Archive for May 31st, 2010
Armed men invade home
(CNS): George Town detectives are now investigating an aggravated burglary which occurred in the early hours of this morning (Monday 31 May). Police said that at about 2:41 am the RCIPS received a call from the victim who stated he was robbed, in the area of Point Four Street off South Church Street, by two unknown and armed men, who forced they way into the house. The victim stated that the two men had what appeared to be a shotgun and a hand gun. No shots were fired and no one was injured as a result of the incident. The victim and his son were held at gunpoint as the offenders demanded money. They were given an undisclosed amount of cash before fleeing the scene.
More kids’ meds pulled from store shelves
(CNS): Foster’s Food Fair IGA said this morning that it has removed a number of children’s cold medicines produce by Blacksmith Brands from its stores. The medicines are part of a voluntary warning and recall in consultation with the US Food and Drug Administration and Fosters said it had proactively pulled all the affected PediaCare Children’s Medications. The affected products sold by Foster’s Food Fair IGA are: PediaCare Multi Symptom Cold 4 oz, Long Acting Cough 4oz, Decongestant 4 oz as well as Allergy and Cold. Blacksmith Brands initiated the recall as a precautionary step because the products were made at the McNeil Consumer Healthcare Fort Washington, PA plant that has been temporarily shut down.
Club offers opportunity to try sailing for free
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Sailing Club (CISC) says it will be hosting an open day this Sunday 6 June fromnoon-5pm to give people interested in learning how to sail or windsurf an opportunity to try it for free. Aside from the fact that the North Sound provides one of the best natural protected sailing locations in the Caribbean, June is said to be a great time to learn to sail. CISC sailing Director, Mike Weber said with lighter winds the beginning of June presents a great opportunity for novices to give the sport a try and is encouraging young and old to come out next weekend and test the waters.
Ofcom unveils anti-piracy policy
(BBC): Lists of Britons who infringe copyright are to be drawn up by the UK’sbiggest ISPs, under proposals from the regulator Ofcom. The plan is contained in a draft code of practice it hopes will curb copyright infringement. Names and the number of times individuals infringe will be logged. Music firms and movie studios can request details from the list so that they can decide whether to start their own action against serial infringers. However, any suspected infringers will be sent three warning letters before any action can be taken. The letters will contain "easy to understand information on the nature of the allegations made against the subscriber and on what actions a subscriber can take."
Government to exempt carers from rollover
(CNS): The chair of the Immigration Review Team has revealed that government intends to create a new special category of permits for domestic workers in a care-giving role that will be designated as ‘key employees’, bypassing the seven year rollover. Sherri Bodden-Cowan said government wanted to find a way to help people in the community who are long-term sick, elderly or disabled as they were the people who were least likely to be able to cope with a change to the carers they depended on as a result of the seven year limit. The IRT chair said the premier was determined to push through a new care-givers certificate that would enable these key workers to stay.
Drugs go up in smoke at dump
(CNS): In one the RCIPS’ regular burnings of illegal drugs seized in various operations or found wash up on the shore line, a significant amount of ganja and other substances went up in smoke at the dump on Friday, Chief Inspector Scotland said that the police had set fire to over 605lbs of ganja, almost 3lbs of cocaine and a small quantity of hash oil were destroyed. The drugs would have been worth thousands of dollars of profit for the dealers if they had made their way onto the streets. (Photos by Dennie Warren Jr)
Loopholes hard to find in latest tax proposal
(CNS): US Lawmakers have given the investment fund industry an uphill task to try to find any loopholes in a proposal to raise taxes on the profits made on investments. While lawyers have been working around-the-clock advising private equity clients on the impact, there aren’t obvious ideas left that would avoid or skirt the tax. The threat that Washington would raise taxes on the "carried interest" dollars executives earn has been looming for years but escalated in recent months and days as the government faced increasing pressure to raise money.
Local law firm founder makes UK House of Lords
(CNS): Former British Conservative minister John Maples, one of the founding partners of Cayman Islands based law firm Maples and Calder, has been given a peerage in the UK post election dissolution list. More than 50 people have been ennobled in this honours list, which includes a number of British politicians from both sides of the UK parliament. Maples founded the law firm when he was only 24 with Jim MacDonald, in the early 1960s. Following his departure from Cayman, Maples joined the British political scene, where he served in William Hague’s shadow cabinet from 1997 to 2000 as shadow health secretary, defence secretary and shadow foreign secretary.
Permit fees bite business
(CNS): The pain of the recent increases in work permit fees is too much to bear, some local business owners revealed at a Chamber of Commerce business seminar on Thursday. A number of well known members of the business community said they were really struggling to stay afloat as a result of the permit hikes, which have seen some permit fees triple, forcing them to let people go. Following the implementation of the fee hikes, according to immigration statistics, the number of work permit holders has declined sharply as employers cut staff to try and ride out what is proving to be an extremely difficult recession for small and medium size enterprises (SME).
Fees were one of a number of concerns raised by the audience at a special Chamber of Commerce seminar which took place at the Westin. Part of the ‘Be Informed Series’, the free event involved a presentation by Chair of the Immigration Review Team Sherri- Bodden Cowan, who updated the Chamber members on a number of issues, from the rollover policy to the new investment certificate for entrepreneurs.
David Kirkaldy, the Chamber’s Vice President, said in his opening address that in its latest survey of over 200 local businesses immigration issues were top of the list of concerns, in particular the recent hikes in work permit fees. Wil Pineau, the Chamber President, also said that the fees were really hurting small businesses in the Cayman Islands and suggested that it might be time to create a tiered fee schedule for smaller businesses.
Local business owners and past Chamber presidents, Eddie Thompson and Morgan DaCosta, both revealed how the current fees were literally crippling their respective small businesses.
Thompson, who runs a small architect firm, said he had reduced his headcount from five to two members ofstaff but was still having to pay the same work permit fees as larger companies. He said the playing field was not level and that the “overwhelming fee” hikes were the last straw for many small businesses. “Immigration issues were the proverbial nail in the coffin for small businesses,” he said, adding that the challenges presented by immigration were driving him to consider closing his business.
Morgan DaCosta, who owns Maedac Supply, illustrated the struggle of small business when he explained the problems of selling goods with very small profits and what the increase in fees really meant. “I sell potato chips … it’s no joke – that’s our business. How much you pay for a bag of potato chips puts it into perspective when I must pay (immigration) $2,000 for a man to drive the truck,” he said, adding that it was unreasonable to say a driver was in the professional category because he holds a driving license.
He said the impact of work permit fees, such as $16,000 for an accountant and $8000 for inventory clerk, was ridiculous and simply too much for a small business such as his to cope with. He said he was well aware of busineses that were leaving the islands because of the work permit increases as he was seeing the exodus affect his own customer base and said everyone was hurting.
Maria Bodde, who owns a small land surveying company, said that she had faced increases of three times the fee the firm paid last year for their land surveyors. “For one of our professionals we paid $2,500 last year, this year we are paying $9,000,” she said, explaining that at first the Immigration Department had asked for $12,000 as they did not know how much to charge for a Land Surveyor because it was not on the list.
Chief Immigration Officer Linda Evans said that her department did not have any control over the fee hikes but she said the sub-committee led by Canover Watson which had recommended the increases to government had done so on the basis that the fees increases would have been offset by the pension holiday which is now clearly not the case.
Confirming earlier reports this week that the pension take up has been very slight, Evans said the pensions office had indicated that only around 100 people had taken up the pension holiday, creating concerns in government. Evans said that she had not consulted with the Portfolio of Finance about the fee situation and did not know if they were set to be revised.
Women focus of No Tobacco Day
(CNS): The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said today that tobacco could kill one billion people during this century. One of a number of health world health awareness days organized by the WHO the World No tobacco day theme this year is Gender and tobacco looking at the importance of controlling the epidemic of tobacco among women. Although women make up only around 20% of the world’s smokers experts say they are vulnerable to the industry marketing. Cayman’s health minister Mark Scotland says local statistics also reveal women here are less likely to smoke than men but the country cannot afford to be complacent.