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door Arjen Stikvoort PARAMARIBO — Door de acties van het personeel van het Academisch Ziekenhuis kunnen nierpatiënten met hun dialysebehandeling
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Basseterre, St. Kitts, September 6, 2022 (UWI Open Campus) — On August 24th and 25th The University of the West Indies Open Campus St. Kitts and Nevis Site held its first face-to-face student orientation sessions since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The sessions welcomed new students commencing their studies at the undergraduate and postgraduate degree levels. Fifty-five (55) persons have been accepted to commence their studies with The University of the West Indies Open Campus St Kitts and Nevis Site for the 2022-2023 academic year. These students will pursue studies in various fields including Early Childhood Development and Family Studies, Economics, Banking and Finance, Accounting, Sports Kinetics, Criminology, Educational Leadership and Management, Business Management, Financial Management, Human Resource Management, Psychology, Paralegal Studies, International Management and Tourism and Hospitality Management.
During the orientation sessions, the Head of the Open Campus St Kitts and Nevis, Mrs Gaile Gray-Phillip, gave an overview on The University of the West Indies and the Open Campus. Two recent past students and a current student shared their experiences and useful tips for studying online while managing work and family commitments. In Nevis, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mr Kevin Barrett, and the Principal Education Officer, Ms Zahnela Claxton, gave brief encouraging and motivating remarks to the new students. Both evenings ended with a “Meet and Greet” session which allowed the new arrivals to interact with each other, staff and current students.
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Dr Haldane Davies appointed president of UCC
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54 minutes ago
Reggae Boy winger Kaheem Parris signs four-year deal with Dynamo Kyiv of Ukraine. PHOTO: fcdynamo.com)
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Reggae Boy winger Kaheem Parris has signed a four-year deal with Dynamo Kyiv, a professional football club based in the capital of war-torn Ukraine
The club made the announcement on its website over the weekend.
The 22-year-old joined Dynamo Kyiv from Slovenian side Koper, where he made 42 appearances in the top league last season. During that run, he scored 11 goals and provided three assists. He also featured for NK Kyra, a Slovenian second league division side.
Parris made his European debut in 2019 after moving from Jamaica Premier League club Cavalier to join NZ Domzale, another Slovenian side.
He made his debut for Jamaica in 2017 and has since earned six caps.
The man who was on Monday morning being sought by the police in relation to a threat to kidnap women and girls in Mandeville, Manchester, is now in police custody.
Head of the Manchester Police Div
Dancehall artiste Jada Kingdom’s boyfriend, 19-year-old American rapper, Nas EBK, gave her a promise ring during her birthday celebrations at a Ribbiz Ultra Lounge in the Barbican Centre in Kingston,
Mighty Sparrow, the undisputed Calypso King of the World, was baptised on Saturday at Far Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York, USA.
With his baptism as a Seventh-Day Adventist, it is uncertain if th
In recognising the need to upgrade Jamaican prisons, the Government has reiterated that it has identified land to build a proper prison facility locally.
The statement was made by Prime Minister A
‘Jamaican KFC’ was the proverbial white flag for a truce between two Atlanta housewives
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Dr Haldane Davies has been appointed President of the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC), effective September 15, 2022.
He succeeds Professor Dennis Gayle, who has assumed the role of Chancellor effective.
Dr Davies, who is the former Vice President for Business Development at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), served with distinction for the last 16 years. He was instrumental in securing major multi-million dollar grants and contracts, helping to initiate numerous high priority projects and enhancing the UVI’s presence in the Caribbean region and beyond through various partnership agreements.
Dr Davies also contributed to strengthening the UVI through his leadership of its business and consulting arm, the Institute for Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness, and more recently, with the expansion of the Center for Excellence in Leadership and Learning (CELL).
Responding to the announcement of his appointment, Dr Davies said: “It is with a deep sense of humility and gratitude that I accept the responsibility granted to me to serve as President of the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC)”.
Davies said UCC is an innovative and entrepreneurial institution that fosters leadership and innovation through its programmes and initiatives that are in sync with the evolving needs of Jamaica, the region, and the world.
Davies added: “I am thankful to the UCC Board of Directors and the UCC Global Board of Advisors for the confidence placed in me to lead the university at this juncture and stand committed to carrying out its mission of preparing local, regional and global students to become exceptional leaders, innovators, and scholars in a caring and intellectually stimulating academic environment.”
Davies holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Educational Administration with a focus on higher education from Andrews University, US and a Master’s degree in Education.
He is a business strategic planner, certified mediator and PULSE practitioner, trainer, accreditation evaluator, competency assessor, and former member of the Baldrige Board of Examiners. The educator also holds certifications in related areas from Harvard University, Cornell University, the University of the West Indies and Yale University.
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The burnt remains of a human were on Monday discovered at Snake Farm, Yarrowkabra along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.
According to reports received, the burnt remains were found in a clump of bushes by several boys who were traversing the area.
The charred skeletons were located about 200ft north of the entrance leading to the South Dakota Circuit from the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.
Next to the remains, Crime Scene Investigators found a pair of Air Jordan sneakers which appeared to be unburnt and still had the victim’s intact foot inserted.
In addition, they found a Seiko wristwatch, one knife blade, two screwdrivers, one USB phone charger cable, and a bunch of eight keys. The keys appeared to be those for a door lock and padlock.
A team from CID Headquarters and ranks from Regional Division 4B conducted additional searches in the area during which several additional pieces of human bones were recovered.
Further, a fire heap was carefully sifted through by ranks and they were able to recover two Barbadian one-dollar coins, a piece of a leather belt, and pieces of a pair of Blue Urban Star Denim Jeans.
From all indications, the remains are that of a male. The remains were escorted to the Memorial Gardens as further lab tests are expected to be conducted.
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Education Minister Priya Manickchand has reasoned that there is no need for onlookers to complain about the local student population writing ‘too many subjects’ at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certification (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) levels.
Over the years, there have been several concerns about students in Guyana writing large numbers of subjects offered by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).
This year, the most subjects written by a CSEC candidate was 27 while the best performing CAPE student wrote 15.
While there was an outpouring of congratulations for these hardworking students, many registered their concerns about the number of subjects being written.
But the Education Minister on Monday argued that this should not be an issue.
“A lot of people would complain about, well not complain but comment why are children writing so many subjects…213 in the whole population who did eight or more Grade Ones, and just 28 [candidates] with 12 or more subjects, so it is not that many of our children writing large numbers of subjects,” she pointed out.
Notwithstanding, she explained that there is also nothing wrong with students who opt to the lesser amounts.
“Any student who does five subjects inclusive of Math and English, we consider that they have done very well, excellent, in fact.”
In 2015, former APNU+AFC Education Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine was looking into the situation of the increasing number of subjects written by students at the CSEC examination level.
According to him, the pressure of doing a vast number of subjects does not create a very healthy learning environment.
As such, he was in favour of discouraging secondary school students from writing more than eight subjects.
“I believe that this multitude of subjects that students are doing we will have to have a look at that. Frankly, it has always really bugged my mind to know how a student can be doing 18 subjects and more,” he had said.
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Higher than normal temperatures over the past few weeks have prompted Saint Lucia’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Sharon Belmar-George, to urge people to take measures to reduce possible heat-related illnesses.
The CMO noted that one of the effects of heat is dehydration.
As a result, Belmar-George told St Lucia Times it was important for individuals to increase the amount of non-alcoholic fluid they drink.
“Water is the best fluid to take in,” she explained.
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“You don’t wait until you are thirsty. But you consume water regularly throughout the day. Water is better than sweet drinks, better than alcoholic drinks,” Belmar-George stated.
“It’s also important that you stay indoors as much as possible in a well-ventilated area and avoid especially the ten to two O’clock heat which can also affect your skin,” the CMO advised.
“If you are going out during that period you are advised to either use a hat which will help to keep the direct sunlight away, sunglasses and if you could use a broad spectrum UVA, UVB on your skin,” the CMO told St Lucia Times.
In addition, she advised wearing light colours and loose-fitting clothing.
At the same time, Belmar-George said it was important not to leave anyone in a closed, parked vehicle since heat can accumulate.
And she indicated that the elderly and people with chronic diseases are a source of concern amid the current high temperatures.
According to Belmar-George, people at the highest risk of heat-related illnesses include infants and young children.
They also include people older than 65, patients with mental illness, people who are physically ill, those with chronic diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes, and people with heart disease.
The CMO said it was important to ensure that such individuals are well-hydrated and kept cool.
“We need to reduce dehydration. We need to reduce the possibility of fainting and dizziness, especially at our schools. We know some of our schools are not as ventilated as they should be,” she stated.
In this regard, she suggested that schools ensure that children are well hydrated, monitor the youngsters, and keep them out of direct sunlight during high-temperature periods.
Headline photo courtesy Nathan Dumlao (Unsplash.com)
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C’est la réponse du président de la République à « l’Appel de Fort-de-France » du 17 mai dernier : une invitation pour les élus guyanais et ultramarins chez Gérald Darmanin, ministre de l’Intérieur et des Outre-mer et un dîner à l’Élysée, demain mercredi 7 septembre. Gabriel Serville, président de la Collectivité Territoriale de Guyane (CTG) et signataire de l’Appel de Fort-de-France tente de convaincre les deux députés, Rimane et Castor, de participer à ce moment politique parisien. De notre correspondant à Paris, Julien Sartre. « Je suis solidaire des élus de Guyane qui se posent la question de leur participation, de…
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PHILIPSBURG — Aurora InfoTech submitted a report to utilities company GEBE about the circumstances that led to the Blackbyte ransomware attack on the company on March 17. Its findings are at times staggering. “One needs only to look at the cabling at the rear of the equipment racks in the IT-room to better understand the network’s lack of management and upkeep,” the report states.
That’s a nice way of saying that GEBE’s network was in a shambles in the run-up to the ransomware attack. Aurora’s 48-page report reveals the weaknesses of GEBE’s IT-systems and provides a detailed insight into the way cyber criminals like the Blackbyte group operate. Highly technical stuff for computer nerds.
The report also contains down to earth observations that show how Blackbyte managed to hold the utilities company hostage. “In our professional opinion the cyber attack was successful due to the organization’s lax security posture at the time,” the Aurora-report states. “There was little security protection on the servers or the Fortinet firewalls, because the FortiGuard Security subscription had expired.” In other words: GEBE was asking for problems and that is exactly what it got.
Aurora warns that GEBE has to remain extra vigilant because 80 percent of organizations that experience a cyber attack are more likely to experience a repeat-attack.
The March 17 cyber attack hit 55 servers and 168 workstations at GEBE, including the enterprise resource planning system and its data backup solution, the Microsoft Data Protection Manager.
GEBE made the cyber attack public and refused to pay a ransom. Blackbyte retaliated by publishing samples of GEBE-data on its Tor.Onion auction website. Aurora has installed monitoring software and discovered that so far, the credentials of 93 GEBE-employees have been exposed on the dark web.
By now, Aurora has implemented a layered security approach, using various tools that are monitored around the clock by its Security Operations Centers. Since March 24, these SOCs have detected more than one million threats to GEBE’s network and they have hunted down 778 threats. “Any of these possible threats could have been a repeat of the cyber attack,” the report states.
Blackbyte was formed in July 2021. The organization increasingly attacks unpatched internet-facing infrastructures such as Microsoft Exchange Server. The origin of Blackbyte is currently unknown through it is most likely based in Eastern Europe or Russia. Aurora warns that Blackbyte attacks “outdated, undermaintained and unsecured editions of the Microsoft Exchange Server dating back to the 2013, 2016 and 2019 editions of this mail server software.
That GEBE’s IT-infrastructure came under attack is not surprising. Aurora points out that the information needed to attack GEBE’s online resources such as IP address information for its network and mail servers was readily available on the public internet through a DNS-search. “Probing the IP address would have resulted in a welcome banner from GEBE’s Microsoft Exchange Server with critical information such as the software version number.”
Aurora found that GEBE’s IT-department used the same local administrator account and password on all computers within its environment and that it had not applied security-updates on the on-premise Microsoft Exchange Server against certain vulnerabilities. There is also no security awareness training for the staff.
A review of the company’s Microsoft 365-users after the cyber attack showed that there are still user accounts with unchanged passwords, that there are still users with multiple accounts and that there are also questionable or unknown user accounts on the system. Aurora has pointed this out, but no action was taken.
Aurora furthermore requested exclusive access and control of the Fortinet firewalls. GEBE agreed, but it never issued a mandate. “To this day others are implementing changes to the firewalls that are not in line with cyber security best practices,” the report states. “This puts the organization at risk.”
The report is highly critical of GEBE’s IT-department. Currently there is no director in place, the skillset of its employees is not up to par, knowledge and skillsets are compartmentalized, there is a lack of established and documented policies and procedures and decisions are taken on an ad-hoc basis. Tasks are executed based on current knowledge and this may be not in line with best practices.
The question is of course whether GEBE has learned something from the detrimental effect of the cyber attack on its business. The Aurora-report places a big question mark behind this question. It found “an apparent willingness to return to old times and to push back against security” and an unwillingness to implement critical security measures such as multifactor authorization on the Microsoft 365 environment. The IT-department still lacks formal IT-training as well as an overall understanding of cyber security.
Aurora also mentions “an alarming practice:” the fact that GEBE has provided staff with computers for personal use. These users have full administrative privileges and are free to install whatever software they wish. Aurora sent an email to GEBE about this situation but it did not receive a response.
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Related articles:MP Gumbs Requests Question Hour to Receive Answers about GEBE’s ongoing cyber-attack woesMP Gumbs Requests Question Hour to Receive Answers about GEBE’s ongoing cyber-attack woesMP De Weever: Issues at GEBE a matter of national security nowParliament has no authority over GEBE
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Basseterre: St. Kitts, Monday, September 05, 2022: Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Geoffrey Hanley announced leadership restructuring across the education sector, in his back to school address aired on Sunday, September 04.
The first change of personnel disclosed by the minister was that of the Permanent Secretary’s (PS) post. Conveying appreciation for the work done by the outgoing PS. Mr. William Vincent Hodge, and congratulating the newly appointed PS Mrs. Lisa-Romayne Archibald-Pistana.
Minister Hanley stated,
“I would like to thank Mr. William Vincent Hodge for his guidance, hard work and direction as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education over the past six years. We are extremely grateful and value the contribution he has made to the education fraternity. With this being said I am pleased to announce our new Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Mrs. Lisa-Romayne Archibald-Pistana.”
PS Hodge will continue to work with Mrs Pistana for the time being.
Teachers at the primary school level also transitioned into leadership positions.
Minister Hanley disclosed, “Ms. Jamillah Bristol is the new Head Teacher of Beach Allen Primary School. Mr. Javan Cannonier has assumed the post of Deputy Head Teacher at the Cayon Primary School. Ms. Ulukia Bryan has accepted the post of Deputy Head Teacher at the Dieppe Bay Primary School.”
Minister Hanley congratulated these individuals for their appointment to leadership positions and expressed confidence in their ability to be collaborative and transformational leaders in carrying out of the educational goals for the 2022-2023 academic year.
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