Sept2006.qxd 9/10/06 9:27 PM Page 1 PRESORTED SEPTEMBER 2006 STANDARD ® U.S. POSTAGE PAID MIAMI, FL PERMIT NO. 7315 Tel: (305) 238-2868 1-800-605-7516 [email protected] We cover your world Vol. 17 No. 10 [email protected] THE MULTI AWARD-WINNING NEWS MAGAZINE One year ago Caribbean guest workers employed at resorts in Alabama, Mississippi and Financial constraints have Louisiana were forced to flee grounded – for now - the the U.S. after Hurricane Katrina damaged their work- dream of Barrington Irving to places. Some of them are become the youngest ever to back, page 4. fly solo around the world. But the Jamaican-born pilot has not given up and vows the journey will be completed soon, page 2. Many people who are not affected by migraine headaches, a legitimate health condition, continue to believe commonly-held myths about migraine, page 13. Jagdeo, PPP/C return to power in Guyana Following last month’s elections, the incumbent People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government, led by Bharrat Next month, Bicentennial Park will be the venue for the Jagdeo, was set to form the ninth Miami Carnival 2006 Parade & Guyanese government since the country Festival, the closing of a series of fetes and special gained political Independence from events that showcase colorful Britain 40 years ago, page 7. Caribbean celebration, page 16. INSIDE News . 2 Health . .13 Business . 17 Region . 21 Viewpoint . 9 Food . .15 Sport . .19 Politics . .22 Education/Youth . .11 Arts/Entertainment . 16 Tourism/Travel . .20 FYI . .23 CALL CARIBBEAN TODAY DIRECT FROM JAMAICA 654-7782 Sept2006.qxd 9/10/06 9:27 PM Page 2 2 CARIBBEAN TODAY September 2006 www.caribbeantoday.com NEWS Lack of funds ground around-the-world solo flight by young Jamaican…for now GORDON WILLIAMS for the project has so far netted to the expected change of ceived the idea to fly solo to teach middle and high about $700,000. weather patterns, especially on around the world to convince school students about careers amaican-born pilot “Basically we still have to his return, which could result young people – especially in aviation. Barrington Irving’s plan to meet the fundraising goal,” in his Columbia 400 aircraft minorities - that aviation is a Jfly solo around the world Irving told Caribbean Today flying into dangerous winter great career and that any goal MOTIVATION has been grounded for a while last month. conditions. can be accomplished if gen- In the meantime, Irving longer due to lack of funding He said the new departure “There was no possibility uine commitment is applied to said he has been able to han- to support the venture. date for “Experience Aviation of going (anytime soon) after the task. He holds According to the 22-year- World Tour”, an east-to-west Sept. 1,” he said. “That would public seminars old Irving, who lives in South route which is expected to take be winter time, if I was sup- and lectures at Florida and wanted to become 30 days with more than 90 posed to leave say in October. schools to pro- the youngest ever to complete hours flying time beginning in Anytime later than September mote those ideals. the journey, the Sept. 1 take-off Florida, is being re-scheduled the window closes.” However, he said could not get the green light for sometime next spring. Any companies, the because he had not secured the take-off before that would not AVIATION BOOST main targets of $1 million needed. Fundraising be wise, Irving explained, due Irving originally con- his fundraising efforts, have been asking for more in return for their contribution. “Corporations, the dollars we are asking for, they want to see more than me just talk- ing to kids,” he said. So, the man who prides him- self on his Caribbean roots, Irving inspects his Columbia 400 plane. emphasizing that his “values, character and dle the disappointment of principles are built on my postponing his dream, prefer- Jamaican background,” has ring to look at the positives he embarked on an additional has accomplished so far. project. He plans to open a “I’ve still made great learning center at his base, the progress from where I was six Opa-Locka Airport in Florida, (CONTINUED ON PAGE 4) U.S. warns Caribbean of fraud on the Internet BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, resentative informing them CMC - An Internet scam pur- that, if they are awaiting a porting to come from the refund, they can check the United States Internal Revenue progress of the refund by Service (IRS) has resurfaced, clicking on a link contained the U.S. embassy in Barbados in the email. and the eastern Caribbean reported late last month. LINK According to the embassy, This link directs individu- the scam resurfaced earlier in als to a website that requests August when a number of personal information including persons received “notifica- Social Security Numbers (SSN) tion” purportedly from the and credit card information IRS claiming they were enti- and the website may also tled to a refund and all that attempt to infect systems with was needed was for the recipi- malicious code. According to ent to give their credit card the embassy, the IRS has number and the money would investigated 12 phishing scams be credited to their account. from 11 countries since “It is not the practice of the November last year. Last IRS to request this type of month the IRS received exam- information via e-mail. The IRS ples of nearly 1,300 fake email warns that care should always correspondence from con- be taken when disclosing per- cerned taxpayers. sonal information,” the Taxpayers have been embassy warned in a statement. urged to be suspicious of Jim Dupree, a spokesman emails that urge them to for the IRS in Baltimore, said act quickly or their accounts the scam was very serious will be suspended or closed, since “people see something emails that are generic and (purporting to be) coming don’t address them by name from a government agency as or any e-mails requesting more serious and needs more personal information such as attention.” account numbers, SSN credit The embassy said the card numbers or pass words. frauds send an e-mail to indi- viduals posing as an IRS rep- ® Sept2006.qxd 9/10/06 9:27 PM Page 3 September 2006 CARIBBEAN TODAY 3 NEWS www.caribbeantoday.com Jamaica’s P.M.among most powerful women in the world KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Michelle Bachelet is listed at in China as the “Iron Lady”, Simpson Miller and the ruling Jamaica’s Prime Minister number 17, while Liberian who dropped one place to People’s National Party (PNP) Portia Simpson Miller has President Ellen Johnson- number three. would do a better job of run- been included in the United Sirleaf took 51st position Simpson Miller, who was ning the country than the States-based Forbes Magazine and South Korean Prime appointed prime minister ear- Opposition Jamaica Labour list of the 100 most powerful Minister Han Myung-sook lier this year, has been leading Party( JLP) led by Bruce women in the world. made it onto the list at 68. in a recent poll published in Golding. Simpson Miller is the only Other leading women the Jamaica Observer newspa- person from the Caribbean politicians include the Chinese per. The poll states that more ® included on the list. She was Vice-Premier Wu Yi, known Jamaicans believe that ranked at number 89. Simpson Miller According to Forbes Magazine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has overtaken U.S. Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice as the world’s most powerful woman. Merkel was not included in the Forbes top 100 index in 2005. Chilean President Accountant jailed in N.Y. for swindling Bermuda gov’t HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC - A 35-year-old Bermudian accountant, who stole almost $2 million in the biggest ever fraud against the Bermuda govern- ment, has been jailed for four years and seven months in New York City, the Royal Gazette newspaper has reported. Harrison Isaac, Jr. looted a Bank of New York account set up by the Bermuda gov- ernment to pay vendors in United States dollars under post-9/11 financial regulations. Isaac was employed in the Accountant General’s Department, where he was given sole responsibility for the online account in question. He exploited a loophole in safety checks to siphon off $1,899,888 through Internet transfers over an eight-month period from May 2003. The offenses were deemed to have taken place in New York, and addressing the U.S. District Court in Manhattan that dealt with Isaac last month, Bermuda’s Attorney General Larry Mussenden said he had let the island down. Isaac was caught by police while at Bermuda International Airport in April 2004. He had an outbound ticket to Atlanta, Georgia and was found with five access cards for the Bank of New York account in the names of staff from the Accountant General’s Department as well as hand- written notes saying: “Sell everything”, “liquidate”, and “reset password”. He was arrested and in Nov. 2004 extradited to the U.S. where he remained in cus- tody up until last month’s hear- ing. Isaac pleaded guilty to 15 fraud-related charges during a previous court session. ® Sept2006.qxd 9/10/06 9:27 PM Page 4 4 CARIBBEAN TODAY September 2006 www.caribbeantoday.com NEWS Caribbean workers return to U.S. jobs after Hurricane Katrina GORDON WILLIAMS said “roughly a third” of the in terms of compensation Ministry of Labour when Katrina, a Category Five original 200 had returned.