NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (March 04, 2022) —Hon. Eric Evelyn, Area Representative for the St. George’s Parish is expressing satisfaction with the participation and the results of a month-long clean-up campaign he funded and executed throughout February.
Mr. Evelyn was at the time speaking with the Department of Information on March 03, 2022 about the outcome of the activity.
“I’m very, very pleased with the way things turned out. I am happy with the turnout of persons who came to assist and as I said I think it’s a worthwhile effort, one that was very needed.
“Generally, I think we all on the island should take more pride in our country and we should ensure that we have a cleaner community because of course a cleaner community means a healthy community,” he said.
The Area Representative explained that the environment’s cleanliness was a key factor for organising the general clean-up event for the area.
“Over the years I have been very concerned about the cleanliness of our country and so as the area representative for St. George/Gingerland, I decided to organise a clean-up campaign in the month of February and I dubbed this clean-up campaign “Let’s clean up,” he said.
For the first two Saturdays in the month the focus of the clean-up campaign was on white goods. The Area Representative noted that the reason for that was the indiscriminate dumping happening not only in St. George’s but in all of Nevis.
“That is something not only myself but the entire administration has been very concerned about, people dumping in the ghauts, people dumping in roadways;, things ending up in the sea and that is absolutely not healthy.
“A lot of the stuff that we dump indiscriminately ends up in the ocean, and then indirectly we take in this stuff through the marine species that we consume, and so I decided let’s do a white goods clean-up so at least persons would have an opportunity to get rid of the white goods,” he explained.
According to Mr. Evelyn that leg of the campaign went exceptionally well although inclement weather forced them to abort the activity on the first two Saturdays.
However, on the third Saturday, the 19th, he said that an overwhelming amount of white goods was cleaned from the parish during a general clean up in the communities and villages.
On the 26th which was set aside for coastal clean-up in the areas of Indian Castle including Black Bay, Landing Bay and at the Huggins Bay and New River areas yielded more garbage with the assistance of many volunteers.
“For the Huggins Bay area we had close to 20 volunteers cleaning that area. For the Indian Castle and surrounding areas, we had close to 30 volunteers cleaning, and I was very, very pleased with the turn out.
“I was also very amazed at the volume of garbage that we were able to collect both at the Indian Castle and the Huggins Bay areas. We had two truckloads to take to the landfill. One from Huggins Bay area and one from the Indian Castle Bay area,” he said.
Mr. Evelyn expressed his surprise at the volume of accumulated garbage on the coastline so soon after a clean-up exercise at Indian Castle in April last year, and another hosted in November by the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society (NHCS). He cited the need for them to be done with greater frequency.
“It shows that there is the need for us to clean up the coastline ever so often, bearing in mind that some of these garbage that we take up would actually end up in the sea. Some of them are actually from the ocean and from neighbouring islands but it is important that we do these clean-ups now and again,” he said.
Among the volunteers were members of the NHCS, the Nevis Turtle Group and other civic minded persons in the community.
Mr. Evelyn used the opportunity to encourage persons to join the effort when activities such as these are organised since the more hands involved the cleaner the communities and by extension the country would be.
He thanked all those who assisted in making the month-long clean-up exercise successful.
“I want to thank all who would have assisted. I want to specially thank the [Nevis] Solid Waste Management Authority for assisting in such a huge way as well, and I want to assure persons that I as the Area Representative for St. George Parish was extremely, extremely pleased to provide this service to you…It was a need that was met for the people of St. George/Gingerland,” he said in conclusion.
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, March 5, 2022 (MMS-SKN) — Acutely aware of the need to pay serious attention to the way in which people dispose of waste, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, through the Ministry of Environment, is encouraging its citizens to become better environmental stewards.
Federal Minister of Environment and Cooperatives, the Hon Eric Evelyn, made the remarks on Friday March 4 at a ceremony held at the Solid Waste Management Conference Room in Taylor’s Range to officially launch the US$1m St. Kitts and Nevis Solid Waste Management and Recycling Project.
“The implementation of this project is a step toward building a coordinated framework to address waste disposal practices and I may dare say, quite timely,” said Hon Evelyn at the ceremony which was chaired by Director of Environment, Ms June Hughes.
The project is funded by the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), and present at the meeting was the Resident Ambassador of the Republic of China (Taiwan) His Excellency Michael Chau-Horng Lin, who also gave brief remarks. He was supported by Second Secretary at the Embassy, Mr Jack Li.
“This project is timely for two main reasons,” pointed out Hon Evelyn. “Firstly, it aligns with my Ministry’s commitment to encourage our citizens to become better environmental stewards. We are acutely aware of the need to pay serious attention to the way in which we dispose of waste. The ever niggling but critical issues associated with waste separation and excessive waste contribute to environmental degradation.”
The overall outcome of the project, he pointed out, is to seek to establish a recycling system to improve efficiency and increase the amount of waste recycled by twice the amount. He noted that setting the systemic framework will be a foundational pillar to create efficient and collaborative pathways among the stakeholders and ultimately result in more environmentally responsible actions from all the citizens, which he added would be the beginning of a mind-set shift.
The Honourable Minister advised that the Ministry of Environment and Co-operatives is leading the charge to implement a ban on single-use plastics as St. Kitts and Nevis endeavours to achieve UN’s Sustainable Goal 12, which is to ‘Ensure responsible consumption and production patterns.’
“To achieve this goal, we must reflect on ways in which we can use our resources efficiently to reduce waste in a sustainable manner,” observed Hon Evelyn. “It also points us to the possibilities of economic innovation for sustainability.”
These will include the possibilities of packaging products using environmentally friendly material, diverse offering of how to reuse plastics or any other product, adding: “The use of technology in reducing waste are all ways of reimagining how we can achieve resource efficiency.”
In attendance was Project Manager, Ms Joyce Chang, who gave an overview of the three-year project which comes to an end in July 2024, having started in July 2021.
Stakeholders from both St. Kitts and Nevis were invited for the launch, and among those present included the Solid Waste Management St. Kitts, Ministry of Tourism, Transport and Post, Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development Planning Unit, Nevis Tourism Authority represented by CEO Mr Devon Liburd, Bureau of Standards, General Manager of Handi Plastics Mr Michael Edgecomb, and Department of Environment members of staff.
“I want to use this opportunity to say thanks to all the stakeholders who have agreed to join the fight of tackling waste matters and the recycling programme in general,” said Minister Evelyn. “We recognise that the implementation of a recycling programme will require some cultural changes in attitude and behaviour. However, I am confident that with the diverse composition of the Project Steering Committee, innovative ways will be presented to address this.”
The partnership with Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), pointed out the Minister, does not only provide the financial assistance but also technical assistance. He noted that the country was honoured to have Ms Joyce Chang, the project coordinator, working here and promised that she will receive support and guidance from the project steering committee.
He said that he firmly believes that this healthy knowledge building and exchange management process is pivotal as the country will learn from Ms Chang and that she would also learn from the stakeholders, and that he looks forward to strengthening capacities across government institutions and the stakeholders throughout St. Kitts and Nevis.
“Once again allow me to express my profound thanks to the Republic of China (Taiwan) for supporting this project, the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) for authorising and guiding the project concept and my team at the Ministry and Department of Environment,” said the Hon Evelyn in conclusion. He added: “The implementation of the Solid Waste Management and Recycling Project has already started and we look forward to the continued collaboration.”
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern says she expects the Covid Omicron wave to peak at the end of March. Photograph: Getty Images
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — For much of the past two years, Covid-19 was a phantom presence in New Zealand, a plague experienced mostly through news reports from faraway lands.
Now, suddenly, it has become a highly personal threat.
New Zealand is being walloped by a major outbreak of the Omicron variant, with the virus spreading at what may be the fastest rate in the world. On Thursday, the country reported 23,194 new cases, a once unthinkable number in a small island nation of about five million people where the record daily case count before the current wave was in the low hundreds.
The explosion in cases has come as the government, under political pressure, loosened its strict regulations meant to prevent the spread of the virus, and as the highly transmissible Omicron reduced the effectiveness of the controls that remained.
That has filled many New Zealanders with anxiety as they learn to live with the pandemic-related risk that the rest of the world has grappled with since early 2020
“For the vast majority of the pandemic, most New Zealanders didn’t know anyone who had Covid-19. That’s changing massively now,” said Siouxsie Wiles, a microbiologist at the University of Auckland. “This is the first time most New Zealanders are dealing with Covid-19 in their own homes.
The police checking vaccination passes at a checkpoint in Auckland in December. During most of the pandemic, the country has kept infections and deaths very low through controls and lockdowns.Credit…Fiona Goodall/Getty Images
While the ever-growing case numbers may be unsettling, New Zealand was perhaps as well positioned as it could have been for its deferred reckoning with the virus.
Earlier in the pandemic, before the population was widely vaccinated, the country kept infections and deaths very low through a stringent quarantine system for incoming travelers, lockdowns during outbreaks and significant isolation periods for those who tested positive or were close contacts.
Caseloads often stood at zero, and life for long periods resembled a time before the pandemic. Even after New Zealand began to shift away from a “Covid zero” strategy following the emergence of the Delta variant, case numbers remained relatively small.
By the time of the arrival of the Omicron variant — which is more contagious but often produces milder symptoms — the country was well protected. Ninety-five percent of New Zealanders over age 12 have been vaccinated, and 57 percent have had a booster shot.
With this combination of strict measures and widespread inoculation, the country has reported just 56 virus deaths throughout the pandemic — by far the lowest rate of any major democracy.
Ninety-five percent of New Zealanders over age 12 have been vaccinated.Credit…Dean Purcell/New Zealand Herald, via Associated Press
But New Zealand’s initial caution toward the virus became politically untenable this year as citizens living overseas protested limits on their return and business advocates called for fewer restrictions.
In response, the government weakened its pandemic controls. Last week, it removed many self-isolation requirements, and on Monday it announced that vaccinated New Zealanders could freely enter the country without isolating or quarantining. New Zealand remains closed to international tourists.
With the virus now spreading rapidly, the country has been forced to undergo a “big psychological shift,” said Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at the University of Otago in Dunedin.
While the approach to managing the virus was once one of “collective protection,” Dr. Baker said, it is now one of “much more individual and family responsibility.”
The government has tried to prepare the public for this shift by warning that New Zealanders’ experience of the virus would change. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern noted last week that “very soon we will all know people who have Covid-19 or we will potentially get it ourselves.”
Modelers estimate that each Omicron-positive New Zealander is infecting an average of 4.64 other people — the highest rate among 180 countries analyzed. Experts believe that half the country could be infected within three months.
“We’re finally experiencing the difficult side of exponential growth,” said Dr. Wiles, the University of Auckland microbiologist. “I feel quite nervous about the rest of the year.”
“Very soon we will all know people who have Covid-19 or we will potentially get it ourselves,” said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.Credit…Pool photo by Ross Giblin
Jin Russell, a community and developmental pediatrician at the University of Auckland, said that some vaccinated New Zealanders just wanted to get on with their lives.
But for families with members who are at heightened risk from the virus, it’s an unnerving time. “And then there are other people who continue to mourn the elimination strategy and are living quite restricted lives as they try to avoid or delay catching the virus,” Dr. Russell said.
Approximately 40 percent of New Zealanders are now working from home, according to Brad Olsen, a senior economist at Infometrics, a consultancy in Wellington. On Tuesday, lawmakers participated remotely in parliamentary debates for the first time.
Major outbreaks have also occurred in other countries, like Australia, that loosened strict pandemic measures. Australia’s spike, however, occurred during the Southern Hemisphere summer, which Dr. Baker said significantly slowed the virus’s spread.
New Zealand’s outbreak, by contrast, has come as workplaces settled into the business year and students headed back to school and college. Ashley Bloomfield, New Zealand’s director-general of health, has called it a “nationwide superspreader event.”
At the University of Otago, for example, students hosted a series of large parties at which hundreds of people were exposed to an Omicron-positive person. The police intervened to prevent another party at which Covid-positive students intended to invite dozens of friends who were also infected.
“Police advised them that this is a stupid idea,” Anthony Bond, a senior police sergeant, said at the time.
While these were a minority of students, over the weeks since, the virus has spread rapidly in large apartments with multiple people, according to the president of the local students association, Melissa Lama.
By Tuesday, there were over 3,200 active cases of Covid-19 in Dunedin, with many hundreds more people self-isolating as household contacts. Students are anxious about the virus’s spread and frustrated with the individual pressure they feel about managing it, Ms. Lama said.
Elsewhere in the country, anger over the government’s Covid-19 response produced a different kind of superspreader event. In Wellington, the capital, hundreds of demonstrators opposed to vaccine mandates occupied the grounds surrounding Parliament in an occasionally violent protest that lasted for over three weeks.
After serious clashes between the police and demonstrators, multiple officers began reporting Covid-19 infections. Partly because of the health risk, officers battled protesters to clear the occupation on Wednesday.
I’m a Covid researcher, but I’ve never tested positive. Studying variations in immune systems could lead to better vaccines
‘There is also a possibility that different immune systems respond differently to the virus.’ A doctor injecting a patient with the Covid-19 vaccine. Photograph:
I’m one of the fortunate people who is yet to test positive for Covid. This is despite the fact that I work with live replicating Sars-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid) for my research, teach face-to-face at university, and have school-age children.
My fully vaccinated healthy friends of the same age were not so lucky, and some have suffered from more than one case of Covid in the past couple of years. What does this reveal about my immune system.
First, we have to consider a number of scenarios. There is a very small chance that I have never come into contact with the virus. But given the duration of the pandemic, and the number of highly transmissible variants, this is unlikely. Then there is the chance that I have come into contact with Sars-CoV-2, but it was cleared from my body quickly before it developed into the disease Covid (abortive infection). At the start of the pandemic, and before I was vaccinated, I could have caught the virus but I could have been one of the small number of people who did not display symptoms and therefore did not test for it.
Some people may clear the virus quickly because they have pre-existing antibodies and memory immune cells that recognise the virus. These could be cross-reactive memory T-cells generated previously to fight similar coronaviruses that cause the common cold. There is evidence of higher prevalence of endemic (non-Covid) coronavirus infections in the young and reduced cross-reactive T-cell presence in older people.
When vaccines became available, I received my first and second doses, along with a booster shot. Vaccines work by introducing our immune system to the virus spike protein, and setting off an early arsenal of specific antibodies and T-cells. These leave memory cells behind, which can persist for years and spring into action to prevent reinfection.
Although Covid vaccines still protect from severe disease, each time there is a new variant we scientists frantically search for any evidence of vaccine escape in real-life data. We can’t predict vaccine escape because we are not observing stepwise virus evolution, where emerging strains add new mutations to their predecessors; the now-prevalent Omicron variant has few similarities with Delta, which was spread widely last year. Natural infection does not offer long-term protection, and the more potent vaccine-induced immunity needs a booster to protect against variants.
As a result, if I had previously caught but coped well with one variant, I am not convinced that I would be immune to the next one. Indeed, people report different symptoms after different rounds of infection, some doing better, some worse in later infections.
There is also a possibility that different immune systems respond differently to the virus. For Sars-CoV-2 to infect, the spike protein on the surface of the virus needs to stick to specific proteins on the target cells, like the ACE2 protein. Is it possible that those resistant to infection have different levels of ACE2 than others? Age-related ACE2 expression in the lungs of children compared with adults may partly explain why children often show milder infection.
It is also possible that some of us may have rare types of ACE2 that the coronavirus spike cannot stick to. Differences in protein expression between people are known as polymorphisms, and they are valuable to discover. People that have a rare genetic polymorphism for CCR5 protein have been immune to HIV infection. To support this theory, recent genetic analyses have revealed that rare types of ACE2 may influence susceptibility to Covid.
Additionally, studies in healthcare workers who consistently remained negative for Covid showed the presence of pre-existing T-cells that recognise peptides – the chain of molecules that make up a protein – from less variable parts of the virus than the spike protein (which, under pressure from our immune response, mutates frequently to evade our antibodies). This work suggests that it would be wise to not rely on spike-targeting vaccines if we want to induce immunity to new variants, and we should think about incorporating more parts of the virus that don’t change over time (“evolutionarily conserved proteins”) into our vaccine design.
While we are still learning about what may be causing Covid resistance, we can’t be sure why someone like me hasn’t yet tested positive. But what I do know is that because of the likelihood of emerging variants, there is no guarantee that I won’t develop Covid still. Even if you’ve been lucky so far, don’t take your chances.
Dr Zania Stamataki is a senior lecturer and researcher in viral immunology at the University of Birmingham
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has provoked an international outcry that has led to a more unified response from the international community than many might have expected.
It’s also led to a series of surprise moves, form Germany joining efforts to arm the Ukrainian resistance to Switzerland imposing sanctions on Russia.
Germany’s decision to send anti-tank weapons and Stinger missiles to Ukraine represented a reversal of a longstanding policy of not sending weapons into conflict zones. Berlin also said it would boost military spending to above 2 percent of gross domestic product.
“This is really the first time that we’ve seen Germany do that since the end of the Cold War,” said Charles Kupchan, former senior director for European affairs on the National Security Council under the Obama administration.
The moves are good news for the White House and President Biden, who devoted significant time to uniting allies behind a common approach to counter Russian President Vladimir Putin in the event of a Russian invasion.
Russia’s weeklong assault on Ukraine has spawned a refugee crisis and killed thousands of civilians, with world leaders and government officials warning that Russian-led atrocities are likely to escalate.
Widespread revulsion to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has united the global community as well as Democrats and Republicans in Congress — at least for the most part.
“President Putin has been one of the greatest unifiers of NATO in modern history, so I guess that is one thing we can thank him for,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this week.
House lawmakers told The Hill they were heartened by resounding bipartisan support for the administration’s strategy toward Ukraine, signaled with spontaneous applause during a classified briefing by senior administration officials at the Capitol on Monday.
Biden also received bipartisan applause when he rebuked Putin during his first State of the Union on Tuesday.
And Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) emerged from the classified briefing for senators on Monday to tell reporters that “the administration has done a really sound job in bringing together our allies and friends from around the world and presenting a united front against a very evil, ambitious leader of Russia.”
Thomas Rid, professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, said during a panel discussion that Putin’s actions had achieved “what no European politician has achieved in a generation, he made the European Union discover its spine.”
He added that Russia’s invasion has managed “to get Germany over historic trauma. The historic trauma was for a long time never to fight again, avoiding wars by not fighting, by not providing weapons, but of course now we have shifted and now have the approach that avoiding war means defending yourself.”
But not all close American allies and partners have fallen in line with Biden’s strategy.
Israel initially held back from condemning outright Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Jerusalem relies on strategic communication with Moscow to carry out military operations in Syria against Iran and its proxy forces.
That hesitation drew pushback from stalwart Israel allies in Congress. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he was “concerned” over Israel’s position but, after speaking with Israeli officials and Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., said he is encouraged by new steps from Jerusalem.
This includes Israel voting in favor of a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has also spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and is delivering a 100-ton humanitarian aid package. Bennett has also reportedly offered Israel to act as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.
But Zelensky, who is Jewish, told an Israeli news outlet on Thursday that while he is appreciative of support expressed by the Israeli public, “I don’t feel the Israeli prime minister has wrapped himself in the Ukrainian flag.”
“I spoke with the Israeli leadership, we have not bad relations — but these things are tested in times of crisis,” he reportedly said during a press conference in Kyiv.
Graham told The Hill that Jerusalem’s initial hesitation was a “hiccup.”
“I came away pleased,” he said of talks with Israeli officials. “They jumped on the [U.N.] resolution yesterday, they’ve been providing pretty robust assistance, they’re having constant contact with the Ukrainian president and his team, so I think we had a hiccup early on and hope we’re in a better position and I believe we are.”
Another holdout country that is challenging the administration’s global response is India, which has a historically close relationship with Moscow rooted in importing and relying on Russian military equipment.
India abstained from voting at the U.N., in both the Security Council and the General Assembly, on the resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Donald Lu, the assistant secretary of State for South Asian affairs, told lawmakers on Wednesday that the administration has been in a “pitched battle” to get India to more publicly commit itself to the U.S. position against Russia and is weighing sanctions against New Delhi over its Russian military stockpiles.
Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday along with leaders of Australia and Japan under the banner of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a security grouping focused on the Indo-Pacific.
Psaki did not address a reporter’s question over whether India’s relationship with Russia was discussed, saying only that the Quad conversation was “constructive.”
Pakistan is another challenge for the U.S. over its close ties with Russia. Pakistan is a key military partner for the U.S. in its counterterrorism operations in South Asia.
Lu, during the hearing with lawmakers, said a visit by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to Moscow on the day that Russia launched its invasion against Ukraine has hurt communication between Washington and Islamabad.
“I think we’re trying to figure out how to engage with the prime minister following that decision,” the assistant secretary said.
And China has not backed down from supporting Russia’s position in the conflict, despite reported efforts by the administration to recruit Beijing to help stop war in Ukraine.
Relations between the U.S. and China are at a nadir, and export controls and sanctions recently imposed on Russia by the West may ultimately have the effect of pushing Russia and China closer together.
In the Gulf, Saudi Arabia has resisted calls to increase oil exports to prevent energy prices from spiking for global consumers amid Russia’s invasion.
Psaki on Thursday said that administration officials last engaged directly with the Saudis in Riyadh on global energy markets in February related to Russia’s then-potential invasion of Ukraine, but had no announcements about upcoming communication.
The United Arab Emirates, another key oil exporter, has also resisted taking a public stance against Russia. The UAE abstained from voting on the U.N. Security Council for the resolution against Russia, but voted in the affirmative in the General Assembly.
Yousef Al Otaiba, the Emirati envoy to the U.S., said that relations between Washington and Abu Dhabi are going through a “stress test, but I am confident that we will get out of it and get to a better place,” Reuters reported.
Biden is coming under increasing pressure to impose sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas sector. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday added her name to a list of lawmakers who have backed a ban on U.S. imports of Russian oil.
But the administration has stopped short of targeting Russia’s energy sector thus far in part due to Europe’s heavy reliance on Russian oil and natural gas.
Experts say it’s part of deliberate effort to stay in concert with allies on sanctions policy.
“I think that the Biden administration has been right to put a priority on solidarity, and that’s part because sanctions are most effective when they are broadly applied and in part because I think it’s important to maintain a united front against Putin,” said Kupchan. “In some cases, you maintain a united front by going with the consensus even if that consensus may be less than you want.”
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian firefighters on Friday extinguished a blaze at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant that was ignited by Russian shelling, as Russian forces seized…Read More
He is accused in the killing of a rival gang member at a Vancouver strip mall in February 2009
By DÁnica Coto
AP
RCMP/The Canadian Press via AP
In this undated photo released by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Conor Vincent D’Monte is shown in an unknown location.
Last week, phones across Puerto Rico began to ding as members of a private WhatsApp group dedicated to helping others in the U.S. territory stared at their screens in disbelief.
The businessman they knew as the administrator of that chat and as someone who organized philanthropic efforts such as a Christmas toy drive for needy children and renovations for an elementary school had just been arrested.
Conor Vincent D’Monte, known as Johnny Williams in Puerto Rico, was allegedly a leader of a violent gang sought by Canadian authorities on charges including first-degree murder. He had been on the run for more than a decade.
“It’s like a Netflix story,” said Antonio Torres, chief deputy U.S. Marshal for the district of Puerto Rico.
Authorities don’t know exactly when D’Monte, 44, arrived in Puerto Rico, but they believe he had been using the alias “Johnny Williams” on the island for at least several months. The 6-foot-1 fugitive settled into a rural, eastern mountain community near El Yunque rainforest, living in a house in front of a street with no name in a working-class neighborhood, Torres said.
Every month, D’Monte would accompany employees of a nonprofit organization known as Karma Honey Project and attend a farmer’s market in the nearby city of Carolina, said a woman who lived in the same community as him and sold goods next to his stall. She declined to give her name out of fear.
“No one knew anything,” she said, adding that she always was struck by his quiet demeanor. “We were surprised.”
D’Monte remains in federal prison in Puerto Rico as he awaits an extradition process. His public defense attorney declined comment, but she noted in a court hearing on Thursday that D’Monte, who has Canadian and Irish citizenship, requested that the consulates of those countries be notified.
Those who met D’Monte said he never made any efforts to hide. He even met with Puerto Rico’s agriculture secretary and a local senator and was invited to the governor’s mansion last month for his role in trying to save honeybees after Hurricane Maria as part of his involvement with the Karma Honey Project, a nonprofit company created in February 2019. Its president, Candice Galek, is a Miami entrepreneur and former model. Neither Galek nor her company returned messages for comment.
In its 2020 annual report, the most recent one available, the company stated that its volume of business did not exceed $3 million. Its balance sheet noted that it had no assets or liabilities, according to filings with Puerto Rico’s Registry of Corporations and Entities.
“The guy fooled us all,” said a Puerto Rican businessman who asked that his name not be used out of fear.
He said he met D’Monte in the early days of the pandemic after being added to his WhatsApp group, and that D’Monte was known as “Johnny Teeth,” because his teeth were so white and straight. The businessman described D’Monte as a “tremendous sales guy” who was very jovial.
“It struck me that he didn’t have Facebook or any of those things because he truly was a great networker,” the businessman said, adding that D’Monte once called him asking if he could borrow a hammer since he was helping repair a school.
When he was working on the Christmas toy drive, D’Monte messaged his WhatsApp group warning they were 500 presents short and that he was “grinding” to get donations as he noted that the prices went up 40% at the toy distributor warehouse: “Caught us off guard. Will figure it out. Universe conspires,” he wrote, adding three different star emojis.
It’s unclear why D’Monte chose Puerto Rico or if he knew anyone in the U.S. territory.
He is accused in the killing of a rival gang member at a Vancouver strip mall in February 2009, at a time when that part of British Columbia was experiencing one of the worst gang violence outbreaks in its history, according to a police statement.
D’Monte also is accused of conspiring to murder two alleged rival gang members known as the Bacon Brothers, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The United Nations gang that D’Monte belongs to is considered one of the most powerful ones in British Columbia and is best known for exporting one of the most popular marijuana strains in the U.S. mainland: the B.C. bud.
At its height, the gang had an estimated 200 members, and they often sport tattoos of tigers, dragons and Chinese characters. The gang also imports firearms and other drugs including cocaine, making millions of dollars a year, said Keiron McConnell, a criminal justice expert and professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, British Columbia.
“Anyone thinking that Mr. D’Monte was a street corner hustler, it couldn’t be further than the truth,” he said in a phone interview. “Mr. D’Monte was a fairly sophisticated individual.”
McConnell said it’s highly unusual for fugitives to be on the run for as long as D’Monte and to successfully assimilate themselves into a community.
D’Monte, whom police said has traveled to Spain and Asia and is associated with a drug network in Mexico, was last seen in the Vancouver area in January 2011. After that, he vanished until he reappeared in Puerto Rico more than a decade later.
Torres, with the U.S. Marshals Service, said high-profile fugitives often assume the profile of a very wealthy person because they have the means.
“It doesn’t raise any red flags,” he said. “It will draw attention, but not suspicion. They just act like a businessman.”
Three weeks before federal agents arrested D’Monte, Torres said his agency finally had collected enough information to identify the fugitive, noting they never received any tips.
As D’Monte drove through the popular tourist district of Isla Verde on Feb. 25, the agents closed in.
“He acted surprised,” Torres said, adding that he didn’t resist arrest.
On Sunday, the US Coast Guard intercepted a vessel with 179 Haitian migrants approximately 30 miles off Andros, in The Bahamas.
According to a US Coast Guard news release, the occupants were transferred to the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. “An Air Station Clearwater C-130 airplane crew spotted the overloaded vessel at approximately 11:00 p.m. and reported the vessel to the nearby cutters and command center watchstanders,” the release stated.
The authorities did not report the group’s health status of Haitian immigrants or whether they included women and children. They only noted that once they boarded the Coast Guard vessel, “all migrants received food, water, shelter, and medical assistance.”
Lt. Vladimir Jimenez, law enforcement duty officer of the Seventh Coast Guard District command center, added that the Coast Guard and partner agencies continue to patrol in the air and on the water to deter these types of “unsafe voyages.” “The probability of a successful migration voyage is low, and when these voyages are stopped, people should expect to be returned to their country of origin.”
Last January, the US Coast Guard intercepted another boat near the Florida Keys carrying 176 Haitians, ten of whom had to be taken to hospital with symptoms of dehydration.
The US Coast Guard has noted that since October 1, 2021, Coast Guard crews have rescued 993 Haitians compared to 1,527 Haitian migrants in the fiscal year 2021; 418 Haitian migrants in the fiscal year 2020; 932 Haitian migrants in the fiscal year 2019; 609 Haitian migrants in the fiscal year 2018; and 419 Haitian migrants in the fiscal year 2017.
CNW- A Jamaican woman living in Florida will serve 14 years in prison for laundering money for an international cocaine ring that distributed the illegal drug by mail in Western Pennsylvania.
A US District Judge ordered the woman, 54-year-old Marcia Cunningham, to serve 178 months in federal prison for violations of money laundering and narcotics laws.
She had pleaded guilty to the charges during a previous hearing.
The Jamaican woman has been linked to a cocaine ring run by Hector Forbes of California.
Forbes who pleaded guilty in 2020 is awaiting sentencing.
According to the police, Forbes’ operations arranged for the importation of cocaine from Mexico. The cocaine was then distributed through the mail to customers.
Cunningham’s role was to launder the proceeds.
According to the criminal investigation division of the Internal Revenue Service, the Jamaican set up a post office box using fake identification and used dozens of bank accounts to take in drug money and then used it to buy cars, property, jewelry, and other items to support her lavish lifestyle.
She also arranged to use drug money to buy assets in Jamaica where she hoped to return to live.
Prosecutors said Cunningham is not a U.S. citizen and is likely to be deported to Jamaica after serving her prison term.
CNW- The Jamaican government has announced plans to honor Jamaican-American Singer and Civil Rights Activist, Harry Belafonte, for his work as a humanitarian and activist across the diaspora.
In a message to mark Belafonte’s 95th birthday on March 1, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that one of the country’s highways will be renamed in his honor.
“As we celebrate with Harry Belafonte his 95 years, the Government and people of Jamaica…. in this our 60th year of Independence… will name one of our highways after our Titan, in his honor and in recognition of the long road to freedom Harry Belafonte has traversed on behalf of our people,” the Prime Minister said.
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He pointed out that Belafonte “is an icon whose pristine voice, soaring melodies, and music on the global stage, magically matched the rhythm and power of his stride in the march for equal rights, justice, and empowerment.
In saluting his 95 years, the Prime Minister said, “Harry Belafonte’s fierce defense of the dignity and integrity of our people has inspired us to make our own commitment to the struggle towards the fuller, mental freedom asserted by Garvey”.
Referring to Belafonte as a humanitarian and an activist, he said his unflinching stance for upliftment of the Black race, must be celebrated.
“His has been a constant voice against racial prejudice not only in the United States of America but in South Africa and anywhere in the world that injustice reared its ugly head,” he declared.
Prime Minister Holness also said that over the years, Belafonte “decried colonial oppression and has given a life of service to the campaign for the elimination of chronic poverty and disease, under-education, and economic hardships”.
He said the name “Harry Belafonte” is forever affectionately associated with uniting artists, philanthropists, and businessmen in the cause for African redemption. The very well-known USA for Africa was one of his initiatives.
“Harry Belafonte has walked with kings and presidents yet has never lost the common touch. From Jamaica to Rwanda to Kenya to Senegal, he has given voice to the voiceless and hope to the downtrodden,” Holness added.
Harry Belafonte was born in Harlem, New York, to Jamaican parents. From 1932 to 1940, he lived with one of his grandmothers in Jamaica, where he attended Wolmer’s Schools.
He launched his musical career in the late 1940s. His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) became the first LP in the world “to sell over 1 million copies within a year. It also earned him the title of “Calypso King”. Some of his well-known songs included the “Banana Boat Song” (listed as “Day-O” on the Calypso LP), and “Jamaica Farewell”.
Belafonte eventually began recording in different genres of music; and eventually, branched out into acting. Throughout his career, he was also involved in the fight for civil rights.
As one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s confidants, he provided financially for King’s family. During the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, he bailed King out of Birmingham City Jail and raised $50,000 to release other civil rights protesters. He also financed the 1961 Freedom Rides, supported voter registration drives, and helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington.
HAVANA, March 3 (Reuters) – The U.S. Embassy in Havana announced on Thursday it would increase staffing and resume some visa processing in Cuba several years after the Trump administration slashed personnel at the facility following a spate of unexplained health incidents.
The top U.S. diplomat in Havana, Timothy Zuniga-Brown, made the announcement at a news conference, confirming a Reuters report from Monday. read more
Following the drawdown of staff in Havana in 2017, the Trump administration required Cubans to apply for visas in the U.S. embassy in Guyana, a costly trip that few on the island could afford.
Zuniga-Brown’s announcement stressed a “limited resumption of some immigrant visa services” in Havana. It added that Cuban immigrant visas will still be processed primarily in Guyana, while Havana offices will focus on other consular services and “limited emergency non-immigrant visa processing.”
The eventual deployment of additional consular officers to Havana, a result of President Joe Biden’s ongoing review of Cuba policy, will begin to address a more than four-year backlog of requests for immigration visas by Cubans with family in the United States.
It also marks a rare step by the Biden administration to ease restrictions on communist-led Cuba imposed by former Republican President Donald Trump, who rolled back the historic rapprochement overseen by his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama.
Just prior to the announcement, the Cuban government issued a statement to Reuters slamming the Trump-era policy as unjustified and harmful to U.S-Cuba ties.
“Over five years, that decision has had very damaging consequences for the entire Cuban population, as well as for Americans,” said the statement signed by Ines Fors, head of U.S.-Cuba bilateral relations for Cuba’s Foreign Ministry.
The Cuban statement did not directly address the staffing announcement, and Zuniga-Brown did not provide a timeline or numbers for the increase in personnel.
Havana resident Maria de Lourdes Galban, a 35-year old doctor hoping to reunite her two young children with their father in the United States, said she had hoped for more.
“I expected a broader opening and it hurts me because I know that there are thousands of Cubans who are in the same situation and we have been waiting for many years,” she said.
Trump scaled back embassy staff and cut down on visa processing in 2017 after some embassy personnel in Havana became ill with what has become known as “Havana syndrome.” The unexplained illnesses first affected U.S. employees in the Cuban capital but later cropped up in other parts of the world.
The Cuban government has long denied any involvement or knowledge of the incidents.
POLITICAL FALLOUT
In addition to slashing visa processing, Trump restricted remittances to Cuba, scaled back flights to the island and increased hurtles for U.S. citizens seeking to travel to Cuba for anything other than family visits.
The U.S. Embassy on Thursday did not address those issues.
Biden, who served as Obama’s vice president, had promised during the 2020 election campaign against Trump to re-engage with Cuba’s government, and many in both countries expected he would roll back Trump-era restrictions.
The Biden administration instead slapped fresh sanctions on Cuban officials in response to Havana’s crackdown on protesters following widespread marches on the island in July.
Biden officials are mindful that any easing of restrictions on Cuba could lead to political fallout from conservative Cuban Americans, a key voting bloc in south Florida.
But the resumption of visa processing at the embassy is less likely to spur a serious political backlash since a number of Cuban-American lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have backed the idea.
Olga Lidia Pérez, a 67-year old retired doctor in Havana who has waited four years to reunite with her daughters in Florida, said she was left with more questions than answers following the embassy’s announcement this week.
“I still don’t know whether to believe it or not because between Cuba and the United States you never know,” she said. “There is always uncertainty.”
Reporting by Dave Sherwood, additional reporting by Nelson Acosta in Havana and Matt Spetalnick and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by David Alire Garcia, Leslie Adler and Bill Berkrot
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