VOLUME 10 ISSUE 11

www. twitter.com/suntci Website: www.suntci.com Email: [email protected] Tel: 649-946-8542 Fax: 649-941-3281

$1.00APRIL 5TH - APRIL 12TH, 2014 VOLUME 10 - No. 11

Opposition Leader says

Police Commissioner

Colin Farquhar

should resign

PAGE 7

Chief Justice post advertised again

PAGE 11

UK Government concerned about

illegal Haitian migration

PAGE 9

PDM says tourists should be taxed

PAGE 10

PDM TO VOTE AGAINSTPDM TO VOTE AGAINSTTHE PAYROLL TAX BILLTHE PAYROLL TAX BILL

CHURCH PROTEST GOVERNMENT TAX PROPOSAL:

Church leaders took to the street on Thursday (April 3)

to protest government proposed payroll tax that is slated

to come on stream at the beginning of the summer. Gov-

ernment is pitching that payroll tax would be the best rev-

enue stream at this time since it would assist the admin-

istration to offset a great deal of expenses, including the

$260 million United Kingdom guaranteed loan that the

British Government said should be repaid ff by 2016, con-

struction and repair of roads, building of schools and run

a number of socialized programmes. The church leaders

however, argue that a tax on the people at this time could

cause many families to suffer even more, and urge the ad-

ministration to seek other innovations to raise revenues.

The march was led by Bishop Coleta Williams III, Pastor

of the Abundant Life Ministries International, located on

the Leeward Highway.

BY VIVIAN TYSONSUN SENIOR EDITOR

“Bring it and we will kill it!”That’s the strong message that Op-

position Leader Hon. Sharlene Cart-wright-Robinson is sending to the Progressive National Party (PNP) Gov-ernment regarding plans to bring the controversial payroll tax to the House of Assembly to be passed into law.

The People’s Democratic Move-ment (PDM) Leader said Government cannot introduce the income tax un-less it is passed in Parliament; and she made it abundantly clear at a press conference on Wednesday March 2nd, that members of her party will be vot-ing against it.

“Bring it and we will kill it. No member of the Opposition Team in the House of Assembly will be vot-ing for any new tax and defi nitely not any payroll tax,” the Opposition Lead-er stressed.

If the PDM votes against the pay-roll tax, it would mean that the two Governor’s Appointed Members to House of Assembly, Hon. Lillian Mis-sick and Hon. John Phillips will hold the key to whether or not the pro-posed government payroll tax will be passed into law.

Hon. Cartwright-Robinson, who is a lawyer by profession, said that the Constitution is quite clear about what needs to be done as it relates to the in-troduction of new taxes.

She said: “Should the Govern-ment of the day continue to force this issue, we wish to remind the people of this country that a payroll tax cannot be imposed without pass-ing a law in the House of Assembly. The Constitution is clear. (The ordi-nance says that) ‘no tax, rate or oth-er levy shall be imposed except un-der the authority of an Ordinance’. (It further says) ‘where an Ordinance confers powers on any person or au- CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

thority to waive or vary a tax im-posed by that Ordinance, that per-son or authority shall report to the House of Assembly on the exercise of those powers as often as shall be determined by law but not less than every six months.”

Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing stated while addressing a commu-nity meeting at the Abundant Life Ministries International Church

in Providenciales on Wednesday (March 2), said that it is up to Parlia-ment to determine whether or not the controversial tax should get the green light.

At that point, opposition appoint-ed member and PDM Chairman Hon. Clarence Selver told the Ewing, along with his fi nance minister Hon. Wash-ington Missick, that the Bill will be dead on arrival in the House.

Meantime, during her press confer-ence which was held at the PDM’s head-quarters, in Downtown Providenciales, the Opposition Leader charged that the PNP Government has been taking the country down the wrong road. She also accused the Dr. Rufus Ewing-led Cabi-net of not showing an care for the peo-ple of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

APRIL 5TH - APRIL 12TH, 2014 TURKS & CAICOS SUN

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Joy Callender leaves CIBC FirstCaribbean in TCI for

Cayman Islands promotionBY VIVIAN TYSON

Joy Callender, the Turks and Caicos Islands Dis-trict Manager for Retail Business Banking and Op-

erations at CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank and stationed at the Leeward High-way Branch, will be leaving the Turks and Caicos Islands to take up an elevated position in the Cayman Islands.

The Barbadian-born banker told The SUN that she was scheduled to leave on Saturday (April 5) to take up the new position which is Asso-ciate Director for Retail for Wealth, Business Banking and Operation in charge of Cayman and the British Virgin Islands.

“I am heading to the Cayman Islands; I leave on Saturday (April 5). I am still with FirstCaribbean. I got my promotion in December last year (2013); I am going to be the Associate Director for Retail for Wealth, Business Banking and Op-eration in Cayman and the British Virgin Islands,” she explained.

Callender, who worshipped at St. Monica’s Anglican Church while working in the TCI, said that leav-ing the Turks and Caicos Islands is kind of an emotional mixed bag for her, since she has fostered many relationships which she is going to leave behind, even though her new job will be a promotion.

“I leave with very mixed feeling, because I have been able to foster good relationships here – in the bank, in the community, and I just want to wish this

country well. I want to see it do well. The country has been good to me and I have been able to give back to the community, become very, very involved in charitable work, also with my church and various aspects of the banking industry. So, I really wish this

country well until I come again,” she said.

Callender worked in this territo-ry for seven years in two segments. She said that the Turks and Caicos is poised for tremendous growth, while crossing her fi ngers that the country attracts the right kind of investors. She noted too that it would not be very hard for the TCI to achieve more growth since the platform set a little under 10 years ago, has laid the ground work for such takeoff.

“When I came back here there was much growth that had hap-pened; then of course we had the economic meltdown through the world. Of course, Turks and Caicos suffered because of that and the other issues.

“But I believe that because of the signifi cant growth that had happened before the last fi ve years – of course there is still room for growth – Turks and Caicos has still been able to hold its own, especial-

ly as it relates to tourism sector. The banking indus-try felt some of that economic meltdown, but now I can see that there is going to be a comeback as it re-lates to the economy,” she noted.

Callender believes that the taxes that are sched-uled to come on stream in the next few months,

Joy Callenderwhile should be felt by many, should not adversely affect the growth of the TCI.

“I know there is much talks about all the taxes and fees and so on, but because of the foundation that has been laid over the last seven, Turks and Cai-cos is going to attract meaningful investors. And this will account for a great stimulation of the econo-my and I believe that this country will start to see bounce back again,” she said.

She said: “I have never been so torn in my public service role as an elected offi cial. Torn, because I sin-cerely believe with all my heart that the Government is taking this coun-try in the wrong direction and I sin-cerely believe that it will make our people poorer and negatively alter our marketability for business.”

The PDM leader added: “I sincere-ly believe that other routes can be tak-en and that the human factor seems to be missing. When I say this, I be-lieve that the Government is missing the human factor in its decision-mak-ing, whether in its consultation, or seeing the true state of our people. The elected government seems to see fi gures and not faces and when a government fails to see the faces or most especially the hurting faces of our people, then that Government is out of touch. It makes rash decisions that end up being of ill effect; it disre-spects by its actions and words “come hell or high water” or “Bishop so and so does not dictate Government’s pol-icy” become common place.”

She added: “We live in a beauti-ful country and I believe with all my heart that the brightest minds in this country and the brightest days for this country are still ahead of us. Whilst we struggle through perhaps some of the worst times we have had to face in recent times, I am convinced that with the right steps in the right direc-tion, we can rebound stronger and

better than ever. I believe that we are at a critical place where we can ill af-ford to make the wrong decision.”

The PDM Leader said because the Government is failing this country, more and more people are calling on the Opposition and the PDM to act and “seemingly are trying to vest pow-ers in the Opposition that we do not have”.

The Opposition Leader said that since this Government came to Of-fi ce, the Turks and Caicos Islands have seen existing taxes and fees in-creased and new taxes and fees in-troduced with short notice periods, “without consultation and mostly without care or concern for the plight of our people”.

She continued: “It appears that this Government sees fi gures and no longer sees faces and therefore sees no need to talk to its people and con-sult. If the Government were seeing faces and listening to voices other than in their own heads, these fac-es and voices would tell them that the cost of living is at an all - time high and has raised considerably un-der this Government’s onerous tax system and short sighted approach. These voices would tell them pay raises even within the public ser-vice are largely non existent and in the Public Service has been frozen since 2006. These faces would say whilst there is no correct record of the number of unemployed persons, many of us are unemployed and that the faces of the unemployed is

evolving to not just those with min-imal skills but to include our grad-uates from college and universi-ty and our managers. The faces of many of our employed will tell you that they are treated like animals on the job, mistreated and victim-ized often for standing up for their rights yet many work permits are re-newed for those who treat workers and not just our people less than.”She added: “If Government would hear the voices of the people, they would hear of the many that are il-legally employed from high rank-ing positions in resorts to labour-ers. Yet the Government reports that there are a mere 4,569 work permits which means that it is losing reve-nue. These voices will tell the Gov-ernment that persons are losing their homes and businesses. And though the Opposition has called on the Government to address this mat-ter especially with regards to TOLCO, the company that bought TC Invest loans, the Government has failed to represent its people in this regard. I dare say that voices do not have to tell the Government that minimum wage remains less than a living wage and persons cannot live on even above minimum wage earnings cov-ering the very basics. Our people’s health is failing due to the choice be-tween whether to buy medication or buy food (which has already translat-ed into strokes from hypertension), they are forced to choose between whether to pay for school books or

pay rent; to buy food or pay light bill. Our people are hurting and not only is their health failing but their hope is also failing.”

Cartwright-Robinson argued that government needs to police the cur-rent tax regime, step up on compli-ance, collect the money on the streets and roll back taxes.

“If people have more money to spend, they will and government will make more money because govern-ment taxes everything. The Govern-ment also needs to deal with health-care costs, hold the Symposium that was agreed to discuss the economy among other issues, consider the al-ternatives given by the Opposition and others, market this country, move away from this lazy and non - innova-tive approach, refi nance the debt and hear your people,” she said.

The opposition leader also indi-cated her annoyance with govern-ment when it compared the Turks and Caicos Islands tax structure with other countries in the region, noting that the Rufus Ewing administration should set a standard for itself and work towards maintaining it.

“Stop comparing to other countries and the taxes they have. We need to set a standard for ourselves and it must not be to make our people poor. The Government must do the right thing - call for the referendum as the people did not elect you on the mandate that you are currently on. Any government that fails to do this, should resign and call elections,” she said.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

PDM TO VOTE AGAINST THE PAYROLL TAX BILLPDM TO VOTE AGAINST THE PAYROLL TAX BILL


LOCAL NEWS

Former Third Turtle developer Richard Padgett given a two-year suspended sentence

A British millionaire who had planned to develop a

luxury hotel in the Turks and Caicos Islands was given a two-year suspended jail sentence for corruption on Monday, March 31st.

Sixty-year-old Richard Padgett, who had pleaded guilty on Friday May 31 last year to one count of bribing of public offi cials and another charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice, was sentenced in the Providen-ciales High court by Mr. Justice Paul Harrison, a former pres-ident of the Jamaica Court of Appeal, who was specially con-tracted to hear corruption cas-es stemming from a mutli-mil-lion dollar Helen Garlick-led investigation that is now into its fi fth year.

Padgett, the former devel-oper of the Third Turtle proj-ect was in England for the sen-tencing but he was seen in local court by way of a video link, similar to Skype.

Before sentencing, Padgett’s attorney Collinwood Thomp-son, QC, who was present in the Turks and Caicos Islands courtroom, gave an almost two-hour mitigation on the devel-oper’s behalf. Andrew Mitchell,

QC, appeared on behalf of the Special Investigation and Pros-ecution Team (SIPT).

Padgett admitting to giv-ing certain government offi -cials inducements by unlaw-ful corrupt payments or other rewards, in the form of cash, credit, entertainment and oth-er advantages while they were serving in the Government, so that they would act in a way that was contrary to the ordi-nary rules of honesty and in-tegrity expected of them, and so as to benefi t himself and others in their commercial in-terest in the Turks and Caicos Islands.”

Padgett also admitted con-spiring together with other persons to pervert the course of public by presenting to the

Commission of Inquiry, false or forged documents designed to mislead that said Commis-sion of Inquiry into believ-ing that payments made for a corrupt or dishonest purpose were in fact made for honest reasons.

As part of a previous deal with SIPT, the Attorney Gen-eral’s Chamber settled all civil claims and proceedings against Padgett and his companies, including civil claims arising from the Third Turtle Develop-ment and a separate civil claim arising in relation to Crown Land on East Caicos acquired by a company controlled by Padgett.

Under the settlement, Padgett also transferred to TCIG land which has been val-ued at approximately US$7mil-lion. He also made a cash con-tribution of $75,000 to the costs of investigations.

The land transferred to TCIG includes about 540 acres of former Crown Land on East Caicos (although some of this land is charged to a bank for about US$1.5m), and two par-cels at North West Point and Richmond Commons on Prov-idenciales totaling about 10 acres.

DIGICEL ACQUIRES WIV

Digicel, together with its local partner Tele-

media, announced the ac-quisition of WIV Cable TV, which has been oper-ating in the Turks and Ca-icos Islands for over 30 years and its sister compa-ny TCT, which operates the TCExpress High Speed Ca-ble Internet Service. The transaction closed on April 1st 2014 for an undisclosed sum.

The local partner Tele-media is owned by Digi-cel TCI CEO Jay Saunders who is also a shareholder in Digicel.

With Digicel already having launched superfast 4G services in the Turks and Caicos within the last 12 months, this move sees Digicel not only enhancing its ability to provide broad-band internet services to consumers and business, but also moving into the cable television space for the fi rst time in the Turks and Caicos.

Commenting on the ac-quisitions, E. Jay Saunders, General Manager, Digi-cel Turks and Caicos, said; “We are very excited by this acquisition. At Digicel, we understand the vital

role that a robust commu-nications infrastructure plays in driving econom-ic growth in a country and this acquisition shows our commitment to achieving that end.”

He continues; “Through this purchase, we now have the most extensive fi ber optic network in the coun-try, which we will utilize to ensure that our customers continue to benefi t from our commitment to deliv-ering best value, best ser-vice, and the best network. We would like to thank the Management and staff of WIV and TCT for the tre-mendous job that they have done over the years and we would like to offi -cially welcome them into the Digicel family.”

Commissioner of Police Colin Farquhar must resign, says Opposition Leader

BY VIVIAN TYSON

Opposition Leader Hon. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson is calling on

Commissioner of Police Colin Farquar to resign immediately because she be-lieves he has failed in his position to bring crime under control in the TCI.

Cartwright-Robinson made the call while address a range of issues during a news conference at the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) head-quarters in Providenciales on Wednes-day (April 2).

“We believe that this posting has fast become a failure and before this becomes a further national embarrass-ment and also a strain on our relation-ship with Canada, we are calling the Po-lice Commissioner, Mr. Colin Farquhar, to do the honorable thing and resign.

“The right thing must be done in this regard for our safety and those visiting our shores and for the better-ment of our country. We are calling on the Government to join us in our call for the resignation of the Police Com-missioner,” Cartwright-Robinson said.

Her call was specifi cally predicated on the murder of popular Provo Busi-nessman Robert ‘Robbie’ Been, who was gunned down in the parking lot of his businesses place in Grace Bay by an unknown gunman and the num-ber of aggravated burglaries especial-ly against tourists.

“Friday (April 4) will mark one month since the death of Robert Been who was murdered in a cowardly and brutal manner. We are not aware of any imminent arrests and as such are dismayed at the lack of progress for several reasons, greatest of which is the people factor. There is a grieving family who, while dealing with the

sudden and tragic loss, are also force to deal with the fact that those re-sponsible are still at large.

“Whilst we grapple with other crimes, we are concerned with the increase numbers of robberies. It ap-pears that the criminals are pushing the boundaries, getting bolder and more reckless. We are equally dis-turbed that following a US Advisory is-sued days ago, another incident or in-cidents have occurred.

“This, for me, spells crisis for our little nation. We cannot compare our-selves always to other nations, as we know what type of country in which we want to live. And I say 3,337 crimes, an increase of 24% and a low detec-tion rate of 22% is unacceptable and at crisis point for us because we have higher standards for ourselves and greater ideals by which we choose to live,” she said.

Cartwright-Robinson has charged that Commissioner Farquhar has erred beyond redemption in a num-ber of ways.

She said that the force is divided, morale is at an all - time low and Com-

missioner Farquar does not enjoy the confi dence of the majority of the rank and fi le members of the force, noting also that there is a serious lack of con-fi dence among the populace in his ability to lead.

She said the recent pronouncement by Commissioner Farquar that the force lacks resources, in a clear signal to criminals that the coast is clear, and that he has failed to request additional crime fi ghting tools such, adding that Farquar resisted the opposition’s call for closed circuit cameras, fi ngerprint-ing database and police post.

“Regarding the issue of the increase in crime by 24 percent, the statement that strained people’s relation is a con-tributing factor along with the US ad-visory. The commissioner of police has failed to call a series of meetings with the community leaders and the community.

“We believe that he has failed to understand that he is accountable to the people of these islands. We are also concerned that in the commis-sioner of Police third year, we are yet to see as a community his policing

plan and areas of crime strategy that involve us as a people,” the opposition leader argued.

In the meantime, the opposition leader is calling on those who may know of the Robert Been murder to come forward and give information so that justice can take its course.

“I fi rmly believe that someone knows something and is failing to speak out. I again wish to promote the use of Crime Stoppers. You will be treated anonymously and as such you can have every confi dence that what you say cannot lead back to you. I am appealing to the people of this coun-try to do not simply feel sympathy for the family but feel empathy, put your-selves in their shoes and imagine what you would wish for persons to do if it were your family member or you. Jus-tice must be the goal of every citizen. I am therefore appealing to persons to come forward, call CRIMESTOPPERS 19008477,” she said.

Cartwright-Robinson said that she is also exploring the possibility of in-creasing the reward from $40,000, to encourage persons to persons to come forward.

Meanwhile, Cartwright defended her reason for giving so much high-lights against other recent murders, saying that Been’s death was different.

“Some may say that this is (Been’s murder) no more important than any other (murder) and I agree that loss of life under any circumstance, especial-ly at the hands of criminals, is tragic but I dare say that this is different in that from all accounts, this may have been a crime of a different nature and its implication for our country’s rep-utation is far reaching and negative,” she said.

Opposition Leader Hon. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson

Commissioner of Police Colin Farquhar

Richard Padgett

CEO of Digicel TCI, E. Jay Saunders


LOCAL NEWSChurch stages march to protest payroll tax

BY VIVIAN TYSON

Church leaders on Providenciales led by Bish-op Coleta Alexander Williams III, staged an an-

ti-tax march through the streets of Providenciales on Thursday (April 3) in protest of government’s proposed payroll tax.

The march was joined by a wide cross-section of TCI society, and included former premier Michael Misick, Opposition Leader Hon. Sharlene Cart-wright Robinson, Deputy Opposition Leader Hon. Sean Astwood, and other Opposition Members of Parliament Hon. Josephine Connolly Hon. Goldray Ewing, brother of Premier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing.

The payroll tax, if passed in the House of Assem-bly, is slated to come on stream at the beginning of June. The Dr. Rufus Ewing government said that a payroll tax would be the ideal revenue stream that would assist the administration’s efforts to offset a great deal of the country’s debt, especially the $260 million United Kingdom guaranteed loan, which is to be repaid by 2016.

However, the church predicted that the tax would be too onerous on the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and would create further hard-ship on the populace, and is therefore calling on government to ditch it.

The protesters assembled at Butterfi eld Square before making their way along the Leeward High-way, stopping at the entrance to the Cheshire Hall Medical Center, across from the Premier’ s Offi ce and the Supreme Court, where a rally was held and several persons gave speeches, including Bishop Williams.

Bishop Williams said the Turks and Caicos Is-lands could not afford such a tax at this time and is therefore calling on the administration to recon-sider.

Bishop Williams said that it is unfair to impose such a tax at this time, since the country has not recovered from the recession it went into about four years ago, noting that the country was already paying a number of increased taxes, including gas-oline.

“We ought to let the powers that be know that we are not going to sit on this one, not when we are being taxed on gasoline, tax on our food, tax on everything that we can ever imagine. We are saying that this is too much, too soon. We are barely try-ing to crawl back out of the greatest recession of our time, and we have mortgage; we have all these expenses. And we can’t afford to take another tax, and so we say no to anymore taxation on the peo-ple of the Turks and Caicos Islands,” Bishop Wil-liams emphasized.

The man of the cloth also said that the Turks and Caicos Islands is desperately in need of mon-ey to bankroll many programmes that it has to take care of, including construction of new schools, fi x-ing roads and pay its civil servants.

“We say no to the British Government; we say no to the SIPT (Special Investigation and Prose-cution Team). We have spent enough money, and this taxation, according to the minister (of Finance Hon. Washington Misick) is really to pay off the SIPT bill.

“And we say this evening, if SIPT wants to re-main in Turks and Caicos, let them pay their own way. We want our money to take care of our po-lice; we want our money to take care of our civil servants; we want our money to put in infrastruc-ture; we want our money to build better schools; we want our money to build better roads,” he said.

MINIMUM WAGE

INCREASE ON THE CARDS

Residents in the Turks and Caicos Islands could see their wages inch up in the approaching fi nancial

if government has its way, according to Finance Min-ister Hon. Washington Misick, who was speaking at a revenue-raising consultative meeting at the Five Cays Community Centre in Providenciales on Tues-day (March 25).

The fi nance minister told the audience that a cab-inet paper, already been drafted, would be present-ed to cabinet for the establishment of a committee to look at the options for raising minimum wage. He made the statement while responding to a member of the audience about how the propose government payroll tax would impact those at the lowest level of the income chain.

“At the next cabinet meeting, there is a paper on the cabinet paper that deals with the establishment of a minimum wage commission or committee,” Mis-ick said.

Responding to the question as to whether the blue ribbon commission on revenue conducted any survey to gauge the income disparity in the coun-try and whether or not the so-called ‘small man’ was represented on the commission, Minister Missick that while the blue ribbon commission did not con-duct a review of its own, a number of other assess-ments have been made by other bodies and more to be made in the very near future. He said also that the ‘small man’ was represented by the government.

“The blue ribbon commission was made up of businesses, consumers and government. The blue rib-bon commission did not carry out a survey. But, that is not to say that there were not conversations. The ‘small man’s’ voice was heard because you had a gov-ernment that represents.

“While the blue ribbon commission did not do a survey, there has been a population census done re-cently, there has been a population assessment re-view, there are a number of efforts to try and gauge what the economic situation is in the country and currently we are thinking of a CPI – Consumer Price Index study,” Misick pointed out.

Bishop Williams speaking at the rally on Thursday (Apri l 3)


LOCAL NEWS

Waterloo Hotel Management Ltd.invites suitable applications for the following position:

Salary for this position will commensurate with qualifications and experience.

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT

Please Submit Applications to:

Waterloo Hotel Management Ltd. is part of WIHL, a diversified group with interests in the hospitality industry.

We are committed to the Turks & Caicos Islands, where we own or operate different assets, such as Beach House, The Alexandra, Blue Haven Resort and Marina - and now the Market and Deli, located in the Blue Haven Resort.

We are now looking for a Senior Vice President, who will report to the CEO and Chair of the Group. As SVP, you will be responsible for all hospitality related developments and operations, both in TCI and elsewhere. To qualify, you need to have an international business background and successfully managed and developed international businesses in the services industry. You must have a track record in managing and developing complex organizations, change manage-ment and delivering growth and profitability.

You must also have experience working for or advised Global Top 100 companies and have management experience within the hospitality industry.

[email protected] A copy should also be submitted to the TCI Labour Department.

Submissions to be no later than April 18th 2014

Belongers need only apply.

BRITISH GOVERNMENT CONCERNED ABOUT ILLEGAL HAITIANS COMING

TO TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS

The British Government has expressed concern about

the continued infl ux of ille-gal Haitian immigrants to the Turks and Caicos Islands and is appealing to the Haitian government to do something about it.

Minister for the Overseas Territories Mark Simmonds made the position abundant-ly clear while speaking in the House of Commons recently.

MP Andrew Rosindell asked the Secretary of State for For-eign and Commonwealth Af-fairs if he will take steps to pre-vent illegal migration onto the Turks and Caicos Islands and to reduce the number of poten-tially fatal journeys taken by such immigrants.

In response, Simmonds said: “Illegal migration from Haiti to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), a UK Overseas Territory, is a very real prob-lem, as made evident by the re-cent tragic incident on 25 De-cember 2013, which led to at least 19 fatalities. I discussed this issue with the TCI Pre-mier during our bilateral at the Overseas Territories Joint Min-isterial Council on 25 Novem-ber 2013. The TCI Government has constitutional responsibil-ity for immigration policy and border control, but the Govern-ment has a fundamental objec-tive and responsibility for the security of TCI fl owing from international law, our shared

history and political commit-ment to the wellbeing of all British nationals. The Govern-ment has therefore provided substantial support to TCI, in-cluding funding for a radar sta-tion and training for marine police.”

He added: “The Government is encouraging the Haitian Gov-ernment to step up its efforts to combat people traffi ck-ing, and to discourage its peo-ple from undertaking the dan-gerous journey by boat to TCI which may lead to their death and almost certainly to their detention and deportation. We are also supporting the TCI and Haitian Governments to devel-op practical co-operation. A Hai-tian consulate opened in TCI in February 2013. We are support-ing negotiation of a Memoran-dum of Understanding cover-ing deterring and combating illegal migration.”

UK, Haiti must foot bills for illegal migration, detention and repatriation

BY VIVIAN TYSON

Opposition Leader Hon. Sharlene Cart-wright-Robinson is calling on the Unit-

ed Kingdom and Haiti to pick up the illegal migrant tab, since the mother country is re-sponsible for internal and external security of the Turks and Caicos Islands, while Haiti is the country from which the migrants are arriving in droves.

The opposition leader, who was speak-ing at the People’s Democratic Movement’s headquarters in Providenciales, raised the issue after a boat carrying 114 persons was intercepted on Monday morning (April 31) and towed ashore where the migrants were taken off and detained.

“Each time our border is breached, it marks a failure on the UK Government to police our waters. The Governor remains constitutionally responsible for internal and external. So, it is past time that the country asks the offending country and the UK Government to foot the bill for the re-patriation of illegal immigrants.

“I am therefore calling on the Govern-ment to forward all expenses relating to in-cidents where individuals have breached and entered our borders illegally and de-mand payment and reimbursement on be-half of our country. We are again disap-pointed that illegal sloops carrying large numbers of illegal migrants are fi nding their way to our waters. I, however, wish to congratulate our enforcement agencies on the latest successful interception,” she said.

She said that last year, former Gover-nor Ric Todd and Minister of Border Con-trol Hon. Don-Hue Gardiner visited Haiti to discuss illegal migration into TCI and oth-er issues, while on another occasion Pre-mier Hon. Dr. Rufus Ewing was quoted in the media as saying that drugs and guns are

coming in on illegal sloops. However, she said that since the visit and the premier’s pronouncement, the PDM has not seen any evidence to make it feel comfortable that government was combating illegal migra-tion.

“Whilst we do not expect us to win the war, as other countries with more resourc-es are still falling prey, what we expect is a more aggressive approach. We have heard statements released but the country is wea-ry of weak statements when it is being called upon to pay increasing taxes,” she said.

She added: “Last year alone, this coun-try spent over $1m in detention and repa-triation of illegal immigrants. We are strug-gling fi nancially and we cannot afford to bear these costs. Any breach of our borders should be seen as an act of aggression on British Sovereignty and by extension these islands. The UK must put pressure on the foreign country (Haiti) and step up its ef-forts to fi nalize and formalize the MOU (with Haiti).”

She also calls on the authorities to start prosecuting those believe to be involved in what has now been established as a human traffi cking, drugs and gun ring being operat-ing between the TCI and Haiti.

“We believe that it is past time that we as a country vigilantly set out to carry out sting operations to identify those here who are involved and to charge, prosecute and convict culprits and make them examples. I believe this can serve as a deterrent. The Government needs to make this a priority.

“ The TCI Government and the UK Gov-ernment need to get serious on this issue. The Government needs to make represen-tation on these costs and the UK needs to step up its responsibility and put pressure where it needs to be put,” she said.

PAGE 9 STORY

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PHOTO OF MARK

SIMMONDS AND

CAPTION

UK MP Mark Simmonds


LOCAL NEWS

PDM says broad-based tax should be extended to tourists

BY VIVIAN TYSON

Until government extend its broad base tax net to include

cruise passengers and land-based tourists, then the Turks and Caicos Islands would not have a broad-base tax system, which govern-ment is proposing, according to Opposition Leader Hon. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson.

Cartwright-Robinson, who was speaking at a news conference on Wednesday (April 2) at the Peo-ples Democratic Movement (PDM) headquarters in Providenciales, said that payroll tax that govern-ment has favoured, would only net about of half of the 30,000 people said to be living in the TCI.

She suggested that for a broad-base tax to become less burden-some on the people, it should ex-tend to net land-base as well as cruise ship passengers, noting that not only would it be less arduous on the people but will also rake in more money into government cof-fers.

“In the unveiling of the Strate-gy, the Government informed the people of its intention to intro-duce payroll tax as a broad base tax option. We maintain that working people, possibly about 15,000 out of a possible 30,000 residents is not the broadest base, and we put forward that the broadest base re-mains the 300,000 land based tour-

ists or the one million cruise pas-sengers. If we spread the targets over a broader base, it becomes less onerous,” Cartwright-Robin-son argued.

She noted in reality, the coun-try does not have sufficient tax-payers to undertake all certain ob-ligations that government needs to do, including areas of education, public works, salaries, to repay a $260 million loan and to pay Inter-health Canada $60 million a year.

“The truth is, with the upcom-ing new fees and taxes, we will soon learn that they are not suffi-cient and will prove this approach of taxing a shrinking base is not the wise thing to do. Furthermore, this lazy approach is not working and cannot be substituted for a comprehensive strategy with real-istic plans and more minds.

“In reality, if we do not fix that Interhealth Canada mess – one of the biggest rip-offs in history, with 30,000 people paying $60 million a year for 30 hospital beds - we are heading nowhere in a hurry,” she said.

She added: “The premier said that a payroll tax would affect only the “small man”; well he ob-viously does not realize just how many of his fellow citizens are al-ready “small men”, posing other-wise, and that once income tax is introduced, along with other tax-es, many others will become small men.

“Having said all the above, we became what we were by 2003 - the last PDM year – the envy of the Caribbean in great part because we were a non-tax jurisdiction. And the absence of an income tax was as important in that no-tax mix as anything else. For not just the in-dividual not having to pay tax on

his/her salary, but the investor was also excused from the responsibili-ty for paying the matching portion of the income tax, an incentive to investing.

“Introducing the income/pay-roll tax would immediately change the perception and the reputation of the country from that of a no-tax jurisdiction, to the opposite, and it will detract from our attrac-tion as a good place to invest. In my opinion, making such a monu-mental change, with such a poten-tially huge impact on our country and people, should not be the re-mit of one person, or one party, or one government. This, I feel, should be decided by the majority of the Turks and Caicos people, in the form of a referendum.”

She said that the PDM would embark on a petition drive to stop government from going ahead with the payroll tax or seek a ref-erendum to vote on the measure.

“We are therefore calling on the people of this country to sup-port a petition drive on the non -imposition of pay roll tax and a referendum on the issue. This will measure the voices of this coun-try that is screaming no. As such, we need a measured response for a stubborn Government that re-fuses to hear its people. The min-ister would of course have the op-portunity to convince the people that this is what is needed,” she said.

Opposition Leader Hon. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson participating

in the anti-payroll tax march


LOCAL NEWSChief Justice post advertised againFollowing the resignation of Chief Justice Edwin

Goldsbrough last year, the job of Chief Justice of the Turks and Caicos Islands is being advertised for a second time.

The job, which pays $13,000 per month, was ad-vertised earlier this year, but the ad has been run-ning again in recent weeks.

The Chief Justice is the highest judicial offi cer in the country, and acts as a chief administrative offi -cer for the courts, reporting to the Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The principal work of the Chief Justice is to pre-side over both civil and criminal trials in Grand Turk and Providenciales. In addition he or she deals with Suffi ciency and Plea and Direction hearings on a monthly basis.

According to the advertisement, the statutory functions are:

Sit in the Supreme Court on both Grand Turk and Providenciales and determine where and when those sittings shall be held.

Make, revoke, alter and add Rules of Court.Make Practice Directions.Allocate the hearing of criminal and civil cases,

whether interlocutory, fi rst instance or appellate in the Supreme Court between the Chief Justice, Judg-es and Acting Judges thereof.

Ensure that timely and reasoned decisions are given following all hearings in the Supreme Court.

Be responsible for the speedy and effi cient ad-ministration of Justice in the Turks and Caicos Is-lands, through the sittings of and review of the pro-cedures of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, and Magistrates’ and Coroner’s Courts.

Be responsible, through the Registrar, for the ef-fi cient operation of the Judiciary budget and prepa-ration of its annual budget, the administration of Legal Aid, and oversight of the management of the Court offi ce and staff.

Evaluate and assess the needs of the judicial ser-vices and to take the necessary steps to meet those needs.

Consult the legal profession on matters concern-ing the administration of justice, to admit qualifi ed

and fi t and proper attorneys to the Roll thereof and to consider fi ndings of professional misconduct hearings.

To advise the Governor and, where appropriate, the Judicial Service Commission, on matters con-cerning the Judiciary.

To advise on Law Reform.To chair the Court Users Committee to provide

a forum for those concerned in the administration of justice.

The jobs pays $160,000 per year (income tax free), a professional allowance of $6,000 per year, telephone allowance of $1,800 per year, transporta-tion allowance of $ 2,760 per year andrent-free ac-commodation in the Chief Justice’s Residence

For persons recruited outside of the Turks and Caicos Islands, there is a two year contract extend-able on mutual agreement to three years. Other ben-efi ts in addition to the above allowances include an end-of-contract gratuity of 15% of salary; return pas-sage for family of up to two children under the age of sixteen years as well as duty free concession on the shipment of personal effects imported within fi rst six months of appointment.

Last year, Chief Justice of the Turks and Caicos Islands Edwin Goldsbrough announced that he will be leaving his post in March 2014.

He wrote to Governor Peter Beckingham giving him six months notice to allow for succession plan-ning, but it appears as though Goldsbrough will stay on longer.

Goldsbrough is one of three full-time judges on the Turks and Caicos Islands Bench; the other two being Madame Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale, a for-mer Chief Magistrate of the Cayman Islands who has acted as Chief Justice whenever Goldsbrough is away from the country, and Madame Justice Joan Joyner, a former Chief Magistrate of the TCI.

An article which appeared in the Solomon Is-lands Island SUN newspaper in April 2013 said that country’s Chief Justice Sir Albert Palmer CBE has an-nounced the appointment of the Honourable Jus-tice Edwin Goldsbrough as the new President of the Court of Appeal for the Solomon Islands.


LOCAL NEWS

SAILROCK ANNOUNCES GRANT NOBLE, PARROT CAY GENERAL MANAGER, AS DIRECTOR OF SAILROCK DEVELOPMENT LIMITED

Sailrock Development Limited announces the appointment of

Grant Noble as Executive Director, effective June 1, 2014. In this capac-ity, Mr. Noble will assume respon-sibility for the direction of the en-tire Sailrock resort community. His focus will include development phasing, vision, branding, service standards, and the creation of both service support structure and sales infrastructure.

Mr. Noble is Director of the Turks & Caicos Hotel & Tourism As-sociation and current General Man-ager of the award-winning Parrot Cay Resort and COMO Shambhala Retreat.

After studying hotel manage-

ment at Thames Valley Univer-sity in the United Kingdom, Mr. Noble participated on the open-ing teams of three 5-star hotels for Hyatt and Sun International (Kerzner). His professional expe-rience further includes positions as General Manager of the world renowned Champney’s Health re-sort in Tring Hertfordshire, En-gland, Club Director of the Abaco Club in Abaco Bahamas, and Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Mon-tego Bay Jamaica. Mr. Noble most recently spent the last four years running Turks & Caicos’ prized Parrot Cay and COMO Shambhala Retreat, which, during his tenure, was voted best hotel in the world

by Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards (2013).

Sailrock Development Limited President Colin Kihnke comments, “Sailrock is dedicated to the high-est standards in relation to quality services, and the addition of Grant’s leadership furthers that commit-me nt. We have no doubt that the success he has garnered during previous resort tenures will trans-fer seamlessly to Sailrock. Grant is a major asset to the Sailrock team and we look forward to his leader-ship moving forward.”

The timing of Mr. Noble’s ap-pointment is in conjunction with the beginning of construction of the Villas at Great House. With its

restaurant, bar, lounge, fresh mar-ket and stunning infi nity edge pool, Great House will offer all the de-sired modern amenities. The resort is the anchor for Sailrock, provid-ing amenities and management to the whole of the Sailrock commu-nity. With clean Caribbean archi-tecture and large shaded verandas, the emphasis is on casual comfort and laid back outdoor living.

Fully furnished attached vil-las are priced from the $300,000’s and stand-alone, fee-simple beach front villas are priced from the $900,000’s. Sited at elevations ranging from 30 to 50 feet above sea-level, all residences command spectacular ocean views.

Seized gun confirmed as weapon that shot policeBallistic testing done on a gun

seized from an alleged gun-man in Providenciales on February 3, turned out to be the said fi rearm used to shoot and injure a police offi -cer during a botched robbery on the FirstCaribbean International Bank compound in January this year.

The SUN understands that the gun-seizure incident happened during a failed robbery at the Cash-wiz Pawn Shop along Five Cays Road in Providenciales on the night of February 3, when it was alleged that a lone gunman entered the estab-lished and announced a robbery af-ter brandishing a gun. He was how-ever, overpowered by employees and disarmed, then held until police ar-rived.

In police-shooting incident, the lawman who went to the bank to de-posit money on behalf of a private business enterprise was surprised by a band of gun-toting men who de-manded that he hand over the bag. The offi cer refused and instead ran from the scene. He was chased by the men who fi red a barrage of shots

at him, one of which caught him on the arm.

A motorist, who was passing along the highway, was also injured after stray bullets shattered both his back and front windshields, from which he received cuts. Both injured were taken to hospital where they were treated and released.

Special Constable Audley Ast-wood, the Media Liaison Offi cer for the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force told The SUN that the police sent the fi rearm overseas for ballistic testing after it was taken from the alleged hold-up man be-cause the police suspected that it had been used in other illegal mat-ters.

“The Royal Turks and Caicos Is-lands Police Force were able to re-cover a fi rearm that was used in the commission of a robbery here in Providenciales. The Firearms Unit of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force took the fi rearm and sent it overseas to the lab for a bal-listic test and it returned positive as the fi rearm used in an incident that

involved one of our offi cers, during which the said offi cer was shot,” Ast-wood said.

Astwood said that the alleged gunman is currently at Her Majes-ty’s prison awaiting trial for another matter, and should be charged soon in the police-shooting matter.

“Further investigation into that

matter was being conducted and we are hoping to have the individu-al charged in that matter sometime soon. The subject is in custody; he is at Her Majesty’s Prison. He is charged with the different offense, not for the offi cer that was shot,” Astwood said.

In the meantime, Astwood said that while the police have been mak-ing headway into that and other mat-ters, they are unable to divulge cer-tain information to the public, since it could compromise some of the cases.

“We are making progress in a lot of these matters, and you have to keep in mind that a number of cas-es that we are working on now, even though we are making progress in those investigations, there are some things that are sensitive, and I am fa-miliar with the fact that the public just want to know and they are not as patient. But in the interest of cer-tain things that might hinder or ham-per our investigation or a conviction, we have to move cautiously,” the me-dia liaison offi cer said.

Suspect held in North Caicos aggravated burglaryBY VIVIAN TYSON

Investigators probing the Sunday March 30 aggravated burglary of a

villa occupied at the time by a group of American Tourists in Whitby, North Caicos on Sunday believe they have an open a shut case against a man who they fi ngered as one of several suspects they said fl ed the scene but was apprehended shortly after.

At press time the man was not charged but the Royal Turks and Cai-cos Islands Police Force believes that he would be slapped with the relevant charges soon.

Special Constable Audley Astwood, the Media Liaison Offi cer for the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, told The SUN that one of the tourists got injured with a knife during the in-cident and had to seek medical atten-tion.

“On Sunday on the island of North Caicos, we had an incident where sev-eral persons were attacked, which we are investigating. 911 received a call that several persons (intruders) were on the property, with at least one of them having knife, and they demand-ed their (guests) property.

Police will allege that about 2:25AM, three male suspects fl ed from

the room occupied by two females af-ter attempting to steal items therein. The suspects then entered a second room and stole items therein. The sus-pects then returned to the room occu-pied by the two females and demand-ed cash and other items.

“At some point, the females began to scream and a 63 year old male hear-ing their screams, exited his room to determine the cause of the screams. While approaching the females’ room, he was confronted by one of the sus-pects.

“An altercation took place between the two and the 63 year old male re-ceived a wound to one of his fi ngers before the suspect fl ed on foot with item in his possession,” Astwood said.

He said that police offi cers, who responded to the scene, saw a man presumably trying to hide, but fl ed af-ter realizing that the police had spot-ted him. He said that the police of-fi cer gave chase and sometime later was able to apprehend and arrest the 24 year-old male said to be from Kew, but not before some struggle.

“The 24 year old male suspect put up a struggle after being informed that he was under arrest but was subdued. He was arrested on suspicion of Aggra-vated Burglary, Wounding, Assaulting

a Police Offi cer and Resisting Arrest. A search was conducted on the suspect and a number of the items reportedly stolen were found on his person.

“An additional search in the area of Pelican Beach in Whitby was con-ducted, where a blue back pack and a brown hand bag were found. Both bags were searched and found to con-tain several items including medica-tion and other documents belonging to the victims,” Astwood said.

He added: “He (apprehended al-leged robber) is currently assisting our offi cers in this investigation. We are also looking for a male suspect, it is unclear the identity of this person but I am urging anyone in particular on the island of North Caicos, who might have information on the identity of this person to step forward, contact any police station. They can also con-tact 1-800-8477, which is our Crimes-toppers number.

“And I want to stress that when you contact Crimestoppers, Crimes-toppers is an independent charitable organization separate from the po-lice department. No one in the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force would know that you called; informa-tion would be given to us by the Mi-ami Dade Police.”

Astwood said that the 63 year old male who received a cut on his fi nger, was taken to Kew Clinic where he was treated and released.

The aggravated burglary came less than a week after the United States is-sued an advisory for the Turks and Ca-icos Islands of robberies and burglary of their citizens. The SUN understands that the advisory was triggered by a burglary and a ro.bbery in the Turtle Cove area of Providenciales.

Police public relations offi cer Audley Astwood

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LOCAL NEWS

More than 100 people working at Shore Club construction site

With the Shore Club’s concrete basement slab poured and dried, construction is well under

way at the Shore Club.Well over 100 people are now working at the job

site on Long Bay Beach each day. Hartling Group CEO Stan Hartling reports that the majority of the workers are Belongers.

“We’re so pleased to be achieving excellent prog-ress, both in terms of construction, and also on our vision to produce a signifi cant impact on the local economy. Putting this many people to work with good paying jobs is very satisfying for us.”

Hartling notes that in addition to produc-ing new jobs, new condo buyers have signed up to own a Shore Club condo since construction started.

“Obviously having shovels in the ground gives potential buyers more confi dence in the project, “states Hartling. “We have achieved a number of

new sales since the start of 2014, which in turn pro-duces more stamp tax revenue. It’s a winning com-bination for everyone.”

In addition to the basement slab, the ground fl oor slab has been poured and walls have been erected. Construction on the fi rst phase of the $100 million resort community is expected to be com-pleted by December 2015.

The Shore Club is a $100 million condo- hotel project being developed on Long Bay Beach, Provi-denciales, Turks and Caicos Islands. The resort con-sists of 38 condos and six villas on a nine- acre prop-erty that occupies 820 linear feet of beachfront. The project is being developed by The Hartling Group, in association with DECCO a Dart Enterprises compa-ny based in the Cayman Islands.

QUALITY SUPERMARKET PRESENTS PRIZES TO LUCKY SHOPPERS

It’s not just about giving you the best shopping deals, the Quality Super-

markets goes the extra nine yards and offered grocery raffl es towards the end of March.

Two of the lucky winners of last week’s mega sale are seen here smil-ing. The Quality Supermarkets have seen a prompt growth after the re-structuring and reducing prices on

certain items in the store during the last few months.

“The customers are looking for great deals and we have maximized our vendors to ensure better prices for our customers, we are telling our customers that they can Dare to Com-pare our prices” says Andy Kuthalin-gam the General Manager of the op-erations, who remains determined

to ensure his customers get the best prices in these challenging of times.

The next sale is expected to take place this month and we are told it is going to be the most radical sale yet. As customers, such as these winners, look forward to the upcoming sale, one can only hope that the Quality Supermarkets live up to their prom-ises.

Sandeep Jagger the International Consultant assigned to Quality Super-markets, said, “Quality Supermarket

has a vibrant set of ethnic diversity that shop, there is also a wholesale department on the fi ve-cays by pass branch that offers customers very good prices, but it is yet to be maxi-mized by the community and larger house-holds”. As population rises in the Turks & Caicos and competitive-ness increases within the food sector, it is expected that more supermar-kets will be offering great deals and the customers are the ones expected to benefi t.

Some of the construction workers on the Shore Club site

From Left to Right, Jack (Store Manager), Garvin Bruno (The Winner), Deandra Stubbs (Asst. Manager)

From Left to Right, Andy Kuthalingam (General Manager), Allan Suazo (Store Manager), Sernowdla Forbes Dickenson (The Winner) and Marie Suze Jean (Customer Service Representative)

Public not following up on police reportsBY VIVIAN TYSON

Police investigations are hampered by per-sons, who after, calling in or giving verbal

statements, decline to give written reports, so initial investigation can begin, according to Police Media Liaison Offi cer Special Consta-ble Audley Astwood.

Astood said that some members of the public have been complaining that the po-lice were not following up on reports that they gave. However, he said that many peo-ple only call to say what had happened but expect the police to act upon that bit of in-formation when they refuse to furnish the details in writing that would give the police greater authority to follow up.

“We have a number of persons who do call into the police station and they are not following up on those reports. It is very im-portant that members of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force receive a written statement. This statement is some-thing simple.

“You come down to anyone of our police

stations or the police headquarters and get a police offi cer to assist you in writing that statement. That statement is necessary be-cause it gives us probable cause to go and ex-ecute search warrants and arrest certain peo-ple,” he said.

Astwood recalled a number of instanc-es where he had to be breathing down the necks of individuals to come in and make written statements to the police so that they can act on the initial statement that they ear-lier gave.

This is something that is important, and I fi nd myself in the situation where I am call-ing a number of persons to follow up on their reports, to make sure that their state-ments are in, in the event that any irregular-ities occur we have to get this information,” he said.

Astwood said also that the police often-times fi nd themselves investigating cases that the complainant no longer interested in, and so they want to make sure that their efforts are not in vain when they began to act on reports.

“We don’t want to fi nd ourselves in a sit-uation where we are following up on reports and persons no longer require police assis-tance. It is important that you come in, write your statement or have your statement writ-ten for you, and then we will follow up on those reports,” he said.

In the meantime, Astwood is advising the public that if they have made reports to the police and feel that their matter is not being treated with urgency, there are avenues that they can use to address the issue.

“It is important for the Royal Turks and Ca-icos Islands Police Force to follow up on any report. Persons who feel that this is not be-ing done to contact our divisional command-er, who is Superintendent Kendal Grant; of course, we have assistance superintendent Roy Russell, who is in charge of the Integrity Unit, and it is very important for us because we realize that the community is the police and the police is the community, and the same way we have been calling on the com-munity to assist us, we are always here, able and willing to assist the community,” he said.


Capronis Uniforms Plus

Salary is negotiable.

Dead line for applications

April 14, 2014

Please apply in writing via Email:

[email protected]

is seeking a Sales Clerk/-Sales Assistant to work 6 days per week. The Appli-cant must produce a clean

Police Record, be computer literate and able to operate

a Point of Sales System, speaks English, Spanish

and Creole, and must be a People’s person.

North Caicos ContractingSEEKS

CARPENTER• An experience carpenter required for full time work at North Caicos• Must be willing to work 6 days a week• Must have 2 years experience & references• Must demonstrate ability to work unsupervised with excellent communication skills is essential for the position.

Salary is $10.00 per Hour (C)

Please apply at [email protected] or contact 946 7437

Zilpha Williams

# 343-1392

Needs

Salary

$5per hour

DOMESTICHELPER

Contact

WANTED

1 Domestic Worker

# 344-8462 Contact

JENNINGS TAXI AND TOURS

A CONCIERGEATTENDANT

Contact: 441-0111Salary: $5 per hour

is looking for

Required at North Caicos Contracting

AIR CONDITIONING MECHANIC• An experience Air Conditioning Mechanic and a carpenter required for full time work at North Caicos

• Must be willing to work 6 days a week

• Must have 10 years experience sizing and construction duct work and installing servicing complete central air conditioning systems

• Must be proficient in MS Excel for Inventory purposes

• Must demonstrate ability to work unsupervised with excellent communi cation skills is essential for the position.• salary is $12.00 per hour

Please apply at [email protected] contact 946 7437

WANTED

Contact Audrey Ewing at

331-8591

1 Domestic Worker

Salary $5.00 per hour

BIG JOSH FOOD SERVICE

Salary $5.00 per hour

NORTH CAICOS

Contact 342-6297

SEEKS

1 LABOURERTo work in a bar

DOMESTIC WORKERNEEDED

To work6 days

per week

VIA VENETO

Contact 941-2372

RESTAURANT

Is looking for a

BAKERWith at least 5 years experience in Italian restaurant & cuisine

Knowledge of the language and of the Italian productsMust have experience from at least 5 regions in Italy

Salary based on experience


LOCAL NEWS

Sonny Forbes wins LIME’s bike as he celebrates 25th Wedding Anniversary

Team LIME presented winner Mr. Sonny Forbes with the 26” Huffy

Mountain Bike. He accepted with smiles and words of appreciation.

Mr. & Mrs. Forbes also celebrate their 25th Wedding Anniversary to-day so it was an extra special day. He said, “I listened to Rachel on the ra-dio (“LIME TIME”) saying that some customers would say I have never won anything from LIME.” He con-fessed that he was one such custom-er who had said that same thing and he decided that he would partici-pate in the promotion.

Mr. Forbes was pleasantly sur-prised when he received the call this morning to inform him that he had won. He commented, “Today is my 25th Anniversary so this is quite a gift.”

LIME decided to treat the cou-ple to dinner upon learning of the signifi cant milestone that was be-ing celebrated and the Forbes’ ex-pressed thanks for the gesture.

LIME’s Acting General Manager, Lacal Palmer noted, “This is what it is about – sharing in the moments with our customers. LIME congrat-ulates Mr. Forbes on the win and ex-presses best wishes to him and his wife as they celebrate 25 years.”

Customers participated in the “Get Healthy with LIME” promotion by texting bike to 4946 by March 31, 2014. The winner was randomly drawn. The company thanks all cus-tomers who participated. More on the promotion will be released in the coming weeks.

World Autism Day observed in the TCIBY VIVIAN TYSON

World Autism Day was observed on April 2, and the Turks and Caicos Islands joined in the

cause to push for awareness in these islands. The HOPE Foundation, one of the Autism aware-

ness not-for-profi t entities in the TCI was quite vis-ible, getting individuals to wear its T-shirts, pins among other things. Several business enterprises also joined in the cause, among them Graceway IGA Supermarket, FedEx and telecoms company Island-Com.

Keith Cox, Country Manager for FedEx said that his company was happy to have been involved in the worthy cause, and said that it will continue to give further support when needed.

“For World Autism Day, we are privilege to have one of our employees, Almando Rigby, who is actu-ally pushing this. I think Turks and Caicos is now aware of Autism because of what he is doing – not taking away from other people. He has gone out on a limb to put autism awareness on the map (in the TCI) and what it is all about,” Cox said.

Shade Wilson of Graceway IGA Supermarket told The SUN that her company is a perennial supporter of charity, and so the staff was more than happy to have donned HOPE Foundation autism T-shirts and gave answers where applicable regarding autism.

“Autism is something that a lot of people are di-agnosed with around the world, and it is something that we would like to bring to people’s attention, be-cause a lot of people have it but don’t know what it is, so we are just helping a cause,” Wilson said.

She said have the cashiers and other front-room staff to wear the shirts proved to be a plus for their autism-awareness efforts, since many people who did not know what the disorder was about got the opportunity to ask questions and have most of them answered.

“A lot of people did not know about it before, and so we managed to give out the information of what we know, and it also allows people to go and seek information on their own,” Wilson said, noting that the supermarket was happy to take part in the endeavor because it brings awareness to something that is important.

Meanwhile, Almando Rigby, one of the executive members of the HOPE Foundation said that while there is no study to determine the number of au-tism in the TCI, the Center for Disease Control has reported increase cases in the past fi ve years.

“The Center for Disease Control said that fi ve years ago there was one autism case in every 150. Today, it said that there is one in 68. “We don’t have

specifi c stats for TCI and it is our mandate to have specifi c stats and that is why we are trying to bring in professionals to assist us with that,” Rigby said.

Staff members of the Graceway IGA Supermarket display their World Autism Awareness Day T-shirt

Keith Cox (second left), Country Manager for FedEx, along with members of staff , including Almando

Rigby (fi fth right), an executive member of the HOPE Foundation, display their Autism Awareness shirts.

Sonny Forbes with his bike

Wanted man Luvest Malcolm chargedBY VIVIAN TYSON

Luvest Malcolm, one of Turks and Caicos Islands most want-

ed men and Clarence Gardin-er, who was accused of among a group of men who forced their way into a dwelling and robbed a group of American Tourists, were of seven persons the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force charged and taken before the courts for criminal activities during the course of this week.

Malcolm, 19, of Kew Town, providenciales has been charged with aggravated burglary and use of an imitation firearm with in-tent to cause fear arising from an aggravated burglary charge on March 9. He was taken before

the court on Thursday to answer to the charge.

He is however, expected to re-turn to court on April 10,to an-swer to other matters including assault on a police officer, ob-structing a police officer, assault-ing occasioning actually bodily harm and resisting arrest.

Clarence Gardiner, 24, of Kew in North Caicos, and who is ac-cused of burglarizing house that a group of American tourists were staying in Whitby, on that island, has been charged with ag-gravated burglary, handling sto-len goods, inflicting grievous bodily harm and resisting arrest. Gardiner was taken to court on Thursday (April 3), but at press time there no information on

the outcome of that matter. Jario Higgs, 23, of Long Bay in

Providenciales, is another of the men arrested, charged by the po-lice and taken before the courts. He has been charged with pos-session of illegal drugs. It is not immediately clear what drug, only that it is controlled drug, according to the police. He mat-ter was adjourned until June 5th at 11a.m., for trial.

Rasario Cox, 29, another of the seven apprehended by the police, is charged with illegal possession of ganja, illegal pos-session of ganja with intent to supply and illegal possession of cocaine. Cox has his matter ad-journed until June 11 at 11a.m., for trial.

Another accused Orkeno Selver, 22, of Kew Town in Provi-denciales has been charged with possession of a controlled drug. Selver will return to court on June 12 at 11a.m., for trial.

Another accused, Deangelo Harvey 22, of Glass Shack, Prov-idenciales was charged with bur-glary based on a report made on March 27. Harvey’s case has been adjourned until April 10 for an-other mention.

Victor Michelet 30, who was born in Haiti but of a Dock Yard address in Kew Town, is charged with unlawful entry into the Turks and Caicos Islands. At press time an update on Mi-chelet’s case was not readily available.


LOCAL NEWS

Payroll tax could help Education Ministry budget

BY VIVIAN TYSON

Minister of Education Hon. Akierra Misick is arguing that the government proposed pay-

roll tax which it wants to bring on stream in June could be a great fi llip for the fi nancial anomalies currently experienced in education system.

Speaking at the Five Cays Community Centre in Providenciales on Tuesday (March 25) as gov-ernment continues its push for the tax imple-mentation, the education minister said that the tax could provide well-needed funding for the ministry which is experiencing challenging prob-lems.

The minister revealed that it cost the adminis-tration up to $6,000 to facilitate each child in its schools, and so funding is badly need to ensure that each child is cared for.

“I want to say to those who have children in the TCIG-managed schools, your child cost us be-tween $4,000 and $6,000 a year in order to pro-vide them with the service we provide in the schools. Let’s say the average family has two chil-dren, it is $12,000 off bat that we have to fi nd funding for.

One of the measures that we would like to see is (the implementation of) payroll tax, be-cause we know for a fact that it guarantees fund-ing coming in. it provides for the funding at these schools, it provides teachers’ salary increases,” she said.

The minister pointed out the earners of min-imum wage, which is really $800, pays $12 a month under the payroll tax scheme. She also be-moaned the cuts in ministry programmes due to the funding shortage.

“As the Minister of Education, who has to con-tinuously struggle with cuts throughout this im-portant ministry’s budget; the budget that has to develop the same persons that will replace

us and replace you in the islands who we hope would come up with better tax structure 20-30 years from now, we have to fund their progress; that is not just primary school, (we also have to fund) the high schools, the community college and scholarships,” Minister Missick said.

She also lamented the cuts to the scholarship programme, which she blamed on the fi nancial constraints.

“(The availability of) scholarships is a hot top-ic, but we have to reduce the budget; we just can-not afford it. So we have bright students sitting home in the Turks and Caicos right now, who are not working because they feel lost, and it is a gen-eration of lost people that we are trying to stop; stopping it from going further than it already has

because growing up they would have their mind set on a career that they were going to focus on.

“They applied for a scholarship and were told that we cannot afford it right now, and no oth-er provisions were able to be made, again be-cause we went through probably the worst reces-sion since the great depression, and these young Turks and Caicos Islanders feel lost.

“And in order for government social pro-grammes like a technical vocational school (to be implemented), the money has to come from somewhere. We have persons who are unem-ployed with children attending the schools, and I think we have a moral obligation to help those who cannot help themselves,” Minister Missick said.

Minister of Education Hon. Akierra Missick speaking at the community meeting in Five Cays


Parrot Cay Resort and COMO Shambhala have vacancies for the following positions:

Managerial Position:

Director of Asset Protection & Emergency Management

We are looking for a highly self-motivated individual who has professional

managerial experience in Hotel Asset Protection, Risk Management and

Emergency Management skills within a Five Star Resort environment.

Qualification and Experience:

• Degree from a recognized university or an equivalent professional

qualification

• A tertiary accreditation in the related field highly desirable

• At least 10 years of operational experience in Security and Asset Man-

agement

• Proven ability and experience in conducting management training as well

as line staff is required

• Experience in Hotel Security and Asset Management, knowledge of

Canine Handling and security training will be an Asset. International

certifications in these fields will be highly desirable.

• Expected to easily familiarize with all aspects of the Company’s organiza-

tion, its activities and personnel

• Proven knowledge of investigation procedures and international

terrorist activity

• Knowledge of current security technology and security audits/surveys

• Knowledge of Security processes and procedures

• Knowledge of Emergency Management principles

• Knowledge of International Hotel Security Standards

• Experience in preparation for and managing medical and fire response

emergencies

• Excellent Communication Skills

• Exercise good judgment, proper planning with strong leadership

capabilities

• Business Acumen and Functional Skills

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Be responsible for the safety and security of all of Caicos Holdings

Property and its Assets identifying and managing key risks in a profes-

sional manner.

• Be responsible for the safety and protections of all Home owners Assets

at Caicos Holdings

• To manage and maintain an asset risk management register for Caicos

Holdings

• Be responsible for the Emergency Management and response planning

for Caicos Holdings operations including disaster preparation, medical and

fire response management

• Be responsible for the Safety and Security of all Employees and Guests

at Caicos Holdings

• Conduct Security Training in all areas regarding investigations,

incident/scene preservation, proper Patrols, Canine Handling, and

report taking.

• Effectively direct and manage the Security & Emergency Response

Department at Caicos Holdings on a daily basis

• Conduct and manage sensitive investigations as and when required and

prepare timely reports to Company Director

• To ensure adequate emergency response plans and procedures are in

place and routinely exercised to ensure appropriate professional

responses to all emergencies including but not limited to natural disasters,

medical and fire emergencies.

• Prepare and Manage yearly Security & Emergency Response Budget for

Caicos Holdings

• Ensure that all Canines are properly cared for.

• Implement and ensure that Policies are put in place to protect the integ-

rity and reputation of Caicos Holdings, its assets and its clients.

• Provide sound advice to top management on all security and emergency

response related issues.

• Be willing to accept any other duties assigned to you by the Company

Director.

• To provide regular written and verbal reports to the Company Director as

and when required.

• To take advice and direction as and when required from Company

Security Risk Specialist consultants.

The successful candidate will be required to work public holidays

and weekends and must reside on Parrot Cay.

Spa Manager

We are looking for a highly motivated individual with at least 5yrs previous

experience as a Spa Manager or equivalent. The successful candidate

must have knowledge of Asian, Thai, European, Japanese and Indonesian

body Therapy.

JOB SUMMARY

To oversee the entire Spa Operation and contribute holistically the execu-

tive branch of the resort as well as daily administrative duties and monitor-

ing team performance.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ensure that top quality services are provided to our guests at all times.

• Daily running of the spa operation and administration

• You must ensure that all treatments are of the highest quality on a daily

basis.

• Ensure that all staffs are professional, courteous and attentive to all

guest’s needs.

• Take service recovery action should there be a glitch or guest complaint.

• Ensure staffing level is sufficient and appropriate to promote smooth flow

of daily operation.

• Preparation and management of all spas budgets and provide strong

financial Advice and implement cost effective measures for the effective

running of the spa.

• Ensure the spa areas and facilities are properly maintained and well

organized in order to provide an optimal environment to guests and staff.

• Coordinating and hosting all International Yoga Retreats, Weddings and

any other related events.

• Ensure visiting Consultants or Yoga Instructors for the Retreats are well

looked after and properly assisted.

• Promote retreats and spa events to bring in more revenue.

• Develop sales and marketing strategies to promote and increase revenue

at the Spa

• Direct contact with suppliers and product quality control.

• Identify retail products and operational supplies that are low in stock and

maintain supply.

Qualification and Experience:

• At least a Bachelors Degree

• Minimum of 5yrs Five Star Resort experience as a Spa Manager.

• Excellent problem solving, communication, administration and interper-

sonal skills.

• Must have sound knowledge about full body Therapy, wellness and

fitness.

• Candidate will be required to work long hours and must reside on Parrot

Cay for the efficient discharge of his/her duties.

Other Managerial Positions:

Chief Steward Beach House Manager

Financial Controller Food & Beverage Cost Controller

Information & Technology Manager Executive Pastry Chef

Asst. Recreation Manager Asst. Executive Housekeeper

LINE POSITIONS:

Reverse Osmosis, Water Plant Operator Seamstress Pilates InstructorRecreation Attendant Turndown Attendant Estates AttendantButler Housekeeping Supervisor ElectricianCommis Chef Food & Beverage ServerFood & Beverage Supervisor BartenderPastry Chef Boat EngineerChef de Partie Spa TherapistMassage Therapist Spa Attendant SupervisorSpa Attendant Private Estates AttendantCarpenter

Candidates interested in the Spa Reservation Agent position must be able

to speak Tagalog, must reside on Parrot Cay and remain flexible to work

the night shift and be on call 24hrs attend to and arrange late bookings for

VIP Clients.

Salaries for these positions will be paid base on qualification and

experience. Please note that all application must be submitted with a

valid Police Record, two reference letters from previous employers or

a notary public and current educational certificates.

Only suitable candidates will be contacted for an interview.

Forward your resume to the Human Resources Department at the

following address:

Parrot Cay Resort and COMO Shambhala

P.O. Box 164

Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands

Ph: (649) 946 7788, Fax: (649) 946 7749

Email: [email protected]


LOCAL NEWS

Experience is OverratedBY JAMELL ROBINSON

In our society today I believe that experience is over-rated and that it is competency and

Integrity to carry out a given task that is truly sought in the job market. Here are a few obser-vations:

1. Does a person really need 3 years of wash-ing dishes to prove they are adequately qualifi ed to be a dishwasher? Of course not; but unfortunately you fi nd too of-ten an arbitrary number of years’ experi-ence is purportedly required to do a job.

2. In another 7 years I will be able to say I have had 15 years of experience in di-saster management. This is regardless of whether or not I do a minimal amount or a lot of work in disaster management over that time period because that’s my professional qualifi cations. It is more im-portant to hire someone with 5 quality years of experience accomplishing goals set out with a desired time frame than to hire someone who essentially marked time for 15 years. Think about the qual-ity persons that are not short-listed nor even apply for a job just because they don’t have the years of experience re-quired?

3. Collectively, the CEOs and Bankers on Wall Street had hundreds of years of Ex-perience but did that stop the market from crashing or the global melt down? Not at all. This catastrophe might sup-port that quality of experience should take precedence over the number of years on the job. Also, that’s where in-tegrity plays a big role as well, as I am certain that most of the CEOs were quite

aware that their companies were into questionable deals but chose to do noth-ing. There are clear parallels here to our recent past right in the TCI.

4. Finally, do I really have to put my hand in the fi re to believe it burns? Of course not. The ability to learn from our per-sons’ mistakes is just as important as learning from you own mistakes.

What it boils down to is the term “Experi-ence” really means one’s demonstrated ability to do a particular job/task over a period of time. I have always believed, more often than not, that a person’s academic degrees tell the level at which they can think and critically analyze a problem and that ability is transferable across industry; that is, service is service no matter which in-

dustry you gained your competency. The main differences are the specifi c tasks that are done from industry to industry which can be learnt over a short period of time in several cases. Un-fortunately, what is unspoken by the Guardians of Experience is that they just want everybody that comes after them to “Pay their Dues”. The shortcoming with this attitude here in the TCI is that while in other countries there are hundreds of persons, if not thousands, in line for a pro-motion, we have no such problem. If someone demonstrates the competencies to perform a job in 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, why make them wait just for the sake of waiting? Especially if that have reached all the targets set out to prove that have what it takes to do the job.

Having made those points I do believe lead-ership is severely underrated. And no, I am not referring to positional power, which may come from management roles within an organiza-tion. A good to great leader does not need to know every detail that goes into completing an assignment, task, or goal, but they have to at a minimum surround themselves with persons who do know and then empower them to carry out the desired task to get to the desired goal.

Too often we fi nd leaders displaying the scar-city mentality whereby it is perceived that there is a fi nite pie and if they share any amount of it, there is less for them to have. This pie could be money, praise, promotional opportunity, you name it. What is required is an abundance mentality, where the pie has an infi nite growth potential such that everybody could partake in the benefi ts of success and growth.

Just imagine if Jesus with the two fi sh and fi ve loaves of bread had the scarcity mentality. Those 5000 followers ever would have shared in the meal! Just my thoughts… Stay Blessed.


LOCAL NEWSMISS UNIVERSE TURKS AND CAICOS BEAUTIES

EXPLORES NORTH AND MIDDLE CAICOSThe beauties of the 2014 Miss Universe Turks and

Caicos Pageant vying for the country’s coveted and most esteemed title put their high-heels aside, slipped on their sandals and toured the islands of North Caicos and Middle Caicos on Saturday, March 29th courtesy of B&B Service Station and the Festerama Committee. Onboard a ferry from Providenciales to North Caicos, the excitement begun as the contestants anticipated their second off island trip during sixteen weeks of appearances, coaching sessions, rehearsals and other activities in preparation for the big competition nights. The week before the North Caicos and Middle Caicos adventure, the contestants visited Grand Turk and took part in a grand motorcade and enjoyed themselves at a beach party at Governor’s Beach. Whilst exploring North Caicos, the Sassy Six – Gabreann Capron, Miss Salt Cay; Codee Coalbrooke, Miss South Caicos; Todeline Defralien, Miss Middle Caicos; Tashy Forbes, Miss North Caicos; Shanice Williams, Miss Grand Turk and Shante Williams, Miss Providenciales visited the Grace Farm and Nursery in the settlement of Kew ran by Pastor Courtney Missick. “The contestants really enjoyed themselves. I felt honored to have the ladies on the farm and show them around. It was one of my most exciting tours. I showed them a kind of farming we once did in North Caicos but more modern, and showed them that there is loads of potential to grow food in North Caicos.” said Pastor Courtney Missick. In Middle Caicos, the contestants visited the Caves in Conch Bar, explored Mudjin Harbour and

enjoyed lunch at Mudjin Bar and Restaurant before returning to North Caicos for a guest appearance at the 3rd Annual Rake and Scrape Festival produced by the Festerama Committee at the Horsestable Beach. Tueton Williams, Festerama President said,

“Having the Sassy Six in attendance at this year’s Rake and Scrape Festival was truly remarkable for the community of North Caicos and the beautiful ladies alike. The community and the ladies got a chance to connect personally while enjoying the festivities.” “In effort to promote North Caicos as the next viable destination of choice within the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Festerama committee is extremely honored and privileged to once again reintroduce contestants of the Miss Universe Turks and Caicos Beauty Pageant to our island’s beauty, culture, heritage and rake and scrape music. Last year the Sizzling Six made an appearance and this year the Sassy Six graced us with their presence.” The beauties who has already proven themselves as eager and capable of representing the Turks and Caicos Islands on a local and international stage will

elegance, poise and grace of a Miss Universe Turks and Caicos Titleholder. The winner will dominate the local and international scene, as the cultural, beauty, fashion and goodwill ambassador of the Turks and Caicos Islands and compete in the Miss Universe 2014 Pageant. The Miss Universe Turks and Caicos 2014 Pageant National Events will take place April 24th to 26th, with a motorcade from the Tourist Board’s

two exhilarating nights of competitions on the 25th and 26th at Brayton Hall, Providenciales. Tickets to the competitions are limited and sold at Digicel and FOTTAC in Providenciales and at Wally’s Restaurant in Grand Turk. As of 2012 the Miss Turks and Caicos Universe Beauty Organization (MTCUBO) produces the pageant events under the direction of Kazz Forbes/Saint George Fashion House, in partnership with the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board. To date the pageant’s sponsors are Digicel TCI, Beaches TCI Resort Villages and Spa, Cargo Express Services, interCaribbean Airways, Saint George Fashion House, Villa Del Mar, Paradise Smiles, Everything TCI, Power 92.5 FM, 102.5 Kiss FM, Nirvana Magazine, Tremm Jocale, BowTie VIP Transfers, Zanzi Bar and Restaurant, Rock It Hot Fitness, Magnetic Media, Philosophy Boutique, TCI Sun Newspaper, Forbes Concierge, West Bay Club Resort, Courtyard Chiropractic, Gilley’s Enterprises, TCI Cinemas, Couture Lips Cosmetics, Spotlight Communications, Turks and Caicos Friends of the Arts Foundation, Parrot Cay Resort, Jai’s, Floral Couture Lounge, COXCO, CBMS, A La Mode Boutique, Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association, Royal Jewels, Times of the Island Magazine, Regent Palms Resort, FOTTAC, Wally’s Restaurant, Flatline Videos, B&B Service Station, the Festerama Committee, Paradise Photography, Turks and Caicos Islands Department of Sports, Graceway IGA and AVON by Shirley Hentutler.

MTCUBO President and Executive Producer Kazz Forbes with Contestants

Feeding the ducks on Grace Farm and Nursery with Pastor Courtney Missick

Jumping on top of the cliff at Mudjin Harbour in Middle Caicos Little Miss Rake and Scrape and kids at the 3rdAnnual Rake and Scrape Festival in North Caicos

Ferrington and Barbara Gardiner of B&B Service Station at the 3rd Annual Rake and Scrape Festival in North Caicos

In the caves in Conch Bar, Middle Caicos On top to the world famous cliff at Mudjin Harbour in Middle Caicos

On arrival in North Caicos at the Sandy Point Marina Pastor Courtney Missick on Grace Farm and Nursery in Kew, North Caicos


PRINT | ONLINE | MOBILE | TCIYP.COM

Hotoff thepress.The new Turks & Caicos Islands Yellow Pagesdirectory is on its way to you.Be on the lookout for your one stop

Pick up your new copy of the Turks & CaicosIslands Yellow Pages starting this Monday,April 7th, at these participating locations:

Graceway IGA SupermarketGraceway GourmetQuality SupermarketSmith Gas StationNew Era Gas StationAnd at local LIME store

Hurry before they run out!


FUN&GAMES


NewsCARIBBEAN

FINANCIAL CONFERENCE ENDS ON AGREEMENT TO ESTABLISH NEW INSTITUTION

NASSAU, Bahamas, Apr 2 – The third Caribbean Conference on the Inter-

national Financial Services Sector end-ed here on Wednesday with an agree-ment to establish a Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Financial Services.

The University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Bahamas Institute of Fi-nancial Services (BIFS) have agreed to work towards establishing the center that Bahamas Minister of Financial Ser-vices, Ryan Pindler said was necessary for the continued development of the fi nancial services in the region.

“Based upon over three decades of experience in providing professional certifi cation and expertise in the fi nan-cial services sector, the Bahamas Insti-tute of Financial Services is eminently placed to provide the level of interna-

tional credibility to the centres offer-ings.

“This in conjunction with the Uni-versity of the West Indies places the re-gion in an extremely advantageous po-sition to strengthen and advocate on behalf of a sector so critical to the re-gion’s overall economic development,” he said.

UWI Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Cave Hill campus, Dr. Don Marshall, said the regional ter-tiary institution has been committed to providing institutional and research support into the activities of interna-tional fi nancial service centres.

He noted that for too long the area has been under researched.

“While the UWI has been serving the region well in relation to build-

ing up skills and so on, we have not paid enough attention as a Universi-ty in producing suffi cient knowledge that would assist in defending the sec-tor, setting quality benchmarks and re-sponding in a much more proactive way to the kinds of pressures that we face as we are asked to undertake a treadmill of ever changing regulations,” he said.

Pindler told a news conference that the accord had been endorsed by the conference.

“To be able to bring our talents to a regional level for human capital devel-opment, is certainly a paramount goal of the region through the leadership and direction of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, for me I am very proud to make this announcement to-

day,” he said.Pindler told reporters that the Cen-

tre of Excellence had also received the backing of regional governments.

Barbados’ Minister of Industry, In-ternational Business Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Innis said the agreement symbolises a new level of commitment to facilitat-ing growth in the sector.

“Our meetings have highlighted the importance of the fi nancial services to our various economies and the need for us to work in a stronger collaborated manner. Many of these challenges that confront us, emanate from outside the region, but we have a wonderful oppor-tunity now to seize the opportunities that present themselves and to run for-ward with them.

The Bahamas liberalises telecom sector NASSAU, The Bahamas – Prime Minister Perry

Christie is welcoming the liberalisation of the telecommunication sector here on Monday saying “Bahamians would for the fi rst time have competi-tion and competition breeds greater levels of effi -ciency”.

The liberalisation of the sector was one of cam-paign promises of then opposition People’s Labour Party (PLP) in 2012, with Christie promising vot-ers that his administration would engage the Brit-ish telecommunication giant, Cable & Wireless, the lone telecommunication provider here on the need to liberalise the sector.

In 2011, amidst public outcry, the Hubert Ingra-ham government sold controlling shares of the Ba-hamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to the London-based telecommunication company, for US$210 million.

Christie had promised voters that a PLP govern-ment would seek to regain the majority shares and that the party “believes in a share owning democra-cy” and would sell BTC shares in tranches to Baha-mians.

Prime Minister Christie told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) Monday that while the process had taken two years to be fulfi lled he remains op-timistic that the move is the right one given “some

real tragic occurrences recently with the breakdown of the system and dropped calls.

“So we expect to have…major and signifi cant im-provement once competition ensues,” he said, add-ing that the acquisition of majority shares was not all that diffi cult.

“What in fact we had to do was, by policy, we had negotiations with Cable & Wireless to reclaim two per cent (of shares) so that effectively the ma-jority of the shares would rest with the Bahamian people.

“We are in the process of fi nalising that and the effective date for liberalisation where the govern-ment would be authorized to pursue liberalization is April 1st; that’s where we are now.”

Prime Minister Christie said relinquishing the two per cent shares by Cable and Wireless has been agreed upon in principle and currently the two par-ties are “trying to work through the conditions that are associated with it into a fi nal agreement that should be signed sometime within the next week or two”.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Christie de-scribed as “historic” the agreement under which the majority economic interest in the BTC has been re-turned to the state.

Christie said the agreement with the Brit-ish telecommunications giant, Cable and Wire-less (CWC) would not cost the country “one sin-gle cent.

“In particular, there will be no extension of BTC’s monopoly and no postponement of the liberal-ization of the telecommunications sector,” Chris-tie said, reiterating “we have not paid, and will not have to pay, for the re-acquired shares in any form or fashion.

“So, in fi nancial terms, this is a win-win for the government and people of the Bahamas.”

Vybz Kartel Sentenced To Life In Prison, To Serve 35 Years Before Parole

Dancehall artiste, Vybz Kartel, has been sentenced to life in prison

for the murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Wil-liams. Kartel, whose real name is Ad-idja Palmer, is to serve 35 years before he becomes eligible for parole. He and the three other men convicted for Liz-ard’s murder were each given life sen-tences a short while ago by Justice Len-nox Campbell.

Adidja Palmer – LIFE IN PRISON (35 years before eligible for parole)

Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell – LIFE IN PRISON (25 years before eligi-ble for parole)

Kahira Jones – LIFE IN PRISON (25 years before eligible for parole)

Andre St John – LIFE IN PRISON (30 years before eligible for parole)

Justice Campbell handed down the sentences after hearing impassioned pleas for leniency from lawyers repre-senting the men. On March 13, after 65 days of trial, a jury returned a ten to one guilty verdict. On that same day, a fourth co-accused, Shane Williams was freed by the jury. The defence has indicat-

ed that it will be appealing the verdict. t has cited discrepancies, inconsisten-cies, missing data, and mismanagement in the collection of evidence as well as the integrity of the evidence. Kartel’s attorney, Tom Tavares-Finson says the defence has a fundamental issue with

the decision of the trial judge to per-mit certain phone evidence, given the admission by the police that the instru-ments were being used after they were taken into their custody. He says it is very signifi cant that since the matter was heard, the Director of Public Prose-cutions has ordered a change in the pro-tocol as to how evidence is to be kept in the department. According to the attorney, the police have also changed the protocol as to how telephones are to be kept. Tavares-Finson said the Di-rector of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn, has also asked prosecutor, Jeremy Taylor, to launch an investiga-tion into the conduct of the investiga-tors in the case. “I am of the opinion that the department cannot investigate itself and any such investigation should be done by the Independent Commis-sion of Investigations,” Tavares-Finson said. In handing down his sentences, Justice Campbell said there was a great deal of planning and premeditation that went into the 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.

When the hearing began this morn-ing, Kartel’s lead attorney Tom Tava-res-Finson told the court that his client maintains his innocence.

Attorney-at-law Pierre Rog-ers speaking on behalf of his client Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell urged the judge to consider the role of re-habilitation and give a sentence that would allow Shawn Storm to lead a useful life.

However, the judge said it was not easy and said some judges experi-ence a great deal of diffi culty in hand-ing down sentences. Justice Campbell said a great deal of planning and pre-meditation was involved in the murder and that the deceased suffered men-tal stress and threat. He said the body was concealed and attempts made to destroy the evidence in the case. The judge said the court recognised the dif-fering roles played by the four men con-victed of the murder. Throughout the case, the Crown argued that each man played a different role in a common de-sign to kill Lizard.

Perry Christie

Vybz Cartel


CARIBBEAN NEWS

Haitian President reshuffles cabinet PORT-AU-PRINCE – The Haitian Government has

reshuffl ed its Cabinet for the fi fth time since President Michel Martelly assumed offi ce in 2011

The latest Cabinet reshuffl e is seen as part of a political deal to help build confi dence in upcoming elections.

The changes include several new faces in the government, and the return of a familiar one – that of former Minister of Economy and Finance Ma-rie-Carmelle Jean-Marie.

Jean-Marie returns to the job a year after she abruptly resigned amid frustrations over how the country’s shoestring fi nances were being han-dled.

Haiti’s long-time ambassador to the Organiza-tion of American States (OAS), Duly Brutus, and Mi-ami Consul General Francois Guillaume, have also joined the Cabinet. Brutus, who celebrates 10 years at the OAS this month, will serve as foreign minister, replacing Pierre-Richard Casimir.

Guillaume has been appointed minister in charge of Haitians Living Abroad. His appointment comes 10 months after fellow South Florida resi-dent Bernice Fidelia resigned after a Senate investi-gation into her nationality.

The Cabinet is part of a package of agree-ments the executive, parliament and some op-

position parties signed off on after two months in negotiations mediated by the Roman Catho-lic Church.

According to a report in the Miami Herald, the ongoing crisis had triggered anti-government pro-tests and discontent in the country, which is still struggling to recover from its devastating January 2010 earthquake.

On Tuesday night, Haiti’s Chamber of Deputies took a pivotal step towards elections by unanimous-ly passing a draft electoral law setting the ground rules for balloting in the fall.

The Senate will now vote on the draft, but the Herald said six of the 20 members have objected to the political deal.

Deputies also agreed to remove a requirement that 30 percent of the slate be female, instead they agreed that the government provide fi nancial incen-tives to political parties to encourage female partic-ipation.

IDB signs agreement to promote renewable energy in the Caribbean

COSTA DO SAUÍPE, Brazil – The In-ter-American Development Bank

(IDB) says it has signed an amend-ment with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to a 2011 Memorandum of Understanding and a 2012 Framework Agreement to support renewable energy and ener-gy effi ciency for the mitigation of climate change in Central America and the Caribbean.

Under this amendment, the tar-get amount of JICA’s co-fi nanc-

ing for this programme, known as “Co-fi nancing for Renewable Energy and Energy Effi ciency” (CORE), will be increased to US$1 billion from a previous amount of US$300 million, “as well as the eligible benefi ciaries will be expanded in Central America and the Caribbean,” said the IDB in a statement on Saturday. It said the amendment was signed between IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno and JICA’s Senior Special Advisor Ku-nio Okamura during the IDB’s 2014

annual meeting here. The co-fi nanc-ing program was a result of sever-al agreements between the IDB and JICA, the most recent in March 2012, focusing on strategic partnerships on renewable energy and energy ef-fi ciency, “a key component of the bank’s response to climate change adaptation and mitigation.” Under the terms of the bank’s General Cap-ital Increase agreed by the Board of Governors in 2010, the IDB said it sets a target of 25 percent of total

lending to be dedicated to climate change adaptation, environmental sustainability and renewable ener-gy. It said one of the key priorities of the JICA is to increase assistance and strengthen sustainable ener-gy and climate change operations in Latin America and the Caribbe-an. Member-countries that already are eligible for JICA fi nancing are: Belize, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Hon-duras, Jamaica and Nicaragua.

Trinidad PM pressured to fire another minister

PORT OF SPAIN-Trinidad – Less than a week after she dismissed

her Minister of the Peoples and So-cial Development Minister Glen Ra-madharsingh, Prime Minister Kam-la Persad Bissessar is being asked to dismiss yet another of her min-isters.

While she has so far remained silent on the issue, calls have come from the Congress of the People (COP) party, the second biggest partner in the coalition People’s Partnership government for Tour-ism Minister Chandresh Sharma to either resign or be fi red over allega-tions that he assaulted a woman at a car park.

COP Leader Prakash Ramadhar, who is also the Legal Affairs Min-ister, said that the party hopes the media reports about the incident involving the minister are untrue.

“Notwithstanding that, the COP has been consistent in its position

that where serious allegations are made against senior public offi -cials, as in the case of former Min-ister Jack Warner, such persons should remove themselves from of-fi ce until the allegations are proper-ly investigated and resolved. Alter-natively, they should be removed from offi ce.

“Consequently, the COP calls on Minister Sharma to tender his resignation from the Cabinet until his name is cleared. In the absence of the Minister’s resignation, the COP expects that the Prime Minis-ter, Honourable Kamla Persad-Bis-sessar, will move with alacrity, as she has done in the past, to pre-serve the integrity of her admin-istration and of the institutions of State,” Ramadhar said in a brief statement.

Media reports said that Shar-ma, 54, had assaulted the 30 year-old managing director of a security

fi rm, Sacha Singh with whom he re-portedly hard a relationship.

Acting Police Commissioner Ste-phen Williams confi rmed that an investigation into the matter had been launched after the woman re-ported the March 12 incident to the police. She claimed that she was “knocked out after being pushed” by Sharma during an argument in-volving her and two other people.

Singh, who appeared on tele-vision on Sunday night said that Sharma should publicly apologise “for his outright assault against me”.

Singh alleged that she confront-ed Sharma with a woman with whom he allegedly had an affair and a 12-year-old child from that relationship whom he refused to maintain and when she did this, he became violent. Secretary Gen-eral of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) Sat Maharaj who had

publicly called for Ramadharsingh’s resignation or dismissal last week, has termed Sharma’s case as one fo a domestic nature, saying domestic issues have existed in politics for a very long time.

“Politicians and their extra mar-ital affairs and matters like these they sit on their own,” said Ma-haraj, noting that Ramadharsingh had put a number of people at risk on the fl ight by his behaviour but Sharma’s issue was between him and his alleged lover.

“The matter should take its course, we are talking about chalk and cheese. Chandresh is about twice the age of that woman, she must have known what she was getting into, I leave that for the court and the police to investigate,” said Maharaj, the leader of the larg-est Hindu group here.

Sharma is a senior offi cial of the Hindu religion here.

US COAST GUARD RESCUES RECORD NUMBER OF MIGRANTS

MIAMI - The United States Coast Guard says it has rescued a record number of migrants in a

week in the Caribbean Sea.The Coast Guard said more than 200 migrants

have been rescued and repatriated after a busy week of illegal migration attempts from Cuba, Hai-ti, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic.

It said as of Sunday night, the Coast Guard had repatriated 88 Cuban migrants to Cuba, 82 Haitian migrants to Haiti and 41 Dominicans and two Cu-bans back to the Dominican Republic within the past week.

In addition, the Coast Guard said 17 migrants suspected of various crimes were brought to Miami and Puerto Rico for further investigation.

The 210-foot Coast Guard Cutter Dependable

rescued the largest group of migrants, when an overloaded 30-foot sail freighter with 82 Haitian migrants aboard was discovered south of Great Ina-gua, Bahamas, the Coast Guard said.

It said two cruise ships, Norwegian Pearl and Carnival Ecstasy, last week rescued 65 Cuban mi-grants from ?unseaworthy rustic vessels? in two separate incidents in the Florida Straits.

“Although there were no reported deaths in any of these cases, all of them could have ended trag-ically,” said Todd Lutes, chief of incident manage-ment for the Coast Guard Seventh District.

“Not one of the boats had lifesaving or naviga-tion equipment and nearly all of them were expe-riencing signs of distress and taking on water,” he added.

The Coast Guard said one of its helicopters had also rescued 12 Cuban migrants, who were stranded on an uninhabited island in the Baha-mas.

“Make no mistake about it, we will aggressively go after the individuals who knowingly put other people’s lives at risk,” said Cmdr. Timothy Cronin, deputy chief of enforcement for the Seventh Coast Guard District.

“Human smugglers are ruthless, profi t seeking criminals who have no regard for human life,” he added.

Since October 1, 2013, in fi scal year 2014, the Coast Guard said it has interdicted 682 Cuban mi-grants, 559 Haitian migrants, and 217 Dominican migrants in the Caribbean Sea.

Haitian president Michel Martelly


CARIBBEAN NEWS

Gonsalves again hints at snap elections in St. VincentKINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Prime

Minister Ralph Gonsalves has for the second time in as many months sig-nalled that the next general elections will be held ahead of the 2015 constitu-tional deadline.

“Comrades, when I told you to go on your marks, I wasn’t making sport you know,” Gonsalves told support-ers of the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) at a rally in Barrouallie on Sat-urday night in celebration of the par-ty’s 13th anniversary in offi ce.

“As a country man, I know the say-ing that the same rope which does hang sheep is the same rope which does hang goat. And I want to say this, as a man, further, from the country, is not long rope that does hang cattle, you know; is short rope.

“And we going gi’ (give) NDP a short rope as we go between now to the next general elections,” he said.

Gonsalves, whose ULP will be seek-ing a fourth consecutive term in offi ce, fi rst hinted at early general election in February as he addressed the ULP’s an-

nual convention, telling party support-ers to get “on your marks”.

Some political observers say that the polls can come as soon as July, while others believe that it would come towards the end of 2014.

Gonsalves, 67, who during the 2010 election campaign asked voters to give him another term to mould a new gen-eration of leaders, suggested to party supporters on Saturday that the next election will be his last as party leader.

“I am asking you to tell your chil-dren and your grandchildren, I want the young people to tell one another

that they have to do this last one for the comrade. “I will stay in North Cen-tral [Windward] where I have a house and I will represent my constituency there.”

But even as Gonsalves signalled an early poll, he also noted the inter-nal competition in North Leeward and South Leeward, where, two candidates are vying to get the party’s nod in each of those constituencies.

In South Leeward, one of the can-didates published an advertisement in the local newspaper proclaiming his suitability as opposed to his opponent, while another has produced a pam-phlet with similar information.

Some ULP supporters believe that while the internal competition is an important part of the democratic pro-cess, it could hurt the party’s changes at the polls is allowed to continue for too long.

Sources close to the ULP told CMC that Barroullie was choosen for the anniversary celebrations because the party is losing ground there, even as a

poll last October, said the ULP, which had eight of the 15 seats in parliament, could have won a further four is elec-tions were called then.

Barrouallie is located in Central Lee-ward, the only seat that the ULP won on the Leeward (western) side of main-land St. Vincent.

But Gonsalves was confi dent that the ULP will be able to reverse the de-clining popularity, in terms of popular votes, since it was fi rst elected in 2001.

He said the party will retain the North Windward seat and will retake North Leeward, which was lost to the New Democratic party in 2010.

Gonsalves further suggested that the ULP will win the Southern Grena-dines, which has never voted Labour in the past.

And while he said it would take “a miracle” for the ULP to win the North-ern Grenadines, Gonsalves said that the rift between the NDP and its founder, former Prime Minister Sir James Mitch-ell, could cause the constituency to vote Labour.

St Lucia considers economic citizenship to boost investment

CASTRIES, St.Lucia – In an effort to boost its in-vestment portfolio, the Government is giving

consideration to the introduction of economic cit-izenship .

The idea was recently mooted by political lead-er of the opposition United Workers Party (UWP) – Allen Chastanet who said that the initiative could attract “the brightest and wealthiest people” to a country for the purpose of investment, while at the same time highlighting the need for safeguards.

Describing the current economic climate as “se-vere, debilitating and oppressive “ Prime Minister Kenny Anthony, who is preparing to present the 2014/15 national budget said St Lucia may well have to look at initiatives that it once “frowned upon”.

“This is a diffi cult environment perhaps calling for different responses,” he said.

“I think we cannot close our eyes because it’s an option we may have to consider and in so doing we may have to look at the experiences of other coun-tries,” Anthony told reporters.

The Prime Minister said St Lucia country has “huge problems on our hands”, stating that what was rejected previously will now have to be re-ex-amined. But at the same time Anthony made it clear

that St Lucia’s honour and integrity are vital and must not be compromised.

He also pointed out that in considering econom-ic citizenship, issues of demographics have to be de-termined.

“We are small societies and cannot create en-claves in our midst to cause social imbalance and confl ict,” Anthony said.

He cited the example of St Kitts, with a “small population “ of 45,000.

“My understanding is that there may be any-where from 3000 to 5000 passports that have been issued there, so think for a moment about the de-mographic imbalance that can create.”

Anthony said some Caribbean countries are granting economic citizenship to persons out of Asia, but once that happens those persons are end-ing up in St Lucia and establishing themselves on the island.

“The question therefore is to what extent should we consider identical rights to those individuals that are conferred on citizens of other Eastern Ca-ribbean countries.”

He said those were the types of issues that have to be considered and assessed very carefully in dealing with the issue of economic citizenship.

Nevertheless the St Lucia leader said his gov-ernment could not “throw all ideas out the win-dow”.

Other countries in the region, including Dom-inica, St.Kitts Nevis and Antigua Barbuda have launched their citizenship by investment pro-grammes, which grants citizenship of a country to individuals who invest money to a country’s de-velopment.

US PROVIDES ESSENTIAL CLARITY ON OFFSHORE TAX COMPLIANCE

WASHINGTON D.C., United States – The United States Department of the Treasury and the In-

ternal Revenue Service (IRS) have announced that ju-risdictions that have reached agreements in substance with the US on the terms of intergovernmental agree-ments (IGAs) under the Foreign Account Tax Compli-ance Act (FATCA) can be treated as having agreements in effect until the end of 2014.

Both departments said on Wednesday that this “treatment” will be available to jurisdictions that reach agreements in substance before July 1, 2014, and con-sent to having the status of their agreements disclosed.

As an increasing number of jurisdictions reach agreements in substance, the Treasury Department said the announcement provides foreign fi nancial in-stitutions (FFIs) located in these jurisdictions with the guidance they need prior to the upcoming registration deadlines.

In addition, as part of the effort to facilitate an ef-fective start of FATCA withholding on July 1, 2014, it said this announcement also provides FFIs with 10 more days to register and ensure that they will be included on the fi rst IRS FFI list.

It said the IRS can provide this extra time based on its assessment of the performance of its registration system to date.

The Treasury Department said the United States has so far signed 26 IGAs; and that, as of Wednesday 19 additional jurisdictions will be treated as having IGAs, in effect bringing the total number to 45.

The department said this list is expected to contin-ue to grow in the coming weeks as additional coun-tries give consent to having the status of their IGAs disclosed and additional agreements in substance are reached.

“With 45 countries now considered to have IGAs in effect, and more jurisdictions far along in the process, the robust international support behind FATCA is un-deniable,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Interna-tional Tax Affairs Robert B. Stack.

The US Congress enacted FATCA in 2010 to target non-compliance by US taxpayers using foreign ac-counts.

Stack said the provision has since become the “glob-al standard for promoting tax transparency.”

It requires US fi nancial institutions to withhold a portion of certain payments made to FFIs that do not agree to identify and report information on US ac-count holders.

The Treasury Department said governments have two options for complying with FATCA: they can ei-ther permit their FFIs to enter into agreements with the IRS, or they can themselves enter into IGAs with the United States.

The fi nal regulations generally provide that, in or-der for withholding not to apply, withholding agents must verify the status of FFIs beginning on July 1, 2014, the Treasury Department said.

It said this announcement allows jurisdictions that have reached agreements in substance on IGAs before

July 1, 2014, and have consented to be included on the list, to be treated as having IGAs in effect until Decem-ber 31, 2014.

It also allows FFIs to register on the FATCA registra-tion website consistent with that treatment.

After December 31, 2014, only signed IGAs will be considered to be in effect, the Treasury Department said.

By treating jurisdictions that have reached agree-ments in substance on the terms of IGAs as jurisdic-tions that have IGAs in effect, the notice provides FFIs in those jurisdictions with certainty about their FATCA responsibilities this year.

Prior to this notice, the Treasury Department said FFIs were required to register by April 25, to ensure that they would be included on the fi rst IRS FFI list.

This is the only list that will be published before withholding begins.

“Today’s announcement provides the assurance that FFIs will be included on this list if they submit a complete registration form by May 5, 2014, instead of April 25 as originally announced,” the Treasury Depart-ment said.

The Cayman Islands is among jurisdictions that have signed Model 1 intergovernmental agreements (IGA) with the US, and Bermuda has signed Model 2 IGA.

The Treasury Department said the British Virgin Islands and Jamaica have reached agreements in sub-stance and have consented to being included on the Model 1 IGA list.

Dr Kenny Anthony

Dr Ralph Gonsalves


NewsW RLD

David Letterman to retireLate night television legend David Letterman

will retire in 2015.Letterman announced his retirement decision

during a taping of “The Late Show” on Thursday afternoon. CBS subsequently released a transcript of his remarks.

“We don’t have the timetable for this precisely down,” Letterman said. “I think it will be at least a year or so, but sometime in the not too distant future, 2015 for the love of God, in fact, Paul and I will be wrapping things up,” he added, referring to his longtime band leader Paul Shaffer.

Letterman’s announcement sparked a stand-ing ovation from his much-surprised audience at the Ed Sullivan Theater in midtown Manhattan.

It also triggered immediate speculation about who might replace him on the iconic CBS pro-gram.

Letterman’s announcement initially leaked out when a performer, Mike Mills, who was at the taping of “The Late Show” tweeted out the news. “Dave just announced his retirement,” Mills wrote.

The news comes just weeks after Letterman’s longtime rival, Jay Leno, retired from the NBC “To-night Show.” Leno was replaced by Jimmy Fallon.

Letterman has hosted “The Late Show” since 1993. Last fall, he extended his contract through 2015; news reports at the time said he gave no in-dication that it would be his last contract. But Letterman is known to be incredibly private, and on Thursday he quipped that he didn’t give his parent network a heads-up about his decision.

“The man who owns this network, Leslie Moonves, he and I have had a relationship for years and years and years, and we have had this conversation in the past, and we agreed that we would work together on this circumstance and the timing of this circumstance. And I phoned him just before the program, and I said ‘Leslie, it’s

been great, you’ve been great, and the network has been great, but I’m retiring,’” Letterman said in his monologue.

He added, “I just want to reiterate my thanks for the support from the network, all of the peo-ple who have worked here, all of the people in the theater, all the people on the staff, everybody at home, thank you very much. What this means now, is that Paul and I can be married.”

Moonves, the chief executive of CBS Corpora-tion, quickly issued a statement on Thursday af-ternoon thanking Letterman for his years of ser-vice -- and silliness.

“For 21 years, David Letterman has graced our Network’s air in late night with wit, gravitas and brilliance unique in the history of our medium,” Moonves said. “During that time, Dave has given television audiences thousands of hours of come-

dic entertainment, the sharpest interviews in late night, and brilliant moments of candor and per-spective around national events. He’s also man-aged to keep many celebrities, politicians and ex-ecutives on their toes -- including me.”

“There is only one David Letterman,” Moonves added. “His greatness will always be remembered here, and he will certainly sit among the panthe-on of this business. On a personal note, it’s been a privilege to get to know Dave and to enjoy a terrifi c relationship. It’s going to be tough to say goodbye. Fortunately, we won’t have to do that for another year or so. Until then, we look for-ward to celebrating Dave’s remarkable show and incredible talents.”

Other fi gures were quick to offer their congrat-ulations.

Jimmy Kimmel, who anchors ABC’s late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” wrote Letterman “is the best there is and ever was.”

And President Barack Obama referenced Let-terman’s famous top ten lists -- which the likes of Obama read as guests on the program.

“There are more than 10 reasons #DavidLetter-man will be missed,” said a post on Obama’s Twit-ter account.

The show has been nominated for 72 Emmy Awards and has won nine.

Letterman began his television career in 1969 working as an announcer and weekend weather-man at WLWI (now WTHR), an ABC affi liate in In-dianapolis, Indiana. He has been a staple of late night since 1982, when he began hosting the NBC show “Late Night with David Letterman.”

After long-time Tonight Show host Johnny Car-son announced his retirement in 1992, NBC chose Jay Leno as Carson’s replacement. Letterman, in turn, started hosting CBS’ “The Late Show” in 1993. Band leader Paul Shaffer followed Letter-man from NBC to CBS.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Drama as underwater search for “black boxes” begins

PERTH, Australia -- Crews searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines

jet launched a targeted underwater hunt on Friday for the plane’s black boxes along a stretch of remote ocean, with just days left before the devices’ batteries are expected to run out.

The Australian navy ship Ocean Shield, which is dragging a towed ping-er locator from the U.S. Navy, and the British navy’s HMS Echo, which has underwater search gear on board, will converge along a 150-mile track in a desolate patch of the southern Indian Ocean, said Angus Houston, the head of a joint agency coordinating the search.

The plane’s data recorders emit a ping that can be detected by the equipment on board the ships. But the battery-powered devices stop transmitting the pings about 30 days after a crash - meaning searchers have little time left before the batteries on Flight 370’s black boxes die out. Lo-cating the data recorders and wreck-age after that is possible, but incredi-bly diffi cult.

Houston acknowledged that the clock was ticking for search crews.

“The locater beacon will last about a month before it ceases its trans-missions - so we’re now getting pret-

ty close to the time when it might ex-pire,” he said.

The area the ships are searching was chosen based on hourly satellite pings the aircraft gave off after it van-ished from radar March 8 on a fl ight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. That information, combined with data on the estimated speed and performance of the aircraft, led them to that specif-ic stretch of ocean, Houston said.

“The area of highest probability as to where the aircraft might have en-tered the water is the area where the underwater search will commence,” Houston said. “It’s on the basis of data that only arrived very recently and it’s the best data that is available.”

As many as 10 military planes, four civilian jets and nine ships were to take part in Friday’s search, and the

weather forecast called for favorable conditions, Australian authorities said.

Air crews and ships have been searching for weeks for the Boeing 777, but have so far found no trace of the plane.

Because the U.S. Navy’s pinger loca-tor can pick up black box signals up to a depth of 20,000 feet, it should be able to hear the devices even if they are lying in the deepest part of the search zone - about 19,000 feet below the surface. But that’s only if the loca-tor gets within range of the black box-es - a tough task, given the size of the search area and the fact the pinger lo-cator must be dragged slowly through the water at just 1 to 5 knots, or 1 to 6 miles per hour.

Finding fl oating wreckage is key to narrowing the search area, as offi cials can then use data on ocean currents to try and backtrack to the spot where the Boeing 777 entered the water - and where the coveted data recorders may be. Those devices would provide cru-cial information about what condi-tion the plane was fl ying under and any communications or sounds in the cockpit.

Despite the weeks of fruitless searching, Houston said he hadn’t

given up hope something would be found.

“I think there’s still a great possibil-ity of fi nding something on the sur-face,” he said. “There’s lots of things in aircraft that fl oat.”

Fourteen planes and nine ships were taking part in Friday’s hunt across an 84,000 square mile expanse of ocean, some 1,100 miles northwest of Perth, the Joint Agency Coordina-tion Center overseeing the search said. Several ships also had helicopters on board.

The search area has shifted each day, as the investigative team contin-ues to analyze what little radar and satellite data is available while fac-toring in where any debris may have drifted due to ocean currents and weather.

“I think we’ve probably got to the end of the process of analysis,” Hous-ton said.

Caption: Image provided by U.S. Navy shows The Bluefi n 21, Artemis au-tonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), being hoisted back onto the Austra-lian military’s Ocean Shield after suc-cessful testing on April 1, 2014 in the Indian Ocean, as the search for Malay-sia Airlines Flight 370 continued

This device will be used to search for the remains of the plane

David Letterman


WORLD NEWS

Argument may have preceded deadly Fort Hood attack

FORT HOOD, Texas — The soldier who killed three people at Fort Hood may have argued with

another service member prior to the attack, and in-vestigators believe his unstable mental health con-tributed to the rampage, authorities said Thursday.

The base’s senior offi cer, Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, said there is a “strong possibility” that Spc. Ivan Lopez had a “verbal altercation” with another sol-dier or soldiers immediately before Wednesday’s shooting, which unfolded on the same Army post that was the scene of an infamous 2009 mass shooting.

However, there’s no indication that he targeted specifi c soldiers, Milley said.

Lopez never saw combat during a deployment to Iraq and had shown no apparent risk of violence be-fore the shooting, offi cials said.

The 34-year-old truck driver from Puerto Rico seemed to have a clean record that showed no ties to extremist groups. But the Army secretary prom-ised that investigators would keep all avenues open in their inquiry of the soldier whose rampage ended only after he fi red a fi nal bullet into his own head.

“We’re not making any assumptions by that. We’re going to keep an open mind and an open investigation. We will go where the facts lead us,” Army Secretary John McHugh said, explaining that “possible extremist involvement is still being looked at very, very carefully.”

Army: Alleged Shooter Saw No Combat in IraqPlay videoInvestigators were also looking into Lopez’s psy-

chological background. He had sought help for de-pression, anxiety and other problems, military offi -cials said.

“We have very strong evidence that he had a medical history that indicates unstable psychiat-ric or psychological condition,” Milley said. “We be-lieve that to be a fundamental underlying cause.”

Scott & White Memorial Hospital in nearby Tem-ple, Texas, was still caring for several of the 16 peo-ple who were wounded. All of them were in either

serious or good condition, and some could be dis-charged before the end of Thursday.

Hospital offi cials had no information about pa-tients being treated elsewhere, including at a base hospital. But because Scott & White is the area’s only trauma center, the patients with the most seri-ous injuries were probably taken there.

Investigators searched the soldier’s home Thurs-day and questioned his wife, Fort Hood spokesman Chris Haug said.

Army: Ft. Hood Shooter Evaluated for PTSDPlay videoLopez apparently walked into a building Wednes-

day and began fi ring a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol. He then got into a vehicle and continued fi r-ing before driving to another building. He was even-tually confronted by military police in a parking lot, Milley said.

As he came within 20 feet of a police offi cer, the gunman put his hands up but then reached under his jacket and pulled out his gun. The offi cer drew her own weapon, and the suspect put his gun to his head and pulled the trigger, Milley said.

Lopez grew up in Guayanilla, a town of fewer than 10,000 people on the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico, with a mother who was a nurse at a public clinic and a father who did maintenance for an electric utility company.

Glidden Lopez Torres, who said he was a friend speaking for the family, said Lopez’s mother died of a heart attack in November.

The soldier was upset that he was granted only a 24-hour leave to attend her funeral, which was de-layed for nearly a week so he could be there, the spokesman said. The leave was then extended to two days.

Lopez joined the island’s National Guard in 1999 and served on a yearlong peacekeeping mission in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in the mid-2000s. He enlist-ed with the Army in 2008 and saw no combat during a four-month deployment to Iraq as a truck driver in 2011, McHugh said.

A review of his service record showed no Purple Heart, indicating he was never wounded. He arrived at Fort Hood in February from Fort Bliss, Texas.

He saw a psychiatrist last month and showed no “sign of any likely violence either to himself or oth-ers,” McHugh said.

Suzie Miller, a 71-year-old retired property man-ager who lived in the same Killeen apartment com-plex as Lopez, said few people knew him and his wife well because they had just moved in.

“I’d see him in his uniform heading out to the car every morning,” Miller said. “He was friendly to me and a lot of us around here.”

The shootings revived memories of the Novem-ber 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, the deadliest attack on a domestic military installation in U.S. history. Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 were wounded.

Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan was convicted last year in that assault, which he has said was to pro-tect Islamic insurgents abroad from American ag-gression. After that shooting, the military tightened base security nationwide.

NSA overhaul may require phone carriers to store more data

President Barack Obama’s plan for overhauling the National Security

Agency’s phone surveillance program could force carriers to collect and store customer data that they are not now legally obliged to keep, accord-ing to U.S. offi cials.

One complication arises from the popularity of fl at-rate or unlimited calling plans, which are used by the vast majority of Americans.

While the Federal Communica-tions Commission requires phone companies to retain for 18 months re-cords on “toll” or long-distance calls, the rule’s application is vague for sub-scribers of unlimited phone plans be-cause they do not get billed for indi-vidual calls.

That could change if the Obama administration pushes through with a proposal to require carriers - in-stead of the NSA - to collect and store phone metadata, which includes di-aled numbers and call lengths but not the content of conversations. Un-der the administration’s proposal, the phone companies would be required to turn over the data to the NSA in re-sponse to a court-approved govern-ment request.

U.S. offi cials said the carri-ers might be forced to create new mechanisms to ensure that metada-ta from fl at-rate subscribers could be monitored. They said these is-sues will require further discussion between the White House, Con-gress and industry.

“These are very complex systems,” said one industry source familiar with data storage policies. “I doubt there are companies out there that have a nice, neat, single database that can tell you how long records are kept universally.”

To great fanfare last month, the Obama administration unveiled a proposal to end the NSA’s bulk collec-tion of millions of records of phone calls. But the announcement glossed over key practical issues in imple-menting the new procedures.

The potential gap in records for fl at-rate subscribers, as well as the telecommunications companies’ strong opposition to onerous data re-tention requirements, underscores the still-fl uid nature of the NSA re-forms.

“We applaud these proposals to end Section 215 bulk collection, but feel that it is critical to get the de-tails of this important effort right,” Verizon Communications Inc Gen-eral Counsel Randal Milch said in a blog post last week, referring to Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the law that authorized the NSA pro-gram.

“At this early point in the process, we propose this basic principle that should guide the effort: the reformed collection process should not require companies to store data for longer than, or in formats that differ from, what they already do for business purposes,” Milch wrote.

Obama’s proposal, whose full de-tails have yet to be formally released, is a response to public outcry over revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden about the spy agen-cy’s bulk collection of phone records.

A senior Obama administration offi cial said: “As questions arise with respect to the proposal, we look for-ward to working through them with Congress and relevant stakeholders.”

CHANGING BUSINESS NEEDSOne former senior U.S. offi cial said

that because of the growing populari-ty of unlimited-calling plans, over the years the NSA program ended up col-lecting less and less of the metadata it was legally authorized to acquire.

This former offi cial, and a non-gov-ernment expert who had access to de-tails of the NSA program, said that the agency recently had only been col-lecting 25 percent to 33 percent of the total U.S. metadata it was authorized to collect.

“The change in the nature of bill-ing data means that there’s a lot less such data than there used to be,” said Stewart Baker, a former senior offi cial at both the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security.

Another former U.S. offi cial said he believed phone companies were still obliged to supply the NSA with some kind of record of the metadata other than billing records.

The NSA can request business re-cords from phone companies, and

carriers do generally keep some phone records for business purpos-es, such as to manage traffi c fl ow in networks or monitor traffi c exchang-es with other carriers, said the fi rst in-dustry source.

However, those databases are fl u-id, complex and rarely comprehen-sive, as they are driven by constant-ly changing network needs. And that has become a key concern for phone companies in the proposed changes to NSA surveillance.

“It strips from us the ability to make business decisions as the tech-nology evolves,” the industry source said. “It would cause us to continue to collect stuff that we don’t need.”

If NSA wants to search fl at-rate subscribers’ metadata, it would only be able to do so on calls going for-ward from the date that the search is requested, since no earlier data could easily be retrieved, offi cials said.

Under the proposal, the NSA would have to get approval from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveil-lance Court to examine phone data for information about calls made to or from a U.S. number.

A bill drafted by the House Intel-ligence Committee would allow the NSA itself to directly request meta-data from a phone company under a broad authorization from the FISA court. But the court would later be re-quired to review metadata NSA col-lected to see if the spying had been legitimate.

AT&T Inc declined to comment. Sprint Corp said, “We are reviewing the Obama administration’s proposal with great interest and look forward to seeing additional details.”

Fort Hood shoter Spc. Ivan Lopez


WORLD NEWS

FORMER PAKISTANI MILITARY RULER

PERVEZ MUSHARRAF ESCAPES BOMBING

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf escaped a bombing early

Thursday morning as he was being transferred by convoy from a hospital to his farmhouse in the Islamabad suburbs, police offi cials said.

The bomb went off at about 2 a.m. local time along the route that the convoy was due to travel -- about 20 minutes before Musharraf reached the area, offi cials said. The convoy was rerouted following the blast, in which no one was injured, according to police.

A spokeswoman for Musharraf later of-fered a different account, telling reporters that the bomb went off after the former pres-ident had reached his home. Police offi cials said they were still investigating the incident.

The nine-pound explosive was planted in a pipeline along the road, said Liaqat Niazi, a senior police offi cial in Islamabad, who said that the former strongman was likely the tar-get.

Musharraf was indicted three days ago by a special court on charges of treason stem-ming from some of his actions as president in late 2007, when he imposed a state of emer-gency and fi red high-ranking judges in a bid to hold on to power.

Musharraf has denied the charges and sought permission to travel overseas to seek medical care for hypertension and other ail-ments, raising questions about whether he will face trial.

The Pakistani government denied his re-quest to leave the country, possibly setting up a showdown between Pakistan’s civil-ian-led government and its powerful army. Se-nior army leaders are said to oppose putting Musharraf on trial, which would be an un-precedented move in a country where a top military offi cial has never faced abuse-of-pow-er charges.

Asia Ishaq, a spokeswoman for Musharraf’s political party, said that “extremist forces” wanted to kill the former leader, adding that he has received death threats since returning from exile in 2013. Explosives have been re-covered from around his farmhouse several times in recent months.

Ishaq called the government’s rejection of Musharraf’s request to leave Pakistan a polit-ical vendetta by Prime Minister Nawaz Shar-if, who was ousted by Musharraf in a coup in 1999 and forced into exile. Sharif regained power last year and has pressed the treason case against Musharraf with a fervor that has surprised many Pakistan observers, given the civilian government’s traditional subservi-ence to the army.

Musharraf’s lawyers will petition Paki-stan’s higher courts for permission for him to travel abroad, Ishaq said.

“If something happens to Musharraf, this government would be responsible for that,” she said.

KERRY CALLS FOR REALITY CHECK

IN MID-EAST PEACE TALKS

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said it is time

for a “reality check” in the Is-rael-Palestinian peace process amid a deep crisis in the talks.

Speaking in Morocco, Mr Ker-ry said there were “limits” to the time Washington would expend on trying to get the sides to reach an agreement.

He spoke after steps taken by Israel and the Palestinians in the past two days which each side said violated previous promises.

Talks are meant to conclude next month.

Mr Kerry has shuttled back-wards and forwards for negoti-ations with Israel and the Pales-tinians in recent weeks.

However, Washington has expressed exasperation at what it calls “unhelpful, unilateral ac-tions” taken by both sides.

On a visit to Rabat on Fri-day, Mr Kerry said it was time to pause and consider where the process was going.

“This is not an open-end-ed effort, it never has been,” he said. “It is reality check time, and we intend to evaluate precisely what the next steps will be.”

Tit-for-tatThe talks, which resumed in

July under US auspices after a three-year hiatus, appeared to be on the point of breaking down this week, with Israel and the Palestinians blaming the other.

The Palestinians were furious when Israel did not sanction the release of a fourth batch of Pales-tinian and Israeli-Arab prisoners, as agreed in principle under the terms on which the Palestinians returned to peace talks last year.

Israel stressed that it had predicated any release on prog-ress being made in the negoti-ations and on the Palestinians abiding by a commitment not to seek membership of internation-al agencies.

Cabinet members also said they would block a release un-less the Palestinians agreed to extend the talks beyond 29 April, the date by which the US had said it had hoped to reach a full agreement.

The Palestinians however said they would not agree to ex-tend the talks unless the prison-ers were freed and accused Israel of reneging on the deal.

Poll says Nationwide marijuana legalization inevitableDENVER — Nationwide marijua-

na legalization seems inevitable to three-fourths of Americans, wheth-er they support it or not, according to a new poll out Wednesday.

The Pew Research Center sur-vey on the nation’s shifting attitudes about drug policy also showed in-creased support for moving away from mandatory sentences for non-vi-olent drug offenders.

The telephone survey found that 75 percent of respondents — includ-ing majorities of both supporters and opponents of legal marijuana— think that the sale and use of pot eventu-ally will be legal nationwide. It was the fi rst time that question had been asked.

Some 39 percent of respondents said pot should be legal for personal adult use. Forty-four percent of those surveyed said it should be legal only for medicinal use. Just 16 percent said it should not be legal at all.

The responses come as two states have legalized recreational marijuana, with more than 20 states and Wash-ington, D.C., allowing some medical use of the drug.

“It’s just a matter of time before it’s in more states,” said Steve Pratley of Denver, a 51-year-old pipefi tter who voted for legalization in Colorado in 2012. Pratley, who did not participate in the Pew survey, agreed with 76 per-cent of respondents who said people who use small amounts of marijuana shouldn’t go to jail.

“If marijuana isn’t legalized, it fi lls up the jails, and that’s just stupid,” Pratley said.

Legalization opponents, however, drew a distinction between making pot legal for all and thinking that pot users belong in jail.

“It’s an illegal drug, period. I don’t see it spreading,” said Laura Sanchez, a 55-year-old retiree in Denver who voted against legalization. She agreed that pot smokers don’t belong in jail, but she disagreed with legalization.

“I’ve seen no proof that it’s good for anybody,” said Sanchez, who also did not participate in the survey. The poll suggested that despite shifting at-titudes on legalization, the public re-mains concerned about drug abuse, with 32 percent of those surveyed calling it a crisis and 55 percent of re-

spondents viewing it as a serious na-tional problem.

And a narrow majority, 54 percent, said marijuana legalization would lead to more underage people trying it.

As for mandatory minimum sen-tences, public attitudes have been shifting for years.

In 2001, the survey was about even-ly divided on whether it was a good thing or bad thing for states to move away from mandatory minimum sen-tences for non-violent drug offenders. In 2014, poll respondents favored the move by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, or 63 percent to 32 percent. The other 5 per-cent either didn’t respond or said they didn’t know.

Public offi cials are well aware of the public’s shifting attitudes on drug penalties.

Just last month, U.S. Attorney Gen-eral Eric Holder testifi ed in support of proposed sentence reductions for some non-violent drug traffi ckers in an effort to reserve the “the harshest penalties for the most serious drug offenders.”

“Certain types of cases result in too many Americans going to prison for too long, and at times for no tru-

ly good public safety reason,” Holder said last month at the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Drug legalization activists said the Pew results come as no surprise.

“We see a growing bipartisan rec-ognition that mandatory minimums went too far and did more harm than good,” said Ethan Nadelmann, head of the New York-based Drug Policy Al-liance, which opposes criminal penal-ties for non-violent drug users.

Marijuana legalization opponents saw signs of hope in the survey, too.

Kevin Sabet, co-founder of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which op-poses pot legalization, pointed to the fact that 63 percent said it would bother them if people used marijuana openly in their neighborhood.

“Saying that we don’t want peo-ple to serve prison time for marijuana is very different from saying I want a pot shop in my neighborhood selling cookies and candies and putting cou-pons in the paper,” Sabet said.

The poll of 1,821 adults was con-ducted Feb. 14-23. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Queen gives honey to pope, who has gift for GeorgeVATICAN CITY — Queen Elizabeth II — bearing

a basket of honey, whiskey and other goodies from the royal estates — paid a visit to Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday. The pontiff returned the courtesy with a gift for Prince George, Elizabeth’s great-grandson.

The Argentine-born pope presented the queen with a stone orb topped with a sharp cross, saying it’s for “el ninetto” — a term of endearment for little child. Elizabeth said George “will be thrilled by that — when he’s a little older.”

The exchange of gifts capped a private meeting of just under 20 minutes between Elizabeth, her husband, Prince Philip, and Francis — with commu-nication facilitated by an interpreter.

Francis did say “Welcome!” in English when the royal couple arrived about 20 minutes late for their appointment.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Elizabeth told Fran-cis. “We were having a very pleasant lunch with the president.”

She was referring to Italy’s head of state, Giorgio Napolitano, who hosted the queen and Philip for lunch at the presidential Quirinal palace.

The white-gloved monarch arrived earlier in the day in Rome wearing a lilac-colored spring coat and hat that matched the wisteria blooming over much of the Italian capital.

Previously, Elizabeth had met with four pontiffs, starting with Pius XII in 1951, a year before her acces-sion to the throne.

Elizabeth is head of the Anglican church. There was no immediate word on what was discussed in the meeting with Francis, who is in his second year as pontiff.

Elizabeth told the pope that the jar of honey in the wicker picnic hamper “is from my garden” at Buckingham Palace. “I hope that is unusual for you.”

Francis looked startled when the prince held up a bottle of Balmoral whiskey from the royal estate in Scotland. Among other goodies were a bottle of cider and a dozen eggs.

The queen’s day in Rome was a makeup visit. Ill-ness had forced her to cancel a 2013 trip to Rome.

“She doesn’t like leaving obligations unfulfi lled so she was determined to reinstate that visit,” Brit-ain’s ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker, told Vatican Radio.

Queen Elizabeth meets Pope Francis for the fi rst time


WORLD NEWS

EARTHQUAKE AFTERSHOCKS RATTLE CHILE AS MILITARY KEEPS ORDER

IQUIQUE, Chile — Coastal residents of Chile’s far north spent a second sleepless night outside their

homes as major aftershocks continued Thursday following a magnitude-8.2 earthquake that dam-aged several thousand homes and caused six deaths.

No new major damage or casualties were report-ed, and a heavy police and military presence kept order.

The infrastructure in the area is nearly entire-ly intact, but with aftershocks continuing, life has been anything but normal. Power remains out in many areas, and hospitals were handling only emergencies. Schools were closed, and large super-markets and gas stations coordinated their reopen-ings Thursday with police and military to avoid problems with long lines of customers.

After a magnitude-7.6 aftershock struck just be-fore midnight Wednesday, Chile’s Emergency Of-fi ce and navy issued a tsunami alert, and for two hours ordered everyone living in low-lying areas along the country’s entire 2,500-mile (4,000-kilome-ter) Pacifi c coastline to evacuate.

Among those moved inland was President Mi-chelle Bachelet, who was in the city of Arica assess-

ing damage in the north from Tuesday night’s pow-erful quake.

“I was evacuated like all citizens. One can see that the people are prepared,” she tweeted early Thursday.

Chile’s evacuation order was lifted at around 2 a.m. Thursday. Some 900,000 people also were af-fected the night before when the entire coast was evacuated for several hours after Tuesday’s bigger quake, although the tsunami proved small.

A 6.1-magnitude aftershock 47 miles (76 kms) southwest of Iquique shook the area again late Thursday.

The repeated aftershocks have shaken buildings and sent people running into the streets in the port of Iquique, the largest city closest to the epicenter. About 45 minutes before the 7.6 quake, a magni-tude-6.5 aftershock also rattled Iquique. The shak-ing loosened more landslides near Alto Hospicio, a poor area at the entrance to Iquique where about 2,500 homes had been damaged in Tuesday’s larg-er quake.

Authorities have reported six deaths, but didn’t rule out the possibility others could have been

killed in older structures made of adobe in remote communities that weren’t immediately accessible.

The tsunami after Tuesday night’s quake caused the sea to rise only 8 feet (2.5 meters) in Iquique, but that was enough to sink and damage many fi sh-ing boats, lifting some onto city streets and piling others up in the harbor.

Still, as Bachelet deployed hundreds of anti-riot police and soldiers to prevent looting and round up escaped prisoners, it was clear the loss of life and property could have been much worse.

The mandatory evacuations have been an-nounced through cellphone text messages and Twitter, and reinforced by blaring sirens in neigh-borhoods where people regularly practice earth-quake drills. But many Chileans have not down-loaded the smartphone application that can alert them to evacuation orders, and some communities still lack warning sirens.

Chile is one of the world’s most earth-quake-prone countries, and tsunamis are a particu-lar danger because the fault zone lies just offshore, where the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate.

Syrian opposition accuses Assad of new poison attackBEIRUT - Opposition activists again

accused President Bashar al-As-sad’s forces of using poison gas in Syria’s civil war on Thursday, show-ing footage of an apparently uncon-scious man lying on a bed and being treated by medics.

The alleged attack on the neigh-borhood of Jobar in the capital Da-mascus comes a week after the Syr-ian government sent a letter to the United Nations claiming it had ev-idence that rebel groups were plan-ning a toxic gas attack in the same area.

Reuters could not independently verify the footage or the claims due to security restrictions on reporting in Syria.

Activists from the opposition “Jo-

bar Revo” group posted the video on YouTube of a man being treated with oxygen and being injected by med-ics. A voice off-screen said Thursday’s date and that there was “a poison at-tack in Jobar.”

Another opposition group, the Syrian Revolutionary Coordinators Union, said that all those affected by the gas were “in a good condition”. There has been on-off fi ghting be-tween rebels and government forces in Jobar this year.

In a letter dated March 25 and cir-culated by the United Nations this week, Syria’s U.N. envoy, Bashar Ja’af-ari, said his government had inter-cepted communications between “terrorists” that showed a man named Abu Nadir was secretly dis-

tributing gas masks in the rebel-held Jobar area.

Ja’afari said in the letter addressed to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. Security Council that this information “confi rms that armed terrorist groups are preparing to use toxic gas in Jobar quarter and other areas, in order to accuse the Syrian government of having com-mitted such an act of terrorism.”

A U.N. inquiry found in December that sarin gas had likely been used in Jobar in August and in several other locations, including in the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Ghouta, where hundreds of people were killed.

The inquiry was only looking at whether chemical weapons were used, not who used them. The Syri-

an government and the opposition have each accused the other of using chemical weapons, and both have denied it.

The Ghouta attack sparked global outrage and a U.S. threat of military strikes, which was dropped after As-sad pledged to destroy his chemical weapons.

But the Syrian government failed to meet a February 5 deadline to move all of its declared chemical substances and precursors, some 1,300 tones, out of the country. Syria has since agreed to a new timetable to remove the weapons by late April.

Syria’s three-year civil war has killed more than 150,000 people, a third of them civilians, and caused millions to fl ee.

White House defends ‘Cuban Twitter’ to stir unrest

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Thursday defended its creation of a Twit-

ter-like Cuban communications network to under-mine the communist government, declaring the secret program was “invested and debated” by Con-gress and wasn’t a covert operation that required White House approval.

But two senior Democrats on congressional in-telligence and judiciary committees said they had known nothing about the effort, which one of them described as “dumb, dumb, dumb.” A showdown with that senator’s panel is expected next week, and the Republican chairman of a House oversight sub-committee said that it, too, would look into the pro-gram.

An Associated Press investigation found that the network was built with secret shell companies and fi nanced through a foreign bank. The project, which lasted more than two years and drew tens of thou-sands of subscribers, sought to evade Cuba’s stran-glehold on the Internet with a primitive social me-dia platform.

First, the network was to build a Cuban audi-ence, mostly young people. Then, the plan was to push them toward dissent.

Yet its users were neither aware it was created by a U.S. agency with ties to the State Department, nor that American contractors were gathering personal data about them, in the hope that the information might be used someday for political purposes.

It is unclear whether the scheme was legal under U.S. law, which requires written authorization of co-vert action by the president as well as congressional notifi cation. White House spokesman Jay Carney said he was not aware of individuals in the White

House who had known about the program.The Cuban government declined a request for

comment.USAID’s top offi cial, Rajiv Shah, is scheduled to

testify on Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations State Department and Foreign Operations Subcom-mittee, on the agency’s budget. The subcommittee’s chairman, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is the senator who called the project “dumb, dumb, dumb” during an appearance Thursday on MSNBC.

The administration said early Thursday that it had disclosed the initiative to Congress — Carney said the program had been “debated in Congress” — but hours later the narrative had shifted to say that the administration had offered to discuss funding for it with the congressional committees that ap-prove federal programs and budgets.

“We also offered to brief our appropriators and our authorizers,” said State Department spokes-woman Marie Harf. She added that she was hear-ing on Capitol Hill that many people support these kinds of democracy promotion programs. And some lawmakers did speak up on that subject. But by late Thursday no members of Congress had acknowl-edged being aware of the Cuban Twitter program earlier than this week. Harf described the program as “discreet” but said it was in no way classifi ed or covert. Harf also said the project, dubbed ZunZu-neo, did not rise to a level that required the secre-tary of state to be notifi ed. Neither former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton nor John Kerry, the current occupant of the offi ce, was aware of ZunZu-neo, she said.

In his prior position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry had asked con-

gressional investigators to examine whether or not U.S. democracy promotion programs in Cuba were operated according to U.S. laws, among other issues. The resulting report, released by the Government Accountability Offi ce in January 2013, does not ex-amine whether or not the programs were covert. It does not say that any U.S. laws were broken.

The GAO report does not specifi cally refer to Zu-nZuneo, but does note that USAID programs includ-ed “support for the development of independent so-cial networking platforms.”

At minimum, details uncovered by the AP appear to muddy the USAID’s longstanding claims that it does not conduct covert actions, and the details could undermine the agency’s mission to deliver aid to the world’s poor and vulnerable — an effort that requires the trust and cooperation of foreign gov-ernments.

Leahy and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Intelli-gence Committee, said they were unaware of Zun-Zuneo.

“I know they said we were notifi ed,” Leahy told AP. “We were notifi ed in the most oblique way, that nobody could understand it. I’m going to ask two basic questions: Why weren’t we specifi cally told about this if you’re asking us for money? And sec-ondly, whose bright idea was this anyway?”

The Republican chairman of a House oversight subcommittee said his panel will be looking into the project, too.

“That is not what USAID should be doing,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform National Securi-ty Subcommittee.


BusinessAND

ECHNOLOGYTAmazon unveils streaming media device

Amazon wants to be the brain -- and the heart -- inside your big-

screen TV.On Wednesday the company in-

troduced a small black box called Amazon Fire TV that enables televi-sion sets to access Internet program-ming, including streaming shows from its Amazon Prime subscription service, and a giant library of video games. The device will cost $99 and will start shipping immediately.

With it, Amazon will compete head-on both with streaming gad-gets like Apple TV and console mak-ers like Microsoft and Sony.

All of these companies, in various ways and for various reasons, want to supplement -- and, over time, pos-sibly replace -- the set top boxes from cable and satellite companies that sit in most living rooms.

Amazon’s Fire TV has several unique features, including a remote control with a voice recognition search feature, so a user can speak the name of a show, actor or topic and fi nd that content.

“Voice is the next platform battle-ground,” the Forrester analyst James

McQuivey wrote on Twitter. He not-ed that Microsoft on Wednesday an-nounced its answer to Apple’s Siri and Google Now, a voice-activated assistant feature called Cortana.

Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos said Fire TV “has voice search that actually works.” In a promotion-al letter on the Amazon home page, he wrote, “The old way of search-ing with a TV remote -- scrolling and clicking one letter at a time on an al-phabet grid -- is painful. With Fire TV you simply speak the title, actor, or genre into the remote and you’re done.”

A remote with a microphone won’t be enough for Amazon to win the streaming device wars, though.

At a press event in Manhattan, Amazon differentiated Fire TV by reading snippets of negative user re-views of other streaming media gad-gets from Amazon.com. The com-plaints called out competitors like Google ( (maker of Chromecast), Mi-crosoft, Apple, Samsung and Vizio by name.

The company said it identifi ed three big issues that make streaming

devices “too frustrating:” inadequate search tools, sluggish performance and closed ecosystems of apps.

Peter Larsen, an Amazon vice presi-dent called Fire TV “tiny” and “incredi-bly powerful.”

One feature, called ASAP, predicts what TV episodes a user might watch next, and “queues them up so that they start instantly,” Larsen said.

Fire TV may help advance Amazon’s streaming TV ambitions. The compa-ny has started to introduce original shows, like “Alpha House” and “Be-tas,” and has spent handsome sums of money to secure exclusive rights to other shows, like past seasons of Fox’s “24.” But its streaming service is a frac-tion of the size of Netfl ix (NFLX)’s li-brary.

To underscore the point that Fire TV doesn’t just exist to support its Am-azon Prime service, the demonstration showed off non-Amazon programs like NBC’s “Chicago Fire.” “It’s the easi-est place to watch Netfl ix,” Larsen said pointedly.

The event also included a high-light reel for Amazon Studios’ origi-nal shows, including a second season

of “Alpha House,” which is in produc-tion now.

“Customers are loving these shows,” Larsen said.

Amazon highlighted Fire TV’s easy access to its children’s programming interface, called FreeTime, and music and photos.

In what amounts to an important move into gaming, Fire TV doubles as a casual gaming console; Amazon says it will have a library of thousands of games available to users, some free and others that exist as paid apps. Am-azon also announced a gaming con-troller that will sell for $39.99.

The company is investing in the game-making business through its Amazon Games Studio division. One game it previewed on Wednesday was a shooter called Sev Zero.

“We’ve heard from customers that they want more from the games they play on streaming media devices -- games that are rich, unique and im-mersive. Sev Zero is the fi rst step by Amazon Game Studios to address that challenge,” Mike Frazzini, the vice president of Amazon Games, said in a statement.

US reports solid job growth as winter’s grip loosensU.S. employers maintained a solid pace of hir-

ing for a second straight month in March, further evidence of resilience in an economy that had been held back by a brutally cold win-ter.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 192,000 jobs last month after rising 197,000 in February, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unem-ployment rate held at 6.7 percent, a tick above January’s fi ve-year low, as Americans fl ooded the labor market.

“This is a nice number, one of those Goldi-locks numbers that is decent but not so good that it gets fears going about interest rates or the economy growing too quickly,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Char-lottesville, Virginia.

U.S. stock index futures extended gains and yields on U.S. Treasury debt fell after the jobs data. The dollar slipped against a number of cur-rencies.

The smaller survey of households from which the unemployment rate is derived showed a surge in employment. That jump was met by a rise in the number of people entering the labor force, a show of confi dence in the jobs market.

The labor force participation rate, or the pro-portion of working-age Americans who have a

job or are looking for one rose to a six-month high of 63.2 percent from 63 percent in February.

The percentage of working-age Americans with a job, a broad gauge of labor market health, increased to 58.9 percent last month, the highest level since the summer of 2009.

In further bullish signs for the economy, the length of the workweek increased to 34.5 hours from an average of 34.2 hours in February. The payrolls count for January and February was re-vised to show 37,000 more job created during those months than previously reported.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected employment to increase 200,000 last month and the unemployment rate to fall one-tenth of a percentage point.

“They’re good. You’re quibbling over a pret-ty small differential. It looks like the party goes on,” said Rick Meckler, president of Liberty View Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

An unusually cold and snowy winter slammed the economy at the end of 2013 and the begin-ning of this year. Growth was further undercut by efforts by businesses to trim bloated invento-ries, the expiration of benefi ts for the long-term unemployed and cuts to food stamps.

But data ranging from manufacturing and ser-vices sector activity to automobile sales have sig-

naled strength in the economy as the fi rst quar-ter ended.

HIGHLY ACCOMMODATIVE POLICYThe steady pace of job gains should allow the

Federal Reserve to continue scaling back its mon-etary stimulus and keep overnight interest rates near zero for a while.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen has argued the central bank needs to maintain a highly accommodative monetary policy for some time to eliminate slack in the labor market.

The private sector accounted for all the em-ployment gains in March, with the government sector adding no jobs. The private sector has now recouped all the jobs lost during the recent re-cession.

Manufacturing payrolls fell 1,000, breaking seven months of gains. Factory job growth has been slowing since surging in November. But with auto sales accelerating sharply in March, hiring could rebound in the months ahead.

Construction employment increased by 19,000. It was the third consecutive month of job gains for the sector and occurred despite the housing market’s struggles to climb out of a soft patch. Average hourly earnings dipped by a cent in March.

BANK OF AMERICA NEAR CREDIT CARD DEAL WITH U.S. REGULATOR

Bank of America Corp is close to settling with a U.S. consumer

regulator over the sale of services sold as add-ons to credit cards, sources familiar with the talks said.

The second-largest U.S. bank said in an August securities fi ling that it had been in discussions with regulators to address concerns over the sale and marketing of cred-

it card debt cancellation products and identity theft protection ser-vices that it offered alongside its credit cards.

It added that it may be required to repay or provide other relief to consumers and also pay penalties to one or more regulators.

News of the potential settle-ment with the Consumer Finan-cial Protection Bureau was fi rst re-

ported by the Wall Street Journal, which also said Bank of America could pay more than $800 million to settle the allegations against it.

Spokesmen for Bank of Ameri-ca and the CFPB declined to com-ment.

In recent years, the CFPB has been cracking down on credit-card companies offering payment pro-tection, credit score tracking and

other add-on products. Since 2012, Capital One Financial Corp, Ameri-can Express Co, Discover Financial Services and JPMorgan Chase & Co all have paid fi nes to resolve allega-tions of unfair practices related to such products.

The CFPB is continuing to look at add-on products at other fi rms as well, one of the sources told Reu-ters.


BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

Anadarko Petroleum settles US-wide clean-up case for $5.15 billion

Energy company Anadarko Petroleum Corp agreed on Thursday to pay more than $5 billion to clean

up areas across the United States polluted by nucle-ar fuel, wood creosote and rocket fuel waste that caused cancer and other health problems.

The agreement resolves a long-running lawsuit against the Kerr-McGee energy and chemical com-pany, which Anadarko bought in 2006. The case was brought by a trust representing the U.S. gov-ernment, 11 state governments, Indian tribes and in-dividuals.

The trust was seeking cleanup costs at more than 2,000 sites nationwide. It was also seeking payment for claims from more than 8,000 peo-ple who said their exposure to Kerr-McGee’s wood treatment plants in Avoca, Pennsylvania and Man-ville, New Jersey caused cancer, which in some cas-es led to death.

“If you are responsible for 85 years of poisoning the earth, you are responsible for cleaning it up,” the U.S. Attorney for Manhattan, Preet Bharara, said at a news conference announcing the settlement.

Despite the size of the settlement, investors cheered, boosting Anadarko’s share price 14.5 per-cent to $99.02 per share. Analysts said the company was facing the possibility of having to pay a much higher price.

“This is a premier exploration company that has this dark cloud hanging over them and now its gone,” said Fadel Gheit, oil analyst at Oppenhemier.

Anadarko had argued the environmental liabili-ties belonged to Tronox Ltd, a paint and chemicals company that was spun off from Kerr-McGee. The sale of Tronox, which ultimately fell into bankrupt-cy, happened before Anadarko’s purchase.

In December, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Grop-per of New York said Kerr-McGee knew the spin-off would harm Tronox’s business by weighing it with heavy environmental liabilities. He said Anadarko should pay from $5.15 billion to more than $14 bil-lion in cleanup costs. Anadarko said after the rul-ing the liabilities should be as little as $850 million.

Tronox, which makes titanium dioxide used in paints, said in a statement that the accord means “the cleanup of the Kerr-McGee legacy environ-mental damages can begin and people injured by those actions can fi nally be compensated.”

RECORD SETTLEMENTAt one point Kerr-McGee gave Tronox control

of a nuclear fuel plant in Oklahoma, where activist worker Karen Silkwood had been employed years earlier. Meryl Streep portrayed her in the epony-mous 1983 fi lm about her fi ght to improve workers’ safety before her death in a car accident.

The settlement with Anadarko is the largest en-vironmental enforcement settlement ever by the Department of Justice, larger even than its plea agreement with BP over its massive 2010 Gulf oil spill, which resulted in $4 billion in criminal fi nes for the British company.

The lawsuits blamed Kerr-McGee’s use of coal tar creosote, which the Environmental Protection Agency has said is a probable cause of cancer. An-other troublesome operation was Kerr-McGee’s de-cades-old jet and rocket fuel manufacturing plant in Henderson, Nevada, where ammonium perchlo-rate, a primary fuel component, penetrated soil and then groundwater, causing potential harm to people in Nevada, California and Arizona.

Anadarko said in a statement that it would re-cord a net $550 million tax benefi t from the agree-ment.

“This settlement agreement with the Litigation Trust and the U.S. Government eliminates the un-certainty this dispute has created,” Anadarko Chief Executive Offi cer Al Walker said.

A Department of Justice source who asked not to be identifi ed said “Anadarko was not found to have done anything wrong.”

CLEAN-UPThe $5.15 billion settlement will fund a wide ar-

ray of projects, including $1.1 billion to address the perchlorate contamination in Nevada, the litiga-tion trust said in a statement.

The Navajo Nation will get about $1 billion to address radioactive contamination from Kerr-Mc-Gee’s decades-old uranium mining operation. An-other $1.1 billion will go toward cleanup at more than two dozen contaminated sites around the country.

Tronox used its Chapter 11 bankruptcy protec-tion case to shed the environmental liabilities it had inherited in the spinoff by assigning them to a litigation trust. It emerged from bankruptcy in 2011.

The trust in turn sued Anadarko and Kerr-Mc-Gee, arguing the spinoff was a fraudulent ploy by Kerr-McGee to offl oad its clean-up responsibilities and make itself a more valuable takeover target for Anadarko, and that it doomed Tronox by loading it up with too much liability.

U.S. Attorney Bharara said Kerr-McGee had tried to avoid the cleanup “through a corporate shell game.”

Mozilla CEO resigns, opposition to gay marriage drew fireMozilla Chief Executive Bren-

dan Eich has stepped down, the company said on Thursday, after an online dating service urged a boycott of the company’s web browser be-cause of a donation Eich made to op-ponents of gay marriage.

The software company came un-der fi re for appointing Eich as CEO last month. In 2008, he gave money to oppose the legalization of gay mar-riage in California, a hot-button issue especially at a company that boasts about its policy of inclusiveness and diversity.

“We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act,” wrote Mozilla Exec-utive Chairwoman Mitchell Baker

in a blog post. “We didn’t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We’re sorry.”

The next step for Mozilla’s leader-ship “is still being discussed,” she add-

ed, with more information to come next week.

While gay activists applauded the move, many in the technology com-munity lamented the departure of Eich, who invented the programming language Javascript and co-founded Mozilla.

“Brendan Eich is a good friend of 20 years, and has made a profound contribution to the Web and to the entire world,” venture capitalist Marc Andreessen tweeted.

Eich donated $1,000 in 2008 in support of California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state until it was struck down by the Supreme Court in June.

His resignation came days after OkCupid.com, the popular online dat-ing site, called for a boycott of Mozil-la Firefox to protest the world’s No. 2 Web browser naming a gay marriage opponent as chief executive.

On Monday, OkCupid sent a mes-sage to visitors who accessed the website through Firefox, suggesting they use browsers such as Microsoft Corp’s Internet Explorer or Google Inc’s Chrome.

“Mozilla’s new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples,” the message said. “We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access Ok-Cupid.”

SeaWorld attendance drops 13% amid controversy over killer whales

Amid ongoing controversy over its killer whale shows, SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. report-

ed a 13% drop in attendance for the fi rst three months of the year.

The attendance numbers were included in a notice to the Securities and Exchange Commis-sion that SeaWorld was buying 1.75 million of its own shares from private equity fi rm Blackstone Group.

The notice said attendance for the quarter that ended March 31 dropped to about 3.05 mil-lion visitors from 3.5 million in the same period in 2013.

A SeaWorld spokesman declined to comment but pointed to previous fi nancial reports that showed the company expects attendance num-bers to change with the shift of holidays in the calendar. Easter, for example, took place in the fi rst quarter of 2013, but in 2014 the holiday falls in the second quarter.

The Orlando theme park company has been under scrutiny by animal rights activists since

the release last year of a documentary fi lm, “Blackfi sh,” that suggests the parks mistreat their killer whales.

But during a conference call last month to re-port 2013 fi nancial results, SeaWorld offi cials re-jected suggestions that the company is suffering

because of a backlash from the fi lm.For the year, attendance at the company’s 11

parks dropped 4.1% to 24.4 million, but the de-cline was offset by higher admission prices and greater in-park spending. SeaWorld offi cials in-stead attributed the attendance drop to a rise in theme park ticket prices last year.

New York-based Blackstone bought SeaWorld Entertainment from Anheuser-Busch InBev for $2.3 billion in 2009. Blackstone launched an ini-tial public offering of the company last year.

The repurchase of SeaWorld shares coincides with the sale by Blackstone of 15 million shares.

Blackstone’s sale of SeaWorld shares this week had “absolutely nothing to do” with the Black-fi sh controversy, said Peter Rose, senior manag-ing director for Blackstone.

He said Blackstone’s long-term plan has been to take SeaWorld public, divest itself from the theme park company and “return money to our investors.”

“It’s part of our regular business,” Rose added.

SeaWorld reported attendance for the quarter that ended March 31 dropped to about 3.05 million visitors

from 3.5 million in the same period in 2013

Outgoing Mozilla chief executive Brendan Eich


BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

CANADA SWINGS TO TRADE SURPLUS ON EXPORT SURGE

OTTAWA - Canada reported a small trade surplus, its fi rst in fi ve months,

in February as exports bounced to their highest since before the 2008 recession, welcome news for the central bank but likely not enough for it to declare a full-blown export recovery.

Statistics Canada reported a surplus of C$290 million ($264 million) for Feb-ruary on Thursday, against forecasts for a C$200 million surplus. In January the trade defi cit was C$337 million.

The report was the latest piece of upbeat data on the Canadian economy following a weak start to the year, but analysts still see net exports making a very small contribution to economic growth in the fi rst quarter.

“Despite the decent rebound in ex-ports and only small increase in im-ports, it looks as though trade will struggle to add to growth in the fi rst quarter,” Benjamin Reitzes, senior econ-

omist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note to clients.

Imports jumped 2.1 percent in the month to a record high of C$42.06 bil-lion on increases in shipments of ener-gy products, autos, and machinery and equipment.

But they were overshadowed by a 3.6 percent surge in exports to C$42.35 billion on shipments of motor vehicles and parts, and crude oil and bitumen.

The last time exports were above that level was in August 2008, follow-ing a historical peak in July of that year.

Overall exports in February in-creased 2.2 percent in volume and pric-es rose 1.4 percent.

Exports to the United States, by far Canada’s biggest market, shot up 4.4 percent in February and were also at the highest level since July 2008.

The gains may refl ect the end of weather-related interruptions and

weakness in the Canadian dollar rath-er than a stronger trend.

“There is a lot of uncertainty here by way of the mixture of one-offs (weather disruptions on production, strikes etc) versus what is going on in the underly-ing trade picture,” said Derek Holt and Dov Zigler, economists at Scotiabank Economics, in a note to clients.

“So the Bank of Canada will remain very cautious on the trade sector of the economy when it releases the April Monetary Policy Report,” they said, re-ferring to the bank’s quarterly forecasts scheduled for April 16.

Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz has called the country’s export performance “disappointing” as it has lagged a recovery in other parts of the economy. He has noted that exports have not reacted to increased U.S. de-mand the same way they have after pre-vious recessions.

On March 18, Poloz said he’d seen no evidence yet that a recent deprecia-tion of the Canadian dollar was having any effect on the trade sector. He said that in any case U.S. economic growth would have a bigger infl uence on trade than the exchange rate.

The Canadian dollar, which has fallen 7 percent against the U.S. dol-lar since Poloz adopted a more dovish stance on monetary policy last October, strengthened modestly on Thursday af-ter the trade data.

The Canadian dollar was at C$1.1022 to the greenback, or 90.73 U.S. cents, fi rmer than Wednesday’s close of C$1.1035, or 90.62 U.S. cents.

February’s 9.7 percent increase in vehicles and parts shipments, which accounted for much of the ex-port growth, only partially made up for the 11.3 percent drop in January due to extended plant shutdowns in Canada and the United States, Stats-can said.

Senators accuse GM of coverup in delayed ignition-switch recall

WASHINGTON -- Senators aggressively ques-tioned General Motors Co. Chief Executive

Mary Barra on Wednesday about the years of de-lays in recalling vehicles with faulty ignition switch-es, accusing the company of a coverup to hide the problem that caused at least 13 fatal accidents.

“I think it’s pretty much incontrovertible that GM knew about this safety defect, failed to correct it ... and then concealed it from the courts and the United States,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Barra during a hearing by a Senate Commerce subcommittee.

The panel’s chairwoman, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), referred to a “culture of coverup.”

And Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said that revela-tions that GM redesigned the switch in 2006 but kept the same part number as the faulty switch that was installed in millions of vehicles “strikes me as deception.”

Barra has called the failure to identify the rede-signed switch as a new part was “unacceptable.”

Ayotte said: “I think it goes beyond unacceptable. I believe this is criminal.”

The Justice Department has started a criminal in-vestigation into whether GM purposely withheld information about the faulty ignition switch.

Internal documents show the company knew

about problems with the switch for at least a de-cade, but recalls did not begin until February.

GM has recalled about 2.6 million vehicles glob-ally so far to replace the switch, which unintention-ally can turn off the vehicle, disabling the power steering and airbags.

[Updated, 11 a.m. PDT April 2: In a statement re-leased by GM after the hearing, Barra said the issues raised at the hearing were “tough but fair.”

“I appreciate the intense interest by the senators to fully understand what happened and why,” she said. “I am going to accomplish exactly that, and we will keep Congress informed.”]

Testifying on Capitol Hill for the second straight day, Barra reiterated she wanted to know if GM en-gineers covered up the problems or were just in-competent. She said a recently launched internal investigation by former U.S. Atty. Anton “Tony” Va-lukas would help determine that.

“He has the free rein to go where the facts take him, regardless of outcome,” Barra told senators. “The facts will be the facts. Once they are in, my leadership team and I will do what’s necessary to in-sure this doesn’t happen again.”

But senators criticized Barra for defl ecting ques-tions about the problem by saying she needed to wait for the completion of the internal investigation.

And some said they were surprised Barra, who was a top GM executive for years before becoming CEO in January, wasn’t aware of the ignition switch issue until late last year.

“You’re a really important person to this compa-ny. Something is very strange that such a top em-ployee would know nothing,” said Sen. Barbara Box-er (D-Calif.).

“You don’t know anything about anything,” Box-er later added.

McCaskill said GM withheld information about the defect from a private attorney investigating a fa-tal 2005 accident involving a recalled GM model, the Chevrolet Cobalt.

And she criticized Barra for not fi ring the GM em-ployee, Ray DeGiorgio, who signed a 2006 memo re-designing the ignition switch even though he swore during a legal deposition that he knew nothing about the change.

“It is hard for me to imagine you would want him anywhere near engineering anything at Gen-eral Motors under these circumstances,” said Mc-Caskill, a former prosecutor.

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi -hy-gm-recall-marry-barra-senate-

20140402,0,3943604.story#ixzz2xsmVfQGn

Wider US trade deficit to weigh on first-quarter GDPThe U.S. trade defi cit unexpectedly

widened in February as exports hit a fi ve-month low, suggesting fi rst-quarter growth could be much weaker than ini-tially anticipated.

Despite the trade setback, the econo-my remains on track to regain momen-tum as the year progresses. Other data on Thursday showed activity in the services sector accelerating in March after being hampered by unusually cold weather.

“At this point, it appears that growth will struggle to top one percent” in the fi rst quarter, said Peter D’Antonio, an economist at Citigroup in New York.

The Commerce Department said the defi cit on the trade balance increased 7.7 percent to $42.3 billion, the largest since September last year. The infl ation-ad-justed gap widened to $50.1 billion from $48.5 billion in January.

Economists, who had expected the defi cit to narrow to $38.5 billion, said trade could slice off as much as half a per-centage point from fi rst-quarter gross do-mestic product. It added about a percent-age point to fourth quarter GDP.

First-quarter growth estimates, al-ready on the low side were marked down. RBS slashed its fi rst-quarter GDP estimate to an annualized rate of 0.6 per-cent from 1.2 percent.

Barclays and Morgan Stanley cut their estimates by three-tenths to a 1.9 percent and 1.2 percent rate, respectively.

The economy grew at a 2.6 percent pace in the fi nal three months of 2013. The economy has faced a series of head-winds, ranging from the unseasonably cold temperatures to businesses placing fewer orders with manufacturers after rapidly stocking up their warehouses in the second half of last year.

Growth has also been clipped by the end of long-term unemployment bene-fi ts and cuts to food stamps.

U.S. Treasury debt prices were trad-ing higher on the mixed economic re-ports, while stocks on Wall Street were marginally lower. The dollar rose against the euro after the European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold and pledged to use unconventional measures if need-ed to fi ght low infl ation.

WEAK EXPORTSIn February, exports fell 1.1 percent to

$190.4 billion, the lowest level since Sep-tember. Exports dropped in nearly all cat-egories, with the largest decline in indus-trial supplies and materials.

While exports to China tumbled 4.6 percent, a 19.5 percent plunge in imports narrowed the politically sensitive U.S.

trade defi cit with the world’s second-larg-est economy to its smallest level since March 2013.

Some of the drop in imports was like-ly due to the Chinese New Year holiday. Though overall imports rose 0.4 percent, petroleum imports were the lowest in a year.

Declining petroleum imports as a do-mestic energy production boom reduc-es the nation’s dependency on foreign oil helped to shrink the trade defi cit last year. The current account defi cit hit a 14-year low in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Economists were optimistic of a pick-up in exports, citing a strong rise in the export orders component in the Insti-tute for Supply Management’s March manufacturing survey.

“Some of the February weakness probably refl ects weather-related trans-port delays,” said Ted Wieseman, an econ-omist at Morgan Stanley in New York.

In a second report, the Institute for Supply Management said its services sector index rose to 53.1 in March from a reading of 51.6 in February, which was the lowest since February 2010.

A gauge of new orders rose for a third straight month and employment in the vast services sector rebounded after con-tracting in February.

“It adds support to the view that ac-tivity has been held back by unusually severe winter weather,” said John Ry-ding, chief economist at RDQ Econom-ics in New York. “This report suggests that economic activity picked up in March.”

While a third report showed an in-crease in the number of Americans fi l-ing new claims for unemployment bene-fi ts last week, the underlying trend in the data continued to point to some strength in the labor market.

Initial claims for state unemploy-ment benefi ts increased 16,000 to a sea-sonally adjusted 326,000, the Labor De-partment said. The four-week moving average for new claims, which irons out week-to-week volatility, hovered near six-month lows.

Claims have been generally stable in March, supporting expectations of an acceleration in job growth during the month.

The government’s closely watched employment report on Friday is expect-ed to show nonfarm payrolls increased by 200,000 jobs last month after rising 175,000 in February, according to a Re-uters survey of economists. The unem-ployment rate is seen falling one-tenth of a percentage point to 6.6 percent.


LOCAL NEWSCARIBBEAN SPORTS

GOVERNOR BECKINGHAM IS PATRON OF TCI CRICKET ASSOCIATION

Turks and Caicos Islands Governor Peter Beckingham has been named patron of the

Turks and Caicos Islands Cricket Association. In a brief meeting held recently, the Governor was introduced to the executive members and discussed his passion for the Sport, along with his willingness to assist wherever possible, hopefully starting with the introduction of a Governor’s Cup and Governor’s Eleven for the Senior Men’s competition scheduled to commence later this month. This will coincide with the similar 30 overs competition being held in Providenciales, with

7 teams participating. The Provo Senior Men’s League will include the following teams: Guyana Jaguars, Police, Beaches T&C, JamTurks, Quality, Kischo and TCI Rugby, games to be played on Saturdays and Sundays. The Governor also shared his playing experience in England, Australia and offered his support to the Association in their work to get more young people playing cricket, especially coming from India, where the game is played everywhere and anytime available. The President, Colin Sterling, presented the National Plan which will be geared towards

Youth and Female Development this year with the foundation currently being laid with the facilities being placed in various schools across the Turks & Caicos. In addition, coaching/ teaching assistance will be provided to schools as readily available with volunteers from the Association. The initial responses have been very positive and programmes are being arranged for schools such as BWIC, Enid Capron, Mills Institute, Ashcroft School, Provo Primary and Clement Howell allowing their students to be introduced to and participate in the sport. Interest at school level is essential to the long term growth of the sport and Association President Colin Sterling has some interesting ideas to generate a love of the game for young people. “Our intention is to hold regular competitions and tournaments between schools at primary and senior level. The games will be small sided and will allow every player a chance to bat and bowl so it will be more fun for everyone,” Sterling said. He added “we want to show young people how exciting and inclusive cricket can be. Hopefully they will enjoy playing and bring along their friends and families.” It is hoped that by the end of April 2014 at least 12 schools in Providenciales as well as schools in South Caicos, North / Middle Caicos and Grand Turk will have active programmes throughout the year. For further information contact the Cricket Association at [email protected] or visit the TCICA website – www.tcicricket.com or Facebook page - TCI Cricket.

President of the Turks and Caicos Islands Cricket Association Colin Sterling (third from right) welcomes Governor Peter Beckingham on board the association as

patron, while other members of the executive share in the moment.

TCIFA TO HOST CONCACAF GRASSROOTS WORKSHOP

The Turks & Caicos Islands Football Association (TCIFA) will be hosting a CONCACAF Grassroots workshop in early April 2014. The TCIFA, through CONCACAF, is putting on this initiative in the Turks & Caicos Islands to further strengthen the TCIFA’s youth development programmes, whilst educating its stakeholders. The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, commonly known as CONCACAF, is the continental governing body for association football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, to which the TCIFA is a member. The main objective of the Grassroots program is to bring the game of football directly to the children in the CONCACAF region. CONCACAF believes that one of the most effective ways to attract future football players is by giving them the opportunity to play football in their own environment. The concept being that you cannot have a strong house without a solid foundation. To this regard, the Grassroots program will focus on girls and boys between the ages of six (6) and 12 years of age, as well as everyone involved in the children’s education; be they parents, schools, coaches, and government.

Established since March 2013, the CONCACAF Grassroots program has been hosted in 21 Member Associations such as St. Kitts& Nevis, St. Lucia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Trinidad & Tobago to name but a few. Of the program, Sonia Bien-Aime TCIFA’s Secretary General says: “The TCIFA is pleased

important programmes offered by CONCACAF. This programme will no doubt provide a foundation for our game, whilst providing coaching and an opportunity for all to experience a socially inclusive environment.” Some of the topics that will be covered in the course are role of educator, principals of coaching and training, embracing diversity, age-appropriate training objectives and methodology, session planning and Grassroots Festival planning and set up. Lenny Lake, CONCACAF Senior Instructor; Heather Dyche, CONCACAF Instructor; and Jonathan Martinez, Program Administrator, will facilitate the program, which will take place 10th – 12th April 2014 at the TCIFA National Academy on Venetian Road, Provo.

The Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association

business of football development throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands. The TCIFA has been in operation since 1996, and a member of FIFA, since 1998.

Sonia Bien-Aime


SportsCARIBBEAN

Another Caribbean athlete could star for Great Britain at Rio Olympics

It does not normally take much for fans of British athletics to get very ex-

cited about an emerging prospect, but this time it seems the hype could well amount to something.

Remember the name: Zharnel Hughes.

The latest Caribbean sprinting sen-sation, who has already been brand-ed the ‘new Usain Bolt’, is making headlines after he won the coveted 100m at the Jamaican Inter-Second-ary Schools Boys and Girls Athletics Championships.

As if the fact that he trains with Bolt and Yohan Blake - whose 100m championship record of 10.21 seconds he shattered with his winning time of 10.12s - was not enough already to get the prodigiously talented 18-year-old’s name on the map.

He was born and raised on the Carib-bean island of Anguilla but now studies in Jamaica and trains alongside Bolt and Blake under coach Glen Mills, whose group continues to dominate world ath-letics.

It is not just his sensational raw abil-ity that has drawn comparisons to Bolt, however: his lanky, 6ft 3in frame makes

him even loosely resemble the Jamaican sprint legend in terms of physique on the track.

So why is all this of interest to Brit-ish fans, beyond seeing a new lightning bolt on the world scene?

Because Anguilla is a British overseas territory, Hughes is a full British pass-port holder and is therefore eligible to compete under the Union Flag with im-mediate effect. It’s as simple as that.

Although Anguilla, which has a population of 13,000, can compete in-dependently at the World Champion-

ships and the Commonwealth Games, it does not have its own Olympic com-mittee and cannot therefore send a team to the Olympic Games.

As such, competing for Britain could well be Hughes’s only realistic chance of competing at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

And would he be able to serious-ly compete in two years’ time? A 10.12s time in the 100m and 20.32 sec in the semi-fi nals of the 200m despite easing down markedly in the fi nal 10m should leave no one in any doubt, really.

The prospect of representing the UK is certainly on Hughes’ mind, as he pre-pares to compete at the 200m at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

“It is something I always think about,” commented Hughes. “I think that (competing for Great Britain) would be the best choice.

“It is something I need to think about before I jump to conclusions and some-thing I have to talk to my coaches about.

“I think it would be a great experi-ence to represent Great Britain at an Olympics, at the same time represent-ing Anguilla.”

The Olympic champions often share some words of wisdom with Hughes

and the young sprinter relishes every second being around such champions.

“They give me a pep talk at training,” said the teenager.

“Being alongside them, seeing them fi ghting through the programme when it is very tough - they don’t give up. Both of them encourage me.”

Hughes then pauses and clears his throat before giving his best Bolt im-pression: “’Big man, you are doing great, man, you are doing great work.’”

He added: “Blake teases me. At the same time, he is motivating me. He says ‘just stay focused, don’t get panicked by anybody, just go out and do your thing’.”

If Hughes wants to perform on the biggest stage, he may opt to emulate Shara Proctor (pictured, below), the Brit-ish record long jumper, who decided to transfer her allegiance from Anguilla to Team GB in 2010.

British fans can enjoy watching the starlet perform at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as he represents his home country - and who knows, it may yet pave the way for Hughes to pull on a GB vest in time to make history in Rio?

It will be fun to discover what is to follow, either way.

FIFA RESPONSE TO JACK WARNER ALLEGATIONS A ‘DISGRACE’

Fifa’s terse response to the latest allegations of corrup-tion aimed at former members of its executive com-

mittee has been condemned as a “disgrace”. Football’s world governing body did not even request any evidence of wrongdoing be immediately submitted to its ongoing investigation into the awarding of the 2022 World Cup fi -nals in Qatar or suggest it would actively seek its inclusion.

The controversy over the decision to award the event to Qatar has been reignited by claims a company owned by Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Qatari who sat on Fifa’s ExCo, paid $1.2m to Jack Warner, a fellow Fifa vice-pres-ident, after the Gulf state emerged as shock winners of the vote.

An investigation into previous allegations of impro-priety around the bid is being conducted by Michael Gar-cia, a former US attorney appointed Fifa’s independent ethics prosecutor. His report is expected later this year.

In response to further allegations, Fifa released a brief statement. It read: “Fifa has no comment to make on this matter. In principle, any evidence of potential wrongdoing can be submitted to the investigatory cham-ber of the independent ethics committee of Fifa for fur-ther investigation.”

It prompted a withering response from Damien Col-lins MP, an infl uential member of the House of Com-mons Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport and a long-time campaigner for reforming Fifa.

“This response from Fifa is a disgrace, but shows why there is no public confi dence in their desire or ability to take these allegations of corruption seriously,” said Collins, who used Parliamentary privilege in 2011 to claim two Fifa members had been paid to vote for Qa-tar. “These allegations suggest the bidding process for the 2022 World Cup may have been compromised by the ac-

tions of some of the most senior people in world foot-ball. Should this be proven, they must state what steps they will take to look again at the decision to award the World Cup to Qatar.”

Sepp Blatter, Fifa’s president, has maintained the tournament cannot be moved from Qatar.

The latest allegations are that one of Warner’s compa-nies was paid $1.2m by Bin Hammam’s fi rm Kemco in 2011 for work carried out between 2005 and 2010, the year Qa-tar won the vote. There were also payments of $750,000 made to Warner’s sons. The transactions were processed via New York and are being investigated by the FBI, ac-cording to The Daily Telegraph. The paper also says the FBI is investigating Warner’s links to the Qatar bid.

A statement from the 2022 Qatari World Cup organis-ing committee said: “The 2022 bid committee strictly ad-hered to Fifa’s regulations. [We] are unaware of any alle-gations surrounding business dealings between private individuals.”

West Indies captain Sammy defends wait-and-watch approachWas it the rain? Or was it Chris Gay-

le and Marlon Samuels? West In-dies needed 81 to win from 37 balls with six wickets remaining when a hailstorm ended the fi rst semi-fi nal of the World T20, leaving Sri Lanka winners by 27 runs by the Duckworth-Lewis method. Gayle made 3 off 13, and Samuels was un-beaten on 18 off 29 when the rain came down.

Darren Sammy said it was disap-pointing to go out under the rain rule, and refused to answer when he was asked whether West Indies could af-ford Gayle and Samuels taking as much time as they did. When he was asked a related question about the high num-ber of dot balls faced by Gayle and Sam-uels, Sammy admitted that both had not been able to deliver in this tournament, but said that both had performed in the past.

“When you lose a cricket game, peo-ple tend to point out all different ar-eas where that should have happened, this should have happened,” Sammy said. “But I am sure if you look at all the

games we have played, there are more than 27 dots [25, between Gayle and Samuels].

“Probably 50-something dots. It’s not ideal for Twenty20 but we’ve developed a formula in which that works for us. We know we are a boundary-hitting team. We know we have got to improve in ro-tating the strike but if you look at the way Gayle plays, he normally gives him-self some time to get used to the wick-et and catch up in the end. But the thing is, in this tournament he has not carried.

“Marlon has not been batting well for us. It is one area - we always tell him, whatever rate you walk into, you try to keep it at that or increase it. Yes, we could say Marlon has not had the best of tournaments but he is one of our better batsmen and in the last World Cup (in 2012), he was the star for us. People have a few dips in form.”

West Indies began with 17 runs off the opening over but scored only 13 off the next fi ve of the fi elding restrictions. Sammy and Dwayne Bravo had cata-pulted them home against Australia in

a tense chase and also nearly doubled the score against Pakistan in the last fi ve overs. The captain pointed to that and said West Indies could have pulled it off again.

“Gayle and [Dwayne] Smith have a very clear idea of how they want to go and play. The fi rst over, we were off to a fl yer but they brought on the offspin-ner (Sachithra Senanayake) and (Lasith) Malinga who bowled really well at Gay-le and Smith. We were again behind the eight-ball and just when Bravo looked like picking it up like he did in the last game, he got out but we still had the be-lief that we could get 12 runs an over in the last six. I guess we have been doing that in this tournament. It is just disap-pointing but there is nothing we could do about it.”

Sammy praised Sri Lanka for their display and said the rain gods had inter-vened because they wanted Kumar San-gakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, both of whom will be retiring from T20 inter-nationals at the end of the tournament, to win a world limited-overs title after

four losses in fi nals in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012.

“Disappointing to come out of the tournament like this but credit to Sri Lanka. They won the toss, batted fi rst. Probably they knew that some (bad) weather was around. But we have had a good run in this tournament, it is just sad that we got knocked out by the D/L system. But that’s life. You move on and we will start planning for the next T20 World Cup.

“I took it like ‘you know what, we have won a World Cup’. We are a praying team, we know God normally answers our prayers but today, I guess two gen-tlemen who have played for Sri Lanka, given a lot not only to Sri Lanka cricket but cricket on the whole, I guess the Al-mighty wants them to leave on a high, so I guess they have one more game to try and win a World Cup and leave on a high. Probably that’s the reason why God put a hand in this match. I am sure I will have another shot at playing the T20 World Cup and we are looking forward to winning it again in the near future.”

Zharnel Hughes is regarded as the new Usain Bolt


SportsW RLD

Serena Williams wins Sony Open titleKEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- The cele-

bration began with a series of happy hops that propelled Sere-na Williams across the court. Soon she was twirling, waving, laughing and mugging for the cameras -- a fa-miliar ritual by a perennial cham-pion.

Williams won a record seventh Key Biscayne title Saturday when she overcame a slow start and a set point to beat Li Na 7-5, 6-1 at the Sony Open. She surpassed the tournament record of six titles she shared with Andre Agassi. “I was ac-tually super excited at the end,” Wil-liams said, “because I remember sit-ting here last year trying to get to six, thinking, ‘OK, obviously I want seven, but I don’t want to put the pressure on myself to get to seven.’ Obviously I wanted to have the most titles here.”

The No. 1-ranked Williams looked tense at the outset and served poorly, and she was broken twice to fall be-hind 5-2.

“At that moment I felt like I had nothing to lose,” Williams said. “I just was able to relax. Whenever I relax, I enjoy myself.”

Li held a set point serving at 5-4, but Williams erased it with a back-hand winner.

Williams needed another 21 min-utes to pull out the set. The fi nal game of the set went to deuce six times, but she fi nally won it with a booming backhand that Li couldn’t handle.

Williams ran to her chair with a satisfi ed scream, her left fi st leading the way. She dominated from there, sweeping the fi nal fi ve games.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion has more titles at Key Biscayne than at any other tournament. She’s the fourth woman in the Open era to win an event at least seven times.

“I think we’re going to have to re-name this tournament,” former top-fi ve player Mary Joe Fernandez said during the trophy ceremony.

Both fi nalists are 32, and they shared lots of smiles while holding their trophies. Li explained: “We were talking about, ‘For sure before the match they say, “Oh, two old wom-en.”’”

They’re close in age, but it’s a com-mentary on the yawning gap between Williams and the rest of the women’s tour that, even while at less than her

best, she won in straight sets against the No. 2-ranked player. She made only 44 percent of her fi rst serves and converted just fi ve of 17 break-point chances.

Even so, Williams extended her winning streak against top-10 oppo-nents to 15 matches. She beat Li for the 10th time in a row since 2009.

“When you’re going up against the top players, for me, I have to be ready because they are the best in the world, the whole planet,” Williams said. “I enjoy playing people that are ranked like that, because I feel like I can eventually bring out the best in me.”

Williams lives 90 minutes up I-95 from Key Biscayne and considers it her home event. She said the fans pro-vided a boost when she fell behind.

“It was like, ‘Oh my gosh, if I can just hang in here and just try to enjoy myself,” she said. “Honestly the crowd pulled me through. I heard some fans go, ‘Go Serena.’”

Williams has played in the tourna-ment 14 times and also won the fi nal in 2002-04, 2007-08 and 2013. She has celebrated so many titles she couldn’t remember the fi rst one.

“Who was it against?” she said. “Venus?”

Actually, she lost fi nals to her sister Venus in 1999, and to Victoria Azaren-ka in 2009. She beat Jennifer Capiati for her fi rst two Key Biscayne titles, and the others came against Elena De-mentieva, Justine Henin, Jelena Jan-kovic and Maria Sharapova.

Li, who won the Australian Open in January, was at the top of her game for most of the fi rst set. Even so, she couldn’t close it out.

“Only one mistake: I think I should go party last night,” Li said with a smile.

Williams committed six unforced errors in the opening game, and it took her 16 minutes to win a game. She double-faulted to fall behind 5-2, but then won 11 of the fi nal 12 games, a surge worthy of a champion.

Tiger Woods has back surgery, to skip MastersTiger Woods will miss the Masters after undergo-

ing back surgery earlier this week for a pinched nerve that has been hurting him for several months, the world’s No. 1 player said Tuesday on his website.

It will be the fi rst time in 20 years that Woods will not play in the event. The microdiscectomy was performed Monday by neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Rich in Park City, Utah. The statement said Woods will begin “intensive rehabilitation and soft-tissue treatment” within a week, and the goal is for him to return to competition “sometime this summer.” “After attempting to get ready for the Masters, and failing to make the necessary progress, I decided, in consultation with my doctors, to have this proce-dure done,” the 38-year-old Woods said in the state-ment.

“I’d like to express my disappointment to the Au-gusta National membership, staff, volunteers and patrons that I will not be at the Masters. It’s a week that’s very special to me. It also looks like I’ll be forced to miss several upcoming tournaments to fo-cus on my rehabilitation and getting healthy.”

It is not yet clear whether Woods will return in time for the U.S. Open (at Pinehurst No. 2 on June 12-15) or the Open Championship (at Royal Liverpool on July 17-20).

“It’s tough right now, but I’m absolutely optimis-tic about the future,” Woods said in the statement. “There are a couple [of] records by two outstanding individuals and players that I hope one day to break. As I’ve said many times, Sam [Snead] and Jack [Nick-laus] reached their milestones over an entire career. I plan to have a lot of years left in mine.”

ESPN injury analyst Stephania Bell said that “there is a very good return rate following this type of procedure.”

“Dr. (Robert) Watkins, who is known for treating many athlete for spine conditions out in Los Ange-les, actually published a study where they looked at 80 professional athletes, across all sports including golfers -- 90 percent (were) able to return to their pri-or level of sport.”

Bell estimated that the average recovery time for surgery like Woods had is 4 1/2 months. Tiger was gracious in keeping us updated of his condition and

making us aware of his decision,” Masters chairman Billy Payne said in a statement. “We wholeheartedly offered our best wishes for his immediate and long-term recovery. ... He is one of our most decorated champions and we look forward to his healthy re-turn in 2015 and beyond.”

Woods has been suffering from back spasms that were an issue during competition last fall and resur-faced again last month at the Honda Classic, where he withdrew during the fi nal round.

He played the following week at the WGC-Cadil-lac Championship, where he acknowledged that his back bothered him during the tournament and es-pecially during the fi nal round, in which he shot 78 -- his highest fi nal-round score as a pro.

On March 18, two days prior to the Arnold Palm-er Invitational, Woods announced on his website that he would not play in that tournament, which he has won eight times, as his back problems had yet to subside.

On March 24, Woods said it was “too soon” to make a call on the Masters and that “was the frus-trating thing about this.”

Woods has played in every Masters since 1995, when he was an amateur. The following year, he missed his only cut at Augusta National just a few months prior to turning pro.

In 1997, in his fi rst major championship as a pro,

Woods won the Masters by a record 12 shots, the fi rst of his 14 major titles. He went on to win the Masters in 2001, ‘02 (only the fourth to defend his ti-tle at Augusta National) and ‘05.

Woods is still four majors shy in his quest to tie Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major titles. Only two players have won four or more majors after their 38th birthday -- Ben Hogan (5) and Nicklaus (4).

Since his last victory at Augusta, Woods has sev-en top-10 fi nishes in eight appearances and six top-5s, including last year, when he tied for fourth, four strokes behind winner Adam Scott.

As recently as a few months ago, Woods was very much anticipating this year’s major championship venues. He has won six of his 14 majors on this year’s tournament courses -- four at Augusta, one each at Royal Liverpool and Valhalla -- and has top-3 fi nish-es in the two U.S. Opens played at Pinehurst. “I’ve won at every one except Pinehurst,” Woods said at his World Challenge event in December. “And I’m trending in the right way. I’ve fi nished second, third ... you get the picture, right? OK. So I’m looking for-ward to the major championships. They have set up well for me over the years, and I look forward to it.”

That week, Woods lost in a playoff to Zach John-son and has not been the same since. After a six-week break, Woods returned in January at Torrey Pines, a venue where he had won eight times, shot a third-round 79, missed the secondary cut and tied for 80th.

The following week, he tied for 41st in Dubai, his worst showing in that tournament.

After three weeks off, Woods returned to the PGA Tour at the Honda Classic and seemingly had no back issues until prior to the fi nal round, after a third-round 65. He withdrew after 13 holes on Sun-day.

Following a few days of rest and rehab, he man-aged to get into contention at Doral despite an opening-round 76. After a third-round 66, he again was limited by back problems.

The Masters begins April 10, and this will com-plete a different kind of slam for Woods. He now will have missed all four majors as a pro due to in-jury.

Tiger Woods

Serena Williams


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VOLUME 10 ISSUE 11

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