iNews Briefs
NOTICE Brac Reef Beach Resort Reception
Cayman Brac residents can meet and greet Cabinet Ministers and all the Members of the Legislative Assembly at a Brac Reef Beach Resort reception on Wednesday, 9 April 2014, 6:30-8:30 pm.
All is not well around Health City
Although nothing to do with the recently opened Health City (Shetty) Hospital the relationship between the parties developing land around Health City Cayman Islands is need of some calming medicine.
Health City Investments LLC, an affiliate of Florida real estate investment firm Private Equity Group, has applied to the Grand Court to wind up Health City Development Ltd.
Health City Development Ltd. acquired 150 acres around Health City to develop support infrastructure and a hotel complex related to the hospital.
Private Equity Group’s affiliate HCI is a 34 percent shareholder in the project together with Gene Thompson’s GT Cayman Ltd (30.5 percent), Haresh Chandi’s SSK Holdings Ltd (30.5 percent) and Keystone Partners Ltd. (5 percent) represented by principal Allen Bernardo.
The petition states Health City Development should be wound up because HCI has lost confidence in the management of the company citing the “probity” of Mr. Thompson, who was the sole director when the company was established.
The petition was filed by HCI on March 26 2014.
TCI news
From Special Investigations and Prosecution Team Turks & Caicos
Following the recommendation in Sir Robin Auld’s Commission of Inquiry 2008-2009, the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team (SIPT) was set up to look into allegations of corruption at the highest levels of Government in the Turks and Caicos.
Ms Helen Garlick was appointed as the Special Prosecutor and she leads a team of Investigators and Lawyers which is charged with the responsibility of undertaking an independent criminal investigation.
The team was set up in March 2010 and is based in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands.
As a result of this investigation a number of individuals have been charged who are scheduled to stand trial at the Supreme Court in Providenciales on 7th July 2014.
And (not related to above)
Richard Michael Padgett appeared before the Supreme Court in Providenciales via video link from Leeds Crown Court, UK on 31st March 2014 before Judge Justice Paul Harrison. Mr Padgett pleaded guilty to Bribery and Conspiracy to pervert the course of Public Justice.
He was sentenced to two years imprisonment on the Bribery charges, six months imprisonment on the Conspiracy to pervert the course of Justice to run concurrently. The sentence was suspended for two years.
Chinese tourist kidnapped in Malaysia
From Global Times
A female Chinese tourist was kidnapped at a hotel in Sabah, east Malaysia last Wednesday (2) night, West China City Daily reports.
According to a reporter from the newspaper who was staying in the same hotel at that time, the tourist named Gao Huayun from Shanghai was abducted and taken on a ship together with a female staff member of the hotel around 10:30 pm.
Local armed police arrived at the hotel soon after receiving the report and interviewed all guests and employees. One person was detained as a result of the initial investigation.
According to the hotel, the detainee is a member of staff who was not present during the initial police investigations.
A spokesperson from the hotel also claimed that the kidnappers are “Philippine rebels”, and that their aims are still unknown.
More people may also be missing as several guests believed to be staying in one of the hotel rooms were absent during the police investigation.
The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Kuching has already launched a 24-hour emergency mechanism and a 24-hour duty call to provide help to tourists and family members should they need it.
The Consulate has also contacted the Malaysian government for more details, and asked the government to try its best to guarantee the security of Chinese tourists.
A total of 60 Chinese tourists were staying in the hotel at the time of the abduction, including elderly people and children.
For more: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/852482.shtml#.U0Lp4iiSa68
Prince William and Kate Middleton fly into New Zealand Republican row
From IBT
Prince William and Kate Middleton will land in New Zealand later this week in the midst of a republican row, with a former New Zealand deputy prime minister claiming it is “inevitable” the country will become a republic.
Sir Don McKinnon, who is also a former secretary general of the Commonwealth, said the country had been moving to renounce the royal family “for a long time”, and claimed that several Caribbean countries are planning on leaving the Commonwealth.
“There are 54 countries in the Commonwealth, only 16 are realms where the Queen is head of state, and I can tell you now that one Caribbean publicly, and three Caribbean privately, are probably going to give up the relationship with the monarchy when the Queen dies,’ he said.
“So it is a diminishing group of countries and the important thing is for us to openly and candidly debate the issue.”
Asked when New Zealand would leave the Commonwealth, Sir Don said: “I don’t know when [but] I think it is inevitable. I’m quite certain the royal family understands that completely.”
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George left the UK today to start a three-week tour of both New Zealand and Australia. They are due to land in Wellington on Wednesday.
William’s last official trip to New Zealand and Australia was in March 2011, when he visited Christchurch shortly after it suffered an earthquake, and the Australian states of Queensland and Victoria, which had been hit by floods.
In January 2010 he represented the Queen at the opening of the Supreme Court building in Wellington and also visited Auckland, and during the same trip travelled to Melbourne and Sydney.
For more: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/prince-william-kate-middleton-fly-into-new-zealand-republican-row-1443639
Controversial Trinidad pastor kills brother, self in apparent murder-suicide
From Caribbean360
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Tuesday April 1, 2014, CMC – Police are investigating the apparent murder-suicide incident in which a controversial pastor shot and killed his brother, ran over his nephew with his vehicle, set fire to his house, and then shot himself to death.
Police said that pastor Vishnu Lutchmansingh, who claimed to have inherited several billion dollars from an American businessman in 2003, committed the acts following a heated argument with his brother, Krishan Lutchmansingh, at an agricultural area known as Davy-Toby Drive, in Cunupia, south east of here.
Pastor Lutchmansingh, who was facing several fraud charges, is reported to have used his licenced firearm and shot his brother. He then left the scene and drove to another area where, using his car, he broke through a barrier that blocked the road leading to his property.
There he confronted one of his nephews, whose car he shot at several times and then ran Timothy Janitan over with his car.
Lutchmansingh then put the car into reverse gear and drove over his nephew again.
Janitan was taken to Chaguanas Health Facility, where he was treated.
Lutchmansingh then walked into the small house which overlooked a large pond on the land. He proceeded to set fire to the house and as the building burned, he reportedly shot himself.
For more: http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/trinidad_tobago_news/1107390.html#ixzz2yDYTWytt
IMS Taps Ruddick as head of funds at Cayman based IMS
From Fin alternatives
Geoff Ruddick has been promoted to head of funds at the Caymans-based fiduciary services provider International Management Services.
Ruddick who also joins the IMS board of directors, joined the firm’s senior management team in 2006 from Hedgeworks Fund Services (now Deutsche Bank Cayman). Prior to that he was a director and compliance officer with Derivatives Portfolio Management (now DPM Mellon). Before entering the commercial side of fund management, Ruddick worked with KPMG in Vancouver and later with KPMG in the Cayman Islands, where he worked in the corporate recovery department involving the liquidation of hedge funds and other regulated entities.
IMS managing director and legal counsel Gary Butler said in a statement: “Geoff has gained a thorough and intimate knowledge and understanding of the organization, its capabilities and unique competitive advantages and he is perfectly positioned and uniquely placed to lead and grow the IMS Fund Services business.”
For more: https://www.finalternatives.com/node/26683
‘Very High’ pollution and Sahara dust sparks health warning
By Natricia Duncan From The Voice
PARTS OF the UK have been affected by “worryingly” high levels of pollution for a second day in a row.
The levels were high enough to trigger warnings to people with lung or heart disease venturing outside and concerns were also raised on the impact on children.
Today (Apr 3), the London Ambulance Service reported a 14 per cent rise in 999 calls yesterday (Apr 2) relating to breathing difficulties.
Kay Boycott, chief executive of Asthma UK, said “the two-thirds of people with asthma who find that air pollution makes their asthma worse will be at an increased risk of an attack”.
She added: “Asthma UK warns the 3.6 million people at increased risk to be sure they always have a working blue reliever inhaler on them and take their preventer inhalers as prescribed.”
Air quality data from Defra shows London and the South East pollution levels on Thursday at the maximum level of 10, which means “very high”.
In eastern England levels reached a high nine, and north-west England, Yorkshire and Humberside, the Midlands and south Wales were also affected.
The smog-like conditions, which are expected to clear on Friday, are caused by a mixture of local and continental pollution, and dust from the Sahara.
In February, the European Commission launched legal proceedings against the UK for failing to reduce levels of NO2 air pollution.
For more: http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/very-high-pollution-and-sahara-dust-sparks-health-warning
French Foreign Minister to Visit Cuba on April 12
Paris, Apr 5 (Prensa Latina) French Foreign Affairs minister, Laurent Fabius, will arrive to Cuba on April 12 in the first visit of a top official of that level to this Caribbean country in three decades.
Fabius had announced his visit last March 19, without specifying date.
I will go to Cuba soon. That is news, said the chief of the French diplomacy on that occasion.
Fabius received recently his Cuban peer Bruno Rodriguez with whom he talked on bilateral topics, the relations between Cuba and the European Union (EU) and the international agenda,
A communiqué from the French Foreign Affairs ministry released before the meeting said conversations would take place in the frame of the relaunching of ties between Havana and the EU.
According to the agenda, Fabius will travel to Mexico on April 10 and two days later he will visit Cuba.
For more: http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2549341&Itemid=1
Creepy cereal box characters are trying to make eye contact with children
By Mary Beth Quirk From Consumerist
It’s not just the wacky, colorful cereal commercials that are aimed at convincing children they must eat Frosted Flakes or Cocoa Puffs, a new study says the boxes themselves are designed to commune directly with kids’ souls. And what is the window to the soul? The eyes. The characters are making eye contact with kids.
The Cornell University Food and Brand Lab (H/T to Quartz) studied 65 cereals in 10 different grocery stores and found that not only are cereals marketed to kids placed half as high on the shelves as adult cereals — which makes sense to put them in the sightline of kids — but that the brand mascots are trying to make eye contact.
By “trying,” I don’t mean Tony the Tiger has come to life, but is more like one of those creepy paintings that is always watching: “A second key finding from the same study is that the average angle of the gaze of cereal spokes-characters on cereal boxes marketed to kids is downward at a 9.6 degree angle whereas spokes-characters on adult cereal look almost straight ahead.”
So if there’s a person on the box of say, Special K, she’s probably just gazing off wherever, she doesn’t want to gaze directly into your eyes. But that Sonny is cuckoo for eye contact, and his eyes say it all — “Buy me, kid. Throw a tantrum, do whatever it takes. I’ve seen inside your soul and I know you want Cocoa Puffs.”
When showing Tricks the Trix rabbit to adults in two ways, one with him looking straight ahead and one looking down, adults showed higher brand trust and loyalty for the one with the straight-ahead gaze.
While researchers didn’t study that effect in kids, they did suggest that healthier brands use the same tactics when marketing to kids — or keep children from the cereal aisle altogether if Sonny’s going to be making eyes at them.
Cayman Islands prepares itself for disasters
On Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac there has been a weeklong training course in Mass Casualty Management and Incident Command Systems organised by Hazard Management Cayman Islands.
Exercises and preparatory work to deal with any potential crises has been conducted including a mock emergency evacuation carried out last Friday (4) at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex in Grand Cayman.
Instructors included Richard Barrow, Simon Boxall, Tracey Gibbs, Zaheer McLeod, Richardo Henry and Charmaine Coore. Emergency medicine, organisation of medical posts, psychosocial care, management of dead bodies, division of roles and responsibilities, and tasks of the first responders were some of the subjects taught.
Also taking part were representatives from Port Authority, RCIPS (police), fire fighters, healthcare workers, the Cayman Islands Airports Authority, community emergency response teams and volunteer agencies, including Red Cross, Adventist Development and Relief Agency.
The Cayman Islands Red Cross over the past two months has been training a disaster response team on Cayman Brac. This is better to prepare the island for natural catastrophes.
See also iNews Cayman story today “Cayman is better prepared for mass casualty incidents”
Czech fraudster gets hired as museum’s chief economist, steals $500,000 and runs
From Business Insider
PRAGUE (Reuters) – A Czech fraudster on the run from prison got hired as a chief economist at a museum, where he stole some 10 million Czech crowns ($500,000), media reported.
Police came on Thursday to arrest Vladimir Prokop at his office at the National Agriculture Museum, close to the Interior Ministry. He fled through the exhibition halls of the museum, an emergency exit staircase and then hailed a cab, television Nova reported late on Friday.
“He was an ordinary, even compliant man, nobody thought he would turn out to be a world-class trickster,” the museum spokesman Lubomir Marsik said.
The money stolen amounts to roughly a third of the annual budget of the museum. Most of it was found in plastic bags at Prokop’s flat.
Prokop got the job at the museum under a false identity, presenting himself as a trained economist. Calls to his phone number, still listed on the museum’s website on Saturday, went unanswered.
He escaped last June from prison where he was serving time for embezzling 10 million Czech crowns from the Prague branch of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, where he managed its foreign donations, Czech news agency CTK said.
($1 = 20.0369 Czech crowns)
(Reporting by Robert Muller; editing by Andrew Roche)
O2Micro will announce first quarter 2014 results on April 30, 2014
GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman, April 7, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — O(2) Micro(R) International Limited, (Nasdaq:OIIM), a global leader in the design, development and marketing of high-performance integrated circuits and solutions, will announce its financial results for the first quarter, ended March 31, 2014, on Wednesday, April 30, 2014.
The press release will be followed by a conference call at 6:00 a.m. (PDT), 9:00 a.m. (EDT). You may participate using the following dial-in information.
In the US and CANADA: 888-438-5524, pass code #1389272
INTERNATIONAL participants: 719-325-2484, pass code #1389272
A replay of the call will be available by phone until May 7(th) using the following dial-in information.
In the US and CANADA: 888-203-1112, pass code #1389272
INTERNATIONAL participants: 719-457-0820, pass code #1389272
A live webcast will also be available on the Company’s website at http://ir.o2micro.com, and an online replay will be available on the website for one week.
New planes for Cayman Brac
Cayman Airways is looking to lease new, larger planes to service the commuter route between Cayman Brac and Grand Cayman.
Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell said several plane types were being reviewed with the hope that the new aircraft could be in service by September or October when the existing Twin Otter planes are scheduled for maintenance.
A business case is currently being produced for the planes, which would likely be larger turbo-prop aircraft.
The new planes would be leased by the airline, rather than purchased.
Security at Fort Hood could become litigation focus
By Zoe Tillman, The National Law Journal
An attorney suing the federal government over the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, said he expects plaintiffs lawyers are paying close attention as the investigation into this week’s fatal shooting at the base unfolds.
Specialist Ivan Lopez, 34, fatally shot three people and wounded 16 others at Fort Hood on April 2 before dying of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was the second mass shooting at Fort Hood since 2009, when Army Maj. Nidal Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 32 others.
Reed Rubinstein of Dinsmore & Shohl, lead counsel for victims of the 2009 shooting, said lawyers weighing possible litigation will look for evidence that officials knew, or should have known, that Lopez was a threat.
“If he was recognized or had been identified as a potential risk to others, than I think the likelihood of litigation is much higher,” Rubinstein said. “If not, then a suit may still be filed but its prospects will be tenuous.”
Karen Evans of The Cochran Firm in Washington, who isn’t involved in the Fort Hood case, said litigation was likely, given the significant paper trail left by government investigations following the 2009 shooting.
Cayman Islands’ Needs & Assessment Unit new office
The Needs and Assessment Unit wishes to advise the public that their office will be closed for relocation during the week of 14 April 2013. Their new office will be located on 55 South Church Street, in Aqua Mall (second floor next to Guy Harvey’s Restaurant located on the waterfront), and will open to the public on 23, April 2014.
Clinical services will remain at DCFS office located in Commerce House on Dr Roy’s Drive.
For any social work matters, please contact any of these offices:
• West Bay: 946-1950
• Bodden Town: 947-7144
• George Town: 949-0290
For any emergencies or financially related services during this period, contact the NAU at 946-0024. NAU apologizes for any inconvenience caused.
CVQ to allow for free movement of certified skilled workers in Caribbean
From Jamaica Gleaner
The Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQ) is to become the mechanism for the free movement of certified skilled workers in the Caribbean Community, CARICOM. This is according to Dr Wayne Wesley, executive director of the HEART Trust/NTA and chairman of the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies (CANTA). Dr Wesley was speaking at a reception hosted by the Minister of Education to mark the official launch of the 23rd general meeting of CANTA.
In his address, Dr Wesley outlined that CANTA has begun instituting the requisite mechanisms and quality assurance systems to facilitate the award of the CVQ. Dr Wesley added that CANTA is committed to the provision of a regional workforce that is globally competitive.
In a show of support, the Minister of Education the Honourable Reverend Ronald Thwaites noted that the Government of Jamaica supports the efforts of CANTA to have the CVQ developed and recognised regionally and internationally. He added that “by building effective and useful institutions like CANTA we are, as a region, creating an archipelago of skilled … world-class professionals.”
For more: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140407/news/news2.html
“Caribbean Gardens” sounds nicer than “The Swamp” says Cayman’s opposition leader
Cayman Islands Opposition Leader, McKeeva Bush, has filed a private members motion for the upcoming meeting of the Legislative Assembly to change the area surrounding Washington Avenue, off Eastern Avenue known as “The Swamp” to “Caribbean Gardens”.
What’s in a name?
A lot says Bush. “Swamp” has a negative connotation and the new proposed name reflects the Caribbean people.
Democratic Governance
From United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Through our regional and country-based programmes, UNDP contributes to the region’s efforts in strengthening democratic governance by promoting dialogue and participation, especially of women, youth, and Latin Americans of African and indigenous descent. We also work to improve public institutions’ ability to deliver better services while boosting transparency and accountability. UNDP promotes a holistic view of democratic governance in Latin America and the Caribbean based on the rights and role of citizens: “a democracy of citizenship.”
In the past decades, most Latin America and the Caribbean countries have made important progress towards consolidating democracy and governance mechanisms. Nonetheless, UNDP’s studies have shown that the widespread adoption of democracy as a means for electing political leaders has not been matching political organizations and civil society’s capacity to channel and meet social demands.
For more: http://www.na.undp.org/content/rblac/en/home/ourwork/democraticgovernance/overview.html
Motivational speaker tells Cayman’s women “they have the right to be free”
At the Cayman Islands’ first National Conference on Women on Saturday (29 March) motivational speaker, Glenda P. Simms, a longtime advocate for women’s rights said women have the right to be free and the right to gender equality and empowerment.
The conference was held at The Westin Resort and Simms was the keynote speaker.
She also said we mustn’t forget our ancestors.
“If we have forgotten those ancestors and pretend they do not belong to us, we are on the wrong train to hell. We would still be on the plantation, and that is why we must learn the lessons of courage, determination, equality, commitment, justice and true freedom and pass it on to the young people so they would not have to face what we did,” she said. “I think that every Caymanian woman and girl must be reminded that the days of your experience over time must not be taken for granted. It is in this vision that I encourage the government of the Cayman Islands to be reminded.”
Her topic was “How can we become architects of change?”
Lawsuit over drone strike deaths dismissed
By Zoe Tillman, Legal Times
The families of American citizens killed in Yemen by U.S. drone strikes in 2011 cannot sue the federal government, a federal judge in Washington ruled Friday.
The missile strikes killed suspected terrorist Anwar Al-Aulaqi, an American citizen, along with two other Americans, Al-Aulaqi’s 16-year-old son Abdulrahman Al-Aulaqi and Samir Khan. In a complaint filed by the elder Al-Aulaqi’s father and Khan’s mother in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2012, they accused the federal government of violating the Americans’ Fourth and Fifth Amendments rights.
U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer found there was no available remedy under U.S. law for the challengers’ claims to survive. She cited “special factors” in the case that would “impermissibly draw the Court into ‘the heart of executive and military planning and deliberation.'”
“The persons holding the jobs of the named defendants must be trusted and expected to act in accordance with the U.S. Constitution when they intentionally target a U.S. citizen abroad at the direction of the president and with the concurrence of Congress,” the judge said. “They cannot be held personally responsible in monetary damages for conducting war.”
However, Collyer rejected the U.S. Department of Justice’s position that she couldn’t review the case at all. Lawyers for the government argued she was barred under the political question doctrine, which prevents courts from reviewing certain “value determinations” exclusively left to the executive or legislative branches—in this case, national security decisions.
At a hearing in July 2013, Collyer said she was “troubled” by the government’s position, which would leave the courts unable to ever review decisions to target and kill Americans overseas.
Sanctions order issued freezing assets of persons in Cayman Islands identified as responsible for misappropriation of Ukrainian State funds.
Extract from Liberty Consulting By Lisa Bowyer
On March 6, 2014 the Council of the European Union imposed financial sanctions, including asset freezes, against certain persons, entities and bodies in view of the situation in Ukraine. The Cayman Islands, as a British Overseas Territory, has sanctions legislation enacted by a statutory instrument that is extended from the United Kingdom in this case the Ukraine (Sanctions) (Overseas Territories) Order 2014 which came into force on March 7, 2014, with immediate effect.
This order freezes the assets of persons who have been identified as responsible for misappropriation of Ukrainian State funds.
The Arab Spring caused an escalation in the issuance of resolutions by the UN Security Council from 2011. Whilst there had been no new sanctions orders for over 12 months until the Ukraine sanctions, there have been many ongoing changes to the designated persons under the sanctions orders for relevant institutions in the Cayman Islands to act upon.
The Ukraine order was issued immediately and applies to:
Any person in the Cayman Islands
A British citizen, a British overseas territories citizen, a British overseas citizen, a British subject, a British national (overseas) or a British protected person, ordinarily resident in the Cayman Islands; or
A body incorporated or constituted under the law of any part of the Cayman Islands
Financial prohibitions are:
Dealing with funds or economic resources owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a designated or listed person, or persons acting on their behalf, or at their direction, or by persons controlled by them, unless authorized by license; and
Making funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to, or for the benefit of, a designated or listed person unless authorized by license.
The license referred to above, is an authorization issued by the governor, or her delegate, to allow an affected party to continue with certain types of business activity that may be caught by the above-mentioned prohibitions, as long as no funds or economic resources are made available to a designated person. No licenses have been issued to date.
For more: http://www.liberty.ky/contact.html
Black volunteers represented in RAF ‘Pilots of the Caribbean’ exhibition
By Jane Denton From Kensington & Chelsea Today
Mayors from the London boroughs of Brent, Croydon, Islington, Kensington and Southwark visited the Royal Air Force (RAF) Museum in Colindale, North London, to see a new exhibition, curated in partnership with the Black Cultural Archives, celebrating and commemorating the role black personnel played in the two world wars. The exhibition, entitled ‘Pilots of the Caribbean: Volunteers of African heritage in the Royal Air Force’, tells the stories of black people from the Caribbean, Africa and the UK who served as volunteers in the Royal Air Force and reveals their contributions to the defence of Britain, the Commonwealth and former British Empire.
As well as telling the stories of black personnel who volunteered with the RAF, the exhibition also aims to highlight the RAF’s continued success in embracing diversity and welcoming new generations of black volunteers into its ranks. Speaking about the Mayoral visits and museum exhibition, RAF Museum curator, Peter Devitt, said, “We are delighted to host this visit with the Mayors from several London boroughs and the feedback we received from them was both positive and heart-warming. The RAF was the first military service to take on board the issue of diversity and the exhibition, which tells the story of the brave black volunteers over time, has been exceptionally popular with visitors. As a result, it has been decided to display ‘Pilots of the Caribbean’ permanently at RAF Museum Cosford”.
Entry to the Royal Air Force Museum in Colindale, North London is free and the ‘Pilots of the Caribbean’ exhibition runs until 22nd April 2014. For more information on the RAF Museum London and ‘Pilots of the Caribbean’ exhibition visit www.rafmuseum.org.uk or call 020 8205 2266.
For more: http://www.kensingtonandchelseatoday.co.uk/news/local-news/fqxgr44kt4.html
Masterworks Chorale to perform renowned Caribbean Mass
From Gallia Hometown Herald
RIO GRANDE, Ohio – The renowned work of composer Glenn McClure will take center stage on Sunday, April 27 as the University of Rio Grande’s Masterworks Chorale will perform “St. Francis in the Americas: A Caribbean Mass.”
The spring concert, free and open to the public, is in conjunction with the Rio Grande vocal and percussion departments. The performance is scheduled for 3 p.m. in the Berry Fine & Performance Arts Center on campus.
“This will be an event not to be missed,” Masterworks Chorale Director Dr. Sarin Williams said. “The work features lively, Latin rhythms, combined with the traditional mass texts and original Spanish poetry by St. Francis of Assisi.”
The Masterworks Chorale is a regional chorus comprised of both Rio Grande students and community members under the direction of Dr. Williams and accompanist Mary Billman. Chorale members include Kathryn Campbell, Stephanie Cartmell, Mary Jane Getty, Aryn Gritter, Marlene Hoffman, Evelyn Kirkhart, Andy Knipp, Jordan Lombardo, Alva McCoy, Vinton Rankin, Nickie Smith, Ally Waddell, Duane Will and Brooke Wolni.
Levi Billiter will lead Rio Grande percussion students Skyler Thompson and Allen Hudson. The concert also will include vocal performances, under the instructed of Valerie Tanner, from Gritter, Knipp, Waddell and Wolni.
“St. Francis in the Americas: A Caribbean Mass” has been performed in New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall with McClure’s works performed all over the world. The composer and arts integration consultant is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Continental Harmony Commission by the American Composers Forum.
“With this major work we will bring the flavors of the Caribbean to southeastern Ohio,” Dr. Williams said. “I am proud to offer such an unusual work at the University of Rio Grande.”
For more information about the University of Rio Grande visit rio.edu or call 800-282-7201.
For more: http://galliaherald.com/blog/2014/04/07/masterworks-chorale-to-perform-renowned-caribbean-mass/
Mexico hosted 10K marathon swimming World Cup
From Global Times
The FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup was held last Saturday in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico, with at least nine Mexican swimmers participating, the Mexican Swimming Federation announced
Federation head Kiril Todorov told reporters the event in the open water of the Mexican Caribbean gathers competitors from 20 countries for one of seven such meets organized annually by the International Swimming Federation, known by its French initials FINA.
Mexico’s squad featured Lizeth Rueda, world youth bronze medal winner in the 10km open-sea swim, and Melissa Villasenor, who last weekend won the bronze medal in the 15-km FINA Grand Prix.
The rest of the squad included Arturo Perez Vertti, from Mexico’s state of Baja California; Zaira Cardenas, Daniel Delgadillo, Montserrat Ortuno and Andrea Perez, all from northern San Luis Potosi state; and Fernando Betanzos and Fernando Sevilla of Quintana Roo.
The meet prepared the swimmers for the upcoming Central American-Mexico (Camex) tournament, the winners of which will advance to the Central American and Caribbean Games.
Saturday’s elite-level competition featured 75 swimmers (34 women, 41 men) from Germany, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Syria, Switzerland and Ukraine, the United States, as well as Mexico.
For more: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/852779.shtml#.U0Lo8SiSa68
Cayman Masters FA Cup – 7 April 2014
From CIFA
Please see attached Master’s League FA Cup fixtures.
