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American tourist claims #MeToo after alleged sexual assault in Grand Turk

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#Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands – Wednesday August 1, 2018 – An American video blogger and her claims about being sexually assaulted while on a jet ski ride in Grand Turk, has raised considerable alarm among residents and officials; the latter giving a statement about the startling incident.  

Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board Director, Ramon Andrews said in that statement:  “An investigation has been initiated by the Royal Turks and Caicos Police Force. We acknowledge the gravity of the situation and wish to assure our visitors that, while uncommon, any and all reports are taken seriously and are investigated thoroughly.”

Residents shared the near 36-minute long YouTube video over social media with angry comments about the alleged encounter, where the Vlogger who has 34k subscribers claims she was groped in her private area; both she and her friend.  The incident reportedly happened this week and was posted two days ago; so far over 14k people have viewed the post.

The VLOG, entitled: ‘Over 4 hours in Grand Turks Jail #MeToo’ begins as a fun family vacation experience with no indication of trouble for the family. Despite the title of the VLOG, Nikki O was never jailed in Grand Turk.

The family, including two young children, says they spent four hours giving their statements – repeatedly – at the Grand Turk Police Station.  The time spent at the Police station with officers was caught on camera and shared on the Vlog.

Around five minutes into the video the mood shifts dramatically.  The wife and mother of two, alleges that a lifeguard, working for the jet ski operator from whom she rented, sabotaged the watercraft in order to take advantage of both women.  The pair eventually made it back to the beach and reported the alleged incident to the Turks and Caicos Islands Police.

The Vlogger, in her video report, also accused the islands police of viewing her alleged assault archaically, according to the law.  The American also believes the process was unnecessarily long.

Nikki O, who was on board a Carnival Cruise ship said she does not blame the cruise liner and explained that the ship was forced to depart late due to her ordeal.    

The Vlogger has vowed to press charges and informed Police that she would be willing to return to the Turks and Caicos to see the case through.

Tourism Officials added in their statement issued Tuesday that, “The safety and security of our visitors are paramount and we are engaging the relevant stakeholders to enhance industry oversight so that our visitors can enjoy our water-sports activities and other attractions without apprehension.”

Nikki O. is asking subscribers to share the video.

It is said that Royal Turks and Caicos Police will treat the incident as two separate cases.

Magnetic Media is a Telly Award winning multi-media company specializing in creating compelling and socially uplifting TV and Radio broadcast programming as a means for advertising and public relations exposure for its clients.

Caribbean News

Millions to come from FSC 

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Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

 

 

#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – Revenue from the Turks and Caicos’ Financial Services Sector will more than double in the next few years, if E Jay Saunders, Deputy Premier and Finance Minister gets his way.  It ‘s one of the reasons the country is investing so much capital into getting off of the EU blacklist and becoming a secure trustworthy financial destination. 

“The FSC’s revenues for 2020/21 was $10.5M— the figures for 2021/22, would be about similar,” he said.  He further explained that $10.5 million from the FSC represented about 2.6 percent of the country’s 408.5-million-dollar revenue.  Though it increased to $14 million in the 2021/22 financial year, finance is still a small fry compared to tourism or even stamp duties but that will change, says Saunders. 

“My revenue goal for the Government by the year 2029 [or] the election after the next election – is $500M.  By that time, I want the financial sector (FSC) revenues to represent at least 5% ($25M).  So that’s my goal for the financial sector by 2029.” 

This goal, should it be met, would increase the Government’s revenue by 100 million dollars, a significant increase in spending power for local upgrades and improvements for Turks and Caicos residents and visitors. 

Saunders says it’s time for the TCI to diversify its sources of revenue to make sure that what happened in the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw residents out of a job for months, will not happen again.  Tourism now makes up around 80 percent of the country’s GDP.  The Minister of Finance wants to push that down to 60 or even 50 percent.  

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Caribbean News

New ASHLEY’S LEARNING CENTRE CONCERT

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Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer

 

 

#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – Musicians from the New World Symphony will be in the Turks and Caicos in concert next month and residents are invited to attend in support of the future of Ashley’s Learning Center.

A fairly young orchestral academy based in Miami, the New World Symphony was launched in the 1980s by 1987, Michael Tilson Thomas and Ted Arison,Carnival Cruises founder.  From the 1500 applicants who vie for a spot each year, the symphony accepts around 35 music graduates annually for training fellowships. 

A select few of those graduates will be in country on April 8th headlining at the Ashley’s Learning Center concert ‘We’re all in this together’.  The concert which also feature local artistes will be held at Brayton Hall on Venetian Road from 6 pm to 8:30 pm

Tickets are available ON ISLEHELP  $75 PER GENERAL SEAT $125 PER PREMIUM SEAT $195 PER GALLERY SEAT – with /FREFRESHMENTS. 

For TICKET RESERVATIONs you can call: 649-341-2304 or email  EVENTS@ASHLEYSLEARNINGCENTER.ORG 

 

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Caribbean News

Women’s Health Connectivity and health a study for TCI’S benefit

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Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

 

 

#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – As the country moves toward new fiber optic connectivity, bridging the digital divide could be a game changer for healthcare and other family-friendly services in the TCI. 

The power of universal digital connectivity across countries was one of the recurring themes when the United Nations in partnership with the Network of Afro Caribbean Women and the Diaspora recently explored how technology, innovation and education are being used to address women’s health issues. 

The session aimed to highlight success stories and  explore how those processes can be replicated to help women and girls globally including in The Turks and Caicos.  

The UN explained that despite holding a 70 percent majority in healthcare jobs, women are poorly represented in leadership roles and subject to systemic gender inequalities that can make receiving healthcare challenging.

As delegates from Chile and Rwanda, who were also partners in the session, shared the upgrades to their countries’ systems that had significantly improved the level of care available to their women, digital connectivity was a deciding factor.

In Rwanda the health ministries have begun to use drones to deliver medicine, SMS messages to alert about health threats and a completely digitized health care that eliminates paper documents for pregnant women and makes records accessible to any doctor,  immediately. 

Rwandan delegate, Rose Rwabuhihi shared tips that countries should keep in mind when trying to implement new processes to benefit women and the wider community.

  • Partnership and sustainability are key factors to successful programs. She urged governments not to give up on projects or allow their partners to give up on them halfway.
  • Education campaigns to introduce residents to the technology: “We need to build skills and deepen the knowledge so they can use the innovations that have been put in place especially in rural areas.

Poor connectivity and technological issues have plagued the TCI for years especially in the islands outside of Providenciales.  Government has substantially acknowledged this disparity in communications services and is investing in a new undersea cable to augment services in the Turks and Caicos.

The UNs perspectives can now ignite a fire for even more family friendly, digital services.

In fact,Senator Yasna Provoste Campillay, the Chilean Delegate explained how connectivity and videoconferencing had been used to reach the county’s women in the most rural of areas. Chile is a long country, its landmass spread lengthwise creating unique communication challenges. While healthcare in Chile is separated by length the Turks and Caicos islands are disconnected by the ocean and solutions that prove useful for the South American country could well be worth implementing  locally. 

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