iNews Briefs
Cayman Football: Keegan to be special guest at Sunset club fundraiser
From Digicel Sportsmax
English football icon Kevin Keegan is to provide a major boost for Cayman’s Sunset Football Club for its fundraiser set for June 20 and 21.
The event is being staged to raise funds for the club’s programmes, including its flourishing children’s project for 4-11-year-old boys and girls.
More than 300 kids are involved in the programme. The Under-12, U-13, U-15 and U-17 boys, U-16 girls as well as the senior men and women teams will also benefit.
On June 20 Keegan will talk about his career at Margaritaville. The legend, who has played for Scunthorpe, Liverpool, Hamburg, Newcastle, Southampton and England and also managed Newcastle, Fulham, Manchester City and England, will also take questions from the audience as well as sign autographs and take pictures with patrons.
Sunset will be raffling and auctioning sporting memorabilia like signed shirts, photos and books.
June 21 will be Kevin Keegan Golf Day at the North Sound Club. Keegan will play and he will also be around before and after the event to socialise with players and present prizes.
In previous years Sunset has hosted footballers Peter Shilton, Jack Charlton, Geoff Hurst, Bryan Robson, Kenny Daglish as well as boxer Frank Bruno.
Jamaican athlete found dead in New York Hotel
From Stabroek News
NEW YORK, CMC-Jamaican born student athlete, Sabrina Cammock, was found dead in a Times Square hotel over the weekend, New York police have reported.
Police say there were no signs of criminality when Cammock, 21, was found at around 9:20 a.m. Saturday at the Hotel Edison.
Medical examiners’ spokeswoman Julie Bolcer said an autopsy was conducted Sunday, but the results were awaiting further studies.
Cammock, a sprinter for Syracuse University, competed as recently as the previous weekend, when she was on the women’s 4×400 relay team at the 2015 ACC Indoor Championships.
“Sabrina was a wonderful and remarkable person and student-athlete,” Syracuse track and field coach Chris Fox said in a statement Saturday.
“Our team and coaching staff are devastated by her loss.”
A member of a school record-setting 4×100-metre relay team, Cammock won a Syracuse scholar-athlete of the week award last April and was also was named to the 2012-13 Big East conference All-Academic Team.
Cammock who left Jamaica for the United States after competing Grade Six, hails from Watt Town in in the parish of St Ann located in the north coast of the island.
For more: http://www.stabroeknews.com/2015/sports/03/11/jamaican-athlete-found-dead-in-new-york-hotel/
Jamaica is 1st in Caribbean to name human trafficking monitor
From Fox news Latino
Jamaica became on Tuesday the first Caribbean country to appoint a national rapporteur on human trafficking.
The Ministry of National Security announced that Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison will fill the new post.
The Cabinet approved Gordon Harrison’s designation to “enhance Jamaica’s anti-trafficking profile and exhibits the seriousness with which the government of Jamaica regards this issue,” the ministry said in a statement.
One of the primary functions of the national rapporteur will be to create a more objective reporting system on the issue.
Gordon Harrison will have the authority to obtain from the relevant authorities, including the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Jamaica Constabulary Force, any information necessary to carry out her duties.
She is expected to conduct independent investigations of reports of alleged instances of human trafficking as the need arises, to report on human rights violations and to provide an analytical overview of the situation in trafficking in an annual report to the government.
Gordon Harrison, an attorney, was appointed as Children’s Advocate in January 2012. Before that, she worked as deputy director of the DPP.
Jamaican authorities rescued 23 victims of human trafficking in 2012-2013. EFE
Cayman Islands says YES to IELTS
Slowly but surely IELTS finds its way into the Cayman Islands – more universities joined the list of many others already recognizing IELTS in the Cayman Islands.
Cayman Islands has opened its borders to IELTS. People’s Cayman Islands to recognize IELTS – surely others will follow and it’s just a matter of time. Approximate 1+ organizations and universities accepting IELTS. There is the list of some of them.
International College of the Cayman Islands
Call us 08439000086, 08439000087
Location IELTS Band7, 323, 1st Floor, GMS Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India 248001
For more: http://ieltsband7.com/uncategorized/cayman-islands-says-yes-to-ielts/
Wikipedia to file lawsuit challenging mass surveillance by NSA
From Newsmax
Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that runs free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, will file a lawsuit against the National Security Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice, challenging the government’s mass surveillance program.
The lawsuit, to be filed on Tuesday, alleges that the NSA’s mass surveillance of Internet traffic in the United States – often called Upstream surveillance – violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech and association, and the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
The NSA’s Upstream surveillance program captures communications with “non-U.S. persons” in order to acquire foreign intelligence information.
“By tapping the backbone of the internet, the NSA is straining the backbone of democracy,” Lila Tretikov, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation wrote in a blog post on its website.
“Wikipedia is founded on the freedoms of expression, inquiry, and information. By violating our users’ privacy, the NSA is threatening the intellectual freedom that is central to people’s ability to create and understand knowledge.”
The NSA’s current practices exceed the authority granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that Congress amended in 2008, Wikimedia said.
“We are asking the court to order an end to the NSA’s dragnet surveillance of Internet traffic,” Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times.
Wikimedia and eight other organizations filing the lawsuit, including the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International USA, will be represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Major U.S. technology companies suffering from the fallout of NSA’s mass surveillance programs are uniting to shore up their defenses against government intrusion.
The NSA and the DoJ were not immediately available for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.
For more: http://www.newsmax.com/SciTech/wikipedia-file-lawsuit-mass/2015/03/10/id/629230/#ixzz3U55Rmdmx
Cayman Football: Islands to host Court of Arbitration
From Digicel Sportsmax
The Cayman Islands is set to become the home for the Court of Arbitration in Sports.
It will hear disputes, particularly among the football confederations that govern the sports in the Western Hemisphere, including matters in CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, UNCAF and CFU.
President of CONCACAF Jeffrey Webb says this is an initiative that will bring rewards.
“This is an opportunity to be efficient and a means to resolve our disputes and situations as effectively as possible and we hope it is a situation that can do well. Cayman Islands has a stable economy that will allow arbitration to do extremely well here.”
Webb, who is also head of the Cayman Islands Football Association, also said that this new role brings benefits to the Cayman Islands.
“This will be a job creater for the Cayman Islands and it allows us to grow our GDP and develop infrastructure.”
Cayman Finance CEO Jude Scott said “We are pleased CONCACAF and CONMEBOL have chosen the Cayman Islands as the arbitration centre for football matters in the Americas. Their confidence in the jurisdiction reinforces the reputation of the Cayman Islands as having a strong legislative framework and top quality professionals who provide arbitration, accounting and expert witnessing services that are respected around the world.”
For more: http://www.sportsmax.tv/?q=articles/2015/03/10/cayman-football-islands-host-court-arbitration
Trafficking in persons, 1st in Caribbean
From Jamaica Observer
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison has been appointed as the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons.
This appointment, according to the Ministry of National Security, makes Jamaica the first Caribbean nation to embrace this approach.
In making the announcement Tuesday, the ministry said this move can only serve to enhance Jamaica’s anti-trafficking profile and exhibits the seriousness with which the Government regards the issue.
One of the primary functions of the National Rapporteur, as noted by the ministry, will be to create a more objective reporting system on the issue of trafficking in the country.
In addition, the National Rapporteur will, inter alia, have the authority to obtain from the relevant authorities, including the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Trafficking in Persons, TIP Unit in the Jamaica Constabulary Force, any information necessary to carry out her stated duties; to conduct independent examinations/investigations of reports of alleged instances of human trafficking where the need arises; to report on violations, wherever they may occur, of the rights of victims, as well as discrimination, threats or use of violence, harassment, intimidation or reprisals directed at persons exercising these rights; and to provide an analytical overview of the situation in trafficking in an annual report to the Government.
These powers of the National Rapporteur are consistent with internationally accepted best practice and are parallel to National Rapporteur mechanisms in other jurisdictions, the ministry said.
The ministry added that the Government is confident that the independence attached to the Children’s Advocate by virtue of statute, coupled with the fact that the Children’s Advocate already has a direct reporting channel to the Houses of Parliament, makes this appointment a good fit.
Cayman Islands: Minister’s statement regarding MACI’s Managing Director
By Angela Piercy From Cayman Islands Government
The Board of Directors of the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands (MACI) informed me on Friday, 6 March that they had made a decision to not suspend Mr Joel Walton from his position as Managing Director of MACI, pending the resolution of certain charges that recently have been laid against him.
This decision is within the exclusive remit of the Board of MACI in accordance with the Maritime Authority Law, and I am advised that it has been taken with the benefit of appropriate legal advice as to the options available to the Board.
I wish the Board well in guiding MACI through these challenging circumstances, in order to minimise any impact on the authority’s services to the public.
Nolana: Commonwealth winner for Caribbean region
From Trinidad Express
Nolana Lynch, 27, won the prestigious Commonwealth Award for her role in climate change and environmental sustainability earlier today, March 10th 2015 in London.
She’s an advocate, whose work has impacted 15-20 non-profit organisation and has helped to provide aid to impoverished communities and led sustainable agricultural projects in several Caribbean countries.
Lynch is a National Youth Award winner and her eco-friendly, all-natural skin and hair-care line, “Eco-Truffles” uses sustainable raw materials from rural women producers throughout the Caribbean.
To view the ceremony visit the Commonwealth website http://thecommonwealth.org/youth-awards
Original story by Kimoy Leon Sing
For more: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Nolana-Commonwealth-winner-for-Caribbean-region-295776611.html
USA: Inmate allegedly ordered to throw away severed finger
By Claire Landsbaum
An inmate at the Manhattan Detention Complex has filed a lawsuit against the City of New York and prison health-care provider Corizon Health Services, alleging he was denied proper medical treatment after a prison guard closed his cell door on his left hand, severing part of his middle finger.
Rudolph Richardson was taken to the prison clinic to see Dr. Landis Barnes who, according to the complaint, “briefly looked at Mr. Richardson’s hand and told him that his finger could not be saved.” He then told Richardson to “throw the detached portion of his finger into the garbage.” When Richardson refused and asked Barnes for a solution or ice to preserve his finger, Barnes “reluctantly fulfilled this request.”
Richardson was later transported to Bellevue Hospital, where the portion of his finger was reattached. He’s suing for rights violations, medical malpractice, and emotional distress.
Injuries aside, this isn’t the first time inmates or their families have taken issue with Corizon. The health-care provider was blamed in part for inmate deaths last August and earlier this month, and during a hearing last week, officials said outright that they want the city to fire the health-service organization.
Man pleads guilty to raping five females including young child
From Caribbean360
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Tuesday March 10, 2015, CMC – A 27-year-old man is due to be sentenced on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to raping five females, including an eight-year-old child in the western parish of St. James in 2012.
Patrick Green, described by the police as a serial rapist, made the confession when he appeared in court on Monday.
Police said he was also facing charges in connection with several other cases of rape in the central parishes of Clarendon and Manchester. He was linked to the 2012 incident following the results of DNA tests.
The five were raped on the night of September 24, 2012, when armed men invaded a home in the community of Irwin Point and forced four women and a child into a nearby open lot.
According to the Jamaica Observer, “brothers Kerron and Sheldon Brissett were subsequently charged for the brutal 2012 rape of five females, but they were exonerated after almost a year behind bars when DNA results failed to place them at the crime scene. They have since sued the State”.
Yeah nice article.