iNews Briefs
Temporary measures for British passports held by British nationals in Cayman Islands
Statement from the Governor’s Office: Temporary Measures for British Passports
Her Majesty’s Passport Office is dealing with the highest demand for passports for 12 years and has issued over three million passports so far in 2014. Since January, HM Passport Office has been putting steps in place to deal with the extra demand.
From Monday 23 June, British nationals living in the Cayman Islands can apply for their passports to be extended for 12 months. Details of how to get a passport extension can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/browse/abroad/passports
To make an appointment please contact the Governor’s Office on 244 2431 or [email protected]
Contact: Gary Benham, 244-2425, e-mail: [email protected]
Former New Zealand All-Blacks great to speak at Cayman rugby dinner
The Cayman Rugby Football Union have announced that former New Zealand All-Blacks and Munster wing Doug Howlett will be guest speaker at their annual Players Dinner on 4th July at The Mariott, West Bay Road, starting at 7pm.
See attachment for more details (click on image to enlarge)
With an outstanding 49 tries in 62 tests, Howlett is currently the 5th-highest try scorer in Rugby Union history and 1st on the all time highest try scorer’s list for the All Blacks.
Justin Bieber cleared of attempted robbery charge, egg-throwing case still pending
By Gina DiFalco, From The celebrity Cafe
Justin Bieber has been cleared of at least one of his pending legal problems – the one in which he was accused of stealing a cell phone and assaulting a woman last month in Los Angeles.
As we previously reported, Bieber was being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department for attempted robbery after a woman claimed he tried to steal her cell phone to delete pictures he thought she had taken. The 20-year-old pop star was at the Sherman Oaks Castle Park with his friends when the incident happened.
According to CNN, the prosecutor on the case decided there was a “lack of evidence” in the case and has decided not to peruse it any further.
However, even though Bieber is off the hook in this situation, he has other legal charges pending. The “As Long As You Love Me” singer did reportedly reach a plea deal in his Miami DUI case that still has to be presented in court.
He is still being investigated for the felony egg-throwing incident that his former neighbor in Calabasas, Calif. has accused him of. Bieber has since sold that house to Keeping Up with the Kardashians star Khloe Kardashian.
Cayman man cleared of rape by jury
Shane Connor (36) from Bodden Town, Grand Cayman was cleared by a jury last Friday (13) of drugging and raping a woman at his home.
The woman said she was in a dream-like state, almost paralysed and therefore unable to stop Connor from his attack.
Connor said the sexual act was consensual and the woman did not appear to be intoxicated.
This is the second time Connor has been arrested on rape charges. The first time the woman withdrew her allegations of the morning the trial was to take place after Connor had served almost two years on remand when he was charged with the second offence. He was then released on bail.
Starbucks will pay full college tuition for thousands of its workers
By Rob Wile From Business Insider
Starbucks announced late Sunday it will pay for thousands of its workers to take courses through Arizona State University to complete their bachelor’s degree.
The Starbucks College Achievement plan will let full- and part-time workers choose from 40 undergraduate degree programs at ASU that will be delivered online. 135,000 employees are eligible.
“There’s no doubt the inequality within the country has created a situation where many many Americans are being left behind,” CEO Howard Schultz says in a video produced to announce the program. “The question I think for all of us is, ‘Should we accept that, or should we try to do something about it?'”
“We can’t wait for Washington,” he adds.
Workers admitted as a junior or senior will earn full tuition reimbursement. Freshmen and sophomores will receive a partial scholarship and need-based financial aid. Students will have no commitment to remain at Starbucks past graduation.
Arizona state’s online courses are valued at $10,000 a year.
The program replaces a more scaled-down reimbursement program that only gave workers up to $1,000 a year for tuition.
Schultz will hold a webcast to discuss the plan in-depth Monday at 10:45 a.m. Schultz himself attended Northern Michigan University on a football scholarship.
For more: http://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-college-plan-2014-6#ixzz352p3KjJY
Ex-WI keeper Mendonca dies
From Repeating Islands
Former West Indies wicketkeeper Ivor Mendonca died yesterday, the Demerara Waves news website has reported. Mendonca, who played two Tests against India in 1962, had been suffering with throat and prostate cancer. He was 79.
Anand Sanasie, secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board, paid tribute to Mendonca.
“The Guyana Cricket Board extends its condolences to his friends and family. Mendonca was one of the best wicketkeeper batsmen in the 50s and 60,” Sanasie said.
“He was always exemplary in his conduct and my personal knowledge of him is that he was a coach helping with the grooming of young players.”
Mendonca made his Test debut on India’s 1962 tour of the Caribbean, when he stepped in for the injured Jackie Hendriks at the Sabina Park second Test.
Amazingly, he took five dismissals and struck 78 as West Indies won by an innings but was allowed just one more Test, the fourth one at Queen’s Park Oval where he again took five dismissals.
It proved to be Mendonca’s last first-class appearance as Deryck Murray got the nod for the subsequent tour of England.
He was the uncle of Grimsby Town and Charlton Athletic striker Clive Mendonca.
For the original report go to http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Ex-WI—keeper–Mendonca-dies-263174211.html
For more on this story go to: http://repeatingislands.com/2014/06/14/ex-wi-keeper-mendonca-dies/
Cayman’s blue iguanas moved off critically endangered list
Cayman’s blue iguanas that are indigenous to Grand Cayman are now off the critically endangered list and are now on the one step down endangered list.
It has been estimated there are now 850 blue iguanas in the world.
The lists for endangered species is compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
The Blue Iguana Recovery Programme, which is currently nurturing blues in the Queen Elizabeth II Botanical Gardens, is the main reason for the increase in numbers.
After six years this Caribbean country has resumed shipments of bananas to Britain
From Caribbean360
.KINGSTON, Jamaica, Wednesday June 18, 2014, CMC – Six years after it ceased exporting bananas to Britain, Jamaica is preparing to send another shipment on Wednesday.
Jamaica had stopped the export of bananas following the devastation caused to farms by several hurricanes and the changes in the preferential agreement with the United Kingdom.
The first shipment of 2,000 lbs arrived in the UK last week and Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Roger Clarke said that another shipment will leave Jamaica on Wednesday.
Clarke speaking at a ceremony to launch the Ministry’s Export Market Platform and sign five contracts for infrastructure works at four of the island’s agro-parks being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), said that the shipment of bananas will continue weekly up to the end of August and that the UK buyer will arrive here this month end to negotiate long term contracts for importing Jamaican bananas into Britain.
He said the resumption of the banana trade is one of the first results of the recently launched Export Market Platform aimed at linking farmers with buyers in a structured and organised way as part of the Ministry’s efforts to boost exports and increase production in the agricultural sector.
He said the government has been targeting the UK market by forging of linkages with the Fresh Produce Consortium and that a local delegation including farmers had attended the London Produce Show as guests of the Fresh Produce Consortium resulting in transactions to supply sweet potato, yam, Julie mangoes, ginger, Moringa, castor oil, a variety of herbs and spices and a range of fruits to that market.
Prostate and colon cancer awareness from Cayman Lions
The Lions Club of Grand Cayman began their campaign last Tuesday (17) evening for prostate and colon cancer awareness.
Members and guests gathered at the Cayman Islands Seafarers Association hall to hear Alfonso Wright talk about a subject he said a lot of men are hesitant to discuss and leave to the last minute that is often too late. He said a Lions Club past president, Delano Hislop, died of colon cancer in 2011 and since then the Club have been pushing a public awareness campaign and “Prostate and Colon Cancer Events” (PACCE).
The next PACCE event is a three-day walk on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, July 5th to 7th. Called “Journey For Life”, it will be a walk/run, in memory of Delano. Hislop, starting at the Lions Club Community Centre on Crewe Road and will commence at 4 a.m. The walk/run is 15 miles long and you are encouraged to do this every day.
There is a $50 charge to participate in Journey to Life, and last year almost $44,000 was raised. The money is shared with the Cayman Islands Cancer Society and HospiceCare, with 50 percent going to the Cancer Society, 25 percent to HospiceCare and 25 percent to the Lions Club to promote awareness of the disease.
The Cayman Islands Seafarers Association donated $5,000 to the cause.
Free colon cancer screenings will be held in November.
To volunteer, to sponsor the walk, or to get more information, call 92-LIONS (925-4667).
Streetside nitrous balloon sales not permitted even outside a jam band show
By Adam K. Raymond From New York Magazine
Police arrested a 22-year-old for selling concert-ready nitrous oxide outside a Disco Biscuits show at Irving Plaza last Friday. Carlos Holguin was picked up on Irving Place, where he had his nitrous tank and his pitch: “Four for $20.” The district attorney charged Holguin with unlicensed vending and unlawful use of nitrous oxide for intoxication.
The Disco Biscuits were not charged for that awful name.
Cayman woman involved in US police shootout and chase released with no charges
Caymanian Bryna McLaughlin (30) who was in the getaway car with Jovanny Pena (30), who faces a catalogue of charges from attempted murder of a cop to armed robbery after he held up an electronics store in Tampa, Florida, USA, has been released without being charged.
Her boyfriend, Pena, held customers and staff at gunpoint at a Radio Shack store, stealing 90 mobile phones, whilst McLaughlin, originally from East End, sat in the passenger seat of the getaway car.
Pena then drove the car in a high speed chase from police that ended with Pena injuring two deputies and other officers. Pena received a shot in the chest from a police officer but was well enough to appear in a Tampa court last Tuesday (17) where he pleaded not guilty.
See iNews Cayman story published June 4 2014 “Duo charged with robbing Sun City Center store before I-75 chase [female is Caymanian]” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/duo-charged-with-robbing-sun-city-center-store-before-i-75-chase-female-is-caymanian/
Inmates put to death for first time since botched execution
By Margaret Hartmann From New York Magazine
After a seven-week hiatus following the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma, executions resumed in the United States on Tuesday night. The execution of Marcus Wellons, 59, who was convicted of raping and murdering a 15-year-old girl in 1989, was delayed by several hours as Georgia officials waited for a decision from the United States Supreme Court on Wellons’s request for a stay of execution. Wellons’s lawyers challenged the state’s lethal-injection secrecy law, which protects details about the producers and suppliers of lethal injection drugs as a “confidential state secret.” “The Eighth Amendment protects Mr. Wellons from cruel and unusual punishment,” the appeal said. “But it is a hollow right unless it can be enforced prospectively.”
Wellons was given a single drug, the sedative pentobarbital, and pronounced dead at 11:56 p.m. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “He was seen to exhale a couple of times before his body seemed to quiver and then there was no more movement.”
Missouri inmate John Winfield, who shot his ex-girlfriend and killed two of her friends in 1996, was put to death early on Wednesday morning. The New York Times reports that he “took four or five deep breaths as the drug was injected, puffed his cheeks twice and then fell silent, all in a matter of a few seconds.” Winfield was pronounced dead at 12:10 a.m.
SolarCity ends the day up [Wed 18] 17.58% after it purchases Silevo,
By Alex Wilhelm from techcrunch
Shares of SolarCity jumped 17.58 percent in regular trading today, as investors applauded its decision to purchase solar-panel manufacturer Silevo, which had plans to build a factory in New York. SolarCity intends to build the plant and scale it to “capacity greater than 1 GW within the next two years.”
The deal tipped the scales at a total of $350 million, with $150 million of that coming as earnouts that will be paid provided the “achievement of certain milestones,” according to an SEC filing. SolarCity ended the day worth just under $6 billion.
Investors loved the idea. SolarCity has long installed solar technology, but has not built panels. The goal, according to Elon Musk, an investor in the company, is to develop panels that will allow for “unsubsidized solar power to cost less than grid electricity from coal or fracked gas.”
To pull that off, SolarCity essentially thinks that it can not only build better panels, but that the market will accept the new supply. The company noted in its blog post that announced the deal that “there is excess supplier capacity today” in the solar panel industry. So this is a material wager.
According to a recent Form 4, Elon Musk owns about 21,044,146 shares in the company, which are worth, after today’s price pop, around $1.36 billion. Musk, along with other shareholders, had a pretty good day.
Newhouse will offer workshop on underwater photography in the Cayman Islands
The intensive, one-week workshop is geared toward experienced scuba divers with a photography background
The Department of Multimedia Photography and Design in the Newhouse School at Syracuse University will offer an intensive, one-week workshop on underwater photography in May 2015 at the Sunset House on Grand Cayman Island.
Led by renowned National Geographic underwater photographer David Doubilet, the workshop is geared toward experienced certified scuba divers with a solid foundation in photography and an interest in underwater photography. Cost is $4,300 for matriculated Syracuse University students, or $5,200 for non-students.
For more information, see http://newhousempd.syr.edu/events/underwater-photography-workshop-with-david-doubilet-and-mpd
UPS follows FedEx, will start charging based on package size
By Chris Morran From Consumerist
When FedEx announced in early May that it would soon begin using both weight and size when determining how much to charge for delivering a parcel, we predicted that UPS would follow suit. Amazingly, Big Brown was able to hold off for an entire month before deciding it also needs to take a package’s dimensions into account for ground shipping.
Because this change would completely screw up a lot of companies’ holiday shipping budgets, UPS is delaying the change until Dec. 29.
According to UPS, the boom in e-commerce has resulted in a lot of things being shipped via UPS that were previously bought off store shelves. So rather than carrying densely packed boxes, UPS is now trucking around larger, lighter boxes, which is not as efficient in terms of space or fuel.
“The company believes that as a result of the dimensional weight pricing method, more shippers will seek to optimize their packaging practices,” UPS explains in a statement. “These efforts will reduce excess packaging materials and overall package sizes, leading to related reductions in fuel use, vehicle emissions and transportation costs.”
For more: http://consumerist.com/2014/06/17/ups-follows-fedex-will-start-charging-based-on-package-size/
Free coasters for bars in Cayman are in short supply
Most of the bars in the Cayman Islands have always had plenty of coasters to soak up your spillages and condensation supplied free by the liquor distributors.
Not at the moment.
Distributors on Cayman have run out and they don’t know when they are going to get them back in stock.
None of the bars seem willing to actually purchase any for themselves.
So bring your own.
Marriott and MIT want to turn your hotel into a social network
By Jon Fingas From engadget
Six Degrees app from Marriott and MIT
If you travel often, you know that it’s hard to socialize at hotels; short of a chance encounter, you’ll probably end up drinking at the bar by yourself. MIT and Marriott may have a better solution in store with their Six Degrees app. The mobile software uses LinkedIn to find connections between you and other guests. You’ll know if someone is a college alum, works at the same company or shares your love of scotch. Staff can organize events if there are enough people with common interests, and there’s even an LED-equipped table that lights up a line between visitors when there’s a match.
It’s still early goings for Six Degrees. Marriott is just beginning to test the app this month, and there could be some necessary refinement before the company launches a pilot project in a dozen locations. Provided everything works out as planned, though, you might just look forward to business trips — when the entire hotel is a social network, you could have a lot more to do than watch TV reruns in your room.
For more: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/17/marriott-and-mit-six-degrees/?ncid=rss_truncated
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