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Shae Millington crowned RBC Tobago Jr tennis U18 champ

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

Tobago

Shae Millington hits a return during the boys’ Under-18 singles match, on Saturday, at the RBC Jnr tennis tournament, at the Shaw Park Hard Courts, Shaw Park. –

SHAE Millington used his superior serve and ground strokes, to capture the boys under 18 title, on the final day of matches, in the RBC Tobago Junior Tennis Championships, at the Shaw Park hard courts on Saturday.

The number one seed, going into the tournament, had to contend with the grit and finest of losing finalist Nicholas Ready, to carve out a straight-sets, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

All credit to the second seed Ready, he never bowed his head after losing the first set, and the first game of the second set, but battled to the final point, which provided a good spectacle for the spectators.

Millington, who was all grunts and pumping fists, after each successful point, did have his pensive moments during the match, in particular when approaching the net, where he was outplayed by Ready.

During the semi-finals on Friday, Millington easily dispatched Christopher Roberts in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0.

Ready was tested in the opening set of his semi-final versus Jaylon Chapman. A break of Chapman’s serve in the 11th game, gave Ready a 6-5 lead, which he consolidated by holding his next service game, to win the first set 7-5.

The second set was routine for Ready, as a frustrated-looking Chapman succumbed 6-2.

The highly anticipated senior boy’s doubles, brought Saturday afternoon to an anti-climax, as injury prevented the match from being played.

Millington and Roberts were set to face Ready and Luca Denoon, but injury ruled out Ready from taking the court.

The girls under 18 category, was contested on a round-robin basis. Christi-Anna Hills and Shaina Smith were unbeaten, going into the final match on Saturday, and were aware of the importance of a positive result.

The match was played at high intensity and needed a tie-breaker to determine the first set after the games were levelled at 6-6.

Hills prevailed 7-5 in the tie-breaker, and needed one break of serve in the second set, to win 6-3, and complete a straight-set victory.

Hills, had earlier gotten past Charlotte Ready 6-3, 6-5, while Smith who was stretched in the second set by her twin sister Makayla Smith, won 6-1, 7-5.

While most of the matches in the U-10, U-12 and U-14 categories, featured round-robin play. The boys under 10 and 12 divisions went down to the finals.

Justin Duncan defeated Rohan Ramcharitar in a hard-fought under 10 final, 5-4, 1-4, 11-9, while Josiah Hills won the under 12 title, over Jaysean Wells in straight sets, 4-1, 4-2.

Chester Dyrymple, the ITF-certified referee at the tournament, described the tournament as successful, but lamented the difficulty of the Trinidad players, in attending the competition.

He said “the tournament was good exposure for the players after the pandemic.

“But there is so much activities in Tobago at this time, which prevented many of the Trinidad players and their families from attending since they could not secure air or sea-bridge bookings to come for the tournament.”

The tournament which was hosted by the Crusoe Isle Tennis Club, featured forty-five players, along with a host of emerging players, in the red ball competition.

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Decomposing body may be Rincon double-murder suspect

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

News

[NOT WATERMARK ON THIS PIC] Hollis Valdez and Shereen Bailey-Valdez –

The decomposing body of an unidentified man found in some bushes off Rincon Road, Las Cuevas is believed to be that of a suspect in the murders Hollis and Shereen Bailey-Valdez, who were found dead at their home on Friday.

Police sources told Newsday that the body was found by hikers at about 9 am on Monday, a short distance away from the scene of the Bailey-Valdez murder.

The body was in an advanced state of decomposition, police said, so it could not be determined whether there were any wounds or marks of violence on the body. Police sources added that no weapons were found near the body.

The body is expected to be taken to the Forensic Science Centre as investigators seek to identify the body.

On Friday at about 7.45 am, an anonymous caller contacted the Maracas Bay Police Station and reported hearing several gunshots at Rincon Road, Las Cuevas. Officers responded to the call and found the couple dead on their bedroom floor. The couple was last seen at the funeral for 22-year-old Meshach Gibson who was killed in a shoot-out with police in La Fillette, Blanchisseusse on July 19.

Relatives claimed that Shereen Bailey-Valdez was in an on-and-off relationship with the suspect for 13 years. She got death threats from the man, who gave her four days to live prior to her murder. After the murder, villagers said the suspect admitted to killing the couple to a relative.

Villagers were told that shortly after the murder, a single gunshot was heard in the forest. Police and villagers searched the forest on Friday for a body, but to no avail.

Fiery protests as villagers demand to see body

Villagers staged a protest as police processed the scene and removed the decomposing body from a forested area off Rincon Road as they demanded to see the body and confirm for themselves whether or not the body was that of the suspect.

“Everybody was feeling unsafe since he was on the run so people wanted to identify or confirm that it was him. But the police didn’t want that,” one villager said.

The villagers lit debris on Rincon Road in protest of the police’s refusal to show them the body. The burning debris was removed, but residents formed a human blockade to stop the officers from leaving the scene, demanding that they see the body.

Eventually, police showed a picture of the body to a relative of Bailey-Valdez who said that the body was that of the suspect. Villagers said that the body was missing its hands – supposedly as a result of animals in the forest – and that he may have had a gunshot wound to his head.

“He identified the body by its structure,” the villager said. “Remember he (the suspect) is known to us because he lived in the village too.”

Residents in the village said there is a sense of relief, now that the suspect is believed to have been found.

“Everybody was kind of frightened,” the villager said. “We were in the wake last night and we were kind of jumpy because we were thinking he could be in the bushes – you don’t know. So it is a relief now.”

Relatives – we have not identified him

While villagers expressed relief that the suspect was found, his mother and sister said they had not yet identified the body nor confirmed that it is the suspect’s.

They said they were informed that a body was found in the area and were advised to go to the Forensic Science Centre in St James on Wednesday to identify it.

The suspect’s sister told Newsday the last time she saw the suspect was on Wednesday.

“He came down at my work on Wrightson Road and I gave him a roti. It was chicken goat and beef mixed, because he loves his belly.”

“On Thursday he called me. He asked if food was ready. I say no. When he didn’t stop by on Thursday, I said alright, I will see him Friday please God. On Friday, I finished cook food early. I thought was he going to call me but he didn’t call. A good friend of the family called me and told me what happened.”

She said her family members are now fearing for their lives as other villagers who may have wanted to take justice into their own hands could target the suspect’s family next.

“We have to be alert right now because we don’t know what is going to happen. I have an elderly father and he is living right inside there, so I don’t know what the situation is.”

The relative complained that police treated them poorly when they were informed about the discovery of the body. She speculated that the mistreatment may have been because they were the family of a person suspected in a murder.

“The police officer come and asked for my mother and didn’t even greet us. He just said ‘forensic Wednesday.’ That is all. That is how you come to tell a mother about her son – ‘forensic Wednesday.’ That is how they addressed us today.”

“We know our brother is guilty. We are not going to lie and say that he didn’t do it. We know that he did it and we know why.

“We know how our brother felt. But at the end of the day, the family is not guilty and the family is human beings. So you can’t treat everybody like they are guilty.

“You can’t treat people’s family like they are dogs.”

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Big pink diamond discovered in Angola, largest in 300 years Loop Jamaica

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Jamaica News Loop News

A big pink diamond of 170 carats has been discovered in Angola and is claimed to be the largest such gemstone found in 300 years.

Called the ‘Lulo Rose’, the diamond was found at the Lulo alluvial diamond mine, the mine’s owner, the Lucapa Diamond Company, announced Wednesday on its website.

“Only one in 10,000 diamonds is coloured pink. So you’re certainly looking at a very rare article when you find a very large pink diamond,” Lucapa CEO Stephen Wetherall told The Associated Press.

The pink gemstone is expected to fetch a high value when auctioned, but Wetherall said he doesn’t know what kind of premium will be paid because of its colour.

Lulo is an alluvial mine which means the stones are recovered from a river bed. The Lucapa company is searching for the underground deposits, known as kimberlite pipes, which would be the main source of the diamonds, said Wetherall, speaking from the company’s headquarters in Australia.

“We’re looking for the kimberlite pipes that brought these diamonds to the surface,” Wetherall said.

“When you find these high-value large diamonds … it certainly elevates the excitement from our perspective in our hunt for the primary source.”

About 400 staff are employed at the Lulo mine which has already produced the two largest diamonds ever found in Angola, including a 404-carat clear diamond, he said.

The pink gemstone is the fifth largest diamond found at the mine where 27 diamonds of 100 carats or more have been found, according to Lucapa.

The pink diamond will be sold by international tender by the Angolan state diamond marketing company, Sodiam.

Angola’s mines make it one of the world’s top 10 producers of diamonds.

“This record and spectacular pink diamond recovered from Lulo continues to showcase Angola as an important player on the world stage for diamond mining and demonstrates the potential and rewards for commitment and investment in our growing diamond mining industry,” Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas said, according to the Lucapa website.

The pink diamond is impressive, but many clear diamonds are larger than 1,000 carats. The Cullinan diamond found in South Africa in 1905 tips the scales at 3,106 carats and it’s in the British Sovereign’s Sceptre.

By Nqobile Ntshangase

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ST. KITTS-Kittitians vote for a new government on August 5

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Antigua News Room

The main Opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) on Monday welcomed the announcement of the August 5 general election date, saying it brings to an end “an experiment that has been marked by scandals, corruption and greed”.

“Our liberation moment is near, but it will require each one of us, every comrade and every patriot of our beloved country, to take a stand in the fight for the very soul of our country and vote for the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party on Election Day, Friday, 5th August 2022,” said SKNLP leader Dr Terrence Drew in a radio broadcast.

Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris on Sunday night announced the date of the general election during a rally of his People’s Labour Party (PLP). Nomination Day is July 26.

Harris was forced to dissolve Parliament on May 10, paving the way for the general election after legislators from the People’s Action Movement (PAM) and the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) – two members of the coalition Team Unity Government – accounting for seven of the nine seats in the Cabinet, filed a motion of no confidence in the prime minister, who scuttled that move by firing the dissidents and indicating that he would announce a date for the polls within the stipulated 90-day period.

The PLP has since announced that it will contest the eight seats in St Kitts, while PAM and the CCM have announced plans for a coalition of their own and will contest all 11 seats in the twin island federation.

The coalition had won re-election in June 2022, but Drew said the seven years in office could be characterised as one of “suppression and oppression of our people.

“Over the last two months our nation has had a front row seat and made the front pages of news across the region and internationally, as the embarrassing spectacle taking place between the warring factions of what was then the unity concoction.

“Our hearts bled as accusations and counter-accusations of corruption, greed and incompetence were callously thrown back and forth, while important matters of state, governance, and the people of St Kitts and Nevis were neglected and abandoned,” said Drew.

He said he is confident that the SKNLP “can ensure that the year 2022 goes down in history as the year the true patriots of our country took a stand and draw a red line in the sand to say ‘this far and no further; enough is enough.

“The time has come for the tragic story of a nation in decline to come to an end. The time has come for our people to choose a better way. A better way with the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party. You have the power to bring about the change you seek, need and desire, to transform our federation into one of the best places to live, work and retire. Never forget your power.

“On election day, with just one, neat X on the ballot paper you can usher in a new day and better way that will take our country to a higher level – a higher level of access, a higher level of equity, a higher level of opportunity, a higher standard of living and a higher quality of life,” said the SKNLP leader.

The coalition Team Unity Government had defeated the SKNLP in the last two general elections, but Drew told radio listeners, “We know what it takes to build a strong, successful, diversified, climate-smart and innovative economy.

“We know how to educate our people. We know how to manage the country’s finances well. We know how to encourage business and enterprise. We know how to modernise and make the hard choices to do it.

“The St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party will fight tooth and nail to ensure that the upcoming general elections are conducted in a manner that is free and fair and free from fear. We call on Mr Elvin Bailey, the supervisor of elections, the Hon Vincent Byron, attorney general, and the Electoral Commission to ensure that the business of the Electoral Office is conducted in accordance with the principles of impartiality and fairness and in full compliance with the laws and procedures of St Kitts and Nevis.”

He said the SKNLP would also demand that the government issue the traditional invitations for international election observers from Caricom, the Commonwealth and the Organisation of American States (OAS) to monitor and observe the upcoming elections.

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Man killed in Marabella

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

News

Danny Mehalal

A 24 year old coconut vendor was killed at Pariag Street, Marabella early on Monday morning.

The deceased was identified as Danny Mehalal from Gasparillo. According to police reports, the incident happened at Pariag Street, Marabella.

A female friend of Mehalal, who declined to give her name was in shock and confused by his murder.

“He was not a trouble maker or anything like that. Danny was a good boy.”

She said, “Everybody knew him as the coconut boy. He brought coconuts for everybody. He sold coconuts in the market.”

The woman said she returned to her home at Pariag Street around 12.03 am.

She recalled seeing Mehalal leaving the place he was staying and telling her he was going out.

The woman said, sometime later, she went walking along the street and saw two masked men dressed in black. One of them was armed with a gun and they called to her.

The woman ran back to her house and locked the door. She said she subsequently heard loud noises and was told that Mehalal was dead. The woman said she was told police officers were at the scene shortly after Mehalal was shot.

She believed that Mehalal was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

“What did they kill him for? I feel he was caught in the crossfire.”

Police investigations are continuing.

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NGC conducting work on Wrigtson Road

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

News

File photo/Jeff K Mayers

COMMUTERS on Wrightson Road will experience a disturbance in the flow of traffic as NGC is conducting works on a pipeline on the road on Monday.

In a media release on Monday the National Gas Company of TT Limited (NGC) advised that it will extend construction works to divert a segment of its existing 16-inch low-pressure pipeline on Wrightson Road.

The work is expected to be done between 8 am on Monday and 4 am on Tuesday.

NGC said a traffic management plan will be put in place with the assistance of the TTPS to ensure the project is conducted safely and that there is minimal inconvenience to the public.

When workers are on the western carriageway, the traffic will be diverted to the eastern carriageway and when workers are on the eastern carriageway, the traffic will be diverted to the west. NGC said there would be cones to separate the lanes and there will be advanced signs and notices of the work being done.

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ECCB Governor Speaks On Inflation – St. Lucia Times News

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: St. Lucia Times News

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ECCB Governor, Mr. Timothy Antoine, spoke recently on inflation and the impact of the global increase in interest rates on islands within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.

“One of the issues that is top of mind is inflation. It is a difficult problem at the moment for countries large and small,” he said.

“The consensus is that the major central banks must do whatever it takes to get inflation under control. That means raising interest rates and ultimately, there is a possibility that a recession may occur as a result of the efforts of central banks globally to try to address the recession. In the ECCU, we import inflation, principally from the US and also from Europe our major trading partners. So there is nothing that the ECCB can do about inflation. We are not raising interest rates. The countries raising interest rates are the big central banks in the US, UK and China. So we have to grapple with this issue.”

The US Federal Reserve on July 27 enacted its second consecutive 0.75 percentage-point interest rate increase in an effort to curb inflation. For the US, this affects short term loans, adjustable mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.

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The ECCB governor said that within the ECCU, there is no immediate impact to the cost of borrowing. The real concern is the cost of inflation.

“In terms of interest costs I think the concern is what does that mean potentially for the cost of borrowing. Those costs really depend on where you’re borrowing. So if you’re borrowing in US dollars from foreign markets you will be paying more. That is why mortgages in the United States are now becoming more expensive. But if you borrow in EC dollars there is no immediate impact because the ECCB is not raising interest rates. The determination of the lending rate in the region is really competition among the financial institutions. If you notice, over the last decade, mortgages in the ECCU have come down significantly, and the reason for that is because of competition. So there is no immediate worry about borrowing costs, but there is a real concern about inflation because we import so many things. Every price increase on food, fuel and fertilizers, we’re importing those things.”

Mr. Antoine explained that this has negatively impacted Eastern Caribbean territories, as governments seek to cushion their populations from the devastating impacts of inflation.

“The Governments are really in a bind because they are making efforts to try to cushion the effects of inflation on the population. For example, in Saint Lucia, a 20-pound cylinder is $43. At the moment the government is subsidizing these gas cylinders by $22. That means if the government did not provide a subsidy, Saint Lucians would be paying $65 per 20-pound cylinder. As a result, government revenues ae hurting and its ability to service other areas is compromised. So that is a major concern for the ECCU, the question of when will inflation decrease.”

Inflation affects consumers negatively because rising prices result in a loss of purchasing power. And while global interest rate hikes are implemented with the aim to curb inflation, Mr. Antoine says it’s anyone’s guess when the current trajectory will take a downward turn.

Source: Government Information Service

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Betty West celebrates 31 years of traditional costume design Loop Barbados

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Barbados News

Boasting 31 years of revelry and costume design, Betty West returned for 2022 under the theme Time to Break Away.

The costume legend showcased five sections on ABC Highway. These included: On De Road; Feel De Soca; Wine and Go Down; Ready To Party and Jump and Wave.

Barbadian entertainer, Ishaka McNeil was amongst the droves having a blast in West’s band this Emancipation Day. McNeil was excited for the return of Grand Kadooment after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is August 1, Emancipation Day and we are free! Free to be on the road again after COVID,” said McNeil who added that he didn’t know until the last minute that he will be jumping.”

“It is all about Crop Over 2022 and beyond from here because we going to be outside all the time!” he continued

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‘In Suriname leren we heel weinig van onze fouten’

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: De Ware Tijd Online

Hoe verder met Brokopondo Het was even schrikken enkele dagen terug toen de bewoners van Brokopondo in niet mis te

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La France traverse une troisième canicule estivale sur fond de sécheresse record

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Guadeloupe FranceAntilles

Un troisième épisode de canicule estivale a débuté lundi dans le sud-est de la France et devrait s’étendre à la majeure partie du pays, toujours en proie à une sécheresse historique après avoir connu son mois de juillet le moins pluvieux jamais enregistré.

Avec 9,7 millimètres de précipitations agrégées en France métropolitaine, juillet 2022 se place juste derrière le minima de 7,8 mm de mars 1961. C’est aussi nettement plus aride que le précédent mois de juillet le plus sec, en 2020 (16,7 mm), selon Météo-France, dont les premiers relevés remontent à août 1958.

La sécheresse et la répétition rapprochée de ces vagues de chaleur, directement imputées par le consensus scientifique au changement climatique, ont sévèrement fait chuter les débits des cours d’eaux dans de nombreuses régions.

A Gérardmer (Vosges), le débit des sources est tellement faible que la commune va approvisionner avec l’eau du lac son réseau d’eau public. Résultat, à partir du 3 août, l’eau sera déclarée non-potable, a priori pour 48h, le temps de réaliser des tests bactériologiques.

Ce n’est jamais arrivé “aussi tôt” dans la saison : “on a deux mois d’avance par rapport à des étés chauds”, regrette le maire Stessy Speissman, indiquant qu’il s’agit d’une “solution d’urgence qui met en danger le lac”.

En Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, à cause de l’étiage bas des cours d’eau, les loueurs de canoë-kayak rapportent une perte de 35% de chiffre d’affaires, selon leur Fédération nationale professionnelle. Pierre Capiez, gérant d’une société de location de canoë-kayak dans la Drôme, a dû fermer temporairement son activité: “Ça devenait ridicule pour les touristes et dangereux pour l’environnement”, abîmé par le passage des gens obligés de débarquer aux points de passage trop difficiles.

Dans les Hautes-Alpes, le très faible niveau d’eau du lac de barrage de Serre-Ponçon, attraction touristique de la région, a entraîné la fermeture au public de plusieurs points de baignade depuis la mi-juillet.

Pic de chaleur mercredi et jeudi 

Concernant le nouvel épisode caniculaire, son “intensité et (sa) durée seront moindres que celles de l’épisode précédent” quelques jours plus tôt, a répété Météo-France dans son bulletin lundi.

Quatre départements du Sud-Est (Ardèche, Drôme, Gard et Vaucluse) et les Pyrénées-Orientales restent placés en vigilance orange par Météo-France, qui a étendu pour mardi son niveau d’alerte jaune à 50 autres départements au sud d’une ligne allant de la Charente-Maritime jusqu’à l’Alsace.

“Un épisode de canicule se confirme pour le milieu de semaine, centré sur mercredi et jeudi avec des températures maximales entre 34 à 38 °C et localement 40°C”, a indiqué Météo-France, qui ne se prononce pas encore sur la fin de cet épisode.

Au sud de Nîmes (Gard), attisé par le Mistral et la Tramontane, un incendie a détruit 370 hectares de pinède dimanche soir, avant d’être fixé dans la nuit. Quatre pompiers ont été blessés dont un gravement, brûlé aux mains et au visage.

L’incendie qui a débuté dimanche en fin de journée sur la commune forestière de Mano (Landes) à la frontière avec la Gironde, “ne progresse plus” après avoir parcouru une zone de 300 hectares. Un autre feu, “inaccessible” aux équipes terrestres, a ravagé lundi “au moins 200 hectares” de maquis sur la commune de Santo-Pietro di Tenda en Haute-Corse, sans qu’il ne menace d’habitation.

Cette multiplication d’épisodes de fortes chaleurs est une conséquence directe du réchauffement climatique selon les scientifiques, les émissions de gaz à effet de serre (liées à la production d’énergie, aux transports, à l’industrie) augmentant à la fois leur intensité, leur durée et leur fréquence.

57 départements en crise sécheresse

A différents niveaux, 93 des 96 départements de métropole connaissaient des alertes sécheresse, synonymes de restrictions d’usage d’eau, a rappelé lundi le ministre de la Transition écologique Christophe Béchu, en visite dans l’Isère.

Seuls les départements des Hauts-de-Seine, de Paris et de la Seine-Saint-Denis ne sont pas concernés à ce stade par ces restrictions, qui ont été localement portées au niveau maximal de crise dans 57 préfectures, selon le site de l’information sécheresse du gouvernement Propluvia.

“C’est cette adaptation humaine qui est nécessaire (…), on diminue nos consommations en eau, on économise, on lutte contre le gaspillage”, a prôné Christophe Béchu.

L’Europe occidentale a fait face en juillet à une sécheresse historique et à deux vagues de chaleur en à peine un mois, au cours desquelles se sont déclenchés des feux de forêt ravageurs, de la Gironde à la Grèce.

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