SOUTHLANDS

After a storm of protest over the proposed 311-suite-Southlands Jumeirah resort, Environment Minister, Neletha Butterfield signed a special development order for it, just after Cup Match.

She summed up Jumeirah Southlands as "a facility that we will all be truly proud of". The price of a fractional suite, complete with butler, would range from $265,000 to $1.2 million. Environmental campaigners welcomed several recommendations in the SDO for Southlands which required developers to mitigate the impact of the 497-bed resort, including mitigating any adverse impacts on sea birds and to create artificial longtail nests along the cliffs, among other environmental considerations.

In mid-August planning permission for staff housing was mysteriously removed as a condition of the Southlands Special Development Order.

As protests continued and an election grew near, government suddenly changed tack, saying the resort could possibly be relocated to a brownfield site at Morgan's Point. In exchange, Southlands would be turned into a national park.

In October, the possible land swap received a cautious welcome from opposition politicians and sustainable development campaigners, but the big question was: who was going to pay for the clean-up?

Dr. Brown admitted that taxpayers would have to foot the bill. Morgan's Point is a former US Naval Air Station and is heavily polluted with asbestos, metals, petroleum products and other chemicals. Any environmental remediation work could cost in excess of $25 million.

WEIRD CRIME OF THE MONTH

August 27: Police arrested six people in the early hours of the morning for swimming naked and trespassing on the property of the Bacardi International headquarters on Pitts Bay Road.

At around 4 a.m., officers arrived on scene only to discover a group of 20 people swimming in the company's landmark fountains some only had on underwear while others were nude. The suspects' charges included indecent exposure. Fourteen of the culprits escaped.

RAYNEY MURDER IN AUSTRALIA

The wife of former Bermuda prosecutor Lloyd Rayney was murdered on August 17 in Perth, Australia. The body of mother-of-two Corryn Rayney was discovered by detectives in a makeshift grave in a park in the western Australian city. She had been missing for nine days after failing to come home after an evening class. Mr. Rayney has issued denials of any involvement in his estranged wife's death.

INTERNET FRAUD

Fraudsters were targeting Bermuda residents looking for love on Internet dating sites in order to swindle them out of thousands of dollars. Con artists posing as potential soul mates persuaded victims to cash American Express travellers cheques for them and wire the funds. However, the cheques turned out to be fakes, leaving their 'dates' badly out of pocket.

WILL HE OR WON'T HE?

Tiger Woods eneded weeks of speculation about his intentions concerning the PGA Grand Slam... by refusing to play. In a polite letter to the PGA, he declined, citing family commitments and fatigue.

The decision came after he had been lobbied by both the Prmier and the opposition leader as he worked his way to the last qualifiying tournament to make the Grand Slam – the PGA Championship in Oaklahoma on August 12.

Statistics

The Department estimates that our senior population will double to 22 percent by 2030, or approximately 16,500 seniors in real terms. If only 20 percent of those seniors need care, we are looking at over 3,000 caregivers by 2030. And caregivers are pivotal to keeping seniors in their homes as long as possible.

Between May and June this year the average cost of goods and services in the Consumer Price Index rose by 0.6 percent from 104 index points to 104.6, meaning that the products that cost $100 in April 2006 now cost $104.60. The rent sector was the strongest contributor to the 12-month increase in the Index, while the health and personal care sectors also impacted strongly on the annual rate of inflation.

Almost $1 million was given to 224 students hoping to study the trades both in Bermuda and overseas by Government.

According to the Bermuda Police Service, from 2003 to the present, there have been 37 incidents of firearms offences, and two gun-related murders during the past three years.

An XL Foundation member said that although 90 percent of the company's workforce lived elsewhere in the world, The XL Foundation gives two-thirds of its charitable budget to organisations in Bermuda.