Highlights from the Print Newspaper edition - Issue No. 444

Updated as of | Tuesday, 15 July 2003 | 4:00PM

Up Front

• Another Aircraft for CAL?
• Community College Graduates 2003
• Second Quarter Planning Approvals Rise in 2003
• World Report

News

• CUC urges its customers to reduce electrical consumption for Summer
• Net News to start Brac Series
• JGHS students receive Red Cross training
• Police clarify learner plates confusion
• Parent Support Group hosts final meeting for 2003
• Digicel congratulates Cayman on liberalisation
• A L Thompson's hurricane home protection showcase extended
• Submissions invited for Community Resource Handbook
• Address to the 2003 Graduating Class of the Community College of the Cayman Islands

Editorial

• Our Legal Aid System

News Analysis

• The United States faces unexpected Iran dilemma
• The Mystery of the Missing Weapons

Letter to the Editor

• Question about telephone rates still to be addressed

Current Commentary

• Blair's credibility hurt

US Immigration korner

• US Immigration korner

Health Today

• Protect your family during mosquito season

Overseas People

• Willie Nelson still 'Live and Kickin'

Overseas News

• Singapore eases ban on gays
• Cell phone scofflaws top-up city coffers
• Pope says priests to remain celibate
• BBC still at odds with British government
• Court-martial urged for muslim sergeant
• Owner gets 2 years in dog mauling death

News From Our Region

• Guyana will be refuelling station for United States troops en route to Liberia
• Caricom wants meeting with T&T opposition leader
• UNC fears violence in upcoming election
• JHTA president optimistic about tourism
• CARICOM leaders to meet Bush

Cayman Net News Daily Comics

• Cayman Net News Daily Comics

Sports

• Thorpe poised to dominate world's best
• Malone to join Shaq, Kobe, Payton with Los Angeles: report
• Arsenal rule out possibility of Henry sale at any price
• Keith Tibbetts wins battle of Bull Run
• Pan Am Games ceremonies shaping up to be magnificent productions
• Scholars Men's Soccer Classic
• Bodden Town youth football camp

Sports SUMMARY

• Sports SUMMARY

Up Front

Our national airline has applied to fly regular non-stop service to Chicago, and is keen to add another route to Boston next year, creating the need for

Another Aircraft for CAL?

The Hon. McKeeva Bush said he was "going to the Legislative Assembly Finance Committee as early as next week" to discuss the purchase of another aircraft for Cayman Airways (CAL).

Mr. Mike Adam

The Leader of Government Business made the remark toward the end of a joint press conference held last Thursday at the Government Administration Offices to announce that CAL has applied to make regular flights to Chicago, and that the Ministry of Tourism would host a Cayman Expo in the Windy City in August.

CAL has applied to make non-stop flights to Chicago's Midway Airport starting in mid-December, CEO Mr. Mike Adam said. The airline will seek to fly to Chicago three times per week initially, and plans to maintain the route year round.

In conjunction with the new route, the Tourism Minister McKeeva Bush, announced that this Ministry would work along with the Department of Tourism and CAL to host a one-day Cayman Expo in Chicago on 15 August at a yet-to-be-determined venue.

The purpose of the Cayman Expo will be to increase awareness of the Cayman Islands to an area market that ranks second only to the New York area in terms of air arrival tourists.

The percentage of overall air arrival tourists from the Chicago region has increased dramatically over the past year. In 2002, the region amounted to 20.8 percent of overall air arrival tourist from the US, but so far this year, the figure has jumped noticeably to 35.4 percent of all air arrivals.

Mr. Bush also pointed out that Chicago also has a significant presence of finance-related industries, making it an attractive market to pursue for more than just tourism.

As part of the Expo, Cayman Airways will offer a charter flight to and from Chicago leaving 13 August and returning 17 August. A special price will be offered to residents of both the Cayman Islands and Chicago. Cayman residents will only pay $372 plus taxes for the round trip, while Chicago residents will pay $500 for a package that includes accommodations at the Marriott Beach Resort.

CAL's Mr. Adam said that the regular flights to Chicago will not require the reduction of flights to currently existing routes. "In fact, we are adding frequency to our other routes," he said. Mr. Adam said that the airline would add three more flights per week to Ft. Lauderdale in December, and one more flight a week to Cuba in late October.

With regard to the Ft. Lauderdale route, Mr. Adam said he was pleased with the way the route has progressed, and noted that there has been a gradual shift from Cayman residents using that route over Miami to travel to South Florida. One aspect in particular that has helped is the developing of relationships with the low-cost airlines that service the Ft. Lauderdale airport. "We are now even working well with Southwest Airlines, who were not very cooperative at first."

Mr. Adam said that the new Chicago route and added frequencies to Ft. Lauderdale and Cuba would not require additional aircraft. However, should the airline take other routes, such as the Boston route they want to start in 2004 along with another East Coast City, another aircraft would become necessary.

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Among the graduating students were Gregory Clarke, with an electrical technology diploma, and Samara Smith, who graduated with a diploma in computer studies.

At 132-strong, the 2003 graduates of the Community College made history on Thursday, 11 July as the largest class so far to achieve the right to participate in that local institution's important rite of passage to new careers, further education and other horizons ahead.

Heading up the group of graduates honoured at yesterday's ceremony at the college was Valedictorian Cornell Ritch, who earned the Cable & Wireless Award for the highest grade point average (GPA) among those pursuing the associate degree in business administration. Mr. Ritch also claimed top honours as the graduate with highest overall GPA.
Mr. Ritch's success as a mature student juggling job, school and family life, seemed all the more remarkable in that his wife, Lisa, also graduated from the associate degree programme.
In his inspiring speech on behalf of fellow graduates, the father of two noted: "When I decided to attend college, many of my co-workers and friends stated that they could never do it. My response to them on a night like this is, 'Yes, you can ­ just set your sights on your goal, ask God for the fortitude, muster up the courage, reorganize your priorities, and go for it."

The Hon. McKeeva Bush, Leader of Government Business, delivered the address to graduates. The Minister spoke of the investment of Government in education, with 15% of the recurrent budget going to education. This provided for some 100 new scholarships and many other initiatives aimed at equipping students for success as life-long learners.
In the process of their quest for fulfilment, Mr. Bush said, students were exhorted to take courageous positions when required. Quoting Martin Luther King, Mr. Bush said: "'The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.'"

He urged graduates also not to rest on "laurels of comfort and convenience," but to give back to the community. "Have the courage by your words and actions to make a difference."
In the process, Minister Bush said, they should nurture belief in themselves: "Do not believe that you, and you, and you, have nothing to contribute. Do not accept that you can't do anything about discrimination and injustice when you see it. Look for ways to stand up for what you believe in, to lend a helping hand to those in need. I am not talking about money, although sometimes that will be needed, too. I am talking about your time and your talents, and finding ways to help your fellow man, even if it's only lending a sympathetic ear. Living life well involves courage; the ability to take a stand, to stand up for what you believe in, the backbone not to allow yourself to be beaten down or made to feel a failure."
Quoting Eleanor Roosevelt, he concluded:

"'No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.'" In this quincentennial year, in particular, with its focus on the Islands' accomplishments, "Every Caymanian should feel proud of his or her heritage. It is a cause for celebration, not only of where we have come from, but of where we are going. Each one of you graduates has a part to play in this journey."

In his address, Valedictorian Ritch spoke to how well the college had equipped students for these new challenges. Some of the demands by the college's professors might have seemed harsh, he said, "but the reality of the situation is that in the workplace there is little room for mediocrity, complacency and non-performance, and in many ways the level of discipline throughout the college has galvanized the quality of education we have received."

Mr. Ritch identified "attitude" as a key attribute: "I can tell you tonight that even if you have a PhD, a poor workplace attitude will get you nowhere."

He, too, encouraged life-long learning, quoting philosopher Will Durant: "Education is a progressive discovery of your own ignorance." He urged that his fellow graduates not delay continuing their education: "Don't get blindsided by the first job you see, or the ease of getting a new car loan, or renting your apartment and having a taste of independence. Make education your number one priority NOW, aim for absolute excellence, and never settle for better when the best is within reach."

In a closing quote by Emile Zola he underlined the essential determining factor of hard work: "The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work."

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The first and second-quarter planning approvals of 2003 indicate a significant economic revival in Grand Cayman.

A total of 316 applications valued at CI$63.2 million were approved in the second quarter of 2003, an increase of 15% from 2002 figures.

The number of house approvals increased 26%, to 115 in the second quarter of 2003 from 91 in last year's second quarter. The value of houses also increased to CI$22.6 million in 2003 from CI$18.5 million in 2002.

Although the value of approvals in the apartment sector was down, the number of approvals increased significantly, with a 114% climb to 47 approvals in the second quarter of 2003 from the 22 approvals in the second quarter of 2002. While the commercial sector approvals decreased from 22 to 16, the industrial sector increased from three to four approvals.

The Planning Department expects to see this progress continue for the remainder of the year.

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Britain's first Iraq dossier as "dodgy" as the second: report

LONDON (AFP) ­ The British government faced a fresh allegation last week that last September's dossier on Iraq used information lifted from the Internet to reinforce the case for war just as did the later, now discredited "dodgy" dossier, published in February.

The Independent newspaper reported that the document showed at least six separate items on Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction were lifted from reports up to 21 months old. Downing Street has acknowledged that it made a mistake in failing to credit work by an American student used in its February dossier, but has stoutly defended the integrity of the September document.

US Representative Ed Markey

Britain's first Iraq dossier as "dodgy" as the second: report

WASHINGTON (AFP) ­ Democrats in the US House of Representatives sent a letter to the White House seeking an explanation about how the George W. Bush administration came to use flawed intelligence in making the case for the US-led war in Iraq. The letter, signed by 16 representatives, expressed concern about "disturbing and serious questions about the credibility of the information your administration presented to the Congress and the American public about the nature and scope of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction."

Lawmakers said they were also worried about possible "manipulation or exaggeration of intelligence."

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CUC urges its customers to reduce electrical consumption for Summer

Summer is here ­ the time of year when electrical consumption usually increases ­ and to help its customers lower their electrical bills, CUC is hosting energy conservation seminars for all districts during July.

These presentations will give customers the opportunity to learn how to live better for less by making lifestyle changes and utilising energy-efficient products.

The presentation for residents of the Eastern Districts (Bodden Town, North Side and East End) will be held Tuesday, 15th July at the Bodden Town Civic Centre beginning at 6:30 p.m. George Town residents will have their turn on Thursday, 17th July in the Mary Miller Hall and West Bay's presentation will take place on Tuesday, 22nd July at the John A. Cumber Primary School Hall, both beginning at 7 pm.

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Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, 16 July Cayman Net News will put the spotlight on one of Grand Cayman's Sister Islands ­ Cayman Brac ­ with a three-part series that will address the current issues and concerns facing residents there.

The report follows a visit to the Brac by Cayman Net News to investigate reports of difficult times on that Island.

Each part of the series will provide a sense of the difficulties facing Brackers these days, and what some of the residents would like to see happen on their Island, from giving young Brackers an incentive to stay, to summarising new strategies for attracting tourism and development.

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Red Cross Trainer Racquel Solomon speaks to a group of year ten John Gray High School students during the course.

A group of year ten John Gray High School students recently participated in a three-day workshop as part of the "Together We Can HIV/AIDS Peer Education Programme."

The programme, which is used in several Caribbean countries, is a Red Cross initiative that focuses on training students to educate their peers about HIV/AIDS, said Red Cross Community Service Officer Sarah Bryce.

During the course students received lectures from various guest speakers including Red Cross Trainer Racquel Solomon, Nurse Pauline Ffrench and an HIV positive individual. They also participated in activities from the "Kids Against AIDS Peer Training Programme", which was developed in Jamaica and specifically designed for children in the Caribbean.

At the beginning of the new academic year the peer educators will begin teaching their peers in tutor groups. The training will be incorporated into the year 11 Life Skills programme.
For more information on the programme contact the Red Cross at 949-6785.

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The Royal Cayman Islands Police say that there has been some recent confusion with regards to the display of learner plates (L Plates) and as a consequence a number of offences contravening the Traffic Regulations have been noted.

The Traffic Regulations clearly state that the L-plates must be prominently displayed on the front and rear of a vehicle and only displayed as such when the holder of a provisional licence is driving that vehicle. The L-plates are to be removed when the learner is no longer driving the vehicle.

Police Officers have noted, on some vehicles, the L-plates are not being removed when the learner ceases to drive.

The penalty for contravening this law is a fine of up to $500 and/or 6 months imprisonment.

For more information relating to this law, refer to Section 8 of the Traffic Regulations (2002 Revision).

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Mr. Roy Allen, representative parent of CIEIP Parent Support Group and Mrs. Darlene Elliott, winner of the first prize.

Ms. Carla Bodden, representative of CIEIP Parent Support Group and Mr. Chris Solomon and little Zoe Solomon.

The Cayman Islands Early Intervention Programme Parent Support Group held its last monthly meeting for the school year on June 18. At this meeting, parents had an opportunity to get some hands-on practice
on some family summer activities. The fundraising raffle also took place during this function and the lucky winner of the first prize of two airline tickets was Mrs. Darlene Elliott. A monetary donation was also made to Mr. Christopher Solomon, father of little Zoe Solomon who is awaiting a heart transplant. The staff and parents would like to thank all those who contributed to making the raffle a success.

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Mr. Seamus Lynch, Chief Executive of Digicel's, Jamaica.

With the ushering in of competition in its telecommunications market, Digicel, one of the companies that have expressed interest in providing services to the islands, has extended congratulations to the government and people of the Cayman Islands on ending the country's monopoly.

Digicel's comments follow the disclosure last Thursday of the details of the Main Agreement reached between Cable & Wireless and the Government on a timetable for the introduction of competition, following an announcement on 10 June, of a tentative agreement reached with the incumbent provider.
"As one of the companies interested in bringing services to the Cayman Islands, we have been watching the process closely and are quite impressed with the obvious hard work that both the Government and Cable & Wireless have put into the negotiations for an open and competitive telecommunications market," said Mr. Seamus Lynch, Chief Executive of Digicel's operations in Jamaica.

"We congratulate both parties and the people of the Cayman Islands on taking this step forward."

He noted that a new competitive environment will ensure that customers in the Cayman Islands have a choice of the most up-to-date technology and a greater variety of services.

"As we have seen in Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and other recently liberalized markets, the introduction of other service providers has helped to reduce prices, which has been extremely beneficial to customers.

"Our own operations in these markets have helped to generate new business, create employment, and provide local and international training for staff.

"The people of the Cayman Islands can look forward to the same kinds of benefits, as a result of competition," he added.

In more than two years of operation in Jamaica, Digicel has captured over 60 percent of the mobile market share and has become the premier mobile service provider in St. Lucia and St. Vincent, after only three months, rapidly outpacing both Cable & Wireless and AT&T Wireless.

Digicel has acquired licences to operate in Barbados, Aruba and Grenada, and is also seeking to set up operations in Trinidad & Tobago and the Turks & Caicos Islands.

The signing of the Main Agreement means that interested companies can now submit applications for telecommunications lice-nces. It is understood that some 14 entities have already expressed interest in applying.

The agreement allows for competition in the domestic fixed line service from 10 July, provision of Internet service from 1 November and domestic mobile competition from 1 February, 2004. As of 1 April, 2004, all international calls become open to competition.

Digicel says that it intends to apply for a full service licence in the Cayman Islands. This will allow the company to deliver the full range of telecommunications services, including Internet and international call services for individuals and business enterprises across a wireless network.

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Residents who may be considering home protection products in light of Tropical Storm Claudette's potential to impact our Islands may wish to visit the AL Thompson's showcase at the Sound Road depot.
The showcase was a coordinated effort among several local merchants who carry various hurricane products. Due to strong interest from the public, the showcase will remain open through to the end of this month. Participating merchants are: A L Thompson, Active Traders, Cayman Aluminium, Hydes & Sons, Caribbean Securities, and C L Flowers & Sons.

The National Hurricane Committee (NHC) has sponsored this event. With 2003 being classified as an "El Nino" year, tropical storm activity is expected to be higher than usual. In view of this the NHC encourages residents to heighten plans to protect their homes and property.

While merchants will not be on hand at the showcase during the period of the display, they would be happy to discuss suitability of products to specific home protection needs on contact with their businesses.

The NHC plans a second visual and interactive showcase, this time incorporating exhibits by its subcommittees, at the CITN Home and Garden showcase on Saturday 19 July, at the Family Life Centre on Walkers Road.

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Health, education and religious organizations, as well as service clubs, professional associations and
non-profit organizations are invited to submit information for a national directory of resources and services.

The goal of the Community Resource Handbook project is to compile a comprehensive listing of all of the services and programmes available in the community in order to best serve all types of clientele and the general public.

Persons working in the helping professions (i.e. counsellors, social workers, community workers, police officers, medical workers, clergy, etc.) within public and private sector organizations and the general public are the audiences specifically being targeted to utilize the Community Resource Handbook.
This new, comprehensive listing will include many public services, from counselling to employment services, and is being compiled by the Ministry of Community Services, Youth, Sports and Gender Affairs, under the coordination of the Women's Resource Centre (WRC) and with support from the Community Development Unit.

The resources or programmes listed will include those offered free and with fees, and will include services and programmes provided by public as well as private sector organizations.

Organizations wishing to submit information for the Community Resource Handbook can obtain the form from the WRC's website www.gov.ky/wrc and should submit the form by 15th July, 2003. For more information, please contact the WRC in Elizabethan Square on telephone 949-0006, or e-mail tammy.ebanks-bishop@gov.ky.

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By the Leader of Government Business - Hon. W. McKeeva Bush, OBE, JP

The Hon. McKeeva Bush, Leader of Government Business, delivering the graduation message. Seated behind him are, from right, the Hon. Roy Bodden, Minister of Education; Mr. Danny Scott, chairman of the Board of Governors; and Mr. Bill Bissell, deputy chairman of the board.

Mr Master of Ceremonies, Honourable Ministers of Executive Council, Honourable Members of the Legislative Assembly, Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Basdeo, Chairman and Members of the Board of Governors, President Mr. Basdeo, staff of the Community College, distinguished guests, family and friends, graduates good evening!

Anyone who attends the rounds of school graduations, whether they are for primary or high schools, or like tonight, the Community College cannot fail to be impressed. If the talents and ability of our students are any indication of the country's health, then we are a healthy country indeed. My government has earmarked 15% of the recurrent budget for education, including 100 new scholarships for tertiary education, and $1 million dollars for private schools. We are proud of the ITALIC programme which will improve teaching and learning in all our schools and prepare our students to be life-long learners in the 21st Century.

I would like on behalf of the government to offer congratulations to each of the graduates tonight, and to encourage you to continue your search for knowledge and information. In the famous words of the United States Army recruiters "Your country NEEDS you, yes every one of you!"

Tonight however I don't intend to talk about budgets, or politics I want to talk about a quality which we don't hear much about, but which is crucial to a strong, vibrant county. The kind of Cayman Islands that we are aspiring to build.

This quality is Courage. In the words of Rollo May, "Courage is not a virtue or value among other personal values like love or fidelity. It is the foundation that underlies and gives reality to all other virtues." Courage is a crucial attribute in nation-building.

Our country, and our economy has been threatened by several international initiatives such as FATF, OECD and more recently the EU Savings Tax Directive. Last year, despite some resistance from nay-sayers we became Associate members of CARICOM.

We were convinced that this closer association and involvement with our Caribbean neighbours is absolutely essential. We are faced with external initiatives that demand communal resources beyond our individual capabilities, and we must be prepared to establish regional coalitions which will assist us, as a small country, to resist damaging external forces.

By forming these alliances now, we signal our vigilance, and show that our courage to challenge, when challenge is merited, is resolute. In the area of constitutional reform, we have sent a strong message to Her Majesty's Government that we are not going to wait until it throws us a constitutional bone. We will prepare ourselves by finding out, whether it is from the United Nations or wherever else, what options are available and what options are most acceptable and suitable for the continuation of Cayman's success.
As Martin Luther King said, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversary." As a government we stand firmly on the wishes of the Caymanian people, and those things necessary for the Cayman Islands continued success.

Graduates, you have worked hard to earn the right to receive your diplomas and certificates tonight. But with rights, come responsibilities. I urge you to consider yourselves as builders of these very special Cayman Islands. Do not rest on the laurels of comfort and convenience, the fact that you have a job waiting for you. There are many Caymanians that don't have a job. There are many organizations which need volunteers. There are many employees who face discrimination in the workplace. These are times of challenge and controversy, both from the outside and from the inside. Have the courage by your words,
and actions to make a difference.

I am calling on each one of you to accept these trying times as a time to demonstrate that you have the mettle of your Caymanian forebears. Do not believe that you, and you, and you, have nothing to contribute. Do not accept that you can't do anything about discrimination and injustice when you see it. Look for ways to stand up for what you believe in, to lend a helping hand to those in need. I am not talking about money, although sometimes that will be needed too. I am talking about your time and your talents, and finding ways to help your fellow-man, even if it's only lending a sympathetic ear. Living life well involves courage; the ability to take a stand, to stand up for what you believe in, the backbone not to allow yourself to be beaten down or made to feel a failure.

As Eleanor Rooseltvelt once said, " no-one can make you feel inferior without your permission." As we look back in this Quintencennial Year, every Caymanian should feel proud of his or her heritage. It is a cause for celebration, not only of where we have come from, but of where we are going. Each one of you graduates has a part to play in this journey.

You are the people who will build this country when people like me and my colleagues are long gone. Your challenges might be different, but the qualities needed for our continued success are the same, and the greatest of these is courage. Courage is the foundation on which a nation is built, courage is the quality that anchors other virtues and personal values. So, be of good heart, gird yourself with the qualities needed to be an asset to the Cayman Islands, including a good education.

Again I congratulate you, and I wish you God's richest blessing on your future.

Thank You.

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Our Legal Aid System

The recent lawsuit initiated by Mr. Barry Randall against Government continues to raise some issues that should be of great concern to the community n general.

The curious method by which legal aid is currently considered and granted or denied brings the effectiveness of the system into question. In Cayman, this process is carried out and administered by the court itself under the provisions of the Legal Aid Law (1999 Revision) and its associated rules.
In civil matters especially, this represents a seemingly inherent flaw in the system because the judge dealing with an application for legal aid is required to make a preliminary decision as to the merits of the applicant's case.

This means that before any substantive hearing has been held, the court must make a ruling on an important element of the case, and such a decision seems fundamentally premature. Furthermore, this system appears to give rise to a potential conflict of interest where the court itself is the source of complaint.

There is a long-established legal principle of "equality of arms" and where, in any adversarial proceedings, the parties are unequally matched in terms of representation, the inevitable result is an unfair trial. Very often, by denying legal aid, the court may in essence be offering only an inequitable trial to a litigant and, in the light of recent events, raises some troubling questions. After all, as the saying goes, justice must not only be done, it must also be seen to be done.

It is interesting to contrast Cayman's system with the one currently in force in England, where the Legal Services Commission, whose members are appointed by the Lord Chancellor but are independent of the judiciary, coordinates the various sources of civil legal services and funding.

In addition, the "merits test" has been replaced by a combination of public interest criteria and greater reliance on "conditional fee agreements" between attorneys and clients in England. Perhaps the time has come for the Cayman Islands to consider the establishment of such an independent body here to fulfill the same function, together with an amendment to the existing law to allow attorneys to work on a conditional fee basis.

Another issue concerns the question of compensation to victims who may suffer consequently from court rulings. Again, in England this is handled through an ex gratia compensation scheme operated by the Home Secretary, in parallel with certain statutory rights conferred by the Criminal Justice Act 1988. Both of these were promulgated to fulfill the United Kingdom's obligations under Article 14(6) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1977).

Although, the United Kingdom has exactly the same obligations towards the people of the Cayman Islands, neither the Foreign and Commonwealth Office nor our own Government have ever been sufficiently motivated to put in place a similar scheme for compensation.

We suggest that the time has come to consider the establishment of such a scheme. It may be that these proposals will be unpalatable for whatever reason to some people but, if the country is to rehabilitate its less than stellar reputation in the area of individual rights, we have to come to grips with issues of this nature sooner rather than later.

With Cayman developing as it has over the years, it is perhaps now appropriate that certain aspects of our judiciary system be developed as well so as to keep pace with some of our other advancements.

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The United States faces unexpected Iran dilemma

By RICHARD TOMKINS, UPI White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (UPI) - The United States may be angling to draw a new bead on Iran, the second compass point in the "axis of evil" and a major sponsor of international terrorism, with the toppling of Iraq's Saddam Hussein and the earlier excising of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Washington abruptly suspended U.S.-Iranian contacts over Iraq last month amid suspicions that a number of al Qaeda members were finding sanctuary in the Islamic republic and had planned the May 12 bombings in Saudi Arabia that killed more than three dozen people, including Americans.

Among the terrorists the United States believes are enjoying safe haven in Iran is Egyptian-born Saif al-Adel, a top al Qaeda military planner.

Tehran has also earned Washington's ire over a nuclear energy program the White House suspects is being used as a cover for efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

An inspection of Iran's Natanz nuclear facility in March by the International Atomic Energy Agency apparently uncovered a nuclear fuel enrichment program far more developed than Iran had previously led the IAEA to believe. It was also discovered that Iran had received nuclear material shipments in the early 1990s from China, something it was supposed to have reported under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, of which it is a signatory.

"I think if you look at what the IAEA has indicated when they were there, the Iranian admission to the IAEA that they are pursuing a full nuclear fuel cycle, while we have not yet received the final report from the IAEA, we do, indeed, have concerns about a country that is awash in gas and oil producing nuclear energy when they don't need nuclear energy for their electric grid, when they don't need nuclear energy to produce energy in their country," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "They have sufficient energy from fossil-fuel sources, from gas and from oil. So that raises a concern.

"And I remind you that the IAEA would not even have been in position to find these facilities had they not been led to these facilities from ... Iranian opposition groups.

"(And) we have had long-standing concerns about the presence of al Qaeda in Iran," he said. "This is a topic that has been discussed and has been communicated to the Iranian government. It is a serious matter and one the president takes seriously."

The U.S. State Department, in its annual report on terrorism, described Iran as the "most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2002." Among the groups it supports by providing money, weapons and training are Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad - organizations actively engaged in anti-Israeli terrorism and totally opposed to any Middle East peace process.

Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, has been accused of engaging in anti-American terrorism. It is blamed for the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 people; the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that same year that killed 60; and the execution of a U.S. serviceman aboard a hijacked airliner in 1985.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad are believed heavily involved in the suicide bombings in Israel that have continually torpedoed attempts to bring Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table.
"If there is a poster child for the axis of evil, it is Iran," said Peter Brookes, an analyst with the Washington-based Heritage Organization think tank. "We've given them the opportunity to change their ways, and they haven't.

"It's a burgeoning foreign policy problem for the United States and I think the Iranians need to get a strong message similar to the one Syria received."

Syria, also on the State Department list of suspect states, has since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, cooperated more fully with the United States and others against al Qaeda. Reported aid to Saddam - including the sending of night vision goggles to his troops and allowing its territory to be a transit point for extremists to enter Iraq during the conflict with the United States - brought a swift warning from Washington, which resulted in more circumspect actions by Damascus authorities.
Tehran claims it does not knowingly harbor al Qaeda operatives and points to the fact that it has arrested a number of them. But names of the suspects and their disposition have not been communicated to the U.S. government or others.

"Al Qaeda and Iran are not natural allies, but the fact is both of them consider America and Israel as enemies No. 1. It's an enemy of my enemy is my friend situation," Brookes said.
A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran's current response to dealing with suspected al Qaeda operatives in the country was "insufficient." However, the official also pointed out that Tehran has cooperated somewhat in the past on al Qaeda, arresting and turning suspects over to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

"I think Iran just needs to reach the same conclusions that virtually every other nation on Earth has reached, which is terrorists do not deserve support anywhere - the support of people who kill, who take innocents, who use acts of violence against innocents as a way of life is not a policy that any nation should take upon itself to support or harbor," Fleischer said in a news briefing recently.

"We are pressing the Iranians to end their support for terror, including the harboring of al-Qaida terrorists ... And we will continue to press Iran to end its nuclear weapons program."

Iran was once a staunch U.S. ally until the 1979 overthrow of the repressive monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Palavi by Islamist militants and their more secular allies, who later were marginalized if not outright banned from politics.

The capturing of the U.S. Embassy in 1979 by militant students and the holding hostage of 52 Americans for 444 days put the finishing touches on normal relations. Washington and Tehran do not have formal diplomatic ties, and the United States - the Great Satan in Iranian Islamist parlance - imposes some economic sanctions on the country.

Iran today holds both promise and threat for Washington, which in the past has tried to promote through statements the moderate, reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami, who has affected a modicum of relaxed social strictures and better cooperation with the West.

But Khatami is also hamstrung by Iran's Guardians Council of clerics, who have final say over any legislation and thus can stop any liberalizing measure that would lessen their clout. The resultant tussle has produced an almost contradictory dichotomy in Iran today: a younger generation chaffing under some Islamist restrictions and wanting more political participation, and an electorate that has become apathetic, believing their vote will do no good.

Following the Saudi bombings, there was some speculation in Washington that the Bush administration would in some way increase its support for reformers and/or try to foster regime change.

One scenario was Washington giving material aid to the Mujahedin e Khalq, a guerrilla army of Iranians that was based in Iraq and supported by Saddam.

When U.S. forces captured Iraq, it disarmed the guerrillas - payback to Tehran for its non-interference in the conflict and its pledge to return any U.S. flyers who may have had to crash land in Iran.

A complication, however, is that the Mujahedin are on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations. Also, during the Iranian revolution, it was known to have a Marxist bent.

Another complication is the fact that any support for the Mujahedin or other dissident groups could result in a backlash among the Iranians against what would be perceived as foreign interference.
The Bush administration has ruled out military force against Iran, which has a sizable and well-trained military.

"I think there's no question that Iranian society is going through some very serious internal debates about the future that the Iranian people want for themselves," Fleischer said. "Iran is one of the youngest nations on Earth in terms of the percentage of its population that is under 30 years old. And it is represented by a leadership that many Iranians do not see as meeting the needs, their human rights, and their basic wants. And these are issues that the Iranian people will sort out."

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By William S. Lind, UPI Senior News Analyst

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Where are all the vast quantities of Weapons of Mass Destruction that we supposedly went to war with Iraq to destroy or capture? Almost three months after the United States took Baghdad, they are still nowhere to be found. You might as well bet good money on the planet Mars having canals, complete with gondolas and singing gondoliers.

The issue is not a minor one. The American public, with its all-too-vivid memories of the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks of "9/11," was fed lurid tales and supposed "intelligence assessments" filled with apparently irrefutable statistics.

According to data compiled by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, the United States and Britain told the world that Saddam had 500 tons of mustard and nerve gas, 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum, almost 30,000 banned munitions and the tornado that abducted Dorothy out of Kansas to the land of Oz. Yet so far, all we have found is two empty trailers.

Since Saddam's WMD were one of the principal stated reasons for this strategically curious war, their absence is something more than a social faux pas. Were the American and British publics, as Pat Buchanan puts it, lied into war? If they were, it would not be the first time.

In Britain, the practice goes back at least as far as the 18th century and the War of Jenkin's Ear. Americans were lied into World War I by cartoons of German soldiers bayoneting Belgian babies and into Vietnam by an alleged 1964 Gulf of Tonkin torpedo boat attack on the U.S. Navy that never happened.
There are, of course, other possibilities. It may have been simply an intelligence failure. That is the least disturbing possibility, because the others are worse.

One is that someone in the chain of military intelligence deliberately cooked the books. If they did so, it was probably to curry favor with their political and budgetary masters, who let it be known what "findings" they wanted. This sort of corruption is now endemic in Washington.

Virtually every federal agency, including the armed forces, has accepted the rightness of doing and saying anything to get money. Budget size is the universal measurement of success, and whatever pleases those who allocate funds is wholesome and good. What the late, great military strategist John Boyd said of the Pentagon is now universal: "It is not true they have no strategy. They do have a strategy, and once you understand what it is, everything they do makes sense. The strategy is, 'Don't interrupt the money flow; add to it.'"

Another possibility is more disturbing still, and regrettably I have to say I think it is a certainty. Those who use military intelligence do not understand what it is.

Throughout history, in virtually every conflict, a universal law has applied. That law says that when it comes to military intelligence, whatever you think you know is incomplete, and some of it is wrong. You don't know what you don't know, you don't know how much you don't know, and you don't know what part of what you think you know is wrong.

As part of the so-called "Revolution in Military Affairs," which promises to turn war into a video game, many intelligence users, both military and civilian, have come to think of military intelligence as "hard data."

RMA touts have long and loudly promised perfect information, on both your own side -- for in war, just knowing what your own forces are doing is difficult -- and the enemy. The military therefore talks about "information dominance" --for just a few more billion dollars. But the concept is misleading, to say the least.

It may be -- though I doubt it -- that our intelligence agencies really believed Saddam had all that stuff. But even if that is what they reported to the decision-makers, the decision-makers should have known better than to swallow it. If they did not know that, they are not fit to be making military decisions. They lack the most basic understanding of the nature of military intelligence, a nature that no technology can alter and, indeed, can easily make worse, by making the errors more convincing.

The upshot is that we went to war and wrecked a country over something that, barring an unlikely revelation, was not true. Yet the American people don't seem to care. Perhaps they expect to be misled by their government, or, more likely, they have just changed the channel.

But the rest of the world does care. The international credibility of U.S. assertions based on military intelligence is now zero. When we make claims about other countries -- as we are now doing about Iran -- not a soul will believe them, even when they happen to be true. At some point, Americans will stop believing them as well.

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Question about telephone rates still to be addressed

Dear Sir,

Much has been said, printed and advertised over the past weeks regarding lower/reduced/savings on the newly negotiated telephone rates as they apply to all of us.

However, I think that every telephone subscriber in these Islands would welcome an indication of whatever savings (or increases) over the existing (old) rates that can be expected for private and commercial subscribers in the following categories based on the newly established rates.

1. Basic monthly subscribers charge.

2. Fixed line to line at all times within Grand Cayman for first three minutes and for each additional three minutes.

3. As above for calls within Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.

4. As above within the three Cayman Islands.

5. As above between Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.

Perhaps the contenders to provide telecom services could provide answers to the above questions to the public.

Richard E. Arch

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Blair's credibility severely harmed

By Peter Almond

British Prime Minister Tony Blair

LONDON (UPI) ­ With the words, "The jury is still out," a Labor Party-dominated parliamentary committee has raised concerns about the British government's assessments of the threat from Iraq, and posed a longer-term question of whether the nation will ever again go to war based so heavily on the strength of intelligence assessments.

Unlike U.S. President George W. Bush's apparent regime-change motives, British Prime Minister Tony Blair built his case for war almost exclusively on the immediate threat to British and world interests by Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction. With a majority of the British public against him, Blair declared the secret intelligence he saw was of such convincing quality there was no choice but to go to war once the United Nations could not be persuaded to take action.

But for the past five weeks, he and his senior aides have had their integrity severely questioned in a vicious spat with the British Broadcasting Corp. In a report, the BBC alleged the government "sexed up" its publicly released intelligence in an effort to make the Iraqi WMD threat more convincing. Its source was a single, unnamed official.

In particular, Blair's communications chief, "spin doctor" Alistair Campbell, was accused of personally ordering alterations and inclusions that intelligence officials regarded as doubtful. One such claim was an assessment that Iraq could launch chemical weapons against the allies within 45 minutes.

An all-party House of Commons foreign affairs committee report absolved Campbell of the charge but concluded Blair had inadvertently "misrepresented" to Parliament one of two key reports on the Iraqi threat. What Blair told Parliament was an "intelligence" dossier turned out to be a 12-year-old doctoral thesis written by an American student and lifted from the Internet with misspellings intact.

A foreign visitor arriving in London might well have wondered how a nation such as Britain could be so self-absorbed in the minutiae of intelligence reports that two great organs of state -- the government and the publicly funded BBC -- should each be claiming they were vindicated and that the other apologize.
Was this not, in American parlance, simply a "Washington Beltway" story between media and government that hardly justified the amount of ink and video coverage?

The public impact was evident on page 1 of The Times: a fresh opinion poll showing public belief that the war was right had dropped from 64 percent in April to 45 percent, almost the same as those who disagreed with it.

More significantly for Blair, 58 percent of the public agreed with the statement, "I wouldn't trust him further than I could throw him" against 38 percent who would trust him. In terms of party politics, Blair's Labor, at 36 percent, is now two points ahead of the opposition Conservatives in popularity, despite a huge lead over the Tories a year ago. The poll did not mention a margin of error, however.

Blair has an uphill battle to regain public confidence. He seemed to acknowledge that in an interview to the Observer newspaper when he said the charge of "sexing up" intelligence was "as serious an attack on my integrity as there could possibly be."

He told another parliamentary committee: "I believe our intelligence will be found not to be wrong at all."
All will come clear, he said, when the coalition's Iraq Survey Group fully gets to work and interviews Iraqi scientists about Saddam's WMD.

"I am very confident that they will find the evidence," he said.

He also defended the intelligence he based his decision to go to war on.
"I have had six years dealing with British intelligence, and I have never in my experience come across a consistent line of reporting that turns out to be wrong," he said.

But times have changed. The absence of a strong opposition in Parliament has left the aggressively competitive media as the only real opposition to Blair's powerful government and put Campbell, a former Daily Mirror journalist, into perhaps the most powerful non-elected position in the government.

Thus the government took seriously the BBC's allegations on "sexed up" intelligence and its reporter's claim that Campbell was behind the "45 minutes" threat.

"Auntie Beeb," as the BBC is known, fiercely guards its editorial independence and is still the most important media organization in Britain. Significantly, an opinion poll last week showed that 64 percent of the public was inclined to believe the BBC, and 19 percent the government.

One thing the Blair-BBC battle has done over the past few weeks is to raise to prominence the question of exactly who are these intelligence sources and how much they can be believed. An intelligence report that said Iraq had imported uranium from Niger had already been found to be false and discredited by the CIA, though Bush used it to make his case for war and attributed it to British intelligence.

The government has insisted the BBC should never have broadcast the news report, which was based on a single, uncorroborated intelligence source that was obviously low-level, without checking with the government for accuracy. The parliamentary committee, however, observed the intelligence source for the report on the ability of Iraq to deploy chemical weapons within 45 minutes came from a single, uncorroborated source (reported to be an Iraqi defector). Both the BBC reporter, Andrew Gilligan, and the government say their sources have been accurate in the past.

On many occasions, journalists have themselves been sources of intelligence for the government, simply by reporting on people and places their own official "spies" have been unable to reach. In many Western embassies, much of the intelligence routinely analyzed and reported back to home government comes from reading foreign newspapers, listening to broadcasts and passing the information back to national capitals.

It is not unknown in Washington and London for "intelligence sources" to have leaked information to a newspaper that had already printed the information from its own foreign correspondent some time earlier. With the origins of so many "intelligence" reports so difficult to verify and so open to manipulation from individuals selectively attempting to justify an ideological or political agenda, some editors have rejected the entire concept of "intelligence writers."

But that hasn't stopped British editorial writers from drawing strong conclusions in Tuesday's papers.
The center-left Guardian praised the Commons committee for its newly assertive role in scrutinizing government, but criticized Blair and Campbell. So did the conservative Daily Telegraph, which also called on Campbell to resign. But the strongest words come from the populist Daily Mail, which said Blair should apologize, criticized him for not allowing the Commons committee to scrutinize his officials, and concluded: "When young British men and women have been ordered to risk their lives in battle -- for reasons still not properly explained -- such a refusal is shameful. Is it any wonder so many people no longer believe a word this government says?"

And the Financial Times concluded: "There is no doubt that this conviction politician (Blair) believed Iraq posed a current and serious threat to the U.K. when he argued the case for invasion in the Commons and elsewhere. The problem is that his conviction led to a search for intelligence to support the case, rather than springing from such evidence. ... If Mr. Blair wishes to restore his reputation as a trusted politician, he should explain how his government came to be so wrong about the threat posed by Iraq -- and if necessary offer an apology for the mistakes made in his name."

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US Immigration Korner

Felicia Persaud

This is a column created especially for immigrants concerned or unsure of issues pertaining to the US Immigration Law. The column will answer some of our readers' frequently asked questions and provide answers from qualified immigration attorneys and advocates lobbying for the US immigration cause.

Q: Is a legal permanent resident able to file for an unmarried son over 21?
A: Yes, says immigration counselor John Stahl, of the Emerald Isle Service. However, the process is now taking about 9-10 years to complete. During this time, the adult child must remain unmarried until they get their green card. Of course, if the parent obtains US citizenship during that time period, the processing time would be cut by half.

Q: Is it true that a person can still use a green card for 6 months after it expires?
A: Theoretically, yes, says Attorney Stephen Yale Loehr, adjunct professor at Cornell University. A person is still a green card holder or legal permanent resident even if the actual "green card" has expired, adds Loehr. So if you don't leave the US, you are OK, even if your green card has expired. To travel overseas and return, however, you will need to have some proof of permanent resident status. So you should file to replace your green card at: http://www.bcis.gov/graphics/fieldoffices/tucson/gcrenewal.htm.

Q: How long does the fiance sponsorship for a K-visa take?
A: The time line from the filing of the petition to the issuance of the visa is approximately six to eight months, assuming there are no problems along the way, says Attorney Dolly Hassan of the Liberty Center for Immigrants.

The K-Visa is very basic. According to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, a "U.S. citizen who will be getting married to a foreign national in the United States may petition for a fiancé(e) classification (K-1) for their fiancé(e)."

Both parties must be free to marry ­ are unmarried or had all other previous marriages ended through divorce, annulment or death. You must also have met with your fiancé(e) in person within the last two years before filing for the fiancé(e) visa. This requirement can be waived only if meeting your fiancé(e) in person would violate long-established customs, or if meeting your fiancé(e) would create extreme hardship for you. You and your fiancé(e) must marry within 90 days of your fiancé(e) entering the United States. You may also apply to bring your fiancé(e)'s unmarried children, who are under age 21, to the United States.
The U.S. citizen must file BCIS Form I-129F (Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) on behalf of a fiancé(e) and provide additionally, Form I-129F Petition for Alien Fiancé(e), evidence of your US citizenship ­ your original U.S. birth certificate, your US passport, your Certificate of Naturalization, or your Certificate of Citizenship, 2 Form G-325A Biographic Data Sheets (one for you and one for your fiancé(e)) and one color photo of you and one of your fiancé(e) taken within 30 days of filing.
Forms are available by calling 1-800-870-3676.

About the writer: Felicia Persaud is a New York-based journalist and head of Hard Beat Communications. If you or someone you know has an immigration question, then email Felicia directly at hardbeatinc@aol.com. Individuals can keep their anonymity if preferred, since questions will not be answered personally!

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Health Today

Protect your family during mosquito season

Experts predicting another long, hot and humid summer are also predicting an increased number of cases of the West Nile Virus, including more fatalities. They say a combination of preventive methods is the best way to combat the mosquito-borne disease.

Dr. Kimberly Thompson, a specialist in risk analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health in Cambridge, Mass., says that vigilance is required in taking precautions against mosquitoes.

"It is best to take a holistic approach to mosquito control," says Thompson. "This includes taking physical measures to reduce breeding grounds and risk, using pest control products properly when needed, and working within local communities to ensure civic leaders are providing education about West Nile Virus and protection from mosquitoes."

Following are 10 easy tips to protect yourself and your loved ones from mosquito bites and possible infection by West Nile Virus:

1. Make sure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens. Repair or replace screens that have tears or holes.

2. Use mosquito repellents on exposed skin whenever you are in an area where mosquitoes may be present. Repellents provide extra protection when exposed to mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects.

According to Thompson, it's important to get the facts if you are concerned about the risks of using pest-control products.

"Pest-control products are exhaustively tested before they reach the market, and they can and should be used to promote public health and safety when needed," she says. "West Nile Virus is a real threat, and you can make smart choices to protect yourself and others around you."

3. Eliminate standing water, including clogged gutters, pool covers, empty wheelbarrows and pools of water anywhere in the yard. Dispose of tin cans, plastic containers, ceramic pots or similar containers in which water may have accumulated. Be sure to remove used tires, which are a common haven for mosquito breeding.

4. Remind or help neighbors eliminate breeding sites on their properties.

5. Wear long sleeves, long pants, socks and closed shoes when outdoors.

6. Encourage local officials to treat small ponds with larvacide and consider stocking larger ponds with larva-eating fish as additional control.

7. Ensure that organizers of summertime activities for youth and the elderly - such as summer camps, park and recreation centers, and senior centers - are proactively using pest-control strategies and products.

8. Beware of the times when mosquitoes are most active, typically at dusk and dawn, April through October; and avoid prime mosquito locations including marshes and wetlands.

9. Clean and chlorinate swimming pools, outdoor saunas and hot tubs. Keep them covered when they aren't in use.

10. Learn more about your community's mosquito-control program. Ensure that local community leaders are protecting the public through integrated mosquito management programs. If local elected officials have not implemented a mosquito control program, visit the Web sites www.westnilevirusfacts.org and www.hsph.harvard.edu/ mosquito for advice about pest-control products for consumers and local governments.

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Willie Nelson still 'Live and Kickin'

Entertainer/songwriter Willie Nelson

By Gary Graff, United Press International

Willie Nelson is known throughout the music industry as someone who throws a good party ­ sometimes on his tour bus, sometimes with his Old Whiskey River brew, annually at his Fourth of July Picnic concert in his native Texas.

But this year people have been throwing the party ­ or parties ­ for Nelson, to commemorate the legendary singer, songwriter and musician's 70th birthday. And he's been enjoying every minute of it.
"Yeah, I'm having a good year. I can't complain," Nelson ­ who turned 70 on April 30 ­ says by telephone from his tour bus, which is rolling through Vermont at the moment. "Fortunately, my short-term memory keeps me from remembering too far but, but I know we've had some good years and we had some that weren't that great.

"This one is a real good one, though. Everyone is just kinda rolling with it."ooking back, Nelson ­ who was raised by his grandparents in Abbott, Texas, and started his career by playing guitar in local polka bands ­ says he would have been happy with modest artistic achievements. "I'm more of a band guy," explains Nelson, who contemplated a career in law at one point. "I played guitar in several Western swing bands and had more fun than anything. I would've been happy to just keep doing that."

Instead Nelson became a songwriter ­ penning "Crazy" for Patsy Cline and "Pretty Paper" for Roy Orbison ­ and an artist unto himself. He created standards with songs such as "On the Road Again" and "Always on My Mind," and he joined Waylon Jennings in starting the "outlaw" movement of insurgent country artists who didn't want to conform to Nashville's confining protocols.

In fact, Nelson is far from strictly a country artist. Blues, jazz, folk and pop all course through his music, and his duet partners, from Julio Iglesias to Bob Dylan and Ray Charles to Bonnie Raitt, reflect the creative range he's achieved.

That breadth was duly celebrated at Nelson's favorite 70th birthday event, the all-star "Willie Nelson & Friends: Live & Kickin' " held April 9 in New York City and used for a subsequent TV special and album. Nelson performed with Charles, Prince, Shania Twain, Norah Jones, ZZ Top, Paul Simon and others, and he remains touched by all of their participation.

"I know Ray Charles had played in Switzerland the night before; he got up at seven in the morning and flew to New York," says Nelson, who enjoyed a No. 1 country hit this year with "Beer For My Horses," a duet with Toby Keith that's included on "Live & Kickin'". "Leon (Russell) flew in from Nashville. Eric Clapton from London. Ray Price had been sick, but he got up and caught a plane.

"That has to be one of the highlights of my life. I think we all appreciate each other's music and we're all each other's fans. It was hard to beat."

The Nelson birthday celebration has also included the re-release of numerous Nelson titles by his previous record companies, plus some new best-of collections. He and Price ­ for whom Nelson once played bass ­ recently released "Run That By Me One More Time," their first joint album since "San Antonio Rose" in 1980.

Nelson's next big get-together this year will be the annual Farm Aid concert, slated for Sept. 7 in Columbus, Ohio. Farm Aid co-founders Young and John Mellencamp will be joined by Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, Brooks & Dunn and others. Meanwhile, Nelson is eyeballing a movie project ­ a Western titled "Blood Diamonds" with Kris Kristofferson and Morgan Fairchild ­ as well as a new studio album that will feature duets with Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams and Nelson's daughter Paula. From the sounds of things, there may be enough work for another 70 years ­ a notion that makes Nelson chuckle.

"I've been pretty fortunate," he says. "The last 70 years have been really outstanding. I can only look forward and be grateful for however many more years I get."

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Singapore eases ban on gays

Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong

SINGAPORE (UPI) - Singapore has reversed its policy and will now hire homosexuals, Time Magazine reported.

In an excerpt from a Time interview, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said the policy had been changed "quietly."

Gay people are now allowed to work in "certain positions in government", Goh said.

"In the past, if we know you're gay, we would not employ you but we just changed this quietly," he said.
However he said homosexual acts would remain illegal in the country.

Goh said gay people will have to declare their sexual orientation in job application forms, which he said was for the applicants' own protection.

It is not clear when the new policy was introduced, and Goh did not say what jobs homosexuals could take.

Time also said the government was relaxing its attitudes towards gays in an attempt to attract foreign professionals, and to keep talented locals working in the state.

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NEW YORK (UPI) - The Big Apple is benefiting financially from bad apples ignoring the state's law against using hand held cell phones while driving.

More than 29,000 gabbing motorists have been ticketed in New York City during the first five months of this year, garnering a windfall of about $3 million in fines, The New York Post reported.

City police have nearly tripled the number of citations issued over the same time last year, the newspaper said. Only 10,600 cell phone violators were caught between January and May of last year.

"We've been a lot more aggressive in issuing quality-of-life summonses that affect safety," Det. Walter Burns told the paper. "The mere act of talking on a cell phone takes attention away and creates a safety hazard."

New York became the first state to outlaw the use of hand held telephones while driving in 2001.

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VATICAN CITY, Italy (UPI) - Pope John Paul II reaffirmed Catholic priests must remain celibate.
In a document issued by the Vatican, the pope said he has no intention of changing the celibacy rule, despite numerous sex scandals involving priests.

The pope said celibacy symbolizes a priest's undivided love for God and his people, Voice of America reported.

The sex scandals that have rocked the Church have led to some calling for a lifting of the ban. There had also been talk of relaxing the stringent rules in an effort to boost recruitment of new priests.

But in the 134-page "Ecclessia in Europe," the pope said lifting the celibacy law would not be productive.
The document also called upon the European Union to include a reference to Christianity in its proposed constitution. Opponents, however, say any such inclusion would offend the millions of European Muslims, VOA said.

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LONDON (UPI) - The BBC still refuses to apologize to the British government over claims that some government officials misstated reasons supporting going to war with Iraq.

A report prepared by members of the all-party foreign affairs committee said claims about Iraq's weapons were given too much weight by the government. However, committee members cleared media chief Alastair Campbell of "sexing up" intelligence.

The BBC said the committee reported a suggestion Iraq could deploy chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes should not have been given such prominence by the government.

But in their 54-page verdict on how ministers made the case for war in Iraq, the committee said Campbell did not make changes to a dossier on Iraq's weapons, as alleged in a BBC report.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw immediately repeated calls for the BBC to apologize for its report. But the BBC said the committee's report justified its decision to broadcast its original claims.

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FORT KNOX, Ky. (UPI) - An Army judge decided that Sgt. Hasan K. Akbar should be tried on murder charges.

Akbar is accused of attacking officers sleeping in their tents in Kuwait early in the Iraq invasion.
Col. Patrick Reinert, who held a five-day hearing on the case, said that "there are reasonable grounds to believe the accused committed the offenses charged," and he recommended that the case go to a court-martial.

The New York Times said Reinert rejected the defense contention that there was no basis for prosecuting Akbar because no witness had testified to seeing him carry out the March 23 attack.

The authorities have said that Akbar rolled three grenades into tents and then lingered in the darkness to shoot fleeing officers. Two were killed and 14 soldiers were wounded.

In the chaotic hours that followed, Akbar, the only Muslim in his company, was quickly identified as a suspect.

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MAUSTON, Wis. (UPI) - The owner of six Rottweilers that mauled a young girl to death was sentenced to two years in prison on what would have been the victim's 12th birthday.

Alicia Clark was was torn apart by the dogs while visiting a friend on Valentine's Day 2002, the
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Saturday.

Wayne Hardy, 25, was originally charged with homicide resulting from a vicious animal, first-degree reckless endangerment and four counts of child neglect.

In a plea agreement, he was sentenced on charges of recklessly causing harm to a child and three counts of child neglect.

In addition to the two-year term, he was forbidden from having pets again and ordered to pay nearly $9,000 to the victim's family.

A prosecuting attorney said the only part of Alicia's body that wasn't bitten were the soles of her feet and her left hand.

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Guyana will be refuelling station for United States troops en route to Liberia

The South American nation of Guyana will serve as the refueling base for American army planes if the U.S. sends troops to Liberia.

The Associated Press reported that the United States George Bush administration has received the go ahead from Guyanese President Bharat Jagdeo to refuel there if American troops go to Liberia.

The Bush administration is giving Liberian President Charles Taylor the option of leaving Liberia and taking up asylum. He has accepted an offer of asylum from Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Mr. Taylor, who has been indicted for allegedly committing war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone during its rebel insurgency, is being viewed by international prosecutors, diplomats and some Liberians as the main impediment to peace in the troubled region.

The one-time warlord waged civil war in 1989-1996 before being elected president in 1997 with threats of plunging Liberia back into bloodshed.

In an interview with Reuters, Mr. Taylor called on U.S. President George Bush to seize the chance to help revive the country's battered economy. "I think an opportunity exists now. I will keep to my word to step aside. I regret that (Bush) jumped to the point that I should depart the country, I think I could have been very instrumental in doing a lot here," he said.

President Bush is currently on a tour of five African countries as he pushes for the Liberian President to accept the offer of asylum and leave. He also toured a camp that formerly housed thousands of Liberian refugees in Monrovia.

Few remain there now but those who stay complained to the U.S. President of nightly looting and raping raids allegedly conducted by President Taylor's heavily armed fighters, some of whom are children themselves.

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Several Caricom leaders are hoping to change Trinidad & Tobago's Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday's mind regarding the Caribbean Court of Justice. Mr. Panday and his UNC members are calling for a complete constitutional reform in Trinidad in exchange for their support of the CCJ.

But Caricom leaders are getting antsy, especially since they are hoping to establish the court formally in the twin-island Republic by November.

PM Patrick Manning had requested Caricom's intervention after Mr. Panday reneged on his support for the CCJ this week. The UNC leader for his part has told the Trinidad Express that he welcomes a meeting with Caricom leaders to "tell them what our problems really are in Trinidad and Tobago."

St. Lucia PM Kenny Anthony is among those set to meet with Mr. Panday. An official invitation will be issued by Jamaica PM P.J. Patterson directly, or through PM Manning.

The CCJ is expected to replace the Judicial Committee of the United Kingdom Privy Council as the final appeal court for all the countries entering the agreement.

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Port-of-Spain, Trinidad ­ A fraud in the upcoming local government election process could stir "anarchy, violence and revolution."

So says United National Congress Senator Wade Mark, as he once again stressed the party's concerns about irregularities in the Marabella East and Marabella West electoral districts. The Trinidad Guardian reported yesterday, that eight special electors, who were supposed to have voted in Marabella East, were recently assigned to Marabella West. As such, Mr. Mark claims a number of voters were disenfranchised.

Local Government election in Trinidad takes place on Monday, 14, July in a country that has been recently divided politically along racial lines. Even Prime Minister Patrick Manning recognized this recently as he urged his party members of the ruling Peoples National Movement, to be more racially inclusive.

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Montego Bay, Jamaica: "We need to ensure that crime is kept to a minimum, and we need to put in more attractions for visitors to enjoy and want to be a part of." That's the word from newly-elected President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, Mr. Godfrey Dyer.

The JHTA president, in a recent interview with JIS News, voiced optimism about the future of Jamaica's tourism sector. Still, he believes that more can be done to boost revenue from about US$1.3 billion to approximately US$3 ­ $5 billion. To achieve this goal, Mr. Dyer warns, "We need first to deal with the product the resort towns must be cleaned up, maintained and beautified. We need to ensure that harassment is eradicated."

He praised Director of Tourism, Mr. Paul Pennicooke, for putting forward a proposal for one year of advertising. "If he does 50 per cent of what he has projected, tourism will be moving upwards," said the JHTA President.

Mr. Dyer pledged to ensure that small hoteliers, who do not have the funds to advertise, are assisted towards greater profit in their endeavours.

"I will be ensuring that these small hotel operators are featured in tour operators' brochures, as 90 per cent of the business to Jamaica comes through tour operators," said Mr. Dyer. "My intention will be to help my colleagues work with them, bring them back into the mainstream and ensure that the wealth in the industry is shared among all the players and that everybody gets a piece of the pie."

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Trinidad & Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning will be among two other regional leaders heading to Washington in the next two months for talks with President Bush. The leaders are taking their grievance over being blacklisted for their support of the International Criminal Court, directly to the U.S. President, according to the Trinidad Express.

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Thorpe poised to dominate world's best

Australian Swimmer Ian Thorpe. AFP PHOTO EPA/DPA/Andreas ALTWEIN

SYDNEY (AFP) ­ No one has ever dominated world swimming as Ian Thorpe has for the last five years.
The 20-year-old Australian colossus has been called the swimmer of the century, such has been the ease with which he has amassed gold medals and world records.

'Thorpedo' heads to Barcelona looking to repeat his phenomenal achievement of six gold medals and four world records at the last Fukuoka world championships in 2001.

He has added the 200-metre individual medley to his repertoire and is headed for a showdown with rising American star Michael Phelps, who broke the oldest world record in men's swimming with one minute 57.94 seconds in California late last month.

Much will be made of his rivalry with the 18-year-old American for the mantle of world's greatest swimmer, but Thorpe is unfazed by the pre-meet hype.

"I have the greatest influence over what I can and can't do," Thorpe said just before leaving with the Australian team for Spain.

"If I am swimming at my best and prepared as best I can, the only thing that can stop me from performing well is myself."

Thorpe has broken 13 individual world long course records and has shared in another five world records in long course relay teams.

Thorpe's dominance speaks for itself. He created Commonwealth Games history in Manchester last year winning six gold medals, the same number he claimed at the 2001 world championships.

In Yokohama he won five gold and a silver against the Americans at the Pan Pacific Championships last August.

Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband prevented him from winning an anticipated 200m freestyle gold medal before his home crowd at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but he still claimed three gold medals from the meet.

Thorpe changed coaches from his childhood mentor Doug Frost to Tracey Menzies 10 months ago looking to revitalise his training program ahead of the Barcelona world titles and 2004 Athens Olympics.
"I'm having a ball, the changes I've made have been wonderful ­ it's given me a new energy I didn't have," Thorpe said of the coaching switch.

"My drive in this sport is my own enjoyment and as soon as that subsides I won't stay, I will move on and do something else."

Satisfied with his form, Thorpe's priority leading into the world championships is to stay healthy.
He came down with a meningitis-type illness before the Australian championships last March and his form suffered.

"I have to really observe how my body's handling different things," he said.

"The warning signs are fatigue, temperatures, every different symptom you can possibly have ... you try not to get that all at the same time."

Thorpe is looking forward to picking up where he left off at the last world championships.

"I guess I've fired the arrows, I'm just waiting for the bullseye now," he said.

"Things can change but I'm positive with where I'm at, at the moment. I'm looking forward to Barcelona."
Thorpe is bidding for a third successive 400m freestyle win at the worlds, having taken gold in Perth and Fukuoka.

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Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz lays the ball up. AFP PHOTO/George FREY

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ­ Desperate to add a championship to his Hall of Fame resume, power forward Karl Malone reportedly has agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.

NBA teams cannot sign free agents until Wednesday, but Malone told the Los Angeles Times that he will
follow perennial All-Star point guard Gary Payton, who reached a verbal agreement earlier this week to sign with the Lakers for the mid-level salary cap exception.

Payton will receive approximately 4.8 million dollars, while Malone agreed to take Los Angeles' 1.5 million dollar exception ­ a roughly 18 million dollar decrease from his 2002-2003 salary.

"I'm honoured," Malone told the newspaper. "I'm 40 years old and I'm honored someone wants me. I'm honored to get a chance to play with Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) and Kobe (Bryant).

"I understand that this is their team."

Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller, for whom Malone spent his first 18 NBA seasons, appeared resigned to losing the soon-to-be 40-year-old.

"I don't think it's in me to deny him that, even if I could," Miller told the Los Angeles Times.

Unless Payton and Malone change their minds, the Lakers will head into the 2003-2004 season as prohibitive favourites to return to the NBA Finals.

Their run of three straight titles ended in May when they were beaten by the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals.

Malone is second on the NBA's all-time scoring list, 2,013 points behind former Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

He was 21st in the league last season at 20.6 points per game and 20th in rebounding at 7.8 per contest.
A 12-time All-Star, Malone has career averages of 25.4 points and 10.2 rebounds in 1,434 games.

With Los Angeles, Malone will wear No. 32, a number retired a decade ago when Hall of Famer Magic Johnson ended his career.

"He said he wanted to wear it in my honour. I said it was OK with me," Johnson told the Los Angeles Times.

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Arsenal's French striker Thierry Henry. AFP PHOTO/Adrian DENNIS

LONDON (AFP) ­ Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood insists his club would not even accept a bid of 70 million pounds (115 million dollars) for star striker Thierry Henry.

The Frenchman is believed to be a favourite of new Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, and the Russian billionaire is set to go on a spending spree with his new club.

But Hill-Wood told the Daily Express Henry was not for sale at any price.

"I'd be very reluctant to sell at any price, whether it is 50 million pounds (80 million dollars) or 70 million pounds," he told the Daily Express.

"It's only money after all and we are trying to build a team here at Arsenal, not destroy one. We cannot replace Henry because he is simply irreplaceable and so it doesn't make sense to take the money for him, however much and tempting it may seem.

"I don't believe this fellow at Chelsea is that much of a fool that he will throw so much at just one player. As far as I am concerned Henry is not for sale because he is so fundamental to our plans."

Abramovich is reported to have told Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri he has 200 million pounds (325 million dollars) to strengthen the side.

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Keith Tibbetts receives his awards from Team 2Frenzied member Dominique Thompson.

Shane Edwards celebrates his two grudge match victories over Kenny Rankin.

Keith Tibbetts of Team Barely Legal Racing won both the Stock & Modified Class of the Bull Run 1/4-mile Ski Race, held 6 July at Castaway Cove next to the Royal Reef Resort in an event hosted by Team 2Frenzied.

Racing his stock Kaw-asaki STXR, Keith defeated Daniel McLain of Team 2Frenzied in the Modified final when Mr. McLain's modified Kawasaki stalled at the starting line. In winning the Modified Class on a stock jet ski, Mr. Tibbetts accomplished what few thought he could.

Mr. Tibbetts also won Stock Class, defeating Vince Ramgeet in the final.

For his victories, Mr. Tibbetts collected a total of $275 in cash, two trophies donated by Lorna's Bodden Town Texaco, and two sets of dive lessons for two people donated by major sponsor Ocean Frontiers.
One disappointment of the Bull Run event was the cancellation of the Super Stock Class due to insufficient entrants in the class. John Thompson one of the expected entrants in that class experienced engine problems that caused him to drop out of the races prior to the start.

Instead, organisers held a few grudge matches that gave the crowd some excitement. First there was a race between William (Billy the Kid) Ebanks of Team Vibe 98.9 FM on a triple pipe Yamaha GPR and Daniel McLain of Team 2Frenzied on a single pipe STXR. Mr. McLain won the race to the delight of the crowd, and in the immediate rematch, won again by a whisker, though some thought the race a tie.

Then, Kenny Rankin of Team Vibe 98.9, winner of Jet Around Cayman 2003, agreed to a long awaited grudge match against Shane (Hikatee) Edwards of Team 2Frenzied. Shane Edwards hands down won two races by a comfortable distance.

The talk afterwards was about the speed and performance of the Kawasaki STXR's, with Keith Tibbett's stock craft overwhelming everything in its class.

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SANTO DOMINGO ­ The opening and closing ceremonies of the XIV Pan American Games, to be held in the Dominican Republic from 1 August to 17 August, will be two magnificent artistic and cultural events, according to Freddy Beras Goico, Artistic Director of both ceremonies.

The main objective behind both ceremonies is to communicate the cultural values of the Dominican people, their customs, artistic expression, music and soul. According to Beras Goico, the concept is drawn from the poem "There is a country in the world" by Don Pedro Mir, the Dominican national poet.
The Opening Ceremony of the Santo Domingo Games 2003 will take place on 1 August at 7:00 p.m., at the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Stadium, where the Closing Ceremony will also be held, on 17 August, at 7:00 p.m.

Beras Goico made his announcement during a press conference held at the National Theater, and later on Architect Rafael Betances, Transportation Manager of the XIV Pan American Games Organizing Committee (OCPAGs), offered details concerning the transportation plan for the athletes, judges, and volunteers that will assist during the events.

Johnny Ventura, Milly Quezada, Wilfrido Vargas, Mariadalia Hernandez, Sonia Silvestre, Nini Caffaro, Victor Victor, Francisco Ulloa, and Zacarias Ferreira are some of the performers that will participate in the ceremonies, together with Xiomara Fortuna, Roldan Marmol, Agapito Pascual, Joe Veras, Frank Reyes, Vladimir Dotel, the National Symphonic Orchestra, the National Chorus, the Folkloric Ballet and the Dominican National Ballet.

The ceremonies will start with a two and a half hour introduction, which will include a pre-show and the due protocol activities, such as the judges oath, the sports oath, the Olympic exhortation, and speeches from the President of the Pan American Sports Organization, Mario Vazquez Raña, Dominican President Hipolito Mejia, and the President of the OCPAGs, Jose Joaquin Puello.

The Closing Ceremony will follow a similar pattern, with several differences such as the extinction of the Pan American Fire and the raising of the flag of Brazil, the country that will host the next Pan American Games in 2007.

Regarding the security measures to be taken for the event, Captain Wilfredo Ortiz offered assurance that there would be an efficient system in place to guarantee the safety of participants and the audience at both ceremonies.

More than five thousand athletes from 42 countries will compete at the games. The participating countries include: United States, Cuba, Brazil, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, Dominica, Antigua, Cayman Islands, Saint Kitts, Saint Vincent, and Grenada.

The Santo Domingo 2003 Games include watersports (synchronized swimming, diving, and water polo), archery, athletics (marathon, track and field), badminton, basketball, baseball, bowling, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, soccer, gymnastics, weightlifting, judo, karate, wrestling, skating, pelota, modern pentathlon, racquetball, rowing, softball, squash, tae kwon do, tennis, table tennis, shooting, sailing, triathlon, and volleyball.

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Scholars International Sports Club's 2003 Men's Soccer Classic kicks off on Monday, 21 July at Annex Field, and runs through to Sunday, 27 July.

Featuring Constant Spring of Jamaica, Honduras Select Team, Cayman Select Team, Cayman's National Olympic Team and Scholars International Sports Club, there is certain to be some exciting soccer played.
Game times are 6pm and 7:45pm, and an admission fee of $5-7 per night will be charged.

For more information, please call Greg on 916-3245 or Antonio on 916-3977.

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The Bodden Town Football Club has announced a football camp for youngsters aged 5 to 15, to be run in conjunction with the Ministry of Youth.

Running from 4 ­ 8 August, the camp will be held at the Bodden Town Primary School. The cost of the camp is $10 for the week, which includes lunch and refreshments every day, as well as a ball and t-shirt for every child that completes the week.

For more information, please call 244-4823.

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Sports SUMMARY

US golfer Tiger Woods. AFP PHOTO/Roberto SCHMIDT

Tiger still the bookies darling

LONDON (AFP) ­ He may be without a major title to his name for the first time in four years but Tiger Woods is still the runaway bookmakers favourite to lift the British Open title this week.

William Hill's make the world number one a 5/2 shot to lift the ninth major trophy of his career at Royal St. George's on England's Kent coast.

Despite his scintillating form at the Scottish Open, defending champion Ernie Els is on offer at 10/1 and third favourite Vijay Singh is available at 16/1.

US Open champion Jim Furyk and Masters winner Mike Weir are both priced at 20/1 while the shortest odds on a home winner are the 33/1 offered on Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke.

UK and US-based players boost Jamaica's football hopes

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AFP) ­ Seven England-based players and three athletes who play in the United States have been named by the Jamaica Football Federation to the countrys 18-man squad which will participate in the CONCACAF Gold Cup football tournament.

Michael Johnson, Jamie Lawrence, Ricardo Gardner, Richard Langley, Darren Byfield, Jermaine Johnson and Onandi Lowe are the UK-based players.

Jermaine Johnson who suffered an ankle injury in training recently was a concern but has been given the green light to play.

Andy Williams, Craig Ziadie and Tyrone Marshall are the US-based players on the squad.

Veteran midfielder Theodore Whitmore, who is expected to captain Jamaica, heads the list of local-based players.

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