Silver Deep Sharks & Cruisers Wins TCI Softball league
The Female Championship Game was played on Saturday between the Silver Deep Cruises and Ladies Panthers.
The Cruises took the game with a 12 to 10 Win, winning the Championship again for the 7th time in a row.
The celebrations were immediate as the ladies took to the field with champagne and fanfare.
Coach Cox said he was elated after the game, he could not contain himself after his team poured water all over him per tradition.
The Men Championship played between the Silver Deep Sharks and Kishco started on
Saturday and ended on sunday, the Sharks won the game 15 to 3 also winning the Championship again for the second time.
Godfrey Been told RTC Sports this morning that, 'It was a great season the best we ever had, with all games being very competitive through out the payoff and Championship.' A tired Been said, 'I want to thank all the players and fans for a very good year and we look forward to next season.'
India, China added to list of KYC-friendly countries
The Cayman government has now included India and China on the list of countries that have laws and regulations in place considered to be equivalent to those of the Cayman Islands, with respect to the evidence of identity required from applicants for business. Mexico remains on the same list, despite the recent US Senate report which found that HSBC’s Mexican branch (HBMX) had accounts in the Cayman Islands believed to have links to organized crime. In July Mexican regulators imposed a fine of nearly $28 million on HBMX for not having sufficient anti-money laundering (AML) controls. Around the same time the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority announced an investigation into the apparent breakdown of AML procedures at the Mexican bank, but no results from that investigation have so far been revealed.
The US Senate committee released a damning 330-page report on 17 July on the failure of the London-based HSBC, Europe's largest bank, to institute safeguards to prevent money laundering through some of its affiliates, which included a detailed investigation into HSBX and its Cayman Islands accounts. The committee found that the Cayman accounts had operated for years with lax anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) controls and information. An estimated 15% of the accounts had no KYC information at all, which, the report stated, meant that HBMX had no idea who was behind them, while other accounts were, in the words of one HBMX compliance officer, misused by “organized crime”.
"CIMA has a long history and strong reputation of acting to ensure that the regulatory framework in the Cayman Islands is sound," CIMA’s Managing Director Cindy Scotland said at the time. "We intend to continue, and moreover, enhance that reputation in light of the growing complexity and interconnectedness of the global financial services industry. “
Earlier this month Premier McKeeva Bush, who is also Minister of Finance, told members of the Legislative Assembly that CIMA was still in the process of conducting their investigations. “When those investigations are complete, a more comprehensive statement will be made on the matter,” he said.
Today the Ministry of Finance announced that the Third Schedule of the Money Laundering Regulations (2010 Revision) has been amended to include India and the People’s Republic of China. The Third Schedule of the Law specifies those countries that have laws and regulations in place considered to be equivalent to those of the Cayman Islands, with respect to the evidence of identity required from applicants for business. Any business incorporated in, or formed under, the laws of a country specified in the Third Schedule of these Regulations shall be capable of constituting the identification procedures deemed satisfactory by Cayman Islands law.
These amendments were approved by Cabinet and published in an Extraordinary Gazette Friday, 20 September 2012.
Lance Armstrong: UCI chief's remarks stun doping expert
A blood doping expert says comments by a top cycling official that Lance Armstrong never took performance-enhancing drugs are "flabbergasting".
According to a US Anti-Doping Agency report, Hein Verbruggen, the honorary president of the International Cycling Union, claimed in 2011 that Armstrong had "never used doping".
Verbruggen denies making the comments.
Ashenden, who has been an independent reviewer of blood profiles in cycling since 2008, continued: "For the honorary president of the UCI to say he [Armstrong] hadn't doped, in the face of everything, I really have to question what his motives were to say that. I find that absolutely flabbergasting."
Armstrong has been provisionally stripped of the seven Tour de France titles he won between 1999 and 2005 after Usada's report labelled him a "serial" cheat who led "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen".
Armstrong decided not to contest allegations of doping in August. The removal of his Tour titles and accompanying lifetime ban is still to be ratified by the UCI, cycling's world governing body.
Usada's report quotes Verbruggen as saying in May 2011: "There is nothing. I repeat again: Lance Armstrong has never used doping. Never, never, never. I say this not because I am a friend of his, because that is not true. I say it because I'm sure."
Ashenden also raised questions about a "triangle" apparently involving Armstrong, the UCI and a drug-testing laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland, formed as a result of a payment in excess of $100,000 (£62,200) the American cyclist made to the sport's governing body.
The UCI admitted it accepted a donation from Armstrong in 2002, but strongly denies it was connected to any cover-up of a positive test.
Ashenden added: "The UCI should never have accepted money from Armstrong under any circumstances.
"But if they took money after they were aware there were grounds to suspect Armstrong had used EPO, it takes on a really sinister complexion.
"We know Armstrong paid the UCI more than $100,000 and around that time the UCI gave the Lausanne laboratory free use of a blood analyser worth $60,000 to $70,000.
"That's what I mean by a triangle. The laboratory meets with Armstrong. All of this takes place at about the time that [former Armstrong team-mates] Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton said under oath that Armstrong bragged he had managed to have a result covered up."
BBC
Gayle expects tough Bangladesh tour
West Indies opener Chris Gayle has said that he wouldn’t take anything for granted in his team’s upcoming tour of Bangladesh. Even though West Indies have lost only an ODI and a Twenty20 each in Bangladesh, he described the hosts as “dangerous at home”. The left-hand batsman was named in the 15-man Test squad which will arrive in Dhaka on November 3 to play two Tests. West Indies will also play five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 international. “It is going to be a very challenging (series).
We know how dangerous Bangladesh can be at home. It’s not a team where you want to go there and take lightly,” said Gayle. “You’ve got to be mindful of the conditions and try and add up as quickly as possible and settle as much and whenever you get a chance, just try and maintain it and take it from there.” Upon making his return to Test cricket, Gayle averaged 80 against New Zealand which includes a 150 in his comeback innings. He has played four Tests against Bangladesh so far, in 2002 and 2004, and has an average of 69.40. West Indies have toured Bangladesh for full series twice, in 2002 and 2011. Gayle wasn’t in the teams during last year’s tour and as a result it had brought the teams closer.
But the likes of Marlon Samuels, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo and Devendra Bishoo starred in the 1- 0 and 2-1 wins in the Test and ODI series. “Most of the guys have been there before in Test series and in ODIs so most of the guys have experience, so it should be an interesting series,” added Gayle. Denesh Ramdin also toured Bangladesh in October last year, but played only in the ODI series and the solitary T20I. Carlton Baugh was the preferred wicketkeeper in the Tests, but Ramdin, since making a comeback earlier this year, has scored a century against England. He has been named the vice-captain for the Bangladesh series, and is keen to take the opportunity after scoring 18 runs in the two Tests against New Zealand recently. “It (the tour of Bangladesh) is an important one for me.
I did not get (many) runs against New Zealand in the home series, and I would like to go out there and capitalise (on the opportunity). I was there last year but I did not get the opportunity to play, so hopefully I can play this time and get some runs up there,” he said. The wicketkeeper, who is yet to play a Test against Bangladesh, added that the team has the momentum after winning the World Twenty20 earlier this month in Sri Lanka. “All the players (on the West Indies team) are on a high, and hopefully we can keep the momentum going and take that into the (pretour) camp in two weeks time, go up there and beat the home team,” Ramdin said. (CMC)
FULL SQUAD
PM defends monetary gifts to athletes
PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller has stoutly defended the decision to financially reward the country's medallists at the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games.
A weekend of feting the athletes for their performances in the British capital began on Sunday with a church service at the East Queen Baptist Church and a cocktail reception at Jamaica House during which Simpson Miller told the Jamaica Observer that it was not a unilateral decision.
"We had to find a way and it was a broad-based committee with a number of Jamaicans, and that was the recommendation that came back to us and we felt that once we had consultation by a committee that came up with the decision," she said.
"I don't think there is anything that could be too great a contribution that we cannot make to our sportsmen and women who continue to bring glory to our homeland," the Prime Minister added.
Jamaica won 12 medals — four gold, four silver, and four bronze — in London, while Alphanso Cunningham won a gold medal in the javelin at the Paralympic Games.
"They've made it 'Jamaica to the world' and added significant value to brand Jamaica," Simpson Miller said.
Each athlete who won a gold medal will earn $1 million, silver medal winners get $675,000, and bronze medallists get $500,000.
Each athlete making a final will earn $350,000, while each participant will take home $250,000.
Sunday evening's function was attended by several of the medallists, including 100m and 200m silver medallist Yohan Blake, 200m bronze medal winner Warren Weir and women's 100m bronze medallist Veronica Campbell-Brown.
JamaicaObserver
Patterson to be honoured by Parliament Oct 30
FORMER Prime Minister PJ Patterson is to be honoured by Parliament at another special joint sitting of both Houses, scheduled for Gordon House on Tuesday, October 30.
Patterson was elected as Jamaica's sixth prime minister in 1992, succeeding Michael Manley, and served in that position and as leader of the People's National Party (PNP) until 2006 when he gave way to the current prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller.
He is Jamaica's longest serving prime minister and the only one to be re-elected on three successive occasions, winning general elections in 1993, 1997 and 2002.
This will be the second occasion this month that Parliament will be celebrating a former prime minister for contributing to Jamaica's post-Independence development, following last Tuesday's special joint sitting honouring Edward Seaga who served from 1980 to 1989.
The October 30 meeting, as was the case last week, will be hosted by the House of Representatives and will commence at 2:00 pm.
In the meantime, Gordon House has released an agenda for today's sitting, highlighted by the debate on extending the provisions of the Mutual Assistance (Criminal Matters) Act, which allows for the extradition of persons between countries, to British territories in the Caribbean including Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The House will also commence debates on three Bills: The Judicature (Supreme Court) (Validation and Amendment) Act, 2012; The Legal Profession (Amendment) Act, 2012; and the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act, 2012.
JA.Observer
Tropical Storm Rafael unleashes winds and rain on Virgin Islands, heads toward Bermuda
Tropical Storm Rafael unleashed heavy rain and powerful gusts on the Virgin Islands early Sunday and could turn into a hurricane by Monday, forecasters said.
With sustained winds of 50 mph, Rafael could get even stronger as it bears down on several islands popular with tourists. As of 5 a.m. ET, Rafael was centered about 100 miles north-northwest of St. Marten, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The storm was moving north-northwest at 13 mph and is expected to turn northward by Monday.
A projection map shows Rafael headed toward Bermuda later this week.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for Anguilla. Tropical storm warnings that had been in effect for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, St. Marten, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts and Guadeloupe were discontinued Sunday morning.
Forecasters expect Rafael to leave between 3 to 5 inches of rain over the Lesser Antilles and Virgin Islands, with some pockets getting as much as 10 inches.
The storm could impact rescue efforts for two men and one woman whose small aircraft crashed Saturday morning about six nautical miles (7 miles) south of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad said.
They were aboard a twin-engine Piper PA-23 that left St. Croix destined for St. Thomas, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.
Rescue crews from the Coast Guard and U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Natural Resources saved one female passenger, Valerie Jackson, who told them three others were still unaccounted for.
A Coast Guard cutter ship, two helicopters and a fixed-wing aircraft have been dispatched from Puerto Rico for the search, Castrodad said. The effort continued Saturday night despite what the Coast Guard spokesman said were deteriorating conditions due to Rafael.
CNN
Cuba to end exit permits for foreign travel
Cuba has announced it is removing the need for its citizens to obtain exit permits before travelling abroad.
State media said the move, to come into effect on 14 January next year, would "update" migration laws to reflect current and future circumstances.
Cubans currently have to go through a lengthy and expensive process to obtain a permit and dissidents are often denied one, correspondents say.
The move is the latest in a series of reforms under President Raul Castro.
Cubans who have permanent residency on the island will also be allowed to stay abroad for up to 24 months, instead of the current 11, without having to return to renew paperwork.
The BBC's Sarah Rainsford, in Havana, says the exit permit process is hated by most Cubans so this reform, which was much anticipated, will be widely welcomed.
Cuba previously saw people attempting to leave the country as traitors or enemies of the revolution, says our correspondent, but official recognition is growing that many Cubans want to leave for economic reasons and that the country can benefit from the cash and knowledge they bring back with them.
Now all that Cubans will need to leave is a valid passport and a visa.
However, the new law still argues for the need to protect Cuba's "human capital", our correspondent adds, so highly-qualified professionals like doctors, will continue to face extra hurdles to travel.
Government critics are also likely to experience further difficulties, as passport updates can be denied for "reasons of public interest defined by the authorities".
The restrictions have failed to prevent hundreds of thousands of Cubans emigrating illegally in the past few decades, many of them to the US where they have formed a strongly anti-Havana diaspora.
The US grants automatic residency to anyone who reaches it from Cuba.
Brink of war
For nearly half a century, Cuba was run as a command economy, with almost all activity controlled by the state.
But under President Raul Castro, who took over from his ailing brother Fidel in 2008, it has gradually eased restrictions in many areas of politics, business and society.
The latest reform comes on the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis, the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war as the US and the Soviet Union nearly went to war over Soviet missiles placed on the island.
But the crisis was resolved diplomatically when the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a US promise not to invade Cuba.
However the relationship between Cuba and the US remains hostile - they have no diplomatic relations and an American economic blockade of the era is still in effect.
Cuba has struggled economically since the collapse of the Soviet Union and now relies heavily on the support of the left-wing government of Venezuela.
Clico lawyers fired and replaced
One year and three months into the Commission of Enquiry into collapsed insurance giant CLICO, the Minister of Finance has fired the team of lawyers who were representing the ministry, sources confirmed yesterday.
According to a report in the Sunday Express the team which was headed by Senior Counsel Fyard Hosein and Michael Quamina, were given their marching orders last week. They had been hired during Winston Dookeran's tenure at the Finance Ministry.
They have been replaced by Seenath Jairam SC leading Jagdeo Singh and Joseph Toney. Jairam is president of the Law Association.
Singh who has been the beneficiary of a number of State briefs, is also the junior attorney for the Commission in the Commission of Enquiry into the 1990 coup attempt.
Toney is chairman of the Congress of the People, a member of the People's Partnership government. Hosein yesterday confirmed that he is no longer counsel to the Ministry of Finance.
"My services have been terminated. No reason was given. And it has been terminated summarily, full stop."
Hosein has had a long history with the Ministry on the CLICO matter. Hosein was retained by the Ministry of Finance in February 2009 following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between CLICO and the government.
He had been retained to advise the ministry where it should go from there.
In March 2009, he was retained to file an injunction to prevent former CLICO chairman Lawrence Duprey from selling the shares in the CL Financial group's methanol company.
The enquiry, which began in July 2011, has been going on for over a year and is due to be completed in May next year. The Commission resumes on October 22 when the change of attorneys will become evident. The Commission is supposed to spend three days on the Hindu Credit Union, before returning to ClICO on October 25 or 26.
Express
Controversy over Wyclef's charity money for Haiti
Wyclef Jean is facing an investigation into what happened to money he raised for victims of the Haiti earthquake.
The former Fugees star started a campaign after 230,000 people died in the disaster in 2010.
Two years later though there's controversy about how those funds were spent.
It's estimated the 42-year-old rapper, who was born in the country, helped raise millions of pounds for the Yele Haiti charity.
With help from some of his celebrity friends like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, it's estimated he raised millions of dollars.
Yele Haiti folded as a company this summer with questions about how the money was spent.
US newspaper the New York Times claims a large amount went on luxury travel, offices and food.
It's also been claimed the charity employed people on inflated contracts.
Wyclef Jean has responded to the claims via his Facebook page, posting images of himself and charity workers in Haiti.
In a statement from his legal team, the rapper's promised to help with any investigation into the charity's accounts.
In 2010, he unsuccessfully bid to become Haiti's president.
It was rejected because the Haitian constitution requires candidates to have lived in the country for five years prior to an election.