iNews Briefs
Midlothian teen victim of hit and run in Cayman Islands airlifted to Florida hospital
Harrison Zierenberg (16), who was the victim of a hit and run from a minivan in the Cayman Islands, has been airlifted to a Florida hospital.
Zierenberg is in serious condition with head injuries received from the accident that occurred when he was crossing the West Bay Road on Grand Cayman on Sunday 5th April.
The driver of the car has been identified and was arrested and released on police bail.
See iNews Cayman story published April 8 2015 “Accident in Cayman Islands leaves Midlothian teen in serious condition” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/accident-in-cayman-islands-leaves-midlothian-teen-in-serious-condition/
QU women’s golf’s Nicole Scola finishes 3rd and breaks program record at 2015 Brown Bear Spring Invitational
From Quinnipiac Bobcats
Quinnipiac women’s golf sophomore Nicole Scola (Westerly, Rhode Island) finished third – one stroke off the lead – at the 2015 Brown Bear Spring Invitational at Metacomet Country Club in East Providence, Rhode Island. Quinnipiac finished 10th out of 16 teams. Scola’s 145 for the two-day event is a Quinnipiac program record for a 36-hole tournament. Scola previously set the mark with a 147 at last season’s Dartmouth Invitational before shooting a 146 at the Quinnipiac Classic in October.
“It was another fairly good day today,” head coach John O’Connor said. “Nicole [Scola] continued to play well, finishing third at 145. The wind got the best of the rest of the team. Emily [Ribbins] did pretty well with an 81.”
Yale won the event after shooting the two lowest rounds of the tournament, followed by Princeton, Brown, Boston University, Pennsylvania and Fairleigh Dickinson. LIU Brooklyn, Albany, Brown and Dartmouth finished ahead of Quinnipiac, who placed ahead of Central Connecticut State, Hofstra, Sacred Heart, Hartford, Siena and Hofstra.
Scola followed a first-round 72 with a 73 on the final 18 holes at Metacoment, highlighted by one of five eagles in the entire tournament on Hole No.14. Scola’s combined 145 for the two-day event was a season-best for the Bobcats in 36-hole tournament play this year.
Scola has now finished in the top three in four of her last six tournaments, and in the top six in five of her last eight times out. The second-year Bobcat was also one of five players to shoot par or better on 24 or more out of the 36 holes for the tournament.
Emily Ribbins (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) tied for 42nd place, out of 86 golfers, after combined for a 160 (79-81) for the 36-hole event. Estefania Morales (Caracas, Venezuela) finished tied for 62nd at 166 (79-87) while Jenn Whaley (Farmington, Connecticut) tied for 66th at 167 (83-84).
“We dropped a few stops, but I’m still encouraged. We’re moving in the right direction and I’m looking forward to the MAAC Championship,” O’Connor said.
Quinnipiac returns to action at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship on Apr. 24-26 at Disney’s Magnolia Course in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
For more: http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com/sports/wgolf/2014-15/releases/20150413pmmjew
Cayman Islands quarry accident: man airlifted to USA
A man who was badly injured after his leg became jammed in a belt at a quarry in East End. Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, has been airlifted to a USA hospital.
The accident occurred on Thursday April 8th and is being investigated by the Department of Labour and Pensions (DLP).
The DLP issued a statement reminding employers of the Labour Law as it relates to safety:
“The DLP conducts these types of investigations in accordance with the provisions of Part 8 the Labour Law and specifically section 63 of the Law as well as the Safety Regulations, as well as in accordance with international standards. The Department wishes to remind all employers and worksites of the requirements of the Labour Law and Regulations in relation to occupational safety and health, and can make copies of these documents available free of charge to them as well as conducting training and certification on this important subject to supervisors and staff”.
Jamaican teenager accused of trying to join ISIS weeks after U.S. General warns of radicalized Caribbean natives
By Polly Mosendz From Newsweek
A Jamaican 16-year-old has been sent back to his country after being detained in Suriname over the weekend while attempting to make his way to Syria to join ISIS.
The teenager, whose identity was not disclosed due to his age, planned to fly from a Suriname airport to the Netherlands, and then make his way into Turkey and Syria. He is the most recent in a string of teens who have joined or attempted to join the terrorist organization, and crossing the Turkish border into Syria is a common approach for these youths.
United States Southern Command General John F. Kelly just last month warned about the threat of radicalization in the Caribbean. He estimated that 100 Caribbean natives had traveled to Syria to join ISIS.
“While in Syria, they get good at killing and pick up some real job skills in terms of explosives and beheadings, things like that,” Kelly said in March at a press conference. “Everyone is concerned, of course, if they come home. If they went over radicalized, one would expect they will come back at least that radicalized but…with really good job skills that they picked up in the fight.”
According to Kelly, the United States is working with intelligence forces within multiple Caribbean nations to track the movements of radicalized citizens. It was not disclosed whether U.S. intelligence was involved in detaining this particular teenager.
Economist Colombo: rising rates will burst 20-year stock bubble
By Dan Weil From Moneymax
You can add economic analyst Jesse Colombo to the list of those who think the stock market has entered bubble territory.
While many would put the start date of the bubble at 2009, he actually says what the stock market is experiencing is just a wave of the bubble that started in the mid-1990s.
And what’s going to burst the bubble?
It will end “when the very fuel behind it is removed, which is record low interest rates,” he writes in an article for Forbes. The Federal Reserve has kept its federal funds rate target at a record low of zero to 0.25 percent since December 2008.
Colombo sees two ways in which rising rates can pop the bubble.
“After several more years of the bubble-driven economic recovery, the Fed has a ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment and eventually increases the fed funds rate too high, creating a hard landing that pops the post-2009 bubbles,” he says. Many economists expect the central bank to begin raising rates in September.
“The ballooning and unsustainable amount of government and corporate bond market debt eventually causes investors to jettison bonds en masse, which leads to much higher interest rates.”
Federal government debt now totals $18 trillion, about equal to annual GDP.
Meanwhile, as stocks soar around the world, the U.S. market stagnates. The S&P 500 index climbed just 1.6 percent so far this year, the worst performance of any major market index for the period.
The trend is ironic, given that the U.S. economy is in better shape than are most of those overseas. But U.S. stocks have suffered to some extent because of their own six-year rally that has seen the S&P 500 triple.
That has made investors concerned about valuations. The S&P 500 carried a trailing price-earnings ratio of 20.25 as of April 2, up from 17.69 a year ago, according to Birinyi Associates.
And while the U.S. economy is stronger than those overseas are, it slowed down in the last six months. Growth totaled only 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter, and many economists predict it shrank much further in the first quarter.
“I would definitely say investors should take some money off of U.S. large caps and maybe allocate some more into international sectors, particularly Europe and Japan,” Erin Gibbs, equity chief investment officer at S&P Capital IQ, tells CNBC.
More than 220 fall ill on two separate Royal Caribbean operated cruise ships
By Ashlee Kieler From Consumerist
Just two months after the first cruise-related norovirus outbreak occurred on a Royal Caribbean vessel, two more of the company’s ships – this time traveling along the west coasts of California and Mexico – have reported a virus has led to illness in more than 215 passengers and crew members.
Bloomberg reports that an outbreak on the company’s two-week long Legend of the Seas cruise sickened 114 passengers and two crew members, while 106 passengers on the The Infinity, a Celebrity cruise line, became ill.
Unlike other previous cruises that have been cut short with vessels returning to port, both the Legend of the Seas and The Infinity will finish their voyages, which are scheduled to end tomorrow and today, respectively.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the two ships have increased onboard cleaning and disinfection procedures. Additionally, a government health official and epidemiologist will board the ships in San Diego.
So far in 2015, the CDC says there have been five outbreaks leading passengers to be come sick. All but one of those illnesses occurred on Royal Caribbean-owned ships. The third outbreak of the year, which sickened 107 passengers, took place on the Norwegian Cruise Line-owned Norwegian Pearl.
Cruise ships are required to report the total number of gastrointestinal illnesses to the CDC when they account for more than 3% of passengers and crew. The latest outbreaks cover 7% of the passengers on Legend of the Seas and 5% of the total on The Infinity.
Is Martinique the next big Caribbean surfing capital?
From Caribbean Journal
Long an under-the-radar surfing spot, the French Caribbean island will get its place in the spotlight when the surfing world gathers on the island later this month for the first-ever Martinique Surf Pro.
From April 21-26, the Caribbean’s only World Surf League Qualification Series event this year will take place along the shores of Basse-Pointe in Martinique.
The event, which is being organized by Martinique Surfing in partnership with the World Surf League, will bring together 100 world-class surfers from the United States, Japan, Europe, Brazil and the Caribbean.
“Martinique has been among the best-kept secrets in Caribbean surfing for some time now,” said Muriel Wiltord, director of the Americas for the Martinique Promotion Bureau. “Such a high-profile event as this cements the island’s position as a prime surfing destination. As one the top watersports competitions being held in the Caribbean in 2015, Martinique Surf Pro also shines a spotlight on the wide range of additional watersports options that Martinique has to offer.”
Martinique’s surfing season typically lasts between November and May along its northern and northeastern Atlantic coasts.
For more: http://www.caribjournal.com/2015/04/13/is-martinique-the-next-caribbean-surfing-capital/
Bikini App sues Facebook for stripping away its business model
By Marisa Kendall, From The Recorder
IMAGE: Scene from a “Pikinis” promotional video
SAN FRANCISCO — The developer of Pikinis, an app that combs Facebook for pictures of women in bikinis, is suing the social networking company for blocking its access to user photos.In 2010 Facebook Inc. announced it would allow third-party apps to access users’ photos and other personal information, according to the complaint filed Friday in San Mateo County Superior Court. The idea was to encourage developers to create apps that could work with Facebook and enhance the user experience. New York developer Six4Three’s contribution was Pikinis, an app that uses pattern-recognition technology to find swimsuit photos of users’ Facebook friends.
Facebook has since revealed it will end third-party access to photos on April 30, effectively destroying the Pikinis business model. Six4Three sunk $1.15 million in the app, according to the complaint, and the developer’s lawyers claim Facebook unfairly reneged on its promise of open access. Six4Three is seeking punitive damages and an injunction preventing Facebook from blocking the photos.
“Six4Three invested considerable time, effort and expense in developing an application, only to have that investment rendered worthless by Facebook’s decision,” the developer’s lawyers wrote.
Six4Three is represented by Criterion Law in Palo Alto and Birnbaum & Godkin in Boston.
Facebook denied the allegations via email.
“This lawsuit is without merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously,” a spokeswoman wrote.
Pikinis, which has been called ” creepy” and ” voyeuristic” in online reviews, has sold about 5,000 copies, according to the complaint. The app is available for $1.99 on the Apple App Store.
Facebook announced during its 2014 F8 conference that it would stop letting developers pull user data, and reiterated the decision in a January letter to Six4Three, according to the complaint. The developer wrote to Facebook in March, requesting continued access to user photos. Facebook had not responded by the time Six4Three sued, according to the complaint.
Concerns raised about Caribbean youth involvement in gang activities
From Jamaica Observer
BROWNE… many young persons are not receiving the type of guidance that is needed for them to flourish within their communities
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — The Barbados-based Caribbean Mentorship Institute (CMI) yesterday said it is alarmed by the number of young persons who have been associated with gang-related activities within the Caribbean region.
“Many young persons are not receiving the type of guidance that is needed for them to flourish within their communities. We have seen too many examples of young men and women who have dropped out of school to engage in criminal activities,” said CMI president Felicia Browne.
“This growing trend should be of grave concern to everyone. Our youth are not finding their way, and are often losing their lives due to errors of judgement. They need guidance and mentors to re-shape their thinking and understanding,” she added.
Browne said the CMI, which says it has made several types of intervention in countries across the region is adamant that if community members and policy makers turn a blind eye to the plight of young persons, “then we can rest assured that gang activities and criminality amongst disadvantaged youths will only escalate to create further harm within our communities and countries.
“We have continued to observe the escalation of violence in schools, and in public spaces. We have seen videos of violent fights, brawls and sexual misconduct of young persons on the social media, yet we are ignoring them because they are not happening in our communities or to our children.
“We are hearing that young men and women are joining or creating gangs because they are left with little choice but to look after their own well-being and safety. This is the reality of today’s youth. This is the reason why we cannot assume that they lack understanding or intellect to channel their lives in more positive and holistic ways. Their young lives are at risk, while we refuse to engage with them,” she said.
CMA CGM overhauls transportation services between US and the Caribbean
From LBR
French container shipping firm CMA CGM has upgraded Gulfbridge service and optimised Hispaniola feeder service to facilitate better transit of goods between the US and the Caribbean.
The transportation company connects the US, Mexico, the Caribbean islands and South America North Coast with its Gulfbridge service. The upgrade, which has been done in response to the growing customer demand, is expected to reduce transit times to Colombia.
Improvement to services will also be introduced to better CMA CGM’s Hispaniola service, starting from next month.
The firm will increase the calls frequency for the service, initiating weekly calls at the main ports. This is expected to push transportation via Reefer containers, and bring down the transit duration from Kingston.
Besides connecting the Kingston, Pointe-à-Pitre and Point Lisas port hubs, the optimised service is also likely to offer transit reliability.
CMA CGM Caribbean and Latin American Lines vice president Jean-Yves Duval said: “The Caribbean is an area with a strong growth. The Panama Canal widening, expected to be completed in 2016, proves it and the arrival of larger vessels it implies a regional services adaptation need.
“Those improved services will be connected to our new Kingston hub, and will allow the CMA CGM Group to continue improving its solutions for its clients, while dispensing one of the market’s best offers.
“Those services improvement are in line with the Group’s regional development strategy.”
Obama, Castro hold historic meeting
By Jim Kuhnhenn and Josh Lederman From Caribbean Life
PANAMA CITY (AP) _ The leaders of the United States and Cuba held their first formal meeting in more than half a century on Saturday, clearing the way for a normalization of relations that had seemed unthinkable to both Cubans and Americans for generations.
In a small conference room in a Panama City convention center, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro sat side by side in a bid to inject fresh momentum into their months-old effort to restore diplomatic ties. Obama said he wanted to turn the page’’ on old divisions, although he acknowledged that significant differences between the governments would remain.
“This is obviously a historic meeting,” Obama said shortly after the two sat down. “It was my belief it was time to try something new, that it was important for us to engage more directly with the Cuban government.”
“And more importantly, with Cuban people,” the president added.
Castro told the U.S. president he was ready to discuss sensitive issues including human rights and freedom of the press, maintaining that “everything can be on the table.” But he also cautioned that the two countries also have “agreed to disagree.”
“We are willing to make progress in the way the president has described,” Castro said.
For more: http://www.caribbeanlifenews.com/stories/2015/4/2015-04-13-ap-obamacastro-cl.html
Ogier Guernsey advises on £5.6 billion acquisition of Friends Life by Aviva
Ogier Guernsey has advised Friends Life Group Limited, a London-listed Guernsey company, on its acquisition by Aviva plc, which has created the UK’s largest insurance, savings and asset management firm.
The combined group will have some 16 million UK customers – equivalent to about one in four households – and around £340 billion of assets under management. The £5.6 billion takeover of Friends Life is the largest insurance deal in the UK since the merger of CGU and Norwich Union in 2000, which created Aviva.
Ogier has been working with international law firm Linklaters LLP to bring the transaction to completion. The acquisition of Friends Life (formerly Resolution Limited), by way of a Guernsey scheme of arrangement, has involved Guernsey corporate, competition and insurance regulatory aspects, as well as work required to obtain approval for the scheme of arrangement from the Royal Court of Guernsey.
Ogier partner, Advocate Caroline Chan led the Guernsey deal team, which included managing associate Andrew Munro. Ogier partner Advocate Mathew Newman, with assistance from managing associate Sally Peedom and associate Erin Trimble-Cregeen, advised and appeared in the Royal Court for Friends Life on its scheme of arrangement applications.
Caroline Chan commented, “The M&A sector here is pretty buoyant at the moment both in terms of local deals and those on the international stage, such as the Friends Life/Aviva deal, which brings together two well-known insurance businesses. It is the latest in a number of high profile M&A deals that Ogier has advised on.”
Mathew Newman commented “The completion of this transaction required a Guernsey Court sanctioned scheme of arrangement. Guernsey has recently seen a number of relatively high profile schemes of arrangement and this latest example demonstrates how the Guernsey courts are willing to take a flexible, yet (to English and Commonwealth lawyers) relatively familiar, approach, in order to provide a sensible and fair outcome for those involved.”
Fla. In-House Litigator Is Fired After Reprimands [incl. domestic violence]
By Sue Reisinger, From Corporate Counsel
The Florida Department of Transportation has removed an in-house litigation attorney who was publicly reprimanded and placed on probation Tuesday by the Florida Supreme Court.
Adam Ellis was disciplined for a series of personal misconduct actions, including domestic violence. Ellis had argued that personal acts that took place outside of work shouldn’t affect his fitness to practice law, but the court disagreed.
Ellis, a member of the bar since 2007, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
According to court documents, the Florida Bar sought to discipline Ellis over three separate incidents. The first occurred in Portland, Oregon, in April 2010 when Ellis was charged with a nine-count domestic violence complaint.
Under a deal, he pleaded no contest to two criminal misdemeanors of assault and harassment while the other counts were dropped. He was adjudicated guilty but the verdict was withheld, and he was placed on a year’s probation while receiving domestic violence intervention counseling.
Ellis satisfactorily completed his probation and the court dismissed the case in April 2011, records showed. In his answer to the Florida Bar complaint last year, Ellis said he is “completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever, and entered his plea merely as a ‘plea of convenience,’ not as an admission of guilt.”
However, as court documents showed, Ellis’ no-contest plea included a line stating: “I know that a no contest plea will result in a guilty finding regarding the charge(s).”
Ellis self-reported the case to the Florida Bar, which took no action on it at the time.
The second incident occurred in September 2011 when Ellis was an assistant public defender in Escambia County, in the Pensacola area.
During a gathering of public defenders and assistant state attorneys in a local bar and restaurant, Ellis displayed a photo of a female assistant state attorney that he had Photoshopped and “inserted an unclothed, sexual organ outside her mouth. [Ellis] went around the room laughing and showing the altered photo to other attorneys presenting it as a ‘joke,’” the complaint stated.
The ASA reported the incident to her supervisor and filed a complaint with the Florida Bar. Ellis was reassigned to a branch public defender’s office in Milton, Florida, and he wrote a letter apologizing for his “offensive” humor, the record showed.
In the third incident, in March 2012 Ellis was arrested and charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct following a noise complaint filed by his neighbor. According to the records, a deputy sheriff went to Ellis’ home and ordered him to turn down the loud music.
Ellis refused, but others present turned down the music and the deputy left. However, less than two hours later neighbors complained again, and the deputy returned to the house to find the music turned up even louder than before. This time Ellis was arrested.
Ellis accepted a deferred prosecution agreement in which he admitted the charge of disorderly conduct and he wrote an apology to the neighbor. The case was later dismissed.
But after this incident Ellis was dismissed from the Escambia County Public Defender’s Office, according to court records. He was later hired as a litigator in the Florida Department of Transportation in Tallahassee.
Last April, the Florida Bar packaged the three incidents into one complaint, accusing Ellis of violating various rules involving misconduct and criminal misconduct, and of committing “a criminal act that reflected adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.”
In his reply to the complaint, Ellis insisted his conduct “had absolutely nothing to do with his status as a member of the legal profession.” He maintained his innocence in the Oregon matter, claimed his display of the dirty picture was protected under the First Amendment and denied any sexual harassment, and said he was “illegally arrested” by the deputy sheriff who “perjured himself.”
A court referee who reviewed the three incidents disagreed with Ellis, finding violations of Florida Bar rules. In addition to the public reprimand and three years’ probation, Ellis was ordered to enter into a contract with Florida Lawyer’s Assistance for anger management counseling.
Ellis signed a “conditional guilty plea for consent judgment,” accepting the terms of the discipline.
On March 31, the same day the court released news of his reprimand, Tom Thomas, general counsel of the state transportation department, emailed Ellis that his services were no longer needed and he was being removed from his position “effective immediately,” according to an article in the Tallahassee Democrat.
Ellis told the newspaper, regarding the Oregon incident, which is the only one it mentioned: “I entered a plea of no contest, not a plea of guilty, and I have always maintained my innocence regarding these charges.”
Everyone wants to go to Cuba now. Too bad for the rest of the Caribbean
By Patrick Gillespie From CNN
Buzz is building about the United States and Cuba rebuilding relations. No one seems more excited than American travelers.
Cuba has been the “forbidden fruit” for U.S. tourism over the last 50 years and Americans are giddy to see their southern neighbor. But should Americans’ hunger for Havana concern other Caribbean countries?
Tourism is a key industry for many Caribbean nations, creating jobs and bringing billions of U.S. dollars to a relatively poor region. Now some of those dollars will head to Cuba.
“Cuba will be very stiff competition for them,” says Mauro Guillen, a business professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “Cuba could be a paradise for tourism.”
Americans can’t yet travel to Cuba in the traditional sense for sun, sand and salsa dancing. They need to go for a specific purpose, such as business trip, family visit, religious mission or “support for the Cuban people.”
But the surge is expected soon. That’s why Airbnb announced Thursday it will begin operating in Cuba. Netflix (NFLX, Tech30), Mastercard (MA) and American Express (AXP) will start doing business there soon too.
Cuba’s tourism case: Cuba has a lot to offer. Last year, three million tourists visited Cuba, more than every other Caribbean nation besides the Dominican Republic, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization. And that’s with almost no Americans visiting Cuba last year.
The size of Ohio, Cuba has nine UNESCO world heritage sites — a major tourism pull. That’s more than the Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Jamaica and Puerto Rico combined.
Cuba’s mix of an urban experience and sunny getaway give it a dynamic other islands don’t have, experts say. Since President Obama’s decision to lift some travel restrictions to Cuba, American companies are starting file into Havana too.
The Dominican Republic and Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, where Cancun is, have the most to lose, Guillen says. Others suggest that Jamaica and the nearby Caribbean island nations could get hit hard too.
Tourism makes up 43% of the Bahamas’ economy, almost 30% of Jamaica’s activity and 16% of the Dominican Republic’s economy. By comparison, only 8% of America’s economy is driven by tourism, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.
“Neighboring countries will be challenged when the hospitality level catches up in Cuba,” says Jonathan Blue, managing director of Blue Equity, a private equity firm, and frequent traveler to Cuba.
But others say American tourists going to Cuba is a win for others too.
All for one and one for all?: The hope is the excitement surrounding Cuba will be an overall positive for the region. It’s like the idea of multiple gas stations on one block: the more the better.
Plus, Cuba can’t yet offer the luxury hotels and experience that many other islands have. The Dominican Republic had five million tourists visit last year, up 12% from a year before, and it has 5-star hotels.
A flood of US tourists to Cuba could flow over to other countries.
“There’s a lot of romanticism around traveling to Cuba right now,” says Alana Tummino, policy director at the Council of the Americas. However: “there’s still going to be a lot of interest in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and all these other destinations.”
Whether Cuba helps or hurts the rest of the Caribbean, one thing is certain: Americans — and their businesses — are coming.
IMAGE: Cuba skyline The Havana skyline in the afternoon.
For more; http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/02/investing/cuba-tourism-us-travelers-caribbean/
