US & Mexico Joins Forces To Take Down El Chapo
The US government is offering a reward of $5m (£3.2m) for information leading to the capture of fugitive Mexican drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman. Guzman escaped from a Mexican maximum-security jail on 22 July. He is one of the world's most wanted drug lords whose Sinaloa cartel smuggled huge quantities of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines to the US.
The head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said he believed Guzman was still in Mexico. DEA acting director Chuck Rosenberg told reporters he believed that Guzman was hiding in his home state of Sinaloa, in north-west Mexico. But he said that was only "an educated guess".
Shortly after his escape, Mexican authorities announced they were offering a $3.8m reward for information leading to his arrest. Mr Rosenberg said Mexican and US authorities were working together to catch Guzman. Guzman, also known as El Chapo, or Shorty, escaped from the Altiplano penitentiary west of Mexico City through a 1.5km-long (1 mile) tunnel.
It is the second time he has escaped from a maximum-security jail. In 2001, he broke out of Puente Grande jail, reportedly hidden in a laundry cart after bribing officials. He was on the run until February 2014 when US and Mexican security officials traced him to a flat in Sinaloa state. He was arrested without a shot being fired. Guzman's wealth is estimated at $1bn.
Widespread Doping in Athletics described as "Declaration of War"
Lord Coe has described allegations of widespread doping in athletics as a "declaration of war" and says it is time to "come out fighting" to protect the sport's reputation.
The Sunday Times published data from 5,000 athletes, which it says reveals an "extraordinary extent of cheating". Athletics' world governing body, the IAAF, said the blood results were not positive tests or proof of doping.
"The fightback has to start here," said Coe, an IAAF vice-president. "It is a declaration of war on my sport. There is nothing in our history of competence and integrity in drug testing that warrants this kind of attack."
Facebook Criticized by Hank Green
Facebook has defended the way it handles video content after it was criticised by a popular YouTube star.
Video blogger Hank Green said the company intentionally overstated how many people watched videos on the site, and failed to tackle video piracy. Facebook said it took intellectual property rights "very seriously". One expert told the BBC the social network needed to do more to "reassure" content creators.
Hank Green is one of YouTube's most prominent stars and more than 2.6 million people follow the YouTube channel he runs with his brother John. In a post on his blog, Mr Green said although Facebook was an "interesting" platform for video, the company had "fundamentally devalued" online video by inflating statistics.
In April, Facebook said its visitors clocked up four billion video views daily. Mr Green said Facebook's statistics were a "lie", because the site counted a video as viewed after just three seconds. "Facebook counts views significantly before people could be said to be watching the video. By 30 seconds, when viewership actually could be claimed, only 20% are watching," he said.
Mr Green also accused the social network of making money from content which had been stolen from other websites. In June, research by advertising agency Ogilvy found that 73% of the most popular videos on Facebook had been ripped from other websites, accounting for 17 billion views.
Mr Green said it was "inexcusable" that Facebook had not developed an efficient system to spot when videos had been ripped and re-uploaded, a process known as freebooting.
Human trafficking curriculum for Jamaican secondary schools from September
So serious is the Jamaica government about ridding the country of the scourge of human trafficking that the topic will be integrated into subjects taught in secondary schools across the island from the upcoming academic year.
Teachers are being trained through the Ministry of Education, in preparation for the introduction at Grades Seven to Nine in pilot schools next month.
The curriculum, which was developed by the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons, is geared towards helping schoolchildren see the issue as a global crime, as well as getting them to identify means of preventing it and helping to reduce the vulnerability of people, especially children and young people.
Human trafficking is considered a modern-day form of slavery involving victims being forced, defrauded or coerced into exploitative circumstances.
Assistant chief education officer in the Core Curriculum Unit Dr. Clover Hamilton-Flowers said her department had identified areas in Social Studies, Religious Education, Information and Communication Technology, Physical Education and Sports, as well as in History, in which topics from the human trafficking curriculum will be integrated during lessons.
Statistics from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) show that nearly half of the 1.2 million children trafficked worldwide each year are from Latin America and the Caribbean.
The National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons in the Ministry of Justice says trafficking victims in Jamaica are predominantly females (79.3 per cent) between the ages of 18 and 24 years, have secondary education (89.7 per cent), and are from the working-class or a poor background (86.2 per cent).
The efforts being made to increase awareness about the crime, from secondary school level, comes against the background of United States (US) authorities maintaining a Tier 2 Watch List ranking for Jamaica in its 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report which was released last Monday.
The ranking means that Jamaica does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but it is making significant efforts to do so.
The US State Department said Jamaica’s ranking remained unchanged because the government “did not demonstrate evidence of overall increasing anti-trafficking efforts compared to the previous period”.
The Portia Simpson-Miller administration said it found that conclusion “perplexing” and “unfounded” and it was deeply disappointed with some aspects of the report, including allegations that sex tourism is a problem in Jamaica’s resort areas and that policemen were complicit in prostitution rings which recruit children and coerce adults into the sex trade.
The Class of 75
The Class of 75 met with the purpose of providing and creating Vision, Opportunity and Empowerment within the community and committed to building strong community partnerships, while enriching Heritage. The Class of 75 shall be inclusive in its efforts for public involvement. The Class of 75 will stand on charitable foundation.
The Class of 75 shall be non -profit and non -partisan. No substantial part of the activities of the Class of 75 shall consist of the publication or dissemination of materials with the purpose or attempting to influence legislation, and the Class of 75 shall not participate or intervene in political activities.
Mission Statement : The Class of 75 seeks to convene a pool of diverse men and women to improve the quality of life within the Turks and Caicos community, and enhance educational and economic opportunities for all individuals with an emphasis on our youth.
Some Names of the Class of 75:
LINDA WINNER
GEORGINA STILES
EMMABELLE DURHAM
VERENE ASTWOOD
CALVIN TAYLOR
BRENDA TAYLOR
YVONNE MORRIS
BLOSSOM SMITH
LINDA ULBRICK
CARL SIMMONS
ROBERT SMITH
ARTHUR FORBES
LEONORA HARVEY
HERMAN HANDFIELD
EARLE BARRANCO
WHITLEAN HIGGS
SARAH HANDFIELD
KENNETH ADAMS
CLAUDETTE MISSICK
GIRLEY GARLAND
DENNIS SWANN
DEBRA ARIZA
WALTER GARDINER
RITA MILLS
MARJORIE DURHAM
WINSTON QUELCH
JANE MALCOLM
KAREN INGHAM
Suriname bank with half billion dollars in assets acquired by Trinidad’s Republic Bank
Republic Bank Limited has welcomed a new territory into the fold of the expanding financial group, with the acquisition of a Surinamese bank with just over half billion US dollars in assets.
Republic Bank (Suriname) N.V. will begin operations tomorrow, following the Trinidad and Tobago financial institution’s acquisition of RBC Royal Bank (Suriname) N.V. from RBC Financial (Caribbean) Limited, through the purchase of Royal Overseas Holdings (St. Lucia) Limited. The transaction closed last Friday.
The Suriname bank has a network of five branches in the capital of Paramaribo and one in Nickerie, and assets of approximately US$525 million, as at October 31, 2014.
Managing Director of Republic Bank, David Dulal Whiteway said they’re very excited about the opportunity to be part of the future development of Suriname and intend to hold true to their tradition of adding value to the countries in which they operate, both on a commercial and community level.
“Undoubtedly, at our core is a culture of providing excellent, innovative customer service. We believe in organic growth and have a well-established institutional track record of successfully entering new territories, ensuring compliance and integrity, while investing in technology and the development of the country’s human resource capabilities,” Whiteway said.
This latest acquisition brings the Republic Bank Group’s strategic expansion to nine territories. The others are Barbados, Cayman Islands, Cuba, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Guyana and, more recently, Ghana.
Missing MH370 Plane Possibly Found
Part of the aircraft wing found on Reunion Island is from the missing MH370 plane, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has confirmed. Mr Najib said international experts examining the debris in France had "conclusively confirmed" it was from the aircraft. The Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 239 people veered off course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014. The debris was examined at an aeronautical test centre near Toulouse. It was found on the remote French Indian Ocean island of Reunion a week ago.
In a statement, Mr Najib said the "the burden and uncertainty faced by the families" in the 515 days since the aircraft disappeared had been "unspeakable". "We now have physical evidence that flight MH370 tragically ended in the southern Indian Ocean," he added. French prosecutor Serge Mackowiak later confirmed the wing fragment, known as a flaperon, was from a Boeing 777 - the same make and model as the missing Malaysian airliner. He said the results of initial tests showed there were "very strong indications" the flaperon was from flight MH370. He said confirmation would come after further tests on the fragment, which would begin on today.
Brosnan Tries To Carry Knife Through Security
Pierce Brosnan has been stopped by airport security officials for trying to board a US flight carrying a knife.
The former 007 star was prevented by Transportation Security Administration agents at Burlington International Airport in Vermont with the 10in (25cm) hunting knife in his hand luggage. The local police department said Brosnan was allowed to continue his journey after the issue was resolved.
The Irish-American's James Bond films include GoldenEye and Die Another Day. Brosnan, 62, was reportedly embarrassed and angry when the knife was taken away by agents. TSA rules state that sharp objects such as knives, box cutters and scissors longer than 4 inches must be stored in checked baggage.
Lieutenant Shawn Burke, from the Burlington Police Department, said airport authorities told him about Brosnan's encounter with Transportation Security Administration officials. He said the Irish actor "was encountered by TSA at one of their checkpoints" and was allowed to continue his journey after the issue was resolved.
The actor has not commented on the incident.
Jackson Diagnosed With A Stroke
Jackson, was was in Brazil to celebrate his 87th birthday, was diagnosed with a stroke associated with cardiac arrhythmia, the hospital said. His health had improved enough to warrant his release on yesterday, the Albert Einstein hospital added.
Jackson managed his sons' musical group in the early 1960s. He first worked with his three eldest sons, Jackie, Tito and Jermaine and then younger sons Marlon and Michael, forming the Jackson 5.
Although they would go on to achieve huge commercial success, it was reported that he was often abusive towards his family. In a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson said that during his childhood, he would sometimes get sick or vomit with nerves upon seeing his father.
In a 2003 interview with Louis Theroux, Jackson admitted whipping his pop singer son as a child. "I whipped him with a switch and a belt. I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick," he said.
Michael, who went on to become a phenomenally successful pop star, died from an overdose of sedatives on 25 June, 2009 at the age of 50.
Drugs Now Available As 3D-Printed Pills
In a world first, the US Food and Drug Administration has given the go-ahead for a 3D-printed pill to be produced. The FDA has previously approved medical devices - including prosthetics - that have been 3D printed. The new drug, dubbed Spritam, was developed by Aprecia Pharmaceuticals to control seizures brought on by epilepsy.
The company said that it planned to develop other medications using its 3D platform. Printing the drugs allows layers of medication to be packaged more tightly in precise dosages. A separate technology developed by the firm, known as ZipDose, makes high-dose medications easier to swallow.
Printing the drug meant it could package up to 1,000 milligrams into individual tablets. The 3D-printed pill dissolves in the same manner as other oral medicines.
Source: BBC