Archive for September 25th, 2008
Death of investment banks
(The Economist): The radical overhaul of the City of London in 1986 was dubbed the Big Bang. The brutal reshaping of Wall Street might be better described as the Big Implosion. The “bulge-bracket” brokerage model—the envy of moneymen everywhere before the crunch—has collapsed in on itself. Even more humiliating for the Green Berets of the markets, the new force in finance is the government. Go to article
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Web running out of addresses
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(Times Online): The world is about to run out of the internet addresses that allow computers to identify each other and communicate, the man who invented the system has told The Times. Vint Cerf, the “father of the internet” and one of the world’s leading computer scientists, said that businesses and consumers needed to act now to switch to the next generation of net addresses.Go to article
Haitian children sold as slaves
(The Guardian): On market day in Dajabón, a bustling Dominican town on the Haitian border, you can pick up many bargains if you know where to look. You can haggle the price of a live chicken down to 40 pesos (72p); wrestle 10lb of macaroni from 60 to 50 pesos; and, with some discreet inquiries, buy a Haitian child for the equivalent of £54.22. "People know who the scouts are. You just tell them what kind of child you are looking for and they can bring across whatever it is that you want." Go to article
Drugs found after stop check
(CNS): A 28-year-old man has been arrested after the car he was driving was stopped and searched by Uniform Support Group officers on North Sound Way in George Town at 1:30 am Wednesday, 24 September. Police say officers found a quantity of ganja and cocaine and arrested the man on suspicion of possession of ganja and cocaine with intent to supply and consumption of a controlled drug. The man remains in police custody at this time.
Anyone with information about crime taking place in the Cayman Islands should contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling Crime Stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.
US Political Battle Moves to Bermuda
(Wall Street Journal):As John McCain and Barack Obama trade barbs over whose economic policies would better help swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, a divide has also emerged in their positions on Bermuda, the resort island nation home to many Americans seeking sunshine and lower taxes. Sen. Obama seeks to raise the rate that has allowed the island to become an offshore insurance capital. Go to article
Caribbean leaders want reform of int’l finance system
(caribbean360.com): Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding says the restructuring of the international financial system must move ahead more urgently, and he’s getting support in his call from one other Caribbean leader. Mr Golding has insisted that reform is necessary to ensure that more focus is given to countries like his which, although regarded as middle-income, are still challenged by poverty. Go to article
Art classes for kids
(CNS): The National Gallery is offering courses geared towards children aged seven through 11 with a new course, Art Elements for Kids, a learning forum that will touch on the basics of all levels of art and design. This is an art class for kids who want to strengthen their existing art skills in addition to increasing their knowledge of art and design, the National Gallery said.
Classes will focus on the elements of design such as texture, line and colour, and kids will explore different materials and forms of art while learning and having fun. Instructor and Outreach Officer for the National Gallery, Kiran Denis, holds an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Guelph, Ontario, and a Degree in Education from the University of Edinburgh. With many years of teaching experience, she is sure to bring a fun and dynamic learning environment to your kids.
The scheduled course is as stated below:
Art Elements for Kids Monday’s 3:30pm to 5:00pm
CI$200.00 or CI$180.00/ Gallery Members
Eight weeks (Sept. 29, Oct. 6, 13, 20, 27, Nov. 3, 17, 24th)
For more information or to register for this fun and exciting class, contact Kiran Denis outreach.ng@candw.ky or 947-0853
Hawkeye offers insight
(CNS): Actor, director, TV host and writer Alan Alda went down a storm last night as he made his debut appearance in front of a crowd of Cayman fans. Speaking about his life, near death experience and the strangeness of fame, literally hundreds of people packed into the cinema at Camana Bay to hear him talk about his latest book.
Hosted by Books and Books at the Hollywood Theatre Cinema, the award winning former MASH star who played Hawkeye Pierce for some eleven years spoke about the rigours of his profession, the dangers of celebrity and how he almost died at the top of a mountain in Chile. Promoting his most recent memoir Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself, and reflecting on his previous memoir, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed, Alda regaled the audience with candid and hilarious snippets from his life and explained from where the title for his new book hailed.
“When you give advice we’re all really just talking to ourselves,” he said. “It’s about trying to figure out what we would actually do in those circumstances.” He explained that during his life he’d had to give advice at what he considered inappropriate places as once he became a celebrity he was asked to speak at various events that he said he had no business being at.
Reflecting on what he said to doctors, psychiatrists, physicists and even Thomas Jefferson experts, he said he had been searching for some meaning to his life ever since he ran into some serious intestinal trouble while visiting astronomers for his science programme at the top of a mountain.
After walking among the audience and answering a few questions, Alda then patiently sat and signed literally hundreds of copies of his book that Cayman fans had bought as they queued all the way around Camana Bay.
Alda’s appearance was part of the visiting authors series and Candace Bushnell, the famous creator of Sex in the City, will be then next writer to make a guest appearance on Saturday 4 October. Tickets are available with the purchase of her latest book One Fifth Avenue. Local authors Fred Burton and Dick& Felix Francis will also be appearing at Books and Books on 1 and 5 October respectively.
Con man charged and remanded in custody
(CNS): Following his arrest Eric Lindsey Ebanks, of West Bay, appeared in court on Tuesday, 23 September charged with obtaining property by deception, criminal trespass and consumption of a controlled drug. Arrested on Friday 19 September by West Bay police officers, Ebanks is accused of knocking on people’s homes asking for money across all districts on Grand Cayman.
Although police said accounts from residents vary slightly in each case, the common theme involved him knocking on the door then asking for money for gas.
Meanwhile in the early hours of Wednesday morning police arrested a 28-year-old man on drugs offences after the car he was driving was stopped and searched by Uniform Support Group officers. The team carried out the check on North Sound Way in George Town at 1.30am 24 September. Officers found a quantity of ganja and cocaine and arrested the man on suspicion of possession of ganja and cocaine with intent to supply and consumption of a controlled drug. The man remains in police custody at this time.
Anyone with information about crime taking place in the Cayman Islands should contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling crime stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.
Judge bailed as arrest shocks
(CNS): The shock waves of the arrest of Grand Court judge Justice Alex Henderson, who has now been released on bail, have reached his native Canada, where former colleagues have expressed their surprise. Describing him as a household name in British Columbia (BC), where he was a Supreme Court justice, the Canadian media reported that those who worked with him there were in disbelief.
Brian Hiebert, managing partner of Davis LLP, where Henderson worked between 1981 and 1995, told the Canadian media Henderson was a man of integrity.
"From my personal interaction with him, he was always a person of tremendous integrity, so this is quite a shock," said Hiebert, from Davis LLP’s office in Vancouver, characterising him as a "very well-respected, very highly regarded litigation lawyer" in BC. "He did a lot of high-profile cases, both civil litigation and criminal litigation. By all accounts, he was very well respected as a lawyer and as a judge," he said.
Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm told CBC News that he was "astounded" by Henderson’s arrest, adding that the Henderson he knew was beyond reproach and had no dark side.
As the silence over what had happened in Cayman remained deafening, CNS contacted various members of the legal community for comment and also tried to establish who is representing the judge, but has so far been unsuccessful. During their respective announcements to the media on Wednesday morning, both Governor Stuart Jack and Senior Investigating officer Martin Bridger gave very little away concerning the details of the arrest.
“As this process moves forward, we are dealing with many difficult, multi-faceted issues. As such there are times when some information simply cannot be shared without prejudging certain outcomes or jeopardizing aspects of the investigation,” the Governor said, adding that the arrest had nothing to do with any judgements Henderson had made. Bridger indicated it was directly connected with the original special investigation surrounding corruption allegations made against Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ennis and publisher Desmond Seales. Bridger, however, noted it was not related to the so-called break-in of the Cayman Net News premises.
Jack stated that the implications relating to the judge’s status and pay were being assessed by Chief Justice Anthony Smellie with regard to the provisions in the constitution. Henderson is one of four Grand Court judges, a figure currently down to two with the suspension of Justice Priya Levers, who is facing a tribunal regarding undisclosed complaints. While the Governor sought to reassure the community that this would not impair the course of justice, given that 50 per cent of the country’s Grand Court judges are out of action, there are serious concerns that the justice system will be in trouble.
Henderson came to Cayman in 2003 following his retirement from BC’s Supreme Court and a long and respected legal career. Henderson was often hired in his native country by the Crown to prosecute special criminal cases, including the so-called Bingogate scandal of the early 1990s, which brought down former NDP cabinet minister Dave Stupich and forced the resignation of then premier Mike Harcourt.
He was the special prosecutor who went after former BC premier Bill Bennett on charges of illegal insider trading in connection with a fortuitous sale of shares in Doman Industries, just before the company announced it was pulling out of a merger deal, though Bennett was acquitted. He also represented the BC Law Society in a case against former Vancouver mayor Jack Volrich on allegations of misusing client funds.
Henderson came to Cayman as an acting judge in the Grand Court in 2000. He then moved to the Supreme Court in the Turks and Caicos Islands where he was acting Chief Justice. He returned to Cayman in 2003 as a Grand Court judge. He is co-author of “The Business of Crime”, a report to government on organised crime and money laundering, and co-editor of “Criminal Jury Instructions”, a reference book used by Canadian judges in instructing juries.