(CNS):  Updated 1:20pm Thursday:  --  Police have now confirmed that the man gunned down in broad daylight in West Bay on Wednesday afternoon (24 March) was 25-year-old Alrick Peddie from the West Bay. Police launched the murder investigation following the shooting, which took place at around 3:15 outside a residence in Willie Farrington Drive, West Bay, near Batabano Plaza. Emergency services arrived on the scene to find the man had received multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. The man was taken to the Cayman Islands Hospital in George Town where he was formally pronounced dead.  (Photo by Dennie Warren Jr)

(CNS): Police are investigating yet another armed robbery, this time in George Town, after armed men took cash from the Kentucky Fried Chicken in West Bay Road. They are also making enquiries regarding an attempted robbery at Champion House. Detectives say that at around 10:30pm on Tuesday, 23 March, three men entered the Kentucky Fried Chicken. One of the men was armed with what appeared to be a firearm and another man had a machete. The men threatened staff and made off with a sum of cash. No one was injured and no shots were fired.

(CNS): In the latest in a string of armed robberies across Grand Cayman, last night (Tuesday 23 March) at about 9.45 pm a man armed with what appeared to be a firearm entered the Caribbean Bakery on Mount Pleasant Road, West Bay. According to the RCIPS, he threatened staff and made off with a sum of cash. He was last seen heading towards the Batabano Plaza where he jumped the fence. No shots were fired and no-one was injured in the incident. The man is described as being about 5ft 7inches tall and of medium build. He was wearing a black hooded top, light blue jeans and he had his face covered with a bandanna.

(CNS): The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service is currently looking for volunteers to join the Special Constabulary. ‘Specials’, as they are known, are expected to dedicate a minimum of 20 hours every month to the RCIPS and work alongside regular officers on foot and mobile patrol duties. Anyone interested in finding out more is invited to the RCIPS open house this Saturday. Posts are open to people from all walks of life. Applicants must be aged between 18 and 50 years, be physically fit and have no criminal convictions. If not Caymanian they must have lived and worked in the Cayman Islands for a minimum of two years.

(CNS): While the legal arguments regarding the former Hyatt hotel are not over, the hotel management has indicated that a resolution appears close at hand. Having recently revealed the details of its long standing insurance dispute, the management at Grand Cayman Beach Suites, formerly the Hyatt, has announced that Houston Casualty Company’s co-insurers have finally paid the insurance policy proceeds which have been agreed with them since 11 July 2008. Bill Powers, the hotel’s general manager, said this move reinforced the validity of earlier public statements made by the Hotel and demonstrated the benefits of a free and open press in Cayman.

(CNS): The people’s representatives will be back to work on Wednesday morning as the Legislative Assembly returns. The government is expected to open three days of business in the House, with at least two motions, two amendments to bills including the penal code, and a number of other issues, including motions submitted by the opposition and the independent member for North Side. The opposition benches have also submitted a number of parliamentary questions to the government. At the close of the last session the opposition claimed that government had closed down debate and was attempting to silence them.

(CNS): With a number of interruptions to service recently a petition has appeared on Facebook posted by BlackBerry customers asking LIME to reduce the Blackberry fees until the service is improved. The petitioners are complaining that the weekly $10 fees are removed from customer accounts without hesitation yet customers face service interruptions, delays in BB messages and internet time outs.  LIME told CNS however that it has upgraded its mobile data network twice in the last 3 months in response to growing traffic demands on the network.

(CNS): Police confirmed on Tuesday that they are investigating a report of an alleged stabbing incident that occurred in Pasadora Place, off Smith Road in George Town, on Saturday evening, 20 March. However, an RCIPS spokesperson said the police were unable to give any details of the reported incident as the victim was “being less than helpful”. CNS understands that a male was stabbed several times at around 6:00 pm by his attacker in what was described as a violent incident. It is not known if the victim was hospitalized or how severe his injuries were.

(CNS): The Cayman Islands Airports Authority has made it clear that it does not support any moves to privatize the airport in the wake of comments made in the recently published Miller Report. The Chairman of the CIAA Board of Directors, Norman Bodden, has said not only does he not believe the government would support such a move it would also have to be cleared with the UK. Bodden also denied that the airport has received any subsidies as suggested in the report and pointed out that this year the airport actually gave the government CI$7 million dividend payment rather than costing the treasury anything.

(CNS): Police have arrested two Honduran men following the Cayman Islands' first ever abduction in which a young adult was taken hostage by his kidnappers on Thursday 18 March. The parents of the victim reported to police that they had received a phone call that afternoon from a man claiming to have taken their son hostage. The suspect demanded a ransom of hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure their son's release and warned he would kill the victim if they contacted the police. However, a few days later the victim managed to escape and shortly after the police arrested two men. (Photo: Deputy Commissioner Stephen Brougham and Commissioner David Baines)

(CNS): A National Investment Council has been formed to focus on attracting inward investment and public-private partnerships to the Cayman Islands to begin boosting the country’s economic prospects. The premier said that the council would be responsible for marketing Cayman and attracting new business to accelerate the recovery. The council will also be looking after existing investments, assisting the development of local small businesses as well as developing an overall national investment strategy.

(CNS): The chair of the newly appointed Constitution Committee has said that he and his colleagues will be looking at how the new Cayman Islands Constitution relates to the election law in order to avoid future ambiguities. Pastor Al Ebanks said that one of the first jobs the committee is likely to undertake is to examine why there was so much uncertainty about who should have been responsible for raising a challenge to the May 2009 election following questions over two candidates who missed one of the declaration deadlines under the constitution.

(CNS): Police say enquiries into the shooting of a woman on 5 March in the Mary Street area of George Town are ongoing. However, the RCIPS said they have released the 32-year-old man who was detained following the shooting on suspicion of attempted murder. He has not been charged and is now on police bail.  The man was arrested after the victim received a gun shot wound to her face while sitting outside a bar in Barnes Plaza. She remains in hospital, and police have told News 27 that she is in a stable condition. Meanwhile, the staff of Prospect Primary discovered the school had been burgled this weekend with the culprits stealing the money the kids had raised for Haiti Earthquake relief.

(CNS): Cayman is mourning the loss of one of its favourite characters after Cleopatra Conolly, more fondly known Miss Cleo, lost her battle with cancer in the early hours yesterday (Monday 22 March) aged 84. A familiar figure in East End and throughout the Cayman Islands, as an outstanding cook, a storyteller and an ambassador for tourism and Caymanian culture, Miss Cleo always had a warm welcome to visitors at her cottage in Gun Bay . Although Miss Cleo did not have children of her own, she was loved by many and will be missed not only by her brother and his children but many across the islands.

(CNS): Cassandra Bodden, who has denied importing an unlicensed firearms and ammunition, stood trial this morning, Monday 22 March before Justice Cooke and a jury of four men and three women. The crown opened its case against the 26-year-old woman alleging that she knowingly imported weapons to the Cayman Islands in a package containing a toy car. The crown claims that between the 23 and 27 April the defendant imported four firearms, described as a .40 Smith and Wesson, a 9mm Ruger, a .45 Glock model 21, and a 9mm Arcus as well as 420 rounds of ammunition.