Six years of prison for half a kilo of heroin

Transcription

www.today.sc
Wednesday 3 February 2016
Judiciary
Newsline
n News
n Sports
n Business
Six years of prison for
half a kilo of heroin
n Life
n Election petition: Defense file their case
(page
SR 10/-
2)
He had been
in the NDEA’s
sights since 2009
and was eventually caught with
SCR1.7 million
worth of heroin.
Charged with
“possession”,
Geoffrey Antat
was convicted to
only six years in
jail following his
cooperation with
investigators.
n
Sports: Mahé Skimmers
springs up
(page 4)
n
New STC outlet: “Convenient, accessible and affordable” say customers
(page 7)
Read more on page 2
Geoffrey Antat was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for possession of heroin (pictured right).
Zika virus
n
Seychellois abroad: Water polo at Roche Caiman
(page 11)
Health authorities
to reinforce
awareness on
mosquito control
By C.M.
Fogging exercises not due to start unless
confirmed cases of the virus are detected in
Seychelles.
Read more on page 2
A young Brazilian mother holds her daughter who was born with microcephaly.
12.85
13.40
12.80
13.30
13.90
14.55
13.95
14.55
18.30
19.35
18.40
19.30
p2
Nichole’s take on …
Election petition
Defense file their case
Making Africa the
“Tree of Life”
BY N.Tirant
2016 has been declared “Africa’s Human Rights Year with a focus on the Rights of Women”! And if you think this sounds familiar, you’re quite right. It is! After dedicating 2015 to “women’s empowerment and development towards Africa’s Agenda
2063” Africans will get another bite at the same cherry that
gives us, Seychellois, another year to consider how much we
truly love Seychelles.
The theme was presented at the opening of the African
Union’s (AU) heads of state summit in Ethiopia last week along
with a song that captures the “individual and collective aspirations” of Africa’s latest long-term agenda.
Opening the sessions, the AU Commission’s head Nkosazana
Dlamini Zuma urged African leaders to place people at the center of Agenda 2063 and advance human rights for all as they
look to guarantee free movement of people on the continent
and use Africa’s diversity as a force for peace and democracy.
Africa, she said, has refused to remain indifferent or silent
about the evils of extremism, gender-based violence and human suffering and misery as a result of wars and conflict.
“The great diversity of Africa is its biggest strength and enduring splendour,” she said, drawing on the continent’s ancient civilisations, its mineral wealth, natural beauty, flora and
fauna, and abundant energy reserves as vital components for
Africa’s transformation. But despite this wealth “the majority
of Africans are poor,” she lamented, urging leaders to resolve
this paradox.
“For far too long we have allowed the diversity of our lands,
soil, workforce, oceans and forests to be taken away as raw
materials, thus exporting jobs and supplementary revenue
streams, along with the means of our own development.”
Africa must create jobs and equip its youth with skills required to drive the continent’s transformation, she said, acknowledging the dialogue sessions on the summit’s side lines
which showed the commitment of the youth as agents of
change and advocates for peace. “They want to be educated and
skilled, so that they can become the engine and the drivers of
our renaissance and transformation,” she said.
She ended with a word of thanks for the AU’s outgoing chairman– Africa’s oldest and one of the longest serving heads of
state – Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe for his “excellent guidance”
in 2015.
In his farewell speech, Robert Mugabe dwelt on peace and
security claiming “overall political stability”, despite continuing conflicts in some parts of the continent. Africa, he said,
had taken a step towards silencing the guns and could now
deploy the African Standby Force to prevent conflict even as
climate change presented a new threat and El Nino brought
hunger and disease. Remaining true to his controversial self,
Robert Mugabe lamented the continued dominance of developed countries over world affairs and the lack of African representation in the United Nation’s Security Council, drawing
loud cheers from the floor when he called for reform of the UN
in the presence of its Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
For his part, Ban Ki Moon congratulated the AU for focusingthis year on human rights. He welcomed the organisation’s
proposal to deploy human rights observers to Burundi even as
all the pieces fall into place in the Great Lakes region for a repeat of the genocide that was Rwanda a mere two decades ago.
Meanwhile, the new chairman, Chadian President Idriss
Deby Itno launched his year at the helm of the 54-state AU
by urging African leaders to take advantage of the continent’s
increased international profile and organise itself to defend its
own interests.
To change its history, he said, Africa should become actionoriented. Africa must ensure its own security using its own human resources. But more importantly, African leaders needed to give their Union the means to attain its objectives and
shouldn’t wait for the outside world to finance its institutions.
The world will now be watching to see how Africa breathes
life and substance into the African Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Rights with its promise to promote and protect human rights and basic freedoms in Africa.
But even as we place human rights high on the national
agenda, taking stock of where we are to create the space for
constructive dialogue will be difficult for Africa. Seychelles,
along with many other African states, must address the long
overdue periodic reports on what’s right and what’s wrong at
home.
With some 46 African states, including Seychelles and its sixreport backlog since our first and last one dated 1994-2004,
behind in their human rights reporting, much work remains to
be done. For without a critical review of its “poor citizens” and
human rights record, Africa’s pursuit of its vision “to accelerate progress towards that integrated, prosperous and inclusive
continent, at peace with itself, playing a dynamic role in the
continental and global arena and effectively driven by an accountable, efficient and responsive Commission” may be just
an illusion. As long as it relies so heavily on foreign aid and
enterprise, making Africa the “Tree of Life” promised in the
AU’s anthem will require true dedication of its leadership in
rising together to defend liberty and unity and give the best we
have to Africa.
The next mention is scheduled for 9 February while the hearing will start on 15 February.
T
he respondents in the
election petition cases
filed their defense before
the Constitutional Court yesterday. The three respondents are
James Alix Michel who will be
represented by Basil Hoareau,
Hendrick Gappy of the Electoral
Commission who will represented by Samantha Aglae and Ronny
Govinden from the Office of the
Attorney General.
Mr Govinden told TODAY that
the respondents “raised a number of technical objections, which
have to do with the procedures
and certain sections of the law
but not the evidence itself ”. Mr
Govinden said the technical objections will be discussed at the
next mention on 9 February, six
days before the start of the hearing on 15 February.
The two election petitions were
filed after the Presidential runoff
which took place between 16 and
18 December. The first petition,
lodged on December 28, requests
that the Constitutional Court declares null and void the results of
the second round and the subsequent “election” of James Michel
as it alleges that the Electoral
Commission wrongly calculated
Wavel Ramkalawan after he has filed the second petition in January this year.
the results. The petition wants
the Constitutional Court to interpret clearly what the Constitution
says regarding the calculation of
the percentage of votes.
The second, an election peti-
tion filed on January 5, claims
that the Presidential runoff did
not comply with certain provisions of the Elections Act and
that the election was not free and
fair because numerous illegal
practices were committed by the
ruling party, Parti Lepep. Some
60 witnesses are expected to be
heard during the two-week trial,
which will close on 3 March, unless more time is needed.
Health authorities to reinforce awareness
on mosquito control
Continued from page 1
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday declared the Zika a public health
emergency. And while Seychelles is currently not directly
concerned since there are no recorded cases of Zika, the health
authorities agree that they need
to be vigilant since the type of
mosquito that transmits the vi-
rus is present in Seychelles.
The issue now is to prevent said virus from reaching
Seychelles’ shores. Yesterday
morning, representatives of
the Public Health Authority at the ministry of Health
(MoH) and the Division of
Risk and Disaster Management (DRDM) met with a
WHO representative in what
the MoH’s public health commissioner Dr Jude Gedeon
called a “medical and technical meeting”. The aim of this
meeting was to discuss preventive measures that Seychelles needs to put in place.
Dr. Gedeon said that if the
WHO “sees it fit to declare
that this is an event that is of
international concern, then
Six years of prison for half a
kilo of heroin
42 year-old Geoffrey Antat
has been convicted of six years
in jail for the “possession”
of 492 grams of heroin, the
National Drug Enforcement
Agency (NDEA) announced in
a communiqué yesterday.
The drugs have a street value of SCR1.7 million and Mr
Antat is said by the agency to
be “one of the principal drug
offenders to have come before
the court for some time”. The
man, a fisherman from Cascade and father of one, was
arrested by the NDEA on 11
October 2014, with 492 grams
of heroin.
The NDEA said that he was
prosecuted for “possession” of
the drugs but did not explain
why the charge of “trafficking”
was not applied in view of the
amount of drugs found in the
man’s possession. While sentencing is at the judge’s discretion, the Misuse of Drugs
Amendment Act says that trafficking of drugs in excess of
250 grams carries a sentence
of “up to life sentence”.
In fact, in July last year, two
men, Jean Francois Adrienne, a
34 year-old farmer and carpenter and Terrence Servina, a 42
year-old driver, both from Anse
Royale were sentenced to life
imprisonment for the traffic of
47 kilograms of cannabis. They
pleaded not guilty. It seems
that Mr Antat’s rather lenient
sentence has to do with the fact
that he pleaded guilty. “His sentence of six years reflects the
fact he pleaded guilty and cooperated with the investigation”,
the NDEA commented.
Mr Antat was sentenced last
week, according to the NDEA.
The agency said that they had
the convict in their sights for a
while now and he was the target of “several stop and search
operations”. Between 2009 until the time of latest arrest, he
was stopped and searched 23
times. He has been arrested on
four occasions on suspicion of
drug related activities.
“His luck deserted him on 11
October 2014”, the NDEA said,
when he was stopped “as he
was driving towards his residence having collected a consignment of heroin” as part of
a planned operation.
The agency added that Mr
Antat’s “arrest and conviction is another milestone in
the ongoing battle against the
drug importation and distribution network. The accused was
known to be an associate of a
small but significant group of
individuals who have fled the
country to evade justice on
charges of importation and
distribution of illegal drugs”.
This is also a well-needed
boost for the NDEA in the light
of the difficulties the agency
has had to adduce evidence in
the Christopher Choppy case
(importation and trafficking
of 1.2kg of heroin) and the La
Misere case (35kg of heroin
seized) in which two suspects
were recently released in exchange for their testimonies.
Both cases are still pending.
But while the NDEA said
that Geoffrey Antat was convicted of “possession”, it added
in its communiqué that the
latest conviction “follows 65
convictions for persons against
whom trafficking has been
proved during the year ending
in December 2015. In addition
there are 340 cases currently
pending before the courts”.
countries should take necessary
measures to prevent Zika in
their country and increase their
surveillance”.
Continued on page 3
Letter to the Editor
Disclaimer
The views and comments expressed
are those of the writer and not necessarily those of this newspaper
Road in
deplorable
state
Dear Editor,
I am writing on behalf of all users
of the Reef-Estate Road running
from the main road at Anse-AuxPins near the SPTC bus depot to
the Reef Golf Course. This stretch
of road has been in a deplorable
state for many years now, despite
continuous complaints made to
the Seychelles Land Transport
Agency (SLTA). I must stress
that to drive on this road is very
painful for myself and my car.
I am still a fit individual - or at
least I consider myself as one and I can only imagine how individuals who suffer from back
pains or other ailments get on.
Additionally the Reef-Estate has
become more popular now with
the developments of villas which
benefit the tourism industry of
Seychelles. I see it as not “nice”
for them or anyone to have to use
this road in its actual state on a
daily basis.
A concerned member of the
community
p3
Health authorities to
reinforce awareness
on mosquito control
The virus can either enter Seychelles through an infected mosquito that then goes on to infect
people or an infected person who
arrives in Seychelles and who is
then bitten by a mosquito that
will go on to bite other people. It
is for this reason that Dr. Gedeon
is advising pregnant women or
those planning on getting pregnant to avoid the countries that
the WHO will be listing as having the Zika virus.
The first point of attack, Dr.
Gedeon said, would be the ports
of entry, namely the Seychelles
International Airport, where already the interior of the planes
are sprayed with pesticide before disembarkation is allowed.
In cases where public health officers are dissatisfied, they will
perform another spraying before
allowing passengers to leave the
plane. One of the first symptoms
of the disease is a rash on the
body as well as fever.
Since the virus is transmitted
in the same manner as the Dengue and Chikungunya viruses,
the control measures, Dr. Gedeon said, will be the same. “If we
pick up a cluster of cases in an
area, we have spraying and mosquito control activities that are
focused around those areas and
that approach worked for Dengue and Chikungunya. Let’s say
we pick up a few cases, we have
to go and spray around the radius where the case was detected
so that we can stop the transmission of the virus”.
For Dengue and Chikungunya,
Public Health officers used mist
sprayers and fogging machines
to kill the mosquitoes but for
those that were still in a larval
stage, they had to use an antilarval because the mist and fogging machines weren’t effective.
“If they are in a pool of water that
cannot be removed, we put in a
larvicide,” but otherwise, they tip
the water out as the mosquito
larvae will die once it is in a dry
environment.
Dr. Gedeon also added that
the pesticides used are the same
types of chemical compounds
found in household insect
sprays, but that they often alternate what they are using because
mosquitoes can develop a resistance to a particular type of compound if used repeatedly.
Additionally, Public Health
officers will be going in the field
to advise people how to control
mosquitoes around their homes.
Dr. Gedeon said that these exercises were already being done in
all districts but will be reinforced
because of the Zika virus. Should
Zika incidences be discovered in
certain areas, Dr. Gedeon said,
residents will be asked to “intensify the control”.
Apart from working alongside the DRDM, Dr. Gedeon
said that Health authorities
plan to have meetings with
other agencies that they will
need to call on for support in
the eventuality that Zika does
reach Seychelles, namely the
Red Cross, government agencies such as the ministry of
Tourism, ministry of Environment, the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA).
Diplomacy
US ambassador discusses “elections
in general” with James Michel
Shari Villarosa retires
after her three and
a half year mandate
as US ambassador to
Seychelles and Mauritius. She bid farewell to James Michel
yesterday.
By Sasha-Lee
T
he United States ambassador for Mauritius and
Seychelles, Shari Villarosa, paid a farewell visit to the
State House yesterday morning, to mark the end of her
three and half year mandate.
Asked whether she discussed
the US government’s remarks
made during the second Universal Periodic Review in Geneva last week, on the matter of
the last Presidential elections,
with Mr Michel, Ms Villarosa
told TODAY the following: “We
discussed elections in general
and the need to always keep
developing democracy. We also
contrasted a lot with the current elections taking place in
the US right now. Elections are
very much in the news. I was
not at the meeting held in Geneva.”
She further stated that as her
mandate is now over, “it is now
up to Seychelles to decide how
well they are doing and how
they want to evolve and progress from here.”
The US called on Seychelles
to “fully investigate alleged
Ms Villarosa said she had discussions with James Michel about developing democracy following
US statements on the irregularities of the Presidential election last year.
election irregularities” during a
statement at the Universal Periodic Review of Seychelles in
Geneva last week.
The statement read, “We note
the recent presidential election, which led to an historic
runoff, and welcomed the participation of both international
and local election observers.
Nevertheless, we are concerned
by reports that some opposition
candidates were not able to exercise their rights to freedom of
expression and association in
the lead-up to the election”.
The US also commended “the
Constitutional Court’s decision to strike down the Public
Order Act as unconstitutional,
thereby better protecting and
promoting the right to freedom
of assembly”.
During her farewell visit yesterday, Ms Villarosa explained
that her discussions with James
Michel centered around the
fact that while there still is no
US embassy in Seychelles, she
has worked hard during her
mandate to give Seychelles the
proper exposure to American
affairs and to further ties between both countries.
Shari Villarosa will return to
the United States to retire, and
plans to travel for fun in the
near future. She has served as
ambassador for Seychelles and
Mauritius for three and a half
years.
A State House spokesperson
informed this newspaper that
a new ambassador will be appointed soon but there is no information yet on the identity of
the new ambassador nor on the
timing of the new appointment.
Maritime security
The Cutlass Express 2016 is underway
For the second time, Seychelles is hosting the maritime training exercise that is aimed at reducing piracy and other threats within the region.
P.Mawanda
T
his year’s Cutlass Express 2016 (CE16) exercise was officially opened
on Saturday at the Seychelles
People’s Defense Force (SPDF)
Academy auditorium at the
Seychelles Coast Guard base.
The annual multinational
maritime activity that is aimed
at enhancing the interoperability and proficiency of the East
African and Indian Ocean nations to stop illicit activities in
their territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs)
with help from partners like the
US, has attracted 18 participating countries this year.
In his opening remarks at the
ceremony, the Chief of staff of
the Seychelles Peoples Defense
Forces (SPDF), Lieutenant Colonel Michael Rosette said that
“it is good to note that the East
African Standby Force (EASF)
has taken the decision to revive its maritime component.
Seychelles as the current chair
of the EASF has played an important role in reactivating the
Maritime Component of this
force as we feel that maritime
security and safety is important
for coastal and island states.”
Hosting the event together
with Djibouti, Seychelles hopes
to be the perfect host for the
second time. Col. Rosette told
TODAY that it was a pleasure
for Seychelles to host the event
yet again. He also added that
Seychelles hosting the event
for a second time is a sign that
the organisers and the partners
of the exercise are confident in
the country’s capacity to host
the exercise.
The eight-day training be-
gan on Saturday and will run
through the week. It will be
carried out both at sea and
ashore. At sea, it will be carried
out in the territorial waters of
Djibouti and Seychelles, while
onshore the training will take
place at different Maritime Operation Centres (MOC) across
East Africa, Europe and the
Middle East.
With a decrease in piracy and
the rise of other illicit activities like human trafficking, the
CE16 organised by the United
States Africa Command (AFRICOM) will this year extend its
areas of focus.
“Piracy and international
trafficking at sea was once
Colonel Rosette addressing delegates at Saturday’s opening.
predominant throughout this
region but has subsided particularly with the piracy. However, new threats like narcotics,
trafficking of persons and illegal fishing are rising and are
just as important in hindering
the economic progress in this
region as well as endangering
their social and political stabil-
ity,” Tate Westbroke, Deputy
Commodore, said.
The CE16 training exercise
that is based on the Djibouti
Code of Conduct (which 20
nations are signatory to) as a
framework for exercising information practices and enforcing international law at
sea, has a number of activities
organised this year like an inport preparatory phase and
underway drills. In addition to
this, there will also be scenario
tests where any given country’s
ability to respond to illicit trafficking, piracy, illegal fishing,
search and rescue situations
will be tested.
For this year’s exercise, Seychelles will be contributing two
naval vessels plus one Dornier aircraft. Madagascar and
France will both contribute one
naval vessel, and Mauritius, one
other Dornier aircraft.
With the highest number of
participants since its beginning,
the CE16 sees the participation
of Australia, Canada, Comoros,
France, Kenya, Madagascar,
Mauritius, Rwanda, Somalia,
South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania,
Uganda, United Kingdom, the
United States, representatives
from the East Africa Standby
Force, European Union Naval
Force, International Maritime
Organisation and Combined
Task Force 150.
p4
Triathlon
Baldwin finishes sixth at Ironman 70.3 Dubai
Amateur Mervin Esparon finished tenth in his age group in his first International triathlon event.
By AH
S
eychellois triathlete Nick
Baldwin has started his
2016 year with a sixthplace finish at the grueling Ironman 70.3 Dubai last Friday.
Competitors competed over a
shortened 1 200m swim, 56 mile
bike race and 13.1 mile run. For
the first time, Seychelles had
three athletes competing in the
event, with professional Simon
Brierley and amateur Mervin
Esparon also racing.
This race was the first event
of the 2016 Sheikh Nasser Bin
Hamed Triple Crown, an initiative where the winner of three
events in 2016 will win USD1million - the biggest payday in
triathlon. With Ironman 70.3
Dubai being the first of the
three races for the Triple Crown,
a strong professional field assembled to have their shot at the
prize money.
The swim was shortened to
1200m after strong winds and
currents made conditions very
tough for the athletes. Baldwin
emerged from the swim in 11th
place and started the 56 mile bike
leg with a group of other athletes.
The strong winds helped the athletes initially with a tailwind, but
on the return leg the headwinds
were challenging for everyone. A
strong 2:08:22 bike split moved
Baldwin into eighth place at the
start of the run.
With the run taking place
along the popular Jumeirah
beach, there was plenty of crowd
support for the athletes. Baldwin quickly moved into seventh
place before making his way
into sixth. The top five athletes
had built a large lead ahead and
Baldwin’s 1:19:38 run allowed
him to hold onto sixth place
with a total time of 3:49:20.
Given the strength of the field,
this result is one of Baldwin’s
best of his career.
The men’s race was won by
the 2008 Olympic gold medalist and reigning Ironman 70.3
and Ironman World Champion,
Jan Frodeno of Germany in
3:34:48. The women’s race was
won by Swiss star Daniela Ryf
in 4:01:09, who is also the reigning Ironman 70.3 and Ironman
World Champion. Both athletes
now have a chance at achieving
this year’s Triple Crown at the
remaining two races at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships
in September and the Middle
East Championships at Ironman
70.3 Bahrain in December.
This result now moves Baldwin into a strong position to
qualify for this year’s Ironman
70.3 World Championships
which will take place on Austra-
lia’s Sunshine Coast in September. In the amateur category,
first timer Mervin Esparon did
really well in the 30 to 35 age
group finishing in tenth place
with a time of 4.19.31. He completed the swimming leg in 12
minutes and 35 seconds and
the cycling leg in 2:24:28. He
finished the final leg in 1:36:15.
Overall for the men he ended in
53rd position and in the general category including all participants he was placed in 65th
position.
Sports
Mahé Skimmers
springs up
The club wants is branching out into athletics,
canoeing and more.
By AH
M
ahé Skimmers Sports
Club, which officially
came into existence
in July last year, hopes to be involved in several sports events
in Seychelles this year. “The idea
to start a sports club came after
witnessing many children and
youth who take part in swimming sessions but who could not
make it into the national teams.
They were just there in limbo
so we decided to start this club
so that these kids would stay in
sports instead of just giving up
because they could not go any
further in the current set up,”
said its two founding members,
Mevis Fock-Heng and Katrina
Soleil.
But Mahé Skimmers is not
only about swimming. The club
is also involved in other sports
activities such as athletics and
has just become affiliated to
the athletics federation. Now it
wants to go into kayaking. The
new club is also in the process of
being affiliated to the swimming
association. “At the moment we
have over 35 members, from
seven year-olds to members over
50. We have taken part in many
events, such as the eco-friendly
runs which saw some parents
who are part of our club receiv-
Mahé Skimmers athletes in one of the athletics competitions last year.
ing prizes and the cross country
athletic events organized by the
federation,” explained Mrs Fock-Heng.
Last year, Mahé Skimmers
organised two main fundraising
Swimming is one of the several sports activities Mahé Skimmers Sports club is involved in.
events - a dinner dance and Halloween party - both of which were
hits and which the club plans to
host again this year as a way to
raise funds for the club. They
have also received some sponsorship from private companies
and individuals. “We also have a
learn-to-swim class every Friday
and this brings in some revenue.
We need the funds as we have to
pay SCR300 every Saturday for
members of our swimming team
to train at the national swimming pool at Roche Caiman,” explained Mrs. Soleil.
Currently, the club employs
three swimming coaches on a
part time basis while Ronald
Wong who is on the club’s committee helps out with the athletics coaching. The club also
encourages its young athletes
to try out various sports such
as swimming and athletics so
that they can try and discover
their real potential. They have
also started negotiating with
the director of water sports at
the NSC, Alain Alcindor, so that
they can start canoeing lessons
during the school holidays. “We
plan to participate in swimming
open competitions as the Mahé
Skimmers and hopefully in the
future more clubs will be estab-
lished and then we can have an
inter club swimming championship”, they explained.
The new club is also moving
further afield and is affiliated
with a top club from La Reunion
called ASEC Natation. Representatives of the club were in
Seychelles recently and they are
hoping to set up a twinning programme soon. “We will push and
encourage athletes who have the
potential of being good swimmers which is why we are affiliating with the Reunion club.
In the school holidays we can
send some swimmers for training over there and vice versa.
This will encourage the young
swimmers to work hard instead
of waiting to be called onto the
national team. The federation
does not have enough funds to
send all the athletes they would
like abroad for competitions and
we can help in this way by looking for sponsors to send a member of our club who we feel has
the potential to take part in an
international competition,” Mrs
Soleil and Mrs Fock-Heng told
TODAY Sports.
Another aim of the new club
is to promote healthy living and
camaraderie, discipline and responsibility and voluntarism
amongst its members. The club
also plans to give something
back to the community and
they are embarking on a project
with children with autism. “We
will meet with them soon and
see how we can be of help and
maybe we can take them to the
swimming pool and help them
appreciate the water,” explained
Mrs. Soleil.
The two founding members
said that it was not easy setting
up a club as many people were
opposed to the idea of a private
sports club. “Many people still
do not see the point of forming
a sports club with some saying
that Seychelles is too small for
such a club. They think that we
are only a swimming club which
is not correct as we are a sports
club and swimming is only one
of our activities. Luckily both
the CEO of the National Sports
Council, Giovanna Rousseau,
and the chairman of the swimming association, David Vidot,
understood what we wanted
to do and they have supported
us all the way,” concluded the
founders.
The club is open to all sports
enthusiasts. You can contact the
club by writing to maheskimmers@gmail.com .
p5
Wednesday 3 February, 2016
Courtside with Marc Houareau
“Seychellois do not see fishing as a sport”
The captain of the Island Star fishing team talks about the team’s history, how sports fishing could be the next big thing for tourism and shares the joys and pains of a
sport that is being threatened by commercial fishing.
BY: AH
Island Star has once again started
the year on a good note by winning
the Marlin Slam. Did you expect the
team to start the season with a major victory?
Yes, for us the start of the year is
very important. As it is a league, it is
important to start the season well, just
like, say, in a football league. We have
six tournaments in a year and so it was
of paramount importance for us to get
this first win because it gave us a hundred points as second and third places
get 75 and 50 points, respectively. So
if a team fails to win in the first three
competitions then it is clear that the
team is out of the title race. In fact,
since the inception of the league this is
the third consecutive year that we have
won the first competition.
Island Star is one the most successful sports fishing teams in Seychelles. Tell us a bit about the history of the club.
It goes back a long way. In fact we
did not start our team with Island
Star but with Island Girl which was a
power catamaran that I purchased in
the United States and shipped to Seychelles. Prior to that, I had a Scarab
with outboards named Alize and had
a different team which was made of
Gonsalves Larue (Speedy), Anthony
Payet and myself. Teams did not have
names back then. In fact my brother
Guy Savy used to fish with our current
skipper Antoine Hoareau on another
boat called Lady Claire, and we used
to compete against each other.
And so over the years we sold Lady
Claire and Alize we started facing stiff
competition from larger boats with all
the mod cons. They had cabins, toilets,
kitchens, etc. So we decided to look
for another boat and that is when we
bought Island Girl and joined teams
for fishing tournaments. My brother
Guy came onboard and we started a
new team with about five to six members. Speedy also bought his own boat
and started his own team with his son
Christian.
Up to six years ago and as the chairman of Marine Charter Association, I
was organizing all four annual fishing
competitions singlehandedly. This was
a major burden as I had to look for
sponsors, organize the competitions,
make the rules and make sure they
were being implemented, buy prizes,
look for prize-giving venues; organizing the one on La Digue was even
more difficult. And it is for this reason
that I met with other fishing enthusiasts and put forth the idea of establishing a club outside Marine Charter, a sports fishing club, to take over
the tournaments and develop sports
fishing in Seychelles. And together
with Christophe Hoareau, Gonzague
Larue, Michael Mason, Capt. Francois
Jackson, Timothy Morin and a few
others that we formed the Seychelles
Sports Fishing Club (SSFC). The club
has grown from strength to strength
and today we have around 200 members and have increased the number of
tournaments to six per year.
Going back to Island Star, I had the
chance to go to Dubai for a boat show
and I saw the boat there. The boat, a
Viking 60, was built in the USA. So
my brother and I bought the boat and
before it left Dubai we were looking for
a name that would continue with the
island theme. One night I was sitting
at my house looking up at a clear sky
full of bright stars; so I thought that
we needed to make the boat a winning
star like Island Girl was, and hence Island Star was born.
The interesting thing about Island
Star is that it sailed all the way from
Dubai to Seychelles under the command of Captain Alain Khan and skipper Antoine Hoareau. It was during
the height of the Somali piracy problem. In fact, the Taiwanese vessel that
was hijacked just above the equator
was only 60 miles away from Island
Star. So the boat sailed through some
dangerous pirate-infested seas, and
when she was nearing Mahé we had to
seek a military escort until it reached
Port Victoria safely. This was the first
major victory of Island Star.
The team is made up of at least
ten members. How did you choose
the members of Island Star?
Our team remains more or less the
same. I am the team captain or, if I am
not fishing, my brother Guy takes over.
Our boat captain/skipper is Antoine
Hoareau, one of the best and most successful skippers in Seychelles. He has
been with us for about 15 years now.
The only members that change regularly are first mates (boat boys) and
most of them have moved onto other
boats and some have even become
successful skippers. But the core of the
team remains the same: my brother
Guy and I, as well as his wife Cecile,
son Harry and daughter Annalise. My
own son Stefan and my Uncle Davis
are also on the team, as our long-time
school friend Anthony Payet. We also
have a good friend Marius “Baptiste”
Bamboche who fishes with us most
of the time and he is one of the best
bottom fishermen I have ever met.
Finally, our friend David Johnstone
who lives in Switzerland flies over for
a couple of tournaments per year and
Gianni Torsi the owner of Scala Restaurant also joins us for the La Digue
tournament.
Another friend who likes to come
with us, mostly for the La Digue offshore tournament, is David Johnstone
who lives in Switzerland. He is family
friend and last year he also took part in
the sailfish tournament. There is also
Gianni from La Scala restaurant. In
fact for the La Digue tournament we
like to invite a few friends along for the
trip as it is a sort of a family friendly
tournament.
How seriously do you and the other members of the Island Star team
take the fishing tournaments?
Very serious indeed as we are very
competitive. My brother Guy used to
play football and he was a member of
the national team and of the Rovers
Football Club. I played football in the
second division in South Africa and
also in the USA. I played competitive
squash for a very long time in the USA
and Seychelles. So we definitely have
this competitive spirit in us and everyone on our team wants to win. But we
are always ready to congratulate an-
other team when they win as fishing is
one of those sports where there is an
element of luck as well and any team
can win on any given day. There are
days when nothing seems to go right;
the first marlin you hook escapes when
it nears the boat and the first wahoo
also throws the hook. But as a team we
plan our fishing trips well in advance
and since we have been fishing together for a long time we all know what
needs to be done on the boat. If one is
cutting the bait, it is not a problem as
another one deals with the fish caught
and another is the gaffer. We have an
excellent skipper in Antoine and our
boat boy Joshua Didon. They prepare
the boat well in advance and this is
also an advantage.
But we are very competitive and
take our fishing league seriously.
When we lose a competition, it doubles our determination to beat that
team in the next competition. But saying this is not as easy as it sounds as
other teams are quite professional as
well. But I believe the reason why we
win often is because our team is consistent and we know our fishing spots.
We know Seychelles waters well plus
our family practically grew up on Fregate Island. We are not afraid of rough
seas and we respect the ocean. Many
teams decide not to take part when the
sea is rough, but we take the necessary
precautions such as having a satellite phone on board and other safety
equipments and of course life jackets.
At times when other teams are sleeping or hiding from the rain inside, we
stay outside to fish in horrible weather
which helps us win.
For example, in one of the La Digue
competition we faced stormy weather with strong winds and currents,
as well as lightning and thunder. The
ladies and younger ones stayed inside
and some of our crew were seasick.
But despite all that, some of the team
members kept on fishing can caught a
lot of fish. Many will say that our boat
is bigger than others but it has nothing
to do with the size of the boats as once
you reach your fishing destination, you
have to fish. It is the determination of
all team members. It is that competitive spirit. At times all it takes is one
fish to win. In many competitions we
have won by a single fish or a few kilos
or points.
Who are island Star biggest rivals?
Over the past few years, it has no
doubt been team Paola with the Marzocchis because like us, they have been
a consistent team with some tough
anglers and knowledge of the fishing
spots. Charlie and his son Charles
who are in the marine engineering
business have over the years amassed
a lot of experience and without a
doubt, they are our strongest rivals.
However, for trolling, the landscape
has changed over the past five years
as many new boats have arrived onto
the scene two good teams are Alati and
Special K. These are charter vessels so
have the luxury of going fishing often.
This is an advantage because you get
to know where the fish are and the
young skippers onboard are very good.
There are others from overseas who
are very good at catching billfish, especially sailfish, and they provide a lot
of healthy competition which is good
for the sport. Another team springing
up is Kuki with the SSFC’s chairman,
Tarak Patel, and its secretary, Grant
Heyer, with skipper Steven Garrard.
Another team for which we have a lot
of respect is Yebo Gogo with a South
African angler and his son. Together
with avid angler Guy Khan they do
very well in their small boat. At times
being 50 to 60 miles from Mahé in
complete darkness, you see their small
boat right there next to us so they also
know all the top spots. On Praslin
there is Dyab Lavwal even if it is has
not been active recently. When we go
to the La Digue tournament, we have
a lot of competition from the Praslin
and La Digue boats as they know their
fishing spots better than us.
What I find sad however is that
many of the new boats that have come
to Eden Island are not taking part in
our competitions, mainly due to the
high cost of fuel. Sadly, Sports Fishing
has become a very expensive sport.
From Mahé to the fishing spots you
could easily use between 1 000 to 2
000 litres of fuel, and this makes the
cost prohibitive. Usually, team members split the costs, but fuel is still the
biggest impediment to the growth of
sports fishing in Seychelles. Not everyone can afford to pay SCR30 000 for
fuel for a day’s fishing. I would personally prefer to see 35 to 50 boats fishing
in our tournaments and this would
provide stiffer competition and I am
sure that the same boats would not be
winning all the time as prizes would be
spread around.
Do you need to train for fishing
tournaments like in other sports or
does it primarily come down to good
planning?
It’s about good planning and also
being physically fit. The previous Rotary competitions used to take place
over two days and was physically very
demanding; we always joke saying
that we need to have a good stock of
Red Bull onboard at all times. My
brother and I exercise regularly and
so we stay fit. For example, my brother
fished the 180 kilo black marlin that
we caught during the recent Marlin
Slam tournament and it took him 2
hours to land the fish. If you are not
physically fit, the marlin can dive and
you will not have the necessary fitness
to reel it in. So cardio is very important
in fishing.
What made you go into sports
fishing?
I use to be a competitive squash
player on the local scene but had to
give up because of a serious lower back
injury. As I was fishing anyway I decided that, as much as I love squash, I
would not be able to play it again competitively so I gave it up and became
a sponsor instead, and moved into
competitive fishing. And the one thing
I enjoy with fishing is that it is also
about relaxation. Leaving Mahé and
cruising for three to four hours under
the stars, watching the moon set, or
experiencing calm or even rough seas
can be an experience in itself. The
time when you are not fishing gives
you time to think about many aspects
of your life and allows you to meditate.
Fishing can be relaxing as well and despite the physical strain, it relaxes you
as well.
The other reason why I have taken
up sports fishing is because we need
to take the sport to a different level in
Seychelles as we educate our members and others in the society. I have
fished overseas, especially in the USA,
and over there competitions are very
tough with 200 to 300 boats taking
part in a tournament. To win a prize is
very difficult but the thing is that it is
competitive and there is a lot of money
involved. Locally one of the reasons I
and other members of SSFC are trying
to develop sports fishing is because it
will do wonders for our tourism industry. Seychelles can seriously earn a lot
of revenue from sports fishing. In the
same breath, and whilst I realize the
value of commercial fishing in our
waters, it is clear that our government
must act soon and limit the number of
tuna purse seiners as if we continue to
allow these huge vessels to fish at the
current capacity, we will never have a
sports fishing future in Seychelles; in
fact there won’t be any fish left as their
method is simply not sustainable.
The SSFC is here to educate not
only its members but government
too about the fact that there is a limit
to the number of fish that can be removed from the sea and I think that in
Seychelles we are already overfishing.
Do not forget that commercial fishing
in Seychelles waters has been going
on for several decades already. Until
last year, purse seiners were catching all species of fish such as marlin,
sailfish, dorado, kingfish and more,
but were keeping only tuna; all other
species killed were simply dumped in
the sea and this is a crime. I believe
in commercial fishing but you cannot
catch a marlin weighing 400 kilos and
simply dump it overboard when we
in the sports fishing world are ready
to make thousands of dollars to catch
one. Do not forget that a can of tuna
costs one dollar but a tourist who travels to Seychelles to fish pays thousands
of dollars for the privilege of catching a
marlin. Studies have proven in countries such as Costa Rica and Venezuela
that sports fishing earns more revenue
in the long-term than commercial
fishing. Many countries are simply
banning commercial fishing altogether. Small local fleets are allowed but
the big purse seiners and long liners as
we have in Seychelles are not allowed
in the country’s territorial waters.
This is what we are trying to show
government: that sports fishing and
commercial fishing can coexist but
there should be a limit on how many
tonnes can be removed from our seas
because we cannot continue to allow such massive amounts to be removed. When I was growing up, we
could catch yellowfin tuna from l’Ilot to Beau Vallon. Two decades ago,
Seychellois didn’t need to go and fish
at the drop-off or “bordaz”; they only
had to go five to ten miles from Mahé
or near Silhouette and they could start
catching fish. And we had enough fish
at affordable prices, but today we have
become too commercial and we export our fish. I have a problem when it
comes to exporting our demersal fish
(bottom fish) and personally if I was in
government I would ban the export of
such fish. I am ok with exporting fresh
tuna, but we should keep our bottom
fish for Seychellois and for our tourism
industry instead of exporting all the
red snapper (bourgeois), job jaune,
groupers to Europe. It is not a sustainable model.
We want to develop the blue economy and for me a major part of this development is sports fishing. If we do it
right, we can earn serious revenue for
our country as we are lucky enough to
be one if not the best fishing destinations in the world. If you go fishing in
Mauritius, you might get one bonito or
a dorado on a good day. Compare that
to Seychelles where you can guarantee
that an angler will catch fish or you can
refund their money. In our country,
you can catch marlin, sailfish, bonito,
dorado, kingfish, yellowfin tuna, dogtooth tuna... and an emperor snapper,
all in a single day. But we have to conserve our stocks and manage if properly for future generations.
As part of its conservation programme, the SSFC has set up a tag
and release project. As an angler,
how does it feel to catch a fish and
release it?
For us, it is an educational process.
The whole world had started the tag
and release programme a long time
ago and for us in Seychelles we are a
little bit late. Seychellois do not see
fishing as a sport but rather as a way of
catching food. We buy a packet of fish
or a fish depending on the season
Continued on page 6
p6
NBA roundup
Cavaliers outlast Pacers in OT for 5th straight win
Drummond and Pistons Outlast Nets; Suns Fire Hornacek
K
yrie Irving scored 25 points
and LeBron James had 24
points, 12 rebounds and six
assists to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers past the Indiana Pacers 111106 in overtime on Monday night.
James only scored seven points
after halftime, but it was enough
to give the Cavaliers their fifth
straight win under new coach Tyronn Lue — and their first win in
Indy in six years.
George Hill matched his season-high with 23 points, while
Myles Turner had 14 points and 10
rebounds for Indiana.
The Pacers controlled most of
the second half, but James’ layup
with 1:16 left in regulation gave
Cleveland a 94-93 lead.
Then, with the game tied at 96
and the shot clock off, Indiana’s
Monta Ellis nearly dribbled out the
clock before missing a midrange
jumper at the buzzer.
Irving’s 13-footer with 3:01 left
gave the Cavs a 103-100 lead and
they never trailed again.
THUNDER 114, WIZARDS 98
In Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook had his seventh triple-double of the season and Oklahoma
City beat Washington.
Westbrook had 17 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists and got the
best of his matchup with Washington point guard John Wall. It was
the 26th triple-double of Westbrook’s career, and he has two straight
and four in his past 10 games.
Kevin Durant scored 28 points
and Serge Ibaka added 19 points
and 10 rebounds for the Thunder,
who have won 11 of 12.
Bradley Beal came off the bench
to score 18 points, Wall had 17
points and eight assists and Marcin Gortat scored 17 points for the
Wizards, who have lost four of five.
Wizards coach Randy Wittman
missed the game following his
brother’s death last Friday.
season-high with 22 points, going
3 for 4 on 3-pointers.
San Antonio found its defensive
footing late in the third quarter,
using a steal by Mills and blocks by
Kawhi Leonard to separate from
Orlando. The Spurs outscored the
Magic 24-8 to overcome a 70-69
deficit with 1 1/2 minutes left in
the third quarter.
Nikola Vucevic led Orlando with
20 points and 10 rebounds. Victor
Oladipo added 19 points and Aaron Gordon had 12 points and 16
rebounds
GRIZZLIES 110, PELICANS
95
In New Orleans, Zach Randolph
had 22 points and 12 rebounds and
Memphis beat New Orleans for its
10th victory in 12 games.
Jeff Green scored 24 points for
Memphis, and Vince Carter added
13, including a pair of back-breaking 3s in the last three minutes.
Anthony Davis had 23 points
and nine rebounds for the Pelicans, who lost for just the third
time in 10 games, with two of those
losses coming against Memphis.
New Orleans led 86-84 after
Ryan Anderson’s free throw with
7:02 left, but the Grizzlies responded with a pivotal 10-0 run to
take the lead for good, closing the
game on a 26-9 run.
SPURS 107, MAGIC 92
In San Antonio, LaMarcus
Aldridge scored a season-high
28 points and San Antonio beat
Orlando to remain undefeated at
home.
Aldridge shot 9 for 13 from the
field in leading San Antonio to its
26th straight home victory to open
the season. Patty Mills matched a
Kyrie Irving #2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers shoots the ball against the
Indiana Pacers in the second half of the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on February 1, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
NUGGETS 112, RAPTORS 93
In Denver, Nikola Jokic had 27
points and 14 rebounds, and Denver ended Toronto’s 11-game winning streak.
Jokic’s totals were season highs
for the rookie. He had 23 points
and 12 rebounds against San Antonio on Nov. 28.
Will Barton scored 20 points
and Randy Foye had 16 for the
Nuggets, who swept the season
series. They won in Toronto on
Dec. 3 to stop an eight-game losing
streak.
The Raptors entered with the
NBA’s longest current winning
streak but couldn’t duplicate the
success they had in January. They
led by one midway through the second quarter but trailed by double
digits for most of the second half.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto
with 24 points. His All-Star backcourt mate, Kyle Lowry, scored just
nine and went 1 for 6 from the foul
line.
HAWKS 112, MAVERICSK 97
In Atlanta, Jeff Teague scored a
season-high 32 points, Kyle Korver
added 16 points and Atlanta beat
Dallas to snap a three-game skid.
Teague went 12 for 15 from
the field with a career-high five
3-pointers, and reserve guard
Dennis Schroder finished with 14
points. Atlanta entered the game
having lost five of six to drop to fifth
place in the Eastern Conference.
Deron Williams, coming off a
27-point performance in Dallas’
home win Sunday over Phoenix, left
the game early in the second quarter with a bruised hip.
Chandler Parsons had 19 points
and 11 rebounds, and Dirk Nowitzki scored 18 points for the Mavericks.
PISTONS 105, NETS 100
In New York, Andre Drummond
had 21 points and 18 rebounds,
Reggie Jackson scored 19 points
and Detroit beat Brooklyn.
Drummond fell just shy of an
NBA-high sixth 20-point, 20-rebound game of the season but delivered the tiebreaking basket on a
dunk with 1:30 remaining. Jackson
added a couple of clutch baskets as
the Pistons avoided a third straight
loss.
They had fallen to Cleveland and
Toronto, the East’s top two teams,
but were just good enough to get by
the Nets, one of the worst.
Brook Lopez scored 27 points
for the Nets, who have lost four in
a row. Andrea Bargnani added 18
points off the bench.
“Seychellois do not see fishing as a sport”
and this has been part of our culture for ages. It was never in our culture to throw fish away or to release
it back into the ocean. We could have
started tag and release a long time ago
but when someone caught a sailfish he
wanted to cut it into slices and freeze
them for his consumption for a month.
So we decided that if we wanted to
promote sports fishing in Seychelles,
we needed to adopt the same principles and norms of other successful
sports fishing nations such as Bermuda, Costa Rica, Australia, etc. These
countries are promoting conservation
especially for billfish species. So we at
the SSFC said, “Let’s start slowly and
educate our own members first and
provide them with training and free
tags and tagsticks.”
The Billfish Foundation (TBF) has
also assisted us with the programme
and we are now well on our way to becoming one of the top tagging nations
in the world. Most skippers these days
release or tag billfish as they realize
the value of catching that fish again on
some other day. In tournaments, it is
sometimes difficult to tag and release
as you need to weigh a fish to determine the winner, but out of 6 annual
tournaments, we only allow billfish to
be weighed in only two. Over the next
few years, we will probably move to
an all release format for all our tournaments. In such cases, the winner is
decided on points garnered through
the release of fish. The authentication
of the catch must be done with video
footage onboard the boats in accordance with the rules of the International
Game Fish Association (IGFA) which
the SSFC abides too.
In summary, Seychelles is already
in 11th place in the world for most
fish caught and tagged. And we are up
against places like Hawaii and Australia and it shows that we have come
a long way in our conservation efforts.
You’ve mentioned before that Island Star is one of the best fishing
teams in the country. Do you have
any plans to take part in fishing
tournaments abroad?
Last year, Team Alati took part in
a one day marlin tournament in our
time zone. Basically you pay a USD3
000 entry fee and the winner who
catches the heaviest blue marlin in
their time zone wins over USD500
000. Team Alati did raise 3 marlin but
they were black marlins instead. The
winning team was from the Azores. In
the next few years, we definitely want
to take part in regional tournaments
in Mauritius, Kenya and South Africa. There are also tournaments that
we want to go in the USA and Mexico
but the expense and entry fees are very
high. For us though it is not about the
money but about gaining experience.
Bermuda is a destination we are looking at closely because they hold three
tournaments in the space of two weeks
and it’s one of the best in the world in
terms of the way the tournaments are
organized. There is a lot of money involved as well.
We have also partnered with a company called Bisbee’s and they hold the
most expensive fishing competition in
the world at Cabo St Lucas in Mexico.
Last year, the tournament paid out
over USD2 million. Anybody can take
part in the tournament but the entry
fee is extremely high. So our local anglers are now starting to think in terms
of creating an international Seychelles
team. Another thought is that the best
team who wins the local league could
be sent overseas in the future and the
club would foot the bill.
Speaking of which, SACOS, in
partnership with the SSFC, has
launched the one million rupee
competition for a marlin of a thousand pounds and over. Do you think
that a member of Island Star or any
other angler in an SSFC tournament can do it?
This is a great initiative by SACOS
as there are marlins this size in Seychelles waters. In fact I saw one at Sea
Harvest once that had been caught by
a local long-liner. The thing is that we
lose many big marlins here because of
our equipment. In the olden days, we
used to fish with lines rated at 30 to
50 pounds. But to catch a huge marlin
with such line class is nearly impossible as lines can break easily. Today,
most of our anglers are fishing with
heavier lines of 80 to 130 lbs thus we
are catching more billfish. Also, teams
are using better rods and reels rather
than the cheap models, so catch rates
have improved. The chances of SACOS paying out though is reduced as
the angler has to catch a fish that size
in only 6 tournaments in a year. But
I do believe that if a team was to fish
three or four times a week, the chances would be much greater of catching
that elusive “grander”.
Another aim of the SSFC is to hold
a one million rupee tournament. We
are not that far off but we still need
sponsors to come forward. By having
such an attractive prize, Seychelles
would also attract more international
teams. We used to have teams from
the United Kingdom, UAE, Australia and South Africa. The more prize
money at stake, the more it will attract
professional teams from abroad. We
have spoken to the tourism Minister
Alain St Ange about this and he has
embraced the idea. But we need a major sponsor in the caliber of Emirates
Airlines or Etihad to come forward
and sponsor the sport as they have
done in Dubai (example the Dubai
million dollar golf tournament). Also
I take the example of the Eco-Friendly Marathon: it started out small and
Giovanna Rousseau has marketed it
well and now you have over a thousand people taking part. I believe that
once we start paying a million rupees
for a tournament, people will come out
of the woodworks; small fishermen,
small local commercial boats, etc. will
want to take part in our competitions
and this is what we want, namely more
Seychellois taking part in our competitions. And this will also attract people from overseas. And maybe we can
have one such tournament a year like
the Marlin Slam and turn it into an international fishing competition. Mau-
rice Lousteau-Lalanne also started a
similar tournament when he was at
STB, but unfortunately they held it for
one year only. So maybe this is an idea
whose time has come and the Government in partnership with SSFC could
host such an event, maybe at the same
time as the Carnaval de Victoria.
What is your best moment in a
fishing tournament?
There are many great moments to
remember. One of my best memories
is when I hooked a big grouper (vieilles) on the Hermes bank at dawn together with my friend Tony Payet in an
out of competition fishing outing. The
fun about it is that the others onboard
were making fun at us saying that our
line had been caught in a coral but we
persisted and helped each other out as
we were fishing with hand lines. The
rest of the group laughing at us but
in the end we had the last laugh as
we landed a grouper weighing nearly
200 Kilos. In trolling there are a lot of
good memories. In fact, the last Marlin Slam was the first time I gave my
brother a marlin as I was skippering
the boat at that time; thus great memories were made.
Another good day was when I took
former President Mancham’s son
Richard fishing and he caught his first
marlin. My three sons and our ex-skipper, Rolly Pierre, who is currently
working on Denis Island, all caught
their first sailfish by the tender age of
8. Last year was a very special one for
my grandson Sebastien who was visiting from America. I took him out for
his first fishing trip ever and he caught
a lot of fish. Late last year, I took my
three year-old son Lee as well and he
managed to catch a yellowfin tuna. So
these are all moments I treasure and
they make me realize that there is a
new batch of fishing enthusiasts growing up.
My grandfather used to take me
fishing when we lived on Fregate and
I used to get seasick but we persisted
until I stopped getting sick. We used
to love going out to catch Karang Balo.
I used to fish for bonefish in the Fregate pass with a handline! I have so
many wonderful memories and that
is why I love fishing. It is also why we
at SSFC organize the junior fishing
tournament. The SSFC does it for the
kids living in the various homes and
for other kids whose parents do not
have a boat. We are trying to develop
this culture of promoting fishing to the
young children.
Any disappointing moments?
I am not a negative person but of
course I am always disappointed when
we lose a tournament or when a big
winning fish gets away. I remember
losing a tournament a few years back to
Marzocchi by a few ounces (his shark
was heavier than mine). But otherwise
I am a good loser as I have played both
team and individual sports. The good
thing about Island Star is that we never hold a grudge against anyone. In
the past, some participants cheated
by going out with fish already stored
in their fishbox but this has stopped
as we verify every boat before the start
of a tournament and the introduction
of video footage has also helped eliminate cheating. As a team we are proud
of what we have achieved. We once finished last in a tournament and for us
it was OK as we cannot win them all.
We are not negative as a team and we
always congratulate the winning team.
We were disappointed at the Praslin tournament when we lost against
Dyab Lavwal for several years in a row.
But we went out and fished harder and
have now won three years in a row. In
fishing there is also the element of luck
and we have to accept it when we lose.
Would you like sports fishing to be
part of the annual sports awards?
Let’s take football or volleyball: the
team of the year means that they were
first in their sport. But there is no such
thing as the best fisherman in Seychelles. It would be difficult to say that
such and such is the best fisherman or
best fisherwoman in Seychelles. Anybody can catch a fish or a big one but
that does not make you a better angler
than the other person. The analogy applies to football where the striker who
scores the most goals is named as the
best footballer of the year. What about
the player who provided the assists or
the goalkeeper who saved the team on
numerous occasions? It is the team effort and I think that the NSC should
start looking at teams as well. We at
the SSFC reward the teams and not
the individuals in the league. However,
if I catch and tag let’s say ten marlins
in a year then I get recognized as an
individual. And I think that the NSC
should recognize fishing as a sport
without having to be part of the NSC.
We do not need the funds from the
Government budget but it would be
good for the winning team to be recognized as the team of the year when
giving out the accolades.
Do you think that Island Star will
continue to be a force in Seychelles
sports fishing in years to come?
Obviously, we will continue fishing
because we love it. Someone posted a
joke on Facebook last week saying that
we will still be fishing when we are in
our coffins! We also joke on the boat
when someone complains of back pain
and we tell him that if he wants to
go back to land, we will ask Chaka to
bring a wheelchair for him.
But we do recognize that we are
not getting any younger and thus have
started bloodying some youngsters.
Whilst we have the will, the competitive spirit and the love for the sport,
not all youngsters today have the same
determined spirit. So like in any sport,
we have to find the best team members to replace us as we get older. Also,
finding the right skipper is not easy
and when one retires, one has to find
a suitable replacement.
In the end, it is great to have experience but we also need the muscles to
pull the fish up during a tournament.
I definitely think that we will continue fishing until we can no longer do
so. But when Team Island Star stops
fishing, I think it will be a dark day for
sports fishing in Seychelles.
p7
New STC outlet
“Convenient, accessible and affordable” say customers
Customers flocked to the supermarket as soon as it opened its doors at Grand-Anse Mahé on Saturday to see what was on offer.
TODAY on Saturday, most of
whom came from Anse-Boileau, Grand-Anse and PortGlaud, welcomed the initiative. Sylviane, a Port-Glaud
resident, said that she was
“happy that the STC has decided to decentralize its service to bring it closer to us.
Now I don’t need to drive into
town for my shopping and I
can get everything here”.
For her part, Juliana from
Barbarons, described the supermarket as “spacious”, adding that “the shelves are well
stocked and the prices are affordable as well”. Although
most customers were happy
with what were on offer, some
complained that certain products they usually buy from
other shops were not available.
Carol from Anse-Boileau said
for instance that she could not
find everything she was look-
Customers turned up in large numbers on Saturday to see what was on
offer.
T
he supermarket is the
fifth outlet to be opened
by STC after its Victoria
supermarket and hypermarket
on Mahé, as well as its Praslin
and La Digue outlets. Its official opening took place on Saturday morning by the company’s CEO, Veronique Laporte,
and the Minister for Finance,
Trade and Blue Economy,
Jean-Paul Adam, in the company of STC staff and residents of Grand-Anse Mahé.
At the opening of the supermarket, which will also have
a wholesale and LG gas sections, Ms Laporte announced
that this is the last outlet that
the STC plans to open. The
Grand-Anse Mahé supermarket will sell most of the items
found in other STC outlets,
including household and baby
products, fruit and vegetables
and meat products, amongst
others.
The customers who spoke to
Friendly service from staff.
The new outlet offers a wide range of products.
ing for, ”I usually use Melody
milk and I cannot find it here
as well as other products like
Ovaltine and Milo”.
Speaking to the media earlier, Ms Laporte explained that
“because the supermarket is
smaller than the two outlets in
Victoria, we have not included
all the products. But we will
definitely add more later based
on customers’ requests. We will
also monitor which products
are in demand and will include
them as we go along and if a
product is not selling we will
replace it with something else”.
At present, other than imported fruit and vegetables, the
Grand-Anse Mahé supermarket will source fresh produce
from a local farmer and Ms
Laporte invited other farmers
from the region who have quality goods to come forward. The
supermarket, which has a staff
of 35 will be open from 8am to
8pm daily.
p8
IOT
Sad farewells and continuous training
A retirement and training certificate ceremony was held last week by IOT.
you look at the time that you
have spent at IOT, it is most of
the time, more than you spend
with your own family”.
Mr. Madnack also told Ms.
Ah-Kon and Ms. Crespo that
he knew that “it has not always
been easy in your life at IOT,
but I think this is typical of
life, where there are ups and
downs and for all these moments, I thank you”.
Next on schedule, was the
handing out of certificates
T
he mood was bittersweet in the training
room of Indian Ocean
Tuna Ltd (IOT) last Thursday
morning. It was a great occasion for those who were collecting their certificates for
the trainings that they had
undertaken in 2015, but for
those who had reached the age
of retirement – it became clear
that the moment of farewell is
not always easy.
The first part of the cer-
for the employees who had
completed specific training in
2015. Before handing out the
certificates, Elvis Julie, who is
the training and talent development manager at IOT said
that “altogether, we have over
2600 people that participated
in some kind of training that
was conducted last year”. According to him, this “emphasises the great effort that this
company places on develop
(Continued on Page 10)
Proud IOT staff members with their certificates.
emony was the handing over
of a “thank you” gift and certificate to each of the retirees.
Out of the three retirees, only
two were able to make it on
the day, namely Nicole AhKon and Evelina Crespo. Ms.
Ah-Kon who at 63, had spent
the longest amount of time at
IOT - 19 years and 2016 would
have been her 20th year. Having reached retirement age
and having to say farewell was
clearly something the veteran
who worked as a cleaner in the
tray and basket department,
did not look forward to. (See
inset)
Evelina Crespo who is also 63
years old, has worked for the
company for ten years and she
also worked as a tray and basket cleaner in the Production
department. She said she was
looking forward to her future
as a retiree. “I can now stay
home and rest because of the
pain I have in my shoulders. I
am looking forward to relaxing and doing work around
the house”.
Joram Madnack, the general manager of IOT admitted
that saying goodbye is not always easy. “In similar types of
celebrations, we always have
mixed feelings because we
are sad because some of our
people who have been working for a number of years (...)
in our company are leaving it,”
he said, adding that “when
Prizes at the ready.
p9
p10
agement workshop in May
(UniSey)
• Leadership Skills in July
(UniSey)
• Implementation Course on
Hazard Identification, Risk
Analyis and Incident Management System in September
(BSI)
• Environmental Management System (EMS) Implementing training course & internal auditor training course
in September (BSI)
• Social Accountability Implementation Course and Internal Auditor Course in Oc-
tober (BSI)
• Forklift Counter Balance
/ Pallet Jack / Reach Truck /
Tow-Truck in-house instructor training course in October (conducted by D.J. Driver
Training from UK)
• SCADA software training
in November (Wonderware –
South Africa)
Retirement, not always easy
Nicole Ah-Kon
63 year-old Nicole Ah-Kon
started work at the IOT on 14
October 1996 and her last job
in the company before her retirement was as a tray and
basket cleaner in the Production department. After the ceremony, Ms. Ah-Kon expressed
her bitterness at having to
leave her job. She told TODAY that “they forced me to
stop working last year because
I had too many sick leaves. The
doctor here never really treats
you. They also told me that
because I have reached 63, I
must leave. I still want to work
to support myself,” she said,
before acknowledging that she
will nevertheless be able to
support herself with her pension, perhaps not to the level
that she would have wanted
had she continued to work. “At
least I will have some bread on
the table,” she said sadly.
Corrine Nasser, the senior
HR administrative assistant at
IOT, countered Ms. Ah-Kon’s
statement by saying that “we
do not force anyone to take
their retirement. It is actually the law that says that upon
reaching the age of 63, people
have to retire and she has
reached 63
The two retirees hold their gifts whilst surrounded by past managers and
GM Joram Madnack.
(Continued From Page 8)
ment and training”. He spoke
of the trainings as an investment, saying that IOT does
this as an attempt “to ensure
that our people are brought to
the highest level, so that they
can perform to the level that
we expect them to”. However,
the company is not done yet,
as there will be more training programmes this year, he
said adding that the company
will be looking at the training
needs of their employees to
provide the necessary training, “to take our people and
the company to the next level.”
When addressing the employees, Mr, Madnack thanked
them for accepting the training. He said that these were
“in line with our strategy to
see that you are well aware
of your work environment in
terms of safety and various
areas which makes you better
at your performance at work”.
He regards the training as an
investment rather than a cost
and added that “if you look
year after year, we have invested quite a lot”.
Training, Mr Madnack said,
is only one part of the process because he now wants
the staff “to show that the
training was something that
was meant for you – that has
been useful to you but also to
those around you”. He hopes
that employees will make the
most of what they had learnt
and said that he wanted them
“to be getting better and better”.
The trainings were offered
by the University of Seychelles (UniSey), the British
Standards Institution (BSI)
and trainers from England
and South Africa. The different courses were:
• Port safety and man-
Elvis Julie, the Training and Talent Development Manager of IOT.
GM Joram Madnack, addresses the crowd.
p11
Seychellois abroad
Water polo at Roche Caiman
When two young Seychellois girls living in Australia introduced a game of water polo on a sunny afternoon...
who lives at Glacis. Although
Chloé Gladstone is just 16 and
her sister Aimée, just 13, both
are notable swimmers and have
competed in a number of water
polo events in their home state,
New South Wales.
Due to their swimming commitments back in Australia, the
two sisters spent much of their
T
Barnsley with the girls a few years ago.
wo young Seychellois
swimmers who live in
Australia were recently
back in Seychelles after a sixyear absence, renewing their
acquaintance with their many
friends from Seychelles. The two
girls who are the granddaughters
of well-known writer William
McAteer, decided to introduce
water polo to Seychelles. On an
afternoon during their recent
stay, the girls arranged with pool
officials at Roche Caiman, to
time in Seychelles training at the
Roche Caiman swimming pool
under the watchful eye of Guillaume Bachman, Paul Franchette and Barnsley Albert. The latter was their coach when the girls
first went swimming at Roche
Caiman six years ago so it was
particularly pleasing for them to
meet up with Barnsley again.
And Barnsley with the girls in 2016.
devote some time to a game of
water polo, with the balls and
numbered caps donated to the
pool by their mother, Brigitte
Gladstone. Many local swimmers
were eager to try their skill at the
game and the afternoon passed
quickly with much enthusiasm
and occasional hilarity, friends of
the girls said. Brigitte’s husband,
Adam, acted as referee.
Their mother, Brigitte Gladstone, was on a holiday visit to
her father, William McAteer,
The water polo group.
p12
Lifeline
‘Lost’ Bosch painting found
in US museum
Celebrity Profile:
Bradley Cooper (1975–)
performed poorly at the box office. His next project fared much
better, however, when he played
the boyfriend of Eric Dane in the
ensemble comedy Valentine’s Day
(2010), which also featured Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba and Patrick
Dempsey. Cooper followed up with
a remake of the popular television
action series The A-Team during
the summer of 2010. In addition
to Cooper, the cast included Liam
Neeson, Quinton Jackson and Jessica Biel.
Bradley Cooper is an actor who first made a name for himself on the TV series ‘Alias’ and has since become a successful film actor.
Source: Biography.com
Art experts have discovered a
new work by the 16th-Century
painter Hieronymus Bosch.
The work entitled The Temptation of St Anthony was previously thought to have been created by a follower or pupil of the
Dutch Renaissance master.
As a result it has been held
in storage at an art museum in
Kansas City, Missouri, US since
it was acquired in the 1930s.
The small 16th-Century oil
now adds to the small list of
about 25 recognised Bosch
paintings in the world. Bosch
was known for his comic and
surreal images of heaven and
hell and the moral purgatory of
earth in between.
The little panel shows St Anthony holding a staff in one
hand while he uses the other to
fill a jug with water.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei
poses as drowned Syrian
refugee
Chinese artist and activist Ai
Weiwei has recreated the image
of drowned Syrian toddler Alan
Kurdi that provoked fierce debate last year about the plight of
refugees.
Kurdi’s body washed up in
Turkey after the boat carrying
his family capsized.
The photograph of Ai Wewei
recreating the boy’s lifeless pose
was taken on the Greek island of
Lesbos, where the artist has set
up a studio.
It is for an exhibition at the
India Art Fair, the Washington Post reports. The black and
white image, taken by Rohit
Chawla, shows the artist lying
on pebbles on the beach, with
his palms upturned in the same
manner as Kurdi.
Early Life
Film and television actor Bradley
Charles Cooper was born on January
5, 1975, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With his rugged good looks and
perfect comic timing, Cooper has
become a film star on the rise. Acting was not his first passion, however. He developed a love of cooking at
an early age. “I used to have buddies
come over after kindergarten and
I’d cook them food. I prided myself
in taking whatever was in the fridge
and turning it into lasagna,” he told
Entertainment Weekly.
Cooper put his culinary ambitions aside, however, after graduating from Georgetown University
in 1997 with an English degree. Instead, Cooper turned his attention
to acting. He enrolled in a master’s
degree program at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York City.
While a student there, Cooper landed his first television commercial for
a fast-food chain. He then made his
TV debut two years later with a guest
spot on the popular HBO show Sex
and the City.
Early Film Career
Cooper next appeared in the shortlived drama, The $treet, set in the financial world. Around this time, he
made his first feature film appearance in the 2001 comedy Wet Hot
American Summer. Cooper then
returned to television to take on a
Commercial Success
After the success of Wedding
Crashers (2005), Cooper landed
more comedic film roles. He ap-
TODAY in History
February 3rd is the 34th day of the year
1820: Keats falls
deathly ill
1924: Woodrow
Wilson dies
peared in the romantic comedy
Failure to Launch (2006) with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. While that film was met
with a tepid response, Cooper enjoyed some box office success with
Yes Man (2008) co-starring opposite Jim Carrey. He also appeared
in the 2009 comedy He’s Just Not
That Into You, inspired by the popular self-help book. In the film, Cooper played an adulterous husband.
Later that year, Cooper further
proved his comedic talents with
The Hangover. He co-starred with
Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis in
this buddy comedy. The three actors play friends who travel to Las
Vegas for a bachelor-party weekend with their soon-to-be-married
pal, played by Justin Bartha. After a
night of debauchery, they wake up to
find their buddy missing along with
their memories of what happened
the previous evening. The film was
so successful that two sequels were
produced in 2011 and 2013.
Cooper then starred with Sandra Bullock on the 2009 romantic
comedy All About Steve, which
Oscar-Nominated Roles
The crossover into more actionpacked roles continued with Cooper’s role in the film Limitless,
which was released in 2011. Cooper
took on the lead role in the film that
was based on the 2001 novel The
Dark Fields, by Alan Glynn. The
thriller co-starred Robert De Niro
and received favorable reviews.
Cooper subsequently starred in
more action roles, such as Hit and
Run (2011) and The Place Beyond
the Pines (2012), but the breakout
role that got him recognized at the
Academy Awards was Silver Linings Playbook (2013), directed by
David O. Russell.
In the critically acclaimed film,
Cooper plays the lead role as Pat
Solitano, a man who tries to re-adjust to society after leaving a mental
institution. The film was nominated
for seven Oscars at the 2013 Academy Awards ceremony, including
Best Picture, Actress in a Leading
Role, Actor in a Supporting Role
and Actress in a Supporting Role.
Cooper also received a nomination
for Actor in a Leading Role, but
lost to Daniel Day-Lewis for his
work in Lincoln (2012). However,
Cooper’s co-star Jennifer Lawrence
Elections
Adele: Donald Trump ‘had no
permission’ to use music
Pop star Adele has issued a statement to distance herself from Donald Trump, after he
used her music at his rallies.
Source: BBC.com
T
Slave drama scoops
Sundance double
The Birth of a Nation, a drama
about a 19th Century slave revolt
in Virginia, has scooped two top
awards at this year’s Sundance
Film Festival.
The film - written, produced
and directed by its star Nate
Parker - won the US dramatic
jury prize and the US dramatic
audience prize on Saturday.
Its success is well timed, arriving amid the controversy
over diversity at the Academy
Awards. Other Sundance winners included Weiner, which
won the documentary award.
Jim: The James Foley Story
took the audience award in the
same category.
Parker’s film highlighting the
harsh issue of inequality will
have struck a chord at a time of
debate and anger about the lack
of diversity in this year’s Oscar
nominations and the Academy
itself.
supporting role in J.J. Abrams’s popular spy series Alias (2001-06). For
three seasons he played Will Tippin,
a journalist friend of covert agent
Sydney Bristow (played by Jennifer
Garner).
During his time on Alias, Cooper
made the independent drama Carnival Knowledge (2002) and the
thriller My Little Eye (2002). He
left Alias in 2003, and appeared in
recurring roles on the sitcom Jack
& Bobby (2004-05) and the crime
drama Touching Evil (2004). Back
on the big screen, Cooper played a
brutish jock in the hit comedy Wedding Crashers (2005) with Owen
Wilson and Vince Vaughn.
That same year, Cooper starred
in his own television series Kitchen
Confidential (2005-06), based on
the book by famed chef Anthony
Bourdain. The show received positive reviews, but it did not do well
enough in the ratings to stay on the
air. Not afraid to take risks, Cooper
made his Broadway debut in 2006,
appearing in the drama Three Days
of Rain with Julia Roberts and Paul
Rudd. That December, Cooper married actress Jennifer Esposito. The
union did not last long, as Esposito
filed for divorce four months later.
took home the Oscar for Actress in a
Leading Role for her work in Silver
Linings Playbook.
Cooper continued his collaboration with Russell to great rewards,
starring in the ensemble cast of the
‘70s-era American Hustle (2013).
Cooper received another Oscar
nomination, this time in the supporting actor category for his role as
FBI agent Richie DiMaso. (In early
2015, it was announced that Cooper, Lawrence and Russell would
have another go at the Oscars with
a film based on the life of inventor
Joy Mangano, with Lawrence taking the lead.)
In 2014, Cooper was heard in
cinemas as the voice of Rocket Raccoon in the blockbuster summer
film Guardians of the Galaxy, based
on the Marvel comic-book series.
During the fall, the actor made his
return to Broadway with the lead
role in The Elephant Man, a successful revival of the 1979 play focusing on the life of Joseph Merrick.
In April 2015, he received a Tony
nomination for his performance.
Late 2014 also saw the actor as lead
in the Clint Eastwood film American Sniper, based on the life of Navy
SEAL Chris Kyle and co-starring
Sienna Miller. Cooper received his
third Oscar nomination for the role.
The next year, Cooper starred as
a military contractor in the little
seen Aloha, followed by a role in
the zany ensemble comedy Wet
Hot American Summer, airing on
Netflix. In the autumn on the big
screen, he portrayed an acerbic twostar Michelin chef aiming to make
a comeback in Burnt, co-starring
Miller, Uma Thurman and Emma
Thompson. Also in 2015, Cooper
made two movies with Jennifer
Lawrence: Serena and Joy.
On this day in 1820, poet John
Keats, aged 24, coughed up blood
and realized he, like his brother
Tom, was doomed to die of tuberculosis.
Despite the tender care of his
fiancée, Fanny Brawne, and a
journey to Italy in the hopes of
improving his condition, he died
in February 1821, only 25 years
old. But in that short time, he
achieved a remarkable reputation
as a leading poet.
Although Keats did not write
his first poem until age 18, he
quickly showed tremendous
promise. Keats’ work first appeared in the Examiner on this
day in 1816, followed by Keats’
first book, Poems (1817).
After 1817, Keats devoted himself entirely to poetry, becoming
a master of the Romantic sonnet
and trying his hand at epic poems
like Hyperion. From January to
September 1819, Keats produced
an outpouring of brilliant work,
including poems like “Ode on a
Grecian Urn,” “Ode to a Nightingale,” and “La Belle Dame Sans
Merci.”
On this day in 1924, Woodrow
Wilson, the 28th president of
the United States, died in Washington, D.C., at the age of 67.
In 1912, Governor Wilson
of New Jersey was elected president in a landslide Democratic
victory. The focal point of President Wilson’s first term in office
was the outbreak of World War
I and his efforts to find a peaceful
end to the conflict while maintaining U.S. neutrality. In 1917, the renewal of German
submarine warfare against neutral American ships forced Wilson to push for America’s entry
into the war.
At the war’s end, President
Wilson travelled to France,
where he headed the American
delegation to the peace conference seeking an official end to
the conflict. At Versailles, Wilson
was the only Allied leader who
foresaw the future difficulty that
might arise from forcing punitive
peace terms on an economically
ruined Germany.
He also successfully advocated
the creation of the League of Nations as a means of maintaining peace in the postwar world.
In November 1920, President
Wilson was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize for his efforts at Versailles.
he Republican presidential
candidate, whose slogan
is “Make America great
again”, has recently been playing
Adele’s hit Rolling In The Deep as
his “warm-up” music.
“Adele has not given permission for her music to be used for
any political campaigning,” her
spokesman confirmed.
It is not the first time Trump has
been criticised for appropriating
pop songs.
Lawyers for Aerosmith star Steven Tyler sent Trump’s campaign
a cease-and-desist letter last year,
after the politician played the
band’s hit single Dream On at numerous rallies around the US.
The letter said Trump’s use of
the song gave “a false impression”
he endorsed Mr Trump’s presidential bid.
Trump responded on Twitter,
saying he had the legal right to
use the song, but had found “a
better one to take its place”.
“Steven Tyler got more publicity
on his song request than he’s gotten in 10 years. Good for him!” he
added.
‘Unlikely combo’
Previously, the businessman had
played Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the
Free World - an angry response to
presidency of George Bush Senior
- while announcing his candidacy.
Young, a well-known liberal,
demanded that Trump stop using
the song and declared his support
Trump played Adele’s hit during a rally held in South Carolina last week.
for Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders instead. Trump then
used REM’s It’s the End of the
World as We Know It (And I Feel
Fine), prompting singer Michael
Stipe to issue a strongly-worded
statement, saying: “Do not use
our music or my voice for your
moronic charade of a campaign.”
The politician was first observed
to have played Adele’s hit during
a rally held in Lexington, South
Carolina, last week. prompting
BBC’s North America Editor Jon
Sopel to comment it was an “unlikely combo”.
But Trump is believed to be a
fan of the singer’s work, even having watched her perform in New
York. Politicians using songs by
musicians who do not support
them has been a thorny issue for
decades, since Bruce Springsteen
castigated President Reagan for
planning to use Born in the USA
as a backdrop for his 1984 reelection campaign. Technically,
US copyright laws give politicians
carte blanche to use recorded
music at their rallies - as long as
the venue has a public performance licence issued through a
songwriters’ association such as
ASCAP or BMI (in the US) or
PRS (in the UK). However, there
is some leeway for an artist to
complain their image and reputation is being damaged by the repeated use of a song without their
express permission.
p13
Friends
Where are Rachel, Ross
and the gang now?
The cast of the much-loved sitcom have confirmed there is to be a reunion show in
February – but what might the New York pals have been up to?
Source: The Guardian
I
’ll be there for yoooouuuu.
Again. After years of speculation, it’s finally been confirmed that a Friends cast re-
union (minus Matthew Perry)
will air on NBC on Sunday 21
February, as part of a tribute to
veteran sitcom director James
Burrows. Here’s a reminder of
where we left the Central Perk
sixsome 12 years ago – and what
we imagine they’re up to now…
Rachel Green
(Jennifer Aniston)
Where we left her:
Realising she loved
Ross after all and
g e t t i n g o f f t h e Pa r i s bound plane that was
taking her to a new
j o b a t L o u i s Vu i t t o n .
Where we left him: Sulking about his buddies
all moving on, then getting to keep “Duck Jr and
Chick Jr”, his housewarming gift for Chandler
and Monica.
Monica Geller
(Courteney Cox)
Where we left her: Moving to
the Westchester suburbs with
Chandler after they adopted
twins.
Ross Geller
(David Schwimmer)
Where we left him:
Winning back Rachel
with a dash to the
wrong airport, JFK.
Fo l l o w e d b y a n o t h e r
dash to the right one,
Newark.
Where is he now?
Divorced
from
Rac h e l . H e y, i t ’ s w h a t h e
does. But they might
get
back
t o g e t h e r.
H e y, i t ’ s w h a t t h e y d o .
Ross was also a consultant
palaeontolog i s t o n J u r a s s i c Wo r l d
but got fired for having a whiny puppy
voice.
Phoebe Buffay
Where is she now?
S h e a n d Mi k e m o v e d
to a Brooklyn brownstone just before the
hipster boom and
now run a jazz-andfalafel pop-up. They
h av e a b r o o d o f k i d s
called
things
like
Aura, Kale, Apothe c a r y,
Bananahammock, Smellycat and,
of course, Phalange.
(Matt LeBlanc)
Where is he now? Well, we know some of this,
as he got a spinoff sitcom, the eponymous Joey.
He moved to LA to further his acting career but
that flopped (like Joey the show). Now he appears in low-rent reality shows, frozen pizza ads
and the odd “adult thriller”. He visits Chandler
and Monica regularly, where he sleeps in “the
Joey Room”. It has an en suite branch of Subway.
Where is she now?
Rachel opened a fashion e-boutique and
made a mint. She
spent some of it on
getting “work done”
b u t c l a s s i l y, s o n o b o d y ’s q u i t e s u r e i f
i t ’s j u s t y o g a a n d f l a t tering lighting. Gunt h e r ’s s t a l k i n g h e r o n line.
Where we left her:
Ma r r i e d t o p i a n i s t
Mi k e a n d d e l a y i n g
R a c h e l ’s
plane
by
pretending there was
a problem with its
“left phalange”.
Joey Tribbiani
(Lisa Kudrow)
Where is she now? The twins
are approaching their teens, so after years of being a stay-at-home
“soccer mom”, Monica’s opening
her own restaurant, specialising
in Thanksgiving dinners. Chandler wants to call it “ThanksgiveBing”. She prefers “Central Turk”.
Chandler Bing
(Matthew Perry)
Where we left him: Getting the last line of the series, as the friends decided
to go for one last cup of coffee and Chandler quipped,
“Sure... where?”
Where is he now? In rehab for, like, chronic addiction to sarcasm. Yeah,
like THAT’s going to work.
Could you BE any more deluded?
NOTICE OF FINAL DISSOLUTION
OF
FULHAM INDUSTRIES LTD. IBC No.
025830
VUITTONI INC. IBC No. 086443
Looking for a Professional Para glider
with 5 years experience. Must have a
A.P.P.I licence. Call: 2589808 or 2769954
Guest house at Sans Soucis looking for
Chambermaid and Breakfast Cook. Also
a therapist in massage ready to learn new
protocol. Reference requested.
Call: 4225372 / 2761498
Fully furnished bedroom with private
entrance and veranda for rent to expat
in Anse La Mouche. Secure with garden,
close to beach. Shared kitchen and lounge.
No dogs, couples or children. Scr 7000.
Water and electricity included. 2642935
1 Bedsitter available immediately. Fully
furnished, with air condition. Please call
2534237
NOTICE
International Business Companies Act,
1994
Section 92(4) (Cap. 100 A)
RE: Voluntary Dissolution of Yachtfast Consulting Ltd. (“the Company”) incorporated
in Seychelles
The Company hereby gives notice that:
(a) the Company is in dissolution;
(b) the date of commencement of the dissolution is 1st February 2016
(c) the Liquidator of the Company is ARNALDO ANTAO of Glacis Mahe Seychelles
The International Business Companies Act
24 of 1994, Section 92(8) of the Republic of
Seychelles and in the matter of: FULHAM
INDUSTRIES LTD. IBC No. 025830
and VUITTONI INC. IBC No. 086443
were on the 1st day of February, 2016
dissolved as companies under the International Business Companies Act and the said
companies has been struck off the Register
of International Business Companies.
Dated this 1st day of February, 2016.
Dated this 2 February 2016
NOTICE
International Business Companies Act,
1994
Section 92(4) (Cap. 100 A)
RE: Voluntary Dissolution of Lego Group
Holdings Limited (“the Company”) incorporated in Seychelles
The Company hereby gives notice that:
(a) the Company is in dissolution;
(b) the date of commencement of the dissolution is 28th January 2016
(c) the Liquidator of the Company is ARNALDO ANTAO of Glacis Mahe Seychelles
House and Land for sale
House for sale on a beautiful flat piece of
land (1449sqm) at Souyave Estate Praslin.
Ideal for Staff Accommodation or private
dwelling house in a quiet neighborhood.
Next to the main road and within walking
distance to Cote D’Or beach.
In the matter of:
NOTICE OF COMPLETION OF DISSOLUTION
International Business Companies
Act1994
Section 92(8)
RE: Voluntary Dissolution of
ROCKWELL LTD.
LIQUIDATOR
A range of Coastal Hire construction and
maintenance equipment for sale!
Compactors, generators, breakers, drills,
sanders, pressure cleaners etc.
Contact Craig 2642935 or Cliff 2717759
if interested. Coastal Hire, Providence.
PRODUCTS FROM AMERICA
We are a US based company and we can supply quality products direct from America to
your destination in a timely manner. Ranging
from Oil Refinery Parts, Power Tools, Electronics, Consumer Items and more.
Contact:
Email: info@qpsusa.net
Web: www.qpsusa.net
For more information call
4373532/4373443 or
email mejelect@Seychelles.net
Wheatstone Consulting Limited
Southern Sailing Limited
For Sale at Cote D’ Or Praslin Souyave
Estate.
Cosy two bedroom house with garage situated on 1514sqm flat land suitable for hotel
management staff accommodation or
private dwelling house on a private estate.
ARNALDO ANTAO of Glacis Mahe Seychelles,
as the Liquidator of the Company, hereby gives
notice that on 27th January 2016 the Company has been dissolved as a company under the
International Business Companies Act and the
said company has been struck off the Register of
International Business Companies
Kia Picanto Model 2012. 3 years old.
Lemon Grass Colour. Low milleague. One
Lady driver. Manual transmission. Full
option. Regularly serviced. Road license
Oct 2016. Tel: 2718329/ 2517449
For further information please contact
Ivy Orr (Mrs.) on 251 24 25.
LIQUIDATOR: ARNALDO ANTAO
White Hyundai Trajet 2006. 7 Seater.
Good condition. Tel: 2781063
(“the Company”) incorporated in Seychelles
23July–22Aug
If you jump to conclusions
today you could find out later
onthatyouhavejumpedway
too far. The planets warn that
what you think you see and
what is actually there may be
two entirely different things,
so keep your mind, and your
options, open.
20 Feb – 20 March
If trying to figure certain
things out gives you a headache then give up. You don’t
have to know it all, you don’t
have to be the best informed
member of the human race.
Switch off your brain today
and let your mind wander
where it will.
23 Aug – 23 Sept
Ease up a bit. Give your
brain a rest. If you are typical of your sign your mind
is on the go 24 hours a day
and that’s not always a good
thing. Even a Virgo needs
some down time occasionally. Make this a more relaxed and pleasant day.
21 March – 20 April
If you allow negative thoughts
to take over today, inevitably,
negative results will most
likely follow. If, however, you
make an effort to think positive no matter what kind of
situation you find yourself in,
it should all come right. Your
mind creates your reality.
24 Sept – 23 Oct
It is unlikely that you will be
thinking too clearly today
and if you let your fears get
the better of you it could
have costly implications. The
more someone tells you that
you need to act fast or miss
out altogether the more suspicious you should be.
21 April – 21 May
If you are unhappy about
something you must speak
up but you must also emphasize the positive rather
than the negative. Also,
don’t get into the mindset of
believing that the world is a
bad place – it isn’t, it’s a good
place. Adjust your attitude.
24 Oct – 22 Nov
No matter how formidable
your rivals may be you can
still defeat them. While
they are bragging about
what they are going to do
and how much money they
are going to make you will
be actually getting on with
things. It’s the Scorpio way.
22May–21June
What someone tells you today
may sound reasonable but can
you be sure they know what
they are talking about? Just becausesomeonecallsthemselves
an “expert” does not mean you
should accept what they say.
Check the facts for yourself and
draw your own conclusions.
23 Nov – 21 Dec
It might be a good idea to
keep your thoughts to yourself today. You may be bursting to tell the world what you
know but the planets warn
there is a flaw in your understanding and if you speak
too soon you could look silly.
Check your facts.
22June–22July
There are times when your
suspicions are well-founded
and the planets warn you are
righttobedoubtful–thisisnota
good time to commit yourself to
anything that you cannot easily
get out of later. What’s the rush?
There’salwaystomorrow.
22 Dec – 20 Jan
If friends and family members go out of their way to
give you advice today you
should go out of your way to
listen to it. If you don’t you
may regret it towards the
end of the week. They are
not trying to interfere – they
are trying to help.
Down
1. Hearing organ
2. Definite article
3. Make a low continuous sound
4. Wrath
5. Fine white linen
6. Latin for “Will be”
7. Modern day Persia
8. Religious sisters
9. Armored Personnel Carrier
10. Specify individually
11. Ease
12. Sisal
13. Adult females
18. Round red root vegetable
22. How old one is
23. Analyze chemical substances
24. Reproductive cell of a fungus
25. Muscle fiber
26. Murres
27. Holes
29. Utilization
30. Extraterrestrial
31. Large serving spoon
34. Strange or spooky
35. Increases
36. Rums
38. Wizard
39. Cashews, for example
41. Superiors
42. Cupboards
43. Hurry on foot
44. A Catholic tribunal
45. Wooded hollows
46. Climbing plants
47. Shelf
50. Yield
51. Capital of Western Samoa
52. Potato crisp
55. Local Area Network
56. Also
57. Doctrine
58. Beak
59. N N N N
Yesterday’s solution
Across
1. Moral principle
6. The mountain of the Ten Commandments
11. Rule
14. A Hindu deity
15. Explode
16. Self-importance
17. Memorial
19. Scottish woolen cap
20. Fava, lima and carob
21. A moderate purple
23. Make certain of
27. Sty
28. Construe
32. Pertaining to sound
33. Chalkboard
34. Comes from a chicken
37. District
38. Female domestics
39. Close by
40. A type of evergreen tree
41. Doughnut-shaped roll
42. Rarity
43. Renewing
45. Water down
48. Preoccupy
49. Something that happens
50. Desert “trees”
53. A removeable cover
54. Gargantuan
60. Not arm
61. Diameters
62. A red fluorescent dye
63. South-southeast
64. Anagram of “Panes”
65. Graves
1. Frank Sinatra would have celebrated which birthday in 2015: 60; 80; 100; or 150?
2. Facebook’s news service launched in 2015 was called: Magnify; Notify; Glorify; or Terrify?
3. Lord Coe ceased working for which brand in 2015 due to conflict of interest?
Published by TODAY Publishers (Seychelles)
Limited, P.O. Box 999, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles
Printed by “The Print House (Pty) Ltd.”, Providence
Industrial Estate,
Mahé, Seychelles.
Tel: +248 4290 999/950/951
Fax: +248 4325999
info@today.sc
4. Hogmanay in Scotland is: Christmas Day; New Year’s Eve; A pig roast; or Drink-driving?
5. How many cathedrals are in mainland UK (at early 2000s): 5; 11; 42; or 281?
6. The highest grossing hand-drawn animated film in history is: Snow White; The Snowman; The Lion King; or How the Grinch Stole Christmas?
7. What instant messaging service was acquired in 2014 for $16bn by Facebook?
Grand Anse, Praslin
Tel: +248 4237 441
Fax: +248 4237 442
8. In human childbirth cervical dilation is considered complete at how many centimetres:
6; 10; 15; or 22?
Editor - Deepa Bhookhun
deepa.bhookhun@today.sc
9. Human urine passes from each kidney via the ureter to (What?) next: Kidney; Pancreas;
Bladder; or Prostate?
10. Roughly how many truck drivers are in India: 300; 15,000; 280,000; or Five million?
Quick Quiz Answers: 1. 100 2. Notify 3. Nike 4. New Year’s Eve 5. 42 6. The Lion King 7.
Whatsapp 8. 10cms 9. Bladder 10. Five million
21 Jan – 19 Feb
Don’t expect everything to
come easy to you on the
work front today or tomorrow. Mars in the career area
of your chart may make it
look as if others are being
obstructive but only because
they see you as a threat. You
can be rather intimidating!
How To Play
The objective is to fill the blank squares with the correct numbers
•Every row of 9 must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order
•Every column of 9 must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order
•Every 3 x 3 sub-grid must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order
Fill the other empty cells with numbers between 1 and 9
A number should appear only once on each row, column and 3 x 3 region
Business Development Manager - Veronica Maria
veronica.maria@today.sc
ISSN: 1659-7265
p15

Six years of prison for half a kilo of heroin

Transcription

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