Caribbean region needs to work together to deal with challenges, says Guyana president
November 20, 2008
GEORGETOWN, Guyana: President of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday evening told representatives of participating countries at the Caribbean Development Bank/Inter American Development Bank (CDB/IDB), Civil Society Organizations dialogue not to allow themselves to be lectured into creating a set of values in the region which may cause them to lose sight of their challenges and their unique way of dealing with them.
He stated that the challenges facing countries like Guyana demand that the region work together to deal with these issues. Read more
Is there a conspiracy to prevent soca/calypso music from making it?
November 18, 2008
Dear Sir:
Based on what I read on BBC Caribbean News, Nov 17, 2008, Popular Barbadian and Caribbean calypsoian John King thinks there is an international conspiracy against that popular Eastern Caribbean music genre. However, I personally believe that soca/calypso will break into the international music market, when the Eastern Caribbean countries unite as one strong force as a trading bloc.
In order for soca/calypso to constantly make the billboard chart, Eastern Caribbean countries must promote the music as an industry. Trinidad & Tobago alone cannot be the only Caribbean country Read more
Pictures Of Pirates Week In Grand Cayman
November 17, 2008
The tradition continues with fun at Pirates Week in Grand Cayman. Its a promotion to attract tourists to the island during the slow season which has blossomed into a countrywide event that grow each year. Highlights of the festival includes: costume competition,song fest,trail of the pirates fun,fireworks,cardboard boat race and local band.Due to hurricane Paloma the event was postponed and made a comeback on Saturday.However they managed to beefed up the festival a bit. An economic impact study done on the festival by the University of West Indies showed that the Pirates Week festival generates a return of roughly $700,000 a year for the economy.Here’s a few pictures… Read more
Poem: You Move Me! by Fx Chitanda
November 15, 2008
I have been touched before
I have been moved before
I have been transferred before
All that before today.
You move me in many ways
you touch me in very warm ways
today you left an everlasting impression Read more
Poem: To my Nubian Princess by Fx Chitanda
November 15, 2008
My imagination is running wild.
Places I am right now
I would not want to be,
Its neither the right place nor the right time
Yet I still go there
Your image is not blurred
Your scent lingers at the tip of my nostrils
Touching you touching me Read more
President of Guyana assures CARIFESTA workers will be paid
November 15, 2008
President of Guyana assures CARIFESTA workers will be paid
Published on Tuesday, November 4, 2008
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (GINA): Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo during a press conference on Saturday urged local Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) participants to bear with the Administration as accounting procedures are finalised. He assured that by the end of this week, this process should be completed and they would receive their payments.
The president was responding to queries on the issue, which has been in the public domain for some time now and which has seen some of the festival’s participants protesting for their payments, which they claim they have not received from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, though the event has concluded over two months now. Read more
Review: FedEx Provides better shipping service than DHL
November 11, 2008
Over the past few years, I’ve used both FedEx and DHL to ship internationally and time over time I’ve noticed that Fedex seems to get my package to the desired location on time unlike DHL which on many occasions could not locate my package within the shipping route. Moreover, the packages seem to get there a few weeks or days later with DHL. On one occasion, I sent a letter size envelope with DHL from Guyana to the United States and was told that the envelope would get to the destination in about five business days. How about one month later? DHL for some reason could not locate the package within the tracking system and thus I spent painstaking hours on the phone with DHL international helpline trying to locate the package. After about three weeks, they were able to locate the package in Trinidad and Tobago Piarco airport customs. After that incidence, DHL and I ended our long standing relationship. Read more
Current Update: Hurricane Paloma still pounding the Cayman Islands
November 8, 2008
Date 11/08/2008 9:15 am EST
Our sources in the Cayman Islands this morning reported that the storm is still heavy in Grand Cayman. The storm apparently hit the town of West Bay and East End the hardest. Moreover, the storm is set to hit the sister island of Cayman Brac by today’s end and then Cuba by Sunday. We will keep you posted as we get more info.
Storm Watch: Hurricane Paloma now a category Three Storm
November 7, 2008
Update as of 10/7/2008 7:45 EST
According to our sources in Grand Cayman, hurricane Paloma is now considered a category three storm. The airport (Robert Owen International) is now closed. From the Treasure Island Resort, the water level is about ten inches high. The street posts are all swaying in the wind and the lights are on and off periodically. Our sources note that the east end of the island stands to be hit the hardest. The east end of the island is considered residential with low lying homes.
The Baiganchoka Team
Current Update: Hurricane Paloma intensifies in the Cayman Islands.
November 7, 2008
Reporting for Baiganchoka.com from the Treasure Island Resort on the Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman 11/07/2008 12:44pm
Currently the gusting winds are getting stronger and the rain is intensifying in strength. The Hurricane is now a category two soon to be updated to a category three. Many areas are completely flooded and the roads are barren. Fosters which is one of Grand Cayman’s larger super markets are completely empty of staple goods. Many of the gas stations do not have fuel or are on dwindling stages right now. As of yesterday afternoon many of the stations were empty. The storm is likely to continue into the afternoon until tomorrow. The resort where I am located is completely flooded in the lobbying areas. The lighting is constantly shorting out and the water flow is minimal. We were told by hotel employees that the power will be out in a few hours for the remainder of the afternoon for safety purposes.
zana Hannes
A West Indian Halloween Tale
October 31, 2008
Kavita and Priya decided that they wanted to celebrate their birthday, which both happen to fall on Halloween. Kavita and Priya are first cousins; Priya is exactly a year older. This year these cute bubbly girls decided to go on a cruise around the West Indies. Kavita figured it would be awesome to go without any of her relatives because usually when she visits the islands, she’s stuck at her aunt’s house. The cruise they decided to travel with had a West Indian theme, everything flamboyantly colored and music blasting ever hour of the cruise. Read more
The Cayman Islands: An abused tax Haven
October 27, 2008
The Cayman Islands is an abused tax haven, both Politically and Criminally.
Currently all US Presidential candidates and all taxing Government are beating or slandering tax havens, The Cayman Islands being one of them.
The Cayman Islands has had many slanderings by Barrack Obama one most memorable was in the Des Moines debate on Dec. 13 concerning tax scams: “There’s a building in the Cayman Islands that houses supposedly 12,000 US-based corporations,” he said. “That’s either the biggest building in the world or the biggest tax scam in the world, and we know which one it is. If we close some of those loopholes, we’ve put forward tax relief plans that will not only restore fairness to our tax code, but it also puts money into the pockets of hard-working Americans who need it right now, who will spend it and will actually improve our economic growth over time, particularly at a time when we’re seeing a credit crunch.” Read more
The Clintons Have Ties to the Cayman Islands
October 27, 2008
Well we all now why Hillary clinton was mute on the cosponsored the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act.
The Clinton’s had a small stake in Mutual Funds in the Cayman Islands. I wonder how else has ties to the Cayman Islands in regards to Mutual Funds or some sort of investment. I am sure that John McCain and Barack Obama has investment in Mutual Funds how deep those those investment go.
Former President Bill Clinton’s decision to reconsider a business relationship with California billionaire Ron Burkle reflects concern those financial dealings may embarrass his wife’s presidential candidacy.
Securities and Exchange Commission documents and financial- disclosure forms filed by Hillary Clinton show that Bill Clinton, 61, has a financial stake in three investment entities registered in the Cayman Islands by Burkle’s Yucaipa Cos. LLC.
Bloomberg News last month submitted a list of questions to the Clinton campaign regarding the former president’s involvement in the three Caymans-based funds. The campaign didn’t respond to the queries until Dec. 13, after the New York Times reported that Clinton plans to dissolve his five-year partnership with Burkle, a longtime friend and important fund-raiser for both Clintons.
`An Appropriate Transition’
Jay Carson, a Clinton spokesman, said that while the former president hasn’t “severed ties” with Yucaipa, he “is taking steps to ensure” that “there will be an appropriate transition for those relationships” if his wife receives the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
Carson, in an e-mail, said the funds are designed for foreign investors. “All three of these entities (which are related) are organized in the Cayman Islands so that each investor or partner pays the taxes they would owe in their home country,” he said. “For U.S. citizens like Bill Clinton, that means he pays U.S. taxes on his income from this fund, which he does.”
Forbes Magazine listed Burkle, 55, as the 91st richest American this year, with a net worth of $3.5 billion.
Companies that organize outside the U.S. often do so because “it’s more attractive” to foreign investors, who can “make sure they’re not subject to U.S. taxation.” Foreign registration may also make it easier for U.S. tax-exempt entities such as pension funds to invest “in certain strategies.
The former president isn’t the only person in the campaign with links to funds in the Cayman Islands. Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination, was a senior adviser to Fortress Investment Group Inc., a New York-based private-equity and hedge-fund manager, and reported at least one asset, the Investments Fund III (Fund D) LP, that was incorporated in the Cayman Islands in 2004.
Edwards, who was the first candidate to criticize tax preferences for the private-equity industry, also pays taxes as if the money was earned in the U.S., spokesman Eric Schultz told the Washington Post in May. Schultz said Edwards, 54, “believes offshore tax shelters are wrong” and “will end them” if elected. The Edwards campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment today.
Separately, the Los Angeles Times reported today that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican candidate, used shell companies in at least two offshore havens while running Bain Capital LLC, the Boston-based private-equity firm. Romney spokesman Kevin Madden told the Times there was nothing improper about the registration of funds in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands and that Romney didn’t defer or avoid paying U.S. taxes. Madden didn’t immediately respond to calls seeking comment today.
When he left the White House in 2000, Bill Clinton reported assets of more than $1 million and legal fees of more than $2.4 million. In his wife’s most recent disclosure, Hillary Clinton reported that the couple now has a net worth estimated at between $17.4 million and $53.7 million.
I will be doing some investigation to see what messers McCain and Obama have for investments. Can some point me in the right direction for my research? Why does the US make it so easy for tax payers to avoid paying taxes? cann’t they ask where the money is going to if they do not provide an satisfactory offer, then tax them on the value each year until the funds are returned to the a more viewable site? Just a thought.
Jose Kirchman
The best time of the year to come to the Cayman Islands is all the time.
October 27, 2008
The best time of the year to come to the Cayman Islands is all the time.
Simply because we enjoy excellent year round temperatures and sunny days, however April to July is our rainy months with May, June & July have the most rain fall. We also have our Hurricane season from July to November, but the plus here we have had no major Hurricanes since 2004 and the one before that was 12 years prior. Read more
Poem: To my Vile by Mistress by FXChitanda
October 22, 2008
My knees tremble at the thought of you
To even imagine I made love to you
Shared my dreams with you
In hope you and I can be together
Now you cry over what we knew Read more