(CNS):  A sixteen year old boy has been charged with burglary by West Bay Detectives following an incident at Grace Christian Academy in April this year. The youngster appeared in court today, Friday, 3 July and has been remanded in custody until 17 July. Detective Sergeant Collins Oremule reminded the public that burglary is an opportunistic crime and urged members of the public to ensure that their homes and businesses are properly secured at all times.

(CNS): No reopening date has been set for the Brac Reef Beach Resort on Cayman Brac, which was partially destroyed by Hurricane Paloma, November 2008. However, resort manager Trudy Viers says she expects construction and repairs to be completed by the end of the year. Because no finishing date has been set, no room bookings are being taken by Brac Reef at this time, she said. The lobby area, offices, boutique and work-out room, which were levelled are being rebuilt and will have the same architectural footprint as the ones before them.

(CNS): The Cayman Islands National Recovery Fund (CINRF) has raised over CI$1 million specifically for the Brac towards the repairs of homes destroyed during Hurricane Paloma and is planning to raise more. They estimate the total costs to be around CI$2.5 million. So far, the CINRF has spent some CI$700,000 on 50 properties, which averages about CI$15,000 per property. Currently the CINRF has received 212 applications on Cayman Brac with about 140 of them being approved.

(CNS): As the new United Democratic Party government settles into the business of running the country, McKeeva Bush announced today a number of changes and new appointments to boards and other key posts. He said that it was customary when a new government  took office that members of the various boards would resign and await for government to either accept or refuse those resignations. Speaking about the Cayman Airways Board, where there were a number of resignations in the last few months and weeks, he said that a new board had now been appointed under the chairmanship of Jude Scott.

(NYTimes): Scientists have known for some time that El Niño, the warm spell that turns up every four or five years in the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, reduces hurricane activity in the Atlantic. But in a new study, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have linked a variant of that pattern — periodic warming in the central Pacific — to more frequent hurricanes in the Atlantic, particularly on the Gulf Coast and in the Caribbean. Researchers however said they were unable to confirm if this was linked to climate change.

(CNS): A man believed to have captained a canoe seized by officers from the Drugs Task Force and another man have been arrested, bringing the number of arrests made in connection with last week’s seizure of 196 pounds of ganja to four. A 35-year-old man was detained on suspicion of importation of ganja and possession of ganja with intent to supply, while the charges that the suspected captain has been arrested for are unknown. The drugs were found by officers from the Drugs Task Force who carried out a raid on Thursday, 25 June.

(CNS): Following another attack on a women by an intruder, this time in a West Bay Road condo, police are looking into the possibility that this incident could be connected to the aggravated burglary which occurred in Boggy Sands Road earlier this week. Police say they have arrested a 40-year-old man on suspicion of aggravated burglary after a woman, a visitor from the US, was attacked in the early hours of this morning (2 July). The offence was reported to the 911 Emergency Communications Centre around 3:50am and the suspect was arrested soon afterwards following a police pursuit on Seven Mile Beach.