(CNS): Preparations are now well underway, organisers said, for the inaugural edition CONCACAF U15 football tournament which will take place in the Cayman Islands this summer. The Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) will host the first-ever CONCACAF multi-team international soccer event in three venues - Ed Bush, the Annex and the National Stadium. This event is part of the overall football development initiative at the Confederation level, launched by CONCACAF President Jeffery Webb.It is the first time that national teams will be competing against each other at the U-15 age level under the umbrella of the North America, Central America and the Caribbean Confederation (CONCACAF).

(CNS): After months of waiting to see the controversial deal between government, the NRA and Dart Realty Cayman Ltd (DRCL), as well as the value for money report undertaken by local consultants PricewaterhouseCoppers, the question of who benefits remains in the air. Although PwC has claimed there is value for money in terms of face value, the reality is that there are many more issues to consider and it seems clear that the minority government was trying hard to get more because at present, with the abatements and far reaching concessions, Dart appears to be the greater beneficiary. PwC points out that, except for the proposed hotel on the site of the former Courtyard Marriott, the deal does not oblige DRCL to undertake any other development.

(CNS): According to a survey of the state of the country’s health in relation to chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) Cayman is at high risk. Most people are not eating the right foods, smoke and drink too much and are not getting enough exercise. Among both sexes more than a third (36.6%) were found to be obese and over 70% overweight. Along with high blood pressure, many people are also already suffering or at risk of heart disease or diabetes. In the first survey of its kind well over 40% of the people who were surveyed faced at least three of the five standard risk factors of smoking, eating less than five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, low level of activity, overweight or raised blood pressure.

(CNS): One man is in hospital and a second was in police custody following a hit and run on the West Bay Road early on Saturday morning. The victim who has received head injuries was struck by a car as he crossed the West Bay Road close to the strand shopping centre. The man was hit by a motor car travelling south which fled from the scene. The injured man was taken to the George Town Hospital where doctors have said his injuries are not believed to be life threatening. Following the hit and run the driver of the vehicle believed to be involved was identified and located at his residence. He was arrested on Suspicion of Leaving the Scene and DUI.

(CNS): A man was robbed at gun point of his jewellery in the early hours of Saturday morning by a lone mugger, police have reported. The RCIPS said that the man was held up by the street robber at about 3:30am outside at an apartment on Keturah Street in George Town and after taking the victim’s possessions the robber ran off towards the entrance of Executive Suites. The robbery suspect is described as about 6 feet in height, dark brown complexion and skinny.  The male was wearing a dark gray T-shirt and a saggy blue jeans. He has a black t-shirt covering his entire head excluding his eyes.

(CNS): Government has finally released the full value for money report conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the controversial agreement it had with Dart Realty and the National Roads Authority. After months of secrecy, all of the documents are now in the public domain and posted below. Although CNS has not yet had the opportunity to study the documents, early indications show CIG is down $20 million in the short term. The much anticipated deal and reports were released late Friday afternoon, as announced by the minority government on Thursday. They include the details of the third amendment, which was never agreed to after Dart pulled out of talks this week.

(CNS): Updated with correction -- The person who is believed to have drawn an eye-patch and beard on North Side independent candidate Ezzard Miller’s campaign poster appears not to be a teen prankster but a grown man. Police confirmed Friday that a 44-year-old man was arrested on 4 May on suspicion of damage to property. It is understood that the culprit was nabbed after he appeared on the local CCTV footage vandalizing the poster. In an ironic twist, it was Miller who led the campaign in his district to raise the cash and have the cameras installed in his constituency, long before government began its own installation. However, it was the naitonal CCTV camera's rather than those installed by Miller's fundraising efforts that nabbed the suspect vandal.

(CNS): Cayman Islands Governor Duncan Taylor has told civil servants that they must reassure the public that the government was neither “extravagant” nor “corrupt”, and while he has constitutional responsibility for promoting good governance, he has limited power to enforce it, relying on influencing public servants to do the right thing. Speaking yesterday at a “Lunch and Learn” session on good governance, part of a week of specialized talks organised by the Commissions Secretariat, Taylor said it was  “fundamental” that government develops business cases for major undertakings. He said this was a key part of the procurement process, which should encompass analysis, planning, competitive tendering, evaluation and monitoring.

(CNS Business): The UK’s revenue and customs office is on the trail of hundreds of wealthy individuals and companies as well as their accountants and lawyers who they believe are using complex offshore structures to conceal assets from the tax man. HMRC confirmed Thursday that it is working with the United States and Australian tax administrations (the IRS and ATO) on some 400 gigabytes of data that indicates the use of companies and trusts in a number of territories around the world, including the Cayman Islands. Officials said in a release yesterday from the UK government that the information is still being analysed but early results have already identified over 100 people who benefit from these structures and some are now under investigation for offshore tax evasion. Read more on CNS Business

(CNS): As the local marine environment waits on politicians to make a decision about conserving its future, news from the science community suggests that Cayman and other Caribbean reef systems can be saved from collapse with fishing and pollution controls.  Work undertaken by researchers with the Future of Reefs in a Changing Environment (FORCE) found that it is possible to maintain reefs but it requires countries to take the management of their reefs seriously and global action to address climate change. The Department of the Environment has undertaken extensive consultation about the pressing need to enhance Cayman’s marine parks and control local fishing but the urgency for action has not yet attracted the political commitment needed.

(CNS): Governor Duncan Taylor will be bidding farewell to the Cayman Islands sooner than expected after being appointed as the UK’s Ambassador to Mexico and what Taylor told CNS would be an interesting and new challenge. Taylor arrived in Cayman in January 2010 to a less than warm welcome from the then premier, McKeeva Bush, who issued a warning to the UK official about micro-management before he set foot on the islands. Although more popular than his predecessor, Stuart Jack, with the wider Caymanian population, his relationship with Bush went from bad to worse during his more than three years here. Taylor will leave Cayman in August and officials stated that the process of finding a replacement was underway.

(CNS): The mission to observe the Cayman Islands 22 May General Elections will arrive in Cayman on 15 May and stay until the 29 MAy. The six man team, led by Mario Galea, a Member of Parliament in Malta, will include Senator Philip Ozouf from Jersey; Margaret Mitchell, MSP from Scotland; Randolph Horton, MP from Bermuda; Fern Narcis, a Legal Officer from Trinidad and Tobago; and Juanita Barker, a Legal Officer from Guyana. Prior to Election Day the team will observe some of the mobile voting and on Election Day will be deployed to the districts. The governor said Thursday that the remit includes several factors from the campaign itself, finances, voter education, polling, the ballot, processes and procedures, tabulation and to complaints after the fact.

(CNS): The government has said that the third amendment to the deal between government, the National Roads Authority and Dart Realty Cayman Ltd was stalled over concessions and tax breaks for the planned Seven Mile Beach hotel, worth some $16 million, and their efforts to achieve a “better deal” for Cayman have failed. Speaking at Thursday’s press briefing, the ministers confirmed that the closure of the remaining part of the West Bay Road would now be delayed beyond the election and it would be down to the next administration to pick up the negotiations with Dart, who yesterday pulled out of the talks regarding changes to the original deal as they said they could not reach a new agreement with government.

(CNS): Updated with full story:  It took the five men and seven women of the jury more than six hours to find David Tamassa, Rennie Cole, Andre Burton, George Mignot and Ryan Edwards all guilty of armed robbery. The jury deliberated over two days but came back on Thursday with an across the board verdict for all five defendants, who, despite their differing roles in the daylight bank heist at Cayman National Bank in Buckingham Square last June, had all been charged with robbery and possession of illegal firearms. The five men were convicted based mostly on the testimony of one key witness and co-conspirator, Marlon Dillon, who was arrested a few hours after the heist and made a full admission naming the other five men as his accomplices.

(CNS): The Elections Office team will be heading to the Sister Islands on Friday to begin the mobile polling. In order to ensure that none of the housebound residents who have registered to vote ahead of Election Day miss out on their democratic right, Supervisor of Elections Kearney Gomez is urging electors to remain at home until the team arrives. The teams will be calling those who have registered to vote a few minutes ahead to alert voters to their arrival and confirm that they are home, he said, and warned that they will not have time to go back and forth if voters are not at home when they arrive.