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Cayman Islands News, Articles and InformationThree new cruise ships sail to CaymanWITH the Grand Princess due return to the Cayman Islands this winter season comes news that three new cruise ships are heading for Grand Cayman, beginning May 2007.Marine and Cargo Manager at the Cayman Islands Port Authority Joseph Woods said the debut here on Monday of the Crown Princess signals an upswing in the number of cruise ship calls. The Crown Princess, owned by Princess Cruises, berthed at the George Town Harbour with 3,300 passengers and is expected to make regular visits to Grand Cayman. The ship made its inaugural voyage on 8 June in New York amid celebratory activities involving various stars. Sister ship, Grand Princess, which was a regular Wednesday fixture here, will resume its Cayman route on 3 October after being diverted by Princess Cruises to a port in Mexico. Pushing for business on the BracIn the latest in a series of business ventures and developments on Cayman Brac, Kent "Biggie" Rankin opened his new restaurant on Saturday, 10 June, and invited more entrepreneurial spirit from Brackers to follow suit."Stop saying no, it cannot be done," he told those gathered for the opening ceremony at Biggies Restaurant in the West End. He said that he had tried to be a leader, but everyone had to help with the development of the Brac. "Stop being negative," he urged. Later, he told Cayman Net News that he had big plans for the Brac, though he is keeping a lid on them for now. Mr Rankin and his family have already built a housing development on the Bluff, opened a branch of Paramount Carpets in Spot Bay, developed space for a supermarket, offices, apartments and a bakery also in Spot Bay and renovated a house in West End. Cayman is facing a very uncertain futureThe Cayman Islands are facing a very uncertain future, if the offshore companies cannot recruit and retain, not only the specialist staff they need, but the support staff as well, they will move their business to another jurisdiction. As has been noted for the longest time now, we therefore do not think that opening our big mouths is going to change too much either.This can and will be the straw that broke the camel's back and even though there is ridicule, disagreement, disgust and among other things, the Government is not about to listen to any advice or complaints because the thing called pride, and to sum it all up stupidity will not allow them to listen. A perfect example is the roundabouts in the Islands. Well, on that one I need to ask a question, "Where is Mr Road Planner's head?" Yes, we have and will see more dramatic situations where there will be more absurd policies, more hemorrhage, and a greater exodus of people from the Cayman Islands and more goodbyes to future developments that may have come to the Islands. Diaspora and the ChurchTHE DIASPORA Conference is over and it is now time to evaluate the achievements of the conference and the plans and programmes to sustain the link between Jamaicans a' yard and abroad.I remember being invited to and attending the first conference held at the University of the West Indies. After the conference, I told the minister responsible that the Church's outlook was being sidelined because the conference's bibliography on Jamaica did not include even one reference on Christianity. I wonder what has changed since then. Jamaica and the leaders within the diaspora foundation can ignore the contribution that the Church could make to their peril. Even before the first government-sponsored Diaspora Conference, Jamaican-born Joel Edwards, general secretary of the U.K. Evangelical Alliance, Europe's largest, richest and most influential evangelical alliance, hosted a multi-sector conference at the Jamaica High Commission in London to fashion a strategy of transatlantic cooperation that could lead to a prosperous and peaceful Jamaica.
New radio station licensed and two more comingEven with some thirteen stations already transmitting, more stations are coming to the Cayman Islands after the lifting of the moratorium on licences by the Information & Communications Technology Authority (ICTA).A fortnight ago, the ICTA met to review this matter in light of a long outstanding application from Hurley's Entertainment who complained recently of being ignored. The board last week decided to grant Hurley's Entertainment the licence to operate a new FM station but remained tight-lipped on the type of broadcast format it would take. The new station will be the company's third and will operate on 103.1 on the FM frequency band. Currently, the company runs Rooster 101.9 FM and Z99 FM, which cater to different audiences in the Cayman Islands. More flights scheduledTwo new Twin Otter aircraft have been purchased for the Cayman Airways Express inter-island air service, and two more round trip flights per day would be scheduled from the beginning of July.Tourism Minister, the Hon Charles Clifford, who has responsibility for Cayman Airways Limited (CAL), announced the changes at the first People's Progressive Movement (PPM) meeting on Cayman Brac, held outside Kirkconnell's Market on Friday 2 June. Mr Clifford explained that the lease on the two previous aircraft for the Express Service expired 29 May, and options for the continuation of uninterrupted service to the Sister Islands had been considered. Making leasing arrangements is a time consuming process, so Government instructed the CAL Board of Directors to purchase two Twin Otter or similar aircraft. Twin Otters are the safest in their category, and these are needed for the service because of the restrictions to operations at Little Cayman, said the Minister. No Pension ExceptionsOn his first visit to the Sister Islands, Pensions Superintendent Cyril Theriault of the National Pensions Office (NPO) said that future trips may take place every three months, based on demand.Mr Theriault, who spent several days on Cayman Brac with Pensions Inspector Pierre Lautischer last week, reported that there had been several complaints on the Island, but nothing out of the ordinary. The existence of the NPO is to benefit the employee. However, they are also there to answer all questions from the employers and not just to deal with complaints, he said. In one situation on the Brac (which they had encountered before), employers and employees on very low wages had come to an agreement that there would be no pension plan. However, Mr Theriault emphasized that this type of agreement is not legal, even if the Pensions Law is seen as negative by both sides. Brackers to attend international conferenceFour of the top eight participants from this year's Junior Achievement (JA) Programme in the Cayman Islands are from Cayman Brac.Staci Scott, Geoffrey Grizzel, Cordell Gutierrez and Nickolas DaCosta have qualified for an all-expense paid trip to the Canadian National Junior Achievement Conference (CANJAC), along with the four qualifiers from Grand Cayman and two chaperones. These eight competed for the privilege against over three hundred participants, thirty of whom were in the Brac programme. JA is a non-profit organization that uses hands-on experiences to help young people understand the economics of life. It is a project of the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman Central and the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce. On the Brac, it is primarily sponsored by the Rotary Club of Cayman Brac. |
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