Archive for November, 2016
Cargo ship crushes George Town reef
(CNS): The Department of Environment has begun an investigation after the hull of a cargo vessel reportedly crushed a significant area of the reef in the George Town harbour when the ship ran aground. Government officials said inquiries are still at an early stage and they are now surveying the damage. Once the true environmental […]
Premier walks diplomatic tightrope over Castro’s death
(CNS): Among the controversial reactions around the world regarding the death of Fidel Castro this week, Cayman’s own leader walked the diplomatic tightrope with his comments. Premier Alden McLaughlin said Castro would be remembered “as the man who brought the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere in 1959 and irked many American presidents for many […]
Concerned about friend being suicidal
A friend of mine has been really depressed recently and I am really worried about her. I’m wondering if there is a suicide hotline here? Auntie’s answer: Few things could be worse than getting to a place where someone contemplates ending their life. If the unthinkable does happen, I unfortunately can say with experience that […]
Cayman facing driest year on record
(CNS): The director general of Cayman’s National Weather Service has revealed that 2016 is likely to be the country’s driest year on record. At the end of October statistics for this year showed a deficit of more than 19 inches in the average annual rainfall. “We are looking set to have the driest year in […]
Customs opens red-green channels at airport
(CNS): The Customs Department has begun operating a new clearance system in the arrival hall at Owen Roberts International Airport (ORIA). Collector of Customs Charles Clifford said the simplified process, recommended by the World Customs Organisation and commonly known as the ‘red/green system’, facilitates the flow of arriving passengers and their baggage without reducing the […]
Cayman must be ready for uncertain world
(CNS): The premier has spoken of the “increasingly, bewildering and unpredictable seismic geopolitical changes” going on in the world creating uncertainty that Cayman must be prepared to navigate. Alden McLaughlin said the combination of ‘Brexit’ in the UK, the election of Donald Trump in the US, plus the rise of right-wing fear politics in Europe is […]
Archer targets revenue reporting
(CNS): The finance minister has said that government’s inability to confirm that the revenue collected into the public purse is everything it is owed and recorded in its financial statements is a major challenge that he plans to tackle. Marco Archer told civil servants at a conference Thursday that after massive improvements in the public […]
Pay grade of top government officials
What is the salary for the Cayman Islands premier, deputy premier, ministers, MLAs and the governor? Auntie’s answer: While you might have been hoping for an exact number for each salary, Gloria McField-Nixon, chief officer in the Portfolio of the Civil Service, did supply a precise range, and how that is determined for the officials […]
Illegal gun lands GT man seven years in jail
(CNS): A local man was given the minimum mandatory jail term of seven years Thursday after pleading guilty to carrying an unlicensed Smith & Wesson .38 handgun following his arrest outside a local bar in August. Randy Parchment (35), from central George Town, is the latest person caught with a gun because of threats made on […]
Robbers landed illegally from Jamaica
(CNS): Two men have admitted robbing a variety store in Bodden Town after illegally landing in the Cayman Islands on a boat from Jamaica. Romario Codner (22) and Paul Martin (26) were arrested a week after the armed stick-up on the evening of 12 August at D&D Accessories, which is also a money transfer agent, […]
Premier: We are making progress on dump
(CNS): The premier has admitted that tackling the waste-management problem in Cayman is the biggest and most important infrastructure challenge that his government faces, but claims that it is making real progress. In a government-made TV programme about the improvements at the George Town dump (a.k.a. ‘Mount Trashmore’) and the investment in equipment, Alden McLaughlin […]
