iNews Briefs
Quotable Caribbean: Cayman Islands Shomari Scott and more…
By Bevan Springer, Marketplace Excellence Corporation From The Bahamas Weekly
“This award (Blue Flag certification of Trinidad’s Las Cuevas Beach) reaffirms TDC’s commitment to capitalizing on the value that sustainable growth and development brings to our destination.” – Keith Chin, Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Development Company (TDC) of Trinidad and Tobago (Travel Pulse)
“Investment opportunities are staring us in the face (in Montego Bay). Let us take for instance the present condition of what was once a vibrant area of commerce, the Hip Strip; it is disheartening and disappointing to see the closed shutters on hotels and other tourism-related businesses on the Hip Strip. There is no excuse and we should not wait for foreign investors to come in and then complain about their presence, which is what we tend to do.” – Dennis Morrison, Chairman, Jamaica Tourist Board (Jamaica Observer)
“We are encouraged to embark on a partnership that positions Health City Cayman Islands as a leadingtertiary care hospital in the Caribbean.” – Shomari Scott, Marketing Director, Health City Cayman Islands
“The U.S. market offers significant potential for Barbados so the focus will be on looking at where the opportunities are and putting plans in place to realize those opportunities. It will be a steep learning curve getting to know the intricacies of our partners’ businesses and understanding the makeup of the distribution network here in the U.S., but I am so excited at the task ahead.” – Petra Roach, Director – United States, Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (Travel Agent)
“It was a phenomenal innings (Chris Gayle’s Cricket World Cup double century). It’s the stuff champions are made of. Their response and the talent in the team, it’s potent. But what the fans demand is to see this on a more consistent basis. You need that leadership where the batsmen are concerned.” – Sir Vivian Richards, West Indies Cricket Legend (Caribbean Media Corporation)
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” -The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights Leader
“Controlling your emotions can save your life.” – A.R. Bernard Sr., Senior Pastor, Christian Cultural Center, Brooklyn, New York
“Quotable Caribbean” is compiled by Marketplace Excellence Corporation, a full-service, integrated marketing agency committed to excellence in the fields of public relations, marketing and media coaching.
Stop and search: [UK] Police ‘must record vehicle stops’
From BBC
Police forces in England and Wales must record the stops they carry out on motorists, a review has said.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary made the recommendation amid concerns that black and minority ethnic drivers were disproportionately affected.
Police made no attempt to assess if they were using their powers fairly, it said.
Forces are currently not required to make official records of vehicle stops.
The police watchdog also criticised senior officers for failing to understand the impact of stop and search powers when used against people on the streets, which are required to be recorded.
‘Disappointing’
The inspector who led the research, Stephen Otter, said a large-scale public survey suggested vehicle stops were unfairly targeting ethnic minority groups who were more likely than white people not to be given a reason for the stop.
“Too many police leaders and officers still don’t seem to understand the impact that the use of powers to stop and search people can have on the lives of many people, especially young people and those who are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds,” he said.
“This is disappointing because getting it wrong can lead to resentment, anger and, in time, a loss of trust in the police.”
He said they found no official record keeping of vehicle stops and “very little interest” in how effectively and fairly the stops were carried out.
The report also says a “notable proportion of officers feel they are under pressure to stop using stop and search powers entirely”.
It said a small minority of officers arrested a person in order to search them, which inspectors said concerned them “gravely”.
For more: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-32036443
Small Business Expo assists Cayman Islands Commerce
The Cayman Islands business community will benefit from the promotion of local entrepreneurship, through the Department of Commerce and Investment (DCI) Small Business Expo.
The expo will take place on Saturday, 18 April, at the Family Life Centre from 9am until 7pm. The event is going into its third year, having previously been billed as a celebration of Cayman Entrepreneurship Day.
DCI Director Ryan Rajkumarsingh said the expo will boost local commerce.
‘The idea is to increase awareness of the variety of micro and small businesses that exist in the local market; stimulate sales for exhibitors; educate a wider audience on DCI’s services; gain further insights as to the special needs of businesses in crisis; and provide an opportunity to small businesses to network and gain competitive advantages,’ Mr Rajkumarsingh said.
The event has consistently attracted dozens of exhibitors showcasing their products and services. Key features of the expo include technical workshops; face-to-face meetings with accomplished entrepreneurs; a platform for budding entrepreneurs to present their business ideas and a cocktail reception and business networking event.
More details are available through DCI. For more information, please contact DCI Business Services Officer Thais Ducent at [email protected].
Argentine small plane crashes near Uruguay resort; 10 dead
(AP) / 20 March 2015 Officials said the Beechcraft King Air had taken off from the Laguna de Sauce airport, which serves the tourist city of Punta del Este.
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Montevideo – Uruguay’s Air Force said an Argentine turboprop airplane has crashed and burned shortly after taking off, killing all 10 aboard.
The Air Force said the dead from Thursday’s crash included seven Argentine passengers and one Portugese, as well as two Argentine crew members.
Officials said the Beechcraft King Air had taken off from the Laguna de Sauce airport, which serves the tourist city of Punta del Este.
Local fire department spokesman Leandro Palomeque said on Friday that seven bodies have been recovered and his agency is looking for the other three. He said the plane crashed into a lagoon and is semi-submerged.
Related: From Fausta’s Blog: Witnesses at the airport said that a few minutes after takeoff they heard a significant explosion followed by a huge fireball.
The passengers were members of the Argentine company La Rural which is an associate in a project to exploit a Convention Center under construction in the Atlantic resort of Punta del Este and had flown to Uruguay for a business conference with their Uruguayan partners and the local government.
La Rural is a leading company in Argentina and Latin America in the fairs, congress and events industry. SOURCE: http://faustasblog.com/2015/03/the-crashed-plane-carnival-of-latin-america-and-the-caribbean/
Health City Cayman Islands offers cardiac, orthopedic support to cruise line industry
From Caribbean360
MIAMI, United States, Sunday March 22, 2015 – Following emergency life-saving care involving cruise passengers in recent months, Health City Cayman Islands is getting the word out that the state-of-the-art facility is willing, able and available to provide world-class cardiac and orthopedic care to members of the cruise line community, including staff and crew as well as passengers.
Shomari Scott, Marketing Director of Health City Cayman Islands, visited this week’s annual Cruise Shipping Miami event to help promote this encouraging and promising message that you can view at the link below.
For more and video: https://www.caribbean360.com/news/health-city-cayman-islands-offers-cardiac-orthopedic-support-to-cruise-line-industry
Johnson & Johnson stamps out patent suit over ADHD drug
From Ross Todd, The Recorder
SAN FRANCISCO — Lawyers at Covington & Burling scored a victory for Johnson & Johnson on Friday in a patent fight over Concerta, the company’s blockbuster drug to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the Northern District of California knocked out the patent suit brought by a doctor claiming to be coinventor of the drug. Concerta, a form of the drug also known as Ritalin, was approved for use in treating ADHD in 2000 and generated more than $1 billion annually for J&J’s Alza Corp. unit prior to the introduction of generic competition in 2013.
Plaintiff Dr. James Swanson, a professor of pediatrics and director of UC Irvine’s Child Development Center, was a paid consultant for Alza during the drug’s development. Swanson claimed he should have been included as one of the inventors on patents that cover the drug’s dosage and its once-a-day pill format. As part of his lawsuit, Swanson sought an order declaring that he was an inventor of the Alza patents, or, alternatively that they were invalid.
On Friday, Hamilton found that the drug doesn’t use the dosages outlined by Swanson and that the idea for a once-a-day ADHD pill had been disclosed in the prior art. She also found that Swanson’s contention that he came up with his ideas prior to consulting with Alza foreclosed the possibility that he had collaborated on the company’s patents and should be included as a coinventor.
J&J’s lawyer, George Pappas at Covington, directed a call for comment to the company. A company spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a message. Alza still has counterclaims of breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation pending against Swanson.
Swanson’s lawyer, Carr & Ferrell partner Robert Yorio, cochair of the firm’s litigation practice, on Monday said that he his team were reviewing the decision and next steps. The matter was originally brought to the firm and handled by longtime University of California outside counsel Gerald Dodson. Filings in the case indicate Dodson has faced a significant health issue and Yorio said his condition forced him to resign from the firm last fall.
Cayman Islands Little Leaguers: Greenlight Re meets Yellow Pages in little league match up
From Loop News Service
The sun beat down hot and fierce this past Saturday morning, March 21, as the Cayman Islands Little League players once again took to the fields.
Greenlight RE were up to bat first and took an early one run lead, but by then end of first inning Yellow Pages had recovered with 5 runs of their own.
The second inning was scoreless, but the excitement was far from over.
At the end of the game players lined up behind home or second base for a relay race. As the race wound down to the final runners it looked like it would be a photo finish. As it turned out, after catching their breath both teams settled for a tie.
For more and to view all images: http://loopcayman.com/2015/03/23/photos-greenlight-re-meets-yellow-pages-little-league-match/
50 Caribbean And North Atlantic Countries join in a Tsunami drill this week
From Bernama
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, March 24 (BERNAMA-NNN-AGENCIES)–50 Caribbean and North Atlantic countries and territories will take part this week in a tsunami drill promoted by the Puerto Rico Seismic Network, or RSPR.
Tsunamis are blamed for at least 3,510 deaths in the Caribbean since 1842, according to the RSPR, which is part of the Geology Department at the University of Puerto Rico.
At 10:00 a.m. Wednesday a simulated alert will be issued for a magnitude-8.5 earthquake off the Atlantic coast of Panama.
“Recent events, such as those that affected the Indian Ocean in 2004, Samoa in 2009, Haiti and Chile in 2010, and Japan in 2011 show that proper planning for tsunami response is vital,” RSPR said.
RSPR director Victor Huerfano said that Lantex – Large Atlantic Tsunami Exercise – has been carried out annually on the Island since 2009 with the participation of all emergency agencies within the Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands region.
The goal is to review protocols and communication systems among alert centers and key alert points, like the Seismic Network, the State Agency for Emergency Management and Disasters Administration, the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the Emergency Alert System.
RSPR said it is not possible to predict when a major earthquake or other tsunami-generating event will affect Puerto Rico.
“What matters is to be educated and prepared for when an earthquake and tsunami happen,” the agency said.
Lantex is an annual exercise along the east coast of the United States and Canada, the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
For more: http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v8/wn/newsworld.php?id=1119754
Cayman Islands climber to tackle another mountain for cancer
Guy Manning (41), a partner with Cayman Islands law firm Campbells, plans to tackle another mountain.
Two years ago Manning successfully climbed Mount Everest and raised more than $100,000 for the Cayman Islands Cancer Society. Now, this Summer Manning will be attempting to climb Denali, the highest peak in North America. This will be his third attempt to climb the mountain.
As he did with his Everest trip he hopes to raise funds to help fund assistance for cancer patients, educational programmess and the Cancer Society’s other efforts in Cayman.
For more information and to make a donation, visit www.sevensummits.ky.
See also iNews Cayman story today “Cayman Islands climber and the Seven Summits”
Soros: Greece is going down the drain
From Newsmax
The chances of Greece leaving the euro area are now 50-50 and the country could go “down the drain,” billionaire investor George Soros said.
“It’s now a lose-lose game and the best that can happen is actually muddling through,” Soros, 84, said in a Bloomberg Television interview due to air Tuesday. “Greece is a long-festering problem that was mishandled from the beginning by all parties.”
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ government needs to persuade its creditors to sign off on a package of economic measures to free up long-withheld aid payments that will keep the country afloat.
Since his January election victory, he has tried to shape an alternative to the austerity program set out in the nation’s bailout agreement, spurring concern that Greece may be forced out of the euro.
The negotiations between Tsipras’s Syriza government and the institutions helping finance the Greek economy — the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund — could result in a “breakdown,” leading to the country leaving the common currency area, Soros said in the interview at his London home.
“You can keep on pushing it back indefinitely,” making interest payments without writing down debt, Soros said. “But in the meantime there will be no primary surplus because Greece is going down the drain.”
Soros said in January 2012 that the odds are in the direction of Greece leaving the euro region.
“Right now we are at the cusp and I can see both possibilities,” he said in Tuesday’s interview.
U.S. Coast Guard delivers search and rescue system to the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard
By Willem J. Remie From St Maarten Island Time
The system, known as “SAROPS” was purchased by the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard from the United States Coast Guard and installed at the Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) located on Parera Naval Base in Curacao.
The new system will be used by the RCC to conduct search and rescue throughout more than 300,000 square kilometers of the Southern Caribbean.
SAROPS, or Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System, is a comprehensive search and rescue planning system developed by the United States Coast Guard for the planning and execution of almost all SAR cases in and around the United States, major portions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Caribbean.
Built into the system is the ability to access global and regional wind and current data sets making SAROPS the most comprehensive and powerful tool available for maritime SAR planners.
A team comprised of Search and Rescue experts from the United States Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington D.C. and SAROPS technicians from the Command, Control & Communications Engineering Center in Portsmouth, Virginia have traveled to Curacao, to install SAROPS and provide training in its use.
Senior SAR expert, Rich Schaefer is leading the U.S. Coast Guard team. “SAROPS will greatly improve the modeling and search and rescue tools available to the watchstanders in the RCC and will result in more effective and efficient search efforts by the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard” said Mr. Schaefer. “Our team has been very impressed with the knowledge and professionalism of the watchstanders”.
Commodore Hans Lodder, Director Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard says: “It goes without saying that saving people or ships in distress is one of our most important tasks.
Now with SAROPS, I believe that the RCC is better prepared and equipped for Search and Rescue. Although it’s important to have proper tools, the real quality in the end is determined by the personnel”.
Consul General Moore was at a conference in Washington D.C. and unable to attend Monday’s ceremony, but he had this to say about the coordination between the Dutch Caribbean and the U.S. Coast Guards: “Many people are aware of the tireless coordination between our Coast Guards to interdict drugs, so I believe it is important to raise awareness of the many other ways in which we work together. This coordination will save lives of mariners in distress. What could be nobler than that”?
To accommodate the RCC’s active schedule, the training is being provided in three sessions. RCC is the 5th foreign national SAR authority to obtain SAROPS. Other national administrations using SAROPS include: Malta, Mexico, Vietnam and Lebanon.
TaiwanICDF to send teachers to Latin America, Caribbean
By Elaine Hou From Focus Taiwan
Taipei, March 24 (CNA) A Taiwanese government-funded agency said Tuesday that it will send 14 certified teachers to Latin America and the Caribbean later this year to teach Mandarin Chinese.
The teachers will be sent to Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti and the Dominican Republic to teach and help promote bilateral cultural exchanges, said Weber Shih (施文斌), secretary- general of the Taipei-based International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF), at a regular news briefing.
They will teach at local universities, government agencies and institutes related to diplomatic affairs, according to TaiwanICDF.
This will be the second year that TaiwanICDF has dispatched Chinese teachers to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies and other countries with good relations with Taiwan to meet local demand for learning Chinese, Shih said.
TaiwanICDF, which is responsible for Taiwan’s foreign aid programs, noted that it sent 11 teachers to teach Chinese in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Paraguay, Panama, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Palau, Jordan and the Solomon Islands last year, a move that received positive feedback.
Prior to 2014, TaiwanICDF sent volunteers to teach Chinese, rather than professional certified teachers.
For more: http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201503240028.aspx
Tingyi Cayman Islands: CLSA lowers Tingyi to HK$14.33
[ET Net News Agency, 24 March 2015] CLSA lowered its target price for Tingyi (Cayman Islands) (00322) to HK$14.33 from HK$15.29, and maintained its “sell” call.
It said Tingyi’s 16% 4Q 2014 group sales decrease and continuous quarterly topline
misses defied the perceived “staple” nature of the company, again. Market’s expectations on its margin recovery were frustrated by its operating deleverage in beverage and channel de-stocking in noodles.
CLSA cannot get excited with management’s target of low-single digit group sales growth in 2015, despite our assumption of margin expansion.
It trimmed its profit forecast by 11% and 10% in 2015 and 2016 on back of 7% and 8% sales projection downgrades. (KL)
The United States and Latin America and the Caribbean: highlights of economy and trade
INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INTEGRATION
Corporate author: NU. CEPAL Signature: LC/G.2489
ISBN: 9789210545556 Pages: 38 p. : grafs., tabls. Editorial: CEPAL
Type: Institutional Documents and Books Collection: Books and Monographs
Description: This publication is a contribution by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to the analysis of trade and investment relations between the United States of America and Latin America and the Caribbean, on the occasion of the visit of President Barack Obama to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador in March 2011. The early years of this new decade have brought good news for Latin America and the Caribbean. The region weathered the international crisis with unprecedented resilience and emerged from it sooner and more strongly than the developed economies. It grew by 6% in 2010, and is expected to grow by over 4% in 2011. The region’s economic reforms of past decades, its fiscal and macroeconomic prudence and its sound financial supervision, together with ever closer commercial ties with China and other emerging economies, have allowed it not only to successfully navigate through the worst international crisis of the past 80 years but also to enter the new decade with a promising outlook for growth and advances in quality of life. For the first time in its history, the region achieved during the past decade a combination of high growth, macroeconomic stability, poverty reduction and improvement in income distribution. On the strength of the foregoing and of its privileged endowment in natural resources, energy, water and biodiversity, the Latin American and Caribbean region will be called upon to assume an increasingly larger role in the global economy. At Davos and other specialized forums, it has been said that this could be the decade of the Latin American and Caribbean region and that, with regard to global economic recovery, the region is today firmly part of the solution. The region’s resilience to, and strong recovery from, the international financial crisis have renewed the interest of the European Union in strengthening linkages with it. At the same time, the Asia-Pacific region —particularly the People’s Republic of China— has become a privileged trading partner for Latin America and the Caribbean. These closer trade and investment links have been both a cause for and a result of the increasing number of trade agreements already in force or under negotiation that link various countries of the region with the European Union and Asia-Pacific. In this context of special opportunities and diversification of trading partners, the share of the United States of America in the region’s trade has been shrinking. More importantly, there is a perception in Latin America and the Caribbean that the United States lacks strategic vision vis-à-vis the region. In past decades, the Alliance for Progress, the Initiative for the Americas and, later, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (with which ECLAC, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Organization of American States collaborated through the Tripartite Committee) were all ambitious United States initiatives for regional cooperation. Today no such initiatives exist. Despite recent improvements on many fronts, the Latin American and Caribbean region faces some formidable structural challenges. It still has the highest indices of inequality in the world, as well as serious lags in technology, innovation and competitiveness. Nevertheless, the region, together with its main partners, is approaching these challenges as opportunities for new partnerships that promote growth and development through increased trade and investment. The United States can and should be an active partner of the region in this endeavour. The visit of President Obama to three Latin American countries provides the United States with a unique opportunity to revitalize hemispheric relations. It could do so by presenting proposals for a strategic dialogue and for new hemispheric initiatives in trade and investment to strengthen cooperation between the United States and the region.
CNBC: The verdict is in, and America’s 401(k) accounts are a crashing failure
By John Morgan From Newsmax
For millions of Americans, the 401(k) plan is a miserable failure — it simply is not shielding enough people from financial struggles in their retirements, according to a CNBC analysis.
The Employee Benefit Research Institute estimates the median amount in U.S. 401(k) accounts is a paltry $18,433 and almost 40 percent of workers have less than $10,000 in those instruments.
“In America, when we had disability and defined benefit plans, you actually had an equality of retirement period. Now the rich can retire and workers have to work until they die,” Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist at the New School for Social Research, told CNBC.
The business network said millions of Americans approaching retirement are exiting the workforce with savings that “do not even approach what they will need” for even just healthcare.
Since they were started under federal law in 1978, 401(k) accounts mushroomed to $4.5 trillion in assets by the third quarter of 2014, according to the Investment Company Institute.
“But a funny thing happened as 401(k) plans began to multiply: defined benefit plans started disappearing,” CNBC said.
A major difference in the two retirement vehicles is that while pensions provided lifetime income, 401(k) plans offer no such certainty and are also optional.
Anthony Webb, a research economist at the Center for Retirement Research, has concluded that another shortcoming — high 401(k) fees — mean that the accounts “are about 20 percent less than they need otherwise be.”
Terrance Odean, a professor of finance at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, told CNBC that another problem with 401(k) accounts is that both the companies that sponsor them and the workers that participate in them tend to make poor financial choices in their holdings.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., complained at a recent hearing on the issue that “something is out of whack. The American taxpayer delivers $140 billion each year to subsidize retirement accounts, but still millions of Americans nearing retirement have little or nothing saved.”
CNBC noted that a 2014 Harris survey found 74 percent of Americans were worried about having enough income in retirement, and a separate survey by the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) that found 86 percent of respondents agree the U.S. faces a retirement crisis.
The gulf between the haves and the have nots is growing when it comes to retirement security.
According to a NIRS study, one way to ease the problem is to strengthen Social Security, since it and Supplemental Security Income make up more than 90 percent of income for the bottom 25 percent of retirees, and 70 percent of income for the middle 50 percent of retirees.
The study concluded that the ways to do that include raising benefits for low-wage workers, eliminating the payroll tax cap and adjusting the benefit formula so it keeps up with living costs.
