iNews Briefs
Major offshore conference begins in Miami
From Caribbean Journal
The 12th annual OffshoreAlert conference launched Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach in Miami Beach, Fla.
The conference, organized by OffshoreAlert, is the leading event on offshore finance, particularly in the Caribbean.
On Monday, the conference will include panels and discussions on issues including tax information exchange litigation, offshore funds, BitCoin, the implications of the United States’ FATCA law and others.
On Tuesday, the conference will offer an in-depth look at the “Operation Tempura” affair in the Cayman Islands, and what it means for the relationship between the United Kingdom and the Cayman Islands.
The conference concludes Tuesday evening.
For more: http://www.caribjournal.com/2014/05/05/major-offshore-conference-begins-in-miami/
Wuxi Pharmatech (cayman) (WX) – FDA approval to ibalizumab
SHANGHAI and TAIPEI, May 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — WuXi PharmaTech (NYSE: WX) and TaiMed Biologics today announced that the FDA has approved the first batch of the ibalizumab (TMB-355) drug substance and sterile drug product manufactured at WuXi’s biologics facilities for ongoing treatment of patients under investigator-sponsored IND’s. This is the first reported FDA approval of a sterile biologics product manufactured in China for use under a U.S. IND, which marks an important milestone of WuXi’s investment to expedite global development of innovative biologics.
Ibalizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody and a member of an emerging class of HIV therapies known as viral-entry inhibitors. It is being developed by TaiMed Biologics for the treatment of HIV/AIDS infection.
The drug substance of ibalizumab was manufactured at WuXi’s cell culture manufacturing facility, which recently received an honorable mention facility-of-the-year award by ISPE. The ibalizumab drug product batch approved by the FDA was manufactured at the newly completed state-of-the-art cGMP parenteral manufacturing facility located within the same campus as the cell culture facility at Wuxi city. The automated filling line can accommodate 2-50mL liquid and lyophilized vial products for global clinical trials and product launch.
“We congratulate TaiMed for progressing ibalizumab further in development and bringing this important drug one step closer to approval,” said Dr. Ge Li, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of WuXi PharmaTech. “WuXi is proud to serve as a gateway for developing novel biologics in China. Our integrated biologics discovery, development, manufacturing and testing service platform provides our customers with a seamless solution to bring their biologics products to the market globally and in China.”
“TaiMed is pleased with the speed and excellent execution of this project to ensure the success of this important drug. We look forward to the next phase of collaboration with WuXi to successfully bring the drug to marketing approval,” said Dr. James Chang, Chief Executive Officer of TaiMed Biologics.
Cayman law firm Walkers give $3,000 donation to Meals on Wheels
The Cayman Islands law firm, Walkers, handed over a cheque recently to Cayman’s Meals on Wheels for CI$3000 which was used to purchase a large freezer so that food won’t go to waste.
Without the freezer Meals on Wheels had to recently turn down a donation of a huge amount of fish because they had nowhere to store it.
Beulah McField of Meals on Wheels said this will allow the charity to buy in bulk that is much cheaper.
Ashley Gunning, a partner with Walkers said, “Meals on Wheels performs an absolutely vital function in our community and it is a cause which resonates particularly strongly amongst our staff. We are delighted to support such a fine organisation in any way we can.”
Walkers has been a long standing supporter of the Meals on Wheels facility, through various Dress Down donations – where staff make a regular monthly donation in order to dress in casual clothes each Friday – and more significant contributions through the firm’s Charity Committee.
Saint James School of Medicine opens third new campus on St. Vincent
CHICAGO, May 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Saint James School of Medicine, a top rated Caribbean based medical school, announced today the opening of its third campus located on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent.
For the past 14 years, the Saint James School of Medicine group of medical schools has provided accessible, affordable and quality education to over 2,500 students. Offering an MD program designed to prepare students for the United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE), and residency in the US and Canada, Saint James provides the foundation for a successful medical career. With the launch of its new campus, Saint James now has three campuses located in St. Vincent, Bonaire and Anguilla.
The newly opened campus gives motivated students the opportunity to realize their dream of a medical career all while enjoying the beautiful island of St. Vincent, the largest of the group of islands that make up the St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It also has the largest population of the islands where Saint James has its campuses, with over a hundred thousand people and a good infrastructure to support this. Popular American chains such as KFC and Pizza Hut, located in the same neighborhood as the new campus, give students a sense of familiarity, reminding them that they are not too far from home. Whether it’s a visit to the Botanic Gardens, hiking through the mountainous terrain marked by rivers, rapids and waterfalls or relaxing on one of the prominent black sand beaches, students will enjoy all of what St. Vincent has to offer in addition to a quality education.
“As the demand for qualified physicians escalates, medical schools limit the number of students, and the cost of medical education increases,” said Raj Mitra, Saint James’ Vice President of Enrollment. “Saint James School of Medicine’s continued growth will fulfill a vital role in providing quality healthcare in the US and Canada.”
Digicel Kick Start Clinics, backed by Chelsea Football Club, comes to Cayman
The Digicel Kick Start Clinics, backed by Chelsea Football Club, are looking for the best young footballing talent in the Caribbean and Central America, and the cayman Islands is one of the countries included.
This is the first year the clinics are being held in Cayman, and with the local pre-clinics having been completed, the 30 local boys selected are eager to train with the Chelsea Foundation coaches at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex from May 14 to 16.
During the initial community clinics held in each country, hundreds of children are trying out for a place to be coached under three top coaches from Chelsea.
The 30 best children from each country are training under the coaches in the hope of being one of the top three chosen by them to go to the Digicel Academy in Barbados and represent their country.
This year, besides Cayman and Jamaica, the clinics are in Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname.
The inaugural session will see sponsorship from the Cayman Islands Department of Sports, Department of Tourism, Cayman Islands Football Association, Health City Cayman Islands and Subway.
“The Health City Cayman Islands is thrilled to be a sponsor of the Digicel Kick Start Clinics in the Cayman Islands and will be looking towards expanding that partnership into the wider Caribbean,” said Health City marketing director, Shomari Scott. “The awareness of our cardiac offering is high, so we saw our providing of physiotherapists during the clinics as a perfect way to communicate our world-class orthopedic offering whilst helping to educate the youngsters in preventative measures from acquiring sports injuries and to show them important warm-up and cool-down techniques.”
Bocas feeds pride in Caribbean Lit
By Joshua Surtees From Guardian Media
T&T’s literati have retreated from the National Library back to their bookish enclaves to listen to Bocas Radio webcasts, some of them suffering from what is known as “Bocas tabanca.”
The dust is collecting on old copies of paperback books which had been dusted down and nostalgically perused.
Yet there is no fear in this handful of dust. The Caribbean literary world has again been treated to five days of fearless writing and fearless reading. Shiny new novels have been printed, signed and sold. Poetry has been performed, prizes dispensed, workshops workshopped, films screened.
Schoolchildren have come into close contact with the literary genre. A host of authors have flown back home, their appetite for T&T sated for another year, among them Linton Kwesi Johnson, Caryl Phillips and Lorna Goodison, to name a few.
The T&T Guardian spoke to four people intimately involved in the 2014 festival to get their inside take on how it unfolded.
For more: http://www.guardian.co.tt/lifestyle/2014-05-04/bocas-feeds-pride-caribbean-lit
Dave Scott | Captain and Vice President Flight Operations, Cayman Airways
Capt. Scott joined Cayman Airways on June 2, 1978 as a First officer on the BAC1-11 already clocking under his sleeve a five (5) year First Officer experience on the DC-9 and DC-8 with Air Jamaica He was promoted to Captain on January 1st, 1980 and has steadily progressed with Cayman Airways. He was again promoted on February 2011 to Manager Flight Training and on January 1, 2012 to his present position of Vice President Flight Operations.
In his present post, some of his many responsibilities include maintaining the Company Operations Manuals and defining The Company Standard Operational Procedures. On August 31st. 2012, after an extensive one year trial program under Capt. Scotts’ guidance, Cayman Airways was granted full permission by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands for the use of the iPad as an EFB. This change to an EFB has helped with reducing paperwork and increasing efficiencies in the Cockpit. Our pilots were glad for the change and have all been very receptive. Cayman Airways is now working on permanent holders for the IPAD EFB’s.
Shared concerns on climate, agri could drive trade between Caricom, Mexico – Barbados PM
From StabroekNews
Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart says sustained development could be attained only in an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity and lauded the tone of engagements at the Third Caricom-Mexico Summit, noting that Mexico and the Caribbean shared similar concerns and it is now time for them to deepen trade and other ties.
Stuart, who hosted the last Caricom-Mexico meeting in Barbados in May 2012, was pleased to note, at the April 28-29 Summit, that two years later relations between Caricom and Mexico had strengthened and co-operation deepened.
“There are particular issues which resonate with both CARICOM and Mexico,” he said, pointing out that they shared the Caribbean Sea and issues of mutual concern such as climate change and disaster management, agriculture, and food and nutrition security.
4 Children murdered in Honduras
From FOX News Latino
Four children were stabbed to death Sunday in Limon, a town in the Honduran Caribbean province of Colon, police said.
The children, who ranged in age from 2 to 13, were murdered by unidentified individuals when they were left home alone, police chief Daniel Ferrufino told Honduran radio.
Investigators have arrested two suspects in connection with the murders, the police chief said.
Residents of Limon, a town whose population is mostly of African descent, were shocked by the crime, Ferrufino said.
The murders were reported to police at 2:00 a.m. and investigators are still trying to clear up what happened, the police chief said.
An average of 15 people are murdered each day in Honduras, official figures show.
The Central American country, according to National Autonomous University Violence Observatory figures, registered an average of 19 murders per day in 2013. EFE
For more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/05/04/4-children-murdered-in-honduras/
Cayman Islands to freeze dirty Ukraine assets
From News TT
As part of sanctions stemming from the ongoing political conflict and violence in the Ukraine, the Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory and Caribbean tax haven, over the weekend gazetted a notice that it will freeze assets of persons identified as responsible for misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds.
The Cayman Islands government said in Gazette number 30 of 2014 that the asset freeze will also apply to “persons who have been identified as responsible for actions which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, and natural or legal persons, entities or bodies associated with them.”
Fatal clashes among pro-Russian and Kiev-loyal forces continue in the Ukraine; US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have set a May 25 trigger for possible economic sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine
For the notices see:
http://www.gazettes.gov.ky/sites/defa…14_web.pdf
http://www.gazettes.gov.ky/sites/defa…14_web.pdf
For more: http://news.co.tt/public_html/article.php?story=20140505114037499
[US] Homeland Security is ‘Out of control’
From Newsmax
The Department of Homeland Security has often been assailed from the right, with Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions calling it “the most mismanaged department in the federal government.”
Now a fresh attack on the DHS comes from the left-leaning Undernews, the online report of the Progressive Review, which castigates the department in an article headlined “Homeland Security Department Out of Control.”
Excerpting an article from the Albuquerque Journal, Undernews reports: “Today, in addition to protecting America’s borders and airports, [the department] is interrogating people suspected of pirating movies at Ohio theaters, seizing counterfeit NBA merchandise in San Antonio, and working pickpocket cases alongside police in Albuquerque.
“Some government watchdogs and civil liberties advocates — and even the nation’s first Department of Homeland Security secretary — question how those actions serve the purpose set forth in the 2002 law” establishing the department.
That former secretary, Tom Ridge, told the Journal: “They’ve kind of lost their way.”
In its first year of existence, DHS had 180,000 full-time workers, and its budget was $29 billion in 2003. Today the department has 250,000 workers, making it the third largest federal agency after the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, and its budget this year is $61 billion.
A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service last year disclosed: “The U.S. government does not have a single definition for ‘homeland security.’ Multiple definitions, missions and an absence of prioritization results in consequences to the nation’s security.
“There is no clarity in the national strategies of federal, state, and local roles and responsibilities, and potentially, funding is driving priorities rather than priorities driving the funding.”
Ridge said: “Someone needs to explain to me how critical all these new people are to the nation. Are they getting so big, they’re actually making work?”
And Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College and Harvard Extension School, calls the DHS “a colossal and inefficient boondoggle.”
For more: http://www.newsmax.com/insiderreport/homeland-security-out-of-control/2014/05/04/id/569386/
Cayman Islands Helicopters wins helipad appeal
By Thierry Dubois From AINonline
Cayman Islands Helicopters hopes to begin using its cruise ship terminal helipad again soon.
The civil aviation authority of the Cayman Islands (a branch of the British CAA) and Cayman Islands Helicopters have won their appeal against a previous justice decision that forced the sightseeing flight operator to suspend operations from a helipad conveniently located near a cruise-ship terminal in George Town. As of April 8, the CAA still had to validate the certificate again, almost one year after it had been suspended.
In granting an aerodrome certificate to the helipad, “the CAA did not at any stage act unreasonably,” the court of appeals judgment reads. Axis, a local business, had raised nuisance and safety concerns to challenge the validity of the certificate.
The original ruling cited acoustic nuisance and concluded that it was “manifestly unreasonable of the CAA not to have regard to the impact of nuisance upon adjacent properties,” namely Axis, which was complaining about noise and vibration. But the court of appeal agreed with the CAA that this was outside its remit and rather an issue for the Central Planning Authority. “The CAA was not required to take account of nuisance in deciding whether to grant a certificate,” it said.
In addition to concerns about noise, Axis also raised safety concerns: that the approach path is not free of obstacles, part of the safety area is over the sea, and no limitations are imposed for operating with tailwinds in excess of 17 knots.
The court of appeal did acknowledge there were errors in the manual Cayman Helicopters provided to the CAA. However, it dismissed all the safety concerns. While acknowledging that imposing a limit on takeoff in a tailwind has to be regarded as important, it also said that such an omission can be corrected easily by a revision of the manual. Therefore, “it would not require the setting aside of the certificate,” the judgment reads.
New LIAT CEO: Lower air taxes would increase Government revenues
From the Caribbean Journal
Taxes on intra-regional air travel have largely proven to be crippling for Caribbean carrier LIAT, and the company’s new CEO says lowering them would both increase demand and governments revenues.
Evans, who officially assumed office on April 22, said this week that, while taxes are “important to reinvest in aviation infrastructure,” he would like to see governments “fully examine the overall economic and social impact of LIAT.”
Evans said a lighter taxation regime would “stimulate greater demand and an increase in the ‘tax take’ back to [each] government.”
““We spend approximately US$12.5 million dollars a year here in Barbados, but all those jobs we create spend a further $25 million and most of that is, of course, taxable revenue to the government,” said Evans, who was a guest on the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Destination Caribbean programme.
Evans said LIAT was worth more than $100 million USD each year to the region in terms of jobs and its tourism impact, outside of its airline activity.
He also said that meeting demand with increased capacity was not a major hurdle.
“Any airline faced with increasing demand will be happy with that situation and it would find a way either in its own right or in some sort of a cooperative fashion in order to provide that extra supply or capacity,” he said.
The new CEO also said regional carriers could collaborate.
“Whilst competition is absolutely essential, there is more we can do in cooperation with each other than we are doing at the moment,” he said.
US$1.9m worth ganja seized in Caribbean
MIAMI (CMC) — The United States Coast Guard says it has seized 2,058 pounds of marijuana, worth an estimated US$1.9 million, following an operation in the Caribbean.
The Coast Guard said that during a patrol in the Caribbean, on April 23, it boarded a vessel where 48 bales of marijuana were discovered. Four people were later arrested.
“This seizure highlights the hard work and dedication of our crews in stopping the illegal flow of drugs in the Caribbean,” said Commander Timothy Cronin, deputy chief of enforcement.
“This interdiction demonstrates the effectiveness of our commitment to keep illicit drugs off our streets.”
During 2013, the Coast Guard said it had seized US$22 million in marijuana and US$1.8 billion in cocaine in operations throughout the Eastern and Central Caribbean.
For more: http://dominicavibes.dm/us1-9m-worth-ganja-seized-in-caribbean/
Grenada and Mexico sign development cooperation agreement
From Caribbean Journal
The governments of Grenada and Mexico have signed an agreement on bilateral development cooperation.
The agreement is the first of its kind between the countries since 1981, according to a statement from Grenada’s government.
The pact was signed on the sidelines of the CARICOM-Mexico summit in Merida, Mexico last week.
Grenada Foreign Minister Nickolas Steele and Mexican Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Meade signed the agreement, which was the “culmination of months of negotiations at the level of the respective foreign ministries,” according to the statement.
The agreement “makes provisions for financial cooperation, exchange of experts, exchanges of materials and equipment, human resource development and any other areas of cooperation to be decided upon by the two Governments through periodic review and consultations,” Grenada’s government said.
Grenada Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell attended the conference last week, leading a delegation that included Steele, Grenada Ambassador to CARICOM Patrick Antoine and Ronald Theodore of the Grenada Industrial Development Corporation.
For more: http://www.caribjournal.com/2014/05/03/grenada-and-mexico-sign-development-cooperation-agreement/
Jamaican among Caribbean moms to be honoured at New York concert
From Jamaican Observer
KINGSTON, Jamaica — A Jamaican is among five Caribbean-American mothers to be saluted at EVERYBODY’S Magazine, ‘Mother We Love You Concert’, starring Calypso King of the World, Mighty Sparrow and 12-year-old Young Devyn on Saturday, May 10, at the Brooklyn Centre for the Performing Arts in New York City.
She is Janet Logan.
According to a EVERYBODY’S Magazine, Logan, born at Bean Pen, St Mary, Jamaica, spent her early working years in the United Kingdom. While in England she became a registered nurse and continued her profession in Canada. In 1968, Logan permanently settled in New York and worked at Down State Medical Hospital until her retirement.
Logan and the other mothers: Vena W Baker of Panama, Denise Donaldson of Grenada, Brenda Harris Ephraim of Antigua and Barbuda, and Gloria Smith of Panama, were selected from scores of mothers across the US, who readers recommended for recognition on Mother’s Day Weekend.
All five mothers are also grandmothers.
Cruise ship from Caribbean stuck in New York river with steering glitch is tugged to shore
From StarTribune
NEW YORK — The Coast Guard says a cruise ship from the Caribbean suffered a steering glitch near its New York City port and had to be tugged to shore.
Spokesman Frank Iannazzo (yah-NAH’-tzoh) Simmons says the Norwegian Cruise Line vessel was supposed to dock at 7 a.m. Sunday but developed a problem with its steering and propulsion system as it approached a Manhattan pier on the Hudson River.
The ship, called the Breakaway, waited in the river while the captain of the port ordered tugboat assistance to help with the docking.
The Coast Guard says the ship was pulled to Manhattan’s Pier 88 just after 10 a.m.
It was not clear how many passengers were aboard.
Norwegian Cruise Line did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the glitch.
For more: http://www.startribune.com/business/257856141.html
