Sex talk in Court
[Trinidad Express] – Details of a one-time secret love affair between Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies cricketer Lendl Simmons and account executive Therese Ho were revealed at the High Court in Port of Spain yesterday, during a trial in which Simmons is being sued by the woman for distributing intimate photos of her.
The breach of confidence lawsuit came up for hearing before Justice Frank Seepersad in the Fourth Civil Court, when the details of what had transpired leading to their break-up were made public during the testimony of both parties.
The woman is contending that Simmons had contravened the tort of breach of confidence, which is a common law tort that protects confidential information that is conveyed to another in confidence.
US Coast Guard seize $41M in drugs in Caribbean Sea
[Associated Press] – The United States Coast Guard says it seized about $41 million worth of cocaine and marijuana during two recent operations in the Caribbean Sea.
On Tuesday morning, officials will offload about 1,100 kilograms of cocaine and 4,420 pounds of marijuana at the Coast Guard Station Miami Beach.
The drugs were seized during operations to stop the flow of illegal drugs from South America.
In one case, a Coast Guard aircraft located a suspicious go-fast boat near the Dominican Republic on September 20. The agency’s cutter Richard Dixon responded and seized the vessel after suspects tossed four packages into the water. Multiple packages were also found on board. The Coast Guard recovered 49 bales of marijuana.
The suspected smugglers have been transferred to US authorities for prosecution.
CTO wants open skies policy in the Caribbean
[CMC] – Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Hugh Riley has urged regional authorities to institute an Open Skies policy and wherever possible to eliminate secondary screening at Caribbean airports.
Riley said that while an Open Skies policy would allow regional carriers to take unlimited flights to all Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states and encourage the growth of competition among carriers, elimination of secondary screening would encourage greater demand for intra-regional travel.
He has also called for improved interline arrangements for a “vastly enhanced” baggage transfer and improved passenger experience.
Riley, who spoke at the recent airline route development forum, “World Routes 2015” in Durban, also made a plea for collaboration in a number of areas, including intelligence sharing with the use of the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS), and security processing.
“Cooperation in these areas will encourage and facilitate greater investment by airlines into and across the Caribbean region. Better connectivity means greater economic benefits.”
Citing the post-September 11 television campaign in the United States, “Life Needs the Caribbean” and the 2007 Cricket World Cup as examples, Riley said the Caribbean has shown its ability to put effective regional strategies in place and can do the same to grow travel into and throughout the region.
“This type of cooperation and collaboration needs to be the standard practice in serving the region’s various tourism needs,” he said.
The secretary general added that it was important to finalize and implement the amended Multilateral Air Services Agreement; facilitate unlimited third, fourth, and fifth freedom of traffic rights for scheduled passenger services from and between international airports and sub-regions within CARICOM and; establish a CARICOM Single Domestic Air Space to help generate additional international traveller demand which, in turn, will encourage airlines to establish routes to the region.
“Unnecessarily lengthy policy development and slow implementation processes hinder progress,” he said.
The World Route Development Forum attracted senior representatives from airlines, airports and tourism authorities who meet to plan and discuss new and existing global air services. It is organized by the aviation route development company, Routes.
CTO member countries Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and the Turks and Caicos Islands attended this year’s event.
Riley’s attendance at the event was aimed at elevating the Caribbean brand; exploring opportunities for the Caribbean; presenting the prospects for expansion and improvement of connectivity within the Caribbean; and discussing challenges facing regional and global aviation and offering solutions.
He also highlighted the work of the CTO Aviation Task Force as a facilitator within the Caribbean and beyond.
“I was pleased with the extremely high quality of the interactions we made in Durban and the level of interest there is in the Caribbean: interest in exploring the tourism potential between the Caribbean and Africa, as well as expanding into other non-traditional markets.
“I fully expect that contacts we made here will redound to the benefit of Caribbean tourism in general and CTO’s member-countries in particular,” Riley said.
Jack responds to lifetime ban by FIFA
[Trinidad Express] – Corruption-accused Jack Warner has been banned for life from football-related activities. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Fifa.
In a response to Fifa’s decision, Warner issued a statement, saying: “I left the FIFA in April 2011 and if in September 2015 (some 4 years and 5 months after) the FIFA wants to ban me for life without even a hearing then so be it. I do not believe however that this will serve as the distraction to the FIFA’s present problems as the FIFA wishes it to be. Given what is happening in Zurich with Sepp Blatter I guess that there is no such thing as a coincidence.”
Earlier, Fifa had issued a statement reading: “The adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee, chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert, has decided to ban the former Fifa vice-president and executive committee member as well as Concacaf president, Mr Jack Warner, from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level for life.”
The decision was taken on the basis of investigations carried out by the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee following its report on the inquiry into the 2018-2022 Fifa World Cup bidding process.
Warner was found to have committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly during his time as an official in different high-ranking and influential positions at Fifa and Concacaf. In his positions as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, as well as other money-making schemes.
