iNews Briefs & Community Events
Community Events
MAY 15
ESO Survey Deadlines
Local businesses that have still not completed and submitted their annual economic survey forms have only until end of business day Friday 15 May 2015 to submit them to the Economics and Statistics Office (ESO). Survey forms and other information are still available to be downloaded from www.eso.ky
2015 Children’s Costume Competition
The Bodden Town Heritage Committee is looking for contestants for the 2015 Children’s Costume Competition – part of their “Annual May Fest” Festivities — on Discovery Day. Email: [email protected] to apply. The deadline is May 15th.
Day of Families Scavenger Hunt
The Day of Families Scavenger Hunt is Friday (15 May) from 5 — 7pm at Star Fish Village.
MAY 16
Bargain Store Sale
St. George’s Anglican Church is hosting a Bargain Store Sale Saturday — Saturday (16 — 23 May from 7am until 11am.
Isabel Auditions
CNCF is looking for talented 12-17 year olds to take part in the award-winning musical production, ISABEL. To register, visit www.artscayman.org/young-at-arts and complete the form, which will then need to be returned to [email protected]. The next audition is Saturday (16 May) from 10am until noon at the Harquail Theatre.
Butterfield Summer Intensive theatre arts course auditions
Young actors between the ages of 12 and 17 are invited to audition on Saturday (16 May) at 10am at the Harquail theatre for the six week Butterfield Summer Intensive theatre arts course.
MAY 17
All Nations United Pentecostal Church Convention 2015
The All Nations United Pentecostal Church presents Convention 2015 under the theme Releasing the Glory of the Kingdom through Faith May 17th — 20th at 7pm nightly.
1st Pines 5K Walk/Run
The 1st Pines 5K Walk/Run is Sunday (17 May) with walkers starting at 630 and runners at 7am. The start is the Holiday Inn Resort in Safe Haven.
MAY 18
Family Fun Day Walk/Run
The Department of Children and Family Services Presents a Family Fun Day Walk/Run on Monday (18 May) at Public Beach starting at 7am.
Discovery Day 5K Walk Run
The Discovery Day 5K Walk Run is Monday (18 May) at 630am at Camana Bay.
‘Towards 2050’ and ‘Recycle, Reuse, Recycle’ Exhibits
You’re invited to the opening of two new exhibits at the Cayman Islands National Museum. ‘Towards 2050’ and ‘Recycle, Reuse, Recycle’ open on Monday (18 May) at 10am. The exhibitions feature a children’s gallery.
MAY 19
Cayman Islands Seafarers Association General Meeting
The Cayman Islands Seafarers Association wishes to inform all Members that there will be a General Meeting, on Tuesday May 19, 2015 at 7:30 PM. in the Seafarer’s Hall, 11 Victory Ave. Prospect. Please plan to attend”.
Another Cayman Islands prison staff member suspended
Neil Lavis, Cayman Islands prisons boss has confirmed another prison officer has been suspended.
This is the third member of the prison staff to have been suspended. The first was one month ago when the HMS Northward custody manager’s office was had unauthorized bugging with surveillance equipment. Both persons responsible were placed on leave.
Two female prison officers from Fairbanks prison were sacked recently but no official reason has been given.
Also a prison officer resigned after it was discovered he had a criminal record for sex offences.
Australian government threatens to kill Johnny Depp’s dogs
By Lucy O’brien From IGN
“It’s time Pistol and Boo buggered off to the United States”
Australia’s Minister of Agriculture Barnaby Joyce has instructed Johnny Depp to send his dogs back to California or face them being put down.
Depp, currently in Australia to shoot Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, is in trouble with the Department of Agriculture for failing to declare his two poodles when he entered the country via private jet.
“He has decided to bring to our nation two dogs without actually getting proper certification and the proper permits required”, said Joyce, via The Guardian. “Basically, it looks like he snuck them in.”
The Department discovered that Depp had the dogs, Boo and Pistol, after he was spotted taking them to a poodle groomer.
Australia’s quarantine laws are strict in order to avoid spreadable diseases entering the country.
“Mr Depp has to either take his dogs back to California or we are going to have to euthanise them”, said Joyce. “He’s now got about 50 hours left to remove the dogs.”
The minister insisted that Depp shouldn’t receive special treatment just because he’s a movie star.
“It’s time that Pistol and Boo buggered off back to the United States,” said Joyce. “He can put them on the same chartered jet he flew out on to fly them back out of our nation.”
Jet Aviation St. Louis named Cayman Islands AMO
By David A. Lombardo From AIN online
The Cayman Islands Civil Aviation Authority has granted approved maintenance organization (AMO) status to Jet Aviation St. Louis. The designation allows the facility to carry out maintenance on aircraft registered in the Cayman Islands, something it has previously done under one-time authorizations.
“The certification of Jet Aviation St. Louis as an AMO by the Cayman Islands expands our global capabilities, adding to the Aruba, Bermuda, European Aviation Safety Agency and South African certifications we currently hold,” said Chuck Krugh, senior vice president and general manager at Jet Aviation St. Louis. “With this, we are able to work on aircraft from 36 countries around the world.”
Jet Aviation St. Louis has 800 employees and offers in-house design and engineering departments, on-site cabinetry, upholstery, composite, avionics, sheet metal and paint shops. The MRO is a Bombardier, Embraer and Gulfstream authorized service center and a Dassault Falcon and Hawker “center of expertise.” It is also an authorized service center for GE, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell engines.
US Senate confirms Sally Yates as Deputy Attorney General
By Mike Sacks, From Legal Times
Sally Yates was confirmed Wednesday as deputy attorney general by an 84-12 vote in the Senate.
Yates will lead the day-to-day operations at the U.S. Justice Department as Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s second-in-command.
The job is not new to Yates. She took over the post in an acting capacity in January after she was nominated to succeed James Cole, now a partner in Sidley Austin’s Washington office.
A career federal prosecutor, Yates was the U.S. attorney in Atlanta before arriving at DOJ. “This has been my life’s work and if I’m fortunate enough to be confirmed I will spend each and every moment guided by the department’s singular mission to seek justice,” Yates told the committee during her nomination hearings in March.
Yates avoided the delays and partisanship that predominated her boss’s path to confirmation. While Lynch met Republican opposition for saying the legal reasoning behind President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration was “reasonable,” Yates said at her nomination hearings that the legality of the president’s actions is “an issue on which reasonable people can disagree.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee, creating a smooth road to confirmation, voted, 18-2, to send Yates’ nomination to the full Senate for a vote.
“I supported her nomination, both in committee and today in the full Senate, and I hope that she will show independence as she provides leadership at the department,” Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement.
Lynch said in a statement Wednesday afternoon: “At every stage of her career, Sally has demonstrated her dedication to the rule of law, her devotion to the cause of justice and her commitment to all those whom the law protects and empowers.”
Lynch added: “Her leadership and her skill have earned her the respect and the trust of law enforcement professionals at every level. And her exemplary work on a wide range of issues—from combating public corruption to prosecuting acts of terrorism—has proven that she is equal to any task.”
Two Cayman Islands preschools closed down
As a result of new measures aimed at raising standards in early childhood care and education centres two of Cayman Islands preschools have not had their registrations renewed under new criteria.
Three others have been given a “notice of improvement”. This means they have to raise standards in specific areas to maintain their registration.
It has been confirmed by officials that new placements had been found for all the affected children.
In order to be registered by the Education Council preschools have to follow a new national curriculum for young children and to meet guidelines on health and safety and student-teacher ratios.
The names of the preschools closed down have not been released nor the three others given the “notice of improvement”.
Haiti’s First Lady candidacy for senate seat rejected
From Haitian-Caribbean News Network
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (HCNN) — The candidacy for a senate seat of Haiti’s First Lady, Sophia Martelly, has been rejected by electoral authorities who found her ineligible because of nationality issues and administrative clearance, a source close to the electoral council told HCNN on Wednesday.
Electoral judges argue that Mrs. Martelly did not complete the process which should lead to the renouncement of her US passport, even though she returned, since March 2014, her foreign passport in a move to give up her US citizenship, which was a legal and constitutional prerequisite to enter the senatorial race. Sophia Martelly was born in the US.
“There are nationality issues and a lack of administrative clearance that make Mrs. Martelly ineligible,” a member of the electoral council told HCNN on Wednesday. “And that is why she has been rejected and the decision is final,” the electoral judge told HCNN on condition of anonymity.
Sophia Martelly’s candidacy was also denied because she did not receive clearance, from Administrative Court auditors, of her management of public funds after she was appointed Chairwoman of a presidential commission which had spent money from public treasury.
Lawyers for the First Lady said Mrs. Martelly never had to manage the funds made available for the commission because there were other people dealing with the financial issues.
“Sophia Martelly meets all legal and constitutional requirements to run for the senate,” lawyer Gregory Mayard-Paul, who represented the First Lady, stated on Monday, a day before the ruling.
IMAGE: Haiti’s First Lady, Sophia Martelly (left), with President Martelly during an appearance at the UN General Assembly, last year (photo: Picasa)
Haiti’s First Lady, Sophia Martelly (left), with President Martelly during an appearance at the UN General Assembly, last year
For more: http://hcnn.ht/en/2015_05/politics/462/Haiti’s-First-Lady-candidacy-for-senate-seat-rejected.htm
Cayman Islands lose to Dominican Republic
Cayman Islands were overwhelmed by Dominican Republic last Wednesday (13) when they last 6-0 in an international friendly.
Dominica scored three goals in each half. Cayman managed to hold on until the last nine minutes of the first half.
Hollande inaugurates world’s largest slavery memorial in French West Indies
By RFI
France’s President François Hollande inaugurated the largest slavery memorial in the world on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe on Sunday. US black rights activist Angela Davis was to be awarded the freedom of the former slave port of Nantes during France’s day to commemorate the slave trade and its abolition.
The opening of the ACTe memorial on the site of a former sugar refinery that processed the products of slave plantations “will allow Guadeloupe and the whole of the Caribbean, with a deep bond with Africa, to tell the world that the combat for human dignity is not over”, Hollande said on Saturday ahead of the inauguration.
He cited the people smugglers in the Mediterranean and the recruiters of child soldiers as some of the “new slave-traders”.
The memorial, a newly built building overlooking the bay of Guadeloupe’s main town, Pointe-à-Pitre, looks at the history of slavery from antiquity to the modern day and pays homage to slave revolts and runaways who established free communities in the New World.
Its cost – 83 million euros – has aroused criticism on an island with serious economic problems, although local officials hope it will help attract tourists to the island.
“Today Guadeloupe means 60 per cent of under-25-year-olds unemployed, practically 30-33 per cent of the working age population unemployed, an illiteracy rate of more than 25 per cent of the population,” trade unionist Elie Domota, who led a general strike against the rising cost of living in 2009, told France Inter radio.
He called for abrogation of laws passed in 1848 and 1849, which compensated slave-owners for the abolition of slavery.
The ceremony – attended by Senegal’s President Macky Sall, Mali’s Ibrahim Bouboucar Keïta and Benin’s Thomas Boni Yayi – was to be broadcast live at the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, where Prime Minister Manuel Valls attended the government’s official event to mark the day.
American Communist Party activist and veteran black rights activist Angela Davis was to receive the freedom of Nantes, France’s main slave port before abolition, on Sunday, while another former slave port, Brest, inaugurated a 10-metre-high sculpture, entitled Mémoires, with two faces, one looking out to the Atlantic, the other towards Europe.
Several activists’ groups in the French West Indies and in France have launched legal cases for compensation for the trade.
One of them, the Cran, announced on Saturday that it has filed a case for profiting from crimes against humanity against the former head of employers’ union Medef, Ernest-Antoine Seillière, who was also boss of the Wendel group, an investment fund founded by his ancestors that had interests in plantations and slave ships.
“The descendants of slave traders are not guilty but they have profited from it and their fortune comes from ill-gotten gains,” commented Cran president Louis-Georges Tin. “In refusing compensation, they make themselves liable for the crime that they are vainly trying to dissociate them from.”
For more on this story go to: http://www.english.rfi.fr/africa/20150510-hollande-inaugurates-worlds-largest-slavery-memorial-french-west-indies
PAHO wants more trained nurses in the Caribbean
From Jamaica Gleaner
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is calling for more nurses in the Caribbean and the Americas to be trained to provide skilled care.
It is also urging that steps be taken to address what it describes as inequities in nurse distribution and the problem of out-migration.
PAHO says about 42 per cent of nursing positions in the English-speaking Caribbean are vacant due to migration.
The health organisation says the shortages of nursing personnel, presents an obstacle to achieving the goal of universal health access and coverage for all people in the Americas.
According to the World Health Organization, about 23 doctors, nurses and midwives are needed for every 10,000 inhabitants to provide essential health services.
For more: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/caribbean/20150513/paho-wants-more-trained-nurses-caribbean
Cayman Islands Economic Surveys deadline Friday
Local businesses that have still not completed and submitted their annual economic survey forms have only until end of business day Friday 15 May 2015 to submit them to the Economics and Statistics Office (ESO).
The annual Balance of Payment (BOP) and System of National Accounts (SNA) questionnaires were mailed or hand-delivered to local businesses from 30 March to 10 April 2015, according to ESO.
In view of their wide use not only by local players but also by global investors, it is critical that the survey questionnaires be filled accurately and returned to ESO.
Survey forms and other information are still available to be downloaded from www.eso.ky or may be requested by contacting 949-0940. ESO survey officers can also assist entities in filling up the forms upon request.
Is this island China’s next Caribbean investment target?
From Caribbean Journal
Is Puerto Rico China’s next investment target in the Caribbean?
A 16-member business delegation from China is visiting the island all week, the government said.
The delegation includes businessmen from a range of industries from real estate to tourism, including Adam Wu, CEO of the Chian Business Network, among others.
A host team from the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, economic development officers and the island’s Industrial Development Company has been meeting with the Chinese delegation, which is visiting several projects in Puerto Rico and Vieques.
“We continue to project all that Puerto Rico offers as a tourist and business destination while we work establish more connection routes to allow the island to continue positioning itself worldwide,” said Ingrid Rivera Rocafort, executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
The delegation will also be visiting the island’s high-profile ETI International Tourism Expo in San Juan this week.
“Puerto Rico continues to arouse interest at the international level,” said Alberto Bacus of Puerto Rico’s Department of Economic Development and Commerce. “We are confident that we will conclude projects that promote the development of the Puerto Rican economy. We are working all possible flanks, to fill all the bases, move strategically and have this running.”
For more: http://caribjournal.com/2015/05/13/is-this-island-chinas-next-caribbean-investment-target/#
CARIBBEAT: ‘Taste the Islands’ Jamaican-produced food show on American television
By Nicole Hylton From New York Daily News
The consistently mouth-watering and entertaining “Taste the Islands” food show, a popular, Jamaican-produced TV program has started on tpublic television stations in the U.S. in a big way.
Hosted by culinary consultant Hugh (Chef Irie), Caribbean cuisine, culture and celebrities will be featured in the seven-part series on more than 130 PBS stations around the country. The Jamaica Tourist Board is providing major funding for the program.
Chef Irie, joined regularly by his on-air foodie companion Nicole Hylton and periodically by international superstars such as British reggae performer Maxi Priest, NBC sports analyst and former Trinidad Olympian Ato Boldon, veteran Jamaican reggae band Inner Circle, “Turn Me On” singer Kevin Lyttle from St. Vincent and the Grenadines and other special guests.
“Cooking is one of the most popular genres on public TV and we expect audiences will respond enthusiastically to the new series,” said Christopher Funkhouser, vice president of Exchange Programming and Multicast Services at American Public Television, which is distributing the program.
The series is being presented by South Florida’s WPBT2 and produced by Calibe Thompson’s Blondie Ras Productions.
For recipes and other information on the show, visit www.tastetheislandstv.com
For more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/caribbeat-taste-islands-coming-american-tv-article-1.2174081
Inovateus Solar and GE Install Off-Grid Solar System for CuisinArt Resort ….
From Your Renewable News
…. To help quell Caribbean water and energy crisis
Inovateus Solar announced it has completed the installation of a 1.0-megawatt (MW) solar power generation plant for the CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa in Anguilla, BWI, an island in the Caribbean east of Puerto Rico.
The solar system uses a battery backup system to store energy. This provides an uninterruptible supply of energy to the Resort’s Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant throughout the day to create potable water to the residents on the island, guests of the resort and irrigation water for the golf course.
The project has been designed to remain completely separate from the grid when needed, yet has the ability of reconnecting partial loads, to continue to desalinate water outside solar production hours. When the sun is down, the system depends on the local Utility, Anguilla Electricity Company Ltd. (Anglec).
Anguilla recently joined the Carbon War Room Ten Island Challenge to reduce the Caribbean carbon impact. Inovateus and CuisinArt are pleased to be the first to take a significant, positive step toward renewable energy. The new solar plant saves 1.2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
“The payback on this project will immediately save CuisinArt hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Inovateus Solar Project Manager, Peter Rienks. “Even more important, it provides a solution to the global water crisis. This system could be duplicated on any island in any country around the world.”
Fresh water scarcity is an issue particularly on Caribbean islands. Utilizing solar power to convert salt water to potable water for human consumption and agriculture is an important concept that must be promoted worldwide, according to Rienks.
“We know that this initiative is viable and secure,” said Rory Purcell, the resort’s chief engineer. “It is a proven strategy to penetrate the national demand with renewable energy far in excess of the usual grid tied limits. PV is a low environmental impact source, designed to withstand Category five hurricanes, low flying objects and even poorly directed golf balls. It has a low maintenance requirement with a life expectancy in excess of 25 years. This technology is available to all who are interested and can transform the economies and quality of life for so many similar societies.”
The reduced energy cost represents significant savings for the resort and stands as a prime example for other Caribbean islands and resorts in the region and across the world.
Located adjacent to the resort’s reverse osmosis plant, the solar array supports the plant’s daily capacity of 1.25 million gallons of fresh water. The water supply services the 130-key CuisinArt Resort featuring an 18-hole Greg Norman Signature Golf Course, the new 80-key Reef Hotel, an award-winning spa and six full-service restaurants.
CuisinArt also operates hydroponic and organic farms, a 500,000-square feet residential estate, irrigation systems for extensive landscaping, and the 285-acre golf course.
GE was involved from the inception and proved to be a great partner.
“GE is happy to be part of the CuisinArt Resort solar project,” commented Peter Foss, GE. “CuisinArt and Conair have set a sustainable precedent for photovoltaic water purification throughout the world. With GE’s wide variety of products available we were able to find the best solution to fit their needs. We congratulate CuisinArt on being forward thinkers and pushing the envelope. Not only will the project have a great return on the investment, it will also help reduce the island’s dependence on fossil fuels and help create a cleaner environment for generations to come.”
The project was designed and installed by CuisinArt and Inovateus and skillfully supported by SwitchLogix and PDE Total Energy Solutions.
Buyer beware: jewels purchased at vacation destinations may be overpriced
By Jeff Rossen and Jovanna Billington NBC From Today
They’re a common sight at Caribbean vacation destinations — jewelry store workers standing in doorways, promising great deals to passersby. But a Rossen Reports investigation revealed that even during vacation, it’s best for buyers to beware.
The Rossen Reports team went jewelry shopping on the island of Cozumel, a popular vacation destination off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, bringing along Karen DeHaas, a certified gemologist for 41 years. At one shop they found what the proprietor said was a sapphire ring that would cost $750 in the U.S., but was sold to the Rossen team for $350.
“This is not even real sapphire,” DeHaas said when she inspected the ring. “It’s actually blue glass.” Another independent gemologist — Gary Smith, international president of the American Society of Appraisers — also inspected the item and agreed.
DeHaas said the actual value of the ring was “25 bucks at the tops. I wouldn’t put it in my fish tank. It’s garbage.”
DeHaas said Rossen Reports overpaid by $325. The store later apologized and offered a refund.
On another popular vacation island — Key West, Florida — a Rossen Reports producer purchased a pair of diamond stud earrings. The seller said the retail price was $4,400, but gave the Rossen producer a “deal” for $3,200.
“They’re not even the color or clarity they said they were,” DeHaas said of the purchase. “They’re much worse.” DeHaas and Smith said that Rossen Reports overpaid by $800. The store apologized and offered a refund.
At another store in Key West, Rossen Reports purchased a pair of diamond studs. The seller told them they were getting a great deal at $1,900.
However, when DeHaas inspected them, she said, “These are clarity enhanced diamonds. They’re worth less than half what you paid.”
DeHaas and Smith said that this time Rossen Reports had overpaid by $1,050. When Rossen Reports reached out to the store, they offered to have the diamonds sent for an independent appraisal and said they were willing to refund the money if the value was lower than what Rossen Reports had paid.
Another thing to keep in mind about shopping for jewelry on vacation: You may have to pay taxes on it when you return home. When the Rossen team came back to the U.S. and went through customs, they had to pay almost $300 in U.S. taxes on their jewelry purchases.
The stores Rossen Reports patronized said they have many satisfied customers.
Experts say the best advice is to be a savvy shopper even when you’re on vacation: Don’t let your guard down just because you’re in shorts and flip-flops.
For more: http://www.today.com/money/jewels-purchased-vacation-destinations-may-be-overpriced-2D80580908
Battle over King & Spalding’s GM notes continues
By Katheryn Hayes Tucker, From Daily Report
King & Spalding is facing a second demand to hand over its confidential internal communications about client General Motors so plaintiffs counsel can see what the firm’s lawyers knew about an alleged cover-up of a deadly ignition switch defect.
A March 17 hearing on the same issue before Cobb County State Court Judge Kathryn Tanksley was canceled when, four days earlier, GM settled the underlying suit brought by Ken and Beth Melton over the car crash death of their daughter, Brooke.
“Simply because they settled it doesn’t mean they get to cover up the fraud,” said Texas plaintiffs lawyer Robert Hilliard in a phone interview Tuesday. “We are taking up the baton.”
Hilliard issued a subpoena to King & Spalding to produce all documents related to the Melton case and other suits over the same defect grouped in multidistrict litigation before U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York.
Hilliard, a partner with Hilliard Munoz Gonzales in Corpus Christi, is one of three co-leaders of an attorney steering committee for the GM litigation. He said his firm is plaintiffs counsel in about 1,000 of 1,100 cases before Furman.
King & Spalding was prepared to fight the first subpoena in Cobb. King & Spalding’s counsel in the Melton matter—a team of three lawyers at McKenna Long & Aldridge led by Buddy Darden—had briefed the matter. They argued that communication among the firm’s lawyers was confidential work product and that the firm had no knowledge of any cover-up and had done nothing wrong.
Darden said he couldn’t comment on the new subpoena, as did Robert Thornton of King & Spalding.
The new subpoena backs up a prediction made by Marietta plaintiffs lawyer Lance Cooper when he announced his clients, the Meltons, would withdraw their lawsuit for a confidential payment from GM. He said he expected other lawsuits to continue pursuing the facts behind the case. Cooper has other cases pending against GM over the same defective ignition switch that the company has now acknowledged caused the death of the Meltons’ daughter. Cooper serves on Hilliard’s steering committee for the multidistrict litigation.
Hilliard called the Melton settlement “the second time GM blinked,” referring to a $5 million settlement the company paid the Meltons in 2013. The Meltons had attempted to rescind their deal and filed a new lawsuit against GM last year, saying executives lied about knowledge of the defect.
Hilliard suggested the timing of the second settlement—presumably at least $6 million, as GM refused to take back the initial $5 million payment, and a special mediator for GM was allowed to go beyond a $1 million settlement limit—was influenced by GM’s desire to avoid the King & Spalding communications being made public.
“GM hid the ignition defect for a decade. If it used its counsel to actively advance the cover-up and by so doing more deaths and injuries resulted, then there may be fraud at many levels,” Hilliard said. “Could the GM lawyers have helped save some of these young lives by speaking up? If so, what is the consequence of their prolonging by years this senseless national tragedy?”
IMAGE: A view of the Symphony Tower at 1180 Peachtree St. in Atlanta where King & Spalding has its office. Alison Church/Freelance
