With the donation of a colposcope from the Government of Spain, the Ministry of Health through the South Beach Clinic is now able to assist patients with detection and treatment of cervical cancer.

Spanish Ambassador to The Bahamas, Jesus Silva, formally handed over the colposcope to Dr Pearl McMillan, Director of the Department of Public Health at the South Beach Clinic last Thursday.

The Government of Spain through the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) has allocated $250,000 to fund a multi-phase project geared towards early detection and treatment of cervical cancer.

The Government of Spain has committed to donating a colposcope to each of the participating countries.

The high incidence of cervical cancer in the Caribbean is considered a “priority area for assistance” according to a release from the Embassy of Spain.

The first phase of the project was a “train the trainers” workshop in colposcopy and in the treatment of pre-invasive lesions.

It was held in June at the Mona Campus, University Hospital, University of the West Indies, Jamaica for experts from across the region.

The funding is being channeled through the CARICOM-Spain Joint Fund.

Pictured from left during the presentation are Dr Pearl McMillan, Director, Department of Public Health; Jesus Silva, Spanish Ambassador to The Bahamas; Veronica Rolle, South Beach Clinic Administrator; Dr Darron Hallendale, Registrar, OBGYN Unit, Princess Margaret Hospital; and Charlene Bain, Acting Administrator, Department of Public Health.

A 35-year-old Seventh-day Adventist Church member in Bahamas received the country's top award for teachers October 6. Roderick R. Rolle, of the New Providence Adventist Church in Nassau, was named National Teacher of the Year at a special banquet.

A 35-year-old Seventh-day Adventist Church member in Bahamas received the country's top award for teachers October 6. Roderick R. Rolle, of the New Providence Adventist Church in Nassau, was named National Teacher of the Year at a special banquet hosted by the Ministry of Education.

Rolle has been described as "spontaneous, passionate, and dedicated." He is the first Adventist in the Bahamas to be selected for this award, which he has dedicated "to all the hard working and passionate teachers who consistently give of themselves for the benefit of their students."

Rolle is currently a language and literature teacher at the C. R. Walker Public High School in Nassau, and has been a teacher for 14 years.

Source: Adventist News Network

Next Weekend To The Bahamas Slated For Thursday, October 29 through Sunday, November 1

Bahamas Habitat said Monday that it's not too late to join in the upcoming "Fly-In & Help Out" weekend to Eleuthera in the Bahamas scheduled for Thursday, October 29th through Sunday, November 1st. The organization is extending an open invitation to all interested aircraft owners and pilots to join in this mission and says it is not too late to register and join the group flight.

"Every trip we have pilots that hear about the Fly-In & Help Out event just a week or two before and jump in to join the group and enjoy an adventure and make a difference. What makes this mission opportunity so unique for aircraft owners is that the Bahamas are easily accessible by aircraft but are so in need that it provides the ideal opportunity for a mission minded pilot to give back to a neighboring community in an exciting and tax deductible way," explained John Armstrong, President of Bahamas Habitat.

Pilots and crewmembers participating in the Fly-In & Help Out mission will meet at Fort Pierce, Florida Airport (KFPR) on Thursday, October 29th for lunch and pilot briefings prior to departing to Eleuthera. Lodging and transportation on the island are arranged for the group.

"If you've ever wanted to fly your airplane to the Bahamas, this is the perfect way to learn the ropes while supporting a good cause," Armstrong said. "We had pilots join us from all over for our last Fly-In & Help Out event and in every case the experience really touched their hearts. We've had up to 14 aircraft on previous trips. We can house up to 60 people at Camp Symonette.
The trip is intended to teach people how to make the flight to the Bahamas and connect them with the mission camp there so they can help spread the word to their church and civic groups for future mission opportunities."

Source: Aero News

"Men, women and children everywhere are waiting with bated breath for the debut of Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland,” writes Vivianne Lapointe.
But since it doesn’t come out til 2010, we’ve got a quick supplement: Take a dive into the fascinating world of Russian photographer Elena Kalis.

I think her pictures are absolutely beautiful.

1. Underwater Series

2. H2O Stories

3. Island Spirit

Source: Elena Kalis

Mention tax haven and one of two images springs to mind: Snow-capped mountains, cobbled streets and an 18thcentury building with a brass plaque at the gate - in short, a Swiss bank. The other is a palm-fringed beach with cocktails, brass bands and colonial villas. The first is the traditional and widely accepted picture of a tax haven, enshrined in popular culture by Jason Bourne and James Bond. The second is the newer tax getaway, embedded in the Caribbean and the Pacific. 007, of course, has been here too.

Most of today's tax havens came up in the 1980s and 90s. Many believe it was a response to the excessive tax regimes of earlier decades. That, however, would not explain the earlier ones, which arose in the 19th century when tax rates were low in Europe. It was in 1868 that the first tax haven was created when Charles III abolished all personal taxes in the small principality of Monaco, mainly to show that he was not profiting from the newly established casino at Monte Carlo.

In the United States, meanwhile, Delaware and New Jersey adopted a strategy of relaxing laws to attract companies from whom they charged a small fee. This was the origin of a parking rights-on-rent system, later to evolve into a key component of the tax haven strategy. Today's tax havens have thousands of corporate entities that are nothing but 'booking' agencies - hot money from major financial centres like London and New York is shown to arise from them and then it flows out for investment.

Another key development in the evolution of tax havens can be traced to some court rulings in Britain in the late 19th century. In the matter of Calcutta Jute Mills vs. Nicholson, the court said that if the company was registered in London and its board of governors was also located there, they would have to pay taxes even if all their activities were abroad. Then, in 1929, in the matter of an Egyptian real estate company registered in London, the House of Lords held that since its governors, accounts et al were in Cairo, it did not have to pay taxes. This opened the door to the classic tax haven strategy - register in a place where there are no taxes and carry out activities elsewhere.

But the most distinguishing feature of tax havens - secrecy - was created by the Swiss. They had a long history of being a safe place to park wealth. French aristocrats fearing volatile masses routinely deposited their treasures in Switzerland. The numbered account , too, was invented by Swiss bankers, famously called the "gnomes of Zurich" by former British prime minister Harold Wilson. In 1934, under pressure from a wave of bankruptcies in Austria and Germany, Switzerland enacted a law that declared violation of banking secrecy a penal offense. The pure tax haven had now come into its own.

Other countries adopted the model and refined it. Thus, even as Swiss law required at least two bank officials to know the identity of a client, Luxembourg reduced it to one and Austria said that too wasn't needed.

In the 1960s and 1970s many countries, and a host of islands, became independent but had no significant means of surviving in a fast changing world. Most, naturally, saw turning into tax havens was their only lifeline.

Source: Times of India