iNews Briefs
Bolt left out of powerful Jamaican IAAF World Relay’s squad
From Caribbean360
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Thursday May 15, 2014,, CMC – The world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, has not been included in a powerful Jamaican squad to the first ever IAAF World Relays scheduled for The Bahamas May 24 and 25.
Bolt’s exclusion was expected since he has not run all season and recently indicated in the Jamaican media that his participation was dependent on his coach.
Yohan Blake and Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce will lead the squad which is expected to be announced in full late Wednesday.
Jamaica set to participate in all the relays except the 4x1500m events.
In the men’s section, Jamaica will be in the 4×100, 4×200 and 4x400m while the ladies will contest the 4×100, 4x200m, 4x400m and the 4x800m at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium in Nassau.
Jamaica’s biggest rivals, the United States of America (USA) have named a 55-member team without Justin Gatlin and Alison Felix and will contest all five relays.
The Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) is using the event as a qualifier to the 2015 World Championship
Cayman Islands Bodden Town Cox Lumber store coming along
The economy in Bodden Town will be enhanced this summer with the planned opening of Cox Lumber.
Ground was broken in November last year and workers have been busy working toward a June 2014 deadline.
“The Eastern Districts are going to be that much richer for a project like this,” said Minister for Health, Sports, Youth and Culture and Bodden Town MLA Osbourne Bodden. “All of Bodden Town’s MLAs have been working diligently to encourage economic activity, bring jobs and more services to our residents and constituents.”
The first phase of the facility will include an 80×150 foot truss plant with state-of-the art equipment, two warehouses and an 11,000-square-foot retail store with a diverse mix of products for contractors, homeowners and general shoppers. The second phase will consist of a mixed-use commercial and residential development.
Mr. Bodden said the District’s economy has already been boosted with the workers building the plant buying goods and services from retailers near the site, which is east of the Bodden Town Police Station.
Bodden Town MLAs Deputy Speaker Hon. Anthony Eden, Financial Services, Commerce and Environment Minister Wayne Panton, Mr. Bodden and Councillor Alva Suckoo all said they are eager for the official opening in October.
Amidst [Cayman] 1MDB controversy, HK firm tweaks website info
By Anita Gabriel from BT Premium
Fund manager Bridge Partners removes details of key executives
NOW you see it, now you don’t. Bridge Partners, the Hong Kong-based fund manager which is managing 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) US$2.3 billion in Cayman Islands funds, has removed details of its key executives from its website.
The details which were available on its website as recent as last week could no longer be spotted yesterday. It is not immediately clear when this was done or why.
The Business Times revealed on Monday that 1MDB, through wholly-owned Brazen Sky, invested substantial funds in a segregated portfolio company (SPC) called Bridge Global Absolute Return Fund, managed by little-known Bridge Partners.
Despite being under pressure to name the fund managers and provide more details of the funds from Malaysian media outlets and opposition politicians, 1MDB had not budged, except to say that the funds were safe.
See also iNews Cayman related stories at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/mystery-of-malaysian-1mdbs-us2-3b-cayman-islands-fund/
Jeff Webb says protecting integrity of football remains a priority for CONCACAF
Miami — Protecting the integrity of the game was top of mind during a joint FIFA-INTERPOL Workshop, officially opened by CONCACAF President and FIFA Vice President, Jeffrey Webb.
“Having recently signed an MoU with INTERPOL, we remain committed to educate, identify, prevent and provide appropriate disciplinary sanctions to all professionals involved in any unethical and unlawful behaviour that would undermine the game,” said the CONCACAF President.
The workshop, entitled ‘Train the Trainer for Football Players and Referees’ will be delivered over a 3-day period by INTERPOL’s Integrity in Sport Programme Manager, Julie Norris. The course, which is aligned with INTERPOL’s Guide for Effective Training to ensure consistency of standards globally, has over 25 participants from a cross section of areas within CONCACAF, and a Major League Soccer Representative.
“Interpol is pleased to help enhance CONCACAF’s capacity and that of its Member Associations in training targets of match-fixers to recognize, resist and report approaches, to ultimately preventing match- fixing,” said Dr. Noris.
Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to facilitate the recognition of match fixing propositions and specifically address issues of corruption.
“This is the fourth workshop on sports integrity in our region since 2012, and we embrace the opportunity to share this knowledge with key stakeholders, to keep the sanctity of our game intact,” added Webb.
Cayman District environment committee to look at craft and food market
Although various Cayman Islands governments have tried to set up a craft and food market in the District of West Bay they have all failed. Therefore, the West Bay District Environment Committee formed of volunteers has decided to do it themselves.
The Committee is involved in many projects and initiatives to help people in their district and to promote West Bay as a destination in itself and they have added a new West Bay Craft and Food Market at the district’s Heritage Field on their list.
They hope to launch the event on July 7th, Cayman islands Constitution Day.
The heritage Field is at present only used once a year as part of the Pirates Week festivities.
Caribbean boatpeople deaths jump dramatically, EFE reports
From Dominican Today
Washington.- The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) revealed Thursday that shipwrecks of boats carrying immigrants on the Caribbean Sea from Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic and other countries in the region have jumped during the last year, EFE reports.
“We call upon all governments to carry out tasks to search for, rescue and intercept migrants at sea to establish appropriate measures to identify persons who may be refugees or have special protection needs for condition on their vulnerability, such as children,” the organization based in Washington said in a statement.
The latest of those tragedies took place on May 1 when a boat with 18 Haitians headed to Puerto Rico sank off the coast at Boca Chica, Dominican Republic’s southeast. Of the Haitians aboard the boat, six died and 12 were rescued by Dominican Republic’s Navy.
The tragedy forms part of the more than 20 incidents at sea in various places in the Caribbean in 2014 thus far, affecting around 320 people, of which 19 drowned and 12 are still missing.
The UN High Commissioner (UNHCR) says 440 maritime accidents with boats carrying migrants on the Caribbean Sea have taken place since 2010, affecting 15,190 people, of which 240 have died and 176 others are missing.
Jamaica authorities probe airport fire that delayed flights, gutted building
From Caribbean360
SANGSTER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN THE SECOND CITY OF MONTEGO BAY
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, Thursday May 15, 2014, CMC – A probe is being carried out to determine the cause of a fire which broke out on the compound of the Sangster International Airport in the second city of Montego Bay late Wednesday.
The blaze, which started about 9 o’clock, gutted a building adjacent to the terminal building.
Chief Commercial Officer at MBJ Airports Limited, Elizabeth Scotton, flights were delayed briefly as a precaution while fire fighters tried to contain the blaze.
“Well actually there was a structural fire that involved a crew area that was in an area was adjacent to the terminal building, but not attached to the terminal building. It was a structural fire, at this time it has been completely contained. There were no injuries, nobody was hurt we delayed about two aircraft by about fifteen minutes as part of our emergency response services,” she said.
Nine fire trucks managed to get the blaze under control about an hour after it started, following which the all clear was given for flights to and from the airport to resume.
Complaint filed against Cayman Asset Management
From Scambook
Complaint 319765 Details
Date Occurred: 05/14/2014Reported Damages: $100,000.00Location: Cayman Islands / Switzerland !
Good returns for NASDAQ traded shares offered, but no transfer of money after liquidation request of 1500 shares Callidus Software and 25000 shares of Ariad Pharmaceuticals.
No communication after liquidation request!
People involved:
James Orr
Michael Turner
Mr. Rutherford MD of branch in Buelach.
However the at the claimed address in Buelach nobody knows this financial company, Cayman asset management are not registered as a company in Switzerland.
In the meantime their original no is suspended due to suspected or actual fraudulent action!!!
For more: http://www.scambook.com/report/view/319765/cayman-asset-management-Complaint-319765-for-$100,000.00
American indicted in vehicular death of 9-year-old Guyanese girl
From Caribbean360
NEW YORK, United States, Thursday May 15, 2014, CMC – A 62 year old man has been indicted in the vehicular death of a 9-year-old Guyanese girl here two weeks ago.
Kenneth Palache, 62, of Long Island, New York has been charged with manslaughter in the second degree for “rear-ending a vehicle stopped at a red light while fleeing from police and causing the death of Rebecca Ramnarine.” If convicted, Palache faces 5-15 years in prison.
According to court documents, on May 4, about 4:40 p.m., police responded to a collision on Foster Avenue and East 87th Street in Brooklyn involving a jeep and Honda minivan.
The minivan was driven by Palache “and had run a red light before striking the jeep.
According to Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth P. Thompson, Palache, who was driving with a suspended license, then left the scene of the accident, and drove to Remsen Avenue and Avenue L where police officers observed the defendant’s vehicle pull into a bus stop.
“As officers pulled behind Palache’s car, he allegedly drove away at an excessive rate of speed, striking a Nissan SUV and running through a steady red light without stopping as police pursued him,” Thompson said.
The Brooklyn District Attorney said Ramnarine was seated in the rear of the Hyundai Elantra, and was pinned inside the vehicle.
The female driver of the Hyundai suffered cranial bleeding, and a fractured pelvis, said Thompson, adding that her 11-year-old daughter sustained a fractured pelvis as well.
The occupants of the Toyota Sienna also suffered numerous injuries, including a passenger who sustained a spinal injury.
Emergency personnel removed Ramnarine from the vehicle and she was pronounced dead at Brookdale University Hospital in Brooklyn.
Her funeral service was held in Brooklyn on Wednesday night.
WuXi PharmaTech Cayman : Begins Construction of New R&D and cGMP Manufacturing Campus in Changzhou
WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: WX), a leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device research and development (R&D) services company with operations in China and the United States, announced that its manufacturing subsidiary, Syn-The-All (STA) Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., has begun construction of a new, fully integrated R&D and cGMP manufacturing site in Changzhou, about 110 miles west of Shanghai. The new construction aims to meet the rapidly growing demand for WuXi’s manufacturing services, which have quadrupled their revenues in the past four years (see also Pharmaceutical Companies).
The new campus will be constructed in phases and include both research manufacturing and commercial manufacturing facilities. Facilities constructed in phase 1 will double the company’s current manufacturing capacity and be operational by the fourth quarter of 2015. Upon completion of the entire project, the site will triple current capacity and can have more than 1,500 employees, including chemists, production staff, and supporting staff, to seamlessly move new chemical entities from early stage process development through preclinical and clinical deliveries to commercial production.
“This project marks an important milestone in STA’s mission of building a fully integrated API development and manufacturing platform,” said Dr. Ge Li, Chairman and CEO of WuXi PharmaTech. “It furthers our commitment to providing partners worldwide with highly efficient and cost-effective solutions that help bring better medicines faster to patients.”
Cayman mentally ill machete wielding prisoner hospitalised after scalding
The woman (39) who was arrested last week for wielding a machete and threatening behaviour at Burger King on the waterfront and Café del Sol and obviously mentally ill was sent to HM Fairbanks, George Town, Grand Cayman by a magistrate “for her own protection”.
However, the woman caused a commotion at the prison by continually screaming in her cell block until another prisoner dumped scalding hot water on her to get her to be quiet.
She was taken to George Town Hospital where her injuries were treated and then returned back to the prison.
Qatar Executive adds maintenance approvals from Bahrain and Cayman Islands
From Corporate Jet Investor
Doha-based Qatar Executive adds maintenance approvals from Bahrain and the Cayman Islands.
Qatar Executive has added two maintenance approvals from Bahrain and the Cayman Islands. The new approvals are for Bombardier aircraft.
The Bahrain Civil Aviation Authority has granted approval for the company to conduct line maintenance services for Bombardier Challenger 604s and 605s and the manufacturer’s Global series aircraft.
In addition, Qatar Executive has received approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Cayman Islands to perform line and base maintenance services on similar aircraft.
Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, who also heads up the airline’s business jet division, said: “Our newly granted authorisations expand our maintenance service portfolio significantly and will provide Qatar Executive with the flexibility and scope to serve regional as well as international private jet operators from our dedicated hangar facility in Doha.”
Dave Edwards, executive vice president of Qatar Executive, said: “The latest maintenance upgrade is an important step towards establishing Qatar Executive not just as a leading charter operator, but also as a premier private jet Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Facility in the Middle East.”
The maintenance team can be dispatched throughout the region to solve technical defects and return to service aircraft on ground. The maintenance service centre operates 24 hours a day providing support to customers.
For more: http://www.corporatejetinvestor.com/articles/qatar-executive-adds-maintenance-services-956/
Cayman Shores submits plans for full Camana Bay development
The full planned development by Dart for Camana Bay has been submitted to the Cayman Islands Planning Department by Dart company Cayman Shores.
The plans show more than 100 new condominiums and town houses within Camana Bay and Cayman Shores also submitted a planned area development application for the full Camana Bay project encompassing more new homes, roads including what is described as a “resort village”. All this will be constructed over the next 30 years in seven phases.
The 100 condos and town houses in in Phase 2. Phase 1 is already what has been constructed. The whole development encompasses 50 acres of land right up to the North Sound and down to Seven Mile Beach.
Foreign holdings of US Treasury debt hits record
From Newsday
WASHINGTON – (AP) — Foreign buyers of U.S. Treasury securities increased their holdings in March to a record high.
The Treasury Department said Thursday that total foreign holdings rose 1 percent to $5.95 trillion from $5.89 trillion in February.
China, the largest foreign buyer of Treasury debt, reduced its holdings by less than 0.01 percent to $1.27 trillion. Japan, the second-largest buyer, cut its holdings 0.8 percent to $1.2 trillion.
Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, major oil exporting nations and Caribbean countries involved in banking all increased their holdings. Meanwhile, Russia shed almost 21 percent of its holdings in March following international tensions over its move to annex part of Ukraine.
Russia controls $100.4 billion worth of U.S. Treasury securities, or just 1.7 percent of all foreign holdings. The United States and Russia have imposed sanctions on each other after parts of the Crimean Peninsula with ethnic and political ties to Russia began an attempt to secede from Ukraine in late February.
Foreign demand for U.S. Treasury securities is expected to remain strong this year, aided by more borrowing certainty with a congressional agreement to suspend the debt limit until March 2015.
For more: http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/foreign-holdings-of-us-treasury-debt-hits-record-1.8030861
Cayman man murdered in Jamaica was Anthony Smith
Anthony Smith, who escaped officers from the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) by jumping into rough seas last October and then a body that could have been him was found murdered in Mandeville, Jamaica six weeks ago, has been confirmed that it is he.
Fingerprints supplied by the RCIPS confirmed the match.
Shares of WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:WX) rise
Shares of WuXi PharmaTech (Cayman) Inc. (ADR) (NYSE:WX) moved up 2% Wednesday after the company reported Q1 profit of $17.82 million or $0.24 per share, down from $21.71 million or $0.30 per share in the same period last year. Adjusted earnings for the quarter were $22.3 million or $0.30 per share. On average, six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.39 per share for the quarter. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items. Revenues increased 11.3 percent to $146.7 million from $131.87 million last year. Analysts expected revenues of $145.0 million.
See iNews Cayman story published today “WuXi PharmaTech Announces First-Quarter 2014 Results”
Rowdy passenger on BA flight arrested after landing in Cayman
A passenger, a man in his 20’s, caused a disturbance on a British Airways (BA) flight from Nassau to Grand Cayman on Tuesday (13) and was promptly arrested by Cayman police officers upon landing.
The man was then transported to hospital for evaluation.
The plane’s captain ahead of the landing of the incident had informed the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service.
China firms slow payments, file lawsuits, as unpaid debt weighs on finances
From The Business Times
[BEIJING] As China’s economy continues to cool, companies are waiting longer and finding it harder to get paid for goods and services they’ve already sold, leading to record amounts of receivables – and potential write-offs – on corporate balance sheets.
At Longyuan Construction Group, an east China builder of high-rise offices, apartments and highways, receivables last year inched up 4.9 per cent to 4.1 billion yuan (US$657.3 million), while on average collection times extended to 95.2 days, compared with 76.3 days for 2011.
Slow collection of money owed is causing Longyuan to delay its own payments to steel and cement suppliers, Zhang Li, the company’s board secretary, told Reuters, in a ripple effect that is being repeated across the economy.
“If you don’t pay me and I pay others, aren’t I just a sucker?” said Ms Zhang. “I’m not that stupid.”
3 Cayman teenage boys accused of gang raping a 16year old girl
The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) have confirmed a a 16-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in the George Town Grand Cayman waterfront centre car park. on Saturday/Sunday (3/4 May) between 8 pm and 1 am.
The complaint was not made to the RCIPS until a week later.
Three teenage schoolboys have been arrested accused of gang rape.
Four crew of South Korean ferry indicted on manslaughter charges
From The Business Times
[SEOUL] The captain and three other crew members of the ferry that sank off South Korea last month were indicted Thursday on charges of manslaughter through gross negligence, Yonhap news agency reported.
If convicted, Captain Lee Joon-Seok of the Sewol ferry, two navigators and a chief engineer could face the death sentence.
They are accused of leaving the ship as it was sinking while telling passengers, mostly high school students on a school excursion, to stay where they were.
The four and 11 other low-ranking crew members are accused of being the first to escape to safety, leaving passengers trapped in the sinking vessel.
Unemployment in Cayman is down according to latest figures
According to the latest data from the Cayman Islands Economics and Statistics Office collected last year it shows 1 out of 11 Caymanians are unemployed. This is a drop from 2012.
Although more Caymanians are in jobs (the figure rose by 6%) there was a rise of 7% in unemployed non-Caymanians.
See also iNews Cayman story today “Unemployed Caymanians 2013 at 9.4%”
China extends lead in EM bond sales amid record volumes
From Business Times
[SINGAPORE] Emerging market bond investors have more reason than ever to pay attention to China. More than one fifth of all EM bonds sold in US dollars, euros and yen this year have come from Chinese issuers, an unprecedented percentage from just one country.
China now accounts for 20.5 per cent of worldwide EM bond issues, having printed US$47.2 billion year-to-date, according to Thomson Reuters data. At the present rate of issuance, last year’s record volume of US$72.5 billion will be easily surpassed.
China became the world’s biggest source of EM bonds in 2012, edging past Brazil, but that year’s tally of US$45.9bn represented just 9.5 per cent of the global market.
The growth of Chinese issuance has been breathtaking, surging more than 19 times since 2009. Chinese issuers sold just US$3.8 billion of G3 bonds in 2009, equal to less than 1.5 per cent of the global EM total: barely five months into 2014, China has already smashed its 2012 annual total.
Cayman will have a new mental health facility confirms minister
On CITN/Cayman27’s television show The Panel that aired last Tuesday (13) Cayman Islands Minister of Health, Hon. Osbourne Bodden, said Government says it’s looking at a public-private partnership to make a new mental health facility a reality.
He said he hoped it would be in place by 2015.
Magnetic’ bacteria in food can diagnose cancer
From Times of India
Scientists from University of Granada in Spain have successfully incorporated magnetic particles into probiotic bacteria like those found in many foodstuffs.
These magnetic bacteria, after ingestion, help diagnose diseases of the digestive system like stomach cancer.
To design these magnetic bacteria, the researchers tried to copy ‘magnetobacteria’ that naturally produce very limited numbers of internal magnets.
This essentially provides them with a means of orienting themselves as if they possessed an internal compass.
“These artificial magnetic bacteria could have biomedical applications in magnetic resonance imaging – to facilitate diagnosis – or in heating malign cells through magnetic hypothermia and, thus, curing diseases like cancer,” researchers noted.
The researchers – members of Bionanomet, the Metallic Bionanoparticle research group of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and the Institute of Biotechnology of the University of Granada – have conducted this research in collaboration with BIOSEARCH SA, a private company.
This new technology will facilitate the use of these probiotic bacteria, common in food, to diagnose and treat tumours and as an edible iron supplement, said the report published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
Cloned credit card scam targets Cayman Islands
After the three recent court cases involving cloned credit cards used by conmen from Malaysia, the Cayman islands fears it is being targeted as a country of ‘easy pickings’ for card fraud.
Now that the USA is about to introduce a ‘chip and PIN’ type card system it should only be a matter of time Cayman follows suit.
The ‘chip and PIN’ system has been in force in the United Kingdom and other European countries for a long time now. It requires consumers to enter their personal identification number whenever they make a purchase. The PIN activates a tiny computer chip when the card’s metallic strip is swiped.
Both the Chamber of Commerce and the Cayman Islands Bankers Association have expressed support for the system.
Sony shares drop steeply on loss warning
From The Business Times
[TOKYO] Sony shares dropped nearly seven per cent on Thursday morning as investors reacted to a warning from the Japanese electronics giant that it would remain in the red for another year after it booked a US$1.26 billion annual loss.
In late morning trade, the Tokyo-listed stock fell to 1,682 yen (US$16.50), down 6.81 per cent, on the back of Wednesday’s announcement, which aggravated concerns about a turnaround in Sony’s hard-hit consumer electronics division.
Sony announced just after markets closed on Wednesday that costs tied to its exit from the personal computer business – part of a wider restructuring – were largely to blame for its woeful bottom line.
Sony posted a full-year net loss of 128.37 billion yen and said it expected to lose 50 billion yen in the current fiscal year to March 2015, despite seeing losses narrow in its embattled television business.
For more: http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/breaking-news/asia/sony-shares-drop-steeply-loss-warning-20140515
You won’t need roads with this $85,000 hoverbike
By Daniel Cooper From Engadget
With Hyperloop still a twinkle in Elon Musk’s eye, we’ve got to look elsewhere for our futuristic transport. Thankfully, Aerofex has stepped up with its Aero-X, a hoverbike that is finally scheduled to launch in 2017. Two users can ride this motorbike-like vehicle, where the wheels have been replaced with carbon fiber rotors that’ll lift you 10 feet into the air. This first model has a top speed of 45 miles per hour, and a full tank will carry you for an hour and 15 minutes — making it good enough for a short trip to the store. The Aero-X has a weight limit of 310 pounds, so if you’re going to pretend you’ve got a speederbike, probably best to leave the stormtrooper armor at home. Still, it’s available to pre-order right now, assuming you’ve got $85,000 stashed down the back of the couch, plus the refundable $5,000 deposit, of course.
See attachment
For more: http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/14/aerofex-aero-x-hoverbike-pre-order/?ncid=rss_truncated
