iNews Briefs
FTC Investigating Herbalife
By Chris Morran From Consumerist
For more than a year, some have accused nutritional supplement company Herbalife of operating a pyramid scheme and called for federal authorities to investigate the business. Today, the company confirmed that it is indeed under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, though it did not reveal exactly why.
In a statement released to the press, Herbalife confirmed that it received a Civil Investigative Demand from the FTC earlier today.
Without going into the nature of the investigation, the company said it “welcomes the inquiry given the tremendous amount of misinformation in the marketplace,” and that it will cooperate fully with the FTC.
“We are confident that Herbalife is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations,” continues the statement. “Herbalife is a financially strong and successful company, having created meaningful value for shareholders, significant opportunities for distributors and positively impacted the lives and health of its consumers for over 34 years.”
This record [PDF] released by the FTC in 2013 includes 100 Herbalife-related complaints filed with the agency.
A number of the complaints involve Herbalife’s multi-level marketing business model, which sells the supplements through a network of independent distributors, who then sell the products and make money with those sales, as well as getting commissions from other people they set up in the business.
While some, including hedge fund manager Peter Ackworth at Pershing Square Capital, the one who has most directly attacked the company, say this is a pyramid scheme that only enriches those at the top, the company has previously defended itself saying its business model is used by others without facing similar accusations.
“Girl Scouts sell cookies on a direct-selling method, and nobody attacks them,” said CEO Michael O. Johnson in 2013.
For more: http://consumerist.com/2014/03/12/ftc-investigating-herbalife/
Herbalife is a company registered in the Cayman Islands
Cayman’s Premier says cuts in fees will ‘soon come’
Cayman Islands Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin said on Tuesday (11) night’s CITN/Cayman27’s ”The Panel” television talk show that small businesses will see a reduction in government fees.
He, however, did not say when this was going to happen nor by how much.
At the end of June Government have to present a budget that has to be approved by the United Kingdom who have already said another $12M must be removed from projected expenditure.
Woman charged with stealing $936,000 from Cayman security company
Patti Jane Ebanks (48) has been charged with stealing $936,048.90 from the Security Centre between April 1, 2010, and June 1, 2013 plus one charge of money laundering, two charges of forgery and 35 charges of making documents without authority.
Ebanks was bailed to return to court on April 8th.
‘Acoustic cloak’ could shield submarines with a cone of silence
By Steve Dent From engadget
We’ve seen some overly elaborate invisibility cloaks in our day, but Duke engineers have shown that lo-fi may be best for audio. After much refinement, they’ve developed a shield that can hide objects from sound waves thanks to a highly engineered pyramid shape and carefully placed holes. The stacked layers retard sound coming from any angle, so that it appears to have bounced off a flat wall when picked up by a detector (see the video after the break). Though it’s still early days, such materials could one day protect ships from sonar or improve concert hall acoustics, for instance. It’s also got the pyramid power thing going on — so maybe it could also keep your razor sharp.
For more and to watch video go to: http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/12/acoustic-invisibility-cloak/?ncid=rss_truncated
A $500 theft could still land a Cayman government employee a jail sentence
Lavania Hume-Ebanks was found guilty on Wednesday (12) for stealing more than $500 from the Cayman Islands Lands and Survey Department whilst working as a cashier there between 2008 and 2010.
Hume-Ebanks paid back $360 she had also taken and tried to cover up a number of other thefts.
The court was told at the time of the thefts the government department was “shambolic”.
Hume-Ebanks will be sentenced in April and she was released on bail.
Cubans who landed on Cayman Brac Monday being processed and others escape
Three of the 24 Cubans who were rescued at sea by a cruise ship last week escaped custody on Wednesday from the Fairbanks Road Detention Centre but were recaptured a few hours later.
Meanwhile 9 more Cubans arrived at the Detention Centre after landing on Cayman Brac, as we reported yesterday, when their boat sprang a leak after hitting the ironshore.
Mobile radio waves harmless, study finds
By Paddy Wood From Digital Life
Mobile phone radio waves are harmless to humans, a group of British researchers have concluded.
The researchers have been investigating the issue since 2001, publishing in the process close to 60 peer-reviewed papers.
The Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Program published its final report on Tuesday.
The report said they found no evidence that exposure to base station emissions during pregnancy affects the risk of developing cancer in early childhood.
Nor was there any link between mobile phones and leukaemia.
Laboratory testing also showed radio waves had no effect on biological tissue at a range of frequencies.
David Coggan, the program’s chairman and a professor of environmental medicine at Southampton University, said little was known about the possible health risks of mobile phones when the research started.
“We can now be much more confident about the safety of modern telecommunications systems,” he said.
The research group was funded equally by the British government and the telecommunications industry, with an independent oversight committee ensuring neither could influence the studies.
The Australian Cancer Council says on its website there is no evidence of a link between cancer and mobile phone use.
It cautions, however, that studies have only assessed the effects up to 10 years of use, and that longer term use has not been fully evaluated.
An ongoing study of close to 300,000 European mobile phone users, called COSMOS, is underway in a bid to determine whether mobile phones have delayed health effects. AAP
For more on this story go to:
Father’s sentence for sexually assaulting his daughter increased on appeal
A 44 year old man who was originally sentenced to 9 months with 3 months suspended for sexually assaulting his eight year old daughter, has had another 9 months added after it was appealed by the Crown, who deemed the original jail term was too low.
Electric cars to be sold in the Bahamas
From Clean Technica
EASY Eco-Car, a division of EASY Car Sales located in Nassau (the Bahamas), will soon begin selling the Wheego LiFE electric vehicle, the first EV to be sold there. Cayman Automotive Leasing will be responsible for distribution of the vehicles. The Wheego LiFe is sourced from China, but the battery and drivetrain are both installed in California. It has a range of about 100 miles per charge, and can be driven on highways. The two-seater has rear cargo space and a top speed of 65 mph.
Sun Country Highway will implement a network of EV charger stations to support the Wheego LiFe rollout. The Bahamas and other Caribbean nations are especially good places for electric vehicles, because of the short travel distances that are typical for most drivers and the high gasoline costs. Also, the charging stations could be solar-powered because there is plenty of sunlight available there.
Adding electric cars is also a good way to preserve that island chain’s natural beauty because there will be less air pollution. About five million tourists visit the Bahamas each year, and most of them are from the United States. Gas-powered vehicles are a major contributor to air pollution in the Caribbean.
Electric vehicles are becoming more popular in the United States, so American tourists visiting the Bahamas may be delighted to find them while on vacation as well. Or finding them while on vacation may lead them to buying one in the States.
Of course, cars aren’t the only source of pollution in the Bahamas. Cruise ships that bring many tourists also emit air pollution by burning fuel oil. These huge vessels boost port economies but they also emit chemicals in their exhaust that can be hazardous to human health. Fuel oil and diesel fuel are both burned on the islands for the generation of electricity resulting in air pollution.
Fresh water there mostly comes from rainfall, so it is important that pollution be prevented so that it does not get into groundwater sources. It is important to protect natural resources in the Bahamas, as island ecology tends to be fragile and rising ocean levels combined with a huge annual influx of tourists present significant challenges.
For more: http://cleantechnica.com/2014/03/10/electric-cars-sold-bahamas/
See also iNews story 3/3/14 “Bahamas joins forces with Cayman by going electric” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/bahamas-joins-forces-with-cayman-by-going-electric/
Ironwood MOU with Cayman government did not include NRA
The non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the Cayman Islands Government signed recently with the Ironwood developers regarding a potential public-private partnership (PPP) over the arterial public road extension in the eastern districts did not include the government agency actually responsible for Cayman roads.
It has just been revealed from a Freedom of Information request that the National Roads Authority (NRA) were not included in the MOU.
The MOU relates to the Ironwood developers financing the $40 million road extension via duty waivers and commits the government to execute the necessary business case studies and analysis with a view to a PPP on the road extension.
The government has been tight-lipped about the whole project and this is probably because of the major concerns over the route of the road across National Trust property including the naturally, historically and culturally significant Mastic Reserve and a possible threat to the fresh water lens in the area and even the Queen Elizabeth Botanic Garden.
2 Malaysians go to jail for Cayman credit card swindle
The two Malaysian nationals, Hew Senn Wann (51) and Thanabalan Manogar (31), who pleaded guilty to stealing and trying to steal over US$200,000 worth of jewellery from stores in Grand Cayman with cloned credit cards were both sentenced to 16 months in jail on Tuesday (11).
The two men had arrived in Grand Cayman in the beginning of October 2013 with 50 cloned credit cards with instructions from a third man known as “Tom” in Malaysia.
The men attempted to purchase expensive watches and jewellery in two of Kirk’s George Town jewellery stores and the Magnum Jewellery store at the Marriott hotel. Cloned cards were also used to pay for their accommodation at the Marriott and the Comfort suites.
Time served and their guilty pleas were taken into consideration for the sentencing.
Cayman cricket takes a dive down to Division 6
After the Cayman Islands cricket team won their first match of the ICC World Cricket League Division 5 tournament there were high hopes of perhaps winning the division and going up to Division 4.
Instead it was down hill after that and Cayman lost the rest of their matches, with all but one by a large margin.
Consequently instead of going up it was down as they finished bottom.
Ottawa helping Canadian family over apparent mixup involving caskets
By The Canadian Press January From The Montreal Gazette
OTTAWA – The federal government is assisting the family of a Canadian woman who died on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten but whose body may been sent to the wrong place.
A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman says the department has been in touch both with officials on St. Maarten and relatives of the Canadian, whose identity has not been released.
The trouble began last month after a Rhode Island woman found someone else’s body in a casket that was supposed to contain her mother, who died suddenly while vacationing in St. Maarten.
That family believes a hospital or funeral home confused the American woman’s body with that of a woman from Ottawa -both died on the island around the same time.
They think their relative was sent to Ottawa by mistake and cremated.
The St. Maarten government says it has launched an investigation into the matter.
For more on this story go to:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/travel/Ottawa+helping+Canadian+family+over+apparent+mixup/9378015/story.html
Abandoned Cayman Brac hotel may cause owners to be sued
Hurricane Paloma destroyed the Divi Tiara hotel in Cayman Brac in 2008 and the owners abandoned the site that lies on the south side leaving it in an unsightly mess.
The Cayman Government have said they will be taking legal action against the owners unless they “step up” and do what is necessary to clean up the mess as in the words of Premier Alden McLaughlin, “because it is seriously damaging the tourism of Cayman Brac”.
Solar Novus Blog
From Solarmovus
The Solar Decathlon 2013 teams join together for a group photo ahead of the start of competition at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, CA on October 3, 2013 Credit Stefano PalteraUS Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.
The Solar Decathlon announced that the collegiate solar home design contest will be held in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Under the MOU signed today, the countries will exchange information regarding rules, scoring, judging, safety, and site and team selection for a Solar Decathlon Latin America and Caribbean event to take place in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, in December 2015. In addition to educating students, the competition is intended to encourage private sector participation in the energy sector and promote sustainable development and land use planning.
Since 2010, the Energy Department has helped launch four international Solar Decathlon competitions:
Solar Decathlon Europe 2010 (Madrid, Spain)
Solar Decathlon Europe 2012 (Madrid, Spain)
Solar Decathlon China 2013 (Datong, China)
Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 (Versailles, France).
The MOU signed Monday marks the first step toward a Solar Decathlon competition in Latin America.
Around the world, the Solar Decathlon challenges university teams to design and build affordable, innovative, and highly energy-efficient solar-powered houses.
The first US Solar Decathlon was held in 2002, and the competition has since occurred every two years. The next U.S. competition will be held in Irvine, California, in fall 2015.
Cayman’s ATM’s will still be safe after Microsoft’s April deadline
As we reported on February 192014 “Windows XP: What to expect once Microsoft shuts down support” (see http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/windows-xp-what-to-expect-once-microsoft-shuts-down-support/) Microsoft will no longer offer security updates on Windows XP.
This is the system used by around 200,000 US banks and also here in Cayman. Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) therefore could become targets for hackers.
However, Mike McWatt. President of the Cayman Islands Bankers Association (CIBA), said on CITN/Cayman27 last Wednesday (12) Cayman’s banks are prepared and no one should be concerned.
“Local ATM vendors have their own controls in place and I’m confident they are well placed to support those machines even after the software itself is off vendor support,” he said.
Earliest math document discovered in China
WantChinaTimes From sott.net
China’s earliest mathematical document dating back more than 2,200 years ago has been discovered by archeologists and experts, they announced Tuesday (7).
The document consists of a mathematical formula inscribed on bamboo slips from the Warring States period (475-221 BCE), according to Li Xueqin, head of the Research and Conservation Center for Excavated Texts of Tsinghua University in Beijing.
The unearthed document provides a formula for the multiplication of any two whole numbers under 100 and certain fractions, said Li, a well-known historian.
The document is the earliest of its kind discovered so far and has filled in a historical blank for mathematical documents prior to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE), according to Guo Shuchun, director of the Chinese Society of the History of Mathematics.
It is older and had greater calculating functions than other ancient multiplication tables discovered, said Guo.
“It was very advanced for the world at that time and is an important discovery in the mathematical history of China and even the world.”
In July 2008, Tsinghua University acquired a rare collection of 2,500 slip bamboo items belonging to the late Warring States period, which had been smuggled out of China.
For more on this story go to:
http://www.sott.net/article/271727-Earliest-math-document-discovered-in-China
Cayman Government and CEC to provide incentives for shipping industry
Cayman’s Premier, Alden McLaughlin, announced at the second Cayman Islands Shipping Summit last Tuesday (11) that following discussions with special economic zone Cayman Enterprise City (CEC) special incentives were going to be quickly implemented to attract the shipping industry to the Cayman Islands.
It is proposed to deliver these incentives via a marine services park that would be part of the special economic zone.
All companies within the zone can take advantage of Cayman’s tax benefits in combination with reduced red tape, lower registration fees and no work permit fees.
However, government will need to pass an order in Cabinet extending the types of companies that can set up a physical presence in the zone as at present there is no allocation for marine companies.
“Our sights are firmly set on the Cayman Islands being a world-class, full-service, international maritime centre,” the premier said.
Electronic ‘Alert Shirt’ claims it can help fans feel football tackles
By Todd Wasserman From Mashable
If you’ve ever watched a football game and wondered what it feels like to be tackled, then here’s the shirt for you.
Australian telecommunications company Foxtel claims to have created a shirt that uses wearable technology to let you experience some of the physical sensations that athletes on the field are having. Those include pressure (to mimic a thumping heart), impact, despair (“the sinking feeling of every costly mistake”), exhaustion and adrenalin.
The data is transmitted via Bluetooth from a smartphone app, and the shirt is powered by a lithium polymer cell battery.
The item is available for Australian Rules Football club members who use Foxtel, along with other “loyal Foxtel customers.” Pricing information was not disclosed.
In the video above, the company is vague about how exactly the shirt works, except that it uses “feedback motors” to transfer sensations to the skin. The feedback motors seem to work the opposite way sensors do — instead of receiving stimulus from you, it delivers it.
If it sounds like a hoax, it’s an elaborate one: There’s an Alert Shirt app on iOS and Android.
Cayman needs to be “business friendly”
At the second Cayman Islands Shipping Summit last Tuesday (11), Chief Executive Officer of The Maritime Authority, Joel Walton, said, “To counter the attacks of the anti-Cayman contingent and anti-offshore in general, we need to have higher quality standards, we need to have superior legislation, we need to provide better service, we need to be business-friendly.”
He also said even though the Caymanian flag is respected globally and the island is looking to increase its presence in the maritime industry, the tax haven label is not helping. He said stronger action needed to be taken to “shake the tax haven image”.
A Copenhagen startup wants you to throw away your HDMI cables
By Dylan Love From Business Insider
Danish company Airtame still has a week to go on its IndieGogo crowdfunding project, but it’s already raised roughly $650,000 for its $160,000 goal.
Their product is a wireless HDMI dongle that instantly mirrors your computer’s display to a television, projector, or any larger display with an HDMI port. And it does so without wires. Check out the demo video for more below. If you like what you see, you can chip in $169 and have two devices sent to your door by going to: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/airtame-wireless-hdmi-for-everyone–2
For more on this story and to view the video go to:
Cayman’s sea and airfreight divisions merge
In February the Cayman Islands Customs Department announced the merger of the sea and airfreight divisions in order to pool the resources on having not just one area busy on some days but to have ongoing activity throughout the whole week.
This has also helped reduce costs and make them more efficient.
Collector of Customs Samantha Bennett said on CITN/Cayman27 Wednesday (12) a new system has also been introduced to make business more convenient for the public.
China military to tighten building controls in anti-graft drive
From Business Insider
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s military said it has tightened controls over the construction and sale of buildings to ensure proper accounting and transparency for all financial transactions as part of a wider government anti-corruption drive.
China launched a crackdown on rampant graft in the military in the late 1990s, banning the People’s Liberation Army from engaging in business. Corruption has worsened in recent years however, due to a lack of transparency and checks and balances.
The latest rules, printed on the front page of the official PLA Daily, mandate that money from the sale of military buildings must be handed over to the military fully and in a timely manner.
New building work can only be carried out according to pre-approved plans and must not stray from them in scope or size, state the rules, which went into effect on March 1.
“The approval process must be open and transparent and supervised effectively,” the newspaper said. “Make decisions in accordance with the law and effectively prevent corruption.”
The short statement gave no specifics for how the new rules are to be carried out or enforced, nor did it mention the scale of the problem the army is confronting.
The same newspaper reported this month that illegal occupants of 27,000 military apartments had been cleared out over a seven-month period last year.
The newspaper made no mention of any punishment for officers who abused their powers and illegally occupied military homes.
President Xi Jinping has made fighting graft a top priority of his administration and targeted official waste and extravagance, seeking to assuage public anger over corruption and restore faith in the Communist Party.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ron Popeski)
For more on this story go to:
Intelligent cat ‘companion’ mimics movements of small animals
Every indoor cat owner has felt it — that gnawing, guilt-inducing sensation that you’re simply not providing enough entertainment or exercise for your homebound hunter. Kitty has grown bored with the feathers-on-a-fishing-rod toy, and you’re not even around to wield it for most of the day. What to do?
Enter Egg, a Kickstarter project that bills itself as a cat companion rather than a cat toy. The brainchild of electrical engineer Jason O’Mara, Egg is a USB-powered, rechargeable device that rolls around, mimicking the erratic movements of a small animal. If it senses that your cat is on the brink of catching it, Egg will make a break for freedom while emitting alarmed squeaking noises.
“Pet stores offer you cheap and rather uninteresting balls,” writes O’Mara. “Egg is designed to be your cat’s favorite toy.”
O’Mara posted the project on Kickstarter on Dec. 26, asking for $15,000 in funding. Currently the project is oversubscribed to the tune of $64,000 — despite the fact that O’Mara has provided little more than an amateur video of two cats playing with an Egg.
Clearly, there are a lot of bored felines out there.
How much will Egg cost? We don’t know yet, but O’Mara says one Egg with all its parts — including gearmotor, weight, circuit board, battery and 3D-printed eggshell — should cost him $31. Early Kickstarter supporters will get the gadget at cost price.
A USB charge should be enough to power Egg for one day of play, O’Mara says. And if kitty starts to get bored even with Egg’s erratic actions, the device can be programmed for different activities while plugged into your laptop.
Image: Jason Paul Smith
For more on this story and to watch the video go to:
Bow Wow Bingo
Cayman Animal Rescue Enthusiasts – CARE – have announced Bow Wow Bingo at Beaches Sports Bar on Thursday 20th March at 7PM to raise funds for the society that rescues animals and finds homes for them.
See attached flyer for more details
