Archive for August 17th, 2009
Bolt sets sights on 9.4 seconds for 100m
(BBC): Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt is targeting the 9.4 second barrier for the 100m after setting a new world record at the World Championships. The 22-year-old recorded a time of 9.58 seconds as he raced to a sensational victory in Berlin on Sunday. Bolt shaved 0.11 off the time he set at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. "I think it will stop at 9.4but you never know," said the Jamaican runner. "I don’t run for world records. I’ll just keep on working," said Bolt, who will also compete in the 200m.
Fewer sexual rights for Afghan women
(The Guardian): Afghanistan has quietly passed a law permitting Shia men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their husbands’ sexual demands, despite international outrage over an earlier version of the legislation which President Hamid Karzai had promised to review. The new final draft of the legislation also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers, and requires women to get permission from their husbands to work. "It also effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying ‘blood money’ to a girl who was injured when he raped her," the US charity Human Rights Watch said.
Top immigration job filled
(CNS): One of the Cayman Islands government’s most important top jobs has gone to Linda Evans, who will become the country’s first female Chief Immigration Officer when she takes up the new post next month. Chosen by an interview panel from seven applicants, Evans will be retuning to the department where she began her civil service career. The panel was chaired by Franz Manderson, the former CIO and Deputy Chief Secretary, and included other senior civil servants as well as Taron Jackman, a partner with Deloitte who noted that Evans’ own private sector experience would be advantageous.
“I am confident that Ms Evans will do an excellent job. From a private sector perspective it is good that the new Chief Immigration Officer has private sector as well as government experience; she will better understand our issues,” added Jackman.
Evans started her civil service career as a junior officer in the Immigration Department and went on to hold various positions in the civil service until she went into the private sector. She held senior management positions at Caledonian Bank and Trust Ltd., and Appleby Hunter and Bailhache (now Appleby), and after five years she returned to the public sector as Assistant Deputy Chief Secretary (Deputy Chief Officer) – a position she held for the last two years.
Manderson said he was extremely pleased to have such a capable person appointed to the position. “Ms Evans is a highly qualified young Caymanian with a valuable blend of private and public sector experience. She brings an excellent track record of managing large numbers of staff and delivering results,” he added.
Evans beat out candidates from the public sector, private sector and overseas, none of whom were serving members of the Immigration Department. The post was advertised locally over a period of five weeks and, along with Jackman and Manderson, the panel which chose Evans, also included the Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs’ Deputy Chief Officer Eric Bush, and Strategic Adviser to the Chief Secretary Peter Gough.
Evans said she was looking forward to working hand-in-hand with senior management and staff in taking the department forward, despite the economic challenges facing the country.
“I recognise that we will be expected to do more with less, but I see this as an opportunity for the department to discover new and innovative ways of conducting business and improving efficiency,” she said, adding that she owed a debt of gratitude to all the people who mentored and supported her during her career.
“The fact that I report to Mr Manderson, who held the post of Chief Immigration Officer for the past five years, is comforting to me. I know I can rely on his full support.”
Evans has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Miami, and a master’s degree in organisational management from the University of Tennessee.
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