of human-caused carbon dioxide from the atmosphere has been absorbed into seawater. This changes the chemistry of the water and makes it more difficult for some marine organisms (such as oysters and corals) to form shells and skeletons. Once these populations are affected, entire food webs are threatened.
"Marine ecosystems and individual organisms that already are weakened by overfishing become less resilient and more vulnerable to disruption, especially because environmental change is occurring so rapidly," writes Auth.
Yet Auth believes that there is still hope. "Conservation efforts aimed at improving system resiliency have proven effective in addressing the nexus between fishing and climate change," she writes. Changes in fishing policies, equipment, and techniques that result in less damage to ocean-bottom habitats and that reduce bycatch also would diminish fishing stresses. Finally, revamping the global energy system away from fossil fuels would curtail the rise in ocean temperatures and carbon dioxide levels.
Worldwatch's State of the World 2015 investigates hidden threats to sustainability, including economic, political, and environmental challenges that are often underreported in the media. State of the World 2015 highlights the need to develop resilience to looming shocks. For more information on the project, visit http://www.worldwatch.org/state-world-2015-confronting-hidden-threats-sustainability-0.
SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS AIMS TO PROVIDE GREATER EDUCATION TO VOTERS
The Supervisor of Elections, Dudley Lewis has moved to provide an in depth experience in voter registration information.
Voter Registration in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) is a continuous process and current eligible voters or TCI Islanders who will become of voting age (18 years) before the production of the next Electors Register have the opportunity to register.
“The Register of Electors is generally up-dated on a regular basis to include those who have achieved voting age, who have gained TCI Status, who otherwise have become newly eligible (e.g. been released from prison) or who move from one electoral district to another,” stated Mr. Lewis
“The Register is also required to exclude formally eligible voters who have died or ceased to meet residential requirements or voter eligibility or persons serving a term of imprisonment for twelve months (12) or more or who has been certified to be insane or who has otherwise been judged to be of unsound mind.”
“The Electors List is produced and published 31st January in every year and the Register of Electors produced and published 31st March in each year.”
The qualifying date for persons to register as electors is November 30th in each year.
General Elections in the Turks and Caicos Islands is scheduled for 2016 and persons who want to exercise their democratic right to vote in this up-coming general election MUST apply to regulate their status with the Ministry of Border Control and register with the elections department by November 30, 2015 to have their names added to the 2016/17 Electors Register that will be used to conduct general elections.
Eligible voters on the present Register of Electors do not need to re-apply to be included in the 2016/17 Register. They will be automatically included unless they notify the elections office that they have change their name or place of residence, or no longer meet the eligibility criteria.
Persons who do not register before the qualifying date November 30th 2015 will NOT be permitted to vote in the 2016 General Elections.
Us Couple Who Fled By Boat To The Bahamas With Seven Kids Sentenced For Fraud
A TEXAS couple who fled by a sailing boat to the Bahamas with their seven children while facing trial for an online agriculture scam, were sentenced on Friday to more than seven years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal prosecutors said.
The Reuters news agency reported that Donald Winberg, 44, and his wife Karlien, 33, of Earth, Texas, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver in April 2014. But five months later, they fled to the Galveston area of Texas, where they bought a boat which they later grounded not far from shore.
Prosecutors said they were able to obtain another boat and travel to the Bahamas. They were arrested on a boat near the Staniel Cay Yacht Club in the Exuma Cays for failing to have proper identification and travel documents.
The US Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado said in a statement that the arrest was made by Bahamian authorities after a Louisiana family vacationing in the Bahamas recognised the family from a press story out of Galveston.
The Winbergs were deported to Miami and then transported by the US Marshals Service to Colorado. They pleaded guilty in April.
According to court documents, in 2010 the couple began advertising online that they owned extensive farmland in Idaho and Texas, had thousands of tons of hay, corn and other crops for sale, and a fleet of trucks to deliver them to buyers.
The US Attorney's Office said the defendants would then take the victims' money and not deliver the material that was advertised, purchased and promised.
While under pre-trial supervision, from May 2014 until they fled in October 2014, the statement said, the couple committed additional fraud involving hay sales.
Both Winbergs were ordered to pay restitution of about $1.54 million, and were sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Philip Brimmer to 87 months in federal prison each, followed by three years on supervised release.
Cayman Airways employee suspected of smuggling Cubans into the US
A third female employee of Cayman Airways has been arrested in connection with the alleged smuggling of Cubans into the United States.
A statement issued by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) said the 30-year-old woman was held on suspicion of human smuggling, four days after two of her co-workers, aged 29 and 33, were taken into police custody on similar grounds.
The police had previously disclosed that under the alleged trafficking scheme, foreign nationals who were legitimately in the Cayman Islands were given false identifies to get into the US.
It is alleged that the three women were being paid to facilitate Cubans’ entry to the US where, under the administration’s wet-foot, dry-foot policy, they would be given preferential treatment and automatically get citizenship after a year.
Cayman Airways said it had initiated the investigation, identifying and reporting to the authorities “certain passenger movements which appeared to have been contrary to Immigration regulations”.
“Since that time, Cayman Airways has been fully cooperative and transparent with the relevant authorities as they conducted their investigations,” it added.
The airline employees have been suspended pending investigations.
The RCIPS said the investigation is complex and involves cooperation with other foreign and local partner agencies.
Human smuggling in the Cayman Islands carries a punishment of up to seven years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Black Gave Blessing to Musical Stage
Cilla Black gave her blessing to a West End musical based on her life before she died, her agent has confirmed.
The singer and TV star was "thrilled and excited" about the idea, Nick Fiveash said.
"Her manager, son Robert Willis, had been in continuous talks with a West End producer regarding early stages of planning, but obviously these are now on hold for the time being," he said.
Black is to be buried in her home city of Liverpool later this week.
Black, who emerged from the city's music scene in the 1960s before becoming the host of hit TV shows Blind Date and Surprise Surprise, died at her villa in Estepona on the Costa del Sol on 1 August.
A coroner ruled last week that the entertainer died from an accidental traumatic head injury after a fall.
Cilla Black's early years were dramatised in a three-part ITV series in 2014 starring Sheridan Smith.
Jeff Pope's drama charted how the young Priscilla White was transformed into a chart-topping singing star.
The entertainer's funeral on Thursday will take place at St Mary's Church in the suburb of Woolton.
After the funeral, her body will be laid to rest at a private ceremony in Allerton Cemetery, where her parents are buried.
Jeff Bezos defends Amazon
The world's biggest online retailer is firing back against reports of an abusive corporate culture. A New York Times report over the weekend described a demanding and degrading environment at Amazon. Amazon's boss Jeff Bezos wrote in a memo to staff that the "article doesn't describe the Amazon I know".
The New York Times article quoted one former employee who said: "Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk."
The report included testimonials from 100 current and former employees who depict a "bruising" workplace at Amazon, where employees are expected to "toil long and late".
Some claimed the company edged out workers who were suffering from personal crises, including miscarriages and cancer.
The article also said that the culture calls for employees to respond to emails after midnight. If they don't, they receive text messages demanding a swift response.
A press representative for Amazon said: "While we generally do not comment on individual news stories, we quickly saw current Amazon employees react."
"They have to go." Trump says to illegal immigrants
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he wants to end the automatic right to citizenship for all children born in the United States.
All children born in the US - even if their parents are illegal immigrants - get citizenship under the constitution. Other measures he outlined would include raising visa fees to pay for a wall along the Mexican border.
Immigration is a central plank of Mr Trump's campaign to be the Republican contender in next year's election. "They have to go," he told NBC.
A tough deportation policy was needed, he said, because "there's definitely evidence" of crimes linked to immigrants living in the country illegally.