Archive for August 18th, 2010
Work permit moratorium for builders in Bermuda
(The Royal Gazette): Nine construction companies have been "red-carded" by the Department of Immigration for failing to hire Bermudians. And a "moratorium" was put on all applications for masons, carpenters, landscape gardeners and cleaners. Labour and Immigration Minister David Burch said his department had received a considerable number of complaints, particularly because of construction companies’ "reluctance to hire Bermudians". "As one example, we have received information on a master mason who had applied to ten different construction companies and only one called him back. Happily, the firm who did, hired him and are quite happy with his craftsmanship."
Dead state employees in Jamaica still on payroll
(Jamaica Gleaner): The Public Sector Transformation Unit (PSTU) says it has uncovered several discrepancies in the public sector, including salary payments to dead workers on the Government’s payroll. PSTU Chairman Peter Moses (left) made the revelation while speaking at yesterday’s sitting of Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee, which is reviewing the PSTU’s recommendations for modernising the public sector. "There are too many people employed, too many people being paid, people who are being paid who are not alive anymore – we have unearthed a lot," Moses told the committee. (Photo by Philip Hamilton, Gleaner Writer)
CITA backs Shetty hospital
(CNS): Given the dire circumstances facing the local tourism sector, the president of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association says the body is throwing its support behind the plan by Dr Devi Shetty to build a medical facility here. Narayana Cayman University Medical Centre is being heralded as the dawn of medical tourism on the islandand CITA’s Harri Lalli said the project could inject millions of dollars back into the Cayman economy and would give the industry a chance of real recovery. He said he hoped the project would get started very soon. An MOU was signed in April between Shetty and the Cayman government, paving the way for a major medical facility.
Helicopter spots missing crew & fishing boat
(CNS): Update — Following reports yesterday that a search operation was underway for a fishing boat that had not been seen for a week, the boat was located by the police helicopter. The Renegade was found in the Pickle Bank area when crew members, Jorge Diaz and Westley Dixon, spotted the RCIPS Air Support Unit and let off a distress flair. The Joint Marine Unit vessel Guardian headed to the location to assist the crew. The boat was safely towed to Cayman Brac by the law enforcement vessel which had officers from the RCIP, Customs, Immigration and medics from the Health Services.
The two men on board the Renegade were in good health spent the night in Cayman Brac.
The search operation began after the boat and crew had not been spotted for a week after ehading to Pickle Banks around 50 miles north of Little Cayman where the men wer found.
District Admin minister to hold public meetings
(CNS): Deputy Premier and District Administration Minister, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, is holding public meetings on the Sister Islands next week but is asking the public on both Cayman Brac and Little Cayman to come during working hours. A release from the ministry says that on the agenda is its annual budget, which in this financial year included $900,000 towards a new $9 million hurricane shelter on the Bluff, which has caused some controversy. According to the plans for the building, the emergency shelter, which will be located east and adjacent to the playing field on the Bluff, will consist of a main hall and 80 private rooms with semi-private bathrooms.
O’Connor Connolly told CNS previously that it will be completed over a three-year period.
The Brac meeting will be held at the Aston Rutty Centre on Thursday, 26 August, at 9am. The meeting on Little Cayman will be at the PWD Workers Accommodations Building on Friday, 27 August, at 10am. Chief Officer Kearney Gomez and Acting District Commissioner Mark Tibbetts will also attend.
Pageant contestants make official debut this weekend
(CNS): The six young women competing for the Miss Cayman Islands crown will be officially be introduced on Saturday when their sponsors and charities will be announced at the Platform Launch at the Westin. The contestants will also be on Cardinal Avenue on Friday lunchtime for a sidewalk ticket sale and photo opportunity. With money tight for this year’s competition organizers are hoping the community will come out and support the event by buying tickets and joining in the silent auction. Part of the proceeds will be donated to the charities chosen by the pageant entrants.
Local rum cake king receives Jamaican honour
(CNS): Captain Robert Hamaty, founder and managing director of the Tortuga Rum Company, has been named a recipient of Jamaica’s 2010 National Honour of the Order of Distinction in the Rank of Officer (OD). The recognition announced on Jamaica Independence Day, was conferred by the Governor-General, Sir Patrick Allen, for Captain Hamaty’s service in to tourism & hospitality and manufacturing. “This is a great honor and I am deeply touched by this recognition,” Hamaty who lives in the Cayman Islands said.
Google chief: My fears for Generation Facebook
(The Independent): Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, has issued a stark warning over the amount of personal data people leave on the internet and suggested that many of them will be forced one day to change their names in order to escape their cyber past. In a startling admission from a man whose company has made billions by perfecting the art of hoarding, storing and retrieving information on us, Mr Schmidt suggested that the enormous quantity of detail we leave online may not be such a good thing after all. He said that young people will need to go as far as changing their identities if they are to truly erase what they have left online.
CIMA makes deal with US banking regulators
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) and the four main federal banking regulators in the United States have formalised procedures for exchanging supervisory information on US and Cayman Islands banks and banking institutions that have operations in each others’ jurisdictions. The agreement came into effect on Friday, 6 August, after several months of negotiations. According to CIMA the agreement will make it easier for both the Cayman and US regulators to access pertinent information andsupervisory assistance from each other. This in turn will facilitate more effect supervision of the entities for which they have overall responsibility, when they have operations in the other jurisdiction.
Government to ban rogue wheel clampers in UK
(Sky-news): Wheel clampers will be banned from operating on private land following concerns about the bullying tactics of rogue operators. The UK government has announced plans for a new law which would instead allow landowners to fine people if they breach clearly advertised restrictions. Home Office minister Lynne Featherstone told Sky News: "The coalition government has an agreement and a commitment to tackle rogue wheel clampers on private land and that’s what we’re doing. The decision is to ban them." Claiming that clamping is a big issue due to the amount of complaints MPs receive over rogue activity, she said government had been thinking about starting an appeal court for motorists, but at a cost of £2m, it was decided an outright ban was best. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)