iNews Briefs
Cayman Islands Customs arrest two – warn of stronger enforcement looming
From Cayman Islands Customs Department
The Customs Department has confirmed the arrests of a male visitor on Thursday 6 November and a female visitor on Monday 3 November 2014.
The male visitor is presently on bail on suspicion of possessing vegetable matter resembling ganja. Meanwhile the female visitor, in whose carry-on luggage officers found a single bullet, was charged with possessing an illegal firearm. She has since appeared in Summary Court, pled guilty and been ordered to pay CI$1000.00 in costs, or serve 90 days.
Commenting on the case Collector of Customs, Ms. Samantha Bennett, remarked: “Despite the evolving range of challenges at our borders and other Customs controlled areas, partnerships are consistently proving essential in addressing the challenges of today and tomorrow”.
As an example of such collaboration Ms Bennett said that Customs would, “continue to work with the Department of Tourism on an education campaign that outlines for visitors what items are restricted and prohibited in the Cayman Islands.”
“Over the past couple of months we have seen a constant increase in the detection of such items being brought in by casual visitors,” she noted.
Deputy Collector (Enforcement), Mr. Marlon Bodden, added, “Effective enforcement cannot be achieved without motivated officers. Our officers are already doing a great job and stronger enforcement is looming.”
Emphasising that with the festive season approaching Customs would like support legitimate trade and travel, Mr Bodden went on to say: “We are therefore pleading with the public to make the necessary disclosures to authorities and not to take illegal items or substances on travel to the Cayman Islands”.
Anyone with information relating to the transport of restricted and prohibited items across the Cayman Islands borders is asked to contact HM Customs’ confidential tip-line on 1-800-534-8477, to email [email protected], or to telephone Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS).
Former CIBC First Caribbean banker, Michael Mansoor, has died
From Caribbean360
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Tuesday November 11, 2014, CMC – Former executive chairman of the CIBC First Caribbean and independent legislator Michael Mansoor has died.
Chief executive officer Rik Parkhill paying tribute to the Trinidadian said when the history of the financial institution is written, Mansoor will “certainly feature as one of the builders of the banking industry, one of the scholars of the region, and one of the great orators to address the Senate of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago.
“Approximately a year ago, we named our head office building after Mike, as a mark of our deep appreciation for his contribution to the creation of CIBC FirstCaribbean, his leadership for the thirteen years he served this bank, and his stewardship of the CIBC brand prior to that. Mike’s calm and pragmatic approach allowed him to set out the sound business case for forming FirstCaribbean,” he added.
The former partner at Ernst & Young in Trinidad and Tobago Mansoor had an extensive background in corporate finance and planning, Mansoor also served as the Chairman of the Campus Council of the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies.
In 2012, the degree of honorary Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by the University of the West Indies.
Mansoor served as executive chairman of CIBC FirstCaribbean from its inception in October of 2002 to his retirement on December 31, 2013, after which he continued to serve on the company’s board of directors. He was previously president and CEO of CIBC West Indies Holdings.
Orphaned foal finds comfort in giant teddy bear after rescue
By Piper Hoffman From Care2
Breeze sleeps with a teddy bear. That isn’t so unusual — except that Breeze is a horse.
A foal, to be exact. Within hours of his birth, his mother disappeared. He tried to nurse from other mares to no avail. By the time rescuers reached him on May 24th, he was in severe shock and dehydrated; he collapsed.
The baby could not get his mother’s colostrum, which, “to a newborn foal…can mean the difference between life and death.” It contains vital 
antibodies that protect the foal until his own immune system kicks in.
The Mare & Foal Sanctuary rescued Breeze from Dartmoor Hill, in England’s Devon County, after getting a call from a concerned farmer. They gave Breeze colostrum drips, as well as a saline drip, milk and medicine.
But medical care wasn’t all Breeze needed. He was all alone and needed comfort and contact, like any baby. So the sanctuary put out a call for donations of oversized stuffed animals. The sanctuary’s executive director, Syra Bowden, said they “always give our orphaned foals a giant cuddly toy as a companion; they’re just like human babies in the way it provides them with comfort.”
Britons stepped up and sent a deluge of gifts. From among the spoils, Breeze selected Buttons, a four-foot-tall teddy bear, as his favorite. He likes to sleep in the bear’s lap, especially “during the brief periods when his carers are not present.” The extra stuffed animals will go to future rescued orphaned foals.
Bowden said that Breeze is feeling much better. “He’s now suckling well and feeding every hour; he even tried to have a little canter and buck in his stable over the weekend. However, he is not out of the woods yet.”
Breeze’s other cuddly companions include Reuben and Rudy, two plush dogs.
For more and images and video: http://www.care2.com/causes/orphaned-foal-finds-comfort-in-giant-teddy-bear-after-rescue.html#ixzz3Ir4gdbOC
Cayman Islands BTFC looks forward to inaugural OFC President’s Cup
By: Indra Singh From FBC Sports
Fiji ends Australian tour on high note
The Bodden Town football club from the Cayman Islands is looking forward to the inaugural OFC President’s Cup.
The side, which is the champions of the Cayman Premier League, are busy training for the tournament.
Coach Elbert McLean says he know little about life in New Zealand, but he does think it’s cold. He told Cayman 27 they hope to make an impression on while in New Zealand.
The side will play New Zealand champions, Auckland City and Singaapore Under-23.
Meanwhile, the Fiji U20 will be playing Amicale in its opening match at the President’s Cup on November 17 in New Zealand at 7.30pm.
The second pool match is against Busaiteen of Bahrain on November 21 at 7.30pm.
You can catch live commentaries of Fiji’s matches on Radio Fiji Two with the voice of soccer, Raymond Stoddart.
Meanwhile, the Fiji U20 side has ended it’s Australian tour unbeaten after beating Newcastle Jets 4-3 last night.
The Jets led 3-1 at half-time but the Fijians bounced back after the break.
Striker Saula Waqa got a brace of goals, while Garish Prasad and Kolinio Sivoki also scored.
The team departs for New Zealand today.
For more: http://www.fbc.com.fj/sports/24413/fiji-ends-australian-tour-on-high-note-#sthash.J3hYNSJh.dpuf
Caribbean foreign ministers meet in Japan Friday
From Jamaica Observer
TOKYO, Japan (CMC) — Caribbean Community (Caricom) foreign ministers will meet with their Japanese counterpart on Friday for talks aimed at strengthening the relations between the 15-member regional grouping and Japan.
According to a joint statement issued here on Monday, the November 15 meeting is a follow-up to the first Japan-Caricom Summit held in July “and is expected to enhance collaboration on various global agenda, including environment issues and climate change”.
The statement said that Caricom countries “frequently take a common position in the international arena and hold a certain presence in the international community. It is expected that they will deepen their understanding and support towards Japan’s position on various global issues through this conference”.
The statement said that it is expected that the relationship between Japan and the regional community bloc “will be further strengthened through this conference on the occasion of Japan-Caricom Friendship Year 2014”.
For more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Caribbean-foreign-ministers-meet-in-Japan-Friday-_17920061
ILO Warns of Informal Labor in LatAm and the Caribbean
Geneva, Nov 11 (Prensa Latina) Labor informality in Latin American and Caribbean small and medium-sized enterprises is today a multidimensional phenomenon that involves at least six of every ten workers, said the International Labor Organization.
The regional director of the International Labor Organization for Latin America and the Caribbean, Elizabeth Tinoco, said in a press release that informal labor reaches 84 percent among self-employed workers while in small enterprises it reaches 60 percent.
ILO says that nearly 70 percent of at least 130 million people with informal work in the region are self-employed or work in businesses of up to 10 workers.
Tinoco said comprehensive strategies are needed to promote the formalization of the SMEs, which are the largest providers of jobs in the region.
The text added that informality must be faced with comprehensive, long-term strategies that combine administrative, fiscal, labor, social security and productive-promotion-related measures.
It said it was essential to seek mechanisms to formalize the activity of many micro and small enterprises of the region, as a first step to advance towards a reduction of labor informality.
According to figures provided by ILO, Latin America and the Caribbean boast 59 million enterprises, of which 48 million have self-employed workers, and nearly seven million of those businesses have up to five workers.
For more: http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3263041&Itemid=1
How men react to a drunk girl in public is pretty depressing
By Laia Garcia From Yahoo News
Hot on the heels of the viral “Catcalling” video in which a young woman walked around New York City, the way people do, and men said all manners of things to her, the way men do, there’s now another social experiment sparking a similar conversation about how vulnerable women are treated in public. “Drunk Girl in Public” features a girl pretending to be drunk on the streets of Hollywood trying to find her way home and instead, finding that a bunch of men want to take her to their place.
In some cases she goes up to a guy to ask for help, but most of them seem to be able to sense her helplessness from a mile away and by the time they say “hello” to her, the whole thing is so creepy and cringeworthy that you start to consider whether or not you truly ever need to leave your house again. The girl asks them how to get to the nearest bus, and the men offer to take her to their own homes where they plan to ply her with more beer. The worst part is how transparent these men are in their skeevy aggressiveness and how immediately they seem to be able to drop whatever they were doing the rest of the day because they now have a helpless drunk woman standing in front of them.
While this video may or may not be staged the truth is it doesn’t really matter. As probably most women can attest to, when you see a title along the lines of “woman pretends to be drunk on the street asking for help: you’ll never believe what happened next,” most would actually know what happens next — and maybe some of them even lived it. As more of these “experiments” come to light, one has to ask: What is the point? Women already know what happens when you walk down the street in the daytime or what happens when you’re alone at night; it all seems so obvious! But then you get to the comments section and realize that there is a world of people out there who still believe that women’s bodies belong to anyone but themselves, and anything that happens to them, they need to be held responsible for it.
For more and video: https://www.yahoo.com/style/hot-on-the-heels-of-the-viral-catcalling-102374663558.html
Haitian press freedom watchdog condemns police violence against female journalist
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (HCNN) – Haitian press freedom advocacy group, SOS Journalistes, on Tuesday, condemned in the strongest terms the physical violence perpetrated by the Haitian police against a journalist working for Radio-TV Express in the southern town of Jacmel, while she was in the proper exercise of her profession, guaranteed by the current Haitian constitution.
Journalist Gerdy Jérémie was covering a demonstration held on Monday by motorcyclists in the city of Jacmel, in the southeastern region of the country, when she was violently attacked by members of the riot police local unit, known as UDMO, despite the fact that she properly identified herself as a journalist.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the physical attacks by police against journalist Gerdy Jeremie who was only exercising her profession as a journalist,” said the Secretary General of SOS Journalistes, Delva, noting that the colleague had to go to the hospital for treatment, following the beating.
“We demand that sanctions be taken against the police officers who are fault and that justice and reparations be given to the victimized journalist,” said Delva, announcing that a formal complaint will be filed at the prosecutor’s office, in Jacmel, against the officers involved.
A delegation of SOS Journalistes travels on Wednesday to the town of Jacmel to assist the victim in filing a complaint to require that legal proceedings be launched against the attackers, who cowardly beat the female journalist.
“We urge all the political, judicial and police authorities to do everything in their power to ensure that such awful actions do not go unpunished,” said Delva.
Luxury conglomerate buys St. Barth Hotel
By Francys Vallecillo from World Property Channel
Luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton SA has purchased Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France from majority owner Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners for an undisclosed price.
LVMH purchased the hotel on the French West Indies island of St. Barth, a popular vacation spot for the wealthy, as part of “a natural extension of LVMH’s activities across the luxury spectrum,” the company said in a statement.
LVMH has been working to widen its scope in a range of luxury businesses. Last year, 35 percent of the company’s €28.1 billion revenue was generated from the company’s fashions and leather good’s division. Recent transactions include the $2.66 billion paid last month for a majority stake in fine-wool retailer Loro Piana and the purchase of high-end pastry maker Pasticceria Confetteria Cova Srl in June for an undisclosed amount, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Over the years, LVMH has expanded its portfolio to include labels such as high-end jeweler Bulgari, watchmaker TAG Heuer and champagne brands Moet & Chandon and Dom Perignon.
The LVMH Hotel Management division will operate the 39-room Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France. The hotel, located on Flamands Beach, includes the Isle de France Spa and the restaurant Las Case d’Isle, according to the hotel website.
The hotel division’s portfolio includes the Cheval Blanc in Courchevel, the White 1921 hotel in Saint Tropez on the French Riviera and the Maisons Cheval Blanc, which is in development in the Maldives.
Next year the company is expected to open the Cheval Blanc Samaritaine in Paris, located in the 1933 Art Deco building of the historic Parisian department store La Samaritaine.
Researcher says [Jamaican] gov’t can’t be trusted to manage pegged exchange rate
From G-Jamaica
The lead researcher on an exchange rate study, says the governments in countries like Jamaica cannot be trusted to manage a pegged exchange rate.
According to Dr Vanus James, a pegged exchange rate means the giving up of monetary policy.
Monetary policy involves controlling the supply of money for the purpose of promoting economic growth and stability and is usually undertaken by the central bank.
But James says given the corruption of regional governments such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago they cannot be trusted to institute monetary controls in the absence of monetary policy.
James made the comments as he presented a report on a research looking at the relationship between Jamaica’s exchange rate regime and economic performance.
He has found that a floating exchange rate instead of a fixed one is the way to go for Jamaica.
According to him the best approach is to operate a managed float under conditions in which the policymaker tackles the problems of expensive imports and industrialisation.
The study was commissioned by the Edward Seaga Research Institute.
Seaga, a former Prime Minister and Finance Minister, has mooted a system of pegged exchange rate.
For more: http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=46899
Radio is not dying says One Movement FM president
Fools Gold By Sat Bisla (President & Publisher, One Movement FM)
With what device, streaming service, social media network or the plethora of digital touch-points are you connected? Everything is cool and hlp and a “must-have.” In fact, some of us are gullible enough to think that If we’re not connected, or a part of the ‘ flavor of the month”, we’re not cool – but remember, being cool doesn’t necessarily pay the bills for most common folk!
We’ve led ourselves into thinking that certain information is essential and true without digging into the facts on our own. Some of us tend to believe almost anything we see, and hear, or base it on both – ‘HEARSAY!”
I remember a number of years ago there were quite a few people saying that the days of radio and the record labels were over – It was all about technology, that was the future, the savior, the be all and end all. However, when the power goes out, the battery dies, or there’s some other kind of major malfunction, then technology doesn’t seem so attractive.
I cannot think of one radio station signal that has gone dark; sure, they may have had a format change…but I can think of many dozens of technology companies that have come and gone In just the past few years alone. Many people “tune out” this fact!
Most record companies – music companies as they are known in most cases today, both major and independent – are gaining strength, and that trend in many countries seems to be gaining momentum. And that’s music to many of our ears!
Sure, I’m giving generalizations to the aforementioned, but I’ve done my research. No, I didn’t go to a website, get an email or text about it, or base It on hearsay; but
rather, I have been taking face-to-face meetings and engaging in actual conversation with those who are shaping the future of our business.
Perception is reality, but perception Is also deception. Whilst we all probably like a bit of bling – GOLD, I’m hopeful that most of us prefer to have real GOLD as opposed to ‘FOOL’S GOLD!”
As we evolve into the future, let’s remember to always dig (Into the facts). This way you don’t end up with FOOL’S GOLD, but hopefully something a lot more valuable. A bit of work or research may be short-term pain for long-term gain, as opposed to the reverse!
For more: http://www.onemovementfm.com/magazine/Vol8_072413/magazine/Vol8_072413.html
