iNews Briefs
Chamber Pension Plan’s new Board of Trustees voted in
The Chamber Pension Plan held a special member meeting Thursday May 15th at the Westin to vote in seven new Board of Trustee members.
All of the new Board of Trustee members serve on a voluntary basis and represent their specific employer or employee industry sector. The new trustees are:
· Financial & Professional – Employees – Ashita Shenoy, Senior Manager, Financial Risk Management and Actuarial Services, KPMG
· Financial & Professional – Employers – Peter Cockhill, Partner, Ogier
· Hospitality & Tourism – Employees – Pamela J. Watler, Executive Assistant, Cayman Airways
· Hospitality & Tourism – Employers – Loredana Branca, Dolce Vita Restaurant
· Industry & Commerce – Employees – Paul Schreiner, Financial Controller, AL Thompson’s Home Depot
· Industry & Commerce – Employers – Raul Nicholson-Coe, Chief Operations Officer, Digicel Cayman Ltd.
· Voluntary & Self Employed – Charles Dickinson, Professor of Equine Medicine, St. Matthew’s University
Mr Eduardo D’Angelo Silva, current Trustee said, “We were very pleased with the turnout at the meeting with over 100 members in attendance. Because our trustees are voted in democratically, it was great to see such a representation from our membership.”
Mr Rod Waddell, another current trustee said, “We would like to congratulate all of the elected new Board of Trustees members and thank all other candidates that were part of the election.”
The Board of Trustees subsequently appointed Ashita Shenoy as Chair and Eduardo D’Angelo as Deputy Chair.
For more information about the Chamber Pension Plan visit www.chamberpension.ky
Tempura inquiry will not be authorised by Cayman Governor soon
The Caymanian Compass are reporting that Cayman Islands Governor Helen Kilpatrick said she would unlikely authorize a new public inquiry into Operation Tempura anytime soon.
The governor also questioned whether the inquiry would reveal anything more beyond what is already known about the case, which is a two-year long, $10 million-plus investigation into police corruption in the Cayman Islands.
She told the Compass she rejected any allegations of a cover up by former [Cayman Islands] governors or the [U.K.] Foreign and Commonwealth Office in relation to Operation Tempura and she was “skeptical, however, given both the cost to date of Operation Tempura and associated legal action to Caymanian and British taxpayers, that another investigation would be a good use of public funds.”
Bermuda premier resigns
From Caribbean News Now
HAMILTON, Bermuda — Craig Cannonier resigned as premier of Bermuda on Monday after a long-standing political controversy finally came to a head over the weekend.
Deputy Premier Michael Dunkley was sworn in as the new premier on Tuesday (20) morning by Governor George Fergusson during a ceremony at Government House.
Cannonier issued a statement on Monday evening, saying that the so-called ‘Jetgate’ controversy and consequent allegations had called into question his integrity and leadership, the confidence of his colleagues and the support of his party – threatening the good work of the government going forward.
“Let me first say nothing illegal was done, but I accept there was a failure over time to be to be completely transparent. This is a fundamental component of good governance and a core principle upon which the One Bermuda Alliance was founded.
“As a result … I have decided to resign my position as premier of Bermuda, and have advised the governor of my decision,” Cannonier said.
For more see iNews Cayman story published May 22 2014 “Bermuda premier resigns” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/bermuda-premier-resigns/
Four missing as vessel explodes in the Caribbean Sea
From Caribbean360
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Thursday May 22, 2014, CMC – Rescue teams were searching for four men reported missing at sea after a 50 foot inter-island vessel is reported to have exploded while on a trip to Barbuda.
The crew has been identified as skipper Ivan Joseph, Tyronne Joseph, Percel Griffin and Ishmael Harris.
Barbuda Council chairman, Arthur Nibbs, speaking on radio here Thursday, said prayers are being offered in Barbuda for the safe return of the men, noting “they are all one family”.
He said while he is not able to confirm whether or not the vessel named “concord” exploded at sea, it has not been seen since it left Antigua and has not been seen since it left on Wednesday and rescue teams including many locals had been searching for the vessel.
Cayman Islands: New venue for George Town Movie Night
In conjunction with this year’s Child Month festivities, the George Town Family Movie Night will now be held at the Elmslie Church Hall this Saturday, 24 May at 6:00 p.m.
It’s free for kids. Refreshments and drinks will be served. Bring your pj’s, blankets and pillows!
For more information call event coordinator Tiffany Myles at 244-7265.
Caribbean countries call for global protection of marine biodiversity
From Democratic Underground
KINGSTON, May 20 (Xinhua) — Scientists, legal experts and government officials from Caribbean countries have called for the global protection of biodiversity in high seas and a fair environment for ocean governance.
They made the call during a two-day workshop organized by the Jamaican government aimed at encouraging Caribbean countries to prepare for negotiations on a new implementing agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
During the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012, world leaders set September 2015 as the deadline to decide whether to start negotiations on the new implementing agreement under UNCLOS to protect life in the high seas.
Addressing the workshop, Arnaldo Brown, minister of state in the ministry of foreign affairs and foreign trade of Jamaica, highlighted Jamaica’s support of the creation of an international framework to promote the sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction.
For more:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sci/2014-05/21/c_133350372.htm
Cayman Rugby schedule for big game v USA South
Steppingstones Cayman Big Game 4
Cayman Islands V Usa South – June 14th 2014 – 3pm Kick Off (Revised)
Schedule Of Events
11am – Gates Open
12.00pm – 2.30pm – Junior Rugby Exhibition Games
2.30pm – Welcoming Speeches
2.50pm – National Anthems …
3.00pm – Cayman v USA South
3.40pm – Half Time HEINEKEN Beer for a year kicking competition
3.50pm – Cayman v USA South
5.00pm – LIVE TV coverage of England v Italy World Cup Football
6.30pm – DJ in the beer tent
8.30pm – LIVE band (TBC) in the beer tent
11.00pm – Close
Police have saved 2,276 sea turtle eggs from poachers on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast
By Lindsay Fendt From Tico Times
Every year, from late February through July, leatherback sea turtles haul themselves onto Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast to lay their eggs, and every year, egg poachers are there to greet them.
Fetching up to $1 an egg, local hueveros, or egg men, can make several hundred dollars a night poaching. Hunting sea turtles and the posession or consumption of most turtle eggs is banned by Costa Rican law. Only Olive Ridley sea turtle nests from Playa Ostional on the country’s Pacific can be legally extracted. Legal eggs are required to come with an official receipt with a seal from the Environment Ministry.
Since March, police and the Costa Rican Coast Guard have patrolled beaches with a biologist, collecting nests and reburying them out of the hands of poachers. According to the Public Security Ministry, police and Coast Guard officials have relocated 1,940 eggs since March during 57 patrols. Officials seized another 336 eggs that had already been dug up by poachers and arrested and charged three men with poaching. Another 54 suspects are under investigation for poaching.
Most of the patrols were concentrated on the beaches or Matina, Pacuare and Gandoca-Manzanillo, which police identified as the highest-risk spots for poaching.
Despite the patrols, environmental groups say a large percentage of the eggs laid on the Costa Rican Caribbean coast are robbed. This leatherback nesting season is the first since sea turtle advocate Jairo Mora was killed on the Caribbean coast last year, and turtle conservation projects have reported a marked decrease in volunteers. The organization Mora worked for, Latin American Sea Turtles (formerly known as Widecast), said they have 95 percent fewer volunteers at their project in Pacuare this year.
Weighing up to 1,500 pounds, leatherbacks are the world’s largest species of sea turtle. They are considered endangered throughout their range.
Cayman Opposition Leader to put forward motion to reduce utility bills
Cayman Islands Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush is to put forward a private members motion, to be seconded by his partner, West Bay MLA Bernie Bush, in the next sitting of the Legislative Assembly to use some of an expected $100 million-plus government surplus to help reduce electricity bills for residential customers.
The motion is also asking to start a temporary employment programme for local workers.
Passenger suffers head injury aboard Majesty of the Seas; taken to Miami hospital
From The Republic
MIAMI — A passenger is being treated at a Miami hospital after suffering a head injury aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.
Royal Caribbean Director of Communications Cynthia Martinez says the 32-year-old Swedish passenger was initially treated in the medical facility aboard the Majesty of the Seas ship on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, he required “additional and urgent medical attention.” Martinez says the ship altered its course to sail to Miami, which was the closest port. A fire rescue boat brought him to shore.
The Majesty of the Seas continued sailing to Key West, where it was expected to arrive several hours later than scheduled.
It departed Miami on Monday for a four-night cruise that included ports of call to Nassau and CocoCay, Bahamas.
There was no further word on the passenger’s condition.
For more: http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/39e7211c123946dbb84229fb5ae354b7/FL–Cruise-Passenger-Injury
Cayman court awards car accident victim $1.5M payout
Cayman Turtle Farm employee Charles Yates(47) who was injured in May 2007 when Ysatis Nathine Chin’s (20) Honda Accord vehicle hit his Porsche Boxster, has been awarded $1.5M in damages to cover his medical bills as well as loss of earnings associated with his injuries.
It was accepted that Chin, who died in the accident, was the person at fault.
The Court was told that Yates, who was employed by the Cayman Turtle Farm, has been unable to keep his job because of the injuries he received and a doctor’s report given to the court said he could now only complete “sedentary work”.
Oh no: Google wants to put ads on our thermostats, refrigerators and other
By Brad Reed From BGR
We’ve said in the past that we’re willing to put up with some of Google’s shadier antics mostly because its services are so useful. However, a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Google has a new plan that could put our tolerance to the ultimate test.
Per The Wall Street Journal, Google revealed in a letter to the SEC sent late last year that it has plans to serve users advertisements on “refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just a few possibilities.”
This puts Google’s acquisition of Nest into a whole different context — while Nest has pledged that Google won’t be allowed to snoop on you through your thermostat, that doesn’t mean that it won’t be able to serve you ads through your thermostat that derive from all the other data it collects on you. That said, Nest has also pledged that any privacy changes made to its thermostats will be strictly opt-in, so if and when ads do come to Nest, you’ll have to directly agree to let them be displayed on your thermostat.
Google also tells the Journal that the proposal for ads everywhere does not at all reflect any sort of product roadmap and is still firmly in the experimental phase.
Even so, Google’s overall vision of “serving” us ads everywhere in our house doesn’t seem all that appealing. For example, we’re not sure we want our Android-powered smart fridge to constantly remind us that there’s a great deal on eggs at our local supermarket and we don’t want our car dashboards showing us annoying ads that tell us how much BP really does love the environment every time we flip on the ignition. There’s obviously no guarantee that Google will ever actually go through with such plans, so we’ll just have to wait and see how far it’s willing to take them.
TopGrom youth skateboarding circuit stops off at Cayman
What is believed to be the very first international skateboard competition took place on April 26th and was hosted by the Cayman Islands at the Black Pearl Skate back behind Hurley’s Supermarket in Grand Harbour, Grand Cayman.
The vent was organised as part of the TopGrom youth skateboarding circuit that is a series of competitions held throughout the world for riders ages 13 and younger.
Sean Myers won top honours in both the 13-and-under bowl competition and the 11-to-13 street event whilst Jesse Bittle won the Street (10 and Under) event.
Black Pearl, Cayman Islands Results (April 26, 2014 Qualifier) Overall TopGrom Winner: Sean Myers
Bowl (13 and under)
1st Sean Myers
2nd Antonio Stewart
3rd Treye Welcome
Street (10 and Under)
1st Jesse Bittle
2nd Jayquan Miller
3rd David Parchment
Street (11 – 13)
1st Sean Myers
2nd Shema Johnson
3rd Eugene Fershaw
Navy sailor pleads guilty to hacking from an aircraft carrier
By Jon Fingas From engadget
You may think that the US Navy’s biggest digital threats come from the outside, but that’s not always the case. Former Navy serviceman (and leader of the hacking group Team Digi7al) Nicholas Paul Knight has pleaded guilty to charges that he and co-defendant Daniel Kreuger conspired to steal identities from numerous internet sites, including a Navy personnel relocation system. Knight was caught after investigators realized that someone in Digi7al was posting on Twitter from the Navy’s internal network — as it turns out, the sailor was breaking into databases while he was a system administrator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.
Both he and his partner in crime each face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, so they’re unlikely to repeat their actions any time soon. However, court filings haven’t revealed the exact extent of the damage. Given that Knight and crew also targeted organizations as diverse as the Library of Congress and Stanford University, a wide array of personal info may have escaped into the wild. No matter what, the convictions serve as a friendly reminder that government data security is only as strong as its weakest link — all it takes is a lack of internal oversight to create big problems.
Warren Buffett’s Chinese automaker has sold a million cars that look like Toyotas in the front and Hondas in the back
By Benjamin Zhang From Business Insider
In 2013, Warren Buffett-backed BYD Auto (pronounced Bee-Yeah-Dee) sold more cars than any other Chinese domestic brand, according to China Auto Web.
In that same period of time, BYD generated an $89 million profit.
Since Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway made a $230 million investment in BYD for a 10% stake in 2008, the automaker has been propelled by the success of the compact F3 sedan, of which it has sold more than 1 million vehicles.
First introduced in 2008, the F3 and its budget-friendly $8,800 price tag have been popular with cab companies and first-time car buyers. As a car, the F3 is for the most part unremarkable; however, its styling has an immediate sense of familiarity.
Even though many modern car designs are derivative, BYD’s designers seem to have taken this to the extreme by cobbling together something that looks like the front end of a Toyota Corolla and the rear end of a Honda City sedan. Drive Arabia called the car “insultingly similar” to the Corolla and City, and The Truth About Cars noted, “BYD’s F3 received worldwide acclaim for being a Corolla ripoff.”
Indeed, the F3’s front bears a striking resemblance to the Corolla E120 model, with matching headlight clusters and grill.
For more on this story go to: http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-byd-autos-2014-5#ixzz32SiDArCB
A different approach to how numeracy is taught in Cayman’s schools is needed says specialist
Cayman Islands Education Ministry’s numeracy specialist, Frank Eade, has said improving the standard of mathematics throughout government schools needs a complete shift in the way that the subject is taught so that students connect mathematics to real life situations.
He said teachers need to teach numeracy in a less prescriptive way and to focus on visualisation methods so that children get a real concept of numbers instead of seeing them as just marks on a page.
There has been already, he said, a dramatic improvement in primary students’ attainment levels since 2011, with a clear drop in the percentage of students in the lower attainment levels and a corresponding rise in students reaching the upper levels.
Man takes moose to coffee shop, and it’s not a joke
By ABC News
A man walks into a coffee shop with a moose may seem like the start of a good joke, but for residents of Lively, Ontario, it was just another day in Canada.
Coffee-loving Canadians were surprised Monday when they spotted a baby moose walking alongside a man into their local Tim Hortons coffee shop for a caffeine fix.
The man, Stephane Desgroseillers, told local media he spotted the moose next to a highway near Greater Sudbury in Ontario the day before and picked up the newborn after fearing the moose was in danger.
“The little calf kept coming back out on the road and wanting to go into the traffic,” Desgroseillers said, according to CTV News.
The moose ended up spending the night with its rescuer after Desgroseillers found the area animal shelter was closed.
The next morning, Desgroseillers put the moose back in his car to head back to the animal shelter, but not before stopping for coffee.
“I basically felt blessed to be in a position to have crossed a path with that little animal,” Desgroseillers said, according to CTV. “I felt I need to share that with other people.”
Tim Hortons customers took to social media to share the surprising guest on their coffee run, including one customer who posted a video on Facebook, along with the caption, “ONLY IN CANADA: TRUE CANADIAN EXPERIENCE.”
CTV News reports the male moose, which Desgroseillers says was “damp and wobbly” when he found him, weighs 25 pounds and was just 1-day-old when found on the side of the road.
The moose is now being treated at the Wild at Heart Animal Refuge Centre in Lively, Ont., according to CTV.
For more and to see video go to:
Actress Emma Thompson says social media is killing an entire generation
By Aly Weisman From Business Insider
“Saving Mr. Banks” actress Emma Thompson is going off on social media in a new interview with Vanity Fair.
The two-time Oscar winner says she would “rather have root canal treatment for the rest of my life than join Twitter,” and would prefer “putting my head in the toilet and flushing it repeatedly” to Googling herself.
The 55-year-old actress goes so far as to say that social media is destructive to society as a whole. Read her full explanation below:
Listen, I’d rather have root canal treatment FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE than join Twitter. That’s not my scene at all. I can’t bear the thought of being connected all the time. God knows what it’s all doing to us. I hope that everyone does realize that we are all just one giant human experiment at the moment. We are just a great big bunch of little gerbils on wheels.
In about 25 years time, maybe, a sudden generation will just drop dead. Everyone will just die on the same day. And I’ll say, “Oh, what do these people have in common? Hang on.” They were connected every day 24/7, you know! And no one knew what it was going to do to them. No one knew! Because we didn’t bother to find out. Because we’re stupid! We invent stuff, we just fling it out there, we let anyone use it. A three-year-old could f—— be on Twitter. A three-year-old! And then they go on and on and on about everything that there is. And get reviewed every day by Facebook. And then we will wonder why, at the age of 60, an entire generation chucks itself off a cliff like a bunch of lemmings. Actually, that’s the most likely outcome, don’t you think? It’s like, “I can’t take this anymore!” It’s the lemming generation, I’m telling you.
When the interviewer followed up by asking Thompson if she ever Googles herself, the actress replies: “Putting my head in the toilet and flushing it repeatedly would be a more cleansing experience.”
For more on this story go to: http://www.businessinsider.com/emma-thompson-is-against-facebook-twitter-2014-5#ixzz32Sir9kW6
Special Lecture & Exhibition Tour at the Cayman’s National Gallery
Saturday, 24 May 2014
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
The National Gallery of the Cayman Islands
Esterley Tibbetts Highway
A special curator’s lecture and tour of the exhibition Metamorphoses will be given by Eme Paschalides. Discover Francisco Goya’s haunting images from the famous series Los Caprichos; learn about the history, original intentions, and meanings behind the collection; and compare them with their Dalinian and Caymanian metamorphoses.
This special lecture and exhibition tour is free and open to the public. Beverages will be served. Donations welcome.
Would you opt out of tipping while an employee watches you?
By Laura Northrup From Consumerist
Reader Bill was getting some sandwiches and paying with a credit card when he noticed something new and unusual on the payment machine. It prompted him to leave a tip between ten and twenty percent, to choose his own tip amount, or to decline tipping entirely. This makes sense in a country where most of us don’t carry much cash anymore, but there’s something about it that Bill doesn’t like.
We won’t say just yet which company this was, because we’re waiting for confirmation that it’s rolling out chain-wide. Also, the identity of the company and your opinion of the food isn’t really important: What we can tell you is that the establishment is a sandwich shop, not a place with table service. Is this the touchscreen equivalent of a tip jar, or would you feel uncomfortable tapping the “No Thanks” button?
“As a customer, I don’t like being put in a position where I pro-actively have to decline a tip, especially with an employee watching,” writes tipster Bill.
See attached image
