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Cayman Islands News, Articles and InformationDigicel Announces Caribbean-Wide Hurricane Preparedness ProgramCaribPR Newswire, KINGSTON, Jamaica, Weds. July 26, 2006: Digicel, the fastest-growing telecommunications company in the Caribbean, will be providing hurricane alerts, tracking maps, supplies and public safety information to help customers in the greater Caribbean region prepare for 2006 hurricanes. Hurricane season officially begins in June and typically lasts through November 30, with many occurring during August and September across the region. Earlier this year, hurricane experts predicted that potential hurricane activity in the Caribbean would be well above average in 2006. Digicel Cayman Islands is increasing network capacity and upgrading backup systems throughout the three-island network to ensure customers can remain connected to friends and family despite severe weather conditions.New Lieutenant works with CI Cadet CorpsAlthough the newest employee of the Cayman Islands Cadet Corps, Lieutenant Jason Ashworth brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience, his full-time active duty began earlier this year. Since then he has undertaken several duties, including administration, security and transportation tasks.Lt. Ashworth's first-and voluntary-involvement with the Cadet Corps occurred in 2002, when he assisted with camp administration and developed an adult training programme. He currently has responsibility for establishing and operating a new Cadet Corps branch in Cayman Brac and he is also in charge of officer training. In addition, the lieutenant finds time to teach several training programme courses, such as Map and Compass; Drill; Field Craft; First Aid, and Skill-at-Arms. Volunteers ready for action in the face of any disasterHaving learned the lesson in the wake of Hurricane Ivan's destructive force, it was the work of volunteers as much as it was official personnel that helped this country through that historical event.As a result, many of the country's major volunteer organisations have reported that with the new hurricane season underway they are geared up and ready to meet the challenges generated by disasters and emergencies, whenever they occur. The Cayman Islands branch of the British Red Cross and the Cayman Chapter of ADRA, the Adventist Disaster Relief Agency, which is also a world-wide body, are both in preparedness mode. Lessons learned from Hurricane Ivan have translated into both agencies fine-tuning and strengthening their preparedness and relief operations. House passes insurance regulation improvementsBeefing up the regulating of Bermudas insurance industry to satisfy the International Monetary Fund and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors has been given the backing of MPs. The Islands success as a home for multi-million dollar insurance and reinsurance business has put it under increasing levels of scrutiny from other countries and international bodies.To maintain its reputation as a place where such businesses operate in a proper and legal fashion, the Insurance Amendment Act 2006 is bringing tighter controls and tough penalties for those who break the rules or attempt to obstruct investigations into financial malpractice or deception. Fines up to $200,000 are enshrined in the new act for those who commit a variety of offences. If, for example, a controller of an insurance company is deemed to be unfit for such a position by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, but defies a notice to relinquish that position, they can be fined $25,000 and an additional $500 for each day that they continue to commit that offence. Adult reading scheme calls for volunteersSandy McFarlane, coordinator of the Cayman Islands Reading Aides programme, with one of the tutors on the programme, Ross Clarke.Cayman Islands Reading Aides (CIRA) is a non-profit organization that provides tuition in literacy and numeric skills for teenagers and adults in the Cayman Islands. The programme began here in 1997, at the Church of Christ, when some visitors from the US introduced it to church members, and from there helped to organize a small core of volunteer tutors. The programme quickly grew, so that soon other tutors outside the church were being invited to join. In 2000 the programme was extended to cover prisons. The group of volunteers has now grown to around 40, and their training is undertaken and coordinated by Sandy McFarlane, an employee of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange. Calpers Commits $400M to Breeden's FundThe California Public Employees' Retirement System said it has committed $400 million to Breeden Partners, the activist hedge fund of former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Richard Breeden.Calpers spokesman Brad Pacheco said Tuesday that the pension fund had committed the money, but couldn't immediately give additional details. The investment comes as the much-hyped fund is still looking to raise money, helping it make headway after a 7-month delay. Breeden Partners has raised its first $500 million and has invested $100 million of that money already, Steven Quamme, manager of Breeden Capital Management LLC, said Monday. Quamme also said the fund will make the first filings about its holdings with the SEC following the close of the calendar year's third quarter, but declined to give further details or comment on the apparent delay.
A very special Cozumel returnsNot back to being the semi-exclusive sanctuary of the rich and yachted it was before the cruise-ship hoi polloi frightened them away.And not the reefs. The reefs are a work in progress - but of course, coral reefs are always a work in progress. And, OK, two of the three international cruise piers are still out of order, and, yes, the greenery on the mangroves is a little spotty, which is what happens when hurricanes happen. But everything else - the hotels (all but a couple), the palm trees, the shops, the restaurants, the golf course, the beach clubs and bars, the roads - are good as new, and, in many cases, better than they were before that mega-storm named Wilma ripped things up last October. "It's still the best place we have," said Jason Hairel, who helps sell tours on Carnival's Miracle when he isn't onstage dancing or, as he was on this day, teeing off on the par-3 17th hole at Cozumel Country Club.
What the Russian papers sayForeign shareholders in beleaguered Russian oil company Yukos have threatened to sue Russia in European courts over alleged damages caused by the devaluation of Yukos stock. Covington & Burling, a U.S.-based law firm, wrote recently to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on behalf of a Spanish mutual fund holding Yukos shares to demand compensation for damages inflicted on the shareholders by assets freezes and the forced sale of Yukos's core production unit Yuganskneftegaz, C&B partner Thomas Johnson told Vedomosti yesterday. Johnson declined to specify the name of the fund and the size of damages claimed, saying however that it did not run into hundreds of millions of dollars. He described the letter as being in line with the Russian-Spanish investor rights protection agreement forcing governments to compensate shareholders in the case of discrimination, and added that C&B would litigate outside Russia, probably in Stockholm, if the fund received no compensation within three months.Offshore tax havens cost government more than $40Ba yearThey determined that offshore tax havens offer the wealthy a black box for stashing trillions of dollars, mostly impervious to tax, regulatory and law enforcement authorities.The panel said the havens allow Americans to avoid paying $40 billion to $70 billion in taxes each year, with the help of an armada of professional advisers. Everson said some of the abuses could be tempered if lawmakers changed laws that can protect shelter users from some penalties if an attorney gives a legal opinion in favor of the transaction. Integrity must be restored to taxpayers and the legal, accounting and financial services professionals that advise wealthy taxpayers, he said. There is a basic issue of honesty. One such adviser, profiled in a report the panel prepared for the hearing, wrote a virtual how-to manual for avoiding taxes by moving money offshore. |
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