iNews Briefs
11 Years celebration for Digicel in Cayman Islands
It was 11 years ago on March 4th 2004 when Digicel arrived in the Cayman islands.
It’s recent achievements include:
Offering customers the best value with promotions like “15c World” which gave prepaid customers the lowest rates on calls to over 100 destinations worldwide.
Enhancing its data service for postpaid customers with promotions like “Data Test Drive” which offers free data for three months with unlimited access to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
Opened its first experience store to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 6. The new store also boasts in-store touch-screen technology, allowing customers to scroll through the latest smartphones and customer care booths so that they can choose the right data and voice plans for them.
Enhancing the coverage and call quality with upgrades on both the LTE and 4G networks and, since the launch of the LTE network, thousands of customers have signed to experience its blistering download speeds and superior mobile data experience in the Cayman Islands.
Expanding its portfolio of clients, by deploying fully managed Disaster Recovery solutions for Thorpe Alberga and Zolfo Cooper, a six-site global WAN solution to Kinetic Partners and a CISCO IP PBX for the Royal Bank of Canada. Just this week, the team closed a major WAN deal with Aon Global, connecting the company’s US operations directly to its Cayman business. This deal positions Digicel Cayman as the approved global solutions provider for Aon Global having completed a number of steps involving the Digicel Cayman Business Sales team and Digicel Group Legal and Regulatory team.
Partnering with Health City Cayman Islands, the Have a Heart Foundation and Haiti Cardiac Alliance to provide life-saving heart surgeries to four young Haitians. The youngsters, aged between six and 16, travelled to Cayman to receive these vital surgeries, which were performed free of charge by Health City cardiac surgeons.
Digicel Cayman says this is a continuing partnership that will see many more Haitian children receiving life-saving surgery.
SOURCE: Loop Cayman
Kluivert appointed coach of Caribbean Island Curacao
From The World Game Source: Omnisport
Netherlands great Patrick Kluivert has received his first senior managerial role, appointed coach of North American minnow Curacao on Thursday (AEDT).
Curacao Football Federation confirmed the appointment with ex-Netherlands assistant Kluivert, 38, set to be unveiled on Friday (AEDT).
Kluivert, who worked alongside Louis van Gaal as Netherlands finished third at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, will be tasked with steering Curacao – ranked 160th in the world – to Russia in three years time.
Curacao failed to reach last year’s showpiece event after finishing third in Group F behind Haiti, and Antigua and Barbuda in the second round of CONCACAF qualification.
Kluivert’s reign kick-offs in a two-legged first-round World Cup qualifier against Montserrat on 27 and 31 March.
For more: http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2015/03/05/kluivert-appointed-coach-caribbean-island-curacao
Cayman Islands College chair says comments she made were taken out of context
Sheree Ebanks, Chair of the board of the University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI), has said comments she made recently have been taken out of context.
Ebanks was discussing recommendations in a report undertaken by the board and faculty on how the college can stop the losses and cut some $500,000 from the budget. Ebanks said the business associate’s degree was “essentially meaningless”.
Clarifying what she said, Ebanks in a statement issued last Wednesday (4) said, in order to have a chance in the workplace students needed more than the associate’s certificate.
“My intention was to reiterate the importance of ensuring that our graduates have a fighting chance in this globally competitive labour market. The best way I know how is to encourage them to pursue a bachelor’s and even a master’s degree after completing their associate degrees,” she said. “Having worked in the business industry for over forty years and climbing up the corporate ladder from an entry level position to top level management, I know… that it will serve our young Caymanian men and women well to take advantage of further education opportunities.”
She also said she had the greatest respect for the students and alumni of UCCI and the plans to eliminate that course would see it become part of a longer bachelor’s programme.
This Caribbean Island is declaring its Chikungunya epidemic “Over”
From Caribbean Journal
One Caribbean island is showing success in the regional fight against chikungunya.
Dominica’s Ministry of Health and Environment has declared the Chikungunya epidemic “officially over” as of Jan. 23.
Chief Medical Officer Dr David Johnson cautioned, though, that although the outbreak is over, it does not mean that there are no cases on the island.
“The World Health Organisation uses a standard which indicates that if after two maximum incubation periods, there are no new cases reported then once can officially declare that the outbreak is over,” he said.
Having said that, Johnson said there had been no new documented cases for 42 days.
“Some countries in the region are still grappling with Chikungunya. I think because of the proactive action taken by the Ministry of Health, stakeholders and the Dominican population, we were able to control the outbreak,” he said.
No instructions to add more seats to Cayman Islands new voting map
Dr. Lisa Handley, he head of Cayman’s three-member Electoral Boundary Commission has confirmed that the group has not been instructed to add any new Legislative Assembly seats to the territory’s voting map ahead of the May 2017 general election.
The commission is set to change Cayman’s current general election map from six voting districts (five in Grand Cayman and one in Cayman Brac and Little Cayman) to 18 single-member constituencies.
“We plan on drawing 18 single-member districts,” Ms. Handley told the Cayman Compass.
To read the whole article by Brent Fuller under the title “Commission chair: Voting map will have 18 districts” go to: http://www.compasscayman.com/caycompass/2015/03/05/Commission-chair–Voting-map-will-have-18-districts/
Energy security in the Caribbean
From American Security Project
On Wednesday, February 4th 2015, the American Security Project hosted a half-day conference examining energy security in the Caribbean. Nearly 100 experts from academia, International Financial Institutions, the US government, and private corporations attended the conference.
Recent events in the global energy market have combined to create a unique opportunity for the islands of the Caribbean. The significant drop in the price of oil, the energy revolution in the United States, which has led to a boom in natural gas production, and the warming of US-Cuba relations has led to renewed efforts from public and private corporations to invest in new and innovative energy technologies the Caribbean. This shift to the Caribbean regarding energy security was highlighted in US Vice President Joe Biden’s speech on the Caribbean Energy Security Initiative (CESI) at the US Department of State on January 26th, where multiple Caribbean heads of state and high-ranking delegates were present. The theme was clear: the islands of the Caribbean have been presented an opportunity to enhance their energy security, and the US will help them make it happen.
Video and audio is available through the report and on our website. ASP intends to further examine the options for improving energy security throughout the islands.
For more: http://www.americansecurityproject.org/energy-security-in-the-caribbean/
Clothing drive for businesswomen announced in Cayman Islands
The Professional First Impressions clothing drive to help provide business attire for women entering or rejoining the business world in the Cayman Islands will continue throughout this month.
And March is “Honouring Women Month” and the clothing drive will benefit the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre and the Family Resource Centre.
The drive is aimed at collecting gently used business attire, work-appropriate shoes and accessories such as handbags, belts and fashion jewelry. The initiative started in 2012 as a community project organized by women at AtWater Consulting.
“We collected over 1,000 articles of clothing and around 150 shoes and handbags in 2012 and had a very generous donation to give in 2013 as well,” said Erika Mazzei, organizer of Professional First Impressions.
She added, “I am confident that ladies in the community will come together to help the clients of the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre and Family Resource Centre again in 2015. Professional First Impressions helps you to make space in your closet and helps expand the professional possibilities for others. This clothing drive really is a win-win.”
The clothing drive ends on Friday, March 27.
For more information, to make a donation or to arrange clothing collection, email [email protected] or visit the Professional First Impressions page on Facebook.
OUSU hosts new shadowing day for African-Caribbean students
From Oxford University Student Union
On Wednesday 4th March OUSU will be hosting a brand new access project for prospective BME students. For the first time OUSU’s Target Schools campaign will invite year 12 students specifically from African-Caribbean backgrounds to the University, to spend a day in the life of current Oxford students. The year 12 students will be given the opportunity to experience Oxford as a university and to find out about the degree subject that they are interested in.
OUSU’s Target Schools campaign typically invites over 200 sixth-form students to Oxford each year to shadow a student reading the subject they intend to apply for, have lunch in one of Oxford’s historic halls, go on a tour of Oxford, and take part in a workshop about admissions, interviews and student life.
OUSU Vice-President for Access and Academic Affairs, James Blythe says: “Students from BME backgrounds have been telling us clearly that Oxford has a race problem. In partnership with the African-Caribbean Society, OUSU is going to be running this new access initiative to promote Oxford to bright African-Caribbean sixth-formers and increase the diversity of our student body.”
For more: http://ousu.org/news/article/6013/OUSU-hosts-new-shadowing-day-for-African-Caribbean-students/
Watchdog scrutinising Dutch Caribbean finances
By Jason Smith The BVI Beacon
Despite making some progress to get their public finances in order in recent years, the governments of some Dutch Caribbean territories are facing continued scrutiny from an independent fiscal watchdog.
The agency, known by its Dutch acronym CFT, recently made visits to Curacao and St. Maarten, which are both “constituent countries” of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as well as St. Eustatius, a “special municipality” of the country.
All three islands have lengthy histories of troubled finances, and politicians have faced repeated corruption allegations.
The CFT, which is made up of representatives from the islands and the Netherlands, sees progress despite fiscal challenges in all three island groups, it announced in February.
In St. Maarten, for example, the watchdog has signed off on a $237 million budget for 2015. However, it expressed concern that the government is relying on revenue estimates of $248 million, which is more optimistic than previous years.
Additionally, the government needs to find a way to make up for a $111 million shortfall in the funding for the country’s public insurance and pension funds, as well as plugging a $30 million deficit that has accumulated since the dissolution of the Netherland Antilles in 2010.
In Curacao, where the 2014 budget is expected to end with a $20 million surplus, there is cause for more optimism, according to CFT Chairman Abu Age Bakker.
“2014 is expected to close with a positive result,” Mr. Bakker said. “That is a nice performance. 2015 will have to be dedicated to the managing of the financial risks the social funds and the governmental companies impose.”
The CFT made a grimmer financial forecast for St. Eustatius, where it said financial management “remains weak.” The 2014 budget is late but could end with a $200,000 deficit, according to the agency.
LIAT bans e-cigarettes in checked luggage
From Jamaica Observer
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Regional airline LIAT has announced that e-cigarettes are prohibited for carriage in checked luggage on the airline’s services, effective immediately.
Citing a recommendation from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), LIAT said in a media release Tuesday afternoon that e-cigarettes are a fire risk. E-cigarettes mainly use lithium cells to heat liquid nicotine into a vapour and these devices have, in some instances, overheated or caught fire when the heating element was accidentally activated.
The release said that the FAA pointed to two recent incidents in the United States. In the first incident, e-cigarettes packed in a passenger’s checked bag in the cargo hold of a passenger aircraft caused a fire that forced an evacuation of the aircraft. In the second incident, a checked bag that had missed its flight was found to be on fire in a baggage area. Emergency responders attributed the fire to an overheated e-cigarette inside the bag.
Meanwhile, LIAT noted that airport security in the territories in which it operates have not yet confirmed a unified stance on the carriage of e-cigarettes in carry-on baggage. It is therefore recommended passengers should not carry e-cigarettes in their cabin baggage either, so they don’t lose their devices if the airport security decide to remove them.
Should airport security across the territories subsequently allow e-cigarettes to be carried on board flights, LIAT would review its current recommendation
For more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/LIAT-bans-e-cigarettes-in-checked-luggage
Caribbean labor ministers concerned over unemployment issue
From Shanghai Daily
KINGSTON, March 4 (Xinhua) — Caribbean labor ministers have expressed concern over the unemployment issue in the region, especially the unemployment of young people, according to reports reaching here on Wednesday.
“When people are desperate and they are young and they cannot realistically aspire to a life of dignity in the workplace, then you have trouble in your backyard,” said Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie who paid special attention to the issue of youth unemployment.
“We have an extraordinary challenge ahead of us,” he said in a keynote speech during the two-day Ninth International Labor Organization (ILO) Meeting of Caribbean Labor Ministers which concluded on Wednesday in Nassau, capital of Bahamas.
ILO Director General Guy Ryder also expressed concern over youth unemployment, saying that young people under the age of 25 are three times more likely to be unemployed and currently about 75 million people aged below 25 are out of work around the world.
The issue of child labor also drew attention at the meeting attended by labor ministers and other high-level officials from 13 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states and nine territories, as well as representatives of the Caribbean Congress of Labor and the Caribbean Employers’ Confederation.
“As a Caribbean community, we must continue to unite to end child labor as it deprives children the world over of their childhood and is harmful to their development,” said Shane Gibson, labor minister of Bahamas.
Caribbean labor ministers also discussed the CARICOM-ILO partnership and several critical labor issues, including job opportunities and the training of young people.
The delegates also held discussions with public and private investor representatives from Canada and China.
Many Caribbean countries, mostly small islands, have long suffered from high unemployment, particularly for women and young people, a drain of skilled workers, and a lack of funds for education and training.
The first ILO Caribbean labor ministers’ meeting was held in Trinidad and Tobago in 1996.
For more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=271014
Tourist dies saving South Lyon mayor while in Caribbean
By Diane Gale Andreassi, Michigan.com From Lansing State Journal
A tourist apparently died trying to save South Lyon Mayor Tedd Wallace when Wallace was being swept away by a riptide while vacationing Sunday in St. Croix, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Wallace, who vacations on the island for about six weeks each winter, was caught up in the choppy waters at Renaissance St. Croix Carambola Beach Resort and Spa while he was boogie boarding.
A Danish tourist tried to rescue the mayor but died during the attempt. A second rescuer, who was climbing rocks nearby, pulled Wallace from the water, but was unable to save the first would-be rescuer.
Wallace was emotional Tuesday morning as he recalled the harrowing incident that almost took his life, as well as the sacrifice by the Danish stranger.
“They’re both heroes,” Wallace said. “The rescuer said he didn’t know why he climbed up on the rocks. He said he looked over to the left and realized that we were in trouble.”
“I think it was just like some kind of divine intervention,” the rescuer was quoted in the St. Croix Avis newspaper as saying.
Wallace said he was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from friends on the island. He said he talked to the victim’s wife after the incident, and she hugged him.
Wallace said he believed the victim was in his 70s, but he didn’t have his name or age. He said the Danish man heard him calling for help as the tide was pulling him toward a mass of rocks.
The victim was about 20 feet away, Wallace said, adding that he told the man to hang onto the boogie board “and we’ll paddle together,” the newspaper reported. “All of a sudden he just went under. I don’t know if he had a heart attack or what.”
Talking about the incident a few days after the fact, Wallace said “I really thought for about 10 minutes that my end had come. I was hanging on to the boogie board and crashing down and coming up. Miraculously this hand was reaching out for me. The whole ocean just shifted and took me so fast. I’m done doing that activity for the rest of my life, and I’m thankful for what life I have left.”
This is what it’s like to have an adorable robot bring you room service at a hotel
By Dave Smith From Business Insider
The Aloft Hotel in Cupertino, California — as it’s so close to Apple’s headquarters — is understandably pretty high tech.
Every room has an Apple TV, fast and free high-speed WiFi flows throughout the hotel, and if you’re feeling too lazy to grab a snack at the hotel’s 24/7 snack station or bar, the hotel has robots that can come right to your room.
Aloft calls its 3-foot-tall robots the “A.L.O. Botlr,” short for “robot butler.” Introduced last August, these robots weigh 100 pounds, have giant empty compartments on top in case you asked for toiletries or some food, and have 7-inch touchscreens to interact with you.
And, since they have WiFi and 4G built-in, Aloft’s robot butlers can connect with the concierge, and they can even call elevators when they need a ride.
A hotel guest recently snapped a quick video of his Aloft robot bringing him room service. You can see how the touchscreen works, as the robot asks the customer to rate the robot’s service after delivery, and then says goodbye before heading back toward the elevator.
The hotel paints these robots to look like butlers, but Engadget points out they’re built and designed by Savioke, a California startup backed by Google Ventures. Savioke is led by Steve Cousins, the former CEO of Willow Garage, which makes similar-looking robots — except with limbs.
Savioke had an exclusive deal with Starwood, the company that owns the Aloft brand among others, throughout the end of 2014, but the startup plans to roll out its robots to other hotels this year.
Brian McGuinness, senior VP of the Aloft brand, told Engadget that these robots won’t replace human employees; it will just free them up to handle more important tasks.
IMAGE: robot butlerYouTube/Scott Sigrist
For more and video: http://www.businessinsider.com/robot-room-service-video-aloft-hotel-2015-3#ixzz3TWxTyuF2
North Korea says knife attack on U.S. ambassador was ‘justice’
By Megan Specia From Mashable
IMAGE: U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert, front right, leaves a lecture hall for a hospital in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 5, 2015, after being attacked by a man.IMAGE: YONHAP, KIM JU-SUNG)/ASSOCIATED PRESS
North Korea called the bloody knife attack on U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert in Seoul on Thursday “justice” for joint military drills.
An official report from state-run news organization KCNA stated the attack with a “knife of justice” was a valid response to U.S. and South Korea’s annual military exercises that began earlier this week.
The anti-American attack “reflects the mindset of South Koreans” who are “bringing danger of a war to the Korean peninsula through… saber-rattling,” the report continued.
The attacker, Kim Ki-jong, 55, shouted “South and North Korea should be reunified,” before slashing the ambassador. According to local media, he has a history of protest against perceived U.S. interference in Korean affairs.
Security officers with the ambassador were able to immediately pin him down until his arrest. Most U.S. ambassadors do not have security details.
The attack left a cut on Lippert’s face from his under his cheekbone. But he is on the mend.
According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, there was no lasting major damage to Lippert’s face, but a minor wound to the nerves in his left pinkie could take six months to a year to heal.
Lippert tweeted a message of thanks for the public support hours after the attack, saying he would be back “ASAP” to continue work on the relationship between the US and South Korea. He is reported to be in stable condition at the hospital.
