In a move feared by international free-speech advocates, Governor Gus Jaspert announced last week that he had assented to a cybercrime amendment that they predict will stifle free speech and hinder the media from doing its job. The Computer Misuse and Cybercrime (Amendment) Act 2019,...
February 21, 2020
February 20, 2020
Virgin Islands makes EU ‘white list’
The Virgin Islands is one of 16 countries and territories newly whitelisted by the European Union on Tuesday, with the reveal of the EU’s revised "white list" of “non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.” “I welcome the European Union’s recognition that the BVI fully complies with its tax...
February 20, 2020
New app to guide tourists, residents
A few months ago, David Penn found a stranger in front of his house looking for the law firm Mourant Ozannes. Although Mr. Penn informed him he had arrived at a private residence, the man wouldn’t take no for an answer, insisting that Google Maps...
February 17, 2020
Plaza partners with government job effort
Thirty Virgin Islanders have jobs because a new gas station and car wash is taking part in government’s “1,000 Jobs in 1,000 Days” programme, officials said this week. Owner Allison “Allie” Petrus, who also operates a chain of gas stations and fast- food franchises in...
February 17, 2020
Another bill triggers free-speech alarms
In the midst of harsh criticism from free-speech advocates about a cybercrime amendment that took effect last Wednesday, the House of Assembly is now considering another proposed law that has drawn fresh concerns about potential censorship and other threats to press freedom in the Virgin...
February 14, 2020
Coronavirus affects VI financial services
Coronavirus has not arrived on Virgin Islands shores, but it may already be having an effect on one of the territory’s flagship industries. Hong Kong branches of VI financial services firms — along with many other businesses based there and in China — have temporarily...
February 14, 2020
Police report about death of swimmer now online
Police remain tightlipped about the death of a swimmer allegedly killed by a powerboat near Guana Island, but new information has been posted on social media. On Jan. 30, Jean-yves Noblet, a friend of the victim’s family, posted the police report of the incident to...
February 14, 2020
Music under the Moon takes flight
A full moon peered out between the clouds over Road Town on Saturday night, and visitors to the J.R. O’Neal Botanic Gardens were carried away by a mingling of music beneath its pale blue light. The BVI Diabetes Association launched its first ever Music under...
February 14, 2020
Recovery and Development Agency acquires new tech to explore VI oceans
Standing on a boat in the waters off Cane Garden Bay last summer, Atoya George, a government lab technician, peered into a screen displaying a video feed from a camera rigged atop a vehicle traversing the sea floor. It was Ms. George’s first time using...
February 13, 2020
Betting on the animals: Gaming Night nets $55k for Humane Society
Crowds squeezed in around the hermit crab races so tightly that people in the back had to stand on their tiptoes and hold their phones high in the air to film any of the action. As the crabs scuttled from the centre of the circular...
February 6, 2020
Q3 incorporation bump offers faint hope
Incorporation numbers managed a slight recovery in the third quarter of 2019, with the Financial Services Commission reporting a 9.58 percent increase over Q2’s dismal performance, which saw the lowest number of new incorporations since quarterly reporting began in 2003. However, with just 6,975 new...
