iNews Briefs
OffshoreAlert reports Cayman’s Bryce Merren should plead guilty and is requesting extension of time
From OffshoreAlert:
Cayman’s Bryce Merren ‘should plead guilty’, says counsel
August 04, 2014 – Cayman Islands resident Bryce Merren, who has been criminally indicted on three counts of cocaine trafficking and money laundering, will be advised by his counsel to enter into a plea agreement.
For more: http://www.offshorealert.com/bryce-merren-guilty-pea-negotiations.aspx
USA v. Bryce Merren: Motion Requesting Extension of Time
August 04, 2014 – Motion Requesting Extension of Time to negotiate a plea agreement in USA v. Bryce Gilroy Merren at the U. S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
For more: http://www.offshorealert.com/GetDocument.aspx?id=50685
See iNews Cayman related stories:
March 15 2014 “UPDATE (from RCIPS): Bryce Merren alleged to be involved in drug smuggling and money laundering” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/randy-merren-alleged-to-be-involved-in-drug-smuggling-and-money-laundering/
iNews Briefs April 29 2014 “Caymanian businessman’s trial for drug offences will take place August 15” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/inews-briefs-105/
Qunar to Report Second Quarter 2014 Financial Results on August 21, 2014
BEIJING, Aug. 5, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Qunar Cayman Islands Limited (“Qunar” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq:QUNR), the leading search-based commerce platform for the Chinese travel industry, today announced that it will report its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2014, after the U.S. market closes on August 21, 2014. Qunar’s management will hold an earnings conference call at 8:00 PM on August 21, 2014, U.S. Eastern Time (8:00 AM on August 22, 2014, Beijing/Hong Kong Time).
Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows:
Top Company Interviews
ON Semiconductor Corp. Piper Jaffray Companies Citigroup, Inc. MGM Mirage Wal-Mart Stores Inc. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Netflix, Inc. Procter & Gamble Co. Snap-on Inc. Verizon Communications Inc.
International: +65-6823-2299
U.S.: +1-631-514-2526
UK: +44-20-3078-7622
Hong Kong: +852-5808-3202
Mainland China: 400-120-0539
Passcode for all regions: 4665131
A replay of the conference call may be accessed by phone at the following number until August 28, 2014:
International: +61-2-9641-7900
Passcode: 1592698
Additionally, a live and archived webcast of this conference call will be available at http://investor.qunar.com
Cayman Electricity Authority delays announcing new energy provider
Although the Cayman Islands Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) had said they hoped to announce the successful bidder who will provide the electrical power supply to Grand Cayman’s grid this week, it is not to be.
The ERA has announced they will not be announcing the result of the bids for at least another 7 days.
No reason was given for the delay.
CUC, Dart’s subsidiary – DECCO and the US-based Louis Berger Group have all put forward a request for proposal.
HCC Alumni Association to host 11-day Caribbean cruise in 2015
From HM Media
Hagerstown Community College’s Alumni Association will host its annual Alumni and Friends Cruise in winter 2015.
The 11-day, 10-night cruise will be held from Jan. 26 through Feb. 6 aboard Holland American Line’s “ms Noordam” cruise ship. Port stops include Saint Maarten; Saint Lucia; Barbados; Martinique; Antigua; Saint Thomas; and Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.
The cruise is open to the public and everyone is invited to attend.
Rates start at $2,341.97 per person/double occupancy. Cruise fee includes accommodations for 10 nights on the ship, all government taxes and fees, all meals and entertainment, and round-trip transportation from HCC to the departure port.
A portion of the cruise fee will benefit HCC student scholarships and the HCC Foundation.
For more information, call Lisa Stewart, coordinator, alumni relations and annual giving, at 240-500-2346, or send an email to [email protected].
Cayman Dump has 4th fire this year
With problems with fire at the Cayman Islands landfill facility (The Dump) at George Town, Grand Cayman, fire crews remained at the site after the fourth fire there this year.
These fires were after the worst fire there last December (2013).
The latest fire was last Saturday (2) when there was a surface fire covering approx. 70ft x 80ft.
Despite the government saying they are urgently looking into the problem nothing has happened, except a report was being prepared by “experts” and a committee comprising all but one civil servant has been set up.
Zoo visitor claims she lost part of her finger after trying to pet a lion
By Mary Beth Quirk From Consumerist
Here’s the thing about zoos: Despite the fact that those wild animals are behind bars, they’re still wild animals. So no matter how fuzzy and furry that lion looks, it’s not a good idea to pet it unless a zookeeper says to go ahead and do so. But one Michigan woman claims that after she was allowed into a lion’s cage, she ended up losing part of her finger..
She tells WNEM.com that a zookeeper allowed her into the cage with the big cat over the weekend, and that the guide told her “yeah,” when she asked if she could pet it. But as she tried to pet it, she claims the lion ripped off part of her finger.
“I was totally in shock. I really didn’t believe that was part of my finger laying on the ground,”she said. “I put my hand down there to pet it and it ripped my finger.”
Afterward, she alleges that the staff tried to cover it up.
“They just told me not to tell. They told me to lie,” she claims.
But the owners of the zoo tell the news station that the woman went into an area where she wasn’t supposed to, and tried to pet the lion against the zookeeper’s warning.
“The lady went into the security area and was told by the guide to get back and the lady stated she wanted to touch the lion and continued, against the guide’s warning, to put her finger inside the fence and the lion nipped the end of her finger,” the owners said in an email to WNEM, adding that the zoo has posted warning signs and bite signs everywhere.
The woman says she’s considering legal action, although she wants the zoo to stay open. But if you’re ever tempted to stroke a flowing mane, don’t, she advises. Because everyone likes having full fingers.
“They are beautiful, but don’t do it,” she says.
RCIPS crime figures message: “still work to be done in areas of volume crime”
From Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS)
Crime figures for the first six months of 2014 show a small drop in serious crime including burglary. Whilst this is good news there is still work to be done in areas of volume crime such as theft and damage to property which have increased from the comparative period last year.
The RCIPS continues to urge the public to do what they can to help by ensuring vehicles, boats, sheds and yards are kept secure and items such as cameras, computers and phones are kept out of view and locked away. In addition, take care when parking your car and wherever possible leave it in an area that is well lit and away from anywhere a potential thief could hide. Lastly, please contact the police if you see anything or anyone acting suspiciously in your neighbourhood.
If any member of the public would like to receive further crime prevention advice please contact your local police station where you can be put in touch with your neighbourhood officer.
See iNews Cayman related story with all the actual figures “Cayman’s crime statistics are out with mixed results” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/caymans-crime-statistics-are-out-with-mixed-results/
The scariest USB hack of all-time is almost completely undetectable
By Brad Reed From BGR
When you plug a USB stick into your laptop, you probably aren’t too worried about it completely taking over your computer. However, Ars Technica reports that researchers at Security Research Labs in Berlin are scheduled to unveil a new exploit at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas next week that will allow an infected USB stick to take over your computer and use it to execute malicious code.
The researchers have found a way to hack USB sticks so that once you plug them into your computer, it can make your machine “act as a network card that causes connected computers to connect to malicious sites impersonating Google, Facebook or other trusted destinations.” And this technique doesn’t just work with standard USB sticks but also with Android phones, cameras, keyboards and pretty much any device you can connect to your machine through a USB port.
“If you put anything into your USB, it extends a lot of trust,” Karsten Nohl, Security Research Labs’ chief scientist, explained to Ars. “Whatever it is, there could always be some code running in that device that runs maliciously. Every time anybody connects a USB device to your computer, you fully trust them with your computer. It’s the equivalent of [saying] ‘here’s my computer; I’m going to walk away for 10 minutes. Please don’t do anything evil.”
Worst of all, this sort of malicious activity is almost impossible to detect through conventional means, as virus scans done with machines infected via the USB exploit will turn up nothing. The researchers have found that the only way to effectively figure out whether a device is infected is to take it apart and reverse engineer it.
Completing the puzzle: The last piece of Cayman’s FATCA regime falls into place
By Ian Gobin and Matthew Taber from Appleby
On 29 November 2013, the Cayman Islands Government signed a model 1B (non-reciprocal) intergovernmental agreement (US IGA) with the United States to simplify the reporting process for Cayman Islands entities under the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The US IGA was just the first piece of the complex legislative process required to allow the Cayman Islands government and authorities to agree IGAs with other governments (a similar IGA was signed with the UK Government on 5 November 2013 (UK IGA)) and to implement the terms of the IGAs into domestic legislation.
On 1 July 2014, the Tax Information Authority Law underwent significant amendments to allow the Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority (TIA) to automatically exchange information with overseas tax authorities in compliance with the terms of the IGAs (and any other relevant treaties).
Within days, the Tax Information Authority (International Tax Compliance) (United States of America) Regulations, 2014 and Tax Information Authority (International Tax Compliance) (United Kingdom) Regulations, 2014 (Regulations) were passed. The Regulations transpose the key definitions and operative provisions of FATCA and the IGAs into Cayman Islands legislation. The practical result is that financial or ‘FATCA’ reporting compliance (aside from the requirement to register for and obtain a GIIN from the IRS) for all Cayman Islands entities is now a domestic rather than US or UK legal issue.
Completing the process, on 22 July 2014 the TIA issued its Guidance Notes on International Tax Compliance. While the Guidance Notes are not, strictly speaking, legislation, they provide useful and practical assistance and should be treated as an essential tool in understanding and complying with the Cayman Islands’ FATCA reporting regime.
At more than 200 pages, the Guidance Notes provide detailed analysis – including ‘real world’ examples – to assist entities in determining whether or not they are impacted by the Regulations and if so, how to comply. A detailed analysis of the legislation and Guidance Notes is beyond the scope of this brief alert.
To read the Guidance Notes, please click here.
Microsoft loses email privacy case with U.S. Gov, will appeal
Alex Wilhelm From tech crunch
Microsoft lost an appeal as a federal judge ordered that it must comply with a U.S. warrant seeking email data on servers located in Ireland. During this process, it has been Microsoft’s contention that a warrant issued by the U.S. doesn’t have legal standing because the data being sought is stored abroad. Judge Loretta A. Preska disagreed.
It’s not clear whether the person who owns the email being sought by the warrant is a U.S. citizen.
The judge will grant Microsoft time to appeal her ruling, which, the company tells TechCrunch, it will do. This is Microsoft’s second loss on the issue.
In a written statement, Microsoft’s top lawyer Brad Smith stated that the “only issue that was certain this morning was that the District Court’s decision would not represent the final step in this process” and that Microsoft “will appeal promptly and continue to advocate that people’s email deserves strong privacy protection in the U.S. and around the world.”
Several technology companies voiced support for Microsoft’s suit in the time leading up to today’s appeal — Apple and Cisco filed an amicus brief in Microsoft’s favor. Other companies and groups had also made noise in the same direction as Redmond. Presumably, when Microsoft takes up its case again, those same allies will remain in its corner. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft changes its argument in the face of today’s defeat.
In the light of the recent NSA revelations, expending the effort to protect user privacy is a worthy exercise.
For more on this story go to: http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/31/microsoft-loses-email-privacy-case-with-u-s-gov-will-appeal/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29
Cayman visitor arrested at airport waives right to contest extradition
Ofer Kahal, who has been resident in the U.S. for the last 15 years, visited Cayman with his wife for a brief holiday and was arrested at Owen Roberts International Airport on June 8th following a request from Israel as he was leaving.
Kahal is accused by Israeli authorities of driving a vehicle recklessly on March 30, 1997, and by so doing causing the death of two men.
Following his arrest he has been staying at a Seven Mile Beach hotel and family members put up a cash security of US$50,000 for him.
At Cayman’s Summary Court on Tuesday Kahal waived his right to contest an extradition hearing and now awaits arrangements for his voluntary return to Israel.
See iNews Cayman related story published in iNews Briefs on June 12 2014 “US visitor to Cayman returning home arrested for extradition” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/inews-briefs-136/
Little Marketer is a big force at Cayman’s Special Economic Zone
From CEC
Sasha Carrig – Little Marketer is a Big Force at Cayman’s Special Economic Zone
Born and raised in George Town, Sasha Carrig is a bright young rising star at Cayman Enterprise City, Cayman’s Special Economic Zone. Sasha joined the fast-moving CEC team in February 2013 in the role of Marketing & Business Development Coordinator….and her 4”high stilettos haven’t touched the ground since! From undertaking LinkedIn outreaches with CEO’s of technology companies in Silicon Valley and Toronto, to planning CEC and coordinating networking client events in the zone, to working on CEC’s actively social media platforms – each day is action packed for Sasha and has been a great learning experience.
Sasha supports the Business Development and Marketing team at Cayman’s Special Economic Zone arranging and managing their business development trips and presenting the benefits of this technology focused zone to potential clients overseas; benefits which include: the ability to set up a physical presence in Cayman’s tax-neutral jurisdiction for tax mitigation purposes or to help with their global expansion strategies. Another benefit is housing Intellectual Property in their zone company and licencing it internationally.
This little marketer may have left the mobile world of Digicel behind last year when she joined CEC, but there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that she’s upwardly mobile at CEC!
IMAGE: digicel headshot
Apple built an online highway for your downloads — and it’s massive
By Sam Colt from Business Insider
Apple has built up its own massive internet infrastructure that will allow seamless software and content downloads, according to Dan Rayburn of Streaming Media.
The system, called a content delivery network (CDN), is reportedly much larger than what Apple needs, a sign the company is positioning itself to deliver rich, high-definition content to users down the road.
It will also make Apple’s future software launches much easier. Whenever Apple updates iOS or OS X, everyone tries to download it at once, usually overloading Apple’s servers and causing downloading and installing issues for many.
With this new system, all of your software updates should download more smoothly. This is a well-timed development, considering iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite are set to roll out in just over a month.
It’s also a good sign for Apple TV, which is reportedly struggling to add content from cable providers. News broke Thursday that Apple had hit a wall in negotiations with cable companies like Comcast to bring their content to Apple’s set-top box.
Content producers are reportedly waiting to see if Comcast buys Time Warner and have concerns about yielding too much ground to Apple on the content distribution front. But this new delivery system suggests Apple may be optimistic about delivering all kinds of multimedia content — including live TV — in the long term.
Mum’s the word when it comes to reporting Cayman civil law suit involving NBF
Cayman Islands Magistrate Kirsty-Ann Gun has ordered all forms of media from reporting court testimony in a lawsuit filed by Sandra Catron. The lawsuit seeks to reclaim money Catron says the Nation Building Fund (NBF) that was put into place by the former United Democratic Party government and administered by then Cayman Premier McKeeva Bush owes her.
The magistrate’s order reads, “It is hereby ordered that there be a ban on publication or broadcasting (including but not limited to print, electronic/digital and radio) of the evidence or proceedings at this civil trial of the court in these proceedings until after the conclusion of the related criminal proceedings against Ms. Catron.”
Pickering’s Kavina Ganeshan off to Cayman Islands for soccer
From Durham Region Pickering News Advertiser
Ajax Olympian Candace Chapman a technical assistant for Canada’s U-15 team
PICKERING — Kavina Ganeshan of Pickering is among the 18 young soccer players who will be pioneers as members of the Canadian team that will compete at the inaugural CONCACAF girls’ under-15 championship in the Cayman Islands.
Under the direction of head coach Bev Priestman, Canada has been placed in Group D in the 16-team competition alongside Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
“This is the first development contact with this group of players outside of a wider identification camp,” said Priestman, who guided Canada to the quarter-finals at the FIFA U-17 women’s World Cup in Costa Rica in March. “It’s an opportunity to really assess the players selected for the future.”
Ajax’s Candace Chapman, who won an Olympic bronze medal with Canada’s women’s team at the 2012 London Games, will serve as a technical assistant for the team.
Canada will open the competition on Thursday at the Cayman Brac Sports Field against Puerto Rico.
Young Reggae Girls off to CONCACAF youth tournament in Cayman Islands
From Loop Jamaica
The Jamaica Under-15 women’s football team is scheduled to arrive in the Cayman Islands today (August 5) for the inaugural CONCACAF Under-15 Girls tournament from August 6 to 17.
The squad, which comprises 18 players, has two overseas-based players in Emily Caza from Canada and Lyana Steele from the USA.
The CONCACAF tournament comprises sixteen teams divided into four groups of four. The teams will participate in round-robin play over the competition’s first six match days.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals, which will take place on Wednesday, August 13.
The semifinals will take place on Friday, August 15, with the winners competing in the final and the losers contesting the match for third place on Sunday, August 17.
Jamaica’s young Reggae Girls have been drawn in Group ‘C’ alongside Costa Rica, Anguilla and Belize.
The young Reggae Girls will begin their campaign on Thursday. August 7 against Belize at the TE McField Sports Complex.
For more: http://loopjamaica.com/2014/08/05/young-reggae-girls-concacaf-youth-tournament-cayman-islands/
