(CNS): The deputy governor has said that civil service salaries remain under urgent consideration, despite the fact that government is not cutting pay for March. Confirming the contents of a memo circulated from his office by Franz Manderson, which contradicted an earlier memo circulated by the financial secretary Ken Jefferson, Donovan Ebanks has said that adjustments are still to be expected and may be cut by April. On 4 March Jefferson circulated a memo stating that there would be a pension freeze for the public sector, civil servants would begin paying 50% of their health care benefits and that salaries would be cut from March. On 10 March a memo stating that neither salaries nor benefits would be cut was circulated by Manderson.

(CNS): The president of the university College of the Cayman Islands has said the institution is creating a new kind of Caymanian that will be part of the global village with a different outlook. Roy Bodden said that Cayman’s university is important to the community in many ways, not least for the part it will play in shaping a new generation of Caymanians that will have a different view to that held in the past of Cayman’s place in the world. Speaking to CNS at the close of the college’s first regional academic conference, he said he was excited about what was happening at UCCI and what his students would take away from what is only the beginning of the awakening of Cayman’s academia.

(CNS): The attorney general has said that people serving on government and statutory boards in the Cayman Islands should be paying close attention to potential conflicts of interest as a result of the implementation of the anti-corruption law. Samuel Bulgin said the new law will have a very significant impact, not just on public officials, but also those in the private sector and general public that work or engage with public officials. The Law covers a range of offences from bribery of public officers and members of the Legislative Assembly, frauds on government, contractors subscribing to election funds, breach of trust by public officials and members of the Legislative Assembly, abuse of office, bribing foreign public officials and conflict of interest among others.

(CNS): While break-ins are no longer making the news these days as they have become almost everyday events, one couple living on Seven Mile Beach told CNS they were shocked when a burglar broke into their condo and stole a number of valuables from right under their noses as they both slept. While the gang crime maybe stealing the headlines, this theft still stole the victim’s peace of mind.  The couple who live in the Lizard Run area said they woke up on Thursday morning to find the window open and a number of possessions gone along with cash and some medication.  As a result the couple said they have now installed a new security system.

(CNS): Some two months after tests were submitted to the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) in Trinidad, health officials have now confirmed three suspect cases of dengue fever. The Heath Services Authority said that the results were received late yesterday (11 March) from CAREC showing that three Cayman Islands residents, who became ill in January, did indeed have dengue type 2 and had contracted the virus in the Cayman Islands. However, the Medical Officer of Health has stated that there have been no other cases reported.

(CNS): One of Cayman’s Olympian athletes, Ronald Forbes, is in Doha, Qatar to participate in the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Indoor Championships that kick off today, Friday, 12 March 2010. He will compete in the 60m hurdles. Round one of this event is scheduled for the opening day. His personal best in this race is 7.58 seconds, and his qualifying time for Doha was 7.74 seconds. Ronald ran for Cayman in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, and in the 110m high hurdles event in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

(CNS): Despite comments by the premier that government would be asking the private sector to support civil servants who are looking at salary cuts by offering them discounts, many of the entities cited by Bush say they are not in a position to offer discounts. Hurley’s Supermarket was the only grocery store that has publicly stated that it will offer the discount and HSBC said it would look to help with interest rates. Foster’s told CNS that they already cut discount to the wire in their stores and if they had the room for more they would offer it to everyone. CUC also said it did not have the room and neither of the water suppliers have made a decision.

(CNS): Police confirmed this morning that the they have now traced the missing teenager who went missing from her home in West Bay over one month ago. “Yesterday evening Tamara was traced safe and well by RCIPS police officers in the Rock Hole area,” a police spokesperson said, adding that enquiries into the circumstances surrounding her movements over the past four weeks are ongoing. Tamara Smith’s parents reported her missing to the police after they discovered that the fifteen year old was missing.  This is not the first time that Tamara has run away from home and her mother recently made a public plea to her daughter to come back.

(CNS):  The man charged with the murder of 4-year-old Jeremiah Barnes last month at the Hell gas station in West Bay has now secured a defence attorney to represent him. Devon Anglin made his third court appearance on 11 March since he was charged with the murder of the child and a number of other firearms offences, as well as an attempted murder.  According to a News 27 report, Anglin has not yet made a plea with regard to the murder charge but he is due back in court next Thursday, 18 March.  Until Anglin’s barrister, Alastair Malcolm QC, arrives in Cayman Clyde Allen will act on the 24 year old's behalf.

(CNS): Updated 10:30pm - Gang violence seemed to reach ever more shocking heights on Grand Cayman on Thursday evening when one man was shot and killed and a second ended up in hospital having sustained gunshot injuries following two separate shootings in the West Bay area at around 7:30 pm. One was off North West Point Road on Maliwinas Way and the other on Capt Osbert Road, off Birth Tree Hill Road. CNS also received unconfirmed reports of a further incident in George Town involving a fire arm. All of the shootings are thought to be gang related.

(CNS): Civil Servants will not be forced to make a fifty percent contribution to their health care, according to a memo from the Deputy Governor’s Office. Despite the announcement by the premier that he would be looking to reduce health benefits, freeze pensions and cut salaries of public sector workers in order to address the country’s forecast deficit, a memo sent to senior civil servants on Thursday indicates that the pension freeze is being deferred, and health care benefits will now not be pursued. The Cayman Islands civil service still faces uncertainty regarding earnings, however, as the memo indicates, salaries will not be cut in March but the pay reduction is still on the table for April.

(CNS): The local tourism industry has raised its voice against the rising crime in the islands and called on the police to do more to stop the criminals and gangs, which the industry says are seeing the Cayman Islands as a land of opportunity with inadequately checked borders and few consequences to their actions. The Cayman Islands Tourist Association Board of Directors has called on the RCIPS to try harder and asked both the police and the governor, at what point will they realize that taking the same action will yield the same result and move towards a more aggressive policing policy?