iNews Briefs
Cayman Islands: N164bn debt: Access Bank obtains order to sell Akingbola’s properties
Dec 1, 2014 – A Grant Court of the Cayman Islands has granted Access Bank Plc leave to sell more of the properties belonging to former managing director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc, Dr Erastus Akingbola recently discovered on the Island.
The court also asked Akingbola to pay Access Bank N238,471,484,162 and £1,800,000 with interest from April, 2014 until payment.
A London High Court in July 2012 had also asked the embattled former bank chief to pay Access Bank N164 billion while delivering judgement in a recovery action filed by the then Intercontinental Bank in order to recover the bank’s funds he allegedly fraudulently converted and misappropriated.
Access Bank had acquired Intercontinental Bank on January 31, 2012 after the bank was taken over by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
During the course of the trial, some of the funds were traced to the purchase of properties in London Dr. Akingbola consequent upon which the court ordered that the properties be sold.
Based on the court orders, certain properties were sold and £11million have so far been recovered. Properties known as Flats 17, 18, 19 and 20 Embassy Court London, NW 8 were also sold.
Upon the discoveries by Access Bank that Akingbola has some assets hidden under a Trust in Cayman Island (specifically property known as 2 Cambridge Court), the bank proceeded to file an application to the Grant Court of the Cayman Islands to convert the London judgement to a Cayman Island judgement.
This was done after Akingbola allegedly refused to challenge the application.
The Grand Court of the Cayman Island on September 12, 2014, granted judgement in the sum of N238,471,484,162 and £1,800,000 in favour of the bank with interest at 2. 5/8% per annum from April 2014 until payment.
For more: http://leadership.ng/news/392349/n164bn-debt-access-bank-obtains-order-sell-akingbolas-properties
Faster processing for air travellers arriving in Jamaica
By Garfield Angus From Caribbean News Now
KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — As part of a $200 million airport improvement project, the Jamaican government has installed five automated immigration kiosks to process airline passengers arriving at the Norman Manley International Airport, in Kingston, and ten at the Sangster International Airport, in Montego Bay.
This will speed up the processing time to about 60 seconds, down from the current average of two minutes. Immigration officers will monitor the system, and intervene where necessary.
Speaking at the launch of the kiosks at the Norman Manley International Airport, on Thursday, minister of national security, Peter Bunting, said the system is designed to detect persons’ travel history, and to easily identify those who present health risks, and are of interest to law enforcement.
“While this development will reduce physical interaction between immigration and passengers, we are confident that the security of the nation will not be compromised,” the minister said, noting that the kiosks work in conjunction with an advance passenger information system (APIS), and aid the work of the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA).
“It allows PICA to continue to detect persons of interest by cross referencing incoming passengers against the nation’s watch list, and conducting appropriate security checks by a built-in matrix,” Bunting added.
Persons who can use the system are: Jamaican nationals with a valid passport, visitors who possess electronic passport with biometric information; Caribbean nationals who are members of CARICOM, and visitors from the United Kingdom (UK), Canada and the United States, with machine readable travel documents.
Passengers not able to use the system are those who require visas; families with children under the age of 18 years; users of wheelchairs; and holders of any type of permits. They will have to use the primary line.
Funding for the five-year airport improvement project is provided by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF).
Cayman islands Government warns, ‘Don’t discard your disaster supplies’
From CIG Hazard Management
Hurricane season is over but don’t pitch your emergency supplies!
The Cayman Islands is vulnerable to a range of hazards and hurricanes are not the only threat: floods, fires, chemical spills, tsunamis, earthquakes and other threats all have the potential to disrupt our lives, so while the 2014 hurricane season may have passed, residents still need to remain vigilant and stay prepared. There have been instances of post season storms as in 2005.
Take this time to restock your preparedness kit and donate food items before their exploration.
In terms of natural hazards, earthquakes are considered the number two threat to residents in the Cayman Islands, with significant earthquake events having been recorded in 1843, 1849, and 1900.
More recently residents experienced a 6.8 magnitude event in December 2004. Fortunately, the epicentre was located 20 miles away from George Town, and while the shaking was quite strong, there were no reports of injuries or significant damage to structures.
Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HMCI) is actively involved in public awareness campaigns in the schools, with Government agencies, health care workers and private sector businesses. In addition to hazard awareness, HMCI can also offer business continuity planning seminars and assistance with the formulation of disaster plans. Please contact HMCI at 244-3145 to make arrangements or for more information.
A crime surge has accompanied Wyoming’s oil boom
From Business Insider
DOUGLAS, Wyo. (AP) — Law enforcement officials in east-central Wyoming say they’re seeing more crimes committed by workers newly arrived to the area’s booming oil fields and don’t have enough police and jail space to handle the problem.
Serious crimes including aggravated assault and larceny are up 17 percent in the Douglas area since 2009, according to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.
Emergency calls are up 9 percent from last year. Drug arrests are up from 37 in 2009 to 64 last year. And police were involved in two vehicle pursuits in September — the first in the city in three years, according to the Douglas Police Department.
“The industry is not picky,” police Sgt. Matthew Schmidt said. “They need people who can physically stand the job, so they’re not concerned about their conviction records.”
For more: http://www.businessinsider.com/a-crime-surge-has-accompanied-wyomings-oil-boom-2014-11#ixzz3KbracHmj
Cayman Islands scholarships in tourism
MOT Scholarship
The Ministry of Tourism is pleased to once again invite applicants for the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) Scholarship Programme. Caymanians wishing to pursue a Bachelor degree in a tourism or tourism-related discipline are urged to. Also, secondary consideration will also be given for tourism or tourism related studies for Masters degrees.
Since its inception in 1996, this annual scholarship has awarded over 150 students either full or partial scholarships. Many of these students have gone on to work full time the tourism industry, and some of the “Ministry’s graduates” now hold senior positions at the Department of Tourism and other tourism establishments. Historically MoT Scholars have earned degrees in disciplines such as Marketing, Public Relations and Communications, Tourism and Environmental Management, Hotel Management, Travel Tourism and Hospitality and the Visual Arts at universities and colleges in the US, England and Canada.
One of our primary goals is to attract a steady stream of skilled and enthusiastic tourism professionals who can actively contribute to the future prosperity of the tourism sector. The Ministry and Department of Tourism continues to work hard to achieve this through the Scholarship Programme and through other initiatives such as the Tourism Apprenticeship Training Programme.
2015 Awards Application Deadline: Friday, 30 January 2015
The entire MOT Scholarship application MUST be completed online. Please ensure you are able to scan and upload the required documentation. Public computers are available at the Cayman Islands Public Libraries in each district. Incomplete application will NOT be accepted.
For Further information please contact the Department of Tourism by telephone at 244-1252 or by email at [email protected].
Graphene stronger than kevlar when blasted with Mach 9 microbullets
By Steve Dent From engagdet
IMAGE: BRAZIL-WC2014-SECURITY-DRILL
Here’s another new use for graphene (that will probably never happen): stopping bullets. University of Massachusetts-Amhers researchers have found that everybody’s favorite potential wonder-material vastly outperforms steel and even kevlar armor. Testing the ultra-lightweight, 1-atom thick carbon sheets has proved tricky in the past, as they disintegrated on contact with regular bullets. So, the team used laser pulses to fire micron-sized glass bullets into the sheets at around 6,700 mph, about three times the speed of an M16 bullet (see below). Sheets from 30 to 300 layers thick absorbed the impacts much better than the other materials by deforming into a cone shape, then cracking.
But — and there’s always a but with graphene — such sheets are currently too brittle to make into a solid material. The answer might be to stitch graphene flakes together, then vary the orientation to prevent cracking. Whatever, please just let us know us when you actually turn this material into a damn product.
Owen moves to Aon Cayman
By: Stephen Durham From CIT
Aon Insurance Managers (Cayman) has hired Gillian Owen to become its new director.
Owen’s responsibilities will range from relationship management and business development through to operational excellence.
Before joining Aon Cayman, Owen was vice president with USA Risk Group (Cayman) where she was responsible for regulatory compliance, relationship management and business development initiatives.
Prior to this, Owen was at JLT Risk Solutions (Cayman), where she managed an extensive portfolio of captive insurance companies.
Owen has previously also worked with Marsh Management Services and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Cayman.
“[Owen] is a welcome and valuable addition to the Aon Cayman management team and brings a range and depth of captive management and client service experience to the table,” said Adrian Lynch, managing director at Aon Cayman.
“[She] has always been popular with colleagues and clients alike and we look forward to introducing her to our clients.”
For more: http://www.captiveinsurancetimes.com/captiveinsurancenews/article.php?article_id=3734#.VHx4gr5-RIc
Cuban wins Central American and Caribbean Games’ Marathon
From Shanghai Daily
MEXICO CITY, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) — Cuban Richer Perez on Sunday won the Central American and Caribbean Games’ Marathon competition in men’s category, while Mexican Margarita Hernandez won women’s category.
Perez, 28 and winner of 2014 Havana’s Half Marathon, won the race with a time of 2 hours, 19 minutes and 13 seconds.
Guatemalan Jose Garcia (2:19:45), champion in 2010 Mayaguez Central American and Caribbean Games, and Mexican Daniel de Jesus Vargas (2:20:27) arrived in second and third places respectively.
On the other hand, Mexican Hernandez arrived first in women’s category with a time of 2:41:16, followed by Cuban Dailin Belmonte (2:42:01) and Venezuelan Zuleima Amaya (2:42:27).
With this result, Cuba confirms its dominance in Central American Games reaching 121 gold medals.
For more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=255775
Immigration delays inexcusable, says Bahamas PM
By Royston Jones Jr. Nassau Guardian Staff Reporter From Caribbean News Now
NASSAU, Bahamas — Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie lamented delays in the immigration section of Nassau’s Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) last week, which resulted in hundreds of visitors waiting in line for several hours.
On Wednesday, visitors were subjected to significant waiting times as a result of a shortage of immigration officers after the majority of them called out sick.
Although immigration officials said the scheduled officers turned up for work on Thursday, visitors exiting LPIA again complained of severe delays.
The Bahamas Customs Immigration and Allied Workers Union (BCIAWU) has adamantly denied it instructed industrial action.
During a ceremony marking his 40th anniversary in public life at Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) headquarters on Thursday night, Christie said visitors should never have to endure something like that when they come to this country.
He said it should not be allowed to happen again, regardless of who is to blame.
“It took them, they said, two hours, an hour and a half to two hours, to get through immigration,” Christie said.
“When they described to me this morning (Thursday) these people who are making a visit, hundreds of them visiting The Bahamas for the first time, and what they were subjected to yesterday (Wednesday), as prime minister of the country there is no explanation, no kind of apology bureaucratically, administratively, it is not supposed to happen.
“We should not, in this country, allow things like that to happen.”
Christie said while he is not aware of all the facts, immigration officers should not have allowed their industrial concerns to supersede their obligation to protect the lifeline of The Bahamas.
“I don’t care what the industrial agreement is. I don’t care what the level of vexation is,” he said.
For more: http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/headline-Immigration-delays-inexcusable,-says-Bahamas-PM-23846.html
Air France, MSC Cruises open France-Dominican Republic Flight
From Caribbean Journal
Air France and MSC Cruises have signed a contract to partner on 18 flight rotations between Paris and La Romana in the Dominican Republic.
The agreement creates a direct link between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and La Romana’s airport that is dedicated to cruise passengers.
The contract includes 18 rotations on a Boeing 747-400 with a total of 432 seats.
The agreement will mean a total of 7,776 seats reserved for passengers of the MSC Music between Dec. 7 and April 5, 2015, with a dedicated check-in desk for MSC Cruises customers at CDG.
Last year, Air France carried 12,000 MSC Cruises passengers from France to Caribbean destinations, with 28,000 so far this year.
“It reflects a long-term cooperation between Air France and MSC Cruises on the Italian market and more recently on the French market,” said Patrick Alexandre, general sales director of Air France-KLM. “This contract is a very strong signal, which echoes Air France sales offensive, in order to offer the products best tailored to clients’ needs.”
In a statement, MSC Cruises CEO Gianni Onorato said the deal would “reinforce and consolidate our development in the Caribbean and generally on the French market.”
“The alliance of flights and cruises is a key component of our strategy, which objective is to offer an increasingly rich panel of destinations to our passengers, through a global offer,” he said.
For more: http://www.caribjournal.com/2014/11/30/air-france-msc-cruises-open-france-dominican-republic-flight/
iPhone users taking astronomical photos with the help of NightCap Pro
By Mel Martin From TUAW
Taking pictures of stars and deep sky objects with an iPhone would not have been something I thought would have worked, but as Apple hardware improves with better low light camera performance, apps are there to exploit it and push the envelope.
Several users of NightCap Pro, an app designed for night and low light photography, are getting some impressive results.
Star trail shots are looking pretty good, and we’re seeing meteor captures, and even shots of the International Space Station as it orbits the earth like the one at the top of this post. One amateur astronomer grabbed a decent shot of M42, the Orion Nebula, by attaching his iPhone to a telescope.
IMAGES: AstroPhotos with NightCap Pro
The twin enemies of low light photography are grain and noise, and NightCap Pro does a good job of reducing the noise, leaving your faint subject visible. None of these photos are going to rival the Hubble Space Telescope output, but it’s pretty amazing what an iPhone can do with the right software.
Many iPhone owners have had some luck in the past taking photos of the moon through a telescope, but the moon is bright and doesn’t put the iPhone camera to much of a test.
NightCap Pro has a special 50 percent discount offer currently, making the app only US$0.99. The app requires iOS 7 or later, it’s optimized for the iPhone 5 and 6 series, and it’s universal for iPads.
For more on this story go to: http://www.tuaw.com/2014/11/28/iphone-users-taking-astronomical-photos-with-the-help-of-nightca/
CARICOM agrees to prioritise trade relations with Cuba
From Go-Jamaica
CARICOM foreign ministers have agreed to give priority attention to trade relations between Cuba and member states.
To this end, they have agreed to revisit efforts to update and implement the CARICOM-Cuba Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement and revitalise the CARICOM-Cuba Joint Commission.
The agreements came out of a one-day meeting between the foreign minister of the 15-member regional body and their Cuban counterpart on a private island off the coast of Grenada yesterday.
In a joint declaration issued after the meeting, the CARICOM foreign ministers also renewed their commitment to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
According to the communiqué, the plan is to maintain these goals well beyond the targets while underscoring the role of each member state to secure their own programme on sustainable development.
For more on this story go to:
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=47820
