iNews Briefs & Community Events
Community Events
APRIL 29
Amin Mohammed Memorial Steel Band Competition
The Amin Mohammed Memorial Steel Band Competition is Wednesday (29 Apr) at Mary Miller Hall at 630pm.
Police Welfare Committee Fundraiser
The Police Welfare Committee is inviting all government departments to a competition against the RCIPS in a singing, dancing, cook off and karaoke contest on Wednesday (29 Apr) at 530pm at the Mango Tree Restaurant and Lounge.
Boundaries Commission Bodden Town Meeting
The Boundaries Commission is hosting a public meeting at Bodden Town Primary School on Wednesday (29 Apr) at 7pm.
Basic food hygiene course
Certification courses in basic food hygiene are being offered by the Department of Environmental Health. The next meeting is Wednesday (29 Apr) from 9am until 4pm. For more information, call the DEH at 949-6696.
Poetry Festival Night
Will take place tomorrow Wednesday April 29th at Books&books, 6-9 pm.
Come to enjoy what some of most talented poets and performers on Island have to share at Cayman Islands Ever-first Poetry Festival.
Filipino charged in Cayman Islands with 4 counts of burglary
On the 23rd April 2015 a 44 year old Filipino national was arrested and charged with 4 counts of burglary at 4 commercial premises in George Town and Bodden Town. The burglaries occurred between 26th November 2014 and 26th March 2015. The burglaries were reported from:
- Clean and Tidy Beauty Salon, Eastern Avenue
- Paige and Co Beauty Salon, Pasadora Place
- Da Station Bar, Shamrock Road
- Digicel, Countryside
The accused will appear before the court later today, Tuesday 28th April 2015.
Mexico to make generic drugs available to Caribbean neighbors
From Latin American Herald Tribune
SAN JUAN – Mexico will expand access to lower-cost generic medications for more than 17 million people in the Caribbean region under a Memorandum of Understanding signed last week, the Caribbean Community said Monday.
The agreement is also expected to provide support for the establishment of the Caribbean Regulatory System, hosted by the Caribbean Public Health Agency, or CARPHA, representing 16 countries and eight territories.
“This cooperation will help strengthen the Caribbean’s regulatory framework, remove entry barriers and facilitate access to medicines at a lower cost,” CARPHA executive director James Hospedales said during last Thursday’s signing ceremony.
Hospedales signed the MoU alongside Mikel Arriola, head of Mexico’s Federal Commission for Protection from Sanitary Risks.
“This level of cooperation with the Caribbean is unprecedented and gives added value to health policy in the region,” according to the CARICOM statement.
CARPHA members are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bermuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bonaire, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Martin, Saba, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and the British Virgin Islands.
For more: http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2385252&CategoryId=14092
Peaceful Moment in the Cayman Islands
By Stingray City From CNN
Peaceful moment when girl 11 years old held massive stingray for the first time in the Cayman Islands. kristin is a native of the islands, but was always use to holding smaller stingrays. For her 11th birthday she had the opportunity to hold one of the largest southern stingrays at the park. It was the moment she closed her eyes and took it all in. Her dream finally came to life as the stingray gently moved in closer, and with a kiss it was all over. (Image submitted by: www.stingraycitycaymanislands.com)
Disney wins ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ copyright case
By Acsilyn Miyazaki From Movie News Guide
Disney won a copyright infringement suit against an author claiming credits for a scene in “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
The author alleged that it was his idea showed in the scene of “Pirates of the Caribbean” where living skeletons transformed under the moonlight. The author tried to wrangle billions from the box office hit after his claim but failed to pursue after a federal judge ruled that the “alert line” of the company did not properly cancelled a settlement agreement.
The author identified as Royce Mathew sued Disney for the franchise of “Pirates of the Caribbean” in different lawsuits which started in 2005. Mathew dismissed his first attempt against the company and sued Disney again in 2006. However, he backed down from the case after the company said they had independently created the “the unique supernatural elements that involves pirates transforming and turning into living skeletons under the moonlight due to a hideous curse affecting them.”
The Hollywood Reporter said that Mathew has signed a release form after withdrawing his lawsuit against Disney’s franchise, “Pirates of the Caribbean”. However, when Disney started publishing more books including modified versions of theme park art credited to various artists, Mathew started to be suspicious once more.
When Mathew filed another lawsuit in 2013, he alleged that Disney tampered and altered the artwork. He claimed Disney did this with the purpose of making people believe that it had created the elements of transforming pirates into living skeletons under the moonlight independently in the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
The case against Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” was first filed in Florida and was re-filed in New York and was transferred to California. However, before getting close to the issue on whether or not Mathew’s work has been stolen by Disney or having it protected, Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled that he has to allege notice rescission after signing a release form during the second lawsuit he filed.
Disney was also accused by Mathew in a letter of fraud in 2009 where he followed up with messages through an alert line, said The Hollywood Reporter. This had Disney reply in advance before charges and complaints were filed.
For more: http://www.movienewsguide.com/disney-wins-pirates-caribbean-copyright-case/62936
Cayman Islands DOE officers get increased powers
On April 22nd to coincide with Earth Day officers with the Department of Environment have been given “the power to arrest, to detain, and they will have equipment authorised to them to effect that in the most expeditious manner”, said Minister of Environment Hon. Wayne Panton.
These powers were obtained under the newly-enacted National Conservation Law (Part6).
Panton said two new Conservation Officers will be added by the end of May, adding to the five already with the DOE.
Eastern Caribbean States take aim at youth unemployment
From Latin American Herald Tribune
SAN JUAN – The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States is working on a plan to reduce youth unemployment, the Dominica government said Monday.
Throughout the world, the youth unemployment rate is twice that for adults, the government said in a statement.
“A young person leaving school having spent five years without a job begins to feel hopeless in the society,” said the OECS director-general, Didacus Jules.
The Dominica government did not provide details as to when the plan will be ready or what it will include.
Unemployment in Dominica stood at 20 percent in 2000, when the country’s current Dominica Labor Party administration took office. Since then, according to the statement, the government has pursued a youth initiative “to assist potential and active young business persons.”
OECS comprises Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Montserrat, with Martinique, Anguilla and British Virgin Islands as associate members.
For more: http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2385261&CategoryId=14092
Cayman Islands police warn there is no “cash for residency”
The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service Financial Crimes Unit have posted a warning saying there is no such thing as “cash for residency”.
The police are reminding the public it is not Immigration Department’s protocol to approach members of the public and ask them for cash to process residency permits.
The warning has come because allegations have been made that persons have been trying to sell residency permits to the public.
Man busted with 18 pounds of pot, crack and mushrooms at airport [NY]
By Philip Messing From New York Post
A career Bronx drug criminal on his way to the Caribbean made a rookie mistake when he packed enough drugs in his checked luggage to get the whole plane high, sources told The Post on Sunday.
“This just shows you how stupid criminals can be,” a law-enforcement source said. “You would have thought that a man of his experience would have known how this works.”
The tropical trip of Kelvin Smith went up in smoke when Port Authority police pulled him from his US Airways plane Saturday morning.
Authorities found 18 pounds of pot after an alert went off moments before the flight left La Guardia Airport, notifying them to take a closer look at his luggage. His second bag, which had already cleared the scan, had 2.8 ounces of crack and three ounces of psychedelic mushrooms, the sources said.
Smith admitted to transporting the marijuana, but insisted he didn’t have anything else. “It’s only marijuana.”
For more: http://nypost.com/2015/04/27/man-busted-with-18-pounds-of-pot-crack-and-mushrooms-at-airport/
Chartered Director Program making steady strides across Caribbean
From First Look Go-Jamaica
At the 2nd Annual General Meeting held on April 17, 2015 at the Courtyard by Marriott, CEO Desiree Gobin-Seecharan of the Caribbean Corporate Governance Institute (CCGI) boasted an upward trend in membership and the Institute’s Chartered Director Program – the first of such kind in the Caribbean, and the fourth in the world. “We are excited about our membership growth, we experienced a 66% increase in individual membership and growth of over 30% in organizational membership to achieve 134 members, as we move into our third year of operations” said CEO Desiree Gobin Seecharan.
The first cohort in CCGI’s Certificate in Corporate Governance, the first of three steps in its Chartered Director Program, will complete the programme in June 2015 by demonstrating requisite knowledge, through an examination. The organization has also made significant strides in its accreditation process. “The Institute has successfully completed all steps towards being registered with the Accreditation Council of T&T (ACTT). The Institute thereby does not only comply with laws and regulations, but also demonstrates best practice through quality assurance and proper governance of the regions gold standard in Corporate Governance education” said Chairman Dr Kravatzky.
For more: http://go-jamaica.com/pressrelease/item.php?id=4524
Grimsby man jailed over £200m cocaine luxury yacht plot
From Grimsby Telegraph
A Grimsby man has been jailed for eight years for his role in a £200 million cocaine smuggling operation he thought would be like a Caribbean holiday.
Thomas Britteon, 28, of Convamore Road, was one of three men who were caught aboard The Makayabella – a yacht loaded with a tonne of cocaine – in the Irish Sea in September.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard, along with John Powell, 71, and Benjamin Mellor, 35, both from West Yorkshire, he pleaded guilty to having more than 13,000 euro worth of cocaine for sale or supply and having it on the yacht for the purpose of importation.
Window cleaner Britteon had been offered just over £14,000 – 20,000 euro – for his role. The wider operation was said to be worth more than £200 million.
Powell’s 47-year-old son, Stephen Powell – who was jailed at Leeds Crown Court for 16 years last December for conspiracy to import the drugs – was described by Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin as being the brains and the money behind the crime.
The court heard John Powell bought The Makayabella in March 2014 on instructions from his son and was to be paid a six-figure sum for this part in the operation.
More than 1,000kg of cocaine, packed into 41 bales, had been collected from the coast of Venezuala in August 2014.
The trio had planned to rendezvous with a smaller vessel the Sea Breeze 16 miles off Rosslare a month later, with the aim of bringing the drugs back to the UK. However, the Makayabella ran low on diesel and was under observation drifting at sea for two days.
When they were eventually boarded by the Irish Navy, the trio had run out of food and diesel, were low on drinking water and were so hungry, Mellor had begun to take the drug to repress his appetite.
Garda Inspector Fergal Foley said: “To be quite blunt they were delighted to see the Navy.”
He told the court the movements of the Makayabella yacht in the Caribbean were reported to the Maritime Analysis And Operations Centre after the RNLI came to the rescue of the Sea Breeze 18 miles off Rosslare, on September 18.
The vessel had run out of petrol but several drums of diesel were found on board.
Stephen Powell was also found on the ship.
A US naval vessel also observed the Makayabella appeared to be floundering 450 nautical miles off the coast and reported this to the US Maritime Information Centre.
Backtracking information on the Makayabella to the Caribbean, it was discovered that Mellor had to be rescued in the Caribbean where he was found floating in a dinghy and under the influence of cocaine.
Acting on this information, a boarding party came aboard the ship on September 23, 217 nautical miles off the south coast of Ireland.
The three immediately confessed their crime and the 41 bales of cocaine were seized.
Powell was jailed for ten years and Mellor – who was to be paid £71,636.35 – 100,000 euro – was jailed for eight years.
Judge Ó Donnabháin said: “This is a very significant crime in which the accused were involved knowingly.”
Ciarán O’Loughlin for Powell said the 71-year-old had a lot health difficulties and had no previous convictions of any kind. His father was a policeman.
Alice Fawsett said Mellor, who broke his wrist on the voyage had been using drugs since the age of 12, and embarked on the operation to pay off a drugs debt, seeing this as the solution to all his problems.
Michael O’Higgins said Britteon was working as a window cleaner when he met Stephen Powell and he agreed to sign up for what sounded to him like a Caribbean holiday.
IMAGE: ON GUARD: Navy personnel stand guard over the bales of cocaine taken from onboard the yacht Makayabella.
Cement makers reveal glut of 48%; become hub for Caribbean
From Dominican Today
Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic cement-makers (Adocem) on Monday revealed a glut in the market with a 48% excess and low prices.
Adocem president Carlos Emilio González provided the figures at a luncheon to release the Annual Report 2014. He called the oversupply is high very low prices during the last three years.
He said with prices below the current ones (slightly more than RD$200 depending on location) the cement industry’s development would be unsustainable.
Gonzalez said since February the price of a bag of cement has fallen 25% in hardware stores from RD$ 310 to RD$235 with tax included, “this drop is the result of a natural market process with overcapacity and highly competitiveness.”
“As an industry we’ve been investing heavily in initiatives that support productivity and efficiency, to reduce this impact however, with prices below current levels, to continue operating as we’ve been doing would be unsustainable,” he said.
The business leader noted however that the country has become a cement exporting hub in the Caribbean, “a country which processes cement for all these countries.”
Gonzalez said the country’s annual cement production capacity is 6.9 million tons, adding that 5.4 million tons were produced in 2014, compared to 4.5 million in 2013.
Sen. Grassley pledges push for ‘Supreme Court TV’
By Tony Mauro, from Legal Times
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Monday he plans to push ahead with legislation to require the U.S. Supreme Court to allow cameras to broadcast its proceedings.
“I believe that we could enhance people’s understanding of the court system by having Supreme Court TV,” Grassley said at a news conference at the National Press Club, where he outlined his agenda as the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “We’re going to push it.”
Grassley was referring to the Cameras in the Courtroom Act of 2015, which he and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, introduced in March. It is similar to legislation that has been repeatedly proposed in the Senate and House of Representatives.
“I’m a firm believer in it,” Grassley said, even though “one or two justices” have said that cameras would roll into the court “over their dead bodies.” Grassley joked, “It happens that I don’t want those two justices to die.”
The late Chief Justice Warren Burger and retired Justice David Souter made those admonitions, though in his later years Burger softened his remarks, fearing that journalists would take the comment literally as an invitation to do him in.
Grassley cautioned that because the cameras issue divides Democrats and Republicans to some degree, passage is “not quite as easily predictable” as other issues with bipartisan support.
When it became apparent last fall that Grassley would become chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the new Congress, advocates of broadcast access were hopeful he would continue his long-standing support for the issue.
In a National Law Journal column earlier this month, Grassley said, “To me, it’s a miscarriage of justice that the 20th century courtroom camera ban still exists in the 21st century at the federal level.”
Commentary: Caribbean men’s health
By Christopher Famous From Caribbean News Now
Over the last few months I have attended a growing number of funerals of Caribbean men of various races and ages. Seemingly almost every other week, someone I know or know about, is collapsing suddenly and dying.
Often, too often, this stems from heart failure.
For many of us, including myself, we have allowed ourselves to become unhealthy or take up unhealthy eating and lifestyle habits of eating way too much sugar and carbohydrates. Refusing to drink enough water daily.
At other times, persons have passed on due to various forms of cancer, which in itself is a more long term suffering. But which also could eventually lead to death.
Yes, we all have to cross River Jordan someday, and somehow. Yet we have an opportunity to enjoy a bit more of life before we cross.
We have that opportunity because we have the ability to get regularly checked or screened for different forms of cancers. Yet many of us refuse to go to the doctor until, or unless, we are near death.
We shun prostate exams because we do not wish anyone “poking us in the backside”. We shun colonoscopies because it may be too painful.
We do not wear sun block because islanders don’t need that. We shun every form of cancer screening because “that just is not for men.”
I prefer a momentary discomfort than a permanent death sentence that was avoidable.
So today I reach out to the men of Bermuda, to pick up the phone and book your appointment to have yourself fully screened for every and any form of cancer.
This includes breast cancer. Yes, men get breast cancer as well. Do not be fooled into thinking that breast cancer only happens to women. Book an appointment to get a mammogram.
Let us cut back on the red meat and sugars. Exercise more and stress less. Most of all, have no shame in the game of escaping pain.
Let us become more aware of our health my brothers. We have a lot of life to live. Our families need us and the Caribbean needs us.
There is a reason women outlive us. They do not fear getting checked.
For more: http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/headline-Commentary%3A-Caribbean-men’s-health-25876.html
Najib’s days are numbered: Key Umno leaders already scrutinizing
From Maylasia Chronicle
They did not accuse Mohd Najib of complicity in Altantuya’s murder but he swore by the Quran repeatedly that he did not even know the Mongolian victim. Among other things Dr Mahathir noted that 1MDB has a paid-up capital of RM1 million with neither assets nor collaterals ended up borrowing 42,000 times more than its capital.
See also:
Former Umno division vice-chief lodges report against 1MDB, names Najib, two others
By Tan Yi Liang From the Star Online
PETALING JAYA: Former Batu Kawan Umno division vice-chairman Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan has lodged a report against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, in his capacity as chairman of the board of advisers of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), and two others.
The two are 1MDB chairman Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin and its president, Arul Kanda Kandasamy.
Khairuddin, who filed his report on Friday at the Dang Wangi police station, called for a thorough investigation to be conducted into Najib’s written reply in the Dewan Rakyat on Mar 11 with regard to 1MDB.
He also called on the police to investigate certain claims made in a Sarawak Report article pertaining to 1MDB’s savings and assets.
In a phone conversation with The Star Online, Khairuddin maintained that if there is an element of truth in the Sarawak Report article, investigations have to be conducted.
“If there is an element of truth in what is said in the Sarawak Report expose, an investigation must be conducted. 1MDB must be accountable to the rakyat, definitely. We are the taxpayers, 1MDB is wholly owned by the Finance Ministry,” he said.
He denied having a political motive behind the filing of the police report.
Khairuddin was sacked from his post as Batu Kawan Umno division vice-chairman on Feb 28.
He lodged two police reports against 1MDB prior to his sacking.
For more: http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2015/04/24/Former-division-chief-lodges-report/
See also iNews Cayman story & links under “1MDB settled: Was it Cayman, Ananda, or private investors?” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/1mdb-settled-was-it-cayman-ananda-or-private-investors/
Realtors Association of Jamaica to be model for Caribbean
From Jamaica Observer
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Howard Johnson Jr, chairman of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Committee of the Realtors Association of Jamaica, on Monday said its MLS system has revolutionised the real estate industry in the island.
In fact, Jamaican realtors have been asked to be the model for expansion in the Caribbean.
“We have been very successful with our MLS and have been asked to be the model for them (MLS provider in Canada) gaining traction in the Caribbean region,” Johnson disclosed.
He said that, on the international level, this is a big feat for Jamaica.
Johnson insisted that Jamaica is a testimonial for their MLS provider as well as the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the international body representing more than one million members.
The MLS Committee chair said that the MLS, which was implemented five years ago, grants maximum local and international exposure to any seller.
He said with this system, properties are listed and several realtors are able to access it, resulting in a shift from the market being inventory based to being service based.
He stressed that the implementation of MLS has streamlined the real estate industry, making it more professional while providing better access.
Johnson told reporters and editors that investors are gravitating to the system, and that to date, the system has listed more than 13,000 properties.
For more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Realtors-Association-of-Jamaica-to-be-model-for-Caribbean
Scanadu raises $35M Series B to check your pee and scan your vitals
From Techcrunch
Scanadu, a health tech startup working on devices that can scan and upload medical-grade diagnostic tests to a smartphone, has raised $35 million in Series B financing.
The round was led by Chinese investment firms Fosun International and Tencent Holdings Limited, with participation from China Broadband Capital and Iglobe Partners of Singapore, as well as previous investors Relay Ventures, Redmile Group, Ame Cloud Ventures and Three Leaf Ventures. This now brings the total funding amount up to $49.7 million.
Scanadu came out of the X Prize Foundation’s Qualcomm Tricorder competition, but soon broke an Indiegogo record, raising more than $1.6 million in less than a month for the Scout, a medical device that could check for heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature.
The startup out of the NASA-Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California has since started shipping the more than 8,000 orders for the Scout and has created another device called Scanaflo, which is essentially a pee stick that can detect things like blood in urine, pregnancy and STD’s when the information is uploaded to your smartphone.
Scanadu is working with the FDA to get full approval for these devices and has so far been given the green light to test them out on individuals as “investigational devices.”
The new funding will help the startup further push these devices out in the market for testing and continue on the path to FDA approval as a hand-held medical device for commercial use.
“We continue to build out our family of products and move down the path to regulatory clearance in the U.S. and China,” Scanadu co-founder Walter De Brouwer said. “Scanadu’s mission has always been to give eight billion people access to quality healthcare via their smartphones.”
Man swims in one of America’s dirtiest waterways for Earth Day
By Brian Koerber from Mashable
IMAGE: BEBETO MATTHEWS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oh the horror.
The armpit of New York City, aka the Gowanus Canal, is by far the most disgusting, infested and polluted embarrassments of the city. In 2010, the EPA designated the old transportation route turned dumping ground a superfund site.
No one in their right mind should so much as look at the canal, but on Wednesday, activist Christopher Swain swam in the canal, which has been dubbed America’s dirtiest waterway, to raise awareness for the polluted mess on Earth Day.
Although Swain intended to swim 1.8 miles of the canal, he was forced to land a few blocks sooner, after police asked him to stop due to inclement weather, CBS reports.
Swain wore a wetsuit, cap, goggles and a water cream to protect his body. He did, however, get some of the “water” in his mouth.
“The water was 50 degrees, it tasted like mud, poop, ground-up grass, detergent, gasoline it tasted like mud, poop, ground-up grass, detergent, gasoline ,” Swain said as he exited the water. As a precaution, Swain gargled hydrogen peroxide to kill whatever was in his mouth.
Many urged Swain not to swim in the canal, including the EPA, but the clean water activist was determined to bring massive attention to the waterway. Swain told CBS that the canal is polluted with “every kind of toxic chemical and metal that we’ve been able to produce in the last 150 years 200 years.”
In January, police seized more than 100 bunnies near the canal that were infested with syphilis. In 2007, Scienceline reported that one New York City College student found gonorrhea in the canal.
