An illegal sloop made an unusual entry early this morning docking at the private dock of a multimillion dollar estate located on Emerald Cay off the southern tip of Providenciales.

The Customs Department has been forced to downgrade and divert back to the long abandoned manual approach to processing imported items which haven’t been used in years, after their online automated system, Asycuda World, crashed yesterday.

The TCI’s animal welfare community is tonight hoping the Government will make a statement tomorrow into the role of the country’s Department of Agriculture over the death of a privately-owned horse on Grand Turk two weeks ago. She lay untended medically by a vet at the side of a road for nearly four days before dying – the foal she was nursing was beside her. The Government vet Dr Mark Butler didn’t treat or destroy the animal even though he was on Grand Turk for a number of hours shortly before she died. The Government has received many letters of protest from animal lovers and there’s a growing demand for an independent inquiry.

Sports (Roadrunners)

The new post VAT levels of import duty to come into effective on 1st April 2013 have been published by the TCI Customs Department today. There will be levels of reduction in import duties in line with previous indications, generally at least 10% across the board, with larger reductions, at 15%, on several key items such as vehicles, beer and some ‘green’ items,” .

The Christian Council is speaking out against the recently published Equality Bill that was put forth by the TCIG. In a press conference which was followed by a mass demonstration, elements of the Equality Bill that opposes our Christian heritage and convictions were addressed.

The shocking early morning discovery of a man’s lifeless body in his apartment today which is believed to have been there for at least over 24 hours due to the state of decomposition. Our Nikira John was at the scene this morning and submitted this breaking news report at around noon.

Robbery

More incoming passengers to the TCI have been entering our islands with large amounts of produce that the Department of Agriculture says could pose a threat of infestation and diseases. Although TCIG says it is not discouraging people from getting their traditional foods, they would however, like this practice to be done in a safer manner.

The Government has defended its decision to sell off $3 million of bad debtor loans previously owned by TC Invest. TCIG has sold the bad debts to The Outstanding Loan Company Limited. TOLCO is now negotiating with the debtors on how to pay back the money they owe. Meanwhile good performing loans previously under Government management are being sold to the commercial banks. TC Invest will finish its winding up activities at the end of the month. The Government will use the money to pay off TC Invest debts to the Caribbean Development Bank, European Investment Bank and National Insurance Board. It means there will be no further contingent liability on the public sector and TCIG will be in a stronger position when negotiations start to replace the loan guarantee in advance of is expiry in 2016. Dale Le Vack talked to Neil Smith about the activities of TC Invest and where things went wrong.